08/11/2009
CSA Newsletter
August 11th, 2009
It is estimated that up to a third of all of the increase in global CO2 since the industrial revolution can be attributed to carbon losses from soils as a result of agricultural practices. (Practices such as) organic matter removal, erosion, compaction, cultivation, fallow, and the use of certain chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Mike Amaranthus, Jeff Anderson, Zack Amaranthus, Dave Perry Building Soil Organic Matter Organically, ACRES USA, January 2009
The Harvest
1# salad mix
¼# arugula
½# cooking greens (either kale, chard, or a mix of kale and chard)
1 bunch beets
1 bunch carrots
1 bulb garlic
1 bunch herbs
Not Everyone will get the following:
1 head cabbage (if you didn’t get it last week, you’ll get this week)
U-Pick – If you did not pick last week, pick this week.
Heirloom tomatoes - Check the board
Sweet and Hot peppers
Edible Flowers
Summer squash
Garlic – This week you will be getting one bulb of Georgian Crystal garlic. Garlic does not go in the cooler, so it will be in a box in the main room – don’t forget it! 1 bulb per membership.
This garlic is green – that means it has not been cured yet. That means it should be eaten now-ish – not stored for later use. We are going to be harvesting all the rest of the garlic from the field this week. Once it is harvested it is hung to cure for about 2 -3 weeks. Once the garlic has cured we will sort every bulb – the biggest and the best we will keep for seed to be planted in October for next year’s harvest. The rest (which will be big and beautiful, believe me) will be sent out to you all starting sometime in September.
All of the garlic grown at Copper Moose this year (and all the years past) is hard neck garlic. Most of the garlic you find at the grocery store is a soft neck variety. Soft neck is more widely grown because it is easy to plant and grow it mechanically and it keeps longer due to many layers of papery skin. Soft neck garlic can also be braided. Hard neck garlic produces a scape (you should be very familiar with those by now), has fewer but much larger cloves per bulb, and has less of a papery wrapper hence it is a bit more sensitive and does not store as long. Having said that, I know many CSA members from last year didn’t finish up their garlic until April or later. I was eating last year’s garlic at least until the end of April.
The reason I love to grow hard neck garlic is because of the range of flavors the different varieties offer. Once you have cooked the garlic you can’t really tell a difference in the flavor, but when compared raw – there is very discernable differences. I also really enjoy the large juicy cloves that hard neck varieties produce. The three varieties we grow here are Wild Rocambole, Metechi, and Georgian Crystal. I’ll tell you more about each of those varieties later in the season once it’s cured.
Tomato Update – Our tomatoes have peaked already. What does that mean? Well, with heirloom tomatoes it means their production is going to rapidly drop off. That’s the way they do it. We are already starting to pull some of the plants out to get ready for winter growing in the greenhouse. That’s the thing with harvesting heirloom tomatoes in early June…….we are not going to be harvesting Heirloom tomatoes in September (we will still be harvesting cherry tomatoes though). We will harvest tomatoes for another week or two, but unfortunately it won’t be much. So I encourage you all to head over to the farmers markets and support those Salt Lake growers who are just now starting to bring tomatoes to market (Ranui Gardens should also have some good heirlooms showing up).
Please only take a bag of tomatoes if your name is on the board, if your name is not on the board and you take a bag, you are taking someone else’s food. Members that are splitting a share: you must split one bag of tomatoes. If you are each taking a bag of tomatoes, you are taking someone else’s food.
Nutrition Tip
Cabbage is a member of the Brassicaceae family. It was originally derived from a wild plant that grew along the Mediterranean. Cato The Elder praised it for it’s medicinal properties stating: “It is the cabbage which surpasses all vegetables”.
Cabbage is great in soups, stews, slaws, and salads. It is the main ingredient for sauerkraut and kimche (both fermented foods).
Cabbage is high in vitamin C and contains glutamine which is an amino acid with anti-inflammatory properties.
The News
The CSA potluck is 2.5 short weeks away (Sunday August 30th). I am going to put a sign up sheet on the cooler door – so sign up for the dish you would like to bring. Here is how it works. Copper Moose Farm will provide the main course and beverages, you all will bring a favorite veggie dish or dessert. Maybe it’s one of your favorite CSA recipes this year, or maybe it’s an old stand by you want to share with the rest of us – it’s up to you. I will try to get you as many of the ingredients in your dish as I can and send it to you in your August 27th CSA box. I will need a list of items you would like from me by Friday August 21st.
This year we will be doing a pig roast. We will be getting a pig from Russell Taylor (our beef and pork man). Russell raises organic Beef and Pork down in Emery Utah. I first met Russell’s dad at an Acres USA conference 3 years ago. Acres USA is a fabulous agricultural publication and in its own words is “The Voice of Eco-Agriculture”. Since then Russell and I talk a couple times a month, whether about the Steers I have reserved for Copper Moose Farm this fall, or about vegetables, or fertilizer. The main business for the Taylor family is organic fertilizers. They have a mine down in southern Utah where they harvest Humeric Acids. Russell will be at the CSA Potluck so you will all get a chance to meet him then (if you didn’t already this past weekend at the Harvest Dinner).
