Adams and Lincoln CSA

Sea creature?

2012-01-18T19:18:00.000-08:00

Is this a cuttlefish?

No, it's a citrus fruit called Buddha's hand!

Just one finger makes a lovely vinaigrette as shown here.

It was not in your CSA box. But, I share my hyperlocal garden bounty with other area gardeners. Right now, my Meyer lemon tree is groaning under the weight of many lemons. I traded a few for this Buddha's hand.

I can't use the entire thing, so I am offering up chunks of this to other CSA participants. Email me if you would like some. I also have Meyer lemons, rosemary, oregano and bay leaves to share.

Better yet, drop by the Adams Middle School Wellness Fair this Saturday, January 21, 2012 from 10:00AM to 1:00PM at (where else?) Adams Middle School.

I will be there. Stop by to say hello and pick up some hyperlocal Buddha's hand, Meyer lemons, rosemary, oregano and bay leaves!

Green Cauliflower the Size of my Head

2012-01-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

Not even a tiny exaggeration...In today's box.

Fried Green Tomatoes

2011-12-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Way back in October, Farmer Tanaka lamented that, when the weather turns cold, tomatoes will remain green forever. I wrote him that I want to find green tomatoes in my box this winter. He obliged and subscribers received some in our boxes today.

All recipes has a recipe for Best Fried Green Tomatoes. It's very similar to Crazy Aunt Purl's Fried Green Tomatoes. But I prefer the CAP link because she provides step by step photos.

More about helping Japanese Farmers

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-08:00

Back in June, the Orange County Optimist club youth organized the Walk the Farm fundraiser to help Japanese farmers affected by the earthquake and tsunami last April. See the post publicizing this. I stopped by the OCO website for further news about the project. They have met and identified two groups that they would like to help.

This is Takao's strawberry greenhouse after the tsunami. Of his original cooperative of 28 small family farmers, four were killed, 19 are missing and presumed dead, and the remaining five have reconstituted their coop. They plan to farm again, when they are able. Right now, much of the farmland is covered in salty water and the money will be used for living expenses until they get back on their feet.

They are also considering helping a cooperative of peach growers that cannot sell their fruit due to radiation concerns. If they don't continue to water and take care of the mature peach trees, they will die. It takes electricity to run the water pumps and electricity takes money. Moreover, the farmers need to cover their living expenses while waiting until it is safe to sell their peaches again.

It's not too late to donate to OCO. They are a US-based non-profit and all donations are tax-deductible.

The Science of Cooking

2011-11-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

The Harvard Series on Science of Cooking lectures are now available online.
Visit the lecture series website for links to the series on both iTunes U and YouTube.

Who knew that the pressure cooker is a spinoff from Boyle's experiments with vacuum? Although, I guess it shouldn't have been too much of a surprise.

Vegetable Music!?

2011-10-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

So you get your CSA box, and much as you love them in theory, you really can't face another root vegetable. It happens. But who says you have to eat it? Some of the items in season this time of year can be carved into a small jack-o-lantern; or sketched as part of a still life; or become an edible musical instrument.

What now?

Sure, edible musical instruments. Daikon ocarinas. Carrot panpipes. Check it out:

Stuffed Pattypan Squash

2011-10-04T12:24:00.000-07:00

The little green UFOs in the CSA box two weeks ago? Pattypan squash. They're lovely, but we got a lot of them, and one of the best ways to use a lot of something is to stuff them. It's easy, and it's pretty (if you're a visual eater). The stuffing can be almost anything you like or have handy. I'll show you how I made this batch:

1. Wash the squash.

2. Cut the stem end of the squash so it's flat to sit on the baking pan. Then hollow out the other side; don't worry about the hollow being pretty, it'll be hidden. Keep the pieces that come from the hollow space! If you cut through the bottom, don't worry, just replace the piece that fits in the space best.
3. When you have them all hollowed out, place on a cookie sheet:

4. Now make the stuffing. This time I combined leftover rice, 2 chopped jalapenos, cream cheese, shredded cheddar, four small CSA tomatoes, cumin, some garden herbs, and the chopped bits of squash that came from the hollowing out step. But you can stuff them with anything, really! Look around online, there are plenty of ideas. Mix up the stuffing, and scoop it generously into the squash on the cookie sheet:
Bake the stuffed squash in a 350 oven until the squash is tender and the filling is warm through and melty--probably 20-25 minutes for this version. I broiled a little at the end to get a little hint of browning on top...

If you have leftover stuffing (I did), it works just as well to stuff a zucchini or a bell pepper. I had two of these with a bread roll for a very happy lunch today, and the rest we'll have tonight at dinnertime.

CSA Day October 8

2011-09-29T16:50:00.000-07:00

Dear CSA subscribers,
In appreciation for your support, CSA members and their immediate families are invited to join us at Tanaka Farms on Sat. Oct . 8th for our Fall CSA Day.

We'll have some of our grilled veggies for you to sample. Also that afternoon there will be complimentary wagon rides around the farm and petting zoo admission for our CSA members.

For more details and to RSVP for the event , please go to CSAday.com

We hope to see you soon!

The Tanaka Farm Family

Tanaka Farms
5380 3/4 University Drive
Irvine, CA 92612

This is also a good time to pick out your Halloween pumpkin.

What to do with basil

2011-09-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

A subscriber asked for some suggestions on how to use the basil that came in last Thursday's box.

You can use it in sauces and soups.
Snip off the end of the stem, put the cut ends in a cup of water and store them in the refrigerator with a plastic bag over the leaves, just as you would store cilantro.

Here are a few recipe suggestions.

Tomato-cucumber salad:

chop some tomatoes* and cucumbers*
dice some sweet onions*
chop some basil leaves*
(optional) add minced garlic
(optional) add cubed mozzarella aka home-style cheese (the kind you buy in a ball)
season with red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
* all items contained in last Thursday's box!
I would have added a photo of this salad, but our family already demolished it.

Bruschetta:

pre-warm oven on the broil setting
set a rack right under the broiler element (or use a BBQ)
chop tomatoes, onion and basil leaves
mince garlic
add olive oil
mix
season mixture with salt and pepper and let steep for 10 minutes
brush sliced bread with olive oil
put bread under the broiler for 1-2 minutes
remove bread from the oven
cut bread into serving-size pieces (if needed)
top with tomato-basil mixture

Antipasto platter:

slice beefsteak tomatoes and mozzarella
arrange on platter with (optional) salami or proscuitto
top with chopped basil
drizzle olive oil over platter

White bean spread (especially fast with a food processor):

process a few garlic cloves
add basil leaves and pulse
add cooked white/canneloni beans and olive oil and pulse
stir in salt and pepper to taste
serve over bread

Nature's packing material

2011-09-22T20:34:00.000-07:00

A subscriber asked Farmer Tanaka, "Why so much kale?"

Because it is a perfect packing material that is nutritious and yummy to boot! Whenever the boxes have many objects that roll around or need cushioning, Tanaka Farms adds leaves of washed kale to keep everything in good shape.

Consider using the kale in kale and white bean soup or in sauteed southern greens. You can add the turnip greens, too!

Adams CSA FAQ 2011

2011-08-27T13:37:00.000-07:00

This FAQ supercedes the 2010 FAQ because there have been so many changes to the ordering system.

Large box on the right, small box on the left.

What?
Boxes of local (So Cal) produce, ~75% from Tanaka Farms (TF) of Irvine. All of the produce is unsprayed; some are certified organic, others are grown using organic methods but not certified. Small boxes typically contain ~8 different types of produce and the large boxes contain ~12 types. There may be multiples. E.g. a type of item may be one head of lettuce or half a dozen apples. Each box contains produce with at least $20/$30 retail value.

Where and When?
Boxes are delivered every Thursday, typically between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, to Neighborhood Grinds (NG) at 2315 Artesia Blvd, Unit 1 (the northwest corner of Mackay and Artesia). NG usually sends out an email announcement when the boxes arrive. Boxes can be picked up any time before NG's closing time of 10:00 PM. If you don’t have access to email during those hours, you may call Neighborhood Grinds at (310) 371-0900 to check if the boxes have arrived.

How much does it cost?
$30 for a large box, $20 for a small box. There is a $3 per box delivery fee for all pick-up locations other than directly at the farm in Irvine.

Why should I pick up at Neighborhood Grinds instead of Whole Foods?
You pay the same whether you select the Adams PTSA/Neighborhood Grinds location or Whole Foods. However, if you order select the Adams PTSA option, the PTSA receives 10% of the box price to help us fund valuable school programs.

Moreover, Neighborhood Grinds offers the most flexible hours, allowing pick ups of up to 10 PM for those who work late hours. You'll be supporting local schools and independent businesses at the same time.

Logistics
Automated reminders go out the day before delivery (on Wednesdays for Thursday deliveries). Often, NG will send out emails announcing box arrivals. Boxes can be picked up any time between that announcement (typically 11 AM to 1:30 PM) and 10 PM NG closing time. To save yourself a trip to return the cardboard box to NG, leave the box there; bring your own bags to carry your produce home.

Why?
To teach our kids what grows seasonally in our region. To increase the economic viability of small family farms amid suburban development. To economically buy organic and unusual produce. To save time and money. To lower the chemical input into our soil, our water table and our bodies (both the consumers’ and the agricultural workers’). To lower the carbon footprint of your food. And, of course, to raise money for the Adams PTSA.

How do I sign up?
Tanaka Farms has switched to a new online ordering system developed by Farmigo. Simply visit the Tanaka Farms CSA information page, click on the red tab to read the CSA Policies, then click on the green "New Subscribers Join Here" button at the right.

Select the Adams Middle School/Neighborhood Grinds pick up location. Then click "Next Step" on the green button at the top.

Select large or small boxes, weekly or every other week (EOW) options. To save on shipping, many families order a large box every other week. Select EOWA or EOWB and look in the right column for the date of the next delivery for that schedule. Although the sign ups are for a recurring schedule, vacation holds and changes are quick and easy (see changing options section below).

Click "Next Step" and enter your payment information for debit upon receipt. Although you can pay by either credit card, or electronic payment through your checking account, keep in mind that farming is a very low margin business and Farmer Tanaka can use the 2% fee more than the credit card companies. ;-)

Once you are a subscriber, your account page will look something like this. It will contain your options, order history and payment history. Note that boxes are charged AFTER the delivery. There are no refunds should you forget to pick up your box so don't forget!

Changing your order option
Life happens; you go on vacation or go through a period when you cook less often at home. Farmigo and Tanaka Farms have thought of that.

You can put a temporary vacation stop on your orders. Click on the "Vacations" tab on your member screen, and enter the days you will be on vacation. Box delivery will automatically be suspended during those days and you will NOT be charged for the time away.

You can change your subscription option by selecting "Change Subscription" under the summary on the right column. From the following screen, you can change box sizes, quantities, or schedules.

If you want to put your account on indefinite hold, contact the Tanaka Farms CSA program managers, at CSA@tanakafarms.com so they can put your account on indefinite hold status. While you are on indefinite hold, you will not receive boxes or be charged. They can also delete your account if you choose.

You can make on line changes to your account on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. (On line orders can not be changed 4 days before delivery; our deliveries are on Thursdays, which means changes to your account are not allowed M-Th.)

If you need to must changes on M-Th, please contact CSA@tanakafarms.com or 949-283-0487 so that they can make the change for you. Remember, they cannot change orders at the last minute, but they can change your options and put you on vacation hold while the website is locked down.

What is this and how do I use it?
Part of the fun of the CSA program is the unusual varieties of produce that the boxes contain. We get heirloom or specialty produce not normally seen at grocery stores.

Check Farmer Tanaka's weekly blog page for what might be in your box that week.

Find recipe ideas through your web engine of choice, from the Tanaka Farms recipe page, or the Adams School CSA recipe pages.

If you don't know what an item is or how to use it, email adamsschoolcsa@gmail.com and ask.

Cook improvisationally. If you have a recipe that calls for leaves from one member of the Brassica family (Kale, Swiss Chard, Beet Greens), you can successfully substitute another.

Save scraps. Don't forget to use the tops of root vegetables. Turnip greens, beet greens and onion tops are nutritious and tasty in soups or sautes. Carrot tops are too bitter to eat, but they make wonderful centerpiece fillers (see below).

Trimmed pieces of veggies can be saved in a container in the refrigerator or freezer along with bones and meat and cheese trimmings. When the container is full, make broth!

Swiss Chard

2011-08-11T07:21:00.000-07:00

Check out designer Poppy Gall's fantastic photographs and the color palette she designed using rainbow Swiss chard for inspiration.

