CSA Shares Available

We have been filling up fast, but still have shares available!  The greenhouse is in full swing, and the brassicas have already moved out to harden off.  Carrots and beets are sown, and potatoes are in the ground.  Beginning to harvest over-wintered spinach.  Please see below for CSA details.

2012 CSA Sign Up Begins!

Feel free to call or email with any and all questions! 828-545-2362

CSA

Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, is a way to buy your weekly produce directly from the farm.  You pre-purchase a share of  the season’s harvest.  Your early financial commitment allows us to buy the inputs we need to grow the crops.  Then, each week mid-May thru mid-October, you’ll get a box containing a wide variety of  freshly picked, organic produce. 

Pick Up:
Weekly boxes can be picked up at the Montford Market (at the Chamber of Commerce) on Wednesday  afternoons 2-6pm or at the farm on Wednesday afternoon or Saturday morning.

Share Types:

Full Season Share:  22 weeks, May thru Oct.

Height of the Season Share:  8 weeks, mid– July thru mid-Sept.

Extended Fall Share:  4 weeks, late Oct thru Thanksgiving

Flower Share: a bouquet for each of the 22 weeks

Egg Share:  1 dz eggs from our free-range chickens each week

Full Season Share:

There are 2 share sizes; “regular” share intended to feed a small family (2-4 people depending on your eating habits).  SEE SAMPLE BOXES BELOW  The “small” share is great for individuals and couples.

Share Price:

Down payment due upon registration.  If you pay in full by March 15, receive a $20 discount for regular shares and $15 discount for small shares.

Regular Share:  $525

Small Share: $325

Flower Share: $125

Egg Share: $82

Season Length:

Pick-ups begin May 16  and continue weekly thru October 10 (22 weeks).  Because you pay up front and essentially “buy in bulk”, you enjoy a considerable discount compared to buying our produce at market.

Peak Season Share:

This share is great if you want to just try the CSA out or if you’re planning to be gone early summer.  Also less of a financial commitment and boxes will contain more of the vegetables you’re “used” too.  This share goes mid-July thru mid-Sept. (8 weeks).

Share Price:

Regular: $250

Small: $175

Extended Fall Share:

This share is 4 additional boxes from late Oct until Thanksgiving.  Enjoy a wide variety of fall crops like carrots, turnips, beets, leeks, kale, collards, potatoes, sweet potatoes, shallots, garlic., celeriac.   Most of the crops in these boxes will store well into the holiday season.

Share Price:

Only 1 size: $120

Gaining Ground Farm grows  a multitude of vegetables including:  onions, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets, cauliflower, escarole, celery, strawberries, scallions, herbs (basil, cilantro, dill, parsley), tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, tomatillos, peppers, leeks, potatoes, edamame, green beans, wax beans, kohlrabi, fennel, turnips, radishes, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, shallots.

Sample Boxes from 2011– Regular Share (small shares receive smaller amounts)

Early June:

1 bunch kale, 1 bunch scallions ( 8 to 10 indiv.), 2 bulbs green garlic, 1 lb. spinach, 1 head escarole, 4  yellow crookneck squash, 1 bunch fresh dill leaves, 1 lb. broccoli, 1 bunch beets, 3 zucchini squash

Mid-July:

1 bunch carrots, 1 bunch beets, 3 sm—med red onions, 2 heads garlic, 3 lbs. slicing tomatoes (about 9), 1 bunch baby leeks, 8 small cucumbers, 4 yellow crookneck squash, 1 melon, 1 lb. new potatoes, 1 pint cherry tomatoes

Mid-Sept.:

1 red onion, 1 yellow onion, 1 lb. green beans, 2 lb. Nicola potatoes, 2 pints edamame, 1 lb. fresh black eye peas, 2 red bell peppers, 4 heads garlic, 1 lb. okra, 1 bunch white turnips

Feel free to call or email with any and all questions! 828-545-2362

To secure your share for the season email us, then send a check to:

sluderbranch@yahoo.com

Gaining Ground Farm
298 Sluder Branch Rd
Leicester, NC 28748

Aug 24 CSA

Opalka Tomato  (a Polish heirloom paste tomato)

Late summer is setting in with these cooler nights and foggy mornings. We can tell the days are getting shorter because things are growing more slowly...the okra doesn't need to be harvested everyday anymore.

