Down on the Farm

Very soggy

Well, it was the wettest May on record ever in Vermont, and now the wettest June in over 100 years. The result is we are very wet. Just this week we had 3 inches on Monday, 1 inch or so Tuesday night, and now they are predicting thunderstorms for this afternoon with high winds and hail. Great. . .

You can read all about it here, here, and and here.

Since people have been asking, I thought I would report that we are actually more fortunate than most. Our land is pretty well drained -- some veggie and dairy farms up here are basically wiped out for the season. But even we are feeling the impact of all this rain. We have tomato diseases in the greenhouse created by too much moisture and not enough sun. Our field is a mess because we haven't been able to plant our successions as planned, we haven't been able to mechanically cultivate our weeds as planned, and there is one whole section of our field (our wet spot) that we haven't been able to access at all yet. So while we aren't wiped out, our yields are down (particularly our tomatoes), our consistency will be way off, and our disease and weed problems are way up.

What I am learning is that every year something will go wrong. No matter what. That is hard for the perfectionist in me to accept. But it is the truth. So I need to learn to roll with the punches more, and figure that in the long run it all evens out. Because every year some things will go very very right, and things do, in fact, have a way of evening out. And in the meantime, we are doing fine, and having a blast. Just check out the puppet show post below.

Rainy market

It was a pretty rainy market this morning. I tried to pretend that it was just showers for a while, but it was really rain, though not continuous. I fully intended to bail with the kids, and leave Cornelia there to do it alone, but one thing led to another and we were having fun so we did the whole market.

Rainy days are certainly not great for business, but they are not as bad as you would think. People like to cook when it rains, so they buy more veggies, assuming they're willing to brave the rain and come out.

Anyway, Henry snoozed in the backpack, with my raincoat mostly protecting him, and he later practiced standing, which he is very into these days. He turned seven months last Friday!!

Waverly and Quinn hung out in the back of the car, where it was dry, and put on puppet shows for passersby. The CSA kids were an awesome audience, staying out in the rain, and later joining in the show. It was fun.

CSA Week Three

News from the field:

Strawberries!! The big news from the field has nothing to do with our field. Instead, the strawberries have arrived at our neighbor’s farm, Too Little Farm, in West Barnet. Too Little Farm is a diversified, certified organic farm, run by Elizabeth and Peter Everts, literally about a half a mile from our farm as the crow flies. They were kind enough to let us buy in some of their organic strawberries to distribute to our CSAers. Enjoy!! And check out their pick your own strawberries while they last - 7:30 to 12 noon (or whenever they are picked out).

In the Basket:

Broccoli – The first broccoli of the season! This early variety is light on the stalk with a slightly looser head, so these are almost like broccoli crowns. More flavor, more crunch, better texture, less bitterness. Try raw or lightly steamed.

Baby zucchini - These first zux of the year are harvested at the tender baby stage. There will be plenty of time for huge zucchini later in the season, but for now try slicing these in half and steaming them lightly, or simply eating them raw in your salad like a cucumber. A tender treat to eat!

Radishes - A nice big bunch this week. Crunch, crunch, crunch in the salad.

Tomatoes - The big red slicers are starting!!

Mesclun and spinach - It is our goal this year to have at least one salad item (i.e. mesclun or lettuce or spinach or arugula) each week for the whole CSA. We’ll see if we make it!! Two spinach recipes on the back.

Strawberries – Eat today or tomorrow. They won’t keep. It won’t be hard to eat them quickly.

Large baskets also get: new potatoes, sweet colored pepper, sun golds, and garlic scapes!

Two spinach recipes

Note: Here are two spinach recipes. The first adapted from a book published by a coalition of CSAs in Madison Wisconsin. The book is called From Asparagus to Zucchini, a Guide to Farm Fresh Seasonal Produce. I haven’t actually tried that one, but it seemed perfect, what with the strawberries in the basket this week and all. The second recipe is from Short-Cut Vegetarian by Lorna Sass, one of my all time favorite cookbook authors. I love this so much I had written “excellent!!’ in the margin of this recipe.

spinach strawberry salad

Ingredients: sesame seeds salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons sugar 1/4 cup salad oil
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar ½ bag spinach, washed
minced garlic to taste 1 cup strawberries, sliced or chunked
dry mustard to taste 1 ½ teaspoon fresh dill or ½ teaspoon dried

Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet for several minutes, tossing often. Combine sugar, vinegar, garlic, dry mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk in oil in a thin stream. Toss with spinach, strawberries, dill and sesame seeds.

spinach with toasted coconut and black mustard seeds
ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon safflower or canola oil
1 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened, dried, grated coconut
1 teaspoon brown mustard seeds
1 bag spinach, washed
salt to taste

Heat the oil over high heat. Toast the coconut and mustard seeds, stirring constantly until the coconut turns light brown and the seeds pop like crazy, about 30 seconds. Add the spinach with the water still clinging to its leaves and add a dash of salt. Cook until the spinach wilts. Lift from the pan with a slotted spoon, enjoy hot.

