Eaters' Guild

Potatoes

Potatoes are the fourth most popular crop on Earth (bested by rice, wheat, and maize). They can be cultivated by planting seeds or vegetatively, buy planting potatoes, or cut portions of potato that contain at least two eyes.

I can't say with complete authority how potatoes spread across Michigan, but I can say that Kalamazoo was one of the first places to have potatoes as we know it. A man named Titus Bronson (the founder of Kalamazoo) brought potatoes to the land in 1824, according to the book A Fine Place for a City by Nick Kekic. Kekic reports that Henery Osterhout, another turn-of the century pioneer, wrote of Titus' arrival in Ann Arbor: “[Titus] was the first man who brought potatoes to Ann Arbor – you could not get them from Detroit or anywhere...and although he had eighty bushels...you could not buy of him; he was going to plant them and make money out of them.”

Light Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds unpeeled red potatoes, cooked and cubed (5 cups)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/4 cup chopped dill pickle
• 2 tablespoons chopped sweet red pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• 1-1/2 teaspoons snipped fresh mint or 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
• 2 tablespoons reduced-fat plain yogurt
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon ground mustard
• 3/4 teaspoon snipped fresh basil or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

In bowl, combine potatoes, celery, pickle, red pepper, onion, parsley and mint. Combine all remaining ingredients; pour over salad and mix gently. Cover and chill for several hours. Yield: 10 servings.

Beans

There are over 130 cultivars of “green bean.” Despite, or perhaps because of this diversity, the origin of green beans has been hard to isolate, but it is likely that green beans originated in Central and South America in BCE times and was moved to Europe by Columbus in the 1500s.

Simmered Summer Beans

Ingredients:

• 1 pound fresh green beans, trimmed
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine all ingredients. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. The vegetables will all be tender when they are done cooking. To make this a main dish, add a cup of your favored protein source (cheese, legumes, or meat).

Summer Squash

Like zucchini, summer squash are a fruit (the ovary of a flower). Summer squash are a cultivar that is harvested immature, while the rind is still tender and edible. Summer squash have a long history in the Americas. It is thought that Lewis and Clark were introduced to “simnel,” the southern word for summer squash, by the Arikara tribe during October of 1804. Scientists have found summer squash seeds that have been preserved in caves in Mexico for more than 10,000 years.

Summer squash is rich in manganese, vitamin C, magnesium, vitamin A, fiber, potassium, and copper (from 20% to 10% DRV at one cup, cooked and sliced). One of the most significant health contributions that summer squash offers is it's abundance of antioxidants.

Summer Squash Casserole

Ingredients

• 6 yellow or pattypan summer squash
• 1 cup onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 stick butter
• 2 slices white bread
• 1 medium bowl ice water
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper
• 1 cup cracker crumbs, or enough to cover casserole

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

If desired, peel squash. Then, cut squash into cubes. Steam until tender (about 7 minutes). Carmelize onion, garlic, and parsley in two tablespoons of butter (or olive oil) seasoned with salt and pepper. Soak bread in ice water and wring out; chop fine. Add to onion and garlic mixture. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add steamed squash and cook 2 to 3 minutes more. Remove from heat. Beat egg and add, allowing it to absorb into the mixture.

Place in casserole dish or baking pan. Cover up with cracker crumbs and dot with remaining butter. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until crumbs brown.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a member of the brassica (cabbage) family. It is sometimes known as a German Turnip. Broken down the word means cabbage (kohl) turnip (rabi). Indeed, the swollen stem resembles a turnip. Kohlrabi grows virtually anywhere. It is among the first of the brassica plants to come to maturity, taking only 55-60 to develop after sowing. 

Kohlrabi is similar in flavor and texture to broccoli stems or cabbage heart, but is more mild and sweet. Kohlrabi can be eaten raw as well as cooked. The only real rule is that they should be peeled. Young stems can be eaten much like an apple or shredded to top a salad. To cook, cube the Kohlrabi and fry or bake.

Garlic

Garlic has been used as a food and medicine by many cultures for thousands of years. Herbalists have long argued that garlic can fight colds and sore throats. Contemporary studies have found that garlic has antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. It is also said to help prevent heart disease and cancer due to it's properties as an antioxidant.

Garlic is stored at room temperature and at low humidity. Ideally, garlic would be stored around 65 degrees. Garlic stays good longer when the tops remain attached.

