Harvesting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

It's been a week of mud and rain, which has set our planting schedule way back. The next two weeks will be a race to get all the transplants in the ground. On a brighter note: all of our fall seeding is done in the greenhouse! Let's hope for some dryer weather so we can get those transplants in the ground.

Montana gassing up. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Our handy harvest tractor. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Harvesting vastness. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kale harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kale loot. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Workin' in the fields. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Our open house flyer! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Andrew our CSA Packing Manager. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cleaning carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sorting greens. 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!

Andrew, workin' hard. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm, in general - Fermentation Fest is quickly approaching!!! We will be there slinging veggies... come say hi and checkout this one-of-a-kind event! Sandor Katz is this year's keynote speaker.

Bento Picnic's yummy fall Quinoa Kale Salad featuring our kale and carrots with pasture-raised eggs, toasted pumpkin seeds, ginger, green onion, garlic, and their famous ancho sauce! It's gluten-free, dairy-free, and vegetarian - order one now!

Ada (Marketing and CSA Manager) - Went to New Orleans this past weekend to visit my sister, and had the immense pleasure of visiting the House of Dance and Feathers - a small grassroots museum in the back of Ronald Lewis's home that celebrates the Mardi Gras Indians. This isn't your average museum, so give Ronald a call if you plan to go to make sure he's home. If you've never heard of the Mardi Gras Indians, do yourself a favor and do some googling. Google Images will quickly show you the grandeur of their costuming. This Mardi Gras krewe has a rich history in New Orleans, and was established over 100 years ago as a way for Nola's African American communities to participate in Mardi Gras celebrations. There are dozens of krewe's, but in my opinion the costuming of the Mardi Gras Indians are parallel to none. The beadwork is stunning, and at Ronald's house you can see, touch, and feel some of this incredible artwork. The best part? Each year you see the Indians, they're dolling brand new costumes with completely new designs. Anybody else got the Mardi Gras fever? Only 129 days and counting.



Missoula (Farm Dog) - Well, in case you missed it, my career as a celebrity farm dog peaked last week when Modern Farmer reposted a photo of me. In all fairness, they posted a shot of Chooch, too, but we all know who got more likes.... (checkout the hashtag #iamamodernfarmdog for endless photos of farm dogs from all over the country. Swoon!)

Repost @chermissoula ・・・ Hello, boys. #jbgorganic #johnsonsbackyardgarden #romaine #romainecalm #farmdog #doggo #iamamodernfarmdog

A post shared by Modern Farmer (@modfarm) on Sep 25, 2017 at 10:29am PDT

Mike Mo (Wholesale Manager and Avid Ole Miss Fan) - Auburn loses to Ole Miss this Saturday.

Megan (Recipe Blogger) - I'm beyond excited to see Reckless Kelly on Friday night at Neighbor's Kitchen and Yard in Bastrop. If you don't know, Neighbor's serves bomb pizza, cocktails, and local beers right on the Colorado river in beautiful Bastrop. Two close friends of mine, Katie and Chris Allcorn, opened the joint in 2014. The historic, multi-tiered-creaky-floored building and the sprawling riverside yard make it the most perfect getaway from the city. If you find yourself fed up with the ACL crowds, come out to Bastrop and join me + fam + the band that (arguably) started Americana.

Lucas (Delivery Driver Extraordinaire) - I won Roky Erickson tickets on Dudley and Bob and am STOKED.

Stoke level HIGH.

Andrew (CSA Packing Manager) - Khruangbin, whose new album has been in heavy rotation at the barn as of late, plays Emo's with Chicano Batman October 28th. They are a Taiwanese band with Psych/Surf vibes and a lot of heart and flavor.

Also, all month long Blue Starlight is showing awesome horror movies drive-in style. Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Friday the 13th (on Friday the 13th!!), and Halloween "my favorite movie ever" on and around Halloween. If you wanna smooch and watch some spookies you should go!

Casey (Customer Service Extraordinaire) - I feel like I have been surrounded by giant sweet potatoes and dogs lately. So, I'm finding a way to combine the two in my life and in my staff pick. Our office at Hergotz is usually the place veggies too large to sell go to die, but I have been taking these enormous sweet potatoes home to make dog chews! I slice em up into thin wedges and dehydrate them in my nifty dehydrator. My dog at home (Odie) can't get enough of them, and Roxy, one of our farm dogs, dreams about them while she sleeps at the foot of my desk. Yum! Also, I've been seeing a lot of comedy at ColdTowne Theater. They even have a free improv class every Monday!

