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!!
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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? [email protected]

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)

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Carrots, Dill, Russian Banana Fingerling Potatoes, Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Sunflowers, maybe Yellow Beans and/or Snow Peas

We got a new toy at the farm. A barrel washer! We use it to wash root vegetables in. Carrots and potatoes mostly. It's cool and fast! We put the veggies in at one end, it slowly spins them while spraying with water. It is on a slight incline so the roots work their way down to the other end. I keep telling my children they are going in next! We put it together in the spring and it has been sitting in the wash station waiting for this time of year. We are happy with the performance so far. In the past we would dump a crate of carrots onto our tables (wooden frames with hardware cloth for a top). We would then spray the veggies and move them around with our hands to get all sides. Then we had to pick each carrot up and put it back in a clean crate. With the root washer, we dump a crate of carrots fresh out of the field into one end, and meet it at the other end with a clean crate. So. Much. Easier. We love these machines that make the farm labor easier. Washing roots can be hard work. Especially when the weather turns and gets colder. Playing with water when it is 50 degrees out gets old, quick. It seems as though rain gear will still be needed when it gets cold, but the washing will happen so much more quickly with the barrel washer and our bodies will stay warmer because we will be moving more. Lifting crates full of roots is better than Crossfit!
I was going to put a video on here, but it is beyond me technologically. I added one to our Instagram (cosmic_apple_gardesns) and Facebook page if you want to see it work!

Fall is still coming on gradually this year. No frost yet! Lots of veggies to harvest in the upcoming weeks. When I wrote this newsletter on Monday there was not a frost in the forecast. They are now calling for 29 degrees on Tuesday night and again on Saturday. Fall is the time of saying goodbye and feeling grateful for what we have managed to produce! We still don't know how long it will take us to empty the garden. When will the shares end? We will let you know as soon as we know!

Workshare Lunch: Merav's Carrot Soup​​

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Butterhead Lettuce, Yellow Beans, Summer Squash, Cucumbers, Rainbow Carrots, Turnips, Tomatoes and Sunflowers

Important note: Downtown Jackson Pick up change!!!! Broadway is closed this week. Your share (if you pick up downtown Jackson) will be at Wyoming Title and Escrow.  The address is:  211 E Broadway.  The building driveway and access is actually off E Deloney.  

Well hello fall weather!​ That happened quick. Although, we still have not frosted and there is not one in the forecast yet! The temperatures look like they will remain cooler and more seasonal for September. I must admit after being so used to the 80's for temps, I was a bit sad to see 50-60's in the forecast for the high. But it feels good! It is still pleasant to be outside, the clouds are gorgeous and the leaves are getting fun to watch.
It does look like it will be rainy this week. Your veggies may be a bit muddier. We do our best to get them clean, but rain really slows us down. On the upside! We need the rain. The soil in non-irrigated parts of the farm was parched, dusty and the plants turned to dust when stepped on. Everything feels fresh and rejuvenated going into the final fall push.
About this time you may be getting curious as to how long the CSA will go.  We don't know! It just depends on how fast we can empty the garden out. At this point it seems safe to say we will make it to at least week #16. We will keep you posted if we are going longer or not.
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Workshare lunch: Pad Bai with summer squash and beans
Recipe Ideas: Classic Carrot Salad or Carrots au Gratin

Crop List: Cosmic Mix, Sugar Snap Peas, Turnips, Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Sunflowers, Summer Squash, maybe Thai Basil, Filet Beans, Turnips, Shell Peas and/or Basil

We sure hope you have been enjoying the bumper crop of cucumbers and summer squash this year. We have been! What a treat. These plants are fickle in Teton Valley. The smallest frost can set them back early season and wipe them out at any point. We thought they were going to do great with last year's hot summer but the smoke seemed to really affect them in a negative way. It is almost like they know they were missed last year!
The cucumbers, summer and winter squash are all in the cucurbit family. They are one of the last things to be planted in the garden. We wait until after June 1st. They are planted in beds in the garden that have been covered in IRT mulch. A plastic ground cover that keeps the ground a bit warmer and inhibits weed growth. They are then covered in row cover with hoops. So each 500' bed is like a mini greenhouse.  We leave them covered until they start flowering about the beginning of July.  We we pull the row cover off and some of the plants are so big, they have been pressing on the cover. 
This year we have 7 rows in this garden section.
1 Row of Slicing Cucumbers
1 Row of Pickling Cucumbers
2 Rows of Summer Squash
3 rows of Winter Squash
If you pick up at the farm, you can see this section of garden behind the pick-up shed, on the East side of the garden. It's a jungle out there! Please savor these veggies. They will be one of the first things to slow down or stop completely when the weather changes. If you feel like you have had your fill of summer squash, you can grate it and freeze it. In the winter just thaw it in a colander and you can make zucchini cakes or bread! It is one of the easiest veggies to process for long term storage. Grate and freeze. That's it!
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Workshare lunch: Burritos with "Idaho Salsa" (tomatoes, garlic, cilantro and cucumber) with Squash and Turnips
Recipe Ideas: Tomato Basil Zucchini Boats Recipe or Tomato, Garlic and Summer Squash