Long Week. Long Days. Lots of fun. We had a few special events this week including our Organic Certification Inspection, a visit from some local farmers, a visit to a local farm and a Farm to Table Dinner which was Ah-mazing.
Farm to Table Dinner
This incredible meal happened at the very end of a very long week but it was so spectacular it is going to take first place in the blog. The concept of a farm to table dinner is to showcase locally produced foods. The fact that we hosted it at our farm also helps the guests to see and feel the connection between the farm, the farmer, the land and the food. This dinner was open to Burge Club Members, CSA Members and Farm Supporters (for a price). As many of the ingredients as could be sourced locally were and each producer was credited in the menu. Most of the vegetables came from us and some came from our neighbor Nicholas at Crystal Organic Farm. My job for the night was to fill in where needed. I helped prep plates in the kitchen, load trays, serve and clear tables, pour wine and generally do whatever Chef Andrew and his crew asked of me. It was exhilarating to see Chef, Merry and Penny in their element and to be a part of the hustle as we worked to get each course out on time, at the right temperature and looking great.
Reception
Sweet Grass Dairy Cheese’s Green Hill, Thomasville Tomme,
Cyprus & Heat, Chandon Etoile Brut NV Sonoma, California
AND- Burge Pickled Okra that I helped make!
Spoon Bread with Tagyerit Bacon
First Course
Pickled Savannah Shrimp
Elephant Garlic, Turnips, Radishes, Carrots
Paired With: Chateau St Michelle- Dr. Loosen “Eroica”
Riesling 2006 Columbia Valley, Washington
Second Course
Burge Cassoulet
Pine Street Toulouse Sausage
Traditional French Sausage with white pepper, nutmeg, and
ginger. Green Lentils, Tagyerit Bacon, Choi, Roasted Tomatoes, Turnips and Baby
Kale.
Paired With: Tablas Creek 2008 Cotes de Tablas Paso Robles,
California
Third Course
Watermelon Radish Carpaccio
Olive Oil and Basil Ice Cream
Paired With: Chateau des Baumelles 2011 Bandol Rose
Provence, France
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| Winter Radishes sliced paper thin |
Fourth Course
Smoked and Charred Verner Farms Strip Steak
Burge Organic Vanilla Sweet Potatoes
Tempura Okra (Burge) and Spaghetti Squash (Crystal Organic
Farm)
Paired With: Family Vinyards Rockpile Cabernet Sauvingnon
2003 Sonoma, California
Fifth Course
Chocolate Souffle
Raspberry Beet Sauce, Candied Beets & Roasted Burge
Black Peanuts
Paired With: Linderman’s Framboise Lambic, Belgium
Also Featuring
Burge Pepper Jelly
Whipped Johnston Dairy Butter
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| Chef Andrew and FOH John |
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| The Crew |
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| Farm to Table Magic |
Farm Visits
We had three visits this week, all on Thursday. Two of them
were visits to our farm and one was a visit to Crystal Organic Farm just down
the road.
The first visit was from the Organic Certification Inspector from QCS (Quality Certification Services). Our inspector came early in the day and stayed through lunch. The inspection process involves an audit of record keeping. The inspector choses a sold crop and asked you to trace it back to it's origin showing records of harvest, any inputs (fertilizers, insecticides <organic, of course>), planting, soil amendments, and where the plant or seed came from. They can do this for several crops. The next step is a tour of all of the certified fields where they can continue to ask questions on your organic processes and request backup documentation. I was able to tag along on the field tour which was pretty interesting.
Visit number two was after lunch when our farmer friends from
Serenbe Farms came out to see our operation. We had visited them only the week before but it took a 5 minute discussion to realize it had really only been one week. It felt like at least two for all of us. I suppose that means we work too hard. We took Paige, Justin, Maya and Christina all around Burge showing them all the fields and even learning a thing or two. Like, the bug that's been eating our hakureis is a yellow margin leaf beetle, and that you should use Neemix for Aphids on your Rutabagas.
Visit number three was the Serenbe Farmers' trip to our neighbor Nicholas at
Crystal Organic Farm which they graciously let us tag along on. Nicholas has 25 acres in production and 22 Hoop Houses. He has been farming on his family's land for 17 years and his mother before him. He really has a lot of things figured out. The Hoop Houses were weed free and full of gorgeous vegetables. His flowers were healthy and varied and I'm sure he does well with bouquets at market. All of the irrigation is automated and can be controlled from a computer. This is a place I would love to spend more time. While it was certainly enlightening to spend an hour touring his fields it would take ages to glean what he has learned in 17 years of hard work and figuring it all out.
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| Crystal Organic Farm Hoop Houses |
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| Touring with Nicholas |
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| 30% Shade Cloth for lettuce |
Harvest
In the harvest bins this week were Tomatoes, Turnips, Winter Radishes, Pac Choi, Purple Choi, Tokyo Bekana, Okinawa Spinach, Carrots, Peppers, Eggplant, Arugula, Okra and Broccoli Raabe.
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| Green Sausage Tomato |
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| First Harvest List for Farm to Table Dinner |
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| Box of Greens |
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| Fall Tomatoes coming in |
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| Tokyo Bekana and Okinawa Spinach |
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| Choi and Turnips |
Production and Distribution
Fall CSA Week 5
Peanuts
Apples
Arugula
Carrots or Hakurei Turnips
Winter Radishes
Peppers
Okra
Broccoli Raabe
Pac Choi
I had to find a way to fit a bunch of peanuts into a CSA Box and still leave room for everything else. I cut off any branches that didn't have peanuts and twist tied the rest together as tight as possible. It worked!
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| Popcorn! |
Market this week was the fabulous duo of Elizabeth and Erica. We skipped the pepper roaster and did get a few complaints. The best part of the day was all of the feedback we got on the Okinawa Spinach. It's something that no one else at our market has and it has become wildly popular with our customers. So much so that it sold out in under an hour and we had a dozen request for it after that. We will have to bring more next week.
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| Winter Radishes, Watermelon and Green Luobo |
Maintenance
This is what happens when you start work early, work hard all day, and after the sun goes down you realize that no one ever watered the greenhouse. Here I am watering by the light of the van headlights.
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| Green House at night |
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| Predatory Parasites on a caterpillar :) |
This is a sad story. We discovered this week that one of our beehives has been vacated by the bees and over run with Wax Worm. I was assured by the bee guy at market that wax worms don't move in until the bees have left and we did not see any dead bees. So, the best guess is that the hive was weak and they swarmed. Hopefully they have made a new home nearby.
Planting
No planting this week. We have lots of fall succession planting to do. We need to start more seeds in the green house and in the field and we have transplants big enough to go out. All we need now is a little more time and help.
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| Garlic Ready to Plant |
Farm Life
This week was tough. Of the three apprentices we lost one a few months ago and the other one left last Saturday. That makes me last man standing. With all the extracurricular and with Cory occupied with certification and the dinner on Saturday that left the bulk of the work this week to Daniel and I. And work we did. We came in early and left late every day and were exhausted by Thursday morning. But still there was market harvest, market and the big dinner on Saturday. By Sunday we had more than earned our day off. I for one slept in and spent the rest of the day with friends and family trying not to do anything that involved kneeling, squatting or getting dirty.
We have a burning bush at Burge! This bush is in the middle of one of our pastures and is incredibly gorgeous. This picture does not do it justice. It doesn't even look real, it looks as though someone came along and painted it onto the landscape.
Puddy Time
Fall CSA Week 6
