Melissa's Farm Update
 I
am ankle deep in potting mix and early spring starts. Starting with
tomatoes on January 8th we have been sowing seeds daily. Some of the
earliest and most abundant seeds to be sown are the many different types
of onions that we grow. We grow 14 different varieties of onions that
each have a different shape, size, or flavor and different timing to
maturity so that we can stretch the onion season as long as possible.
Plus this year we are doing some seed trials with High Mowing Seeds to
find the best storage onion variety and nicest leeks out there. Today,
we finished seeding everything that will be our early greenhouse crop of
tende
r
bunching and head veggies. This batch includes mustards, kales,
bunching beets, chard, dill and a lot more.
This
week we will start grafting our tomatoes. We are fusing the root stock
of a vigorous grower to a top plant (scion) which bears a desirable
fruit. Thus making a plant that has the qualities we need to have
tomatoes that produce more in a smaller amount of space and still taste
as delicious as a vine ripened tomato can. This process and the week to
follow involves a lot of careful care in the tomato nursery to keep
plants misted and then to gradually reintroduce them to their sunny
greenhouse environment.
This
is my third year working on seeding and caring for the starts. I have
learned many techniques along the way to improve their germination and
survival until transplant time. However, there is always the challenge
of growing in an environment that is under a thin plastic roof with
bitter cold on the other side. Winter seems to fly by as I pass most of
my days in the toasty greenhouse planting, watering, and caring for all
these tender young plants. It is amazing to think that it is 15
degrees out and there is so much to plant. Spring is by far my
favorite season, as I get to watch all the new greenery taking hold and
start to fill our bellies! ~ Melissa
Iris demanding another ride on the pallet jack.
Iris hangs out with Melissa while she seeds and does many other tasks
on the farm. Pallet jacks (pushing and riding) are her newfound joy.
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Our Weekly Good Eats Newsletter
We
write the weekly Good Eats newsletter that you will receive every
Tuesday evening with farm updates, the week's share contents, storage
and use tips, localvore information and recipes and anything else we
think you might find interesting or useful. Pete will often chime in
with farm updates, thoughts and pleas for feedback.
The
picking for the weekly share begins on Monday and the packing of shares
is finished late Tuesday afternoon. Although we try to get the
newsletter out just as early as we can, we do like to wait until the
share is finalized. Sometimes there are last minute changes to the
contents and we want to make sure that you've got the right information
to accompany your pick-up.
If there are changes to the share that occur after the newsletter has been sent (which happens occasionally), you may receive a follow-up email Tuesday night or Wednesday.
If you have any feedback on the newsletter, recipe contributions or just general questions about the CSA, feel free to email us.
We also post each newsletter on our blog.
It generally gets posted sometime on Wednesday or Thursday. There's a
good history there for recipes, farm stories and share contents.
Please add goodeats@petesgreens.com to your address book to limit the possibility of having newsletters filtered as spam.
Feel free to contact us anytime with questions or comments about Good Eats. ~ Amy & Sara
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Picking Up Your ShareIf you are unsure of your pick-up times or site location, please visit our website's Delivery page. If you have any questions about your pick-up please email us. The quickest way to reach us is always by email, but if you must, you may leave a message on voice mail at 802.586.2882 x2.
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Share Pick-Up Instructions! Please review.
Whether
you are a seasoned CSA share member or new to Good Eats, it's important
to review the pick-up instructions before you head out to pick up your
share!
• Clipboard #1, Names List - Check off your Name!
- Find your name on the pick-up list and check it off. The first
clipboard contains a list of all share members at your site. Note that
only one name is listed for each share. If you can't find your name on
the list, look for your share partner's name (only one of you is
listed). Checking off your name lets us know who has picked up and is
extremely helpful in solving any mysteries at the end of the day. If you can't find your name or your share partner's name, please don't take a share! Call or email us and we'll figure it out.
• Check your share type on the list. Share types are
Localvore, Localvore Vegetarian, Veggie Only, Small Veggie Only, Pete's
Pantry. If you are listed incorrectly or have questions, let us know.
 • Clipboard #2, Pick-up Instructions -
Select your items by following the Pick-up Instructions. These are
posted on the second clipboard. Follow the specific item
list/instructions to assemble your share.
Small
Veggie only Members select their yellow bag and (occasionally there may
be a second item to select that will be out of the bag and it will be
listed in same section).
Regular Veggie Only Members pick up the larger tan/green bag and any other veggies listed for that share type.
Localvore
and Pantry members both select the items listed on the bottom section
of pick up instructions (the non -vegetable items).
We pack whole shares only! If you are sharing a share with someone -
coordinate with your share-mate to split your share and DON'T take
double the amount of any items.
Taking more than your share WILL leave other members short so please be careful selecting your items.
THANKS FOR PICKING UP CAREFULLY!
Please note that the first Meat Share pick up is not this week, it is March 6th.
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What To Do If You Have a Problem at Pick Up
Although
we do our best to make sure that every delivery and pick-up goes
smoothly, there are the occasional shortages and disappointments. Should
you arrive at your pick-up site to find that your name (or share
partner's name) is not on the list, one or more of your items are
missing or that some of your produce is in unsatisfactory condition,
please let us know right away!
Our goal is 100% satisfaction. If you email us
(or call if you can't email) as soon as you discover the problem, we
may be able to resolve it the same day or the following day. If you
would like to receive an item that you missed at pick-up, you must
contact us by Thursday morning.
If we have not heard from anyone, by Thursday afternoon our site hosts
are instructed to donate leftover food, ensuring that they do not end up
with bad food on their hands.
If we can not resolve your issue right away, email us to arrange a replacement or substitution the following week.
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Changes to Your Delivery?
If you will be away some upcoming week, and need to make changes to your share delivery, let us know
at least 1 week before the change. You can have your share donated to
the Food Pantry, or I can stop your share delivery and you will retain a
credit on your account toward the purchase of your next share.
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Storage and Use Tips
 Your greens this week are a mix of Spinach and sunflower shoots and radish.
According to Annie who works in the washhouse says the spinach is
"ridiculously sweet." Photo at right of our crew washing this week's
spinach. Store this in the crisper drawer in your refrigerator.
Ferono Beets
- These beautiful beets are unusually shaped - long and slender rather
than round. Their shape makes them easy to peel, and good for slicing
into uniform discs. They taste just like regular red beets! My
favorite way to eat beets is to roast them- peel and chop them into
quarters, coat with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in an oven
pre-heated to 450 for about 40-50 minutes.
Napa Cabbage has a more delicate flavor than regular cabbage. It's crispy crunch makes it great in a salad, slaw or Chinese stir fry.
The Sweet Corn
that we grew on the farm last summer was so far and away better than
any corn we had eaten we decided to put away as much as we could for the
winter and spring shares. We harvested, blanched and cut off the
kernels ear by ear, bagged and then into the freezer to preserve its
sweet, buttery deliciousness for the long winter ahead. Tested against
other frozen corns available in the grocery store we were pleased by the
freshness, quality and flavor of our own. You will receive corn 2 to 3
more times over the course of the share. Corn has already been blanched
and only really needs a quick reheat, just bring some water to a boil in
a pot and throw in a handful of corn, heat for 2-4 minutes and then
drain and serve. If you have kids they will be especially
pleased!
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Localvore Lore
For those of you who are not familiar with Elmore Mountain Bread,
they are regular contributors to the share. Located in Elmore, VT,
Blair and Andrew bake bread in their "bread studio" built into the side
of their home. They have a wood fired oven and use the best flours and
grains available. This week they are making a Maple Oat Bread
with VT maple syrup from Butternut Mountain Farm in Hyde Park and the
same steel cut oats from Golden Crops that you are receiving in the
share this week. The bread also contains two organic flours - Milanaise
Winter Wheat
& Milanaise Whole Wheat from Quebec, Sea Salt and yeast.
