Red Springs Family Farm
May 28, 2009, Week #1
This week’s selection:
Lettuces Garlic Scapes
Snow Peas Dandelion Greens
Sorrel & Oregano Lemon Balm
Parsley flowers Sweet Potato
Here we go!
Thank you for joining us this season. For some of you, this will be the third year you’ve been with us. We are excited to get things going again, and glad to see this Spring’s labors begin to bear fruit.
Were we to sum up the nature of this Spring in one word, it would be WET. We live and work in a hollow, the curve of Long Hungry Creek, and the hillside to our east drains through our property, into the creek. Crawdad’s live in our ground to keep the water moving and when the water table gets high enough, spontaneous springs sprout from our pasture areas. Because of this, our gardens perform wonderfully during drought, and are somewhat challenging during wet times. We are grateful to see the water table restored after last year’s drought; it is the best thing for the creeks and surrounding land. What challenges us in spring will serve us well in summer.
We started early this year – planting hundreds of broccoli and cabbage seeds indoors. The gardens were well composted and waiting. The rain barely stopped for long enough for the soil to dry before it began again. We squeezed plantings between the raindrops. A few of the more severe downpours took whole plantings with them – we’ve watched two plantings of spinach melt back into the soil. We lost one row of chard, but have transplanted a second that is growing well. Other important spring crops, such as the arugula, radishes, and even our beloved broccoli, are now struggling to emerge from the dampness. We’ve taken every possible opportunity to breathe air into the rain-pounded ground. We can’t promise that they will come through, but we are still trying.
The first harvests of spring are traditionally a little bit on the light side. Stick with us into tomato season and your perseverance will be rewarded. We have about 250 tomato plants waiting to be trellised and mulched now. Nearly half that many peppers, and loads of eggplant this year as well. Green Beans, beets, carrots, summer squash and zucchini, cucumbers and some beautiful herbs, not to mention melons, are all coming along nicely now, too.
To help bulk up these baskets, we’ve included the last of our sweet potato stash that we grew last year. These sweets are cured out completely and probably a little on the dry side. They would really like to be chopped into cubes and used in a nice sweet coconut milk curry.
Garlic scapes are the green curls of garlic trying to set seed. We cut these off to send the growth potential into the bulb. The ‘scape’ is a complete delicacy. It’s taste is milder, greener, than fresh garlic cloves, and tender enough to chop into salads. Use it as you would garlic and enjoy.
These dark green umbels are last year’s parsley plants going to seed. The flavor is perhaps even a little stronger than fresh parsley. I wouldn’t recommend that nursing mothers eat these in abundance, as parsley dries lactation. We throw them into soup, chop them into salad, and enjoy them whole in stir fries.
Sorrel, the bright green arrow-shaped leaf, tastes distinctly lemony. It’s great to spark a salad, and can be tossed into pasta or bean salads effectively. It is great with fish as well. We love sorrel.
These wild dandelions were too abundant in one field to be missed. They are a great spring tonic – definitely a wild bitter green. We recommend blanching them (boiling briefly and discarding the water) before using. A couple recipes here to help:
Dandelions for meat eaters:
1 large onion, chopped 1 pound bacon or sausage, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp olive oil Bunch of dandelion greens, cleaned and cut 1-to-2-inch lengths
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses Salt and pepper to taste
In a cast-iron skillet, brown onions and meat in the olive oil on medium heat. Add greens, molasses, salt and pepper, then stir and cover. Reduce heat and stir occasionally, cooking until the meat is done. Serve over a baked potato.
Dandelions for vegetarians: Dandelion Greens Sauté
big bunch of dandelion greens 3 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic 1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Wash and slice greens. Blanch in enough water to cover about 1 minute. Drain and saute in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes, then add the sesame and garlic and saute for couple minutes more. Add the sesame oil and serve.
And, just in case you’re not a tea drinker – here’s something else to do with Lemon Balm:
LEMON BALM COOKIES
2 tbsp. minced lemon balm leaves 1 tsp. lemon juice1 c. butter, softened 2/3 c. sugar1 egg 2 1/3 c. all-purpose flourWhole lemon balm leaves for garnish
In small dish, combine first 2 ingredients, press mixture with back of spoon to blend. In large mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and lemon mixture. Gradually beat in flour and salt. Cover and refrigerate 3 hours or until firm. Roll in wax paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On wax paper slice into slices about 1/8" thick. On ungreased cookie sheet bake 8 to 10 minutes. Will brown slightly around edges.
Next week, we hope to bring more lettuce, scapes, peas, dark greens, more herbs, with luck some arugula and radishes, and maybe more treats from the winter pantry as well. Unless you let us know otherwise, we will harvest for you again.
We encourage you to bring your own re-usable shopping bags, and also clean plastic grocery bags for us to re-use. Have a great week and enjoy your vegetables!
All the best,
Paul, Coree and Lulah Entwistle
Red Springs Family Farm
“Working for the earth is not a way to get rich, it is a way to be rich.” – Paul Hawkin
Friday, May 29, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
turkeys chics and more
SPRING!
