Week Three: Garlic and Mosquitoes

What a busy week we've had. On Tuesday we had a great team out at the Farm, which was good because we had a lot of work to do. We spent the morning picking peas and then we transplanted ("dibbled") some lettuce for the green house. We also planted some gorgeous lettuce plants out in one of the fields. We'll be eating that in just a few weeks! Over lunch we got to hear stories from Vivian, a friend visiting from Spikenard Farm, where they have a bee sanctuary. Evidently it's important to plant things that will bloom in succession so that the bees always have food. Vivian describes Spikenard as an island in the middle of corn-and-soybean agriculture in Southern Illinois.
In the afternoon we had a big weeding project working on the summer squash. We eliminated QUITE a lot of galanzoga, a weed that is all over our farm, so that was exciting.
Wednesday started out in the pouring rain, which is unusual on a harvest morning in my experience. The rain let up after we finished harvesting the herbs, but we were out in the rain long enough to be wet down to the underwear! It was also pretty mosquito-y after the rain stopped, as Cynthia discovered when she was picking kale. This was our first week for harvesting the lovely garlic flowers or scapes. These unusual-looking veggies are one of the treats of spring. And they make great jewelry (follow links to pictures from last year's post). After a busy harvest morning and lunch and picking up the shares, the day ended with attending a concert by former farm apprentice Andrea. She was having a benefit to raise money for her recent knee-surgery. Not only was the music fabulous, but I saw many many CFK members, Farm members, and Farm workers there. It was definitely the place to be!

Sooo, this week's green green green share is:

Sugar snap peas - 1 1/2 lbs
Green onions - 10
Kale and Swiss Chard - 1 lb
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Garlic blossoms (scapes) - 18
Dill - 1 bunch
Lettuce - 4 heads

Menu
White Beans and Garlic Scape Dip from last year's NYT article about scapes
Chard with Sweet and Sour Ginger Sauce from Farmer John's Cookbook p. 88
Nitya's Veggies and Lentils - one of the members of the CFK has taught me to make this traditional dish from southern India. One of the ingredients is "Nitya's Mom's spice mix" so I know you'll like it. :-)
Dilly Green Goddess Dressing adapted from Laurel's Kitchen p. 133 - basically I'm planning to make some yogurt and throw herbs into the blender until we acheive deliciousness. Sound good? Vegans will get a vinaigrette.
Sabertooth Tiger Salad with lettuce, green onions, and maybe a few chopped up sugar snap peas
fresh lettuce
a big bag of sugar snap peas - who could ever have enough?

So, that's about it. I hope you're enjoying everything so far. We're looking forward to seeing you for pick up on Friday!
peace
Mary
Pictures: 1. Blair working on salads last Friday. 2. Eliza tub-ing up your Spinach Tarragon Soup 3. Ricardo, Helen, and Kristin picking strawberries last week (photo by Nikki P.) 4. Cynthia weighing out sugar snap peas.

Week Two: Sun and Rain

Here we are at week two. The first week was amazing. In the kitchen, we kept busy all day long, but were mostly ready for everyone by the end of the day. CFK members managed to find their way to the pick up, so all went smoothly. The cooking team, Blair, Cynthia, Becky, and Eliza, worked really hard, but they are such good spirits. I'm excited about working with them this year. I hope you realize how much fun we have cooking your food!
It's been a good week at the Farm as well. CFK orientation on Saturday was really delightful--the weather was beautiful. On Tuesday we planted watermelon and cantaloupe. We had a LOT of beautiful seedlings and ended up planting MORE of these delicious summer treats than most years. I, for one, think this is a good thing. :-D Harvest day on Wednesday was a busy morning, but again good company made the work go smoothly. We finished a morning of bringing in greens with picking sugar snap peas, the candy of the farm. I hope you'll agree that they're a delicious snack just to crunch on--the hard part is stopping! This week we have the last of the spinach crop and the beginning of the Swiss chard. Seems like spring is ending--seasons change so quickly around here--or maybe they just shade gradually from one to another. We got FOUR more heads of lettuce each this week--I love how crisp and delicious it is...
Sorry about the lack of pics--I forgot my camera. I'll try to remember next time.

