One of the things that stood out to me most last week was just how many directions our vegetables travel now. After harvest and packing, CSA boxes head out from our farm in Leslie to farmers markets, neighborhood porches, and pickup sites across the greater Lansing area.
This year, we have members picking up at the farm, Allen Market, Meridian Market, East Lansing, Westside Lansing, Dimondale, Mason, and more. It is a big system, and Week 1 was the first real test of getting all those boxes, labels, add-ons, coolers, and pickup details moving in the right direction.
And remember: you can switch your pickup location in your account as often as you like! Currently, no sites are full; there are just a few restrictions on which shares can be picked up on which dates. If you have trouble switching, just let us know, and we can walk you through it or handle it on our end.
There are always little things to smooth out when a new season begins, especially with new pickup sites and host locations, but it was exciting to see this new version of CSA come to life.
To our member hosts:thank you. You are helping make local food easier for your neighbors to access, and we appreciate the time, porch space, cooler space, and care you are giving to this program.
To our members: thank you for showing up, reading your labels, asking questions, and helping us settle into the season. Week 2 already feels a little more like we’re finding our summer rhythm.
Around the Farm
Last week was a busy one! We returned to Meridian Market on Wednesdays, while Bee took on Allen Farmers Market without me for the first time. That felt like a pretty big milestone, especially after I’ve spent about 10 winters at Allen over the years. With Erica there to help her, Titus Farms was officially able to be at two Wednesday markets at once, all while harvesting, packing CSA shares, and keeping things moving on the farm.
We're swimming in cucumbers! They are harvested every other day now, and this was one of the harvests.
We’re also almost finished planting our fall crops, and that feels a little funny when Summer CSA has barely begun. Farming means we’re constantly thinking a few months ahead, and while you’re eating cucumbers and zucchini, we’re already working on the vegetables we hope to harvest when the weather turns cooler.
The flower fields are starting to give us more to work with too! We harvested a good bit last week, and Flower Shares should be starting very soon, likely next week.
Behind the scenes, we’re still learning how to manage everything inside Carl, our giant 40-foot refrigerated storage container. In the past, we had three separate walk-in coolers scattered around the farm. Now, much of our refrigerated storage is all together in one enormous space. Carl is incredibly convenient but also requires an entirely new system to keep track of where everything is and to ensure we're actually following the “first in, first out” rule. We are still figuring that part out.
There has also been an awful lot of weeding, although I’ll be honest: the weeds have won in a few places. We were excited to experiment with growing several crops using our paperpot transplanting system this year, but in some spots the weeds simply took over. Oh well... we’ll learn from it and try again next year.
Our own carrots are just about ready, but in the meantime, we're calling in a little backup from another farm with more labor available for harvesting. One of the nice things about being part of a local farming community is that we can sometimes help each other fill in the gaps.
Meanwhile, onions and potatoes are getting close, the melons are spilling out into the pathways, and we've been watering like crazy to help everything size up during this dry stretch. There's been a little rain here and there, but not enough to matter. Honestly, we prefer it dry rather than too wet, since we can always water, but we can't magically dry out the soil.
There's always something growing, something needing water, something needing weeds pulled, and usually something not going quite according to plan. That's farming!
This Week's Harvest
Each week, this section of the newsletter will show what we’re harvesting and what you can expect to see in the store.
Items are listed alphabetically-ish in both this section and the store. If you do not customize, you will receive the Farmer’s Choice Share this week, which includes the items marked with an asterisk (*).
The Farmer’s Choice share is our recommended mix of seasonal vegetables for the week, but you are welcome to customize your box and choose the items that work best for your household. Again, if you choose not to customize, this box is automatically yours.
Remember - every week on the farm is a little different! We do our best to estimate harvests in advance, but weather, crop conditions, and Mother Nature always have the final say.
Non-Food Items to Know About
More Packaging: select this if you'd like every item that isn't already in a bag to be placed in a separate plastic bag. Most items in the early season (lettuce, broccoli) are bagged, but some, such as kale, are not.
Donate My Share: select this if you'd rather skip this week of CSA and have your share donated through the Meridian Gleaning program, which offers food to six different food banks through the help of an extensive volunteer network.
Veggies for Week 2:
Basil from us! Green for now, but red, lemon, and Thai likely for the weekend folks.
Beets without tops - Mixed gold, pink, and red, or just red.
Bok Choy- likely for the last time as the heat ramps up.
Broccoli -Another week or so left, and then we'll see how the next planting goes. It does NOT like the heat, though.
Cabbage- All Green, but come in different shapes and sizes. Smaller, medium/large, or pointy.
Carrots!*- all without tops, a little over 1 pound per share. Orange and sweet!
Collard Greens - Low and slow, and they're so worth it. A classic American staple with beans or a smoked bone.
Cucumbers
Salad Large*- 1-2 field-grown cucumbers with seeds, depending on supply.
Small Salad aka Pickling Cucumber- a little over a pound of small to medium picklers. But they have a nice, thin skin and are easy to eat.
Daikon Radishes (storage)- they're looking rough, but peel the outside, and they're still a tasty bite!
Escarole - A leafy green in the chicory family with broad, tender leaves and a pleasantly bitter flavor.
Fennel*- an anise-flavored delight that I personally prefer roasted, but is also lovely raw.
Garlic Scapes*: only available for a few more weeks as we begin harvesting our garlic.
Gilfeather Turnips - a turnip relative that is great roasted.
Head Lettuce
Bibb- a green bibb this time that will be buttery soft.
Red Romaine- a smaller head of red romaine, a little less hearty than the green. Might be two heads in a bag too!
Iceberg or Romaine? - We have a scheduled wholesale order going out, so the weekend folks will likely see these pop up in the store on Wednesday, but until we harvest, we won't know.
Zucchini & Summer Squash Mix* - green zucchini, cousa, yellow squash, and golden zucchini could be included.
CSA Store Extras
Bulk Garlic Scapes
Sunflower bouquets
Fresh Eggs
Freshly Made Granola
Cherry, Cranberry, Strawberry
Homemade Jam
Blueberry
Raspberry
Strawberry
A Note About Food Safety
You may have seen news about the current cyclosporiasis outbreak in Michigan. At this time, public health officials have not identified a specific type of produce, grower, or supplier as the source of the outbreak.
As always, we recommend washing all produce at home before eating, especially anything that will be eaten raw. Rinse produce under clean running water, wash your hands before preparing food, and keep cutting boards, counters, and utensils clean.
Additionally, make sure you're storing things at the proper temperatures (most of what you receive from us should go right home and into the fridge).
Bitter greens go so well with something sweet (like raisins here) and a little crunch (pine nuts in this recipe). This is also true of kale or chard, but the Italian recipes with escarole just shine.
I feel like I share this recipe at least once a week while kohlrabi is in season. Sometimes we add cabbage, sometimes carrots and no cabbage, sometimes apples (leaving out the dill). The sky is the limit with a kohlrabi slaw!
Growing up with pretty American-style cucumber pickles, the world opened up when I realized you could pickle just about anything. While this isn’t technically a pickle, it has all the right ingredients: vinegar, garlic, crunch, and big flavor. So refreshing, with beautifully deep flavor and texture!
It calls for seedless cukes (like our greenhouse ones), but pickles would work here too. Or, if you have slicing cucumbers, just peel a little off the outside.
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