Recipes 5/19/2012

You will find Purple Top Turnips, Golden and Ruby Red Beets, an assortment of Green Leaf Heirloom Lettuces, Mitzuna, Tat Soi, Spinach, Tomatoes...what to do with all of this goodness??

Here are some recipes below to enjoy!

Shaved Turnip Salad With Arugula and Prosciutto

Published: November 28, 2011    New York Times

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

 

Time: About 10 minutes

4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Pepper
4 small turnips, about 5 ounces, peeled
8 cups arugula, wild if possible
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, torn into bite-size pieces.

1. In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar and salt until the salt dissolves.
Whisk in the honey, oil and pepper.

2. Using a mandoline or sharp knife, slice the turnips into paper-thin rounds. In a large bowl, combine turnips, arugula and prosciutto. Toss with the dressing. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Yield: 4 servings.

CST - Community Supported Table

Many of us have heard of, or are in fact members of a Farm CSA - Community Supported Agriculture. A CSA is a farm share where members buy "stock" in a local farmer's season. The memberships are paid for pre-season, which allows the farmer to buy seeds, soil, plants,etc to grow for each member. Each week, CSA members receive a "box" of whatever in growing in the garden that week. Some weeks the boxes could be overflowing with a mix of heirloom lettuces, while other weeks tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are rounding out the share.

CSA is dynamic in so many ways. Farmer's receive working capital to invest into the soil, and members become part of a sustainable community, sharing in the bounties of the harvest.

I have been thinking of ways to pioneer a new community -supported business model.

Our work is grounded in shared values of sustainability, community
Inspired by nature, our weekly menus are prepared using local farm foods.
Ordering from us helps reduce your carbon footprint. We pack our foods in re-usable glass containers, compost waste, and purchase from local farms.
Our ingredients include:

• organically farmed produce, grains, and nuts
• pasture-raised meats, eggs, and dairy products
• unrefined sweeteners
• traditional fatsSustainability is a vision that guides the goals of our organization and our clients. Financial stability, environmental stewardship, and social responsibility are the 3 key facets to our sustainable future. Here at Winding Trail Consulting, LLC we believe that these three facets are not opposing goals of which trade-offs need to be considered at every step. We believe they are symbiotic. Each aspect promotes the other for the greater good of the whole system.

We provide our services strictly to local businesses and organizations because we believe they are the key to a successful local economy and healthy world. Thanks so much for participating in this green revolution. We're proving you don't have to pay a premium to compete in the global internet marketplace to best serve your local customers!

Our mission is to promote sustainable communities through a triple bottom line and system approach (economical, social, and ecological). Please join us in this mission to make our region an better place to live, work, and play.

Business Concept: Creating a Learning Organization
Ecological Principle: Evolution
Organizations evolve following the same principles as nature. Through observation of our natural world and our organizations we can find many parallels that quickly translate into effective lessons. A learning organization is a fantastic model for creating a workplace culture that is innovative, adaptive, and engaged. Learning organizations encourage their employees to explore and try new ideas. They offer a guiding hand to their stakeholders to drive business success, without narrowing the scope of success to that only owned by the administration.
As the environment, markets, and world around us change rapidly we must create organizations that encourage awareness and cooperation across departments and even externally with partnershihp organizations. With this learning culture an organization builds its capacity to adapt and change while discovering new ways of doing business.

Business Concept: Stakeholder Engagement
Ecological Principle: Diversity
When we work together in teams or groups we expect something more than if we all sat apart in separate rooms working on the same problem. When we interact with other people, our environment, or between organizations we create a relationship. Ecology tells us that out of these interactions come emergent properties. This is when the sum is greater than the 2 parts.
Brainstorming, dialoguing, and team building activities are all ways to create emergent thoughts, ideas, and solutions that would otherwise not exist without interaction. Diversity plays a key part in the potential of what can emerge. The greater diversity of people, organizations, and resources you have working, the more potential for creative solutions. We can harness the power of unique mindsets, different backgrounds, and new perspectives.

