Love Notes #14, September 14, 2016
By: Hannah Slipakoff
- Contents of Share
- Announcements
- Farm and Food Justice News
- Recipes
Three Collard Enthusiasts! One Collard Over-Enthusiast! (Photo: Neshima Vitale- Penniman)
CONTENTS OF SHARE
- Arugula- ~½ lb
- Collards- 1 bunch
- Scallions – 1 bunch
- Broccoli- A handful
- Winterbor Kale – 1 bunch
- Celery or Beets- 1 head or bunch
- Eggplant or Cauliflower- 1 fruit or a handful
- Zucchini and/or Summer Squash- 2-6 fruits
- Suyo Long Japanese Cucumber or American Slicing Cucumbers- 1-4 Fruits
- → these have been in the share for a few weeks but missed the list, sorry!
- Tomatoes- Heirloom or Slicers – 2-6 fruits
- Tomatillos or Ground Cherries or Cherry Tomatoes- small bag
- Jalapeño hot peppers – 3-6 fruits
- Optional: 1 dozen eggs
- Optional: Mung Bean Sprouts
ANNOUNCEMENTS
COMMUNITY DAYS. 8-1 Work and learn together. 1-2:30 Potluck lunch. September 24, October 22, and November 12. RSVP here.
UPCOMING EVENTS: We will host an on-farm seed keeping workshop with Owen Taylor on Saturday, October 8 and an ancestor healing workshop with Enroue Halfkenny on Saturday, November 19. Please join us!
SUBSCRIBE TO EMET’S YOU-TUBE CHANNEL! Emet is an amazing stop-motion film-maker, pushing the boundaries of the Lego Medium. Subscribe to his channel here: Wolff Studios
GARLIC FOR SALE: We have a beautiful hard-neck garlic for sale for eating or seed! All orders can be placed by-the-pound (a pound is roughly 1 quart) and picked up at the farm or delivered on our weekly Wednesday distribution route. This garlic will store for months, so stock up for your winter supply. Garlic also makes a great gift! Contact us if you are interested. $9 per pound. $12 for seed garlic.
RETURN YOUR BOXES AND JARS please. You can leave them where you get your delivery. If you break them down, please make sure not to tear or bend any of the tabs, or just leave the assembled box for us and we are happy to break it down.
WASH YOUR VEGGIES. We DO NOT extensively wash veggies before delivering them to you. We will do some washing if there is a lot of dirt on greens and we always rinse root crops. In general, this allows the food to stay fresher longer. It also means you need to wash your veggies before consuming them. For greens: fill a bowl with cold water. Soak greens in water for a minute. Drain water and repeat two more times. Dirt will rinse to the bottom. Bugs should float to the top.
KEEP FOOD FRESH, EASY: Store leafy greens in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge. To revive wilted greens, dunk them in ice water and dry in salad spinner or with gentle toweling. To make it easier to use greens on the go, wash and chop them in advance and store them in a sealed plastic bag. Then you can just grab a handful to add to your eggs, smoothie, soup, or saute. Quick and easy.
Leah met this beautiful mama grasshopper as she was laying her eggs. Just in time for this weekend’s Birth Justice retreat on the farm! (Photo: Leah Penniman)
Farming is always putting the power of your heart into the work of your hands. And this week that heart power manifested as a beautiful red norland potato! (Photo: Hannah Slipakoff)
Stewin’ and saucin’ with Hannah, Che, and the pets last thursday. The bumpin tomatoes are continuing to grow strong. (Photo: Hannah Slipakoff)
Sweet Cheryl during last week’s big tomato processing afternoon. (Photo: Hannah Slipakoff)
FARM AND FOOD JUSTICE UPDATE
Wow, week 14! Here we are in mid-September, spending our days soaking up strong sun and fields filled with food, and our nights cozied up in peace for longer starlight and rest. At this time of year Soul Fire Farm is pretty quiet (aside from our noisy rooster). Without the waves of educational programming, we have the opportunity to shift the ways we fulfill our passions. We go from hosting, training, and organizing on the farm, to a fall filled with slower-moving intention. We balance reflecting on this year’s cultivation strategies, planning for future abundance, brainstorming effective movement strategy, and sketching out plans for new homes for our seedlings with reaching out, and building power in the movement for food justice off the farm.
