We think that our staff is the best in the business (okay, okay, we are a little biased), but the JBG family hails from all over the place and covers the gamut in talents and interests. We love sharing events, adventures, and side projects that inspire and excite our JBG-ers (food-related or not) with the community. Check out the staff-curated list of favorites below!

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Farm, in general

Check out seeds from the Seed Library at the Austin Central Library! How cool! "Do you need seeds to start your garden or get it ready for a new season? Browse the drawers, check out up to four seed packets per visit..." Find all the info here.

Missoula (Farm Dog)

Devon and Dusty are my picks! They're a JBG Power Couple. At a job where the work literally never ends, these two always show up at the barn with positive, go-get-em attitudes. Our farmers' market program wouldn't' be the same without em!

Devon and Dusty.

Ada (CSA and Marketing Manager)

This year while at Festival International my friends and I came across a lino-print maker from New Orleans named Luke Koeferl. Here is his Etsy page, and here is his Instagram. Luke and his beautiful linocuts are my pick! I fell in love with so many of them, and seriously had trouble choosing which piece to bring home. I love the strong, hairy, and sometimes plump figures that are the star of his pieces. Sometimes they're laying on a couch, playing on their cell phone, and that feels pretty familiar. I've been all about the home-cooked meals lately, and so landed on the black and white piece featuring a funny and fun-looking family sitting down to nom on some bacon and eggs. They reminded me of the Bob's Burgers clan, though Luke did admit that he kinda envisioned this clan as a version of his future family.

Line up of linocuts.

Speaking of cooking good meals, I'm really excited to kick off my meal prep club, Club Home Made. What's a meal prep club? Here is a little write-up and wonderful explanation about it from Culture Map Austin. Needless to say, lots of vegetables will be from JBG :).

Aubrey (Farmers Market Crew)

My pet bunny, Checkers, who is the number one fan of JBG’s dandelion greens.

Megan (Farmers Market Crew)

Artbomb! A fundraiser that showcases queer artists and poets of all ages in a safe, sober environment. Throughout the evening, we will have readings by local queer poets. Artwork by local LGBTQIA+ artists will be for sale in the silent auction. More info here.

Hector (Social Media Extraordinaire)

In the classic tradition of Bring It On, Waitress, The Addams Family, and Mean Girls, another classic movie makes it to the theaters and it should be the NEXT BIG THING. I highly recommend watching TERMINATOR: The Musical. 8 limited dates from May 3rd to the 25th, showing the hardships of Sarah Connor during The Terminator and T2: Judgement Day movies with revolutionary song numbers and out of this time original songs. You will be back for more!

Have you considered going to work on your bike but were afraid to try it? Come join Bike Austin at the yearly Bike to Work Day 2019. Check the details here to pledge to ride your bike to work, find the best routes, fueling stations with freebies and don't miss the Bike to Work Party at Cheer Up Charlies!

Two of my favorite local business, Antonelli's Cheese Shop and Confituras, are having a class together, Perfect Pairings: Cheese and Preserves, at the Antonelli's cheese house on 5/28. Learn about the delicious cheeses at the shop and how these team up with Confituras' wonderful preserves. Don't miss this!

The Austin Film Society, in partnership with the Texas Farmers' Markets, present the documentary by Aube Giroux titled Modified on 5/21, followed by a panel with Edwin Marty, Sustainable Food Policy Manager, City of Austin; Ben McConnell, Founder of Bouldin Food Forrest; Liz Mejia, Founder of Green Hen Farm; Alvaro Mejia, Founder of Green Hen Farm; James A. Brown, Founder of Barton Springs Mill; Max Elliot, Founder of Urban Roots; and Kate Payne, Executive Director at Texas Farmers’ Market (Moderator). On Modified, the filmmaker and her mother embark on a very personal and poignant investigative journey to find out why genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are not labeled on food products in the United States and Canada, despite being labeled in 64 countries around the world. Check it out!



