After being asked by several neighborhood kids for food on the CSA delivery route we decided to reach out to find a partner who could help us turn our raw ingredients into something that could be eaten by kids looking for a meal. Eventually we stumbled upon Tricklebee Cafe. In the age of Sysco, we feel really glad to have found a community partner that isn't intimidated by putting fresh CSA veggies to use. In 2018 we consistently donated produce that was leftover after the CSA pack out each week to the cafe. This year we have donated at least one 3/4 bushel of produce each week and have been really excited to see members also sending there boxes to Tricklebee Cafe if they will be out of town. If you have never been to the cafe it is worth the trip. It is warm, lively, friendly and always smells amazing. What is Tricklebee Cafe? We are a Pay-What-You-Can Community Cafe. We’re the first one in WI and so far the only one. One is starting to pop up in Madison called Little John’s, but they don’t have a brick and mortar space yet. We were established in 2016, and we’re part of the One World Everybody Eats Network it is a network of 50 cafes that offer pay-what-you-can, healthy food options. If I walked in the door with a dollar… Yes, exactly. We say, “if your pockets are full” you can pay a bit more, “if your pockets are light” you pay less, and “if your pockets are empty” you can pay nothing and get a meal and perhaps work a little bit in the cafe. Is there a recommended amount? No, because the IRS does not allow us to do that. We have a note on the wall with the calculated price range of what it takes to make a meal. We factor in produce we are gifted, and some grant funding we have. We say it costs about $7-9 to make a meal, because some people have no idea what to give you. We have a lot of regulars who get the system. But occasionally people are super flabbergasted in a good way, and sometimes people are just overwhelmed and crabby like “What do you mean there’s no price?” Tell us a bit about the food you cook… We are plant-based - not that we’ve never used an animal product. We’ve served meat 3 times in the 3 years since we’ve been open. We like offering super healthy meals and we know some of our neighbors might eat not be eating like that very often. We offer: Soup every day, even in summer. Some kind of main entree, might be a sandwich. Some kind of salad and a baked good. We also offer a beverage. It’s different every day, we never serve the same thing twice, because it’s based on what we have here. So if Three SIsters brings us a box of kale and potatoes we serve kale and potatoes. Explain how your relationship with 3 Sisters works. One day Kelly just kind of popped in with some boxes and said, “Would you want free produce when we have it?” I said, “Of course!” It’s not a guarantee because we don’t know when people won't come for their boxes. Every day she pops in with at least box, sometimes up to 3 boxes. We’re really grateful. We’ve not yet been to the farm but we’d love to go check it out. We’d love to bring our regulars and staff out there. At some level we are sort of helping the farm because they don’t want to be sitting around with boxes of rotting produce. Is it tricky from the restaurant’s perspective when you get one box with like, two eggplant in it? Yeah, you know those shares are really meant for a family and we feed like 60 lunches a day. So we just throw the veggies into the soup - we joke that we’re like the show “Chopped” I’ve never actually seen it but we just get the box. We never really know, day to day or week to week, what we’re going to have, so I send our chefs a list at night with our ingredients and then they somehow get our menu ready to go! Do they employees get paid the same as they would at another restaurant? Yes - that’s one of the hallmarks of the Pay What You Can Network - we vow to pay everyone a living wage. We all make $14.60 an hour, we’re working up towards $15. Every year we do a cost of living raise. Why did you start Tricklebee? It’s funny because it’s not my background at all. I’m not a chef, I don’t have restaurant management training. I’m an artist and a pastor in the Moravian Church - a minister. We had a food ministry we were running in LA - we would rescue food from a grocery store and Cuban bakery. It was still edible, but not saleable. We would pick it up every week and come back to the church and put together these beautiful meals. We called it Open Table and we’d all come together over a meal. One day I realized this was my true calling - to keep food out of the waste stream and also build community. The Moravian Church? It’s the oldest Protestant denomination, we’re like Lutherans, just smaller and less well-known. We are about a 100 years older than the first Protestants, and stood up against the Catholic Church in the same way Luther did, but the leader was burned at the stake. We are known for a very simple theology - we believe in following the way of Jesus which means including outsiders, feeding people, lifting up the lowly. If we're known around the world it’s because we start clinics in places, we are quietly progressive, not out to convert anyone. There’s some old church furniture in the cafe, and the place where people order is a pulpit. So I joke that I'm still in the pulpit every day. But the cafe is considered an official ministry of the Moravian church. This is the first time they’ve done something like this (opened a restaurant) and they kind of went out on a limb with it. But they don’t regret it. Why did you end up in Milwaukee? I’m from the woods in northern Iowa, like no neighbors. I went to college and grad school out east. My first work was in LA, and that was a major difference from where I grew up. I’ve liked all those experiences but I knew I wanted to come back to the midwest. I think my heart is here. When we wanted to do this cafe I wanted to do it in an urban setting because I didn't think it would work in a rural setting. We just kind of looked around at some cities - the Twin Cities, Milwaukee - everything about MIlwaukee just lined up. It just felt like we were meant to do this. Just looking at the logistics of the city too, there are a lot of grossly underserved areas here. We felt like we should go to an area that really needed healthy food options. We found an area that I think is really kind of neglected by the city, we don’t have a lot of food options. We just popped down right in the middle of it. Where are you located? Sherman Park, on 45th and North. What would you like people to know about food insecurity that you think is not obvious? I think the thing I see all the time is this sheltered view of neighborhoods like this one. People from neighborhoods where there are grocery stores think the corner store has groceries. Well, yes, you can buy “food” there but it’s nothing healthy. There is meat but it’s gray, and I’m not a meat eater but I don’t think meat should be gray. Then there are some coolers with produce but it’s all rotting. Rotten iceberg lettuce and rotten tomatoes. The passerby might think “That’s not a food dessert, there’s food right there”. Or at the Family Dollar. We’ve done this thing where we’re bringing people who aren’t as close to this reality, and we give them a dollar and we tell them to buy themselves lunch at the Family Dollar. So they pool their money and they buy a bag of frozen corn and some hotdogs and maybe a chocolate bar. Then we cook the food and eat it together and we talk about how it makes them feel. Oftentimes people say that it feels kind of empty - it feels like it’s not giving them any nutritional value. So that’s the kind of “food” that’s available here. And that’s what I want people to know. What are the most surprising things you’ve learned? One of our board members was leery of us becoming an exclusively vegan restaurant. We were going to be a vegetarian restaurant with vegan offerings. This board member said people weren’t going to go for it. But it turns out that people love it. Our baked goods are made from low glycemic sugars too, so diabetics can usually eat them.. People are delighted, they love it. Some come almost every day. About 50% of our customers come from the neighborhood and 50% come from outside it becuase they are curious or like what we’re about. I have a friend who is a vegan activist, I think is how she would self-define. She’s very much out there putting up posters of bloody animals. That’s not where I'm at, not my message. At Tricklebee we have more of an inviting attitude, like, “Why don’t you try it?” I think it’s more of a welcoming experience and people are grateful for that. How can people support your work? Donations of fresh things any time of year is always a big blessing for us. Along with volunteering - if people have a free day, it doesn't have to be consistent but if someone wanted to come work in the cafe, we’re very much volunteer driven. We can’t function without volunteers. And of course patronizing the cafe, and especially using the Pay-It-Forward model. Every day we have a couple people - usually kids from the neighborhood who don’t have any money. So it really is a blessing to help cover those costs. When are you open? We serve lunch Wednesday through Saturday from 11-2. On Thursday nights we serve dinner at 6 pm. It’s a buffet, everybody loads up their plate and eats together. That starts right at 6 pm and there is no real end time. On Wednesdays we gather for creativity night but there is not a meal - it’s a gathering of artists and people bring their own projects to work on and we have some limited supplies. Our customers are very diverse. I’m here all the time so I don't notice it as much. But people come in from outside and say they don’t see people in the city from such diverse backgrounds interacting. What kind of art do you make? Mostly beadwork, but other things too - often out of found materials. I build small scale furniture, shelves and tables out of found materials. What is the most delicious meal you have had recently? The funny thing is that every day here I say to our cook “This is the best meal I’ve ever had”. I just went to this Wild Edibles Harvest event in Prairie du Chien, it was all these experts coming together. They had this chef there, Allen Bergo “The Forager Chef”, and he cooked all wild foods. He made a wild mushroom conserve with hen of the woods, lobster mushroom and chicken of the woods. Just in this vinegary thing with fresh herbs. I probably had five servings of it in one meal. What is your favorite place to have a meal? With my family at home at the table. Or wherever they are. It’s one of the most fun times of the day - there are five of us. We have 3 under the age of 7 and we share what we’re grateful for from the day and then we just enjoy each other. I feel like when we eat in a spirit of gratitude the food tastes a little bit better. What is bringing you a lot of joy? I’m still reeling in that wild edibles conference. I used to just know maybe 10 things walking around and now I know at least 20 more and I feel comfortable cooking them. At the restaurant level it’s great because it’s free, it’s nature. I think it’s getting back to where our ancestors were, like when you walk outside that’s your grocery store. We have some exciting stuff coming up in the next few months here in terms of how we are occupying the building. We are looking to expand and grow in the near future.
