Spring, Better Late Than Never

I woke up this morning with a question in my head, one that has probably occurred lately to many of you in the habit growing or eating local produce on the Western Slope: Has mid-June become the new spring? Maybe I’m waxing nostalgic, but when I think back on my childhood in the Roaring Fork Valley, I could swear I remember things blooming in April and May, instead of laying dormant under cloud cover for two months, making seed germination an impossible dream anywhere but a greenhouse.

However cold and peculiar the spring so far has been, the last few weeks here in the North Fork Valley have brought little but sunshine, and at last, things are starting to grow! A glance into this produce box is ample evidence of that, and this week we bring you a smattering of spring’s finest offerings from across the valley. Your box today includes a mix of the following:

• Turnips and radishes from Paonia’s Rain Crow Farm
• Garlic scapes from Cobblestone Farm in Hotchkiss
• Arugula from Jeff and Kaylee at Abundant Life
• Eggs from The Living Farm in Paonia
• Salad Mix from Scott at Small Potatoes Farm
• Chevre from Basalt’s own Avalanche Cheese Company
• Spinach from our own garden here at Fresh and Wyld
• Asparagus from Nikos Garden in Montrose

In case you’re at a loss for what to do with these ingredients, below you’ll find three great recipes from our new chef, Caroline Glover.

The crazy spring weather has made bringing this box to you a bit of a trick for all of our farmers. Here in our garden, we’ve had to plant the tomatoes with their root ball angled sideways (!) to keep them out of the cold soil below, and have been battling an unusual profusion of flea beetles, along with the usual slate of other pests that all organic farmers contend with, like slugs and leaf-miner beetles. All of this has kept our farmer on his toes, scheming up organic ways to thwart the creatures, but his efforts seem to be paying off. In our garden, the chard and kale is growing taller by the day, the beets and turnips are plumping up, and, perhaps most exciting of all, the peas are beginning to form! All signs point to a productive summer season ahead.

We are still offering shares of our 16-week summer CSA! We’re looking for about 15 more members to join us for the summer season. Members get a heaping bag of local food delivered to their door weekly, from June 22nd until October 5^th. Summer shares are $800, but if you’ve been a customer of ours in the past, we will allow you to pay as you go, with a charge of $50 per week. All summer, we bring you the best food our region’s farmers can produce, at an affordable price. Along with a cornucopia of other spring produce, next week’s box will feature the first peas of the season! We hope you’ll join us.

And whether the season we’re in is spring, summer, or some blend of the two, we hope the food we bring you helps you enjoy it.

Regards,

CSA Manager Nelson Harvey and The Fresh and Wyld Crew

THIS WEEK’S RECIPES

1.) Spinach and Chevre Quiche

Serves 4

In your spring box this week, you have three of the main ingredients for this easy quiche.

6 cups spinach, washed

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup Avalanche chevre

6 each eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups, cream

1/2 cup yellow onion, diced small

Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, lightly butter a 9 inch pie pan.

Heat oil in a non-stick saute pan and add onions, garlic and salt. Cook until tender.

Add washed spinach to saute pan and cook just until wilted.

Drain spinach mixture to rid of any excess water.

In a bowl combine chevre, eggs, cream, and spinach mixture- stir until fully mixed.

Pour mixture in pie pan and bake for 30 minutes. Let pie cool before serving.

* This is a crustless version, a homemade crust or store bought crust can be used as well. Just line the bottom of the pan with crust and bake in a 350 degree oven until golden brown. Then add spinach mixture and cook for 30 minutes.

2.) Rhubarb Vinaigrette

This is a nice tart vinaigrette that will serve well over mixed greens. We used it in our Friday night dinner this past week and finished the salad with candied curry sunflower seeds!

2 cups, rhubarb, chopped to 1/2 inch pieces

1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar

1/2 c water

1/2 c sugar

2 Tbsp mustard

3 cups grape seed oil

salt and pepper to taste

Place rhubarb, red wine vinegar, water, and sugar in a medium sized pot over medium heat. Let the liquid come to a boil and lower temperature to simmer for 10 minutes (rhubarb should be soft and sugar dissolved). Strain the liquid into a heat proof container, making sure to mash the rhubarb to get all of the flavor. Place the liquid in the fridge and allow to completely cool. Once the rhubarb vinegar has cooled, place vinegar and mustard in a bowl and slowly mix in grape seed oil. Once the dressing has emulsified, season with salt and pepper, and enjoy a summer salad!

3.) Arugula Pesto

A different way to incorporate arugula… can be frozen after being made or tossed on a cold pasta salad!

4 cups arugula, cleaned

2 cups Parmesan, grated

1 clove garlic

1/2 cup walnuts

2 cups olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Place arugula, Parmesan, garlic, walnuts and a small amount of salt in a food processor, give a few pulses to combine the ingredients. Slowly drizzle olive oil while blending previous ingredients to create a paste. Season finished pesto with salt and pepper, and refrigerate or freeze. (If kept warm for too long- the pesto may turn a dark color).

“Hey, uh, have you ever heard of something called the tarnished plant bug?” I asked. The farmer squinted at me. “It’s on our fava beans,” I volunteered, searching for a hint of recognition in her eyes. She paused. “Is it like a bean beetle, like the Mexican bean beetle?” she asked. “We get those around here.” “No, we looked it up,” I said. It, uh…it seems to suck the juice right out of the fava leaves. “And it likes weeds.” I recalled the way the beetle had made swiss cheese out of the lamb’s quarters weeds that grow between our beans. “Hmmm,” she said, cocking her head and regarding me skeptically. She had expected me at her farm just to pick up produce, but suddenly I had recruited her for an impromptu class in pest management. “Well,” she finally said, “you may want to consider leaving some of those weeds there, if that’s what they feed on. If you pull them out, they’ll probably go straight for your crop. Of course you have to pull the weeds when they get too thick, but maybe leave what you can for the beetle,” she said.

