CSA Week 10

From the Farmer’s Wife

Week 10

  Hello once again from Colvin Family Farm. It’s still dry and hot here and the men are sprawled on the front porch trying to get their gumption up to weed the fields and finish the mowing…some just opted to go berry picking! Ha ha! When it feels like this I think everyone slows down.

   We are still praying for rain. Steve, your farmer, is the song leader/choir director at our church (Victory Baptist Church in Dayton, TN…Please come visit us!) and we sang “There shall be showers of blessing, oh that today they might fall…” We drove through a whopper of a shower on the way home but it only sprinkled here. Steve reminds us that “every good and perfect gift cometh from above”, rain or no rain. We are thankful!

   The farm kitchen has been humming with activity this week. I often cook a month or more of meals to help with busy evenings. So, as we enter canning season along with farming I am busy making 90 plus meals to organize in my new 24.9 cubic foot freezer. How fun!

   The monster squash I mentioned last week in my letter are appearing again. I’ve canned 18 pints for winter meals. I’ve got a new zucchini recipe to try out that uses shredded zucchini and if it’s a hit as it has been predicted, I’ll need to can more. I’ll share it with you after it passes the Colvin crew’s taste test.

   This week we get to add cabbage to your shares. Carrots are shaping up and we hope they’ll be ready soon. They really need water to grow straight, so keep the prayers coming. We are singing rain songs whenever lightening lights the evening sky. Last night as I nursed Charity Rose on my little (5 ft. long) porch off my bedroom there were two kinds of lightening that lit up the sky…a storm was approaching (and then turned) and lightening bugs were flittering around the back yard near the pond. It was a gift from God to see things through a child’s eye.

   I know I’m wearing the topic out, but now you have a new additive to your stir fries…changing the cabbage and possibly adding carrots changes the character of the meal. Have you tried using your bean sprouts in your stir fries yet? Wait until the last few minutes to add them as they need little cooking and you want to preserve their vitamin and mineral content. Some people like to rinse the green “hull” off, but I like the added fiber content. These are the same sprouts you buy in the Chinese section of the grocery store canned. If you need the directions again for stir fries, look at From the Farmer’s Wife week 5.

   I like “casseroles” that can be made up ahead of time and set in the refrigerator for cooking at a later time. This cabbage recipe is good for Sunday dinner. On Saturday we (Caleb and I are on Sunday cooking) put a meal together to pop into the oven before we leave for church. Upon returning home we are greeted by the inviting aroma of a meal ready to eat! That way we really enjoy a day of rest!

Baked Pork Chops With Cabbage

4 pork chops

2 T. lard/canola oil

¼ C. diced onion

1 C. cream of celery soup (I use a white sauce with sautéed celery in it)

½ C. milk

3 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced

5 C. Shredded cabbage

¼ C. Flour

1 ½ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

   Brown chops in hot oil; remove from skillet. Add onion, soup and milk to oil in skillet. Blend; set aside. Starting with potatoes, put alternate layers of potatoes and cabbage into a 2-qt. casserole; sprinkle each layer with flour, salt and pepper; pour soup/seasoned white sauce over each layer. Place chops on top; cover casserole. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 ¼ hours. If you’ll be gone to church like we are longer than 1 ¼ hours, adjust the temperature of your stove to 275 degrees for 2 hours or more.

   There are so many kinds of Cole Slaw, but the only ones I dislike are the store bought variety that shows up too often at church suppers. Why don’t people take the time to cook anymore?! I was discussing this with my niece this week as she is going to teach basic courses at a community college this summer…child safety…basic cooking…house keeping skills, etc. These are the skills all mothers should be passing on to their children! This generation has missed out on these “basic” family life skills because we are too busy running…work, school, ball games, day care, camp, ballet lessons, shopping, Internet carousing, karate lessons, clubs, etc.  Parents, during the “slower” days of summer, consider the next school year. Is your home life peaceful? If not, what is hampering your family’s peace? If you are tired of running, and want to pass on to your children the life skills they will need to succeed learn to say, “No” to the many demands on your family’s time. Make a list of things you’d like to replace the outside activities with…life skills, family read aloud time, tutoring your child yourself,  family game night, etc. Then if you teach them the importance of family meal time, they will be different than most young adults who pick up their meals at the local deli or restaurant or from the frozen food section of the grocery store, when they are on their own. We can rekindle the family fire. 

   This is our basic cabbage slaw that is the mainstay in our farm kitchen. Like many of my recipes it doesn’t call for expensive ingredients that I don’t usually keep in my pantry. This is a fun recipe to do with a child. We don’t use a food processor for most of our cutting jobs, giving us a finished product that also looks homemade.

The Farmer’s Wife Cabbage Slaw

3 cups cabbage

½ cup carrot, shredded

1/8 cup green pepper, chopped (can be optional)

1. Combine cabbage, carrot, and pepper.
2. Blend dressing. Stir lightly into vegetable mixture; chill.

Slaw Dressing

½ C. mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 Tbsp. vinegar

½ tsp. prepared mustard (I leave this out.)

1 tsp. celery seed

   Every once in a while I get the urge to make a dish that takes more time…something special for the ones I love. This is one of those special dishes in my eyes…great for company or to satisfy my urge to make a special meal. Unless you are serving 8-10 people, or freezing half for another meal cut the recipe in half.

Farmhouse Stuffed Cabbage

1 head cabbage with large leaves

1 onion, minced

1 lb. ground beef, turkey, or venison

1 cup rice, cooked

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

¼ cup tomato paste

½ cup water

1 cup cultured sour cream

1. Remove large outer leaves (8-10) from cabbage and cook in boiling salt water for 3 minutes. Drain.
2. Brown hamburger and onion together. Stir in cooked rice, egg, salt and pepper.
3. Separate evenly hamburger rice mixture on cabbage leaves. Roll up and fasten with toothpick. Place in greased baking dish.
4. Stir together tomato paste, water and sour cream. Then pour over cabbage rolls.
5. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.