Cotton Bags
How are they going for you? Are you using less plastic bags? Are you re-using your plastic bags? The reason I ask is this: we decided to use the cloth bags to reduce the amount of plastic bags our CSA (as a whole) puts in the land fill (or the recycle bin for that matter). It is a significant amount of additional work for us to use the cotton bags, which we are willing to do IF we are reducing the amount of plastic bags ending up in the trash/recycle. If the majority of our members are just putting the greens into new plastic bags and then throwing those bags out when finished, the additional work is no longer worth it to us. So…. no judgment here, just let me know how it’s going so that I can make educated decisions. Thank you!
The Recipe
Tangy Braised Cabbage
Ingredients:
· 4 tablespoons butter
· 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
· 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, finely diced
· 1/2 head of cabbage, coarsely chopped or shredded, about 8 cups
· 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
· 1/4 cup apricot preserves or apple jelly
· salt, to taste
Preparation:
In a large saucepan or electric skillet, or Dutch oven, heat butter over low heat; add onion and apple; sauté for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until soft. Add cabbage, pepper, and vinegar; and preserves or jelly; toss to blend well. Cover tightly and simmer slowly over low heat for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until cabbage is very soft and tender. Add salt to taste. Serves 4.
Cabbage with Creamy Sauce
Ingredients:
· 1 medium head of cabbage, about 1 1/2 pounds
· 2 cups beef broth
· 2 eggs, beaten
· 3/4 cup half-and-half
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· dash pepper
· dash nutmeg
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
· 2 teaspoons sugar
· ground sweet paprika
Preparation:
Cut cabbage into 8 wedges; wash. Place in a large saucepan or kettle; add beef broth and simmer, uncovered, until tender. Drain and keep cabbage warm.
Combine eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
In top of double boiler heat olive oil, vinegar, and sugar over direct heat. Stir hot mixture into the egg mixture then return to top of double boiler. Cook mixture over simmering water, stirring constantly, until thickened. Put cabbage in a warm bowl or serving platter; pour sauce over cabbage wedges. Sprinkle with paprika.Serves 4.
That’s all for this week, we look forward to seeing you between 8-6 tomorrow - Daisy
August 11th, 2009
It is estimated that up to a third of all of the increase in global CO2 since the industrial revolution can be attributed to carbon losses from soils as a result of agricultural practices. (Practices such as) organic matter removal, erosion, compaction, cultivation, fallow, and the use of certain chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Mike Amaranthus, Jeff Anderson, Zack Amaranthus, Dave Perry Building Soil Organic Matter Organically, ACRES USA, January 2009
The Harvest
1# salad mix
¼# arugula
½# cooking greens (either kale, chard, or a mix of kale and chard)
1 bunch beets
1 bunch carrots
1 bulb garlic
1 bunch herbs
Not Everyone will get the following:
1 head cabbage (if you didn’t get it last week, you’ll get this week)
U-Pick – If you did not pick last week, pick this week.
Heirloom tomatoes - Check the board
Sweet and Hot peppers
Edible Flowers
Summer squash
Garlic – This week you will be getting one bulb of Georgian Crystal garlic. Garlic does not go in the cooler, so it will be in a box in the main room – don’t forget it! 1 bulb per membership.
This garlic is green – that means it has not been cured yet. That means it should be eaten now-ish – not stored for later use. We are going to be harvesting all the rest of the garlic from the field this week. Once it is harvested it is hung to cure for about 2 -3 weeks. Once the garlic has cured we will sort every bulb – the biggest and the best we will keep for seed to be planted in October for next year’s harvest. The rest (which will be big and beautiful, believe me) will be sent out to you all starting sometime in September.
All of the garlic grown at Copper Moose this year (and all the years past) is hard neck garlic. Most of the garlic you find at the grocery store is a soft neck variety. Soft neck is more widely grown because it is easy to plant and grow it mechanically and it keeps longer due to many layers of papery skin. Soft neck garlic can also be braided. Hard neck garlic produces a scape (you should be very familiar with those by now), has fewer but much larger cloves per bulb, and has less of a papery wrapper hence it is a bit more sensitive and does not store as long. Having said that, I know many CSA members from last year didn’t finish up their garlic until April or later. I was eating last year’s garlic at least until the end of April.
The reason I love to grow hard neck garlic is because of the range of flavors the different varieties offer. Once you have cooked the garlic you can’t really tell a difference in the flavor, but when compared raw – there is very discernable differences. I also really enjoy the large juicy cloves that hard neck varieties produce. The three varieties we grow here are Wild Rocambole, Metechi, and Georgian Crystal. I’ll tell you more about each of those varieties later in the season once it’s cured.
