December 14th, 2011 by Margie

December 14th, 2011

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

I never got to hear about who received the random Evereman art and who did not.  If you got one last week in or around your basket, let us know!  This week the art is the food as usual.  We have a beautiful bag of tender lettuce leaves, young romaine is what most of it is.  You also have young swiss chard that looked so good this morning; I wanted to pull out a plate and start eating right at the farm.  I am chopping those and making some hand rolled ravioli tonight (well, maybe tomorrow..).  Your dark greens are broccoli greens from Steve’s farm too.  If you have not eaten the greens from broccoli before, you are in for a treat – Tasty and sweet.  They look like a curly version of a collard leaf and can be cooked any way that you use any other green.

Woodland Garden brought us watermelon radishes, which as some of you know, don’t look like much on the outside but when you slice into them, they are a beautiful red and green feast for the eyes and the belly!  I thought about trying to pickle them in jars as a holiday gift.  How pretty would that be!?  Serenbe has slowed a bit this week with the cold snap from last week but they still brought us the sweet carrots and sweet potatoes.

Below is your list of goodies:

Carrots – Serenbe Farms

Japanese red and white sweet potatoes – Serenbe Farm

Baby Swiss chard – Steve Miller’s Farm

Lettuce – Steve Miller’s Farm

Broccoli greens – Steve Miller’s Farm

Watermelon Radish – Woodland Garden

Apples – Riverview Farms

Curly Parsley – Steve Miller’s Farm

We are much directly into the holiday season now.  Many of you took advantage of our extended list of extras available this week as gifts.  I am going to try to gather as many items as possible to offer for next week too.  Whatever you do and whatever you celebrate, always remember that we all come together at the belly.  We may not like the same dishes or crops but we all need similar nourishment.  Enjoy sharing your meals and I have to say that this year you all have been my nourishment beyond the plate.  You are an inspiration as a community making great choices.  Thank you, and remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Margie Thorpe

December 7th, 2011 by Margie

December 7, 2011

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

Today we have a rare treat of fennel in the basket.  This can be sliced and roasted with your sunchokes, beets, and carrots, or added to a soup or both.  You also have the sunchokes again.  Check out our website today for a great link to info on how to use sunchokes and their origin.  Turtle bend harvested a fresh mix of arugula and other salad greens so this is an easy snack to rinse and eat.  They also harvested more broccoli for us this week.  I feel so lucky to have had broccoli so much this year and the gorgeous cauliflower – although I was told this morning, this is the last harvest for Turtle Bend

The folks that get some of our extras know how great the fresh made goat cheeses are or the local eggs, but we are making a huge effort to help all of us buy local and support local by creating a much larger list of extras available for the next two weeks as possible gifts for your friends or family.  We will even offer gift deliveries!  Check out your email coming later this week.  For those already receiving the eggs, we have had a really hard time getting enough for all of us so they are coming from a couple of different local farms.  Sorry about the confusion.  Check out your basket this week because “some” of you have a local piece of art randomly placed in or around it.  Our friends at Evereman.com gave us some small art to share as a way of letting you know about one more option for local folks doing cool stuff!  If you are interested to know more, check out our website tonight to see one of the “tagged” baskets!  Below is your list of goodies:

Carrots – Serenbe Farms

Beets with greens – Serenbe Farm

Sunchokes – Serenbe Farm

Collards – Turtle Bend Farm

Broccoli – Turtle Bend Farm

Mixed arugula and salad greens – Turtle Bend Farm

Fennel – Serenbe Farms

Apples – Riverview Farms

Life and death have been all around me this week; the trees are more bare now than ever and stand like stripped sculptures in the winter fields.  The farms this week have open space where just last week stood bushes and crops.  The dark sky just seems to act as an added symbol of this somber time of year.  The good news is all this loss makes room for life and lets our soils rest a bit so they can continue to provide for our early spring crops that will go in soon.  I hope I can remember this when I get to a dark moment in my life, or a situation that requires dealing with loss – it is always making room for more abundance!  I love that, and for now remember I am happy to TALK FOOD!

Margie Thorpe

November 30th, 2011 by Margie

November 30th, 2011

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

We hope you all had the holiday that more than met your expectations.  I know I did and it was largely because of the friends around me, and largely because of the food!  I chose to chill and go out for authentic Mexican fare on Thanksgiving, a bit of a new tradition for me.  It was a blast and then I cooked all weekend and served up all my farm food on Sunday to whoever would come and eat.  A small group got fed very well!

This week we have a great fall basket even though this morning feels like full on WINTER!  Paige and Justin and I were out in the morning cold cleaning and prepping your root veggies and wondering where that sun was that we were promised today.  Regardless the food looked happy to have the chill.  You have large beets of all colors and lovely sweet carrots.  Roast them all together with some cubed sunchokes like I did this weekend and you will have a pan of veggie candy!  Turtle Bend is still harvesting tomatoes for us if you can believe it!  I love that we have lettuce AND tomato in our basket in late November!  Very cool!  The cilantro and tomatoes will be my faves this week to add to a little leftover turkey for fresh tacos.  Try it – you will like it, if you have any leftovers, that is.