    I’ve found a new website that has been an encouragement to me this week. A friend referred me to Homestead Blessings to get a recipe using zucchini that her family loved. On their home page I heard  the West Ladies singing a song entitled “Green Beans in the Garden” . “Yes, there’s green beans in the garden, clean clothes on the line, We’ve  got little barefoot children playin’ beneath the grape vine. The sun is shining bright, and the creek is bubblin’ too, I’ve got a lot to be thankful for and Lord I want to thank you!” Learning to sing this song (just the chorus so far) has helped me to keep my focus on what is right in my life and not to dwell on the difficult and negative. I’d like to encourage you to google Homestead Blessings to hear this song. I pray the website is a blessing to you too. God is ALWAYS good!

   Adam wanted me to give instructions on how to use sprouts again. I know we have a lot of folks that joined after the second week when I spent a lot of time giving advice on their use. So instead of me rewriting the information, I will have him search the old hard drive (a computer died that week) and upload them and other issues of the Farmer’s Wife to our website.

   Last week when the trailer (it goes to Farragut Farmer’s Market) finally got home I was horrified to see the few leftover bags of small sprout mixture (alfalfa, red clover, and radish)! The Ziploc bags had been in the heat for too long and had blown up like little balloons! The sprouts inside were close to mush and definitely inedible! I PRAY your sprouts get to you in MUCH better condition!  We are working on a solution for the summer heat and small sprout problem.  In the meantime, if you pick up your share while running errands, please remember to put a cooler in your car to preserve the freshness and vitamin content of your vegetables. 

   If you’d like to keep the sprouts coming in your shares, “Vote SPROUT” on our website at customer support. We love to hear your comments and read about your experiences! It encourages us to keep going.

  God is good to put special people in our lives at times when we really need their friendship. Carol is one godly lady that God put in my life when I had 3 children 3 years and under! She packed up the children and myself and took us to a weekly Bible study that allowed me to be with adults and learn to dig further in God’s Word. Every time I had a baby, or when we were all sick she would also make us a special meal with her special regional Louisiana recipes. This slaw recipe was so special to me…maybe it was because I didn’t have to make it, but it has held a special place in my mind for years. The only thing I could remember was it took Rice Vinegar…a staple for her, but an “exotic” ingredient for me. Well, I finally broke down and bought some when the cabbage started to head, and called Carol for her recipe. She cooks by feel, so I had to play with my little head of cabbage  (for us it is small) to make a recipe…here is my long awaited Louisiana Slaw.

Louisiana Slaw

1 medium head of cabbage, approximately 6 cups, cut very finely

1/3 shredded onion

½ cup Marukan Seasoned Gourmet Rice Vinegar (found at Bi-Lo)

1 cup canola oil

Salt to taste

Coarse grade pepper, to taste

   Combine finely sliced cabbage and shredded onion in a medium bowl. Sprinkle approximately ½ teaspoon salt and coarse pepper over cabbage mixture; mix. In a small bowl combine oil and rice vinegar. Combine oil and vinegar dressing over cabbage. Stir. Let marinate in the refrigerator at least one hour. ENJOY! 

   As usual our favorite way to eat cabbage is simply steamed with a pad of butter on it. This is one of farmer Steve’s favorite vegetables, and he likes things simple. Again, we have waterless cookware, so adjust the amount of water needed to steam your cabbage. Do not soak your vegetables in water to cook them. This makes great vegetable broth for soups, but I’d rather eat the vitamins in the vegetables!

Steamed Cabbage

Cabbage, chopped

Water

Butter to season

               Put chopped cabbage and needed water (start with 1”) in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and cook, covered, approximately 5 minutes or until tender crisp. Serve with a pad of butter to season.

   I just found out that you will be receiving a share of new carrots this week! How exciting! I have really enjoyed the samples they’ve pulled to gauge the size of the crop over the past few weeks. I’ve been grating them over our salads and in my salad wraps. Home grown carrots have such a distinctively unique taste that I would hate to cover it up with fancy sauces and spices. Enjoy their just pulled from the earth, farm fresh taste!

                                                                     

 Steamed Carrots

Bring about 1 inch of water to a boil. Add 4 c. sliced carrots and 1 tsp. salt. Return to a boil and simmer, covered approximately 10 minutes or to your desired tenderness. Serve with butter if desired.

   Tonight with supper we had carrot sticks along with our meal. Little Levi (4) eats them by the handful! I like to have these in the refrigerator when available for quick snacks. Children can learn to enjoy fruit and vegetable snacks instead of sugary or salty ones. When cucumbers ripen I’ll keep cucumber wedges for snacks also…then soon following that are cherry tomatoes. (I don’t have to even keep these in the kitchen…they eat them off the vine!) These are child-friendly snacks at their very best!

   We are growing some things in our gardens that are new to even me. (Not that I’m an expert with vegetables…) In my second garden I grew fennel…disliked the licorice taste, never learned to use it, and never grew it again. Today (Friday morning) a fennel bulb with its beautiful fronds appeared on my hutch. I knew I was about to learn about it whether I wanted to or not… “Mom, include a fennel cookie, Okay?”  was discussed at breakfast. Fennel cookies?? Now I’ve done some research on fennel..not one good fennel cookie recipe to be found. One reviewed got zero stars and the second got a whopping, iffy  three!!  The reviewer said, “Great if you like fennel. I would add something to make it a bit more moist as my dough was very dry and hard to ball-up. Will make again for a few special friends that like that strong taste but it's sure not for everyone.” Cookies also call for the seed, we are harvesting the fennel bulb and herb. So, let’s learn together!