Tomato Update – Our tomatoes have peaked already. What does that mean? Well, with heirloom tomatoes it means their production is going to rapidly drop off. That’s the way they do it. We are already starting to pull some of the plants out to get ready for winter growing in the greenhouse. That’s the thing with harvesting heirloom tomatoes in early June…….we are not going to be harvesting Heirloom tomatoes in September (we will still be harvesting cherry tomatoes though). We will harvest tomatoes for another week or two, but unfortunately it won’t be much. So I encourage you all to head over to the farmers markets and support those Salt Lake growers who are just now starting to bring tomatoes to market (Ranui Gardens should also have some good heirlooms showing up).
Please only take a bag of tomatoes if your name is on the board, if your name is not on the board and you take a bag, you are taking someone else’s food. Members that are splitting a share: you must split one bag of tomatoes. If you are each taking a bag of tomatoes, you are taking someone else’s food.
Nutrition Tip
Cabbage is a member of the Brassicaceae family. It was originally derived from a wild plant that grew along the Mediterranean. Cato The Elder praised it for it’s medicinal properties stating: “It is the cabbage which surpasses all vegetables”.
Cabbage is great in soups, stews, slaws, and salads. It is the main ingredient for sauerkraut and kimche (both fermented foods).
Cabbage is high in vitamin C and contains glutamine which is an amino acid with anti-inflammatory properties.
The News
The CSA potluck is 2.5 short weeks away (Sunday August 30th). I am going to put a sign up sheet on the cooler door – so sign up for the dish you would like to bring. Here is how it works. Copper Moose Farm will provide the main course and beverages, you all will bring a favorite veggie dish or dessert. Maybe it’s one of your favorite CSA recipes this year, or maybe it’s an old stand by you want to share with the rest of us – it’s up to you. I will try to get you as many of the ingredients in your dish as I can and send it to you in your August 27th CSA box. I will need a list of items you would like from me by Friday August 21st.
This year we will be doing a pig roast. We will be getting a pig from Russell Taylor (our beef and pork man). Russell raises organic Beef and Pork down in Emery Utah. I first met Russell’s dad at an Acres USA conference 3 years ago. Acres USA is a fabulous agricultural publication and in its own words is “The Voice of Eco-Agriculture”. Since then Russell and I talk a couple times a month, whether about the Steers I have reserved for Copper Moose Farm this fall, or about vegetables, or fertilizer. The main business for the Taylor family is organic fertilizers. They have a mine down in southern Utah where they harvest Humeric Acids. Russell will be at the CSA Potluck so you will all get a chance to meet him then (if you didn’t already this past weekend at the Harvest Dinner).
Cotton Bags
How are they going for you? Are you using less plastic bags? Are you re-using your plastic bags? The reason I ask is this: we decided to use the cloth bags to reduce the amount of plastic bags our CSA (as a whole) puts in the land fill (or the recycle bin for that matter). It is a significant amount of additional work for us to use the cotton bags, which we are willing to do IF we are reducing the amount of plastic bags ending up in the trash/recycle. If the majority of our members are just putting the greens into new plastic bags and then throwing those bags out when finished, the additional work is no longer worth it to us. So…. no judgment here, just let me know how it’s going so that I can make educated decisions. Thank you!
The Recipe
Tangy Braised Cabbage
Ingredients:
· 4 tablespoons butter
· 1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
· 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, finely diced
· 1/2 head of cabbage, coarsely chopped or shredded, about 8 cups
· 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
· 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
· 1/4 cup apricot preserves or apple jelly
· salt, to taste
Preparation:
In a large saucepan or electric skillet, or Dutch oven, heat butter over low heat; add onion and apple; sauté for about 7 to 10 minutes, or until soft. Add cabbage, pepper, and vinegar; and preserves or jelly; toss to blend well. Cover tightly and simmer slowly over low heat for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, or until cabbage is very soft and tender. Add salt to taste. Serves 4.
Cabbage with Creamy Sauce
Ingredients:
· 1 medium head of cabbage, about 1 1/2 pounds
· 2 cups beef broth
· 2 eggs, beaten
· 3/4 cup half-and-half
· 1/2 teaspoon salt
· dash pepper
· dash nutmeg
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
· 2 teaspoons sugar
· ground sweet paprika
Preparation:
Cut cabbage into 8 wedges; wash. Place in a large saucepan or kettle; add beef broth and simmer, uncovered, until tender. Drain and keep cabbage warm.
Combine eggs, cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
In top of double boiler heat olive oil, vinegar, and sugar over direct heat. Stir hot mixture into the egg mixture then return to top of double boiler. Cook mixture over simmering water, stirring constantly, until thickened. Put cabbage in a warm bowl or serving platter; pour sauce over cabbage wedges. Sprinkle with paprika.Serves 4.
That’s all for this week, we look forward to seeing you between 8-6 tomorrow - Daisy
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