Doro and I (but truly, mostly Doro... by like 10-25%)'s last bundle of joy, for you all!!!

 Folks,

As I wrote in a recent email, it has been a pleasure being able to bring you sustenance these three months, and also creating a space where we could all be in community a bit more deeply than maybe would typically happen around the acquisition of foodstuffs. Here's what mostly-Doro helped harvest, clean and pack up for you all... wonderful little basket #10:

Hooray for the plants! Let's hear it for their dutiful photosynthesis!!! And, for the unending, dutiful care of those that try to save them... from the bugs, the weeds, the diseases and the lack (or glut) of rain ;)

Exceptionally special things in the share today are pickled beets from our garden made by the lovely and loving lady and queen of the veggie plot herself, Dorothea Schulz... and then some blackberries that our friends Danny and Laura allowed me to pluck from their bushes, the day before the share. Also, a butternut squash... new, maybe not exceptional to some of you. And, little baby-corns... we tried out a new spot for our corn-square, and despite what I thought was nicer soil they didn't do so well this year (maybe the TINY bit of shade they started getting later in the day, later in summer, caused the smaller ears?)

Other familiar faces:

cabbage        eggplants        two different sorts of mildly-spicy peppers        okra

            potatoes        garlic        cherry toms        zucchini        slicer toms

       basil (with lots of flowers that you can strip off and use to make basil oil)

Wow, that was a bit more fun... listing them like that! Two things Doro told me are important to tell you about this roundup (I agreed, BTW):  #1 -- eat the zucchini as soon as you can; these have been being kept in our fridge for the past couple of weeks, since we did one last pick-all when we saw the plants biting the dust from the vine-boring worms. Yours will not last much longer before there is a soft spot here or there that you'll want to cut out. And #2 -- two of the corns we shucked for ourselves we found a sole corn earworm in, munching away happily. You might want to shuck yours sooner rather than later... so you're left with 95% of your corn, instead of half or less =P For more fun reading: https://www.thekitchn.com/an-unavoidable-surprise-in-org-150669  

RE: The recently advertised end-of-share grill-out, potluck and all-around party... those of you who have responded leaned towards next Friday (19th); however it should be noted that I separately asked a few of you what you thought, THEORETICALLY, about bumping it further, to Saturday the 29th for example -- and you really liked the idea. Something about absence of the share/meetup for a couple of weeks would really sweeten the treat, of a special one-last-time gathering =) We'll decide and email you all about it in the next couple of days, OK?

Thanks again for being awesome people that we got to routinely take care of, in some small way!!!

DORO, MATT and the rest of the fecundity-fostering Coburn Cove Coop gang!

I bring you... your second-to-last joy box!

 Mmmm...

Bunch of fun here, folks... hope you enjoy your hyperlocal fare. Homegrown early-season potatoes (came out of the ground less than 24 hours ago), cabbage, beets, cucumbers, okra, eggplant, basil, parsley, basket of tomatoes, basket of peppers, and then finally either broccoli or green beans (bag).

I'm sorry I forgot this tip, but... if you ever get basil flowers (which have a little bit stronger, more floral flavor and are sometimes hard to use in recipes), pour warm olive oil over a ramekin or small bowl of them and let it still for a couple of of days for a nice herbed olive oil (great with keeping pasta noodles from sticking together, for example). I know there's no basil in this chair but... there might be next week :)

all our best,

Matt and the gang

Brief description of share #8... and update on the garden's health!

You probably know this already, but... in your basket #8 should have been some beans, a few okra, a few leaves of kale, maybe a collard green leaf (I picked all the ones that still looked good, despite the insane harlequin bug pressure... but that was not many), a couple of cucumbers, a garlic, and six or so slicer tomatoes.

You should've gotten several ripe and delicious tomatoes, like these =)

Thanks for at least leaving some chard leaves, Mr. Bear...

This share basket was almost not to be... I think I told the story well enough to everyone who came to pickup, but I will reiterate / summarize one last time here: I fell asleep mid-day yesterday (due mostly to the extra six hours from coming back over the Atlantic), and napped for hours instead of hour... and in addition to being late for share pickup, was unable to add certain things to the baskets that I had planned to (some of our potatoes, some nice and freshly-sour sumac berries, and some sprigs of rosemary). I'm glad we at least had a surplus of tomatoes from the morning harvest, to make up for the otherwise rushed basket.

