Discover This!

Photo credit: Gary McGivney

“Some kids have never seen what a real tomato looks like off the vine. They don’t know where a cucumber comes from. And that really affects the way they view food. So a garden helps them really get their hands dirty, literally, and understand the whole process of where their food comes from. And I wanted them to see just how challenging and rewarding it is to grow your own food, so that they would better understand what our farmers are doing every single day across this country and have an appreciation for … that American tradition of growing our own food and feeding ourselves.”

–Michelle Obama

 You are helping us to accomplish our goals. We are teaching students of all ages about where, their food comes, and how their choices affect themselves, their environment and their community.  Now, here is how you can help us make this possible again in 2014.

Yesterday, I celebrated the first of three Thanksgiving dinners we will be feasting on this year. We shared a wonderful meal with our best college friends and all our kids. I am always blown away by how quickly a table full of food, that took two days to prepare by three women, can be consumed. This year my good friend Stephanie taught me how good green bean casserole and candied sweet potatoes can be when they are prepared with love from scratch. My contribution was completely centered on the produce that the Farm brought to market this weekend. I made brussels sprouts with bacon and pomegranate seeds, a green salad, and mmmmmmm apple pie. The holidays are upon us!

Mar Vista Elementary 5th graders plant Fava Beans

For LEFDP this means I am working hard on the end of year report to share with you next month, Peter is sewing cover crops and strawberries with our year round students and preparing to step up as our new Education Coordinator, Grace is wrapping up the fall tour season and planning her next steps as she prepares to move on from working with LEFDP, and you, I imagine, are buying gifts, preparing special family meals and hopefully. . . planning your end of year gifts.

This year LEFDP is partnering with the Monterey Peninsula Foundation on its Birdies for Charity program, which means LEFDP gets a 20% match on all of the funds we raise from November 1^st, 2013 through February 28^th, 2014.  Between now and the end of the year LEFDP hopes to raise $5000 to teach 600 kids how to make and grow healthy food choices during our spring 2014 tour season. And it gets better; we are kicking off this fund drive with a matching contribution from our Board of Directors.  This group of amazing folks have created $1500 in matching funds to get this drive underway.

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Please consider making LEFDP programs available to as many local youth as possible by making a contribution today. Our board will double your contribution and the Monterey Peninsula Foundation will match it all 20%, so your dollars can go even further to make farm fresh, healthy snacks and learning available to our community!

 In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
-William Blake

I created this recipe last week when I woke up for the first time this season and didn’t want to get out of bed because it was too cold! The first cold snap of the season makes me a little nostalgic for summer, but also makes me excited for the seasons to change.

Curry always warms me up AND cheers me up when I’m feeling a little blue.

My favorite creations usually come from the necessity to use things in my fridge.  I like to call these “stone soup” recipes.  Right now we have an abundance of squash and cauliflower on the farm (along with plenty of other goodies) so I decided to create something warm and fragrant and cozy for dinner.  I used a delicata squash because I had one that needed to be eaten, but you could use whatever type of squash your heart desires!

While I was prepping my curry, my roommate and a couple of her couple friends came home and I got to feed them as well which is one of my favorite things to do!

Needless to say, this curry warmed my body and my soul just like I expected!

Jessica also mentioned a delicious looking recipe in her blog post. If you would like the recipe, click here: http://www.babble.com/best-recipes/roasted-brussels-sprouts-with-bacon-pomegranate-2/

Photo by: Lady Locavore Blog

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tblsp olive oil
• 1/2 quart chicken or veggie broth
• 1 delicata squash, cubed (cut in half, slightly steamed and scooped from its skin)
• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 large carrot (cut in half and chopped)
• 1/2 large head of cauliflower
• 2 cups chard (washed, roughly chopped)
• 1 can coconut milk
• red pepper flakes
• curry powder
• tumeric
• paprika
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 cups of uncooked brown rice
• 4 cups water

Directions:

1. Bring water to a boil, add rice and reduce to a simmer, cover and monitor as you cook the rest of your meal
2. Chop yellow onion
3. KIDS! Crush garlic
4. Saute onions and garlic in large pot/pan
5. KIDS! Add broth and bring to a simmer
6. KIDS! Scoop out squash
7. Cube squash and potatoes and add to pot
8. Cut up carrot and cauliflower and add to pot
9. KIDS! Wash chard and tear into bite sized pieces and add to pot
10. KIDS! Add coconut milk and spices
11. Cook until squash and potatoes are soft
12. Serve over brown rice
13. Enjoy!