Spuds!

This one is for Alex, who helped plant all these potatoes. They aren't ready yet, but soon! Another week or two to new potatoes!

Scene at market

Garlic scapes.

Chris staffing the stand. This is taken near the end of market, which is why there is not much left on the stand. Chris, Sarah and Sam filled in for Cornelia this week, who is on vacation.

Quinn goofing off. Wavy was pretending to be the mommy making her take a nap.

Henry actually taking a nap.

While doing up the CSA flyer this past winter, I realized I had no photos at all of last year's baskets. So this year I resolved to take at least one photo of the basket each week. So having the camera at market has also gotten me, so far, to take more photos for the blog. There is a production end of things too, hopefully we'll post more photos from that end soon!!

CSA Week Two

News from the field:

Sun! The sun, as well as the heat and drier air, has really gone a long way to putting production back on track. Veggie growers are ever in search of the perfect season, and so we could still find fault with how far behind things are due to all that rain, but all in all, things are coming along nicely. If the weather holds we should soon have zucchini and broccoli!

In the Basket:

Mesclun, arugula, and spinach- A bounty of fresh early summer greens for you. Eat salad every night!! Wash those winter doldrums right out of your system!! More ideas: make arugula pesto, put your salmon burger on a bed of mesclun instead of a bun, make a spinach and cheese omelet, or try the mesclun stuffing recipe on the back of this flyer.

Radishes and cukes – Crunch for your salad. Try a radish, raw spinach and cheese sandwich. Radishes are new for us this year, let us know what you think. The cucumbers have really appreciated the change in the weather so four this week!!

Sun gold cherry tomatoes!!! These are a huge favorite in our household and frankly it is going to be a challenge hiding these from Waverly so she doesn’t eat them all before you come to get your basket! If someone else in your household has eaten yours already, don’t despair, there’ll be more!

Garlic scapes – I googled garlic scapes last night to get ideas for what to put in this flyer, and one of the first set of results was our website!! So with some tweaking here it is.

Garlic scapes are the elegant, curly, tender part of the garlic shoot. They taste garlicky, obviously, but brighter, less hot, more fragrant, and greener. They’re very seasonal, in for only a few weeks.

☼ Brush with olive oil, salt and pepper, and grill in a veggie basket till crispy or roast, with or without potatoes.

☼ Cut half to an inch long and sauté.

☼ Chop very fine and sprinkle in green or pasta or potato salad.

☼ Use in place of regular garlic in favorite recipes. Or treat as you would asparagus.

☼ I puree scapes with olive oil in the food processor. I put the thick paste in the fridge as a base for all kinds of things. I especially like to thin the paste with olive oil and use it as a dipping sauce for crusty bread, like the way they do at fancy restaurants. Peter uses the paste as a salad dressing base, adding more oil and vinegar. Add cheese and nuts for a yummy pesto.

Large basket CSAers got the above plus colored peppers, red slicing tomatoes, and beets!

Hot, hot, hot, plus Father's Day

It was 95 degrees and humid, humid, humid yesterday. Today it is 90 and humid. No one feels like moving, let alone transplanting in the sun, or burying remay. It was 97 when I was watering in the greenhouses yesterday. Us fragile northeasterners aren't used to things like heat, let alone humidity.

As a result, I did take most of yesterday off for Father's Day. It was so hot yesterday, in fact, that I jumped in the stream that meanders pass the south side of the greenhouses. That stream comes out of a spring in the woods, and is never more than about 38 degrees. But yesterday was hot enough that I went for a plunge, and even though it took my breath away for a sec, it was worth it.

Otherwise, we took it easy, goofed around the house and yard, we all took naps (even Mama and Papa), and then hopped in the car last night and went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant. Waverly decided she likes salmon roe, and who can argue with her, really. All in all, a very very nice Father's day.

Apropos of nothing, we often joke about how this farm runs on coffee. Here is a recently created coffee ad that had me laughing to the point of tears about 10 minutes ago. The link is courtesy of the folks at boing boing. Enjoy!

The scene at market

Cornelia and our new set up -- tilting display table, rectangular umbrella.

Baby beets and beet greens.

Salad turnips!

Bok choy.

Cornelia and Henry.

Good times.

CSA Week One

This is the flyer we gave out with this week's CSA basket. I hope to post these every week of the CSA since they're a nice little diary entry on the farm. Photo below by Cornelia!

