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
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
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.
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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.)
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
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
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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/
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
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/
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.
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.
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