Archive for April, 2009

Hello!  Frank mentioned that he loved this newsletter and wanted to post it on our blog.  So, here it is, the newsletter story about their visit back at the end of February.  Sounds like they had tons of fun!

Ajo Newsletter Editor: Nina Altshul, Ajo CSA Coordinator

Crooked Sky Farms Picnic, February 22
Farmer Frank and his crew threw a picnic for their CSA members at his central farm on 19th Ave. in south Phoenix, and a fine time was had by all! About 40 people gathered on the cloudy Sunday, coming from Phoenix, Tucson and Ajo, and after the welcome, Frank said that he really appreciates his members and that they are currently feeding about a thousand families, including about 20 in Ajo! He talked about what he has growing on his fields and invited us to harvest anything we wanted and then come back for a spread of food. Even though the sun was covered by clouds most of the day, after being out in the fields some cold and refreshing grapefruit and regular sodas really hit the spot. Tania and Claudia from the farm prepared roasted potatoes, roasted eggplants, and an assortment of raw veggies, including broccoli, kale, carrots and turnips. Tania also prepared her favorite cabbage slaw, while Claudia prepared sautéed Peruvian beans with greens. Chef Elizabeth (Milburn) (www.Leave-It-To-Elizabeth.com), who you can often see creating culinary delicacies at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market on Saturdays using local ingredients such as Queens Creek olive oils, was keeping up very well, cooking omelets to order stuffed with scallions, cilantro, spinach and cheese, and showing us other ways to use the produce. Eating and resting for a while on hay bales while talking to other CSA members was a lot of fun, as were the train rides for the kids. A lot of people kept on wandering back to the fields to enjoy the splendorous abundance of healthy vegetables, take in the colors of the yellow-flowering fennel and dill contrasted with purple kale, feed pea flowers to the kids or ask Frank some more questions. It was difficult to leave but despite the heat and some hard and dirty work, the people’s faces were lit up with smiles as they left with bags full of freshly harvested produce.

Jane Canon’s impressions of the picnic: Being the idealist that I am, I was taken by the beautiful farm in the center of the city! I truly forgot that I was in Phoenix. How amazing that all that produce grows organically! And the ground looks dry until you see where a plow has made a deep furrow and the deep moisture is there and it is muddy. It is a lot different than the Ajo soil. Farmer Frank was very informative as was his staff. They were truly at home. The picnic was scrumptious. It was a very generous spread of almost everything growing on the farm. They were just the best hosts, allowing us to pick anything we wanted and go anywhere on the farm and even supplying transportation. The flavor of the purple carrots is hard to describe. Imagine eating a bright orange center surrounded by a purple ring. Sweet to taste and glorious to view. How about a 5-pound sweet potato that is perfectly edible. Broccoli as far as you can see. The smell of scallions as you draw near. Little children munching on broccoli. Next year, I will plan to stay longer.

Recipes

Chef Elizabeth at work Chef Elizabeth’s Dip Mix sautéed spinach (or other greens), chopped pecans, I’itois and cream cheese, a bit of garlic, and a squeeze of lemon. Serve with an array of raw (or blanched and shocked) vegetables such as carrots, kohlrabi and broccoli.

Tonia’s Cabbage Slaw Slice a head of cabbage, some radishes, and add a bunch of chopped cilantro. Mix and add sliced pickled jalapenos to taste. Serve with tortilla chips or use it to top your burrito or a bowl of chili.

Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp (submitted by Laura Altshul, from the New York Times) 2 pounds broccoli, cut into bite-size florets 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 1 teaspoon whole coriander seeds 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds 1½ teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/8 teaspoon hot chili powder 1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined 1¼ teaspoons lemon zest [from 1 large lemon] lemon wedges for serving Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, toss broccoli with 2 tablespoons oil, coriander, cumin, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper and chili powder. In a separate bowl combine shrimp, remaining 2 tablespoons oil, lemon zest, remaining ½ teaspoon salt and remaining ½ teaspoon pepper.  Spread broccoli in a single layer on a baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast for 10 minutes. Add shrimp to baking sheet and toss with broccoli. Roast, tossing once halfway through, until shrimp are just opaque and broccoli is tender and golden around edges, about 10 minutes more. Serve with lemon wedges, or squeeze lemon juice all over shrimp and broccoli just before serving. Laura served this over linguine and said it was delicious! It would also be good over rice or any other available carb that would sop up the juices.

Joni’s Spinach (submitted by Joni Britton) Sauté several coarsely chopped garlic cloves, 1/2 large diced red bell pepper, 1/2 thickly sliced and quartered red onion, in extra virgin olive oil, adding salt & pepper to taste. Add spinach with water clinging to leaves, cover to wilt spinach, then add salt & pepper and stir. If you wish you can add several sprigs of fresh, tender Rosemary to the sauté which give a nice flavor. Cook covered, on medium, stirring occasionally, until spinach is tender and water is absorbed. Top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and serve. Picking carrots

Recipe for Kohlrabi (submitted by Karen Johnson, taken from the Joy of Cooking, 1979 edition) Make sure you use young knobs – too large and they become fibrous and inedible. Cut off the tops, trim and wash the leaves, and pare the knobs. Slice knobs and drop both knobs and leaves into boiling water. Cook uncovered until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain. Chop the cooked tops and puree them. While the kohlrabi is cooking, make a white sauce (béchamel) as follows. In a frying pan, stir a couple of forks full of flour into 2 tbs. butter. Cook until bubbly, adding milk to a smooth consistency. Add an onion studded with whole cloves and cook slowly for 20 minutes, stirring as needed. Remove the onion when done. Add the Kohlrabi puree and a dash of nutmeg. Serve the sauce over the kohlrabi and whatever else you are serving. It is VERY bright green!!

Frank has had this beautiful piece of property for about a year and he’s still working on getting it cleaned up and ready for more farming and also ready as a farm stand for roasting chiles and playing in a corn maze and generally having fun.

Patrick and I went out today and took lots of pictures.  Frank has planted some summer squash, tomatoes, melons, and eggplant at this farm.  He hopes to turn this spot into a great place to picnic and spend some time out of the heat and in this little oasis in the desert.

Please take a look at some of the pictures we took today.  Please note that some of the pictures are at the South Phoenix farm too.  Today’s pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37420802@N06/

Greetings from Crooked Sky!

I have just uploaded more pictures from the farm.  Take note that I will be periodically uploading to my flickr account.  There is a link on the right hand bar of this website.  Or you can just go here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37420802@N06/

The RSS feed for these photos is here: http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=37420802@N06&lang=en-us&format=rss_200

Here they are, in no particular order:

Hi Folks,

We set up a site a while ago to let our members get t-shirts (even an organic one), onesies for the little ones and all kids of great stuff.  In case you’re itching for some great Crooked Sky stuff, we wanted to make sure you knew there was a source.

http://www.cafepress.com/crookedskyfarms