Dexter on the farm! He's wearing ashes for this pic.

Hello Farm Friends!

The heat of the day dissapates, my body temperature feels the same as the temp outside. The playing ground is leveled, for a moment, as I sit and scan over the land, I  see the results of all the work that was done that day. The land where my sweat falls, where I place all of my hopes and dreams. The sky darkens and I bring myself into my house to cook for my family a meal which is made with the tasty and colorful objects we’ve pulled up from our very own garden. The heat from the sun has another life at night… on the burners of my stovetop.

I sure do hope you all are enjoying cooking up the garden goodies as much as we are. Again, I would like to invite all of you to send us pictures of meals you’ve made with the harvests and/or recipes that worked out really well for your families. All is well here at Ohmygato. Eric, our farm intern, had to jump right in as he arrived Friday night, the evening before Saturday market. We decided to work the Sat market in Roseburg last weekend because we had excess veggies and Anthony has been making a french style pizza and ciabatta bread that are so tasty that we thought people would really LOVE them, so we tried it out and it went very well indeed. We sold out of almost everything! I have to say that the pizza was a huge success. If you’d like to try some, come to the market this coming Saturday and check out our table. No worries though because we’re working on doing a bread share (CSA) for the winter. If you’re interested just send us an email and we’ll let you know more as we figure it out ourselves.

Anthony has successfully grated the plateau where our new greenhouse will be built. It looks like we’ve got a group of volunteers who’ll be visiting next week, so that’s when we expect to erect the greenhouse. We’ve got spinach coming down the pike and the summer squash is ready for harvesting! Yay! I do love this time of year. The Tomatoes still look like little green rocks, but the cantaloupe plants have begun to make their lovely orange fruit. We released the new little hens back into their brood, but one escaped and is really truly FREE-range. We can’t catch her, so we’re hoping she’ll hear the noises of her fine feathered friends and somehow fly into the coup! There is a sauerkraut recipe below and a link to the probiotic benefits of eating saurkraut down below that I recommend you take a gander at. If you’ve never made sauerkraut, it’s a fun family event. Eating it is even more fun!

A happy man.

prior to the final grating.

Also last week my friends Carly, Matt and their dog Dexter came for a two day visit. We had a blast. They worked all day with us and helped out with all the little things that we have a hard time getting done because we’re just maintaining sometimes. They are moving to New Mexico and are getting ready to start a whole new life out there… Good luck to you! We love you lots and I will miss you terribly. Ohmygato will just have to come for a visit so we’re not too sad. Thanks for the love, support and friendship!

This weeks harvest:

Potatoes
Carrots
Zucchini
Mixed Salad Greens
Buttercrunch Lettuce
Turnips
Onion
Savoy Cabbage

Speaking of that big green bowling ball in your CSA box…check out this link if you would like to explore ideas with what to do with all that cabbage!:  http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2006-08-01/Got-Cabbage-Make-Sauerkraut.aspx

Some recipes for you…

Prep Time:

20 min

Inactive Prep Time:

–

Cook Time:

30 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings, serving size 1/2 cup

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 medium zucchini (about 1 pound total)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan (3/4-ounce)
• 1/4 cup plain dry bread crumbs
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

Slice the zucchini into 1/4-inch thick rounds. In a medium bowl, toss the zucchini with the oil. In a small bowl, combine the Parmesan, bread crumbs, salt, and a few turns of pepper. Dip each round into the Parmesan mixture, coating it evenly on both sides, pressing the coating on to stick, and place in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake the zucchini rounds until browned and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove with spatula. Serve immediately.

Per Serving:

(serving size, 1/2 cup)

Calories 105; Total Fat 6g (Sat Fat 2g, Mono Fat 2g, Poly Fat 0g); Protein 5g; Carb 8.5g; Fiber 1.5g; Cholesterol 1mg; Sodium 222mg

Excellent Source of: Molybdenum, Vitamin C

Good Source of: Calcium, Manganese, Vitamin B6, Protein

Member Sharon Herzstein sent us this lovely picture after her last box. Thank you Sharon!

