Morning Song Farm News

Hi, Today's basket has the first of many avocados, it's a Bacon. Soon we'll begin the Hass avocado harvest. As most of you know, we lost the majority of our avo grove in October's fires, but we still have enough surviving trees to keep our CSA supporters well supplied. Hass is usually released sometime in January. (We can't harvest our avocados until the Avocado Commission says the oil content has reached perfection. Release dates for our Hass is usually mid-January, although I haven't checked on-line, yet.) The weird, kind of ugly root thing in this week's baskets is a parsnip. You have to try it! Last night I peeled a few and baked along with a whole chicken, some potatoes and carrots. These parsnips taste something like sweet potato, with a little sharper spiciness. Make sure they're completely cooked, and as soft as a cooked sweet potato would be. Everything else in the basket this week should be identifiable. There's the last of the fioja guavas...

Hi! Basket deliveries will be skipped on December 25th and December 26th. On Jan. 1. we resume January 2nd, which is a Wednesday.

So many of my fabulous customers and supporters have poured in their concern for Morning Song Farm, and I sure want to take a second to thank everyone. This will be the final fire update, after which I'll go back to my usual once a week publishing. Here's where the farm stands: All buildings safe. It’s clear fire fighters fought hard to save my grove, as 6 inches beyond the grove line is total blackened cinder for probably 500 acres. We lost bigtime in one area: the avocado grove. It looks like the fire whipped up really fast, but not very hot. The trees weren’t burnt to a cinder, just blackened and singed. Most of the 2007 crop is lost on the lower 350 trees, but most if not all may eventually regrow and provide a harvest if I can figure out how to operate the farm business with half the income for 2 years or more, while paying for water, input, labor, etc as they regrow. Also infrastructure is a wipeout in that area. The irrigation pipes and water valves melted . I’m maxing o...

Hi, I climbed into my truck before dawn this morning, and dragged girlfriend Maria Thomas out of her bed to accompany me to Rainbow in hopes of seeing to my livestock's safety and my farm's fate. We were stopped, same as before, at Rainbow Glen Road. This time we were able to take Mission Road, which was open for Rainbow residents East of the 15. Again, CHP professionals were kind and supportive, but firm. No one passes. It was suggested that I get in touch with animal control to see if they'd go up and check on livestock. We hung around with the small crowd of would-be Rainbow Glen Road returnees for a few minutes and were thrilled when animal control happened to stop by. They were very happy to take my farm address and check on my animals. They suggested I return to my evacuated position and wait for a return status call, as they had numerous farms to visit in the little Rainbow Glen Valley. We drove into Fallbrook proper in the hopes of getting a view of the farm from o...

I just got back to San Clemente, here's the news: I left San Clemente at 7:00 and was one of the lucky ones that got through I-5 before it shut down. Took 78 across and 15 north. Got off on Mission in Fallbrook, and was turned back, but advised to try the Rainbow Valley Blvd. exit a few miles north. I did that, and got all the way to Rainbow Glen Road before being turned back. I got out and spoke to the CHP officers blocking Rainbow Glen, and during a lull, one was kind enough to go the 1/2 mile up Rainbow Glen to feed the llamas. I waited anxiously for his return and was relieved to hear the llamas are fine. The bad news is that he said a fire crew was fighting to save the farmhouse when he arrived, and that we'd lost trees around the house and some of the grove. He said it looked like the trees that were lost were avocados, and that the macadamia trees appeared to be safe. Great! The macadamia trees, that are nothing but a public service, are left standing, but the trees that...

Precious little is out there for the worried residents of Fallbrook and Rainbow, but here's what I've gleaned from other blogs: The Rainbow fire as of 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night is only 10% contained, is currently burning on Rainbow Glen Road, which is the road Morning Song Farm is on. In this "Rice Canyon" fire, 206 homes, 40 outbuildings, 91 vehicles and an astounding 20,000 avocado trees in 7,500 acres have been consumed by flames. No word about livestock rescue efforts. The near-total news blackout of Rainbow continues to leave us very frightened, but hopeful. Roads are currently shut down for returning evacuees, but if there is anyway I can get into the area to feed, water and check on my animals, I will at daybreak.

There will be no Tuesday baskets today, farm is evacuated, Rainbow Glen Road shut down. There is a mandatory evacuation in place in Fallbrook and Rainbow. Not much news is available for the "Rice Canyon Fire" which includes Rainbow. Animal rescue services were unable to get to our farm to bring our herd of llamas to safety.

Much of Fallbrook and Rainbow is being evacuated, although the crew at Morning Song Farm says they see no immediate danger. I'd drive out there myself, if nothing else but to move llamas and chickens to safety, but noone is being allowed into Rainbow at this time. Weirdly, MSF's crew just finished up the fruit harvest for tomorrow's baskets, and says they'll do the vegetables and herbs tomorrow morning, as usual, unless something changes. Please do check this blog for emergency developments; questions such as: can our driver get into Rainbow southbound from Temecula and pick up baskets for Orange County's deliveries? have been left unanswered at this time. More news: grove manager Rufusio just called to report the majority of 07-08 avocados have been blown to the ground.