Carrots – Serenbe Farms

Colorful beets with greens – Serenbe Farms

Spinach – Serenbe Farms

Sunchokes – Serenbe Farms

Head lettuce – Serenbe Farms

Lacinato Kale – Turtle Bend Farm

Tomatoes – Turtle Bend Farm

Cilantro – Serenbe Farms

Over the next several weeks we will have a bountiful basket.  If any of you are interested in ways to put away some of this food now so that in slimmer January and February you will have great stuff to choose from, let me know.  I am making a list of easy ways to save your harvest.  I will post it on the website and the facebook site in the next week or so.  For now, eat up; make some dishes to take to a friend’s party or two.  Soak up your holiday gatherings and always remember I am happy to TALK FOOD!

Margie Thorpe

November 22nd, 2011 by Margie

November 22nd, 2011

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

As we mentioned the last few weeks, we are delivering on Tuesday this week for Thanksgiving.  It is really overwhelming how beautiful the fields are right now with so much food for us.  Between the fall color and the bountiful crops, it is a pleasure to be at the farms for all of us.  You all received a list of items to choose from this week and most of you have custom baskets.  Your list is printed on the back of this letter.  I have serious food envy because at every stop, I have wished I had whatever you ordered.   There are several recipes on the website to help you with ideas on the substitutions for local food in your holiday traditions.  I usually list your items here, but since everyone’s basket is different, I will take this opportunity to talk about our community.  We all have so much to be thankful for, but as I drive country roads and visit farms around Georgia and then homes around Atlanta, I am bursting with gratitude.  Vegetable Husband would like to post the following list of folks we are thankful for this year:

Jenny-Jack-Sun Farm

Serenbe Farms

Turtle Bend Farm

Scharko Farms

Woodland Gardens

Riverview Farms

Love is Love Farm

Whippoorwill Hollow Farm

The Funny Farm

Full Moon Farm

Love is Love

Evie’s Country Garden

Decimal Place Farm

Truly Living Well

…and many more.

Most of all, I want to thank all of you for being a part of a community of people that care about the food they eat, and the people that work hard to grow that food.  I am grateful to all of you for sharing in this constant journey with me.  This year has been a struggle at times since I lost my daddy in March, but I feel like what I do is important.  Last year, my dad was here helping me.  He is dearly missed today.  Maybe we can all look around us this holiday, and think about how much the folks around us mean to us, even if gatherings seem stressful.  Trust me, my dad and I got on each others nerves many times.  Now those moments are all part of what I am grateful for. Until next week, have a beautiful holiday and please remember, I am always happy to TALK   FOOD!

With much love and gratitude,

Margie Thorpe

November 16th, 2011 by Margie

November 16, 2011

Dear Vegetable Husband Customer,

If I have not said it lately, fall is my favorite food season, I think.  I might take that back in the spring but right now I am in heaven!  This week it is impossible to choose the star with beautiful Savoy cabbage in each basket, along with bright cauliflower heads, our first fall beets, the sweet carrots and even more!  I am late loading the recipe for us but by tomorrow we will have a chopped cauliflower and shrimp recipe.  This is a great dish that Cooper at The Feed Store prepares like Shrimp and grits except you are eating your veggies in place of a bowl of starch.  How great is that!?  As you use the carrots, beets, and even the radishes, remember these tops are deelish sautéed and full of vitamins.  You can also do a simple smoothie using a little green in there too.   Last week I steamed my greens, pureed them and added them to the tomato sauce for a large pan of lasagna.  There is such great satisfaction in sitting at a table while people eat my lasagna and tell me how they hate greens and don’t eat dark veggies.  Shhhh!  Don’t tell them that they just ate 1/2 lb each in every serving!

The radishes are large and white but wait until you cut into one of them; they are beautiful inside and will look like a slice of mini watermelon.  These make a spectacular addition to a salad so enjoy them with the lettuce and maybe a bright tart tomato.  Some of the tomatoes have turned a little red.  Even the green ones will be somewhat red inside.  I guess even the cold weather could not keep our Georgia tomatoes from coming into their own this year.

Below is your list of goodies:

Carrots with tops – Serenbe Farm

Beets with tops – Serenbe Farm

Head lettuce – Serenbe Farm

Cauliflower – Turtle Bend Farm

Savoy Cabbage – Turtle Bend Farm

Red Russian Kale – Turtle Bend Farm

Green tomatoes – Turtle Bend Farm

Watermelon Radishes = Turtle Bend Farm

As you all know, next week people all around us will celebrate food and fellowship the way we do every week!  Remember that we will be sending you a list of goodies available and even letting you tell US what spices and veggies you would like for your basket.  This way your harvest basket is exactly what you need for your holiday.  Look for that note tomorrow since we will need your custom orders in by Saturday to get everything reserved for us.  Delivery is Tuesday afternoon and I can’t wait!  I hope you all have your pots and pans ready if you are staying home and cooking and if you are suspending service and depending on others for your holiday meal, I hope you find your way to a tasty and peaceful holiday.  For now, remember I am always happy to TALK FOOD!

Gratefully,

Margie Thorpe