     “Fennel’s history is as rich as its flavor!  For centuries fennel has been used as a food, medicine, herb, and even a insect repellant! In ancient Greece, fennel was used in religious ceremonies. Grown in the temple gardens, it graced the heads of the worshippers. The ancient Egyptians, greeks, and Romans believed fennel an excellent aid for digestion, bronchial troubles, poor eyesight, and nervous conditions. Today in India, fennel seed is used for seasoning as well as chewed after the meal as a breath freshener and digestive aid. Nutritionally, fennel is very low in calories, but offers significant vitiamin A and calcium, potassium, and iron.” From asparagus to Zucchini p.78 An ancient recipe from Spencers The Vegetable Book sounds very interesting. Columella, a Spainaiard who served in the Roman army in Syria in AD 60 is quoted as saying, “Mix fennel with toasted sesame, anise, and cumin then mix that with pureed dried fig and wrap in fig leaves and then store in jars to preserve.” Now that sounds interesting!

Storage for Fennel:

  Store in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks..  If space is a problem, remove the long fronds to store just he fennel bulb. If you are saving the delicate leaves, they will go limp. Wrap them in a moist towel and refrigerate.

   Some Ideas For Use:

·         Wash fennel bulb, trimming off any damaged areas or woody parts of the stalk.

·         Use in any recipe that calls for celery. They are interchangeable.

·         Sprinkle chopped fennel leaves on hot baked potatoes.

·         Add cooked fennel to omelets, quiches, stuffings, or sauces.

·         Add stalks to stocks to for their flavor.

·         Cook fennel in your favorite tomato sauce.

·         Place stalks and leaves on barbeque coals as they do in France. The fennel scent permeates the grilled food.

·         Slice steamed or blanched fennel, cover with vinaigrette and serve chilled.

·         Chop raw fennel and add to tuna fish sandwiches.

·         Slice fennel thin and layer iwith raw potatoes, cream and cheese to make a potato au gratin.

·         Try using the feathery leaves as fresh herb for seasoning. Try using it in place of dill.

·         They say it is excellent on baked or broiled fish with butter and lemon…we’ll soon find out!

   Since becoming a full-time farmer’s wife I am committed to learning to use the vegetables we grow. So after research, this is what we’ll be trying this week.

Roasted Fennel

2 fennel bulbs (thick base of stalk), stalks cut off, bulbs sliced

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub just enough olive oil over the fennel to coat. Sprinkle on some balsamic vinegar, also to coat. Line baking dish with aluminum foil. Lay out piece of fennel and roast for 15-20 minutes, until the fennel is cooked through and beginning to caramelize. Serves 4

Greek Burgers   *****

1 cup mayonnaise

2 teaspoons minced garlic

2 pounds ground lamb

¼ cup bread crumbs

1 bulb fennel, chipped

3 tablespoons shallots, minced (I’ll substitute green onions.)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon salt

ground black pepper to taste

8 hamburger buns

   In a small bowl, mix together mayonnaise and minced garlic. Cover, and regfrigerate for at least 2 hours. Preheat grill for high heat. Mix together lamb, bread crumbs, fennel, shallots, oregano, and salt. Form into ¾ inch thick patties, and sprinkle black pepper over surfaces. Brush grate with oil, and place burgers on grill. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes per side, turning once, or until done. Serve on buns with garlic mayonnaise.

Baked Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Fennel ****1/2

1 pound hot Italian sausage links

1 16 oz. package rigatoni pasta

1 24 oz.  jar marinara sauce (I’ll do an online search for a recipe.)

1 bulb fennel, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 roasted red bell pepper, chopped

½ yellow onion, chopped

¼ cup chopped fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup grated Asiago cheese (What’s that?? I guess I’ll learn about that also.)

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook until almost tender, about 10 minutes.

2.     2. Fry the sausages in a large skillet over medium heat, turning frequently until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove from the skillet, cool slightly and slice into rounds. Add the garlic, fennel and onion to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook and stir for about 5 minutes, then add the roasted red peppers, basil, sliced sausage and pastea sauce. Heat through over low heat until warmed.

3.     Combinethe pasta with the sauce and vegetables in a 9 X 13 inch baking dish. Spread the mozzarella, Parmesand and Asiago cheeses over the top. Garnish with a few fennel leaves left from the bulb. Cover with aluminum foil.

4.     Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, then remove the aluminum foil. Set the oven to broil and cook for another 5 minutes or until cheese is browned.

Simple Marinara Sauce

• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 Tbs[/ basil garlic olive oil (see recipe for this below)
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 2 (28 oz) cans diced tomatoes in juices
• 1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley or basil (or both)

1. Saute the onions in olive oil until soft, about 7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and saute for another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the Italian seasoning and cook for another minute.
4. Add the tomato products and the parsley and/or basil. Let simmer for 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
5. When finished simmering, puree with immersion blender until smooth - if desired.

Basil Garlic Olive Oil

1.      Cut a head of garlic in half lengthwise. Rub a small amount of olive oil on the top and bottom and wrap the package in aluminum foil. Place the whole business in a 350F oven for approximately 30 minutes.

2.     You can certainly wait for the garlic to cool down to prevent burning your finger tips, but it is much easier to pry the roasted cloves from the head when it is piping hot before all the stickiness solidifies and makes a gooey mess of everything.

3.     Empty the roasted garlic into a mortar. I like to use my mortar and pestle in this application because it insures complete destruction of the cell walls and ergo the release of all the essential oils in the garlic cloves. A small bowl or glass and a heavy spoon or bread knife would make a good substitute in a pinch.

4.     Grind into a paste. Once the garlic has been sufficiently massacred add it to chopped basil and volume of oil you hope to infuse. Bring the sauce pan to a low simmer over medium-low heat. Try to keep the temperature even and on the stove for at least 30 minutes. If you are using less-than-stellar cookware this *WILL* require supervision and flame adjustment up and down - trust me it'll all be worth it in the end...

