The Happy Box CSA Program

Why Milan loves greens

Greens and nuts have been my biggest protein source since I became a vegan 16 years ago.  I have always consumed greens in large quantities, especially the last 2-3 years when I went to an 80% raw-vegan diet.

Greens are one of the three groups of foods that I eat: fruits, greens, nut & seeds.  Usually your weekly share of greens, which takes up all of your containers, I consume in only 3-4 days.  All by myself.

Greens are crucial in balancing my diet.  I hope the Happy Box helps share the health they bring.

~ Milan Pajev, Happy Box Founder

How to prepare greens?

There are many ways of preparing greens.  Milan prefers blending, but there are as many books out there about how to eat your greens as there are varieties!  One favorite is Green for Life by Victoria Boutenko.  Please check out the Recommended Resources page for other books and DVDs available for checkout from the Happy Box health library.

Salads

• Lettuces and sunflower greens have very gentle fibers.  Add them to any salad for a burst of nutrition.

• The upper part of mature greens like kale, mizuna, mustard, arugula, tat soi, and broccoli greens are nice and crunchy raw. 

• Try dressing salads with sea salt, raw apple cider vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil.

• You can use any of the greens in your Box to make delicious smoothies with fruits and water.  Leave out nuts and seeds - these make the nutrients in greens harder to digest.
• Mature greens like kale, mizuna, mustard, arugula, tat soi, and broccoli greens are wonderful in smoothies.  Try blending the lower, more fibrous part - or of course you can use the whole bunch.
• Milan loves drinking wheatgrass in smoothies with bananas or mangoes and water.  He recommends a 20% wheatrass, 40% fruit, 40% water ratio.  It can be a little bit fibrous, but you can always change the proportions based on your tastes.
• Try blending your herbs, like Italian Parsley, up with some mango or other sweet fruits.
• You can cut the tang in spicy greens like mustard and arugula by blending them with bananas, mangoes, apples, or other sweet fruits.  Let these smoothies sit for half an hour for a milder taste.
• You can also try savory smoothies, or "liquid salads," by using ingredients with a bit of salt.  For example, blend to a creamy consistency:
  
  • 1 tomato
  • 1 cucumber
  • 1 sweet red pepper
  • 1 large avocado
  • 1/2 bunch of greens
  • 2-3 pickles, or sauerkraut or unrefined natural sea salt and lemon juice
• Smoothie tip: If you make smoothies in advance and store them in the fridge, remember to shake them before drinking to integrate any fibers that may have settled.

• Milan has several books entirely on wheat grass.  Many suggest juicing it and drinking the juice on an empty stomach to maximize the healing and health properties.

The healthiest ice cream you can make is from frozen bananas and some greens blended in a powerful blender to an ice-creamy consistence.  Enjoy on a hot day! 

Green Encyclopedia

Arugula

Beet

Bok Choy

Chives

Collard Greens

Endive

Green Onion

Jerusalem Artichoke

Kale

Kohlrabi

Leek

Lamb's Lettuce

Mizuna

Mustard Greens

Pack Choy

Radish

Rutabaga

Spinach

Tat Soi

Turnip

Wheat grass &

sunflower greens

Although many people are unfamiliar with wheat grass and sunflower greens - and they're optional for all services - we do believe they are an important part of a healthy diet.  We invite you to learn more about wheat grass and sunflower greens, and try them out with your Box.

Wheat grass makes us strong

Grasses pick up trace minerals that are present in the soil and makes them available in a form that animals and humans can absorb.  Wheat grass is one of the best sources of vitamins, amino acids, and minerals.

Although eating it straight is not what nature intended for us - we don't have the chewing ability or time to break down the strong cuticle of the leaves and extract the juice - we can enjoy the health benefits of wheat grass by breaking down the cuticle through other means.

Juicing wheat grass

The best way to break down wheat grass is with a slow-motion juicer that limits oxidization and separates almost all the juice from the fibers.

Wheat grass smoothies

 Milan's family bought a juicer seven years ago.  However, they found that using it is inconvenient, hard to clean up - and the results don't taste very good.  They've never really used it.

Milan recommends blending wheat grass into smoothies with water and other sweet fruits, or making liquid salads.  You can visit us on Sundays from 2 to 5 p.m. for a smoothie demonstration and farm tour, or watch Sergei's green smoothie video here.

Although making smoothies does oxidize and deactivate some vitamins during blending, you're still consuming four times more grass than if you were juicing.  So in the end, you get twice as many health benefits from making smoothies as blending.

If you have small blender you need to pre-cut your wheatgrass before you start blending to cut down the pressure on your blender.  It's also helpful to use more juicy fruits to blend the grass into small particles without burning up.  

If you don't like the fibers, you can also strain them with cheesecloth or sprouting bag.

We give you a good deal on wheat grass

If you research wheatgrass on the internet, you'll find that it usually goes for between $18-$12 per pound - and it's probably shipped from California or grown under artificial lights.  Even if it's grown in organic soil, wheat grass is like all other plants.  It's most nutritious when grown in soil enriched with natural nutrients and minerals, and converts real sunlight into energy through natural photosynthesis. 

That's how we do it.

We grow our wheatgrass outside during the spring and fall and inside of greenhouses during winter.  Either way, Happy Box wheat grass always grows with natural light, covered only with transparent cloth to protect it from birds and insects.

As a result, our grass roots stretch into the soil for 10 inches or more.  Compare that to artificial flats with only one inch to grow.  Unlike most wheat grass growers, who have so few nutrients in the soil that grass turns yellow after the first harvest, ours is so healthy that we can harvest it multiple times in a season.

Not to mention that growing grass in quantity in fertile organic soil makes it a lot more affordable.  Ours sells for about $6/pound - and we don't use up gas to drive it from California. 

Sunflower greens are nutritious

Sunflower micro-greens  are the ones so widely used in health resorts like  the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida, the Creative Health Institute in Michigan, the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center in Arizona, etc. 

Nutrition experts are familiar with sunflower greens' ability to convert nutrient-rich seeds into delicious sprouts.  We nourish our organic sunflower seeds with pure ocean water (for example, from Ocean Grown, Inc.), which includes all of the trace minerals necessary for human health.  Check out www.sea-solution.com or www.remineralize.org about the interdependence between re-mineralizing the soil, climate change, and human health.

Sunflower greens are fresh, tasty, and versatile

Although the nutritional benefits of sunflower greens are widely known, fresh greens can be hard to find because their shelf life is so short.  At the Happy Box, we are able to deliver sunflower greens within hours of harvest - year round!

We're also able to grow sunflower greens at a reasonable price of about $6/pound.  Compare that with $16 or more at Wild Oats Natural Market in Cincinnati.  At the Happy Box, we believe that health should be affordable for everyone.

You can use sunflower greens in fresh salads, blended dressings, or just eat them by themselves. They are also great in banana smoothies.  Although we do our best to remove the hulls, please be sure to double-check before you enjoy!