I don’t normally pass on recipes that I haven’t tested, but this one sounds so perfect for the spring garlic that I’m posting it right away! Thanks to Cool Bean Mary K. for sharing this!
This is how I used my green garlic: Green Garlic Risotto 3/4 lb. Green garlic,washed and roots trimmed 6 cups vegetable broth 2 T butter 1 T. Olive oil 1 shallot, minced 3/4 t. Salt 3 oz. Asiago cheese, grated 1 1/2 cups arborio rice Ground pepper to taste 2 T. Snipped chives Cut the tender white and light green part of the garlic into thin rounds and set aside. Coarsely chop the remaining green garlic stems and put them in a large pot with the vegetable broth; bring the broth to a boil, turn off the heat, then cover and steep for about ten minutes. Unlid the pot to make risotto, but keep it hot, not boiling on medium low heat. Melt butter with olive oil in a large non-stick sauté pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallot, sauté until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the rice and salt, stirring until the rice turns milky and barely begins to toast. Add broth, 1 cup at a time to rice and sauté, stirring until the broth is absorbed each time. This process will take around 20 minutes. Immediately after adding the last broth, stir in the cheese and season to taste. Plate the risotto and snip chives on top. Serves four (or 1 mom and 2 teenagers!) YUM!!!
We’re packed and Judi’s on her way to Camp Hill, and I have seven minutes before I have to leave, which probably means I forgot something, so we’ll see how this plays itself out.
You have a newsletter in your bag, so much of this is redundant. But there’s a few additions: if you have a full share, you have rhubarb. There wasn’t enough this week for everyone, so we’ll catch up to the rest later. The promised arugula looked even worse than I remembered and while there is in fact a small amount of it in your red produce beg, you’ll have to squint to see it. We would like the red produce bags returned for re-use.
We’ll get a recipe up for whole wheat pancakes so you can use the wheat in your bag. If you’re intimidated by rhubarb, no worries – it will keep a few days and we can get a recipe or two up for that as well.
The email list was a fail. Only one actual typo, oddly – I expected more – but the email just cut off the last 15 people, and nothing at my end indicated that. I think the website is the way to go for most communications this season, and we’ll only use your email if we need to contact you personally.
We’re happy with the first week’s bag, but just in case it looks sparse to you, this is normal or better than normal for a first week in the season – things will pick up quickly, and soon those bags will be bursting each week!
Just checking. I sent emails this morning too all Beans with reminders about the pickup locations and some housekeeping details for the first week. If you didn’t get the email, please use the contact link above and let me know, because we may use the email list in the future.
Here’s a copy of the info, just in case:
Dear Beans,
Our first delivery is this week! Amazing how we thought it would never get here, and now we’d give anything for a few extra days of sunshine!
Please send a quick reply to confirm that you received this email, so we can doublecheck the address list.
If you share your delivery with someone, please forward this email, as we only have the primary person in the database so far.
Some reminders about the pickup process and pickup locations:
Your good stuff will be in a Cool Beans bag, which you will return the following week. The bags will have your name marked on a tag. In addition to returning the bags, we also appreciate the return of any egg cartons or canning jars that come to you each week – that helps to keep costs down. In fact, we will be grateful for any egg cartons or canning jars you want to donate; they’ll be put to good use.
If you have an egg share, we keep your eggs cool until the last possible minute. They’ll be fine even if you don’t pick up your share immediately.
If you are picking up at the 81 and Progress location, check Google directions for 501 Corporate Circle in Harrisburg. That’s the office building at the end of the road on which Katie’s white pickup will be parked, and following those directions will get you there. Katie will be there from 4:30 to 5:30
If you are picking up at Stoney Creek Valley Farm (Katie’s) in Dauphin, the address is 1170 Stoney Creek Road, Dauphin 17018. It is 2.5 miles from the Stoney Creek Inn. Bags will be inside the door to the garage – the door is to the right of the bay door. Pickup is after 4 pm.
If you are a New Cumberland Bean, you’ll be picking up your share at the home of Craig and Sue Smith, 516 2nd St, New Cumberland 17070. The shares will be on their large front porch, out of the sun or rain. They’ll be dropped off by 7 pm. Lesa and Jenn, I’ll bring your share to rehearsal. Bonnie, I think I told you 511 2nd St and not 516.
