2012 season signup

One last post here at the blogspot site.

Sign up before April 1st for the summer shares and you'll receive an extra week's share, no charge, at the end of the season.

http://www.zoegarden.com/

From now on, I'll be doing all the post over at the main site.

Summer Shares Available Now!!!

The new website is live.  All farm information, blog updates, and membership registration will now be available from a single spot:

http://www.zoegarden.com/

Head over there and sign up for the new and improved 2012 Spring/Summer season.  Longer at 24 weeks and bigger with a meat option!

Winter - Week 20 (the last)

Big things afoot the last couple weeks.  In addition to new babies and season endings, we've done a website revamp, decided to have a longer season (24 weeks) starting earlier (April 15th), put together the sign up for the summer, and written an article for a magazine.  Not bad for a volunteer staff!  The signups should be available in a day or two at http://www.zoegarden.com/, we're handling them all in-house this season, and I'll let you know as soon as there's more info.

Thank you all so much for being with us through our first winter CSA season.  David learned a lot, especially about getting more variety in the ground in the late summer so that there's a large enough volume of greens to get into the winter.  Each season a little better!  We're looking forward to having you in the summer.

spinach
banana squash
onions
potatoes
turnips
beets
parsnips
shallots
garlic
frozen fruits (either berries or peaches, depending)
microgreens and bean sprouts

MEAT: ground beef, lamb leg or loin


No pictures again this week.  It just doesn't seem so urgent when the vegetable variety is smaller than the summer.  Which is the case historically, too.  The vegetables that are in season through the winter are far fewer in number and variety -- it must have been really boring and bland in the February of 1732!

Winter - Week 19 (Feb 15) - updated

OK, I rescued my box.

potatoes (red and gold)
onions
beets
shallots
garlic
parsnips
banana squash
spinach
microgreens
raspberry syrup

Winter - Week 19 (Feb 15)

Hey all,

I'd love to post the produce list for the week, but Granato's is holding my share hostage.  I got there before closing, but they had closed half an hour early due to a computer problem.  Oh well!  I'll post tomorrow.

Tuesday delivery delayed until Wednesday

David will be unable to make the Tuesday drop this week due to family medical needs.  The Tuesday drops will occur on Wednesday instead.  Let me know if this causes a problem for you, and the volunteers will work something out.

Thanks!  Dusty

Congratulations David and Family!

Zoe's little sister, Hope, was born healthy and happy yesterday at 11:30 a.m.  Congratulations David, Jen, and family!

Winter - Week 18 (Feb 07)

Sorry, I didn't get a chance to post yesterday -- there was a lot of running around to be done.

Spinach
Turnips
Potatoes (red and gold)
Parsnips
Beets
Garlic
Onions
Shallots
Microgreens
Pickles (!!!)

MEAT: ground beef


We hope to have the signups available through our new webpage for the summer season by the end of next week.  Weekly prices aren't increasing, but David is shooting for a longer season this year (25 instead of 20 weeks).

Quick survey

Hey everybody,

Three weeks left on the shares (and we're still adding members as you all talk about your veggies!).  We're looking to make improvements for  next winter and for the coming spring.  Sign ups will be available for the summer shares soon, but for now we just want a little feedback from the members.

Could you email me (produce@zoegarden.com) or leave a comment about the CSA generally, the shares, the variety, the timing, the quality, and especially the meat share?  We're debating over putting meat into the shares for the first 4-5 weeks of the spring, while it is cold enough to leave safely, and we'd like to gauge the enthusiasm.

Thanks,
Dusty and the Zoe's team

Winter - Week 17 (Jan31/Feb1)

Onions
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Beets
Turnips
Parsnip
Shallot
Garlic
Banana Squash
Fresh frozen Fruit (mine was peaches... or apricots - I'll have to taste)
Spinach
Microgreens

MEAT: Leg of lamb, Ground beef, Ground lamb - this should be the last week of replacement extras

Winter - Week 16 (Jan 24/25)

I want to thank everyone for bearing with us in our first winter CSA shares.  On the whole, I think it has been pretty successful so far.  While David has been serving restaurants in the winter for a couple of years, it takes a few seasons to figure out the timing / logistics / varieties that work best for a consumer level of expectations.  Meat, potatoes, spinach, and winter squash seem natural for the colder months, and we all have good supplies of local staples that keeps for a few months and can be supplemented with just a little bit of green stuff from California.

