CSA Box Contents Week of June 6th

Happy 4th Anniversary to our super sales manager, Michael Mosley!!! Better known as Mike Mo around the farm, this week marks four full years that he has been working with JBG. How he has put up with all of us for so long, we will never understand, but the farm would be a completely different place without him, so we are sooo happy to have him as a part of the team. Farm community - meet Mike!

Where did you grow up and how did you get to Austin?

I grew up in Hollandale, Mississippi. It's a real small town surrounded by cotton fields. Everyone in my family has always cooked a lot - good southern cooking, fried foods, veggies. I never thought about working in agriculture growing up, though.

I moved to DC for college and started working in hospitality/restaurants after that. My interest in the restaurant industry led me to move out to San Francisco for a while, then eventually back home to Mississippi. My wife and I quickly realized we weren't going to stick around at home for too long, and since she had lived in Austin previously and we had lots of friends here, we packed up and came to Texas.

What brought you to JBG?

When we came back to Austin, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, and a really awesome job counselor was the one who put me on this track. He basically asked me to sit down and tell him my life story, and noticed that I kept referring to food - my grandma's garden, my families cookouts, my experience working in restaurants. He asked if I'd ever looking into sustainable agriculture or farming, and I told him I hadn't. But it sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try.

So after that, I applied to be on the JBG tomato crew, and the rest is history.

What roles have you held at the farm, and what do you do in your current role?

Well, I didn't end up getting the tomato crew position, but JBG asked if I would be interested in working on the CSA packing line. I've also worked on the wholesale crew (back when we would pack orders as soon as they were called in - things have certainly changed around here), as a restaurant delivery driver, and then created the restaurant sales manager position at the farm.

My job now as restaurant manager is basically to communicate between the farm and our loca chefs and caterers, to let them know what we currently can harvest as well as what's coming up from the farm. We always strive to get our customers the freshest product possible, and I order produce from the field to be harvested, packed and delivered around town within 24 hours or being ordered.

Mike Mo is a human GPS! He coordinates all of our wholesale routes, and knows pretty much every shortcut, side-road, back alley and delivery entrance around town to get our orders delivered in a super timely fashion. He's also the JBG team member who worked closest with AISD for our farm-to-school initiative earlier this year.

What's been the biggest change you've seen over the years in Austin's food scene?

I've spent close to 3 years in my current role at the farm. It's shocking the number of new restaurants that have come to Austin in the past few years. I've really enjoyed seeing Austin cuisine evolve - it has certainly been elevated to new levels, with lots of really impressive high end food in our city. I think that customers have played a big role in shifting the market towards a local food economy, and our restaurants have really responded to the demand for locally sourced menus.

Reverse seared ribeye from Mike Mo's kitchen.. yum!

Best meal you've eaten out this year?

I had an absolutely outstanding meal at Gardner - we tried to eat a little bit of everything and it was all so great, a really wonderfully thought out meal. While I can't remember every dish we tried, a huge standout favorite were their roasted JBG carrots cooked in soy milk, topped with golden raisins. The dish seemed so simple when you read it, but so incredibly good. I was sorry to see Gardner go, but Chicon is also really great and I've had a number of great meals there too!

I'd also have to give a special shoutout to the steak at Dai Due. It was perfect - prepared so minimally and really highlighted the incredible meat they source.

Tell us about what you're cooking at home.

A lot of cooking and experimentation goes on in my kitchen. We cook a lot of Asian dishes at my house, as well as a good mix of Southern and Cajun cuisine.

I've been learning more about how to barbecue at home - even though it's worlds better to buy from the masters, it's an interesting and fun way to cook. You are simultaneously trying to flavor and cook the meat with smoke, and there are so many nuances to it. Luckily, even when you "mess up," the result is still pretty good to eat.

This summer I'm going to try my hand at another home fermented sriracha and sambal. I used red serranos last year, and it was a little much. Definitely tasty, but way too hot for most people. I'm going to go with red jalapeños instead this year.



Favorite and least favorite veggies?

Tomatoes are my favorite. They are just so versatile and just scream of summer. My least favorite is daikon radish - I just cant get into the flavor, it doesn't do it for me.

If you were stuck on a desert island and could bring 3 things along, what would you choose?

1. A cell phone? Would it work?
2. A water purification system
3. A knife.

How very practical of you, Mike.

Mike and a team of folks from AISD for the launch of Farm Fresh Fridays.

Staff Survey: If Mike Mo were a veggie, which one would he be? Why?

Daniel: Dandelion greens - he's everywhere on the farm! And while he flies under the radar most of the time, when you pay attention you realize how great Mike really is for us!! (side note: Mike Mo does not like Dandelion Greens. But his rabbit, Glenn, loves em.)

Ada: Okra! Mike is a good southern gentleman (and a great southern cook!!), and what better vegetable to represent the south?

Nellie: A tomato - each one is colorful and unique, and tomatoes certainly make almost everyone happy. Mike Mo is a great sales manager and does whatever it takes to make our customers happy too!

You can follow along on Mike's culinary adventures on Instagram @veggiemonger. Be sure to have something to eat nearby - it'll definitely make you hungry! Happy 4 years at JBG, Mike Mo - we couldn't imagine this place without you.

