Chunky apple sauce

Wash, peel and cut up apples. Add in cut up pears and plums (both with their skins) if you have any on hand. Put cut up fruit in a glass bowl and cover with saran wrap. Cook in the microwave on the 'fresh vegetable' setting.

Don't add water or sugar - the fruit are great just as they are. (If you add plums, you'll have lovely patches of purple.)

My plan for this week's box includes soup - which is what the weather calls for. Since we will have beets, I will take full advantage and make curried vegetable beet soup. I'll saute an onion, some garlic, and sliced carrots and beets. I will peel and grate the turnip and add it into the mix. I will season it with about a tablespoon of coriander, a tsp of cumin, and a dash of cayenne pepper. After these have simmered for a bit, I'll add about 6 cups of vegetable stock and let it come to a boil. I'll turn it down and let everything cook for about 20 minutes and then I'll add a handful of pearl barely. Once these are cooked, I'm in business.

I will take the cabbage and use half for cole slaw. I will use the other half and make a stir fry with an onion, garlic, sliced mushrooms, and cabbage. I will serve this over rice with some fish.

Lastly - I hope that I get another kuri squash. It tastes like chestnut to me. I will wash it, slash it in a couple of places vertically and then bake it at 350 for about an hour. I'll let it cool so I can handle it. I'll cut it in half and scoop out the seeds and such. I will then cut 1/2 inch slices and lay these on a greased cookie sheet. I'll spay it with olive oil and sprinkle with salt before tossing it under the broiler for a couple of minutes. I will then turn them and spray with a bit more oil and cook the other side. Oh dear - so good!

Game Plan for Fall Week 3

There was a great article in The New York Times' Dining section today with 101 recipe ideas that use everything in this week's box, and probably anything you've got hanging around from previous weeks as well.
Happy cooking and Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall CSA - Week 3

Friday and Saturday my guys ran the chisel plow and the drill and got all the field chiseled and planted. What a nice thing! I got home from market and the job was done. The weather helped, giving them an open door. Their ambition kept them out Friday night until ten, running on lights and then back at it first thing Saturday. At one point Friday night one 4020 had its lights go out. It is pretty hard to drive a field in the dark. Rather than quit, Jay went in, opened up the dash and rewired the lights. Then after that little intermission he was back out in the field drilling away.


Now we have rain to moisten the seed and perhaps we will get some germination and root spread to hold the soil over the winter. I still want to plant a few crops to overwinter for early germination next spring, and my guess is I will get the job done if the weather continues to hold. Hot darn!


According to the weather man the temps are going to plummet around Thanksgiving. That means the fall root harvest is a major GO! for us. So while we take our one week break on delivery during the Thanksgiving week, we will be out harvesting roots and more roots. The brussels sprouts can stay out even if it gets cold, so those I do not have to worry about. But, those roots . . . it is either cover them with lots of mulch or pull 'em up. Mostly, we will pull them up.


This weekend the deer decided to add lettuces to their menu. Now Bambi is no longer cute. They literally shredded them, devouring them down to the ground. Some were salvaged, but when Bambi adds a new item for his salad, the people don't get too many left overs.


Your box
Sweet potatoes
Red onion
Spanish onion
Brussels sprouts
Apples - Jonagold this week. Tasty (might throw in a few other varieties for fun, so if you get a different looking apple it is from past week's left overs)
Red kabocha squash
Pie pumpkin
Hakurei turnips
Carrots (last time on the greens, so if you have not tried Tuscan Carrot Top Soup, here is your last opportunity for 09)

This Week's Plan

I love fall produce not only because it makes for very home-y foods they are all gifts from the farm waiting to be stored or frozen for the winter.

Here's a link and a Video for the newcomer to our Box. Everyone please welcome Kuri Squash!



and a brief description from BoingBoing.

One of my favorite apple desserts is to bake them with rosemary. I place them quartered, in some water with butter and and a few whole sprigs of rosemary until they are just a bit softer and serve drained.

Enjoy!

What Should I Expect From My CSA

This week's guest post comes to us from Madeline Guzman, newsletter coordinator and member of Hazon CSA in Rockville, MA.



Tikvat Israel has now experienced almost three seasons of CSA produce.  For most of us, being part of a CSA has been a new experience. The reaction to participating in our CSA has ranged from ecstatic to greatly disappointing.  Those who have enjoyed the experience are
signing up for the next season.  Those of us less pleased are either dropping out or giving the CSA “another chance”. This has led me to think about what each of us is expecting of a CSA.  If one comes into this experience expecting a delivery of the “right” quantity of vegetables in perfect size, shape, and flavor that are most enjoyed by your family, you may be disappointed.  If one comes into this experience learning to accept what the land produces, one might be amazed by what the earth (and our farmer) have to offer. 

As our summer CSA season drew to a close, I reflected on the responses to the produce received by our members.  I’m not sure everyone fully appreciates the meaning of a CSA. To me, it means the shared responsibility for bringing fresh food to our table.  In conjunction with my CSA membership (and inspired by Danny Bachman), my husband and I started a vegetable garden.  Like the experiences of both Danny and Pam Stegall, our CSA farmer, not all has gone according to plan. Some of our produce came out unlike what we expected, some better than expected, and a few crops were even a total loss.  The results in my own vegetable garden were probably a mini-experience of what Pam feels throughout her growing season. The difference is that her commitment is to many more people than my own.

True, CSA produce is not perfect. The pesticides and fungicides used on conventional produce do not protect organic produce. Sometimes this means being very careful to wash away animal pests or cut away a damaged portion of a vegetable.  Like us, animal pests (and even bacteria and fungus) find our veggies tasty!  We need to be a bit gentler and forgiving of what the earth produces.  
 
One particular Hazon CSA in Tenafly NJ, has been hit particularly hard this year. When Steve Golden (Tenafly’s site coordinator) visited the farm, he saw first hand the inexplicable fact that the beets did not grow, despite being planted in the best soil of that particular field.  Indeed, the other rootcrops – turnips, carrots and radishes – did not really produce.  So too the arugula, as well as the broccoli – which looks like it had some leaf disease which limited its growth.  Not to mention the horrible late blight that killed all of our tomatoes and those in neighboring Rockland County and throughout the Northeast. 

Crestfallen, Ted (another one of our famers) brought us the few cherry tomatoes which were not completely rotting in the field even though they too were infected (if you left it on your counter to ripen, as we did, the blight overtook the little fellow overnight). We all sympathize with the Stephens who will now have to pull up all the myriad tomato plants and burn them.  What a great shame – so much painstaking care and tending going up in smoke.  Thankfully, the squash did much better, although the green zucchini harvest was only a fraction of what we would have had if the season were “normal”.  That goes for the first planting of cucumbers and string beans.  All in all, the spring/summer harvest has been a devastating experience for the Stephens family. (excerpted from The Jew and the Carrot blog, “A Difficult Summer: A Letter from the Tuv Ha’aretz in Tenafly” by Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster)

Reading afterward about the support provided to the devastated farming family in this situation was heartwarming. My point is simply that CSA members are literally sharing the successes and failures of farm life. So, dear members, thank you for thinking hard before you commit yourselves to this practice and immersing yourselves in it completely once you have.

Pumpkin and Porcini Soup

This delicious soup recipe comes from the Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home. It calls for canned pumpkin, but check out this video tutorial on steaming and pureeing your own pumpkin for use in recipes. Using fresh pumpkin adds water, which can be tricky when baking a pie, but just perfect when making soup. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 4-6 servings:
1/2 C broken dried porcini mushrooms (about 3/4 ounce)
2 C boiling water
2 large onions, mined (about 3 cups)
2 T vegetable oil, olive oil, or butter
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 C chopped fresh mushrooms
1 t fresh thyme (1/2 t dried)
1 1/2 T fresh sage (2 t dried)
dash of nutmeg
1/4 C Marsala or dry sherry
1 T soy sauce
1 C unsweetened apple juice and 1 C water, or 2 C vegetable stock
4 C pureed cooked pumpkin
salt and ground pepper to taste
1 C milk or half-and-half (optional)

Preparation:

• Break up any large pieces of porcini. Pour the boiling water over the porcini and set aside to soak.
• In a soup pot on medium heat, saute onions in the oil until softened.
• Add garlic, fresh mushrooms, thyme, sage, and saute until mushrooms are soft.
• Then add nutmeg, Marsala, and soy sauce, apple juice, water or stock and heat almost to a boil.
• Stir in the pumpkin.
• Remove the pumpkin from the soaking water with slotted spoon and add them to the soup. Pour the soaking water through a coffee filter or paper towel to remove any grit, then add to the soup.
• Add salt and pepper to taste and the milk/cream if you like.

