Recipe and Photos by Nadia Tamby

This comforting meal is perfect for a cold Autumn night (though we don’t have too many of those chilly nights in Texas…). The beauty of this recipe is that you can substitute almost any of the ingredients. Use any shape pasta you like. Don’t have hot Italian sausage? Use some leftover slices of bacon from your weekend brunch or leftover grilled bratwurst. You can use any other hearty greens but I love the contrast of the bitter dandelion greens with the spicy sausage and creamy noodles in this dish and often people don’t know what to do with this peculiar green, so I thought I would show you a way to use it other than in salads. The toppings for this dish don’t take long to prepare and take the dish from an ordinary weeknight meal to something you could serve your guests at a dinner party. If you can’t find these tart dried barberries, skip them or use dried currants or raisins instead (they will be much sweeter but still add a nice contrast to the dish).



Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 bunch dandelion greens, washed, trimmed and roughly chopped
• 1 package of pappardelle
• A splash of heavy whipping cream or half and half (optional)

Topping:

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons barberries (find these at Mediterranean specialty stores like Phoenicia)
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Grated parmigiano reggiano

Instructions:

Boil your pasta in salted water until it is al dente (it will continue to cook when you toss all the ingredients together).

Brown the sausages in a very large sauté pan (you’ll want something large enough to be able to toss all the pasta in later). You can either remove the sausage from the casing or cook them whole, slice them, and add them back to the pan to brown them. Alternatively, if you are using leftover, already cooked sausages, cut them up and brown them (you may need more oil) or if you are using bacon, drain off some of the excess oil and keep it for another use. Cook thoroughly and remove the sausage from the pan.

Add the sliced garlic and let it crisp and brown for a minute or so before adding the greens and stir until wilted. I find that using tongs for this dish makes it easy to toss everything together.

Finally, add the cooked pasta and the sausage back to the sauté pan and toss together. Add the cream if you wish (some of the pasta water will do for a lighter version). Salt and pepper to your liking.

In a small sauté pan, heat up 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Add the pine nuts and the barberries and sauté until the pine nuts are lightly browned and the red currants have plumped up. Remove this quickly and transfer it to a bowl as they will burn quickly.

Serve the pasta and top it with grated parmesan and the pine nut and barberry mixture. Maybe even an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a crack of black pepper if you feel extra fancy!

The whole crew. Even Krishna dressed up! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

BOO! We love Halloween here at JBG. In fact, so much so that we all don our best and spookiest outfits to work and throw a bona fide costume contest. This isn't just any old contest, it can get pretty competitive as some of our favorite community partners donate prizes. We send a huge thanks to Yeti, Contigo, and Juiceland for kindly contributing highly sought-after loot for our contest winners. There are no rules or regulations on outfits except contestants still need to be able to farm in them.

The winners of our Second Annual Costume Contest are (drumroll, please)...

First place - Nicole, our Volunteer Coordinator, as a very convincing Scarecrow.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Second place - Patrick, on CSA packing crew, as a very unique Green Alien Mom.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Third place - Lena, our Wholesale Packing Manager, as a very tough Wario.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

And the rest of the crew's costume glory:

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Veins. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We are in the depths of fall and loving all of the greens! We have officially finished planting season and are just harvesting away.

A huge thanks to everyone who came out to the Open House... it was one of the most well attended gathering to date! Check out our main post this week for a recap!

Spring onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bell pepper beauty. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Working on some garlic. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Beautiful lettuce. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Okra! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

The arrival of a new month means another marvelous edition of our First Friday Staff Picks! We think that our staff is the best in the business (okay, okay, we are a little biased), but the JBG family hails from all over the place and covers the gamut in talents and interests. We love sharing events, adventures, and side projects that inspire and excite our JBG-ers (food-related or not) with the community. Check out the staff-curated list of favorites below!

Casey and Ada. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Ada (CSA + Marketing Manager) - We chatted with the folks at Food + City about vegetable waste and our marketing of inglorious produce. We've yet to see the full article, but this cover is FIYA! Amiright? Go Tracy!



Had the pleasure of attending Fermentation Fest this past month, and had a BLAST! I was amazed at the number of local producers all making such delicious fermented fair. My favorite speaker may have been Mr. Katz, himself. When I first got interested in fermenting, lots of friends pointed me in his direction. Was great to see the legend himself - he really didn't disappoint! Went with my friend Megan (boots pictured here, at the upstairs bathroom at Bar Mansion), and we both inspired and ready to bring on the bacteria.



Montana (Direct Seed Lead) - John Mayer, I mean Dead & Company play the Erwin Center December 2nd. Not sure when the Dead last came through Texas, but it sure has been a long time.

Lena (Wholesale Packing Manager) - I've been listening non-stop to St. Vincent's new album, Masseduction. I've never really listened to her before but this album is aggressively electronic and I am into it! I also LOVE Alex Lahey's new album, I Love You Like a Brother. She's playing a show at Barracuda on Thursday, November 30th!