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After all these years we are still not sure if Susan is really human. We rather suspect that she is super-human. She cannot technically call herself a workershare since she has always paid full price for her share and still shows up to work 2 shifts every single week at the farm. Susan is more reliable and determined that anyone I have ever met. She shows up on the worst imaginable days when the weather is so crummy that I don't even want to be out there. She has put up with our marginal 3-season set up and froze her but off right along side us as we pack late season shares--and I can't remember her ever complaining about it. For as far as we have come at Three Sisters, we still have a long way to go. Susan has always believed in us even when we have doubted ourselves at times that things will work out. We are extraordinarily thankful for everything she has done and to know her and her family. How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? In anticipation of talking to you, Kelly and I brainstormed how long I’ve been there. I believe I started at the beginning of the 2014 season. And you are a worker share, correct? Kelly told me you’ve “basically been keeping the farm running.” I retired in may of 2012. I’ve always wanted to be part of a CSA, but there’s really only me in the house that would eat CSA kind of things. I live with my brother who hasn’t touched a vegetable since my mom fed him from the Gerber baby food jar. I also live with my 34 year old son who is profoundly disabled. So any vegetables I make for him must be mush. He loves potatoes and carrots and pasta sauce from tomatoes. When I was working I couldn't imagine being able to cook enough to get through an entire box. Plus I was scared of getting things I didn’t recognize as vegetables and didn't know what to do with. So when I saw Three Sisters had the “choose your own” I thought it was great. I signed up online and sent an email, and I’m sure they thought I was a complete lunatic. I said “I’m going to come work at your place.” Not “Can I volunteer? or “Can we talk about this?” Jeff very kindly excused how weird I was and said that the one thing they need help with was packing boxes on Thursdays. So I’ve been doing that for coming up on my 6th season. I’m at the head of the line so I put in all the heaviest stuff. The watermelon and carrots and zucchini/cucumbers and squash. I love doing that, but I wanted to be more involved in part of the whole farm process. So one day I started asking about helping in the fields and I went one afternoon a week, Tuesdays, weeding and harvesting in addition to Thursday morning box packing. But I am just getting too old to work in the field, I just felt silly next to all the 20-somethings that actually work on the farm and can actually do the four hours and I’m just figuring out how to get on my knees. So I asked if there was something else I could do, so now I go out on Wednesday afternoon and help bag the produce. Anything in rubberbands is done in the fields, but anything in bags is usually done by me and Kelly’s mom, Renee. We have a lot of fun, and now we’ll have somewhere warm to work to pack the fall shares. (Because of the newly insulated barn!) What part of Southeastern WI do you live in? Mequon (Susan takes her share home with her after helping out on packing morning.) You must have gotten to know Jeff and Kelly pretty well by this point. Is there anything you want to say about the two of them? When I first met them they weren’t married yet, so when they decided to get married, I was really happy for them. I think they are so brave for what they do. It’s hard to struggle the way that they have and to keep moving forward and to realize they are going to get to an end result that’s going to work for them. I know they are still struggling so it makes me feel good to help out. It’s not easy what they do and they’re really making a lot of sacrifices. They’re both very educated and very smart, they could make a lot more money doing something other than what they do but they are doing something they believe in for a lot less money and that’s just tremendous. I’ve met Kelly’s mom who lives next door and Kelly’s sisters who come to stay. And I’ve been sort of in on the conversations about what’s going on next and what the plans are. I’m very honored to be a sounding board for some of those discussions sometimes. They are great people. How would you describe the experience of being connected to the seasons through being intimately connected to the farm? It’s really fun to celebrate when new things appear on the packing line, but at the same time it’s really sad to see things go away. For example at the very beginning of this season we had microgreens and I was so excited and they were so yummy, but they were only there for two weeks. They are so labor intensive so I’m not sure we’ll have them again. I was so excited to see them but it was such a short time. My favorite recipe can be made pretty much solely from things from Three Sisters for one week a year. It has so many vegetables in it and they don’t come together at the same time. So I have to go to Outpost until Three Sisters has their version come in. So it’s really fun, sort of like having a solar eclipse and lunar eclipse all at once. That happened a couple of weeks ago where I had everything I needed and I only put Three Sisters produce in. Now my summer is planned around when certain vegetables are going to be in my box from Three Sisters and know what I’m going to eat and what I will share. I share my box with a few very good friends. When you’re on the packing line are there things you ever get sick of seeing? I have to be careful, I’ve been putting watermelons in boxes for four weeks I think. And Jeff is considerably younger, taller and stronger than I am so he fills the crates full of watermelons and stacks them very high. So I have to always remind him that I need things lower to the ground. I always have to be thinking about how I move heavy things. What’s really fun is when the really aromatic herbs come, or fennel, I’ll get a whiff of anise and I’ll know someone is putting fennel in a box. Or basil, every time Kelly picks up the basil to put it in the box I can smell it, even though she’s like three people down the line from me. It’s so fun. You only get that level of scent with the fresh food… Yes and the dill, and even the carrot tops. Some things are really auromatic and wonderful and you never know when they are going to come. What do you tell people about your experience working on the farm and being a CSA member? A lot of the people I talk to about Three Sisters are in CSA’s themselves. They’re not local to here - I have a lot of friends on the East Coast where I grew up. When we get together, we talk about food and it comes up. It’s interesting to hear how their CSA is different from Three Sisters. I think people are kind of amazed that I get to go grocery shopping every week with my CSA and I can do it on a computer. I don’t think many CSA’s are doing the customization that Three Sisters does. We share recipes on Facebook - I remember one of my friends posting kohlrabi and somebody saying “I get kohlrabi and I don't know what to do with it,” so I posted a bunch of ideas. Renee, Kelly’s mom, has tons of recipes. It’s fun to be able to share that in common with friends from high school - I never would have imagined that. The people I share the box with are people that live in Milwaukee’s inner city. They go to the Fondy Market which is great, but normally they just shop at the grocery store. They are always totally amazed at how good the food is. What is your favorite CSA food item? Probably tomatoes. Just because they are so versatile. When I was growing up my dad always had a patch of tomatoes in the backyard. Some of my most vivid memories are going in the backyard picking tomatoes for dinner. We cut the tomatoes in half and put some cheddar cheese on top and put them under the broiler. Tomatoes are also one of the things my son can eat and really enjoys. Also, Kelly grabbed a bunch of green tomatoes for me last week, and one of my friends I share with is from Mississippi and has a family recipe for fried green tomatoes. Oh, they are so good! What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? I enjoy the process of being able to go out and see things that have just been put in the ground, then weed the things that are grown, then harvest those things and eventually put them in the box. There aren’t that many people that have that experience, especially with the variety of food. I used to have a small garden when I lived on the east side, but most people who have their own gardens can’t grow you know, the amount of varieties they grow. It was really spectacular when they were in West Bend - Jeff and Kelly worked really really hard to improve that soil out there. They made compost with materials they had brought on, and to see how it changed the soil from season to season and how it changed the vegetables that grew in that soil was just amazing. We just don’t see that on most farms. It was really remarkable. It was amazing to see that process and watch Jeff and Kelly learn how to do it and make it work with very few resources and limited equipment. