Fall Apple Shares Now Available!

Fall Apple Shares Now Available!

Please holler at us with any and all questions!

Fall Apple Share

$54.00 :: 24 lbs/4 lb Bag x 6 weeks 

Beginning the first week of September

That's $2.25/lb, regularly $2.50/lb! Filled with standard and heirloom varieties, which change week-to-week - the best of what's in season. Last year we harvested over 20 varieties! Featuring organic & transitional organic apples hand-picked by your local apple farmers, John and Brooke. Weekly reminders will be sent out, along with nerdy apple information and recipes! 

Winter Apple Shares will be available later in the season. Applesauce and Apple Butter Shares are currently available.

Delivery: *Please pick an option that works for all 6 weeks.*

     (1) Wednesday @ the Farm 4:00-7:00 pm

     (2) Thursday @ the Farm 4:00-7:00 pm

     (3) Friday @ the Farm 9:00 am-Noon

     (4) Saturday @ the Farm 9:00 am-2:00 pm

     (5) Saturday @ the Mankato Farmers' Market 8:00 am-Noon

Reservation: complete the online ORDER FORM

Payment: Due at the time of reservation, cash or check please.

Farm Store Hours & New Items

We are so grateful to everyone who stopped to shop at our farm store in the first two weeks being open!! Folks enjoyed our first sales crop of raspberries, along with greens, eggs, jams and more.

Farm store is closed this week, but we'll re-open Wednesday August 7th with regular hours (below). Mid-August we'll add Saturday hours, for apple season!!

Watch for our FIRST APPLES OF THE SEASON next week! Pristine apples are delish!

Pristine are wonderfully tart, crisp, juicy and firm, with flavor and sweetness under the tartness.

What's Coming

Apples start with Pristine next week and continue regularly with Zestar! beginning mid-August. Watch for fresh garlic appearing over the next couple weeks. The first tomato has been picked, so tomatoes will be regular soon. Follow on facebook for updates!

Farm Store Hours

Wednesday 4:00-7:00
Thursday 4:00-7:00
Friday 9:00-12:00
Saturday *beginning August 17 9:00-2:00

Please come prepared to pay exact change cash or check. We're generally around, but the store runs on an honor system. Bring bags to keep plastic use down!

Farm Store Opening This Week!

Farm Store Opening Wednesday, July 17!!

Shop Wednesdays 4:00-7:00, Fridays 9:00-12:00

Alternative Roots Farm • 11197 130th St., Madelia

Raspberries available for a limited time, over the next couple weeks! Organic kale, chard, garlic scapes. Applesauce, apple butter, strawberry jam (limited!), strawberry rhubarb jam. Farm fresh eggs! More as the season moves on!!

We are excited to have you out to the farm!! Getting your food right from the source. We appreciate you supporting our family, and farm, in this way. And Leo appreciates fewer delivery drives! ;)

•Please come prepared with exact cash/check for the honor box.

•Please bring bags to keep plastic use down. Reduce reuse!

•Farm store is in the rounded quonset hut, the second driveway - pull in to park on the right, with overflow parking along the road.

Come see how the store has been updated!

Pick up a Garlic Scape Share at the store -  order here!!

What's a garlic scape?

Pick up your Fall Apple Share at the store -  order here!!

Coming Soon!

Farm Share Options Coming Soon!

We offer different share options that provide you with a discount on a little larger purchase of various items. Perfect for enjoying the best of each season and stocking the pantry or freezer!

Fall Apple Share Sign Up

Opening shortly! Beginning in September enjoy 6 weeks of seasonal organic/transitional organic apples. Pick up at the Saturday Mankato farmers market or on farm (12 miles South of New Ulm, 8 miles North of Madelia). More info: 2019 Shares.

$54.00 :: 24 lbs/4 lb Bag x 6 weeks

Tomato Shares

10 or 20 lbs boxes of organic, heirloom tomatoes for canning. For purchase during the season as available - join the wait list to be notified.

$28  ||  10 lbs  30% discount
$52  ||  20 lbs  35% discount

Pesto Shares

Includes 2 lbs of fresh, organic basil and 4 heads of organic garlic. Delivered as available in August/September. Eat it fresh and stock up your freezer.Add into scrambled eggs, pastas, spread on sandwiches or garlic bread or pizza. Delish! For purchase during the season as available - join the wait list to be notified.

$23.00  ||  2 lbs basil & 4 bulbs of garlic

Fall CSA Shares

Fall CSA Shares will be offered once in September, twice in October. Sign up for one, or all three, dates - coming soon. An on-farm market will also be available during Fall CSA pick up.