Also, I was recently in Vegas and checked out Ugo Rondinone’s art installation, Seven Magic Mountains. They're stacks of huge, brightly colored boulders that tower over you. It sounds really simple but it's totally fascinating in person. The exhibition's open until next May so I recommend checking it out if you go to Vegas!



Scott (Staff Photographer) - I’d like to promote my new podcast and that I will be in the East Austin Studio Tour. It’s called Austin Art Talk and there are three episodes up already. New ones come out every week on Saturday.

I will be a part of the East Austin Studio Tour November 11-12 & 18-19, from 11am-6pm at Canopy, 916 Springdale Rd, Suite 126!



I am also working on and plan to launch for EAST a website where I will be selling prints of my photography. So keep your eyes open for that.

Ryan (Wholesale Crew) - This Saturday the hill country fair in San Marcos looks great. Six bands, eight breweries, overnight camping all for just $35 dollars. Plus it's on a really neat regenerative farm.

Also it seems obvious but I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving. It's my favorite holiday because it focuses on appreciating what we have.

My favorite Black Friday tradition is getting an extremely marked down never frozen pasture raised turkey. Last year we got a $130 bird for $10!

Missoula (Farm Dog) - Mom got Saigon Le Vendeur to setup at the farm's Open House, and they are pretty legit. I sat here, like this, for a while, until they finally noticed me. Then, the pork and chicken scraps kept coming. Mom says not to beg, says it's trashy, but what can I say? Once a street dog, always a street dog.



Phil (Farm Courier) - I would recommend This Is The Kit's new album Moonshine Freeze for all you real life astral trippers and chaos mages.

Casey (Customer Service Extraordinaire) - I’m in Marfa, TX staying at El Cosmico for my birthday!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Our Fall Harvest Open House was incredibly successful! We thought that the cold snap would hinder folks from making the trip out, but we were so wrong. This was the best attended farm gathering we've had yet! A family even made the trip all the way from San Antonio to join in on the fun with an astounding population of First-Timers to boot! We had farm tours on our recently repaired flat bed trailers every 30 minutes with tour guides from Montana (our Direct Seed Lead), Becky (our Farm Manager), Kirby (our Greenhouse Manager), Brenton (our Head Farmer), and Ada (our CSA and Marketing Manager). We had a veggie print art station set up for the kids along with the sandpile and trampoline! The tractor line-up was also a hit as adults and kiddos alike got to explore a learn a little bit more about the machinery that aids in farming.

We have a handful of thanks to hand out to our lovely community partners. So here goes: a huge thanks to Hops and Grain for donating beer for the event. Farm tours on the back of our trailers were made exponentially more enjoyable by the delicious cold brews. Thanks to our friends at East Side Pies for donating pizza for our staff that volunteered to help with the event. Thanks to Callahan's for loaning us some hay for our photo booth. Thanks to Saigon Le Vendeur for coming out and selling some delicious Vietnamese food to hungry guests. Another thanks to Stacy and all the folks at Youga Yoga who came down and did some awesome acro-yoga + facepainting. And the biggest thank you goes to all of our volunteers that helped make the day happen! You guys rocked it!

Veggie print station. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Market stand. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm map. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm tours with Becky. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm tour. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton and Kirby leading the tour. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Picnic with friends. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Saigon Le Vendeur. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Having good times in the sand pit. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

The schedule! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Montana leading a farm tour. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cuddling up on the tour. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Will at the helm. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Jungle gym jams. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Future farmer. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm community. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Perusing the market stand. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Ada and Regan. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

 

Position Title: AM Wholesale Packing Crew Lead Location: Hergotz Lane Department: Wholesale Reports To: Wholesale Sales Manager Supervises: n/a

Position Summary:

JBG is currently seeking a dependable and hardworking individual to join our AM Wholesale Packing Crew.  If the right individual comes along, we're looking for a team member to lead this crew. This crew is responsible for washing, processing, and packing vegetables harvested on the farm, with their primary focus being Wholesale orders. Efficiency is key in this position, though the team is also responsible for ensuring the highest level of produce quality, order accuracy, and compliance with health regulations. The AM Wholesale Packing Crew  will work closely with the Wholesale Sales Manager and other department teams to guarantee that operations and orders are completed correctly and in a timely manner. This includes working as a team with other departments when the demands arise. All farm employees are expected to be courteous, demonstrate a strong work ethic and attention to detail. We take pride on the farm in producing the highest quality vegetables through quality work.

