2) Farm News

• JBG Now Accepting New CSA Members
• Attention New CSA Members: Eggs Are Back
• Holiday Schedule Changes and Other Housekeeping Details
• Come Help Us Harvest Potatoes
• Looking for a New Host at Brodie/Slaughter Location
• Donate Your Box Over the Holidays
• Holiday Gift Certificates
• JBG Shirts and Totes!
• A Greenhouse Full of Transplants
• Cake for Breakfast
• Good Flow Juice and Honey Provides Another Perspective on Local Juice

3) Events

• Sustainable Food Center Seed Saving Class, This Wednesday
• How-to Holidays, at Whole Foods
• Festive Family Dinner: A Class with Chef Robert Jenkins
• Austin Farmers’ Market Cookbook

4) Quotable Food

5) Recipes

• Garlic Dill Roasted Potatoes
• Eat Like a Texan (a delicious meal made by Keith and enjoyed by all the interns!)

6) Produce Storage Tips

7) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Info

1) In Your Box This Week

New Potatoes!

Dill

Butterhead Lettuce

Carrots

Beets or Turnips

Sweet and Hot Peppers

Cauliflower or Broccoli

Cilantro

Green Garlic

Braising Mix or Arugula

Winter Squash

Coming Soon:

Scallions

Bok Choy

At the Market:

Arugula

Broccoli

Mixed head lettuce (romaine, butterhead, oakleaf)

Salad mix

Spinach

Cilantro

Dill

Carrots

Beets

Bok choy

Turnips

New potatoes

Winter squash

Sweet and hot peppers

Tomatoes

Fennel

2) Farm News

• JBG Now Accepting New CSA Members

JBG seeks to grow a diverse assortment of high-quality produce while working to help minimize the distance from farm to consumer. We are currently expanding in an attempt to increase the impact we have on Austin’s local food scene and to help do our part in meeting Austin’s demand for locally grown, organic produce. As such, we are accepting new CSA members and are asking you to share the word so together we can continue to spread the values of the local organic farms and expand our community of mindful Austin consumers. One way for you to do that would be to print the flyer off the link below, in color or black and white, and put it up on any bulletin board: work, church, coffee shop, bagel shop, children’s school, etc. Word of Mouth is our best advertising. Thanks for your help.

http://jbgorganic.com/PDFs/JBG%20Flyer.pdf

• Attention New CSA Members: Eggs are Back!

We have recently connected with new local egg suppliers in order to meet the demand, therefore we are no longer putting a hold on egg orders for new costumers. If you are interested in receiving eggs with your box please email us at farm@jbgorganic.com

• Holiday Schedule Changes and Other Housekeeping Details

1. Holiday schedule change – Christmas falls on a Friday this year so in order to keep everyone home with their families we are switching that Friday drop-off day to Monday, December 21st. Therefore, pick-ups at East Austin, Hyde Park, Zilker, Bouldin, and Brodie/Slaughter will be on Monday, December 21, during the week of Christmas. There will be no pick-up that Friday, December 25th.

2. Its important that we have accurate contact information for all of you, particularly at this time of flux on the farm. We want to be able to contact you as we shift schedules to ensure everyone is able to pick up their boxes. You can log in to your account in order to update your phone number and email address yourself.

• Come Help Us Harvest Potatoes!

We have begun harvesting all those delicious fall potatoes and we could definitely use some help! Workshare opportunities are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 8am to 1pm. All workshare volunteers get a share of freshly harvested vegetables in exchange for their work. If you are interested in participating on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday, please email us at farm@jbgorganic.com or call Carrie in the office at 512-386-5273.

• Looking for a New Host at Brodie/Slaughter Location

We are still looking to fill the host position at the Brodie/Slaughter pick-up location. We have had a few approach us about becoming a host and we are now evaluating which would fit in best along our driving route. If you would like to be considered please contact the farm; we will be making a decision in early January.

In a hosting site, we are looking for a cool place for the vegetables (either air-conditioning or lots of shade) and easy access for CSA members (ample parking and pickup availability from 3:30pm until 7pm on Fridays). Most hosts use either shaded front porches or garages/carports for the vegetables.

Hosts are given a free box every quarter in exchange for the work they do. This includes keeping the empty wax boxes for us until we drop vegetables off again the following week, setting out a table for the CSA boxes, and giving away any leftover vegetables to friends, neighbors, or families in need. If you have any questions, or are interested in becoming a host for this location please email us at farm@jbgorganic.com or call the office at 512-386-5273.

