July 29th, 2009 by Margie

It has been weeks since I have sat down to write.  My absence is not a sign of my lack of need to communicate with you, it is just that, my absence.  Everyday I feel so connected to all of you and to our farmers.  I always think of things I want to share with you – I just might not make it back to the computer with these thoughts.

I am also realizing that I am now feeling so connected back to my own land.  I don’t mean the land I own but the land I roam. Speaking of connecting to our land, a dear friend and one of the faces that shows up at your door with fresh food (ms Edie) turned me on to this great site, Anthony Masterson Films that features several short films on sustainable farming from a wonderful local filmmaker.  If you check out Farm!, the second person on screen is our very own Jason Mann of Full Moon Farms and if you view another film listed as Who Grows Your Food, you will hear from our good friend Rashid at Truly Living Well.  Maybe if someone asks you why you try to eat local and organic, share these films with that person.  They are inspiring and entertaining.

Last week as I told a friend that it was July I suddenly stopped and exclaimed, “Oh my God!  It IS July!”  The shock was not that it was the month of July but that the spring season had come and gone and I forgot about my annual battle with allergies.  I have a ritual of going to buy the local bee pollen from the health food store and starting to sprinkle it in my food each day, little by little, in hopes that I will not suffer as much from the achy, itchy, sneezy world of Spring-time in Atlanta.  It really does help.  When I don’t do this, I am much worse!  Well, except for the fact that I completely forgot to do it this year and never had any allergy symptoms…

This is also the year that I have been only eating local organic veggies from my Georgia farmers.  OK I am not eating completely local, since I do go to a restaurant or pub now and then that get all their fresh food from the Sysco truck.   Let’s just say I only cook local ingredients and I do most of my own cooking.

The point is that this year for the first time in over two decades, I had no allergy symptoms and the only difference was my locavore habits.  When I started to think more and more about this, it seemed less and less surprising.  Allergy problems have increased over the last 30 years and so has our food transportation.  As we began to eat less and less local, we also were not ingesting the local pollens.  Many people suffered and felt the need to see a specialist to help with the allergy symptoms.  Allergy shots or immunotherapy are doses of allergens made up of pollens and other items we are allergic to.  Now I know this does not help with a cat or dog allergy but it seems to me that if you eat the food grown in your own region and free of chemicals to aggravate you, you might have a greater chance of suffering from allergies in that same area during any given season.

I feel that by eating the fruits of my land I am connected to the land.  I have no itchy eyes, no runny nose, and no tremendous headaches and it already July!  I am so excited at the very thought that this could be something more than just an illusory correlation that I am contacting several research programs to see if someone is already writing on this subject.  Let’s see – maybe if we eat fresh food from our own community we stop suffering from seasonal allergies…that is worth questioning!  I hope eating your ingredients in your basket each week helps you feel a little more connected to this wonderful community.

July 29th, 2009 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

I feel very connected to the farming community this week and I want you all to know how hard everyone is working to grow and harvest this beautiful food for us.  All over the country the tomato crops are failing and unfortunately for many farms in GA, we are having a tough season here too.  When we are lucky enough to get those huge juicy slicing tomatoes, be sure to pause and pay homage to them and the wonderful work that went into getting that tomato to our table.  This week we will be blessed with the sweet tasty roma tomatoes from Full Moon Farms.

The squash are large this week and I was a little hesitant to take them but when Rashid cut into one for me and I tasted both the neck and the body of the squash raw, I changed my mind.  They are delicious.  Don’t be afraid of less tasty meat because of the size and let me know if you have a different experience.  We also very lucky to be crossing seasons in our food this week with a cooking green, a salad green and the watery tomatoes and cucumbers – crazy July.  Can’t wait to eat my greens!

Some folks said they had a negative experience with some of the corn a couple of weeks ago.  Be sure to always keep your corn refrigerated.  It is picked fresh and immediately put in cold storage until I can get there.  By leaving it out, you take a chance of the change in temperatures drying out the kernels.  Always let me know when the food is really good or really bad.  You are my only way of knowing and the farmers love the feedback.

Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Stringless green beans
Marketmore cucumbers
Roma tomatoes
Yellow squash
Swiss chard
Arugula
Corn
Banana peppers
Parsley

Please, whether it is the much sought after tomatoes or the tasty green beans, let’s all try to imagine all the steps that went into bringing each of these veggies to our table and to our belly.  Enjoy your beautiful basket.  Have a great week and remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Namaste,
Margie Thorpe

July 22nd, 2009 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

This week we have an unusual variety of spinach.  This is the vine of loose leaves in your basket.  Feel free to use the spinach leaves as you would any variety, either lightly steamed or sautéed, or in a salad raw.  The stems can be cooked as well as long as they are not the larger ones.  This will be my first time trying this as well except for eating it raw in the fields.