This week's share:
Sugar Snap Peas - 1 lb
Swiss Chard - 1/2 lb
Green onions - 10
Spinach - 1 lb
Dill - 1 bunch
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Lettuce - 4 heads

Menu
Veggie Burrito Bake from Simply in Season p.64 with tortillas from the Ann Arbor Tortilla Factory
Creamy Spinach and Tarragon Soup from Farmer John's Cookbook p. 85 - this is a new raw foods recipe, but it's got good ingredients and I'm sure it'll be delicious.
Dill Pesto from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks for a Crowd p. 260 - traditional for the CFK at this time of year :-)
Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette from From Asparagus to Zucchini p. 63- probably the most delicious salad dressing we made last year. With all this lettuce we need to give you some salad dressing, right?
Fresh sugar snap peas - will you make it home before you eat them all?
"Strike a Chord!" Salad with lettuce and green onions
Washed lettuce

See you Friday!
peace
Mary

Week One: Best Spinach Harvest Ever!

Hello and welcome (back) to the CFK Season for 2009! I am so excited to be getting started. In addition to keeping these weekly posts about what's happening at the farm, complete with shares and recipes, I also am going to be updating my twitter feed on a daily basis, and sometimes more often. So, if you want to follow along with the food, visit http://www.twitter.com/commfarmkitchen You don't have to be a member of Twitter to follow the posts, but they also appear on the left upper side of THIS blog page! Woo.

This has been a great week at the farm. Last weekend 3rd graders from the Rudolf Steiner School came to the farm for an overnight field trip, and their energy really helped kick off the harvest season with Saturday's first harvest.

Rain early in the week led to a late start on Tuesday, but we spent a good afternoon planting lettuce, picking strawberries, and tidying up for Wednesday's harvest. Today we all arrived bright and early and ready to go. We spent the morning picking MASSIVE quantities of spinach and green onions. Then we bunched some herbs and got everything ready for the harvest. It was a beautiful, relaxed way to start our season.

This week's FULL share was:
Green onion - 6
Cilantro - 1 bunch
Dill - 1 bunch
Sage flowers - 1 sprig
Spearmint - 1 bunch
Spinach - 3 lbs
Lettuce - 4 heads (!!)
Strawberries - just a pint

Our first CFK menu will consist of:
Spinach Mushroom Green Onion Quiche from Simply in Season p. 60 --I got the mushrooms in a barter from Michigan Mushrooms at the Farmer's Market last week! They gave me a HUGE bag of mushrooms in exchange for my granola. I think it was a good deal :-)
For those who need it there will also be Vegan Quiche - tofu-based deliciousness!

Katharina's Spinach Sauce - a perennial CFK favorite, I learned this pasta sauce recipe from my friend Katharina (read about her biodynamic training in the previous post). It's deceptively simple and yet incredibly tasty.

Cilantro Hummus - I'll be doing a variation on the Pendle Hill Hummus recipe. There are a lot of funny stories about making this hummus last year, but we don't need to talk about how the chickpeas made a mess all over the kitchen now, do we?

Tamarind-Mint Dressing - A new recipe I found here, this sounds perfect for grilled vegetables and other grilled items...

Scrumptious Spring Salad - lettuce, green onions, sage blossoms, yum!

Lettuce for your salad and sandwich pleasure.

Strawberries - a tiny taste of heaven

Enjoy! See you Friday, and don't forget our orientation--Saturday at 10 am.
peace
Mary

Photos: 1. Chalkboard in the distribution area at the farm. 2. Green onions - yay! 3. Sage flowers - pretty 4. Farmer Paul sets out lettuce 5. Cynthia shows that our car is full of greens.

Shares still available for 2009!

