"We milk the cow of the world, and as we do
We whisper in her ear, ‘You are not true.’"
– Richard Wilbur, quoted in "The Sacred Balance" by David Suzuki.

What’s in the standard share:

... and if you have an extra-fruit option:
Apples, pears and strawberries

CALENDAR

Sat. Oct 23rd
Fall Equinox Celebration AND Halloween Pumpkin Pallooza (combined)
3pm unitl dark

The Banana String Band will be playing!

Last month we joined a group of farmers, ecological landscapers, environmental advocates and the owner of Kelly's Bakery to start a small farmer’s market on the west side of Santa Cruz on Swift Street right on the premises of Kelly's new bakery. It only took 3 weeks after opening the market for a county inspector to walk in and let us know that our small, inspiring, and well-intentioned market still needs to follow rules and regulations, and bottom line, become a legitimate certified farmer's market or we'd be shut down. So as we met last week to decide on how to best jump through the legal hoops, we reviewed the group’s original guiding principles. One of them is that the market should be represented only by small, local, organic farmers and food vendors who are committed to promoting local and sustainable practices. As we explored what we meant by small and local, everyone had a slightly different interpretation. What's local for a fisherman is different for a farmer. Is 50 miles driving distance, or the waters of the entire west coast considered local? Maybe farmers within a watershed or state could still be considered local. Local could be the distance that's reasonable for both a customer or producer to travel to do business, or close enough for a consumer to have a sense of connection with the place and people where their product is produced.

Today, shopping locally is an environmental practice which for most of us would feel extremely restrictive. In the last few decades the whole globe has become our backyard, with a borderless economy where most of the products we buy are assembled in a dozen different countries. Much of our food – even that which could be grown next door – is trucked, shipped, and flown in from foreign soils. On average in this country the food we put on our table was transported 1400 miles. As long as energy is cheap and we believe our transportation system will always be available to us, we can assume that our current global economy will work just fine, but then again, it may not. When consumers are so far removed from producers, they have little consciousness of where the resources they consume are coming from, and what it costs environmentally to provide them.

Here in Santa Cruz (and in many other parts of the country) more self-reliance movements are starting to mushroom. When you go to local grocery stores, advertising is increasingly touting the geographic origin of the product, especially if it's local. With a sense of bioregionalism, economic borders would be redrawn based on watersheds, soil types, and climate regimes rather than the political boundaries we currently honor. An economy that suits the land would create a more ecological production system, where a diversity of producers would create a quilt, where each unique patch would be pulsing to its own rhythm, in sync with its own place. For more information on how to eat more sustainably, the Palo Alto-based Common Ground Organic Garden Supply and Education Center has published a pamphlet which lists a bunch of resources and a directory of stores, markets, restaurants, and community gardens. Their telephone number is 650-328-7756. Here in the Monterey Bay Area, the Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) is publishing (end of the year) a comprehensive "Regional Buy Local Resource Guide." As CSA members you already support local food and farming systems. Thank you, and keep spreading the word. - Tom

Next Season and "The Box"
Final word is, it looks like we’ll be packing our shares in boxes again next year. Input from many, many members combined with no reliable system for the ‘bulk’ alternative have led us to this conclusion. But watch this space next week for more details about next year’s CSA program. Be prepared to ‘get a jump’ on the season and the rates! Stay tuned...

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

A couple more recipes gleaned from library cookbooks... before they have to go back! – Debbie

Salad of Radicchio, Apple and Pistachio Nuts
from The New Vegetarian Epicure
[edited only very slightly!]
serves 4 to 6

1 lg. head of radicchio, or 2 small (1 lb.)
1 lg. or 2 medium crisp, tart/sweet apples
3 stalks celery
1/4 red onion
2 to 3 tbsp. fruity green olive oil
aged wine vinegar
salt
1/2 C lightly toasted shelled pistachio nuts
optional: 1 to 2 oz. coarsely grated Gruyere or provolone cheese

Wash the radicchio, tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces, and spin it dry in a salad spinner. Thinly slice the red onion.

