August 27-31 Whole Farm and Summer CSA Newsletter

Full Share: Broccoli, Song Cauliflower, Dragon Beans, Cucumber, Summer Squash, Red Norland Potatoes, Artichokes, Cherry Tomatoes, Garlic, Dill

Half Share: Broccoli, Dragon Beans, Cucumber, Summer Squash, Red Norland Potatoes, Artichokes, Garlic, Dill

Hi, This is Jacy Rothschiller, and I thought I would introduce myself to our members that might be new to our CSA. Many of you have been with us from the beginning and have seen us grow over the 22 years we have been farming. You saw us starting as a young couple on a leased acre of land and a big dream! You stuck with us as we purchased 7 acres of land from Rocky Creek Farm and expanded our veggie production and our family to include our children Zachary and Ania. Watched us get a touch in over our heads by purchasing all the other 50 acres of Rocky Creek Farm, and growing into what now includes a lot of veggies, cut flowers, upick small fruits, small animal flocks, kids camps and schools, a cider press, and a large fall festival pumpkin patch that are run by an amazing community of employees!

I co run all of the operations with my husband Matt. I am often asked what my favorite thing to grow or my favorite job is on the farm. I love to grow all plants and I love to grow tasty and beautiful crops and find good systems to get them to flow into the world. Usually I respond with whatever task or crop I’m working with at the time. This week in veggie world I love equally the song cauliflower and the baby artichokes. I love the Song because it is so tasty and fun to harvest, and the baby artichokes we used to grow a lot when we first started out and is was one of the first crops that was really unique to growing in Bozeman. They are also very tasty right now and I love how you can quickly steam them and eat almost the whole ‘choke. In Flower world, I feel like I should choose the majestic Coral Gladiolus that made it into the sherberty CSA bouquets, but my heart was captured by the greenhouse full of pastel Lisianthus, I love them so much.

It was so fun to get the cider press up and running with Matt this week. It feels like the start of fall, and I don’t get to work side by side with Matt much anymore, and it is still one of my favorite things in the world. We have everyone from town starting to bring us the apples from their trees and we press them in our Apple Press and give them back the juice from their own trees. As Pete Fay the previous owner of Rocky Creek Farm used to say “it makes everyone a farmer”. We have also started some of our bulk harvesting for fall and winter. I love bulk harvesting, it usually happens with most of our crew and feels very social. It also feels different than our frantic summer harvests, it is not slow, but has an unhurried feel to it. And it also often happens in the late fall afternoons when the light is golden and the sun feels warm after cool mornings!

This weeks box may be starting to feel a bit repetitive but this is summer in all it’s bounty and it will change soon! I love the simplicity our dinners have taken on: some combination of sautéed or grilled: Cauliflower, Beans and Summer Squash with rice or potato and a simple protein, often alot of chicken! We also thought about pickling this week and the box reflects that. Last Saturday I had a Marketstand customer who was purchasing 10# of Dragon Bean remind me of Fermented Dilly Beans. I have used the recipe from Sandor Katz “The Art of Fermentation” before but we have lent the book out so I found one online that seems similar: Fermented Dill Beans.

The box should have enough ingredients to also make a batch of Quick or Refrigerator Pickles

Thank you for being a part of our Farm, Enjoy your food, Jacy