Oakhill Organics

(CSA Newsletter: Week 1)

Meet this week’s vegetables:

Welcome back everyone to our 2010 CSA season — our fifth season serving the greater McMinnville area with fresh, seasonal, organic vegetables. We have much to share after our seven-week break …

Meet Rusty!

First of all, the most exciting news of all: the birth of our son Rusty on December 11! Thank you to everyone for your incredible flexibility and understanding at the end of last year’s CSA season — we really appreciated being able to take off the final CSA harvest in order rest and nest after a long birth (46 hours!). Rusty is a great little guy and we had great fun hanging out with him over our winter break. We feel very blessed that we get to spend our days watching him grow here at the farm.

Cold cold cold December weather

Of course, at the same time that we were welcoming Rusty onto our farm, we were also experiencing some record cold temperatures. On the three nights that I was in labor, our low temperatures in the field reached 6°, 5.8° and 7°. That’s cold!

Fortunately, we were able to protect many beds of vegetables with row cover before the freezing temperatures hit. Unfortunately, the lows were so cold that we incurred some damage anyway. Our roots were damaged the most, since we primarily store them in the field. During ‘normal’ winters, they store beautifully. Even in slightly colder winters, they store well, but this was an extreme situation. We’re still uncertain about the total level of damage, but it looks like we’ll be lighter on roots this winter than usual — most of the potatoes and beets were damaged, along with some carrots and celery root.

What to expect this winter

So, what can you expect to receive in your shares between now and when spring plantings begin to produce? Lots of delicious stuff! We have a wide variety of winter greens — mostly cooking greens (mustards, kales, cabbages, etc.) but also a few hardy fresh eating greens like this week’s Castelfranco chicory. To accompany the greens, we also have a variety of alliums: garlic, onions, and leeks. And, we do still have some roots out there, as well as yummy sweet starchy stuff in storage like this week’s Ambercup winter squash.

As usual, winter vegetables require a bit more cosmetic tolerance than veggies harvested at the peak of summer. These vegetables are in the field much longer than main season produce — the leeks were planted last May! Consequently, there are simply more opportunities for them to get dings and bruises from pests and weather events (such as the cold).

We are very picky in the fields about what we harvest to give to you, but sometimes you will find minor damage on your vegetables. We recommend that you give all your vegetables a ‘look over’ before preparing. Simply trim off any parts that look browned, soft, or otherwise less pleasant. Also, winter rains make mud. We thoroughly wash all the veggies here at the farm, but we still recommend that you take extra care in giving your vegetables a good washing at home.

I also want to remind our returning CSA members that last fall’s shares were especially big, since we were trying to make sure you had more than enough vegetables if we ended up skipping a CSA week because of the birth (which we did!). This time of year is naturally leaner (and especially after the cold spell), so the shares will be relatively smaller in volume. You will still be receiving your per week dollar amount in vegetables, but we won’t be going much over that value until warm spring weather arrives in earnest and brings with it the main growing season’s abundance.

As always, we will accompany each week’s carefully balanced vegetable share with an entertaining and informative newsletter featuring news from the farm, serving suggestions and recipes. If you miss picking up the newsletter, you can find it here online on our blog. You can also read past newsletters and recipes here.

Meet Jeff!

Before we close this week’s newsletter, we also want to introduce another new addition to the farm: Jeff Bramlett, our new employee for 2010. Now that Rusty is around and requiring my (Katie’s) full-time attention, I won’t be in the fields as much. Jeff is Casey’s new right-hand man in the fields; he’ll be harvesting and helping with the full gamut of farm work: sowing, planting, weeding, etc.

In addition to helping us four days a week, Jeff and his wife Carri Heisler will be busy starting their own small vegetable farm on part of our land. They live in Salem and will be marketing their produce there under their farm name Pitchfork & Crow. Check out their website for more info about their fledgling operation: www.pitchforkandcrow.com.