Sweet and Savory

2011-08-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

Take the small melon from the CSA box (left). Add another melon from Trader Joe's (right).
Cut open the CSA melon for a colorful surprise. Cut both into cubes.
Put them on a bed of lettuce, add chopped red onions (also from the box). Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and you have a sweet and savory summer salad.

Hey, yellow watermelon!

2011-07-31T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of the fun things about the CSA box is that we get to see unusual varieties of familiar produce. Take this week's large box. We got a nice watermelon, about the size of a school globe but much heavier. Cut into it, and.....

IT'S YELLOW.

Yes, watermelon comes in many colors besides the usual familiar pinkish red. We seem to have a Yellow Crimson watermelon this week. Does it taste any different from the ordinary color? I'm looking forward to finding out. Might be fun to make a granita with, for example.

Zucchini Season!

2011-06-16T12:31:00.000-07:00

We've been seeing a lot of zucchini in the boxes lately--want a recipe for using a lot of them at a time? We make zucchini bread, of course, but here's a savory casserole that's great for brunches, or make it as a light summer dinner with salad.As I've said, I'm not a recipe person in general, and everytime I make this it's a little different, but this is the basic idea:

You have three layers--crust, cheese, and zucchini. The crust layer can be made with a tart dough, or puff pastry squares, or even canned crescent rolls for convenience. Whatever you choose, press that into the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish.

The cheese layer is based on ricotta. I use about a cup of ricotta, and mix it with sauteed onions and garlic (from the CSA box!), garden herbs (right now we've got an abundance of sage, rosemary, some oregano and some thyme), maybe a tablespoon of dijon mustard if it's handy; add an egg if you want. (Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't--it's a heartier dish with a little egg.) Maybe add some grated cheese, maybe add some citrus zest, as you like. Spread your cheese mixture over the crust layer.

The top layer is zucchini. I usually slice up several at a time with the food processor, so I'm not sure exactly how many were used here--probably two is about right. Sliced thin, layered all across the cheese layer. The one pictured above has about a cup of cheddar and some paprika sprinkled over the zucchini, but you can also just sprinkle with a little olive oil or parmesan.

Bake about half an hour, until it looks like the crust is cooked, the egg is cooked, the cheese is melted and a little browned. Serves well warm or chilled.

The true cost of tomatoes

2011-06-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Don't miss Mark Bittman's opinionator column about the true cost of tomatoes.

He's writing about Florida tomatoes, not the kind that are in our CSA boxes from Irvine, CA.

A third of our [nation's] tomatoes are grown in Florida, and much of that production is concentrated around Immokalee (rhymes with “broccoli”), a town that sits near the edge of the great “river of grass,” or the Everglades, the draining of which began in the late 19th century, thus setting the stage for industrial agriculture. [snip]

The tomato fields of Immokalee are vast and surreal. An unplanted field looks like a lousy beach: the “soil,” which is white sand, contains little in the way of nutrients and won’t hold any water. To grow tomatoes there requires mind-boggling amounts of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides (on roughly the same acreage of tomatoes, Florida uses about eight times as many chemicals as California). The tomatoes are, in effect, grown hydroponically, and the sand seems useful mostly as a medium for holding stakes in place.

Organic tomatoes require much, much fewer chemicals. As I have written before, a plant-based insect repellent, neem oil, is sometimes used. Mostly, Tanaka Farms relies on inter-planting onions to repel insects.

They also factor in a 25-30% crop loss to critters in their plans. BTW, organic farmers lose an average of 30% of their crop to critters (including insects). Conventional farmers lose 25%, despite using vast amounts of pesticides and herbicides.

Tomatoes with any color other than green are too ripe to ship, and left to rot; I’ve posted a couple of pictures I took of those on my blog. The green tomatoes are gassed — “de-greened” is the chosen euphemism — to “ripen” them; the plants themselves are often killed with an herbicide to hasten their demise and get ready for the next crop.

Those of you who have visited Tanaka Farms on CSA days know that everything that can be composted is composted on site and tilled back into the soil. Crop rotation includes lots of legumes (the beans you see in your boxes) to replenish nitrogen in the soil. The ground is never sprayed with herbicides between crops. It is simply tilled. Sometimes, volunteers from the last crop spring up amid the new.

Workers on the farm have worked alongside the Tanaka family for years, often decades. They are not treated as disposable people. Workers at TF are never sprayed with pesticides or herbicides, or sent into recently sprayed fields, because the fields are not sprayed in the first place.

Enjoy your ripe and guilt-free tomatoes this summer. Sign up online for summer CSA boxes to support Adams Middle School.

CSA Day June 11-12, 2011

2011-06-10T13:42:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the late notice. I just found out from the flyer in yesterday's CSA box.

This is free and open to all current CSA (you've ordered Mar-June, 2011) members.

Members will take a guided wagon ride around the farm. You'll try some of the different vegetables and fruits grown on the farm. After the tour, you'll pick and eat strawberries in the berry patch.

For $5, get a basket; you'll be able to pick and take home some of our yummy strawberries.

Please visit www.CSADAY.com to register for either Sat. or Sun. Please register for times between 9:30 AM-2:00 PM. Tours leave every half hour. The tour is approx. 1 hr and 15 min.

Also, please note if you wish to purchase future CSA boxes for July, please go to www.tanakafarms.com, click on CSA Program and register as a new subscriber. We are ending our relationship with Farm2table Connect at the end of June and switching over to a different order placing system, Farmigo. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us at CSA@tanakafarms.com.

We hope to see you this weekend!
The Tanaka Family

Afterschool Strawberry Specials

2011-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Farmer Tanaka passes this on:

Strawberries are sweet right now and we have an abundance of them so we are having a U-Pick Special!!!

When: 3pm Everyday Monday June 6th- Friday June10th
Don't be late, wagon will be leaving promptly at 3pm

No Reservations are needed. Please arrive at least 15minutes early.

Where: Tanaka Farms
5380 3/4 University Dr
Irvine, ca 92612

Cost: $5 per person ages 2 and under free
Includes: Wagon ride to Strawberry Patch and 1 one pound basket of strawberries to take home. You may purchase additional baskets for $5 each.

Thank you and see you at the farm,

The Tanaka Family

CSA Changes

2011-06-03T14:28:00.000-07:00

Starting in July 2011, Tanaka Farms will charge $3/box for delivery. The good news is that, at the same time, the 10-box minimum order required for delivery to a site also goes away. As a bonus, June 2011 will have no minimum and no delivery fee.

Farmers have been hit hard by rising commodity prices, especially for gas. The cost of delivery has pushed the Tanaka Farms CSA program back into the red. After much thought, the Tanaka family has decided to hold the prices of the boxes steady, but charge for delivery.

If you have been sitting on the fence due to uncertainty, I will extend the June sign-up deadline until Monday, June 6. Get it into the Adams PTSA mailbox at the school by 7:45 AM or Neighborhood Grinds by 8:00 AM on June 6, and you can still have a box June 9 or 23. Download the June form here.

Beginning in July, we will shift to online ordering. I will write a separate post as soon as that is set up for the Adams MS group.

Our group will be migrating to TF's online ordering system
through farmigo.com in July.

http://www.tanakafarms.com/CSA.html
http://csa.farmigo.com/join/tanakafarms/2011

Eileen, the TF CSA coordinator, will be setting up our group soon and I will forward the registration info as soon as I receive it.

All accounts are set up on a recurring basis so subscribers have 6 choices.

indefinite hold
short-term vacation hold with an end date
S box weekly
S box biweekly
L box weekly
L box biweekly

You can change your account setting at any time, as often as you like. The only caveat is that the setting 4 days before our delivery day is the one that is honored. We get deliveries on Thursday, so the setting you have on Sunday holds for that week.

Your credit card will be charged the day of delivery, usually in the early evening.

Farmigo will automatically generate email reminders to everyone who has signed up for a box that week.

What is vegan sugar?

2011-05-31T22:52:00.000-07:00

My daughter asked me why we buy the two pound bag of organic vegan sugar that costs the same as a five pound bag of regular sugar. What makes sugar vegan?

She was too small to remember, but we took a vacation to Australia in 2003. On the shuttle through Queensland, we drove past many sugar cane fields. A blur of a fast-moving animal caught my eye as it crossed the road and ran into the sugar cane.

I asked the driver what kind of animal lives in the cane. He replied that quite a few animals live in the cane fields.

Then we passed some cane that had been cut by a mechanical harvester.

"What happens to the animals when the cane is cut?"

"They become animal by-catch."

I told him that I just went off sugar.

Then he said that there were more reasons to go off sugar. He told us about all the chemicals that are sprayed on the sugar cane. Then the cane is cut, crushed, and the juices collected--chemicals, animal by-catch and all*.

Vegan sugar is made from hand-cut sugar cane, which gives the animals a chance to get away.

We've been buying organic vegan sugar ever since. The cost is revenue-neutral because I was looking for an excuse to cut down on our family's sugar intake anyway.

* In theory, the animal blood and guts are removed in the sugar refining steps. Our family does not eat vegan, but we didn't like the idea of "regular" sugar after we learned how it is made.

Walk the farm to help Japanese farmers

2011-05-27T20:10:00.000-07:00

Looking for another opportunity to help?

Farmer Glenn Tanaka is an active volunteer with the Orange Coast Optimist (youth) club. The kids were deeply affected by the earthquake in Japan and the plight of farmers that lost their crops due to the tsunami and radioactive contamination (or the perception of contamination).

They wanted to raise money to help those farmers and they will be hosting a special Walk the Farm fundraiser on June 18, 2011 at Tanaka Farms.

Your $20 donation to "Walk the Farm" includes:

- Scenic view as you "Walk the Farm"
- Bottled water
- Sampling of fruits and vegetables from around the farm
- Shaved ice
- Hot Dog/Hamburger lunch
- The knowledge that you are helping a community to rebuild their farms

- T-shirts are available for $10 and can be ordered when registering.

Normally, the cookout tour costs $24/20 (adults/kids). On this occasion, the cost is a mere $20. Moreover, it is 100% tax-deductible because 100% of the proceeds will go to the OCO club, a 503(c) non-profit organization, which will funnel the money to Japanese farmers.

Become a gleaner

2011-05-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Image of Jean François Millet's painting, the Gleaners, courtesy of USC.

Gleaning is the practice of salvaging food after the commercial harvesters are done. For instance, my high school biology class took a field trip to a vineyard to glean grapes left on the vine after the mechanical harvesting was done. We used the grapes to ferment some wine for our microbiology unit. In Millet's day, peasants used to glean to stave off starvation.

Today, farmer Glenn Tanaka donates his leftover harvest to the food banks fun by South County Outreach and Families Forward in Irvine. Together, they provide fresh produce to up to 350 families in need.

Do you want to help farmer Glenn help hungry families? Sign up to glean on a Monday or Wednesday afternoon this summer. This is a great way to teach your kids where their food comes from, and to be mindful of others who may not otherwise have access to clean and healthy food.

Find out more about gleaning at Tanaka Farms. Up to 25 helpers are needed for

Wednesday, June 1, 3:30 pm
Monday, June 6, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, June 8, 3:30 pm
Monday, June 13, 3:30 pm
Wednesday, June 15, 3:30 pm

RSVP to Glenn@TanakaFarms.com

Where the money goes

2011-03-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank all of the participants in the Adams CSA program. The money raised by your participation in the program helps us fill in school funding gaps. My daughter was a beneficiary of this largess last week.

Adams Middle School is a Title 1 school. 40% of Adams students are considered high-risk either because of their parents' educational background or because of their family income.

[Many people are surprised that there are pockets of need, even within the Beach Cities. But Adams is special because their students of all backgrounds statistically outperform other kids that come from similar backgrounds. In contrast, other middle schools with higher mean test scores in the Beach Cities underperform relative to their economic peers.]

The school drama club is putting on Beauty and the Beast this May*. The drama teacher wanted to take the kids to the Pantages to see a professional production. The district policy is to not let money be a barrier to a quality education for all students. But there was no way the school district could come up with the $4,000 for the entire drama club to go.

We found a way to make it happen.

We got a discounted group rate from the Pantages box office. The PTSA paid for the rental of a school bus to transport the students. Most parents paid $47 (vs the $60 box office list price). Kids from families that couldn't afford $47 (and could substantiate financial need) were given a 50% subsidy from the school's educational enrichment fund.

Everyone who wanted to go was able to go. The kids had a great time.

Thanks all around.

