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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Arugula, Spinach, Basil, Summer Squash, Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Bok Choy, maybe Fennel, Sunflowers, Green Beans, Shell Peas, Sugar Snaps and/or Head Lettuce (Red or Green Curly Leaf) One of the principles of Biodynamic farming is that our fertility is created on farm. This lessens our dependency on outside sources and creates a more closed loop farm system. Our compost is created by our animals. Even though we are all in it for the veggies our critters are an integral part of our farm plan. So here is a who's who of our livestock right now... We currently have a bull who has done his duty. He is the proud father of 3 calves with 4 more on the way. It is time for him to head to the butcher or within a month he will be able to impregnate his daughters...and we all know that is a no-no! The Mama cows are Annie, Ms. Moo Moo Face, Bertha, Solstice (a.k.a. Soley) and Red Rosie. The calves on farm right now are Frankie, Star and Penguin. We believe Annie will calve sometime this month and another round of hopefully 3 calves will be born in February. We have a lot of pigs right now, after an unplanned hiatus because the breeding stock was doing anything but breeding! We have a batch of teenagers who were purchased from other farms at a really young age. There are 6 of them. They are about 5-6 months old and will be processed around 8 months of age. Our new sow, Shorty, had a litter of 8 piglets . Proud Papa Luther is also new to the farm and will be around for a while. We hope Shorty and Luther enjoy each other's company! They were only able to hang out for a couple months together before Shorty had to be separated for birthing. She arrived pregnant...So Luther is currently playing step-Dad. This newsletter was inspired by our new laying flock. We have 80 chicks who are about a week old. They will start laying in early December...just in time for our winter markets. We still have 23 chickens from last summer's flock who are out on pasture. They scratch up an area and are then moved. They create the most amazing green grass where ever they have been. Even though they do absolutely nothing for the farm's fertile soils we have 2 excellent mousers, Zedd and Dumbledore. And of course I need to mention the official greeter of the farm, Cosmo! Lunch this Week: Polenta with sautéed summer squash on a bed of arugula with tomato balsamic reduction. Pita pockets with Tajiki, Cosmic Mix and toasted walnuts.
Recipe Ideas: Bok Choy, Spinach, Ginger Soup; Summer Squash Ribbons; Sautéed Summer Squash and Feta 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! Lifeline Beef Available: Tenderloin, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com
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Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Summer Squash, Tomato, Basil, Fresh Garlic, Collards, Bok Choy, Arugula and Maybe Sunflowers Monday was Lammas, a holiday marking the beginning of the harvest season. It is the mid-point between Summer Solstice and Fall Equinox. It is a time to pause and evaluate how we are doing with the things we have sown for the year. What still needs to be tended to, what can we celebrate as a success, what have we already let go of and what work is ahead to prepare for the return of fall? On the seasonal wheel, we are closer to fall then the other seasons. Luckily we still have so many more "summer" crops to enjoy! We started the garlic harvest on this special day this year! The whole crop will be brought out of the field and into a shed to dry and cure so it will store well for the winter. About a third of it will be saved for seed for next year's crop. We started pulling it and piling it. Then the downpour came. We will continue Tuesday afternoon until it is done. This is the time of year we dream about when we are ordering seeds mid-winter. The garden is beginning to burst with all we imagined. The squash is still going strong and the sunflowers are beginning to bloom. A share with tomato, basil, fresh garlic and summer squash is the height of summer for me! The garlic going out today has not cured yet...or dried down. Notice when you open it the "paper" is still moist. The layer closest to the clove is still more vegetable and less paper. Savor the juiciness of the garlic! It is at it's peak of freshness, flavor and potency. We received the gift of rain this past week. The garden feels moist and lovely. We have been told by our irrigation company that we are now "on turns for water". As of now we are able to water for 3 days and then take 1 day off. While this rotation is not ideal, we will be able to manage just fine, especially with the recent precipitation. Lunch this Week: Gazpacho Soup with roasted summer Squash, Polenta with a tomato, balsamic reduction and sautéed summer squash
Recipe Ideas: Bruschetta, Garlicky Tomato Dressing, Collard Wraps, Tomato, Zucchini, Basil Boats 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Arugula, Tomatoes, Summer Squash and Winter Savory Taking a break with the greens was the right call last week. They look big and plentiful this week. Monday was a record arugula harvest. Setting harvest records is always fun. It puts it in perspective when you think there is a lot of something as you are picking it, but when Jed looks at the records and can confirm it was "the most ever!", all that work feels a little extra special. I am grateful the harvest crew got to see how satisfying cutting greens can be. The summer squash is on. The plants will keep cranking out fruits almost as quickly as we can find and harvest them. We plan on having these beauties every week until it freezes, or the plants slow down. Sometimes they get stressed from smoke or cold and slow down a bit...but by then we are almost ready for a tiny break! And then they come back! Please note that all summer squash can be used interchangeably. Yes, you can use the round yellow patty pan for zucchini bread or the oblong green Magda for a recipe calling for patty pan. The flavors are so subtly different it is fine to trade them out in any recipe. Sometimes I just pick mine based on what color I feel like adding to a dish. Add two types of summer squash to a dish and perform a taste test! Winter Savory! Okay...it is new to me also. I don't have a recipe page for it yet. But my quick search and tastings of it let me know it is great for all bean dishes, it tastes a little bit like thyme and is quite peppery. It would be wonderful with chicken or in chicken soup. Like all herbs in this climate it will dry perfectly for winter use if you are not going through it quickly. (herb drying tips on the oregano page) Lunch this Week: Chili Mint stir fry with Tempeh or Round Steak. Over a bed of arugula and tomatoes.
