Notes from Your Farm

Hello from the farm,

We came through a pretty substantial storm on Sunday with little damage, and the fields are well-saturated with the 2 1/2 inches of rain. The "hot crops" are getting into full swing and you'll see the trio of them in increasing numbers over the next few weeks: peppers, eggplants and tomatoes. Last year, when late blight was making the rounds all over the Northeast, our plants were damaged. So far, things look pretty good in the tomato field. We have 1200 tomato plants out there, which could result in a theoretical yield of about 36,000 lbs--hopefully they don't do do that well, or we'll be up to our ears in tomato sauce. Melons are doing well this year and there are all kinds--cantaloupes, Galia melons, red, orange, yellow, and pink-fleshed watermelons. Nothings says summer like melon juice dribbling down your chin. We're happy to have some beautiful beets from our neighbor, Promised Land farm--we gave her some of our prolific cucumber harvest a few weeks ago and she is sharing some of her abundant beets with us.

Trainees at the Farm
The trainees are doing an outstanding job this season. Each day between 4-6 trainees arrive at the farm from all over the county. They might be coming from an apartment, group home, parent's house, or boarding house and using all manner of transport to get here: walking, bicycle, bus, staff or driving.
One trainee in particular spends almost two hours morning and evening using the bus to come here from the western end of the county. Of the six people who live in the two group homes here at Homefields, one elects to work on the farm.


Helping Homefields
On Saturday August 14th our benevolent landlord and host, Homefields will be having a grounds clean up work session from 8-11am. Anyone who is willing to come and help do basic yard work.

Representatives from the Homefields Board of Directors will also be selling $5.00 raffle tickets for a new Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Proceeds from the raffle go to upkeep of the entire property.

Attention Golfers: Please consider supporting Homefields by participating in our annual Golf Outing to be held on Friday September 2010 at Crossgates. Information cards will be by the weekly share pick up sign in sheet or you can go to the www.homefields.org.

Suggestions for the Harvest

Melons: best chilled. Pepper on cantaloupes can be tasty.
Eggplant: Slice and throw on the grill. Brush on a little oil and soy sauce. Or see eggplant parmesan recipe below
Sweet Onions: super for carmelizing, for any onion task, very sweet--keep refrigerated.
Carrots: carrots sticks, pennies or grated for salad, roasted, boiled with butter and brown sugar or maple syrup, curried, carrot soup...the colors will fade when cooked.

Cabbage: the simplest ways to use this are cut into wedges and serve with a bit of salt, or shred and add to salad.

Potatoes: bakes, boiled, mashed, roasted...

Beets: grate and add to salad, roast, pickle,

Summer Squash: add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook.

Cucumbers: add to your lettuce and greens for salad. Dice and add to yogurt with onions and garlic scapes.

Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc...use like spinach

--The trick to Eggplant Parmesan is to drain the eggplant slices of excess moisture first, before cooking. We found this recipe recently in the New York Times and adapted it to our taste (olive oil only - no canola oil, and no hard boiled egg slices as the original recipe called for).

Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs (about 2 large) eggplants
• Kosher salt
• 1 28-oz can whole peeled tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
• Olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup fine dry breadcrumbs
• 4 large eggs, beaten
• 1 1/2 lbs of fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
• 1 cup grated high quality Parmesan cheese
• 1 packed cup fresh basil leaves

METHOD

1 Cut eggplants lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices. Arrange one layer in the bottom of a large colander and sprinkle evenly with salt. Repeat with remaining eggplant, salting, until all eggplant is in the colander. Weigh down the slices with a couple of plates and let drain for 2 hours. The purpose of this step is to have the eggplant release some of its moisture before cooking.

2 While the eggplant is draining, prepare tomato sauce. Combine tomatoes, garlic and 1/3 cup olive oil in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper to tasted and set aside.