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? I love to go out to eat...that’s in part because when I was growing up we went out to eat exactly one time a year when my Grandpa would take us out. My parents couldn’t afford to take us out to eat, ever. I have always loved to eat at restaurants every since I’ve been on my own. I have a lot of favorite restaurants in Milwaukee. One of my favorite chefs is Tory Miller (in Madison) and I just had a great meal at Graze recently. A friend and I drove to Madison on a Wednesday during the last week his restaurant Sujeo was open, and I did get to eat this magnificent bowl of Korean yumminess one last time. He opened Sujeo to make food he really loved to eat. It was his heart and soul in that restaurant, so it was really sad to see it close. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? I eat a lot of what people might consider strange food. I took a sabbatical from Three Sisters last fall and went on the trip of a lifetime with my son. We took a 60-day cruise, round trip out of LA., and mostly to Asia. We got to eat a lot of really interesting Asain food. My favorite place was in Seoul, South Korea, we went on a tour of their version of “Old World Wisconsin” to show how Korean people used to live. We were served a traditional Korean lunch at a restaurant that was there. Bulgogi beef, you cooked yourself, rice, a big bowl of kimchi, other nibbles like pickled vegetables. I was in heaven. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? This is my favorite season - the fall. To be able to have the windows open, and it’s beautiful during the day. I have a bike that I ride with my son with a wheelchair on the front. He and this bike together weighs about 130 pounds, so I can't do it when it’s hot, but this is our primo riding time. I can bundle him up if it’s not raining and we can ride and I’m not sweating and we’re both really enjoying it. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? We’re maybe going to finally get rid of this disaster in the White House. Maybe it will work. I lived through the impeachment of Richard Nixon and I hope it doesn’t tear the country even more apart. It’s just so scary. This is the time, you know, if you’re living in pre-nazi Germany and you see what’s coming - what are you willing to stand up and do? We have to figure out what we’re each willing to do. I’m not going to live in a place where women don’t have rights and there are guns everywhere. I think it’s a very scary time. Well, in that case - Onion or Garlic? That’s not fair, they go together… Probably onions, just because I also view onions and scallions and leeks. So we have onions all season long pretty much and that’s fantastic because I put onions in everything. I couldn't live without onions, plus they last a long time. I can stockpile onions in my basement and be able to eat Three Sisters onions all winter long. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? I’m just really excited that the farm will be going to ten months. It’s such a huge undertaking and I'm going to try any way I can to make it work. That’s just going to be the best things ever. I could never live in a place like FL because I could never do the climate. But I’m really jealous of people that can eat fresh food in their gardens all year round. This is going to be almost the same. Everybody needs to support a ten month CSA. Susan's Recommended Recipe Gazpacho Adapted from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen Yield: 6 to 8 servings 4 cups tomato juice 1/2 cup finely minced onion 1 medium clove garlic, crushed 1 medium bell pepper, minced 1 teaspoon light honey or sugar 1 medium cucumber (peeled, seeded, minced) 2 scallions, minced Juice of 1/2 lemon Juice of 1 lime 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1 teaspoon dried basil 1 teaspoon dried tarragon 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 1/4 cup minced parsley 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 cups diced fresh, ripe tomatoes (peeled, seeded) Salt, pepper, cayenne to taste < Purée all ingredients in blender. Chill overnight. Serve cold. As I drove away from the farm today to deliver shares, the closer I got to Milwaukee the more normal the day seemed. It has been a tumultuous week at the farm. We experience extreme flooding at our home farm on Tuesday. The scattered storms hit Campbellsport with hard and sustained with heavy rainfall. We were basically in heavy storms for 7 hours, and this after the soil and water table was already saturated from previous rains. I cannot find any accurate rainfall totals for Campbellsport, but our neighboring community, Lomira is reporting 6 inches. I will say that a 5 gallon bucket left outside was full except for 2 inches at the top! The garden at our home farm was completely covered in at least a foot of water that was damned up by the road with a culvert completely inadequate to move the runoff from the storm through to the other side of the road to allow it to move into the Milwaukee river. Subsequently our new hoophouse also had 1 foot of standing water. The water has finally drained away through the culvert, but we have lost most of the crops at the home farm including parsley, arugula, hon sai tai (the asian green trial for the year) radishes, lettuce mix, broccoli, and some fall carrots. They sort of looked ok for half the day(despite being covered in soil) but now they are wilting and dying. This photo below was taken at the break in the rain on Tuesday from about 2-6pm. This is also when I scrambled to harvest the kale, fennel, and chard for shares this week from the portion that wasn't yet flooded. After this picture was taken we received another 2-3 inches of rain that night, completely covering the crops you can see in the picture in water. I have honestly never seen anything like this. Carrots completely under water! The second round of storms later that evening subsumed our basement sump pump as well. We were able to keep the water to about 1 foot level with supplementary pumps and fortunately only our water heater was damaged as other other things are on blocks. Our other land that Jeff manages is slightly better situated, but upon visiting it for the first time when I got back from deliveries I was dismayed to see the heavy clay soil holding water around all the crops despite the sight being on a slope and quite high in elevation. This can be bad news for root veggies and the site is home to a large quantity of carrots, potatoes, leeks, parsnips, and beets that admittedly I am worried about. The site is far to wet to drive any equipment on so any harvesting in an attempt to save these crops will have to be done by hand. THE GOOD NEWS! First of all, I want to thank the our worker shares and employees for providing emotional support on Tuesday when this was happening via text message. We are lucky to have people who care working with us. It is not easy to lose so much especially when your livelihood depends on it! And also on a more practical note It looks as though the crops in the our larger hoophouse will be ok which we are delighted about, but there are still set backs as the soil is very very wet even in the hoophouse. We also have squash, onions, garlic, shallots, cabbage already in for the season. So basically with a few deliveries left for some of you and a fall/winter share yet to come I write to let you know that there is a chance that what we had planned for to be an abundance will really be a bit less variety and abundance. Hopefully you understand--seeing now what we are dealing with here-- and hopefully I'm over-reacting and all root crops from the more well-drained land will end up being ok as we scramble to harvest them so they don't rot in the ground. So will do our best to make it a great rest of the season, and just want to let you know that the fact that you are a part of our CSA and support us when @#$% happens makes all the difference in the world. Heck, you could just go to the grocery store--they don't complain about floods there--you just get what you need and get out of there....right? --Kelly Alex is a dental student at Marquette, and he's also in the Air Force. Kelly came to the dental school for a sustainability fair and they got to talking. Alex is a gardener, so she gave him a flyer for the farm. He is now a worker share and goes to the farm on Saturdays.