Responsibilities

• Help ensure AM Wholesale Packing Crew completes the following daily:
• Receive, process, and package vegetables harvested on the farm
• Maintain a clean and sanitary working environment
• Ensure quality of all produce
• Prepare and package wholesale orders
• Communicate with other teams regarding workload and quality to ensure highest quality and improve systems over time

Qualifications Required

• No previous experience required, only a desire to learn farm work
• Keen sense of detail and ability to apply this to packing standards
• A mantra that “Teamwork doesn’t seem work!”
• Flexibility - hours and responsibilities may change due to seasonal demands or other farm happenings, and willingness to work late hours is essential

Preferred

• Previous experience in a warehouse setting, or with produce standards.
• Previous experience managing or leading a crew.

Physical Requirements

• Ability to repeatedly lift 50lbs
• Ability to repeatedly kneel, bend, and squat
• Ability to withstand exposure to varying weather conditions
• Ability to withstand prolonged standing or walking

Schedule: Monday through Friday, starting at 10:30am-7:00pm or end of shift.

Compensation & Benefits: Payment is $10-11/hour, paid bi-weekly. Permanent employees are eligible for Individual Health Plan benefits. All JBG employees receive a weekly share of vegetables. Opportunity for advancement within crew available for right candidate.

Directions for Applying: Please send an email to jobs@jbgorganic.com with the following format. Following specific directions is the first way to impress us!

• Subject Line should read “[Job Title]: [First Initial]_[Last Name]” … For example, “Planting Crew Coordinator: J_Smith”
• Email body should be short & sweet - help us notice you! Ensure that it contains your contact information.
• Attach three documents to your email, ensuring that their file names are clear:1) Cover Letter2) Resume3) List containing contact information of two professional references

Thank you for your interest in JBG Organic! You will be contacted for further information if we find that you might be a good fit for this position.

The responsibilities & duties listed above are intended to communicate general priorities of this position, but should not be understood as an exhaustive list of all work requirements to be completed at JBG Organic. Farms require flexibility! We are committed to training, developing, and promoting from within the company based on performance.

JBG Organic provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sex, national origin, age, disability, genetics, marital status, or sexual orientation.

Johnson's Backyard Garden

512-386-5273

 

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 6th

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 6th

Medium Box
Bean, Green
Beet, Red
Greens, Arugula
Greens, Kale, Curly
Herb, Cilantro
Pepper, Sweet Medley
Potato, Sweet
Squash, Butternut
Tomato, Farmers Choice
Turnip, White Japanese

Tractor line-up. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

As we move towards wintertime, we usually pause and take stock of our machinery. We figure out what needs maintenance and what needs repair. Oftentimes if a machine has a pre-existing issue, we will push through planting season with it, despite the urgency of its ailing state. However, since we've recently finished planting, we have ample time to do those much-needed, more laborious and time-consuming fixes.

On the farm, we have all different kinds of equipment made for all sorts of tasks. This helps us immensely with efficiency, and if organic farming is going to be affordable and accessible, machinery is the key to helping us get as much done as possible during the work day especially on a farm of our scale. In farming, we need specialized equipment, just like we need specialized people with specific skill sets. And boy do we have some specialized vehicles and implements on the farm.

A few of the more interesting applications of machinery on the farm.

The green bean picker - this machine’s sole purpose is to pick green beans. The reason for that is that it’s super labor intensive to pick all those little green beans that are hiding in leaves. With three people we can harvest large swaths of green bean crops that would otherwise take us all day plus a lot more people.

Green bean picker. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Green bean picker. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Our harvest trailers were an innovation that was pioneered on the farm. We use a special Landini trailer which is necessary because you can drive over crops without disturbing them because of the tall wheels. Then we attach the harvest trailers which were in-house welded at our shop. Our harvest trailers have been revolutionary for summertime farming, and in this specific situation, it aids in getting the produce immediately out of the sun post-harvest and underneath a canopy for some shade. It also generally reduces the backbreaking work for our field crew as they can harvest alongside the vehicle since the arms on the vehicle reach out 5 rows wide.

Harvest trailer. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvest trailer in action. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Soil preparation machinery... there’s a lot of very specialized equipment in this process. When we start the bed-making process, we usually rip a block of soil depending on what the block was used for previously. This process gets down really deep, creates better drainage, and makes space for new roots to set. After this, we usually disk the field. This slices up the soil, breaks up clods, chops up plant matter and residue so that it can be more easily incorporated into the soil. Next, we use the listers, which start shaping the beds. It pulls soil from the furrows and dumps it into the center of the row. We have single listers and triple listers on the farm. This implement scoops soil and keeps it in the center -- so we have the beginnings of a raised bed, albeit a very, very rough one. After we list the beds, we usually add fertility. We use the compost spreader for this which looks like a big red bucket wagon. It spreads the compost at an even rate across all the fields so it’s all very equally distributed. Then comes the tilling. The tiller has tines (just like a regular garden tiller) which help incorporate the fertility. The last step is the bed-shaper which goes over the top of the bed and has a very fine-tooth. It creates perfectly smooth, perfectly shaped beds. It is the finishing touch before we go through and lay drip tape.

