Eat Better News

Local Food Lies, Part I

2012-02-02T14:04:00.002-06:00

I’m tired of hearing about how local food is fresher than produce trucked in from California, Arizona, and Mexico. “Freshness” relates to the amount of biological activity that has occurred from the time of harvest to the time a vegetable is prepared in your kitchen. Local food can provide tremendous benefits to a community’s economic vitality, to the flavor and selection of produce, and to a more-secure, less-carbon-outputting food system; but freshness is not a fundamental quality of locally-grown produce.

When I started Rock Spring Farm, I went to a meeting of growers for local food producers in Decorah at which the produce manager of the local natural foods cooperative commented that the lettuce she purchased from local producers didn’t last very long, while the produce from California had a shelf-life of a week to ten days. I had experienced the same thing with local produce on a farm I managed in Maine, and it all comes down to temperature. In both of those times and places, local growers hadn’t invested in the equipment and systems necessary to maintain produce quality.

Within the range of temperatures where plants survive, the rate of chemical and biological processes approximately doubles for every ten-degree increase in temperature. That means that produce stored at 45 degrees will last half as long as produce stored at 35 degrees; and produce stored at 55 degrees will last only a quarter of the time. When we pick a vegetable, we separate it from the source of energy and sustenance that comes from having its extensive network of roots expanded throughout the soil – at this point the portion of the plant we’ve picked begins the process of dying, which in vegetables is characterized by a decline in “freshness” and quality.

Getting produce cooled to the proper storage temperature is the first essential step in ensuring freshness; keeping it at the proper temperature is the second. The large-scale production systems in the vegetable-producing regions of this country dedicate a tremendous amount of infrastructure and energy to getting produce cold and keeping it that way. It is not unusual for a harvest operation to include refrigeration units right in the field, climate-controlled packing facilities, and refrigerated transportation from harvest right to the point of sale.

Furthermore, it’s not just the air temperature of the storage environment that matters – it’s the interior temperature of the produce. Grocery store coolers and home refrigerators do not have the power they need to actually suck the heat out of warm produce – that needs to be done by the farmer. And dunking in cold water (ground water comes out of the tap at around 45 degrees on the Iowa-Minnesota state line) and storing at ambient temperatures just can’t do that.

At Rock Spring Farm, we’ve invested in the cooling facilities and harvest systems that get produce cooled quickly, and keep it cold until it’s sold. Whether it’s planning for harvest to allow time for equipment to cool the produce, our rapid harvest techniques and shading in the field prior to transport to our insulated packing facility, adequate potable water to provide a continuous supply of cold water for initial cooling, our commercial-grade walk-in cooler, or the cold chain our delivery partners maintain throughout the delivery process, we work hard to ensure that vegetables will stay alive – and stay fresh – for as long as possible.

In This Week's Box

2012-02-02T14:04:00.001-06:00

Shallots

Garlic

Heart of Gold Squash

Savoy Cabbage

Beet Medley

Purple Top Turnips

Fresh Winter Spinach

Daikon Radish

World Famous Carrots

Recipes You Can Use

2012-02-02T14:03:00.001-06:00

Beet, Carrot, and Daikon Salad

Daikon radish are popular in Japan, where they account for 15% of that country’s vegetable production. We frequently enjoy them sliced, raw, as a foil to salty meats or just for snacking. We also enjoy the following recipe:

1 medium beet
6-inch piece of daikon
1 medium carrot
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp canola oil

Grate all of the roots together, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add rice vinegar, sesame oil, and canola. Makes 4 small servings.

Stove Top Turnips with Garlic

2 large garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
4 Tbsp butter
1 lb (or bunch) turnips, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick.

In a skillet large enough to hold the turnip rounds in a nearly single layer, melt the butter over medium heat. Cook the turnips, turning often, for about 12 minutes, or until tender and lightly browned. Add the garlic, season with salt and pepper, and shake the pan gently over the flame for about 2 minutes. Serve immediately.

Scale on the Market Farm

2012-01-19T09:06:00.003-06:00

I’m writing this from Little Rock, Arkansas, where I am doing a presentation on farm financials for the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group. It’s another in a string of presentations I signed up to do this winter, many of them with a focus on issues of scale in agriculture.

For beginning farmers especially, scale can cause significant problems as the business matures. Most of us get into this business to save the earth, get a feel for the soil, or simply to feed people – we don’t get into it to spend time crunching numbers at a computer, manage employees, or track down overdue payments.

Unfortunately – and I have a feeling that this happens to almost all small business owners – those are the very tasks that make or break a business, especially at the point when it needs to take a turn from being run on the constant over-exertions of the farmer and his or her dedicated crew.

So, one of the core messages I try to carry to beginning and expanding farmers is that they need to understand, at the outset, just how much they will eventually need to produce to sustain the quality of life they want to achieve; and since money is one sure way to unlock the flexibility and resources that can sustain an operation and a family, I focus on that.

If a market farming couple hopes to retain a $50,000 profit to cover their living expenses, mortgage, retirement savings, and such (this is a ridiculously low number based on the number of hours and level of risk assumed by most farmers, but I use it as an example because we tend to be a bunch with relatively low financial expectations), and market farms of their scale seem to average about a 40% margin, that means they’ll need to raise about $135,000 of vegetables – and that’s a lot more rutabagas than most of us got into farming thinking that we would be producing.

In This Week's Box

2012-01-19T09:06:00.001-06:00

Our best estimate…

Carrots

Celeriac – the ugly, somewhat knobby root that smells just like celery. In fact, genetically speaking, it is celery, just a variety that has been bred for its swollen root rather than its crunchy stalks.

Heart of Gold Squash – A great acorn-type squash with excellent flavor.

Cabbage – one each of regular red cabbage and a red savoy type.

Garlic

Rutabagas

Yellow Onions

Beets

Spinach – the spinach has taken a little bit of cold damage, but is still delicious and still stores well. The discoloration on the leaves is purely cosmetic. By friend Bill Warner refuses to grow spinach at any other time than the winter, because then it would “taste like spinach.” I love the sweet goodness of winter-grown greenhouse spinach.

Rosemary – just a couple of sprigs, from our greenhouse production.

Recipes You Can Use

2012-01-19T09:05:00.002-06:00

Baked Beets in Rosemary Butter

1 lb beets
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp chopped rosemary

Preheat oven to 400. Halve beets if they are large, otherwise use them whole. Place them in a covered baking dish with a little bit of water, and bake for one hour or until tender. Meanwhile, melt the butter and olive oil together with the rosemary, infusing the flavors over very low heat for about five minutes. When they are fork tender, hold the beets under cold running water to slip the skins off. Place in a serving dish and pour the butter-olive oil mixture over the beets. Serve warm.

