September 16 Farm Store Updates

Main apple season is cracking and there are around 10 apple varieties on the shelf in the farm store, as well as gracing the Market table on Saturdays!!! Apple Share members are receiving their third week of apples this week. :)

How Apple Season Flows on the Farm

Expect to see the best of what's in season!! Varieties are always changing in the farm store. Some varieties have lots of quantity, some are here and gone, showcasing harvest from only a couple trees. Harvest runs from the end of July (with a trickle), into September's main harvest, wrapping up with late season varieties in October (and hauling in to fill the coolers!). Apple sales end when the inventory runs out, varying with the season - through the holidays or even into the New Year! On good year's apples make it to Winter Markets with me (looking good this year).

Our Fall Apple Shares start the first week of September, running 6 or 8 weeks showcasing the best of what's in season.

What's in the Farm Store

Organic Apple Varieties:

Haralson - classic baker

Sweet Sixteen - fully sweet! great for kiddos

Cortland 

McIntosh *will return!

Porter's Perfection

Spartan - vanilla notes!

Chestnut Crabapple *last call!

Knobbed Russet -ugly & delicious

Watch for: Fameuse, Honeygold, heirlooms

All of these are great fresh eating varieties, all with their own unique profile. Many are also good for cooking!

If you are interested in picking up a Bushel of baking apples (seconds) for processing, give us a holler! $40/bushel seconds organic apples.

**Watch for our next cider pressing and pick up some fresh sweet apple cider!

Canned Items in Store:

Applesauce *running low til we start canning more!

Apple Butter

*Watch for jams returning!

Eggs are limited and hit or miss at this time

Herbal Wellness:

Salves:

-Bruise Salve - stop a bruise in its tracks, aid healing of existing bruises, hemherroids

-Knitbone Salve - muskuloskeletal, sore muscles, sprains, strains, broken bones

-Cottonwood Wound Salve - think of it as a natural neosporin, plus pain relief, use on cuts, minor wounds, burns, etc.

Calendula Lotion Bar - solid lotion bar that soothes and moisturizes

Herbal Sore Throat Spray

Elderberry Syrup Kits

Herbal Tinctures - Willow Bark, Astragalus, Stinging Nettles, Elderberry, Ashwaganda, (Holy Basil returning soon)

Farm Store Hours - Tu-Fri 9-7 & Sat 9-2, or by appt.

August 13th Farm Store + Market Update!

Well, it's mid-August, which means the farm store starts to boast multiple varieties of apples AND it's time for me to head back to the Mankato Farmers' Market!!

Look for the LIME green tents at Market!

The Farm Store will always showcase what is available during the season, currently that looks like some fresh garden produce, seasonal apples, canned goods, eggs and herbal wellness items. 

The Market table will hold seasonal apple varieties (12+ during peak in September!), applesauce, apple butter and seasonal jams, as well as some herbal wellness items.

Organic Garden Produce

Fresh items from the garden in season: cucumbers (green & white), kale, celery. The first tomato ripened this week; this year I should have tomatoes and maybe peppers for sale. No bulk produce quantities.

Organic Apple Varieties

Now Picking: Zestar!, Centennial and Chestnut Crabapples.

In the Farm Store: Centennial Crab (great lunch box littles!), Pristine, Zestar!

Market Apples this Saturday: Pristine, Paula Red, Centennial Crabapples, State Fair. Always our best guess leading up to market, subject to the whims of the orchard and orchardist. ;)

3lb bags of Organic Apples are $8 and quarts of Crabs are $4. More Farm Store deets.

Centennial Crabapples

Centennial Crabapples - Great apple flavor in a small package! Sprightly and juicy. Fresh eating and cooking. Stores 2-3 weeks. Released by the UMN in 1957.

Herbal Wellness Items

A couple items that are popular for back to school time are our Elderberry Syrup Kits and our herbal Sore Throat Spray.

Elderberry Syrup Kits - immune boosting tonic you can make at home.

Herbal Tinctures - half a dozen home remedies to work with in your holistic medicine cabinet, from pain to seasonal allergy relief and more.

Sore Throat Spray - spray back of throat 2-3x several times a day for a sore throat, or when you get that little tickle in the back of your throat, like you are going to get something.

For the Bugs -> Herbal Bug Spray, Tick Away EO Spray, Bug Bite Salve.

Bruise Salve - stop a bruise in it's tracks and bring relief to existing bruises, hemerroids.

Knitbone Salve - muskuloskeletal remedy for sprains, strains, broken bones, sore muscles, etc.

Cottonwood Wound Relief Salve - essential for all those minor wounds, burns, think of it like a natural neosporin, without the junk.

Calendula Lotion Bar - solid lotion bar, rub on for soothing moisture that isn't greasy, travel everywhere tin.

Making salves is probably my fav.

To Market, To Market!

Our market season is a little different than other folks! We start main season Mankato Farmers Market mid-August, with apples! We'll be at the summer market location through mid-October, then every Winter Market November - March. Apples are available until we run out for the season, which can look like October, November or January! Depending on the year. Season looks pretty good this year.

I take the last two weekends of October off for personal time after a busy apple season and before a busy winter greenhouse season!! Winter greens run about September to March!!

Several Fall Apple Shares yet available! Sign up closes soon.

                                        Join our Mailing List to keep up with happenings!

2025 Organic Apple Shares Sign Up!!

Sign up is open for 2025!

We are looking forward to a great season!! We have even picked a couple apples from our odd early birds for our family and made an apple crisp. :)

Fall Apple Share Offerings for 2025

Each week enjoy a 4 lb bag of fresh & local apples.

Each bag sports 1-2 varieties of our organic apples. A mix of standard, lesser known and old heritage types. We'll send out a short weekly newsletter, with apple facts, orchard notes and a recipe. Begins the first week of September.

