Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Tomatoes, Summer Squash, Basil, Collards, Shelling Peas, Red Oak Lettuce, Garlic, Maybe Cucumbers +/or Sunflowers

August! The pace of the farm always picks up this month and goes strong until the first hard freeze. As I type this newsletter the crew is working really hard in hot weather to get the garlic in. The whole crop was dug with an undercutter bar on the tractor. It must then be picked up, soil knocked off the roots, stacked in piles, then loaded on a trailer. It is then transferred to the "old horse barn" where it will dry and cure. It is a dusty dry job, but the garlic needs to be harvested when it is dry. Moisture slows the curing and will tempt rot. Garlic is one of the more labor intensive crops we grow, but it grows so good here! We will save about a third of the crop to be our seed this fall for 2021's crop. (Over the years I have written more about the life cycle of garlic and added it to the recipe page.)
We are in the middle...of a lot right now! Our employees work May 1st- October 31st, so we just hit the half way point in the season with them. Our goal every year is to have at least 16 weeks of shares...most years we make it to 17 or 18 depending on how fast we can empty the garden out and how long nice fall weather lingers. Share #8 puts us in the middle of that goal! We also just passed Lammas a "cross quarter day" on August 2nd, the day half way between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox. We now begin to really reap what we sowed. We know we can depend on our amazing employees who are now trained and committed to this growing season and the work of feeding their community. The garden is on a steep upward trend to its peak of fruition. The fire in the sky is burning strong and bright right now to keep us going. Fire season is upon us in the Tetons as we have reached the dry part of the year. It is the time of the year you can feel the burn of the season! Tempers flare as people can feel hot, tired and cranky. We all strive to savor the last month of summer and squeeze it all in. On the farm we start to make choices about which crops will make it and need our attention immediately, and which crops need to be tilled in because of poor germination or no time to weed. It is the time of year to buckle down and start choosing where our energy will go and what we want to reap for the long term.

Farm lunch this week: Polenta with collards, peas and tomatoes. Gazpacho Soup
Recipe Ideas: Chilled Cucumber Mint Soup. Slice Tomatoes thin, put on a plate sprinkle with chopped Basil and drizzle a bit of Balsamic Vinegar over the whole plate... add salt and pepper and the appetizer is ready! Simple Perfect Peas with Butter and Salt

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Tomatoes, Marjoram, Turnips, Kale, Cucumbers, Fresh Garlic, maybe Summer Squash and/or Sunflowers

The cucurbit family is beginning to yield! Cucumbers, Zucchini, Patty Pan and Yellow Crooknecks are all beginning to show themselves. We have 4 rows dedicated to these beauties. We keep them covered until all threat of frost is gone (does that ever really happen around here?). They are usually beginning to flower when we uncover them. They have gorgeous big showy yellow flowers. The first  fruits off of each plant can be a bit funky. Generally one end of the squash is smaller and soft.  This is because of improper or poor flower fertilization. It is hard for the insects to do their job when the plants are covered.
Once the plants are free of the row cover the insects help grow our food. We depend on them and are grateful to hear them buzzing around the garden. It is always a joy to watch the bees crawling in and out of the flowers. A single cucurbit plant grows male and female flowers. The male flower pollen is needed to fertilize the female flower, the stem of the female flower becomes the fruit. The bit of dried brown papery residue on the end of your cucumber or summer squash is the dried flower.
Our cucumbers don't look like the ones in the store! We grow a variety of "pickling" cucumbers because they produce a lot, in a short amount of time...in other words, they work for a Teton summer! We also chose this variety for its flavor. The skin is nice and thin. My kids want nothing to do with traditional slicing cucumbers when they have the choice of eating the "pickling cukes". You can use them just like a regular cucumber after you wash the little spikes off of them. We eat them like apples. They are the best trail snack on a hot day! Cucumbers are 95% water and are one of the best foods to eat to hydrate yourself. We went camping last weekend with another family and our middle son was so excited about the cucumbers coming in that he picked 20 for the trip. All 6 kids with us were thrilled to be eating whole cucumbers on the banks of a high mountain lake and they finished them all!
Zucchinis are famous for getting huge when they are missed during harvesting. It can be easy to neglect a fruit when you are harvesting and when you come back it is the size of a small wiffle ball bat. We harvest every Monday and Thursday. What those plants do in the days between is incredible. Pounds are put on!
Our workers have to wear protective clothing to pick the squash plants. The stems and leaves are really spiky and hurt! Some people can have an allergic reaction to the plants but are fine eating the fruits. Without gloves and long sleeves you must move slow and look really hard to find the fruits. The protective layers allow you to move the leaves to get a better view...and we don't have time to go slow!
The summer squash (zuchinni, yellow crookneck and patty pan) and the cucumbers are just starting to come in. They will keep producing until we get a freeze. These veggies symbolize of August for me! They also mark the turning point of things becoming more heavy from the garden. It's not just leafy greens any more! 

