Category Archives: Farm Share Box

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter, Farm Share Box

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 15

October 20, 2020 Adrian White Leave a comment

Greetings CSA Folks! We’ll be keeping this one quick with a busy week ahead of us. As the temperatures are dipping towards real-deal autumn, we’re hard at work building some fresh long-term storage for our winter crops (like onions, potatoes, and winter squash!) and prepping the fields for garlic planting.

We have only 4 weeks of CSA left!!! After that, we’re excited to be kicking off our Winter Farm Share Boxes, available for our followers, supporters, email list subscribers and – yes – our CSA members, too.

If you’re interested in continuing the veggie goodness into winter, get in touch and we’ll be sure to contact you as soon as our boxes are back up and running! Boxes will be home delivery, online purchase in our store (securely through Stripe), $20 each (includes delivery fee and 15$ worth of produce) and will be packed with a rotating selection of winter veggies: potatoes, winter squash, onions, garlic, shallots, turnips, winter radishes, and maybe some dehydrated goodies (like tomatoes!) and cold weather mushrooms here and there!

What to expect this week:

Poblano, Anaheim, Sweet & Green Pepper Blend (New!)
Slicer tomato
Cherry tomatoes
Italian herb bouquet! (Parsley, sage, thyme, or oregano combo)
Spring radish bunch (New!)
Small beets bunch
Small winter squash trio (New!)
Red onions
Garlic

A few highlights to talk about: we hope you’ve been enjoying the sweet and hot peppers you’ve been getting in your CSA box! But this week, you’ll be getting something a little different in the world of peppers: poblanos and Anaheims, which are practically very “mildly hot” green peppers.

Chop these up with your sweet peppers and throw them in a stir fry, fajitas, or maybe a nice Philly cheesesteak or other hot sandwich! We’ve personally tasted these hotties, and they’re really quite mild. We really think you’ll enjoy them – they’ll add a little special something to the traditional fried peppers folks like to add in recipes.

Yes, we still have tomatoes! It’s crazy. Even with this cold, we haven’t *officially* gotten a frost, and plants are still alive. However, they’ve shut down so much that we’re pretty sure this will be the last week you’ll be getting them. Enjoy them for the last time in 2020 while you can!

Spring radishes are awesome! What more can we say? Never thought we’d have spring radishes and tomatoes together in a CSA share or farm box, but here we are – and it’s been a funky year! (Speaking of radishes, we have winter radishes on the way soon, which are tasty and equally as exciting!)

Small winter squash trio – what’s that? You’ll be getting, instead of one large squash for this share, three small winter squash of different varieties. We love squash and we think this is a great way to share the variety we have with you! The trio will be made up of three of one of the following: acorn, Thelma Sanders, kabocha, butternut, butterkin, and other delights!

If you EVER have questions about items in your CSA or farm share box, please let us know! Whether it’s how to use them, what they are, or anything that might make you curious.

We love to talk food! | – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Thank you for choosing us to be your farmers!

Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter, Farm Share Box

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 6 & Cedar Rapids Derecho Delivery Plans

August 18, 2020 Adrian White Leave a comment

Greetings CSA Members – to our Cedar Rapids members, you’re all in our thoughts right now as we hope you have power return to your houses soon (if it still has not returned), that things return to normal more and more, and that you’re finding some time and mental space for relief after last week’s awful storm event that hit the city.

We’re going to keep this newsletter short and simple. We sent an email out to our CSA members already about how we can work with you to get you your CSA share, if you have power back yet and if you need it and can hold it in your fridge at this point!

Here’s what shares will contain this week:

Shiitake mushrooms
Tomatoes (either red slicers, speckled Roma, heirloom, or cherry tomatoes!)
Delicata squash
Small head cabbage
Summer squash
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Carrot bunch
Onions (red and white)
Garlic

We are doing home delivery to ALL our members on Wednesday (Cedar Rapids and Dyersville – Peosta delivery will still take place Saturday morning) this week (time TBD) while we wait for our pick up location in Cedar Rapids (Rodina) to get back on their feet. That said, if you are still without power, can’t hold food, or for whatever reason your share this week would overwhelm you, let us know and we will add yet another credit on to your subscription! (Either a double share during the upcoming weeks (yes, even this week!) or another credit in November/December).

If we don’t get a response from a member we will assume to deliver at your doorstep! The last thing we wish to do is pressure you during this stressful and uncertain time, but do let us know if you have any preference by the end of day tomorrow.

