Grass Is Greener Gardens

Thanks to some help from the Green City Market, this past weekend Graydon and I had the opportunity to attend the MOSES (Midwest Organic and Sustainable Educations Service) Conference in La Crosse, WI. For a broad run down of the vibe and culture of the conference check out Graydon’s post below. Interesting presentations, good food, and enthusiastic company what more could a social-interaction starved farmer want from a short weekend in the bar capital of the United States? Obviously, we had a blast and would love to return in the future.

The overarching theme of the conference for me was innovation and creative problem solving. In particular, this came through in a talk given by Lauren Frerichs and Adam Cullip of Loon Organics and Grant Schultz of VersaLand Farms entitled Machinery for Beginning Farmers. Upon entering I thought this would just be a useful introduction to different machines best suited to the start-up farmer. And, Frerichs and Cullip did an excellent job of giving suggestions of which tools a beginning farmer should purchase right off the bat. However, what really struck me was their story of experimentation with machinery and the adjustments they have made over time to not only improve efficiency and profitability but also their, and their workers, quality of life. From a DIY transplanter to a tractor converted to electric power they have pushed themselves to figure out solutions to both the practical and ecological problems posed by the farm.

Next up was Grant Schultz. Right away, I connected with Grant when he admitted that he would rather work smarter than harder. In the few years I have worked on a farm I have found that, while we like to brag about working our asses off from dawn to dusk, we often forget to take the time to figure out simple, cost effective solutions that will save us time, money and energy. From the types of hoes we use to our planting methods there is almost always room for greater efficiency and innovation. Also, Grant encouraged us to look at how farming is being done around the world. From Switzerland and their pastured raised dairy to Cuba and their world leading amount of local, organic gardens.  Definitely an eye-opening presentation.

Anyways, I have to wrap things up here and call into the farm. We start planting onions in trays this week. It seems like last year just ended but here we are again on the verge of the 2013 season. Hopefully, a bit more prepared and with heads and hearts refreshed and inspired for what is to come.

Cheers! And, good luck to all the farmers around the globe!

Week 20 has arrived. Which means that this is the last week of 2012 produce shares for all our wonderful members in Lakeview, Oak Park, Northbrook, and Monroe. We want to thank you all for participating this season! Despite the difficulties posed by the drought it was a successful growing season for us and I hope a successful culinary season for all our members.

During the last few weeks of this season we will be spending our time pulling up black mulch, cleaning and repairing our various farm structures, taking care of administrative business, and harvesting a few crops for pickles and farmer’s markets. So, for those of you who miss us you can visit me (Sean) and Jackie at the Green City Market in Lincoln Park, Anna at the Beloit Farmers Market, Graydon and Rich at the Dane County Market in Madison, WI. Or, you can sometimes find us all at Bushel and Peck’s in Beloit, WI. We love visitors so feel free to stop by anytime!

On that note, let’s take a look at what is in this week’s box (for those of you with storage shares there are also notes below):

Lettuce Mix.      

Spinach.     Hooray! Our fall spinach arrived and is bountiful. Spinach is one of those wonderful greens that you can use in just about anything. My favorite thing to do with spinach is to sautee with a garlic and olive oil. It is also great for a mixed greens salad or as an addition to a stew or soup.

Squash.       This week everyone is getting acorn squash. Large shares will also be receiving a Blue Hubbard squash or Butternut Squash. Small shares will also receive a Delicata Squash. All of the squash this week came from us. Our squash plants were killed by frost, however, many of the fruits from the plants had ripened enough that we were able to send them out to you all this week.

Hot Drying Peppers.       These Joe Cayenne Hot Peppers are meant for drying. Last winter I can’t even remember how many times I crumbled up these peppers into whatever I was cooking to add some heat. Just another excellent way to extend your CSA season through the cold months.

Onions.     Large shares only.

Leeks.       Small shares only.

Enjoy!

About Storage Shares:

Storage shares are designed to provide a stash of food to use during the winter months when the growing season is mostly nonexistent.   Unless otherwise mentioned below, all of the vegetables will keep best in a cool, dark place.

Potatoes.

Onions.

Garlic.

Leeks.  Leeks keep best in the fridge.

Sage and Thyme.  Hang these bunches upside down to dry.

Carrots.  These keep best in the fridge.   If your carrots start to feel squishy, they are simply dehydrated: soak in bowl of water to rehydrate.

Winter squash.  Winter squash come from the Paulsons in Brodhead, WI.

Hot Drying peppers.

If you have any questions about storage shares, feel free to send us an email!

Hello all and welcome to week 16!  We are really feeling the transition to fall this week, as tomatoes, peppers, and cukes start to slow down, and lettuce, spinach, beets, and carrots become quite happy (okay beets are always happy on our farm).  We heat the farm by wood stove, and Sunday marked the first farm fire.

Apologies for the delay in getting the blog up–whilst Sean was delivering your shares today, Graydon and I were putting some precautionary row cover on peppers, tomatoes, and beans.  Low of 40 tonight–cross your fingers that it stays there and doesn’t get lower.

