CSA Box Contents Week of Oct 26th

Doug washing beets at our packing shed. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Well, the weather in Texas is as wild as ever this week. We are currently preparing for a slow moving band of heavy rainfall over the next few days, with the potential to drop up to 7" of rain at our farm! It's hard to prepare for a deluge like this one, but we will be grateful to see some moisture after months of dry weather (which followed months of the wettest weather we'd ever seen!). Luckily, most all of our crops are already in the ground, so we will welcome the moisture, although we're anticipating that the packing crews will have a lot more washing to do next week than usual.

Our Potluck and Harvest Hustle scheduled for this weekend has been postponed, since the party grounds are going to be quite the mud pit this weekend. We hope you will join us on Saturday, November 14th for the rescheduled JBG Potluck and Harvest Hustle. Tickets are currently still available at http://www.jbgorganic.com/hoedown. I think that after this rain the farm is going to really be thriving, and I can't wait to see you there!

We'll see you on November 14th! Photo by Scott David Gordon

I hope that the rain doesn't stop you from eating locally this weekend. Saturday, October 24th is national Food Day, a country-wide celebration of heathy eating and improving our local food systems! According to Foodday.org, "The typical American diet is contributing to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and other health problems. Those problems cost Americans more than $150 billion per year ... Eating Real can save your own health and put our food system on a more humane, sustainable path. With America’s resources, there’s no excuse for hunger, low wages for food and farm workers, or inhumane conditions for farm animals." We can get on board with that mission!

Photo by Scott David Gordon

I really encourage you to take this message to heart by stopping by one of our weekend farmer's markets and doing your part to ensure a viable local food system. Your participation is necessary to keep your local farmers markets running. We harvest, wash, and pack produce every single week, and send staff to markets RAIN or SHINE to ensure that local organic food is available to our Austin community. This takes a lot of time and money, and so we're asking YOU, as the consumer, to show your support for Austin farmers and food producers by also showing up, rain or shine, and voting with your food dollars. A happy Food Day to everyone in the JBG community! What are you cooking up this weekend to celebrate?

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

 

Who likes collards? Photo by Scott David Gordon

It's been a beautiful week at the farm, and it feels as though we are in a good spot for the rainy weather forecasted for this weekend. Assistant Farm Manager Jason puts it nicely: "I don't look forward to a flood, but this rain will provide enough relief to step back a moment and look at what we accomplished. We will have the opportunity to assess our successes and failures as a team. It also allows us a little time to organize the messes that were created in the wake of the planting, irrigating, and harvest bustle." We've also brought out the pumps in anticipation of what was lovingly dubbed, "Lake JBG" during the spring flooding. Scott David Gordon captured some great snapshots of life at the farm this week, and we hope you'll enjoy!

Dandelion greens are a favorite right now. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Dandelion green harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Alfonso bunching dandelion greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Moving irrigation lines. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Photo by Scott David Gordon

Photo by Scott David Gordon

Scott captures some early morning transplanting. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A baby bok choy. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Israel harvesting kale. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Our farmer ladies Olbein, Sindy and Angelica riding along with the harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Greenhouse Manager Brandon waters our transplants. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Andres harvesting broccoli. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Harvesting savoy cabbage. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Our CSA packing line. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Washing turnips at our Hergotz farm. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Fall fields at JBG's Garfield farm. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We've got a LOT of rain in the forecast this weekend. While we are grateful for the moisture in our soils, 4+ inches of rain was going to make our party locale this weekend a muddy mess! So, we've decided to postpone the JBG Potluck and Harvest Hustle 5k to Saturday, November 14th.

We hope this is good news for everyone who was on the fence about joining the race and festivities. Now you have an extra 3 weeks to train, and/or work on your potluck dish!

Tickets are still available at https://jbgorganic.com/hoedown.

We're back with another installation of our weekly farm cartoon!

by Lucas Rager

By Megan Winfrey

Looking for easy, non-cheesy ways to incorporate a Halloween theme into your October menu? Me, too. Our daughter isn't old enough to get it, so I'm not quite ready for googly eyes and candy corn, but I do like the idea of cooking with a subtle spooky vibe this month. After all, I do take Halloween quite seriously. So far this month we've watched Sleepy Hollow, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Casper, The Aadams Family, Halloween Resurrection, and Interview with the Vampire to name a few. Last night, it was Idle Hands and the recipe below, which my husband thought was clever and cute. SCORE.

Witch's Fingers

• 1 bag green beans, washed and trimmed
• 1 bunch of radishes, trimmed and sliced long ways
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced
• 2 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. chile powder
• 1 tbs. honey
• 1/4 cup parsley
• chopped salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the green beans and blanch for 2-3 minutes, until just tender. Immediately strain and dunk the green beans in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the green beans, radishes, and garlic. Cook until the vegetables start to wilt, about 5 minutes.

Using tongs, remove the green beans from the skillet and transfer them to a bowl. Add the chile powder and honey and toss to coat. Then, lay them out in an even layer on a serving platter. On one end of the green beans, make space for the radishes. Scoop the radishes onto the platter and arrange them to look like finger nails coming off of the green bean "fingers."

I made mine rather sloppy, to look like I'd just collected these fresh witch fingers, cooked 'em up quick and threw them on the plate - and maybe some fingernails came loose in the process. Not super obvious, of course, but still a fun way to incorporate Halloween into your meal. Enjoy!

Here are some links to other fun and healthy Halloween treats:

• Jack-O-Lantern Sweet Potato Chips
• Frankenjuice
• Edible, Organic Blood

CSA Box Contents Week of Oct 19th