Earthscape Farm

2011-10-18T07:42:00.001-04:00

Last Veggie Week for 20 week shares

2011-10-17T19:22:00.000-04:00

You've got a good variety in your box this week. The Sweet Potatoes are not our usual great quality - they have some bore holes in them. We aren't sure why. Please cut around them - Sorry!
Enjoy!

Wendell Berry: The Pleasure of Eating

2011-09-30T06:47:00.000-04:00

Published on Organic Gardening (http://www.organicgardening.com)

Wendell Berry: The Pleasure of Eating

Created 2010-12-10 17:45

Many times, after I have finished a lecture on the decline of American farming and rural life, someone in the audience has asked, "What can city people do?"

"Eat responsibly," I have usually answered. Of course, I have tried to explain what I meant by that, but afterwards I have invariably felt that there was more to be said than I had been able to say. Now I would like to attempt a better explanation.

I begin with the proposition that eating is an agricultural act. Eating ends the annual drama of the food economy that begins with planting and birth. Most eaters, however, are no longer aware that this is true. They think of food as an agricultural product, perhaps, but they do not think of themselves as participants in agriculture. They think of themselves as "consumers." If they think beyond that, they recognize that they are passive consumers. They buy what they want—or what they have been persuaded to want—within the limits of what they can get. They pay, mostly without protest, what they are charged. And they mostly ignore certain critical questions about the quality and the cost of what they are sold: How fresh is it? How pure or clean is it, how free of dangerous chemicals? How far was it transported, and what did transportation add to the cost? How much did manufacturing or packaging or advertising add to the cost? When the food product has been manufactured or "processed" or "precooked," how has that affected its quality or price or nutritional value?

Most urban shoppers would tell you that food is produced on farms. But most of them do not know what farms, or what kinds of farms, or where the farms are, or what knowledge or skills are involved in farming. They apparently have little doubt that farms will continue to produce, but they do not know how or over what obstacles. For them, then, food is pretty much an abstract idea—something they do not know or imagine—until it appears on the grocery shelf or on the table.

Food in the Mind of the Eater
When food, in the minds of eaters, is no longer associated with farming and with the land, then the eaters are suffering a kind of cultural amnesia that is misleading and dangerous. The passive American consumer, sitting down to a meal of pre-prepared or fast food, confronts a platter covered with inert, anonymous substances that have been processed, dyed, breaded, sauced, gravied, ground, pulped, strained, blended, prettified, and sanitized beyond resemblance to any part of any creature that ever lived. The products of nature and agriculture have been made, to all appearances, the products of industry. Both eater and eaten are thus in exile from biological reality. And the result is a kind of solitude, unprecedented in human experience, in which the eater may think of eating as, first, a purely commercial transaction between him and a supplier and then as a purely appetitive transaction between him and his food.

And this peculiar specialization of the act of eating is, again, of obvious benefit to the food industry, which has good reasons to obscure the connection between food and farming. It would not do for the consumer to know that the hamburger she is eating came from a steer who spent much of his life standing deep in his own excrement in a feedlot, helping to pollute the local streams, or that the calf that yielded the veal cutlet on her plate spent its life in a box in which it did not have room to turn around. And, though her sympathy for the slaw might be less tender, she should not be encouraged to meditate on the hygienic and biological implications of mile-square fields of cabbage, for vegetables grown in huge monocultures are dependent on toxic chemicals—just as animals in close confinement are dependent on antibiotics and other drugs.

The consumer, that is to say, must be kept from discovering that, in the food industry—as in any other industry—the overriding concerns are not quality and health, but volume and price. For decades now the entire industrial food economy, from the large farms and feedlots to the chains of supermarkets and fast-food restaurants, has been obsessed with volume. It has relentlessly increased scale in order to increase volume in order (presumably) to reduce costs. But as scale increases, diversity declines; as diversity declines, so does health; as health declines, the dependence on drugs and chemicals necessarily increases. As capital replaces labor, it does so by substituting machines, drugs, and chemicals for human workers and for the natural health and fertility of the soil. The food is produced by any means or any shortcut that will increase profits. And the business of the cosmeticians of advertising is to persuade the consumer that food so produced is good, tasty, healthful, and a guarantee of marital fidelity and long life.

Eat Responsibly
Eaters must understand that eating takes place inescapably in the world, that it is inescapably an agricultural act, and that how we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used. This is a simple way of describing a relationship that is inexpressibly complex. To eat responsibly is to understand and enact, so far as one can, this complex relationship. What can one do?

Here is a list, probably not definitive:

Participate in food production to the extent that you can.
If you have a yard or even just a porch box or a pot in a sunny window, grow something to eat in it. Make a little compost of your kitchen scraps and use it for fertilizer. Only by growing some food for yourself can you become acquainted with the beautiful energy cycle that revolves from soil to seed to flower to fruit to food to offal to decay, and around again. You will be fully responsible for any food that you grow for yourself, and you will know all about it. You will appreciate it fully, having known it all its life.

Prepare your own food.
This means reviving in your own mind and life the arts of kitchen and household. This should enable you to eat more cheaply, and it will give you a measure of "quality control": you will have some reliable knowledge of what has been added to the food you eat.

Learn the origins of the food you buy, and buy the food that is produced closest to your home.
The idea that every locality should be, as much as possible, the source of its own food makes several kinds of sense. The locally produced food supply is the most secure, the freshest, and the easiest for local consumers to know about and to influence.

Whenever possible, deal directly with a local farmer, gardener, or orchardist.
All the reasons listed for the previous suggestion apply here. In addition, by such dealing you eliminate the whole pack of merchants, transporters, processors, packagers, and advertisers who thrive at the expense of both producers and consumers.

Learn, in self-defense, as much as you can of the economy and technology of industrial food production. What is added to food that is not food, and what do you pay for these additions?

Learn what is involved in the best farming and gardening. Learn as much as you can, by direct observation and experience if possible, of the life histories of the food species.

The last suggestion seems particularly important to me. Many people are now as much estranged from the lives of domestic plants and animals (except for flowers and dogs and cats) as they are from the lives of the wild ones. This is regrettable, for these domestic creatures are in diverse ways attractive; there is much pleasure in knowing them. And farming, animal husbandry, horticulture, and gardening, at their best, are complex and comely arts; there is much pleasure in knowing them, too.

The pleasure of eating should be an extensive pleasure, not that of the mere gourmet. People who know the garden in which their vegetables have grown and know that the garden is healthy will remember the beauty of the growing plants, perhaps in the dewy first light of morning when gardens are at their best. Such a memory involves itself with the food and is one of the pleasures of eating. The knowledge of the good health of the garden relieves and frees and comforts the eater. The same goes for eating meat. The thought of the good pasture and of the calf contentedly grazing flavors the steak. Some, I know, will think it bloodthirsty or worse to eat a fellow creature you have known all its life. On the contrary, I think it means that you eat with understanding and with gratitude. A significant part of the pleasure of eating is in one's accurate consciousness of the lives and the world from which food comes. The pleasure of eating, then, may be the best available standard of our health. And this pleasure, I think, is pretty fully available to the urban consumer who will make the necessary effort.

Eating with the fullest pleasure—pleasure, that is, that does not depend on ignorance—is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world. In this pleasure we experience and celebrate our dependence and our gratitude, for we are living from mystery, from creatures we did not make and powers we cannot comprehend.

Wendell Berry, a Kentucky farmer, is the author of many books of essays, fiction, and poetry. His article on the pleasures of working with a hand scythe appeared in our January 1980 issue. "The Pleasures of Eating" originally appeared in What Are People For? by Wendell Berry. Copyright © 1990 by Wendell Berry. Reprinted by permission of North Point Press, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC.

Source URL: http://www.organicgardening.com/living/wendell-berry-pleasure-eating

Hot Peppers

2011-09-26T15:30:00.001-04:00

Let us know if you want some! We are overloaded right now. Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeno, Hot Bulgarian Carrot, Thai, Long Red Cayenne. Hot Hot Hot!

Last Week for Beans in Bulk

2011-09-08T13:52:00.000-04:00

15# for $20.

They are almost done for the season.

Tomatoes for Canning, Freezing, Roasting or Drying

2011-08-29T16:27:00.002-04:00

Are now available. Let us know if you are interested. Lots of varieties, even Heirlooms!

Bintje Potatoes

2011-08-29T14:38:00.003-04:00

Bintje is the most widely grown yellow-fleshed potato variety in the world. It is an heirloom developed in the early 1900′s by a Dutch botanist and school master who named this potato after his best pupil Miss Bintje (pronounced Benjee) Jansma. The Dutch have more than 150 varieties of potatoes! They lag behind Peru which has ~3,000. Compare that with the US where 90% of our potatoes come from fewer than 12 varieties. It's a waxy potato. Various cooking sites recommend this flavorful high-starch variety for excellent roasted potatoes and oven fries.

Fresh Pickles

2011-08-15T19:34:00.002-04:00

A simple recipe:

FRESH REFRIGERATOR PICKLES

Printed from COOKS.COM

3 large cucumbers
1 bell pepper (green or red)
1 onion
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons celery seed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Wash and scrub cucumbers. Slice into a medium sized bowl, leaving peel on, about 1/8" thick. Wash and remove seeds from pepper; remove skin from onion and scrub well under cold running water. Finely chop the onion and pepper; add to cucumbers. Sprinkle with salt and celery seed. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.

In a small saucepan, bring vinegar to a boil then remove immediately from heat. Stir in sugar, stirring until dissolved. Allow to cool, then pour over cucumbers (after they have been sitting for 1 hour, as above).

Mix well; cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours before serving.

Quick Fresh Pickles

2011-08-15T18:48:00.002-04:00

4 large pickling cucumbers
1 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar
1 cup water
1/3 cup white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
3 Tbls. sugar
1 tsp. kosher salt (for the cukes) + 2 Tbls. kosher salt (for the brine)
3 cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half
1/4 tsp. dill seed
1/4 tsp. Aleppo chili flakes
1/4 tsp. coriander seed
1/4 tsp. fennel seed
1/4 tsp. mustard seed
1 bunch of fresh dill

Yields 16 pickle spears

Slice and salt the cucumbers
Grab your pickling cukes. Scrub them well under cold water, then dry them off.
Slice each cucumber in half.
Then slice each side in half again, so you wind up with quarters.
Repeat with the other cucumbers. Put the cucumber spears in a medium-sized bowl.

Sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Mix the cucumber spears around well to distribute the salt.
Let the cucumber spears sit in the bowl like this, on the counter, for about an hour. Salting the cukes like this helps draw out excess water—which in turn helps keep your pickles crunchy.
After about an hour, your cukes will have let off a fair amount of water. Drain that off and discard.
Make the brine for the pickles
Put the rice wine vinegar, water, and white balsamic vinegar (or white wine vinegar) in a medium-sized pot.
Toss in the sugar and 2 Tbls. of kosher salt.
Set the pot on the stove over high heat. Whisk to combine.
Whisk until the sugar and salt are dissolved.
Bring the mixture up to a boil.
When it starts to bubble, toss in the garlic, coriander seed, fennel seed, dill seed, mustard seed, and Aleppo chili flakes.
Whisk to combine. Take the pot off the heat and let it stand for 5 minutes to help release the flavor of the herbs.
Pour the brine over the cucumbers
In the meantime, pack your cucumber spears into a smallest bowl that will hold them all. You want them to be fairly close together so that they’re all covered by the brine.
Pour the hot brine over the cucumber spears.
Trim your bunch of fresh dill so that it will fit in your bowl. Lay it on top of the pickles.
Let them sit on the counter like this until the brine cools to room temperature.
When it’s cool, push down on the mixture with your hand.
You want to submerge the pickles and douse the dill with brine.
Soak the cucumbers in brine overnight
Wrap the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
Set it in the fridge overnight to let the brine soak into the cukes.
Serve & enjoy
The next day, unwrap your pickles.
And that’s it!
When you’re ready to serve, fish the pickles out of the brine and heap them up on a platter along with pieces of garlic and a few strands of dill.
Pickles will keep for a few weeks in the fridge if they last that long.
Enjoy!

