Hello from the farm,

We are irrigating this week, the first time that we have needed to do so this season, which is a testament to how frequently it has rained this year.  As fellow farmer Steve Groff is fond of saying "irrigation is irritation," but after a few days of installing hoses, cleaning out lines, adjusting sprinklers, replacing hose ends and more, our ship is sailing fairly smoothly. The most important nutrient for plant growth?--water.

farm work is colorful
 

We've been celebrating Elizabeth's birthday all week, digging potatoes with shovels after the potato digger sheared a connecting bolt and required some rewelding, working on an improved carrot lifter, finally concluded the marathon weeding work in the fall greens, broccoli and cauliflower fields--woohoo, way to go farm crew! and we welcome a new member to the farm crew today:  Marci, who will be the distribution diva when you pick up your produce here at the barn.  Please say hello. 

Where there's smoke, there's Flanagan!

Hot pepper come in all shapes and degrees of burn ;-)

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

Sweet Peppers: notice I didn't say bell peppers. There are other shapes that are sweet too. Diced sweet pepper is great on a salad, or pepper strips on a relish are sweet and tasty too. They also freeze well in strips or dices after core and seeds are removed.
Onions: mm, onions are exciting! The Redwing Red Onions are a great storage onion and can be kept in a cool and dry place for months.  They are super for grilling and burgers.
Potatoes: by the thousands of pounds...yep, it's tater time. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Carrots: A great carrot crops this year! Carrots are one of the most finicky crops for us to grow, so we are pleased to have a good year with them. Check out the Yellowstone yellow carrot. Farm fresh carrots are a tasty treat, much different from bagged store carrots.
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet, dark Italian types are probably what you grew up with.  Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Chard: remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Paresan cheese.
Greens: the greens are growing great guns and you will be seeing kale and company soon.
Arugula is just around the corner!

Goodbyes

Watermelon: these did better than expected, but not as well as hoped for. A friend from Lancaster South Rotary told me that watermelon growers in Delaware lost 3/4 of their melons. June was cool and cloudy and the honeybees slept in and did not pollinate the watermelon's morning access-only flowers.
Cantaloupes: We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--now finished 
Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut
Summer squash/Zucchini: these are finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well!
Scallions: goodbye until next year.
Broccoli: an awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: these have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.
Cilantro: coming soon.
Turnips: coming soon.

Thank You

Thank you to Flanagan Welding for working on the carrot lifter, Bob McClure for nearing the final stretch with the wonder weeder, Homefields board for continued work on preserving farmland and looking out for the future of this farm, and the hard-working people that make up the farm crew!


Scott

Hello from the farm. It's a week without Del and the banter is strangely sparse this week. Del's absence is Deleterious to our morale, but we'll keep on going :-) This week we have been going head to head with weeds in the fall broccoli and greens patch, tranplanting onions for a late season harvest experiment, and digging more potatoes while eagerly catching glimpses of the fall crop seedlings that are germinating in the fields. The end of August is a transition time as some summer crops are ending and the fall crops are getting their footing.



We miss you Del, but your indelible wit and quips are still here.


How do you Farm Organically?
A question we hear often from people, it is one which could receive a lengthy answer. However, for these weekly Notes, we'll keep it to a paragraph or so. Organic farming is something old come around again--our grandparents generation and earlier were accustomed to growing without chemicals. Chemical farming had its rise when munitions and chemicals left from WWII were discovered to be fast and efficient weed and pest killers, and people were hooked with the ease of spraying acres of crops instead of doing manual labor.


