The Plum Life at the Pastures of Rose Creek

Friday, September 21, 2012

This Week's Harvest...

Hello to all from The Pastures of Rose Creek!

And hope everyone is doing well this week! We, here at P. of R.C. have been havin' fun this week finishing off hay and weaning calves - all important work to ensure the happiest, healthiest cows for y'all - but with all that hard work, this week's email is short and sweet. So, please read on to learn more about this weekend's market table, and if you haven't read about it already be sure to catch up on our grass fed beef, farm fresh eggs, and pottery!

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST...

Americana Peppers (bell peppers with a kick!)

Banana Peppers

Bell Peppers

Eggplant

Kale

Okra

Mixed Greens

New Mexico Green Chiles

Radishes

Tabasco peppers

Thai Dragon Peppers

Our Gardens are in transition this month, so we're a little lighter in quantity (but never in quality!)...so hold on tight...we have more on the way!

**Come check out other surprise veggies we may have to offer!**

HAPPENINGS:

GRASS FED BEEF - A big thank you for all the support and interest in our grass fed beef! Although we are temporarily sold out, we are excited to know that there is such a high demand and interest in healthy, environmentally sound beef. The ball will really start rolling around January when we will have a steady supply of cows reaching their prime age and weight throughout the year. Attached you will find the brochure, order form, and more detailed information on "what you will get." Go ahead and put your order in today and reserve your beef for next year!

Feel free to stop on by the Watkinsville Farmer's Market or give one of us a call/email if you have any questions about our grass fed beef! Dana Bradford: 575.613.2029 or Will Powers: 706.254.9391

"I was so excited to find out there was local grass fed beef available in Monroe. Only a week after placing my order for 1/4 of a cow, it was delivered to my door! Let me say, it did NOT disappoint. My husband and I have cooked it several times already and it is absolutely delicious, not to mention better for you than the beef you find in the grocery store. Will, John, and Dana at the Pastures of Rose Creek were a joy to work with. They made the process easy and convenient. We are extremely pleased and cant thank you enough!" -Meredith Bowman, Monroe

FARM-FRESH EGGS - The FARM FRESH EGGS are here!!! However, our chickens are not yet producing a large number of eggs, so we have a limited supply to sell this week. We will be selling our eggs by the full and half dozen. And hope to be able to provide more eggs as our chickens continue to mature!

These birds have been raised with love and have been given the freedom to just be themselves! Roaming and foraging our fields hunting for pesky bugs and doing a good deal of fertilizing along the way (eliminating the need for harmful pesticides and chemically based fertilizers).

So, you don't want to miss out on these happy healthy eggs! And in this case, the early worm gets the bird! (Well...egg, rather)

POTTERY - And you are in for another treat this week! The very talented John Bradford is BACK with some of his beautiful pottery to adorn our market table! These pots are the product of the first firing of John's hand built wood-fired anagama/soda ash kiln located right here at The Pastures of Rose Creek. Anagama wood-fired pottery is a fascinating Japanese tradition, in which pots are fired at temperatures in excess of 2200 degrees. The product is beautiful, earthy pottery that varies in color and texture. Come and check out his pots this Saturday...his pottery has been going fast! You can also find some of his work at Sunshine Village Gallery, downtown Watkinsville.

MONROE MARKET - We are sorry to say that we will most likely not be apart of the Monroe Marker this year. Our crops have taken an unexpectedly hard hit by the heat and unfortunately will not have enough to support both markets. But, next year we are expanding our gardens by twice the size and are gearing up to be full time Monroe participants! But until then, if you find yourself in Watkinsville (aka Wat-Town) on Saturday morning - stop on by the market! And don't hesitate to call or email about our grass fed beef...we'll deliver!

BAKED GOODS by Dana (Watkinsville Market):

Cranberry Almond Biscotti (great for coffee and non coffee drinkers alike!)

Thank you all for your support! Hope to see y'all Saturday at the Watkinsville Farmers Market!

For the love of community and all things farming...