Tomato sorting time is here! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Week 22 was another rainy one for the books. But the team is pushing through the mud to get those summer veggies out of the fields and into your kitchens! Cherry and Juliet tomatoes are picking up in the fields, and we're booming with cucumbers, zucchini and farm-fresh sunflowers. Enjoy these images of the farm through the lens of Scott David Gordon.

Psst - want to work on an organic farm? We're hiring! For loads of great positions! Check out our Jobs Page to learn more and to apply.

We're harvesting these beauties despite the rain! Photo by Scott David Gordon

More storms on the horizon.. Photo by Scott David Gordon

But the farm is lush with greenery right now. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We saw some eggplant, including this colorful Graffiti variety, starting to come in this week. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Making progress on part of a new greenhouse. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A hard working honeybee on one of our sunflowers. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Zinnias are blooming! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Photo by Scott David Gordon

The team at the SFC Downtown Market last weekend. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A customer picks out a bunch of golden beets. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Restocking veggies! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Have you tried our carrots this year? Photo by Scott David Gordon

Cabbage in all these beautiful colors won't be around for long - take advantage while you can! Photo by Scott David Gordon

by Megan Winfrey

There's almost nothing better than a one-pan-dinner. We're all living hectic lives, and the last thing we need is more dishes to do. I'd say at least four nights a week are one-pan-dinner nights at our house, and I am so OK with that. Minimal ingredients, minimal clean-up, big flavor and nutrients. Can't beat that.

Red Wine Risotto with Cherry Tomatoes & Broccoli

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked arborio rice
• 1 cup good red wine
• 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
• 3 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• salt and pepper

In a dutch oven, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and stir for 1 minute or until the rice is glossy and beginning to toast. Stir in the wine and cook until it is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Stir in the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 20-25 minutes or until the rice is tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Let stand, uncovered, for 10 minutes before serving. Top with grated parmesan cheese, and enjoy! This recipe makes great leftovers.

CSA Box Contents Week of May 30th

We're rounding up news from around the web this week - what have you been reading that's stuck in your head this week? Recipes? Debates? Veggie memes? Share it with us in the comments!

What's it mean when a food label lists "natural" or "100% natural" ingredients? Well, turns out nobody is really sure, as the term is completely unregulated (unlike organic!). Activist website TakePart looks into "natural" labelling and discusses whether it should be banned on packaging.

Who wore it better? Donald Trump vs. sweet corn.

Austin CultureMap featured our partnership with MusicTechandFood! These folks are creating community bridging the tech and music worlds, with a mission to help the hungry. Pretty cool stuff - we were able to use money raised by MusicTechandFood for our Sponsored Share Program to deliver CSA shares to the Central Texas Food Bank (formerly Capital Area Food Bank).

Food waste is a huge issue in the US. This video PSA from Save the Food portrays the long, energetically-costly road of a single, uneaten strawberry from field to trash, to give you an idea of what resources go to waste when you don't finish your food.

Grounded Women is a blog that showcases the stories of women farmers on the east coast. Rad women, beautiful farms, diverse stories. This week, Kelly and the story of her first cow.

Joel Salatin on the amazing earthworm.

Local News: Giant food fight at Manor High School this week!

Bioversity International made the news for one of their project sites in the Bengas Valley in Nepal. Agro-biodiversity within a farming community is making these farmers and their surrounding habitats more resilient. Way to go!

Arrel just launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring a culinary innovation center/food laboratory to Austin. We're not 100% sure what that all means, but Eater Austin sure makes it sound like a project we would love to have in town!

What's on your reading list this week?

Beautiful close up of yellow squash. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Is it really already week 21?! Whew! This week we welcomed our brand new Tomato Crew to JBG. They spent Thursday out at our Garfield Farm picking tomatoes with the harvest crew before moving on to training at our packing shed. We're sure excited to have them on board - welcome, team!

We're really cranking out work on our greenhouse rebuild as well. We should have the new houses up in about 4 weeks, which will only put us a little behind on our seeding for Fall. For the meantime, we have plenty of work out in the fields as the heavy summer harvests keep coming in. Thanks to Scott David Gordon for his images of the farm this week!

Zucchini harvest on the trailer. Photo by Scott David Gordon

A striped yellow squash on the plant. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Look what we've got! Our very first table grapes. These probably won't ever make it off the farm - taste testing, you see.. Photo by Scott David Gordon

It's been one cloudy, humid week! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Bunching carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Mm.. carrots. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Tomato field looking lush on a cloudy day. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Cherries and romas coming soon! Photo by Scott David Gordon

See that little bit of color? It'll be here before you know it! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Looking out over a field of cucumbers. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Time to bust our your Ball jars! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Have we mentioned how great these new harvest trailers are? Photo by Scott David Gordon

Happy flowers getting ready to bloom. Photo by Scott David Gordon

We're excited that flowers are back!!

Zinnias! Photo by Scott David Gordon

A sunflower just starting to open! Photo by Scott David Gordon

Photo by Scott David Gordon

And an onion flower for good measure.