Flail Chopper

If you are interested in 2010 CSA details, please see the previous post!

Last month I headed out to another CSA farm located just a little ways north of my place for a field day. The farmers at this particular CSA have been farming for quite a number of years and had a lot of good ideas about mulch, building the soil and lots of other things. A bunch of farmers from all over the state met up at their place, we had a tour, drank some coffee and had a really informative discussion not only about soil but also about other odds and ends. It was a very educational afternoon for me.

One pretty big area of discussion involved flail choppers. Flail choppers are pretty nifty pieces of machinery that are pulled behind tractors and used primarily for chopping corn stalks but also for other types of crops too. The chopped plants are then fed directly to animals or used as silage, another type of livestock food that’s sort of fermented. The CSA farmers were saying that they used flail choppers to hack up all the standing debris in their gardens like sweet corn stalks, sunflower stems, pumpkin vines and what have you. The chopped debris broke down faster and was thus a more efficient form of fertilizer.

After hearing all this, I got pretty excited about flail chopping my garden. I knew my parents owned one and went to their house the next day to borrow it. My dad and I drove his pick-up out to an area of his woods were he has all sorts of interesting farm equipment parked. My parents used to grow corn but over the years switched to a more grass based system and so haven’t used the chopper in quite awhile. We located the chopper and found it in working order.

We headed over to my place with the chopper hitched to the pick-up. Once we got out to the garden we hooked it up to my dad’s Allis Chalmers tractor (I borrow a lot of stuff from my parents).

A little about the anatomy of a flail chopper…(I'll try and get a picture up here soon) it’s basically a giant, high powered mower. They have a rounded rectangular body that houses banks of knives that rotate. They also have a good-sized curved metal shaft that sticks straight up off the body. As they are pulled along the knives chop up everything then it all gets sucked up the shaft were it spews into a type of wagon called a chopper box… really a pretty cool system.

Another important detail is that they run off PTO (power take off) shafts. A PTO is a bar that runs from a farm implement into the back of a tractor and provides power for moving parts. These things spin really fast and are incredibly dangerous if they don’t have a guard on them. All farm implements that run off PTO shafts come with guards it’s just a matter of replacing them when they break.

A little PTO shaft side note: One day years ago my grandpa hopped on his tractor to go do some farming with a PTO driven farm implement. A little while later he came walking back to the house in his underpants. Due to the fact that he wasn’t much of a PTO guard maintenance kind of guy the implement didn’t have a shaft guard on it. Sure enough, he got a little too close and the rapid spinning action of the shaft ripped his britches clean off him (if you ever want to launch my mom into a fit of prolonged hysterical laughter, just mention this story to her).

So I’m digressing quite a bit here…back to the chopping of the garden.

It turns out that my dad’s chopper had been slightly modified over the years. It no longer has the long shaft sticking up. So instead of sucking the cuttings up and out his chopper just obliterates everything and shoots it in all directions. I had never run a chopper before so he was giving me some pointers. At the end of his lesson he advised that due to the modifications, I should wear a helmet with a face guard.

Donning my super-hip logging helmet with the metal face guard in place I started the tractor and engaged the PTO. The chopper lurched to life as all the knives began rotating at breakneck speed. The noise the thing made was alarming, it sounded like a chainsaw but more breathy…a sort of menacing whir.

As I started driving around my garden, I noticed myself leaning decidedly to the left. This was because the main body of the chopper was to my right and the second I started chopping I knew why the helmet was necessary. Cascades of vegetable matter spewed out mostly behind me but I found that some of it came directly towards me especially if I was turning a corner.

Sweet corn shredded up nicely as did pumpkin vines, zucchini plants, cucumber vines and pretty much everything else. The kohlrabi bed had quite a few golf-ball sized plants left in it and when the chopper hit it a spray of nickel-sized debris shot out and pegged me in the back. Kohlrabi (a relative of the turnip) can kind of sting when it’s ground up and shot at you.

The only area in the garden that gave the chopper something to think about was the brussel sprout patch. Brussel sprout plants get big and some of my stalks were about the size of baseball bats and incredibly fibrous. The chopper was unable to chop all of these into fine pieces. As a result a few six-inch lengths came flying out. On pegged me right square in the face. That thing was moving! It really tagged me and I was incredibly grateful for my face guard.

A couple of times the chopper picked up small rocks and flung them far distances. At one point it dredged up a rock the size of a basketball which caused the thing to sound as if it was getting ready to explode. I had to get down off the tractor (after carefully disengaging the PTO) and extract the rock which had been hit many times by knives and appeared to be slightly pulverized.

After I was done the garden looked like a scrubby, brown field. It was amazing how in about half an hour I was able to erase pretty much all signs of seven months worth of labor. It’s also pretty amazing how the 2009 garden will be a major part of the 2010 garden in the form of organic fertilizer.

Eener’s 2010 CSA Preliminary Details

Wow, I’m impressed by the amount of early-bird CSA shoppers! For those of you who are already scouting for next year here are some details on my CSA:

Delivery Locations: I deliver to River Market Co-Op which is located in downtown Stillwater and Hampden Park Co-Op in St. Paul (928 Raymond Ave., fairly near Midway Stadium). I’m interested in adding a delivery to Hudson….but haven’t done any research on this yet.

Delivery Times: If things stay the same as this year (and I expect them to) I will be delivering to Stillwater on Mondays and St. Paul on Wednesdays. I drop the boxes off around 2:30 p.m. and members come pick them up between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. It’s advisable to pick up your box on the day it is delivered; the co-ops may or may not hold boxes for CSA members.

Share Sizes: I offer full and half shares. All the shares come in the same size box (it’s cheaper to buy boxes that are all the same size). The boxes are bushel sized and I try to fill full share boxes and half fill half share boxes. In the beginning of the season this is not always possible, towards the middle of the season this can be a real challenge. In the thick of the this year’s season I was running 18-20 different types of veggies in the full-share folks’ boxes and 9-10 different types in half boxes.

Pricing: Full shares sell for $500 and half shares sell for $255.

Box Contents - Veggies, Herbs, Flowers and Eggs: I grow about 40 varieties of vegetables, some herbs and a few flowers for bouquets. I also have a small flock of chickens and put eggs in the boxes as I get them. Fruit is something I’m working on….I don’t promise any fruit but if I end up with some I’ll put it in the boxes (last year I was able to run apples and a few plums).

Is Eener’s Farm Organic: I’m not certified organic (a process I’m looking into) so I can’t advertise myself as organic. I do advertise as “Chemical Free” which means I don’t use any chemical pesticides or herbicides in my farming operations.

Our Season Length: In 2010 I’ll be doing 21 weeks starting the second week in June and going until the last week in October.

When to Sign Up: The 2009 members can sign up anytime. I’ll start taking brand-spanking-new members on February 1, 2010 (sign-up forms will appear on this blog).

This is all fine and good, but what the heck is a CSA anyway? Basically, a CSA (which stands for Community Supported Agriculture) is a type of direct market farm, meaning the farmer sells food directly to customers. There are a lot of advantages to this kind of farm. For one, customers/members know exactly where their food is coming from (we encourage our members to come visit the farm and we hold a big party at the end of the season for everyone). Secondly, produce from CSA farms doesn’t travel far. As a result it’s better for the environment and members enjoy much fresher produce. Another perk is that CSA farms tend to be really diversified (we grow about 40 varieties of veggies plus herbs and flowers and eggs) so members get a nice variety of in-season veggies.

