An abundant harvest + wild purslane for Week 3!

CSA Menu

Cilantro & scallions

Yellow & green summer squash

Genovese basil

Rainbow swiss chard

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

(Free item – wild purslane)

(Optional item – giant zucchini’s)

 

Whether reading the RACIST onslaught captured in our top headlines terrifies you or you are out there resisting on the front-line, or whether you and your loved ones are directly at-risk of state violence, I’m hoping that there is at least one part of your day where you just focus on what sustains you!!

This week things are in abundance, and I do not have any other outlets and I’d rather they not go to waste.   So this week it’s seven items, a free item, and optional giant zucchinni’s which will be available first come first serve at your pick up location.   Perfect for making zucchini bread or zucchini noodles (zoodles!)

I hope you enjoy!  And keep the pictures coming!

 

Severe farmer’s tan and help from Sarath and friends during this hot and humid week!

 

RECIPE IDEAS

Quick Pickled Squash from A Farm Girls Dabble

Cilantro Basil Pesto Pasta from Vegan Family Recipes

Fresh Mozzarella with Swiss Chard, pine nuts, and pickled chard stems from Not Eating Out in NYC

 

How to make Zoodles – 5 methods from Downshiftolodgy

I made Zaru Soba – cold soba noodles that are a must during the hot humid days in Tokyo – and it worked perfectly, the zucchini noodles adding a tender hydrating crunch!

 

Gluten-free zucchini almond cake.  I made this for Martha Yager (Happy Birthday Martha!) , and I have to admit, the other Martha (Ms. Stewart) hit this one on the nail!  It was delicious.   Here’s the recipe!

PURSLANE RECIPES

free item of the week

One of the best sources of omega 3 fatty acids, anywhere – called Verdolaga in Spanish, P’thee Thma in Khmer, mǎ chǐ xiàn in Mandarin.  

Wild Purslane, P’thee Thma, Stir Fry

Recipe by Bunyath and Sophy

VIDEO – https://youtu.be/B-_eovcZpU4

Ingredients:

1. Purslane (“P’thee Thma” in Khmer)

2. Vegetable oil

3. Garlic

4. Chicken bouillon (2 cubes)

5. Sugar

6. Optional protein – chicken, pork, or tofu

7. black pepper

8. Rice

Instructions:

0. Make sure your (jasmine) rice is cooking in your rice cooker or stovetop

1. Cut purslane into 1.5 – 2 inch pieces and wash thoroughly

2. Mince 3 gloves of garlic or onion

3. Over medium high heat, brown garlic and chicken boullion in 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil until light brown

4. Add 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of sugar

5. Add chicken, pork or tofu and cook until browned (cut pork or chicken into thin slices that will cook fast)

6. Add purslane, keep folding purslane and stirring until soft (about 3 minutes)

7. Add black pepper to taste

8. Serve over rice and enjoy!

Purslane Pesto from Lost Recipes Found

Three Mexican Recipes with Purslane from Mexican Food Memories

Cold Tossed Purslane Sichuan Style from Madame Huang’s Kitchen

Chilled Zuchinni Soup with Purslane from Flavor’s of the Sun

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Week 1 & 2 – What The Kholrabi!?!

July 8, 2019

Week 1

Komatsuna greens

Zucchini

Bell Peppers

Tropicana lettuce

Scallions

 

Week 2

Kholrabi

More on this below!

Purplette bunching onions

Use as you would scallions

Cucumbers

Chioggia beets

They’re even sweeter than red beets!  Try eating them raw over a salad by shaving off thin slices using a mandoline or vegetable peeler.

Lemon basil

It pairs well with meats, and transforms any pitcher of water into a refreshing elixir

Red butterhead lettuce

A few early Jalapenos

 

 

Don’t lie.  You’re all asking the same thing: “What am I supposed to do with that?”    So, to answer your question, here it is… The Top 10 Things To Do With Kholrabi

One.  Invite it to the table – mi casa es casa de Kholrabi!