Tales of Sleepless Nights is a performative walking tour of downtown Austin’s homeless grounds conceived and performed by Gathering Ground Theatre, a theatre troupe made up of Austinites who have lived experience with homelessness. The next performances will be from 5/3-5/5. For times and details, please check the website.

The All Genders, Lifestyles, and Identities Film Festival (aGLIFF) is showing the movie XY Chelsea at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse. The film revolves around Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier and intelligence analyst convicted of violating the Espionage Act in 2013, after leaking classified U.S. documents to WikiLeaks. While imprisoned, Manning, a trans woman, also began to transition medically. Definitely, a thought-provoking movie that I'm looking forward to watching it. Ticket info here.

Don't miss the famous 42nd Annual O.Henry Museum Pun-Off World Championships on 5/11 in the back yard of the O. Henry Museum also known as Brush Square Park. Punsters all over the world and of all walks of life will descend into Austin with their best material to delight everyone attending this joyous occasion. Do you have what it takes to out-pun others?

Faith (Customer Service Extraordinaire)

A few weeks back, I was walking around my neighborhood and I guess it was a big trash day or at least someone was making it their personal big trash day. Now, I've been looking for a chair for quite a while to round out my porch scene, and get ready to enjoy the coming summer nights. Anyways, I saw this chair on the side of the road, walked home, drove back to that chair, and loaded it up with only slight hesitations. This chair was definitely on the side of the road for good reason, it had a healthy layer of dirt and cobwebs, the cushion had seen much better days, and two of the legs were quite a bit shorter than they "should be." But I saw the potential for a summer project, you know? Who cares if I live in a studio apartment with little ventilation? Bring on the sawdust, bring on the lacquer. It would all be worth it for that chair. But like I said, it's been a couple of weeks and things have changed. I've dusted off the dirt and abandoned spider homes. I've spent some good mornings and evenings reading, sipping coffee, and watching squirrels. I've stopped daydreaming about what it could be and accepted it for what it is. The gentle rhythm of those wobbly legs have put me under their spell. That chair is my pick.

It’s Healthy Texas Week, y’all! Now in its third year and running from April 29th through May 5, Healthy Texas Week inspires Texans across the state to SHOP healthy, SWEAT more, and SHARE their healthy activities on social media to inspire others toward greater health. Schools are invited to participate by sharing morning health announcements, engaging in Healthy Texas Week dress up days, and providing students with a healthy checklist for the week. We heard about this valiant effort and the stellar nonprofit behind it, It’s Time Texas (ITT), through fellow JBG-er, Hector (learn more about his journey with food here), who is one of the health coaches at ITT, and thought, now there’s an organization with a mission that we can get behind! With lots of preventative health measures in the ITT arsenal, we think that our CSA is the perfect tool and catalyst for a burgeoning healthy lifestyle, but, more on that later.

Photo by Scott David Gordon.

It’s Time Texas is a local nonprofit that goes to impressive lengths to inspire, support, and challenge Texans to ameliorate their lifestyle choices, with a special focus on diet and exercise. ITT’s mission is fueled by a health crisis that we face in America. “In the last 30 years, the number of overweight/obese kids in the U.S. has tripled, and one-third of all American kids born in the year 2000 are projected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Even more alarming, this generation of U.S. children represents the first in more than 100 years to likely have a lower life expectancy than their parents.” With these societal circumstances at play, this nonprofit seeks to instill skills that ensure a long and healthy life for all Americans, young or old. ITT offers a wide-ranging gamut of gratis services for Texans to jumpstart and improve their health regimens.

Photo courtesy of the ITT website.

“Our free programs, tools, and services leverage innovative technology and harness the collective power of Texas’ leading agencies, institutions, organizations, and companies to empower Texans to lead healthier lives and build healthier communities. Simply put, we make healthy easier in the Lone Star State.”

