Hello Community Supported Agriculture members.

Welcome to a season of fresh eating!

CSA starts one week from today on Wednesday May 16^th!  Pickup is from 4-6pm at your location: please follow this link for your personal membership details. >>>>>>>>http://bluebirdfarmnc.csasignup.com/members/statusemail

We will send you another email with pickup logistics and detail soon....but this is the fun farm email! Enjoy the photos.

Every week you will receive a member newsletter with recipes, farm news, and a list your seasonal vegetables.  

 The fields are lush with delicious vegetables ready to harvest.  The early warm and dry weather helped us to get a jump on the season preparing the field.  We even have stayed ahead of the weeds (recent rain might change that though).

Heirloom lettuce...nice early spring varieties!  We planted them in mid March.  Some vegetables for CSA were started from seed as early as February.  We have so many great spring veggies in the gardens for you.

Crop Circles:  This spring has found us busy as usual with some exciting new projects that will help us keep growing more and better vegetables.  We saw an example of a mini-sprinkler irrigation system at a friend’s farm that is perfect for some of our favorite small crops.  The system uses one feeder tube for a bed that we puncture about every 5 feet.  Then we place sprinklers that stand about 1 ft off the ground and emit a mist in a 3 foot crop circle.  It makes gently watering a large area so easy.  Right now we are using it to get better germination and growth with carrots, beets, lettuce mix, arugula, and radishes. 

I'm holding bok choy, behind me is red and green lettuce, then a solid patch of kale, and then the metal hoops of the hoophouse.

   Lettuce mix, arugula, and radishes are all ready now for your first several boxes.  Beets and carrots are all growing away out there for harvest in June.  We hope the misters will also help us extend the harvest season of some of our more delicate crops because the mist of the water can be used to help cool the plants on hot afternoons in late June.

The plastic goes on the hoop house.  The tomatoes will be safe from blight in this giant umbrella.

Preventative medicine: Our other big vegetable project has been the construction of two hoop houses for tomato umbrellas.  Another filed trip to a different friend’s farm inspired the construction of the hoops.  By preventing the rain from splashing on the leaves of the tomatoes and the soil around the plants, we naturally control blight (a common fungus) from reducing the tomato crop and potentially killing the plants.  A bit of clever engineering prevents the use of chemical fungicides.  No toxic residue on our crops!

Fastening the edges...no giant hoophouse kites for us!

Organic grains are “GM”- Free: Organic grains are never genetically engineered.  We are excited to replace our non-medicated, conventional grains with certified organic grains for all our animals.  Not only is the organic feed free of chemical pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, the fresh feed is made of cracked, multi-grains.  Wheat, flax seeds, barley, roasted soybeans, winter peas, corn, and alfalfa mixed with a kelp based mineral supplement make a wholesome balanced diet for the animals.  A healthier mix of multi-grain feed is healthier eggs and meat from our farm.  

Checking on the sheep, hens, and guard dog.  The chicken palace is in the background.

