Contents:

1) In Your Box this Week

2) Farm News

• Wholesale Deliveries Begin Thursday
• Slow Money Investors Needed
• JBG Now Accepting New CSA Members
• Attention New CSA Members: Eggs Are Back
• Goodbye Port-a-Potty! New Bathrooms at JBG
• It’s Cold Outside, But Get Ready for Spring Gardening!
• Planting Onions: The Water Wheel Transplanter at Work
• Updates from the New Farm on River Road
• Chalon’s Wizardry: The Elevated Sprayer
• Tangerines from Orange Blossom Farm!

3) Events

• Celebration of Austin Farmers’ Market Move into Republic Square Park, Saturday, January 9
• Local Maker Fair at Whole Foods
• Kocurek Family Charcuterie Pork Charcuterie Class

4) Quotable Food

5) Recipes

• Double Broccoli Quinoa
• Spicy Carrot Peanut Soup
• Steamed Bok Choy with Broiled Salmon and a Warm Roasted Tomato and Lemon Vinaigrette
• Scallion Pancakes

6) Produce Storage Tips

7) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Info

1) In Your Box this Week:

Tangerines! (courtesy of Orange Blossom Farm)
Carrots
Salad Mix
Potatoes
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Bok Choy
Turnip
Dill
Green Garlic

2) Farm News

• Wholesale Deliveries Begin Thursday

Our online shopping cart is finished!  We are excited to offer our fresh, organic vegetables to Austin’s restaurants and markets in the New Year.  Right now we have especially large amounts of beautiful broccoli and extra sweet carrots!  Our wholesale deliveries will run from 9 am to 3:30 pm on Mondays and Thursdays.  Our customers may also call to schedule a specific delivery time.

JBG’s goal in our wholesaling business is to develop close business relationships with a few vendors in Austin and serve them to the best of our ability.  In order to do that, all wholesale accounts must be approved before a customer can purchase produce from our web site.  If you are interested in becoming one of our wholesale customers, please email us at farm@jbgorganic.com and give us an idea of the volume and frequency of your anticipated purchases.  If we are aware of your needs in advance, we can plan our crops to meet them.

To peruse our new shopping cart, click here.  As we are just beginning our wholesale enterprise, the availability of some items are limited.  As we grow, we will begin selling our produce in standard wholesale quantities.  We welcome any feedback you have to help us serve you better!

• Slow Money Investors Needed
  

Our recent talk of slow money investments in Johnson’s Backyard Garden has generated a lot of response. We are now taking steps to pursue slow money investments in order to finance a $250,000 farm credit loan, guaranteed by the Texas Department of Agriculture.  These funds will be used to purchase crucial farm equipment for washing, packing, tilling, and harvesting as we expand our operations next year.  This loan is critical to the growth of our new farm on River Road.  For those interested in making a slow money investment to help us grow our farm in East Austin, we are asking for a minimum investment of $5,000.  We will repay with 4% interest monthly over 7 years.  If you are interested in a slow money investment in JBG, please sign up for our mailing list for continuing information.

• JBG Now Accepting New CSA Members

Johnson’s Backyard Garden is expanding, and we are inviting Austin residents to become new CSA members. If you know anyone who loves local, organic vegetables as much as you do, let them know about your CSA membership, and encourage them to look us up! Our goal at JBG is to have a real impact on Austin’s local food chain by providing as many Austin residents as we can with food straight from our farm. So share the news with your friends, family, co-workers, church members, or anyone else you’d like to share fresh, organic veggies with. Word of mouth is our best advertising!

• 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.

• Goodbye Port-a-Potty! New Bathrooms at JBG

We rang in this New Year with the flush of a toilet at JBG! Many hands helped to dig a hole for our new septic tank last week. While under the protection of several pop-up tents, the rain pounded around them making for quite a muddy job. Nonetheless, they managed to lower the tank into the ground and connect the toilets before leaving for the holiday last Thursday. We are excited that workshares and employees now have running toilets to use, and will be removing the port-a-potty from the property in the next few days!

