Warm Winterly Gretting to BUG Farms Supporters,

Now that the growing season is over, and have had a nice holiday break, we are rolling into the planning and transition stage of the season. Every day the sun stays in the sky a little bit longer, and we are gathering our energy and wits to make the 2012 season the best harvest season yet! I am currently spending a few weeks in Arizona with family here, and then heading to Tucson to attend Native Seed/SEARCH's Grain School in the hopes to be growing backyard plots of grains for this coming season and beyond.

With all of this planning and transition going on, I wanted to remind those of you thinking about joining our CSA program for 2012 of our Early Bird Discount which will end in a few short days on December 31, 2011. Those of you who sign up by the end of the year will recieve $100 off the Full Share Price and $50 off the Half Share Price.

To Sign Up For Early Bird CSA Pricing, Click Here!

http://www.backyardurbangardens.com/members

 

Another note about changes for the 2012 Season is that we are increasing the price of Home/Office Delivery Shares to reflect the extra time and/or fuel it takes to make these deliveries, so make sure you choose the type that suits your needs and budget. We have increased the delivery price so that the delivery charge is only an extra $4 per week to get your veggies taken straight to your door.

 

But for those of you wanting the Pickup Option, we have locked in 3 Pickup Locations so far including:

• University/East Bench Area: Bright Horizons at U of U Research Park
• East Downtown Area: Home near 1300 E 700 S
• Mountain Valley Seed Co.: 455 W 1700 S (Near Costco)

Also we are looking for Pickup Hosts in these SLC Neighborhoods:

• Sugarhouse
• Avenues
• Downtown/Liberty Wells

*If you become a pickup host, you will recieve an additional $100 off your full share price. Contact me (Sharon) for more details about becoming a Pickup Host at bugfarms@gmail.com.

To learn more about what our CSA Program offers, check out our CSA description page here:

http://www.backyardurbangardens.com/content/8993

 

I hope some of you take the leap to join our CSA Program, it does a lot to support the transformation of urban land into productive food growing space. Not to mention all of the tasty, fresh, and grown with love veggies you will recieve all season : )

 

Until Next Time,

 

Sharon

 

Happy Final Veggie Delivery Greetings!

 

Well, it certainly feels like winter is quickly approaching! It got down to 22 degrees last night out here in Glendale. We had to wait until 10:30 this morning for the frost to melt off the greens so we could pick them. The microgreens suprised us by not even germinating in time this week, even though we planted them earlier than we ever had before! Today we had 10 hours and 22 minutes of daylight, only 23 minutes away from minimum amount of sunlight needed for plants to keep on growing (which is 10 hours). Despite all of these frosty days, we are still giving you a lovely final share this week! We have some pretty heirloom winter squash for you, as well as some tasty potatoes to send you off into the winter with!

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2011 In Review!

Since this is the last CSA email, I thought it would be nice to write an overview of what we grew this season. After crunching some harvest numbers in a spreadsheet, here are some of our harvest totals for the 2011 Season.

BUG Farms in 2011 Grew:

• 500 Pounds Summer Squash
• 800 Pounds Heirloom Tomatoes
• 717 Pounds of Radish Microgreens
• 700 Pounds Greens (Spinach, arugula, mustards, lettuce, etc)
• 1,000 Pounds Bunching Greens (Chard, Kale, Collards)
• 1.120 Pounds Carrots
• 2,120 Pounds Beets (Including Greens)
• 11,275 Pounds Total Food in 2011! (Over 5.5 Tonnes)

That means that each full share recieved about 150 lbs of food over the season! We ended up having 110 CSA Members this year, with 37 members having Full shares, and 73 members having Half Shares.We had 21,000 square feet of growing space, which is just over 1/2 acre spread over 7 backyards.

This season had a lot of weather related challenges, we had the wettest two months EVER in Salt Lake in April and May, which put many of our crops behind. The temps didn't warm up and soil didn't dry out until June, and all of our long season crops were outplanted about 3 weeks behind schedule. We did have a very mild summer, with only one day reaching over 100 degrees! The fall overall has been quite stable with fairly average temperatures allowing for a nice late harvest.