Risk. Since farming is so completely tied to the weather, it’s risky business. My goal is to provide my members with an amount of produce that is equal to the money they paid for their share. In 2009 I think I accomplished this goal. But I can’t promise that this will be true for next year. It’s helpful to think of CSA farms in terms of the stock market; when members buy a share they are making an investment. On a good year they will break even or get an amount of produce that is greater in value than their initial investment. On a bad year, they may end up with an amount of produce that is worth less than what they invested. In buying a full season of produce, the members of CSA farms share the risk with their farmers.

Meat Inventory Update

Here's What's Left as of Nov. 7th

For those of you picking up at River Market: Your meat will arrive at 10:00 a.m. pick it up like any other CSA box. They will put it in the cooler but it's still a good idea to pick it up as soon as you can.

For those of you picking up at Hampden Park: I'll be at the co-op at 1:00 p.m. since Hampden does not have cooler/freezer space, I'll stay there until you come to get it.


Lamb Meat:
Lamb Shanks: a.k.a. hocks (good for soup) $5.00 - six left in stock
Lamb Shoulder: Two left, one is $20 (a little over 4#) and the other is $10 (a little over 2#), bone in
Lamb Chops: Ten packs left, they are small and also include bones, as a result I’ve decided to sell 4 chops for $5.00 instead of my original price of 2 for $5.00 (one person could very easily eat two lamb chops in one sitting).

Goat Meat
Goat Shanks: a.k.a. hocks (good for soup) $4.00
Leg of Goat: One left, $20 (nearly 5 and a half pounds)
Goat Shoulder: One left, $20 (nearly 5 and a half pounds)
Goat Chops: Five left, 2 per pack, $4.00/pack

Eener's Meat Sampler Pack: Now includes a mix of goat and lamb meat. Two packs of lamb chops, two packs of goat chops, one pound ground goat, two shanks (one lamb and one goat). $23.00

Meat Prices

So we’ve had two lambs, a ewe and a goat butchered and are interested in selling some meat to CSA members or anyone who is interested. Here is some information about the animals we had butchered:

The Two Lambs: These were both boys born here this past spring. The reason we had them butchered is because we don’t have a use for any more rams (we couldn’t use these guys for breeding anyway since they are related to the girl lambs). Their mothers raised them out in the pasture so the only things they ate were milk and grass. They were never given any ground feed and were never weaned. Since they didn’t get sick or appear to have any health problems whatsoever they were never given any antibiotics or any other kind of medicine, hormones, ect. They are both Icelandic which is a meat breed that is said to be less greasy than other meat breeds.

The Goat: This goat lived at my place for a year and a half. I decided to butcher her because she is not a good mother. While she was here she spent the majority of her time grazing in the pasture. During the winter she was fed hay that was grown without chemical herbicides or pesticides. Occasionally she was given ground feed as a special treat. She was dewormed (this is standard procedure) with Diatomaceous earth which is a type of sedimentary rock that contains fossilized algae. She never had any health problems (unless you count mental ones) and thus wasn’t given any meds. When I bought her she was a young goat I would estimate her age at two or three years. She is a Boer which is a breed that is known for producing meat.

The Ewe: The ewe also lived at my place for a year and a half and was on the same feeding routines as the goat. She was butchered because she did not lamb last spring; because of this I believe she was pretty old. Even though she was older she was still a very nice looking, slick sheep. She is a hair sheep meaning she grew fur instead of wool. Hair sheep are a somewhat rare meat breed. She was dewormed in the same manner as the goat and also did not have any health problems and so was never given any meds.

Prices:
Lamb Chops- 2 per pack, cuts are 11/4 in. thick - $5.00/pack
Ground Lamb- 1 lbs. packs - $5.00/pack
Leg of Lamb – between 3 and 5 lbs., bone in - $5.00/lbs.
Lamb Shoulder – between 1 and 3 lbs., bone in - $5.00/lbs.
Lamb Hocks- good for stew- $5.00

Goat Chops- 2 per pack, cuts are 1in. thick - $4.00/pack
Ground Goat- 1 lbs. packs - $4.00/pack
Goat Roasts-between 3 and 5 lbs.- $4.00/lbs.
Goat Hocks-a.k.a. stew meat- $4.00

Mutton pricing is the same as goat pricing.

Eener’s Meat Sampler Pack- a good idea if you’d like to try a little of each, 1 pound each of ground lamb, goat and mutton, 2 packs of chops (one goat and one mutton) and a lamb hock - $23.00

The Butcher: We had our meat done up by a family owned butcher shop located in Elmwood, WI. They have a pretty cool meat market if you ever are in town. To learn more about their shop here is the web site: http://www.piercecountywi.com/Sailers.htm. Cass and I have been known to do our own butchering. However, we decided to contract this job out because there are two major advantages to sending animals to a professional butcher. For one, they have professional grade equipment that ensures the meat is weighed and wrapped to perfection. Secondly, all the animals are inspected by a veterinarian to ensure they are healthy and of good eating quality before they are slaughtered.

Deliveries: I’m nearly certain we’ll be able to put meat in the CSA boxes next week. The butcher said the meat should be ready this week, though we haven’t heard from just yet. Another good delivery day would be Sat. Nov. 7. We’re going to stop by both co-ops (River Market Co-op in downtown Stillwater and Hampden Park Co-op in St. Paul on Raymond Ave.) to pick up our last round of boxes. Other delivery dates are very possible since we get into Stillwater and St. Paul quite often to shop and visit family and friends.

How To Order: Just e-mail me eenermachine@gmail.com or call me (715)643-2803 and let me know what you would like, when you would like it and where you would be picking it up at.

Where is Eener's Farm??

It's been brought to my attention that the web site Google Maps thinks we live north of 64 when in fact we actually live south of it. Map Quest on the other hand seems to have a better handle on where we are. Another important detail is that there was a misprint in the newsletter and Connorsville is actually west of our house and not east like I had orginally claimed.

Here are directions to the farm (free of misprints):

From Stillwater: This is the obvious way for Stillwater folks but may also be good for St. Paul people too. Cross the lift bridge and head into WI on Hwy. 64. Follow 64 for about 40 miles, turn right onto 220th St. Please note that there is another 220th St. that intersects with Hwy. 64 about 20 miles from Stillwater, this is not our road. In order to get to our 220th St. you have to go through Connorsville which is a little town about three miles west of our house. Once you are on the correct 220th St. we are the first place on the right.

From I-94: Go east on I-94 until you hit the Glenwood City exit (the exit number is 28). Take a left off the exit ramp onto Hwy. 128. Follow 128 for about 10 miles until you get into Glenwood City at which point 128 becomes the main drag also known as Oak Street. A few blocks into town 128 turns off, ignore this and proceed to Third Street and hang a left. Just outside of town Third Street becomes County Road X. Follow Co. Rd. X for a few miles until you come to a stop sign, turn left onto County Road Q (I know, us crazy Wisconsinites and our lettered road names). Follow Co. Rd. Q a short ways to Hwy 64 and take a right. About four miles down 64 you will find 220th St., take a right. We are the first place on the right.

