Early Spring CSA Delivery and New Blog Project

Some of you may remember that I started a "food themed" blog once before, several years back. It didn't go, but given the day-to-day activities that keep me occupied now, I am supplied with ample fodder for stories about food. This post is from my new spot on the web, Kansas Food Stories. I won't duplicate everything I write there here, but wanted to point the way for those who are interested.

                                                                                                                 ~Tracy

First CSA Delivery of the Season from Shepherd's Valley

Shepherd's Valley shareholders got a pleasant surprise on Saturday with a bonus spring delivery of greens. Most seasons, we are still a few weeks away from our first share, but the gorgeous weather of late has resulted in an abundance of salad greens and Farmer John Crisp was eager to share.

The delivery included a bag of mixed lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, green onions and some sweet little baby radishes (they didn't last long at my house). Shareholders also received 2 dozen farm fresh eggs. The hens at Shepherd's Valley are loving this spring weather, as well.

CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Those who subscribe purchase a share (or a half-share) in the farm's bounty and selection of what is harvested each week throughout the season. Shepherd's Valley now divides their shares into spring, main season, and fall options. The spring share lasts for approximately 8 weeks, April - May. The main season runs approximately 17 weeks, June - September.

When CSA deliveries are in full swing, shareholders in Emporia take turns driving out to the farm and bringing back the shares for everyone. Those trips are scheduled by an area coordinator via email. Most shareholders will pick up at the farm once or twice per season, depending on the total number of families participating. Shepherd's Valley also has shareholders in Council Grove and Topeka.

Shepherd's Valley subscribers also have the option of ordering local honey, bee pollen, Redmond real salt, sorghum molasses, and jams and jellies. Pastured broilers, turkeys and lambs can also be purchased in-season. Several times throughout the year there are opportunities to purchase items such as strawberries, blueberries, or pecans in bulk from other area farms, as well.

A good source for finding a CSA in your area is Local Harvest.

Ramona and John Crisp of Shepherd's Valley CSA.

John and Ramona are lifetime Kansas residents, having been raised on small family farms in the western part of the state. John is a 6th generation farmer, and together, he and Ramona have over 75 years of combined experience in subsistence gardening. For over 30 years, Shepherd’s Valley farm has been using organic and ecologically sound methods to provide wholesome and superior quality foods for its many friends and loyal customers. Shepherd’s Valley has been on the cutting edge of sustainable agriculture, as well as being one of the first farms in the area to introduce the health benefits of pastured poultry and grass-fed lamb. John is a founding member and current president of the Emporia Area Local Food Network, working to promote local food production, distribution, and consumer interest in the region.

It's the most colorful time of the year...

kohlrabi from Shepherd's Valley CSA

The CSA deliveries each week have found their way to the table before I even think to get a picture. This week, I remembered. It was a full box of lovelies. I adore not gardening and yet getting to eat this way. Here's what was in our box this week.

That doesn't include the eggs. We get an egg share weekly from the CSA and often buy another dozen from someone at the farmer's market. The new gig, by the way, of Farmers' Market Manager is going well. It's a very busy time of year to take on something new, but I'm getting a feel for things and I think it's all going to work out very, very well. 

We've also been receiving these lovely little packages from our neighbor who has a gorgeous garden growing this year. 

What do I do with all that squash? We enjoy it in stir fry and I've also found it works well chopped up fine as a filler in things like meatloaf, salmon patties, and veggie cornmeal fritters. The kids and I used one last week as a base for our homemade egg noodles. It worked well. I missed the celery, but the kids actually said they liked it better.

There were peaches at the Farmers' Market this week. No photos of the peaches, but I did get this shot of market tomatoes and peppers as they were delivered to the table.

A Fabulous Time of Year to be Eating

Time in the kitchen; time in the yard. That seems to be where my focus is these days. We've expanded our "yard garden" this year to include many tomato plants, a couple of bell pepper plants, one eggplant, and some broccoli.  I'm not sure that the plants are looking quite as healthy and full as they did last year, but most of the tomato plants already have little tiny tomatoes on them. Those that don't are flowering.

