The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. ~Henry Van Dyke
We are looking forward to the first Spring day!
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and when your farmer is your friend…
it is a win-win for everyone. We have so many loyal friends in our CSA and that frequent us at the Farmer’s markets. We are happy to keep you close.
Happy Valentine’s Day
We love this little calf with his perfect heart marking. He just doesn’t see why he is the most popular guy in the barn!
Our CSA members inspire us
You inspire us! Our CSA members are truly the best. Their amazing feedback warms us each and every day. Here is what we heard this week: ~We loved our CSA…still eating corn and peppers…it feeds us all year long. ~The CSA has brought our family together. We spend time together in the kitchen creating so many amazing dishes…We’re hooked. ~Best farm share we’ve ever had. We miss our cooler being filled.
Best description of the CSA relationship
When you sign up, you dedicate yourself to being our customer for the year, thus providing us a secure market — a welcome measure of certainty in the fickle world of farming! We, in turn, dedicate ourselves to being your farmers, providing you with a varied, nutritious vegetable diet. We do our very best to bring you a beautiful and bountiful share each week, but since our boss, Nature, provides no guarantees — we can’t offer any either. One of the premises of a Community Supported Agriculture program is that the shareholder shares, through the veggies, the farmers’ experience of nature’s mischief (and blessings). ~ Angelic Organics.
Comfort food
Steamy hot chicken corn chowder made with last fall’s frozen corn. yum.
Pickling Kirby Cucumbers
Thank you to our own CSA member Chrys Murphy for sharing this recipe. Chrys is a personal chef and owner of The Corner Table www.thecornertable.biz
A point that might be helpful in pickling cucumber pickles: Heating the jars in water at 180F for 30 mins (pasteurizing) rather than processing in boiling water for a shorter time will result in a crispier pickle
Pickling Spice: 1T black mustard seeds, 1T yellow mustard seeds, 1T allspice berries, crushed, 1T dill seeds, 1/2T whole cloves, 1dried red chile, crushed, 3 cinnamon sticks, crushed, 3 bay leaves, 1t black peppercorns, 1t whole coriander seeds, 1t cardamom pods, crushed, 1/2 star anise pod, crushed. You can purchase these whole seeds at market or online at www.thespicehouse.com or you can purchase prepackaged pickling spice.
This recipe makes about 4 pints:
3# pickling cucumbers
2c cider vinegar (5% acidity)
2c water
2T kosher salt
Fresh dill
4 garlic cloves
8t pickling spice
4 dried hot red peppers if you want to add some heat
Wash the jars and keep them hot in the canning pot and put the lids in a heatproof bowl
Cut each cucumber into spears or slices
In a nonreactive pot, combine the vinegar, 2c water and the salt
Pasteurize by bringing the mixture to 180F for the 30 mins
Ladle boiling water from the canning pot into the bowl with lids
Using a jar lifter, remove the hot jars from the canning pot and pour out the water from the jars back into the pot and place the jars upright onto a folded towel. Drain the water off the lids
Working quickly, put a few dill springs in each jar and divide the garlic, spices, dried peppers among the jars. Pack the cucumbers in the jars snugly.
Ladle the vinegar mixture into the jars, leaving 1/2 headspace. Pop air bubbles
Wipe rims of jars, then put a lid and ring on each jar
Return the jars to the canning pot, making sure the water covers the jars by 1″
Bring the water to 180F and keep it there for 30 mins
Remove the jars to a folded towel and let stand for 12 hours
After 1 hour check that lids have sealed by pressing down on the center of each. If it can be pressed down, label and put in the frig
Label the sealed jars and store
Welcome Roscoe
There was a very large audience on hand to mark the occasion of the first addition to the Simpaug Farms’ herd on August 14th. Both mother and baby are doing fine. At just one week old Rosoce is already sporting bling in the season’s hottest color.
It’s Shark Week!
Zucchini Megalodon in honor of Shark Week’s 25th anniversary!
Tangy Kale Chips
My kids love these chips and I include them in all of their care packages. Tahini is pureed sesame seeds and has a peanut butter like taste. It can be found in your local health food store along with the nutritional yeast that adds a cheesy flavor.
Ingredients
- 2 large bunches of kale (I prefer green leafy kale but you can use lacinato aka dinosaur kale)
- 1/2-3/4 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 1-2 cloves garlic
- juice of one lemon
- pinch of sea salt
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- handful of herbs (I prefer parsley)
Methods/steps
- Wash kale thoroughly and remove the thickest part of the stem. Tear kale into larger than bite size pieces and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
- Combine all other ingredients in a blender until smooth.
- Spoon mixture over kale and massage it in with your hands making sure to thoroughly coat all of the kale with the sauce.
- Place kale on a baking sheet in your oven for an hour at 200 degrees. Check them periodically and adjust the time until they are crisp. OR
- Spread kale on dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 115 degrees for about 8 hours. I like to make them in the evening and put them in my dehydrator right before bed so that they are done in the morning when we wake up.