Business Concept: Partnerships
Ecological Principle: Symbiotic Relationships
Every partnership (human to human, human to organization, organization to organization, human to environment, organization to environment) can be classified and described as one of 4 basic ecological relationships. These are:
Mutualistic: (++) Both benefit, yet require eachother's interaction for that benefit.
Commensalistic: (+0) One benefits, other is not harmed nor helped.
Parasitic: (+-) One benefits, other is harmed.
Ammensalistic: (-0) One is harmed, other is unharmed but does not benefit.
Understanding the qualities and characteristics of these relationships will help us change as well as promote more positive partnerships. Strip your stigma of what you think these mean (like parasitic) and understand that they all have good and challenging qualities. Figure out which is best for each interaction.

Business Concept: Adaptive Leadership
Ecological Principle: Self-Organization
Nature organizes itself into the moste efficient, and more beneficially, the most effective. In the business environment it takes a different and deliberate style of leadership. This leader is a role model of hard work, trust, autonomy, and innovation. There are some very successful organizations that have adapted this flat hierarchy for an organizational structure allowing for employees to create, adapt, change, and own their work. These enthusiastic employees take ownership of their jobs, invest in their company, and know that their co-workers will do their part.
An adaptive leader values process over task and recognizes whole system consequences. This leader is purposefully facilitating the evolution of their organization to adapt to the industrial environment, political climate, and market demands.

Ecological Principle: Limits to Growth

Traditional Economics tells us to grow, grow, grow.... Ecological Economics recognizes limits to growth and other guiding principles that allow for true costs to be accounted for. With a triple bottom line approach (people, planet, and profit) sustainable business goals can be reached over a much larger time scale. The short sighted view of traditional business practices have created a world of fossil fuel dependence and economic recession. Limits to growth are realized by identifying the slow variables in our economic system. The housing bubble, dot com fiasco, and the current economic recession could have been avoided by a simple step back and bigger picture view of how we as businesses and individuals interact with our economic system.

Does this mean you shouldn't grow your business? Of course not. This means there is a better way to grow your business consciously and deliberately. It also means that you are not setting your business up for long term failure for short term gain.

Ecological Principle: Locality

Community could be a physical place or an online group of people connected by a common set of interests and values. Does your business have a sense of place? Meaning, is your business or organization grounded by the cultural norms set by its community? For marketing success we must understand the community system that our business is nested within.

With each locality and community there are finite resources, available opportunities (defined by niches not filled), and social restraints. If your business operates across several communities than your system becomes that more complex and these resources, opportunities, and restraints must be attended to in each. The rule here for entrepreneurs is simple is better.

Claire’s Restaurant – A Community Supported Success Story

Posted on May 27, 2009 | 8 Comments

Last night, my wife and I joined Vermont’s Central and Northeast Kingdom communities in celebrating the first anniversary of Claire’s Restaurant in Hardwick, VT, a place that quickly established itself as a “must stop” experience for those in the area.
Claire’s was founded in May 2008, after four years of effort by its four co-founders. The restaurant employed a community supported business model to raise the necessary capital – 50 community members invested $1,000 each in exchange for restaurant credits. This intimate connection to the community has proven a better-than-expected success, as one of Claire’s owners indicated last night that during its first year it achieved patron numbers projected for its fourth year – nearly every day. Why?
In addition to its beautiful space and wonderful staff, probably the biggest reason is Claire’s chef, Steven Obranovich, who spends time nearly every day talking to local farmers and processors about what’s available, what’s in peak, etc., and then adapted his menu to accommodate those local products. The Claire’s web site describes his task as follows:

From his kitchen on Main Street, our chef plans his menu every day after talking with farmers. Steven is looking for local ingredients at their peak… nourished on the soil and water of Vermont. From there, he begins a journey that might take him down the road to a cheese maker or baker. He considers how the weather has flavored this season’s produce, what local herbs or spices from far away might best bring out that uniqueness, and which cooking techniques are most suitable.

It’s working. Earlier this year, Claire’s announced (proudly) it had purchased between 70-80 percent of its food from within the Hardwick and surrounding communities. Considering the restaurant is located in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (translated: cold), this is saying a lot.

