CSA Harvest and Beet Video

Here is the harvest list for your CSA's this week.

Zucchini
Cucumbers
Beets
Potatoes
Leeks
Onions
Herbal tea package

This week in your herbal tea package
Lemon Balm
Shiso
Anise Hyssop
Penny Royal
Chrysanthium Flowers
Wild Gooseberries

You can use last week's recipe for the herbal tea, As for the Wild gooseberries you can bruise them a little and add them to the hot water.

I made a cooking video for "how to cook beets" You can add a multitude of different things to your marinated beets. Cooked diced potatoes (Boiled), Sliced cucumbers (without seeds, slice lenghtwise and scoop out with a spoon), Parsley, Basil, thinly sliced onions... All which have been included in your CSA and herb guild.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkNHTO0MExI

Whats new on the farm??

Stu and I are glad that Kenny and Nanam are back from their honeymoon. The whole team is back together on the farm and the addition of our two new interns from Heartland Community College. John and Emma have been kicking major butt on the farm. We got a our first seeder in the mail this week and hooked it up. This thing is the best new tool on the farm other than Henry Brockman's Asian Weeders. I can now seed a bed in about 5 minutes when it would have taken me about 2 hours by hand. Now that the rain has been holding off, we have tilled up new ground and seeded everything for a plethora of winter vegetables.

Hope you enjoy the video, I made it in a new style this week. Let us know what you think of it.

Epiphany Farms-

Meat 'N' Potatoes for the Midwesterner Video

Here is the cooking video for this week. It is a Ribeye with Turnips and Potatoes, You can use your herb guild to elevate the taste. In the video we used parsley but you can use any of those, You can also add more vegetables to the dish, cook them the same way as the turnips (featured in video).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXaZte0z7O4


As for the Herbal Tea bag, You have the following inside.

Chrysanthemum (Flowers)

Shiso (Big Leaves, Tastes like Mint, liquorish & Apple Also has Purple Hue on bottom side)

Lemon Balm (twigs with leaves and buds)

Anise Hyssop (Smaller version of the big leaves taste like sweet liquorish)

Vietnamese Mint (looks like a hand, very leafy and Minty,



The Microwave is the fastest way to heat a water molecule. Put a glass of water in the microwave. Heat for 1 min. the water should be about 160 - 180 it will also depend on how much water you are heating up. I think that 160 - 170 is optimal steeping temperture. Choose your flavors, mix and match, take notes on what you like about the flavor combo and design your own. You only want to steep for 4-5 minutes, by then your water will be about 130 degrees. 130 is optimal honey temperture. add some honey and taste. You only want enough to sweeten a little, too much and you can't taste the flavors, too little and it tastes bland. After adding the honey it should be perfect drinking temperture.

CSA Harvest #4

Hello everyone! We are super excited about some of the new product today in your bags. We have been harvesting all morning and think that you will really enjoy. It's been raining so much and we can not wait for the clear skys to come.

Todays Harvest:

Spring Peas (Most likely the last week)
Baby Onions
Purple Top Turnips
New Potatoes
Red Beets
Assortment of Berries (Mulberries and Alpine Stawberries)
New Zealand Spinach
Fresh Chamomile for tea
Chervil

We hope you enjoy. Good luck with this week's recipe, "Spring Onion Flan".

The Turnips, Peas and New Zealand Spinach are perfect for the sauteed vegtables on top of the flan.

Spring Onion Flan

This flan acts as a great base for some freshly sauteed vegtables. We will use any combination of vegtables based on what is in season. Cook the vegtables seperately in salted boiling water to insure uniform doneness. Cool the vegtables and then once the flan is finished in the oven, saute the vegtables in butter or oil, season with salt and place on top of the Spring Onion Flan.

Onion Flan: Step One
6 spring Onions
4 cloves Garlic
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
1 Tbs. Butter

- Slice the onions and Garlic very thin
- Heat a non- stick saute pan and add the butter. Once melted add the onions, season with a few pinches of salt.
- Once the onions and garlic become very aromatic but not colored add the cream and continue to cook for about 10 minutes on low. The onions and garlic should be completly soft.
- Once the milk mixture is cook through, place in a blender and puree until smooth.
- Be sure there are no lumps. We always blend the mixture for three minutes longer than we think we should. This insures a velevety smooth base.
- Let the base cool and proceed to step two.

Step Two:
Onion Puree
1/2 cup Half and Half
4 whole eggs
4 oz milk
2 Tbs Parmesan
Salt and Pepper

Method:
- Combine the onion puree with the “Step two” ingredients and taste. Adjust seasoning and strain.
- Portion the mixture using a scale (if you don't have a scale use a laddle and mesure the same amout of each dish); make sure each dish is filled with exactly the same amount of liquid.
- Cover each dish with aluminum foil.
- Place into a hot water bath inside a 325 F oven. (The water level should be higer than the flan level inside the dish)
- Bake until set (the flan will be solid when set) and assemble the dish.




Some Pics of a recent variation.


Sauteed carrot, celery root, sunchoke and arugula.


A set flan with vegtables on top. We usually add some sort of foam to finish it.

This is a very rewarding recipe so good luck and enjoy!