Alas, it seemed that we here at Fresh and Wyld were the first in the North Fork Valley to contend with the little-known tarnished plant bug. I thanked the farmer and, driving home, I considered her advice. It was yet another example of the impossible balance that farming requires: plant seeds deep enough, but not too deep. Water just enough, but not too much. Control your weeds, but leave a few for the bugs to munch on.

Don’t forget to order your extras from our website to go with this week’s produce box! We just received a shipment of artisanal cheeses from James Ranch in Durango, and are offering the Leydon and Belford cheeses for sale. And as usual, we have raw honey from Austin Family Farm, lamb from Bad Rabbit Farm, buffalo from High Wire Ranch, cheese from Avalanche dairy and a plethora of other products, including coffee, granola, milk and more. You have until Tuesday, June 28^th at 9 am to get your orders in on our website! Fire away.

Our farmers have been walking the tightrope for yet another week: here is a selection of what we’re bringing you on Wednesday:

• Rain Crow will supply lots of Braising Greens, Turnips or Radish & Salad Mix
• Cobblestone will bring on the first Garlic of the year, yay! It’s called Sonoran
• Abundant Life will give us Arugula and Heads of lettuce again, I sure enjoyed it last week.
• Fresh & Wyld and Small Potatoes will be picking Peas for sure.
• Head Lettuce will come from Rendezvous Farm.
• Some of you will get a log of Avalanche Chevre and some of you will get Eggs this week, in lieu of something fresh from the Garden. We are still struggling a little with yields and a slow start this summer, but we have other seasonal grub to offer like cheese and eggs.
• Some other goodies will make it in there, we haven’t heard from all of our Growers yet. Chances are very good it will be green!

A couple of notes: first, this weekend Paonia will play host to the 65^th annual Cherry Days festival. The festival, which runs from Friday, July 1^st through Monday, July 4^th, will feature food, music, dancing, and an Independence Day parade on Monday. Other highlights include the “Paonia’s Got Talent” talent show on Friday night, and the Top Chef cherry Cook-off on Saturday. We hope you’ll come over and join us; a full schedule is on view here.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Nelson Harvey and the Fresh and Wyld Crew

This Week’s Recipes, from Sous Chef Caroline Glover

1.) Herb Dip

I made this dip/dressing this week and have been snacking on it throughout the days. With carrots, peas, radishes, and turnips in abundance- this dip is great to have on hand for in-between meals!

Ingredients: 2 cups creme fraiche (can substitute plain yogurt), 2 Tbsp buttermilk,1 tsp lemon juice, 2 Tbsp olive oil, 2 tsp fresh dill, chopped,1 tsp thyme, chopped,1 tsp oregano, chopped, 2 tsp chives, sliced thinly,1 clove garlic, smashed to a paste, salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together creme fraiche, buttermilk, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Add in chopped herbs and garlic paste ( you may use any combination of chopped herbs, these particular four go well together).

Mix well and season with salt and pepper. May be served immediately or refrigerate before use.

2.) Pickling Brine

Tis’ the season to break out the ball jars and start preserving for the long winter! This recipe works well with beets, carrots, and any other spring root vegetable.

Ingredients: 5 cups distilled vinegar, 2 cups salt, 4 cloves garlic, 1 bunch fresh dill, washed, 2 Tbsp coriander, whole, 3 Tbsp mustard seeds

Combine all ingredients into a heavy bottom pot and bring to a boil. Let boil for about two minutes, until salt is fully dissolved. Pour over vegetables in sanitized jars and tightly attach lids. Dunk jars into a pot of boiling water for 3 minutes and carefully remove with canning tongs. Let jars sit out at room temperature- in 2-3 weeks the vegetable should be fully pickled. Enjoy this summer leave it in a cabinet for a winter treat!

3.) Buttered Snap Peas with Mint

This is my favorite and most simple way to prepare spring’s first showing of sugar snap peas!

Ingredients: 2 cups sugar snap peas, 1/2 cup butter, 1/4 cup water,1/5 cup fresh mint, torn in small pieces, salt and pepper to taste.

Wash peas and remove string by snapping off one end and pulling string.

In a small pot on medium heat add butter and water. Bring the two to a simmer- this should create an emulsion. If the sauce is “splitting” add a bit more water at a time until the two come together.

Place peas in the butter sauce and toss to coat (while still on medium heat). Season with salt and pepper. After the peas are coated remove from heat and add in mint just before serving (adding mint on the heat will cause it to turn black).

Dear Members,

Welcome to cherry season! Here in Paonia we wait all year for cherries to arrive, and last week they finally did, just in time for the town’s annual Cherry Days celebration this past weekend. The season, of course, is never long enough, and this year it could be even shorter, since many trees were nipped by late frosts that stunted the growth of their fruit. But we here at Fresh and Wyld have been stocking up on your behalf, and this week we bring you all a share of sweet bing cherries from Dominguez Canyon, an organic orchard between Delta and G.J. They’re rather addictive raw, but if you want to put your cherries to a more gourmet use, check out the great recipe for Cherry Crumble from our Sous Chef Caroline Glover, included below. In addition to those sweet stone fruits, your box this week will contain:

• Ample peas (both shell and snap varieties) from Fresh and Wyld, Rain Crow Farm, Cobblestone Farm, and others
• Beets from Round Earth Farm and Small Potatoes Farm
• New potatoes and Spanish Roja garlic from Cobblestone Farm
• Kale and Escarole from Rain Crow Farm
• Chard or Spinach from Rain Crow, Fresh & Wyld and Round Earth Farm
• Onions from Austin’s Family Farm
• Head Lettuce from Small Potatoes Farm
• And Cherries!!!!!!

