Week 5's basket... and special thanks to Doro!!!

Hey ya'll! Check out this awesome share's contents:

The only 'option' this week is beans or broccoli... either u got one, or you got the other, so decide -- and don't be sad one way or the other! =P RE: Tom's, well everyone got a mix of ripe now, and ripe in a few days... recall the rapid ripening trick, whereby you leave unripened tomatoes in a paper bag with either bananas (best) or old apples (better) for a couple days, to get full color (and flavor) out of a tom!

For people in on the beef share, this week I put T-bone steaks in there, approx. 2 lbs (so no cut for next week)... OMG so gooooood! And, an update on eggs -- our ladies are laying 6-8 per day again now, so... tragedy averted, and we no longer need to source from other ethical, local laying operations. Yaaaay self-sufficiency!!!

Next week we should have staghorn sumac seedheads (for making homemade, native-to-NA lemonade) and also okra. I'll have a recipe to share ;) It's been such a pleasure, bringing you goodness out of our garden, week after week... until next time!

Finally, a special thanks to Doro, who had the optional Dahlia flowers for this share, and was absolutely essential (due to me having a full day of work at the Franklin School today) to the shares being put together. Doro, you are AMAZING, and the best life-partner I could ever hope for!!!!! =)

A video tour of the garden... and, week 4's share/pickup contents!

Hey ya'll!

I'm so proud of our successes at the Coburn Cooperative Homesteading garden, right now. Ordinarily (= last year, and years before) I'd just be taking my time, taking pictures of every 'hippy' thing I'd try to do in the garden... but this year, I haven't had time for all that. I've been TRYING lots of different things (in addition to working more than I usually do at my school, over the summer). And it seems some of them have worked :)

To catch up on lost time, I made a video this morning, after the last of the harvest for the share baskets was done... I figured, if a picture's worth a thousand words, a video-showing-material-success is worth at least... twelve lost opportunities to show 'look at me trying hard at stuff right now' pictures? ;) I hope it looks as much like an amazingly productive garden to you, as it does to us! Anyways, here goes:

VID_20190724_080530936[1] from Mr. Mikulski on Vimeo.

And now, a picture of yesterday's share contents, and any details that might be good to know:

New things:

Peppers -- a couple of bell peppers in each basket, plus a slightly spicier pepper

Bush beans -- super-yummy

Malabar spinach leaves -- an interesting, tasty spinach substitute that thrives in the summertime... eat raw in salads, on sandwiches, etc.

Half-winter squash (my make up name) -- 'UFO squash' (Doro's made up name)... these are great baked, but don't need as much baking time as winter squash typically do.

And finally, a picture of the mushrooms the kids and I were able to find, foraging yesterday (some of you who made it out to share pickup yesterday, went home with some of these):

We found black trumpets, chantrelles, boletes, and saffron milk caps. I hope to prepare most of this today, will try out drying some so I can use in soups later!

If you have any nice recipes that use current or former share ingredients, please reply back and let the rest of us know about it! Until next week... =)

Week 3 --- curcurbits... I mean, bytes :)

This week we had a windfall of GIANT zucchini to share with you, as well as more (pruned) basil... we have found that cooking the squash slices slow in a pan and with butter yields amazing flavor! Here's a pic of what you will get this week:

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Some new things:
Kohlrabi (the Sputnik - looking thing) -- look up recipes, cabbage-like flavor is delish sliced thin and eaten raw, or grated into a slaw!

Zucchini (green and yellow) -- sooooo flavorful, see my tip above!

Crookneck squash -- I also love pan-frying these, with onions... after doing so, they go great on a budget cheese-only pizza from the grocery store (and then baked until corners crisp)

And some unfortunate absences (now and in near-future:

Eggs -- our egg production has (mysteriously) dropped quite dramatically, from a month ago when we were getting 7-9 eggs per day, to now only one or two... My best guess is we have a bunch of ladies who are going into retirement all at the same time, and unfortunately right when summer starts --  which is both unusual and very unfortunate.

Eggs (pt. 2) -- I bought some younger, new-addition layer hens a few days ago, but they are still getting used to our setup and our current boys and girls. So, if you don't get a half dozen eggs this week, I promise you a whole dozen next week. I'm sorry but that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, we are trying hard to fix this issue of shortage -- I promise!

Lettuce -- you may have noticed your head of lettuce is taller than normal... The plants are detecting that it is well into summer, and are trying to grow tall and make seeds and spread their genetic :-) I would avoid eating the stalk at this point and just two leaves, and we probably only have one more week of good lettuce season left.

In closing...

Be sure to reply to me with any good recipes that you come across and test (and confirm are good to know), and I will send out to the others. Enjoy the hand-raised food, and we will see you next week!

Week 2's basket!

Howdy ya'll!

Excited to bring you all another basket of goodness this afternoon... here's a pic, and much of it you're already familiar with (so I'll just add a FEW notes below):

Clockwise from bottom-left: Lettuce, tomatoes, swiss chard, ~2lb of rib steaks (if you did grass-fed beef option), 1/2 dozen eggs, basil, lamb's quarters, and French breakfast radishes

So again, with the lamb's quarters, just pluck the leaves and then either use them raw (sandwiches, salads) OR fry them gently (like spinach).

We are HOPING to add some blackberries to each share today; I'm waiting on my work right now, to tell me that they were able to get the school's internet back up and running with my emailed instructions (or not) -- to see if the kids and I will get to finish our planned mini-hike...

And finally, a tip for the rib steaks: look up any well-reviewed recipe out there, that uses pineapple + a zip-lock bag as a tenderizing agent... this is a great way to soften up these cuts, just keep in mind the meat will then have a bit of residual sweetness (BBQ sauces and roasting in an oven work great as a follow-up =)

See ya'll soon!

Week 1's basket

OK! Well, it took me longer to make this illustrative post, but here it is... This first week of the veggie share will contain (clockwise from 9 o'clock):

Mustard greens -- I had to cut these plants back to chase out a scourge bug that plagues brassicas, that ate their bottoms, and that was threatening to jump to other crops... you can pull off all tender parts (leaves, flowers... leave seed pods) and add to a salad... or, if your taste buds are less adventurous, put in a vase :)

Huckleberries -- foraged in the wild, delicious

Horsetail -- foraged and NOT edible, although VERY useful in the kitchen... the silica in the ribs of the plant allow it to scrub food and other scourings off stainless steel (I call them nature's Brillo pad :)

Tomatoes -- have not been rinsed, your choose if you want to or not (not sprayed with anything)

Eggs -- self-explanatory ;)

Lambs quarters -- foraged from our pasture; remove leaves, use as spinach (my favorite recipe is pan-fry for 3-4 minutes in olive oil and a spridge of garlic)

Basil -- two varieties here; lettuce leaf and Genovese. I will share a pesto recipe next week; keep yours uneaten but fresh this week through next Wed, if you want enough to make a decent serving (dinner+leftovers). If you want to use, just separate out stems

Daylilly flowers -- eat fresh, as a garnish on top of a salad

Cucumber -- please tell me you know what to do with this =P

French breakfast radish -- many dont know, leaves can be eaten too (peppery but fun)

Lettuce -- see cucumber notes =P

PLEASE bring back all packaging, including basket, next Wednesday. Looking forward to hooking y'all up with hand-collected, same-day goodness next week!!! :)