Primrose Community Farm, LLC

Mosa Misses Dinner: Winter CSA ’11 – Delivery #4 (final)

cassie — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 22:05:02 +0000

We have three pets at the farm; Ruby the dog, Mosa the big cat, and Dizzy the little cat. Mike and I took Ruby and Dizzy into our home as a couple; but Mosa’s been with me long before I knew farming would be part of my life.

Mosa will be 10 years old this spring. Throughout his lifetime he’s built up quite the repertoire of stories. Here’s a rough sketch of just a few:

- Despite my landlord’s clearly stated prohibition on pets, Mosa lured me from the shelter. My eviction notice came 5 days later.

- He was toilet-trained, but I had to abandon this practice upon my move to Madison, as it resulted in too many embarrassing social situations as I was trying to make new friends.

- He learned how to take walks in the neighborhood with me. He’d wait for me outside of the grocery store. Just one whistle and he’d leap from his hiding spot and walk me home.

- He was once taken from just outside our home, despite his tags. After a long and bizarre search we found him at a Northside Madison home with someone who felt they were rescuing him from the potential dangers of Halloween…. seriously.

Last week Mosa added on to his list of funny stories. Mosa might sleep inside or outside, but the cat NEVER misses a meal. Last week when he didn’t come in, we knew something was amiss. We whistled and whistled; checked the shed; the greenhouse; the top of the barn & the bottom. Just as Mike was walking out of the barn he heard a faint meow. Somehow Mosa was stuck in between the sill between barn floors. He must have chased a mouse (he’s a great mouser) up into this little cavity.

We first tried climbing up a ladder and coaxing him out with food. But the shake of his food dish only seemed to torture him, as he was either unwilling or unable to get back out of this cavity.

Next we tried using a Saws-all to cut a wedge of wood out of the beam that was trapping him in this cavity. He survived the loudness of the saw, but still no dice.

Then we decided that maybe instead of trying to get him to crawl down, we could get him to crawl up. We went to the top of the barn and yanked up a floor board. We shook more food, and he finally jumped free.

Like any good cat, he was totally unappreciative.

Unlike our cat, we are very appreciative of those who take care of us. Whether you realize it or not, by being a member of our CSA, you support our family. Thank you.

Have a fantastic winter & thank you again for a wonderful year.

Sincerely,

Mike, Cassie, & Zea

Carrot and Cilantro Soup

cassie — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:34:31 +0000

Recipe: Carrot and Cilantro Soup

Summary: I just made this soup and it was very tasty, the cilantro in it isn’t very strong and could be omitted if you don’t have it on hand.

Ingredients

3 medium sized carrots peeled
1 tblsp vegetable oil (olive, sunflower or canola will work)
3 tblsp butter
1 yellow onion chopped
1/3 of large celeriac peeled, and cubed
1 medium russet potato, cubed
4 cups stock (veggie, chicken or water with 1
tblsp salt is fine if no stock on hand)
2-3 tsp ground coriander
1 tblsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cut peeled carrots in 1 inch chunks, heat vegetable oil and 2 tblsp of the butter in a heavy soup pan. Saute onion for 3-4 minutes.
Add the cubed celeriac and potatoes to the onion, cover and cook for 2 minutes, then add the chopped carrots. Cover cook 3-4 minutes on medium heat, shaking the pan to prevent from burning.
Reduce heat a bit and keep the pan covered to sweat the vegetables. Cook for about 10-12 minutes more shaking or stirring the veggies to keep them from sticking to the bottom.
Add the stock, bring to a boil and boil for 8-10 minutes until the carrots and potatoes are tender.
In a separate sauce pan melt the remaining 1 tblsp of butter and saute the ground coriander for 1 minute, keep heat low so the butter doesn’t burn. Add the cilantro, stir over low heat for about a minute, then turn off heat and let sit.
In a food processor or blender puree the soup and transfer into a serving bowl. Add 1 cup of milk to the pureed soup. You can add the milk during blending to make it more creamy if you like. Stir in the cilantro coriander mixture and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Microformatting by hRecipe.

Winter Egg Rolls

cassie — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:27:35 +0000

Recipe: Winter Egg Rolls

Ingredients

5 cloves garlic, minced
1 leek, sliced thin (or 1/2 and onion)
2 T. sesame oil
1/2 head of cabbage, shredded red or green (we use a food processor)
1 large package mushrooms, shredded
½ bag brussel sprouts, shredded
1 beauty heart radish
2 carrots, shredded
1 celeriac, shredded
2 tblsp olive oil
optional raw shrimp or pork, chopped into small bite-sized pieces
1/8 c. soy sauce
1 tblsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tblsp minced ginger
1tsp cajun seasoning or cayenne
Dash of cumin
black pepper
1 package egg roll wrappers
canola or peanut oil for frying
sweet and sour sauce, or hoisin sauce for dipping

Instructions

Saute garlic and leeks (or onion) in sesame oil in a large pot. Add all the shredded veggies to the pot with the olive oil. Stir frequently, and keep covered while not stirring.
Add the spices and the optional meat. Continue cooking until the meat (if any) is just cooked through. The veggies should still be slightly firm. Cooking takes about 25 minutes.
Take the pot off the heat, and roll the filling into the egg roll wrappers. 1/4 cup of filling can fit into each wrapper. Sealing the edges of the wrappers with water helps keep the seams from falling apart.
To cook the eggrolls, heat the canola or peanut oil in a pot over a medium-high heat. It is important to have the oil hot enough so that the egg rolls cook in about 4 to 5 minutes or else they will be oil-logged. Fry the egg rolls in the oil until lightly browned. Take them out and drain them on paper towels or grocery shopping bags.
Dip them and eat them!
To reheat frozen eggrolls warm them in a oven at 350 F. until crispy

Microformatting by hRecipe.