Happy Harvest Day!

We hope this post finds you all happy and healthy. What’s new at Ohmygato? Well, we’re receiving another farm intern tonight and we couldn’t be more excited. There are many projects that need to get done in order to keep us rolling into fall and winter. The building of our new greenhouse has been up on our list of priorities this summer. Anthony has been grading the plateau between our goat barn and our house so that we can build the house there. We debated on whether or not we should keep it up the hill or down near the lower garden, but it’ll be easier to maintain the plants if it’s near the house which seems to be grand central station no matter what we do. Although our CSA season doesn’t extend into fall or winter, we would like to make winter veggies available for you all to come and pick yourselves or come to buy at the growers market.  We’ll have pumpkins, winter squash and lots of winter greens (collards, kale, spinach and chard). We’re also planning on growing lots of yummy mixed salad greens during the cold months in our new greenhouse! That’s the plan.

This week we’re digging up potatoes! It’s truly magical to see such beauties emerge from the dry earth. It is a sight to behold. I was smitten yesterday as I sat and uncovered the little red fingerlings…you’ll all get to enjoy them as they are the featured item in this weeks harvest. I harvested our first round of delicious baby summer squash this last Tuesday. There’s just not enough yet to go around into the boxes, but soon (possibly next week or the week after) they will make a surprise appearance in your CSA box. I have to tell you that our tomato plants look really great and have lots of flowers, but no fruit on most of them. I’m perplexed. I know they’ll come on later than usual because of this years very wet and cold june, but it doesn’t make it any easier to know this since it’s probably my favorite part of the season. The same story is true for our eggplants. The peppers are coming on and are looking very nice indeed.

Oh thank you Sharon for sending this amazing picture! We love it. Nothing is more rewarding than knowing that the veggies are in good hands. Send us your pictures and we’ll post them for everyone to see. Definitely send us pictures of meals you’ve made with your goodie box! We’d really love to see what you all are making with the harvest.

also, I know that you all probably have a couple of bunches of chives still in your veggie drawer in the fridge. Some of the potato recipes down below will take care of that problem.

This weeks harvest:

red ace beets
Nero Di Toscano (dino kale)
rainbow chard
turnips
french fingerling potatoes
buttercrunch lettuce
savoy cabbage

Italian Parsley (flat leaf)

(list is subject to change)

some recipes for you…

seared brocolli rabe with garlic (you may use collards or rainbow chard or a mixture for this recipe)

grelos salteadoes (portugese)

ingredients

1/4 cup evoo (extra virgin olive oil)

6 large garlic gloves sliced lengthwise

pinch of red pepper flakes

pinch of  kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

clean and prepare greens by washing and cutting. fit a large pot with a steamer insert and fill the pot up with 1 inch of water, bring to a boil over hight heat. steam greens for 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large pan use medium heat and heat up the oil. Put your garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper in the pan. brown garlic for approximately 5 - 7 mins. put your greens into the hot pan and stir around to make sure that everything is coated with your garlicky, red pepper oil. hear it crackly as the veggies get seared! enjoy with some roasted beets. you can even make a little side dish of rice. serve hot.

Roasted beets

the beauty of beets is that you really don’t need to dress these babies up in order to make them tasty. They taste pretty good on their own. this is how we ate our beets this week:

ingredients

a bunch of beets sliced and quartered

EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

Spread your sliced beets out over a baking sheet and drizzle the olive oil over them so that they all have a little oil on them. Bake in the oven (we use our little toaster oven to save on energy and to keep our house from getting hot during the summertime) for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Use a spatula and serve with the greens from the recipe above. Yumm!!