Combine the radicchio, apple, celery, onion, and optional cheese in a large salad bowl. Drizzle on a little olive oil and toss. Everything should glisten, but oil should not be dripping off. Sprinkle on a modest amount of vinegar and a little salt and toss again. Taste, and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Mound the salad on plates and sprinkle some pistachio nuts on top of each serving.

Red Pepper Pesto
also from The New Vegetarian Epicure
[edited and added to]
makes about 1 pt. of intensely flavored spread

3 oz. sun-dried tomatoes
1 1/3 C chopped roasted sweet red peppers [see notes below on how to roast]
1/2 C Kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
1/3 C finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
1/3 C finely chopped fresh basil
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
fresh-ground black pepper to taste
salt if needed

Put the sun-dried tomatoes into a bowl and pour boiling water over them just to cover. Leave them to soak for 20 – 30 minutes. Finely chop roasted red peppers and combine with chopped Kalamata olives, the chopped fresh herbs, and the minced garlic.

Drain the tomatoes, reserving the water, and press them gently in a colander. Finely chop them and combine with the olive oil and vinegar.

Combine tomato mixture with the other ingredients, mix well, and taste. Grind in some black pepper if you like, and add some salt if needed (though probably the olives provide enough). If the pesto is too thick for your taste, moisten it with a few drops of the reserved tomato water until it is the consistency you like. The texture should be somewhere between thick pesto and soft paté.

To roast peppers: place them whole on a hot grill or under a broiler and turn them every few minutes, allowing to skin to blister and blacken more or less all over. Remove them to a brown paper or a plastic bag and close it up, allowing the peppers to ‘steam’ for about 15 minutes. When cool enough to handle, remove from bag and lay on a cutting board. Remove and discard blackened skin, cut off stem, slit open and scrape out seeds and membranes.

Sweet and Creamy Carrot Calzone
from "The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook"
[also slightly edited] makes 4 calzones

for dough:
1 tbsp. active dry yeast
2 tsp. sugar
1 C warm water (98 to 115 degrees)
2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 to 3 C unbleached all-purpose flour

for filling:
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1/2 C dried apricots
6 medium carrots, scrubbed and thinly sliced into rounds
1 bay leaf
1 C fresh orange juice
1 C nonfat ricotta cheese
1/2 C shredded Gruyere cheese
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of ground ginger
Cornmeal for dusting

In a large bowl, stir together water, yeast and sugar. Let rest until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Stir lightly, add salt and enough flour to make a dough that‘s soft and pliable, but not too sticky. Lightly flour a large, flat work surface, turn dough out and knead until smooth and elastic [think: consistency of your earlobe]. Clean out bowl, dry thoroughly, lightly oil it. Shape dough into a ball, place in bowl, cover with plastic wrap, set aside in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hr. 15 minutes.

Place onion, apricots, carrots and bay leaf in a medium saucepan. Add orange juice, plus as much water as necessary to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Cover, lower heat to medium, and simmer until carrots and apricots are very soft, about 40 minutes. Check often, adding water as needed to prevent burning.

Remove from heat, drain off and discard liquid, and cool about 15 minutes. Discard bay leaf, transfer mixture to a food process or and puree. Add ricotta, Gruyere, cinnamon and ginger, and process until smooth.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. If you’re using a baking stone, put it in the center of the oven now. Sprinkle a rimless baking sheet or a baker’s peel with cornmeal.

Punch down the dough, turn it out onto floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll it out to a 7-inch circle. Place 1/4 of the filling in the center, and pat it down lightly, leaving a border of about 1 inch. Fold the top portion of the dough over the filling, as for a turnover. Wet your fingers and pinch the border to seal the calzone. Press a fork along the edge to complete the seal. Use the fork to puncture airholes in the top. Place on the prepared baking sheet, cover with a towel while you repeat the process for the other 4.

Let calzones rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Slide from baking sheet onto baking stone, or place baking sheet in the center of the oven. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Serve hot.

*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.