Greetings from Farmer Tom
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last week
when Al Gore was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, it felt like a fresh
breath of fresh air blowing through a room where over the last 7
years many people and organizations have been experiencing stifling
conditions in their attempt to fight environmental and social
injustices. Climate Change may be recognized as the most imminent of
all environmental threats, but more importantly I believe that this
Nobel Peace Prize raises our awareness of interconnectedness, giving
a stronger voice to millions of ordinary people who confront
despair, powerlessness, and incredible odds to heal the wounds of
"Spaceship Earth" and it's inhabitants. It is a call for all
of us to repair and protect the web we call Life. As CSA members of
Live Earth Farm we may represent only a small, loosely linked
community of "eaters" who, as ordinary citizens, use the most humble
of tools and daily rituals -- our forks, plates and the choice of
food -- to support sustainability. In some ways we can gather
strength and courage simply by seeing ourselves as part of an
interconnected web of people and organizations, a lot like the
internet; better yet, like our own immune system -- we are linked to
a dynamic grid of knowledge and relationships much larger than
ourselves. Our choices of what we eat and our persistent daily
decisions, both individually and collectively, can give us the
optimism symbolic in the Nobel Peace Prize. The example
of our individual voices informing the larger network of individuals
within a community about a threat to our health and environment is
being demonstrated right now, right here in our communities in both
Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. This is concerning the
government's approach to controlling the Light Brown Apple Moth
(LBAM).  LBAM, a little known moth
native to Australia, has over the years spread to other part of the
world including Hawaii and New Zealand, and recently has been
detected in California, with the highest concentration found in
Santa Cruz and Monterey county. Much controversy exists about
the damage and possible economic impact this moth might have on
other crops and plants outside their native place of origin. What
seems certain is that the approach the government has in mind is
similar to a mis-informed military intervention, without any concern
or respect for the impact on the larger community of life. To impose
an eradication campaign by means of aerial pesticide spraying
(whatever the compound) is not only archaic, but completely ignores
the biological principles and scientific understanding of insects.
No different than a multinational corporation, the government, here,
is leveraging its arrogant power to impose a shortsighted,
ill-informed, misleading strategy, supported by a small minority of
interest groups. Right now the government is imposing an 'emergency
exemption' to circumvent data indicating the detrimental impact of
aerial spraying of pheromones on our children and environment at
large; this needs to be opposed. If you are interested in getting
more informed about this issue, here are a few links: http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fda9rfcab.0.0.dqwhm9bab.0&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.1hope.org%2Fpest&id=previewhttp://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fda9rfcab.0.0.dqwhm9bab.0&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.1hope.org%2Fchkmate.htm&id=previewhttp://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fda9rfcab.0.0.dqwhm9bab.0&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indybay.org%2Fnewsitems%2F2007%2F10%2F12%2F18453617.php&id=previewhttp://rs6.net/tn.jsp?t=fda9rfcab.0.0.dqwhm9bab.0&ts=S0289&p=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.indybay.org%2Fnewsitems%2F2007%2F10%2F12%2F18453697.php&id=preview-
Tom |
| Notes from the field
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
With signs of early winter
rains we have been very busy preparing our fields for next year's
strawberry, garlic, onion, and fava beans, as they need the most
lead time. Over the next few weeks we will be planting almost 2
acres of strawberries, 1 acre of garlic and onions, and 2 acres of
favas. Pictured below is Juanillo busy plowing the field in
preparation for shaping the soil into high beds; bed height is
important to enhancing drainage during the wet months
ahead.
You will notice that the tomatoes in your share this
week are not as dark red as the ones you have been getting; this is
because tomatoes are very vulnerable to rot on the vine when they
have been rained on. Tomatoes will ripen off the vine, so leave them
sitting on your kitchen counter; they should still have a nice
flavor, even though not as intensely sweet as the dry-farmed ones we
have been enjoying.
Expect to get peppers for another couple
of weeks; I think this has been a wonderful pepper season for us.
Green beans we should have maybe another 3 weeks... I don't think
we'll have them for Thanksgiving this year. Instead, though, I can
promise a bounty of brussel sprouts (which are developing nicely),
winter squash, and more leafy greens.
 |
| Fall Harvest Celebration this Saturday, rain or
shine!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  It seems we'll get some rain Friday,
but the forcast says it'll taper off by Saturday afternoon. Bring
your raingear just in case... the children will love playing in the
rain, and we can always celebrate in the barn. If we are lucky, the
sun will shine in the afternoon which always makes for dramatic and
beautiful lighting and exquisitely fresh, crisp air; who knows, we
might enjoy the blessing of a rainbow as well! Take a chance and
come on out to the farm. There are plenty of pumpkins, lots of
apples to press into juice, and the oven will feed us with warm
loaves of bread. Remember to bring a dish to share in the potluck,
and maybe something warm to drink! See you all on
Saturday.