How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? This is my second season – started last year What part of Southeastern WI do you live in? About five minutes from the Marquette dental school. What do you enjoy most about being a worker share? It's kind of like a meditation for me. I live in the city so I like to have a reason to get out of the city. Just being 100% in nature doing stuff. That and getting to know Kelly and Jeff is pretty fun. It also makes you more willing to try vegetables you might not otherwise try because you are like, “Oh, I weeded that!” What do you like about Kelly and Jeff? I just think they're funny. Jeff is like that shy guy, but when you know him a bit he is not really shy at all, he's quirky. They are fun to hang out with and it’s great to hear their stories. Like Jeff's bartending past and why Kelly decided to be a farmer. And Kelly doesn't go to the dentist and uses herbs. Also, my goal is to co-own a farm with someone, have a stake in it. So it's great to be able to learn from them. What kind of farm? I would really like to do something like in the movie “The Biggest Little Farm” but on a smaller scale. A lot of fruit trees, maybe a cow, but also a restaurant and wedding venue. And also some vegetables. I want to eat all year off of what I have. There's a group I hang out with, and one guy is a sustainable land-manager, so he would do the day to day. We would all live on the land together. In three words or phrases, how would you describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? Surprising, Delicious and Sad Sad? Well, it's surprising because you are always eating new foods and learning how to cook them. But it’s sad because it ends and then I'm like, “I guess I'm going to go eat crappy Woodman's potatoes now.” It's a really fun thing, but then once you're aware it's sad because you know what you're missing when you're not getting the vegetables all year. When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? It's my meditation. I don't like doing yoga but I do like weeding potatoes and onions for three hours. You see the benefit if you are a worker share – you see directly what your impact was. Like when we weed something and then three weeks later you see a big difference between what was weeded and what was not. We went to their home farm a couple times, where they grow all the kale and greens, and when you look back over a bed of stuff that you have weeded, it's so wild to see the before and after. The results are very tangible. Yes. I love that. What is your favorite CSA food item? Delicata squash. I think it's the best thing. It's so easy to cook and it's delicious and plus it's only for like a month. Other things we get to eat for four months. That makes it special. Is there a CSA food item that most confounds or stumps you when it comes to cooking or eating, or used to before you knew what to do with it? I got pac choi recently. I wouldn't say it was confusing but I don't know if I cooked it right. I made it kind of like kale. I don't really know what it is. I ate it, but I don't know what it is. There are certain items that I don't get because I don't know how to use them. Did you like it? The pac choi? I made, like a buffalo bowl with it, so it was mixed in with a lot of kale and potatoes so I don't really know. That's what's awesome too though - trying things I wouldn't eat unless it's in the CSA. What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? Probably supporting a local business. You know who's growing the food, you know where it's grown. It's worth giving the money. You know where it's going and it’s all very transparent. It's good to get that reality check too, especially being a worker share. “What does a farm look like? How do they grow all this stuff? What does a hoop house look like?” Then you find a big black spider and you remember why you like living in the city. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? I made a Middleastern bowl the other day with Mexican rice with pinto beans (I know, that part was not Middleastern) and then some falafel and hummus from a local deli. It had all these pickled vegetables - pickled onion, pickled radishes, pickled parsnips - and avocado, some scrambled eggs and tomatoes and crispy kale from the farm that I roasted until it was crunchy. Where did you get the pickled vegetables? From the Mediterranean Restaurant. The falafel, hummus and pickled veggies were from the Mediteranean restaurant and the veggies from the farm. What is the restaurant? Holy Land Deli in Franklin. They are catering our wedding. Its friendly towards people who are vegan/vegetarian. They serve everything family style and most is vegan instead of the meat dish. And the falafel is the bomb. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? I once ate a big green grasshopper that was still alive. I felt it moving around when it went down my throat and it was uncomfortable. My uncle and his friend said they'd each give me $10 if I ate it. But the friend gave me a Canadian ten dollar bill. So it was kind of a trick. This is exactly the answer I was looking for. Thank you. What is your favorite place to have a meal? I really like this restaurant in Greenfield called Kyoto. It's a sushi place and they have the best-ever sushi deal on Sundays. That's probably my favorite. Do you have something you always order? They have a roll called the Triple Tree Maki Roll. You pay $25 and you can order whatever rolls you want, and you can keep ordering. But it's actually like a nice sushi place. Either $25 all you can eat or like three rolls and a salad for $10. I think it's the best sushi place in the Milwaukee Area. Uh-oh. It might start to get a lot more popular once this newsletter comes out! What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? I would honestly say, thinking about the future at this point because I am seven months away from graduating and finishing school, and then my fiance and I are getting married two weeks after that. On the countdown to a bunch of good things happening. How long have you been in school? Typical route for dentistry is 4 years undergrad and 4 years dental school. I had six months off where I worked at a cheese factory and then I went into dental school. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? I honestly think – how crappy our food system is. The fact that you can go to the store and buy things you shouldn't be eating... And I know it's weird but, the Zombie thing. I think it's real and it's going to happen someday. I watch too much Walking Dead. Potatoes or tomatoes? I want to say tomato but then what about hashbrowns? But I think I'll choose tomato because I like pizza. I can’t give that up. I like how you went right for the desert island scenario there. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? I think that working on a CSA farm really helps with the idea of understanding seasonal eating. Apart from avocados. It helps me see seasonality with food. I don't buy tomatoes in the winter. In the winter months I pare down and eat more squash. In the summertime I eat all the stuff from the farm. It makes you see directly like, “Maybe I shouldn’t be eating this right now because I can't get it from the farm so it's probably not good.” Also it makes me be more vegetarian because I have so many vegetables. I can't eat meat during the season because I can't keep up with all the vegetables I need to eat to get through my share. Alex's Humus Bowl - Combine the following in a bowl and enjoy 1. Add 1 cup of cooked Mexican rice (rice with pinto beans and seasoning) to a bowl. 2. Top with roasted veggies (I like to go with 2 kale leaves, 1/2 green pepper, 1/2 small onion, and mushrooms - all diced and cooked at 450 for about 30 minutes). 3. Add 1/2 a medium tomato and 1/2 an avocado diced and lightly salted. 4. 2-3 eggs either fried or scrambled 5. A good scoop of your favorite hummus 6. Add additional toppings of your choice, such as pickles or pickled veggies, falafel, cheese, or meat if that's your fancy. I like to have a nice piece of buttered bread with my bowl. Hope you enjoy. How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? Since 2014. We rent a house together and we cook together, we are a big food family. That's how we got into it and we knew we wanted to do Three Sisters, but we were technically not on the boundary map when they first started. So we sent them a cheeky email and said “Hey we are two sisters and we want to get Three Sisters.” What part of Southeastern WI do you live in? We live in Tosa, on the Tosa/Milwaukee border. What three words or phrases would you use to describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? We were texting about this already today! We agreed that: It's personal. We love that we have met Kelly and we've seen Jeff's silhouette dropping off our food. It feels very personal to know who's touching your food. It's really invigorating for us because we're both plant-based and we have a litany of food sensitivities. We feel the CSA is very life-giving and we wouldn’t have access to it otherwise. And we love to cook. We feel like it's a privilege because we know that people don't have access to fresh food, and this is literally delivered to our doorstep. We think about climate change and we're worried about it, we want more people to be invested. So many of our friends just don't care where their food comes from. But we want to live a smaller, slower food life and it's hard to do that in this society. It's a lot of work, and Jeff and Kelly are so gracious. When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? E: There is someone who is touching our food and there's that connection to the farm. I love the weekly updates, I love hearing from other CSA members. You can just tell there is so much love that they put into the farm. You don't get that from the grocery store, today you don't even have to go into the grocery store. There's no connection anymore to where your food comes from. I think it used to be part of our American culture to make food and grow something in a garden. N: I think when people ask me and I tell them about it, they think it's really cool. So I think that hopefully people will do it more. But just be prepared to prep everything! We are so disappointed now when we eat out because it just doesn't taste as good. We love to travel, and I feel like the CSA is so hip. Three Sisters especially, if they were in Paris it would be the hottest thing. Kelly and Jeff just grow this amazing food. What is your favorite CSA food item? Our favorite vegetable is kohlrabi. We fight over it in our family. When we get the kohlrabi in the CSA box Liz cuts it in exactly in half. It's so satisfying and it's such a good snack. There's a story about Liz, one morning when she was little she went into our garden and pulled out a kohlrabi and brought it to my mom who was still asleep in bed, and said, “Can you cut this kohlrabi for me?” Really? Kohlrabi!? Yes! We know, we have read the other interviews. So we want to say to Jeff and Kelly - Please don’t get rid of the kohlrabi!! But we love everything. I love the really early lettuce. And kabocha squash. That was so amazing, it's the number one squash. We roast it and scoop it out and add a little coconut oil and coconut sugar and pop it back in the oven for a bit. Is there a CSA food item that most confounds or stumps you when it comes to cooking or eating, or used to before you knew what to do with it? We definitely call our parents hotline if we have a question about something. But I think the only thing that we were slightly confused about was the celeriac. But we did end up using it - my dad said to make stock with it. We love the broccoli but we are