We are planning an "open farm" day for September 17 from 2pm to 6pm.  We'll prepare lots of food and be available to show folks around the farm and hang out and talk.  I'd love to know if you think you can make it or if we should choose another date.  Please let us know at market or by email.

this week's box has:  2 lbs of heirloom paste tomatoes, 1/2 lb jimmy nardellos sweet italian frying peppers, 1 lb. onions, 2 garlic, 2 italian eggplant, 1 1/2 lb cucumbers, 1 lb. green tomatoes.

Full shares get in addition: 1 melon, 2 more lbs. tomatoes, 1 1/2 lbs. more cucumbers.

The tomatoes this week are by far my favorites of the year.  They are great for eating raw, make delicious salsa, and the best sauce.  Their flavor is incredible and the texture is meaty.  The green tomatoes are small but thought they'd make good fried green tomatoes or good for pickling.

A delicious salad I had last week at "The Junction" restaurant was:  green tomatoes cut into chunks and battered and fried sprinkled over cold black eyed peas and a sliced red tomato.  The dressing was balsamic vinegar, black pepper, olive oil, parsley. 

The peppers this week are incredibly sweet and best enjoyed sauteed with onions and eaten with ANYTHING!    

Jimmy Nardello Sweet Italian Frying Pepper

August 17 CSA

Red Maria Potatoes ready to put in boxes

 We got all the potatoes dug and stored in a cool, dark corner of the barn last Thursday; a good feeling!  Fall carrots, beets, and radishes are sprouting.  The winter squash is harvested and curing in the barn loft.  And the beat goes on.
Your box this week includes:  1 lb. purple viking potatoes, 1 bunch leeks, 1 garlic, 3 lbs. tomatoes (some defiant, some japanese black trifele), 1 lb. chinese eggplant, 1 bunch thai basil, 1 bell pepper, 1 hot serrano.  Full shares get 2 lbs. potaotes, 2 garlic, 1/4 lb. shallots, 1 lb. okra, 1 melon.
Potatoes are unwashed so they'll keep better.  They don't need refrigerated.  The bell peppers will ripen all the way to red if left on your counter.

ROASTED EGGPLANT and TOMATO with walnuts

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (or pine nuts or almonds)
1 lb. eggplant
1/2 lb tomatoes ( 2-3 small tomatoes)
1/4 cup apple juice
3 T balsamic vinegar
3 T thai basil
2 T prepared grainy mustard
2 T lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup e.v. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1.  heat oven to 375
2. toast nuts in dry, heavy skillet until they start to brown.  Trnsfer to a dish to cool ( only takes a minute)
3. lightly oil a baking sheet.  Cut eggplant in half lenghtwise and place on sheet.  Pile diced toamtoes around eggpalnt.  Roast in oven until eggplant is soft (about 30 minutes)
4. mix juice, vinegar, basil, mustard, and garlic in a small bowl with salt to taste.  slowly pour olive oil in a thin stream, whisking constantly, until dressing is thick and no longer separates.
5. remove veggies from oven and drizzle with some of the dressing.  Let cool.
6. when veggies have reached room temp., transfer to plates and drizzle the remaining dressing over them to taste.  sprinkle with toasted nuts and black pepper.