Hello all! I've been owing you a post for ages. The most important thing going on is that there are still shares available in the Community Farm and the Community Farm Kitchen for 2009. Field work is well under way at the farm and we're seeing some of the best germination in spinach and beets that we've seen for a while, so it looks like it'll be a great season. All that's needed is YOU!
For more information on pricing, please visit http://www.communityfarmkitchen.com/join/ . To join, email me at info(at)communityfarmkitchen(dot)com. I'm always happy to answer questions about the CFAA and the CFK. One of the best ways to figure out what the CFK season is like is to read the archives on this blog that describe the shares, menu, harvests, and adventures of the past two seasons. Please tell your friends!

Back in March, before I started work out at the farm, I took a journey. First I went to Boston, where I got to attend the wedding of Julia Wise and Jeff Kaufman. As many readers will remember, Julia came out to Michigan in the summer of 2007 to help me launch the CFK. I can definitely say that we would not be where we are today if it hadn't been for her help and hard work that first year. Julia spent the summer checking the mailbox for letters from Jeff (who actually wrote her faithfully but almost never got around to posting the letters!) and washing lettuce with me in the kitchen. We listened to a LOT of Woodie Guthrie music, sang songs, and made a quilt. Jeff and Julia's wedding was beautiful--simple and elegant and full of music, good food, and dancing. Julia and Jeff both come from families of keen folk dancers and they invited most of the members of the Swarthmore Folk Dance Club to the wedding. Julia and Jeff now live in Boston where she works for Oxfam. I hear that they've recently adopted a kitten. Picture: Anna and Garrett Cole, Jeff Kaufman, Julia Wise, and Mary at the wedding.

My journey also took me over to the UK where I got to meet my new baby nephew who lives in London with his family. I also got to visit Emerson College in Sussex, where my friend Katharina has been studying biodynamic agriculture for the past year and a half. Katharina and I met when we were working together at a biodynamic dairy farm in Wales back in 2007. She taught me to make Katharina's Green Sauce, which is a perennial favorite here at the CFK--should be especially good this year with all this nice spinach that's coming up at the farm. At Emerson I got to attend Katharina's graduation. Her biodynamics class was small, but everyone in it was extremely interesting and smart. As part of the graduation ceremony I got to hear a little about each person and what his or her future plans are. Talk about recession-proof jobs: Katharina and her classmates all have job offers! I guess good biodynamic farmers are in high demand. :-) Katharina herself will be living in a cob house and working on a micro dairy in Oxfordshire. Picture: Katharina (second from L) and BD classmates singing at their graduation.

Finally, as many of you already know, the CFK Bakery has been a hit at the Farmer's Market. We were there on Saturdays during April and will be there on Wednesdays this week and for the rest of May. I sell Pendle Hill Brown Bread, a dense, flavorful, moist bread suitable for toast and sandwiches; Crunchy Granola (both sweetened and unsweetened); and several kinds of muffins: bran, chocolate, and vegan chai tea muffins. This week I've also got rhubarb muffins--yum! I hope you'll stop by and say hi sometime. The plan is for the Bakery to take a break when the CFK season starts in June and to return in the late fall. Picture: Mary and Becky and the CFK stand at the Farmer's Market.

I guess that's about all for my news. I look forward to seeing many CFK friends as the season gets going.
peace,
Mary

A New Purpose!

Well, spring seems to be in the air after such a cold, snowy winter. So, I'm just checking in with the blog. Regular updates won't start until I start work at the Farm. I've been busy this winter with the CFK Bakery, (see picture) and I'm hoping to be able to sell some of my baked goods at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market in April and May.

The real purpose of this post is to announce the new purpose of the CFK Blog:
This year, the CFK Blog will continue to report each week on the share and the CFK menu, including cookbook references to inspire all farm members to try new recipes with their veggies. We will also continue with pictures and stories from Mary's time at the Farm, hoping to help everyone feel connected with what happens at the Farm between pick up days. We are also planning to expand tales from the farm with guest contributions from other farm apprentices, members, volunteers, and farmers. There's much to look forward to and much for everyone to learn. Let us know what you'd like to see on the CFK blog!

