June 30th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
This morning the farmers were so thankful for a little rain after all the threats. Last night Serenbe alone got 2 inches of water for the crops – yeah! The more water, the better the watermelon, and we will be looking for those soon. For now, we have blueberries once again. This time we are harvesting our berries from our friends at Evie’s Country Garden. Let me know what you think. Next week we will either have blackberries again or a canary melon from Walker Farms.
Since it was 4th of July this weekend, I had to get us the early harvest of corn. We all have white organic corn from Newton, GA for our festivities. Some of you may have four ears rather than the three we had originally planned due to the size of the ears. Please know that many times when you pull back the silk on organic corn, you will have to fight a little worm for your sweetness. This is the price of no pesticides. The good news is if you find one, it means the ear is especially sweet! Do your best to harvest what you can. The only way to avoid this is to peel all of your corn, and I don’t think you would want that since many of us grill it in the husk. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Tomatoes
Fingerling Banana Potatoes
White Corn
Green Onions
Cucumbers
Carrots
Mint
Blueberries
Your green onions and carrots are once again from Serenbe Farms. Next week, they will be sharing some cherry tomatoes with us as well as squash. I can’t wait for those summer treats!
I have to admit I tried really hard to have RED tomatoes (from Woodland Gardens), WHITE corn, and BLUEberries for the delivery for the 4th. I am a sucker for a holiday theme. Feel free to make fun of me, but if you ever taste my red, white and blue frozen rum parfaits you won’t be disappointed! (grins) All of you enjoy your weekend whatever you do, whomever you choose to share it with, and whatever food you choose to prepare. I am grilling veggie patties (made from our veggies and quinoa) and some local meat for my carnivores. Most of all, be as safe in your travels as we are in our food! Of course…remember I am always happy to talk food!
Namaste,
Margie Thorpe
June 23rd, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
Even in this season of plenty, farming has its challenges. This week we planned for kale from Whippoorwill Hollow but by yesterday afternoon the grasshoppers had beat us to the crop! Yes, they ate your greens this week. Andy was so upset but he could not harvest lacy half-eaten leaves for us. Instead we quickly found some wonderful arugula with roots from Neva Farms to fill our void. Ya just never know what will happen in the fields from hour to hour.
Your blackberries are coming from Woodland Gardens this week and I am so excited! Yesterday I took a walk and harvested a few berries from some wild thorned bushes and it made me extremely grateful for today’s harvest. It is no easy task! Everything else in your basket has been harvested this morning from Serenbe Farms. It looks like we will be getting much of our food from Paige and Justin at Serenbe this summer so please give me any feedback you have for our farmers. They love hearing the good and even the bad helps us know more about the food. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Yellow Wax Beans
Arugula
Swiss Chard
Green Onions
Cucumbers
Carrots
Basil
Blackberries
I want to add a couple of reminders for this week. Next week’s basket will feed your 4th of July festivities and I have already reserved a few ears of white corn for us. If you need more than a few, let us know and we will order extra for you. I will add this to the extras list in your email on Friday. Also, in an effort to use as little petroleum products as possible, I ask that you always send us the berry containers back if they are still in good condition. The farms can reuse these just as they do for the eggs. I am also trying to use paper bags over plastic whenever I can although some of you may receive the arugula in plastic today. Little steps add up.
Arriving at Serenbe this morning there were children at the farm learning about what it takes to grow our organic food. It is so nice to see summer camps taking these field trips (literally). I wish everyone could visit a nearby farm once a month just to appreciate each piece of nourishment we are so fortunate to have. For me, it always reminds me to take a deep breath as I sit down to a beautiful meal and reflect on all the people that worked so hard to bring this food to my belly. Gratitude is a wonderful feeling and a great way to start a meal. I am also always grateful that you join me every week on this journey to eat better and support our local organic growers. Remember I am always happy to talk food!
Namaste,
Margie Thorpe
June 16th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
Well we are finally in the fruit season. This week we have our first blueberries, and you will see more. These came from Neil Taylor’s farm in South Ga. I have also been promised a nice watermelon season next month from Farmer Brooks – yummy! This summer should hold plenty of beautiful fruit for us. The cucumbers are not slowing down so get used to having this in your diet for a bit. I added a recipe this week that is also a chilled soup, but I couldn’t resist. It is a Borscht that is so easy to make, and we have beets and cucumbers so try it out. It’s really pretty too.
