Archives for August 2016

Peaches In the House & The Missing Link

August 26, 2016 by monte

What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

If we had any more fun around here, you might think that we ran a circus and not a farm. Let me catch you up.

Peaches. Excelsior Orchards continues to impress. Paul dropped a ton of peaches (literally not figuratively) at our warehouse this week. Starfire is their name. Perfect balance of sweet, acid, and juice I would argue. Freestone pit so you can eat it clean down to the center. We will have peaches for another 2-3 weeks it looks like. So stock up, can, eat, freeze, dry, or jam. We are in the pinnacle of stone fruit season, so this is not a good time to be sitting on the sidelines not getting orders. Get in the game amigos.

Fresh pork. After a long spring and summer in our fields, our little piggies are all grown up now. We will be processing them over the next month. We just received our first batch from the butcher and I asked them to make some green chile links and chorizo links. 1/4 lb each link and all I can say is wow. You will not find sausage links like this anywhere. Pasture-raised pork with all of the spices that New Mexico has to offer. The only question that you have to answer is Red or Green? And if you are smart the answer will be Christmas. Enjoy them both.

But I cannot let these beautiful sausage links leave my sight without putting in my 2 pesos on how to cook them. I have seen a lot of folks butcher (pun intended) perfectly good links. So turn up your volume and let’s talk links.

To be in a safe range, you need to bring your pork links to 145 degrees. Burn that number into your memory. But what I see people do is throw links into a pot of boiling water or broth, 212 degrees. The links in their tender and fragile state get overcooked and turn hard. So repeat this mantra after me as you cook…Boiling Bad.

So how do we do it right? Throw your links in a stock pot. They can be thawed or frozen it doesn’t really matter. Next, pour water, broth, or beer (my fav) over the links until they are covered. You do not need an excessive amount of liquid. Just get the dudes covered.

Next is where the magic happens; insert food thermometer into the liquid. If you do not have a food thermometer, go get one now. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Thermometers are the best $10 you can spend in your kitchen. OK, so when you have your thermometer in the broth, fire up the heat. But DO NOT let it boil.

Bring the heat of the broth to 145 (the safe temp for pork) and try and hold it there for 10 minutes or so. This will give the links time to get to 145, but most importantly it will not overcook them. If you need the grill marks on your links, fire that grill up hot and roll/sear the links for a few moments after you cook them in the broth. Do not cook them on the grill though. It will dry them out too much. Follow these simple steps and you will be amazed at how well you will cook links.

Lastly, our 2nd Annual Green Chile Roast will be September 24th this year. Bring your friends and family and we will be roasting green chile all morning for you to buy in bulk for your freezer. Because we just don’t have the freezer space, we will not be distributing individual portions of green chile this year in the CSA boxes.

We also will open up a Meat Market (no, not like the gym you go to) so you can pick up our pork and grass-fed beef to add to your freezer as well. This was a blast last year and will be a great time I promise. At our warehouse, 3435 Stanford Dr NE, 9am-Noon.

Label Paralysis and the Shiro Plum

August 19, 2016 by monte

Take Me to Login

What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

You Got Any Sales Happening?

Judging by the sales this week, many of you were able to enjoy the new grass-fed beef program that we launched last week. This kind of demand really helps offer a consistency to our ranchers at the Ranney Ranch. We want to help find support for all of the wonderful work that they are doing for animal husbandry and for wild grassland restoration. And none of that work can be done without financial backing from customers who enjoy the products from us and all of our family of producers.

I know that I beat this drum quite often, but it is a part of the local food movement that is often overlooked. And that is that running an environmentally friendly and socially just business takes money. I know it may sound obvious, but without financial support from you all, there will be no change in the food systems. It will be business as usual and the boys and girls with the largest advertising budget will win. I can tell you from experience, that the local producers will not be the folks with the largest marketing budget.

So our farm and all of our partner producers need you too. We need you to munch on the food and then help spread the word to your amigos. This is a pivotal time for the local food movement and for local producers.

But you are saying, “Wait Farmer M, why is this time so critical for the food movement?” Great question (that I totally interjected into my own newsletter).

And the reason is this. Right now whether you realize it or not, we/you as consumers are under an attack of present and proposed labeling. Organic, Natural, Pesticide Free, Non-GMO, Humanely Raised, Fair Trade. I could probably fill an entire newsletter just with labels that are on the market right now. Some folks might look at that and say, “Phew, finally we have some education points as consumers.” But I see it another way.
To me, I see labels as a complete and utter distraction from the food. It is hard to enjoy the food process when you are swimming in a sea of labels. I like to call it Label Paralysis. A condition where you become so inundated with labels, that you become lost and frustrated with the process of finding food for you and your familia.