• It’s Cold Outside, But Get Ready for Spring Gardening!

Brenton has Spring on his mind as we begin our first seeding of the year. Those nice spring crops, such as tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants, are all being planted now so that they may begin their germination in the greenhouses. The plants remain there for eight weeks and then will be transplanted into the fields at the beginning of March.  Be sure to catch our Spring Transplant Sale and Slow Food Farm Tour during the first three weeks of March, where we’ll have a wide selection of heirloom varieties of peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, melons, and squash.  More information to come!

• Planting Onions: The Water Wheel Transplanter at Work

This morning, Travis, Neysa and I worked on a new transplanter (well, new to the interns) to plant 3 different varieties of onions on 8 beds.  It is a transplanter designed primarily to transplant into plastic mulch.  It’s called water wheel because water flows from a tank onto 3 large wheels which make holes for the transplants.  The water falls into the holes, making the soil wet for easier transplanting and better growing conditions.  We had the wheels on our water wheel custom made to 4 1/2 inch spacing.  The wheels just arrived early this morning, and we attached them and planted with them today!

We are growing some of our onions in plastic, and others on bare ground.  We’re conducting a sort of experiment, to see which method works better.  We think plastic might benefit us because it will make our irrigation and weeding more efficient, and it will make the onions, which respond to warm soil, size up faster.

• Updates From the New Farm on River Road

Michael and Brent have been working to finalize their plans for the orchard on the new property. They are hoping to put their order in for the fruit soon!

Today Noe and Memo started helping Michael put up his barn on the land. It is a Quonset style barn which is generally a prefabricated corrugated steel structure with semicircular cross sections. This structure was widely used by the military after its development during World War I at the Davisville Naval Construction Battalion Center in Quonset Point, RI and has since become popular among the public for a variety of uses (such as barns!)

*Image from texasescapes.com*

• Chalon’s Wizardry: The Elevated Sprayer

Chalon has used his mad skills to jack up the spray rig that we pull behind our tractor, so that it doesn’t crush the plants while crossing the bed.  We use this sprayer for BT, or Bacillus thuringiensis, a type of bacteria that is used to control certain pests, such as plant-eating caterpillars, moth caterpillars, and Gypsy Moth larvae.  BT is a favorite among organic gardeners because it is effective on the “bad” insects and harmless to the “good” insects.  In most insects, as well as people, birds, fish, and other animals, the BT proteins have virtually no effect.  Also, in general BT and its toxins are destroyed within three to five days by sunlight and other microbes, so BT does not multiply or accumulate in the environment.  Caterpillars killed by BT stop feeding, drop to the ground, and decay harmlessly.  Read more here.

• Tangerines from Orange Blossom Farm This Week!
  

In case you didn’t notice, there is an exciting addition to the list of produce in your box this week: Tangerines! We are purchasing tangerines from Orange Blossom Farm in Carrizo Springs in order to add the lovely fruit to your boxes.

We also have a limited amount of tangerines available in bulk. You may purchase one box of tangerines, approximately 15 lbs, for $15.  This offer is available for one week only!  If you are interested in purchasing a box of tangerines with your CSA share, email Carrie at farm@jbgorganic.com as soon as possible!  For the first twenty customers who email us, we will deliver your box of tangerines with your CSA share this Wednesday the 6th, Friday the 8th, and next Tuesday the 12th.  Sales are on a first come, first serve basis, so don’t delay.  If you’re one of the lucky few, Carrie will email you with payment information.  We will deliver these boxes to you with your scheduled CSA share this Wednesday, Friday, and next Tuesday only!

Keith and I bring these tangerines home from the market every week. In fact, we usually bring home two bags each week, one from the Wednesday market and one from the downtown Saturday market, as we are often set up adjacent to Orange Blossom Farm. Jason (son of the owner, Bay Laxson) and Jessica (his girlfriend, and their generous saleswoman!) are wonderful people and I highly recommend you stop by and say hello next time you are at the market.