Roxy and Missoula.

Odie and the sweet potato dehydrator.

Hector (Social Media Manager) - I had the chance to visit the Texas State Fair last weekend for the first time and it was fantastic! My lovely tour guide recommended getting started with a corn dog (which was the best one I ever had) and a Shiner at the food hall. I didn’t try any fried foods too ridiculous, with the exception of chicken fried bacon. Give the fair a try if you haven’t yet!

IT’S TIME TEXAS is leading a statewide effort to help people with healthier habits. Join me and hundreds of others at the first TEXAS WALKS, taking a 10-minute walk on 10/20 at 10am!

Heydon (Blog Writer) - I've been in the depths of a wild bachelorette party/wedding season this summer + fall, and am floored by the outpouring of love in the midst of such a tumultuous time in our country. My pick this week is my friends, family, and all the folks out there who choose to love over hate. Plus, a shout out to my old Minolta Freedom Zoom & Nikon N65 that I get to take film photos of my near and dear folks with - check out a few of my snaps below.

A quick reminder before our main post… Mark your calendars for JBG’s Fall Open House! This year we're going to have a laid-back and very casual open house at our Garfield farm on Saturday, October 28th from around 4:30 until sunset. Free and open to the public, this event is for our beloved CSA community and anyone else who’s had a hankering to experience the magic of the farm. We can’t think of a better place to relish the beautiful Texas fall than our expansive 200 acre farm! Also, if you’ve always wanted to work on a farm, now’s the time! We’re hiring a handful of positions - check 'em out here. We are also urgently looking for a hard-working volunteer to help us at the Bastrop Farmers Market. Do you or someone you know fit the bill? Throw us a line at farm@jbgorganic.com.

Summer has come and gone, and though it doesn’t really feel like Fall, the seasons are indeed changing. Right now we are in the depths of the planting season... it is notoriously one of the busiest times on the farm and we are tirelessly toiling to get all of your favorite Fall and Winter crops into the ground. The leafy greens have been stretched with the late summer heat, but with the deluge of rain this past week and intermittently this past month, the temperatures have moderated a bit, and has enabled the crops that are already in the ground to really thrive.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

However, with rain, comes quite a lot of frustration and stress on the farm. When the ground is soaked, we are unable to plant. It takes a few days or even up to a week for the farm to dry off (depending on variables, like the amount of rain, wind, and sun). This planting season has been laden with setback after setback, starting with Hurricane Harvey. With only two weeks left in the planting schedule, we are chomping at the bit to get our crews out into the fields. With this erratic schedule dictated by the rain, our crews have often had to work 7 days a week. As the weather is highly unpredictable, these hardworking folks have had to forego a regular schedule and have been going above and beyond to get everything done when there is a dry day. This warrants a huge thanks, our tenacious and unrelenting field crews are dedicated to getting food to the community in a timely manner. Their effort has been incredible this season.

Rainy, rainy fields. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

When the fields are wet, we cannot get tractors out into the fields to transplant or to seed. On top of that, when rain is heavy, it’s difficult for us to control weeds. On a conventional farm, they can just spray; however, as an organic farm, we have to cultivate our weeds, which essentially means that we get on a tractor with cultivation knives and specialized tools to kill weeds. Like we mentioned before, tractors cannot function on water-laden fields; thus, weeds are currently flourishing! Soggy fields are immensely tricky to harvest on and twice the amount of work as well. Our harvesting crew has to trudge through with mud-heavy boots to collect the ripe produce which as you can imagine can be quite the workout.

Drying out rain gear. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

On a brighter note, since we have plenty of hands twiddling their thumbs waiting to get back out into the fields, we have accomplished all the seeding in the greenhouse that needed to be done. Kirby, our greenhouse manager, has had to manage a densely populated greenhouse, as we are filled to the brim with transplants waiting to get out into the field. We are scrambling to get everything done in the short window of time that is left!

Full greenhouse. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Hoping for a couple dryer days, and to see you at the markets this weekend! 'Til next time.

