Calling All "Locavores" & "Farm-Fresh Junkies" -
It is cold out there!!! But that ain't enough to keep us farming fools from diggin' in that glorious dirt. We will be armed and ready this "first" Friday from 4-9 PM at the BADSEED Farmers Market with a mouthwatering array of earthly delights including free-range meats, pastured eggs, gourmet mushrooms, sexy veggies, tenacious tubers, mean greens, wholesome baked goods, canned goods, ARTISAN SHEEP'S MILK CHEESE, raw honey, and a whole lot more. The Food Revolution is at your fingertips. Stay out of the soulless supermarket and support your local farmers instead!!! It's fun and it tastes better!
Our folky friends from
Checkered Past will be performing as usual this "first" Friday with a whole lot of harmony, politics, and humor. The farmers will be "gettin' down" and you should too. Get serenaded as you shop but beware of dancing farmers!! They are bound to get carried away and may take you for a whirl amidst the winter squash and baked goods. In that event, you have the market manager's permission to hit them over the head with a giant Blue Hubbard Squash as long as you promise to pay for it afterwards.
Mini Farm Up-Date -
I gotta keep it short and sweet cuz Farmer Brooke is TIRED. The intensity of the last few week's has got me a bit under the weather and planting 1000's of cloves of garlic in rock hard "no-till" soil (until your fingers get brittle and bloody) certainly doesn't help!! Get gloves you say??? Hell NO! The garlic tastes better with a little suffering....
Anyway, enough about garlic. The real news is that Farmer Dan and I have finally transitioned off BADSEED Farm and onto our new land. We are still harvesting the last of the season's bounty on the old farm, but we have now moved into a rental house (the size of a postage stamp) across from our new urban acreage. Furthermore we have officially gotten all the crazy animals on site!!!! This is a BIG DEAL! Dan and I have been trying to get our lives back ever since the big bad City reigned havoc on our idyllic little farm in the Spring of 2009. First we were forced to get rid of our goats, then to confine our chickens, then went the apprentices and volunteers, then the roosters, so on and so forth. By the end of the season our entire operation had been compromised and dreams had been shattered. But happy endings are in the works.....
Family Reunion:
Everybody is together again! Our three heavenly horned dairy goats, 13 mad chickens, an Australian Cattle Dog, and a Great Pyrenees are now boldly roaming 13 acres in the heart of Kansas City. What a site! It feels biblical as I wander my fields like Moses with the glorious escapees of Noah's Arc at my heels. No Joke. These crazy animals follow the farmers wherever they go.....in an orderly line no less!! It is hysterical. But not that funny. I can't get anything done without a goat chewing on one of my pigtails!! Pasture fencing is the next big job on the agenda to say the least. Until then, the "Moses thang" will have to suit me.
Pictures of my family members are attached.
Recipe of the Week:
Okay Folks - Arugula is absolutley off the radar these days. There is something about the cold weather that makes it deliciously dense, peppery, and full of divine flavor. Now that aromatic basil has died and gone to heaven with last week's killing freeze, I use Arugula to make a killer pesto for pasta, bruschetta, and more. I don't follow a recipe. I just sort of taste my way to perfection. But for those of you who need a little direction I find this one to be right on:
New Vendor Alert !! -
OOOH BABY......check out all this good stuff....
Jacqueline Smith & Sarah Hoffman, Weston, MO, Can you say Artisan Sheep's Milk Cheese??? Well these ladies sure can. In fact, they are one of the few artisan sheep dairies in the midwest and we are so very lucky to have them. I cannot even begin to put it any better than they already have, so why bother -
"Our sheep’s milk cheeses are made using milk from our own grass-fed, gently raised, ewes. We handcraft our cheeses on our farm using traditional old world methods that produce a unique richness and depth of flavor. The diverse grasses of our pastures flavor our ewe’s milk with hints of clover, legumes and flowers. The flavors in our milk change as the pastures grow, creating cheeses that uniquely reflect our farm and celebrate the seasons." Be sure to please your palate with a varied array of traditional French farmhouse cheeses like the classic "Wooly Rind", the ash-dusted "Dirt Lover", or the distinctive "Bossa".
**Grass-fed Lamb also available.
KC Community Farm (at the Kansas City Center For Urban Agriculture), Alicia Ellingsworth & Crew
I am pleased to say that the BADSEED Market will have mean greens and hearty roots all winter long thanks to KCK's thriving urban farm. Alicia Ellingsworth, farm manager, will be bustin' her frozen butt to produce luscious winter veggies in a series of hoop houses (unheated greenhouses). These veggies are certified organic and ooooh soooo good. This week's offerings will include Hakurei Turnips, Spinach, Salad Mix, Funky Fresh Greens Mix, Arugula, Eggplant, Fresh Herbs, Tomatoes, Broccoli Raab, & Chinese Broccoli!!!
Blue Door Farm, Laura Christensen
, KCK Winter Veggies have never been so hot!! Like Alicia, Laura too will be bustin' her frozen butt to keep you herbivores nice and full during these next few (cold!!) months. Laura will be harvesting a refreshing array of gourmet greens, spicy asian delights, crisp radishes, and root vegetables. Eat up or go hungry!!
Don't forget about the usual suspects!! Organic Offerings include:
*Japanese Sweet Potatoes!!! (pink-skinned,white-fleshed, taste like roasted marshmallow!!)
*Beauregard Sweet Potatoes (orange-fleshed, very sweet)
*O'Henry Sweet Potatoes (white-skinned, white-fleshed, super sweet and absolutely divine!! New Variety!!!)
*SEX IN A BOWL Signature Salad Mix!! (with chocolate mint, dill, cilantro, and fresh chives!!)
*Sexy Saute Mix!!!! (a gourmet mix of sexy cooking greens with hints of garlic chives and aromatic herbs)
*Giant Southern MUSTARD GREENS (spicy, tender, and oooh sooo good)
*Arugula!! (peppery and perfect)
*King Kale
*LEEKS!!! (the only thing better than an onion...)
*Gourmet Oasis TURNIPS!! (eat em' raw like an apple)
Herb"N"Gardener, Lew Edmister (Westside, KCMO)
*Yummy Asian Mustard Greens
*Arugula Gourmet Mix
*Swiss Chard
*Kale
*Winterized Rosemary and Decorative Okra Stalks
Bigg Blue Farm, Stan & Carmen Biggs (Mosby, MO)
*Heirloom Winter Squash !!!! (including Butternut, Acorn, Carnival, Spaghetti and the totally amazing BLUE HUBBARD!!!)
*Purple Top Turnips!! (first of the Fall)
*French Breakfast Radishes and Cherry Belle Radishes
*Mean Greens in Oriental Mix, Tendergreen Mustards, Siberian Baby Kale, Tatsoi, and Arugula
PJ's Mushroom Farm, Paul & Judy Miller (Warrensburg, MO)
They're Back!!!!
*Shitake Mushrooms!!
*Oyster Mushrooms!!
*Farm-Fresh Brown Eggs
*Hand-made rugs & stained glass items (from 100% recycled materials)
be our guest at our farmers' table Saturday, November 6th
