Green Peak Farm

Garden to Bed and Seeking Feedback

2011-10-13T20:41:00.003-04:00

This past weekend of glorious, sunny days helped dry out the fields enough to get the tiller in, and so: goodnight, garden! Most everything has been cleared out, composted, and seeded in winter rye to tide over for next year. Next step is planting and mulching in garlic (four new varieties plus elephant garlic and a shareable seed stock of Green Peak Farm's HOME garlic!) and dismembering the hoophouse for the year, though I am still reluctant to say goodbye to the tomatoes, peppers and basil mellowing out under plastic.

Left in the garden is still a good spread of veggies, happily thriving in the cooler season: daikon, large storage radish, turnips (one of my new favorites, bright and tiny, crisp marbles of sweetness,) mustard greens, some beets, kale, of course, romanesca cauliflower, broc, radish, parsley and cilantro. We'll see how long they last under reemay; it's hard to believe it's mid-October already.

Just in case you haven't gotten around to the end of year CSA survey, here is the link again. As always, I deeply appreciate member feedback, and hope to impress the importance of your opinion on how the shares happen. Your CSA share is and should be custom-tailored to what works for you and what works for the farm, so please do speak up! Thank you!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFFtRTc0QnJRdXJ0cGNyaGdjTjBaN3c6MQ

It has been a beautiful fall in Vermont, and no one says it quite so well as Robert Frost...

Unharvested

A scent of ripeness from over a wall.
And come to leave the routine road
And look for what had made me stall,
There sure enough was an apple tree
That had eased itself of its summer load,
And of all but its trivial foliage free,
Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.
For there had been an apple fall
As complete as the apple had given man.
The ground was one circle of solid red.

May something always go unharvested!
May much stay out of our stated plan,
Apples or something forgotten and left,
So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.

Congratulations, Jane and John!

2011-09-18T11:03:00.004-04:00

It's official: the Pig Roast was actually A Wedding, and Jane and John are married! In true Jane and John form, the wedding celebrated the bounty of local talent, participation, and delicious eats. John says a few well-chosen words, with his brother officiating

Headgear and associated supplies provided by Green Peak Farm

Portable pig roaster, prepped and served by The Barn Restaurant in Pawlet

Three-layer cake: vanilla/raspberry, carrot cake, and chocolate ganache with apricots -- plus, Happy Birthday, Conor!-- from Ali of H.N. Williams Store

Mark at work/Angle of Repose for the swine

Uncle Fred and Aunt Amelia, from Portland, OR with Mom Bev

Check out Amelia's work with the James Beard Public Market, coming to Portland soon: http://www.portlandpublicmarket.com/index.html

Amelia helped establish a network between professional chefs and the Oregon Food Bank, helping to educate the public about healthful, delicious ways to prepare food and to use the seasons' bounty as it comes, in addition to being a restauranteur and advocate for good food culture in Portland. Be sure to check out the Public Market in the coming year!

Dancing to the sweet tunes of local bluegrass band, Goldtown. http://goldtownmusic.com/

Congrats on the new album, boys!

Big thanks and congratulations to the newlyweds and their families! XO

CSA 2011 - Week 12 - Last Share for the Year!

2011-09-13T17:51:00.002-04:00

Hard to believe it, but we're already at our last CSA pickup for the year. In your share this week:

Delicata squash
Pie pumpkin
Soup pumpkin
Butternut squash
red and yellow onions
broccoli
tomatoes
green peppers
green and purple beans
slicing radishes, daikon radish

Herbs: basil, lemon basil, thai basil, thyme, savory, dill umbels,
flowers: gomphrena and celosia

A few notes about winter squash. Winter squash will keep in a warm, dry place for 3-5 months. The best way to store it is in the pantry or on the countertop-- if you're in for the long haul, most winter squash is stored by letting it "cure" in the sun to let the skin thicken up, increasing its longevity.

If you notice any spots or wounds on the squash, trim those away, store the good parts in the fridge, and eat them first. Only try to store unblemished fruits, as the saying goes: "one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel."

Another technique is to wipe down squash with a very mild bleach solution if you're planning to store and eat pumpkins/squash later on in the year.

It has been a pleasure growing produce for you this year, and I hope that you have been pleased with your share. I will be emailing around a survey in the coming week; if you happen to have a free minute and could respond and return it to me, via email or in hard copy, I'd appreciate it very much. Your feedback is important to me and it really helps the business to grow-- this is always a work in progress. Thanks kindly in advance. Happy Fall!

CSA 2011 - Week 11

2011-09-06T20:11:00.004-04:00

In your share this week:
1 lb green and purple beans
2-3 Delicata winter squash
1 small pie pumpkin (New England Pie)
2 lbs potatoes (yukons and ADK reds)
1 head garlic
handfull of shallots
1 large hunk (5-7lbs) of soup pumpkin (Rouge Vif d'Etampes)
yellow and orange carrots
lettuce and baby chard mix
1 large crown broccoli
1/4 lb genovese basil
red and cippolini onions
cukes - slicers and picklers

Flowers: red and copper amaranth, multi-colored celosia, gomphrena, a few crooked zinnias
Herbs: thyme, sage, dill umbels (flowers), thai and lemon basil.

Please be sure to give your produce an extra rinse this week. With all of the recent rain and wind, many plants were knocked over and subjected to a thorough coating of mud-- thank goodness that's about the extent of the damage from T.S. Irene.

PUMPKINS! Fall is here! I broke into the wool hat collection tonight, not going to lie. Some notes about the different winter squash:

Pumpkins are indeed winter squash, and members of the enormous Cucurbita "family" (really a genus.) The different squash-family veggies that GPF offers are from a variety of the 6 cucurbita species-- and I'm of the mind that knowing the species (each species can embrace up to a few hundred different varieties) helps us to know how to cook them better. Mmm. It all comes back to eating, doesn't it?

Of the squash offered here at the farm, here are the Genus species (Genus species, variety name):
Cucurbita moschata: Butternut
Cucurbita pepo: Delicata, Yellow Crookneck [Summer squash] and New England Pie (also in this family: Acorn]
Cucurbita maxima: Rouge Vif d'Etampes (also in this family: Hubbard, buttercup/Turk's Turban-types)
And of course, the trusty old cukes: Cucurbita sativus.

Because your squash have not been "cured" for long (left in the sun to let the skins thicken and harden) I'd encourage you to save a step of potentially hazardous knife wielding and just eat the skins. They cook down easily, and I have not found that they deter from the silky smooth flesh.
Here's a rough recipe for a delicious, creamy treat good for these cool nights:

Slow and Easy Cindella Pumpkin Risotto
4-5 lbs Rouge Vif d'Etampes/Cinderella Pumpkin cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups short-grain rice (arborio is ideal, I used brown)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 shallots, chopped finely
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup dry red wine
Salt, pepper, chopped sage, thyme, rosemary to taste

In a large skillet, heat olive oil to medium-high. Add cubed squash and cover, stirring often. Let cook for approx. 10 mins.

In a medium to large-sized pot, melt butter and gently fry rice in melted butter until the rice becomes fragrant and begins to turn (about 5 mins.) Add stock, onions, garlic and bring to low boil; cover and let cook. As stock begins to cook off, reduce heat and simmer low, adding cream. Be careful not to let boil. As rice softens and liquids cook off, add wine, S&P, and chopped herbs. When rice is al-dente, add pan-roasted squash. Serve hot. Total cooking time: approx 45 min-1hr.

This stands up very well to re-heating, gently fried the next day as a patty, or with grated parm and a simple greens salad. Feels like fall!

A few notes about Tropical Storm Irene

2011-09-04T21:06:00.003-04:00

Here are a few photos from an afternoon spent on Day 6 of cleanup in Wilmington, VT. There was an outpouring of volunteers from the Stratton Mountain School community-- over 80 parents, students and staff members came out to help. The damage in Wilmington was extensive. The entire downtown areas were severely flooded, and the force of the water is hard to believe.Which way is up? Shovelling debris and sludge from the basement of a bar on Main Street The red line demarcates the flood line

Our crew of workers from school, plus Senator Bernie Sanders, who was visiting and checking out the damage

It is hard to convey how much damage had been done in this community-- it's truly a disaster zone. The disparity between having been so lucky on the flank of Green Peak and the damage done in Wilmington and Jamaica makes those towns feels strangely distant. In case you have not already checked out the outpouring of response from Vermonters helping out their neighbors, browse around this website to see what's been going on: www.vtresponse.wordpress.com

Donations for the town of Jamaica can be directed toward: www.strattonfoundation.org

Donations to the town of Wilmington can be directed toward a number of allocated funds-- see their website at: www.wilmingtonvermont.us

My heart goes out to these, and so many other small communities and individual families in Vermont who were hit by this storm.

CSA 2011 - Week 10

2011-09-04T20:51:00.004-04:00

(Retroactively.)

Missed one in there, with the start of meetings for school, and subsequently the first week of classes plus Irene. I deeply appreciate everyone's flexibility in pickup times/dates, and now that we're through with the madness of the first week plus wedding in the eye of the tropical storm, things are back on track for our last two weeks of pickups.

To expect for this week (Week 11: Tues. the 6th/Thurs. the 8th)

broccoli

Green and purple beans

onions

2-3 delicata winter squash

pie pumpkin

1/2 a large Cinderella-type soup pumpkin

2 lbs potatoes (last week for potatoes)

big bag of basil

garlic and shallots

a few cukes each

a few tomatoes and peppers

mustard greens, lettuce, baby kale mix

potentially: carrots, radish

Thanks, and we will see you Tues. and Thurs. Shares should be ready by 5:30-- and the door is always open if you need to come later.

Ode to Summer Squash

2011-08-19T12:36:00.002-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-I6ouuptYA

Love,
Powdery Mildew

I know, I know, I just got done posting zucchini bread recipes. But, with the warm days and cool, dewy nights, powdery mildew is really making its move on the summer and squash plants. It's amazing how quickly the right conditions can spread the fungus. We'll continue having squash for at least another week in CSA shares, but expect a rapid tapering down of squash.

Fortunately, the winter squash is ripening happily away, and we should get a good harvest in despite the early-seeming arrival of PM. (Maybe I'm just not ready to give summer up yet.) Winter squash varieties to look forward to: Delicata, Butternut, Rouge vif d'Etamps/Cinderella pumpkin, and New England Pie pumpkin.

Fresh Ideas

2011-08-19T10:03:00.002-04:00

Sue and her Week 8 ShareIt's that time of season-- the nights are dipping cooler, and the days provide just about everything you could want from summer--and everyone is trying to hone in on the Perfect Zucchini Bread Recipe. It's a journey, not a destination... or at least that's what I'm telling myself as I eat zucchini-ed souffle mush in my haphazard, substitution-riddled approach to recipes. Thanks to CSA member Sue, who always has great recipe ideas for our farm produce, I think we're getting closer. She even mentioned that these puppies hold a tight, high muffin top, just like they're supposed to-- no sinking pits of porridge here-- and they come in at 145 calories each. And so, for your testing pleasure (and adapted very slightly...)
Sue's Kathie's Zucchini Muffins - makes a dozen muffins.
Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cups shredded zukes
1/2 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg
to sprinkle on top:
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 taspoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine whole wheat flour and next 6 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl; whisk together. Combine zucchini, milk, oil, honey, and egg in a small bowl; stir until blended. Make a well in center of flour mixture; add milk mixture, stirring just until moist. Spoon batter into 12 greased muffin cups. Combine sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over tops of muffins.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Hoummous among us.

My favorite part of fresh summer produce is... eating it fresh. Don't get me wrong, I live for multi-course extravaganzas (this is an understatement. This weekend: buttermilk and habanero/herb paste-soaked, deep-fried chicken with red potato salad (olive oil base, lemon basil, dill and a touch of fennel), mustard greens with a splash of rice wine vinegar, OJ and honey, steamed haricot verts and cherry clafoutis for dessert!) but not every day is Saturday, sadly. So the rest of the time, I avoid cooking as much as possible and graze while out in the field, or sometimes collect the grazings on a plate. hard-boiled eggs with a dab of sweet-hot mustard and lemon basil on a bed of mustard greens = two minute lunch. Fresh produce can stand up, and out, on its own!

John shows off his lovely bouquet this week. And, The Dog Days of Summer...

Keep the recipe ideas rolling in, and have a great weekend!

From Blossoms

2011-08-19T09:16:00.002-04:00

One of my favorite poems, especially at this point in the year, read aloud for its musicality and rhythm. By Li-Young Lee, from the collection Rose.

From Blossoms

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

+++
Summer harvest bounty, friends, rivers, fishing, love, deep-fried chicken feasts, out-of-town farm visits, back to school kickoff, singing and the marriage of friends in a field... Joy to joy to joy. Thanks for being a part of it!

One more to add for this week...

2011-08-17T15:11:00.005-04:00

Gomphrena. Can't forget these little beauties. Red is "Strawberry Fields" with nice, big round globes.

CSA 2011 - Week 8

2011-08-16T22:57:00.004-04:00

In your share this week... 2 lb Kennebec potatoes
garlic head
shallots
green onions
1.5 lbs green and purple beans
bag mustard greens
bunch swiss chard
bunch beet greens
1 head green cabbage
2 carrots - mixed colors
summer squash and zukes
picklers and slicing cukes
broccoli side shoots/raab
big bag of basil (1/4 lb)
and FINALLY! the first tiny handfull of tomatoes
Herbs: thai basil, lemon basil, LOTS of dill, parsley seeds, coriander seeds
Flowers: LOTS of sunflowers, celosia, copper amaranth, scabiosa (pincushion flower). Too wet Tuesday to get into the zinnias, but they'll likely be back for Thursday's shares.

Thankfully, after two days of steady, soaking rain the sun emerged this afternoon to dry out the beans to get in for harvest. Beans are one crop in particular that do not like being handled while wet, as it makes them extremely susceptible to spreading disease. You can expect 1.5-2 lbs of green and purple beans weekly for the next several weeks. If it's too many beans for your liking all at once, you can always blanche them and freeze them for a winter day. They hold beautifully in the freezer-- or make a bean casserole and freeze it up, too!

Cukes and zukes are just beginning to taper down from their summer frenzy as the cooler nights help foster the season-ending, somewhat inevitable powdery mildew. You'll likely see them through to the end of your shares, just in lesser quantities.

The first long-anticipated tomatoes are finally coming in after a series of false starts and some ferocious tobacco hornworms. Interestingly, tomato and tobacco (Simpsons, anyone? Tomaco plants...?) are closely related, and on big tomato farms smoking is distinctly prohibited. Disease spreads easily from the smoke and residual oils from tobacco on smokers' hands, and it somehow foils tomato growth.

Anyway, these tobacco hornworms (manduca sexta, which unfortunately is not as fun to write or say as their close relatives, tomato hornworms, or manduca quinquemaculata) are simply put, gross. Anyone who knows me can attest that I am not a squeamish person. However, these suckers make my guts churn, and to me, killing them is gory, nasty business. And the gore is a deep, deep green. The worms themselves are huge, roughly the diameter of a man's pointer finger when mature, and their path of destruction is terrific. They maintain fantastic camouflage and are somewhat hard to spot save two tell-tale signs; they are equally identifiable for the destruction they wreak on the plants and their large, segmented fecal excretions. When the wind stops blowing in the hoophouse, they're large enough that you can HEAR their mandibles chewing tomato plants.

Hornworms are fairly avoidable in that the pupae overwinter in soils, and are often killed during annual tillage-- unless, of course, you're hand-building beds with a bedfork inside a makeshift hoophouse... It's a good lesson to me that next year, yes, I'll wreck the tiller around inside the house a bit before transplanting in the tomatoes, carbon monoxide poisoning be damned. After all, carbon monoxide poisoning is a plant's dream come true; the whole time I was tilling inside the greenhouse, anyway, I was laughing about the passed trend of "oxygen bars". Whatever happened to them, anyway?

And so, tomatoes this week. It's been a bit of a saga, in an ongoing struggle for tomatoes at GPF; I'd like to think I'm getting smarter, but. Bell peppers will be in your share next week.

There is a lot of basil. It is so incredibly happy inside the hoophouse-- the vigor is really incredible. If you've got any big plans for thai or lemon basil, please let me know and I'd be happy to harvest pounds of it for you (pounds is roughly a garbage bag full!)
Please be sure, especially Tuesday folks, to give your produce an extra rinse this week. Because of all that rain, there was quite a bit of mud during harvest. Your mustard greens in particular would benefit from one extra run through the salad spinner.

Beet greens are the equivalent of swiss chard. Did you know that the Chenopod family, which includes beets, chard, and spinach also includes the miracle grain, Quinoa? Fun fact.

Looking ahead: expect more cabbage, fresh onions, more mustard greens, lettuce, and some fresh shelling beans for next week. Also, more toms and a pepper or two. I will be back to school starting Tuesday, so there's a slim chance I may be a bit late in getting the shares organized in the coming weeks. I will do my best to let you know in advance, and I deeply appreciate your patience. Thank you and have a great week!

CSA 2011 - Week 7

2011-08-09T21:48:00.006-04:00

In your share this week...
purple, green, and purple-green streaked filet beans (1.25 lbs)
slicing and pickling cukes
2 lbs potatoes - Kennebec
zukes and summer squash
bag o' basil
garlic heads
shallots
green onions
bunch chard
broccoli shoots/raab
Herbs: thai basil, lemon basil, coriander, dill
Flowers: LOTS of sunflowers, celosia, amaranth, zinnia

Kennebec potatoes are a different variety from the previous weeks. This is a new variety to me, so keep me posted if you have any comments about preferred cooking methods! They're said to be the best french frying potatoes around...