During our first summer, keeping up with the rush of business, nearly 70 percent of every dollar spent for the food on Steven’s menu went to farms in our community. The majority of those are within 15 miles, and just a few are farther afield in the Northeast Kingdom. Most impressive were the results for our first winter of operations. During the coldest days from January through March, Steven highlighted our winter bounty so that we increased our purchases to 79 percent directly from farmers and artisans in our communities.

By supporting local businesses, Claire’s and its customers are continually increasing demand for local products, which in turn keeps money circulating in the local economy longer. Everyone is winning.
And the food is spectacular! Claire’s was recently awarded the Editor’s Choice Award from Yankee Magazine for the Best Community Concept, as well as a spot on Conde Nast Traveler Magazine’s Hot Tables list.

"May The Bird of paradise Fly Up Your Nose"

Willie Nelson loved the fact Ryman's Theater (Original Grand Ole' Opry) stage door was right across a narrow alley from the back door to Tootsie's Orchid Lounge and what it had to offer between sets.
He'd skip over for a drink or two, or three, saying "it's 17 steps to Tootsie's, and 34 steps back."

Tootsie's Orchid Lounge is truly the definition of a hole in the wall - it even has bright orchid, purple walls.
But if you are an aspiring country singer, nothing is bigger than singing on the stage of Tootsies. Early country singers, while playing on the Grand ole' Opry Stage would run out of the back door of the Ryman over to Tootsie's, belly up to the bar to wet their whistles, and then run back to the Ryman, up the steps to the stage to continue performing - without the audience even noticing!

I received one of my favorite tidbits of information from an old timer in the back alley of Tootsie's in Nashville Tennessee, about 5 years ago. I was in the back alley with Len, my guitar player, waiting to be called for our debut on stage - and I was so nervous that I was doing anything to distract myself and to calm my nerves. I decided to count my steps from the back door of Tootsie's to the Ryman Theater.
"One, Two, Three, Four........Eight, Nine, Ten.......Fifteen, Sixteen, Seventeen....Twenty-five, Twenty-six...Thirty-three, Thirty-four".

I happily turned around and exclaimed across the alley to Len - "Yep, 34 exactly!"

"Not if your Little Jimmy Dickens"

- A haggard voice startled me from the corner-

I turned around to see a weathered old man with a grey beard sitting on a crate against the brick wall.
"Jimmy Dicken's?" I asked?

The man explained to me that Little Jimmy Dickens was one of the first country singers on the Grand Ole Opry that only stood 4'11 tall.
While most of the performers could manage a 34 step crossing - it took Jimmy 57.

I delighted in listening to his story-telling, and almost forgot all about the butterflies in my stomach. When my name was called out the back door that I was up on stage, I turned around and asked,
"Wait a minute, how do you know all of this?"
He just winked at me and smiled with a glisten in his eyes -
letting me know that he knew much, much more - am I am sure that he knew all of these things first hand!

Well, I have been playing this same old classic country CD here at the General Store for the last week. I just love track it - I keep on hitting repeat, and this one song just cracks me up -

"May the bird of paradise fly up your nose"
"May an elephant caress you with his toes"
"May your wife be plagued with runners in her hose"
"May the bird of paradise fly up your nose"

So I finally googled the darn song, and son of a gun - it's sung by Little Jimmy Dicken's. I guess the songs main theme is when you are really frustrated at someone - instead of lashing out, or bottling things up inside - just wish them well inside your head, and then sing this little ditty to yourself!

Open Mic Reminder - we have lots of great musicians here on Wednesdays from 6:30 - 9:30. I invite you all to come on down to hear the areas brightest stars, and if you are a performer, we would love for you to debut your talent !

this week - keep on singing!

xo farmer kim

Mom's was the original name of Tootsie's Orchid Lounge,

Tootsie Bess bought Mom's in 1960.

She credits a painter with naming Tootsie's. She came in one day to find that he had painted her place orchid...thus the name Tootsie's Orchid Lounge.

