2011 Season Survey results: 

Thanks to all of you who responded to the end of season survey.  We read through each and every one.  It’s incredibly important to us what you have to say.  We will summarize the main points; we read and consider all of your comments.  Here’s what you told us:

These are the vegetables you enjoyed the most, in this order: Salad Mix, Sweet Corn, Tomatoes, Sugar Snap Peas, Potatoes, Carrots, Garlic, Lettuce Heads, Beans and Spinach.  Vegetables you would like more of, in this order: Sugar Snap Peas, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, Watermelon, Garlic, Carrots, Sweet Corn.  Vegetables you would like less of, in this order: Beets, Collard Greens, Fennel, Kohlrabi, Garlic Scapes, Swiss Chard, Edemame, Celeriac.  We asked you if we should continue growing strawberries (a very time consuming crop at a very busy time of year) 67% said” We like strawberries but it’s OK if you discontinue growing them”  28% said, “Please, please keep growing strawberries and 6% said, “Don’t grow them.”  This response will guide what we do in the future with strawberries, although you can look forward to strawberries in 2012.  Because it is a crop that needs to be planned in advance, new plants were planted last season for the upcoming season.  Regarding “This Week’s Harvest”, the slip of paper we put into your share box with details about each vegetable.  We asked if you would prefer a slip of paper in your share box or an e-mail send each Thursday.  42% said paper slip, 58% said e-mail.  Although the percentage was tipped towards getting rid of the paper, the comments told us to keep the paper.  Many people said some form of “While I’m all for paperless usually it is handy to have the printed slip with storage info when unpacking the share”.  People realized the efficiency and environmental plus of paperless, but loved the piece of paper to reference, put on their refrigerator, and use when planning meals.  We will keep the paper coming in your share and continue to post the contents of the share on our web site.

Who used beet greens? 53% of you.  You may have wondered why we asked this; delivering beets with their greens is much more work for us and we only want to take the time if the greens are getting used.  We asked what else we could add to our blog to provide better communication.  At this time we feature farm news, recipes, This Week’s Harvest and events information on our blog.  Some of you were turned off by the word “blog”, dislike blogs or don’t follow blogs.  I’m sorry we had to use the word, I dislike it as well.  It’s not that anyone at the farm sits around blogging, quite the contrary, we try to post news weekly.  The blog has replaced our newlsetter.  It is essentially the same thing, just an easier format for us to work with.  The blog is also an easy format for us to post recipes and event information.  Some other things you said would be nice; the ability to share recipes with each other, more frequent news posts, articles written by different people.  There were a lot of useful comments for us to read and ponder.  Some of you didn’t know we had a blog.  Many of you were happy with just how it is.  We appreciate all of the comments and will use them as we continue to make positive changes in how we communicate and share information.  And then we got hundreds of general “anything you would like to tell us” comments.  They are so much fun to read.  Picture me with a cup of tea by the fire reading and highlighting.  Yes, I print them all off and sit down with them.  The questions, suggestions, ideas, comments, critical feedback and praise are what make CSA special.  The ability for you to give your farm and farmers feedback is unique and special.  And the ability for us to receive feedback from our eaters is very special.  It only happens in the CSA world.  Thank you for caring so much about where your food comes from and who is growing it.

The Third Generation Perkins CSA Farmer

Baby Paavo

On December 21st Jesse (Barb and David’s eldest son) and Jonnah had their first baby, Paavo Armour Perkins.  He has already been busy around the farm helping his dad get the hoophouse ready for spring and watching his mom get CSA memberships organized in her office.  Paavo is excited to meet everyone at the farm events this summer.

Barb

The 2011 Vermont Valley full time crew in the brussels sprout patch. Left to right: Jesse Perkins, David Perkins, Chad Chriestenson, Chris Klaeser, Eric Perkins, Cari Stebbins (cook), Barb Perkins, Jonnah Perkins

Pumpkin Pick

Chris cleaning leeks

Onions curing in the greenhouse

Packing the share boxes

Jesse loading a truck on delivery day

Barb

The main harvest involves a fair bit of equipment.  We use a Scottish built 2 row harvester; which digs the potatoes, shakes the dirt from them, pulls out the weeds and remaining potato vines, and deposits the potatoes into a potato wagon.  Four people ride on a picking table in the rear of the machine; they pick out bad potatoes and dirt that gets through the machine.  Our setup is a miniature version of what you would see if you traveled in the central sands area of the State this time of year (Stevens Point area).  Their machines harvest 16 rows at a time.  But then they are harvesting hundreds of acres and we are harvesting six acres.  The potatoes are then deposited into 1,000 lb. bulk bins and transported to our potato cooler at the farm.  The bins are stacked four high and the temperature and humidity is controlled.  Later the potatoes are sized and once again culled for bad potatoes.  Before they are bagged for you, they are washed and once again culled for bad potatoes; so if you get a bad potato from us it wasn’t because we didn’t try to get rid of it.