Disker. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lister. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Compost spreader. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tiller. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bed shaper. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We have many different kinds of tractors and utilize them for soil preparation, but in addition to that, many other things. The John Deer’s are much lower and squatter, making them powerful and multipurpose vehicles. They are good for chores, transplanting, towing harvest trailers, for moving bulk bins, digging sweet potatoes or root crops, and for any type of lifting. Speaking of digging potatoes, we also have an implement that digs and aids in uprooting the potatoes for harvest. Pretty cool? See the photo below for some potato digging action.

John Deer. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Potato harvester. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

The Landini is great for spraying, harvesting, and seeding with the vacuum seeder. It is the only tractor that can pull the aforementioned green bean picker and can drive over the crops without damaging them because of their tall wheels.

Landini. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Our ABCO tractors are the spaceships of the farm. They are our most powerful, fully air-conditioned, and most-expensive tractors we use. Operating these tractors involves quite a few joysticks, and only our most experienced tractor drivers operate these. We use this tractor for ripping, tilling, and to pull the triple listers.

Montana on an ABCO. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We use two different transplanters depending on the crop. We have the Rain-Flo, which is the more common transplanter. It has two seats and is more frequently used on the covered beds. The Lannen transplanter is our other transplanter and is utilized for bare ground planting. It has four seats and little shoots that you drop the transplants to go directly into the ground.

Rain-Flo transplanter. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lannen transplanter. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lannen transplanter details. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Then we have a specialized vacuum seeder, which allows us to precisely sow seeds in the exact spacing that we need on vast acreage. Most farms use hand pushed seeders, and can really take a lot of time. However, with the vacuum seeder, we can seed 50-100 beds a day!

Vacuum seeder. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Vacuum seeder details. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

With bulk crops harvesting, we bring the bulk bins on forklifts out to the field and harvest straight into the bins. These bins go directly into the cooler after they are harvested. It saves time, gets the veggies more quickly into storage, and skips some unnecessary steps.

Bins at harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Moving towards the cooler. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cooler scene. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Little known fact: we have a full mechanic shop at the farm! This is kind of an anomaly for farms, to be at a scale where a full repair and mechanic shop is feasible. Our full-time mechanic, Tim, is a very creative, one-of-a-kind, and knowledgeable. Oftentimes, he finds unique solutions to daunting problems. Usually on farms, when something goes wrong with a tractor, it'll take a day or two to figure out the issue as most farmers aren’t mechanical experts. It also puts farmers way behind schedule as you can imagine. Plus, taking machinery to a tractor shop or hiring a mechanic to come to the farm can be very expensive. So, it’s special and very convenient to have someone on call and available to help us with our mechanical issues. With over 11 tractors, farm vehicles aplenty, plus implements, routine maintenance and repairs are constantly necessary. Tim is a really skilled professional and, thankfully, is able to work with our wide array of machines with ease. He’s been quite the asset for the past two years and we are grateful.

Tim checking out an engine situation. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

The shop. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Montana, our direct seed lead, is in charge of sowing all of our direct seeded crops (which is roughly half of the crops at the farm). He works on bed preparation, dropping compost, and tillage with Angel, too. In the current system at the farm, we need a lot of redundancy, so if one person is swamped with something, another person can step in and help out. Tim can be up to his eyeballs in work, and Montana steps in and uses his mechanical knowledge (he worked as a mechanic in Pennsylvania before he became a full-time farmer, and has 6 ASE certifications!) to help in whatever tasks there are at hand. Montana is a great teacher, so he has trained folks on how to maintain certain vehicles, too.

Montana working on an ABCO. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Montana in the shop. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Every year we innovate and become more efficient. Smart farming is about using your labor and resources well. ‘Til next time, folks!

Kale fields forever. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We are entering a very busy season; thus, all of our crews are working overtime to get everything done. It's that time of the year when fall crops start to roll in in huge numbers. It's the sweet spot when it's cool enough for cool season crops, but before the threat of frost, so all of our produce thrives. It's also a heavy distribution time... we are sending large orders of crops like kale and collards to Whole Foods, HEB, and Central Market. On top of that, it's also the time of year when everyone hunkers down and cooks a lot, so there are tons of CSA deliveries to boot.

Week 45 has been one of many firsts and lasts - first fennel harvest, first choi sum harvest, the end of fall tomatoes, and the end of eggplant. It was the first really cold week, too, so all of our farm crew is adjusting to the temperature change with lots of tea, hot chocolate, and lots of layers. It was our fearless farmer-in-chief, Brenton's birthday this week, too!

We are getting geared up to do a CSA survey (members, keep a look out for a survey that's being emailed to you on MONDAY!) as well as Thanksgiving schedule changes (keep an eye out for those, too!).