*This recipe would also be delicious using a combination of pumpkin and winter squash.

Summer CSA Week 20

Life in St Anne has gotten colder. I don't mind in some respects, but in the arena of work I do mind. It is just so much more difficult to get any task accomplished. What we can do in a half hour in the summer takes us an hour in the cold. I have heat in both working areas so the guys can warm up, but that does not help when out in the field. I was out just before dawn today trying to get a jump start on the picking before they guys arrived. I had on thick gloves to keep my fingers warm. But, then I could not move my fingers easily. Then came the debate: cold fingers or decreased flexibility? Decreased flexibility won out. I kept the gloves on. My guys, though, would have decided opposite me and gotten rid of the gloves so they could work better.

The field is drying out some now, but I am really hoping for a bit of warmth. We has many crops out in the field that need some sun and warmth to finish out. Everything is growing as if it is November, rather than October. The weatherman agrees with my plants in that the temps are November temps, unseasonably cool. But, that has been the case for all on 2009, so why expect anything different?

We have a greenhouse due to be delivered the end of October for November construction, so I hope we get some moderation. It will increase our growing space by 1020 square feet. In the spring that will be nice.

Your box

Red onion - finally got a quantity of these babies cured and cleaned.

Butternut Squash

Pie Pumpkin
Boc choi

Kale

Carrots

Red leaf lettuce

Apples - these are an apple pear cross called Golden Russets. They are known for their crispy texture and sweet flavor.

Miscellaneous addition of extra new item or item that is in the box already. If you have any questions on what an item is, let me know.

okay -change of plan! I was lucky enough to have a head of cabbage in my box so here's what I'll do:

this recipe is from the ny times

Cabbage Minestrone

Despite having just a few ingredients, the flavors of this minestrone are no less complex than my summer minestrones that have a lot of different vegetables in them. Cabbage sweetens a broth as it simmers gently (and no, it won't smell like boiled cabbage).

1 heaped cup chick peas, washed and picked over, soaked for 6 hours or overnight in 1 quart water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

Salt to taste

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes, seeded and chopped, with juice

1 1/2 pounds cabbage, outer leaves removed, cored and coarsely chopped (about 1 medium cabbage)

2 1/2 quarts water

A bouquet garni made with 1 Parmesan rind, a bay leaf, and a few sprigs each parsley and thyme

Freshly ground pepper

1/2 cup elbow macaroni or small shells

Freshly grated Parmesan for serving

1. Drain the chick peas and set aside. Heat the oil over medium heat in a heavy soup pot and add the onion, carrot, and celery. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring often, until the mixture is fragrant and the vegetables tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in half the minced garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or so, until the garlic begins to smell fragrant. Add the tomatoes and their liquid and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have cooked down a bit. Add the cabbage, stir together for a minute, then add the drained chick peas, 2 quarts water, and the bouquet garni. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer 1 hour, or until the beans are just about tender.

2. Add the remaining garlic and salt to taste, cover and continue to simmer another 30 minutes to an hour, until the beans are thoroughly cooked and the soup very fragrant. Add a cup more water if it seems too thick. Add pepper, taste and adjust salt. Remove the bouquet garni.

3. Add the pasta and cook until the pasta is cooked al dente, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve, passing the Parmesan at the table for sprinkling.

Yield: Serves 6 to 8

Advance preparation: The soup may be made a day ahead through Step 2 and refrigerated. Bring back to a simmer and proceed with the recipe. It keeps for a few days in the refrigerator.

Approximate Nutritional Information per Serving (based on 6 Servings): 183 calories; total fat: 5.2g; saturated fat: 0.7g; cholesterol: 0mg; sodium: 413 mg; total carbohydrates: 30.6g; dietary fiber: 7.6g; sugars 9.3g; protein: 5.8g; vitamin A 47 percent recommended daily allowance (RDA) based on a 2,000 calorie diet; vitamin C 92 percent RDA; calcium 9 percent RDA; iron 10 percent RDA. (Nutritional information provided by calorie-count.com)

I am back from my trip and in full gear. I had a great time. The mountains were beautiful - and cold. I was actually deterred one day by a snow storm. What impressed me most was the golden hues in the aspens. I thought of harvest time. The earth turns the most fabulous colors as if to rejoice in the time of harvest. I get excited watching it all come in, and it seems Mother Nature, joins with me in the triumph of the season. As a farmer, it is my job to be harmony with nature, working within the confines of natural selection, and designation. What nature creates day to day and month to month I seek to cooperate with and utilize my skills to produce a crop that only Mother Nature can create. I can not create, only emulate. It is so important to realize we are truly not the head, the boss, the top of the heap - we are subordinates in the overall scheme of nature, and this world we so wonderfully inhabit.

Last week my guys did great - harvesting, processing, handling sales - but my, oh my, what a mess this farm was. When I arrived Sunday morning, a gasped. It looked like a hurricane went through, literally. Fortunately, Jon, home from college, warned me - and then stayed for the day Sunday to help clean up. By last night, we were picked up, swept up and reorganized for the week. How sweet it is to start the work week on the right foot.

But, then I discovered how much more there is to do before the heavy frost comes this weekend. It is due to get down to 29 Saturday night. That will be the end of the peppers, eggplant etc. So, they guys are rushing to get everything in that has to get in before the cold hits in earnest. What that means for us is that our boxes are a little varied this week. Some things every one is receiving; other items are added to boxes at random. So if you get something not on the list, know that was on purpose.

Your box

Apples

Delicata squash

Miscellaneous onions

Sweet potatoes

Kennebec potatoes

Green bell peppers

Italian Roasting peppers

Eggplant

And one or more add ons - any questions on identification, please email me.

Vicki

I am very excited to have delicata squash in our share this week. After washing, I'll slice them in half, remove the seeds and place them in water to bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes or so. Then I'll take them out, discard the water, turn them over, toss a few dried cranberries and dash of maple syrup in and return them to the oven to bake for another 20 minutes or so. Mmmmmm.

My plan for the peppers is to roast them. I'll wash them then slice in strips, toss with a little olive oil and kosher salt before spreading them on a cookie sheet to roast. I will freeze them away to enjoy later.

The future for my eggplant is as cracker. After washing, I'll slice my eggplant thinly (without peeling), pat it dry on clean towel and then dip in a mixture of seeds and spices. I will then lay them out on a cookie sheet and bake them at 300 to allow them to dry out. These are then crunchy little treats either on their own or topped with a grilled pepper that didn't make it into the freezer yet (see above) and/or some hummus.

The onions will be put to good use in the coming weeks to start soups or stir fry.

The sweet potato will be put to use right away as part of my dinner - I'll wash it, poke a few holes and cook it in the microwave as a 'potato'. If there is a spare - my pet cockatiel is happy to have a fresh slice to nibble.

Enjoy!!

Hazon Food Conference; early registration special

Foodie fun abounds at the Hazon Food Conference this December 24-29 — the only place in the world where farmers and rabbis, nutritionists and chefs, vegans and omnivores, come together to explore the dynamic interplay of food, Jewish tradition and contemporary life and play together at the beautiful Pacific Ocean. Sound fun? Register now using the code "sukkot" for $85 off your registration (the code expires when sukkot ends on 10/9). This is the best deal you can get for the Conference before our early registration pricing ends on 10/16 -- so take be sure to "reap the harvest." Learn more atwww.hazon.org/foodconference

Ways to reuse (recycle) your lulav and etrog

Shake and Reuse: Lulav & Etrog

Adapted from The Jew and the Carrot Blog, by Rabbi Rachel Kahn-Troster

As a teacher of Judaism, I am often at a loss to explain one of the most beautiful and yet most pagan Jewish rituals: the celebration of Sukkot with the four species (arba minim) of the lulav and etrog.

For me, the beauty of the lulav and etrog is often bittersweet, since my time with the two is so fleeting. Unlike other Jewish ritual objects (like candlesticks or a shofar), the four species are living objects. I have to enjoy them before they wilt away.

But that doesn’t mean you need to throw them out when Sukkot is over. I was inspired by my colleague Rabbi Barry Dov Lerner (founder of the Foundation For Family Education, Inc, a source of interactive Judaic programming, as well as www.jewishfreeware.org), who shared the following list of ways to “recycle” the four species. With his list in mind, I can continue to bring the happiness of sukkot, and the diverse symbolism of the four species, into all corners of my Jewish life for the rest of the year.

