Eaters' Guild

Hello--
Gorgeous day today!
Our first week went off with only a miss or two.  We have a couple details to add to a couple pick up sites.  In Kalamazoo, at the Frayers',  Portage, at the chiropractic center and in Benton Harbor--the Livery....if you would be the last person to empty a box, please carefully, without tearing the tabs off, fold the box to flat and set it to the side.  TO do so, ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BOX, you need to gently slide the tabs that tuck into the slots, out of these slots.  The tabbed flaps of the box fold/bend--if you look closely you see the factory pressed folds-- in order to make this easy, and to prevent ripping the tabs off of the box.  Once these tabs are ripped, the box is non-functional except for kindling a fire....These are tedious instructions, but we would like to use these boxes until they fall apart from carrying so much produce again and again, not because they were needlessly damaged.  Thank you for doing so.  This simply helps our host by keeping the area tidy for their businesses or lives to carry on as undisrupted as  possible.

SALAD MIX--there is a sampling this week.  I say sampling because it is difficult picking since the resident weeds are less affected by cooler soil temperatures, and out-grew the salad mix.  Given this, please pardon an occasional unintended plant this succession; It may be grass, or something else more exotic, but none of the uninvited will cause harm.  ASPARAGUS will grace your box, though less abundantly than last week.   This was a casualty of the frost we had over the weekend, your share will exhibit this.  The RADISHES and SPINACH faired conditions fine--so you have another meal to enjoy these.  Did you know you need to trim the greens from the radishes so that the radish doesn't loose moisture and become spongy?  Even more, did you know that there is at least one cool recipe for radish greens?  Well you do, and there is...a farm member (thanks Carol!) sent us this, and while I haven't tried it, it sounds great.  Pasted at the bottom.

Email alert:  It is a moot issue since this doesn't reach the folks that need to hear it--but not only does Yahoo block our emails, so now, it seems, does comcast.  So if you know someone who uses these carriers, and would otherwise be getting our emails, you could let them know the symptom, and this would be great.  We do send this out to the group--and have had it suggested that this is the problem.  I believe that, but have no reasonable solution.  These notes can be viewed at the blog which can be accessed through  eatersguild.com

Have a great week!
LaurieLEe and Iris


Radish Leaf Pesto

- 2 large handfuls of good-looking radish leaves, stems removed
- 30 grams (1 ounce) hard cheese, such as pecorino or parmesan, grated or shaved using a vegetable peeler
- 30 grams (1 ounce) nuts, such as pistachios, almonds, or pinenuts (avoid walnuts, which make the end result too bitter in my opinion)
- 1 clove garlic, germ removed, cut in four
- a short ribbon of lemon zest cut thinly from an organic lemon with a vegetable peeler (optional)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more to get the consistency you like
- salt, pepper, ground chili pepper

Put all the ingredients in a food processor or blender or mini-chopper, and process in short pulses until smooth. You will likely have to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. This produces a thick pesto; add more oil and pulse again to get the consistency you prefer. (This can also be done with a mortar and pestle; it's great for your karma and your triceps.)

Taste, adjust the seasoning, and pack into an airtight container (I use a recycled glass jar). Use within a few days (it will keep longer if you pour a thin layer of oil on the surface) or freeze.

Chocolate & Zucchini [http://chocolateandzucchini.com]

May 12, 2009
Good Day to You!