5.     Now let your new secret ingredient cool off and start thinking about enhancing a tried and true recipe or just pull out a baguette and top liberally. YUM!

  This recipe sounds like one I should do on a slower day, not on picking and packing day!

   Here is a recipe to store for a while until the cucumbers come in.

Fennel Cucumber Salsa *****

2 medium cucumbers

1 large fennel bulb, diced

1 avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced

½ red onion, chopped

½ cup pickled banana peppers, diced

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 tablespoons honey

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper to taste

   Combine the cucumber, fennel, avocado, red onion, banana peppers, cilantro, honey, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl. Allow mixture to sit 30 minutes before serving.

   Well, our week is winding down I’ve been canning, mending, (Six pairs of overalls and jeans now have patches…where else?...on their knees from weeding and harvesting!) growing sprouts for your shares, and cooking large batches of meals for the freezer. Praise God there is never a dull moment around the farm! I pray you and your family will enjoy your shares together. Please keep praying for rain, it is sorely needed.

“And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Galatians 6:9

                                    

Abundant Blessings,

Your Farmer’s Wife,

Val Colvin

CSA Week 7

     Howdy ya’ll! Time is quickly approaching for us to meet! I am excited about your visit to “your” farm. God richly blessed us with our heart’s desire of a farm in 1999 after 18 years of praying. So every time I see a wild flower blooming or a new species of bird on our place, it is like a new gift from His generous open hand.

     As I write this I miss my home…most of our family is at an old fashioned camp meeting on Sand Mountain in Georgia. For the first time our oldest boys are not with us full time as they are fully committed to the farm, and serving you. What a blessing for a Momma to have sons that are dedicated to family and to the farm! We’ll regroup in time to spend a long day Friday gathering your shares.

   Before I left for the camp meeting I began to experiment with beets on the grill. How fun! I even steamed some of them and put them in the refrigerator whole (skins still on) for quick meals. During the week as I wanted them, I would pull them out, quickly slip the skins off by gently squeezing them, took off the top and taproot with a paring knife and use them in whatever recipe I wanted…but grilling them became my favorite way. (Can you tell I am enjoying my new grill?)

    There are soooo many ways to use beets! Their sweet and “earthy” taste pair up with so many other vegetables and fruit (like pineapple).  (I’m inserting this Friday evening…today after packing your shares there was 3 stray beets, 1 turnip and 1 kohlrabi left over. I steamed them, combined them and put a pad of butter over it. What a combination! It was a treat to the eye as well as the pallet!) The greens and bulbs are high in beta-carotene, vitamin C, iron and calcium. I encourage people to stay away from all the “healthy” supplements and just eat right! These nutrients are best assimilated into our bodies from natural sources, not a chemically based pill!

       I would like to help you also to preserve your bounty for the winter ahead. Even if you just have a small freezer, you can freeze your beets for the winter. We just invested into a 24.9 cubic foot freezer, slightly larger than our 29 year old one! When I don’t have a lot of one vegetable to put up, I freeze. Otherwise, if the vegetable cans well, I can or dry most of our produce. Beets are simple to preserve. How to freeze beets: Remove tops, leaving ½ inch stem. Wash, steam/or cook in minimal water for 25 minutes until andante. Cool, peel, slice, shred, or cube. Pack in appropriate size freezer bags. Freeze flat on a cookie sheet. When frozen you can stack flat, saving space.

     When you receive beets in your share, you are really getting two “different” vegetables…the bulbs and the greens. (The boys cut the beet greens off the beats today.)  If you aren’t cooking them both for one meal, don’t throw the other out! Put in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Your beets will keep for weeks if you want to freeze a larger batch or you know you’ll have company coming in a few weeks.

     Read through the entire recipe for Double the Blessing Beets, it took a lot of words to describe how to make them, but they are easy and quick to make.

DOUBLE THE BLESSING BEETS

1 Bunch beets with the greens

1 inch salted water (we use sea salt) in a medium sauce pan

1 inch water in a “2 qt.” sauce pan

Optional: 1 egg, boiled, shelled, and cubed

     Trim off all but 1-inch of the greens, set aside. Wash beets, leaving the tap root on the beet. Place in 2 quart sauce pan. Bring to a boil. While beets are boiling, wash the greens, Roll a few leaves up together and place on a cutting board. Slice the greens into ½ inch pieces crosswise, then a few times lengthwise. Set aside. Once the beets begin to boil reduce heat and simmer gently, partially covered, until beets are just tender. Medium to small beets take about 30 minutes. Drain and cool, trim stem and root, peel by gently slipping off the skin with a paring knife. Cube. Set back in the saucepan with a “pad” of butter and let sit while you steam your greens. Steam or stir fry your greens for 3-4 minutes until wilted, but not mush. Pour greens onto a serving platter. Sprinkle cubed beets over the greens. Optional: Sprinkle cubed boiled eggs over the mixture for a high protein garnish.

     If you follow my suggestion to cook your beets and store the bulbs in the refrigerator here are a few ideas to use them as a quick side dish mid-week.

·          Simply slip the peel off the bulb, slice, and reheat quickly in the microwave or better yet, on the stove top. Serve with a small pad of butter on each serving.

·          If you are grilling, slip the peel off, slice larger ones into medium cubes, leaving small ones whole, and spear onto a bamboo or other Ka-bob stick. Lay the beet kabob on the grill and reheat. I like to put slices of onion between each beet. This makes a special side dish.

·          If you have a vegetable tray for your grill, try just grilling sliced beets. As the summer goes on we can add summer squash, onions, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, etc. Slip the skins off, and slice the beets. Spray your vegetable grill plate with “Pam”. Grill till heated through. Try planning a whole meal using your grill, its fun!

·          Dice peeled beets into a macaroni salad, or top a fresh green salad.

