Week 8: Quail eggs & snapping turtles

 

July 18, 2017

Week 8

 

Caleb walking amongst the Nabechan, a giant Japanese scallion.

This Week’s Menu

Nabechan (scallions)

Cilantro

Basil (opal or genovese)

Yellow zucchini or pattypan squash

Cucumbers

Bok choy

Red cabbage or mizuna bunches

And quail eggs for Cambridge, Dorchester, and Quincy!

 

Quail egg recipes

 

You can eat quail eggs the same way you eat chicken eggs, but the best way to eat them is to boil them versus making a sunny side-up or scrambled egg.   This is because of the amazing texture and taste of the egg.  The yolk is creamier and the whites cook firmer, so when plopping a marinated, pickled, or just plain quail egg in your mouth, it kind of well… plops open as your teeth bite into it!   They are the perfect snack.

After bringing your water to a boil…boil for two minutes if you want soft boiled eggs with the yolk still runny.   Boil for two and a half minutes for a soft-boiled egg.   Boil for three minutes for a medium boiled egg.  Boil for four minutes for a hard-boiled egg. The yolk will be completely set.   Give them an ice bath afterwards and then the shells should peel off easily.

Then the possibilities are endless.   They are amazing in soups and stews as they soak up and marinate so well.   They are also great in stir-frys and salads, on toast for breakfast, blended raw in a smoothie, or pickled.    Here are some pictures to help you think of how you might enjoy yours!

Soy grilled quail egg with sesame as featured on http://www.ottolenghi.co.uk

Open faced quail egg sandwich as featured on http://cavemanketo.com

Kwek-kwek (Fried orange battered quail eggs) featured on http://panlasangpinoy.com

Pickled quail egg with grated beet featured on http://gourmet.lovetoknow.com/

 

Saffron potato crouquettes with soft boiled quail eggs featured on http://www.astackofdishes.com

 

 

 

Farm Update

Pekin ducklings are growing fast and tomorrow we transfer them out to pasture.   We kept them in a grassy pen by the barn this past week to see how they cope with the elements while keeping a close watch on them.

Most recently farming has been feeling like a constant and bloody battle against pests, predators, and diseases.   The new electric fence we installed has seemed to work in keeping the laying chickens in and the foxes out.  So that is a load off of my mind.   Then some mites moved into our coop but luckily we caught that early on and treated the chickens with pyrethrum, an organic substance derived from the Chrysantheum flower.

But we are still in limbo in our battle with the groundhogs.   Round one happened last year, and we lost hard.  I’m talking about over 600 damaged lettuce heads  – that’s almost $2000 of produce!   I actually snuck up behind one once and netted it!   I managed to get it into a cage, only to find that it escaped out of a hole on the other side of the cage.   Last year they won.  This year we’ve been setting traps, daily and diligently, but to no avail.  Multiple traps next to their dens at multiple locations around the farm.   No matter how we bait it, they don’t enter!   We agreed that after so much effort and so much loss in produce and labor, when we finally caught one, well… we would eat it!  So last month we caught one!   And well… since it is illegal to trap and release, we kept to our promise and prepared farm fresh roasted groundhog.   Round 2, we won!   To bring you up to speed, last week we couldn’t give everyone green curly kale, because we discovered that half of them were gone!   At this point, they’re still winning.

Today we were out in the field spraying the tomatoes with a certified organic copper spray, since we received reports that Late Blight (a fungus) was reported in upstate NY last week and was predicted to land in Massachusetts by mid this week.   We started these baby tomatoes back in February!  Nursed them, watered them, potted them up, and then transplanted them.  We lodged stakes between every two plants, and we pruned them, and then we started stringing them!   No way are we going to let an early case of Late Blight (which usually comes in late summer) destroy our crop!   We’ve also discovered a new threat – the green horned tomato caterpillar.  Usually they are manageable.   This year, they are everywhere!

Yesterday while we were rescuing the tomatoes, one of our poor goslings was sabotaged from below the murky waters of the swamp.   A large snapping turtle tried to take it down.   We managed to intervene and rescue the gosling, who now has a large tear in her breast.   We hope she is going to make it.   So here is where the battle starts to feel daunting.  During all of these set-backs and battles with pests and predators, the weeds have been growing ferociously!    And I wish we could tackle them, but now comes the deadline to start seeding all of our Fall and Winter crops.  Up against a force of nature, we’re striving to become one ourselves in order to keep up.

 

I’m extremely happy with how the Cornish game hen came out.  They are so tender and sweet.   Every experience I’ve had eating them so far has been excellent!

The garlic harvest may be this week or next week, but WOW, look at the size of these!

The first tomato!    And it’s about to whacked off its stem in this picture!

 

Week 4: June 20, 2017

Week 4: Summer Solstice!

