Farm Share Newsletter July 6, 2019

Slaw Season Starts

Cabbage is often though of as a cool weather crop, but I find that our early cabbage crop is in some ways superior to the fall and winter crop. The cabbage in your share has grown very quickly, and has gotten plenty of rain, so it’s extra tender, mildly flavored and juicy. I recommend making slaws with it because it really needs no cooking. The carrots and scallions are natural partners. If you want something lighter than the traditional slaw, citrus juice and herbs with a little olive oil are refreshing, and I’ve also made an Indian spiced slaw which has cumin seeds bloomed in oil that you pour over the cabbage. If you’ve still got kohlrabi kicking around, shred that and add it to your slaw. Don’t know what to do with the choi? Even that could be chopped up and added to a slaw.

Hail storm

Last week after pickup, a powerful thunderstorm dropped some hail on us. Some of the vegetables in your share, mostly the peas, squash and lettuce may have some scars or holes from the hail. The damage is mostly cosmetic, and won’t affect flavor. -Aaron

Vegetables

Snap/Snow Peas Lettuce Carrots Yellow Squash/Zucchini Cabbage Scallions Fennel

Herbs

Upper Garden: Mint, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Hyssop, Catnip , Winter savory, Lovage, lemon balm

Lower Garden: Parsley, Marjoram, Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory, cutting celery, Borage, Basil

Bowties with Sugar Snaps, Ricotta and Lemon

1 lb sugar snap peas, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1 lb bowtie pasta

1/2 cup finely grated pecorino romano

olive oil

sea salt

black or red pepper flakes

juice of 1 lemon

few leaves mint

1 cup ricotta

Cook pasta, then add peas three minutes before it would be done. Drain, reserve 1 cup pasta water. Add back to pot with 1/2 cup pasta water, grated cheese, a few tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss over high heat for a minute, adding more water if it looks dry. Take off heat, dollop with ricotta, tip into serving bowl. Drizzle with oil, lemon juice, sprinkle with mint and extra grated cheese. from smittenkitchen.com

Roasted Fennel Pesto

1 cup chopped fennel bulb

1 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

3/4 cup fennel fronds

2 cloves garlic

salt

Preheat oven to 400. On a rimmed baking sheet toss fennel with a little olive oil and roast, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 12 mins. Meanwhile, scatter almonds on another sheet and toast 5 minutes. Let both cool a bit. In a food processor or blender, pulse fennel, fronds, garlic and 1/2 cup olive oil until pureed.Add almonds and 1/4 cup oil, season with salt and pulse to combine. Add remaining oil and pulse. from Serious Eats (Daniel Gritzer)

Creamy Coleslaw

8 cups shredded green cabbage

3 carrots, shredded

1/4 sweet onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

3 tbsp cider vinegar

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp mayonnaise

1/2-3/4 tsp celery seed

salt and pepper

Combine cabbage, carrots and onion in large mixing bowl. Stir together buttermilk, vinegar, sugar, mayonnaise and celery seed in another bowl. Pour over cabbage mixture and toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper. It will be dry, but the longer it stands the wetter it will become. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving. adapted from Serving Up the Harvest, by Andrea Chesman

Farm Share Newsletter June 29 2019

Mark Bittman Edition

It’s the end of June, and the garden is growing quickly in the long hours of sunshine. Tomato plants have small green fruits, zucchini are forming, beans are flowering, and we are trying to keep up with all of it. Now, I am planning fall and winter crops; we planted late season carrots and rutabaga on Monday, and the last of the winter squash gets planted this week. I need to think one season ahead, and at the same time, pay attention to the needs of the current moment. Our first “storage crop” harvest will be garlic, which is usually ready mid July. This is the garlic we have pulled the scapes from, which will be given out, once cured, starting in late August.

Gleaning/U-Pick

For certain crops, once production wanes, we open them up for gleaning. I use the word gleaning when there’s still some to harvest, but not in great quantities. I’ll say U-Pick for times when there is still an abundance of that crop to harvest. Flags or markers are set up to guide you to the right area.

Basil

Just a reminder that when picking basil, pinch off the top set of leaves. Don’t cut the whole plant. This way it will regrow for more harvests. -Aaron

Vegetables

Peas or Broccoli Lettuce Turnip or Beet Yellow Squash/Zucchini Kohlrabi Garlic Scapes Pac Choi

Herbs

Upper Garden: Mint, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Hyssop, Catnip , Winter savory, Lovage, lemon balm

Lower Garden: Parsley, Marjoram, Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory, cutting celery, Borage, Basil

Braised and Glazed Broccoli from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic (or scapes!)

salt and pepper

1 pound broccoli, trimmed and broken into florets

1 tablespoon lemon juice chopped

parsley leaves for garnish

Put the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic and cook 30 seconds. Then add the broccoli and 1/4 cup of water. Cover the pan. Cook, uncovering and stirring occasionally, until the broccoli is just tender, 10 minutes. Uncover, raise the heat, and cook out all but a little of the remaining water. Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice, drizzle with some more oil, garnish with parsley, and serve.

Barley Salad with Peas - same cookbook

1 cup pearled barley

salt

1/2 pound snap or snow peas, roughly chopped

3 or 4 scallions, chopped

freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons lemon juice (more to taste)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 cup yogurt

1/2 cup fresh chopped dill, mint, or parsley leaves, or a mix

1. Rinse barley and put it in a saucepan with water to cover by at least 2 inches. Add a large pinch of salt and cook over medium- high heat, stirring occasionally, until the barley is tender, about 20 minutes from when the water boils. Drain and spread on a plate to cool (or rinse under cold water). 2. Meanwhile, chop the peas and scallions. Whisk together the lemon juice, oil, and yogurt. Set aside until the barley is cool. 3. When the barley is cool, toss it in a large bowl with the veggies, sprinkle with black pepper, and then add the dressing and mix well. Taste and adjust seasoning. Add herbs, toss all together, and serve.