Tomorrow I volunteer at the Farmers' Market kiosk. This makes my third time this season. I enjoy it immensely, although last week I got so wrapped up in volunteer duties (and socializing) that I missed my window for eggs. Two vendors, and they were both out by the time I got there. I did get tomatoes, however. A guy who has some sort of little greenhouse tunnels had some ripe red tomatoes. So I had to send the hubby in search of some farm fresh bacon--many thanks to Jim and Marilyn at Heritage Hill Homestead for coming through for us--so that we could eat our first BLTs of the season.

YUM!

Shepherd's Valley CSA is also making weekly deliveries now. As a bonus this week, Farmer John was able to provide us with organic strawberries from Cherryvale, Kansas. I only wish I had been in a place to order more and put some of them away. They were excellent on-the-spot eating. I didn't even get to share in the first quart. The kids had it devoured before I got into the house.

More Strawberries! I didn't think to take a picture until I was almost done cleaning them.

Perfect over a bowl of old-fashioned, home-made ice cream.

The Rainbow in a Box

One of the CSA members got a whole grocery sack full of these long red peppers (on the left) last night and they were so beautiful I ran in the house to get my camera. Unfortunately, she zipped through and picked up before I got back out there. But that's okay, because my own colorful collection of peppers was picturesque, as well.

You see, good eats are not the only reason to join a CSA farm. It's like receiving a rainbow in a box every week.

Those are tomatoes in the top right corner. We've been getting loads of tomatoes this year from the CSA, as well as from those we planted in our own yard. I've been freezing whenever they threaten to overtake me. We've been tossing around the idea of pulling out the canner again. We canned a bit the first few years we returned to Kansas. That would have been when the girls were little, before Munchkin Boy was even born. Sometimes it takes me a while to work up to these things. A project has to sit and stew in my head for a while before it begins to sound like a truly good idea.

When I was a kid, canning was a big time affair. My mom, my grandmother and my aunt would come over and we'd sit around the table snipping the ends off green beans or blanching tomatoes and sliding them out of their skins. They made jams and jellies, as well. Whatever the harvest was for the moment, we'd wash or pit or juice or do whatever was required to save some of of that colorful goodness for winter.

Unfortunately, that's not exactly the way I looked at it when I was a kid. Canning often meant mornings or afternoons tied to the kitchen, the boiling water heating the already warm air. We had a water window cooler in those days, so the humidity, in my mind, was unbearable. There was always a box fan going and often a television playing "the soaps." When the pressure cooker was in use, there was the added music of that little weight bouncing on the steam. I can close my eyes and hear it all... the jingle of the pressure cooker, often pulling me from sleep in the morning to find the kitchen already a hive of activity. I can hear the sound of my grandmother's voice as she greeted me a good morning, and the sound of the back door thwacking shut as my father brought in more harvest to be put away from the garden.

Early in the year I had planned to report dutifully on the CSA deliveries and our wonderful Farmers' Market... among other things. At least a dozen weeks in a row, I have vowed to do a little more substantive blogging. I guess the buzz and activity of my own hive these days is keeping me well distracted.

Life is good.

Life is full of rainbows.

Purple Potatoes

One of the treats in the CSA delivery last week was purple potatoes. I had not seen a purple potato, and thought I'd share. According to Farmer John, these are called Adirondack Blue Potatoes.


Here they are alongside some regular old white Kennebec potatoes.


Kind of pretty inside.


The color might have faded a little in cooking, but they remained, quite definitely, purple.



Here they are mashed, right before I gobbled them up. Because of the color, I think I expected a difference in taste. It felt like maybe they were a bit firmer than the white potatoes after the same amount of cooking time, but that might have been my imagination. However, without looking, I wouldn't have know that my mashed potatoes were purple rather than white. They seem to mash the same.

According to a February 2008 article in Gourmet magazine, Adirondack Blues are a hybrid potato created by a Cornell Scientist in 2003. It was bred for its taste -- tested in kitchens -- rather than for storage ability and french fry-ability as most modern day hybrids.

Did you know that in the typical American Diet, the potato is the second highest source of vitamin C?

I could not find any specific nutritional facts on the purple potato, but it is considered to be high in anti-oxidants and according to a geneticist at the US Department of Agriculture, the purple potato retains 75% of their antioxidant capacity when cooked.