Butternut Soup Revisited: Winter CSA ’11 – Delivery #3

cassie — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 21:11:31 +0000

Alex & the Infamous Butternut Binocs

We hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We are settling back in after a nice trip to sunny Florida. I had surgery on my left hand to remove a cyst just prior to our trip and things are mostly healed up. The cyst was on the palm of my left hand, just under my ring finger. For months, picking up crates and round things (like most of our root veggies) has been a painful activity. Like a good farmer, I saved this surgery until things were pretty slowed down. All went well. I can’t wait to grab a potato with abandon once everything’s all healed up!! Please forgive my short newsletter; typing is still a bit of a challenge.

In between playing at the beach and hiking around in places alligators don’t like, we did some great eating with our family. My sister-in-law inspired both this newsletter and some excellent eating with a new butternut soup recipe. See this week’s recipes.

Before you try this recipe, you should know that my sister-in-law doesn’t like to do a lot of cooking. In prefacing this recipe she said something like, “I really like vegetables and dishes if other people make it. But if I have to chop or cut things, I really don’t like cooking. But this soup, I’ll make – it’s really good.” Sharing this little snippet of conversation should lead you to believe, correctly, that this soup recipe is an easy one. It’s super delicious and has changed how I will make butternut squash soup forever. We hope you enjoy it.

New items for this delivery include rutabaga and celeriac. Rutabaga is of off-white with a purple top. Celeriac is brown-ish and very knobby. They store best in a plastic bag in the fridge. Celeriac is great to use in soups to give them a deeper flavor. They have a consistency much like a potato when they’ve been cooked. Rutabaga is popular mashed, as well as being used in beef-based soups. For every other members, the kohlrabi will be new for you this delivery. You can peel it and eat it fresh or you can use it in a stir-fry (which is hands down my favorite way to use this veggie).

Enjoy your veggies!

Sincerely,

Mike, Cassie, & Zea

Mashed Potato and Rutabaga with Lemon

cassie — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:39:19 +0000

: Mashed Potato and Rutabaga with Lemon

Ingredients

2 pounds rutabaga (yellow turnip), peeled and cut into 2- inch pieces
2 pounds yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups half-and-half, warmed Kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
8 scallions, white and green parts, chopped, plus extra, whole, for garnish
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 1/2 cups fresh, unseasoned breadcrumbs

Directions

Cover the rutabaga and potatoes with cold, generously salted water in a large pot and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are fork-tender, about 30 minutes.
Drain the vegetables and return to the pot over low heat. Stir in 8 tablespoons butter. Mash with a potato masher, ricer or food mill until smooth, adding the warm half-and-half and 2 teaspoons salt. Keep warm while preparing breadcrumbs.
Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the lemon zest and scallions. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add the parsley and breadcrumbs and cook over medium-low heat, stirring until evenly toasted, 3 to 4 more minutes. (If the breadcrumbs toast too quickly, reduce the heat.)
Transfer the mashed vegetables to a large shallow platter and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs just before serving. Garnish with scallion slices. (To curl them, julienne whole scallions and place in ice water.)

Jen’s Butternut Squash Soup

cassie — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:34:31 +0000

: Jen’s Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

6 tablespoons chopped onion
4 tablespoons margarine
6 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
3 cups water
4 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 8 ounce package cream cheese

Directions

In a large saucepan, saute onions in margarine until tender. Add squash, water, bouillon, marjoram, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Bring to boil; cook 20
Puree squash and cream cheese in a blender or food processor in batches until smooth. Return to saucepan, and heat through. Do not allow to boil.

Number of servings (yield): 6

Vegetable Beef Stew

cassie — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:41:42 +0000

Recipe: Vegetable Beef Stew

Ingredients

2 T all purpose flour
12 oz beef stew meat, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 tblsp cooking oil
4 cups stock, Chicken, beef or vegetable
1 Medium onion, chopped
1 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
3 medium potatoes cubed
2 medium carrots sliced
1-2 medium rutabaga peeled and cubed
2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
1/2 celeriac, peeled cubed (optional)

Instructions

Place flour in plastic bag, add meat cubes couple at a time shake to coat and repeat. In large pan brown meat in hot cooking oil. Stir in stock, onion, worcestershire, and herbs. Bring to boiling, reduce heat simmer covered for 1 to 1.25 hours or until meat is nearly tender.
Stir in veggies, return to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, covered about 30 minutes more or until meat and vegetables are tender. Discard Bay leaf. 5 main dish servings

Microformatting by hRecipe.

