Farm to Folk Newsletter     October 21, 2008 

“A little extra info from the farms to the folks”
website: www.farmtofolk.com

Farmer Appreciation Potluck is this Saturday Oct 18 at Berry Patch Farm. Come there in the afternoon for a hayride and to pick apples (5# free for Farm to Folk members!!).  At 5pm we'll have a butter making demonstration/tasting and the potluck dinner at 6pm.  A short program will follow.  Please bring a potluck dish to share and your own table service.

Berry Patch    Hours 9 -6 daily Free hayrides Saturday and Sunday 1 - 5PM
Now harvesting  several varieties of apples ; Quantity discounts !
Honeycrisp, Jonafree, Earligold ,Gala,Macoun,  Nova mac, Lura Red, Nova, RedCort, Cortland, Jonathon, and more.
Fall red & gold raspberries, blackberries, pumpkins and gourds

Full Circle Farm  will deliver this week. Ground beef temporarily out of stock.

Grains of Wisdom Breads  will not deliver this week. Next delivery Oct 28.

Picket Fence Creamery

Happy "Octoberfest"!

    Fall is in the air, the trees are starting to show their autumn glory, the moon is full, and we have started our fall calving!  Our beans are combined, the cows are grazing on some beautiful grass we stockpiled for them, and our store is full of fall's bounty of local foods...apples, squash, pears, black walnuts, red raspberries, tomatoes, and yes, even fall spinach and lettuce!  "Henry the Holstein" is our first fall calf, born a week ago, and promptly named by one of our young customers!  We invite you and your family to meet Henry, say hi to

Lil' Bob (our rooster), Jack (our dog), the "ladies," and enjoy a beautiful afternoon in the country during our...

3-Farm Tour and  Sample Sunday  Oct. 19  Noon to 5 p.m.

Admission is FREE!

(Event held in conjunction with our great neighbors to the north, Prairieland Herbs and Northern Prairie Chevre.)

Enjoy hay rack rides in the pasture! 

*Local food samples galore:  Pumpkin ice cream, elk sticks, cheese ball, tortellini, fresh peanut butter, Elvis muffins, heirloom apples, honey, apple cider, Iowa wines, pumpkin pie spice coffee and more!

*$5 Lunch: Brats, fixin's, kettle cooked chips, milk, and ice cream!  Kids' hot dog meal, $3. 

*For the kids: Pony rides, hay maze, calves, kittens, and free pencils and posters! 

*Fresh popcorn from our new machine!  We'll  be popping Behrens' organic yellow popcorn from Carroll.  We'll have it for sale at $5 per bag.  The Behrens family also provides our store with organically grown flax.

*Music provided by HB Productions, Altoona!  Talk to Julie and Robert about the music you'll need for your next special occasion!

*New!  Frisian Farms Gouda Cheese by the Bandstra brothers of Oskaloosa. These guys use traditional Dutch cheese making techniques to produce this wonderful product.

    Also new to the store are 9" pies baked with local fruits by the Woodward Salad Company. Cynthia will provide us with apple, apple-cranberry, Pilgrim pies (apples, cranberries, walnuts, and raisins), cherry, berry, and pecan!  These pies are only $8.99. You can add a quart of ice cream for a total price of just $12.50!

Local foods and great prices!

*Sweet potatoes, squash, pears, lettuce, spinach, red raspberries, and black walnuts...these are all from Woodward (low food miles for sure), and NO CHEMICALS!

*Onions and brussel sprouts from Coon Rapids.

*Heritage apples, honey and homemade cherry jam from Beaver Creek Farm, Coon Rapids.

*Eggs - the chickens are laying like crazy!  One dozen for $2.99, or 2 dozen for $5! (From Rippey and Woodward)

*Chickens, duck, geese, and turkeys from Grimes.   

Super Deals!

90% lean ground beef, $3.49/lb. with 10 lb. purchase (reg. $3.99 lb.)

5 lb. bag of local apples, $5.

Apple crisp and quart of ice cream, $10

Pie and quart of ice cream, $12.50

FREE coolers while they last!

FREE 1/2 pint of ice cream with a $25 purchase!

We hope you will join us this weekend for a nice sunny autumn day in the country.  Feel free to forward this information to anyone in your address book who would enjoy the same!  All of the special events will be Sunday; however, we'll have the food sample table set up Friday and Saturday too!

Your friends,

Jeff, Jill, Jenna & James Burkhart

Small Potatoes Farm 

Hello Everyone, 

 Extended Share Deliveries

      Between the 6 o'clock news and the 10 o'clock news last Wednesday, we were informed of frost likelihood in central Iowa. The predictions were correct, as we had a nice frost across the farm early next morning. We had harvested peppers and eggplant during the day yesterday and tomatoes are all out of the field, so no real catastrophe.

      We will be bring spinach and/or lettuce, maybe peppers, hopefully beans, winter squash, parsley, turnips, greens and beets. We sorted everything pretty good, but keep an eye out for any soft tissued fruits that might have gotten nipped by the frost. You'll know if they are soft in spots.

What's Happening  

      The tomato trellis is out of the field, the posts are cleaned and stored. I even was able to mow and disk the stalks right before we got rain. The plan is to plant our garlic in this field. Some dry weather would be helpful. We've been getting beets from the fields, weeding lettuce, mowing off old plants and picking up rocks. Matilda is crawling like a pro and keeping us busy pulling various articles from her mouth that are beyond non-edible.

      Tonight we are visiting the parents of friends and neighbors one town over to dig up some of their horseradish plants. Stacy keeps asking what I plan to do with them. I keep telling her many of our members love horseradish. I don't really have any basis for this claim, so please let me know if you'd be a future pleased recipient. I like the idea of horseradish. It is a hardy perennial that grows well in Iowa with little disease pressure. It meets many of my favorite criteria.

      Stacy has had more adventures at the grocery store. She bought a bottle of wine and was disappointed she didn't get carded. Mentioning this to the young checkout boy, he replied saying he only needed to do it if the purchaser appeared less than 25 years old. Not the response she hoped to elicit.

Question of Weeks Gone By

      Q: Where can I get sustainably raised meat if I live in Des Moines?

      A: I've put off this question, not because good meat can't be found. In fact, if you live in Ames, Farm to Folk offers an invaluable connection to meat producers. Its just hard to conveniently locate and purchase it in other parts of central Iowa. I for instance get meat from time to time from other farmers I know. I also stew an old chicken or two, or shoot a rabbit or squirrel if the fancy strikes me. But, to sell direct to a consumer, a farmer has to generally have the animal processed in a state or federally inspected facility. To raise an organic animal, and have it considered such through retail sale, it must further be processed in an organically certified facility. Of which their are only a couple in the state.

      Anyways, the short answer is the new Iowa Food Cooperative. More information can be found at http://www.iowafood.org/index.php. It should help facilitate the offerings of local foods, particularly meats, to local eaters that can't participate in F2F. I'm under the impression the farms/farmers will have specific information about production practices and other attributes of their products. I would encourage you to ask a lot of questions about how, why, and where the meat is raised - to your satisfaction. And, if you develop a long-term relationship to buy meat, visit the farm at some point.

      Have a great week.

      Rick, Stacy and Matilda

 Recipes

See you Tuesday!

Marilyn, Corry and Deb