Red 5 IPA, 1st CSA Veggie Pickup, Father's Day Grill Out & more Brew & Farm News!

2 years ago, we received our final brewing license, and Nate brewed the first Wishful Acres IPA.   That IPA has not been brewed again since... until now!  Welcome back, in honor of the 2 year anniversary of our brewing licenses, Red Five IPA!  Red in color, hoppy in flavor, and brewed with 5 hops. Stop in for yours! This weekend marks the 1st CSA Pickup of the season!  Full Shareholders & Group A Half Shareholders of our farm's Community Supported Agriculture program, you may stop in anytime this weekend during our open hours to pick up your organic vegetable shares!  All grown here by organic methods, harvested fresh each week, then washed, bagged, labeled, and ready to eat - your veggies will be stored in our refrigerated walk in cooler until you arrive this weekend. For more details on your share, and the list of what's in your share this week, scroll down to the last section of this newsletter! Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery - taproom open Fridays 4-9, Saturdays 12-9, Sundays 12-5.   Tap Room Bar at our Brewery In our Tap Room this weekend, open Fridays 4-9 pm, Saturdays 12-9 pm, and Sundays 12-5 pm, we will be pouring fresh from our taps: Red Five IPA - red, hoppy, and brewed with 5 hops Honey Wheat - it's back! Barley, wheat, and real honey. Mild & easy drinking! Sir Ector - English pub-style brown ale The Emperor - Bourbon barrel aged Russian Imperial Stout, 13.5% ABV, yes growlers too! Smart A** - Belgian Wit style beer Peach Mango Ale - a sweeter style fruit beer  Unicorn Tears - unique flavored copper colored ale Homemade Root Beer (non-alcoholic) In addition to fresh beer by the glass, we also have growler fills available for carry-out!   Upcoming Events at Wishful Acres:   Father's Day, Sunday June 17, 12-5 pm - Ultimate Grill Out & Fry Up - grilled beer brats, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pork chop sandwiches, french fries, fried cheese curds. Food Truck!!! July 1 (Sunday) - Independence Day celebration!  More details to come. Father's Day Ultimate Grill Out Food Truck! Bring Dad to our brewery for an Ultimate Grill Out & Fry Up on Father's Day! Sunday, June 17, from 12-5 pm, we'll have a food truck here at Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery! Benchwarmers Bar & Grill of Freeport will be parking their food truck in our outdoor beer garden, and they'll be grilling & frying up a nice menu for all of you! Featuring: - Beer Bratwurst (cooked in Wishful Acres beer!) - Grilled Hamburgers - Grilled Cheeseburgers - Grilled Butterfly Pork Chop Sandwiches - French Fries - Fried Wisconsin Cheese Curds Our homemade craft beers will be on tap, as well as our homemade root beer. All beverages are made right here on site, inside our renovated barn brewery! Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) News It's time! The First "Share" of the season!!!  A couple of notes: - Your vegetables are washed, bagged, labelled, and ready to eat. - You'll find a paper towel at the bottom of each of your bag of greens. This is to absorb excess moisture from our washing. All vegetables are hand washed, and allowed to dry before bagging, but there is still some moisture since we don't have big commercial washing/drying equipment. To extend the life of your salad greens, swap out this paper towel if you notice it's really damp. In your share this week: Simpson Lettuce - Our favorite spring lettuce! Light green in color, this heirloom variety is called "Simpson". It is very tender and delicate, you'll never find it in a grocery store because it's too fragile to ship. It can only be enjoyed locally near where it's grown! Spinach - Our spring heirloom variety spinach grows big - so big that you may find some leaves in your bag that are as big as your hand!  Our spinach is tender & sweet, and great to eat raw. The stems are crunchy & delicious as well, don't forget to toss those into your salad bowls too! Due to the hot temperatures we experienced during May, we will not have spinach around very long.... so let's enjoy it while it lasts, and then we'll see it again in the fall. Radishes - This first crop of radishes is a bit small due to the hot temperatures of May, but still delicious and full of beautiful colors! In your bag of radishes, you'll find 3 heirloom varieties mixed together: French Breakfast (long oval shape, pink with white tip), German Giant (large red), and Easter Egg (purple & pink). Oak Leaf Lettuce - A double sized bag, full of red oak leaf lettuce, with some green oak leaf lettuce also mixed in! Oak leaf lettuce is an heirloom variety, and so called because the shape of the leaf resembles the same shape as a oak tree leaf. Spinach - 2 bags of spinach in your share this week! Arugula - A delicious heirloom Italian salad green.  Peppery in flavor, it adds some spunk to a salad when blended with lettuces and/or spinach. Also our favorite way to eat arugula is chopped raw onto cooked Italian dishes (especially pizza!). Please make sure to check our recipe database, the link is located at the end of this list. Lettuce - 2 bags of Simpson lettuce in your share this week!  Yes, springtime is  salad green season!!!   Cilantro - Fresh cilantro is a cool weather crop, so you'll have it in the spring & fall in your shares. Delicious on a Mexican salad! Mustard Greens - Both green & red heirloom mustard greens varieties in your bag! We enjoy eating mustard greens raw (mixed with other salad greens such as lettuce), or cooked (we enjoy it in a stir fry). They add a bit of spicy flavor!  Dill - Fresh dill weed!  A little goes a long way. Great on sandwiches, salads, dips, etc. Need recipe ideas for the items in your share? Here is a link to the Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery recipe database, with cooking ideas for everything we grow here: http://all-natural-mama.blogspot.com/2015/03/recipes-by-vegetable-type.html    Our 30-member CSA Program (Community Supported Agriculture) is a membership program in which members become "shareholders" in the farm's seasonal vegetable production & receive a "share" of the farm's organic  produce for our full 22-week-long season! To learn more: http://www.wishfulacresfarm.com/csa-program  .   Seasonal Recipe Idea: It's spring - which around here means Salad Greens season! This Warm Bacon Dressing would be delicious on every single salad green in the CSA share this week! Recipe here: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24602/hot-bacon-dressing/   Where to Buy our Beer: Our beer is available for purchase at the following locations: Our Taproom!  Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery, located between Freeport & Lena - Visiting Info Benchwarmers, Freeport, IL Cove Restaurant at Apple Canyon Lake, IL Mulligans, Lena, IL  Park Hills Golf Course, Freeport, IL Pub 219, Freeport, IL Rosati's Pizza, Freeport, IL  Route 75 Bar & Grill, Dakota, IL Woodbine Bend Golf Course, Stockton, IL  Be sure to follow Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery on facebook!  Here is a link to our facebook page.  Want to stop receiving these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list Thank you & Best Wishes from Wishful Acres Farm & Brewery! Open Fridays 4-9 pm, Saturdays, 12-9 pm, and Sundays 12-5 pm Tap room is located on our farm at 4679 N. Flansburg Rd, Lena IL You can contact us at: wishfulacres@gmail.com or 815-990-2380            Copyright © 2018 Wishful Acres Farm, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you signed up at a farmers market, opted in at our website, or participated in a program with our family farm. Our mailing address is: Wishful Acres Farm 4679 N Flansburg Rd, Lena, IL, United States Lena, IL 61048 Add us to your address book