Onions
Garlic
Shallot
Yukon gold potatoes
Pontiac red potatoes
Beets
Parsnip
Spinach
Hubbard squash
Roasted peppers (frozen)
Turnips

MEAT: Ground beef, Lamb shank, and an extra Lamb loin roast

Using up the Winter Squash

I found a copy of the original Moosewood Cookbook in a free pile of books a couple of years ago.  Being one of the original vegetarian cookbooks, they have some fantastic recipes to make use of all of our fresh produce.  Here are two adapted recipes for our current winter boxes.  While it isn't out of copyright yet, I'm going to risk posting them mostly in their original form with a hearty recommendation that books by the author, Mollie Katzen, are well worth purchasing for your shelf.

Arabian Squash-Cheese Casserole

2 hunks of hubbard or banana squash (from the shares)
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 double handful chopped braising greens (kale, chard, spinach, collards)
1 package of roasted peppers (or a chopped bell)
3 T butter or oil
salt, black pepper, and red pepper to taste
2 beaten eggs
1 c buttermilk, yogurt, or soured milk (milk + 1 T lemon juice)
1 c crumbled feta or cotija cheese
1/4 c sunflower seeds or chopped nuts

Seed the squash and roast until tender in the oven @ 375.  Scoop out flesh and mash.  Saute the onion and garlic in the butter (oil) until soft, then add the peppers.  (Already roasted peppers just need to warm up, fresh peppers need to soften a bit.)  Combine eggs, buttermilk, cheese, squash, peppers, and onions, mixing well.  Season to taste, and spread into lightly greased casserole dish.  Top with seeds or nuts and bake at 375, covered for 25 minutes and uncovered for an additional 10.


Gypsy Soup

3-4 T olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups chopped, peeled winter squash
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup (or can) diced tomatoes
1 package roasted peppers (or 1 chopped fresh pepper)
1 can chickpeas, or about a pound of leftover roasted lamb, diced
3 cups stock

paprika, turmeric, basil, salt, cinnamon, cayenne, bay leaf, and soy sauce to taste
   (I don't measure anything, and go entirely by my nose.  Shoot for more paprika and go light on the cinnamon.)

Saute the onions, garlic, celery, and squash in the oil in a dutch oven or soup pot until the onions start to soften.  Season and add stock.  Simmer until the squash starts to soften.  Add the rest of the veg, plus the chickpeas (or lamb).  Simmer until everything else is soft (or as done as you'd like).

Borscht

Dinner tonight.  Hearty, warm, and uses lots of fresh farm ingredients.

Borscht (Russian cabbage and beet soup)

knob of butter, bacon grease, or double glug of olive oil
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
1 large, sliced carrot
1 stalk chopped celery
1 tsp caraway seeds
3 cups chopped cabbage
4 cups of stock
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced potatoes
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced beets (peeled)
1 can (or cup) of diced tomatoes
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbs sour cream per serving
a pinch of dill per serving

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, saute your onions, carrots, and celery until the onions are starting to soften.  Add caraway seeds for a couple of minutes, then the cabbage for a couple of more.  Add stock, potatoes, beets, and tomatoes, and boil for about 30 minutes.  Season to taste, and serve with a dollop of sour cream and a pinch of dill.  Probably best with a heavy rye loaf.

Winter - Week 15 (Jan17/18)

David said time was short, so you'll want to wash things well.  Also, please return your boxes.  This week's share looks like borscht again.  I think I'll try out a recipe tonight and post it for you all -  the weather seems appropriate as well.

