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Soil First Farming

Posted by Kristen Carlson on Friday, August 31, 2012,

A note that I sent to our CSA program a few weeks ago. It really sums up what I've been thinking about this summer relating to soil health and our responsibility as producers and eaters. Hope you gain something from this.

Mike

Hello Dear CSA members,

It has been so much fun taking this culinary journey with you so far this season. In the garden, we've been learning a lot about production and we've been experimenting. We've tried a few new crops, such a collards, which I have really enjoyed ...
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Swiss Chard

Posted by Kristen Carlson on Tuesday, July 17, 2012,

Chard is a flavourful yet mild leafy green that can be used like spinach or beet greens. Indigenous to the Mediterranean, chard is often referred to as swiss chard due to its initial description by a Swiss botanist in the 16th century. It is high in vitamins A, E and C and minerals like iron and calcium. Minerals are more readily absorbed from chard than they are from spinach.

Cooking Tips:

Chop leaves and stems diagonally across the leag. Cut stems into 1 inch chunks and leaves into ribbonlike...

Green Collard Workers

Posted by Kristen Carlson on Tuesday, July 10, 2012,

Collards

Nutritional information:

Collards are a source of iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, B vitamins, vitamins A, C, E, K and beta carotene.

To Cook:

Remove any thick tough stems, or peel them. You can steam them (which preserves more nutrients) or boil them (which does a better job of preserving color) or stir-fry in a bit of water or stock.

- Leafy Greens, Mark Bittman

Recipes:

The following recipe was posted on the Nouri...

Good Eatin'

Posted by Kristen Carlson on Wednesday, July 4, 2012,

Harvest days are my favourite. We get started especially early to beat the heat of the day and to make sure we are ready to go at pick up time. We fill big boxes with various greens, snip and bundle fragrant herbs, wash, bag and lay our offerings out for pick-up. The plants we've seeded, weeded, watered and prayed over are suddenly food!

But just what to do with them after that? One of the appeals of our food box is that home cooks are challenged to work with interesting new vegetables...
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Edible cultures

Posted by Mike Kozlowski on Saturday, March 31, 2012,

Human bodies are like our gardens and communities, they thrive on diversity

Mike has been taking every opportunity he can to share his excitement about soil lately “It’s just so alive!” he exclaims, marvelling at the millions of microorganisms that live in the ‘dirt’. He’s been reading about building soil health- which involves introducing and nurturing millions of microorganisms that inhabit the soil. The ...