Harbison Cheese from Jasper Hill Farm
in Greensboro, VT is a bark-wrapped bloomy-rind cheese with woodsy,
sweet, herbal, and bright flavors. It is made with pasteurized cow's
milk and aged 3-6 weeks and the cheeses this week are ripened to
perfection. This cheese just won Super Gold at the 2012 World Cheese
Awards in November! The cheese just was named hey named their newest
cheese after Anne Harbison, seen by many to be the grandmother of
Greensboro, VT. She's active in the community, runs a bed and breakfast,
and volunteers at the public library, and has known the Kehler brothers
since they were children. The bark, cut from Jasper Hill Farm's
woodlands holds the delicate cheese together, provides flavor to
the
creamy paste, and allows for an ideal presentation as the centerpiece of
a cheese plate
The Organic Steel Cut Oats in the share today come
from just across the border in Quebec, little more than an hour's drive
from the farm. At Golden Crops, Michel Gaudreau farms several hundred
acres of organic grains, and in his mill he processes and then stores
the grains from other organic grain farmers in his area. Once each share
period we drive to his mill to pick up grains for Good Eats. Michel is
an avid member of the organic movement. The existence of his mill makes
it possible for a couple thousand neighboring acres to be farmed
organically. His products are beautiful and we are grateful to have such
an excellent source or oats, barley, flax, spelt and rye. Steel cut oat
make for a pretty fab weekend morning meal. These are oats that require
long cooking, but you are rewarded with a nutty, creamy beautiful
breakfast. These are the oats I cook when it's a special breakfast day.
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Recipes
Roasted Beet Hummus
A friend of mine brought this hummus to a party and it was a huge hit! Serve it with bread, crackers, or carrot sticks.
2 small or 1 medium sized red beet, roasted, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup tahini
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt, or extra if desired
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup cooked chickpeas
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for thinning the hummus needed
Place
all ingredients except for the chickpeas and olive oil in a blender or
food processor. Pulse until well blended. Add the chickpeas and olive
oil and pulse just until incorporated. Add more olive oil as necessary
for blending the chickpeas into a paste or to thin out the hummus to a
thinner consistency.
Steel Cut Oats with Apples and Raisins
This
recipe takes some time to prepare so it may be better suited to a
weekend breakfast. I tried it this morning and my three year old and I
both loved it!
3 cups water
1 cup milk - 1% or 2% is fine; I used almond milk
1 tbs unsalted butter
1 cup steel cut oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 apple, peeled and grated
1/3 c. raisins
1/4 c. maple syrup
Combine
the milk and water in a saucepan; bring to a simmer. Meanwhile, melt
the butter in a skillet. Add the oats and toast until golden and
fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Stir
the oats into the simmering liquid. Reduce the heat to medium-low and
simmer gently until the mixture is very thick, about 20 minutes. Stir
in the salt, cinnamon, apple, raisins and maple syrup. Continue to
simmer, stirring occassionally, until the all of the liquid has been
absorbed and the oatmeal is creamy, about 10 more minutes. Remove from
heat and let stand 5 minutes until serving.
Kicked Up Cajun Corn Maque Choux
Pronounced
"mock shoe", this is a traditional dish from southern Louisiana. It is
thought to be a mix of Cajun and American Indian cultural influence, and
the name is likely derived from the French interpretation of the Native
American name. It is usually served as an accompaniment but it can also
act as a base for a main meal by adding rice, chicken, shrimp etc.
2 Tbs unsalted butter or bacon drippings
2 c corn
1/2 c yellow onions, chopped
1/2 c red or green bell peppers, chopped
1 Tbs jalapeno pepper, minced (optional)
1/2 c heavy cream
dash of the following spices:
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
dried oregano
dried thyme
paprika
Melt
the butter in a large skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat. Add
the corn, onions, bell peppers, jalapeno, spices, and cook, stirring,
until soft, for 10 minutes. Add the cream and cook for 2 minutes.
Swiss Chard and Garlic Saute
1 tbs oil
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 bag frozen swiss chard, thawed
Lemon juice
Preheat
oil in a saucepan; add garlic and cook until just turning brown. Add
the chard to pan and toss it with the oil and garlic. Season the chard
to taste with your choice of herbs and spices, such as salt and pepper,
or Italian seasoning. Stir the chard and cook for about 5 minutes until
wilted. Serve with lemon juice.
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