Perfect Fingerling Potatoes

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2003

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 pounds kosher or rock salt
• 2 quarts water
• 2 pounds small fingerling potatoes, cleaned
• 4 tablespoons butter, optional
• Freshly ground black pepper, optional
• 1 tablespoon freshly chopped chives, optional

Directions

In a large pot, combine the salt, water, and potatoes and bring to a boil. Cook until the potatoes are fork-tender, approximately 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pot to a cooling rack and let stand for 5 to 7 minutes. Serve as is or with butter, pepper, or chives.

Pizzocheri with Savoy Cabbage, Potatoes and Bitto

Recipe Courtesy of �Mario Batali

Ingredients

• 1 recipe pizzocheri (see basic recipe)
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 2 quarts water
• 2 medium waxy potatoes, 3/4 pounds, peeled and cut into 1inch cubes
• 1 small head Savoy cabbage, or Napa, cut into 1 inch thick strips
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 small leeks, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 8 leaves fresh sage
• 1 cup grated Bitto cheese (may substitute Fontina or Montasio)

Directions

Hello!

the gato in ohmygato!

How is everyone? We do hope the summer is treating you all very well indeed. It’s Thursday, I’m back from North Carolina and it was a great trip. I’ll post a couple of pictures later, but for now I’m a little late writing this post so I’m going to get right to the point. The new baby salad greens are coming up very nicely despite the heat. Anthony had to do another planting of arugula because for some reason the bed turned up looking like a patchy beard! Chances are it wasn’t our best planting, but there are other things that could’ve occured in order to render the bed bald-like.

this weeks harvest & anthony

Thank you to those of you who have sent us emails letting us know how you are liking your boxes. I’ve also received a really nice recipe in the form of a link from member Tracy Baker.  Look further down in the recipe section of this post to see her suggestion from Rachael Ray’s Official Website :: Arugula and Pear Salad. Sounds Yummy! Thanks for the treat Tracy. I decided to use Rachel Ray’s website for all the recipe’s this week. There were some really amazing dishes I just couldn’t pass by.

Today’s harvest: (this list is subject to change last minute)
red ace beets (be sure to eat the beet greens too..their delicious in a salad or stir fry and they’re quite nutricious.)
rainbow chard
buttercrunch lettuce
mixed salad greens
snow ball cauliflower, brocolli or savoy cabbage (we mixed these up so some of you will be getting something a little different)
cilantro
sage
chives

some recipe’s for you…

Arugula and Pear Salad

Source: rachaelray.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup walnut halves
• 5-6 cups arugula, cleaned and dried
• 1 Bosc or Anjou pear, thinly sliced
• 1 lemon
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), (eyeball it)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 ounces Gorgonzola (get a piece that will crumble easily for you) or blue cheese crumbles

Hello Everyone!

Happy fourth of July week! We hope that you are having a fabulous week. I’m posting this early because I’m leaving tomorrow for North Carolina and won’t be here for this weeks harvest. Anthony will be on his own or maybe not. We have a couple of volunteers who may help pack the boxes on Thursday afternoon. If any of you are interested in lending a hand, please contact us by tomorrow night to let us know if you can get here by 1pm.

Another week is rolling by and we’re on our fourth delivery of our CSA season. It’s all going so fast. Speaking of things going quickly, the other day Anthony and I planted more arugula and salad greens and they sprouted in just two days! The soil is just the right temp to help the little seedlings do their busy work. Now it’s our job to make sure those beds stay wet this week as the temperatures rise into the 90’s. Ohmygato! It’s going to be a hot week for sure.

On another note, I would like to post a huge THANK YOU to Dale Stutzman who lovingly made our boxes for this season’s harvest. You all must know that he harvested the wood from his property, milled the wood himself and hand built each box. This is AMAZING! We really appreciate you Dale and can’t say enough about what you did for the dynamics of our farm and CSA by building these boxes for us. Not to mention how much time it saves us.. Last year Anthony and I were scavenging tomato boxes from Subway each week, trying to make it on time before the boxes got recycled! Also, the new boxes definitely have a much better aesthetic.

