<![CDATA[Simply Wisconsin, LLC]]>http://www.simplywi.comen-ushttp://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssCopyright 2010Simply Wisconsin, LLC<![CDATA[What's Up At West Star Farm - September 3, 2010]]>Most of the delicata squash has now been harvested into crates and stored in the lower level of the barn where temperatures are somewhat moderate.  The remainder will be harvested on Monday.  Then the  drip tape will be removed from the field and the vines from the squash plants will be chopped so they can start to decompose in the field.  It looks like the spaghetti squash is ready so it will be harvested next.  The pumpkins are also ready so we are considering getting them out of the field and dipping them in an organically approved solution of hydrogen peroxide so they will hopefully store until later in September.  Greenhouse #1 is nearly ready for the crates of butternut squash that will be harvested soon.  Tables were removed from one side of the  greenhouse and wood flooring was placed on the ground so we can move the crates of squash around with a pallet jack.  It looks like the yield from  the butternut will be similar to last year’s harvest, which amounted to several thousand pounds, so we will again offer good pricing on  the butternut squash to our customers.  Another of our fall crops is potatoes and it looks like they are sizing up.   Last week we dug several hills of potatoes and they averaged about 10 to 15 tubers per hill.  Many are at the size of a golf ball now and we expect that  they will more than double in size over the next couple of weeks.  Potatoes at this stage need a lot of water so we are hoping for rain this week.  We also dug up some of the sweet potatoes and they were quite big already with a lot of tubers under each plant.  The sweet potatoes need to be dug before a frost so we will be watching the temperature forecasts.  A couple of salsify plants were dug to see how they are doing and it seems that the roots are already ¾ inch in diameter.  Salsify still has a couple of months to go before it needs to come out of the ground so it should  size up considerably more before then.  Onions should be ready for sale this week and there is plenty of garlic still available.  We have started the planning process for next year’s  bedding plants.  We will be ordering some supplies soon and sourcing seeds for next year.  We were pleased to hear that we should be able to get seed for our most popular tomato varieties – the sun sugar and sun gold tomatoes.  Some of our  customers requested that we grow strawberry plants and we had a lot of requests last year for poblano peppers so we will grow those for next spring.   

 George Kohn, West Star Farm 

]]>Fri, 03 Sep 2010 06:26:40 -0500<![CDATA[Simply Wisconsin Availability for the Week of September 7, 2010]]>Welcome to chefs, retailers, caterers, and anyone who would like to order certified organic produce and eggs, artisan cheeses, organic grain products, and natural frozen meats from local family farms!

We will post our seasonal availability each week on this page for your review.  Our delivery schedule is as follows:  Tuesday and Fridays - Chicago area and Madison to Stevens Point; Wednesdays - Sheboygan and Fox Valley area, Thursday - Milwaukee area (including Oconomowoc); Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays - Madison area.  If you would like more information or want to be put on our weekly availability E-mail list, please contact Deb Hansen at (608) 630-7097, or by E-mail at simplywisconsin@yahoo.com.

We look forward to working with you!

To download a Simply Wisconsin availability sheet for our next available deliveries, click on the link below:

What's On The Menu from Simply Wisconsin for Week of September 7, 2010

To receive our full weekly availability lists with pricing via E-mail, please contact Deb Hansen at simplywisconsin@yahoo.com, or give us a call at (608) 630-7097.

We look forward to supplying you with local, organic produce this season!

 

]]>Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:25:48 -0500<![CDATA[2010 CSA Winter Share Information]]> 

We are happy to welcome you to the official registration for our 2010 CSA Winter Share season!

We are offering two different produce shares and egg shares, a cheese share, a meat share, and a pantry share for winter.  We have had an overwhelming interest in our two produce shares, and while we have a few left, they will go quickly. 

Currently, we have sites available in Chicago proper, Illinois North, Illinois West Suburbs, Monona, and Madison - scroll down until you find the area of your pick-up and download a brochure! 

Chicago CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Tuesdays as follows:  Nov 2, Nov 9, Nov 16, Nov 30, Dec 7, Dec 14, Dec 28, Jan 4, Jan 11, and January 18, 2011

  • 2418 W. Grace Street (4-8 pm)
  • 5061 N. Claremont (Lincoln Square) (4-8 pm)
  • Luther Memorial, 2500 W. Wilson (4-7 pm)
  • Summerdale Cmty Church, 1700 W. Farragut (4-7 pm)
  • 737 W. Gordon Terrace (4-8 pm)
  • 5056 N. Ravenswood (4-8 pm)
  • 6701 N. Rockwell (4-8 pm)
  • The Kid’s Table, 2337 W. North Ave (3-7 pm)
  • 2432 N. Washtenaw (Logan Square) (4-8 pm)

