February 19, 2017

CSA member feature: Courtney and Kaila

February 19, 2017

Why did you join the Owl's Nest Farm CSA? We decided to join Owl's Nest Farm because of the location of the Petworth Community Market and the flexibility of the market share over a traditional CSA box. We loved knowing that our weekends would start off together, visiting familiar faces, and loading up on tasty, healthy veggies for the rest of our week.

What did you like about the Market CSA model? The market model was ideal for being able to have a CSA without having to worry about missing some weeks. It was also nice knowing we'd have the flexibility of selecting the items we took home. We still had the opportunity to try new vegetables from the farm, but could also avoid the things we used less.

What was your favorite fruit, veggie, and/or herb from the market stand this year? Spicy salad mix and all the tomatoes! We eat a lot of big salads and the variety of all the greens for salads was great to change things up a bit.

Tell us about any new veggies you tried in 2016. Pea shoots and ground cherries - nicknamed the "sultry tomato".

What tips do you have for folks who might be trying a CSA for the first time? The full-share was probably too large for the two of us, but we used the excess to load up on things we could prep and freeze for later. We had cubed butternuts, tomatoes sauces, and pre-made soups in the freezer and some strawberry, blackberry, and peach jam in the pantry.

Liz Whitehurst

February 13, 2017

CSA member feature: ari and andrew

Liz Whitehurst

February 13, 2017

Why did you join the Owl's Nest Farm CSA?

We joined because we love to eat homemade, healthy, delicious food. Ari is a vegetarian who loves to cook and Andrew maintains a special diet because of a health condition. We have fairly packed weekends, making it difficult for us to regularly visit the farmers markets in our neighborhoods. The CSA was a great solution because it guaranteed access to local produce every other week. As an added bonus, Spencer is a childhood friend of one of Andrew's roommates, so we were excited to support friends and their new business.

What was your favorite fruit, veggie, and/or herb from the CSA this year?

We loved everything, so it's hard to narrow down. The abundant tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers, ground cherries, garlic scapes, and pea shoots were always the first to go. The list of our favorites is very long!

Tell us about any new veggies you tried in 2016.

Ground cherries and garlic scapes. Both were a huge hit. Neither of us had tried them before. Andrew ate the ground cherries by the basketful. Ari loved putting garlic scapes in everything - eggs, pasta, and on pizza. A funny memory for us is trying to figure out how to eat the ground cherries. It took a few tries before we discovered that you had to peel off the paper outer shell first.

Please share your favorite recipe(s).

This is almost too hard to answer, because Ari loves to cook. Some of our favorites are Luisa Weiss's tomato basil pasta, Smitten Kitchen's zucchini and ricotta galette, pea shoot riscotto, Ina Garten's watermelon and tomato salad. But, our all-time favorite recipe, which is spectacular with fresh tomatoes, is this buttery tomato sauce.

What tips do you have for folks who might be trying a CSA for the first time?

The CSA took us out of our cooking comfort zone, which was awesome and daunting at the same time. Be open and flexible to trying new recipes. It was a lot of fun to experiment with greens we hadn't tried before (tatsoi being one). We turned to cookbooks, food blogs, and friends for advice about how to prepare things. We also figured out what items would last for a while (the greens) and which items we had to use right away (tomatoes). Having a strategy so food wouldn't go to waste was a learning curve for us, but really encouraged experimenting with new preparations and being creative with new recipes. Or, winging it, Andrew style.

Tell us about your unexpected CSA bonus!

The seedlings! Ari took several herbs and a tomato plant home. On her tiny front porch in Mt. Pleasant, she successfully kept everything alive. It was an unexpected treat to watch the seedlings bloom and produce fruit, and a success story for a decidedly not-green-thumb (what's the opposite of a green thumb?)!

Liz Whitehurst

January 31, 2017

CSA Member Feature: Will and Jen

Liz Whitehurst

January 31, 2017

Why did you join the Owl's Nest Farm CSA? My wife and I have known Spencer and Liz for years, so it was an easy choice!

What was your favorite fruit, veggie, and/or herb from CSA this year? Jen: I really liked the hon tsai tsai (known around our house as “that random spicy Asian green!”). They were fun to try and I’d never had them before. And of course, strawberries, because they’re the best thing ever.

Will: While I loved the mixed sweet peppers and the tomatoes (obviously), I thought the Toyko Bekana salad mix was, like, memorably good – which is definitely a thing I’ve never thought about salad mix before.

Tell us about any new veggies you tried in 2016. Hon tsai tsai, Tokyo Bekana salad greens, hakurei turnips, and most importantly, ground cherries! Will was obsessed with them. Our friends at Lampo Restaurant in Charlottesville loved them, too, and we were excited to see you guys on their menu alongside a local duck breast.

What tips do you have for folks who might be trying a CSA for the first time? Take the few extra minutes to handle and store your veggie thoughtfully and intentionally each week.

The best part of a CSA is the couldn’t-be-fresher flavors from fruits and veggies that you can you enjoy for days or even weeks if handled properly; the worst part is realizing that all your herbs browned or your tomatoes are mealy because you stuffed them in the fridge and forgot about them. Note from your farmer: Lots of great storage info [here]2.

Please share your favorite recipe(s). Okay, so this one is tough. We made a lot of great meals with Owl’s Nest produce in 2016 (like, for example, our wedding dinner), but here’s two of our favorites: