9-16-2008
CSA Newsletter
September 16, 2008
Recent polls throughout the Midwest report that the primary concern of farmers these days is corporate concentration. If there is any one thing that brings the myth and the reality of the heartland into sharp contrast, it's the increasingly small number of players at the top and the increasingly dire straits of farmers at the bottom. Agribusiness is now controlled by a handful of agrochemical/seed/pharmaceutical companies. They are highly integrated and interrelated, meaning that just a few companies own or control the seed, farm inputs, shipping and transportation, mills and processing.
Claire Hope Cummings, Uncertain Peril
I chose this quote because of a trip we took last week to see a very large farm in Arkansas (14,000 acres). Wowzers! On so many levels! One of the Wowzers had to do with what is happening/has happened to the farm communities in this country. These towns are decaying....There are people there with no work because all of the farm land is run by just a few families. Very few human beings are needed to run the very large machines that do all the seeding, spraying, tilling and harvesting. The few families running these farms feel lucky (for the most part) to still be in the business - it's hard with this global economy. To survive they have had to become VERY large. I learned a lot. I learned about a part of my country that I had not been to before. I personally experienced (for the first time) one of the other ways to grow food, the way most of our country grows food. I learned that large, conventional growers (at least the guys I talked to) can't imagine the stress of running a market farm with many, many different crops; just as I can't imagine the stress of running a 14,000 acre farm with just 4 crops. I learned, again and again, the power of an open mind. I learned that one man working that farm won't walk into his rice fields because he "had to poison that field 10 times this year".......
The Harvest
¾# salad mix
6 oz baby spinach
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch leeks
¾# garlic (Georgian Crystal or Metechi)
2# potatoes (German Butterball)
1 bunch herbs
Bell Peppers (Purple Beauty)
Not everyone will get the following:
¼# arugula
3 oz basil
Cucumber
1.5# heirloom tomatoes
Eggplant
1 bunch beets
Georgian Crystal Garlic – Georgian Crystal is a Porcelain variety originating in the Republic of Georgia, between the Black Sea and the Aral Sea. The Porcelains are known for their rich flavor, very large cloves, and good storage. This variety should keep well into March if stored correctly. The Porcelain varieties are also considered superior medicinal garlic.
German Butterball Potato – This potato is a great choice for roasting, frying, and mashed (hmmm, that just about covers it!). With its russeted skin and buttery yellow flesh it is a great all-purpose potato. It stores well to boot!
Bell Peppers – this is the end, my friends, the end of the bell peppers for this season. So…….some of them are small and definitely not to their full flavor. But, I’m sending them out anyway, do with them what you wish.
Becca’s Nutritional Tip
When Napoleon’s ships blockaded Europe in the 19th century, preventing regular sugar can shipments, a commercial sweetener was made from beets. This naturally sweet vegetable is high in iron, potassium, niacin, copper, and vitamin C. Beet greens are rich in vitamin A, iron, and calcium. To create a sweet, colorful, and nutritious twist to dinner add grated beets over potato and vegetable dishes. A fresh juice of carrot, beet, and parsley is a healthy choice for breakfast or a great mid-day snack.
Dark leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, and beet greens are some of the richest sources of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. (The greener and fresher they are, the more nutrient dense they will be). One cup of cooked kale has only fifty calories, several grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and hardly any fat. This cup of kale is also loaded with calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C. Dishes that call for leafy greens should not be cooked for long and are best prepared just before eating them. Steaming with just a bit of water or olive oil is a quick and healthy method for cooking these nutritious powerhouses. Also adding them to soups, where the nutrients are absorbed into the stocks are also a nutritious cooking method.
The News
I’d like say goodbye and give a big thanks to my friend Alayne for a great season……for the last two seasons actually! It’s been great working together! I have really appreciated her calm energy, speedy hands, and devotion and attention to the health and happiness of all living things on this farm. She is off for some well deserved R&R in Europe. We will miss her!
If you haven’t done so yet, please send in your recipe from your potluck dish. Kim Denkers has offered to put our little cookbook together for this year. Yeah Kim! We would love to get this out soon…..so send in your recipe!
Survey!! At the bottom of this email (and in attachment form) you will find the survey. Please help us be better at what we do by filling it out and sending it back to me, in whatever format you want. Email is great, but if you would rather drop it off anonymously, then just put it on my desk tomorrow. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
The Recipe
Creamed Carrots (why not!)
Taken from Smith and Hawken Gardener’s Community Cookbook
1 stick melted butter
2 pounds carrots, julienned
4 medium onions
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsely
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
¾ cup ½&1/2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, carrots, onions, parsely, salt and pepper and ½ cup of the half-and-half in a 13x9 inch baking dish. Toss to mix well.
Pour the remaining half-and-half over the top and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and the cream is thickened almost to curdling.
That’s it for this week. Hope you are having a great one.
Daisy
Survey ‘08
Have we met our goals this year? What were your goals for this season? Please fill out the survey below and get it back to me. Your input is so valuable to us. We want to know what you liked, what you adored, and what was not enjoyed as much. It helps me decide what to grow next year, and alerts me to adjustments that need to be made in our CSA program.
2008 CSA Survey
1) Here is a list of the veggies we grew this year. What were your 3 favorites, and your 3 least favorites?
Salad greens arugula pac choi cabbage
Spinach radish turnips beets
Carrots onions scallions leeks
Broccoli potatoes garlic heirloom tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes eggplant cucumbers bell peppers
Hot peppers basil herbs (cilantro, dill, tarragon, chives, mint, sage, lavender, oregano) edible flowers mature greens (swiss chard, mustard greens, stir fry mix, kale)
2) What veggies did you not get enough of?
3) What veggies did you get too many of?
4) What was the best part of your CSA experience?
5) What was your least favorite part of your CSA experience?
6) Did you enjoy the newsletters? Any suggestions?
7) Are there any veggies that we don’t currently grow that you would like to have?
8) Would you like to have the option to choose a salad mix that is simpler, i.e. – less flavor and texture?
9) Flower share members – what did you think of the flower season? Any feedback?
10) Anything else?
September 16, 2008
Recent polls throughout the Midwest report that the primary concern of farmers these days is corporate concentration. If there is any one thing that brings the myth and the reality of the heartland into sharp contrast, it's the increasingly small number of players at the top and the increasingly dire straits of farmers at the bottom. Agribusiness is now controlled by a handful of agrochemical/seed/pharmaceutical companies. They are highly integrated and interrelated, meaning that just a few companies own or control the seed, farm inputs, shipping and transportation, mills and processing.
Claire Hope Cummings, Uncertain Peril
I chose this quote because of a trip we took last week to see a very large farm in Arkansas (14,000 acres). Wowzers! On so many levels! One of the Wowzers had to do with what is happening/has happened to the farm communities in this country. These towns are decaying....There are people there with no work because all of the farm land is run by just a few families. Very few human beings are needed to run the very large machines that do all the seeding, spraying, tilling and harvesting. The few families running these farms feel lucky (for the most part) to still be in the business - it's hard with this global economy. To survive they have had to become VERY large. I learned a lot. I learned about a part of my country that I had not been to before. I personally experienced (for the first time) one of the other ways to grow food, the way most of our country grows food. I learned that large, conventional growers (at least the guys I talked to) can't imagine the stress of running a market farm with many, many different crops; just as I can't imagine the stress of running a 14,000 acre farm with just 4 crops. I learned, again and again, the power of an open mind. I learned that one man working that farm won't walk into his rice fields because he "had to poison that field 10 times this year".......
The Harvest
¾# salad mix
6 oz baby spinach
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch leeks
¾# garlic (Georgian Crystal or Metechi)
2# potatoes (German Butterball)
1 bunch herbs
Bell Peppers (Purple Beauty)
Not everyone will get the following:
¼# arugula
3 oz basil
Cucumber
1.5# heirloom tomatoes
Eggplant
1 bunch beets
Georgian Crystal Garlic – Georgian Crystal is a Porcelain variety originating in the Republic of Georgia, between the Black Sea and the Aral Sea. The Porcelains are known for their rich flavor, very large cloves, and good storage. This variety should keep well into March if stored correctly. The Porcelain varieties are also considered superior medicinal garlic.
German Butterball Potato – This potato is a great choice for roasting, frying, and mashed (hmmm, that just about covers it!). With its russeted skin and buttery yellow flesh it is a great all-purpose potato. It stores well to boot!
Bell Peppers – this is the end, my friends, the end of the bell peppers for this season. So…….some of them are small and definitely not to their full flavor. But, I’m sending them out anyway, do with them what you wish.
Becca’s Nutritional Tip
When Napoleon’s ships blockaded Europe in the 19th century, preventing regular sugar can shipments, a commercial sweetener was made from beets. This naturally sweet vegetable is high in iron, potassium, niacin, copper, and vitamin C. Beet greens are rich in vitamin A, iron, and calcium. To create a sweet, colorful, and nutritious twist to dinner add grated beets over potato and vegetable dishes. A fresh juice of carrot, beet, and parsley is a healthy choice for breakfast or a great mid-day snack.
Dark leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, and beet greens are some of the richest sources of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. (The greener and fresher they are, the more nutrient dense they will be). One cup of cooked kale has only fifty calories, several grams of protein, 3 grams of fiber, and hardly any fat. This cup of kale is also loaded with calcium, magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C. Dishes that call for leafy greens should not be cooked for long and are best prepared just before eating them. Steaming with just a bit of water or olive oil is a quick and healthy method for cooking these nutritious powerhouses. Also adding them to soups, where the nutrients are absorbed into the stocks are also a nutritious cooking method.
The News
I’d like say goodbye and give a big thanks to my friend Alayne for a great season……for the last two seasons actually! It’s been great working together! I have really appreciated her calm energy, speedy hands, and devotion and attention to the health and happiness of all living things on this farm. She is off for some well deserved R&R in Europe. We will miss her!
If you haven’t done so yet, please send in your recipe from your potluck dish. Kim Denkers has offered to put our little cookbook together for this year. Yeah Kim! We would love to get this out soon…..so send in your recipe!
Survey!! At the bottom of this email (and in attachment form) you will find the survey. Please help us be better at what we do by filling it out and sending it back to me, in whatever format you want. Email is great, but if you would rather drop it off anonymously, then just put it on my desk tomorrow. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.
The Recipe
Creamed Carrots (why not!)
Taken from Smith and Hawken Gardener’s Community Cookbook
1 stick melted butter
2 pounds carrots, julienned
4 medium onions
3 tbsp chopped fresh parsely
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
¾ cup ½&1/2
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, carrots, onions, parsely, salt and pepper and ½ cup of the half-and-half in a 13x9 inch baking dish. Toss to mix well.
Pour the remaining half-and-half over the top and bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the carrots are tender and the cream is thickened almost to curdling.
That’s it for this week. Hope you are having a great one.
Daisy
Survey ‘08
Have we met our goals this year? What were your goals for this season? Please fill out the survey below and get it back to me. Your input is so valuable to us. We want to know what you liked, what you adored, and what was not enjoyed as much. It helps me decide what to grow next year, and alerts me to adjustments that need to be made in our CSA program.
2008 CSA Survey
1) Here is a list of the veggies we grew this year. What were your 3 favorites, and your 3 least favorites?
Salad greens arugula pac choi cabbage
Spinach radish turnips beets
Carrots onions scallions leeks
Broccoli potatoes garlic heirloom tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes eggplant cucumbers bell peppers
Hot peppers basil herbs (cilantro, dill, tarragon, chives, mint, sage, lavender, oregano) edible flowers mature greens (swiss chard, mustard greens, stir fry mix, kale)
2) What veggies did you not get enough of?
3) What veggies did you get too many of?
4) What was the best part of your CSA experience?
5) What was your least favorite part of your CSA experience?
6) Did you enjoy the newsletters? Any suggestions?
7) Are there any veggies that we don’t currently grow that you would like to have?
8) Would you like to have the option to choose a salad mix that is simpler, i.e. – less flavor and texture?
9) Flower share members – what did you think of the flower season? Any feedback?
10) Anything else?
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