As soon as things settle down when we get home I am going to try:

BEET “POTATO” CHIPS

1 qt. canola oil

3 medium beets

Coarse sea salt

In a large, wide pot heat oil to 375 degrees (oil should be 1 inch deep). Meanwhile, peel beets and slice them as thinly and evenly as possible. A kitchen mandolin or food processor is helpful but not needful. A sharp knife and a steady hand will do the trick. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet near the stove to drain beets after cooking. Place a few slices at a time in the hot oil. Let fry till crisp. Remove to rack and sprinkle with salt. These are bound to be better than the ones in the store…the problem will be warding off the boys until they are all fried!

     Well, we’re home now and we are all a bit damp as it has been STORMING. The family has rallied to harvest your shares and is working on cleaning and packing. Let me just say a word about our cleaning. We are a family farm, not a mega farm. We “field wash”, which means, PLEASE wash your vegetables before using. They look pretty, but the water didn’t when we were washing them. J

     When you come to visit Thursday, please bring your side dish with the recipe written out on a 3 X 5” card. Everyone will benefit from your efforts, even the Market Square’s new cookbook!! Please also bring lawn chairs, cameras, and wear appropriate footwear.

     

    

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. “ Matthew 11:28-30

                                           Abundant Blessings,

                                           Your Farmer’s Wife    II 

CSA Week 6

Greetings once again from our mountain farm…Colvin Family Farm! I pray you are not getting tired of my constant chatter. J I can’t wait to meet each of you when you visit on June 17^th. I love the stories my men bring home…the school teacher that didn’t do her homework, but earned extra credit by including a picture and description of her first share  on her blog; the jolly seemingly carefree couple that delights in picking up their share; the thoughtful shareholder that sent flowers for me, and the stories go on and on. I pray you are all enjoying the challenge of belonging to a CSA, and not any CSA, but OURS!

     I was excited about this week’s vegetable (beets) until the boys returned from the field and changed it to turnips. “Hmmmm”, I thought, “Turnips are not very exciting!” So now I’m going to try and make them exciting. Next week I have some neat recipes for beets. I guess I’ll have time to experiment with my new grill and beets…oh, I’ve let the secret loose!

      As I thought about turnips, I remember back over the years to some of the “old timer’s” gardens here on the mountain. People don’t garden now like the old timers once did. Steve’s uncle once brought me A LOT (and that’s saying something if I think it’s a lot) of turnip and collard greens. On the bottom of those turnip greens were the most beautiful turnips. He proceeded to pull out his knife (all “real” mountain men carry them) and peal a turnip for the children to eat, “like apples”. They were sweet and of course the children relished every bite. I spent the next few days canning all those greens (and all the greens he left at kinfolk’s homes, as no one wanted theirs) for the long coming winter. I know it added up to over 100 quarts! Those greens became one of our mainstays for the winter. If you are on a budget, or simply a wise consumer, you’ll learn to can/freeze/dry the bounty of the harvest.  Many a mountain family had a large patch of turnip greens in the fall. It looked like they just sowed them like a cover crop. None of these folks ever went wanting, for they learned to “make it do, do without, or wear it out.”

     The boy’s won’t know until this is printed that I’m going to sneak a snap pea recipe or two in here. We LOVE snap peas. For years, I grew two kinds of peas…snow peas and English peas. Snow peas didn’t stay around long since we all loved them and my 8 little boys thought they were their personal snack growing outdoors for them. We included them in our stir fries and also our egg rolls (very untraditional egg rolls…we call them Colvinese). Then the English peas took HOURS to shell and get one meal! Now I love the old path picture I have in my mind of sitting on the porch shelling peas for supper…but I have too much to do to spend so much time with very little results.  (Another time I’ll just have to tell ya’ll about the afternoon we decided toill a chicken for supper like the old mountain women used to do! But that’s another story for another letter.) Snap peas were a delight to discover. We raised them in our raised beds…..little ones still sit hidden in the rows and munch on the bounty just hanging too temptingly at their eye level, but who can begrudgea darling 2 and 4 year olds a few peas? They get the rare opportunity to see God’s hand blessing them. They are a delight to see and eat. Nowadays I still sit on the porch preparing my peas for supper…snap the ends off and any string that may be there will come off with the stem. But now, I don’t cook a fraction of what I picked!

     If you happen to know you won’t use what is given you in a coming week, just simply freeze your share of snap peas. If you do this a couple of times during the season you can do as the Colvin family did this past Christmas…enjoy snap peas!  To freeze your peas, wash and remove stems and strings (pull stem end gently down the side of the pea) leaving the pea whole. Blanch (place in boiling water, return to a boil and set timer for 2 minutes). Coool immediately in a sink or large bowl of ice water. Place on towels to air dry. Package in freezer bags, label, then freeze flat on a cookie tray. When they are frozen you can either store upright or lay flat compactly.

Now ya’ll have probably come to see that I’m a plain country cook. I learned from the old mountain women who didn’t know about all these fancy ingredients that are shipped in from all parts of the world. Our family likes simple…so my recipes will reflect that. The Bok Choy salad was a real stretch for my men!  Snap peas can easily be used in most recipes that call for snow peas. Raw is best, so try to make your share stretch by adding them as toppers to your fresh salads. Include a handful when you sauté your Bok Choy. But we enjoy them best steamed or stir fried all alone with a touch of butter. If your children are reluctant vegetable eaters, read them the part of the letter that describes how my little ones eat them in the garden. Put a few in a small bowl and let them try them this way as a snack .  When they visit the farm we’ll let them sit and munch a few straight from the vine! The basic stir fry recipe I gave you last week should come in handy this summer. You now have one more vegetable to add! Soon there will be many more. J

Simple Steamed Snap Peas

Aproximately 2 cups snap peas, ends and strings removed

Enough water to steam (I have waterless cookware, so I have a hard time dictating amounts needed.)

