This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: Colleen had a chance to check in on the cow herd at Curtis’s farm in Fountain, Colorado.  She was not happy with what she saw.  Two of the mother cows have had calves, without ever having been given a drying off rest.  They have been milked continuously through one lactation and into the next.  No dairy concerned with the well being of their cows would do that.  The 6 calves from last calving all look thin and poorly nourished.  Basically, we got “taken” for the milk of those 6 cows, rather than having it shared with the calves. Even from a standpoint of pure economics, a mother cow who has dried off will then more than compensate for the milk not collected, with a larger flush of milk when she resumes.

I have to acknowledge, the “experiment” with leasing cows to startup dairies and to dairies who are not set up to reach a reasonable scale is a failure.  We are done with it.  If we have to, we will sell the cows we do not need and cannot keep at Mesa Top.

To start with, the Colorado herd will have to be moved to Roswell.  Time to call a vet and get the health checkup that is mandatory for inter-state movement.

This week’s cheese making update:   The cheese room is certainly clean.  A few more repairs are needed, and then we have to get our antibiotic testing going.  One type of test that is mandatory for all dairies is an antibiotic residue test that has to be taken on every batch of milk.  This is a health check that is required to prove that there is no dangerous residue, and became necessary due to residues found in milk from large dairies.  But the testing requirement has been made applicable to all dairies.

We have purchased a testing system, and now we have to get it into operation.  We are hoping to call for our first inspection in just a couple of weeks!

This week’s cheese share includes: a variety of artisanal cheeses.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   Beef will be in stock again for the first February distribution.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  Our local produce selection contains organic purple potatoes from White Mountain Farm, and 2 types of fresh local sprouts:  organic pea shoots from Sungreen living foods, and a mix of sprouted legumes from Khalsa Greenhouses in Espanola.

We also have local honey from Alamosa, Colorado, an item that we add only add rarely to the winter share.

Our out of region reach for fruit again includes organic avocadoes from Mexico and organic Arizona sweet oranges.

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support!

Steve Warshawer

If you are looking for other carrot recipes, I have posted my dad’s favorite Carrot Muffins,a Red Chile Carrots for a spicy side dish and Carrot Soup with lentil and ginger.

Send me your favorite carrot recipes to blog@beneficialfarm.com

Orange Glazed Carrots

2 lbs Carrots, cut into matchsticks or vertically thin strips

2 tblsp unsalted butter

1 cup Fresh Orange Juice (4 to 5 oranges)

3 tblsp Maple Syrup

1 tblsp fresh Thyme

1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Boil a large pot of water, add the carrots and salt.  Simmer for 8 minutes and drain well. Melt butter in large skillet until the foam subsides. Add carrots and saute for 60 seconds. Add orange juice, maple syrup, thyme and seasoning. Continue on the stove until the liquid is reduced and the carrots are tender. This should be 1o minutes.

This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: Dominic is having a great time with the cows we brought to him.  The remaining herd up here is much more manageable.  Now instead of  1500 bales of hay lasting 2.5 days it lasts about 5 days.  Robert Quintana says he can spare us 8 more big bales.  That should get us to mid or late March.  There is a rumor from one of our Santo Domingo Hay growers that his cousin has found some alfalfa.  That would be a big help.

Hopefully we can concentrate on getting the leased land ready for cows in mid March, as we will be bringing a number of them back from Dominic’s then.

This week’s cheese making update:   The cheese room is almost ready to show.  The electrical upgrades are looking good.  It seems like the construction will never end, but it is progressing.

We are done making feta for a while.  Our first batch reaches 60 days of age at the end of next week.  The early batches are more dense, but very flavorful (I admit, we do sample them before they reach legal age).  Within 4 weeks we should have enough to pack a share for all members.

We are pleased to include our soft (not mushy and runny, but not hard as a rock) jack cheese.  This product reflects our modification of the recipe to slow down the process of separating the curds from the whey.  The slower process leaves us with a “fluffier” loaf.

This week’s cheese share includes: a variety of artisanal cheeses.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   Beef in stock again for the first February distribution.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  Our local produce selection contains carrots from Romero Farm, stored at the Beneficial CSA walk-in cooler, and beets from Gemini Farm, from their root cellar.  As they remain in storage some white root growth is often evident on the carrots, but it scrubs off easily.

We have 3 neighboring states also represented:  Cloud Cliff seed bread, with New Mexico organic wheat, milled into unbleached white flour in Dawn, Texas.

Also Arizona sweet oranges, and quinoa from White Mountain Farm in Mosca, Colorado.

This along with the Mesa Top medium jack cheese.  Enjoy!

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support!