Augusta Potatoes

2011-08-15T12:45:00.002-04:00

So far, they are a new favorite! They are a waxy potato, good for boiling, soups, casseroles, potato salad, roasting = same uses as Red Norlands. We are growing them instead of Yukon Golds or the other Gold potatoes we have tried. The yield seems to be much better, quality is good, etc. Enjoy!

Characteristics

Shape: Oval to long
Skin: Smooth Yellow
Flesh: Deep Yellow
Market Use: Fresh Markets
Medium Maturing

Pickles for Sale

2011-08-11T11:32:00.003-04:00

Pickles are a variety of cucumber bred and grown for a smaller size and crispness. They are picked anywhere from gherkin size to dill spear size. We pick them every single day in order to keep up with them.

$15 per half bushel (should make up to 20 quarts). Let me know if you are interested.

The best way to store your celery

2011-08-08T21:02:00.003-04:00

Cut the leafy parts off and wash and ziplok bag them. Store the stalks in a separate ziplok, closed, and the celery will stay crisp and fresh longer. Enjoy! The flavor is stronger than store-bought. We dry some for use through the winter.

Tomatoes Tomatoes Tomatoes

2011-08-08T16:31:00.002-04:00

These are the varieties we have planted this year, with a little info about each type gleaned from the internet!

Amish Paste

Days: 81 Size: Indeterminate

Very productive red heirloom from Wisconsin that produces up to 12 oz, deep-red oxheart-shaped, meaty fruit. (Probably one of the largest paste tomatoes) Lots of sweet, tomatoey flavors from this coreless meaty fruit. A great slicing and sauce tomato.

Aunt Ruby’s German Green

Days: 79 Size: Indeterminate

Heirloom beefsteak variety from Ruby Arnold of Greeneville, Tennessee who passed away in 1997. Slightly flattened, 1 pound fruit that ripens to a pale greenish-yellow ("lime jello green") with a slight pink blush that extends to the inside. Superb, fruity sweet and slightly spicy taste.

Beefy Boy

Days: 70; Indeterminate

Bred specifically for maximum flavor, the taste is sweet yet meaty, with more solids and less gel than other varieties. The globe-shaped tomatoes are gorgeous, with deep red skin and smooth shoulders (thanks to uniform ripening).

Beliy Naliv (aka Belii Naliv)

Days: 55 Size: Semi-Determinate

Red Heirloom, Means "white ripening", most likely named after popular variety of apples in Russia. A short indeterminate (42") that produces an abundance of early bearing 2", red, round, crack-resistant fruits that are sweet and tangy.

Black Cherry

Days: 64 Size: Indeterminate

The only truly black cherry tomato. Produce large, sprawling, indeterminate, regular-leaf, vigorous tomato plants that yield abundant crops in huge clusters of 1", round, deep purple, mahogany-brown cherry tomatoes. Fruits are irresistibly delicious with sweet, rich, complex, full tomato flavors that burst in your mouth, characteristic of the best flavorful black tomatoes. Beautiful to mix with other colored cherry tomatoes. Unique tomato variety. Disease resistant. Once you try it...you want MORE.

Black Prince

Days: 70 Size: Indeterminate

Purple-Black Heirloom, Originally from Siberia, this is one of the most popular and favored black tomatoes. Originally introduced from Irkutsk, Russia and is regarded as a "true Siberian tomato" that does very well in cooler climates. Until only recently this was considered a rare variety in the United States. However, it's popularity has grown so much in Russia that there is now a company in Volograd that is producing an extract of the Black Prince called "Black Prince Tomato Oil." The Black Prince tomato is said to have considerable health benefits beyond the presence of lycopene. These deep garnet round, 2-inch (2-3 oz.) tomatoes are full of juice and incredibly rich fruity flavors. This is a tomato that chefs I deliver to rave about for it's rich flavors. The small fruits contain deep rich colors on the inside. Perfect for patio gardens. Perfect for eating fresh, and in cooking in tomato sauce or other culinary wonders.

Cherokee Purple

Days: 80 Size: Indeterminate

Purple-black Heirloom from Tennessee cultivated by Native American Cherokee tribe. Very productive plants producing loads of dusky rose to purple colored, 12 oz.-1 lb., beefsteak tomatoes with deep red colors to the interior flesh and dark shoulders. A very popular market variety because of it's rich, complex and sweet flavors. One of the best tasting heirloom tomatoes.

Cosmonaut Volkov Red

Days: 72 Size: Indeterminate

A Ukrainian heirloom variety named after the famous Russian cosmonaut who died while landing. Russians grow this variety for prize-winning, 1-2 pound fruits. Round, slightly flattened fruits have a full, complex flavor and nice acid/sweet balance.

Costoluto Genovese

Days: 78 Size: Indeterminate

Italian, heat-loving, heirloom tomato that has been enjoyed for many generations along the Mediterranean. Large, deep-red fruits have a singularly fluted profile, are deeply ridged, and heavily lobed. Meaty, full-flavored, slightly tart, and delicious. Because of its scalloped edges, perfect for use in an arrangement of different colored sliced tomatoes. Makes a rich and pungent pasta sauce.

Glacier

Days: 65 Size: Determinate

Heirloom. An early, short-season, open-pollinated, potato-leaf variety that flowers when it is only 4-inches tall then sets loads of very flavorful 2 to 3-ounce, round, red tomatoes. Good flavor.

Golden Jubilee

80 Day Indeterminate

Orange 8 oz fruit, sweet and mild.

Goldie

90 Day Indeterminate

Open-pollinated heirloom. Deep orange beefsteak average 16-20 oz. Don’t harvest it till it has a rosy blush on the bottom.

Grandma Mary

Days: 70 Size: Indeterminate

An extremely productive red paste variety producing 1 1/2 oz., 3-inch long red fruit.

Green Zebra

Days: 75 Size: Indeterminate

Developed in 1985 by tomato breeder Tom Wagner, this is an unusual and exquisite green tomato chosen by Alice Waters for her restaurant, Chez Panisse, in Berkeley, California. The 2-inch round fruit ripens to a yellow-gold with dark-green zebra-like stripes. The flesh is lime-emerald in color that has an invigorating lemon-lime flavor. A great green tomato for brightening up salads and other tomato dishes.

Heinz 2653 Paste

68 Day Determinate

Open-pollinated amazingly early red plum type 2.5-3 oz fruits.

JetStar

72 Day Compact Indeterminate Hybrid; Dependable 7-8 oz globes of premium quality.

Juliet

60 day Indeterminate Hybrid; 1-2 oz grapes, red, good flavor

Lollipop

Days: 79 Size: Indeterminate.

Cherry, disease-resistant, big, bushy, regular-leaf plants with wispy foliage that yield huge amounts of 1-1/4 inch, almost translucent, creamy, yellow cherry tomatoes in clusters of 6-10, that hang on the plants like lollipops and have unique, fruity-sweet, lemony flavors unlike other cherry tomatoes. Produces fruit continuously, even under high temps. This is an excellent cherry tomato suitable for farmer's markets. Also great as a salad tomato, or as a snacking tomato, or for adding to culinary creations.

Mountain Fresh Plus

75 Day Determinate Hybrid

Able to tolerate cool and wet conditions, this big red tomato produces attractive, 8-16 oz. slicers with good taste. Developed by Dr. Randy Gardner at NC State University. Vigorous plants provide plenty of leaf cover. Nematode tolerant and resistant to V1, F1, and F2.

Old German

Days: 85 Size: Indeterminate

A Mennonite family heirloom from the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Big regular leaf plant yields 1-2 lb. beautiful fruits. Fruit color is yellow with red mottling and striping on the outside and throughout the flesh. Best color of several strains of this heirloom. Not a heavy producer, but fruit harvested is deliciously sweet and very decorative.

Opalka

Days: 78 Size: Indeterminate

An heirloom originally from Poland. (aka Polish Torpedo) Vigorous vines produce some of the best tasting red paste tomatoes with 5-inch long fruit shaped like a banana pepper with a pronounced tip on the bottom. Fruit has very few seeds, is extremely meaty and loaded with rich sweet flavors lending to its’ sauce appeal.

Principe Borghese

Days: 78 Size: Determinate

Red Italian heirloom tomato. short determinate plants that prolifically yield big clusters of 1-2 oz. red, plum shaped, crack-resistant paste tomatoes that are a great substitute for Roma tomatoes. Tomatoes are prized for drying because they retain more flavor than most other drying varieties. Italians are known for hanging the whole plant, loaded with fruit, up to dry..A great sauce tomato or eating fresh in salads or canning. Also prized for reconstituting in olive oil or crushing dried fruit into flakes to add to a sauce for quick thickening.

Pruden's Purple

Days: 75 Size: Indeterminate

Many folks find this tomato variety comparable in every way to the favorite Brandywine. It has even ranked higher at times in my taste trials. Great for hot day and cool night climate. Large potato leaf vine produces lots of 1-lb., slightly flattened, pretty, blemish-free, purple-pink fruits with few tomato seeds and excellent flavor.

Rocky

Days: 105 Size: Indeterminate

Good producer of 2 x 3-inch, 1 lb., plum-shaped, red ,paste tomatoes. Sweet, tangy, meaty fruit. One of the best flavored sauce tomatoes.

Rose de Berne

80 day Indeterminate

Open-pollinated medium-sized pink tomato with robust flavor

Rutgers Tomato

Days: 75 Size: Indeterminate

Rutgers was developed by the Campbell Soup Company in 1928 from a cross of Marglobe and J.T.D. The variety was later refined by Rutgers University in 1943.] Yield 4-6 oz., dark-red tomatoes with thick walls that are loaded with delicious flavors. Excellent canning tomato. Disease Resistant.

Siletz

Days: 52 Size: Determinate

Developed by Dr. James Baggett of Oregon State University. Plants do very well in cooler climates producing deep-red, excellently flavored round, slicing tomatoes 8-10 oz. Very good flavor considering how early a tomato it is.

Sophie's Choice

Days: 55 Size: Determinate

An heirloom from Edmonton, Canada and introduced by Carolyn Male in 1997. Considered to be the "best choice" for an extra early tomato. This is the earliest variety to ripen for me. Strong disease resistant short determinate (24") produces an abundance of 8 to 10 oz. globes. fruit is a red-orange outside and deep red inside. Best production in cooler climates.

Sungold

57 Day

Indeterminate Hybrid, cherry tomatoes, deep sweetness, rich apricot color. Splits in rain.

Supersweet 100

78 day Indeterminate Hybrid

1” round, ripens in clusters. Splits in rain.

