ARKANSASFOOD.NET - BAM News

Fall is here and we are just beginning to see winter squash. The basket will have a butternut grown at Inswani Farms outside of Little Rock. Inswani and his family farm approximately 5 acres of produce and we are excited he was able to provide this type of squash for the basket. And from Hardin farms will be some assorted squash picked by Jody and Barbara.

We are lucky to have this raw milk, grass fed, anti biotic and hormone free cheese. (I forgot to say, delicious and made in Arkansas!) Honeysuckle Lane Cheese in Rose Bud always comes through for us, even though demand is through the roof on the popular Arkansas product. You get this product every month, since we started the program in December 2005. We sampled some Arkansas Granny Smith and Red Delicious apples with this cheese and it was so good. The Apples came from North Arkansas and sent to us daily from the picker. Enjoy!

Cedar Rock Acres has provided some homemade apple jam from the apples on their farm. When I asked Sheldon what he wanted me to say about the jam and all he said was “it is sooooo good”. Enjoy

We also have an All Natural pork sausage from the Natural State Meat Company. This is the same farm (Alderbrook) that supplies the awesome bacon for our program. Spring Mix, Sweet Bell Peppers, Yankee Corn Grits, Whole Milk, Chocolate milk, shiitake mushrooms, Marconi peppers, for our vegan substitute we will have Hungarian peppers, pablano chilies and brown rice.

Hardin Farms Pumpkin Patch kicks off October 1. Come visit my family farm, and see our restaurant, eat our sweets and check out our 5^th generation farm from a hay ride to the patch. Grady is on Hwy 65 South, going through Pine Bluff from Little Rock. We are 20 minutes south of Pine Bluff , on the left side of the Hwy 65. It’s best to come on Saturday or Sunday. Groups come during the week and it’s very busy.

Once again we will be offering Holiday Gift Baskets. We are still working on the products for the basket which might include some Organic Bread and Pasta from Foodshed Farm. Watch our website for updates.

Build a parfait of baked butternut squash topped with walnuts and crème fraiche. This elegant, five-ingredient dessert shows that butternut squash is more than a side dish.

1. Peel and seed squash; cut into 1-inch cubes (you should have 7 to 8 cups). In a large bowl, mix squash with sugar. Let stand until sugar liquefies, about 30 minutes. Stir, then pour into a deep 2 1/2- to 3-quart baking dish. Crumple a piece of baking parchment larger than the dish opening, moisten with water, then flatten it and cover squash, tucking paper around inside of dish.

2. Bake in a 300° oven (see notes) until squash is tender when pierced, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Turn off oven and leave squash inside until completely cool, about 3 hours.

3. Shortly before serving, in a 6- to 8-inch frying pan over medium heat, stir walnuts and butter until nuts are coated with butter and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Spoon squash and syrup into small bowls. Garnish each serving with a generous dollop of crème fraîche and a sprinkle of walnuts.

Mix dry ingredients, then add oil and eggs. Mix again until well blended. Bake in oiled pan for one hour (or until done) at 325ºF.

3 large parsnips, peeled and cut into 3-in. lengths (cut thickest pieces into halves or quarters lengthwise)

1. Preheat oven to 400°. Put all vegetables (including garlic) except sweet potatoes into a very large bowl (or two large ones); put sweet potatoes in a separate bowl. Drizzle bowls generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss gently with your hands to coat; then spread half of mixed vegetables on two large baking sheets. Break up 3 rosemary sprigs and sprinkle over vegetables.

2. Roast vegetables 15 minutes. Stir gently with a metal spatula if they are sticking. Add half of the sweet potatoes to pans. Continue roasting, stirring vegetables every 15 minutes if necessary and changing positions of pans to ensure even browning, until vegetables are browned and tender, 40 minutes to 1 1/4 hours. Remove from oven and set aside. Repeat with remaining half of mixed vegetables, sweet potatoes, and 2 1/2 rosemary sprigs.

3. Pour vegetables onto a serving platter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with remaining sprig of rosemary and serve warm or at room temperature.

We can not express enough how deeply we appreciate your support for BAM. Twenty-eight of thirty-three BAM subscribers have been with us since day one. Thank you! Today we have over 1000 members in our database and actively distribute over 300 baskets each month. WOW! Thank you to all of you for sharing and supporting your local farmers and helping us be where we are today in this local food movement.
This August weather has been on the unusual side and although it has been a wet summer for some farmers, they have managed to come together again to provide some of the best local food our State has to offer. We have added to our network of producers for the basket and we hope you enjoy what we have to offer for this second August "All Arkansas" Basket that Jody has named the "Chili Pepper Basket". Please enjoy our new, greener, local food newsletter.

We added Hot Springs Village to our BAM pickup location and distributed 10 baskets our first pickup earlier this month at the new HotSprings Village Farmers' Market. We have a small group that have been actively working to get us there and we thank you for your patience. We look forward to growing your with you in your community. We are working on finding a permanent location for the coming winter baskets if our program continues to grow. We will keep you updated.

MORE NEWS
We will post on the website our next basket distribution date sometime in the next couple of weeks. Please visit our website to mark your calendar so that when we send out the email notification you can be watching for your email to arrive. We are moving the BAM office to the "soon to be" Delta Center for Sustainable Agriculture at the old Grady High School. This will be an ongoing project and we will keep you informed of any news.
We want to thank Whitney Loiber, who is a Professional Photographer and basket member, for taking awesome photos. We plan on using them in various projects and if you are in need of a photographer or interested in her work, visit her website at www.whitneyloibner.com.
Don't forget - If you want us to roast your peppers and you picked up your basket on Thursday or Friday, bring them to the Farmer's Market in Argenta for us to roast at no charge and we will have some extra on hand to sell, we may have extra products from the basket as well.