June 20, 2017

Left to Right: Farmers Kohei, Matt, and Lucas enjoying our occupational right to wear a one-zy to work!

Menu

Pasture-raised Freedom Ranger chickens (for meat sharers)

hakurei turnips

sugar snap peas

Red leaf lettuce

Baby lettuces & baby spinaches (packed separately)

strawberries

young collard greens

 

Recipe Ideas

I’ve never grown collards are beautiful as these.   They’re young, tender and perfect.    More often than not you buy old or mature collard greens at grocery stores, so these may surprise you with how tender they are, and how fast they cook.  Collard greens are used in cuisine from India, Portuguese, Brazil, as well as in African American, Native American and Southern cooking in the U.S.  They are excellent sources (20% or higher of the Daily Value) of vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K, and manganese, and moderate sources of calcium and vitamin B6.

 

 

 

Saag with collard greens, kale, and spinach by herbivoracious.com

 

Since we mentioned Saag, might as well include a how to make PANEER!

 

Braised pork belly with collard greens by Taste of Southern Cooking Magazine

Hakurei turnip with sugar snap peas, ginger, and carrots by Not Eating Out in NY

Maple glazed hakurei turnip with shiitake over soba noodles by Kitchen Vignettes

 

Sauteed hakurei & komatsuna by Nutmeg Granny

*

The best soup I’ve ever had by the Khmer People, aka Chicken Lime Soup

 (telepathed through Sarath Suong)

1. In a large pot of water (at least 10 cups of water), boil a whole chicken with galangal, lemongrass, garlic, and kaffir lime leaves (YES, it’s worth your trip to the Asian market to get these)
   

   

   

   2. Cover and bring to a slow boil and simmer for about 1.5 hours.   During this time, add about a third to a half cup of fish sauce.   Add 2 Tbsp of sugar.  Add fish sauce/ sugar if it continue to tastes bland, but not too much.  It should taste like a mild chicken soup; its flavor comes alive at the end with the toppings!

1. On the side, prepare the essential toppings – note these are not garnishes, they are actual vital toppings.   Chop a bunch of cilantro, de-leaf some thai basil, and de-leaf some mint leaves.   And slice a lime into orange sliced shapes.

2. Prepare an optional sauce –  in a small bowl add fish sauce and hot thai chili peppers, chop or use mortar and pestal to get a spicier flavor, and set aside.

3. When your chicken starts to come apart easily, take the chicken out of the water, and de-bone.  Save the bones to make a stock on another day.  Add the meat back into the soup.   Take out the lemongrass as it will just get in the way of the soup.  You can also take out the kaffir lime leaf and galangal.

4. Serve with rice on the side!    It is essential that one eats this with at least one (if not 2 to 3) wedges of lime squeezed into your soup, a pinch of cilantro, and a double pinch of mint (basil is optional).  Add the fish sauce and chili pepper to spice it up.  It’s a refreshing summer time soup!

 

Shout Outs!

Shout out to Dimple Rana, our drop off coordinator in Revere, as she has announced that she is running for City Council in Revere!    And shout out to our Cambridge drop-off coordinator Ellie Tiglao for her pop-up restaurant tomorrow (Wed) serving Filipino food!   Shout out to PrYSM and ARISE (Alliance of RI Southeast Asians for Education) for the passage of the All Students Count Act, a state-wide law that requires public educational institutions to collect data based on ethnicity (e.g. Hmong, Lao, and Khmer) and not just race (e.g. Asian).   For years, data on Southeast Asians has been obscured both numerically (by being grouped with all other Asians in the U.S. whom as a racial group have the highest performing educational rates) and ideologically by the model minority myth (or the myth that all Asians are someone academically-inclined, especially in the maths and sciences).  This law, first introduced by PrYSM in 2006, and recently taken up again with the leadership of ARISE, puts RI on par with only the states of Washington and Minnesota to finally demographically count Southeast Asian ethnic groups!    Check out the Press Release!

 

Week 3, Summer 2017

 

Menu

Garlic scapes

Shiitake mushrooms

Baby lettuce & mizuna

Strawberries

Komatsuna greens

(extra Komatsuna greens instead of Shiitake for JP, FANG, and Cambridge)

Recipe Ideas

Garlic scape pesto by the Prairie homestead

Brine pickled (lacto fermented) garlic scapes by Nourished Kitchen

Stir fried garlic scapes by Maangchi

Orzo with garlic scapes and shiitake by Seasons and Suppers

Garlic Scapes with Shitake and Pancetta by Rufus Guide

 

Spinach, shiitake, and strawberry omelet by Spark Recipes

 

Shout out to some famous CSA members!

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado was recognized by USA Today as one of the many faces of PRIDE across the country!