* Contact me if you are interested in getting tickets to the Adams' performance of Beauty and the Beast. Or if you want to help with the costumes or sets. ;-)

Do you Recipe View?

2011-03-01T20:39:00.000-08:00

Google Recipe View debuted this week. I typed in Golden Beets and found a recipe for Farfalle with Golden Beets, Beet Greens, and Pine Nuts. It was so delish, I ate seconds.

CSA Day March 13, 2011

2011-02-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Like the flyer says, RSVP to your school CSA coordinator if you would like to attend. It's free for all regular CSA subscribers.

This is the most popular CSA day at Tanaka Farms. The strawberries are ripe and the veggies are in the ground (and recognizable!). Come join us.

So far, I have collected 6 sign-ups for March for the Adams CSA program. Download the March Adams sign-up form and turn it in to Neighborhood Grinds before 8 AM Friday March 4. Let me know when you drop off your form or if you want to attend CSA day.

Golden Beets!

2011-02-24T21:26:00.000-08:00

Did you get golden beets in your box this week? I did, a nice bunch of them. Even if you're not a fan of red beets, try to goldens--their flavor isn't as strong, and the color is more friendly to visual eaters. I've learned to like red beets, even love them, but the intense magenta kept me away from them for a very long time--it just didn't seem like a savory food color.

Last time I got golden beets in my box, I just fried them up in a little butter (shown above) and sprinkled them with salt and pepper--so simple. Even the picky child in my house enjoyed them--they looked enough like fried potatoes, I guess. Another visual eater!

CSA Soup

2011-02-16T19:52:00.001-08:00

This is what we make with the vegetables we don't love from the CSA box; or maybe we love them, but we don't need so much; or maybe, we love them but our schedule doesn't allow us to eat them before they're gone. We make CSA Soup: the one above contains kohlrabi, carrots, celery, Chinese broccoli, and cauliflower. Chop them all up. Put them in a soup pot with stock and water to barely cover. Add spices to taste (salt and pepper are fine; a basic curry blend also works well). Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until the veggies are soft. Blenderize in batches. Stir back together. Serve with nice bread. Even if you don't love the individual components of this soup, they'll generally work together as a blended soup.

Other things we did with our CSA goodies this week: cooked down the bunch of chard to make some saucy Indian takeout more substantial; added much of the Chinese broccoli and another bunch of chard to a favorite cheesy tuna-noodle casserole; had a strawberry-chai milkshake for Valentine's Day (so pink!).

Now What?

2011-02-16T11:06:00.000-08:00

Are you sitting on the fence about signing up for a CSA box?

Or have you already signed up and feel guilty about the decaying veggies in the bottom of the produce drawer?

Want to see my method for prepping and storing the produce when I get it home?

Want to learn some new recipes for preparing the seasonal produce in the latest boxes?

Meet your CSA coordinator, Grace Peng, at Neighborhood Grinds at 5:30 PM on Thursday February 24 where I will walk you through the pickup process.

Then go to my (nearby) kitchen where I will show you some techniques to store and prepare the produce from the box. We should be done by 6:15 or earlier.

Make eating real food really easy!

Where:
Neighborhood Grinds
2315 Artesia Blvd., Unit 1 (NW corner with MacKay)
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

When:
5:30 PM (sharp!) February 24, 2011

RSVP to let me know how many to expect.

Chinese Broccoli

2011-02-10T19:08:00.000-08:00

Ever wonder how they make that delicious Chinese broccoli dish served in dim sum tea rooms? Make some tonight with the Chinese broccoli that came in today's box.

Bring a large pot of water to boil while you wash and trim the broccoli. Then blanch the broccoli in the boiling water for 5 minutes, or until it is tender-crisp (the leaves are tender and the thickest part of the stem is just slightly crisp). Drain the broccoli and put it on a serving dish.

You can drizzle oyster sauce* directly on the broccoli. If you worry about the sodium, thin the oyster sauce with up to 50% hot water or broth before pouring it on top of the greens.

It's that easy.

* I buy oyster sauce from 99 Ranch Supermarket in Gardena. But you can also find it at any Asian market or larger general supermarkets. If you make the trek out to 99 Ranch, check out the fresh noodle aisle. You can buy blocks of turnip cakes to round out your dim sum feast at home. Slice the turnip cake into 1/2" thin slices, pan fry to brown on each side, then serve with soy sauce, vinegar and chili sauce.

Not Roundup Ready

2011-02-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

One of the main reasons to join a CSA is to get to know your food supply. When you visit your food, you learn how it is grown and by whom. A small organic farm is fundamentally different than the highly-automated large-scale monoculture (single crop) farms where most conventionally grown food originate. TF, like many small farms, is messy. You will see weeds and volunteers (veggies from the last crop) everywhere.

Tanaka Farms (TF) holds several CSA Family days a year--usually in the Spring, Fall and Christmas. Strawberries and the green veggies star in the Spring visit. Kids pick and wash their own veggies. Then the Tanaka Farms staff grill them up so you can eat them for lunch right there. Afterwards, everyone is sent out to the strawberry patch to pick dessert.

When things wind down in the fall, TF tours focus on the pumpkins and the corn maize. Each December, TF also holds a Christmas party for CSA members where they also sell Christmas trees for another local farmer.

I took these pictures at the September 2010 Fall tour. See the broad-leaved weeds amid the corn? These are definitely not Roundup Ready corn--corn that has been genetically engineered to withstand direct spraying of the glyphosate-based herbicide sold by Monsanto as Roundup. In fact, genetically-modified crops cannot be sold as organic under current labeling laws.

Do you see the insect holes on the radish greens below? Some people are turned off from organic food because it is typical to see moderate amounts of insect damage. You can see the insect holes, but you can't see the insecticides that are sprayed on conventional produce to make them look so perfect. Common organophosphate insecticides have been linked to ADHD in children, particularly genetically susceptible children and/or children who were exposed in-utero. Other insecticides, endosulfan and dicofol, were linked with autism.

Instead of spraying herbicides, they pull the weeds by hand. Sometimes, they get behind and the vegetable beds look a bit messy. If you visit the farm and see a weed, give them a hand and pull it out.

This is Farmer Tanaka, aka Glenn Tanaka. He learned to farm from his father. His son, Kenny, works with him along with a cadre of farm staff that has worked with the family for decades. They are all family.

Glenn says that he sprays Neem tree oil instead of insecticides to repel insects. The oil doesn't kill the insects; insects simply don't like the taste (or smell) of the oil and stay away. Neem tree oil is very expensive compared to synthetic (but toxic) insecticides. Moreover, neem tree oil needs to be resprayed every two weeks in order to repel subsequent waves of insects. This is why organic food costs more than conventional food.

It's expensive to grow food that doesn't contain stuff that is invisible to the naked eye.

Get to know your farmer. Get to know your food. Bon appetit!

Adams CSA Important News for 2011

2011-01-19T21:19:00.000-08:00

Update as of Feb 1, 2011
We met the 10-box minimum for both Feb 10 and 24. There is still time to sign up. Get your orders in by 8AM Friday Feb 4 to Neighborhood Grinds (NG) for delivery on Feb 10. Get your orders in by 8AM Friday Feb 18 for delivery on Feb 24. Download the February form and turn it in at NG.

The original entry
I buried the lead in the last post, so I am reiterating the programmatic part here.

Due to problems with the Farm2TableConnect system, both Lincoln and Adams are reverting back to the old paper ordering system through June 2011.

In reviewing his expenses last year, Farmer Tanaka realized that CSA delivery costs were putting the CSA program in the red. In 2011, he needs to strictly enforce his 10 box minimum in order to maintain delivery to a group.

The Adams/Neighborhood Grinds group had previously enjoyed weekly deliveries, but we fell short of the 10 box minimum on most weeks by a few boxes. If we can have the same number of orders per month, and move everyone to delivery on the same biweekly schedule, we should be able to meet the minimum.

If you used to order weekly small boxes, consider getting a large box on a biweekly basis. Our family of three finds that the large box lasts us about 1.5 weeks. We sometimes do supplemental shopping at the El Segundo farmers' market (Thursdays 3-7 on Main street) on our off weeks.

If we get our subscriber count up, we may be able to offer weekly deliveries in the future. So recruit your friends and tell them about the strawberries.

Adams and Lincoln will both offer biweekly deliveries, on the same Thursdays of each month. That will help keep the farm expenses to a sustainable level and reduce the carbon input of your food.

If we don't make the 10 box minimum, then we all don't get our strawberries. :-(

Don't delay, download the February order form now.

Winter Strawberries 2011

2011-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

It's time to rehash a post from January 2010. Here's what I wrote then:

True winter strawberries (rather than those imported from a warmer clime) are a rare and precious commodity. They look pretty ordinary, but they are the most amazingly sweet strawberries we have ever tasted.

When we took the Tanaka Farms CSA family day tour, Glenn Tanaka told us that the first crop of strawberries in the season are his favorite. They plant strawberries in October/November. By the end of December, the first strawberries ripen. Winter berries are the smallest and sweetest strawberries the plant will ever produce.

They mature more slowly due to the cold weather and shorter days. There are only a few, not enough for commercial harvest. Glenn says he and the rest of the TF family love to walk the fields then, searching for strawberries under the leaves and eating them right away.

By January, there are a bit more--enough to share with the CSA families. Last week, we received two pints of these ambrosial berries in our CSA box. In February-March, when the days get warmer and longer, the plants go into full-scale production. They can pick the plants every few days because the berries grow and ripen so quickly. They will also be bigger, but they will never be as sweet and precious as those early season jewels.

Last Fall, Glenn Tanaka had difficulty finding strawberry starts. I would link to his blog posts from that time period about that, but his blog appears to keep only recent entries. The delay in finding strawberry starts and the October rains meant that he planted a month late this year. Shift the time scale from the 2010 story back a month.

That means the strawberry plants has started to bear fruit, but not in CSA quantities, in January. CSA subscribers will start getting strawberries in their boxes in February.

In reviewing his expenses last year, Farmer Tanaka realized that CSA delivery costs were putting him in the red. In 2011, he needs to strictly enforce his 10 box minimum in order to maintain delivery to a group.

Adams and Lincoln will both offer biweekly deliveries, on the same Thursdays of each month. That will help keep the farm expenses to a sustainable level and reduce the carbon input of your food.

Due to problems with the Farm2TableConnect system, both Lincoln and Adams are moving back to the old paper ordering system. If we don't make the 10 box minimum, then we all don't get our strawberries. :-(

Don't delay, download the February order form now.

Keep forgetting to sign up? This is your reminder!

2010-12-17T07:03:00.001-08:00

Tanaka Farms is instituting a new system for CSA signups, which should make it much easier to plan ahead and pay for your boxes. Here's what you need to do:

1. Go to the Tanaka Farms CSA website.
2. In the lefthand column on that page, click the first link, "Farm 2 Table Connect."
3. Set up an account for yourself (userid, password, contact info).
4. Sign in and sign up for the January boxes. There will be a slider menu asking which group you're affiliated with (I ticked "Lincoln Elementary").
5. Pay online with a credit card, and your boxes will be paid and reserved.

Delivery is still in the usual place and time. If you pick up your boxes at Neighborhood Grinds, tick the "Adams MS" box in the slider menu.

Your school coordinator is still your school coordinator. She just won't be juggling forms and checks so much.

Schools need a certain minimum to use this service, so please encourage first-timers or even your neighbors to join the program--current happy customers are the best advertising.

IMPORTANT: Your January boxes MUST be paid for by DECEMBER 27.

Another bowl of CSA goodness

2010-12-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

So here's something easy and satisfying to do with some of your CSA veggies, especially as the weather cools down...

Chop up some cabbage, carrots, and green onions, and anything else you like in soup. Put them in the crockpot with a few tablespoons of green curry paste and enough broth to cover. Crockpot all day (or overnight). When the veggies are tender, add a little coconut milk if you like (or not), and salt if you like (or not). Cube some firm tofu (or meat if you want) and fry in a pan with a Tbsp or two of olive oil. Serve soup over rice, and top with the fried tofu.

What's in the box? And how do I use it?

2010-11-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

We picked up some new subscribers this month and the most common concerns are, "What's in the box and how will I use it?"

We prefer to be surprised. But people who are better organized than our household may look ahead at Farmer (Glenn) Tanaka's blog. He posts a weekly entry about doings on the farm and updates the list of what MIGHT be in your box this week. If you follow the blog regularly, you notice that weather and insects sometimes change his plans at the last minute.

