Grass Is Greener Gardens

For our meat CSA members, you are always forgotten on our blog. (Actually, you’re not forgotten, you’re just such professionals you almost intimidate us with your cooking know how.) We here at GIGG also receive our meats frozen and also forget to take it out of the freezer. We’re often standing there, staring into the fridge and freezer wondering why there’s nothing to eat when in fact there is SO much to eat. But we forgot.

Today was one of those days where a bad day coupled with a box of mac and cheese didn’t do it for me. So I peeped inside and looked at some ground meat, realizing that would be pretty easy to defrost. But decided I wanted better. And I found a package of country style ribs.

“Country Style Ribs” are cut from the loin, and they’re really leftovers, not ribs. But they tend to have a lot of loin meat on them and cooked well, they are fabulous.

My momma and grandma used to buy these and slather them in Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. They’d grill them or broil them slow in the oven. Sometimes they’d get a bath in barbecue sauce. They were always good. They bought them because they were CHEAP. And they still are, relatively speaking. Like short ribs of beef, they are the bomb and in short supply. They do well on their own but today after a long, grueling series of stupid life challenges, I decided to slow cook and make some fake hoisin sauce along with white sushi rice.

To make the sauce I used a hint of hot chili oil from a jar, some old organic terryaki sauce from whole foods and half a box of pomi tomatoes. Also, there is my most favorite secret ingredient to anything asian, Nanami Togarashi. Also known as assorted chili peppers but impossible to substitute. (Like A1 is impossible to substitute, for the non-food snobs.Everyone knows A1 is good, but that’s another story.)

So open the package of ribs, defrost in microwave for about 12 minutes. Then, cook both sides in a bit of oil in a pan for a few minutes per side. The fun comes in when you mix the concoction of tomatoes and bottle leftovers from the fridge. Add a few shakes of assorted chili peppers, aka Nanami Togarashi and BAM. Dinner is almost there. Simmer all this till bubbly and flip the ribs once or twice. Cover and put into the oven at 400 for about thirty minutes. Make some rice for the side, and maybe toss in some awful frozen broccoli for color and semi-nutritional value.

We used lima beans (which were awful but made us feel better about having a green vegetable present. Also motivated us to get that hoop house back so we can have greens in the winter.)

Anyway, its a can-do story from GIGG. Let those ribs braise in the fake hoisin at about 400 degrees for 30 minutes and you’ll be very happy.

We have tried to get the word out as many ways as possible, but our turkeys will not be ready for Thanksgiving. Sorry. (Plan a turkey for Christmas?)

We forgot to mention the last, last, last shares of the season: storage shares. If you have received a storage share, here’s what’s inside:
20 pounds of potatoes in two varieties; russet and adirondack red. The reds make great pink mashed potatoes.
Several bunches of baby carrots. If you’re deciding what to eat first, go with these. They have the shortest shelf life.
Beets, remove the tops and they will store in your fridge’s produce section for about 30 days.
Many squash, acorn, butternut & pie pumpkins. Along with some funny looking open pollinated cross bred squash. They will store in a cool place for about 3 months.
Onions, they will store for quite a while too.
And last a little bonus of dried chilis and basil. If you haven’t had freshly dried basil you will notice it is about five millions times more potent than store bought dried.

Enjoy!

Please complete our survey regarding the 2011 produce CSA. We will share the outcome at a later date. Thanks!

An occasional optimist, I look at today as the start of next year. Also a notorious workaholic, I can’t imagine how I will behave or what I will do without five weekly CSA drop offs, four farmers markets, a store, a restaurant, a pickle factory, three-to-six college aged students in my house, goats in the yard, chickens in the pasture, peppers to pick and other various farmy things to micro manage. I am sort of already bored.

Anna, Rich & Sean wrangle chickens for the last time of the season and I pretend making dinner is hard. The last supper together and we’re having a feast from the fall gardens along with slow roasted Berkshire pork. Everyone has a very content demeanor today. End of the season, no one was killed or harmed too badly. We only totaled one car, crashed another twice, got one flat tire (maybe two), many dings and knicks and bruises but no one died. No arms or legs were lost to farm implements. Our customers were fed well with the exception of that stupid curcubit failure and now everyone is going their own way for the winter. Kinda sad. (Oh, plus all I can think about is getting started on next year.)

I’ve already plotted some of my winter work. Basil is growing in the greenhouse and the certified organic sprout operation is up and running. Micro greens have already seen their first harvest.

Also, does anyone need a kitten? Who wants to learn to make sauerkraut this winter? Does anyone need a kitten I ask? Thanks to all on the growing and receiving end. Many many many thanks.

Special thanks to Anna, Sean, TJ, Winston. Extra special thanks to Rufus, the team MVP. Happy Fall and Winter All. See you at Green City Market and Bushel & Peck’s in the winter. Cheers for now.

Well, we made it.  Almost. (Lakeview, you have one more drop next week.)  Everyone this week received lettuce or spinach, kale or chard, potatoes, beets, butternut squash, and a pie pumpkin.  Some of you got radishes, and Beloit and Oak Park received parsley.

