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Happy Holidays!
Thanks to everyone to came out to see us in the Meridian Mall on Saturday! There was an amazing selection of vendors crowded into that little concourse. We were directly across from the Lane Bryant, if anyone missed us. We’ll definitely be going to be at the market in January too!
CSA Sign-Up Starts Now!
We’re updating the website as I type, and soon you’ll be receiving an email abou
t signing up for the 2011 season! We’ve changed a few things; the shares have been renamed to better describe their purpose. We’ve also changed the times and days of a few sites. Sign-up ends April 15. If you were a member last year, your spot is held until March 15.
Please see www.titusfarms.com/Become_A_Member for more information! Or Download the Membership Form: Membership Form 2011
If you have difficulty downloading it here, see the main website or email me for an electronic copy. Thanks!
The Meridian Township Farmers Market is hosting a special Thanksgiving Market! The market will be open this Wednesday from 10:00-2:00.
We’ll be there with lots of goodies from the farm, but there’ll also be a number of your favorite vendors with all sorts of local items. Here are some of the things you should be able to find, from us or otherwise:
-Veggies including lettuce mix, carrots, spinach, celeriac, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, brussels sprouts and winter squash.
-Honey
-Kettle Corn
-Soap
-Eggs
-Centerpieces and Knit items
-Jam
-Meat including lamb, pastured beef and chicken
-Olive oil
-Cheese and Butter
-Prepared Food items including pies, donuts, cider, pastries and pickles
-Apples
-Plants
-Knife Sharpening Service
Availability of some items will be based on weather, but right now, Wednesday looks to be a nice (but cold) day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Rebecca Titus
Titus Farms CSA Manager
rebecca@titusfarms.com
www.titusfarms.com
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The Meridian Township Farmers Market is hosting a special Thanksgiving Market! The market will be open this Wednesday from 10:00-2:00.
We’ll be there with lots of goodies from the farm, but there’ll also be a number of your favorite vendors with all sorts of local items. Here are some of the things you should be able to find, from us or otherwise:
-Veggies including lettuce mix, carrots, spinach, celeriac, cabbage, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, radishes, brussels sprouts and winter squash.
-Honey
-Kettle Corn
-Soap
-Eggs
-Centerpieces and Knit items
-Jam
-Meat including lamb, pastured beef and chicken
-Olive oil
-Cheese and Butter
-Prepared Food items including pies, donuts, cider, pastries and pickles
-Apples
-Plants
-Knife Sharpening Service
Availability of some items will be based on weather, but right now, Wednesday looks to be a nice (but cold) day. Bundle up and join us!
The farmers you may have heard about through the CSA, Miller Fowlerville Poultry, has sold out of turkeys for Thanksgiving! Sorry to all those who were banking on Miller’s not selling out…
But there’s still plenty of ways to source local turkey. Otto’s turkeys are Michigan raised, and can be found at the Lansing City Market- or you can pre-order them through East Lansing Food Co-op.
If you want to go straight to the source, an old friend and neighbor of my father’s still has turkeys available! William (Bill) Tobia, a farmer in Dansville, does an excellent job of turkey processing. The turkey does have to be picked up at his house, but it’s still an excellent deal! His contact information is as follows:
Bill Tobia
235 N. Dietz Road
Webberville MI 48892
(517) 521-4337
A 2010 CSA member sent this to me and I thought this was really cute so I had to post it!
Spicy Chicken of Doom, an edible ode to my CSA
(I made up the recipe, and my kids named it.)
1 to 1.5 pounds of sweet potatoes, cut into chunks
1 sweet pepper (red makes the dish prettier), cut into strips
1 onion, sliced
.5 to 1.5 cups of spinach or chard, chopped
1 or 2 garlic cloves, minced
1 to 1.5 pounds boneless chicken, any cut
store-bought soup stock, preferably chicken or vegetable
cumin to taste, chipotle chili powder to taste
salt to taste
cooking oil
Saute the onion and garlic in oil, then add the chicken and brown.
Add the sweet potatoes, sweet pepper, spinach and cumin and chipotle and saute for 5 minutes.
(Go gentle on the chipotle, you can add more later. I added too much and that’s why my kids call this the Spicy Chicken of Doom.)