So, as we look towards 2010, we are excited, in spite of the setbacks delivered by the cold weather. Having a beautiful child in our life provides so much perspective, joy and hope, and the vegetable fields amazed us with their growth during the warm January. Life feels vibrant right now, even in the dark, wet weather of winter.

We hope that you can taste the aliveness of the world in every bite of squash and greens in your first 2010 CSA share. Enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

P.S. Reminder! There will be no CSA harvest or pick-up on February 23! We will be gone that week at a farmer retreat.

Folks who love simple foods can slice and eat turnips completely plain. Turnips have a crisp fresh flavor that’s quite lovely.

We, however, find that turnips are immensely more enjoyable when dressed and made into a salad or slaw. Trim and peel your turnips. Chop into bite-sized pieces or coarsely grate. Toss in a bowl with a creamy dressing made out of plain yogurt, cottage cheese, mayonnaise (you can leave out one of these three ingredients and still have a yummy dressing). Add a dash of balsamic vinegar for sweetness. Salt and pepper to taste.

A recent article that I published about organic certification in Oregon Tilth’s publication, In Good Tilth, got a mention on the Utne Reader’s blog! You can read the blog post here: Beware of Beyond Organic.

Don’t forget! The 2010 Oakhill Organics CSA season begins tomorrow, Tuesday, February 2, 3:30 - 6:30!!!!!!

Pick-up is at our new location this year: the Saturday Market site in the McMinnville Granary District. The Granary District parking lot is accessible from Lafayette Avenue or 5th Street. For a landmark, look for the grain tower at Buchanan Cellers feed & seed (formerly Valley Feed & Seed). Once you are in the parking lot, look for the warehouse building with lime green lower walls and the cool old market truck parked out front. You can park directly in front of the market building for easy access!

The routine is the same as always: pick-up is self-serve market style, beginning at 3:30 and ending at 6:30. Stop by anytime during that three-hour window. Remember to bring your own basket or bags!

Finally, the question you all want answered: will Rusty be at the pick-up? If all goes as expected, yes, he will be there! We can’t wait for him to meet his loving community of CSA members!

If you have any remaining questions or concerns about pick-up, your balance, or your sign-up status, please call (503-474-7661) or email us: farm(at)oakhillorganics(dot)org.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow! And, in the meantime, I can’t get you vegetables early, but here’s a cute recent photo of Rusty to tide you over:

First, a reminder: There is NO CSA PICK-UP today! We are taking this final week off to best welcome our new son, Rusty, into our lives.

Today is Rusty’s fifth day in our household. We are loving our quiet time with our little guy. The days pass by in a blur, hours filled with baby watching and holding. Of course, we are sleeping less than before, but we have fewer tasks during the day too. Changing diapers, nursing, feeding ourselves — it’s quiet, slow work. Oh, yes, and it helps that we’re completely smitten with little Rusty. He is an amazing gift in our lives.

Thank you again for your flexibility and understanding in allowing us this time for our family’s adjustment. Remember that you definitely received your money’s worth of vegetables this fall, even with this week off! The CSA will start up again the first Tuesday in February. Your final payment for 2009 is due to us by December 20. You can mail remaining checks to us at: Oakhill Organics, P.O. 1698, McMinnville, OR 97128. Also, if you have questions about your remaining balance or whether you’ve signed up for 2010, you can email us: farm(at)oakhillorganics(dot)org.

And, now to the really important business: photos of little Rusty!!!!!!

Just a few hours after birth.

Later that same day, hanging out on Katie’s lap.

Cute baby feet!!!!!

Awake and aware on his fourth day of life.

Safe and secure in his Papa’s strong arms.

Well, apparently the timing was just right. I went into labor the morning after this week’s Tuesday CSA pick-up, and our son, Russell ‘Rusty’ Sprout Kulla, was born this morning at 12:30 am. He weighs 8 lb 2 oz and is 20″ long. He was welcomed into the world safely at our home on the farm. He is adorable and we love him. I’ll post photos soon.

