Love Notes #9, August 10, 2016

Love Notes #9, August 10, 2016

By: Leah Penniman

1. Contents of Share
2. Announcements
3. Farm and Food Justice News
4. Recipes

 

“Thank you for your life, plant friend.” We teach the children to say this before picking any plants and its soooo beautiful to hear them do this on their own, without prompting. This young friend is about to sample some wood sorrell, a wild plant that tastes like lemon.

 

CONTENTS OF SHARE

• Winterbor kale: 1 bunch
• Collard greens: 1 bunch
• Yellow summer squash: 1-2 fruits
• Striped or green zucchini: 2-5 fruits
• Salad tomato: 1-2 fruits (just a taste, more to come!)
• Onions: 3-5 bulbs
• Chinese cabbage: 1-2 heads
• Carrots with tops: 1 bunch
• Italian basil: 1 large bunch
• Green or yellow beans: ~1.5 pounds
• Lettuce: 1-3 heads
• Cucumber: 1 for each person who did not get broccoli last time
• Optional: mixed lentil sprouts
• Optional: 1 dozen eggs

 

Soul Tribe Eats is family. We were so blessed to spend the day exploring, making medicine, and creating resistance art with this intergenerational crew. We love you.

 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• PASTURE-RAISED CHICKEN. We have delicious chicken in our freezer for you and will be processing a fresh batch on Wednesday, August 17. They can be picked up on the farm or delivered on our normal Wednesday delivery route. You can pay using EBT/SNAP.  $4.25 per pound. Birds dress out at 4-6 pounds. Signup HERE
• COMMUNITY DAYS. 8-1 Work and learn together. 1-2:30 Potluck lunch. September 24, October 22, and November 12.  RSVP here.
• UPCOMING EVENTS: Check out our keynote and panel at the NOFA Conference this Friday and Saturday August 12-13. We will also host Harriet’s Apothecary healing village on Sunday, September 4, 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!
• 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.

FARM NEWS

Peace family! I know you are thirsty for more of my poetic prose but I only have a few minutes between hosting STEM Kids NYC and heading to Albany to teach a composting workshop at the request of our neighbors from Burma/Myanmar. So… enjoy the captioned photos of our super full and blessed life here at Soul Fire Farm. And please check out our exciting upcoming workshops on the farm, Harriet’s Apothecary healing village on Sunday, September 4, a seed keeping workshop with Owen Taylor on Saturday, October 8 and an ancestor healing workshop with Enroue Halfkenny on Saturday, November 19.
“Choose an object from nature that represents you to bring to our altar. For example, if you are strong you might choose a rock…” Adrian (pseudonym), age 8, “What if you are strong and also kind and sweet? And also unbreakable?” He chooses a branch from a blueberry bush with a strong core, soft gentle leaves, and sweet berries. He shows us that it “keeps going and is unbreakable.” WISDOM!

 

August is the time to remove plants that are finished bearing fruit, replenish the soil, and make way for second plantings that will yield in the fall. This powerful group of youth mentors from Liberty Partnership Program came to the farm to reflect on what they learned during their programming season, appreciation one another’s strengths, and connect with the Earth. As humans, this season is also about transition and renewal.

 

Picking rocks out of the freshly turned earth could be a tedious and boring task. We infuse meaning by thinking of things that make us mad and sad, and saying those words loudly while throwing the stones into the forest. Lots of beautiful release, and work gets done!

 

 

YouthGROW!!! Jonah and I were so inspired to welcome young folks from this program we started in college when we lived in Worcester, MA. They were so ON POINT with amazing skits detailing the history of land loss and resistance, super fun games, a cohesive group culture, and distributed leadership. Feeling like proud parents.

 

RECIPE- CITRUS COLLARDS WITH RAISINS REDUX by Bryant Terry

INGREDIENTS

• 2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into a chiffonade, rinsed and drained (Leah’s note – I think this recipe works well with most cooking greens including kale and chinese cabbage.)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

PREPARATION

1. In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards.
2. Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander.
3. In a medium-size sauté pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the collards, raisins, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
4. Add orange juice and cook for an additional 15 seconds. Do not overcook (collards should be bright green). Season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately. (This also makes a tasty filling for quesadillas.)

Chiffonade

The chiffonade cut is used to produce very fine threads of leafy fresh herbs as well as greens and other leafy vegetables. First, remove any tough stems that would prevent the leaf from being rolled tightly (reserve them for stocks or salads). Next, stack several leaves, roll them widthwise into a tight cylinder, and slice crosswise with a sharp knife, cutting the leaves into thin strips.