Harmony Valley Farm

In Praise of Carrots

Posted in Local Food, Organic Food, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Sat, 10/24/2009 - 1:05pm by lee -

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Image Credit: Kate SommersHas there ever been a food more perfect than the carrot? Delicious raw or cooked, skinned or peeled, if I edited the dictionary, there'd be a carrot next to the word "superfood" (if I edited the dictionary, the word "superfood" would be included, yes). The picture would show those lovely orange roots (with green tops, of course) in my 7-year old boy's just-washed hands.

How Can I Possibly Eat More Leeks?

Posted in Sustainable, Midwest, Local Food on Sat, 10/17/2009 - 1:59pm by lee -

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Do you have any idea how hard it is to eat five huge leeks each week? Who do the people at Harmony Valley Farm think I am? How much soup can I possibly eat? Don't they want me to spend my time writing blog posts? For goodness sakes, people, I'm doing the best I can!

What's for Dinner? Soup!

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Sat, 10/10/2009 - 12:51pm by lee -

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Photo credit: Kate SommersThese days, I'm actually kind of grateful that the Minnesota Twins play in a dome. You see, I'm originally from New York, and the members of my family who have not (yet) moved here are going to get another look at our fair city this week during the American League Division Series (go Twins!).

Our Harmony Valley Farmshare Arrives Again!

Posted in Local Food, Organic Food, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Mon, 09/21/2009 - 11:50am by lee -

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The list of things in my life that happen according to schedule is a pretty short one. Haircuts? Maybe you get them every 6-8 weeks, but I haven't been to a barber - much less a hairdresser - in more than 10 years. I just shave my head when the spirit moves me (see my picture for evidence). Housework? I wish - in my house, we're more likely to clean like crazy people just before guests come over (or when there's something sticky on the floor) than we are to pick a weekly time.

This Week's Farmshare Bounty

Posted in Organic Food, Midwest, Local Food on Sun, 08/23/2009 - 12:55pm by lee -

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Oh Harmony Valley, you're so good to us! How many CSAs package tomatillos, jalapenos, and cilantro together in "salsa kits"? Or pre-wash and bag a variety of salad greens? Shoot, I dunno, but probably not too many, right? The food is becoming more plentiful, and the variety is truly amazing. Here's a list of the cool, tasty stuff we got in this week's farmshare box. All of the descriptions and suggestions - and the photo - come directly from Harmony Valley's newsletter. Enjoy!

Harmony Valley's Farmshare This Week

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Organic Food, Sustainable on Sat, 08/15/2009 - 2:07pm by lee -

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Here's a list of the great foods that came in our Harmony Valley CSA box this week, along with notes and a picture directly from Harmony Valley Farm to help us figure out what to do with everything. I posted my initial reaction to this great farmshare bounty last week.

What's in the Box This Week? Tomatoes!

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Organic Food, Sustainable on Fri, 07/31/2009 - 12:21pm by lee -

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Last week was a bit of a lost one for me, farmshare-wise. My family was on vacation, so we had a friend pick up - and keep - our box. I enjoyed the rare adventure of getting the bulk of our food from farmers markets and co-ops this week, but I missed out on the fun of trying to figure out what to do with the new foods in my farmshare.

As a result, I was more than a little bit excited to pick up this week's farmshare bounty. Here's what came this week, with a photo, suggestions, and descriptions straight from Harmony Valley Farm:

Chilled Golden Beet Borscht with Fresh Dill and Chive Crème Fraiche

Posted in Local Food, Recipes on Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:52pm by lee -

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Chef Adam Anderson, formerly of Lucia's in Minneapolis, is on fire! One look at this week's farmshare bounty from Harmony Valley Farm, and he sent me not one, not two, but three recipes using the fresh, local ingredients in the box. Here's number 2:

Chilled Golden Beet Borscht with Fresh Dill and Chive Crème Fraiche

Serves 5-6

Ingredients:

What's in This Week's CSA Box?

Posted in Sustainable, Organic Food, Midwest, Local Food on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 6:28pm by lee -

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By now, many of you know the drill; here's what's coming from my Harmony Valley CSA this week. The following list, hints, and information, and photo is provided by Harmony Valley Farm, but the recipes - oh, the recipes will come from you, I hope!

My CSA Day at Riverbend Farm

Posted in Twin Cities, Sustainable, Organic Food, Midwest, Local Food on Mon, 07/13/2009 - 12:14pm by lee -

I recently had a chance to help the great team at Riverbend Farm in Delano, MN pick and pack their weekly CSA/farmshare harvest (they produce 80 shares each week). Riverbend is a terrific, well-respected farm, which provides foods to many local Twin Cities restaurants, including the Birchwood Cafe, Common Roots, Corner Table, and many others. Here are the photos I took, along with a few notes from the day.