Repeat PS from Debbie: as always, we
encourage you to bring your own plates and utensils, cloth
napkins... even cups for cider, in order to minimize the
unrecyclable waste of paper plates and such going into the landfill.
Thanks!
PS - you might want to bring a tarp to put below your
blanket; if the sun shines, the ground may still be damp. Woo-hoo,
this may be an adventure! The Banana Slug String Band will still be
here, and they'll make it a wonderful day no matter
what.
|
| What's in the box this week
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Content differences between
Family and Small Shares are in red; items with a "+" in Family Shares are
more in quantity than in Small; anticipated quantities, if any, are
in parentheses. Occasionally the
content will differ from this list (i.e. we will make a
substitution), but we do our best to give you an accurate
projection.
Family Share:
Chiogga beets (Lakeside)
Broccolini +
Carrots
Chard/Collard
greens
Green beans
+
Lettuce (bibb [heirloom
lettuce], romaine or red butter) +
Mei qing choi
Peppers
Radishes
Tomatoes (maybe)
Apples and pears
NOTE: no strawberries with
Family Share
Small
Share:
Broccolini
Carrots
Green beans
Lettuce
(bibb [heirloom lettuce], romaine or red butter) +
Peppers
Radishes
Tomatoes
Apples and
pears
NOTE: no strawberries with Small
Share
Extra Fruit
Option: Apples, pears, avocados and strawberries
|
| Notes from Debbie's Kitchen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Click here to go
to my extensive recipe database, spanning 10 years of CSA recipes
and alphabetized by key ingredient. Includes photos of most farm
veggies; helpful for ID-ing things in your box!
Time for another 'what I'd do with
this week's box' this time, from me! - Debbie
It's
a pretty straightforward box this week... no surprises (at least not
as of this writing!!) ;-) Although Tom did hint that we may have our
first brussel sprouts next week! I bet this will be a new experience
for everyone, to have them nice and fresh; I expect y'all will be
pleasantly surprised with this underappreciated veggie... we'll see!
Meanwhile, back to what we have this week.
I saw a woman at
my pick-up site last week swap out her bag of sweet peppers ("don't know what
to do with them all," she said. They were beautiful too... red,
yellow and green...), and it was all I could do to not jump on them
(I didn't have anything I wanted to trade). The peppers are so easy!
They can be used in so many things.
I'll slice or dice some
up and add them to my scrambled eggs for breakfast... topped with a
little goat chevre. You can expand on this by adding a little onion
or scallion, and/or by putting some soy sauce into the eggs before
beating them for some extra yummy salty flavor. Even better, cook
them in a little butter which you've let go beyond melted and
starting to brown, so you get that wonderful, fragrant,
brown-butter-scrambled-eggs with your peppers, cheese and
onion!
I've taken lately to sautéing slices of pepper (and
optional onion) in olive oil with some sliced mushrooms, then adding
lightly steamed green
beans, and sautéing them all together, sprinkling with a
little salt. That's good just as is, but you can also add some herbs
(y'know, some of that basil you dried back when we had lots of it in
our shares each week, or some fresh or dried thyme, or herbes de
Provence). I've also optionally splashed in a little balsamic
vinegar at the end, then cooked it for a minute or so more, and the
balsamic makes a kind of quick caramelized glaze to the veggies. Oh,
and a variation on this mixture is to cut up some carrot into more-or-less
green-bean-sized slices and pre-steam them too (a little longer for
the carrots; do the carrots 3 minutes then add the beans and steam
together another 3 minutes), and add them to the mixture. The color
combo can't be beat when you have the 'green' beans, the orange
carrots, and then red and/or yellow peppers.
Beeeyouteeful!
And if it hadn't occurred to you (probably to
most of you it has) - simply add slices of colorful sweet peppers to
your tossed salads! Throw some sliced radishes in there while you're
thinking about it.
Peppers are also great with braised or
stewed meats and poultry. Think things like Coq au Vin, or Chicken
Caccitore; go ahead and add peppers to stews and braises... I give
you permission!
Here's an old recipe for Chicken Caccitore
I've had around since I was a kid (not quite sure I want to admit
how long ago that was!) that I still make occasionally. It's very
unpretentious and quite tasty:
Chicken Caccitore
cut up
chicken
olive oil
onion [minced]
green pepper [diced or cut
in strips; any color of pepper is fine]
garlic [one or more
cloves, crushed or minced]
tomatoes [canned tomatoes, or cut up
farm tomatoes]
red wine
bay
leaf
allspice
thyme
cayenne
salt and pepper
Brown
chicken pieces in hot oil; add onion, peppers and garlic and sauté.
Add rest of ingredients and simmer, uncovered, until chicken is
tender (about 40 minutes). Serve on or with rice.
As you can
see there were no quantities... so let's see, if you were doing a
whole chicken, cut up, I'd say one medium onion, two to four corno
di toro peppers [just giving you a quantity idea; a little more or
less, or different kind of pepper is fine], the equivalent of a can
of diced tomatoes in their juice, about ¼ C of wine, one bayleaf, a
tsp. of allspice, half-tsp. thyme, qtr-tsp. cayenne (or to
taste).
