4th Week of July

Notes from your Farm

The rains arrived after a long dry spell, and it is great to see the plants responding with exuberant growth. This week we are harvesting leeks and carrots for the first time this season.
Yesterday we transplanted a couple thousand cauliflower, cabbage and Brussels sprouts plants into the field in anticipation of the fall harvest.

This Week and Tomatoes

With every type of weather something benefits, and some things suffer or are unaided. The rain was a blessing in many ways, but unfortunately the stormy, cool wet weekend was the perfect storm for the late blight to descend on our tomatoes. Late blight is unusual in that it is one of the few, perhaps only crop diseases or pests that can cause 100% loss of a crop almost instantly and without warning. So it was sad indeed to see the blackened plants and rotting tomatoes on Monday morning that on Saturday, had been beautiful, vigorous and on the verge of a harvest bonanza. The disease is airborne in the Northeast, and once the plants have it, there isn't much to be done about it other than hope for hot dry weather to inhibit its spread. So the expected deluge of ripe juicy tomatoes will instead be a trickle this season. We spent many many hours starting those seeds in the greenhouse, watering them, transplanting, staking, tying, pruning, and tying again, mowing, and checking them for diseases and eagerly awaiting their ripening, so it is sad to share this news. We hope the plants will persist long enough to give everyone a small amount of tomatoes. On the bright side, many crops are doing very well, and we even have some peaches to give out this year for the first time--pretty exciting.

Pick Your Own Field Highlights

• Milk Thistle: a beautiful ornamental thistle to admire. Dispose of seed heads in your trash can before they ripen so as to not become a weed
• Tromboncino Squash Tower: Check out this rapidly growing vine and the bamboo tower that Bradley made for it.
• Summer Savory: this herb located beyond the grapes in the PYO field. Very strong by itself, it is excellent with tomatoes
• Edible flowers: Nasturtiums, and Calendula and Borage are edible and are located also toward the end of the PYO field.
• Basil: is ready: pinch off the tips just above where they branch--not sure, ask Bradley

Caramelized Leeks

You don't have to be vegetarian to enjoy the rich flavor of caramelized leeks. This quick and simple dish is amazingly full of flavor.
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 medium leeks
1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp soy margarine (butter)
1/2 Tbsp dark brown soft sugar
5 ounces (150 g) noodles
2 heaping Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper to taste
Preparation:

Split the leeks lengthways and wash each layer thoroughly. Slice across into thin strips, including the green part.

Heat the olive oil and margarine together over a gentle heat. When the margarine has melted, add the leeks and toss well. Cook slowly, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until the leeks start to soften.

Sprinkle over the sugar. After a couple more minutes, mix well. Continue to cook for 15 to 30 minutes, until the leeks have begun to collapse into a sticky mass. Add small amounts of hot water if required to stop sticking.

While the leeks are cooking, cook and drain the noodles.

When the leeks are done, add the parsley, olive oil, cooked noodles and seasoning to taste. Toss well and serve.

Yield: 2 servings
--from about.com

About Some of the Characters

• Carrots: what needs to be said about carrots other than "enjoy."
• Candy Onions: best used soon--these are not good keepers, so use within a week or two or else refrigerate for longer storage.
• Leeks: generally--use the white part and discard the tough green stem. Leeks often have soil in the layers, so it is good to halve them and rinse the separated layers. The recipe above calls for using the green part also, just be sure to cut perpendicularly so you don't have long tough strands to deal with.
• Potatoes: baked, boiled, roasted, they are excellent.
• Kale: a super-nutritious green that can be added to salads, or sautéed and added to casseroles, soups, or omelets. The ribs are generally not used unless it is baby kale.

It doesn't get any better than this...

Our first harvest of Raritan Rose white peaches!

The Promise of Peaches

Mmm, luscious peaches hanging on the tree!

The trees were planted three years ago, and are just starting to bear.

