Heather's Coconut Sweet Potato Recipe

One of the best things about going back to school was that I was exposed to some really great people that shared their amazing recipes.  Recipes that address the needs of folks that have allergies and food sensitivities was one of the added bonuses.  Heather's Coconut Sweet Potato Recipe is gluten & dairy free.  Just in time for Thanksgiving!!

 

Coconut Sweet Potatoes
4 sweet potatoes and jewel jams
roast at 425 in (1/2 to 1 T) coconut oil half hour, sprinkled with salt
mix with chopped celery
6 diced hard boiled eggs
shaved red onions (opt)
Sauce: coconut milk yogurt (plain), 2 T mayo, curry spices (coriander,
a smidge of fenugreek), ginger turmeric, garlic, cumin, pinch of salt

A Savory & Sweet taste combination that is sure to please.

 

ENJOY!!

Dining with the Doc: Black Bean & Quinoa Veggie Burgers

This article from The Foodie Physician blog looked so good I had to add it to our archive!

Black Bean & Quinoa Veggie Burgers

Makes 6 burgersPatties

½ cup quinoa

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Kosher salt
2 cans black beans (15.5 oz each), rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large egg
2/3 cup cooked corn (canned or fresh)
¼ cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon minced chipotles in adobo
1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin
1 cup rolled oats, ground into crumbs

Yogurt Sauce:

½ cup fat free Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon minced chipotles in adobo + ½ teaspoon adobo sauce from the can
1 teaspoon honey
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

6 multigrain hamburger rolls, lightly toasted

Lettuce, avocado slices, and tomatoes for toppings (optional)

Place the quinoa in a small saucepan along with 1 cup of water. Bring the water to a boil then reduce heat to medium low and cover the pan. Cook 10-15 minutes until the water is absorbed and quinoa is cooked. Remove from heat.

Heat the oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Season them with a pinch of salt and sauté until onions are softened, 5-6 minutes. Place the mixture into a large bowl. Add approximately 1½ cans of black beans to the bowl and using a potato masher or fork, mash all of the ingredients together until a pasty mixture forms.

Stir in the remaining beans along with the tomato paste, egg, corn, cilantro, chipotles, cumin and ½ teaspoon salt. Stir in the cooked quinoa and ground oats until evenly distributed.

Form the mixture into 6 equal patties, compacting them well with your hands as you form them. Place the patties on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least a few hours or overnight.

To make the yogurt sauce, stir the yogurt, chipotles, adobo sauce, honey and mustard together in a small bowl.

When ready to eat, preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and place the patties on the sheet. Cook 10-12 minutes until the patties are golden brown and crispy, then carefully flip the over and cook another 10 minutes. Serve patties on the buns with the yogurt sauce and toppings of your choice.

One serving (1 patty plus yogurt sauce): Calories 281; Fat 3.7g (Sat 0.7g); Protein 16g; Carb 47.3g; Fiber 12.6g
* Because of the wide variety of buns and toppings, the nutritional info above only includes the patties and yogurt sauce. I used Arnold Select multi-grain Kaiser rolls, which have 150 calories, 1.5g fat, 0 sat. fat, 6g protein, 27g carbs and 3g fiber per roll.

Join Us!!

Where:  Cal Maritime Rizza Auditorium

When:    Saturday, Oct 20th, 4:30pm. 

Cost:     

$10   Advance @  Brown Paper Tickets 

$15   Day of event

The sounds of jazz by Dalt Williams Trio will accompany you at water's edge, enjoy lite organic food & wine, cider or microbrew beer from Solano County.  

 

 

Coming Soon! 

Grass Fed & Finished Meat CSA

Are you interested in joining our co-op beef, pork, poultry and lamb box program? If so, let us know and we'll keep you posted on pricing and availability.