Excerpt from The Faces of Pride, USA Today:

Vanessa Flores-Maldonado is a queer Guatemalan-American woman fighting for resources for queer and transgender people of color.  She’s a minority within a minority, trying to give a voice to others like her.   “It’s not enough to say Black Lives Matter,” Flores-Maldonado said. “How are you actively working to protecting trans lives (of color) and make sure they don’t just become another hashtag?”  One topic she’s passionate about is police accountability. As part of the Providence Youth Student Movement, she has protested police presence at the area’s annual pride celebration.  She says she’s trying to make safe spaces for black, brown, queer, trans, youth and women. “It’s hard as a queer Latina to feel comfortable,” she said. 

Shout out to Dave Jenkins for founding and organizing the Maine Lobster Feed, now in it’s fourth year!    Why not get connected and support the movement in Boston, while being forced to eat some fresh lobsters trucked in from Maine?   Proceeds go to the Asian American Resource Workshop (AARW) – our Dorchester CSA drop off organization – as well as the Student Immigrant Movement (SIM), Alternatives for Community & Environment (ACE), Black and Pink, Haymarket Peoples’ Fund, and Resist, inc.     The event is this Saturday, June 24, 2017, and will feature our cucumbers if our cucumbers are ready by then!   When you buy your tickets, choose between the 1:30, 3:00, 5:00 or 6:30 seatings.    I’ll be there at 1:30!   Tickets sold here on Eventbrite   

Martha Yager likes to keep a low profile, which is why when she reads this and is reminded of how she was the recipient of PrYSM’s Love award this past November and how she was honored at this past week’s American Friends Service Committee’s celebration of 15 years of organizing, she might be further irritated to learn that she is now the recipient of Movement Ground Farm’s MGV (Most Grounded Volunteer)award!  Rain or extreme 100-degree sunshine, Martha is here every single Monday.  Martha has been a FORCE creating greater police accountability in Providence, advocating for Palestinian human rights, forcing Textron to stop producing cluster bombs, not to mention upholding most of the program work for the American Friends Service Committee.  Accomplishments aside, thank you Martha for being a wonderful human being!

 

 

Help us fight the weeds!

They’re not winning yet, but if we don’t get some serious support in the next few weeks, we will be drowning in them in about a month!  Best days to come are Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays when it’s not raining.   Text me at 707-972-3180 to schedule your volunteer day!

 

Pig Shares!

Have a bit of room in your freezer?   Then you should take advantage of splitting or hogging a quarter, half, or whole pig share from Spring Rain Farm.   I’m actually look for three other people to split a whole pig with me!   Or think about other friends and neighbors who might be interested in sharing.   Each pig is raised in the meadows and forests overlooking cranberry bogs, free to romp and root under a canopy of wildflowers, pine and oak.  Their rich, earthy, sweet and succulent taste also comes from the tons of cranberries they are fed in the fall.   Pick ups occur from mid-October through December.   Contact me if you’d like to share a pig with me, and contact Will, the farmer, if you’d like to buy direct!   774-218-6416 or springrainfamilyfarm@gmail.com

 

 

 

Summer 2017: Week 2

Before I begin this week’s blog, I’d like to acknowledge a significant community victory!   A shining example of people power! 

Congratulations PrYSM  (our CSA drop off organization in Providence) on your seven year struggle to pass the Community Safety Act, a municipal racial profiling law that ensures community oversight over police misconduct, abuse, and profiling. On Thursday, June 1^st, the Providence City Council voted 13 to 1 in favor of passing the ordinance!   National right-wing police associations and police departments across the East Coast took notice, the local FOP repeatedly turned out 60+ off-duty officers as well as on-duty officers to raise opposition at each ordinance hearing, and a prison transport van was parked visibly right outside the building.    PrYSM’s office was vandalized and a noose was left strung from the ceiling – perpetrators were never caught.   These tactics of intimidation did not work in suppressing progress.  PrYSM was instrumental in building a broad-based multi-racial coalition of African Americans, Southeast Asians, Latinos, immigrants and refugees, white allies, youth, as well as the LGBTQ community.   Every ordinance meeting, they turned out their supporters [in the hundreds], swelling the board rooms and hallways of Providence City Hall.  In an era of fear and repression, the most comprehensive racial profiling law in the nation was past here in Rhode Island.   See http://www.rifuture.org/csa-passes/ to learn more!

 

Onto this week’s Menu

green garlic (use the entire plant)

GREEN GARLIC?? WHAT IS IT AND HOW TO COOK IT from WTF CSA?!

spinach and tangy Asian green salad mix

red giant mustard for stews, soups, stir-frys, and sautees

red or green curly kale

and when life gives you strawberries…

and duck eggs!