Stir-Fried Vegetables, Vietnamese Style - same cookbook

1/4 cup neutral oil, like grapeseed or corn

broccoli florets in about 1 inch pieces

salad turnips, sliced

snow or snap peas, ends trimmed

1 medium to large onion, thinly sliced

2 dried chiles

1 tablespoon minced garlic (or scapes)

2 tablespoons fish or soy sauce (more to taste)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)

salt

Put 1 tablespoon of the oil in a nonstick skillet or wok over high heat. When hot, add the broccoli. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about a minute, then add 2 tablespoons water. Continue to cook and stir until the vegetable is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from the pan and repeat the process with the turnips and then the peas. Put a little more oil in the pan and then add the onion. Cook over high heat, stirring once in a while, until it softens and begins to char, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the chiles and garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup water, the sauce, and the pepper; return the cooked vegetables to the pan. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is combined and lightly sauces, then taste and adjust seasoning, adding salt if necessary, and serve.

Farm Share Newsletter June 19 2019

Sharing bin, Compost

I want to point out a few things that might make your time in the farm stand a bit more satisfying. When you walk in, to your right is a black bin on the floor, which is the sharing bin. If there’s something in this week’s share that you don’t like or won’t use, place it in the bin, don’t just skip over it. If you see something in the bin you’d like, take it! You don’t have to give something up to take something from the bin. Sometimes we will give you a choice between several vegetables. This will be indicated on the board when we write something like “Turnips or Radishes”. That means you can take one bunch of either turnips or radishes, not both. This is important because everything has been counted out for the number of members that day. So, you’ve found that head of lettuce from a few weeks ago in the back of the fridge... we’ll take it back! In our compost, that is. To the left of the farm stand is a black garbage can labeled “Compost”.

Cutting celery

This year I planted some cutting celery in the picking garden. It looks very similar to flat leaf parsley, but the flavor is celery. The stems are mild in flavor, the leaves are stronger. Although it’s much smaller than standard celery, it can be used when you need the flavor of celery, but not necessarily the bulk. -Aaron

Vegetables

Broccoli Strawberries Lettuce Garlic Scapes Spinach or Peas Kohlrabi Broccoli Raab

Herbs

Upper Garden: Mint, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Hyssop, Catnip , Winter savory, Lovage, lemon balm

Lower Garden: Parsley, Marjoram, Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory, cutting celery

Bowties ’n’ broccoli

1 lb bowtie pasta

1 tbsp chopped mint

1.5-2 large heads broccoli, stalks sliced, florets broken up

1/3 cup olive oil

1 cup black olives

1 tbsp minced garlic or scapes

1 cup grated Parmesan

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

salt, pepper

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add pasta, cook 5 minutes, then add broccoli stems, cook 2 minutes. Add florets, cook 5 minutes longer. Reserve 1/2 cup water, drain. Return broccoli and pasta to pot. Meanwhile, heat oil, add garlic and pepper, cook 3 minutes or until fragrant. Stir in parsley and mint. Remove from heat. Pour over pasta, toss to mix. Add olives and Parmesan, season with salt and pepper. Add reserved water if it seems dry. Recipe fom Serving Up the Harvest by Andrea Chesman

Kohlrabi fritters

2 kohlrabi

1/2 avocado

1 carrot

1/4 cup plain yogurt

1 egg

1/2 lemon

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cayenne

scallions for garnish

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Peel kohlrabi and carrot, shred in food processor. Squeeze out moisture, mix with egg, salt and cayenne. Heat oil in large skillet medium high, fry small patties in the oil. Brown on both sides. Mix mashed avocado, yogurt, lemon juice and salt to make the avocado cream. Serve fritters with avocado cream and chopped scallions. from acouplecooks.com

Kohlrabi slaw

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1 tbsp fennel seed

2 tsp mustard

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 lbs kohlrabi, peeled

1/3 cup minced parsley

4 scallions, sliced

Combine first 7 ingredients in a bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cut kohlrabi into 1/8 inch thick slices, then cut each slice into matchsticks. Add all vegetables to dressing, toss to coat and chill 1 hour before eating.

Farm Share Newsletter June 15 2019

Picking garden tips

The picking garden can be a significant part of your weekly share. Here are a few tips to help you get the most out of your time in the picking garden.

1.Pick whole stems. For most of the herbs, if the leaves are still attached to the stem, they will last much longer in your refrigerator. By cutting the stem near the ground in the case of parsley and chives, or at a node in the case of basil, it will help the plant generate new leaves.

2.Drying herbs when abundant. Many herbs, especially ones with woody stems, are easy to dry. They are highest in essential oils when they are just about to flower, but can be harvested for drying at any time.

3.Don’t know what something is? Not sure if it’s edible? Ask us, we love talking about plants.

Garlic scapes

Good luck finding these in the grocery store! Garlic scapes are the flower stalk of the garlic plant. They are removed to direct the plant’s energy into the bulb. If left on, the garlic bulb will not grow more than an inch or so in diameter. These scapes are garlic flavored, and you can use them in many of the same ways as garlic. They can also be roasted as a vegetable on their own, or even pickled like dilly beans. -Aaron

Vegetables

Scallions Strawberries Lettuce Garlic Scapes Radishes or Hakurei turnips Kohlrabi Chard

Herbs

Upper Garden: Mint, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Hyssop, Catnip , Winter savory, Lovage, lemon balm

Lower Garden: Parsley, Marjoram, Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory, cutting celery

Garlic Scape Pesto

10-15 garlic scapes, cut in half 1

/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup sunflower seeds or walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste

In a food processor, process garlic scapes until finely chopped, scraping down the sides as needed. Add sunflower seeds or any of the various nut options (get creative!) and blend well. While running the food processor, add the olive oil and blend well. Add more oil to give your pesto a more mild flavor. Again, scrape the sides down as necessary. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper, and parmesan cheese, mix well. Enjoy! I like to make this as my base (freeze a few cups for later) then go back and add additional flavors, such as curry or add in a few spinach leaves to make it more mild. Recipe from Stephanie Aldrich, our former livestock manager

Swiss Chard Tahini Dip

1 1/2 lbs Swiss chard

2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, divided

5 garlic cloves or 1-2 scapes, finely chopped

1/2 cup tahini

1/3 cup fresh lemon juice

kosher salt

Remove ribs and stems from chard and finely chop. Tear leaves into small pieces. Set both aside separately. Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a large pot over medium low heat. Cook stems until tender 5-7 minutes, adding a little water if they start to brown. Add garlic, cook 1 minute, add chard leaves, cook until wilted and tender. Let it cool and squeeze excess liquid into a measuring glass ( should be half a cup). Add chard and 1 tbsp liquid into food processor with tahini, lemon juice and rest of oil. Season with salt and process, adding more liquid as needed until creamy.