The Camp Hill delivery is at the home of Seppi and Lori Garrett, who have graciously built a little enclosure for the bags on the left side of their house. It’s right across from the library on 19th St, #129.
Yeehaw Farm in Duncannon is located on Rohrer Drive. Shares will be ready for pickup at 3:30, in a cooler at the entrance to the farm, which is marked with some half-sunken tires and a sign. Google directions for 51 Rohrer Drive in Duncannon, but drive past that address by about a quarter mile, and you’ll see the sign and the cooler.
Newport Beans – Tom Radel will deliver your bags to you
In case of an emergency that would prevent you from picking up your share, Judi’s cell is 645-8304, and Katie’s is 602-3795. Katie’s cell is only activated on Tuesdays, and the message retrieval part does not work – so Judi’s phone is your best bet.
We have noticed that we have several Beans who are very possibly within a short driving distance of each other, and who might wish to combine pickups to save gas. Please let us know if you would like to know if anyone’s in your neighborhood, and if we have your permission to share your email with someone who might be close to your home.
Your shares will be delivered rain or shine – we work every day, no matter what! If anything is not clear about your pickup, use this email address to ask about it and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.
Love from your farmers,
Judi and Katie
I am outside constantly, encouraging your first lettuces and other spring greens to get a move on. It’s about as effective as telling a slow-moving toddler to hurry up and get ready for bed, but much as that child’s parents do, I feel compelled to as least make my point. And thus the morning lettuce lecture.
This cool and very very wet spring has thrown down the gauntlet to farmers everywhere, and we are doing our best to rise to the challenge. You’re probably seeing interviews on the news with local farmers who are frustrated because they can’t work in their fields, and you may be wondering what’s going on in Cool Bean land.
We have the advantage of diversity on our side. At Judi’s farm, it’s been a challenge, because the work in the big fields is done with tractors. Working the soil when it’s too wet – even if the tractors can manage it without getting bogged down – destroys the soil structure by messing up the relationship of air pockets to particulate in the soil, and that damage is not repairable usually within the same season. And your plants need healthy soil to thrive.
By grabbing the few breaks that have been offered between rain storms, we have managed to get most all of the early crops in the ground – some a little later than we would have preferred, but they’re doing well. And it’s never all one thing or the other – the same conditions that make us despair of ever have the tomato seedling size up have been a boon to the early broccoli and cauliflower plants, which look beautiful.
Happily, the Stoney Creek farm is on a hillside (something I rarely rejoice in) with a southern exposure (for which I am always grateful) and that allows the soil here to dry out earlier than it does across the river. And there’s no large tractor here; I use a walk-behind BCS-853. So we’ve shifted a few things around and tried to put as many of the first crops in at “Cool Beans East” as possible.
So what’s going to be in that first bag of goodies? Darned if we know. Not for sure, anyway. We’ll choose from along list of options once we see what’s looking good. The Red Sails lettuce, on the schedule for the second week, was transplanted out later than the Tango, but for whatever reason, it’s bigger. Maybe the Tango, which was scheduled for the first week, will catch up. Maybe not. The first radishes will be ready if we get some sun. There’s some lovely spring garlic – real garlic, just baby sized, and very mild – that’s going to be just perfect. We’re flexible, and we’ll assess what we have and work with that. We have an enormous amount of stuff in the ground, we have a plan and a backup plan, and now we just have to wait and see if we get some sunshine in these next two weeks or not. As Winston Churchill once said, planning is everything – and plans are useless.
You’re going to get a great first delivery! I’ll post something in a few days with reminders about pickup locations, etc. In the meantime, I have go out and speak firmly to some lettuce.
We will be sold out by the end of the week. And…….instead of stopping at a particular number, we will accept any applications received by Saturday; we had some wiggle room because we planned to sell surplus at our weekly market, so I’m comfortable keeping it open until then even if we go over our original goal by just a bit. With the recent mention in the Patriot News bringing us some new members, it only seems sporting to keep the registration open until the weekend. (And may I just say I love the Patriot News.)
So if you’re on the fence, it’s time to make a decision! Any questions, use the link above to contact us, I’ll be checking email often in the next few days.
EDITED SATURDAY TO ADD: if you email me today to let me know your application is ont he way, we’ll count it!
What a surprise to see an article about CSAs in this morning’s paper! Even better to see Cool Beans mentioned. Certainly hope the celebrity doesn’t go to our heads….but today’s chore list includes filling several thousand 4″ pots for the soon-to-be-transpanted tomatoes and peppers. So it probably won’t.