Farm lunch this week: Veggie (Squash, turnips and Kale) Burritos with Idaho Salsa
Recipe Ideas: Lemon Marjoram Vinaigrette (you can sub Marjoram for oregano in any recipe! This is actually on the Oregano page...but use marjoram instead!), Garlicky Greens (using Kale), Zucchini with Garlic and Tomatoes (add some marjoram!)

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Napa Cabbage, Tomatoes, Winter Savory, Swiss Chard, Radish and Sugar Snap Peas

Jed and I both of fell into farming. Farming was more of a calling then a conscious choice. One of the reasons we both became enamored with it was the simplicity of it, that we were meeting a basic need of the community. We were drawn to the purity of the work. The song lyric by Bob Dylan always spoke to the virtue we found in farming, "His clothes are dirty but his, his hands are clean". We saw farming as something we loved to do, and as work that could make the world a better place. There are so many jobs that fit this description, but for Jed and I, farming was our path. For us farming was also always a social justice cause. Tied to environment, food rights and people's access to real food. 
This spring has felt incredibly exciting to me although I could have done without the layer of Covid on top! Racial Justice was pushed to the forefront. The uprising around the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tamir Rice and countless others caused many white people to begin to reckon with racism in our county. As with many huge problems, I felt powerless. Time and money are not things I have in excess to put behind social change. I needed to stay present for my family and the farm, not be drawn off in another direction.
Gratefully, there is inner work to be done. While continuing to address my own biases and working to change them I finally remembered the farm is a vehicle for social change. 
The farm has a place in the food system in the Tetons and in world. As farmers, we must work to understand systemic racism and how it relates to the food system. As Cosmic Apple we must examine our business and eradicate any ways we are perpetuating systemic racism. After receiving a nudge from Slow Food in the Tetons, we are committing to 6 concrete things we can do.
#1. Commit to Knowledge
We acknowledge the food system in this country was built upon the backs of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). We refuse to accept the whitewashing of history. We will instead seek the voices of BIPOC to guide us towards the work that needs to be done to remove racism from the food system. We will apologize if we act from ignorance and be grateful to learn as we actively move towards a more just world. Each of our employees choose a book from this list to add to the farm library. (I would also recommend Billionaire Wilderness by Justin Farrell, while not about food it is about the income gap in Teton County, WY and racism is at play) We hope to begin a dialogue around the information gained and explore how it relates to the farm and what things we can do differently to create more equality.
#2. Donate $523 yearly (the equivalent of 1 Share) to help BIPOC farmers
Realizing the history of slavery and systemic racism has made it more difficult for BIPOC to purchase and hold onto land, we will donate money to organizations working to change that. (For more info on the history of black landownership listen here Episode 4+5) We may also use this money to help young BIPOC farmers with farm training, issues associated with farm worker rights or for issues associated with food justice. We will find the organizations through Civil Eats.
#3. Act to challenge racism in the food and farming communities and beyond
We vow to speak up when we witness any form of racism in action. We will challenge ourselves to continuously look at our business and ourselves to see how we can do better in relation to BIPOC. We stand with and believe Black Lives Matter.
These are the first 3 actions we are taking. We have 3 more we are working on and are eager to share them with you in future newsletters. It feels great to have a direction to go towards creating change, even though we realize these are just the beginning steps. I know 2020 for many has been hard, and it has not been all sunflowers here either, but the potential changes to grow out of this year may be tremendously positive. I choose to hold onto hope and keep moving forward, while growing vegetables for the People of the Tetons!

