Dee Creek Farm Locavore Delivery - 4.1.2010

Here's a list of all the tasty locally produced and grown goodies you can order from Dee Creek Farm's locavore delivery service this week:

Spring is here! Eggs are coming in like there's no tomorrow, so please be sure to recycle ALL egg cartons at deliveries. Even if they're not ours, several of the other farmers can still use them. Remember, too, that Egg CSA's are due this week. We also have room for more, if interested. Bulk up for the weekend celebrations!

Rainbow Egg Farm would like to start their own egg CSA (reduced rate, committed - not 'sold out', etc) out at their place in East Vancouver. If you're interested, I can forward your interest on to them. Their hens are raised with no soy added to their diet. We'll continue supplying their eggs through deliveries as long as orders are up for them!

Maple syrup still won't be here by Thursday. Sorry for making you wait. The anticipation is killing me, too, as I've licked my pint dry. Literally, with my fingers. I couldn't help myself. Soon, tho'! I had my Maine friend bump the order up a smidgen, too, so there should be a little extra if you missed ordering. Wait for details!

Check out the great deal from Nature's Choice on fresh mushrooms & wild greens. Maybe now would be a good time to enter our recipe photo contest (which includes a pound of shiitakes), as per my most recent blog entry. Please try to e-order befor Thursday at 11am. That's been working really well! ~S

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Eggs, $5/dozen
We have LOTS of eggs this week: Dee Creek Farm, Creative Outlet (certified naturally grown) and Rainbow Egg Farm (soy free). Order fast for first dibs. DCF eggs are generally sold out to our "Egg CSA-ers" -- if you want onboard, I can give you more info and get you started!

Dee Creek Farm Cheeses & Deliciousnesses, from start to finish
Fresh Chevre, $5/each - Soft, spreadable goat cheese.
Original, 4.0 oz, Garlic & Chive, Provence, Black Pepper - 3.50oz.
Frozen Chevre, $4/each -Soft, spreadable goat cheese. Frozen from Saturday Market.
Garden Feta, $5/each - Aged (sharp), Pasteurized, block or crumbles 4oz.
Cajeta (caramel topping/dip), $5/each - Creamy caramel - made with goat milk! In coffee, on ice cream, dipping apples... Mmm!

Local Lamb - from Reister Farms
$8/pkg of feta mint brats (4 to a pkg)
$7/lb. lamb burger
$8/lb. boneless lamb roasts (2 to 4 lb roasts)
$30 - Individual size includes the following:
1lb. kabob meat, 2 loin chops, 1lb. burger, 1 pkg garlic feta brats
$65 - Small family size ( 2 to 3 people) includes the following:
1 boneless shoulder roast, 4 loin chops, 1 lbs burger, 1lb. steaks, 2 pkg garlic/feta brats
$100 - Large family size includes the following:
1 boneless roast, 6 loin chops, 2lb. burger, 2lb. lamb steaks, 2 pkgs garlic feta brats
This is from Reister Farms in Washougal, and includes USDA processing and packaging. Checks for this will need to be made out to them separately, as possible.

Raw Local Honey, $12/quart, $18/half-gallon - from Honey House Farm
Raw, local, delicious honey in glass jars. Yum!

Home Roasted Coffee - from Rainbow Egg Farm
Raven's Blend Espresso - Dark roast. An exceptional blend for lattes and cappuccinos, $6/half-pound
Nyeri Decaf - Bold intensity, sweet, notes of fruit, a light bodied coffee to enjoy anytime, $6/half-pound
Kona Paradise - 100% premium. Complex blend of fruit, floral aromas, choclate, cararmal & citrus. $12.50/half-pound
If we get enough orders to make their trip worth coming down, we'll get some coffee in the mix. Rainbow Egg Farm's very own special coffee varietal selected from the finest beans, and roasted weekly at the farm.

