Full Share: Salad Mix, Spinach, Sungold Tomatoes, Carrots, Delicata Winter Squash, Acorn Squash, Slicing Tomatoes, Baby Bok Choy, Vermillion or Russet Potatoes

Partial Share: Sungold Tomatoes, Slicing Tomatoes, Salad Mix, Kohlrabi, Carrots, Vermillion or Russet Potatoes, Delicata Squash, and Spaghetti Squash

Hello CSA members!!

It’s true…this is the final week of the 2020 CSA! Time to get a haircut! Many years, it’s cold and the final week feels very fitting as fall descends on the farm. But while this season had some early freezes, it still feels very warm out there to be wrapping up the CSA, so it still feels a bit surreal to be wrapping it up. All in all, I think things went well, no? I’m sure there were some mishaps, forgotten items, and even some smooshed tomatoes…but hopefully, as a whole you were satisfied with your share. If you do have feedback or suggestions for us, you are always welcome to email us with your thoughts at 2bearfarm@gmail.com. I will admit, as much as I love to farm, I am ready for a break. Not necessarily from the work, but from the schedule. For five months, every week has the same frenetic pace of farming…..all the planting, weeding, watering, and harvesting plus getting to 5 CSA drops and 3 farmer’s markets each week, and it’s those latter two that really wear you down. There is not much time out side that schedule to tackle much else. So, I look forward to this time of year as the CSA finishes up as I can get a bit more variety in my day, and spend some time making the farm better for next season. Next up is getting all the remaining storage crops out of the fields, washed, bagged and stored away.

For the last share of the season, we typically make it a large one to give you some extra storage items. This is the week you get Delicata squash, one of our farm favorites. One of the few winter squash that you can eat the skin on, and cook it in a skillet rathe than needing to roast it. Here are a few ideas to get you started. As I mentioned, it’s been warm out, so the tomatoes that we saved from the hard freezes are still going strong. So why not eat them while you can! You’ll be getting more sun golds and slicers this week. The Baby Bok Choy is back (life really is a circle), and would love to get grilled or sautéed with some garlic. Everything else I think you’ll know what to do with, or if you still haven’t saved it yet to your favorites, look up Dishing the Dirt for some recipes

While some of you might feel a bit of relief that you no longer have to remember to make it to CSA pickup each week, or try to figure out what to do with a kohlrabi, others of you may experience a bit of withdrawal. Especially when you buy those first carrots from the grocery store 🙂 So, to help ease this transition and to provide you some food for fall and winter, we hold our annual Stock Up Sale at the farm in early October. This year it is planned for Thursday, October 8th from 4pm until dark. No special orders, no early entry, just show up at 4pm or later and shop. All of our remaining produce (carrots, beets, potatoes, winter squash, salad mix, garlic, tomatoes, etc.) will be for sale in bulk quantities, and we also bring in some other farms to fill in the gaps. Our friends from Harlequin Produce will be up again with their organic storage onions, amazing peppers, and chili roaster. Marlene will have pumpkins for sale in time for Halloween. You can meet Willie and Henry in person! And I’m sure there will be more. With the Covid Pandemic still going strong, we’ll likely move much of the sale outdoors and try to manage the lines a bit better…and I’m not sure what we’ll do for food trucks or beverages quite yet. But regardless, you are invited to come on out to celebrate the end of the season and load up on some bulk quantities of vegetables. I will send you all a post as the time approaches.

But for now, I would like to thank all of you for participating in the 2020 Two Bear Farm CSA. While I hope you were happy with the fresh produce, I also hope that you realize that your membership was about way more than fresh food. You were supporting a local business, keeping local agricultural land in production, and supporting chemical-free agriculture that improves your health, as well as that of your family and the landscape. I always tell people that they need to vote with their wallets, and you all did just that. So, thank you again, and hopefully we will see you all again next season (registration starts January 1st on our website)

See you at CSA pickup and thanks again for your support!

Todd and the Two Bear Farm Team