Rabbi Lerner wrote:

“I save the etrog and use the peel and/or zest to make a vodka or tequila liqueur used on Hanukkah as a historical connection between Sukkot and Hanukkah, either in recipes or as a beverage. With a “kosher l’pesah” potato vodka, I use etrog zest and peel to make a liqueur for the Seder. When the children were young, we saved their etrogim in a vase with their name and the year written on it in Hebrew.

Some people like to insert cloves and cinnamon bark into the etrog and use it as a solid “besammim” (spices) for Havdalah. Others use the etrog as it dries to keep drawers of clothing smelling fresh.

I use the lulav itself to brush hametz during bedikat hametz (checking for hametz before Passover) and then burn both together.

Another use is a decoration for the sukkah in following years, writing in Hebrew the name of the user(s) and the year of use.

I use the myrtle leaves included with other spices for besamim for Havdalah. The stems I cut into lengths and then cut a pen point as on a feather quill for writing small Jewish ritual texts such as mezuzot or tefillen. (I should add that I teach how it is done in theory, but I am not a sofer.)

I root the willows because they are not the “weeping willow” with drooping serrated leaves but a special species known as the “River Willow” or “arvei nahal” with a reddish-brown twig and long, smooth and narrow leaves. After they sprout roots in vases with water, I transplant them into containers with soil. Thereafter I distribute them as a Jewish “Johnny willow tree” to as many who would plant them. They can be raised into trees or large bushes as I once did in a congregation from which I had students cut fresh aravot for the lulav each day and then ultimately to tie hoshanot, for Hoshana Rabbah.

I use the box from the etrog for a tzedakah box, although as one person told me “you can always use another box.” They are wonderful for storing Jewish collectibles, and if fragile, they also have today a foam rubber lining.

I used the flax in which the etrog once used to be wrapped to twist into wicks as is described in the Mishnah, and I show how well they work in Hanukkah workshops using my collection of clay oil lamps from the Bronze through Byzantine Israel. Now, because flax is rarely used, I have turned to use the foam rubber in the etrog box from which to cut and create decorations for our Sukkah.

The plastic bag for the lulav becomes a wonderful quiver for my arrows for use in my Lag BaOmer programs of archery and arrowheads, and even a Bible lesson on David’s use of artillery.”

Happy Recycling!

First year in CSA (St. Louis Tuv Ha'aretz)

Year One as a CSA Family
by Gail Wechsler
Now that my family has participated for over four months in a CSA, I decided it was time to take stock of what we have learned from the experience. Never having done this before, we expected that there would be some challenges but also rewards in being part of such a community effort.
One thing my family has enjoyed about our Tuv Ha’Aretz membership
is that we have tried some foods that never would have been on our radar screen before. High on my personal list is collard greens. I went from not even recognizing what collard greens looked like to missing them when they went out of season. They were delicious steamed with garlic and butter.
Another benefit was that we really appreciated how fresh and delicious
the produce was compared to typical produce purchased from a grocery store. After we polished off the fresh strawberries delivered early in the season, my daughter remarked that there was no way she could go back to eating the traditional store-bought variety we used to get before joining the CSA. I felt the same way about the amazing asparagus that came to us in May.
Of course there were challenges as well. It was frustrating when the size of our week’s delivery was small due to bad weather. I also found it a challenge to come up with different ways to cook zucchini -- we’ve had a lot of zucchini bread and zucchini parmesan the past month or so.
Perhaps the most rewarding thing that has come from our involvement in a CSA is that we have learned about the importance of eating locally and seasonally from a health and environmental point of view. It feels good to be supporting a local farmer rather than leaving a large carbon footprint by purchasing foods shipped thousands of miles to get here. I’ve even resolved to visit the few farmers’ markets that operate from November through April to pick up the slack once Tuv Ha’Aretz ends for the season.
To sum up, being part of St. Louis’s first ever Jewish community CSA in its first year has been extremely worthwhile. We’re looking forward to year two being even better.

Game Plan for Week 18

There are certainly no shortage of opportunities to cook this time of year, and I've been thinking of recipes that are made to be eaten in a sukkah.
With the cabbage, I will definitely make some stuffed cabbage. Or actually, I make a version that's "unstuffed" - meatballs made with rice on a bed of shredded cabbage. Much easier.
I'm going to try the recipe for mulled spaghetti squash that I've posted below. The spices and cider will give a warm flavor to what I sometimes find to be a pretty bland vegetable.
We don't have a lot of celery fans in the house, so I think I may chop or dice the celery and freeze it to put in soups. I'm thinking minestrone, mushroom barley, and maybe a kitchen sink vegetable soup with odds and ends.
The apples will get eaten plain, and probably the bell peppers too. Spinach and radishes will be great in a salad when I feel like I can't eat another heavy yomtov meal.

How to Plant Garlic

By Madeline Guzman, newsletter coordinator from the Rockville, Maryland Tuv Ha’Aretz site


The best time to plant garlic is after the first frost date, this translating into mid-October in Maryland and much of the Northern regions of the country, which is coming up soon! Garlic is part of the allium genus (the onion plant family) which also includes scallions, chives, onions, shallots, and leeks. All of these are perennial bulbous plants which contain cysteine sulfoxide,a chemical which gives these plants their distinctive taste and odors There are about 1,250 species of this genus, making it one of the largest plant genera in the world!


Garlic is very easy to grow. It would make the perfect vegetable for the first-time vegetable gardener. You may begin with just one bulb of garlic. Obtain it from a farmers market, a seed company, your CSA farmers, or even a garlic festival. Do not use garlic from the grocery store, as those bulbs are usually imported and may harbor disease. Begin by dividing the garlic bulb into cloves. Each clove, with its thin, white, papery skin, will be a seed for a new garlic bulb. Allow the cloves to dry overnight before planting. Choose a garden site that is sunny, but not too damp. Prepare your garden by loosening the soil and adding a scoopful of compost, working the compost into the rest of the soil with your shovel. Do not use any cloves that appear damaged. Plant each clove one inch deep and 4 inches apart. Each bulb of garlic usually contains about 20 cloves. You can plant as many of these as you want, and use the rest for cooking. It might be best to label the garden spot so you do not confuse the long leaves that will emerge as weeds (a sad experience I had last year within over-zealous garden helper in my own flower garden).


After planting, firm up the soil around each clove. Cover all with a layer of mulch or straw. Mulching the ground will prevent weeds from sprouting around each plant and will protect each clove from the biting cold of winter. The mulch does not have to be removed in order for the plants to emerge.


Your garlic bulbs will be nearing harvest time when you see the leaves withering and turning yellow (if you are in the northeast, this won’t be until about July). When the leaves appear almost completely dry, gently dig up each bulb without removing the dead leaves. Allow the bulbs to completely dry by spreading them individually on a screen or newspaper. When dry, cut off the leaves and stems to within an inch of the bulb. Store the bulbs either in a cool area of your home (the cooler, the better) or in your refrigerator. Never store garlic in plastic bags which does not allow the living bulb to “breathe”.


Your garlic is now ready to use. Once you harvest your own garlic, you’ll be so proud of having grown a self-sustaining (a word we love) vegetable. If you grow too many, simply bring them in to share with other CSA members or friends at work. Happy gardening!

Growing Organic Research

By Tracy Lerman

Tracy is the Policy Program Assistant for The Organic Farming Research Foundation. She will be leading a session during the Hazon CSA Leadership Track of the Food Conference on how to incorporate food advocacy and policy into your CSA.


Now that “green” is a marketing buzzword and organic food has broken free from its confines in hippie health food stores, available in major supermarket chains everywhere, we environmentalists can finally feel like we’ve arrived. The organic food movement is self-sufficient now. No longer must we worry over the fledgling movement like a nervous mother over her newborn baby. We can sit back and watch organic play in the big-kids playground with fat-free, instant, and all the other major marketing labels in the grocery retail industry.


Or can we? While consumer demand for organic food is rising (even during the current recession), the domestic supply cannot keep up. The nation’s ten thousand organic farmers – big operations and small family farms alike – cannot produce enough organic food for all of these newly conscious consumers, and food processors as well as retail stores rely increasingly on imports shipped in from as far away as China.


One reason for the disparity between organic demand and domestic supply is the lack of new information about organic agriculture. The U.S. spends billions of dollars on research and development of new pesticides, genetically-engineered seeds and chemical fertilizers, but very little on research to address production issues in organic farming systems. Conventional agriculture has the research backing of corporate chemical giants like Dow, Monsanto, Bayer and Genentech. Private sector organic research funding does not register on the same scale. In terms of public funding, the federal government spends less than two percent of its agriculture research budget on organic. This amount is growing compared to previous years, but when measured against the European Union’s organic research spending, we do not really hold a candle to them.


