WILTED GREENS...? JUST GIVE THEM A DRINK!

MY LEAFY GREENS HAVE GONE WILTY, WHAT CAN I DO...?

Because we do not treat our produce with a chemical preservative, this will naturally happen. The process is called transpiration, which is kind of like sweating.

Plants draw moisture through their stems by means of cellular constriction (like a snake digesting an animal). The excess water then evaporates out the tops of their leaves.

Treat your fresh-cut leaf vegetables like cut flowers. Give the stems a fresh cut (at an angle) and place them in a glass or vase of water. They will perk right back up and look wonderful again, lasting for days.

And of course, refridgeration always helps - but only after they've revived.

GAI LOHN, or Chinese Broccoli, or Chinese Kale, or Kailan

Call it what you will, this brassica family member is a true cross-over between rapini, kale and broccoli. While it most closely resembles broccoli, its florets are smaller, stems longer, and its leaves are wider.

Although it is common in Asian markets, gai lohn is fairly new to the rest of us, albeit not entirely foreign in appearance.

It is easy to prepare and may be stir-fried, steamed, or prepared any way in which you might make rapini, broccoli or kale.

"Happy Rich" is the variety we are growing this year at The Dahlia Farm, and if you are a CSA shareholder, you should be seeing yours within the next few weeks. (Provided our woodchuck doesn't return...)

CSA Week #1

CSA Week #1 Full share includes:

SNAP PEAS Whole pods, best eaten raw as a snack (do not shell).
SPINACH Sauté or eat as a salad green.
RAMPS Treat as asparagus. Sauté French-style (Julienne-cut and skillet with butter and coarse salt).
ITALIAN DANDELION Bitter green. Wilt and serve, or add to other dishes, soups or stir-fry
MIZUNA Braise or treat as a raw green.
RADISH Raw snack, prepared for salad topping, or sliced and baked with olive oil and salt for “radish chips.”
RAPINI (Brocolli Raab) Sauté, stir-fry, or incorporate into soups.
PAC CHOI (Mei Quing Choi) Use as a raw green, sauté, stir-fry, or incorporate into Asian soups.
HERB: LAVENDER Edible flowers or dried for its aroma (use as a sachet in drawers, in laundry dryer).
HERB: SAGE Use fresh or dried
CUT FLOWER: KNIFOPHIA

PEA TENDRILS: A Seasonal Delicacy

Pea tendrils -- the tender curly ends of sweet pea plants -- are truly a seasonal delicacy, blending the tender texture of stem with the lush sweet foliage of baby greens, and the just plain COOLNESS of edible flowers.

These short-seasoned precursors of snap peas are a high-sugar, early veggie snack and a favorite of locavores everywhere. Enjoy as a soup or salad topping - or for the purist, a pea tendril salad with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Because they will not last without converting their sugar to starch, and because they are so fragile, one must either grow their own or have immediate access to a CSA or local farmer's market to enjoy.

Fortunately, here at the Dahlia Farm, we presently have a solid supply (as long as the cool weather lasts) and look forward to including this specialty treat in our first CSA baskets.

See you soon!

Equal Exchange

An Organic Solution
By Ashley Symons, Writer/Editor

It's a Friday morning at Equal Exchange and one day short of the official start of Spring. A truck backs into one of our loading docks. But it's not here to take away boxes of Equal Exchange products. It’s here to pick up chaff.

"Chaff is a skin that comes off the coffee as it roasts," said Lead Coffee Roaster Thomas Lussier. "As the coffee dries out and expands during roasting, it sheds this skin." Each week, we produce about 30-40 tall garbage bags - about 430 pounds of chaff. That could be a lot of waste, albeit organic, but fortunately chaff has another use – in the garden. Coffee bean chaff adds helpful nutrients to a compost mixture, and is especially good for the growth of vegetables.