This is what might be in your CSA box for the week of November 1, 2010:
SMall box might have: Carrots, Baby Maui Onions, Potatoes****, Broccoli or Squash or Cherry Tomatoes, Lettuce or Salad Mix, Fuji Apples***, Fuyu Persimmons*.
Large Box might additionally have: Sweet White Corn, Chinese Cabbage (Napa), Grapefruit**.

This is what might be in your CSA box for the week of October 25, 2010:
Small box might have: Green Beans, Carrots, Sweet White Corn, Romaine Lettuce, Broccoli or Spinach, Our Strawberry Jam (prepared with our strawberries by Kerry at Julian Jams in Julian, California) and Sweet, Juicy Fuji Apples***.
Large box might additionally have: Napa Chinese Cabbage, Red Beets or Roma Tomatoes or Green Zucchini and Valencia Oranges*.

This is what my family received in our large box last week:

jar of strawberry jam
Fuji apples
Valencia oranges
corn on the cob
4 beets with beet tops
bok choy
quart of green beans
bunch of medium carrots with tops
bunch of spinach
head of Romaine lettuce
head of Napa cabbage

You've got your veggies. Now what do you do?

Read my prior post, The locavore's dilemma. Don't let From Farm to Fridge to Garbage Can describe your kitchen. supercook.com is another great resource. Just type your ingredient into the green search box and the search engine will reply with recipes that use it.

That sounds very good in theory. After all, who wants to waste food? But how did our family do in the 6 days since we got our large box?

The jam went into the pantry (we have 2 open jars in the fridge that need to be used first).
We ate the corn, apples, and half the oranges.
BTW, you can juice the oranges and freeze them for later use. I have a stack of ziploc pint containers of orange juice, squeezed from a gift of backyard fruit from my father in law.
The beets were scrubbed and put in a pan with water to boil. I burned them and had to throw the out. If I had paid more attention, we would have eaten them in salads all week.
The beet tops, the outer leaves of the Napa cabbage and 3 carrots went into a vat of kale(less) and white bean soup. We ladled the soup into pint and quart size containers, and put some in the freezer and some in the fridge. They make great lunches at work with a small sandwich.
BTW, we use kale, mustard greens, beet and turnip tops and Swiss chard interchangeably in our house. They are all from the brassica family. If a recipe calls for one thing, and we have another member of the brassica family in the box, we use that instead.
The inner Napa cabbage leaves will be cooked this upcoming weekend into wontons and potstickers (some eaten fresh, some put up in the freezer for quick weekday dinners).
BTW, as you wrap the wontons or potstickers, put them on a metal backing sheet. Put them in the freezer when you fill up a sheet. By the time you have the next batch on a full sheet, the first batch will be firm enough to store in a ziploc bag without turning into a single block of ice.
We haven't cooked the bok choy yet, but I will be making a stir-fry of bok choy and oyster mushrooms with them.
My husband will stir-fry the green beans with almond slivers. He might reserve some beans to blanche and use for salad Nicoise.
My husband will stir-fry the spinach with garlic.
We've used about half the Romaine for salads and sandwiches so far.

It looks like we have 3 more stir-fry suppers in the next week and we will easily have used our veggies all up before our next biweekly big box.

BTW, we use our rice cooker with a timer a lot. If you set the rice cooker so that the rice finishes when you get home, and you pre-wash and chop your veggies on the weekend, dinner will be ready 10-15 minutes after you walk in the door.

When I drop my daughter off for choir practice on Saturday morning, I need to swing by 99 Ranch (the mother of all Asian supermarkets) to buy wonton and potsticker skins; pork shoulder and/or shrimp, ginger, and green onions for the filling; fried tofu cubes to throw into the stir-fry and baked tofu for snacking. We stock dried Shitake mushrooms and canned Oyster mushrooms as pantry staples.

Anyone want a recipe for a salad based on the tofu strips that look like noodles?

Click on the links for recipes. If I mentioned a recipe w/o a link, and you want me to post the recipe, leave a comment.

Also leave a comment if you are interested in a CSA field trip to local ethnic markets. 99 Ranch, Marukai and Market World (Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean) supermarkets, can be bewildering to the uninitiated. But they are great local food stores for vegetarians and flexatarians. Marukai promises that all of their meat is antibiotic-free, and their prices are much lower than Whole Foods.

Lastly, if you would like to learn how to wrap wontons and potstickers this weekend, leave a comment.

No more soggy cilantro

2010-10-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Cilantro, like many cut plants, wilts over time. The cure for this is to trim the cut ends and plunge them into a vase of water. Use enough water to cover most of the stem, but not the leaves.

Then place a loose plastic bag over the cilantro and put it in the refrigerator.

When you want to use a bit of cilantro, just take out the small amount that you need and put the rest back in the refrigerator. Cilantro can stay fresh over 2 weeks in the refrigerator this way.

Celery also benefits from this treatment.

To the CSA box celery, we added some carrot flowers from our garden and a stalk of artichoke from Trader Joe's to make an edible bouquet.

Most people don't eat the carrot tops that come with the CSA carrots, but they are really pretty when put in a vase with some flowers from the garden or store.

You can use a glass instead of a vase, but a vase has a more stable base. You can also put it in a plastic juice pitcher, but then we don't see the cilantro and forget about it. Oops.

The science behind this:
When you trim (1/2" to 1") off the ends of the cilantro, you open up the small tubes that draw water from the bottom of the plant to the leaves. It's lack of water up at the leaves (not an excess of it) that makes the leaves wilt.

If you place the vase of cilantro out at room temperature, you can watch the water in the vase disappear through evapotranspiration out through the leaves.

How does the speed of the evapotranspiration vary with the temperature in the room? The humidity? The level of water?

The water in the vase can also breed bacteria. After you are done with this experiment, rinse the cilantro and vase to reduce the bacteria, refill the vase, and put the cilantro back into the vase. You may want to trim about 1/2" off the stems again.

If you don't use the plastic bag, the cilantro will evapotranspirate water into the refrigerator, which is not good for some of the other food in there. That's why you want to use the bag.

Adams CSA Program FAQ

2010-10-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

What? Boxes of local (So Cal) produce, ~75% from Tanaka Farms of Irvine. All of the produce is unsprayed; some are certified organic, others are grown using organic methods but not certified.

Where and When? Boxes are delivered every Thursday, typically between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, to Neighborhood Grinds (NG) at 2315 Artesia Blvd, Unit 1 (the northwest corner of Mackay and Artesia). NG usually sends out an email announcement when the boxes arrive. Boxes can be picked up any time before NG closing time at 10:00 PM. If you don’t have access to email during those hours, you may call Neighborhood Grinds at (310) 371-0900 to check if the boxes have arrived.

How much does it cost? $30 for a large box, $20 for a small box, paid in advance. Make checks out to Adams PTSA. There is no minimum order size. You need not order the same size each week or on a regular schedule.

How do I sign up? Email the Adams CSA coordinator for the current monthly sign-up form. You can also download the form from the Adams PTSA CSA webpage (look on the right hand side, under Resources). You can also download the November 2010 form on Google Docs. Fill out the form and drop it off with payment at Neighborhood Grinds (NG). Make checks out to “Adams PTSA”. If you can’t make it over to NG in person, just drop it in the mail.

Neighborhood Grinds

2315 Artesia Blvd., Unit 1
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

Attn: Adams CSA

When’s the deadline? Orders are due the last Friday of each month for the following month.
E.g. orders for November 2010 are due by 8 AM October 29, 2010. You select the size box you want and the weeks you want them. Orders and payment can be left either at the Adams MS office or at NG. Orders are due at 7:45 AM at the Adams MS office or at 8:00 AM at NG.

Who? Because we distribute the boxes off campus, anyone--not just Adams families--can join the Adams CSA program. Tell your friends, families, neighbors, and coworkers…

Logistics: We email confirmations of orders received. We usually send an email reminder the day before delivery to that week’s subscriber list. When the boxes arrive at NG (usually between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM), NG sends out a “reply to all” announcing their arrival. Boxes can be picked up any time between that announcement and 10 PM NG closing time. To save yourself a trip to return the cardboard box to NG, leave the box there; bring your own bags to carry your produce home. It’s also a good time to drop off sign-up forms and payment for the following month.

Why? To teach our kids what grows seasonally in our region. To increase the economic viability of small family farms amid suburban development. To economically buy organic and unusual produce. To save time and money. To lower the chemical input into our soil, our water table and our bodies (both the consumers’ and the agricultural workers’). To lower the carbon footprint of your food. And, of course, to raise money for the Adams PTSA.

Announcing the Adams School CSA Program!

2010-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Effective November 2010, Grace Peng will be running the Adams Middle School CSA program. You can email her at adamschoolcsa@gmail.com. Email the Adams CSA coordinator for the current monthly sign-up form or download the latest form from the Adams PTSA CSA website (on the right hand side, under Resources) or download the November 2010 form on Google Docs.

Deliveries continue to occur on Thursdays. When Thursday falls on a holiday, delivery will be on Tuesday.

UPDATE 10/22/10
Madison PTA is looking for another volunteer to coordinate their CSA program after October, 2010. Do you want to help out Madison PTA? This is your chance!

~~The Madison School CSA program will continue under the direction of Aisha Qaasim~~. You can email her at madisonschoolcsa@gmail.com.

You can subscribe to either program* and pick up at Neighborhood Grinds. Just be sure that, when you drop off your sign-up form and check, you let the NG staff know which program you are in so they put it in the correct envelope. Make checks payable to Adams or Madison PTSA.

Lincoln subscribers continue to drop off their forms at the Lincoln school office and pick up their boxes at the school.

* While the status of the Madison program is in flux, you won't miss a single week if you sign up for the Adams program.

A CSA Party!

2010-09-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Here's a trick to using up your CSA box--schedule a party the day after it arrives! I used much of last week's box contents--tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, squash, onion, basil, grapefruit, orange, and apple--in making these dishes, as it was my turn to host bunco last Friday night. Tarts aren't difficult, and salads are even easier--it's mostly just chopping when you're starting with such fresh ingredients.

Dinosaur Egg, or Melon?

2010-07-29T17:11:00.001-07:00

In today's box...Pretty sure it's a melon--but if it IS a live dinosaur egg, our blog will have a pretty impressive scoop, eh?

"Just about perfect in every way"

2010-07-18T21:14:00.000-07:00

The online local news site Redondo Beach Patch has a story about the Madison/Lincoln Tanaka Farms CSA programs this weekend. Reporter Joe Galliani interviewed Philip Jun at Neighborhood Grinds, and took photos of a box's contents, and explained how the program works and how others can join in. "As much as I love and use our local Farmers Market, this mutually supportive relationship between the farm and elementary schools is just about perfect in every way," Galliani declares.

Inventory and recipe idea for July 15

2010-07-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

Penny wrote that her large box contained, "kale, eggplant, tomatoes, basil, oranges, grapefruit, lettuce, carrots, green beans, avocados, and four cobs of corn."

Sounds like it is time to make baba ganoush, a middle-eastern eggplant dip. Here's a recipe and you can buy tahini at both of the middle eastern markets near Neighborhood Grinds (the NE and SW corners of McKay and Artesia).

Backyard Garden CSA

2010-07-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

Don't miss this article about a 14-year old Michigan teen, Alexandra Reau.

last year, she asked her dad to dig up a half acre of their lawn in rural Petersburg, Mich., so she could farm. Now in its second season, her Garden to Go C.S.A. (community-supported agriculture) grows for 14 members, who pay $100 to $175 for two months of just-picked vegetables and herbs.

While attending a party in north Berkeley in the mid 1980s, I noticed the extremely lush vegetable garden in the backyard. When I asked which roommate had the green thumb, the host explained that the yard was leased to Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. Her staff gardened yards all over the neighborhood; the chefs came over to harvest produce right before cooking!

I am tempted to rip out my front lawn and put in a veggie garden. The 4'x8' raised bed in the backyard is not enough.

Squash bread with grapefruit zest

2010-06-11T22:54:00.001-07:00

What I did with the squash in last week's CSA box...
Pretty much used this recipe, but I never really follow directions to the letter. It turned out very moist and delicious!

The locavore's dilemma

2010-06-09T19:50:00.000-07:00

Catherine Price explores The Locavore's Dilemma: What to do with the kale, turnips, and parsley that overwhelm your CSA bin in Slate.

I left a comment there because those are the issues I am trying to address with this blog.