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New Delivery Changes For The 2012 CSA

We are really looking forward to next season, lot of exciting changes coming our way. As I have been writing about, we will be relocating all of our farming activities from Sugarhouse to backyards out in Glendale. I am settling into my new house in Wasatch Commons quite nicely, and look forward to walking out to my backyard farms, walk-in cooler, and chicken coops instead of having to drive to them all! We had to drive an average of 35 miles everyday to get around between our plots, and next year we hope to only have to drive for some of our CSA deliveries.

Speaking of CSA Deliveries, we are seriously looking at minimizing our driving miles next year, and have a couple of awesome, heavy duty bike trailers lined up to do many of our deliveries via bike. We can probably only do the flat land deliveries this way (biking a 500 lb load up the Wasatch Fault would be tricky to say the least) so we will be using the truck to do "Up The Hill" deliveries. So, when you sign up for your share for next season, just choose either "Up The Hill" or "In the Flats" to delineate your delivery neighborhood. Also, because of the time/fuel it takes to do home deliveries, we are planning on adding a delivery fee ($100 extra for  Full Share, $50 extra for 1/2 Share) for those who are choosing that option. BUT if you are a returning member, and you sign up and give us a $100 downpayment before the end of the year (December 31, 2011) your delivery fee will be waived, as well as recieving the early bird discount (another $100 for full shares and $50 for half shares), making the 2012 Full Shares $500, and Half Shares $300 for early bird returning members. To recieve the delivery fee waiver, please send me an email so I can take the discount off of your membership : ) We just finished the sign up page on the website, so feel free to sign up for 2012 online here before the end of the year to get the Early Bird Pricing as well!

 

Become a CSA Pickup Host!

Because some folks might not be able to afford an additional delivery fee, we are planning on expanding the pickup options for next year. So, if you are interested in becoming a pickup location for other folks next year, you will recieve another $100 discount from your full share. We are looking for locations in the Avenues, Sugarhouse, East Bench/University, and Liberty Wells Neighborhoods. If you are interested, send me an email and I will give you more details!

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Thanks for your Support for Grain School!

Because of all of your generous donations, we were able to raise $700 towards tuition for attending Grain School at Native Seed/SEARCH this winter! Jesse and I will be splitting your donations to cover each of our $600 tuition, and we will hopefully be able to recieve a working scholarship for the remaining portion. We are excited to bring back small scale grain growing knowledge to start a couple of 1/2 acre fields of quinoa, wheat, and tepary beans for the 2012 season. We will keep you updated as to our plans of the grain vein : ) Oh, and to those of you who donated, we will be bringing you some tasty homemade jam in your deliveries this week!

 

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I know this is a looong email, but there are lots of juicy end of season tidbits to share. I will be making a quick CSA survey so you can all voice your thought/opinions on your share this year that we will incorporate into our crop/farm plan for next year. We have learned a lot and hope to only improve with each passing year. We truly, deeply thank you for your wonderful gastronomic support this year, and hope to see you all back with the CSA next season! All right, here are the final week CSA details and recipes, enjoy!

 

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Week 23 (A&B) Share
 
1 bunch Kale or Collards
1 bunch Carrots or Beets
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bag lettuce mix or Asian/Mustard/Arugula Mix
1 bunch Sorrel
1 bag potatoes (mixed varieties)

Winter Squash! (mixed heirloom varieties)

 

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Recipes

 

Sorrel and Potato Soup

Adapted from "Vegetable Every Day" by Jack Bishop. Thanks to CSA Member Sandra Hatch for giving me a copy!

