CSA Week 13

This week you MAY have corn, Molly Delicious, Zestar, Redcort or McIntosh apples, purple kohlrabi, some type of beans – Wax maybe, Chinese cabbage, melon. Be on the lookout for celeriac.

I love Chinese cabbage! It is so versatile; sweet and tender raw or cooked.

Cortland Apples

Two more weeks of CSA extension option!

Why not keep things rolling until Still Life Farm winter CSA begins!!! Add two more weeks to your 16!! (we are on week 13 this week) We are offering an extension to current CSA members of an additional two weeks for $70. That way you will have your winter squash, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, late season apples cabbage, and other fall crops. It’s simple, just complete your purchase for 2 more weeks and we will keep you on your existing list. These two weeks will blend seamlessly filling the gap between our Summer CSA and Still Life Farm’s Winter CSA.

Discounts will be applied to Stillman’s Farm “store credit” (think electronic Stillman’s Bucks!) for you to use at anywhere you can find us and for any product we sell (yes, for honey, sauce, pickles, plants, etc)

  • Here are the bundle options (please note– you must purchase bundled options at SAME TIME to qualify for bundle discount):

    • 2 week CSA extension + Summer CSA 2023 for $620 $550 ($70 2 week extension is FREE!)
    • 2 week CSA extension + Spring CSA for $490 ($30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil, honey or maple syrup FREE and 7% discount off 2 week extension)
    • 2 week CSA extension + Spring CSA + Summer CSA 2023 for $1045 $975 (Includes 2 week extension FREE! $30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil, honey or maple syrup FREE)

    Not feeling the 2 week extension?

    • Spring CSA + Summer CSA 2023 for $975 (Includes $30 bottle of Oleatrees olive oil,  Stillman’s farm honey or Grend Maple syrup FREE and $60 store credit)

    Just interested in the Winter CSA for now? Sign up here 

Woot!

Don’t want any more CSA bags this year and not ready to sign up for next year? No worries! We will still be offering our large discount (in the form of store credit) to returning members through November. The early sign up discount offer will go out to members later in October. Also, you can always sign up for Still Life farm Winter CSA or Stillman Quality Meats meat bucks whenever. The 2 week extension special bundle offers expire October 1st.

All the bundles are listed at the bottom and this year you can order your perfect bundle in one fell swoop 🙂

OH! I almost forgot, PayPal offers a pay later or pay in 4-6 installments option, without interest, which sounds pretty nifty.

Recipes

Genevieve’s go to Slaw Dressing

Simple, simple, simple:
To 1/3 cup cider vinegar add 1/2 tsp kosher salt (sea salt would be good too), a bunch of black pepper, fat TB of Dijon or spicy brown mustard, 1/2 tsp celery seed; slowly whisk in 1/2 cup oil (something light, I use canola or safflower), Toss over anything shredded: kohlrabi, radish, cabbage, carrot, apple…

See Week 11 for the Chinese Cabbage Salad recipe I prematurely popped in the letter 😉

Kohlrabi Pancakes (my concoction)

  • 2 cups shredded kohlrabi (kohlrabi+potato is nice)

    purple kohlrabi
  • 2 eggs beaten
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2-3/4 cup flour (wheat, almond, rice…it’s all good)

Place kohrabi, eggs, salt, pepper, in a large bowl and mix well. Add flour to bind ingredients. Heat oil in a large skillet. Drop mixture by spoonfuls in hot oil and brown on both sides. Drain on paper towels. Serve hot or cold.

Roasted Kohlrabi

Okay, whatev, pretty much roasting vegetables is the same no matter what the veggie is.

Preheat oven to 425

  • Kohlrabi, peeled, cut into 1/2-3/4″ cubes
  • 1-2 Tb Olive Oil
  • kosher salt or any salt you want
  • healthy pinch of crushed red pepper
  • 1 garlic clove, minced

Toss the cut kohlrabi with the oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, roast in a baking dish (glass is best), stirring around occasionally, for 20+ minutes, or until tender. If you are a cheese hound (me), sprinkle with some Parmesan near the end of cooking 🙂

Josie and Leo had their puppies!

