Geauga Family Farms » Life Lyn Style

Geauga Family Farms–week 6

Jul 192011

Today we had another pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. It’s week 6 already. The amount of produce has really picked up the last couple of weeks.

Here’s what we received in our family share:

Let’s take a closer look.

Black cherry tomatoes, cucumber

Pickling cucumbers, potatoes

Blueberries, green onions

Onions, peppers (probably hot!)

Cabbage, red raspberries

Lettuce, Swiss chard

Tomatoes, zucchini

Yellow squash

Personally, I’m not much of a tomato fan (unless they are in BBQ sauce, ketchup or pasta sauce), but the black cherry tomatoes were my husband’s favorite last year, so I was happy to see them today. The pickles we made a couple of weeks back should be ready, so we’ll eat them this week and make some more with today’s share. I bought some whole wheat lasagna noodles at the beginning of the season. I think this is the week for veggie lasagna with squash as the highlight.

Some of our raspberries were moldy, I sorted them and used the good ones in raspberry lemonade this evening. It’s so refreshing on a hot day like today. The blueberries probably won’t make it past breakfast in the morning.

I’m going to assume the peppers are hot. Last year, almost all of the peppers that we received were hot. I had a tough time using them since my kids and I don’t really like HOT. For the most part, I ended up chopping and freezing them and then putting them in crockpot recipes like chili a bit at a time.

Have a great week!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 5

CSA 2 Responses »

Jul 122011

Today was our 5th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. I think we have entered the heart of the growing season. Based on what we received today, it looks like the crops are doing well despite such a wet spring.

Here’s what we received in our family share (not pictured are raspberries):

Let’s take a closer look.

Red raspberries, green leaf lettuce

Red leaf lettuce, large onion

Yellow squash, zucchini

Tomatoes, broccoli

Pickling cucumbers, beets

Green onions, kohlrabi

Potatoes, sugar snap peas

Cucumbers

This looks like a pretty easy week to use everything. I may freeze the onions, but I suspect everything else will be used as we prepare meals this week.

Geauga Family Farms–Farm Visits

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA No Responses »

Jul 092011

One Saturday a month during the growing season, several of the CSA farmers open up their farms for an open house. We can go out and see the produce being grown, meat being raised and meet the farmers. Today, we had an opportunity to see 3 farms. We also stopped at Geauga Farms Country Meats.

We met Lester Miller first. They have a “hobby farm” and are raising 4 cattle.

Sally and Nick really liked the chicken coop.

The farm was so picturesque today. The weather was perfect for a visit. The porch swing in the shade was welcome after our time in the sun.

Next we headed to the farm of Tom Byler. One advantage of having my husband along is I end up with photos of me.

We took a look at the fields, saw a few animals, bought a loaf of bread ($3) and a plate of molasses cookies ($3), and enjoyed a cold drink. The bread was still warm when Mrs. Byler brought it out. It doesn’t get much fresher than that!

Next, we were off to see Jonas Byler. I got really lost trying to find this farm last year. I was happy to have better directions and the Welcome CSA member sign at the road was a nice addition for all of the visits this year. Jonas is mostly growing sweet corn and tomatoes. Since there isn’t much to look at with the corn, we enjoyed some time in the tomato house.

The tomato plants are huge. He offered a few for picking. Nick jumped at the opportunity. When we get cherry tomatoes in our pick up, they don’t even last a day at home.

Although it was a bit of a drive from the farms, we ended our day at Geauga Farms Country Meats. We purchased a $70 frozen box of meat. We have a roast, 2 rib eye steaks, 2 sirloin steaks and 11 pounds of ground beef. We had brought a cooler with ice packs to help keep it frozen on the drive home. We’re looking forward to trying it.

We saw a few others out at the farms, but none of them were busy while we were there. I hope others got to take advantage of the beautiful day and enjoy the scenery.

Geauga Family Farms–week 4

CSA No Responses »

Jul 052011

Today was our 4th pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. As usual, our pick up items were a surprise. I was happy that we received lettuce since we were out. Between our two CSAs we are getting tons of lettuce and not letting it go to waste. The bounty did not disappoint and we received two types of lettuce.

They are taking applications for partial season shares that will start in a couple of weeks. If you are interested in getting a CSA, let me know and I can send you the application.

Here’s what we received in our family share:

Let’s take a closer look.