Your local farmers,

Will Powers and John & Dana Bradford
The Pastures of Rose Creek, LLC
1051 Rose Creek Drive

Watkinsville, GA

(706) 254-9391

(575) 613-2029

Friday, September 14, 2012

Well, this week I'm lazy - I'm cheating once again - cuttin' and pastin' this week's email. But, hey, those veggies aren't going to harvest themselves. Or will they?....hmmm...

Hope to see you all at the market tomorrow!

And here's this week's email...it's a long one...but read on - there are some special surprises embedded in all that text!

Hello to all from The Pastures of Rose Creek!

Do you or someone you love have a...how do I put this delicately?...have a...chile pepper addiction? You know the signs - hiding bottles of Sriracha in their purse or car because they can't bear the thought of having even one meal without it....topping every meal with some form of fiery hotness while you sit helplessly by, watching their eyes bulge and beads of sweat form on their forehead as they continue their quest for the hottest pepper? Well, we may be able to help...this week we supply not the cure - but the fix...The Thai Dragon Pepper. Just stop on by our market table - code word: Bangkok Heat Wave - we'll know what you mean.

And for those of us who are a little more timid when it comes to the heat - we are also offering a variety of mild peppers and other non capsicum veggies at the market - scroll on down to learn more about out market table and other happenings around the farm.

VEGGIE OF THE WEEK: Some like it HOT! - The Thai Dragon Pepper

To get an idea of how hot this pepper is, let's first find out a little bit about peppers and what makes them so hot. So what does give a pepper its heat? Capsaicin. Different peppers have varying amounts of it and therefore different heat levels. Capsaicin is measured in Scoville Units. You will find things like banana peppers and bell peppers on the very low end of the scale (0-50), while Jalapenos bring in around 2,500-5,000, and Tabascos around 5,000-30,000 Scoville Units. The Thai Dragon Pepper registers around 100,000 units (just to give you an idea)...eat one whole and the next thing you know you'll find your whole face planted in the nearest water source. But used sparingly and in the right kind of hot sauce or salsa - you may find the Thai Dragon not only packs some heat, but also FLAVOR. The Thai Dragon carries a dry, nutty flavor (once you get past the heat), which is a great accompaniment to asian cuisine and other dishes as well. Although there are certainly hotter peppers out there - Scotch Bonnets and Habeneros, for example, can register anywhere from 100,000 - 350,000 units - nevertheless, we encourage you to take the Thai Dragon Pepper Challenge! (Please use responsibly)

And here's why....

There are a multitude of researched benefits to eating spicy foods. Here are just a few...

1. GOOD FOR THE HEART - reduces inflammation and improves the body's ability to dissolve blood clots - two known risks for heart diesase

2. IMPROVED CIRCULATION - peppers are high in Vitamin C and A which strengthen blood vessel walls and improve circulation, and possibly lower blood pressure

3. WEIGHT LOSS - Capsaicin found in peppers helps to speed up metabolism

4. IMPROVES BREATHING AND REDUCES COLDS & FLUS - Helps to open nasal passages and may also reduce sinusitis and other flu symptoms

5. MOOD LIFTER - Boosts the levels of endorphins and serotonin that dulls pain and gives us a sense of well-being.

So, come check out the Thai Dragon Pepper and other pepper varieties we are offering this week at the Watkinsville Farmer's Market! Attached you will find a recipe for homemade Tabasco Sauce - make it with our freshly grown Tabasco peppers or spice it up even more with the Thai Dragon Pepper.

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST...

Banana Peppers

Bell Peppers

Eggplant

Okra

New Mexico Green Chiles

Radishes

Tabasco peppers

Thai Dragon Peppers

Our Gardens are in transition this month, so we're a little lighter in quantity (but never in quality!)...so hold on tight...we have more on the way!

**Come check out other surprise veggies we may have to offer!**

HAPPENINGS:

FARM-FRESH EGGS - Well, if you have read this far - CONGRATULATIONS! You are in for a treat! They have finally arrived! The FARM FRESH EGGS are here!!! However, our chickens are not yet producing a large number of eggs, so we have a limited supply to sell this week. We will be selling our eggs by the full and half dozen. And hope to be able to provide more eggs as our chickens continue to mature!

So, you don't want to miss out on these happy healthy eggs! And in this case, the early worm gets the bird! (Well...egg, rather)

BAKED GOODS by Dana (Watkinsville Market):

Cranberry Almond Biscotti (great for coffee and non coffee drinkers alike!)

Thank you all for your support! Hope to see y'all Saturday at the Watkinsville Farmers Market!

For the love of community and all things farming...

Your local farmers,

Will Powers and John & Dana Bradford

Monday, September 10, 2012

A Born Again Blogger's Ode to the New Mexico Green Chile

And the weekly emails have finally found their way to the Rose Creek Blog spot! As somewhat of a luddite, I am not completely well-versed in these new fangled things called computers - especially blogging. Phobias aside however, I was thrilled to click "send" on the very first weekly harvest email that went out. And still get a rush every time one is sent - like a mother hearing her newborn's first words - I feel overjoyed to see words appear on the screen.

But as a newborn must suffer a few scraped knees as it learns to walk - so must the aspiring blogger suffer a few bruises (mainly to the ego) to write his or her first blog. Mine came in realizing (rather painfully) today that the last few week's of publishing Pasture of Rose Creek's Weekly Harvest emails - have produced zilch...nothing...nada...on the Plum Life blog. It took 3 weeks to actually discover the orange button that blatantly says "publish"...ohhhhh....

So who knows where those email/post/blogs are right now....probably floating along somewhere in that vast aether - we now call the inter-web...but for now, I can pat myself on the back and finally say, "I did it. I did a blog....I posted a blog....I blogged....?" Well, we'll work on the semantics later. I did it...a technophobe's rebirth (if you will)...and liked it too...

See y'all next week,

D.

AND NOW FOR THE WEEKLY EMAIL....

Hello to all from The Pastures of Rose Creek!

Well, we are kicking off this week's farmer's market with a VEGGIE OF THE WEEK! And this week our fave veggie is the NEW MEXICAN GREEN CHILE. Not only delicious and EXCELLENT roasted, served on a yummy grass-fed burger - it also holds a very special place in our hearts. Taos, New Mexico is the memorable place where I met my husband, John - and where we met that spirited and fun-loving farmer, Will Powers (aka Willy P.), who planted the grass fed beef seed in us and brought us out to the farm in Watkinsville. And there buried within all of our wonderful "Nuevo" (New Mexico, that is) memories - is the taste and smell of a New Mexico Green Chile. So, come on out to the farmer's market this Saturday and bring a little "Nuevo" into your home.

And of course, READ ON! - there is more information to follow about those yummy chiles AND...RECIPE ideas! - and don't forget to check out this weeks harvest and other happenings!

VEGGIE OF THE WEEK: new mexico green chile

New Mexico is famous for it's chiles - red and green - they are a staple of almost any meal. Walk into a restaurant and to any order you will be asked, "Red, Green or Christmas" - as it's a given that you will have your meal topped with red chile, green chile, or both (hence, christmas..ha!). They are so popular in fact, NPR recently covered them, in their broadcast entitled: "It's Law: There's No Green Chile Like a New Mexico Green Chile." Have a listen!

http://www.npr.org/2011/07/31/138805258/chile-pepper-capital-seeks-to-preserve-roots

And although, we are not in fact growing these chiles in New Mexico - the seeds we use are from the very famous NM green - the Hatch Green Chile, which Will acquired the last time he visited. We try to grow our chiles on the mild and sweet side (although every once in a while one or two gets away from us!). Check out the attached recipe on how to roast these chiles and serve on top of just about any meal! (This recipe can also be used to roast bell peppers and any other pepper or chile to add extra flavor!)

THIS WEEK'S HARVEST...

Banana Peppers

Bell Peppers

Eggplant

Okra

New Mexico Green Chiles

Variety of peppers

Our Gardens are in transition this month, so we're a little lighter in quantity (but never in quality!)...so hold on tight...we have more on the way!