Two.  Style its hair!

Three.  Discuss Brexit over tea!

Four.  Pretend you have a pet alien!

 

Five.  Use it to relieve stress!

 

Six.  Practice your kissing!

Seven.  Role play reflective communication!

 

Eight.  Recognize what it might look like without its leaves!!

 

Nine.  Recognize that if you tried to out-run it, you wouldn’t make it!

 

Ten.   And finally, EAT that Kholrabi!  And if you do decide to eat that Kholrabi, then please do share with us your creations!   Here are a few ideas for how to enjoy it!

 

Kholrabi Recipe Ideas

Roasted Kholrabi from Cooking on the Weekends

 

 

Kholrabi slaw with cilantro, jalapeno, and lime from Feasting at Home

 

 

Spicy Crunchy Kholrabi Noodles from Love and Lemons

 

Stuff the damn thing, with cheese!   from Food52

 

 

Do a quick pickle, this one from Viet World Kitchen

 

 

Stir fry it, with bacon and scallions by Bon Appetite

 

 

Thanks for reading!

Here are some creations by CSA members this past week!

Roasted Hakurei w/ greens, by Keith Catone

 

 

Scallions grilled whole to perfection, by Kata Lorenzo

 

 

Lobster innards fried rice with scallions and zucchini, by Judy Khy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CSA Sign-Up Begins!

The sign-up process for the 2019 MGF CSA is now open!   We only have spots for 40 CSA’s this year.  We are trying to build a bad-ass CSA membership who can help us nurture MGF into a thriving social justice farm and retreat space.   Who do we want?   Food foragers, freedom fighters, movement mommas, PrYSM peeps, AARW A-Listers, holistic healers, leftist lesbians, communal chefs, transformative Trans*folk, handy homesteaders, dapper DIY-ers, fabulous funders, ambitious artists, autonomous abolitionists, fabulous facilitators, magical mediators, versatile volunteers, crafty carpenters, and gifted gardeners. (Any other alliteration ideas? Email me!)

For the third time, we find ourselves on new land.   There are new infrastructure needs, new challenges and new benefits.   This time around it’s a bit different; we hold title to the property!   As such, there is a vast amount of farm infrastructure to build and invest in, and there is a lot more to think about.  No more quick fixes, band aid solutions, mobile farm stands, or temporary projects.   This time around we are moving slowly, carefully researching how to build a lean and sustainable farm operation that is capable of growing food and cultivating community for years to come.

We are continuing on with the CSA (Community Support Agriculture) model, and in fact, we have expanded the concept to a COA (Community Owned Agriculture) model!   You can read about this in the link at the bottom about becoming an owner-investor of the farm.  But I can’t reiterate how important it is that we get sales right away, up front, at the start of our season.   Farming the organic method is truly expensive!   We just spent over $8,000 on organic fertilizers and soil amendments, such as compost.  And this does not include the several thousands of dollars we spent on seeds and potting soil.

NO EGGS?!?!?!

As a self-administered rule, Farmer Kohei has made a solemn commitment to himself – no animals (and especially no Emu’s) until we are ready!    While he is dying to bring back the production of yolk rich duck eggs, blue chicken eggs, and those speckled bite size quail eggs, we first have to figure out how to manage the intense presence of coyotes which make their pack presence known in the middle of the night, and the lone fox who frequents the property at more random hours throughout the day.  Fisher cats stake their claim here as well.  This is prime farmland in a rich ecosystem of freshwater ponds, salt water marshes, and farm fields plump with produce.

While we will probably start up our new flock of egg-laying poultry sometime this year, there is no guarantee on when eggs will be available.  When they are available, we will be sure to let you know, and we can easily add them onto your share.