The article missed a few things that I want to share here. If you’re checking out our site because you saw the article, I’d recommend that you click on the ‘about cool beans’ link at the top of the page, which has detailed information. But in a nutshell: Tuesdays. Dauphin, Duncannon, Newport, New Cumberland, Camp Hill, Harrisburg (near 81 and Progress). There were some pickup / dropoff sites missed in the article.
Produce is grown on two farms, one in Dauphin and one in Duncannon. Cool Beans is partnership between two farmers and two farms.
500 for a full share, 275 for a half, and a $25 discount on the price if you also join the Yeehaw Farm Meat CSA.
April 30 deadline for Cool Beans, and we’re nearly full. I don’t like to pressure anyone – I hope you take your time and look into all of the options – but we’re getting close to the start time – our first delivery is May 17.
Cool Beans offers a lot of vegetables and fruit, and also includes value-added products from time to time. Last year, our Beans received jam, freshly ground whole wheat from our farms, herb plants, organic chocolate pudding, bread, bean soup, apple cider, and many other special treats tucked inside the ‘usual’ vegetables and fruit. You get the same food our families eat; we eat what we grow and raise. We use sustainable and organic practices and produce ‘clean’ food.
There are many other products available that can be tacked on to your CSA basket as you learn more about us – most immediately, there will be a huge veg-and-herb plant sale at the Stoney Creek Valley Farm in Dauphin (with other vendors) on May 20 and 21; details will be offered here and at www.stoneycreekiris.com, the website for Katie and Greg’s iris sales. Memberships in Judi and Tom’s meat CSA at Yeehaw Farm are on a rolling basis, so you can join any time. I started my morning with their smoked sausage and our fresh eggs, and it’s a great way to begin a day!
Make a cup of coffee, read throughthe ‘about us’ section, skim through the blog, and please contact us at the link provided above with any questions, we’ll get back to you soon!
Here’s a picture of Judi and Mike planting onions two days ago at the Duncannon farm:
Are shares still available? Yes. I’ll post something here to make it clear when there aren’t. If at all possible, I’ll post when it’s getting close – but sometimes the mail has a handful of forms, so that might not work.
How do I sign up? Print out the registration form – you’ll see a link at the top of this page. If you have no printer, email me and I will send you a brochure.
I don’t understand what a CSA is, or how it works. Please click on the link at the left top of the page, which will have a lot of information that will answer most questions.
Do you post a list of what’s going to be in each basket? No, at least not in advance. There are few absolutes in farming, and we have learned not to make promises which me might not be able to keep. We grow practically everything imaginable that’s possible in this zone. Whether it all succeeds or not is sometimes beyond our control. For instance, weather conditions may mean that a broccoli which should take 68 days actually takes 74 to reach harvest size. However, we do think that in this, our second year, we’ll be better at posting a list a day or so in advance of each week’s delivery.
What size share is best for me? We strongly recommend the full share, which is a better value for you. Split with a friend or neighbor (alternate weeks or divide each week’s share) if you think it will be too much.
Can I spread out payments throughout the season? No. The basic premise of a CSA is that we, the farmers, receive our income early in the season to cover our operating costs, and you, the member, receive a weekly share of the harvest. If you’d prefer to spend your money on a weekly basis, we recommend our producer’s-only farmers market, Farmers on the Square, in Carlisle every Wednesday beginning in mid May.
When is the final payment due? April 30.
What’s the first week of delivery? I’ve seen conflicting dates. The first delivery is May 17. I goofed, and some papers went out with a start date of May 20. We will email everyone a few days before the first delivery with a reminder.
Why is Cool Beans better than other CSAs? It isn’t. We know all the CSA farmers around here, and we are honored to be among them. There are differences in price, although they’re all fair for the quantity provided. Some might have fewer items but larger quantities of each thing than we do – we tend toward more different things, but smaller amounts. There are different delivery dates and pickup options. But as far as we can see, all the local CSAs are run by hardworking farmers who are deeply committed to growing fresh, safe food. Look over the others before you make your decision – we’d love to have you in Cool Beans, but only if it feels right for you!
Not real beans – Cool Beans. Most days, Finian the Dog and I do a happy dance at the mailbox, as new registration forms arrive. If you’re certain you’re joining but holding off on writing the check, please send in your form and at least a partial payment if you want to hold on to your place.