Hi all -- I can't believe I missed this great article in the OC Weekly featuring Donna and Morning Song Farm. Click on the link to read the whole thing, but here's one of my favorite parts: Think a moment about the last piece of fruit or vegetable you ate. Do you know where it came from? Do you know who grew it? If your answer to both is “no,” consider this: If you were part of Morning Song Farm’s Community Supported Agriculture, you’d know that it came from Rainbow, a burg in northern San Diego County. And you’d know that the farmer who grew it is a dedicated woman named Donna Buono. What fantastic recognition! -- Todd

We had a witcher come out to the farm this weekend and douse. If I'd known how cool it was to watch him, I'd have made a party out of it and invited everyone to tag along. He used an obviously well-worn prong and walked along until the prong swung down on its own, indicating water. We walked back and forth across a couple separate areas until he found what he explained is the center of the vein, which is where a well should be drilled. We've contracted him to drill a well for us. There is no guarantee he'll actually hit water, but the alternative is cutting down 1/3 of our trees, so we're drilling. And praying.

This is a very busy month for us! We're planting both the shell peas and the pod peas, along with more garlic (lot's more). Last year we mistakenly cut the new green sprigs of our garlic when it reached 12 inches, thinking the garlic would just grow another sprig. It did, grudgingly. The cloves aren't as big as they should be, so this year I researched how to specifically grow Garlic Chives. They're planted with the intention of eating them before they've grown into a new clove, and are spaced tightly, like seeding the row for beets. We ordered an enormous quantity of seed to try our hand at growing this delicacy correctly this year. We're also preparing the soil for our regular garlic and potato planting. And then the usual: more lettuces, (now that's it's cool they'll be easier to grow), brocolli, more beets (this time we're trying an heirloom yellow beet), more chives, shallots.

I'm writing this before I actually know if anything's gone wrong during harvest, but here's our tenative list for baskets: The last of our Russian Garlic Mint Rosemary Limes Pakistani Sweet Lemon Persimmons Swiss Chard Fioja Guava Beets Radish Lettuce Oranges Pommegranates Baby Cukes French Melons

This week we're putting a little something in your basket that at first glance fails to impress. It's the weird looking lemon thing with a little hat on top. That's our Pakistani Sweet Lemon. Although the juice of the fruit is usable, it's not very sour. Where the jewell of this fruit lies is in its skin. The peel will impart a scented-geranium scent to baked goods and more. Here's how to use it easily: grate the entire fruit using a potato peeler, sharp knife or cheese grater. Throw in your Cuisinart or high-speed blender (I use a Vitamix) and add sugar. Blend. Let sit overnight in the fridge. Then use in baked goods, lemonade (limeade this week). It makes a killer sugar cookie. Another easy use: grate and mix with lime juice, (you can use the juice of the Pakistani Sweet Lemon, too) good quality olive oil, salt little rosemary, a little bit of water (I actually use ice) and blend. It's a salad dressing with ingredients that appreciative guests have a hard time...

Tuesday baskets are ready to be picked up after 2:00 at the farm, and after 4:00 in San Clemente. Wednesday's baskets are ready to be picked up after 5:00 in Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. Enjoy!

It's 9 a.m. Tuesday morning and we're mid-harvest today for Tuesdays baskets, so this list is tenative. But here's what we have on our harvest ticket for baskets this week: Our fabulous melons Carrots Cilantro Baby Cukes Young Head of Lettuce Radish Swiss Chard Baby Bok Choi -Looks like a very small head of Swiss Chard. Tastes a little stronger. Can be cooked like spinach, or Swiss Chard. Also good in a quiche. Green Onion bunches Rosemary Basil, purple Thai Basil, green Italian Persimmon - looks like a flat tomato, can be eaten out of hand Beans (maybe) Cherry Tomatoes Oranges Fioja Guavas - has a dusty green color, will scent your kitchen if you leave it on the counter

Sometimes I forget what isn't really mainstream and assume everyone will be able to identify the basket's fruit. That happened last week with our delicious Fuyu persimmons. The fattened, orange-colored, shiny orange fruit that looks something like a tomato, is a persimmon. You can eat it like an apple. I like the skin. This fruit also makes a premium dried-fruit product. Slice in thin layers and dry out of direct sun. We have to pick them when they still have a little green blush on them because of wiley coyote's fondness for the tree-ripened ones. If there's still a little green on yours, let it sit on your counter for a few days.

Really Bad News from The Rainbow Water District This just in: All farms in the Rainbow Water District that participate in the agricultural rate program have been ordered to reduce their water use by a whopping 30% or face staggering fines. (Morning Song Farm's water bill for September was $2500. The fine, as discussed, would double the bill) Organic family farms that have already been practicing mulching, composting, and micro irrigation don't have any way to reduce their water usage any more than they already have. So everyone's talking about which trees they're going to cut down. Ax the avos, or the macadamias? Everyone agrees: keep the cactus! Surprisingly, new building permits continue to be issued, and residential users aren't affected by these mandates. Just farms. The pending loss of a third of the fruiting trees in an entire geographic region in a single year has got to be a new low for family farms in California's drought-stressed frost-free growing are...