Pickled chard stems

1 Thai chile, split

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

2 cups white vinegar

1 cup water

1/3 cup sugar

3 1/2 tbsp salt

12 oz chard stems

Trim off any bits of leaves and cut to fit in your jar. Add the stems along with the chile and garlic. Toast seeds in a skillet until fragrant, set aside. Heat vinegar, water, sugar and salt until dissolved. Cool 5 minutes. Pour into jar, add seeds and cover. Cool at room temperature for an hour. Make sure all stems are submerged. Refrigerate about 1 week before eating. Recipe from davidlebovitz.com

Farm Share Newsletter June 8 2019

Welcome to the farm And thanks for deciding to join our ‘share this year. I use this newsletter to share farm news, information on the vegetables in your share and recipes for how to use them. This has been a very wet spring so far, but we have been able to keep up with planting. Most of our soil drains well, so crops haven’t been drowning. I’ve learned to be very efficient when we get a few dry days!

Kohlrabi

By looks, it’s not obvious what to do with a kohlrabi, but its secret is hidden beneath the skin- crispy, fresh tasting flesh, mild with a slight bite. I prefer to use them raw. Think of them as a crudite, they go with many other flavors. If you must cook it, gentle sautéing or steaming is probably best.

Pac Choi (Bok Choi)

Pac choi is distantly related to turnips, and shares some of that flavor. It’s a very reliable crop for us, so I grow quite a lot of it. Choi can be used raw- it is crunchy yet tender enough for salads or as a raw element in noodle/rice bowls. If I want to cook it, I usually separate the leaves from the stems, so that I can add the leaves towards the end of cooking to keep them from getting overcooked. It can release a fair amount of water, so I would not add too much water when cooking. Quick, high heat sauteeing or stir frying are the best ways to cook choi.

-Aaron

Vegetables: Scallions Spinach Lettuce Pac Choi Radishes or baby beets Kohlrabi Kale

Herbs

Upper Garden: Mint (Chocolate, Apple, Mountain), Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Chives, Garlic Chives, Tarragon, Hyssop, Catnip , Winter savory, Lovage

Lower Garden: Parsley, Marjoram, Cilantro, Dill, Summer Savory

Mixed greens with cumin and paprika

12 cups mixed greens (kale, broccoli raab, chard, mustard etc)

salt

4 garlic cloves

1 cup chopped parsley

1 cup chopped cilantro

3 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground cumin

for garnish: oil cured black olives, wedges of lemon and tomato

Discard any inedible parts of greens. Set in a steamer with tougher leaves on bottom and cook until tender, or boil each type separately in salted water and drain. Chop into 1 inch pieces. Pound garlic with 1/2 tsp salt until smooth then work in herbs briefly to release their flavors. Warm oil with paprika and cumin until fragrant, be careful not to burn. Stir in garlic then add greens, cooking until excess moisture is gone. Pile onto a dish and garnish with olives, lemon and tomato. From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Spinach salad with feta and pecans

1 cup pecan halves

6 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp honey

salt, pepper

1 lb spinach, large leaves torn (if not enough, use lettuce for half)

1 cup dried cherries or cranberries, or chopped apricots

6 oz feta

Toast pecans in a dry skillet, about 5 minutes. Combine oil, vinegar and honey, whisk to combine and season. Toss spinach, pecans, dried fruit in salad bowl. Crumble feta over the salad, add dressing and toss again.

Pickled chard stems

12 oz chard stems

1 Thai chile, split lengthwise (opt)

2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

1 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

2 cups white vinegar

1 cup water

Heat oil in large pan until very hot. Add ginger, chili and garlic, then choi stalks. Stir fry one minute. Add leaves and stir until wilting. Remove from heat, add pinch salt, soys sauce and sesame oil. Recipe from riverford.co.uk

Spring Share Newsletter May 29 2019

This is the final week of spring share, next week the main season begins. Frisee is a type of chicory that is often used mixed into salads for a bitter element. It pairs well with fruit, nuts and cheese, and can be used with hot dressings, which sweeten the bitterness.

In your share this week, you’ll find the following:

• Lettuce

• Dill

• Radishes ‘Pink Beauty’

• Beets- greens can be used like chard

• Spicy mustard

• Spinach

• Frisee

Picking garden has cilantro ready. Recipes are on reverse.

Thanks for your support! Your farmers, Aaron, Zack, Annie

Lyonnaise Salad

4 cups frisee torn into bite size pieces

1 piece thick bacon (or 2 thin), sliced into 1/4 inch pieces

1 tbsp white vinegar (for poaching eggs)

2 large eggs

1 medium shallot, finely minced

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard .

Cook bacon in small skillet over medium heat until done but not too crispy. Remove from pan but reserve fat. Poach eggs for 2-3 minutes in a saucepan. Reheat skillet with bacon fat. Add shallots (or onion) and cook for 30 seconds. Add red wine vinegar, mustard, bacon and mix together. Pour over greens and toss. Season to taste, divide between two bowls and top with poached egg. Serve immediately. (the Kitchn)

Beet risotto with greens

5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups stock

2 tbsp basil or 1 tbsp dried

3 tbsp butter or oil

2 cups peeled grated beets

1/2 cup finely diced onion

2-3 cups beet greens chopped

1 1/2 cups Arborio rice

salt and pepper

1/2 cup dry white wine

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1/2 cup Parmesan

Have stock simmering. Heat butter in wide pot, add onion and cook 3 minutes. Add rice, cook 1 minute. Add wine, simmer until absorbed. Stir in half the parsley, the basil, grated beets. Add 2 cups stock, cook at a lively simmer until absorbed. Add stock in half cup increments, stirring until absorbed. When you have 1 cup left, add beet greens, salt, pepper, lemon juice and zest. Serve with Parmesan and parsley. (Deborah Madison)

Spring Share Newsletter May 8th 2019

This week we harvested stinging nettle from our pasture, which should be handled with gloves when raw. Stinging nettle is very high in nutrients, so it’s a good thing to eat as a spring tonic. Cooking will eliminate the sting- steam, saute or blanch them. The flavor is similar to spinach.

In your share this week, you’ll find the following:

• Lettuce ‘Black Seeded Simpson’ and ‘New Red Fire’

• Dill

• Bok Choi ‘Shuko’

• Stinging Nettles

• Mild Mustard ‘Vibrant Joy’

• Arugula

• Scallions

Radishes not quite ready Recipes are on reverse. Thanks for your support!