Below is an article about Bay Laxman and his practices at Orange Blossom Farm. It was written by Clay Coppedge for Country World, November 2009. It’s a nice read to help you familiarize yourself with the farm from which your fruit is coming! Again, please  email the office (farm@jbgorganic.com) ASAP  if you are interested in ordering a box of tangerines this week!

Back in the 1970s, when Bay Laxson was first starting to grow melons and citrus fruits on his farm near Carrizo Springs, a local AgriLife Extension agent told Laxson he would never be able to grow his crops organically.

“Hearing that, I pretty much made up my mind to go organic,” Laxson said. “After I turned out some good organic citrus, he said, ‘Well, you might be able to get away with growing organic citrus here, but you’ll never be able to grow your melons organically.’ So, I grew up my melons and started doing well with them. That guy who told me I’d never be able to do it, eventually left.”

While a lot has changed in Carrizo Springs, which is located about 50 miles southwest of Uvalde, Laxson and his family are still there and still producing certified organic oranges, tangerines, watermelons and cantaloupes at Orange Blossom Farm. They sell at the Austin farmers markets, but Laxson’s biggest break came when he first started and wasn’t sure what to do with the small family orchard he had taken over.

First, he hooked up with one of the earliest purveyors of organic produce in Austin, the Good Food Store. Later, when Whole Foods was starting out as a small Austin storefront, Laxson contracted with owner John Mackey to provide produce for that store, which has expanded into a national chain. Whole Foods is still one of Orange Blossom’s key customers.

“I guess you could say we started growing up with Whole Foods,” Laxson said.

Laxson was raised in Carrizo Springs, working his family’s cattle operation. His grandfather had been a citrus grower in the Rio Grande Valley, eventually buying a small farm west of Carrizo Springs. After Laxson completed military service in the early 1970s, he went back home to help his parents manage the land. They were aging and had sold out of the livestock business, but needed help keeping up with the orchard.

“We got into some other areas for a while,” Laxson said. “We have good soil and good water. You can’t grow anything in this country without water. You have to irrigate. We’re fortunate to have good water. We couldn’t do this without it.”

Laxson grew vegetables in addition to the citrus and melons for a while, and local bankers tried to persuade him to go big, to take his operation to the next level. He resisted the urge, partly because labor issues in the 1980s were becoming thornier, and reliable help for the labor-intensive vegetable harvests were getting harder to find. The fact that he was growing organic produce heightened the need for reliable help.

“You had that to deal with, along with the cost of pumping that much more water to grow that many more crops,” he said. “I never have gotten rich doing this, but that’s fine. I work a lot of 16-hour days, but I’ve raised three kids doing this and I don’t have any regrets about it.”

Laxson especially harbors no regrets in regard to his decision to go organic. When he was first starting out ,he noticed a lot of leaves on his trees afflicted with a kind of sooty substance. He went to the local feed store and asked what to do about it and was sold a mixture of sulfur and Sevin, which he promptly applied.

“What it did was it killed all the beneficials (insects),” he said. “I realized right away this was not for me.”

When the owner of the Good Food Stores told Laxson he was looking for organic produce and wouldn’t buy anything that had been sprayed, Laxson told him he wasn’t going to use sprays because he didn’t like them and, besides, he didn’t know anything about them.

About that same time he met Malcolm Beck, whose Gardenville stores were among the first in the state to sell organic fertilizer and other products.

“He was instrumental in getting the orchard started,” Laxson said. “He was the one who first told me what I should do and what I should not do in my orchard. He still visits sometimes. When he does, he parks that big ol’ car of his and takes off walking to the orchard and picks him a big orange off the tree and eats it.”

Laxson’s farm is isolated, sort of an oasis among the scrublands, but that has worked to his advantage.

“I’ve been real fortunate to never have a conventional (farming) neighbor,” he said. “The closest we’ve got is about three miles away.”

