by Megan Winfrey



Whenever something unfamiliar to me appears in my CSA box, I've become determined to use it as a main ingredient in at least one meal that week. I've grown to look so forward to this experiment because I get to learn all about a new ingredient, upping my foodie status, and I get to share it with all of you! This week, kohlrabi was on the menu - and after making the recipe below, I went back to the JBG booth at the farmer's market and got more!

Pulled Venison with Kohlrabi Slaw

For the venison:

• 2 lb. venison ham
• 1 1/2 cups ketchup
• 3 tbs. brown sugar
• 1 tbs. ground mustard
• 1 tbs. lemon juice
• 2 tbs. soy sauce or Bragg's
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• dash of nutmeg
• 5 drops of hot pepper sauce
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 8 hotdog or burger buns

For the slaw:

• 1/2 a head of cabbage, shredded
• 2 kohlrabi bulbs, peeled and grated
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 1/2 an onion, minced
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt or mayo
• 4 tsp. apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste

Place the venison on a cutting board and rub a generous amount of salt and pepper on all sides. Put the ketchup, brown sugar, ground mustard, lemon juice, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, nutmeg, and hot sauce in a bowl and mix well.

Put the venison into a crock pot and top with the sauce. Pour the chicken stock around the venison, then cook on low for 8 hours. Check periodically and add more chicken stock if it dries up.

Prepare the slaw by putting all of the vegetables into a medium bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, yogurt, and apple cider vinegar and pour it over the vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste, and refrigerate until the venison is done cooking.

Prepare the buns however you like by toasting them with butter or leaving them plain, like I did. Once the venison is done, shred it with two forks and drain off excess liquid, if necessary. Assemble the meat onto the buns, top with cold slaw and enjoy!

CSA Box Contents Week of Nov 2nd

Who wants to go canoeing? Photo by Scott David Gordon

From the Farmer's Perspective: The Ups and Downs of Flooding

Huge rainstorms, such as the one we received in Austin last weekend, can be a farmer’s worst enemy or his best friend. Usually, it ends up being a little bit of both. On one end of the spectrum, large rains in our area often result in flooded fields, roads, and other infrastructure. Our silty loam soil is very finely textured, which means it can hold onto lots of nutrients. However, it also means that our soils have the capacity to hold on to lots of water, so tightly that our fields have trouble draining in a situation like last weekend. We can end up with some pretty sizable puddles on the farm, especially when we haven't seen rain in a few months.

"Lake JBG" Photo by Scott David Gordon

What does this mean for us at the farm? Well, this week it meant the return of the infamous “Lake JBG.” We had over 13 inches of water pooling in some parts of our fields! It can be extremely frustrating dealing with this amount of water, as it stops us from being able to direct seed or transplant. Our newest plantings of parsley, onions, rutabaga, spinach and more will have to be delayed by a week, and even relatively simple work like harvesting can be much more difficult. I personally spent the better part of the evening this past Friday and all day Saturday working to get our big pump at the Hergotz farm operating. What I thought would be a simple priming turned into a full day struggle to get our vehicles out of their muddy swimming pool!

Hergotz loading dock on Saturday morning.

..but the fields look beautiful now! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Despite the inconvenient and sometimes frustrating aspects of the rain, it’s clear that we also have a lot to be thankful for. Our soils at JBG come from periodic floods along the Colorado River over the course of the land's history, which have deposited fertile sediments that allow us to grow such great organic veggies! Who can complain about that? I’m working with our soil consultant Steve Diver to write up a more complete article on our soils at JBG and how we keep them full of the nutrients our crops need to grow- stay tuned for this soon.

