Down on the Farm

New greenhouse

We had a very wet October, and then with the snow we started despairing that we wouldn't get the new greenhouse in before the ground froze. But then sure enough Indian summer started Saturday, and Matt Pettigrew and his excavator were able to come that day do the grading work we needed, and now hope is back. There's still a lot of work ahead, but things are moving forward.

Here's a before shot with one of the big rocks we knew we needed help to move.

Waverly's friend Tommy, plus sister Maggie and mom Tracy came over to watch the big machine at work.

And while we were still all in our winter coats early in the morning, mid morning the sun broke through, for the first time in ages it seemed, and started warming things up. Here's Matt moving the big rock in the sunshine.

Now the space is all nicely smooth and level.

One rock was too huge to even try to move, but it's near the edge of the greenhouse so we will have to just find a way to work around it. The problem is going to be driving the posts in where the rock is -- we'll have to skip a post or something there.

That's a problem for another day though. For now, I'm excited that the new greenhouse is moving forward. Waverly is too. Tomatoes!!

Happy Halloween!!

First snow

I wrote this long rambling post about what we're up to, and then the power flickered off, and I lost it all. (Shoulda woulda coulda saved earlier!) I'm too tired to rewrite it tonight, but hopefully soon. For now here's a photo of the first snow that's falling as I type. I suspect that's why the power flickered, and I wouldn't be surprised if we lose it for longer later tonight.

Whew

I was afraid to jinx it by saying this too early, but we got through a whole market season without Waverly running into the road. Yay!! I was so nervous about it all season, but Wavo did great. The Danville market, which Waverly and I do together on Wednesdays, is on the Danville Green, which is a great location, very visible, very beautiful, but it is surrounded on all sides by well travelled roads. And usually during market, there are cars parked all along it, so a 2 year old darting out from between parked cars is really, really dangerous.

Anyway, Waverly did great. On good advice, we got an outdoor play yard, actually two, which we hooked together and used like a portable fence behind our stand. Waverly could easily get around the fence, but it was a good guide for her and me about what areas were safe and which weren't. We also set up a little play area behind the stand but in front of the fence. And lots of friends came by to visit and play, and Waverly made friends with lots of people at market, so little by little she started going around market to visit without me. It's a small market though, so it was easy to keep her in sight. One of my favorite parts of market was to watch Waverly walk over, dollar in hand, to buy a muffin or grapes from her friend Maya's stand. She'd turn back and say to me, firmly, "I do it myself Mama!" And she could!!

We just did our last market on Wednesday, so it's all over till next year. Truth be told, I wasn't that broken up about it, I've been looking forward to the break. But then this morning I was taking a (very short!) break from work, and I thought oh I'll check the NY Times Dining section, see if they have any good recipes I could share with the CSAers. Then doh! no more CSA baskets till next year. Bummer. Guess its not too early though to start gathering recipes for next year!!

Pete's Greens

The season before we bought our farm, Peter worked for Pete Johnson, the farmer owner of Pete's Greens. Back then, Pete was still on his folks' land in Greensboro, but he's since bought his own farm in Craftsbury, which is about 45 minutes away from us, mostly North. Pete works incredibly hard, and his veggies are beautiful.

Anyway, last week, Pete hosted a NOFA workshop at his farm:Year Round Vegetable Production and Sales at Pete's Greens. It was great to see his new farm. He has built a HUMUNGOUS greenhouse of his own design out of cedar logs. It is big enough to drive a tractor into. It's huge. He doesn't mess around that Pete!

During the tour, we were all walking through Pete's fields to look at various crops. As we were walking past some baby salad just coming up, Waverly turned to me and said, "Don't walk on the baby plants, Mommy, no. Walk on the grass." I was so proud of her!!

Eating tomatoes

Today was another spectacular day, weather wise. Dry, sunny, blue skies, warm - like 80. It was hard to believe it's really our second to last market. Usually the last couple markets are so miserably cold that I am really ready to stop coming, but this was a perfect market day.

There were lots of tourists in for the foliage (which is just starting -- way behind normal). Anyway, one tourist thought Waverly and her friend Elliot were so cute playing hide and go seek behind the sign (they are pretty cute!!) that she was taking pictures of them! And then when the two of them started eating tomatoes like apples, she had to take a picture of that too, in part because it was so cute and in part because, she said, she was so surprised to see kids happily eating veggies. Maybe that's because her her grandkids don't get yummy Old Shaw Farm veggies!

Anyway, you can see the stand in the background and can see that the display is definitely getting smaller.

