TOMATO SALE 
(see details below)
About see our paste tomatoes. The big box is what half a bushel looks like. 
Paste tomatoes make the best for sauce and are also excellent for all tomato dishes from sandwiches to salsa!
In the first picture you can see we have two types:
Amish paste (left)- Big, meaty tomatoes that are usually 8-12 oz. They are a soft heirloom and a Slow Food USA Ark of Taste variety. Being heirloom means you can save the seeds, among other things.
Grandero (right)- similar to San marzano. Very firm and thick walled weighing in at 4-5 oz.

In the second picture you see what 2 pounds of each type look like. Infuriatingly, the Granadero are now on the left and the Amish paste are on the right...

In the third picture you can see what a half bushel of Granadero paste tomatoes looks like. It is about 20 lbs. 

1sts
15 pounds for $25
1/2 bushel for $33
Bushel for $60

2nds: Scratch and dent. An excellent canner's deal.
1/2 bushel for $15
Bushel (53 lbs) for $45

Roma (paste tomatoes):
1/2 Bushel $28
Bushel of $50

Tomato sales for canning and slamming. Straight romas, reds, hylooms (heirloom quality but not true to seed) and heirloom, or mixed.
Pre-order by responding to this email or come pick out what you like at market! We have various boxes and bags to help you get them home. ​

​Sunrises and cold mornings are easier to come by now. Is that good? Well, my body likes the weather better but it is certainly slowing down our plants. Tonight it is going down to a cool 42 (just like my new age!) Bundle up and come see us bright and early tomorrow morning for your organic vegetable fix. But don't get too used to the chill. Temperatures will be right back up in the 80's by next week. 

Ahoy!

Tomatoes. We've got em! Get them at market tomorrow or as a special offer, preorder them and pick them up on the farm. Pricing in the picture above.
Respond to this email to order.  

Onward folks, doing the things we can do. 

Cheers,
Helen
she/her/hers
 
In this email:

• Generally important notes
  • We are back at Stockbridge this Friday and hopefully for the rest of the season!
  • A link to our Stockbridge Community Outreach Project
  • Notes for members (or potential members!):
    • Find a copy of the 2025 membership agreement here.
    • It isn't too late to sign up for our Farm Membership! 
  • Here is link to a list of resources to aid in effecting positive social change. Keep your  chin up. 
• Fresh From the field
• Recipe: Fresh Tomato Sauce

Fresh From the Field- 

Greens:
Kale is back!
Micros: Types to be seen!
Pea shoots

Herbs
Basil
Parsley

All Manner of Deliciousness
Acorn Squash!
Cabbage: personal and LARGE for your kraut needs
Cucumbers- Ugly but delicious
Eggs!! From Hen House Farm- Clare!!
Eggplant
Garlic
Garlic Scapes! 
Ground Cherries
Kohlrabi
Melon- some like a cucumber, some so sweet you'll drown.
Onions
Peppers: Shishitos! Snackers, Bells, friers!
Potatoes!
Fingerling Potatoes
Scallions
Big tomatoes: slicers, paste, heirlooms. Buried. Preorder in quantity.
Cherry Tomatoes
Watermelon

Coming Soon
Delicata squash
 Fresh Tomato SauceLearn how to make the BEST Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes ... paired with pasta, this delicious recipe makes a quick and easy meal!Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ medium onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 medium tomatoes, diced (4 cups)
• ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 pound spaghetti
• kosher salt

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onion to skillet and season with a little salt. Cook until onion starts turning golden brown, about 7 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it becomes fragrant (about 30 seconds).
4. Mix in tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes break down and sauce thickens, about 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Season sauce to taste with salt. Stir in fresh basil.
6. While the sauce is simmering, cook pasta in a large pot of well-salted water until al dente. Remove ½ cup of pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta.
7. Add pasta to sauce. Toss, adding just enough of the reserved pasta water to help the sauce coat the pasta evenly.
8. Serve pasta immediately, topped with additional basil and grated Parmesan, if desired. Enjoy!

Notes. 