Ok, now a second paragraph...biological/sustainable/organic farming, whatever name you know it by, has it basis in healthy soil. If the soil is well-mineralized and healthy then the plants will be healthy. If the plants are healthy, they will not succumb to diseases usually. Healthy soil even has fewer weeds, as weeds are usually trying to balance something that is out of whack in the soil. So we make the soil healthy by taking soil samples and adding minerals to balance the soil, we also apply compost and like a modern-day Squanto, we use fish emulsion and seaweed to feed our soil microbes and crops. Do you notice that our food keeps very well and tastes better than the vegetables in the store? It's because of the super soil we are growing in. Now weeds, they can be the real Achilles heel of organic growing because we don't use herbicides. To deal with weeds we use crop rotation, soil balancing, flame weeding, tractor-drawn cultivating and yes of course, hoeing, mowing and hand-pulling, which are sometimes the bane of our existence! All in all, we hope you'll agree that our food is worth our careful and sometimes Hurculean efforts.


Dining in the Fields, 2013
Homefields, the founder and owner of this farm is putting together a local foods fundraiser Dining Event to preserve 14 acres of organic farmland in your backyard. www.homefields.org
Sunday, September 15, 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m., Drop in whenever, parking starts at 10:30, Rain date, 9/22.
Chef Steve and Sous Chef Barb from Miller's Smorgasbord present local, organic foods to feed your soul and please your palate. You’ll find old favorites and new twists on vegetables from Homefields, as well as:
Beef from Ironstone Spring Farm. Wine from Twin Brook Winery. Vegetables and fruit from Homefields. Fruits from North Star Orchard. Breads from Abendessen Bread. Cheese from Hill Acres Pride. Oils and vinegars from Seasons Taproom. Ice cream from Carmen and David's Creamery. Music by Indian Summer Jars. Kids' crafts from Lancaster Creative Reuse. And more! Adults, $50: Youth, 13-17, $10: Children under 12, free. To pre-register, email
events@homefields.org
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it



Getting ready for Dining in the Fields--many hands makes light work.


Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

Sweet Peppers: notice I didn't say bell peppers. There are other shapes that are sweet too. Diced sweet pepper is great on a salad, or pepper strips on a relish are sweet and tasty too. They also freeze well in strips or dices after core and seeds are removed.
Onions: mm, onions are exciting! The Ailsa Craig sweet onions are wonderful sauteed with butter and served with fried greens, atop potatoes or even plain. They are not a storage onion, so use within a week or two, or keep refrigerated.
Potatoes: yep, it's tater time. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Carrots: A great carrot crops this year! Carrots are one of the most finicky crops for us to grow, so we are pleased to have a good year with them. Check out the Yellowstone yellow carrot. Farm fresh carrots are a tasty treat, much different from bagged store carrots.
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Chard: remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Paresan cheese.
Greens: great greens to return in September


Goodbyes


Watermelon: these did better than expected, but not as well as hoped for. A friend from Lancaster South Rotary told me that watermelon growers in Delaware lost 3/4 of their melons. June was cool and cloudy and the honeybees slept in and did not pollinate the watermelon's morning access-only flowers.
Cantaloupes: We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--these plants are plum tuckered out after a great run.
Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut
Summer squash/Zucchini: these all almost finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well!
Scallions: goodbye until next year.
Broccoli: an awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: these have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.
Cilantro: coming soon.
Turnips: coming soon.

Hello from the farm,

The weeks are going by quickly and summer is coming to an end but we are only about half way through the harvest season with a lot of great vegetables to harvest and enjoy as we march towards November. Your farm crew appreciated the very rainy Tuesday which allowed us a day to focus on indoor work, prepping and organizing storage crops and materials in the barn and greenhouse.


"No farmer’s his own boss. He takes his orders from the sun, the wind, the snow and the rain.”
--Daisy, Downton Abbey



A farmer has be prepared for what nature tosses at him :-)

If you've been a member of the farm for more than one season, you'll know that in any given season most crops do well, some do amazingly well, and a few are lackluster. The cool cloudy weather has given us excellent broccoli, carrots, greens and potatoes for example. This same weather has made the cantaloupe and watermelon harvest smaller than normal and some of the watermelons don't seem to have as much color and sugars as expected. Some watermelon growers are reporting 75 percent losses. The tomatoes we grow in the greenhouse have peaked and slowed down and we are hopeful that the field tomatoes will bear mightily soon despite some disease pressure. As we look towards fall, the Indian corn (for grinding fresh corn meal or decoration), popcorn, butternut squash and pumpkins are doing wonderfully and we anticipate an incredible harvest.