Filet beans are skinny beans, harvested small to stay tender. There are three varieties in your share mixed together. Spoiler alert: purple beans turn green when cooked. My favorites of the varieties are a pole bean called Rattlesnake, which has superior flavor and stays tender even when they get larger. You can tell Rattlesnake apart by its green flesh that's streaked through with purple.

Your green onions are strong in flavor, and I would recommend cooking them like you would a regular onion.

All of a sudden, the bouquets are looking awfully atumnal... August 9th, already? I guess the big round bales in the background don't help.

This bouquet has some flowers to look ahead to for next week, including agrostemma and scabiosa (pincushion flower)

We can also look ahead next week to cabbage, lots of filet beans, basil, mustard greens, salad mix, and a few cippolini onions. Squash and zukes will begin to taper off, so get your zuke bread baked before it's too late! Also, please be sure to grab your chickens from the freezer if you haven't already, and thanks!

Trading Work

2011-08-09T10:16:00.005-04:00

...a good friendship makes.

Chickens are done for the season at Green Peak Farm, which is a pleasant relief. Most all of you requested to pickup your birds with your CSA share this week-- and so please be sure to grab your two birds out of the freezer when you come. This set is larger than the last, dressing out around 5.5 lb. Some of the larger birds come closer to 6.5-7 lbs-- big daddies-- and I am pleased to say that I think these are some of the finest-looking birds to come through the farm. It would not be possible without the help of friends: BIG thanks to Jane, Liz, and Gus for their willingness to learn, help, and get right in there.
A little pre-chicken stretch session

I feel so fortunate to be able to trade work with friends, and even just to have friends who are taking on exciting new projects that hone tangible, valuable skills. I'm lucky to have gotten the opportunity to learn a lot this summer-- Jane and Jimmy and their plucker project literally got the motor running in thinking about machines; Liz is an all-around rockstar, feeding me (YUM!), cutting my hair, and sparking good conversation; Anna Lea, my flower queen, rivals any arrangement I could put together in beauty, generosity, and practicality; Gus and family are FULL of good information, tools, and perspicacity to take on fun construction projects, laughing merrily throughout.

And so GPF chickens are done... and now it's on to the next set! Jane's chickens will go in two sets this week and next, and it will be nice to help her use her OWN plucker on her OWN birds. Talk about self-sufficiency! Last year it was Tim's birds-- and it all makes me think of the old barn-raising and haying parties. It's community built the old-fashioned way, through work: through time, problem-solving, and then sharing in food after work is done. In drawing the line between work and rest, and being at ease while resting. And taking turns: my birds for your birds, my birds for your woodpile, my birds for your... haircut? And new garden in Michigan?

I'm thankful for the help. Speaking of help, Rachel has been a fantastic helper and friend in the garden, and here's wishing her an exciting new start as she heads to Burlington this week. Rachel has been helping harvest and take on garden projects throughout the summer, and her sunny nature has been a wonderful addition to the farm crew. Don't get me wrong, Burt is a solid helper, too, but his stories don't nearly compare to Rachel's! Thanks, Rachel!

It's August, we're rolling, and there is a lot to be thankful for. Hope everyone has a great week!

Link to "Julia Child's Grated Zucchini Sauteed in Butter and Shallots"

2011-08-04T11:43:00.002-04:00

One more quick post, because really, how can you go wrong here?? Salt, butter, garlic... The poor zuke is just a vessel. Yum.

http://www.food.com/recipe/julia-childs-grated-zucchini-sauteed-in-butter-and-shallots-243205

Enjoy!

CSA 2011 - Week 6

2011-08-04T10:46:00.003-04:00

Hello! Week six, and suddenly, it's August and we've hit the half-way point in the CSA! Whew! Where does the time go? In your share this week:

summer squash/zukes
slicer and pickling cukes
bunch chard
bunch carrots
2 lbs potatoes - Yukon Golds
broccoli side shoots
sugar snap peas
snow peas
bunch mustard greens
shallots
garlic heads
bag o' basil
Thursday only: green and purple filet beans a.k.a. haricot verts a.k.a skinny-whinny green beans.

flowers: sunflowers, celosia, zinnia
herbs: dill, coriander, lemon basil, thai basil, sage

Mustard greens are sweet and have a tiny bit of tangy heat-- they're great fresh additions to salad or tossed with swiss chard for a cool side. You can also cook them quickly on low heat to get a bit more flavor-- toss some garlic, sesame oil and sesame seeds, and done! Mustard is in the brassica family (cole crops), so we're thinking broccoli, cabbage, brussels sprouts, turnips in terms of the flavor profile.

Your filet beans (which is a fancy way of saying young, super tender green beans) are JUST starting up. I tried for a Tuesday harvest, and they only yielded one serving... which I know that in two weeks, when I'm up to my armpits in picking the some 100 bedfeet of beans spaced at 3", will be a sweet reminder of the importance of timing. They are just coming on-- so Tuesday shares, I'll get you caught up, fear ye not.

Looking ahead, we will start having more green beans, cabbage as the broccoli tapers off, and peppers are about a week-to-two off; tomatoes are still about two weeks off. We will have some green onions next week, as well. The fall crop of broccoli, kale and romanesca cauliflower is looking good, and will get us into September, as well as some later onions and green onions. Later lettuce, bulbing fennel, chard, and beets are all being transplanted today. Herb-wise, expect some parsley, cilantro, and more thyme to start appearing.

You may have noticed that there are some larger pickling cukes and zukes in your shares. What on earth am I supposed to do with THOSE, you may be asking yourselves... And here are some ideas:

+ Scrub and then diagonally slice big cukes to infuse in a jar of cold water in the refridge-- and voila! Cucumber water! Add some lemon basil, and a sprig of mint, and you're set.

+ Big cukes are great for icebox pickles when you peel them, then slice longitudinally (in half, long-wise), scrape out the seeds with a spoon, and let soak in brine in the fridge. No cooking required, they're cheap, and they'll hold for a week in the fridge. You can keep the same brine and just add more cukes as they come in, too.

To make the brine, mix together: 1 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup veg oil, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp white sugar, and 1 thinly-sliced shallot. It's that simple--no shopping required.

You can also add seasonings to flavor as appropriate:

-- I like the classic: 1 tsp celery seed with 1 tablespoon yellow mustard seed
-- Or, take them down the spice route and swap soy sauce for salt, add another tsp sugar, and add 1 tsp curry powder
-- Or make it Japanese Sunomono and swap in rice wine vinegar and soy

+ One more recipe: Green Peak Farm Fresh Veggie Ragout
Okay. So this is not technically a Ragout, as there is no meat, nor heat (typically they're hearty, seasoned meat stews.) I just don't know what else to call it. And, when you look up the etymology of Ragout, like you may do when you're a nerd farmer inside for an early lunch, you will find that the word is "A derivative of the French verb ragoûter , meaning 'to stimulate the appetite'"(Read More http://www.epicurious.com/tools/fooddictionary/entry/?id=4171#ixzz1U4ie2qkX This is definitely an appetite stimulant, and can dress up its paler pantry cousins.

Also, this is an almost entirely farm- recipe, save the sundried tomatoes. And oil. And pepper... you know what I mean.

1/5 lb (about 8-9 slices) sundried tomatoes, sliced thin
1 large zucchini, grated
3 green onions or 2 shallots, sliced thin
3 large cukes, unpeeled and halved with seeds scooped out then grated

brine:
1/2 cup good olive oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons dry/cooking red wine
no salt, as the sundried tomatoes are often salty enough
lots of freshly chopped thyme, dill, lemon basil, basil (to taste)
10-12 turns of black peppercorns
(I'd bet that a light squeeze of anchovy paste would be a delicious addition, if that's the sort of thing you happen to keep in your kitchen...)

In a large bowl, combine grated/sliced veggies with brine and stir well to combine and thoroughly soak veggies. Be amazed as you watch what was once a monster zucchini shrink down to turn into a manageable, delectable garnish.

I'm serving this tonight with pan-fried polenta... and plan on using it tomorrow as a base for a cold bean salad. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Second set of chickens

2011-08-03T07:20:00.002-04:00

Hello, CSA Members,

We'll be harvesting chickens again this Friday, August 5. You will each get your final two chickens for the season-- yum, yum!

Please let me know if you're able to come Friday, starting anytime after noon through the weekend to pick up your chickens fresh-- otherwise, I will store them in the freezer for you to pick up with your regular share next week.

A recipe idea from our farm potluck... Herb Brined Chicken

Defrost chicken in fridge.

Feather with scissors and combine generous handfuls of:
fresh thyme
fresh sage
fresh savory

add:
1 chopped cayenne pepper
2-3 cloves chopped garlicn or shallots
3 tablespooons olive oil
3 tablespoons coarse salt
8 grinds of pepper
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/3 cup dry red wine

Stir to combine and then mortar and pestle to form a paste. Make small cuts to pierce the skin of the bird, and gently separate the skin from the meat. Smash herb paste under skin, distributing well. Cover tightly and let sit overnight.

Grill chicken at 350 for approximately 50 minutes, or until done. YUM!

The Big Day for Kate and Matt!

2011-08-01T20:56:00.006-04:00

Here are some photos of the flowers from the gorgeous celebration of Kate and Matt! Somehow my camera got lost in the car after setup was done, but thanks to Jamie for letting me borrow one of her photos of the bride and groom.

Table setups. Loved the little honeypots for the guests!! Left: the groomsmen's bouts, Right: the groom's bout

One of the ladies' corsages

The roundup of the ladies' pin-on corsages

Two matching arrangements, birch rounds from Kate's dad, and votives for the place card table

This little buddy had the pleasure of gracing the bathroom with its color!

A fun and productive Friday night of prep with the ladies' bouquets all lined up and ready to go!

HUGE thanks to the one and only Miss Anna Lea, the best helper (and best looking model!) a friend could could ask for.

Congratulations, Kate and Matt!

Fun with Flowers

2011-07-29T23:58:00.003-04:00

It is a deep honor and pleasure to be growing and arranging the flowers for Kate and Matt's wedding. Everything is in, cleaned up, and ready for the final arrangements tomorrow morning. The bride's and her ladies' bouquets are done-- it has been SO fun playing with the designs and having access to high quality flowers grown in our local southern Vermont region. Playland for flowers. Ah! The colors! Textures! Shapes!

Big thanks to Anna Blooms (E. Dorset) and Wheeler Farm (Danby) for growing some stellar flowers and greens.

The lovely Anna in the workshop-turned-jungle of flowers

Playing with size, scale, and balance

Alternate designs, and a gorgeous model

Heavy rain this afternoon/evening is not so great for harvest, but lends itself to some killer light for photos!

Sneak Peak

2011-07-27T11:50:00.003-04:00

at some designs for bouts and corsages for Kate and Matt's this Saturday....

What fun!

Cucumber Peanut Salad

2011-07-26T19:55:00.002-04:00

Also adapted from Moosewood's New Classics. Serves 4. Prep time: 20 mins, Marinating time: 20 mins.

"This simple snappy salad with fennel seeds and roasted peanuts can be made as spicy as you like by adding a few more chiles.

3 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and sliced into 1/4"-thick crescents (about 4 cups)
2 tsp salt
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tsp fennel seeds
1 to 2 tsp seeded, minced fresh chile (or more to taste)
1/2 cup crushed roasted peanuts, or more to taste (crush peanuts using a food processor, or put them in a plastic bag and use a rolling pin. About 2/3 cup whole peanuts will yield 1/2 cup crushed.)

Stir together the cukes and salt, place in colander, and drain for 10-15 minutes. Rinse the cukes well and drain again.

Meanwhile, in a small jar, mix together the brown sugar, lemon juice, and vinegar until the sugar has dissolved.

When the cukes have drained, heat the oil in a small saucepan. When it's hot, add the fennel seeds and the chile. Lift the pan off the heat to avoid scorching, and swirl the pan for about 30 seconds. Continue to cook on low heat for another minute, stirring continuously. Remove from heat and set aside.

Transfer the drained cukes to a large shallow serving bowl and pour the hot seasoned oil over them, tossing well. Stir in the vinegar mixture. Set aside at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before serving. Serve at room temperature or chilled. Top with the crushed peanuts just before serving.

Cucumber Salad with Sushi Dressing

2011-07-26T19:30:00.002-04:00

This is a favorite of Jane's and mine. Serves 4-6, total time: 20 mins. Adapted from Moosewood Restaurant's New Classics.

3 cups cucumber crescents: peel 3 medium cukes, halve them lengthwise, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Slice crosswise in to 1/2 inch-thick crescents.

Sushi Dressing:
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1 tsp wasabi powder
2 tsp sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2-3 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
1/2 sheet toasted nori (toast it by waving briefly over a flame until the color deepens to a bright sheen-- also available pre-toasted.)

Place the sliced cucumbers in a large bowl.
In a small jar with a lid, stir together the vinegar, wasabi powder, sugar, and soy sauce. Add the pickled ginger. Using scissors, cut the nori into long 1-inch wide ribbons. Bundle the ribbons of nori and hold them over the bowl. Snip them into tiny squares and stir into the dressing. Pour the dressing over the cukes and serve immediately. Yum!

CSA 2011 - Week 5

2011-07-26T18:09:00.002-04:00

In your share this week:
broccoli
summer squash & zukes
slicing and pickling cukes
bunch chard
small bunch carrots
green beans
lemon basil
2 lbs new potatoes - Adirondack Red
1 head garlic
2-3 shallots
sugar snap peas
snow peas
lettuce mix
Herbs (l-r): coriander, sage, chamomile, dill, thyme. Lemon basil is included in your share.

Flowers: zinnias and calendula

The bushel baskets are almost full! A few notes about your share...

lemon basil has a nice citrus scent to it, and can be used any way you'd use basil... I've been adding lots to egg salad for a nice changeup. Try it for pesto, or as a garnish with hummus!

The green beans in your share are really shelling beans moonlighting as filet beans this week. Next week you will have true haricot verts-- the small, super tender, crisp beans that you'll be tempted to eat fresh. These in your share, a variety called Jacob's Cattle, will take a little extra steaming as they are slightly tougher.

Be prepared for the continuation of a steady flow of cukes and zukes/summer squash. I'll post recipes here for more ideas to help inspire you to deal with the bounty-- stay tuned!

Tomatoes and peppers are behind schedule,and we are looking at about two-three weeks before they are ready. The plants are healthy and cranking away in the hoophouse, but got a slower start as the first set of seedlings fried in the early, early heat of the spring. These are the second wave.

Snow and snap peas are tapering off despite being eight feet tall and having doubled over on their trellis! You should see another week-two from them, but if you're sick of eating them fresh by this point, blanche and freeze them for December!

Flowers tapered off in your share a bit this week as the farm is doing the growing and arranging for CSA members, Kate and Matt, this Saturday to help celebrate their wedding. BIG congratulations to them! We'll be back to usual next week, and you can expect lots and lots of sunflowers to grace your homes soon. As always, please pass along any recipes or inspirations that you've got, and thanks for reading!

Fiori di Zucca Ripieni - Stuffed Squash Blossoms

2011-07-20T09:05:00.003-04:00

This morning I had the pleasure of a lovely visit from Eleanore-- Eleanore of stuffed squash blossom fame. She has been so kind as to not only share the full dining experience with her friends and me for a lovely luncheon, but also the recipe, which follows, annotated with some of Eleanore's tips. It's not for the faint of heart, and takes some advanced planning-- but man, are they worth it!

If you're interested in giving it a shot, just let me know and we'll gather some squash blossoms for you. They are best/only harvested in the mornings while the pollinators are busy and the flowers are bright and open. The heat of the day tends to melt them, thus they're not included in your shares.

Fiori di Zucca Ripieni

18 squash flowers

8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

White Sauce made (see below)

salt

ground white pepper

olive or other vegetable oil for frying [Eleanore reccomends grapeseed oil]

batter for frying vegetables (see below)

*[Make filling the day before and refrigerate-- this makes it much easier to stuff the blossoms.]

Combine the cheese with the white sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste and stir to mix. [Let sit overnight to set.]

Remove pistils and trim flower stems. Fill each flower with this mixture (one heaping tablespoon per flower). Carefully twist flower ends shut.

In a medium-sized frying pan heat 1 to 1 1/2 cups of oil to 375 degrees on a deep frying thermometer. Delicately dip each stuffed flower in the batter and fry until golden and crisp on both sides. Drain on paper towel and serve immediately. Serves 6.

Salsa Besciamella - white sauce

6 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups hot milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture acquires a light-brown color. Add the milk all at once and stir vigorously to avoid lumps. Cook slowly for 5 minutes.

Pastella per Fritti di Verdura - Batter for frying Vegetables

1 cup unbleached flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cold water
2 tablespoons olive oil
ground white pepper

Sift together the three dry ingredients. Gradually add the cold water and the oil, stirring just until a smooth batter is formed. Add pepper to taste and mix. Use as directed. Yields about 1 1/2 cups.

BIG thanks to Eleanore for sharing her recipe and tips and big heart.

I should also tell you that she once delivered to the house a half dozen tidily-wrapped, hot blossoms when I couldn't make it to lunch one afternoon... We were up on the roof bolting in solar hot water panels-- what a treat!!

CSA 2011 - Week 4

2011-07-20T07:54:00.006-04:00

In your share this week:
broccoli
bunch baby carrots
fresh shallot
basil
2 lbs new potatoes
1.3 lbs sugar snaps
summer squash and zukes
bunch swiss chard
slicing and pickling cukes
bag lettuce mix

Flowers: (L-R) sunflowers!!, copper and red amaranth (copper pictured above), opened shallot blossoms. Not pictured: zinnia, rudebeckia, calendula

Herbs: thai basil, dill, cilantro, summer savory, mint

Broccoli and carrots are ready, hooray! Carrots will get sweeter as they continue to size up. The best way to store carrots is to lop the tops off before sticking them in the fridge.