Celeriac Gratin

1-1/2 lbs celeriac, cubed in one inch pieces
2tablespoons butter
2 tbsp flour
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary, or thyme
1 cup grated parmesan
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
2 cloves minced garlic
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Boil the celeriac cubes for about five minutes, until fork tender. Drain. Butter a 5 x 9 baking dish. Melt the butter and add the flour cook until flour browns, add the stock and stir until thickened, Combine the cream,and garlic with the stock and bring the mixture just to a boil. Pour over the celeriac. salt and pepper and top with cheese. Cover and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes or so, until browned.

No News

2012-01-04T22:06:00.001-06:00

With a lot more work than is seemly in early January, and some big picture issues to wrestle with right now, I’ve decided to take the week off from the normal newsletter.

The oddly-mild winter weather has left me feeling a little bit out of sorts. High winds made things interesting early last week, but no real damage was done. The lack of snow is downright depressing.

I’ve lined up a bit of a speaking tour this winter, with stops at the Great Plains Growers Conference in St. Joseph, Missouri; the Minnesota Organic Conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota; the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Conference in Little Rock, Arkansas; the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s Conference in College Town, Pennsylvania; and even a workshop at the MOSES Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin. I don’t usually speak at the MOSES conference because I co-direct that one, but this year I’m stepping in to cover food safety record-keeping.

It’s a privilege to share the lessons my crew and I have learned in twenty-two years of farming, twelve of them at Rock Spring Farm. Combined with the years of farm visits and conference organizing, it all adds up to stories that people seem interested in hearing, and I hear repeatedly from people who have learned something valuable at one of my talks. It feels like I am making a difference, and that makes the travel and the work worthwhile to me.

In the Box

2012-01-04T22:05:00.000-06:00

Savoy Cabbage
Delicata (2)
Turnips
Rutabagas
Spinach
Garlic
Yellow onions
Red Beets

Staying with the too-much-work and too-few-hours theme, I’m going to refer folks to the blog site for recipes: www.eatbetternews.com has a five-year treasure trove of great recipes for everything we grow. The search box in the upper-left corner can help you find them.

Good Food, Good Systems

2011-12-15T20:21:00.001-06:00

Over the last twelve years, I’ve worked hard to develop systems at Rock Spring Farm that consistently provide our customers with clean, ready-to-use vegetables and herbs. As the farm grew beyond the size that could be operated by just one or two individuals, I’ve had to learn how to communicate the how-and-why of what we do to an ever-growing and ever-changing crew if individuals who flow through this operation from year to year.

I’ve had ample opportunity over the last few years to learn that I can’t possibly do it all myself. This wasn’t an easy lesson for this farmer to learn. I didn’t get into this business to manage people – in fact, like most farmers, I didn’t get into this business to manage a business! I got into this business to drive tractors and dig carrots and listen to the birds sing. But having employees on the farm enables me to make a living at the same time that it allows me the flexibility to pursue other projects beyond the day to day work of growing rutabagas.

Having well-trained and empowered employees also has a tremendous impact on my and my family’s quality of life. Without a competent and invested crew, I wouldn’t have the ability to leave the farm for days at a time on vacation, or even to attend mid-day events in town on days when we need to pack CSA boxes. And it’s not just vacations, but my ability to have an impact on the world of organic farming by serving actively on non-profit boards and providing education, outreach, and consulting to farmers around the country (not to mention co-directing the MOSES Organic Farming Conference).

On a small, diversified operation like Rock Spring Farm (we are the largest organic vegetable farm in Northeast Iowa, but still a rather small operation in the overall scheme of organic produce), everybody plays a variety of different roles on the farm. We don’t have a food safety manager who dedicates all of their time to watching out for regulatory and common-sense compliance; even a packing shed manager ends up riding on a transplanter. The fact that everybody has complicated and multi-faceted roles to play on the farm means that everybody needs access to a diverse array of knowledge about how to accomplish just about every task on the farm.

Last fall, when we decided to pursue a food safety certification through the USDA-GAPs program, we had to begin to document our procedures and improve our record-keeping to demonstrate that we did indeed implement the procedures we had documented. This has led to an effort to document our practices throughout the farm, an ongoing process that we expect to finish this winter. While’s it’s not a substitute for elbow-to-elbow training, a good operations manual will help ensure the continued smooth operation of the farm, and the consistent production of good food, good soil, and a great quality of life for everybody involved in the farm.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-12-15T20:20:00.006-06:00

Overnight Daikon Pickles

1 1/2 cups chopped daikon (1/2-inch pieces)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Toss daikon with salt. Cover, and refrigerate until 1 to 2 tablespoons of water is released, about 30 minutes. Drain and rinse daikon, pat dry with a paper towel, and return to bowl. Stir in vinegar, black pepper and, sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours.

Napa Cabbage Salad

1/2 cup cashews
1 tsp canola oil
1 large carrot, grated
4 cups thinly sliced Chinese Cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced lettuce leaves (optional)
1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro or parsley
For dressing:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Heat cashews in the canola oil until lightly browned. Set aside. Combine the carrot, Chinese cabbage, lettuce, onion and cilantro. Whisk dressing ingredients together. Toss with the greens. Add cashews just before serving.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Some Brussels sprouts
A couple strips of bacon
A bunch of pine nuts

Shred the Brussels sprouts by slicing them very thinly. Toast the pine nuts over medium heat in a skillet, and remove as they start to brown and crisp. Fry the bacon in a skillet until it’s crispy, then remove to paper towels to drain. Toss the Brussels sprouts into the remaining grease

In This Week's Box

2011-12-15T20:20:00.005-06:00

The Chinese Cabbage in this week’s share is a testament to the quality of our employees and the initiative they regularly take. I missed the Chinese Cabbage on my regular field tour, but the crew knew it was there and snuck out to harvest it ahead of a hard freeze. Chinese Cabbage comes in many forms – heading and non-heading, thick leaved and thin leaved, and all sorts of shapes – but my favorite is the crinkly, light green heads of Napa Cabbage. A staple in Korean Kim Chee – a fermented vegetable dish ubiquitous in Korea, and soon to be bubbling away on our kitchen counter – Chinese Cabbage tastes great raw or cooked.

