It's garlic, leeks, and onion week! We're planting four varieties of garlic (elephant, mexican red, spanish roja, and german white) as well as pea tendrils, spinach, carrots, specialty lettuce, and parsnips. The farm looks beautiful right now, especially "cabbage hill" as you're driving in on the main road. Citrus is right around the corner, too! We should be offering oranges and grapefruits by the middle of November, so get psyched for the influx of vitamin C! Our CSA boxes are the most beautiful they have been all year... a spectrum of colors thanks to the huge variety of vegetables we are harvesting right now. Thanks again to everyone who attended and contributed to the CSA Member Potluck and Slow Food Farm Tour, we had such a great time! Also, Brenton participated in a roundtable with the US Secretary of Agriculture about energy efficiency this week! How cool is that?

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! If you are stressing about figuring out where to buy your meats and veggies this year, look no further! Dai Due is offering a delicious and all-encompassing menu of heirloom meats as well as a JBG veggie bundle to pair! Check it out here. 

If you are a CSA member that’s headed out of town, you can always donate your share instead of postponing it! Find more information about sponsored shares here.

**farm update contributions by Ada Broussard and Charlotte McClure

Potluck. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Potluck deliciousness. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

YUM. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tiger spotting (or should we say striping). Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Potluck dishes! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Eastside Pies. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sunny centerpieces. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm exploration. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tour guide Brenton. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm exploration. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm exploration. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Putting the C in CSA. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton's shadow, Roxy. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Nighttime. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton at USDA meeting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton at USDA meeting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Whole lotta habanero. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Whole lotta jalapeno. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Misty morning. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Greenhouses in action. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Misty kale. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Up close kale. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Broccoli! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Taste the rainbow. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Workin' hard. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fennel. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Dill. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

CSA Box Contents Week of Oct 24th

by Megan Winfrey

Raise your hand if you're trying to get better at meal prepping. Me too, me too. I see all of these responsible, healthy people out there who have their crap together - and a perfect stack of pre-prepped lunches in their fridge. I am, by no means, one of those people, but when I do make the time to prep meals for the week, I sure feel like it. And when I don't, I always find myself scrambling to make my husband a decent sandwich in the 2 minutes before he should be walking out the door (which really means he's already 5 minutes late) and then realizing that I'm having chips and hummus for lunch (again). The truth is, we are all SO much happier and healthier when there is something substantial in the fridge ready-to-eat, and pasta salad is my simple solution.

Okra, Bacon, & Avocado Pasta Salad

• 12 oz. fusilli pasta
• 1 lb. okra, stems removed and rough chopped
• 4 slices of bacon, diced
• 2 avocados, halved, seeded, peeled, and diced
• salt and pepper, to taste

for the dressing:

• 3/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tbs. fresh lemon zest
• 1 tbs. sugar
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme leaves
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/3 cup olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Put the prepared okra on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until tender, about 15-20 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta per the package directions or until al dente.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the bacon until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.

To make the dressing, first add the mayo, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, thyme, salt and pepper to a medium sized bowl. Slowly pour in the olive oil with one hand as you whisk the mixture with the other to combine. Set dressing aside.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, okra, bacon, avocado, and dressing. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Brenton's happy place. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We are in such a magical time of year. The brief but ever so lovely overlap of end of summer and beginning of fall crops has our markets bursting with vibrant and diverse produce. Come see us at your local market, you won't regret it!

The greenhouses are finally finished. Thanks again to the Alamo Drafthouse (more on that here) for pulling us up by our bootstraps when we were in serious dire straits. We're about to put in our winter cover crops of oats, fava beans, and biomaster peas, plus, garlic is going into the ground! We have some really amazing teamwork happening at the farm right now, with everyone giving 110% to get fall planting done (we can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!).

At Hergotz, Ada and her volunteers finished up painting the box trucks, so keep an eye out for a shiny new JBG rooster rollin’ around town. Also, in case you haven’t heard, we've got several new CSA pickup sites that are noteworthy: Picnik on Fridays, Live Oak Brewery on Sundays, in.gredients on Tuesdays. All great options for a multi-purpose trip for beer, butter coffee, groceries veggies. Wish there was a CSA pickup at your favorite coffee shop or yoga studio? Wish your office had a farm-to-work program? E-mail us! (farm@jbgorganic.com).

Tracy and Ciara. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Market medley. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Leslie workin' hard. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Market crew. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Early morning fog. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Curly kale harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Collard harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Many shades of green. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

One happy Brenton. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Garlichat. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Salad, anyone? Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Dino kale harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Serious farm meeting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Transplant crew. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fields of green. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

The greenhouses are finished! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brandon is back! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

It’s hive time for a bee update, don’t you think? We briefly mentioned these hard-working winged ones and the folks who care for them on the blog back in July, but if you haven’t been following along… here’s an abridged history.

Photo by Charlotte McClure.

St. David’s Environmental Guild received a grant to place a couple beehives on their property earlier in the year; however, with zoning restrictions downtown, they needed to outsource their honeybees. Because of our CSA drop there and our inherent and constant need for large-scale pollination (200 acres warrants a whole lot of pollinating), they immediately thought of us as a fit host for their bees! We had one pre-existing hive, but were ecstatic at the prospect of having more as the benefits of having hives on the farm are numerous (boosts in vegetable yields, amelioration of overall produce quality, delectable and succulent honey, and helping preserve a quickly dwindling worldwide bee population to name a few). Thus bee-gan the grand honeybee adventure at JB[ee]G!

Photo by Charlotte McClure.

The hives are located in a grove of trees neighboring the Colorado River, so they have plenty of access to shade, water, and prolific organic fields to forage. Currently, our three hives are very healthy (albeit really aggressive), and set to produce loads of honey next year if the rain and nectar flow are sufficient and steady, according to the beekeepers. The bees are preparing for the more dormant winter months, sealing up honeycomb, and gathering around the queen to keep her warm on the cooler days ahead.

Photo by Charlotte McClure.

This week, the lead beekeeper, Jason Minnix, spearheaded an attempt to re-queen the colonies to ameliorate the rampant erratic and volatile bee-havior of two of the hives as the queen dictates the temperament of the rest of the bee population. He came by earlier this week with the new queens (fun fact: they arrive via mail in tiny wooden cages!), suited up and ready to start the meticulous task of finding and replacing the current reigning queens. Very important side note: if you don't remove a colony's old queen before introducing the new one, the hive may reject the new queen and kill her. On the first hive, Jason couldn’t find the queen after searching for an hour, but went ahead and put in the new queen. As said by Charlotte, our farm administrator, “looking for the queen bee among thousands of workers and drones [is] like a constantly moving Where's Waldo puzzle.” So in this situation, there is a 50/50 chance of them accepting or killing her… fingers crossed they keep her! On the second hive, the search was exponentially quicker… he placed the new queen in the colony after removing the old one successfully. All signs point to the bees accepting her! Let’s hope these new queens maintain a more peaceful vibe within the colonies.

 

Our beekeeper friend is requeening two of our hives @jbgorganic today to help improve the temperament of the colonies. Being around this many angry bees definitely got my heart rate up! ???

A video posted by Charlotte McClure (@carlita_carlotta_) on Oct 17, 2016 at 8:55am PDT

We are over the moon to be working with St. David’s, and immensely grateful for all their marvellous and brave volunteers who care for the bees. Y’all bee-have until next time!

Don’t miss our CSA Members Only Potluck this Saturday, 10/22 at the farm! RSVP here. If you can’t make it Saturday, no problem! Slow Food Austin is hosting a farm tour on Sunday, 10/23, buy tickets here.

Was this our okra? We may never know, but speculating sure is fun. Regardless, our okra really is the bomb. Speaking of okra: the days are dwindling to get our favorite okra dish at Contigo!

by Megan Winfrey

Even if it is still in the 90s here, it's fall damnit, and I'm making soup. I prefer hearty stews over pureed soups (Chicken n' Dumplings are my FAVE), and I'm always looking for new ways to spice up a broth or incorporate unusual ingredients into my soup dishes. After checking out the Italian Meatball Soup recipe that CSA manager Ada recommended in this month's First Friday Staff Picks, I knew I wanted to make it for y'all (and myself, duh). The broth is simple but has an awesome depth of flavor, and the meatballs are bright and tender. The only thing I changed about the original recipe was adding 2 cups of roasted butternut squash at the end. Like Ada said, you can add almost any vegetable, which is a great way to empty the fridge. I also got a pro-tip from my real Italian friend's real Italian grandmother - lightly roll your meatballs, don't overwork them. And like all soups, this one is even better the next day.

CSA Box Contents Week of Oct 17th