"What we do not love, we will not save." - Wendell Berry
This love, as Dennis Rivers proposes in her quote below, is a journey into our hearts...
"Reverence for life that lives within us; reverence for life that unfolds between us; reverence for life that surrounds and sustains us; rever-ence for life of the future; reverence for the source of all life."

What’s in the standard share:

... and if you have an extra-fruit option:
Apples, pears, pineap-ple guavas... and maybe strawberries!

CALENDAR

Last box of the season is Weds. Nov. 19th/Sat. Nov 22nd

Believe it or not, thanks to slugs, bugs and insects we actually grow healthier food. Most of you have seen all sorts of pecks and holes in your veggies, and the excuse has always been 'oh, this means it’s organic.' A peck, a hole, or a little blemish has always served as 'certification' to our customers that we are striking a balance with the creepy crawlies in the field. Recently though, curious ivory tower scientists are proving what organic farmers have said all along – that looks are deceiving, and it's what's inside that's good for you! According to studies by a food scientist at UC Davis, organic produce boasts up to 50% more antioxidants than conventionally grown produce. Turns out plants fight off insects and disease by naturally producing phytochemicals (plant chemicals) such as flavanoids to protect themselves – a process similar to the human immune system. What this means is that conventional crops which are doused with pesticides are not only laced with toxic chemicals, but also lack the antioxidants, because there is no pest pressure to induce the response! Veerrrry interesting. And although the concept may not work as a marketing strategy when I try to sell bok choi at the farmers' market which shows the clear battle marks of a successful fight against flea beetles, it is still a fun way to make people aware of their choices.

Mainstream organic: All of a sudden a type of farming which for the longest time seemed to have gone unnoticed (often considered 'below the radar' or 'fringe') hit the mainstream news. Last week's Time Magazine published an article about Community Supported Agriculture! I thought the article was well written, and gave a well-rounded overview of Community Supported Agriculture. It explained that CSAs "are not just about economics but something deeper: a sense of common good uniting those who plant and those who eat." One of the CSA members is quoted saying, "When you help the people who grow your food, it is spiritually as well as physically nourishing." To read an article about Community Supported Agriculture in Time Magazine shows we are living in exciting times, where changes are happening fast. The industrial culture – the world we were born into – is the world we know. However everywhere we look we see this world crumbling, almost on the brink of collapse. Of course the collapse of something we know and are familiar with is scary, and fills us with uncertainty. Fortunately, we have the ability to make choices that nurture life, that will not alienate, but rather move us closer to remembering that human beings are integral members of the Earth Community. For us farmers, feeling connected to the people we grow food for is what lies at the heart of Community Supported Agriculture, and confirms our efforts to respect and care for the larger community of life. – Tom

Notes from the Field
Winter arrived in a hurry. Cold and wet, we scrambled to lay our fields to rest by sowing our winter cover crop seeds. We worked hard Saturday and Sunday to beat the next rain, and we hope you'll understand that, although we were excited to offer you sweet corn last week, this turn in weather stopped it from maturing completely. So you will find that some of the ears are still a little young.

about our Gift Certificates and Early Registration
Both the Gift Certificates and Early Registration will help us greatly to continue a strong CSA program in 2004. As CSA members you are our very best advocates. We hope you agree that a CSA Gift Certificate is a wonderful and creative way to offer a nourishing and unique gift, and at the same time help us reach out and introduce CSA to our community. Also, if you know you want to be a member again next year, please take advantage of our early registration. You'll not only enjoy a discount, but also secure a confirmed spot when we start next March. This is the earliest we have ever started. Just think: fresh artichokes... the earliest strawberries... tender salad greens... hmmmm, do I need to keep enticing anyone? It is your commitment now that will help us purchase seed and plant your crops for the spring, so please sign up early! And if you didn't get a flyer for either the gift certificates or for early registration, we'll leave extra copies inside the back cover of your pick-up site binder. Or if you miss those, contact us and we'll send you one!

Goat Cheese Special
Lynn Selness of Summer Meadows Farm (our local provider of hand-crafted goat cheeses) has a special offer, for people who don't want to go without during our 'off' season. She has been making and freezing extra chevre, and says if kept frozen, it will keep well for at least 6 months without degrading. So if you want to stock up for the winter, she is offering it at $10/lb. (instead of $12), OR, the bonus discount of $45 for 5 lbs! Call Lynn at (831) 345-8033 to place your order soon, as there are only 3 weeks left to our season!

Also, a polite reminder from Lynn: she says, "PLEASE return jars!" Those of you who have been getting yogurt from her in glass quart jars... she needs them back for re-use. You should be returning them to her (leave them in the cooler where you pick up), not recycling them. Call her if you have questions.

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

Fellow member and friend Sue Burnham called me with the following recipe which uses several of this week's box ingredients. Sue is a frequent contributor, and always has insightful comments about her experience with a recipe, so I will include them along with the recipe. – Debbie

Beet Soup with 3 Legumes
modified slightly from a recipe in "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison

The original recipe called for dried beans and included all the instructions for cooking them, but Sue says she simply used canned, and doubled the quantities accordingly (i.e. cooked, beans are about twice the volume they are dried).

1 C canned kidney beans (save juice)
1 C chick peas (save juice)
1/3 C dried brown or green lentils
4 medium beets, peeled and diced (if they're small, use more)
2 C chopped beet greens or chard
1 bunch scallions, including the greens
2 C coarsely chopped spinach (Sue substituted more chard)
1 small bunch parsley, finely chopped

Garnish:
3 tbsp. butter
1 onion, cut into 1/2" 'squares'
1/4 tsp. tumeric
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 C chopped fresh mint (Sue says you can use 1/8 C dried, or a mix of each)
1/2 C plain yogurt

To make the soup: put beets, lentils, and 7 cups of water in a soup pot, bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer, partially covered, for 25 minutes. Add kidney beans and chick peas, plus the liquid from their cans, the beet greens, and 2 tsp. salt (Sue used only 1 tsp. and thought it was plenty). Cook for 5 minutes, then add scallions, spinach and parsley. Cook this just until spinach is wilted and still bright green, taste for salt, turn off heat.

To make garnish: sauté onion, spices and mint in the butter until the onions are soft.

To serve: place soup in bowls, top with a dollop of yogurt and a spoonful of the garnish mixture.

Additional comments from Sue: She says she added a little black pepper to the soup, but notes that the garnish is quite hot with the cayenne. She says the soup tastes 'Old World Italian.'

Since there's not a lot of room left (in the paper version of the newsletter), rather than a short recipe, let me refer you to some of my favorites from our online database, ones I would make with this week's ingredients (for you online folks, I just added the links so you can go there directly!):

<> North African Roasted Cauliflower I love this recipe! So much so I even took a picture and included it with the recipe. (note: you have to scroll down on the page -- it's the last recipe)

<> Pasta with Greens and Feta (this popular favorite is from 1998 – the was the first recipe from the first season I started doing recipes for the newsletter! It is also good without the pasta, just as a veggie side dish.

<> for potatoes, my favorite recipes (ones I make most often) are the Gnocchi, the Pasta with Clams (and potatoes and carrots and parsley), and the Pan-fried Garlic Breakfast Potatoes (scroll down – it's the 3rd recipe on the page). Although since we are getting corn, the Corn, Potato and Cheddar Chowder is reeeelllly yummy too...!

*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.