Amenities:
Gas: Gas stations are scarce around here (so is cell phone reception). If you are coming from Stillwater your last chance for gas is at an intersection we call four corners about 7 or 8 miles outside of New Richmond. There are 2 stations here right off 64. If you are coming from I-94 your last gas will be found in Glenwood City.
Food: We’ll feed you around 5:30 or 6 p.m. If you were thinking of stopping somewhere for lunch most of the countryside taverns serve food. You’ll find mostly burgers and pizza.

Maynerd: Our dog, Maynerd may bark at you in greeting. He's very friendly and has been trained not to jump on people, though he gets pretty excited at parties. He's a smaller dog (about 40 pounds) and not intimidating.

Box #18

It froze very hard here on Tuesday night. Before that happened, Cass and I covered the peppers and eggplant. Even with the covers, most of the plants still received frost damage. We’ll see what happens with these. I think we’ll still get some produce out of them but maybe not as much. The basil, summer squash and tommatillos all succumbed to the frigidness. Since those plants haven’t been producing much lately and were all dying back anyway, I let them go. Everything else in the garden doesn’t mind being frozen. Although, I noticed the Swiss Chard seemed kind of limp as I was picking it on Wednesday morning. I think maybe it was still trying to thaw out as it looked more crisp that evening.

Four More Weeks to Go
We still have four more weeks left. If anyone is wondering, the last delivery to Stillwater will be Oct. 26, the last for St. Paul will be Oct. 28. Here’s what’s left: lots more spuds, kohlrabi, brussel sprouts, winter squash, pie pumpkins, rutabagas, turnips, pasta squash, swiss chard, hopefully peppers and eggplant, some broccoli, beets, carrots, popcorn, sunflower seeds and horseradish. We also have lots of gourds, ornamental corn and jack o’lanterns which we hope to get rid of mostly at the big party here on Oct. 17.

Farm Pictures

My dad and Cass enjoying the scenery. The gourd patch is behind them.


My nephew working with Rose, one of our young goats.


A couple of our pumpkins.


Here we are next to the sweet corn. Did you know that you can get 11-year-olds to pick corn quite speedily if you fill them in on some of the gory details from the horror movie Children Of The Corn?


The hired help checking on/sitting on our prize Jack O'Lantern.

Box #13

Hurray for sweet corn! Corn is one of my favorite things to pick. I go along with a gunny sack snapping off cobs left and right no bending or kneeling required. Additionally, it’s nice and shady since the plants are quite a bit taller than me. I planted corn three different times so that it wouldn’t all be ready at once. Some plants have defied this system and are riper than others planted later. To determine whether or not certain cobs were ready this week we peeled back parts of the husk. So if you have cobs that are somewhat dehusked that was just us taking a peek and not some corn-seeking critter nibbling on your dinner.

Stinky Broccoli Our broccoli plants are mostly producing flowerets right now which are cute little mini heads that form after the main larger head is harvested. These little guys are tasty but also can get quite stinky. The reason broccoli (also brussel sprouts, cabbage and other members of the brassica or cruciferous family of veggies) gets smelly is because it contains sulfur compounds. These compounds help protect the plants from insects and animals. There has been quite a lot of research stating that these very same compounds help prevent cancer. The smell gets stronger when broccoli is cut. Since flowerets require many cuts rather than just the one for big heads they tend to smell more.

Tomatoes
I continue to be disturbed by the amount of mold in the tomato patch. To make matters worse, we got about three more inches of rain yesterday, I’m sure this will not help our situation. Never thought I’d say this but I think I’ve had enough rain…at least for awhile.

Melons
Last year we had a ton of melons in September right at the exact moment that everyone was sick of them. As a result I tried a few new things this year to try and get them earlier. These new ideas didn’t work out and it appears as though we will either have melons next month or not at all. Looks like it’s back to the drawing board on the whole melon front.

Starting to go the Other Way
The cucumbers and beans are starting to show their age and are beginning to die back. We will probably still run these next week and maybe the week after but to a pretty limited degree. On the upside, this will give me more time to start digging spuds again.

Another Round
We'll be pulling beets, turnips and carrots again soon. I'm thinking I may have over planted turnips and under planted carrots...sorry.

Box #11

The garden is exploding! We really had to move to get everything picked and packed in time this week. Here is a run down:

Green Tomatoes: One of my tomato plants looks as though it may be dead or at least in the process of dying. I think I nicked it with the tiller some weeks ago and ever since it’s been a weak plant. Apparently it couldn’t stand up to the torrential downpour we received here last weekend. Anyway, rather than toss the tomatoes out I put some in the CSA boxes this week. I think something like five or six of you got them. For those of you who didn’t get these, keep the following recipe ideas (from The Encyclopedia of Country Living) in mind. After the frosts start everyone will probably get some.

Fried Green Tomatoes: Slice tomatoes into about ½ inch slices. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a pie tin. Dip slices in the mix to get both sides coated. Fry in hot shortening (or butter or olive oil) on one side then the other. Serve hot and right away.

Baked Green Tomatoes: Cut tomatoes into ½ inch slices and arrange half of then in the bottom of a greased baking dish. Over that make a layer of small toasted bread cubed, salt, pepper and bitted dots. Add a second layer of green tomatoes and than a second layer of everything else. Finally, sprinkle grated Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 350 degrees until tender.

Pasta Squash: These are coming along nicely. If you didn’t get one of these this week, don’t worry, you’ll definitely see probably more of these than you would like by the end of the growing season as they are incredibly prolific. Pasta squash (a.k.a. spaghetti squash or vegetable spaghetti) is a relative of summer squash. It’s a pretty cool type of squash because you actually can make spaghetti out of it. Instead of producing a solid flesh they’re insides are all noodley.
To prepare: snap the stem off and toss the whole thing in a pot of boiling water for about half an hour or poke with a fork and bake for about 90 minutes; slice in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and central pulp; using a fork, rake out the shreds of spaghetti. Once they’re cooked use them like any other noodle (hot, cold, stir fried). Uncooked it’s pretty unpalatable. Also if you want to make stir fry with it, cook it first using one of the methods above.

Box #10

I hope you all are enjoying your apple pies! Admittedly I got the giggles several times while writing that newsletter. It was based on the experience I had last weekend when I made my own apple pie (which by the way turned out great!).

There were a few misprints in the St. Paul newsletter this week. First most everyone in St. Paul got red onions, not yellow ones as the newsletter claimed. Second, I should have written ‘summer squash’ under the What’s in the Box heading because not everyone got zucchini. Some folks got crookneck squash which is pear shaped, dull yellow and bumpy. Other folks got patty pans which resemble yellow or white spaceships. All of the summer squash is very comparable to zucchini and is completely interchangeable in any recipe.

We ran a lot of different things in the boxes this week. If you are wondering what to do with something here is a run down:

Cool Beans: Beans are starting to come in (finally) and I expect we will be into them in a big way next week. Our beans are of the pole variety, meaning they are the kinds that need to be trellised. They are very easy to grow and pretty easy to pick compared to the varieties that grow in bush form. You’ll find the standard green beans and also some purple, yellow and purple-flecked beans. The purple ones will turn green when cooked, however the yellow ones will stay yellow. When cooking green beans, I’ve found that they can lose flavor if they are boiled in water. So instead I just put them in the pan by themselves and gently heat them until they release some moisture. They cook nicely in their own juice and have amazing flavor.
Green beans (or purple beans or yellow beans or purple-flecked beans) freeze fairly well. I slice them into one-inch pieces, blanch for three to four minutes, put them in jars or bags, toss them in the freezer and enjoy them all winter long. They also of course can be canned and are wonderful pickled.

