CSA: Week 23

Greetings, all! It’s an All-Chicken week for the Meat CSA and Greens upon Greens for the Veggie Shares! I’ll spare you a long Blog entry this week because I’d like instead to share a great article from this past Sunday’s edition of the Atlanta Journal Constitution. The article focuses on some farm and family history of White Oak Pastures and the Harris clan and if you click on the video you can see some good footage from around the farm.  Click on the photos to open up another album as well.  The header reads: “The upstart cattleman. Will Harris broke the mold on farming and built the most successful organic beef operation in Georgia. But first he had to break with four generations of family history.” Here’s the link to the whole article: http://www.ajc.com/news/news/the-upstart-cattleman/nSHHK/

On the farm front, it’s been über dry but we’re keeping a diligent watering schedule for the up and coming carrots, lettuces, beets, and fall sugar snap peas. We have some Fall potatoes we’re trying out this year. And we’ll soon be harvesting our first round of sweet potatoes. This week, the Braising mix is growing strong and we’ve added in some Tat Soi for extra body. And we have the Asian greens again this week too where we’ve added Hon Tsai Tai (purple leaves which you may remember from the Spring). You’ll also notice that the radishes have filled out a bit more since last week too.  The eggplant around the farm, even those protected in the High Tunnel are getting picked on mercilessly by all manner of lepidopteran critters. The plants are succumbing to the stress and you’ll start seeing it in the somewhat small and often blemished skin of the fruits. They are still very edible and tasty, and obviously organic. Something I’ve really missed has been the Sugar Snap peas, and these have germinated this week and have begun their tendrilling journey up the trellis. Kales, Mustards, Collards, etc are also coming along nicely. It won’t be long. I know everyone has been missing that Kale in their Share Boxes!

On a final note, Garret and Brandy, interns heralding from New Jersey are saying their farewells this week. They are chasing the season southward to Florida. We wish them well on their journey together.

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Here’s what we have in store for you this week…

Meat CSA: (call us on Mondays for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

1x ground chicken 1lb

1x Chicken Thighs 2lbs

1x Chicken Tenders 2lbs

Our free-range, pastured, heritage cross chickens are raised with no antibiotics or added hormones. Our chickens are also Step 5 rated by the Global Animal Partnership, which is the highest animal welfare rating.

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

12 beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week.

(Want another dozen or not on the Egg CSA, Call to order this week and we’ll bring them to you : 229-641-2081)

**Also, please tell your friends and family who live near Atlanta that our eggs are now available in all 8 Atlanta Whole Foods Markets. We rely on word of mouth so much and as CSA members, you know our story best. Thanks again to all of you who help spread the word each week.

Certified Organic Vegetables: 

Braising Mix (Arugula , Mizuna, and a pinch of Tat Soi)

Asian Greens (Tokya Bekana, Hon Tsai Tai, Komatsuna, and/or Red Giant Mustard)

Cherry Belle Radishes 

Mixed Green Beans (Maxibel, Provider and Haricot Vert)

Mixed Eggplant 

Sweet Peppers

Hot Peppers – Small bag

Mixed Okra (1 lb Burgundy and Clemson Spineless)

1 bunch Basil (Genovese, Thai, or Purple Ruffles)

Mint (one CSA member freezes chopped mint in with ice cubes for drinks – great idea!)

CSA: Week 22

The weatherman’s telling us it’s gonna dip well into the 60’s over the next few nights. And with the rain and overcast skies the last couple days that should mean good germination for the next rounds of salad mix, beets, carrots, turnips, etc.  After the pest pressure we’ve had this year, I’m looking forward to  the fall weather which usually brings a reprieve from leaf munching critters. And hopefully we’ll have a colder winter than we had last year which would do us wonders for pests come next Spring. All in due time, I suppose. When you grow vegetables this far south in GA, you’re early to start in the spring, but your slower to get outta the gate again after Summer. (I know it’s technically Summer for another couple days, but you catch my meaning.) We’re still anxiously awaiting the mature growth of most of the fall greens, but this week we’re proud to bring you the first harvest of Fall radishes, and a roulette option of Komatsuna (Darkish Green) or Tokyo Bekana (Lighter Green – almost looks like big leaves of lettuce), or Hon Tsai Tai (Purple Stems). The radishes, along with the Arugula/Mizuna Braising mix will give you plenty of spice. These last three Asian greens are less “mustardy” so you can really savor the full flavors.  As always, we harvest them at dawn to ensure peak of freshness and water content.

Everyone is also getting lemongrass this week, which goes great into Thai dishes, but can also be minced or food processed into any salad dressing. I like to match the amount of lemongrass with garlic. Here’s a good recipe I found over at Allrecipes for a Mint Lemongrass Dijon Dressing over a Green Apple Jicama and Prawn Salad. The spicy Arugula would go great in here too.  You can also lightly cook down the arugula/mizuna mix with light oil (Olive is fine, but I like to add a dash of toasted sesame or another infused with Basil and Lemongrass)

So, talking about infused oil… I just looked this up and I’m going to try to make my own infusion.  You’ve got lemongrass and Lemon Basil in your box this week. You could potentially make a lemon cooking oil that I think would be amazing on fish or chicken. Or as a dipping sauce for our non-existent succession of cucumbers (may they rest in peace).