Lately, our days are spent preparing for winter and saying goodbyes to plants and people (the lovely intern TJ left us today).

More profound reflections to come as the season ends, but thank you for sharing this 20 week journey with us.  We truly enjoyed the adventure and hope you will join us again next year.  As I mentioned last week, you’ll be receiving a survey soon via email.  This will be anonymous and will help make our CSA better.  Thanks in advance for your participation.

Stay tuned for more end of the season reflections.  I encourage you to make some soup and enjoy this fall evening.

late afternoon spinach and lettuce.

last farmily dinner.

Well, it’s week 19 of CSA for most of you here at GIGG.  That means that for some of you half share A people, this is your last week of veggies.  Anyone else wondering where the blur that was this season went?

This week all shares have potatoes, kale or chard, carrots, beets, butternut squash, lettuce or spinach.  Most have radishes, and some have a few tomatoes that weren’t hit by the frost.   For those of you with really large radishes that kinda look like turnips, those are watermelon radishes and are supposed to be big. We sliced them very thinly on a spinach/lettuce salad this weekend–delicious and beautiful.

A little bit of logistics: If you are in Beloit School District, Pilsen, Oak Park, or Northbrook, next week will be your last pick up.  Those of you who are half share A in those locations, this week is your last pick up (B shares end next week).  If you’re in Lakeview, you have one additional week because your season started a week later.  Finally, we will be sending a survey soon about this year’s CSA and would very much appreciate your feedback.

In farm news, we are mowing, cleaning, stake removing, seed saving, and preparing to put up snow fences.  That kitten we got awhile back is still really cute.  So are the other four cats and dog.  We planted and mulched garlic yesterday–the first crop of next year!

Until next time, happy eats!

Hello all,

It is fitting that I am doing this week’s post, as I have to report on the weekend’s frost.  Jackie will mock my sentiment, but I always find the first frost a little sad.  So much left in the field that will never get a chance to grow.  But I do appreciate the first frost for its clarity: it’s fall now, and we thank the tomatoes, peppers, beans, basil, and melons for all that they’ve given us and now turn our attention to the very happy spinach, lettuce, carrots, beets, pumpkins, squash, broccoli, cabbage, and kohlrabi.  And I must admit, frosted spinach (plus mixed greens), feta, olives, and honey mustard dressing left me feeling very satisfied this evening, so thank you changing seasons.

I also have pumpkin bread in the oven, so if anyone hasn’t used their pumpkins from last week, this makes a lovely dessert/snack/breakfast.  I use a variation of this recipe: <http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Pumpkin-Bread/Detail.aspx>   A lot less sugar, a bit of honey, and the addition of chocolate chips are my main modifications.  To cook your pumpkin:  cut pumpkin in half, scrape out seeds, cut in half again.  Place quarters cut side down in a baking pan with about half an inch of water (to keep moist).  Cover with foil.  Bake at 350F for about an hour, or until tender.  Scrape pumpkin out of shell and use.

As for this week’s shares, everyone has either spinach or mixed salad greens.  Pilsen, Northbrook, and Lakeview have chard or kale, and Oak Park and Beloit have peppers.  Oak Park you got the end of our “little eggplants that could until they got frosted”.  (But who knows, maybe they’ll amaze us once again and keep producing).  All locations received potatoes, butternut squash, radishes, and beets.

Happy October to all!

it was too muddy to dig but you got lots of good stuff! we’ll see if it is possible to get potatoes for Beloit on Tuesday, stay tuned.

Hard to believe we are nearing the end of the season. There are still so many things to do and so many things yet to mature in the ground. Last week our shares really transitioned from summer to fall. Tomatoes are still on the vine looking lovely and peppers continue to produce, but we know the end is near. Pie pumpkins, Delciata squash & butternut squash appear in abundance. Lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, fennel & beets are still babies expected to produce for us through the end of October. The fall crops are always risky, you never know when the frost will happen. Even though they are tolerant to a light frost, we still worry. They need rain and sun just like summer vegetables. And this weekend we got both. So we’re still bullish on a strong finish to the season with these fresh new veggies. This week is still a mix of summer and fall. And the biggest and best treat are watermelons. Like giant sized. And sweet. So much different than store bought watermelons. We credit Brad Paulson for these beauties. Brad and Cindi Paulson provide our store with a lot of veggies that we don’t grow and their produce has popped up now and again this season in our CSA shares. Many thanks to them for coming through as planned.

This week: Radishes, Eggplant, Peppers, Tomatoes, Black Cherry Tomatoes, Potatoes, Kale, Watermelon, Beets, Winter Squash, Chives & Possibly Pie Pumpkins.

What’s the difference in pumpkins, you ask? Well, pie pumpkins are typically smaller and have more flesh than carving pumpkins. They’re actually grown for eating. Pumpkins make great soups, pies & more. Don’t think of them as decoration only, because they’re very, very healthy vegetables.