Farm lunch this week: Simple stir fry with Napa, Sugar Snap Peas and Tomatoes over rice.
Recipe Ideas: ​Napa Cabbage Salad, Swiss Chard with Eggs on Sourdough, Chard Patties

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Kale, Sugar Snap Peas, Basil, Head Lettuce, maybe Tomatoes, Bok Choy and/or Turnips

I like week 5 of the shares, we are now in a routine and the garden is starting  to yield things that crunch when you bite them. We are on our full schedule now, 2 days of CSA pick ups and 3 markets. Things begin to shift to autopilot at this point in the season. We are in the flow of summer! We are all finding our niches and getting the job done. The plants seem to grow inches overnight and there is a constant curiosity about what will be ready next. The tomato harvests are getting a bit bigger each week! We are also rotating the turnips and radishes through the sites.
We applied the first round of Biodynamic Preparation 501 to the garden this morning. 501 is the horn silica prep. We stir it in water to activate it and then put it in backpack sprayers to apply it to the field in a fine mist, it is applied early in the day and the morning light shining thru the crystal mist is a special thing to experience. Some Biodynamic farmer's refer to it as "making rainbows". As you are walking and spraying the colors of the plants and soil really seem enhanced through the mist. It is a peaceful time in the morning as the farm is waking up and it is a nice way to move your body early in the day. The sprayers are a bit heavy as you start, but keep getting lighter as you spray. 
The 501 enhances light metabolism, stimulates photosynthesis, promotes nitrogen fixing and the formation of chlorophyll. 501 also optimizes fruiting. It is one of the required treatments for our farm to be certified Biodynamic. This prep also influences color, aroma, and the flavor of crops...we think for the better! 

Farm lunch this week: Sauteed Bok Choy, Kale, Turnips and Sugar Snap peas with coconut milk, soy sauce and ginger over rice noodles
Recipe Ideas: Sugar Snap Peas with Basil and Lemon, Kale Dip with Snap Peas, Snap Pea and Turnip Salad, Lemon Butter Basil Turnips,  

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Garlic Curls, Mirlo Head Lettuce, Bok Choy, Dill, Turnips, Maybe Swiss Chard, Collards, Tomatoes and/or Radish

Summ-ah-time!!! Oh it feels so good to look at a weather forecast that is only calling for warm dry weather.​ These are the days I dream of when I am perusing seed catalogs mid-winter. The warm dry weather has us anticipating vegetation mildly browning and drying by the end of the week. The Big Hole Mountains are still holding a little bit of snow visible from Victor. It will most likely be gone by the end of the week. I love watching the lingering snow disappear while thinking about our water. Cosmic Apple's irrigation water comes from Teton Pass. Some of the snow you may have skied on melts into Game Creek, which is where our "irrigation district" gets its water. Fresh pure snow melt. We think it is one of the reasons our veggies taste so good! Clean water is something we cherish. Think about how much water veggies retain. The crunch in that Bok Choy?...that is all snow melt!
Many things are getting close to ripe in the garden. Sugar Snap peas just need some time to plump up. The tomatoes are trickling in. We may not have enough red delicacies in the first couple of harvests to spread them CSA wide. Please rest assured we keep accurate records to make sure everyone gets the same amount as the season progresses. We will soon be removing row cover from the zucchinis, yellow squash and cucumbers so the flowers can be pollinated and the plants can start yielding!
The weeding continues. We will have some extra hands to help this week and hope to get a big chunk done. We also bought a really cool tractor implement this year to help weed. Two people ride on it and move the arms as these things that remind me of jellyfish spin and remove weeds. I have named it the Green Machine, although it's real name is the Eco-Weeder. Here is a link if you want to see it in action: http://www.hillsidecultivator.com/?page_id=39 (the video shows the single model, but we have a two seater!) Something that amazes me is this video was filmed at a place called Shenk's Berry farm. It is 10 minutes from where I grew up. I used to pick berries there as a kid. My mom still gets berries from them to make jam! We have purchased another implement from them in the past. It amazes me how little interest I had in farming as a kid (top secret info...I started going to college with an interest in fashion design. HA!). Now when I go home I am enamored by the small farms, the ingenuity to come out of the history of farming there, and the old barns. Gosh, I love old barns. I wonder what treasures are hidden in them. How many old barns are harboring half built weeding machines? I am so glad the Green Machine was fully developed, it is fun to have a tie to the homeland. And it is even more fun to have a weeded garden!
​
 