And finally, Malabar Spinach is in the box again this week too. I’m still addicted to the smoothies. I now run the whole bag of Malabar through the juicer, along with 3-4 carrots, 1 small chunk of ginger, 3-4 celery and 2-3 apples. Once I have the “juice” (the Malabar really holds together in a non-juice-like gelatinous clump) then I’ll throw it in a blender with ice, blueberries and a dab of flax seed oil. Yummy! I use 2 kitchen appliances not because I enjoy doing dishes but because blending the ice helps break up the snot-like consistency of the Malabar after juicing.

And on that pleasant note, I hope everyone truly enjoys this week’s goodness. Here’s the list, along with some pictures…

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Meat CSA: (call us on Mondays for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

3 x Grass Fed Tenderloin filets (8oz) – Derived from the most tender muscle of the beef carcass, these steaks are the master of all steaks. Savor them for the evenings that really count. They lend themselves well to grilling, broiling and pan frying.

1 x Pastured Whole Fryer (approx 1.7lbs) – Free-range, pastured, heritage cross small fryer chicken. Our chickens are raised with no antibiotics or added hormones. Our chickens are also Step 5 rated by the Global Animal Partnership, which is the highest animal welfare rating.

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

12 beautiful brown eggs from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week.

(Want another dozen or not on the Egg CSA, Call to order this week and we’ll bring them to you : 229-641-2081)

**Also, please tell your friends and family who live near Atlanta that our eggs are now available in all 8 Atlanta Whole Foods Markets. We rely on word of mouth so much and as CSA members, you know our story best. Thanks again to all of you who help spread the word each week.

Organic Vegetables: 

Braising Mix (Arugula , Mizuna, and a pinch of Tat Soi)

Malabar Spinach (see above for smoothie recipe or previous posts for more ideas)

Cherry Belle Radishes (nice n spicy, and don’t forget the leaves are edible too – try both in an omelette with some pine nuts and blue cheese – Delicious!)

Red and Yellow Onions (the last of the bulb onions – enjoy!)

Mixed Green Beans (Maxibel, Provider and Haricot Vert)

Mixed Eggplant

Sweet Peppers

Hot Peppers – Small bag

Mixed Okra (1 lb Burgundy and Clemson Spineless)

1 bunch Basil (Lemon Basil)

Lemongrass (see above for some ideas – links are embedded in text)

CSA: Week 21

We’re so pumped to be delivering again this week! Thanks for your patience during the Fall transition. There’s alot of news from the farm front – but with the day coming to close I’ll table that discussion for later. And since now the Hunger Strike is over, let’s celebrate seasonality and let the cooking commence. As always, Don’t forget to return your CSA boxes. And here are some pics from around the farm along with a list of what to expect in your share box this week…

**I threw in some action shots of the crew canning up some Okra, and one of Hollis branding hides that he and Ms. Hilary tanned on the farm. Both canned produce and gift items made from our own tanned hides will soon be available for sale.

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Meat CSA: (call us on Mondays for any additional a la carte orders: 229-641-2081 – web orders click here)

2 x Grass-Fed New York Strip Steak 12oz – The most popular grilling steak that is derived from the loin of the beef carcass. This steak lends itself well to those who cherish a great steak in any type of situation.

1 x Stewing Hen Large

1 x Chicken Wings (5lb) – Our ground free-range, pastured, heritage cross chicken. Our chickens are raised with no antibiotics or added hormones. Our chickens are also Step 5 rated by the Global Animal Partnership, which is the highest animal welfare rating.

 

Pasture Raised Eggs: 

12 beautiful assorted color eggs (mostly dark brown), from our own lovely ladies that range freely on certified organic pasture. The eggs are washed, candled and graded fresh for you each week.

(Want another dozen or not on the Egg CSA, Call to order this week and we’ll bring them to you : 229-641-2081)

**Also, please tell your friends and family who live near Atlanta that our eggs are now available in all 8 Atlanta Whole Foods Markets. We rely on word of mouth so much and as CSA members, you know our story best. Thanks again to all of you who help spread the word each week.

 

Organic Vegetables: 

Salad Mix (baby arugula, mizuna, and Buckwheat Greens! Young tender shoots – tasty leaves and stems too)

Winter Squash (Red Kuri, Spaghetti, Baby Blue Hubbard, or Delicata)

Mixed Green Beans (Maxibel, Provider, Haricot Vert, and Rattlesnake)

Mixed Eggplant

Sweet Peppers

Hot Peppers – Small bag

Mixed Okra (1 lb Burgundy and Clemson Spineless)

1 bunch Basil (Genovese, Purple Ruffles, Thai, or Cinnamon)

Mountain Mint (the most fragrant mint I’ve ever grown – wow! Make a Mojito and celebrate September!)