Summer 2025 CSA Newsletter - September 9, 2025 (Week 16)
Howdy Folks,
Rain! IT RAINED! It's always amazing to see how quickly the plants react to rain. They jump in growth like toddlers, but it's overnight versus a month!
Reactions to stimulus...It's always so important to listen to your body. I'm sure many of you do this, and have learned to do this over your lifetime better and better. Our eldest son is learning this ever so slowly, although between being a teenager and a bit stubborn, and just young in and of itself there is so much that is still new, so learning what things do to you gets easier to see and understand over time and time again exposure. Sometimes the body aches, bloats, gets covered in spots, or the extreme you can't breath! Sometimes in a subtle way and other times not, it's trying to tell you it isn't happy about something! Just like when you get some zits after eating certain foods! Sometimes it's easy to pin point what made this happen, so you can either eliminate these items that set off your equilibrium or eat them less! The guts are a magical world that are pretty particular for each individual.
Esoteric farmers often refer to the soil as the digestive system of the plants. The biome is so important to nurture and keep in balance. Otherwise you have weakness or overgrowth to the life that it sustains. Equilibrium is a sacred space, that for many of us, when we get there it feels sooooo good, and we know that super good feeling when the body tells the brain I feel good. Getting there is so much about listening and experimenting! Also by indulging in some of the best basic things like the correct amount of sleep, hydration, movement, and daily ingestion of nutrients. We are very much living things that require the basics of nature, beyond all of our worldly desires and responsibilities. It’s a blink of the eye and something sets off our equilibrium again one way or another. Sometimes this is due to an illness, a medicine, an environmental exposure or something you have breathed in or ingested. I often tell my boys that your body is your temple. We all want peace in our temples! This is a life long journey in our temples. They teach us through our senses, but listening to our reactions, doing research and contemplating why? Why is this happening? Why do I feel a certain way? This week has been so busy that I have forgotten to eat meals. I've stopped myself mid work and wondered, why do I feel this way, frazzled and hungry? Oh, I didn't eat breakfast? Open contemplation is important, will is also very important. How do you want to feel, can your will help you feel a certain way? Certainly the mind is very powerful. Yet being mindful of what we are exposed to is very very important!
Chris and I made a simple adjustment to eat more protein in the mornings and less to no carbs and wow! No more midmorning sluggishness anymore. It's like putting a new color into a painting and seeing the whole picture change.
Food for thought!
Remember to stock up at this awesome time of the year when summer and autumn crops blend. Freeze Peppers, make tomato sauce, make enchilada sauce by mixing roasted tomatoes and peppers, make tomato or tomatillo salsa, freeze pesto, dehydrate watermelon, husk cherries, cherry tomatoes, aguaymanto! Dry herbs! Ferment!
Your Farmers, Chris, Aeros & The Who Crew
PS> I made a fruit salad with all of the fruit from our stand and it was tropical tasting!! Aguaymanto, cantaloupe, Korean Honeydew, Watermelon, Strawberries, Raspberries and I was missing Husk cherries! It was amazing! I'd never mixed everything before, it blew my mind. No sugar needed!
IN YOUR BOX:
All contents of your box are listed on your LABEL! If your label says something other than you think it should, please don’t take something different, please contact the farm. Note: Texting is the fastest way to reach us.
Add On Shares:
Mushrooms: Cremini
Cremini Mushrooms, also sometimes called “Baby Portobellos” are small, brown mushrooms with a mild earthy taste. Cremini Mushrooms are good sauteed with butter and garlic, baked into a quiche, or used in pasta dishes.
Cheese:
Cherish Creamy from Reynoldsville will be supplying us with cheese for the next 4 weeks. This week’s cheese is a Garlic Chive Chevre. It is great crumbled into salads or mixed into warm noodles for an easy alfredo sauce.
Fruit:
I want to reiterate that Woolf Farm who is usually our purveyor is currently unable to get us apples due to a family illness. They have had to cut back their customer commitments, and sadly this all of their wholesale accounts. This was a recent family emergency that may be ongoing, so we are in the meantime working with Soergel’s orchard. Soergel’s is a local apple grower that can supply our demand for local apples, they do buy in from other apple growers throughout the state, but these will be all be grown within less than a 180 mile radius of the farm.
This week’s apples are Ginger Gold. They are an excellent fresh eating apple. They are sweet with a mildly tart overtone. Their crisp fine textured flesh is very slow to brown, so they are a great choice for a charcuterie plate or also a great pairing to cheese, or any nut butter dipping snack.
RECIPE IDEAS
Bruschetta Chicken Pasta
Adapted from Lindsay Funston (delish.com)
Ingredients:
1 pound cherry tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup plus 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
4 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup torn fresh basil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 pound angel hair pasta
1 ½ pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Step 1 -
In a large bowl, stir together tomatoes, ¼ cup olive oil, garlic, and basil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Let sit for 15 minutes.
Step 2 -
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook angel hair pasta until al dente, 4 minutes. Drain and return to the pot.
