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Thanksgiving News

Thanksgiving Newsletter

The holidays are upon us again and along with them come good food and fond memories. Following are some items that we will have available to help make your Thanksgiving celebration a special one.

Delivery the week of Thanksgiving

Your normal delivery day is Wednesday. However, if you are scheduled for a delivery the week of Thanksgiving please note that due to the holiday your delivery day will be Tuesday for that week only. If you are not scheduled for a delivery the week of Thanksgiving then your regular deliveries will not change.

Special holiday items for your celebration

Whether you are hosting your own holiday meal or contributing toward someone else’s, we can help!

Holiday Box – Every year at this time we offer an additional special Holiday Box ($35) full of organic traditional Thanksgiving meal items for your celebration. This year, not only can you schedule a Holiday Box to be delivered the week of Thanksgiving, but also the week before and the week after (available Nov. 15-Dec. 3). You can have this box delivered along with your regular order or in place of your regular order (when you place your order please specify). The box menu is as follows:

Granny Smith Apples, 2 lbs.

Cranberries, 8 oz. bag

Satsumas, 2 lbs.

Breadcubes for Stuffing, 1 lb. bag

Celery, 1 bunch

Acorn Squash

Green Beans, 1 lb.

Garnet Yams, 2 lbs.

Carrots, 2 lb. bag

Yellow A Potatoes, 3 lbs.

Onions, 1 lb.

Holiday Items – Following is just a sampling of holiday products available online:

Traditional holiday produce items

Pies (pumpkin, apple, and pecan)

Rolls (multigrain, white, potato, and rosemary with sea salt)

Jams & Apple Butters

Honey

Salad Items

Pickles

Apple Sauce

**Coffee (try the coffee of the month: Holiday Blend)

Snacks (nuts, crackers, dried fruit, etc.)

Eggs

Remembering Neighbors in Need: If your celebration includes helping the less fortunate who live in our community, we would like to partner with you by giving you the opportunity to purchase the same Holiday Box, to be given to local food banks the week of Thanksgiving, for a discounted price of $29. Please call or e-mail us to set up this donation.

Ordering: You can place your holiday order online, via e-mail, or by giving us a call. We are here to answer any questions you may have.

**Please note: Coffee and bread orders for the week of Thanksgiving need to be received by 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, November 18. Coffee and bread orders received after this time will be scheduled for your following scheduled delivery.

Wishing you all the best this holiday season!

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Potlucks With a Purpose

Sunday, November 14,  2010 12:30-3:00 p.m.

Everett United Church of Christ at Rockefeller and Everett Avenue

A Zero Waste Event

Potlucks with a Purpose brings people together from all over our community to share good food, fun and conversation along with a free movie to stimulate our thoughts and discussion. Sustainability is our theme. Second Sunday of the month.

Bring a dish that serves about 6 and your own utensils and plate. If your food is local, so much the better! (And remember, if you do not bring your place setting, you will need to use disposable plates and cups and utensils – not good for the environment!)

Some of us receive food from Klesick Farm. Some of us are interested in knowing more about where our food comes from and how we can eat locally, organically, or just eat more healthy foods. Does it make a difference? How do local farmers get food to us – is it possible to eat locally all year round?

Come and hear Tristan Klesick speak to us about local farming and the different ways we can eat locally in the Everett, Port Gardner area.

This is the day the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!

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Fresh This Week Add-Ons 11.05.10

To order Teechino: http://www.klesickfamilyfarm.com/main/order-honey-eggs

For more info go to: http://teeccino.com/faq.html#faq95

Photos from: http://www.ultimate-coffees-info.com/images/f940.jpg

http://www.shop.cbsnuts.com/12oz-Lightly-Salted-Organically-Grown-Valencia-Peanuts-140.htm

http://www.gourmetnut.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/5e06319eda06f020e43594a9c230972d/f/i/file_4_63_1.jpg

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Know Your Produce: “Excuse me, but do you have the thyme?”

From http://homecooking.about.com

Thyme is one of the best known and most widely-used culinary herbs. It is quite easy to grow and is commonly found as a decorative as well as a functional plant in many home gardens.

You will find thyme a welcome flavor in salads, soups, chowders, sauces, breads, vegetable and meat dishes, and even jellies and desserts.

A member of the mint family, thyme is a perennial evergreen shrub, whose sometimes woody stems are covered with small, gray-green to green leaves. Its small, two-lipped flowers range in color from pale pink to purple and bear quadruplet nutlet fruits. The entire plant is aromatic.

There are over one hundred varieties of thyme, with the most common being Garden Thyme and Lemon Thyme. The many types are so close in appearance, it is often difficult to differentiate them.

Lemon thyme has a slightly more-pronounced lemony fragrance, particularly good with fish. All varieties of thyme are highly attractive to bees.

Honey from bees that feed on thyme flower nectar is a gourmet delight.

Yet interestingly enough, insects are repelled by thyme. Make a cup of thyme tea, put it in a plant mister, and spray around doorways and windows in summer to repel insects.