Toss the tops-- unless you've got a mind to make veggie stock to save for a cold winter's day soup base. Save the water from boiled potatoes, toss in the carrot tops and some chopped cloves of garlic, boil low for 20 minutes, and voila! Homemade veggie stock! Strain and store it in the freezer until you're ready again for soup, or use it as the base to cook whole grains for an extra flavor kick.

Basil was in your share in a small pint container. Thai basil was in the free-choice herb section. Thai basil has a distinct anise-like flavor, and holds its flavor much better during cooking compared to its Italian relative. Next week, we'll add in lemon basil, just for kicks!

I'm wild about these new potatoes. Your share has all Adirondack Reds this week, which are red outside and in. The color holds during cooking, which means fun pink mashed taters!

Potluck Thursday, 6:30-- hope to see folks here. Bring a dish to share; kids, musical instruments, and lawn games are encouraged!

Garden Update for Mid-July

2011-07-16T08:51:00.006-04:00

Fill'er up. Peas are the tall buddies on the furthest left.And this is the pea trellis May 28. What a difference a six weeks can make!Sugar snaps are over seven feet tall, doubling over themselves, sunflowers are coming on, and squash and cukes are pumping away.

Dry beans are flowering up abundantly, green beans plants are nice and healthy and a few days from flower, which means we'll have green, purple, and striped baby beans (or should I say haricot verts...) in the coming week or two.

Red and green cabbage is starting to head up, and we should have broccoli at the end of this week. The first round of baby carrots should be good for this week, too, replacing radishes which will make an appearance again at the end of summer.

Speaking of radishes, yesterday I planted two of my personal favorite crops: daikon radish, a long, white, cylindrical Japanese radish that is one of the bases for Korean kimchi, and also Misato Rose-- what I think is by far the best tasting radish around. It's sort of like a cross in flavor/texture between kohlrabi, apple, and radish. It's gorgeous on a cheese plate, and pairs beautifully with a good sharp VT cheddar. Come fall, we'll be back rolling in radishes!

Tomatoes and peppers are wildly flowering away, and the first green fruits are in. They got a bit of a late start due to "figuring out" temperature control in the new hoophouse-- the first several flats of tomato starts FRIED early on in a spat of hot, sunny days, so this is round deux.

Basil will be in your shares this week-- we've got three main types: genovese (regular), lemon basil, and thai basil. Mmm, summer.

My first beet crop failed this summer. Spotty germination combined with something that they didn't like in the soil means the direct seed crop went to wasted space. Boo. I've got more transplants ready to go out this week, so we will have beets in a month or so.

Humble kale is coming along, was transplanted out early last week and will be a nice late summer/fall crop, in case anyone is wondering about the good old faithful.

All of the garlic has been pulled from the field, and will be doled out in your shares as we head through the rest of the season. I'm steadily building seed stock, so some of the cloves that you see in your share might be a little less than perfect (smaller head size, small toe/clove size.)

Herbs are coming along: dill is growing wildly and ought to be flowering up for pickling toward the end of this week. Parsely is slow growing to get established, but it's still coming along. Cilantro is thriving hiding in the shade of the peas-- and some volunteer cilantro is rapidly on its way to becoming Coriander (the seed balls formed on the umbels of the flower)-- same plant, different parts/stages thus different names. I have lots of thyme transplants that somehow did well-- if ayone would like a few for their home gardens, do let me know. Fennel bulbs and scallions have germinated up and will soon be ready for a late summer transplant, both thriving in the cooler weather.

That's about all the news from Green Peak Farm at this point-- thanks for reading and hope everyone is off to a great start of the weekend!

Parks in Focus

2011-07-13T12:07:00.002-04:00

A tip of the hat to Parks in Focus, an organization established through the Udall Foundation whose mission is to use photography to connect under-served middle schoolers to nature. It's outdoor ed with a human, story-telling component, and you can check out trips' progress and awesome photos here:

http://parksinfocus.wordpress.com/

Like what you see? Sign up to receive daily updates on the right-hand side of the blog, add your comments and reactions to the mix to help create an interactive viewing experience, or make a donation to Parks in Focus.

Big thanks to Brian, former Silverton farm colleague, NYC Public School teacher, and PIF trip leader for passing this info along. Show some love!

CSA 2011 - Week 3

2011-07-12T22:26:00.004-04:00

In your share this week:

CUKES!! (3 kinds)

sugar snap peas (1.5#)

snow peas

summer squash (pattypan, yellow crookneck, costata romanesco)

new potatoes (baby yukon gold, baby adirondack red)

bunch chard

bunch radishes

garlic head

lettuce mix

Flowers: rudebeckia (black-eyed susans), monarda (bee balm), lysimachia (gooseneck loosestrife), and calendula

herbs: summer savory, cilantro, oregano, dill

Cukes are here! Cucumbers love the farm's soil-- there is some mysterious and wonderful symbiosis here-- magic, really. There are two types of cukes in your share: slicers and picklers. Between the two types of cukes, there are four varieties.

The two varieties of slicers are notably different. One is a "beit alpha" type and has a smooth, delicate skin and distinctly sweet flavor. These are the earliest of the cukes. The other is a classic English cucumber style. The English slicers are slower growing, and thus you may not have one this week. Slicing cukes are generally longer and thinner, and are great eaten fresh (with a sprinkling of salt, they are my go-to summer snack.) Or add a few thin slices to your water (gin, vodka), toss in a sprig of mint, and you're good to go.

There are two varieties of picklers, as well. Pickling cucumbers are distinct not only for their smaller, gherkin-style shape, but also for their thicker skins and interior walls that hold up well during cooking. I'll post a recipe for icebox pickles soon, which require no cooking, but brine in the fridge for several days to get a sweet and salty flavor.

Did you know all cucumbers (except the beit alpha types) have little spines on them? If they didn't get rubbed off during harvest, wipe them down with a dish towel before serving.

If you're getting tired of eating sugar snap/snow peas, but think you might not be tired of them in December, blanche them and put them in the freezer. To do it: Prepare a large stainless bowl of ice water that's large enough to hold the veggies and ice. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil (if you've got a pot with a steamer/blancher basket, use it!) and let boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring to ensure equal cooking throughout. Remove veggies from boiling water and immediately soak them in bowl of ice water. Once the cooked veggies have rapidly cooled, spread them out on a towel to dry, then place in a ziploc bag in a thin layer (so they freeze evenly.) Don't forget to write the date on the bags-- peas will last upwards of 4 months in the freezer!

The Fresh Herb Index - Issue 2

2011-07-12T22:08:00.005-04:00

Two more additions to help with IDs...Summer savory is closely related to thyme, and falls into the french herb category. Combined with a touch of mint, it's been taking my egg salad to new heights lately...

There is no replacement for fresh cilantro. Cilantro is important to ethnic food around the world, from Mexican to Thai cuisine. Anyone know the connection here...? It begs a bit of research. Use cilantro fresh, adding it to dishes at the last minute as the flavor disappears rapidly with cooking.

As always, let me know about any recipes or sparks of inspiration you'd like to share!

Game Changer

2011-07-11T17:03:00.004-04:00

First round of GPF Chicken harvest today. Today's star? The mighty Whale-I'll-Be, She-dunnit Pluck-O-Matic, featuring the one and only JANE! Here's a photo of the completed plucker, democratically hand-crafted here in Rupert, Vermont for about a hunnert bucks...

And one of Jane in action this morning, scalding the bird to loosen feathers for plucking.
In the past, I have hand-plucked birds, which takes about ten to fifteen minutes per bird, depending on how fast you can move. With Jane's machine, we got it down to about two minutes per bird, seriously speeding up the process. This enabled us to get all thirty birds in done in one batch, which saves hours in cleanup/setup time. BIG THANKS to Jane, Jimmy, Doug, Axel, and John (for bearing witness!) for their hard work, creativity, and general awesomeness.

CSA members, some notes about your birds:

These chickens are somewhat smaller than in previous years. They're averaging about 4.5 lbs each, which is smaller than in the past CSA years. For smaller families, this is a more manageable size-- if you'd like a larger bird (there are a few) please don't hesitate to ask.

Your next (and final) set of birds will be ready for pickup in about three weeks (beginning of August); stay tuned for more details as we get closer.

For cooking, there are tons of options and recipes to float around-- the easiest is to simply roast your chicken, Thanksgiving-style, but some delicious ideas include Beer-can chicken done on the grill, slow-cooking/smoking in the woodstove (once the weather turns again!), brining your chicken before cooking using lots of french herbs, or cilantro, lime and cayenne pepper, or to simply section your chicken up before freezing.

If you're interested in butchering your whole chicken into pieces/cuts, I am happy to share a photocopy of some instructions and tips, just let me know. I'll see if I can scan the info I do have, and post it here.

I did not include the neck with your bird; if you'd like some, please let me know. I've got bags in the freezer-- they're great for making stock, which can be frozen and makes everything taste better. I've started using chicken stock to make rice instead of water... yum.

CSA veggie pickups continue as normal, so I'll see most of you twice this week. It's cucumber time on the farm (my favorite crop!) so pass along any good pickle recipes, and I hope you enjoy your birds!

From Maurice Manning's collection, Bucolics

2011-07-08T11:11:00.002-04:00

I

boss of the grassy green
boss of the silver puddle
how happy is my lot
to tend the green to catch
the water when it rains
to do the doing Boss
the way the sun wakes up
the leaves they yawn a bit
each day a little more
for a tiny reason then
when the leaves outgrow their green
the wind unwinds them Boss
that's the way you go around
if you loose me like a leaf
if you unburden me
if I untaste the taste
of being bossed by you
don't boss me down to dust
may I become a flower
when my blossom Boss is full
boss a bee to my blue lips
that one drop of my bloom
would softly drop into
your sweetness once again
if I go round that way
I'll know the doing means
to you what it means to me
a word before all words

This is the first poem of a lovey collection. I will be sure to post more-- or make your way to Northshire Bookstore and pick up a copy for your pocket as you're out in the field this summer!

CSA 2011 - Week 2

2011-07-05T14:55:00.007-04:00

Summer is HERE! I hope you all had a relaxing and happy Fourth of July weekend.
This weekend was such a great reminder of how much I appreciate Vermont's small towns and their individual senses of identity. Bristol's got the outhouse races-- outhouses on wheels-- racing down Main Street. Dunmore had the longest fireworks celebration (almost 40 minutes!) I've seen. There were at least two movie screenings in barns in Landgrove and Middletown Springs of which I'm aware-- one a Miyasaki film; the other a documentary about the history of the ukelele. Manchester with its Vermont Symphony Orchestra picnic-concert, and sales at the outlet stores. A Red, White and Blues Festival in Ludlow. Londonderry was packed to the gills with the West River Farmer's Market and roadside grillin'. Glory.

In your share this week:

summer squash
lettuce mix
new potatoes
garlic scapes
green garlic
sugar snap peas
snow peas
radish bunch
bunch swiss chard

herbs: dill, lavender, oregano, summer and winter savory, mint.

New potatoes were freshly dug this morning. After some stellar help planting from my advisees at school, the plants are big, happy, and spudding right up. You'll notice your new potatoes are rather dirty-- the skins are super delicate and will rub off under gentle pressure. I bit into one raw this morning, and had a sudden realization why the french call them pomme de terre-- earth apples. They've got killer crisp! New potatoes are used just like regular potatoes. Remember to store them in the dark (a paper bag works great.)
Lettuce mix is a blend of four types of lettuce and nasturtium leaves for some peppery zing and nice color. If your lettuce looks flat before serving, you can always soak it in a bowl of the coldest tap water you've got. LOTS of garlic scapes this week-- the end! We're at the end of the season for scapes, so they need a bit more cooking to soften them up. I'll suggest again making garlic scape pesto as it holds beautifully in the fridge and is outstanding with a cheese plate. Like basil pesto, it freezes well. Scape pesto just substitutes scapes for the basil; I also only use half the amount of pine nuts that the recipe calls for, as they're a little pricey. For the other half I substitute in sunflower seeds.

Your summer squash is the first harvest of the season. Three types: pattypan (shaped like flying saucers/sunbursts), yellow crookneck, and costata romanesco zucchini. They're all harvested small before the seeds fully develop to keep the flavor potent, and flesh firm. I think the costata romanesco (green) has the most squashy/blossomy/sunny/summery aroma and flavor-- what are your thoughts?

I love cutting the pattypan laterally so the slices maintain the pinked edges... and are awesome baked on a greased tray with a dollop of scape pesto on top.

So many sugar snap peas (full-sized shares get 1.25 lbs!) They are awesome to have in excess since they're just oh-so-snackable. I'm a big fan of the Soy Vey teriyaki marinade as a dipping sauce (available at our very own Shaw's) or as a base for stir fry. It's got a very potent flavor, and it's magic for making fresh peas disappear... You can also blanche and freeze peas by boiling for a few minutes then rapid-cooling them by dunking into ice-cold water. You can, of course, shell the fattier pods for little sugar-bomb, naked peas. This especially great if you've got little people (or relatives in town for the holiday) who need a task!

Swiss chard is great cooked, steamed, or chopped and added raw to your salad mix!

I've been making lots of omlettes-- which open up the category of entirely-local food. We used to do breakfast for dinner as a family a lot when I was a kid, and I'm having fun bringing that back, especially using lots of fresh herbs (dill, the savories, thyme...)

Enjoy, and thanks for reading!

Raymond Carver - The Fields

2011-07-05T14:42:00.004-04:00

The worms crawl in,
the worms crawl out.
The worms play pinochle
in your snout.
-- childhood ditty

I was nearsighted and had to get up close
so I could see it in the first place: the earth
that'd been torn with a disk or plow.
But I could smell it, and I didn't like it.
To me it was gruesome, suggesting death
and the grave. I was running once and fell
and came up with a mouthful. That
was enough to make me want to keep my distance
from fields just after they'd been sliced open
to expose whatever lay teeming underneath.
And I never cared anything for gardens, either.
Those over-ripe flowers in summer bloom.
Or spuds lying just under the surface
with only part of their faces showing.
Those places I shied away from, too. Even today
I can do without a garden. But something's changed.

There's nothing I like better now than to walk into
a freshly turned field and kneel and let the soft dirt
slide through my fingers. I'm lucky to live
close to the fields I'm talking about.
I've even made friends with some of the farmers.
The same men who used to strike me
as unfriendly and sinister.
So what if the worms come sooner or later?
And what's it matter if the winter snow piles up
higher than fences, then melts and rains away
deep into the earth to water what's left of us?
It's okay. Quite a lot was accomplished here, after all.
I gambled and lost, sure. Then gamble some more,
and won. My eyesight is failing. But if I move
up close and look carefully, I can see all kings of life
in the earth. Not just worms, but beetles, ants, ladybugs.
Things like that. I'm gladdened, not concerned with the sight.
It's nice to walk out into a field any day
that I want and not feel afraid. I love to reach
down and bring a handful of dirt right up to my nose.
And I can push with my feet and feel the earth give
under my shoes. I can stand there quietly
under the great balanced sky, motionless.
With this impulse to take off my shoes. But just an impulse. More important,
this not moving. And then
Amazing! to walk that opened field--
and keep walking.

The Fresh Herb Index - Issue 1

2011-07-01T11:00:00.005-04:00

Alright, here's episode 1 from what will be an ongoing series of posts to help you ID the herbs offered in your CSA share, as per special request!

lavender - aromatic, calming; infuse for a soothing tea
garlic scapes are the flowering heads/stalks of garlic plants, and have a mellow garlicky flavor
"green" garlic is fresh, juicy, uncured garlic that is best stored in the fridge.
mint is great used fresh in cold salads, juleps, or iced tea, and it has long been used as a stomach soother-- just infuse in hot water for 3-5 mins.
dill is easy to mistake for fennel tops (same family) but remarkable for its scent. Another palliative stomach easer.
chamomile is generally harvested for the flower buds/heads, and is a key component in Sleepytime tea
curly parsely is easier to identify than its sibling, flat-leaved parsely (coming in a few weeks.) The curly structure makes it a much better cold-winter survivor.
green onion/scallion -use fresh and add to soups, salads
greek oregano has soft leaves, with a distinctly opposite leaf arrangement. Classic pizza/italian herb. And, it grows wild-- it's all over the landing up on Green Peak! thyme contains the compound thymol, which has known antibacterial and antifungal properties, and was used to preserve mummies in ancient days. It's also part of why chicken soup is so good for colds!

Most of our common cooking herbs are in the mint family-- an enormous grouping of related plants, including thyme, sage, rosemary, lavender, oregano, basil, sage, and bee balm. More installments to come as the herb garden keeps growing! Thanks for reading.

Weeds, and a good moral

2011-07-01T09:21:00.003-04:00

A great little op-ed about our wonderful, accursed friends: weeds. We can't forget that most of them we brought upon ourselves!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/01/opinion/01mabey.html?_r=1

Okay... So!

2011-06-30T22:28:00.010-04:00

Alright! You've found the farm, you've braved the big dog with the loud voice (who's the biggest sissy around, trust me), and now you've got a bag full of produce. In your home. And... what is that thing? Does it even fit in the crisper??
First step: before you leave the farm, make sure you know what's what in your basket!

Step two: A note on field washing-- most of your produce is field washed-- as in if it's something that will rapidly lose its quality if not rapidly cooled (think leafy greens, radishes, carrots, beets), it has been rinsed and/or soaked in potable, cold water. If it's a crop that reacts poorly to being rinsed (think summer squash, cukes, snap and snow peas, green beans), then it will come straight from the field.

