Latest Specials: July 10, 2010

5 lb Ground Beef - $28.00
1 package of Cube Steak, 3 lb of Ground Beef, 1 package of Beef Stir-fry - $30.00
5 lb of Skinless/Boneless Breast - $7.50/lb

(While supplies last)

CSA Box -July 8, 2010

In the Produce CSA boxes this week: Corn, Tomatoes: Roma and Slicing,
Red Irish Potatoes,
Sweet Potatoes,
Spring Onions,
Yellow Squash,
Blueberries,
Eggplant: Thai (Green Spotted Round) and either White or Purple Japanese Eggplant
Peppers: Bell and either Poblano or Key Largo
Field Peas: Pink Eye/Purple Hull

It is sure hot and dry here. I don't think we'll have any more corn. We are really struggling with the garden right now. Vines drying up, the worms taking over the corn, grubs and fire ants trying to eat the potatoes. The potatoes in your box were just dug 3 days ago. They are fresh and might be a little soft. They aren't nearly as pretty as those from the other field earlier in the season. The sun is scalding some of the tomatoes.

Here is a good recipe for the thai eggplants. http://www.templeofthai.com/recipes/thai_green_curry.php You can google Thai eggplants for more recipe ideas. We are eating a lot of stirfrys and also roasting veggies and making frittatas w/ lots of veggies in them.

Thank you for bearing with us during this tough weather. The kids are really working long, hard hours in the garden. They work until about 10 am in the garden and then have to come out because it is too hot to be out there. Then they go back in from 7pm until pitch black dark nearly every night. Hopefully, we'll get some rain and things will be better in a few weeks.

In your Produce CSA box this week: Cabbage, pickling cucumbers, yellow squash, zucchini, the last of the Kohlrabi, Green Tomatoes, Green Beans, Collards, French Tarragon, Daikon Radishes (look like white carrots). Full boxes got some Hakauri turnips and Easter Egg radishes until they ran out. Time for Fried Green Tomatoes. Daikon radishes are great in stir frys (taste sort of like a water chestnut).
Here is a great link for recipes for Sweet Pickled Daikon Radishes: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/sweet-pickled-daikon-radish-recipe/index.html

Check out these great links for what to do with Green Tomatoes...

http://tipnut.com/green-tomato-recipes/

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/682/Green-Tomatoes-With-Goat-Chees97810.shtml

We should have some wax beans ready starting next week and the following week we will have corn and blueberries starting up. We are staying in the garden till dark. The kids are maturing and trying very hard this year, remembering to pick squash daily, harvest everything ready, chopping grass, etc. I'm very proud of them. We have about 500 tomato plants so at some point later in the summer, we should have huge amounts of tomatoes. Plan on canning or freezing some for winter or making spaghetti sauce. Don't ask me why I planted so many. They are one of my passions. I particularly love heirlooms.

Just a little bit about what's going on around the farm, etc...

The last 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. Lots to do on the farm, baling hay, weaning lambs, breeding ewes, planting summer grazing. The latest batch of Thanksgiving turkeys just came in. As many of you know I am also a Sustainable Agriculture Consultant. I am currently working on a Mobile Meat Processing Unit out in Nebraska. We hope that it will serve as a prototype for others around the country to help rebuild the needed small slaughterhouse infrastructure. I will post some pictures as soon as I get some nice ones to show you.

Produce CSA Box - Week 1

By now, y'all have had your first Produce CSA box. I hope you are enjoying all the fresh veggies and fruit. I am sorry to take so long to post but we have been scrambling to get some irrigation installed in one of the main gardens. We've spent much of the last week running irrigation pipe under the road, digging trenches, laying out drip tape, etc. The Romaine lettuce and the cabbages were looking pretty bad, flopped. It just seems that we are in a very bad dry pattern. The first batch of stringbeans didn't germinate well, so we are replanting since we've got irrigation installed. We have a lot to plant this week.

Anyway, if you weren't aware one of the greens that you most likely had in your box this week was tatsoi. It looks and tastes like spinach. The stem is a little different. The lettuces were beautiful this week and I hope you are enjoying lots of salads. We've been eating strawberries on our salad with a balsamic vinegarette.

Please note that we picked the berries ripe on Wednesday afternoon for the weekly boxes and immediately put them into the walk-in cooler at 38 degrees. The CSA boxes were very full this week. We couldn't even close the lids. We do endeavor to try and not squish any strawberries.
In your box, you have some white root veggies. They are Hakauri turnips. Also, I found this nice article today on the NY Times website on roasting radishes. The thought had never crossed my mind. But they suggest butter and salt. They say it changes the whole flavor profile. So, I am going to roast some tomorrow night w/ a roasted chicken and grilled asparagus. Here is the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/12/dining/12appe.html?hpw

Salad Bar Lamb and Beef

Are you having a salad for lunch today? These sheep and cows are. A nice selection of spring greens.

Chicory, Pasha turnips, Broccoli raab, Oats, Ryegrass, Dandelion, Clover, Hensbit and various other wild herbs and forbs.

Produce CSA update - April 21, 2010

Just to let the Produce CSA customers know. Boxes start the first week of May. Lots of spring greens, onions, radishes,lettuces, etc. Garden peas don't look as pretty as we were hoping. Maybe they will come on along soon. With the rain today, we are getting more transplants in the ground. Summer squash, melons, tomatoes, etc. The kids are busily working.

Those of you in New Bern will get your first boxes on Saturday, May 1st. Everyone else will start the following week.