We are still light years away from growing enough organic food in the U.S. to meet current consumer demand. And that will not change until we start investing in the country’s organic farmers, starting with research that seeks to improve organic farming systems.


The good news is that consumers can make a difference, but not just by voting with your fork. Tell your members of Congress and the Obama administration to support increased funding for organic agriculture research. To find out more, visit www.ofrf.org.

Leeks

With a milder taste and smell than onions, this vegetable sweetens as they cook. Look for this veggie during the fall and winter months, as they take several months to mature. They contain C, which is good for immune response, and K which is involved with blood clotting.

Storage Tips
-Wrap in a damp cloth or paper towel, unwashed and untrimmed, and they will stay good in the fridge for 2 to 3 weeks.

News from the Farm - Week 18

I am out of town this week taking my mother on a trip down memory lane to her home town. I am also getting a much needed break. As far as farm news goes, I guess it shall await next week.

Your box

Green cabbage
Apples
Spinach
Spaghetti squash
Bell peppers
Beets
Radishes
Celery

Mulled Spaghetti Squash

I still have my spaghetti squash from a few weeks ago; I'm going to try this recipe from Kosher By Design Lightens Up - seems like a nice addition to a Sukkot table.

2 spaghetti squash
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
8 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup apple cider, divided
4 tbsp honey, divided

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut each squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out and discard the seeds.

In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon, salt, allspice, nutmeg and oil. Drizzle the spice mixture into the 4 cavities. Pour 2 tbsp apple cider into each cavity. Mix with the spices in the cavity and brush some of the mixture onto the flesh of the squash. Drizzle 1 tbsp of honey over each half. Wrap each half individually in foil. Place on a baking sheet.

Roast for 50-60 minutes, or until tender.

Remove from oven, and when cool enough to handle, remove and discard the foil. Cut each half in half again, making 8 portions.

Pull a fork lengthwise through the flesh to produce strands that resemble spaghetti. Mix the spices in the center cavity into the strands. Transfer to a serving bowl.

Game Plan for Week 17

Here are a few ways I'm thinking of using the produce in this week's box:

Vegetarian Cobb Salad
Romaine speckled lettuce, finely diced red onion, roasted red pepper, cucumber, tomato wedges, sliced hard boiled egg, cubed Italian style tofu, cheddar cheese, crumbled Smart Bacon. Dressing: red wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard and chopped fresh oregano.

Ratatouille
Sautee chopped onion (red, white or yellow) and garlic in a large pot in olive oil. Peel and cube an eggplant. Add to the pot once the onions are translucent. Steam/saute eggplant until it starts to soften. Add chopped red pepper (large pieces) mushrooms (any kind), zucchini or yellow squash. Put in 1-2 cans diced stewed tomatoes. Bring heat up to a strong simmer, then lower and cook until vegetables are tender, about a half hour. Add fresh basil or parsley to taste for the last ten minutes of cooking. Top with shredded cheese, parmesan, or serve over couscous for a filling meal.

Cayenne Peppers – Dry or pickle for use later
http://www.essortment.com/home/growingdryingu_sadl.htm

Stuffed Acorn Squash – Vegan
See this link for a recipe and a video demo!
http://www.chooseveg.com/stuffed-acorn-squash.asp

Carrot Tips!

From Brooke Saias, Hazon Food Justice Coordinator

Although most people think of carrots as orange, they come in many different colors. You can get purple, yellow, red and even white varieties from your farmer. Small carrots are available in the summer, while larger, more mature carrots are harvested in the fall.

Storage Tips

-Trim the leafy greens from the top of the carrots. If you don’t, leaves will absorb water from the root and make the carrots soften quickly.

- Carrots will keep for 2 months if they are wrapped in a damp cloth or paper towel in the refrigerator.

-To freeze, slice carrots and boil in water for 5 minutes. Cool them off by immediately putting them in ice water, drain them, and pack in a hard plastic container.

--

tel: 212 644 2332 ext 315

News from the Farm - Summer Week 17

Tis the harvest season. Here in the land of pick up trucks and tractors, we are hearing the combines rolling out of the storage barns for a tune up before they officially roll out into the fields. Daily I watch the world metamorphis - transforming before my eyes, from verdant greens to varied hues of yellow. The gold rod and daisies bloom triumphantly along the roadways. The bean fields are golden in the sunlight. The corn is dropping its ears is preparation for those combines. Soon we will be ablaze with reds and oranges. By then the fields will mostly be in the storage barns. It is rather cool to watch the fruits of our labors pile up in storage bins. Unlike other harvests through the year, the fall harvest is stock piled. I can truly see the results of our labors. Such satisfaction! Remember onion ball? Squash ball is just as much fun.

Right now we have our first four bins (4x4x4 foot cardboard boxes) of squash in the barn. Soon we our barn will be row after row of winter squash and pie pumpkins. We generally stack them two high, so I have to use a ladder to get the squash out of the tops bins, but that way we can fit 40 or more bins in a double line across the back wall. I increased my squash production by 4 acres this year so perhaps I will have even more than my projection.

Between onions, potatoes, squash and pumpkins we will have a full house. Then we will be working in tight quarters, trying not to get crabby because there is no room to move. How happy my guys are when I use some of that squash. Some day I may perhaps be able to build that new building to house some of the things that crowd us this season. (Nah, all season - I am tight all the time, fall just gets worse is all.)

Your box

Acorn Squash

Romaine speckled lettuce

Red onion

Eggplant

Apples - two varieties

Peppers, Red as welll as some miscellaneous varieties

Cayenne peppers, long skinny that dry easily

What Does Organic Food Have to do With Climate Change?

By Eliav Bitan, Policy and Partnerships Associate for the Rodale Institute

Throughout the past decade, farmers have had to grow food in the face of a climate crisis that has consisted of rising temperatures, more frequent storms, strong floods, and lengthy droughts. Globally, an estimated one-third of all human caused greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions are from our food system and land use changes, which include GHGs emitted to grow, process, package, transport, store, and dispose our food. However, there is hope for the future by converting famers to using organic methods.

Organic farming is one of the best ways to confront climate change because it removes the major greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, from the atmosphere and stores it in the soil. Studies have shown that organic agriculture systems emit 48%-66% less carbon dioxide per about 2.5 acres than conventional farming systems that rely on chemical pesticides and fertilizers. If all the farms in America were organic, each year they could remove an amount of carbon dioxide equal to twenty five percent of annual US carbon dioxide emissions. That adds up to a lot of carbon dioxide—1.7 billion metric tons, or 1.7 gigatonnes. For comparison, non-organic farming currently produces seven percent of US carbon dioxide emissions.

Removing carbon dioxide is only half the story. In years of drought and flood, the Rodale Institute’s organic fields produced about thirty percent more food than non-organic fields. This is because organically managed soil has better structure than chemically treated soil. This means the soil holds more water in drought years, and erodes less in flood years. Organically managed soils hold up better in droughts and floods and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Farmers who practice organic management are investing in food systems that can have an enormous impact on the climate crisis. Our leaders in Washington D.C. should reward them with a climate policy that credits farmers who sequester carbon in their soil. An example of this is supporting a policy that will measure the carbon farmers’ store in their soil, and award them carbon credits for their hard work.

By being a part of a CSA you are already helping to combat climate change! You are avoiding many of the GHG emissions associated with transport, packaging, and selling of produce. It is important to keep up your support for local, organic farmers because a food system that is more focused on organic and sustainable food production will help to reduce GHG emissions for our future, while improving the world’s environmental health and economic needs.

If you are interested in reading more about the impact organic farming, visit: http://www.rodaleinstitute.org/global_warming

Game Plan for Week 14

After being out of town for several weeks and weekends, and a lot of the hardier vegetables still waiting for me in my fridge, I am ready to get cooking. With Rosh Hashanah around the corner, I am thinking about what I can cook now and store until the holidays. Definitely something featuring lots of peppers - I will have to do some research on that one - and maybe a moussaka with the eggplants and tomatoes.
I'll be back tomorrow with some recipes and more ideas.

Summer CSA - Week 14

Well, well, well - What month is this? My gut was telling me prepare for fall and this time my gut level was right on target. A low of 45 last night and again tonight. Tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe do not ripen very fast in this. But, other crops are prospering. Such is the way of farming. My greatest concern right now is the sweet potatoes. They should not be in the field if temps go below 50 degrees. I know they are not ready yet, but they may have been damaged by staying out. Perhaps it is not the year of the sweet potato.


