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FIRST FRIDAY STAFF PICKS: APRIL 2020 EDITION
04/03/20 — Ada Broussard
In case it hasn't been on your radar, we publish this fabulous staff-favorite-centric post every first Friday of the month! We thought it deserved a highlight since it's one of our long-time favorites and definitely a skim-worthy feature if you're in the market for new ideas and inspiration. Ever wonder what your local farmers do off the fields? Cue: FIRST FRIDAY STAFF PICKS!
We think that our staff is the best in the business (okay, okay, we are a little biased), but the JBG family hails from all over the place and covers the gamut in talents and interests. We love sharing events, adventures, and side projects that inspire and excite our JBG-ers (food-related or not) with the community. Check out the staff-curated list of favorites below!
Matt:
This and this video are my pick. (The Lukas Nelson video was shot while in quarantine and couldn't be more timely! We love it!
The Farm:
Times like these require quick, thoughtful, and creative solutions, and we are astounded at our community's response to COVID-19. There are so many people doing their absolute best to keep folks fed, entertained, and the community healthy.When the farm suddenly needed hand sanitizer to give to our drivers and market staff, many of our social media followers and CSA members donated some of their own. Several companies like Zilker Brewing and Tiny Tails to You also donated some of their extra bottles.
Speaking of Tails, these long-time partners of ours are suddenly unable to host their usual parties. But you know what they can do? Virtual Animal Programming. Yep. Here are some of your options for getting an animal fix, over the interweb:
- Book a Virtual Animal Program – One-on-one and group interactive educational experiences for children and even adults.
- Pay it forward – Sponsor programming for people in need.
- On Wednesdays at 9am central time, I will be hosting an open Facebook and Instagram Live session (www.facebook.com/
tinytailstoyou or @TinyTailstoYou on Instagram) to brainstorm ideas and resources that people can use to create and host their own online interactive spaces. We will also compile and share these findings on our website.
We loved this recent Statesman article that Addie Broyles wrote about keeping calm and cooking on... For anyone finding themselves in the kitchen more than usual, she offers some great tips on being flexible and not panicking. Though it was written pre-pandemic, this Edible Austin article Ada wrote about shopping at a farmers' market echos similar ideals (pg. 21 on this digital flipbook).
Also! Our heart was warmed this week by (no-contact) visits from The Central Texas Food Bank, Farmshare Austin, Mobile Loaves and Fishes, and the Multicultural Refugee Coalition. These groups all came to take the transplants leftover from this year's sale, and we couldn't be happier to know that these baby plants are finding good homes among our amazing community.
Lori:
Spicy pickled eggs!! A fun project in the kitchen and super tasty. The picture doesn't look that appetizing, but I promise you they were delicious!
Burn the Place- a memoir/food book by Chef Iliana Regan. If you don't want to get in the kitchen and cook with local, delicious ingredients afterwards then you might be broken. It was the first food book to be listed for the National Book Award since 1980, I believe.
Ada
My sister Amelia, an art teacher in New Orleans, has headed up a project that is distributing 700+ Creative Response packets to kids stuck at home. Local artists are contributing to the packets, giving them work at a time when many are suddenly unemployed. She's hosting virtual art classes with her upper level high school art students through Sketch Basin, the nonprofit that she started to help keep art classes going in NOLA charter schools.
My friend Hector (see below) made a meatloaf shaped like a foot. 'Nuff said.
My friend David, a local musician in a band called Tejano Weekend, has channeled some of his creative energy into what I hope is the first of many Tejano Weekend Updates. Watch for some jokes, great music, and drawing tutorials.
Martha, our friend at Waking Giants, has put together a wonderful schedule of online programming for those at home. These include yoga for kids, cooking classes, meditation sessions, and more.
We have a lot of March birthdays in my family (including mine) and I've gotten really good at Zoom happy hours.
Fawn:
First of all, I hope everyone is staying healthy and maintaining some sense of sanity or brief moments of peace through this time of quarantine. As you well know, small businesses have been largely impacted by Covid-19, so I'd like to give a shout out to a couple.
