CSA Shares Week 3

Large Share:

CSA Large Week 3

 

Small Share:

CSA Small Week 3

Snapshots Around the Garden

Bok Choy

Tractor

Rows, and rows

Heifers

Squash starting to bloom

Ladybug!

Lettuce

Cabbage - are those not beautiful colors?

Beans

 

Week 2 CSA

Here are the contents of this week’s CSA shares.  Both sizes have the same contents, just different amounts.

CSA Week 2

 

 

CSA Shares are Here!

We are delivering the first CSA shares this week!  You can look at the Recipe Ideas page on our site for some cooking ideas.

Week 1 Small CSA

ABOVE is a Small CSA with items circled for identification.

Red = Spinach

White = Onions

Blue = Radishes

Yellow = Leaf Lettuce (there is another kind of lettuce in the plastic bag, also)

Pink = Mixed Mustard Greens

Lime Green = Bok Choy

Week 1 Large Share

The large share, ABOVE, contains:

White = Onions

Blue = Head Lettuce

Pink = Radishes

Purple = Mixed Mustard Greens

Lime Green = Bok Choy

Red = Rainbow Chard

Yellow = Leaf Lettuce

Here is our own Justin, who grew, picked, and packaged the CSA shares:

Justin and an impressive Leaf Lettuce

And some more random photos of the produce.

Mixed Mustard Greens on the left, Rainbow Chard on the right

Onions! 

And everyone's favorite, Bok Choy

2012 Organic Produce CSA Shares Now Available!

We have opened the registration for our 2012 Organic Produce shares.  You can read all about it and sign up on our website.  To have your share delivered, you must also sign up for our Home Delivery if you are not already a member (separate sign -up on the website).

The main page of the website is www.TexasDailyHarvest.com

Or you can go straight to the CSA Page for more information.

Kefir!

While I liked the kombucha ok that Kelly made (and we posted about not too long ago) it just wasn’t “my cup of tea”.

I had been reading about kefir, a fermented milk product along the lines of yogurt, and decided that was what I wanted to try.  I did a little searching and found I could buy kefir grains on ebay (of all places).

Kefir fermenting in the kitchen

Kefir is created by putting kefir grains in milk.  The kefir grains have bacterial and yeast components that culture the milk.  When it is done, you strain the kefir to remove the grains, and they can be used again (and again, and again…)  They will even grow and divide, so you can either make more and more kefir, or you can share grains with your friends.  You have a very healthy, digestible, probiotic drink that is slightly effervescent and very tasty.  Sky even likes it plain (but I need it sweetened a bit to really enjoy it.)

After buying my grains on ebay, I found that Nick’s Naturals (the seller) is the same people as Savvy Teas and Herbs.  They sell kefir grains and so much more.  They also make their own vanilla extract and have many really cool things.  When you buy grains from them, they send you very detailed instructions on how to use them, and take care of them.  You can buy directly from the website above and avoid giving ebay your money.  Not to mention you get lots more choices in the store.

I have since purchased teas and herbs from them, along with some other stuff (like arrowroot powder and vanilla extract) and even some water kefir grains.  These are similar to milk kefir grains but make a probiotic soda type drink.  My hope is to break Kent of his soda addiction.  I’ll share more on this as I get into the project.  Right now the water kefir grains are still in the bag they came in, waiting patiently to be rehydrated.

Kefir grains floating in the fermenting milk

In the meantime, I am thoroughly enjoying my milk kefir.  I like it flavored with honey and a bit of the vanilla extract I mentioned earlier.  You just put the grains in milk, cover with a cloth, stir occasionally, and let it culture for 18-24 hours at room temperature, depending on the temperature and your individual culture.  I just strain my grains out, rinse out the glass bowl, put the grains back in, and add more milk.

I either drink the kefir immediately or put it in a quart jar in the fridge for later.  I have found that honey stirs in better at room temperature.  And I really like honey in my kefir.  I will, by the way, be adding local honey to the store as soon as I get around to it.  In case you were wondering what the kefir is sitting on in the picture above, here it is.  Kent got this old refrigerator at a garage sale one day.  It actually works, but mostly it just takes up space and looks cool.

Isn't this a cool old refrigerator?

I keep the finished kefir in the regular refrigerator in a canning jar.

A jar of kefir, whey, and stock

Here it is, along with my jar of whey above, some butternut squash I cooked today and will make soup with tomorrow, and the chicken stock which will also go into the soup.  I’m really getting quite pleased with my refrigerator.  I am gathering quite a collection of “real food” basics in there: grassfed butter, raw milk, whey, kefir, stock, fermented pickles, fermented beets, pastured pork and beef…

Sometimes I feel like I’m not making much headway on improving our eating, but looking in there tonight, I know that I am.  Or at least I’m doing better at filling the fridge, I just have to make sure we all eat the stuff, too!

Happy, healthy eating ~ Ramy

Weston A. Price Foundation Conference / Farm To Consumer Legal Defense Fund Fundraiser

Whoa!  What a title.  That’s quite a mouthful, and the combined events will include MANY mouthfuls (of really good food, that is).  Anyone who appreciates real food needs to be there.  I have never had the opportunity to go until now, but from what I hear the food and the speakers at these events are incredible.

To make it even better, Texas Daily Harvest will be providing several products for the FTCLDF fundraiser meals, and possibly part of the WAPF conference meals.

