September 29th, 2010 by Margie

Check out our own Jason Mann from Full Moon Farms and Moonshine Meats in this video from CNN this week…amazing coverage!

September 29th, 2010 by Margie

The Field of Green festival returns to Whippoorwill Hollow Organic Farm on Sunday, October 3, 2010 from 11am – 5pm. This popular farm festival brings together locally grown food, live music, and green living education, all in a family-friendly, fun environment.

www.fieldofgreensfestival.com/

September 15th, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

You have another one of those wonderful round green squash again from Georgia’s Finest Organics.  In case you are not sure what to do with them, I have added a recipe for stuffed 8-ball and there is a summertime curry that uses your okra and the squash for this week.  Check out the website!  If you have any favorites you want to share, please send them in an email or post to our facebook site.

The arugula is from Jenny Jack Sun Farm in Pine Mtn.  She also harvested those beautiful red peppers and the okra for us this week.  I cannot wait to cut a few sweet peppers for the black-eyed peas!  Yes, we have black-eyed peas fresh from Mills Farm again too.  These are so great and so good for you.  Let me know if you need more recipes for your peas.  I have plenty!  I know some of you have never sat down to shell your own beans or peas until now but take the time to enjoy this process.  I love to get a bowl for my shelled peas, the bag of peas and a container for my shells and sit down to a mindless television show or even turn on the stereo and listen to some music.  One morning I just sat on the porch and watched the neighborhood as I shelled butter beans.  I like thinking of all the time our ancestors spent doing tasks like this.  It makes me feel so connected to the food and the past.

You will also notice there is no fruit this week but instead an avocado from Uncle Matt’s Farm in Florida.  I knew I was going down to harvest some avocados in the next couple of weeks at my friends’ farm and these were offered to us this week.  It’s a nice treat to go in an arugula salad.  Sometimes we borrow from our neighboring farms…Enjoy!  Below is your list of goodies for this week:

8 ball squash

Black-eyed peas

Italian sweet red peppers

Arugula

Microgreens

Okra

Avocado

Basil

This last Sunday was a beautiful time at Mills Farm in Athens with Alice and Tim and all the chefs from places like Farm 255 and the National.  The food was great, the weather was perfect and the community that showed up was the best part.  Thank you to all that made the road trip to see one of your farms.  The next event will be the Field of Greens at Whippoorwill Hollow Farms and it is on Oct. 3^rd.  For now, have a great week and remember, I am always happy to

TALK FOOD!

Namaste,

Margie Thorpe

September 8th, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

The weather is delightful but the dry climate has challenged our growers this month.   I was fortunate to spend my weekend on an organic farm near Hiawassee that has cabins and camping facilities, not to mention waterfalls and hiking trails.  I hope you found some bliss for your holiday too.  The farmers are scraping to get enough crops each week for us.  We are so fortunate to have farms south, north, east and west of us because they all have a slightly different climate.  This week our farm south of us (Georgia’s Finest Organics) still harvested cucumbers and cherry tomatoes for us, while Full Moon in Athens gave us beautiful butternut squash and late summer okra.  We skipped the sweet peppers this week since several of you said you still had plenty.  I am adding some recipes in the summer section tonight to help you with pepper ideas.

I am totally excited about the beans this week!  We have butter beans from Whippoorwill Hollow and black-eyed peas from Mills Farm.  We should be able to get a larger portion of the beans in the coming weeks so let me know if you liked these.  Celia and Woodland Gardens grew arugula for us this week and will have more micro greens for us next Wednesday.  The fruit is muscadines or scuppernongs this week.  If your grapes are green, those are scuppernongs.  I will also add a recipe this evening to help you with the grapes.  Some of you have said this was your first experience with these.   Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Butternut squash

Cucumbers

Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes

Arugula

Butter beans (either speckled or white)

Black-eyed peas

Okra

Muscadines or scuppernongs

I want to share a few upcoming events.  Our friends at Mills Farm are hosting a wonderful brunch on the farm in Athens with local chefs doing different tastings.  It is this Sunday from 11-2 pm and tickets are $10 or $8 with a donation for the food bank.   This is a great annual event and I will definitely be there.  Let me know if you want more info.  Also, Andy at Whippoorwill Hollow is getting ready for Field of Greens celebration at their farm in October.  I will post details on the website next week.  I hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures and opening back up to community by leaving a window open and hearing a neighbor now and then.  As usual,  I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Namaste,

Margie Thorpe

September 1st, 2010 by Margie

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

We have made it to September and it actually feels like fall this morning.  I am sure we have not escaped the heat yet but for now, we enjoy the cooling breeze that is a reminder of a season on its way.  Our food is still summer crops and we were able to get some potatoes from Full Moon farms this week.  He did not lose the entire crop so enjoy these starchy treats.  Full Moon also grew the butternut squash and for those of you looking for the recipe last week, I am so sorry.  The butternut squash lasagna recipe will be live today and if not, please let me know.  I also added another recipe for butternut squash since you have had this for a couple of weeks.

The large round green summer squash is your 8 ball and the smaller yellow and green is a 1 ball squash from Ira and Chris at Georgia’s Finest Organics south of Warm Springs.  Let me know what you think because I can get more of these.  They suggest a simple stuffing and baking these but they can be cooked as you would any other summer squash.  Your okra, peppers, and tomatoes are also from their farm.  They have just started this beautiful property as a certified organic farm so we welcome them with open arms and hungry bellies.  I loved walking the grounds this morning looking at all the plants still producing.  It looks like we will be getting a second crop of tomatoes from them, too.  Whew!

This week we have muscadines for your fruit coming from Andy at Whippoorwill Hollow and the spice for the week is your hot peppers found in the small bag.   The muscadines seem to have some soft ones but this is just from the heat.  They were picked for us on Tuesday.  The habaneros are so hot so be very careful when you slice them.  Wearing a glove is a good way to keep the juice off your skin.  Trust me, you do not want to get the juice on your hands!  We also have a mix of heirloom tomatoes this week.  Below is your list of goodies for this week:

Okra

Sweet banana peppers

Potatoes

8 ball squash

1 ball squash

Butternut squash

Mixed heirloom tomatoes

Muscadines

Hot peppers

Feel free to contact me this week with any questions because you know I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

All the best,

Margie Thorpe