For people who are interested, I found four new developments upon returning to the vegetable plot yesterday (we have been out of town for two and a half weeks, so its been a really big QUESTION MARK exactly how we'd find things upon our return). FIRST, practically all of the squash plants have been killed by vine borer larvae. Pretty gruesome way to go as a plant, if you don't know about these guys look it up. Some of you might be happy to be relieved of squash, LOL, although it was impressive and prolific while it lasted. SECOND, I discovered via two piles of poop and a mess of discarded leaves that a bear has been coming to the garden... decimating our Swiss chard plants as well as digging up lots of our beets. I included a picture here of some of the leaves that the bear left... it literally nibbled down the tops of every other root that was sprouting chard for us. Our fence was never designed to keep out more than just rabbits, field mice, woodchucks and MOST deer... and this bear will likely return to do more feasting on these crops. Cross your fingers that we have ANY of these two crops still to share, in future baskets!

THIRD, the rain we've apparently been getting has been too much of a good thing -- for our tomato plants at least. We prepared to where a visitor could run the irrigation pump when/if a drought developed these past weeks, and the plants in the garden could survive thusly... but it turns out that it has been raining more-than-enough while we've been away. The entire row of tomatoes had hip-high weeds on both sides of them, which killed air circulation and turned practically every ripe or ripening tomato even slightly nibbled on by a slug turn into a white mold bomb. You see the pretty good tomato harvest evident in your basket and the 'bonus box'? This was only about 25% of all ripe fruit. I had to throw away 25% (total loss to white mold), another 25% I was able to rescue as sauce tomatoes (see pic above) due to only having one or two smaller white-moldy spots, and yet another 25% I kept from the sharebaskets as they had eaten away spots here and there from the damned slugs. Those are sitting in our fridge at the moment, waiting to be made into salads when needed. GRRRRRR!!!! I did spend a while pulling out all the tall weeds all around the tomato plants, and there remain lots of green fruit to ripen... so hopefully we can have a strong showing for the last two baskets!!!!

FINALLY, the harlequin beetles, an annual pest of anything and everything that we try to grow in the Brassicae family, have take the past half-month to set up shop in and on most of our kale (and, our collards). They like hanging out on the top leaves of the plants, sipping on the mustard-oil-containing tissue here and there and advertising themselves for the damned bug-sex that they do. What it meant for the look of things is that practically all of the foliage now has small, greyish patches where the leaf plant cells have died (from the slurping). I tried to pick the nicest of the remaining underside-leaves (relatively un-partied on by the bugs) for the basket yesterday, but I do apologize if you still happened to see some of the patching I am describing and were like 'what the heck, I wanted sexy kale... not this!' I spent a good twenty or so minutes killing every beetle that could be seen on the kale, so the plants might recover... but do not be surprised if the kale we bring you in future baskets is not picture-perfect anymore :(

Two more weeks of veggie goodness for you all... and I promise I won't fall asleep on you all again!

Matt

7th Share -- Calder & Kimberly guest farm

CALDER: Matt, Not sure how to format this with images so just included image names where they should go. And change as you like… big thanks!

MATT: Calder, this is... so lovely! Sorry, but I couldn't figure out how to move JPGs around. So... ppl will have to use their imagination a bit (good practice for real life, no? ;)

Today’s basket: Beets. A kohlrabi. A bag with a few okra and a handful of pepperoncini. A cup of sweet cherry tomatoes. A little bundle of basil. A few loose leaves of collards and chard. Lots and lots of squash. Squash will set you free, Matt says. If only you are versatile enough, to let it. LOL. You'll be sad when the vine borers have killed them all, and ended the surplus of sunshine-to-sustenance converting that these front-line garden workers have been achieving...

To take full advantage of those big fellas, in the comments, I’m including a yummy recipe for Stuffed Zucchini Boats from the NYT.

This is an image of how mine turned out:

(see zuchinni boat.jpg)

Hee-hee. Thanks Doro.

This is what it would've looked like if you were playing a [Matt's addition] MINI farmer this morning:

(see Kimberly farm.jpg)

It was lush and green, and I was relieved not to have to figure out how to turn the water on. As Kimberly and I walked down the aisles we discussed early pipe dreams of having goats and garden plots and doing all the Ashevillian things that take much more dedication and time than you originally think. If you find some people like Matt & Doro, who take it upon themselves to make and share the fruits of their labor, AND inspire you make a zucchini boat with them, do anything in your power to help their garden grow… they are rare and wonderful.

-- Calder

Matt: (after making what he thought would be final formatting, and NOT stylistic edits, to this) AWWWWW!!!

<wannabe farmer and his supportive family then hug all involved... knowing that only through their simple trust, extra effort and imagination is this exercise in ancient community possible>

...

...

=)   =)   =)

 

6th share, we're proud to bring you!