Add enough soup stock to almost cover the chicken and vegetables and simmer until done. Adjust spices and add salt to taste.
During this time you may want to leave the cover off and turn up the heat a bit to boil off some of the liquid.
Serve with rice, tortillas or your favorite bread-like thing.
by Sherri M.
Saturday and Sunday mark the last days of market for our family (and many other farming families).
Meridian Township Farmers Market takes place Saturday from 8-2
East Lansing Farmers Market takes place on Sunday from 10-3
We hope to see you out and about, it’s supposed to be another beautiful weekend!
Sorry for the delay in posting the kitten pictures (I needed a faster internet connection… darn dial-up). Anyway, please let us know (at CSA) if you have any interest in adopting our lovable kittens!
Dora and Minnie are tortoiseshell calicos (both female) and Spider-Cat is a yellow male (we have a cartoon theme this year, you are, of course, free to change their names). All are incredibly friendly (really too friendly to be “barn cats”). Minnie in particular likes being held very close and loves to just sit on laps. Dora is a little more independent but also enjoys cuddling. Spider-Cat loves food, is very playful and tends to follow us everywhere.
 Spider-Cat Attack!  Minnie in the Sun  Amy and Minnie Meow All three have yet to see a vet, but are in good overall health and very energetic.
 The Twins- Dora (L) and Minnie (R)  Spider-Cat Curled and Comfy  Dora in the Sun (looking just like Minnie)
For those overwhelmed with veggies or just looking to have some summer favorites for the winter months, consider freezing some of your share. Dehydrating is also a great option, but the right dehydrator is essential. Canning is always nice too, since the end product can be stored on any pantry shelf, saving energy and freezer space. But, if canning just seems too hard (or time consuming) here’s a list of items for freezing. Many can simply be washed and frozen, unless otherwise noted.
- Tomatoes: can be whole or chopped, no cooking required.
- our favorite: Whole (though it requires more space). Wash, core then place on a cookie sheet then into the freezer. When they’re solid, put them in a freezer bag and take out individual tomatoes as needed. Skins slip off as they thaw!
- -Peppers: (both hot and sweet). No cooking required, but they can also be blanched for easier packing (steam blanch 2 minutes).
- Broccoli: just soak (to get rid of worms) then steam blanch for 3-6 minutes.
- Cabbage: Shred or wedge it. Then steam blanch for 2-3 minutes.
- Eggplant: Peel, slice or cube. Blanch using 1 T. lemon juice to 1 qt. water. Steam blanch 6 minutes.
- Squash and Pumpkins: Cut into uniform pieces, bake at 350 oven until soft; remove skins and place cooled squash in a plastic bag.
- Zucchini/Summer Squash: Wash and shred, slice or cube. Steam blanch 2-3 minutes.
- Herbs: particularly basil, chives, dill, cilantro, parsley and thyme. Just wash, chop and place in ice-cube trays. Add boiling water to cover and freeze. Once they’re solid pop them out and place in a labeled bag.
For more information on canning, freezing or various types of preservation see the book “Preserving the Harvest” by Carol Costenbader
 
As part of a CSA share you may have received a few heirloom tomatoes. For those new to the concept here’s a little primer:
So what are heirlooms anyway?
Generally, an heirloom is an open pollinated (non-hybrid) variety that has been preserved over a number of years. They retain many of the qualities which hybrid tomatoes (like the ones in the store) have lost, like a sweet flavor and a slightly softer texture. Heirlooms tend to have a better flavor, but with that softer texture comes a shorter shelf life, thus they are hardly ever seen in stores.
Each heirloom has a little different flavor, consisting of a combination of sweetness and acidity with a few unidentifiable tastes mixed in. Some people describe the tastes as fruity or spicy or just really sweet and tomato-y.