3 When eggplant has drained, press down on it to remove excess water, wipe off the excess salt, and lay the slices out on paper towels to remove all the moisture. In a wide, shallow bowl, combine flour and breadcrumbs. Mix well. Pour beaten eggs into another wide shallow bowl. Place a large, deep skillet over medium heat, and pour in a a half inch of olive oil. When oil is shimmering, dredge the eggplant slices first in the flour mixture, then in the beaten egg. Working in batches, slide coated eggplant into hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides, turning once. Drain on paper towels.

4 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In the bottom of a 10x15 inch glass baking dish, spread 1 cup of tomato sauce. Top with one third of the eggplant slices. Top eggplant with half of the mozzarella slices. Sprinkle with one third of the Parmesan and half of the basil leaves.

5 Make a second layer of eggplant slices, topped by 1 cup of sauce, remaining mozzarella, half the remaining Parmesan, and all of the remaining basil. Add remaining eggplant, and top with the remaining tomato sauce and Parmesan.

6 Bake until cheese has melted and the top is slightly brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to rest at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 8.
--from http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/eggplant_parmesan/

Enjoy and thank you!

Scott

Scott Breneman

Farm Manager

Goodwilll at Homefields Farm

PO Box 38
150 Letort Rd
Millersville, PA 17551

http://www.yourgoodwill.org/farm

P: 717-871-3110

Notes from Your Farm July 22

Hello from the farm!

Between storms this week, we were able to get the fall brassicas planted. Fall crops are planted in mid-summer, when you are not thinking about fall, but if you wait until fall to plant them, they wouldn't mature in time. Using the water wheel transplanter, which makes a divot and fills it with water, we planted about five thousand green and red cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and even some Brussels sprouts.

The hot July weather brings with it some of our favorite summer vegetables: the farm crew picked over 170lbs of snap beans. Beans don't weigh very much, that's pretty amazing--plenty of beans for 175 shares. In addition to the usual green and yellow beans, we also did a test planting of pink and purple bean varieties. See the raw bean salad recipe if you want them to retain their color. We continue to dig potatoes, and yesterday while mowing between the beds of tomatoes and peppers I was delighted to see touches of red on some of the tomatoes as well as some color on some of the peppers. And....the melons and watermelons are starting to ripen also, so you will probably see some of these starting this week or next.

Raw Green Bean Salad
Ant Egg Soup, Natacha Du Pont De Bie

Pink and purple beans turn green when cooked, so here is a recipe for using them raw:

• 1 large clove garlic, peeled
• 1 birds-eye chili or red chile powder
• 1 heaped teaspoon rough salt
• 1 level dessert spoon brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts
• 1 pound raw green beans or long beans, topped and tailed, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce (omit if desired)
• 3 flavorful medium tomatoes, quartered, or 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• juice of one lime (or more, to taste)

Pound the garlic, chilies, salt and sugar in a pestle and mortar until they are a rough paste. Add the peanuts and pound to break them up (not too fine). Add the bean pieces and fish sauce and pound them until they are bruised so the flavors infuse. Add the tomatoes and pound a few more times. Squeeze on the lime and serve immediately.
--from http://faretoremember.blogspot.com/2010/04/seeing-green-lao-raw-green-bean-salad.html

Suggestions for the Harvest

Sweet Onions: super for carmelizing, for any onion task, very sweet--keep refrigerated.
Carrots: carrots sticks, pennies or grated for salad, roasted, boiled with butter and brown sugar or maple syrup, curried, carrot soup...the colors will fade when cooked.

Cabbage: the simplest ways to use this are cut into wedges and serve with a bit of salt, or shred and add to salad.

Potatoes: bakes, boiled, mashed, roasted...

Beets: grate and add to salad, roast, pickle,

Summer Squash: add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook.

Cucumbers: add to your lettuce and greens for salad. Dice and add to yogurt with onions and garlic scapes.

Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc...use like spinach

Thank You
Thank you Law Reh, Elizabeth, and trainees for a job well done!