Dear sharemembers,

As we round into July I'm reminded that a garden (a large one) is a wonderful thing... it's a unique way to connect with nature, toil over the land (which the soul needs, I believe), and bring people together. It maybe the best trick for living the good life that I've found so far :)

Here's what you got today:

This week, there's three or four chunky squash (yellow and green zucchini, pattypan of green-yellow or white variety), Napa cabbage ( the very last of what could be salvaged from the early slug onslaught), red kale, a little bag of okra and green beans, cucumbers, slicing and cherry tomatoes packaged with mild and mild-hot (smaller; peperoncini) peppers, rosemary sprig, and a tiny onion or two.

If you happen to get the largest tomato, its got a teeny soft spot to cut out... sorry, but the effort is worth getting to consume the other 99.5% of it :)

#5... and I'm back in the saddle, baby!

 (Just brought back a Florida tan, thats all... courtesy of what I've been told is called the 'Redneck Riviera')

Many of your usual suspects, here... but new additions include nappa cabbage and a nice little herb satchel. Chard, beets, beet greens, zucchini, kohlrabi... yeah yeah, you know all these things :)

Still waiting on someone to 'comment with a good recipe ;) ...

Doro-only share today! C'e numero quattro =)

 

Maybe I can save some space, and just tell you what you got that is new? A pattipan squash, basil, a garlic plant, a couple radishes, a small (tiny?) onion that Doro managed to salvage for each of you, the first of the tomatoes and peppers, and a kohlrabi. Now, some more detailed notes on some things:

Garlic --  there is such nice bite to them when they are green like this. Or, leave in your pantry a couple of months, and it will mute down a bit and taste like garlic from the store :)

Beets -- don't forget, you can enjoy their greens, too!

Radishes -- ...same story (although some don't like the spiciness of the leaves)

Kohlrabi -- greens taste like a cross between broccoli and cabbage and can be eaten (although some don't like the slight bitterness)... the bulbous part of the stalk can be sliced thin and eaten like chips, or grated and made into a slaw. You might be able to get away with cooking it... although we've never done that with them

Pattipan -- Lovely flavor, look up a recipe!

Lettuces -- As we say hello to some kinds of goodness (tomatoes, for example), we have to say goodbye to others. These are the last that we can take out of the garden, that we feel OK with putting in your baskets. Enjoy them, and thank them for their collective service this late spring

As always, if you find a particularly yum way in your preparations / noshings, do comment and share it!

Matt and the gang

Basket #3 -- From nature to you, with love

 Folks,

Nature is good... Nature is tough... but nature, if you play by her rules, is good. That existential bit aside, here's what we got for you:

Zucchini, swiss chard, cucumbers (couple different varieties in the mix), green beans, milkweed florets, zucchini (may be you get two colors?), garlic scales, butter lettuce, and wild lily flowers (you can dice these up and add to a salad for some fun color and a subtle sweet-floral flavor.

As I've invited before, please PLEASE puleeeze comment with a recipe if it works for you. You can send me a picture, and I'll add onto the post with the pic later on!

Until next week, friends!

Basket #2... here's whatcha got

 

Sorry for the blurriness, Doro literally wore the focusing element on her phone camera out. We're in the process of getting her a new one!

New items this week are zucchini, kale, beans, and beets. Don't be a knucklehead, make sure you eat the beet greens as well :-) I meant to add this as a comment to the last post, but one of the simplest ways to prepare the lambs quarters is in hot olive oil (like a stir fry, keeping it hot and moving) and then slightly salted.

And here's a delicious milkweed florets recipe that one of our members shared, from last week:

Here's the recipe they typed out: "I don't think the blog lets you comment with photos, but I'd pan fried the milkweed in olive oil - s+p, garlic powder, panko - finished with a little lemon juice and zest. I wasn't sure what to expect, but 10/10!"

Keep posting your recipes, even if it has to be sans photos, as comments... such is a prefectly dovetailing addition to our communication about the basic goings on at the garden. We used to have a wiki page for recipes back when we first started doing this in Chicago -- and people really enjoyed sharing and benefiting with it :-)

First basket of 2022... woohoo!

 

OK people, here's what you got... I've been told by some to ramble on, and by others to finish in 1-2 sentences, so I'll aim for something between the two... basket contents:

spring onion, swiss chard, spinach (bagged), small bit of garlic scapes, young dandelion greens, milkweed florets (bagged), evening primrose leaves, and lamb's quarters (at discretion)

Couple hints: easy way to pick the leaves off LQ is to strip down starting at the top... there will be a few trailing fibers here and there, but they will soften easily with cooking to spinach-like consistency. Evening primrose, pick the leaves off and put on a sandwich... no bitterness, just yum. Milkweed florets, I think there's several things you COULD do but what I recommend is pan-frying in butter for a few minutes. Amazing broccoli, asparagus and popcorn flavor :)

Enjoy my CCC peeps, and post any recipe you end up using and liking in the comments ;)

Matt & the gang

Reminding you... your first veggie basket is right around the corner!