For turnips, try this Taiwanese soup.
http://madisonschoolcsa.blogspot.com/2009/10/diakon-soup.html

Cilantro will keep for a month if you trim off the ends and put it in a glass of water. Put a plastic bag over the top because the leaves transpire a lot of moisture. See the picture here (but imagine a bag over it).
http://badmomgoodmom.blogspot.com/2009/10/lifecycle-of-cilantro.html
We use a few springs here and there, just like Mark Bittman suggests. It's gone before it rots.

For cabbage, my mom sautes it with a bit of pork, or we make dumplings. The potsticker/wonton/dumpling recipe is here:
http://madisonschoolcsa.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-potstickers-with-your-napa-cabbage.html
Apples and cabbage both ripen in cool weather. You think that is why German omas braise cabbage and apples together?

We've got recipes for kohlrabi and other 'problem' vegetables.
http://madisonschoolcsa.blogspot.com/search/label/Recipes

Don't be discouraged when you start because it takes a while to get into the rhythm of using up your box. We get deliveries Thursday afternoons. When I get the box home, I trim and put away the produce right away. If any of it looks wilted, I will trim off the ends and put it in a pitcher of water, cut side down, like the cilantro example above.

On Thursday, think about how you want to cook that week's contents. Then shop on Friday for ingredients you need to complete the recipe.

[Aside: If you are clueless, post a comment on this blog or email Penny and myself. We will post something for you. This isn't a test a la "Iron Chef". We are here to help you figure out what to do with your "surprise box of goodies".

Don't forget to check the Tanaka Farms compilation of recipes http://tanakafarms.com/CSA-Recipes.html.

Or type the vegetable into your favorite search engine + recipe. E.g. type "kohlrabi + recipe".]

A couple of hours investment once a week goes a long way.

On Friday night or Saturday, I wash and chop all the vegetables from the box. We rinse lettuce, slice cucumbers, shred carrots and radishes etc for salads. I make a small blender jar of salad dressing and boil some eggs. I make a vat of seasonal vegetable soup and then put them into 1-2 serving containers. I put some in the fridge and some in the freezer. Then I move a different soup from the freezer to the fridge. This gives me more variety.

On Sunday night, we also make a bunch of sandwiches and cut up fruit. That way, we have everything we need to easily assemble lunches during the week.

(If I can, on Monday, I also take some pre-made soups and salads in to a friend/coworker who is caring for two terminally ill parents while working more than full-time. I used to swap home-made soup for home-baked bread with a neighbor. Home cooked food is one of the nicest things you can give someone.)

On weeknights, we can heat up some soup, assemble a salad or roast or steam some precut veggies. With our rice cooker on a timer, dinner is on the table in minutes.

And let's not forget the huge onion

2010-06-04T14:11:00.000-07:00

In addition to the broccoli and onion, we also received:

a bunch of ~12 carrots with attached tops (perfect for a bouquet)
a bunch of beets with attached greens
kale
green beans
a head of Romaine lettuce
2 grapefruits
3 avocadoes
8 green UFO-shaped squash
and a huge container of sweet ripe strawberries

This week's mystery guest is ROMANESCO BROCCOLI

2010-06-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

What's that?
Romanesco Broccoli. Lovely name, and what a shape! Treat it like its more traditional cousins broccoli and cauliflower. Or just admire it. (Bonus points if anyone uses it as alien landscape in a video.)

Kohlrabi! Squash! Grapefruit!

2010-05-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Plenty of new items in today's boxes--you can definitely tell the seasons are changing. Looking around for recipe ideas, I found this one for kohlrabi-squash empanadas--hey, that's two of the box ingredients right there!

CSA Day June 5

2010-05-19T10:11:00.000-07:00

The next Tanaka Farms CSA day will be June 5, 2010. Please RSVP to your school CSA coordinator before 5pm June 1. Tell us how many are in your party and whether you want to join the 10 AM or noon group. Read about past CSA days.

They were shelling peas.

2010-05-18T05:59:00.001-07:00

If you tried to eat the packet of peas last week as if they were sugar snap peas, you probably noticed that they weren't... they were shelling peas, explains the Tanaka Farms blog. Fun for even young children to prepare--no knives required. (Bowl above are my CSA peas, before we sauteed them and added them to a casserole.)

CSA Comfort Foods...

2010-05-08T13:09:00.001-07:00

Sometimes, I want a bowl of grains, with some sauteed/steamed/wilted greens and maybe some sauce or nuts on top. And it's the perfect way to make a nice bowl of comfort food from a CSA box brimming with cabbage, chard, spinach, lettuce...

Comfort Bowl #1: Cheesy Risotto (from a box), sauteed chard and cabbage, and pine nuts:

Comfort Bowl #2: Couscous with chopped cilantro, sauteed chard and onions, and peanut sauce:
What's your go-to CSA comfort food?

Small and Large Box Comparison

2010-04-30T10:11:00.000-07:00

In case you did not get a chance to stop by on 22 April to see the sample small box, Alison took some photos of the small and large boxes side by side for comparison. The smaller box is on the left and is about 2/3 as tall as the regular large box.

That week, the small box contained:

5 oranges
2 avocadoes
3 mandarin (tangerines)
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of celery
1 head of Boston lettuce
1 head of cauliflower
1 head of cabbage

The large box contained everything in the small box PLUS:

1 bunch of Maui onions
1 bunch of spinach
1 bunch of Swiss chard
additional oranges (8 total)
additional mandarns (9-10 total)

In summary, the small boxes cost 2/3 as much as the large boxes ($20/$30), and contain about 2/3 of the produce. Pick the size that works for you. We will offer both.

Email me to get the May/June order form that includes both sizes. The deadline for orders for the 6 May delivery has been extended to 8 AM on Monday 3 May 2010.

Come by to See the Small Box

2010-04-21T18:58:00.000-07:00

Tanaka Farms (TF) is now offering a smaller box option. They will continue to offer the familiar large box for $30 ($25/$5 TF/PTA split); the smaller box will be $20 ($18/$2 TF/PTA split).

The smaller boxes will contain produce staples. The larger boxes will contain staples plus specialty veggies. People who like to be surprised by unusual and heirloom varieties of produce may want to continue getting the larger boxes every other week.

But, we want to know if some of you will order more often if the smaller box option was offered.

TF is delivering a sample small box April 22. Come by Neighborhood Grinds that afternoon, Earth Day, April 22, to check out and compare the contents of the large and small boxes. (But please be gentle with the contents of my personal large box.)

Leave a comment and let me know if you would like our CSA program to offer a choice of box sizes.

In this week's Lincoln box...

2010-04-10T15:31:00.000-07:00

Some of the beautiful contents from this week's box as delivered to Lincoln school. We got a lot of small, juicy, easy-to-peel citrus, and more avocados and strawberries, and green cauliflower and cilantro. There were also several kinds of greens, a box of snap peas, and apples and carrots.

Kale and White Bean Soup

2010-04-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Alternatively, you can use the greens in a soup.

Our family loves this Kale and White Bean Soup recipe. We use carrots and greens from the CSA box, home-made chicken broth, cook dry beans in a rice cooker and chicken & cheese sausages from Costco. It's way more economical than the Whole Foods version and incredibly tasty.

We cook about 2-3 times the amount of beans required for this recipe at a time. We store the excess beans in the freezer (after they have cooled to room temperature). A few nights before we want to make this recipe again, we move the beans and chicken broth from the freezer to the refrigerator to thaw.

This is very energy efficient. A full freezer uses less energy than an empty one. Every time you open the freezer, you let out cold air and replace it with warm air. A full freezer will have less air exchange.

When you thaw frozen foods in the refrigerator, your refrigerator becomes an icebox! You recapture the energy used to freeze the food.

Southern Greens

2010-04-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

I've fielded a few inquiries about what to do with the kale and Swiss chard. Here is a delightfully simple and delicious way to prepare them. You can use both the stems and the leaves.

Wash and chop the greens (kale, Swiss chard, beet green tops) into 1" long pieces
Chop the stems into 3/4" pieces and keep those separately

(Opt) Saute 2 strips of bacon, cut into 3/4" pieces, or bits of ham in olive oil over medium-high heat
Add a chopped onion and (opt) smashed garlic cloves, saute until translucent
Add 1-2 (washed, peeled) carrots, diced into 1/2" pieces, saute a couple of minutes
Add the chopped stems and saute a couple of more minutes
Add the chopped greens, stir, turn down the heat and cover for 5 minutes
Add 1/4 Cup milk and stir, leaving lid off
Let the milk evaporate until the sauce is thickened (1-2 minutes)
Serve over rice

This has a sweet and savory flavor. You can make it vegetarian with vegetable stock instead of bacon/ham and milk. Try throwing in some nuts for protein.

Smaller Size Boxes

2010-04-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Tanaka Farms has introduced smaller sized boxes for smaller families. They will cost $20 ($18 to TF, $2 to the PTA). We've been getting the larger boxes ($25/$5 split). The smaller boxes will contain produce staples. The larger boxes will contain everything in the little boxes, plus specialty produce (Kohrabi anyone?).

In order to gauge interest, Tanaka Farms will deliver a sample small box with our regular delivery on April 22, 2010. Come by Neighborhood Grinds on Earth Day, April 22, to check out the boxes. If there is enough interest, I can accept orders for the smaller boxes starting in May.

A Guest Post on the Tanaka Farms Family Day

2010-03-12T18:29:00.000-08:00

Lincoln CSA member Lisa Bennett filed this report about her rainy but delicious morning at Tanaka Farms:

We got an invitation from Tanaka Farms to come visit on Community Supported Agriculture Day. So we started out at 9 am Saturday morning and rain was in the forecast. Half way there it was pouring, but we kept going, hoping for a break in the weather... or maybe it wasn't raining in Irvine?

Turns out it wasn't just yet. So after being greeted and accounted for by staff, we got out to the field at 10:00 and picked radishes, onions, sugar snap peas, cilantro and bok choy for our lunch. The rain started in a gentle sprinkle as we walked up the slope to the picnic area. Everything there was under cover and it was a good thing because it then started pouring.

There was a long high table fitted with overhead water spigots where we washed our veggies, then we went to the cutting station and chopped and seasoned our harvest. We added some tofu and oil to the mix and wrapped everything up in foil packets. Big barbques were ready to roast our creations. And we made some raw salads too. They had some beets and onions already roasted to sample. Oh my goodness were those golden beets good! That was really a tasty lunch. There's nothing like veggies fresh from the field.

Farmers Tanaka (husband and wife) walked around and chatted with everyone. They were very gracious hosts. Right about when we were done eating, the rain stopped and we were able to go pick some strawberries for dessert. It was a perfect morning.

2010 CSA Day, Strawberry Edition

2010-02-28T22:19:00.000-08:00

Join us Saturday, March 6 at Tanaka Farms in Irvine. This event is free for Tanaka Farms CSA subscribers and their families. The Spring CSA Day is our family favorite because of the strawberries. See pictures and a description of the strawberry tour in April 2009.

Families are greeted with a map of the farm, where things are planted and a list of produce they can pick. Begin by taking a self-guided walk through the farm. (There are lots of friendly staff working in the field to guide and help visitors!) Then it is on to the washing station to scrub the soil off the veggies. After that, visit the chop and season station, add some tofu and spices, and wrap those veggies in a foil package, ready for the grill. Enjoy a cool drink while you wait for your veggies. You deserve the break.

After munching on a lunch provided by Tanaka Farms and the veggies, stroll down to the strawberry patch to pick dessert! Strawberry fields forever....

If you subscribe through Lincoln Elementary, RSVP to Kelly. If you subscribe through Madison Elementary (Neighborhood Grinds pickup), then RSVP to Grace. You must RSVP by 5 PM Thursday, March 4th. Thanks.

Make potstickers with your Napa Cabbage

2010-02-12T10:38:00.000-08:00

Potstickers and dumplings are a Lunar New Year tradition in many Asian cultures. Tanaka Farms has thoughtfully provided Napa Cabbage for us this week.

This filling can be used to make won tons (square skins), potstickers and boiled dumplings (round skins).

Dice the napa cabbage and cook it in a pot on medium heat. Let the cabbage 'sweat' out some of its water. (Some people add salt to fascilitate this.) Set aside and let cool.
(Opt) Put some dried shitake mushrooms in warm water to rehydrate
In a large bowl, mash 1/2 pound of ground pork (Pork is traditional, but ground turkey or chicken also works. For extra special occasions, use a mixture of ground pork and shrimp.)
Add an egg
1 bunch of chopped scallions/green onions
Mince some ginger (I use a lot, ~1/4 C). Reserve half for the sauce, and throw the rest of the minced ginger into the filling mixture.
If you have some shitake mushrooms, drain and mince them. Add to the mix.
Strain the water out of the napa cabbage as much as you can and add to the mix.
Add salt, pepper and toasted sesame oil to taste
Mix thoroughly and you are ready to wrap the dumplings!
Cook the dumplings in your desired style.
Combine soy sauce, white vinegar, minced ginger and hot oil to make the sauce

There are lots of resources on the web showing how to wrap dumplings.