Here’s a list of some of the heirlooms you might have come across at CSA:
-A larger green tomato (ripe when green) with a tart taste
-A larger red and yellow tomato with a great sweet flavor
-Enormous yellow and red tomato with a dense texture
-Large black with deep black stripes and mellow flavor
-Smaller, rounder black tomato with a great sweet flavor and acidity
-interesting pear shaped tomato with a light black color and good flavor
- Elberta Peach or Tigerella
-striped red and yellow tomato, usually small, with a nice flavor
-fuzzy yellow skin of smaller size, the skin is a little thicker but the taste is sweet and fruity
-large pinkish-red tomato with lots of flavor
-always a favorite… green when ripe, soft, juicy, tart and tangy
-a very traditional looking tomato with a nice sweet flavor
-very orange medium large tomato with a interesting flavor and acidity
-a large red and yellow tomato with interesting stripes and good flavor.
- Great White/White Beefsteak
-a low acid variety with a sweet flavor and firm flesh with a light yellow to white look
-a favorite variety of many, very sweet flavor and good dense red flesh
I’m sure I’m missing a few, but those are the main varieties to look for. Let us know which is your favorite!
 We have collectively learned a little more each year we grow these strange plants called Husk or Ground Cherries.
The husk cherry is closely related to both the tomato and tomatillo, and the texture is almost exactly like a small cherry tomato. They are an annual crop that need to be replanted each spring via transplants grown in a greenhouse. The seeds can be tricky to germinate, taking almost twice as long as their cousins to emerge and even then germination is sometimes sporadic. The plant looks quite a lot like a wide-leafed tomato plant, but it tends to vine out a little farther, spreading across the earth. Still, the plants are not as receptive to being manipulated into a weave or cage system, like tomatoes. The fruit itself is reminiscent of a tomatillo, covered in a thin papery husk, but the taste is nothing like its cousins. When the plump little fruit are ready, they drop to the ground to be scooped up, hence the name “ground cherry”.
Apparently, Husk Cherries actually grow wild in many places too, which makes sense since they produce so many fruit that have easy access to the soil. They’re great eaten raw, when the husk is dark and the berry is dark yellow they are the sweetest. Some people taste a hint of pineapple or something tropical, while others find them musky and repulsive. They can also be made into a pie (which is a country favorite), 0r the berry can be husked and made into a syrup that’s nice on ice cream.
Here is a Member, Sue R.’s, take on the Ground or Husk Cherry Pie (adapted from allrecipes.com)
2 1/2 cups ground cherries, with husks off
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
2 tablespoons water
1 9-inch pie shell
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons butter
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Wash ground or husk cherries and place in unbaked pie shell. Mix brown sugar and 1 tablespoon flour and sprinkle over cherries. Sprinkle water over top.
Mix together 3 tablespoons flour and 3 tablespoons sugar. Cut butter in until crumbly. Top cherry mixture with crumbs.
Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue to bake for 25 minutes.
Ah, this is always the time of year that I neglect my blogging duties. However, I finally have some news that is noteworthy: Fruit Shares are starting next week!
Fruit shares are sourced from Country Mill in Charlotte and the Tennes family. We should have blueberries for all those that purchased the additional share, then we’ll start right in with peaches and apples. Some of these items will be conventionally grown, but we’ll try to work it out with anyone who would rather have organic, so that everyone is satisfied with their choices. Please remember that we’re still experimenting with the idea of offering these shares, so let us know how we can improve.
As for the rest of the title of this post (weeds and more), I felt as though I needed to lament about the ridiculous weather. Again, things are growing strong, but we seem to have more disease than ever this year. Since Michigan is a leading producer of many vegetable crops and thus the extension services in this state are fairly strong, I hear disease alerts all the time from various agencies for various crop groups. It seems that many incidences of blights and mildews of vining and solanaceous plants have been reported across the state. Unfortunately, this problem reaches all people, not just commercial cucumber and tomato farmers. Many of these diseases are carried by the wind, so they might eventually spread to your garden.
Anyway, long story short, if you see any weird leaf patterns, or slight wilting that progressively, but quickly, gets worse, you may want to consider looking into organic options for saving your plants (if you have the time). Around the farm, and moreso this year, it seems like a never ending fight to keep everything disease free.
On the bright side, all the hard work keeping the blights, mildews, infections and general pestilence away from the plants has paid off… Paul says we’ll be harvesting our first muskmelon very soon and the farm crew sampled the first ear of corn… oooh it was good.
Pics soon I hope…
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See our Website for more information on our Farm! www.titusfarms.com
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