These little beauties are truly local treasures. I would like to remind everyone who reads this that we can and should support the folks in our community who put everything they have, literally, into what they do. Order something from a local maker! It’s like supporting your favorite public broadcasting station.

If any of you are interested or know anyone who may be interested in having some boxes built please contact us and we’ll get you in touch with Dale. The boxes can be used for putting together a care package or for holding yarn or magazines. They can be used outdoors for carrying or holding garden tools, harvesting and for display purposes. The boxes can also be painted/finished and repurposed many times over.

I don’t know about you, but I love things that are handmade. The evidence and markers of the human hand, the flaws and irregularities are exactly what I think is beautiful about hand made objects.

That said, the following is a quote that I found from one of my favorite writers, Jeanette Winterson from her book Art Objects:

“Naked I came into the world, but brush strokes cover me, language raises me, music rhythms me. Art is my rod and staff, my resting place and shield, and not mine only, for art leaves nobody out. Even those from whom art has been stolen away by tyranny, by poverty, begin to make it again. If the arts did not exist, at every moment, someone would begin to create them, in song, out of dust and mud, and although the artifacts might be destroyed, the energy that creates them is not destroyed. If in the comfortable West, we have chosen to treat such energies with scepticism and contempt, then so much the worse for us. Art is not a little bit of evolution that late-twentieth-century city dwellers can safely do without. Strictly, art does not belong to our evolutionary pattern at all. It has no biological necessity. Time taken up with it was time lost to hunting, gathering, mating, exploring, building, surviving, thriving. Odd then, that when routine physical threats to ourselves and our kind are no longer a reality, we say we have no time for art. If we say that art, all art is no longer relevant to our lives, then we might at least risk the question ‘What has happened to our lives?’ The usual quesion, ‘What has happened to art?’ is too easy an escape route.

I did not escape. At an Amsterdam gallery I sat down and wept. When I sold a book I bought a Massimo Rao. Since that day I have been filling my walls with new light.”

Things that are coming up: squash, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, beans and hopefully corn. We’re seeing lots of progress despite the cool weather up to now, so no promises yet until we see red, purple, green and yellow. All we see is green at the moment.

today’s harvest: (I’m writing this on Tuesday, so please make note that this list is subject to change. The list may be added to as the week goes on.)
mixed salad greens
arugula
cauliflower or brocolli
radishes

rainbow chard
kale
cilantro
italian parsley

some recipes for you…

seared broccoli rabe with garlic

grelos salteados

The New Portuguese table by David Leite

serves 6-8

1/4 cup olive oil

6 garlic cloves, cut lengthwise in half

pinch of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 lbs broccoli rabe

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. fit a large pot with a steamer insert and fill with half inch of water. bring to a boil over high heat.

2. meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium low heat until it shimmers. add the garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, and let sizzle, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 3-5 minutes.

3. as soon as the water boils, drop the broccoli rabe into the steamer, cover tightly, and steam for 2 minutes. using tongs, transfer the broccoli rabe to a tea towel and roll it up to absorb excess moisture.

4. add the broccoli rabe to the skillet and cook, turning frequently with the tongs, until just tender, 3-5 minutes. season with salt and pepper to taste.

Rated: Submitted By: Hetal Photo By: Priscilla Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 40 Minutes Ready In: 50 Minutes Servings: 5

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com

Italian Kale Rated: Submitted By: dwieberg Photo By: Stef~W~an~F Prep Time: 5 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Ready In: 20 Minutes Servings: 4 “An easy Italian-style preparation of kale. The simple additions of balsamic vinegar and minced garlic show off kale’s natural sweetness and rich texture.” Ingredients: 1 bunch kale, stems removed and leaves coarsely chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tablespoon olive oil 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar Salt and ground black pepper to taste Directions: 1. Cook the kale in a large, covered saucepan over medium-high heat until the leaves wilt. Once the volume of the kale is reduced by half, uncover and stir in the garlic, olive oil and vinegar. Cook while stirring for 2 more minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.