**Come check out other surprise veggies we may have to offer!**

HAPPENINGS:

FARM-FRESH EGGS - Keep an eye out in the next couple of weeks for our delicious free-range, all natural FARM FRESH EGGS! Our chickens have just started laying and soon we will have more eggs than we will know what to do with! These birds have been raised with love and have been given the freedom to just be themselves! Roaming and foraging our fields hunting for pesky bugs and doing a good deal of fertilizing along the way (eliminating the need for harmful pesticides and chemically based fertilizers). So, keep an eye on our market table for happy, healthy eggs for all your happy, healthy breakfast and baking needs!

POTTERY - We are pleased to report that John Bradford's pottery has become so popular that we have temporarily run out!! We have another wood-firing coming up in September....so no worries, those beautiful pots will be back soon! You can also find some of his work at Sunshine Village Gallery, downtown Watkinsville.

BAKED GOODS by Dana (Watkinsville Market):

Cranberry Almond Biscotti (great for coffee and non coffee drinkers alike!)

Thank you all for your support! Hope to see y'all Saturday at the Watkinsville Farmers Market!

For the love of community and all things farming...

Your local farmers,

Will Powers and John & Dana Bradford

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

TED Talk featuring Thandie Newton

I thought I would share this TED Talk from Actor Thandie Newton with you. I hope you find yourself as inspired as I just was. 

Francie

Monday, July 18, 2011

Savannah and Charleston Weekend

When you think of Savannah, Georgia what images come to mind? Long avenues of shady trees with Spanish moss dripping from their branches, southern belles and their beaus walking arm in arm down cobble stone streets, perhaps even a lonely grave yard and the iconic statue of the young girl in melancholic deliberation? 

Source

Savannah is all of these things and more to me. I had the pleasure of going to school just 45-minutes away and spent a fair amount of time here as a college student. It was the quintessential getaway for a girl that was practically being driven out of her mind by lunatic roommates, papers, examinations, or just a desire to be outside with delicious frozen cocktail and never once be reprimanded by the authorities for doing so.

Will enjoying a frozen beverage on River Street, Savannah

While Savannah and I are on quite familiar terms, R has never been and so it being his birthday week and the 4th of July and all, the two siblings and their significant others decided to take a road trip and spend one night in Savannah and the other in Charleston. This worked out perfectly for me because while airplane tickets out of Savannah are out-of-this-world expensive, I was able to locate a one-way ticket leaving from Charleston for a very reasonable sum.

Day 1: The 4-hour drive to Savannah was fairly uneventful but as we drove into the city of Savannah, I instantly regretted letting R do the driving because the scenery was gorgeous and I wanted him to be able to take it all in. Every building looks like it did 150 years ago. The tree-lined roads lend perfect symmetry to its surroundings. Even the people are interesting: a dash of Daytona Beach Hill Billy, a sprinkling of street artist and jazz musician, a lovely southern genteel sashaying over to the Junior League or charity benefit, the occasional hipster art student speeding by on bicycles. This clash of culture definitely makes for obsessive people watching and makes Savannah a very charming place to visit.

Unsure of where best to stay, I chose the familiar Mulberry Inn on Bay Street right next to the Savannah Pirate’s House.  When my parents would stay in Savannah, they would often bring us back souvenirs of their travels - “real” gold doubloons and pirate hats from actual pirates that inhabited the Savannah Pirate’s House where they ate lunch that day. When we were finally old enough to see the place for ourselves, we were not disappointed  -the old house was eerie and lucidly reminiscent of its bawdy past. I had no problem at all imagining this as a place where real pirates once drank and ate. Dad further fueled our fantasies by telling us stories of the young boys they would take to the pirate house, get them drunk till they passed out, only to find themselves the next morning in the middle of the open ocean with the enticing agreement to work rather than "walk the plank." 

After a brief and nostalgic lunch at a Greek restaurant I used to visit back in college. R and I spent some time walking around and just getting acquainted with the area. We walked to the old cemetery, where I remembered various antic dotes of union soldiers changing the dates and names on some of the graves so the markers would read as though a person had died before they were born, etc. I tried to look for some but think we were in the wrong cemetery and did not see anything mentioned on the ample historical plaques that were almost everywhere.

Jenny in Savannah

After our long walk, we met up with Jenny and Will at a brewery on Bay Street, and tried to narrow down our many dinner options. We finally decided on a restaurant close by, known for its locally grown menu, Cha-Bella. We weren’t disappointed. The food was both true to its Savannah roots and sophisticated. We were especially impressed by the long list of local farms they were buying produce from.   

After dinner we returned to River Street, where I drank a delicious frozen concoction from Wet Willies - something with banana and chocolate in it – yum!

Before leaving the next morning for Charleston, we breakfasted at a popular restaurant called B Matthew's Eatery. While I chose the white-chocolate and banana bread French toast, R had the most amazing plate of shrimp and grits I had tasted in my life. It was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Savannah. 

The short drive to Charleston was almost nothing  -thank you GPS! We had no trouble getting to our hotel right on Meeting Street. We lunched at a well-known establishment, Jestine’s Kitchen. It was so sought after that we had to wait in line outside while enviously peering in at the customer’s enjoying their food and sweet iced tea in the air-conditioned restaurant. There were even t-shirts for sale, taunting us in the window, which said “I survived the wait at Jestine’s.” At least they had the decency to put a water cooler out there for us while we waited. Once we were inside I knew exactly what to order: sweet tea, corn bread and fried green tomatoes were our starters. For the meal, R and I split a seafood platter  bursting with deep fried oysters, shrimp, fish and okra, and  two “veggie” sides (macaroni and cheese and collards) For dessert I had a peach and blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. Yes, I definitely brought my appetite. 

R hates dislikes shopping and promptly left me to do some exploring while I perused the artisan stalls at the Old City Market on Meeting Street with Jenny and Will. Jenny bought some awesome cat-eye sunglasses and Will bought a driving cap that makes him look like a Newsie or at least member of the Mumford and Sons band. 

After our shopping spree, we met Rudo by the pier and walked down to Rainbow Row to look at old houses.  We kept running into this strange threesome of teenagers dressed in pirate’s costumes. As we walked along, they kept reappearing and at one point even staged a sword fight on the beach to our amusement. I don’t know if it was some sort of club, they were hoping we would pay to have our pictures taken with them, or they genuinely wanted to be pirates. Either way, it was highly entertaining. I wish I had taken pictures of them; they probably would have loved it. 

Beautiful Houses on Rainbow Row, Charleston

As we walked back toward the hotel, they sky opened up on us and rained continuously for the next two hours. We were pretty drenched and Jenny had bad blisters on her feet, but I think everyone was in good spirits. 

Charleston, SC

Back at the hotel and waiting for the rain to let up we made plans for the evening, and decided on reservations at a restaurant that R had researched and showed us earlier that day. Despite many other awesome places to eat, Blossoms was within our price range, had received good ratings, and was going to have a Spanish guitar player perform that night.

Jenny and Will at Blossoms

At the restaurant, we chose a nice white wine and all four of us went for the She Crab Soup, a Charleston specialty. The soup was rich and tasted of crab and sea just as I remembered it. After dinner, we moved to the lounge area and watched the singer perform.  I ordered Red Velvet Bread Pudding - a magical twist on two traditional deserts.  R ordered a Spanish desert wine called Sherry that he adamantly said was different from Port wine, which comes from Portugal.  The two shouldn’t be confused, he said (even though they both taste the same).

Dropping Will and Jenny off at another interesting outdoor venue with music and lights, R and I headed back to the hotel, so I could prepare myself for the early morning flight back to reality.  

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

July 4th Vacations in Georgia

I went home last week to celebrate the 4th of July with the family. R and I left VA and drove all through the night- relying on Red Bull and Waffle House coffee to keep awake during the 11 hour drive to Georgia. We pulled into the driveway at 6AM, just in time to see the sun peeking out behind our big barn and hear the rooster’s crow from my grandparents’ house next door. 