But, it has been the year of the pepper. Amazing crop of peppers!


We are now down to 12 sets of onion to harvest. I thought we were down to nine, but Jay pointed out that I missed three sets. I guess I can't count that high. I have a goal of getting out 5 sets this week. By George, we should get done before Halloween! On Saturday the guys finished weeding the peppers. How beautiful! I bet the peppers are dancing because they can actually feel the sun and the wind at long last. I know I am, even if they aren't. Now we need to tackle the new crops of carrot and beet. With farming, it is like dishes - you get 'em all done and it is time to start all over again. Actually, weed germination is a sore topoic with me. It is very labor intensive, and therefore costly, but it is mostly what excessive use of agricultural chemicals on a wide spread basis has done to change weeds that rankles me.


Heavy historical use of herbicides has caused weeds to adapt to survive. Years ago, weeds germinated until mid July and then it was smooth sailing the remainder of the year. Now, in order to reproduce the seeds will continue to germinate into October. Often I see weeds setting seed at an inch height in the fall. Built into a plant's chemistry is the need to reproduce - hence the fruits we harvest. But, when early weeds are routinely killed early in the season, new crops come in so they can accomplish their purposes - setting seed. Scientists warned against this, but farmers with no knowledge base, continued to spray and spray some more. Now, we organic and sustainable folks fight weed issues we should never had had to face. The same is true with insects. Heavy and inappropriate use of insecticides has caused an adaptation in the insect population to wherrre many insects are resistant to previous chemicals. The chemical companies continue to make bigger and "badder" guns with which to kill the insects. Hence, why on many insects here at the farm all we do is hand pluck them to control the population of pest insects, while maintaining the beneficials. How wonderful all of you support farms like mine who work within the confines of nature. Thank you. You all make what we do whorth the effort.


Your box
Nectarines
Peaches
Peppers - miscellaneous sweet
Peppers - Hot banana - try pickling or freezing hot peppers for winter use
Peppers - Jalapenos - same as above or try one with your spaghetti squash
Watermelon - personal size, variety of types - you may get a yellow fleshed
Eggplant, Japanese - tender and non-bitter
Red leaf lettuce - small but flavorful
Tomatoes - basket of cherries and a larger tomato - We are slowly getting tomatoes, but many are split and thus I have to discard them.

"For the Sin We Have Committed": Eating Not Just Sustainably, But Sacredly

This piece by Rabbi Kahn-Troster, is adapted from The Jew and the Carrot Blog. Rachel is the Director of Education and Outreach for Rabbis for Human Rights North America and a Hazon board member.

In Judaism, confession is a group experience. On Yom Kippur, we stand together as a community and in one voice confess our collective sins before God. Amidst the various lists of transgressions, the Al Chet prayer contains a line that deals with sustenance: Al chet she chatanu liphanecha b’ma’achal u’mishteh, literally: “For the sin we have sinned before You through food and drink.” “Food and drink” is often translated as “gluttony,” which narrows the sin to the idea that we are confessing to having eaten more than our share, wantonly, without thinking. I think the original translation is helpful—we have committed sins through all kinds of acts of eating and drinking, but also through the way our food is produced, distributed, and wasted despite our best efforts to eat ethically through our Hazon CSAs.

First, Al Chet is about responsibility. The formulation “We have sinned” requires us to admit that it’s not the chocolate mousse cake that is sinful. We’re the ones who take food for granted in a time when so many people are food insecure. Perhaps even more important is the reminder that this sin is before God—it’s not just about eating sustainably from our CSAs but about eating sacredly. We have to remember the Jewish version of Michael Pollan’s basic rule about eating: “Eat kosher food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Say a bracha (blessing).” When we forget to acknowledge that our sustenance depends on God and that we are blessed each day to be able to enjoy it, then we have missed the mark. Judaism provides us with ways to reinforce the sacred nature of our food—as my teacher David Kraemer taught me, we say a bracha not to make the food holy but because it is holy to begin with—saying a bracha thanks God for giving us permission to eat it, and only then does it becomes mundane. On Yom Kippur, we acknowledge as a community that we have been blind to God’s blessings.

It’s especially poignant that we recite this line of the Al Chet on a day when we are fasting. I, like I am sure many of you, end up dreaming about bagels and water as the last hours of Yom Kippur tick down. Most days of the year we can commit this sin. On Yom Kippur, we can’t. This offers us a fantastic opportunity to live our lives differently as soon as the holiday is over—we can begin to eat sacredly as we break our fast.

G’mar chatimah tovah—may each of us be inscribed this year for good in the Book of Life.

Update from Kayam Farm at Pearlstone

By Jakir Manela, Kayam Farm Director


This update from Jakir Manela shares some of his thoughts about the season so far at the Kayam Farm. Kayam hosts one Hazon’s CSA sites. Kayam is part of the Pearlstone Retreat Center located right outside of Baltimore, Maryland. To learn more about Pearlstone and the farm at Kayam visit: http://www.pearlstonecenter.org/kayam.html.


The third season of Kayam farm is going really well so far, at least in my opinion! Our CSA increased in size 250% from last year, from 11 members to 25 members this year. That was a big jump in demand, and in production, for us to accommodate, but we’ve done it! In fact, next year we expect to increase our CSA membership to 36 members (double chai, baby!). The large demand from our CSA consumes most of our produce, so one predictable consequence of that big jump is that we do not have much produce for farmers markets or the Pearlstone kitchen. Even though that is regrettable, we saw it coming and still went for a bigger CSA, because that is our best income source and because it's a great way to build community around Kayam.


More big news from Kayam- this season we established our animal husbandry operation, welcoming ten chickens and five goats to the Kayam family. All of our animals are doing well -- we are harvesting eggs every day, and we plan to shecht (kosher slaughter) 3 of the goats this November (they are all males, we use them mainly to eat invasive species, like a lawn mower but cuter and more edible).


The Kayam 2009 pest of the year award goes rabbits. The weed of the year, for the third year in a row (every year so far) is bermuda grass, an awful invincible crabgrass that seems to laugh at us no matter how much we weed. Many experts have urged me to spray herbicide, but we are exploring other methods of controlling weeds organically, mainly by planting into lots of black plastic mulch (big carbon footprint) and/or by taking some of the weediest plots out of production next season in order to grow cover crops for a year and till regularly, in hopes that the following season will be kindler, gentler, and more weed-free.


Next season we will start growing in our other 2 acre plot, which we have not cultivated during our first three years. That land had been conventionally farmed with GMO, pesticide sprayed corn/soy/wheat for more than 30 years, so we have planted cover crops there for the past two years. Next year we will grow many more crops there, in addition to what we have already on our primary 2.5 acre farm. So in general, LOTS GOING ON! It has been a very exciting and eventful season!


Want to visit Pearlstone? They welcome visitors to schedule a visit anytime. Looking for a Jewish Rosh HaShanah retreat in the Northeast? Hazon is sponsoring a communal Rosh Hashanah celebration this year at the Retreat Center. Learn more at their website: http://www.pearlstonecenter.org/

Life with the Goats at the ADAMAH Farm

By: Aitan Mizrahi, ADAMAH Dairy Manager

This piece comes from the diary manager at the ADAMAH farm, which is part of the Isabella Freedman Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. The dairy farm raises goats and makes kosher, sustainable cheese and yogurt.

Life with the goats has been busy and fun. ADAMAH Dairy is a collective project of the ADAMAH, Jewish Environmental Fellowship. ADAMAH is a three-month leadership training program for Jewish young adults in their 20s that integrates organic farming, sustainable living, Jewish learning, community building and contemplative spiritual practice. As the dairy manager, I have the honor of holding many of the pieces surrounding the dairy operation here at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, CT. My first introduction to this lifestyle was as an ADAMAH Fellow in 2004. Since then I have learned herd maintenance and cheese-making.

Around Pesach, in the springtime, our milking does (female goats) gave birth to a grand total of seventeen kids. Since then we have been watching the development of the kids and starting our kosher, organic, artisanal dairy production. While the mothers have been providing enough milk to produce, on average 30-40 pounds of cheese and 10 gallons of yogurt a week, the new kids are still bouncing around the barnyard. All of our products are being sold either through our CSA, which drops off at the Tuv Ha’Aretz Hazon CSA in White Plains, or at local farm stands and markets. Our small batches of cheeses allow for attention to detail. Our Falls Village Feta is a creamy and tangy cheese that is subtly salted, making space for the fresh clean flavors of Falls Village flora to unfold on your palette. Our Holy Chevre is a rich, gently tart, fresh spreadable cheese that is great to share with friends.