The Daily Del:

One of our highly appreciated farm crew members is headed to Shippensburg to study computer science. We are used our daily dose of Del, whose inimitable expressions bring us great cheer:

"It's party time at Homefields"
"It's a _______ thing" (if planting rhubarb, he would pipe up, "its a rhubarb thing,"
"Wabbit!!! (his daily barb at me for always munching carrots)
"Let's go to Park City" (this phrase could be heard any time of the day)

Del on lower left corner
Well done Del! Congratulations on resuming your college studies and thank you for three great seasons here--your work and humor will be sorely missed.



Thank you:


Thank you Butch for getting the transplanter outfitted with a shade canopy. It's never too early to start thinking about next season :-) Thank you Del for several great seasons here. Thank you Tom for always helping with tools, ideas and know-how. Thank you Elizabeth for daily supervising the farm crew and for deftly bringing in the harvest. Thank you Law Reh and each of the trainees for the skill and care you put into your work and harvests.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

Watermelons--we were pleasantly surprised to find watermelons ready to harvest. See note above about how this summer is affecting the crop.
Onions: mm, onions are exciting! The Ailsa Craig sweet onions are wonderful sauteed with butter and served with fried greens, atop potatoes or even plain. They are not a storage onion, so use within a week or two, or keep refrigerated.
Potatoes: yep, it's tater time. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Cantaloupes: a great majority of the cantaloupes were split by rapid uptake of water from the heavy rain the other week, and as such are unusable. We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Carrots: A great carrot crops this year! Carrots are one of the most finicky crops for us to grow, so we are pleased to have a good year with them. Check out the Yellowstone yellow carrot. Farm fresh carrots are a tasty treat, much different from bagged store carrots.
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Chard: remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Paresan cheese.
Greens: great greens to return in September
Cucumbers: hanging on, final week?
Squash: going, going, going...soon.


Goodbyes
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--the plants are tired out and winding down.
Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut
Summer squash/Zucchini: these all almost finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well!
Scallions: goodbye until next year.
Broccoli: an awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: these have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.
Cilantro: we anticipate the arrival of the next planting.
Turnips: coming again in fall.

Hello from the farm,

It has been a cloudy cool week here at the farm with rain looming daily but not usually materializing. Compared to last season most of our vegetables are maturing two to three weeks later--apparently plants need sunshine to grow :-).   We tranplanted a second round of pumpkin plants this week, were really happy with the way the potato digger is harvesting the potatoes, did a bunch of weeding in the fall broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and greens field, planted more arugula, cilantro, carrots, dill and fall beans,  and got the rototiller set up to run--it will do a better job of soil preparation resulting in better seed germination and harvests for your table.




Potatoes are like red gold--a great harvest this year

Elizabeth gives the tiller a trial run

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

Onions: mm, onions are exciting! The Ailsa Craig sweet onions are wonderful sauteed with butter and served with fried greens, atop potatoes or even plain.  They are not a storage onion, so use within a week or two, or keep refrigerated.
Potatoes: yep, it's tater time. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Cantaloupes: a great majority of the cantaloupes were split by rapid uptake of water from the heavy rain last week, and as such are unusable. We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Carrots: check out the beautifully colored Dragon carrots. farm fresh carrots are a tasty treat, much different from bagged store carrots.
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Beets: I have fond childhood memories of eating these still warm from being blanched, prior to them being turned into pickled red beets. great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Chard: remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Paresan cheese.
Greens: great greens to return in September
Cucumbers: hanging on, final week?
Squash: going, going, going...soon.