• Donate Your Box Over the Holidays

We recognize that many people go out of town over the holidays to visit family and friends, and you may be considering canceling your box for the week of Christmas. If you need to cancel your Christmas CSA pickup, we understand. However, to save the farm a big financial hit over the holidays and to help provide food for those in need, please consider donating your share to the Salvation Army, or having a friend pick up your share for you. This way, you can keep supporting the farm, while sharing fresh, organic vegetables with others.

• Holiday Gift Certificates

We have a glorious idea for a holiday gifts…yes indeed…CSA gift certificates! Buy a four or ten week subscription for your friends and family and help spread the beauty of local organic produce this season. Gift certificates are regular price. If you’d like to order, call us at 512-386-5273 or email at farm@jbgorganic.com.

• JBG Shirts and Bags!

This morning while discussing the newsletter Brenton said, with a pleased smile on his face, “I think we have had tremendous success; and its incredibly unexpected. I never thought that we would have the amount of success that we have, and a huge part of that is a direct result of the work of many volunteers over the years.” He is both surprised and pleased by the rapid speed and quality of the growth, and is grateful for the many hands that have contributed to the achievements of the farm. From Grit and Steven, Brenton’s first volunteers at his property on Holly Street, who are now residents on the farm and continued supporters, to Matt our packing shed manager. Matt also started as a volunteer on Holly Street several years ago. Furthermore, there have been countless workshares over the years that have given their time to help in the operations on the farm, as well as numerous interns along the way. Our most recent contributor is Ryan Rhodes, designer of our new logo. Ryan currently rents an apartment on Holly Street from the Johnson’s. He is employed at McGarrah Jesse in Austin, but is working on the Johnson’s Backyard Garden logos for a share of vegetables. We think his work is beautiful and we wanted to show you the hand-bound book he created for JBG in order to display his ideas for the logo.

We are thankful to have Ryan share his talent with us, and for all the other individuals who have had a hand in the success of Johnson’s Backyard Garden.

Click here if you are interested in buying shirts and totes with the new designs!

• A Greenhouse Full of Transplants

Our greenhouse is currently stocked with transplants getting ready to be put into the field. Given the recent period of heavy rain it has been difficult for us to direct seed because the soil is too wet. Transplants however, can be planted in slightly damp soil. Brenton has quickly learned the need to prepare the beds as soon as one crop is finished so that the soil has time to dry. Raised beds quickly dry out and provide us with the appropriate conditions for transplanting from the greenhouse.

• Cake for Breakfast, by Grit Ramuschkat, a JBG Resident

One of my coworkers asked me recently, what I eat for breakfast, I told her, that Steven and I mostly eat cake for breakfast. She glance at me in utter disbelief thinking why in the world I wasn’t 50 pounds overweight then? As I realized that the cake-vision in her mind must have been one of a triple-layer, fluffy piece of chocolate cake with 1/2″ frosting on top, I quickly explained myself. The cakes I have for breakfast are mostly German recipes. They are generally not very sweet and often contain a good share of fresh or dried fruit. Also, more often than not, they have no frosting.

The word cake in German is somewhat indistinct. For example, a sweet bread and a pie are both called cake. The type of cake can be further differentiated by adding a prefix. For example, a “Blechkuchen” is a cake baked on a baking sheet with a dough that’s generally yeast-based and a “Ruehrkuchen” refers to a mixed cake similar to a sweet bread. But then there’s a “versunkener Apfelkuchen”, referring to the fruit, in this case sliced apples being submerged in the dough, but a “versunkener Apfelkuchen” is also a “Ruehrkuchen”. Even for a native speaker like me this can become very confusing very fast, so we Germans find common ground by calling every type of cake simply cake. See the following for one of my German “cake” recipes.

Zitronenkuchen or Lemon Cake

This is one of my grandmother’s recipes, that was handed down first to my mother and then to me. I failed at several attempts to replicate this recipe and was on the verge of throwing the recipes into my electronic trash can until I recently changed the baking vessel. That seemed to do the trick. So, please use a rectangular bread pan for this one. This is a very simple recipe and like it is with simple recipes, the magic lies in the ingredients. Use farm fresh eggs, since you will taste them. The butter, white sugar and white flour function as a flavor carrier for the lemons. I urge you to really use white flour and white sugar for this one. I experimented with whole grain flours and brown sugars before and it wasn’t good. You’ll loose the fluffyness and lightness and the vibrant lemon experience that this cake is all about.

