Orange Cat CSA Newsletter
The return of summer
This week’s newsletter is for weekly standard share folks and Week B Every-Other-Week share folks. Please pick up your box at your site on Thursday afternoon during your designated pick-up time and cross your name off the list so we know you got your box.
Week A EOW sites include Farm, RAMC, Portage, and Prairie du Sac.
Week B EOW sites include Reedsburg, LaValle, Lake Delton, WI Dells, Baraboo 8th Avenue, and Baraboo 8th Street.
I am excited about this beautiful fall lettuce crop we have this season—a stunning rainbow of leafy fluffy fantastic-ness. We actually did something new this fall and row covered the lettuce. This protected it from the Astor yellow leaf hoppers, which destroyed the crop last fall. We keep learning new things every season at the farm and it’s fun to see such a success!
What’s In Your Box?
Beets, Swiss chard, onions, lettuce, salad, peppers, broccoli, potatoes, slicer tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, garlic, and a pie pumpkin.
Begin bulk root crop harvest season and fill up the cooler season! Something about the carrot harvest this morning just struck me as beautiful. I love all the different shades of orange in the rainbow mix.
Farmer Laura’s Report
We are enjoying the cool breezes and sun on our face this week. The broccoli and lettuce love the cooler temps as they just get bigger and sweeter. And the human crew loves wearing sweaters and stocking caps first thing in the morning. Farmer Laura loves that almost all of the transplanting and weeding is done for the season and we can focus all of our energies on things like a gigantic sweet potato harvest. Another month is still left before CSA deliveries end, but we can finally see the end in sight. I’m pretty sure it happens faster and faster every year:)
Oh!- there are still Winter CSA shares available. Sign up on the online store.
$200 for four deliveries every other week in November and December. At the same time, the online store will be open for orders.
Potato harvest helpers. Sooooo cute!
Pumpkin Pick Event
Join us at the farm on Sunday, September 22, from noon - 3:00 pm!
Come out to Orange Cat Community Farm and pick your pumpkins, take a self-guided tour of the farm, meet your farmer and fellow CSA Members, and enjoy running around on a gorgeous fall afternoon. Family-friendly, perfect fall day activity for all ages. This is a low-key, outdoor event. Come any time and stay as long as you’d like. Orange Cat CSA members get to take home a pumpkin! They are looking big this year, too:)
There will be a refreshment table. Bring a snack to share if you’d like.
Please RSVP to Laura at orangecatcommunityfarm@gmail.com
Directions to Orange Cat Community Farm: S1280B Cherry Ln, Lyndon Station 53944. Just off of Hwy H, between Lake Delton and Reedsburg, it is 7 minutes from Reedsburg and the Dells and 20 minutes from Baraboo.
Tried & True Recipes
You can find all our recipes on our website, but here are some we recommend for this week.
Pie pumpkins. Always one of the sweetest harvests of the season!
Notes From Heidi and Her Kitchen
I am in the throws of last-minute planning, organizing, and messy packing in anticipation of my trip to Italy next week (you can learn more about the next trip I’m leading here). What does this have to do with this week’s bounty? I am searching for recipes and techniques that will help me make the most of my CSA box. Here’s some of what will happen in my kitchen this weekend:
The beets, onions, potatoes, garlic, and pie pumpkins can last a few weeks, so I won’t worry about them.
I will cut up my broccoli, freeze it in one layer on large sheet pans, then transfer those florets to a Ziploc bag and pop it back in the freezer.
In the effort of time, I will roast the tomatoes and peppers (maybe an onion and garlic, too), along with salt, olive oil, and some dried oregano, until soft. A quick zip in the blender and the base for a winter sauce is ready for me to freeze.
Last up is the Swiss chard. Blanching it, then squeezing out excess water before freezing this beautiful green will ensure that our winter stew includes chard.
Done!! Now off to Italy!
Come visit us at the Baraboo Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.