Morning Song Farm News

This week's Large Garden N Grove CSA Box. Three herbs: cilantro, small sprig of rosemary and curly parsley. And the only unusual veggie this week is our beautiful dandelions in the bottom left of the image above. The first of the zutano avocados of the season, in large shares only this week. Yep, the hiatus of avocados have come to an end. With 500+ trees, and several varieties, (mostly Hass) we have avocados in our CSA boxes 9-10 months out of the year. By the time August-September rolls around and we're out of the fruit, many of our much appreciated CSA members are telling us they're OVER guacamole.

We don't get dandies in the CSA boxes that often, but everyone got bunches this week! Tell me what you think. Similar to a spicy arugula, dandies are among the most celebrated healthy greens in the Chinese herbalist tool kit. Check this link out if you'd like to learn more about dandelion studies and health benefits: see here

Amaranth is among the grains written about years ago in, Save Three Lives, A Plan for Famine Prevention by Robert Rodale. Some of my readers may remember that the Rodales published the Organic Gardening Magazine and were champions of all things pure and clean long before organic certification and commercialization of the organic meme happened along. So...that must be 20 years ago now. I became really interested in amaranth because of Rodale's writing and have grown some ever since, although never successfully enough to offer to CSA members as an edible. We thought we'd try something innovative and try sprouting the seeds, and although they do sprout, and they are a beautiful rose color, the sprouted seed isn't all that tasty. Yes, high in protein, but somewhat bitter. A few of the tiny seeds from that recent experiment landed in the avocado grove, and yesterday I found these plants. They're gorgeous!

A typical fall CSA box. You'll also find something new from our sprout production facility. This is the first trial week, so if you have comments or thoughts about our newest addition to our sprout offerings: Protein Sprout Crunch. It's a tasty combination of lentils, spreckled peas, and green peas. A few boxes will see our sunflower shoots, but we haven't perfected the growth cycle to get the shoots to reach maturity on the CSA days. We're either too early or too late. We'll get it right soon!

Fall at last! This morning was the first fall morning here...just a few days shy of November ...that I thought about needing a jacket. I skipped the jacket, and jumped in the golf cart to buzz down to the barn to meet the farm crew and found I'd just sat in a wet golf cart seat. Yeah! Fall and its accompanying morning dew is here for the duration. Now until July, careful seat checking is a prerequisite. Forgetfulness gets you a wet butt.  Just for fun, I checked the weather report in a Northwest community where I've always wanted to live...yep...32 degrees. It's really still beach weather here in northern San Diego, except in the very early morning. Which explains why we have a large and still growing population that our current water infrastructure cannot ever promise to accommodate consistently. I don't think there is an easy answer, but the current Ostrich in the Mud Plan can't possibly end well. If water resources and population don't grow in tandem, one o...

 Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose organic wheat flour 2 tsps baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese 2 tsps fresh rosemary 1 large egg 1 cup milk 1/3 cup olive oil   Directions: first combine milk, egg and oil. Set aside. Then combine and thoroughly incorporate all dry ingredients.  Combine two and add your cheese and finely chopped rosemary. Spoon into muffin papers and bake at 350 for 12 minutes or so, until tops are lightly browned. Do not overbake.  

As easy crockpot meal, and makes great leftovers, too. 1 whole chicken cut into pieces 3 medium organic potatoes. (among the dirty dozen....use only organic, non-GMO potatoes) 1 can 12 ounces beer 2 medium carrots 1 cup chopped celery 1 medium chopped onion 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary Place ingredients in your crockpot, and cook on medium for 5 hours.