Last share... and, back-to-school / end-of-share potluck this Sunday!

First, an announcement about the planned potluck: based on votes, it looks like we will do the potluck this Sunday, Aug. 13th, starting at 11 AM. I know that a couple of you have already told me you will be out of town... its all good, we'll take whomever we can pull together, and will keep trying to connect with the rest of you as the school year starts! I will send out an e-Vite shortly. Basically bring your kids, bring a dish, bring swimming clothes, and be prepared to have fun at the 'farm' at 20 OMalley Dr.!!! =)

Now, a picture of yesterday's share contents (beautiful shade from the trees outside the Wedge, btw):

...and some comments / tips:

1. Some people got squash/eggplant, and some got mini-cabbages. I wish the cabbages were bigger right now, but they are what they are... these are our biggest ones right now :) Make a slaw... or put some on a sandwich!

2. Tomatoes are from First Step Farm right down the road from us in Candler. But, they are delicious and socially awesome!

3. Sunflower sprouts need to get eaten ASAP, unfortunately I tried rinsing them and was apparently rough with them, so... they might have looked wilted, but I promise I had only harvested them hours ago

4. Jam is from the excess of strawberries we had in June... Dorothea made it, and her jams are a hit here at our house... we both sincerely hope you enjoy it.

5. Basil was looking rough but I got what I could from the plants, please leave stems out of cooking (they were almost uniformly woody) and tear off any brown corners... otherwise its still pretty useful stuff!!!

Share #7 -- including a special tea!

Well shucks, I spread out a share's contents and thought I had taken a photo (to annotate) -- but right now I can't find such a photo on my phone at all. Anyhow, I do have a few fun photos from our day today -- the roughly four hours that lead up to us driving off to the Wedge and looking for your lovely faces =)

Josie, after these two super-helpful kids dutifully spent two hours down at the garden with me!

Josie's main job is to keep all of our chickens used to being handled by people :) Here's Blacky and Baseball, who aren't laying yet (but damn well better be in the next month or so!!!)

Here's a funny outdoor, 'alternate' coop I made for the birds, for if/when they are feeling that their hen-house is a bit too stuffy. I first thought the ducks actually climbed in those boxes -- until Josie admitted this evening that she placed them in there :(

Everybody's share, and some optional bread, all packed up and ready to go!

Also, here are a few things worth noting about Week #7's box:

OKRA -- Gosh darn it, I thought I gave all the ones Josie picked a good 'wiggle' test, and ended up keeping out eight otherwise gorgeous pieces total for being too stiff... however, I found one in the surplus box (that we did not re-home today) to be too tough. Please be wary!

SLICING TOMATOES -- I tried to give everyone a mix of ready-to-slice and needs-to-sit-on-the-counter, smalls and larges. It did seem to be heavier on the side of unripe ones, unfortunately; that is just me trying to save them from the sunburning, slugs, cracking (due to heavy rains) and ultimately spot-rotting that has been claiming a lot of the fruit. SPECIAL TRICK: Put unripes in a brown paper bag with some overripe bananas or apples for a couple of days, and the naturally occurring ethylene gas that you are intentionally concentrating will quickly ripen the tomatoes

'GREENS BAG" -- There were three things in here: 1) lots lettuce-leaf basil (at the bottom); 2) some lettuce greens, many of which had started to bolt (=an extra bitterness that some find offensive; feel free to toss if no bueno for you); and 3) some tender lamb's quarters tops

SUMAC TEA -- A refreshing beverage that many Native American tribes traditionally made, from the sour 'berries' of the staghorn sumac bush. While the beverage can be made VERY sour, I aimed only to make a subtle version here... kind of like a half-sweetened tea, it comes out. Nice over some ice, or in the morning warmed up in the microwave / on the stove to a near-boil (ie, as a hot tea)

Share #6... sorry no picture of the contents this time!