Carrots

Daikon Radish - Somehow, for me, long, white Daikon Radish means fall. Maybe because Basho’s poem - After the chrysanthemum / besides the daikon / there is nothing - has always reached into my heart, or maybe because of the half in, half out of the ground way the root grows – like fall, one foot in each world; maybe because of the daikon pickles the son of Seattle’s Japanese consulate used to bring to our high school independent study in accounting. In any case, I love the crunch, the mild heat, and the surprisingly-bright feel in the mouth that daikon brings. Besides which, the daikon is the only vegetable I know of featured in a feature-length movie, appearing as a manifestation of a Shinto spirit of agriculture in Spirited Away (a scene which, in my mind, justifies the entire movie). We most often eat these sliced alongside of fall meals, and daikon make a nice foil for salty and rich foods. These are smaller than normal due to weather-related late planting in August, but still tasty.

Romanesco Broccoli – sort of like a chartreuse, conical cauliflower, Romanesco always elicits lots of interest when people see it for the first time. We love the nutty flavor and smooth texture of it lightly cooked. The season for this gourmet treat is pretty short in the Upper Midwest, and I didn’t think we were going to pull it out of the bag this year, but we did it due to a long, long fall. This went through several hard freezes to get it sized up, but the quality seems good.

Red Beets

Yellow Onions

Brussels Sprouts – Most Brussels sprouts in this country are grown along a stretch of California coast line that never sees a frost, and that’s why they taste so icky. These have gone through enough hard freezes to make them sweet and delicious. I love these roasted with olive oil and coarse salt.

Garlic

Spinach – from the greenhouses

Butternut Squash – these small butternut squash have been a crew favorite since we harvested them in mid-October.

Goings On On the Farm

2011-12-15T20:20:00.004-06:00

We’re ready for some snow. It’s kind of nice not to have to spend time plowing snow – last year at this time I was contending with drifts higher than my car - but this grey and rainy weather is getting a little old.

Ben took a vacation and came back looking relaxed and refreshed. Hannah did the seed inventory. Tommy’s getting ready to leave for his home in Texas in preparation for a farm job in Nicaragua. Jana’s plugging along. Chris spent most of the last two weeks on the road, teaching classes on food safety, marketing, business planning, and farm financial management in Sioux Falls and La Crosse, then up to Spring Valley, Wisconsin for conference planning work and database support.

Seed Catalogs

2011-12-01T08:13:00.002-06:00

Taking its own sweet time, winter seems finally to have arrived at the farm, where we’ve had a succession of extremely cold mornings. Walking up to harvest some dinner kale, the soil seemed to have remained frozen just below the top layer, which had warmed in the day’s sun. And, just in time, the seed catalogs have begun to arrive.

Seed catalogs represent all that is right and good about growing vegetables. Seed catalogs don’t have bugs. The weather in seed catalogs always seems to strike a balance between too hot and too cold. The timing is always perfect, the first working of the soil miraculously corresponding with temperatures suitable for germinating peas, the last spring frost passing during a string of sun-drenched days ripe for transplanting. And the vegetable – oh! the vegetables! Beautiful domes of broccoli, golden-orange pumpkins, and big, tight heads of romaine lettuce.

And where are the weeds?

Like a photo album, a good seed catalog takes me on a walk down memory lane. I visit all of my old friends, remembering their pleasant surprises and solid goodness: the sturdy hardiness of Winterbor kale, the wild sweetness of Sungold cherry tomatoes, the richness of a ripe Heart of Gold squash. Occasionally, I stumble across a photograph of a bitter memory – the yellow tastelessness of Azafran tomatoes, or the ugly waxiness of Sugar Sprint peas. Bitter losses arise, such as the year that Sweetie #3 melons disappeared, and I wonder how I will go on.

And in the midst of that wondering, I stumble again onto some new favorites. Sweet, long, red Carmen peppers, bold and sweet Natacha escarole, sweet, golden Touchstone Beet (organic seeds! All right!).

The fantasies I develop while reading seed catalogs surely tell a story about the depths of my vegetable soul. In the darkest days of winter, I can’t resist a promising new tomato variety, and I look forward to becoming the largest Belgian endive grower in the Upper Midwest. I dream about luscious, improbably-colored eggplant, and order small packets of every red, frilly lettuce in the catalog.

In December, the fields always look ragged and tired, and, frankly, I feel the same way. Like the fields, I want nothing more than to draw into myself, letting the winter wash over me. But before I’ve fully rested from the last season, the seed catalogs begin flowing through the office like the first trickle of water melting off the snow banks on the ridge in late March. Hope springs eternal, and this glossy vision of the future begins to reenergize me. This will be the year the Belgian endive will really work, the year I find the perfect lettuce in just the right shade of red, the year the fields look like seed catalogs. And the fragrance of ripe melons will transport me to that perfect world.

Goings On On the Farm

2011-12-01T08:13:00.001-06:00

Although it’s gotten plenty cold, we missed both of the snows that fell on our neighbors to the north. Overall, the weather remains tremendously dry, so we haven’t had the contend with the freezing rain that kept things more interesting late last November. We had a big week of sales to stores around Thanksgiving, and Ben took the week after off. Some sunny weather provided impetus for a little more outdoor pickup and tidying before the snow flies. It’s nice to see the crew’s ability to operate independently – many thanks to Hannah and Tommy and Jana.

Chris’ winter speaking tour started off with the Iowa Organic Conference in Ames the Monday of Thanksgiving week. He’ll continue on to the Sioux Falls Organic Conference and the MOSES Fearless Farm Finances two-day class in La Crosse next week.

Chris’ mom, Karlla, came from Seattle to spend the week, and helped with the fall cleanup – both outdoors and with the bookkeeping!

In This Week's Box

2011-12-01T08:12:00.000-06:00

Our best estimate for this week’s box…

Spinach – This is the season for spinach. Growing close to the ground in what we horticulture-types refer to as a basal rosette – a circle of leaves on an extremely short stem – spinach is ideally suited to staying lively in winter weather. The ground buffers the swings in temperature, and a boundary layer of air near the ground never gets as windy as it does six inches off the ground. Combine this with fatty acids that remain liquid at cold temperatures, and you’ve got a crop that can survive right through the winter.

Broccoli – We snuck this out of the field before it got super cold this week. Originating in Italy, I don’t think that broccoli knows what it’s in for, so it just does its best to survive a mild winter by sweetening up and thickening its sap.

Flowering Kale - With its bright pink leaves, you most commonly see this as an ornamental plant outside of the dentist’s office; the variety we grow makes for much more tender eating, similar to the normal green kale but a little lighter in texture. Steam with seafood for an elegant dish, or steam on its own and use it as a bed for meats or roasted winter vegetables. We often enjoy it sautéed with olive oil and lightly sprinkled with kosher salt.

Yellow Onions

Acorn Squash – A ripe acorn squash is a thing of more taste than most people would expect. We pick all of our squash dead ripe for a full, sweet taste experience.