Cucumbers: Cucs are a bit behind this year probably due to the cool weather. In any case we are starting to run them too. Boyceville used to be a major pickle town. It had a pickle factory that accepted cucs from area farmers. Most folks around here back then planted at least an acre of them as a cash crop. My mom spent many summer days as a youngster picking pickles and still enjoys them! The pickle factory closed down about 20 years ago but the town still celebrates its cucumber roots by holding the Boyceville Cucumber Festival every summer.
Baby cucumbers make the best pickles and may be canned or made into refrigerator pickles. There are many recipes and variations. To make refrigerator pickles simply boil up a brine of water, vinegar and salt (I use 6 cups water, 3 cups vinegar and ½ cup salt), place some dill heads in a jar and maybe a clove of garlic or two, toss baby cucs in jar and dump brine over them. Place this in the refrigerator and wait about 24 hours for the flavors to come through. Then enjoy your pickles, they will keep in your fridge for at least a month.

Tomatillos: This is the first year I’ve tried these and I really don’t know all that much about them. So, according to The Encyclopedia of Country Living: “Tomatillos are also known as Mexican Husk Tomatoes and are closely related the ground cherry. Serve raw in salad, sliced plain, or with dip as finger food. Or use to make slasa verde or dip. Or cook and add to dishes (tomatillos add an herb-lemon flavor). Or slice and add to a veggie soup or bean casserole.” Here is the salsa verde recipe given in the same book: Combine two cups chunked, uncooked tomatillo, one cup chunked onion, ¼ cup dried epazote, maybe a little minced hot pepper and one teaspoon garlic salt. Churn in a blender until smooth. Add one cup sour cream. Serve chilled.

Other things we started running on a small scale this week include: cherry tomatoes, yellow pear tomatoes and broccoli. Peas made their last appearance this week as did the red/pink potatoes (glad so many of you liked these, they are a variety called Red Romance). Beets and turnips also made final appearances this week (though you’ll probably see beets again).

Box #9

In addition to being behind on broccoli, cucumbers and beans, I’m also behind on blogging (also receipt writing, if you’ve paid me in July and have not yet received a receipt, you’ll be getting it next week in your box). Anyway, here are some recipe ideas and other useful bits of information on your produce:

Basil - There are many types of basil, this particular one is known as sweet basil and is probably one of the more common kinds. According to the Fedco Seed Catalog, which is where I order basil seed, this type is recommended for “drying, all-around great eating and large-scale pesto production”. If you are interested in drying some basil and you don’t own a food dehydrator, place a layer of leaves on a plate and microwave them until they are crispy.

Beets - Beets can be frozen, canned, dried or root cellared (wait for later ones if you plan on doing this). I’ve also heard of people pickling beets, which sounds interesting. Admittedly, beets are not my favorite so I’m not the best resource for beet related recipes.

Brussel Sprouts - These are one of my favorites. I like to steam them and serve with pasta and cheese sauce. They are root cellarable as Brussels sprout logs (these will show up at the end of the season, probably in the last box) or they can also be frozen individually (blanch 3-5 minutes first). The plants themselves are very interesting-looking (see photo above) with thick stocks and leafy tops. They sort of resemble miniature palm trees with the heads growing where the stalks meet the leaves.

Carrots - Carrots are one of those crops that we plant more than once so expect them several times throughout the season. They freeze well after being peeled, chopped and balanced for 2-5 minutes. One of my favorite ways to prepare carrots is to steam them in orange juice.

Cilantro - Also known as Chinese Parsley and Mexican Parsley, cilantro is the leaf part of the plant with the seeds being the coriander part. Cilantro can be used to flavor a variety of dishes including; salsa, guacamole, soups, stews, salads, stir-fries, egg, fish, pork, hot dogs etcetera. Unfortunately, cilantro does not keep well and drying the leaves results in little to no flavor.

Fennel - Fennel is sort of new to me, this is the first year I’ve grown it. It has an anise-type flavor and is good raw or cooked. It really does not keep well and should be used within a few days. According to The Joy of Cooking, fennel can be roasted, braised, grilled or sautéed. The fronds can be used as a seasoning and bulbs can be used as a substitute for celery. Fennel accompanies fish especially well.

Flowers – We’ve started putting zinnia (very colorful) and sweet pea (very fragrant) bouquets in the boxes this week. We’ll have sunflowers later.

Kohlrabi - I think these are best raw (just peel and slice) but they also are good in stir fries, casseroles or toasted in the oven with cheese on top. You can freeze them but they tend to smell like propane when thawed.

Rutabaga – So, I think I may have planted a few too many turnips this year. To add insult to injury, as soon as we’re done picking turnips we’ll head right into rutabagas, which taste pretty much just like turnips.

Spuds – I’m sure you all know what to do with tators. I think you’ll find the blue ones interesting to cook with.

Here’s a great potato bread recipe from The Foxfire Book: Dissolve a cake of yeast in a cup of warm water. Cook up two medium spuds, mash them and add two teaspoons salt, three teaspoons sugar and the yeast water. Put in a jar (or bowl) in a warm place to rise (it’ll get bubbly). Then add enough flour to make a firm dough. Let rise till double, knead and make into two loaves. Let rise then bake at 350 degrees until it tests done.

Swiss Chard – If you didn’t get a bag of lettuce mix this week you got a bunch of swiss chard. The leaves are great as salad greens and the stalks are a good substitute for celery (which we don’t grow).

Turnips – Here’s a recipe involving turnips one of you e-mailed to me. It’s good (thanks Wendy).

Cheesy Turnips and Carrots

INGREDIENTS
3 cups diced peeled turnips
2 cups sliced carrots
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup water
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup diced celery
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
•
DIRECTIONS
In a saucepan, combine turnips, carrots, ginger, water and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes or until vegetables are tender; drain and reserve liquid. Set vegetables aside. In a skillet, saute onion and celery in butter until tender; stir in flour, pepper and remaining salt. Add milk and the vegetable liquid; bring to a boil. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in cheese until melted; stir in the vegetables and heat through.

Farm News and Pictures

Hope you all are enjoying box #7. It was a challenging one to pick and pack what with all the varying maturity levels of different crops right now. I apologize to those who had to wait for me on Wednesday in St. Paul. By trying to avoid one area of road construction I got stuck in two other unforeseen areas of construction and ended up not arriving at Hampden Park until after 3 p.m. Thanks to Tameaka and the Sellkes for helping me unload boxes.

Fall Farm Harvest Fest
We’ve decided to hold a fall harvest fest/party here at the farm for all CSA members on October 17. Members can come pick out their pumpkins, gourds and ornamental corn (hopefully this stuff will be ready by then, it really should be). There also will be a corn shock making clinic, tours and possibly a bon fire weather permitting. We’ll post more info as this date approaches.

Other Farm Visits
If you are interested in touring the farm sooner than October, please feel free to come by. Except for delivery days, I’m pretty much always here. Our place it pretty easy to find provided you can navigate through all the road construction between here and the cities. Give me a call or e-mail me if you decide to stop by.



One of the barns with pumpkin patch in foreground.



Tommatillos.


Olaf, our billy goat.