One large onion with greens, bunch of radishes.

green onions, cherry tomatoes

tomato, yellow squash

zucchini, rhubarb

kohlrabi, collard greens

2 types of lettuce

beets, snow peas (eat whole in the pod, usually used in stir fry recipes)

We did well with our shares last week. I can say that I had summer squash fritters 3 times for lunch and I’ll probably be having more of them this week. Today, before I picked up our GFF share, I only had some cabbage and cucumber left from last week’s shares.

This week, I’ll be making a tofu stir fry to use the peas along with some of the cabbage from my other share last week. We’ll probably try roasting the kohlrabi, radishes and beets this time. I’ll have to think about the collards. I’m guessing I’ll probably sauté them for lunch one day. I froze some rhubarb last week, so I’ll add this to that bag. I think I’ll end up making a rhubarb dessert soon. The cherry tomatoes are already half gone thanks to Stephen and Nick.

It should be a great week!

Geauga Family Farms June Field Night

Adventures with Nick and Sally, CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 292011

Last night, the kids and I attended the first field night of the season. It was at the farm of Noah and Kathy Yutzy in Middlefield. We had been to this farm last year, and we were happy to return again.

It took about 50 minutes from our house in Mayfield Heights to get out to the farm. This included rush hour traffic through Mayfield and slowing down for the buggy traffic once we were in the Middlefield area. The kids loved the ride, especially seeing the horse and buggies.

We went on several visits last year, but this one had the most people of any that I had been to. I’m guessing that there were about 30 people there including kids, but I didn’t really think to count.

There was a GFF welcome sign a the end of the drive. This made the farm very easy to spot. Nick and Sally held hands as they walked to the barn where everyone was meeting. Noah led us on an informative tour and it was fabulous to see the farm in action.

We saw pigs and horses.

We also saw the greenhouse and lots of healthy crops.

This spiked wheel is a device for spacing the plants. It puts holes in the plastic at a certain distance so the crops are evenly spaced. This dog was the biggest hit with all of the kids.

There was also a ton of mud. I kept telling Nick that if he kept playing in it, he was going to fall and be covered in mud. At least he didn’t mind posing for photos. Mental note to self: bring extra clothes and shoes to the next field night.

Here’s Nick as cleaned up as possible. Sally chilled in the rocking chair. That was great until she flipped it backwards. Luckily, the chair and her were fine.

At the conclusion of the tour, Kathy had refreshments out for everyone to enjoy. There was also a table of items that people could buy. I purchased the items pictured below. I paid $9.75 total for 3 bunches of rhubarb ($6), 2 cousa squashes ($1) (a type of zucchini that is often served stuffed with meat and rice), and a loaf of fresh wheat bread ($2.75). I had never had rhubarb before, so I am excited to try it out in a few recipes. I was just looking for cousa squash this week since I ran across an article about it. We love stuffed winter squash and I had never thought about stuffing any summer squash. The bread is always delicious and my husband and kids really enjoy it when we have it in the house. (I no longer partake since it’s not 100% whole wheat, but I know from past experience that it’s quite tasty.) I wouldn’t usually buy extras on a Tuesday since we pick up on Tuesday and I hadn’t seen our share yet, but I was already on the lookout for 2 out of 3 of these items, so I splurged.

Even though Nick and Sally are usually in bed by 7:30 PM, it’s totally worth a late night out with them for the farm visit experiences. We can’t wait for July!

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 3

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 282011

Today was the third pick up for Geauga Family Farms CSA. Since it was also the first farm field night, my husband picked up our share for us and I took the kids to the farm. I’ll have more on the farm visit tomorrow!

We had received our newsletter and knew we would be getting items like lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green onions, zucchini, yellow squash, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, peas, kale and pickling cucumbers. Our actual items received vary depending on mother nature, which size share and which pick up day – so we always have an element of surprise.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

3 tomatoes, 1 container of strawberries

2 small bunches of green onions (pictured together), container of cherry tomatoes

2 heads of romaine lettuce, 1 head of red leaf lettuce

2 yellow squash, 2 zucchini

2 kohlrabi, small bunch of carrots

bunch of radishes

Here’s our plan of attack:

We’ll have more salads with the lettuce. I’ll probably make squash fritters again with the onions and squash, since everyone liked them this week. I just pickled some radishes, so I think these will go in salads and in our kohlrabi au gratin dish. The carrots and cherry tomatoes will get eaten (with our without salads). The strawberries will either get eaten at breakfast in the morning, or may make their way into a strawberry rhubarb dish. I’m almost hesitant to say this is a pretty easy week.

