open heart farm

Planting Time

2013-05-01T18:43:00.002-04:00

What have I been doing since the snowy Easter scene in the last post? Planting, planting, planting. Interrupted only by some seeding, seeding, seeding. The peas are up, as is the spinach, radishes, and arugula. Garlic ws up long ago if I didn't already mention it, and planted are the onions, fennel (the picture

here is like a Josh's eye view of the past two weeks), the first plantings of lettuce and beets, and oh so much more. Giant field of potatoes.

This week's weather has been great for us, though, to complain like a farmer about the weather, slightly dry. If it doesn't rain by early next week we will start irrigating. Sometimes you just have to threaten the clouds by putting out the pipes and it will rain.

Our CSA is filling up much quicker this year, which is great for many reasons. Obviously it's nice to not have to worry about cash flow as much during the season. The reason that is so nice is because every our I am not marketing I can spend farming, and thereby hopefully getting better results. This year over last I will already be able to spend five to ten extra hours at the field, and those early hours are usually worth 2 hours in June or July.

If you are interested in getting a share they are still available, just check out www.openheartfarm.com and download a brochure. Just going to give one more shout out to our add-ons which rock this year. The eggs you eat will be coming from chickens I can see grazing every day as we tend the vegetables.

2013-03-26T22:04:00.000-04:00

Here is a pic of an Easter egg hunt (more like a scramble as you can see), and

starting 29 varieties of tomatoes in greenhouse yesterday (about four of those varieties are cherries, and all but two are heirlooms (those two were chosen for taste, I've missed Juliet the past few years, and Premio I just wanted to try)) - but how can we be seeding all these warm weather things in the middle of our slow spring. The answer is That's what greenhouses are for. The tomatoes won't start to adjust to real Vermont temps for another 4 week about. And as you can see even in the past few days, Spring comes fast. I bet if we went to the scene of that egg scramble today it would look pretty different.

Today I seeded the first round of beets, scallions, fennel, and celery. That's right, today was a root day (for more info on my biodynamic seeding practices check back posts). Next up, broccoli.

Sign-ups for this year are going very well. We do still have shares, and be sure to check out our egg, cheese, and bread shares. Lots more info on www.openheartfarm.com

It's Spring

2013-03-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

We only have a week + until it is really Spring, technically Spring. But we've already hit daylight savings time (figured that one out at 4pm when I looked at my cell phone), and probably the most relevant signs of spring for the Farm are that we cleaned up the greenhouse and I have started my onions and shallots (for more about new varieties of onions for this year look back about 4 posts).

Mulching the garlic and asparagus will be up next, I just want to wait until we see a little more snow melt outside of Burlington.

So now, before things get too hectic I want to enjoy Early Spring by doing two things our family loves: going to North beach on those slightly warm days and hiking around (for a 2 & 5 year old that is plenty of hike-space and so close) and go to the Palmer sugar house, on Hinesburg Road, once or twice. I'm excited that, just based on the temps I'm seeing, it might be a really good sugaring year this year. Obviously good news for everyone in this state.

Go to our website for our brochure or to just sign-up online at www.openheartfarm.com - we are filling up a bit faster than last year. If I had to take a guess as to why it would mostly be that we provided a lot of great veggies last year and that I think there are many people tuning in to the abundance of local farms each day. Yeah!

Website up + links to this year's exciting add-ons

2013-02-19T15:23:00.001-05:00

Our website www.openheartfarm.com is up and running, ready to accept members and payments electronically, though the option still exists and is plenty fine to download a brochure (either from the blog on your right or the website) and pay by check or cash. I can even mail brochures, I swear, it is possible!

but, going with the electronic flow of info here are some links that give lots of nice info and background on this years add-ons (which, in case you are new to CSAs, just means local foods that I also deliver to you at the same time that I deliver the vegetables which I grow.

Here's a great pic of O Bread's seeded baguette which I just had with avacado and chevre. It rocked. Where was the goat chese from you ask? From Does Leap, who is providing our cheese this year.