Your farmers, Aaron, Zack, and Annie

Nettle Omelette with sharp Cheddar

4 oz stinging nettle leaves

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs

2 tbsp cream or milk

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp chives

1 oz sharp cheddar, thinly sliced

Drop nettle leaves into a small pot, sprinkle with salt and a few tablespoons water. Set over medium-low heat and cover. Allow nettles to wilt until they release their juices, about 5 minutes. Strain off juices, set aside. Beat eggs and cream until loosely combined. Warm butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Once hot, add eggs, swirl to get an even layer and cook until edges begin to set. Turn heat down and cover for 30 seconds until eggs set. Fill with nettles, chives and cheese, fold and cook covered another 30 seconds.

Lemon Garlic Bok Choi

1 lb bok choi

1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

3 garlic cloves, minced

pinch red pepper flakes

salt

half a lemon, cut into wedges

Rinse bok choi, trim ends then slice in half lengthwise, or if large cut into quarters. Pat dry. Combine oil, garlic and pepper in a wide cold skillet. Place over medium heat until it just starts to bubble. Add choi in a single layer. Sprinkle with salt and cook without stirring until the bottom is starting to brown, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook 2 minutes until wilted. Squeeze lemon juice over just before serving.

Spring Share Newsletter May 1 2019

Thanks for participating in spring share this year! We welcome our two apprentices Sarah and Avery to the farm, who will be with us throughout the season. We’re really getting into the swing of things now and our plantings are slightly ahead of schedule so far.

In your share this week, you’ll find the following:

• Baby spinach- mild, good for salads

• Cilantro

• Cress- tangy, adds zest to sandwiches & salads

• Turnips- succulent greens

• Mildly spicy mustard greens- they’re just a little hot •

Arugula- a big bag, pesto recipe on back

• Scallions

Coming up next week: lettuce, radishes and stinging nettles Recipes are on reverse. Thanks for your support! Your farmers, Aaron, Zack, Annie

Pasta with arugula pesto

8 cups arugula leaves

1/2 cup pine nuts or other nut/seed

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

8 oil packed sun dried tomatoes, minced

1 lb vermicelli or other pasta

1/2 cup pitted cured black olives

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Blanch arugula 30 seconds. Shock in ice water, then drain. (Keep hot water for pasta). Drain and squeeze water from arugula. Chop nuts and garlic in a food processor. Add arugula and chop. Add oil and cheese, process to thick paste. Scrape into a bowl and add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper. Return water to a boil. Cook pasta, reserve 1/2 cup water. Mix pesto and olives with pasta in heated serving bowl. Serves 4. from Serving Up The Harvest by Andrea Chesman

Stir Fried Mixed Greens

1 tbsp peanut oil

1 tsp roasted peanut oil (opt)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp ginger

1/2 tsp red pepper

2 tbsp chopped scallion

10 cups greens, ribbons 3/4 inch

1/2 cup stock, any kind

2 tsp dark sesame oil

1 tsp rice wine or sherry

1 tsp cornstarch in 3 tbsp water or stock

Heat wok/pan and add peanut oils. When hot add garlic, pepper, ginger and scallion, stir fry 30 seconds then add greens and stir fry 1 minute more. Add stock, cover and steam until tender, 2-3 minutes. Season with salt, sesame oil and mirin or sherry. Remove greens from wok and add cornstarch to remaining liquid and boil until thickened. Pour sauce over greens and serve. from Deborah Madison

Poultry Farming

This weekend, as is usual for me, I spent a fair amount of time dispensing advice and ideas on how to cook a chicken (pressure cooker! Dutch oven! Butterflied! Yogurt-marinated! I could go on ...) And, as I do most days, I spent some time considering the price of our chicken.

A big worry for Zack and I is that we are pricing out the lower-income consumers. This is not our intent, and is something we work to avoid. However, our profits are not very large, and we live on the margins, so we can't shave them too slim. With the food from Laughing Earth, you are paying closer to the full cost of your food than when you shop at the grocery store, which means the price tag is larger. 

However, paying more per pound up front does not mean you're getting a worse deal. You get the flavor, the moist meat, the heart-warming experience of buying direct from the person who raised the animal. You get the option to take a walk in a beautiful place to visit the chickens while they are growing on pasture. You get the opportunity to ask the farmer for cooking advice when you buy it. 

You also know that the people who raise the chicken are not locked into a sharecropper system of debt whereby their choices are eroded in the name of funneling more profits to a corporation.

You also know that the people who process the chickens (the same as the people who raise them, on our farm!) have safe working conditions, and only perform the job for half a day every two weeks, reducing the risk for repetitive stress injury. They are not berated and threatened to encourage them to work faster.

Our farm is not perfect. We don't pay our employees as much as we would like to, and our pastures could be more diverse and fertile. But we are trying to acknowledge the downsides of meat eating, and trying to address those issues and reduce them. 

So the next time you visit our farm or market stand and find yourself thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of money for chicken" ... think again. Your decision to purchase organic, small-scale, local chicken is helping to turn the tide away from human rights abuses in the poultry industry. It's also helping one family in your community to live their dream.

Why FarmShare?

So, it's full-on Spring, and I am deep into trying to convince community members to become FarmShare members. Why would someone do this crazy thing? Why on Earth would someone pay a farmer a huge chunk of money MONTHS before getting vegetables, and without even knowing what the vegetables will be? Why pay to have someone choose your produce for you? Why pay for produce that you don't even know if you'll like, and that you don't even get to choose to suit your menu for the week? 

I have a few good reasons. 

First off, I think for many people, the actual produce is secondary. The money that they give to me, their farmer, is their investment in a community - a human community as well as an ecological community. The money they pay me is their support for a system that I am striving to be a healthy, useful part of. The farmer and the members are making an agreement that locally, sustainably, ethically grown food is of importance to them. The members are saying, please, do this for us, and the farmer is saying, thanks for letting me do this for you. 

Secondly, the community of people at the farm is the best. All of our members come to the farm to pick up their veggies. This means, at least, they get reconnected to the place that grew their food when they come each week to get it. The farm is *their* farm - theirs to take walks on, have a picnic, swing by on the way home from (or to!) work to get the herbs they want for dinner. Even if they don't see any other people, the farm is here for them. Hopefully they do see people, though - one of their farmers, to answer questions about the weird vegetable in the share this week, or something ELSE to do with kale, or even just commiserate about the weather. And hopefully, they get to see some of their fellow members, for a chat in the picking garden while they harvest cherry tomatoes, or to exchange recipes. They are in this together - fellow members of a sisterhood of the faithful - those that have faith in the soil and in us, the hopeful farmers tending it.