Lincoln Box contents, 11 February

2010-02-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

Here it is, all unpacked and basking on the dining room table:
What you see is what we got: avocados, carrots, apples, cilantro, broccoli, green onions, cauliflower, spinach, radicchio (the dark reddish lettuce-like item), napa cabbage (the huge and heavy head of greens at the back), and another head of light-green lettuce.

Napa cabbage is the stuff often found in kimchi, btw. So it's quite sturdy!

A Magenta Heart!

2010-02-02T14:28:00.001-08:00

Welcome February with a bright magenta heart, using CSA box ingredients...Four ingredients: shredded beets (from the CSA box), chopped red cabbage (from the CSA box), garlic powder (wish I had some real garlic around but I didn't), and a little mayonnaise. There are many, many variations of this traditional Russian dish online; some include nuts, or citrus or onions; some include horseradish and a vinegar-based dressing; some use ranch dressing in place of mayo. It's all good.

I did not like beets until this year. Yeah for the CSA experience! And thanks to my friend Rubi, for suggesting I try this--she was right.

The 1/28/10 Lincoln Box

2010-01-28T15:18:00.000-08:00

Early dismissal meant we got to have our boxes a little earlier today...
Beautiful colors as always. We have lemons, oranges, red cabbage, mixed greens, cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, broccoli, spinach, carrots, bok choy, and two kinds of lettuce.

Jan 21 Box

2010-01-21T22:56:00.000-08:00

Our box was crammed to the gills today. I was worried about the effect of the large amount of rain we have received this week upon this week's produce. We needn't have worried. They were amazingly moist and crisp today.

I had to move the gigantic head of Romaine lettuce out of the way to show you the rest.

1 head of Romaine
1 head of butter lettuce
1 bunch of swiss chard
2 pints of strawberries
1 pint of tomatoes
1 bunch of radishes
2 bunches of carrots
1 bunch of green onions
1 bunch of Chinese broccoli
1 bunch of spinach
2 purple kohlrabis

What's a kohlrabi? It's another member of the brassical family.

Doesn't it look like a purple UFO? I am saving the radish, carrot and kohlrabi tops for a hearty winter soup with beans, sausage, onions and potatoes. I have never eaten a kohlrabi before, but I have read about them. Last summer, Mark Bittman wrote that he eats chopped kohlrabi raw in a summer salad, much as he would eat a chopped radish. (Read his 101 simple salads of the season.)

Simply Recipes has a bunch of links to kohlrabi recipes. So does cooks.com. The braised kohlrabi recipe at recipe tips sounds (and looks) really good. The related recipe they offer on the right side for beet greens will also work for the kohlrabi greens.

Leave a comment to tell me how you cooked yours. I'd like to know.

Last week, I worried about the effect of this week's rain upon the strawberries. Sure enough, we found our strawberries this week not as uniformly sweet as last week's batch. Some were just as sweet, but others were just OK. How did you find your strawberries?

Winter Strawberries

2010-01-18T13:27:00.000-08:00

True winter strawberries (rather than those imported from a warmer clime) are a rare and precious commodity. They look pretty ordinary, but they are the most amazingly sweet strawberries we have ever tasted.

When we took the Tanaka Farms CSA family day tour, Glenn Tanaka told us that the first crop of strawberries in the season are his favorite. They plant strawberries in October/November. By the end of December, the first strawberries ripen. Winter berries are the smallest and sweetest strawberries the plant will ever produce.

They mature more slowly due to the cold weather and shorter days. There are only a few, not enough for commercial harvest. Glenn says he and the rest of the TF family love to walk the fields then, searching for strawberries under the leaves and eating them right away.

By January, there are a bit more--enough to share with the CSA families. Last week, we received two pints of these ambrosial berries in our CSA box. In February-March, when the days get warmer and longer, the plants go into full-scale production. They can pick the plants every few days because the berries grow and ripen so quickly. They will also be bigger, but they will never be as sweet and precious as those early season jewels.

Sadly, the heavy rains this week may damage the strawberry plants. They need just the right amount of rain and this may be too much. Mildew can set in on strawberry plants if there isn't sufficient sunshine and wind to dry the plants out between waterings.

We hope for more winter strawberries in this week's box, but we are prepared to be disappointed. The ones from South America or greenhouses sold in the supermarkets are not the same.

The contents of the January 14 box:

2 pints of unbelievably sweet strawberries
1 head of butter lettuce
1 bunch of carrots
1 head of cauliflower
1 bunch of broccoli
1 bunch of cilantro
1 bunch of beets
1 bag of small yellow onions

2010 CSA Update

2010-01-11T09:57:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a wonderful winter break.

The CSA program resumes this week. Madison and Lincoln deliveries begin Thursday, 14 January 2010.

On , 31 December 2009, Tanaka Farms officially announced the 2010 prices. Boxes are now $30 with $25 going to TF and $5 going to the PTA. (At the December Family Day down on the farm, Farmer Tanaka gave a heads up to some of the tractor ride tour groups.)

Part of the reason for the price increase is because of lower than expected volumes per delivery site. Madison is one of the low participation schools (5-10 boxes per week). We hope to grow our program, despite the price increase. Even at $30 per box, this is still about $15 lower than another CSA program that serves our area.

Remember that CSA members are invited to CSA Family Days on the farm. Tanaka Farms normally charges as much as $13 per person for these fun and educational tours. Recent subscriber families can attend FREE. There are ~4 tours per year, one for each season.

Early Spring means strawberries! See the post about the 2009 strawberry tour for photos.
Summer means watermelons. Fall brings pumpkins and the winter tour is a festive holiday party. In the spring and summer, kids go into the fields to pick their own produce. They can cook it up right there on the farm, and/or take some home.

A Merry CSA Meal

2009-12-25T15:18:00.003-08:00

Our Christmas Day meal was based on the 12/17 CSA box items. And it was delicious!

That's scalloped potatoes using potatoes and onions from the box; a salmon prepared with onions and parsley from the box; steamed broccoli and cauliflower from the box; and salad using greens from the box. We also used local tomatoes--three late-bloomers from our own yard.

Hope you're eating good things over the school break!

CSA Frittata

2009-12-17T20:41:00.000-08:00

Since Penny asked what we do with our CSA veggies...

CSA deliveries are Thursday. Wednesday night, we clear out space in our refrigerator for the incoming produce. Many weeks, that means whatever veggies we have left over go into one giant frittata.

Start by sauteing chopped veggies in oil, throwing the items in order of longest cooking times.

When the veggies are cooked through (but not overly soft) pour in eggs scrambled with a little bit of milk or water. We typically use 6-8 omega-3 enriched eggs in order to cover the veggies.

Cover and reduce the heat.

When the eggs are almost done, you can dot some goat cheese on the top. Cover again until the goat cheese melts into gooey goodness.

Serve with your favorite whole grain. It's a 15 minute meal if you use a rice cooker with a timer for your grain.

Leftover frittata is wonderful for breakfast.

Lincoln Box contents, 17 December

2009-12-17T15:45:00.001-08:00

Now we're set for the holiday break, with apples, potatoes, onions, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, butter lettuce, a box of baby spinach and a box of mixed greens, and a nice bunch of parsley. Potatoes and onions--that's the start of a nice big casserole dish of scalloped potatoes for the visiting relatives. What will you make with your box of goodies this time?

The Lincoln CSA Box for 12/3/09

2009-12-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

A nice supply of kitchen basics this time--celery, broccoli, green beans, potatoes, apples, baby carrots, baby Maui onions, cilantro, lettuce, spinach. What to do, what to do, on a cool night in the Beach Cities....
We had peanut stew tonight, with rice and lime and curry-style spices, and a whole lot of fresh vegetables.... made the house smell good and tasted great too. It's stew season, and the CSA box is full of possibilities in that direction.

Dates of Holiday Hiatus

2009-12-01T21:39:00.000-08:00

The last delivery for the calendar year will take place Thursday, December 17, 2009.

Delivery resumes Thursday, January 14, 2010.

Please place your orders for the remainder of December by 8 AM Friday, December 6.

I will send out the January/February 2010 order forms via email to people who have subscribed within the last 6 months. New subscribers can email me for the 2010 form or download the December 2009 from the link to the upper left.

Lincoln Box contents, 19 November

2009-11-19T17:07:00.000-08:00

Ooooh, some goodies this time (I say that every time, don't I?). Swiss chard is the tall leafy green--treat the leaves like spinach, and the white stalks like celery, more or less. The fruits that aren't apples are fuyu persimmons--yes, you can figure out something to do with them. (Keeping it simple, they go great in fruit salad.) Yellow beans, mmm, nice to add a different color to a stirfry, or your favorite casserole. And who can't enjoy some fresh basil?

Here's what it all looked like together on my counter:
What you see: mixed greens, yellow beans, cabbage, broccoli, lettuce, baby carrots, swiss chard, basil, apples, fuyu persimmons.

CSA Family Day

2009-11-13T09:14:00.000-08:00

The next CSA Family day is December 6, 2009. All Madison and Lincoln CSA families are invited to participate. RSVP to your school coordinators, Grace (Madison) or Kelly (Lincoln) by Dec 1, 2009.

What is CSA Family Day at the farm? Here's a recap from a CSA day in April of 2009.

Iris and I greatly enjoyed the CSA Family Day at Tanaka Farms.
Iris and I arrived an hour late for the 10:00 AM tour due to construction on interstate 405. While we were stuck on the freeway, I gave Iris my cell phone and asked her to dial her nanny. (Iris has decided that M will always be her one and only nanny; everyone else is just a babysitter.) Tanaka Farms is in Irvine. M currently lives on campus in Irvine. Let's meet for lunch!

Irvine is not a small town. I never expected that the farm and M's university shared a freeway exit. We drive this section of road regularly to visit my in-laws in San Diego. I never noticed this exit before. But, that's life in LA. Behind each freeway exit, is a community both distinct and integrated into the life of the larger metro area.

When M met us, she showed us how her college is visible from the Tanaka Farms parking lot. Once a week-on low carb, low carbon night-her dorm cafeteria serves produce from Tanaka Farms. Now that's local!

I couldn't believe the buccolic setting. Is this really only 1 minute away from the 405? The juxtaposition of banana trees and corn stalks tickled my fancy. The bananas we received in last week's box came from another farm. Irvine winter nights are too cold for these trees to bear fruit in large quantities.

Though they do bear some fruit. And who are those lazy guys all over the farm? Don't they ever move?

Iris tried unsuccessfully to befriend one.

The farm was also overrun with ladybugs.

The CSA tour is run separately from the strawberry and birthday party tours. We were given a map of the farm and sent to stations to pick radishes, carrots, cilantro, spinach and strawberries. It was a farm treasure hunt.

At each station, I embarrassed Iris by asking lots of questions. Can you imagine they run this entire farm, the CSA, the farm stand, educational tours and take care of the back office with just ~20 full-time employees and a few part-timers?

They minimize weeding by using drip irrigation and plastic row covers. Weeds only grow if they have water and sunlight. Under this system, they get very fewer weeds.

At first, I thought that was a whole lot of non-recyclable plastic. Then I thought about all the energy they save by not having to pump more water out here and not needing more workers, each commuting by car. We don't see the waste from that petroleum use, though we do see the plastic.

The ladybugs and scarecrows are part of the integrated pest management system, which includes interleaving crops.

Those are the healthiest tomatoes I have seen since I moved from Kansas.

Their Swiss chard has a few insect nibbles, just like mine. Note that not all the people in the background are capable of moving. ;-)

I lingered near the carrots because I enjoyed observing the wind rustle through the carrots with my senses. I could see, hear and smell the carroty goodness.

Then we headed up to the washing, chopping and grilling station at the top of a hill. They provided tofu, oil and spices to mix with our veggies. They also grilled sweet Maui-style onions. I noticed that the discarded onion tops resembled leeks. The young man told me I was welcome to take as many onion tops as I wanted.

After the food break, we headed over to the strawberry patch for dessert. They gave us one large plastic box per person and told us to fill them up. We were so sad that M had to leave the tour before dessert. She had an appointment with a study group for an upcoming exam. Luckily, we picked a small box of strawberries for her at the strawberry maze near the farm entrance before she met us that morning.

