Farmer John Writes…
Greetings from Angelic Organics!

Vegetable of the Week: Radishes
You are receiving mostly Easter Egg radishes this week. Read about radishes, a tidy, colorful, zesty snack food, starting on page 129 of your Angelic Organics Cookbook. From the introduction: eat them raw (after washing), perhaps with melted butter; grate them into slaws and salads; arrange thinly sliced radishes on a buttered baguette or on triangular slices of thinly sliced bread and season with salt.  

Try the Nepalese dish on pg 132 of the cookbook: Sauteed Radishes with Hard-Cooked Eggs and Spiced Yogurt Sauce. (Even if you don’t make the dish, just read about making it. You might swoon like I did today upon re-visiting this recipe.)

From A Shareholder:
Thank you for the newsletter, I look forward to it every week.  The comment about earworms reminded me of a comment from my eccentric Uncle Fred.  If he found a “surprise” in his food, he would say, “Well, if the bugs don’t want it, then neither do I.”

Jen

Crop Update
Frost arrived this last week. We covered several beds of head lettuce in advance; the lettuce escaped unharmed. We got our last harvest of basil out of the field ahead of the frost. Overall, we were well prepared for a frost, and I don’t think we sustained any major damage. Some of you long term shareholders remember seasons when an early frost clobbered us…not this time.

Potatoes
We have a great crop of potatoes. I love harvesting them. I don’t know why I get so excited about potatoes. My mother had this saying: “people like potatoes.” I thought it was so ridiculous, endearing and somehow poignant. It was one of the titles under consideration for the film The Real Dirt on Farmer John and I think it might have even become the title, except we didn’t have her saying it in the film, so it would have been a confusing title. I named a long short story I wrote “People Like Potatoes,” and many found the title so absurd. I finally dropped it in favor of “Did You Kill Anyone Up Here?”

You and the Farm
Shareholder Orin Zyvan sent us this note and these great photos from our recent open house.

Just want to say how much fun we had on Saturday. The farm open house is an invaluable way for the CSA community to see all of you and soak up all the great things about being on the farm. I took a bunch of photos I thought you guys might like to see. You can see them on my Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.196923790373719.46276.100573410008758&l=2c18412fe2

Our little gourds look quite happy on our kitchen table. Thanks again for hosting us! – Orin

We’d like to know how we could make the farm more a part of your life. As I wrote in last week’s newsletter “most people in the U.S. today don’t have access to a farm. When I reflect on the tens of thousands of people who have visited our farm over the years, I think: what a blessing that a farm is here to be shared, and that the Learning Center is here to help share it! We are gratified that our farm has become a home in the hearts of so many.”

Please fill out this really short survey regarding farm visits, open houses, etc.  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Z9FHCCY

Save the Date: Saturday, Sept. 24th: Cookbook Signing by Farmer John & Dinner Event in beautiful Woodstock, Illinois: A Benefit for the Learning Center’s Save the 70 Campaign: http://www.learngrowconnect.org/node/3507. Mingle with fellow shareholders and other food enthusiasts. Enjoy a fabulous meal, mostly from the fields of Angelic Organics. Or just come for the cookbook reading and signing.

As I mentioned in a separate invitation to shareholders, I did a 12 city tour with the book in 2006 https://angelicorganics.com/ao/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=310 . It was a lot of fun to read random excerpts to the audiences. Expect the same at Read Between the Lynnes!

Upcoming Programs at the Angelic Organics Learning Center

Walking Tour of the Farm, September 24, 10am to 12:30pm
Apples from Cider to Sauce,  September 24, 2 to 4 pm
Cheesemaking, September 25, 9 AM to noon
Biodynamics for the Backyard, October 1, 9 am to 5 pm Note from Farmer John about this workshop: it will be presented by Ben Wilson, our on-farm Biodynamic practitioner. Ben will offer a sensible, articulate and inspiring presentation on Biodynamics for the Backyard. You will love learning from Ben about Biodynamics, which is an integral part of our approach to farming at Angelic Organics. Check out Angelic Organics in the Process of Becoming Biodynamic on pg 32 in our cookbook.

Please register at least 1 week in advance at www.learngrowconnect.org or (815) 389-8455.

The following takes you to the Learning Center September calendar, which has links to all of their programs:
http://www.learngrowconnect.org/event

warmly,
Farmer John

Veggie Art

                                         Box Contents
Please Note: this summary is written before you receive your box—please be aware that some guesswork is involved. As always, be sure to thoroughly wash all of your vegetables.

Fruiting Crops – Acorn squash, maybe a Delicata squash, Tomatoes – maybe red or maybe green
Brassicas – Broccoli, Cabbage, Kohlrabi
Alliums – maybe an Onion
Cooking Greens – baby Kale
Salad Greens – 2 heads of Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Spinach
Root Crops – Potatoes, Easter Egg radishes