Click to view slideshow.

Besides growing potatoes for you, we also grow seed potatoes that we sell to other organic growers in the Midwest.  In fact, we are the only organic certified seed grower in the Midwest.  Certified seed potato growers are regulated under the State Seed Potato law.  There are certain production and storage practices that must be met to be able to sell the potato as Certified Seed.  Seed growers in Wisconsin have the fields inspected twice during the growing season.  If the field is new to seed production, it is inspected during the harvest.  The seed is then inspected in storage.  All potatoes planted to produce seed must meet strict standards; this is called a ”foundation seed” standard.  Every “lot” of seed is monitored separately; a “lot” being separate varieties and a variety may be several lots if it was first planted in different years.  Samples of all lots are grown out in Florida in the winter to test for disease.  Fees are charged for all these activities to pay for all the State’s costs.

There are regulations that can apply to all potato growers, such as the ability of the State to order the destruction of your crop if it is contaminated with Late Blight, famously known for the Irish famine of the 1800′s.   There are also industry “self” regulation standards.  These standards are related to size of the potato, visual appearance and processing traits.  Interestingly to us, there is no standard for eating quality; our primary concern is the eating experience; big, small, round, square…who cares, is it good?  The number one consumed potato, the commercial Russet, is the worst tasting of all potatoes; we do not grow those varieties.  The commercial potato growers I know compare its eating quality to cardboard.

The difference between a Certified Seed Potato and other potatoes is the level of potato disease organisms in the potato, primarily viral diseases.  Potatoes are produced by cutting up a potato into 2 ounce pieces and planting it; these are called seed pieces.  All potatoes will build up their level of disease as they are replanted year after year.  The entire purpose of a Certified Seed Potato is to have no or extremely low disease in the seed piece.  A potato seed piece with a high level of disease will have a lower yield and will be a source of disease inoculum for other potatoes.  Many diseases are spread by insects feeding on one potato plant and then moving to the next.  So the basic strategy is: no inoculum in your seed means no disease in the potatoes you harvest.  Historically, the single biggest improvement in potato yield came with the creation of the concept of Certified Seed.  Again, if the Irish had certified seed, there would be a lot more people living in Ireland today.

We also sell potatoes to Willy Street Coop throughout the fall and have for many years now.

The yield on the six acres of potatoes we grow varies between 120,000 to 200,000 lbs. of potatoes.  The yield changes significantly with the weather.  Two years ago was a great year for all the growers in the State, we had our best crop ever by far.  This year many of the growers will have a bad year because of weather, our year is a little below average.   We grow 14 different varieties, some of which are only grown because our seed customers ask us to.  Of these varieties, we give you variety as well as what we think is the best eating.

David

The Storage Share includes two deliveries:

November 10th & December 8th.

We include detailed storage tips on how to store your produce.

Each delivery includes:  15# potatoes, 5# carrots, 5# onions; plus winter squash, cabbage, kale, leeks, daikon radishes, beets, celeriac, rutabaga, turnips, brussels sprouts, garlic, winter radish & pie pumpkins.

The cost of the Storage Share is $165.  You can sign up by sending a check to Vermont Valley Community Farm, 4628 CTY RD FF, Blue Mounds, WI 53517.  No need to fill out a sign up form if you are already a member; please update us if contact information has changed.  If you are not currently a member, fill out a sign up form and send it in along with your payment.

We consolidate our Storage Share pick up sites to 5-6 locations because the weather during the Storage Share deliveries can be very cold and snowy.   We choose sites with heated facilities and easy parking so vegetables don’t freeze, members can more easily park and our delivery trucks have fewer sites to drive to in the event of snow.  The past two December delivery dates have coincided with blizzards!!   We will post the sites as soon as they have been confirmed.

All members signed up for a Storage Share will receive an e-mail from the farm with more detail and site information.

