CSA Week 12

Welcome to CSA Week 12!

Maple Syrup will be available this week in the retail side of Thursday's farm stand! We'll have 8oz and 12oz available for you in glass reusable jugs. For those that haven't had a chance to let me know they wanted to reserve one please come see me for availability!

Your vegetable harvest this week....................

Green Zebra Heirloom Tomato

Rose de Berne Heirloom Tomato

Basil

Ripe  Sweet Peppers

Sweet Corn! This is our last for the season, enjoy!

Eggplant

Arugula

Orange Carrots

Green Scallions

Your fruit harvest this week...............

Charentais Melons

Red Haven Peaches

Paula Red Apples

Goldenrod Sweet Grapes

These Goldenrod Grapes grown by Mick Klug of Mick Klug Farms in St. Joseph Michigan are a real treat! They are one of the first grapes to be harvested this season and once you taste these petite gems you'll agree that it could be the most perfect grape to start off the grape harvest. In the next couple of weeks we'll introduce you to a Red Seedless and a Blue Seedless Grape to enjoy.

 

A variety of tomatoes will be offered this season. Pictured above is a Green Zebra, a favorite here on the farm. It's filled with a complex yet balanced lemon lime flavor that is great on it's own.
Another variety in the share this week is a Rose de Berne, also a wonderful heirloom tomato! This thin skin variety has a great balance of sweet and savory, enjoy this rich tomato flavor!

 A few tomato recipes to try out: Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Salad. Another recipe to try is one that we enjoyed for last night's dinner, Pearl Couscous with Olives and Roasted Tomatoes. Chris loves the Rose de Berne for juicing and eating, Homemade Tomato Juice.

Arugula is back! Pictured above is our Arugula growing in the Hoop House grown under remay ( a light cloth that allows light but not the eager pests that eat the plant). Remay is our best protection from pests, who needs insecticides? This arugula can be enjoyed on it's own to appreciate it's true peppery flavor. One of my favorite meals consists of whipped cannellini beans with garlic on great crusty bread topped with arugula and bacon. MMMmmmm! Here is another recipe to try,

Arugula Corn Salad with Bacon

I found Sherman in the Hoop House battling the mosquitoes but gave me a quick smile as he harvests these Carmen Sweet Peppers. These peppers are great on their own but offer a great flavor roasted or grilled.

Roasted Red Pepper Tomato Sauce

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread

Once again, Sherman! Harvesting these crunchy sweet orange carrots for your shares this week!

Carrot cake with Maple-Cream cheese Frosting

Maple Glazed Carrots

A great way to marry these two flavors.......Eggplant Salad Toasts! or

Chinese Eggplant with Ginger and Scallions!

Eggplant Parmesan

Summer Corn Chowder with Scallions, Bacon and Potatoes

Orange Chicken with Scallions

We hope you enjoy your bounty this week!

Your farmers,

Tania and Chris Cubberly along with our crew, Charlie, Sherman, Elliott, Joe, Francisco, Michael and Armando!

CSA Week 11

 Last Saturday morning rain brought in beautiful dark skies with a steak of white light running through. Before heavy rains came in much of the morning harvest was complete with chard, kale, flowers, eggplant and peppers  for Sunday's market. During the the weeks of no rain on the farm we often do a rain dance or call to the rain clouds while we move irrigation pipe from field to field day after day, here Joe is letting the rain clouds know that we've had enough rain for now and to pass over us, no such chance!

On Monday Armando, Joe and Francisco began extracting honey. It took them all day to go through 18 supers that hold 10 frames each. Once they were finished we were able bottle nearly 600 pounds of honey. Pictured on the left, Joe scrapes the wax caps of the frames, which we saved for potential candle making this winter. Armando then takes the frames and slides two of them in an extractor that spins very fast allows the honey to come off and drip out into a bucket that has a screen on top to catch any loose wax, pictured below.

 

Francisco then takes the buckets of honey and pours them into jars, heat seals the caps on and puts on our label. Honey is here!!!