1. Make sure to check out the info before this recipe card for helpful tips, variations, serving suggestions, and more!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

Learn how to make the BEST Tomato Sauce from Fresh Tomatoes ... paired with pasta, this delicious recipe makes a quick and easy meal!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ medium onion, diced small
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 medium tomatoes, diced (4 cups)
• ⅓ cup chopped fresh basil
• 1 pound spaghetti
• kosher salt

Instructions

1. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
2. Add onion to skillet and season with a little salt. Cook until onion starts turning golden brown, about 7 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until it becomes fragrant (about 30 seconds).
4. Mix in tomatoes. Simmer until tomatoes break down and sauce thickens, about 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Season sauce to taste with salt. Stir in fresh basil.
6. While the sauce is simmering, cook pasta in a large pot of well-salted water until al dente. Remove ½ cup of pasta water and set aside. Drain pasta.
7. Add pasta to sauce. Toss, adding just enough of the reserved pasta water to help the sauce coat the pasta evenly.
8. Serve pasta immediately, topped with additional basil and grated Parmesan, if desired. Enjoy!

Notes. 

1. Make sure to check out the info before this recipe card for helpful tips, variations, serving suggestions, and more!

TOMATO SALE:

1sts
15 pounds for $25
Bushel for $60

2nds: Scratch and dent. An excellent canner's deal.
15 pounds for $15
Bushel (53 lbs) for $45

Bushel of Romas $55

Tomato sales for canning and slamming. Straight romas, reds, hylooms (heirloom quality but not true to seed) and heirloom, or mixed.
Pre-order by emailing or come pick out what you like at market! We have various boxes and bags to help you get them home. ​

​Our wintersquash field is looking fabulous. Sure, there are some tall weed flags. And I've seen some squash bugs out there. But look at those leaves! And the flowers kind of blew my mind when I came upon them. They are so, so pretty! In the top picture, you can see some unripe butternut squash. From what I found out there, it seems we are going to have a good wintersquash harvest and I am hopeful and excited.

Speaking of cabbage! This is a mix of our fall and winter cabbage. The close up is of our beauteous Napa cabbage. Last fall a deer came through and ate the center of just about all our cabbage heads. I am nervous these will suffer the same fate. I have seen tracks. We are bolstering our fence and prepping with human presence and possibly an off season tag. I would really like us all to eat napa cabbage all winter. ​

Ahoy!

Not too much to say that I haven't already said.

• Don't wait to can our tomatoes. The plants are looking winded and it is possible they only have 2-3 more weeks of excess. Of course, one never knows with nature but I wouldn't risk it.
• Have I mentioned the Native Seed Production grant we have the honor of participating in? The grant was put together by the one and only bad ass Meghan Milbrath who is passionate about getting native plants in the ground. This grant provides education and resources for small scale farmers to trial native seed production as an enterprise. We are honored to participate alongside other growers. We are just now putting in the orders for the native plants that we will be planting this fall and hopefully harvesting seed from in the coming seasons. I have butterflies in my stomach. Hopefully that transfers to more native Michigan butterflies and other pollinators. 
• We are HUSTLING. Man is it ever August. I still have to get the fields turned over, but in progress news, the majority of the crops we seeded are up. In the field we call Midtown II, there are adorable, once cultivated lines of daikon, radish, turnips, and sweet turnips. Won't be long now!

 
Onward folks, doing the things we can do. 

Cheers,
Helen
she/her/hers
 
In this email:

• Generally important notes
  • We are back at Stockbridge this Friday and hopefully for the rest of the season!
  • A link to our Stockbridge Community Outreach Project
  • Notes for members (or potential members!):
    • Find a copy of the 2025 membership agreement here.
    • It isn't too late to sign up for our Farm Membership! 
  • Here is link to a list of resources to aid in effecting positive social change. Keep your  chin up. 
• Fresh From the field
• Recipe: Salsa

Fresh From the Field- 

​Greens:
Micros: Types to be seen!
Pea shoots

Herbs
Basil
Parsley

All Manner of Deliciousness
Cabbage: personal and LARGE for your kraut needs
Cucumbers- Ugly but delicious
Eggs!! From Hen House Farm- Clare!!
Eggplant- limited
Garlic
Garlic Scapes! 
Ground Cherries
Kohlrabi
Onions
Peppers: Shishitos! Snackers, Bells!
Potatoes!
Scallions
Big tomatoes: slicers, paste, heirlooms. Buried. Preorder in quantity.
Cherry Tomatoes
Watermelon

Coming Soon
Canary melon?!

