Seasonal - Local Produce - From the Farm

Harvested Weekly for Members to Pick Up
Week 4 Peaceful Belly CSA Produce
Turnips - Chard - Kale - Boc Choy - Spinach - Lettuce

My favorite produce from the farm (so far) has been the Boc Choy however I've developed a fondness for the turnip as well. Using rice noodles, coconut milk, ginger, garlic, and boc choy is a great way to spice up your dinner plate.

Saying "Goodbye" to Our Grass

one section at a time...

We used the Kanga to level the yard by digging dirt from the higher sections and depositing the soil in the lower areas. This task took approximately three days with the help of several friends.

In order to get to the soil, we needed to uproot the grass and that job called for a different tool all together - we rented a large front tined rototiller and worked the yard over several times.

Kanga - the Earth Mover

This little green machine is going to make "light-work" of our yard demolition... or so we thought.

While it did make our job a lot easier (can you imagine digging up a yard manually?) the project is still huge.

Determining What Level Is

We've been busy in the backyard - but before we could start digging up our grass and moving the dirt around, we had to determine what level was...

My husband engineered a water leveler and we learned that level was roughly 12 inches higher in many sections of our yard than the existing height. Clearly, it is going to take a lot of dirt to fill in the spaces and fortunately enough, there are sections of the yard that need to be brought down to create a level standing.

After taking the water leveler around the yard, we found that the fence line level - the exact height that we needed to bring the dirt up to.

Making Room for the Earth Moving Equipment

There is only one way into the backyard and it was blocked by the geothermal tub and deck. It took two to move the empty tub and five to move the deck - We removed the fencing that closed off the back from the courtyard thereby creating a path for the equipment that we would use to remove the grass from the yard.

(The tub was in this position for several days which caused the grass to yellow underneath.)

Benefits of Fresh Veggies

Week 3 Peaceful Belly Produce Pick-Up

Chard:
Ever used Chard in your kitchen before? Here’s a simple yet delicious way to use up some of the Chard from this week’s pick up at Peaceful Belly. Creamy Swiss Chard recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/57123

While chard is a great source of Thiamin (also known as B1) plays a major role in converting carbohydrates and fat into energy. Chard is also a great source of Folate, Zinc, Vitamin’s A, C, E, K and B6. When eating Chard, you also receive the benefit of Calcium, Iron, and Dietary Fiber to name a few of the good – the only drawback that I could find was the high Sodium content found in Chard.

Green Onion:
(I don’t particularly care for the onion – of any sort, so you’re on your own with this one…)

Spinach:
Like Chard, Spinach is very high in Sodium and contains Zinc, Vitamin’s A, C, B6, E, K and Thiamin. Spinach is low in saturated fat and very low in cholesterol…

Recipe: Spinach Egg & Mushroom Scramble (made it up as I went along)

Ingredients

• Eggs – 3, scrambled
• Milk – splash (for eggs)
• A handful of spinach leaves.
• Mushrooms – 3 button mushrooms, sliced
• Garlic – 2 or 3 small cloves, crushed.
• Oil or butter for sauté
• Salt & pepper to taste

Method:
Scramble eggs and milk and set aside.

1. In a non-stick skillet, warm oil or butter and once warm, add garlic – lightly brown
2. Slightly increase temperature and add mushrooms
3. Add the spinach leaves and continue to sauté
4. Once the mushrooms and spinach leaves appear to be cooked through – add the eggs
5. Allow the eggs to cook in layers – turning only after the bottom layer has cooked (this creates a fluffier scramble)
6. Continue until the eggs are completely cooked
7. Serve at once with fresh fruit, toast and juice.

Arugula:
With its distinctive peppery flavor, Arugula is also known as “rocket, roquett, rugula, and rucola.” Try Arugula with other leafy greens as a tossed salad – or add some Arugula, pine nuts, olive oil and Parmesan cheese to create a wonderful version of pesto sauce for pasta tonight.