Another option: some of our members have been kind enough to donate their shares! If you’re not in a position to take your share at this time or still don’t have power, a couple of our members have been so kind as to contribute their veggie shares this week to folks in need. If you decide to do this, we will be delivering your CSA share to Feed Iowa First, an amazing nonprofit doing very important work feeding the needy in Cedar Rapids.

If you’re a farm share box buyer, deliveries will still take place on their usual schedule! Dyersville/Colesburg deliveries will be Wednesday AM, Peosta Saturday early AM, and Elkader boxes can still be picked up at Schera’s Algerian Restaurant Friday evenings (or Thursday evening if you want it early).

Stay safe, stay healthy, and take care of yourselves during these uncertain times! And please do let us know how we can help and support you if we can, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Your farmers,

Will & Adrian | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter, Farm Share Box

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 5!

August 11, 2020 Adrian White 2 Comments

*UPDATE* We are postponing CSA deliveries to Cedar Rapids this week to Thursday at the earliest. We are also offering credits to our members who wish to skip this week: a double share next week or an extra week tagged on to your subscription after Thanksgiving. Let us know which of these options work best for you. Peosta, Colesburg, Dyersville CSA deliveries will still go as scheduled but we will keep folks updated.

Greetings CSA members and Farm Share Box buyers!

We’ve got some new vegetables this week that we’ve been eyeing out in the field for quite some time, and now they’re finally ready…and we’re stoked to share them with you. PLUS, we’ve got the return of some favorites….namely, shiitake mushrooms!

Here’s what to expect this week:

Eggplant (new!) (Italian or Asian type)
Carrots (new!)
Cherry tomatoes
Shiitake mushrooms!
Patty pan summer squash
Cucumbers
Garlic
Shallot
Onions (one white sweet, one red sweet)

We think we’ll all be a little happy to get a break from greens and herbs for a bit! (And come to think of it, our greens and herbs may need a little break themselves from all that picking too). We’re especially excited to finally have some eggplant, carrots, and the first of our curing dried shallots from the field this week – plus, the very first of our semi-sweet reds onions. We’re definitely pretty pleased with all the onions coming in!

*Note*: Due to the unprecedented derecho damage down south possibly affecting the power capacities of restaurants we work with in the Cedar Rapids area, there is a possibility that CSA deliveries will be delayed a few days! This may affect our other delivery routes on other days, too, even to areas that weren’t affected. For now, we still plan to deliver tomorrow, but will update our members/buyers via email of any changes directly as soon as we can – and we apologize deeply for any inconvenience if that ends up being the case.

What to do with patty pans? | Information & Tips

Patty pans are such a weird-looking type of summer squash (which are themselves a type of zucchini), so every year, we put a little bit of focus on them – because we grow them every year, and because they’re so good!

If you don’t know what patty pans are, they’re the round/green/flat-looking summer squash in your box, with lobed edges. Expect flavor much like a zucchini but texture that is firmer and taste that’s a little more substantial/buttery.

Our favorite way to eat them up this season: cut them into big slices and cook them straight on the grill. Sprinkle on a little herbs, like basil, thyme, sage, or even oregano. We tried them out with some sage last week, and they were lovely, even just by themselves – though try them on a burger if you like.

What to do with eggplant? | Information & Tips

Eggplants are pretty great, but if you’re new to them, it can be hard to figure out how to cook them best….or what to do with them. Fortunately we have our own experience and ideas for cooking with them!

Farmer Will likes to dice them up into thick chunks and roast them for a reeeeaaaally long time until they’re nice and soft, with a texture not all that different from mushrooms. Make sure to roast them in a shallow pan with a cooking oil that can stand 400 degrees Fahrenheit for long periods in the oven…check on them often, and add more oil to the pan occasionally if you need to so they continue to stay nice and moist!

As for farmer Adrian, she really likes to make baba ganoush! It’s a hummus-like dish that you can enjoy with chips or pita, or on sandwiches. In this case you roast the eggplants whole until their skins are smoky and dark, then you fork out the flesh and thoroughly blend with garlic, tahini, lemon juice, parsley, and other Mediterranean ingredients you may like. Be sure to follow a recipe of some sort, as it can take a fair amount of finesse to get this one right!

If you EVER have questions about items in your CSA or farm share box, please let us know! Whether it’s how to use them, what they are, or anything that might make you curious.