     Steam lightly, (preferably in a steamer basket if you don’t have waterless cookware) Do not drench with water. The vitamin/mineral content goes into the water and you have watery tasting vegetables.

Simple Stir Fried Snap Peas

Wash and remove ends and strings from approximately 2 cups of snap peas. In a heavy skillet or wok, add 1-2 Tablespoons olive or canola oil. When the wok is heated, add your peas. Stir constantly until the peas take on a bright green luster and are al Dante. Optional: Add fresh or canned mushrooms, sliced onions, or garlic.

     We’ve had another busy week on the farm. The Lord has been good to send the needed showers, for you see, we don’t have modern irrigation yet. It is a goal we are working towards, but for now, we pray a lot and have a dozen watering cans hanging from the beam in the packing shed. The crops are looking beautiful, and so are the weeds. The guys (all ages) spend HOURS hoeing and pulling weeds within the beds. Levi (4) now is an experienced weeder. He saw an onion bed that had a few weeds in it and told his Daddy so. Farmer Steve promptly told him to do something about it then. He dropped his little two wheel bike and weeded the bed! Now that he has showed himself faithful he even has his own hoe! Ours is an old-fashioned farm compared the farms around us and God is blessing our efforts. On Memorial Day we had our church family out for a cookout and worship service.  It is always a blessing to see our farm through other’s eyes.

     Okay, on to the unromantic turnips. Basic instructions to cook them go like this: “Bring 1-inch of water to a boil. Add 3-4 cups cubed turnips and ½-1 teaspoon salt or to taste. Return to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10-15 minutes. Cook small whole turnips approximately 20 minutes. Serve plain, buttered, or with white or cheese sauce.” The Practical Produce Cookbook page 286. I like to treat them like white potatoes and mash them with a good pad of butter to flavor.

     I do have a new recipe I will try. With sugar included it should be a hit.  We buy our natural cane juice crystals in bulk 50 pound bags. Something similar is found in most grocery stores if you want to add vitamin and minerals to your sweet dishes.

Glazed Turnips

3 cups diced peeled turnips

¼ cup water

1 cube chicken bouillon

1 Tablespoon butter or more as needed

2 Tablespoons “white sugar”

     Place the turnips into a skillet with the water and chicken bouillon cube over medium heat, and simmer until the water has evaporated and the turnips are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the butter, let melt, and sprinkle on the sugar. Gently cook and stir the turnips until the butter and sugar cook into a brown sticky coating on the turnips, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Amount per serving: Calories 79/ Total Fat 3g/ Cholesterol 8 mg

    Again, my visit is about over. Please remember to put June 17^th on your calendar! We are looking forward to your visit. I’m excited about learning from YOU during your visit. We’ll be having a recipe contest that evening. Start experimenting and bring your family’s favorite dish you have made with what you receive as a share that week. (Extra vegetables will be available so you can cook a large side dish to bring.) We’ll provide the meat, drinks, and dessert.  For more details of our first shareholders field day, Review the e-mail we recently sent out.. RSVP needed as soon as possible. Please be faithful to respond positive or negative on our website.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, tht shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption: but he tht soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” Galatians 6:7,8

Abundant Blessings,

Your Farmer’s Wife,

CSA Week 5

   It is a blessing to our family to be “your farmer”. We have a blessed life working and learning together as a family. Sometimes it takes someone else pointing out the blessings to us when we are in the midst of a long day of picking and packing. Last week, as we were packing your vegetables and those for market sales, a government weights and measures inspector came to the farm to test our scales. Mr. Matthews, the inspector, is 82 and has seen many a farm. I first greeted the elderly gentleman with a heavy farm duck jacket on (hood and all!) with a cold handshake, as I was packing 50 pounds of baby spinach in the walk-in cooler. He stayed for a long time, seeming to enjoy himself a lot. He kept telling me (I was making wild flower arrangements by then.) how rare it was to see whole families working together, what a joy it was to watch everyone busy at their appointed tasks, and what a beautiful farm we had. He acted like he didn’t want to leave…After giving him a large loaf of fresh bread and sending greetings to his wife, Mary, he left. For me the “fog” of a long, busy day (that ended at 3:40 A.M.) had been lifted. The Lord sent an “angel” out to be an encouragement to us. We pack vegetables on three days a week, but Friday is our busiest day by far as we are packing for 3 markets and your shares. If you think of it, pray for our family on that day…especially in the evening.

     The farmer’s wife took a semi-vacation this week. I only sprouted lentils for table sales. If you have enjoyed the sprouts, be on the lookout for them next week. I bought 25 pounds of seed for each of the following: mung beans, lentils, alfalfa, clover, and radish. They may only be available through direct sale, we’ll see.

      I spent my “free time” this week sewing three play dresses and thirteen pairs of pantaloons for my girls. Free time is a relative term to a Momma, and especially to a farmer’s wife. My job is to listen to the vision for the farm my husband and young men have, and do all I can to make them a success…from praying diligently for them to banding onions and radish, sitting by Steve at 2 A.M. to finish up sorting the lettuce. And of course there is the laundry, (around 30 loads a week) countless loaves of bread baked, and meals that disappear so quickly I wonder if they ever happened! It’s a high calling from our Lord, and I love to serve Him! He has set me in a beautiful place to serve Him! Where else can I work and watch the mist burn off a field first thing in the morning, or listen to a whippoorwill make his rounds calling as he goes? Fringe benefits for a farmer’s wife come in little dirty hands filled with wild flowers, or a growing young man leaning over to give me a kiss on my cheek as he hands me a bag of spinach or asparagus he “acquired” for me from the walk-in while packing. One of the biggest benefits I have in this “job” is laying down at night and feeling the contentment I have to know I have worked alongside the God of creation all day…and his benefit of a being given a good night’s sleep. Soon I pray I will have the benefit of meeting you, the shareholders we serve.