Chicken palace: The hens have a chicken palace now.   Our free range hens are living in a spacious coop that is built on a hay wagon with all the amenities a chicken could desire: large doors  for outdoor access, tall roosts, a self-feeding trough for organic grain, hanging drinkers, fluffy wood shavings, and cozy nest boxes.  But, I think the chicken’s favorite part is the foraging trips through the tall grass in the pasture. The hens went on a road trip in their new coop on wheels.  For the first time, we have hens at our leased farmland 1 mile up Silver Creek from us! 

~~~~~~~~~~

Organic food is never genetically engineered...

More about genetically engineered crops... 

Our nation's food supply is genetically engineered: Almost 85% of the soy and corn grown in the United States is genetically engineered or GE.  And it's what the nation's animals eat.  GE foods like corn and soy are in the food that we eat every day...Unless you eat organic foods.  Even rice, canola, and cotton are GE. 

GE foods means we use round-up every time we eat non-organic corn products, soy products, or grocery store meat. Genetically engineered soy and corn and soy are also called “round-up” ready.  This mean that the crops have been modified to withstand the herbicide glyphosate, the active ingredient in round up, so that round up can be used for weed control.  The ease of weed control with roundup ready plants and roundup has led an increase in the amount and frequency of roundup use.  While glyphosate itself is quickly broken down in the soil, the effects of the remaining herbicide compounds are poorly understood.  In addition, roundup and other commercial mixtures of glyphosate almost always contain other “inactive” ingredients.  These ingredients are listed as inactive because they don’t contribute to the stated purpose of the product.  However, this does not mean that they don’t have other effects in the soil. 
Human experiment: The long term effects of glyphosate use in the soil, plant, animal, and human biology are extremely poorly understood.  These plants have only been on the market for about 12 years and only in extremely widespread use for an even shorter time.  There are little to no long term studies tracking the effects over time.  Even worse, Monsanto, and other large corporations who own both the seed technology and the sprays that go with the seed, do their very best to prevent further studies.  The first obvious long term effect has already begun to appear in farmers fields.  Weeds are becoming resistant to glyphosate because of the persistent over use of the chemical.  This will require the application of heavier doses and the introduction of new, more toxic, chemicals. 
Toxic Soils:  There are many other long term effects of the chemical that have been suggested by other studies: Glyphosate binds soil nutrients, preventing weeds and crop plants from proper uptake.  This reduces the nutrients available in the harvested crop, reducing its value for animal or human food;  round up and other chemicals damage soil biology creating dead soils where plants are far more prone to disease and pests-prompting the further use of other chemicals; roundup in combination with other chemicals reacts in unknown ways that have been suspected of contributing to the large losses in honey bee colonies; and there are some suggestions that long term consumption of GMO crops by lab animals and livestock causes infertility and abortions as well as reducing the vigor of those animals that do survive. 
Legal Colonization of Agriculture: In addition, Monsanto and other large agro-chemical companies seek to achieve total control of seed genetics and accompanying products through patenting of life.  They have successfully prevented farmers form saving seed through lawsuits as well as the introduction of terminator genes into their plants (these make all the resulting crop infertile and thus useless as seed).  They work closely with regulatory agencies to prevent rules and laws that seek to prevent or even slow the release of new products.  In short, they seek to make farmers consumers of their product that rely completely on the company for their seed, fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide.
Genetically modified plants, their accompanying use of poisons, and he corporate structure used to push their use are all opposite of the goals of organic agriculture and our farm.  We want to work with the soil to create a healthier, more diverse, and more vibrant soil biology.  A healthy soil will carry through to healthy plants, and so to healthy animals and healthy people.  The use of certified organic, non-GMO feed allows us to continue that goal in a broader way, supporting other organic farmers growing real food using techniques to build their soils.  We hope you will enjoy the food as much as the animals do!

Week 20

Week 20: Last week of your CSA

In your box

Sweet Potatoes: This week the potatoes are a variety called Bradshaw. Roasted sweet potatoes or try the Brazilian recipe that I included again this week.

Red sweet peppers: Small but packed with ripe flavor. I like to think of all of those antioxidants in the ripe red peppers.

Swiss Chard: Lightly steam or sauté and serve with the yummy Brazilian stew recipe below.

Lettuce: The butter crunch lettuce has grown into great little lettuce heads