In the fall of 2008, Rodney North, Equal Exchange's "Answer Man," started looking for ways to distribute chaff to local farmers. Eva Sommaripa, a certified organic grower of fresh culinary herbs, cut flower bouquets, edible flowers and specialty greens, took interest. Her business, Eva's Garden, is based in South Dartmouth, Mass. They make deliveries to markets and restaurants in the Boston area and could easily pick up chaff on the trip back to South Dartmouth. "As an organic farmer she was more interested than most in making her own compost and getting an organic compost ingredient was a plus," North said.

James Reynolds of The Dahlia Farm in Middleboro, Mass., has also utilized chaff from Equal Exchange for the last year. The farm is an organic CSA producer of vegetables and cutflowers. "We're regularly experimenting with alternative means of production," said Reynolds. "Initially I used the chaff as a general additive to the farm's clay-loam soil, but soon began to specifically target mulch and bedding, mixing the chaff with soil to make a lighter backfill for both leeks and potatoes – both of which require a series of stem-covering during the growing season. The chaff is a good substitute for foul bedding as it absorbs excess moisture and ammonia, which is later turned into compost."

Don’t have access to chaff? Instead of throwing out your coffee grounds after brewing, put them in your garden! Coffee grounds are high in nitrogen, and can be sprinkled around plants, added to compost piles, or mixed into soil for houseplants or vegetable beds.

Our very own Banana Coordinator, Nicole Vitello, is also an organic farmer, and has used coffee grounds in her compost pile for years. "As an organic farmer, compost is a key ingredient in soil fertility but also in improving soil tilth," Vitello said. "Tilth is the structure of the soil and relates directly to its ability to aerate plant roots and both hold and shed moisture. In New England, farmers often have to contend with high clay concentrations in the soil which can make it heavy and difficult for plant roots to penetrate and access available nutrients."

Just like with coffee roasting, gardening is a mix of art and science!

Enterprise News Story: EARTH DAY 2010

On eve of Earth Day, Brockton area farmers celebrate new consumer trend.
Local farmers get boost from program that sells share of harvest to consumers.
By Amy Littlefield
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER


The tiny spinach transplants are still covered with a protective cloth, but soon the crops will make a hearty offering for the people enrolled in CSA programs.

Community-supported agriculture programs, or CSAs, have become increasingly popular in recent years. They allow consumers to pay for a share of a farm’s harvest ahead of time and then receive weekly offerings of produce through the summer and fall.

James Reynolds, who runs The Dahlia Farm in Middleboro, said his farm started receiving requests for CSA shares in December.

“Last year, we were just flooded with interest. This year, it’s been even bigger,” said Reynolds.

On the eve of Earth Day, which is celebrated on Thursday, Reynolds attributed that popularity to a growing awareness of the benefits of buying local, healthy food.

“I think it’s more of a paradigm shift in the consumer mind,” said Reynolds. “I think the average American is becoming more aware of exactly the food that we’re eating, the environment that we live in, the global community.”

Last year, Reynolds provided a basket of vegetables, greens, flowers and herbs to CSA customers every week for 20 weeks in return for $500. Reynolds also sells egg shares and half-shares.

Community-supported agriculture programs began in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1986, said Katie Cavanagh, Farms Forever coordinator at the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership. There are now 22 registered CSAs in Southeastern Massachusetts alone, Cavanagh said.

“They’ve grown more in popularity recently as farmers have realized the benefits of selling directly,” said Cavanagh.

She said Massachusetts farmers sell more farm products directly to consumers than farmers in any other state.

“Because we’re primarily small farms, we have that close relationship with the consumer,” Cavanagh said.

CSA programs provide revenue before a harvest, when farmers need it most.In return, customers are offered a chance to meet their farmer and see the source of their food. Some programs even allow CSA members to pick their own produce.

The only downside is that there may one day be more interested consumers than available shares.

“Just within Massachusetts, there’s more of a demand than a supply,” said Reynolds. “There’s only so much land that’s available, in addition to resources, capital and people who are willing to work as farmers in a modern society.”