They have a pretty extensive website with info on the five cheese rotation we will have, some nice stuff about their cows agricultural practices and cheesemaking info: http://www.doesleap.com/index.htm

Besteyfield Farm is new down at the Intervale, has no pictures up yet, and is offering us a great deal on local eggs.

We are again growing a few things up at South Village. This year I'm isolating a few small crops that do well on clay, namely celery, corn, and possibly late season brassicas.

Things slowly getting in gear, feel free to email me or comment with questions.

Admin + 2013 Brochure

2013-02-06T10:54:00.000-05:00

Seed ordering is obviously exciting. But this time of year there is also a lot of other admin work. Truth is, I kinda get into it, it almost seems like the "natural" thing to be doing in the winter at this point (it's been my cycle for the past 8 years). What are some of these fun tasks: taxes (expenses mostly, which help me understand the business a bit better), figure out what the add-ons will be for this year (boy am I excited about this years: eggs right from the Intervale, Does Leap goat cheese (feta, here we come), and an expanded O Bread share including baguettes. Then there is ordering things that are not seeds like remay, cheep cheep (dried chicken manure), etc, and meetings for markets and restaurants that we work with.

All that plus getting out new site up and running, or rather having someone get it up and running since I don't have those skills. I did get our brochure up, so you can access it from here, but without the paypal part, which will hopefully be ready in a week or two.

Anyways, as I said I actually get excited about getting all of my ducks in a row, so that when the tractor hits the ground, everything else is set up.

Seeds Ordered

2013-01-10T11:04:00.001-05:00

After six years of ordering seeds for our farm (and three other years of noticing what varieties worked and didn't while apprenticing at Quail Hill) I thought this year would almost be a little bit boring, practically from memory, but that was not the case at all. A farm is such a living organism that I guess it's evolving too, as is my knowledge of how it works, and that led to more surprises (and fun) than I expected.

Onions stick out in my mind as something in particular that should have been boring but wasn't (and you'll have to excuse me if I get more excited by these things than most. Red Marble will be the first cippolini onion I have grown in Vermont. Besides it's Cippolini-ness I wanted a red storage onion that would really store, and the shape of cipollinis makes them ideal for that. At the same time, I am dropping Copra for now, which had been my go to yellow all-purpose onion. For the past two years I have found it underperforming relative to other onions of mine, and it wasn't storing well either, so I've switched to both New York Early and Varsity.

The thought process wasn't quite so extensive in all categories of vegetables, but it often was. I had kind of gone into the whole process thinking I would be replicating my tomato order from last year, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to create a special mix of cherry tomatoes, getting great taste and color (which means no yellow pear in my opinion), ended up with Isis candy, black cherry and three others. I also brought back Juliet, which is a great tasting Roma tomato. It is not an heirloom, nor a slicer, but I felt like my members and maybe even farmer's market customers would appreciate a smaller option. Also the first time trying a paste tomato in a long time, it is the sungold of paste tomatoes (so at least if I can't have sungolds (see earlier posts for that story) I can have this, and an easier time making sauce. With 20+ varieties of tomatoes I won't go into all of them here, but I think it will be a colorful exciting bunch.

Other quick glosses: getting broccoli earlier and better now looks more possible, in part because limba, which I missed the boat on last year (I ordered everything a week earlier this year) will be in the mix, as will some other early varieties. Also adding more marigolds and rudbeckia to the flower patch.

As for those wanting to get a jump on getting a share for this year, I will soon be updating our brochure and website. No big changes there so anyone new to us can get the gist right now if they want. Enjoy Winter!

Year in Review

2012-12-05T21:00:00.001-05:00

yep, that brown dripping on the pan are sugars from the pumpkin. And yes, I now have my camera back on line so be ready for more cooked vegetable and hopefully snow pictures.

on to the year in review. I am going to try to stick to the broad strokes, not get caught in the weeds, cause otherwise it might go on forever, as long as the year itself.