Steve Warshawer

Buying spices is easy in Santa Fe.  There are a few speciality shops like Ziggy’s International Market on Cerrillos or The Spice Lady on Cordova that sell international spices and ingredients.  The Spice Lady also sells dried spices in bulk so that you can try a smaller amount.  The Coop and Whole Foods Grocery Stores sell spices in bulk as well. Buying in bulk allows you to buy a small amount for a recipe or try a spice with your family. One of the best deals for spices is at Natural Grocers on Cerrillos. They have a huge selection and some of the harder ones to find.

Storing spices should be in a sealed container.  Small glass canning jars work the best. Try to buy the seed or whole spice so that it will last longer than the dried powder. If the spice is whole, it can also be toasted in a dry pan for a few minutes to bring out the aroma and flavor in your kitchen.

Once you have the whole spices that you enjoy, you can make spice mixes with a coffee grinder or mortal and pestel. Many cookbooks will list spice blends for the recipe.  Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everythingdevotes a chapter to spices and sauces. I made four spice blends over the weekend to be ready for cooking.  Here is one of my favorites that can be used with meats, lentils and vegetables.

Curry is a useful spice for vegetables.  I made a potato, carrot and celery curry with this mix last week.  Cut the vegetables into the same size pieces and saute in olive oil with the spice mix.  Add crushed tomatoes and coconut milk for a nice dinner over rice.

Hot Curry Powder

From How to Cook Everything

2 small chiles (you could also use the red chile powder from last week’s share)

1 tblsp black peppercorns (you can use white to make it less spicy)

1 tblsp coriander seeds

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tsp fenegreek (I found at Natural Grocers)

1 tblsp ground tumeric

1 tblsp ground ginger

Cayenne, if needed.  Test your mix first.

Enjoy

Reprinted From the Local Organic Meals on a Budget Blog

This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: Over the weekend I got 2 trailer loads of cows down to Dominic Batista in Roswell.  He is thrilled!  He wanted to buy these Ayrshires from Pat back in 2007 but lost out to me.  Now he is happy that I got them and have built up the herd.  We have only a dozen cows (and 5 beautiful little heifer calfs) left at the farm.  It is starting to feel manageable.

This week’s cheese making update:   The cheese room construction is accelerating toward readiness for the Dairy Bureau inspectors.  The electrical service is neat and tidy.  New waste water lines and better routing of water lines are next up.  We have to spend time cleaning up the floor, and assessing what may need to be done to make it easier to maintain.

Does anyone have a dishwasher or stainless steel counter tops that they do not need?

Meanwhile the cheese making goes on.  We hope you enjoy the samples of our soft jack cheese that will be available to you at distribution this week.

This week’s cheese share includes: Soft Salado jack and other artisanal cheese.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   Beef in stock again within 2 weeks.  The successful delivery to Dominic got the ball rolling again.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  Well it is getting kind of tough to find local veggies now…  So we are into the time of year when the share includes more dry good and more fruits from neighboring regions.  We will feature locally produced sprouts regularly, and any other local produce items that we can secure, but for the next few months we are going “regional” and non-perishable…

This week our only vegetables are organic avocados and  Salvador Corona’s local onions.

We also have Heidi’s famous raspberry jam, organic pinto beans from Fox Den Farms in Southwest Colorado, organic apple juice from Big B’s organic juices in Hotchkiss on the Western Slope of Colorado,  atole (toasted blue corn meal) from Tamaya at Santa Ana Pueblo, and organic red chile powder from Seco Spice in the lower Mesilla Valley, at the New Mexico – Texas state line.

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support!

Steve Warshawer

This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: We’ve been hauling hay from Robert Quintana in San Luis, and that has helped lower our costs some.  Ray has connected up with another local farmer who has a small dairy/milking facility.  We should transport our first load of cows off the mesa this weekend.  Some will go to beef and most will go to winter pasture.  It is a treat to have a reliable truck again.  Hopefully by next week I will be able to report a successful move.

We are also looking at moving a herd onto our well rested state lease land up the road from the farm a couple of miles.  It is a bit of a hassle and risk due to the possibility of deep snow and the need to haul and deal with water during sub freezing temperatures.  We are developing a plan and necessary equipment to make it work.

Ideally we’d like to have only the 7 cows being milked and their calfs at the farm itself.

This week’s cheese making update:   We figured out the feta!  We have been making a fairly dense cheese that is very tasty.  We went back through our oldest production, from late October, and it has a terrific, salty, flavor.  It is not as crumbly as a traditional feta.

We went over our process with Pat and figured out how to slow down the curding process and produce a softer curd.  Now we are making a feta which will be more crumbly.

Our 60 day and older Monterrey jack is testing out more tender and flavorful.

