Farm Notes – Week 6, July 29 2013
TELLING IT LIKE IT IS!!
Having a struggle making it to Pick Up? Phone Veggie Coop Coordinator: Mike Rabionowitz, at the house phone 895-2884 before 5 or the Farm Cell: 689-7693. We like to have as much advanced notice as possible. The picking and packing for Veggie Coop begins at 9 a.m. on the day of delivery. If we know you are on holiday or something has come up (let us know by midnight the day before your pick up is scheduled), your name doesn’t go into the count and we schedule a holiday week for you. A call later in the day that you will pick up later in the week, also works. We will pack as usual and put it in chill room with your name on it. The bags are packed by 4:30 or 5. If we don’t get a call before 5, this means your bag will have a ride into pick-up and wait to be brought back to farm later in the evening. To me, this feels like times when a kindergarten child has a to stay on the bus and ride the full loop with the bus driver because Mom isn’t home to meet the bus. The child winds up back at the school under the care of the Principal or maybe the care taker, until the parent can be located.
WHAT’S IN THE BAG?
This just in!!!! It isn’t a potpourri after all as indicated by the notes Mike left for Diane this morning. There is enough broccoli for 39 folks – It is not broccoli, snow peas, squash or kohlrabi. It is broccoli! The challenge is this. I had already written the notes on kohlrabi before lunch, so this is in case you get a kohlrabi in the future. Don’t be too quick to swap it for broccoli or snow peas, even if you can. You will find it fresh and crisp like an apple or the core of the cabbage your mom passed to you to gnaw on when you hung around the kitchen waiting for supper. . When we sold at the Farmers Market in Churchill Square twenty years ago, a local business man from Germany used to stalk us for kohlrabi. It was never in box stores at that time. He waited in his car near-by, watching us as we got our truck backed into the space and parked. The only thing he wanted was kohlrabi for his mother who lived with him. When I asked how she cooked it, he said, she boiled it with meat and other vegetables. We have found it is good steamed but the usual way we serve it is fresh. Great for appetizer or a picnic. Cut it in strips like celery or carrot sticks. Serve with a cream cheese dip made with a chunk of cream cheese, blended with green onions. Add a little soy sauce to get the taste you want and a little milk to make the dipping consistency you like. Left-overs? Bag it to keep in fresh the way you store carrots. It does dry out quickly if left sitting for hours. Usually, it doesn’t last that long at our house.
Braising Mix! Not Again!
Getting a little tired of Braising Mix? Some people seem to be enjoying it but others are lining up for the swap box. I might make the mock cabbage rolls again because it is so easy but then again if I make the Gingered greens and Tofu recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook, I should have left overs for Soyara, the Agirculture Intern who is a vegetarian. Review of Mock Cabbage Rolls. I use a 9 by ll in. pyrex baking dish. Steam the green lightly and set aside to cool. When you start, divided greens into two portions. One for bottom and one for top. Started by spreading greens on bottom of dish, followed by layers of cooked rice, ground meat, cooked and drained, seasoned with favourite spices and herbs, topped with more steamed greens and your favourite pasta or spaghetti sauce. Heat uncovered at 350 degrees until sauce is bubbling.
Try Jamie Parson’s Recipe.
When Jamie sent his recipe last year, I sent it along to Veggie Coop members at the time, but didn’t put it in a recipe file as I had hoped to recover the file from cyberspace. I was able to track down Jamie’s original e-mail. Here it a cut and paste version from Jamie’s e-mail. (Thanks, Jamie.)
JAMIE’S RECIPE FOR GREENS.
Stove Top: Collards or Kale.
From: Jamie Parsons/ Veggie-Coop Member August, 2012
Here is a great recipe for Kale or Collards. It is from the cookbook “How To Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman
2 TBSP of Olive Oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic minced
Ccollards or kale – washed and chopped
1 / 4 cup of chicken stock
3 TBSP of Tahaini
Salt and pepper to taste
2 TBSP of Lemon Juice
Heat Olive oil in pan; add garlic until tender and golden but not brown. Add collards or kale, stock, tahini, salt and pepper. Cook covered for about 5 minutes.
