Serenbe Farms
  CSA Newsletter and Recipes 5-19
Please note that spring and summer shares run until September 7th.  We're now accepting fall shareholders, so please sign up if you wish to continue picking up produce!  Email Paige for more info.  Thanks!

Archived CSA Newsletters from this year can be found here: http://www.serenbefarms.com/food/csa/newsletter


August 30th, 2010
Farm News from Farmer Paige- 

Can't believe that the time is here.  Justin and I will be departing for our seasonal vacation in about 18 hours.  We've learned quickly that taking a week for rejuvenation in the hot months is always a wise move.  It's also a nice time to depart because by now the apprentices know everything about the inner workings of the farm.  They will with all 6 hands pack and distribute your CSA shares, they'll irrigate the farm, maintain the farm, water the fall seedlings in greenhouse trays, they'll harvest when things need to be harvested, and keep things alive.  I remember my first big opportunity to take responsibility for my farm manager's operation in upstate New York when I was an apprentice.  It was a great way to gain confidence and to fully be able to rely on my own farming skills and judgment. 

So for the next week Justin and I will be in the Pacific Northwest, hiking, biking, climbing, and hopefully a little doing a little relaxing in British Columbia.  I truly hope that when our plane touches down next Monday morning that the season here will have shifted to fall.  I can feel it coming.

Enough about our adventures, I should tell you more about the farm.  We've been working hard in this heat transforming finished beds to cover crops, from cover crops to bare soil, then filling the bare soil with seeds and seedlings in preparation for fall.  This is a serious transition time.  I love it.  We've gotten our first succession of brassicas (collards, kale, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage) into the ground and will soon plant out the second succession.  We've started seeding our onions for the fall plantings.  We've ordered organic garlic seed and saved garlic seed and ordered organic strawberry plants.  We'll plant all that out in late October.  We've been seeding carrots and beets and rutabagas and parsnips and turnips and radishes and greens.  We've planted our first lettuces and are watching them grow by the day.  Our beautiful field of sunflowers is now in bloom and is lined by a beautiful bed of zinnias.  I had the pleasure of mowing the farm on this past beautiful Saturday morning.  Bush hogging the farm is a great activity, especially in the morning when the soft light hits the beautiful cover crops and vegetables.  To me, the farm looks stunning and will become even more so as our fall vegetables mature. 

CSA Potluck!  -- tentatively set for October 9th

I hope all of you Atlanta shareholders have a chance to visit the farm before the season ends.  We've set a tentative date for our Fall CSA Potluck.  Please mark your calendar for Saturday, October 9th.  We'll have a bonfire, fun games for kids, and tons of farm fresh foods!  Bring a dish and hop on the farm tour to see everything growing.  AND, mingle with our other farm supporters and your farmers!

Got any other fun ideas for the potluck?  Send them along!

Garlic --

Garlic originated in central Asia.  Garlic, Allium sativum, falls into two distinct categories, the hardneck variety which usually grow a woody, hard neck, or scape in the stem center and the softnecks which do not grow a scape or stem down the center of the bulb. 

Garlic originated as a hard neck type that enjoyed damp and cold climate of central Asia.  Over time, the soft neck type has evolved and makes up the majority of the garlic sold in the commercial marketplace.  Conveniently, softneck garlics also tolerate warm and drier conditions more favorably.  Most domestic garlic is grown in California. 

Garlic is on the brain right now because we'll soon be pushing thousands of cloves into the ground at a 5-6" spacing and waiting for their emergence and bulb development.  We'll harvest the garlic in late May and hang it to dry and start the process once again!  The wet and cold winter of last year kept our garlic pretty small in size, but this year we'll be testing new varieties that will hopefully prove to be more successful!

History of garlic --

Most of the garlic in the US came with immigrants from Poland, Germany, and Italy. 

In 1989, the Soviet Union finally invited Americans (after much begging by the USDA) into the Caucasus region to collect the numerous native garlic varieties.  During the travels along the Silk Road, they picked up cultivars in the different villages and named them after the towns where they collected them.  After bringing these garlics back, the USDA contracted some growers to grow them but slowly these varieties became more difficult to find.  Finally growers and collectors are growing these varieties again and bringing them back into the market. 

Now there are over 600 varieties of garlic known.  We grow 8 varieties of garlic.  So far you've just seen the California Early and California Late (softneck) varieties.  Soon you'll see some of our more 'gourmet' and rare hardneck types.

Hardneck vs. Softneck--

Because we value diversity on the farm we grow both hard necks and soft necks.  Some years the softnecks do much better than the hardnecks, but some other years hardnecks are superior.  When purchasing seed, hardnecks are more expensive thus the end product costs more. 

Some perceive the flavor of hardneck garlic to be more sharp or pungent.  You may remember these funny looking stalks -- garlic scapes from a couple of the early shares.  They are the flower stalk in the hard neck garlic and taste great with a mild garlic flavor. 

Storage--

I love growing garlic and I also love that it stores so beautifully.  Keep it on your counter at room temperature if you'll use the garlic soon or in the dark if you'll be storing it for a while.

Well, I've done a great job at procrastinating the whole packing portion of this evening. . . back to it.  Thanks for reading, see y'all next week!

Happy Eating,
Paige
Find recipes here.
 
This week's share (prediction):

Tomatoes (a few)

Okra

Irish Potatoes
(last ones!)

Garlic and/or Onion(s)

Arugula (maybe or radishes?)

Eggplant

Herbs

Sweet Peppers

Hot peppers

Zinnias

Sweet potato greens?

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Links
www.serenbefarms.com

www.georgiaorganics.org
www.slowfoodatlanta.org
RECIPES

New and exciting!  Our recipes are no longer found at the bottom of each email.  You can view our latest recipes at our blog: www.serenbefarms.wordpress.com.

Notice that as we accumulate more recipes, we'll have a drop down search menu on the right toolbar on the screen.  Please, please send along your favorite recipes so we can include those as well.