Lulah can barely keep her hands off them, and Bonnet has been very patient with us.
They're such cute little things!
We're preparing for the possibility of frosts Sunday and Monday nights. Hoping for the best, and preparing for less than perfect.
Just wanted to drop a few more photos on here for those interested in the chics, cover crops and burdock, too.
The turkey chics emerged from underneath their intently sitting mother on the day after Mother's Day. We moved them all to the safety of the enclosed turkey coop. After just almost one week, they are developing into healthy lively little birds, with tiny feathers on their wings. Momma henny, Bonnet, broods them when the wind blows into the coop. We couldn't ask for anything more. There are four white chicks, three greys, and three spotty black ones.
Lulah can barely keep her hands off them, and Bonnet has been very patient with us.
They're such cute little things!
Lulah thought she should take her ponies out to graze in the crimson clover and rye .
We grew some Japanese Burdock, just to see how it would go.
It went great. Here's one to give you some scale.
After this cold snap, we hope the sun will come out and stay out.
Wishing you all a wonderful week.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Coming back soon!
First photo here is how we start our seeds indoors - hundreds of plants in a very small space.What a spring it has been! Wet and wetter. April showers bring.... May showers.
We've planted between the raindrops tho, and with some luck and love and sun, we will soon have a whole lot more food than we can handle.
Depending on how sunny and hot it gets, we will have food for delivery either on May 28, or June 4. Those of you on our mailing list will be notified.
Here's the greenhouse, getting started. I meant to get another picture when the tomatoes were two feet tall, but we were in a hurry to get them out of there and into the ground.
For the next two weeks we will be busy hoeing, mulching, and planting more in every dry moment. We will try to get more pictures out here soon. Things are really getting green and lovely now.
some views from the early spring. more to come soon.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Invitation to the 2009 Season
Hello All and Happy New Year!
You're receiving this email because you have at some point in time expressed interest in the Red Springs Family Farm and our fresh vegetable delivery service. We're excited to be planning the 2009 Season, and happy to invite you on board. Please read this email carefully (we will also post it on the blog), especially if you have not been a part of our gardens before, and consider carefully to what extent you would like to be involved in the season with us.
To give a broad over-view of what we're about...
We are a small family with a homestead in Macon County , just outside of Red Boiling Springs , TN. On our clear and flat land, we cultivate large gardens. We use time tested organic and Biodynamic principles, no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We save as many of our own seeds as possible, and primarily grow heirloom varieties. We live near to the land ourselves, and grow about 85% of our own food. What we offer is for you to eat somewhat like us.
Once a week, we make a large harvest, divide it into shares, and bring it to Cookeville for you, our shareholders. The harvest varies according to the season and the weather. We do our best to grow a diversity of foods, and have confidence in the quality and freshness of what we offer. On the average, our baskets contain 8-10 different items each week.
You're receiving this email because you have at some point in time expressed interest in the Red Springs Family Farm and our fresh vegetable delivery service. We're excited to be planning the 2009 Season, and happy to invite you on board. Please read this email carefully (we will also post it on the blog), especially if you have not been a part of our gardens before, and consider carefully to what extent you would like to be involved in the season with us.
To give a broad over-view of what we're about...
We are a small family with a homestead in Macon County , just outside of Red Boiling Springs , TN. On our clear and flat land, we cultivate large gardens. We use time tested organic and Biodynamic principles, no chemical fertilizers or pesticides. We save as many of our own seeds as possible, and primarily grow heirloom varieties. We live near to the land ourselves, and grow about 85% of our own food. What we offer is for you to eat somewhat like us.
Once a week, we make a large harvest, divide it into shares, and bring it to Cookeville for you, our shareholders. The harvest varies according to the season and the weather. We do our best to grow a diversity of foods, and have confidence in the quality and freshness of what we offer. On the average, our baskets contain 8-10 different items each week.
The main season is 20 weeks long. First delivery of the season will be mid to late May, the last of the main season deliveries in early October. There will be a season extension of 6 to 8 weeks, taking us to around Thanksgiving. Our veggie drop off is at New Century Bookstore, each Thursday from 4-6 pm.
There are two share sizes available, according to one's taste for veggies. The smaller size ($20 each - a heaping peck basket) is suitable for a veggie-eating single or couple. The larger size ($30 each - a heaping half bushel) is appropriate for vegetable fanatics and families.
In the past two seasons we have not asked for much payment up front. This year, however, we are slightly expanding our operation, and having up front payment and commitment to picking up helps stream-line our communications. Previously, we have spent a great deal of time making sure that each share-holder will be attending each week and calculating our harvest divisions accordingly. Your commitment to the season will eliminate that last minute scramble and allow us to focus on what we really do best: grow food! Or season’s commitment to you has already begun. We are planning the rotation, purchasing seeds, and preparing soil. We commit a whole lot of our time and a tremendous amount of labor, to bringing you the best that we have each week, same time, same place. What we bring to town is not like anything that can be bought in any grocery store.