Laxson maintains his orchard and melon and cantaloupe acres with a lot of mowing, hoeing and light cultivation. He also keeps pruning to a minimum and keeps an eye out for freezes, something his orchard hasn’t experienced in several years.

“In some ways, that’s not entirely good,” he said. “The trees are getting so big now it’s sometimes hard to get around the orchard. A freeze would knock them back a little bit. We’d have a short crop that year but it would knock the trees back a little bit.”

Molasses, green sand, kelp and compost tea, along with composts with chicken and turkey litter, are part and parcel of what he uses on his crops in lieu of chemicals.

“I’ve never been tempted to resort to chemicals since that first time when I was starting out and didn’t know any better,” he said. “Since then, I’ve seen farmers start having problems of one kind or another because of the chemicals they use and so they get something else to counteract that and before you know it they’re putting five different things down. It’s like a dadgum rat on a treadmill.”

The last few years have been hard on Orange Blossom Farm and other agriculture producers in the area. The farm received too much rain in 2007, then suffered through two years of drought. It rained on the farm on Sept. 5 of this year, the first rain the farm had received all year. Subsequent rains have greened up the land and orchard, but the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer that supplies the area with water is sand-based and recharges much more slowly than the limestone-laden Edwards aquifer.

Laxson’s wife, JoAnn, helps sell their produce at the farmers markets. The Laxson’s son is 30 years old and has shown some interest in returning to the farm and carrying it on for at least another generation.

“It’s one of those things where you move off to the city and start a life there, but at some point you start missing the way of life you grew up with,” she said. “The kids have shown some interest in helping out and we’re getting to that age where we can use the help.

“It would be nice for the farm to continue like this. What they have to understand is how much work it is. Growing it is a lot of work, but selling it and getting it to the market and managing the money is a lot of work. We’ve always enjoyed it, and hope they will too.”

3) Events

• Celebration of Austin Farmers’ Market Move into Republic Square Park, Saturday, January 9 Postponed to January 23rd!

The Austin Farmers’ Market will begin its 8th year in 2010, and with it, a re-launch of all that this premiere market represents in Republic Square Park.  Come for the celebration that unfolds January 23rd with double live music, a cast-iron dutch oven cooking demo, fish grilling, Simply Fresh cooking demo, sack races, free cocoa for the kids, tastings galore, trivia hunt with prizes, live music and kid’s patch.  The activities will last all day!

When/Where

Austin Farmers’ Market
Republic Square Park
4th and Guadalupe
9am – 4pm
Free parking available

• Local Maker Fair at Whole Foods Market Gateway

We are showcasing in the first week of January the people behind the many wonderful products we offer. Local Makers will be Sampling, Cooking, and Lecturing about their products all week. Come learn what inspired them to come up with their products and do what they do.

Monday, January 4th through Sunday, January 10th, 4-7 PM at Whole Foods Market Gateway, on Research Blvd.

See http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/gateway/ for details on which local makers will be there each day this week.

• Kocurek Family Charcuterie Pork Charcuterie Class (from edibleaustin.com)

Join us on Sunday, Jan. 17th, from 2 to 5 pm for a Pork Charcuterie Class. This is a hands on class where attendees will prepare some of our favorite recipes: Pork sausages, rillettes, pork belly, bacon, whole pig head cookery, etc.

The class will conclude with a tasting of the days work with complimentary vino and charcuterie discussion.

The price is $75 per person.

For more information, contact:

kocurekfamilychacuterie@yahoo.com

* If you haven’t yet tried the delicious charcuterie products from the Kocurek family I certainly recommend that you do. Keith and I took home some of their pâté from the market and enjoyed it on a baguette from Texas French Bread. It made for a wonderful afternoon treat that we enjoyed while squeezing our orange juice! Check them out at the Wedneday Farmers’ Market where they provide tastings of their array of products.