so freaked out by the worms! So sometimes we choose the broccoli but then we make our dad or our sister prepare it. You might hear screaming from this house when we are preparing food and we find bugs. Do you have a “box unpacking ritual” each week? If yes, please describe. N; Liz takes the produce out of the box and takes a picture for me, and she preps the greens while I'm at work. Then we have a conversation with my dad about how the produce looks and what we got. Wen we got the extra box of tomatoes our dad helped us cook them. I brought the 18 pounds to Sheboygan. I'm the sous chef – being in the food business he likes to delegate. How has your family shaped your relationship with food? Our grandparents owned a bakery, so that was a big part of our identity growing up. Both of our parents cook a lot, they bake a lot. Our dad was the head baker at the American Club in Sheboygan, and European bakery is his specialty. He is also a huge gardener. Our grandmother also had a garden, so we grew up eating a lot of fresh food. Any time we have a family meal there is a discussion about the menu, about what recipe would be used. We didn't grow up with a lot of money but our food life was phenomenal. There was such a focus on food and how you feel from eating. It's such a great foundation for life, just knowing that food is such an asset. And that it makes you feel so good. We started cooking really early, I think from the age of seven I knew how to make my own vinaigrette. Our dad is an honorary member of our CSA share. He was obsessed with it the year they shared the phase the moon was in on the planting date. We even ask our dad what we should get in the share some weeks based on what's in the garden. My dad always makes a menu for everyone's birthday, and it's not like one or two things - it's a whole list of things. That's how he shows his love. What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? I love getting it delivered every week. It's just so nice. It's slightly different every week and it's seasonally appropriate which is so nice. I love the connection back to Kelly and Jeff, just all the stories behind where it comes from. I love getting to know other varieties, there's always a new variety that comes every year so it's never the same. It's kind of exciting. I love that they will be like “we had extra so everyone's getting more” - but sometimes I think they are too generous. What we are getting is such a value. You look at the cost per share and you could never get that price at the grocery store. It's unbelievable what we are able to get for that value. What about being a CSA member is most important to you? We like Kelly and Jeff, and I like that it's still small and local. It's so personal, and there's such a direct connection to the farmer - that seems so rare these days. It's trendy to say things are farm grown but you don't really know. They are so transparent with what's happening, like this year when the CSA started a week late because of the rain. I love that it's organic but that's not the most important thing. We already brought up climate change - and they are doing their part with the farm. They are spreading their mission with the work. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? We were frantically trying to cook dinner before this call, and Liz pulled out one of her 1800 tomato sauces that she cooked down and we made a yummy veggie chill. We cook all the time so we just see what comes with the CSA and what's seasonal. And the purple carrots have been delicious! We used one to make a vinaigrette and it was so pretty. We just cook all the time. We're trying to introduce our friends to a more plant-based diet without forcing it. So we had a vegan party at our house and spent days making specialty vegan food. People were like, “I would love all this food but I just want you to cook it all.” It was so nice to come together around the food. It wasn’t about pushing anything, it was just about community. I love green tomatoes, so I made baked green tomato, they are like a friend green tomato with no gluten and no egg. Did you get those from your dad? We did. They are so lemony to me, they are so good. Every day our lunch is a salad, so we love when the CSA has so much lettuce. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? Naomi: When I was in law school I clerked for a company and I went on a private jet to Amsterdam. We went to a restaurant and we were having a tasting menu. The waiter came out right away and said, “Does everybody eat everything?” I didn’t know about all of my food sensitivities back then, but I said, “I really don't eat a lot of meat.” And the waiter said, “For you we do fish.” So it proceeded to be like 20 courses of things like eel foam. We get to the dessert courses, and by that point I had been drinking a lot of wine. So we're on dessert course number three, and they bring out a little egg cup. The guy didn't speak a lot of english and I thought he said it was a liquor. So I took it like a shot. And then the guy next to me from the firm was like, “I can't believe you just drank that raw chicken egg from the chicken outside.” Liz – I had some raw tuna tartare. But I was in NY and with my aunt and uncle and just had to experience it. Wasn't my thing but it’s probably delicious to other people! We loved eating cold leftovers as kids. We loved eating leftover spaghetti in the morning watching cartoons. Leftover cold marinara was so good. We still love a savory cold left over. What is your favorite place to have a meal? We love Europe. But we wouldn't really care if we were eating on a card table in an abandoned building if the food is good. And our family, when we are around good food, we are just obsessed. Our family home in Sheboygan – we all love coming home and having meals there. There's the big beautiful garden and a beautiful maple tree. Just simple perfection. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? Apart from travel, we've been really into hiking especially at Devils' lake. Being outside has been so great this summer. Concerts, we have a record player in our dining room. We love to come home and put on a record and do our cooking – just small moments of joy. Last summer we both really got into open water swimming, just like childhood, just jumping into the lake. It doesn't cost any money but it makes you feel so refreshed. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? Climate change. It's an emergency and it doesn't seem to worry a lot of people. We are so concerned about what we can do to reduce our waste and our emissions. We know we're not even close to perfect, but we don't understand why other people don't do more. Also the cycle of food, and how some people have so much food and some have so little. We need more equality in food access and food supply. Liz has students who don't have enough to eat. Why do we have so much and some have so little? Chard or Kale? Which one and why? Kale 100%. We like kale the best raw with lime juice, a little olive oil, chili powder, teeny bit of balsamic and kosher sea salt and pepper, and maybe a little honey sometimes. And no massaging – we like the true texture. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? We're so excited for the fall share!! Hopefully there will be squash, but we're OK with whatever ends up happening. Simple Stieber Sister Curry
Although this in no *way* compares to the curry we’ve experienced from some lovely kitchens, this is a nice and simple “we’ve got lots of veg and I want something warm and comforting” curry. Wash, prep, and chop all of your veg (bonus points if they are CSA babies!) - we love carrots, sweet potato, potato, cauliflower, peas, jalapeño, bell pepper, any type of green, onion. The sky is the limit. Warm a bit of oil (we use safflower) in a pan (we use a Le Creuset cocotte). Add your onion and soften it, if using onion. Then, add the rest of your veg. Add some S&P and a decent amount of curry powder. Let those babies cook for 8-10 minutes or so (use your heart here, per our cooking teachers, Mama and Papa Stieber). Once they are somewhat cooked (potato and carrots won’t be tender at this point, don’t worry), add a can of full fat coconut milk. Now, add Thai red curry paste to your liking (we use over half a jar here but we love) and a bit more curry powder and some S&P. Let this all slowly simmer - don’t boil - but it won’t be ruined either. Once the carrots and potatoes are tender, serve over rice with whatever toppings you’ve got. We like green onions, chopped peanuts, and of course, a squeeze of fresh lime. Oh, and it’s great with tofu on the side too! above | the oak tree where the monarchs hang out.