The onions are planted there to help repel insects from the strawberries.

They told us to eat as many strawberries as we wanted. So we did. All the parents were telling the kids to eat the darkest red ones, because they were the sweetest and wouldn't transport well. We picked bright red ones to take home. There is a certain joy in eating freshly picked and ripe strawberries, warmed by the sun. The kids had strawberry juice dribbling down their chins. Before long, I heard one child cry out, "My stomach hurts!"

Iris says she knows how a flower becomes a strawberry. You can see the whole process right here.

Iris managed to spill her container. She picked up what she could, and asked me to pick some more to fill it up. She carried mine. It was a windy day and our hats tried to fly away. She put the strawberries on her head to hold the hat on and to carry the strawberries. Container #2 hit the ground and burst open. I bit my tongue and watched her pick them up, slightly worse for the tumble.

After we put our pickings away, we went to the farm stand near the entrance. I bought some onions, garlic and potatoes. Iris bought a box of 6 enormous chocolate-covered strawberries. She gave Mark one, but tried to charge me $2 per strawberry! I asked her why he got a free sample. She said it was because he wasn't there. I had the option to buy them and I refused.

Bye-bye. We will be back next year for CSA day. Actually, Iris says we will be back in the summer for the watermelon tour. We went home to cook potato-leek soup with cilantro. What a great way to cap off the day.

Madison CSA Program FAQ

2009-11-11T21:01:00.000-08:00

An FAQ with just the answers. Is it a Frequently Answered Questions? Or answers I am tired of repeating?

Change History:

This post was originally written in 2009.
Effective January 2010, the price for the original large boxes changed from $25 to $30.
Effective June 2010, smaller $20 boxes were introduced. Large boxes continue to be $30.
July and August 2010, Lincoln subscribers will also pick up their produce at Neighborhood Grinds.
Effective Oct 2010, the boxes remain $30/$20, but the PTA will earn only $3/$2 per box.
Effective Nov 2010, orders will be accepted monthly (not weekly)

FAQ:
CSA means community supported agriculture. Tanaka Farms has written an introductory pdf about their CSA program. The Madison and Lincoln schools' PTAs partner with Tanaka Farms (TF) to locally administer the program.

Each box contains produce grown using organic methods at local farms around southern California-mainly from Tanaka Farms of Irvine. All produce is farmed using organic methods, but may not necessarily be certified organic. Small farms often forgo the expensive certification process. A few times a year, TF invites subscribers to visit the farm so they can see for themselves how their food is grown.

Orders are due monthly. You must turn in the order form and payment on or before 8:00 AM of the last Friday of every month.

The retail value of produce in each box will be $30/$20 (Large/Small box). Subscribers select the dates and sizes that they would like boxes and pay in advance.

Email the Madison coordinator for the most current sign up form. Sign up forms can also be downloaded by following the link on the left hand column of Madison's Tanaka Farms Produce Orders page.

Make the checks payable to "Madison PTA".

Drop off the completed forms and payment at the Madison school office or at Neighborhood Grinds aka NG (2315 Artesia Boulevard, cross-street Mackay)

Email us to let us know you placed an order (and where we should pick it up). We will email back a confirmation upon receipt of the hard copy form and payment.

The PTA sends $27/$18 to Tanaka Farms and keeps $3/$2 to help support programs at Madison Elementary school.

Tanaka Farms delivers to Redondo Beach and Santa Monica each Thursday. They deliver elsewhere within the South Bay on Tuesdays. If Thursday falls on a holiday (e.g. Thanksgiving), our backup delivery day is the prior Tuesday.

Madison CSA boxes can be picked up at Neighborhood Grinds (NG) coffee shop, conveniently located at 2315 Artesia Boulevard (cross-street Mackay). Just sign the subscriber sheet at the counter to confirm pick-up, and a NG staffer will hand you a box of produce. (If you think you have a box that week, and your name does not appear on the weekly list, call Aisha immediately. Do NOT take a box.)

Delivery times vary, but are generally in the late morning. Subscriber boxes can be picked up anytime between 2:00 until 10:00 PM on delivery days (currently Thursdays). Sometimes*, we send out email when the boxes are ready for pickup.

Tanaka Farms' sturdy waxed cardboard boxes must be returned. Please bring your own box, bag or bin to carry your produce home. NG staff will fold up the TF box and return it for you.

Make sure you pick up the correct size box!

Subscribers do not get a choice of produce. The boxes contain produce in season in our local area. Basically, they consist of whatever is ready to be harvested at the farm on the morning of the delivery, supplemented with specialty produce (e.g. stone fruit from the central valley, apples from Julian).

The produce will contain varieties not commonly found at supermarkets. That's the whole point.

Pictures of representative boxes can be found here and the posts tagged Inventory. Pictures and inventory lists of a sample week can be found in small and large box comparison.

We will provide recipe support at this blog. Peruse the entries tagged Recipes.

*Travel schedules permitting, an email reminder is sent out Wednesday to everyone who ordered a box for that week. When the boxes arrive on Thursday, NG sends out a 'reply to all' message. Keep your own records. Don't count on the reminder because I can't do it every week. If you are super curious and can't wait to tear into your strawberries, you can call NG at (310) 371-0900.

Errata:
Tanaka Farms provides free CSA family days down at the farm. The last one was in June. Pictures and a description of a family day from April 2008 can be found here.

The Adams Middle School CSA program also picks up at NG. Email the Adams CSA coordinator for the current monthly sign-up form or download the November 2010 form on Google Docs. Fill out the form and drop it off with payment at Neighborhood Grinds (NG). Make checks out to “Adams PTA”. If you can’t make it over to NG in person, just drop it in the mail.

Neighborhood Grinds

2315 Artesia Blvd., Unit 1
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

Attn: Adams CSA

Lincoln Elementary School families may sign up through the Lincoln PTA. Proceeds from those orders benefit the Lincoln PTA. Email Kelly Wolschon to sign-up for the Lincoln School PTA program.

Jefferson Elementary School has also joined the Tanaka Farms CSA program. However, Jefferson boxes must be picked up at the school between 2:15 and 3:00 PM. Email Leslie Typrin to sign-up for the Jefferson School PTA program.

Thanksgiving Week Delivery 24 November, 2009

2009-11-11T20:12:00.000-08:00

Our normal delivery day is Thursday. We don't expect anyone at the farm to work on Thanksgiving Thursday, so we arranged for our delivery to be moved FROM 26 Nov TO 24 Nov. That gives subscribers time to check out the contents of the box, select their recipes for the Thanksgiving meal, and shop on Wednesday for any extra ingredients not included in the box.

Order your Thanksgiving box today by downloading the form at the left hand column of Madison's Tanaka Farms Produce Orders page. Lincoln subscribers can email their coordinator, Kelly W.

Lettuce; not just for salads

2009-11-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

Each winter box usually includes heads of two types of lettuces. Here are a few recipe suggestions beyond salads.

Make soup! This is not as strange as it sounds. Have you ever had watercress soup? Romaine lettuce imparts a refreshing flavor to soup, without the spiciness of watercress. Moreover, Chinese clay pot dishes are often lined with the tougher outer leaves of Romaine lettuce. They lend flavor and help reduce cleanup.

You may not be the type of mom that serves ramen after a long day at work. But I have been known to serve ramen with cubes of tofu, slices of fish cake and whatever veggies I can scrounge in the fridge. My mother used spinach, watercress and Romaine interchangeably in ramen soup; I do the same.

The softer types of lettuce leaves are perfect for low-carb wraps. Boston or Bibb lettuce also works well for Korean-style lettuce cups.

Feel free to add your lettuce ideas in the comments!

Can't Beet Cookies!

2009-11-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Or maybe you can.... Faced with the beets in our CSA box this week, I used a recipe that works for carrots and made beet cookies. The batter was very vivid:
But the cookies themselves weren't more than a hint of pink:
I like them. My friend likes them. And most impressively, my very picky nine-year-old likes them. Success! The same recipe works for squash, carrots, applesauce, bananas, etc. Here's my basic recipe:

LEFTOVER COOKIES
1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. mashed-up (whatever)
1/2 t. vanilla
2 c. flour (I use a mix of white and cornmeal, with some whole wheat if I have it)
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
whatever cookie spices you like (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger, cardamom)
a cup of raisins (or sultanas, or currants, or chopped dried apricots, or craisins, or dates)
a cup of chopped walnuts (or chopped almonds)
citrus zest (if you have it around and you like the idea)

Mix together in the order shown. The batter will be thick enough to roll into balls. So roll it into balls, about ping-pong size. Bake well-spaced on a greased cookie sheet, 350F, for about 12-15 minutes, till they look dry. Remove from sheet promptly.

The November 5 Boxes at Lincoln

2009-11-05T15:22:00.000-08:00

Can't "beet" this week's box... groan. It's really a beautiful array this week:

apples
pears
beets
tomatoes
potatoes
green beans
mixed greens
carrots
lettuce and more lettuce

Check it out!

Not a beet-friendly household? I understand, really, I do. I was hoping to use the beets to dye fabric, but it turns out to be less effective than you'd think. So I'm still in search of the right beet recipe or application for me....

The October 22 Boxes at Lincoln: Apples to Zucchinis!

2009-10-22T13:53:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful sight, when you first open the CSA box--fresh leafy greens cover the whole top layer. But then below that, so much more goodness.... this week, we have:

cilantro
spinach
lettuce (two kinds)
apples
zucchini
baby onions
baby carrots
cabbage
green beans
and a jar of strawberry jam!

Can't picture it? Glad to help:

Make a CSA Pizza!

2009-10-14T19:41:00.001-07:00

Most vegetables are great on a pizza. This one used the whole bunch of spinach from last week's box, plus one pepper, and two tomatoes from our garden. The crust is homemade, because today was a good day for baking, but it would have been good on any base.

Did you know?

2009-10-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

[Photo above: seafood soup made with white radishes, radish greens, and onions from last week's Lincoln box.]

There's a Flickr group for "photographs of local and/or CSA (community supported agriculture) produce, farms, recipes, events, and people." I posted some of my recent photos of the Lincoln box and a bowl of soup I made with the contents. If you also take photos of the things you make, come join me there. It's interesting to see what other CSA folks are doing all over the country.

Oct 15 Box

2009-10-13T20:11:00.000-07:00

What might be in your Tanaka Farms box on Oct 15?

~ Japanese Turnips ~ Baby Carrots ~ Broccoli ~ Spinach
~ Red Leaf Lettuce ~ Cucumbers ~ Radishes ~ Russett Potatos
~ Romaine Lettuce ~ Cilantro ~ Oranges* ~ Apples*
~ Squash ~ Blue Lake Beans

* grown by other area organic farmers

Farmer Tanaka has posted some sad news on his blog.

10/13/09

I know that the produce that everyone has been receiving lately has not been up to par and I would like to apologize for that. Some of our crops are being harvested a little early because of an infestation of beetles that we are having a hard time controlling without conventional chemicals. Harvesting a crop early is not usually a problem, but with the heat that we were having, they wilted very quickly while in the box waiting to be picked up by you at school. Believe me, I know how bad a wilted head of lettuce can look or a limp bunch of carrots. Very unappealling.

Also, I know that the boxes can sometimes look empty. We do try and make the retail value come out to at least $25 and most of the time it is more than that. But there will be times when items are small and do not take up a lot of room to make the box look empty or maybe we are actually short on value. If you have a garden or have had any experience growing vegetables, you can appreciate how difficult it can be to have a plant produce the amount of produce you want when you want it! Just as two children of the same age mature at different times, so do crops.

Please remember that this CSA program is not only about receiving produce from a local farm to consume but it is also a learning experience for our children. Explaining the production cycle and the different seasons and how it affects what we eat.

I appreciate your patience and understanding. I hope that you will all continue to support your school and Tanaka Farms as we work through this period. I guarantee that your boxes will be better!

Farmer Tanaka

This is an important lesson for kids.

I once watched a swarm of locusts eat my entire garden in Boulder, Colorado in a single afternoon. I missed my homegrown tomatoes, but I still had the supermarket. Just imagine the calamity of an insect infestation if we didn't have cash and had to live on only what we could grow and gather.

Diakon Soup

2009-10-13T01:13:00.000-07:00

The cooler weather brings yearning for hot soup. In case you haven't used your white radishes yet, you can try substituting the radishes for daikon (white turnip) in this recipe from "Homestyle Cooking of Taiwan", a compilation of recipes my mother gave me.