This week's CSA is for all Full and Half Share members as well as our Seasonal Fruit members.

This week's vegetable bounty:

Honey

 Fresh Thyme

Green and/or Yellow Wax Beans

White Sweet Onions

Jalapenos

Tomatillos

Orange Carrots

Mix of dark Red Norland and Adirondack Blue Potatoes

Whole Wheat Flour*

*The whole wheat flour is from our farmer friend, Molly Breslin. Molly, along with her father, grow small grains and dry beans in Ottawa Illinois. Please visit their site for more info Breslin Farms.

The mix of potatoes may be slightly cosmetically challenged but don't let that discourage you from eating the skin as well. These cook well together, drizzled with olive oil and thyme make a perfect side of roasted potatoes.

This week's fruit bounty:

Pristine Apples

White Nectarines

Maverick Orange Melon

Arava Green Melon

The melons this week come from our friend, Peter Klien of Seedling Fruit, in South Haven Michigan. Although he is not organic he does offer the best fruit he can with as little pest control as possible leaving us with great tasting locally grown fruit. Enjoy!

Recipes! Recipes! Recipes!

Flatbreads with Honey, Thyme and Sea Salt

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Really simple homemade Pizza!

Roast Chicken with Lemon and Thyme

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

More pictures of the farm this week.......

Above the chard and kales is Armando prepping more beds for our fall/winter seeding.



Tomato season is in full bloom! Although you don't have any in your share this week we will have some heirloom beauties for sale at our farm stand. Pictured is Michael harvesting some sweet summer tomatoes!

In between all the rain we're surrounded by plenty of mosquitoes. Here, Joe, Elliott and Charlie, gear up with head nets and long sleeves while they harvest Green chard.

Tuesday morning welcomed us with more rain but that didn't stop us from harvesting green beans!

These angelic flowers, Oscar Butterfly Weed, has won me over as my favorite flower this season!

At the farm stand this week:

We will offer our honey for sale along with various cooking greens, herbs, onions, eggplant, chicken, eggs and more! In the next few weeks we will also offer maple syrup. This will be locally sourced from Hilltop Sugar Bush in Wisconsin. Although we have many maple trees that have given us beautiful maple syrup at the farm we don't yet have the licensed kitchen to be able to offer it to you. Until then, we will have a limited supply! If you know you'd like to purchase any please send me an email so that I may have you on our list to save you a bottle or two. Please let me know! tempelfarmsorganics@yahoo.com

We hope you enjoy this week's bounty!

Your farmers,

Tania and Chris Cubberly along with their crew, Joe, Francisco, Michael, Elliott, Charlie, Sherman, and Armando!

CSA Week 10

We are in mid season on the farm which calls for mowing down expired crops, making new beds and seeding late fall crops such as storage carrots, beets, fall lettuce, turnips and peas! It is also a time of the season when I see Chris and Armando looking at various fields and contemplating next year's season. New fields will be tilled  for our 2012 season to make room for more annual vegetables, flowers and perennials such as asparagus and more fruit trees.

Now that the rain has cleared up the road is being worked on again in full force. We are just as eager as you are to get our intersection open again to make driving to the farm stand more convenient. Pictured above is work being done by Campanella's crew. Some of the soil that is being dug to create  our pond (which will be used for future irrigation of our lower fields) is taken to develop the new roundabout.



This week's CSA share is for Full Vegetable members and Fruit.

Your vegetable harvest this week:

Cherry Tomatoes

Green Beans

Celery

Parsley

Green or Purple Kohlrabi

Acorn Squash

Leeks

Your fruit harvest this week:

Shiro Plums

Red Haven Peaches

Blueberries

Fall Bearing Red Raspberries



Celery! Compare this to what you mostly find at the store and you'll never leave the farm. This tender yet crisp celery stalk has got a great flavor. How about Curried Waldorf Salad tonight?

