Lake Divide Farm Newsletter: Happy Halloween! Warm your heart with a noodle bowl!

These guys! They really are such a joy to have around. While it drizzled a bit in the afternoon, they climbed into the loft of the little barn and cracked garlic. This is what we call splitting the heads into cloves so that they can be planted for next years crop. It is almost time to get it in the ground. This is the first year ever we are planting all from our own seed!

There is nothing like a Lake Divide Farm Sunset! They are refracting right into our hearts.

Helen heaving sandbags down a crowded aisle.

\AHOY!!

Snow, you say? What isn't to love about a little solid state precipitation to herald the changing of the times? I welcome it over the drizzle. But drizzle it wizzle for the next day or so. For that reason, I am thankful that we finished the tractor work needed to plant the garlic. Soggy soil is a no go for the tractor, both for reasons of long term soil health and short term mental health. The structures of the soil are more vulnerable when they are saturated, more moldable and smooshable, making it endlessly easier to destroy the pore spaces that hold air and water for all the creatures that live there. We depend on these creatures- all of us. We need them to feed the plants that feed us, doing the work to exchange nutrients, break things down into usable parts, and make more structures and stability. Taking care of our soil creatures is one of the things that makes our vegetables great. 
Oh yeah, and we only have the one big tractor, so let's not bury it in the mud!

To note:
Saturday Ann Arbor Customers! Ahoy! We are there! I don't know where but we will be there shining and vegetabling!

Thank you so much to all of our fabulous Stockbridge and Chelsea customers. It was another good year. Lots of love to our local foodshed. CSA members, keep your eye out for an email regarding off-season pick-ups. 

Our markets this week:
Wednesday: Ann Arbor
Thursday: Northville- The last week! Show up with a costume and win a high five!
Saturday: Eastern Market, Ann Arbor, and Royal Oak

Recipe:
A quick noodle bowl. This is my haphazard emergency noodles. Cook the noodles and vegetables and flavors and devour them. There is often peanut butter involved, but it doesn't have to be. You can have a decadent meal in under ten minutes. Last night I made a bowl with some marinated tofu- ginger, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, honey, and garlic. It was very good and made me very happy. Somehow a steaming bowl of noodles and vegetables warms my heart in a way that no other food can.

Noodle Bowl- If you need a more concrete recipe Here is one from Killing Thyme
Ingredients:

• Quick cookin' noodle like Ramen. There are lots of types that have corn in them. I like Ka-Me chinese noodles because the have less packaging, no flavor packet to deal with and the only ingredients are wheat flour, water, salt and calcium carbonate. I am not a commercial, just letting you know. 
• Quartered and thinly sliced watermelon radish
• Small red cabbage: Halved, halves quartered and then thinly sliced- you can use green too but the red ones make the water BLUE! Depending on the size, you may only use part of a cabbage. (Lookin for about 2 cups)
• Some roughly chopped greens- tatsoi is great in there. Really great. Kale, chard, and tokyo bekana are also solid choices. I also LOVE fresh cilantro in there. 
• Diced garlic
• Optional- additional protein- soft boiled egg, a meat, a nut, tofu- what you like.
• Flavors:
• Rice wine vinegar
• Soy sauce
• Honey
• Garlic
• Ginger (fresh or powdered)
• Miso
• Sesame oil
• Sriracha or something spicy

Directions:

1. Boil 3-4 cups of water or broth and add the radish and cabbage. If you are using a tougher green, you can add it now. 
2. Add some flavors- vinegar, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, miso, hot pepper, salt
3. Add the noodles- they only need to cook for 3 minutes.
4. If you want an egg in there, you can cook it directly in the soup- put it in close to the beginning- or cook it separately. When you cook it right in there, it usually gets a bit integrated but is still fantastic.
5. Eat it! YES, it is that easy. 

Food for thought: 
We knocked a couple big ones off the list just this week. We finally got the ground prepared for garlic planting. It was just in the nick of time. All this rain and soon snow really would have put a damper on things (hardy har har). The planting itself should be underway next week. Half an acre folks. That is what we are aiming for. And it looks like no problem at all. And all this garlic is to be planted from our own seed stock for the first time ever! Over the years we hope to gradually add more varieties too. 
We also prepped some extra beds. We plan on tarping them for the winter and using them in the early spring. The time before the tractors can enter the field but exactly when we want to be planting. I don't know exactly how it will go, but here is to hoping it goes GREAT!
We also installed the cooler unit into our new shipping container. Now it is all washed out and ready to receive endless cabbage and roots.
So what will we do for the rest of the week? Harvest as much as we can and cover the rest because folks, we are about to get a taste of the frosty stuff. 
See you at market!
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Helen writing for the Lake Dividers: Jim, Lizz, Janet, Malcolm, Mattie, Cody, Sean, Alic, Doug, Kathryn, and Shana! 