Here at Fresh and Wyld, we’re finally getting the kind of heat that really pushes things along. Our early tomatoes are starting to fruit, and we’ve begun to prop them up with string trellis. The zucchini is flowering, peas are abundant, and of course the corn and beans in our back garden seem a few inches taller with every passing day. Our cut flowers have started to bloom: first the marigolds, followed by calendula and larkspur.  But even with summer harvests approaching, we’ve started planning for fall, and have trays of beets starting in the greenhouse that we hope will last us well into the colder season.

Despite all that’s happening in the garden, we’re still finding time to party. The fiesta this week is at Zephros Farm in Paonia www.zephyrosfarmandgarden.com/ with a concert by Big Sam’s Funky Nation this Tuesday, July 5^th. The show starts at 8:30, and your ticket includes Beer/wine. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, which incl. Beer or Wine. Ticket only is $15, and Kids Funk for Free. Come on over!

In closing, don’t forget to order your extras from our website to go with this week’s produce box! We have artisanal cheeses from James Ranch in Durango (including the lauded Leydon and Belford varieties). We’ve got raw honey from Austin Family Farm, lamb from Bad Rabbit Farm, buffalo from High Wire Ranch, cheese from Avalanche dairy and a plethora of other products, including coffee, granola, milk and more. You have until Tuesday, July 5th at 9 am to get your orders in on our website! Fire away.

Regards,

Nelson Harvey and the Fresh and Wyld Crew

This Week’s Recipes from Sous Chef Caroline Glover

1.) Cherry Crumble

If you happen to not eat all of your cherries within the first five minutes of receiving them, this a great recipe for a summer dessert!

Cherry Filling: 2 cups cherries, pitted, 2 Tbsp sugar, 4 Tbsp water,1 tsp cornstarch.

Crumb Topping: 3/4 cup flour, 3 Tbsp brown sugar, 2 Tbsp white sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, pinch of salt, 5 Tbsp butter.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine cherries and sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat. In a separate bowl mix water and cornstarch and add to sauce pan. Let the cherries come to a simmer and remove from heat when mixture thickens (about one minute).  In a separate bowl, combine flour, both sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add the melted butter, and using your hands, work the two together creating “crumbs.” Butter a baking dish and pour in cherry mixture and top it with the crumb mixture. Bake for 15 minutes or until the top is lightly brown.

2.) Summer Pasta

With summer in full force–the greens keep rolling in! A nice way to incorporate them into your meals is to add them to a pasta dish.

Ingredients: 3 cups pasta, cooked (fusilli is a nice one to use for this dish), 2 cups kale, chopped, 2 cups escarole, chopped, 1 cup snap peas, strings removed and cut in half, 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted, 2 cloves garlic, chopped, 4 Tbsp olive oil, 1/2 cup feta cheese, 1 cup herb pesto (recipe below), salt and pepper to taste.

For Pasta:

Heat olive oil in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until just lightly toasted (golden brown), add kale, escarole, snap peas and salt. Cook until the greens are wilted.

Add pasta and olives- cook to heat through. Add herb pesto and feta cheese. Toss all ingredients making sure pesto coats all of the pasta. Serve warm

3.) Herb Pesto: 1 cup herbs (choose what you like, i.e. mint, sage, oregano, basil), 2 cloves garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup walnuts (lightly toasted), 1 cup olive oil, salt to taste

Combine garlic, Parmesan, and walnuts in a food processor. Pulse until all ingredients are mixed and nuts are about the size of a small pea. Add herbs and slowly pour in olive oil while food processor is on. Place pesto into the fridge until ready to use.

4.) Dava is sneaking in a Salad Dressing for you too. You can use it on cold salads or warm salads. Lots of greens in these first few boxes!

Sesame-Ginger Dressing

1/4-cup rice wine or apple cider vinegar

1 T Maple syrup or Raw Honey

1/2 tsp fresh ginger

2 T Miso

1 tsp sesame oil

3 T grape seed or olive oil

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Shake everything together in a pint jar and if you do the recipe  X 4 you can store in the fridge for up to a month

Dear Members,

Garlic is like golf—you either love it or hate it, and on both sides, emotions run high. Garlic’s proponents tout the stuff as a remedy for all manner of ailments, from strep-throat to the common cold, and from high blood pressure to vampires. Similarly, those without a taste for garlic have a near religious aversion to the plant. My grandmother is one of these, and she scours every restaurant menu for mere mention of Allium Sativum. Indeed, I’ve long suspected that she may exhibit a textbook case of the little known but nonetheless potent alliumphobia –the irrational fear of garlic.
Your recent CSA boxes, packed as they’ve been with attention hogs like cherries, peas, and new potatoes, have in recent weeks also reliably contained a head of garlic. Though it may have easily escaped attention amid all the flair and sweetness of your other produce, garlic has a potency and potential that far exceeds its modest size. (For an easy and tasty way to dispose of your clove this week, find a loaf of sourdough bread and check out the easy recipe for roasted garlic from Sous Chef Caroline Glover, included below).
Controversial though it may seem, we’ll continue to bring you garlic every week for as long as we can this season, much of it from growers Gary and Jan of Cobblestone Farm in Hotchkiss. The couple’s love affair with garlic began when Gary read the book The Garlic Testament, a New Mexico farmer’s account of the seasonal rhythm of raising garlic from seed. Since then, Gary and Jan have made garlic their principal crop, and this year, they planted over 100 pounds of the stuff, much of which now hangs drying in their garden shed. If all goes well, this haul should last past the end of your CSA share. This week’s variety, Persian Star garlic, was acquired at a bazaar in Samarkand, Uzbekistan in 1989 and brought to the United States.
In addition to garlic, your box this week will contain:

·     Perfection Apricots
·      Bing Cherries
·      Peas
·      Summer Squash
·      Salad Mix
·      Chard or Kale
·      etc etc

As always, don’t forget to order your extras from our website to go with this week’s produce box! We have artisanal cheeses from James Ranch in Durango (including the lauded Leydon and Belford varieties). We’ve got New York Strip, Steak, Tenderloin and Steakburger from Eagle Butte Ranch, raw honey from Austin Family Farm, lamb from Bad Rabbit Farm, buffalo from High Wire Ranch, cheese from Avalanche dairy and a plethora of other products, including coffee, granola, milk and more. You have until Tuesday, July 5th at 9 am to get your orders in on our website! Have a great week.