Taxi

Days: 68 Size: Determinate

Color: Yellow-Orange

The best tomato variety for an early, lemon-yellow tomato. Very popular. produce compact, bushy, determinate, regular-leaf tomato plants that yield 4-6 ounce, meaty, uniformly-round, delicious, bright-yellow tomatoes that are very sweet (almost seem acid-free). A wonderful choice to add a zesty spark to tomato salads. or a splash of bright yellow color to your favorite salsas. Tomatoes hold up well to slicing as they are very suitable for sandwiches. Taxi can be grown well in most areas. They even hold up well in hot, humid growing regions.

Heirloom Tomatoes

2011-08-08T14:46:00.005-04:00

Heirloom

An heirloom is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of it's valued characteristics.

Heirlooms can be four categories:

Commercial Heirlooms: Open-pollinated varieties introduced before 1940, or tomato varieties more than 50 years in circulation.

Family Heirlooms: Seeds that have been passed down for several generations through a family.

Created Heirlooms: Crossing two known parents (either two heirlooms or an heirloom and a hybrid) and dehybridizing the resulting seeds for how ever many years/generations it takes to eliminate the undesirable characteristics and stabilize the desired characteristics, perhaps as many as 8 years or more.

Mystery Heirlooms: Varieties that are a product of natural cross-pollination of other heirloom varieties.

(Note: All heirloom varieties are open-pollinated but not all open-pollinated varieties are heirloom varieties.)

The Importance of "Heirloom" Tomatoes.

In the past 40 years, we've lost many of our heirloom varieties, along with the many smaller family farms that supported heirlooms. The multitude of heirlooms that had adapted to survive well for hundreds of years were lost or replaced by fewer hybrid tomatoes, bred for their commercially attractive characteristics.

Remember they will not be pretty - they split when ripe, they crack, they are misshapen. Tomatoes have been bred to be picked green and shipped, handled roughly. We pick ours ripe and are gentle with them! Enjoy!

Peppers!

2011-08-01T16:07:00.001-04:00

We have peppers coming on very well now. Any pepper in your box loose will be a sweet pepper - no matter the color or shape. This week's peppers are mostly New Ace (green), plus Lilac and Feherezon (small yellow). There's no sign of red peppers yet, but they are coming, plus we have a few large yellow and orange peppers.

Hot peppers are always in a ziplock bag. If you do not like hot peppers, please let us know, or pass them on to someone else. Our hot peppers are also multi-colored and shaped, with various degrees of hotness. We find that the same type of pepper will vary in hotness from plant to plant, and supposedly the amount of sun and water also affects it.

Enjoy!

Carrots

2011-07-28T21:40:00.002-04:00

It's been a hard year to grow carrots so far - they are picky about seed germination. They take weather that isn't too hot nor too cold, adequate moisture, and with perfect conditions, still take 3 weeks to germinate! They are so tiny when they first come up that they tend to get stepped on. They can't be weeded till about 6 weeks after they are planted, and then they won't grow fast unless they get thinned, which is tedious and time-consuming. We've planted as many as last year, and have harvested about 1/5th as many carrots.

We are hoping for a better Fall crop, if it cools off and quits raining so we can get the seed planted.

Check out the newly released Michigan’s Guide to Local Cooking by local resident, Susan Clemente.

2011-07-28T21:32:00.002-04:00

I first met Susan last year, after knowing her father for many years as a regular customer at Sweetwater Market. Susan and her mom came out to visit the Farm and she talked about the book she was writing. It's a recipe book just for Michigan foods. We sell copies of it here at the Farm and Susan will be signing copies of her book Saturday at Sweetwater Local Foods Market from 9:00am - 12:00pm.

Parsley

2011-07-17T13:57:00.002-04:00

This is what your parsley plants should look like. You can pick any time from the outside, lowest stems and leaves. It should last until November. Please return the pots them came in if you still have them around. I forgot to ask for them back! Thank you.

Summer vegetables are coming up!

2011-07-07T21:49:00.003-04:00

It looks like we will have summer squash next week! We also picked the first sweet pepper and the first hot pepper today. We've had about a pint of Sungold cherry tomatoes so far, and I picked the first early red tomato today, too. We can see little cucumbers on the vines, and peppers are setting fruit well. These crops all love the hot days!

Summer cooking greens should be available most weeks - either Kale (3 kinds: Lacinato, White Russian or Winterbor) or Swiss chard (3 kinds: Bright lights, Fordhook or Ruby Red Rhubarb). If you ever want more, just let us know. In weeks where you get nice beet greens, we usually skip the kale or chard. Be sure to ask for recipes if you are unfamiliar with these greens. They are just as wonderful as spinach! Please share your own recipes, too!

TODAY'S VEGETABLES!

2011-07-04T14:35:00.005-04:00

Radicchio (pronounced rah-DEE-kee-oh) usually has white-veined red leaves. It has a spicy and bitter taste, which mellows when it is grilled or roasted, or when added to sweeter salad greens.

In Italy, where the vegetable is quite popular, it is usually eaten grilled in olive oil, or mixed into dishes such as risotto. In the United States it is gaining in popularity but is more often eaten raw in salads.

New Potatoes: Are simply immature potatoes, and are particularly valued for taste. If the plants had not been dug, the potatoes would double in size in a few weeks, so you are getting a treat but getting them small like this! We ate the smallest ones for lunch today, boiled with a sprinkling of large grain celtic sea salt, with a healthy chunk of butter added after the water boiled off.

Fresh Beets with Greens: We didn't thin the beets as much as past years, so these are a little small. The Greens are quite nutritious! Eat them! They will not all be as nice as the first picking. This is the best time of year for beet greens.

Why do other farms have peas now and we don't?

2011-07-01T11:28:00.002-04:00

Most, if not all, of farms with peas ready are conventional, not organic. They plant treated seed that will not rot in cold, wet ground like organic or untreated seed will. We planted and replanted peas 3 times, trying to hit the weather right for germination without a lot of luck. Our peas are blossoming, and forming pea pods, but slow...

It's the same with sweet corn. We plant untreated seed and have to wait till the ground warms up. Farmers who plant treated seed can do so earlier.

Would you rather have your food come from wholesome seed or chemically treated seed? Actually, if you get veggies from us, you don't have a choice. We won't buy the commercially treated seed to put in our soil.

2011-07-01T09:32:00.003-04:00

Andrew Skinner • Oceana’s Herald-Journal

Farm Work

2011-07-01T08:02:00.002-04:00

We have been busy catching up with weed control in between rain storms. That means hoeing and tilling and a lot of hand weeding. Blisters. We've also been putting more transplants into the gardens, preparing the field for fall cabbages, broccolis and cauliflowers, and getting those brassica seeds planted into cells in the greenhouse.

In normal years (is there such a thing??), we are eating tomatoes by now, but there's only a hint of color on one cherry tomato that I've seen so far. We have been working to keep the tomato plants trellised. That keeps the fruit off the ground and in better quality. There are lots of buds and small green tomatoes forming.

The peppers are blooming and beginning to set fruit, as are the cucumbers and summer squash. We have planted squash and cukes at least 3 times in order to extend the season for picking. We have about 70 summer squash plants in so far, with seed planted in at least another 30 hills. There are maybe 8 varieties of squash planted.

Cucumbers: 4 varieties are planted. One kind is an Asian cuke that is trellised. We also have long salad cukes and smaller pickling cucumbers that I personally like sliced as well as the long ones.

The Farm other than veggies: Bill has baled about 150 large bales so far, and has a lot of hay down getting rained on at this moment. We have 6 calves still to be born to first time heifers. The rest of the herd is out on a large pasture, not needing to be moved every few days. Fencing repair and upkeep is constant. We have 6 miles of fence with maybe 75 gates to keep the cattle in and moving between pastures.

Our garden tours last weekend were a huge success! We had about 100 people here Friday, Saturday, and another group on Tuesday.

Nice chart for egg storage

2011-06-27T20:26:00.001-04:00

EGG STORAGE

• Store raw eggs in shell 3—5 weeks in refrigerator. Do not freeze; instead, beat yolks and whites together, then freeze.

• Store raw egg whites 2—4 days in refrigerator. Freeze 12 months.

• Store raw egg yolks 2—4 days in refrigerator. Yolks do not freeze well.

• Use raw egg accidentally frozen in shell immediately after thawing. Refrigerate to thaw.

• Store hard-cooked eggs 1 week in refrigerator. Do not freeze.

A CSA member's dinner preparation!

2011-06-24T22:07:00.003-04:00

Not all from our farm, but lots of these are. We hope you all are having fun cooking fresh veggies every day!

Check out Patti's blog for photos of the Farm!

2011-06-24T11:05:00.002-04:00

This Love Of The Land

Hesperia Library Garden Tour on Saturday

2011-06-23T18:04:00.002-04:00

HESPERIA — A stop at the library, a visit to four gardens, a guided tour of two wildlife trophy rooms, and fresh strawberry shortcake served poolside will be the highlights of the 2011 Hesperia Area Garden Tour Saturday, June 25.

Featured will be the gardens of Eileen Homan at 284 Munn St.; Kellie and Charlie Jackson at 8900 E. Newfield Dr.; Earthscape Farm at 4220 Loop Rd.; and Ed and Betty Dean at 6060 E. Loop Rd. A book and plant sale will be at the library during the tour from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are a donation of $7 per person, and can be purchased in advance at the Hesperia Community Library at 80 S. Division St. and at River’s End in Fremont and Montague. On the day of the tour, they can be purchased at the library or any of the gardens.

The annual event, which will go on rain or shine, is hosted by the Local History Committee of the Hesperia Community Library and the Hesperia Beautification Committee. Proceeds will benefit the local history room at the library and the village beautification project.

Hesperia Community Library

80 South Division Street

It has been said the name Hesperia means “beautiful garden” and it seems an appropriate name for a small village nestled low among the hills and close beside the White River. The public is invited to visit the local history room to see how volunteers are working to preserve the history of Hesperia and the families who live here. There will be a book and plant sale on the library lawn during the garden tour hours. In case of rain or extreme heat, these events will be inside the library in the community room. Public rest rooms are available. People are encouraged to drive through the village on Division Street to enjoy the beautiful hanging baskets and potted plants that are planted and maintained by the Hesperia Beautification volunteers. People might also enjoy a stroll through the newly landscaped Webster Park next to the library. The four gardens may be visited in any order.

Eileen Homan

284 Munn St.

The daughter of a farmer, Eileen says the desire to grow things is in her genes. Working in her garden sometimes until the daylight runs out reminds her of her dad working late in the fields. Eileen’s garden is artistically cluttered. There isn’t a real landscaping plan, just a love of plants placed wherever she can find room for them. As with most gardens, it is always a work in progress. She has many plants that came from her childhood home — her mom’s peonies, iris, creeping myrtle, and daffodils, as well as many newer perennials and beautifully arranged potted annuals. Eileen likes certain colors, mainly pinks and purples, and you will find those colors in abundance in her garden. Her most recent venture is learning the art of growing dahlias.

Kellie and Charlie Jackson

8900 E. Newfield Drive

Not far from the village and situated along the White River is the chalet-style home and the gardens of Charlie and Kellie Jackson. In what Kellie calls her “two front yards,” the landscape offers areas of strong sunlight as well as areas of deep shade. Enjoying the sun are several varieties of grasses and colorful annuals and perennials in various stages of bloom. Near the house, be sure to notice the window boxes, the “flower fountain,” the tiered flower box placed on a stump, and the row of sugar snap peas on the fence. Closer to the river you will see many hostas and other shade loving plants (see if you can find the parsley fern) arranged in borders and clustered around the trees. You may not be able to resist sitting for a moment in the swing, which faces the river where Kellie loves to sit and read. Water for irrigation is provided by the river and keeps the lawn lush and green which, in turn, provides a backdrop for this beautiful, peaceful garden.