4) Quotable Food

“Working with living creatures, both plants and animals, is what makes agriculture different from any other production enterprise. Even though a product is produced, in farming the process is anything but industrial. It is biological. We are dealing with a vital, living system rather than an inert manufacturing process. The skills required to manage a biological system are similar to those of the conductor of an orchestra. The musicians are all very good at what they do individually. The role of the conductor is not to play each instrument, but rather to nurture the union of the disparate parts. The conductor coordinates each musician’s effort with those of all the others and combines them in a harmonious whole.”

- Elliot Coleman, from The New Organic Grower

5) Recipes

• Double Broccoli Quinoa (from www.101cookbooks.com)

3 cups cooked quinoa*
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets and stems
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
Optional toppings: slivered basil, fire oil (optional)**, sliced avocado
crumbled feta or goat cheese

Directions:

Heat the quinoa* and set aside.

Now barely cook the broccoli by pouring 3/4 cup water into a large pot and bringing it to a simmer. Add a big pinch of salt and stir in the broccoli. Cover and cook for a minute, just long enough to take the raw edge off. Transfer the broccoli to a strainer and run under cold water until it stops cooking. Set aside.

To make the broccoli pesto puree two cups of the cooked broccoli, the garlic, 1/2 cup of the almonds, Parmesan, salt, and lemon juice in a food processor. Drizzle in the olive oil and cream and pulse until smooth.

Just before serving, toss the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets with about 1/2 of the broccoli pesto. Taste and adjust if needed, you might want to add more of the pesto a bit at a time, or you might want a bit more salt or an added squeeze of lemon juice. Turn out onto a serving platter and top with the remaining almonds, a drizzle of the chile oil, and some sliced avocado or any of the other optional toppings.

Serves 4 – 6.

*To cook quinoa: rinse one cup of quinoa in a fine-meshed strainer. In a medium saucepan heat the quinoa, two cups of water (or broth if you like), and a few big pinches of salt until boiling. Reduce heat and simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa fluffs up, about 15 minutes. Quinoa is done when you can see the curlique in each grain, and it is tender with a bit of pop to each bite. Drain any extra water and set aside.

**To make the red chile oil: You’ll need 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil and 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes. If you can, make the chile oil a day or so ahead of time by heating the olive oil in a small saucepan for a couple minutes – until it is about as hot as you would need it to saute some onions, but not so hot that it smokes or smells acrid or burned. Turn off the heat and stir in the crushed red pepper flakes. Set aside and let cool, then store in refrigerator. Bring to room temp again before using.

• Spicy Carrot Peanut Soup (from moosewoodrestaurant.com)

In the cuisines of Africa and Southeast Asia, peanuts and peanut butter are a staple ingredient in sauces and condiments. Here, peanut butter is the background that offsets the spices, garlic, and sour and salty flavors in this rich and aromatic soup. Use any gourmet or commercial peanut butter or roast and grind our own peanuts into a paste.

Serves 6 to 8
Yields about 8 cups
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
1 tablespoon canola or other vegetable oil
1 large onion, thickly sliced (about 2 cups)
2 pounds carrots, peeled and thinly sliced (about 6 cups)
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Chinese chili paste*
6 cups water
2 tablespoons peanut butter (see Note)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
a few fresh lime wedges

*Or use a fresh stemmed and chopped fresh chile and 2 minced garlic cloves.

Directions:

In a soup pot on medium heat, warm the oil and add the onions, carrots, celery, salt, and chili paste. Sauté on high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the water, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the carrots are soft, about 25 minutes.

Stir in the peanut butter, soy sauce, and lime juice. In a blender, purée the soup in batches. Reheat, if necessary.

Serve with lime wedges.

Note: If you wish, replace the peanut butter with freshly ground peanuts. Grind ½ cup unsalted roasted peanuts in a blender or small food processor and add them to the soup just before puréeing it.

Variation: Try serving the soup cold. It’s not your usual chilled soup candidate, but we like it!

