Texas citrus is some of the best in the world. It makes a great gift for those who live elsewhere. You'd be surprised how many oranges and grapefruit can fit in a Priority Mail flat-rate box.  The 13.625" x 11.875" x 3.375" priority mail box will hold a dozen small-to-medium grapefruit and can be shipped anywhere in the country for $9.80, box cost included!  Take that Harry and David

It's also easy to squeeze out the juice and freeze it in freezer ziploc bags (remember to allow for expansion). We drank citrus juice for
months in our breakfast smoothies.

Stored on the counter, fresh citrus is good for a couple of weeks, and in a bag in the fridge, it's good for up to a month.

In any case, we will be picking up both conventionally grown citrus and fanstastic certified organic citrus. The conventional fruit will come from Engert farm in Edinburg, and the organic will be from G&S Groves, a second-generation family-owned citrus farm in McAllen. We have gotten citrus from both places before and it is fantastic, fresh off the tree. They'll bag it up just for us.

For those who would like a bunch (25 pounds or more of one kind) we'd like to offer a pre-order discounted price.

We'll try to keep it simple. The larger citrus - Rio Star grapefruit, the oranges - Mars (seeded) and Navel (seedless), and the tangerines will all be priced the same. The Valley Lemon (a variety of meyer lemon which is sweeter than a regular lemon and tastes and looks more like a lime) will be priced differently. Oh, the organic oranges only come in navel, no mars.

For those wanting large quantities, please email us NO LATER THAN THANKSGIVING. The prices will be as follows:

Conventional -
Large citrus, 25 pounds of any one kind will be $12.50, 50 pounds of any one kind will be $25. If you're as crazy as us and want 100 pounds, it will be $45.
Valley lemons (trust us, you want these - we'll probably juice 25 pounds ourselves) will be $12.50 for 10 pounds.

Certified organic -
Large citrus, 25 pounds of any one kind will be $50, and 50 pounds of any one kind will be $90. If you want 100 pounds, email us and we can discuss price.
Valley lemons I don't have a price on yet. If you're interested in the organic valley lemons, let me know and I'll find out.

Well, we're not going to have the store open for the next two Saturdays - Nov. 22 and 29 so that we can go visit friends in Missouri. As soon as we get back from that trip, however, we are going to be going down to the Rio Grande valley and picking up citrus!

So come back December 6!  We'll be open from then until the citrus runs out and the greens, salad, and root veggies freeze up.  We'll also hopefully have fresh shelled Texas pecans!

We'll be open our regular hours 10-4 this Saturday. We will have the following fresh organically and sustainably grown produce -

Pumpkins - these sweet pie pumpkins are fantastic. We think everyone should eat more pumpkin!
Carnival squash
Turnips and turnip greens
Radishes
Mixed baby greens - eat raw for a spicy and beautiful salad or cook them, either way they're fantastic

Additionally, this Saturday we will have with us Sara from Wild TypeRanch (www.wildtyperanch.com) with her amazing natural, grazed beef. Wehad some last night for dinner! You can order ahead or just stop by, as
she'll have a freezer full of assorted cuts. **SHE WILL ONLY BE WITH US FROM 10 - 12** , so don't miss out.

Now is the time to stock up if you are running low on honey, Celtic sea salt, or skin-friendly goat milk soap. We are taking off for the Thanksgiving holiday and will not be open the next two Saturdays - 11/22 and 11/29. WE WILL REOPEN SATURDAY 12/6 and Lord willing we will have fresh Texas citrus to share with you. More to come on that. We hope to be able to take pre-orders on the citrus and offer a discount on volume purchases.

Last year we sent *lots* of super-sweet Texas Rio Star grapefruit to relatives up north for Christmas and we filled many, many gallon ziplog bags full of juice for the freezer to put some sunshine on the breakfast table all winter!

See you Saturday!

3 Large Eggs
2 Cups fresh pumpkin puree
2/3 - 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
10 - 11 oz evaporated milk
1 pie shell
Fresh whipped cream (we like lots)

You can substitute pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice for all the spices...

Beat eggs gently, add pumpkin puree, then sugar vanilla, salt, and spices. Mix well.  Add evaporated milk last and pour into shell.  Put foil around rim of crust and bake for one hour at 375, removing the foil after 40 minutes.  Check for done-ness with a knife in the center.