Your produce will never, ever be sprayed with anything, or have harmful residues from any herbicides/pesticides. You will occassionally find a Burt hair in the mix. He is really sorry about it, but it does keep the gophers, rabbits, and other low-lying, nibbling friends at bay.

Step three: Please give your salad greens, or anything else that will be served fresh a quick rinse before eating-- in general, too, cold temps/rapid cooling help to preserve the shelf-life of veggies, converting starches to sugars. (This is part of the irony that the best-looking produce at market was often harvested the day before, and cooled overnight instead of coming fresh from the garden that morning, looking somewhat wilty at market.)

Step three-point-five: Try to remember that the occasional bug in your produce is a friendly reminder that organic farming uses overall soil health to combat pests and disease. Insects are a vital part of healthy natural communities, and they're probably just as happy to be in your lettuce as you are! Farming is not far off from being a junior entymologist.

Step four: When in doubt about how to treat an unfamiliar crop for storage in the fridge, put the crop, unwashed, into a plastic bag and leave it open. If there seem to be excess parts, trim, clip, and toss the extra surface area from which moisture is pulled by the refrigerator. The other thing to consider is, "how does this look at the grocery store?" Think about those big, 5# bags of carrots, or 1# bags of radishes-- they're good to sit on a shelf for several weeks, and they've been stripped of greens, with air holes built into the bags. All of the lovely looking greens that are convenient for holding bunches together are really conspiring against you, the eater, in drawing moisture from and dehydrating the root you'd like to eat. Toss them! (Or, sautee radish tops, use carrot tops for veggie/chix stock, and generally get creative!)

What about cilantro and parsely? The best grocery store bunches will still have their roots, unwashed, left on. Many crops survive best being chilled and unwashed (You can generally go by family here-- Cucurbits: squash, cukes, winter squash; Solanaceous/Nightshades: tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, peppers; legumes: beans, peas, green beans, favas, edamame).

When really in doubt, please don't hesitate to contact me-- It's my sincere hope that you enjoy your produce!

One more thing: with green garlic, it's a two-for-one deal. When you get it home, lop the garlic clove (white part) up about 4-6". You can use this part just like garlic for cooking-- it's got a nice, juicy, mild flavor, or store in the fridge as is. For the upper part, hold on to the scape (flowering head) and strip the excess leaves off, then store with the rest of the scapes in an open plastic bag in the fridge.

We're getting to the end of scape season, which means they're getting a bit tougher than early on (the plants are flowering in earnest!) They're still perfectly edible, just be sure to cook them through well; if you're using them as a garlic substitute, leave 8-10 minutes of pre-cooking time before adding in more delicate veggies (like all those sugar snap peas, for example!)

And lastly, a lovely-sounding recipe passed along from Sue Claro via Bon Appetit:

[You can view the complete recipe online at: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/366394]

Sugar Snap Salad
1 1/2 pounds sugar snap peas, trimmed, stringed, cut in half on diagonal
Kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon (or more) fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sumac plus more for garnish
1 bunch radishes (about 6 ounces), trimmed, thinly sliced
4 ounces ricotta salata or feta, crumbled
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh mint

Ingredient info: Ricotta salata is a salted,aged ricotta cheese, available at better supermarkets and at specialty foods stores and Italian markets.

Fill a large bowl with ice water; set aside. Cook peas in a large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain; transfer to bowl with ice water to cool. Drain peas; transfer to a kitchen towel–lined baking sheet to dry.

Whisk oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon sumac in a small bowl. Toss peas, radishes, and cheese in a large bowl. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover dressing and salad separately and chill.

Add dressing to salad and toss to coat. Season salad with salt, pepper, and more lemon juice, if desired. Garnish with mint and sprinkle with sumac.

Bon Appétit
July 2011
by Sara Dickerman
2011-06-15 16:01:38.0

Enjoy, and please pass along any good recipes, inspirations, or ideas that come along! See you next week and Happy Independence Day!

CSA 2011 - Week 1

2011-06-28T10:59:00.006-04:00

Welcome, welcome!

With all the rain coming in and cool temperatures, the early season plants are in heaven. Your share this week is a spring-like bounty...

sugar snap peas
snow peas
pea shoots/tendrils -- see below
radish bunch
bunch swiss chard
5 garlic scapes
2 green garlic
scallions/green onion tops

herbs: dill, parsely, oregano, thyme, sage, mint, lavender, chamomile
flowers: yarrow, zinnia, mint, asters, shallot and scallion flowers
Notes on the share: Sugar snap and snow peas are great for fresh eating, but are welcome additions to stir-fries, pastas, and cold salads. I was rocking some wheatberry-sugar snap salad earlier this week-- a good jaw workout indeed! Pea shoots are tasty, artsy little additions to salads or garnishes. The twining tendrils can be added to tiny bouquets, too-- they'll hold for a week or so in a vase.

I am personally not a big fan of eating swiss chard, so I prefer it in a vase, too. Sacrilege, I know. With some light heat, sauteed with garlic scapes, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper, it's a gorgeous and healthy side. Anyone have any good recipe suggestions to add to the mix?
The best sleepytime tea around is made by steeping lavender and chamomile in hot water. And, Zzzzzz....

Garlic scapes are the seeding, flower stalks that grow from the top of the garlic plant (the heads of cloves are underground bulbs, just like the lillies, daffodils, and amarayllis that also comprise the family Amaryllidaceae family.) Scapes have a nice, mild garlic flavor and a crunchy flavor. Try marinating in olive oil/balsamic with S&P, then grilling!! They're also good additions to eggs and stir-fries, and they make a killer pesto. Just replace the basil with chopped garlic scapes... And don't forget your toothbrush. It's pungent stuff! Scapes are impressive in bouquets, too!

Green garlic is just young garlic that hasn't had time yet to bulb up. Some of it is being thinned. All of the allia genus is very photosensitive-- responsive to the amount of darkness per 24 hour period-- and as we slide down from the summer solstice, more of the plant's energy gets dedicated to bulbing (used for storage for next year... needs that energy to make seeds!)
Since we're in the vein, I might as well explain some of the flowers. Most all of the allia (onion/leek/shallot/chive, etc. genus) are biennials, which means they will set seed only in their second year of growth, or after a period of vernalization (4-6 weeks of cold/freezing temps.) This week, there are some lovely globe-like flowers from scallions and shallots-- the shallot flowers have thicker stalks. These are all plants that overwintered from last year, and thus are producing seed stalks/flower heads. These are some of my favorites for their sculptural, sleek lines, as well as their stellar vase life. They will easily last 2-3 weeks in a vase-- just be sure to give them fresh, cold water every few days if the water looks scummy.

As a general rule, warm water will always rush flower buds/heads to open, so if you're looking for longevity, fill your vase with cool water. If you want a bursting bouquet on the table for tonight's dinner, make the water lukewarm!

(sidebar: I know a lot of this information is somewhat pedantic and pedagogical... I apologize!! I do love this stuff, though, and the good news is you can always just keep scrolling down or close out your browser!)
I adore radishes. Besides being ready for harvest in 21 days from germination, they've got some serious kick. Marilyn is still convinced they must have some good antiseptic/detox powers among the likes of ginger, wasabi and garlic for the punch packed into their bite. One of their biggest shortcomings on salad bars and in grocery stores nation-wide is that they don't taste like anything. Not so much the case here. Enjoy!

Here's a tidbit from Suzanne Ashworth in Seed to Seed, "Radishes were considered so important in ancient Egypt that their pictures were inscribed on many pyramid walls. Greeks presented offerings to Apollo which included turnips made of lead, beets of silver, and radishes of gold. Often thought to be native to Asia, radishes appear in artwork and legends in the eastern Mediterranean that date back to 2000 B.C." Fit for kings and gods!

Up next, a little herb tutorial via special request... If you ever, ever have questions about what's in your share, how to store it or use it, please don't hesitate to call or email!

Thanks for your help with CSA, Green Peak Farm members!

Countdown to CSA Week 1

2011-06-24T13:26:00.005-04:00

So exciting! Just in case you can't wait till next week, here are some photo updates from the farm. Rachel rocking the pea harvest, as Burt the Opportunist Pea Thief lurks in the background
Snow peas and sugar snaps-- that chartreuse line at the foot of the snow peas on the left is a row of lettuce that's loving the cool, wet shade of the peas. Cilantro is under the snaps (row to the right.)
Due south
Summer squash-- Costata Romanesco speckled zucchini, Sunburst pattypan, and Yellow Crookneck-- are right on the cusp... One sunny day will get us some fruit!
Snaps coming on strong... Recipes, anyone?

Second set of chicks at 2.5 weeks weathering the cold well in new feather coats...
First set of chicks at 4.5 weeks... Getting big, and huddling in close for warmth in these colder temps. Solstice? What solistice?
The new duplex, as Jim put it, houses the second set of chicks. 50 all told!

We'll see everyone Tuesday or Thursday for our first week of pickups-- can't wait!

Home on the range

2011-06-20T23:08:00.003-04:00

And after the long weekend of glorious family celebrating, it's back at it on the farm. Garlic scape pesto is on the list for tomorrow... YUM!
Snow Peas are so happy with these nights in the thirties and long day lengths!
Green garlic and snow peas
These radishes pack a punch: Marilyn is convinced they must be good for us, as they have such kick!! Garlic cleans up nice, eh?

One more week for our first CSA pickup-- the garden is coming along nicely. Tomorrow we continue on succession 2 of the major crops, as well as transplanting out some of the nightshades and getting the hoophouse ready for planting. It's a sweet relief to be able to commit the entire day to the farm, and I can't wait to get started for good. We'll see everyone soon!

Couple of Newport Shots...

2011-06-20T22:12:00.004-04:00

Because Green Peak Farm has a family too. And a mighty fun one, at that! Big congratulations and thanks to Brad and Jen for a beautiful celebration of their marriage! Jen presents Brad with a surprise... Brad's Caramel Cookie Dough ice cream-- an original masterpiece-- from the Clemson Microcreamery that Brad re-established in grad school!
Lobster, chourico, lemon, potato, corn, brown sweet bread, coleslaw, chowda, steamers... Melting pots are delicious. And beautiful flowers, of course!

Most of the Osterhout-Miller clan!

It's official: Happy Summer!

Garlic Scape(goat): A Photomontage

2011-06-13T22:18:00.005-04:00

I just can't get enough of these peas and their gorgeous winding, climbing vines...Jacob's Cattle dry beans coming in... flanked by undercover summer squash, cukes, radish, and greens-- also a nice shot of the solar capture from the rooftops. With all of the torrential storms this spring, Reemay (floating row cover) has been a crop saver.
Chicks at three weeks
More peas-- sugar snaps and snows

Equinox looms on a chilly mid-June day
Garlic scapes!
Overwintered shallot blossoms: the experiment continues...
Advisee potatoes-- coming on strong and healthy. Nice work, girls!!
And lastly: not a bad mug shot from the dog who had a porcupine run-in only yesterday, resulting in being knocked out clean for a few hours, having dozens of quills pulled (not to mention a toenail trimming, too,) and still smiling. Thanks, Dr. Bob!

Crazy to think that iris, peony, rhodies, and the very last of the lilacs are still blooming... it's been a chilly spring. Word on the street is that peas still haven't showed up yet at Middlebury's market. CSA starts in two weeks-- sugar snaps and snow peas, lettuce, radish, green garlic, herbs, and with any luck, a few summer squash... In the meantime I'm off for my brother's wedding in Newport for a long weekend. All the chicks are on the farm, loving being outside, and I can't wait to kick off the season with you all!

Cheers!

June second?

2011-06-02T21:37:00.005-04:00

Talk about some extreme weather patterns... For starters, two straight weeks of rain, then a week and a half of hot, humid summer-like days in the mid-eighties followed by twelve straight hours last night of gusting winds... Blowing in today's daytime highs in the mid-sixties and tonight's predicted low way back into the thirties. Thirties! (Thirty-eight, to be precise... As in, six degrees above freezing. Don't tell the cucumbers or summer squash.)

And so the season begins!

Rain's great for carrot, bean and beet germination, as well as the perennial hedgerows; the heat has awoken some beautiful potato plants their thick-stemmed, sleeping beauty glory, and it has somehow conned me into thinking that it's already time to transplant out cukes, picklers, 3 types of summer squash, zinnias and sunflowers... We're off and running!

New solutions beget new challenges, as is to be expected. One of this year's questions is how to provide ventilation for the hoophouse without compromising its structural integrity on Wind Hill. Thanks to Thomas, we rigged up some panels from the dealership that have been sitting in storage for a while, and came up with a tiny 12V fan to get the air circulation going in the house. It's amazing the differences in plant health the tiny changes can make.
As always, friends' help and inspiration is instrumental: Thanks to Becky, Liz, Maggie, and Jane, as well as the valiant, tandem-bike-wielding Middlebury crew of David, Makayla, and Joo Ei! And what would a farm spring be without some baby chicks around? After a longer layover than expected, thirty chicks arrived at 5am last Wednesday at the Manchester Center PO. They mangaged to perk right up after the trip from Albany, and it's a bright spot to add thirty little peeping fluffballs to the mix. Twenty more are heading in next Wednesday (don't tell Burt.) Summer is here (don't tell school, which ends in two weeks!)
Finally, and joyfully, thanks to Rachel who will be helping out on the farm a bit this year. More details to come soon after she finishes her wombat-softball birthday cake!!

I hope this finds everyone well. Happy June!

Farm Advisory Board...

2011-05-08T11:18:00.004-04:00

Saturday my advisory group from school came down after the SATs to help on the farm-- big thanks to Emily, Quincy, Danielle, Mena and Marian, guest advisee for the day! Not bad to squeeze in planting 75 pounds of potatoes in between SATs and prom!The girls take the wagon of potatoes-- Yukons, Kennebec, and Adirondack Reds-- down to the field. Getting our biology lesson in... Tubers as energy storage cells + photosynthesis = more potatoes!
A great pose for our digging queen after 250 row feet get planted! We followed up the planting with some ice cream and homemade pizza. Mena led the way as our champion dough-thrower, tossing a lovely pie, and all the girls were incredible helpers. Ladies, you're hired! Thanks so much!

In other news, the peas continue to love the warm days and cool nights, and the garlic is already a foot tall. Lots of seedlings are craning their necks up to the sun, soaking in the heat of the hoophouse, and we're into sunflower range, starting a new flat each week to be sure that they're ready for Kate and Matt. We're one week into May: the forsythia is finally blooming, the hay field is a foot tall and soaks my boots in the morning, recently peppered with some dandelions, and I just saw my first goldfinch of the year. Hello, Spring!

Up! and a splash of color

2011-04-25T20:37:00.007-04:00

I'm always game for the color splash... You've got to love Mother Nature, in all her immodest spring glory working in the cadmium yellow and chartreuse: who else could get away with such an awful/glorious color scheme that shakes our winter bones in just the right way? Friday around 9:30 pm the caterpillar tunnel/hoophouse was finished-- and then came a crow-inspired wet, heavy snowstorm Friday night. I spent most of Saturday repairing the damage-- and it was a great reminder to simply do things right the first time. But, I learned some good lessons, and have some new tweaks for the design of the next house... Some shots from inside the hoophouse, our new tropical haven!
Ready for more seeding, always.
Big thanks to all who lent helping hands and headlamps (Justin) to help make the house possible!

Less than a week to May, nevermind the late daffs and gray days. We're bound for warmer times.

Caterpillar Backbone

2011-04-25T20:28:00.003-04:00

Thiiiiis big... With some big help from some little people, the caterpillar keeps worming its way toward existing...
Great helpers!
Thanks Tully, Kai, and Corey!

Caterpillar Time

2011-04-16T23:00:00.005-04:00

Steps one and one-point-five for the caterpillar hoophouse construction: rockbags and rebar/foundation setting! With the help of Nicole and Philip, we had a quick rock harvest and made some weights to help hold down the imminent greenhouse film... No shortage of rocks to be had!

The lovely finished product, 10-15# counterweights to hopefully allow for the sidewalls to move up and down at the weather's will. Hard times on the farm: the intrepid foundation crew. If it looks cold, that'd be about right. Thirty-five degrees, spitting snow, fast-moving rain clouds brewing overhead help us to move quickly.Dimensions: 42' x 10.5', 441 sqft under cover. Ribs are spaced at 6', and we'll see how well they hold up on Wind Hill. You can barely see the rebar foundation supports that mark the base of the ribs, plus two T-posts centered and eight feet out to support a laundry-line center ridge purland.

Next steps: stretching the PVC ribs across and fixing them to the rebar supports, tying off the center ridge purland, and setting the film attachment rebar, and unrolling the 6mil greenhouse film. Let's hope for a nice, quiet day when the plastic arrives. It was a great way to close off this lovely spring break, and as always, work goes faster and more hilariously with friends! Snow and rain tonight serve as a good reminder to why we're creating this little pocket of passive solar warmth-- come on at us, Spring!

Spring Break!

2011-04-13T20:05:00.004-04:00

It's a bit of a rough time to be in Vermont right now, if there were ever such a thing: the buds are-- wait, what buds?-- we'll keep it real simple. The snow is gone. Gone down low, at least, and we'll just not mention the shaded zones. After a spot of rain overnight, the lawn turned GREEN. The redwing blackbirds are back with all their glorious cacophany of trill, outer-space noises, or at least on sunny days. There were peepers, too, first in Rupert down on the rail-trail heading to West Pawlet on Sunday, and then Monday night here, up higher, at home. Sleeping happened with the windows open on Monday night for the first time-- granted, they're sealed up tight again tonight (overnight lows in the twenties)-- but I'll happily take that bit of fresh night as it comes.