 

READY TO SIGN UP?  CLICK HERE

 

WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR?   Aside from a new farm, new growing conditions, and a new location, we got a few other new things going on:

• Trying out some new vegetable items, such as Chrysantheum greens and Shishito peppers, and new varieties of scallions, tomatoes, and potatoes.
• We will be planting a few mini-orchards of hardy kiwis, fig trees, and blueberries, but these won’t be ready for harvest until 2020
• We’re moving slowly, building a truly sustainable farm movement organization – this means that we’re not going to jump right in into egg and meat production until we’re ready, and we’re also keeping this year’s CSA very small – capping at just 40 members.
• A newly formed Transplant Committee will be guiding farmer Kohei into building Movement Ground Farm into a lean, mean, green and totally bad-ass organization!
• An experimental CSA flower share will raise funds to support our movement partner organizations and their direct work with families separated by ICE

 

SUMMER & FALL VEGETABLE SHARES

The Summer share is 13 weeks of produce and starts July 2.   Each share consists of 5 vegetable items.   For example, you will get something equivalent to a pound of tomatoes, a bunch of carrots, a pound of green beans, a head of lettuce, and a whole watermelon.    The Fall Share consists of 11 weeks of produce, starts on October 8th and goes through December 17th.   We may also offer a short winter share focused on storage crops (potatoes, onions, beets, winter squash) paired with cold loving, sweet baby greens (such as bok choys, spinach, Chinese broccoli, baby lettuce) in our greenhouse.  There will be optional free items each week when they are available.

The cost of one week’s worth of produce is $21.93, which brings the Summer share to $285.09 and the Fall share to $241.23.   If you purchase both shares together, you get a $10 discount.

 

FLOWERS FOR JUSTICE (OR LOVE!)

Our Flowers for Justice (or Love!) is a CSA flower share program where you will receive seven fresh bouquets of flowers, one bouquet every other week. Since this is our first time delving into the world of flowers, this year will be largely experimental. 100% of the profit will directly go to support families who being torn apart by Immigration & Customs Enforcement, specifically to support their involvement in the immigrant rights campaigns of three organizations – Providence Youth Student Movement, Alliance for the Mobilization of Our Resistance, and Asian American Resource Workshop.

7 bouquets of flowers, delivered every other week, starting on August 13^th and ending on November 5^th.  Cost is $140 for small bouquets (Flowers for Justice) and $210 for large bouquets (Flowers for Love).  It is considered as a donation and if we receive our 501c3 status this year then you can deduct it from your taxes.  We will send out notices if we achieve that status.

SPACE IS LIMITED TO 20 for the Flower Share.  SO SIGN UP SOON… OR RIGHT NOW!

 

CSA pick up days are on Tuesdays at the following locations and during the following times:

Drop Off Sites	Addresses	Times
PrYSM * Providence Youth Student Movement	669 Elmwood Avenue Providence, RI 02907	Tuesdays, 2 – 6pm
AARW * Asian American Resource Workshop	42 Charles Street Boston, MA 02122	Tuesdays, 3 – 7pm
MGF * Movement Ground Farm	592 Puncatest Neck Road, Tiverton RI 02878	Tuesdays, 3 – 7pm
GRI * Grassroots International	Only Open to GRI Members

 

	Distribution	Date	# of Shares	$/share	Total
Summer Share	Weekly	July 2 – Sept 24	13	$21.93	$285.09
Fall Share	Weekly	Oct 8 – Dec 17	11	$21.93	$241.23
Flower Share	Bi-weekly	Aug 13 – Nov 5	7	$20 – $30	$140 – 210

 

• LEARN ABOUT OUR NEW MICRO-CLIMATE & GROWING CONDITIONS IN TIVERTON
• LEARN ABOUT HOW TO BECOME AN OWNER-INVESTOR OF THE FARM
• VOLUNTEER OR JOIN OUR WORKSHARE TEAM!   FREE PRODUCE IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR HARD WORK. 
• Help Us Build MGF organizationally!
• SIGN UP FOR A CSA NOW!

