More CSA Shares Available

If you haven't signed up for a CSA share yet, or if you love your share so much that you'd like another whole or half share, there are more available! As you might know, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture, and is a great way to support local farms and enjoy locally grown produce - both family favorites and new things to try.

The following shares are still open at a variety of pickup times and locations:

Mondays (On-Farm & Centerville Delivery) – 6.5 shares (or 13 half shares)
Wednesdays (Riverwalk & Asurion Deliveries) – 9 shares (or 18 half shares)
Saturdays (Franklin Farmers Market & Windy Acres Deliveries) – 9 shares (or 18 half shares)

If you're interested or know someone who might be, let us know and we'll put you in touch with the right people.

If you're participating in a CSA, what has been your favorite vegetable so far?

A smoothie for your garden

Compost, as you are doubtless aware, is both excellent for your garden and a responsible thing to do with kitchen scraps and other biodegradable garbage. If you have the time and space to compost the traditional way, you should do that by all means. However, sometimes your garden needs a boost and your compost pile is far from ready, and sometimes (as is the case in my neighborhood) traditional compost piles are illegal. I know, it's insane.

A friend told me that during a busy season in her life she used to grind up her compost in the blender and pour it directly on her garden. I figured it could not hurt to try. I will admit to a moment's hesitation at putting garbage in my Vitamix, but I overcame my reluctance for the sake of vegetable production.

Compost in the blender.

My kids thought we were having a smoothie for lunch. I said, "Not directly."

I brought the blender full of compost smoothie out to the garden and fed it to the dirt and worms for lunch. Hopefully we'll see good results in a few weeks!

Some notes on blender composting:

• It's best to blend every day or two so the stuff doesn't get moldy.
• Use a trowel to dig the compost smoothie into the dirt so you don't attract bugs or bees.
  
• You may not want to blend paper and some other things that are normally compostable. I stick with coffee grounds, tea leaves, fruit and vegetable peels and trimmings, and washed eggshells.
• Add plenty of water to the blender so you don't burn out your motor.
• And, last but certainly not least:
  

Wash the blender well when you're finished!

It's not too late!

It's not too late to start your garden or plant a few containers on your porch or patio. The farm store is offering seeds of a variety of heirloom vegetables and plants for purchase this year. Heirloom plants are hardier and often more flavorful than their conventional cousins and we think you'll be glad you tried them!

For more information about specific seed varieties and availability, please visit the store or contact us.

Good news for CSA members!

Due to unexpected progress in the Beaverdam Creek fields, CSA produce shares will start THIS weekend rather than next. If you are a member, please come pick up your first basket this Saturday, May 8, at the Farm Shop between 3:00 and 4:00 pm.

Enjoy your fresh, local produce!

Break Out the Grill!

...or not. Just when we thought Spring had really arrived, we got hit with another cold snap. Hopefully it's warmer where you are! Still, I had summer food on my mind and so I used a grill pan to cook up some delicious Korean Barbecue Burgers.

If you're a fan of Korean food, these burgers really taste like bulgogi. If you're not familiar with Korean food, just be assured the burgers taste fantastic. I served ours on wheat buns (it's pretty simple to cobble together a hamburger bun recipe from whatever recipe you use for pizza dough) with some of our homemade kimchi on top. They would be great without the kimchi too, but I think it added a nice zip. Did you know you can get kimchi in the farm store? Or you can get whey at the farm store and try making your own. Don't forget that you can get grass fed ground beef at the farm too!

Korean Barbecue Burgers
recipe taken from Cooking Light

1/2 cup chopped green onions
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 pounds grass fed ground sirloin

Mix all ingredients together, shape into patties, grill and enjoy! This recipe is easily doubled if you want to make extras to freeze for another time.

An Easy Summer Bread

Debbie did an excellent post on bread baking last fall, and we've also talked about how baking bread fits in to the rhythm of the seasons, but when spring rolls around I'm much more likely to want to spend time in the garden than in the kitchen.

And yet, curiously enough, my family still requests regular meals.

I find that my cooking style becomes more streamlined and simple in the warmer months, and now I've found a way to still enjoy fresh homemade bread without requiring a huge time investment.

In their book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day Jeff Hertzberg (a scientist) and Zoe Francois (a chef) outline a method for mixing and storing dough in the refrigerator, taking out portions as needed, that eliminates the need for kneading, long rise times, or additives. I'll admit that I was initially skeptical, but since getting this book I've made several of the dough variations and have achieved uniformly excellent results. The bread is well shaped, has a great crusty outside with a good texture and crumb inside. The taste is comparable to artisan bread from a bakery, just as the authors claim.

In addition to the basic recipe, which makes a boule loaf or baguette, the book contains a wealth of other breads ranging from Limpa (a Swedish bread made with cardamom, orange zest and honey), to za'atar flat bread, to na'an. Breads from all over the world are well represented in this book. The book also contains recipes using bread, such as Aubergine Tartine, Panzanella, Red Pepper Fougasse, and Fattoush. Many of the bread-containing recipes make use of fresh seasonal produce, which also makes the cookbook handy for the summer months.

I found the authors' section on alternative flours particularly helpful since they note that the different weights and compositions of flours, including how they are ground, influences the outcome of their recipes, and their instructions for substituting flours are clear and easy to implement.

Although there are few things as comfortable as making bread the old fashioned way in the fall and winter, if you're in need of a simpler method for spring and summer I would highly recommend this book.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Unconventional (for our times anyway) Lawn Mowing

Even though the weather has been dry my lawn has been growing at an astounding rate and of course, my Craftsman lawnmower is on the blink. Well, when that happens on a farm all you need is a little thought and a few well positioned fences and you can have your lawn mowed for free. No gas, no fuss. Well, O.K. just a little fuss.

Let me introduce you to my new lawn mowers, Domino is slacking in the back, Suzie is up front with Cordelia Grey and Peanut in the back. Elvira II and her two boys are lounging. For the past two weeks they have been more than happy to keep our lawn looking good, one small spot at a time. Our girls here at the farmhouse are Icelandic sheep and although they have horns they are surely enough girls.

Even as I sit here in the comfort of my living room with the windows slung open and the lace curtains flapping in the breeze I can hear chomping, wonderful grass removing chomping. In a section of fencing 150’ long it will take the girls and their babies two days to get the lawn looking good and evenly mowed.

Unfortunately there are always some slackers in the bunch. Elvira and her two babies decide to let the others mow while they rest.
Elvira’s one boy thinks he is getting away with it by hiding behind a basket of tools while the other one couldn’t care less if I see him laying down on the job.

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Posted by Catherine on behalf of The Farm, written and photographed by Debbie