Two reports.

Two important reports have been released to the public this year.  One is the USDA annual report that shows test results of pesticide residue in fruits and vegetables.  This report was expected to come out earlier in the year but was allegedly held up by lobbyists from 18 pesticide-intensive food trade associations. They were worried that it would hurt business.  The full report can be found here:  http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5091055

The second important report was released by the UN this year.  It examines the myth that only chemical-driven Big Ag can feed the world.  The report “Agro-ecology and the Right to Food” reveals that, in fact, small-scale sustainable farming would even double food production within five to 10 years in places where most hungry people on the planet live. “We won’t solve hunger and stop climate change with industrial farming on large plantations,” Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food and author of the report, said in a press release. “The solution lies in supporting small-scale farmers’ knowledge and experimentation, and in raising incomes of smallholders so as to contribute to rural development.”
The full report can be found here:
http://civileats.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110308_UN_agroecology_report.pdf

On a lighter note, another thing the USDA  reports is  that green leaf lettuce has quite a few nutrients per head, including 13 mg calcium, 5 mg Magnesium, 10 mg phosphorous, 70 mg potassium, 6.5 mg vitamin C and a fair dose of vitamins A and K and lutein.  Red leaf is good, too.  (Actually, the darker the leaf the better.)  So wrap your lettuce around a hunk of cheese and enjoy!  

Oh my.

From the expert kitchen of two of our kindly CSA members.... 

Cannellini Beans and Wilted Greens

adapted from Chez Panisse Vegetables

Total time: 45 minutes                        Makes: 6 servings

This is a hearty vegetarian dish served over pasta (~ ½ lb … I like whole wheat cork screw), but it can be a delicious side dish with roasted meat.  When the beans are tender roughly mash about half of them to thicken the sauce, then stir in the cooked pasta and broth (vegetable or chicken) to produce the desired saucy texture.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large bunch (~ 1 lb.) of fresh bitter greens (mustard, turnip, etc … coarsely chopped)
• 1 14 oz can cannellini beans, drained
• 1 – 2 cups broth (vegetable or chicken)
• 6 cloves garlic
• 5 – 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• Extra-virgin olive oil as needed

METHOD

1. Wash, trim and chop the greens

2. Finely chop the garlic cloves and gently sauté them in the olive oil until fragrant, about 1 minute.

3. Add the beans, rosemary and about 1 cup of the broth until some of the beans begin to crumble, about 5 minutes.

4. Add the greens uncovered until they are wilted and tender.  Add more broth as needed to keep the vegetables moist and soupy.

5. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed.  Serve over hot, drained pasta or in a side dish.  Offer with grated parmesan and extra-virgin olive oil to drizzle over the top.

Monday Harvest Day

Monday is our longest day.  We harvest for around 75 shareholders and market customers.  Tomorrow I know the team will be cutting lettuce and kale and pulling onions.  I'm sure some of our regular kale fiends will start to show up at the market booth--in fact I bet we'll see a few starting this Tuesday.  We are especially looking forward to a particular few customers who regularly stock up on dark leafy greens for juicing.  Those customers have the clearest, healthiest and most vibrant skin...
While writing this I am listening to the pleasant howling of coyotes down by the creek (pleasantly evisioning their [not-so-pleasant] interaction with our bunny population).  This is definitely the year of the rabbit, on Chinese calendars and on ours.  In previous years we haven't had an issue with bunnies in the vegetable beds, but this year we've had to set traps and think bad thoughts about this inconveniently cute animal.  Why do they have to have such a perky tail?  And why such big, sad eyes?
Also new on the farm is the long, slinky body of an underaged weasel.  Todd and I witnessed this creature last week while washing radishes and hope it meets with death before getting any bigger.   We do have chickens to think about.  I have not always had such violent thoughts.
Violence is all around on the farm: in the sky, underground and embedded in the consciousness of bugs and birds and mammals.  On most Mondays violence shows itself at the base of a stem dripping milky white blood from a lettuce knife.
I have not always had such violent thoughts.  See you soon!  -Julia

Megan, a three-year veteran of the farm, looking fierce.