When I am leading a farm tour and start talking about the seasons on the farm, I always tell the kids, “spring is for planting, summer is for growing, fall is for harvesting, and winter is for sleeping”. Obviously this is a very simplified version of the seasons on the farm, and  all of those activities are happening year-round, but I think it helps to have a basic idea to go on when introducing the CSA model to young’uns.

Right now we are heading into the “sleeping” season on the farm.  It is very clear when you look at our garden and fields that we will be hibernating very soon.  With the last few farm tours of the season we have been planting fava beans–which are a cover crop–to hold the soil in place and return nitrogen to the beds which is used by other crops during the growing seasons.

We are also prepping our strawberry field which is a quintessential late fall activity.  This means a lot of grumbling and wrestling with T tape and plastic on our end to insure that the berries are nestled safely in the ground before winter comes.  We are very grateful to the farm for their help with this difficult task.

As we move into the winter, our search for a new Program Assistant will begin as Peter moves into the Coordinator role, and Grace moves on to travel and explore the world!

If you are interested in applying for this position, please see the “Farm Feats” post by Jessica!

“Dirt made my lunch, dirt made my lunch, thank you dirt, thanks a bunch for my salad, my sandwich, my milk and my munch, cause dirt, you made my lunch!”  

This chorus can be heard echoing across the fire circle as Kim Woodland and her husband Doug “Dirt” Greenfield, finish up a farm tour with Soquel PENS.

Soquel PENS (Parent Education Nursery School) is a small non-profit co-op preschool where Kim teaches children and their parents together.  Doug one of the four local stars of the Banana Slug String Band which produced such hits as “Dirt Made My Lunch”, “Banana Slug” and “Roots, Stems and Leaves”.  Growing up in Santa Cruz, I have to say that it is pretty cool to have such legends on the Discovery Program’s board of directors.

Through out the tour, Kim and Doug act out skits, sing songs and find teachable moments all over the Discovery Garden.

Doug and Kim have been running farm tours for Soquel PENS in the spring and fall for the last few years.  Their teaching styles and songs are great for a young outdoor educator like me to observe and the families on the tours benefit from their enthusiasm as well!

To check out my favorite Banana Slug String Band album, click here: http://bananaslugs.bandcamp.com/album/dirt-made-my-lunch

Winner of Best Apple Pie, Lydia Espinosa

We had a great Pie Contest at this year’s Harvest Festival. Our panel of judges was made up of 5 lucky raffle winners, who got to taste a dozen different pies.

The most competitive category this year, with seven pies contending, was Best Apple Pie. This category was won by our youngest entrant, 8 year old Lydia Espinosa. Also competing in this category were the winners of Best Crust, a Caramel Apple Pie by Maribel Delgado, and Most Beautiful Pie, a gorgeous Apple Tart prepared by a mystery contestant. If that was your Apple Tart please let us know. We have a tee-shirt or hat for you.

The Judges Prepare

Great pies must be a Delgado Family tradition because Best Pumpkin Pie was won by Maribel’s sister, Rosa Delgado for her Pumpkin Cream Cheese Pie. Finally, we had another mystery winner, the only entrant for Best Dietary Restriction Pie, a vegan, gluten-free Acorn Squash and Pear Pie.

Congratulations to all of our winners and to the Judges, who had a hard job. We can not wait for next year’s contest and expect our reigning champions will have some stiff competition.