As a young Jewish farmer (and goat herder!), I am able to use this opportunity to blend the traditions of our ancestors with contemporary food and sustainability issues. The time I spend roaming with the goats through the woods of Connecticut remind me of the days of old when the Israelites roamed the land of Israel with their herds. With the current demand for local, fresh, healthy food, ADAMAH Dairy is filling a need for hand-crafted, kosher cheeses and yogurt. Come visit us, walk with the goats and taste our tasty treats. We look forward to sharing our tasty dairy products or a tour of the farm with you anytime you are in the area.

To learn more about ADAMAH and their projects visit: http://www.isabellafreedman.org/adamah

The Buzz on Honey: a sweet new year begins with bees!

By: Anna Hanau, farm manager at ADAMAH

Rosh Hashanah is such a wonderful excuse to indulge the delicious, sweet treat of honey. We forget when the Bible describes Israel as a ‘land flowing with milk and honey’ that sweet food wasn’t readily available as it is to us today, and that to describe a land—not just the food in it, but all the land—as being full of honey was sweet indeed.

Honey is made from nectar in flowers. Bees take the nectar and store it in their “honey sack.” When the sack is full, they return to their hive and deposit the nectar into the honeycomb. In the honeycomb, worker bees fan the honeycomb with their wings to help the water evaporate, leaving behind the honey. The worker bees then seal the honeycomb with wax secreted from glands in their bodies to store it for later use.

Like so many of nature’s beautiful systems, while they solve their own problem (producing food) they are solving other problems as well: pollination. Over eighty percent of the food we eat, depends on bee pollination, including CSA fruits and vegetables like squash, melons, cucumbers, apples, peaches and raspberries. A bee landing on a flower gathers pollen, which it then deposits on subsequent flowers. Some plants reproduce on their own, some have male and female species whose spores must mix to produce new plants. Bees are essential in this process. Sometimes the window for pollination is tight: the flowers of many curcurbits (cucumbers, melons, squash) remain open for only one day—if they aren’t pollinated that day, the flower drops without forming fruit. Pollination can take many visits, too—cucumbers may need as many as nine different visits by a bee for adequate pollination.

No amount of fertilizer can make up for a lack of bees. Currently, natural bee populations are in major decline, affected with the rest of the ecosystem by forest clearing (bees live in hollowed out trunks) and pesticides. To compensate for this decline, farmers now often buy bees in bulk and release them in their fields to help with pollination.


This year take an extra moment to appreciate the beers (and bee keepers) who made your honey possible. Is there a local honey producer in your area? Check http://www.localharvest.org/store/honey.jsp?m&p=8 to find out. If it fits in with your kosher observance, consider serving their honey at your table (with, hopefully) local apples. It is important that we try to do all we can to help keep the bee species alive. You can even plant bee garden – Rosh HaShannah is a great time to start your planning. To learn more about how visit: http://www.cnr.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/

This week's tips from Hazon - Apple and Chili Peppers

Apple:
There are over 7000 varieties of apples. Each apple seed will grow into a unique tree that will often produce undesirable fruit. Therefore, the apples that we know today have been selected and grafted to be deliciously tasty fruit.

Storage Tips
- Most apples will stay fresh for up to three months when stored in a perforated plastic bag or paper bag in the refrigerator; otherwise apples taste better when kept at room temperature
- Do not wash apples until you are ready to eat them
-Browning near the core of an apple indicates that the fruit has been stored at too low temperatures.
-Apples, once cut, can be kept from browning by dipping the slices in citrus juice and water, or simply squeezing some lemon juice over them.

Hot chili pepper:
Peppers belong to the same family as tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and tomatillo. The substance that is responsible for giving the pepper its spice is called capsaicin and it is soluble in milk and alcohol, not water. So next time you want to extinguish that fire in your mouth, reach for a glass of milk instead of water.

Storage Tips
-Store hot peppers in a cool dry place for 1 to 2 weeks.
-To freeze, wash and dry, cut into chunks, and place in freezer bags in the freezer.
-To dry hot papers, cut into ½ inch slices and gently heat in an over at 175-200 degrees for 2 to 3 hours. Store in a well ventilated place.

Game Plan for Summer Week 13

Here are a few ideas for how you might use your box's bounty this week. The items from the box are in color:

Grilled Veggie Kabobs with cherry tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, onions, and hunks of marinated tofu

Beet Orange Salad
Peel, cube, and roast beets on a baking sheet with a drizzle of olive oil until fork tender. Let cool before adding to a salad of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, and orange sections. Dress with a mix of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and dijon mustard.

Grandma Helen's Hungarian Spinach/Kale
My Great Grandma Helen handed down this preparation for spinach, and it works well if you steam the kale and then chop it finely. Saute some chopped green onions, add in the chopped kale, a few Tablespoons of Smart balance, and a handful or two of seasoned breadcrumbs or corn-flakes crumbs (depending on how bready you like your kale). This also works as a stuffing for fish roll-ups (tilapia or sole), or for large mushrooms.

Baked Potato Bar
We like to top potatoes with flaked tuna or sour supreme and chives, or leftover broccoli.

Joy of (Modified) Pancakes with Blueberries (see recipe posted below)

Tunisian Vegetable Stew
This stew makes use of peppers and red cabbage. It is delicious served over rice or couscous. Check out the recipe posted below.

Joy of (Modified) Pancakes

We love to mix up the grains when it comes to pancakes, and I have found that the basic recipe from The Joy of Cooking is very forgiving. Whatever combination of grains or kinds of milk I've used, the pancakes always come out tasty. I've included the original and my substitutions. Serve with blueberries, bananas, strawberries or a drizzle of pure maple syrup.

Makes about 12 5-inch cakes

Whisk together in a large bowl:

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour (1/2 C whole wheat flour, 1/2 C oats, 1/2 C quinoa flakes, 2 T flax meal)
• 3 T sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Whisk together in another bowl:

• 1 1/2 cups milk (1 1/2 C soy, rice, or almond milks, or a combination)
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (3 T Smart Balance Light)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
  

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix together until just combined. Fold in sliced bananas, blueberries, walnuts (or save them for your topping). Spoon 1/3 C batter onto the griddle (or pan at medium heat) and cook until the top of each pancake is speckled with bubbles. Flip, cook, and eat! Keep warm in the toaster or a 200 degree oven if you aren't quite ready to munch.

Tunisian Vegetable Stew

For those who were members last year, you might recall this recipe. It's still one of my favorite ways to use red cabbage and peppers.

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups thinly sliced onions
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups thinly sliced cabbage
dash of salt
1 large green bell pepper, cut into think strips
2 teaspoons ground coriander
½ teaspoon turmeric
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
cayenne pepper to taste
3 cups undrained canned tomatoes, chopped (28 oz. can)
1 ½ cups drained cooked chick peas (16 oz. cans)
1/3 cup currants or raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Preparation:
In a large skillet, sauté onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes until soft. Add the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, and continue to sauté for at least five minutes. Add the bell pepper, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, and cayenne to the skillet and sauté for another minute. Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas, and optional currants or raisins, and simmer, covered for 15 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste. Top with crumbled feta or almond slivers if you like.


Source: Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home, 1994

How to Cope with “CSA Stress”

By Cathy Erway

This article is from Cathy’s blog “Not Eating Out in New York”. All the produce we receive in our CSA boxes can sometimes be overwhelming. Cathy’s article provides great ways to utilize all that produce, other than just typically trying took cook everything all in one week. You can visit Cathy’s blog at http://noteatingoutinny.com/

Since so many of us have joined the frays of small farm supporting by becoming new members of CSAs, I’ve noticed a particular syndrome going around this summer. The symptoms? Staying in to eat lettuce heads that have piled up in the crisper over some weeks, extreme guilt about going out to eat when there’s tons of food at home; passing up plans to make the weekly pick-up day and time, or feeling the need to schedule vacations around your CSA calendar. And then the danger symptom, indicating the illness has reached its next, undesirable stage: deciding to forfeit a few items from your share on a particular week, leaving them behind at the pick-up location.

Basically, it’s being bogged down by the little commitments one makes when joining a CSA. I can relate. It took me three days past the official pick-up night last week when I finally took my half of a full share out of my share-splitter’s fridge. People, especially in urban areas, continue to have unpredictably busy schedules, even though their will to support local food has grown.
But, before you start tossing once-fresh vegetables to the compost, or dread another bag of spinach in the fridge, here are a few tips that have helped me, at least, figure out what to do with all this great food.