Recipe Ideas: Summer Veggie Tian (sub savory for thyme, under the summer squash page), Summer Squash Boats (also sub savory for oregano), Italian Arugula Salad, Farmer Breakfast: Egg fried in lard/butter on a bed of arugula with diced fermented jalapenos and rice vinegar. Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Sugar Snap Peas, Summer Squash, Head Lettuce, Kale, Basil, Bok Choy, Maybe Tomatoes or Shelling Peas Let's get the bad news out of the way. We have no Cosmic Mix this week. Our first 2 crops did not fare so well. The 3rd crop of it is looking good! We could have harvested it for this week, but then we would have had another mediocre harvest. We decided to hold off until next week and use our time more efficiently. We think next week it will be big and bountiful! Pea picking is on! The crew is spending so much time harvesting peas right now. Shell peas and sugar snaps. We know you love them. We love them too. We will never be able to harvest enough to satiate the CSA. They take a lot of time to get off the vines and are one of our more labor intensive crops. We know many peas don't even make it home and are enjoyed on the drive from the pick up. We even had a farm dog years ago who would find the ripe ones and eat them off the vines. How can that crunch be resisted! Speaking of crunch...have you noticed the shift in the shares. We are past just leafy greens. The veggies are starting to have more texture, snap and weight. Water. Everyone is asking us about water right now. We love your concern. As of now, we have water! A "call" was made by the folks out below who have older irrigation rights and get to take the water when they deem it time. The call was "futile" because the water in the creek is not flowing enough to make it to the main artery and then out of the valley. Some years we have to shut off to determine if it will make it out of the valley. But this year with such low levels we did not have to take that break. Our irrigation company, Trail Creek, has stated we may need to take turns using the water because the pressure in the pipes is so low, but we have yet to hear. While this is not ideal and will result in less water, we will manage. Water, Sun, Air and Soil. These are the elements we survive by. Each is so precious for growing food. I think about each of them in turn. Water is at the forefront right now. The water that comes to the farm is amazing. It is Teton snowmelt. We are so close to the source and the water is so pure because of it. We know it makes a difference in the flavor of the veggies. Often when I think of water my mind goes back to the film "What the Bleep" from 2004. It touches on Dr. Masaru Emoto's studies of how our emotions affect water. He has found that the structure of H2O molecules can change when certain intentions are directed at it. Love, compassion, hatred, anger all change the molecular structure in different ways. I find it fascinating, and completely empowering. Okay...I'm going to get out there. Quit reading now if you need to. I like to think about our collective Teton Mindset. If we are walking around saying things like..."It's so dry", "we need rain", "what a crappy snow year, there's no Pow", "I'm sick of snow, when is spring going to get here?" the water around us absorbs that energy. The water takes it on and moves through our space and out into the world. If the water is receiving the energy of "it's so dry" maybe it receives that message of dryness and keeps it dry. This is where the empowerment comes in. Our language affects the energy we put out. So in my far out Cosmic thinking, I believe if we change our thinking (energy) to "rain is welcome", "snow is welcome" "spring is welcome" it moves water through our space and sends it out into the world feeling loved by the People of the Tetons. I think the rest of the world could use that love too. If studies have proven that water absorbs our emotions, I believe we should be conscious enough to give it emotions we want to share with the world. I believe if we make an effort to choose emotions and thought patterns to make water feel welcome we can collectively change the weather patterns. And guess what...Even if I am completely wrong, the only thing that changes is you spent some moments thinking about how you address water in our ecosystem. Which seems to me like a win anyway. So call the water in. Welcome it. Picture rain falling. Smell it in the air. Feel it on your skin. Hear it dancing on the puddles. Take a moment to taste it in your veggies and send it some gratitude. Lunch this Week: Stir Fry! Starring Sugar Snap Peas, Summer Squash, Kale, Over rice.
