Friday, October 30, 2009

Closing out Music on the Porch with Zedeco Music

Hi all!

As you all know, tonight is the last Music on the Porch event of the season. My folks are in town visiting and will be dancing to good zydeco music I'm sure. Ben is still ironing out some kinks in the online produce store and once it's all in order, we'll post a new blog and send out an e-mail with all the details. We will continue to have a weekly offering of good produce for those of you interested in getting your fresh veggies close to home.

It's been great sharing a few months of Fridays with every one of you. Thank you for all your kind works, support, ideas, and conversation.

We'll see you in a few - until then, here's the produce list for this week:

Red and green leaf lettuce
Swiss chard
Turnips and greens
Green onions
Bok choi
Tatsoi
Radishes
Broccoli
Kale
Collards
Mustard greens
Beets
Chinese cabbage
Mixed greens
Hot peppers
Cherry tomatoes
Roma tomatoes

As usual, thanks for stopping by. We hope to see you this evening! Come out and see:

Friday, October 23, 2009

It's not easy being green...Greens, greens and more greens! YUM

Hi all! It's another beautiful Friday in October. We're looking forward to the next two Music on the Porch Friday's, but we are sad that it will be over so soon. It's been an awesome season and we're so thankful we talked to Guy way back in August and were provided this awesome opportunity to offer ya'll vegetables every Friday. Guy, Will, Wei, and all of you have made this such an awesome experience. Thank you so much for your support, your questions, conversations, and company! As Ben stated in our last blog, we are working on getting an online store up and running so that hopefully there will be no break in your ability to get fresh veggies close to home. We live on Sasser Street and will have a weekly pickup outside our home for anyone that's interested.

Until then, of course, we will be coming to the last two events. Today we will offer the following produce items:

- Lettuce (summer crisp and bib)
- Swiss chard
- Green onions
- Chinese cabbage
- Tatsoi
- Bok choi
- Mixed greens
- Radishes
- Kale
- Collards
- Turnips and greens
- Mustard greens
- Broccoli
- Black cherry tomatoes
- Roma tomatoes
- Sweet potatoes

We've been eating gorgeous salads with all the stuff listed above and we've also been eating the heck out of greens. It might not be easy being green, but it sure is easy to eat those yummy and nutritious greens.



This is how we like to cook our greens (collards, turnips, kale and more):
1) Start by peeling and chopping garlic and onions and browning them on medium heat in olive oil (Ben likes to use bacon fat) in the pan (i like big honkin chunks of garlic and onion - when Ben makes his greens, the pieces are usually smaller - cut these to taste).
2) Add about one cup of water to the garlic and onions. this is when you add your seasonings. I like to use vegetable/vegetarian bullion (a half piece or a whole piece depending on how many greens I'm making), a little bit of crushed red pepper, and just a small shot of Bragg's (or low sodium soy sauce, if we're out of Bragg's).
3) Rinse your greens and start tearing them up in whatever size pieces you like and put them in the pan as you do. I do this fairly quickly and haphazardly. Sometimes I include parts of the stalk if they're not woody. If they're woody, leave them out. I also like to add a splash of vinegar. You could substitute this for a vinegar based hot sauce if you like spicy foods. Cook the greens until they are wilted and voila, you have delicious greens to eat with rice, on the side with burgers, with shrimps and cheesy grits, and almost anything else really :0).

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Season of Change & 10/16 Produce List!

This photograph here is our lettuce patch on the farm. We've been busy and not slowing down! Strawberries are being transplanted for next spring and we are going strong with our fall & winter crops. Lots of greens, beets and carrots are sprouting and growing in time for winter harvest.

BIG NEWS!!! We will launch our online farm stand come early November after Music on the Porch is over for the season. Each week you will be able to purchase produce by the item via your virtual shopping cart and pick it up at our house in Mordecai during set hours one day a week! We have yet to work the details but we will let you know as soon as possible. !

So, here's the list of the produce that will be available at Ben's Produce Friday October 16th:

Lettuce (red & green summer crisp, you won't find it in stores!)
Baby greens salad mix - baby arugula, baby tatsoi, baby mizuna (has a mild peppery flavor)
Swiss chard
Totsoi
Collards
Kale
Chinese cabbage
Turnips & turnip greens
Green onions
Radishes
Sweet peppers
Hot peppers
Sweet potatoes
MAYBE black cherry tomatoes :0)

As usual, thanks for stopping by. We hope to see you tomorrow at Music on the Porch.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Back from Massachusetts and the 10/09/09 Produce List



That's a picture of the beach on the Cape. We're back from beautiful Massachusetts and back in good ol' North Carolina! The wedding was gorgeous. The whole weekend was a blast! We had good times with friends and family and ate lots of really good food (I had TWO lobsters!!!). We're sorry to have missed last week, but we'll be back from here on out :0).

So, here's the list of the produce that will be available at Ben's Produce Friday October 9th:

Lettuce (summer crisp and bib)
Swiss chard
Totsoi
Bok choi
Kale
Chinese cabbage
Turnip greens
Baby turnips
Asian and Italian eggplant
Sweet peppers
Spicy peppers
MAYBE radishes and black cherry tomatoes :0)

As usual, thanks for stopping by. We hope to see you tomorrow at Music on the Porch.

Ben and Patricia