3rd Week of July

Notes from your Farm

This week we are harvesting a white potato variety called "Superior," tackling innumerable weeds like foxtail, redroot (one plant alone makes a million seeds!), and thistle over in the pumpkin and winter squash field both by hoe and by hand. Yes, organic growing can and does mean hand weeding with some regularity. By preventing weeds from going to seed and through the use of cover crops we are able to cut down on the weed seed population over time. The average square foot of soil has 204 weed seeds, meaning 8,976,000 weed seeds per acre.

We've been running the drip irrigation quite a bit to compensate for five weeks without significant rain and are hoping for a nice inch of rain sometime soon. The carrots are getting close to harvestable size--there is nothing like a fresh carrot from the farm. And of course we are watching the tomatoes and peppers every day to see when they will be ready--it won't be too long now! Update--it has been raining nicely: the crops are visibly growing since the rain started falling this morning!

Special Guest on the farm this week: We found a strange blue-gray bird "dozing" by the pawpaw trees yesterday morning. It turned out to be an injured Great Blue Heron juvenile which at two feet tall, a pipsqueak compared to the six foot stature of an adult heron. After taking some pictures, it is now at a wildlife rehab facility.

Improv at the Barn on Fridays: Noon to 1pm, bring your guitar, banjo, drum, dulcimer, flute or didgeridoo and make some music.

Pick Your Own Field: If you didn't pick last week, this week it's your turn. If you did pick last week, please forego this week to allow others the chance. Things to anticipate are: hot peppers from mild to wild, tomatillos, sunflowers, okra and more.

Pico de Gallo (a Central American salsa)

1 tomato, diced
2 scallions (or 1/4 Walla Walla onion), diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
small bunch cilantro, chopped
a capful each of lemon & lime juice
salt & pepper to taste

Combine and dine! Serve as a side dish to black beans and rice. Corn tortillas optional.
--from Lorena Breneman

About Some of the Characters

• Walla Walla Sweet Onions: best used soon--these are not good keepers, so use within a week or two or else refrigerate for longer storage.
• Beans: bring to a boil, then turn to low for 10 minutes or until desired tenderness.
  Potatoes: baked, boiled, roasted, they are excellent.
• Beets: see recipe below, grate raw into salad, roast, or steam until tender--the white ones are mild and non-staining.
• Kale: a super-nutritious green that can be added to salads, or sautéed and added to casseroles, soups, or omelets. The ribs are generally not used unless it is baby kale.

August 1st Summer Potluck and Bonfire 4:30 to 9pm

COME ONE! COME ALL! It's a summer potluck supper at The Farm! Saturday, August 1, from 4:30 until 9 pm. Sign up at the Barn and bring a covered dish item to share -- we'll supply the paper supplies, utensils, and some 'evening at the farm' magic.

Ahh, rain. It's been five weeks since we've had significant rainfall. You can actually see the plants growing since the rain started to fall.

Here's our first visiting Great Blue Heron. He was snoozing in the pawpaw patch and then ambling about the eggplants. Not quite up to speed, he is now at a bird rehab center.

2nd Week of July

Notes from your Farm

This week is an exciting week as we shift gears and get into the summer crops and move away from the spring ones. Everyone was excited to unearth Red Norland potatoes this week-- it's amazing how the almost iridescent red potatoes are clustered in the soil when the shovel open the ground. The onion crop is spectacular this year! Onions, big deal, you might be saying... couple bucks for a mesh bag at the store... except these are organically grown and growing them organically is tricky (weeds, spoilage, pests, water issues and on and on) So we are pleased to have the best onion crop here ever. We're also happy about the green and yellow beans: so tasty and tender-- yummy. We haven't had rain in a few weeks now, and the warm winds, low humidity and hot sun are desiccating everything, so we've been setting up irrigation drip lines everywhere to make up for the lack of rain.

Music at the Barn on Fridays

Starting Friday the 17th, tomorrow. Noon to 1pm, bring your guitar, banjo, drum, dulcimer, flute or didgeridoo and make some music.