Early Bird Pre-Registration Special is on NOW –
If you pre-pay by the end of January, you receive a 10% discount on 20 weeks pre-paid, or a 5% discount on 10 weeks pre-payment.
20 weeks up-front --- Large share regular price: $600 early-bird discount: $540
(May-October) Smaller share regular price: $400 early-bird discount: $360
10 weeks up-front--- Larger share regular price: $300 early-bird discount: $285
(May-July) Smaller share regular price: $200 early-bird discount: $190
By pre-registering, you are agreeing to show up, or send a friend/family/neighbor, for your basket each week for the length of your paid period. If you are not able to make it to a pick up, give us ample notice (one week) and we will credit the value of that basket to the autumn extension, or your next payment period. Early-bird pre-registration is not required, but it is greatly appreciated.
As an alternative, you may pre-register by sending us payment for your first four (4) baskets - $80 for smaller share, and $120 for larger shares. If this is too much for your finances but you REALLY want to get veggies from us, please just speak to us and we’ll be happy to work something out with you. There will also still be stray baskets and extras in bulk from time to time, and if you want to keep yourself on the list for these, that’s fine as well. We want to make good local food available to as many people as possible.
If all this sounds great but you know you cannot handle the amount of food that we bring each week, don’t hesitate to contact us about finding a veggie-buddy. You and a friend, or fellow veggie-eater, can trade off weeks of picking up vegetables. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
To learn more about this model of farming, eating and commerce, you might like to visit one or more of these sites which provide more detailed information:
http://www.biodynamics.com/csa.html
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/csa.html
http://www.localtable.net/csa.php
If you have questions, please contact us – email or phone. We’re happy to clarify questions and work with people as needed. We love what we do, and want it to work for you, too!
We hope to hear from you soon, and see you in May!
All the best,
Paul, Coree and Lulah Entwistle
PO Box 351
Red Boiling Springs, TN 37150
PS – If you have friends who might be interested in this service, please feel free to pass this letter on.
Monday, December 8, 2008
SURVEY
Red Springs Family Farm
Season Survey 2008
And Pre-registration 2009
Let us know….
What were your three favorite vegetables this year? (more than 3 is ok, too)
What were your three least favorite vegetables? (again, more than 3 is ok)
Anything we didn’t give that you would like to have seen?
How about the quantities – were you able to use the whole basket in the course of a week?
Please comment:
Any general comments on your experience of this season?
We’d like to offer pre-registration this year – with greater commitment for the season to come.
You are under no pressure to pre-pay, or even pre-register at this point, but it sure helps us out to know if and how much you're interested in next year's veggies! We hope to increase our "community" size just one more notch - and you who have been with us this season get first dibs. The early-bird offer of a discounted pre-registration rate only applies to those who already have experience with us.
If you can commit and pay for 20 weeks in advance by Feb. 1, you get a 10% discount.
Small shares will remain $20 per week ($400 for the season - $360 if paid early).
Larger shares will be $30 per week ($600 for the season - $540 for early birds).
____ YES – I will commit to picking up my veggies (or arranging for someone else to pick up) for the first twenty weeks of the 2009 growing season. I will send a check by Feb. 1, 2009.
____ NO – I cannot pre-pay at this time, but please keep me on the list for next season.
____ None of the above.
If you are pre-registering for 2009 now, or would like to be considered “in” for next season, please fill in your contact information below.
Name(s)………………………………………………………………………………………………
Address ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Email………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Best contact phone for reaching you at 5:55 pm…………………………………………………
THANK YOU!
Season Survey 2008
And Pre-registration 2009
Let us know….
What were your three favorite vegetables this year? (more than 3 is ok, too)
What were your three least favorite vegetables? (again, more than 3 is ok)
Anything we didn’t give that you would like to have seen?
How about the quantities – were you able to use the whole basket in the course of a week?
Please comment:
Any general comments on your experience of this season?
We’d like to offer pre-registration this year – with greater commitment for the season to come.
You are under no pressure to pre-pay, or even pre-register at this point, but it sure helps us out to know if and how much you're interested in next year's veggies! We hope to increase our "community" size just one more notch - and you who have been with us this season get first dibs. The early-bird offer of a discounted pre-registration rate only applies to those who already have experience with us.
If you can commit and pay for 20 weeks in advance by Feb. 1, you get a 10% discount.
Small shares will remain $20 per week ($400 for the season - $360 if paid early).
Larger shares will be $30 per week ($600 for the season - $540 for early birds).
____ YES – I will commit to picking up my veggies (or arranging for someone else to pick up) for the first twenty weeks of the 2009 growing season. I will send a check by Feb. 1, 2009.
____ NO – I cannot pre-pay at this time, but please keep me on the list for next season.
____ None of the above.
If you are pre-registering for 2009 now, or would like to be considered “in” for next season, please fill in your contact information below.
Name(s)………………………………………………………………………………………………
Address ………………………………………………………………………………………………
Email………………………………………………………………………………………………….
Best contact phone for reaching you at 5:55 pm…………………………………………………
THANK YOU!
Newsletter #26 - aloha!