Transplanting Lettuce

We have several varieties of lettuce out here on the plot.  Some are supposedly heat hardy, but all lettuce grows best at cooler times of the season, spring and fall.  We try to provide our CSA holders with leaf lettuce as often as we can--even in the heat of the summer--so the farm crew and worker shareholders become very familiar with transplanting this particular crop!  If you grow lettuce in your home garden, you can harvest a little at a time by snapping off the outermost leaves a little at a time.  We harvest by cutting the whole plant from the stem at ground level.  This means that, after harvest, the bed gets prepared for another crop, either a cover crop or another vegetable crop.  If left alone the bed will sometimes miraculously yield a few second-round heads of lettuce that grew from the first cutting.
Some weeks, our CSA share will include bags of "mixed greens" or baby lettuce leaves harvested from a more densely seeded bed of lettuce seed.

Taking out the heat!

Today, on harvest day, one of the main jobs after the actual harvest is to "take out the field heat."  This is the practice of cooling down the crops as fast as possible to slow the ripening process, keep the plants from wilting right away, and to slow or inhibit  the growth of decay-producing microorganisms.

In other words, to preserve fresh-from-the-field goodness for as long as possible.

Mixed greens bathing in cold water to remove field heat.

Along with salad greens, we've been harvesting radishes and garlic scapes.  The radishes are a variety called D'Avignon, French and fancy and pretty on walnut tables:

And garlic scapes? WHAT ARE THOSE???

The story of garlic scapes:  The story starts with the garlic clove.  The cloves are planted in the fall and sprout in the early spring.  We grow a couple of varieties of garlic, a soft neck and a hard neck variety.  Around this time, the hard neck plants send out a bonus central stem which goes straight up and then usually makes one or two loops.  See them bowing in the photo above. You could think of the stem like the flowering stalk of many plants when they are anxious to “go to seed.”  In the case of hard neck garlic, instead of an actual flower at the top, there’s a little bulge that contains “bulbils” or miniature cloves.  The part that is good to eat, with a mild garlic flavor, is the green stem itself, sauteed or steamed in a pan like asparagus.   Still growing is the bulb underground, getting bigger and bigger for harvest later in the season.

Hot Shots

Our first CSA shares will be teeming with green leaves, such as basic salad mixes, spicy salad mixes, bags of arugula and spinach.  We try to wait until the leaves are the perfect size, not too small, not too mature, for the best taste/texture experience.  Some of the greens you will see this week while others you will get the following week.  If you have not conditioned yourself to eating fresh salads yet and feel overwhelmed, do not worry.  We’ve had bags of mixed greens last for up to 10 days in our refrigerator.

After clipping from the field, our farm crew and worker shareholders wash the greens carefully in a bin of cold water.  Then they wash them in another bin of cold water.  Finally, the greens are spun in a customized washing machine and individually bagged.
Keeping our salad greens fresh:    Since we have already bagged your greens, simply put them in your crisper drawer with the bag slightly open.   In the day(s) after harvest, the moisture from our initial washing will leave the bag. As you notice the greens losing this moisture, roll the bag down to seal it and, if very little moisture remains, add a damp paper towel.  

We bought the seeds for this mix from High Mowing Organic Seed, 
a company that pledges they do not buy or sell genetically engineered seeds.

The above mix is a sampling from "Hot Shot Spicy Mustard," with a few 
varieties including Red Giant, Purple Osaka, Green Wave,  and arugula.

Arugula is another spicy treat.  This week will yield a perfect size leaf

for just the right amount of nutty peppery-ness, not too sharp. 

It is WAY better than store-bought versions.  You'll see.  

Queen of the Sun

I went to see Queen of the Sun last night, the recent film documenting the plight and majesty of bees.  Biodynamic beekeeper Gunther Hauk says everyone should allow swarming "as much as possible."
We are very encouraged.

Today a swarm left its hive for a clover plant (above).  Todd put another hive next to them in the hopes they would adopt it as a home, but so far they are happy in this clump on the clover.  Todd is only slightly offended by their rebuff of the hive but more so by the massive swell that is now his ankle.  Oregano poultices seem only to anger him.
I recommend the movie.   All is well on the farm, getting carrots seeded, lettuce looking good.
 -Julia