Serve with lots of fresh whipped cream!  Refrigerate leftovers because of the dairy.

* To make the pumpkin puree, read our pumpkikn and sweet potato soup recipe

Well, it's been quite a week!  For those of you who don't notice such things, we had a surprise early freeze last week.  Not just a light frost, but out at the store, where it's kind of in a valley, the temp actually got down below 32.  We put a floating row cover out over things the last frost, and we re-set it for this freeze, but it wasn't enough for some things.   I think we've seen the last of our nice summer's worth of eggplant.  Most of the peppers were lost, and most (but hopefully not all) of our expected fall tomato crop bit the dust.  Such is life as a farmer.  We're thankful for the things we were able to save (including most of the liana beans and summer squash) and all the fall-type things that were happy with the frost (all the root crops and greens).  There's a reason for growing seasonal produce!

We haven't finished picking for tomorrow, but it appears we will have:
A few hot peppers
Lots of yellow squash and zucchini
Turnips and greens
Collard greens
Radishes
Liana beans
Swiss chard
Spinach
*Lots* of small pie pumpkins - speaking of which I need to post a great recipe for pumpkin pie made from fresh pumpkins on the blog.

And...are you ready for fresh salad! Our fall lettuce planting has begun to produce!  We have spring-mix type lettuces, and a micro-greens mix (awesome super-baby greens made to be eaten raw as salad)!  And there will be lots of it coming in.

So be sure to stop by and put something fresh and green on your table!

Well, this has been and still is a very busy week for us.  As I mentioned last week, we are trying to raise money to pay for a water well in Africa.  Our older two daughters and a group of their friends have been working all summer to raise money for an organization called Water For Life that installs water wells in areas without clean water. The girls have raised $3200 so far and are trying to reach their goal of $4800 by the end of the year. That's the cost of one well that can provide water for 1000 people.  That's perpetual life-saving, not just a one-shot deal, kind of like that "teaching someone to fish vs. giving them some fish" kind of thing.

Since we're having the garage sale at the store, the store will be open BOTH FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FROM 8 - 4.  This is a chance to get your fresh produce even if you normally have a hard time coming out between 10 and 4 on Saturdays.  Come get your veggies and browse the garage sale for a good cause.

The veggie harvest this week looks an awful lot like last week...

Peppers - we should have bells, anaheims, serranos,*hot* Thai peppers, jalapenos, and Habaneros
Squash - yellow and zucchini summer squash and carnival and acorn winter squash
Eggplant - Italian and Thai
Turnips
Turnip greens
Radishes
A few other baby greens
A little baby spinach
Maybe a few liana beans and black eyed peas
Pumpkins - Heidi has harvested dozens of beautiful pie pumpkins.  She's decorated the store with them, but promises to sell you one anyway

*All* of that is grown sustainably and organically right at Greener Vision.

See you this Friday and/or Saturday 8 - 4. Don't forget we also have goat milk soap, Celtic sea salt, farm fresh  eggs, and Mrs. MacArthur's pepper relishes.  And we'll be donating 15% of the gross sales from the store both days to the charity as well, so if you've been debating buying a bunch of soap or Hotter-Than-The-Devil Texas relish, now would be a great time to do so.

OH, not that most of you will be excited since you already know about us, but we're excited because we got business cards and big advertising magnets for the side of our van this week.  So if you want a few cards so that when your friends ask where you got the amazing fresh eggplant for that fantastic moussaka you served them, you can give them one, just ask

We absolutely adore this stuff.  If you've never had Greek Moussaka, you're in for a real treat.  I'm modifying the recipe a bit for you because what we make is enormous

4 Medium or 6 Small Italian eggplant, sliced or cubed
2 Medium onions, chopped
1-2 Lbs. ground beef (or TVP to make it vegetarian)
1 29 oz. can diced tomatoes (or equivalent fresh chopped)
1 8 oz can tomato paste
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tblsp ground cinnamon

Bechamel:
8 tblsp butter
7 tblsp flour
3 cups milk
Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Topping:
2 cups grated cheese (optional)

Saute the eggplant in olive oil until soft.  If there is liquid left in the pan after it's done, drain.  Set aside.  Brown ground beef and onions, drain, then add the tomatoes, tomato paste and spices.  Layer the eggplant in a large greased baking dish, top with the meat and tomato mix.

