Bluebird CSA

Friday, September 21, 2012

Fall greens are back!


Freshly harvested vegetables and pastured pork for you.  See you at market in Morganton and Conover today!

This week’s garden harvest-raised using 100% organic methods-no chemical fertilizer, herbicides, pesticides, or fungicides.  Hooray for poison free food!

The cooler weather has brought the return of crops that we haven’t enjoyed since spring.  Kale, swiss chard, arugula and baby lettuce mix are back!  But now we get to enjoy these same greens with some of the lingering flavors of summer-red peppers, basil and tomatoes are still around!

Kale- We have been sautéing the kale with red peppers.  Served with some sausage or bratwurst mmmmm…  This week we have all three of our favorite types of kale, tender red Russian, heirloom lacinato (dinosaur kale) and traditional full bodied curly kale.

A tender favorite-red russian kale

Swiss Chard- a great addition to late summer mixed vegetable dishes.  Use in place of spinach for spinach and rice stuffed sweet peppers or in a tomato sauce served with pasta.

Swiss chard in neat rows.  Quick get a photo before the weeds take over!


Arugula- Fresh salads! How about some red pepper with the peppery arugula?

Radishes-delicious, crisp, and with the right amount of bite French breakfast radishes (sorry a smaller harvest means they will only be available in Morganton this week-more to come though)

Lettuce Mix- Tender and buttery baby lettuce mix. Mix with arugula.

Cherry tomatoes- little gems of sunshine. Intense flavors.  Yellow, red, gold, black-purple tomatoes.

Basil! Time to make pesto. The clock towards the frost is ticking. Only 3 more weekends til a frost is likely. I like to freeze my pesto in pint freezer bags.  You can also freeze it in ice cube trays and then store in a freezer bag. Oh, the basil. The aroma of summer! 

Bell Peppers, Sweet Bell and Italian Frying Peppers- no synthetic chemicals.  Red and ripe! So sweet and ripe. Amazing raw or cooked.

The fall garden area with the tomato hoops in the background


Pasture Raised Pork:

Remember, hiding in our coolers are all cuts of our delicious forest/pasture raised pork.  We feed the hogs certified organic grain so you know that not only is the animal healthy and happy but it is also eating a chemical free, GMO-free diet.  Why should we feed our animals something we would rather not eat?  By feeding only certified organic grains to all our animals, hogs, layer hens, and meat chickens we help to support more diverse, environmentally sustainable organic farms.

Try the sausages: This week we recommend any of our sausages Italian, Bratwurst, or Country Sausage, as a great pairing with the fresh greens coming into season.  Or perhaps you need to get out to the grill just a few more times this fall with some Spare ribs, or Pork Chops.  

A pictures worth a thousand words

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Wet, rainy greens harvesting


The greens are officially here!  The past few weeks we've had a little bit of arugula at market.  But this Saturday we'll have a more full selection.  Kale, Swiss Chard, Arugula, and baby Lettuce mix.  Hooray for fall greens!

Back when it was sunny-some pretty new hens!


Rain, eh? I’m sure you know that nice gentle rain once a week is preferred over 5 inches of rain in 3 days.  The fields are flooded with standing water.  The animals are hunkered down to stay dry and warm. The pathways in the garden are filled with slurpy mud that sticks to your boots.  Sheets of rain approached the vegetable field this morning. I saw (Marie) the solid sheet of rain hit the far hill and ran for cover, abandoning the Swiss Chard.  Stubborn ole’ William kept harvesting, thinking it would let up. Nope. The rain got harder.  So while I was harvesting cherry tomatoes inside the cozy, dry hoophouse, William was outside in the rain.  People live in monsoons all over the world right? When we went to the other farm to harvest the much needed vegetables for your boxes, we both thought that the rain would let up for a few hours.  When the rain didn’t let up, we kept harvesting.  We needed the veggies for tomorrow, so slogging in the muddy field it was.
And through all of that, my feet stayed dry in my wonderful Muck boots.  It wasn’t until I got into town and walked through several inches of water that one of my feet got a little soggy.  Apparently one of my boots has a giant 3 inch crack in the sole that only leaks when I step in standing water, not when I stand in mud.
Nothing like strong monsoon days to help you remember to be thankful for dry roofs and clothing!

It all comes together, sheep and chickens grazing cover crop in a fallow vegetable area.  Food, fertilizer, and multi-species grazing!  All under the watchful eye of our livestock guard-Tazzy

Friday, September 7, 2012

Greetings from Bluebird Farm,
See you at the Morganton and Conover Farmers’ Markets tomorrow (Saturday) until noon.

Attention! Attention! We have baskets of freshly harvested yummy arugula!  I think it is time for arugula, watermelon chunks, chopped red peppers, and a drizzle of sweet white balsamic vinegar...Cheers to green salads once again!

Sweet Red Peppers, 
These peppers want to be served with our Sweet Italian sausage, basil, fresh cherry tomatoes, and a nice pasta or polenta!


Pastured Pork- We have a good supply of pastured pork…
Mild Country Sausage, Hot Country Sausage, Sweet Italian Sausage, Bratwurst Sausage, Ground Pork, Thick Pork Chops, Spare Ribs, fresh bacon(uncured.)
Limited supply of boneless ham roasts and shoulder roasts.

This week’s garden harvest
Arugula- fresh greens again
Cherry tomatoes- little gems of sunshine. Intense flavors.  Yellow, red, gold, black-purple tomatoes.
Basil! Time to make pesto. The clock towards the frost is ticking. Only 5 more weekends til a frost is likely. I  like to freeze my pesto in pint freezer bags.  You can also freeze it in ice cube trays and then store in a freezer bag. Oh, the basil. The aroma of summer! 
Bell Peppers, Sweet Bell and Italian Frying Peppers- no synthetic chemicals.  Red and ripe! So sweet and ripe. Amazing raw or cooked.
Jalapenos and Hungarian Hot Peppers- Spice it up.

Hot Jalapeno pepper time!


Pastured Chicken- Free range on grass pastures, fed certified organic grains. Flavorful and tender.
-Packs of 2 leg quarters and 2 wings
-We won’t have more whole chickens until our next flock is ready on October 10th. Stock up at in October; it will be the last flock of the year, and we won’t have any of our chicken in our freezer this winter.  We will take orders for chickens in mid September. (next week)
Pastured Free Range Eggs- The hens will soon be back in the bottomland pasture with their sheep friends and guard dog.  The littlest piggys will have to say goodbye for now to their old friends the hens.
All our animals are fed certified organic grains.



Sweet Italian Basil- It's time to make pesto.