September 28th,2016

Veggie Boxes:

Carrots, Onion, Delicata, Broc-coli//Great Oak Farm

Potatoes, Broccoli, Leeks, Dill Basil OR Broccoli // Yoman

Farm

Kale, Spinach, Broccoli //River Road Farm

Head Lettuce // Twisting Twig

Tomatoes // Maple Hill Farm

Meat Boxes:

Ground Beef + Beef Steak// Griggs Cattle Co + Hidden

Vue

Pork Chops // Maple Hill Farm

Lake Superior CSA

Bayfield Foods Cooperative

In The Boxes This Week

Every day in the sun now is like a bonus summer

day and we've had a warm September and so I risked putting in a late-season

cover crop of winter rye and hairy vetch. Vetch requires a good month plus

to establish before freezing temps put it into dormancy whether it has

enough storage in its roots to overwinter – or not. On the other hand a cover

crop of buckwheat is in full bloom, a feast for pollinators attracted by its

waft of sweetness over the field, and threatening to drop seeds unless a frost

comes soon to kill it. The nice light of fall puts these crops in contrast to

bare ground or other crops and I hope the photo shows how beautiful di-

versely cropped small farms can be.

I caught my neighbor going by on his four wheeler recently and we chatted

about raccoons. They took a toll on my corn field this year in spite of an

electric fence and a few overnights with a shotgun. He was on his way to

bait bears and said he gets a dozen raccoons a night at his bait stations be-

cause nobody is trapping them. He went on to say nobody traps them be-

cause nobody buys their fur but Russians and Russians do not have money

to buy raccoon fur when the price of oil is as low as it is. That's just the

news I hear over the fence line about the global oil market, but it makes me

wonder about why the raccoons were so ravenous this year.

John Adams

Yoman Farm

Veggie Basics :

Potatoes, Broccoli //Yoman Farm

Carrots, Winter Squash//Great Oak Farm

Head Lettuce//Twisting Twig

Fruit:

McIntosh+ Bosac Pears // Bay-field Apple Co.

Grapes // Theisen Orchards

PLUS ITEM:

Pesto // Spirit Creek Farm

Sheep + Goat Cheese// Happy Hollow + Sassy Nanny

Creamery

PLEASE

FLATTEN & RETURN CSA

BOXES!

Hello CSA members ! This is Michael from Sassy

Nanny Farmstead Cheese. I am one half of Happy

Hollow Creamery, the other half being Fred Faye.

I produce the goat cheeses and Fred produces

the sheep cheeses. I hope you enjoyed your

farmstead cheeses this season ! Summer is a

busy time for us, caring for the animals and keep-

ing up with a busy cheese making schedule and

managing the cheese inventory. We each pro-

duce about 2,500 lbs of cheese during the season

! We produce our cheeses during the months of

March through October. As the season winds

down, we take advantage of the less hectic pace

and try to catch up on farm chores that keep

getting put to the back burner and I in particular

try to catch up with friends and family that I've

not seen enough of during the busy summer. The

animals spend more time on pasture and away

from the milking parlor as the milking schedule

cuts back to once a day milking. We also have the

opportunity to sit back and reflect on how fortu-

nate we are that we have the support of folks like

you, people passionate about supporting locally

produced food. WE COULD NOT DO IT WITHOUT

YOU !

~ Michael Stanitis, Sassy Nanny Creamery

Autumn has begun and the production is con-

tinuing to ramp up here at Spirit Creek Farm.

Great Oak Farm and Northcroft Farm supply us

with all the green beans we make into ferment-

ed Dilly Beans. Currently we have put all the

beans we are making this year into barrels to

ferment. The first batches we put into barrels

in August are now being put into jars. Cabbage,

carrots, onions, and daikon radish are all

starting to come out of the fields so we have

made a batch of Kim Chi, Green Sauerkraut,

and Ginger Carrots.

One of the many challenges here at Spirit Creek

Farm is keeping up with equipment mainte-

nance. The trailer that we haul vegetables is in

need of new lights. The forklift needs a new

battery. The tractor needs a new ignition sys-

tem installed. I should get to that stuff.

Thanks Andrew

Honey BalsamicTips Glazed Carrots

Homemade Grape Juice

INGREDIENTS

Equipment needed

• A colander for rinsing the grapes

• 1 large, 12-quart pot

• 1 large 6 or 8-quart pot

• A very large fine mesh sieve, or cheesecloth

DIRECTIONS

1. Gather a pound of grapeswhich will yield a little

less than a cup of juice.