Welcome to the opening week of our CSA season.  Saturday in South Haven went relatively smoothly, given an untimely, yet characteristic spring day…The earth is greening slowly, even some trees seem reluctant to unfurl their leaves just yet.  We are finding field growth very slow as the soil just isn’t warming any too quickly.  The compost spread late March needs some 50+ degree avg. temps in order to activate.  The microbes we depend upon to liven the soil, and release the nutrition held in the compost, remain dormant otherwise.  April, on average was a little cool—and May hasn’t exactly been warm.  The radishes and salad mix seem suspended in a miniature holding pattern, making harvest rather timid and un-plentiful.  Really, our experience is different every year.  On the other hand, we have seen a dandy asparagus season so far.  The last two nights of chilly temps has left some damaged stalks behind, but this doesn’t seem to have a huge impact on our distribution of the crop.  Organic asparagus is hard to come by, and very special, particularly when you are eating it within 24 hours of harvest.  Every season we become greater asparagus snobs, eating all we can from our crop to the point of almost loathing it, knowing we will abstain from the sub-standard representation that can be found throughout the year, flown in from California or Mexico, or further….there’s my proof—complete snobbery.  
     The straight-from-the-pickers-mouth update on salad mix is that we will need to wait another week harvest it for distribution.  There is a good deal of spinach—so this will need to stand in as the leafy green this week.  The spinach is an over-wintered field crop.  This is planted late fall, not for harvest, but solely intended for spring harvest.  You will have tender spring radishes, asparagus, and green onions to round things out.  Looking ahead, these items, except for onions as they are finishing this week, will be the make up of the boxes for a few weeks out.  We like to begin our season this early in order to give you the asparagus part of the season, but things can be, and we are finding, are quiet in coming on, and your share may seem repetitive. As the season revs up, the variety will as well.  This isn’t unusual for each season, and we like to put this out there as a reminder.
    FYI:  We are not accepting more members for the season.  We haven’t quite met our designated capacity, but we feel it will be advantageous for all that we cap shares at the number we have now.  If you passed our CSA info along to friends or colleagues, thank you.  If you know people still interested, you can feel free to let them know we are filled for the season.
    
Thanks for joining us this season—I’m leaving off without recipes, if you need prep ideas for these spring delights, let me know!
Be well
Laurie, Lee and IRis
   
 

Here we go!                            May 1, 2009

The ground is soaked, but all in all, it has been a nice start to the season.  We ask for and expect rain of spring.  The biggest obstacle placed on our operation is getting into the field with tractor and transplanter to place seedlings in the ground.  There is also the issue of rinsing fertility away with such heavy rains in a short time.  We have no way of knowing how great the impact will be on present field crops, only time will tell, and we will do our best to adjust and make amendments where we can.  

The main purpose of this email is to thoroughly cover pick up protocol.  There is a good amount of detail to be covered here, so please keep this note for further reference.  We give you the contact information for your pick up location and this can be valuable to you when you need to personalize your pick up.  We are often hard to reach in a pinch, and contacting your host directly is most efficient,  

We are doing things a little different this year, for those of you who have been with us in the past.  We have changed over to a B.Y.O.B.—Bring Your Own Bag.   This helps us keep costs down, and allowed us to keep share prices where they have always been for another season.  At your location your bag is filled on site, either by us, or by you.  If your site is un-personed (Kalamazoo, Portage, Benton Harbor, Saugatuck huh?? I will explain) there will be sign clearly stating what you are to take according to your share type.  Please observe this…..we know you will; we will leave produce to accommodate the number of shares.  The produce is rinsed, and will be either bunched, bagged (salad mix—these bags are bio-degradable), or otherwise, easily measurable.

On pick up time windows:  The set times for pick up are fairly ample and it is best to meet this time frame.  As mentioned earlier, there can be that day when something comes up and you just can’t get there.  This is when you call your host and arrange for another time, or just as a courtesy, let them know you will be late.  The point at which your produce becomes your hosts produce is 24 hours after your pick up time begins—with two exceptions, in Portage and Saugatuck, noted below**.  You may get your veggies after this time, but you need to call your host and make arrangements.  Here are the days and times:

TUESDAY—Begins May 12th
     KALAMAZOO—127 N. Berkeley—Hether and Matt Frayer  381-0847
                   4:30-9:00 pm.
    PORTAGE—4250 S. Westnedge,--Kalamazoo Community Chiropractic Center
388-3003     5:00pm-night-fall  (located just north of Kilgore, you can/should park in the Blockbuster parking lot in order to reserve space for the clinics clients)**please come by noon the next day.
WEDNESDAY--Begins May 13th
    HOLLAND—Farmers Market  8am-noon  (Look for the RED tent)
    SAUGUTUCK—SummerTime Market—BlueStar Hwy at the bridge in Douglas
                 10am-5pm **come within this 7 hour window, no next day pick up
    BENTON HARBOR—190 5th ST.  The Livery 925-8760, liverybrew.com
                                          5pm-midnight
    EATERS’ GUILD FARM—26041 CR 681  269-427-0423, 989-965-1528
                             After 3 pm
SATURDAY--BEGINS MAY 9th
    SOUTH HAVEN—Farmers’ Market—8am-noon
    EATERS’ GUILD FARM—after 3pm