Salad mix: A blend of the peppery arugula and crisp lettuce mix.

Radish: Baby French breakfast radishes

Sweet Italian Basil: Don’t forget to freeze some whole leaves of basil. Pull the frozen leaves out and crumble into winter’s soups

Parsley: Include chopped parsley in the Baked Eggplant with Sweet Peppers and Rice recipe included below.

Cilantro: We opened a jar of salsa and added some summer sunshine (chopped cilantro)

Final Week:

This is the final week of the CSA. Thank you all for a great season of yummy vegetables. Without your support and enthusiasm we would not be able to do what we do. The CSA group forms the backbone of the farm. Your financial contribution enables us to purchase all the seeds, tools, and everything else we need in the beginning of the year. Your encouragement and thank yous provide the emotional support we need when we are so hot and tired in June from transplanting, weeding, harvesting, and caring for animals. And your interest in what we do keeps us mentally engaged, thinking of new ideas, telling stories about the farm, and making each day exciting. We hope you are thinking continuing to be a part of what we do next year. Please be on the lookout for a survey in the next few months as we brainstorm and plan for next year. Thank you all. Sign ups for the CSA will be in late January or early February, and you will get 1^st notification and registration.

Rain, rain, and a little more

Where was all the rain in August? We try not to complain about much needed water, but boy howdy ten cloudy days with 6 inches of rain-not exactly what we were wishing for. The pastures are now a rich green of a fall growth. The sheep certainly look forward to their munching.

In the garden we could see the vegetables green up as they finally received the water they needed. The cooler weather helps the delicate greens stay tasty and crisp. However, I think they have enough water and could use a little sun for growth. While too little water in the summer is hard on vegetables too much rain can cause problems as well. We can see some fungus and rot problems around the edges of greens. Sun and air flow in the next few days should clear it up.

Success of the ram pump!

Way back in the spring we received a grant from the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) for sustainable farm development. RAFI distributes funds from the golden leaf fund (money from the tobacco trust fund settlement) to assist farmers to transition away from tobacco and develop alternative enterprises. We received the grant to help us develop our pastured animal operation. We already constructed our walk-in freezer. But the second part of the grant was to build an energy free hydraulic ram pump. The ram pump is a pump that uses falling water to lift water up. There are only two moving parts-just two valves. You can read about hydraulic ram pumps at http://www.clemson.edu/irrig/equip/ram.htm

Just today I finally succeeded in making the ram pump work! It has been challenging to get the water to flow downhill to the pump. Then I had to fiddle with the pump for much of an afternoon. But now it is lifting water 30 feet! Now it is just a matter of hooking up the rest of the tubing to run the water all the way to the top of our pasture. From there it will collect in a cistern to be gravity fed out to all the animals. Stay tuned for photos and video on our website.

Recipe

Baked Eggplant with Sweet Peppers and Rice

Hearty and comforting, baked eggplants in a casserole are a pleasing late summer dish.

1 eggplant (about 1 or 1.25 pounds)

2 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped fine

1 large sweet red pepper or 4 small ones, diced

1 cup cooked rice

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

Oregano, 1 tablespoon dried or 2 tablespoons fresh, crumbled or chopped

1 bunch parsley, chopped fine

12 basil leaves, chopped

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 egg, well beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Cube the eggplant and steam for 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile saute the onion and red peppers in the butter until soft. Gently mix the eggplant, onion, red pepper, rice, and tomatoes, herbs, and egg together. Add salt and pepper to preference. Spoon into a buttered baking dish and bake for 35-40 minutes. Add grated Parmesan if you’d like.

We like to serve spiced lentils with this dish to provide protein for a balanced meal without meat.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/brazilian-black-bean-stew/detail.aspx

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

Rated: Submitted By: CRVGRL Photo By: cebledsoe Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ready In: 45 Minutes Servings: 6

"Sweet potatoes, mango, black beans, and cilantro are featured in this flavorful stew from South America."

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon canola oil 1/4 pound chorizo sausage, chopped 1/3 pound cooked ham, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 (1 pound) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 1 large red bell pepper, diced 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with