Remove lid and reduce heat, adding more stock if it looks dry. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Serve
WOOFERS CENTRAL
Ryan, the Woofer from England is leaving on Wednesday soon after he and his Newfoundland girlfriend, Amanda join Mike at Bacalou’s for lunch. He came in February for a month or so and to meet his new on-line friend. Things must have gone well. He kept extending his stay by a month or two, until he had used up his six-month Tourist VISA at the end of July. He was a significant team member in the spring, helping Louis and Laura set up and monitor winter growing in Greenhouse #1, This is the GH that was set up with Geo-Thermal heat last year. He is a responsible, mature lad, helping with everything, especially monitoring the temperatures in the spring and watering schedules as other greenhouses were planted. His plans are to go home, earn enough money for a plane ticket back and apply for a year long working VISA. He hopes to get back by February. For the past few weeks, Mike has been teaching him how to train the plants and prune the tomatoes, beans, etc. in GH#5. He would be glad to hire Ryan to help get the newest, biggest greenhouse set up next season. The ritual around leaving the Organic Farm is a Turtle Cheese Cake from Moo Moos/ last break of the day/ last day of work, with everyone, including Mike, gathering for the occasion. Ryan last day was Friday. His Cheese cake message read: Good By, Ryan and Thanks.
Gesa’s Last Night
In Farm notes, last Monday I wrote how Gesa was leaving on Tuesday morning but I didn’t know about her last big adventure which took place on Monday evening. The plan was for her to eat dinner with Jayne and go for a swim in the pond. Around 9, there was a telephone call from Jayne, asking if I wanted any fish. This was a surprise to me but of course, I said, yes. Then I heard a man in the background, asking how I wanted it dressed. I said, filleted. He then asked “skin on or skin off?” Thinking I would cook it on the bar-b-Que grill, I said, skin on.. However, when Gesa came in with fish in a bag and put it on the table, smiling excitedly and reporting that she had caught the first fish and the biggest, I looked back and forth between the fish in the bag and Gesa’s face, realizing if Gesa was going to taste her cod fish, it would have to be pan fried in the kitchen. We began to prep by rinsing the fillets and feeling them for bones. I asked Gesa to remove the areas with lots of little bones, showing her how to feel along with her finger and pull or cut out the bones parts, saving the small, torn flesh, saying, we’ll keep that for cod chowder. As she did this, willingly, without hesitation, she said, “ I feel sorry for the fish.” I was thinking, fine time to worry about that now, but didn’t say anything.
After the fish, I used the same pan for hush puppies, which is the custom in Tennessee. This is a form of Southern Fried Corn Bread with lots of chopped onions, and a light taste of fish from sharing the seasoned skillet. Hush puppies are paired with fried fish in Tennessee, much like fish and chips are paired together here. As a child, I preferred hush puppies over the fried cat fish, my Dad’s favourite. For a long time, I thought it was a way of extending the meal, making it go further, but not now. I know it as a favorite tradition and I enjoy making them occasionally. My mother was a Master Hush Puppy Chef, which made her a celebrity of sorts, among the organizations in Obion County that held annual Fish Fries for fund raising. My mom passed away seven years ago, but the kitchen wall still bears testimony to the greatest Hush Puppy Chef of the State of Tennessee in the form of lacquered Plaques and framed certificates of appreciation.
None of the fish Gesa caught went on the grill. Fumiko wrapped the rest in some kind of kelp wrap and baked it in the oven for dinner the next evening. I was “out of pocket” as my mother would say, and found only the scraps on the baking pan when I got home. . . .
Getting Ready for Caitlin, the next Farm Stay Person. .
Caitlin arrived on Sunday afternoon. You’ll learn more about her profile later. Right now, I am here to announce, “ There’s a Joy, Joy down in my heart!” which is the punch line of an old Methodist hymn.
Why? We spent the week-end cleaning up the WOOFERS spaces, one in processing shed which is also a room where Toby’s art and clay pieces are also display; also, the spare room in the house. Even though it is the end of July, this was the first opportunity to gut, dust, wash, mop and clean these spaces, as they have been used continuously since we got back to Newfoundland in April. And, what a glorious week-end it was – to wash, hang things outdoors, put pillows and comforters on the balcony to kiss the sun. I took a car trunk of clothing to Value Village, things hanging in the woofers closet, either jackets, sweaters and rain wear that I had saved for the next Woofer who needed it, or left by previous woofers. We shop at Value Village when they get here and then, they leave what they don’t want. Both sons have clothing they don’t want to part with. For Oz, it is the issued clothing he had when he served in the U.S. Army; lots of pieces hanging in front closet. For Louis, it was a vintage black jacket, the Fontz type with zippers on the sleeves. These have been dropped off at the dry cleaners, to prepare for storage on Kenmount Road. I have been wanting to do this for a long time. We just arranged for a larger storage area for Toby’s things, with room enough to squeeze in a few particulars. Oh, Precious Joy!
Next Week: Death By Lobster/ at Atlantic’s Restaurant and the secret of the newest Organic Farm Stir Fry Recipe.
Melba Rabinowitz
July 29, 2013
