"Everything that grows holds perfection but a little moment."
- William Shakespeare

What’s in the standard share:

... and if you have an extra-fruit option:

Strawberries, raspber-ries and Sungold cherry tomatoes!

CALENDAR


Aug 8, 9, 10 - Children’s Mini Camp
Friday evening to noon Sunday

Sat. Sep 20 - Fall Equinox Celebration
3pm - 9pm
with the Banana Slug String Band!

Sat. Oct 26 Halloween Pumpkin Palooza
all day.
the Banana Slug String Band will play here too!

JULY MEMBERSHIP DRIVE: We still have 30 CSA shares available to meet our projected membership for this year. If everyone can think of one person or family in their community who would enjoy trying a share, I am sure we’ll meet our goal for the season. Thank you for your support, and please contact us if you have any ideas on how to increase our outreach within your community. – Farmer Tom

Children's Mini Camp
7pm Friday Aug. 8th to Noon Sunday Aug. 10th
Mini Camp is around the corner and we are ready to receive registrations for this year! Like last year, we will limit this event to around 12 families, so be sure to sign up soon if you want to participate. The journey starts on Friday evening, August 8th, with a potluck at around 7pm. The first evening is a time to relax into the peacefulness of the farm and to set up tents around the fire. For the more adventurous ones, you can wander out and set tents hidden among the tomatoes and the flowers. Saturday is dedicated to harvesting and cooking together everything edible on the farm for our lunch and dinner. As you can guess this goal is at the same time ambitious and fun, bringing us to explore all corners of the land equipped with harvesting baskets (sized to the harvester's eating capacity!), water bottles and hats. It is a time to enjoy being together, to meet other CSA members, and to allow the children to set the pace... it is great fun and we hope that you can join us!!! Saturday evening is spent around the fire and if the mood is right and the moon shines upon us, we have in the past gone for night walks in the fields. Musicians are called to duties, so bring your guitars, drums or flutes, and don't be shy with your voice!! Sunday morning is leisurely and may be spent making and eating breads with berries.

Somewhere along the journey, we will try to give space to some artistic activities so that both children and adults may express some of the many earthly impressions that continuously feed our senses on the farm. Visits to the farm animals (chickens, goats and pony) is a must to make sure that no living creature is left out of the party! Also after a haaaard day of harvesting, be prepared to jump in the pool!

Special farm projects that we are considering for Mini Camp weekend are: re-vamping "Toasty," our wood-fired bread oven (this would involve a lot of playing with dirt!), making drums, giving Peanut (the pony) his once-a-year bath and "beauty" treatment (if sunny), identifying, drawing and/or collecting leaves of fruit trees (with some fruit tasting along the way naturally), pizza making (if Toasty is not re-vamped), making jam, or, any other ideas? If you are signing up for the camp and want to do a project, please let us know!

The cost is $40 per adult and $20 per child with a maximum of $100 per family, and includes all the meals except the Friday evening pot-luck. If you want to accompany your meals with a glass of beer or wine, please bring it with you as we will not provide any alcohol. Register with Constance at (831) 763 2340 to reserve your place and to give your input. We are always looking for ways to make our farm events an expression of the community's inspiration. See you soon...... Constance.

Member to Member Forum
(from Sara and Charles Limbach of Prunedale.) We have been getting a box of vegetables from Tom since my oldest was three. He is now almost ten. Back then, my husband and I had to really work to get through a box. Now our three kids do a pretty good job of helping us out, but getting kids to eat vegetables can be tricky. Here are a few tips I've come up with over the years:

The hardest part of getting kids to eat anything new is the mental attitude - getting over the "I don't like that" idea. Once they have decided that "green is good" the possibilities are endless. My two main techniques during this phase are "Disguise" and "Distraction."

For "Disguise," the food processor is key. Cook up all those greens or zucchini or whatever you are trying to get rid of and slip some into everything. Of course soup works great, but my kids won't eat soup so I have to get more creative. Most kids can be convinced to eat pesto, so that is a good way to start. This summer when the basil is plentiful, start making lots of fresh pesto (not the oily store-bought kind). Put in lots of cheese and pine nuts. Once you've got them hooked, start slipping in other green things. They'll never even notice. Once they don't mind "green," you can have green potatoes, green rice, green sauce on meat, etc. I made a great concoction of greens, lots of garlic, cream and spices which works well on chicken, rice or pasta.

