The Harvest Bee Blog

Hello Friends: As we have tried to express at every opportunity, either through growing and distributing fresh, local, organic food or through words of gratitude, it is difficult to picture how our farming aspirations would even remotely exist without the sincere support of our CSA members. Your commitment and patience to stand by us during the good times and bad, along with all of the kind words you send our way truly inspires our appetite to grow the best food we possibly can. As much as we need this support, though, we would not be doing due diligence if we ignored the role of chefs and restaurants in sustaining our farming efforts. Chefs who truly subscribe to using farm fresh, local food sacrifice in ways that other chefs do not. These sacrifices include: paying more for the ingredients used in their cooking, creating a menu that can easily adapt itself to the week to week fluctuations of what food is coming out of the ground at local farms, as well as sometimes be willing to accept food that may not look as “pretty” as the food offered by conventional farms and distributers. Most of the time, these chefs also find themselves accepting relegation to the last or spare offerings from a farm depending on how successful the growing season may be for local farmers. We always take our time when considering what chefs we would seek to develop relationships with and are very fortunate to have found some really incredible ones who embody the ideals of supporting local growers. As a result, you, as consumers, can find comfort in knowing that the restaurants we supply involve chefs and owners, who like you all, wholeheartedly embrace the wackiness of farming. We believe this to be important; especially when considering how limited the options are for eating good, healthy, organic food produced by local farmers. And if you trust us as growers then we want you to know who it is we support as models of culinary consciousness. So, to highlight one of these partnerships, we are including Mountain Soursop Leaves from soursop trees given to us as a gift from our friends at Juicelation. The tree, a beautiful tree that grows well here in Florida, eventually, the tree will produce delicious fruit, but until then the leaves are great to be used as a tea that serves to manage and decrease anxiety, as well as prevent and kill cancer cells. We have included a recipe that Juicelation uses to make Soursop leaf tea. It is very simple and the rewards are incredible. Your shares this week will include the following: • Soursop Leaves • Cilantro • Salad Mix • Napa Cabbage • Carrots with Carrot tops • Grapefruit or Black Sapote Here is the recipe for the Soursop leaf tea: 1. Use 1-3 leaves per cup 2. Cut leaves and crinkle then submerge in boiling water 3. Remove water from heat and leave covered with leaves soaking for 30 min 4. Strain liquid and consume, endulge, feel relaxed! 5. Add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, as well as a drizzle of honey (optional) Also, here is a recipe for carrot top pesto. Carrot tops act as a great substitute for pesto and allow you to get more use out of your carrot bunches. It takes a lot of basil to make a small amount of traditional pesto, but the carrot tops are an abundant alternative: http://larderlove.com/carrot-top-pesto/ We hope you enjoy trying some new things out with your food and definitely do not be bashful about asking for recipe ideas if you visit one of the restaurants we work with. They love sharing their ideas with customers and really are on the same journey with us in this whole food growing adventure in more similar ways than not. See you at pick-ups! Oh yea….thank you, farm spirits, for the cold weather!!! “Onen,” The Bees