Bayfield Foods Cooperative September 28th,2016 Lake ... · bait bears and said he gets a dozen...
Transcript of Bayfield Foods Cooperative September 28th,2016 Lake ... · bait bears and said he gets a dozen...
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