This Week’s Farmshare Bounty - Just in Time!

Posted in Local Food, Organic Food, Sustainable on Thu, 07/02/2009 - 5:00am by lee -

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How is it that we ran out of nearly everything this week? I'll admit that the amaranth wilted before we had a chance to try it (entirely our fault), but we enjoyed all sorts of salads, veggie skewers, and other fine meals this week (my wife added chard, breadcrumbs, and locally-raised bacon to our pasta tonight and it was fantastic), even eating our way through our entire fruit share.

This Week’s Farmshare Box

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Organic Food, Sustainable on Fri, 06/26/2009 - 4:17pm by lee -

Here are the contents of this week’s box, along with notes, suggestions, and a picture from Harmony Valley Farm. I’m exceedingly happy to be getting sugar snap peas and summer squash this week, and I’m committed to making garlic scape pesto too. Slightly bummed that there’s no fruit share this week, especially since I’ve started squeezing my own orange juice. Oh well, more strawberries!

6/21 is Strawberry Day at Harmony Valley Farm

Posted in Sustainable, Organic Food, Midwest, Local Food, Activities on Wed, 06/17/2009 - 9:23am by lee -

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After all of this blogging about the local, organic Minnesota food we’ve been getting from the Harmony Valley Farm CSA, I’m excited to finally get the chance to visit the place. Harmony Valley has named Sunday, June 21 Strawberry Day, offering farm tours, strawberry picking, and other fun activities for the whole family from noon to 6 pm. Here are the details of the event, straight from the Harmony Valley site:

What's in the Box? This Week's Farmshare Bounty

Posted in Local Food, Organic Food, Sustainable on Thu, 06/11/2009 - 9:27am by lee -

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Has it already been a week? Can you tell from the bigger that the bounty is getting bigger? It's much harder to make our way through an entire box of local, sustainable, organic fresh produce - no matter how wonderful - when we spend part of the week out of town (as we did last week). Lucky for us there's always a line up of family, friends, and neighbors willing to take an extra bag of spinach, green garlic, or bok choy off our hands in a pinch. Why is it so hard to let these treasures go?

Bring on the Greens: This Week's CSA/Farmshare

Posted in Local Food, Organic Food, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Thu, 06/04/2009 - 11:29am by lee -

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Thanks to Good Life Catering, I no longer fear vast quantities of rhubarb. Now that I can make a rhubarb margarita, I say "bring it on!" Thank goodness, because more rhubarb is on the way. Here's a list of what I'll be getting from my Harmony Valley CSA today, along with descriptions and advice straight from the Harmony Valley newsletter:

Green garlic: Dice it, sauté it, and mix it into mashed potatoes.

10 Lessons From My First CSA Box

Posted in Sustainable, Midwest, Local Food on Thu, 05/14/2009 - 11:09am by lee -

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I've been a CSA member for a whole entire week now. Here's what I've learned:

Today's the Day for my CSA!

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Thu, 05/07/2009 - 11:15am by lee -

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The waiting is finally over. On my way home from work tonight, I'll be picking up my CSA box from Harmony Valley Farm. Here's what I'm expecting to pick up (direct from Harmony Valley's "What's In The Box" email newsletter):

Overwintered parsnips -Extremely sweet, as the starch has had time to convert to sugar over the winter. Roast with olive oil until nicely browned.

What to Do With Your CSA Bounty

Posted in Local Food, Sustainable on Tue, 03/31/2009 - 9:02am by lee -

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My friend Doug sent me a great article from Slate the other day, written by Catherine Price.

What Will I Get From My Minnesota/Wisconsin CSA?

Posted in Local Food, Midwest, Organic Food, Sustainable, Twin Cities on Wed, 03/11/2009 - 11:09am by lee -

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hv-header1 My friend Jim suggested this post, and I'm glad he did. He's apprehensive about joining a CSA; he seems especially concerned that he'll end up with 200 boxes of radishes. Here's a month-by-month listing (from the Harmony Valley Farm website) that lists the vegetables (and occasional fruits) that will be coming from the Harmony Valley Farm CSA, located in Wisconsin.

Joined a CSA!

Posted in Organic Food, Local Food on Thu, 02/26/2009 - 4:20pm by lee -

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After finishing Michael Pollan's amazing new(est) book, In Defense of Food (which will be reviewed in a later post), my wife Laura and I decided that Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, was right for us. Our neighbors, who read Barbara Kingsover's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food (also to be reviewed later) instead, were way ahead of us. We'd been enjoying locally grown foods (kale, turnips, cheeses - we live in Minneapolis!) at their home for months, so we knew they would have already researched the options. After some consideration, we joined Harmony Valley Farm, a CSA based closer to Madison, WI, but doing a good deal of business in the Twin Cities.