Carrots

Garlic

Rutabagas

Savoy Cabbage has thicker, more tender leaves than the average green cabbage. The wrinkly leaves lend an airier feel to the dishes it’s included in. It pairs particularly well with Italian sausage (Chris made a delicious pasta sauce recently of Savoy cabbage boiled in chicken stock for about twenty minutes, Italian sausage browned with onions, fresh sage leaves, and some chopped tomatoes.) For the grammar buffs out there, it is worth noting that, like the Brussels in Brussels sprouts, the Savoy in cabbage should always be capitalized, since it refers to its prevalence in that region of northern Italy.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-12-01T08:11:00.001-06:00

Roasted Winter Vegetables

This is a great “clean-up” recipe that I used to clear out the refrigerator. Plus, it tastes great.

4 lbs assorted root vegetables: turnips, celeriac, carrots, beets; winter squash, whole shallots, and onion wedges work well, too.

3 tablespoons olive oil

a smattering of fresh or dried herbs (such as rosemary or thyme)

5 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

salt and pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Scrub vegetables and cut off roots and tops. Cut into 2 inch pieces and toss with olive oil; by cutting denser, slower cooking vegetables into smaller pieces, everything comes out evenly cooked. Spread on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan and roast for 30 minutes or until fork tender. Toss with vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Rutabaga Gratin

1-1/2 lbs rutabaga, sliced very thin

2 tbsp flour

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary

1 cup grated parmesan

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup chicken stock or water

2 cloves minced garlic

Preheat oven to 375. Steam rutabaga slices for about three minutes, until crisp tender. Butter a 5 x 9 baking dish. Arrange 1/3 of the rutabaga slices evenly over the bottom and sprinkle with 1/2 of the rosemary, 1/2 of the flour, 1/3 of the parmesan, and black pepper. Add a second layer, and sprinkle with the remaining rosemary and flour, another 1/3 of the parmesan, and black pepper. Add a third layer, and sprinkle with parmesan and black pepper. Combine the cream, stock, and garlic and bring the mixture just to a boil. Pour over the rutabagas. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes or so, until browned.

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 slice ginger

Cook the onions lightly in the olive oil, and add the 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.

Organic Education

2011-11-10T11:00:00.003-06:00

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 3,000 people this year—most of them farmers—for three days of intensive education in everything from organic dairy to soil microbes to the finer points of the organic regulatory scheme. I organize about 70 workshops and a hundred 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 about financial management for farmers, food safety, post-harvest handling systems, transplant production systems, things to think about if you’re getting started in market farming, pricing and marketing, and growing your farming business, traveling from Missouri to northern Minnesota to Arkansas and Pennsylvania. I truly value the opportunity to synthesize and share the lessons I’ve learned from twenty years of farming and visiting and writing about farms and farmers all over the country.

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 poetry slam, and put on a dance that always goes well past midnight. My organic hog-farming friend Tom Frantzen says that the first time he attended the 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!”

Goings On On the Farm

2011-11-10T11:00:00.001-06:00

We finished out the roots harvested, weathered the first snow of the year, moved the greenhouses, and kept the washing and packing moving along.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-11-10T10:59:00.003-06:00

Crispy Kale

1 bunch kale
salt
olive oil a bit

Preheat the oven to 375. Stem and chop a bunch of kale. Toss kale with olive oil. Put the kale on a cookie tray, spreading it out evenly. Sprinkle with salt. Bake for 10 minutes, tossing once or twice during that time. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer, tossing occasionally, until it is crisp. The kale will shrink and soften then it will begin to turn crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on the tray.

Basic Baked Beets

Some beets
Some olive oil
Some water

Simply rub trimmed (not peeled) beets with olive or vegetable oil and place them in a casserole dish with 1/2 inch of water. Cover and bake in a 400 degree oven for about an hour. The beets are ready when they can easily be penetrated with a paring knife. Cool slightly and slip the peel off. We slip the peel off under running water; it saves on burning the fingers. Eat and enjoy.

Gremolata

Out of this world served alongside of baked Heart of Gold squash.

garlic
parsley
lemon juice
salt

Chop together 1 plump clove of garlic with 1/4 cup parsley, then add a little lemon juice or salt to taste.

In This Week's Box

2011-11-10T10:59:00.002-06:00

Spinach – excellent in the winter, toothsome and sweet

Broccoli

Kale – Kale only gets better as freezing progresses, and this is out of the world. The slightly-pale leaves are normal at this time of year.

Red or Yellow Onions

Purple Top Turnips – with purple tops and white, white bottoms. Very tasty and sweet this year as we harvested them extremely late.

Rutabagas – with purple tops and yellow bottoms. Nothing better than rutabaga fries, in my opinion (see the last newsletter or search online at www.eatbetternews.com).

Heart of Gold Squash – I’ve been baking these with the seeds in, and scooping them when I take them out of the oven. It seems to add some nice nuttiness to the squash, and it’s a little easier to scoop them out of the cooked flesh.

Italian Parsley – Always nice to have some parsley around. Try it in the gremolata recipe below for a real treat.

Garlic

Beets

Stingy Jack

2011-10-26T21:49:00.003-05:00

The traditional carving of the jack-o-lantern has its rootsin a very old tale about a rather unpleasant man who dared to tangle with thedevil, and ended up with naught but a glowing ember and a hollowed-out rutabagato show for his trouble.

Stingy Jack was a miserable old drunk who wandered from townto town in a rather shiftless manner, lifting what he wanted from smokehousesand gardens that happened to lie unattended on his path. His ways of providingfor himself didn’t leave him very welcome in any one place for very long, andhe wandered through most of the countryside drinking in the taverns along theway, and working as little as possible. When he did have a turn of goodfortune, he was loath to share it with anyone.

One day, as Jack was sitting in a tavern having one-too-manydraughts of potato liquor, a figure sat down beside him. “Jack,” the figuresaid, “it’s time to go.”

“No,” Jack replied, “I’ve only just got started here.”

“Jack, I don’t think you understand,” said the new arrival.“You’re time’s up, and it’s time to go.”

Jack realized that the Devil had come to collect hismalevolent soul. Never one to let go, he made one last request: he asked thatthe Devil have a drink with him before they departed. The Devil could find noreason to deny the request, and he and Jack, as kindred spirits, actually hadquite a good time before the Devil said again that it was time to go.

“But we have to pay up before we can leave!” Jack protested.

“Come on, now, Jack, surely you have a coin to pay yourway.”

Jack was determined not to go easily. “Now, look here,” hesaid. “Why don’t you just change into a silver coin, and I’ll pay thebartender, and while he sleeps tonight, you can turn back into yourself andwe’ll have gotten the better of the man.”

