Contents:
1) In Your Box this Week
2) Farm News
- New Pickup Site for Tarrytown
- Harvesting and Washing Arugula
- Fall Garden Planting Tips
- Riding Across Iowa
- T-Shirt Contest Winner
3) In the News
4) Events
- Outstanding in the Field
5) Quotable Food
6) Recipe: Texican Squash
7) Produce Storage Tips
8) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Info
Zephyr squash grows in the greenhouse
1) In Your Box This Week
Okra
Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew & Galia Melons
Basil
Winter Squash
White or Red Onions
Caribe Potatoes
Sweet Peppers
Pablano and Anaheim Mild Peppers
Jalapeno and Serrano Hot Peppers
Black, purple, green, white and Rosa Bianca Eggplant
Yellow, Zephyr, Patty Pan Squash and Zucchini
2) Farm News
- New Pickup Site for Tarrytown beginning September 2
Lilo Pomerleau has graciously offered to serve as our new Tarrytown host. Starting on Wednesday, September 2nd, Tarrytown members will now pickup their vegetables in the carport of Lilo’s home at 3402 Bonnie, Austin, TX 78703. Click here to see a Google Maps image of the site. Many thanks to outgoing Tarrytown host Allision Phillips – we appreciate her efforts and wish her luck in her move.
- Harvesting and Washing Arugula… aka Rocket
We are currently harvesting lots of arugula so members can expect a large bag of this delicious salad green in their boxes this week. We’ve been experimenting with how to wash and dry all of this arugula. Brenton has been testing the merits of putting a large mesh laundry bag full of just-washed arugula into a washing machine and then putting it on spin cycle. The washing machine acts like a large vegetable spinner, pulling the water away from the leaves. We can then bag up the greens for member boxes. Once members get their vegetables home, they should give the arugula a second washing and let it dry before refrigerating it.
- Tyler and Jessica harvest arugula in the early morning
- Jessica fills a bin with fresh arugula
Arugula with harvesting knife
Brenton does laundry
Arugula on spin cycle
- Fall Garden Planting Tips
September and October are very busy planting times for us at the farm, and we are currently preparing field beds for all of the transplants that are growing in the greenhouse. For those members who are interested in planting their own fall gardens, here’s a list of some of the vegetables that you can plant in the fall: Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, chard, collards, endive, kale, lettuce, and mustard. For a more complete list with detailed planting times, check out the Travis County Garden Planting Calendar on our website (to access this, to our website at www.jbgorganic.com, click on the “More Info” tab, then click the Gardening Information link, and finally click the link for the Travis County Garden Planting Calendar).
- Riding Across Iowa: by Grit Ramuschkat, JBG resident and newsletter contributor
Grit prepares to ride through the Heartland
This summer my husband Steven and I participated in the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), the longest (we rode 450 miles in 7 days), largest (20,000 riders participated) and oldest (this was the 37th year) touring bicycle ride in the world. We trained every free minute for this and you’d find odd group photos in the newsletter, with everyone wearing dirty farm clothes but Steven and me – we wore dirty cycling clothes… .
I had never been to America’s Heartland and was curious to see the center of so much debate with my own eyes. We started our tour in Council Bluffs, Omaha’s sister city on the west side of the Missouri River, in the South Eastern corner of Iowa and for the first four days we faced one hill after another. These were exciting hills to ride on with long descents that made for a nice adrenalin kick and a temporary feeling of freedom, before the not so glamorous uphill part approached. The scenery was very nice as well. Other than in Texas these days, the surroundings were saturated in a deep, lush green, the corn had outgrown us humans and stood proud and straight, no weeds in sight. The soy beans were knee-tall and dark green in color. The interspersing grass was lush, long and bowed in the wind. The rows of corn were marked at regular intervals with signs indicating variety and seed provider. Every so often, the green gave room to a little group of farm buildings glistening white in the sun or a few yellow or silver storage silos. I spotted one abandoned silo site, former home of a local seed saving company. At one point on the route, the locals proudly announced on written signs, what percentage of corn went into the various food products awaiting us at our next rest stop. In short, this world looked pretty, pretty unflat :-), peaceful and healthy to me. The products that came from the earth were the source of life for the kind people hosting us during our week long ride.
What startled me so much was that I was riding through one big monoculture (or better two big monocultures) and it was hard for the eye to see it as such! My eyes couldn’t see that 98% of the soy was genetically modified. It was not apparent that the corn we passed wasn’t my favorite dish corn on the cob multiplied by a trillion, but was grown to become cattle food, ethanol and high fructose corn syrup. The landscape didn’t look like the one that made us so sick (I guess, I expected the product grown by industrial agriculture to look somewhat gloomy, grey and sickening). It wasn’t obvious that the reason the farm houses were far apart, was that the land in between was owned by just one farmer. Solving omnivore’s dilemma seemed easy, logical and straightforward to me, back then, when I was reading about it at home.