ITT offers free and confidential health coaching conducted online or on the phone as well as tutorial videos (a favorite being how to shop healthily on a budget!). A Choose Healthier app outlines free and/or low-cost healthy activities happening in one’s community. The ITT Teach Healthier app outlines lesson plans and activities that teachers can utilize in the classroom to reinforce students’ healthy decisions. ITT offers an after-school program and no shortage of resources to improve pre-existing School Health Advisory Councils. Finally, the Work Healthier initiative challenges employers to pledge to improve the well-being of employees in the workplace and offers all kinds of resources to uphold said pledge. Each of these services focuses on making changes little by little. There’s no upheaval in one’s lifestyle, ITT makes lifestyle recommendations and a plan tailored specifically for each person.

Photo courtesy of the ITT website.

So, in light of Healthy Texas Week and It’s Time Texas, let’s all pledge to improve our health decisions throughout the year! Instead of grabbing that bag of chips, grab some carrots! Instead of taking the elevator, run down the stairs! With our CSA veggies in your fridge, you’re one step ahead of the game. A good diet is the cornerstone of a long, healthy life. CDC researchers have found that only 13 percent of US citizens get their recommended dose of fruit, and less than 9 percent consume the suggested amount of their daily vegetables (more on that here). So, there's definitely no harm in tossing an extra handful of greens on that pizza. Plus, if you get your children in the kitchen understanding why you use certain ingredients, you can also chat about the benefits of said ingredients as well. This preps kiddos for the future and sets them up for good habits of cooking and eating that they’ll tap into for the rest of their lives!

Photo by Casey Wiggins Degman.

See you at markets this weekend!

Author: The Migoni Kitchen / Servings: 4 people / Total Time: 35 minutes

If you’ve ever been to a tapas restaurant, chances are you’ve had the Spanish Tortilla de Papa. Its ingredients are simple, but the proper preparation is key. It’s a great way to use up the potatoes we got in the CSA box this week along with any fresh parsley you’ve got. It’s filling enough, because of the egg, to be an entire meal, especially if paired with a small side salad (a great way to use up those greens!), but also makes a great innovative side dish instead of traditional roasted or mashed potatoes.

Processed with VSCO with 6 preset

Ingredients

• 1 Pound Potatoes Peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 Small Yellow Onion Sliced
• 4 Eggs
• 3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/2 Cup Canola or Olive Oil Reserve 1 tablespoon olive oil for aioli
• 1 Clove Garlic Grated
• 1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley Chopped

Instructions

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.

Add sliced onions and potatoes and cook for about 15 minutes until softened and slightly brown. Place into a bowl and set aside.

Whisk eggs in a separate bowl and then pour over the potatoes and onions. Add salt and pepper.

Heat a small saucepan over medium heat with 1 teaspoon of oil.

Add egg, potato and onion mixture to the pan, adjusting the potatoes to make even layers.

Cook about 15 minutes until the egg on top is no longer runny.

Flip the tortilla over onto a large plate then slide back to the pan and cook another 5 minutes.

While the tortilla is cooking, combine the mayonnaise, grated garlic, and 1 tablespoon olive oil and whisk together to make the aioli.

Top with chopped parsley and serve alongside aioli.

CSA Box Contents Week of Apr 29th

CSA signs! See below for more info. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tomatoes are on the way! We are busy putting up stakes and getting everything ready for these summertime sweethearts. Squash is blossoming and headed to market soon! We love spring, it is bustling and beautiful.

CSA Members! Check out these yard signs that we just had made! Do you love your CSA Box? Please let us know if you'd like a yard sign, and we'll send one along with your next share! Just email Faith at farm@jbgorganic.com and she'll hook you up!

Packing the veggies up! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Want to help finish painting this big rig - email Ada! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

All the alliums you need. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Gorgeous morning at the farm. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Brenton and Taylor having a farm meeting. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Bok choy beauty. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Getting those tomato stakes in. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

For scale. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Getting soil packed for new transplants. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Sage. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Spring onions. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Tomato fields aplenty. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Squash on the move! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

Patty pan close-up. Photo by Scott David Gordon.