Download a 2010 Chicago Area CSA Winter Share Brochure

Madison CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Tuesdays as follows:  Nov 2, Nov 9, Nov 16, Nov 30, Dec 7, Dec 14, Dec 28, Jan 4, Jan 11, and January 18, 2011

  • Bernie's Place, 206 Bernard Court, Madison (2:30-5:30 pm)
  • 5509 Regent Street, Madison (5-7:30 pm) 
  • 5938 Mayhill Drive, Madison (5-7:30 pm)
  • 709 Fair Oaks, Madison (5-7:30 pm)

Download a 2010 Madison CSA Winter Share Brochure

Illinois North CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Wednesdays as follows:  Nov 3, Nov 10, Nov 17, Dec 1, Dec 8, Dec 15, Dec Dec 28, Jan 5, Jan 12, and January 19, 2011

  • 1428 Noyes Street, Evanston (4-8 pm)
  • 520 Judson, Evanston (4-8 pm)
  • 105 Garden Lane, Prospect Heights (4-8 pm)
  • 306 Maple Avenue, Highland Park (4-8 pm)
  • 455 Pine Court, Lake Bluff (4-8 pm)
  • 736 Oak Road (formerly 114 Applebee Street), Barrington (4-8 pm)
  • Big Bowl Fresh Chinese and Thai Restaurant, 1950 E. Higgins Road, Schaumburg(4-7 pm)
  • Total Body Yoga / Wild Lavender Acupuncture Business, 210 Terrace Drive, Mundelein (4-8 pm)
    •
  • College of Lake County-Grayslake, Horticulture Building Garage (4-6:30 pm)

Download a 2010 Illinois North CSA Winter Share Brochure

Monona CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Wednesdays as follows:  Nov 3, Nov 10, Nov 17, Dec 1, Dec 8, Dec 15, Dec 28, Jan 5, Jan 12, and January 19, 2011

  • 4906 Rothman Place, Monona

Download a 2010 Monona CSA Winter Share Brochure

Rayovac & Remington (including Spectrum) CSA Winter Share (for Rayovac & Remington employees only) pick-up dates are on Thursdays as follows:  Nov 4, Nov 11, Nov 18, Dec 2, Dec 9, Dec 16, Dec 30, Jan 6, Jan 13, and January 20, 2011

  • Rayovac & Remington - Tech Lot

Download a 2010 Rayovac & Remington CSA Winter Share Brochure

Vie Restaurant CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Fridays as follows:  Nov 5, Nov 12, Nov 19, Dec 3, Dec 10, Dec 17,  Jan 7, Jan 14, Jan 21, and Jan 28 2011

  • Vie Restaurant, 4471 Lawn Avenue, Western Springs, IL

Download a 2010 Vie Restaurant CSA Winter Share Brochure

If you wish to sign-up online and pay via Google Checkout or select the invoice option, follow the link below:

http://simplywisconsin.smallfarmcentral.com/members

If you wish to sign-up online through our online store and pay via PayPal, follow the link below:

http://www.simplywi.com/store/233

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at simplywisconsin@yahoo.com.

-Simply Wisconsin

]]>Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:54:57 -0500<![CDATA[CSA Newsletters]]>Simply Wisconsin CSA 2010 Newsletters

Week of August 31, 2010

Week of August 24, 2010

Meat and Preserve Share Newsletter - August, 2010

Week of August 17, 2010

Week of August 10, 2010

Week of August 3, 2010

Week of July 27, 2010

Week of July 20, 2010

Week of July 13, 2010

Week of July 6, 2010

Week of June 29, 2010

Week of June 22, 2010

Week of June 15, 2010

 

 

CHICAGO AREA CSA NEWSLETTERS

2009 Summer Share CSA

Chicago Area CSA 07-29-09          Chicago Area CSA 08-26-09          Chicago Area CSA 09-02-09

Chicago Area CSA 09-09-09          Chicago Area CSA 09-16-09          Chicago Area CSA 09-23-09

Chicago Area CSA 09-30-09          Chicago Area CSA 10-07-09          Chicago Area CSA 10-14-09

Chicago Area CSA 10-21-09          Chicago Area CSA 10-28-09

2009 Winter Share CSA

VIE RESTAURANT CSA NEWSLETTERS

2009 Summer Share CSA

 

        

 

