News Letter the First of August
on Aug 04 by JosieCSA is going by so fast…This season is strange to me as a grower, by now we usually have tomatoes and peppers but they are still a few weeks out, along with the corn. This season has brought us wonderful food..looking back we have seen so many wonderful veggies. We are in our third week for the flower and wine shares and fruit starts this week…yea!!!!
If you would like a box of peaches for canning or freezing Eagle Creek Orchards can bring that to you via Peaceful Belly. Please send them an email eagleorchard@eagletelephone.com. They would be happy to send more fruit your way.
Have a great week and enjoy those carrots…we spent hours on our knees weeding them to get them in your belly.
News letter
on Jul 08 by JosieWhat a spring and early summer this has been for the farm. Really it is July? Feels like June. The crops are starting to size up. Carrots and beets are plumping up and so is the summer squash. Our beets got hit this year by leaf minor, that is why the greens are not the best but we are trying to work it out and in about a month the greens should be beautiful again.
Fava beans click here to find out more? These big beans are such a treat this time of year. Many people are allergic to them so if you have never had them before keep that in mind. Favas can be boiled whole pods and eaten just like edamame. Here is some links to wonderful ideas
Sauted Fava Beans click for recipe
Roman Favas click for recipe
Grilled Fava beans click for recipe
I love Chard, my favorite chard is creamed chard. Try it, you will like it. Separate the leaves of the chard from the stems. Chop us leaves and steam separate. In a pan put 1 Tbl olive oil and 3 cloves chopped garlic add chopped stem and cook on medium heat until stems are soft. Add the leaves to the pan and a pinch of salt and white pepper, cook until greens are wilted. Add 1/2 of cream, cook over low heat until cream is reduced by half, add a little salt andpepper for taste. serve over rice.
Flower Shares will start in Two Weeks with Wine Shares
Fruit Shares will start the 2nd week of August-read Linda’s Fruit Blog
Summer is finally here and with it came the hot weather we’ve been hopping for. It’s been a long cool and wet spring, which brought all the challenges associated with it, molds, fungus and slow growth and fruit development. Because of this slow development we will be delayed with our first CSA delivery by a week or so. We’re on the other side of all that cool weather now and the fruit is starting to really grow in size every day. It will be another wonderful crop which will nourish and please us all.
This year through the long hours of frost protection, pruning, thinning and all our other tasks we’ve had a very welcome partner helping us along. That partner is you, our CSA fruit share customers. You are right here with us every step of the way growing your fruit. The fertilizer used to feed the soils was paid for by you, the pruning and thinning crew of three locals was paid by you, the fuel for the tractor was paid for by you, the Lady bugs we released to help control aphids were paid for by you and so many other things were paid by you. The income we received from CSA Fruit Shares has allowed us to operate this spring with out having to barrow from the bank, something we are loath to do. We thank you and the trees thank you.
Supporting your farmer through a CSA is a way to be involved in your food production, you could have shopped at some big box store but you chose to know where your food comes from. Every time you buy anything you support whom ever and where ever the product came from. You vote with your dollar and you have chosen to vote for fresh, local and organic. Because of you Organic foods are the fastest growing segment in food production, 5% last year, a year which gave us the worst recession ever faced by the people of this country which saw many business fail.
So we are busy here with moving our irrigation twice daily, our beautiful veggie garden, and monitoring the fruit, pest and weeds. Eagle Creek has settled down after this springs flood. We didn’t have any damage because of the well vegetated riparian flood zone that nature built for just this kind of event. We will plant more willows this fall to replace what the creek took out at high water. We did lose some fruit to natures crazy spring weather that last freeze in May took a lot of apricots. With natural events there is always next year, unlike the fishermen and women in the Gulf who have lost their way of life for who knows how long. I think of the people, animals, sea life, plants of the Gulf Coast allot, and know that people want desperately to help change things for the better. For Robert and I who are trying to purchase our land and grow organic food our CSA fruit shares have done just that.
Week before 4th of July
on Jun 27 by JosieRemember that there is no CSA pick up for this week. This week gives us the time we need in the field to get ready for all the summer crops to come on. The carrots need weeded, along with the beets, tomatoes, peppers and beans. The tomatoes need trellised and the melons and squash need to be thinned. We will see you the next week after the 4th with a new bunch of crops, you can look forward to beets, carrots, peas and favas. We will say good bye to boc choy, radishes and mustards. Have a great forth.
2nd week of CSA
on Jun 07 by JosieWow! we are wet on the farm. I bet you are ready for sunshine like we are. This rain has produced some monster Bok choy. Here are some great ideas for Bok choy
Bok choy with ginger and garlic click here for recipe
Spicy Bok Choy, click here for recipe
Bok choy salad click here for recipe
In the pick up this week is, Baby spinach, Boc choy, red mustard, arugula, radishes, turnips and Walla walla onions.
Our favorite way to do turnips is to cut them in bit size pieces and saute in a pan with a little olive oil or butter and a lot of chopped garlic, a Tablespoon of cummin and some salt and pepper until they are soft, then quickly add the chopped greens for just a second till they wilt. Yum!!! A few red chili flakes spicy it up.
Why we should eat organic
America’s farmers were delivered a post WWII mandate to increase production and lower costs, ushering in the “cheap food policy” era that persists unto the present day. Survival instinct drove many cultivators to expand, embrace toxic chemistry, hyper-mechanize and deepen debt, but most simply drifted from the land, abandoning agrarianism for a burgeoning urban economy. In many ways, we have all been “guinea pigs” in a grand experiment to industrialize and cheapen the production of food.
