Recipes!

Hey everybody, I wanted to add some info and recipes for the new stuff the farmers at New Roots have been bringing to market.

Many of you have seen and tasted and even bought purslane, a succulent green that grows as a weed at our farm. It is a succulent herb high in beta carotene, Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin C that can be eaten fresh in salads or boiled into cooked dishes. In addition to purslane, just this week some of the market gardeners brought "machicha" to harvest. After consulting with our neighbors at the Brookside market, we figured that "machicha" is just Swahili for wild amaranth!

The amaranth we are selling and the grain amaranth sold in the grocery store are different varieties. Like corn, grain amaranth was domesticated by ancient Mexicans and can no longer propagate itself. Those plants can produce up to 150,000 pale white seeds per one plant! The plants we bring to market are so-called wild amaranth, which is grown primarily for its very nutritious greens and grows from small black seeds.

The greens can be cooked just as you would leaf spinach or eaten raw in a salad. Content of vitamin A, calcium, iron and other minerals will be highest fresh or blanched in as little water as possible.

Recipes:

Cucumber Purslane Salad:

• 5 large Cucumbers, cut into quarter-round slices
• 1/4 pound Purslane, large stems removed, washed and drained well
• 2 tablespoons each, Fresh chopped mint, cilantro and chervil
• 4 cups Whole milk yogurt
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, puréed with the blade of a knife
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• Salt and pepper to taste

Place the cucumber, purslane and herbs into a large bowl. In another bowl, stir together the yogurt, olive oil and garlic, coriander and season to taste with salt. Add the yogurt mixture to the vegetables and mix well. Add a pinch of ground black pepper. Taste the dressed cucumber-purslane salad for seasoning, adding a little more salt if needed. Serve chilled.

Purslane potato salad:

• 6 medium potatoes, sliced and cooked
• 2 cups chopped purslane
• 4 scallions, sliced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 cup mayo

Amaranth:

Scalloped potatoes:
• 5 potatoes, sliced with skin
• 2 cups cooked amaranth greens
• mushroom sauce or cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup grated cheddar
• pepper and paprika to taste

Cook potatoes in boiling water. Butter a 1.5 quart casserole dish and layer amaranth and potatoes, seasonign with a dash of pepper. Cover with mushroom sauce, sprinkling cheese and paprika on top. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Marinated Amaranth salad:
• half cup vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard
• quarter teaspoon each pepper and cumin
• half teaspoon honey
• 2 pounds amaranth greens
• quarter cup chopped scallions
• one or two hard boiled eggs, chopped

Pour oil into jar or other container, add garlic, vinegar, mustard, pepper, cumin and honey. Cover and shake to blend, set aside.

Cut greens into half-inch strips and steam until tender, 5 minutes or so. Cool to room temp, combine with onion, and add the dressing. Chill for at least two hours and garnish with egg.

Enjoy! We hope to see you all in Overland Park on Wednesday and in Brookside Saturday! Have a good week!

Harvest!

We harvested so many vegetables today for market this weekend! Come visit us at the Brookside Market tomorrow from 8-1:00 at 63rd and Wornall. We've got beautiful swiss chard, all kinds of salad greens, Chinese cabbage, green beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes and a whole lot more! The farmers will be selling outside the farm on Sunday during the KC Urban Farm Tour too (3rd and Richmond in KCK)! With no further ado or blah blah-age, here are some pictures of people harvesting and cleaning their veggies! Dena and DILL!!!!
Halima and Swiss Chard

Pay Lay and Ma Tha after a hard day's work.

June Update

It's been a very busy summer so far at New Roots, and we are happy to share many of the exciting things we've accomplished the past few weeks, and all the things we are looking forward to in the weeks to come. Two interns have joined the team, and will be taking care of your communication needs for the rest of the summer.

Ben is a reluctant KU student (only one year left!) who is loving hanging out in the heat with all the refugees and volunteers and staff down here in Juniper Gardens. I can't wait to see you all this weekend at market and show you around during the Urban Farm Tour!


Sofie is a student at DePaul University who just started this week-the hottest of the summer so far! She has really enjoyed getting to know all the growers and volunteers, and can't wait to meet everyone who supports New Roots at markets!



We have spent a lot of time on building projects this year, and are really proud of how the farm is looking. The trainees at YouthBuild made us a wonderful shed which we've painted in mango and blue. On Tuesday, a group of volunteers from Olathe Bible Church helped us move it halfway across the farm to our community garden plots. It was quite the operation--it took many pushers, 2 by 4s and a giant pickup truck, but thanks to their help we'll have a convenient, pretty place to store tools for community growers!






The interns also helped us put down mulch and even helped one of the growers weed her plot. We are so thankful to have such hardworking helpers.