Red Springs Family Farm
December 4, 2008, Week #26
This week:
Chinese Cabbage Lettuce Kale mix
Daikon Radish Parsley Mizuna or Cilantro
Butternut Sweet Potatoes Potatoes
The season has come into its natural decline. Short gray wet days have stunted the plant growth. The garden is too wet to walk in. We gardeners are tired and ready to turn our attention elsewhere. This will be our last regularly scheduled delivery. Should January turn mild – we may offer more greens now and then – but mostly it is time for us to study seed catalogs, tend to the fences, and dream of spring.
If you have not remembered to return your surveys to us today, please do us the favor of mailing them in! Your feedback means so much to us. You could even just drop us an email with the questions answered and it would make us very happy.
Since we’ve asked you to review the season for us, we will also tell you our thoughts on the growing time of 2008. Over-all, we have been thrilled with the progress of this season. We felt better focused and streamlined in our field work. There were some early season disappointments (radishes and spinach failed to thrive), and a little lag while we really got ontop of the scaled up production that needed to happen. Spring weather was low and slow, but it served the summer veggies wonderfully. We weren’t convinced that the Sugar Buns corn was anything exciting until we tasted it, and though it was a treat, we probably won’t grow it again. Same goes for a few of the eggplant and tomato varieties. We learned a few things about how to conduct our variety trials, so hopefully we won’t be short of tomatoes or eggplant next year. We still haven’t found the perfect zucchini for our gardens, but we’ve got a good lead from some neighbors. Same goes for spinach. We would love to have a beautiful big productive spinach bed, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Conditions, and results, are improving, but there’s still room to be better. Broccoli was successful this year. It was a labor intensive and time consuming project, and the end result of so many lovely heads of broccoli gave us great satisfaction. We hope it was as much a delicacy for you as it was for us. The fall garden has been delightful. Even though we missed the beautiful window of cool wet weather to plant out in August, the greens have superseded our expectations. Last plantings of green onions got smothered beneath the remay, and the timing of the snow peas still didn’t work quite right, but next year’s garlic planting is abundant and healthy looking already.
Organizationally, we felt like we made good progress as well. The blog has proven to be a good tool, as has the excel spreadsheet, and the pay by the month system took a little bit of the guess-work out of the program. We would like to take it further next year and really be liberated to just GROW for you. Less last minute emails means more beautiful food.
As for your basket this week, we have a few comments. First, the kale – three kinds of greens are in here – the dark, rough textured “Nero Di Toscano” Italian kale, the wowee purple “Red Russian” kale with frilly leaves that get more purple as the season gets colder, and the huge, deeply lobed leaves of a “Rapa” cabbage. This one did not become what we thought it would, but we’re happy with its texture and flavor and think you will find it enjoyable as well. These three are not evenly distributed in your packages, but hopefully you can identify each. You can separate these out or blend them all together for a healthy steamed green extravaganza. The Nero is particularly fine in soups. Russian may be well suited for an omelet, and Rapa is a nice meaty side to mashed potatoes.
Isn’t the Chinese Cabbage awesome? Some of the tips of the tops have been frozen abit, but after you cut them off, you can just wrap this cabbage tightly in a plastic bag and it will keep for a long time in the fridge! We’ve heard accounts from a friend’s farm of the inner head of a Cabbage like this keeping in the fridge for 9 months! We’ll be back with more veggies in less than nine months, but it is hopeful to know that such good keeping quality is a possibility!
If you want to make quick use of your cabbage, you might consider making Kim chi. Kim chi is Korean sauerkraut, made simply by brining cabbage and daikon with ginger root and as much onion, garlic, and hot pepper as you like (we use very little hot pepper, so that Lulah will eat it too). If lacto-fermentation is not your style, then you might also try using cabbage leaves in your salads. Thinly sliced, then lightly ‘massaged’, these cabbages blend well with lettuce and parsley and dress fine with balsamic and feta cheese. The crisp ribs are even a good replacement for cucumbers!
Here are some suggestions:
Basic Kim chi – adapted from Wild Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions
1. Prepare vegetables. Shred the head of Chinese Cabbage. Grate or finely slice the daikon. Chop or finely slice an onion. Mince a few cloves of garlic. Grate a cup of carrot if you want it. Also grate at least one tablespoon of ginger root (we use more). Powdered or flaked hot peppers can be added at your preference – a little bit goes a long way in this context. Mix all these together in a large bowl.
2. Pound the vegetables. Sprinkle at least a tablespoon of salt (we prefer sea salt or Real salt) over the mixed veggies. You can use your hands and squeeze the veggies, or a meat hammer, but one way or another, just work the veggies over until they have released some water. Taste them to see how salty they are. Adjust to your flavor preference.
3. Pack the kim chi into a crock or a jar and weigh it down so that the veggie water covers them completely. Cover the container so that bugs stay out and leave it in the dark at room temperature for at least three days before transferring to refrigeration. Enjoy at will!