“I like the way you think,” said the Devil, and promptlychanged into a coin, whereupon Jack grabbed it and shoved it quickly into hispocket, where he happened to have a silver cross that he had lifted from a shopa few villages back. The Devil, bound by the cross, could not change back fromthe coin, and began to howl, whereupon Jack slipped out of the tavern and randown the road.

It didn’t take Jack long to weary of the howling, and hestruck a bargain with the Devil that he would lay no claim to Jack’s soul, andthat Jack would never be taken into Hell. Freed from Jack’s pocket, the Devildeparted without looking back.

Although the Devil laid no claim to Jack’s soul, hisdrinking and evil ways eventually took their toll, and some seven years later,Jack dropped dead in the middle of a rutabaga patch that, of course, was nothis own. Still holding onto the rutabaga - only Jack was so stingy that hecould hold onto something after his own death – Jack found himself moving as aghost through the netherworld. As he made his way down to hell, Jack scoopedthe heart out of his rutabaga and ate it.

When he got to hell, nobody greeted him at the gates. Jackrattled them until the Devil came, but the Devil said, “Jack, we made a deal,and since I can’t have your soul, and since I’m not the forgiving type, I’m notabout to let you in. You’ll have to try the other place.”

“The path from here to there is awfully dark,” Jack said.“Could I borrow a light?”

The Devil reached behind him and picked up a glowing coal,and tossed it to Jack. “Go ahead and keep it. You would, in any case.” Then theDevil disappeared back into the flames. Jack raked the coal into thehollowed-out rutabaga, and poked a couple of holes in it to let the light out,and walked on down the road. But when he made it to the pearly gates of Heaven,he was turned back at the entrance.

With no place available to go, Jack returned to this world,where he wandered without a body from place to place, just him and his glowingcoal. And his rutabaga.

People who know about Jack carve out a rutabaga, or someother vegetable, and put a light inside to let him know that his thieving ghostisn’t welcome at that place.

Goings on on the Farm

2011-10-26T21:46:00.003-05:00

We’re working hard to pull in the last of the fall harvestnow, with rutabagas and beets coming out of the field by the ton. We fixed thetie rod on one of our harvest wagons, which helps a lot when it comes togetting crops home from our rental ground. We harvested the winter squash laterthan we ever have before, which really helped to boost our yields.

In this Week's Box

2011-10-26T21:45:00.005-05:00

Our best estimate forthis week’s box…

Escarole - Escarole has milder and sweeter leaves than manyof its chicory cousins, and can be cooked or used raw in salads. The paler,inner leaves have a more delicate flavor.

Acorn Squash – These nice green squash are the classic fallsquash. Store them dry and sort of cool and they’ll last until Christmas, if youwant them to. I’ve been cutting them in half, spraying with olive oil, andbaking face down with the seeds in at 425 until soft, 30 – 40 minutes. Leavingthe seeds in seems to give the squash some nuttiness, and they’re easier to getout of the cooked squash.

Savoy Cabbage has thicker, more tender leaves than theaverage green cabbage. The wrinkly leaves lend an airier feel to the dishesit’s included in. It pairs particularly well with Italian sausage (I made adelicious pasta sauce recently of Savoy cabbage boiled in chicken stock forabout twenty minutes, Italian sausage browned with onions, fresh sage leaves,and some chopped tomatoes.) For the grammar buffs out there, it is worth notingthat, like the Brussels in Brussels sprouts, the Savoy in cabbage should alwaysbe capitalized, since it refers to its prevalence in that region of northernItaly

Spinach

Lettuce Mix

Red Beets

Rutabagas - The smooth-skinned, purple-topped rutabaga wasdeveloped from crossbreeding a cabbage and a turnip; its original improvementand promotion was the work of Swiss botanist Caspar Bauhin in the early1600’s—hence the rutabaga’s frequent appellation as a “Swede” or “Swedishturnip.” Delicious mashed with potatoes, but the recipe below is one of ourhousehold favorites.

Garlic

Yellow Onions

Broccoli

Recipes You Can Use

2011-10-26T21:44:00.002-05:00

Escarole and WhiteBeans

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 head escarole
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 can canellini beans
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a skillet over mediumheat. At the garlic for just a moment, then pour in the beans with theirjuices, and simmer until creamy. Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in alarge skillet over medium heat. Add the escarole, and toss to coat with oil.Season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 - 7minutes, or until tender. Add escarole and parsley to the beans, simmer for afew more minutes, and serve.

RutabagaRosemary Fries

2 Rutabagas
olive oil
minced fresh rosemary
salt

Peel the rutabaga and cut into a ½-inch “fries.” Steam in asteamer basket over boiling water until just tender. Drain and toss with agenerous amount of olive oil and the rosemary. Lay the fries in a single layeron a cookie sheet, with none of the fries touching each other, and bake in a400-degree oven for about 25 minutes, turning them once in the middle. Placeunder the broiler for about two minutes to brown them, salt to taste, andserve.

Wilted Cabbage Salad

2 lb savoy cabbage, washed and shredded
4 - 5 strips bacon, cooked crisp
salt and pepper
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil

Put cabbage in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Letstand for 10 minutes. Drain and pat dry. Place cabbage in a dry bowl and seasonwith salt, pepper, and vinegar. Mix in the olive oil (or substitute bacon fat).Crumble bacon over warm salad.

On Closing the Summer

2011-09-29T14:42:00.002-05:00

In the fall of the year, I am sometimes so struck by thewonder of it all that I just sit down in the field and let myself be filledwith awe. Where else is the soil so sweet? Where else is the lining of thehorizon at dusk so blue? Where else does Mars shine so brightly, or the BigDipper come so close to the hills? Where else does the creek burble with quitethe same grace, soft sounds floating up and over the fields?

As the leaves turn color, worries wash away like leaves onthe water. What’s done is done, and the time left is so short, it cannot bestretched. We will complete the work at hand, winter will close in, and thatwill be the end of another season.

The farming year, like the school year, the World Series, orthe WNBA season (!), exists as a discreet unit. Threads stretch out in eachdirection—spinach and garlic planted in the fall for next year’s harvest,planning and seed orders beginning before everything is put to bed for thewinter—but each year’s season has its distinct boundaries, the point at whichwe say, “ah, 2011, that was a year to remember.”

In the fall of the year, we breathe deeply and feel gratefulthe little time we’ve been given on this Earth to live on and to work the land.It is an honor and a privilege to provide food for you and your family. Thankyou.

Goings on on the Farm

2011-09-29T14:41:00.005-05:00

We’re trying our best to juggle a sense of urgency with thisIndian summer, but it’s a challenge not to try to pull everything out of thefield, because it’s all still growing and ripening, although we know a frost iscoming.