When are these spectacular events?  November 11-13

Where are they happening?  Right here in Dallas!!  At the Sheraton Dallas.  It doesn’t get any closer than that.

Here is the link to the conference website: http://www.westonaprice.org/2011-conference/2011-conference

Here is the link to the FTCLDF Fundraiser going on in conjunction with the conference: http://www.ftcldf.org/2011-FundRAISER-Dallas.htm

This will be a great opportunity, everyone should look into going.  And guess who will be there?  Yours truly.  We are working on a barter to have a table in the marketplace to promote our products and our home delivery.  There will be lots of good stuff for sale and lots of things to learn about real food.  So come out and support real food, local food, and food freedom.

 

 

 

Transitions

Oh my goodness.  It has been a very long 6 days.  That is how long I have been working, non-stop, on the new computer system.  It has been a rather frustrating, stressful time, but I do believe I am on the downhill side of things.  That’s me over there with the glassy stare one gets from sitting in front of a computer screen too long (waaay too long).

I hope everyone likes the new ordering functions.  The new store gives customers many more choices.  I know, no one really likes change.  But getting rid of PayPal as the only payment option is definitely a good thing.  I believe I got everyone a little too well-trained to look for those confirmation emails, though.  Now that we don’t have or need them, everyone seems a bit lost.  ”What do you mean all I do is place my order?!?!”

I think I’ve had more questions about not getting that confirmation email, and not having a place to “check out” than anything else.  Now you just enter a credit card number one time and then shop.  The store never truly closes, you can always edit future deliveries.  There is still a deadline for each delivery day, we have to package things up some time.

I still have back-end issues to iron out.  It is almost midnight and I am just finishing up with paperwork for tomorrow’s delivery, the first one we are making out of the new system.  I have a phone call scheduled with the owner of the software company first thing in the morning, so hopefully tomorrow will go better than today.

If you haven’t looked at it yet, please log in and check out the new store.  It will allow you to set up recurring orders that you can change any time.  That way you can always know your basic order is placed, whether you remember to order or not.  This seems to be especially important when Monday is a holiday and everyone’s routine gets disrupted.

And, please, bear with me as we go through this transition.  I think we will all be happy with what we have when we get to the other side.

On a definitely happy note, we did get about an inch of rain night before last.  Definitely doesn’t fix the drought situation, but it sure was nice and it is a good start.

Kombucha

Kombucha is a fermented drink with a zing.  It is a wonderful way to support gastrointestinal health.  Kelly is one of our Home Delivery Site Hosts, and has become a friend over the last few months (though we have yet to meet in person.)  She has introduced us to kombucha, and has shared her brew with us.  From the information she provided for this post, I intend to begin making my own.  Here is a guest post from Kelly regarding her experience with kombucha.  I hope you enjoy it.

Terra

So…I did the cancer thing a couple years ago…double mastectomy and 8 rounds of chemo. I was done with the bad stuff and ready to start over with the new me. Ready for reconstruction surgery…(a sort of a trophy for my hard work!) all I needed was a quick blood test to make sure my counts were good. I got a call from the plastic surgeon…had to postpone surgery at least a month and we’d check again. I was heart broken.

I decided I would eat/drink whatever it took to raise my counts. As that commercial used to say I read to the end of the internet. While I was reading I kept coming across the Weston A. Price foundation and Nourishing Traditions…an organization that goes WAY back in time and teaches how ancients and native societies from around the world prepared food for a healthier way of life. They place a lot of emphasis on raw, fermented and probiotic food sources. One of which is Kombucha.

Kombucha…a traditional, probiotic, and enzyme rich beverage consumed for centuries in China and Russia. Kombucha is helpful in cleansing and detoxifying the liver and other organs. So off I went…found it at the local health food store and started drinking. It was an odd taste at first but I found that the more I drank the more I wanted almost like my body was craving it and at 3.50 a bottle it was an expensive craving!

SCOBY

Again I went back to the internet and decided I’d start making my own. Kombucha Kamp became my obsession…followed the blogs, read all the info, and decided to take the plunge. I was going to grow a Kombucha SCOBY…Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast. So it came in the mail, craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Knowing that it was a living culture I decided to give it a name. I call her Terra Madre. Terra is a continuous brewing system that keeps my Kombucha on tap at all times…there is also a single brew method. I set it up, tried very hard not to touch it for 7 days as instructed in the Kombucha Recipe, and then there it was…my first SCOBY baby was born. When it’s finished I am even able to bottle some of it with flavors like cranberry and blueberry. It’s easy and fun!

I had that surgery one month later and my counts remained normal from that point on. I don’t know if it was just the Kombucha that did the trick but I do know that when I go a day or two with out it my body let’s me know. If you’re looking to enhance your organic lifestyle I recommend you try a bottle too!

 

Farm Pictures

Grasshopper Convention

 

These guys have pretty much taken over.  They helped do the garden in (along with the heat and squash bugs.)  They are absolutely everywhere.  I have been trying to get a picture of them on a fence post, they will line up like this, covering one side of a metal t-post.  I just have not had the camera with me when I’ve seen them and had time to stop.

 

Sunset at the Farm

Even as bad as the weather has been, and as dry as everything is, this place is still beautiful, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.  This was the view from our front yard one evening last week.  We just don’t want to talk about how many of those trees have been killed by the drought and will not be standing after the first good wind comes along.

Daddy's Boots

Sky put these on herself, and actually walked part way across the living room before she fell down.  Stinker : )