Howdy,

Well I didn't get a picture before the shares were brought to distro, and this week everyone picked up their share. SO... I don't have a pretty picture to annotate for you al! Luckily, there were mostly things you should recognize; for example, everyone got at least two (depending on size) heirloom pinks and two heirloom red slicing tomatoes -- one ripe now, the other needing a couple of days. One or two of you got some fun yellow slicing tomatoes (the 'Kellog's Breakfast' variety). There also was a return of the lamb's quarters fresh greens (recall that the leaves are a perfect spinach substitute... we tried it on two pizzas one evening, and roasted it was FABULOUS).

Also, there was a mixture of white 'Kennebec' potatoes and red 'Pontiac' potatoes bagged up.

The only think unusual was the zip-lock with dried nettle leaves/stems; this is a HIGHLY nutritious plant that we foraged in the spring, that can substitute for spinach in many recipes. I dried it in a hotbox vs. directly exposed to the sun, so it should have retained most of its nutritious vitamins and minerals. My wife makes a special soup from it, and also a quiche. The only tip you need to know is to reconstitute the leaves in hot (ie, just boiled) water for at least two minutes, prior to incorporating. This ensures that the tiny spines that give 'stinging' nettle its name are totally inactivated. You can also make a pretty damn tasty tea from it!

Here are a couple of pictures from harvest today, as always, email me if any questions come up.

best,
Matt

Didn't have to leave out of the share as many tomatoes this time! (only about half, left in the blue bins, had bad spots in them)

About a 20-ft stretch of potatoes (white), plus what I dug up in reds the other day, for our potatoes!

PS -- Special thanks again to Golden Acres Farms, for helping us out with the cucumber count this week :) Sad about the vegetables that didn't do well, but glad that we've found you (and a couple other farms) to help out with maintaining some variety!

Box #5 + greens cooking tips (if helpful!) + latest pics

Your box #5, unveiled!

1) Howdy! So, in your 1/2 share basket (which was kinda plump this week, I'm pleased to say) you should have:

Eggs
Heirloom tomatoes (one person got a yellow-ripening one, some got one just-barely-unripe that need to table-ripen)
Potatoes (I think the variety is Pontiac; tried to be generous here, while also leaving some in the ground for later in the season)
Cucumbers
Carrots (unbelievably sweet, IMO)
Breakfast radishes (are these guys officially the 'usual suspects' yet?)
One random root veggie (one person got a salsify; others got turnips)
Japanese eggplant... the one pictured here is fat (Eurpoean) instead of skinny (Japanese) lol
Banana peppers
Matt-pickles (cucumbers courtesy of -- as is the aforementioned eggplant -- our partner Golden Acres Farm... if you don't end up liking them, please bring them back to me, as these are a family favorite!)

2) Here is my personal, generic-but-golden 'greens' recipe that you might use, if you haven't already, to start making something of those turnip, radish, and other root greens (instead of throwing them away):
http://veggies37g.wikispaces.com/Matt%27s+world-famous+greens+recipe

3) Here are some pictures from harvest today / yesterday, in case you are curious:

Monarchs on our milkweeds!

Josie helping me harvest a section of our potato plot

Cleaning up the turnips

Situating the few heirloom tomatoes we have that didn't have any soft spots (damn it, where do they come from?)

Same-day-harvested potatoes

Radishes, needing a light cleaning and partitioning

All of the lovely tomatoes that we COULDN'T given, due to having spots. WTF

Dividing up the carrots that Josie so dutifully separated from the ground yesterday evening

All eight shares, raring to go on our dinner table! :)

Special Delivery today -- share #4

Hey there! Just a special note that today your shares will be delivered by two of our really good friends, Laura and Danny! So don't be surprised if you see two not-yet-familiar faces sitting in my usual 'spot' at the Wedge today... they'll be there from 2 to 4, as usual. I have a tentative list of what should end up in the basket, but these two lovely people should be able to tell you if any last-minute changes were necessary:

sunflower sprouts
arugula flowers?
manila lettuce
mountain mint
cucumbers
tomatoes
radishes
spring onion
dried porcini mushrooms (locally harvested and prepared last fall)
eggs

Don't forget to bring baskets, plastic bags, jars, and egg cartons from previous shares (as they become available) by today, I'll be picking it all up from Danny and Laura later today or tomorrow. And, here are some fun pictures from the past few days:

Peppers looking good, should be reliably in the share in a few weeks' time

Cucumber plants about to break through, too!