Ed and Betty Dean

6060 E. Loop Road

The Deans have participated in many wildlife hunting expeditions in locations such as Russia, Mongolia, Spain, Canada, Africa, New Zeeland and Mexico, in addition to many locations in the United States. They have brought back magnificent trophies which are on display in two large, beautifully designed trophy rooms. You will see a lion from Tanzania, an orbi from Zambia, a javalina from Texas, a polar bear from the Barrow Strait, Northwest Territories, a fallow deer from Spain, a brown bear from Russia, and many, many others. The Deans will be available to narrate your tour and to answer questions. Following your tour of the trophy rooms, you will proceed outdoors to the deck overlooking the pool, where strawberry shortcake will be served. While there, be sure to enjoy the many plantings around the pool. Feel free to explore the beautifully landscaped and manicured yard and border garden where the shrubs and plants are exceptionally well-placed and maintained.

Earthscape Farm

4220 Loop Road

Drive down the lane to Earthscape Farm and you will see gardens that are not just ornamental. With an increased emphasis on the benefits of consuming locally grown food, your visit to the farm will be an interesting and educational experience. Earthscape is in rural Oceana County on 200 acres. The farm’s mission is to provide families with wholesome foods that have been raised using organic and sustainable farming methods. Owners Bill and Patrice Bobier have farmed the land since 1972, growing most of their own food since then. They started selling their extra produce to other families around 2002. This evolved into a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) endeavor in 2004. Currently, 40 families are shareholders in the program and receive fresh produce weekly from June through October. A partial list of produce grown on the farm includes: spinach, pak choi, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, radishes, onions, leeks, garlic, broccoli, peppers, tomatoes, kale, eggplant, kohlrabi, cabbage, summer and winter squash, beans, melons, corn, celery, beets, peas, cucumbers and this summer nine varieties of potatoes in rows that equal 1 ¼ mile in length. In addition to the Bobiers, there are three full-time and about eight part-time workers responsible for the farm’s operation. Excess produce is sold at the farm, Sweetwater Local Foods Market in Muskegon on Saturdays year-round and at local restaurants (Mia & Grace and The Hearthstone, for example). Grass-fed Angus Beef and eggs are also raised on the farm and are available for purchase. Patrice will have iced herbal tea available for you to try and bathroom facilities are available. To learn more about the farm, go towww.earthscapefarm.blogspot.com.

Rain

2011-06-23T17:58:00.002-04:00

We've gotten about 4 inches of rain this week. It is wet! Can't cut hay, can't work ground, can't put in transplants, can't plant seeds. It's very disturbing to soil structure to work it or even walk on it when it's this wet. It compacts it. So... We are still picking veggies to fill shares - can't not do that! But the rest of our work is on hold, awaiting dry weather.

2011-06-20T14:13:00.004-04:00

Garlic Scapes are the seed heads of garlic that should be cut off in order to get bigger bulbs. They taste like garlic and make a yummy addition to anything that needs garlic flavor. You can also make garlic scape pesto. Simply grind the scapes with almonds or pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil and sea salt. Spread this on a Roast or piece of Whitefish, or good bread.

My favorite way to eat turnips is peeled, cooked in a small amount of water till tender, and mashed with butter, salt and pepper.

The turnip greens can be washed, chopped and sauteed with my usual - garlic and onions!

The turnip's root is high only in vitamin C. The green leaves of the turnip top ("turnip greens") are a good source of vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin K and calcium. Turnip greens are high in lutein, also.

Where's the heat? And sun?

2011-06-16T21:39:00.003-04:00

It's very hard to grow summer crops with this kind of weather. The melons look awful! Even the 2nd planting still in cells in the greenhouse are dampening off (dying) because it's cold and wet. We aren't touching the tomato plants because we don't want to spread disease in them. So... they are in need of trellising and it can't be done yet.

All the late cabbages, cauliflowers and broccolis are being planted in cells for transplanting out in a month. We've also started the ornamental sunflowers, more basil, scallions, and a third planting of summer squash.

We hope it dries out enough tomorrow to hill the potatoes again and finish planting the winter squash and pumpkins.

Broccoli Raab

2011-06-13T15:20:00.004-04:00

Yum! We had some for lunch today! This raab is called Sessantina and is not bitter or strong - it tastes like sweet fresh broccoli to me!

Makes 4 servings

ingredient

1 lb broccoli rabe
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise, or a stalk of green garlic
1 small onion
1/8 -1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
sea salt to taste

Accompaniment: lemon wedges (we skipped the lemon wedges).

preparation

Cut off and discard 1 inch from stem ends of broccoli rabe. Chop the onions, garlic and stems of raab. Saute them about 3-4 minutes while you chop the leafy part of the raab. Add that to the pan and cook it till it wilts. Toss with salt and cover. It's ready in minutes!

Farm Work

2011-06-12T22:51:00.002-04:00

This past week we've gotten the sweet potatoes planted. Did you ever grow a sweet potato vine from a piece of sweet potato suspended over water with toothpicks? The plants we put in are called slips and they look like little pieces of sweet potato vine. We planted 2 kinds: Beauregard and Centennial.

We transplanted the first flats of melons - same varieties as last year. 3 Muskmelons: Halona, Hannah's Choice and Jenny Lind. 3 Watermelons: Petite Yellow, Quetzali and Sweet Dakota. They seem to do well in our soil, and hopefully will again if this is a cooler summer. There's another 150 plants to put in when they grow a bit larger. We do multiple plantings to extend the season for you (and us!)

All the summer squash transplants are in, though I doubt they liked the 49 degree morning. We also planted some more seed and will start another planting in cells in a week or two. We put in about 100 summer squash plants: 4 varieties of zucchini, 2 of yellow squash, and patty pan. They get picked nearly every day all summer long. It's very boring and monotonous after about the first 6 weeks.

More carrots were planted this evening. A lot of brassicas for fall and winter storage were started today, and there are many more seeds to plant. We've stored 100s of cabbages in our root cellar before, to eat and sell in winter. They keep really well!

I saw the first garlic scapes today. They will be in share boxes the next week.

Beef for sale!

2011-06-08T11:07:00.001-04:00

Beef Quarters for sale at the Farm today! Let me know if you are interested. If you have a particular way you would like beef cut, you can order a quarter cut your way if you get the order to me soon. These are grass-fed, supplemented with a little home grown and ground grain (think of it as dessert).

Their great great great grandmothers were raised on our farm. Healthy, humane, no antibiotics or hormones, reasonable pricing. In fact, we may be raising our prices, as the last time we checked, most of our cuts were equal or cheaper than Meijers grass-fed!

Reduce, ReUse and Recycle

2011-06-06T17:00:00.000-04:00

Please return boxes each week when you pick up your share, or drop them off for me at Sweetwater Market on Saturdays 9-12:30. Please keep them clean, and be careful when you collapse them to not tear them. They have to last all season. We'll also take Earthbound-type plastic containers and clean plastic bags for reuse.

CSA Begins!

2011-06-06T16:39:00.004-04:00

And of course I was busy with a birth! But we had a great crew here, and shares were done on time. Thanks, Mike, Viki, Patti, Stacey, and Carrie!

Read the list of WHAT'S IN YOUR BOX? on the right.

Enjoy the green garlic! It's one of our favorites. We are out of garlic bulbs saved from last year. I usually roast some garlic when it's starting to get softer, and freeze little balls of it to get us to the green garlic harvest. Green garlic is young garlic, pulled before it makes the bulbs with cloves. Use it like you would a scallion, chopped raw, sauteed, added to any dish that benefits from garlic flavor (isn't that ALL dishes??).

The lettuce is a head of Buttercrunch or Winter Density. The salad mix has fresh chard, kale, arugula, mustard greens, a few fresh herbs as well as lettuce mix. You're getting a great amount of spinach - 1# - so eat it fresh and steamed, on pizza or in omelets, as a salad, etc. There will be a smaller amount of spinach next week.

My favorite scrub brush is in your box. We cool almost your veggies in water right away to preserve nutrients and freshness, so most everything is washed somewhat, though not 'ready to eat'.

The parsley plant is an Italian Flat Leaf - the only kind of parsley according to the Italians. It will thrive in a large pot or in your flower bed. Cut the outer-most stems to chop in whatever you are serving.

Ask questions if you receive a mystery item - call or email. If you have a favorite recipe, email it to me and I'll share it with everyone else.

Quote from Wendell Berry

2011-05-29T10:50:00.000-04:00

One of our favorite farmers and philosophers:

‎"And so you make the farm, and so you disappear into your days, your days into the ground. Before you start each day, the place is as it is, and at the day's end, it is as it is, a little changed by work, but still itself, having included you and everything you've done. And it is who you are, and you are what it is."

New Email Address

2011-03-28T10:27:00.001-04:00

earthscapefarm@gmail.com

Please change your address books. Thank you!

Patrice

Great article about positive changes in our food systems!

2011-03-28T10:02:00.003-04:00

Today's New York Times

Season is over ~~ WHEW!

2010-10-13T13:34:00.002-04:00

Another year, another bunch of tired farmers...

We hope you have enjoyed participating in our CSA this year! We have a few more shares to get out Thursday and Saturday, and very few next Thursday, and we have fulfilled our obligations to you all.

Please let us know how this year worked for you and if you are interested in participating next year. We will probably limit ourselves to 50 shares again, and hope to continue the delivery options. We've had more people from the White Lake area express interest, so maybe a delivery or drop-off will work there, too.

Sorry - no cauliflower this year, and jack'o'lantern pumpkins were scarce, but we feel like we did pretty well with most other veggies this year. We still have a late crop of broccoli we hoped to have ready for this WEEK 20. Ah well. If you 20 week share families want to email me and come pick up a head at Sweetwater Market in a few weeks, let me know!

Thanks for being a part of our farm!

Cooking and Storing Winter Squash

2010-09-30T11:29:00.003-04:00

Baking is our favorite way to cook winter squashes.
To bake squash, all types of squash, cut them in half lengthwise, scoop the seeds out and place them on a baking pan with the open side facing down. And don't forget to season them! You can opt for any seasoning you wish: from a little olive oil with salt and pepper to a sweeter butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon combo. Place them in the oven at 400 degrees and let cook for 40 minutes to 1 hour and a half, depending on size and texture. You really want your squash to caramelize to eliminate excess moisture and release its natural sugars. Once out of the oven, scoop out the pulp and use it to make soups, purées, sauces, pie fillings and other wonderful preparations. Just pick a good recipe!

Store most winter squashes and pumpkins as close to 50 degrees as possible, and for best results, try to keep the humidity between 70 and 80 percent. Good air circulation in the storage area is also helpful. Do not store pumpkins and squash in layers. Avoid storing them near the ground or floor where the humidity is highest.

Avoid storing them on paper or in paper or plastic bags, as bags tend to hold in too much moisture. An attic or high garage shelf, if kept above 50 degrees, may work well.

Under proper storage conditions, pumpkins last about a month, acorn squashes will last from five to eight weeks, butternut, delicata and dumpling squashes from two to three months. Keep an eye on your stored pumpkins and squash and remove any that are turning soft.

Patti's recipe in the Oceana Herald Journal!

2010-09-30T09:17:00.001-04:00

from Andrew Skinner:

I did manage to get away from the interwebs long enough recently to give Patti Kreilick’s Eggplant Fajita recipe a try.