Boxes will not be Early to St. Paul this Week

As you're all aware, Hampden Park picker-uppers pick up their boxes around 3 p.m. but generally I'm there unloading earlier than that. This week it is very unlikely that I'll be there anytime much before 3 for two reasons. First, my helper is on vacation this week and so I'll be packing boxes solo. Also I've heard that I-94 has a bunch of construction going on right now. I'll probably take Hwy. 36 tomorrow to avoid hang-ups in the construction. By doing this I'll risk getting stuck on the lift bridge in Stillwater which seems to happen about 50% of the time (sometimes I sit there for half an hour, though admittedly it is pretty cool to see the boats go under). I hope none of you end up waiting for me, I’ll do my best to get there as soon as I can.

Spud Fest

I'm excited to report that we have spuds this week. Half share folks will be getting one pound and full share people will get two pounds. These would be considered new potatoes so many of them are quite small but very yummy. We still have lots more to dig (plus they'll get bigger and bigger) so you'll be seeing them quite often for the rest of the summer and into the fall.

Here are some photos of our spud endeavors:


The spud patch.


A few new tators.


Here I am digging them.

New Lambs

Here are the new twins born last weekend.

Third Box Notes

Sad news on the chicken front this week.
The hen that recently hatched out eggs was living in a temporary brooder/shelter with her chicks. I went out there Wednesday morning to check on them and found their set-up completely ripped apart (like, literally ripped apart). I’m certain this was an attack orchestrated by raccoons. Their water and food dishes were strewn about and the chicken wire was totally mangled. The hen lost some feathers but is otherwise O.K. Sadly five of the baby chicks are missing and presumed eaten. The remaining chick survived the attack only because is got trapped in a ball of chicken wire rubble and apparently the coons were unable to extract it. I’ve put the hen and chick in a dog crate which is not really the best because it’s kind of small but a better deal then being savagely murdered by a raccoon.
Once the chick is bigger, I’ll be able to release these two into the chicken coop. It would be nice if I could just put them in the coop now, but if I did that the other chickens would probably attack the chick (chickens are weird that way). Anyway, the chicken coop isn’t exactly the safest place for chickens either. Last summer our coop was hijacked by raccoons who gained access by breaking a window.
It’s really amazing how many predators chickens have. Over the years we’ve lost our fair share of chickens. Here is a list of bad ends that some of our chickens have come to: eaten by raccoons, attacked by an owl, attacked by a hawk, hit by a car, drowned in a stock tank, attacked by a sheep, attacked by a goose, attacked by a weasel. Other predators of chickens include: foxes, dogs, cats, fishers, pigs and other chickens.
Predators are one of the main reasons that chickens on factory farms are raised in cages. If my chickens were all caged I’d still have all those that have been killed by predators. But I’d rather expose my chickens to their predators and take the gamble; I think they like their lives a lot better this way, even though they have an increased chance of living a shorter life.

Actual Garden News
Now that I’ve talked your ear off about chickens, here is some garden news. Everyone is probably thoroughly tired of green onions, it looks as though we’ll be seeing more variety in the boxes next week. I’m thinking we could see the first of the spuds and perhaps beets will make their debut. This is no guarantee since my garden seems to cleverly evade me every time I try and make a prediction about it.
Other new developments in the garden include; I spotted two little tiny green peppers today, all of the cherry tomatoes are blooming and some of the big tomatoes are blooming. Expect the very first peppers and tomatoes in late July. Then expect the majority through August and into September. Approximately 1/3 of the spuds are blooming and maybe ¼ of the peas are blooming.

Second Box Notes

So second boxes have all been delivered, here are some of my thoughts on them:

Digging Deep
We really had to dig pretty deep to come up with salad greens this week. I’m pretty sure the plants haven’t yet fully responded to all the rain we’ve gotten. I’m hoping next week we can send more your way.
A second thing we really had to hunt for was radishes. This I was not terribly surprised by as radish season has just started. Most of you received a small bunch of a type of radish called Cherry Belle they are little petite things that are generally the first to produce. A few of you got some Easter Egg radishes which are quite a bit bigger (some even resemble turnips) and these should be more prevalent next week. It also appears as though the white radishes, which are a spicier kind, should start showing up next week as well. A handful of you did not receive any radishes and instead got extras of something else, I’ll be sure you get some rads next week.

It’s still Early
If you are thinking the boxes are a tad on the sparse side, you’re right. June is not the most productive month, even though it sometimes seems like it should be especially when the temperature hits 80 degrees. It’s a central Wisconsin/Minnesota fact that most vegetables can’t be planted until right around Memorial Day. As a result, the most productive months end up being August and September (July isn’t half bad either) so be prepared. In the meantime, please bear with us through these lighter weeks.

Weeds
Like all gardens right about now, we are getting slammed with weeds and have been working some long days to clear them. We’ve been getting lots of help from my parents and a few other relatives. Luckily Boyceville Elementary School is out for the summer so my 10-year-old nephew is available for weed picking (he’s really pretty efficient).

Other Farm News
Speaking of my nephew, he found a hen in my haymow with some freshly hatched chicks, very cute. This is the first time a hen has actually hatched out chicks as the brooding genes have mostly been bred out of chickens. I was really concerned about the health and well-being of this particular hen because I hadn’t seen her in a couple of weeks. I’m glad that’s all straightened out and hope the chicks do well.

It's Raining!

What a great rain we're having. This should really give everything a boost. Here are some photos of our packing shed which is actually the old milkhouse:







We've been working on this building since last winter. At one point we were worried that it was going to separate from the main barn and collapse into a pile of rubble. Luckily we were able to bring it back from the brink.

First Box Notes

Our first deliveries were this week and I was for the most part happy with what we came up with for all your boxes. I hope everyone found their boxes, if you had problems please call or e-mail me.

What to do with your empty box
Keep your box at your house (if you have space issues they actually break down quite nicely) and bring it with you next week when you come to pick up again. The co-ops will hold them for me and I’ll be reusing them. Please be nice to your boxes they each cost $1.58 and it is my hope that they will last us all season.

Arugula not up to snuff
I have to say that I’m pretty disappointed with the arugula, I had no idea flea beetles could be that hungry. Even though it does still have decent flavor, the texture is all wrong, probably due to the billions of holes eaten in the leaves. Usually I harvest arugula several times, but I’m going to till the rest of this batch down and we’ll take a shot at growing a fall crop of arugula. It is true that I could spray the plants, I do have organic pest spray, but I’m reluctant to spray salad greens since they are a little trickier to wash and even though it would be an organic spray, you’re still not suppose to eat it.

Unwashed
Speaking of washing, I will be rinsing your lettuce and other greens but I will not be washing much else. One reason for this is that many types of produce actually keep longer and retain their flavor better if they are left unwashed. A second reason is that I strive to pick your produce and get it to your drop-off spot as soon as possible and washing would take up quite a bit of time meaning your boxes would sit longer than I’d like them to.

Another word on comfrey
If you planted your comfrey plant and it wilted I can pretty much guarantee that it’s not going to die. I sold many, many comfrey plants at the farmers market last year and at the end of each market, I would dump any plants that didn’t get sold into the woods. Many times these plants would perk up and start growing for awhile until they realized that they were never actually planted and weren’t living in any dirt.

The drought
I’m sure you are wondering about the severe drought that is currently affecting the metro area. We are not as bad off as the Twin Cities. Our area has been classified as in a moderate drought. So even though I would love some rain, we are not in such a bad way yet. We did receive about ¼ of an inch of rain last week, Menomonie (a town about 25 miles from us) got an inch.

