Mountain Bounty Farm News 

Dear CSA,

At Mountain Bounty Farm , we take pride in delivering high-quality, organic and overall good looking produce to your homes. Our commitment to this starts right from the roots – literally! One of our most popular veggies - the humble yet deliciously-essential Carrot goes through quite the cleansing journey before it is nestled into your boxes for delivery.

After our dedicated team harvests the carrots straight from the earth, the next step is to ensure they are thoroughly cleaned. One of our essential tools for this task is the root washer, a modern marvel designed to efficiently cleanse our carrots (and potatoes and radishes) while preserving their natural freshness. This piece of equipment allows us to streamline the cleaning process, ensuring that every carrot is free from soil, debris, and any unwanted particles before reaching your kitchen.

The root washer employs a gentle yet effective process to clean the carrots without compromising their integrity. Here's a simplified breakdown of the steps:

1. Finding a hearty crew member (especially in the winter) who is willing to don waterproof gear and spend a few hours getting dirty and slightly wet. Shoutout to Kale in the pictures!
2. Loading the Carrots: Freshly harvested carrots are carefully loaded into the root washer.
3. Water Jets: The machine uses powerful but gentle water jets to remove soil and contaminants from the carrots' surfaces. These jets are a great alternative to tub washing as they minimize our water usage.
4. Spinning in Action: The root washer drum rotates and agitates the carrots, ensuring a thorough cleaning without causing any damage to the delicate skin.
5. Quality Check: After the washing process, our team conducts a meticulous quality check to ensure that each carrot meets our stringent standards.

The root washer is an integral part of our farm-to-table process, allowing us to present you with carrots that are not only nutritious, but downright glowing.

We hope this glimpse into our washing process adds an extra layer of appreciation for the care and attention that goes into each carrot you receive from Mountain Bounty Farm. Thank you for being a part of our community, and we look forward to sharing more insights into our farming practices in the future.

Enjoy your shares this week!

-Becky and the Mountain Bounty Crew

We are now offering a Mountain Bounty Coffee Blend CSA (both Regular and Decaf) from Remedy Coffee Company in Auburn!

Remedy coffee is made with a focus on quality, by working directly with growers and producers, and small batch-roasting to bring out the natural flavors of the coffee bean. Their coffee is served at local Nevada City haunts such as Three Forks and Briar Patch. We are thrilled to offer up our own signature coffee; the "Mountain Bounty Blend" as a Weekly or Bi-weekly CSA Subscription.

Seasonal Flower Shares -

Provided by Little Boy Flowers

The Early Spring Flower CSA offered by our partner farm Little Boy Flowers is now live for signups! This CSA runs for 8 weeks, March - Early May (Subject to change due to weather, exact start date TBD).

The Early Spring Flower CSA includes big bunches of our farm's most popular blooms- anemones, ranunculus, Icelandic poppies and tulips. The size of the bouquets progresses with the season.

Farm Box Contents

(Contents are subject to change depending on harvest and weather conditions at Mountain Bounty and our Partner Farms.)

Please check the delivery list at your CSA site and sign your name indicating you have picked up your shares. We deliver exactly what is on the delivery list.

Small Box (Feeds 1-2 people)

• Red Chard (Pinnacle Farm)
• Broccoli Rabe(Coke Farm)
• Kabocha Squash (Full Belly Farm) 
• Cilantro (Pinnacle Farm)
• Red Onion (Coke Farm)
• Celery (Coke Farm)
• Carrots (Mountain Bounty Farm)

Fruit Box

(Provided by FROG HOLLOW FARM and contents subject to substitutions)

• Arkansas Black Apples - Cuyama Orchards, New Cuyama
• Honeycrisp Apples - Cuyama Orchards, New Cuyama
• TDE (Tango, Dancy, Encore) Mandarins, Buck Brand Citrus, Porterville
• Cara Cara Oranges, Cousins Organic Citrus, Orange Cove
• Kiwifruit - Wild River, Marysville
• Fuerte Avocados - Eco Farm, Temecula

**Due to delivery logistics, we are unable to return the Fruit Share Boxes to Frog Hollow. Please recycle your box at home**

If you are unsure if you are signed up for Fruit Shares, please visit your Member Dashboard HERE to verify!! Please do not grab a share unless you see your name on the pickup list.

Mushroom CSA

(Provided by Grass Valley Mushrooms)

This week will be a mix of Oyster and Lions Mane Mushrooms in your CSA bags, locally grown from Grass Valley Mushrooms.

Cooking tips: Mushrooms should be cooked for about 15-20 minutes. Sauteing them is what we do most around here! 

Start with a dry saute' (no oil or butter) on low heat first for about 5 minutes to soften them and break down the outside cellular wall of the mushroom, and this will get some of the excess moisture out. Then, add oil or butter and your seasoning and go to a low-medium heat, sauteing for 10-15 minutes.

Nutritional Info:

Mushrooms are high in essential vitamins and minerals so they all have similar benefits because of that. We encourage our customers to do research online for all the many benefits of medicinal mushrooms. It's fun and extremely interesting and truly amazing what mushrooms can do for not only our health but the planet. They are high in fiber, are a healthy carb, and a good protein source. The below is based on research we have found ourselves online:

Oyster Mushroom: Oyster mushrooms are used in Czech, Polish, and Slovak contemporary cuisine in soups and stews in a similar fashion to meat, as well as breaded to become a vegetarian alternative to a meat cutlet. The oyster mushroom is a choice edible, and is a delicacy in Japanese, Korean and Chinese cuisine. It is frequently served on its own, in soups, stuffed, or in stir-fry recipes with soy sauce. Oyster mushrooms may be used in sauces, such as oyster sauce. The mushroom's taste has been described as mild with a slight odor similar to anise. For more on the health benefits of Oyster Mushrooms CLICK HERE.

Lions Mane: Known as a "brain food", has anti-Inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is said to have regenerative capabilities, meaning its nutrients can help promote faster nerve cell recovery after injury. For some great ideas for using your Lion's Mane in cooking CLICK HERE

Recipes, storage tips, inspiration and nutrition information:

• Because we are highlighting Carrots, I'd love to share one of my favorite recipes for these roasted roots. These Sweet and Spicy Moroccan Roasted Carrots (Click here) with cumin, cinnamon and orange (can sub za'atar and sumac if you are so inclined). A delicious vegan side dish or serve over seasoned lentils for a hearty vegetarian meal.

• You can use your Swiss Chard and Onions to make these simple yet elegant Swiss Chard and Onion Tacos (Click here). Garnish with Cilantro.

• It's going to get cold later this week, so warm up with a big bowl of this One-pot Coconut Curry Kabocha Squash Soup (Click here). This uses your Kabocha Squash, Onions and Carrots plus another great use of a Cilantro garnish!

• Make a delicious side dish with your Braising Greens in this Garlic and Parmesan Braised Greens (Click here)

• IA deliciously-warming way to use your Red Cabbage for dinner this week is to make Red Cabbage Vegetable Quinoa Stew with Tumeric (Click here). The Braising Mix can again be subbed for the kale called for in the recipe.

Important Dates:

• All shares will be delivered on Wednesday, November 27th for the week of Thanksgiving.
• We will be closed for a Farm Vacation from 12/21/24 through 1/5/25. There will be no deliveries those weeks, as well as no Admin support.

info@mountainbountyfarm.com

Mailing Address:

14579 Blind Shady Road, Nevada City, CA 95959

Phone:(530)292-3776