More CSA

We got a lot of goodies from the CSA this week, more than just radishes. I thought I'd go ahead and share photos of the rest of the bounty.

Buttercrunch Lettuce
Rainbow Chard

Broccoli and Cauliflower

We also got scallions and fresh spearmint. Plans are underway to make chocolate mint ice cream this week. I'll let you know how it goes.

The Radish

Radishes were part of our CSA delivery this week.

Everything I know about Radishes, I learned from my father.

There are exactly two ways to eat a radish.

The first is to wander through the garden inspecting your plants and when you get to the spot where the radishes grow, you pull one or two and wipe the dirt off with your thumb. You pop the greens off and leave them lying in the garden path. You might clean the radish a little more on your shirt tail as you make your way to the hydrant, where you will clean the radish even more thoroughly. Finally, you simply pop it in your mouth and eat it. If it's a particularly large radish, or you want to share it with your daughter, you might pull your pocket knife from your pocket and slice your radish into halves or thirds or quarters. But it's okay to eat a radish whole. They're tasty that way and you'll know right away if this is a season when your radishes will be mild or if they'll have a bit of a kick to them.

The second way to eat a radish is to gather up a bunch of them and bring them into the house where mom will put them in a strainer and wash the dirt off in the sink. You get a slice of bread and butter it. Take one of those clean radishes and slice it thin, layering it on half that slice of bread. Fold the bread over and eat. You've got yourself a radish sandwich.

A Bee Story

shared with permission

Farmer John of Shepherd's Valley shared this story along with our share yesterday. I wanted to pass it on, first, because bees fascinate me and I (as yet) know very little about them and second, because I've actually seen a swarm of bees (photo below) and I had no idea what I was seeing. I thought they were stuck to something. I guess I assumed it was some some kind of giant fly strip or something. (I didn't harm them, I just walked away!)

Our late morning planting of sweet corn on Friday was interrupted by a sound – a sound different than the tractors planting in nearby fields. The sound a beekeeper has learned to train his ears to hear – the sound of a swarm of honeybees. I followed my ears to find the trees along the creek alive with the sound of music! I watch the swarm form, move up and over and around, from treetop to treetop, then finally settle right along the freshly mowed path along the fence – in the shade, no less, about 4 ft. above the ground. A beekeepers dream!

It was a huge swarm all clustered together in the lower limbs on an elm tree. And although from my position I could not see the bees settle in, I watched as the limbs bowed beneath the weight of the bees, then later discovered their landing spot. It was almost lunchtime, so I gave Ben the signal to gather up his “bee stuff” and we’ll all eat a quick lunch, and then tackle our unscheduled afternoon task. Ben and I successfully lowered the 3½-foot long by foot wide ball of bees carefully into a hive body. We will transfer the hive to Ben’s new place in a few days. Ben caught another swarm over the weekend and we are now fielding calls from several local communities about honeybees. Guess word gets around fast!

If you see a swarm of honeybees (big ball/cluster of bees) hanging from a tree, roof eave, picnic table, or wherever else, DON’T PANIC - call us and we’ll come get it. Don’t call 911 (it’s NOT an emergency) or the Exterminator (who will likely charge you several hundred dollars and kill these wonderful creatures). Don’t do like one lady who recently called the police in a nearby town. When the police got hold of me, and I got there, she said, “the neighbor took care of it. She poured gasoline on ‘em and threw in a match.” Aarrgghh! I get very perturbed when I hear things like that! When honeybees are swarming, they will NOT sting. Just watch them settle and call me: 620-787-2380. I can entertain you with my antics, and educate you and your family and friends on the value of the honeybee. Lots of folks call their neighbors and bring out lawn chairs to watch the retrieval process and videotape the fun!

Here are some sad stats pertinent to the lady that burned a swarm of honeybees. At an average of 5 gallons/year (you could get lots more) x10 years, she burned a potential 50+ gallons of honey, current retail value: $2,000. Pollination benefits @ 20% yield increase per year x 10 years retail value: another $7-10,000. That swarm would likely have produced about 6-7 more swarms, and grandfathered maybe 24 more, each worth about $150+ each x30 = $4,500. Each of those swarms would then have produced honey and pollination benefits over several years, worth approximately $400/hive/year x 30 hives = $12,000. With inflation and standard price increases, add another 5%/yr. x 10 years = $14,000. So that little burning action cost about $40,000+ in potential gross income over the life of the colony. It makes me sad to see such beautiful, helpful, and valuable creatures destroyed by such ignorance.