Regards,   Nelson Harvey and the Fresh and Wyld Crew

This Week’s Recipes from Fresh and Wyld Sous Chef Caroline Glover

1). Poached Apricots and Cherries
With apricots AND cherries in your box this week- summer is in full swing! I thought about sharing an apricot pie recipe, but the more I considered it, the combination of apricots, cherries, and wine over ice cream just seemed a bit more appropriate for the hot weather! Serve this over ice cream, cake, or even yogurt as a little treat in the morning.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups white wine (I would recommend a dry Riesling), 1/2 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp lemon zest, 1 tsp orange zest, 1 each cinnamon stick, 1 tsp vanilla extract , 4 each apricots, cut in half and pitted, 2 cups cherries, cut in half and pitted.

Place wine, sugar, water, lemon and orange zests, cinnamon, and vanilla in a medium pot and bring to a rolling boil. Let boil for about 3 minutes. Add apricots and cherries to pot and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes (just to soften and plump up the fruit). Remove pot from heat and serve when cool.

2.) Roasted Beets with Greens
This is a nice and delicious way to use the whole beet!

Ingredients: 6 each beets, root and leaves separate, 1/2 cup olive oil, 4 cloves garlic, (leave 3 whole and mince one and set aside), 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven 400 degrees. Wash and then toss beets with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Place beets in aluminum foil and wrap tightly to seal. Place the beets on a baking sheet and place in preheated oven. Allow beets to roast for about 30 minutes, they are ready when fork tender.Once the beets are cool enough to touch, using a paper towel, rub the skin off each beet. It should come off fairly easy. Cut beets into quarters.
Place 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic until just golden brown- then add beet greens and salt and pepper. Cook the greens until they are wilted and add in beets. Toss the two together and serve warm!

3.) Roasted Garlic
With this being the third week to receive garlic in your box, here is a nice way to preserve some and use it though out the week.

Ingredients: 1 whole garlic, 1/4 cup olive oil, 3 Tbsp water, salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the top of the garlic off- just so much as the expose the cloves. Place the garlic, olive oil, water, salt and pepper in aluminum foil (making sure to coat the garlic with both the oil and spices). Close the foil so no liquids can escape and place in preheated oven for 20 minutes. When the garlic is soft, open the aluminum foil to expose the garlic and cook for about 10 more minutes to get a nice brown color.
Once the garlic has caramelized remove from the oven. May serve warm on toast, add to salad dressing, or eat straight out of the pod!

Dear Members,

To call a vegetable “controversial” might sound like an oxymoron, but I’ve been thinking lately that there are certain crops with particularly strong personalities, capable of inspiring both adulation and disgust. Like especially flamboyant people, these vegetables are either loved or hated; there is little room for gray area in our reactions to them. Garlic, which I discussed last week, is perhaps the most obvious of these, but this week I want to focus on a root crop that seems, at first blush, to be much more pedestrian: beets. You’ve seen beets in your bag for a few weeks now, and, although we’re sparing you this week, I thought I would put in a quick (if overdue) word in defense of the beet. Perhaps it will motivate you to roast up those beets languishing in your fridge (see the recipe in last week’s newsletter), or at least to get excited the next time they come around.

I would venture to guess that I love beets much more than most people. When I eat them, roasted, pickled, shredded or otherwise, there arises about me an otherworldly glow, an aura of strength and well being that, (while almost certainly imaginary) makes me believe that these earthy orbs are perhaps the most nutritious thing for my particular body type, a boon to my constitution that comes as a small blessing in the daily dietary onslaught of bacon, cookies and beer to which I subject my body.

Beets are, in fact, incredibly nutritious, with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and plenty of potassium. To my mind, all of this more than makes up for the fact that an estimated 10-15% of Americans have been shown to exhibit beeturia, or reddening of the urine, following the consumption of beets. If you, like me, are one of these lucky few, then enjoy the sense of relief that follows the momentary panic you feel when you urinate red. You ate beets earlier, remember!? Its nothing to worry about, and you’ve got a new lease on life!

But enough about beets–more urgent matters are at hand. In this week’s box, there are two pieces of proof that high summer is finally here: peaches and tomatoes! The first peaches of the year come from Austin Family Farm, and the tomatoes come courtesy of The Living Farm. These red and yellow nightshades are a variety called Goliath, grown in TLF’s innovative solar and geothermal heated greenhouses. Growing indoors allows farmer Lynn to start her tomatoes in January, and thus get them to you early in the season. By last week, she had already pulled more than 400 pounds of tomatoes off the vine! More from this week’s box:

o   Tomatoes

o   Basil

o   Garlic

o   Peaches

o   Summer Squash

o   Either Carrots/Cauliflower or Broccoli

o   Leeks or Onions

o   Kale

o   Apricots

o   Something else maybe

As always, don’t forget to order your extras from our website to go with this week’s produce box! We have artisanal cheeses from James Ranch in Durango (including the lauded Leydon and Belford varieties). We’ve got raw honey from Austin Family Farm, lamb from Bad Rabbit Farm, buffalo from High Wire Ranch, Steaks and Steakburger from Eagle Butte Ranch, Cheese from Avalanche dairy and a plethora of other products, including coffee, granola, Eggs and more. You have until Tuesday, July 16th at 9 am to get your orders in on our website! Have a great week.