Goodbyes
Cucumbers: The crop was really good this year--the plants are tired out and winding down this week.
Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut
Summer squash/Zucchini: these all almost finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans: The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well!
Scallions: goodbye until next year.
Blueberries--these bore very well this year, we would have liked an extra week or two.
Broccoli: an awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: these have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.
Cilantro: we anticipate the arrival of the next planting.
Turnips: bye bye until fall, when turnips are sweeter and crisper

Down on the farm:

Hello from the farm!  We are turning a page here at the farm as the days are noticeably shorter and a touch of fall is in the air.  This week we harvested the onions and began curing them under cover, started tearing out the mulch film that the onions were grown in, trialed the potato digger that we built over the winter--with pleasing results I am happy to report, and nothing major broke down :-)
The tomato harvest is building up steam and should peak about three weeks from now and then gradually taper off into October!

Would the real carrot please take a bow?  Carrots were originally purple and other colors but were bred for orange by Dutch vegetable growers and that set precedent for us to expect orange. 

Fruit and Bread and Cheese oh my:

For those of you who have signed up for the North Star Orchard fruit share, it begins August 8,9,10.  If you want in on local fruit, cheese or bread, talk to these folks:

Cheese: Mandy at Hillacres Farm  via http://hillacrespride.com/ 
Fruit: Lisa at North Star Orchard via  www.northstarsorchard.com
Bread: Stephanie at Abendessen Bread via Abendessenbread@gmail.com  or Facebook.



Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

Onions: mm, onions are exciting!  These Ailsa Craig sweet onions are wonderful sauteed with butter and served with fried greens, atop potatoes or even plain. 
Potatoes: yep, it's tater time. Potatoes are a wonderful source of nutrients, versatile to cook with, and very satisfying to the eater--they even help you sleep well at night. (Potatoes not Prozac book)
Cantaloupes: a great majority of the cantaloupes were split by rapid uptake of water from the heavy rain last week, and as such are unusable.  We hope to have enough for everyone to get some across two or three week's time. A super great taste of summer. Try eating with a just a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
Carrots: check out the beautifully colored Dragon carrots. farm fresh carrots are a tasty treat, much different from bagged store carrots.
Eggplants: Asian eggplants are mild and sweet. Slice and put on the grill rubbed with oil, soy sauce, and miso paste. Tasty and easy to use.
Beets: great roasted with olive oil, grilled with oil and balsamic vinegar, or grated in salads.
Chard: remove the lower portion of the stalk as it is usually tough. Sautee leaves in butter, olive or coconut oil, add salt, and red pepper, top with Paresan cheese.
Greens: the hot weather has left most of the greens in not so nice shape. The chard, which doesn't mind the heat, is taking a week or two off to replenish.   Fabulous greens will return this fall with the cooler weather. 
Cucumbers: hanging on, final week?
Squash: going, going, going...soon.


Goodbyes
Cucumbers:  The crop was really good this year--the plants are tired out and winding down this week. 
Cabbage: We'll keep finding a few of these over the next couple of weeks. Cut into wedges and serve with a sprinkle of salt, make sauerkraut 
Summer squash/Zucchini: these all almost finished as well (some people cheer) stir fry, grate and use for zucchini bread or freeze for later.
Beans:  The beans did well, and there is a chance we will have fall beans as well! 
Scallions: goodbye until next year.
Blueberries--these bore very well this year, we would have liked an extra week or two.
Broccoli: an awesome broccoli crop this year--will be back in the Fall.
Bok choi and Napa: these have run their course and we will see them again in October and November--a great time to make kimchee with the cool weather.
Cilantro: we anticipate the arrival of the next planting.
Turnips: bye bye until fall, when turnips are sweeter and crisper

The Pumpkin and Winter Squash field signals the approach of fall.

Thank you Farmer Kim:

Thank you Farmer Kim for four great seasons here as distribution diva. We commend your commitment to family but will miss you all the same!  Best wishes and hope to see you at the farm soon.  Scott, Elizabeth, Law Reh and the whole farm crew.