Kale harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Transplanting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Becky and her onion-y loot. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lettuce. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fennel beauties. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kohlrabi. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Chinese cabbage textures. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Vast farm views. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Red veins on greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Big ole sweet 'tater. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

D'angelo deep in beet cleaning. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Choi sum. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Collard haul. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

BTS on the CSA box content shoot. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 13th

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 13th

Medium Box
Beet, Golden
Broccoli
Cabbage, Napa
Carrot, Orange
Greens, Collards
Greens, Spinach
Herb, Parsley, Flat
Onion, Multiplying

Recipe and Photos by Nadia Tamby

This classic Southern specialty tastes similar to pumpkin pie (or at least uses similar spices). Although, I actually prefer sweet potato pie for a couple reasons – I want to make it from scratch and somehow opening a can of pumpkin isn’t nearly as romantic as roasting the vegetable at home – but roasting and de-seeding a pumpkin is a little more of a mess than its worth. I love the smooth, dense custard filling. The nice thing about this pie is it tastes better cold (and is easier to cut into precise pieces that way), so you can make it up to two days ahead and have one thing out of the way if you plan on making this for Thanksgiving! You can easily double the dough recipe and can freeze or refrigerate the other half to use it in a pinch for another tart or pie. Of course you can skip the whole homemade dough thing if you want to save time (and a slight mess) and just buy a pre-made pie dough.

Roast more sweet potatoes than you think you need, because you can always use the leftovers for mashed sweet potatoes or an easy lunch, but having to roast more sweet potatoes will take another hour.

Sometimes sweet potatoes can get stringy on the ends after roasting. Don’t worry – this is why I use a blender for an ultra-smooth rather than a mixer for the filling. However, if you don’t want to mess with a blender, no big deal – just whip up your sweet potatoes first, then remove the strings which get caught on your paddle attachment.



Pie Ingredients:

Filling:

• 3 medium sweet potatoes (you’ll want about 2 cups of sweet potato puree)
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ teaspoon of each: cinnamon, allspice, freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crust:

• 1 stick butter, cold
• 1 ¼ cups flour, plus extra for dusting counter and rolling out dough
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ cup ice-cold water (you will not use all of it)
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream to brush the crust
• Raw sugar or sanding sugar to sprinkle on the crust

Salted Maple Whipped Cream:

• ½ pint whipped cream
• 2 or more tablespoons of good quality, real maple syrup
• Large pinch of salt

Extras/Tools to have on hand:

• Pie dish (glass or ceramic both work), rolling pin, pastry cutter (optional), blender for filling (mixer works too), electric mixer for whipping cream, pastry brush, pie weights or dried beans, aluminum foil, microplane for nutmeg (if using the whole spice)

Instructions:

A day before (or up to a week before): Wrap your sweet potatoes whole in foil and roast at 425F for about 45 minutes until soft, then remove the skins (they should come off easily once cool).

Working quickly, cut your stick of butter into small cubes. I find the easiest way to do this is to cut the sticks lengthwise into thirds, then flip the stick over and cut into thirds again. Then you can slice them end to end. Put this into a large bowl with the flour and sugar and either use your hands to smash the butter into the flour, or use a pastry cutter to do this task. You’ll want all the pieces of butter to be smaller than peas but don’t overwork it. You want pieces of butter visible throughout because this is what makes that desirable flakey dough (the butter melts leaving very small air pockets between layers).

Add the ice-cold water a few tablespoons at a time until the dough can hold together. The less water you can add while forming the dough, the flakier it will be, and you will avoid having the crust shrink slightly while baking. Dump the dough onto a floured counter to prevent it from sticking.

Do not knead the dough! This is not bread, so just form it together in a ball, maybe fold it onto itself a couple times and then flatten it to a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes. You can make the dough up to two days in advance.

Roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thickness on a floured counter. Using your rolling pin (drape the dough over it to transfer it), place this on your pie dish, lightly press into dish, and use scissors to trim the edges. I like to use the extra trimmed dough to decorate the crust, so I rolled it into a long thing rectangle and cut it into long strips. Braid the strips and continually add strips of dough (use water to help it stick) until you have one long braid. Brush the edge of the pie crust with water and place the braided crust on top, tucking the end under to hide the seam.



Refrigerate the crust for another 10 minutes while you preheat your oven to 375F. Pre-bake your crust: Brush the edge of the curst with cream and sprinkle your decorative sugar on it. Place a sheet of aluminum foil on the bottom of the crust and fill it with pie weights or dried beans until it is slightly browned (about 15 minutes). This helps prevent the crust from getting soggy when you have a custard filling like this one.

Meanwhile, in your blender, combine all of the filling ingredients at the same time and blend until very smooth. You may add a bit more cream if needed to help your blender work, but it should be a very thick mixture (not a smoothie!) Alternately if you do this in a mixer, start with the sweet potatoes, then remove the strings from your attachment, then continue mixing on medium speed adding butter, sugar, then eggs, and then all the other ingredients.

Remove the pre-baked pie shell and reduce the oven to 350F. Pour in the filling, smooth the top and pop it back into the oven for about 35-40 minutes. When you shake the dish slightly, the filling will jiggle a bit but should be mostly set. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before refrigerating.

