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Posts Tagged ‘Bee Heaven Farm’

4th of July ice cream and pie

Posted in agritourism, chef, events, food, locavore, tagged , , , , , , on June 17, 2010|

photo by Sara @ Culinerapy

Featuring local Redland ice cream specialists:

Gabrielle Berrier, Gaby’s Farm
Hani Khouri, Hani’s Mediterranean Organics
Robert Barnum, Possum Trot Tropical Fruit Nursery

When: Sunday, July 4th
11:30 am – 2:30 pm
Where: Bee Heaven Farm

Family fun! Sample ice cream and sorbet creations and tropical fruit pies from Redland farm producers. Vote for your favorite flavors during our ‘fun tasting’.

Stroll around the farm during this informal gathering. The kids (and adults, too) can check out the chickens, see how the avocados are growing, how the planting areas rest with the summer cover crops, and enjoy the birds, the bees and the butterflies.

Afterward, want to take your favorite flavors home? Bring cash and a cooler, with (preferably) dry ice, to keep your ice cream frozen solid.

BUY TICKETS FOR THE EVENT

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/115231

Adult (10+): $10
Child (4-9): $5
Child (0-3): free

Attendance limited – Advance purchase required by July 1

Sponsored by Whole Foods.

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Pick ’em while you got ’em

Posted in agritourism, events, farm, food, locavore, photo, recipe, tagged , , on May 6, 2010| 4 Comments »

glean to gather grain or other produce left by reapers; to pick up after a reaper; to strip (as a field) of the leavings of reapers.

Gleaning Day at Bee Heaven Farm is a laid back end-of-season tradition. CSA members are invited to bring a potluck dish, and rummage through vegetable beds and pick what’s left. About 80-100 people showed up last Sunday and many families brought their kids.

Waist high in weeds serching for morsels of food.

People started trickling in at 11:30 am. Those who had done this before knew the drill. They brought totes and snippers, and wore hats and sunblock. Instead of sitting down to eat first, they wasted no time in finding things to pick. It felt like an Easter egg hunt, only in this case you were looking for tomatoes and other comestibles.

Friends put me to work showing things to their grade school age boys. “Do you have carrots?” Mark asked. “Look, there’s some in this row,” I pointed out. He and Devin and I browsed down the row peering through weeds to wiggle carrots out of the ground. Getting fingers in the dirt was fun. Several sow bugs trundled out and the boys got animated. Forget playing video games. When was the last time you stuck your fingers in the dirt, tugged on fat orange roots, and communed with bugs? Heaven! Moments later we found ourselves over by the kohlrabi when the the horse snorted. Devin started. “What was that?” he asked. “Look at the other side of the fence,” I said. “It’s a horse, it’s a horse!” Mark exclaimed. You should have seen his eyes shine. I mean, it was a real, live horse!

Like peas in a pod.

Grown up kids were also having adventures and making small discoveries. Over in the next vegetable bed, I showed Nathan how to hunt for snow pea pods hiding among withered vines. Some pods were bulgy, and sure enough, had small peas growing inside. “This tastes amazingly good,” Nathan said, munching on a raw pea. One row over were small bull’s blood beets, perfect for roasting whole. He could see round roots showing above the ground and it made sense to him what he was looking at. One good tug and a beet came up, dirt and and all. “It’s a beet!” he exclaimed (just like a kid). And thus a connection was made: here is a plant growing, part of a mass of undifferentiated greenness, but as you pick it, it changes to food. Magic!

It was getting hot and I went back inside the barn, which was full of people eating and talking. The tables were loaded with lots of good food. A carrot and garbanzo salad seasoned with cumin was tasty, and I liked the Thai flavored mango salad. People ate almost all of the turnip slaw that I brought (recipe below). Managed to snag one of the last slices of Sylvia’s tart made with asian mixed greens, Hani’s goat cheese, and hard boiled eggs. She made her own crust and crimped the edge empanada style. You could taste the care that went into making it. The party was supposed to end at 2, but people were still hanging out when I left at 3. Once you get a taste of the farm, it’s hard to let go.

Everybody brought food, and it was all good.

Turnip Slaw

1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
4 cups turnips
oil and vinegar
thyme (to taste)
salt and pepper

Peel and slice turnips, then cut into matchsticks. (Or, you can shred them in a food processor.) In a bowl, combine turnips with red peppers and green onions. Make a vinaigrette with your favorite oil and vinegar, including thyme, salt and pepper. Stir well. Refrigerate several hours for flavors to blend.

(Recipe originally from cooks.com, has been slightly modified.)

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When cabbages fly

Posted in csa, farm, food, people, photo, tagged , on April 14, 2010|

Last week, Farmer Margie told me that she was short-handed and needed volunteers to help pack shares. I offered to help, and rounded up my new buddy Nathan (who wants to be a tractor mechanic when he grows up), and he brought along his mother Tunie. Farm manager Muriel invited Christina, and we four volunteers joined the packing line in the barn at eight last Friday morning.

Kenna and Nathan make cabbages fly.

Before we could start packing the actual shares, the reefer truck had to be unloaded. It was full of vegetables from Worden Farm. The first challenge was a large bin full of cabbages, too heavy to lift fully loaded. Intern Kenna and Muriel climbed aboard and tossed cabbages fast and furious to Nathan and me. We caught and stacked them into wheelbarrows, which went to the head of the packing line.