Basic Salad Dressing

Emulsified Vinaigrette:

1 part Vinegar
.5 part H2O
Dijon Mustard
Honey
Red Chile
Pepper
Salt
1 Yolk
3 parts Oil

Method:

- Combine all ingredients except for the oil and stir. Using a whisk, blender or immersion blender, begin to agitate.

- Start incorporating the oil one drop at a time. Then progress to a very small stream until all is added.

- Once the ingredients are together you will need to adjust to the taste. Questions that you will need to ask yourself are:

o Is it too tart?
o Does it have enough sweetness?
o Enough salt?
o Does it need more flavor? Mustard, Pepper, Chile?

Use this dressing on anything that you need to season. Sometimes we will even add a little to sauteed vegtables and fresh herbs.

Enjoy!

Cooking Demo Vinaigrette

I'm having difficulty uploading videos directly to the blog. The link below will take you to youtube and you can see our cooking demos

Here is the first of many cooking videos. Hope you enjoy this vinaigrette!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7mAx2HmdU4

Bloomington Farmers' Market

Epiphany Farms is having a booth in Bloomington Farmers Market on every Saturday from 7:30am till noon.
Come and check our booth and catch up with our Epiphany Farms team in person!

For locations and more information about farmers' market, please check Bloomington Farmers' Market website. (http://www.downtownbloomington.org/index.php?id=6)

Upcoming Event

New Photos

We have been taking a lot of photos in the recent weeks. We have posted some today and will continue to post often, Keep checking the site. Let us know what you think of them.

Sustainable Agriculture Program

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What is the Sustainable Agriculture Program?
The Sustainable Agriculture Program (SAP) is a hands‐on vocational training program for low‐income
individuals. This program provides training through internship placements and periodic training
institutes.
This program is an intensive job training experience and participants must be prepared for the physical
demands of their positions.

2. How do I apply?
Potential students can call (309‐268‐8160) or visit Heartland’s Community and Corporate Education
office (Workforce Development Center, Suite 2400) and ask for an application package. This package
contains the participant’s handbook and the SAP eligibility application.
Once you have received your application package, complete and return eligibility application (making
sure to complete all three pages of the eligibility application and the MCCA intake form). After eligibility
has been confirmed, HCC will send an eligibility notification and a background check form. After
background check has been conducted, HCC will schedule a full‐day orientation session with the
student’s potential host. After the intern orientation session, an HCC representative will meet the
student and host at the work‐study site to complete the final enrollment process.

3. What are the eligibility qualifications for acceptance into the program?
Primary eligibility is determined by the federal poverty guidelines, for this program students must be at
(or below) 200% of the poverty level. To be accepted into the program, students must be 18 years of
age or older. Students must also be able to fulfill the functional abilities of the internship. Students
must also be able to commit to a 3‐5 month internship (full‐time or part‐time)

4. Where will I be placed?
Students will be placed at one of six local farms. The following farms are part of our program:

• Henry’s Farm (Congerville, IL)‐
specializing in agricultural diversity

• Teresa’s Fruit and Herbs/Sunny Lane
Berry Farm (Eureka, IL)‐ diverse farm
focused on fruits and herbs and a berry
farm

• ISU Horticultural Center (Normal, IL)‐
Outdoor laboratory and demonstration
gardens

• Ropp Farm/Ropp Cheese (Normal, IL)‐
dairy farm specializing in cheese

• Dearing County Farms (Bloomington,
IL)‐ specializing in eggs and chickens

• Epiphany Farm (Downs, IL)‐ Farm to
fork concept farm; Specializing in food
produced for the Epiphany restaurant

5. Am I required to provide my own transportation?
Students will be required to provide their own transportation to their worksite and the training
institutes. However, MCCA may be able to provide financial assistance for car repairs or other
transportation needs. If the training institutes include a field day, HCC will provide transportation from
HCC’s Normal campus to the site of the field day.

6. Are the vocational credits transferable?
Vocational credits are non‐credit, but do show up on your transcript. Transferability will be determined
by each transfer institution. HCC cannot guarantee that any educational institution will accept the
credits towards a degree program.

7. How does the scholarship work?
A limited number of scholarships are available for eligible low‐income students who enroll in
the work‐study internships. These scholarships are intended to enable students to participate in
work‐study internships and include a waiver of the training institute costs.
Scholarship award amounts will be based on multiple factors, including, but not limited to:

1. Internship terms (i.e. full‐time or part‐time; length of placement)
2. Additional benefits interns may receive from hosts (e.g., food, housing)
3. Estimated transportation costs to/from host site

8. Do I have to pay taxes on the scholarship?
Students will be required to complete a W‐9 after they are enrolled in the program. While the
scholarships are taxable, Heartland Community College will not take taxes out prior to payment.
Students will receive a 1099 form from HCC at the end of the fiscal year. Students should consult a tax
preparer to see if they will need to pay taxes on their scholarships at that point.

9. I’m not eligible for the scholarship; can I still participate in the program?
Select workshops will be open to the public, however there will be a fee associated with the workshops.
HCC may assist non‐enrolled students in locating an internship, but there will be no scholarship available
to these individuals.