And, changes are happening. Spring has definitely made her presence known to us, tease that she is, and the past few sunny days allowed me to get into the field and rototill the whole whopping half-acre. My winter rye cover crop barely made it, I think due to the freezing cold temps of early last winter, without snow cover to insulate, which was a bit disapppointing. The upshot is that it's far less intensive work on the tiller to work the soil/green mass back in. I even got to work in a bunch of rotted horse manure and greensand... and prepped a beautiful, tilthy seedbed for 120' of Sugar Snap and Oregon Giant Snow Peas. I feel like I'm already counting down the 68 days from emergence, waiting for the crisp sweetness of those earthy peas. Yes!

More progress is being made, in my typical do-it-yourself, small-scale fashion: this year's big addition is an unheated, caterpillar-style hoophouse to be built in the field. I'm very much looking forward to shelter for the storm of spring for seedling starts, as well as a boost for what has in the past been a boon for tomatoes... especially for an estimated cost of $325 for about 440 square feet of coverage. I'm waiting for materials to arrive, more details to come soon, I am sure. Inspiration for the tunnel was provided by Growing For Market, some fresh-to-me gorgeous Califone tunes with lots of aching pedal-steel, as well as http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/hightunnels.html for some thoughtful considerations and interesting case studies.

Scallions and parsely and some volunteer Siberian kale are working their way back, hanging in there, and I've seen fresh sprigs and sprouts from the yarrow, helenium, monarda, gold coin, sage, and salad burnet. I'm still holding my breath to see if if the thyme, oregano, and lavender made it through the winter.

Next up: more planning to help get the wedding flowers up and organized, drawing wildly on the lovely http://www.floretflowers.blogspot.com/ for inspiration, and... starting seeds! Finally!

I hope spring is springing wherever you are, and that the contagion of hope is flowing, milk and honey, vivid and bright! Cheers!

Signs of Spring

2011-04-08T12:46:00.007-04:00

Spring has been taking its sweet time here in southern Vermont, keeping the day and nighttime temperatures low-- but we've had some nice runs of sunny days to keep our hopes up... Crocus pocus-- color splash. GPF homegrown garlic starting to make its way up through the mulch. Notice the snow still up high... Alien rhubarb nodes unfurl. Realism: Smiles and lots of layers up top...

Optimism: fifty degrees is all it takes for me!

Things are looking good: the soil is drying out nicely, the yarrow is starting to unwind itself up to the sun, and CSA memberships are almost full for the summer. If you haven't signed up yet-- be sure to send in your registration before April 15th for the discounted rate! Cheers!

Farm Start in Wyoming

2011-02-14T10:01:00.002-05:00

Calling all farmers... Here is message from a Middlebury friend, Hilary Eisen:

"I'm part of a cooperative farm in northwest Wyoming, and, after two years of trying to juggle too many things at once, we've all decided that the farm needs a full-time farmer to be truly successful. I'm assuming that the three of you already have farms to occupy yourselves with, and aren't interested in moving to Wyoming, but I'm wondering if any of you guys happen to know anybody who'd be interested to moving out to Wyoming (50 miles from Yellowstone, awesome location) to take over a 1 acre organic vegetable farm?

The farm/garden (take your pick in what to call it) is on a friend of mine's organic beef ranch (http://www.rockymtncuts.com/catalog/index.php) about 15 miles east of Cody, WY. The farmer would be able to live on the ranch, and they'd have full control over the garden. There's 5-10, possibly more, people who've been involved in the garden over the past couple of years who would continue to help out with planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. In the past we've sold our produce at the farmers market and to local restaurants, and there is potential to develop a low-key CSA as well.

I'm anticipating that the core group of people who've been involved over the past couple of years would chip in to cover initial costs (seeds, fuel for the tractor). The farmer's pay would be dependent on what they earned out of the garden (so, all proceeds from the farmers market and other sales would go to the farmer). Given the relatively small size of the plot (by WY standards), and the volunteer base, we're anticipating that the farmer would probably need to commit to 20-30 hours/week, so if they wanted they could work odd jobs, or a second job in town, or whatever too. Or they could just explore the amazing expanse of public lands in all directions.

I know this is a pretty random thing to be asking...but I figured it doesn't hurt to try. After all, at an earlier stage in my life if somebody had offered me an organic farm I'd have jumped all over it. If you know anybody who might be interested have them call or email me and I can give them more details. Lots more details.

hope you're all doing well. If you want to flee the cloudy misery of the east coast, there's a farm in Wyoming with your name on it :)

- Hilary
Rocky Mountain Organic Meats - Organic Grass Fed Beef - www.rockymtncuts.com"

Please contact me for details about getting in touch with Hilary. Thanks!

Feb [ideas] Brew Airy

2011-02-09T22:16:00.005-05:00

The days are getting longer, the snowbanks taller, my students are becoming more nomadic, and the wheels are starting to turn-- Hello, 2011!

The first few shipments of seeds are in to beat the Rush, which is a fantastic dilemma in itself; how great is it that seed companies selling out of stock! So, some of my favorites: Misato Rose (giant, sweet-hot, tri-color, storage) radishes, Romanesca cauliflower, sugar snap and snow peas, among others, are all here and waiting for those 60-degree soil temps... After the two feet of snow and crust disappear. The spreadsheets are cranking, and we've got a few exciting projects lining the distant horizon now that we've officially kicked off Quarter 3 of classes:

Sunday Morning Bouquets: Not bad for spending the night on the porch post wedding! (photo courtesy Liz Hand)

+ Growing and arranging flowers for Kate and Matt's wedding, and hopefully having lots of extra backup for Becky and Pete,

+ Contract growing cukes, picklers, cilantro, parsely, and serrano peppers for Koala Kitchens' zhug stock/pickle crocks,

+ And some great CSA buzz!

Don't hesitate to contact me if there is some exciting new crop you'd love to have for the summer, or you're interested in some extra bedfeet, custom-grown produce, "pick your own" arrangements, or help with your gardens-- we can work out just about anything, especially early on.

Also, here's an updated form for GPF's 2011 CSA: early payments save some bucks (and make a farmer happy!)

Of course, taxes have to happen sometime in between now and then, too (spreadsheets, check.) Looking forward to some warm summer days... They'll be here before we know it.

Garden to Bed

2010-11-24T14:14:00.003-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all! After a whirlwind conference and family visit in Boston, today is a beautiful, sunshiny day to get some photo updates...

Garlic is planted, with a few different varieties and some experimental early shallots...

Sunshine is great for drying up the last of the summer herbs. Rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage.

Still some nice, sweet red cabbage out there in the field. The kale, parsely, fennel, and salad burnet are still going strong!

Cover crop with a nice view.

Week 12 CSA, Plus one

2010-09-14T21:36:00.002-04:00

Hi there,

It's that time of year again. You know, the time where you turn around, and all of a sudden it's been a month since I've written anything, the nighttime temperature has dropped thirty-five degrees, everyone's busting out the wool, and recipes are being tinged by sage and thyme...

So we've closed the official season of the second year of GPF's CSA, and I hope that it has been a good experience for all. I will publish a survey, similar to last year's, and email it around. I welcome your comments, and love that you members have so many fantastic ideas. I look forward to hearing your support in the form of honest feedback that will continue to help Green Peak Farm develop a stronger CSA program. Thanks in advance.

And, as you know, I am a bit disappointed in my ability to be one of the last gardens in the area to have ripe tomatoes... Which is a great reminder to me as a grower about TIMING, and what an important role it plays in successful crops. I hope you've been enjoying the tomatoes, and soon there will (finally) ripe heirloom tomatoes that are worth waiting for. I've got some Aunt Ruby's German Green, one of the finer-tasting toms, in my opinion, that are big and beautiful. Soon!

I had the honor of presenting a short talk about food preservation and home-gardening season extension techniques this past Saturday at Live Green in Manchester. It was a lot of fun, and I'm always interested to hear other people's ideas about season extension, and "Best Practices" to get the most out of the garden. We (everybody) have been doing this for a long time, and it's amazing how much knowledge is out there, ready to be shared.

And on that note, here's a random trivia fact that I learned in a new-to-me book, Seed to Seed, published by the Seed Savers' Exchange... Did you know that the chenopod family (think beets, swiss chard, spinach) also stretches to encompass the lovely, South-American wunder-grain, Quinoa?

I've been hearing a lot of great recipe ideas floating around, too... and here are some to share: carmelized sage as a lovely, delicate garnish or accompaniment to a nice, stinky soft cheese; slicing, dousing in olive oil, and salt-and-peppering then roasting tomatoes for frozen storage (bonus by-product: delicious, super-fragrant olive oil infused with that distinct tangy bite of tomato.... toss with copious amounts of fresh basil and pasta, and done!); zucchini blended into pesto for a little extra body; oiled and roasted, thick onion tops for those that didn't quite bulb up fully; in-pumpkin residency for pumpkin soup (especially with the Rouges)... So many ideas!

And, with Jane's permission, here I shamelessly post her lovely recipe for using up hot peppers, appropriately...

"a ga ga gorgeous thing:

Char peppers over an open flame (gas stove) until they are blackened.
Scrape the skin off. Cut off the top, open up, and take most or all of the seeds out.
Do the same with a big sweet red bell pepper
Puree the above in your cuisinart with enough olive oil to make a thin paste. Add salt to taste.

O MY GAWD is this ever GOOD! Thinking of using it as a drizzle over the grilled steaks tonight. It's creamy, spicy, with lots of smokey flavor and yumminess. I'm sure it freezes will, as it's full of olive oil."

(Thanks, Jane!)

Shares will continue for at least another week, after six pm on Tuesdays, or plus some when it's convenient. More chickens and illicit frozen/canned goods are available for purchase... The password is "Autumn"! Enjoy, and thanks again!

Everready Dressing Recipe

2010-08-18T15:28:00.002-04:00

This one's a constant in the fridge...

1 small shallot, diced
handful of parsely, chopped with scissors
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinager
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup

I like to put all the ingredients into a pint mason jar, then cap, shake, and enjoy! Keeps easily in the fridge for 2 weeks, and would be a great glaze for grilled squash, too!

Week 9 CSA

2010-08-18T10:09:00.002-04:00

A couple of important notes:

Your next two chickens will be ready for pickup this Saturday, anytime after 2pm. You are welcome to pick them up fresh anytime Saturday or Sunday. After that they are going into the freezer, and can be picked up on Tuesday with your next share.

In your share this week:
basil
cucumbers
summer squash
carrots
green and purple beans
fennel
beets
parsely
cilantro
lettuce mix
red onions - loose
yellow onions - loose
bunch of cippolini onions
bunch of red shallots
green peppers

More peppers are coming on this week, as well as onions. You can use the onion tops to add a dash of flavor and color just like scallions, and I'm excited to run a few taste-test-trials to see how great a difference there is in using shallots, cippolini, red, and yellow onions. Please let me know your thoughts!

Onion family bulbs store best in the dark of the refrigerator, and if you're interested in keeping the greens crispy, store them in an untied plastic bag. If you don't intend to use your onions/shallots/cipps in the next few weeks, you can "cure" them for storage by bending the greens back and leaving them in the sun for a few days. The sun cues the bulb to develop a thin, papery shell to help prevent bruising and permeability-- like wrapping itself in a brown paper bag. All onions that you purchase in a grocery store have been cured-- and then stored from the summer. As onions and allia are one of the few commercial crops that are sensitive to seasonal day-length periods, they can only be grown in the summer. Of course, we can't forget about South America and the southern hemisphere-- but still, that only gives us, as eaters in a modern, global community, two growing seasons for onions. Scallions and leeks are, to some extent, exceptions.

Here's a pickle recipe, as promised. Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Dill Sandwich Slices-- Makes about 5 pint jars. I like this recipe because it takes the "cold pack" method-- you don't have to cook the cucumbers twice, which is faster, neater, and ends with a nice, crispy pickle.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp pickling spice (available in bulk at natural food stores)
4 cups cider vinegar
4 cups water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup pickling or canning salt (non-iodized)
5 bay leaves
5 cloves garlic
2.5 tsp mustard seeds
5 heads fresh dill
13.5 cups sliced, trimmed pickling cukes

Other supplies:
mason jars with metal bands and lids
medium square of cheesecloth
large ladle
clean dish towels
towel-covered cutting board for letting jars rest overnight.

I also really like having the gizmos that Ball sells for canning-- small tools that make everything very easy and neat--jar grabbers for removing jars from water or steam bath, a medium-sized funnel for filling jars with liquid, and a small, magnetic lid grabber to get them out of hot water without burning fingers.

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids. I prep these in a dishwasher, making sure that your dishwasher has a "sterilize" setting. While these are washing and heating up, wash, trim, and slice cukes into spears, and prep garlic cloves.

2. Tie pickling spice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag.

3. In a large stainless steel saucepan combine vinegar, water, sugar, pickling salt and spice bag. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Reduce heat and boil gently for 15 minutes, until spices have infused the liquid.

4. [I like to go jar by jar, start to finish here-- keeps things hotter, in my opinion, but the book has you ...] Place 1 bay leaf, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 tsp mustard seed and 1 head of dill into each jar. Pack cucumbers into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of jar.

5. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tight.

6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Disclaimer: this recipe is not recommended for first-time canners, as risks exist with food preservation (as in all things) and I can't be held responsible for mistakes or incorrect information. Please familiarize yourself with basic canning techniques before consulting this recipe! Whew!

Anyway, this recipe also works well if, instead of canning for long-term storage, you just want cooked pickles -- in which case, skip all the jar parts and toss everything in the pot! This style of pickles should keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or so.

Chickens Saturday!

CSA Week 8

2010-08-12T08:07:00.004-04:00

In your share this week...

cukes-- slicers and picklers

summer squash

sugarsnap peas (likely the last week for these)

bunch cippolini onions

bunch scallions

small bulb fennel

bunch beets

lettuce mix

baby carrots

mixed green and purple beans

dill

lots of sunflowers!

bunch cilantro

bunch parsely

Recipes for this week... Two Dressings adapted from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons

Lime-Cilantro Dressing (makes about 2 cups)

2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp sugar
1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1/2 cup lime juice (from 2-4 limes)
1 cup canola or corn oil
1 cup sour cream (your choice, whole, low-fat, or non-fat)
1/2 tsp salt or more, to taste
fresh-ground black pepper to taste

In a blender or food processer, puree garlic, sugar, cilantro and lime juice. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin stream. Then add sour cream, 1/2 cup at a time, blending between additions. Season with salt and pepper. This will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

Shocking Beet Vinaigrette (makes 1.5 cups)

1 small beet, trimmed but unpeeled
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 shallot or cippolini, chopped
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Simmer the beet in a small saucepan until it is tender. Drain the beet, cool with cold, running water, and slip the skin off-- cut into a few pieces. In a food processor or blender, puree the beet, ginger, shallot/cippolini, and mustard. Blend in the balsamic vinegar. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil, then salt and pepper. Should keep well for 5 days.

Chicken Scratch

2010-08-12T07:55:00.002-04:00

Some notes on your chickens...

Your chickens are a hybrid cross between Cornish and Rock breeds-- known for their efficient grain:meat ratio. They were fed premium grain from Green Mountain Feeds, a Vermont-based, family-owned company. In addition, for the final day, your chickens were fed the most local grain possible: soybeans grown here at Green Peak Farm. It's a good feeling to complete the cycle of energy-- even if it is only one day in seven weeks-- and feed grain that is grown here.

Chickens and dried soy plants-- edible beans are inside the shells.

Chickens, Round One

2010-07-29T11:46:00.005-04:00

Our first batch of chickens will be ready for pick up on THURSDAY, August 5, anytime after noon.

Youur birds will be fresh on Thursday. If you'd like to freeze your birds in sections or halves, please be sure to pick them up fresh so you can divide them before they're solid.

The second harvest will be approximately three weeks after Thursday. If you'd like to order additional birds, or are not a member of the CSA, please contact me to reserve a bird at $4.25/lb (birds average 5-6 lbs each.)

Winner, winner-- Chicken dinner!

Week 6 CSA

2010-07-29T11:28:00.003-04:00

Hi there,

Another week of incredible conditions-- warm sun, a little rain, and happy, happy plants.

This week's share includes the following items:
basil
bunch small beets
bunch of baby rainbow swiss chard
pint of sugar snap peas
lettuce mix
cippolini onions
scallions
summer squash
cucumbers: English (dark, thick skins) and Persian slicing (thin skins, lots of crunch, super sweet), and picklers (shorter, warty)
bunch cilantro
garlic

Cippolini onions are a smaller, flatter variety of onions, that once they harden off at the end of the season will be disc-shaped. They have a mild, sweet flavor, and are ideal for using fresh as a garnish on salads, or chopped in cold salads. You can also use the greens like scallions.

I'm debating throwing in the towel on all other crops but cucumbers. They get me every time. I hope you're enjoying them, too! Who's in for a cucumber CSA?

Here's a recipe from my neighbor at the Dorset Farmer's Market, Robert, of Ana's Empanadas. Robert worked for years as a chef in New York, and now helps create and craft the delicious, oven-baked treats available at market. Slow markets mean lots of recipe swapping and chatting, and Robert has a million great ideas. Here's one...

Skillet-roasted Summer Squash with Mint

summer squash, sliced into rounds
olive oil
large handful fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet on med-high heat, warm oil to just before it begins to smoke. Add summer squash discs and sautee until the squash is slightly charred. Squash will shrink in size as cooking, so prep a lot! Remove from skillet, drain squash on a paper towel if desired, and let cool slightly, until squash is warm-to-cool, but not hot. While squash is cooling, chop lots of mint ("gobs", as he put it,) and then toss together until well-coated in oil. Add salt and pepper to taste, serve immediately.

