Welcome back to the newsletter! We are very glad to be home and back to eating great food. New Zealand is a beautiful country but the food is nowhere near as healthy and fresh as it is at Outer Aisle! We had a great break and a restful time visiting family as well as an adventurous tramp on the coast of Fiordland National Park at the south western corner of the South Island. We're back and ready for the farming season to begin!

Thank you to our great team of helpers, especially Katie who expertly orchestrated the managing of the store and Tobias Jordan for meticulously keeping the greenhouse babies thriving during the ghastly weather conditions. We came home to a greenhouse full of thousands of healthy maturing seedlings in various stages of growth, some of which are almost ready for planting out! (Home gardeners and aspiring gardeners see gardening section below).

We arrived home to a surprise! We have been selected as one of four winners for the Sierra Business Council's Sierra Vision Award.  "Each year, we host an event to recognize and encourage leadership in the Sierra, honoring community members as their work continues to demonstrate community vitality, environmental quality, economic prosperity, and social fairness."

If you would like to attend the award ceremony in Sacramento next Wednesday evening we would love it! Information and link.  

Vegetable Highlights April is around the corner and with it will come a welcomed change of menu offerings. We have been told that asparagus will be available next week (fingers crossed) and soon after that the first strawberries. These are just whisperings of what is to unfold as the days lengthen and the warmth returns.

Despite the inundation of rain, the overwintering plantings of garlic and onions appear to be thriving. This week's highlights from our farm will include the highly seasonal offering of green garlic and the rare purple sprouting broccoli, as well as bunched tatsoi and collard greens. We'll pick up from the coast more delicious mushrooms from Far West Fungi (something we sorely missed on our travels), beets, green onions, cabbages, spinach, lettuce and more from Coke and Mariquita. This may be the last week on the outstanding Washington Naval oranges for the season , but not the last of the citrus with Valencia oranges beginning their season about now.

CSA/Grain Shares - we are continuing our campaign to bring grain to our region both in the form of food and seed!  

UPDATE: So far we are about a third of our way to our goal of 30 committed supporters to participate in our CSA/Grain share. We need more supporters to make this thing really fly and have decided to lower the $ amount of the shares to $250.  

We have a unique opportunity to partner with John DeRosier of With The Grain, a certified organic and bio-dynamic grain farmer, and bring local grains and beans to our community.  (See his bio below). 

We are really excited to bring this important component of food security and sustainability into Outer Aisle. We hadn't realized until this past weekend with John how crucial and important it is to act now! We hope you will respond with enthusiasm too and trust that our judgment alone will be enough of a guarantee. To demonstrate our commitment to the success of this relationship Outer Aisle is purchasing 10 shares! 

Here's how it works:

Following in the footsteps of our recent success in community financing, where we raised enough upfront capital to put solar on our store by selling "futures" and paying participants back in Outer Aisle purchases, thereby creating a win-win situation. 

The CSA/Grain Shares will cost $500 (or special offer $250). This will buy you a $200/$100 share of grain seed and beans received in 3 increments over the next three years. The grains that would be included would be a combination of heirloom wheats, oats, barley, rye, millet, corn, lentils, peas, and dry beans in 10, 20 and 20lb increments. The other $300/$150 share will be in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit. This is available to existing CSA delivery customers, CSA members that shop at our store and the general public. 

Win-win-win benefits for all:

• You receive the full $500/$250 back in food (a portion in grain over a period of time and the other in Outer Aisle purchases with no time limit)
• John receives upfront money during a time of difficulty
• Outer Aisle receives your continued commitment
• We together create a model financing system.

Multiple benefits abound:

• Pioneering a micro-loan financing model that will not only help John continue his important work, but provide a sound model for future projects/businesses.
• Establish a direct supply connection between Outer Aisle and With the Grain. We'll have his grains and beans on our shelf and other customers get the health benefits too.
• Provide a local source of hard-to-find heirloom varieties of grains and beans that are adapted to human scale  production (ie. home gardening) and adapted to our regional climate. These seeds will be used to increase local production of grains and beans on a larger scale bringing back this important crop closer to home.
• Provide a source of bulk seeds for distributing through our store and seed share events for everyone in the community to grow.
• John's extensive knowledge will bring an important educational element to our community.   

Recipe of the Week

Green Garlic Scrambled Egg Toasts

recipe by Martin Bournhonesque

• 1 stalk green garlic for every 3 eggs (use brown ones for more eggy flavor).
• butter
• milk or cream
• dense wheat bread or levain

Chop green garlic like you would a scallion. Feel free to use all the green part as well as the white part. Beat eggs and add 2 tablespoons milk or cream to eggs. Slice bread thinly and leave near toaster.

Saute green garlic in desired amount of butter over medium flame for a minute or two. Add beaten egg mixture to pan and reduce flame to its lowest possible setting. Stir constantly. As the eggs heat up they will start to steam a little and maybe stick to the bottom of the pan. Add some salt and pepper. Take the pan off direct heat to slow the process down. . The longer it takes, the better it'll taste. It should take at least 10 minutes to cook 3-5 eggs this way. Throw the bread in the toaster. As the eggs finally congeal, spoon onto toast, and cut to desired size.

Green Garlic Mayonnaise

• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon or a little less dijon mustard
• 4 stalks green garlic, cleaned as you would leeks, white and pale green parts chopped roughly
• 3 teaspoons lemon juice or rice wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons more rice or white wine vinegar
• 1 1/4 cups corn or other vegetable oil

Whirl all ingredients except oil in food processor with the metal blade. With machine running, add oil in thin steady stream through opening until all oil is completely incorporated. If the food pusher has that little hole, use it by pouring the oil into that, it works great.

WHAT'S HAPPENING IN THE GARDEN 

Time to start preparing the soil! You'll want to take advantage of this window of time to prep some soil and get the first plantings of lettuce in the ground. Luckily for those home gardeners we'll have our first nursery offerings this week at the store: lettuce, green onions and swiss chard.  

By mid April we expect to have the first early tomatoes, peppers and squash available.

If you enjoy sowing your own seeds, now is the time to start all your summer crops. We have a wonderful array of vegetable varieties to choose from: lemon cucumbers, dill, Cherokee purple tomatoes to lettuce, basil and beans. 

Seed potatoes will be arriving within the next ten days.

The store will be stocked with gardening supplies as well, covers, hoops, irrigation tape and deer fencing. Eric will be available on Thursdays to answer your questions.