Here’s a picture of the first swarm we caught this season. It measures approximately 3½ ft. long x 1 ft. thick.

Better than Christmas!

Tis the season that the grass starts growing and we start mowing and the harvest starts arriving from our local CSA. Our family made the first delivery run of the year for area Shepherd's Valley customers. Munchkin #1 and I took a friend along for the ride. We had our hearts set on a tour of the farm, so we took one even though it drizzled on us pretty much the whole time.


A very friendly Cuckoo Maran. These are the hens who lay the really dark chocolate brown eggs.

The girls got to bottle feed one of the triplets. Ramona said the momma fed all three for a few weeks, but they started helping to feed the smallest one. It certainly expected a bottle when we walked in the gate. It ran right up to Ramona and looked at her with such pleading lamby eyes that she went back to the house for a bottle while we went on to the barn to look at the kittens.

Ben had a hive that no residents had settled in yet, so he showed us the inside and talked to us about bee habits and preferences. Fascinating little critters, those bees.

Farmer's Market

Today was the big day -- the opening of the 2009 Farmer's Market season. The parking lot was full of vendors and full of goodies, as promised. I don't have that many years of local market experience under my belt, but it looked like a great turnout for the first market of the year.

I had to take a picture of this enormous morel mushroom. This young lady's family had them for sale at $20 per pound. (They weren't all this big.) From what I've seen, that's a fantastic price. She was telling me that her family collected more than 300 mushrooms last year and this year they are already up to 100.


Our 4-H club is providing Veggie Valet services at the market this year. This is a new thing and I think it will be fun. They were a little disappointed that so many people turned them down when they asked to help carry boxes and produce, but I assured them this was typical of independent Kansans. Of course they can do it themselves! But as they get accustomed to seeing us there (and as bigger fruits and veggies come into season) I think people will start to make use of the Veggie Valets.

If you are an Emporia Farmer's Marketer -- don't be shy about asking a Valet to carry your bags as you shop!! This is a volunteer project for the club and the kids will have a lot more fun if we keep them busy.

Here they are eating rice crispie treats. A new family of vendors had a stack of them and they just looked too good to pass up.

Rhubarb Delivery

I know I'm a bit slow, but last week we got our first delivery from the CSA for the season.


Rhubarb!!

Early in the week we made Strawberry Rhubarb Coffee Cake. Superb. I highly recommend it. Then we made Rhubarb Crisp and ate it over vanilla ice cream.

Yum! Yum! Yum!

On Saturday, the Emporia Farmer's Market starts at 8am!

Market Manager, Tracey Graham, says the following products will be for sale.

ASPARAGUS
EGGS
GREEN ONIONS
HONEY
JELLIES
BABY LETTUCES
MAKE-A-SALAD KITS
MOREL MUSHROOMS!!!
RADISHES
RHUBARB
SPINACH
BAKED GOODS including cinnamon rolls
and twists, cookies, yeast & sweet breads
BIRD HOUSES, ORIOLE FEEDERS and
HANDSPUN WOOL YARNS

Guess you know where I will be on Saturday!!!

Our Favorite CSA Made the Paper

There was a really nice article in yesterday's Emporia Gazette about Shepherd's Valley, the CSA we joined last year. We are currently getting eggs from them, and are looking forward to spring and the beginning of a new CSA season.

Shepherd’s Valley is part of a growing Community-Supported Agriculture movement that brings members fresh foods that are free from the pesticides, herbicides and hormones that often are used to increase production and profits at larger operations.

...

The laying hens are kept inside large portable chicken coops that Crisp and the apprentices who work there move by hand from the barn to a nearby pasture and back to the barn each day. The chickens eat both grass and grain and perform pest control duties while they’re at it.

“The chickens, they will take care of the grubs and the flies,” Crisp said. “The sheep will do the mowing ahead of them. They are the pasture sanitation crew.”

The symbiotic relationship between the animals is another example of following nature rather than working against it. And in the end, Crisp said, the products are better.