I grew up on a small dairy farm in rural western North Carolina. I guess you can say I have milk running through my veins! I adore it in any form, from an ice cold glass of frothy pure cream laden milk to “stinky” artisan cheeses from everywhere; I am a card carrying member of the milk lover’s society. This week we are so excited to have Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese coming out to the farm on Saturday. Miss Jennifer will have samples and information about the premiere cheesemaker in our neck of the woods. We are also working on a market special for the day so don’t miss your chance to pick up some this weekend. We’ll be tasting from 9-Noon so don’t be late and miss all the fun! Click here to see some of the great cheese Kenny’s offers and order some in advance, otherwise we may be sold out by the time you get here! While you are there, click on their link to read more about Kenny’s on the web.

I can tell you that making cheese is truly an art. I have been trying to make some lately and although my Pyrenees think it is fantastic I wouldn’t go further than dog cheese for my creations. If you want to learn about cheese making and artisan cheese in general here are some good reads and reference books:

Forgotten Skills of Cooking by Darina Allen
I think everyone should have this book. It tells you about cooking and making everything! It is a edible history lesson. We have forgotten these skills in modern culture and it is often good to look back and see how far we have come.

Cheese Primer by steve Jenkins
This one is considered the cheese buyers Bible… Steve Jenkins describes what seems to be almost every cheese available in the US and Europe. His 20 years of experience and great passion for all things cheese make this a fascinating read.

Cheese- A Connoisseur’s guide to the world’s best by Mc Calman & Gibbons
This book has an amazing guide to cheese and wine pairings. Rather than a comprehensive guide, this read contains an elite selection of extensively rated cheeses. A must have for real cheese lovers!

The Atlas of American Artisan Cheese by Jeffrey Roberts
If you want to find cheese anywhere in the country, look here. They feature Kenny’s on page 202 of this book and toute the Bleu Gouda as innovative in it’s field.

In a Cheesemaker’s Kitchen by Allison Hooper
Great cheese recipes from the Vermont Butter and Cheese Company. Read more about artisanal cheesemaking, as Allison Hooper talks about the support of over 20 family farms while upholding standards for highest quality, as Hooper and Bob Reese bring European quality and taste to America.

Happy reading everyone!

Click here to order your box! The heat wave continues and many of the plants are experiencing lower yields due to the temperatures and lack of rain. We are at the mercy of Mother Nature, but hope to have all the good things of summer from squash to tomatoes, watermelon to okra, cucumbers to corn in your box this week. If you are planning to freeze or “put up” corn, this is the week to order some extra. Click here to email me with order fresh corn $5 a dozen or $4 a dozen from more than 2 dozen extra–please specify how many ears you would like.

See you all on Saturday!

Sylvia

Here’s a preview of some of the recipe card’s you’ll be getting in your box tomorrow…if you didn’t get a box, we’ve got some extra, or feel free to print these out. Can’t wait to try the Green Goddess Dressing on some of our veggies!

Here are some delicious summer drink recipes to try using the Bang Syrups we carry at our Saturday markets.

1. Apple Pom-Pom Margarita

2parts pomegranate tequila

1part bang habanero/lime syrup

1part deKuypers Sour Apple “Pucker” Schnapps

Shake with ice

-Recipe: Beverly Mansfield

2. The Back Porch

2parts Firefly Tea Vodka

1part Sweet & Sour mix

1part habanero/lime syrup

1part simple Syrup

1/2 part peppermint schnapps

-Recipe: Beverly Mansfield

and here is one more recipe called “The Firecracker”:

7parts Sol Azul Silver Tequila

3parts Orange Liqeur

available at Nashville Wine & Spirits

3parts Bang Habanero/lime syrup

ice

optional: Limes, Salt

Pour ingredients into shaker, shake and serve over ice!

Sugar, oh HONEY, HONEY…

Some folks would argue that honey is nature’s perfect food… amazing taste, good for you, and doesn’t spoil. Basically this stuff is liquid sunshine and is sometimes called “nectar of the gods.”  Honey has become so popular that rooftop hives are dotting the skylines of Manhattan and LA and amateur beekeeping has erupted as a new favorite pastime. Allergy sufferers claim to find relief from eating local honey, as the same pollens in the honey in small increments help build an immunity or tolerance to the ones barraging us from the outside. Our three hives are prospering so far, under the careful watch of Harry and Paul. Our bee friends seem oh so happy with the herb and wildflowers here on the farm. Cross your fingers for our first honey extraction in the fall! Green Door is very lucky to have a great co-op member who produces the finest honey in our area, TruBee Honey.  Laura and “her Paul” have some of the tastiest liquid sunshine anywhere! It is a pure raw uncut honey. If you have not tried it, you should! Also, if you really like this honey, you should get a little stock of it because just like wine, each year’s vintage will be just a little different. The taste will depend what flowers are nearby (monofloral or multifloral), among other factors. Trubee is already planning for this season’s crop and they are beginning to run low on last crop’s bottling. So the old adage applies, “Get it before it is gone, because when it’s gone it won’t “bee” back again!” Also, if you are interested in having your own bee hive, you can talk to Laura about the Trubee hive share experience. Very cool program right here in our neck of the woods!