More Pictures

Onions! There are 15,000 of them.



Pumpkins, gourds and ornamental corn patch.



Our perrenial and flower garden.

Garden Pictures

Part of the tomato patch.




The west half of the big garden. It's nearly two acres and has the majority of our produce.




A stand of comfrey.

Gardens Nearly All Planted

I can see the end as far as planting the gardens is concerned. In the last couple of weeks we’ve put in: sweet corn, most of the winter squash (we’re doing acorn, butternut and hubbard this year), summer squash, pasta squash, cucumbers, popcorn, broom corn, fennel, basil, turnips, swiss chard, salsify, cherry tomatoes, beans, flowers, basil, other miscellaneous herbs, jack O’lanterns, rutabagas, cilantro, Indian corn, sunflowers, gourds, tomatoes and cantaloupe. We still have watermelon, peppers and eggplant left to put in.

Overall the weather has been cooperating. A couple weeks ago we had patchy frost here, I made sure everything that needed to be was covered up good and we didn’t lose anything. My only complaint is that we could use some rain. So if everyone could just do some rain dancing that would be great.

In other farm news another baby goat and another baby sheep have been added to our growing herd. Speaking of sheep, we sheared them this weekend. This shearing event went much better than last years, read a previous blog entitled ‘Shearing Phyllis’ to learn more. The ease in shearing this year was probably due to the fact that we now own an electric shearer and also because my dad must have been a sheep shearer in a previous life.

Cass did take a hoof to the face at one point and he also got stepped on. My dad and I escaped unscathed probably due to our cat-like reflexes. Anyway, the sheep look much more comfortable and as a result we now have four fleeces on our hands. If you know of anyone who would be interested in them please let us know. There is one white fleece and three black/brown fleeces.

Delivery time is fast approaching! Just a reminder: Hampden Park folks pick-up between 3 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on Wednesdays (first pick-up will be June 3) and River Market folks pick-up between 3 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. on Mondays (first pick-up will be June 1).

Sold Out

Eener's Farm is now sold out for the 2009 season. However, if you've spoken with me either over the phone or through e-mail but haven't yet sent in your membership form/deposit, don't worry you're still in.

Another CSA Update

The gardens are coming along nicely. The weather has really been cooperating, let’s hope it keeps up. Quite a few plants have broke ground including; spuds, onions, lettuce, spinach, arugula, mustard, radishes, kohlrabi, leeks, shallots, peas and pak choi. I’m hoping to see beets and broccoli come up soon.

This week I planted 96 Brussels Sprout plants, a couple more different varieties of radishes and some more beets. Before the week is over, I’d like to get in fennel and another round of lettuce and pak choi.

A few members have inquired about heading over here for a visit. The best time to come depends on what you are most interested in seeing. If you wanted to see the farm in general you could come pretty much anytime (just call ahead,a a day or two notice would be great as well).

Right now we are in the process of planting so there are not a lot of plants up yet (other than the ones I mentioned above). If you were interested in seeing the gardens at their absolute peak July - October would be the best time.

We have several interesting outbuildings which can be fun to take a look at, if you’re into old farm buildings. A word of warning though, we are somewhat under construction right now with our packing shed but if you don't mind seeing a construction zone, we don't mind either.

Of course there are also a variety of critters available for viewing too including; sheep, baby sheep, goats, baby goats, chickens, cats, beef cows, geese and our dog Maynerd.

Obviously spring and summer are very busy seasons for everybody, so if you never get around to stopping by, we won’t be offended. Another thing to consider is that we are kicking around having some type of end-of-the-season party/get together sometime in October.

Spring Planting Update

If you are interested in joining Eener’s Farm as a CSA member, please see a previous post entitled “Eener’s CSA” written on February 25. As of today there are 10 shares left.

Hi all, thought I’d go ahead and update you on the garden. All of the spuds are in. We planted pretty close to 100 pounds just after Easter. It looks like last year I dug the very first potatoes around the third week in June, so you can probably expect likewise.

We’ve put in 16 pounds of bulb onions also around Easter and they are already a few inches tall. These will be the big globe onions, some of which are great for storing. We just ate our last onion from the 2008 garden a few days ago.

Also on the already-planted-list are seed onions (these will be your green onions or scallions), lettuce, arugula, mustard, beets, pac choi, shallots, spinach, and peas. This week I’m looking to get in the kohlrabi, radishes, leeks and carrots.

In other farm news, I attended the Seward Co-op CSA Fair last Saturday. I met some interesting farmers and farm-shoppers and also signed up a couple of new members.

Our tomato, eggplant and pepper plant starts are looking good. They are all happily living in my canoe which I covered with plastic. During the day they I pull them outside and at night I pull them into the garage.

One of our sheep named Bernice lambed on Easter. She had twins, one boy and one girl (very cute). Bernice is an excellent mother as she dutifully demonstrated to me last week. One morning I went out to the sheep/goat barn as usual to water and feed them. I then continued into the chicken coop which is adjoining the sheep and goat area.

From a window in the chicken coop I noticed that the very high winds we were having that day were about to turn my hoop house into a giant kite. Being that I had planned on planting watermelon in the hoop house I was not terribly taken by the prospect of it blowing into the sheep and goat pasture or possibly on to the road or possibly into the next county. I ran out of the chicken coop and in my haste, neglected to lock the door.

Forest, my one year old, was with me so I got to experience the excitement of trying to run while pushing a stroller though a cow pasture, very aerobic indeed. So we get out there and learn that there's not a lot that one and a half people could do in that situation. The hoop house is something like 10 feet wide, 12 feet long and seven feet high and it's flopping and cracking in the wind. The plastic’s all messed up and one of the pipes is busted.

Luckily my dad randomly showed up at this point and between gusts of wind be were able to take it down accordion style and stow it in my hay mow. There were a few tense moments were I seriously thought I was going to go for something similar to a hot air balloon ride.

So now that we know that the garden is not the best place wind-wise for the hoop house (this is our first year using a hoop house), we have made plans to set it up in our yard where it’ll be sheltered from the wind. It’s good that this happened before I planted the watermelon.

Anyway, back to Bernice the sheep. So after my dad and Forest and I get the hoop house to safety, we hear this big ruckus out in the chicken yard. It turns out that the door I forgot to lock somehow opened (probably in the wind) and Bernice decided to investigate the chicken coop. In our chicken coop there’s this little chicken door designed so that the chickens can walk in and out freely. Well, Bernice managed to worm her way through that and of course her two lambs followed her.

All three of them are in the chicken yard and Bernice must’ve felt that the chickens were threatening her lambs because she started defending. When we found her she actually had a chicken pinned against the ground and was pummeling it with her head.

I shooed her back into the barn as fast as I could but the damage had already been done. There were two injured hens. I tried to nurse them back to health but one died within a day and the other lived for just three days. They most likely both died of internal injuries.

Amazing how fast you can be out two chickens and a hoop house set-up isn’t it? I’m sure it’ll take me longer than 20 minutes (the total time it took for these mishaps to happen) to set up the hoop house in the new spot and locate some replacement hens. Well, could be worse, Bernice could’ve battled with more chickens and the hoop house could’ve blown into the next county.

CSA Update

Howdy folks! Thanks to all who have signed up for our CSA. We now have 19 members! Since we have a mix of full and half shares, that puts us at about half full. It seems like every day we gain one or two new members. At the rate we’re going we should be sold out by next month sometime.