As you may already know, good fortune came to Three Sisters Farm last April when a group of investors who were interested in creating habitat for Monarch Butterflies purchased a 29 acre parcel of land near our home farm with an understanding that Three Sisters will farm the land organically and a portion of the land will be set aside to be managed as a prairie to provide habitat for pollinators. Since monarch butterflies have taken an interest in our farm—we have returned the interest in them. So we leave the milkweed that comes up in the garden even when it grows in with the food crops. Still I was a little surprised when on the packing line a couple week ago I was putting romaine lettuce into CSA boxes and I spotted a small monarch caterpillar in the head of lettuce. Mind you, the poor thing had been in our walk-in cooler for a couple of days. So even though packing morning is busy I tore the leaf that the caterpillar was on off the head of romaine and put it in a small blue bucket that we use for harvesting cherry tomatoes. I set it aside where I thought no one would bother it so that I could put it on some milkweed when packing morning was all over. I thought I had set it out of the way—I left to get a cooler for some of the eggs and when I returned to find the caterpillar it was gone along with the leaf of lettuce. Jeff in an effort to clean up had tossed it somewhere. I was pretty upset and he could tell he was in the dog house—so with his tail between his legs he went back outside and found the piece of lettuce. To my surprise the little caterpillar was still on it. A week before I spent most of a work morning listening to Kenzie Kremer, a workershare, talk about her monarch caterpillars (she raises hundreds!) while we hand weeded radicchio in the garden. She said most of her friends were kind of tired of hearing about her caterpillars. She explained the process of transformation that the caterpillar undergoes, how long it takes and how she cares for them. She also told me that raising them in captivity greatly increases the odds that the caterpillar will become a butterfly. Armed with Kenzie’s knowledge, I decided to raise the caterpillar from the romaine lettuce, partially for myself to see the magical transformation and partially because I learned that I could increase the likelihood that the caterpillar would become a butterfly. It has since spun its chrysalis and now I am waiting to see if the transformation to butterfly happens. I want to tell you a few more of my experience with monarchs this year: 1 On my CSA day delivery route I have about 30 stops. There was one week where I couldn’t believe that at almost every stop I was greeted by a monarch butterfly. 2 Almost every week we sit in the shade of a beautiful large oak tree in the northwest corner of the new property with workershares to bunch your carrots. It is a marvel to watch the monarchs dance around us while we work. It seems that they are particularly attracted to this tree or this corner of the property. 3 Lately as I’ve been driving past this tree to the watermelon patch I am astounded that 4-6 monarch butterflies descend from the tree and, for lack of a better word, they dive bomb my vehicle as I drive slowly down the lane. Maybe I can get a video to share—it’s really quite something to be dive-bombed by a mob of butterflies! Well, I set out an hour ago to update you about all the wonderful changes and progress that we have made at the farm this year—instead I wrote about the butterflies. Which in a way I suppose just shows how indebted we are to them for everything that has happened in the last year. I guess this means I’ll have to write another newsletter next week to update you on the progress we have made with our community financed infrastructure improvement project. --Kelly Cooler temperatures this week means that summer is giving way to fall. Basil and cherry tomatoes are now done for the season. Cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes look to have a few more weeks. How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm?
I'm not sure – it's been several years. I can't remember exactly, five or six? What is your dropsite? Or for home delivery: What part of Southeastern WI do you live in? Tosa. Have you ever met Jeff and/or Kelly in person? Yes I have met both of them. They were very nice and friendly, and I guess just that they seemed really genuine and dedicated to their farm. They were so passionate about how they wanted to grow good food. In three words or phrases, how would you describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? Delicious. Always sad when the season is over. Excited when it starts - even though there are some weeks that I'm not as good at cooking, and finding ways to use the food and make sure we eat it is a little more work. However... when the tomatoes start coming, I put them out on the counter and they don't last, they are just gone. The carrots are eaten immediately. And I just made a batch of ratatouille and it's delicious. When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? I think my first reason is to support my local farmers is they are a local business and we like to support that. I like knowing where my food comes from and I do really love the Three Sisters CSA. The food is amazing and Jeff and Kelly are super great, but I LOVE the U-Pick option. There are just certain foods that we just wouldn't eat as much and I hate being wasteful. I work hard to not waste food, so I'm going to get more of something I know we all like rather than try and figure out how to use these beets that we don't like as much. Other people often say things like, “What would I do with all the food?” or “We don't like this or that”, and that's what makes Three Sisters CSA so unique and wonderful. What is your favorite CSA food item? It's tomatoes right now. You cannot beat a fresh grown tomato. I also love the carrots, they taste so much better. But the caprese salads and BTS are on the regular rotation right now – anything we can put the fresh tomatoes in. I also love the garlic scapes, which was something I didn't know existed before I had a csa. That's been the one big fun thing I didn't know about and now get really excited about when it's that time of year. I usually make a pesto. Is it a regular basil pesto with garlic scapes instead of garlic cloves? Or is it a scape pesto? It's pretty garlicky so it's more of a scape pesto with basil, rather than the other way around. Is there a CSA food item that most confounds or stumps you when it comes to cooking or eating, or used to before you knew what to do with it? Kohlrabi. We tried eating it raw and I tried roasting it and...maybe we just don't love it. That's the one thing I get every year and it sits in my fridge the longest. What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? I get fresh veggies every week. I don't have to think about going to the grocery store for vegetables, or what kind of vegetables to buy. What about being a CSA member is most important to you? I like that I can say I'm supporting a small farmer when I know that farming is hard work. We probably don't pay enough for all the hard work they do and for what we get. I'm very appreciative of them and I want to keep them in business. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? The ratatouille I made last night was really good. I was waiting to make it. It's the time of year when I get the zucchini and eggplant in the box and it's kind of a ritual I do every summer. I made that and mixed in my garlic scape pesto and it was fantastic. What is your favorite place to have a meal? (Restaurant, your backyard, a friend’s house etc.) In the summer on the back porch. We don't get to be outside a ton, living in Wisconsin, and just eating outside is great. My backyard has nice plants and fresh air. And I don't have to clean up the table – that's another bonus! What about in the winter? I wouldn't pick a place, but just say that I do love sharing a meal with friends. At someone's house or going out. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? Hanging out with my family is always number one. Being able to do that outside – we're going camping this weekend. Who is in your family? My husband and I have three kids, ages 13, 11, 8. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? I just think the divisiveness of everything these days. Everyone thinks they are right and no one can listen to other people when they disagree. It seems to be breeding a lot of hate and anger. Zucchini or Cucumber? Cucumber. I just think they are a little more versatile. You can eat them in salads or plain or with dip – they are kind of like a chip. I eat them with guacamole. Really? Yes! cucumbers with guacamole is delicious. When I'm really trying to eat healthy that's what I eat. What is it like to have a CSA share with young kids? I've always been a believer in making sure that the kids taste different foods. Because if they don't they're going to be picky. For example, I made this ratatouille and my youngest son is kind of picky – or more than I would like – and he ate the ratatouille. He didn't like the eggplant, but he ate the dish and that surprised me. I think they CSA gives them the opportunity to eat a lot of vegetables. My kids get excited about the box because they love the carrots and cucumbers and tomatoes and lettuce, and in the spring they start asking “When are we getting that box again?” Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? I just think if you're already buying those veggies at the store you should just do a CSA. Up front the cost may seem expensive, but if you break it down I bet it would be the same price as at the grocery store. And even if it's $5 more, who cares? Because you are supporting a local business and getting produce that is so fresh. Each week we get the chance to catch up with Courtney. Her enthusiasm for cooking and the CSA vegetables is wonderful. We have gotten a lot of good inspirational tips from her about new ways of preparing things. She never turns away from a challenge whether it is a broken jaw or an entire 3/4 bushel box of zucchini in a particularly abundant season. We are glad to have her as part of our CSA community. How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? This is our third year. We used to get their produce at the FM in Tosa. I know there’s a lot of great farms around here, but I honestly think they have the best tasting, most beautiful produce. So we bought the bulk of our veggies from them. We also get the egg share from them, we love to get the eggs and veggies each week. What part of Southeastern Wisconsin do you live in? Wauwatosa Have you ever met Jeff and/or Kelly in person? Actually I try and be here on Thursdays (for home delivery) because I love talking to Kelly - she's so great. It’s like a bright spot in my week. I probably hold her up every week because I can get a bit wordy. In three words, how would you describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? Exciting : You never know what’s ready to choose from, and it’s always a surprise to see what we get to cook with each week. Blessing: Because a lot of communities that don’t have the option. Vital: To our community as a whole to support local food and to eat seasonally. It’s good for the environment, for our health and for commerce. When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? I really like to support our local farmers and I think that’s so important. I talk about the freshness and quality, and knowing your produce came from somewhere nearby and was raised well. It also gives people the freedom to experiment with their cooking. When you have a box full of fresh produce already in your kitchen, all