Of course, the arrival of our son also means that we’re now officially done with the CSA for 2009 — we’re taking the last Tuesday off to best welcome Rusty into our lives. Thanks once again for your understanding on this momentus occasion in our farm family! We look forward to introducing you to Rusty next February!

Yes! Our CSA pick-up will occur as normal today, from 3:30 to 6:30 at the YCAP food bank warehouse. See you there!

(CSA Newsletter: Week 44)

Meet this week’s vegetables:

After a fall of relatively mild temperatures, we finally received our first hard freeze on the farm last Thursday night. Followed, of course, by a series of extremely cold days and nights that continues through to now. It’s Monday morning as I write this, and last night was the coldest yet: our low in the field was 12° and today the temperature is not expected to rise above freezing in spite of the sun and blue skies.

But, unlike the last couple windy days, it is extremely still outside — creating a calm severe weather event that is hard to hate. Except when the north wind was blowing (brrrrrr!), this extreme cold snap has been rather pleasant to be out in: the roads have stayed dry for driving; the air is clean and clear; and the sun makes everything look happy and gorgeous.

However, it is a severe weather event, bringing with it complications that we farmers have to address. For us, extreme cold brings two immediate difficulties and hazards: the first is the possibility that our carefully planted and tended winter garden will be damaged by the low temperatures. Even though we only plant hardy varieties and types of vegetables for over-wintering, they each still vary in the extremes of their tolerance. Some plants, such as parsnips and leeks, will most likely survive temperatures far below 10°. Others, such as celery root and carrots, can show signs of damage at 25°.

Fortunately, we can help these slightly less hardy plants along by covering them with the white spun cloth we call ‘row cover.’ Row cover is practically translucent, but when laid over the plants and against the ground, it provides just enough buffer from the cold to help things survive. Beginning last Thursday evening, and with our friend Lucy’s help on Saturday, we row covered 37 beds of everything from kale to Brussels sprouts. Even for the crops that won’t technically die, the row cover will help them weather the cold with less damage.

The other difficulty with extreme cold weather is that frozen ground and plants complicates harvest. We learned two winters ago that harvesting can be impossible when the ground is frozen solid (we tried once, with no success, to liberate leeks from frozen ground — we learned our lesson!). Many crops can also be damaged if handled while their greens are frozen. And, since we wash all of the vegetables harvested from the field, we also have to deal with issues of freezing and ice in our wash station. Hoses need to be drained after each use and put in the garage to prevent freezing, or else we’ll never get them thawed until the cold snap ends.

To avoid these difficulties, we did all of this week’s harvest over the weekend. On Saturday and Sunday, we had brief periods mid-day when temperatures actually rose above freezing, allowing us to dig carrots, cut Brussels sprouts, etc. Even then, however, the ground never fully thawed, so we had to be careful how we kneeled on the hard frozen surface soil (which is extremely hard — like bumpy concrete!).

But, again, with the sun and our friend Lucy’s help, these harvests were actually pleasant and fun, in spite of the extremity of the situation.

We realized this weekend that in all of the four years that we’ve run the CSA, we’ve dealt with some kind of extreme weather event early in December. The first year was a minor snow storm, followed by freezing weather (making the roads treacherous); the second year was the big 2007 wind and rain storm; and the third year was last December’s ‘snow-pocalypse’. All in all (so far!), this year’s event has been the most pleasant for us as people. And, I suppose that with more winters of experience under our belt, we probably feel calmer about how the fields will fare. There very well may still be damage to come, but we have a better sense of perspective about what it means to garden and harvest in the winter.

That’s not to say that this extreme cold hasn’t taken a toll on our farm or others around the region. We lost our rooster on Thursday to a hawk, which is pretty typical for us during very cold spells. We lost two chickens last year during the snow to hawks — I imagine because the cold weather makes it much more difficult for them to hunt their normal rodent prey. And, of course, on the human side of things, anytime temperatures drop this low, I worry about the many people who don’t have adequate shelter: literally homeless individuals as well as people who can’t afford to adequately heat their drafty homes.