Shares this week include:

Cherry Tomatoes. We think this may be the last week for cherry tomatoes, so enjoy the end of these.

Tomatoes.  We sent a lot of tomatoes this week.  Heirlooms went straight in the box (a mix of black trifele, striped cavern, brandywine, carbon, and green zebra), and then a bag of lemon tomatoes and romas for all.

Chard.

Cucumbers.

Peppers.  Everyone gets bell peppers and sweet pimentos on the sweet side, and large shares gets a bag of mixed hot peppers.  Small shares get a few cayenne peppers–great for drying!

Onions.  Purple onions this week!  We pulled these all up yesterday to cure (see post below for a photo of yellow onions curing).

Leeks.  Large shares have two leeks and small shares one.

Large shares also receive:

Parsley.

Chives.

Happy eats to all!

Today marks week 15 of our CSA season, and we’re still going strong.  Okay, maybe a little more tired than week one, but most of our endearing characteristics are still present.

Harvest was quite pleasant today in this cool weather–even a tad chilly this morning, which makes us very happy.  Sweatshirts and jeans, hooray!  Finally.  Graydon and I took a gleeful walk through our winter squash today and saw quite a few acorn and delicata squash rearing their heads.

We harvested our yellow onions Wednesday, and they are now curing:

do you tear up just looking?

the required macro shot

This week’s shares include:

Kale.  Kale makes a return this week. Enjoy this sauteed, chopped finely in a slaw, or massaged in lemon juice and raw on a salad.

Lettuce.  Yay cool temps and leafy greens!

Peppers.  ID test–Big green = bell.  Red triangles = sweet pimento.  Small, dark green = jalapeno.  Medium green = anaheim chile.  The chiles are great for roasting.  See here for an article on how to roast chiles.

Tomatoes and Cherry Tomatoes.  I have eaten the following variations on the tomato sandwich this week: basil, mayo, cheese;  ham and cheese; ham, cheese, over easy egg; basil, cheese, tomato.  We’ve also eaten tomatoes on pasta, sloppy joes, stir fry, and stewed and served with barbequed beef.   Mmm.

Cucumbers.

Large share also receive:

Purple Beans.

Chives.

Eggplant.

Happy eats to all!

Wow, Week 15.  Can you believe it?  We can’t.  3/4 of the way through the season.

Update on the fields: Graydon is currently pulling the onion field so they can cure the next few weeks–they look great!  Sean and I just weeded the spinach and lettuce, so look for those soon.  The carrot patch and winter squash field are also doing well.  We have more radishes planted, and there are more leeks to come.  We’ll have potatoes again, soon.

Basil.  Jackie jokingly asked if we had enough basil in the bags this morning.  We’ll probably have it for the next couple weeks and then it’ll start to fade, so savor or dry!

Peppers.  This week, more bell and sweet pimentos, as well as a bag of mixed hot peppers.

Radishes.   Enjoy more French breakfast radishes.  Because of the erratic heat the last couple weeks, the radish fields don’t last long, so we have to pull them all at once or they get woody.  We should have radishes again in a couple of weeks.

Cucumbers.  The cucumbers are finally starting to die down, so this might be the last week for cucumbers.  For now.  Never fear, there are more coming.

Tomatoes.  Mmm tomatoes.  Sean, Graydon, and I are eating a lot of variations on the tomato sandwich.  Very happily.  This week we have a mix of heirlooms and romas.

Cherry Tomatoes.  More of our cherries that keep on giving.

Large shares also receive:

Chard.

Chives.

Eggplant.

Happy eats to all!

Welcome to week 14!

Shares include:

Cucumbers.

Radishes. I think the spiciness of these radishes makes them pair quite well with cream cheese for a tasty radish sandwich.  Or pair with the lettuce that is in shares this week!

Tomatoes.  Here we go with the tomato onslaught.  Your bag continues a mix of roma, striped cavern, and lemon tomatoes.

Cherry Tomatoes.  More black and red cherries this week.

Eggplant.  A note on flea beetles: they’re pesky.  We keep our eggplant under row cover as long as possible, but the flea beetle is a hard pest to deal with organically.  If you find there are holes in your eggplant, just slice that section off–the rest is perfectly delicious.

Thai Basil.

Lettuce.  The first of the fall’s lettuce–enjoy!

Peppers. All shares have lots of sweet pimentos, a bell pepper, and a bag of hot peppers.

Large shares also receive:

Leeks.

Okra(!)  This is the first of the season’s okra.  If this is a new vegetable for you, this site has some great ideas on how to use okra: http://www.southernliving.com/food/10-best-okra-recipes-00417000074088/

Purple Beans.

A note on dirt: we try to avoid washing produce as much as possible, as it shortens the time vegetables will stay fresh.  With that in mind, we got some rain this week (hooray!), and things are a little muddier than usual.

Happy eats to all!

Hello all!  Hope you are somewhere cool.  Blog duty does have its perks after a sweaty afternoon in the field…

Our Tuesday morning harvests begin at 5:30 a.m.  This is a great time to notice the progressively later rising of the sun each week–this morning Graydon and I bagged tomatoes by headlamp. Those tomatoes we have been speaking of have officially arrived in droves, so enjoy!

