Bodhi Farms is hold a spring CSA Sale! What’s a CSA? Here are the basics: a farmer offers a certain number of “shares” to the public. Typically the share consists of a box of vegetables, but other farm products may be included. Interested consumers purchase a share (aka a “membership” or a “subscription”) and in return receive a box (bag, basket) of seasonal produce each week throughout the farming season.
This arrangement creates several rewards for both the farmer and the consumer.
Advantages for farmers:
Get to spend time marketing the food early in the year, before their 16 hour days in the field begin
Receive payment early in the season, which helps with the farm’s cash flow
Have an opportunity to get to know the people who eat the food they grow
Advantages for consumers:
Eat ultra-fresh food, with all the flavor and vitamin benefits
Get exposed to new vegetables and new ways of cooking
Usually get to visit the farm at least once a season
Find that kids typically favor food from “their” farm – even veggies they’ve never been known to eat
Develop a relationship with the farmer who grows their food and learn more about how food is grown
Our CSA runs from May 24th to December 13th! That’s 26 distributions of fresh vegetables. We offer one of the longest running CSAs in New Mexico and it’s on sale. Our CSA customers get the pick of the vegetables from the farm. We have ony 20 CSA shares this year, so get your CSA membership while they are still available. The sale applies to both the standard CSA and the abbreviated CSA. Simply click here.
And you will save 15% on your CSA membership. Remember to aplpy the promo code SPRING-CSA on the check screen.
We will be ending this sale on April 8th, 2014. CSA shares will revert to the normal price at that time.
Also farm tours will be available starting on June 4th. The farm can be toured every Wednesday from that date forward. Please call ahead to schedule a tour. My phone number is505-617-1191.
Thanx for your support of local farmers and local agriculture.
The San Miguel County Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a work session on Thursday, March 6, 2014 from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm at the San Miguel County Commission Chambers, San Miguel County Courthouse, 500 W. National – Second floor, Las Vegas to review Proposed Oil and Gas Ordinance and the County Comprehensive Plan.
The Proposed Gas and Oil Ordinance (regulations) have had many of the regulations removed that were written by Dr. Freilich, the attorney the
County paid $50,000. to write for the county. In addition it would require a changing of the current Comprehensive County Land Use Plan in order to implement these regulations. It would require changing areas that have been zoned non-industrial and agricultural. Changing this plan requires a process that allows public hearings and input, a process that must be followed. The Committee for Clean Water, Air and Earth are opposed to the ordinance which just regulates the industry, but does let them into Frack our land, and pollute our water and air. We have seen the devastation across our country and have a film of what is happening in the Farmington area, the damages to the water and earth go are proven. No amount of money will
repay the loss of our clean water and air. Secondly we oppose the use of “sacrifice zones” or areas where they can frack, this will not protect our neighbors or stop earthquakes and the spread of the dangerous chemicals being used in our water and air.
Please attend the meetings and if you have any questions please call 426-1468, and become involved before they are here. We have been fortunate to be able see what happens to communities where they move in.
The Public Input Hearing is on this Friday from 3- 7 pm in the San Miguel County Commissioners Chambers – same place as meeting above. Please support protecting our culture, land, water and air.
This soup features sausage and escarole in a rich tomato-flavored broth.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 pounds bulk Italian sausage
2 (32 ounce) cartons chicken broth
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans,rinsed and drained
1 head escarole, chopped
1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
Instructions
Heat the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Cook the sausage in the oil until evenly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth, beans, escarole, and tomato sauce; simmer another 15 to 20 minutes.
Break off the leaves of the escarole and wash them individually, taking care to remove any soil at the base of the stems. Shake the leaves dry, stack them up, and slice the escarole crosswise into ribbons about 1 1/2-inches wide.
Place a large deep skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil and butter. Toss in the garlic, red pepper flakes, bay leaves, and lemon slices; cook and stir for a couple of minutes, tossing to combine. Nestle the escarole into the pan and saute until it begins to wilt and shrink down, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the escarole with a pinch of sugar and season with salt and pepper. Pour in the water and cover the pan. Simmer for 20 minutes until the escarole is tender.
I over carbonated my hefeweizen, so it’s amazingly frothy. Delicious and very sweet though. We just put our first attempt at hard cider in primary fermentation. I am using a champagne yeast so I am expecting something pretty sweet as well. I also added cinnamon, nutmeg and all spice to the primary fermentation.
This is a recipe for bread machines. This is the breakfast bread I am making today.