After the early morning swarm of mosquitoes, Charlie lifts his head net and is relieved that those pests are somewhat gone. Here he's harvesting parsley and is embraced by the scent of this fresh herb.

One of our favorite salads at home is Lazy Days Parsley Salad. The name speaks for itself and is perfect after a long day at work. On the other hand if you've had a lazy day at work and you've got lots of energy for making dinner how about some Tabbouleh!

Lazy Days Parsley Salad

Snap the leaves from a washed bunched of parsley. Spin them or towel dry and toss them in a bowl with a good quality Olive Oil. It's great with fresh squeezed lemon juice, grated Parmesan cheese and toasted pine nuts. That's all, now just enjoy!

Elliott (wearing my favorite farm shirt) holds a perfect sample of this weeks fruit bounty!

The Shiro Plum in the fruit share is a beauty. This bright yellow fruit offers a mild sweet flavor which makes it great for eating, cooking or canning.

Shiro Plum Jam with Vanilla Bean

Raspberry Brown Sugar Gratin

The Sweet orange flesh of our Summer Acorn Squash is perfect right now and we're happy to harvest it for you for this week's bounty! Enjoy a Acorn Squash Quesadillas with Tomatillo Salsa or Classic Baked Acorn Squash.

Leeks are a mellow version of an onion and can be used in many ways. You'll want to cut the leek just below the dark green leaves. The leaves of the leeks are too tough to eat. After you cut the bottom portion of your leek make sure you give a good rinse to get rid of any hidden dirt. Tomato and Leek Fritatta anyone?

Chris and I are off once again to drive through the night to Arthur Illinois! Our second batch of broilers will be processed and  ready for sale on Thursday! We'll have whole cut up chickens available once again so you could make the best Buttermilk Fried Chicken!

Enjoy this week's bounty!

Your farmers,

Tania and Chris Cubberly and our crew, Armando, Joe, Elliott, Michael, Charlie, Sherman, Francisco and Mike, who has been with us for two years volunteering at our Logan Square Farmer's Market!

CSA Week 9

It was a beautiful day for our farm tour last Saturday! Thank you to all of you who were able to make it. We enjoyed giving you a tour of the farm and showing you where your food is grown!

This week's CSA is for all vegetable members and fruit members!

Your vegetable bounty this week:

Romaine Head Lettuce
Red Leaf Head Lettuce

Green and Yellow Wax Beans

Carrots*

Sweet Corn

Tomatoes

Basil

Green Curly Kale
Shallots
Red and/or Yellow Peppers

*this week's carrots are grown by Harmony Valley Farm, Viroqua Wisconsin. Our carrots are taking their time and should be ready for harvest in 2 weeks!

Your fruit bounty this week:

Yellow flesh Peaches

Nectarines

Golden Plums

Recipes! Recipes! Recipes!

A great way to enjoy your Golden Plums, Sugar Plum Crepes with Ricotta and Honey
Oh my! a great marriage of carrots and avocados, Avocado salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
How do you want to begin your day? don't forget to pick up a dozen of our eggs! Chile and Bell Pepper Frittata
If you don't have a Staub chicken roaster how about a can of beer? Beer Can Chicken!


 

                                                                                

It's a great time of the season for green and yellow wax beans! These can be enjoyed raw or slightly cooked to still hold in their crunch and sweet flavor. Enjoy these ideas found from NPR, Green Bean Salad with Soy Glazed Almonds.

 The weather forecast for this week calls for cool nights into the 50s! Remember the Caldo Verde recipe from our past newsletter? Or how about a warm panini tonight,  Warm Greens and Mushroom Panini.



A healthy snack anytime, beans and tomato make a a great pair in a stir fry or salad. Here is a recipe that you could add fresh beans in this recipe, Tomato Salad with Turkish Tahini Dressing. Enjoy!

Happenings on the farm..................

Here Chris seeds a few new beds of turnips, lettuce, carrots and radishes!

