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

First Week of June

Welcome to the first harvest of the season! We are excited to be harvesting, the culmination of seeding and planting begun in early March. Some of the crops you can look forward to in these first few weeks are: strawberries, lettuce mix, spinach, kale and cilantro among others. As the season progresses, look for blueberries and the "hot crops" like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplant in July, melons in August and cool weather crops like pumpkins, winter squash, beets, broccoli, cabbage in Sept-Nov.

Ok, so how does this work?

• Come up to the barn and sign in on the sheet
• Proceed down the half share or full share list on the wall
• Count or weigh out your veggies and box or bag them. If you have a reusable bag or box that would be great! We will have bags here if you need them.
• You may check out the PYO (pick your own) board to see if there are flowers or herbs listed that you would like to harvest. The PYO field is located just beyond the greenhouses. Herb beds are here by the barn.
• Pick up a newsletter, recipes or other information from the sign-in table if desired.
• Enjoy the farm and the fresh food!

What's new this year?

• Five youths are joining us through the Arbor youth program to work and explore the world of organic farming and receive job training.
• Look for interesting bamboo creations both practical and aesthetic around the farm.
• There is a walking trail around the perimeter of the farm behind the white fence ribbon--it starts at the end of the strawberry field and ends near the PYO field.
• We have a new higher visibility sign up by the road.
• The chickens are laying eggs-they will be for sale on a very limited basis since we only have 3 hens currently.

About some of this week’s goodies:

• Garlic Scapes: use the succulent “neck” of the scape in salads or stir-fries or anywhere you would enjoy either garlic or onions.
• 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.
• Strawberries and Harvesting: mmm…strawberries. These strawberries are so good. Nothing signals early summer like a fresh-picked sun-warmed strawberry from the farm. *If you would like to pick your strawberries earlier in the week, please feel free to come by the farm weekdays 5-7:30pm for self-serve harvesting*. One strawberry harvest per shareholder per week please to ensure a harvest for everyone. Full shares-2 boxes per week, Half shares-1 box per week.

Volunteers Wanted this Week and Upcoming Events

First Harvest & Ambassadors: For our new shareholders, keep your eyes open for a Farm Ambassador this week during pick-up hours, to help you along and answer any questions you might have. Also, be sure to bring the kids! They can have their photos taken on the farm 'tractor,' aka Gator, plant seeds to take home and grow, and do some farm coloring!

For our seasoned shareholders (pun intended), we’re looking for a few people to serve as Farm Ambassadors for the opening weekend at Homefields. If you’re interested, please contact Heather at lawgirl924@hotmail.com (please put HOMEFIELDS in the subject line) or at 717-808-7060.

A look ahead: Spring cleaning, down at the Farm! Thursday June 18 to Saturday, June 20, during regular share pick-up hours. Clean out your closets! Tackle your attic! Gather up your garage! Bring your clean clothing, household goods, and small housewares to the Goodwill truck at Homefields! Please respect Goodwill's donation policy, "Give to Goodwill what you would give to a friend." For more information, click here or call toll free 1-800-432-4483. **Receipts will be available for tax purposes**

Thank you for being a part of this farm. Because of you, people with disabilities have an opportunity to learn and work here, people in the community benefit from fresh nutrient-packed food, and a local small farm flourishes. Looking forward to a great season of food and fun.

Scott Breneman
Farm Manager

May Farm Update

Hello from the farm!

We are planting away, putting in thousands of lettuce heads, napa cabbage and bok choi transplants into the soil this week. Yesterday was an adventure as we ended up looking like the farm mud wrestling team as the rains came down. The strawberries are flowering and looking good for early June, the lettuce is freshly hoed, and the fields are filling up with vegetables in preparation for June. The warm season crops are cued up for transplanting later this week: tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

*First Harvest is June 4, 5, 6 *

Thurs: 3-7pm
Fri 11-7pm
Sat 9-1pm [whichever day suits you best each week--flexible pickup]

Paying for your share:
Payment is requested before or during the first harvest pick up days.

Call for volunteers! We’re looking for a few people to serve as Share Ambassadors for the opening weekend at Homefields. Ambassadors will greet new shareholders and show them the ropes of shareholding at Homefields, including signing in, collecting a share (both in the barn and in the pick-your-own fields), and other general questions. Ambassadors will also welcome our youngest ‘farmers,’ handing out coloring pages, taking kids’ photos on the 'tractor,' and pointing them to a plant-your-own table. If you’re interested, please contact Heather at lawgirl924@hotmail.com (please put FARM in the subject line) or at 808-7060.


Looking forward to seeing you and starting the harvest,

Scott

April Farm Update

Hello from the verdant fields of the farm!