Muriel determined which veggies went in which order on the line. The heaviest items get packed first and go in the bottom of the share box. The lightest things go on top, where they won’t get crushed. The actual packing went fast and easy. Margie and Christina packed cabbage and beets. Tunie added green beans and spring onions. I was next on the line. With my left hand, I reached for the box coming down the rollers and put in a bunch of kale. If the cabbage was big (and some were monstrously huge), I packed a smaller head of lettuce. If the cabbage was small, I put a bigger head. Then I pushed the box to Jesus on my right, who added mushrooms, closed the boxes and stacked them. Nathan loaded the boxes into the truck. Kenna was the runner, replenishing supplies of veggies and empty boxes.

Packing had a steady rhythm. Pull, pack, push. Pull, pack, push. When the full shares were done, the half shares were next. It seemed to go more slowly, but I think that’s because there are more half shares than full shares. Still, we were done by noon, and the truck was loaded with share boxes. Christina described the process as, “This is the place where the farm connects with the table, putting the vegetables in the box. Goodbye, vegetables! Hope you don’t wilt in the frig!”

Thanks to volunteers Nathan, Tunie and Christina for their hard work!

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Nourishing Overtown

Posted in food, location, market, media, photo, tagged , , , on March 31, 2010| 2 Comments »

Just a reminder that the Grand Opening Celebration of the new Roots in the City Farmers Market will be next Wednesday, on April 7, starting at 1 pm.

Scheduled festivities: Ribbon-cutting, performances by the Booker T. Washington High School Band and Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink will offer complimentary samples of dishes from the school’s cookbook, created with the market’s fresh produce.

There’s a great picture of Farmer Margie in the Miami Herald today! It’s on page 2A, or you can see it online.

Affordable farmers market nourishes Overtown residents

A new farmers market aims to make fresh fruits and vegetables accessible to Overtown residents.

BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com

Sarah Wallace can barely remember what it was like to eat fresh spinach, collard greens and carrots. It has been years since she has been able to afford any of her favorite fresh vegetables on $40 a month in food stamps.

Typically, Wallace makes do with canned beans and corn. That’s why she couldn’t help fighting back tears at the recent opening of the Roots in the City Farmers Market across the street from her Overtown apartment.

What makes this market different from others around South Florida is that it offers lower-income consumers the opportunity to eat healthy by using their food stamps to make subsidized purchases. For every $1 in food stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program dollars, they get $2 worth of fresh fruits and vegetables. The limit: $20 per day of free produce.

Wallace, who has lived in Overtown her whole life, didn’t believe the market was going to happen until she saw the trial run for herself last Wednesday. She walked away with a big bag of fresh produce and the hope that it dispels the notion that African Americans don’t want to eat fresh vegetables.

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/03/30/1555973/affordable-food-nourishes-neighborhood.html

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Weekend farmers markets

Posted in food, location, market, photo, tagged , , , , on March 27, 2010| 3 Comments »

The two best farmers markets on the weekend — and you can feel free to debate this with me — are the Pinecrest Gardens Green Market on Sundays from 9 am to 2 pm, and the Coral Gables Farmers Market on Saturdays from 8 am to 1 pm.

Coral Gables Farmers Market
405 Biltmore Way
(in front of City Hall, at Biltmore Way and LeJeune Ave.)

Hurry over to the Gables Market because this Saturday March 27 is the last day. Several members of Redland Organics are selling their wares there.

Jad, Jessie, Leah and Mary Lee at Hani's Mediterranean Organics

One recent weekend I stopped by to chat with the crew at Hani’s Mediterranean Organics. Everybody who walked up to the tent asked if cheese was available. “The goat cheese is in limited production and sells out fast. You got to get here early,” Hani’s wife Mary Lee patiently explained. She offered mussels cooked in white wine sauce with garlic, or maybe some lupini beans to snack on. Their son Jad was making falafel, and volunteers Jessie and Leah from Ohio State University helped out. (Hani is also at the Pinecrest Market.)

Paradise Farms, the only certified organic farmer at Gables market.

Across the street you’ll find Paradise Farms selling various fruits, vegetables and herbs. Paradise is certified organic, unlike other growers at the market. You have to get there early for their famous oyster mushrooms. The recent cool, dry weather slowed down mushroom growth, so there have been some weeks where they have been in short supply. (Paradise is not at Pinecrest Market, but you might find the mushrooms at Redland Organics.)

You’ll find Miguel Bode selling honey and pollen at his tent set up at the end of Biltmore Way right by LeJeune. Miguel’s wife was there last Saturday while Miguel was down in Redland checking his hives. He keeps bees at Bee Heaven Farm and at Paradise Farms. His wildflower honey is my favorite, and is a real taste of the local area.

Miguel Bode's local honey and bee pollen

Pinecrest Gardens Green Market
5855 S.W. 111th Street
(in parking lot in front of Pinecrest Gardens)

If you want Miguel’s honey but missed the Gables Market, you can also find it here, sold by Redland Organics. Everything is local, either grown on Bee Heaven Farm or sourced from organic growers within 150 miles of Miami. No telling what interesting things you’ll discover under the sprawling tent. In addition to honey, you can find certified organic fruits, vegetables and herbs, along with bunches of flowers and dried fruits, and Paradise Farms oyster mushrooms (subject to availability).

Word up to CSA members — the produce in your Saturday box is also available at market, so if you want more of something but didn’t find it in the extras box, go to Pinecrest. You can also find things at market which never make it into your CSA box, particularly fruit and herbs. On one recent Sunday, I saw rangpur limes, which look like small oranges but are not quite as tart as the familiar green limes.

The Pinecrest Market will run through April.

An assortment of familiar and unusual fruit at Redland Organics.

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