Photo and Recipe by Mackenzie Smith

“It is easy to think of potatoes, and fortunately for men who have not much money it is easy to think of them with a certain safety. Potatoes are one of the last things to disappear, in times of war, which is probably why they should not be forgotten in times of peace.” - How to Cook a Wolf, MFK Fisher, 1942.



Up until a few months ago, I had been treating potatoes with hardly any regard. And because I didn’t cook them often or have a vision for how I wanted to enjoy them, they were always the first to trade when I picked up our CSA on Saturdays. Maybe it was the 95 percent chance that I’d make a potato hash that never softened up before it burned, or the mediocre potato salads from the church potlucks of my youth. My inclination to save making mashed potatoes for special occasions (the cheesier, the creamier, the more butter, the better) probably had something to do with the aversion, too.

Whatever the reason, everything changed after my parents had me dig a few red potatoes from their garden out in Driftwood back in June. Pulling them out of the ground made me realize my attitude toward spuds had less to do with their awesomeness, and more with how I had prepared them in the past. I finally made a hash that wasn’t a disappointment, and stopped trading the potatoes that came in my CSA from JBG.

My solution? Parboiling potatoes in water as salty as the ocean until they’re just soft enough to pierce with a fork during Sunday meal prep. That step makes for quick prep on weekdays when I have less time to make a meal. With these on hand, the once dreadful hash crisps well and cooks fast, crispy smashed potatoes come together very quickly, and adding cut potatoes to soups in the last 15 minutes or so works beautifully for me.

No doubt I have much to learn about how to appreciate the humble potato and I look forward to adding more foolproof recipes to my arsenal. In the meantime, you’ll find me bathing them in boiling saltwater on Sundays and using them as an ingredient for my meals throughout the week.

My friend Michael Harlan Turkell’s newest book, Acid Trip, hit the shelves last week! This gem shows us the world through the lens of vinegar, with recipes from chefs and vinegar makers around the globe, and a fascinating account of how he starting making vinegar, along with instructions to make your own. Get into it!

CSA Box Contents Week of Oct 2nd

After Hurricane Harvey, we immediately knew we wanted to help, and the best way we knew how was - you guessed it - vegetables. A fresh head of lettuce or bunch of carrots is a welcome change from canned goods and boxed meals. In addition to donating a portion of our harvest directly from the farm, we also put the word out to our amazing CSA members to see if they would like to help, too. We sent out an email to our CSA community asking for donations, tallied up the total number of CSA donations received, and sent produce in bulk to Houston. We were shocked by the response. So many of our CSA family (and even some non-members!) gave over 300 CSA shares, totalling $9,507.50. This is absolutely incredible! Since that first week after Harvey, we’ve been sending donations to many different outlets, and have used our amazing community to find kitchens and pantries that are most in need.

Donations. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

In addition to the produce we send every week to the Central Texas Food bank here in town, we've donated over 4,000 lbs of produce directly to those affected by Harvey, and we’ve got many more to go. The need for help and resources will be ongoing in affected areas. So many families are still displaced from their homes, living in tents, and are reliant on kitchens for food. A massive thank you to all those CSA members who donated to this cause, to the JBG staff who took the time to wash, sort, and pack these veggies, to all of our community members who helped us vet donation outlets and coordinate these deliveries, and finally, a mammoth thank you to the volunteers like Eli and Lauren who drove long distances (multiple times!) to help get this produce where it was needed most. We have been floored by the kindness and love that has poured out of this community to help fellow Texans in need.

Places we've sent donations:

Royal Fig Catering who have been cooking meals for folks in the Humble, TX area.

Teaming up with our friends at @royalfigcatering to help feed some folks in Humble and Houston who have been without basic amenities since Harvey hit land last week. This is the first of many fresh produce donations that will make their way to community kitchens in and around Houston and the Gulf Coast. CSA members: check your inbox to see how you can contribute to these donations, too. #texasstrong #communitysupport #communitysupportedagriculture

A post shared by Johnson's Backyard Garden (@jbgorganic) on Aug 31, 2017 at 11:22am PDT

 

Our friends at Memorial Villages Farmers Market helped us get produce to The Jesse Tree in Texas City.

Memorial Villages Donation.

Eli from the Wildflower Herbal Aid Group helped get produce to some pop-up kitchens in destroyed neighborhoods in Houston on her first trip.

On her second trip, Eli also got food to the Cajun Navy. They have a large kitchen and make food for delivery to spots all over Houston.

Eli with donations.

Eli also transported food to the Altruist Relief non-profit. Their trained volunteers have been responding to Hurricane Harvey with an extensive industrial kitchen, capable of preparing 100 gallons of food every few hours.

Lauren helped us get food to Rockport Relief Camp in Rockport. A camp set up by Samantha McCrary, owner of a local Houston catering company, after she learned that she had lost her business to the hurricane.

Lauren and her chariot.

The Houston Food Bank, who is helping reach many smaller pantries and kitchens, is receiving over 1300 lbs of sweet potatoes and over 800 lbs of red potatoes from us this week!

Houston has quite a long journey ahead in their relief efforts. Still want to donate? Email farm@jbgorganic.com to let Casey know that you would like to forego your regular delivery and send it to Houstonians in need. Want to donate time as a cook? Throw us a line and we will connect you with mobile kitchens that are still searching for extra help.

Boxes of produce. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Mark your calendar - JBG Fall Open House, October 28th!

This year we're going to have a laid-back and very casual Fall Open House at our Garfield farm on Saturday, October 28th from around 4:30 until sunset. Free and open to the public, this event is for our beloved CSA community and anyone else who’s had a hankering to experience the magic of the farm. We can’t think of a better place to relish the beautiful Texas fall than our expansive 200 acre farm. What a time to get lost at the farm, too, with fields galore laden with your favorite fall crops. Rows upon rows of collards, kale, broccoli, turnips, carrots, beets, parsley, cilantro, and the list goes on!

Fields of collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Have kids in tow? Good news, as always, this is a kid-friendly event! Have a kid who loves cars and tractor toys? Well now they can play with one in real life! We will have a line up of our handy dandy tractors for your kiddos to climb on and explore, plus our infamous and all-time favorite sand pile. Kids usually love our flatbed tours of the farm, too. We will be hosting multiple rounds of farm tours on our flatbed trailer, but if you’d rather stretch your legs, we will have maps for self-guided tours as well. A fun and interactive way for the whole family to see where your food is grown!

Flatbed tours. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Self-guided saunter. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Think: scavenger hunt, fall photo booth, contests, and more! We will have a yoga class, too, if you prefer to get your stretch on immersed in the farm fresh air. There will be a food truck slingin’ delectable treats, or if you prefer to pack your own picnic, be our guest! We will have a market stand set up for those of you who want to stock up on veggies for the week. If you are a CSA member and would prefer to pick up your share at the open house, we will gladly reschedule. Just email Casey at farm@jbgorganic.com to coordinate.

Future farmer. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sand pile shenanigans. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Yoga at the farm. Photo by Charlotte McClure.

Fall is a notoriously stunning time at our farm, and we want to share the beauty of it with you, our community. We want you to see, spend quality time, and create memories on the land where your weekly veggies are cultivated. Come join the fun, you won’t regret it!

Sunset farm adventure. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Early morning rows. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Updates from Becky Hume

A misty week out at the farm! We are still planting like crazy. This week alone we are on track to plant another 6 acres of kale, 5 acres of carrots, 2.5 acres of beets, plus a whole lot more... Sweet potatoes are still bountiful. We are just starting to get some of the first 'Fall' crops. YUM! Volunteers are still in demand and much appreciated as we are finally catching up with our greenhouse work. Email volunteer@jbgorganic.com if you would like to get your hands dirty!

We also headed to Yeti last week to chat about our CSA program and Fall gardens. Thanks for being wonderful hosts! We can't wait to work wit y'all again.

Preparing beds and transplanting simultaneously. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Close-up of baby fennel transplants in the ground. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Transplanter from Scott's favorite viewpoint. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Readying the transplants. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Becky scooping compost into the compost spreader. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Laying out the transplants to germinate. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

A very misty morning to harvest okra. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

All the harvest protection since okra is covered in tiny spines that can irritate skin during harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

A conversation over collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kale leaf droplets. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kale harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Lemongrass harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Ada at Yeti. Photo by Alan Kahler.

Ada at Yeti. Photo by Alan Kahler.