Taste community supported agriculture

Our family found a great option to satisfy our hunger for locally grown fresh produce - it's called a CSA - community supported agriculture.

Every Wednesday morning our farmer packs up bushels of fresh-picked produce and brings them to town for families like ours. The farm is just a few miles up Kiler Canyon Road from our home in Paso Robles, CA.

Farmers at Kiler Canyon Farm filling bushels for us.

The produce starts coming in March and we get it weekly through October. We like that local farmers who don’t use pesticides or herbicides grow the produce organically. We like that we know our farmers and can visit the farm.

Opening the bushel every week is like opening a present. There are always new and interesting treats inside for us. The selections rotate with the seasons.

The bushel is fun for the whole family. As I pick through it with my 5-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, I encourage them to identify veggies and taste and feel new ones. They love to help in preparation.

The flavors and smells of the fresh herbs and vegetables are amazing. There are often edible flowers we add to our salads.

The wide variety of contents mean we always have an excess of produce to eat with just about any and every home-cooked meal throughout the week. The farmers email us a suggested recipes every week for us to use.

I keep a bottle of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper on the kitchen counter for quick and easy salads tossed up before every dinner with lots of greens and herbs

Other favorites are diced veggies or spinach for omelets, steamed broccoli, grilled zucchini, pickled carrots, and fresh crispy snacks of all kinds.

The bushel usually has a generous blend of these, and always mixed greens:

Cucumber

Zucchini

Edible Zucchini flowers

Edible dandelion flowers

Asian greens

Spinach

Arugula

Butter lettuce

Cabbage

Carrots

White onions

Red unions

Green onions

Green garlic

White garlic

Basil

Dill

Sage

Rosemary

Marjoram

Oregano

Broccoli

Plumbs

Apricots

Melons

Tomatoes

Green peppers

Chiles

Sweet peas

Beets

Beet greens

Bokchoy

Sometimes there is more than we could possibly eat in a week. When that happens, we give the leftovers to girls who raise chickens for eggs. Then we enjoy the eggs the next week.

As a first step, try your local farmers market. Ask questions and find out more about your food. Some people call us localvores or localtarians. I just think of it as tasty good fun. Now, go out and taste some for yourself!

Scott Brennan

My day job:

Access Publishing

806 9th St., Ste. 2D,

Paso Robles, CA 93446

(805) 226-9890  accesspublishing.com

My love affair with walnuts

My first memory of walnuts was when my best friend’s mother offered me homemade chocolate chip and walnut cookies. It was love at first bite. Thank you Mrs. Price.

It’s harvest time in our local walnut orchards and I couldn’t be happier. Leaves are turning yellow and brown and walnuts are falling all over the ground.

Walnut orchard on Peachy Cyn Rd. after being shaken up. 

This weekend I took a drive in the rolling hills along Peachy Canyon Road and watched the harvest in progress.

A walnut still partially in its green fruit shell.

A large tractor with a 15-foot-long arm reaches out to the trunk of the tree and gives it a violent shake. In an instant, leaves and nuts fall to the ground.  The tractor moves from tree to tree much faster than you would expect. Crews move in and handpick the harvest off the ground.

Some of the nuts are covered with the green fruit they grew in, but most of them are already dried.

The walnuts are sacked in burlap and sold at the nearby winery, Chateau Margene. They produce walnut oil and other snacks with the Limerock Orchards label. 

It is one of many small, family-operated orchards around Paso Robles, Calif.

Our family is lucky to live in the heart of the production of wonderful food. All around us farmers grow organic fruits and vegetables, raise grass-fed beef, lamb and poultry and create world-class wines.

It’s easy to be a localvore and live, and thrive, on the foods grown within 100 miles of our house. 

Walnuts are one of nature’s perfect foods. A handful contains about 190 calories with 18g of healthy fats, 4g carbohydrates, and 4g proteins. Here are some benefits of eating them:

• Walnuts are high in Omega-3 fatty acids and natural vitamin E

• Walnuts increase your body’s ability to use fat stores.*

• Walnuts have the highest antioxidants content of any nut. Most of the beneficial phenols are in the skin, so don’t take it off.

• Walnuts are protective against cardiovascular problems and diabetes.