juice 1 small hot green chile pepper, diced 1 1/2 cups water 2 (16 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained 1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the chorizo and ham 2 to 3 minutes. Place the onion in the pot, and cook until tender. Stir in garlic, and cook until tender, then mix in the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes with juice, chile pepper, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.
2.	Stir the beans into the pot, and cook uncovered until heated through. Mix in the mango and cilantro, and season with salt.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 9/20/2011

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Thyme-Roasted-Sweet-Potatoes-233085

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes Epicurious | November 2005

by Kathryn Matthews

This slightly spicy, moist side dish is both deeply satisfying and nutritious. Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber, giving them a low glycemic index (this means that they slow the body's absorption of sugar and help regulate blood-sugar levels). A bonus for weight watchers: All those complex carbs will make you feel fuller longer than white potatoes do. Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch-thick rounds 3 tablespoons olive oil 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves, plus 6 thyme sprigs for garnish 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes Preheat oven to 450°F. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss. Arrange potato slices in single layer on heavyweight rimmed baking sheet or in 13x9-inch baking dish. Place on top rack of oven and roast until tender and slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with thyme sprigs.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Thyme-Roasted-Sweet-Potatoes-233085#ixzz1YXEB87Eb

Week 19 9-21-2011

Week 19

It’s hard to believe that there are only two more weeks of CSA boxes! September just flew by! Wednesday September 28^th will be the last week. After that, you can find us with more fresh fall vegetables at the season’s last Morganton Farmers’ Market on Saturday October 1^st. From then on, we’ll have vegetables, chicken, eggs, and pork at Farmer Fridays at the Catawba Valley Brewing Company on Friday afternoons from 4-6:00 pm. We will continue to have vegetables like lettuce, Swiss chard, lettuce mix, kale, and radishes as the cooler weather continues.

Short Days

As the days shorten we can practically see the plants’ growth slow. Lettuce, arugula, and radishes that would have practically exploded form the ground in May are now slowly growing. A whole week after germination and the seedlings still only have their first set of leaves. Shorter days mean we can start work later and end a little earlier. But there is still plenty to do harvesting, cleaning up, and seeding cover crops. That means we have to run around faster while we do work to make sure we get it all done. The changing of the seasons does make us think of cooler days with a resting farm. Until then you can still find us out in the field.

Sweet Potato Harvest

Today we harvested sweet potatoes. We thought we were just looking for the colorful roots of sweet potatoes. But the harvest turned into an insect and spider safari. Sweet potatoes form a dense canopy of vines providing a great habitat for all kinds of critters. One of the more exciting finds of the day was a small salamander hiding in the debris on the soil surface. A gross find was a whole section of garden bed filled with large white grubs. We collected them as we dug through the soil and fed them to the layer hens-they loved them! We also found more of our arch-nemeses the squash bugs. They had headed into the cover of the sweet potatoes to begin bedding down for winter. In the cooler weather they are slow movers and we could easily squish them! Another exciting find in the jungle were hoards of young wolf spiders. Wolf spiders are the large brown spiders that move very quickly along the ground. They are great generalist predators to have in the garden. The whole surface of the soil had hundreds of little spiders (their bodies were only the size of a pencil led with legs extending out to the diameter of a dime.

Some of the insects we found were pests, but many of them like the spiders are beneficial creatures. Amphibians like toads and salamanders that we find in the garden also play helpful roles eating insects. This entire micro-ecosystem would not be possible with the extensive use of poisons for weeds or insects. Organic practices allow beneficial insects and animals to thrive because there is a diverse base of prey species. When they live in a good balance together problems are kept to a minimum while the whole farm ecosystem thrives.

In your box:

Sweet Potatoes: Not just for sweet potato casserole! These tasty jewels are great baked, boiled, or incorporated with black beans and perhaps chorizo sausage for a tasty main dish. See several amazing recipes at end of newsletter. This week we will be distributing a variety called Ginseng. Like many fruits and vegetables the grand variety of sweet potatoes has been reduced to only a few commercially available. As usual these varieties are selected for transport and storage ability, not necessarily flavor.

Sweet Potato Jungle with harvested potatoes in background

