Last Week of July

This Week at the Farm

The tomatoes are picking up speed, and the cucumbers are cruising as the blueberry season fades away. We are starting to harvest melons today. Unfortunately, the groundhogs did quite a number on the melon patch we discovered yesterday, but the watermelon planting looks good. Crows are often quite a nuisance, as they like to peck holes in the almost-ripe watermelon, ruining them. This year, the damage to watermelons is slight however. If you drive along Sun Lane, you can see the pumpkin and winter squash plants starting to vine happily. We have spent quite a lot of time working over there to control the weeds before the vine canopies closed over. Great work Elizabeth and Brian, and all of the trainees!

The Sunflower House

If you haven’t seen it, the sunflower house is the result of Elizabeth’s creativity and effort: a great place to take children or grandchildren and/or be a kid yourself. It is right before the berry patch.Tea and crumpets not required.

Pick Your Own Field Update

The last time I wrote about the pick-your-own field it was still in a mostly miniature state. Some of the current highlights are: excellent signs and descriptions by Jeff and Elizabeth, heirloom tomato varieties including the so-called "black" when ripe varieties, Moldovan green when ripe tomatoes, hot peppers that are starting to ripen—*they get hotter the farther back the aisle you go.* Colorful zinnias, and tasty Sungold cherry tomatoes, and of course, basil: green, purple and variegated. To make pickled peppers, check out the Pepperoncini peppers—they are at the end of the hot pepper bed, but are mild.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

• Melon: chill and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper
• Watermelon: Chill and sprinkle with a bit of salt if desired
• Beets: boil until tender, slip the skins, serve slightly warm
• Eggplant: slice and put on the grill or skillet—brush with olive oil and soy sauce
• Onions: Walla Wallas in particular, but others as well—brown in the skillet with some butter and enjoy the sweet mild flavor with almost any meal.
• Cucumbers: great for munching on plain, but also see cuke/tomato salad
  recipe from previous week
• Sunflowers: see soup recipe below, edible petals!

Enjoy!
Scott

Upcoming Events

Water Conservation at Home
Saturday, August 23, at 10 a.m.
Water conservation inside the house and out, including cisterns (rainbarrels), presented by Matt Kofroth, Watershed Specialist with the Lancaster County Conservation District. Sign up if interested on the sheet.

September 19th Homefields Golf Tournament
Homefields, our benevolent landlord and host will hold its 12th annual Golf Tournament Sept 19th at Crossgates Golf Course, Millersville. To participate, pick up a copy of the flyer here at the farm or see their website at: www.homefields.org. Proceeds benefit Homefields.

Minestra di Girasole (Sunflower Soup)
Prep Time:15 min
Cooking Time:35 min
Difficulty:Intermediate

Ingredients
3 pieces smoked bacon
1 spring onion, 1 garlic clove
2 tbsp olive oil
2 carrots, 2 potatoes, 2 courgettes (zucchini)
1 1/4 quarts vegetable stock
2 handfuls of sunflower petals
1 handful of basil
grated Parmesan cheese

Method
Mince the bacon with the onion and the garlic. Slightly pan-fry with butter and oil. Add the chopped carrots, potatoes and courgettes. Add the vegetable stock. Cook for about 30 minutes and then toss 2 big handfuls of sunflower petals in the soup and 1 of basil. Cook for further 5 minutes. Pour the soup in the bowls and sprinkle with plenty of chopped basil and parsley. Add grated parmesan cheese and serve.

4th Week of July

This Week at the Farm

Almost imperceptibly the days are growing a bit shorter as August approaches. The rainfall yesterday was much appreciated as the ninety degree weather had wicked away most of the moisture from a week ago. I picked the first ripe pepper this morning so we will soon be harvesting red, orange and yellow ripe bell peppers. Melons and watermelons are coming soon too, including perennial farm favorites Sweetie No.6 butterscotch melon and Sugar Baby watermelons.

Saturday, August 23, at 10 a.m.

Water Conservation at Home: inside the house and out, including cisterns (rainbarrels), presented by Matt Kofroth, Watershed Specialist with the Lancaster County Conservation District. Sign up if interested on the sheet.

Friday, September 19

Homefields Golf Tournament

Homefields, our benevolent landlord and host will hold its 12th annual Golf Tournament Sept 19th at Crossgates Golf Course, Millersville. To participate, pick up a copy of the flyer here at the farm or see their website at: www.homefields.org. Proceeds benefit Homefields.

Did you Know?

Farmers are using seawater and sea salt to re-mineralize their soils. Seawater contains 90 or more trace elements, and plants and animals show improved health from the addition of the sea water. Animals show a marked preference for areas of pasture that have the sea minerals added.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

• Beets: boil until tender, slip the skins, serve slightly warm. See recipes below and from last week.
• Eggplant: slice and put on the grill or skillet—brush with olive oil and soy sauce
• Onions: Walla Wallas in particular, but others as well—brown in the skillet with some butter and enjoy the sweet mild flavor with almost any other meal.
• Cucumbers: great for munching on plain, but also see cuke/tomato salad recipe from last week.

Enjoy!
Scott

Roasted Beets-- from Teri’s Kitchen
www.teriskitchen.com

· 1-1/2 pounds medium red beets, peeled and quartered
· 3 tablespoons olive oil
· 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
· Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375° F. Place the beets in a small roasting or baking dish in one layer. Drizzle with the oil. Add the garlic, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Roast until fork-tender, about 30 minutes. Serve hot or room temperature.

Note: If you can get baby beets, roast them whole with the peel on. The peel will slip off easily when cooked.

3rd Week of July

A Week at the Farm

Mid-July, can the tomato boom be far off? We are starting to harvest a few, and are anticipating a larger harvest in a week or two. Continuing on with introducing the trainees at the farm:

• Jeff has worked here at the farm since last season and quickly became seasoned. He is the resident handyman, putting together trellises, signs for the PYO field, assembling irrigation and doing excellent harvesting work with the zucchini and cucumbers, which need particularly tender care.
• Tim has been here but a few weeks and is doing a great job. He is especially skilled with harvesting and weed control and his enthusiasm for pretty much any project is appreciated.
• Orie enjoys the farm very much and especially likes the old Farmall tractor, having memories of them from growing up. He has been doing a great job with the garlic.

Water Conservation at Home
Saturday, August 23, 10am

Water Conservation at Home: inside the house and out, including cisterns (rainbarrels), presented by Matt Kofroth, Watershed Specialist with the Lancaster County Conservation District. Please sign up at the distribution table, email me or call 717-871-3110 to attend.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

• Beets: see the salad and pickled beet and red beet egg recipes below
• Eggplant: slice and put on the grill or skillet—brush with olive oil and soy sauce
• Swiss Chard: see the Italian recipe below
• Cucumbers: great for munching on plain, but also see cuke/tomato salad recipe below

Thank You

Special thanks to shareholder Peter Shannon for donating a misting fan. It has been very much appreciated on some of these extremely hot and humid days by both trainees and staff. Thank you to all the hands and hard work that make this possible, and to you for your enthusiasm, encouragement, and appreciation for the vegetables.

-Scott

Beet Salad
from shareholder Deborah Barkun

Wash, peel, and grate raw beets (easy in a food processor). Toss in 1-2 cloves of garlic or garlic scapes. Add 1 cup of garbanzo beans and 1 cup of minced parsley. Dress with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, the zest and juice of 1 orange, the zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon, and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar. It is delicious as is or after it sits and "pickles".
(The NY Times suggests adding goat cheese, but was plenty tasty sans cheese.)

Justina's Bietola (Swiss chard)
from shareholder Joan Shannon

Serves 2
Pan fry 2 pork chops (or chicken parts)* till browned. Season with salt and pepper and other seasonings to taste. Add 12 oz can of Hunt's tomato sauce (or home canned tomatoes, or
commercial crushed or diced). Mix bought sauce with 1/2 can water. Simmer on low 30 minutes. Remove chops. Place Swiss chard in pan and simmer on low for 30 minutes (we steam it slightly beforehand, stalks in bottom of steamer). Stalks should be cut into small pieces, with leaves cut just twice or so. Near end of cooking, set meat on top till hot, then serve. The dish is not complete without good (crusty, dense) Italian bread - and dipping is required!

*It also makes a good vegetarian dish minus the chops/chicken. Even if eaten with meat, best with small portion of meat in proportion to chard. May substitute beet greens for some or all of chard.