Week 5 CSA

2010-07-20T12:05:00.003-04:00

Howdy!

This past week has been a busy one for the garden-- the break in the heat has made all the difference, and the onions, squash, and cucumbers are really loving the scattered showers. Pickling cucumbers, and my absolute favorite garden harvest, a Middle Eastern cucumber variety (beit alpha type), are here, and will be happily making their debuts in your share. I've been looking for recipes for the cukes when I'm inside, then heading out to the garden only to realize that they never make it back inside to be prepared... Snack attack central.

Jeff and I have been making a lot of pizza-- the summer squash pairs beautifully with chevre and dill, and I think that'd be a great, simple appetizer...

Summer Squash Rounds

summer squash
olive oil
chevre
dill, basil, thyme, mint... any fresh herbs!
pinch of coarse-ground cornmeal

Preheat oven to 425. Sprinkle a pinch of coarse-ground cornmeal on a baking sheet to keep squash from sticking. Slice summer squash on the bias (so you get oval discs), and arrange on a baking sheet. Spoon a dollop of chevre on each disc of squash, add a drizzle of olive oil, and garnish with a sprig of dill (thyme, basil). [If using mint, add garnish AFTER baking, as mint loses its potency when heated.] Bake for ten minutes and serve hot.

Also, I heard a great idea for salad dressing on the "Splendid Table" last week-- nice and simple, but with powerful, different flavors, and a nice thick texture:

Mint Garlic Dressing

handful of fresh mint
three cloves fresh garlic
4 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
4 tablespoons olive oil
cracked black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, whir away, and dress greens. I made this when I had some raspberries on hand, and tossed them in, as well, for a little twist. A small cooked beet would add a similar twist-- or the dressing would be great on sliced, cooked beets, too!

In your share this week:
cucumbers- slicers and picklers
sugar snap peas
beet greens/baby beets
summer squash
baby scallions
kale
bag of salad greens
basil
dill, thyme, sage
sunflowers and echinacea

Help with Chicks

2010-07-07T15:54:00.002-04:00

Baby Chicks, Round II

2010-07-07T15:27:00.008-04:00

Another one for a hot day. Our second batch of baby chicks are here, and loving the heat. As you may know, chicks get shipped through the good old USPS as soon as they are hatched-- and arrive 24-48 hours later at your doorstep.

Our chicks are a hybid cross of Cornish and Rock varieities, and are basically the industry standard for meat bird production, regardless of the scale of the operation. What differs dramatically is the treatment of the birds once they arrive on site-- our birds are brooded for as short a time inside, which is entirely weather dependent-- as you can see in the photos, our day-old chicks are outside already! For the first week of brooding, or baby-chick-raising, chicks need an average temperature of 95 degrees F. This is most often achieved (not during heat waves) by using heat lamps to help warm them up.

Once the birds start to develop feathers in addition to their chicky down, they're ready to move outside and stay out through the day- and nighttime. Once outside, they're placed in a 6x8' pen that is moved every 24 hours, so that the birds get the opportunity to forage a bit on fresh grass, as well as evenly distribute their natural fertilizer. How's that for farm euphemism?

It's incredible what a few weeks' difference can make. Here are some photos-- here's a chick at one day old:

And here's a side-by-side of the day-old chick and its three-week old counterpart. Same hatchery, same breed, feed, and process...

In another three to four weeks' time, the birds will be dressing out between 5.5-6.5 pounds each. Our first chicken harvest will be August 5, and members, friends, and anyone who's interested and willing to be trained is welcome to help process our birds, just let me know. CSA members will be able to pick up their birds fresh that afternoon. The next harvest will be roughly three weeks later; I'll keep you posted as soon as I set a date.

It's hot out there...

2010-07-07T14:13:00.002-04:00

...so inside, as per NWS guidelines, it is. The garden is LOVING the heat, and we're looking good for next week.

Here are some interesting takes on Braddock, Pennsylvania, an urban offshoot of Pittsburgh on the north shore of the Monongahela River. In the wake of the collapse of the steel mills in industrial Pittsburgh and a serious "brain drain" on the population, Braddock was literallly left behind. What separates this urb from many like it in Western PA is that an organized movement of people, artists, urban farmers, students, young families, and all them yinzers who've always been there are joining together to bring Braddock back.

Levi's is helping to sponsor some of the redevelopment, and are documenting their progress here:
http://us.levi.com/shop/index.jsp?clickid=header_explore&categoryId=2929279&AB=CMS_Home_Portraits_070110

Orion Magazine also wrote a feature on some of the personalities pushing the progress ahead:
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4938/

It's incredible to see not just the push for urban agriculture, and not just the motivation of artists and working-class families to make a place for themselves, but that all of these people are working, together and in whatever ways they individually can, to reinstate the integrity of the place. There's hope.

Week 3 CSA

2010-07-05T16:48:00.003-04:00

This week's share we'll be moving to Tuesday and we will continue to stick to Tuesdays through to the end of the season.

Your share includes a quart of sour cherries picked with help from some lovely assistants, Brian and Sarah, who were visiting from New York. Brian was and is an invaluable visitor to the farm last year, and a fellow farm apprentice from Gardenripe Farm in Silverton, OR. He and Sarah just closed up their first year as Teach for America service workers, and are due for some country time. Big thanks to them for their help! Also, major thanks to Jane and John for letting us in on the season.

Your cherries are from Hick's Orchard in Whitehall, NY. For those not familiar with sour cherries, these are a bit smaller and more tart (flavorful!) than your standard sweet cherries, and are great for jam, sauce, pie filling, and general purpose baking. The cherries should be rinsed and then pitted-- and then can be frozen, or turned into something delicious immediately. Here's a link to a handy contraption (unfolded paper clip) to help keep pitting neat. And here are some ideas about what to do with your cherries...

Jane's Dad's Cherry Sauce-- great with oatmeal, ice cream, or on top of Cherry Calfoutis (next recipe!)

4 - 5 cups of pitted cherries with their juice
4 tablespoons granulated (or instant) tapioca
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup honey

Mix the ingredients and let them sit for 15 minutes or so. Then heat up gently in a heavy saucepan until thickened and bubbling. Let cool. I added a squeeze of lemon juice because the cherries were not that tart. I also added a dash of vanilla.

Because blueberries were also starting to come on at Hick's, we added some bluebs to our sauce, as well.

Cherry Calfoutis (adapted from Earth to Table)

3 tablespoons ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
4 large eggs
grated zest of 1 lemon
grated zest of 1 orange
1 1/2 cup whipping cream (greater than 35% milkfat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 pound pitted cherries

In a food processor, pulse together almonds, salt, sugar, flour. Add eggs, lemon and orange zest, cream, vanilla, and blend until smooth. Cover and let chill in fridge for a minimum of a half hour (I let mine sit overnight.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange cherries in the bottom of 6 ramekins or one 8" pie pan, and pour chilled mix over cherries. Bake for 35-40 minutes for ramekins, or an hour for round pan.

Instead of ramekins, I used cupcake liners for a simple one-serving setup, and baked them for approximately 35 minutes. Serve with ice cream and cherry sauce.

Any other good cherry recipes? Let me know!

Your share this week also includes:
Lettuce mix, snap peas, baby kale, broccoli rabe or summer squash, herbs (dill, sage), edible flowers (viola, calendula-- note, pull the petals from the centers and discard centers for eating.)

Enjoy!

Week 2

2010-07-05T16:35:00.003-04:00

Hi all, hope this note finds everyone staying cool... The thermometers are surpassing the 90 degree mark today, and whew... The garden, Burt, and I can feel every one of those degrees.

In your share last week, you received a mix of dried beans from last season (multicolored mix bag); you also received dried edamame (yellower, more rounded beans.) Both need soaking before they are cooked-- Edamame will cook faster (25-30 minutes) and the beans will be closer to 35-40 minutes.

Here's a super simple recipe for bean dip... Inspired by our CSA's own Jane and Koala the kitchen muse.

Ingredients:
2 cups cooked beans, drained
3 tablespoons of the saved cooking juices from beans (use the rest for stock, gravy, etc.)
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
summer savory herbs - oregano, thyme, sage
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix until smooth. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and herbs. For a chunkier dip, leave a half cup of the beans out, mix all other ingredients, and then pulse in the remaining half cup at the end for more texture.

Edamame is traditionally eaten steamed in the pod, and served simply with a dash of salt; this edamame has been shelled, and is convenient for edamame salad, or cooked and added on top of a green salad for an extra protein boost.

Enjoy!

First CSA Share - Thurs. June 24th

2010-06-23T21:17:00.002-04:00

Dear CSA members,

Happy Summer!

Just a reminder that your first CSA share pickup will be tomorrow, Thursday, June 24 at the farm. Please come between 5-7pm, and bring a reusable bag to tote home your produce. Tomorrow's harvest includes:

Lettuce heads
Bag of mixed greens (lettuce, kale, pea shoots, edible flowers..)
Garlic scapes
Radishes
Flower bouquet
Herbs: Dill, Sage, Cilantro (limited!), Thyme
Dried hot peppers (from last season)

Can't wait to see you -- check back tomorrow for this week's newsletter/update from the farm.
Cheers!

Mego

Up and Running

2010-05-07T10:22:00.003-04:00

Dear Members,

Welcome to the blog! Here you'll find weekly updates about the farm, recipes, links to good reading, and a list of what you'll find in your weekly CSA share. Feel free to post questions or comments, as well!

With the recent flurry of topsy-turvy weather-- gorgeous, high pressure, bluebird mornings followed by dumping rain (or the opposite, as in yesterday's case here!), as well as the oil leakage in the Gulf of Mexico, I've been thinking about all of the different ways we/nature is compromising our ability to produce our own food. From the crazy fluctuations in temperatures early on this spring that made for a tough maple season, as well as the oil spill affecting important shrimp and oyster beds in the Mississippi delta; one of the rainiest summers on record in Vermont, plus the revenge of the late blight creating rather inhospitable conditions for vegetable growers, I'm hungry for any signs of success.

Cue: the onion. Onions thrived in the wetness of last year, producing a fine crop that did not require any extra irrigation, and are still lasting in the root cellar. I've been appreciating them a lot lately-- so far, we've got seedlings going predominately in the Allium family: red onions, yellow storage onions, cippolini onions, scallions, leeks, and new this year: red shallots. I haven't grown shallots from seed before (they are often grown similarly to garlic: place a nice, large toe of shallot into the ground in the fall, let it overwinter, and up shoots a stock in spring that is then harvested in the mid-late summer) but I am excited to learn about the plants as seedlings, as well as test their storage capacity. Like garlic and storage onions, they're good keepers through the winter.

Speaking of garlic, our garlic plants are coming up nice and healthy after having been planted in the late fall. Our organic, local seedstock comes from Merck Forest, and is a hardneck variety with nice, big toes (cloves) that are easy to handle, as well as a nutty, mellow flavor.

Exciting new additions for the farm this year include a 6hp rear-tine, counter-rotating, walk-behind tiller that is already proving itself a workhorse in the field, as well as a small-scale drip irrigation system for the extra sensitive crops that need super-consistent watering to thrive.

Our first pickup date is set for Tuesday, June 29, from 5-7pm, and I'll be sending out a link to a Google calendar with more details soon.

First farmer's market in Dorset is in a little more than a week-- Sunday, May 16th! Hooray! GPF will make its first appearance the following week, Sunday, May 23rd.

That's the news so far-- hope this finds everyone well and enjoying the chaotic green of spring! I'll be in touch soon about this year's Dirtday Party sometime toward the end of May/early June.

Take care, and looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Mego

Web Issues

2010-04-22T09:54:00.002-04:00

Due to some technical errors, the farm's website (www.greenpeakfarm.com) as well as my email account (mego@greenpeakfarm.com) are out of service for a short spell.

Please don't hesitate to contact me at mosterho@gmail.com in the meantime, as we're working as hard as possible to shake the right answer out of the Google Machine.

Thanks!

Mego

2010 CSA Shares

2010-02-10T19:43:00.003-05:00

....And, we're off! Supplies, seeds, and hopeful glances toward summer are in the works.

I'm happy to announce that Green Peak Farm is now accepting registration for its second year of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). Similar to last year, your CSA share will include 4 broiler hens averaging 4.5-6 pounds each (market value = $100.) This year I'm going to expand the vegetable season by two weeks at the end of the season-- your final two shares will be fall-harvested storage crops (think winter squash, pie pumpkins, onion braids, hot peppers for drying, potatoes.)

Click the thumbnail image below for a printable version.

Shares are limited to 10 for this season, and there will be two pickup days; choose Tuesday or Thursday.

*Early registration discount this year-- Return your registration and payment before April 1st and save $20!

Thoughts on Getting Started

2010-01-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

Recently, a friend of a friend contacted me with some questions about getting involved with organic farming. Here are some thoughts...

There are so, so many great farms out there to help you build experience-- I'd highly recommend checking out ATTRA/NCAT: http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/internships/. These guys are the National Sustainable Ag Information Service folks, and have a good reputation for valuable farming apprenticeships/internships. Farms that have their acts together enough to post on NCAT are usually pretty well-poised to give you a good experience.

Personally, I have not WWOOFed, though I've heard several mixed reviews. I think WWOOF is a great program to dip your toes into the sustainable agriculture world, and also really useful if you're looking for a short-term, low-commitment experience or a place to stay while you're travelling. From a farmer's perspective, having untrained, uneducated workers (granted, farming is not rocket science...) can almost be more of a liability/time-sink, as most farmers can do the work that needs to get done in half the time it takes to explain someone new where to go, how to do it, what you expect, and all that jazz. So, in my opinion, if you're looking for a valuable apprenticeship, the farmer ought to be willing to invest a fair amount of his or her time in educating you-- and, though this is not always the case-- money, too. As with any job, there must be fairness in the exchange of labor/knowledge/time/money, etc. Also, the infrastructure for farm apprenticeships is forming; passing along education is easy enough, but the next generation of farmers must also be endowed with enough opportunities to capital to be able to start their own operations up.

(This is all not to say that I haven't worked 65-hour weeks for almost no pay. But, you know when it's worth it, and when it's not.)

Other good links to valuable internships: look into the regional Organic Associations-- most of them have newsletters, and they're often available online. For example, in Oregon, there's Oregon Tilth, which is the certifying agency/association; the Northeast Organic Farming Assoc. (NOFA) has several different state-associations (www.nofavt.org) or www.mofga.org for Maine. OSALT is anther good one for Oregon.

Good questions to ask yourself and potential farms that you might like to work for:

- what kind of turnover does the farm labor have? Do former interns stay in the area? How long are you willing to be in one spot?

- what specific tasks will I be doing? (a lot of big CSAs will simply have you harvesting, all. day. long. Is this interesting to you?) Will you actually be included in the planning phases, seed ordering, etc? (Most of this planning is happening mid-late winter) What are you interested in learning?

- where do most of the farm laborers/other apprentices come from? Are they local folks, college kids, migrant workers?

- how much time will you spend working side-by-side with the lead farmer?

- what is your farm's primary geographic market area? What's your farm's idea of local produce (for example, the scale of what-is-local shifts massively when you get out West)

- this one's surprisingly revealing: what does the crew do for lunch? Do people eat/cook together? Does everyone part ways? Is there a break-room/table/fridge for you guys to use?

- why does he/she farm? Go to a place where they love what they do. It's way too hard a job/lifestyle to not love what you do.

A lot of saavy farmers will invite you to come and work for a day or two, or sometimes even a week, as a trial run. In really small operations, as most sustainable, organic farms are, it is so, important to find the right fit of people that you can work side-by-side with, as well as live with, eat with, and sweat with during quite long days. I'd almost be wary of a farm that's willing to take you on without trying you out/letting you try them out.

Other great opportunities lie in educational farms/foundations. You may find that, as the pressure to maximize yields and capital decreases (albeit slightly), your farmer's willingness/time to educate you increases. This is certainly not always the case; some farmers are truly superhuman, and these are the best ones to work for!

Good luck, and please keep me posted about your progress. I love hearing stories!

Live Green 2009 Presentation

2009-09-09T22:10:00.004-04:00

Again, link to http://www.greenpeakfarm.com/ for a downloadable version of the Powerpoint presentation, "AP Home Economics: Eating from Your Garden Year Round" given at Live Green in Manchester, VT on September 5, 2009.
Also available are scanned images for data on food storage relative humidity, temp range, and conditions.

References:
Joy of Cooking - I prefer my 1973 version edited by Rombauer and Becker (Hooray for Irma!)
Storey's Guide to Cold Storage for Fruits and Vegetables
Growing for Market Vol. 18, No. 7 (August 2009)
The New Organic Gardener - Eliot Coleman
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Keeping the Harvest (Storey)

2009 Survey

2009-09-09T22:09:00.002-04:00

link to www.greenpeakfarm.com for the 2009 end of season survey.

Thanks for taking the time to help make next year's season even more successful!

Week 10 - Final CSA Day

2009-08-25T21:47:00.000-04:00

Final CSA day, a marriage of friends at the farm, flower arrangements and bouquets for the wedding, and the start of a new career... All in less than a week!

It has been my pleasure growing produce for you this season. In that way that everything always seems to work itself out, some of the vigorously producing plants are starting to slack and die back, the cold seems to have slinked back in, the migrant Canada geese populations turn over every morning although the lower field seems to be ever willing to host new nightly visitors, and school is almost back in session. It's been a whirlwind of a week, but the garden is still furiously pumping out food before it allows itself to be considered "done", and I've done as much as I can to get as much of it as possible to you this week.

