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March 18th, 2012
This Week At the Farm: We received about 3" of rain last weekend, but by Friday some of our soils had dried out enough allow the laying of black mulch for our Spring tomato crop. Why black mulch? Being dark, it absorbs the warmth of the sun, which creates a good living environment for soil microbes and in-turn the root systems of the plants. BM also acts as a weed barrier.
On another note, we are really competing with ourselves over tillable ground from which to plant. We're still harvesting broccoli, leeks, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, kale and more every week, not to mention the snow peas or sugar snaps, but our greenhouses are full with new seedlings for the Spring.The land down the road that we lease is full too of new planted broccoli and onions, oh so many onions. So the 40 acs we purchased behind the farm a few months ago is a very welcome addition. Once this land is in production, it will alleviate our crowded growing conditions in the near future.
Speaking of the "Back 40," unofficially, it has rained about 16" here at the farm since we "broke ground" clearing this acreage back in January. With an excavator and dozer, we have puled out old stumps and raked them into burn piles on about twelve acres thus far. We could have done more, but the rain has created a mud bath back there. The bad news is that it is supposed to rain a few inches on Wednesday; the good news is that the raking has allowed us to begin to see the "lay of the land."
Strawberries? Some of you might have seen a demise in the quality of our berries this past week. The 3" of rain last weekend really pounded them hard and what followed was muggy days creating a terrible environment as fungal spores and new born insects abounded. Thus you may have found blemishes on your berries. Worst may be yet to come as we discovered a centipede looking worm attracted to our berries as well. Critters! All things have a purpose I guess in the Food Chain.
Scroll Down to Order Items and Read More In this issue: - Kitchen Goodies Available for Order
- Pastured Eggs, Local Honey & Artisan Cheeses
- Farm Dinner Announcement
- Online Registration for our Spring CSA programs begins
THIS WEEK'S FARM KITCHEN SPECIALS BELOW
Order by midnight Sunday, to pick up your order next week at one of our thirteen Houston area CSA locations.
Indonesian Carrot Soup (vegan, gluten-free, slightly spicy) - Carrots, onions, celery are cooked with aromatic spices and coconut milk and then pureed to create a creamy soup with layers of flavor. Finished with a touch of honey, this is not your average carrot soup. Serves 2-4, $9.00/quart
French Potato Casserole* (vegetarian)- You're sure to love our casserole of potatoes, onions, our WDF leeks, herbs & garlic along with local TX mushrooms , layered with cheese and then baked until golden. Comfort food with a little something extra. Serves 3-6, $8.00/8-inch casserole.
Mediterranean Farro Salad (vegan) - Whole grain farro tossed with roasted red peppers, black olives, green onions and walnuts dressed with lemon, olive oil, garlic, honey and sea salt. Healthy and delicious! Serves 2-3 $7.00/16 oz (by volume)
We may have some of these at the farmer's market on Saturday as well. Pastured Eggs, Local Honey, Cheese available too! To learn more about these items, visit our online shopping cart at Order Eggs, Cheese, Soups & More As mentioned above, select your pick up location and then select continue, Order your items by date and then proceed to checkout. Farm Dinner, Sunday April 15th: I have had the good pleasure of knowing Bryan Caswell since his early Chef days working at Hotel Icon under the famed chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Bryan used to tell me ..."that every chef ,deep down wants to be a farmer of some sort." That became pretty obvious when Bryan started raising several pigs here at our farm a few years later. Well those of you that know Bryan, are probably grateful that he kept his "day job" and did not start farming full time as he has evolved into one of the more respected and talented chefs in the country. His honors are too numerous to mention, but if interested visit this link Bryan Caswell So we now feel pretty honored to announce that Bryan, along with some of his team mates, will be helping us host a Dinner here at the Farm. Similar in format to prior farm dinners held here over the past few years, the menu format will focus on using local fare. An addition, beer and wine will be available as well as live entertainment by Robert Ellis. Visit this link for a preview of Robert Ellis Band. The event will begin with a reception, followed by a farm tour and then dinner outside in a communal table format. What if it rains? Dinner will be held inside the ol schoolhouse, a greenhouse or someplace dry. Seating is limited. . To get an idea of " our prior dinner events" visit Prior Farm Dinner Photos and Menus
Farm Dinner Ticket Purchase? We should have a webpage up and running, tomorrow, Monday where you can purchase online. Tickets are $95 pp.
Full Shares CSA for the Spring. The Spring program will be ten weeks and is going to begin the week of Monday, April 9th, and extend into early June. The expected harvest will be similar to the winter program, but will eventually evolve into more spring items such as potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash etc. We think we will have strawberries into May, which about time when the first harvest of blackberries begin.
How to learn more and register
1) visit this link
2) Select your location, select continue in the pop up window (scroll down if you don't see your location pop up window.)
3) This should take you to a new page where you select your desired share, full, partial or every other week (aka Alternating Week Share.)
4) Select the first date, April 9th, 10th, 11th etc and all weeks will become highlighted in the ten CSA week program.
5) This is a different shopping cart from last season, so what to do about registering?
Try to use your same/existing email and password.
What if you don't know it? Type in something and, if incorrect the website should respond "invalid password." .
It should then take/open you to a menu that says something like "....forgot password? Go here... follow the prompts and it should eventually send you an email where you can create another password.
6) Logged into the system? Continue with the online payment process. Follow the prompts for your credit card payment.
7) If your payment was successful you should receive a conformation email from PayPal.
More details about ordering can be found at YOU MAY HAVE TO SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE
We appreciate your patience as we transition from our existing online processing system to an updated version.
Thanks, Van Cell 713 876 8645 www.woodduckfarm.com csa@woodduckfarm.com PS If you have moved or not interested in receiving our updates, please click the "unsubscribe" link above to "option out" of any future emails.
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