Farm Dirt

We had loads of rain this week, so we are good for a while…never need to solve a drought with multiple inches of water at once, but we got it and we are thankful no one is spending any time this week moving irrigation equipment. I have not gotten an updated report on fruit splitting, but I am sure there will be some 😉 We are picking a nice amount of corn this week…no idea how long that will continue, but we are planning on bumping up the number of ears in the bag this week 🙂

One thing I noticed when scouting the carrot and parsnip crop was lots and lots of deer prints. There’s plenty of other prints too, but just confirming what we already knew from the apples-still-on-the-tree that had bites out of them, LOL. The Sandhill Cranes have been spotted in the fields on the farm below ours, it’s pretty cool to see them.

In other news, we picked up our pesto and marinara sauce from Commonwealth Kitchen; sauce made with Stillman’s tomatoes – we love how their amazing summer flavor is now captured in a jar! With all that’s going on with the food supply I am extra thankful we have a nice amount of sauce on hand for you. the pesto is less of a concern, but boy is it tasty! We try not to just eat it out of the container with our favorite rice crackers, so we mix it up once and a while and add it to the cream cheese on the morning bagel, LOL. It is nice to be able to get storable product made with our produce! The apple sauce is all scheduled for later in October.

The greenhouses have been planted with spinach and other greens we will need for BPM and the Spring CSA…yes, even though the Spring CSA begins March 1st, we have to plan that far ahead to make it happen. I am sure sometimes our customers (even you maybe?) wonder why we have CSA sign ups so early. Well, it takes a lot of planning, purchasing and actual farm work months and months before we actually delivery a thing to market or CSA. The CSA provides the cash flow, allowing us to make good decisions and purchases when we need to. This year we have responded to fuel, labor and cost of goods increases by trying to economize on transportation, reducing payroll hours (which we hate to do) becoming more efficient, but in the end, we have had to raise some prices. The cost of producing and selling our produce has increased, just like all of your expenses have increased, I know.

For the Spring CSA 2023(only Spring CSA), we calculated switching to bi-weekly deliveries will save us enough on labor and delivery expenses that we can hold the $425 price we have had since we started Spring CSA 2 years ago. That means we will be packing twice the food in the bag and delivering every other week. Everything stored well – even the greens! We are passing these efficiency savings on to you! For the Summer CSA, since we cannot go bi-weekly with most of delicate fruits and veg we harvest in the summer. We calculate an additional $3.10 a week will cover most cost increases, and we can continue providing you with a great CSA experience. Reid pointed out that was less than a cup of coffee anywhere. It is an interesting frame of reference because I know very well that the cost of the water filtered through coffee is not nearly what we have invested in a tomato, or box of berries, or ear of corn. Glenn talks about “perceived” value quite a bit. If you were holding a Starby’s in one hand and head of lettuce in the other (I’m in, sounds perfect ;)), what is your perception of value?

Just asking.

The greenhouses have been planted with spinach and other greens we will need for BPM and the Spring CSA…yes, even though the Spring CSA begins March 1st, we have to plan that far ahead to make it happen. I am sure sometimes our customers (even you maybe?) wonder why we have CSA sign ups so early. Well, it takes a lot of planning, purchasing and actual farm work months and months before we actually delivery a thing to market or CSA. The CSA provides the cash flow, allowing us to make good decisions and purchases when we need to. This year we have responded to fuel, labor and cost of goods increases by trying to economize on transportation, reducing payroll hours where we can, becoming more efficient, but in the end, we have had to raise some prices. The cost of producing and selling our produce has increased, just like all of your expenses have increased, I know.

For the Spring CSA 2023(only Spring CSA), we calculated switching to bi-weekly deliveries will save us enough on labor and delivery expenses that we can hold the $425 price we have had since we started Spring CSA 2 years ago. That means we will be packing twice the food in the bag and delivering every other week. Everything stored well – even the greens! We are passing these efficiency savings on to you! For the Summer CSA, since we cannot go bi-weekly with most of delicate fruits and veg we harvest in the summer. We calculate an additional $3.10 a week will cover most cost increases, and we can continue providing you with a great CSA experience. Reid pointed out that was less than a cup of coffee anywhere. It is an interesting frame of reference because I know very well that the cost of the water filtered through coffee is not nearly what we have invested in a tomato, or box of berries, or ear of corn. Glenn talks about “perceived” value quite a bit. If you were holding a Starby’s in one hand and head of lettuce in the other (I’m in, sounds perfect ;)), what is your perception of value?

Just asking.

As always, Eat well,

Geneviève Stillman
our family growing for yours

art in nature

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