1.5 cups of water
1/4 cup of blackstrap molasses
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons of coconut oil
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 cup of bread flower
2 teaspoons starter yeast. (If you maintain a mother, add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of your mother to the mix)
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 cups of finely ground walnut (Or 1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts)
2 cups of raisins
Add the water, sugar, molasses and coconut oil to the machine. I prefer to use hot water so the coconut oil will melt. Then add the wheat gluten. The molasses and sugar will feed the yeast so you can sub out the bread flour if you prefer with whole wheat. Add the finely cut walnuts (they should be nearly as fine as flour. When the walnuts are this fine it will minimize interference with gluten development) and the cinnamon, salt and the yeast. If you have roughly cut walnuts (bits and halves) then add later in the cycle after the initial loaf is formed. Most home bread makers have a cycle where fruits and nuts can be added. Then add the salt and the yeast. Once the bread maker reaches it’s nut cycle (honestly I don’t know what else to call this) which for my Zojirushi Bread Machine is about 15 minutes after starting, add nuts and raisins. The only real gotcha on this recipe is deciding to add the nuts at the beginning or the extra ingredient cycle. Don’t add larger nuts at the beginning as that will interfere with development of the gluten.
Sunday is one of my favorite days around the farm. We don’t do any farming on this day and try to rest. We typically have crepes (both savory and sweet) or pancakes if we want a nice mid morning nap. Sunday is also the day I make bread and beer. Today I will be making a sweet breakfast bread, a whole wheat sandwich loaf with almonds and brewing up a batch of Bodhi Farms Hefeweizen.
Bread and Beer are both a perfect example of how useful fungi are to mankind. Fungi are the first live decomposers in ecosystems. They are responsible for helping to build the soil systems on which we grow our crops. Yeast has over 1,500 documented species (there are considerably more out there, we just need to look). Harnessing the power of yeast has enabled humanity to build civilization. This isn’t an exaggeration. Bread is a food stuff that will keep well and travels well. And as well all know Beer has Saved the World on more than one occasion. For the longest time there was simply no understanding of how fermentation worked or what was going on with the yeast, only that it worked. Today however I can select my yeast species for both my bread and beer to achieve specific tastes; making Sunday one of my favorite days.
I just opened up a bottle of the blonde ale. This beer needs another 2 weeks of bottle conditioning at least. It was bottled December 28th but I can tell at this stage in the process that this is going to a great ale. I guess I just need to wait a bit longer for it to fully mature. It has excellent color, good carbonation and faint malt notes with a bit of sweetness. In 2 weeks that sweetness will be gone replaced with a fully carbonated beer.
This is a post in an on going segment I like to call “Farm Rules.” They aren’t rules for coming onto the farm but rather things I have found to be true about farming. This rule is “Never buy a cheap wheelbarrow, because you are going to the one using it.” In our price driven society where everyone is driven to look at the price of a good rather than it’s cost or quality, hand tools have gotten cheaper and cheaper. They are made of poorer materials, poorer construction but WOW did we save at Wal-Mart on it!
(I have nicknamed this the Wal-Mart effect because Wal-Mart demands suppliers lower their prices 5-10% yearly to the retailer. This results in race to the bottom where suppliers must substitute cheaper and cheaper materiel and construction techniques. This is a race to the bottom of quality. This means by the end of 5 years of selling to Wal Mart, a suppliers tools don’t even last a season.)
Because of this instead of buying a quality tool like a wheelbarrow, you end up with something that is going to make your life harder and won’t even last a season. I always recommend that you buy the highest quality tools whenever possible. It’s a bit pricer in the beginning but worth it in the long run. For a wheelbarrow this is especially true because you don’t want to feel like Sisyphus using it. Fighting your tools because they are poorly made means a higher risk of injury and elevated risk of kick it because it doesn’t work. Don’t skimp on tools.
I am incredibly excited about today. Today we bottle my own attempt at a Montana brown ale. I over hopped this batch relative to the normal brown recipe. I had no idea how it was going to turn out. Would it be too hoppy? I cracked up the primary fermentation tank and my nose caught the scent of a brown ale with a hint of citrus, with a little grapefruit undertone. It smelled delicious! You can’t really be a home brewer without the ability to delay gratification. After bottling the six gallons of beer today, it’s got to bottle condition for 3 weeks. So it’s end of January before we can enjoy this beer. Perhaps for my birthday on the 26th I can enjoy this brown beer.
is about 15 minutes after starting, add nuts and raisins. The only real gotcha on this recipe is deciding to add the nuts at the beginning or the extra ingredient cycle. Don’t add larger nuts at the beginning as that will interfere with development of the gluten.