Deliveries
We’re excited to start delivering. Since most of you are planning on picking up your boxes on your way home from work, I’ve decided to do the deliveries in the afternoon. I’ll be at the co-ops unloading at 2:30 p.m. so come get your boxes anytime after 3 p.m. or so.

For the Hampden Park Co-op shareholders the first delivery will be Wednesday, June 3rd. Your boxes will be in the air conditioned entryway right as you come in the door. So all you’ll have to do is find your box (your last name will be written on it) and you can be on your merry way. You must pick up your box on Wednesday; the co-op will not hold it for you. They are open until 9 p.m.

Since we’ve had more members sign up for our River Market Co-op drop than we had expected, that delivery day has been changed to Mondays. So for the Stillwater folks, your first delivery will take place on Monday, June 1st. River Market puts CSA boxes in their cooler, so shareholders will have to ask a co-op employee to fetch their boxes. They are open until 9 p.m.

For those of you who are doing Huebert delivery (Sarah’s co-workers), you will receive your boxes via Sarah on Thursdays.

Other Farm News
We picked up our seed potatoes on Tuesday. This year we will be planting reds, blues, russets and yellow spuds. Last year we had quite a problem with potato bugs. So this year we are arming ourselves with some spud bug protection. We’ll be spraying the plants with two different sprays; both are approved for organic farming. One is called Monterey Garden Spray and the other is Neem Oil. If you would like to read up on these here is a helpful web site: http://www.montereylawngarden.com/products/insects/

The baby goat is doing really well! She has a lot of fun playing in the pasture; she’s very fast and shockingly adorable. We are open to name suggestions. Our other goats are named: Blanche, Virginia, Jolene and Olaf. Our sheep are named: Phyllis, Marilyn, Bernice, Thelma and Ivan. Let us know if you have any ideas!

Most of our seed orders have arrived and we are working on starting our bedding plants. Since we don’t have a greenhouse, we’ve been doing the best we can with what we have, which is four windows. It’s going pretty good, many of the tomato plants have already sprouted. Since I’m sure we will fall short on what we can start in our house, we will also be buying bedding plants. We’ll be purchasing at least some of our plants from a greenhouse by the name of Prairie Farm Gardens that sells through our local co-op. This greenhouse uses certified organic seed and local potting soil. They also have a lot of interesting varieties, should be a fun order to place.

We’ve also been renovating our old milk house (see photo above) so that it can be used as a vegetable packing space this summer. It’s been quite a project so far. The building was moved onto the farm in the 1950’s from a neighboring farm that my grandparents bought. It was starting to separate from the barn and needed a lot of structural repairs, which we’ve pretty much have solved now. Soon enough we’ll be outfitting the building with new wiring, a sink and snazzy new interior boards. I’m glad so see this building put back into use and think it’s really cool that I’ll be packing my vegetables in the same building that my grandparents shipped their milk from.

It's a Girl!

March 22 - Baby Goat Update
I'm happy to report that the baby goat is doing good. She's eating well and running around. Blanche is a great mom and Virginia is a devoted grandma. On a related note, we're pretty sure Virginia will have a kid(s) very soon, with Jolene (the former escape artist) to follow. In April or maybe May we expect lambs.


March 20
One of our pigmy goats (Blanche) kidded this morning. Luckily, she decided to give birth in the barn where it’s nice and dry and out of the wind. I’ve heard stories of goats kidding out on snow banks and such. The kid is about the size of a cat and looks just like Olaf, our Billy goat. She’s all white with a little grey on her ears. Her voice it high-pitched and she kind of sounds like a mosquito.

So far everything seems to be going fine, however I'm a little concerned about how the baby is eating. Blanche is really short and the baby seems to have a hard time getting down to her udder. I helped a couple of times, so she has had something to eat, I'm a little worried if the baby will be able to eat when I'm not there to help. I’ll have to keep a close eye on them.

Blanche and Blanche’s mom, Virginia are very interested in the baby and had it all dried off by the time we realized what had happened (at 6 a.m. this morning). The baby is up and walking around on wobbly legs (very cute). Blanche and Virginia have been keeping a close watch on the newborn and the sheep and the other goat are keeping their distance.

Eener's CSA

Thanks for taking a look at Eener’s Farm, here are some important C.S.A. details:


A C.S.A. definition: If you are unfamiliar with C.S.A.s (or just want to brush up on them) here is the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition:

In basic terms, CSA consists of a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production. Members or shareholders of the farm or garden pledge in advance to cover the anticipated costs of the farm operation and farmer’s salary. In return, they receive shares in the farm’s bounty throughout the growing season, as well as satisfaction gained from reconnecting to the land. Members also share in risks, including poor harvest due to unfavorable weather or pests.

How Eener’s C.S.A. works: I’ll pick produce and eggs and pack your box within 24 hours of delivery. After I deliver the boxes to the two co-ops (other pick up points may also be available) you would simply drop by one of the co-ops and pick up your assigned box (your box will have your name on it). Boxes will be delivered on Wednesdays. Next you would enjoy the contents of your box and look forward to next Wednesday’s delivery upon which you will bring your empty box in and exchange it for a full box.

Share prices: Full shares are $500/season. Half shares are $250/season. Full shares are designed for families and half shares would work for couples or single folks. Our season runs from the first week in June until the last week in October.

Regarding risk: Obviously there’s a lot of risk involved in farming: weather and pests sums it up and they can come in a myriad of different ways. I protect myself against most instances of total garden failure by planting a wide variety of plants and also different strains of these varieties. I also employ some tried and true home remedies for pests. While I’m not totally immune (a well-placed tornado could wipe out the whole works for example) there are some safety nets in place.

Regarding eggs: My chickens are free range and basically act like free range chickens meaning egg production is not necessarily constant nor consistent. When chickens are left to their own devices they lay a lot of eggs during good weather that would be favorable to raising chicks (like April through July). When it gets hot some may drastically reduce the number of eggs they lay while others just stop altogether. Conversely, my chickens also lay fewer eggs when the weather gets cold and there’s less day light, in October it starts to really dwindle.

The bottom line here is I can’t promise shareholders a full dozen eggs every week however, it’s likely they will receive a fair amount of eggs through June and possibly July, after that it’s up to the chickens.

Regarding “what do I do with this?”: I’ll be writing a blog for every delivery explaining what’s in the box, recipe ideas, farm news and other tidbits.



How Do I Sign Up for Eener’s C.S.A.?

Please fill out the form below (it may be easier to copy and paste it into a word document) and send to Eener at Eener’s Farm N12449 220th St. Boyceville, WI 54725 or e-mail it to eenermachine@gmail.com

At least $20 is due at sign up time. The rest is due by Halloween. Please make checks out to Eener’s Farm or Renee Bettendorf. Thanks!

Your Name:

Your Address:

Your Phone Number:

What size share would you like?

Where will you be picking your boxes up at?

I’ll see you June 3rd! Please let me know if you would like to stop by for a farm tour beforehand. Also, read my blog to keep abreast of farm news.

For questions please call (715)643-2803 or email eenermachine@gmail.com

A Brief History of Eener's Farm

I’m the fourth generation to live on our farm and my son, Forest is the fifth. Here is a brief history of the place:

My great grandparents, Fred and Ella Christianson, bought the farm from a couple by the name of Bert and Edith Lockwood in 1928. Before the Lockwoods owned it the land was property of the railroads.

