Finally some sun in our still-wet field
1) In Your Box this Week
2) Farm News:
- From the Farmer’s Perspective …. Sunny Weather and Steady Progress
- Tea-Tasting at Zhi Tea Gallery, by Grit Ramuschkat, JBG Resident
3) New South Austin Pickup Location Replacing Brodie/Slaughter
4) In Need of a New CSA Host for Round Rock!
5) Updates, Meetings, and Events
- Johnson’s Backyard Garden Slow Food Farm Tour and Heirloom Plant Sale, March 6th, 13th, and 20th
- It’s That Time of Year Again! Johnson’s Backyard Garden Annual Spring Potluck
- Beets, Not Bonuses: Slow Money is just 90 votes away from being named one of the best ideas to change America!
- Intern Donations Requested!
- Austin Blogs: Gadora Wilder
6)Quotable Food
7) Recipes
- Carrot Coconut Soup
- 1-Minute Spinach
8) Produce Storage Tips
9) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Info
Thankful for a warm day to harvest
1) In Your Box this Week
Carrots
Radishes, Turnips, or Rutabaga
Kale, Spinach or Mustard Greens
Bok Choy or Broccoli
Cabbage or Brussels Sprouts
Lettuce
Dill
Green Onions
A smattering of potatoes
Oranges and Grapefruit from G&S Groves
2) Farm News:
- From the Farmer’s Perspective …. Sunny Weather and Steady Progress
This was a week of progress at JBG. The weather last week provided a much needed thaw to both our crops in the field and our harvest crew. On top of that, we got the majority of our potatoes cut and planted, we began planting on our new River Road field, and we are even making progress on our equipment needs!
Even though the welcome change in weather wasn’t the direct cause of it all, the sun on our backs seemed to make all our hard work this week go a little further. On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, workshares helped cut up nearly 10,000 pounds of potatoes to transplant. Potatoes can be planted whole, because sprouts come from the eyes on the potato, but cutting them up makes the supply go a little further. As long as there is an eye, there will be a sprout. As fast as the workshares were cutting, we were hauling them over to the new field on River Road and transplanting them. Not only was this job monumental because of its size, but it is the first planting on our new property! Picture thirty-six 850-foot-long rows on our new farm (easy to visualize, right?): that’s how many potatoes we’ll have for your boxes this spring. Some great varieties, too: Purple Majesty, Yukon Gold, and Red Gold.
Meanwhile, our equipment needs moved ahead this week. A long-time CSA member, Mark Goldberg, is helping us finance a BWI bedshaper for 60” beds. This is going to make it much easier for us to keep on a strict planting schedule. If we have the right equipment to make beds ahead of time, we won’t find ourselves in the position we have the last few months, where the rain made it impossible for us to work the soil and plant. Thanks so much, Mark, for your support. And thanks to all of our CSA members who are helping us keep our organic farm running efficiently.
Finally, the crew at JBG got some fantastic financial news last week. We have been approved for several grants! One, the Young Farmers Grant which is dedicated to helping beginning farmers maintain their businesses, has awarded JBG $10,000 for seed and fertilizer purchases! JBG can spend as much as $300 a week on fertilizer, so this grant is going to be a tremendous help. And two, we were also awarded a GOTEPP (Go Texan Partner Program) grant, which will match us $18,000 (meaning if we raise $18,000, they will match us with another $18,000) for advertising and customer relations. If JBG can raise $18,000 to match GOTEPP’s grant, we will be spending it on new vegetable boxes for our CSA members, making organic cotton JBG t-shirts, developing our web site and making our CSA membership process run more smoothly. If you’re interested in learning how to contribute toward this goal, please click here. Every little bit helps!
We’re hoping the warm weather continues (though I hear Tuesday night is supposed to be a little rough) so we can keep getting all of our planting done to make our spring boxes as full and plentiful as they can be during the fruitful spring months.
From the Farmer’s Perspective is written by Neysa King. To read more by Neysa, check out her blog at www.dissertationtodirt.com
Cutting potatoes was a week-long project
Purple Majesty Potatoes
- Tea-Tasting at Zhi Tea Gallery, by Grit Ramuschkat, JBG Resident
3) New South Austin Pickup Location Replacing Brodie/Slaughter
Beginning Friday, March 5th, Brodie/Slaughter will no longer be a CSA pickup site. The new site in South Austin will be:
8110 Cattle Drive, Austin, Texas 78749
If you are currently picking up Fridays at Brodie/Slaughter, you do not need to do anything at this time. You will automatically be transferred to 8110 Cattle Drive for your March 5th pickup. If you are picking up at a different pickup site and would like to change your pickup location to 8110 Cattle Drive, please call us at 386-5273 or email the office at farm@jbgorganic.com.
Temo and new intern Marissa drive back from the field
4) In Need of a New CSA Host for Round Rock!
Our current Round Rock CSA host is no longer able to serve as a pick up site. If you are interested in becoming the next Round Rock CSA site host, please email us at farm@jbgorganic.com. Site hosts are entitled to 4 free quarterly CSA boxes, and any other produce not picked up in the designated time. Please contact our office for more details.