Scott

Scott Breneman

Farm Manager

Goodwilll at Homefields Farm

PO Box 38
150 Letort Rd
Millersville, PA 17551

http://www.yourgoodwill.org/farm

P: 717-871-3110

Hello from the farm,

The scorching heat of last week dissipated and the rains came down. Yesterday's two-plus inches turned the arid adobe-like fields into brown oatmeal. The beans in particular had looked pretty dry, but today all of the crops appear rejuvenated. There is nothing like rainfall--plants respond to it much better than to irrigation.

This week we are harvesting more Red Norland and Yukon Gold potatoes, and I rigged up a dehilling setup on the tractor that is helping to make the harvest go more smoothly. The garlic is looking great, and the ground is soft enough that we can pull carrots up out of the ground without a shovel--a perk of the abundant rain. Fox 43 did a story on the rain here yesterday which aired last evening at 11pm.

Carrots are Orange...aren't they?

Each year we refine the selection of crops that we grow based on your feedback and how we observed each crop performing in the field--disease resistance, insect susceptibility, vigor, and yield. This week we are pretty tickled to see the first carrots harvested: some are red with an orange center, and the other variety is purple throughout. Despite names that sound like they came out of the Russian heavy metal and space program, Purple Haze, Deep Purple, Atomic Red, and Dragon are mostly developed by plant breeders here in the U.S.

Carrots are thought to be of Afghan origin. Suprisingly the first carrots described in literature in the 12th century were red and yellow, not orange. Orange carrots were developed by the Dutch in the 1600s and that is orange is the color that we think carrots should be. The various colors of carrot each have their own flavor and in the case of the reddish carrots, lots of healthy lycopene. Other than orange, carrots may be red, yellow, pinkish, or white.

Suggestions for the Harvest:

Carrots: carrots sticks, pennies or grated for salad, roasted, boiled with butter and brown sugar or maple syrup, curried, carrot soup...the colors will fade when cooked.

Cabbage: the simplest ways to use this are cut into wedges and serve with a bit of salt, or shred and add to salad.

Potatoes: bakes, boiled, mashed, roasted, see the roasted rosemary potato recipe below.

Beets: grate and add to salad, roast, pickle,

Summer Squash: add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook.

Cucumbers: add to your lettuce and greens for salad. Dice and add to yogurt with onions and garlic scapes.

Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc...use like spinach

Kale: this nutritional powerhouse is great stir-fried with olive oil and garlic (scapes)

Garlic Scapes: the soft neck of the garlic--wonderful garlic flavor, cooked or raw. Discard any firm portion unless you enjoy the crunchiness.

Carrot Bread

Ingredients List:

4 medium eggs.

2 ½ cups of flour.

2 cups of carrots, shredded finely.

1 ½ cups of sugar.

1 ¼ cups of corn oil.

2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

2 teaspoons of baking powder.

1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda.

¼ teaspoon of salt.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°F).

Cream the corn oil and sugar.

Add each of the four eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each is added.

Blend in the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Fold in the shredded carrot.

Bake in a greased loaf pan for about 90 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack.

--from www.carrotrecipes.net ---a treasure trove of all sorts of carrot recipes.


Thank You
Thank you this week to Elizabeth Swope, Assistant Farm Manager, Law Reh, farm staff, and each of the trainees for a tremendous harvesting job during all of the heat last week and for the great season so far. Nice work guys!

Hope you are enjoying the seasonal eating and the farm experience each week.

Scott

Hello from the steamy fields!

This week we've been enjoying the warm weather and finding that 100 degrees is tolerable but not desirable. The frequent rains of seemingly yesterday are long gone, so we have the trickle irrigation going and some sprinklers to get water to the sun-baked fields. The garlic harvest continues and the curing racks upstairs showcase a great abundance of garlic. We are also beginning to harvest potatoes and will kick off with the tasty Red Norland variety. Fall planting of squash, pumpkins and broccoli family plants is underway also.