We love to talk food! | – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Thank you for choosing us to be your farmers!

Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), CSA Newsletter, Farm Share Box

Jupiter Ridge 2020 CSA | Week 4 & Return of Farm Share Boxes

August 4, 2020 Adrian White Leave a comment

Hello CSA Members! We have quite a week’s worth of veggies ahead for all of you, as we’re really starting to get into the height of the summer season’s best produce.

Without further ado, here’s what to expect this week:

Heirloom slicer tomato!
Red cabbage (medium)
Hot peppers! (2 – jalapeño and Hungarian hot or 2 jalapeños)
Cucumbers (1 green + 1 lemon, or 2 green)
Bunch red kale
Kohlrabi
Summer squash (2)
Patty pan squash
Beets (1 medium or 2-3 baby)
Parsley bunch
Thyme bunch
Fresh garlic
Sweet onion

Hot peppers and tomatoes are joining the lineup as some of our newest items, and the bounty of summer squash and cucumbers continues! This is the beginning of tomato and pepper season for sure, and these delicious summer veggies are likely going to be available to our members most of the upcoming weeks to come. Cherry tomatoes are ripening and being picked already, while eggplants are getting larger and sweet peppers are well on their way, too (only green now, but sweetening up and ripening soon!)

Wenks Hot Pepper | Jupiter Ridge Farm — Yellow hot pepper ripening….

Farm share boxes are back!

This week is our return of farm share boxes for non-CSA members! This option is great for folks who don’t want to sign up for a full season CSA share (and pay the large upfront payment), but who still wish to get veggie boxes…just maybe not every single week. (Only some weeks….you choose which ones! That’s the beauty of it.)

HOWEVER, even if you’re already a CSA member, we’re offering a referral incentive! If you refer someone you know to purchase a farm box (and get them in touch with us by email so we can track the referral), you get first dibs on a free *exclusive* item of your choice in your week’s share from a list of items not yet available to CSA members yet this week (for example: our season’s very first cherry tomatoes, sweet yellow cooking peppers, and more – email us for your referral options!)

Delivery is ONLY available to Dyersville, Colesburg, Peosta, and Dubuque areas at the moment.

If you’re a regular farm share box buyer, email us for our coupon code to get a referral discount on the next farm share box you buy!

– jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

What are farm share boxes? These veggie boxes are delivered direct to your doorstep, just like with our CSA. Delivery cost is built into the price of these individual non-CSA boxes ($35/each) and will feature all the same items that will be in the CSA the same week according to the newsletter – with some exceptions! (For example, farm share box buyers will not get tomatoes this week – this item is priority reserved this week for our paid members, though that’s not to say they won’t be available for farm share box buyers soon!)

Are you not a CSA member with us, but interested in a home delivery farm share box? Visit this link and you can pre-order and purchase a direct delivery share for yourself, completely online – no cash, no contact, and completely secure!

For now, our farm share box delivery routes are (but may be subject to change):

Dyersville: Wednesday Mornings
Colesburg: Wednesday Mornings
Peosta / Dubuque : Saturday Mornings

We also have a farm share box pick up options! Purchase this option online by following this link: same contents, same price, minus the $5 delivery fee (in other words, $30 per box).

Available pick up locations and and dates:

Cedar Rapids Pick Up: Rodina Restaurant in the Czech Village Wednesdays (1 PM-10 PM)
On-Farm Pick Up: Friday Afternoons (12 PM-6 PM)
Dubuque Farmers Market Pick Up: At our market stand at the corner of 10th and Iowa, 7 AM to 12 PM Saturdays
Park Farm Winery Pick Up (Date + Time TBD Depending on Demand)

Since we have A LOT of updates on kicking our farm share boxes back into full gear, we’re going to skip our recipe and wellness recommendations in the newsletter for now. But, as always, please do let us know if you have any questions! Whether it’s about our farm share box program, about items you’re getting in your CSA or farm share box this week, how to use them, what they are, or any further details about it that might make you curious. We love to talk food! | – jupiterridgefarm@gmail.com –

Thank you for choosing us to be your farmers!

Adrian & Will | Jupiter Ridge Farm

What to do with patty pans? | Information & Tips

What to do with eggplant? | Information & Tips

Farm share boxes are back!

Sustainably Grown Mushrooms, Herbs, and Veggies in Driftless Iowa | Farmers Market, CSA, Restaurants, More