My favorite way to prepare garlic is to roast it. To try, simply cut off the bottom of the whole head of garlic, place the cut side down on an oiled baking sheet, and roast it in the oven until tender. This often works out well if you are using the oven anyway. When the garlic cools, you can use it for anything. It is a thickening agent for your salad dressings, a rub for your poultry, or, as I often do, a butter for your bread.

Spanish Garlic Soup

Ingredients:

10 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
5 cups of broth
1 cup of dry sherry
¼ cup of olive oil
French bread, sliced and toasted
Grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Sauté the garlic in the olive oil until it turns golden.
2. Heat the beef broth with sherry. When the broth reaches the boiling point, add garlic and the olive oil.
3. Season with salt and pepper to taste; then simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. Strain out the garlic and reheat.
5. Sprinkle toasted French bread slices generously with Parmesan cheese, then place them in a 425°F (220°C) oven for about 3-4 minutes.
6. Put the hot toast in the bottom of soup dishes; then pour the soup over top.

Zucchini is treated like a vegetable by cooks; however, a botanist considers it to be an immature fruit, the “swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower.”

Zucchini, like other squash, is sensitive to alternations in ecological exchange systems. In areas where pollinators have declined from natural levels due to lost habitat or high pesticide use, zucchini plants often abort their fruit. That is, a zucchini begins to grow, but long before reaching a harvestable size, the fruit perishes and decays.

Zucchini are prone to damage when they are let to come to room temperature after chilling in the refrigerator. This shows as shadowy, sunken pits in the fruits surface.

Ratatouille

Ratatouille is a french dish. It is a stew of summer fruits and vegetables prepared in olive oil and simmered over hours of low heat. Ratatouille is traditionally served with bread as a lunch.

Yield: Makes 4 to 5 main dish servings
Active time: 50 minutes
Total time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

4 large tomatoes
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
10 fresh basil leaves, torn in half
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil
2 lb eggplant, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 large onions, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 assorted bel peppers (green, red, and/or yellow) cut into one inch pieces
4 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into ¾ inch pieces
½ teaspoon black pepper

Preparation:

Cut an X in bottom of each tomato with a sharp paring knife and blanch together in a 4-quart pot of boiling water 1 minute. Transfer tomatoes with a slotted spoon to a cutting board and, when cool enough to handle, peel off skin, beginning from scored end, with paring knife. Rough cut tomatoes and transfer to a large pot with garlic, parsley, basil, and 1/3 cup of oil. Simmer, slightly covered, occasionally stirring.

While sauce is simmering, toss eggplant with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large colander and let stand in sink 30 minutes.

While the sauce cooks, caramelize onion with add 3 tablespoons of oil and ¼ teaspoon of salt in a large pan. Once done, set aside in a large bowl and repeat with bell peppers. Repeat again with zucchini.

While the zucchini are cooking, , pat eggplant dry with paper towels. Add remaining oil (about 1/4 cup) to skillet and cook eggplant over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 10 to12 minutes.

Add vegetables, remaining teaspoon salt, and black pepper to tomato sauce and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are very tender, about 1 hour. Cool, uncovered, and serve warm or at room temperature.

Basil

Basil is in the mint family. It originates from the East, particularly India, where it has been cultivated for 5,000 years. My favorite thing about basil is that it is toxic to mosquitoes, which is a specie that can be very deadly in the dewy morning hours on the farm.

Basil can be stored for up to a week in a perforated plastic bag in the refrigerator. If storing for a longer time length, it is best to blanch and freeze. Drying basil tends to diminish and alter the flavor.

Greetings!

I hope you've been well since I wrote you last. Did you think that you missed last weeks newsletter? Don't fear, there were no mistakes. The newsletter is now bi-weekly. We're making this change so that I can develop the content more fully for your enjoyment. Now, let's do the announcements.

Eater's Chickens

First off, please allow me to apologies for a mistake that I made. Last week, I sent an e-mail to let you know that Eater's Guild will be holding an On Farm Chicken Sale. I said that the sale would occur every Tuesday for the rest of the summer when, in fact, the sale will not become regular until a few weeks from now. I'll let you know when it starts up again.