Rain kept us away from field work for most of the week, althoughwe still had to harvest – less than fun in this weather! But the crew muscledthrough with a distinct lack of complaint, and we pulled together a pretty nicebox this week for the CSA.

In This Week's Box

2011-09-29T14:41:00.002-05:00

Treviso Radicchio - The Trevisiotype, shaped like a head of iceberg lettuce, tends towards a sweeter flavorthan the standard, round Chioggia-type. The substantial leaves of Trevisioradicchio add a nice texture and earthiness to soups and stews, and make a niceside dish braised.

Red Onions

Red Peppers – Still coming on, althoughthe shortening days and cool weather have slowed the ripening dramatically.

Jalapeno Peppers

Carrots – Harvested in the rain,which is never much fun with root crops, but still pretty tasty.

Spinach – This spinach tastesgreat cooked or eaten raw.

Garlic

Delicata Squash – These narrow,long squash are another of the Cucurbitapepo species, which Mainers refer to as “fall squash.” With a sweet flavorand smooth texture, Delicata squash were one of the first “gourmet” squash tomake it into conventional grocery store produce departments. I especially likeslicing them into rings and sautéing them in olive oil to caramelize their sugars.

Broccoli

Round Red Tomatoes – Despite theshelter of the greenhouse, our tomato crop is almost done. Over the years, I’vefound that the flavor of fall tomatoes - ripened with insufficient hours andintensity of sunlight – combined with the reduced yields of the fall seasonmeans that it just isn’t worth keeping them going past the first of October, sowe’ll pull the vines down next week.

Chinese Cabbage - Chinese Cabbagecomes in many forms – heading and non-heading, thick leaved and thin leaved,and all sorts of shapes – but our favorite is the crinkly, light green heads ofNapa Cabbage. A staple in Korean Kim Chee – a fermented vegetable dish ubiquitousin Korea, and soon to be bubbling away on our kitchen counter – Chinese Cabbagetastes great raw or cooked.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-09-29T14:40:00.002-05:00

Squash Rings

2 Delicata squash
oil

Slice off the ends of two Delicatasquash, scoop out the seeds, and cut into rings about 1/3-inch thick (the skinsare edible on these varieties). Heat 1-1/2 tablespoons of oil in a wideskillet, add the squash, and fry over medium heat until richly colored on thebottom, about 6 minutes. Turn and cook on the second side until tender. Removeto a serving plate.

Warm Radicchio Salad with Onions

1 head radicchio
balsamic vinegar
olive oil
salt
red onion (mini-onions would work here)
pepper

Thoroughly wash and dry a head of radicchio. Make avinaigrette of 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar and 3 tbsp olive oil with salt to taste.Slice the onions very thin, and sauté them quickly in a large skillet untillimp and a little browned. Add the radicchio and the vinaigrette and toss quicklyover heat until it just begins to wilt. Season with ground pepper.

An Autumnal Salsa

In the summer, we live on fresh salsa prepared without anycooking, but come fall this salsa really hits the spot.

2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped onion
6 paste tomatoes, chopped
1/2 Jalapeno pepper, or more to taste; or substitute or add some poblano
Salt and pepper
1 Tbsp lime juice

Heat olive oil in a heavy skillet. Add garlic and sauteuntil just beginning to brown. Add paste tomatoes and simmer until most of theliquid has evaporated, and tomatoes are soft. Add 1/4 cup water if necessary tosoften the tomatoes. Add jalepeno pepper and simmer for five more minutes.Transfer to serving bowl, correct seasoning, add cilantro and lime juice, andserve.

Around the Corner

2011-09-22T09:15:00.005-05:00

Here on the farm, this is the week we traditionally refer toas “the corner.” The first week that small flocks of geese appear over thefarm, honking to each other and moving with purpose through the sky. The weekthat follows the first real snap of cold, when frost settles onto the roof ofthe barn and steams off in the morning sun. The week that I close up thewindows in the house, and throw an extra quilt onto the beds.

It’s also the week that really kicks our fall preparationsinto high gear, since we know that another frost lies just around the corner –and soon after that, the hard freeze that really shuts things down. This nextweek, we’ll start harvesting the winter squash, which can’t really take a frostbut needs the cool nights to sweeten up and taste its best. We’ll also pull theceleriac out of the field, and begin harvesting cabbages from up on the ridge.

Everything takes on the sense of a headlong rush to the endof the season. Tasks undone over the summer – like fixing the rollup sides onthe greenhouses, or laying out field plots for next spring’s plantings – becomesuddenly urgent. We work hard to make timely transitions from harvested cropsto cover crops. In the fall, the growth of plants actually slows downdramatically almost every day, so getting the winter crops and the cover cropsplanted as early as possible allows more time for green growth in the fall,which translates into more soil-building organic matter.

At the same time, the days grow shorter, so we can’t work aslong. Cool weather drives us to linger over a cup of tea in the morning orafter lunch. The work is urgent, but without the summer’s heat, it lacks thesame drama.

Some years, the corner inspires wistfulness for thebeautiful and bountiful summer that we know will soon be behind us. This year,with spring rains, summer droughts, and everything else, we are somewhatanxious to get it all behind us. Hearing the geese, we look forward to thesettling in of winter, and the blessed blank slate of another year to come.

Goings on on the Farm

2011-09-22T09:15:00.002-05:00

Last week’s hard frost in the north didn’t do much harm downhere, and we are still picking peppers outside. But the fall greens sure tastegreat in the cool weather. The drizzly moisture has provided some welcome waterin the soil as we head into fall.

We’re easing our way into the fall harvest. It’s kind of aguessing game about when the hard frost will hit, which is when we’ll need to havethe squash and celeriac out of the field; the other roots can take a lot morefrost. We’ll try to balance the extra days of ripening and growth with our needmanage the work load when we finally see a harvest for a hard freeze.

In This Week's Box

2011-09-22T09:14:00.003-05:00

Our best estimate forthis week’s box…

Celery – Again, our Midwestern celery has greener stalks anda stronger flavor than the pale California varieties, but still delicious.

Sweet Peppers – Delicious and lots of them. Still ripeninglots of fruits. Sweet red peppers have a ton of vitamin C, too, so eat a lot ofthem with all of the colds and flu going around right now.

Round Red Tomatoes – Still coming strong in the greenhouse.

Carrots

Kale – After a good, hard frost, kale tastes even betterthan it does in the summer time. The cool weather brings out the sugars, andthe flavor gets richer and richer as the cool weather goes on.

Red Onions

Garlic – Our easy-peel, rocambole-type garlic. Delicious,and so good in the kitchen.