Yukon Gold Potatoes
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Turnips
Beets
Parsnips
Onions
Shallots
Garlic
Cabbage
Spinach
Banana squash
Frozen strawberries
Microgreens

MEAT: ground beef, ground lamb, lamb rib, lamb shank

Winter - Week 14 (Jan 10/11)

Keep those potatoes and onions someplace dark and cool-ish.  They should keep until well after the CSA ends in February.  Check periodically and remove any gone squishy, gooey, or off.  The rest will keep better that way.

Spinach
Hubbard Squash
Beets
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yellow Onion
Turnips
Baby Daikon Radish
Garlic
Shallot
Turnips
Parsnip
Roasted peppers *

MEAT: ground beef, lamb rib, ground chuck**, lamb shank**

* The peppers are roasted, frozen versions of the peppers from the summer.  They are an (unfortunately unlabeled) selection of red bell, marisol, poblano, and anaheim.  None of those are terribly hot, but some bags will have a little more heat than others.

** Double meat this week to help pay back the meat shares.  Expect a little more lamb and rib shank in the next couple of weeks, so that larger families can gather up enough to make a full meal.

Spinach, hubbard, roasted peppers, onions, baby daikon
shallot, parsnip, garlic, turnip, beets, red and gold potato

Winter - Week 13 (Jan 3/4)

Welcome back meat!

Spinach
Frozen pears
Apples
Beets
Turnips
Yellow Onion
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Banana Squash
Shallots
Cabbage

MEAT:  beef roast

Top: Red and Gold potatoes, onions, shallots, banana squash
Bot: spinach, beets, turnips, apples, cabbage, [beef roast]

Winter - Week 12 (Dec 27/28)

A couple of days late, and no pics... sorry.  Nothing new anyway, but after getting off the plane, it was all I could do to get the veggies in the fridge.  I know I'm getting a minor backlog of winter squash, and even though it keeps great, we want to use it up.  I will post some tested recipes for winter squash tomorrow.

Beets
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Red Pontiac Potatoes
Yellow Onions
Turnips
Parsnip
Shallots
Garlic
Hubbard Squash
Spinach
Fresh Frozen Peaches
Honey

David says this week was a little light (volume-wise) because of the honey.  It retails for $15 a jar.  He wanted to change it up a little as the waves of greens and salad stuff come and go.  Expect it to increase a little in variety and volume again as the weeks progress.

MEAT UPDATE!  The lamb will be done today, the beef will be done Friday or Monday.  There will be meat in the boxes starting with your next pickup.

no post today

Hey all,

I'm on the road traveling and won't be there to pick up my box.  The share list will go up tomorrow (Wednesday).

Of meat and frozen fruit...

The meat processor is finally accepting the animals today, and they should be traveling on to the butcher's this week.  David is really sorry for the delay, and has been repeatedly frustrated.  The number of small processors and butchers available to local growers has continued to shrink as big-agra has consolidated animal operations.  You'll get your money's worth in the end, but when you're expecting a little meat each week, a long dry spell followed by a huge pile is less than satisfying.  Apologies from the farm.

How are you all enjoying the fresh frozen fruit?  I say fresh because David's wife spent hours in the late summer / early fall blanching, peeling, cutting, and packing the fruits.  They're generally stuff that was picked faster than could sell at the market (usually ahead of storms) or that was picked all at once after the end of market (ahead of the first hard frosts).  I think the taste and texture has been way better than canned, plus it is local.  We've enjoyed them in yogurt, over ice cream, and in cobblers so far.

BOXES!  David isn't getting boxes back from some folks.  Please return the boxes to your pickup sites.  They are expensive, hard to get hold of, and incredibly reuseable.

Winter - Week 11 (Dec 20/21)

Spinach
Yellow onion
Beets
Turnips
Fuji apples
Golden Delicious apples
Gala apples
Macintosh apples
Fresh frozen pears
Banana squash
Collard greens
Mixed greens
Red pontiac potatoes
Yukon gold potatoes