Most Beautiful

Beginning November 1^st, the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program will receive a 20% match from the Monterey Peninsula Foundation for 100% of donations made through the Birdies for Charity program. All of the money raised will pay for transportation and field trip fees for 600 local, under served students to learn to eat and live well through hands-on activities in the organic fields of Live Earth Farm during the spring tour season. When LEFDP raises at least $1,000 from 15 different donors by December 31^st, we will qualify to earn up to $50,000 more through the Chevron Shoot-Out Qualifier. Additionally, if LEFDP raises the most money during the month of February, we will receive $1,000 in “Bonus Bucks” through the program

From Friday, November 1^st, 2013 through Friday February 28^th, 2014. The Live Earth Farm Discovery Program invites the community to make their contributions go 20% further. From April through June of 2014, LEFDP will teach 600 kids how to make and grow healthy food choices. Every penny raised through the Birdies for Charity program will afford more students the chance to plant a seed, make a healthy, seasonal snack, and enjoy a morning learning in the organic fields of Live Earth Farm.

Martin is a 3^rd grader at Ann Soldo Elementary student who visited Live Earth Farm in the fall of 2013. During the opening circle he asked, “How do you make an apple?” When Martin left the farm that afternoon he had learned the life cycle of an apple, picked one, ate it and learned why it was a healthy snack choice; he made cider and completed the cycle by feeding the leftover mash to the chickens.  Through these activities Martin not only learned that apples grow on a trees, he learned basic nutrition, and how he and his food choices affect his social and ecological communities.
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Through LEFDP’s farm-based nutrition programs local, under served youth build confidence in learning to be active caretakers of themselves, their community and their environment.  This is why the Live Earth Farm Discovery Program hosts 20 farm field trips each spring for local youth.

The LEF Discovery Program aims to raise $5000 by the end of the year. With the Birdies for Charity 20% match, this will become $6000 for local nutrition and organic farming education programs for the children of the Pajaro Valley, who suffer disproportionately from childhood obesity, malnutrition, and diabetes.

Birdies for Charity, a program coordinated by the Monterey Peninsula Foundation, is a unique way for nonprofits to raise more funds through the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament. Since the program began in 2007, Birdies for Charity has helped Northern California charities raise over $2.2 million. The program runs in conjunction with the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, which takes place February 3-9, 2014. Donations to LEFDP can be made through February 28, 2014 at:

https://events.r2it.com/birdies/r.aspx?site=ATTPebbleBeach&charity=TheLiveEarthFarmDiscoveryProgram

I have a sinus infection that won’t go away.  I have tried every natural cure I can think of: netti pot, tea, sleep, ginger, wellness pills, hydration–you name it!

This weekend I was feeling particularly miserable, and was scrolling through a few of my favorite cooking blogs looking for an inspiring dinner recipe.  Being fall, everyone is incorporating squash into their recipes.  I read a couple of uninspiring butternut squash soup recipes, and then came across an interesting one on my favorite blog, Eat Live Run.

The recipe called for butternut squash and lentils, and since lentils are not my favorite thing to cook with, I decided to create a hybrid recipe between the butternut squash soup recipe, and Jenna’s carrot and ginger soup recipe.  They both looked so inviting, and an added bonus was that I got every veggie I needed to make this recipe from the farm!

It was amazing! It was surprisingly sweet and spicy (probably from the tomatoes and ginger) and it was one of the only things that made my sinuses feel better!

This recipe is easy, delicious, and if your family is starting to sniffle, it might just be the cure!

 Curried Butternut Squash, Carrot and Tomato Soup

serves 4

• 1 butternut squash (about 3 lbs), peeled and cubed
• 1 cup carrots (chopped)
• 1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 medium sized yellow onion, chopped
• 1 15-oz can diced tomatoes (I used 5 fresh tomatoes)
• 1 T fresh ginger, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp cayenne (or to taste)
• cilantro to garnish

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pot over medium high heat. Once hot, add the onion and saute for about five minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent.
2. Add the ginger and garlic and continue to cook for three more minutes, stirring often. Add the squash.
3. Add the can of diced tomatoes, red lentils, chicken stock, salt, cayenne and curry powder. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for twenty minutes, until lentil and squash are tender and cooked through.
4. Carefully transfer hot soup to a blender and
5. KIDS! Push the button! Process until smooth. Season with more salt if needed. Top bowls with fresh chopped cilantro right before serving.