Sitting idle on a farm is a near impossible task. There are so many things to do that look like pure fun to a city girl who spends 12 hour-days pecking away on a laptop. Sleeping very little (because of the excitement) I awoke in the late morning and went out looking for my family. I wandered into the backyard with a cup of coffee in hand. Of course mom was out in the garden busy pulling at the weeds that have dared to encroach around her beloved flower beds. Watching her hard at work, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty for not already donning my shoes and gardening gloves to assist in mom’s zero-sum game against the weeds.

R slept longer than me, but as he surveyed the yard with his appraising eye he immediately seized on task #1 - the vegetables in the garden desperately needed picking. And so, Mom, R and I launched into the sweaty, yet satisfying enterprise of picking tomatoes. Working in the noonday sun, the ones that were too ripe or the bugs had gotten to first were tossed in the compost bin, while many pristine tomatoes were placed in bins. We did this for most of the afternoon and by the time we finished we had three huge bins of large, medium, and small tomatoes. Each one ready to be devoured – it was a proud moment to see things that have been grown in your soil, that look so good and taste even better. 

Fresh picked tomatoes

Dear reader, you might ask why this hadn’t been done earlier? Why did the yuppies from out of town have to be the ones to accomplish this task? Well, the answer is complicated: for one, the garden is a comprehensive monster that you could spend all day, every day in and still not keep perfectly weeded, watered, and mulched. Second, my mother and brother have been taken to task over trying to perfect our cattle grazing operation- obviously there is a very steep learning curve (more like mountain) that they are coming to come to terms with. Third, mom absolutely needs to cut back on her farming duties and focus on healing. Though the cancer is slow growing and confined to her bones, we absolutely want to make sure it either stays there and doesn’t spread or goes away all together. This means taking a breather and focusing instead on all things she enjoys and makes her happy like working in her flower garden, reading mystery novels, and keeping Madeline [cat] and Juliet, Zooey, and Duke [dogs] in line.

Duke and Zooey

Madeline

On Monday, we celebrated July 4th in a true food-lover fashion consisting of ribs that had smoked for 4 hours straight with pecan wood from our orchard, and a delicious and authentic tres leches cake for R’s birthday (He shares his birthday with our nation’s independence.) 

Tuesday and Wednesday Will, R, and I showcased our produce to various Athens restaurants and were able to find buyers for most everything (except for our Basil). We sold tomatoes to The Grit and the Last Resort Grill. Cucumbers and beets went to the newly established and lovely Heirloom Café, and more cucumbers to Farm 255. In addition to all that selling we made some foodie contacts and connections and collected some great tips from other restaurants in the area. I considered it a highly successful venture and a great learning opportunity for us. 

With the tomatoes that were too ripe to sell, R cooked them down and made his famous spicy salsa that we can’t get enough of. We now have jars and jars of salsa and are contemplating more fun things to do with the other tomatoes too ripe to sell: gazpacho, insalata caprese, and BLTs all come to mind.  

It was fun, dirty work and highly rewarding.

  

Highlight #2 of our July 4th vacations was the road trip to Savannah and Charleston we managed to squeeze in before heading back to the big city. Our trip to the coast deserves its very own blog post and will be writing about it soon.  

-Francie   

Thursday, June 30, 2011

TED Talk featuring Robyn O’Brien

I found this particular TED talk very interesting. Robyn O'Brien is the author of “The Unhealthy Truth: How Our Food Is Making Us Sick and What We Can Do About It” and an advocate for safer foods.

I had never heard of Robyn, but was intrigued at the headline by our friends over at Elephant Journal that moving to the U.S. will increase your chances of getting cancer by 400%. As some of you may know, my mom has just been diagnosed with metastatic cancer, and this not her first rodeo either - Mom has battled breast cancer three times before.

Robyn's particular story is interesting because she is a former business woman who worked for the food industry before becoming an advocate.