Ingredients

For the dough:

2 sticks and 2 tbsp of butter
2/3 C sugar
2 C flour
4 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
lemon juice from 1/2 a lemon
lemon zest from 2 to 3 lemons

For the Frosting:

powdered sugar
juice from 1 to 2 lemons

Preparation:

Use butter and eggs at room temperature. Grease a rectangular bread pan. Mix butter, sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest into a creamy batter. Add the eggs, one by one; adding the next egg only after the previous one has been completely integrated. Sift the flour and add it in several portions (include baking powder in the last portion). Mix until the flour is integrated but not any more. Pour the batter in the pan and bake at 350 F for 50 to 60 minutes. After the cake has cooled some, poke holes, about 1 to 1 1/2″ deep, all over the top surface of the cake. With a little baking brush, paint the lemon juice over the top of the cake. It will sink into the holes and moisturize and flavor your cake from the inside out. When the holes are 3/4 full with juice, add some powdered sugar to the remaining juice and brush it on the cake as well

• Good Flow Juice and Honey Provides Another Perspective on Local Juice, by Krystin Bowcutt

Given my recent arrival to the area I was never able to experience the fresh taste of Good Flow Juice, but many Austinites know the name. Not only are they familiar with the product, but there seems to be an emotional response to the loss of their juice over a year ago. The company stocked the shelves of many grocery stores and filled the cups of many restaurant goers consequently leaving a void in the wake of their closure, which many still respond to with a tone of sadness. Because of the public’s affinity for this juice company we wanted to follow last weeks article about the juice industry and South Tex Organics’ efforts to put forth a quality juice product, with a look at Good Flow. Although each has a different approach they are both interested in making local juice available for their customers.

With an appreciation for fresh, nutritious juice, Good Flow and its owners, the Crofuts, focused on providing hand squeezed juice to their customers. According to an article in the Austin Business Journal (09/20/96) produce was delivered to Good Flow in the morning, washed, hand squeezed, bottled and loaded onto the truck six mornings a week, in order to get the juice out by lunch. The major issue that brought about the termination of the juice component of their business (as they are still selling their honey products) was their failure to complete a 5 logarithm step in order to kill off 99.9% of bacteria.

The FDA considers juice to be a “high-risk”product that can carry salmonella and other bacterial pathogens. Therefore they require juice to go through the 5 logarithm step in order to destroy bacteria, this process has a bacterial survival rate of one in 100,000. The most common way to accomplish this is through pasteurization. Good Flow did not want to pasteurize their products because it kills off natural and beneficial bacteria and enzymes, in addition to the harmful ones. When asked about their decision not to pasteurize Judy Crofut said, “I think a lot of people think bad when they think bacteria.” She continued by pointing out that the majority of bacteria is beneficial and our digestive system actually requires a high amount of bacteria to work effectively.

Judy Crofut told the Austin Chronicle (09/12/08) the FDA regulations regarding the 5 logarithm step are “really designed for big corporate America. … We’ve been keeping our juice safe for a long time – we buy from reliable sources, clean our fruit in a chlorine sanitizing bath. We eyeball every single piece of fruit, even cut it open to eyeball it on the inside. We feel strongly that our process is a good process and a safe process, but that has nothing to do with our case.” Judy learned to wash the fruit with chlorine at the University of Texas Cancer Research Center where she once worked. They taught her that chlorine is great for cleaning because it evaporates and therefore leaves no residue behind. However, this chlorine pouring rinse process didn’t meet FDA regulations.

Judy believes that the FDA is finally beginning to see the health benefits of products, such as their juice, that are as close to the original produce as possible. She recognizes that the political climate is changing and the FDA is now working more to assist small businesses like Good Flow, instead of shut them down. When speaking with Judy Crofut this monday she mentioned that everyone at Good Flow is still working hard to get their juice operations open once more. “Its been difficult,” she said, “but we are closer than we have ever been to getting it up and running.” With hopes for reopening in the spring, they are busy preparing a new location, as their current space cannot accommodate the equipment necessary to fulfill FDA requirements. When they reopen the fruit will go through a scrubbing procedure to clean the the exterior of the produce. They will only sell citrus juices in the beginning because the 5 logarithm step is only required for the outside of citrus. In order to make their popular juice blends which have other produce in them, Good Flow would be required to sanitize the interior of the fruit, which would mean pasteurizing the final juice product. According to the FDA the only way for them to create these blends without pasteurizing the juice would be if they were involved in their own retail sales. This is something they would love to make a reality in the future, but until then, they will focus on producing fresh citrus juice for the people of Austin.