     This week you’ll find Joy Choy Chinese Cabbage in your shares. Like I’ve written before, these greens are versatile! Adam’s favorite way to eat Bok Choy is explained in one of the first letters I wrote you with Sautéed Swiss Chard. I experimented with a new recipe this week that my great Aunt from New Hampshire sent me. Since the directions were sparse, I now know how to make it better. I like the sweet/sour taste, but Farmer Steve says he would leave the sugar out. Experiment and have fun!

Bok Choy Salad

½ cup slivered or sliced almonds

1 package of Ramen Noodles, crunched and without seasoning packet

¼ cup sesame seeds

¼ cup butter

1 small head of Joy Choi Cabbage (or any variety of Chinese cabbage)

3 green onions

Melt butter and add first 4 ingredients. Brown carefully not letting seeds burn. Next cut up cabbage and onions, set aside.

Mix:

¼ cup oil

2 Tablespoons vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

¼ cup sugar (I used natural cane crystals)

1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce (I used natural Tamari)

45 minutes before serving mix all ingredients thoroughly. Cool in the refrigerator, stirring if needed.  Option- Add cooled, diced cooked chicken to make a complete meal.

I grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico on an Army Navy base. Our neighbor’s wife was from Korea. She taught my mother how to stir fry, and we enjoyed her classic oriental cooking. So, I grew up with many dishes that a “normal” child of the 60’s and 70’s didn’t usually experience. So, my first thought of Bok Choy is of all the stir fry dishes I enjoy at the Chinese Buffet Restaurant.  Farmer Steve enjoys stir fry also and we hope you will too. Below I share my basic stir fry recipe with you…each one I make is a little different, depending on what I have on hand. I believe it’s important for a CSA shareholder to learn many new ways to prepare vegetables so they don’t go to waste. It’s an exciting challenge!  This recipe will help you on the day you clean out the refrigerator and prepare for a new share to come home. On the other hand, this also is a great meal to prepare ahead of time. It cooks in minutes once preparation work is done. Quantities in this recipe are basic guidelines. The Chinese cabbage is the filler, so adjust how much you will need when you actually start cooking. Leftovers can be easily sautéed later for another meal. Chinese cooking, like partnering with our farm, is an experience!  IMPORTANT: cut the ginger in slices that can be easily removed after cooking. It was a family joke as a child to see who bit the ginger slice! I was always on the lookout after the first time I found it the hard way!                                                                                 

 Basic Stir Fry

3 Tablespoons oil, roughly divided

2 cups of boneless meat (chicken, pork, beef, or shrimp) cut in thin strips

2 thin slices of fresh ginger (can use powdered if fresh is unavailable)

About 2 cups of bouillon the same flavor as the meat

3-4 Tablespoons Cornstarch

          A variety of vegetables cut in the same thickness: Onions, (a must) broccoli, snap or snow peas, mushrooms, green beans, cauliflower, sprouted lentils or mung beans, carrots, summer squash, baby corn, green/red peppers, tomatoes, Chinese Cabbage, etc.

          Cut your choice of meat into small pieces. This is put into a small bowl (sometimes with a 1/3 cup of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of garlic powder, and two tablespoons of cider vinegar to marinade). Using a large round tray (adapt to fit what you have). Put your small bowl of meat in the middle of your tray. Now, cut the vegetables in bite sized chunks of similar thickness. I start with the seasoning vegetables like ginger and onions. I put these on the tray at 12:00. Next, I cut the vegetable that takes the longest to cook, usually carrots. Then in descending order of cooking time, place the vegetables around the tray to the mushrooms or tomatoes if they are available. Each vegetable is placed on the tray around like a clock face…the carrots usually are at 1, and the mushrooms are around 11. If this is cut up ahead of time, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until cooking time.

     Our family likes this on a bed of rice, so I start my rice cooker around 45 minutes before supper. When the table is set and the rice is about done, heat your wok or large skillet up on HIGH. Add 1 T oil, then meat. When the meat has lost its color, remove to your small bowl again. Next, add the remaining oil and your seasoning vegetables (ginger and onions). Sauté for about one minute. Add vegetables in order on your tray, stirring constantly and leaving a few minutes between the carrots and the next vegetable until all vegetables (except tomatoes if you are using them) are being stirred. When your arm grows weary, add the bouillon water. Cover and let steam to desired tenderness, remembering Chinese stir fries are cooked al dente!  Add your bowl of meat and its juices. Add tomatoes at this point if you are using them.  Lastly, add cornstarch as needed to broth to thicken gravy. Serve immediately over a bed of rice or Chow Mein Noodles.

     Time for me to eat “humble pie”. ..No recipe needed, just a humbled spirit. Last week I gave you the family favorite recipe for spinach salad. We have so enjoyed it again this year. When I went to make it I thought I’d look at the “From the Farmer’s Wife” where I printed it. I had typed the wrong dressing to it! Oh my! I’m sorry!! Steve’s Aunt had two recipes and the following is our FAVORITE! Please forgive me!

Spinach Salad Dressing

1 lemon, juiced (1 Tablespoon)

2 teaspoons prepared mustard

½ cup mayonnaise

dash of nutmeg

salt and pepper to taste           Whisk together and serve over a fresh spinach salad. J

          May God bless your family this week as you serve Him where He has placed you. He is faithful to the end. Each time you receive your share, you are receiving the bounty of His blessing!

Abundant Blessings From,

Your Farmer’s Wife,

CSA Week 4

     Greetings from Colvin Family Farm! This spring has been so beautiful…not only are the  fields looking lush with many kinds of greens, colorful lettuce, beets, onions, broccoli, cabbage, and much more, but the sides of the long driveway are now are adorned with lovely wild flowers! I am sending you a small sample of what I see when I look out my kitchen window. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Master artist and I praise His name for the beauty.