Regards, Nelson Harvey and the Fresh and Wyld crew.

This Week’s Recipes from Sous Chef Caroline Glover

1.) Peaches and Cream

I have made this recipe over and over from Thomas Keller’s cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home. It never gets old, and with the peaches being so good and ripe right now, no need to cook them in a cobbler (yet)!

Mascarpone Cream

4 ea. eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

1 cup heavy cream

2 pounds peaches

1 tsp grated lemon zest

1-1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Whisk egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup of sugar to egg whites and whisk until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl add egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and whisk until pale and thick. Whisk in mascarpone cheese with egg yolks. Transfer to a larger bowl. Wash the small bowl and whisk, add heavy cream, then whisk the cream until medium peaks form. Fold the cream into the yolk mixture one third at a time. Fold in the whites one third at a time until combined, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Just before serving, slice each peach in half, discard the pit, and cut each half into 4 or 5 slices. Put in a bowl and toss with the lemon zest and juice.

Spoon some of the cream into a serving bowl, top with more cream!

2.) Storage and Eating Tips for the Tomato

I can imagine you are just excited as I- the first of the tomatoes are here!! When I found out we would be sharing these with you this week, all kinds of tomato recipes popped in my head: gazpacho, tomato bisque, panzanella, tomato sauce… and I had to stop myself- this weeks tomatoes should not be cooked. Not just yet! I’m following my peach theme- they should be enjoyed raw. Either with salt, olive oil, and basil, or stacked with Avalanche’s Cabra Blanca or sandwiched between two pieces of warm bread.

The best way these tomatoes should be stored is the open air. Do not leave them in their paper bags piled on one another (they will continue to ripen far too quickly) or put them in the fridge (unless you want mealy tasteless tomatoes!) A large bowl on the kitchen counter is the perfect place!

Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

Last week, I suggested roasting some your garlic- if you have any hanging out in the refrigerator or want to try with this weeks garlic clove, this dressing makes a nice staple for your greens!

1/2 cup champagne vinegar

3 Tablespoons roasted garlic, pureed

1 1/2 cups extra virgin olive oil

Whisk together the vinegar and garlic puree in a bowl. While whisking, slowly stream in the oil until emulsified and smooth. Can keep in refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Dear Members,

As I stood munching an ear of raw sweet corn in the supermarket parking lot, I pondered how strange it was that the corn had come not from within the market walls, but from a small farm stand erected out front. The stand was a basic pop-up tent shading tables full of colorful produce, strung with an awning that read Farmer’s Market.

The setup belonged to Paonia’s Austin Family Farms, and Tony Austin, who runs the farm along with her husband Glenn, had told me to take an ear of corn to try. She probably expected me to take it home and cook it, but if this was really sweet corn, I figured, I could bite into it right there. I shucked the ear on the spot, getting wisps of the husk all over my shirtfront, and took a bite. It was delicious, the kernels popping crisply under my teeth, sending sweet juice to the back of my throat.

“Now, this is the first sweet corn of the year,” said Dierdre, a middle-aged woman with blond hair and blue eyes who wore a bright, swirling patterned shirt that looked like it had come straight out of India. “So it’s sweet corn from Olathe, but it’s not the “Olathe Sweet™” sweet corn. I’ve heard that when they harvest that stuff,” she said, “they only take the top ear off of each stalk of corn, and that’s what they sell as “Olathe Sweet™.”

I raised my eyebrows. These Olathe people sounded like sweet corn fanatics, what with their single-ear harvesting techniques and the dedication of an entire festival in early August to the sweet corn crop. As a small, western Colorado town off Highway 50 between Delta and Montrose, Olathe is a place that might pass unnoticed by the average traveler, were it not for the fact that they do sweet corn so very well.

This week, we are proud to bring a taste of Olathe to you! If you decide to boil or grill your corn, do so sparingly, as this sweet summer treat is ready to eat as is. Other highlights of your box this week include:

Peaches

• Carrots
• Broccoli
• Beets
• Summer Squash
• Salad Mix
• Kale and Chard
• And More!

Here in the Fresh and Wyld garden, in the lull before tomatoes, squash, beans, and the other summer bounty, we’ve decided to go full speed ahead in preparing for fall. Last week we planted lots of carrots, spinach and cabbage, the beets we transplanted are looking good, and as we pull more summer crops we’ll put in kale and chard. Strange as it seems, as we prepare all these beds, I’m already picturing the crisp mornings of fall. When they arrive, I’m sure they will be a welcome relief.

A quick plug for an upcoming Paonia event: The third annual Farm, Food, Film and Wine Festival is coming up August 20^th and 21^st! Chef Mark Fischer, creator of renowned RFV restaurants 689, Phat Thai, and the Pullman Porter, will team up with Dava and Caroline on Saturday night to create a delicious farmhouse dinner. To align with a screening of the important new film Vanishing of the Bees, the chefs will create a menu focused strongly on honey and its many uses. On top of that, there will be music, food, and plenty of farm and vineyard tours. You can buy your Saturday Dinner or Sunday Brunch separatly, or spring for the whole weekend at http://www.slowfoodwesternslope.org/FlimFlam11.html

Finally, a weekly reminder to order your extras from our website. We have Leydon and Belford cheeses from James Ranch in Durango. We’ve got raw honey from Austin Family Farm, lamb from Bad Rabbit Farm, buffalo from High Wire Ranch, cheese from Avalanche dairy and a plethora of other products, including coffee, granola, milk and more. You have until Tuesday, July 26th at 9 am to get your orders in on our website! Fire away.

