I own the first edition of Dharma Feast and use it all the time.What I love about it is the emphasis on simple ways in which we can cook and eat more consciously, as opposed to just getting another meal checked off the to-do list. When you pay real attention, the way Tika and Theresa do, to the way in which you choose, prepare and serve your meals, the food is more nurturing and delicious.

There are wonderful Indian recipes, many tips for cooking the staples of a vegetarian diet and lots of information about how to change your habitual ways of eating. There is also a chapter about making healthy school lunches.

Periodically, I am going to include some of the recipes here. I’ll start with a simple one that uses our most loved vegetable at the Morningside Market – Arugula.

Fussili Rice Noodles

Serves 4

1/2 cup olive oil

1 Tbls. minced garlic (2 cloves)

1 lemon, zest and juice

2 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. black pepper

1 pound rice fusilli noodles (or regular pasta if you prefer)

1/2 pound baby arugula ( I even use more)

1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

Heat olive oil in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Then add the zest and juice of lemon, salt, and pepper.

Cook rice noodles according to instructions on package. [I think they are best when rinsed and then reheated. Then you can't really tell the difference from regular pasta. We like Tinkyada brand rice pasta.]Drain and return to pot.

Immediately add olive oil mixture to pasta and cook over medium low heat for 3 minutes. Pour hot pasta into large bowl. Add arugula and tomatoes. Toss well. Season to taste and serve hot.

Variations - Substitute whole grain pasta for rice noodles.

Or add finely grated raw cheese to top of pasta after tossing or serve in a small bowl on the side.

We had it the other night:

Here it is in the field, where Nicolas is singing its wonders to Jesse on a farm tutorial. I’ll include that video at the end of this post.Farmer and his dog.

Or is she Jesse’s personal dog? Really, she is faithful and loving to all of us, especially whomever holds the turnip, or the meat.

Beautiful fall carrots:

Back to the endive family. Below is part of a row of escarole endive. We use these a lot to make a favorite salad. We chop them into strips and mix them with dulce (a seasoning), olive oil, mulkasan (a vinegar), some salt, minced garlic and chopped walnuts.  You can make this with any of the endive heads. So good!

Radicchio endive:And for any growers, backyard or big farm, or hope to be, here may be some information for your endive-growing needs:

This was taken right after Jesse filmed Nicolas talking about Swiss Chard. The filmmaker is ready to leave the farm and go edit his new tutorial. The farmer is getting geared up for many more hours of labor. He and his crew are heroic. It is busier at the farm right now than it has been all year. We’re all getting more energy by turning all these beautiful vegetables into green smoothies. We’ve been drinking one every morning, even the kids most days. They make a huge difference in our ability to get it all done, and to  help cut our cravings for chocolate and cheese, part of the day anyway 

Here are a few of the vegetables we’ve been throwing into the blender:

Lots of Swiss Chard, collards and other greens make their way into the green smoothie as well. Nicolas also adds flax oil and mulkasan and sometimes some coconut oil.

Three random pictures from a beautiful fall farm day:

Willie:Jesse with Fennel. Doesn’t the shadow of his hand on his sweater look like it’s reaching for his heart? He doesn’t think so either. Hey, it’s Halloween! I love Halloween.

White on white. See the honey bees? We have lots of honey this year.

One more, and then I will relinquish this space to the farmer’s wisdom on my son’s tutorials.

I caught the Turkeys plotting their escape. They sense that November is here. You can hear their passionate discussions in the upcoming Swiss Chard video. They sound like canned laughter. 

Finally, the videos:

In the meantime, here are a few photos of our fall tomatoes, never before so healthy nor so abundant. Here are a few of the cherries; so Christmasy:

And one of the tunnels that is filled with heirlooms and basic reds:

Below is Mark, today’s tomato picker, showing us a full wheelbarrow of tomatoes from just one row! Terrible photo of the tomatoes, but I really wanted to show off Mark.

And though we have many photogenic vegetables right now, Nicolas and the boys, and Willie, were all about the turnips today, so that’s what got my focus. They’re pretty photogenic too.

Gillen has always dug the turnips. He-he. Here is his most recent recruit to turnip love – Willie:

Two of a kind:

How perfect for our theme that Nicolas is wearing a Turnip Truck hat. The Turnip Truck makes a few of his deliveries for him.
Carrot cruising:

Stay tuned for a leek tutorial.

With the weather so beautiful, it’s easy for Jesse and I to join Farmers Nicolas and Gillen, Helen, Elizabeth and the whole gang out there.