As these labels flood the market, I honestly feel like it desensitizes consumers as to what they should be looking for in their food choices. And that is the polar opposite of how I like to see myself and our members of the farm. I want to help educate you into making healthy food choices and not confuse the heck out of you.

The closer we can get to our food and the more we know about our food is when we transcend labels. Labels are really nothing more than an extension of advertising. We need to move past labels to the land of relationships. When you have relationships in your food choices, why do you need labels? And that is my goal for our farm and for our sourcing incredible partners. We are bringing you so close to your food and to its source that labels will be an afterthought. Grown within a regional partnership of family farms the way Mother Nature intended. What else do we need? What label could be better than that?

So know that as the sea of labels swells like a typhoon, we will be your anchor of sanity. And that together, we will disregard what our moms told us and we will “play with our food” and learn about our food and build relationships with our food. So buckle up and enjoy the ride.

Lastly, the Shiro plums will be here this week from Excelsior Orchards. One of the most exquisite plums you will ever put a tooth into. This might be the only week we will have them, so stock up and eat them with abandon.

Farmer Monte

Back to School and New Products

August 12, 2016 by monte

Take Me to Login

What’s In the Harvest Box Next Week?

You Got Any Sales Happening?

Backpacks, lunch boxes, and soccer cleats all mean one thing around our house; it is back to school time. And I have to admit that I celebrate it. Summer is a blast and pretty carefree, but there is something almost comforting about getting back into the routine of the school year. I eat better, sleep better, and probably just live a little bit healthier than the chaos that we call Summer Break. And to ease you back into the routine, let me point out some pretty cool things that we have been working on recently.

Tart cherries. Not for everyone, but the people I know who like tart cherries, love tart cherries. You cannot find these easily and to find Organic ones is next to impossible. We took the harvest this year and put them into freezer bags with no stems on them, but still with the pits. I could not find anyone with the commercial machine to pit these little dudes, so you will have to enjoy that process yourself. Or hire small kids with tiny little hands to do it.

We have a limited amount and once they are gone, we will not have any for another 11 months. So whether you want a fresh cherry pie or scones now or for Thanksgiving dinner, I urge you to dive in now. Early bird will get the worm and the second mouse will Not get the cheese in this case. Look on the web site and in the Harvest Boxes to find them.

What goes well with cherry pastries? Coffee. I love coffee. I drink coffee before, during and after I brush my teeth in the morning. There is never a bad time for coffee.

With that, I had a member suggest that we needed to start carrying a line of Ground coffee, not all whole bean. I always grind my beans, but I felt horrible that we have not been providing all the coffee folks with their daily fix. So I am happy to announce that whether you like your beans ground for you or you like to grind them yourself, we have finally got you covered. I strongly suggest that you splash some water on your face and then check out our awesome (and growing) coffee selections. You’ll thank me.

Last thing that I would like to highlight this week is our new beef provider, Ranney Ranch. About a year and a half ago I met an amazing woman, Nancy, who ran (runs) her family ranch in the most incredible way you will ever find. Set in the rolling hills around Corona, New Mexico, she has created nothing short of a new ecosystem on her land.

She decided to break away from the herd (pun intended) and ranch in a way that very few people will even attempt. She uses rotational grazing to not only improve the herd, but to improve the land. Let me explain.

Traditional grazing allows cows to roam from fence line to fence line whenever and wherever the herd wants to go. What invariably happens is that the herd will sit at one spot and graze the heck out of it until they have trampled baby plants and eaten existing tufts to the ground. Once that land is bare, they move to the next spot and the scenario plays out all over again.

So what rotational grazing does is break this cycle of trample, kill, then move to new land. Rotational grazing allows the cattle to enjoy a spot, then you “kick them off” before damage is done to the land. And through this management practice, you actually expand your pasture land because the cows will eat seeds, then “plant” those seeds in their manure. Then seeds will germinate undisturbed and fill-in the pasture. It is an incredible sight to see and I have to say that it feels like you are walking in the midst of the Serengeti.

Besides this rotational practice, all calves are born from their mothers on the land. There is no barn with a bunch of baby calves. All calves are born under a tree (typically) and then are raised on the land by the side of their mother within the protection of the herd. It is an absolutely fascinating ranch. And it is a ranch that we are fortunate to have on board with our CSA members. Please look for her pastured, grass-fed beef on the web site available now.

Farmer Monte