She was a singer / comedienne with "Big Jeff & The Radio Playboys". Jeff Bess was the bandleader and Tootsie's husband.

She recorded, "My Little Red Wagon" and "Tootsie's Wall of Fame"

Records recorded about Tootsie's include "The Wettest Shoulders in Town" and "What's Tootsies Gonna Do When They Tear the Ryman Down?"

Charlie Pride gave her the jeweled hatpin that she used to stick unruly patrons.

It is rumored that Roger Miller wrote “Dang Me” in Tootsies.

Famous early customers were Kris Kristofferson, Faron Young, Willie Nelson, Tom T. Hall, Hank Cochran, Mel Tillis, Roger Miller, Webb Pierce, Waylon Jennings, Patsy Cline and many more.

Movies filmed at Tootsie’s include “W.W. & the Dixie Dance Kings” starring Bert Reynolds, “Coal Miner’s Daughter” about Loretta Lynn and starring Sissy Spacek, and “The Nashville Rebel” starring Tex Ritter, Porter Wagoner, Faron Young, Loretta Lynn, The Wilburn Brothers, and Waylon Jennings.

A segment of the Dean Martin summer show was filmed at Tootsie’s.

TNN (The Nashville Network) did a 30-minute show about Tootsie’s, produced by Gus Barba.

Esquire and Penthouse magazines did articles about Tootsie’s.

Willie Nelson got his first songwriting job after singing at Tootsie’s.

The photo and memorabilia lined walls are called the “Wall of Fame”.

Tootsie was known to slip $5s and $10s into the pockets of luckless writers and pickers.

It was said that she had a cigar box behind the counter full of IOU’s from where she had given drinks and food to hungry pickers and writers. Supposedly, at each years end, a bunch of Opry Performers would take all the IOUs and pay Tootsie so she wouldn’t lose the money.

Thrive: Gardening Class Schedule

Growing Edibles / Small Gardens

Thursday, May 24
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.Don’t let a small space deter you from having fresh, home-grown fruits and veggies. Learn to maximize a small yard, patio or window boxes to grow your own healthy and delicious food. This class covers the basics of site selection and preparation, plant choices, and special techniques for using containers and trellises to make the most of your space. Bring your own container / or use complimentary containers / or unique containers available for purchase. Instructors: Farmer Kim / Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: May 17

Weed I.D. and Control
Thursday, May 31
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

The key to controlling weeds in your garden is knowing the varieties. Learn how to recognize and manage the weeds in your landscape. If there is a particular weed driving you crazy, bring it along for class discussion.Instructor: Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: May 24


Shade Gardening
Thursday, June 7
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

If you have a shaded yard and think your choices are limited, you're in for a big surprise! Learn about fantastic understory trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plant choices, including many seldom-used selections. The class focuses on plants that work well in combination for a shade garden that looks like a healthy plant community.Instructor: Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: May 31

Edible Architecture Series : $35/class or 3/$95

Edible Architecture : The Herb Spiral
Thursday, June 14
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.Herb Spirals add instant character and edible architecture to your landscape. Spirals are a great way to grow an abundance of herbs and plants in a small space. The herb spiral creates multiple micro-climates for a range of favorite herbs. Starting at the top where it is sunny and windy Mediterranean herbs like rosemary, oregano and thyme are planted, winding down chives to the north, parsley and cilantro to the east, sage, basil and lavender to the south, wrapping up with water cress or flavored mints at the lowest, moistest point. The mix is up to you as you have lots of space and conditions to work with. Herb spirals also extend the growing season by heating up early in the year and stay productive late into the season from the radiant rock heat.Instructors: Farmer Kim / Farmer Raye
Fee: $35 / Registration Deadline: June 7