Wild & Naturally Preserved Eats - from Nature's Choice -- Buy any FULL pound of fresh mushrooms & receive one fresh wild green FREE!
Mushrooms, Fresh (1/4# bags)
Shiitake $3.00
Maitake $4.00
Wild Morels $6.50
Snow Bank False Morel $3.50
Mushrooms, Dried (2oz. bag)
Special Soup Blend, $10.00
Berries & Nuts
Frozen Huckleberries $9.00 per pound
Frozen Elderberries $6.00 per pound
Wild Mountain Huckleberry Jam $5.00/jar (incl's sugar)
Dried, Peeled, Cleaned Chestnuts $3.50 per 1/4# bag
Wild Greens
Watercress $3.00
Siberian Miners Lettuce $3.00
Fiddlehead Ferns $3.00
Check out www.natureswildharvest.com for more info on these great wild gatherers, and how to use their products.

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To order, click here and specify what you would like.
Pay by cash. If necessary, checks can be made to "Dee Creek Farm"
**BRING YOUR OWN BAG**
We fill pre-orders first, then it’s first come, first served!
We do mostly pre-orders at deliveries, rather than Farmers Market style.
Please help us in this by pre-ordering what you can!

Summer & Spark
Email: summer (at) deecreekfarm (dot) com
Farm Phone: 360-225-9711
Cell Phone: 360-903-6956 (no service at the Farm)
Blog: http://summersperspective.wordpress.com

News From Hunters' Greens CSA Farm

This season feels like we're getting off to a solid early start. The garlic crop looks great, more than a foot tall and virtually weed free since we weeded in January. The dry weather has allowed us to work up the fields for the spring vegetables, while we leave cover crops to continue growing on the summer vegetable ground. The first planting of peas is about an inch high, while the second planting is just poking shoots through the surface. We've planted some short rows of Walla Walla onions, and seeded two long rows of the sweet Mokum carrots. We've never got carrots in this early before. Carrots need well worked soil, and it is usually too wet to do that this early. The catalog suggests around April 1, so we fudged it a little.

Another reason for the early start is the inspiration that having another farmer on the property has provided. Jim has always envied how early Brenda Millar of Rosemattel CSA gets crops harvested, and this year we get to watch it happen. Brenda's passion seems to really be for growing things, so she is chomping at the bit the minute the sun peeks out. She already has all the ground we've allotted her tilled up with her little "pony" tiller, and is looking for spaces to interplant between the rows of existing crops. Brenda is a much more savvy composter than we are, and uses the compost as a mulch to retain water, reduce compaction and feed her plants (which explains the lovely tilth in her garden beds). Jim has never been much of a mulcher and tills organic matter into the soil, prior to planting. It will be interesting to watch our two systems side by side.

It is of course the time of anxiously waiting for new members to sign up. We're approaching half full with two months to go.

So that's the news from the farm. We'll keep you posted.

Diane & Jim Hunter, greens@huntersgreens.com
Hunters' Greens CSA, http://huntersgreens.com
Brush Prairie, WA. (360) 256-3788

Hunters' Greens CSA 2010 Shares Available NOW!

Dear Folks,

Just a quick note in case you might be interested in our 2010 Community Supported agriculture shares. Details are at huntersgreens.com. This year's shares are $450. The winter share will be $100. A couple changes from the past are that we no longer deliver to Fisher's Landing and our delivery hours in uptown Vancouver start an hour earlier at 5:00 p.m. Wednesdays.

Hoping all is well with you.

Diane & Jim Hunter, greens@huntersgreens.com
Hunters' Greens CSA, http://huntersgreens.com
Brush Prairie, WA. (360) 256-3788

Weekend Gardening & Composting Classes

Master Composter/Recycler Composting/Vermicomposting Workshop:
Learn how to turn organic yard and kitchen waste into a rich garden amendment. Registration for people 5 and older is open for family-friendly wormshops. Participants will build a worm bin to take home. $20 per family fee covers cost of bin. Pre-payment by check is required. 360-882-4567 or http://www.columbiasprings.org/mcr. n 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Columbia Springs, 12602 S.E. Evergreen Highway, Vancouver. n 10 a.m. to noon April 24, Columbia Springs, 12602 S.E. Evergreen Highway, Vancouver. n 10 a.m. to noon June 5, CASEE, 11104 N.E. 149th, Brush Prairie.

Vegetable Gardening in Clark County:
9:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday at Joan Stout Hall, Clark College. Gardeners wanting to get a head start on spring gardening will benefit from this class, which covers soils, fertility, and warm- and cool-season vegetables. The amount of space needed, chemicals and weed control will be discussed. Learn how to set up a planting calendar and find out which vegetables and seed catalogs are best for this area. Fee $35. Click here for more info.