We have two types of cucumbers this week, one long Japanese cucumber and then the more common variety of marketmore.   If your cuke has a skinny middle,  that is the pattern of the rain season on your food.  When it is dry, the fruit grows very little and then when we get water, it explodes again.  Take a look at the pattern of your food.  We also have the yummy Sungold tomatoes again this week from Whippoorwill Hollow Farms.  These are like candy and don’t really last very long at my house.  I hope you are enjoying the beginning of the tomato season.  I know I am!  I took some large ones that were not up to traveling to your house and stewed them all night this week.  Oh!  Good food needs very little.  If you find yourself with an over-ripe stack of tomatoes, do yourself a favor and cook them up with a little basil, skin and all.  I have put them over my eggs, in my pasta or just eaten them alone with a spoon!

We also have a few very small peppers in our baskets.  These are cayennes so go easy with the heat.  You can cook them up or hang them to dry.  I love them both ways.  This week, I think I will cook one with some corn and squash. Below is your list of goodies for this week:

1 long Japanese Cucumber
marketmore cucumbers
Sungold tomatoes
Vine ripe tomato
Yellow squash
Potatoes (red and gold)
New Zealand spinach
Corn
Cayenne peppers
Basil

Enjoy your summer goodies.  Have a great week and remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Namaste,
Margie Thorpe

July 15th, 2009 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

It is time to pull out the bread and a knife because your summer slicing tomato is here!  Each basket has one very large heirloom tomato or a couple of smaller ones.  These are ripe and ready to eat.   I would recommend enjoying these in the next couple of days.  They are ready.  You also have green tomatoes from a different farm.  I love cooking these or adding a bit to salad for a tart touch.

Please give me as much feedback as you wish to share on the summer crops.  I need to know if you having good, bad, or great experiences with your cucumbers, corn and the rest.   I loved my corn this week and can’t wait for more.  I hope you are having a similar experience.

I rode to the farms today with a special guest interested in visiting our source of food.  Every time someone joins me, I am reminded of how great it is that I get to see the very source of my food and shake the hand of the person that grew that produce.  Gratitude seems to be my thought this week.  I am super grateful to have tomatoes and blueberries in my diet this week.  Please don’t get tired of them anytime soon.  The summer feast is only beginning!

We are listing a couple of recipes this week for the leeks and green tomatoes.  Feel free to share any that you might have.  Also, the arugula is so strong that it makes a great pesto now.  Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Cucumbers
Leeks
Yellow squash
Potatoes (red and gold)
Green tomatoes
Heirloom vine-ripe tomatoes
Arugula
Corn
Blueberries

Enjoy your summer fruit, finally!  Have a great week and remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Namaste,
Margie Thorpe

July 8th, 2009 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Well this week is one of my favorite holidays, my birthday.  You would think that as I get older, I would be less excited but it’s not true.  It is wonderful to celebrate beginnings,  life’s circle of friends and family, and most of all, the possibilities of the future.  Each week I am reminded of my possibilities as I go out to harvest food for all of us.  Such a simple task, but it is so important.  It is our very life source.  Thank you for being part of this year’s birthday celebration, and joining me in a journey of keeping healthy and local.  Here’s to future possibilities for all of us.

For the week, we finally have the goodness of CORN!!  We will have corn for the next few weeks so enjoy the sweetness.  Tonight I will load a recipe for the corn if you prefer it off the cob.  I hate to tell you but when it is good and fresh like this, I love it raw! Try a bite if you are daring – it might surprise you.

We came up very short at the farm for our squash so I gave us all at least one but hopefully this is just a small challenge in the squash season.  You have a wonderful container of sun gold tomatoes from Whippoorwill Hollow Farms this week.  Next week we will have the big tomatoes and summer is officially on!  Some of you have Italian chard and some have the rainbow this week.  Both are excellent and they will disappear as the summer crops keep coming in.

Tonight is a full moon so be sure to look up as you are relaxing after a long midweek day.  The sun and the moon are all wrapped up in our energy and the food we are graced with.  Know that this weekend as I celebrate my own special holiday, I am celebrating you and the choices you have made.  I love being part of your community and I hope you enjoy being a part of mine.  Please remember to send comments and recipes to the website if you do something fun with your veggies this week. Below is your list of goodies:

Cucumbers
Sweet basil
Yellow squash (very little)
Potatoes (red and gold)
Sungold tomatoes
Chard
Arugula
Corn

Have a great week and remember, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Namaste,
Margie Thorpe