Share #10... hope you enjoy it!

Well, what a strange share delivery, devoid of the usual fun due to not just rain but more importantly the Wedge being temporarily closed. If I could have made it out for delivery, I would have brought cold cider for all, and we could've still had a brew (and the parking lot and tables 100% to ourselves for a change!)

Sorry it took me an extra day to get this informative blog post out... here is what we put in the share:

- Potatoes (mostly kennebec but you may have gotten a red-skinned pontiac or two)
- Slicing tomatoes (main varieties are green zebra, better boy and red zebra)
- A mix of salad/cherry tomatoes as well as Mexican sour gerkins (basically, pop-a-cukes)
- Cabbage (I think its early jersey wakefield variety, but don't quote me on that)
- Pepper mix
- New Zealand spinach (really good pan-fried, btw... not sure if you've tried it yet, but its 100% sub for spinach this way)
- Kale (plants are on their way out, I'm not sure what's doing it... maybe the rain? I also know they technically don't last forever, but they sure seemed like they would, up until two weeks ago!)
- Carrot mix
- Rosemary sprig (try crushing some leaves and adding to a gin tonic w/gentle lime splash... pretty yum!)
- Rando-fun = butternut squash, eggplant or baby canteloupe

Twas kinda sad that our last share pickup had about the least hangout-y vibe of them all... and that the eggs didn't get brought (nor the local bags of dried porcini-and-friends). You can still get your eggs that you missed, and some dried porcini if you'd like, if you come to... (read below)

I will be sending out a form in the next day or so that will ask you to list some of your favorites, some things you'd have loved for us to have worked into the share (we tried a lot of things but the slowness and failure to sprout of some crops, like eggplant and corn for example, dumbfounded us)... and also any kudos or suggestions for improvement. The form will also ask you to check any days you would be willing to come out for our end-of-share, socially distanced, outdoor pizza-making celebration with (I have to brag) practically zero-food-mile toppings =P. We're hoping to get one last, quality gathering in around the food we've grown here for our friends and family, sometime either the weekend of the 22nd or the 29th =)

I'm pretty sure that we'll go up in price a little for next summer/year (as we barely even pay for supply costs, much less our time, with the current rates)... but we'll still be less than half of the typical local CSA cost. But we're also not doing this to pad our income -- more to bond with you all better, and to live more in tune with the natural world! We'd love to either have you back next year, or if you really liked this experience and want even more food to work with, we'd also love it if you graduated on to a real farm share (and kept in touch with us, about the yummy experiences you get from that)

You all are the best; look for that Google Form invite, and I'll hope to see most if not all of you in a week or two.

Your mini-farmers and friends,
Matt, Doro, Josie and Yanusz

Share #9... second-to-last, second-to-none...

...for the price and the love that goes into it, at least! =)

Mixed peppers, basil, salad and slicing tomatoes, he gets, chard, carrots, a spilt of 'moon and star's watermelon (and, a baby canteloupe if your slice was significantly smaller than the others), and... our own potatoes. You'll think I'm BSing, but these potatoes will be soooo yummy! Reminder: don't toss your best greens if they look good. instead, slice them finely (slaw or addition to salad), OR a little less finely and fry up (perhaps with your chard?).

Also, an idea for using the flower heads on your basil stalks, that works well for us: steep them in a nice olive oil for anywhere from a couple days to up to a week (ideally, in a sealed container, out of the sun), and then pour the resulting, herbed oil into ice cube trays, make frozen cubes, and throw into any batch of noodles (first-pass or refried) for a burst of great basil flavor!

Finally, today beef share ppl got the VERY LAST of my grillable cuts, from our two steer. Sob, sob, sniffle, sniffle... please do me a favor, and send me a picture of you enyoying your first bites of these flavor-monsters... so I can at least live vicariously through you! =)

Looking forward to the last share, and to the socially-distanced pizza-making 'picnic-on-the-farm that we will announce (and then do) some weekend soon thereafter.

Y'all are the best!

- M

Basket #8 -- fun and abundance!

Sorry, I thought this posted earlier, but I just saw that it did not. Tomatoes, and lots of them. Make sure you rinse the tomato leaf dust off the little ones! Also, a few fun new things:

Cabbage -- this is our first year doing these well; please let me know what you end up making out of it, be it slaw, goulash, gowumpki, whatever... it should be sweet

Teenage (as opposed to baby, or full-grown) carrots -- a colorful mixture of three different varieties, colored white, yellow and orange

Staghorn sumac seed sprigs -- soak in 16-32 oz of water for two days, then strain off the resulting yellowish-orange liquid, add sugar to taste and enjoy over ice on a hot day -- it's an old native American recipe for lemonade!

Variety bonus -- we didn't have enough of each, so you got a random one of the following ootions: cucumber, eggplant, pattipan squash, or baby cantaloupe

Hope you're enjoying the bounty, let us know of you have any questions, or if you arrive at any particularly lovely creations with this fresh and local food pallette!