                                                                                      
                                                                                                       
















On Tuesday morning Armando and Joe began the process of extracting honey. I've already had the pleasure to enjoy this delicately sweet honey that the bees worked so hard for this summer, we'll be sure to have it ready for sale next week!

Don't forget to stop by the farm stand on Thursday 4 to 7pm or Saturday 8-2pm. Among the variety of produce we have for sale we also have whole chickens available for sale at $4.00 a  pound and eggs at $5.50 a dozen. Stop by and enjoy the fresh summer bounty and meet your farmers!

Enjoy this week's bounty!

Your farmers,

Tania and Chris Cubberly and our crew, Joe, Armando, Michael, Francisco, Elliott, Sherman and Charlie!

CSA Week 8

Compost!

Right now we have quite a few 500 feet beds of horse bedding, manure, yard waste, dry leaves and vegetable scraps. We finally acquired a very efficient method of turning those fantastic raw ingredients into rich, plant-feeding compost.

We are working with Illinois State University and have been lucky enough to be loaned a compost turner and tractor for a while. In return we give ISU lots of daily records including temperature and CO2 content of the piles, as well as how often we 'turn', or aerate the windrows.

In the first few weeks after creating the pile, we will turn the windrows quite often to expel CO2 and incorporate oxygen to help the microbes breath, grow and eat. As we get better at making good compost this process should take us no more than 90 days to go from raw ingredients to black, earthy compost. Then, we'll spread this nutrient rich fertility liberally on our growing fields for healthy soils for years to come.

Pictured above is Chris lowering the roter attachment that will drill right through the piles.

Here the roter is lowered and is turning the piles towards the center. You can see the steam coming off.

Come out and learn more about what we do here on the farm at our August 6th farm tour. The tour will begin at 10am, please make sure you arrive at least 15 minutes early. The tour will start at 18080 W. Millburn Road. This is the address of our wash/pack facility and has plenty of parking. Please wear good walking shoes and dress appropriately for the weather. Having water with you and especially for kids is important! If by chance heavy rains came our way the night before or the morning of our tour we will have to cancel and will continue the tour on August 13 at 10am. Please make sure that you send me an RSVP at tempelfarmsorganics@yahoo.com so we could know how many people to expect. Thank you and we look forward to meeting all of you!

This week's CSA is for members that purchased a FULL vegetable share and/or fruit share!

Your vegetable share this week:

Lettuce Mix

Sweet Corn

Green or Rainbow Swiss Chard

Garlic

Red Sweet Peppers

Savoy Cabbage

Cauliflower

Yellow Crookneck Squash

Fresh dug Red Onions

Your fruit share this week:

Dark Purple Plums

Free Stone Peaches

Blueberries

Recipes! Recipes! Recipes!

Blueberry Yogurt Multigrain Pancakes

Potato, Squash, Goat Cheese Gratin

Sauteed Savoy Cabbage with Scallions and Garlic

Balsamic Parmesan Roasted Cauliflower

Sauteed Swiss Chard with Onions

Happenings on the farm...........

Tuesday we spent the day pulling Cippolinis, Shallots, Red Onions and Yellow Onions from our fields and are curing in the green house. These will make wonderful storage onions that will keep for months, we like to say "all winter long " until we can harvest them again for you.

 

 

 

Armando and Joe had the job of tying tomatoes while the temperatures were well into the 90's with the heat index. This is by far the hottest job on the farm and when they were done they had looked like they had jumped into a lake they were that drenched.

Wagons and wagons were filled with straw bales produced by Tempel Farms row crop division. These bales of straw will be used for bedding for Lipizzan Horses, our chickens and goats.

Our third batch of broiler chickens are growing well. These will soon be put out in the fields and will be ready by October.

We hope you enjoy this week's bounty! Please be sure to RSVP for our August 6th Farm Tour!

Your farmers,

Tania and Chris Cubberly and our crew, Joe, Armando, Michael, Francisco, Elliott, Charlie, Sherman and Mario!