Recipe Ideas: Simple, Perfect Peas with Butter and Salt, Creamy Zuchinni Cumin Dip for the Sugar Snaps, Grilled Summer Squash Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Collards, Cilantro, Sugar Snap Peas, Garlic and maybe Tomatoes We feel grateful right now. We keep hearing how everyone is perpetually short staffed this summer. We could use one more shift covered by a truck driver, but that's it. Jed has been filling in that spot on Tuesdays and enjoys seeing many of you at the Downtown drop off location! We realize how many positions need filled in both valleys and how many business owners are happy just to have a live body standing behind a counter. I don't want to make anyone jealous...but we have the best workers. I am typing and realizing I feel a wave of emotion thinking about them! The gratitude is overwhelming. Most of them are under 30. I love this generation of people. Their communication skills alone make work so much easier. They are able to directly clarify things in ways Jed and I could not do at that age. Their language is positive and concise. Each of the folks working with us could be making double to triple what we are paying them landscaping or washing dishes. They could be making the same in an airconditioned building stocking shelves, which is way easier then farming. But right now, they are committed to working in agriculture. They believe in it as a way to do something good for our world. They work hard. Jed is known as a boss who keeps people moving. He (and I) see the big picture of what needs to be done while the the clock ticks and the payroll rises. It can be hard to motivate a crew to go weed another bed on a hot day. BUT this crew does it. Without complaining. And my gosh...they are funny, and creative. I love the stories they tell and their views on the world, and the amazing ways they each express themselves. Their willingness to pitch in and do what needs to be done rocks. Our employees are now closer in age to our children then we are. Our kids love to hang with the employees and the kindness our kids are treated with is enough to warm anyone's heart. There is something special about the way a 20 something year old can give a teenager just enough of a ribbing to get a point across and the teen instantly "get it". And I will be forever grateful to our employees for the life lessons our kids pick up while interacting with these inspirational folks, because we all know, they are way cooler then Mom and Dad will ever be! We have had many great employees over the years. But collectively as a group, this is hands down the best group we have ever worked with. We know the energy every one of us brings to the farm affects the end result of your veggies. Having an incredible crew, who bring kindness, fun, joy and a good attitude to work each day radiates out and we know it is part of why your veggies taste so good. Each of our employees brings so much to the table, and seriously...the gratitude is overwhelming! Lunch this Week: Collards, Sugar Snap Peas, Garlic, Garlic Curls in coconut milk with a splash of soy sauce and grated ginger over rice noodles, topped with cilantro.
Recipe Ideas: Spicy Collards, Quinoa and Sugar Snap Salad. Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 July, 10th) Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Swiss Chard, Garlic Curls, Bok Choy, Turnips, Oregano maybe Tomatoes, Purple Basil, and/or Sugar Snap Peas I woke up on Monday morning to humidity! It rained during the early morning hours. We needed it. It had been 10 days since the last precipitation in Victor. It is raining now as I write and It smells SO GOOD! A bit of thunder and lightning are happening too...my favorite fireworks. The garden is taking a pause. It always does this between the spring crops and the summer crops. It is challenging for us. We want to harvest more...but we already picked all the early spring things and the summer goodies are not quite there yet. The squash plants are flowering. The peas are starting to fruit. And the tomatoes are about to be a regular item. As always, the garden is in charge, reminding us to be patient. The season of abundance is not quite upon us, we are still in the nurturing phase. Weeding, watering, planting, tending, watching and waiting. What are we waiting for? Here is the list of everything planted in the garden for 2021: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Spinach, Sugar Snap Peas, Shell Peas, Carrots, Radish, Turnips, Sunflowers, Dill, Cilantro, Arugula, Green Onions, Beets, Pea Shoots, Beans, Potatoes, Zucchini, Winter Squash, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Basil, Thyme, Oregano, Cabbage, Fennel, Broccoli, Napa Cabbage, Bok Choy, Head Lettuce, Onions, Shallots, Leeks, Kale, Collards, Swiss Chard and Cauliflower Some veggie trivia came up at the farm last week! Swiss Chard...why Swiss? Chard is native to the Mediterranean Coast. It seems Chard was also prized by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It had many names so its history is hard to find and prove. The popular assumption is that a Swiss botanist first classified the plant and gave it the new name "Swiss Chard". (Disclaimer: I just did some quick internet looking...I know my scientific writing professor is furious right now...but I don't have time to write a thesis today, or spend hours citing sources. Maybe I'm starting viscous veggie rumors, correct me if you are a more proficient researcher!) Lunch this Week: Burritos with Dale's Burrito Sauce, I am using the sauce from "Bok Choy with Gingery Butter Sauce" and making a big stir fry adding garlic curls, turnips and steak.