Casey and I have certainly been grateful for our wood stove the last week and its ability to keep our little house toasty. In addition to the cold, of course, preparing our nest has been in the forefront of our minds, and the warmth of a good fire helps us feel ready for baby’s arrival anytime.

Baby hasn’t arrived yet though, as you probably gathered by now. We celebrated baby’s ‘due date’ on Sunday by harvesting in the cold wind (yes, including 40 week pregnant Katie). Apparently harvest work doesn’t work as a natural labor induction technique. Oh well.

So, we continue to wait, which in some ways feels appropriate for the season. This is Advent, after all, the period in the Christian calendar in which we symbolically wait for the arrival of another baby. December is also the darkest month of the year (hard to believe with all this week’s sunshine), when we look forward to the solstice and the slow return of waxing daylight.

As we wait, we’re embracing the spirit of the season: decorating our small tree, visiting with friends and family, walking in the beautiful crisp sun, and letting go of this year’s stresses and trials as we begin to turn the corner to a new year, a new decade, and a brand-new experience for our small farm family.

In the very likely case (hopefully) that we don’t see you next week, we want to once again thank you all for a wonderful season. We are tremendously excited for the promises of 2010 and can’t wait to share another year of seasonal eating with you all. We wish you the happiest of holidays. Stay warm, and enjoy this week’s vegetables!

Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla

Heat oven to 350°. Generously butter a 9-inch cake pan (round or square). Combine 1½ cups streamed, pureed carrots with 6 egg yolks (keep the whites separate) and 2 cups honey or sugar. Mix in 2 tablespoons ground almonds (or 2 tablespoons flour), 1 teaspoon grated orange zest, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 tablespoon cardamom. Beat 6 egg whites in clean, separate bowl until stiff and fold into carrot mixture. Spread in pan. Bake until springy, about 45 minutes. Cool. Frost with cream cheese frosting, if desired, or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Do you ever just have veggies that you can’t possible think of how you’ll eat this week? One of our long-time CSA members, Lesley Woodruff, suggests making some veggie stock! Vegetable stock can be used for a soup base, to braise greens in, etc. It’s also highly flexible and can be made with whatever veggies you have on hand. As a starter, here is a simple stock recipe Lesley suggested (based on Deborah Madison’s recipe from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone):

1 Tbl olive oil
1 large onion
2 large carrots
2 celery ribs (or celeriac)
1 Tbl nutritional yeast
3-4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
8 parsley branches
2 bay leaves
salt to taste (about 2 tsp)

Scrub the vegetables and chop them into approx. 1-inch chunks. Heat the oil in a soup pot, add all ingredients except salt and cook over medium heat 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently. The more color they get, the richer the stock. Add salt and 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Let sit a few minutes, then strain immediately. Yield: 6 cups.

Stock isn’t a catchall for spoiled veggies, but it’s fine to use trimmings from last week’s carrots, mushrooms, etc. If you wouldn’t eat it, don’t put it in the stock. Vegetable stocks only take half an hour to reach their full flavor, unlike meat stocks. Ingredients to avoid: turnips, rutabagas, brassicas, beets, powdered herbs, onion skins, artichoke trimmings, excessive amounts of greens (+4 cups). Always-good-to-use vegetables: chard stems and leaves, beet greens, fresh mushrooms or soaking water from dried mushrooms, scallions, potato peelings, scrubbed celery root skin, parsley root, Jerusalem artichokes, lettuce, eggplant

It’s been several months since I posted any photos of the farm (sorry! I’ve been distracted!). Since our baby is due to arrive any day, I thought I’d share a few photos of your expectant farmers in the beautiful fall fields. These were taken by our friend Christine Anderson of Yellow Cow Photography just a couple weeks ago … we love them: