Growing Thymes – August 2009 Newsletter

Posted By Amie Frisch, on August 10th, 2009

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August 2009 Newsletter

Welcome to our very first monthly newsletter! We hope that this newsletter helps keep you up to date on what’s going on with Veggielution.

In recent weeks, we have kickstarted morning harvest sessions on Tuesdays and Fridays, and we are donating what we harvest on those mornings to a soup kitchen called Martha’s Kitchen. The folks over at Martha’s Kitchen are very grateful to receive our farm freshveggies. We also make donations to Sunday Friends, who use our veggies for cooking projects with underprivlidged children. We are also gearing up for our Americorps positions, which we will be hiring for in September. There will be 2 full time and 4 quarter time positions available. Stay tuned for more details on that.

Farmstand Grand Opening: Friday, September 4th

We are very excited to announce the Grand Opening of our Farmstand on September 4th. Starting that day, the Farmstand will be open every Friday from 3:30p to 6:30p. On the Grand Opening day, we will have special activities for kids, too! Hope to see you there!

Food at our farmstand will be very affordably priced so that everyone can enjoy it!

Whole Foods Campbell: Nickels For Nonprofits

Veggielution is currently the recipient of Nickels for Nonprofits at Whole Foods Campbell. For every bag you bring in for your groceries, we will get 5 cents. If you shop there, remember to bring your bags!

Volunteer Spotlight

jeff-and-pete Volunteers Jeff Leng and Pete Jones share a passion for getting out of the office and getting their hands dirty. They both were introduced to Veggielution after meeting Amie Frisch at a pick-up ultimate Frisbee game. After hearing about the farm, they decided to go to one of the Sunday work days. “It was completely on a whim,” says Jeff.

While both have busy work schedules, they normally volunteer both workdays each week. They see Veggielution as an escape from the hustle and bustle of the tech world. “My favorite thing is getting out in the sun,” says Pete. “Being a programmer, the only thing I get to do is pick away at the keyboard…[at Veggielution, I like] really working with your hands, back to basics. It makes me feel in touch with my roots.” Jeff adds that he likes the hard labor associated with farming. He jokes that it’s like a workout, but more productive than being on a treadmill.

The two are eager to put their efforts to the farm and learn new things. While both didn’t have farming experience prior to Veggielution, they take it lightly. “I pretty much have a brown thumb,” Jeff jokes. “My specialty at Veggielution is digging holes or moving dirt…Like [on Sunday] I helped move a compost pile.” Pete similarly agreed that he has no green thumb neither.

Coincidently, both Pete and Jeff are New York natives that moved to California within the last year. Pete says that California seemed like a good place to start searching for a new job market, as well as a place to take refuge from a winter in Upstate New York. Likewise, Jeff sought California as a change from Long Island. Their change in work, however, does not give them too much free time; but they find a way to manuever their schedules. Jeff, who works between 50-60 hours a week, says it’s the people that keep him coming. “I like the community feel of it…working towards a goal of growing food…Everyone’s really nice…it’s not a corporate environment where people aren’t involved with turning in reports or fixing bugs.” Though these two techies may be use to dealing with bugs and viruses, they may not have planned on getting bitten by the Veggielution bug. We’re thankful for having them aboard and know they’ll keep up the great work.

Thanks for all your help, guys!

Recipe of the Month

This month’s featured crop is basil, which you’ll find growing in the original plot among the tomatoes. Basil is usually grown as an annual, and, as you probably know if you’ve been at the farm lately, sends up flower stalks that must be pinched off to keep the larger, tender leaves coming.

Basil is most famous in Mediterranean cooking, especially Italian. Caprese salad is a classic combination of basil, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella cheese and olive oil. But it’s also very common in Southeast Asian cooking. There are many types of basil; we are growing two. The “regular” basil with the broad leaves and whitish flowers is sweet basil and the plant with narrower leaves and a purplish cast is (surprise!) purple basil.

Another classic use for basil is in pesto, which can be used as a pasta sauce, of course, but also as a dip or a topping for baked potatoes, chicken or steamed vegetables.

Pesto

2 packed cups basil leaves, removed from their stems
3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
¼ cup parmesan cheese (optional)
3 – 4 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
¾ – 1 cup olive oil

The old-school way to make this is using a mortar and pestle, grinding by hand and drizzling in the oil. I use a food processor. Put everything except the oil and salt into a food processor and process until it’s chopped up. I find it easier to crush the garlic first; it doesn’t always get pureed if I put in whole cloves. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin stream, until you get a thickish puree. Add salt to taste.

If you have a whole lot of basil, you can make a lot of pesto and freeze it. When exposed to air, cut basil leaves will darken, so don’t keep large quantities out in the fridge.

Workshops

We have lots of workshops planned for the rest of the year. The schedule is still being worked out, but topics will include canning and preserving, sprouting, growing mushrooms, composting, and more. We will be posting an events page on the website with all the latest info.

Current Harvest

We are currently harvesting tomatoes, zucchini, cucumber, broccoli, basil, eggplant, and watermelon. Coming later this month will be sweet corn, okra, and lettuce.

Where does the food go? All volunteers are encouraged to take home some food, and we donate the rest to a soup kitchen, Martha’s Kitchen. Soon we will be selling food at our farmstand at the park, too.

Get Involved

Visit our Get Involved page for directions and details.

Sundays

10am – 12:30: Work

12:30 – 1:30: Potluck Lunch

Wednesdays

2:30pm – 5:30pm: Work

Tuesdays and Fridays

8:30am – 10am: Harvest Time (entire harvest will be donated to Martha’s Kitchen)

Committees

Workdays are a big part of what we do at Veggielution, and there is also a lot more that goes on behind the scenes. Much of this work gets done by our 4 committees: Farming, Community Outreach, Resource Development, and Education. These committees are made up of volunteers who who have specialized skills, or who want to learn how to get things done. Click here to learn more about each committee.