We are also grateful for a sunny week after the rains - it’s truly a beautiful site to see the abundant life that water can bring to Texas. I hope that all of you have been enjoying how green all of Austin looks this week, I know I have. The crops are absolutely loving the deep watering, and it feels like we are really in the swing of Fall, one of our most abundant seasons on the farm! This is what I like to call the “green smoothie time of year” in Texas. I hope all of our CSA members use the abundance of greens and herbs in their boxes to make a green smoothie or two. Or, check out some of the great local producers in town using our greens for healthy drinks - this week our Wholesale team sent produce to Juice Society, Peoples Rx, and JuJu Juice here in Austin, Juicer Heroes and Revolucion in San Antonio, and Sustain Juicery in Houston!

Dino Kale harvest in morning light. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Aside from just green smoothies, this really is a time of abundance for our CSA members. If you’ve been putting off joining our CSA, now is the time! This really is the best time of year to share in the bounty from JBG, and we’ll be in the swing of things for the next few months with loads of greens and fresh herbs, root veggies, winter squash, and more! We just finished up a brand new brochure for our CSA program, so if you are a shareholder or business interested in helping out your local farm, shoot us an email to farm@jbgorganic.com and we’ll send you a pile of brochures to spread the message about Community Supported Agriculture!

For more of the farmer’s perspective, follow Brenton on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram @farmerbrenton.

Our new brochures are in!

There was a bit of confusion at the farm this week when TWO Brenton Johnsons showed up for work! Which one should we take directions from?! Who wore the look better?? From the whole staff at JBG, we wish you a happy and safe Halloween weekend Who will you be dressing as this weekend?

Those rains left us mucking through the farm this week, but after a few days of sunshine, the JBG farm sure looks beautiful. Here's the farm through photographer Scott David Gordon's lens this week. Enjoy!

Collard green harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Carefully packing a harvest of Collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We hope you've been enjoying all that Broccoli in your CSA shares! Photo by Scott David Gordon

JBG's famous Homegrown Carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

The fall tomato crop is coming along. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Brussels sprouts are just starting to form. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A field of future Caesar salads... Photo by Scott David Gordon

All that rain sure gave our crops a boost. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Salad mix. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Cilantro field. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Harvesting cilantro. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We're bringing lots of cilantro to market this weekend! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Green and savoy cabbage. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Onion transplants ready to go into the fields. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Okra. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Sunflowers are still going strong! Photo by Scott David Gordon

This week's cartoon is a spooky one!

by Lucas Rager

By Megan Winfrey

I think we can all agree that our CSA boxes have been exceptional lately! I get the medium box, and lately I've been feeling like Mary Poppins with her magic tapestry bag, except I'm pulling out delicious veggies instead of mirrors and coat racks. That being said, this weeks recipe is super simple and only involves 4 ingredients. Although, you can add a whole Marry-Poppins-tapestry-bag's worth of toppings for a versatile snack you won't ever tire of. And the colors here are just perfect for the fall season - a definite but simple way to impress your guests. 

Beet and Sweet Potato Crisps

• 4-5 beet roots, peeled
• 2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled
• 4 tbs. olive oil
• fresh cracked sea salt

Preheat the oven to 250ºF

Slice the peeled vegetables thinly, using a mandolin or a sharp knife. When using a mandolin, I like to leave a tiny bit of width to the slices, instead of slicing them as thinly as possible. This will leave the chips with a bit of a bite. 

Put the sliced beets and sweet potatoes in separate bowls so that the beets don't turn everything pink. Toss each with 2 tbs. olive oil and a good dose of cracked sea salt. 

Lay out the chips on separate baking sheets, with 1/4 inch of space in between each one.

Bake for 45 minutes, flip each chip so the the other side will crisp up too, and then bake for another 30-40 minutes. 

After removing the chips from the oven and transferring them to a bowl, toss with a bit more sea salt and any other toppings you would like!

Suggested toppings:

• Rosemary and Parmesan
• Honey and Chili Powder 
• Lime Zest and Cilantro
• Sea Salt and Fresh Dill

Suggested dipping sauces:

• Dill Greek Yogurt
• Sriracha Lime Ketchup
• Basil Pesto
• Pepper Jelly over Cream Cheese
• Artichoke Dip