Welcome to Harvest Week 19
Shareholders Write,
and Farmer John Writes about what he’ll Write about Next Week

Maybe your last delivery of the season?
If you receive your box every-other-week, a half share, this will be the last box of the regular season unless you signed up for the extended season. If you are unsure, you can check your share status at http://angelicorganicsfarm.csasignup.com/members/statusemail. If you have additional questions, contact Shelly email hidden; JavaScript is required , or call 815-389-2746 weekdays, 8 am – 1 pm.

Please return your CSA vegetable boxes and mesh bags to your site.

How has Your Season Been?
We welcome your comments on the recipe service; the box contents, including variety and quality; the custom shares for those of you who elected that service; home delivery service; open houses; U-Pick. We like to know how it’s been for you and how we can serve you better. Write Shelly at email hidden; JavaScript is required. She’ll make sure to circulate your comments to the rest of us.

Shareholders Write
Hi!
I LOVE the local thyme online recipe service – it helps me plan ahead, and I don’t waste veggies that are less familiar to me – thanks so much for providing a free subscription!  Please do it again next year!
Thanks!
~Rebecca
Note from Farmer John: Rebecca, the Local Thyme Recipe Service has been extremely popular with our shareholders this season. We look forward to offering it again next year.

Dear Angelic Organics Team,
Thank you so very much for following up with [us], we definitely want to continue next year…
We finally watched THE REAL DIRT ON FARMER JOHN.  Incredible, informative and so very moving! We recently visited the farm and had the pleasure of meeting Farmer John, and I so wish we had already seen the film to sing its praises and show our full appreciation. I do film and theatre in Chicago and for years Andy and I considered leaving the city and moving to a farm. How cool that Farmer John has found a way to have it all! 🙂
Thank you and best,
~Brenda
Note from Farmer John: Brenda, thanks for watching the film. We would love for all of our shareholders to watch it, to deepen their relationship to their farm…50 years of filming went into the making of The Real Dirt, a dramatic chronicle of most my life and the farm’s history. It’s available through Netflix and Amazon.

The Weather This Past Week
Mild. Lovely. Is it really mid-October? All root crops are out of the ground, except for a few beds of beets, but beets aren’t really down in the ground, like carrots, parsnips and potatoes. Kale, chard and other leafy crops will sweeten up with an upcoming frost this week, the first of the season.

The Crops

The FacilitiesSee the cute little appendage to the barn? It’s the milkhouse, where we stored the milk from the cows when I was little. I poured thousand and thousands of gallons of milk from our cows into the stainless steel bulk tank that sat in the milkhouse. The structure is ruined: extensive water damage to the roof, the sidewalls, the windows. We’re going to dismantle it. (For the most part, it will be Primo and Pollo pictured above doing the work.) I suppose I should write “demolish” rather than “dismantle” but there’s a bit of it that can be saved. We’re going to put it back up again, a somewhat expanded version, to make a suitable entrance to the Community Loft at the second story of the barn. It will be complete by spring. Thanks to those of you who helped with the Indiegogo crowdfunding initiative that is making this possible. We’ll soon have a safe enclosed entrance to the upstairs, a suitable emergency exit, and a re-built milkhouse, which, even though it will be the grand entrance, we’ll probably still call it the milkhouse.

Upcoming at the Angelic Organics Learning Center

Cornbread from the Ground Up: A Family Workshop

Saturday, October 26^th, 2 to 4 PM

Starting with ears of dried corn and eggs from our chickens, we’ll cook up a feast of tasty cornbread.  Family members of all ages are welcome to take turns as we shuck, shell, winnow and grind the corn.  Learn about the long history of corn, and receive a recipe and tips about seeds to bring home.  To learn more about the instructor, Dave Kostka, check out the Learning Center’s blog, “Corn from ear to bread” at www.learngrowconnect.org/blog.  You can register for this workshop, among others, at www.learngrowconnect.org/event or by calling 815.389.8455.

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.

Salad Greens – Lettuce, Spinach
Fruiting Crops – Popcorn, Butternut Squash
Herbs – Parsley
Alliums – Garlic, maybe an Onion
Root Crops – Daikon Radishes, Rutabaga
Cooking Greens – Kale
Brassicas – Brussels Sprouts, Pac Choi, Cabbage