Don’t cook.

Put away the pots and pans. If your CSA produce looks anything like mine, it’s probably at its best potential raw. We’re not talking about pesticide-drenched, close to moldy, stuff from the supermarket. So beyond a little dirt and bugs, there’s nothing high heat needs to kill, besides some extra vitamins. Zucchini and summer squash? Chopped and sprinkled with sea salt, lemon and olive oil and they’re a refreshingly crisp, new breed.


Rinse before putting away.

If you spend a few extra minutes washing and patting down your produce with towels, you can grab and go from the fridge much easier through the week. Plus, the time taken will reinforce what you have that week in your mind, hopefully clearing up all, “What’s in here and how old is it?” confusion.

Appoint a back-up pick-up buddy.
It’s like the person who has your extra set of housekeys, for when you get locked out. Except instead of hanging onto a measly key, this neighbor gets to hang onto a big batch of food when you can’t pick up your CSA share. And the words, “Keep whatever you like!” should be a pretty good guarantee for his or her service.

Save the hardiest vegetables for later.

Beets last a really long time. Kohlrabi is not going to turn in a week, either. If you find that you simply have too much stuff to eat in a week (as I do often), go for the most delicate leafy greens first. Save the big heads of cabbage, potatoes, green beans and carrots for another week, and don’t worry about them.

Entertain more.

In times of stress, we can all lean on our friends. I don’t think I needed to sound half as desperate when I asked one, in a moment of high CSA stress, “I have too much food, can I make you dinner?!” Who doesn’t like local, fresh food, being served to them free? Plus, following guideline #1, there really is very little preparation that should be involved for this grub.

Can it, jam it, pickle it (and compost the scraps).

A few mason jars go a long way; you can make pickles, jam or sauces like chutney and pesto to snack on throughout the year by squashing a lot of fresh produce into its tightly-packed constraints. But if this weekend hobby is not quite your style, you can still salvage extra produce by simply bagging it and tossing it in the freezer. Broccoli and green beans work great for this.
Make a stress-relieving tea with dried herbs.

Overwhelmed by all the fresh herbs you’ve been getting? Grow your own already, and don’t really need ‘em? Hang a bunch upside-down for a week, like you would with a rose bouquet, and crumble the flakes into a mason jar. Yep, I have cilantro “tea,” all ready to steep. So? (Hint: mix in those dried rose petals, too, if you’ve got them.)

Be a good member.

It’s easy to dash in and out of CSA pick-up in the middle of your busy day or night, but the folks volunteering there, or organizing the local chapter, can really help you out if you have a stress situation. Communicate if you’re going to be out of town and can’t pick up your stuff, they might appreciate the advance notice to gauge how much will be leftover at the end of that day. Or give it away to someone else in the group who might actually need it for a big bash they’re throwing. Volunteering, team-working and spreading the good karma might win you favors in return, like being able to store your untaken stash another day somewhere convenient.

News from the Farm - Summer Week 13

Now that the leaves are turning color and the night time temps are in the 50's, I really feel like summer is over. Fortunately, the weatherman disagrees with me and this week the temps are supposed to go back up. Hopefully, we will still continue to see ripening tomatoes and fewer cracks from the rains. Rain, rain, go away.

We have eleven sets of onion yet to pull - that is less than half of the whole. This week I plan to get another 2-3 sets out. The guys are probably going to have to work long hours to get it all done, but I am fortunate to have wonderful employees. Part of what gets difficult this time of year is the loss of employees and interns due to college starting back up. I employ college students and most of my interns are college students who do research on the farm over the course of the summer. This year we are participating in an energy study with the University of Chicago. Their goal is to determine if small local farms are better stewards of energy than large commercial agribusiness producers. The data will be interesting. Anyway, I have lost one person as of last week, one more this week and then another in two weeks. One will go part time on top of it. This explains some of my stress and fatigue this last week.

I love to grow vegetables. I strive to grow the best, freshest items to grace your tables. I will always go to the extreme to produce the tasty crops you desire. This week, though due to extreme fatigue, I pulled back just a touch and did not harvest every crop. I would liked to have added one more crop to your boxes, but lack of sleep was physically hurting me, so I had to schedule a bit more sleep for this week.

Your box

Mixed colored bell peppers - these guys are so pretty

Beets

Kale

Plums - yumm

Blueberries - Mick put them in clam shells for me - how nice

Cherry tomatoes

Freshly dug potatoes

Red cabbage

Vicki
Genesis Growers
8373 E 3000 S Rd
St Anne, Il 60964
815 953 1512
www.genesis-growers.com

My plan for this weeks box includes enjoying the cantaloupe as is (!) and stir frying a mix of the zucchini, celery, chard, tomatoes and some corn.  It is simply hard to go wrong with fresh veggies! As for the cukes - I think I will make a batch of bread and butter pickles with them along with a pepper or two.  I'll used cider vinegar, a smattering of sugar along with mustard seed, celery seed, cloves and tumeric for seasoning.  

Not too tough an assignment!

From Rabbi Jacob Fine in Seattle --

Wasting Food While People Go Hungry

 

For 1 in 8 Americans, hunger is reality.  According to Feeding America (the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief organization), in 2007, 36.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 23.8 million adults and 12.4 million children.  (And these numbers are before the economic downturn!)  

 

At the same time that so many Americans are going hungry, we are wasting a shocking amount of perfectly fine food.  The USDA estimates 96 billion pounds of food are wasted each year in the United States. Feeding America estimates that if we could recover merely 5% of the food wasted each year, we could help feed 14 million people.   Harvest Against Hunger, a Seattle based hunger relief organization, estimates that Washington State alone wastes 10’s of millions of pounds of food each year.

 

Our tradition has a remarkably powerful set of teachings around the injunction not to waste food and other useful resources.  The seed of this tradition traces back to two verses in this week’s torah portion, Shofetim.  The parshahreads:

 When you besiege a town for many days, waging-war against it, to seize it: you are not to bring-ruin on its trees, by swinging-away (with) an axe against them, for from them you eat, them you are not to cut-down – for are the trees of the field human beings, (able) to come against you in a siege?  Only those trees of which you know that they are not trees for eating, them you may bring-to-ruin and cut-down, that you may build siege-works against the town that is making war against you, until its downfall.    (Deuteronomy 20:19-20)

 

This command that the Israelites refrain from destroying the fruit trees of their enemies during war-time becomes the foundation for a comprehensive, and quite radical, set of teachings around the prevention of waste.  For example, Maimonides (1135-1204) teaches that “Not only own who cuts down food trees, but also one who smashes household goods, tears clothes, demolishes buildings, stops up a spring, or destroys food on purpose violates the command: ‘You must not destroy.’

Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) goes even further in teaching that:

The prohibition of purposeless destruction of food trees around a besieged city is only to be taken as an example of general wastefulness.  Under the concept of ‘you shall not destroy,’ the purposeless destruction of anything at all is to be forbidden, so that our text becomes the most comprehensive warning to human beings not to misuse the position that God has given them as masters of the world and its matter to capricious, passionate, or merely thoughtless wasteful destruction of anything on earth.  Only for wise use has God laid the world at our feet when God said to humankind, “…fill the earth and master it…(Gen. 1:28)

 

As Jews, we know that the obligation to care for the poor and vulnerable in our communities is absolutely central to our lives.  Tragically, now more than ever, we don’t need to look very far to find people in our midst who are literally going hungry.  As Jews, as humans, we have the responsibility to do something. 

 

To learn more about how you can help relieve hunger in Seattle and around the country please check out these resources.

 

www.firstharvest.org

www.feedingamerica.org

www.mazon.org

 

Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Jacob

jacob@hilleluw.org

 

The first watermelon have been harvested!  Hot diggity!   We immediately popped one of those big boys open and snarfed down that tasty flesh.  Everyone wants the heart, but I  beat them to it on the first melon, so the guys decided they had to pop open another one.  Here on this farm it does not take much to figure out a way to get another melon to sample - one just accidentally dropped - oops!  It had a dent.  Darn!  It was funny shaped!  Dang!  Anyway, watermelon is full of great minerals, so let them eat watermelon and drink less Gatorade.  Unfortunatley, they are not coming in very fast yet, but hopefully they will catch up.