Another note on the sweet potatoes: we are mostly used to cured sweet potatoes. This means they have been dried out a little bit to increase storage capability. It is a widespread practice necessary to store the sweet potatoes through the winter. The curing slightly changes the texture and flavor of the sweet potatoes. These will cook a little differently than usual partly because they are fresh out of the ground.

Red sweet peppers: Small but packed with ripe flavor. I like to think of all of those antioxidants in the ripe red peppers.

Swiss Chard: Lightly steam or sauté and serve with the yummy Brazilian stew recipe below.

Lettuce: A early nibble of head lettuce. Think back 6 weeks ago…That’s when we planted these babies- as early as we could with the oppressing heat.

Arugula: perhaps only enough for large shares? We are going to harvest and see how much there is. I just can’t get enough of arugula and a sweet white vinegar.

Radish: Tiny baby radishes

Garlic: The last of the garlic. We hope you enjoyed your exploration of the other garlics of the world beyond the supermarket.

Sweet Italian Basil: Don’t forget to freeze some whole leaves of basil. Pull the frozen leaves out and crumble into winter’s soups.

Baby Lettuce

Recipes

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Thyme-Roasted-Sweet-Potatoes-233085

Thyme-Roasted Sweet Potatoes Epicurious | November 2005

by Kathryn Matthews

This slightly spicy, moist side dish is both deeply satisfying and nutritious. Sweet potatoes are rich in complex carbohydrates and fiber, giving them a low glycemic index (this means that they slow the body's absorption of sugar and help regulate blood-sugar levels). A bonus for weight watchers: All those complex carbs will make you feel fuller longer than white potatoes do. Yield: Makes 6 to 8 servings 4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch-thick rounds 3 tablespoons olive oil 4 large garlic cloves, minced 1/3 cup fresh thyme leaves, plus 6 thyme sprigs for garnish 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes Preheat oven to 450°F. In large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and toss. Arrange potato slices in single layer on heavyweight rimmed baking sheet or in 13x9-inch baking dish. Place on top rack of oven and roast until tender and slightly browned, about 40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with thyme sprigs.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/printerfriendly/Thyme-Roasted-Sweet-Potatoes-233085#ixzz1YXEB87Eb

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/30/dining/301mrex.html

New York Times

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad With Black Beans and Chili Dressing

Time: 45 minutes

4 medium sweet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1 large onion, preferably red, chopped

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 to 2 tablespoons minced fresh hot chili, like jalapeño

1 clove garlic, peeled

Juice of 2 limes

2 cups cooked black beans, drained (canned are fine)

1 red or yellow bell pepper, seeded and finely diced

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro.

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put sweet potatoes and onions on a large baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons oil, toss to coat and spread out in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast, turning occasionally, until potatoes begin to brown on corners and are just tender inside, 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven; keep on pan until ready to mix with dressing.

2. Put chilies in a blender or mini food processor along with garlic, lime juice, remaining olive oil and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Process until blended.

3. Put warm vegetables in a large bowl with beans and bell pepper; toss with dressing and cilantro. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve warm or at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to a day.

Yield: 4 servings.

· Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/7126

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

Vegetarian Times Issue: February 1, 2000 p.34 — Member Rating:

Here's a quick vegetarian version of the Brazilian national dish known as feijoada. This stew entices the eye with the colorful contrast of black beans and sweet potatoes and pleases the palate with nourishing ingredients.

Ingredient List

6 servings

• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 2 medium sweet potatoes (1 to 1 1/4 lbs.), peeled and diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 small hot green chili pepper, or more to taste, minced
• 2 (16-oz.) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 ripe mango, pitted, peeled and diced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Directions

Meal plan:

1. Steam some Swiss chard while the stew is simmering and serve with warmed flour tortillas.
In large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook, stirring, until onion is golden, about 3 minutes.

2. Stir in sweet potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes (with liquid), chili and 1 1/2 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender but still firm, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Stir in beans and simmer gently, uncovered, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Stir in mango and cook until heated through, about 1 minute. Stir in cilantro and salt. Serve hot.

Nutritional Information

Per serving: Calories: 326, Protein: 16g, Total fat: 4g, Saturated fat: g, Carbs: 61g, Cholesterol: mg, Sodium: 211mg, Fiber: 17g, Sugars: g

Copyright © 2008 Cruz Bay Publishing, Inc. | an Active Interest Media Company.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/brazilian-black-bean-stew/detail.aspx

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

Rated: Submitted By: CRVGRL Photo By: cebledsoe Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes Ready In: 45 Minutes Servings: 6

"Sweet potatoes, mango, black beans, and cilantro are featured in this flavorful stew from South America."

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon canola oil 1/4 pound chorizo sausage, chopped 1/3 pound cooked ham, chopped 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 (1 pound) sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 1 large red bell pepper, diced 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with

juice 1 small hot green chile pepper, diced 1 1/2 cups water 2 (16 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained 1 mango - peeled, seeded and diced 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat, and cook the chorizo and ham 2 to 3 minutes. Place the onion in the pot, and cook until tender. Stir in garlic, and cook until tender, then mix in the sweet potatoes, bell pepper, tomatoes with juice, chile pepper, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 15 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.
2.	Stir the beans into the pot, and cook uncovered until heated through. Mix in the mango and cilantro, and season with salt.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2011 Allrecipes.com

Printed from Allrecipes.com 9/20/2011

Week 18 9-14-2011

*A note for on farm pick up: some of your produce will be in your box in the fridge, other portions will be on the table in front of the fridge with signs indicating how much of an item you receive that day. Please always remember to check both your box and the table.*

*Remember you can always see old newsletter and their recipes as well as photos of the farm at our csa blog http://bluebirdfarmcsa.blogspot.com For general farm news you can see our regular blog BluebirdFarmNC.blogspot.com*

Week 18 box

Green Beans-probably a last taste for the season

Edamame-another week of delicious snacks

Radishes

Swiss Chard

Sweet Peppers

Arugula-we had an interesting twist on the regular goat cheese and roasted nut arugula salad this week. We added roasted vegetables to the mix. We roasted small chunks of potatoes, onions, and beets coated in olive oil and spices at 350 for about 45 minutes or until tender. We then warm (not hot) roasted veggies over a bed of arugula and topped with goat cheese, nuts, and balsamic vinegar-a meal in a salad!

Basil- eat all you can of this delicious taste of summer-it won’t last much longer!

In the last two weeks look forward to:

Sweet Potatoes

Baby head lettuce

Red Russian Kale

CSA Farm Day and Farm Open House!

We would like to invite you all out to a CSA farm day this Friday September 16^th 4-7 pm at Bluebird Farm. It is a chance for you to come out and see where all the delicious food comes from. We will be leading several tours of the garden and animals through the afternoon. There will also be a great kid’s area for digging!

If you can’t make it this Friday, come out next Friday September 23^rd 4-7 pm for a farm open house.

It is also time to start thinking about ordering a family pork pack or half hog. We have several sizes available. The pork packs are a great way to buy in bulk for the winter season when we won’t be at farms markets. For complete information on our family pork packs and half hog pricing see the pork page on our website www.bluebirdfarmnc.com (You will be able to find us at Catawba Valley Brewery at least until Thanksgiving, you can also always call and arrange to come to the farm in the winter to pick up food).

Special on farm pricing on all of our pork will be available both days.

Cleaning Edamame

One of the defining activities of the last week was preparing the Edamame for bundling and distribution. Edemame is very easy to grow. It sprouts right up and turns into a bean filled jungle in no time at all. It is also easy to harvest, we simply snip the base of the plants’ stalks and carry them into the barn. Preparing the stalks is another story- hours of snipping leaves, cutting to rough lengths and taming unruly stalks into bundles. Of course, the rest of the farm doesn’t slow down, so we end up enjoying late night and early morning radio programs we prefer not to listen to on a regular basis while we work on the edamame. At least with this farm job we could enjoy a beer and work at the same time!

The insect assassins clean up summer garden beds

One of the reasons our summer squash and cucumber harvest met an early demise this fall was an over abundance of squash bugs and cucumber beetles. After killing off the late summer crops both of these insects will over winter in brush and debris around a garden ready to emerge again in the spring with their voracious appetites. Before they got a chance to go hide (at least we hope we caught them early enough) we went through the demolished squash patch turning over brush and shaking dead plants until they fell off. Then we ruthlessly hunted them down as the scurried for cover. We hope we got most of them! After taking care of the insect problem we put down our weapons of destruction and prepared the beds for late fall greens, hoeing out weeds and raking them smooth. The former jungle of summer now lays neatly tamed ready for sowing and transplants.