Recipe Ideas: Grilled Steak with Chard, Tomato and Balsamic Vinegar Reduction, Chard Patties Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 July, 10th) Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Garlic Scapes, Kale, Turnips, Red Oak Leaf Lettuce, Basil maybe Holy Basil or Dill By Share #3 we are starting to slip into a routine. Our co-workers now see the flow of the days of the week in regard to CSA and market harvests. Our distribution sites are going smooth and your veggie weighing skills are progressing rapidly! We spend the mornings getting in the leafy green items that don't enjoy the heat. Then we move onto the heartier items. Most of the afternoons are spent weeding. July days are balanced between weeding and harvesting. The more we get weeded right now, the bigger the harvests will be. The garden (and the weeds!) are growing so fast right now. The plants have so much energy from the long days. I swear the cabbage doubled in size this week. Jed wants me to write about garlic this week. I love garlic!! I love it so much I have written about it and saved every word of it. You can find all my garlic musings if you follow the recipe link. Check out the garlic scape/curl button to learn about the garlic life cycle. It is fascinating! I think so, because I LOVE garlic. Many of the recipe buttons have information about the nutrients in each veggie, storage tricks and basic uses. The tomatoes are starting to be ready! We have had a couple small harvests and the red treats will make their way to the 3rd pick up site this week. As items ripen, we don't always have enough to get them out to the whole CSA at once. The first harvest was about 20#, definitely not enough for the 119.5 shares we put out that day. We would have had to cut tomatoes in half! What we do is keep really accurate records and will make sure everyone gets tomatoes before any site gets them twice. As we all get excited for tomatoes, this seems like a good place for a reminder on weighing items. It is like the Price is Right. You may not go over! If everyone goes over a little bit, there will not be enough for everyone! Honesty is key to the CSA model working. If you want to see the farm in action, please check out our social media (Instagram and Facebook). One of our talented employees has been making great videos of work days. More then just veggies! If you have not had a chance to check out what's in our coolers, please do so! You can also find a list of what is available below. If you know you want something please send me an email, I am more then happy to reserve it for you, or I can send a special order to your pick up. After many requests we have developed a merchandise line. Lots of Organic Cotton and fair trade goods. All printed or embroidered locally. The mugs and water bottles are locally invented and etched, they have a really cool magnet lid. (We have blue ones too, I just haven't gotten photos up yet) I can easily send goods to your pick up site so you don't have to pay shipping. You can email me an order, or purchase online and I will refund the shipping. You can also check things out in person at the People's Market and the Driggs Market. Lunch this Week: Garlic Curl Hummus sandwiches and Quinoa with pesto and veggies!