So, the overall grade: B+. That is not a current, by my standards grade-inflated B+, but something that truly means, "almost really great, but darn good." This takes in to account the weather for the year, which I give a B- or C+, though it's hard to complain given the previous year, there was a significant lack of precipitation, not an outright drought, but . . . quick list of outstanding things: tomatoes had awesome flavor this year, and pretty good varieties, really mastered carrots and chard, pretty good bean, pea, eggplant, beets, kale, squash, melon production. Might be leaving out one or two, but you start to see a pretty full farm with that (oh, head and mix lettuce also did well, along with a nice spring and fall spinach crop). Things that could have gone better: our pepper plants looked nice but we need both more of them, and a better nutrient balance cause they did not put out enough peppers per a plant, though I am most excited about my trellising method for them. Fall brassicas got in the ground a week or two late and missing that heat set them back alot, so while we had plenty of stuff for the CSA, it wasn't broccoli and cauliflower, which it should have been.

Some less grade-y notes: It is really exciting to me how much I learn each year. After 10 years farming, in the past three I really am starting to feel the ability to gain and implement knowledge. Examples for next year include the aforementioned peppers fix, getting a shade cloth for curing onions and garlic (we lost 1/4 of our onions just to sunburn), planting the parsley a few weeks later so that it doesn't bolt, direct seeding leeks and then mulching them (so so so much more efficient). Part of that mastering of carrots mentioned earlier was just changing seed plates. Really easily doable. So that's fun, the feeling of getting better. Also strangely exciting is the year-roundness that we are starting to achieve, with or without a hoophouse. Some of this is the warming thing, which, without getting political is a little scary, but more can be chalked up to figuring out how to create, store, and sell more root crops. Here it is December and I am just mentally wrapping up last year and will start ordering seeds in another week or two.

Vermont is such an ideal place to be doing the work I am doing. People's interest in keeping this state a sustainable, viable, and interesting enterprise is what keeps any of this from being a grind, and I really appreciate being able to supply veggies to my CSA members, Shelburne Farmer's Market customers and the one or two restaurant and grocery store things I do. I like all of those different relationships.

Surely I forgot something, so feel free to comment and remind me or give your own grade. Hard to believe we will be updated our website in a month with our new brochure and getting ready for a new season.

Be on the look-out for something more exciting than all that: messaged kale recipe. I am not at all kidding. I would never thought to have eaten kale raw, but this totally works and is absolutely simple and delicious. Stay tuned.

Pumpkins, CSAs and things

2012-11-18T21:45:00.001-05:00

It has been a while, longer than I would have suspected given the time of year, but we have continued harvesting for wholesale longer than ever before. Also harvested for our pre-Thanksgiving Day sale to members recently. The sale went well, and I have enjoyed doing a little more wholesaling this year. But mostly I was thinking about pumpkins. I made our second pumpkin pie of the year yesterday (the first one which I thought was going to be the Thanksgiving one got eaten). Out of that same pumpkin I also made two loaves of bread (of which one is still frozen either awaiting Santa or a pot luck), so we are talking about 4 cans of pumpkin (incidentally I should mention all recipes are from Rodale's cookbook which I think has very nice basic whole foody versions of these things). As I've said like a ba-jillion times so I won't say it too much more, fresh pumpkin rocks can pumpkins world, and isn't that much more work. But as I was thinking it again today I had another thought which was, "Boy, it sure is more expensive though."

4 cans OG pumpkin at city market (on sale) = $11.96
10# local OG pumkin at city market = $16.90

I was actually expecting more of a difference, but still, 17 bucks on a pumpkin may not be something everyone can swallow, so one is probably prone to just get a can at a time of canned and call it a day. But then, my next thought was, "Oh, wait, my members don't pay anything like that for the pumpkin they got (some larger than 10, some smaller, but I would guess that was quite close to the average), they paid $5." Which of course led to the epiphany that having a CSA is really a cheap way to eat like a king. Which given some current debate at least in our hyper-local neck of the woods makes me think there is still an important place for them, or many important places.

I will do an end of year sum-up, but probably closer to the end of the year. Everyone enjoy T-day!