Here’s to the bounty of summer,

Nelson Harvey and the Fresh and Wyld Crew

This Week’s Recipes from Sous Chef Caroline Glover

1.) Zucchini Bread: With zucchini in abundance- I have had fun making this a breakfast staple for the past week. It’s not too sweet- and can be snacked on anytime of the day!

2 ea. eggs

1- 1/3 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups grated zucchini

2/3 cup butter, melted

2 tsp baking soda

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp nutmeg

2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl mix together eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Then add in the grated zucchini, melted butter and baking soda. Last, add flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and nuts. Stirring just until combined. Butter and split batter equally between to loaf pans. Cook for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean.

2.) Garlic Soup with Greens: This is the most simple and yummy soup. Minimum ingredients makes for an easy dish- and oh so delicious.

2 ea. heads of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

2 Tbsp. olive oil

12 ea. sage leaves

4 slices day old french bread

2 cups kale or chard, finely chopped

1/2 cup chives, chopped small

salt and pepper to taste

Warm the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the garlic and sage and cook for about 2 minutes (not allowing the garlic to brown). Add 6 cups of water and season with salt and pepper. Allow the water to come to a boil and lower to a simmer for about 20 minutes. Add chopped greens and cook for about 4 minutes. Check for seasoning and adjust. For each serving place a piece of bread in a bowl, pour soup over, and garnish with chives.

3.) Pasta with Broccoli and Parmesan

1 head broccoli, broken down to bite size pieces

3 cups cooked pasta

1 ea garlic clove, minced

5 Tbsp. butter

1 cup Parmesan, grated

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes, crushed

salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot boil salted water. Once the water has come to a boil drop prepared broccoli into it. Cook for about 3 minutes and strain. Run cold water over broccoli until it has cooled. In a non-stick skillet over medium heat add butter, when butter has melted add chopped garlic. Cook garlic until golden brown.

Add broccoli, tossing to coat with butter and garlic. Allow broccoli to just brown a little.

Add pasta, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.

Serve in a bowl and top with Parmesan.

Farm School or Bust!

Come on over the Hill and take a Class. The Farm School is alive and kicking. Master Homesteader and Farm Arts Instructor Rick Stelter taught a great class this weekend on butchering and processing your own Elk/Deer this weekend. Participants learned how to butcher and wrap, make sausage, salami and jerky. He teaches again Nov 10 thru 13 and also Nov 21. He is a really wonderful Instructor, and I learned so much and was so inspired and entertained by him! Watch out Deersies!

Fresh and Wyld offers a large selection of classes around the Farm, the Garden and in the Kitchen of the Paonia based Fresh & Wyld Farm School. We hire other Farmers and Homesteaders in our area, so students have Privy to one of the largest Campuses in the Nation. One can uncover a lot of knowledge and interesting folklore in 30 square miles of Farm Country!

All of our Classes have an emphasis on Farm to Table. Don’t be alarmed to find that a class on homemade Pasta and 3 Sauces will begin and end in Chris’s Garden outside Fresh and Wyld Farmhouse.

We have coined and fallen in love with the phrase S.O.U.L Cooking, which is an acronym for Sustainable. Organic. Unprocessed. Local. This is how we are going to teach you how to cook, live and eat, if you are willing! Our cooking classes will also teach you good nutrition. Hopefully we can demystify some of your questions around healthy fats and oils, grass-fed versus grain-fed meats, whole and gluten free grains, wholesome sweeteners, enzyme producing fermented foods, and oh so much more!

Our S.O.U.L. Cooking classes are on Monday nights and Wednesday days, all year long, though in the fall, winter and early Spring months we often teach 3 to 4 day intensives of S.O.U.L. Cooking, for you who want to learn more than the Wednesday 3-hour class can offer.

Our Farmstead Arts Classes focus on reconnecting you with your Heritage. Lost Farm Arts like Cheese-making, Sausage Making, Leather Tanning, Weaving, Soap Making, Quilting and Preserving food from the Garden happen in these classes. We have 1 day classes on offer periodically, but again we offer 3 to 4 day intensives on these ancient techniques to better teach and help you understand an old knowledge that will enrich and strengthen your connections to life, your ancestral paths forward and backward and your own accomplishment of a finished product to take home with you.

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class: Intro to Fall Harvest:  “Roots, Pork ‘n Apples”
Nov. 8
Monday 4 to 8 pm   $40
Instructors Megan Macmillan and Dava Parr

Homesteading: Fall Harvest Intensive Workshop
November 10-13, 2010
“Root Cellar / Hog Slaughter, Butcher, Ham & Sausage Making / Apple Preservation”

Learn to be self-sufficient this Fall Season! Instructor Rick Stelter will take you through low-tech, energy efficient techniques for storing food; the process of butchering a hog while using all the trimmings; and the drying, pressing, and sauce making of our local valley apples. This workshop is not for the faint of heart.

Day 1: Learn selection, treatment and storage techniques for the root cellar with details for creating and using low tech, yet energy efficient methods.
Day 2: Instructor Rick Stelter will slaughter and butcher a hog, respectfully going through the entire process, from animal to table with our pig. Food safety and ethics of butchering will be discussed as well as the utilization of the entire animal. Learn the old fashioned way of obtaining a local, healthy meat source as an alternative to the plastic-wrapped supermarket product you know nothing about.
Day 3: Together we will make delicious, nutritious sausage, a way to preserve more of the hard won meat! Dried and smoked sausage will be part of the discussion, as well as how to smoke meat to preserve it. Curing of ham and bacon will be demonstrated.
Day 4: We will go through the process of preserving Apples, the best part of the fall! We will practice techniques of drying, making applesauce and pressing cider, a celebration of the week’s activities! Making of hard cider will definitely be discussed!

