CSA Box Contents Week of Dec 4th

From every hip Austinite on your nice list this year, to the home chef who has it all, to your mom who just learned what a kohlrabi is, we've scoured the reaches of far East Austin, the deep Hill Country, and beyond to bring you the ultimate shopping guide for your local-eating, farm-conscious friends and family. Keeping your dollars local this holiday season will not only support local businesses (who in turn, often keep their money local as well!) but also will make for unique, special gifts that will be used and enjoyed for a long time to come.

So happy holidays, and happy shopping!

1. JBG Veggies + MORE!

We couldn't make this list without putting some of our own farm gifts on it! This holiday we have more options than ever to bring some of the farm straight to your loved ones:

• CSA Gift Subscription: Choose from one week to a full year of organic JBG veggies, delivered! We can think of ample reasons to gift this to a loved one besides supporting local: reducing food miles, getting more in tune with the seasons, try new foods, getting involved with the CSA community, having access to the freshest, most nutrient-rich veggies in town, and get to know some crazy farmers! Our CSA gift subscriptions are flexible and easy to redeem, plus you'll get to reap the benefits as well when you get invited over for that delicious home cooked meal! PLUS: FREE Home Delivery for all CSA Gift Certificates bought this holiday season! Price should be adjusted on our gifts page, but if you have any questions, give us a call! **This means that you can set your mom, girlfriend, cousin, BFF, or whoever up with CSA deliveries straight to their home for free! Home delivery is usually more expensive since we have to pay our stellar delivery folks to navigate Austin traffic to get to your neighborhood, but for this month, we are covering the extra fee! YEEHAW!
• Market Bucks: Not sure what they want? Market Bucks are a fail-safe way to make sure your recipient gets exactly what they need. These can be used to buy veggies at market, on JBG merchandise, or they can save them in preparation for our Spring Transplant Sale to get their own backyard garden rockin' this spring!
• Sponsored Shares: Giving a gift in someone's name might be the coolest way to support local businesses, local nonprofits, and the giving spirit this holiday. Donated produce shares go directly to The Settlement Home and SafePlace. These donations help feed Texan children and young adults with histories of trauma and abuse. Each donated share comes with a handwritten card from our farmer, notifying the recipient of their gift and thanking them.
• JBG Merchandise: For some farm fresh digs, like our trucker hats, oh-so-soft t-shirts, or tote bags, head to our farm shop and check out our offerings. These items make a great gift for a JBG supporter, or local-ag lover.

JBG veggies. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

2. Home + Kitchen

Have a friend who loves design just as much as hosting a locally sourced dinner party? These two suggestions below are sure to please.

• Kettle & Brine - A locally owned kitchen boutique catered to the consumer whose love for good design is rivaled only by their deep-seated love of food. Visit their beautifully curated store, and you will definitely come home with something for your chef-friend. Peruse their gift gallery here.
• Mother of God Ceramics - a match made in heaven, Amanda and Diana have teamed up to create elegant and uncommon pieces perfect for your kitchen table and everyday life. Check their collections here.

Beautiful Kettle & Brine set. Image courtesy of Kettle and Brine website.

3. Artisanal Goods for the Locavore

Have a family member who loves local purveyors' goods? How about a monthly selection of steaks, roasts, sausage and ground meats, smoked meats and charcuterie from Salt and Time or a 3-month/6-month or 12-month subscription to Antonelli's Cheese Club. With this subscription you receive three to five seasonal, small-batch and hard to obtain cheeses that vary from month-to-month. Have a friend who's a caffeine fiend? How about some coffee from Texas Coffee Traders? How about the nonpareil preserves and jams from Stephanie and her team at Confituras? There is nothing that tastes better on toast.

Antonelli's cheeses. Image courtesy of Antonelli's Cheese Shop.

4. Holiday Libations

Living in Austin has infinite perks, one of which is the diverse spread of local craft breweries and distilleries. Treat a friend to bottle of Waterloo Gin, or better yet, a day trip to Treaty Oak Distilling’s picturesque ranch, where you can explore their wide-ranging menu of high-quality spirits. They usually have live music and delectable bites to boot. While you’re out on Fitzhugh Road, you might as well extend the visit to include the inimitable Jester King Brewery as well! You won't regret it! Grab a bottle of Barbecue Wife's Bloody Mary mix for that one friend who loves brunches!