Grrr... even after hand-removing probably close to three thousand of these 'fleures des heures,' I found a few gone to seed already late last week =(

Okra will also be on the menu, probably in early August =) One of my favorites

Success with foraging down by new my folks place in northern Georgia, on the fourth of July. I'm hopeful we'll find several staple delicacies near Asheville soon, too... the repeated rain is a very key ingredient!

I wish I had photos of the harmful critters we've caught in the past week, too: there was another woodchuck (which hopefully means we saved some of our fall squash plants, as well as some of our fall cabbages) and also there was a raccoon (not good for chickens). Both got exported down the road a good bit, and hopefully won't be back anytime soon!

Will be great to see you all again next week...

Your latest share contents!

Matt's handy-dandy Notes:
1) Special thanks to Golden Acres Farm for sharing some of their lovely beans and peppers!
2) Special thanks to Doro, for helping pick, clean and pack most of the baskets this morning!!
3) Special thanks to you all, for sharing in the produce we manage to coax out of these plants this year!!!
4) Radish greens can be diced and added to dishes with other greens (healthy, but bitter -- can often manage if you are not a 'greens' person with vinegar or sugar)
5) Don't forget to pull away any lingering shells in sunflower sprouts
6) Sprouts and arugula flowers go together NICELY in a sandwich (at least, in my personal experience)... one contributes nuttiness, while the other sharpness, and both have that 'salady' crisp
7) Applesauce has no added sugar and was made with some peel intact-- our kids love it but you may prefer to spice / sweeten it up -- or perhaps you can find a use instead as an ingredient (ex -- a fun, different pizza sauce)

Hope you all enjoy, and as usual... please bring your empty baskets, ziplocks, jars (both from the share and from your other consumptives), and egg cartons back next week. We are doing a great job so far, having a low footprint (and a high re-use rate)

=)

Thanks y'all!

Box #2 contents!

I still can't believe Doro is finding enough strawberries out there for everyone to at least have a MUNCH... I only see a few red ones every time I am down there transplanting, weeding, watering, or applying compost! I'd thought our last berries were on the plants several weeks ago... but its nice that she stuck with digging around there on Wednesday mornings! She must have the magic eye...

Also, don't forget to keep your baskets, and the plastic and egg cartons within. I only have enough to spot everyone for about four weeks tops; ideally, we'd get the same ones back over and over again, to clean and keep re-circulating!

Email me if you have any questions or usage tips! BTW, the bagged greens are fully rinsed, while everything else is superficially rinsed... just be aware. This will be the case for every share until the end -- if its not in a zip lock bag, go ahead and assume its not been fully rinsed. Some things deteriorate more quickly after am overly thorough rinsing -- for example, the radishes. Many know if they've not been treated with pesticides, the leaves can be diced and used in a salad (for peppery effect).

BTW, if you ever get a conserve from me that ends up being totally NOT up you and your family's alley -- would you please, without regret or remorse, bring it back to me in the next week or so? Every conserve that I include in the share is something I (and many times also, my wife and kids) busted our butts to put up in the basement pantry last fall and winter. Its usually also stuff that we really enjoy eating =) So, if this applies to you, kindly bring the prepared stuff back to us, rather than it go to waste!

Finally, good job bringing in the old baskets/etc. today!!! We had about an 80% success rate with that, and it will allow us to consistently be sustainable = reusing as much as possible). Don't forget to comment here, if you have a recipe or just some simple preparation advice around any of this week's deliciousness!

Test Post #2 -- PLZ REPLY IF YOU GET THIS!

