admine9519, Author at Morning Song Farm - Page 28 of 44

Dec 21
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Harvest Ticket Dec. 20-21 Page One

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Click on image to enlarge for easier reading.
We’re excited this week to include a bag of passion fruit in the large shares. And another week of spaghetti squash. This squash has an unusual characteristic. When opened and cooked, it takes on the appearance of spaghetti. I didn’t even believe it until I tried it, the whole spaghetti thing seems so unlikely. I cook in the oven, often when the oven is on anyway while cooking something else. (Open the squash lengthwise with a sharp knife, or do as we do and slam the thing on the pavement to open. Using a knife can be dicey, don’t take a chance if you’re at all nervous. Take it out front and slam on your sidewalk or pavement. No, it doesn’t open with perfect edges, but who cares?) Cook at 350 with a little olive oil (try Temecula Olive Oil’s local stuff, (website here: http://www.temeculaoliveoil.com/) , salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. Once the strings are easily loosened from the shell pieces, I remove from the oven, let cool, and then add the finished product to stir fries. Or you can eat it just like that, either hot out of the oven or chilled as a salad. The thing I love about Temecula Olive Oil (beside the fact that they are actual local growers of olives) is that they infuse their oils with an assortment of different offerings with results that never fail to amaze. We actually have started a small olive grove here and have been offered the TOOC facility to make oil once we’re harvesting. I can’t wait to have our own organic olives and oil to add to the CSA boxes!
Dec 13
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Dangerous Stuff Coming Out of the Sky

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You know, I’ve always thought of goats as rugged animals, survivalists even. A beast that can eat your shoe, or a piece of your car on a bad day, is no sissy. So I am really entertained to discover that they’re afraid of rain. This isn’t an individual trait, but the whole herd’s. Even a little mist is viewed with suspicion, but the actual downpour that we received in the last couple days has been met with herd-wide alarm. Our off-limits farmhouse door is only 40 or so feet from the goat’s barn, but when a few sprinkles landed on them, they roared into my house which offered a closer refuge than the barn door. Like the actual 10 feet more had they gone in the opposite direction to their barn, was too dicey. And then resolutely stood their ground when invited to leave. I know we’ve gone over this before; no goats in the livingroom. But getting a goat to move toward something they’re afraid of is like trying to argue with arugula. Each one had to be unbrella’d and carried to the barn, where they’ve sulked for hours waiting for the wet stuff to go away.

Dec 06
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Butternut Pie

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Line a pie pan with pie dough. I often cheat and use Trader Joe’s pie dough, which comes frozen. For a while there, they were having a problem with quality control, but the product now is excellent and a big time saver; especially if you don’t make alot of pies and don’t have a system. There was a time when I made a couple pies or quiches a week, and I really had the whole pie dough thing down to a science. Now, not so much and though a Slow Food Advocate, I use Trader’s product.

Preheat oven to 425.

Here’s the recipe:

2 cups of cooked squash or edible pumpkin. Do NOT try using a decorative pumpkin in this recipe. I’ve tried it, and it was awful, just watery and not flavorful at all.

1.5 cups of organic cream. Watch out for the weird stuff grocery stores are now putting in “cream.” Trader Joes is good, and Henry’s and Sprouts have products without the garbage, too.

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1/2 Teaspoon Ginger

1 Teaspoon Nutmeg or Alspice

1/2 Teaspoon of finely crushed Cloves

2 beaten eggs
Blend it all in a Cuisinart, Vitamix or blender until smooth. Pour mixture into pie shell, bake for 15 minutes at 425, then reduce heat to 350 and bake until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. In my oven, that’s 45 minutes.
Serve with whipped cream flavored with 2 Tablespoons of bourbon.
Dec 06
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Butternut Squash Soup

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Ha, this is so easy it hardly counts as a recipe, but here it is:

The most difficult step is getting this hard, winter squash open. I never chance injuring myself by using a knife. I take the squash outside and slam it on the driveway. No, it doesn’t open perfectly, but there’s no chance of the knife slipping off the thing and slicing fingers. Scoop out the seeds and compost those. Then, I bake the pieces with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic (smaller pieces cook faster) until they’re soft.
Remove from oven, (oh–you can use the microwave if you’d prefer) and let cool enough to handle. Scoop out and put in your blender or Cuisinart. I have a Vitamix, but this is so soft even an inexpensive blender will work. The key to amazing soup is getting it smooth, so blend until you’ve reached a really nice, smooth puree.Add liquid to consistency you desire for soup. Some people like chicken stock, others use milk, and I sometimes just use water. I add a dash of Tabasco or chili pepper, more garlic and salt to taste. Serve with finely chopped cilantro in each bowl.
Done
Dec 06
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Harvest Ticket Dec. 6-7 Page One

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New this week is the amazing butternut squash. Check out the recipes below! The perfect foundation for soups, mashed squash, “pumpkin” bread, pie and vegan gravies and sauces.

Again you’ll find our baby Asian green, mizuna in clamshells this week. I like this spritely green raw, but I know others use it in stir fries.

Quick reminder: we hope you’ll consider joining us for our farm day this coming Saturday. Just let us know you’re coming so we can figure parking out! I’ll post a note separately with directions in a couple days.
Nov 29
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December 10th is Farm Day

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Our CSA members, their friends and family are invited to a Morning Song farm day on Saturday, December 10th between 9-12. Rain cancels. As always, if you could RSVP at: donna@morningsongfarm.com so we can plan ahead for parking issues, that would be appreciated. Sometimes we have only a single participant, and sometimes the skies part and we have a deluge. It’s always nice to know ahead of time which it might be, as we are a hillside farm with limited flat spots for parking. We always figure it out, but it IS easier to know ahead of time.

Many have asked about saving their left over veggies for us; we’d love to have them— so if you’re planning on coming, start saving! If you aren’t composting yourself, we sure can use it here.

Meet our pets; llamas, goats and chickens. We’ll have llama treats here if you’d like to interact with Dreamie and Couscou, and the goats aren’t picky. Goat favorites are crunchy granola bars, saltine crackers and pretzels. Actually, they’ll eat anything, including your clothes; but we try to keep their diet in the recognizable food groups. And the chickens–remember they don’t have actual teeth– enjoy cut up soft fruit, bits of crackers, and meatless (within a day) table scraps.

Finally, if you have farm/growing questions or you’d like to offer your input this is a great time to walk the farm with the farmers and give us an opportunity to hear what you have to say.

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