This week’s shares contain:

Cucumbers.  Sean pulled in another 150 lbs off the vines yesterday. We love cucumbers!

Cherry Tomatoes.  A mix of our red and black cherry tomatoes.

Tomatoes.  A mix of heirloom and roma tomatoes. If you haven’t eaten heirloom tomatoes before, cracks are normal–the same seeds have been passed down for hundreds of years, so there have been no breeding modifications.  We try to pack a mix of nearly ripe to might need another day to ripen–this hopefully prevents squished tomatoes and also gives you a chance to eat them all.

Radishes.  More of the French Breakfast Radish this week.

Peppers.  All shares receive bell peppers, sweet pimentos, and a bag of hot peppers.

Basil.  You all seemed excited about our never ending basil patch on Facebook, so we are sending more.  I think I eat pesto about three times a week on the farm.  So good.

Large shares also receive:

Leeks.

Purple Beans.

Beets.

Happy eats to all!

reading hour.

Hot peppers galore.

Large shares, week 14 Chicago.

Hello all!  This week we have:

Radishes.  The first of our radishes for the fall.  In this heat, radishes can wilt easily–simply douse in some water if wilty, and toss in your crisper.  Enjoy the French Breakfast Radish, which most farmily members here at Grass is Greener Gardens will tell you is their favorite radish. Spicy, crisp, delicious.

Cherry Tomatoes.  A mix of red and black cherry tomatoes.

Cucumber.   As I said earlier in the week, the cucumbers continue to produce but are slowing ever so slightly as the cucumber beetles attack.

Peppers. Everyone receives a bag of hot peppers, two sweet pimentos, and two bell peppers.

Basil. Time to make more pesto!

Watermelon and Musk Melon.  It’s melon week in Beloit.  Enjoy these from our friends the Paulsons in Brodhead.

Small shares receive:

Eggplant.  We are very happy that our little eggplants that could produced enough for everyone to get eggplant over the last couple weeks.

Large shares receive:

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley.

Kale.

Purple Beans.

Happy eats to all!

Dear blog readers who reside in Beloit,
We are sharing this post on behalf of the Beloit Backyard Chicken Group. If interested, please read about how you can support their efforts.

Thanks,
Your farmers at Grass is Greener Gardens
——-

Eight months ago, a group of citizens approached the Beloit City Council with a 200 signature petition and a request: Will the City of Beloit please allow us to have backyard chickens? Since then, we’ve collectively spent hundreds of hours researching similar ordinances and their impacts on cities around the country, educating city officials about chickens and our food system at large, debunking myths about noise, odor, predators, and disease, and proposing solutions and compromises to all of the city’s concerns. Yet, a week before our final public hearing, we still face opposition from some of the city staff, which means this ordinance might never leave the nest.

The good news? The city council represents us – the community of Beloit. And if they see enough support from the community for this ordinance next Tuesday night, it will pass.

As individuals already supporting a local and ecologically resilient food system, we hope you will support this effort too. So whether you’re a Backyard Chicken Enthusiast or just want to share a Backyard Chicken Omelet with a neighbor who is, please come to the city council meeting next Tuesday, September 4th, at 7pm in City Hall. This is our last chance.**

If you would be willing to speak as part of a coordinated presentation, please email Brian at brian.shobe@gmail.com for details. You can also opt not to speak, and be a supportive person in the audience.

We hope to see you there!

The Beloit Backyard Chicken Group

———————

Hey lovely CSA members!

This week we have:

Radishes!  The first of our fall crops.   Enjoy the French Breakfast Radish, which most farmily members here at Grass is Greener Gardens will tell you is their favorite radish. Spicy, crisp, delicious.

Beets! (I was just going to use an exclamation point for radishes, but I think I’ll use an exclamation for everything, because well, vegetables are exciting!)

Chard!

Tomatoes!  That heat we were hoping for arrived, ripening a whole slew of black and red cherry tomatoes.  Hooray, and brace yourself!

Green Beans!  Jackie and Graydon made a most excellent stir fry last night with beans, peppers, mushrooms, onion, garlic, and cherry tomatoes.  We were focused mostly on using what was in the crisper drawer of the fridge, so we forgot both chard and eggplant, but both of these would be excellent additions.  Veggies were seasoned and combined with diced up grilled pork chops, served over rice.  Great way to eat summer veggies.

Cucumbers!  The cucumber plants continue to produce happily,  though a few of the fields are starting to dwindle as the cucumber beetles attack.

Peppers!  Everyone receives a bag of hot peppers, two sweet pimentos, and two bell peppers.

Small shares receive:

Eggplant!  Large shares got our little eggplant that could last week, and this week small shares do.  Enjoy.

Large shares receive:

Basil!  If you’ve been on Facebook recently, you may have seen last night’s “holy basil Batman!” photo.  Rain and sunshine = happy basil.

Italian Flat Leaf Parsley!

Purple Beans!

Happy eats to all!