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Fresh This Week Tips, Week 10.17.10

Spitzenburg Apples
STORE: To store, keep apples as cold as possible in the refrigerator.
PREP: Gently rub the apple as you run warm water over it to clean. Peel and cut your apple into slices or cubes. To prevent apples from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: This dessert apple is great for cider, apple pies or eating out of hand. It is also rumored to have been a favorite of President Thomas Jefferson!

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Bartlett Pears
STORE: Keep pears in a cool, dark place until ripe. To test for ripeness, gently push on the stem. If it gives a little, your pear is ready to eat. Once ripe, pears may be stored in the refrigerator.
PREP: Wash pears in cold water and keep them whole, slice them or chop them.
USE: Bartlett pears are delicious eaten out of hand, but are also great choices for canning or baking.

Beets
STORE: Separate your greens from the beets and keep them in separate plastic bags in the refrigerator. Leave an inch of the greens to prevent flavor loss and bleeding. The beets should last for about a week, but use your greens as soon as possible.
PREP: Scrub your beets and rinse the greens before using.
USE: Beets can be roasted, baked, steamed or eaten raw. The Klesick family loves to boil the beets, quarter them and eat them while they’re still warm with a bit of butter straight out of the pot! Be sure to sauté, steam or braise the tasty greens with a little olive oil and salt.

Cauliflower
STORE: Store cauliflower for up to one week in your crisper covered by a plastic or paper bag.
PREP: Keep whole and chop off ¼ inch off the stem or cut the head into bite-sized florets.
USE: Steam, roast, bake or stir fry cauliflower. Be careful not to overcook!  For a simple, delicious pizza, try this “pizza” with cauliflower crust recommended by a customer (great for those eating gluten free).

Fennel
STORE: Store fresh fennel in the refrigerator crisper. It should keep fresh for about four days, but try to use it as soon as possible for the best flavor.
PREP: Wash your fennel thoroughly to remove all dirt. Don’t be afraid to use all parts of the fennel in cooking: the base, stalks and leaves. The ideal way to slice your fennel is to cut it vertically through the bulb.
USE: Fennel is the unique, crunchy, licorice-tasting vegetable used commonly in Mediterranean cooking. When paired with juicy oranges, the fresh flavor and crisp texture of the fennel really shines. Try this festive Fennel and Orange Salad from kiss my spatula. You can also use fennel leaves as an herbaceous seasoning to entrees or soups.

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Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear

I have been spending some of the most blissful moments of the farm season during the fall clean up. Ever since I got my new Belgian team, Sally and Sandy, I have been working them a lot. My previous team was a bear to work with and, consequently, they didn’t get worked because it wasn’t any fun. But my new team—aaaaaah!—has been for the most part a dream.
However, the other week I was away for a few days and put them out on pasture so that my kiddos didn’t have to worry about them. I came home, caught them, harnessed them, and set out for the field. Fortunately, my good friend Ken, from Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez, was visiting and we worked them together. Those two fillies were a handful that morning. When it comes to horses, I am a greenhorn, but Ken is a real teamster. I had bought the girls from Ken and he quietly reprimanded me and said, “No more green grass for them.” Our pastures are very rich and so after feeding off them for a week the Belgians were affected like a toddler on soda pop—they were all wound up. It took a couple of hours driving them around the farm to burn off that excess sugar!
I have always pastured my horses and so this experience got me thinking that maybe my previous team was just high strung because their feed was too rich??? I will never really know. However, I did notice today that when I harnessed up Katy, the remaining horse from my first team, for the most part she was amenable working with me. And she has been off pasture for a couple days and eating our local hay. (We have local hay available if you would like some.)
Yesterday and this morning, I harnessed up Sally and Sandy and we backed up and headed out to the field. It was like I was “Driving Miss Daisy.” We leisurely wandered out to the field got the disc and went to work. Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… all these sounds as the disc cut through the corn stocks. I have never heard a disc as it did its job. When we are on the tractors it is too noisy to hear yourself think let alone a disc cutting and tearing. But even before, when I was using my previous team, I had to concentrate so much on those horses as they raced through the field that I couldn’t enjoy the moment.
But today, Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… were the sounds of music. I love that sound and nothing could be finer than working with my team, the mountains in the background and the sun shining overhead! Working steady horses on a beautiful day, an old English poet from Suffolk once said, “is a poor excuse for work.” And this farmer said, “Amen.”

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Know Your Produce: Kale

Kale:

How to Store: Keep kale unwashed (moisture speeds decay) in a plastic bag in the coldest section of the refrigerator, which is usually in the back.

Shelf Life: Because kale contains a lot of water, it doesn’t last long once it has been bought. Use it within 1 to 3 days of purchase for the tastiest results. Kale that has been sitting around can develop a strong bitter flavor.

Best Uses: Kale has a slight cabbage-y taste but none of the bitterness of some other greens, like broccoli rabe. Remove the leaves from the tough center stalk before sautéing or adding them to salads. Try adding 2 cups chopped leaves to a pot of soup. Simmer until tender, about 4 minutes. Kale is also a good substitute for spinach.

Try this delicious sounding recipe for kale and olive oil mashed potatoes! http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/001566.html