16521 North 550 West
Wheatfield, In. 46392
1-219-987-6634 e-mail Linda@LEGarden.info
Garden Lane CSA
Community Supported Agriculture
What is a CSA?
CSA's originated in Japan in the 1960's, when a group of women became concerned about the increase in food imports and the decrease in family-owned and run farms, where the farmer cares about the environment and the consumer, so they developed a mutually beneficial arrangement between local farmers and themselves, the consumers. Simply put, people who join a CSA, provide financial support for a farmer when it is needed, in the off-season, and in turn, the farmer provides fresh, in season produce for the consumer during the growing season.
Our CSA
In 1998 LE Garden joined with Lane's End Farm to form Garden Lane CSA serving 10 Valparaiso families. Now we also have pick up sites in Crown Point, Miller, and Munster, IN. Lane's End Farm is a certified organic farm. Here at LE Garden, we are not organic farmers, but we incorporate several organic techniques, like enriching our soil with compost and green manure. We also use the safest possible pest controls because we care about your health and safety as well as our own.
LE Garden specializes in growing a large variety of peppers, tomatoes and eggplants, but we also grow asparagus, burpless cucumber and pickles, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, radishes, onions, beets, beans, some greens, sweet corn, pumpkins, melons, gourds, and Indian corn.
We have about half of our shares filled for this season. If you are interested, contact me for the 2011 season. We have pick-up sites for our shares in Valparaiso, where we started our first season in 1998, in Crown Point, in Miller, and Munster, besides either of the farms. The CSA experience....fresh locally grown, in season , great variety produce. You also get to experience what goes into the production of your produce from weekly newsletters and pictures. You get tips for selecting and storing produce, preparations, and recipes. Members tell us it's like Christmas every week, getting their bags of produce, and finding out what's in the bag each week !
WHAT IS COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE?
Community Supported Agriculture is a mutually beneficial arrangement between farmers & consumers, in which consumers receive food directly from the farmers who produce it. Consumers provide farmers with financial support when farm expenses are the greatest and there is little income, in exchange for a commitment from farmers to provide a variety of healthy, locally grown, in season, produce. CSA’s originated in Japan, in the 1960’s, when a group of women, concerned about increases in food imports and decreases in small farm population, initiated a direct relationship between consumers and local farmers.
What’s special about C.S.A. Produce?
----It's grown locally, which means it's fresher, tastier, more nutritious, and keeps longer.
----It comes from people that you can get to know, and can trust to care for the earth, and care about your welfare.
----It comes to you weekly, at better prices than you'd pay at grocery stores.
----Some varieties will be different, but they will come with information about how to store and use them, often with recipes. They can add some adventure to your life!
----It comes with regular updates about the farms and farmers, to help you develop a better understanding of farming, and the people who produce your food.
----It comes with a standing invitation to visit the farms, or call, or e-mail the farmers in case you have questions we didn't answer in newsletters, or you want to request extra produce, or you just want to arrange a visit to the country.
Members receive 20 weeks, from Wednesday, June 1 through October 12, 2011, of fresh produce. Membership fees also include organization, distribution, and weekly newsletter costs. Amounts and types of produce each week will reflect what is in season and readily available at our farms, usually 6- 8 varieties. Members may be responsible for 1-2 pick-ups at one of the farms, with delivery to a host site. Once sign-ups are completed, members will receive more delivery information. If you are unable to pick up your produce within a few hours of the drop off time, or arrange for someone else to pick up for you, PLEASE notify your pick up site host to make other arrangements for your pick up. This minimizes waste of produce, and inconvenience to our site hosts. Without prior arrangements, produce left at the host site 24 hours may be distributed to other families.
The cost of a Full Share[for 2 vegetarians- 4 mixed diet people] is $364.00 to $450.00, and a Half Share[for 1-2 people] is $216.00 to $284.00 for the 20-week season. The cost is determined by the date of payment. There is an additional $10 fee for new members for the purchase of new reusable bags. Contact one of the following people for more information, or to answer questions if you are interested. We will accept up to 80 members for the 2011 season.