Here's what's in your share this week:

Bell peppers
Serrano hot peppers
Red Norland and Yukon Gold potatoes - 5 lbs
mixed paste, red slicing, and heirloom tomatoes - 6 lbs
mixed cherry tomatoes - heaping quart
bunch of baby carrots
head of romanesca cauliflower
head of red cabbage
red and yellow onions - 8
slicing and pickling cukes - 6 lbs
bunch of kale
big bag o' basil
pint of fresh beans--Vermont Cranberry (pink and maroon mottled) and Hutterite (white)
tomatillos

I hope you have enjoyed your produce, and please help make next year's season even better by filling out this year's survey. Cheers!

Week 9

2009-08-18T21:37:00.000-04:00

Retro post...

This week's share:

Red Norland and Yukon Gold Potatoes - 5 lb

Mixed red and heirloom slicer tomatoes - 5 lb

Multi-colored cherry tomatoes - 1 qt

Edamame - 2.5 lb

Big bag o' basil

tomatillos

serrano hot peppers

head of red cabbage

head of romanesca cauliflower

fresh red and yellow onions - 6

bunch of kale

slicing and pickling cukes - 5 lb

Summer squash - all you can eat!

Best O' Pesto Zesto!

2009-08-17T12:13:00.002-04:00

Three pesto tips for thought:

1. Replace pricey pinenuts for unsalted sunflower seeds for less than half the price. Or go half and half to still get that piny flavor

2. Substitute asiago for parmesan-- a different flavor to mix it up

3. Go way out there and try this crazy mix: replace...
basil for thai basil and cilantro
parmesan cheese for tahini and soy sauce
pinenuts for sunflower seeds and almonds
olive oil for sesame oil and veggie oil

Spread on fresh slices of pattypan, and voila!

Stove-free meals

2009-08-17T11:26:00.002-04:00

It's hot out there!

Here are some quick, easy dish ideas for summer.

Summer Squash "Icebox Pickles"

Slice up your favorite summer squash, add a marinade, and leave in the refrigerator for later. Replenish the squash stash as needed to really stretch the sauce! Select your summer squash for small size and undeveloped seeds for the best crisp icebox "pickles"-- and baby pattypan add a fun star shape to the mix.

Dressing version 1:
1/2 cup balsamic vinagre
good dash of olive oil
juice of one lemon, and a few lemon slices for garnish
lots of fresh-cracked black pepper
salt to taste

mix together and let the squash soak; add fresh basil and serve.

For a little more variety, add sliced fennel, cippolinis, sliced tomatoes, basil, crushed garlic, and red pepper flakes!

Dressing version 2:
1/2 cup rice wine vinagre
good dash of sesame oil
good dash of maple syrup
good dash of soy sauce or tamari
whole stems of fresh thai basil

mix together, let squash soak, and remove thai basil stems before serving.

For an extra kick, add sliced serrano pepper and slices of peach!

Both dishes will last in the fridge, covered for a week or so. If you get tired of eating the same thing every day, here are two more ideas: cut squash slices on the diagonal and mariate so they're large enough to fit on a sandwich; or toss hot or cold pasta into the mix!

Enjoy!

Week 8

2009-08-12T11:30:00.003-04:00

August 11, 2009

With two weeks of sun to ring in August, I’m resisting the feeling that summer is coming to a close. The Canada geese catch me off guard every now and then, beginning their southward migration to warmer climes (but, but… summer just got here!) The deer are becoming more adventurous in their browsing lower down the hill (goodbye, beets, swiss chard, and some storage carrots.) The last round of late-fall harvest crops (more cabbage, leeks, new chard, kale, lettuce) has been freshly-transplanted. Tomatoes are still holding out on us, and though we’ve been fortunate to not have gotten hit by this season’s devastating late blight, they were hit by another unusual virus spread by beet leafhoppers—and a hundred and fifty plants had to be pulled out and destroyed. The potatoes went down almost overnight with somekindofsomething blight. The good news is that, as you know, the cucumbers, squash, cabbage, broccoli, soybeans, and so many other crops have done really well. Tomatoes should be in your boxes next week, as well as one of my favorites, the picky romanesca cauliflower. Heads are fractals arranged according to a fibonacci sequence—pyramids upon swirling pyramids, they’re pretty stunning. I’ve been tempted to shellac ‘em instead of eating them, but resisted. As yet.

In watching The Real Dirt on Farmer John (thanks, Jake!) I’ve been thinking a lot about how fast our modern agricultural system has developed and sprawled. It’s incredible to me that only in the past fifty years have we Americans, in general, been farming the way we do. The Green Revolution, which resulted from a surplus of nitrogenous chemicals leftover from production of explosives in WWII, has come about within our parents’, or our grandparents’ generations. The collapse of the small, diversified family farm is a new idea, as is the consumption of highly-processed, well-traveled, high-calorie, low-nutrient food. Obesity statistics by the CDC are astounding:

Since the mid-seventies, the prevalence of overweight and obesity has increased sharply for both adults and children. Data from two NHANES surveys show that among adults aged 20–74 years the prevalence of obesity increased from 15.0% (in the 1976–1980 survey) to 32.9% (in the 2003–2004 survey). (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/index.html)

Obese children and adolescents are more likely to become obese as adults.3, 4 For example, one study found that approximately 80% of children who were overweight at aged 10–15 years were obese adults at age 25 years. (http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/childhood/index.html)

In a short period of time, we have managed to drastically and literally reshape America, as well as a large part of its cultural identity. The movie is a fascinating portrayal of a bright young man raised on his family’s farm in rural Illinois, who heads off to college, has his brain scrambled up a bit experimenting with the excitement of college in the ‘60s, and then tries to reconcile the two worlds he is irrevocably tied to. After and amidst struggles with depression, financial insolvency, community harrassment, and loss of family and friends, he comes to organic agriculture based on the CSA model while also supporting a diverse mix of production, education, employment, apprenticeships, and general merrymaking. Farmer John, our definitely kooky protagonist, makes a fair amount of mistakes along the way, but I think the film is most successful in exactly that—the portrayal of the very human side of his agricultural exploits. In many ways, he is an open, amplified, exuberant display of the emotions that are exactly those repressed by the good old midwestern values of emotional conservatism and expression. In being the perfect opposite of his fellow midwestern farmers (flamboyant, moody, suffering,) he actually portrays them better than anyone could imagine. And he sticks with it. This is where food comes from.

Another commentary on the flaws of our modern system is an interesting letter written by Eliot Coleman, and published by the Grist environmental newssource.

http://www.grist.org/article/2009-08-07-debunking-meat-climate-change-myth/

Rarely do complex problems arise from a single point of error, and it is a multi-faceted issue that is ours to handle. Untying the knot of responsibility that connects our nation’s food, farmlands, culture, government, businesses, economy, and health is a daunting task, and that’s exactly what the corporational lobbyists want us to think. They’re “too big to fail.” Supporting your local farmers is one clear, short-term, and good way to begin the paradigm shift that is inevitable, and as great as that feels, we need to bring this to a larger playing field. Exactly how, I am not quite sure. Supporting local farmers,letters, votes, and supporting organizations like Rural Vermont (http://www.ruralvermont.org/) are good ways to start, but beyond that? Who’s got ideas?

Here’s what’s in your share this week:

red cabbage
purple, green, wax, and striped beans
lettuce head
bunch of kale
summer squash
cukes – slicers and picklers
a handful of cherry tomatoes
serrano hot peppers
bell peppers
yellow onions
bag o’ basil
fennel bulbs
Red Norland potatoes
fava beans (broad and fat)
edamame soybeans (small and hairy)

To eat favas: shell the beans and steam for 2-4 minutes, dash with lemon juice, olive oil, and salt, then bite into white bean casing, pop the green inner bean into your mouth, and enjoy!
To eat edamame: rinse the pods, then steam for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle with salt, pop the beans outside of their hairy pods casings, and eat just the green beans inside. These make a great, healthy, unprocessed after-school snack—blanch and freeze extras for later, or serve with your next stir-fry or sushi dinner to up the aunthenticity!

Enjoy!

Mego

Week 7

2009-08-12T11:24:00.004-04:00

Yum

2009-07-29T18:51:00.002-04:00

Glorious! Three cheers for the NY Times for these fantastic, simple, quick, fresh, spotlight-on-seasonal, high-quality produce recipes!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/dining/22mlist.html?em

Week 6

2009-07-27T18:17:00.003-04:00

The past two weeks have started to really feel like summer, and three cheers for that! The last of the spring chickens were harvested today (THANK YOU Ellen, Bill, Anna, Jamie, Renee, Alex, and Sophia!), the first new potatoes were dug for Sunday's market, the pickle-putting up has begun, peppers are sizing up nicely, green and purple beans are harvestable, and the cukes and zukes are out to get me with a (growing) vengeance. Hooray!

Tomorrow will find you with two more fresh chickens ready for the oven or freezer, and I truly hope that you're enjoying the birds. It is a great joy to me to have had such great helpers in keeping the processing times quick and lively, and I am very pleased with how the entire process turned out. Both chicken harvest days have been exhausting, gratifying, and thoroughly educational-- there has been a lot of knowledge sharing that to me, is the heart of the matter-- everyone helping out and pooling our collective resources for what I think, and I hope you agree, is a stellar product. There are many, many ways to turn a chicken into Chicken, and I think our way is in tune with respecting the life of the animals and the bounty they can provide. Putting the birds into a natural, trance-like state relaxes the birds' muscles, lowers the heart and breathing rates, and prevents the panic-release of stress hormones into the meat. Hand plucking feathers is sometimes tedious and slow, but on this scale, "slow" is an opportunity to notice the different sections of skin, the different directions to pick feathers from, the development of more down and hair (as this week's set proved) and a handful of other nuances and small notable moments to think on. Yes, it's slow and takes a significant amount of time per bird, and yes, I've been incredibly lucky to have let this become a part of my daily life-- but to me it is that significance, those opportunities to recognize the chaos and beauty, and then the inherent appreciation that are critical, missing links in our current mainstream food system. I believe that these things matter. So, with all that Ado, it's my honor to provide your weekly shares, and these chickens, with the help of several fearless, kind souls with trusty hands. I'm raising my glass to you, Cheers!

Here's one of my all-time favorite poems, in honor of the furious outpouring of growth, beauty, and production we call summer. Go ahead and read it aloud for its phenomenal rhythms!

From Blossoms - By Li-Young Lee

From blossoms comes
this brown paper bag of peaches
we bought from the boy
at the bend in the road where we turned toward
signs painted Peaches.

From laden boughs, from hands,
from sweet fellowship in the bins,
comes nectar at the roadside, succulent
peaches we devour, dusty skin and all,
comes the familiar dust of summer, dust we eat.

O, to take what we love inside,
to carry within us an orchard, to eat
not only the skin, but the shade,
not only the sugar, but the days, to hold
the fruit in our hands, adore it, then bite into
the round jubilance of peach.

There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.

Week 4

2009-07-17T09:19:00.010-04:00

July 17, 2009 - Hi Members!

In your share this week:
Beets
Bag of salad mix
Cucumbers – slicing (smooth) and pickling (bumpy and small)
Summer squash
Squash blossoms
Broccoli

Baby leeks
Peas
Kale
Basil
Radish
flower bouquet!

I’m so happy that the flowers are coming along. It’s been a tough year for annuals, as the lack of sun and pounding thunderstorms melted down some of my transplants, BUT! they are coming along. And gosh, they’re pretty. To help them extend through the week, try to keep the water fresh. Calendula, for all its insect deterrence and pungence, does cloud up the water and shortens the vaselife (despite the fact that the secondary and sometimes tertiary flowers will still emerge into bloom.) To really stretch the bouquet, pinch the primary flower after the petals start to roll into themselves and die, swap in fresh water, and trim a quarter inch or so off the bottom of the stems. Just as we do, flowers drink more on hot days!

Please remember to return any baskets, wooden crates, or pint/quart containers this week.

And… here’s the really good news:

This past Tuesday marked seven weeks for our chickens, and as you’ve probably noticed, they’ve grown up to be healthy, robust, and enormous! I processed four yesterday as a test run, and to make sure they were going to be ready. Turns out, yup. The average weight of the dressed birds came out to be 5.55 pounds, which is huge. I had selected some of the bigger guys, and there will be some smaller birds, but expect the average weight of your four birds to be around 5 pounds.

I will harvest more on Monday so that everyone can pick up two of their birds this Tuesday. If you’re not heading straight home, bring a cooler. These chickens are exceptionally flavorful and juicy—and thanks to being finished out with corn and soy scratch mix, have a pretty thick, fatty skin. This makes for a great, juicy coating for roasting or deep frying, but if you’d prefer a leaner option, I’d be happy to skin your birds for you. Also, for anyone who is interested in making stock, stuffing, or dog treats, I’ll keep giblets, necks and feet. Birds are whole, and I’ll provide a photocopy of instructions on how to procure cuts like you’d see wrapped in Saran wrap in the grocery store on Tuesday. If anyone is interested in learning to harvest chickens, and wants to help, please let me know.

If you’re interested in purchasing more than your allotted four birds, they will be available for sale for members at $4.00/lb and for non CSA members at $4.25/lb.

Enjoy!

Week 3

2009-07-07T09:20:00.005-04:00

7/7
As the sunshine pours through the window, it’s hard to believe that three days ago it was pouring rain for the umpteenth consecutive day. But, it looks like we might be in luck for the rest of the week, which is good news for the green tomatoes and mini pattypan!

This week’s share includes:

Head lettuce (Romaine/Cos)
Kale
Colorful salad mix
Radish
Sugar snap peas
Summer squash
Squash blossoms

New this week:
Super sweet pencil leeks
Cucumbers! – slicing and gerkin pickling
Broccoli
Beets - red and chiogga (fuschia on the outside, pink and white striped inside)

I’m ecstatic about the cukes. This week there are two varieties – picklers and a Middle Eastern “Beit-Alpha” type. Here’s what Fedco Seeds has to say about this family of cukes: “Descended from a vegetable that grows wild in the dry climate of the Middle East, the beit alpha was developed by breeders on an Israeli kibbutz. These small sweet-fleshed cucumbers were originally popular in the Mediterranean, spread to Europe and have now won converts in the States because they are almost completely burpless and have a long shelf life.” These buddies lack the bitterness found in English cukes, and I find them to be far crisper than their Anglo cousins. Hooray for summer!

Broccoli is finally here, and very sweet thanks to the chilly and wet June. Pencil leeks are simply leeks harvested while still young and tender; I am guilty of eating them raw in the field, as they’re candy-sweet almost all the way to the tops of the greens. The beets are a bit of an experiment to see whether or not they really are transplantable in multi-plant seedblocks. Turns out... sort of. Transplanting in bunches seems great for an early season crop, but you'll notice they're a bit on the small side, and some show the effects of crowding. The next set will be more round, promise.

The broilers at six weeks are sizing up nicely, and I’m anticipating a first round of harvest within the week. They're on to a 60/40, broiler mix/scratch grain diet to help fatten them up and boost the flavor profile; all the feed they've been given is organic (which prohibits the use of antibiotics) and supplied by Green Mountain Feeds based in Bethel, VT. I’ll let you know when the freezer starts to fill, and we’ll dole them out.

Braised Radish, Scape, and Kale
prep 10 minutes, cooking 5 minutes

1 bunch radishes, sliced in chunky rounds
5 garlic scapes, chopped in 1” lengths
handful of kale, deribbed and chopped coarsely
2 tablespoons butter
good dash of red wine
fennel greens scissored, or tarragon
salt and pepper to taste
chopped green onion or pencil leeks
Over medium heat, saute scapes and chunks of radish in butter until they begin to become tender; add kale and cover to steam for a minute or two. Uncover and dash red wine into the mix, scissor fennel or tarragon, and add salt and coarse cracked pepper to taste. Toss well. Serve hot with green onion or pencil leeks chopped on top.

Simple Kale Salad
prep 15 minutes

1 large bunch kale, deribbed and chopped
½ C tamari almonds

Dressing:
1/4 C maple syrup
1/3 C sesame oil
1/3 C rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 knot ginger root, grated

This salad is simple, fast, versatile, and has been known to make some kale converts out there. It’s good fresh, but awesome for lunch the next day, as the dressing helps to tenderize and sweeten even hot summer kale. The dressing will keep for a few weeks covered in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Quick note on onion storage

2009-07-01T12:41:00.003-04:00

This is a tip taken from a quirky little staple-bound book given to me as a gift from fellow-farmer Gentiana, called "1000 Expert Tips For Gardeners". Or something along those lines. I think it was a gag gift, but this one works and has stuck with me--

When you're cooking and only partially using an onion, chop what you need from the greens end (as opposed to the bulb end) first. The onion will keep much, much better than if you leave the top end. This goes for scallions, leeks, baby cippolinis... any of those good old allium family jewels.

Why, you ask? I can't help myself, either. Based from my understanding of biologic/botanic/physiological principles (that means I'm guessing...) it makes sense that more sugars (energy) would be stored at the base of the bulb, thereby rendering the plant (yes, it's still alive, even when sliced in half and in the darkness of your fridge!) more able to "heal" its wound, or localize the damage done to the plant tissues after having been chopped. While the green part of the onion is above ground, revelling in the glory of the sun and photosynthesizing the days away, the bulb is is the proverbial root cellar. The resulting sugar from photosynthesis, glucose, travels back down to the base of the bulb for safekeeping where the tissues are designed for storage, as opposed to absorption (roots), transport (stalks), energy production (chlorophyll-filled green parts), and respiration (greens, in the allium family's case.) As gravity and efficiency would have it, the storage begins at the base; if we're working with the root cellar idea here, it would be like stacking jars of pickles put up from the summer. You can't float jars of pickles in mid-air in the cellar, which even if you could you'd have to duck around and beneath to get to the floor if your goal was to fill the entire cellar. So, you start from the ground up.