Share members, I'm hoping I fixed this, and that this note makes it directly into your inbox. I am testing again because it seems that as soon as I started using the Google Group email for us, the posts stopped making it to one or more of you. That means, some of you might have missed the last two posts (SORRY IF THAT IS THE CASE).

Please reply with 'got it' if you GOT THIS POST DIRECT TO YOUR INBOX. Then, go to coburncove.blogspot.com when you've got a free couple of minutes, and check out any recent post(s) that you missed!!!

Looking forward to seeing all of you at the Wedge tomorrow. Also, I'll have a little of my homemade apple cider for you to taste. Totally optional. And ONLY a very short pour, as I don't want staff at the Wedge to think I'm competing with their offerings... a sip may be best anyways -- as last Wednesday I was stuck with a pitcher of porter that no sharemember had the time to help me drink! =)

Recent happenings! And, sorry for the lack of more traditional greens...

I should have told you all, sooner than now, that a little over a month ago, practically all of the kale and cabbage starts that we put in the ground were eaten down to the bone by some unwelcome, previously unseen critter(s) down at the food plot we are managing. My first suspect was rabbits, but I could not find or catch any down at the plot (nor have I ever found any rabbit poop about). Shortly after that, when we put some beautiful new squash plants in the ground, we soon found several of the best plants with almost all of their foliage eaten. WTF?!?!

What in the world eats squash plant leaves? I'd never seen this before... researching, I found some people claiming that woodchucks might like them from time to time. Well, I eventually caught the culprit -- sure enough, a woodchuck -- and relocated him. Dried apple slices did the trick.

However the damage was still done/ =( I had hoped to have kale in everyone's share for week one... alas, we are left to focus on other gambles. Tomatoes are looking great, but their payout is some time down the road. Same for cucumbers and peppers! I have some of this conserved from last summer that I will share with you all soon. Other berries (black, wine) are soon to be in boxes, and I think the strawberry patch has more to give, too. We'll make it interesting whatever the setback! =)

Before I go, here are some pics from things that have happened in the last week or so: (hope you appreciate these little windows into the nuts and bolts of our attempt at multi-family homesteading)

Anyone want a rooster? We've got four, but wanted zero. They are cute and have personality, but... don't lay eggs!

Mr. Jerkface in the flesh, who single-handedly undid four hours of careful transplanting and watering, plus laid waste to half of our expensive (ie, not started in-house) squash seedlings

A chicken masqueraded as a duck, and laid on the ground (vs. in the more typical raised nesting boxes)

One of our few remaining leghorns died from a rapidly progressing internal condition. Egg bound or internal infection due to broken egg? She always laid these strangely thin-shelled eggs with dimples -- despite getting plenty of calcium. RIP dear 'Turkeyfeather'!

Damn potato beetle larvae, trying to eat our tomato plants (they are related, and I'm sure leaves taste similar to them)... Josie and Yanusz and I must've removed about three hundred of these, until we couldn't find any more!

Relaxing with my family on a blanket in the grass for daddy day... and enjoying some belly time with our most friendly chicken (who I am convinced thinks she's a person) -- Lazy Eye aka 'Knucklebird'!

Doro and Josie, helping me start one of the four new ~30 ft seed beds we made this past weekend. Sooner-to-mature stuff like certain herbs, greens, and small rooties (radish, etc.) should make it into your later-in-the-season boxes thanks to these!

Contents of first share!

Hey there, let's try and eliminate some of the mystique around this stuff (sorry that the picture here is from the one share that didn't get picked up today -- and so the contents don't appear as fresh as they could be):

NB: Everything here was grown without pesticides, and without artificial fertilizers. The lamb's quarters were gorgeous, perfect-for-eating, pre-flowering volunteers in the potato patch, and I just couldn't resist (they taste like spinach, are a relative of quinoa, and are just as healthy). Here are some preparation tips:

STRAWBERRIES: Eat or prepare ASAP -- they've got no preservatives and were picked uber-ripe (as opposed to white, as most commercial ones are)

LILIES: Dice up the pods and flowers and enjoy them fresh in a salad, or use the flower as a garnish, or you can also either stir fry or deep-fry them

LAMB'S QUARTERS: Tear leaves off stems (sorry, I would have done this for ya'll but ran out of time today), simmer in pan with olive oil and a tad garlic briefly (as you would spinach) -- or, put fresh on a sandwich!

