Farmshare's Lorig Hawkins talks to students about harvesting. Photo by Carrie Kenny

From now until March 14th, Farmshare Austin is offering classes on organic gardening - sign up  for one or more of these classes!

Learn the fundamentals of organic production for home gardens just in time for spring! Farmshare's six class series will take place at the beautiful historic Boggy Creek Farm and will cover:

-Intro to sustainable/organic

-Soil physical and bio processes

-Manage fertility and composting

-Propagation, transplanting, and seeding

-Weed, disease, and pest management

-Chickens!

Classes are Saturday from 9:00 AM to noon from now to March 14th. Individual classes can be purchased for $40 each. For more information and to reserve your spot, please click here.

Thank you to Amy Lawrence for sending in this photo of her garden!  Here's what Amy has to say on how she created this garden:

"I built it based on the design used for the community garden at National Instruments and was inspired to build my own after helping build the one where I work. It was doable by myself (9ft by 12ft) and is pretty easy to protect from freeze. Last year I had a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and serranos. I made a fantastic summer salsa with them that my family loved!"

In response to why she gardens, Amy writes, "Tending to the plants is relaxing and peaceful - a welcome balance to an otherwise hectic schedule. I love sharing the produce with my neighbors or plucking a fresh pepper to snack on when my nephews visit! "

Amy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your reasons for gardening with us.  We hope your words will inspire more people to try to grow some of their own vegetables, too!

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Do you have a garden?  If so, send us a picture!  We'd love to include it in the newsletter.  Please send your photos and contact info to carrie@jbgorganic.com.

Our transplant sale will be on March 7th, 14th, & 21st! Photo by Scott David Gordon

On March 7th, March 14th, and March 21st, we will host our Annual Spring Organic Transplant Sale. This year, it will be out at our River Road Farm, located just ten miles east of Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  So, get busy and start planning your Spring garden now!

By Jessye Hipp

Beet and goat cheese salad, and warm spinach salads are a staple on any upscale restaurant menu. This recipe adds a little playfulness to an otherwise stuffy luncheon dish.

Two salads you can always bet to see at restaurants are the beet and goat cheese salad, and the warm spinach salad. This pizza combines the two on a protein rich quinoa crust.

Johnson’s Backyard Garden offers a selection of beets for their CSA boxes, including red, golden, and candy-cane varieties. When roasted, these gems add a royal flair to a salad, or this case a pizza. You can even replace the roasted beets with thinly shredded and pickled beets. Yum.

I happen to love warm beet salads with the tangy goat cheese. I also love fresh greenery on top of my pizzas. And who doesn’t agree that bacon makes everything better? This recipe offers the best of both worlds! Enjoy!

Roasted Beet & Goat Cheese Pizza on a Quinoa Crust

Time: 1.5 hrs Serves: 4

-2 beets, peeled and diced into ½ in pieces (I used 1 gold, and 1 red for color)

-6 slices of thinly sliced pancetta

-3 scallions, thinly sliced

-1/2 cup of quinoa, toasted and then cooked according to package directions, allow to cool

-4 tbls olive oil

-2 eggs

-1tsp baking powder

-1tbls dried Italian seasoning

-1tsp dried garlic powder

-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

-1 cup of shredded “pizza” blend cheese

-1/3 cup of alfreado sauce

-salt & pepper

-2 tbls goat cheese

-2 cups fresh spinach

-1/2 cup parmesan, freshly grated



-Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

-Toss the beets with 1 tbls of olive oil, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

-Roast the beets for 20-25 minutes until the beets are soften and slightly caramelized.

-At the same time, roast the pancetta slices until crisp. 10-15 minutes.

-Raise the oven to 425 degrees.

-Mix in ½ cup of shredded cheese into the cooled, cooked quinoa.



-In a small separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, 1 tbls olive oil, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, red pepper flakes, baking powder, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

-Combine the egg mixture with the quinoa. This is your “dough”.

-Line a sheet tray with parchment paper, and spray liberally with non-stick spray.



-Press out the “dough” onto the sheet tray until the crust is about ½ in thick.

-Bake the crust for 15-20 minutes until it is golden brown.



-Top the pizza crust with the alfreado sauce, then sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.

-Next, add the crispy pancetta and roasted beets.

-Crumble the goat cheese on top.



-Bake the pizza for another 5 minutes.

-Meanwhile, toss the spinach with 1 tbls of olive oil and a good sprinkling of salt and pepper.

-Allow the pizza to cool for 5 minutes.

-Top the pizza with the fresh spinach and a sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan cheese.

-Slice the pizza and enjoy!

CSA Box Contents Week of Feb 16th

Let's turn this barn into a dance hall! Photo by Carrie Kenny

Man, I have Spring Fever!  Who could blame me, given the weather we’ve had?   I’ve been super motivated to get the farm into great shape for the Spring Hoedown on April 4th.  This week, I 've been working with Matt Leach to design a stage for the bands that will be playing (Out of the Blue, La Tampiquena (with a special appearance of Mr. Will), The Show and Tellers, and Gumbo Ce Soir !) and to get the barn ready for a real barn dance.  Let me tell you, the barn is going to be awesome once we get done with this make-over.  Get ready to dance!

We invite you to run along side our fields in April! By then, the transplants we are planting now will be much bigger! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Get ready to run, too!  April 4th will also be the date of the very first JBG Garden Gallop, a 5K and a fun run through our fields.  For those of you who don’t want to run that far, we’ll also have a shorter fun run/walk that’s great for kids.  The best part is when you do the 5K or the Fun Run, you’ll get a chance to see our fields in all of their Spring glory!  Then, when you’re done, you can relax, listen to great music, and eat the food prepared by Iron Wood Icehouse.  They will be cooking a big farm-to-table buffet for everyone, complete with meat and vegetarian options.  For desert, we will be turning to you, the wonderful bakers in our community, and will have a dessert potluck set up for all of the goodies that you bring.

Brenton & Mike confer during last week's cold snap. Photo by Carrie Kenny

What I’m most excited about is for all of you to see how beautiful everything is out here at River Road.  This time of year is sometimes called the Hungry Gap because the harvests are slimmer.  This year, though, the fields are full, and are crops are just beautiful.  I have to thank Mike Reed, our Farm Manager, for this.  He has done an amazing job managing our crop plan and ensuring that plants get into the ground on time.  Thank you, Mike - your efforts have clearly paid off!

Our cover crops love this weather. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Our cover crops are also thriving.  I'm not the only one with Spring Fever - they, too, love this weather!  We are just starting to till some of these plants back into the soil.  The timing has to be right on this, too because we have to give the vegetation enough time to break down prior to our next planting.   This is one more factor that Mike and I must consider when doing our crop planning.  We are also always at the mercy of the weather, and all of the rain that we had in January and earlier this month really set us back.  Until now, it has been too wet to prepare the beds, so now we are scrambling to catch up.  But catch up we will - and come April 4th, our fields will be full of beautiful Spring vegetables.  I can't wait to see you then.

Come see the fields in April when these little Spring transplants have grown up! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Casmimiro harvests carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Our crops are doing well despite the dramatic ups and downs of our weather!  Check out the great photos Scott got this week when the temperatures felt like Spring.  Look at those carrots and brussels sprouts!

Lush rows of carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Just harvested carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Brussels sprouts. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Rows of brussels sprouts. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Close up of brussels sprout leaves. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Just harvested beets. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We've got strawberries and tomatoes growing in our high tunnel greenhouse! Photo by Scott David Gordon

We've got a whole lot of transplanting going on! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Getting those plants for Spring into the ground. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A transplant gets its start. Photo by Scott David Gordon