With "Distraction," you keep things interesting by using foods you know they like, and which help to sweeten up otherwise not so interesting food. We use things like pineapple, raisins, dried cranberries, toasted almonds, coconut, pine nuts, cashews, orange slices, peanut butter and frozen corn. Don't be afraid to use them liberally at first; they are all pretty healthy foods (even if they are sweet), and once you've gotten the kids hooked you can slowly cut back. Some of our favorite combinations are chard with raisins and pine nuts; pureed greens with coconut milk, curry, coconut and toasted almonds; broccoli with peanut sauce (peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and molasses); beets with a sauce made from orange juice concentrate and ginger. A friend highly recommends chard with pineapple and peanut butter! And of course fresh fruits and nuts go well in salads.

Another good idea is to include the kids in the preparation process. It gives them "ownership." "Do you like the salad I made, Dad?" My son has taken an interest in making salad dressings and will always eat salad when he's made the dressing. Just remember, the "Disguise" technique doesn't work so well with them in the kitchen though.

Well, good luck and happy eating! - the Limbach Family

Ordering Almonds or Goat Cheese
In both cases, contact the seller directly to place your order and to pay (do not order through Live Earth Farm). We will deliver your order (usually) the following week with your share.

From Anderson Almonds, a certified organic, small, family-owned and operated farm, you can get almonds or almond but-ter. Almonds are available raw, roasted, or roasted and salted. Almond butter comes in 15 oz. jars. Prices: 5 lbs. almonds + 1 jar almond butter, $32; Almonds only (5 lbs.), $25. Almond butter only, $10, or a 6-pak of jars for $32. A case (25 lbs.) of almonds (raw only) is $120. Contact Mele (rhymes with 'jelly') Anderson at (209) 667-7494 or go to their website at www.andersonalmonds.com.

From Summer Meadows Farm, just across the Pajaro Valley from Live Earth Farm, you can get raw goat milk chevre or ri-cotta, made fresh then frozen, and delivered (frozen) and left in a cooler at your pick-up site. Prices: either cheese is $6 for a half-pound, or get a half-pound a week for 4 weeks for $24. Supply is somewhat limited. Contact Lynn Selness at (831) 345-8033 to place your order, then mail your check to Summer Meadows Farm, 405 Webb Road, Watsonville, CA 95076.

Notes from Debbie’s Kitchen . . . . . . . . Have a recipe you’d like to share? Contact Debbie.

Here is a great recipe from member Mark Stevens of Saratoga. – Debbie

Beet and Gorgonzola Potato Salad
6 to 8 medium thin-skinned potatoes (such as Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn)
4 medium to large beets
1/3 lb. gorgonzola cheese
1 small red onion, fine dice

Dressing:
1/4 C olive oil
1/4 C red wine vinegar (7% acidity)
1-2 tbsp. horseradish
Dried thyme to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Roast potatoes and beets in oven at 425 degrees for 50-60 minutes (until soft when pierced). Let cool. Dice to bite size and mix with diced onion and gorgonzola cheese. Some people like to skin the beets (which you should only do after the roasting), which is quite messy, but has a nicer presentation. Prepare dressing, and toss. Can be served immediately, but flavors blend better if refrigerated overnight.

Mark's notes on variations: This is a very forgiving recipe. I like to keep the potato-to-beet ratio at about 2:1 in volume, but this is flexible. The red onion can be shallot (make sure the dice is quite fine), green garlic (which is very nice), baby leeks, green onion or anything with a bite. The beet stems can also be chopped fine and added for color and texture. Garlic is also a nice addition to the dressing. The gorgonzola can be replaced with any bleu cheese, or with feta, and the amount can be increased (how can you have too much cheese?).

Debbie's "Instant" Soft Strawberry Ice Cream
If you're like me and froze all those extra strawberries when we were up to our eyeballs in them, and now dinner's over and you're hankering for a quick dessert, this recipe is for you. And the best part is, you don't need an ice cream machine (just a food processor), and bam! boom! you got fresh homemade ice cream in a matter of minutes!

Chunk up some frozen strawberries (they're pretty hard, but not nearly as hard as ice cubes -- I just used a big chopping knife; remember to keep your fingers out of the way!). Put berry chunks into a food processor with a spoonful or two of sugar. Pour in some milk, buttermilk, yogurt, cream or water (for sorbet!), or heck -- I bet even a dessert wine or liquor would be good too! [I used a combination of buttermilk and 1% milk when I did it]. Process/pulse until berries start to break down (it'll be a little noisy until the pieces get smaller). With processor running, add a slow stream of additional liquid and process until thick and smooth (it should be the consistency of soft ice cream). It is now ready to eat – no cranking, no need to 'ripen' in the freezer. Woo-hoo!! – Debbie

*Click Here* for a link to a comprehensive listing of recipes from Live Earth Farm's newsletters going back as far as our 1998 season! You can search for recipes by key ingredient. Recipe site is updated weekly during the season.