]]>Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:22:42 -0500<![CDATA[What's Up At West Star Farm - August 8, 2010]]>Nearly all the crops are early and big this year due to the timely rain and warm weather. Even the popcorn is nearly 8 feet tall and forming ears and silks.  The raspberries are nearly ready to produce a second  crop for the season as the branches are now loaded with green buds.  The potatoes are forming hooks underground.  The hooks are formed on the root structure of the plant and each hook represents a potential potato. We started applying an organic fish fertilizer to the potato plants  to help set the hooks on the plant so they do not abort.  A few of the plants that we dug up last week had 15 to 16 hooks.  The blue potatoes were planted this year without cutting the seed.  As a result, the rows are heavily populated with potato plants and it looks like we could have a lot of blue potatoes available this fall if they all mature.  With the organic fish fertilizer, we incorporated an organic product that will hopefully help the plants resist the late blight.  Late blight has been confirmed in both potatoes and tomatoes in several counties in Wisconsin.  The tomatoes are starting to ripen fairly fast now so we should see a good crop in the next few weeks.  As always, the sun sugar cherry tomatoes are sweet and the plants have lots of tomatoes.  It is hard to walk by the plants and not pick off a tomato to eat.  The small greenhouse was planted earlier  this year with tomatoes, okra and ghost peppers.  A lot of okra has already been harvested from the plants and it looks like a lot more may be ripening soon.  The ghost peppers are the world’s hottest pepper at 1 million scoville units.  They are also known as the bhut jolokia  pepper.  The plants have lots of green, wrinkly looking peppers on them so we will leave them on the plants for a while to see if they turn color when they ripen.  We began harvesting corn last week and expect to have more this week.  There is a difference in ear size depending on the variety of corn.  The trade off is that the variety with smaller ears seems to have a sweeter flavor than the larger ear variety but all the varieties harvested so far this year have a very nice sweet corn flavor.  A lot of attention last week was directed toward cleaning up some small areas of weeds between rows and around the perimeter of the fields.  Some weeds are forming seed heads so we do not want to see them go to seed.  We will probably not see a lot of new weed growth any more this year but the seeds from the weeds would still be around next year to cause problems.  The fields look very nice when they are free of weeds so it makes us all feel good about working at the farm.

George Kohn, West Star Farm           

]]>Fri, 06 Aug 2010 05:10:07 -0500<![CDATA[What's Up At West Star Farm - July 10, 2010]]>The butternut squash plants are now so big that it looks like we will not be able to get through the fields any more to fertilize them without stepping on the vines.  We sprayed them last week with a mixture of organic fertilizer and an organic product that smells like cedar.  The cedar smell is designed to repel the cucumber beetle which was starting to invade the field.  The delicata squash field is full of blossoms and small fruit.  The fields are all fairly clean of weeds and many of the plants are big enough now that they will shade any further growth of weeds. The salsify crop is about 6” tall and the rows are full with plants.  We have about 3500 feet of salsify planted this year so we hope to have a good supply of salsify this fall.  Some of the first planting of sweet corn is tasseling so we will be watching the corn now for ear formation.  The raspberries are ripe and it looks like there are a lot of them so we will be picking them on Monday.  The potato planting was finished last week.  We received a lot of the all blue variety of potato seed earlier this year so we worked up an extra field to plant them.  There will possibly be a lot of blue potatoes available in September when we harvest them.  We didn’t need the entire extra field for the potatoes so the rest of the field was planted with a cover crop of buckwheat.  Buckwheat is a fast growing grain that forms a good vegetative mass which shades weed growth.  It will be chopped down before it goes to seed.  When buckwheat flowers, the honey bees at the farm find the buckwheat blossoms and resulting buckwheat honey is quite good.  Earlier this year a neighbor loaned their brush mower and tractor to us so we could cut down some winter rye that was about 5 foot tall.  It was too big for us to use our chopper to chop it down so the brush mower worked very well for doing that.  Last week we decided to purchase our own brush mower.  It is hooked up to the 3 point hitch on the John Deere tractor and operated by the PTO on the tractor.  We can now get into small areas and mow down weeds before they go to seed.  Some thistles were starting to go to seed so before we got the mower we had started cutting them by hand with a scythe.  Unfortunately, after we cut them, while the thistles were lying on the ground, the seed heads opened even more to the point where they were ready to blow around with a wind. So we flamed the seed heads first and then went into the field with the brush mower and mowed them down.  Thistles usually grow in patches in fields so they are somewhat controllable if they are continually cut down.  The brush mower will also permit us to mow around the edges of the fields which will help to keep the fields looking a lot nicer.  Because many of the crops are earlier than normal this year, we will be watching the garlic this week for dying of the leaves.  Each leaf on the plant represents a wrapper on the bulb so when a certain number of leaves die back, we will dig the garlic to preserve the maximum number of wrappers on the bulbs.  More wrappers on the bulb enhance the storage of the bulbs.  We dug some garlic last week and the bulbs are already big and the flavor is quite good.   

