CSA Week #9

It was a rainy CSA day, one where the full body rain suit is a necessity to get the job done. Most harvest work was done Tuesday, accordingly, but a few items still had to come out during the rain. So, after a quick harvest of celery, kale, squash and cukes, I pulled all the green onions out of the field to clean and bunch out of the rain. That wasn't too terribly bad, or wet, but it did make the hand chillier than one would think for August!

New this week - snap beans (finally), Reddale potatoes, celery, Beacon and Pristine apples, and German Extra Hardy garlic.

CSA Newsletter Week #9 ~ featuring: farm news and a few questions; featured veggie: cucumbers; recipes: Best Ever French Beans, Simple Turkish Bean (Fasulye).

CSA Week 9 ~ August 9, 2017

In the Box: cucumber trio, celery, German Extra Hardy garlic, French Gray shallots (half shares), Beacon (red striping) and Pristine apples, Dragon's Tongue wax beans (full shares), Rattlesnake snap beans (half shares), carrots, rosemary-sage bunch, 2# Reddale potatoes, Ronde de Nice summer squash (half shares), green onions, Cocozelle zucchini (full shares), beets with greens.

Dragon's tongue wax beans.

Heirloom carrots, after washing, before bunching.

It was very exciting to have our first harvest of Pristine, off our young orchard trees!

Beacon and Pristine organic apples.

Info on Apple Shares coming soon!

CSA Week #5

We begin July with new items like wax beans, summer squash and cucumbers. Verging on the bounty of deep summer. Peas continue, spring radishes wrap up.

CSA Newsletter Week #5 ~ featuring: New Potatoes in Dill Butter; featured veggie: Onions; onions on the grill; sautéed kohlrabi.

In the Box: quart snow peas, cucumber (or zucchini), bunch parsley, quart Dragon's Tongue wax beans (half shares), garlic scapes (the curly Qs), mini celery bunch, quart shell peas, radishes, yellow spring onions, two kohlrabi, zucchini (full shares. New potatoes did not make it into boxes, as harvest excavation revealed their lack of size and readiness.

Pick up site recipe of the week, courtesy of our kind site host Megan - Warm Beans & Bacon!

I am delighted that bean season has begun! Our first beans to come in are our Dragon's Tongue wax beans, bush type. These creamy, tasty beans will carry us into our main bean season.

In the Kitchen :: Dry Beans

Homegrown 'Hidatsa Shield Figure' beans soaking.

One way we have tried to be more savvy in the kitchen is by utilizing dried beans.

It has taken us some getting used to the routine--remembering to start soaking the beans the day before, keeping a variety of dry beans stocked--but now it is a staple in our kitchen (and pantry).

 As I find, over and over, with these sorts of food and homesteading goals you have to have patience and keep trying until your goal becomes a habit. Changes to your food lifestyle, whether it's beans or eating more veggies don't come without challenge and often there is some spoilage in the process, it's okay.

Why cook dry beans? Initially I believe we wanted to incorporate more beans because we ate a low meat diet, so this was a way of incorporating more protein, but there are so many good reasons.

Cooking a mix of heirloom dry beans.

Dry beans fit the budget. They are very economical. Buy them in bulk and you may be able to buy a pound of beans for the cost of 4-5 cans of beans! Don't forget to check your local farmers' market in the summer for local dry beans too.

Reduce packaging waste. Those bulk beans have a lot less packaging. You can put them in whatever cool jar you have around the house, or even make them a decorative item in your kitchen.

We store our dried beans (store bought or homegrown) in ball jars, or other
reused jars. Easy to see what you haveand pretty! You can often bring
these containers to refill right at your co-op.

Reduce your sodium intake. Canned beans have higher amounts of sodium. An alternative is Eden brand canned beans which contain no added salt, instead they use kombu seaweed.

Avoid BPA. Many canned goods have bisphenol-A  (BPA) in their can linings. (Eden does not.)

Use them for any meal. Breakfast burritos, salads, soups. Which makes them a great item to make if you do a prep day over the weekend for weekly meals.

They are pretty hands-off. Throw some dried beans in a bowl and cover them to soak--ignore them until its time to cook them. When it's time to cook, drain the beans, then throw them in a crock pot with new water--ignore them until they're done!

Here are a few resources for your future adventures with dry beans. If you have any favorite tips, tricks or recipes share them in the comments!

Dry beans headed for the pantry.