Wednesday-Thursday 10am – 3pm each day                       cost: $350  Friday-Saturday   9am – 4pm each day
Includes: Wed. & Thurs. lunch, sausage & apple preserves to take home
Instructor: Rick Stelter

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class: Nov. 17 – Pick a Side- Seasonal, Local Thanksgiving dishes to accompany Big Bird to the Table!

Wednesday 10am – 2pm      $40
Instructors Maria Hodkins and Dava Parr

Homesteading: Turkey Slaughter! – November 21, 2010

The traditional turkey dinner has its beginnings here. Instructor Rick Stelter will show you the way to select and butcher your turkey for your Thanksgiving feast. Through this humane and respectful process, giving thanks for the meat provided for your table will be given a new and more reverent meaning. Bring your own turkey or have one provided by Fresh & Wyld Farmhouse Inn & Gardens.

Sunday – 10-2            cost: $50 includes lunch
Instructor: Rick Stelter

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class:  Nov 30th – Gyros! – Intro to Cooking with Sheep

Monday 10am – 2pm    $40
Instructor: Maria Hodkins

Homesteading: ” Sheep to Hat” Wool Intensive Workshop – December 1 thru 4

Sheep Husbandry/ Spinning / Dying / Knitting

Experience the whole process of making your own clothing. Oogie McGuire will take you through an introduction to raising sheep for wool, carding, drop spindle and spinning wheel techniques at her farm, Desert Weyr. Use local plant material to dye wool with Rena Miller and then knit prepared textile into a hat with instruction from Dona Vidrine, including the history and origins of wool and patterns used. This is an opportunity to tap into the vast knowledge of three of our local experts! Walk a little taller carrying the accomplishment of the knowledge of your ancestors.

Tuesday 7pm– Friday 12pm daily                        cost: $ 250
Instructors: Oogie McGuire, Margaret Musgnung, Rena Miller and Dona Vidrine

Homesteading: Elisabethan Holiday Gift-Making- December 4

Gifts made from the finest recycled materials not only come from the heart, but contribute to the wellness of the whole community!
Instructor: Sara     Saturday 10-2              cost: $40 includes lunch

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class Dec – 6 ODE TO PUMPKIN

Monday 4 pm – 8pm    $40
Instructor: Maria Hodkins

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class Dec 13 – Warming Winter Wonders
Wednesday 4 pm – 8 pm    $ 40
Instructor: Megan MacMillan

S.O.U.L. Cooking Class Dec. 20 – The Cookie Class!  Bring the Kids.
Monday 4pm – 8pm    $40 ($50 for adult & child) Dinner included                                                        Instructor: Megan MacMillan
Sign up is best done with Email or Phone Call and have your credit card ready, We will be asking you for a Deposit or Full Payment depending on the Class. Classes need to have 6 people to run and most have a limit of 8 people. We may be able to sell some of the larger classes as one day Classes, if you already know some for the subject matter.  Thanks you all, We hope to see you soon, and we think these would make great Christmas, Anniversary and Birthday Gifts for your friends and family.
Remember you get 30% off a Room if you are taking a class………

Pumpkins & Turkeys to you all, Dava and the Fresh & Wylds

We are fast approaching the end of our third summer at the Fresh & Wyld Farmhouse. Through your continued support and interest in what we do, our little company has grown into a slightly bigger, well-received and well-managed Company to be proud of! We have learned a lot in a short amount of time! I have a huge heart of thanks and gratitude to all of you have made use of one of our services, or yet hope to try them soon. Our little company that started out as an organic Take-away Restaurant in the back of Mountain Naturals in Aspen, Co has now grown into a Shining Star of Local Food Networking.

We are now an 85 membership CSA, a 7 room Bed & Breakfast on 4 acres, a small and growing Organic farm and a School in Sustainability. Our Farm School teaches skills in Homesteading, Bio Dynmamic and Organic Gardening and Healthy, Seasonal Gourmet Cooking. We are also a restaurant on the Weekend that showcase our own and other Farmers fresh local produce. F&W is thriving. I thank you all and yes, this is the part where I ask you to help us with our Mortgage. We need a great Loan!

We are thriving and growing and we have so many wonderful plans for the future. However we have one very pressing need – a mortgage for the Farmhouse. I purchased this beautiful 4-acre property on a short-term owner-carry note and the balloon payment is due in January. So in the spirit of Slow Money I am asking for financial investment from my local community.

We don’t want to go the banks for this loan. We don’t want to use normal high interest, defeating and unrealistic channels for the right to stay in business. Our business is all about the re-connection of people with their food, we are good at that! All four divisions of Fresh & Wyld work synergistically towards this goal. In that same vein we wish to re-connect investors with the soulful opportunity of making an investment on a local level in their soil, their farms and their futures with a long-tem, secure, low-yielding loan to us.

Time is crucial for us, can you pass this around if you know anyone who might be interested in this investment. It is time for some major networking to happen on our behalf, and I know Community always prevails. Call me or write me with any ideas you may have, or with any questions you may have, So much Thanks, Dava

Let’s do some Feel Good, Happy Heart, Full Belly Business,  and leave Wall Street and the Big Banks out of this!

Last box of the Summer CSA. There are still some hardy greens, lots of roots, tomatoes, and squash growing out there, but this is where Fresh and Wyld takes a break. We will be putting most of our garden to bed this Saturday in our Biodynamic Compost class, burying cow horns to get ready for next year’s soil preparations, and continue canning! There is still room left in our “Putting your garden to Rest & Building a Bio-Dynamic Compost Pile” on this Saturday, Oct 9th, from 10 to 2. It is taught by our Head Gardener Chris Carrier, You may have been reading his Blog’s on our Web-site this year. He writes as well as he Gardens, Here is a link to his blog http://freshandwyld.com/blog/farmer-chriss-blog To accompany him in instructing will be one of the Grande Dames of Bio-Dynamic Farming in our valley, Pat Frazier.