Please reply with the location and day you wish to pickup when reserving your basket. We have two pickup locations currently on Thursday and Saturday and it will help Mrs. Poe in preparing our reports needed each day. Thank you for your comments in your reply. We love to read them!

RE-USE COLLECTIBLES
We came up with the coolest idea how to re-use our rice bags but didn't have time to put our plan into action until we met Callie Rew. Callie is 13 years old and has been doing crafting all her life. She will be sewing our rice bags into awesome shopping bags that will be on sale through our website for BAM members. Callie says "The rice bags are another way to recycle objects to help keep the earth clean.

AGRICULTURE ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR Recently Jody received the Agriculture Activist of the year award for his work to develop local Arkansas food systems and support community based agriculture from the Citizens First Congress coalition- the group that helped get our new Department of Agriculture a few years ago. Congratulations Jody and thanks to all of you for your support and involvement.

PRODUCTS FOR YOUR AUGUST 2008 CHILI PEPPER BASKET
Following is a list of products that you may receive in your basket and following are information about some the producers and recipes as well. If you would like you peppers roasted, bring them to the Certified Arkansas Farmer's Market in North Little Rock (Argenta) and we will roast them for you and we will have some extra on hand for you to purchase.

There will be several sweet roasting peppers in your basket. Bells, Marconi, and some will get the Romainian Sweet Roasting Pepper. Also, we will add a few hot jalapenos to the mix. They can all be roasted for best flavor. Here's what I do. I coat them will olive oil with a paper towel or by hand, and put them over a open fire until the skin is blistered and turning black a little. Take them off the fire, or out of the broiler in your oven, and let them cool. Once cool, the skin will peel off easily, and you can freeze immediately, store in your fridge for a week, or eat them immediately for best results. I urge you to explore the Internet for great roasted chili pepper recipes. My favorites are roasted sweet pepper salsa, and roasted pepper alfredo, for a southwestern flair. Don't forget, we will be roasting chili's for free at the CAFM Argenta this Saturday, with a live band, during Baskt A Month Pickup, or until about 11 a.m..

SIMPLE SMALL BATCH PESTO - In your home blender, add your basil and a small amount of olive oil to get it to chop and add a handful of walnuts or pine nuts, about 4 tablespoons of parmesan cheese, 1 garlic clove and some Arugula or other greens (equivalent to the amount of basil) that you may have and chop. Add more olive oil to make a creamy mixture and salt and pepper to taste. Spread on a slice of your 8 grain bread and PESTO!

SWEET POTATO CHEESE BALL/DIP - 1pkg (8oz) cream cheese, 2 c cold mashed sweet potatoes, 1/4c fine chopped pepper remove seed, (any) 1tsp salt, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp LA hot sauce, 1/2 tsp hot pepper sauce 1/4c chopped pecans, In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and potatoes until smooth add the next seven ingredients, mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or until firm. Roll in chopped pecans (optional), serve with crackers, breadsticks or vegetables.

ORGANIC SHORT GRAIN BROWN RICE from LONE PINE FARM
Lone Pine Rice is grown on the Arkansas sandy loam which has been enriched with Dr. Pheiffers biodynamics compost and with green manure, irrigated with underground well water, and tended with care without the use of toxic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and seed treatments. Immediately after harvesting, this rice was placed in cool storage bins. It was hulled to order with especially built rubber rollers which insure that the delicate outer layer of bran is not scratched or harmed, preserving for you this highly nutritious brown rice.

Shiitake Mushroom Rice Pilaf:
**10-15 shiitake mushrooms, chopped
**2 tablespoons butter
**1 tablespoon olive oil
**1/3 cup brown rice
*** cup white rice
**1 * cups vegetable stock (or broth)
**1 tablespoon parsley
**Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan melt butter and olive oil over medium heat. Saut* mushrooms for 3 * 5 minutes. Add both kinds of rice and saut* for 3 * 5 more minutes. Add vegetable stock, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Cover pot and reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 18 minutes. Add parsley and fluff with a fork.

SHIITAKE MUSHROOMS from Sweden Creek Farm
Sweden Creek Farm is located at the headwaters of Sweden Creek in a pristine mountain valley in the high peaks of the Ozark Mountains. Curly and Carole Anne Miller started growing Shiitake mushrooms in 1986. All of their crops have always been grown organically and Certified from the start. Currently, only the Shiitakes are certified (by Oregon Tilth).
They grow 900-1200 pounds of Shiitakes every week and cycles through over 80,000 logs to maintain a constant supply for their customers. Curly is an accomplished musician and has toured nationally. Carole Anne was a novice musician but willing to put in some hard work with Curly. They have developed a unique Fiddle/Banjo sound in the Old Time style and also play Classic banjo duets, arranged and second parts written by Curly. Most recently, they taught Fiddle and Banjo at some of the country's top traditional music camps (The Swannannoa Gathering and Jay Ungar's Ashokan Fiddle Camp), and often play and teach at The Ozark Folk Center. They hope to get back into concert and festival performances but the farm has kept them too busy for the past 15 years! SHIITAKE HAPPENS!

We hope you enjoy your basket and we thank you all for your support and especially our volunteers who help us pull this off month after month.