Pickled Beets and Red Beet Eggs
from Lorena Breneman

1-2 lbs beets, tops cut off (use in salad!) Cook till tender in two inches of water. Drain and save water. Slip skins from beets and discard skins. Cut beets into chunks and set aside. Measure beet water, add water if necessary to make one cup. Add 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 cup sugar, one cinnamon stick, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add beets to juice and chill. Add hard-boiled eggs and voila! - red-beet eggs!

Scott’s Simple but Super Cuke Salad

This is my version of a salad that I was served by Mikhail and Anna Zotov, Russian friends who were learning English in Virginia.
Dice and combine in a bowl:
An onion
A few tomatoes
One or two cucumbers
Two cloves of garlic
Add a healthy shot of olive oil, stir and let sit for a while before eating, or refrigerate for later
--add black pepper and salt if desired

2nd Week of July

A Week at the Farm

It’s July...the humidity kicks up and the rainfall is fickle, dumping down in some places and skipping others. It’s a bit dry here, so we continue to irrigate - water is the most critical "nutrient." The strawberry season has faded away and the blueberry crop is looking splendid for this week. If you lift the netting to pick blueberries, please tuck it back down around when finished to keep the birds from getting in under the netting: they like the blueberries even more than we do! The hot weather crops are starting to appear, eggplant now, and before long tomatoes and peppers. We’re experimenting with different methods of onion curing, so they will soon be a part of the harvest as well as garlic, which may be in this week’s share.

I’d like to introduce some more of the faces behind the food here at the farm:

• Brad has worked here for several years and does precision hoeing, tackling weeds in emerging crops that most of us can’t even see yet. He is also a skilled harvester, both in picking crops and cutting salad greens and spinach.
• Glenn is the only original trainee from that very first harvest season way back in 2000. He is appreciated for his contentment and enthusiasm for life and people just as much as his tireless work ethic. You’ll find him cheerfully greeting everyone on Fridays at the distribution area.
• Scott C. starts out very early in the morning to get the bus from E-town to Lancaster and then to the farm. Also a veteran trainee, he is a fountain of geographical knowledge and world trivia in addition to the great work that he does here. He is skilled at transplanting and great at pretty much everything. More introductions to follow next week…

Home gardening workshop
Saturday, July 12, at 10 am (July 19 raindate)

Pruning, composting, patio gardens, vermicomposting, organic gardening, & natural pesticides/herbicides, presented by Tom & Susan Smith, Master Gardeners, from the Lancaster County Extension Center. Not yet signed up? Please email me or call 717-871-3110.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

• Beets: excellent grated raw in salads, roasted coated with olive oil, or steamed til tender. Make pickled beets and red beet eggs.
• Eggplant: slice and put on the grill or skillet—brush with olive oil and soy sauce.
• Swiss Chard: see recipe below.
• Cucumbers: great with diced tomatoes, garlic, onions, and olive oil.

Did you know?

There are 16 macro and micro nutrients necessary for healthy plant growth. Chemical fertilizers usually contain only N-P-K: Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium When you see fertilizer that says 20-10-10 for example, it means is contains 20 percent Nitrogen, 10 percent Phosphorous, 10 percent Potassium (Potash).

Scott

Scott’s Chard Attempt Recipe

Ok, so I’ll admit it, Bright Lights chard is beautiful, but I didn’t grow up eating chard and hadn’t yet found a way that I really enjoyed it until this past weekend. Here’s what I came up with:

1. Sautee the diced chard stems in olive oil until somewhat tender, then add chopped onions and minced garlic and sautee further.
2. Add the chopped chard greens and stir occasionally until tender.
3. Sprinkle with turmeric and red pepper to taste, stir well.
4. Allow to simmer a few minutes so flavors can blend. Taste, adjust if desired.
5. Eat as a side or serve over rice

Additional Recipes--starring eggplant or cucumbers
Looking for summer meals? Try a Middle Eastern Mezze Platter. You will want your favorite hummus, pita bread and veggies for dipping like cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, lettuce and carrots. Then try Babaganoush (eggplant spread) and/or Tabouli to complete your meal.