This just landed in my e-mail box: Mandatory Pasteurization of Almonds as of September 1st, 2007 has taken effect . From now on it's impossible, in fact, illegal, to get raw Almonds in the United States. Nuts sold as "raw" are not actually raw any more, but processed. Here's what Jason Sinclaire has to say on that subject: "Truly raw almonds, with their enzymes intact, are a living, nutrition-packed food. Raw almonds that have been soaked and sprouted are nutritionally superior food to heated almonds, and are more easily assimilated in the digestive process. Heating almonds over 112 degrees destroys their enzymes, and greatly diminishes their nutritional value. Heating also leads to rancidity of nuts." Every almond sold commercially from here on out has to be pasteurized. Also, let's keep an eye on almond pricing, because almond growers are now required by law to truck their almonds to one of five just-built USDA approved pasteurization facilities in Cal...

Holly Teipe shares this super-simple recipe for baked Zucchini -- Farmer Donna "I made a great dinner tonight with items from my basket. Baked zuchinni with veggie sausage, bread crumbs, cooked onion, a little salt and pepper, and the argula mixed with a mustard vinegrette. Delicious. Pic included. Thank you!"

We're getting a lot of requests for a couple more drop off points. We're thinking of adding a Corona del Mar, a Temecula, and a Riverside drop off. If anyone has an opinion about where specifically, in those communities might be the perfect drop off site, please let Farmer Donna know.

Welcome! My name is Todd, and I'm helping Farmer Donna to kick off this blogging adventure. With new folks joining her CSA weekly, we thought this might be a good way to get news (and recipes) out in a timely and efficient way and keep everyone well-connected. It's an ongoing experiment, so let us know what you think, and be prepared to see the blog evolve. I'm excited and honored to help Donna out with this, as I've become a huge Morning Song Farm fan in just over 4 weeks. My own story is that I learned about the CSA concept in early August, found her listing on Local Harvest , liked her answers to my endless questions, and signed up for a basket. Each week has brought new surprises with it, and I love knowing where my food comes from. I could go on about the flavor, nutrition and more - but I suspect you already know that since you are here. I've included some recipes from Donna's previous newsletter that were too good to pass up, and the first couple of posts...

Aren’t these melons fantastic? I love just leaving one on my counter for a while because it perfumes the kitchen. Here’s a simple recipe for sorbet we use all the time: Scoop out flesh of one melon, put in baggie or other container and freeze. Put frozen contents in a vitamix or other strong blender. (I’ve tried the cuisinart and it doesn’t work as well). Add the juice of a lemon or lime. Add a little sprinkle of natural Stevia (found at Trader Joes—get the real stuff, not the one that’s been cut with a lot of sugar, because what’s the point?) and then a dash of real sugar for consistency. Puree. If you have a hard time getting the blades to move at first, add a little orange juice. This comes right out of the blender like a soft-serve ice cream. You can freeze it further if you want it harder. For a variation, I take the lime juice separately, blend a few sprigs of mint, then sieve out the mint leaves and use that juice in the sorbet. -- Farmer Donna

This is a common green in China. It can be steamed just like spinach, eaten raw in salads, or sautéed with other vegetables. Try this: Sautee chopped Bok Choi with sliced zuchinni. Drain. Put in casserole dish. Make 2 pieces of wheat toast. Crumble the toast in a blender, cuisinart (or just your hands) add to the crumble mix a little rosemary, chilantro, salt and pepper. I like to spash a tiny bit of hot sauce. Sprinkle over your steamed vegetables. Add dash of olive oil. Grate a nice, hard cheese over top and broil for a minute or two until done. Eat. -- Farmer Donna

You’ve probably heard of it, maybe even eaten it without knowing. Arugula is a rich, somewhat spicy, leafy green. We love it raw in salads, or lightly sautéed with a little crushed garlic and then drizzled with olive oil. Chef Mark from The Old Vine in Costa Mesa actually flash fries arugula. It then dissolves in your mouth. It’s worth a trip up to see him, just for that. -- Farmer Donna

This is a little more complicated than the typical Morning Song Farm recipe, but worth the effort. A quiche is just a pie made with vegetables, eggs and cheese. The recipe following uses a Trader Joe’s pie shell (they come two to a box so the recipe here makes two pies: one to eat and one to freeze.) Put the frozen package of pie shells in the micro for 1 minute unless they’re already thawed. Slap down on pie pans and cut edges away. You now have two empty pies. Ingredients: 3 cups swiss chard cut up 4 green onions (tender green goes directly in bowl, bottom white part is sauted with the mushrooms) 1 Tablespoon flour 3 pieces of cooked bacon 3 gloves of California garlic Handful of mushrooms 5 eggs 2 cups milk ½ cup walnuts Salt, pepper, dash of Tabasco Olive oil Combine chard, green part of onions (sliced fairly thinly), crumbled bacon, 5 eggs, 2 cups milk, ½ cup walnuts. Set aside Throw mushrooms, white part of onions (diced), and 3 crushed garlic cloves in a sauté pan with olive oi...