Compare this RAGBRAI dinner which is made up of shades of yellow with an overall greyish tint to the vibrant looking one you made with your farm fresh vegetables from JBG!
In the end, riding across Iowa, reminded me how challengingly complex it can be, to bring change to a landscape that is no doubt grey, gloomy and sick in theory, but full of green, peace and joy in the hearts of the local people and visiting riders. I’d like to encourage all of you to challenge yourself and do RAGBRAI, be part of such a big adventure, enjoy the hospitality of the locals up there and make up your own mind about what our corn belt is and should be!
- T-Shirt Contest Winner
Shelley Herbert is the winner of our t-shirt contest! With a guess of $1,500, she came closest to estimating the cost of two loads of manure compost. Of all the entries, Shelley’s was the highest but it still fell short of what it actually cost us, which was $2,500. Thanks to all who participated and congratulations to Shelley.
3) In the News
Thanks to both Michael Klug and Michael O’Donnell for sending us this New York Times editorial about the state of industrial farming: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23kristof.html?ref=opinion
4) Events
- Outstanding in the Field
Get your tickets while you still can for the Outstanding in the Field (OITF) dinner here on the farm on September 29th. OITF’s mission is to, ” is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.” To read more about Outstanding in the Field, please visit their website at http://www.outstandinginthefield.com. We hope you can join us for this wonderful event in September here at JBG.
Outstanding in the Field photo by Andrea Wyner
5) Quotable Food
“But although Outstanding in the Field appears unusual, in fact, celebrating the harvest is something we humans did with absolute regularity until fairly recently. What seems exciting now – sharing the bounty of freshly picked ripe food with a community of people – was commonplace before the dawn of industrialized agriculture. I feel strongly that is both our obligation and our privilege to actively explore what the meaning of that sharing and community-focused life was in order to regain a little of its dignity.” Jim Denevan, founder of Outstanding in the Field
6) Recepies
Thank you to Amy Ringger of Ringger Family Farms for sending in the recipe for Texican Squash
Texican Squash 2 1/2 lb. summer squash or zucchini, cubed or sliced 4 Ringger Family Farm eggs 1/2 cup milk 1/2-1 lb. Monterey Jack or cheddar/colby cheese, cubed or grated 1 tsp salt 2 tsp baking powder 3 TB flour 4 oz. green chiles or your own pickled jalepenos 1 1/2 cups crushed tortilla chips or bread crumbs Cook squash in 2 cups water until barely tender, about 7 min. Drain and cool. Combine eggs, milk, cheese, salt, baking powder, flour, parsley, and chilies together, fold squash into mixture. Sprinkle 1/2 the crumbs into a greased 9 X 13 pan and pour in squash mixture. Sprinkle top with more crumbs, bake for 30 min. till firm.
7) Produce Storage Tips
We aim to grow and package our vegetables to maintain the highest taste and nutritional quality possible. However, once they’ve left the farm it’s up to you to keep them fresh and nutritious. There’s no refrigeration at the CSA drop points so it’s best to pick up your box as early as possible. Here are some additional tips on how to store this week’s share:
Tomatoes should be kept uncovered at room temp, but can be refrigerated if very ripe. All other fresh vegetables belong in the refrigerator.
Peppers and Cucumbers should be stored in the crisper, and washed before use.
Basil can be stored upright in a jar of water at room temperature, or in an open bag on the counter. These three all do well frozen also (they will loose texture but not taste).
Eggplants, Potatoes, Onions are best kept moderately cool, no lower than 50 degrees. A cool, dry dark place is best- on the counter, in a cupboard or basket. Don’t whole store onions in the refrigerator because the moisture is bad for them. Don’t store potatoes near onions. The onions will absorb moisture from the potatoes.
Summer Squash will last 4-7 days in plastic bags in the crisper.
Melons should be ripened before refrigeration, stored in plastic bags when ripe. Melons should be used as soon as possible after ripening.
Checkout our storage tips on our website for a more complete guide, and of course, feel free to contact us with any questions. is your guide for how to can, freeze, dry, pickle or ferment just about anything.
Grit bags up the arugala
8) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Information
Johnson’s Backyard Garden
9515 Hergotz Lane, Box E
Austin, TX 78742
Office Phone: 512.386.5273
Office Hours: M-F 8am to 12:30pm
e-mail: farm@jbgorganic.com