Finally, the food. Same-day harvest means you're getting as much nutrition as possible from these tender, ephemeral veggies - no cross-country road trips here! Food harvested by someone you know also feeds something more than your stomach. When you eat food from your FarmShare, you know that you are contributing to 1. land that won't be turned into a housing development, but will continue to produce food for the community 2. the livelihood of a family in your community, a family that chooses to invest in other local businesses and thereby bolster the economy where you live and 3. a small farm that focuses on minimizing its negative environmental impacts in the community where you live (no effluent ponds here! no high-nitrate runoff into the Quackenkill here!).

So, that's why people choose to give up a little control over what is in their baskets of produce. The wonderful people who are members of my FarmShare community are making other choices, which have ripples far beyond their dinner plates.

Thank you to my community. Thank you for making all of this possible.

Community and the path forward

Today I am feeling very grateful to my elders. I don't mean old people, I mean those who walked this path before me. Those who walked this path before I discovered it, who improved the trail, built the bridges, and made a map. Those who did all that so that they could use the trail, but then stayed to help guide me as well. 

Farming is not an easy business. There is no kind of farming that is easy. Small-scale, sustainable, diversified farming is an especially difficult business. Not only are we growing food, but we are also trying to change people's minds, repair damaged ecosystems, alleviate climate change, build communities where they have been hollowed by the ravages of a capitalist economy that cares not for human lives, repair people's severed connections with the natural world ... In other words, there's a big load to carry. Maybe not all of my farming peers feel that this is their job description, but I do, and I often feel like I'm in the middle of the ocean riding on an inflatable pool toy. In this line of work, the community of fellow farmers is everything.

Today I had the pleasure of receiving knowledge and guidance from one of my elders, someone not so old in years but deep in his well of understanding. Sitting at his table, talking through what he has seen and what we are struggling with felt like climbing aboard a ship after being adrift in that ocean. There's hope. There are others feeling this way, others working through these problems, and workable solutions are attainable. We can succeed, and are not doomed to poverty and losing the farm and whatever other horrible fates visit my mind in the darkness of night. 

I left his house feeling so flooded by gratitude, that he had spent so much of his valuable time - not just on us, mind you, he is a mentor, a guide on the trail, to an entire generation of farmers - to reassure us and to show us where to go and how to build something successful. Here is someone who understands what a community is. When one of us is raised up, it raises us all. A rising tide lifts all ships, if you have a ship. So help the others get a ship, too, or pull them on board yours. 

Our mentor and his partner are exemplary in the community in their commitment to raising us all as they are raised, in distributing their earned knowledge as widely and as thoroughly as they possibly can. They are not the exception, though. I am so glad to be a member of a peer group that by and large views each other as co-conspirators rather than competitors. Our "competitors" are the industrial food system, human lethargy and ignorance about what we're doing to the world, and environmental degradation. Our fellow farmers are equally as important to our success as we ourselves are. I am glad to have been brought into farming by mentors such as these, who have gifted me with an abundance mindset, rather than a view of scarcity. See all that we have to work with - Sun, soil, water,  flora, fauna, people with such towering gifts. Such a huge net of interactions to learn from, to draw on, to benefit from. 

Spending time with mentors such as these helps me to re-center myself into a positive focus on the things that matter. We are here to grow life, to grow love, to leave things better than we found them. I only hope that, when given the opportunity, I offer similar help to those following me down the path.

The Real Cost of Meat

This willful blindness allows them to continue to participate in the industrial food system. If they cannot acknowledge that their hamburger has ever been a cow, then why would they care whether that cow had ever eaten grass or gotten to wade through a verdant pasture? Why would they care how that cow died? Why would they care whether the slaughterhouse workers were given adequate breaks, safety gear, or physical therapy if they experienced repetitive stress injuries? Why would they care what happens to the manure produced by that cow and its millions of brethren?

Read More

Winter Share December 20th, 2017

Thanks to those who decided to get the last two Winter Shares! We all hope that you are enjoying your delicious storage vegetables, and that they are storing to your satisfaction.

Aaron and I promised to share some good recipes for these veggies, particularly the Celeriac, so here goes:

Celeriac Recipes

Roast Chicken and Vegetables.

I just made this one-dish meal for the crew’s lunch the other day: simple, hearty, tasty.

Peel and cube 1 butternut squash into ½ inch cubes. Chop onions roughly – I had small onions, so I halved or quartered them. Peel a whole head’s worth of garlic, leaving the cloves whole or cutting them in half. Wash and roughly chop 4 or 5 carrots. Peel and chop 2 celeriac into ½ inch cubes. Put all the cut veggies on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle generously with oil (I use sunflower, because I can get NY-raised sunflower oil at the co-op!), and sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon salt and a generous dose of black pepper. If you have it, you can mince about 2 teaspoons of fresh rosemary or thyme. Mix until homogeneous, and then spread the veggies into a single layer – for me, this took two baking sheets. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Cut a thoroughly-thawed chicken into parts – drumsticks, thighs, wings, and breasts, with the breasts cut into halves or thirds so they are about the same size as the other pieces. Spread the chicken pieces on top of the veggies, skin side up. Put the trays in the oven. Let bake for about 15 minutes, then pull them out and stir the veggies around as best you can, to unstick any that are getting caramelized onto the pan. I always switch the two trays top to bottom at this point, to assist even baking. Bake for another 15 minutes, then stir again. I would expect all to be done after a third 15 minute stint, for a total of 45. This was enough to feed five farmers.

Celeriac Latkes with Apple Creme Fraiche

1 small onion, diced 1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil +2 tbsp 1 celeriac, trimmed, peeled, qtr
4 potatoes, peeled, halved 2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 egg salt and pepper
for the creme fraiche:
1 cup creme fraiche 1 apple, peeled, grated
juice of 1/4 lemon 12 chives, snipped

Saute onion in 1 tbsp oil with salt and pepper for 2 minutes. Add garlic. Saute 5 minutes until soft.

Use a food processor to grate potatoes and celeriac. Wring out as much liquid as possible using a kitchen towel. Tip into a bowl, season and add onion, garlic, and parsley. Add egg and mix well.

