CSA Newsletter and Recipes 5-27
The last CSA pickup for full and half shares in Atlanta is November 16th. The last pickup date for full shares at the farm is November 16th and November 9th for half shares.
|
|
|
We will be giving peanuts over the next few weeks. These peanuts are 'raw' or 'green' peanuts. First, remove the nuts from the greens and wash them clean.
For boiled peanuts: boil nuts in water with salt until nuts are no longer crunchy. This can take over 30 min. Green peanuts are also nice when sauteed.
For roasted peanuts: remove the peanuts and in a single layer, let them dry until the shells and skins are dry. Then, shell them and roast in the oven at about 350-400 degrees.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Farm News from Farmer Paige
Notable things for today: -- It's Ashley's birthday! All you Atlanta CSA shareholders be sure to wish her a good one!
--Our friends and filmmakers Christine and Owen with GROW! movie are over 75% funded on their Kickstarter fundraising site and they have until Saturday to make their goal. If you'd like to help grow new farmers in the area and would like to support the sustainable agriculture movement, please visit their site and donate even just $5! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/growmovie/grow-movie
Farm
As I write this I've got lots of things running through my head. One, I'm thrilled that we received a generous inch and a half of rain Sunday night and Monday morning. This will save us lots of time this week with irrigation duties. If it continues to stay nice and cool, we may not have to irrigate again until next week!
Two, I'm getting mentally prepared for what comes today. Because of the wet weather, we didn't harvest everything we usually do for the CSA shares yesterday, leaving more on our plate this morning. It should go well, but there's always a feeling of uncertainty whenever we've got a big Tuesday list. Fortunately there are some new fun harvest items on our list this morning including our new batch of head lettuce, bok choi and Chinese cabbage, and mizuna!
I'm also thinking about our plans for tomorrow. We're hosting a field trip for Lovett School's 8th grade biology classes! We'll be hosting about 160 students on the farm where they'll rotate through 5 stations and get hands on experience on the farm. While part of me is a little nervous about the orchestration of this large event, I'm very excited to be able to share the farm with so many youngsters at once!
And the final thing that I'm thinking of is our last Serenbe Market that is happening this weekend. If you haven't made it down for a market this year, you should come here on Saturday (9am till 1pm)! It's going to be loads of fun including live music, pumpkins, cake walk, lots of arts and crafts vendors, fall baked goods, a Halloween costume contest, pony rides, and hayrides!
Cover Cropping
Last week Gretchen, Ashley, Justin, and I took a field trip. We drove to the other side of Athens to see Celia Barss' operation, Woodland Gardens. Celia is a very talented farmer and grows many of the same things we do but with some different methods. She has many high tunnels (unheated greenhouses) for season extension and grows year round. She focuses on smaller, more intensive crops instead of larger space hungry crops, while we do a little of everything. She markets mostly to her farmers' market customers and restaurants, while we focus on CSA, and her labor is consistent, year-round employees, while we focus on seasonal apprenticeships for labor. It's always exciting to get new ideas from farmers and to see what has worked (and what hasn't) for them.
On our way back from this field trip, I used the time to talk with our crew about cover crops. Cover cropping is large part of our crop rotation and has been since day 1. Cover cropping is simply the act of growing crops to turn back into the soil. Why use seeds, the time to plant, and the tractor just to turn back in material into the soil?
Cover crops:
-Add organic matter to the soil
-Improve soil structure
-Release Nitrogen back into the soil
-Kickstart soil microbial activity
-Scavenge nutrients that might otherwise be lost
-Loosen and aerates the soil and subsoil
-Suppress weeds
-Conserve soil and water
-Manage pests and brings in beneficial insects
And if that isn't enough that these super crops can do, they're also beautiful additions to our fields that would otherwise be bare. I really believe that much of our soil's improvement and soil health is attributed to growing green grasses and legumes and turning them back into the soil.
Many typically field or pasture grown crops can be used for cover crops. We distinguish between our cover crops by the seasons.
Our favorite summer cover crops include: sunflowers, buckwheat, cowpeas, soybeans, sorghum sudangrass, and millet.
Our favorite winter cover crops include: crimson clover, oats, rye, Austrian winter peas, and hairy vetch.
There are many more out there, but these are what we've had the best luck with in this particular region.
Want to learn more? Check out this free download of the book Managing Cover Crops Profitably (and fantastic reference material): http://www.sare.org/publications/covercrops/covercrops.pdf.
I'd encourage all of you gardeners to give this practice a try this winter. I'd start with oats and crimson clover. Turn the oats in so that they're buried about 1/2-1 inch. Then before it rains, throw your crimson clover seeds on top. It won't take much seed, maybe 1-2 lbs of oats per 1,000 sq ft and just a sprinkling of clover on top. The oats will give you soil structure and organic matter and the clover will break up your subsoils with it's taproot and add back lots of nitrogen (since it's a legume). When you're ready to plant your garden, mow down your cover crop and till it in or turn it into your soil with double digging or a garden fork. Be sure to wait until it's mostly decomposed before you plant your following spring crops. For a little spring beauty, let your clover start to flower and enjoy the honeybees!
Thanks to everyone for reading this week's newsletter, we hope you enjoy the shares!
Best,
Paige
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Find recipes here.
This week's share (prediction):
peanuts (green)
bok choi or Chinese cabbage
perpetual spinach or arugula
mizuna (delicious Asian green for salads or slaws)
head lettuce
tomatoes or green tomatoes
beans (maybe or okra?)
peppers
herbs
and probably:
sweet potatoes and/or winter squash
and more!
|
|
|
|
RECIPESNew 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.
| |
|
|
