Organic Education

The organic farming community has a long history of working together—if not in absolute harmony, then at least with the idea in mind that success in organic farming is not just about my farm, but about every farm.

I suppose to a certain degree that just goes with the territory. Organic farmers, by definition, are concerned about what goes on a neighbor’s farm, and by extension, how what they do on their own farm affects their neighbors. A neighbor spraying toxic pesticides may contaminate products and soils; uncontrolled weeds may create problems readily controlled with herbicides, but not with cultivation; and genetically-modified crops may cross-pollinate organic varieties. And if we care about what our neighbors do, we’d best start caring about our neighbors, since that’s the best way to get them to care about us.

Likewise, organic farmers have always taken an active interest in what their organic cohorts are up to, and in helping them along. Organic farmers have been writing and publishing books since before the term “organic” meant much if anything, and very few organic farmers will turn down a request for even the most proprietary information about their key products. And the organic community, perhaps because of an historical lack of support from the universities, USDA, and extension services, has developed its own outreach and teaching resources.

Every fall, around this time, I get caught up in my work as the presentations coordinator for the MOSES Organic Farming Conference. Held in La Crosse in late February, the Organic Farming Conference will attract nearly 2,000 people this year—most of them farmers—for three days of intensive education in everything from organic dairy to potatoes to the finer points of the organic regulatory scheme. I organize almost 60 workshops and more presenters as part of North America’s largest (and, we’re told, best) organic farming conference. For the experienced grower, it is an important piece of a continuing education; for beginning farmers or conventional growers thinking about going organic, it is often the first touchstone in preparing to make a dramatic change.

In the next three months, I will teach courses in financial planning for the Land Stewardship Project’s Farm Beginnings class, share our post-harvest handling systems, greenhouse production and season extension techniques, and time management techniques with farmers and educators in Iowa, and provide marketing and personal productivity tips to farmers in northern Minnesota. This weekend, I’ll attend the board meeting for the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service, the organization that puts on the Organic Farming Conference and provides a huge array of other educational opportunities to organic farmers.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about the conferences we help organize and teach is the rampant enthusiasm and downright good time that the participants are having; at the Organic Farming Conference, we serve thousands of excellent meals based on local and organic foods, host a talent show attended by 500 people, and put on a dance that always goes well past midnight. (I usually can’t stick around for the talent show. I walk into the room and see 500 people listening to their cohorts sing the praises of organic milk and I just about start crying, it’s that overwhelming.) My organic hog farming friend Tom Frantzen says that the first time he attended the Upper Midwest Organic Farming Conference, when he was just beginning to think about going organic, he knew he could never go back: “Organic farmers have more fun, the food’s fantastic—life’s just better here!”

In Kim's Kitchen

We made what will probably prove to be our last outdoor Spinach harvest on Wednesday. Three weeks from now, for our next CSA delivery, we’ll harvest from the greenhouses that we moved over the standing crop last week.

Our Red Cabbage has stored nicely so far this fall, and we still have a good supply. The anthocyanin pigment responsible for the red color is the same one primarily responsible for the red fall leaves. Like chlorophyll, anthocyanin absorbs sunlight, but does so in a much less efficient manner than chlorophyll does. The red leaves on fall trees actually protect the leaves from damage from the sun’s rays as cooler weather slows down the photosynthetic process.

Spicy Cabbage

1/3 cup onion, chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups shredded cabbage
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
dash or two of ginger juice or some thinly sliced ginger

Cook the onions lightly in the olive oil, add cabbage, sesame seeds, and hot pepper. Cook until the cabbage is tender about 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the ginger, toss and serve.

Parsnips look a bit like white carrots, but not really. And they taste a bit like carrots, but with a more cloying sweetness and some earthy overtones. And, unlike carrots, they really aren’t any good raw. Personally, I like them sliced and sautéed in olive oil and butter (just like carrots), or included in a dish of roasted winter vegetables.