Thank you for your ongoing support!   Let the good times and good eating begin!

Papers Signed, the Farm is OURS!!

After three years of searching, and after 6 months of waiting in suspense after signing a Purchase & Sales agreement, we finally closed on the property right on the Spring Equinox!  I never knew how unnerving the suspense would be, my life and vision put on a long un-ending pause.   I am so relieved!   All of this is made possible by the friends, CSA members, and family who formed the Puncatest Land Heights Collaborative LLC, our experiment in community and family supported land ownership!  And special thanks to our realtor, Brian Janes of William Raveis Real Estate.

We are nestled in a far coastal town, disconnected from the rest of the State of Rhode Island, and perhaps the best kept secret of New England.   All the beauty of the Cape without the traffic and fanfare.   Our farm is located high on top of a peninsula, sandwiched between the Nonquit Pond and the Sakonnet river.  You do not have to look into historic documents to know and feel that the locals considered this land and it’s beauty as sacred. It served as a vital source of shellfish and fertile cropland by the indigenous before settlers and capitalists privatized the land and sub-sectioned it off to graze cattle and other livestock.

Our new address is 592 Puncatest Neck Road, Tiverton RI 02878.   We are inspired by its landscape and beauty every single day.

We are looking forward to building with residents and neighbors in Tiverton, local farmers and food producers, the Pocasett Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation, and anyone else who believes that we need to heal the land, heal the people, and position our lives in the fight for social, economic, racial, gender, and ecological justice!

Special thanks to everyone who advised, volunteered, coached, and supported our transition process, from legal counsel to packing up boxes.  Especially…

Marie Kazuinas, Chuck Currie,  Noah Schuettge, Patch Putterman, Sara Mersha, Glynn Lloyd, Jenn Medeiros, Mateal Lovass Ishihara, Emiko Ishihara, Rumi Lovass Ishihara, Michio Ishihara, Melody Ishihara, Brian Janes, Adeola Oredola, DJ Horton, Martha Yager, Kathy Lessuck, Shirley Mark, Dulari Talhbidar, Mimi Budnick, Elena Shih, Sarath Suong, Dimple Rana, Shannah Kurland, Dante Luna, Omar Luna, Gladys Gould, Judy Khy, Stanley Mui, Caleb Khy, Tyler Rollock, Sophia Wright, Suzanne Pan, Mina Remy, Katie Yi Li, Go Sasaki, Jenn Steinfeld, Jennifer Rowe, Yoko Fujiwara, Junco Sugiyama, Yuji Kira, Veasna San, Rachel Miller, Anim Yeboah, William McCaffrey, Bill McCaffrey, Laney Sproat Pitt, Tess Brown Lavoie, Sarah Turkus, Carolyn Chou, Dave Jenkins, Aaron Tanaka, Leah Peniman, Cata Lorenzo Antonio and Josh, Jennifer Shultz, Patricia London, Anthony Lopes, Barry Gross, Kalliane Dewi, and Chelsea De Santis.

And these fabulous organizations:

Conservation Law Foundation, Goodwin Associates, Land For Good

 

THANK YOU!!

 

Homebound

It started with identifying the biggest farming communities in the Northeast, and then it involved road trips, lots of them, through all New England states.  The challenge question: where could we find a farm that could meet the following criteria?

• 20+ acres
• of land that is cultivatable for crop production
• is scenic and inspiring
• with a home suitable for me, and my parents
• within a 1 – 2 hour orbit of Boston and Providence
• affordable, and within budget
• and not in Trump country, or at least have some diversity and LGBTQ presence

And then with my sister’s family involved in the venture, the property also had to meet these other requirements:

• potentially zoned for multiple- residencies
• near high quality elementary schools, middle schools and day care centers
• near hospitals
• near job opportunities

And then there were the other economic and geopolitical currents running against us – searching in a region that maintains the highest farm real estate prices in the nation, a bad market year for home buyers, and the ever increasing encroachment of development and the disappearance of farm life and farmland in the Northeast.    We even checked out properties as far out as southern Vermont!