F A R M E R S
Lane's End Farm – Liz and Corey Aquino LE Garden – Linda and Ron Ebert
16521 Broadway, Lowell, IN 46356 16521 N 550 W, Wheatfield, IN 46392
219-696-3225 or lanesendfarm@att.net 219-987-6634 or legarden@netnitco.net
Valparaiso site hosts – Michelle and Holly Singh, 219-921-3243
Crown Point site hosts/coordinator – Mike and Mickey Zolfo, > mzolfo@sbcglobal.net
Miller coordinator – Linda Simon, 938-1008 or >lindajsimon@hotmail.com
Valparaiso coordinator – Jennifer Hora, 608-345-4336 or > Jennifer.hora@valpo.edu
Please keep this information so that you can refer to it if questions arise!
Garden Lane Community Supported Agriculture – Week #8
LE Garden – July 20, 2011
We got a tiny shower this morning, more thunder and lightning than rain. We are thankful for it, although it is not nearly enough. Ron has been irrigating around the clock. He would be happy for a break; it’s quite labor intensive. He did not set up drip lines this year. That is labor intensive also, and sometimes we don’t use it enough to say it’s cost effective. We also have problems with drip holes clogging up; we have very hard water, with a high iron level. The high iron level causes problems for overhead/sprinkler type irrigation, because rusty looking produce doesn’t sell wellJ. Last year and this year we are irrigating with trenches along the rows. Our big field in the back has a definite high end and low end, so the water will flow downhill pretty well, but this system also has drawbacks…labor to dig the trenches, the watering is somewhat uneven, and working in the field is a bit hazardous; it’s easy to concentrate on the crop being harvested and fall into a trench, and when walking across a field, one must step over the trenches. Nothing is perfect, is it? I always say that you know it’s very dry when the weeds are even wilted, and they are. I actually feel sorry for the plants, except for the weedsJ, knowing they are so thirsty, and don’t have nice strong deep roots to go after more moisture, although there isn’t much available for several inches. It’s just so hard to believe we can go from so much rain and mud to such dry conditions in such a short time.
This heat is not much fun for working outside, but we are surprised how much faster the squash, okra, and eggplant are developing. I usually am the squash picker, so I know what size squash I left on the plants Monday, and today they were shockingly big. They still have nice shiny tender skins, so should be nice to eat. The small ones are great to eat raw; you will hardly notice that they have seeds when they are small, and they are crunchier. We prefer to pick summer squash on the small side, when it’s young and tender, but we market a variety of sizes and kinds.
Estela is back to work as of last Friday; that is a big relief for me. She knows just the way I like things(I’m kind of particular.), and she’s faster than most, yet thorough. Besides that, she brings me lunch most days; what more could I want?! This week Janet and Karen are gone taking care of family affairs. The college girls are trained well enough to do a good job of filling in. Both Courtney and Megan are very organized and willing to do whatever is needed. We are blessed with a good crew.
We have a swarm of bees again today. This time they are way up in the top of a tree along our property line. We have a trap box to attract them, but so far they have not chosen to go there. We’ll keep an eye on them today. They are too far up to get a picture.
Crop Report ,,, We are harvesting more varieties of produce this week, but not in the amounts we like to find, which is basically enough to send to everybody in the CSA on the same day. We did get enough summer squash today to send to everybody, although one group got potatoes and green beans instead. We planted a second round of summer squash last week and it is up and looking good so far. Sweet corn just didn’t quite make it for today, but we hope to have it by Friday for the Crown Point market. Pickles and burpless cucumbers are starting to produce nice amounts. Ron found 10 eggplant today, and 2 pounds of okra. I will start the ‘okra lovers’ rotation today. Since most members don’t care for okra, I only send okra each week to okra lovers on a rotating basis. It’s hard to find good okra around here, so those whom love it, appreciate getting it several times a season. If you just want it a time or two, let me know. Melons are developing quickly with this heat wave. Peppers will be coming soon; we picked 22 bells for market yesterday, and a variety of hot peppers, so you may order hot peppers any time now.