George Kohn
West Star Farm

]]>Thu, 29 Jul 2010 05:33:02 -0500<![CDATA[Mom's Diary of a 10-year old self-declared vegetarian . . .]]>Saturday, July 10, 2010

A day or so ago, our 10-year old daughter, Carley, told us she is now a vegetarian.  We weren't as shocked as she thought we might be - she's has spent the last 6 months asking a lot of questions about where the meat we sell to restaurants and include in our meat share come from, and we have answered her honestly.  We tell her that all of our meat producers are humane to the animals they raise and how they are raised, and we also tell her about the end of that animal's life.  While my husband and I and our 15-year old daughter, Rachel, remain omnivours, we have all agreed to try to share in Carley's preferred diet.

Today, I am making my first vegetarian meal which our entire family will share (however, the three of us will also parttake of grass-fed porterhouse on the grill with Carley's permission to eat it in front of her).  Understand, I am a good cook and a better baker, and since I was raised on a farm, vegetables have always played a huge part in my diet.  Making sure my daughter gets everything she needs as a vegetarian is another story.

Any advice you have for me, feel free to post it on our blog, or you can join us on Facebook at Simply Wisconsin, LLC, and advise me from there.

Tonight's menu (which Carley helped me plan with the help of some of my cookbooks and the internet)consists of:

Fresh shelling peas, cheese summer squash bake (which includes bread an an ingredient) with fresh parmesan, and kale sauteed in hickory smoked grapeseed oil with lemon-herb seasoning and sea salt.

I love kale, although Carley has never given it a fair shake, and everyone in our family loves peas and summer squash.  Let's hope that Carley enjoys her first official vegetarian meal - I will keep you posted!

Deb

]]>Sat, 10 Jul 2010 17:43:57 -0500<![CDATA[2010 Chicago Area CSA Winter Share Info is Here!]]>We are happy to welcome you to the official registration for our 2010 CSA Winter Share season!

We are offering two different produce shares and egg shares, a cheese share, a meat share, and a pantry share for winter.  We offer a $45 discount on your total purchase which includes any produce share, meat share or pantry share (individual egg and cheese shares are not eligible for the discount).  To quality for the early sign-up discount, you must sign-up and pay in full no later than August 15, 2010.

Currently, we have sites available in Chicago proper (we will be adding Illinois North, Western Chicago suburbs, Madison, Monona, and Milwaukee within the next few days pending confirmation of sites).

Chicago CSA Winter Share pick-up dates are on Tuesdays as follows:  Nov 2, Nov 9, Nov 16, Nov 30, Dec 7, Dec 14, Dec 21, Dec 28, Jan 4, and January 11, 2011

  • 2418 W. Grace Street (4-8 pm)
  • 5061 N. Claremont (Lincoln Square) (4-8 pm)
  • Luther Memorial, 2500 W. Wilson (4-7 pm)
  • Summerdale Cmty Church, 1700 W. Farragut (4-7 pm)
  • 737 W. Gordon Terrace (4-8 pm)
  • 5056 N. Ravenswood (4-8 pm)
  • 6701 N. Rockwell (4-8 pm)
  • 5604 N. Kenneth (4-8 pm)
  • The Kid’s Table, 2337 W. North Ave (3-7 pm)
  • 2432 N. Washtenaw (Logan Square) (4-8 pm)

Download a 2010 Chicago Area CSA Winter Share Brochure

If you wish to sign-up online and pay via Google Checkout or select the invoice option, follow the link below:

http://simplywisconsin.smallfarmcentral.com/members

If you wish to sign-up online through our online store and pay via PayPal, follow the link below:

http://www.simplywi.com/store/233

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at simplywisconsin@yahoo.com.

-Simply Wisconsin

]]>Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:30:23 -0500<![CDATA[Spring Valley Produce]]>Daniel and Esther Yoder moved to their farm, Spring Valley Produce, in 1998, where they farm 30 acres, and are surrounded by 62 acres of land they do not farm, including large wooded areas.

"Heirloom tomatoes are our specialty, but we grow a large selection of other heirloom vegetables.  We do grow a few hybrid selections where heirlooms have not come in line yet for shipping, etc., namely cucumbers, cantaloupes, cabbage, and onions.  We are trialing heirloom onions now.  We grow a long list of different vegetables.  We do a lot of seed saving this year and hope to help supply our local seed house with some too."

