Table of Contents 1. Call for Wednesday and Saturday Workshares 2. In Your Box this Week 3. Farm News

• Happy New Year! New Delivery Sites
• Log in to your Account
• The Strawberries Need Your Attention!
• Ringger Family Farms
• New Logo
• New CSA Boxes - Coming Soon!

4. Events 5. Recipes 6. Johnson's Backyard Garden Contact Information Please send newsletter feedback, suggestions and contributions to farm@jbgorganic.com. 1) Call for Wednesday and Saturday Workshares Now is the best time of year to participate in our workshare program - it's cool in the morning and doesn't get too hot before the end of the harvest. We always have a lot of fun and are looking for more good people to come help! We have a great workshare crew on Saturdays but could really use more help on our Wednesday harvest day. Workshares volunteer from 8am to 1pm; you'll help with harvesting, washing and packing vegetables, as well as with field work as needed. And when we're done, you get to take home a share of the vegetables that you helped harvest! If you're interested, please email us in advance so that we'll know when to expect you. Bringing water is a must; we also recommend you wear pants, long sleeves and sturdy shoes. Also consider bringing a large brimmed hat, gloves and snacks. Given the challenging nature of farm work, we ask that you do not bring your children under the age of 12, and anyone between the ages of 12 and 18 must be accompanied by an adult. 2) In Your Box this Week Beet Greens Arugula Radishes Bok Choy Broccoli Rabe Savoy Cabbage Mustard Greens Mint Romenesco Cauliflower Broccoli Oranges - G&S Growers Grapefruits - G&S Growers This list is subject to change depending on availability and quality of crops on harvest day. You'll find the most accurate packing list on the homepage of our website. 3) Farm News

• Happy New Year! We have officially started Saturday deliveries to our new sites:The South Central pickup location is 1804 Treadwell, Austin, TX 78704.The Downtown/Eastside location is 1617 Willow Street, Austin, TX 78702, home of the Willow Arts Studio and Garden.
• Please log in to your account and check details regarding pickup, renewal, and changing your orders. It's a good idea to help us save time and improve accuracy of all our subscriptions. Please email us if you have any trouble logging in.
• The Strawberries Need Your Attention! We are looking for a small army to help weed the strawberries this Wednesday January 7th or Saturday, January 10th from 8 - 12:30 in the morning. Only three of the eight rows have been cleared of weeds and the strawberries desperately need room to grow without competition to produce those lovely sweet explosions of red later this spring. If you can't make it either of these days for the weed-fest but are available another time please drop us an email at farm@jbgorganic.com and let us know when you would like to come and help out.

• Ringger Family Farms, egg suppliers extraordinaire, have shared some photos this week. We thought you might like to have a look at the innovative and conscientious work the Ringger's put into producing your farm fresh eggs.

• We have a new logo that was submitted for our recent design competition. This design, as well as the previous design by Steven Mattern, will soon be available on organic cotton t-shirts. Watch for the link to purchase shirts later this week on our home page.

• New CSA boxes are also on the way. We will be securing new plastic CSA boxes for your weekly deliveries. The guidelines will be the same (empty your CSA share into your own packaging at your pick-up site), however, these sturdy boxes will better protect your fresh veggies during our transport and, in the long run, reduce our costs as the new CSA boxes will last much longer. Hey, they will have a Johnson's Backyard Garden logo, too!

4) Events

• Rainwater Harvesting & Drinking: When- Tuesday 1.6.09 7:00 pm. Where- Brave New Books at 1904 Guadalupe St., Austin, TX, 78705. What- A discussion of the new book A Year of Harvesting Berkey Purified Rainwater by local author Dr. Jody Grenga. Dr. Grenga is a co-recipient of the 2008 Barton Springs/ Edwards Aquifer Conservation District End User Groundwater Stewardship Award. In 2003, Dr. Grenga designed & installed a system that cost $500, half of which was price of Black Berkey water purification system. Topics: first flush, rough filtration, SoDIS (solar disinfection), Black Berkey vs. White Berkey systems, Do-It-Yourself, Thinking outside the Box, pragmatic approaches, using Berkeys for purifying tap water while awaiting rainwater capture.