Recipe Ideas: Grilled Garlic Scapes (perfect for 4th of July BBQ!), Emily's Overnight Kale Salad, Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Or Tuesday or Thursday! 2 days a week or just one! 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round, Brisket, Ground Beef, Patties, Tri-Tip Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: 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 July, 10th) Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Radish, Bok Choy, Lovage, Green Onion, Collards, Broccoli Raab and Red Oak Head Lettuce Something kind of big is happening for us this summer. The farm is turning 25!! 25 feels like a milestone that deserves pause and recognition. We have been at this for a while. Enough to know the reality of having a career. Long enough to know that when it is hard, there is still nothing we would rather be doing. I play that game sometimes...if I could have any job what would it be? It always comes back to being a farmer, and it always comes back to being a farmer at Cosmic Apple Gardens. When we look back over 25 years there are some things that stand out. (Disclaimer, I have been at the farm for 19 years, Jed started the farm 25 years ago...but that is another story!) The hard times...losing 800#'s of washed carrots when a freak wind storm blew over our cooler full of carrots and they landed on the broken glass. The pigs getting out and digging up the basil in the greenhouse. Finding our beloved cow, Clover, we had been caring for died during the night. Managing poor employees. Summers with low water. Nursing my 2 month old baby in a snow storm on June 21st during a year when it just would not warm up. Broken equipment...it only breaks when you need to use it! Finally getting our 5th greenhouse built and planted, only to have it freeze solid on June 12th after the propane company forgot to fill the tank. The neighbor's dog killing 53 chickens. And so many good times...tasting the first strawberry each year. Moving to the new 30 acre farm in 2002. (The "new farm" was purchased by an amazing community member with the intention of providing a place for Cosmic Apple to grow organic veggies for the community.) Witnessing many births. Sunsets. The summer Jed and I fell in love. Bringing home a truck load of meat from the butcher for the first time. Taking our first human baby to the farm to meet the critters on a beautiful winter day. Securing a loan thru the USDA to purchase 20 more acres. Milking a cow that was born and raised on the farm. So many amazing employees we now call friends. Getting a delivery truck with seatbelts! The countless moments frozen in my mind of our children at the farm. When I close my eyes to reflect, so many faces flash on my internal slide show. So many smiles with yellow crates and scales in the foreground. One of my favorite things has been watching your children grow up at the veggie pick ups. Jed started the farm in 1996 with money from his dishwashing job at the Teton Teepee. After a year or two he got a loan from his dad for $3000 to purchase a greenhouse. Luckily, he was stubborn enough to ignore the many naysayers telling him it would be impossible to grow vegetables in the Tetons. He ignored the countless restaurants and stores telling him Organic was not worth it and didn't make a difference. After 25 years, I think we get to say "I told you so". HA! That felt good. We leaned on the people who believed in us and the the very old timers who remembered gardening in the Tetons without chemicals, and eating without big grocery stores. It is hard to express our unending gratitude to those who believed in us. We love you. There are so many people who showed up when we needed an extra hand, these folks are forever in my heart and are part of the reason the farm succeeded. Cheers to all the helpers and the believers! Cheers to all the CSA members and market customers! Cheers to the kids who have grown up knowing real veggies! Cheers to every person we've ever grown for! Cheers to 25 years of feeding The People of the Tetons the best food we can grow! Lunch this Week: Grilled cheese with lovage pesto and wilted greens
Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Sirloin Tip Roast, Brisket, Skirt, Ground Beef, Patties, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Spicy Mix, Pea shoots, Marjoram, Arugula and Baby Kale Welcome to Cosmic Apple Garden's 2021 CSA program, we are honored to grow for you. Wake up those taste buds! Here come fresh green things again! It has been a bit since we have had an abundance of fresh veggies grown in the Tetons, and I am excited. Things are shaping up well on the farm for the season. We always start off with lots of light leafy green things the first few weeks and this year is no exception. Even though the weather has been interesting this spring, the veggies are on target for a completely average start date. We have had many warm days and it seems like the veggies should be early this year but the warm days have been evenly balanced with lots of cool ones too. Any which way the weather goes, we are so happy to be putting out the first share and we hope you are too! I will send out a newsletter each week with farm happenings, updates, dreamy thoughts and things you need to know. At the bottom of each newsletter you will find a link to our recipe bank. The recipes are sorted by item. All of the salad dressings are together. Please check the recipe bank out if you are not sure what to do with something. I cook lunch for the crew during the week, I will let you know what we are eating on the farm and maybe it will inspire you! Also, please send me your favorite recipes. I love sharing them. If you want to see more of the farm, check out our social media. (Facebook and Instagram) We are so incredibly lucky to work with a creative employee who loves making short videos, and the other employees have turned into noteworthy actors! The videographer/field crew member is kind enough to share the videos with us, so we can share them with you! I love the video that shows how the potatoes are planted. The farm and the hills right now are so green and gorgeous. The veggies are the same spring green right now too. We have been so busy at the farm planting and tending to the little plants. Our dreams for the year are almost all in the ground now. We have big plans for the veggies that leave the farm, here are some of them: We hope the produce from the farm helps you feel more connected to this amazing place we all call home. We hope this season nourishes you and yours. We hope the veggies give you the energy to make the world a better place. Thank you for choosing to join us for this season. Lunch this Week: Baby Garlic, Pea shoots and Bok Choy sautéed in EVOO, over rice with peanut sauce on top!