Lily, the Food Insecurity Muppet: Winter CSA ’11 – Delivery #2

cassie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:02:39 +0000

Zea absolutely loves Sesame Street. It began will Elmo, but her love has spread to all of the characters. The Sesame Street I knew as a kid can still be found in more modern episodes, with a few new muppet characters in the mix – like Abbey Cadabby (a fairy) and Murray (the new M.C. of the show). This year Sesame Street introduced a new muppet named Lily, to highlight the issue of food insecurity. Lily, who has starred in one episode so far, doesn’t always know where her next meal is coming from.

Seasme Street's Lily

As a farm we are actively involved in getting food to people in need. We donate excess produce and unclaimed CSA shares to food pantries; we help fundraise for the CSA Coalition’s partner shares program that helps low-income families get CSA shares. Despite this involvement, this new muppet still surprises me. I had no idea that there’s an estimated 17 million American children — nearly 1 in 4 — who have limited or uncertain access to affordable and nutritious food (according to the USDA). Kudos to Sesame Street for highlighting this issue for both Zea and I.

Lily the muppet reminds me to be grateful for every meal, not just that there is food in front me but that the food is healthy and nutritious. In our country, there are places where there’s no farmer’s markets, no nearby grocery stores, and only the processed availabilities of a convenience store. I can’t imagine. This knowledge certainly helps me appreciate my beets much, much more.

I hope each of you has a safe, delicious, healthy Thanksgiving. And if you feel so moved to help towards the cause of food security, here are just a couple ideas for you:
- You can purchase either a cookbook ($15 through us) or calendar ($11.95 through us) from the CSA Coalition. All proceeds go to the partner shares program. You can order it directly through MACSAC or through us. Primrose will happily get a hold of the book/calendar and deliver it to your dropsite at the next pick-up if you like. Simply email your order to me and snail mail us a check.
- You can volunteer or donate to the Community Action Coalition or the Middleton Outreach Ministry – two pantries that we give food to as well.
- You can come to the MadWest winter farmer’s market at the Lussier Center and purchase vegetables for their pantry. At the end of each market a community food pantry opens up.
- If food security on a more global level is of interest to you, consider buying a cow, goat, chickens or other gift animal for a family through Heifer International’s gift animal catalog.

Thanks for your support and we hope you all enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving!
Sincerely, Mike, Cassie, & Zea

Lily, the Food Insecurity Muppet: Winter CSA ’11 – Delivery #2

cassie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:55:27 +0000

Seasme Street's Lily

The World Food Summit of 1996 defined food security as existing “when all people at all times have access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life”. What’s interesting about this term, I think, it that it underscores the concept that just because someone isn’t starving doesn’t mean that food access is hunky dory. This definition hints at the idea that to be food secure is about more than calories, it’s about nutrition too.
As a farm we are actively involved in getting food to people in need. We donate excess produce and unclaimed CSA shares to food pantries; we help fundraise for the CSA Coalition’s partner shares program that helps low-income families get CSA shares. Despite this involvement, this new muppet still surprises me. I had no idea that there’s an estimated 17 million American children — nearly 1 in 4 — who have limited or uncertain access to affordable and nutritious food (according to the USDA). Kudos to Sesame Street for highlighting this issue for both Zea and I.
Lily the muppet reminds me to be grateful for every meal, not just that there is food in front me but that the food is healthy and nutritious. In our country, there are places where there’s no farmer’s markets, no nearby grocery stores, and only the processed availabilities of a convenience store. I can’t imagine. This knowledge certainly helps me appreciate my beets much, much more.
I hope each of you has a safe, delicious, healthy Thanksgiving. And if you feel so moved to help towards the cause of food security, here are just a couple ideas for you:
- You can purchase either a cookbook ($15 through us) or calendar ($11.95 through us) from the CSA Coalition. All proceeds go to the partner shares program. You can order it directly through MACSAC or through us. Primrose will happily get a hold of the book/calendar and deliver it to your dropsite at the next pick-up if you like. Simply email your order to me and snail mail us a check.
- You can volunteer or donate to the Community Action Coalition or the Middleton Outreach Ministry – two pantries that we give food to as well.
- You can come to the MadWest winter farmer’s market at the Lussier Center and purchase vegetables for their pantry. At the end of each market a community food pantry opens up.
- If food security on a more global level is of interest to you, consider buying a cow, goat, chickens or other gift animal for a family through Heifer International’s gift animal catalog.
Thanks for your support and we hope you all enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving!
Sincerely, Mike, Cassie, & Zea

Beet Burgers

cassie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:44:29 +0000

Beet Burgers

Ingredients

4 cups grated beets
½ cup grated carrots
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted
½ cup sesame seeds
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbs Tamari sauce (this seems excessive so I usually put in less)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 Tbsp Flour
¼ cup oil
Minced fresh garlic, parsley, herbs to taste

Directions

Mix ingredients and form into patties.
Bake on greased baking sheets at 350 degrees about 30 minutes. Flip halfway through baking. Cooked patties should be browned and firm.