Rather stay in town? Grab a gift card from ABGB. They sling some of the most delicious pizza in town with GABF award-winning beers to wash it down… not to mention, they are some of the nicest people we know.

ABGB. Image courtesy of The ABGB.

5. Giving Back to the Community

Feeling the need to give back to the community this holiday season? We salute you, and have a couple of suggestions if you are more inclined to donate to local farms. We have a sweet spot for shelters, too, since our trio of farm dogs are all rescues! What could be a better present than a new puppy?

• Urban Roots
• Farmshare Austin
• JBG Sponsored Share Program
• Green Corn Project
• Austin Pets Alive!
• Austin Animal Center

Chucha. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

HERE'S WHAT OUR STAFF IS RECOMMENDING:

CASEY (Customer Service Extraordinaire): My friend here in Austin makes these really wonderful waxed canvas totes and bags at Sivani Designs Shop. I also really like the Illuminidol Celebrity Prayer Candles as a fun gift idea. This is a local company, and you can buy them at Atown Gifts. I love these awesome Tater Tats: Temporary Vegetable Tattoos as a stocking stuffer. They are a woman-run company out of Michigan and 10% of all purchases go to small-scale farms! Lastly, a great gift idea for the family with small kids: tickets to the What's the Story Steve? improv show. This is an improv show for kids every Saturday at 10 am at ColdTowne Theater. There is even a dog in the show!

Illumidol Celebrity Prayer Candle spread. Image courtesy of the Illumidol Candle website.

ADA (Marketing and CSA Manager): All about the local and vintage accessories this year: Grab a one-of-a-kind hat from Hats What She Said, a Texas-centric patch from the ladies at Fort Lonesome, or this women-farmer-focused calendar from the Texas Farmers Market.

Texas Cactus Sunset Patch. Image courtesy of Fort Lonesome's website.

HEYDON (Blog Writer): Consider becoming a sustaining member of Austin Creative Alliance? Their mission states: "Austin Creative Alliance advances, connects, and advocates for Austin's arts, cultural, and creative communities in order to strengthen and protect the character, quality of life, and economic prosperity of our region." An important endeavor to back with the exponential growth happening in Austin, and the wild amount of performance venues being pushed out of town because of the ever-rising cost of real estate. This incredible nonprofit backs many different projects in town, a full list is available here to peruse. One of my favorites is the Mother Falcon Music Lab... a creative education summer camp founded and run by an Austin band darling and some of the kindest folks I know, Mother Falcon. It's truly an magnificent camp involving so many different people bringing so many different skillsets to the table... all the campers get the opportunity to perform at a venue at the end of the week, too! So cool.

If you are looking for jewels... look no further than We Are Ancients' beauteous adornments. Austin local, Mandy Lyne, is a wizard with jewelry design. Just the embellishment your loved ones need, plus part of the proceeds go to the ACLU. Looking for funky vintage clothes for that fun-lovin' stylish friend? Give Megan a visit over at Loyal Vintage (she's also one of our incredible recipe bloggers).

Signet ring. Image courtesy of the We Are Ancients' website.

Transplanting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

By Ada Broussard

Week 48 has us prepping for our holiday party! A huge thanks to The ABGB for the beer and Skull and Cakebones for the sweet treats.

It has been a mild season thus far which means TONS of veggies to sell! This is perhaps our busiest time at the packing shed, with drivers and packing crews all working a little extra.

Believe it or not, we're already doing some planning for our Spring Transplant Sale. We've been busy looking at what worked last year and what our top sellers were, so we can get the seeds ordered!

We're in week four of partnering with the Sustainable Food Center's Farm to Work program. We had a great pickup at UT this week! Also, Casey, our Customer Service Extraordinaire, made a Santa hat for Chucha, one of our sweet farm dogs. Check it out below... it's pretty cute.

Fall greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Vibrant lettuce mix. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Cilantro. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Baby brussel sprouts. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Textures from the fennel field. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Veins from our collards. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Collard harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Kale forever. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Fennel clean up at Hergotz. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Chucha's Santa hat. Photo by Casey Wiggins.