Walnuts fit nicely into my paleo lifestyle. I try to choose foods that were available to our ancestors 20,000 years ago before the agricultural revolution. That means I eat lots of vegetables, fruits, meats, nuts and just a little dairy.  It’s helped me lose 80 lbs and take on new challenges I never imagined.

A recent study has determined that only 5.5% of all adults consume tree nuts of any kind. If you’re not eating them already, join us!

Sacks of walnuts for sale at Chateau Margene.

Where's the beef?

Do you know where your beef comes from?

Paso Robles rancher Coco Collelmo.

I do. Last week I met rancher Coco Collelmo. She raises a small herd of grass-fed New Zealand Angus seven miles up Adelaide Road from our house in Paso Robles.

Coco’s father started the business in 1959. In 2001, Coco met David Foss of New Zealand who brought a new breed of Angus to the ranch. They share a philosophy of cattle ranching based on sustainable farming and healthy food. They work with the land’s own resources, using superior cattle, managing stock humanely, feeding only fresh grasses, and never using antibiotics or hormones.

These animals evolved over tens of thousands of years to feed on grasslands, not to be fattened up with corn and food by-products, like you find most places. We humans evolved to hunt and eat animals raised on the plains, not feedlots.

I decided to look for more local, healthy alternatives for our family and to cut back on what the industrial food complex is selling us.

A bull at Fair Oaks Ranch

So, last week I drove up a narrow dirt road to Coco’s Fair Oaks Ranch to pick up our quarter-share of steer. Her ranch is one of many community supported agriculture (CSA) programs in town.

After the steer was cut and trimmed the yield was about 400 lbs., not counting the lard, organs, etc. Our share was 1/3 steaks, 1/3 roasts, 1/3 ground beef. It cost us $8 per pound.

This was our second year and we doubled the order. Last year the supply lasted a few months. We should make it farther this year. Surprisingly, the 100 pounds of beef only uses about 4 cubic feet of space and fits well in our regular freezer in the fridge.

Grass-fed beef is good

1. Perennial grasses are better for soil.

2. Animals that are grass-fed their entire life are healthier — and their meat is safer for you. 

3. Grass-fed animals produce the right kind of fat.

4. The corn fed to feedlot cattle is fossil-fuel intensive and heavily subsidized. 

5. Perennial pasture reduces flooding and pollution-laden runoff.

6. Grazing animals don't need the large quantities of antibiotics that feedlot cattle do.

7. Perennial pasture is a carbon sink.

8. Modern grazing methods match the efficiencies of industrial-scale grain production.

9. Pastured animals are treated more humanely.

10. Grass-fed is more expensive, so you eat less.

Source: Top 10 reasons to eat grass-fed meat 

"The meat you buy in the store comes from cattle that have been fed corn, grain, or feed byproducts," Coco says. Cattle that are fed in confinement are routinely fed high carb diets with low doses of antibiotics and added hormones to make them bigger, quicker.

Their diet changes the composition of their fats from being high in omega 3, which is a natural anti-inflammatory, to being high in Omega 6, which does the opposite. 

Factory farms fatten their cattle in crowded feedlots where they sometimes get sick. Then the sick animals are forced into slaughterhouses with electric prods, forklifts and bulldozers. If you think you can stomach it, watch this video, Slaughterhouse Investigation: Cruel and Unhealthy Practices.  I don't really want to eat sick beef.

Commercial ground beef is usually blended parts from dozens of these factory farms. This increases the chance the meat is contaminated with E.Coli or another pathogen. To prevent tainted meat, some factories add ammonia, according to a New York Times article. Mmm… tasty ammonia.

How to cook grass fed beef

Grass fed beef cooks faster. It stays redder in color even when it is medium temperature, so be careful not to overcook it. Because it is low in fat, I like to drizzle a little olive oil on my steaks to keep them from sticking to grill.

Grass-fed shoulder roast. Yum!

With the ground beef I make burgers, tacos, meatloaf, meatballs and meat sauce. I love to add diced onion, garlic and fresh herbs like cilatro, parsley, dill and basil to my burgers. I’ll usually add a raw egg, some olive oil and a dash of hot sauce, too.

The roasts I slow cook in the oven or crock pot with broth and vegetables.

Tips for Cooking Grass Fed Beef