Dinner at Harvest Moon Farm

Our farm invited us to an appreciation party for CSA shareholders this weekend, so we made a day of it. We picked apples at Valley Orchard, bought New Glarus beer at Woodman's in Janesville, WI, and finally we arrived at the farm where I've been getting all of those summer vegetables for the past two years.


We checked out the storage / packing barn, walked up and down the rows of veggies, and met other shareholders from Chicago and elsewhere.

Most of the attendees were from around Viroqua, where the farm is located. Admittedly, four hours was a long drive, but I really wanted to attend.

My favorite new acquaintance was this tiny little puppy, a new purchase of one of the locals. She is about two pounds - let's just say that, with this huge bunny in the house, I never get to see anything this small anymore.

I feel like we got great weather, and we ate, and ate, and ate until we couldn't eat anymore.


Here's a list of the copious amount of food that we ate:

• Breakfast radishes and salted Westby butter
• Heirloom tomato and tomatillo salsa with chili lime chips
• Grilled heirloom summer squash, Italian eggplant, and fresh herbs de Provence
• Grilled baguette with lemon-scented raw milk ricotta and fresh herbs
• Grilled sweet peaches, chipotle-infused fresh cheese
• Sauteed escarole, caramelized leeks, baby carrots
• Roasted golden, chioggia, and bulls blood beets, red chard stems, orange vinaigrette
• Sungold tomato gazpacho, fino sherry, and Spanish olive oil
• Croque monsieur "Viroqua"
• Maple soy glazed red waddle pork belly, spic heirloom cabbage slaw
• Grilled serendipity sweet corn and Westby salted butter
• Red waddle pork chorizo tacos
• Grass-fed beef leg Hungarian goulash style
• Cold-poached Rushing Waters rainbow trout, lemongrass cucumbers and sour cream
• Hanoi-style grass-fed beef salad, tamarind-serrano chili dressing
• Raspberries, sweet basil, and fresh cream

Can you believe we actually ate all of that? Most of it was two or three bites, but still, that's a lot of courses. My favorites were the chorizo tacos, grilled sweet corn, and raspberries with whipped cream. Dave's favorite was the goulash.


Next time, we will stay somewhere in the area. Our Uplands bed and breakfast is closer, at least - about an hour or two - so maybe we'll coordinate our Wisconsin beer and cheese tour for this weekend in 2012.

Today was a somewhat relaxing day - we did get to have dinner with friends, but earlier in the day we went to Ikea, which I always try not to do on weekends. Of course, it was a mad house, but at least now I have a computer desk!

It definitely feels like summer is coming to a close, but I feel like we've taken advantage of everything the season has to offer.