Parsnip Bisque

1 pound parsnips, peeled and trimmed, chopped into one inch pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped coarse
3-4 carrots, peeled and trimmed, chopped into one inch pieces
4 shallots, chopped coarse (or ½ cup onions)
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a shallow baking pan toss parsnips, onion, carrots, and shallots with olive oil to coat and arrange in one layer. Roast in middle of oven, turning occasionally, 30 - 40 minutes. In a large saucepan simmer broth with roasted vegetables, covered, 20 minutes. In a blender pureé mixture in batches with cream (use caution when blending hot liquids) and transfer soup to cleaned saucepan. Stir in nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

Like beets, Brussels Sprouts often garner looks of disdain, with memories of childhood dinners ruined by the funny little cabbages. But wait! Brussels sprouts harvested after a hard frost are an entirely different vegetable than the specimens from the coast of California. Try them! To prepare for cooking, pare off the tough bottom part of the sprout stem. Steaming works well, and is more forgiving than boiling, but don’t overcook them! Sprouts are best when tender but not mushy. Our favorite, albeit unconventional, preparation follows. Please note that this winter’s Brussels sprouts don’t look the greatest, but the flavor is still great.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 lb Brussels sprouts
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Preheat the oven 400 degrees. Mix Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet for about 40 minutes, shaking occasionally, until crisp on the outside but still tender inside. Sprinkle with even more salt, and serve.

Long, white Daikon Radish can be eaten raw in salad, pickled, or in stir fries, soups and stews. They have a pleasant, sweet and zesty flavor with a mild bite, and are said to be a great digestion starter. We like to start off a meal of hearty stew with a few slices of salted daikon.

Green-shouldered and white-bottomed Beauty Heart Radishes typically have just a blush of pink on their tail, hinting at the surprising, bright color inside. Sweet and crunchy, most of the beauty heart’s heat is confined to the skin, so peeling before you slice these thinly can make them much less sharp. We enjoy these sliced thinly and served raw, or grated into a slaw with a bit of rice vinegar and honey.

Acorn Squash always seems like the quintessential winter food to me. The following recipe for stuffed squash dresses this humble vegetable up nicely.

Acorn Squash with Cranberry Apple Stuffing

1 acorn squash or other small squash
water
2 apples,chopped into ¼ inch
1 pear, chopped into 1/4 inch
½ cup dried cranberries or raisins
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons olive oil

Cut squash in half and with a spoon, remove pulp and seeds. In a large baking dish place squash cut-side down. Pour ¼-inch boiling water into dish . Place dish in oven and bake squash for 30 minutes at 375°. In a large bowl, combine apples, pear, cranberries and cinnamon and olive oil to make stuffing. Remove squash from the oven after the 30 minutes. Turn halves over and stuff center of each squash half with apple mixture. Return to oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (or longer) until squash and apples are tender.

Not to be confused with green-shouldered Beauty Heart Radishes, Purple Top Turnips add a nice earthy flavor to any dish. I especially enjoy them sautéed over medium-high heat with carrots for the caramelizing this creates.

Root Vegetable Hash

1 pound potaotes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 pound parsnips, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 med. Rutabaga or turnip, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 pound carrot, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup red onion, diced small
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat oven to 400. Spray large rimmed baking sheet with oil spray. Toss potatoes, parsnips, rutabagas or turnips, and carrots with the oil. Spread on to baking sheet in a single layer. Salt and pepper. Roast vegetables until tender, stirring and turning throughout the cooking, about 45 minutes. Stir in garlic: roast 5 minutes longer. Remove from oven mix in onion, pine nuts, and parsley. Salt and pepper if needed.

Farm Happenings

Weather: We mark the official start of winter when the fields get too wet to do any more tractor work, and that finally happened on Tuesday this week with snow, wind, freezing rain, rain, sleet, and just general downright nastiness. A hard freeze on Monday withered many of the perennial weeds that were still hanging on, such as the burdock and some thistles (not in the field!). Last week was actually quite nice for much of the week.

What We Did: We took advantage of last week’s nice weather to harvest the very last of our winter crops, namely, parsnips and Brussels sprouts. Everybody took time off on Tuesday morning to vote. We snuck in moving our mobile greenhouses last Wednesday, just before the weather turned grey and rainy on Thursday; Don from Don’s Towing came out to winch the two 30-foot by 100-foot structures over the standing spinach crop. Chris wrapped up recruiting presenters for February’s MOSES Organic Farming Conference, scheduled the fifty-some-odd workshops, and wrote up all of the descriptions. Six-year-old Isabel went with Chris on deliveries on Friday, impressing the produce people and getting free juice just about everywhere she went in. This week we have focused on cleanup around the farm, and prepping crops for the CSA boxes.

Comings and Goings: Several members of our summer crew returned this weekend for an herb-clamshell labeling fest as we gear up for the Thanksgiving herb rush next week.