This week's Fall Produce box will include:

Green Mix - Kale, Chard, Collards

Root Vege Mix - Beets, Turnips, Carrots, Potatos

Winter Squash - Butternut or Acorn

Cucumber

Sweet Pepper Mix

Allium Mix - Purple, White, Garlic, Shallot

Broccoli

Apples or Pears

Green Beans

Two Crones Relaxation Herbal Tea

Eggs - Limited Quantities Available

New Items:

Zuni Pickle - 16 oz. $4.00

Spiced Fig Jam - 8 oz. $3.00

Orders are due by Tuesday 6pm.

**In an effort to reduce our carbon footprint, please bring your egg cartons & delivery bags for re-use. If you prefer, we can pack your order in reusable canvas bags.....if you bring 'em, we'll use 'em

Thanks for supporting our local Vallejo farmers !!

So Easy a Caveman Could Do It....Lacto-Fermentation

Ever thought of how people in the past survived without refrigerators, freezers, and other modern luxuries? When you read about our past history, you soon discover that they had a wealth of knowledge on how to preserve food. 

 

Besides their cold cellars, insulated milk houses, or other even more simple ways to keep food cool (such as placing buckets of milk in a stream, or placing roots in a hay lined hole), they also lacto-fermented or cultured food to preserve it. This simple method not only preserved food, but also gave a wealth of nutrition.  Lacto-fermented foods span the nations. You will many traditional recipes for lacto-fermented foods from all over the world. If so many peoples thought this an important part of their diet in the past, I think we should pay attention!

What is Lacto-Fermentation?
Lacto-fermentation happens when the starches and sugars in vegetables and fruit convert to lactic acid by a friendly lactic-acid producing bacteria. This produces not only a tangy, delicious product (like the lemon cucumber recipe below), but it also preserves it….. and does so much more than that!

Health Benefits
The health benefits of lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables are wonderful. I think we probably only know a small part of why they are so good for us. For example, unpasteurized sauerkraut and kimchi got a lot of buzz in recent years after some scientists found that birds fed kimchi or sauerkraut would often start recovering from the Avian Bird Flu!

Here’s what we know, when you lacto-ferment vegetables it increases in vitamins, it is more digestible and you get a plethora of good bacteria when you consume it!
“The proliferation of lactobacilli in fermented vegetables enhances their digestibility and increases vitamin levels. These beneficial organisms produce numerous helpful enzymes as well as antibiotic and anticarcinogenic substances. Their main by-product, lactic acid, not only keeps vegetables and fruits in a state of perfect preservation but also promotes the growth of healthy flora throughout the intestine.”
Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, pg 89
A healthy nation in perhaps wiser times would be getting healthy, good bacteria from numerous sources, including lacto-fermented vegetables and cultured drinks every day. Today, instead we bombard our bodies with chlorine (not just in the water we drink but we also absorb it from our showers and baths) and antibiotics (in our milk, meat, and what we take ourselves).

Recipe for Spicy Lemon Cucumber Pickles

Use organic ingredients whenever possible...
Ingredients:

*5-6 lemon cucumbers, sliced into wedges
*1/4 large red onion, sliced
*1 Serrano chili pepper, seeded and minced
*1 tablespoon minced ginger
*1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
*1 qt. glass Mason or other jar
*1 Tb. Himalayan or sea salt
*filtered water

Directions:

1. Place sliced cucumbers in a large bowl and mix with the minced pepper, ginger, and lime juice. Pack this mixture into your 1 qt. glass jar.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the salt with 1 cup filtered water. Pour this into the jar over your cucumbers. Add more filtered water to bring the liquid about 1 inch below the top of the jar. All of the cucumbers should be covered (rearrange/remove a few if they are not).
3. Cap tightly and allow to sit for 3 days at room temperature.
4. Open the jar and see if the liquid is fizzy. If not, re-cap and allow them to sit for 1-2 more days. If there is evidence of lacto-fermentation (that's the fizziness), go ahead and taste a pickle. If you are satisfied with the flavor, transfer to the refrigerator for storage.

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats.

Good Luck at Two Crones Farm Today!