If you want a Storage share we need your signup/payment by Sept 30^th.

Pesto Fest - Harvesting nice green basil.

The frost blackened the basil. Basil is a 32 degree indicator; at exactly 32 degrees basil dies.

Roma tomatoes after the frost.

Peppers harvested the day before the frost, to be delivered next week.

Fall crops. Red lettuce heads, bok choy, kale, collards being harvested.

Barb

We need to know if you will be coming out to pick and how many pounds you want to pick.

An RSVP is required; farm@vermontvalley.com or 608-767-3860

If there are more requests than ripe tomatoes, we will ask you to wait until the next u-pick the following week.

We ask that everyone arrives at the same time so everyone has the same access to the ripest tomatoes.  If someone arrives a half hour later than the start time there may only be under-ripe tomatoes remaining.

A note on the weather:  Madison weather is often different from what we are experiencing out here on the farm.  If the weather looks questionable where you are on the morning of a U-Pick, check our blog for weather updates.  All events are rain or shine but we will give information about how to prepare yourself for weather.

U-Pick Dates and Times: 

Saturday, August 20th, 9:00 am – FULL

Saturday, August 27th, 9:00 am

Saturday, September 3rd, 9:00 am

Saturday, September 10th, 10:00 am (same day as Pesto Fest)

Bring your own containers or bags to pick into and to transport your tomatoes home.

The farm always can use plastic bags and neatly folded full sized paper bags.  Bring them if you have them.

Roma tomatoes are perfect for sauce and salsa because they are less juicy than slicing tomatoes. They are also delicious to eat and do keep very well.  We have 6 different varieties of traditional roma tomatoes (all red varieties) and 7 varieties of interesting heirloom varieties (a mix of colors and shapes with very rich flavors).

Basil: No charge for a limited quantity.

Hot Peppers:  We have grown 9 different hot pepper varieties.  You may purchase them for $3.00 per pound

Tomatillos:  Available for $1.50 per pound.  We grow a limited quantity of tomatillos.

Garlic: $5.50 per pound

Please leave your dogs at home.

Directions to the Farm 

• From Madison take Highway 14 (University
  Avenue) to Black Earth.  Turn left onto
  County F/Highway 78  (this is at the
  stoplight on highway 14, at the Shoe Box shoe store).
• Stay on County F for five miles to the intersection with County FF (Cty F turns
  right in Black Earth, then turns left 1 mile outside of Black Earth).

The farm is at the intersection of F & FF. A map
is on our website at www.vermontvalley.com

Now we could just pass over those ears and only deliver the non-crane ears.  However, that would mean you would not get much corn.  So we have decided to deliver these ears;  better a partial ear than none.  Last week some of you got less than perfect ears without this introduction to crane-ears, and were a bit surprised.  Even the ears that look perfect from the outside may hold a surprise once opened, such as a bad spot or some corn fungus that we cannot do anything about because we can’t see it; please just cut off the bad part.  This week we put in the effort to cut off the crane damaged ends; so you will be getting some “shortened” ears.  If we miss a few, please feel free to shorten them yourselves.  As of this writing, next week’s sweet corn harvest has not yet been discovered by the cranes; keep your fingers crossed.

At the Corn Boil last weekend, one young girl found it particularly exciting that she was sharing her sweet corn with the Sandhill Cranes.  I very much appreciate the perspective and attitude, but will have to admit the farmer in me has a hard time embracing such a thought.  Organic sweet corn is a very high maintenance crop; so much effort goes into producing it.  To give you an idea of what I mean in financial terms, if I sold it at a market, I would need to sell it for $1.50 per ear to justify growing it, and even then I would not do it; too risky with those cranes and other critters about.  So why do you see way cheaper corn all about this time of year?  The answer is chemicals.  Several types of pesticides applied to conventional corn make it an “easy” crop to grow and relatively cheap to grow.  We don’t use those chemicals.

The most common question I was asked at the Corn Boil: why does your corn taste so good?  Answer: it is fresh, harvested when it tastes the best, and kept at the proper temperature.  Large growers supplying grocery chains get paid by the ton, so there is an incentive to let the sweet corn get big kernels; that means overripe corn.  Sweet corn should not be left unrefrigerated.  All the local sweet corn you see sitting in the heat of the day on the roadside stands is getting worse by the hour.  It loses eating quality unless kept cold.  Even then, corn is significantly better fresh.  So eat it up right away.  Alternatively, a fresh ear freezes extremely well if par boiled for 3 minutes, then dunked in cool water to cool down, kernels cut off, bagged and frozen.  When you want it, just lightly reheat it.  We eat fresh tasting corn all winter following this process.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy the beautiful Sandhill Cranes on our farm sometime.  That would be your payback for some tattered sweet corn.

