Monday, September 28, 2009

FALL CSA PICK UP THIS THURSDAY

Despite the tough season for the farmers we had a very successful Summer CSA. We are so excited to start the Fall!

Pick up is between 3pm and 6:30pm, if for some reason you are running late, please contact us. If you forget your share it will not be here in the morning. (sorry, parenting group Friday mornings and no where to store produce)

Don't forget your bags!

Follow us on Twitter and Fan us on Facebook, you will get status updates as to when the produce arrives.

Check out this blog regularly and feel free to post recipes and information you'd like to share.


VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We will need volunteers for produce drop off (usually between 1 and 2pm) and then at 6:30pm for clean up.
There will be a sign up sheet at pick up, but if anyone is available this Thursday please send and email or give us a ring. . .

Monday, September 21, 2009

Bamboo Spoon Award: Cookies

Ivy Connelly not only made the best cookies: Red Velvet Oatmeal Cookies stuffed with Pecan Cream Cheese! but she also had the greenest idea. She made her cookies using our very own CSA red beets instead of food coloring. Great job Ivy and thanks for sharing.

Red Velvet (beet) Oatmeal Stuffed Cookies

(made by Ivy Connelly adapted from Greg Johnson of 'oatmealcookie.typepad.com')

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Red velvet cake is a Southern specialty. It seems red velvet cake got its color as a result of sugar rationing during World War II. Because of it, bakers started using boiled beets as a sugar substitute in their cakes. Along with the beets' sweetness came the beets' blood-red color. An American classic was born.


Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Filling

6 ounces room-temperature cream cheese

1/3 heaping cup toasted, chopped pecans

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Creamables


1 stick butter

1/2 cup white sugar

Wet Ingredients

1 egg

1 red beet boiled & pureed

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 teaspoon milk

1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

Dry Ingredients

1 1/2 cups finely ground oatmeal

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

  1. Toast the pecans then roughly chop them.
  2. Add all the filling ingredients to a small bowl and mix with a spatula until well blended. Let the mixture cool and solidify in the freezer until step 8.
  3. Preheat oven to 350º.
  4. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
  5. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
  6. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
  7. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
  8. Remove the filling mixture from the freezer and stuff each dough ball with 1 teaspoon of the mixture. Put the stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.
  9. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
  10. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Bamboo Spoon Award: Beets beat all!

Congratulations to the 'Beet cookies' (red velvet), they were delicious!
...recipe coming soon

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

What's Shakin'

What To Expect:

Full Shares
:Green Cabbage, Kale, Carrots, Potatoes, Butternut Squash, Pickling Cukes, Leeks, Loose Beets, Farm Pick Herb, Peppers – Hot & Bell, Eggplant, Cucumbers, Arugula

Half Shares
: Green Cabbage, Kale, Potatoes, Summer Squash, Butternut Squash, Pickling Cukes, Broccoli, Farm Pick Herb


Don't Forget:


This week is the LAST opportunity for shareholders to bring in a homemade item, featuring at least one ingredient from our CSA. Then as other shareholders wander in to pick up their produce, they can taste all the treats and vote their favorite. The dish with the most votes wins the Bamboo Spoon!

And the absolute best part? The homemade item for Thursday, September 17 is . . . COOKIES! So be sure to make cookies using any CSA ingredient and celebrate all the award-winners at a Bamboo Spoon Party!

Thursday, September 10, 2009

CGB’s CSA Bamboo Spoon Cook Off

CGB is spicin’ it up! Our monthly cook-off for shareholders featuring CSA produce is drawing to a close.


Next week is the LAST opportunity for shareholders to bring in a homemade item, featuring at least one ingredient from our CSA. Then as other shareholders wander in to pick up their produce, they can taste all the treats and vote their favorite. The dish with the most votes wins the Bamboo Spoon!


And the absolute best part?


The homemade item for Thursday, September 17 is . . . COOKIES! So be sure to make cookies using any CSA ingredient and celebrate all the award-winners at a Bamboo Spoon Party!


If you have questions, contact Amy at crunchygranolababy@verizon.net.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

What to Expect! (for Thur 9.10.09)

"As we labor to pick and pack your shares today, we are struck by how blessed we are individually and collectively. We are encouraged by the support of almost 700 members, who have enabled us to grow to over 25 delivery locations. With our collaborative farm partners, we are growing and providing for literally thousands of families and individuals. All of these consumers are supporting local, sustainable, organic and viable farms. Collectively over 1500 acres of farm land is dedicated to these practices on behalf of this generation and many successive ones to come.

Ethel and I couldn’t be happier (even in the midst of some very troubling weather circumstances for the 2nd consecutive year) that our children and their mates are working side by side with us to live the dream of helping many to come into their best health physically, emotionally and spiritually.

Please know that we value each of you and want you to feel free to call or email us with both your concerns and favorable comments. Just this week I received two emails from the same local drop site, one person raving about the produce and signing up for the fall share, and another who was disappointed because there were yellow leaves on the Bok Choi and holes in the Chinese cabbage. They also were concerned about the quantity of the produce in a half share.

First, this is an organic farm and the produce is not perfect nor do we make claims to such. Farm life and the produce mirror our weather and other variables such as field diseases and pests of many kinds. We believe, as do our fellow growers, that the single biggest reason to grow organically is to lessen the toxic overload that is all around us today. Everyday we are subjected to over 1400 toxic substances especially so if you live in an urban environment. All of these threaten our health in subtle and significant ways. My good friend Dr. N Thomas LaCava (who is a board certified pediatrician and a clinical ecologist and specializes in treating enviromentally ill patients) tells me the single most important aspect of recovery from ill health is to eat organic vegetables and fruit as well as organic meats! I have known Dr. LaCava for over 25 years and he is responsible for helping me to recover my health in my middle 30’s. I was very close to dying having suffered with cyto-megla virus, eppstein-barre virus, crohns disease and serious life threatening asthma along with being allergic to literally everything. I say this to encourage all of you to consider why you support us. It isn’t about perfection…it is about working together for everyone’s best, most especially our next generation. We are so grateful that our son and daughter-in-law have raised our little Siena (who is 15 months old and incredibly healthy) in a truly healthy way. Organic food, breast-feeding healthy play all of which have produced a loving, contented (as much as any baby can be )and very healthy child.

This is what we stand for. If you believe that a farmers market or a grocery store would better serve you then by all means purchase your vegetables there. Be aware that produce that is certified organic or IPM at least, local and sustainable ensures your ability to best nourish your whole person. We are 100% committed to continuing this process, now and for the foreseeable future.

Please join us for our Fall, Winter and Spring shares. We will continue to buy the best organic produce from the same sources that you see at Whole Foods like Lady Moon Organic Farms and Cottles Organic Farms from Florida and North Carolina during the off-season. With Enterprise farm as our off-season partner, we have developed relationships with many organic farms that will grow for us as well as receive our in-season produce in return. What better way to encourage regional distribution pathways, farm to consumer. No warehouses, limited transit time and fresh direct to you."

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

What to Expect! (for Thur. 9.3.09)

Half Shares: Carrots, Cucumbers, Beets, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Specialty Squash, Tomatoes, Corn – White, Peppers – Bell & Hot, Napa Cabbage, Peaches, Oregano, Arugula