Last week, some notable results from that venture were published in Pediatrics, official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Researchers from Harvard University’s Schools of Public Health and Medicine, among others, examined the association between urinary concentrations of organophosphate pesticide metabolites and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children 8 to 15 years of age, coming up with some startling indications. Their data, gleaned from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2000-2004), which assessed thousands of children representative of the general U.S. population, demonstrates those carrying pesticide levels higher than the median concentration were twice as likely to suffer from ADHD than subjects whose urine contained none.
This common class of nerve agent insecticides, including Malathion and Chlorpyrophos, long employed in agriculture and urban pest control, accumulates in the more sensitive juvenile population largely as a result of dietary intake. A more encouraging 2006 study, conducted by Emory University’s Chensheng Lu and collaborators at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), confirms that children switched to organic diets clear organophosphate residues from their urine almost immediately and maintain undetectable levels of these pesticide metabolites until reintroduced to conventional eating habits. The USDA’s Pesticide Data Program (PDP) has analyzed hundreds of thousands of food samples for residues over two decades and regularly finds contamination in conventional products four times more frequently than in those certified organic.
We inhabit a contaminated world, where many of our chemical tools persist in the environment over time. Organic foods sometimes contain residues from such “background” contamination but when detected, measure on average at dramatically lower levels than those in conventional foods. Entrepreneurial American farmers will grow food, given appropriate technological support, non-toxically if you demand it and compensate them fairly. These emerging facts lend credence to a friend’s assertion: “Cheap food is not good, and good food is not cheap”.
-–Tom Willey
how do I cook mustard greens?
on Jun 02 by JosieMustard greens are really spicy when eaten raw but cooked they lose their edge and are amazing here is some ideas for what to do with them.
In a pan put 2 tablespoons of butter or oil, add about 2 cloves of garlic chopped and a little salt and white pepper and about 5 Tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. Cook over medium heat until the mixture reduces by half. Add a huge bunch of chopped mustard green (you may have to add in stages) do not cook it to long just until it is wilted. This is great as a side or on a baked potato.
Here are some other ideas
Garbanzo beans and mustard greens click here for recipe
Simple mustard greens click here for recipe
Mustard greens with Chipotle and bacon
Are you ready for Veggies?
on May 31 by JosieRemember CSA pick ups start this week…brings bags and get ready for some yummy spring veggies. In the share this week is radishes, turnips, walla walla onions, mustard greens, arugula, bok choy and spinach.
Edwards Green House farmers market is Now The Erskine’s
Edwards Green house will not be having a market so that pick up will be at the Erskine’s, Starting June 1. Tuesdays: 5 until 8pm. 5200 Castle dr. right on the corner of Hill and Castle. phone 345 8003
Hidden Springs
Pick up your veggies at the Hidden Springs community barn. This is a amazing location and so scenic. Starting June 2, Wednesday nights from 4 until 6.
Defoggi’s house 1210 N 16th St ( North End)
Starting
June 2. Wednesdays: 4 until 6pm. This is a hoot of a time. Laughter, sharing and true community are found here.
Jan and Jades house 1115 E. State St- Off of Warm Springs Ave (East End)
Starting June 3. Thursdays from 4:30until 6pm. I don’t understand this amazing pick up. No one forgets and they all bring their own bags, they have book swaps and so much more. I have to say this east end pick up has is all together.
Thursday Night Market Down Town
Starting June 3, Thursday nights 5 until 7. Come visit the new market on 8th street. Pick up your CSA, get a bottle of wine and enjoy down town. Our booth is located on 8th street and Idaho.
Newsletter May 5 (chance of Snow)
on May 05 by JosieWhat is going on with this weather, snow, wind and frost. Our crops are having such a hard time growing. The greens are just waiting for heat and so are we.
Due To The Unseasonable cold weather CSA Pick Ups will start two weeks late. We need to push the CSA pick-ups back two weeks because of the cold spring. We have everything in the ground and germinated but it is just sitting there waiting for some heat to grow. This on again off again weather has been very hard for the little plants. Here is a link to the pick up spot page please look at the new dates. New pick up dates
Victory Garden Class
on Dec 31 by Josie
Peaceful Belly is offering a 35 week victory garden intern course. This is a hands on course. We will start with a piece of bare land and create a huge plentiful organic garden from the ground up. This garden will be the students garden to run, maintain and harvest. After this course you will have all the knowledge to grow all their own vegetable garden.
Course will include
Starting all plants from seed, composting, compost teas, building fences, creating an irrigation system, garden planning, trellising, equipment maintenance, successions planting, pest control, crop rotation, companion planting, weeding, harvesting and much more.
Course cost and benefits
The course is 35 weeks at $10 a week totaling $350 for entire course. Food produced in the garden will be shared among students. This is a huge benefit because we will produce almost every vegetable that the treasure valley can grow and a lot of it. It is kinda like joining a CSA but better.
Time commitment
The class will be for 2 to 3 hours. Also, each student is required to spend one additional hour a week in the garden doing maintenance; weeding, water and learning the secrets of the soil. Classes will start in March and go until October .
Location
Peaceful Belly will be teaching this course in two different locations. We are excited to partner with BUGS (Boise Urban Garden School) and teaching this class in their garden located on the bench. We will also be teaching this class in a farm setting at Hidden Springs Farm. You are free to choose what location works best for you.
Contact Josie at peacefulbelly@yahoo.com
Event: 2009 Tomato Plant Sale
on Apr 22 by Rose
Tomato Plant Sale
Heirloom – Rare
Over 125 Types of Tomatoes
Saturday May 2nd & 9th
9AM – 2PM
At the dead end of Stinger Street. One block down Castle Dr. from Hill Rd.