KALE-CHI: For those who do not like the fermented / briney taste of a lacto-fermented super-food, here's a cool workaround to get it back to simply kale: fill jar with water, let stand for 5 minutes or so. Empty water. Then, put 'rinsed' kale-chi in frying pan with olive oil and a splash maple syrup (or other sweetener) and simmer for a few minutes. My kids finally liked it when I did it this way!

Please respond to this post with any recipe tips, or simple stories of how you ended up using things! And remember to bring back baskets, plastic, and egg cartons (if you can) next week... I'm very grateful to be growing food for you all!

What we're working on right now...

Just wanted to let you all know... all this rain, while a pain in the but for certain things we people like to enjoy doing while dry (hmmm.... basically everything? =) has been great for the thirsty clay soil over here at Coburn Cove Cooperative farmstead! This is good news for what is planted in the ground intentionally by us, but also good news for weed seeds... for example, today I saw a that a patch of the at first very innocent-looking weeds -- Hibiscus trionum aka 'fleur-des-heure' (named 'Flower of an Hour' based on the fact that it only opens its flower for a short period of time in the sunlit morning) -- had grown to nearly full size:

These guys can spread their seed quickly, and will make this (and every subsequent) year that we do the CSA here a nightmare... if we don't try and hack them down the next time the sun is out, and before they go to seed! They are literally the biggest problem weed in our plot... last year they literally ruined at least half, if not more, of our tomato crop (by preventing air circulation and encouraging mold growth). Friday, a day the weather service believes Candler (and neighboring Asheville) will have sunny skies, looks to be the day I will dedicate myself to hoeing thousands of these pretty little devils into oblivion (Project #1)

Look at the milkweed I brought from Chicago, and planted last year -- coming back, despite me tilling that entire row in with the tractor:

If its spread out FROM the clump where it exists now TO dotting throughout the plot, it will best attract pollinators (to increase fruit yields). Eventually, we'll have a perennial bed of them here, and I'll then help you learn how to enjoy the tasty 'wild' vegetable that is milkweed florets! Now, look at the corn, that my kids seeded way too close together about a month ago:

You know how kid help can be (ahem, usually is) not so much actual help, but rather, 'help.' =) These seedlings will now need to get moved to an area where they are at least two rows wide (helps cross-pollination), and spaced out to where they don't have to compete with each other. This way we'll have corn to eat towards the end of the season. Moving these two patches will be Project #2.

Finally, as soon as its thoroughly dry (and promises to be, the following day) I'll mow the grass in the small 'pastures' that we have, and use the clippings to mulch the tops of the row crops. I'd gotten used to Illinois' unbelievably easy-to-use sandy loam when I started gardening for multiple families back in Chicago, but fortunately have learned a lot about Western NC clay of late! When the soil surface here is directly exposed to sun and wind, it can dry into a painfully impermeable surface... so I need to protect it from that! This task, Project #3, will definitely have to wait until we have a longer period of sunshine.

Well, that's the news for this week at CCC. Pay attention (CSA members) to your email inboxes, as I'll be emailing out a survey asking you about BOTH an optimal date for our beginning-of-season party here at the homestead, AS WELL AS which of the downtown farmer's markets you'd prefer our distro be nearby to...

TEST POST

If you're reading this, then you probably already know what its for. Here's a few pics I snapped lately, of Doro and I (and some surroundings -- including some WILDLIFE I spotted):

Did the message (and pictures) of this blog post make it direct to your email inbox? If so, kindly let me know with a reply. Looking forward to our growing season together, y'all! =)

We're offering a (mini)CSA this year

Let me tell you a story that is becoming too familiar, around getting food-growing happening in and around city schools...