Heat 2 tbsp oil and press half of the mixture into the pan, spreading it out. Cook on medium heat 15 minutes. Place a plate on the pancake and flip, then slide pancake back into pan cooked side up. Cook another 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining pancake mixture.

To make apple creme fraiche, toss apple with lemon immediately to prevent browning. Chop as fine as you can. Mix into creme fraiche and season with salt, pepper, and chives. seriouseats.com

Celery Root & Potato Soup

3 large or 6 medium leeks (or 1 large onion), finely chopped
3/4 lb potatoes, well scrubbed, quartered and sliced
3/4 lb celeriac, trimmed and peeled, quartered and sliced
2 tbsp butter
salt and freshly milled pepper
milk, or water to thin the soup

Melt butter in a large soup pot, add leeks, potatoes, and celeriac and cook over low heat, covered, 10 minutes. Add 7 cups water, 1 1/2 tsp salt and bring to a boil. Simmer until potatoes and celeriac are soft and falling apart, about 35 minutes. Crush some to give the soup body. Thin with milk if needed. Season with salt and pepper. To add richness, use cream instead of milk.
Vegetarian cooking for Everyone, Deborah Madison

ALSO:

here is my favorite celeriac recipe I have made this year. Time consuming, and not the most visually stunning meal you will serve, but VERY worthy of company.

Butternut Squash "Lasagna"

https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2012/12/butternut-squash-lasagna/

As I type this in the darkness of the longest night of the year, I have no fear or sadness in the darkness, because I am warmed and my heart lighted by the friendship of our FarmShare family, of our upstate NY family, of our blood family, no matter how far away. We lighted candles this evening, as the last rays of sun melted away, and my little light felt a bit like a self-portrait. Thank you all for feeding my flame, for supporting me and Zack and Willa and Aaron and all of the more ephemeral but just as essential creatures - human and otherwise - that spend time with us on this farm to help us learn to better care for this land. May our hands feed this land that it may feed you, our community, in turn. May our love for you help us to better love this land, and make us more able to say thank you to it in tangible ways. Happy Solstice, and happy cooking.

FarmShare October 14th, 2017

Frost is coming..?

We are getting close to the end for the frost tender crops, so I encourage everyone to harvest as much as they can from the picking garden. Hot peppers- there are lots of cayenne, which
easily dry for making crushed red pepper. The small red Matchbox peppers, Jalapeños and orange Bulgarian Carrots can be frozen or turned into hot sauce or pickled. Other crops that
won’t survive frost: tomatillos, ground cherries, lemongrass.
Expect some green peppers, eggplants of all sizes, and a few green tomatoes in next week’s share. Even if frost doesn’t come, it’s time for them to go!


Fill out a survey, get a Delicata

Did you complete the member survey? If not, please take one home and fill it out. It’s important for us to gauge how we’re doing year-to-year and identify areas where we can improve. It’s a good way to anonymously tell us what you did and did not like about the season. And, you get a prize for returning your completed survey!


Garlic planting day

Garlic planting will be on Thursday, October 19th at 2 PM. Join us for the afternoon or just an hour. We’ll be planting the garlic cloves, and covering it with straw mulch.
-Aaron

Vegetables
Peppers/Eggplant
Yellow Onions
Tomatoes
Acorn or Spaghetti Squash
Napa Cabbage
Carrots
Watermelon Radish


Herbs
Mints, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Dill, Summer Savory, Marjoram, Parsley, Cilantro, Lemongrass


Flowers
Amaranth, Zinnia, Dahlia


Important Dates
October 25: Last Wednesday CSA, last fresh chicken
October 28: Last Saturday CSA

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole
This is my favorite way to use spaghetti squash. You can add any pizza toppings you like to this. Beware that many squash are much larger than what this recipe needs.
1 large spaghetti squash (about 1 1/2 lbs)
1 lb Italian sausage (bulk)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1 cup pizza sauce (or tomato sauce)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
3 eggs, whisked
mozzarella cheese (optional)
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Halve spaghetti squash lengthwise. Brush a little oil on the cut sides and place on baking sheet. Bake 20-25 minutes until the skin gives when pressed. Remove from oven and turn down to 350.
Let squash cool a little then fork out the threads into a greased 8x8 dish.
In a large pan, cook sausage and onion over medium heat. Add pizza sauce, herbs and seasoning. Add to the squash and mix well. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly.
Bake 1 hour until a slight crust forms on top. Let rest 5 minutes before serving. recipe from PaleOMG.com

Carrot-ginger soup
3 tbsp butter
1 1/2 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cups chopped onion
salt
1 tsp minced ginger
2 cups chicken or veg stock
2 cups water
3 large strips orange zest
chopped chive, parsley or dill
Melt butter in a soup pot and cook onions and carrots until onions soften. Don’t let them brown. Add a teaspoon of salt while they cook.
Add stock, water, ginger and zest. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook until carrots are tender, 20 minutes. Remove the zest strips and puree the soup. Add more salt to taste.
Garnish with chives, parsley or fennel leaves.

"She had only to stand in the orchard, to put her hand on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to make you feel the goodness of planting and tending and harvesting at last."
- Willa Cather

FarmShare September 27th, 2017

Summer’s last hurrah

With temperatures 15 degrees above normal, it feels like an endless summer this year. This warmth has helped fuel a rebound in tomatoes, so if you want to make sauce but haven’t yet, this is your last chance. The dryness is keeping tomato diseases from spreading quickly, but once we have cool, wet weather they will be done.
Green and yellow wax beans are prolific, so we have another week of U Pick beans. Beans are easy to freeze, blanching is optional, so this is a good chance to stock up for winter. If you don’t have time to pick today, come on Saturday during pickup (10-1). No limits on how much you can pick!