The beets might be disappearing for the season, but the carrots are going strong. You might notice this week’s carrots are smaller than the ones from last week. We finished a mature bed last week, and now we have started a younger bed of carrots. They will grow and be available for a while. The green garlic is a real treat and new to a lot of you. You can eat this entire piece, including the stalk and the skin on the cloves. I chop the entire thing up to make something, or I put some oil on it and grill it. Let me know if you have questions about this.
Our farmers are harvesting huge amounts, so I am able to pick and choose a little bit this month. If there is something you love more than other items, I really appreciate your input. This is OUR food each week and OUR money that we give to the farms. Please let me know the items you love, the items you prefer from one farm over another, and the items you don’t know what to do with. I try to bring everything I can to our table, but now we are in the month of plenty so let’s have what we love! Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Cabbage
Heirloom lettuce
Fingerling Potatoes (Rose de Finn or Banana)
Cucumbers
Beets with Greens
Carrots
Green Garlic
Blueberries
As we go into these super hot months, please take care of yourself. Our farmers are out in the sun a lot but with plenty of water and regular breaks in the shade, they stay healthy. Do the same for yourself. The cucumber is really refreshing for that reason and other water-rich veggies are around the corner…to-ma-toes. Thank you for my break in the country today. Have a great week, and remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!
Namaste,
Margie Thorpe
June 9th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
We are stepping from our spring crops and into the warmer weather foods with local cucumbers and squash this week. To celebrate these hot June days, we all have some mint in our baskets this week. It really does help cool you down naturally. Use it in some tea or water or try the recipe for cucumber mint chilled soup I posted this week on the website. I loved smelling nothing but the fresh mint as I drove back from the farms!
We have more kohlrabi this week and for those of you that have grown to love this fresh treat, they are at the end of the season. For those of you that are not so crazy about this purple wonder, this will be our last week for this season. I am roasting mine with some of the carrots! By the way, all of your produce this week came from Serenbe Farms with the exception of the beautiful fingerling potatoes. Please give me feedback on your food if you love it or find other sources more or less desirable. The farmers ask me for input and you are my source! Brooks Garcia grew the nice potatoes again this week. These are Rose de Finn and look like a smooth piece of ginger. Fingerlings are best used for roasting or pan-frying. Boiling them will get a softer potato than other varieties. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Rose de finn fingerling potatoes
Heirloom Head lettuce
Russian Red Kale
Carrots
Cucumber
Yellow squash
Kohlrabi
Mint
Next week we already have our berries on reserve! Fruit season is upon us! We made it through another winter and spring and now with the summer crops we will enjoy a little more refreshing water and sugars in our food. Yeah!
For those of you that are getting the eggs, please, please, remember to save your cartons and return them. The cost our farmers, Mike and Evie, quite a bit and getting the recycled ones really helps! If you haven’t ever tried the eggs, check out the email for extras you receive each week. During the summer, our extras might not be available quite as often. The goat farm does not produce as much milk now so we will only offer cheese every few weeks. I will always keep you posted as to what is available, and remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
June 2nd, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
We have beautiful variety this week from several farmers in the area. I am really excited to have the season’s first potatoes for us. Brooks and Camille at Moonbeam dug all day to make sure we had these purple delights this week. Be sure to refrigerate these though because they do not have a thick storing skin.
Serenbe has harvested cauliflower for all of us, as well as your kale this week. The cauliflower is a rare treat so enjoy and let me know if I should beg for more for us. I added a recipe this week for the cauliflower so be sure to check it out. Andy at Whippoorwill Hollow has grown your bok choy and the garlic. It is so exciting to be in the garlic season again. I will try to get this as often as I can for us so we can all put some away for the cupboard. Woodland Gardens grew the gorgeous cucumbers. We have had these before so for those of you that are new, you are in for a treat! I can’t want to slice into one of these. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Beets with tops
Kale
Bok choy
European cucumber
Kohlrabi
Purple heirloom potatoes
Cauliflower
Garlic
As we move from week to week, trying different fruits and veggies that some of us
have never had and some of us have never had fresh harvested, please feel free to ask questions about cooking or storage instructions. Many of you are concerned about how to store your food properly. Most everything we get needs some refrigeration, with the exception of your summer tomatoes. The greens will always benefit from a cold-water bath before storing them in your lower area of the refrigerator. Even though the beets and kohlrabi are roots, please keep these in the fridge as well and remember, I am
always happy to talk food!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
