Notes From The Field | Eating Out of the Local Box

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Ice Ice Baby

By Sarah on May 19, 2013 in My Greenling, News and Announcements, Notes from the Field

While the Spring season has been a little wonky with random freezes and days up to 90 degrees, we all know what summer brings – 100 degree days. Are you ready? Luckily, your Greenling bin is!

We take special precautions to make sure your local and organic groceries stay nice and cool on your doorstep. Even in the heat of the summer, our green bins can sit outside for up to four hours waiting for you to get home. We pack all of your cold goods inside special insulated bags and then line the bins with ice packs to keep it all cool. Both the ice packs and bags are reusable, so just leave them in your bins once you unpack. We’ll collect them on your next delivery day, wash them, and reuse in a future order.

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The New Dirty Dozen

By Sarah on May 18, 2013 in Mission, My Greenling, News and Announcements, Notes from the Field

Ignorance is not always bliss – especially when it comes to what you eat. The nonprofit advocacy agency Environmental Working Group (EWG) releases a Dirty Dozen list each year. These conventionally-grown fruits and veggies were found to have the most pesticide residue:

Apples
Celery
Cherry Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Grapes
Hot Peppers
Nectarines
Peaches
Potatoes
Spinach
Sweet Bell Peppers

Leafy greens like kale, collard greens, etc. and summer squash were also mentioned on the EWG’s “Plus List.” These veggies may have not met traditional Dirty Dozen criteria, but were often found “contaminated with pesticides exceptionally toxic to the nervous system.”

There is an easy way to keep harmful chemicals and pesticides off your food and out of your body. By buying organic or from local sustainable farms, you are avoiding the whole dirty dozen conversation! We are grateful to all of our local farmer heroes for using sustainable practices and guaranteeing that our food is safe and delicious to eat!

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Kids Cooking Class with Kids Kitchen!

By Sarah on May 17, 2013 in Central Texas Events, Greenling Central Texas, My Greenling, News and Announcements, Notes from the Field

One of the best ways to introduce your kids to new foods is to let them cook with them! Greenling is partnering with EcoKids Preschool and Kids Kitchen for an introductory kids cooking class for your kiddos ages three to ten. The class will take place at the EcoKids Preschool in south Austin on June 1st from 10:30 to 11:30.

Bring the whole family to “Create and Cook With Us” to learn how make a simple meal that your child will actually help prepare and love! Leah Smith of Kids Kitchen will lead the class in making “Rainbow Pasta”, a super colorful and nutritious meal. Kids will help chop, cut, and prepare this super colorful and nutritious meal. Everyone gets a sample, just in time for lunch! Every child will go home with a souvenir to remember their cooking experience! Parents should accompany younger children, while kids over seven can be independent. Reserve your spot today and get your kiddos in the kitchen!

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Meet Paul from Mexas Farms!

By Margo on May 17, 2013 in Farmer Heroes, Greenling DFW

Mexas_Paul

Paul from Mexas Farms is a a true jack-of-all-trades! From his menagerie-like farm in Princeton, Texas to his copper sink business with family out of Mexico, Paul does it all! The name Mexas farms is a combination of the words “Mexico” and “Texas.” After spending so much time in Mexico, Paul wanted to keep a bit of it with him. Mexas Farms has a chicken coop, a few sheep, goats, dogs, guinea hens, and of course, crops!

Every morning Paul wakes up at 4 a.m. to start researching his next crop. He loves experimenting with different plant varieties, soil types, and is working on a sweet irrigation system. Paul is even working on growing pretty red corn for us. But it’s not regular corn you might eat on the cob- it’s popping corn! We can’t wait for Fall!

Right now, Paul is growing onions, tomatoes, asparagus, squash, corn, peppers, and elephant garlic. Remember those beautiful (and tasty) garlic scapes from the past few weeks? Those were chopped off the top of the elephant garlic, so the plant can focus all its energy on developing the garlic below the soil. Check out the photo below- Paul’s 1,000 lbs of elephant garlic will be huge!

Mexas_ElephantGarlic

Mexas_ChickenSheep Mexas_Field

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Design Your Meals!

By Sarah on May 15, 2013 in Central Texas News, Greenling Central Texas, My Greenling, News and Announcements, Notes from the Field

Local Box Small 06 Here at Greenling, we love bringing you new and exciting produce in our Local Box each week. For instance this past week we had Japanese turnips, and next week brings green kohlrabi! But what to do with all those tuber-cool veggies and fruits? We’ve partnered up with DesignMyMeals.com to help you find recipes and plan your meals for the week!

Meal plans can help you stay on track for the week, guarantee that you have all the ingredients you need, save you some moolah. Plus you will utilize all your Local Box contents! Design My Meals is free to try, and we think it’s a great resource for using up the Local Box. We send the Design My Meals team a list of Local Box contents every week, which they upload to their site. When you use Design My Meals, they will recommend recipes to you based on the Local Box contents and whatever else is in your pantry. Once you select recipes to prepare, Design my Meals will then generate a grocery list to make last-minute grocery trips obsolete! You’ll be able to order all your groceries online ahead of time, and Greenling will deliver them to your doorstep! How cool is that? Check out Greenling’s own Local Box meal plans each Tuesday for other fun ways to use your Local Box.