So, hooray! Guest contributors! More content! Wahey! In the mean time, I'm off next week to attend the wedding of dear Julia who helped launch the CFK in 2007 and then I'm continuing on to the UK where I'll get to attend the graduation of my friend Katharina (of Katharina's Spinach Sauce!), who's been attending a Biodynamic course at a Waldorf college--Emerson College--in Sussex. I'm sure these events will be worthy of a post on this blog when I return.

So, for now, tell your friends about the CFK. We're still looking for members. Also, check out this article about me from the Ann Arbor Chronicle!

And also visit the brand new Washtenaw Local Food Portal - hopefully your one-stop-shop for info about what's going on in the area with local food. Yay!

peace out
Mary

Season Retrospective

Well, we're finally done with the cooking for this year. It's time to look back over the season and look ahead to next year. It's been a fabulous season: thank you, everyone, for all your support and love. I'm going to post some pictures from the last two weeks of cooking and transcribe this message from Farmers Anne and Paul about how the season went out at the farm.

Some Sums of the Year
One of the most frequently asked questions this time of year is "How was the year?" so here are a few condensed summations of our 2008 growing season at the farm.
1. Our cows turned 10 and 12 years old and were again praised by the vets on the good care and homes we provide them, and the other farm animals.
2. Milkweed patches were saved and we saw monarch butterflies emerge.
3. Bumper crops outnumbered weak ones.
4. Drip irrigation (a great water saving system) was a must and was responsible for many of the successful crops.
5. Our praying mantis population has increased as we spotted them and new insects. This is a good sign (diversity). As well, we had a good frog year on the farm (a good insect control).
6. The bees swarmed a number of times, helping to assure their sustainability. This means new bee queens began new families on the Farm.
7. We hosted about a dozen school field trips, teaching children farm chores and exciting them about the prospect for them to become future farmers.
8. The solar tractor project was completed: the tractor was built, the solar panels were erected, the wires hooked up, and the tractor pulled hay wagons, cultivated the fields, and helped harvest fall crops.
9. As a farm we published our second book, an inspiring outreach tool (and a happy true story!).
10. Hope was born. Mama chicken Jessica hatched our first home-grown chicken in 21 years, who we now call Hope.

Hooray~~~!!!

Thank you. Thank you all for your support in keeping this farm going. Your financial support brings one level of this farm vitality, but the deeper level, one that comes from our hearts and returns to the heart of the farm, that is the most important. There are so many hidden chores that you all do that keep this farm vibrant. Whether you've cleaned sheets, baked goodies, brought in boxes, carried wagon loads of weedy feasts to the chickens, recorded share payments, moved rocks from the new picnic area, repaired hay wagons, or weekly cleaned the composting toilet, we thank you for the work you have done. Thank you.

Reserving your Spot
For the first time in a while, this year we had more people who wanted to join than who we could serve, so we formed a waiting list. Now openings for next year are available to the entire public. We have not had this situation for a while so you may not be used to needing to do this. So for now, if you want to ensure a place in the farm for next year, you can fill out a reservation form. This actually helps us plan for the upcoming growing season.

Don't Say Goodbye!
With the trees as our walls, the sky as our ceiling, touching the earth as our daily task, that we will miss. The smiles on the children's faces as they pop fresh berries (chemically-free) into their mouths or the fascinations of folks as they stare into the eyes of our cows, that we will miss. The stories, the recipes, the updates of your lives, that we will miss. But every morning, no matter how much snow falls or how tired we are, animal chores must be done. That is the pattern of our life. Every morning and every evening we will be at the farm. But there is more to our lives. Every Wednesday and Saturday until January 1 we will be at the Ann Arbor Farmer's Market selling wares. When January 2 comes we mend clothes, read books, take walks, and give love to our neglected friends. In February this year, Paul will go to California for a month of meditation work. When he returns he will present a meditation program at Friends Meeting House in Ann Arbor. To learn more about that, visit www.easwaran.org
I hope to help out at a Thereputic Retreat at the Rudolf Steiner Theraputic Center in Ann Arbor. Then it will be warm, at least in our greenhouse. Seeds will arrive and be sown by the 10th of March. And all begins another year of joy, excitement, learning, and sweat. Much the same, a lot new and if we are lucky, we'll see each other again. So we say, not goodbye, but "See you later!"
With much love and peace to you all,
Anne Elder and Paul Bantle, farmers at the Community Farm of Ann Arbor