Step 3 -
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Add chicken and season with Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Cook until no longer pink, 10 minutes per side. Let rest for 5 minutes, then thinly slice.
Step 4 -
All tomato mixture and sliced chicken to pasta and toss until fully combined. Top with Parmesan cheese and serve.
Aji Chili Sauce
Adapted from Mike Hultquist (chilipeppermadness.com)
Ingredients:
16 oz aji hot peppers
1 medium red onion, chopped in half
4 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
¼ cup water or vegetable stock
Directions:
Step 1 -
Add the peppers, onion, and garlic to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes until everything softens.
Step 2 -
Drain, then add them to a food processor or blender and process until a thick paste forms. You’ll have about 3 cups of thick sauce at this point.
Step 3 -
Add the honey, brown sugar, salt, and water/stock. Process until smooth.
Step 4 -
Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve. Adjust flavor with salt as needed.
Potato and Leek Soup
Adapted from Jennifer Segal (onceuponachef.com)
Ingredients:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 large leeks, white and green parts only, roughly chopped (about 5 cups)
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
2 pounds of potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped into ½ inch pieces
7 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 bay leaves
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 cup heavy cream
Chives, finely chopped for serving
Directions:
Step 1 -
Melt the butter over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add the leeks and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until soft and wilted, about 10 minutes. Adjust the heat as necessary so as not to brown.
Step 2 -
Add the potatoes, broth, bay leaves, thyme, salt, and pepper to the pot and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are very soft.
Step 3 -
Fish out the thyme sprigs and bay leaves. Purée the soup with a hand-held immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively, use a standard blender to purée the soup in batches. Add the heavy cream and bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thin, simmer until thickened. If it’s too thick, add water or stock to thin it out. Garnish with chives if desired.
Note: If using a standard blender to purée the soup: be sure not to fill the jar more than halfway; leave the hole in the lid open and cover loosely with a dishtowel to allow the heat to escape. Pour the blended soup into a clean pot.
Balsamic Caramelized Shallot Pasta
Adapted from Lizzie Streit (itsavegworldafterall.com)
Ingredients:
8 oz penne pasta, about 2 cups dry
2 Tbsp olive oil (can sub with butter)
1 pound of shallots, about 9 - 10, peeled and sliced into rings
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
⅓ cup chopped fresh parsley
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese plus more to taste
Balsamic reduction, for serving (optional)
Directions:
Step 1 -
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Reserve a cup of pasta water before draining.
Step 2 -
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced shallots and cook until tender, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the balsamic vinegar and brown sugar to the skillet, stir, and cook for 5 more minutes until most of the moisture has evaporated and the shallots have cooked down (they should be almost sticky).
Step 3 -
Transfer the drained pasta to the skillet and pour in a little bit of pasta water. Stir in the parsley and Parmesan cheese. Add more pasta water as desired to ensure the noodles are evenly coated with cheese, herbs, and shallots. Top with more cheese and drizzle with balsamic reduction, if desired, before serving.
FARM PICTURES
Above is our house and below is our worker housing. There is a lot of construction happening right now. Both houses are getting additions. We are adding more bedrooms to the worker housing, so that everyone has their own private bedroom. Then we are adding a gym and a guest bedroom with a loft to our house. We are excited to get this well under way before the cold weather sets it. Concrete footers are going in, and then in floor heating. Our packshed extension is sitting idle in paperwork permit mode. Hopefully more to post on this progress soon.
PICKING UP OF YOUR SHARE/S:
When you arrive at your pick up site, please first look for the RED CLIPBOARD! Find your name and take a look at what is waiting for you. Please check off all the shares listed by your name on the sign in sheet! Then look for a box with your name on the label, this is your box. Please unpack this box and take the contents home. You are not to take home this box! This box is for farm to pick up site transportation only! If you do take this box, please return it the following week. HERE IS A LINK TO A FACEBOOKS PAGE VIDEO SHOWING YOU HOW TO OPEN AND FLATTEN THIS BOX.
READ YOUR BOX LABELS: On your label you will see all that you should be picking up today. Please note, that none of the optional shares are inside of this box although they are listed on the label! These optional shares include, Eggs, Cheese, Mushrooms, and Coffee. These shares are located in the blue coolers. Please reference your box label & sign in sheet to make sure you get the correct optional shares that you paid for on each given week. ONLY TAKE THE ITEMS LISTED ON YOUR BOX LABEL AND SIGN IN SHEET UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTIFIED!
The mushrooms are in brown paper bags.
Eggs, half dozen = 6 egg carton
Eggs dozen = 12 egg carton
Cheese is by the piece, just take a block. ( If a cheese has a name on it, don’t take this cheese unless it has your name on it)
Fruit - The fruit share is located in a box labeled Fruit Share, please take one paper bag per share. 1 bag is 3# of fruit.
If you don’t see a share that you think you should be getting, please don’t take it, please instead be in touch with the farm. If you are ever missing any veggies or add on items or the quality is not up to WCFY par, please be in touch. Call/Text 814-221-7177. Or email us. info@whocooksforyoufarm.com