This week’s cheese share includes: a variety of artisanal cheeses.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   Finally cows going to the processing plant.  Ground beef in stock again in a week or two and family beef packs in 3 weeks.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  This week’s first produce share of 2012 includes carrots (Matt Romero), garlic (La Madera Farm) and potatoes (White Mountain Farm) from cold storage.  Also dehydrated green chile powder from Gonzales Farm.

The only fresh, live food this week is pea shoots from SunGreen Living foods.  We are expecting more produce from our Southern growers, but the cold down South has slowed everything down.

Meanwhile we are continuing to offer our “out of regions” special fruits, small farm/coop grown avocadoes from Mexico, and South Texas Organics grapefruits.  This is our best available offering for you in the way of fruits after a poor local fruit harvest in 2011.

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support!

Steve Warshawer

The great and sad truck drama:  I have been struggling with the farm trucks all fall.  Our #1 4WD truck blew up its transfer case in mid August.  I bought another, high mileage used 4WD truck, and it has eaten me alive.  I felt I had no choice but to borrow as little as possible because I was trying to keep my credit “clear” as I worked on refinancing the farm.  But that strategy did not work out.

I finally gave it up and went to Santa Fe Mazda Volvo, a dealer recommended by our excellent Mechanic, Gabriel at Auto Angel.  Ed Jenoubeh, who has managed the sales departments at several car dealers in Santa Fe over 20+ years, has developed a very good program for low mileage used vehicles which includes a lifetime power train warranty.  (Power train expenses are what killed me on the Dodge and on the Chevy that I bought this summer)    Even though I lost money on the other trucks, I have to say I am enormously pleased with the deal I was able to make with Ed and his terrific staff.  If any of you ever need to go to a car dealer I encourage you to start with Ed at Mazda Volvo.  If you like, let me know, and I will happily make the introduction for you.

This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: The ongoing saga of feed cost and pasture access continues.  Ray has decided to sell his farm to his brother who operates a much larger dairy.  My hopes are dashed and I have to begin again to find new solutions to the oppressive feed costs I am experiencing.

There is another small dairy near Ray that may be interested, owned by Dominic Batista.  Dominic was the one who bought Jim Miller’s remaining cows in 2005, but due to a series of unfortunate problems, was not able to keep his operation going at that time.  He has told Ray that he wants to get involved in the Ayrshire project.  I will keep my fingers crossed, but cannot afford to assume that this will address my immediate needs.

I finally reached Robert Quintana in San Luis, who has been my primary hay supplier for 5 years.  I found out that he had a farm that he was leasing sold out from under him.  On 2 weeks notice he had to dismantle and move corals and find a new winter home for the bulk of his herd.  That is why I could not reach him.  As of December 10 he is re-situated.  The good news is that he has a couple of loads of his excellent grass/alfalfa mix for us.

I also have opened up conversations with other farmers about raising different groups of cows under mutually equitable terms.  One interesting idea that has come out is that young cows get raised and the farmer gets paid for the weight that they gain on their watch.  Ray had a rancher neighbor explain that idea to him.  Robert Kyzer, who operates a networked approach to raising pork based in the South Valley of Albuquerque, has also expressed interest in getting some of our younger cows to grow.  He wants to support the development of the cheese making business as he sees the great value of whey, a bi-product of cheese production, when it is made available for raising piggies.

Abigail’s calf spent her first 4 nights in the house, and finally on Monday night, with the storm coming in and temperatures rising, we put her out with the other young calves overnight.  She did well.  She is starting to run around and kick up her heels like a happy calf.  She is not out of the woods yet, but is showing some vitality.  Abigail is a great mother cow and is producing a lot of milk, especially for a first calver.  She is the last daughter of Dottie, whose line is a real asset to the Ayrshire project.  We lost Dottie Jr, her half sister this past summer, so Abigail is an important cow, and now her first calf, a girl, is part of the recovery of her line..

This week’s cheese making update:   We made our largest batch of cheese to date last weekend, using 35 gals of milk in one batch.  This was encouraging, but also puts more pressure on us to improve our chilling and storage capacity.

The newly renovated cheese aging room is working well, we are learning how to manage humidity and temp with minimum extra energy.

This week’s cheese share includes: a variety of artisanal cheeses.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   The piggies are growing steadily, but with the increased milk production, they are not keeping up with the whey.  We need more piggies.   We are planning to get some from Robert Kyzer, to grow out for his program, so we can see how much value we can create with our whey.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  This week’s final produce share of 2011 includes a medley of specialty potatoes along with red torpedo onions from Red Mountain Farm.  Also another delicious nativo hubbard squash from Gemini Farm.