Recipe and Photos by Mackenzie Smith at The World in a Pocket

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

If I’m doing things right around here, Sundays are spent wrangling the goods from Saturday’s CSA pickup and prepping meals for the week. In the Fall, bitter greens simmer next to a pot of black or pinto beans while root vegetables, squash and/or broccoli roast in the oven. At some point a batch of grains like farro, brown rice or quinoa steams to serve throughout the week. By Friday, we have usually eaten through most of what I prepared on Sunday and I am aiming to clear my fridge for the next batch of vegetables from Johnson’s Backyard Farm.

This time around, the collards braised at the beginning of the week were sitting in the fridge next to Sunday’s baked sweet potatoes, damn-near begging to be stuffed into a pocket together. The last of a pot of black beans and a pack of goat cheese on the shelf below were enough to inspire me to roll out Nothing in the House’s dough, flecked with black pepper.

I recooked the beans with toasted spices here, but that step is entirely optional. A can of black beans works just as well as the last of your leftovers. Roasted butternut squash would pinch-hit well for sweet potatoes here, just as braised Swiss chard or kale could be subbed for collards. I used a bowl, about 6-inches in diameter, to cut circles that would be folded into half moons. That makes these hand pies big enough to grab and go for a well-rounded meal, though a salad on the side really seals the deal!

• Makes about 10 medium-sized hand pies

Ingredients

Filling

• About a cup of Braised Collards
• One medium sweet potato, roasted or baked and skins removed.
• A cup and a half of black beans
• Whole cumin and coriander
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• A tablespoon or so of olive oil
• Goat cheese
• Salt

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Dough Adapted from Nothing in the House’s standard pie crust

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or 1 c. all-purpose + 1 c. whole-wheat pastry flour*)
• 1/2 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks COLD unsalted butter (12 tablespoons), cut into slices
• 1/2 beaten large egg, cold (save the other half to brush on top of the crust)
• 1/4 cup ice-cold water
• 1/2 tablespoon cold apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and pepper. Using a pastry cutter or fork and knife, cut in the butter. You want to make sure butter chunks remain, as that's what makes the crust flaky.

2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the COLD liquid ingredients (Using cold liquids ensures that your butter will not melt--another crucial detail for a flaky crust!).

3. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour-butter mixture and combine using a wooden spoon. Mix until dough comes together into a shaggy dough. Form into a ball, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and let chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before rolling out.

Heat oil in a skillet add the cumin and coriander. Cook until you can smell the spices, about 30-45 seconds, then add your minced garlic and cook for another 20 seconds or so. Add your beans.

If you baked your sweet potatoes in-skin and they are unseasoned, add a pinch of salt to them as you place all of your filling ingredients within reach before you start to roll out your pie dough.

Sprinkle all-purpose flour on the counter and roll dough into about a ⅛”-thick slab. Using a bowl or a drinking glass as a guide run a knife along the edge of the bowl to cut the dough to cut it into circles. You can also press through the dough as you would with a cookie or biscuit cutter. Spoon a tablespoon or so of collards onto the dough, then a tablespoon of black beans, and top with sweet potatoes and goat cheese. If it feels like your filling is too much or too little for your dough, adjust accordingly.

Pierce with a fork and put your pies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper then in the freezer for 10-20 minutes.* Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 400℉. Brush pies with egg wash and bake for about 35 minutes, or until pies are a golden-brown.

* If you want to freeze your hand pies for later, put them in the freezer for 20-30 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet, then place them in a ziplock back and back in the freezer.

Photo by The World in a Pocket.

Mackenzie Smith is an Austin-based photographer and the co-founder of The World in a Pocket, a project devoted to exploring the world through the lens of a dumpling (and empanadas, samosas, runzas, gyoza, bierocks, pierogi, ravioli, katayef, vareniki, bao, hand pies, etc). Food-inside-of-food, yeah! Are we missing something? Email us at theworldinapocket.com with your favorite pocket story or recipe. Follow us on instagram at @_worldinapocket for regular updates!