Late this past winter, some friends of ours helped us start several hundred vegetable seedlings, my parents down in Georgia started hundreds of heirloom tomato plants, and I prepared to say goodbye to just as many 'runner' strawberry plants in our patch here at the homestead. All of these things were being committed to a 'demonstration food plot' that Joan Pinegar and I were going to put on at Isaac Dickson Elementary School (IDES). We were going to 1) grow seasonal produce, row-crop (aka 'farm') style, for using fresh, cooking, and preserving; 2) do cooking demonstrations for the local community and basically give away much of the produce in the summer; and 3) let the school utilize as much of what we had growing in the spring and fall as possible.

However, (cue scary music, stormy sounds) the powers-that be in the downtown offices of ACS very recently informed us, in a sudden change of stance, that we are not to disturb any sod laid down at IDES this year... stopping our plans dead in its tracks. Geez, this is like what happened at Asheville Middle, all over again (at least this time, a generous ACSF grant was not basically squandered in the process). I am beginning to honestly think there are just one or two sour people at 85 Mountain St that, every year, say "You want to start a huge vegetable plot at a school? And let kids, teachers and parents taste it, learn about it, help with it? And let whole families in the nearby community reconnect with the empowerment that comes with growing, preparing and preserving food? Not while I'm around!"

I do not want to let these seedlings go to waste. And I really don't want to feel ENTIRELY defeated in this second attempt at starting up a community-oriented, food-growing enterprise.

Here's what I'm going to do: I have been mulling around the idea of starting up a micro-CSA out of our homestead in Candler ever since we moved here from Chicago (where I have some experience doing an urban version of the same; if you're the curious sort, I believe our old blog is still accessible here: 37gyouthveggies.blogspot.com). I've resolved to, this 2017 growing season, try my hand at growing food for 7-8 other families -- and to hopefully make some deeper and long-lasting connections with folks in the process. By word-of-mouth with friends and colleagues, we've got five share members already... now we're looking for just a couple more!

Our shares will likely be more akin to a traditional 'half-share' -- meaning, a young (ie, small) family of four will have enough produce to prominently feature in 5-8 meals out of the week. We will grow and harvest for you for 15 weeks, beginning the first week after school lets out (mid-June). We will include a half-dozen of our free-ranging chicken eggs in each share, plus I will strive to offer (as optional) as often as possible some other fun things that I enjoy doing: seasonal foraged foods that are of notable taste and nutriment, carefully gleaned produce from other nearby farms, and the occasional value-added product (like homemade jam, lactic acid ferments, etc.). If I feel that any given week was 'leaner' that I would have liked, we'll extend the growing season an extra week or two (or three) to make up for it.

The distribution site will most likely be coordinated nearby (in time and place) to either the River Arts District or French Broad Food Coop farmers markets (weekday markets). The idea is to be both convenient for people who work or live in the city, while giving you the option to stroll down the street and pick up a few more things (if you are for example trying to eat 100% of your food fresh and local this growing season). The cost would be $250, paid upfront as CSA shares usually are... I struggled for the last week or so with deciding on a price, because I really just want to make up for MOST of the material costs and a fraction (half? hah... if I'm lucky!) of the labor involved -- given that this will be a sort of 'practice' season for me. Methods will not involve synthetic fertilizers or pesticides, though I may move to use organic-approved treatments if I ever need to to save a crop! 

If you are familiar with CSAs, I think you will see that this is an exceptional deal. If you are not familiar with CSAs, you're welcome to comparison shop (https://mountainx.com/food/food-news/021710let_the_csas_begin/... info a little outdated but prices still very realistic) -- OR, you can take my word that this is a unique opportunity to get a 'taste' of one, without a super-long commitment or the fear of too much stuff going to waste! =) In any case, thank you for hearing me out... no matter if this fits with your plans, personal beliefs, wallet, etc. or not, I really look forward to continuing to know you all more and more, as summer emerges in this wonderful little city and at our homestead nearby in Candler!