For the first time since our hens began laying I actually cooked up some of the eggs.  I fried up the egg in real browned butter and served it on crispy whole wheat toast with a freshly sliced heirloom tomato on the side.  Nothing quite like a backyard breakfast to start a day in the garden! 

The surprise in today's breakfast was that one of the eggs was a double yolk!  Come to find out, there is a .01% chance of having a double yolk in a normal dozen store bought eggs.  Being a novice hen host I was quite surprised to find this egg in the pan.  Double-yolked eggs are reasonably common for ducks and chickens, despite the fact that we so rarely see them in stores. It is estimated that 1 in 1,000 eggs (out of 50 billion produced annually in the US) have double yolks. Eggs increase in size as the number of yolks increases, but most of them are caught by "candling," or holding the egg up to a light source to reveal a shadow of what is inside the shell, and used for other egg products instead of being mixed in with single-yolks. Stores that do offer the eggs usually have one local source for them. The chickens, ducks and other birds that lay them have a genetic tendency to produce the eggs, so if a farm is stocked with such birds, most of their eggs with have double yolks. The eggs are popular with anyone who likes yolks and are also believed to be good luck by many.

Far less common are multiple yolk eggs, including triples and quadruples, like the one pictured here. Apparently, the greatest number of yolks found in one egg was nine! Can you just imagine the size of that egg? 

For those of you concerned about cholesterol and eggs there is plenty of scientific and nutritional information showing that the risk has been overstated.
Eggs have long been the voice of evil because they contain cholesterol, so much fear that most people refrain from eating one of the most perfect of foods that nature provides. The truth is that the egg is rich in cholesterol, but the latest findings tell us that cholesterol in food does not affect blood cholesterol levels or cholesterol in the blood affects the development of cardiovascular disease. Myths about the harmful effects of saturated fat and cholesterol from foods of animal origin are slowly but surely destroying. Modern science provides ample evidence that saturated animal fat, or cholesterol, have nothing to do with the typical diseases of modern man, and it is known that from time immemorial have constituted an important part of human nutrition. Today they are already available scientific evidence about what actually causes cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. Cardiovascular disease (blockage of vessels, heart and cerebral infarction) are caused by chronic inflammation in the arteries, which arise from excessive consumption of refined carbohydrates (sugar and flour) and excessive intake of vegetable oils rich in omega-6 fatty acids. Why a paradigm shift going so slow and why these new findings are not generally known and recognized, are the questions to which the answer is not short, so we leave that topic for another time.

Enjoy a meal that includes whole, farm fresh eggs....It does your body much more good than harm.
Bon Appetit!






 

A Farmer's Peak Experience

The old saying that "Patience is a virtue" was most certain to have been uttered by a farmer.  We wait for everything.....the weather to change, the soil to warm up, the blossoms to unfurl, the seeds to germinate, the fruit to ripen and the chickens to lay.  The long days of summer are filled with lots of activity & chores but always we wait for the Peak Experience that is HARVEST! 

 

Maslow's definition nails it for me today:

Feelings of limitless horizons opening up to the vision, the feeling of being simultaneously more powerful and also more helpless than one ever was before,
the feeling of ecstasy and wonder and awe, the loss of placement in time and space with, finally, the conviction that something extremely important and valuable had happened, so that the subject was to some extent transformed and strengthened even in his daily life by such experiences.                

Today, I am a virtuous woman, awestruck and grateful.  For I have practiced patience aplenty while watching for signals that our little cluckers are finally going to pave the way for a Peak Experience.....one superb, fluffy omelette, made on a cool Sunday morning French style ala David Rosengarten . 

 

This is a sound beginning because a freshly laid egg, still warm from

"The One That Shall Live Another Day" is in hand.

 

Was it you?

 

 

Who that particular one is remains a virtual mystery.  Does the hen that lays an egg 'protect' that most noble act of hers?  I'm beginning to think this is the case for when I reached into the laying box a single hen came flying up, perching just to the left of the box as if to witness what may have felt like an act of betrayal.  After all, I was claiming rights to the product of her labor with not a hint of guilt,  reminding me of the current political discourse surrounding taxes.....but that's a whole nuther can o' worms!

 

Until that moment of harvest we humans have been warmly received by the occupants of the coop when bearing gifts of greens or "chicken crack" aka scratch.  This flock we tend acts as one, rushing the door as we "two-leggers" approach and make the sweetest little sounds when we shower them with the gifts of garden scraps.  Today was different.....as I made my way back to the door "The One" followed close by my side, leering as only a chicken can, at what was in my hand.  I felt her look could best be described as withering.  You know, like the stare you give the guy in front of you at the 15 Item Only checkout as he unloads 56 items......or am I empathizing too much with my feathered friend?  Perhaps, but today the wait is over.  Our am/pm vigil at the door of the coop has culminated in the promise of a most auspicious day on the farm.  One thing has been proven today, a farmer's patience is without end, just like the smile on my face. 

 

Love the life you live for the gift that it is!

 

 

 

 

TWO CRONES FARM PRODUCE BOX 8/23/12

The Environmental Working Group has some great tools for

stretching your food dollars with nutritious, delicious options. 

It just so happens that Fresh From The Farm produce is a great way to start!

This week $20 box will include an assortment of fresh from the garden goodies:

Red Seedless Grapes

Melon - Cantalope, Crenshaw or Honeydew

Stonefruit Mix - Peach, Nectarine, Plum

Cucumber

Heirloom Tomatos

Lettuce - Romaine or Green Leaf

Mixed Greens - Kale, Chard, Collard, Mustard, Turnip

Allium Mix - Purple, Yellow, White, Shallot, Garlic

Pepper Mix - Bell, Anaheim, Jalapeno, Serreno, Yellow Wax

Summer Squash Mix

Broccoli, Celery, or Red Cabbage

Eggs

16oz Local Raw Honey - Add $10

Order by Wed 6pm for Thursday pick up/delivery

email

INFO@TWOCRONESFARM.COM



More Butternut Squash Love

Butternut squash is a favorite of mine, planted in spring, harvested in late summer, and a tasty treat all winter. As a gourd, winter squash has a tough rind, which allows for storage during the winter months. Storing and preparing butternut squash prolongs the vegetable's quality, ensuring it tastes as sweet and buttery as when you purchased or picked it. Butternut squash contains many different nutrients, such as vitamins A and C, potassium and fiber.

Nutrition Each cup of cubed butternut squash provides approximately 60 calories, 16 g of carbohydrates and 3 g of fiber. It also supplies almost 300 percent of your daily value of vitamin A, 50 percent of vitamin C, 7 percent of calcium and 5 percent of iron.

Stretch your food dollars by combining Butternut Squash and Rice as a side dish or Risotto Entree.  Hope you enjoy these recipes, taste tested by our own family at Two Crones Farm!

Butternut Squash Risotto Recipe

Serves about 6. Recipe adapted from Williams-Sonoma.
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• About 1 pound butternut squash, diced
• 1 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
• About 1/3 cup dry white wine (I used Robert Mondavi Private Selection Chardonnay)
• 1/2 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3 1/4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• Liberal dashes of salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon butter, divided
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place butternut squash in a 3-quart deep baking dish. Cover with olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake for 20 minutes, stir the mixture around to ensure the pieces evenly cook, and bake another 20 minutes, or until soft. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
2. Pour slightly cooled squash into the body of an 8 cup food processor (or do two batches). Add about 1/4 cup of vegetable broth and pulse on low until creamy and smooth. Add a dash of salt and pepper. Measure 1 1/3 cups of puree (what you need for this recipe) and save the rest for a later date.
3. Heat remaining vegetable broth in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add butternut squash puree and whisk lightly to mix up. Let simmer for about 10 minutes or until a slight boil.
4. Meanwhile, heat 1/2 tablespoon butter in a large pan (I used a wok) on medium heat. Add onions and cook until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add in garlic and cook another 2 minutes. Pour in rice, rosemary and oregano. Cook about 1 minutes. Add wine and cook until it’s fully absorbed, about 5 minutes. Gradually add in butternut squash/broth mixture, a large spoonful at a time, waiting until each batch as fully absorbed before you add in more.
5. After the last spoonful of broth has been added, cook risotto an additional 5 – 10 minutes, or until the rice is soft and creamy. Add remaining butter and remove from heat. Once butter has melted, add in parmesan cheese and additional salt and pepper to taste.
6. Serve with a garnish of rosemary and a dash more freshly grated parmesan.

Butternut Squash Basmati Rice

ACTIVE:15 MIN

TOTAL TIME:45 MIN

SERVINGS:4 to 5

FAST

HEALTHY

VEGETARIAN 

Adding butternut squash and spices is a lovely way to jazz up rice. 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 cup basmati rice

3/4 pound peeled butternut squash, cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)

2 cups water

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Add the cumin and mustard seeds and cook over high heat until the mustard seeds begin to pop, about 30 seconds. Add the rice and diced squash and stir to coat with the butter. Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Cover and cook over very low heat until the squash is tender and the water is completely absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the rice stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and serve right away.

Hello!
This week the boxes will be brimming with just picked flavor filled good stuff
Mixed Greens - Kale, Collards, Chard
Squash - Butternut or Spaghetti
Summer Squash - Patty Pan, Yellow, Italian
Cucumber
Melon - Cantalope, Persian, Honeydew or Crenshaw
Stonefruit - Peach, Nectarine, Plums
Sweet Corn
Potatos - Red, White or Yukon Gold
Allium Mix - Red, White, Yellow, Shallot, Garlic
Spicy Peppers - Yellow Wax, Anaheim, Serrano, Jalapeno
Heirloom Tomatos - Limited Quantities
Eggs - Limited Quantities
Relaxation Tea Blend

Orders due by Wed 6pm
Pick up after 2pm Thursday, Vallejo & Concord
Delivery available to American Canyon, Benicia, Vallejo

To Order:  Call (707)812-0546 or email  Info@TwoCronesFarm.com

Thanks!



Produce Alert for Aug 9th

Flavor - That's what fresh from the garden delivers to your table!  The tomatos are looking good this week, ready to give your favorite summer time cook outs a boost of color. And the corn continues to be amazingly sweet & tender.

What's In Your Box This Week?

Tomatos - Heirloom, Roma, Cherry

Melon - Cantalope or Honeydew

Sweet Corn

Broccoli

Celery

Onion Mix

Mixed Greens - Kale, Chard, Collards, Mustard

Peaches or Nectarines

Potatos - Yukon, Red or Sweet

Cucumber - Lemon or Green

Leeks

16oz Honey - Local, Raw and Delicious $10

Orders due by Wed 8/8/12 6pm

707-812-0546

or

info@twocronesfarm.com

Thanks for your support!!

Brown Bagging Is Cool

Growing our own produce has become an obsession here at the farm.  One or the other of us are always online looking around for new tips or cool stories about urban farming.  On one of my recent cooling down breaks from the garden I learned that, according to Wikipedia, in agriculture and gardening, seed saving (sometimes known as brownbagging) is the practice of saving seeds or other reproductive material (e.g. tubers) from open-pollinated vegetables, grain, herbs, and flowers for use from year to year for annuals and nuts, tree fruits, and berries for perennials and trees. This is the traditional way farms and gardens were maintained.

As a kid we "brownbagged" it to school alot, a not so cool thing apparently.  But now that we've dreamed up our urban farm lifestyle it has taken on a whole new level of COOL for me.  This time of year we're in transistion to Fall planting and are in the process of saving the seed of our most successful Spring crops. 

The Farmer's Almanac has a lot of good info for beginners on the "How To's" of seedsaving.  It's fun, easy and saves money.....basic requirements around here!  We've got lots of seeds and are happy to share or swap with anyone in the area.  It's part of our biodiversity plan for Vallejo's food security since we know these plants have thrived here.   Stop by anytime to swap a few seeds and a story or two.  Of course, if you bring your basket we may just find a way to fill it with some fresh veges too!

Produce Box ALERT - August 2, 2012

Photo: arvindgrover/Flickr

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Collards are one of the few vegetables on our list that actually become tastier with frost. Both cold-tolerant and heat-tolerant, collards are an understated, easygoing crop. According the Heirloom Organics website, collards can tolerate slightly alkaline soil and drought. Quality of leaves may suffer under these conditions, so it’s best to grow collards in a cool, moist atmosphere with balanced soil and plenty of sunshine.

Here at Two Crones Farm we grow several different varities of collards, with one of our favorites called Tree Collards. Since this variety has no seed it must be propagated from cuttings.  Kathi has successfully propagated new starts so if you would like to plant some for yourself she would be happy to share.

We are so fortunate in our area to be able to grow the garden year round. This week marks the beginning of the fall planting, all from open source seed or seed that we have collected from prior years. If you have a particular winter crop that you like let us know, we'd love to customize our garden plan to suit your tastes!

This week the boxes will include:

Seedless Grapes

Cantalope or Honey Dew melon

Sweet Corn
Allium Mix - Onions: purple, yellow, white or shallots, garlic
Red Potatos
Mixed Greens
Heirloom Tomatos - limited quantities available
Apples - limited quantities available
Butternut Squash
Cucumbers - English & Lemon
Farm Fresh Eggs - limited quantities available
Local Honey - 16oz Raw ($10 additional)

 

Volunteer Opportunity:

Have you heard about the work that we are doing with Food Rescue? If you or anyone you know has excess fruit from their backyard trees our group of volunteers would love to help collect and distribute to families in need.There will be a flyer in your box this week with more information on how you can get involved!

                                    We are ever grateful for your support,

Farmer Kathi & Farmer Shelee

Corn Heaven

Morning Shelee:

We were in Corn Heaven last night....thanks to you. Will shift to Melon Heaven for lunch....

Fargo and Nang

Waking up to this message from one of our happy customers just made my day!  Here at the farm we can only grow so much due to space limitations.  This fact has created the opportunity and motivation for me to seek out other local sources of non-GMO, organically raised produce to include in our weekly produce boxes.

The importance of eating non-GMO food is explained in depth in an article at ECOWATCH .  As a foodie, farmer and nutritionist I'm more than a little into all the research showing us how damaging GMO produced food is to the health of our family & community.  I hope you can take the time to read more information about your food choices. 

We are doing our part to supply as clean a souce of fresh produce and we thank you for joining us in this effort.  By creating a demand in the marketplace one shopper at a time my hope is that we can expand the discussion by opening the hearts and minds of others that may not know the impact of GMO's.

If you are a current customer, THANK YOU......we and the other farmers we work with appreciate your support very much.  You are each a voice for changing the way we do business in Solano County.  Supporting your local small family farmer is a great start!

Produce Box ALERT - 7/26/12

Our Heirloom Tomatos are starting to blush up and Butternut or Delicata Squash are almost ready !

Looking forward to adding them to your boxes in the next couple of weeks. 

Lemon Cucumbers are in full blossom now so we'll be adding them late into the season, too.

 

This week's boxes are set to include a nice mix of fresh veges:

1# Squash Mix - Italian, Yellow, Crookneck, Baseball

Sweet Corn

Summer Melon - Cantalope or Honey Dew

Stone Fruit Mix - White or Yellow Peaches, Nectarines

Mixed Greens - Kale, Chard, Collards, Mustard

Lettuce - Romaine or Green Leaf

Ratatouille Mix - Red/Yellow Bell, Eggplant, Onion, Garlic

Broccoli - limited quantity until fall harvest

Heirloom Tomato - First harvest, limited quantity available

Eggs

Two Crones Relaxation Herbal Tea Blend

Remember: Local Honey is available in 16oz jar ($10 additional)

Thanks for supporting our local urban farmers!

To Order Email:  info@twocronesfarm.com

or leave a message (707)812-0546

Pick up after 1pm on Thursday, Delivery available to Benicia, Vallejo, American Canyon ($5)

Our little CSA Produce Box program is growing!  We are deeply grateful for the referrals you are sending our way for fresh local produce picked at the peak of flavor.

This week's produce boxes will once again be available for pick up or delivery on Thursday.  Deadline for orders is

Wednesday, 7/18/12  6pm.

$20 Box includes:

Peaches or Seedless Grapes

Limes or lemons

Melons - Cantalope or Persian

Green Beans or Sweet Corn

Cucumbers

Bell Peppers - Red/Yellow/Green

Baby Eggplant

Squash Mix

Mixed Greens

Two Crones Relaxation Tea Blend

Cherry Tomatos

Lettuce - Romaine or Green Leaf

$30 Box includes:

16 oz Local Honey for Bay Area Bee Company

Please confirm your order by Wednesday, 6pm.

SPECIAL NOTE:

This Saturday evening we will be hosting our monthly Underground Dinner

prepared by Chef Stan Smith of The Dinner Project.  

If you would like to make a reservation please let us know by Wednesday as well.

Visit our page Fork & Knife blog page for details. $45/person, bring your own choice of adult beverage.

We appreciate each and every one of you, thanks for your support!

Ever since I was a kid I have loved to watch okra mature because of the way it grows on the plant, like bananas, pointing up to the sky.  This is the first year since gardening in the Bay Area that we've had the heat needed to really get a decent harvest locally.  Once I began researching more about Okra the more enamored I've become since it is full of essential vitamins and minerals.

Okra, also known as "lady finger" or "gumbo", is a highly nutritious green edible pod vegetable. Botanically, this perennial flowering plant belongs to the mallow family, related to hibiscus and named scientifically as Abelmoschus esculentus.

The plant is cultivated throughout the tropical and warm temperate regions of the world for its fibrous fruits or "pods". It grows best in well drained and manure soil. The plant bears numerous dark green colored pods measuring about 5-15 cm in length. It takes about 45-60 days to bear ready-to-harvest fruits.

Health benefits of Okra

• Very low in calories, provides just 30 cal per 100 g and contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; but is a rich source ofdietary fiber, minerals, vitamins; recommended in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs.
• The rich fiber and mucilaginous content in Okra pods helps smooth peristalsis (movement) of digested food particles and relieve constipation condition.
• The pods contain healthy amounts of vitamin A, and flavonoid anti-oxidants such as beta carotenes, xanthin and lutein. It is one of the green vegetable with highest levels of these anti-oxidants. These compounds are known to have antioxidant properties and are essential for vision. Vitamin A is also required for maintaining healthy mucus membranes and skin. Consumption of natural vegetables and fruits rich in flavonoids helps to protect from lung and oral cavity cancers.
• Fresh pods are good source of folates; provide about 22% of RDA per 100 g. Consumption of foods rich in folates, especially during pre-conception period helps decrease the incidence of neural tube defects in the offspring.
• The pods are also an excellent source of anti-oxidant vitamin, vitamin-C; provides about 36% of daily recommended levels. Consumption of foods rich in vitamin-C helps the body develop immunity against infectious agents, reduce episodes of cold and cough and protects body from harmful free radicals.
• The veggies are rich in B-complex group of vitamins like niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin and pantothenic acid. The pods also contain good amounts of vitamin K. Vitamin K is a co-factor for blood clotting enzymes and is required for strengthening of bones.
• The pods are also good source of many important minerals such as iron, calcium, manganese and magnesium.

And so it with gratitude that we are able to include Okra in our produce boxes this season!