Farm lunch this week: Roasted Garlic Curl hummus on sandwiches with radish, bok choy, Lifeline cheese and lettuce. 
Recipe Idea: Chard Patties, Super Simple Chard (this is a great hamburger topping!), Easy glazed Turnips, Beer Baked Turnips

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Kale, Garlic Curls, Oregano, Bok Choy and Spinach

It seems everyone I run into in town has been asking me how the weather has been affecting the farm with a stern look of concern. The weather has been great, alternating between warm temperatures and soothing rain. The garden is growing wonderfully. The plants seem to get bigger each day. The grass is still soft and green on my bare feet. The cows are happy on pasture. Our last variety of lilacs are still blooming. Every once in a while I get a whiff of sage in the air. Jed gets a break from moving irrigation pipe when we get enough precipitation. All of these delights help us appreciate the rain.
As much as we love the rain for the garden, it can be a bit trying on our morale. Hands get really cold harvesting in the rain, and dexterity is important when using knives or shears. It takes a lot of energy just walking in heavy, wet, muddy rain gear. The lush garden soil clings to boots making them feel like 1980's ski boots. (Those were really heavy for those of you who didn't get the chance to rock '80's ski gear beyond Gaper Day) When the soil is really wet we can't weed, but the weeds keep growing! It is nice to have a break from that task, but falling behind is no fun either. The thing about the rough weather, is we just love the pleasant weather that much more when the sun shines upon us.
I know last week I spent some time raving about our employees, but I need to do it again. Even with the cold wet weather they were all smiling at lunch on Monday. I love these people. Please send them some gratitude. They work really hard in all kinds of weather to get you your share.
So now that you know the garden is growing amazingly and filled with amazing people, you may be wondering what veggies are out there! I can tell you what we planted, but I offer no guarantee as to what comes to fruition. Mother Nature is really the one in charge around here.  Some years weather, pests or weeds makes a crop unharvestable.  But since I am a lover of hopes and dreams I will share the list of ours for the 2020 year!
In the garden this year....
Potatoes, Garlic, Beans, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Pickling Cucumbers, Cucumbers, Sugar Dumpling Squash, Delicata Squash, Orange Summer Squash, Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Spinach, Arugula, Turnips, Radish, Carrots, Parsnips, Broccoli, Kale, Sunflowers, Sugar Snap Peas, Snow Peas, Fava Beans, Shell Peas, Onions, Shallots, Beets, Kohlrabi, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Dill, Cilantro, Broccoli Raab, Swiss Chard and Perennial Herbs. The greenhouses are sheltering our Tomatoes and Basil!
Wow! That all sounds so good. 
Reminder....check out our recipe pages if you are not sure how to use something. Hint, hint...garlic curls are awesome!!!

Farm lunch this week: Tempeh Stir Fry with Kale, Bok Choy and Garlic Curls. Pesto with Quinoa, Bok Choy and Kale
Recipe Idea: Gingered Kale and Bok Choy, Emily's Overnight Kale Salad, Kale and Oregano Pesto, Roasted Garlic Curl Hummus

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Collards, Australe Head Lettuce, Bok Choy, Maybe Radish and/or Basil