5) Updates, Meetings, and Events
- Johnson’s Backyard Garden Slow Food Farm Tour and Heirloom Plant Sale, March 6th, 13th, and 20th
Saturday, March 6, JBG is collaborating with Slow Food Austin for a Slow Food Farm Tour and Heirloom Plant Sale. Come by our farm to tour our greenhouse, fields, and participate in a discussion about organic farming and CSAs in Austin. Browse through our heirloom Ark of Taste transplants and take some home to plant in your garden! JBG’s heirloom transplant sale will continue through the first three Saturdays in March from 10am to 2pm.
- It’s That Time of Year Again! Johnson’s Backyard Garden Annual Spring Potluck
Saturday, April 10th, Johnson’s Backyard Garden will host its Annual Spring Potluck! Come join us for live music, great food, tractor rides around the farm, and lots of fun activities for the kids. We truly believe that our CSA members are some of the best cooks in Austin, so come hungry to this locavores heaven, with tons of locally-raised and prepared dishes. We’re ready for this year’s potluck to be the best one yet! JBG will be sending out Evites soon, so save the date and keep a look out!
- Beets, Not Bonuses: Slow Money is just 90 votes away from being named one of the best ideas to change America!
Slow Money is just 90 votes away from being named one of the best ideas to change America in the online competition sponsored by Change.org.
This is a great chance for us to spread the word about Slow Money. More than 650,000 people saw and voted on ideas in a similar contest last year. And the top 10 ideas of 2010 will be presented at an event in Washington, D.C. to relevant members of the Obama Administration, and then promoted to more than one million readers, bloggers and activists.
If you’re interested in learning about the national Slow Money movement and subscribing to the mailing list, click here.
- Intern Donations Requested!
The interns are on the lookout for kitchen and bedroom supplies for their humble trailers. Specifically, the interns need a microwave to heat up their lunches, and a washing machine for their dirt-caked work clothes! If you have any gently used home goods you’d like to donate for our intern housing, please call us at 386-5273 or email Carrie at farm@jbgorganic.com.
Introducing new intern Margaret Wittenmyer
- Austin Blogs: Gadora Wilder
Check out Gadora Wilder’s blog where she describes Johnson’s Backyard Garden’s CSA and workshare programs. Lovely pictures of the eggs we add to our boxes, too! Thanks, Gadora, for the shout out!
http://gadorawilder.com/2010/02/13/fresh-eggs-from-johnsons-backyard-garden/
6)Quotable Food
“Butter vs. Margarine ? I trust cows over scientists.” –Anon
7) Recipes
- Carrot Coconut Soup
Ingredients:
1 large onion, chopped
1 TBS + 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 TBS fresh ginger, sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp curry powder
2 cups sliced carrots, about ¼-inch thick
1 cup sweet potato, cut into about ½-inch cubes
5 oz canned coconut milk
salt and white pepper to taste
Method:
1.Chop onion and let it sit for at least five minutes.
2.Heat 1 TBS broth in a medium soup pot. Healthy Sauté onion in broth over medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring often.
3.Add garlic and ginger and continue to sauté for another minute.
4.Add curry powder and mix well with onions.
5.Add broth, carrots, and sweet potato and simmer on medium high heat until vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
6.Add coconut milk.
7.Blend in batches making sure blender is not more than half full. When it’s hot, and the blender is too full, it can erupt and burn you. Add salt and pepper to taste.
8.Return to soup pot and reheat.
- 1-Minute Spinach
1 bunch fresh spinach
1 tsp lemon juice
1 medium fresh garlic
1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
salt and cracked black pepper to taste
Optional:
chopped tomato
kalamatta olives
cashews
goat cheese
few drops tamari soy sauce
Method:
1.Chop or press garlic and let it sit for 5 minutes to bring out its health-promoting benefits.
2.Bring lightly salted water to a rapid boil in a large pot.
3. Cut stems off spinach leaves and clean well. This can be done easily by leaving spinach bundled and cutting off stems all at once. Rinse spinach leaves very well as they often contain a lot of soil.
4. Cook spinach in boiling water for 1 minute.
5. Drain and press out excess water. Toss in rest of ingredients while still hot.
8) Produce Storage Tips
- To keep broccoli at its freshest stage, store it for 3 to 5 days in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Broccoli can also be stored by freezing it. Peel the leaves from the stalk. Blanch the broccoli in steam for 5 minutes. Cool, and then place the broccoli in a sealed plastic bag. Broccoli can be stored in the freezer for up to 10 months.
- Wrapping cabbage in plastic and storing it in the crisper section of your refrigerator limits its exposure to air flow, and thus reduces respiration and retards spoilage. Just as importantly, plastic wrap keeps external moisture out, preventing mold and rot, while helping the cabbage to maintain its internal (cellular) moisture-without which, the cabbage leaves lose their firmness and begin to wilt.
New seedling in the ground
9) Johnson’s Backyard Garden Contact Info
Johnson’s Backyard Garden
9515 Hergotz Lane, Box E
Austin, TX 78742
Office Phone: 512.386.5273
Office Hours: M-Th 8am to 5pm, Friday 8am to 12pm
The farm office is closed 12 pm to 1 pm for lunch.
e-mail: farm@jbgorganic.com