2 Tblsps olive oil

2 leeks, or green onions, halved and sliced crosswise into thin strips

1 lb potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes

4 c veggie stock

4 c sorrel, washed and chopped

Salt and Pepper

1. Heat oil in large saucepan. Add leeks/onions and saute over med heat until completely softened.
2. Add potatoes, stock, and salt and pepper to taste and bring to boil. Reduce heat, partially cover, and simmer until potatoes are extremely tender, about 30 minutes
3. Stir in sorrel and continue cooking until sorrel has wilted, 2-3 min. Adjust the seasonings. Serve hot or cool slightly, puree in a blender or with a hand blender, chill, then serve ice cold.

 

Baked Squash Casserole with Indian Flavors

Also from "Vegetables Every Day", add some rice and a salad and everyone will be satisfied.

2 1/2 lbs winter squash

2 Tblsp oil

2 medium onions, halved and sliced thin

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp curry powder

2 tsp minced fresh cilantro

salt

1 c coconut milk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Use a spoon to scoop out and discard strings and seeds. Cut squash into pieces about the size of your hand. Remove the skin and a layer or two of flexh? you want to remove any whitish or green flesh right beneath the skin) with a vegetable peeler or paring knife. Cut the peeled squash into 2 inch chunks.
3. Heat oil in large skillet. Add onions nd saute over med heat until godlen, about 8 min. Add garlic and curry powder and saute until fragrant. Add squash pieces and toss just long enough to coat with the onions and curry. Season with cilantro and salt to taste. Scrape mixture into 13X9-inch bakind dish. Drizzle with coconut milk over squash.
4. Bake until squash is tender and lightly browned, about 1 hour. Let settle for several minutes and then serve

   Spaghetti Squash with Pine Nuts, Sage, and Romano

From: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/spaghetti-squash-with-pine-nuts-sage-and-romano/detail.aspx

• 1 spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
• 2 teaspoons butter, melted
• salt and pepper to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Place the squash, cut side down, in a large baking dish.
  3. Bake the squash in the preheated oven for 50 minutes.
  4. Scrape flesh of squash from the rind using a fork and place in a bowl. Add the pine nuts, cheese, sage, butter, salt, and pepper; toss to combine. Serve immediately.

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There you go! Well, this is the last offical CSA Newsletter, but I will periodically be sending out emails with updates on BUG Farms. Also look out for the End of Season Survey email in the coming weeks.

 

Thank you for your support of BUG Farms!

 

Sharon

 

 

 

 

Halloweenish and Samhainesque Greetings to all of you!

 

Well, were on the home stretch here with the BUG Farms deliveries, and the weather is turning wintersome these days. We had a lovely time planting our first BUG Farms garlic crop last friday on a lovely sunny day. We bought 5 lbs of seed stock garlic from your farmer friend Dave Baldwin who farms down in Sandy. He gave us the variety Incheillium Red, which is the longest storing hardneck variety out there. We are starting small because seed is quite expensive, we spent close to $100 for the seed stock. Garlic is a long term crop that you continually build up year after year by selecting your fattest cloves to save for seed each season. Garlic takes 9 months from planting to maturity(like a baby!) so we will be sharing with you the first of our garlic next July. Some good things to look forward to : )

 

As for this week, we have the last of our hot peppers and pepperoncini's to pass out to you all. There will be radishes for everyone, I will include an adapted recipe based on what chef Ethan Lappe of Caffe Niche had us try last week when we delivered some of our radishes to them. He had them sliced paper thin on a lightly toasted piece of french style bread served with warm butter and sprinkled with Hawaiian black salt. It was the tastiest radish dish I've ever had! Our beet bunches are a bit smaller this week, the beds are starting to get thinned out, and the fall crop is still filling out.

Next week, November 2, will be the LAST CSA DELIVERY for the season. We will be delivering to everyone, to BOTH A and B half shares. We will (hopefully) go out with a bang divvying all of the long storage crops as well as the root veggies and greens. Park City deliveries are included, you will still get your delivery on Friday November 3 : ) I will also try to compile a season summary in next week's email, so stay tuned for that too!