We’ve had some questions about how to use Choi and Chinese Cabbage. Here’s a yummy suggestion that will give you the basic idea of how to stir fry just about anything:
Stir Fries with Mushroom and Cashews from The Real Dirt on Vegetables
¼ cup coarsely chopped unsalted cashews 8 oz. Dry rice noodles
6 Tbsp. peanut oil, divided 1 med. Choi or Chinese cabbage, sliced
8 dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms diagonally into ¼ - ½ inch strips
(if dried rehydrate in hot water 20 min 3 scallions, sliced
Strain and slice, reserved liquid) ¼ water (soaking water from mushrooms)
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or lemon juice) 2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil sugar (optional) and cilantro for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 350. Toast cashews in a heavy skillet until they begin to brown. Cool off heat.
2. Cook the rice noodles according to directions on the package.
3. Meanwhile, heat a wok or deep skillet over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 3 Tbsp. peanut oil and let it heat for 30 seconds. Add sliced cabbage stems and stir fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms, scallions, and cabbage leaves. Add water. Cook, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated – 8-10 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 3 Tbsp. peanut oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. Add a little sugar to taste if desired. Pour over the veggies in the wok and toss until well combined.
6. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok along with the sauce. Toss to thoroughly combine. Serve warm or chill for 1-2 hours. Garnish with the cashews and cilantro just before serving.
I’m out of room! Look for another great butternut recipe on the blog.
Thank you all for being a part of this season.
All the best,
Paul, Coree, and Lulah Entwistle
“…the most fundamental requirement for a healthy physical body is food to supply what the body needs and, it goes without saying, food that does no harm.” – Sally Fallon
PS:
here's the other butternut recipe!
Puree in Blender:
Large butternut squash, roasted or microwaved,
then remove seeds and scoop out the flesh
1/2 c. chopped onions, sauteed in tablespoon butter in large pot
3 c. broth of choice
1/2 c. evaporated milk
Return to pot, warm and season to taste with: salt cinnamon nutmeg
yummmmmmm
December 4, 2008, Week #26
This week:
Chinese Cabbage Lettuce Kale mix
Daikon Radish Parsley Mizuna or Cilantro
Butternut Sweet Potatoes Potatoes
The season has come into its natural decline. Short gray wet days have stunted the plant growth. The garden is too wet to walk in. We gardeners are tired and ready to turn our attention elsewhere. This will be our last regularly scheduled delivery. Should January turn mild – we may offer more greens now and then – but mostly it is time for us to study seed catalogs, tend to the fences, and dream of spring.
If you have not remembered to return your surveys to us today, please do us the favor of mailing them in! Your feedback means so much to us. You could even just drop us an email with the questions answered and it would make us very happy.
Since we’ve asked you to review the season for us, we will also tell you our thoughts on the growing time of 2008. Over-all, we have been thrilled with the progress of this season. We felt better focused and streamlined in our field work. There were some early season disappointments (radishes and spinach failed to thrive), and a little lag while we really got ontop of the scaled up production that needed to happen. Spring weather was low and slow, but it served the summer veggies wonderfully. We weren’t convinced that the Sugar Buns corn was anything exciting until we tasted it, and though it was a treat, we probably won’t grow it again. Same goes for a few of the eggplant and tomato varieties. We learned a few things about how to conduct our variety trials, so hopefully we won’t be short of tomatoes or eggplant next year. We still haven’t found the perfect zucchini for our gardens, but we’ve got a good lead from some neighbors. Same goes for spinach. We would love to have a beautiful big productive spinach bed, but it just hasn’t happened yet. Conditions, and results, are improving, but there’s still room to be better. Broccoli was successful this year. It was a labor intensive and time consuming project, and the end result of so many lovely heads of broccoli gave us great satisfaction. We hope it was as much a delicacy for you as it was for us. The fall garden has been delightful. Even though we missed the beautiful window of cool wet weather to plant out in August, the greens have superseded our expectations. Last plantings of green onions got smothered beneath the remay, and the timing of the snow peas still didn’t work quite right, but next year’s garlic planting is abundant and healthy looking already.
Organizationally, we felt like we made good progress as well. The blog has proven to be a good tool, as has the excel spreadsheet, and the pay by the month system took a little bit of the guess-work out of the program. We would like to take it further next year and really be liberated to just GROW for you. Less last minute emails means more beautiful food.
As for your basket this week, we have a few comments. First, the kale – three kinds of greens are in here – the dark, rough textured “Nero Di Toscano” Italian kale, the wowee purple “Red Russian” kale with frilly leaves that get more purple as the season gets colder, and the huge, deeply lobed leaves of a “Rapa” cabbage. This one did not become what we thought it would, but we’re happy with its texture and flavor and think you will find it enjoyable as well. These three are not evenly distributed in your packages, but hopefully you can identify each. You can separate these out or blend them all together for a healthy steamed green extravaganza. The Nero is particularly fine in soups. Russian may be well suited for an omelet, and Rapa is a nice meaty side to mashed potatoes.
Isn’t the Chinese Cabbage awesome? Some of the tips of the tops have been frozen abit, but after you cut them off, you can just wrap this cabbage tightly in a plastic bag and it will keep for a long time in the fridge! We’ve heard accounts from a friend’s farm of the inner head of a Cabbage like this keeping in the fridge for 9 months! We’ll be back with more veggies in less than nine months, but it is hopeful to know that such good keeping quality is a possibility!
