This coming weekend Saturday the 30th Organic Valley is hosting it 8th annual Kickapoo Country Fair at its headquarters in LaFarge, WI.  I am pleased to announce that Keewaydin Farms has been asked to do a 90 minute demo called “Cooking from Your CSA”.  I will be preparing several recipes using ingredients you will find in your CSA box this season.  Although I am a farmer by trade I do spend time in the kitchen utilizing the wonderful produce that surrounds us throughout the season.  It is a special treat for me to be able to share some of my cooking experiences with the general public.  One dish I will be preparing will be the Honey Carrots, the recipe was posted a couple weeks ago.  We will also be preparing a cold tomato soup and cherry tomatoes and basil paired with mozzarella.  So if you are looking for something to do this weekend why not come to beautiful southwestern Wisconsin and enjoy a day of workshops, food, fun, music and visit with you CSA farmer.  See you there!

Cherry Tomatoes – First of the season

Fennel

Bunched Beets – The tops are looking a little rough, please remove when you get home!

Broccoli – This will be it until fall

Potatoes – First of the season

Torpedo Onion – Use like you would any onion

Beans

Swiss Chard

Daikon Radisn – The white root

Savoy and Purple Cabbage – Make a colorful coleslaw using the carrots for added color

Green Scallions – The first of the onions for this season

Kohlrabi – Last week for these

Salad Mix

Head Lettuce

Fennel

Carrots – Try the honey glazed recipe if you haven’t

Beans – A mix this week of purple and green.  To bad the purple fades when cooked.

Salad Mix- we rinse it once, you should wash it again

Head Lettuce

Cabbage

Kohlrabi- peel, slice and eat fresh for a crisp treat.  store extra slices in a bowl of water in the fridge. also good sprinkled with salt.  use the leaves with Swiss chard

Broccoli

Beets- the leaves are very nutritious use the same as Swiss chard

Swiss chard

Basil

We’ve decided to try something new this year.  Rufus will be attending each of the pick up sites at least once over the summer.  This week he will be at Bloom Bake Shop in Middleton!  He will be there during the CSA pick up time from 3-6pm cooking up some samples right out of the box.  This is your chance to ask questions and shake hands with the hard working farmer who made this all happen!

The nature of the CSA, what does it stand for?  Community Supported Agriculture and when you reverse it you have an Agricultural Supported Community.  This means a closer connection between you and your food and the farmers who work to produce it.  It means having a face to put behind your meal, and remembering food comes from soil and toil not the grocery store, via who knows where.  Being in a CSA means eating locally with the seasons and at the whims of Mother Nature.  We tickle her with our hoe  and she laughs with a harvest.

In the beginning expect the boxes to be easy to carry containing mostly scrumptious salad fixings of spring and early summer.  By August and September  the boxes will be full and varied.

The farm is 1 1/2 hours from Madison so we rely on you to make the pickups go smoothly.  Write your pickup days on your calendar.  Find the box with your last name (or the name of the Primary Household with whom you are sharing) marked on the box label.  If a check off sheet is provided at your pick-up site check of the appropriate name.  Leave last weeks box neatly folded for your site host, to be picked up by our driver.  IF YOU DO NOT FIND YOUR BOX DO NOT TAKE SOMEONE ELSE’S, contact your site host and the farm immediately.

You may bring your own bags and transfer your produce and leave the waxed box, carefully and neatly flattened.  Or you may take the box with you, carefully flatten and store to be returned at your next pick up.  We thank you in advance for taking care of these reusable boxes.

If you are unable to pick up your share you must make alternate arrangements ahead of time.  You can instruct someone to pick up your box for you, you can ask the farm by Monday not to make a box for you that week, or you can ask your site host to hold your box for a later pick up.  If you are a no call, no show your box will be donated to an appreciative family at the end of the pick up window!

Please make sure that anyone you send in your place to pick up your box knows these instructions.  Thank your site host for sharing their space.  We could not be doing this without them!

Remember to check our website a couple of times a week.   Rather than the traditional newsletter we will be posting on our blog news, recipes, pictures and veggie storing tips.  Please feel free to post comments.  We would love if you sent us your favorite recipes to share with other members! You can also find us on Facebook!

Two really good Cookbooks for CSA are From Asparagus to Zucchini produced by MACSAC can be found at their website www.macsac.org.  Also Tastes from Valley to Bluff, The Featherstone Farm Cookbook. www.featherstonefarm.com

We will have a farm party this summer!  An invitation will be posted on our website when we confirm the date.  If you are in the Kickapoo Valley area and would like to arrange a farm visit please give us a call. We have had a great Spring so far here on the farm.  We have a lot of plants and seeds in the ground and are expecting a phenomenal growing season!

If you have questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me immediately!

Star 608-606-0373 or csa@keewaydinfarms.com

We work hard to bring you your CSA share.  Your job is to remember to pick up your box of veggies.  Please mark your pick up days on your calendar!

All Standard and Double Shares begin June 1^st and will run every Wednesday until the last pickup on October 12^th.

Every Other Week ,  June 1st:  for Oregon, Commonwealth, Bloom Bake Shop, and Whole Foods

June-  1^st, 15^th, 29^th

July- 13^th, 27^th

August- 10^th, 24^th

September- 7^th, 21^st

October- 5^th

Every Other Week,  June 8th: for John Deere, Waunakee, Lowell, LaFarge, Viroqua, and Richland Center

June- 8^th, 22^nd

July- 6^th, 20^th

August- 3^rd, 17^th, 31^st

September- 14^th, 28^th

October- 12^th

There are a few ways to make paying for your CSA share a little more manageable.

1.   You can use our payment plan:  sending two checks, one of them post dated for May 1st.

2.  Many insurance companies will reimburse you for a portion of your CSA share.  Dean Health, GHC-SCW, Physicians Plus, Unity Health- MACSAC has more info.  www.csacoalition.org

3.  The Partner Shares Program through MACSAC (Madison Area CSA Coalition).  www.csacoalition.org

4.  You can now pay for CSA shares with Food Stamps also through MACSAC.    www.csacoalition.org

Here’s what MACSAC has to say for food stamps.   We can process anyone’s payments of food stamps to purchase a CSA share.  Because of regulations on the program the food stamps need to be redeemed within 2 weeks of when the food is received so members can’t just use up all of their food stamps and pay their share cost all at once, but we have them fill out a payment plan and send us their card number with the amount they want taken out each month, then we pay you (or whatever farm they choose) and get paid back over the course of the year.  Most folks who receive food stamps benefits are also eligible for Partner Shares fund assistance from us, if they are eligible then they only have to pay back 1/2 the share cost (we pay 1/2 the cost of a veg. share up to $300) and can elect to pay all in food stamps or with some food stamps and some post dated checks.