Buy Nevada-grown baby ginger at the Great Basin Community Food Co-op

Ray and Virginia Johnson of Custom Gardens Organic Farm has been growing baby ginger for a couple of years with great success.  The only way to get some was through their CSA , which has been full for years, or drive out to Silver Springs to pick it up.  Now we can get it through the Great Basin Community Food Co-op!

Baby ginger is very different from the fiberous tuber we see in the supermarket.  It is perishable and tender so needs to be used up or stored.  My friend Mackenzie buys a bunch of baby ginger each year and puts it in the freezer. 

Below is a bit of information and some recipe ideas from Ray and Virginia.  From my mailbox to you:

Farm update - Custom Gardens

Virginia at Custom Gardens periodically sends out an update about upcoming events and how the growing season is going..Below is the latest.
The Silver Springs On-Farm Green-Market farm stand opened on the 20th. 10 AM to 2 PM, for the season, although the selection and quantity will not be terrific until after July 4th.

Sunday visitors will have a lot to look at when visiting, as the hoop houses are looking great. (We have tomatoes set)! The public demonstration plot is looking good - the 2010 theme being Asian Vegetables and Herbs (last year it was Mediterranean).

Think good thoughts for better weather days, soon. Our soil temperature is still hovering at 63 degrees and we need both soil and air to be at least 70 degrees + less wind, please. Cool weather crops (germination and growth) are doing quite well, however. This was not a good tree fruit or table grapes year for us, due to late freezes and or high winds. Apples? YES! Of course we will have lots of melons of all types, and the strawberries will be fine, after they too recover from a late frost. (Jams this fall, of course.)

Custom Gardens 2010 - local food program update

My mailbox is overflowing with 2010 local food updates.  What's really exciting this year are the 21st century and increased consumer convenience options our local farmers are incorporating into their operations. Like this one....Custom Gardens is offering EZ payments plans and opening earlier this year.

From my mailbox to you:
Custom Gardens (NV Certified) Organic Farm and CSA in Silver Springs. This is the beginning of the new year 2010.

Organic ginger grown on a Northern Nevada farm and it's ready now

At Custom Gardens Organic Farm in Silver Springs we’re growing NEVADA/Hawaiian Yellow Ginger!
For a new treat (if you have never experienced truly fresh young ginger root).

Now, we are ready to share our end of October limited dig.
We will be looking at another harvest of more mature ginger mid-December for Christmas.

Plan a Visit to Custom Gardens Organic Farm..... in the near future!

From my inbox to you:

Don’t wait until annual Farm Food and Harvest event this fall …… See what is growing soon, and often!

We don’t want anyone to miss out on seeing the Mediterranean Garden Demonstration plot, as it is bursting at the seams with big healthy crops of Beans, Lettuces, Melons, Squash, Cucumbers, Peppers (including the Internet famous Aleppo Pepper, among several other pepper-types, Pimento, Paprika, Hot and Sweet varieties).

Wanna food shop one step closer to home? Custom Gardens is holding an on-farm market

This time of year is ambrosia for people who like to eat close to home. Each year the number of northern Nevada farmers markets increases, as does the number of potential urban and rural farmers taking a shot a growing human food (called "specialty crops" in the agriculture industry) in Nevada. Granted, many of the farmers at the markets hail from California. These farmers grow where the growing season is longer and the temperatures are friendlier. I really appreciate what they do, but still, my heart is with Nevada farmers for food-security and economic reasons, and because I love them as individuals. Nevada farmers are working hard to expand the growing season and available varieties. On-farm markets are just one more way to buy the food they grow.

If there's anything more fun than shopping at the farmers markets it's shopping right on the farm. If you haven't had a chance to do this yet I highly recommend it. Take the family and friends and make it a day.

Northern Nevada farmers are opening farm stands

Soon we'll have more options for purchasing food grown by really local farmers. More Nevada farmers are starting on-farm markets, or farm stands.

Getting fresh food from the farm to the market, while simultaneously running a farm can be a challenge. The food distribution system that delivers our food to the supermarket is not available to local farmers and it doesn't work with fresh food, so farmers have to come up with other innovative ways to get their product to us. Some are returning to the use of farm stands, which connect us to the fresh food and give us an opportunity to relearn where food comes from.

From my mailbox to you,

Custom Gardens Farm Holiday Open House at the Farm

Ray and Virginia at Custom Gardens are offering opportunities to come out to their place this holiday season. Learn something, buy something, or get a peek at the farm this very popular CSA program comes from. From my inbox to you:


HOLIDAY OPEN HOUSE AT THE FARM scheduled.
Silver Springs:

Custom Gardens Farm owners, Ray and Virginia Johnson are planning to greet weekend (Saturday and Sunday) shoppers, starting Saturday November 22 and ending on Sunday, December 21. Open House at the farm is scheduled from 10 AM to 2 PM. The Organic Produce farm is located at 3701 Elm Street in Silver Springs.

The Holiday Open House, at the farm, is to show and teach visitors hoop house production, what will grow in North-Western Nevada during off-season, and to show the various ways people can be involved with a local farm, not just during the summer months, but also from fall through winter and spring.

Featured and available for sale -- for the 5 weekends, (from pre-Thanksgiving to the Dec. 21 winter solstice) will be; a large variety of hoop-house grown Greens and “Roots”, (for salads, soups, stews and stir-fries) living herbs, Kamut wheat grass, micro-greens pots and trays, other edible treats for people and pets plus floral gift ideas, from the farm’s nursery.

To benefit a local food program, visitors, and shoppers are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items or make a cash donation in the farm’s “food-bank” - to be given to a community food program for holiday meal baskets.

For more information, please call the farmers, Ray or Virginia Johnson at: 775-577-2069. Information on the farm’s various programs, including CSA membership for 2009, is also available via snail mail or Email, upon request.