If you want to make quick use of your cabbage, you might consider making Kim chi. Kim chi is Korean sauerkraut, made simply by brining cabbage and daikon with ginger root and as much onion, garlic, and hot pepper as you like (we use very little hot pepper, so that Lulah will eat it too). If lacto-fermentation is not your style, then you might also try using cabbage leaves in your salads. Thinly sliced, then lightly ‘massaged’, these cabbages blend well with lettuce and parsley and dress fine with balsamic and feta cheese. The crisp ribs are even a good replacement for cucumbers!
Here are some suggestions:
Basic Kim chi – adapted from Wild Fermentation and Nourishing Traditions
1. Prepare vegetables. Shred the head of Chinese Cabbage. Grate or finely slice the daikon. Chop or finely slice an onion. Mince a few cloves of garlic. Grate a cup of carrot if you want it. Also grate at least one tablespoon of ginger root (we use more). Powdered or flaked hot peppers can be added at your preference – a little bit goes a long way in this context. Mix all these together in a large bowl.
2. Pound the vegetables. Sprinkle at least a tablespoon of salt (we prefer sea salt or Real salt) over the mixed veggies. You can use your hands and squeeze the veggies, or a meat hammer, but one way or another, just work the veggies over until they have released some water. Taste them to see how salty they are. Adjust to your flavor preference.
3. Pack the kim chi into a crock or a jar and weigh it down so that the veggie water covers them completely. Cover the container so that bugs stay out and leave it in the dark at room temperature for at least three days before transferring to refrigeration. Enjoy at will!
We’ve had some questions about how to use Choi and Chinese Cabbage. Here’s a yummy suggestion that will give you the basic idea of how to stir fry just about anything:
Stir Fries with Mushroom and Cashews from The Real Dirt on Vegetables
¼ cup coarsely chopped unsalted cashews 8 oz. Dry rice noodles
6 Tbsp. peanut oil, divided 1 med. Choi or Chinese cabbage, sliced
8 dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms diagonally into ¼ - ½ inch strips
(if dried rehydrate in hot water 20 min 3 scallions, sliced
Strain and slice, reserved liquid) ¼ water (soaking water from mushrooms)
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (or lemon juice) 2 Tbsp. soy sauce or tamari
1 tsp. toasted sesame oil sugar (optional) and cilantro for garnish
1. Preheat oven to 350. Toast cashews in a heavy skillet until they begin to brown. Cool off heat.
2. Cook the rice noodles according to directions on the package.
3. Meanwhile, heat a wok or deep skillet over high heat for 2 minutes. Add 3 Tbsp. peanut oil and let it heat for 30 seconds. Add sliced cabbage stems and stir fry for 2 minutes.
4. Add mushrooms, scallions, and cabbage leaves. Add water. Cook, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated – 8-10 minutes.
5. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining 3 Tbsp. peanut oil, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. Add a little sugar to taste if desired. Pour over the veggies in the wok and toss until well combined.
6. Drain the noodles and add them to the wok along with the sauce. Toss to thoroughly combine. Serve warm or chill for 1-2 hours. Garnish with the cashews and cilantro just before serving.
I’m out of room! Look for another great butternut recipe on the blog.
Thank you all for being a part of this season.
All the best,
Paul, Coree, and Lulah Entwistle
“…the most fundamental requirement for a healthy physical body is food to supply what the body needs and, it goes without saying, food that does no harm.” – Sally Fallon
PS:
here's the other butternut recipe!
Puree in Blender:
Large butternut squash, roasted or microwaved,
then remove seeds and scoop out the flesh
1/2 c. chopped onions, sauteed in tablespoon butter in large pot
3 c. broth of choice
1/2 c. evaporated milk
Return to pot, warm and season to taste with: salt cinnamon nutmeg
yummmmmmm
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Newsletter week 25 - Happy Thanksgiving
Red Springs Family Farm
November 20, 2008, Week #25
This week:
Broccoli Lettuce Pumpkins
Cornmeal Parsley Mizuna
Arugula Komatsuma or Tat soi
Celery Potatoes Garlic
“I built me a flame late one night. When day is done, God will my flame never die.” When Paul tip-toed downstairs at 4:30 on Wednesday morning to fetch me a cough drop (Thank you!) it was 16 degrees out-doors down in the hollow. Our Norwegian woodstove (where the quote above is written in cast iron) keeps us cozy in here, and for that we’re so grateful.
Wonder of wonders, the lettuce survived the freeze. The Broccoli showed no signs of damage, and so we’ve got this beautiful food for you! Next week is Thanksgiving, and so there will be no food delivery – Happy Thanksgiving! The following week – December 4 – as long as sub-zero temperatures do not destroy every 7 pound Chinese cabbage standing in the field, we will return. Watch your email for updates.
