January 25th, 2012 by Becky Striepe

This has been one spooky winter, hasn’t it? Any time we have shorts weather in January here in north Georgia, it feels like things are just a bit off. That warm weather has meant we’ve had a longer growing season, though, and our baskets have been bountiful! This week’s basket is shaping up beautifully despite some rocky moments pulling the food together. The Georgia hoophouse cherry tomatoes and local spaghetti squash fell through, but Margie was able to replace them with cherry tomatoes from an organic farm in Florida and acorn squash from a farm here in Georgia.

Despite the warmer weather, we are reaching that point in the winter where the bounty starts to wane a bit, and that means leaning on our friends in neighboring states to fill out our baskets. We had to borrow a couple of veggies this week from Florida farmers, and you can be assured that as soon as our local Georgia farmers can supply us, we’ll see baskets that are 100% Georgia grown once again.

Margie and I chatted a bit about local food this morning, and for both of us it’s as much about supporting small farmers directly as it is about fresh, healthy eats. Getting goods from neighboring states when the pickin’s here are slim may up the food miles, but it still helps put our food dollars directly in the hands of farmers rather than those of a large corporation, and that’s so important in this economic climate.

If you need some recipes for this week’s basket, we’ve got you covered, too! Read the rest of this entry »

CSA, Georgia CSA, local food, seasonal cooking, seasonal food, seasonal recipes

January 25th, 2012 by Margie

January 25th, 2012

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

It is late January and we are out in the fields today with no coat on – Crazy!  Even with our mild weather, we are seeing the transition of the season play out in the fields.  This week the only thing Serenbe had available for us was the sunchokes.  Hopefully we have not seen the last of the beautiful carrots but the rows definitely had to take a break from us!  They will have some winter greens soon and other early crops.  Steve Miller still has an abundance of salad greens.  We have arugula and lettuce again this week!  The lettuce is once again turning a little red or brown on the end when we harvest it from the change in temperatures.  He also had broccoli greens with small flowers for us.  Some of the flowers have some yellow to them,  I cook these just as the green – if it turned in the field, it is not yellow from being old but from a change in temperature.  This is fine to eat.

We also had to borrow a couple of items from our neighboring states and this week one of them is grape tomatoes!  Hopefully they are tangy and deelish!  It’s not summer so be kind – nothing tastes like a summer tomato.  An arugula and tomato salad would be a great treat to my dinner table, though. Since we have young lettuce again, I am going to make a classic Caesar salad tonight!  We will post a recipe to the blog so check it out and if anyone would be interested in how to make fresh Caesar with your green onions, and lettuce, feel free to email or call me.  Garlicky goodness!  Remember that all these dark greens give us so much that other foods just do not offer, loads of iron, calcium, antioxidants, just to name a few.

Below is your list of goodies:

Sunchokes – Serenbe Farm

Green Onions – Steve Miller’s Farm

Acorn Squash – Bryson Farm

Grape Tomatoes – Alderman Farm, FL

Lettuce – Steve Miller’s Farm

Broccoli Greens with flowers – Steve Miller’s Farm

Arugula – Steve Miller’s Farm

Curly Parsley – Steve Miller’s Farm

Since I was away last week, I missed seeing the beautiful food and all of our great driving community that helps get the food around town on Wednesdays but I heard all went well.  New Orleans gave me plenty of ideas about food and ways to prepare it.  I was also inspired by how strong the community is there post Katrina.  You will hear more and more in the coming weeks.   For now, please have a happy and healthy week and as you know, I am

always happy to TALK FOOD!

Margie Thorpe

January 18th, 2012 by Becky Striepe

Margie is down in New Orleans this week on a much-needed vacation, but never fear! Laura Louise and Mary are on the case, getting those lovely veggies and making sure they make it to your front door. This week we’re getting a nice mix of root veggies and greens, and our herb is thyme.

I don’t know about you guys, but I always have trouble figuring out what to do with those beets. Sure, you can juice them, but if juicing’s not your thing you probably struggle with those bright red veggies each week. Sunchokes are another one that stump me after I’ve gotten them for a few weeks in a row. Never fear! I’ve tracked down some recipes to help out with the beets and sunchokes in your basket that also use some of the other veggies we’re getting this week.

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January 18th, 2012 by Margie

January 18th, 2012

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Here we are in January and because of such a mild season, one farm is providing most of our harvest.  Serenbe has harvested almost everything we will eat this week.  The star for me is the bunch of beets!  We also have fresh thyme as our herb for this week.  Thyme is wonderful to add to your root veggies.  I remember getting a root vegetable gratin from Miller Union that had thyme as the prominent flavor, well other than butter and cream.  I didn’t say it was low calorie, but it was amazing.  I have tried to copy it but never gotten it quite right.  Let me know if you find a recipe.

The turnips are back but with the recent low temperatures, the green tops are gone.  We also have lettuce and arugula from Steve Miller Farm this week.  We looked over the lettuce and a couple of them might have some brown coloring to the stem.  This is the effect of the freeze.  The leaves are freshly harvested and tasty as ever.  The arugula is a bit larger this week so enjoy the abundance.

Below is your list of goodies:

Carrots – Serenbe Farm

Sunchokes – Serenbe Farm

Beets – Serenbe Farm

Turnips – Serenbe Farm

Collards – Serenbe Farm

Lettuce – Steve Miller

Arugula – Steve Miller’s Farm

Thyme – Serenbe Farm

Please be sure to check the website this week for ideas on how to use your winter basket goodies.  Becky will be posting the recipe ideas today since I am out of town.  I am tagging along with my beau as he works his annual conference in New Orleans.  I am enjoying the free hotel and discovering how NOLA is creating their own locavore community.  Do not be surprised if next week you get recipes with a bit of “Creole” influence.  On a more serious note, I have talked to local farmers here and the issue of post-Katrina soil is a real concern as they rebuild in this area.  Imagine what all the cars floating around leaking fluids did to the soil in this area, not to mention other even larger explosions due to gas leaks at that time.  I am more thankful than ever this week to bring you our bounty of beautiful and organically grown goodness.  Enjoy it in good health and remember, even while lounging on the side of the Mississippi, I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Margie Thorpe

January 11th, 2012 by Becky Striepe

I believe strongly that you get back from the universe what you put out there, and this week at Vegetable Husband was a prime example of great karma!

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