While Summer crops and flowers, thankfully, still linger:


There are many new fall favorites re-emerging. Some have not been seen on our farm for a few years. Like Edamame beans:
But Jesse’s new farm tutorial (he has taken my job with the video camera) will give much more information on that score. He filmed his first video yesterday and will have it up here soon.
And we even put in some real labor.
Jesse cleaning the cucumbers.

It’s like Wild Kingdom out here.

But for the kids, it was an Anthony Bourdain inspired travel network food adventure that we heard about in detail later.

They started out at the Persimmon tree, no one liking this fruit but Gillen. From there they drove to the peppers, Jesse’s favorite, and grabbed many to eat on the road. Gillen and Jesse love Hakurai Turnips so wanted to share them with Eli. Not finding them in the ground, they looked in the cooler and discovered a full box. Eli declared them edible as they tasted a lot like his favorite, the carrot, if you didn’t look while you ate, and if you only ate one bite. Gillen and Jesse also grabbed a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Next they traveled all the way to the back fields where they ate cabbage, kale, Daikon radishes and watermelon radishes.

Their biggest peril, besides getting Eli to take bites of everything, occurred when Willie the puppy jumped out of the truck and ran into the woods, a very thorny section of the woods. This was great because it meant that they came back to us with large holes in their shirts, truly looking the part of food adventurers.

I grew up in a big city. I never even knew what kale was, before falling for a farmer. It’s amazing to watch my kids growing up able to pick their own vegetables. Not to mention, able to drive a stick shift, something I still can’t do.

Tender lettuce greens, their beauty just enhanced by the red leaves next door.

Escarole; deliciously bitter. Surprisingly delicious. A big head chopped up with a few cloves of minced garlic, good olive oil, a brief pass of mulkasan (or other vinegar), chopped up walnuts, dulce, salt – then marinated…mmmmm.  For Nicolas and I, the taste of Fall starts with the taste of escarole salad. Thanks to Helen – who brought the inspiration for this salad, and its appearance on the farm, here from Europe.

Arugula, the farmer’s market favorite. After eating brunch at a wonderful restaurant, The Shed, that uses Nicolas’ produce, we now love eating it with olive oil, some lemon and good grated parmesan cheese.

Below, that southern staple, gentle collard greens.

Kale, our new favorite of the non-salad greens. Much tougher than collards but when you get in there and massage it in oil, you can even eat it raw. My kids are loving it too.

Krispy Kale (before it has been cooked):

O.K. Here I used swiss chard, but usually I just use kale. I cut it into smaller pieces, drizzle olive oil over it, making sure to rub it into the leaves, add salt, and then cook it at 350 degrees for about ten minutes, or until very crisp. I wouldn’t give up my Kettle brand potato chips for it, but it does seriously compete!

Kale Salad. I’ve made this a few ways but my favorite is from a recipe by Persephone – good friend,  chef, and health consultant who can be found at Clean Up, Clear Out.

Marinated Kale Salad

3-4 cups of kale shredded

Plus any combination of the following: tomatoes, avocadoes, red peppers, mushrooms, red onion, raw shredded carrots.

Vinaigrette (this is soo good):

3/4 cup apple cider vinegar or juice of one lemon or orange ( I used more oil and much less vinegar than called for here due to my kids’ preference. Also, this will make enough vinaigrette for many more salads. Though we just make a huge one with three big heads of kale.)

1/4 to 1/2 cup flax oil

3-6 cloves garlic

1-2 tablespoons mustard powder (I used dijon mustard).

De-stem kale and roll and slice into thin strips. Toss kale and vegetables with vinaigrette. Let marinate overnight so that leaves become tender. Try different combinations of additional vegetables. Olives are good too.

Then there’s Bok Choy (had it in a stir-fry with turnips, onions and garlic the other night), broccoli, collards, turnip greens sauteed with the turnips…

I seriously crave these greens, as much as I used to crave candy corn.

Just in time to show you the end of the peppers:

Crisp fall rows of lettuce:

Elizabeth, flower farmer; frequently accompanied by a rainbow:

So, why have I not come through with lots more farm photos and videos? My camera is broken, has been for a month now. : (  I didn’t have it in me even to share recipes without the great photos.

In the meantime, Nicolas has recruited younger, brighter help here! Our son Jesse will be blogging. He has been making lego videos for a year now so is all ready to use his expertise to bring you farming tutorials. But for now, he is sharing information (with point and shoot pictures) about our Red Torpedo onions. Heeere’s Jesse!

Here is the process of the Red Torpedo onions:

Almost ready to pick -

After being picked we must sort out all the rotten ones

Finally ready to eat. They just need to be cleaned up. They’re good in a stir fry or sandwiches. I don’t really like onions but I like them in a stir-fry.