We published a piece a little over a year ago covering how to effectively process your produce in order to ensure its longevity (here). This week, we’re following up with a post about how to lengthen the seasons, or in other words, utilize long term storage in the kitchen! We’re talkin’ freezing, dehydrating, quick pickling, canning, and fermenting! The benefits of long term storage are not only increasing the life of your produce but preserving and extending the season. You may be sick of something now because it's abundant, but you can always save it for later when you are aching for those spring crop darlings. Additionally, long term storage avoids waste. Throwing those beautiful, unused radishes into the compost bin brings a tear to everyone’s eyes; however, if you have too much radish bounty, you can store and save them for later. You’ll be grateful when you are in another season and missing that tangy flavor! Finally, long term storing organic produce will certainly taste more flavorful than the store-bought versions. This year, replace off-the-shelf canned vegetables with local, organic, and home-made alternatives. Let’s get to it!

Veggie gradient. Photo by Gillian Shewaga.

FREEZING

Most fresh vegetables should be blanched before freezing. This will kill the enzymes naturally present on the plants, and stop any further degradation in the freezer. Dry veggies thoroughly before putting in the freezer. Selecting produce at its peak freshness is vitally important to this process, and always store in airtight containers or freezer bags. Remove as much air as possible from your packages! Consider dating packages in order to keep track, too. Like master home chef, Ada Broussard, says in her post last week: “Do yourself a favor, and label what you put in the fridge. Even if you think you'll remember, just stick a label on it. Because the more you start to use your freezer, the crazier it will get in there. Include the date. I try to eat frozen leftovers in about 4 months, and try to use up frozen vegetables/ingredients in about 7 months. Of course, the food will likely still be fine past these dates, but you'll start to lose flavor and texture.”

Another worthy Ada tip: “Freeze other ingredients like freshly minced garlic and ginger paste, seasonal pesto, or tomato sauce. During tomato season: dedicate one lazy Sunday afternoon to hitting up the market, buying a bounty of tomatoes, and have nothing on your schedule except making and freezing tomato sauce.“ Check more of her freezer tips here.

Frozen ingredients, ready to cook! Photo by Scott David Gordon.

DEHYDRATING

A fancy dehydrator is great, but you can also use your oven. It’s just as effective and you probably already have one! Here’s a recipe for oven-dehydrated tomatoes. After you dehydrate these, freeze in between layers of parchment paper in a sealed Tupperware for up to 8 months. For a shorter term take on delicious oven-dehydrated produce, here’s a delectable recipe for kale chips. These will keep for about a week, but good luck not eating all of these fresh out of the oven. These chips are amenable to any seasonings you have in the kitchen that you are keen to use.

QUICK PICKLING

Do yourself a favor and learn how to do this if you haven’t already. As the name implies, this is QUICK and is the best way to use some surplus root crops like carrots, beets, and radishes. We love quick pickled onions and squash to top sandwiches and tacos. Peppers will be here soon, and both hot and sweet peppers make a delicious pickle, as well. Think pickled peppers on that favorite juicy summer hamburger (or veggie burger)! YUM! The uses are truly endless once these veggies take on their new tangy and sometimes sweet pickled taste, they are perfect for snacking, augmenting charcuterie boards, or even a side dish! Our recipe developer, Nadia Tamby, has a great rundown of the joys of sweet and hot radish pickles here and our pickling champion, Megan Winfrey, has a couple of mind-blowing recipes here and here.

Nadia's sweet and hot radishes. Photo by Nadia Tamby.

CANNING

Canning is a wonderful skill to have and an excellent way to extend the seasons. There are two different processes when it comes to canning: boiling water bath and pressure canning.

Boiling water bath canning requires simple tools - you just need a larger pot with a rack at the bottom, jars, and tops (canning tongs are helpful, too!). You place the jars filled with food in boiling water for a specified time (depending on the recipe) and essentially as the jars cool a vacuum seal is created. Foods that can successfully be canned this way include pickled vegetables, preserves, and tomatoes with a little added acid (think - vinegar, citrus, or citric acid). Check out this delicious recipe for canning tomatoes here by our recipe developer, Megan Winfrey!