I met Patti, who is interning at Earthscape Farm, in Hesperia, and their CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program, earlier this month at a Shelby High School football game.

Patti said she enjoyed my work and cooking column, so as I do with anyone brave enough to say they actually read my column, I asked her to send me a recipe… and she did.

Patti says she came up with her recipe for Eggplant Fajitas after some of the CSA participants said they had a hard time enjoying eggplant.

“I started playing with different combinations and came up with some things that I liked,” she said.

When Patti first mentioned eggplant during our original meeting I was a little worried. I couldn’t recall ever eating the large purple vegetable and had no idea what to expect; but I figured like most people she would never send me a recipe.

Being a first time eggplant(er) I was unsure if I should cut the skin off. According to my friend the interwebs, I should — which I did — this was also seconded by Patti in a later e-mail.

Just in case you were wondering, according to the interwebs I had a female (lots of seeds) eggplant. That is why I love the good old interwebs so much. It is filled with so much useful and useless information.

Anyway, back to the recipe.

My first taste of raw eggplant reminded me of a cucumber, just dryer.

As I started cooking the cubed eggplant — since my chopping/cubing/measuring skills are lacking my cubes were 1/3 inch rather than the suggested 1/4 inch — and added the spices, I became worried I had chosen a pan that was too small. Lucky for me it cooked down and I had room for the rest of the ingredients.

The addition of the rest of the ingredients went just as planned. No fingers were sliced off or nicked during the chopping process.

The only problem I may have had relates back to my lack of measurement/size differential skills. I may have added a bit too much onion. I realized this about halfway through chopping one of those huge sweet onions. To me that is a large onion. aAs I stared at the mountain of onion on my cutting board I realized Patti probably meant a large regular size onion.

Prior to taking a few pictures of the finished fajitas, I decided to give one a try — and almost downed the entire batch.

The fajitas have a nice and spicy taste. Just like a fajita, with meat, the eggplant holds onto the spices, making for a wonderful meal.

I think I may like eggplant fajitas more than regular (meat) fajitas.

Thanks for one of my new favorite recipes, Patti.

I will no longer fear the (egg)plant.

Ingredients

4 Fajita shells

1 large eggplant, peeled, cube 1/4”

1 tsp chili powder

salt and pepper to taste

pinch cayenne

1 sweet pepper

1 large onion

1 clove garlic

1 hot pepper (optional)

4 oz. jalapeno cheese

Instructions

• Over medium heat saute eggplant in olive oil and add spices.

• Chop and add each ingredient individually. Follow the order of the recipe.

• Warm the fajita shells on the stove top

• Let everything cook down pretty well at a low temperature.

• Put the filling in shells and let the cheese melt a little.

This is the last share week for 16 week shares

2010-09-27T14:13:00.006-04:00

There may be a few things in your boxes this week that we want to be sure you get, and we have 2 more weeks to get them to 20 week shares.

Have a great Fall, Winter and Spring! Keep eating fresh and local, as much as you can here in Michigan. Come see us at Sweetwater Market!

Butternut Squash Heart of Gold Delicata Squash

Here's a great link to a website about celeriac, including recipes:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6551175

Carrots in August

2010-09-26T11:10:00.000-04:00

Your melons in August

2010-09-26T11:06:00.002-04:00

Beans for freezing or canning

2010-09-22T10:06:00.002-04:00

Mike and Amanda Jones have a lot of beans available in quantity. They put in a large late planting at their farm and so far the weather is holding and the beans are producing. Please email or call if you are interested in quantity beans. Their phone number is 861-2535.

Daikon Salad

2010-09-20T20:03:00.002-04:00

NAMASU

Printed from COOKS.COM

8 oz. daikon radish
1 lg. carrot
1 tsp. lemon peel
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 c. rice vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Slice daikon crosswise and cut each slice into thin strips. Cut carrot crosswise into 2 inch wide pieces. Slice each piece and cut into thin strips.

In a bowl, mix daikon and carrots and sprinkle 1 teaspoon salt and squeeze. Let stand 5 minutes. Rinse them under cold running water, drain and squeeze well. Cut lemon peel into thin strips and mix with daikon mixture, set aside.

Combine sugar, vinegar, lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir until sugar and salt are dissolved. Pour vinegar mixture over daikon mixture and let stand 1 hour. Makes 4 servings.

Masai Filet Beans

2010-09-20T15:10:00.003-04:00

Masai Haricots Verts are a gourmet bean, quite time-consuming to pick. It takes the same time to pick a bean 1/3 the size of a normal green bean, but oh-the-flavor packed into this small bean! They are a favorite of ours and we like sharing them with you all.

DAIKON Radishes!

2010-09-20T14:17:00.003-04:00

Daikon Radish (Raphanus sativus subsp. longipinnatus) is an everyday component of Asian cuisine. In fact, it is the most widely grown vegetable in Japan. You’ll find it with your meal at almost any Japanese restaurant. It can be prepared almost anyway you like, including raw, fried, grilled, boiled.
Eaten raw, Daikon has a spicy taste but becomes quite mild flavored when cooked. In addition, it has an almost magical ability to bring out other flavors in the dish.
Storage -Keeps well in the refrigerator if they are placed in a sealed container or plastic bag in order to maintain high humidity.

Preparation - This is an extremely versatile vegetable that can be eaten raw in salads or cut into strips or chips for relish trays. It also can be stir-fried, grilled, baked, boiled or broiled. Use the daikon as you would a radish. It may be served raw in salads or grated for use as a condiment (if you don't have a Japanese-style grater, use a cheese grater and grate just before serving), pickled, or simmered in a soup. They are also preserved by salting as in making sauerkraut. Daikon also is used in soups and simmered dishes. To prepare, peel skin as you would a carrot and cut for whatever style your recipe idea calls for.

A Japanese secret to cooking daikon is to use water in which rice has been washed or a bit of rice bran added (this keeps the daikon white and eliminates bitterness and sharpness}.

For Chips, Relish Tray Sticks or Stir Fries - Simply peel Daikon with a peeler and cut crossways for thin chips. Dip thin chips in ice water and they will crisp and curl for a Daikon chip platter with your favorite sour cream or yogurt dip. Cut into julienne strips for relish trays, salads or stir-frys.

Nutrition Information - Daikon is very low in calories. A 3 ounce serving contains only 18 calories and provides 34 percent of the RDA for vitamin C. Rich in vitamin C, daikon contains active enzymes that aid digestion, particularly of starchy foods.

Here's a link to recipe ideas.

When does this year's CSA end?

2010-09-12T13:43:00.004-04:00

16 week shares will end with Week 18, as you started on Week 2. That will be September 27th / 28th for Monday/Tuesday shares, or September 30th /October 2nd for Thursday / Saturday shares.

20 week CSA ends the week of October 11th.

We will continue to bring our vegetables and beef to Sweetwater Market on Saturdays 9-1. We'll also sell some veggies and beef at the farm. Call or email to make arrangements ahead of time.

Still to come:

Winter Squashes: Acorns, Butternuts, Buttercups, Kabochas, Delicatas, Dumplings

Pumpkins: Mini decorative, Pie, and at least some large jack'o'lanterns

Potatoes: Russets, Kennebecs and Fingerlings

Sweet Potatoes

Leeks, Onions, & Garlic

Celery & Celeriac

Broccoli & Cabbage (we hope!)

Carrots & Parsnips

Plus Kale, Chard, Peppers, Tomatoes, Eggplant and maybe some other vegetables.

Labor Day

2010-09-03T15:59:00.002-04:00

We are still filling share boxes on Labor Day. If you can't pick up till Tuesday, just let us know and we will put your share in the walk in cooler.

Enjoy the change of weather and the Holiday Weekend!

Satina Potatoes

2010-08-30T14:55:00.003-04:00

Well, this is the last year we are growing this variety. They seem to have low yields and this year, a lot of heart rot. So cut them open before cooking them. If there's a black spot or whole in the middle, it's safe to cut around it and use the rest of the potato. Sorry - we have no way to tell if they have this until they are cut open!

Satinas are a yellow-skinned, yellow-fleshed potato, normally quite tasty, similar to a Yukon Gold.

Roasting Chickens for sale

2010-08-27T14:24:00.003-04:00

Mike and Amanda are butchering their first batch of roasting chickens next Thursday. Let them know if you are interested in any!

231-861-2535.

Arugula

2010-08-26T10:10:00.001-04:00

Arugula is one of those greens you either like or don't like, BUT tastes can change. I like it much more now than I did 5 years ago. My favorite way to use it is shredded on top of homemade pizza!

Best way to keep celery

2010-08-19T02:37:00.002-04:00

And yes, I should have found the time to tell you with the last bunch of it!

We leave all the leaves on as their flavor is superb. You should separate the leaves from the stalks so all the celery can be bagged. Wash it all well and store in ziplock bags in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks. It can also be dried to use in the future. This is what I do for winter storage of it.

Our celery doesn't seem as good as in the past because, believe it or not, we have not gotten the heavy rains that have hit a little south of us. Celery thrives on water and mucky soils.

I think there will be one more bunch of it in the 20 week shares, plus some celeriac.

BASIL in BULK!

2010-08-18T10:16:00.002-04:00

We have a lot of basil so if you would like some to make pesto, bring a bucket or cut off milk jug to stuff full. It freezes so easily, and stores that fresh basil flavor into winter.

Basil Pesto

Recipe courtesy Food Network Kitchens with additions by Patrice

Prep Time:: 15 min; --

Level:: Easy

Serves:: 1 cup

Ingredients

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup pine nuts, raw or toasted
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano Cheese

Directions

Combine the basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of the oil and process until fully incorporated and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

If using immediately, add all the remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a large serving bowl and mix in the cheese.

If freezing or storing in the refrigerator, transfer to an air-tight container and drizzle remaining oil over the top. Use within 3-4 days or Freeze for up to 3 months. (I've had it remain good for a year!) Thaw and stir in cheese.

What are Heirloom Tomatoes?

2010-08-17T08:47:00.004-04:00

An heirloom is generally considered to be a variety that has been passed down, through several generations of a family because of it's valued characteristics. In the past 40 years, we've lost many of our heirloom varieties, along with the many smaller family farms that supported heirlooms. The multitude of heirlooms that had adapted to survive well for hundreds of years were lost or replaced by fewer hybrid tomatoes, bred for their commercially attractive characteristics.

In the process we have also lost much of the ownership of foods typically grown by family gardeners and small farms, and we are loosing the genetic diversity at an accelerating and alarming rate.

Every heirloom variety is genetically unique and inherent in this uniqueness is an evolved resistance to pests and diseases and an adaptation to specific growing conditions and climates. With the reduction in genetic diversity, food production is drastically at risk from plant epidemics and infestation by pests. Call this genetic erosion.

It is up to us as gardeners and responsible stewards of the earth to assure that we sustain the diversity afforded us through heirloom varieties.

Beans for canning or freezing?

2010-08-16T12:25:00.002-04:00

We have a lot of Green Beans right now. They are for sale to CSA members for $1.50 per lb - half off the normal price. Let us know if you are interested!

Hot weather crops

2010-08-11T20:12:00.003-04:00

Are coming on strong. The melons are very early and of great quality! Let us know if there's ever a problem with ripeness. We do our best and try to only grow the varieties that are easier to pick.

Sweet corn is bountiful. We've been through the Spring Treat (2 different plantings) and are now picking the Tuxedo. Kandy Korn will be next week, and an old heirloom Silver Queen will be the last variety.