We first put in an offer for a property near Petersborough, New Hampshire.   It was going to be a long stretch away from Providence, but it was so beautiful and I figured it could still be a great place for people from Boston and Providence to come retreat.   We were outbid and lost that property!  Then, we were almost ready to put in an offer in Woodstock, Connecticut.  Only an hour away from both Providence and Boston.

Two years of searching, two years of not knowing your future, and two years of living on the edge.   My 70-year-old parents sold their house and moved in with me at the Berkley property.    It made sense because they were living all alone in northern California.

One of my favorite places is the south coast of Massachusetts, where Westport and Dartmouth brush up against the towns of Tiverton and Little Compton, RI.  A place where red barns and rolling fields stretch out into the deep blue waters of the Atlantic ocean.  Before it was an important farming area for the colonists, it was a sacred home and valued farming area for the Pocassett Indians.  Part of the busy Boston-Providence metropolitan area, it’s almost incredible to see so many open fields and farms still in existence on the south coast.  Still, after doing a bit of research, I concluded that farmland in this area was just going to be too expensive for us.

And then a few things happened that changed everything.

My mom had a frightening health scare.    This made me start thinking about my ability as a single farmer to both be a caretaker and manager of a farm.   It made me stop looking at properties with old or neglected houses – as I started recognizing how important it was to find a warm, comfortable, move-in ready home for my parents.    It made me warm up to the idea of a smaller, more manageable farm.   It also made me think about how important it was to be closer to good hospitals, to people I know, and to community!

Meanwhile, I stumbled upon a small, BEAUUUUUUUTIFUL, 7 acre property on the south coast!   The house was new, and sat on top of a hill that sloped gently into a lake.    A three minute drive to two public beaches.   A half an hour to Providence and only about an hour to Boston.   While small in size, it lay adjacent to other farm properties on three sides – making the idea of leasing extra land very promising.   Zoom out, and there’s farmland all around.   But after running the numbers – it was just too expensive.    I’d be one stressed out farmer trying to sell tomatoes at the market just to pay the monthly mortgage and the high property taxes.

Then a second thing happened.  After speaking with other family farms, non-profit farms, and for-profit farms, I brainstormed the idea of holding the land through an LLC, and selling shares in the ownership of the property, just like I have already been selling CSA vegetable shares.   I emailed friends, family, and CSA members asking if they would invest in this property.   And helped poured in!   I worked with a lawyer to set up an LLC, set up a bank account, and the money came in!   Once we had all our Pekin ducks in line, we put in an all-cash offer for the property, and then we waited.

We are still in the waiting game, as it’s a complicated real estate venture.  But with pro-bono legal assistance from the Conservation Law Foundation, a good realtor, and a solid support team of friends and family – we have a winning strategy.   And on a parallel track, we also asked to sign a 12-month renewable lease agreement so we could move in right away.   And this happened just in time – one week before my sister’s family was moving here from California.   And only three weeks before my Berkley lease was up!

I was going to wait until the place was 100% ours and the sale complete.  But figured I might as well share the joy I feel inside to have finally found a home, a farm, and a place where this vision can truly photosynthesize.   For now, I’ll keep the location private.   Well, suspense is fun!  And it doesn’t quite feel right to make the announcement before it’s all confirmed.   But here’s a hint:

1. I’m an hour and ten minutes drive to Boston, and 37 minutes to Providence
2. I’m sandwiched between a fresh water pond and a salt water bay
3. And I’m a 9-minute drive to the MA/RI border

Stay tuned for an announcement when the sale is complete, and stay tuned in general for a lifetime of adventure, community, social justice, and of course, amazing food.

Thank you to my dearest friends, and a big shout out to the friends and family members who invested their money to make this happen!

Keep your fingers crossed and wish us luck!

Kohei