Folks,

It has been a long stretch of weeks, trying to get the vegetable patch to turn a corner here at our little farmstead. Its a bit unfortunate that practically nil of the work down in the garden is conducive to carrying around a smartphone/camera. What this means is that every time we spend hours doing this or that big push -- spread mulch on the rows, tack down weed fabric, top-dress with silt from the flood, plant over a half-thousand plantlings into the slits of the fabric, deep-plant the tomatoes; weed the root crops row... (I could do on and on!) -- we have nothing to show but an incrementally better garden LOL.

So you'll have to take our word -- there have been a lot of evenings eaten up, dirt under fingernails, blisters from shoveling, stained hands from removing slugs (the bane of our existence so far), etc. Here are some pictures we took today, that can at least tell SOME of the story so far:

"It looks so leeeetle from here. You sure you got yerself a garden?"

Are we growing potatoes here, or lamb's quarters? Answer: BOTH

With Marcel's (and a tiny bit of my kids') help, we've spread about two dozen truckloads of aged mulch onto the garden rows

Now that's what potatoes should look like!

Spinaches (left) and the slugs' clear favorite, Napa cabbages (right). We're about ready to just call them a trap crop...

One of many zucchini plants we have, with the humble beginnings of what may well become in a few weeks' time Lousiville slugger-class fruits

Lettuce tell you: from here some of your future salads will surely come! ;)

Baby beets... do do dido dido... baby beets (repeat)

 

Large-scale gardening is great, but sometimes I really think we're kale-ing ourselves =P

This is an hour's worth of slug-picking... and Doro and I probably have about three of these, each. Rain's been bringing them out like we've never seen before... =/ 

Stinging nettle, sting removed... and ready for super-nutriment-ing!

Today Dorothea found her way to the garlic scapes that I saw emerging a couple of weeks ago, and made a very delicious quiesce from a couple of them and a handful of other greens. Definitely expect some of these in your baskets next week. Our milkweed patch managed to attract at least one monarch caterpillar, and is also producing some fine florets right now... these might be in next week's basket, or the one that follows. And as most of the first couple of baskets tend to turn out (very immature, and so very GREEN), there will likely also be dandelion greens and lamb's quarters in the mix. Get ready to get your minerals, everybody ;)

I've got everyone's cell #s from the survey and will send out a test message shortly to make sure you all get it. Text is usually how I give any late-breaking updates. Basket #1 pickup is at the Wedge Foundation this coming Wednesday, from 5:00 to 6:30 PM. As usual, I plan to lean into the role of voluntarily-impoverished farmer by buying the first pitcher of beer. I'll be driving the red Eurovan and parking by the first of the picnic tables. I'll probably also be wearing my Tilley, which is about as 'corny... kinda-like-an-actual-farmer's-hat' as I'm willing to go.

So excited to start bringing you all anything and everything we can produce, right around the corner from you out here in Candler!

Matt, Doro, Josie and Yanusz

Spring is here... will you join us again this year?

 

(Come on, little DNA nuggets... do your thing!)

Sunrise over the kid's outside playhouse

Breaking ground on a greenhouse... that will be useful for fall crops (if we choose) this year and then NEXT summer share season =)

Yanusz and I agree, a good garden is like a good chess game... looooong, and with much uncertainty about who (or what) will ultimately win

Aren't they sooooo cute when they're little? ;)

So THAT is what this late night, lumbering skunk has been up to... a digging, duck-egg diner!

Horseradish, anyone? Hopefully the new patch will set in well...

Figured I'd make a blog post, instead of trying to send another email... we at the Mikulski-Schulz homestead are gearing up to do our 'Coburn Cove Cooperative' veggie share again this year. It would be great if you could send us an email making it official that you plan to participate again this year, or not. I have a few people in mind that I can fold into the group IF NEEDED -- i.e., if your family is either upgrading to a bigger share, trying a different one out, transitioning to an open air farmers market or going back to the convenience of the supermarket, will be out of town too much or otherwise don't want to be part of the CSA this summer. We are aiming again for a first-Wednesday-of-June start, ten weeks of baskets, and have egg 1/2 or dozen weekly share additions you can buy into.

Hope you all are emerging from the cold season in good spirits, and as eager for local greens to first fill your eyes and then your plates as we are!!!

Sincerely,

Matt and the team

(including the remarkable, indefatigable, all-too-lovable Doro... and our kids, who now have a bonus as part of their weekly allowance related to helping out with this great task of feeding our family as well as those of some of our friends =)