Summer Update

Hey folks, I guess I'm sorry about the lack of updating. I've realized that the more rich and involved my actual real-life experience is, the less motivated I am to blog about it.  As seen in my failures of trying to blog about the school year as well. Kind of counterintuitive I guess, and I could go more into detail about my ponderings on the subject, but I wont.

 It really has been an amazing summer. The work in the fields of caring for the land, which in turn cares for us by producing food, is really satisfying. I've also been given some really cool opportunities developing curriculum for the Seed 2 Plate program that is currently used to teach kids that come on the farm through school and camp field trips. Keith has been working hard and learning a lot all summer, and he is now managing the construction of the Jones Valley Children's Garden, which is right on the downtown site. And of course, our mouths and bellies have been full of delicious, hearty, and healthy offerings from the farm.

Here is a summary in pictures:

Sarah and Keith of our Mt. Laurel site harvesting potatoes.

A farm-intern field trip to the Jefferson Co. Farmer's Market reveals that the produce is not so fresh or local. 

Farm-intern field trip part 2 takes us to J3Organics to check out their amazing dirt.

Robin smelling the pure worm castings at J3Organics.

We also took a little field trip to Pleasant Valley Farm in Argyle, New York while we were up visiting my grandmother and family. It was a really inspirational experience, and a beautiful farm.

Farmer Paul, of Pleasant Valley Farm, takes quite a while out of his demanding day to talk to us about the business of organic farming. Thanks Paul!

My counter-top compost bucket. Works like a charm. (It has a lid that is not pictured.)

And a handsome man I happen to know ended up on the front page of the Birmingham News for an article featuring Jones Valley.

Farm Friends

 A lot is happening on the farm, and at home! We just moved into our new house so we're working with limited to no internet. Hopefully we'll be up and running this week.

Here are some friends from out at the Mt. Laurel farm.

The Prettiest Salad You Ever Did See

The other night we had dinner with some friends, and I whipped up a salad that I learned while helping lead one of the Jones Valley Seed2Plate field trips. It was really easy, even with a quick homemade balsamic vinaigrette, and SO tasty. Not too bad on the eyes either. The lettuce is from Jones Valley (Keith harvested it!), the goat cheese is from Mountain View Cheesery, and the strawberries are local, picked up at V Richards.

Korean Turnip Salad (Mu Sangchae)

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CSA Week Two

We are well into devouring our second CSA bundle of goodies. It is delicious. I've gotten the opportunity to share a lot of our bounty with friends, which has been a lot of fun. The lettuce, radishes, and turnips have been a hit.

This week our bag included another pint of scrumptious strawberries, two different kinds of head lettuce, and two spring lettuce mixes, easter egg radishes, black nero tundo radishes, and hakueri and scarlet-stemmed turnips. I'm developing more of a taste for the radishes and turnips. I especially like the turnips cut up in salads, and the radishes on bread with butter and salt. I'm posting a recipe that I haven't yet tried that would work with either the radishes or the turnips. It's crazy time with the last couple weeks of school wrapping up, but I can't wait to cook more and try new recipes when summer hits!

Root veggies: Nero Tundo black radishes, Easter Egg radishes, Scarlet-Stemmed turnips, and Hakurei turnips.

Head lettuce: Butter Crunch (bib) and Concept (romaine-bib cross)

Pepper Place Farmers Market

The Pepper Place Saturday Market is in full swing! And you've got to get there early if you want strawberries!

Yesterday, I got to help out at the Jones Valley stand. It was a wonderful experience to have put a little bit of sweat into what we were selling, and then see how much people appreciated it. So many people exclaimed, "You grew that HERE? In the CITY? Wow!" The other night at the CSA Potluck, Edwin, JVUF executive director, explained how difficult it has been to cultivate land that has so much urban debris in it-- rocks, cement, glass, even large remnants of structures that were once on the property-- but that with hard work and creativity, along with using the city to your advantage, such as reusing food scraps and leaves for compost, it is possible. And the beautiful Jones Valley stand at the market it testament to that.

