March 31st, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

I am so happy to say that your money is back in the hands of our local farmers and our bellies will rejoice with food this week harvested this morning for us.  We have heirloom lettuces from Whippoorwill Hollow Farm along with their spring onions.  I have missed the flavor of onions so much I am stealing onion grass from my yard.  We should be able to get onions for a few weeks.  We also have the first harvest of Taylor Organics’ beets.  They might be small bunches but they will get more plentiful.  Please use the beet greens as you would your swiss chard.  They are a cousin to the chard and great for you.  They are also great for juicing.

Your carrots are not the larger ones from Roots Farm but they are tasty treats and the tops are great for soup.  You each have a bag of white turnips that are young and tender.  These can be roasted or eaten raw.  Since our spice is dill, I am adding a simple spring salad recipe to the website tonight using your lettuce, dill, and onions so check it out.  I love this salad and it’s easy!  Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Heirloom Lettuce

Rainbow chard

White Japanese turnips

Carrots w tops

Young beets w tops

Kale

Spring onions

Dill

The day was beautiful as I drove from farm to farm this morning.  I felt truly grateful to be this close to my source of food and honored to be the person you trust to procure food for all of us.  The farmers seem so happy to finally have something to sell.  They have all lost so much money in failed crops over the last six months with our severe weather.  As I sit down tonight to my salad made of all local food, I will be overwhelmed with gratitude.  Let me know if you have other questions about your produce or the farms and remember, I am always happy to talk food!

Gratefully,

Margie Thorpe

March 25th, 2010 by Margie

A nice note from our friend Laurel….

Hey Margie,

I wanted to tell you how pleased I have been with Vegetable Husband! I await with eager anticipation each Wednesday to see what will show up in my basket. I always hang your letter on my fridge as a reminder of how my participation is helping to support our local food economy. I am so grateful for the thought that goes into each week’s selection and the farmers that make it all possible. I have thoroughly enjoyed exploring new varieties of food since I have made a commitment to eating locally a year and a 1/2 ago. Sunchokes, turnips, rutabaga, are okra are just a few of these new discoveries. I do have to say, however, that after eating hearty greens throughout the summer, this week’s lettuce seemed a little pale in comparison. The arugula was heavenly though!

Thanks for all you do.

In apprecation,
Laurel

–
Being alive on this rough green and brown planet is the highest honor and privilege. It’s an invitation to work wonders and perform miracles that aren’t possible in any nirvana, promised land, or afterlife…we are already living in paradise…the sweet stuff that quenches all of our longing is not far away in some other time and place. It’s right here and right now.
- Rob Brezsny

March 24th, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Happy Sunshine!  This week is finally spring and it really feels like it, too.  The sun was out as I gathered all your food from our farmers this morning.  We are so lucky to have two crops from Woodland Gardens this week, the lettuce and chard are straight from Celia to us.  Your arugula is also a local Georgia-grown.  Some of you have the arugula with roots from Neva Farms and some of you have the first pick of arugula from Rashid’s farm in East Point.

As I warned last week, the carrots from Sara at Roots farm are no more.  The orange goodness will be missed in my cooking this week but it is a vibrant green diet for us.  We have sweet green cabbage from a nearby North Carolina farm that was harvested this week for us, and celery from our Florida neighbors.  To go with all this, your herb this week is flat parsley so maybe some lovely Italian dish is in order using the swiss chard and parsley.  All I can think about is fresh salads with lettuce arugula and parsley.

Many of you let me know how much you enjoyed the strawberries from last week.  I will keep looking for a fruit for us each week even if it is a little distance from our home farmers.  For all other items, I am anxious to return all of our money back to our farmers.  Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Lettuce

Rainbow chard

Sunchokes

Arugula

Celery

Green cabbage

Pink grapefruit

Flat leaf parsley

I Want you all to know that there is a wonderful Urban Picnic happening this Friday from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Sweet Auburn Curb Market, 209 Edgewood Ave. SE, Atlanta, GA 30303.  If you work downtown, come on out and join us for some local healthy gourmet lunches to celebrate spring!  I will be there with my own picnic basket.  For more information, check out the website tomorrow.  I will post all the details there.  Let me know if you have other questions and remember, I am always happy to talk food!

Gratefully,

Margie Thorpe

March 10th, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

This week is the first time in many many weeks that our local farms have produced above ground harvest for us other than the hydroponics.  We are fortunate enough to have bok choy from Woodland Gardens this week.  I have posted a nice recipe for this too.  There are a few recipes using bok choy on our website though.  We also have heirloom lettuce from Whippoorwill Hollow Farms.   You will see lettuce from our farmers that never makes it to the retail stores like the deer tongue lettuce some of you might have.  I will post a guide of the different local lettuces online this month.  They are so beautiful but too delicate to travel.  Enjoy!

The morning was a wet one driving from farm to farm and the rain is not letting up on us as we begin to deliver your baskets.  Forgive the damp fabrics – its all part of Mother Nature’s plan for us today.  I want to also bring your attention to the rutabaga in your basket.  Please feel FREE to contact me with any questions you have on this veggie.  The first time I tried to cook them at home, I broke my cutting board instead of the rutabaga.  They are sturdy!  These days I roast them whole for half the cooking time and then I cut them open – so much easier to cut!  I plan to make a puree of mine like I had out at a restaurant recently, well; I hope it will be as good as the chef version!  Below is your list of goodies:

Carrots

Collards

Green peppers

Heirloom lettuce

Rutabaga

Bok choy

Pink grapefruit

Cilantro

For now, I hope you have a great week.  The rains are to continue through the week but hopefully this will bring our crops the moisture they need to flourish in warmer temperatures.  We are beginning to see more and more food coming up right around us so soon we will be thanking our Florida and NC neighbors for the support but coming back to our own backyards in Georgia for our produce.  Be well and remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Gratefully yours,

Margie Thorpe

March 5th, 2010 by Margie

A quick note from our friend Victoria.  She titled her message:  “we are SO spoiled!”  We miss her too!

Hiya, Margie,

Just thought I’d check in to say we miss you all.  It gripes our souls to have to buy vegetables at the supermarket these days!  We were so used to having lovely fresh local produce; it just isn’t the same.  Hope all is going with with the VH crew.

All the best,
Victoria and Patrick