Now I would like to tell you more about Eater's Chickens. The chickens will be dead and de-feathered. They will be whole, fresh, and wrapped. Sometimes, boneless, skinless breasts will be available. The chickens are wrapped in a thick, vacuum sealed bag. They will be ready to freeze. The market price for the chicken is $4.25 per pound. The farm price is $4 dollars per pound.

Travis Meier (the main caregiver) told me that his favorite way to prepare the birds is to put them in a brine for 6-12 hours. Then, he will stuff them with lemon wedges, garlic cloves, and fresh thyme and rub the outside with oil, salt, pepper, and dry thyme. He advised that ranged chicken may need a little more time in the oven to tender. Perhaps you'll want to roast them at a lower heat (350) for longer (2 hours).

Brad's Bequeathment

Brad Baughman, one of the fine Eater's Guild interns, critiqued my article Reigned by Rain in the last newsletter by saying. "You wrote 'traditional' farming. I might instead use the word "industrial" there, or "conventional," since the type of agriculture you were referring to is altogether a-traditional, and destroys traditions. Only a semantic point."

Transplanting

Organic farming is a sanctum of unique experience during this time of high industrialization. We have the gall to participate in the magic of growth without clinical, scientific controls and regulations.

Seeds to Plants

We sow thousands of seeds. Thousands of smooth-skinned pumpkins seeds, of rippling dried pea seeds, of translucent sweet corn kernels, of clustered, brown pepper seeds, of tear shaped lettuce seeds. We sow all together, in friendly little stations, in the green house, on afternoons, likely when it's raining.

In the greenhouse the seeds germinate. They grow abundantly in their seed flats, which are a kind of tray comprised by little cups, or cells. They shooting tall, vying with each other for the sunlight. Once they are old enough, we move them outdoors, to the enclave between the greenhouses, to where they are protected and still exposed, so they may be hardened by the pushes of the passing breezes.

Plants to the Field

We snatch up the flats by fours, two bound up in a hand each, and walk. We step through and over and on, marching forward to the double-wide palate that the cobalt blue tractor holds with spaded hands.

Marcellino comienza el tractor, y conduce a los campos. El resto de nosotros caminar detrás. We are talking, and laughing, and watching the farm features as we pass them by. When we catch up, Marcelino has the transplanter set up. We hope that these plants are going to pull from the flats good, or else it will be a long day of filling missed holes.

The transplanter is like a wagon on the back of the tractor. The transplanter has a two hundred gallon drum that feeds water down to two hollow steel wheels that have hollow steel spikes. They turn with the motion of the tractor over the earth, punching holes to fill with water, which we riders fill with plants.

Yes, we're riders. The transplanter has two seats on two iron arms that each often drag along the ground. We sit with our legs forward, braced up on a small steel bar set for that purpose. We each sit behind a tray that's like a music stand, which hold two flats of plants in our reach. We pinching the plants and checking how loose they are. They are coming out smooth today.

The engine is running. Marcelino engages the water flow by turning a valve on the transplanter. He hurries to start the motion as it begins to pool around the steel wheels. The clutch engages. The tractor tugs us forward. We pull our first plants, hold them forward, and begin to plug the holes. After a few yards of clumsy reaching, missing, reaching, and speeding up, we catch a groove, make smooth motions, and sink the plants into the cool, fresh fluid, row by row in the field. We know these ones are going to make it. We don't hardly need to look now.

We talk about ourselves to each other. We share our stories, ideas, and dreams. We make jokes, suggesting things like, “let's all order matching Eater's Guild jumpsuits sometime” or “we should dress as zombies each day and chase the passing Amtrak.”

We wait. Week after week, we protect the plants.

People to the Plants

We all think we're people who've introduced vegetable plants to a space. But who has introduced who? Our farm is a bilayer orchestra. On one hand, farmers conduct the plants from seed to maturity and harvest the surplus. On the other hand, the plants conduct the farmers from thaw until snowfall, day until night. The plants drew, and draw us, from Flint, Mexico, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and other lands and times afar, to the same fields, to the living soil, to have community, and to grow together through the summer season.

Plants to People

The second part of our work began in late May, early June, when we began pulling the first radishes. Things are really speeding up now as we bring in kale, garlic, summer squash, collards, kohlrabi, basil, potatoes, and see on the horizon many other vegetables. Our transplants grew up from timid, tiny flecks of verdigris in expansive, bare, bronze fields to a most-desired aspect of a weedy, green ground cover.