Farm to Market:

Jones Valley Market Arugula Pizza:

1 Pizza Crust (most groceries sell ready-to-use fresh dough)
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
4 slices pancetta, cooked
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup diced pineapple
1 hand full arugula
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush prepared dough or ready to use crust generously with olive oil and garlic mixture. Season with a little salt and pepper. Sprinkle cheese and top with pancetta. Bake until crust is done and cheese is bubbly and beginning to brown. Remove from oven. While the pizza is still piping hot, top with arugula and pineapple, and drizzle with a little more olive oil. Let stand for 2-3 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Warm Asian Chicken Salad with Radishes

Last night's dinner was an adaptation of a recipe that has recently been a favorite, warm snow pea and chicken salad. I basically used the radishes in place of the snow peas, but I could see them as being a great addition to the snow peas as well. The dressing, a tangy twist on an asian peanut sauce, is what makes the salad. I had no idea what it would do to the radishes to sauté them, but they stayed crunchy and mellowed out a but, just as I had hoped!  I'm posting the version that I made last night with what I had on hand and what I needed to use, but some great variations would be serving it warm over rice, or cold over just salad greens, adding chopped cashews, peanuts, or shelled edamame. I'll probably use the leftover chicken, radish, and dressing mixture to make lettuce wraps!

Lunch Box: Hakurei Turnips and Homemade Hummus

Today I lunched on a salad of the raw radishes, turnips, and lettuces and some homemade hummus. I have to admit, I was pretty nervous about the raw root veggies, as I'm not a huge fan of the bitter sweet-heat of radishes, and I had no idea what turnips tasted like. The black Nero Tondo radishes were a little strong for my taste, and the dry, thick, black skin is just intimidating. I think I'm going to try to make pesto out of them. The pink radishes are a lot more aproachable. My favorites were definitely the turnips. Sliced, they made a great sweet, crunchy vehicle for the hummus.

1st CSA bag!

CSA season is officially here! I picked up our 1st bag (a cute reusable Jones Valley tote) today. And, boy is it full of some interesting stuff! One of the exciting things about small-farm sustainable agriculture, is that the vegetable world is really so much more diverse than what we encounter in the grocery store.

Here's what's in the bag. I'm pasting the vegetable descriptions from our CSA newsletter, but I'll be sure to give you my own takes after we taste them all. First impressions: Bring on the salads! And I knew I had LOST on the brain when I saw the white turnips and jet black radishes and thought, "hey! LOST shout out!" (Anyone?).

(pictured in the order listed)

Hakurei Turnips white “salad” turnip; superb flavor; sweet and fruity taste with a crisp and tender texture. Excellent raw! Bright Lights Swiss Chard Milder taste than ordinary chard with stems of many colors. Shunkyo Radishes Specialty radish from North China; deep pink roots with crisp, nutty white flesh. Taste is both hot and unusually sweet. Nero Tondo Radishes Black Spanish type radish with hot, white flesh. Arugula Astro; mild flavored arugula. Greenleaf Lettuce Black Seeded Simpson; crinkly, juicy light green leaves. Jericho Lettuce Excellent tasting romaine lettuce; bright light green. Camarosa Strawberries Bright red color and great flavor!

As for the week's menu, I haven't done too much research, but I'm thinking asian chicken lettuce wraps for sure. I'd like to try to roast the radishes, and maybe the turnips, but I'll taste them first. Salads for lunches. And I can't wait for greek yogurt with granola and strawberries for breakfast tomorrow!

A big help for storing all this produce, will be this garden to table storage guide.

Links and Strawberries

Over the next few days I'll be posting a lot of links up on the blog, so if you're reading on a feed-reader, be sure to check it out.


Today while I was at school, Keith called to say he was picking strawberries over at Jones Valley. Which made me a) jealous, and b) remember that we had strawberries last summer growing at school. After class, I went out and checked . . . and strawberries! What cheery little red miracles! And hearty, those things have survived since last summer with just about no care whatsoever. I went to help weed strawberries at the farm after school, which was a rather tedious job, but hopefully we'll have strawberries in the box tomorrow!

Also expected in the box: radishes, turnips, arugula, lettuce, and swiss chard

Did I mention that I don't think I've ever eaten a turnip!?

Urban Farm Hands

Jones Valley Urban Farm, Birmingham AL

This summer we are digging into Magic City soil, planting seeds of inquiry. Interning at Jones Valley Urban Farm, just a few blocks into the heart of Birmingham from our home, we are laboring to learn. Where does our food come from? What kind of work does it take to produce it? What does a potato look like at all the other stages of it's plant-life? How do you eat a turnip?

The framework of our inquiry is a goal: to learn more about farming and sustainable agriculture and to eat only regional meat and produce when at all possible.

We'll dissect the goal more later.

In the meantime, if your curiosity is sparked along with ours, join us in our delving, and share your thoughts, recipes, questions, and words as well!