Make the bechamel by melting the butter in a pan over low heat, stirring in the flour until it makes a paste.  Add the milk and stir with a whisk until dissolved.  Raise heat and stir continually until it comes to a simmer.  Add the salt and pepper, then pour the bechamel over the top of the meat mix in the casserole dish.

Sprinkle the cheese on top and bake at 325 for 1 hour.

If you haven't been out to the store lately, we thought we'd show you what you've been missing...



Fall Squash - The solid green one is Acorn and the pretty mottled ones are Carnival



Radishes and baby turnips with big greens!



Eggplant - Regular Italian at the top and the pretty green ones are Thai



Summer squash and peppers - the peppers range from sweet baby bells to super-hot habaneros



Beautiful liana beans - these are great green beans or you can stir-fry them with slivered almonds and sesame oil - YUM!



You can be entertained watching the workers work (they're shelling fresh black-eyed-peas).



And - as always - friendly customer service

Well, winter stuff is trickling in and summer stuff is fading out, but we've still got a pretty good selection of fresh local produce this weekend....

Peppers are going wild - we should have a few bells, a fair number of anaheims and a ton of *hot* Thai peppers, some jalapeno, and we're covered in Habaneros, though most are still green.

Squash - yellow and zucchini summer squash and carnival and acorn winter squash

Eggplant - Italian and Thai

Turnip greens

Radishes

*All* of that is grown sustainably and organically right at Greener Vision.

Our pumpkins are turning orange. We'll get some pictures of things posted on the blog tonight if we get a chance. We still have a few pumpkins from Oakalla if you want one. The blog has Heidi's pumpkin and sweet potato soup recipe (I just finished off some leftovers yesterday, yum). We're planning to post some more of our favorite recipes shortly so we can convince some of you to try winter squash and eggplant. Maybe we'll share our moussaka recipe. We have some fall tomato plants really setting fruit now. I *think* we'll be able to get some in before they freeze. If not, we'll have green tomato mincemeat for Thanksgiving!

See you Saturday 10-4. Don't forget we also have goat milk soap, Celtic sea salt, farm fresh eggs, and Mrs. MacArthur's pepper relishes.

So many people have difficulty getting their kids to eat fresh vegetables.  We often have people shopping at the store look at things and say "my kids would never eat that".  Far be it from me to tell other people how to raise their kids (try that some time).  However, parenting aside, so much of that kind of thing could be solved with a little creativity.  Case in point:

Tonight, Heidi brought home a carnival squash so we could try it (it's rough having to taste test everything you grow).  Rather than doing the brown sugar and butter kind of thing, she tried something different.

One carnival squash (you could use any other winter squash instead)
One quarter cup sour cream
One half cup crumbled feta cheese
Sea salt to taste

Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Place in the microwave and microwave it until soft.  Scoop flesh from shell, mash the flesh up, stir in the other ingredients and serve like mashed potatoes.  It was awesome.

Anyway, Schaeffer, who's five, was none too sure about it.  Furthermore, we also had fresh tomatoes, which he has recently decided are anathema for some reason (though he ate dozens last year).  Nevertheless, due to our dinnertime rules, he had a slice of tomato and a scoop of squash on his plate and the requirement that he eat it before leaving the table.  Pretty soon the red potatoes and meatloaf (from our very own goats) were all gone, but the squash and tomatoes were still sitting sadly on the plate.  Inevitably the mashed squash ended up spread atop the tomato like frosting.  He wasn't being creative, just delaying the misery.  Immediately, however, the three year old imitated him.  Heidi noticed and said that it actually sounded like a really good idea, as the two would really complement each other.  Suddenly, Schaeffer was a genius.  He agreed that the two went really well together, which of course is why he'd thought of it.  Every kid in the house was suddenly heading back to the table for seconds of tomatoes and squash.  Even the six-year-old cousin we were babysitting (who had said he wasn't hungry) was getting a plate.  Eli had to slice more tomatoes and pretty soon there was no more squash left.  Schaeffer had eaten three servings, tomato and all.

Another good dinner with no leftovers