Our pork at Brunswick BBQ Oktoberfest

They’ll be smoking a whole pig at Brunswick BBQ for Oktoberfest on September 30th. Go enjoy some delicious food and drink and celebrate!
-Aaron

Vegetables
Peppers
Eggplant or Green Beans
Garlic
Tomatoes
Acorn or Carnival Squash
Lettuce
Beets
Celery


Herbs
Mints, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Dill, Bronze Fennel, Summer Savory, Marjoram, Parsley,
Cilantro, Basil, Lemongrass


Flowers
Bachelors Buttons, Amaranth, Sunflowers, Black-Eyed Susans, Cleome, Zinnia, Pincushion
Flower, Dahlia


Important Dates
October 11: Fresh chicken
October 25: Last Wednesday CSA, last fresh chicken
October 28: Last Saturday CSA

Refrigerator Pickled Beets
4 or 5 beets (1 bunch)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dry mustard

salt & pepper
Scrub beets until clean and trim off leaves. You can either boil or roast them. To boil, cover with an inch of water in a saucepan, bring to a boil then simmer 30-45 minutes until easily pierced with a fork.
To roast, rub beets with olive oil and wrap in foil (they can all be wrapped together). Roast at 400 for an hour until easily pierced with a fork.
Peel the cooked beets. Quarter or slice them. Combine the vinaigrette ingredients with a whisk and add salt and pepper to taste. Let beets marinate in vinaigrette 30 minutes at room temperature. Store in refrigerator.
recipe from SimplyRecipes

Beetroot & Feta Burger
3 cups grated raw beets
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 small onion
7 oz feta or firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
2 eggs
handful fresh basil
salt/pepper
Grate the beets, onion, and garlic using a food processor or box grater. Transfer to large bowl with olive oil, eggs, and oats and mix well. Add cheese, basil, salt, pepper and stir to combine. Set aside for 30 minutes so oats absorb juices. Form 6-8 patties. Grill a few minutes per side or fry a few minutes per side in a greased pan. Serve with bun or grilled sourdough and toppings of your choice.
recipe from greenkitchenstories.com

Acorn Squash and Cashew Sorbet
Since it is still summery, how about something frozen? You can probably use any kind of squash.
3 1/2 cups acorn squash puree
3 tbsp cashew butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
salt, to taste
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until very smooth. Taste and add more
sugar or salt if it needs it. Chill for 4-6 hours and then churn in an ice cream machine. Freeze
for 2-3 hours until firm.
from Serious Eats (Ethan Frisch)

"Beauty is excrescence,
superabundance, random
ebullience, and sheer
delightful waste to be
enjoyed in its own right."
- Donald Culross Peattie, An Almanac for Moderns

FarmShare October 18th, 2017

Fall planting

Though we are near the end of our growing season, we are still busy with the those important tasks we do every fall. One very important thing we do is cover crop seeding. Each fall we
typically plant about 20 acres of cover crop.
Oats and peas are planted in early to mid September. These are the same kind of oats that we eat for breakfast. We plant them in open areas of the garden and they grow all autumn to about 1-2 feet tall. They winter kill and leave a protective layer of mulch that keeps the soil from eroding during winter and spring melts. Winter rye and hairy vetch, the same kind rye bread is made from, is another very important cover crop. Rye is seriously cold hardy, and can germinate at temperatures in the 30s. Unlike oats, rye lives through the winter, its massive root system holding on to soil and nutrients. Next spring rye begins growing rapidly and can
produce up to 10,000 lbs of biomass per acre. It’s really a weed that we have put to work for us.
Besides their soil-holding qualities, cover crops also provide some other important farm products. We can harvest straw for mulching the garden from the rye, and hay for feeding animals throughout the winter. With our combine harvester, we can also harvest the seeds, which we can use to plant for the next season.

Tomorrow: Garlic planting day
Garlic planting will be tomorrow, Thursday, October 19th at 2 PM. Join us for the afternoon or just an hour. We’ll be planting the garlic cloves, and covering it with straw mulch.
-Aaron

Vegetables
Peppers/Eggplant
Tomatoes
Pie Pumpkins/Squash
Potatoes
Beets
Celery
Leeks
Mustard or Napa Cabbage


Herbs
Mints, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Dill, Marjoram, Parsley, Cilantro, Lemongrass


Important Dates
October 25: Last Wednesday CSA, last fresh chicken
October 28: Last Saturday CSA

Pumpkin Cornbread

1 1/4 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup milk
1 tbsp butter
Heat oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle position. Whisk the dry ingredients and set aside. Mix everything else but butter and stir in dry mix. Add butter to a cast iron skillet and
heat in the oven for 2 minutes or until melted. Once melted, pour in batter and bake until golden and cracked, about half and hour. seriouseats.com

Chipotle Pumpkin Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo
8 cups cooked pumpkin
4-6 cups chicken stock, depending on thickness desired
1 tsp oregano
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
garnish: pepitas, cilantro, sour cream
Saute onions over medium high heat in a large pot in the oil. Add garlic, cumin and chipotle and cook another minute. Add pumpkin, stock, oregano, salt. Bring to a simmer, and cook
20 minutes partially covered. Remove from heat and puree soup. Add lime juice and more
seasoning to taste. Thin with more stock if needed. Serve with toasted pumpkin seeds, sour cream and cilantro.
SimplyRecipes.com

Celery soup

A good use for those tougher outer stems.
3 oz butter
1 tbsp olive oil
10 oz chopped celery
4 oz diced onion
4 oz diced potato
2 pints chicken stock
salt, pepper
heavy cream
Gently stew celery and onion in butter and oil in a covered pan 10 mins. Add potato and coat
well. Don’t let anything brown. Add stock and bring to a boil then simmer 30 minutes until very
tender. Blend the soup and season well. Ladle into bowls and swirl in a little cream.

"O Autumn, laden with
fruit, and stained
With the blood of the
grape, pass not, but sit
Beneath my shady roof;
there thou may'st rest,
And tune thy jolly voice to
my fresh pipe;
And all the daughters of
the year shall dance!
Sing now the lusty song
of fruit and flowers.
- William Blake, To Autumn, 1783

FarmShare October 7th, 2017

Extend the season

We’re looking forward to a bountiful winter share this year. If you aren’t familiar with Winter Share, it’s a little different from the summer season. Instead of a weekly pickup, we have four dates that you can choose to sign up for. You’ll get a 30 pound box with a selection of the following (varies from date to date):
Carrots, Beets, Potatoes, Kohlrabi, Rutabaga, Onions, Leeks, Celeriac, Daikon, Turnips, Watermelon Radish, Butternut Squash, Shallots, Garlic, Cabbage

Thanksgiving share

Beginning this year, the Thanksgiving share has become a separate share. It is not included in the main summer share. For only $25.00, you get a generous share of our late season garden. It might include:
Brussels Sprouts Kale Lettuce
Onions Garlic Beets
Turnips Carrots Rutabaga
Pie Pumpkins Butternut Squash Radish
Leeks Buttercup Squash Potatoes