 Salsa

From My heart <3
Here is an actual recipe from Love and Lemons that involves a food processor. I have just been chopping everything up. I like it that way. Pulsed to a chunky dip would be good as well, though. 

 Ingredients

• 2 big tomatoes
• 2-4 small onions
• 2-4 bell peppers
• 2-4 cloves of garlic
• corn cut off the cob (if you like)
• Salt to taste
• cumin if you like
• lemon juice if you like

Instructions

1. Chop things up to desired size! I like my tomatoes chunky and everything else pretty small
2.  Mix it together. 
3. Let it sit or eat it straight away. I prefer it at room temperature. 

Notes. 

1. Enjoy!  

Surprise! We've been spending a lot of time in the tomato jungle, on the endless harvest task. We have definitely been taking a moment here and there to be silly. ​

This young turkey! It has been hanging around washpack for over a week, flying up to perch in the trees when we come around. We have all had our fingers crossed that it will find a new crew with Clare's hens and maybe, just maybe, this is it! Go turkey, go! Up and over!  ​

AHOY!
​
This week at the farm, among other things:

• The folks from Smith Birds Lab came out and installed the posts for 19 nest boxes on our farm! Bluebirds, tufted titmouse, nuthatches, and tree swallows are all potential residents. I can't wait to see who moves in!
• We harvested 1474 pounds of cabbage and delivered it to the Greater Lansing Area Food Bank!
• We finished planting our fall broccoli, seeded winter carrots and all of the daikon and turnips that will carry us through the winter.
• We saw an immature green heron haranguing its parent (i think) and it may have been one of the most thrilling moments of my life. They flew in circles above us for many moments while I cackled and clasped my hands. 
• We hired someone! An enthusiastic neighbor that seems a great fit for the work and the team. The trend of the right people at the right time continues. 

We also have the right tomatoes at the right time! SO many! I am so glad that tomato season is upon us. I have commenced the annual tomato sandwich week. It is so easy to eat at least one per day. I encourage you to try it, if you never have. 
 
Onward folks, doing the things we can do. 

Cheers,
Helen
she/her/hers
 
In this email:

• Generally important notes
  • We are back at Stockbridge this Friday and hopefully for the rest of the season!
  • A link to our Stockbridge Community Outreach Project
  • Notes for members (or potential members!):
    • Find a copy of the 2025 membership agreement here.
    • It isn't too late to sign up for our Farm Membership! 
  • Here is link to a list of resources to aid in effecting positive social change. Keep your  chin up. 
• Fresh From the field
• Recipe: Tomato sandwich

Fresh From the Field- 
Greens:
Micros: Types to be seen!
Pea shoots

Herbs
Basil
Parsley

All Manner of Deliciousness
Cabbage: personal and LARGE for your kraut needs
Celery
Cucumbers
Eggs!! From Hen House Farm- Clare!!
Eggplant- limited
Garlic
Garlic Scapes! 
Ground Cherries
Kohlrabi
Onions
Peppers: Shishitos! Snackers, Bells!
Potatoes!
Scallions
Big tomatoes: slicers, paste, heirlooms. Buried
Cherry Tomatoes
Watermelon

Coming Soon
Canary melon?!

 Tomato Sandwich

From My heart <3

Ingredients

• A beautiful tomato
• A couple slices of nice bread
• Mayo (or you could use oil and vinegar, pesto, or another sauce you like)
• Salt

Instructions

1. Put the sauce on the bread.
2. Slice that tomato into thick slab and put it on the bread.
3. Sprinkle salt on the tomato.
4. Add any extras you are inspired to add.
5. Get ready to eat in one sitting because once you start mowing this thing down, it won't hold together outside of your mitts. It also has the potential to be very messy, so you may not want to set it down for that reason alone. 

Notes

1. Whatever sauce you use, choose something that mixes with the tomato juices rather than blocking them (not cream cheese or cheese spread although either could be a good dollop on top.)
2. Possible extras: microgreens, minced herb (cilantro/basil/dill), bits of mozzarella, salty fish (lox?)
3. Before adding extras, I strongly encourage you to embrace the most simple version and find out how delicious it can be. 
4. As you are eating, be sure to sop up extra tomato juice and condiment drippings that land on the plate. 
5. Enjoy!  

