Full Share: Slicing tomato, Sweet Corn, Eggplant, Spinach, Cucumbers, Sungolds, Huckleberry Gold Potatoes, Onions, Zucchini, Basil, and Yellow squash

Partial Share: Salad Mix, Sungolds, Sweet Corn, Slicing tomato, Onion, Cucumber, Yellow squash, Zucchini, and Huckleberry Gold Potatoes.

Hello CSA Members!

Is it really the latter half of August already?! This weekend was our big Glacier F.E.A.S.T launch dinner at the farm, and from all reports, it was a success! It felt really good to host a farm dinner that was actually about farming and food. I’m not sure if it’s possible for an event to be exhausting and invigorating at the same time, but I think this one was. It started out like only a Montana farm tour could…..80 people walking through a vegetable field talking about soil, carbon, nutrition, weed management….all great topics. Then, along comes a huge grizzly bear. He walked right along the edge of the pasture, in clear view of everyone, for over 5 minutes. It certainly appeared he had no idea we were there, and he kept sniffing the air and heading towards the chefs who were grilling lamb. When he was about 300 yards away, I clapped and gave a “hey bear”, and like a good bear, he turned and ran off down to the river, never to return that evening. That was the first time we’ve ever seen a grizzly in this area…so what are the odds he walks out right in the middle of our farm tour?! If only he had a companion with him, it would have been even more fitting 🙂

That really set the mood for the rest of the night. I gave a speech about community food systems, we had an amazing meal made entirely from sustainable/organic local products(everything single item except the salt), and we capped it all off with a wonderful talk by farmer Bob Quinn, who told a lot of great stories about his family’s transition from chemical farming to becoming a pioneer of organic agriculture in Montana. It was really an inspiring evening, and I think everyone went away from here with a bit more awareness and excitement about the importance of local and organic food systems.

A glimpse of some of the dinner menu….

So, today was a bit of a transition back to farming. From the hustle and bustle of farm dinner prep, to the peaceful morning harvest of potatoes and spinach. And we got to see the bear again. It was pretty obvious he was coming, because all the deer came running out of the forest about a minute before he arrived. Pretty special.

I’m happy to report that the very first of the sweet corn is ready! I haven’t been down all the rows to see just how much of it is ready, but my goal is to try to get all the CSA members corn this week! If you haven’t had it before, then you won’t believe me….but, you can eat this corn without cooking it. Simple shuck it and eat it. Now, I fully understand if you want to quickly boil it and then add butter and salt, but honestly, it’s pretty darn sweet as is. And then there is that microwave method…..but you should all know my feelings on microwaves a this point in the season. After a month without spinach, we have a beautiful new bed ready, so we’re adding that to the full shares for a bit of a change. The tomatoes are at their peak, so a heavy does of those. And there’s some basil to go along with them. Oh, and is anyone else hooked on the cucumbers? Rebecca has been whipping up a weekly batch of dressing from the Whitewater cookbook that goes really well on salad mix with cucumber, tomatoes, and thinly slice onion. I may have mentioned this in the past, but here it is again  (just the dressing portion of the recipe). Drizzle this and a little of that Napa Valley naturals thickened balsamic vinegar on a salad…delicious! Oh, and did I mention the Huckleberry gold potatoes? Aside from being one of the most delicious potatoes, this variety is actually one of the few potatoes with a low glycemic index, which means it does not cause a blood sugar spike after eating. Great for diabetics or people watching their blood sugar.

Well, I hope you’re enjoying the lovely weather….we’ll see you at CSA pickup!

Todd