Share #7... missed ya'll !

Tomatoes galore, everyone.

We have a couple of exceptional-type things to mention: 1) basil somehow suffered from being kept partially in water prior to sharebasket-building... this was an experiment that I thought would give crisper  leaves for leaf-based nom-noms, and which has helped some (kale and chard) but seems to have offended others (basil)... so I tried to give anyone with the strange, wilted-black (usually happens if you store too cold) basil leaves a few extra snippings. 2) We didn't have enough huge zucchini for everyone to get a whole one, so we sliced them in half.

Outside of that, we've got: cherry and slicing tomatoes, Mexican guerkens (like tiny, slightly sour cucumbers), bell as well as serrano/Belgian peppers (sweet to mildly spicy), cucumber, zucchini, New Zealand spinach, kale, beets, and chard. Plenty to get yourself in trouble with!

For byperlocal beef add-on peeps, there was an option of top round or shoulder roast cuts, all weighing in over 3lbs (2lbs min. every two weeks is what we promised)... I think basket #9 will have about 1lb of sirloin steaks, for all members, as a great way to end the celebration of our two veal rescue boys on a high note!

Please send me any fun recipes you discover, along the way to getting the very most out of your basket this week :)

best,
Matt

Share #6 -- fruits starting to come ;)

Nothing new in this week's share that you wouldn't recognize -- although we did grow what are probably the nicest broccoli heads ever. At least, for us... growing good broccoli has been a long time coming!

Peaches are from our trees, no pesticides... so just slice it up before serving, in case there are any spots to cut out. :)

Tomatoes are just starting to come in, and one of your specimens might need further ripening. No worry, they already have more sugar than most picked-when-green store bought tomatoes, they just need to soften. Just place in a paper bag with bananas (best) or old apples (better) to accelerate their coloration and softening!

Mexican sour gehrkins (tiny cucumbers that Doro thinks are cute, but I kinda do not) are also in the tomato containers in each basket. Just eat like little cucumber bites.

Lots of kale right now, extra-curly... I dare you to dip in batter, and deep fry ;)

See you in two Saturdays (on the 25th)
farmer Matt

Basket #5, you lovelies!

Hey ya'll,

Good stuff in the basket these days, here ya go:

Mountain mint -- Very menthol-y, with a hint of the oregano oils... find a way to yum it. Mixed drink? Mediterranean lentils with yogurt and crisped onions?

Swiss chard -- all kinds of uses... you don't know you betta ask somebody!

Mixed salad greens -- exactly as stated

Zucchini and pickling cucumbers -- If you got a huge zuke, only one or two pickles for you... otherwise, a handful of pickles and a medium-sized zuke

Red Russian kale --  share your recipes with this good stuff, if you find surprising ones... we tend to just roast it with oil and salt :)

Green beans -- Self-explanatory

'UFO' aka Pattypan squash -- these roast amazingly, building some umami almost comparable to mushroom (soup, etc.)

New Zealand spinach -- experiment... not a true spinach, more of an edible succulent... a slightly tang flavor. Let me know if you find a special recipe for it

Genovese basil -- we prayed and prayed we'd be able to get this out with red tomatoes, but they just started flowering and we can't wait any longer! If the flavor on the flowers is too strong, let them steep in a ramekin of olive oil, and just have flavored olive oil to use later (sandwiches, etc.)

Beef share people are getting either stew meat cubes, or cubed steak this week.

As always, it is an extreme pleasure to grow food for your family!

Matt

Basket #4

Sorry that the first posts were not being automatically delivered to y'all's emails, as it was supposed to be... I will send you a link to post from now on, until Google fixes email notification system with blogger.

What you will find in your basket today is sprigs of lemon balm, oregano, Rosemary; kale, beet with beet greens, either beans or broccoli, the last spell of radishes w/radish greens, cucumber, and a giant zucchini. Special treats are grab-a-bundle of turnip greens, and a jar of my homemade kimchi (made from Tatsoi greens that came in uber-early for us this year).

Special tip about storing the kimchi -- once you open the jar, you should keep it in the fridge, and even then if left a little too long it will start to continue its lactic fermentation, the main product being slightly white appearance on top (from the lactate, the solid salt of lactic acid) as well as an improved sour flavor. If you are not interested in it getting a little bit more sour but still perfectly edible, a tip is to pour a little bit of olive oil on the top to make sure everything stays submerged :)

No meat this week, as it's an even one -- but Christine, I won't forget the ground I owe you, plus the new cut, next week ;)

Remember to at least TRY out frying your beet (yes!) and radish (maybe) greens, and of course your turnip greens (maybe+), as many cultures have dishes that use them, and they are good for you (if you can figure out how to like them ;).