     A farmer’s life is action packed! We are still working up ground and planting many hours a day when the weather permits. Our new mower is back from the repair shop (!!!) and we are making the farm look like someone lives here again. Steve, the elder farmer, keeps busy with a myriad of projects while training little boys to be future farmers. We’ve experienced our first virtual farmer’s market this week and HAD A LOT FUN watching our vegetables sell online for approximately 72 hours! Welcome to all our “virtual” customers in Crossville. Then comes market packing day (Tuesdays and Fridays)! On Friday we harvest, field wash, sort, pack, bake and more from sunup to around midnight. It’s a big day for everyone, and thrilling to see what the Lord has grown for all our families! I hope you enjoy all the pictures…and don’t draw any conclusions until you meet me. J

     In the farm kitchen I continue to sprout wheat, clover, radish, lentils, and red rice. I hear stories of folks enjoying their first experience with sprouts…they are AMAZING! Live sprouts have live enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and amino acids we need for everyday healthy living. Nutritionally, dried seeds, grains, and legumes (beans) provide only a small portion of the total nutrients the body requires. But, once they are sprouted, seeds provide the largest relative amount of nutrients per unit of intake compared to other food sources. Sprouting multiplies the content of minerals and vitamins in the seed many times because a wealth of nutrients is released to aid the development of the seed during its growth process.  There is no doubt more nourishment contained in a plant’s sprout than at any other time in its life cycle. Vitamins A, B complex, C, and E are increased sometimes as much as ten times!  Because of the amino acids that form as the seeds sprout, sprouts are very easily digested.  I’ve also read that sprouts are what are called “biogenic”-alive and cable of transferring their life energy to your body.  Using sprouts in your meals gently increases the nutritional value of your meal…and they taste great too! I hope to give a sprouting demonstration when you visit the farm this summer. During the dead of winter sprouts are a vital part of our diet, and I’d like for ya’ll to learn how to provide for your family’s needs also.

     A new addition to your shares this week is another green…spinach! I know it’s ANOTHER GREEN to find a use for, but it is, in my mind, the “queen of spring”! My first tastes of spinach are not in the dining room, or even the kitchen…but in the garden. While it is still wet from a dew or shower I nip my first taste of springtime. As a young wife, I would often walk over to the strawberry bed and eat the two combined.

       We haven’t always lived on a farm. We started our marriage out on a one acre plot where we “homesteaded”…we built a log home, planted gardens, raised bees, chickens, planted fruit trees and strawberries. Just before God gave us this farm in 1999, Steve was making plans on building a small pond to raise fish in! There is so much you can do on a small parcel of land. We looked for this farm for 18 years before God gave it to us. But there were many, many lessons of contentment to learn as we waited. God continually asked me, “What do you have in your hand?” Then I was to be found faithful with that alone…Now on 41 acres, there is SOOO much to do that we must pray for wisdom on our next step…oh my, back to spinach, the “queen of spring”.

     When I was first married, (29 years ago Sunday) Steve’s Aunt Glenn took me under her wing. She was one of the last “mountain women” …a generation of women that knew how to live close to the land, make due with little for her family until more prosperous times came and wasn’t afraid of hard work. She had an early garden that just amazed me as a new bride (I had never gardened before). I always came home from my visits with her with tender spinach, delicate lettuce, green onions, and radish. She and others taught me enough to come alongside my husband and have my first garden. She was famous in our family for her Spinach Salad. The best recipes are often the ones that are the most simplistic. It will always remain a family favorite! 

SPINACH SALAD

Boil about 4 eggs (This depends how many you are serving. Plan on boiling 1 egg per person.)  While eggs are boiling, fry about 10 strips of bacon. Drain well. Wash enough spinach to meet your family’s needs. Tear it into a serving bowl. After eggs have cooled a bit, cut into small pieces. Next chop the bacon. Sprinkle both over the spinach. Prepare dressing. Do not skip this dressing, as it is a special part of the salad.

In a small bowl measure: ¼ cup mayonnaise, 1/8 cup vinegar, ¼ teaspoon prepared mustard, and ½ teaspoon of garlic powder.  Wisk together and serve with Spinach Salad.

     Aunt Glenn died this spring…but the early gardens on Colvin Family Farm would bring a sweet smile to her age worn face.

I know this is another quiche recipe, but this has been a FAVORITE for the Colvin family for over 25 years.  I often make this recipe when cooking and freezing meals for a month. I put 54 meals in the freezer in April to use when we are all exhausted but hungry from a long day of farm work. I’ve even made it without a crust! Give it a try.

Quick Spinach Quiche

Prick, and then precook two bought or homemade deep-dish pie shells for five minutes.

In a food processor or blender blend:

4 cups finely chopped, cooked spinach well-drained

6-8 eggs

1 cup cottage cheese

2 cups mixed cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, use what you have on hand)

Dash of salt

“About” 1 ½ cups milk

Cooked bacon or left over ham bits, optional

Blend well. After the pie shells have pre-cooked for 5 minutes, pour mixture into the pie shells. (This is easiest and neatest done by pouring the mixture into the shells while they are still in the oven.) Bake at 350 degrees until set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

     This is a great dish to make ahead and freeze. Mix the quiche filling and pour into a labeled gallon Ziploc bag. Freeze flat on a cookie sheet until frozen. Then store standing up “file style”.

     As my Friday is now Saturday…I’ll draw this to a close.  I want you to know that each of our 54 families that are share holders to our farm are mentioned each week in prayer. It is our privilege to serve you. If you ever have any suggestions on how we can serve you better, just write us. We are looking forward to meeting ya’ll on June 17^th at our first farm field day. More details later, just put it on your calendar!  “For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God.” Hebrews 6:7