CSA Large Box Contents Week of Nov 27th

Overflowing spread at Mueller Farmers Market. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Right now the farm is stunningly gorgeous! We are in the sweet spot after the heat and before the cold. Everything is so verdant and green. We are rounding the corner on planting 6.25 acres of onions! So many onions. Leeks are next. We also stopped by one of our more bustling markets, Texas Farmers Markets at Mueller, last week. What a beautiful spread!

We are already deep into planning for Spring and the transplant sale. Everyone here is looking forward to Thanksgiving and we are swapping our favorite seasonal JBG vegetable recipes and turkey roasting secrets around the lunch table. Have a happy and safe holiday!

Beautiful fall roots and greens. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Early morning spinach harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Green onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Planting onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Verdant. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Dandelion green harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy portrait. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Broccoli harvest. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Ada and her herbs. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Before I start my letter, I wanted to give our CSA members a shout out! Thanksgiving donations alone totaled over 900 lbs of fresh produce!

Instead of postponing your delivery, so many of you donated your CSA share. These donations will help supply the Settlement Home and Safeplace with fresh produce for their clients year-round. We are sincerely thankful for your contributions! Community Supported Agriculture has never felt so communal.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Being the day after Thanksgiving, I thought it would be a perfect time to sit down and write out some thanks. After the last two years being riddled with floods, tornadoes, massive greenhouse destruction, and huge gullies washing away acres of the farm, I am so immensely grateful that this year we were spared from destruction (knock on wood, the year isn’t over yet!).

I am so thankful to have a team of employees that go above and beyond their call of duty day after day, week after week. The current JBG work family is probably the most solid team we’ve had yet. Our team of managers is seriously stellar, Ada, Tracy, Andrew, Lena, Mike... the list goes on. I have had a lot of folks who have been around since the advent of the farm and are seriously integral players to the inner-workings of JBG. I do not know where I would be without them. Vicente, Temo, Montana, Fawn, and Krishna... to name a few. It feels a little strange sometimes to think about these people who have stood by my side since the beginning.

Along with those who’ve been around for years, we’ve brought on some new employees that have been such an asset to the farm this year, two Cornell graduates: Kirby, our Greenhouse Manager, and Becky, our Farm Manager. Becky has essentially filled my position… it’s the first time that we have done that! In the past with Mike, Jason, and Charlotte, we hired them as Assistant Farm Managers. Becky has a degree in Agriculture and ten years of farm experience to boot, so we decided to offer her the Farm Manager job. I am really very grateful to have someone dedicated like her to help with the farm.

The farm has never looked better in the fall, and this is also reflected in our sales. In November we’ve already reached record sales in our Wholesale Department. Kudos to Mike and Pete for their hard work! I am also thankful we haven’t had our first freeze yet. The first freeze is usually around the second week in November, and here we are at the end of the month still able to have tomatoes and sweet peppers!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

I want to continue my thank-you's by turning to you, the JBG community. I'm incredibly grateful to have the opportunity to be your farmer. As many of you know, organic farming was a long-time dream of mine, even as I was working as a government engineer for over a decade. JBG could never have gotten to be where we are today without the support of such an incredible community. From my backyard to a thriving farm east of town serving Texas, it's been an incredible journey. Being back in Alabama for the holidays looking for hard-to-find local produce, makes me remember how special our city is. It’s an anomaly to live in a town where local grocers care to stock up their aisles with the freshest produce from local farms. I ventured into Whole Foods last week before I left town to find so much of our produce on the shelves. The most there has ever been! Austin is such a wonderfully supportive enclave for farmers, it's truly something. On top of that, we are blessed with being in the midst of one of the top restaurant scenes in the country. I am so grateful to be backed by so many talented and creative chefs who are excited about whatever we have in season. This is a special place indeed.

Speaking of being in Alabama, I am also thankful to be with my Grandmother, Mama Nell, and my father this weekend. Nothing like soul-satiating time with family. I hope everyone has a love-filled and food-filled holiday. If JBG was a part of your Thanksgiving meal this year - send us some photos of what you made! We'd love to see what you're cooking with the season's bounty! Thanks for your continual support of our farm.

Sincerely, Brenton

Photo by Scott David Gordon.