Maysie's Farm Blog

Well, it looks as if the sunny weather is on our side for our Open House on Saturday afternoon. Please plan on joining us this Saturday, September 11th, beginning at 4pm. We will have children's activities, great raffle prizes, live music, potluck dinner and a bonfire!

The sunny , dry weather has been persisting for sometime. I guess now is the time we can be grateful for all of the snow we had over the winter, as our groundwater reserves are not yet depleted! Even though a drought warning has not yet been issued, please be sure to be judicious with your water usage! - and, hope for some rain sometime soon!

You may have noticed that our stand by greens (kale and collards) are taking a rest, as the extreme heat and insect populations have taken their toll on them. But, we have been harvesting some new greens that are now ready (Yukina Savoy, Komatsuna and Tokyo Bekana). They are all delicious greens and are quite interchangeable in recipes.

The tomatillos are coming on! You'll notice that the tomatillos have a papery skin. When harvesting them, you want to be sure that the fruit inside is flush with the skin. They need to be peeled and washed, as the paper leaves a sticky film on the fruit. Then, you can dice them and use them raw in salsa. I prefer to cook them before I use them. You can either roast them (by sticking them under your broiler) or boil them for 5 minutes. Then mix them with onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice.

Recipe for the week:
Beef Stew
The crisper weather that we have had the past few days has gotten me cooking some stews and soups again!
Here's an idea to use up all of the ingredients in the share to make a simple one pot meal.

Coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, butter, lard or tallow
1 pound beef cubes (preferably Ben's grass fed beef!)
2 onions, cut into large dice
1 jalapeno or poblano pepper, diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coriander
4 turnips, halved
3- 4 carrots, cut into large dice
1 pepper, cut into large cubes
1/2 cup homemade beef broth or water
1 large bunch greens, chopped.
Juice of one lemon
Parsley, cilantro or mint (or a combination of all three)
Sea salt to taste.

Heat oil in a large pan. (When pan frying meat, it is best to use a healthy stable oil such as coconut oil, lard, tallow or palm oil)
Add beef cubes and let them sear on both sides.
Remove beef cubes to a plate.
Add more fat if necessary. Add onion, jalapeno or poblano and spices. Allow to cook for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Add turnips, carrots and pepper. Saute for another minute. Add beef cubes back into the pot. Add 1/2 cup water or beef stock and let simmer for 40 minutes.
Add chopped greens and cook until wilted. Add lemon juice and season with salt. Add fresh herbs and serve.

* You can use any combination of spices with this stew- you can give it more of a Mexican flair by using cumin and hot pepper and top it off by mixing in fresh tomato or tomatillo salsa.

* Another variation is to substitute beans (chick peas, black beans or lentils) for the meat.

See you around the farm!