Heart of Gold Squash – We call it HOG on the farm, and enjoyit all fall. We love it for its not-too-dry not-too-moist texture and sweet,rich flavor. Another fall squash, like the Acorn, use it before Christmas.

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes – probably the last sweet for theselittle bursts of sunshine.

Fall Spinach – It doesn’t get much better than fall spinach,with toothsome, sweet leaves. Unless it’s winter spinach from the greenhouse,but you’ll have to get an autumn share for that.

Asian Melons (some boxes) – We have enough Asian melons formost boxes. These cucumber-like melons have a crisp, white flesh, and work bestif you serve them sliced, rather than in halves.

Watermelons (some boxes) – We’ve tried to get seeds forthese very small watermelons for years, and finally succeeded. Delicious andsweet, we were able to get these into most, but not all, of our boxes thisweek.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-09-22T09:14:00.000-05:00

Wilted Spinach Salad

Fresh Spinach isdelicious served raw or just slightly wilted, as in this household favorite.

1/2 lb fresh spinach
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, peeled and pressed
1/2 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts– or almonds
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt
freshly ground pepper

Heat the oil in a small skillet. Add the nuts and cook over low heat for aboutfive minutes, stirring occasionally. Addthe garlic near the end. Pour over thespinach, scraping in as much of the oil as possible. Toss until spinach is coated and the nuts arewell distributed. Sprinkle in thevinegar and salt and pepper, toss again, and serve.

Cider-baked Squash

2 lbs winter squash
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1 cup apple cider or juice
pepper to taste

Halve squash and remove seeds. Brush each half with meltedbutter. Place each half cut side up on a cookie sheet or in a baking dish. Pourequal amounts of cider into each half. Bake at 375 for 45 minutes, or until thesquash is tender. Scoop out squash flesh and apple cider, and serve.

Long-stewed Kale

Kale really shines after the frost— the cold weatherencourages the formation of sugars in the leaves. This dish tastes deliciousand feels just right in the cold nights of fall.

1 slice smoked bacon
1 onion
1 small carrot
3 cloves garlic
1 bunch green kale
salt and pepper
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest (or lemongrass!)

Cut the bacon into small dice and render it over low heatfor about 8 minutes. Peel and chop the onion, carrot, and garlic into smalldice and add to the bacon with a splash of water. Cover and stew the vegetablesuntil they are soft and the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Wash, stem,and coarsely chop the kale. Add the kale to the vegetables along with some saltand cook uncovered over moderately high heat; the greens will give off a lot ofwater. Keep cooking until the liquid is almost evaporated, about 10 to 15minutes. Add half the cream and simmer until it has been almost completelyabsorbed, then add the other half and keep simmering until it, too, is nearlyabsorbed. Add the lemon zest, taste and correct the seasoning, and serve.

2011-09-08T10:03:00.004-05:00

As we move more fully into September, we have begun to setour sights on winter. The time between now and Thanksgiving spans just the sameamount of time as the peak of the summer season, from June through August; andit's just as important a time. In many ways, what we do in the summer sets thestage for the autumn season, even though we've had a lot of output already asthe summer season progressed. Now, we begin the process of pulling in, watchingthe weather for the cascading ends of the season – first frost, first hardfrost, the end of being able to do tractor work in the field - noticing thesigns that the season has truly changed from summer's growth to fall'sripening.

For a number of years now - as I tick back the through theyears of markers and milestones, I can’t quite remember when we started - wehave offered a winter share to take the CSA up through December, with aselection of fresh greens, roots, onions, squash, and other store-ables, alongwith the occasional extra-hardy crop from the field. Two years ago, we decidedto offers shares through March, and we were quite pleased with the results.Despite a brutal winter, we had spinach and a good variety of roots and goodiesright through. Last year, we had similar results, despite a paucity of rootcrops due to some critical crop failures.

Of course, we'll also continue offering our certifiedorganic fruit shares, with the best fruit available from small farmers in thepremier growing regions of the country. With fall's apples and pears andwinter's citrus, this fruit is simply hard to beat.

Don't wait to sign up for our winter shares. You can sign upby printing off a form from our websiteand sending it in, or online. Historically, we have sold out of these before wecould fill all of the orders; springs and summer sales of these shares havebeen strong. We can't sell extras of these because of limited storage andgrowing space in the coolers and greenhouses, so please don't put it off.

Goings on on the Farm

2011-09-08T10:02:00.002-05:00

After a very hot end to last week, a mixed blessing of arainstorm blew into the farm early Friday morning, dumping over an inch of rainin less than thirty minutes. While we needed the rain after weeks and weeks ofdry weather, high winds and pounding rains did leave some things in a jumble,splashing rain high onto our crops and blowing down the peppers, leaving ajumbled mess of peppers to pick through. Rain continued off and on throughSaturday until we had a good two inches in the ground, and we all woke onSunday to beautiful, cool fall weather that has everybody working in coats andinsulated vests all morning throughout the week.

We weeded on Thursday, and picked up most of our onions andshallots down at the rental ground. Ben seeded more fall salad and spinach. Thepacking house got a thorough scrubbing during the rainstorm. The ground wasstill very wet after a weekend of rain, so we focused our attention on harvestand greenhouse work while we waited for things to dry out enough to tackle somelingering tractor jobs.

In This Week's Box

2011-09-08T10:00:00.002-05:00

Our best estimate forthis week’s box…

This week, everything but the garlic would like to go inyour crisper drawer. The peppers don’t really need a bag, but everything elsewould like one.

Sweet Red Peppers - On the other hand, the peppers seem tobe responding to the cool weather by cranking out the ripe fruit. All of thered peppers in your box this week are sweet, and can be used as you would anyred bell pepper; we enjoy the variety of different shapes for the subtlydifferent tastes, and the insurance a little diversity provides out in thefield. Personally, I have become a real fan of the long, thick-walled Carmenpepper, which has a really wonderful, fruity flavor, and a softer texture thana normal bell pepper.

Celery - Our Midwestern Celery has greener stalks and astronger flavor than the pale giants from the grocery store, but still tastesnice raw or cooked. The kids often eat the stalks spread with peanut butter,but Chris prefers them with ranch dressing. For us, celery has a short season,as August’s heat and humidity typically provides more non-celery weather thanthis tender plant can bear.

Greenhouse Cucumbers

Round Red Tomatoes

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Broccoli

Garlic

Red Onions

Radicchio – Most appreciated in this country for its brightred leaf, often seen in store-bought bagged salads. The bitter flavor is moreoften appreciated in Europe. Personally, I have a fondness for small radicchiosalads with a dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper; butmany people will find the flavor too strong for their tastes. I do think it isworth mentioning here, however, that, without prodding, my nine-year old Isabelclaims that radicchio is her second favorite vegetable, behind fennel but aheadof Sungold cherry tomatoes. The substantial leaves add a nice texture andearthiness to soups and stews.