To make the salted maple whipped cream, simple whip the cream and add the maple syrup and a bit of salt. Serve the pie cold with a dollop of the cream and an extra grating of nutmeg!

Schedule Changes for the Week of 11/20-11/25

Sunflower showing some love. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

• All Wednesday Home Deliveries have been rescheduled for Monday, November 20th.
• All Thursday CSA Pickups & Home Deliveries have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Houston deliveries have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• Lakeline Farmers Market will be closed on Saturday, November 25th. If you normally get your CSA here, it will be sent to our Cedar Park drop on Wednesday, November 23rd. The address is 1505 Hunter Ace Way, and you can scoop up your share anytime between 3-7 pm. Please note: this pickup site is located at a home residence; boxes will be on the side of the house.
• All Thursday Dallas Pickups have been rescheduled for Tuesday, November 21st. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Friday Dallas Pickups have been rescheduled for Wednesday, November 22nd. Same time, same place, earlier day.
• All Friday Pickup and Home Delivery customers can change their pickup to a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday pickup location to get their veggies early and get cookin'! If you'd like to reschedule your delivery, please let us know by Monday, November 20th. See all of your pickup options here.
• If you'd like to donate your CSA share to our Sponsored Share Program instead of postponing the delivery, just shoot us an e-mail. More info about our donations program here.

CSA line. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Did you know that 1 in 4 people in Austin are or have been food insecure, or lacking dependable access to sufficient amounts of economical and nutritious food? That's 25% of our Austin community! Can you believe it? Depending on the area, up to even 40% of people do not have easy access to fresh and affordable food, and in neighborhoods where busy thoroughfares inundate the cityscape and sidewalks are lacking, folks who do not have vehicular access risk their lives daily to purchase groceries to feed their family. Despite sounding abysmal, there's a lot that we can all do to help, and if you are a part of the CSA community, have you thought about sharing the harvest this holiday season?

SafePlace donation. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

If your family is headed out of town for the holidays, or if you're trying to avoid an overflowing fridge, we hope you will consider donating your CSA share to The Settlement Home or SafePlace. With the produce received from JBG, The Settlement Home provides nutritious meals and teaches the girls it serves how to cook. Thanks to the weekly deliveries from JBG, SafePlace is able to stock its pantry with fresh organic vegetables (instead of canned goods) for the women and children living in their shelter. Your donated share helps feed children, young adults, and families in Texas with histories of trauma, abuse, and neglect. Donating your share is easy and helps secure nutrition for these folks in need. Just email us (farm@jbgorganic.com) with the dates you would like to donate your share(s), and we'll do the rest! Need your vegetables for your holiday meal but still want to help those in need? Sponsoring a share is easy, too. Find more information about that program here. In addition to our Sponsored Share program, Central Texas Food Bank (CTFB) and Salvation Army pick up veggies once a week. In 2016, we donated 26,100 lbs of veggies, or 31,320 meals to CTFB! With the help from our CSA community and our Sponsored Share program, we donate around 2400 lbs of veggies, or 2900 meals per year to both SafePlace and The Settlement Home. That's a whole lot of vegetables!

Central Texas Food Bank donations. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Casey carting donations in. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Speaking of local warriors toiling against food insecurity... Ever heard of Music, Tech, and Food? This new nonprofit in town seeks to bring two thriving Austin communities together, Music and Tech, to promote hunger awareness, and via ticket sales to regularly scheduled music events, donate farm-fresh food to local shelters and pantries. Pretty cool, eh? Read more about it here and get involved! 'Til next time, folks!

Just beet it. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Another week and we are busy, busy, busy. We are looking forward to the upcoming holiday, but also trying to get everything done in the meantime! With a food-centric holiday on the horizon, we have our hands full. This time of the year is magical for our veggies, our crops are varied and flourishing. Come check out the expansive spread at the markets this weekend!

Harvest bins. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Rainbow chard. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sun peeking through. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lettuce grace notes. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvesting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvesting collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Water on greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Rinsing carrots and having a good ole time. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fall 'maters. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Recipe and Photos by Megan Winfrey

This stew is so comforting and delicious, without the heavy calories synonymous with most comfort dishes. Substituting turnip mash for mashed potatoes adds nutrients and subtracts starchy carbs. A beefy red wine broth seals the deal and makes for an enticing aroma. And of course, you can't beat the fresh flavor of JBG carrots and turnips, which make every dish extra yummy.



Red Wine Beef Stew over Turnip Mash

Stew:

• 2 pounds New York strip trimmed
• 3 tbs. flour
• 1 tsp. paprika
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 3/4 cup beef stock
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup mushrooms thinly sliced
• 3-4 carrots, diced
• 1 rib celery thinly sliced
• 1 shallot thinly sliced

Mash:

• 3 turnips, peeled and cubed
• 1 white potato peeled and cubed
• 1/4 cup milk
• 3 tbs. butter

Preheat oven to 375.