Truck Driver needed! We still need a delivery driver. Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-9 ish. If you know anyone, please send them our way! Details here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/employment-opportunities.html 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Round Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Brisket, Skirt, Ground Beef, Patties, Tongue, Marrow Bones, Heart, Stew, and Kabobs Pork Available: Fat Crop List: Green Tomatoes, Carrots, Rose Finn Fingerling Potatoes, Blackberry Potatoes, Julika Potatoes, Tomatoes, Basil, Red Onion, Spaghetti Squash, Cabbage, Beets, Maybe Daikon Radish, and/or Broccoli The last share!! We are so grateful to have been able to grow for you this season. None of knew what this year was going to look like and the trepidation could really be felt at some moments. We are so relieved to make it through with healthy employees and a healthy farm family. We thank you for helping us keep the distributions safe. This season felt like it required more community support then ever, and WOW!!! You all came through and we sincerely appreciate it! Looking back at the 2020 CSA we are really happy with the Tomatoes! Yay! We are so glad that 3rd tomato greenhouse was up and running, it made a huge difference. The cucumbers and summer squash did good and so did the peas. The Sunflowers were consistently larger in size this year thanks to the weeding skills of our employees! The carrot and potato crops have been coming in exceptionally well this year too. The crops that we hope to do better with in 2021 are beets, arugula, spinach, radish and turnips. Even though we dream of a year when every crop yields perfectly we know that is an unattainable goal. It is part of the beauty of farming. Crops take turns being the star based on weather, timing, labor and other forces the garden is susceptible too. We are eager to hear your feedback about the veggies, the CSA program and the whole experience in general. I will send out a survey next week and we would really appreciate you letting us know your perspective! Free T-shirt or Hat for a 2021 CSA sign up! We are kicking off our 2021 CSA membership drive! If you sign up for next year's CSA 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, one is attached to your email or you can get one here: http://www.cosmicapple.com/uploads/1/7/9/9/17994337/2021_sign_up.pdf We sold out last year. Sign up early to get the best prices and to choose the pick up location/day you really want...and did I mention the free shirt or hat?! If you read Share #6's newsletter, you may remember I told you we agreed, as a farm to find 6 concrete things we could do to help end systemic racism in food. I was waiting to present more finalized plans and I always want these thing to happen quicker then they do so I never finished the list of commitments. Even though I don't have all the details, I wanted to be accountable for my promises, so for those of you looking for the last 3, here they are! #4. We understand that we are farming on Shoshone Bannock ancestral land. We have a letter out to the tribe asking what we can do to honor them in this place while we farm here. We don't take lightly the history of this valley and we want to do our best to move forward with the utmost respect for the Shoshone Bannock people. (My contact person has been really busy and I am waiting to hear back from her) #5. We are exploring getting our website translated into Spanish. We know diet related illnesses affect Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) more then white people. We also know Cosmic Apple's food is one of the answers to diet related illnesses. The CSA model is different then going to the store and it needs to be explained so consumers understand it. We need to make our food accessible to Latinx people and we think the website is a great way to introduce it. (We are unclear if we need to translate our webpage or if there are useful apps that will do this for folks, definitely a winter project!) #6. Digging deeper into the need to get nutritious food to BIPOC, we are coming up with a plan and hoping to work with One22 in Jackson. We want to raise money to get shares into the homes of Latinx families in our community. (This plan will also take some time because Covid is hindering many things, but I had one phone call of idea sharing and I hope to get further this winter with a proposal.) Fare thee well! So I guess this is goodbye for the season. We cannot emphasize how grateful we are to be your farmers. We truly love growing food in the Tetons and suppling it people who live here. We feel supported by our community and we hope you feel nourished by the food we grow. As always..."May this food give you the energy to make the world a better place." With gratitude, Dale and Jed Lunch this week: Vegan Pot Pie by the amazing Chef Aspen Recipe Ideas: Fermented Green Tomato Ketchup; Quinoa, Carrot, & Leek Patties; Carrots, Potatoes Roasted with Onions & Garlic; Dale’s Oven Fries 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, Ribeye, New York, Sirloin Steak, Eye of the Round Steak, Round Roast, Sirloin Tip Roast, Tri-Tip, Flat Iron Roast, Brisket, Skirt, Hanging Tender, Baby Back Ribs, Short Ribs, Liver, Ground Beef, Patties, Stew, Kabobs and Hot Dogs Pork Available: Neck Bones 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 one on 10/2) Farm to Fork Festival: October 3rd 1:30-4:30 Teton County Fairgrounds Questions? Comments? Recipes to share? dale@cosmicapple.com |
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