Babaganoush from The Candle Café Cookbook

Makes about 4 cups
Hint: be careful not to make too smooth in the food processor. Should be fairly chunky.
4 small eggplants
1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced, or scapes
½ cup sesame tahini
½ cup vegan mayo or mayonnaise
½ tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425 F.
2. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and score the flesh with a small knife. Place cut-side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake until the eggplants are very soft, about 30 to 40 minutes.
3. When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, place the halves flesh side up and , using a small spoon, scrape out and discard as many of the bitter seeds as possible. Scoop out the rest of the flesh into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.
4. Add the olive oil, garlic, tahini, Mayo, salt and pepper and process, being careful not to make the mixture too smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if necessary. The Babaganoush can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before serving.
5. Transfer to a bowl and serve with pita crisps or flatbread.

Tabouli (Wheat and Parsley Salad) from Extending the Table

Serves 4 to 6
1 cup cracked bulgur wheat
3 cups boiling water
1 ½ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ fresh mint, finely chopped
½ cup green onion, minced
1 small cucumber, chopped
3 firm tomatoes, chopped
1 ¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup lemon juice

1. Cover bulgur wheat with boiling water and let soak several hours. Drain wheat thoroughly after soaking several hours.
2. Mix the herbs, onion, cucumber, tomato, salt, pepper, oil and lemon juice together. Toss with other ingredients, cover and chill.

Serving tips: Traditionally served with romaine lettuce, with the lettuce used as a utensil.
This salad may be prepared a day in advance, but do not add lemon juice until just before serving.

1st week of July

*Special days and hours for the July 4th Holiday*

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Wednesday, July 2, 3-7pm

Thursday, July 3, 9am-7pm

Closed Friday & Saturday, July 4 & 5

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Regular hours resume next week.

A Week at the Farm

This week we’ve started to harvest and cure the garlic.Our longest-growing annual crop, it is planted in October by breaking apart a bulb into the little cloves and planting them point-up in anticipation of a July harvest. Some weeding along the way occurs too. ;-) Also this week we are continuing to set up and run drip irrigation tape. Not only does it use a lot less water than sprinklers, it mostly waters the vegetables and not the weeds.

To pick up from last week with introducing the faces behind your food, here are some more snapshots:

• Bob has been here for several seasons, almost from the beginning. He's a great all-arounder, skilled greens harvester and weed manager.
• Eric, another old-timer, does all of the smaller-spaces mowing with a walk behind mower, and his enthusiasm for it never fades. He is also is a good scout and notices anything that is out of place or needs to be repaired.
• Brian is an industrious worker and weeds fear him. He is also a great handyman and works with tools and repairs and organizing.

Gardening Workshop

Saturday, July 12, at 10am (July 19 raindate)

Home gardening: pruning, composting, patio gardens, vermicomposting, organic gardening, & natural pesticides/herbicides, presented by Tom & Susan Smith, Master Gardeners, from the Lancaster County Extension Center. To attend, please sign up on the sheet here at the barn.

Rain Barrels and Water Conservation Workshop
Saturday, August 23,10 am

Water Conservation at Home: inside the house and out, including cisterns (rain barrels), presented by Matt Kofroth, Watershed Specialist with the Lancaster County Conservation District.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest

• Eggplant: slice and put on the grill or skillet. Brush with olive oil, soy sauce, and black pepper. Mmm!
• Garlic scapes: milder than bulb garlic, it is great in pesto, stir-fry or salads.
• Beets: excellent grated raw in salads, roasted coated with olive oil, or steamed 'til tender.
• Radish: adds a nice "kick" to salads.
• Cilantro: prominent in Vietnamese cooking and also salsa—great in soups, salads, anywhere.
• Swiss Chard: cut off ribs, steam lightly and add garlic, oil and parmesan cheese, nuts etc.

Have a great July 4th weekend!
Scott

Kale Recipe
Olive Garden Zuppa Tuscana
(From shareholder Kerry Bushong - Thank you Kerry!)

SERVES 4 -6
3/4 cup onion, diced
1 slice bacon, diced
1 1/4 teaspoons garlic cloves, minced
1 ounce chicken bouillon (can use two cans of chicken broth instead)
1 quart water
2 medium potatoes, cut into 1/4 cubes (or two cans of canned potatoes)
2 cups chopped Kale
1 1/2 cups spicy precooked link sausage
3/4 cup heavy cream

Directions:
1. Place onions and bacon into large saucepan and cook onions over medium heat
until they are almost clear. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
2. Add chicken bouillon, water and potatoes, bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 more minutes then serve. Does well if it simmers in the crockpot.