Quotable food thoughts: When baking, follow directions. When cooking, go by your own taste. ~Laiko Bahrs 5) Recipes Elaine DiRico, CSA member and food writer, has published her eighth cookbook, Feastiality- a kitchen frolic. The book is available through her publisher at http://www.lulu.com, the item number is 5262123. You can order her cookbook in paperback or download a copy from the publisher. Elaine has graciously shared the following insights and two recipes. If you are like me and most Southern folks, you likely have an abundance of leftover black-eyed peas and collard greens in the refrigerator now. It's crucial to have an abundance for New Year's Day, but only so many subsequent meals can be made from them. By day three, I had come up with these two recipes, which are different enough from the original to be palatable. One of the foods I get a terrible craving for occasionally is seaweed salad. I am sure it has to do with the density of minerals and such. I still haven't found the textural mix of seaweeds that I like, but collards, or any other greens are a decent substitute and almost equally nutrient rich. I make a good batch of the dressing, and dress the greens with some, then have a little left for a wakame salad later. This recipe uses cucumber, but a diced Granny Smith apple is a fine substitute in winter. The ginger, red chili flakes and garlic are a nice combination for winter colds as well- feel free to increase them.

Faux Seaweed Salad

Dressing:

3 Tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar

3 Tablespoons Shoyu or soy sauce

1 Tablespoon roasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon honey

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger with juice

½ teaspoon minced fresh garlic

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

Put everything in a jar and shake well to blend, or stir in a bowl until the honey is well dissolved.

Salad:

2 cups cooked greens

½ small cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into ½ inch dice

2 sliced green onions

2 Tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves

1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Toss these ingredients with enough dressing to moisten. Can be kept for 2-3 days, as a salad, in the refrigerator, and the dressing keeps for a couple of weeks or more.

Now to the black-eyed peas. There is always Texas Caviar, and I rinse the cooked black-eyed peas and use them in salads. This is different, a traditional West African preparation. There, the cakes would be deep fried in palm oil, but sautéing something lighter, like canola or peanut oil works as well.

Black Eyed Pea Fritters

3 cups cooked black-eyed peas

½ cup chopped onion

2 beaten eggs

½ teaspoon ground cumin

Minced jalapeños (optional)

Salt and pepper

¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Panko bread crumbs

Oil for frying

In a small bowl, whisk the baking powder and flour to combine well. In a medium bowl, mash the black-eyed peas. You don't want a puree, so leave it quite chunky. Add the eggs and spices and mix well. Start adding the flour a spoon at a time, and mixing in. When the dough is tight enough to form into balls, stop adding the flour. Shape into fritters, about the size of a golf ball. Keeping your hands wet with cold water helps a lot, to keep the dough from sticking. Pour Panko crumbs into a shallow plate or pie pan. Pour enough oil into a heavy skillet to cover the bottom by a quarter inch and heat over medium high heat. (325 degrees is a good temperature for frying, as well as the temperature that a kernel of corn will pop at. I keep a small bowl of popcorn next to the stove, so that when I am frying something, I can add a couple of kernels to the oil when I start heating it, and when they pop, I know the oil is hot enough, and I don't forget the oil is on and let the kitchen burn down.) Press each ball of dough into the Panko crumbs, to coat and flatten, then fry until golden. Be careful turning them, as they might like to break up.

In a small bowl, whisk the baking powder and flour to combine well. In a medium bowl, mash the black-eyed peas. You don't want a puree, so leave it quite chunky. Add the eggs and spices and mix well. Start adding the flour a spoon at a time, and mixing in. When the dough is tight enough to form into balls, stop adding the flour. Shape into fritters, about the size of a golf ball. Keeping your hands wet with cold water helps a lot, to keep the dough from sticking. Pour Panko crumbs into a shallow plate or pie pan. Pour enough oil into a heavy skillet to cover the bottom by a quarter inch and heat over medium high heat. (325 degrees is a good temperature for frying, as well as the temperature that a kernel of corn will pop at. I keep a small bowl of popcorn next to the stove, so that when I am frying something, I can add a couple of kernels to the oil when I start heating it, and when they pop, I know the oil is hot enough, and I don't forget the oil is on and let the kitchen burn down.) Press each ball of dough into the Panko crumbs, to coat and flatten, then fry until golden. Be careful turning them, as they might like to break up.

We would love to share your recipes too! Please email your favorites to bess@jbgorganic.com. 6) Johnson's Backyard Garden Contact Information Johnson's Backyard Garden 9515 Hergotz Lane, Box E Austin, Texas 78742 Office phone: (512) 386-5273 Office Hours: M-F, 8am - 12pm e-mail: farm@jbgorganic.com website: www.jbgorganic.com