Three weekly pick up locations:

A.R.F. farm store (Th., Fri., or Sat.) - 6 or 8 weeks

New Ulm Pick Up, Turner Halle Lot (Th. at 5:00pm) - 6 or 8 weeks

Saturdays at the Mankato Farmers Market (8am-12pm) - 6 weeks

$60 :: 6 week Fall Apple Share

$78 :: 8 week Fall Apple Share *best price

*4 lbs not enough? The option to sign up for 2 shares is available.

SIGN ME UP! 

Add to your Fall Apple Share Experience

Add on apple products and Winter Apple Shares.

Applesauce Share  ::  $88

A dozen jars of our clean-eating applesauce. Made with our delicious organic apples, a touch of local honey and organic lemon juice. Choose preferred month of pick up.

November Apple Share  ::  $25  

A 10 lb bag of table apples for fresh eating, baking or preserving. Primarily late-season storage varieties. This share will land 2-3 weeks following the 8 week Fall Apple Shares and 1-2 weeks before Thanksgiving.

Storage Bushel  ::  $94

Stock the larder for winter! Receive a waxed box containing 40 lbs of table apples to store for fresh winter eating, at wholesale price. Select interest in sign up form. Final reservations made in October, for pick up by arrangement in early-mid winter.

SIGN ME UP! 

Please contact us at info@alternativerootsfarm.com or via Facebook with any questions.

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Check back for updates, or join our email list and have them delivered to your inbox. 

3rd Annual Sowing Seeds: Celebrating Local Foods & Lost Skills

There is much for the kiddos to engage in during Sowing Seeds!!

>Kids craft

>Bubbles

>Facepainting & glitter tattoos with Making Faces Mankato

>Llama Storytime!

>Giant Connect 4 Game

>Swing set

>Observing farm chickens

>Yummie Brick House Meats

REGISTER

VOLUNTEER

Check out the SKILLS DEMOS and MORE!

July 1 Farm Store Update

Watch for 2025 Apple Shares CSA updates! Sign up starting for returning members and wait list folks ASAP!

Grab tickets for the 2025 3rd Annual Sowing Seeds: Celebrating Local Foods & Lost Skills event happening July 13th! Located right here at our farm.

What's In Store

Organic Seasonal Produce is keeping it fresh!
Tart Cherries
Kale

Garlic Scapes *Limited!

Rhubarb *Last call!

Raspberries *Starting this week!

Coming soon: zucchini, celery, cucumbers.

Eggs

Herbal wellness:

Knitbone Salve (muskuloskeletal/pain) 

Bruise Salve

Cottonwood Wound Salve (think natural Neosporin)

Herbal Bug Spray

Bug Bite Salve

Tick Away (essential oil spray)

Cool It Spray  (essential oil spray)

Calendula Lotion Bars

Herbal Tinctures

Applesauce

Apple Butter

Seasonal Jams

Tuesday-Friday 9-7pm & Saturday 9-2pm, or by Appt.

Cash (exact change), check or Venmo *please make sure your venmo goes through!

Bring a shopping bag, or box, bags also provided.

Parking in the parking area at the end of the tree rows. Thank you!

June 7 Last day for plants at the Farm!!

This is your last week to grab Certified Organic garden plants at the farm store!

Organic garden plants are still available at:

Total Landscape & Supply, Madelia

Bluestem Garden Works, Comfrey

Head in soon so your favs don't disappear!

Still at the farm store.......(greenhouse availability will be different!)

-Cabbage

-Kohlrabi, Terek
-Cauliflower, Snow Crown (1)
-Broccoli, DeCicco

-Celery, Ventura (veeery popular, you may become addicted to "real" MN grown celery)

-Jalapeno, Early 

A number of delicious heirloom tomatoes great for fresh eating and processing...
-Amish Paste
-German Johnson (dusky pink, my favorite for BLTs) 
-Sun Gold, cherry type (very prolific)
-Valencia (yellow, low-acid)
-Weavers Black Brandywine (the BEST black tomato I've grown, 2nd fav for BLTs)
-Brandywine
-San Marzano, paste type

Cooling cucumbers!
-M-76 (classic green slicer)
-Cool Customer, Pickler
-Silver Slicer (white, my favorite for flavor)

NEW

-Cocozelle, Zucchini (3)

-Block Party, Butternut Squash *farm only (2)

-Thelma Sanders, Acorn Squash *farm only (2)

-Bush Delicata Squash *farm only

Follow along on social media as summer comes in! 

Things will pop with this rain! Little fruitlets are growing! 

Early June :: What's in Store!

 

June 2 Farm Store Update!

The whole role of the farm store is to showcase what is in season, support a seasonal and local lifestyle and support our small farm and farm family. Fruits change throughout the seasons, canned items are always in stock (jams vary) and herbal wellness supports you throughout the seasons as well!! Farm dogs and chickens may say hello when you stop. :)

Tuesday - Friday 9-7 & Saturday 9-2  *  Exact change cash, check or venmo please!

Stinging Nettles for seasonal allergies.

In Season:

Organic Garden Plants - last day June 7th!!

Organic Asparagus (thru mid-June)

Organic Rhubarb (roughly through the end of June)

What comes next: seasonal garden produce - kale, celery, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini. *No large canning amounts on tomatoes. July brings the next wave of fruits with raspberries, plums, blackberries and apricots!

In Store:

Eggs - Limited, free-range, organic fed.

Applesauce

Apple Butter

Jams - as I make them!

Herbal Tinctures

Salves - Bruise, Knitbone (muskuloskeletal), Cottonwood Wound, Bug Bite

Herbal Bug Spray

Tick Away Essential Oil Spray

Calendula Lotion Bar

Elderberry Syrup Kit

Watch the socials for the latest updates!