Update on last week:

I ended up making kale pesto with the kale. Most of the other items were used as planned. I did freeze a few tomatoes, some garlic scapes and some onions for future use.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 2

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 212011

Today was the second pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. As usual, we had no idea what we would receive. A newsletter comes out that gives us an idea of what we may receive, but I usually don’t see it before our pickup. Today was the second pick up and also the second time the truck was late. Both times, it arrived before we did, so we haven’t had to wait for them. I’m not sure what will happen next week since we want to come to the farm visit. Maybe I’ll enlist some assistance from my husband. Even with an on-time truck arriving at Whole Foods by 4pm, it will be tough to pick up, store and get to the farm by 6pm.

Here’s what we received:

Let’s take a closer look.

1 bunch of kale, 2 containers of strawberries

2 tomatoes, 1 dozen eggs

garlic scapes, green onions

pickling cucumbers, lots of lettuce (3 bags with 4 heads total)

Here’s our plan of attack:

This week, we plan to have several salads with the lettuce. I’ve been making spelt and quinoa and also using beans in some salads. I’ll pickle the cucumbers. I’m glad I stocked up on the spices for them. I’ll need to double check our vinegar stock. Some of the onions and garlic scape will be used in a batch of taco filling and the rest will be used in a sauté with mushrooms for the top of burgers or chopped and frozen. There aren’t too many of them, so that might all got in the taco filling. The tomatoes will go in the taco filling also. I’ve been making baked oatmeal, scrambled eggs and hard boiled eggs so the eggs have been easy to use in a timely fashion. Also, they have a long shelf life. We just picked some strawberries and made jam today, so these will most likely get eaten. If we feel like we have too many, we’ll make some strawberry ice cream or freeze them for later.

So, I’m left without a plan for kale. It’s an item that we only received twice last year, and I don’t have a “go to” dish in mind. Some quick searching in Google gave me lots of ideas. Now, I have to think about it. We have plans to eat dinner away from home Wednesday and Thursday , so kale will have to be lunch for us one day or for dinner on Friday. I’m leaning toward steaming it with vinegar, garlic scapes and green onion.

Update on last week:

Since the bread was opened for a snack on the way home, Nick, Sally and my husband had no trouble making sure it was eaten. The bok choy went into an Asian tofu stir fry along with some of the garlic scapes and green onions. The eggs were used in regular cooking and the cucumber and lettuce were used in salads. Some of the strawberries were eaten and the rest went with some others we had to make jam. The rest of the green onions and garlic scapes went into a Mexican filling for salad.

Geauga Family Farms CSA–week 1

CSA 2 Responses »

Jun 142011

Today was our first pick up for the Geauga Family Farms CSA. Sometimes we get a “what’s in season this week list”, but usually surprised when we pick up our items for the week.

Here is what we received.

Let’s take a closer look.

2 containers of strawberries (approximately 2 quarts), 3 tomatoes

loaf of wheat bread (that was sampled on the way home), 1/2 dz. eggs

small head of green leaf lettuce, 2 small heads of another variety of leaf lettuce

bok choy, 2 different views

garlic scapes, cucumber

green onions

I’ll be back tomorrow to share our plan of attack for consumption.

Local Food and CSAs

CSA 1 Response »

May 302011

We enjoy eating fresh, local food whenever practical.

For the past couple of years, our family has participated in a local CSA. CSA stands for community supported agriculture. Traditionally, it has meant that farmers (or groups of farmers) sell shares of their crop to individuals. The individuals pay up front and it allows the farmer to purchase seeds, marketing etc. before the season begins. The consumer assumes some of the risk with weather etc. and receives a share of the crop each week during the season. This model has morphed into many different programs all.

For summer 2011, my family is participating in two CSAs. We love eating local foods and it’s good for us in many ways. I plan to write about our our produce and how we use it all season long.

Geauga Family Farms is one of our CSAs. You can read how they describe it here. We participated in this CSA last year. This is a group of Geauga county farmers that combine efforts to provide us with mostly organic, seasonal produce for 20 weeks from June – Oct. This year, we will be picking up on Tuesdays at Whole Foods on Chagrin Blvd. We are looking forward to the start of the season. The photo above shows the variety of items that we enjoyed in 2010.

Fresh Fork Market is our other CSA. This one is set up quite differently from the GFF one. Trevor Clatterbuck runs the program. He partners with many farms and local producers to provide a variety of local produce and other products. We participated in this CSA for the winter and really enjoyed the variety of items (including meat, cheese, grains, etc.) We’ll be picking this bounty up at Beachwood High School on Thursdays this summer. We’ll have a pick up for 22 weeks beginning this Thursday.

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