This baggy of two cups of cornmeal is from our own field corn – an heirloom rainbow variety. The stalks shoot up over 10 feet tall and many ears set 6 feet high. It’s a beautiful corn, and we enjoy the fresh corny-ness in cornbread, polenta, and anywhere cornmeal is called for. Keep it in the fridge so the oils don’t go rancid. A couple of good recipes are included below.
Our favorite cornbread:
2 cups freshly ground cornmeal 1 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda 1 goodly dollop of honey or sorghum
2 eggs, beaten 2 cups buttermilk, soured milk, or diluted yogurt
2 Tbsp. Oil, butter, or lard
Preheat the oven at 425. We like to use an 8 or 10 cast iron skillet – and if you do too, then put it in the oven to heat now, with the butter or lard in it. Don’t do this if you’re not using cast iron! Just grease your 8-9 inch pan and melt the butter. Mix the cornmeal, salt, and soda in a bowl. In a four cup measuring cup, or smaller bowl, beat the eggs, add the buttermilk, and then thoroughly mix in the honey or sorghum. Add the wet to the dry, mixing quickly and thoroughly. The batter should be plenty wet. Pour most of the hot oil into the batter, then quickly pour the batter into the sizzling skillet and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes. This is a very corny cornbread – if you need to soften it a little – just add a ¼ or ½ cup wheat flour.
Or try Polenta, from The American Heritage Cookbook:
1 cup cornmeal 3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp salt Paprika
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Bring 3 cups water to a rolling boil. Combine cornmeal with 1 cup cold water and salt. Stir into boiling water and cool, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. Pour into a loaf pan and refrigerate until firm. Shortly before serving, cut the Polenta into slices and ½ inch thick and place in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, dot with butter, and shake paprika over all. Broil about 4 inches from tip of preheated broiling unit until brown – 4-5 min.
Just a note on the celery – for those of you who might not have encountered it earlier in the season – this is not celery for stuffing with peanut butter or cream cheese. It’s weathered a long season now, and been hit severely by the last couple nights’ freezing weather. However, it packs a celery flavored punch that will enliven tomato soups and make dressings and stuffings sing.
Now for the sweetness, a very traditional Thanksgiving recipe (and commentary) also from the excellent American Heritage Cookbook:
“Pumpkin pie,” according to The House Mother, “if rightly made, is a thing of beauty and a joy – while it lasts… Pies that cut a little less firm than a pine board, and those that run round your plate are alike to be avoided. Two inches deep is better than the thin plasters one sometimes sees, that look for all the world like pumpkin flap-jacks. The expressive phrase ‘too thin’ must have come from these lean parodies on pumpkin pie. With the pastry light, tender, and not too rich, and a generous filling of smooth spices sweetness – a little ‘trembly’ as to consistency, and delicately brown on top – a perfect pumpkin pie, eaten before the life has gone out of it, is one of the real additions made by American cookery to the good things of the world. For the first pumpkin pie of the season, flanked by a liberal cut of creamy cheese, we prefer to sit down, as the French gourmand said about his turkey: ‘with just the two of us; myself and the turkey!’”
Pastry for a 1-crust pie ½ tsp ginger
2 cups cooked pumpkin ½ tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, ¾ cup milk
Firmly packed 2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup brandy
Prepare pastry, line a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you make the filling. Combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt in a mixing bowl. Then beat in milk, eggs, cream, and brandy with a rotary beater or an electric mixer. Pour into unbaked pastry shell and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in center comes out dry. Cool. Serve plain, or with Cheddar cheese or whipped cream mixed with ginger (use 1 cup heavy cream and 2 Tbsp chopped crystallized ginger).
We’re certainly grateful for bounty of the season past, and for all we’ve learned this year as we’ve expanded production and gotten to know you all. Thank you for your support, your good eating, and your general kindness to our family. We hope to meet you again and again in the winter and spring to come. We wish you very happy and healthy holidays.
Peace be with you.
The Entwistles
“…the ratio between consumed substance and achieved effect in a bird that migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic is of a scale that men cannot achieve technically. The comparison between bird flight and an airplane demonstrates this clearly. The more we understand and follow this “wisdom” in nature, this outspread “spirit,” the more rationally and therefore economically we can organize the farms of tomorrow. The profit motivation, applied to nature, has led to vast depletion of soil and dangerous exploitation of animal and plant material. If we follow the spirit in nature, we put into our service both the rationale and the economy of nature. This, ultimately, is the basis of the life of humanity.” - Trauger Groh, The Farms of Tomorrow
November 20, 2008, Week #25
This week:
Broccoli Lettuce Pumpkins
Cornmeal Parsley Mizuna
Arugula Komatsuma or Tat soi
Celery Potatoes Garlic
“I built me a flame late one night. When day is done, God will my flame never die.” When Paul tip-toed downstairs at 4:30 on Wednesday morning to fetch me a cough drop (Thank you!) it was 16 degrees out-doors down in the hollow. Our Norwegian woodstove (where the quote above is written in cast iron) keeps us cozy in here, and for that we’re so grateful.