As the field work slows down, the movement-work builds stronger. Last week the National Young Farmer’s Coalition released this racial equity statement which reminded us to share how thrilled Soul Fire is to have a fall filled with anti-racist movement work.
Check out the upcoming undoing racism work for Leah, Jonah, and SFF! Many of these trainings are private, but some are open to the public and will be posted on this page.
10/15 Hudson Valley Young Farmers Coalition Dismantling Racism Training, full day at Soul Fire Farm
10/26 Food Justice Training with Local Economies Project, full day, focused on supporting the Mexican and Mexican-American farmers in the Hudson Valley in their food sovereignty goals.
11/1 Ending Racism in the Food System panel in Springfield MA with Gardening the Community, Nuestras Raices, and New Lands Farm (an immigrant led farm)
11/6 Black Farmers Conference organizing workshop on regional Black food sovereignty
11/8 Yale University talk and radio show on ending racism in the food system
12/6 Full day training at Deeper Change Forum in New Haven CT “ending racism, a toolkit for the spiritual activist” led by Strong Sister Duo Naima and Leah
UFW Farmworkers March in Oxnard, California in support of Bill AB 1066 (Photo: Ventura County Star)
¡Sí se puedé! This Monday we celebrated a historic victory in solidarity with farmers and farm workers in California. With the signing of California Assembly Bill 1066, agricultural workers now have equal rights to overtime pay, with the same protection as workers in every other trade. was passed with support of California Governor Jerry Brown. There is still a long way to go, and we must center the lived experiences of those who feed us! To learn more, check out this article in the Sacramento Bee.
Young protectors at Standing Rock raise their fists at the news of federal intervention to halt the DAP. (Photo: SFbayview.com)
A few weeks ago we shared we were sending medicinal herbs and healing salves to the brave activists at the Sacred Stone Camp at Standing Rock Reservation. We’ve been following the news from Standing Rock closely, sending prayers out, especially to Black and Latino Farmer’s Immersion 2016 alumni Eve and Nick Billie, who spent last week at Standing Rock fighting alongside their extended native family.
Last Friday, just moments after a federal judge rejected the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s request for an injunction against the US Government over the Dakota Access pipeline, the White House dramatically intervened to halt the continuation of the destructive pipeline. We recommend following Democracy Now’s grassroots coverage of the courageous movement work happening in the Dakotas.
Love and Nourishment for the week ahead!
RECIPE – Hannah’s go to Squash/ Zuke Recipe- Savory Pancakes!
This is coming to you late in the zucchini and squash season, but keep it in your archive! Summer Squash can also be substituted for carrots, sweet potatoes, or any other cooking vegetable you have in surplus.
My recipe is adapted from many others. Here’s one and a photo from One Green Planet.
Ingredients
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1-2 Cups Scallions, Chopped
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4-8 Tablespoons Cilantro and/or Parsley, finely chopped
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2 1/2 Cup zucchini or summer squash- Grated
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1 Cup chickpea flour- also called Besan, available at a natural or Indian grocer.
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1//2 to 3/4 Teaspoon salt
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1 egg (optional)
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½ Teaspoon baking powder
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1-2 Garlic cloves, minced finely (optional)
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1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
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½ to ¾ cup Water or Unsweetened Almond Milk
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1-2 Tbsp olive oil
Directions
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Wash and grate squash/zukes. Wash and finely chop scallions, herbs, garlic. Combine
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Whisk the egg (if using) and add it, along with olive oil, and lemon juice, to veggies
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Mix chickpea flour, salt, baking powder. Slowly add to the veggie/wet mixture, and stir.
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As needed, add almond milk or water to the bowl. Aiming for a consistency slightly thicker than pancake batter, slightly more water than oatmeal.
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Heat a pan with safflower oil, once hot, turn down to med/low
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Fry your pancakes! Wait til little bubbles appear before you flip them.
- Enjoy! I like mine with avocado, baba ganoush, or any other spread. And of course, a fat slice of SFF Tomato!