Good for the Earth, Good for the Farmers, Good for the People. The Trifecta of sustainability. Good for the earth: Taking care of the natural world is a important, after all, it takes care of us; Good for the farmer: We believe farmers should have livable hours and livable wages; Good for the people: We believe in food equality and bringing our produce to market at an affordable price and keeping it accessible is important to us.

• Looking to join our CSA or renew your membership? Find more details here. The basics? Open an account with us, get a bonus, and use your account to purchase produce with us at any of our markets. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask. 
• We are accepting workshares both on the farm and at market. Please email for details. 

Now, I'm no cloud expert, but these clouds look great. I tried to look up the name but lack the confidence to identify them publicly. There is so much to be learned just from looking to the sky. All of this beauty is telling us something about the interactions between temperature and moisture in the air and what is soon to be headed our way. Maybe one day I will level past simple wonder to comprehension.

Here are greens to be covered and protected from the frost, but are they really green? That brilliant mustart would disagree!

Fresh From the Field!

Greens:
Arugula
Bok Choy!
Collard Greens- Still loving this recipe 
Head Lettuce
Kale
Microgreens! 
Mustard- Especially sweet this time of year 
Spinach
Tatsoi
Tokyo Bekana! Loose leaf bok choy lettuce
Pea Shoots
Swiss Chard

All manner of deliciousness:
Broccoli
Brussel Sprouts- sizing up for a week or so. They'll be back though. 
Cabbage
Napa cabbage
Carrots- Rainbow and regular
Fennel
Garlic- For me, these juicy cloves go in just about EVERYTHING!
Ginger- Just a touch remains
Kohlrabi- petite treats back along with the staple economy-sized. 
Onions- All types, sweet and pungent, yellow and red!
Potatoes
Fingerling potatoes
Peppers- friers and bells- a few more weeks. Get 'em, freeze 'em, pickle 'em. LOVE THEM
Scallions
Daikon Radish- White- Chinese type and the spiciest of the three, Purple, and green Korean daikon
Watermelon Radish
Sweet Turnips
Purple top turnips- Excellent for roasting!
Wintersquash! Delicata, dumpling, and acorn! Butternut Squash and pie pumpkins!

Herbs:
Cilantro
Dill
Mint
Oregano
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Parsley 

Coming Soon:
​Baby celery
Sweet baby celery root
Lettuce (head or mix)
Radicchio
Rutabaga
Turnabaga! 


This weeks Markets

Wednesday: Ann Arbor

In the same location as the Saturday market, the Ann Arbor Wednesday Market is a little more laid back.  If you don't want to fight the crowds. come out on Wednesday and take the chance to talk with all your farmers, chefs, and artisans.The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI Find us there May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm.

Thursday: Northville

The Northville Market is located at the corner of 7 Mile and Sheldon Roads. It runs May thru October, 8 am - 3 pm

Friday: Stockbridge- Over for the season! Thanks so much for all your support!

The Stockbridge Open Air Market is located on the square in downtown Stockbridge. It runs from May thru October from 4 pm - 7 pm

Saturday: Ann Arbor, Detroit's Eastern Market, and Royal Oak Market

The Ann Arbor Market is located in the Kerrytown District at 315 Detroit St, Ann Arbor, MI. The market runs from May thru December, 7 am to 3 pm and January thru April from 8 am - 3 pm.

The Chelsea market is over for the season. Thank you so much for all of your support! The Chelsea Farmers' Market is located in the Palmer Commons at 304 S. Main St.. It runs May thru October (then moves inside thru December!) from 8 am - 1 pm.

The Eastern Market in Detroit is located about a mile northeast of downtown. It covers about 43 acres, bounded by I-75 on the West and Gratiot Avenue on the South. It runs year round from  6am – 4pm

The Royal Oak Market is an indoor market located at 316 E Eleven Mile Rd, Royal Oak, MI 48067. It runs year round from 7am - 1pm.
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