And finally, if you taste the kimchi and don't like it for any reason whatsoever, put the lid back on and bring it to next week's share pickup... I really love the stuff, and we'll make sure it doesn't go to waste!

Hope u enjoy, as always send a good recipe if you find one, and... eat up!

Test post... did this go straight to your inboxes (FINALLY)?

Including a cutie photo of my son, migrating his late-morning sleeping into the floor...

Please reply, to let me know you got this! And then, I'll know automated delivery of new blog posts is working again :)

I give you... your third share!

Here's your yum for the week!

So, let me tell you who you've got aching to be on your plate this week:

French breakfast radish -- again, use the leaves if you are adventurous... I've heard of an epic pesto recipe, out there ;)

Curly Kale -- do the Kale chips... do it, do it!!!

Day Lilly -- you can dice this up and add it to a salad, its colorful and sweeter than lettuce

Lettuce -- ...ya know

Beet -- OMG pan-fry the greens with olive oil and a splash of honey... or, chop it up and mix it in with...

Rainbow (Swiss) Chard -- You can eat the stems, just need to cook them longer. One trick is to simmer them in the pan first, for 10-15 minutes

Egyptian walking onion -- This perennial (hopefully) bed of ours is only in its first year, so you get the flower stem and 2nd-year bulbils. All are edible... I'd say slice the stem thin and eat raw, and crush the bulbils to add a bolus of onion flavor to anything, really (potatoes?)

Homemade Carolina peach jam -- Forothra's special German recipe, to your buttered toast (or pancakes) ;)

Send me recipes as you find and love them!

Matt

Basket #2... full of fun!

Full of food, for you :)

So here's what we got for you all this week:

NEW FRIENDS

French breakfast radishes -- such a nice, mildly peppery flavor, and the texture right now is amazing... just the right amount of crispy and juicy! FUN FACT: you can actually stir-fry the leaves... mince 'em up first!

New Zealand spinach -- not a true spinach, more like a variety like Malabar. good fresh but I'm always finding I have to salt em a bit, to make em really tasty

Blue kale -- just... yum. Slice up into bite-sized pieces, massage salt, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon in, let it sit and tenderize for 10 minutes, and enjoy!

Lambs Quarters -- can treat like spinach, eat fresh on a sandwich, bake on top of a pizza, or pan-fry for a few minutes in olive oil and garlic. Avoid the stem!

Dandelion greens -- definitely need to find a cooked greens recipe for these, to take the bit of sharpness out. Very great specimens, harvested before the rosettes have bolted!

OLD FRIENDS

Head lettuce -- Arugula -- Kohlrabi

Please send me great recipes, as you discover them in your experimenting and cooking! I'd like to start sending out a mid-share-week blog, with a couple of good recipes from ya'll :)

Until next Thursday, friends!

Share basket numero uno... details!

(Remember that if you click on the link at the bottom of this email, you can view this actual blog post -- and leave a comment if you wish!)

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Folks,

First off sorry I didn't get radishes into this basket... I was really waffling about it, and in the end wished I had. You will get a better bundle next week! Here's what we had this week:

Curled kale -- Mmmm love these, only the bold eat the midribs raw, tho... try chopping into fork-sized bits, and massaging some salt or sugar into them (to get them soft and oozing their natural flavor, for a salad). You can rinse the sugar or salt grains off in the end!

Kohlrabi -- love these things, and despite their leaves being plagued by little slugs, they filled out nicely. Slice and eat fresh like a daikon, or grate and season like a slaw.

Lettuce -- three different types were up for grabs, but they are all buttery and oh-so-fresh (having been cut from the plant this very morning, before the sun hit them -- and misted and kept in a cooler

Arugula -- nice and with spice; if you don't like the spice as much, one trick is to roast / wilt it a bit (good example = put it on an all-cheese, cheap frozen pizza, and see how it mellows!)

Broccoli florets -- some ALMOST turning into flowers... a form which is still quite edible (still tastes like broccoli, with maybe a faint hint of mustard). But flowered broccoli are just delicate / harder to transport globally and still be able to present at an Ingles, etc... which is why you never see it like this at the store :)

South Carolina peaches (2) -- OK so these are NOT from our garden; I just felt bad because I botched the plucking of radishes for ya'll, and wanted to put something non-greens in your first basket. These are nice and tart first, sweet second -- while being perfectly ripe right now!

For the beef add-on everyone got between 2.6-3.5 pounds of short ribs, and for the pastry add-on Laura made butternut squash scones.