Full details coming soon!

Now Available!

Applesauce Shares  -  Apple Butter Shares

Applesauce Shares - A case of 12 quarts for $65. A popular option for the kiddos!

Apple Butter Shares - A six pack of butter to stock your pantry, $26.

Clean eating treats made with no extra sugar - just local honey!

Rhubarb time!

Spring is sprouting up, and blossoming forth, all over the place! That means it's almost rhubarb time!

This brief delicious season is the right time to enjoy rhubarb crisp, making jam and freezing chopped rhubarb for year-round use.

Rhubarb is chock full of vitamin C, fiber, vitamin K, and several B-complex vitamins, rhubarb is low in calories (about 13 per half-cup serving). However, because it is so tart, recipes often call for sweetener to be added, which can raise the amount of calories.

Rhubarb is excellent for canning and easy to freeze. Here are some rhubarb tips:

•One pound of fresh rhubarb = about 3 cups chopped or 2 cups cooked.
•Removing leaves and store rhubarb stalks in a plastic bag in the fridge for about a week. If stalks get limp, stand them in a cup of cold water for an hour.
•Not into canning? Chopped rhubarb can be frozen for up to six months (or so).
Because of its acidity, rhubarb will turn your pan brown unless you cook it in a stainless steel or enamel-coated cast iron (non-reactive pans).


Try a recipe or two!

Rhubarb-Yogurt Tart

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp Bars

Rhubarb Simple Syrup

Rhubarb Crisp

2019 Dirty Dozen//Clean Fifteen

It's time to print off a new Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen card for your wallet! This fantastic, quick and easy, guide offers a great reference where best to spend your organic grocery dollars, if you aren't able to go all in on organics (like most families on a budget).

Click over and Get the Guide

The Dirty Dozen is a list of the most highly contaminated fruits and veggies - buying these items organic is a higher priority, if you are working to keep your diet clean.

We are proud to bring you organic apples, as they are always a high-ranking item on the Dirty Dozen list. This year apples rank #5, alongside a couple other A.R.F. specialties kale (#3) and tomatoes (#10).

Apples

"Apples are generally near the top of EWG’s Dirty Dozen™ list because they contain an average of 4.4 pesticide residues, including some at high concentrations..."

"...most conventionally grown apples are drenched in diphenylamine, an antioxidant chemical treatment used to prevent the skin of apples in cold storage from developing brown or black patches..."

"The European officials' concerns center on the possible formation of nitrosamines on diphenylamine-treated fruit. Nitrosamines cause cancer in laboratory animals, and some studies have found that people who eat foods with nitrosamines have elevated rates of stomach and esophageal cancers."

Kale

"More Than Half of Kale Samples Tainted by Possibly Cancer-Causing Pesticide"

"Conventional kale farming relies heavily on the use of several synthetic pesticides, including Dacthal. The EPA’s 1995 classification of it as a possible carcinogen noted increases in liver and thyroid tumors. Dacthal can also cause other kinds of harm to the lungs, liver, kidney and thyroid."

Go Organic

We are proud to bring you clean-eating, local organic produce. We believe it is the best thing for a healthy lifestyle and a healthy environment. Reseach supports this.

"A French study published in December in JAMA Internal Medicine, a journal from the American Medical Association, found that among nearly 69,000 participants, those with the highest frequency of organic food consumption had 25 percent fewer cancers than individuals who did not eat organic food."

"...the most recent of several studies evaluating the impact of an organic diet found that after only six days of eating organic food, adults and children had on average a 60 percent reduction in the levels of synthetic pesticides measured in their urine..."

Read the full report

ISO Egg Lovers!

Rhode Island Red "in" the nesting box.

Despite the cold temps and mountains of snow, the chickens are enjoying longer days, as well as apples, and some greens from the winter greenhouse.

Eggs are in abundance! We are looking for a few more regular/weekly/biweekly egg customers to enjoy these beautiful brown orbs.

Eggs are $4/dozen. They may be picked up at the farm by arrangement, some regular deliveries are made to New Ulm. Our farm is located 12 mi South of New Ulm, 8 mi North of Madelia, about 25 min East of Mankato.

Brown eggs, with a few blue ones.

Chickens are fed a non-GMO ration, with organic ingredients. They are allowed access to the outdoors year-round, expect on these few exceptionally cold days.

Order by texting Brooke 507-412-7605, messaging on facebook or emailing info@alternativerootsfarm.com.

Questions? Just holler!

Hard boiled eggs!