Today from LE Garden
Blueberries for everybody, with cost shared by both farms
Almost everbody is getting some kind of summer squash, except the 7 members getting green beans.
Almost everybody is getting either pickles or burpless cucumbers
A few members are getting new red potatoes to go with the green beans.
The blueberry season is winding down fairly quickly. VanKley’s would not guarantee berries for next week, but think they may be available for the first part of the week; we’ll see how that plays out for next Wednesday. If you do want to order extra blueberries, please let me know before noon on Monday; I’ll do my best to get them. We sold 300 pounds of berries at the Valpo market Tuesday, and could have sold more if we’d had them. We are happy to get the used blueberry boxes returned if you’d like to get rid of them.
Cucumbers…we grow several varieties of burpless cucumbers, and a few of them are parthenocarpic, which means they will produce fruit without pollination. These varieties are used for greenhouse production, where there are no pollinators(bees). We like to use them in the field as well, because they will usually have fewer or less developed seeds. Both the burpless and the pickle varieties have thin skins and seldom need to be peeled for use. Cucumber varieties that are developed for pickling are what we refer to as pickles. They are picked at various sizes according to the type of pickles one is making. They are most often preferred from 2-4” in length before they start to get fat. Pickles are great for salads; they have a smaller seed cavity in proportion to flesh, and they are nice and crunchy. I can hardly bring myself to buy regular cucumbers in the store because of the tough skins covered with wax and the big seed cavity, and sometimes mushy flesh. Cucumbers contain a lot of water, so they are refreshing to eat when it’s so hot. How about cucumber sandwiches on rye bread or crackers? Spread with creamed cheese or vegetable dip or spread, add a slice or two of cucumber, sprinkle with dill.
Most of our first planting of potatoes rotted in the ground from too much cold and wet weather. We are starting to harvest the second and third plantings now. So hopefully everybody will get some in the next few weeks.
Until next week…I hope there will be some relief before next Wednesday!
Linda Ebert
LE Garden
Zucchini Cobbler (or is it apple?)
Ingredients
8 cups peeled chopped zucchini
2/3 cup lemon juice
1 cup white sugar ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 cups all-purpose flout
2 cups white sugar
1 ½ cups butter chilled
1 tsp ground cinnamon
In large saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir zucchini and lemon juice until zucchini is tender about 15-20 minutes, stir in 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and nutmeg. Cook one more minute, remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat oven 375 F. grease a 10 x 15 baking dish, in large bowl combine flour and 2 cups sugar, cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir ½ cup butter mixture into zucchini mixture.
Press half of remaining butter mixture into bottom of prepared pan, spread zucchini mixture over top of crust and sprinkle remaining butter mixture over zucchini, sprinkle with 1 tsp cinnamon.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes until top is golden
Freezer Pickles I think I send this every year, but it’s a favorite, and is very versatile.
6 c. thinly sliced pickles Soak pickle slices, onions and pepper in cold salt
1 c. sliced onions water at least 3 hours to draw out excess moisture.
1 c. chopped green pepper[optional] Drain.
2 T. salt
Dressing: 2 c. sugar Bring the dressing to a boil; simmer 10 minutes;
1 c. white vinegar cool slightly and pour over pickle mixture. Best
1 t. celery seed if left overnight or longer for flavors to mingle.
Keeps for weeks in the refrigerator, or freeze.
Other optional ingredients to suit your taste…dill weed[my favorite], mustard seed, pepper or garlic. I prefer without green peppers. This recipe is easy to cut in half if needed. These keep in the refrigerator for weeks; I have a bowl in the frig. all summer.