you have to do is pick a few things and cook up some veggies and pasta. It can actually make it easier to cook at home. I think everyone should do it for at least one season. What is your favorite CSA food item? Oh my goodness - that’s hard. I’d probably say snap peas and cherry tomatoes, and the summer squash and zucchini. If left to my own devices I’d eat all the cherry tomatoes in one go. Is there a CSA food item that most confounds or stumps you when it comes to cooking or eating, or used to before you knew what to do with it? Nothing really stumps me, I’m a vegetarian so I’ll pretty much eat any vegetables. But I like to never waste anything so I try and cook all the parts that come in the box. But the carrot tops are one thing I never know what to do with. This year they were so beautiful, I have been using it in place of parsley - I made a carrot top chimichurri and we put it in tabbouleh. Sometimes we’ll keep a bag of vegetable parts in the freezer - like carrot tops or parsley in a bag and then use them for making stock. Do you have a “box unpacking ritual” each week? Yes I do. I usually unpack everything and lay it out on the kitchen table, take pictures and put it on my Instagram feed. Without a doubt I get tons of comments about how beautiful the produce is, and people want to know what I’m going to do with it. It also gives me the ability to look back and see what I chose from year to year. What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? I love the passion of Jeff and Kelly. It’s inspiring to me that they care as much as they do about the work, the land and the vegetables, and then we have that privilege of eating the fruits of their labor. Also the variety of produce and being able to pick the box contents. Do you have a funny anecdote related to a CSA experience? The first CSA delivery of the season always comes the week of my birthday so it’s like a birthday present. I always look forward to making a big fresh salad with everything that comes in the box. But last summer during that week I had a freak accident - I tripped over a big buckle in the sidewalk and face-planted onto the cement and broke my jaw. It was wired shut for two months. And when I was at the hospital I was very upset and crying about the fact that I couldn’t have my big salad! But I got really creative with our box and I made a lot of soups and smoothies with the veggies, so I was spared the unpleasant experience of having to drink those nutritional drinks. I was really thankful that we invested in the CSA and also a Vitamix. What about being a CSA member is most important to you? Being able to have that connection with the people who are growing food for you. I’m a vegetarian, and that box is the bulk of what I'm eating each week. I have some health issues too, so I need to eat as cleanly as I can, and get the most nutrients from my food. The freshness and seasonality is so much healthier for me. Also I love to cook, so it makes that easy too. I like knowing that Jeff and Kelly are just such great stewards of the land too. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? The other day we roasted a big pan of vegetables - eggplant, tomatoes, onions, garlic, dill and just let that get all caramelized and we had that with a loaf of good bread. When the produce is that good you don’t have to do that much to it. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? Once when I was a kid, I grabbed a spoon and took a big old swipe of what I thought was butter from the butter dish. Turns out it was Crisco! My mom was thawing it out to bake a pie. What is your favorite place to have a meal? Outside on our patio table is perfect, when the weather is great in the summer. In fact we are having a cookout this Saturday. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? I know this sounds really corny but - just being here. I have been through so much medical stuff lately, there were moments I wasn’t sure I would make it here. I’m just happy and taking every day as it comes. And I have full use of my jaw now! So that makes me really happy. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? Honestly it’s the political climate today. For all of these steps ahead that we make we seem to get kicked back ten or twenty. I wonder how we will improve the damage that’s been done. I hope that in my lifetime I see positivity edging ahead again. I think the CSA can help with that too though - that sense of community where you can see that we are all in this together, regardless of color or creed or background. Eggplant or Fennel? They aren’t similar, but they can both be tricky to cook with. Eggplant. Because I think this a little bit more versatile. I love fennel but I think it can overtake what you are cooking. Whereas eggplant is a Team Player. It's great by itself, but it pairs really well with other things too. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? I would just encourage people that if they haven’t done a CSA just to try it out. Once you try it you may never go back! Courtney's Recommended Recipe Tomato Caprese Pie 1 single pie crust, store bought or homemade 3/4 c mozzarella, shredded 3 lg tomatoes, sliced 1 tsp salt 1/3 c. Fresh basil leaves 2 cloves garlic, crushed .... topping... 1 c. Cherry tomatoes, halved 1/4 c. Mozzarella, shredded Line your pie dish with the pie crust, poke the bottom with a fork in several places. Sprinkle a 1/4 c. mozzarella on the bottom of the crust. Bake at 450 F for 10 min. Cool completely. Into cooled pie crust layer half of the sliced tomatoes, sprinkle with half the salt, half the garlic, 1/4c mozzarella and half of the basil. Repeat the layer. Finish by topping with the halved cherry tomatoes and the last 1/4 c mozzarella. Place the pie in the oven, reduce the heat to 350 and bake uncovered for 35 to 40 min. Greek Chickpea Village Salad Dressing- 1/2c extra virgin olive oil 1/4c fresh lemon juice 1 tsp dried oregano 2 garlic cloves, minced Salt and pepper to taste Salad- 1 c tomatoes, chopped 1 c cucumber, chopped 1 c scallions, chopped 1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained 2 tbl fresh dill, finely chopped 1/3 c feta cheese,crumbled In a large bowl combine salad ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the dressing ingredients and pour over the salad ,tossing to mix the salad well. If you have non vegetarians in your family, you could easily add cooked shrimp or grilled chicken to this salad as well. Conversely, if you're vegan, you can skip the feta and add in cubed tofu that was marinated in some of the dressing and pan fried,beforehand. Baba Ghanouj 2 lg eggplants 2 garlic cloves,minced 4 tbl tahini 2 tbl lemon juice 1 tsp salt 2 tbl plain greek yogurt (optional) For garnish- Zaatar spice,olive oil,fresh parsley For serving- Crudites, pita bread wedges,naan bread Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise. Place flesh side down on parchment lined baking sheets and roast the eggplants at 450 until very tender and collapsing,about 50 to 60 minutes. (Alternatively,you could grill the eggplants whole ,turning them every 10 minutes until charred and collapsing . They should be done in 20 to 25 minutes this way ) Scoop out the flesh and drain in a strainer for about 10 minutes. Place the roasted eggplant into a bowl,mash well with a fork. Stir in the remaining ingredients. If desired, drizzle the Baba Ghanouj with a little olive oil and sprinkle with fresh parsley and zaatar . Serve as a dip with crudites, pita bread, pretzels,etc. Also makes a great sandwich condiment, spread on naan bread or toast and top with veggies, feta or fresh mozzarella and a protein of your choice. We love trying new and interesting veggie trials and getting feedback about them from members like Kathy. Last year we grew an unusual cucumber by the name of suyo long. They were very productive and quite tasty when fresh. We didn't grow it this year because not that many people ordered it and it didn't keep as well as the regular one we grow. ALISSA How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? KATHY I think five or six years - it has been a while. What was the impetus for signing up? We had been part of another CSA, we’d gone to the UEC to check out other offerings and we saw Three Sisters. Then we saw them at the TOSA market the following summer. The biggest thing was home delivery. Our lives were getting really hectic at the time, and a couple of times with a previous CSA - the pick up was at the Farmer’s Market in West Allis - it became tricky to pick up the box or get other people to pick up. Plus the vegetables always looked good, and the taste is wonderful as well. Have you ever met Jeff and/or Kelly in person? At the farmers market that one year. Every now and then we see Kelly when she drops off our food and we get to talk with her. What’s one thing you remember? She has a GREAT, warm personality. She just oozes positivity. It’s nice to have positive people, even if it’s a brief encounter - it's just very pleasant. In three words or phrases, how would you describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? Exciting! Very fresh. Convenient - you can’t get past the convenience for such fresh vegetables. When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? The freshness of the produce, and the taste - you can’t beat the taste compared to some of the grocery store items. And some of the unique offerings. The convenience of having it dropped off for us means we don’t have to go shopping. You get the best of the FM with the convenience of it being dropped off. And I do like that we are able to choose what you’d like in the box for the most part. It’s an easy way to plan, knowing what’s coming. It’s just a good value all around for us. Do you get most of your veggie needs met through the CSA box? We do. We’ve downsized, now it’s just the two of us. But it’s still nice to get a box for a family of four because we can share with other family members and friends. We rarely add to what we get (from the store.) What is your favorite CSA food item? Our favorite item from Three Sisters, which isn’t available this year, were some unique cucumbers. They were striped and kind of curly. It had a nice flavor and few seeds and just looked good in a vegetable tray because of the shape. I think their carrots just taste fabulous. That’s probably the one we look forward to the most because they do taste so good. Otherwise we have enjoyed everything we’ve gotten from them. And the tomatoes have been tasting fantastic this year. Is there a CSA food item that most confounds or stumps you when it comes to cooking or eating, or used to before you knew what to do with it? Fennel is always tricky. We’ve tried some recipes but have yet to find one that we really have liked. It might also have to do with what we’re willing to make in a given week. Sometimes we get ambitious with recipe ideas and plans, but then life gets in the way and we don’t have the energy to make a specific thing. What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? I do enjoy the newsletters and the personality of Kelly and Jeff coming through. It just feels like you are contributing to the common good by supporting them and their philosophy of farming. I like hearing about the community support as they keep building on their vision. Do you have a funny anecdote related to a CSA experience? Confusions, misunderstandings, strange vegetables? One time somebody told me to try beet greens like you would Swiss Chard. It wasn’t the greatest experience. I did not see the similarity at all. What about being a CSA member is most important to you? I like the local aspect. I like supporting the small farmers. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? The one that sticks out was probably an eggplant, tomato, cheese and egg sandwich in pita bread. We were out in Boston, and it was from one of the food trucks there. It’s the most filling, delicious, fresh tasting egg sandwich I’ve ever had. We’re still trying to figure out how they did it. You’re on a quest to recreate it? Yes. Each time we get closer, but it’s still hard to replicate. It’s really all about the proportions. The hardest part is finding good pita bread. It’s hard to find one that holds together without everything spilling over. (Kathy is taking recommendations for good pita bread brands!) What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? We were in Tonga, and we had a fish dish which was marinated in some type of lemon juice (versus being cooked.) I couldn’t even tell you what it was - it must have been a local fish. That’s probably something I would not choose to have again. What is your favorite place to have a meal? I enjoy the cookouts that we have. Just a nice potluck. I like to see what people bring. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? I do quilting, and I bought a long arm quilting machine and it’s just great. Sharing that with other people has also been great, and sharing the learning experience. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? We’re losing a form of communication where we can listen and discuss serious things without getting upset. And getting real facts, it’s so hard to figure out what is fact and what is opinion and where they start mixing in. Cucumber or Zucchini? Cucumber, because the crispness and the freshness and the amount of water they contain. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? It’s just nice to support a community farm. Farming is such hard work. Every year we go to pick strawberries and cherries, and you just get an idea of the kind of backbreaking work that is. Farmers are underappreciated and I like that we can support them with the CSA. Kathy's Recipe Recommendation to recreate the food truck Pita Sandwich https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oNbQGTCWUs&feature=youtu.be We are lucky to have had Laura's help on a regular basis for 2 seasons while we rented land at Sauve Terre Farm in West Bend. We've bunched a lot of carrots, pulled a lot of weeds and picked a lot of cherry tomatoes together for 3 sisters CSA boxes. She has become a good friend who continues to support our work in many ways including contributing the the community loan project, helping us create and analyze the responses to our end of season survey and providing endless moral support. Thanks Laura!
LAURA I work at Marquette, as the Associate Director of Institutional Research, and discovered that Jeff and Kelly offered a dropsite on-site. I decided to give it a try. ALISSA How long have you been a member with Three Sisters CSA Community Farm? This is my fourth season. Have you ever met Jeff and/or Kelly in person? I have, I was a worker share for two seasons. What did you like most about being a worker share? I was renting at the time, and didn’t have the ability to have my own garden so it was really great to be able to do some touching of dirt, getting into nature. It was also nice to be able to do that once a week to get out of my office. To be in the summer air and have that connection to food. In three words or phrases, how would you describe the experience of seasonal eating you have through your CSA share? The connection: To the people that do the growing To the land To the food that I eat When other people ask you what it’s like to be a CSA member or why you do it, what do you usually say? So far I have not tasted any produce that’s better than Jeff and Kelly’s. I love to cook, and it’s so easy to have a giant box of vegetables dropped off every week at my workplace, that I can choose, so that I know what fun things I’m going to be eating every week. In terms of body, mind, and soul it feels very healthy all around. What is your favorite CSA food item? It seems like every week it changes! It’s hard to pick a favorite, but I can pick a favorite farm. Three Sisters vegetables are my favorite vegetables ever. Do you have a “box unpacking ritual” each week? Not really because I get my box at Marquette, so I have to bring two cloth bags to the place at Marquette where it is, and unload everything and then get it home as quickly as possible. I usually do some chopping up of things right away if I can, to quickly be able to use. But it’s an exciting day! What is your favorite thing about being a member of Three Sisters Community Farm? Finding people like Jeff and Kelly, who are so dedicated to doing it right and to be thoughtful stewards of the land. My grandparents were farmers and it’s sort of like finding them again but with vegetables. I know I can trust the source of the food and it’s delicious. Jeff and Kelly are really doing something positive. Did you spend a lot of time on your grandparent’s farm as a kid? We lived just a mile down the road from them, so the farm was my babysitter growing up. They owned a small dairy farm and my grandmother had currant bushes and apple trees and a huge garden. We would just get dropped off there, so that was our rosy childhood! There was a time when their farm was almost completely self-sustaining; my grandmother told me once that there was a time when she didn’t go to the grocery store for anything except flour and sugar. Do you have a funny anecdote related to a CSA experience? I like the times as a worker share where, someone - usually Jeff - would pick a vegetable from the field to see if it was ready, just to try. One time he picked a melon to open, and he had a knife and he just cut it up and passed it around. It was so fun to just be eating a melon in the field in Wisconsin. What about being a CSA member is most important to you? Eating locally. It’s important to me to eat seasonally and locally, and understand how my habits affect the world. What’s the most delicious meal you have had recently? I have some dietary restrictions so I cook a lot at home. In the summertime it’s probably meals from the grill. We grill a lot of fish, and veggies from Three Sisters. Recently we grilled a lot of scapes, which were delicious. At home I have a big herb garden, so we add lots of herbs. Sitting outside with a glass of rose and a delicious meal...it’s pretty awesome. What’s the strangest thing you have ever eaten? I remember the first time I ate seafood that still had eyes on it - it was shrimp with legs and eyes on it. I was in Ireland, studying abroad. I don’t think Ireland is really known for their seafood, but that’s where it was! What is your favorite place to have a meal? Besides my own kitchen...I was born originally in Cape May, New Jersey and they have the best seafood, I do love good seafood. Also South Jersey, when I was growing up, was farm county and there were fresh peaches, melons, corn. What is one thing that is bringing joy into your life these days? My garden. I’ve been in my house for about a year, and we are transitioning our backyard into an edible paradise. We have a long way to go, but it’s amazing to take a cup of tea out there in the morning and see some of the changes that are happening. We just ate our first tomato, and they were seeds I saved from 2014 from the last time I had a garden! It was a moonglow. Then one raised bed is all herbs, so it’s so nice to have those fresh herbs on everything. What is one thing that is giving you pause, or reason for concern? I’ll echo most everyone else and say politics. And climate change. I can’t listen to the morning news anymore. OK, Cherry Tomato or Beefsteak Tomato? I love all the tomatoes, but the cherries are so nice because you can snack on them, and bring them everywhere. You can cook them or put them on salads, they are just so versatile. Is there anything you would like to share about seasonal eating, local food, CSA membership or anything else related to these topics that you have never had the chance to say? I wish that everyone had the time and opportunity to try being a CSA member, because you learn so much about how vegetables can and should taste and how easy it is to get things locally vs getting them from, say, Florida. And I definitely promote trying the worker share, or getting to the farm a few times to check out what they are doing, especially now with the new land. The pollinator habitat is so cool. Jeff and Kelly are just so innovative, and you get a better appreciation for how much work, stamina and drive farmers have to have to make it work on a scale. Farming is not just one skill, it’s strategic planning and running a business and being organized. It’s pretty cool. |