Edible Architecture : Raised Beds & Terraces
Thursday, June 21
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Well placed and designed garden beds can accent the topography of your landscape while passively harvesting water and nutrients, reducing your efforts for a verdant garden. Clearly defined raised beds and pathways help avoid soil compaction, allowing the soil to act as a living sponge and loose medium for plant roots. Starting your garden out with raised beds goes a far way to assure your planting success. Terraces and tiered landscaping gardens add instant architecture and growing space to otherwise uneventful and unproductive slopes. Like raised garden beds on contour terraces passively harvest rain water while stabilizing slopes and show casing gardens in unique and creative ways. Terraces present wonderful possibilities in the garden. They are outdoor living rooms during good weather and form a transition from the outdoors to the indoors throughout the year.
Instructors: Farmer Kim / Farmer Raye
Fee: $35 / Registration Deadline: June 14

 

 

Edible Architecture : The Art of Espalier & Arbors – Growing Vertically
Thursday, June 28
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Espaliered plants (pronounced “es-PAL-yer”) are plants that have been trained to grow in a flat plane against a wall,fence, or trellis, though the term has also been used to describe the technique of training a plant to grow a certain way. They are prized for their beautiful vertical accents and for their ability to add ornamental beauty to both compact and sweeping spaces. They can be used either as privacy screens, to adorn bare walls, to define walkways and drives, or to create an edible outdoor room. Providing not only a feast for the eyes, but for the palet as well. Imagine an espalier fruit fence with fanned gooseberries that create an ‘edible room’.Instructors: Farmer Kim / Farmer Raye
Fee: $35 / Registration Deadline: June 21

 

 

Back Yard Ducks
Thursday, July 12
6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Harvest fresh eggs from your own back yard! More and more people are becoming ‘Flocksters’ and realizing the ease and joy of keeping ‘backyard’ ducks. This “Eggricultural” workshop will cover the basics of raising and tending small flocks, including coop design, garden benefits & insect control, breeds, disease and predator control.
Instructor: Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: June 28

 

Container Gardening
Thursday, July 19
6:30-8:30 p.m.
Explore ways to create winning container plant combinations that transition well throughout the seasons. Learn to design outdoor containers with annuals and perennials that are aesthetically pleasing and horticulturally sound. Design principals will be illustrated and the use of repurposed, recycled, and sustainable materials and containers will be discussed.
 Bring your own container / or use complimentary containers / or unique containers available for purchase.
Instructors: Farmer Kim / Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: July 12


Compost Tea
Thursday July 26
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.Compost tea makes the benefits of compost go farther. Compost tea is a liquid extract of well-made compost that contains beneficial microorganisms and beneficial fungi. By steeping finished compost in water beneficial microorganisms, fungi and plant growth compounds are extracted into solution. It is made in a variety of ways, including with or without aeration, depending on whether it is a soil or foliar feed. It’s used as either a foliar spray or a soil drench, depending on where your plants and pasture has problems.
Instructor: Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: July 19


Native Gardening for Beneficial Insects
Thursday, Aug 2
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.Discover how to attract beneficial insects to your garden using the best native plants for the region. These "good bugs" assist in natural suppression of pests (the "bad bugs") and pollination. Learn about a number of beneficial insects, including native bees, lady beetles, praying mantids, lacewings, and butterflies. Learn how to identify these insects, provide them with habitat, and support them with the plants they need at different stages of their life cycle.
Instructor: Farmer Raye
Fee: $25 / Registration Deadline: July 26

Herbal Workshop
Thursday, Aug 9
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Discover how to select fresh and dried herbs and how to make teas, decoctions, tinctures and herbal oils and salves from them. Learn the basics of herbal preparations. Homemade products are fresher, last longer, and are more economical than store-bought herbal products. Make your own herbal tincture to take home.
(Includes a $10 Materials Fee)
Instructor: Farmer Kim
Fee: $35 / Registration Deadline: Aug 2

Nature's Pharmacy
Thursday, Aug 16
6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
For centuries herbs and spices have been used to flavor foods and as medicine. Learn about plants historically used for first aid, asthma, insomnia, sinusitis, bronchitis, revitalizing the immune system, preventing colds and flu, and much more. Discover how to make shopping at the health food store a user-friendly experience.
Instructor: Farmer Kim
Fee: $35 / Registration Deadline: Aug 9