1-2 pounds of daikon (or any white turnip/radish)
half pound of pork ribs, chopped into 1" or one rib section pieces
salt and pepper

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add pork ribs and boil for half a minute. Then drain and rinse the pork. This minimizes the scum that can seep out of the bones.
Put the pork ribs back into the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring it back to a boil, reduce to low heat, and let it simmer for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, peel the daikon and cut it up into 1" chunks. Add daikon to the soup and let simmer for 5 minutes until pork and daikon are tender.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Variations:
Add rice noodles to make a filling one-pot meal. Add cauliflower, black mushrooms, lily buds, "tree ear" black fungus, kelp or tofu.

Be sure to reconstitute the dried black mushrooms, lily buds or black fungus in warm water for 5 minutes. Then rinse and drain before adding them to the soup. Dried kelp can be put directly in the soup.

Radish and Cilantro Relish

2009-10-08T17:24:00.001-07:00

This recipe was submitted by one of the Lincoln CSA subscribers, Traci Vujicich. This sounds like a delicious way to use a lot of radishes!

Radish and Cilantro Relish

2 cups radishes, thinly Sliced
3 tbsps. orange juice
2 tbsps. fresh cilantro, fine snipped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup onion, chopped, 1 medium
2 tbsps. lime juice
2 tbsps. vegetable oil
1/8 tsp. pepper, freshly ground
Dash red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients in glass or plastic bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Makes 3 cups of relish.

The October 8 Boxes at Lincoln

2009-10-08T15:24:00.000-07:00

Lincoln families ordered 39 boxes of produce for our first week of CSA boxes from Tanaka Farms. That's a lot of boxes!What was in each box? I got ten pieces of fruit (5 apples and 5 oranges):
PLUS three heads of greens (two lettuce, one spinach, I think), two cucumbers, five or six peppers, a bunch of small onions, a bunch of white radishes, and a bunch of baby carrots:I don't think we'll be ordering pizza tonight. ;)

If the white radishes have you stumped, here are some hints: Use them like you would water chestnuts, and slice them into a stir-fry. They're also good chopped up in egg salad or tuna salad sandwiches. Finely-chopped radishes can be added to dips and baked-potato toppings, too. Start chopping!

First Lincoln boxes start tomorrow!

2009-10-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

There are dozens of Lincoln families signed up for the fresh produce boxes from Tanaka Farms--yeah! Whether you're picking up your goodies outside the cafeteria after school, or at the CDC later, don't forget to bring your own sturdy bags or boxes (you can't take the Tanaka box home with you, they reuse those). If you're on foot, maybe consider bringing a shopping cart or the kids' red wagon to bring the produce home without wrecking your shoulders and wrists. You don't want to drop a bag and lose or bruise the contents.

What might be in the Oct 8 box?

2009-10-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

From Tanaka Farms' CSA blog:

Baby Maui Onions
Baby Carrots
Romaine Lettuce
Green Leaf Lettuce
Mild Mesclun Mix
Cucumbers
Radishes
Zucchini
Japanese Eggplant
Baby Basil
Cilantro
Beans (green or yellow)
Honey Yellow (Melon)
Honey Orange (Melon)
Apples*

*These fruits are grown by other local CA farmers.

What might be in the Oct 1 box?

2009-09-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

I forgot to photograph my box, but CSA Subscriber Mickey M sent this photo of the contents of her box.

From Tanaka Farms' Blog
(amended to reflect actual box contents):

White Corn
Baby Carrots, 1 bunch
Head Lettuce, 1
Zucchini
Radishes, 1 bunch
Maui Onions, 1 large
Green Leaf Lettuce, 1
Cucumbers, 2
Potatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Squash, 1 ovoid yellow one, spaghetti squash?
Green Bell peppers, 3 green + 1 purple
Cilantro, 1 bunch
Oranges*
Apples*, 4 Fuji
1 bunch of broccoli (not on the "might be in box list", but it appeared in the box)

*These fruits are grown by other local CA farmers.

We roasted last week's potatoes with rosemary from our garden. Yum. Our rosemary bush and bay tree overfloweth. Email if you want to pick up some hyperlocal rosemary, bay leaves or a Meyer lemon with your Thursday box.

September 24 Box & Recipes

2009-09-25T11:31:00.000-07:00

Tanaka Farms sent an extra box yesterday to Neighborhood Grinds (2315 Artesia Blvd), so we could show off the produce. This week, the boxes contained:

4 Fuji apples
4 oranges
8 Persian cucumbers
5 zucchinis/crookneck squashes
3 ears of white corn
4 potatoes
1 head of loose-leaf lettuce
1 bunch of carrots
1 bunch of mini Maui onions
green beans

Still life with flower and produce.

Recipes:

Green Beans with Slivered Almonds

Blanch washed green beans in boiling water until tender-crisp (~1-2 minutes depending upon the ratio of hot water to beans), drain
In a separate pan, saute slivered almonds in butter and/or olive oil until almonds are lightly browned
Add minced garlic and turn down heat
Add the blanched and drained green beans
Season to taste with salt and pepper

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

Cut cucumbers, tomatoes and mozzarella into chunks about 1/2" to 3/4" in size.
(Optional) Sprinkle with chopped seasonings such as red onion, basil, mint and chives.
Toss with a vinaigrette of olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper

Lincoln School deliveries begin October 8, 2009. Lincoln families who want a box for October 1, 2009 are welcome to order through Madison School's program. Just download the order form at the top right (under "Want to join?". Fill it out and drop the form and payment off at Neighborhood Grinds by Monday. I collect the orders and place a weekly Tanaka order on Tuesdays for the following Thursday.

What's in this week's box?

2009-09-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

Tanaka Farms is posting a weekly newsletter about what's new at the farm for the CSA subscribers. They are including recipe ideas.

At the August CSA coordinator meeting, Tanaka admitted they were feeling growing pains. They had grown from one group to 60 groups (schools/churches/workplaces) in their first year. Selected news from their newsletters:

8/27/09
We have acquired another field in Irvine just for our CSA program. It is about 12 acres and we are going to grow as much vegetables as we can there for your boxes. We have been working on this piece of ground for about two weeks. Getting the ground ready, watering, bedding up, and we are starting to plant seeds Saturday. We are planting a little late so the vegetables won't be ready until November or December.

9/10/09
New schools and new businesses are starting up everywhere for us. We acquired 20 new schools so far for this upcoming school year. Get the word out there and tell your friends, family and neighbors. Eat fresh and eat healthy.

Here's what might be in the box for this week:
White Corn
Baby Carrots
Red Leaf Lettuce
Peaches
Baby Maui Onions
Green Leaf Lettuce
Potatoes
Romaine Lettuce
Tomatoes
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Apples

Remember, these are the things that are available this week. Each box will contain some, but not all, of the items listed. They try to maintain consistency within each delivery. That is, each school's box will contain an identical inventory. But boxes destined for different schools may contain different items due to availability. We are a smaller school program, so we might get the rarer items!

If you turned in a subscription order form with payment, you will receive a confirmation email from me shortly. If you haven't subscribed yet (why not?), or want to add more boxes to your order, email me.

How do you sign up?

2009-09-17T20:51:00.000-07:00

Email madisonschoolcsa@gmail.com for an electronic sign-up form. (Addendum, forms can be downloaded directly from the left hand column of Madison's Tanaka Farms Produce Orders web page.) Return the completed form with your check made out to "Madison PTA" for ~~$25~~ $30 each box to the Madison School Office (if you have children at Madison) or to Neighborhood Grinds (if you don't). Or, you can come by Grace's office at work.

To start, we will use rolling deadlines. You must turn in the order form and check on or before 8:00 AM on Friday in order to receive a box the following Thursday. After we have worked out the start-up kinks, we will move to monthly order forms.

Addendum:
Tanaka Farms delivers to the South Bay each Thursday.

Lincoln Elementary School families may sign up through the Lincoln PTA and pick up their produce at the school. Proceeds from those orders benefit the Lincoln PTA. Email Kelly Wolschon to sign-up for the Lincoln program.

Jefferson Elementary School has also joined the Tanaka Farms CSA program. However, pickups for Jefferson must be in a half hour time window after school dismissal.

We don't mean to poach from other schools' PTAs, but working parents from any school may take advantage of the Madison program's flexible pickup times between 2:00 and 10:00 PM.

If you would like to start a Tanaka Farms CSA program at your South Bay school, contact me to learn how to set it up. The more schools and members we sign up, the lower the carbon footprint of each box trucked in from Irvine!

More info can be found in Fall 2009 CSA Deliveries .

What will I do with all that produce?

2009-09-16T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's a bargain, no doubt, all that food in the photos below. But maybe you're not an adventurous cook, or maybe your family aren't very adventurous diners. Maybe that's exactly why you're subscribing: to nudge yourself and your family to eat and cook a wider range of better foods. Good for you! We'll be posting recipe ideas here to help you to work toward that goal.

But that might take some time. And meanwhile, what can you do with all that beautiful, locally-grown produce? First, don't be overwhelmed. You don't have to eat it all the first day or two. Remember that you can always trade with your neighbors. If you don't like something or you just don't think you'll be able to use it, maybe a friend can use it instead.

[Visual description: A still life by Cezanne, showing a bowl of fruit, a few pots and bowls, and a bunchy tablecloth.]

Here's another idea, time-honored and fun too: sketch your produce. Sketch one item in isolation, for starters. Pay attention to the curves, the shine, the texture. For a bigger challenge, make a still life in a bowl, maybe add a candle or bottle for height. When you like the composition, sketch, or paint, or photograph it. Or all three, if you like.

Make CSA art with your kids, and laugh together about how tricky the greens are, or admire each other's best shadows. The goal isn't to make a masterpiece, just to have fun and appreciate your food in all its gorgeousness. This way, every delivery will bring new tastes AND colors and shapes to enjoy. (If there's enough interest, I'll set up a Flickr group for our CSA art. Let me know what you think about that.)

Looking forward to this fall of great food, for all the senses!

Representative Boxes

2009-09-15T12:48:00.001-07:00

Here's an early August sample box.

This was my box from late August.

After I removed the top layer of greens, I could see the other goodies. This is what edamame looks like on the vine. We picked off the pods, boiled them in water for 5 minutes with a pinch of salt, and ate them all up as soon as we got home.

That's not just another watermelon. It is a yellow flesh variety. Mintage Home posted a pix of the inside.

Fall 2009 CSA Deliveries

2009-09-15T11:13:00.001-07:00

[Update: In 2009, the boxes were $25 each. Effective January 2010, the boxes are $30 each. The post has been edited to reflect the price change.]

Tanaka Farms will deliver Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) produce boxes each Thursday afternoon to Neighborhood Grinds in North Redondo Beach starting on September 24, 2009.

Each box will contain organically grown (but not necessarily certified organic) produce from local farms around southern California-mainly from Tanaka Farms of Irvine. The retail value of produce in each box will be ~~$25~~ $30. Subscribers select the weeks that they would like boxes and pay ~~$25~~ $30/box in advance. There is no minimum order. Try it once and then sign up for more later!

Madison PTA sends ~~$20~~ $25 to Tanaka Farms and keeps $5 to help support programs at nearby Madison Elementary School. This community-building fundraiser promotes healthy eating habits and helps support local organic agriculture. It's a win-win for everyone.

Neighborhood Grinds is conveniently located at 2315 Artesia Boulevard (cross-street Mackay). Subscriber boxes can be picked up anytime between 2:00 until 10:00 PM on delivery days (currently Thursdays). Just sign the subscriber sheet at the counter to confirm pick-up, and a NG staffer will hand you a box of produce. Tanaka Farms' sturdy waxed cardboard boxes do need to be returned. Please bring your own box, bag or bin to carry your produce home. NG staff will fold up the TF box and return it for you.

Send email to madisonschoolcsa@gmail.com to request a sign-up sheet in electronic format. (Update: you can now download the form here.) Return the form and your check made payable to Madison PTA to the Madison School Office (families with children attending Madison) or Neighborhood Grinds (community members without children attending Madison).

FAQ

Learn more about Tanaka Farms' CSA program.
Subscribers do not get a choice of produce. The boxes contain produce in season in our local area. Basically, they consist of whatever is ready to be harvested at the farm on the morning of the delivery, supplemented with specialty produce (e.g. stone fruit from the central valley).
The produce will contain varieties not commonly found at supermarkets. That's the whole point.
We will provide recipe support at this blog. What do you do with the red cabbage and the apples in the winter boxes? Make braised red cabbage with apples, of course!