•Making the Basics: cooking with dried beans
•Tips for making beans easier to digest
•Heirloom Dry Beans
•"Add Salt When Beans Are Just Barely Tender: Adding the salt at the beginning of cooking can sometimes prevent the starches in the beans from breaking down, so they'll be a little over-firm even after long cooking. The best time to add the salt is when the beans are almost finished cooking. When they are tender enough to eat but still too firm to really be enjoyable (aka, al dente), add the salt."
-theKitchn

Muddy Beans, Muddy Boots

So I was planting beans Tuesday...

...which gave me muddy boots, muddy fingers, muddy knees and a muddy butt. At least I didn't really have to grab the individual beans, as one (or three) would simply stick to the end of my finger! 

The bean trellis will support our 10' pole bean varieties--Hidatsa Shield Figure (dry bean) and Rattlesnake (snap bean). You can see the dark color of the soil...

...however, I was able to get the second round of beans in the ground--finally! The soil is more wet than we are comfortable for transplanting our tomatoes, peppers, ground cherries, melons and squash that are outside, but a day will arrive--just around the corner. I did manage to pop 128 basil plants in the ground. So...

...in the field there is rhubarb, asparagus, kale, strawberries, leeks, onions, basil, hubbard squash, early/mid/late season potatoes, cantaloupe, watermelon, muskmelon, broccoli, carrots, peas, radishes, cabbage, marigolds, parsley, snap/dry beans, bunching onions, swiss chard, celery, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, sweet corn, parsnips, dill, buttercup squash, zucchini, shallots, garlic, beets, kohlrabi. So, not to shabby. Back to the beans...

Beans coated with innoculant prior to planting.

Our beans (and peas) are planted with innoculant. This stimulates the rhizobacterial relationship that these legumes have with the soil. This not only benefits the health of the plant (robust root system; increased uptake of nutrients), but also benefits the soil by increasing organic matter, soil aeration and stabilization. Have you heard of 'nitrogen fixing'? Legumes fix nitrogen from the surrounding soil through this relationship, changing it to a usable form, rather than  leaving it locked in the soil. Pretty cool.

Farming is way more than just sticking plants in the ground, it's also understanding, respecting, and working with the vibrant, natural systems that are in place. Like the rain! The rain is good, it's making me a little crazy, but it's good! The 'Abnormally Dry' spot on the drought map is creeping every closer to our corner of the county, which is still in 'Moderate' drought status.

Three Sisters Gardening

The three sisters garden is a traditional native American method of growing corn, pole beans and squash together.  The individual crops benefit each other in multiple ways, make beneficial use of growing space, and together they provided a healthy, balanced diet.

The pole beans climb the corn, the corn utilizes the nitrogen the beans fix in the soil and the prickly squash leaves keep critters and pests away and act as a living mulch--keeping the soil cool and moist.  Nutritionally, protein is supplied by the beans, while carbs & fiber are provided by corn; squash supplies important vitamins (including C) and antioxidants.

I have always wanted to try the three sisters method, and am using a modified version this year--why not grow some corn and beans amidst the bed of squash?  

Soaking the beans before planting helps ensure moisture
and speeds germination.  Left: peas. Right: Hidatsa Shield Figure beans.

In the foreground is a bed prepared for squash, with several mounds running down the middle of the bed (where the flags are).  The mounds are meant to provide adequate drainage, while allowing the soil to warm.  I have planted 6 mounds, with two more to go for a second succession, with corn and beans, then I will plant my row of squash down the middle of the 46' bed.

Foreground: squash bed with three sisters mounds.
Background: pole bean trellises. 

The beans we are growing in the three sisters method are different varieties of dried beans we want to try out, so we'll have a little of each to eat at the end of the year--Cherokee Trail of Tears, Kentucky Wonder and Hidatsa Shield Figure.  The Cherokee and Hidatsa varieties are traditional Native American varieties, and are also both listed in Slow Food USAs Ark of Taste.  Kentucky Wonder is an excellent snap bean, which can also be used as a dry bean--we are growing then as snap bean this year as well.

As for the corn varieties we have Bloody Butcher and Bear Island Flint corn.  Bloody Butcher can be harvest young, for sweet corn, or used at maturity for decorative purposes, meal or flour, and has excellent drought tolerance.  Alternative corn varieties!!  But we have sweet corn coming up too!!

A simple diagram of a three sisters mound.
[Photo from: kidsgardening.org]

What one mound might look like into maturity.
[Photo: AIHDP]