upcoming events Walk in the Park Series: Mushrooms and Ecology Saturday, September 14, 2013 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Explore the fascinating world of fungi! In this workshop, staff experts will introduce participants to mushroom life cycles and habitats, as well as the important role fungi play in the natural world. The class will discuss the basics of mushroom identification, and participants will take a guided trail walk to hunt for fungi.
field notes
Volume 18 | Number 10 | September 3 & 6, 2013
Ecosystem Farm at Accokeek www.accokeekfoundation.org | 301-283-2113 | csa@accokeek.org
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Ever wonder what the difference between a cow and a heifer is? Here is your chance to find out. This intensive class covers everything from farm jargon and basic animal anatomy and physiology to basic husbandry, through a combination of classroom and barnyard instruction about the various heritage breeds preserved by the Accokeek Foundation. For details on any event, please visit www.accokeekfoundation.org.
eat the skin make sweet squash tunnels pests bore fruit
Ecosystem Farm Manager Rebecca Cecere Seward Farm Apprentices Alex Binck, Holli Elliott Farm and Garden Coordinator Daniel Michaelson Volunteers Rosemary Zechman, Amanda Truett, Tom Ellwanger, Mary Lynn Davis, Yvonne Brown, Terrance Murphy, Ethan Carton, Cairna Bode
Hello CSA Community, The Ecosystem Farm is such a hub for our local community these days, and I feel so grateful for the bustle of great energy that this provides for us. Our volunteers are such amazing contributors to our farm, and other community members have also taken time out of their lives to help us in some way. I want to take a minute to acknowledge some of their efforts: Cairna puts together this beautiful publication every week, and her sister Elena takes many of these lovely pictures. Yvonne tries out this food all week long with a family and lots to do, so that she can help you all eat it, and does a lot of math. MaryLynn dutifully greets every week, even walking to the farm sometimes, and loves the food in the boxes. Terrance can sure cook up our food and talk about how to do it too, as our best advocate and the professional foodie he is. Ethan may ride his bike from Annapolis, and then show up to work all day in the sun, or merchandise like a true professional. Amanda and Frankie will use all their own tools to clear our orchard for us in a single afternoon. Rosemary worked everyday to get these gardens into their gorgeous state, taking the time to make informed choices for planting. Tom will show up every week (sometimes twice), be on top of mower repairs, pick up after us when we forget, and keep this farm looking shipshape every dry week of the season. Tara will buy a ton at Saturday market and still show up to help us process chickens all day, holding my hand. Eileen will let us use her whole setup to process chickens for two days, butchering most of them. Ronald Taylor will, out of the goodness of his bike-loving heart, pick up all the farm bikes and repair them and replace worn out parts in a week. (go to Wheel Nuts Bike Shop in Alexandria!) The list goes on, especially to those CSA members who bring us samples of the food they make from our produce, or any other snack to us on pickup days. Those treats make our day! love and okra pickles, Farmer Becky
Roots, Fruits, Leaves, and Spice By: Rebecca Cecere Seward Planning for a CSA is a difficult lesson in making choices, as I have found these last two seasons, and I often have to think more like an eater than a farmer when considering what will fulfill our CSA members’ needs. My formula for what can provide a hearty amount of choices in a family’s week of meal planning is the title of this essay: roots, fruits, leaves, and spice. The definition of roots is actually variable depending on the season: it roughly translates into starchy foods, or those that we can easily use as a base in our meals. For example, in high summer we have so few roots, and tons of fruits, but squash and eggplant can often serve that starchy function in our daily eating. It will be potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, even pumpkin or winter squash as the season continues. High calories, a heartier texture, and the ability to take on other flavors in a meal make up the “roots” of our CSA box. Fruits, as one would describe them botanically, contain seeds. Culinarily, they are prepared sweetly. I meet somewhere in the middle, and define the fruits that we pack as those foods that are high water content, have a more distinct flavor, and occasionally are sweet. The example in this case could be tomatoes, or figs or, in the winter, winter squash. These are the flavors that provide the high notes in your meal. While leaves are a little tricky in summer, their need in our diets provides the farmer with a few creative solutions. We will find an abundance of leaves in spring, fall, and winter: kale, asian greens, lettuces, salad mix. It is a colorful abundance of green flavors these times of year. In the summer we fall back on the heat-tolerant swiss chard, the unusual New Zealand spinach, and the rich dramatic basil (which can also double as spice). I find I miss green food in summertime, and do my best to plan for their rare inclusion in our crop plan.
Spice is white food: garlic, onions, horseradish; or it is the hardy herbs, the sour sorrel, the aromatic basil. It is what gives our food its ultimate distinction, it flavors our starch and brings together our notes. I find the spice to be the element I start with in the weekly box planning, and I determine what may go well in a dish with the spice from there. The spice is often the most blatantly nutritious element, it may get your blood flowing, or have any number of medicinal “side effects.” These four food elements, which I believe create the desired variety for any vegetable-oriented household, are obviously heavily reliant on seasonal eating. We will probably eat more greens in fall, more fruits in summer. But by following this basic outline of crop-planning, and therefore, box-packing, we can hopefully be perpetually trying something different while still maintaining a varied diet. So we can help you to eat the rainbow of nutritious foods that will continue to allow you to be well!