ENTERPRISE STORY: As snow falls, summer veggies sprout in Middleboro

By Alice Elwell,
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT

MIDDLEBORO — While others were shoveling snow this week, two local farmers were starting their seedlings of onions, spinach, leeks and broccoli to get a jump on spring and be ready to offer up home-grown vegetables when the weather breaks.

Dave Purpura of Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm has already potted his onions and spinach plants, while James Reynolds of The Dahlia Farm is germinating his broccoli this week...

Reynolds grew more than 4,000 tomatoes plants last year with one German heirloom that weighed in at 3 pounds. There’s also basil, parsley, dill and cilantro for those gourmet cooks who seek the freshest herbs...

Laurie and Dean Rantz tried a half-share in Reynolds farm last year and said they were very happy with the produce. “It was something to look forward to every week,” said Laurie Rantz.

Dean Rantz said Reynolds would fill baskets each week with vegetables, herbs and flowers, sometimes with things the couple had never tried. One week they were given kohlrabi, something Dean Rantz described as looking like an alien, but turned out to be tasty. “Hey, I’ll try anything,” he said.

Rantz said another bonus is supporting local business. He said with all the talk of living green, he decided to do what he can for the environment and invested in a local farmer.

Read the complete story HERE.





Bumpkin says:
I had a half share last season from The Dahlia Farm and was very happy with it. Fresh, no chemicals, and a variety of stuff that you just won't see in the supermarkets. The eggs are 2nd to none with amazing orange yokes and texture. I wrote about the experience several times on my blog - nemasket.net
http://nemasket.net/new-csa/
http://nemasket.net/podcast-csa-middleboro/
http://nemasket.net/csa-update/

Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter

Sorry to say -- and much to anyone's surprize -- Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow again this year, and it seems there will in fact be 6 more weeks of winter.

In the words of Bill Murray, 'I'm predicting March 21st.'

Looks like planting will be delayed again this year.

2010 CSAs Begin!

Well our seeds are in, and the 2010 season has officialy begun!

We began taking enrollment in our CSA program this week, and are looking foward to a productive and significantly larger farm this year.

Last month we stepped-up our equiptment holdings with the addition of a "new" Ford Jubilee tractor. This fully-restored 1953 antique will be the workhorse of our plowing operation (watch for a future video of YOUR farm in operation!)

In recent months we have also become members of CERTIFIED NATURALLY GROWN, (an industry certifier of chemical-free farming), and LOCAL HARVEST.

Presently we are also on the USDA long list for the 'Obama Garden' high-tunnel pilot program. This is a Federal 3-year study program looking at the feasibility of extended-season produce growing, using hoop houses (or 'poly-tunnels').

If you are interested in subscribing to our CSA program this year, our online sign-up sheet can be found on our web (TheDahliaFarm.com). You can print the form and mail a check, or if you'd prefer to pay by cash or credit card, please give us a ring (days 508-947-0174, evenings, 508-947-8802).

Be sure to watch our website for updates (blog link at top) as well as some new videos as the season progresses.

Thanks for your support!

FREE: FOOD INC, Reading, Vermont

A free showing of "FOOD, INC - The Movie" will air at the Reading Public Library on January 23, 2010, 6:30-8pm, sponsored by our neighbors, the Springfield Food Co-op.

Following the show will be a presentation of Reading's progressive Farm-to-School program.

If you have not yet seen this film, you owe it to yourself to take this free opportunity to learn more about food security, nutrition and the American corporate take-over and destruction of your health.

In a related story, hunger is on the rise in the USA - and particularly in Vermont, which now rates as the 6th hugriest state in the nation. According to the USDA's Food Security Report, 1 in 8 Vermont households are now considered "food insecure," skipping meals and malnurished.

If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, please contact 3SquaresVT, or the Reading Food Shelf on Tyson Road, Reading, VT.