Thinking Green about Food Clark College Cooking & Wine School Open House at Columbia Tech Center

Clark College Tech Center
18700 S.E. Mill Plain Boulevard
Vancouver, WA
March 27, 2010, 10am-2pm

MAP

In a state-of-the-art kitchen in a facility built to LEED standards, Clark College’s Cooking and Wine School is taking The Next Step in supporting environmental sustainability through a focus on community supported agriculture, also known as locavore.

The school will host a a sustainability and locavore resource fair on Saturday, March 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. In addition to demonstrations on the hour, visitors will be able to talk to local farmers and learn about home composting and food preservation. The event is free and open to the public.

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Room 148
“Meet the Farmers” – a community supported agriculture fair featuring 10-12 local farmers who will provide information about their farms.
Master Composters Program – Columbia Springs Environmental Center
Vancouver “Farm Girls” – Information about food preservation at home
Kitchen Kaboodle – demonstrations of products to support home composting and food preservation

10 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Kitchen demonstrations

10 a.m.
“Panna Cotta” (an Italian dessert) – Chef Lucy Vaserfirer has associate degrees in culinary arts, as well as patisserie and baking, from Le Cordon Bleu at the Western Culinary Institute in Portland. She has also earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing. She is the author of the food blog, Hungry Cravings. Her first cookbook, Seared to Perfection, is scheduled to be published in 2010 by Harvard Common Press. She has served a private chef, cooking school chef at In Good Taste Cooking School in Portland, Ore. and store chef at Wild Oats Market in Lake Oswego, Ore.

11 a.m.
“Thai Salad Rolls & Spring Rolls” – Vivi Khamkeo, a native of Laos, formerly French Indochina, has spent years in France. She has operated both French and Thai restaurants in Laos and Vancouver.

Noon
“How to Roast Vegetables” – Southwest Washington Community Supported Agriculture (SWWACSA)

1 p.m.
“Fun with Gadgets” – Kitchen Kaboodle

Find more information here: http://www.clark.edu/cc/cooking/

Upcoming Seed Saving Workshop From The Seed Ambassadors & Adaptive Seeds - 5.16.2010

SEED SAVING AND SEED STEWARDSHIP: The Path to Locally Adapted Seed and True
Food Freedom

*May 16* - Instructors: Andrew Still & Sarah Kieeger of the Seed Ambassadors
Project <http://www.seedambassadors.org>and Adaptive
Seeds<http://www.adaptiveseeds.com>

*Workshop focuses:*

- -Why Save Seed: A profound act of social and ecological empowerment.
- -History of an Ancient Tradition
- -Seed Sovereignty and Food Freedom in a changing world
- -Willamette Valley as one of the best seed saving regions in the world.
- -Open Pollinated, Heritage/Heirloom, Hybrid and GMO
- -Sources: the importance of choice and diversity
- -Strategies: planning your garden for seed saving
- -Isolation: Crossers and Selfers
- -Population: Inbreeding and Outbreeding
- -Selection: Simple plant breeding for locally adapted seed
- -Harvest, Cleaning and Storage
- -Examples seed stewardship
- -Re-localizing a seed stewardship community

For all of the who, where, when. and how much follow the link to Sunbow Farm.

http://www.sunbowfarm.org/workshops.php

Spoken & Written Word Services Available From Local CSA Farmers

Hello Community Members!

On behalf of two local community supported agriculture farmers, we would like to present to you our public service outreach and article writing services at no charge! Seasonal eating on a local level is becoming more and more popular yet many folks do not know how to get in touch with the all of the options local csa farmers have to offer. We would like to share with your group/organization to illustrate a version of community supported agriculture and how that ties in to the farming viability of the Clark County areas your members may not be aware of.

Feel free to return this email or give us a call to find out how we would are able to tie in a monthly article for your monthly or quarterly newsletters and 20 minute presentation of what a CSA farm operation is. We will also include the details of efforts and benefits behind it all.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Sincerely,

Brenda Millar and Jim Hunter
Rosemattel's and Hunters Greens CSA Farmers
(360) 576-9767