Forms with complete details are available at pick-up and on our website. Shares are steadily declining in number so don’t wait too long!
Garlic planting day will be in 2-3 weeks. Exact date coming soon.
-Aaron

Vegetables
Peppers/Eggplant
Red Onions
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Kale or Collards
Carving Pumpkins & Gourds
Fennel or Turnips
Bok Choi


Herbs
Mints, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Dill, Bronze Fennel, Summer Savory, Marjoram, Parsley, Cilantro, Basil, Lemongrass


Flowers
Bachelors Buttons, Amaranth, Sunflowers, Black-Eyed Susans, Cleome, Zinnia, Pincushion Flower, Dahlia


Important Dates
October 11: Fresh chicken
October 25: Last Wednesday CSA, last fresh chicken
October 28: Last Saturday CSA

Orecchitte with Caramelized Turnips & Kale

1 lb orecchiette
1/4 cup canola oil
2 medium turnips, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch dice
1 lb kale, stems and center ribs removed, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
8 tbsp butter
2/3 cup Parmigiano-Reddiano cheese
Bring 6 qt salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain and reserve 3/4 cup pasta water. Meanwhile, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add turnips and
reduce to medium. Cook until tender and golden, about 6 minutes. Add kale and cook until very tender, about 8 minutes. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute. Add pasta water, season, add butter and stir until melted.
Add pasta and toss until well coated. Stir in cheese and season to taste. recipe from Serious Eats

Turnip ‘risotto’

6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 red onion, cut into 1/8 inch dice
1 1/2 lbs turnips, cut into 1/8 inch dice
2 cups hot chicken stock
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
Warm the chicken stock over medium low heat. Add oil to skillet and heat to medium. Toss in onion and cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add turnips and cook 2 minutes. Ladle in some stock and cook until absorbed. Continue until all stock has beed added. Season, add butter and cheese and stir for a minute. Remove from heat and garnish with parsley.
recipe from Serious Eats/ Nick Kindelsperger
 

Roasted Fennel Pesto
1 cup chopped fennel bulb
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds
3/4 cup fennel fronds
2 cloves garlic
salt
Preheat oven to 400. On a rimmed baking sheet toss fennel with a little olive oil and roast,
stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 12 mins. Meanwhile, scatter almonds on another sheet and toast 5 minutes. Let both cool a bit.
In a food processor or blender, pulse fennel, fronds, garlic and 1/2 cup olive oil until pureed. Add almonds and 1/4 cup oil, season with salt and pulse to combine. Add remaining oil and pulse.
from Serious Eats (Daniel Gritzer)

"Look at your feet. You
are standing in the sky.
When we think of the sky,
we tend to look up,
but the sky actually
begins at the earth."
- Diane Ackerman

FarmShare September 23rd, 2017

Living with pests

What does it mean to farm organically? If it means blindly using
whatever pesticide or fungicide the NOP (National Organic
Program) has approved for all of our problems, then there is not
much that differentiates us from conventional farming. When we
have a serious pest or fungal issue, there is more to consider than
whatever approved product is available.
One example is the popular, organic-approved insecticide BT
(Bacillus thuringinsis). This is a naturally derived insecticide
based on a bacterium which is lethal to caterpillars, but perfectly
safe for mammals and insects. Most organic farms spray this on
broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and other brassica to control those
little green caterpillars we call cabbage worms. It is also widely
used on sweet corn. While BT does kill the pests, it also kills any
other caterpillar in the area, such as wooly bears and monarch
caterpillars. Although we are allowed to use BT, we have decided
not to because it is too broad spectrum.
As a result, we do have more cabbage worms in our broccoli than
other farms. (I suggest soaking the broccoli in salted water for 30
minutes before using it to remove them.) But we also have a huge
diversity of caterpillars. I don’t know what they are, or what they
grow into, and I am reluctant to wipe them all out. Surely they
have roles on the farm that I have yet to understand.
-Aaron

Vegetables
Peppers
Eggplant or Green Beans
Red Onions
Tomatoes
Potatoes
Lettuce
Fennel
Broccoli Raab


Herbs
Mints, Oregano, Sage, Thyme, Dill, Bronze Fennel, Summer Savory, Marjoram, Parsley,
Cilantro, Borage, Basil, Lemongrass


Flowers
Bachelors Buttons, Amaranth, Sunflowers, Black-Eyed Susans, Cleome, Zinnia, Pincushion
Flower, Dahlia

Important Dates
September 27: Fresh chicken

Ziti with fennel and sausage

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 lb sweet or hot bulk Italian sausage
1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed quartered and sliced
1 small onion, diced
28 oz can tomatoes with puree
1/4 cup red wine
2 large garlic cloves, minced
salt and pepper
1 pound ziti or other short pasta
Heat oil and cook sausage. Remove from pan. Add additional oil
if dry, and sauté fennel and onion until tender-crisp. Return
sausage to pan and add tomatoes, wine, garlic, salt and pepper.
Reduce heat to low and simmer while pasta cooks.
Cook pasta until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water. Add
pasta to the sauce and mix well, adding pasta water if it seems dry.
Garnish with fennel fronds and serve with Parmesan.
recipe from Serving up the harvest by Andrea Chesman

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan

1 to 1 1/2 lbs broccoli, cut into florets of even size
3-4 tbsp olive oil
juice of half a lemon
salt
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 425. Soak broccoli in salted water at least 20
minutes before use to remove any cabbage worms. Toss broccoli
with everything but Parmesan. Arrange in a single layer on a
baking sheet that has been oiled or lined. Roast 15-20 minutes
until cooked through and lightly browned. Toss with Parmesan
and black pepper.
recipe from simplyrecipes.com

Salsa Verde

I like to cook chicken in salsa verde. You can use a crock pot or the oven. It really tenderizes the meat.


1 1/2 lb tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves (or more) garlic
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 tbsp lime juice
2 Jalapeño Peppers
salt to taste
Remove husks from tomatillos. You can either roast them in the oven, or in a pan, or simply boil. To roast in the oven, cut tomatillos in half and place on a baking sheet with the garlic
cloves. Broil 5-7 minutes.
To pan roast, coat your skillet with oil and heat over high heat. Brown tomatillos on both sides
To boil, cover tomatillos with water in a saucepan, bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.
Once tomatillos are cooked, add them with all other ingredients to a blender and pulse until finely chopped. Add salt to taste.
from Simply Recipes

"Earthworms are the intestines of the soil."
- Aristotle