 

Now here's your share this week:

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Week 22 (B) Share
 
1 bag Microgreens
1 bunch Beets
1 bunch Swiss Chard
1 bag Baby Red Russian Kale (tender enough for a salad)
1 bunch Radishes (Purple Plum, Pink Beauty, or French Breakfast)
Pepers (Serrano, Jalapeno, Anaheim, or Pepperoncini

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Caffe Niche-esque Radish Toasty Heaven (adapted from a what Ethan Lappe made at Caffe Niche for me last week!)

For 4 slices of toast

• 1-2 medium radishes, sliced paper thin
• 1 Tbsp butter, melted
• 4 slices of good french-style bread, something crusty but soft with a good crumb, toasted lightly
• 1/2 tsp Hawaiian Black Salt, or another fancy salt

To assemble, drizzle the butter on top of the warm toasted bread, layer on the radish slices, and dust with the salt. Devour/Savor immediately! Simple, but sooo good : )

Sharon's Tasty Baby Kale Salad (I made this tonight for dinner!)

Combine in Salad Bowl:

• 1 Bag Baby Kale
• 1 handful microgreens
• 1 small beet, grated raw
• Sunflower seeds or other nuts, toasted
• 2 oz crumbled Feta(Drake Farms has a tasty goat feta that I used)

Shake together in mason jar for dressing:

• 1-2 Tbsp good Olive Oil
• 1-2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp granulated kelp
• 1 tsp flax oil
• 1 tsp Bragg's Organic Sprinkle Herb mix
• Salt to taste

Mix dressing with salad when you're ready to eat, and enjoy!

Onion Pizza With Ricotta and Chard ( from Recipes for Health in the NY Times)

This luxurious pizza is topped with tender caramelized onions spread over a creamy mixture of ricotta, Parmesan cheese and chopped Swiss chard

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 1/4 pounds onions, sliced

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves

2 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 pound chard, stemmed, leaves washed

1 14-inch pizza crust (1/2 batch pizza dough)

3/4 cup ricotta (6 ounces)

2 ounces Parmesan, grated (1/2 cup, tightly packed)

1 egg yolk

1. Thirty minutes before baking the pizza, preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy skillet. Add the onions. Cook, stirring often, until tender and just beginning to color, about 10 minutes. Add the thyme, garlic and a generous pinch of salt. Turn the heat to low, cover and cook another 10 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until the onions are golden brown and very sweet and soft. Remove from the heat.

2. While the onions are cooking, stem and wash the chard leaves, and bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Fill a medium bowl with ice water. When the water comes to a boil, salt generously and add the chard. Blanch for one to two minutes, just until the leaves are tender, and transfer to the ice water. Drain and squeeze out excess water. Alternatively, steam the chard for two to three minutes until wilted, and rinse with cold water. Chop the chard medium-fine.

3. Roll out the dough, oil a 14-inch pizza pan and dust with cornmeal or semolina. Place the dough on the pan.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg yolk, Parmesan and chard. Spread over the pizza dough in an even layer, leaving a 1-inch border around the rim. Spread the onions over the ricotta mixture.

5. Place in the hot oven, and bake 10 to 15 minutes until the crust and bits of the onion are nicely browned. Remove from the heat, and serve hot or warm.

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Well, until next (and last!) week,

Sharon

Mid-October Salutations BUG Farmsters!

First off, I was so happy to see so many of you at the Potluck last Saturday! I had a lot of fun meeting and eating with you : ) If any of you are wanting to make the tasty Moroccan Carrot Soup the CSA Member Adrienne brought, here is the link to the recipe : ) With your generous donations and silent auction participation we were able to raise over $350 to help us fund Grain School! Tuition is $600 so if any of you would like to leave a donation in your cooler you might just find a jar of my homemade jam or jelly in it's place when you open up your delivery box ; )

We have been hemming and hawing over how much longer to have the CSA Deliveries. The weather has been pretty normal for this time of year, mostly sunny but cool, and they days keep on getting shorter. Our decision thus far is to have 3 more weeks, including this week in deliveries. This would make our last delivery on November 3, 2011. That last week, all members will get a delivery, even if you are a half share and are on the Week B Schedule. We want to make sure both A & B weeks get the same number of deliveries. We anticipate the last week being a big one, we have a big bed of pea shoots growing for it, and we will harvest all we can to distribute to you all.