The Inn is still open for business as are our Friday night dinners and Sunday morning breakfasts. Load up the car and come on over. Don’t load it too full, you can still find apples, fresh cider and wine at Orchard Valley and Delicious Orchard.

The last few weeks of October we will spend camping, oh did I say camping, I meant to say canning! so we will have something to sell you all during the winter. We have loads of Tomatoes and Dilly Beans and Dill Pickles processed, now we will get to the apples, plums, berries and pears.

We have Turkeys and Oct 27th Fall Boxes and Thanksgiving Boxes ready to order and sell on the Web-site so let your fingers do some shopping! We are going to do a Winter CSA this year, more info on that, reserve now buy email if you are interested. We would start up the second week in November and go till February or March. We are connecting with our local Green house growers right now, to ensure a good greens supply. So…….Give us some feedback, would you like this service all winter? It would have a commitment to purchase on your part, coupled with a small down payment, but for the most part would be charged to your card weekly.

We thought we’d go out with a bang and add some fresh apple cider to your box this week from Big B’s! You also have the most delicious fuji apples from Austin’s to savor for a while, some mesclun mix from Rain Crow, and the remainder from Fresh and Wyld’s garden: leeks, braising mix (kale, spinach, arugula and vitagreens), pie pumpkins, carrots/greenbeans, or zuccini, and potatoes. Let’s hear it for the Fresh & Wyld Farm Crew! Hip, Hip Hoooray!

Lastly but not leastly, we need a Community of Investor’s to help us buy this property. We are not having any luck with the banks for a commercial loan. They are much more expensive then residential lending, and pretty impossible to qualify for. We are still shopping the banks, but we will capsize on the interest rate if it is our only option. I will keep sending you reminders and requests, we only have till January 1. We need to raise $ 417,000 by then. Are you someone who would like to help us with any amount for a 7- year period at 2 to 4 %? Any amount between $ 1,000 and $ 500,000 would be Splendid, good news to us. We would love to talk to you and discuss terms, contracts and options, please contact me by email. You can just hit reply to this newsletter and I will get it. It is Slow Money return for you, but it is secured by this property and it a safer bet than keeping your money in stocks and other risky investments, plus you will keep your money local and help grow food and Community with it! Outstanding opportunity I would think!

We are also set us as a Non-Profit on our Educational arm of Fresh & Wyld and we could accept any amount of non-taxable Donation to help us purchase our property as well.

Ok, Enjoy the Eats, Checkout our new list of S.O.U.L. Cooking Classes and Farmsteading Classes offered from November to March. Toodles! Chef Dava and the Fresh & Wyld’s

Here is one of my favorite recipes!

Navaho Apple Crumble

Semi- peel, core and cut 7-8 apples into a sauce pot. Add 1 –2 cups apple cider or juice.

3/4 cup of succanet or rappadura
1 tsp of lemon
1 tsp of cinnamon

When apples are soft add the above ingredients, make a slurry out of
2 T water and 2 T flour mixed together

In a bowl, add;

1 cup of flour (I use spelt)
1 cup of cornmeal
1/2 cup of pecans
1/2 cup of coconut
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/3 cup of maple syrup
1/3 cup of rappadura
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of soft butter
1/4 cup coconut oil

Mix together with hands and crumble over apples and pears. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve with whipped or iced cream.

Here are a couple more Favorites!

Pumpkin, Mushroom and Sage Strata

This makes a nice main dish for a vegetarian meal. Serve with sautéed kale, broccoli rabe or chard.

Roasting your Pumpkin
Preheat oven to 375

This can be done up to 3 days before you make this dish and saves a lot of time. Cut open a pumpkin, butternut or acorn squash. Season with salt, pepper and a little chili powder. Poke flesh a few times with a fork or knife and add a few pats of butter. Put into a baking or roasting pan, cut flesh up. Pour about an inch of water into bottom of pan. Cover pumpkin or squash loosely with foil and roast for one hour at 375.

Making the Strata
Put rack into middle of oven and Preheat oven to 450

2 T butter or ghee
1 med onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped wild mushrooms
2 cloves of crushed garlic

2 T finely chopped sage
1 T finely chopped parsley
½ tsp of nutmeg
2 tsp of curry powder
½ tsp of crushed red chili flakes

1/4 cup Sherry
2 c Pumpkin, roasted and cubed
½ cup rehydrated Sun-dried tomatoes, chopped

5 eggs, beaten
2-cup heavy cream
1 tsp kosher salt
4 oz of crumbled goat cheese
2 oz of crumbled blue cheese, optional

½ pound of day old sourdough wheat or white bread, cut into 1-inch cubes, about 3-4 cups

4 oz of grated Parmesan

Heat a med sized ovenproof pan or skillet over med-high flame. Add butter or ghee. When melted, add onion, mushrooms and garlic
Sauté until starting to turn golden and then add herbs and spices. Let cook a minute and pour in ¼ cup Sherry. Let simmer a minute or two and then add Pumpkin and sun-dried tomatoes and let cook another minute.
In same pan, add the rest of the ingredients, except for the Parmesan, stir well and then top with grated Parmesan. Put into hot oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes until set.

Chard with Balsamic Brown Butter

6 T Unsalted Butter
3 T Good balsamic Vinegar
2 bunches of Chard
2 T kosher Salt

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Melt butter in a small skillet over high heat. Let it cook until the white solids sink to the bottom of the pan and turn a light brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in the vinegar and cook for 30 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add Chard and Salt to the boiling water. Cook for 2 minutes and drain well.
Pull out chard and let drain a minute in a colander. Put into a serving bowl while still hot and pour balsamic butter over it. Serve immediately.