It's taken many months of planning, planting, and lots of patience, but we're fast approaching one of the most exciting parts of the year--MARKETS! You can see how hard Pelagie (and her sa-weet fedora) and our other growers have been working, and it's about to all pay off . We'll be at the Brookside Market on Saturdays from 8:00-1:00 and the Overland Park Market from 7:30-1:00. CSA members can pick up their bags from their growers at these markets.

We also hold a market at the farm on Mondays at 3rd and Richmond so neighbors can buy fresh vegetables. We love being a part of this community, and like to make it better by sharing what we do here. So far it has been very successful--everyone sold out last Monday and we even went around the neighborhood spreading the word so more people will come this week!

Finally, this Sunday (June 28) we are taking part of the KCCUA Urban Farm Tour. Over 20 urban farms in the Kansas City area are opening their doors and plots for people to visit. We can't wait to show off all our hard work. We will have food venders, drill team performances, live goats, and many other exciting activities, so we hope you can make it out!

There's a lot going on this weekend, so we will let you know how everything went soon!

Pay Lay's Writing

Here is Pay Lay hauling rocks last season.

We asked Pay Lay to write an article for Urban Grown, the newsletter of KCCUA. She wrote it in beautiful Karen script and it was translated by our sweet friend Htee Law Sue. Here is what she wrote:

First of all, I would like to thank every staff of the New Roots for Refugees who assists us to become successful farmers. I’m Pay Lay, with 5 children. I’ve been living in Kansas City, Kansas almost two years, and I’m from Burma. This year is my second year as a farmer in this program. Being a farmer is my first occupation in the United States and it’s also the career I hope to do in the future. I know some basic knowledge and background about farming as I used to be a farmer in my own country. However, it wasn’t the same as farming here. We planted rice and corn and vegetables. Mostly, we planted on the hill or the mountainside as we couldn’t afford to buy flat land. We had to work harder there so I prefer farming here as its more convenient and I get a lot of support and encouragement.
I really enjoy being a part of this project and I’m glad for having a good chance to do the things I want. For me, financial problems and limited English are two of my biggest concerns. I don’t have enough money in my own pocket to start this business. For example, I don’t know where to get the seeds, plan my business and more than that I feel like I know nothing. However, the staff helps us as much as they can and work hard for us to learn more about farming every year. The program starts everything for us even small things. They provide equipment that we need, financial help to buy seed, pay water bills, and so many necessary things to do farming. I learned to become a better farmer last year. In the meantime, I learn to do business and learn new English words as well.
Not only earning money and learning about farming, my family also gets to eat fresh vegetable without chemicals in it. I’m so proud to keep my children healthy and have a happy life. One advantage for me is I have plenty of time to spend with my children and husband when compared to other jobs. I think farming is a good career to start for the people like me that know little English. My friends in my community also support me so it gives me more strength and encourages me a lot. I took all of my leftover vegetables from the market to my friend’s houses last year. I did it the whole season. I sold all of my vegetables and kept some for my family so we don’t have to buy vegetables from the grocery store.
At last, I would like to let everyone know that all of us, the farmers will try our best and work really hard this year and in the future. Each year we continue, we all want our farm to improve, cultivate more and earn more money.

Pay Lay

ESL Graduation!

Today was our ESL graduation. We handed out certificates,

flowers and aprons to the women with the best attendance.

Aye Aye, Pay Lay and Beh Paw all had great attendance!
Here is the whole gang!

New Roots Cooks!

As part of our ESL curriculum, we held a cooking class this Monday. We used vegetables unfamiliar to some of our growers: parsnips, celery, turnips, and leeks (and red peppers, cabbage and carrots!) and recipes that we will be giving out to our CSA members and market customers. It was fun to break out of the mold of the classroom and put our words to use. We even put on the matching aprons that our market volunteers wear.

Here are some of the ingredients ready to go!
Zawadi was in charge of the Creamy Cauliflower and Lettuce Salad. It had crisp apples and was really yummy!

Beh Paw made the potato leek soup that was creamy and just spicy enough. Isha (in the background) is cooking the beef cabbage wrap.

Pelagie, Khadijo and Nyakang representing Burundi, Somalia and Sudan. One of the most rewarding parts of this program is the relationships that have developed between women across cultures.

Pelagie cleans up!

Part of the gang after we finished eating our creations. It will be much more fun when we can cook with the vegetables that we have grown.

Volunteers Needed!

Volunteers are needed for a project this Tuesday, March 17th. We will be sorting bulk seeds and putting them into small packets for use in our seed store!

Meet at Catholic Charities, 2220 Central Ave., KCK 66102 at 9am and will work until we're done. Show up whenever you can and help out!

If you need more info. email me at rbonar@ccsks.org, or give me a call at 913-909-1027.