Pressure canning requires more specialized equipment, namely a pressure canner. This method gets the jars hotter than the temperature of boiling water which is important for certain kinds of veggies. Alkaline or low acid must be processed in a pressure canner in order to rid the food from dangerous bacteria. Canning really opens up a world of preserving seasons - think of all the jams, sauces, salsas, preserves, pickles! It's truly an amazing and fruitful technique - get to it! Here are some canning ideas to peruse. You'll have some amazing tastes in the pantry for months to come.

Ada's tomato canning extravaganza last summer. Photo by Ada Broussard.

FERMENTING

Fermentation is when microorganisms like bacteria or yeast convert carbohydrates into alcohol or organic acids under anaerobic circumstances. It's an easy process that has been culturally ubiquitous for centuries and makes amazing products like kefir, kombucha, miso, kimchi, sauerkraut, tempeh, and yogurt. With wide-ranging benefits from increased digestion and bioavailability of nutrients to reduced social anxiety, fermented foods combat against pervasive diseases like cancer, arthritis, and liver disease. These foods are chock-full of healthy bacteria, or probiotics, that reinforce the good bacteria in your gut, and in turn, improves your immune system (fun fact: 80% of your immune system is in your gut!).

Fermenting is relatively easy and is another very nutritious way to utilize veggies. Fermented recipes often keep for months in the fridge. Check out our recipe developer, Megan’s sauerkraut with fennel recipe here, it has a great rundown of the fermentation process.

Long term storage rules! We can’t wait to utilize some of these awesome techniques this weekend.

Some of our Favorite Resources:

We love the USDA's complete guide to canning. food safety is a concern when preserving food for long-term use, and though it may be a bit overkill, this guide covers IT ALL.

The Hip Girl’s Guide to Homemaking is a cookbook written by local Austinite and Texas Farmers' Market director, Kate Payne. There are lots of pickling recipes in here!

The Art of Fermentation by Sandor Katz, this is the bible of fermentation.

Lots of folks locally are occasionally doing classes on pickling. Check out Club Home Made, Maggie Perkins, Kitchen Underground.

Pickling and fermentation have been around for a LONG TIME. It helped preserve food before refrigeration. Think globally when looking for pickling or fermented recipes. Japanese and Korean cultures, for example, have a rich history of fermentation, and the internet is full of info, recipes, and resources.

Recipe and Photos by Megan Winfrey

Nothing says 'Spring is here' like fresh pasta salad. It's a meal perfectly suited for warmer months. I never make it the same way twice, so it's one of me and my family's favorite meals to throw together as a team - everyone helps!

Daughter Louisiana was in charge of picking a handful of perfect basil leaves while I chopped veggies and husband Hunter watched the pasta pot. It's amazing how quickly everything comes together with 3 sets of hands - and how fast it disappears! If you do have leftovers, they'll keep in the fridge for about a week. Before eating the leftovers, let them sit out at room temp for a bit. The flavors will come through much more than when it's just out of the fridge!

Spring's Sprung Pasta Salad

• 1/2 lb. fusilli pasta (or another short pasta)
• 1 head of bok choy, cut lengthwise into ribbons
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• olive oil, as needed
• Juice and zest from 1/2 a lemon
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 balsamic vinegar
• 5-6 basil leaves, cut into ribbons
• 1 tbs. dried oregano
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 3 slices hard salami
• 1 cup mozzarella cheese, cubed
• salt and pepper, to taste

Fill a pasta pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Cook the pasta to al dente, drain, and set aside to cool. (It's super important not to overcook pasta for a pasta salad! It's gotta have that firmness to stand up to the rest of the ingredients.)

Add 1 tbs. of olive oil to a skillet and heat over medium-high. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes, then add the bok choy, lemon juice, and zest. Simmer until tender, then crank the heat up to evaporate the liquid and lightly blister the bok choy.

Lightly oil a sheet pan and place the halved tomatoes face down. Sprinkle a little salt over the tops then broil over low until soft and starting to blister. Keep an eye on them so they don't turn to mush!

Add the balsamic to a small saucepan and heat over low. Simmer until reduced just enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Now it's time to combine these and the rest of your stellar ingredients into a big bowl, season to taste, and chow down!