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
May 26th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
This week has been a strange mix of spring and summer temperatures. The same is true with our baskets. We still have some beautiful spring crops like your beets and turnips coming in while we have had to say goodbye to our beautiful strawberries. The temperatures are getting too warm and dry for this crop, but the good news is that blackberries and blueberries are just around the corner.
You’ll notice an unusual green in your basket that is similar to arugula in appearance. This is from Serenbe Farms and is a wonderful cooking spice or salad green with origins from Japan. Check out the website for added recipes to use this rare item. You’ll notice that we also have carrots once again. Taylorganics was kind enough to harvest the last of their crop for us. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Beets with tops
Kale
Green Onions
Rainbow Chard
Mizuna
Japanese Turnips with tops
Carrots
Garlic Chives / Chives
This week begins Memorial Day weekend, and I hope your basket of veggies coming from our local farmers will help you think of creative ways to eat locally on these traditional cooking holidays. When you plan your cookouts, challenge yourself to take one additional item away from the grocery store and find it somewhere from a local butcher, baker, or cheesemaker. You are already ahead of the game with this basket. Enjoy….and remember, I am always happy to talk food!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
May 19th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
This week we have kohlrabi again from the folks at Taylorganics. So I decided that it was Kohlrabi festival time. Check out the website for two different recipes for Kohlrabi and even a very strange video on Kohlrabi courtesy of a fellow basket subscriber. The video is in the “Community Love” section on the website. My favorite way of using this wonderful spring vegetable is still cut into cubes and roasted. Let me know what yours is.
Taylorganics also harvested our beets this week and, yes, the beautiful strawberries. As some of you might remember, we enjoyed strawberries from the Miles farm in middle Georgia as well as from Woodland Gardens in Athens, Georgia. Now this week, see how you like strawberries from nearby Ellenwood, Georgia. Hopefully, we’ll all be lucky enough to do taste tests of strawberries from patches all over Georgia – a job I will not turn down.
For those of you who are new to having a vegetable with roots in your kitchen, this adds an additional level of freshness. This watercress is from the guys at Neva Farms and will only be harvested when you clip it for your salad or cook it. I know I have mentioned before, but over 50% of the nutrients in our vegetables are lost 72 hours after harvest. Think of how many people never access the nourishment that we are enjoying each week. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Heirloom Lettuce Head
Bok Choy
Onions
Mixed Kale
Watercress with roots
Beets with tops
Kohlrabi
Strawberries
As a reminder, next week is the beginning of the Memorial Day weekend. Please remember to let us know if you’re going to be away and if you need special arrangements on your delivery. And remember, I am always happy to talk food!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
May 12th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
This week brings a great surprise from Woodland Gardens as we harvest heirloom tomatoes. Woodland Gardens is also providing us with the beautiful leeks in your basket. We are well on our way to onion season, so expect local Vidalia Onions in the coming weeks. Neil at Taylorganics has provided us with fresh beets with tops, your kohlrabi, and the purple bok choy. The kohlrabi can be eaten raw, shredded in a salad, or cooked. I like to cube and roast mine.
Brooks Garcia at Moonbeam Farms has tender, yellow collards for us as well as your mixed heirloom lettuce. Be sure to plan to wash these thoroughly. They are only washed once at the farm. These lettuces are delicate, and it’s best to have less handling on our end to have the best product for you. Brooks also harvested more of the baby fennel for us this week. This should be the last of their fennel, so enjoy the recipes posted on our website for this unusual flavor. Unfortunately, we were not able to access strawberries again this week, but I promise you that we will have more soon. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Heirloom Lettuces
Purple Bok Choy
Yellow Collards
Leeks
Beets with Tops
Kohlrabi
Heirloom Tomatoes
Baby Fennel
Our farmers are entering into the warmer temperatures, and the food will be in abundance over the next few months. If I can help you in any way plan the use of your veggies, please let me know. As tomato season approaches in the summer, I plan to have canning get-togethers. If this or any other food preparation workshops are of interest, I would love your feedback. Many of you already order some of our extra items such as cheese and honey. If there is some other product that you’ve been looking for locally, don’t hesitate to ask. I might be looking for it too. As always remember, I am always happy to talk food!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
May 5th, 2010 by Margie
Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,
I hope you all had a wonderful May Day weekend or Derby Day, whichever holiday you chose to celebrate. Today is another holiday for you, Cinco de Mayo; this is the holiday to recognize the Mexican army’s victory in the Battle of Puebla. As a pacifist, I will just celebrate May Day for an entire week (smiles), but I did add cilantro to your basket for a little Mexican culinary delight this week. It is going to flower this week at most of the farms so enjoy it while you have it. Walker Farms have provided us with beautiful baby beets and greens. You can cook these with your turnip greens or just juice them for a power-packed drink!
You also have baby fennel as a treat from Moonbeam Farms this week. I have added a recipe using fennel on the website, but please share any that you might have with us this week. Last week we enjoyed kohlrabi and many of you gave me your recipes for using it. Thank you! Moonbeam is the source of our cilantro and white turnips, too. Be sure to eat the greens from these – they are incredible! We also have strawberries – yeah! We are in the thick of season for these wonderful candies of nature. The ones we had a few weeks ago were from Miles Farm in middle GA. Now, this week you are enjoying berries from Woodland Gardens just outside of Athens. Next week we will harvest with Riverview Farms, an hour northeast of Atlanta. See if you start to taste distinctions between the harvests that could either be the soil, the type of plants, or maybe the week they were harvested. Below is your list of goodies for this week:
Heirloom Lettuces
Rainbow Chard
Baby beets with tops (some tops are purple and some green)
Bok choy
Fennel
Japanese white turnips with greens
Cilantro
Strawberries
I can’t write to you this week without acknowledging the horrible disaster we have with the oil spill in the Gulf. I am collecting hair thru matteroftrust.org and they are making huge booms with natural hair to soak up oil. Hope it works - please let us know if you hear of others ways that we as a community can help. For now enjoy your healthy veggies and remember, I am always happy to talk food!
Gratefully,
Margie Thorpe