• Steamed Bok Choy with Broiled Salmon and a Warm Roasted Tomato and Lemon Vinaigrette (from foodnetwork.com)

2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh marjoram leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
4 bulbs bok choy
3/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
4 (6-ounce) portions salmon fillets
8 sprigs fresh marjoram

Directions:

Preheat the oven to broil with the rack 6 to 8 inches below the lighted broiler plate.

Place the tomatoes, 1/4 cup of the olive oil, marjoram, lemon zest and 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper, and the lemon juice in a 10-inch saute pan, saute quickly, and set in the oven on the rack. Cook until the tomatoes are well caramelized, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes. Add the basil to the vinaigrette and toss to blend. Set aside until ready to use.

Place the bok choy in a Dutch oven with the water and turn the heat up to high. When the water begins to boil, season the bok choy with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the 1/2 teaspoon white pepper. Place a lid on the pan and steam the bok choy until most of the liquid has evaporated and the bok choy is tender, about 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from the Dutch oven and slice each bulb in half lengthwise. Place the bok choy, cut side down, on a plate with the leaves in toward the center of the plate and the bulb ends facing towards the rim.

To cook the salmon, lay the fillets in a 12-inch saute pan and season with the remaining salt and remaining black pepper. Brush the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil over the salmon, arrange marjoram sprigs over top, and broil in the oven until the salmon is browned and cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from the oven and lay the salmon on the bed of bok choy. Top with the tomato and lemon vinaigrette.

• Scallion Pancakes (from moosewoodrestaurant.com)

Yields four 8-inch pancakes
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes each

½ teaspoon dark sesame oil
7 teaspoons canola or other vegetable oil
2 ¾ cups unbleached white flour
1 cup hot water
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
4 to 8 scallions, chopped (about ½ cup)
sprinkling of salt
vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

In a small bowl, mix together the dark sesame oil and 4 teaspoons of the canola or other vegetable oil. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine 2 ¼ cups of the flour, the hot water, salt, baking powder, and 2 teaspoons of the canola oil. Stir until the dough comes together. Lightly dust a working surface with some of the remaining flour and knead for about 2 minutes, adding flour if the dough is too sticky. Cover the dough with the mixing bowl and allow it to rest for about 5 minutes.

Divide the dough into 4 balls. With a rolling pin, roll out each ball into a circle about 10 inches across. Brush each circle with ¼ of the sesame oil mixture, top with ¼ of the chopped scallions, and sprinkle with salt. Roll each circle into a tight cylindrical rope, then coil the rope to form a flat spiral about 5 inches across. Flatten each spiral by hand, and then roll it into a think 8-inch pancake with a rolling pin, dusting with flour to prevent sticking. It’s okay if a few scallions escape from the dough.

Heat a skillet on medium heat, add the remaining teaspoon of canola oil, and swirl to coat the pan. Fry each of the 4 pancakes until brown and cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning down the heat if the outside gets to brown too fast. Add a little more oil to the pan, if necessary, for frying.

Cut each pancake into wedges and serve immediately. Leftover pancakes may be refrigerated for 3 or 4 days and then reheated in the toaster.

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:

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

Potatoes and Winter Squash 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.

Carrots, Radishes, Turnips and Beets 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.

Broccoli and Scallions will last 4-7 days in plastic bags in the crisper.

Spinach, Kale, Lettuce, Salad Greens, and Cooking Greens have the same crisper life and should be kept in plastic bags. Any bunch greens can be freshened by cutting an inch of the bottom stalks and soaking the entire bunch in cold water for 10 minutes. Place in a plastic bag in the fridge for a few hours to revive.

Cauliflower wrap in plastic and use within a week.

Cabbage have a fridge life of up to two weeks. Wrap celery in plastic.

Parsley and Cilantro are best with bottoms of stems trimmed, placed upright in a jar of water in the fridge. These do well frozen also (they will loose texture but not taste).

Checkout our storage tips on our website for a more complete guide, and of course, feel free to contact us with any questions.

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