Tomatoes! No blight in sight! But we are having some trouble with blossom-end rot and splitting because of uneven rains and watering. The Heirlooms coming this week are Costulato Genovese, Prudens Purple, Kellogg's Breakfast, Old German, Cherokee Purple. One of the best sites to look at pictures of the different varieties and read about them is www.tomatofest.com. There are paste tomatoes, yellow slicers, red slicers and smaller cherry and oval tomatoes, too. Finally!

Thursday - Saturday shares are getting a Jenny Lind muskmelon. The flesh is light green and they have a turban-like blossom end, and are quite sweet.

Whew!

2010-08-02T22:37:00.002-04:00

I haven't written anything here for awhile. We've been plugging away, doing a lot of picking and a lot of planting and maintenance. This is the time of year when we have to get seeds in if there's a hope of a late crop before frost and snow. More beans, carrots, lettuces, beets have all been seeded. And we are putting in flats and flats of brassica plants: broccoli, cabbages, cauliflower. These are all cool-weather crops and can usually withstand a little cold weather.

Tomatoes are getting strung up every few days to keep them up off the ground and staked. They are starting to ripen more each day. We've had a lot of blossom end rot but no late blight! And the tomato worms are wreaking havoc. They are so gross.

What you are getting: still some early red varieties: Sophie's Choice, Belii Naliv, Siletz and others. The Glaciers and Yellow Taxis are done, tho more Taxis are coming. A few shares are getting an early heirloom Costoluto Genovese - red, smaller and ruffled. The red ovals are Juliets, one of my favorites for salads, drying or cooking. The little tomatoes are red Sprite (grape shape), Sungold (orange round), Principe Borgese (round red). We picked a few Kelloggs Breakfast (I think) and Cherokee Purple that had blemishes but were still good enough for lunch!

Sweet Pepper Bonanza!

2010-07-19T17:05:00.002-04:00

There are multiple kinds of sweet peppers in the CSA boxes today ~~

Jimmy Nardello are the ones that look like chili peppers only they are green. They are called frying peppers.
Mild Jalapenos look like hot jalapenos, but they aren't! They have great flavor for eggs.
Cubanelle are the light green long peppers.
New Ace are the standard green peppers.
Lilac are the beautiful purple peppers.
Feherezon are the small yellow ones.

Hot peppers are available to help yourself at the Farm, or in ziplock bags in boxes, marked HOT.

We certainly should get a good crop of red peppers this year! We have Ace Red, and medium red bell, Carmen, an elongated type, Lipstick, a smaller pointy pepper, and Red Knight, larger bell-shaped. Last summer was so cool we hardly got any red peppers.

The potatoes are French Fingerlings - a favorite. We don't have as large a crop as last year so this is the only time you will get these. They are a gourmet variety, just need to be steamed or boiled and served simply with olive oil or butter, salt, garlic, pepper.

Check out those boxes today!

2010-07-08T17:05:00.001-04:00

Wow, it looks like a taste of summer! We had enough little sweet peppers to give one to everyone! And cucumbers and tomatoes! We checked - we didn't have tomatoes and peppers to give out till Week 10 last summer, Week 8 the summer of 2008, so we are really early this year. It looks like eggplant may be ready next week!

The garlic bulbs are small. They were supposed to be green garlic (like scallions), but because of the heat they bulbed up right away. Even tho it doesn't look like they have skins, even the individual cloves have to be peeled.

See the post below for info on the potatoes.

The onions are a very early variety. The smaller ones can be cooked whole or any of them can be used like any kind of onion.

This is the last big week for peas. There may be a few straggling in next week.

Please let us know if you would like any herbs. A lot are on now and ready for harvest.

Not-Very-Pretty Potatoes Today

2010-07-08T13:09:00.002-04:00

We tried out growing potatoes in black plastic, and while they grew well and produced an early crop, they do not look as nice as usual. There's a small amount of these for everyone, and we will start digging the field-grown potatoes in a week or so.

2010-07-01T11:03:00.002-04:00

Tomato plants are on the left with their stakes and the first few lines of string. Then there are rows of potatoes, hilled and mulched. We have 3 kinds of fingerlings, russets, red norlands, kennebecs in. You can see a bit of onions, leeks and garlic on the right edge of the photo.

Cows and calves, hanging out in the shade.

Update

2010-07-01T10:21:00.002-04:00

Please remember there are no CSA veggies this Thursday, Saturday, or next Monday and Tuesday. We will resume CSA veggies with Thursday shares on July 8th. We will be at Sweetwater Market on Saturday from 9am till 1pm with whatever will not hold till next CSA Day.

In the meantime we are getting hay baled, weeding weeding weeding, planting later summer and fall crops in cells for transplanting in a few weeks, and seeding some things directly in the ground, doing bug patrol and spraying with the biological controls when needed, making compost, stringing up tomato plants, mulching. Etc. etc. etc.

When CSA resumes, we will have yellow and white early onions, potatoes, more peas, and summer squashes ready. We will also have peppers and cucumbers soon. We've picked 4 sweet peppers, and the cucumbers are almost ready to snitch some early ones. We ate fresh-dug Red Norland potatoes a few days ago - so creamy and flavorful! Can't wait to share them with you all.

On Saturday, July 3rd the Sweetwater Local Foods Market celebrates its 5th Birthday (since founding in 2005) with cake and music in celebration of the 100th birthday of our official "Queen of the Market" - Jeanette Keiser of Marne. Jeanette's son Paul is a regular vendor and brings his mom to share in the fun. She still gets a long pretty well and is a joy to be around. We will also begin a month-long "Pasture-Raised Local Meat" sale with samples of Creswick Farms sausages.

For CSA share holders, remember you can stop by the Market and pick up fresh herbs any Saturday. I'd appreciate an email on Friday letting me know what you want so I can be sure to bring enough. And if you let me know ahead of Earthly Kneads deliveries, I can add special order herbs to your box. We have Italian Parsley, Dill, and Basil in quantity now.

Farm work and veggies coming soon:

2010-06-24T14:22:00.002-04:00

Snap peas. Beets with greens. Cabbages. More carrots, scallions, snow and shelling peas. Cucumbers are about 1 inch long. We've picked about 10 summer squashes and 3 smallish green peppers. Melons look great and are blooming and setting fruit.

We have gotten about a half inch of rain in the last 2-3 weeks - all the storms have gone south or north of us. It's quite dry here, but we have the irrigation hooked up to most of the gardens now.

The summer onslaught of weeds and weeding is in full pull-and-hoe mode. If we don't keep ahead of them now, we are behind all the rest of the growing season. We bought a new weeder this year that pulls behind a tractor with a person riding it and controlling the tined weeders. Very cool!

A woodchuck has been eating beans and carrot tops. We have the live trap set and the guns loaded. They are so destructive. They also dig huge holes in fields that will break a cow's leg.

All the melons are planted now, and doing well. We still have more cucumbers to plant, many more beans to plant. All the winter squashes are in, and pumpkins, too. Corn is growing well. The tomatoes are in need of trellising but are doing well. We are picking and eating a few each day and hope to have them for you all soon.

Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery

2010-06-23T08:18:00.001-04:00

Will have bread available for sale at Thursday's CSA pickup. Try some samples! Buy some to treat your family to more wholesome food! Read the post from a few days ago to know more about this delicious opportunity.

A week off

2010-06-21T08:42:00.003-04:00

Remember we are taking a week off of CSA around July 4th. There will be no pickup on July 1st or 5th, and no deliveries on July 3rd and 6th. We are not going out of town, but this gives us time to catch up on the maintenance and get the Fall crops planted. We are also usually putting up hay and doing large farm work, too. AND maybe, just maybe, we will get time to go to Lake Michigan, visit friends, have a few days off. We haven't been to the lake yet - Farming doesn't allow for much leisure time in the normal vacation time of Summer.

We will still be at Sweetwater Market on Saturday, July 3rd, selling the things that won't keep till next CSA day, July 8th. Come visit us there!

Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery!

2010-06-20T13:37:00.000-04:00

Greetings members of Earthscape/Full Circle Farm!

My name is Hilde Muller. My husband Charlie and I are former CSA members (and farm workers) at the Bobier's farm. We are currently in the process of opening a small Bakery adjacent to our home in Elbridge township.We are calling the bakery Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery and we aim to take bread and other goodies to various farmers' markets by mid-July. As a way of gearing up for our official bakery debut in July, we are conducting a series of trial bakes in our Wood-Fired Brick Oven. This hand-built oven utilizes wood-fire heat that is stored in 15,000 pounds of masonry! Traditionally, ovens of this sort have been used all over the world for professional and communal bread-baking. To our understanding, there are only forty of these ovens in use in the United States and now we have one right here in our own backyard that Charlie built last winter! We are very excited to be baking in this oven and to be producing handmade, full-flavored bread for the good people of Oceana County.

Nearly all of our breads are naturally-leavened--this means that, rather than using commercial yeast, we cultivate a starter that captures wild yeast (yeast naturally present in the flour and in the air). A naturally-leavened bread is more easily digested by our bodies because it undergoes a longer period of fermentation. This long period of fermentation contributes to the development of extraordinary flavors!! Our breads are made with simple ingredients (organic flours and grains, sea salt) but the breads themselves are full-flavored and complex. Another wonderful benefit of a naturally-leavened bread is that it keeps for a week on the counter. Our bread also freezes beautifully if a whole loaf is too much for one to eat at a time!

The two breads we are baking on Monday that will be available exclusively to the members of Earthscape/Full Circle CSA at the trial bake price of $5/loaf are:

WEST MICHIGAN WHEAT. Our signature loaf. A rich, chewy crust and a creamy white crumb (interior) flecked with the sweetest hint of Michigan Whole Wheat (grown in Eaton Rapids). Perfect for bread and butter or memorable sandwiches--an everyday treat... Twenty-five hours from start to finish (from the time we feed the starter to the time we pull it out of the oven...)

GRIFF'S 8-GRAIN. A hearty 8-grain, 3-seed bread named for our hearty neighbor Jim Griffin. We don't know what we'd do without Jim and we don't know what we would do without this deeply satisfying loaf. Made with four Michigan-grown organic grains (wheat, rye, barley, kamut), plus four additional organic grains (millet, buckwheat, steel-cut oats, cornmeal), and topped with sunflower, sesame, and poppy seeds--this is easily our most complicated loaf! But well worth every ounce of effort (especially considering all those grains are soaked for 12 hours before the dough is even mixed!) We love this bread sliced and bare-naked...It doesn't even need butter! We mix a bit of raw Michigan Honey into the dough and it lends the finished bread just a touch of sweetness. Needless to say, this bread makes AMAZING toast. Also, twenty-five hours from start to finish...

So, Come to Monday farm pickup and sample a slice or two of bread!
We are delighted to be able to offer these trial-bake loaves to you and your family.

Peace be with you,
Hilde and Charlie Muller
Laughing Tree Brick Oven Bakery
farmlaughingtree@yahoo.com
873-9820

Chinese Cabbage and Carrots!

2010-06-14T15:38:00.002-04:00

The carrots today are Mokum, an early, smaller, sweet variety that make me continually say "I need to grow more of these!" They win the taste test and are so fun to grow!

The Chinese Cabbage has tried to bolt (make seed), so rather than having 1 head for 2 weeks, you will get 2 heads today. If you have a Vegetables A to Z book, look up storage and recipes there. this is a Napa cabbage called Fun Jen. Chinese cabbage originated near the Beijing region of China, and is widely used in East Asian cuisine. Napa cabbage is lighter in color than pak choy.

