This Week’s Harvest
Tomatoes
Salad Mix
Tendersweet Cabbage
Potatoes
Red Onions
Garlic
Cantaloupe
Green Beans
Apple Share:
Honeycrisp (balance of tart and sweet, larger green and red), Galas (mild, small yellow and red) and Jonathon (tart and crisp, small mostly dark red with green streaking)
Save the Date:
Our CSA member farm walk and potluck is Sunday October 7 from 4 to 7. The farm walk will be at 4 with dinner to follow at 5. Please bring good walking shoes and a dish to share. We hope that you and your family/friends can join us as we celebrate the harvest!
Farm News
From natural disasters to the opioid epidemic to the latest on Capital Hill, there is no shortage of pressing news. What has been on my mind lately is the Farm Bill. Every 4 to 5 years, Congress passes this hefty piece of legislation and the 2014 Farm Bill expires September 30. Earlier this summer the House and Senate passed their versions of the 2018 Farm Bill. Currently both chambers have to agree on a bill and pass it by the end of the month.
The House version slashed a lot of programs, some of which Mile Creek Farm currently uses or has used in the past that support both regional and organic agriculture. The Senate version easily passed with bipartisan support and did not include near as many cuts. Ohio’s own Senator, Sherrod Brown, is a member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry, the committee tasked with drafting the Senate Farm Bill. Sherrod Brown has been a champion for initiatives that help build a local and regional food supply as well as an advocate for conservation programs that improve water quality and regenerate soils.
We think that our food system is broken and to build a new one–one in which people eat more vegetables, rural areas are dotted with bustling vegetable farms, and a new generation has a chance at a successful career in the field–requires some government help in the form of policy. From the organic certification cost share program to cost share with hoophouse construction to extend the season, to grants to regenerate the soil with cover crops, we feel our farm is in its 11th year in part because of past Farm Bill provisions. We’d like to see the local food movement continue to strengthen and become the norm, not fizzle as a passing fad. Hopefully the 2018 Farm Bill will increase the chance of success–not hinder it!
Recipes
Braised Cabbage with fried Potatoes, dill and feta
Potato Salad with tomatoes and Green Beans (sub dill for the basil and red onion for the green onions)
Oven Roasted Bok Choi with Garlic (1 large bok choi is around 1 lb so you can mix in some cabbage to stretch it)
Coming Up Next Week (Our Best Guess……) Acorn Squash, Salad Turnips, Salad Mix, Radishes, Tomatoes, Napa Cabbage and more!