Patchwork Green's website is live once again!

With many thanks to our web designers/gurus, John and Kate, we have made many fun and functional improvements.  Check out the great pictures from Jessica Rilling and (finally) a few recipes from our kitchen.  Most substantially, we hope that the CSA explanation pages and ordering page are smoother and easier to navigate.

As of February 1^st, we are accepting CSA memberships on a first-come, first-served basis.  All the details of the share options are on the website.  If you were a member in 2013, you’ll be getting a letter and order form in the mail in the next few weeks, but you are welcome to go ahead and sign up online anytime.

There has been nothing spring-like about the weather recently, although the extra minutes of sunshine each day are noticed and appreciated.  It’s hard to focus on garden-related projects when there is a foot of snow on the ground and the temp’s can’t make it above 10 degrees for more than a day at a time.  This weekend, we spent hours on the sledding hill, the snowshoe trail and a great, 4’-high X 50’-wide drift. 

The drift had been slowly building all winter, but last weeks’ winds capped the drift with a thick crust of dense, hard snow that easily supported the weight of grownups.  It was begging for a tunnel, or at least a cave, so the girls and I took a shovel and a trowel and started chipping our way in.  After a quick talk about snow-tunnel safety and a sketch of our imagined subterranean masterpiece, we set to work.  It was a good workout!  We were able to dig in a long ways in an hour, and there was much excitement about returning to continue the project asap.  I look at it as good training for all the digging we do in the gardens each summer.

We still have a few cabbage, carrots and celeriac in storage from November, and we have been grooving on variations on cole slaw served with pulled pork, sandwiches and soups.  Here is one variation:

Winter Slaw

Thinly slice half a cabbage (green or Napa).  
On a cheese grater, grate whatever you have and/or whatever appeals to you: carrots, beets, celeriac, turnips, apples.   
Make either a vinaigrette or a mayo-based dressing (for a mayo dressing, start with about 3 T mayo, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, salt and pepper, 1 teaspoon sugar and fresh or dried herbs like dill and parsley).  
 Mix all the vegetables and the dressing together and refrigerate for a least half an hour to let the flavors meld.   
Then, toss again, adjust the dressing and serve.

Winter Update

Weather  The recent cold snap was a wonderful dose of ‘real winter.’  When the temperatures fall as low as they did last week, experts say that the invasive emerald ash borer mortality rate is as high as 90%.  I like when Mother Nature brings things back into balance without humans needing to resort to pesticides, traps and tax dollars to fix a problem we created.  On our farm, these cold temp’s may kill off pests like cucumber beetles and squash bugs, making it easier for us to produce quality vegetable crops this year.

Our four laying hens have a super-cool, lime-green mobile chicken pen that we move every week during the summer, allowing them fresh ‘pasture’ bugs and greens, and providing us with amazing eggs.  The mobile unit has an enclosed area for roosting and egg boxes, but we were concerned about how the hens would handle the negative temperatures, day after day.  Although they are amazingly resilient and tough (and they are not laying eggs this month – not enough daylight), we decided to bring them onto our porch.  This involved a large dog crate, a space heater and some re-arranging of the porch ‘junk.’  The hens were very happy to be warm for a few days, however.  They ate and drank more than usual and seemed very perky.  When it warmed above zero they were quickly re-introduced to their outdoor coop – chick manure is smelly in a confined space!

Tomatoes

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, a Maine-based seed company that we patronize, is offering a new strain of cherry tomatoes this year.  As if we don’t already attempt to grow 10 different cherry tomato varieties and 15 heirloom and slicing tomatoes!  But, these beauties need to be trialed on our farm (I’m a sucker for tomato trials).  There are seven separate varieties, all striped.  They vary in shape, coloring and size, making an amazing mixed-container combination that is touted to be as tasty as it is pretty.  I’m ready for a fresh tomato, how about you?

Website  One of our projects this month is to update our website (patchworkgreen.com).  We have some wonderful new pictures to upload, recipes to add to the menu page and better page layout to implement.  You’ll be happy to know that we are keeping CSA prices the same this year and our Traditional Share and Market Share CSA options are largely unchanged from 2013.  The updated website will be ready for viewing by February 1, and you will be able to purchase 2014 CSA shares at that time.

After a big expansion in our CSA member numbers last year, we hope to maintain and improve rather than grow our member base this year.  That means there won’t be too many new memberships available, so sign up early!

Many thanks to our web gurus, Kate and John!!

Maren Stumme-Diers is promising that the Luther College Sustainability Center will have its’ website updated by Feb 1 as well, with explanation of the CSA reimbursement program for 2014 outlined.  For those of you who participated in this great cost-sharing option last year, your excited feedback has encouraged Maren and Luther to offer even more member reimbursements this year!  Spread the word!

Celebrate 2014: International Year of Family Farming

2014 was declared the International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Food Tank is honored and excited to be collaborating with FAO around highlighting how farmers are more than just food producers--they're teachers, innovators, entrepreneurs, environmental stewards, and change-makers!

14 food resolutions for 2014 from Food Tank
1. Meet Your Local Farmer
2. Eat Seasonal Produce
3. End Food Waste
4. Promote a Healthy Lifestyle
5. Commit to Resilience in Agriculture
6. Eat (and Cook) Indigenous Crops
7. Buy (or Grow) Organic
8. Go Meatless Once a Week
9. Cook
10. Host a Dinner Party
11. Consider the ‘True Cost’ Of Your Food
12. Democratize Innovation
13. Support Family Farmers
14. Share Knowledge Across Generations

More at http://foodtank.org/news/2013/12/fourteen-food-resolutions-to-bring-in-the-new-year

Final Patchwork Green Market for the Year

Don't miss your last chance for Patchwork Green vegetables this year! There is an indoor farmers' market at the Fairgrounds on Saturday from 9:00-Noon. We have a few storage crops left to offer: squash, potatoes (red, white, yellow and blue), carrots, rutabaga, cabbage (green and Napa), onions (red). Next week, we'll shut down the coolers, save a few flats of produce for ourselves for the winter, and take the remainder to the food pantry.

Many of you pledged $50 or more for a pantry share this year, and between your contributions and ours, we have so far been able to bring $1470 worth of fresh produce to the First Lutheran Church Food Pantry since June. That total is up several hundred dollars from last year. The volunteers at the pantry say that there are more and more people using the pantry, and that they really appreciate the fresh produce. It was nice for my girls to help me bring in tubs of lettuces and cabbages the week before Thanksgiving, and to get a 'behind-the-scenes' look at the operation. We plan to make one more delivery next week. Thank you for helping provide fresh vegetables to folks with limited incomes!

We got the garlic patch mulched, finally. Thanks for all the donations of bagged leaves! We had plenty for this year, and made a nice pile for mulching jobs next year. We covered the leaf mulch with straw, and are hoping for some snow cover to keep it all in place before the wind blows the mulch to Allamakee County!

We got a new issue of Taproot Magazine in the mail this week, and it included a few winter squash recipes. In an effort to try something new for dinner, I made the following squash casserole recipe last night. Is is very hardy, a bit sweet, and was a very good winter comfort food. We served it with a green salad, and would recommend rolls or maybe a side of broccoli. I also thought that the recipe could use some green - maybe chopped kale or parsley.

Squash Casserole by Ashley English

2 medium-size winter squash
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 colored bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1# lean ground beef
2 T maple syrup (if your squash is sweet, you may want to skip this)
2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
8 eggs
1/4 cup half and half
1 stick softened butter
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided

Roast the squash until soft, then let cool. Scoop out the flesh and mash in a bowl with a potato masher, then mash in the stick of butter. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, saute the onion and bell pepper in olive oil. Cook for 8-10 minutes until the onion starts to brown a bit around the edges. Add the minced garlic, and saute for another minute. Remove the pan from the heat and transfer the vegetable mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the ground beef to the pan and return it to the heat. Cook for 5 minutes over medium-high heat, until fully browned. Stir in the vegetable mixture, maple syrup, 1 teaspoon salt, cumin, allspice, coriander, thyme, nutmeg and ground cloves. Stir and cook for two minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and set aside. Whisk the eggs in a medium mixing bowl. Add 1 teaspoon salt and the half and half; whisk until fully blended. Add to the bowl containing the mashed squash, along with the meat mixture and 1/2 cup of the cheese. Stir. Pour the mixture into a buttered 9" X 13" baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese over the top. Place the baking dish on the middle oven rack and bake at 375 for 1 hour. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.