3) Events

• Sustainable Food Center Seed Saving Class, This Wednesday (from sustainablefoodcenter.org)

Ever wonder how you can develop even more sustainability in your garden? This free class will go over the basics of how to save your seeds for future planting. Learn the difference between hybrid and open-pollinated varieties. Several seed saving techniques will be covered.

Registration required. Please call Jess Guffey at 236-0074 x 105 or email jess@sustainablefoodcenter.org

Wednesday December 16, 2009, 6PM – 7 PM
Gus Garcia Rec Center
Afterschool Room
1201 E. Rundberg Lane, 78753

• How-to Holidays, at Whole Foods (from wholefoodsmarket.com)

Let us help you with some easy holiday solutions, from easy appetizers for entertaining to wine pairings and desserts! Each department will present some tips and recipes throughout the day to inspire you for your holiday meals, parties, and gift-giving. And we’ll be offering sips of all of our Top Ten Wines throughout the store – our top notch wines at easy to swallow prices!

12:00 noon – 3 PM Free! Saturday, December 19th. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/lamar/storecalendar.php for more information and events.

• Festive Family Dinner: A Class with Chef Robert Jenkins (from centralmarket.com)

Join Robert and Kathleen as the share this delicious Jenkins family tradition – a Mexican – inspired feast on Christmas eve, at the Central Market Cooking School. Menu includes:

Tortilla Soup
Shrimp and Guacamole Chalupas
Borracho Beans
Mexican Rice
Enchiladas with Cheese and Red Chile Sauce
Yucatecan Coconut Tart

Sunday December 20th, 6:30 – 9 PM. Visit http://www.cookingschoolsofamerica.com/centralmarketaustinnorthlamar/index.php?flag_menu_index=calendar_php for more information, and to see the other classes this month at Central Market’s Cooking School.

• Austin Farmers’ Market Cookbook

AFM is working on making a cookbook full of recipes based on fresh, local ingredients. Check out their website for more information on the book and how to submit your recipes. http://austinfarmersmarketcookbook.com/

4) Quotable Food

“Remember every food purchase is a vote.We might be tempted, as individuals, to think that our small actions don’t really matter, that one meal can’t make a difference. But each meal, each bite of food, has a rich history as to how and where it grew or was raised, how it was harvested. Our purchases, our votes, will determine the way ahead. And thousands upon thousands are needed in favor of the kind of farming practices that will restore health to our planet.”

– Jane Goodall, Harvest for Hope

Joke of the Day!

“Sir, What is the secret of your success?” an intern asked the experienced farmer.
“Two words.”
“And, Sir, what are they?”
“Right decisions.”
“And how do you make right decisions?”
“One word.”
“And, Sir, what is that?”
“Experience.”
“And how do you get Experience?”
“Two words.”
“And, Sir, what are they?”
“Wrong decisions.”

5) Recipes

* Garlic Dill Roasted Potatoes (from grouprecipes.com)

This is a simple one, but I’m so excited about having potatoes and dill from the farm that I thought I would add it in. I actually had potatoes like this for lunch today. I boiled them, though, and then crisped them up in a pan for a few minutes, instead of baking them (simply because we only have an hour for lunch). Definitely play around with the recipe so it works for you. The most important part is the dill and potatoes! You could even use the green garlic that should be in your boxes this week.

Ingredients:

8 Baby red-skinned new potatoes
2 teaspoons finely minced garlic
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil or 3 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoon dill

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Scrub the potatoes well and prick each 3 or 4 times with a fork.
3. Place in a single layer on a shallow pan and bake 1 hr 30 min to 2 hrs until potatoes are done
4. Cut each potato in half. If some of them are still too big? cut the halves in half once more
5. Toss potatoes with remaining ingredients in large bowl. Be careful not to toss the potatoes too much or they may start to fall apart, and you don’t want mashed potatoes.
6. Let rest for 30 minutes before serving

• Eat Like A Texan, a Keith Loves Cast-Iron Production

Have you ever wanted to eat a local meal but find yourself at a loss for where to start and what to eat? Let me show you how. The other interns (here on the farm) and I just spent Sunday night dining on what was probably the most local dish we’ve ever eaten and definitely the most local dish I’ve ever cooked.

What was it? Imagine a leg of deer marinated overnight and then roasted to perfection in a beautiful array of sweet spices and seasonings. Picture a plate of mushroom caps full to the brim of flavored goat cheese. Envision a serving of fall-grown beautiful potatoes. And yearn for a big ol’ bowl of fresh green and red lettuce and tomatoes with a sweet dressing. And it was incredible. All of it. Probably the best meal I’ve ever made.