One is Hi-Fi Mycology. Mushrooms are full of nutrition and help keep you in your best health. They are offering pre-orders and farm pickups, as well as being at a handful of farmers markets around town.
Secondly, *shameless plug* if you are in need of something sparkly to spend your stimulus check on, now is a great time to support my glass-blower husband, @stephan_peirce. He has dichroic (sparkly glass) pipes available for sale, and is taking custom work.
I'd also like to give a shout out to JBG's awesome farmer's market crew. Y'all have been doing an amazing job bringing the veggies to the people! Cheers to everyone at the farm, for all their hard work during this unprecedented time. And cheers to our community. SALUD!
Heydon:
Mac Miller's Swimming album has me feeling all the feels during quarantine season. Check out this live performance on Colbert with Jon Batiste for some real feel goodness or his Tiny Desk for some live versions of songs from Swimming. Miss you, Mac.
Faith:
My staff pick this week has been the rainy, drizzly weather. That cool, crisp air is my favorite, and I've really been enjoying opening my window to let the sound of rain in. Very relaxing.Hector:
I came late into the Lego game (pun intended. All my puns are intended) and I'm happy assembling some of the sets I have scored during these days. The most recent one I assembled was the NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander. It's a beauty!
This isolation also has piqued my roleplaying itch and I decided to start a Dungeons & Dragons among my friends. I'm the Dungeon Master and 5 other friends will go into adventures from their homes. I used to roleplay a lot while living in Mexico and this will be my first time doing it in English. I hope they like group enjoys what I have planned. If you want to play with your friends, check this website with some of the basics on how to start a group, create a character and get going.
Brenton:
My staff pick has to be the amazing JBG team. I'm so in awe of how hard and how creatively everyone has been working. The usual demands of the spring season plus the added demand for our produce has been hard on everyone at the farm. We just finished up a crazy greenhouse sale, which also was a strain on our crew - we had more demand for transplants this year than ever before. Several of our former employees who lost their jobs found their way back to the farm - filling new and needed positions in the packing shed, delivery shifts, and harvest crews. Seeing some of these employees again, and having them back on the team, is one blessing in disguise from an otherwise difficult time. Tracy, Krishna, Faith, Andrew... all the delivery drivers... the Vicente, Temo, and all the harvest crew... every single person on the farm has been working so hard and I'm so grateful.
Speaking of the transplant sale, a huge thank you to everyone who bought plants this year. We know there are going to be some awesome gardens out there, this year. If you wondering what happened to the leftover plants, they found good homes at The Central Texas Food Bank, New Leaf Agriculture, and Mobile Loaves and Fishes.
We had to buy another delivery truck this week to accommodate the extra deliveries on our plate, and again, I'm just so grateful for a team that can adjust and adapt to our community's needs so quickly and efficiently.
My other pick is my community garden plot. Believe it or not, I've been very busy in the plot at have at the Homewood Heights community garden on the east side. Working here after work and on the weekends has been a good stress reliever for me. I planted so many peppers there! I love this garden - it's so well organized!
I've also been enjoying watching this cultural shift that's happening right now - everyone getting more accustomed and practiced at cooking at home ... something I've been passionate about for a really long time. This week I had a craving for some comfort food, so made a double batch of my grandma's banana pudding... complete with vanilla wafers and all.
Brittany:
I made some pickles that turned out great! Here is a how-to video of me making the pickles.
What you need:
1 English cucumber- sliced
6 sprigs of dill
6 cloves of garlic
3-4 tbsps of white vinegar
1 1/2 tbsps of pink salt
2 tsps of whole peppercorns
1 1/2 cups of water
1-32 oz mason jar or 2- 16 oz
In the mason jar add the english cucumber, sprigs of dill, garlic, and peppercorns. In a separate glass jar add in water, salt and white vinegar. Once salt is dissolved add water mixture to the mason jar. Make sure that the cucumbers are covered. If they are not add some more water and a splash of vinegar.
They will be ready in 5 days! Enjoy!
Inspired by: gimmesomeoven.com
Mike Mo:
Too early to recommend Pandemic on Netflix? Nope, Mike. Seems like the perfect time.