Dice beef into 2" cubes and pat dry with a towel. In a mixing bowl combine flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Add the beef cubes and toss to coat.



Heat the olive oil in a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high. Add the beef and reserve the rest of the flour spice mix. Turn the beef to brown on all sides, sealing in the juices. Cook about 1 minute on each side, then remove the beef cubes to drain on a paper towel. With the heat still on, add the red wine to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits.

Add the beef stock, thyme, and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Add the beef cubes and cook at a low simmer for 2 hours.

While the beef cooks, prepare the stew veggies and the mash veggies. 30 minutes before serving, add the stew veggies to the pot and crank up to a low boil.

For the mash, place the turnips and potatoes in a large pot with enough water to cover. Boil for 25-30 minutes, or until tender. Drain the water and mix in the milk, 2 tbs. of butter, and salt and pepper to taste. Mash, keeping it slightly lumpy.

Transfer the mixture to an oven safe dish, dot with the remaining tablespoon of butter, cover loosely with foil, and bake for 15 minutes.

Serve in big bowls with the turnip mash on bottom, and the juicy savory stew on top.

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 20th

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 20th

Large Box
Beet, Chioggia
Broccoli
Carrot, Orange
Greens, Collards
Herb, Fennel
Herb, Parsley, Flat
Lettuce, Romaine
Onion, Multiplying
Potato, Sweet
Radish, Red
Squash, Butternut

Before I start my letter, I wanted to give our CSA members a shout out! Thanksgiving donations alone totaled over 900 lbs of fresh produce!

Instead of postponing your delivery, so many of you donated your CSA share. These donations will help supply the Settlement Home and Safeplace with fresh produce for their clients year-round. We are sincerely thankful for your contributions! Community Supported Agriculture has never felt so communal.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Being the day after Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a perfect time to sit down and write out some thanks. After the last two years being riddled with floods, tornadoes, massive greenhouse destruction, and huge gullies washing away acres of the farm, I am so immensely grateful that this year we were spared from destruction (knock on wood, the year isn’t over yet!).

I am so thankful to have a team of employees that go above and beyond their call of duty day after day, week after week. The current JBG work family is probably the most solid team we’ve had yet. Our team of managers is seriously stellar, Ada, Tracy, Andrew, Lena, Mike... the list goes on. I have had a lot of folks who have been around since the advent of the farm and are seriously integral players to the inner-workings of JBG. I do not know where I would be without them. Vicente, Temo, Montana, Fawn, and Krishna... to name a few. It feels a little strange sometimes to think about these people who have stood by my side since the beginning.

Along with those who’ve been around for years, we’ve brought on some new employees that have been such an asset to the farm this year, two Cornell graduates: Kirby, our Greenhouse Manager, and Becky, our Farm Manager. Becky has essentially filled my position… it’s the first time that we have done that! In the past with Mike, Jason, and Charlotte, we hired them as Assistant Farm Managers. Becky has a degree in Agriculture and ten years of farm experience to boot, so we decided to offer her the Farm Manager job. I am really very grateful to have someone dedicated like her to help with the farm.

The farm has never looked better in the fall, and this is also reflected in our sales. In November we’ve already reached record sales in our Wholesale Department. Kudos to Mike and Pete for their hard work! I am also thankful we haven’t had our first freeze yet. The first freeze is usually around the second week in November, and here we are at the end of the month still able to have tomatoes and sweet peppers!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

I want to continue my thank-you's by turning to you, the JBG community. I'm incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be your farmer. As many of you know, organic farming was a long-time dream of mine, even as I was working as a government engineer for over a decade. JBG could never have gotten to be where we are today without the support of such an incredible community. From my backyard to a thriving farm east of town serving Texas, it's been an incredible journey. Being back in Alabama for the holidays looking for hard-to-find local produce, makes me remember how special our city is. It’s an anomaly to live in a town where local grocers care to stock up their aisles with the freshest produce from local farms. I ventured into Whole Foods last week before I left town to find so much of our produce on the shelves. The most there has ever been! Austin is such a wonderfully supportive enclave for farmers, it's truly something. On top of that, we are blessed with being in the midst of one of the top restaurant scenes in the country. I am so grateful to be backed by so many talented and creative chefs who are excited about whatever we have in season. This is a special place indeed.

Speaking of being in Alabama, I am also thankful to be with my Grandmother, Mama Nell, and my father this weekend. Nothing like soul-satiating time with family. I hope everyone has a love-filled and food-filled holiday. If JBG was a part of your Thanksgiving meal this year - send us some photos of what you made! We'd love to see what you're cooking with the season's bounty! Thanks for your continual support of our farm.