Harvesting Sweet Corn. The people harvesting the corn follow behind a conveyor. Each ear of corn they pick is put onto the conveyor and lifted into the wagon. Two people are waiting to receive it and count it into crates.

Corn traveling on the conveyor.

David

Garden Peach:  These 2oz yellow fruits blush pink when ripe and have fuzzy skins somewhat like peaches.  Soft skinned, juicy and very sweet.  Light fruity taste is not what you would expect in a tomato.

Green Zebra:   A 3-4 oz. tangy salad tomato with green stripes and a yellow blush.   Eat them when they get soft.

Red Zebra:  A small red tomato overlaid with golden yellow stripes, the red version of Green Zebra.

Roman Candle:  A long, yellow colored, paste tomato.  Great for drying, sauce and fresh eating.

Ruth’s, Estiva, Wisconsin 55, Pink Beauty:  Red slicing tomatoes with amazing flavor and texture.

Cherry Tomatoes:  Sun Gold, Sun Cherry, Yellow Mini and Black Cherry.  We mix them up for you. 

Roma/Paste/Plum/Processing Tomatoes:  These tomatoes are drier than most slicing tomatoes, making them perfect for cooking, drying, sauce and salsa making. We grow a mix of traditional red paste tomatoes and others with fascinating shape, size and color.  Here are their names:  Debarao, Super Marzano, San Marzano, Monica, Mariana, Viva Italia, Speckled Roman, Amish Paste, Federle, Sheboygan, Opalka, Orange Banana. 

Black Krim:  A slightly flattened, deep red/mahogany colored tomato with heavy green shoulders; interior is a deep reddish-green color, sweet and tasty.  Unbelievably rich flavor. The Black Krim is ready to eat when it has turned a very deep purplish-black color, the shoulders may stay green. My personal favorite! (Barb).  

Japanese Trifele Black:  A tomato that looks like a beautiful mahogany-colored Bartlett pear with greenish shoulders.  A rich and complex flavor.

We aim to harvest our tomatoes just before they are vine-ripe. We do this so you don’t receive an over ripe tomato.  But it also means that you may receive a tomato that needs to sit on your counter for a day or two before it is perfect to eat, heavy and quite soft.   And when you do receive a very ripe tomato, eat it up.

(left to right): Black Krim (slightly under ripe), Black Krim (ripe and ready to eat); three red slicing tomatoes: Ruth’s, Estiva, Pink Beauty; Japanese Trifele Black, Garden Peach, Orange Banana, RedZebra, Green Zebra

Barb

A bit exhausted after a hot morning of harvest, but we did it!!

Cooling down in some icy water after coming in from the fields

This week we began big harvests of cucumbers, zucchini, tomatoes and green beans.  We harvest zucchini five days each week (we skip Thursday and one of the weekend days).  If we are not out there nearly every day the size of an individual zuc can double or triple.  That vegetable keeps us on our toes, or more accurately, keeps us in the zucchini patch.  As soon as cucumbers start to size up we keep a close eye on them, because all of a sudden they are ready.  We harvest cucumbers and tomatoes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  The tomatoes that we are harvesting now are growing in our hoophouse, a large greenhouse structure where we plant directly into the ground.  We do this so we can have a crop earlier than we could outside.  The outside tomatoes are beautiful, but it will be several weeks before we will begin to harvest them.  This week was the first of eight green bean harvests.  I think we will harvest the first eggplants next week.  Of course there are lots more summer vegetables on their way, I chose to highlight the ones that define the coming of the summer season.

You may have noticed a slightly smaller quantity of vegetables last week.  This seems to happen when the early season is winding down and the summer season is beginning.  Plan as we may, Mother Nature always has the final say.

Broccoli Harvest: Heather (worker share) pealing leaves from broccoli

Chris (worker share) loading broccoli into the truck

David cultivating beets. The cultivator scrapes out the weeds between rows. We then hand weed in the rows. Yea, lots of time spent keeping the crops weed free.

Barb