Phelan, Veronica, and Aaron preparing for potatoe harvest

Late beans in the field

August 10 CSA

This week's box includes:  garlic, red and yellow onions (don't need refrigerated), 2 Italian eggplant, 1 lb. juliet roma tomatoes, 1 1/2 lb. red slicers, your choice of an heirloom tomato, 1 lb. okra, 1 head cabbage.
Full shares get more garlic, 2 lbs. onions, 1 lb. heirloom "jimmy nardello sweet italian frying peppers", 2 heirloom tomatoes.
The juliet tomatoes are small romas that make great sauce, oven-roasted, or dehydrated ("sun-dried") tomatoes.  For sauce, I grind them up skin and all in food processor and add them to my sauce.  They cook down  fairly quick.  For oven-roasted, I sprinkle salt n pepper, olive oil, oregano on them and cook til a little browned and juicy.  They're a great addition to pasta salad or on crusty bread or grind them up and add to sauce.
The onions and garlic you're getting now are cured.  This means they will keep for months and don't need to be refrigerated.  They keep best in a dark, dry place.
The italian frying peppers are delicious sauteed with onions and served with pasta, beef, or bread and butter.
The recipe I gave several weeks ago for refrigerator pickles works well with the okra too.  I use white vinegar instead of apple cider for pickled okra.

EGGPLANT FRITTERS
slice 2 eggplant

cook until tender in boiling water to cover and 1 tsp vinegar

drain eggplant and  mash

beat in:
2 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt, 6 T flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp ground cumin, 1 tsp ground coriander

drop by the spoonful into hot oil (I like safflower oil)
cook until brown on all sides

serve with fresh tomato slices and sour cream or plain yogurt

Hope you all have a great week!

Okra and eggplant in the field

August 2 CSA
I apologize for being so late in posting this!  Your box this week has some unusual things in it.  The round grayish-green item is a "charentais" melon.  A very sweet french melon similar to canteloupe.  The bag of green round fruit in a husk are tomatillos; the main ingredient in salsa verde.  Also in the box are:  a couple hot peppers, sweet onions, tomatoes...a few heirlooms, hybrid slicers, and cherry tomatoes, garlic, chinese eggplant.  Full shares also get leeks and german butterball potatoes.

Salsa Verde
remove the husks from the tomatillos and wash the fruit
cut in half and place on a flat pan
peel a few cloves of garlic and put with tomatillos
peel and cut into quarters an onion and put with tomatillos
sprinkle with salt and olive oil
roast in a 4oo degree oven until slightly browned and juicy (about 30 minutes)
let cool and grind up in food processor, blender, or by hand
put in a bowl and add the following:
dice 1/2 an onion
chop several sprigs of cilantro
dice 1 jalapeno or hot banana pepper
juice of 1/2 lime
salt and pepper to taste

this is great on tacos, with chips, or as a marinade for chicken or pork.
I'm sorry we can't provide you with cilantro, we are having a terrible time getting it to germinate.

The chinese eggplant is delicious grilled or oven-roasted.  Just drizzle with some oil and sprinkle with salt and cumin.  The skin is tender so no need to peel.

July 27th CSA

July 27, 2011
We have gotten 3 inches of rain since Sunday night and today is predicted to be in the mid 90s.  This will be excellent growing conditions for okra and eggplant as well as many diseases.  We are trying to pre-emptively treat crops in the hopes to stave off powdery mildew and late blight.  Here's hoping for a good winter squash harvest and continued tomatoes!
Anne's neice, Adrian, has been working on the farm for several weeks.  Sadly, she had to go home to Virginia to prepare for her senior year of high school. 

A beautiful coxcomb celosia

The Crew: from left Veronica, Phelan, Aaron, Anne, Meredith
in wheelbarrow Adrian and Addiebelle

This week's box includes:  1 lb potatoes, 3 lbs tomatoes, 1 1/2 lbs sweet onions, garlic, 1 yellow-fleshed honeydew, 1 savoy cabbage.  Full shares also get 1 lb chineses eggplant, more garlic and potatoes, 1 pint cherry tomatoes.
The sweet onions need to be stored in the refrigerator and are great raw in salads and very mild to cook with. 

Creamed Cabbage
cut core out of head of cabbage and shred
drop into boiling water and cook about 10 minutes
drain the water

make a white sauce:
melt over low heat 2 T butter
add 1 1/2 T flour and blend over low heat
stir in slowly, 1 cup milk
add 1 small onion
cook and stir with whisk until thickened and smooth.
add a pinch of nutmeg

add the cooked cabbage to the white sauce and bake for 10 minutes.

this is delicious served with meatballs, stirfried vegetables, or tomato sauce.