News from the field:

Wet, wet, wet. We had the wettest May on record, and so far, June is keeping up the pace.

The rain, or better put, the lack of sun, has slowed down the plants’ growth. For example, we have full sized tomatoes sitting on the vine in our greenhouse. But tomatoes need sun to ripen, and for the past week these tomatoes have just sat there, green and pretty, but still green. We need some sun!!! So while we have a nice basket for you this week, it is not as overflowing as we had hoped. Believe me, once the sun comes out and the crops take off, we will make it up to you.

The rain also has put us behind on our field work. June is when we are busy finishing annual plantings, and getting ready to tackle the first brace of weeds. Our big annual plantings include potatoes, onions, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, leeks, cucumbers, melons, corn, summer and winter squash. They’re all in the ground, but a little behind schedule. We need warm, sunny, dry weather to help those things grow.

But we haven’t been as bad off as some. Veggie farms in Burlington’s Intervale lost their whole season because they were two feet underwater. We haven’t had any standing water at all, so that’s something.

And we suspect that we will be compensated for a slow spring by a hot summer, or a long fall. Just like how last year started cold, but then took off. Everything always seems to balance out in the end.

In the Basket:

Mesclun - Our mesclun is a mixture of several different lettuce varieties, cut at a baby size, and several different types of brassicas, such as mustard, tatsoi, and arugula.

Arugula - Hold on to your taste buds! Make a fancy sandwich, toss with warm pasta, add to salad.

Salad Turnips - When you grab a bunch of these, your first thought may be, “What the . . .?” These are an Asian variety of turnip grown specifically for raw eating, like a radish. We like them sliced up in salad or eaten in chunks dipped in dressing. The greens are good – and good for you – gently cooked.

Beets!! - Baby beets for roasting, boiling, or even slicing razor thin with a peeler to put in your salad. Don’t forget to eat the greens (cooked) too!

Kale - A cooking green chock full of vitamin A and more. Kale is one of my favorite vegetables, but you do need to cook it for at least 5 minutes to make it tender. Check out Nichole’s recipe!!

Cucumber - An early treat from the greenhouse!

Bok Choy - A mild and tender Asian green for stir fry or steaming. We like to stir fry the bok choy in a small amount of peanut oil and then season it with soy sauce and toasted sesame oil.

Large basket CSAers received the above plus two pints of sun gold tomatoes and a bundle of herbs.

Sad news about the South Central Farm

I made the post about the South Central Farm in an attempt to be upbeat, because it sounded like some last minute money from the Annenberg foundation would be enough to save it. Unfortunately, the owner refused the money and bulldozers were sent in today. The website says its not over yet, and a candlelight vigil is planned, but things look pretty dire.

I think of all the community gardens I have been a part of, the one Peter helped start in Minneapolis, Sheri's in Providence, etc. etc. and what a wonderful thing they are in the lives of so many, and it literally makes me cry. I am sorry to be the bearer of sad news. Here's the link.

My sister Jess is in L.A. and maybe she'll post a comment with more up to date news?

South Central farm

My sister Jessica told me about the fight to save a community farm in South Central L.A.

Intervale flood

The rain is starting to get old, yes, but at least we haven't been under water.

Is that what I said last year?

Sorry I haven't posted in forever. But it has just been crazy busy around here. From April 15 to about June 15 we are busy with seedlings, getting all our big annual plantings in the ground, plus getting our weekly plantings done, plus getting ready for the farmer's market and CSA season. In addition to that, all of the rain has really been affecting our ability to get certain jobs done, so there is some field work we are really behind on.

But once the annual plantings are in, and the markets and the CSA start, a certain rhythm takes over each week, and the workload is pared back to a slightly more managable level.

That time is coming soon, which is a good thing. I have been getting a little burnt out. When Maryellen asked me what I wanted for Father's Day yesterday, I only said, "A day off." And when I was telling Maryellen the other day about how I probably messed up the fertility in one part of the field, and that we might lose our onion crop, she reminded me that I said the same thing last year, and in the end, we had plenty of onions.

When she mentioned that I had to think, because I genuinely did not remember saying last year that we would lose the onions. And it made me realize that this time of year is stressful because you have done all this work, but you have nothing to show for it until the crops mature.

So maybe I shouldn't take myself too seriously this time of year. For example, last year I was all doom and gloom about our tomatoes, and while we did have some disease problems, we got a crop off, and it all worked out Ok. And while last year started out cold, it heated up and was our best melon year yet.

I guess it is all going to work out somehow. But I am looking forward to that day off next Sunday.

CSA is growing

We more than doubled our CSA signups for this year!! We have 30 folks in this year, including two in Waitsfield for the first time. Get ready for some delicious veggies you CSAers!!!