Wonder of wonders, the lettuce survived the freeze. The Broccoli showed no signs of damage, and so we’ve got this beautiful food for you! Next week is Thanksgiving, and so there will be no food delivery – Happy Thanksgiving! The following week – December 4 – as long as sub-zero temperatures do not destroy every 7 pound Chinese cabbage standing in the field, we will return. Watch your email for updates.
This baggy of two cups of cornmeal is from our own field corn – an heirloom rainbow variety. The stalks shoot up over 10 feet tall and many ears set 6 feet high. It’s a beautiful corn, and we enjoy the fresh corny-ness in cornbread, polenta, and anywhere cornmeal is called for. Keep it in the fridge so the oils don’t go rancid. A couple of good recipes are included below.
Our favorite cornbread:
2 cups freshly ground cornmeal 1 tsp salt
1 tsp. baking soda 1 goodly dollop of honey or sorghum
2 eggs, beaten 2 cups buttermilk, soured milk, or diluted yogurt
2 Tbsp. Oil, butter, or lard
Preheat the oven at 425. We like to use an 8 or 10 cast iron skillet – and if you do too, then put it in the oven to heat now, with the butter or lard in it. Don’t do this if you’re not using cast iron! Just grease your 8-9 inch pan and melt the butter. Mix the cornmeal, salt, and soda in a bowl. In a four cup measuring cup, or smaller bowl, beat the eggs, add the buttermilk, and then thoroughly mix in the honey or sorghum. Add the wet to the dry, mixing quickly and thoroughly. The batter should be plenty wet. Pour most of the hot oil into the batter, then quickly pour the batter into the sizzling skillet and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes. This is a very corny cornbread – if you need to soften it a little – just add a ¼ or ½ cup wheat flour.
Or try Polenta, from The American Heritage Cookbook:
1 cup cornmeal 3 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp salt Paprika
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Bring 3 cups water to a rolling boil. Combine cornmeal with 1 cup cold water and salt. Stir into boiling water and cool, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes. Pour into a loaf pan and refrigerate until firm. Shortly before serving, cut the Polenta into slices and ½ inch thick and place in a shallow baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, dot with butter, and shake paprika over all. Broil about 4 inches from tip of preheated broiling unit until brown – 4-5 min.
Just a note on the celery – for those of you who might not have encountered it earlier in the season – this is not celery for stuffing with peanut butter or cream cheese. It’s weathered a long season now, and been hit severely by the last couple nights’ freezing weather. However, it packs a celery flavored punch that will enliven tomato soups and make dressings and stuffings sing.
Now for the sweetness, a very traditional Thanksgiving recipe (and commentary) also from the excellent American Heritage Cookbook:
“Pumpkin pie,” according to The House Mother, “if rightly made, is a thing of beauty and a joy – while it lasts… Pies that cut a little less firm than a pine board, and those that run round your plate are alike to be avoided. Two inches deep is better than the thin plasters one sometimes sees, that look for all the world like pumpkin flap-jacks. The expressive phrase ‘too thin’ must have come from these lean parodies on pumpkin pie. With the pastry light, tender, and not too rich, and a generous filling of smooth spices sweetness – a little ‘trembly’ as to consistency, and delicately brown on top – a perfect pumpkin pie, eaten before the life has gone out of it, is one of the real additions made by American cookery to the good things of the world. For the first pumpkin pie of the season, flanked by a liberal cut of creamy cheese, we prefer to sit down, as the French gourmand said about his turkey: ‘with just the two of us; myself and the turkey!’”
Pastry for a 1-crust pie ½ tsp ginger
2 cups cooked pumpkin ½ tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar, ¾ cup milk
Firmly packed 2 eggs, well beaten
2 tsp. cinnamon 1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup brandy
Prepare pastry, line a 9-inch pie pan, and refrigerate while you make the filling. Combine pumpkin, sugar, spices, and salt in a mixing bowl. Then beat in milk, eggs, cream, and brandy with a rotary beater or an electric mixer. Pour into unbaked pastry shell and bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 1 hour or until a knife inserted in center comes out dry. Cool. Serve plain, or with Cheddar cheese or whipped cream mixed with ginger (use 1 cup heavy cream and 2 Tbsp chopped crystallized ginger).
We’re certainly grateful for bounty of the season past, and for all we’ve learned this year as we’ve expanded production and gotten to know you all. Thank you for your support, your good eating, and your general kindness to our family. We hope to meet you again and again in the winter and spring to come. We wish you very happy and healthy holidays.
Peace be with you.
The Entwistles
“…the ratio between consumed substance and achieved effect in a bird that migrates from the Arctic to the Antarctic is of a scale that men cannot achieve technically. The comparison between bird flight and an airplane demonstrates this clearly. The more we understand and follow this “wisdom” in nature, this outspread “spirit,” the more rationally and therefore economically we can organize the farms of tomorrow. The profit motivation, applied to nature, has led to vast depletion of soil and dangerous exploitation of animal and plant material. If we follow the spirit in nature, we put into our service both the rationale and the economy of nature. This, ultimately, is the basis of the life of humanity.” - Trauger Groh, The Farms of Tomorrow
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