CSA Week Seventeen

News from the field:

Well, this is it. We had a hard frost this week, and despite the warm weather this week, there is more chill on the way for this weekend. As a result, we have lost the sungold cherry tomatoes, the peppers, most lettuces, and a few other things. The days are getting shorter, and believe it or not, the ground will be frozen in a few weeks.

To get ready for winter, your basket will have some storage items this week and next. This week, we have ristras, which are hot peppers strung together to dry for the winter. Hang them somewhere in your kitchen that is dry and gets some air circulation (but not in the sun), and you will have plenty of spice for your winter soups and stir-frys. Hopefully, they will also be a reminder of the fabulous summer we have had this year.

In the Basket:

Carrots - Carrots are one of the veggies that many people like even more after a frost because frost seems to sweeten them a bit. Included in the basket is a recipe by CSAer Zoë, which came highly recommended by another CSAer, Nicole. Thanks Zoë and Nicole!

Chard - A delicate cooking green. I mostly like it gently steamed. Don’t cook it as hard as you would collards or kale; treat it more like spinach. Most people like to remove the stems and cook those separately, for a bit longer. But you can definitely cook and eat the stems, too.

Garlic and leeks - We will likely load you up with storage onions next week, so here’re a few other alliums in the meantime.

Salad turnips and spinach - Yummy fall standbys.

Red tomatoes - We have enough of these under cover to include in the baskets this week. It’s been a good long run on tomatoes!!

Ristra - This is the string of dried peppers. You can hang this for decoration or use them for cooking through the winter or both. You may already know that most of the heat in peppers comes from the membranes. So the bottom of the peppers have way less heat than the top. To use for cooking, I find it easiest to use scissors to snip off a few pieces and add to the pan while sauteing onion and garlic.

Zoë’s Carrot Souffle

Zoë writes “I adapted this recipe from the classic southern dish that literally has 6 times the butter and sugar. It's very flexible and kids love it.”

1.5 lbs** Old Shaw Farm carrots, sliced
1-2 tbl. butter
3 Second Chance Farm eggs (if available)
1/4 cup Butterworks Farm flour (I use white, but you could probably use whole wheat pastry flour or whatever you've got)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 tbl. vanilla

Steam carrots until tender. Drain and process in food processor or blender with all the other ingredients until smooth. Spoon into a lightly greased baking dish (or soufflé dishes or other casserole)

Bake at 350 for one hour or until set and lightly browned. Serve immediately. Makes great leftovers for breakfast or lunch the next day.

** Zoë’s recipe calls for 3 pounds carrots. Since there are a pound and a half of carrots in this week’s basket, I halved the recipe to fit. You may need to also cut down on the cooking time.

CSA Week Sixteen

News from the field:

The home stretch! By now, our weekly seedings and transplantings have ended. We aren’t trellising tomatoes each week, or worrying about prepping beds. Instead, we are plowing down fields for next year, working on a site for our new greenhouse, and wondering what we will do with ourselves when our Wednesday and Saturday farmer’s markets end in a few weeks.

Speaking of ends, a few folks have asked about when the CSA ends. For September CSAers, this Wednesday is the last pickup. For full season folks, the last pickups are October 12 (Wednesday folks) and October 15 (Saturday folks). That means after this week, there are still two more weeks – for a total of 18 weeks.

In the Basket:

Beets, broccoli and leeks - All very fall veggies. We’ve included a recipe for pasta and broccoli in the basket this week.

Collard greens - One of my all time favorites. I like to prepare them this way: slice out the stem by cutting down each side of it. Discard the stem. Stack the leaves flat, one on top of the other, roll up like a cigar, then slice thinly into ribbons. Saute for 3-4 minutes in very hot oil (olive or whatever) – till they turn bright green but are not yet mushy, season with salt and pepper and enjoy. Peter cooked them this way last night with leeks in the oil left in the pan after frying pork chops, and they were awesome!

Green peppers, sun golds and tomatoes - Peter picked the peppers green because we expect it to frost either tonight or Thursday night. If we get a hard frost, we won’t have any more sun golds either, though we will still probably have red slicers for a bit longer.

Potatoes – This is a very dry baking potato known as Green Mountain. They probably would not be good for potato leek soup. These were grown by Tunbridge Hill Farm, one of our neighbors at our Saturday market. (The ferocious potato beetles decimated our fall potatoes this year.)

Spinach and red onions - You certainly don’t have to serve these together, but we’re including both to give you the option.