Everything is alive and growing gangbusters. We are filling the greenhouse with seedlings and getting ready to do the first transplanting outdoors. Here is some of what has been happening since the last update:

--Bradley Hagens joined the farm staff for this season. No stranger to the farm, he has both worked here before and been a shareholder, and his horticultural and agricultural talents are much appreciated.

--Elizabeth Swope and I grafted the tops of the pawpaw trees over to improved varieties--this should mean better fruit and fewer years to bearing.

--We applied loads of our own finished compost to the fields that had weed pressure last season and lower levels of organic matter. If you drop off any compostables at the pile you'll see that a whole lot of it has disappeared onto the fields.

--The trainees, some familiar and some new faces, have done an excellent job of mulching the blueberries for weed control as well as seeding in the greenhouse. Today they are seeding watermelons in the greenhouse! Mmm, melons…

Interest in the farm this year is very high and I expect that we will be full in the next few weeks. If you know anyone who is intending to get a share this season, please let them know that now is the time.

Looking forward to the June harvest,

Scott

March Farm Update

The farm is turning vibrant green, we are planting flats of broccoli, cabbage, and kale in the greenhouse, the chickens just started laying eggs last week, and interest in shares for the season is very strong.

We moved the chicken coop out of the greenhouse this week and it was really neat to see the chickens having a ball grazing on succulent grass. They are some striking and uniquely-colored chickens, the offspring of various pairings of breeds that my wife, daughters and I raise at home. During the growing season, they will be debugging, weeding, and fertilizing the field that we are resting for this season, thanks to their open floor portable pen. The chickens will also be accepting donations of kitchen scraps.

The greenhouse is an awesome place to be in late winter when there can still be snow on the ground but a world of green and warmth inside. Your summer's food is emerging in miniature.

We have shares available if you have friends that haven't gotten around to sending in their sign-up form yet. Thanks for your help in getting the word out.

Happy first day of spring tomorrow and June is not far off!

Scott

A Wintry Farm Update

Things are alive at the farm even if the ground is frozen hard and the wind is gusting. Planning for the new season is underway--look for 2009 share information in your mailbox soon!

Did you Know?

Is sure is cold this week, but the record low temperature for Millersville is: -16 degrees (1994) (yup, that's negative)

The farm photo blog is updated with some fall and early winter pictures--check out the peeps! www.goodwillathomefieldsfarmcsa.blogspot.com

Got a budding interest in fruit growing?

Tomorrow: Saturday Jan 17th the Backyard Fruit Growers Winter meeting will be held at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center from 10am-4pm. There is a $5.00 suggested donation for non-members, to contribute to the Speakers’ Fund. For more information, contact Chris Manning at byfg@epix.net . In case of severe weather, call (610) 593-6990 for updates.

The Lancaster Farm and Home Center will once again host the Winter Meeting of the Back Yard Fruit Growers on Saturday, January 17. Topics of discussion will include small (or soft) fruit and hardy kiwi fruit. The public is welcome to attend, and to learn more about the BYFG. David Jackson and Holly Laubach of Kiwi Korners will discuss hardy kiwi culture in the morning session. Kiwi Korners, located in Northeastern Pennsylvania, has been developing and researching new varieties of hardy kiwi for over 20 years. They are also the first and only certified organic producer of hardy kiwi fruit.

During the afternoon session Kathy Demchak will talk about small fruit in general. She is the Senior Extension Specialist at Penn State University. Her current projects include fall-bearing red raspberry and gooseberry cultivar trials as well as red raspberry pruning trials. Lancaster Farm and Home Center is located at 1383 Arcadia Rd, just off Route 72 south of the Route 30 interchange. The doors will open at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting will run from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. Coffee and donuts will be available before the meeting’s start. Everyone is encouraged to bring a bag lunch.

Keep warm,
Scott

A December Farm Update

Hello from the farm!

Gift Box Ordering

If you are interested in ordering gift boxes for Christmas, just send me an email *by Monday Dec 8th* letting me know how many you would like. They will be ready for pick up here at the barn starting Dec 12-Dec 19, weekdays 9-4pm.

The boxes contain local products: Wilbur Buds, College Coffee Roasters Coffee, Fruit Butters, and Cinnamon Honey Graham pretzels. and are pictured at: http://www.yourgoodwill.org/business/lancastercountygiftboxes.htm

Self-Harvest Update

If you are wondering about coming out to glean the fields, there are still some great vegetables out there despite the many hard freezes that came early this year.

• collards and kale are in great shape and tasty
• beets are small but in good condition
• the purple top turnips are good
• the red and white turnips are not as fine-textured as before
• there are still some scallions that I think should be nice
• chard took a beating from the cold, but worth trying perhaps
  

Hope you are well and keeping warm,
Scott