PLEASE #1, remember to bring all of your share basket goodness -- including plastic bags, egg cartons, the share basket itself -- back to next week's pick-up. We try to re-use cartons and such as often as possible :)

PLEASE #2... (I remembered to mention this to some of you today, but not all)... if there is anything in the basket that you either don't end up liking, or don't use all of (even seemingly random stuff, like the leaves off the kohlrabis, or the tops of the radishes you will get next week), PLEASE try to keep them fresh (slightly wet and in a zip lock back) and bring them back to share pickup next week. Our baby geese we are bringing up, or our teenager ducks, or worst case our worms, can make good use of it ;)

PLEASE #3 -- If you end up discovering some killer recipe using something from the share, send it my way... I can mention it in next week's share blog post

That is all for now, happy munching and already excited to bring you your next basket of hyperlocal goodness next week!

First share pickup this Thursday! Details will be emailed out...

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Greetings all!

We've been really busy in the garden, ramping up for our first baskets to deliver to you. Here is a little 'sneak peek' video, that will show you some of the stuff getting ready now as well as planned for the future:

Regarding our recent survey, it was unanimous... given the fact that our share pickup place is not yet open on Wednesdays, you all picked THURSDAY as your preferred alternate day. So, look for an email to the group with details about pickup shortly.

Finally, if you said you wanted a 'sweets' add-on, please pre-pay directly to Laura, at thecrunchybaker@gmail.com ($30 for the single, $60 for the double). Several people said they wanted to add this, but I believe she's only received two payments thus far...

We look forward to seeing you all later this week!

Welcome to the 2020 CCC growing season, y'all!

An early pic of our 'root crop' row, before any have sprouted
(you can click on any blog pic, to view a higher-res version =)

I've been putting off this 'introductory' blog post for some time now, and am finally getting around to it. First of all, thanks to our returning members, for continuing to anchor us in this belief that we're trying to do something every spring and summer that is meaningful to other families. If it wasn't for you, I surely would have decided that we're some special kind of crazy by now! =) Secondly, thanks to our new share members, for 'leaning' out and being willing to try a new sort of 'little community' with us, around the growing, foraging, preserving and ultimately sharing of food.

Some baby tatsoi greens, that at the time of the photo had not yet taken their lovely 'flower petal rosette' shape (spoiler -- they have near-perfect radial symmetry, and are much bigger, now!)

This is a good time to remind the majority of you all that have not yet paid -- please drop us a payment (my PayPal address has been in previous emails, but I'll resend after this): $175 for veggies only, and an additional $25 if you wanted to add eggs and another $50 if you wanted to add beef.

Some of the ladies (and one of our roosters) that we have to keep happy, and away from predators -- so they keep us happy (with eggs and antics)

Well, if its not about time, for the first big food-from-the-ole-homestead crisis... =( This Friday and Saturday, it will be getting sufficiently chilly at night that we will have to cover all of the potatoes we are growing (like, ten half-rows), as well as all of the vegetable seedlings and seeds we've put in the ground (about four full rows). If you want to earn SUPER brownie points, please offer to come join us either today (Friday) or tomorrow (Saturday) evening, raking up grass clippings to spread over plants as well as tethering landscaping fabric over the smaller things! I can feed you, and offer you some homemade hard cider ;)

Squash and friends, in a not-quite-ready-to-fly holding pattern of experiencing nighttime temp dips and about a half-day of sun

 To put the scary news more properly into context, there's plenty of stuff out the door, in the stable, and as-I-type sprouting in the basement here at the Mikulski-Schulz homestead right now. Here are some things that are looking great / on track, for their respective weeks (summery-stuff obviously will be yielding their 'fruits' only later): chard, spinach, tatsoi greens, radishes, turnips, rutabagas, salsify, carrots, beets, kale, kohlrabi, cabbages... cucumber, crookneck squash, bean and eggplants... sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn, melons, onions, potatoes... I'm gonna stop trying to remember more, but in case you couldn't tell, the goal was a veritable smorgasbord. BUT... pray for us, again, and please, these next two nights... we'll have to protect virtually all of this from the frost!

Lettuces that are now full grown (and being enjoyed by us)... don't worry, there are many more rounds to replace, on the books!

So our first share basket pickup is at present scheduled for Wednesday, May 27th from 4-6 PM at or nearby to the Old Wedge (River Arts)... details on the exact location are TBD, and will come out in a week or two. Recall that we promise to grow, pack and deliver you ten baskets of goodness... if for some reason we manage to fall short, we'll refund you the difference... if for some reason we find we can keep going for several more weeks beyond the initial ten, we'll see who wants to re-up -- and we'll keep up some of the goodness, into the coming school year =) In any case, it will be great to finally see many of you again, after a long pause created in most part by the highly personally-restrictive state of being sufficiently cautious about the spread of CV19 in our communities.

That's right little guy... keep putting on circumference, somewhere sometime in the future, someone is experiencing the joy of a well-seasoned Kohlrabi-slaw :)

Thank you again for joining us, and may this be the best season of Coburn Cove Cooperative veggie and community goodness that we've ever had!!! =)

sincerely,
your (wanabee) farmer Matt