The Pick Your Own Field

The PYO field is coming along nicely. There are some mature flowers and herbs ready to pick, but not a lot. Please pick either this week OR next week but not both, so that everyone can find something nice for their plate or table. What's to expect: zinnias, snapdragons, cherry tomatoes, basil, hot peppers, and much more. When cutting herbs, pinch or cut the top third back to a node, so that the plant can regrow.

About some of the Characters

Walla Walla Sweet Onions: best used soon--these are not good keepers, so use within a week or two or else refrigerate for longer storage.

Beans: bring to a boil, then turn to low for 10 minutes or until desired tenderness.
Potatoes: baked, boiled, roasted, they are excellent

Beets: see recipe below, grate raw into salad, roast, or steam until tender--yes we have some white beets this week--milder and non-staining. Give them a try.

Garlic Scapes: use the succulent “neck” of the scape in pesto, salads or stir-fries or anywhere you would enjoy either garlic or onions. Don’t use the lower, stiff part unless you like “crunch”!

Kale: a super-nutritious green that can be added to salads, or sautéed and added to casseroles, soups, or omelets. The ribs are generally not used unless it is baby kale

The Farmer's Wife Onion Recipe

Heat a skillet to medium with a pat of butter. Slice one large Walla Walla sweet onion into large rings and separate them. Stir them well to coat them with the melted butter and stir every few minutes and soft and caramelized. Makes an excellent topping or side for all kinds of dishes: with eggs, on burgers, with black beans and rice or even just a big ole heap of them plain.

An early July harvest on display here at the barn

Five Walla Walla Onions--9lbs in the scale. Organic onions are difficult to grow, so it's exciting that we are having our best onion harvest ever.

Thoughtful Chicken (hmm these vegetables are really good...)

First Week of July

Notes from your Farm

Hello from the farm! Weather is as weather does--we won't complain about the beautiful dry days we've been having, but will say that irrigation was the focus of this week and looks like it will play a large role in the weeks to come. The trainees harvested a lot of garlic this week and laid it out on racks to dry and cure. Bradley and I spent the day yesterday pruning and tying tomatoes. We have about 1,600 tomato plants and they look healthy so far despite the presence of the destructive late blight here in the county and the Northeast. Elizabeth and the trainees worked on the carrot and parsnip beds, making them look great--we are looking forward to those first fresh carrots! The raspberries are fading away but the blueberries are still around this week.

Nettiquette: On Handling the Berry Netting

To preserve as many of those tasty blueberries as possible and not trap the birds in the netting, here are a few tips:
--lift the nets gently up to make picking pleasant
--after picking a spot, replace the netting
--netting should touch the ground and curl outward to keep the birds from pushing under and getting stuck.

About Some of this Week’s Goodies

• Beets: see recipe below, grate raw into salad, roast, or steam until tender
• Garlic Scapes: use the succulent “neck” of the scape in pesto, salads or stir-fries or anywhere you would enjoy either garlic or onions. Don’t use the lower, stiff part unless you like “crunch”!
• Kale: a super-nutritious green that can be added to salads, or sautéed and added to casseroles, soups, or omelets. The ribs are generally not used unless it is baby kale
• Bok Choi: this Asian cabbage is great stir fries and thrives wherever peanut butter is found. A simple recipe would be: chopped, stir fried with onions, garlic ginger in olive oil with some peanut butter and soy sauce and then serve with rice.

A Beet Recipe: Borscht

Polish beet soup consists of beets only, carefully scrubbed, sliced or diced, and stewed in water until tender with salt, pepper, and garlic to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of dill and a dollop of sour cream.

Ukrainian borscht is made with meat stock, and includes a mixture of beets, carrots, onions, parsnips (or turnips or rutabagas), potatoes, garlic, dill, tomatoes, and chunks of either pork, beef, or sausage. It is also served with sour cream. The proportions are based on what you have on hand.

-From Foodbank for a Sustainable Harvest

Thanks for your encouragement and appreciation of the work that everyone does here. Farming is not an easy or predictable endeavor but rewarding in spite of all the variables.

Scott