Uncategorized Archives - Page 15 of 43 - Morning Song Farm

I just knew there was something missing off the Harvest Ticket yesterday, yup it’s the Cara Cara oranges. This is really the first harvest worth mentioning of our Caras. Originally found as a natural mutation in an orange grove in Valencia, Venezula in 1976, Cara Caras didn’t find themselves in US kitchens until the late 1980’s. Even then, there has always been somewhat of a mysteque about the Cara because their flavor is so unusual. Some have said the juice, although certainly “orange like,” also evokes cherry, rose petal, strawberry or blackberry hints as well. The flesh is certainly much redder than a navel, from whence this sport sprung. We have so few trees to harvest of this special variety, that we are sending them out straight from the tree, unsorted. Large, small, costmetically challenged….whatever; we want everyone to get a chance of tasting a few before the short windowed harvest is over!

Instructor Virginia– coaxes Gracie The Goat with Crunchie Granola Treats

Come on out to Morning Song Farm for the third of a series of cheese making classes.  Newcomers, don’t worry! We will help you every step of the way, and you’ll be amazed how easy it is to make your own cheeses from now on! December’s The Gift of Cheese class will be held December 15th. ( Mozzarella balls in EVVO, Brie in croute, chevre rolled in herbs and spices. Packaging and decorations provided.) Get a chance to meet the farm’s beautiful Nigerian dairy goats, pet the babies.  Bring a crunchy granola bar or two and you’ll be everyone’s best friend, especially Carl The Herd Leader who eats anything but really gets excited if it’s crunchy.

We’ve teamed up with veteran cheese maker Virginia Masters who has been exploring and teaching all things cheesy for 10 years.  She’s enthusiastic about imparting her cheese making knowledge to anyone, young and old alike. Cheese making is somewhat of a lost art and Virginia insists it’s surprisingly easy to learn considering how expensive some cheeses can be. She provides all the materials for cheese making including recipes; and every student gets to take recipes and finished cheeses home with them at the end of the class.

The December class is designed around the theme of The Gift of Cheese. Participants will make Mozzarella balls in olive oil with herbs, garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Decorative glass jars with holiday fabric tops will be provided so that everyone leaves with gifts; as well as the knowledge of how to repeat at home. We’ll also make Chevre and decorate with fresh herbs and spices. And Virginia will demonstrate how to make Brie wrapped in puff pastry and bake for a holiday or New Year’s party. Everyone gets to take home their brie which will be ripe by New Year’s!

So come enjoy the crisp winter weather at beautiful Morning Song Farm and experience how gratifying it is to make your own cheeses. We will also have a mini farmer’s market with cheese making kits and farm related gifts available for purchase.

Class fee: $65
CSA members, just RSVP to us here: CSA@morningsongfarm.com and we’ll charge your account.
Or you can go to our meetup page and make reservations here: http://www.meetup.com/Morning-Song-Farm-Cheese-Making/.

Cress

We’re excited about the Cress field that is coming along nicely; we think we’ll have our spicy cress bunches in our boxes next week. The rosemary looks like we can take cutting again next week, so we’ll have sprigs in all boxes as well. We’re harvesting macadamia nuts every day now, although the harvest is impacted from the miserable, squirrel population, we still have some nuts to share. We got ahead of ourselves last week, and tried to crack out nuts that really needed a little longer to dry out in the nut room; causing significant waste. We’ll have nuts for all as soon as we’re sure the nuts are dry enough to crack out easily.

We’re thinking the Hass avocado season is upon us shortly, probably starting in two weeks. Yeah!  And this week is the first harvest of our easy to peel Satsuma Mandarins. They’ve developed a nice tang and are quite sweet.

Soon we’ll have enough Navel oranges to put in boxes each week, right now there’s really only enough for the few “add-on” CSA member orders that we fill each week.

We’re looking forward to this Saturday’s Cheese Making Class with Virginia Masters. She’s teaching us how to make Mozzarella and Ricotta, as well as the more unusual Queso Oaxaca and Burrata Cheeses, all from cow’s milk. This class is the 2^nd in a series and includes enjoying your cheese on a barbequed quesadilla or pizza at the end of the class.  We’ll have a farmer’s market stand with cheese making kits for sale, as well as farm produce. And we’ll do a goat milking demonstration at 9:00 sharp, so plan to be here a few minutes early!  Meet our herd of baby and adult Nigerian dairy goats. Carl, the Herd Leader requests that you bring something crunchy, his current favorites include granola bars.

The other cheese on the menu that is lesser known is the Mexican traditional Oaxaca Cheese. Named after the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico, it is a white, semi-hard cheese which is best known for adding its distinctive taste to authentic quesadillas and empanadas. Queso Oaxaca is just hard enough to be able to be grated; similar to unaged  jack cheese, but with a consistency closer to mozzarella..

Ricotta Cheese is the third cheese of this fun day, and I’m particularly excited about the dessert recipe possibilities that this sweet curd cheese offers. Ricotta is an Italian cheese made from the liquid leftover from other cheese making activities. Because it is so highly perishable, and it uses the by product of other cheese making ventures that would otherwise go to waste, learning how to make this easy cheese at home is a must!