2. Rinse and de-stem the grapes. Put grapes in a

basin filled with water. Then rinse the individual

grapes, picking them away from the stem, col-

lecting the grapes in a large bowl, and discarding

the green unripe and old shriveled grapes.

3. Mash the grapes. With a potato masher, mash away at the grapes so the juice begins to flow. If

you have picked a lot of grapes, you may need to work in batches. We have found it easiest to

mash about 4 lbs of grapes at a time.

4. Cook the grapes. Put the mashed grapes into a large stockpot. Slowly heat the grapes and juice

to a simmer on medium heat and then simmer for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally so that the grapes

don't stick to the bottom of the pan. Halfway through cooking mash some more, breaking up as

many of the remaining grapes as possible.

5. Prepare sieve or cheesecloth. Get another large pot, place a large fine mesh sieve over it. Alter-

natively you can cover it with two layers of cheesecloth, secure with a rubber band. Make sure

pot is sitting on a plate to catch any juice that may run over.

6. Strain grape mixture. Ladle grape mixture over fine mesh sieve or cheesecloth to strain. Let sit

for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator to strain completely.

7. Finishing. Remove sieve or cheesecloth.* Note that sediment will have formed on the bottom

of the container. Rinse out the sieve or cheesecloth and strain the juice again, to filter out some

of the sediment. Pour or ladle juice into containers. Enjoy your juice!

* Note that the grape mash can be composted.

VEGGIE BOXES:

Carrots, Delicata, Onions, Broccoli // Great Oak Farm

Radishes, Broccoli, Leeks, Herbs/ Yoman Farm

Kale, Spinach, Beets // River Road Farm

Tomatoes // Maple Hill Farm

MEAT BOXES:

Ground Beef + Stew/Hidden-Vue Farms + Griggs Cattle

Co. Whitefish + Trout// Bodin’s Assorted Pork // Maple Hill

Farm

Meat Basics Ground Beef + Pork+ Beef

Roast

Bayfield Foods Cooperative

PLUS ITEMS:

Syrup // Heritage Farm

Here is a Sneak Peek at Next Week 10.5*

* Please note these are subject to change

Happy fall from Maple Hill Farm! Fall is my favorite time of year. This is the

time of year when farmers get to see the fruits of their efforts to provide

food to our friends and neighbors.

Food production requires a lot of power; human, fossil fuels and solar. Agri-

cultural production takes not only a lot of a farmer’s energy, but also a lot

diesel fuel and gas to run tractors, trucks, skid steers, feed trucks and other

equipment. Farms have many electric motors that are needed to move grain

around and fans for cooling and air circulation. Our flour mill that we use to

turn grain we grow into Rye and Whole Wheat flour has a 10 HP electric mo-

tor. Our 6’x8’ walk-in freezer is used to store the pork we raise. Before we

started farming in 1995, we have made a conscious effort to reduce our car-

bon foot print as much as possible. We heated our home with wood, much

of which we harvested from our land. Our farm flatbed truck can use E85

fuel. In 2008 we installed a 5KW photovoltaic system on our barn, which

provides about 30% of our electric power when our freezer and flour mill are

being used. Other times of the year the system provides over half our pow-

er. We have a heater in our greenhouse that is powered by our pellet boiler

which works well to protect spring vegetables and late season crops. Octo-

ber and March are the best months for power production due to the angle of

the sun in relation to the angle of our solar panels. Growing plants converts

a tremendous amount of solar power into the food we raise and you eat.

Three years ago, it became apparent that the increasing demands of farming

left little time to put up firewood. Our desire to minimize our impact on the

environment led us to install a wood pellet boiler, which uses waste wood.

The boiler burns very efficiently and exceeds the EPA’s Phase 2 air quality

standards and will also burn grain. This year we purchased an electric bicycle.

The bike has a range of about 15 miles and works well for quick runs to town

for parts or for a trip to check on farm fields. I like to think that the bike is

making even more use of our solar panels, but my wife thinks I’m dreaming

up reasons for my “toy”.

The fall scram-

ble begins for

us now to get

our corn and

small grain

crops harvest-

ed before the

winter snows

arrive.

~ Maple Hill

Farm Fruit:

Apples + Pears

VEGGIE Basics :

Carrots, Onions, Broccoli, Deli-cata, Spinach