We have continued to harvest onions, trying to get them all out.  We are so busy right now that our average is two sets a week.  At that rate we will get done by Thanksgiving.  Chad took the two interns out Friday and got one extra set pulled, so at this new rate of three a week we will be done by Halloween.  So Sunday, Jon (who has now left for school) went to Champaign and picked up two buddies who have never had the opportunity to play onion ball.  Poor boys!  Their goal is to get three more sets out.  They may not have been too fond of onion ball by the time they were done.  But, in order to leave a good impression, Jon wanted to have a bon fire with watermelon margueritas and lamb brats. Wonder which activity the fellows would have enjoyed more?  Unfortunately, they got rained out and only one set of onion was harvested.

This is the season of fatigue.  Three days last week I got only 2-3 hours sleep.  Usually what ends up overwhleming me is paper.  I stay so busy with field supervision and market, that I skip paper when I get in at night.  All I want is food and a shower and a nice pillow.  I think if you talk to most farmers right now they would concur that they are tired.  It is truly a shame we can't all take a week and go away just before the busy, busy season begins.  Please forgive us if we get spacy or a little cranky.  We are just revealing our fatigue as farmers.  

Your box

Gold zucchini

Cantaloupe

Mixed pepper basket - all hot except for the sweet chocolate - Save hot peppers for winter use by chopping and freezing.  No need to blanch

Small finger size green = Serrano

Larger green - Jalapeno

Yellow - hot banana

Brownish red - Sweet Chocolate

Heirloom cucumber - round yellow is a lemon cuke; long yellow or rust is a Poona Khera - you got one or the other

Sweet corn

Celery - we clipped out some stalks if they had insect damage

Swiss chard

Cherry tomatoes

The Jew and the Carrot

Here's some information on our parent organizations own blog and how you can get involved. I was a founding writer for this blog, and while I have not had the chance to post recently I fully intend to return to writing for them very soon.

The Jew, The Carrot, and You: An Introduction to Hazon’s Blog

By: Mia Rut

I guess you can say that I stumbled upon The Jew & The Carrot accidentally.  I was job hunting and anxious for any opportunity to network.  Through Facebook, a friend forwarded me an announcement for an internship at the Jewish Food blog.  Seeing it I thought, ‘well, I like Jews and I love food’ and I was trying to get my foot in the door in the Jewish professional world. So I decided to write to the then Editor-in-Chief, Leah Koenig.  Long story short, I started writing for the blog.  Then I joined one of Hazon’s CSAs and went to the Food Conference. Yea, I was hooked.   

Since its inception in 2006, The Jew & The Carrot has been an active online community that offers folks the opportunity to talk about food, health, and sustainability – all from Jewish perspectives.  Over the years, there have been wonderful interviews with well-known authors like Michael Pollan and cooks like Lagusta Yearwood as well as coverage of breaking news such as the Agriprocessors plant in Iowa.  

Perhaps the most popular pieces published on the blog are the numerous recipes our writers create or adapt and make available to our readers.  The diversity of our writers is reflected in the wide variety of (often seasonal) recipes.  Additionally, many people have shared family recipes around the holidays. The Jew & The Carrot has even published a cookbook based on a collection of some of the blog’s best recipes.

Since January, The Jew & The Carrot has been an entirely volunteer-run blog with three fabulous Associate Editors and an Editor-in-Chief who not only writes for the blog, but keeps everything running.  We have now grown to over 70 active writers; many of whom also publish in other publications and write their own blogs.  

All the writers contribute a wide range of perspective to the New Jewish Food Movement and you can too!  We are always looking for new ideas, recipes and comments.  Sure, you can go to HYPERLINK "http://www.jcarrot.org" \t "_blank" www.jcarrot.org and check out our work, but you can also get involved yourself.  Just send your story to HYPERLINK "mailto:editor@jcarrot.org" \t "_blank" editor@jcarrot.org.  You can write about your CSA, your favorite recipe this season or even about a current event.  If it is about food, sustainability, and Jews we want to hear from you!

Food Vocabulary

Foodie Vocabulary
By: Hilla Abel, Co-Chair of Forest Hills Tuv Ha’Aretz in Queens, New York

At our first Tuv Ha’Aretz committee meeting of the year, one of our committee members introduced herself and explained why she wanted to be part of Tuv Ha’Aretz. “I was a locavore before locavores existed,” she said. Indeed, the concept of being a locavore—one who eats food grown locally—motivates and resonates with many of us who are part of the food movement.

Though it has been just a few years since Jessica Prentice coined the term in 2005, foodies and environmentalists alike have been quick to adopt it. I think the success of the term locavore can be attributed to its functionality. It has become a key word in our conversation about food and sustainable living. So, in the spirit of continuing and growing the conversation, I’d like to share this food vocabulary list with you:

cool food: A food that is produced with minimal greenhouse gas emissions. The coolest foods are organic, local, and whole foods. As CSA members, we are definitely on the right track!

food miles: The distance that the food travels from production to consumption. A commonly cited statistic is that food travels an average of 1500 miles from the farm to our plates. I recently learned that this statistic does not include imported foods or animal-based food transport, which must make the 1500 mile statistic a gross underestimation.

foodshed: An area which can, or is sufficient to, provide food for a given location. I like how the word foodshed is a natural analogy to a watershed. To me, the word foodshed creates a beautiful mental image of what local food communities can look like on a map.

foodprint: Our food system's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change. Foodprint is great word to describe food’s role in contributing to the carbon footprint. It is quickly becoming a buzz word here in New York, as the local food movement fights to pass the FoodprintNYC Resolution through the city council. The resolution calls to increase the availability of local, just, and sustainable food. A similar resolution is also working its way through the Chicago city council. (I encourage all New York City and Chicago Tuv Ha’Aretz members to get involved. A quick call to your councilmember would make a big difference. Visit foodprintusa.org.)

Whether it is for a chat around the dinner table, an impromptu debate at your Tuv Ha’Aretz distribution, or a phone call to your local councilmember, I hope you find these words useful in the ongoing conversation about the implications of our food choices.

--Hilla Abel

The vocabularly list is adapted from NYC Foodprint Resolution

Stay tuned for a list of “Jewish Food Vocabularly” next month!

This Week's Plan

So I see that we will be getting the mysterious alien vegetable Kohlrabi in our boxes. Now before you immediately chuck it into the swap box today, consider all the wonderful possibilities this veggie has to offer. As a rule treat it like you would a turnip, so it can go into soups or vegetable mashes, or mix it with some potatoes, onions (and maybe even this week's zucchinis, and roast in the oven with some olive oil, thyme and garlic for a wonderful side dish. Still not convinced? Heres a recipe that, if you replace the cream with Mayonnaise, will make a tangy variation on a waldorf salad.

Personally, I'm a radish Fiend so I cant wait to eat them raw, in a salad, or like they used to do it in the old country, dipped in a salt cellar. Braising them in butter is also a great way to mellow them out.

If you've never had the chanceto roast peppers, this week is your chance to go for it! just place them directly over the grates of a burner and rotate them with tongs every once in a while until the skin turns 90% black. Let them cool, and then use a paring knife to scrape the skin off leaving nice soft peppers than can be used in hundreds of ways. I put them in quinoa to make a nice salad, or simmer them in tomato sauce for a flavorful pasta sauce.

Finally, while peaches are great on their own, I've been halving them brushing them with a bit of honey, and then putting them on a very hot grill for just a minute until there are grill marks. This adds a really nice smokiness and makes for a wonderful dessert, alone, topped with cream or a simple mint syrup.

Any more ideas? leave them in the comments below!

Game Plan for Week 10

I am headed out of town tonight, and I have been giving a lot of thought to making sure that all of those amazing fruits and vegetables get used or preserved, and not wasted!
My kids were amazed to see that huge melon this morning, and we cut right into it for breakfast. I don't think it will last too long!
As much as I would love to just steam those ears of corn and eat them right off the cob, I don't want to leave them until next week when I'm back, so I'm going to cut the kernels off the cob and freeze them. Then I can throw them into polenta, corn and bean salads, chili, soup, etc.
I had a delicious sandwich this week that uses two things from Vicki, the arugula and the peppers. Roast the peppers (on a grill, under the broiler, or over the flame on your stove) and remove the skin and seeds. On a baguette or other crusty bread, layer the peppers, arugula and goat cheese (Trader Joe's has a delicious herbed goat cheese that is OU certified). Simple and easy. I also roasted and sliced some marinated portabello mushrooms and put those on too - it was a big hit with the friends I served it to.
I think the cauliflower and onion will be just fine until I get back on Sunday... what will you be doing with your box?