We hope the first share was well received and you are ready to be back for more!
We made a big change on the farm this year and we are excited to share! Drum roll please.... After 22 years of working with crews of volunteers we have switched to an all employee crew. This has been a big leap and we are grateful we went for it.
Over the years we have met so many incredible people because they did a "workshare" at the farm. Workshares spent 5 hours per week farming in exchange for a full share, lunch and hands on farming experience. It was a serious commitment and lasted for 6 months. Many workshares have become lifelong friends and we feel blessed. A quick look though the list of 2020 shareholders and I can find 27 people who volunteered on the farm! I am confident there are more who have changed last names or are splitting a share in someone else's name. This constant "crop" of new folks kept Jed and I learning many names each year and coming to love many of the personalities behind the names. We are sad to see this super social part of the farm slip away. We can not emphasize enough how many wonderful people we met through the volunteer program.
So why are we moving on? We decided to make this move last fall when Teton County, ID was in the midst of a boom cycle. It gets challenging to get folks to volunteer when staffing at paid jobs is short handed.  Employers need our volunteers to come to work at their paying jobs. The great volunteers tend to be the great employees, so they would get pulled away from the farm. We would have days in the fall when an entire volunteer crew would not show up. It was hard to get the harvest in. It was hard to get the farm closed up for the season. Jed and our manager were exhausted from training whoever showed up on a given day how to do a job already explained 90 times before. We were tired of figuring out the logistics with not enough hands to execute a plan.
Hiring full time employees started to look awesome. Full time employees who would know where things were in the fields, know what tools to grab to get a job done, show up when they promised us they would and so many other great things we have yet to experience. We were hoping trained employees in the field would really raise the efficiency of our day to day tasks. Of course the only thing holding us back was the payroll. Ugh. Oh darn you reality. We crunched numbers. We talked. We did more math. Finally we just went for it. Covid hit and we received a lot of applications.
Now we have a "Field Crew"! They. Are. Awesome. We have 5 full time employees who are planting, weeding, moving row cover, harvesting, taking care of animals, doing market prep and all the other jobs that come up. As much as we miss the extreme socialization with the volunteers, I like seeing the same folks each day. It feels more like family. We will be able to cultivate deeper relationships instead of just more relationships. Who knew when we made this leap, 2020 would be the year of tightening up our social circles?!
As of right now, most of the garden is weeded. This is huge for us. It already speaks volumes to the improved efficiency of a trained crew. We are so grateful to each of these folks who has walked into our lives and wants to share the farm with us. 

​Farm lunch this week: Cheese melts with lovage pesto and spinach. Bratwurst and Creamed Collards 
Recipe Idea: ​​Sweet and Sour Collards, From the Just Picked Cooking show (link at top of page) the Share #1 Bok Choy recipe, grilled! So good!

The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit!
Beef Available: Tenderloin, New York Steak, Ribeye Steak, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Round Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Flank Roast,  Liver, Ground Beef, Patties, Stew, Stir Fry, Kabobs, Hot Dogs and Bratwurst
​Pork Available: Chorizo and Fat

WASH YOUR VEGGIES!!
​
Bring Bags to pick-ups!

If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend!
Missed shares are forfeited for the week. 
Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets!
The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7
The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1
Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1(Starts 7/11)
Farm to Fork Festival: October 3rd 11-4  Center for the Arts
Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com

​

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Spinach, Pea Shoots, Sorrel, Lovage and Baby Garlic