Daniel says, "I started growing produce in 1986 before I was married, on my parent's farm.  Right from the start, I had a keen interest in heirloom - open pollinate varieties and brix reading.  We were organic farmers from the beginning.  When we married in 1988, we continued doing the same on my parent's farm in northern Indiana until we moved onto this farm.  Industrial commercialism was taking over in northern Indiana and we liked the more secluded, isolated area of Hillsboro, WI.  We have less GMO (Genetically Modified Organism) and chemical farming contamination on this farm with the large wooded areas almost surrounding us."

"We believe in working on the farm as a family unit with no outside labor.  It is a challenge in these shorter summer areas to get our cover crops sown, but we try to cover crop all tilled fields with rye or turnips in the fall for a spring 'plow-down'.  We spread partially aged animal manures, in accordance with approved organic practices.  This coupled with the green manure plowdown is essentially what we feed the soil.  We also use some certified organic soil inoculants and foliar feeding with backpack sprayers.  Having had health problems at a young age, it prompted me on the organic path.  We believe that soil health with make plant health, and this will create human and animal health.  The higher the brix/sugar, the higher the mineral content nutritional value, in most cases.  We are concerned for your health as much as our own, hoping you will be pleased with our produce."

 

 

]]>Fri, 18 Jun 2010 21:50:02 -0500<![CDATA[CSA Education about the weather and farming . . .]]>Hi everyone!  Our first CSA delivery was yesterday, and one of our members E-mailed me about her CSA box - I thought I would share our conversation with you to give you a better idea of questions and concerns people have, and our response to those concerns:

Hi Lillian,

Thanks so much for the feedback - it's much appreciated!  Arugula is difficult to grow in hot weather, and flea beatles LOVE arugula, thus the holes.  The only way organic farmers can avoid that is to use row cover to keep them out, however, when row cover is used, you run the risk of having the arugula "bolt" (go to seed) because it gets too much heat, so we figure the holes, while they don't look great, doesn't affect the taste!

I understand the spinach quantity concern - this delivery of spinach was more to add to a salad or make a pesto or side dish, not the quantity you would need for cooked spinach.

Thanks again for giving us your input - it only helps make the CSA better each week!

 Deb

 -----Original Message-----

From: Lillian Li

Hi,

My lettuce and strawberries looked great yesterday.  I'm not expecting them to hold up like supermarket produce.   The arugula had some yellowed leaves and some with a lot of holes, but not a big deal since I probably won' t use it all.  My only "complaint" might be that the portion of the spinach seemed kind of small.  My kids won't eat it probably so it is just right for my family, but I can see that it might not be enough for some.

I appreciate all the communication around this first week.  The newsletter was very helpful.  I told myself yesterday I should have signed up years ago.  I am looking forward to my next box and being part of this csa in upcoming years.  I've also been telling friends about it.

Sincerely,  Lillian Hsu

-----Original Message-----

From: Simply Wisconsin  LLC <simplywisconsin@yahoo.com>

Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2010 13:17:30

Subject: CSA - fun and delicious . . . and now for the education part!

Hi everyone,

With very few exceptions, it sounds like our first CSA delivery went very well - thanks to the combined efforts of our farmers, our staff, our site hosts, and you (our members)!  My thanks for everyone for making a concerted effort to help make the first week successful.   We have had quite a few compliments on the produce, and a few complaints.  Since an important part of the CSA is educating our members, I thought I would share a few items with you all . . .

First, while we always anticipate that produce will hold exceptionally well for the period listed in the newsletter, we have had rain every day for the past 7 days (and almost literally no sunshine (until this morning) for the last 6 days!  Because of the extra moisture, the holding quality of the lettuce and strawberries won't be what we hoped, and those items should be used first (for those of you who didn't eat all of your berries when you received them that is!). 

Second, my apologies to those of you who received sub-par strawberries or lettuce.  Our farmers do an exceptional job, and really know their stuff, and although everything may have looked terrific when it was picked and shipped to us, and subsequently when it was packed into CSA boxes, you may have received a product that was not the quality we intended.  Any time you have excessive rain, it leads to the possibility of more dirt or sand on the produce than expected, and overwashing on the farmer's end to give you a more appealing produce visually also makes the produce less viable on your end. 

Third, we are hoping that everyone can receive strawberries in next week's box, as the sun is shining here - an almost unfamiliar site, considering . . .

Last but not least, thanks to all of you who received and understood the E-mail request for my need for family time last night as we watched my daughter Rachel's varsity basketball summer league in three exciting games last night!  They won 2 games to 1!

As always, thanks for your support of local family farms - they're a fading breed, and it helps to know that you all want to keep them in the forefront of midwestern agriculture!

Deb

 

]]>Wed, 16 Jun 2010 12:39:41 -0500