Here are some fun bee and honey facts

Honey Bees –

• There are three types of bees in the hive – Queen, Worker and Drone.
• The queen may lay 600-800 or even 1,500 eggs each day during her 3 or 4 year lifetime. This daily egg production may equal her own weight. She is constantly fed and groomed by attendant worker bees.
• Honey bees fly at 15 miles per hour.
• Honey bees’ wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
• Honeybees are the only insect that produce food for humans.
• Honeybees will usually travel approximately 3 miles from their hive.
• Honeybees are the only bees that die after they sting.
• Honeybees are responsible for pollinating approx 80% of all fruit, vegetable and seed crops in the U.S.
• Honeybees have five eyes, 3 small ones on top of the head and two big ones in front. They also have hair on their eyes!
• Bees communicate with each other by dancing and by using pheromones (scents).
• Honeybees never sleep!

Honey

• Honey is 80% sugars and 20% water.
• To make one pound of honey, the bees in the colony must visit 2 million flowers, fly over 55,000 miles and will be the lifetime work of approximately 300 bees.
• A single honeybee will only produce approximately 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
• A single honey bee will visit 50-100 flowers on a single trip out of the hive.
• Bees produce honey as food stores for the hive during the long months of winter when flowers aren’t blooming and therefore little or no nectar is available to them.
• Honey is the ONLY food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including water.
• A typical beehive can make up to 400 pounds of honey per year.
• Honey never spoils.
• It would take about 1 ounce of honey to fuel a honeybee’s flight around the world.
• Flowers and other blossoming plants have nectarines that produce sugary nectar. Worker bees suck up the nectar and water and store it in a special honey stomach. When the stomach is full the bee returns to the hive and puts the nectar in an empty honeycomb. Natural chemicals from the bee’s head glands and the evaporation of the water from the nectar change the nectar into honey.
• Out of 20,000 species of bees, only 4 make honey.
• Although Utah enjoys the title “The Beehive State,” the top honey-producing states include California, Florida, and South Dakota.

Beehives

• A populous colony may contain 40,000 to 60,000 bees during the late spring or early summer.
• A honeycomb cell has six sides.
• Bees maintain a temperature of 92-93 degrees Fahrenheit in their central brood nest regardless of whether the outside temperature is 110 or -40 degrees.

If you are as fascinated by the amazing bee, here is some fun info:

http://www.backyardbeekeepers.com/facts.html

http://straightfromthefarm.net/2008/07/09/17-random-facts-about-honeybees/

http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm

This week in the box silver king corn, cucs, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and depending the temperatures okra and watermelons will be here too! As you know with farming it is hard to judge ripening and readiness for a particular date, but it is looking promising for those this week.

Click here to reserve your box. Don’t forget to order your honey too!

Our friends at Gourmet pasture beef are delighted to offer to flank steaks for $20 this week,  great for grilling. Meat orders need to be in by noon on Thursday, please! Email us at info@greendoorgourmet.com and reserve a meat special request.

See you on Saturday!

Next week Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese will be out to sample goodies and answer questions about their products. Mark your calendar and check next weeks blog for time and other info!

Ah the dog days of summer! Hot weather calls for lots of summer relief… tomato and cucumber salad, grilling out to keep the oven off and the house cool, and fresh corn on the cob. Green Door Gourmet can help you will all of that this week!
We got such a positive response on our pasture raised meats blog, Gourmet pasture Beef has decided to offer the first 25 folks who are interested a special! Two hanger steaks and two one pound packs of ground beef for just $25.  Just email us at info@greendoorgourmet.com to be one of the first 25! Say reserve a meat special and we will have it ready for you on Saturday. It is a great way to get a nice discount on some delicious pasture raised beef from a wonderful family farm! They also supply a lot of Nashville’s favorite restaurants that buy local so you know the quality is very good. They will even have recipes and instructions for you! I urge you to take advantage of this week’s special. Hopefully we can make  fun offers like this often!

The summer is a great time for good reading on porch swings with cool lemonade in hand. I can suggest a few titles for the gardeners or budding farmers out there.

The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball- a romance coupled with a good accounting of what it takes to create a start up CSA and a relationship all at the same time.

The $64 Dollar Tomato by William Alexander- how much does it cost per item for a novice gardener to have their own tomatoes?

The Feast Nearby by Robin Mather- I love love love this one! Common sense great reading, good recipes, and ideas to boot!

And of course there are bunches of great new recipe books that channel the bounties of summer. Stay posted for those but start with Patricia Wells “Salad As a Meal” . She has shown the world how to harness the European love of all things fresh in past volumes, but this work really makes a statement in how to capture summer in a bowl!

Now for things closer to home this week:

CORN! Fresh peaches and cream corn, oodles of tomatoes, field ripe ones,  heirloom cocktail and regular, cucumbers, Squash, zucchini, eggplant (we hope the heat doesn’t fry it in the field, it is much better fried up in your skillet I promise!) peppers, and basil! Hello summer!!!!!

Click here to order your box, see you Saturday!