Hello there!!! Welcome to Cosmic Apple's 2020 Community Supported Agriculture program. We are  excited to start getting veggies out to the People of the Tetons!! We truly hope you are looking forward to tasting fresh grown produce again. If this is your first year being a member, we are so grateful you have chosen to join us. Welcome back to our many returning members! We cherish your support over the years.
The farm is buzzing with energy as we get the first harvest in. I love the energy of the early leafy greens. They are so light and fresh. They grow quickly. We planted the Spicy Mix, Cosmic Mix and spinach on April 30th. These quick crops are the first things to get us going in the spring. After a winter of heavy food, I feel light and quick again when I eat these treats. Sometimes I can taste the sunshine in the leaves and feel my cells realigning to the abundance of summer and all the garden provides.
We want to thank you all for adhering to our covid 19 protocols. I sent out an email with pick up information earlier in the week. Please read and follow. You MUST wear a mask.
We ask you to bear with us this first week. I planned to get more tongs locally, but was unable to obtain them. We have 40 pairs on the way and will have them at the next pick up. 
So many things in the world feel different right now. Some feel uncomfortable, some feel like we are shifting towards positive change. I don't want to ignore these big looming issues. I don't have all the words to even address them right now. But I will. I promise. Right now, we are so wrapped up in the logistics of getting 278 people to the correct spot and having the appropriate amount of veggies to meet them with! 
Here is a new change that feels embraceable! Lovage. It is a perennial and one of the first things up in the spring. I have been using it in brothy soups with white beans and nettles over rice. Also in salad dressings. It adds a very strong celery and parsley flavor to things. You can also get a lot of miles from great puns like..."I lovage you!" every time you prepare a meal. See our recipe pages (follow the link at the bottom) if you need inspiration for any of the veggies we give out. I have organized them based on the main veggie ingredient. Please send me your favorites as the season goes on. I love updating the recipe bank!
Gratefully, some things have stayed the same! The spring work of planting seeds, selling shares, tilling the fields, tending plant starts, hiring employees, weeding, weeding and weeding were all beautiful grounding traditions as we felt shaken by a new reality.
Our guiding principle at the farm has remained the same: "To grow the best food possible for the People of the Tetons." Knowing you are depending on us always helps us get through the questionable times. Thank you for trusting us to be your farmers this year. We are here if you ever need to give us feedback. Please just reach out. We love growing food for you. We love growing organically and biodynamically! We believe our vegetables will allow you to taste the difference and we hope we live up to our guiding principle.
I also want you to know my prayer for all the seeds we plant, all the veggies we harvest, every share that heads off the farm and every morsel we sell at the markets. This prayer has stayed the same for many years, and still feels relevant : "May this food give people the energy they need to make the world a better place."
So here we are...2020 CSA! Bon appetit!

Farm lunch this week: Pea shoots over rice with peanut sauce (Peanut sauce is on the Bok Choy page...but it works on almost anything!)
Recipe Idea: ​​Lovage and Baby garlic pesto, Spinach Artichoke Dip, Lovage salad dressing for all the greens!

The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit!
Beef Available: Tenderloin, New York Steak,  Ribeye Steak, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Round Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Flank Roast,  Liver, Ground Beef, Patties, Stew, Stir Fry, Kabobs, Hot Dogs and Bratwurst
​Pork Available: Breakfast Sausage, Chorizo and Fat

WASH YOUR VEGGIES!!
​
Bring Bags to pick-ups!

If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend!
Missed shares are forfeited for the week. 
Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets!
The People's Market: Wednesdays 4-7
The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1
Jackson Hole Farmer's Market: Saturdays 8-1(Starts 7/11)
Farm to Fork Festival: October 3rd 11-4  Center for the Arts
Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com

Crop List: Delicata Squash, Orange Summer Squash, Orange Carrots, Rainbow Carrots, Potatoes, Chiogia Beets, Onions, Daikon Radish, Green Tomatoes, Garlic, Maybe Red Tomatoes, Sunflowers and/or Sugar Dumpling Squash

This is the last share! We sure hope you enjoyed eating the veggies as much as we enjoyed growing them. We thank you for all the energy you gave to the farm. Your commitment to meet us weekly to get your veggies was appreciated. Knowing there are folks in the community trusting us to grow for them, is inspiring. We hope the food nourished you and helped you accomplish great things.
The garden temperature hit 26 on Monday morning. Last year we made it to September 25th and this year to the 30th! These are late freezes, and we are grateful for all the extra growing time. The timing feels perfect as we wrap up the CSA and markets this week. During October we will be cleaning out the garden and getting next year's garlic crop planted.
So how was 2019 from the farmer's eyes? Like every year, somethings were great! ...and somethings were less great. The hard and late frost on June 9th really messed some things up. The potatoes froze. We are lucky to get any spuds this year. We feel like we are letting the state of Idaho down! The cabbage and broccoli froze at that time also. We sadly did not get as many tomatoes as we planned for. We are looking forward to trying again next year!
What was stellar in 2019? Cucumbers and Winter squash were the stars this year. It may have been the best cucumber year ever. I know I raved about them earlier this season, but they really deserve some celebration! The carrot crop has been great. See if you can taste the difference now that it froze. After a frost, the carrots really sweeten up! This is why we can grow some of the best carrots anywhere right here in the Tetons. They like a bit of cold right before harvest. The Garlic, Peas, Turnips and Cosmic Mix also made an impressive showing in 2019.
So there it is! Was? The 2019 growing season. Once again, we are grateful for you dear shareholder. Thank you for all your support this season, or over many years depending on who you are. We wish you a peaceful winter. With love, Dale, Jed, our family and the Cosmic Crew.