Your Farmers William and Marie

Week 16 box

Tomatoes-The tomato harvest is winding down. But in the meantime we are still enjoying their fruits

Cherry Tomatoes- for a time it looked like they would never stop, but they too are slowing with the late summer season

Sweet Peppers- We grilled peppers and onions with our boneless ham pieces on kebabs last night-delicious! Marie has been carefully selecting peppers to leave on the plants and ripen to a red pepper. Hopefully after about 10-14 days, we may get some red peppers. Ripening peppers is very tricky when there is heavy fungus pressure from the weather.

Squash-large shares only-the final planting of squash suffered from a severe squash bug and cucumber beetle infestation. They have not produced well.

Cucumbers- Cool, crisp and delicious as a snack, in a salad, or in a sandwich. The cucumbers too are slowing down in the garden.

Bush Green Beans-The green beans love this weather and are flowering and producing profuse quantities of tender bush beans. We used green beans in a gumbo with our spicy andouille sausage, tomatoes, and peppers.

Garlic

Basil- Try a basil marinade on your next vegetable or meat dish. Puree 1 bunch of basil leaves, 1 teaspoons dried thyme, olive oil, salt, and garlic in a food processor. Mix over large pieces of raw vegetables to make great veggie kabobs. The basil marinade is also great on chicken and fish.

Farm news

Despite our best efforts to slow time it is now Thursday morning instead of Tuesday evening when we are supposed to send out the newsletter. Oops! But everyone remembered to come out and get their boxes-enjoy!

Weighing chickens (and pigs) and training pigs.

Our meat chickens are very sensitive to the weather. In hot weather they spend most of the afternoon resting in the shade instead of exploring the pasture and eating. So they grow much more slowly in the heat than mild weather. With the cooler weather and more afternoon shade our current chickens have been growing a little faster. But we are not sure if they will be large enough at 9 weeks of age (next week) or if they need to grow 10 weeks (September 14^th) like the summer chickens. One way we can try to tell is to weigh them at age 8 weeks. So we head out tot the pasture with a scale and box. We set those up on a flat spot then catch a chicken! They aren’t too excited about getting scooped up. They are freedom chickens!

An even funnier sight was me (William) trying to weigh our piglets. We were trying to see how much they had grown since we purchased them. They don’t fit in a box on our small scale. So I brought a bathroom scale to the pasture. I weighed myself, then I had to grab the little squealing, thrashing piglets and weigh again. The scale is the kind you have to tap with your toe then wait for it to zero out. So I am holding a 50ish pound thrashing piglet while I try to reach out with the toe of my boot to tap the scale. Then once it zeros I have to try to balance on the scale and somehow look around the piglet at the numbers. Most of the time I moved too much and the scale read error. So I had to try the whole this over again.

A more fun piglet job is training them to an electric fence. Once they grow large enough we set up a double electric line and have supervised training sessions. At first the little piglets don’t really understand what the fence is. When they get shocked they run all the way back to their old, un-electrified fence. Once they figure it out though they are so excited to munch their way through our patch of millet and cowpeas cover crop.

Some business

Thank you for all the returned boxes and egg cartons. We can also reuse the cherry tomato pints as long as they are clean and uncracked.

CSA Open House, Friday September 16^th 4-7 pm

Come out to the farm and tour the garden and pastures! Talk to the farmers (and the animals.) Let your kids dig and get dirty in a special kid area of the garden and enjoy petting layer hens and feeding pigs.

We’ll also have a special deal on pork, Pork Family Packs, and ½ hogs available at the CSA Open House (and the following week at the Farm Day.)

We encourage everyone to visit the farm and see your community farm! This is an opportunity for a full tour of the gardens and pasture with your farmers. See how we raise animals on pasture and organic vegetables at Bluebird Farm and hear about our sustainable farm management .

Farm Day, Friday September 23^rd 4-7pm

Farm Day is open to CSA members and the public. If you missed the CSA Open House, you can come on out to Bluebird Farm on September 23rd. Come out to the farm and tour the garden and pastures! Talk to the farmers (and the animals.) Let your kids dig and get dirty in a special kid area of the garden and enjoy petting layer hens and feeding pigs.

We’ll also have a special deal on pork, Pork Family Packs, and ½ hogs available at the Farm Day.

We encourage everyone to visit the farm and see your community farm! This is an opportunity for a full tour of the gardens and pasture with your farmers. See how we raise animals on pasture and organic vegetables at Bluebird Farm and hear about our sustainable farm management .