Here is Clare, having some quality time with her chickens. 

Old crops. This is a flower from our summer squash and zucchini planting. The bees are enjoying it and so are the cucumber beetles. While we are working to plant all of our fall and winter storage crops, we are also trying to get the fields we used this spring flipped into cover crop. Feed the soil! Build the organic matter! Increase nutrient and water holding capacity! Increase erosion resistance! Increase food for our microbiome! 

I am still deciding what to put in. The longer it takes me to decide (and get the ground prepped) the less choices I have. We are quickly approaching last planting dates for many crops and covers. I will note, it is unbelievable that the middle of August is upon us. ​

Here are those snack peppers I keep talking about! It turns out you can ripen them off the plant, which I didn't know about. The internet says lots and lots of things about this. The takeaway? Put your peppers in a warm (70 degrees or higher), sunny environment, with a little humidity. They should start to ripen in a couple days. 

We are not going to do that. We are going to bring them to market and offer them to you. to chow down on or ripen or preserve.

Ahoy!

In the every changing landscape of our crew we are now, again, looking for farm crew members. If you are able bodied and have a couple weeks, or even a couple days you want to spend weeding, picking cherry tomatoes, or planting, we'd love to have you out, especially over the next 10 days while Fergus is out d

Please eat our green snack peppers this week. They were accidentally harvested before color and there are quite a few. They are jalepeno sized and but not spicey at all. They are easy to use because all the seeds are up in the stem end. You can chop them almost all the way to the top without having to deseed at all.

Things you can do with a green snack pepper:

1. Cut in half and fill with dip (cream cheese with microgreen sprinkles, hummus, salsa scoops, etc)
2. Mini stuffed peppers
3. Slice and add to salad. It is the easiest because you don't have to deseed them.
4. Salsa!
5. Green pepper relish- see the recipe below!

You tell me what else you can do, after you come get them at market and devour them, wishing you had gotten more because they are so delicious and easy to prepare. 

Onward folks, doing the things we can do. 

Cheers,
Helen
she/her/hers
 
In this email:

• Generally important notes
  • We are back at Stockbridge this Friday and hopefully for the rest of the season!
  • A link to our Stockbridge Community Outreach Project
  • Notes for members (or potential members!):
    • Find a copy of the 2025 membership agreement here.
    • It isn't too late to sign up for our Farm Membership! 
  • Here is link to a list of resources to aid in effecting positive social change. Keep your  chin up. 
• Fresh From the field
• Recipe: Green Pepper Relish

Fresh From the Field- 

Greens:
Kale
Micros: Types to be seen!
Pea shoots

Herbs
Basil
Parsley

All Manner of Deliciousness
Cabbage: personal and LARGE for your kraut needs
Celery
Cucumbers
Eggs!! From Hen House Farm- Clare!!
Eggplant
Garlic
Garlic Scapes! 
Ground Cherries
Kohlrabi
Onions
Peppers: Shishitos! Bells! Green snack peppers!
Potatoes!
Scallions
Summer Squash- limited
Big tomatoes! They are here at last. We won't be buried for a few more weeks but there are still plenty to enjoy
Big tomatoes: slicers, paste, heirlooms.
Cherry Tomatoes in earnest!
Zucchini- limited

Coming Soon
Snack Peppers
Watermelon ?!
Canary melon?!

Green pepper relish!

Eat the snack peppers!

From Cooks Joy

Simple condiment with bell peppers. (or snack peppers!)


Ingredients

• bell pepper - 1 (about 1.5 cups chopped)- use snack peppers!!
• jalapeno - 1. Ok to skip if you are wimp like me.
• garlic - 1 clove
• spring onion - 3 (about 1/2 cup chopped)
• cilantro - 1/2 cup - packed
• olive oil - 1 tbsp
• salt - to taste
• lemon juice - 1 tbsp

Instructions

1. Chop the vegetables and then add salt, olive oil and lemon juice. Serve over burritos, sandwiches, etc.