Originally, Fred and Ella were from the Owatonna, MN area. They also farmed for awhile in North Dakota before moving to Connorsville where Fred was a blacksmith.

When they purchased the farm it included about 100 acres of woods and fields in rolling hills, a dwelling and a barn. We don’t know a lot about what the place looked like back then since Fred and Ella apparently didn’t have a camera. We do know that they tore the original house or cabin down since part of the foundation of our house shows this. We also know that the Lockwoods had built a barn on the property which is still standing and in use.

By the time Fred and Ella purchased the farm they had six children, one of which was my grandpa, Forest Christianson, he would have been about eight years old when his family moved here. Fred, along with his older sons built the small house my family and I live in and a second barn. They also milked cows and farmed with horses. They most likely had a garden and chickens.

In 1946 my grandpa Forest and my grandma Anne bought the place from Fred and Ella for about $4,000. Grandma and grandpa milked cows here until the early 1980’s. They raised Jersey and Guernsey milk cows and ran Allis Chalmers tractors. They had two daughters, my mom, Janet and my aunt, Joyce.

Sometime in the 1950’s grandma and grandpa bought a second farm a few miles down the road. They moved several buildings from that farm to this one. They also rented out the house and planted crops there.

After grandma passed away in 1992, grandpa split the farm between my mom and my aunt. Auntie Joyce got the part that was purchased in the 1950’s and mom ended up with the plot that Fred and Ella had originally purchased.

My parents live about three miles from here and so it was pretty convenient for them to utilize the farm for a portion of their beef cattle operation. Mom and dad started planting crops here and using the pastures and barns for shelter and food for part of their herd.

A couple of years ago my parents decided to split the farm and give it to my sister and me. Mom and dad still use some of the pastures, fields and part of a barn. My family and I run our own small farming projects here which currently include chickens, geese, goats, sheep and a C.S.A.

Shearing Phyllis

Last April I bought two sheep and a goat at a livestock auction. Both of the sheep are interesting specimens. Phyllis is a tall sheep with a grey face and legs, white wool and small horns. She weighed 175 pounds (wool included) when I bought her. Phyllis’ pal, Marilyn is a hair sheep, meaning that instead of wool she grows hair. Marilyn weighed in at 75 pounds when I bought her and is really a beautiful animal. She’s light brown on top with black markings, no horns and big, pretty yellow-brown eyes.

My husband, Cass and I unloaded these three critters into a pen in our barn. With the pasture that we had earlier fenced off for them quickly greening up we knew we had to shear Phyllis reasonably soon (we figured it would be easier to catch a somewhat skittish 175 pound sheep in a pen rather than in a two-acre pasture).

Cass and I had never shorn a sheep before nor had we ever actually observed a sheep being shorn. We started reading up on it. From what we gathered all we had to do was: spread a tarp down in a small pen (this would catch the wool and keep it from getting dirty); get the sheep to stand on the tarp; position the sheep between our knees on it’s back or side; use a clippers or scissors to first trim off any dingleberries or dread locks, discard these; and finally proceed to clipping the fleece starting at the animal’s head and clipping in wide sweeps across the body until you get to the bottom. The fleece should come off in one neat piece leaving a nicely groomed looking sheep in its wake.

The whole procedure seemed pretty straightforward and Cass and I figured we could probably de-fleece Phyllis in maybe 15 minutes (since we were inexperienced, an experienced sheep shearer could probably do it in 5). I thought to myself, hell, I could probably have half a scarf crocheted of Phyllis’ fine wool by the end of this evening.

I called my parents, who live just down the road, to set up some day care for our then seven month old son. They said they’d be more than happy to come up and watch the festivities. They showed up with a camera and an extra pair of scissors.

Cass and I were pretty certain that this was not Phyllis’ first rodeo (according to our readings sheep that have been sheared in the past are not really all that opposed to it). So we sauntered into the pen reasonably confident that we could easily herd Phyllis into the prearranged sheep shearing area that we had prepared.

Phyllis was simultaneously onto us and unimpressed with our herding abilities. She easily side-stepped us, carefully avoiding the open gate that led into the shearing area. As a result, we soon learned that this was going to be a more hands on kind of job than we had previously thought. We commenced tackling Phyllis. My husband and I are not very large people. Phyllis outweighed each of us by about 45 pounds plus she’s a way better wrestler than either of us could ever hope to be.

After some serious wrestling and few choice words that had nothing to do with sheep shearing, Cass managed to secure Phyllis in a head lock (I use the term “secure” loosely here). Really Cass just had a hold of her neck and he was leaning back and trying to put the brakes on while Phyllis, obviously the one in control here, trotted around the pen in apparent denial of her need for a haircut.

I chased this Cass-Phyllis train along with Marilyn and the goat for a few turns. I finally got my bearings and started bringing up the caboose by grabbing onto Phyllis’ hind end. I started pushing her and to the best of my ability also steering her. Between the two of us Cass and I managed to steer/drag Phyllis to the sheep shearing area.

Right away we learned that there were a few problems with our shearing set-up. First off, Phyllis was terrified of the tarp we had spread on the floor and actually started bucking. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,” hollered my husband as Phyllis thrashed him up and down. “Let ‘er go,” I hollered back as I released my end and frantically started kicking the tarp out of Phyllis’ way.

A second problem with out set-up was that Marilyn and Phyllis could see each other through the gate and were experiencing severe separation anxiety. They let us know how distressed they were by adding their deep, sad bleats to the general chaos.

Realizing that shearing Phyllis (wouldn’t ‘Shearing Phyllis’ be a great name for a band?) was going to be more complex than we originally expected, but knowing we had to press on, Cass moved onto the next step which was; position the sheep between your knees. This act of bravery earned Cass more than one sheep ride around the pen.

At this point we decided to discard everything we had ever learned about sheep shearing (which wasn’t much) and develop our own method. Our method was this; hold Phyllis down anyway you can and clip her wool in any manner possible. My dad hopped into the pen and helped us out. Throughout the next hour the three of us managed to hold Phyllis down in many ways (at one particularly hectic point we even had her hog tied) and clip copious amounts of wool off in a willy-nilly fashion.

When it was finally finished, Phyllis looked reasonably shorn. Examining the tangled mass of wool lying haphazardly on the floor I decided that since it was already April I really didn’t need a new scarf after all.

What's Eener Planting?

Here is a list of most of the veggies I’ll be planting this coming season. I’ve broken them down into early, middle and late categories based on records I kept on last year’s garden. These are estimates and certain produce may be ready earlier or later depending on weather.

Early (June and July): arugula, bok choi, carrots, comfrey, dill, green onions, horseradish, lettuce, new potatoes, radishes and swiss chard.

Middle (August and September): beans, beets, beggas, broom corn, brussel sprouts, cherry tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers, kohlrabi, okra, onions, pasta squash, peas, peppers, potatoes, sunflowers, tomatoes and turnips.

Late (October): corn shocks, gourds, ornamental corn, pop corn, pumpkins and winter squash.

Some things, like radishes and lettuce for example, may reappear in your boxes sometime between August and October since I usually plant those types of crops more than once.

Here are some other things I plan on growing that I didn’t have harvest records from last year: luffa, garlic, cockscomb, broccoli, sweet peas, musk melon, fennel, leeks, basil and cilantro.