Recipes You Can Use

2011-09-08T09:59:00.001-05:00

Warm Radicchio Saladwith Red Onions

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt
1 cup thinly sliced red onions
pepper

Thoroughly wash and dry a head of radicchio. Make avinaigrette with teh vinegar and olive oil, and salt to taste. Saute onionsquickly in a large skillet until limp and a little browned. Add the radicchioand the vinaigrette and toss quickly over heat until radiscchio just begins towilt. Season with ground pepper.

Broccoli with RoastedRed Peppers

1 or 2 large red bell peppers
1 pound broccoli, stems trimmed,
crowns cut into small florets (6 Cups)
3 T olive oil
3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Char peppers directly over gas flame or in broiler untilblackened on all sides. Enclose peppers in a paper bag for 10 minutes. Peel andseed peppers, then cut into 1/3-inch-wide strips. Cook broccoli in large pot of boiling saltedwater until just crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Drain well. Heat olive oil inheavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add garlic; stir until golden, about 1minute. Add broccoli and toss until coated with oil and heated through, about 5minutes. Add bell pepper strips; toss to blend. Season with salt and pepper.Transfer to a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Cucumber Raita

1 greenhouse cucumber (or 2 regulars)
salt
2 Tbsp yogurt
sprinkle of cayenne

Cut the cucumbers in half lengthwise, then cut into a smalldice. Salt them, add the yogurt andcayenne, and stir.

Organic Certification

2011-08-11T07:45:00.001-05:00

On Friday last week, we had our annual visit from an organic certification inspector. Organic certification is the process whereby a state or private certification agency verifies compliance with the USDA’s organic standards, which provide for an organic production system that responds to site-specific conditions by integrating cultural, biological, and mechanical practices that foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity. Producers must document inputs, field and production activities, harvests, and sales to verify compliance with the standards.

For several years now, we have listened to other growers say things like, “We follow the organic standards but choose not to certify,” or, “Organic certification requires too much paperwork for a small farm,” while they continue to advertise their products as organic. We have chosen to stick to our guns and apply for certification every year, because we believe in the power of having somebody looking over your shoulder – just like having a coach to make certain you are following the details of a training plan (and not sneaking donuts on the side!), or a referee in a ball game to parse out the rules of just when a runner is safe at second. Although we may think that an input is allowed (or should be allowed), certification reminds us to double check our judgment with that of the larger organic community before making a decision.

To qualify for organic certification, prohibited materials—including chemical fertilizers and pesticides, as well as genetically-modified organisms such as those found in seeds and many biological controls—must not have been applied to organic crops or the soil in which the crops are grown for a minimum of 36 months prior to harvest. Certified organic farmers have to follow strict standards for applying manure or manure products, such as compost: unless the compost is fully mature, organic farmers have to apply the compost at least 90 days before harvesting a crop for human consumption, and 120 days if the edible portion of the crop touches the ground.

In addition, certified organic farmers have to use certified organic seed whenever it is available, and always have to use certified organic transplants. Inputs for organic production have to meet certain standards as well, such as not being produced from genetically modified organisms (as many bacterial seed inoculants and biological insecticides and fungicides are). Some of the insect and disease controls, as well as mineral fertilizers, are regulated regarding under what circumstances and how often they can be applied, guaranteeing that least-toxic approaches are used first; for example, if we use a copper-based fungus control, we have to demonstrate that we have used other methods of disease control first, such as proper spacing for air circulation and selection of resistant varieties—and, we have to document our usage to show that we don’t use copper repeatedly in the same field, so that we don’t have a toxic buildup.

Certified organic farmers are also required by law to work to enhance biodiversity, conserve soil and water, and not deplete natural resources. To qualify for organic certification, a farmer must demonstrate the maintenance or improvement not only of their soil, but of their surrounding environment, as well.

Each year, certified organic farmers develop an Organic Farm Plan that lays out how they plan to comply with the organic rules. Then, they complete an application for organic certification, and submit their farm to an inspection by an independent, third-party inspector. These inspectors are trained not only to verify the information in the organic farm plan, but also to look for signs that the plan is actually being implemented. An inspector might look for cover crop residues in the soil, examine crops for signs of residual herbicide damage, and check that farmers actually have labels from the bags of seed they claim to have used.

Because real organic farming is much more about what you actually do, rather than what you don’t do, the certification process requires a farmer to go through the process, every year, of thinking their way through their organic farm plan and how they will actively enhance biodiversity, conserve natural resources, and produce healthy, clean food, rather than simply avoiding certain products and practices. In our busy schedule, it is always a challenge to find time to do this, but it is always a worthwhile exercise.

Goings on on the Farm

2011-08-11T07:44:00.003-05:00

What a great weather week. It’s hard to believe it’s August after that brutal July, with cool nights and pleasant days. So we picked some vegetables, transplanted fall chicories and broccoli, seeded turnips and winter radishes and salad greens and spinach, and weeded a bunch of stuff.

In this Week's Box

2011-08-11T07:44:00.001-05:00

Our best estimate for this week’s box…

Most everything in this week’s box wants to go in the refrigerator, in a loose plastic bag, preferably in the crisper drawer. Tomatoes go on the counter or on the windowsill to finish ripening; open up the clamshell of Sungolds.

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes

Round Red Tomatoes – You know what to do with these, but I think it’s worth reminding you that we try to send tomatoes with a range of ripeness, so that you can still have tomatoes early next week. You can ripen them faster in the sunshine, or by putting them in a paper bag to capture their own ethylene gas; or keep them in a shady spot on the counter for a longer shelf life.

Greenhouse Cucumbers – Seedless and skinless, and we’ve really enjoyed these over the last several weeks sliced and salted with a dash of white wine vinegar.

Broccoli – Cooler weather means that this crop is looking a little nicer these days.

Swiss Chard - Also known as “perpetual spinach”, and although I think it has a lot more merit on its own than as a spinach substitute, they are readily interchangeable in recipes calling for cooked greens.

Carrots

Conehead Cabbage - I don’t know why it’s shaped that way, but I like its thin leaves and it looks pretty neat. Use as you would any green cabbage, but I especially like it done up in a natural sauerkraut.

Golden Zucchini – We grow the golden zucchini because they are so much easier to spot growing in the mass of leaves in the zucchini plants. Other than that, they’re the same as any other zucchini.

Fresh Garlic – Still not fully cured, so you should use this in the next couple of weeks.