Organic Thoughts:

Organic farming and food is often viewed or labeled by what is not--no chemicals, no synthetic fertilizers, no genetically modified seed...and so on. What about looking at it from it does do? Without waxing philosophical or getting too heady, organic growing strives to look the whole realm of what is happening above and below ground, to understand the natural processes and work with them to encourage healthy soils and in turn, healthy crops. We do a good bit of composting here on the farm, as well as purchase compost to enrich the soil, take soil samples each year to ensure that the major and minor elements necessary for healthy growth are present, grow nitrogen-fixing crops such as sunn hemp, hairy vetch, and clover, which pull nitrogen from the atmosphere and translocate it to root nodules for the benefit of subsequent plants, grow smother crops such as buckwheat and sorghum sudangrass to outpace the weeds and add organic matter to the soil, practice crop rotation to keep disease or insects from building up, and apply trace minerals to the soil such as boron and sulfur that are vital, but only need to be present at about one part per million in the ground, and using drip irrigation that uses much less water only waters the crop and not the weeds

Wanted: Rain please apply to the farm

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

• Cabbage: the simplest ways to use this are cut into wedges and serve with a bit of salt, or shred and add to salad.
• Potatoes: bakes, boiled, mashed, roasted, see the roasted rosemary potato recipe below.
• Beets: grate and add to salad, roast, pickle,
• Summer Squash: add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook.
• Cucumbers: add to your lettuce and greens for salad. Dice and add to yogurt with onions and garlic scapes.
• Napa Cabbage: use in salad or stir fries. Mild and crisp.
• Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc...use like spinach
• Kale: this nutritional powerhouse is great stir-fried with olive oil and garlic (scapes)
• Garlic Scapes: the soft neck of the garlic--wonderful garlic flavor, cooked or raw. Discard any firm portion unless you enjoy the crunchiness.
• Collards: similar to kale--highly nutritious

Roasted Rosemary Potatoes

INGREDIENTS

1/2 Cup Feta cheese (optional)1 Red onion (medium)
3 lbs Potatoes
1 Bell pepper (medium)
1/4 tsp Salt
4 tbsp Olive oil
2 tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp Rosemary
1/4 tsp Black pepper
2 Garlic cloves

DIRECTIONS

Dice Potatoes

Combine Potatoes, chopped onion, 2 tbsp olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt & pepper.

Toss to coat.

Bake at 450F uncovered for 25-35 minutes until potatoes are cooked through. Stir twice.

In a small bowl, combine balsamic vinegar and 2 tbsp olive oil. Whisk to combine.

Transfer potato mixture into a large bowl and stir in vinegar/oil mixture. Be sure to coat all potatoes well. Add bell pepper (cut into strips) and toss.

Topping: 1/2 C feta cheese OR 3 tbsp roasted pine nuts

--adapted from wpgriffin.com

Simple Summer Cabbage Salad

Not sure what to do with cabbage? Here is a simple recipe that I like to make frequently:

--Slice a head of cabbage or half of one
sprinkle with salt to taste
sprinkle with a bit of sugar
add one small chopped onion
add two cloves of minced garlic
drizzle about a Tbsp of olive oil over
pour 1/4c of cider vinegar over
add hot pepper flakes or powder to taste
allow to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes then refrigerate
top with chopped peanuts when serving


Hope you are enjoying the fresh food from the farm!

Scott

Hello from the fertile fields!

As the calendar turns a page, we are turning to some new crops, and are excited to be harvesting garlic, (wow, does it ever smell good upstairs), beets, and regular cabbages. Tomatoes are about walnut-sized right now, and peppers and eggplants are also just a few weeks away. Most crops are early this year thanks to the abundant sunshine and warm that we've been enjoying.

Garlic Party: Next Wednesday (7/7) 9am-12 noon
Want to experience the garlic harvest and learn about garlic growing and curing? There is something earthy and satisfying about sinking a shovel into the ground, loosening the soil and pulling up a giant bulb of garlic from the earth. Come and bring comfortable shoes and clothing, and a garden shovel if you have one. If you are planning to attend, please email to let us know--anytime Wednesday morning is fine--even if for a short while.