From South Texas Organics, our neighbors in Texas we have oranges, and through Patagonia produce, our border connection to the small farmer coops of central and South America, we have organic avocados.  We expect to continue to offer what fruits we can from adjoining regions as well as from our small farm connections to the tropics, during the course of the winter

We also have the “make up” share of aged and grated mesa top cheese

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support! We are offering bonuses for adding to your Farm Account through the end of the year.  See Dena’s emails for details.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah and seasons greetings to all of our members and their families, and we look forward to continuing to serve you and our network of farmers and related food businesses and partners next year.  Stay tuned for exciting possibilities as the CSA investigates moving to a more formal, cooperative business approach.

Steve Warshawer

Amy Hetager, CSA Blogger

Greens and Mashed Potatoes

2 Russet Potatoes, diced

1 bunch of Greens, sliced thinly

2 cloves of Garlic, diced

Milk

Butter

Sour Cream

Bring a pot of water to boil and add the potatoes. Boil for 15 minutes.  Keep testing with a fork to see if it is tender enough to mash. Drain the water. Add kosher salt, pepper, butter, a little milk and a little sour cream.  Make sure that you add the dairy items slowly as you can always add more, but is hard to remove. Use a potato masher to crush the potatoes in the mixture.

In a saute pan, add olive oil and the garlic.  Only let it cook for a minute then add the greens.  Splash a little water on the greens, add kosher salt and pepper. Cover with a little air coming out. This will help steam the greens.

Add the greens to the mashed potatoes.  Enjoy.

Cabbage and Apple Salad

1 yellow onion, sliced

1 bunch scallions, sliced

1/2 small cabbage, sliced

1 apple, sliced

2 cloves garlic, diced

1 tblsp apple cider vinegar

kosher salt and pepper

Saute the onions in a pan with olive oil, kosher salt and pepper.  Add the cabbage and let soften.  Add the apples, vinegar and scallions.  Let cook until the vinegar cooks off.

This week’s Cow stories:  Mesa Top cows and Jim Miller Ayrshire project: The cows are eating us out of house and home.  Still hoping to move many of them very soon.

After the -15F morning, Abigail’s udder ballooned up.  We knew she was about to calf.  She spent the day in the maternity room as the temps climbed to a balmy 20 degrees.   She looked ready to pop at dark, and we kept checking on her and at 9:30 she had her calf.  Temperature was 10 degrees and dropping.  This was Abigail’s first calf.  She immediately began cleaning her up.  The calf made moves toward nursing but Abigail kept backing away.  We decided to leave them alone for a while, checking on them periodically.  We never could be sure that Abigail had let the little one nurse, so at a bit before midnight I grabbed the calf and brought her in the house and put her by the wood stove to warm up and get bottle fed.  We always keep some frozen colostrum and it is imperative to get the calf’s belly full of it as soon as possible. But we also did not want to interfere with the bonding of mother and daughter (yes, this is #5 of 5 girls.  All of our milkers have had heifers).  But to be sure we do not have a frozen, chilled, dead calf in the morning, we will keep the little one in the house by the wood stove for the night.

This week’s cheese making update:   We continue to refine our feta making process.  We have made 4 batches.  This is a very salty and high acid cheese, so it is very hard to take seriously the guideline that 60 days is needed for safety of this cheese.  We will start tasting it soon.

We also have reached 60 days on our fall Salado Jack.  I had reduced the salt in the recipe on a hunch, and the resulting cheese is moist and a bit softer than the summer recipe, which had a more cheddary flavor, and behaved more like a highly aged cheese much more quickly.  This week’s CSA share includes some of our cheese from the heavily aged cheddar-like recipe.   We will offer the milder cheese in the cheese shares soon, and some time in January should have enough to use it in the shares.

This week’s cheese share includes: a variety of artisanal cheeses.

Mesa Top Meat (Protein) update:   The piggies are growing steadily, but with the increased milk production, they are not keeping up with the whey.  We need more piggies.

This week’s Veggie/Share Update:  This week’s produce share includes rutabagas and turnips from Mountain Roots Produce, farmed by Mike Nolan who spent a couple of years with Gemini Farm before resettling near Durango Colorado.  We also have 5 lb. bags of Russets, so that you all have a volume of baking potatoes for the upcoming holidays.  These roots will store well in cool place, not even needing refrigeration.

We also have cabbage from Gemini Farm and Spinach from Agricultura COOP.

The first citrus from South Texas Organics has arrived, and we offer their sweet and flavorful grapefruit, 4 to a share.

And we have a chunk of Mesa Top’s Ayrshire Salado Jack, the cheddary version.

Membership news:  Thank you for your investment in the CSA .  We appreciate your continued support! We are offering bonuses for adding to your Farm Account through the end of the year.  See Dena’s emails for details.

Steve Warshawer