In Korean cuisine, it is the main ingredient of baechu kimchi, the most common type of kimchi, but is also eaten raw as a wrap for pork or oysters, dipped in gochujang. The outer, tougher leaves are used in soups.

Stir fry it or make an oriental salad!

Raising good beef

2010-06-13T08:58:00.005-04:00

As a meat grower, I disagree with the notion that bovines should never eat grain. Should humans never eat dessert? Our steers love to have all the grass and hay they can eat, plenty of land they can roam, even in winter, and a little home grown and ground-on-the-farm grain in their last few months. The natural diet of free ranging ruminants changes as the season progresses. Grasses and forbs lose their succulence, the stems become woodier, and the seeds mature. The seed of many wild grasses resemble and have nutrients much the same as the commonly fed small grains like oats, barley and rye. We believe the quality key is free-range pasture and a limited amount of non-GMO mixed grains as the animals mature. NO corn silage, crowded confinement or feedlots!

People always tell us our beef is more tasty and tender than other 'grass-fed' beef they've had.

Sweetwater Market today!

2010-06-12T07:46:00.001-04:00

Come see us! If you are a CSA Shares family you should have received a parsley plant. I'll have some at the Market for anyone who missed out.

Turnip Greens Recipe (thanks, Heidi!)

2010-06-09T04:17:00.002-04:00

Leon O'Neal's Turnip Greens Epicurious | April 2002

by Robb Walsh
Legends of Texas Barbecue Cookbook

At Leon's "World's Finest" In & Out B-B-Q House on Galveston Island, they serve tender ribs and tangy sauce with sensational Southern-style vegetables. "It's all in the seasoning," says Leon. Here's his recipe for turnip greens.

Yield: Makes 4 servings

1 large bunch turnip greens
1 small turnip, peeled and diced
Dash of sugar
6 slices bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon lemon pepper
Salt to taste
Louisiana hot-pepper sauce

Wash the greens in several changes of water in the sink until no more grit is seen. Chop the greens coarsely. Bring a large pot of water to boil and add the greens, the turnip, and the sugar. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, or until tender. Drain.

In a large skillet, sauté the bacon until it gives up its grease. Add the onion and cook 7 minutes until the onion is soft. Toss the greens with the bacon and onion. Add the lemon pepper and salt. Serve with Louisiana hot-pepper sauce.

2010-06-07T14:19:00.002-04:00

This is the perfect book for people who want to know more about vegetables. I purchase it to sell to you all and our customers at Sweetwater Market. CSA members get a reduced price ~~ $18 per book.

This informative and easy-to-use cookbook celebrates sustainable farming with a wide array of scrumptious recipes for seasonal, farm-fresh produce. From peas, peppers and potatoes to basil, bok choy, and burdock root, From Asparagus to Zucchini highlights the best of seasonal cuisine from around the country.

Revised and updated third edition features:

-- 420 recipes, 80% new, 100% are original

-- Recipes and information for more than 50 vegetables and herbs

-- Dishes from growers, farm members, and home cooks who love vegetables

-- Special sections on community supported agriculture, the benefits of eating locally, seasonal cooking, recipes for kids, and much, much more!

Today's veggies

2010-06-07T13:20:00.003-04:00

Garlic Scapes are the seed heads of garlic that should be cut off in order to get bigger bulbs. They taste like garlic and make a yummy addition to anything that needs garlic flavor. You can also make garlic scape pesto, tho I don't think there's enough in your share box for a large batch of it. Simply grind the scapes with almonds or pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil and sea salt.

Our turnip roots are not as blemish-free this year (hot weather mostly, as they are a cool weather crop). We tried to sort out only good ones for Shares. If there are any bad spots, it's pretty obvious and they just need peeling and trimming. We had mashed turnips for lunch today! I trimmed the rejects and cubed them. I sauteed some onion, added a little water and cubed turnips, some garlic and also some left over cauliflower. When it was all soft and mushy, I blended it together, added some butter, salt and pepper, and could hardly wait for it all to cool to eat!

Turnip greens are supercharged with so many different nutrients. They are an excellent source of vitamin A (through their concentration of carotenoids such as beta-carotene), vitamin C, vitamin E, vitamin B6, folate, copper, calcium, and dietary fiber. They should be stored separately from the roots and used in 4-5 days. Wash them, trim out the rib unless you are cooking them a longer time in a soup. Chop them and steam or saute them. Here are some ideas for eating:

Serve sautéed turnip greens seasoned with some tamari, lemon juice and cayenne pepper.

Make a simple meal with a little Southern inspiration. Serve cooked turnip greens with beans and rice.

Healthy sauté turnip greens, sweet potatoes and tofu, and serve alongside your favorite grain.

Use turnip greens in addition to spinach when making vegetarian lasagna.

What's in your box??

2010-06-07T13:04:00.003-04:00

If you are visiting this blog page, you will see the list of this week's share veggies on the right side. When the next week's veggies are posted, the list of veggies from the previous week moves to the very bottom of the blog under 2010.

I try to get this all updated by Monday or Thursday afternoon. Of course, Thursday update wasn't completed till this morning...

Feel free to email or call if you have questions about anything.

Intern!

2010-06-05T13:45:00.004-04:00

Patti Kreilick joined us this past week! Her Dad lived in our Sugar Shack one summer when he was about her age. Everyone is glad for better housing now. Here's her bio:

I was born in Shelby in 1983 (note from Patrice: I was at her birth). As a baby in a back pack, I toured the cow pasture with Bill, and an interest was sparked at a young age. Most of my childhood was spent in Fremont, OH, where I lived on a farm as a young girl. After attending Miami University and achieving a degree in English Literature, I moved to Nashville for four years, working at The Tin Angel Restaurant. My interest in food, its production and preparation grew through this experience. I'm looking forward to getting back to my roots and experiencing life in Western Michigan as an adult.

We'll have to update her picture to Farmer Patti soon!

Kohlrabi and fresh oregano, turnips

2010-05-31T15:20:00.007-04:00

Have you ever eaten a kohlrabi? These little sputnik-shaped vegetables come in green or purple, can be eaten raw or cooked, and taste a lot like broccoli stems. The word kohlrabi is German for cabbage turnip (kohl as in cole-slaw, and rübe for turnip) though kohlrabi is more related to cabbage and cauliflower than to root vegetables. We usually eat them raw, just peeled, sliced and added to a salad, but they are also delicious cooked and are often used in Indian cuisine.

Fresh oregano can be used in any dish that dried oregano can go in. I made pizza last night with fresh oregano on top. Use it in salad dressing or tomato sauce. My hands still smell great from picking it!

I used the rejected turnips in a pot roast this week. I cubed them and put them under the roast with onions and garlic, potato, celery, and let it cook in a crock pot all day. The turnips have a way of absorbing the juice from the roast and were fantastic!

Turnips are also good cooked with potatoes and made into mashed potatoes/turnips.

Hot Hot days

2010-05-27T15:46:00.003-04:00

Whew. We still have to pick veggies and work in the gardens, no matter what the weather is. Cold, rainy, hot, humid.

This heat has made the pak choi bolt (try to make seed). It doesn't affect the flavor, but does make them less pretty. It's happened in just a few days. Most of the ones that went out in Monday's shares were lovely. We will have to harvest the rest of it in the next few days, and if it holds over ok in the coolers, give it out in shares next week. You get a lot of it today! And I'll have some at Sweetwater Market on Saturday. Seeds were planted in the greenhouse in 2 different plantings, but it still all comes ripe and ready at once.

We have been busy transplanting in the cooler mornings and evenings ~ melons, cucumbers, summer squash, tomatoes. 400 plants were put in yesterday, and we have about 400 more ready to go in this evening. Irrigation is set up in part of the gardens - the rest has to be hand-watered.

Earthscape / Full Circle Farm 2010 CSA Season Begins!

2010-05-24T14:19:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our FARM! We’ve been gardening here since 1972, always using organic methods. Our soil is rebuilt every year with compost, organic matter, soil amendments like rock phosphate and wood ashes, and tilled-under green manures. If you nurture the soil, it will nurture you in return. We do pest control with biological predators and row covers, hand picking, crop rotation, some sprays allowed with organic production, etc.

Please take time to walk in the gardens or visit the animals. If we have time, we can show you around. Always, always ask questions!

This will be the only planned printed newsletter. Please check the website often for updates and a list of what is in your share box. www.earthscapefarm.blogspot.com. I will do email updates periodically. Make sure you add us to your email address book so any emails will not go to your spam folder. pbobier@voyager.net

If you haven’t paid for your share yet this season, please do!

In your share box this week:

Spinach – a Spring plant. It doesn’t like this heat. It won’t last long in the garden.
Leaf Lettuces – a mix with 6-8 kinds of lettuce, arugula, beet greens, kale, mustards.
Head Lettuce – There’s a real wide variety of kinds today.
Pak Choi – Pak Choi is excellent stir fried with garlic and onions, plus any other veggies you might have. Or make an oriental salad!
Scallions – Use raw or cooked.
Radishes - 3 different kinds. We grow these under row covers to keep the bugs out and off them. Same with the Pak Choi.
Chives have flowered and can go in a vase or be eaten, all but the harder stems. I usually pull out the flowers and then only eat the softer stems. Double duty.
A Parsley plant – Mostly Italian Flatleaf Parsley, the better-flavored kind. It likes sun, and should be transplanted into a fairly large and deep pot as it has a long taproot, or directly into the ground. You will be able to harvest the outside stems all summer and fall.
The best veggie scrubbing brush ever! This brush is a tradition in our first share box.

Most produce is water-cooled immediately after picking, and then bagged because it stays fresher that way. We also try to keep things refrigerated as long as possible before packing your boxes.

The Department of Agriculture Food Safety people do not allow us to sell things ‘washed, ready to eat’ since we don’t have a certified kitchen. Lettuce and spinach leaves are triple washed and spun dry. Everything else is washed once or twice, and trimmed a bit if it’s appropriate. (Our trimmings go to the chickens!) None of it is officially ready to eat, but most needs just a little more washing. If you don’t have a salad spinner, I highly recommend one.

Please return boxes every week, and we will also reuse clean, dry bags.

Eggs are available for sale in the refrigerator - $2.50 per dozen. Put the $ in the container there.

We also sell beef by the package or quarter. Ask for pricing.

Please email or call with any questions. Happy Eating !

Patrice and Bill Bobier, Mike Jones and today’s crew: Caitlyn & Arielle Fritcher, Marty Wyels, & Tim Schirmer

CSA Begins May 24th for 20 week shares!

2010-05-17T16:59:00.003-04:00

Our 20 week CSA is scheduled to start on Monday, May 24th with pick up at the Farm between 4pm and 7pm. The first Earthly Kneads Bakery pick up will be Tuesday morning, May 25th after 9am. Thursday pick up is May 27th between 4pm and 7pm. One person is scheduled for Friday pick up, and there are some Saturday Sweetwater Market deliveries, plus one Saturday pick up on the Farm. Got that??! Yes, it's a complicated schedule to keep on track!

If any of you Thursday - Friday - or Saturday shares would like to pick up this week in exchange for skipping Memorial Day weekend, let us know by Wednesday. We have enough veggies to begin, and the Holiday weekend is too busy for some families.

If you haven't paid us yet, please do. A 20 week share is $525 single, $975 double, plus any applicable delivery fee.

