NEWSLETTERS

McDougal’s Farm LLC

What’s Growing On !

YES an EOW week

October 13th, 2022

Farm News

This is our last CSA delivery for the season
We have had a mixed bag of emotions this week. We are happy to have another successful growing season behind us. Regardless of the dry spring, things came through for us and every bag was full this year, all the way to the end. When we can pull that off for you guys, we feel like we just accomplished a pretty worthy cause. We also feel a little gloomy, because this week we say goodbye to our fun-loving crew that kept things light and fun in the field all summer. When you work side by side with someone, with knees in the dirt, there is something that happens…a humble simple joy bonds you. Every one of them feels like family to us and we will miss them. We also feel excited! Excited to have a little down time, time to clean the house, reorganize the shop, work on a few side projects, read a book…maybe take a road trip that is un-vegetable related😊. We are feeling lucky too. We have the absolute best farm family! The people this little farm has attracted have been amazing! You guys have been gracious, patient, kind, generous and send the best emails rooting us on! It’s almost as if we’ve spent a little time in the dirt together too😊…. feeling blessed.

Every year at this time we take a while to contemplate what we’ve learned. Sometimes it is an insight like; the simple truth a squash holds, or a more efficient way of doing things… which we made great strides in this year, and not because we are more clever but because we are more old😊. Lesson learned this week; You can blow up beets with a pressure washer…cool! The bigger lesson learned here; Find fun in your work, not after work.

A few weeks ago, our computer crashed. Thanks to our son and his techie suaveness we were able to stay up and running without any of you noticing the blip, however; this new computer doesn’t like the way we write our newsletters. We like making up words like crewdiddle, we like saying “more clever” and “more old” instead of cleverer and older, it rolls better. It’s our newsletter and we are going to un-correct it because we are the humans here and we like the human touch…can we get an Amen?

Thank you for supporting this little farm and sharing our vision of a better world, where pure food is the norm, and sustainable practices are just a no brainer. It has been a pleasure and an honor being your trusted farmers this summer. Stay healthy and see you in the Spring!
Jerry and Maydene
PS Winter shares coming soon! We will keep you posted.

What’s in the Bag
Your last bag is a bottom holder! In it you will find everything for a big pot of vegetable soup or boiled dinner (recipe at mcdougalsfarm.com). This week you have a green cabbage, carrots, potatoes, rutabaga, onions, garlic, celery, and sweet peppers. You will also get a bag of fresh greens, and an Acorn Squash…the large shares will also get a Carnival squash.

We should have probably mentioned this in the beginning of the season, but McDougalsfarm.com has a lot of great recipes! Check us out

Vegetable Soup from cookingclassy.com
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onion (1 medium)
• 2 cups peeled and chopped carrots (about 5)
• 1 1/4 cups chopped celery (about 3)
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth
• 2 (14.5 oz) cans diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 3 cups peeled and 1/2-inch-thick diced potatoes (from about 3 medium)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme, or 1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups chopped frozen or fresh green beans
• 1 1/4 cups frozen or fresh corn
• 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.
2. Add onions, carrots, and celery and sauté 4 minutes then add garlic and sauté 30 seconds longer.
3. Add in broth, tomatoes, potatoes, parsley, bay leaves, thyme and season with salt and pepper to taste. *
4. Bring to a boil, then add green beans.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes are almost fully tender, about 20 – 30 minutes.
6. Add corn and peas and cook 5 minutes longer. Serve warm.
Notes
Boosting Flavor
• For more flavors add in more dried herbs (or even triple the amount of dried thyme). Other good herbs to add include basil, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, or Italian seasoning.
• Another option to add more flavor is to use a homemade chicken stock or vegetable broth.
• You can also add a corn cob (that corn kernels have been cut from) in step 3 if using fresh corn.
• It’s also delicious to simmer a parmesan rind in with the soup, then remove at the end when removing bay leaves.
• Optionally you can finish servings with grated parmesan and a splash of extra virgin olive oil.
Whenever we bake up too much squash and have leftovers, we throw the baked squash into these muffins instead of the pumpkin. We blend ours with an immersion or stick blender to make it smooth before we add the other ingredients. These muffins are great for a quick, wholesome breakfast on the go.
May’s Pumpkin Apple Cranberry Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

¾ cups olive oil
1 cup apple sauce
3 eggs
1 cup sugar or ¾ cups honey
2 cups baked and whipped squash or pie pumpkin
3 cups flour (can substitute 2 cups of flour, ½ cup ground flax and ½ cup ground walnuts)
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
½ tsp. cloves
½ tsp. nutmeg
2 cups fresh chopped cranberries or 1 cup dried

Mix well, adding the cranberries in at the end. Pour batter into greased or lined muffin tins and then sprinkle the crunchy topping on each muffin. Bake 20-24 minutes at 350 degrees.

Crunchy topping:
3/4 cup flour
½ stick of butter
1/3 cup sugar

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
—Margaret Mead