We do have things sprouting, though. There’s several kinds of onions and all of the early cole crops, like cauliflower, broccoli, and cabbage, and also kale, collards, mustard, and Asian greens, already underway. This is a shot of the nursery in Katie’s basement, where the baby plants can be warmed than in the outdoor greenhouse – this is actually the second wave, as the first 20 flats have already moved to the greenhouse. What you can’t see is that because of the flooding right now, there’s several inches of water on the floor!
baby onions and cole crops
and a closeup of some “pink lettucey frilled mustard’, which is not, at the moment, looking either pink or lettucey, but all good things take time. This will add a little color and kick to the early salad greens. We have a great selection of lettuces this year, all possible colors and degrees of crunchiness and leaf shapes. It’s a far cry from the 
obligatory side salad of my childhood – a wedge of tasteless iceberg with gloppy neon orange dressing.
Time for Finian and me to check the mailbox and see if we have any new Beans!
Yes, we still have some Cool Beans shares available. If possible we’ll post a note when it gets down to the wire, but memberships tend to arrive in clumps, so no guarantees!
All pickups are on Tuesdays for 2011. For locations, please click on the links at the top of the page, which have more information.
Things are already underway for Cool Beans 2011. We’ve been attending conferences and seminars, building hoophouses, ordering and sorting seeds, repairing equipment, and designing garden beds. Tens of thousands of baby onions are growing under lights in Katie’s basement, and the first round of cole crops – broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, collard, kale, Asian greens – were just seeded over the weekend and will be popping up soon. Next weekend, it’s time to start all the eggplants, and when they ‘hatch’, the onions will move to the outdoor greenhouse to make room. About a week after that, we should be ready to put the first seeds into soil!
We’ve purchased jute bags for this year’s shares, and will be retiring the mismatched assortment of milk crates. Easier for you, and easier to pack in the truck. We also found some reusable net bags that we’ll be using for greens, to cut down on plastic use.
After two months of (relative) down time, we’re ready to get back to work! Later this week, we’ll be sending out confirmation letters to everyone who’s already enrolled as a Cool Bean for this season. We’re happy to see so many returning members, and looking forward to meeting our new Beans!
(If you’re here for the first time and need an overview of the CSA, please check the top of the page for links to our basic information.)
Your farmers are hard at work, even though the ground is frozen and there’s snow cover. January is our time to plan, to look back sadly at mistakes, to read, to mend tools, to attend workshops and conferences, to renew our energy, to get the recipe files ready (note: first recipe is posted now, using winter vegetables). For the older of your two farmers, it includes trips to the physical therapist to discuss ways in which we might make certain parts work a little better this coming season. And it’s time to order seeds.
We’ve set this up so I handle the seed orders, since I’m ordering in quantity anyway for the greenhouse plants I will sell in spring. I buy the seeds, Judi pays for the fuel to operate the tractors in the larger plots at the farm in Duncannon. It evens out, but it also means I can indulge in seed-buying without guilt.
I thought this might be the year I exercised a little restraint in ordering seeds. I thought, maybe, I’d hold back a bit, limit our choices. Maybe we only really need one color of carrot. Maybe we didn’t need to order all the things I’d never heard of before, never grown, just to see what they’re like. Maybe we shouldn’t take a chance on trying to grow certain long-season crops. Maybe this would be the year to be, well, a little bit realistic.
Happily, that didn’t last. This year’s seed order is, if anything, more exuberant than last year’s, and I have no regrets. Because, you see, farming is at its heart a joyfully messy, ridiculously optimistic process. Not everything will come to fruition – that’s the nature of farming. But we still believe that this year everything just might work. That’s the nature of farmers.
Today, the seeds started to arrive. I sort them, I shake them and listen to the seeds rattle, and I sniff the packets. (The Afina cutting celery, just two grams of seed, is so potent the scent is noticeable the the next room. The dill seed smells like May. The anise seed smells like August.) I am conscious, as I turn each packet over in my hand, that I’m holding a miracle. That we exist because of seeds, a couple inches of topsoil, sunlight, and rain. It’s pretty heady stuff, this box of seeds. It contains the raw materials we need to feed fifty families this summer. It contains the hope that the rain will fall, the hail won’t, the bugs will be held in balance. It represents a lot of work and sweat and frustration, too. But there’s time to acknowledge that later. January is all about the possibilities.