Be this explanation satisfactory or not, the tip does work. Good luck and enjoy those cippolinis!

Week 2 Tuesday

2009-06-30T18:04:00.005-04:00

Howdy Members!

I'm switching gears here in an attempt to help these weekly farm updates be more truly weekly-- moving into the blogosphere and out of email/tinkering with formatting on greenpeakfarm.com. From here on out, you can depend on this blog being the most up-to-date information about your weekly shares, what's going on in the fields, and what's being planned for the future.

Some notes about your share this week:

Susan noted that the cippolini onions didn't hold well in the fridge last week. Good point. They and many other leafy green veggies (think scallions, kale, lettuce, spinach,) do best in a high-humidity conditions. You can make that happen by storing your greens in a tupperware with the lid cracked or plastic baggie.

You'll notice your basil has not been field-washed -- it holds much better in the fridge that way, so give it a rinse just before you use it.

Thai basil is an essential addition to Thai-inspired curries, and provides a lovely anise-type flavor. Once the weather heats up, it will produce nice purple spikes of flowers that not only add a great flavor to asian-inspired dishes, but look purdy, too. You can also drop it into your pot of rice as it's steaming to flair it up a bit.

Squash blossoms are great tossed in salads fresh, and they're also a marvelous excuse to deep fry! If you're feeling indulgent, try stuffing them with chevre (I'd highly recommend the fine folks' at Consider Bardwell) and then beer-battering them with a little cornmeal to boot. We whipped some up with some fresh garlic, cippolini greens, cracked black pepper and CB chevre mixed together as stuffing, twisted the blooms shut, dipped and rolled, dunked in hot oil... Good for the soul.

On a heart-healthier note, there are a few notable firsts for the season: summer squash fruits and sugar snap peas. The squash are tiny and tender, and you can use them just like you'd use their bigger sisters. The squash blossoms are the male flowers from the plants, providing the pollen needed to get to the female blossoms (which auto-produce the squash as we know it, which is the flower's ovary.) Once the female blossom is pollinated, the signal is a "go" and the main plant's energy continues to feed the fruit. If not pollinated, the ovary shrivels, turns brown, and falls off. You'll note that the peas are not as sweet as they ought to be. I debated about providing them for the share, as their flavor is not as stellar as I'd like; they will get sweeter as they mature and the sun fuels the plants a bit more.

And as with last week, three different lettuce heads, a bag of mixed salad greens, a bunch of tender, young radishes, and a bunch of Dinosaur/Lacinato/Black kale round out the mix for this week.

In other garden news, I've been hilling the potatoes, which are coming along nicely, and will hopefully be ready for some tender new potatoes in the coming few weeks. Purple flowers are gracing the tops of some of the plants, and on the next hot day, several more are sure to come.

More to come soon. Thanks!

Green Peak Farm in the news

2009-06-29T22:06:00.001-04:00

Read more from the local newspaper of Mego's high school...

http://www.yoursewickley.com/sewickleyherald/article/academy-graduate-loves-living-land-her-vermont-farm

Week of June 18th - Weekly Update

2009-06-18T22:43:00.000-04:00

June 18, 2009

Greetings!

With just under one week until our first CSA pickup, the garden is moving right along. Bright, beautiful lettuce heads are filling out, two kinds of kale, radishes, mustard greens tender and big for braising, scallions, and pea shoots will all be ready for munching come next Tuesday. The chickens are robust and hilarious as ever, and learning the new, fun game of Worm Rugby as they explore the delights of outdoor life. This week’s update is a two-for-one bargain to make up for last week’s (busy!) silence.

This year so far has been marked by the generous donations of time, muscle, and and tender loving care of friends from near and far, past and present. Visitors and co-apprentices from two of my previous farm experiences in Oregon have ventured easterly and brought with them their passion and pragmatism, helping to organize and harvest for the first Dorset Farmer’s Market, transplant veggies, and wreak havoc on the weeds (Hoe Fever!); a dozen college friends came to celebrate a Happy Dirtday party in May and help pick rocks out of the field and transplant over a dozen flats of onions; summer squash was moved out and covered with reemay, filled with updates from Peace Corps life in Kazakhstan and Liberia; winter den sity ledis and swiss chard were seeded by the tentative eight-year old hands of Green Peak Farm’s official Junior Rock Patrolller neighbor; nearly weekly photo-journal entries are snapped; plans are being made with a college/now Oregonian friend to snag her away from her new draft horses and milking goats in early August. Thanks to everyone who has invested themselves, in whatever and every way, for rounding out the character of this place!

This week Green Peak Farm has been host to my dear friend, Brian, who was a co-apprentice at Gardenripe Farm in Silverton, OR. Thanks to Brian’s tenacity and zeal for hoeing, we’ve managed to chase out a lot of the ryegrass, timothy, tap-rooted red clover, and other pasture plants looking to re-inhabit their one-time homes. Yesterday evening found us weeding the winter squash hills, which are just starting to be visible from the landing on Green Peak. As we made our way down the beds, the roar and tumult of our neighbors’ tractors came rumbling in to tet and bale the hay in the rest of the field. You can hear them coming from miles away. Zing! And they’re off! Roar and tumble around the field, round and around again; Brian and I paused in our hoeing and hand weeding, shot sidelong glances at each other, and couldn’t help but sit to watch for a minute to ooh and ahh over the speed and easy mechanization of the entire process. In the course of about an hour, sixteen round bales with a 4-foot diameter were deposited in the path of the machines, laid like golden eggs from the giant green oviduct of the racous JohnDeere-bird.

As we got back to the task at hand, Brian looked at me and said, “You know, they think we’re crazy, too.” And he’s probably right, and we probably are, but as I’ve had ample opportunity to work out The Case For Hand-Weeding, I’ll give it a go on you. For me the bottom line is the idea of simple tools begetting simple problems, which in turn beget simple solutions. Where is the nearest tractor supply store? The average in-transit shipping times for parts coming from Whoknowswhere? The cheapest supply for new 3-point hitch arms or welding tools to reattach them to my busted rig? How much is bulk fuel going for these days, and what sort of fuel buying club do I need to submit membership to? I’m happy not to know. Every time I pause to look down the row to see how much further there is to go, I think of all of the time and energy it would take to fire up the tractor, attach the implement, drive it down to the field, make one pass, drive it back up the field, park the tractor, and get back to where I was, remembering all along to not run over irrigation or dogs or pointy rocks, not to let the fuel level get too low, to drive wide around the corners so the rear hitch has room to swing. I love the quietude of the hoeing, quiet enough to open windows of thought or, as I’ve had the good fortune with this week’s visitor, carry on a great conversation about our national attitudes toward food and how short-term our concepts of health and value have become. My working knowledge of different stages of development for insects and plants, beneficial and otherwise, grows every time I plunge my hands into the soil. I like to think of the empathy my hands share with the roots of my plants, and small discoveries like the five degree temperature difference between the west side of the cabbage plants and the shaded east side on a hot afternoon get a chance to be noticed. Careful observation can only happen with time, observation pays off in the long run, and I do hope to be running for a long, long time.

Here’s a quote from Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim At Tinker Creek:

“Cruelty is a mystery and the waste of pain. But if we describe a world to compass these things, a world that is a long, brute game, then we bump against another mystery: the inrush of power and light, the canary that sings on the skull. Unless all ages and races of men have been deluded by the same mass hypnotist (who?), there seems to be such a thing as beauty, a grace wholly gratuitious. About five years ago I saw a mockingbird make a straight vertical descent from the roof gutter of a four-story building. It was an act as careless and spontaneous as the curl of a stem or the kindling of a star.

The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped. His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing from a limb and not falling, accelerating thirty-two feet per second per second, through empty air. Just a breath before he would have been dashed to the ground, he unfurled his wings with exact, deliberate care, revealing the broad bars of white, spread his elegant, white-banded tail, and so floated onto the grass. I had just rounded a corner when his insouciant step caught my eye; there was no one else in sight. The fact of his free fall was like the old philosophical conundrum about the tree that falls in the forest. The answer must be, I think, that beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.”

Have a great week!

Mego

First Weekly Update -

2009-06-03T22:41:00.001-04:00

June 3, 2009

Howdy Members,

Here’s your first weekly update from the farm. The kickoff of our first “official” frost free date, June 1—brings with it long days of plantings, transplantings, potting-up seedlings, hoeing, irrigation, installation of floating row covers on the most tender crops, and week-old chicks who have already more than tripled in size. All good things. But hold up, one second there… June! It’s June! In two short months the farm has gotten off to a running start, thanks in many parts, to you. I can’t stress enough the value of knowing there is a community backing the work, and the harvests to come, and my commitment to the garden and the season. Thank you.

Gratitude is a dynamic thing, and one part about farming that I love often seems to come as a disclaimer to farm work: hours of repetitive, sometimes “boring” labor. But it’s often only in these times that I can turn down the volume of my brain cranking out infinitely long To-Do lists, let my body run by muscle memory, and take in my natural surroundings—which always brings me back to gratitude.

Today it’s the bobolinks. When we were laying out the placement of the garden, Thomas and I drove stakes into the four corners of the field, and one in the dead center for perspective. These wooden stakes have turned into ideal perches for the birds, who seem to embrace the limelight like naturals, singing all through the day. Sometimes it feels like they’re surrounding me on all sides with song, and when I look up from my squash hill planting, I realize they are—even singing as they’re curlicue diving through the sky, driving out the red-winged blackbirds and maintaining their nesting territory. They blow up their chests and even their comical, colorblindedly-coordinated, sandy feather toupees stand on end and expand to call out their song for the day. To double one’s volume for song—if that’s not virtue, I don’t know what is!

Here’s a poem by Jane Kenyon.

Song

An oriole sings from the hedge
and in the hotel kitchen
the chef sweetens cream for pastries.
Far off, lightning and thunder agree
to join us for a few days
here in the valley. How lucky we are
to be holding hands on a porch
in the country. But even this
is not the joy that trembles
under every leaf and tongue.

Stay tuned for information about a weekly pickup ultimate frisbee game in Dorset and a member/community potluck!

Thank you for your support,

Mego

Deep Roots

2009-04-13T21:19:00.002-04:00

As spring rolls around with 50+ degree days and nighttime temperatures in the 'teens, I can't help but revel in the cyclical nature of farm life. From daily temperature and moisture sways to seasonal growth and passage, multi-year crop rotation schematics, generational cycles, and legacies of land and farming families, it's all a good reminder of our long-standing relationships with the land and each other.

Just as the sustainable farmer takes a comprehensive view of field productivity and aims to feed the soil, not just the plant, so does this resonate with the great resources that we have in each other. The sustainable farmer doesn't just hire bodies to pick up his harvest, but helps to cultivate knowledge, habits, a love of, and respect for the ancient art and necessity of food production.

I've been really fortunate to have apprenticed with some incredible, ingenious, inspiring and uncontrollable Farmers who sing hymns amidst the bean trellises, teach eighth-graders how to castrate and dock tails of three day old lambs, weave packbaskets out of wild-harvested willows, round down at the market register, squish-test peonies like a lover, drop a tree on wedge, and grow some of the most beautiful vegetables I've ever seen. They're pretty cool folks: Tim, Jason, Bill, Brian, Nick, and Maya, thank you. Check them out at

Dancing Moon Farm - Hood River, OR
www.dancingmoonfarm.com

Gardenripe - Silverton, OR
www.gardenripe.com

North Country School and Camp Treetops - Lake Placid, NY
http://www.nct.org/page.cfm?p=118

Brave New World

2009-04-13T20:43:00.001-04:00

Germination has begun!

Putting In The Seed - By Robert Frost

2009-04-09T14:16:00.000-04:00

You come to fetch me from my work tonight
When supper's on the table, and we'll see
If I can leave off burying the white
Soft petals fallen from the apple tree
(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,
Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea),
And go along with you ere you lose sight
Of what you came for and become like me,
Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.
How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed
On through watching for that early birth
When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

2009-04-06T15:12:00.000-04:00

Details for Green Peak Farm's 2009 "First Flight" Community Supported Agriculture Shares are here! Click on the image below for more...

Straight from the Source

2009-02-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

I believe that in an ever-shrinking global food economy, where a handful of multi-national companies produce the bulk of vegetable seed available to commercial and home growers, the need to support "food with a face" is imperative on every level. In keeping with this belief, Green Peak Farm is sourcing its seeds from relatively tiny seed companies, and actively selecting seeds that are put on the market as a result of small, family- or employee-owned operations. Seed saving is a lost art in our modern food culture, and by going global, we passively allow a handful of "gloms" to shape our expectations for what food looks, cooks, tastes, travels, smells, and grows like every season. In the same way that you wouldn't landscape a palm tree into your Vermont lawn, we cannot expect tomato seeds genetically programmed and selected to be successful in Monsanto's trial gardens in, say, Florida to work up north. The tomato seeds that make it to you from Florida via Monsanto are being proliferated from only those tomato plants that thrive under vastly different conditions and stresses than your backyard. Wonder what those differences might be? I can't speak for the big guys, but I know that the folks at High Mowing Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont, or my seed-saving friends would be happy to talk about the sources for their favorite tomatoes!

Open-pollinated seeds have parent plants with varietally identical (or close to identical) traits. These seeds will produce a plant that bears viable, "true to type" fruits and seeds from generation to generation.

All Heirloom seeds are open-pollinated, and it is often because of the simplicity of open-pollinated seed production, small scale of seed saving, and the lack of genetic isolation in a backyard or small grower's garden that allows for the preservation of these plants. Owing to the dedication and personal significance of these special strains are often colorful and sometimes hilarious names and stories to boot that help memorialize people, places, and times. Some favorites: "Mortgage Lifter" and "Aunt Ruby's German Green" tomatoes, "Jaluv an Attitude" Jalepeno peppers, and "Vermont Cranberry" dry beans.

Hybrid seeds have parent plants with different varietal traits. As with most first-generation hybrid crosses, these seeds will produce plants that express F-1, or "first filial" Hybrid Vigor and take on the best of both worlds (for example, the sweetness of one parent plant and the early ripening of the other.) Unfortunately, this glory is short-lived, and hybrid seeds bear seeds that are either sterile, or not true to type, often reverting to only one parent type's characteristics. 88% of the tomato seed industry is now hybridized (Fedco Seeds, January '09).

Both open-pollinated and hybrid seeds can be managed organically or not, and heirlooms are not necessarily raised organically, though they are a result of open-pollination. Organic, open-pollinated, heirloom seeds are sometimes brought to market via huge multi-national corporations. Sheesh! It's tough to keep it all straight. But there's hope: the only surefire way to know where and how your food is raised is to ask the smiling face of your local farmer, which sounds like a pretty good insurance policy if you ask me. And, best yet, you might even get a story or two out of it all.

Crop List 2009

2009-02-10T18:53:00.000-05:00

Here's the short list of our production for this season, by Family:

Allium
scallion/bunching onion
yellow storage onion
leek
shallot

Legume
pole bean mix
bush green and purple beans
sugar snap peas
shelling/dry beans - 4 varieties
edamame/soy beans
fava beans

Cucurbit
pickling cukes
"alpha beit" slicing cukes
winter squash - 4 varieties
pumpkins - 3 varieties
pattypan
zucchini

Chenopod
spinach
swiss chard
beets & beet greens

Brassica/Cole Crops
cauliflower
broccoli
kale
cabbage
radish
brussels sprouts
braising greens
mustard mix

Apiaceae
carrots
parsley
bulbing fennel

Asteracae
lettuce - head & mixed leaf
specialty greens and edible flower mix

Solanaceous/Nightshades
red, blue, yukon potatoes
slicing, heirloom, and mixed cherry tomatoes - lots of varieties!
ground cherry
tomatillo
serrano, pimiento and bell peppers

Flowers
plenty of bright cheerfulness to choose from. Think rudbeckia, zinnia, sunflowers, stock...

Herbs
basil
dill
cilantro/coriander

Suggestions? Hard to find cravings? Let me know! greenpeakfarm@gmail.com

Welcome...

2008-12-04T13:04:00.000-05:00

to the new virtual home of Green Peak Farm. We are located in Dorset, Vermont, at the southern foot of Mt. Aeoulus, also known as Green Peak. The 2009 season holds much possibility, and we are anticipating production of over forty varieties of familiar staples of vegetables, fruits, and herbs, as well as a few new favorites to keep things fun and interesting in the kitchen. We will also be growing a limited number of roasting chickens on a subscription-based system, and a selection of annual flowers to help liven up your living space.

Green Peak farm is the partnership of Jim and Marilyn Hand, and grower Megan Osterhout. The Hand family has long been active in community development, energy efficiency, and sustainable living in the Manchester area. The creation of Green Peak Farm may well be their most delicious venture to serve their neighbors! Megan Osterhout has spent the past three seasons growing organic produce and flowers for market, raising a variety of livestock, and maple sugaring as an apprentice farmer in Lake Placid, NY, Silverton, OR, and Hood River, OR.

We will be offering a "First Flight" Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership for the 2009 season. Subscription is limted to 6 families for a share in our farm's produce. Each week you will be able to pick up your portion of the harvest at the farm, which will include a selection of vegetables and access to a Make Your Own bouquet station. In addition, you will receive two fresh, dressed roasting chickens twice during the season. More details to come soon; please contact Megan at greenpeakfarm@gmail.com for more information.

Thanks and stay tuned for more news about the farm and the 2009 season!