If you plan to share pick up with other families, get your schedules organized among yourselves. Please remember to return boxes each week, or bring a cooler to unpack your box into.

Please be sure to add us to your email address book so you won't be considered spam when we send out emails. And keep up with what's happening on the website!

16 week CSA shares begin the week of June 7th.

Thanks!

Patrice

Recent Farm Work

2010-05-16T17:13:00.000-04:00

Transplanted into the gardens: 350 celeriac plants, 140 celery plants, more kale and cabbage. The first green beans were planted - 260 feet of them.

Seeded into cells in the greenhouse: watermelons, muskmelons, cantalopes, pickles and cucumbers, more head lettuces, more kale. Hundreds and hundreds of seeds!

All the potatoes are planted. Red Norlands, Kennebecs, Fingerlings: Purple Peruvian, French, Russian; Satina, Red Golds, Russets. I don't think it's quite 3/4 mile like last year, but at least a 1/2 mile of rows planted.

The leeks were planted last week. The seeds are started in the greenhouse in February or early March. When it's warm enough and the ground is damp enough, rows are trenched. In each row, a tool called a dibble is plunged 6-8 inches deep into the soil. A leek is put in each hole. Tedious...

Radishes Deserve Respect!

2010-05-12T13:20:00.007-04:00

A lot of people don't like radishes and I used to be in that group. Now I think they are one of the under appreciated vegetables. Fresh radishes grown in rich moist soil so they grow to size in 3-4 weeks are not hot or pithy. They are flavorful, delightfully crunchy and a great early Spring veggie! They get harvested just after their shoulders pop up out of the soil. The French often serve thinly sliced radishes on a piece of buttered, crusty baguette. Try it! I appreciate the way they add a splash of red to a salad way before tomato season.

Radishes are planted as soon as the soil can be worked in the Spring. We have 3 kinds growing: French Breakfast, D'Avignon, and Cherrybelle.

2010-05-11T12:51:00.002-04:00

Ari and I transplanted a lot yesterday: head lettuces (Buttercrunch, Red Sails, Raddichio, Michelle and Anuenue Batavian crisphead), kales (Tuscan red and white), Russian, and Winterbor), chard (Bright Lights and Argentata). We also put in more Sweet Williams for cut flowers and transplanted Blackeyed Susans. Mike and Bill tilled ground and laid more plastic mulch.

We survived some recent frosts/freezes without too much damage. I put a heater and blankets in the hoophouse to keep the tomatoes warm enough. The early potatoes got hit, but the below-ground root systems will be ok. The volunteer nasturtiums were very early this year, and may be done for. They look pretty sad. Everything else will be slowed a bit, but should do ok.

It's amazing how many plants are resistant to cold and even snow. We are still picking lettuces and spinach that was planted last fall! They are dormant through the cold weather and then begin to grow as soon as it warms up enough.

Patrice

Sweetwater Market

2010-05-11T12:17:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of photos from Sweetwater Market. Our lovely sign was made by Hilde Muller, a friend and neighbor, who has worked on our farm and been a CSA member. She also made our price signs for the Market. We get a lot of compliments on them. Contact her if you are in need of something similar. She's quite talented.

Lisa Brown became a CSA member years ago, before she really liked many veggies, and now she works for us year-round in order to get as many fresh and stored veggies as possible, and she freezes and dries the extra! She's a gem!

We are indoors in the lobby of the Hackley Professional Building on Harvey Street if the weather is bad, or outside in the parking lot during fair weather.

Come visit us!

2010-05-07T22:34:00.002-04:00

Celery

Baby plants in the Greenhouse

Eggplant and sweet and hot peppers in the greenhouse

Plants in the hoophouse to protect them from the rain and cold today. They will be transplanted into the gardens this next week.

Early tomatoes, blooming and with baby tomatoes already formed. They will go in the hoophouse in the next week and we will hope for no weather surprises! There's a heater in with them for the next few days.

2010-05-07T22:21:00.003-04:00

The fruit garden: rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cutting flowers - Sweet Williams, snap dragons, gladiolas

Baby spinaches

Many rows of early crops: lettuces, spinach, kohlrabis. Under the row covers are turnips, radishes, pak choi.

Baby carrots, cutting lettuces

Rainy, cold day today. Still beautiful and green!

Greenhouse work

2010-05-07T22:14:00.003-04:00

All the tomatoes (about 700) are transplanted into cells now - at some point, I'll have to list the kinds. There must be 15 or 20 varieties. I will probably have some extra plants to sell at the Market or to share with people. I am sooo hungry for tomatoes - did not get my normal fill last year after the blight hit us.

We had a great work crew here yesterday and got the whole garden by the house weeded, cultivated, thinned. We harvested quite a bit of lettuces, spinach and radishes. Veggies are growing faster than normal because of the warm weather. If any of you are interested in an early CSA box, let me know.

Today, rainy, cold. Good day for Greenhouse work. This is what I planted: 50 cells each of Suhyo Long & General Lee cucumbers, Basil, mixed summer squashes, Petite Yellow watermelons, Hannah's Choice muskmelons; 72 cells each of Tendergreen broccoli, Ruby Perfection and Gonzalez cabbage, Buttercrunch and Anuenue head lettuce; plus channels of celery seed. I hope it's not too early for the cukes, squashes and melons!

CSA Shares

2010-04-26T13:37:00.001-04:00

We have room for maybe 10 more families, and I've had 5 or 6 contact me in the last week wanting more information. If you are planning to join and haven't confirmed with me yet, better do so!

Farm Update

2010-04-26T11:36:00.002-04:00

More is getting planted, and the larger harvests have begun! Because of the warmer weather, we picked 9# of spinach this morning, and 2.5# of salad greens! This is just what needed to be picked before picking again for Sweetwater Market on Friday. YUM!

We have tomato plants with blossoms!

Chickens got moved to their summer coop and pens. They are happy girls (and 1 guy).

Grass-Fed Beef Quarters for sale!

2010-04-14T08:20:00.001-04:00

We just butchered and have the beef hanging to age and tenderize it. If you order in the next week, your quarter will have your name on each vacuum-packed package and will be cut and packaged however you desire. Prices are $400-$450 depending on individual hanging weights. It would be ready to pick up in 3 weeks.

Lots growing

2010-04-14T08:19:00.002-04:00

We have the garden back here by the house almost full, and have planted a whole lot of the rest of the garden spots with early plants and seeds. Things seem to be coming up and growing well, except for the early kale and chard that was transplanted outside. It got zapped hard by cold and rain. Planted more seeds of both in the greenhouse.

Rainy -

2010-04-07T21:34:00.002-04:00

We transplanted a lot of plants today: Piricicaba sprouting broccoli, Bright Lights Chard, Winterbor Kale, a few kinds of head lettuce: Michelle, Buttercrunch, Waldemann's, and Raddichio. More seeds have been planted in the greenhouse as the flats of early things are transplanted.

We have been hardening off plants (getting them used to outdoor weather after they've been growing in the greenhouse), but I moved them all back into the hoophouse or greenhouse because it's getting colder tomorrow - Sunday. All the plants in the ground should do ok.

We sent 4 steers in to get butchered. If you are interested in beef, let me know as soon as possible!

Onions and Potatoes, Oh My!

2010-04-05T21:30:00.001-04:00

1000s of onion plants were put out today. Long rows, and we are trying them in black plastic this year. Small early onions, onion sets, Copra yellow onions, Red Bull and Redwing Red onions.

One 400 ft row of Red Norland early potatoes was planted.

Pak Choi was transplanted out and covered with row cover to keep the flea beetles off it. 200 plants.

Summer weather in early April!

2010-04-02T15:20:00.003-04:00

Wow. It's actually too hot & windy to do some transplanting today! I had visions of putting out storage onions and pak choi. They will have to wait.

We transplanted about 100 ft of scallions that were started in the greenhouse 2 months ago. I'm watering them now. There's another tray growing that will be ready to transplant in a few weeks. Little tiny onion plants put 1-2 inches apart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

All the peas are planted: Lincoln, Green Arrow and Coral shelling peas, Sugar Snap edible pod peas, and Oregon Giant snow peas. The fences are up and ready for them to climb. The tallest pea vines get about 6 ft tall.

Bill has been setting up the irrigation system at the Putney Farm next door. Plumbing ~~ his favorite thing to do - NOT!

Photos from March 30th

2010-04-01T13:09:00.004-04:00

A beautiful head of Bibb lettuce. This is growing in the hoophouse, planted last Fall.

Kale, transplanted into the hoophouse last Fall. We've been eating this regularly. YUM!

Raddichio, parsley, arugula, chicory, mixed lettuces. I picked these for Sweetwater Market on Saturday. Plus we had a huge salad and can pick these plants again in about 3 days.

This patch of daffodills has been growing here for about 35 years. They get periodically thinned and spread around the farm and shared with others.

A frosty morning on the Farm. There's carrots, mixed lettuces, radishes, raddichio under the row covers, and a bunch more was planted yesterday.

Planting Planting Planting!

2010-03-31T21:13:00.002-04:00

We put in about 30# of onion sets today. They look like tiny onions, the size of a fingernail, and will grow into a normal-sized bulb. We planted them in black plastic mulch this year - worth a try so it's less labor weeding and cultivating.

We planted many seeds directly into the ground: 2 kinds of spinach, Leaf Lettuces, 3 kinds of beets, turnips, carrots, 3 kinds of radishes, mustard greens, arugula. The first planting of radishes got thinned. The first planting of leaf lettuces and carrots are sprouting.

Plastic is layed for the peas, chard and kale. Hope to plant them in the next 2 days, along with the early potatoes.

More raddichio, 2 kinds of kale, romaines, and larkspur seeds were planted in the greenhouse.

This will be the first night I've left the trays of head lettuces out all night. The temperature is still 66℉ and it's 9:15 at night!

Oh, there's sooo much to do!

EGGS!

2010-03-29T10:29:00.002-04:00

We have an abundance of eggs - $2.50 per dozen on the Farm, or $3 per dozen at Sweetwater Market. The chickens are loving all this warmer weather, fresh greens, sunshine. They have increased production!

Farm Update

2010-03-29T10:23:00.002-04:00

Calves are being born! Fields are getting tilled! Maple Syrup set-up is cleaned up. It was a bust year for syrup - we made 5 gallons and should have made 25. It just got too warm.

Onion plants and lettuces, mustards, kales are all getting moved in and out of the greenhouse to harden them off. They need to gradually be conditioned to the outside weather after growing in the warmed and protected greenhouse.

Paths are getting trimmed back. The gardens are getting composted and tilled and ready to plant. We plan to start setting out onions (sets and plants) on Wednesday and also hope to plant peas that day. We need to prune the raspberries and some of the perennial shrubs still. The last of the wintered-over parsnips will be dug today.

The past few days

2010-03-25T20:31:00.003-04:00

I planted 300 sweet pepper seeds yesterday! Reds and greens and lilac and yellow. Long ones, blocky ones. I also planted a lot of hot peppers - some interesting varieties.

I also picked enough kale for dinner. Oh my, it was so tender and yummy! We can pick salad about every 2 - 3 days. Spring is here!

Beef Testimonial!

2010-03-12T19:49:00.001-05:00

"We love it, Patrice! I have bought beef quarters/halves before, and have sometimes gotten ....shall we say, less than good quality. Not only is your beef great, but it is also good to know that it isn't coming from some commercial feed lot where the cattle are treated like meat machines! I am also glad to feed my family ground beef that isn't coming from a mix of a bazillion different steers."