My old standby for Chard is the Chard and Feta Pasta, and you can make it without the pasta if you just want a
cheesy green veggie side dish! Just sauté up chopped chard stems
with some onion, chop the greens roughly and add them once the onion
is translucent and cook/stir-fry a few minutes until the greens are
wilted. Crumble in feta cheese and grate in a bunch of black pepper,
stir until cheese is melted... and eat!
Broccolini? I think it's hot
salad time again; the weather's cooling down, so I do this ALL the
time [yes, you've probably heard me preach on this one before] -
steam it until it is just al dente (3 minutes or so; less if the
stems are small) then drizzle with good olive oil, squeeze on fresh
lemon juice, and sprinkle with sea salt. If you don't have lemons,
try different kinds of vinegar. This 'hot salad' recipe is good for
broccoli and broccolini, chard, spinach... actually, the collard greens wouldn't be bad
this way too! My 'All New Joy of Cooking' says, "collards are superb
seasoned with just vinegar and hot pepper sauce, but they also have
affinities with garlic, onions, chili peppers, lemon, and other
piquant flavors."
I like to put the mei qing choi into simple soups;
a good tasty broth is all you need! Just add the choi at the end and
heat a minute or so more. You can elaborate on this by adding some
finely sliced green onion if you have it, or go even further and add
some cilantro, a splash of lemon or lime juice, a little hot sauce,
a little fish sauce... mmmm.
Oh, and the beets: I've kept this note since
the beginning of August, when member Dave Davis wrote to me to say,
"I really can't get enough of them! I keep reading to peel
them before or after cooking them. My son and I -- and my folks and
some of the neighbors when they join us for dinner -- enjoy them
with the skins: I first trim off the tip and the very top and then
scrub them vigorously with a nylon braided pot scrubber or one of
those sponges with a 'scratchy' side. Spread out some aluminum foil
and generously coat them in olive oil. I try to leave the beets as
wet as possible before oiling them so there is a small amount of
water in with them. I grind pepper over them and then sprinkle on
some coarse salt. I double wrap them in foil and place them on the
BBQ away from direct heat along with whatever is cooking. Depending
on the size and thickness of the beets, it takes about an hour to an
hour and a half to cook them to firm tenderness. The skins
taste delicious and we never have leftovers. I clean and trim them
in the same manner when throwing some into the slow cooker for
roasts and such." [And if you don't happen to have a BBQ fired up,
use Dave's technique only just stick them in a medium oven, about
350 degrees.]
Someone asked Tom last week what kinds of apples we were getting, and I
can't always keep 'em straight myself, so I thought I'd pass along
what he said: "The yellow/red ones are an early Fuji variety, crisp
and sweet. The big green ones are Mutsus, and early on we had Galas
-- the red, sort of striped ones."
Speaking of apples, here's
another fine recipe sent to me by frequent contributor Farrell
Podgorsek, who says, "this recipe is very slightly modified from one
in the Mercury News awhile back. It is Beth Hensperger's recipe that
I modified to use our apples. The dough is almost like a slightly
sweet pizza dough and could be topped with any fruit (I made it the
first time with the concord grapes. The flavor was fabulous, but the
seeds were a bit annoying). Our pears, poached first, would be nice
too. It makes a nice dessert or breakfast pastry."
Fresh Apple Pizza
Dough - made
in the bread machine:
1/3 C milk - I use almond milk
1/3 C
water
1 lg. egg
3 tbsp. olive oil
5 tbsp. margarine or
butter, room temp.
2 tsp. vanilla
3 C flour - you could use
1/3 white wheat and 2/3 unbleached white
2 tbsp. sugar, raw is
great
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. instant yeast
Place
ingredients in machine and program for dough. Dough will be sticky
and just hold its shape. Otherwise, make in a food processor or
mixer. Dough should rise to double in volume. While dough is rising
prepare filling.
Apples - I used about 5 medium apples,
peeled and cored and cut into thin slices. I mixed the apples in a
bowl with 1/2 cup raw sugar and a pinch of cinnamon. Heat 1 tbsp.
margarine or butter in a medium skillet on the stove and transfer
the apples to the skillet. Stir to coat. Cover and cook over gentle
heat for 5-7 minutes, or until the apples are semisoft but not
broken down. Remove the apples with a slotted spoon. Cook the
remaining juices for a few minutes to thicken. It will get syrupy.
Add 1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger.
When dough is ready
roll out to a 14-inch circle or large rectangle. Brush pan with
olive oil and transfer dough. Arrange apple slices in a pretty
pattern on top of dough. Top with reduced liquid. Sprinkle with 1/3
cup raw sugar. Bake for 30 minutes or until dark golden brown.
Transfer to a rack to cool.
|
| Calendar of Events
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fall Harvest
Celebration
Saturday October 20th, 3pm until dark
| |
