CSA #17 (9/15/2025)
First, a couple of reminders:
The deadline to place your order for Teresa’s Honey, Apples, and Aronia Juice is noon Tuesday (9/16) — for delivery with your CSA vegetables tomorrow (Tues.). If you’ve already ordered, thank you!
Our Annual Farm Tour and Festivities are just under a month away. TOUR DETAILS are up on the website, and you can purchase your meal tickets below (optional, but highly recommended!)
The location this year is Henry’s upper field, 1446 County Road 475 North, Eureka, IL. Stay tuned for further details!
The fall greens, such as this Japanese choi called Komatsu-na, are doing well thanks to a lot of irrigation during our long drought — see Farm Notes below.
In Your CSA This Week
Choice of Chois, incluing bagged baby chois, or Yu-Choi, or Komatsu-na, aka Henry’s Favorite Stir-Fry Green — see recipe below.
Butternut Squash from Gideon Ringger, a young organic farmer near Bradford, north of Peoria. On rare occasions, you get items from other farmers in your CSA, and you get these squash because Henry’s winter squash crop was a total failure this year due to ravenous stem borers. He said they harvested the entire large patch today, and got 10 decent squashes from a large patch that normally would have produced thousands. Thank goodness Gideon and his family had a decent crop, and can provide some delicious butternut squash to you!
Choice of Greens from some subset of: Mustard Greens, Ethiopian Kale, Broccoli Raab, Mizuna, and Rutabaga Greens
Radish - Choice of Globe Radish or one of the winter radishes: Beauty Heart, Red Daikon, Green Daikon, or White Japanese Daikon
Choice of: Tomatoes, Italian Sweet Peppers, or Jalapeno Peppers
Arugula - This planting of arugula is larger than usual, so if you find it too strong to eat raw in a salad, do what lots of Italian grandmas do! Put the rinsed arugula into your boiling pasta water a few minutes before the pasta is cooked. When the pasta and arugula are both cooked, drain in a colander, and then put into a bowl and toss with lots of parmesan cheese, olive oil, and perhaps a bit of chopped pepper. Try it! (Or simply saute your arugula in butter or olive oil, with a pinch of salt.)
Food Notes: Chois
No matter which variety of choi you get this week, you can make a quick, easy, and delicious stir-fry!
There are hundreds of kinds of choi throughout Asia, and all are low in calories, rich in vitamin C and calcium, and contain significant amounts of indoles, which may lower the risk of cancer. They are also quick and easy to prepare, either boiled, sauteed, or stir-fried. Here is one of our favorite recipes.
SIMPLE STIR-FRIED ASIAN GREENS
1 bunch or bag of any Choi or Fall Greens (add in your radish greens if you like!)
3 cloves garlic, crushed
or 1 onion, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp safflower oil, or another high-heat oil
2 Tbsp oyster sauce (optional)
Sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Wash the greens and pat dry. Chop roughly.
Heat the oil in a frying pan over high heat or in an electric wok on high. Drop the garlic or onions in. If using onions, cook for a few minutes until soft before adding the greens. If using garlic, immediately add the greens.
Using tongs, stir and flip the greens so all the leaves are coated with oil. Add the oyster sauce, stir, and put a lid on.
Turn heat down to medium, and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the leaves are a vibrant green, and the stalks tender. Toss once more, adding more oyster sauce and sesame seeds, if desired, and serve.
Farm Notes: Painfully Hot & Dry
I know we’ve sounded like a broken record lately, but the sad story of dusty soil has now been compounded by temperatures back in the 90s. All we can do is keep running drip-tape, and hoping rain comes sooner than later.