​We have kicked off our 2020 CSA membership drive! This is the last week to get a free organic hat or shirt when signing up for 2020. Bring a check or cash to your pick up this week. You will guarantee getting the pick up day and time that you want and get in for our early season prices!  Your site host will have sign-up sheets or you can get one here: ​https://www.cosmicapple.com/uploads/1/7/9/9/17994337/2020_sign_up.pdf
​You can pay online with a credit card if you prefer, but we will not be able to get you a shirt or hat. You will also save the 3% card fee if you pay with a check or cash at the site!

Special Announcement! Our friend Captain Todd Broadhead will be at the farm on Thursday, October 3rd, 5-7 pm selling his amazing salmon. This is a surprise this early in the season and we are thrilled to have him join us at the last pick up. He spends his summers fishing off the coast of AK and WA, and he lives in the Tetons in the winter. If you purchase any salmon this year, this is it. It tastes the best and you are supporting an independent environmentally ethical fisherman.

Workshare lunch this week: Pad Thai
Recipe Idea: Fermented Green Tomato Ketchup, sent in as a recommendation by a member!

The coolers at your site are stocked with Lifeline cheese and a selection of the beef and pork listed below. If you know you want something, please email me and I will make sure it is in the cooler, reserved for you. I don't send every cut every week, they simply won't all fit!
Beef Available: Tenderloin, New York Steak,  Round Roast, Liver, Ribs, Ground Beef, Patties, Hot Dogs and Bratwurst
​Pork Available: Grandpa's Sausage (Back in stock!!!), Shoulder Roast, Loin Roast,  and Fat

WASH YOUR VEGGIES!!
​
Bring Bags to pick-ups!

If you can't make it to pick up your veggies, send a friend!
Missed shares are forfeited for the week. 
Members get 20% off at the Farmer's Markets!
The Driggs Market: Fridays 9-1 (Last Market 10/4)
Farm to Fork Festival: October 5th 11-4  Center for the Arts
Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com

Crop List: Carrots, Blackberry Potatoes, Sugar Dumpling Squash, Beets, Basil, Baby Leeks, Shallots, Swiss Chard, Cilantro and Sunflowers

Today is the first day of fall. The time of year to embrace change. The leaves are changing colors, snow is back on the peaks and the Cosmic Mix has stopped growing. The cooler temps are affecting the garden. The Cosmic Mix needs some warmer weather to kick it back into action again. We may see some more before the season ends, but no guarantee. We have yet to have a hard freeze this year but the garden has slowed way down.
The winter squash was harvested last week so we could inventory everything that came out of the garden and determine how much would be in a share. The squash looks amazing this year. You can store it on your countertop out of direct sunlight until you are ready to eat it. We decided to skip pumpkins this year and grow more squash we think people will eat. My son has decided not growing pumpkins means it is the "worst farm year ever". I am determined to win him back with lots of decadent winter squash feasts! I think we get a better yield out of the sugar dumplings, delicata and orange summer squash then we do the pumpkins. You will get some this week and more next also! I hope enjoy these garden beauties! They are a treasure in the Tetons.

We are kicking off our 2020 CSA membership drive! 2020. Crazy. When I was young, I really thought we would be driving around in personal hovercrafts that ran on sunshine by 2020. Hovercrafts aside, we are ready for you to secure your 2020 veggie share!! If you sign up at a pick up location before the season ends, you will receive a free organic cotton t-shirt or hat! Your site host will have sign-up sheets or you can get one here: ​https://www.cosmicapple.com/uploads/1/7/9/9/17994337/2020_sign_up.pdf
​You can pay online with a credit card if you prefer, but we will not be able to get you a shirt or hat. You will also save the 3% card fee if you pay with a check or cash at the site!
We will definitely make it to share #16 this year! See you next week too!

Workshare lunch this week: Peruvian Quinoa Stew (on the tomato page)