How did I do it? (how to get it local? – see below!)

One by one…

Roast Leg of Deer
(taken from cooks.com, “Leg of Deer Roast”)

Ingredients

5 to 7 lb. leg of deer
4 cloves garlic, cut in slivers
1/2 c. vinegar
3 tbsp lemon juice
7 c. water, divided
1 1/2 c/ brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tbsp ground nutmeg
1 tbsp thyme leaves
1 tbsp dry mustard
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 bay leaves, crushed
1 med. red onion, cut into rings
2 tbsp cornstarch

Directions

Cut slits in deer roast; insert garlic slivers. Thoroughly rub vinegar and lemon juice into dear leg; refrigerate 2 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Place deer roast in large Redi-Pan roasting pan (17 x 12 x 2 1/2 inch); cook 45 minutes. To make gravy, place 6 cups water in 4 quart saucepan. Add sugar, nutmeg, thyme, mustard, salt, pepper, bay leaves and onion; bring to a boil. Mix cornstarch with 1 cup water; slowly add to gravy mixture. Cook over medium heat until gravy is thickened, about 5 minutes. Pour over deer in roasting pan. cook 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees, basting deer every 20 minutes. Makes 12 to 14 servings.

Note… If you don’t happen to have any hunting friends or cannot take down a deer on your own, I definitely recommend picking up some bison meat from Thunder Heart Bison.

Variations are acceptable… I didn’t have lemons so I used limes instead (and I’m uncertain where these might be sourced locally). I also didn’t have garlic so I substituted garlic greens from our farm. As for local spices and the other ingredients on this item, I’m at a loss for where to get them. I used bay leaves that were graciously given to us by one of our favorite work-shares (thanks Lisa!) and some rosemary from Beth’s garden here on the farm (instead of thyme). I also omitted the red onion because it is out of season and we do not have any in storage.

Stuffed Mushroom Caps
(recipe recommended by Debbie of “Maid in the Shade”)

1.5 lb mushrooms (remove stems)
Bacon drippings or melted butter
4-8 oz goat cheese (I love Debbie’s “Tropical Heat”

Wipe off the tops of the mushrooms with a damp towel to clean them. Remove the stems from the caps. Place upside down in baking dish. Pour in a little bit of butter or a small bit of bacon drippings and fill the rest in with the goat cheese. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes (be careful that you do not allow the caps to collapse). Serve hot from the oven.

Baked Potatoes
(my mom taught me how to do this long ago.)

Potatoes. As many as you’ll need. (1 or 2 per person by size)

Optional topping:

Yogurt and gravy (from deer/bison roast)
Potatoes. as many as you’ll need. (1 or 2 per person by size)

Spear the potatoes with a fork in four or five places around the potato and place in the oven, directly on the racks. Bake for 45 minutes up to an hour and a half depending on the size of the potatoes (smaller potato = shorter time, larger potato = longer time).

Salad of Delight
(dressing inspired by “USA Rage”)

3 or 4 heads of open leaf lettuce
1/3 – 1/2 lb ripe salad/beefsteak tomatoes
1/3 c Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 c Olive Oil
3 – 4 tangerines for juice
1 tangerine for salad
6-8 beets (roasted)
garlic greens
fresh dill
salt/pepper to taste

I’m just guessing on the portions for this dressing… i just eyeballed it… use more or less of what you want as you want it.

Quarter and roast the beets in the oven at 400 for 15 minutes. Mix the oil, vinegar and tangerine juice. Chop up everything else (the dill, the garlic greens, the tomatoes in eighths, and piece the tangerines) and add it to the mix. Chop or tear the lettuce and coat with the dressing.

Hear ye, hear ye!

Where can these things be purchased? At your local farmers’ market! Find the veggies at our stand (please stop by and say hi anyway!). This meal features deer harvested wild in Texas or Thunder Heart Bison raised in south Texas, Kitchen Pride mushrooms, sweet tangerines from Orange Blossom Farms, Maid in the Shade goat milk cheese, Texas Olive Ranch Olive Oil, and bacon drippings from Richardson Farms

• Be sure to read Grit’s Article for her Recipe for German Cake (Zitronenkuchen or Lemon Cake)

6) 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:

Beets and Carrots should be stored in plastic bags. They’ll last two weeks in the fridge. Take tops off carrots before storing. Leave greens on radishes, turnips and beets, with both roots and tops in the bag.

Fennel can be stored in the vegetable crisper for about 4 days.

Peppers should be stored in the crisper, and washed before use.

7) 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