Serving Suggestions for the Harvest:

• Cabbage: the simplest ways to use this are cut into wedges and serve with a bit of salt, or shred and add to salad.
• Beets: grate and add to salad, roast, pickle, or see recipe below
• Summer Squash: add raw to salads, steam lightly, or stir-fry. Don't overcook.
• Cucumbers: add to your lettuce and greens for salad. Dice and add to yogurt with onions and garlic scapes. See additional writeup below.
• Napa Cabbage: use in salad or stir fries. Mild and crisp.
• Chard or Swiss Chard: sautee, oil, garlic, parmesan etc.
• Kale: this nutritional powerhouse is great stir-fried with olive oil and garlic (scapes)
• Garlic Scapes: the soft neck of the garlic--wonderful garlic flavor, cooked or raw. Discard any firm portion unless you enjoy the crunchiness.
• Collards: similar to kale--highly nutritious--butter or bacon fat flavor greens superbly
• Scallions: mild green onion, use fresh or cooked
• Bok Choi: this Asian cabbage is excellent stir-fried, w/peanut butter, peanut sauce, soy sauce, garlic onion, etc...Otherwise use as a substitute for regular cabbage in cooking.

Fried Beets:

"I was helping make supper at my sisters and I was in charge of cooking the beets. Years ago I had tried every way to cook beet so I'd like them, didn't work. I wasn't really concerned if the beets turned out OK, because I wasn't going to eat them, so I went for simple. Well when I was stirring them one escaped the pan, picked it up no place to put it, popped it in my mouth. DEEEEE LISH US."

SERVES 4 , 2 1/2 cups (change servings and units)

Ingredients
2 cups cooked sliced young beets
1/4 cup butter
1 cup chopped onion
salt
pepper

Directions

1. Melt butter in non-stick frying pan.
2. Add butter, onions, salt and pepper.
3. Fry on med-low heat until onions are translucent because beets are already cooked.
4. NOTE: To cook beets, trim them leaving approximately 1 1/2 inch stem. Place in large pot with enough cold water to cover, add 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer until tender. Cooking time depends on how large the beets are. Drain, wearing rubber kitchen gloves, remove skin. Cool. Slice for above recipe.

from http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Fried-Beets-319068

Chill out with cukes!
Cucumbers are pretty run of the mill right? Well, eat a few from the farm and you may behold them with new regard! Sweet, mild, crisp and tasty, not to mention refreshing.

We've spent a lot of time thinking about cucumbers this week, harvesting over 1,200 of them! The ergonomic cart funded by a gift from Case New Holland, has been a boon to harvesting the bumper crop. It aids both the person harvesting, keeping them from kneeling, squatting, and lifting repeatedly, while protecting the tender cucumber vines from our trampling feet. A big thank you to shareholder Morgan Forney for helping to bring this to fruition!

Cucumbers are nature's way of keeping us cool when things heat up. They cool the body, restore body fluids,quench our thirst, provide vitamin C, Folate, dietary fiber and potassium.

Looking for ideas of what to do with all these cucumbers?

Blend up some cucumber gazpacho; add cucumber slices to you water pitcher for refreshing cucumber water…serve with a sprig of mint; make spring rolls with cucumber, fresh basil and mango; make tangy tabouleh; relax with cucumber slices over your eyes and soak in the goodness (they really are good for your skin); sip cucumber martinis; make pickles; serve tea sandwiches with cucumber and a soft cheese; juice up a cucumber along with cilantro or dill and season with salt to taste; make cooling cucumber raita with yogurt; eat them on the go and think of it as nature's own water bottle; make cucumber salad, of course; cucumber boats--hollow out the seeds and fill with herbed cream cheese or your favorite dip; have a sushi party and make cucumber nori rolls.

Food to Share?

If you are making, or have made a dish with veggies from the farm and would like to share your success and recipe with other shareholders, please feel free to bring in some samples and a recipe to display with it here at the distribution table.

Enjoy! Scott