The crops are slowing down, but we still have some tasty things for all of you! Something different this week will be either Purple Plum Radishes or Sorrel! You will also be recieveing 2 1/2 lbs of green tomatoes as well, I will include a recipe I made up tonight using both green tomatoes and kale in savory cornbread muffins! We also still have beets, we continue to be amazed at how bountiful our beet beds are, suprising us with plenty of them week after week, and our fall planted beet beds are filling in as well for the last couple of weeks! Here is a shot of our lovely greens at our Ward Garden, we will be sad to let this garden go next year, but happy it will be used by some new gardeners as well!



Alright, now onto the Share Details and Recipes!

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Week 21 (A) Share
 
1 bag Microgreens
1 bunch Beets
1 bunch Swiss Chard or Kale or Collards
1 bag Baby Mixed Greens (Arugula, Pac Choi, Tatsoi)
1 bunch Sorrel or Purple Plum Radishes
Green Tomatoes


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Recipes


Sharon's Savory Kale Green Tomato Cornbread Muffins

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c cornmeal
3 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Bragg's Organic Sprinkle
1 tsp kelp (optional, but healthy!)
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp Asafoetidia (an Indian spice, find at an Indian Market)-optional

Wet Ingredients
1/2 c oil (olive or canola)
1 1/2 c milk (dairy or nondairy unsweeetened)
5 leaves kale, chopped
1 1/2 - 2 c chopped/sliced green tomatoes
1 egg (optional, or egg replacer, or 1 Tbsp ground flax seed)

Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl mix together all wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. Spoon mixture into muffin tins. Bake at 360 for 20-30 min until tops are a bit golden. Serve with a chutney, like green tomato chutney, tasty!


Guacamole with a secret ingredient (radishes!)
Contributed by our CSA member Jessica Love : )

3 Haas avocados, peeled, cubed
3-4 radishes, grated
chopped cilantro to taste - I use 1/4 cup
juice of 1 lime
salt to taste
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 t ground chipotle pepper
1/4 t ground black pepper

Combine lime, garlic, and pepper.  Coat the avocado in the mixture as you cut it up to prevent browning.  Mash with a fork.  Mix in the grated radishes, cilantro, and salt to taste.


Chard Cakes with Sorrel Sauce
From the NY Times Recipes for Health

3 cups sorrel leaves

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 garlic clove, crushed

3 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

1 1/4 pounds Swiss chard

1/3 cup pine nuts

4 ounces kashkaval cheese (or pecorino), coarsely grated

1 egg

6 tablespoons dried white bread crumbs

Mixture of vegetable oil and olive oil, for frying.

 

1. Make the sauce: In a food processor or a blender, place sorrel, yogurt, garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, the mustard and salt to taste; process until it is bright green. Taste and add salt, if desired. Refrigerate until needed.

2. Cut woody white stalks from chard leaves. Bring a large pan of water to boil. Add the stalks and simmer for 4 minutes. Then add the leaves, stir and continue simmering for 3 minutes. Drain the chard and allow to cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as possible. Chop leaves and stalks roughly and put in a medium bowl.

3. In a small skillet, fry pine nuts in 1 tablespoon olive oil for 1 minute, or until light brown. Add nuts and oil to the chard, followed by the cheese, egg, bread crumbs, 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. If mixture is very soft and sticky, add more crumbs.

4. Pour enough frying oil into a large skillet to come 1/4 inch up the sides. Shape chard mixture into eight patties roughly 2 inches in diameter and 5/8-inch thick. Fry them for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Place on paper towels to absorb oil. Serve warm or at room temperature, with sauce on the side.

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Alrighty, that wraps it up for another week!

Until next week,

Sharon