 

Recipe Ideas

Seared porkchop with mustard green chimichurri from the Joy of Cooking

Balsalmic glazed chickpeas and mustard greens from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Mustard green soup with roasted meat from Angkorian Cooking

Green garlic pesto Green garlic pesto from the Spruce

Roasted green garlic from the Spruce

Cream of green garlic and potato soup by All Recipes

 

 

 

 

Farm Update

Quails have moved out from the brooder and onto pasture, in these DIY quail tractors.  It’s called a “tractor” because we move it every other day so that they have fresh pasture  (grass, worms, bugs) to rummage as well as for cleanliness, while also fertilizing the soil.   So far, so good.  We are able to move them without any escaping.  They are definitely prolific soil amenders!

 

Actually, we also moved the Cornish Game Hens out to pasture.   They’re not fond of the cold weather.   But at least its a great excuse to cuddle!

While our tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash have just been sitting in the fields with little growth, the spinach and shiitake mushrooms have been thriving in this cold and wet Spring.

When you’re tied to the land and can’t take vacations, its nice when paradise comes to you!

Alright, praying for some sunshine!   Have a great week!

Week 1 of Summer 2017

May 30, 2017

Okay, 80 shares delivered to seven cities.  A few bumps here and there, but I’m thinking and hoping that by next week, we will be heading for some smooth sailing!

Most important thing – if you did not receive a text message from me (I sent one this morning) but would appreciate text messages once or twice a week, please respond with your name and cell phone number!   Conversely, if you received a text message, and do not wish to be a recipient, let me know.

Logistics

1. If you are going away or want your share held a certain week, you can schedule those holds as well as when to make up those shares, and even temporarily or permanently swop your pick-up locations.  So please, bookmark this page: http://movementgroundfarm.csasignup.com/login and log-in with the same email you used to sign up for the CSA.

2. Not everyone gets the same things each week.   But we make sure that in the end, everyone does get to experience everything we have to offer.   If you didn’t receive strawberries this week, expect to receive EXTRA strawberries next week.

This Week’s Menu

pink radishes

komatsuna

arugula

scallions

others may have received garlic scapes, bok choy, and strawberries

RECIPE IDEAS

Komatsuna: Japan-Inspired Mustard Greens

Ingredients

1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional)

1 teaspoon Asian (toasted)

sesame oil

6 cups washed and chopped mustard greens

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon minced garlic or to taste

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons Japanese rice wine (mirin) vinegar

1 teaspoon sake (optional)

1 teaspoon white sugar

How to make

1. Place the sesame seeds into a large skillet over medium heat, and cook and stir constantly until the seeds are toasted a golden brown and make a continuous crackling noise, 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer the seeds immediately to a bowl to stop the cooking process. Set seeds aside.
2. Place sesame oil in the hot skillet, and heat until it just begins to smoke (this should happen very fast). Place mustard greens into the hot oil, and pour in water. With a spatula, gently toss the greens until they are wilted and reduced in quantity, about 2 minutes. Mix in garlic, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sake, and sugar.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, stir until sugar has dissolved, and cover the skillet. Reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the greens are tender, 10 to 15 minutes. If a thicker sauce is desired, remove greens with a slotted spoon, and cook the liquid down to desired thickness; return greens to the skillet, toss in the pan juices, and sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.

Garlic Scapes: Garlic scape pesto.

Ingredients:

10 large garlic scapes

1 cup lightly packed basil leaves (optional)

½ cup pine nuts or walnuts

⅓ teaspoon salt

½ to 1 cup (depending on desired consistency of your pesto) of olive oil

½ to 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

How to make

1. Combine garlic scapes, basil, and salt to food processor or blender.
2. Start processing, adding oil slowly.
3. Add nuts and cheese
4. Add to pasta, pizza, toast, or whatever you want your pesto with.

 

Radish: Pesto, radish, and sea salt crostini.

Ingredients:

thinly sliced baguette

Olive oil

Pesto

Thinly sliced radishes

Flaky sea salt

 

How to make

1. Brush baguette slices with olive oil and toast in oven at 400
2. Spread your garlic scape pesto on the toasted baguette slices, top with radishes, and sprinkle with sea salt.

 

Arugula: Prosciutto and Arugula pizza

Ingredients

1 pound pizza dough

1 cup pizza sauce

3 cups shredded mozzarella

4 cups arugula

4 tablespoons olive oil

2 tsp lemon juice

Prosciutto

 

 

How to make

1. Divide dough into four equal parts, cover with plastic wrap, rest for 15 minutes
2. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough into 8 inch round pies. Transfer to pizza piel covered with parchment paper or upside down baking sheet.
3. Brush dough with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
4. Add pizza sauce
5. Add mozzarella and prosciutto
6. Place on pizza stone or upside down baking tray in oven at highest setting for 5 to 8 minutes
7. In a bowl add arugula, lemon juice, salt and pepper
8. When pizza is cooked (golden brown crust and bubbling cheese) add the arugula and shaved parmesan

 

Good luck!

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