Photo explanatiosn: 1. Romanesque cauliflower 2. Colorful cauliflower and broccoli 3. Claire, Michelle, and Amanda processing rutabagas 4. Rutabagas: peel and chop! 5. CFK Employee Appreciation Day: a Carrie Newcomer concert!! 6. Grand Finale Share pt. 1!! 7. Claire bags up the stuffed squash 8. Claire, Becky, and Michelle with vibrantly colored butternut squash and beet salad. 8. Grand Finale Share pt. 2!!
I hope these pictures give you a sense of the joyful spirit in which all of the Kitchen food is processed. Thanks for a good year.... reserve your spot for next year TODAY!

Grand Finale!

What a day! Saturday was absolutely gorgeous--balmy and sunny. We spent the morning bringing in the last of the greens--kale and oriental greens that are best harvested fresh. At 11 am the members started to arrive and the festival atmosphere kicked in. Amanda, Michelle, Becky, and Cynthia all came out to help me gather the 14 CFK shares, which was so great. As you're about to see, we got a LOT of food. We basically filled the back of my minivan and Michelle's SUV. It would've taken me all day to pick it all up by myself. I'm so lucky to have such dedicated folks working for me! Anyhow, there were tons of people at the farm: children running around, people carrying squash hither and thither, everyone eating cookies and ice cream and swapping recipe ideas and pre-winter hugs. It's hard to say goodbye to a beautiful year, but here at the CFK it feels like the work is just beginning!

The Final share was:
Radishes (black or daikon) - 1
Beets - 1 lb
Rutabaga - 6 lbs (!!)
Garlic - 10 bulbs
baby Leeks - 8
Mei qing choi - 2
Kale - 5 plants
Assorted oriental greens - 1 bunch
Broccoli or cauliflower - 1
Parsley - 2 plants
Brussels sprouts -2 stems
Napa cabbage - 4
Bok choi - 1
Big leeks - 4
Butternut squash - 6
Green or orange squash - 2
Acorn squash - 2

The Grand Finale menu will be split up over the next two weeks. This is just an initial menu; there will be some extras (hot sauce, dried hot peppers, garlic, etc) that we'll figure out at the very end. This menu contains a lot of old favorites as well as food ready for storing through the winter. Enjoy! :-)

Katharina's Green Sauce (house recipe)
Tabouli from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks for a Crowd p. 104
White Bean Kale Soup from Greens, Glorious Greens p. 172
Miso Soup from Sundays at Moosewood p. 408
Choi Salad with fruit and creamy poppyseed dressing from Farmer John's Cookbook p. 78
Pumpkin Bread from Simply in Season
Stuffed Acorn Squash from Simply in Season p. 208
Mashed Rutabagas (house recipe)
Beet dish TBA
Marinated Radish Salad from Simply in Season p. 48
Potato Leek Soup from The Community Farm of Ann Arbor Cookbook p. 53
Golden Stew from The Community Farm of Ann Arbor Cookbook p. 60
Rutaloaf from The Community Farm of Ann Arbor Cookbook p. 35
Napa and Choi with peanut sauce from Simply in Season
Creamies from The Community Farm of Ann Arbor Cookbook p. 39
Kim Chee from Anne Elder's recipe
Kale for the freezer
Broccoli and Cauliflower for the freezer
Parsley cubes (frozen parsley suitable for use in sauce and soup)
Fresh Brussels sprouts
Butternut squash
Green Salad Mix

phew. we're going to be busy this week!!
See you Friday!
Mary

Photo explanations: 1. CFK workers and the final harvest!! 2. Michelle's car full of veggies 3. Mary's car full of veggies 4. A mountain of Napa cabbage 5. Goth caterpillar