Sincerely, Brenton

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Overflowing spread at Mueller Farmers Market. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Right now the farm is stunningly gorgeous! We are in the sweet spot after the heat and before the cold. Everything is so verdant and green. We are rounding the corner on planting 6.25 acres of onions! So many onions. Leeks are next. We also stopped by one of our more bustling markets, Texas Farmers Markets at Mueller, last week. What a beautiful spread!

We are already deep into planning for Spring and the transplant sale. Everyone here is looking forward to Thanksgiving and we are swapping our favorite seasonal JBG vegetable recipes and turkey roasting secrets around the lunch table. Have a happy and safe holiday!

Beautiful fall roots and greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Early morning spinach harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Green onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Planting onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Verdant. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Dandelion green harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy portrait. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Broccoli harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Ada and her herbs. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

CSA Large Box Contents Week of Nov 27th

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 27th

Medium Box
Beet, Chioggia
Bok Choy
Carrot, Orange
Greens, Kale, Curly
Greens, Spinach
Herb, Cilantro
Onion, Multiplying
Pepper, Sweet Medley
Squash, Butternut

Recipe and Photos by Mackenzie Smith at The World in a Pocket

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

If I’m doing things right around here, Sundays are spent wrangling the goods from Saturday’s CSA pickup and prepping meals for the week. In the Fall, bitter greens simmer next to a pot of black or pinto beans while root vegetables, squash and/or broccoli roast in the oven. At some point a batch of grains like farro, brown rice or quinoa steams to serve throughout the week. By Friday, we have usually eaten through most of what I prepared on Sunday and I am aiming to clear my fridge for the next batch of vegetables from Johnson’s Backyard Farm.

This time around, the collards braised at the beginning of the week were sitting in the fridge next to Sunday’s baked sweet potatoes, damn-near begging to be stuffed into a pocket together. The last of a pot of black beans and a pack of goat cheese on the shelf below were enough to inspire me to roll out Nothing in the House’s dough, flecked with black pepper.

I recooked the beans with toasted spices here, but that step is entirely optional. A can of black beans works just as well as the last of your leftovers. Roasted butternut squash would pinch-hit well for sweet potatoes here, just as braised Swiss chard or kale could be subbed for collards. I used a bowl, about 6-inches in diameter, to cut circles that would be folded into half moons. That makes these hand pies big enough to grab and go for a well-rounded meal, though a salad on the side really seals the deal!

• Makes about 10 medium-sized hand pies

Ingredients

Filling

• About a cup of Braised Collards
• One medium sweet potato, roasted or baked and skins removed.
• A cup and a half of black beans
• Whole cumin and coriander
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• A tablespoon or so of olive oil
• Goat cheese
• Salt

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Dough Adapted from Nothing in the House’s standard pie crust

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or 1 c. all-purpose + 1 c. whole-wheat pastry flour*)
• 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks COLD unsalted butter (12 tablespoons), cut into slices
• 1/2 beaten large egg, cold (save the other half to brush on top of the crust)
• 1/4 cup ice-cold water
• 1/2 tablespoon cold apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper. Using a pastry cutter or fork and knife, cut in the butter. You want to make sure butter chunks remain, as that's what makes the crust flaky.

2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the COLD liquid ingredients (Using cold liquids ensures that your butter will not melt--another crucial detail for a flaky crust!).

3. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour-butter mixture and combine using a wooden spoon. Mix until dough comes together into a shaggy dough. Form into a ball, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before rolling out.

Heat oil in a skillet add the cumin and coriander. Cook until you can smell the spices, about 30-45 seconds, then add your minced garlic and cook for another 20 seconds or so. Add your beans.

If you baked your sweet potatoes in-skin and they are unseasoned, add a pinch of salt to them as you place all of your filling ingredients within reach before you start to roll out your pie dough.

Sprinkle all-purpose flour on the counter and roll dough into about a ⅛”-thick slab. Using a bowl or a drinking glass as a guide run a knife along the edge of the bowl to cut the dough to cut it into circles. You can also press through the dough as you would with a cookie or biscuit cutter. Spoon a tablespoon or so of collards onto the dough, then a tablespoon of black beans, and top with sweet potatoes and goat cheese. If it feels like your filling is too much or too little for your dough, adjust accordingly.

Pierce with a fork and put your pies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper then in the freezer for 10-20 minutes.* Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400℉. Brush pies with egg wash and bake for about 35 minutes, or until pies are a golden-brown.

* If you want to freeze your hand pies for later, put them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then place them in a ziplock back and back in the freezer.

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Mackenzie Smith is an Austin-based photographer and the co-founder of The World in a Pocket, a project devoted to exploring the world through the lens of a dumpling (and empanadas, samosas, runzas, gyoza, bierocks, pierogi, ravioli, katayef, vareniki, bao, hand pies, etc). Food-inside-of-food, yeah! Are we missing something? Email us at theworldinapocket.com with your favorite pocket story or recipe. Follow us on instagram at @_worldinapocket for regular updates!