Week 19

2012-10-07T20:25:00.002-04:00

A great week, by my estimation

butternut squash
cabbage
garlic
potatoes
jerusalem artichoke
beets
cilantro, dill, or parsley

most of those are familiar to all except one, it's like the Sesame Street song, "which one of these is not like the other . . . "

It's Jerusalem Artichoke. An unusual vegetable that is actually in the sunflower family, and has a nice little flower but the part we eat is the tuber that grows below. One obvious thing to do given the rest of the share is mix it into some garlicky mash potatoes. But here is another simple one that I like is here, just sauted

One week after this. Also goodies like more carrots and parnips and I think broccoli. I say I think cause this cold weather (which is actually just normal, we just haven't had normal in a few years) are making it slow. Still, I think it will be there.

In any case, see you then.

Week 18

2012-09-30T17:23:00.003-04:00

This time of year there is the dual "can you believe its already October?" and a "Are we really still doing this for three more weeks?" The answer is yes to both. Fall does seem to be hitting hard and fast this year, but I think mostly because last year was so odd, remember we had a long hot streak after Irene. The mosquitoes were pretty mean all the way to mid-October.

But this year a different story:

Pumpkins (chose of Jack-o-latern or pie pumkin)
turnips
2 greens (choice of Spinach, Totsoi, bok choi, chard)
scallions
carrots
green peppers

for my ideas for pumpkins and totsoi look back in the blog, so this time around I feel the need to tackle turnips. They exist, we should all eat them at once a year. Not talkin' about salad turnips of course, easy to eat year-round.

So, two options, the first is in almost any soup, on the adventurous side I puree and add curry. The second is more of a stand out, and could be done with rutabaga as well

Ingredients

3 pounds turnips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a piece of aluminum foil and lightly grease.
Peel the turnips, and cut into French fry-sized sticks, about 1/3 by 4 inches. Place into a large bowl, and toss with the vegetable oil to coat. Place the Parmesan cheese, garlic salt, paprika, onion powder in a resealable plastic bag, and shake to mix. Place the oiled turnips into the bag, and shake until evenly coated with the spices. Spread out onto the prepared baking sheet.
Bake in preheated oven until the outside is crispy, and the inside is tender, about 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Other Field news: we have all our cover-cropping done and next to work on is getting the garlic area ready with compost, which I got from CV compost for the first time, looks absolutely gorgeous.

Week 17

2012-09-23T19:19:00.000-04:00

We are well into the fall section of our CSA, last week, which went undocumented had giant beets and rutabaga, more roots and interesting greens coming your way this week and probably every following week, with various exciting aliums and winter squash.

The fields looks great, as good as they ever have. The herb circle got freshened by a UVM class I work with each year and it turns out it is full of chives sage thyme some mint lots of horehound (why did I plant that you ask? Not sure, but now that I have it we are going to try to make candy ala Little House). Also, asparagus looking good, don't want to promise, but next year could be our first of asparagus to the CSA.

But, back to the present

choice of dill parsley or cilantro
potatoes
spinach
onions
collards or mustard greens
carrots
daikon radishes

many interesting combos from this list: again the greek frittata. Arthur, of It's Arthur's Fault got a bunch of carrots and daikon from me to make kimchi, so you might consider that. Or, with the collard greens might I suggest this classic version, where you can also make use of our onions and hot peppers.

little end note: I won't bring any more basil up, but I encourage all members to come down and pick it clean if they are wanting to put away tubs of pesto.

Week 15 - Full Force Fall

2012-09-09T12:50:00.000-04:00

As I write this we have woken to the first chilly morning, Ciaran and I went on an early bike ride for which we both had to wear long sleeves. Many Squirrels were collecting sunflower seeds: it dawned on my that this must be why we have such strong squirrels in this town, everyone grows sunflowers.

Anyway, we have put oats on lots of land that has done its work already this season, I have started trying to figure out where the garlic for next year, we have started to collect winter squash; in short: Fall, even if it has been quite warm until now. In terms of farm shares this means the time of many varied greens and many kinds of roots, including potatoes, carrots, beets, rutabaga, parsnips and more.

For this week:

potatoes
leeks
onions
green beans
lettuce
spinach

acorn squash

One recipe to remember is the greek fritatta we featured early on, another basic acorn squash one that works

Week 14

2012-09-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

Spaghetti Squash
Eggplant
garlic
Tomatoes
lettuce
squash
radishes
bok choy or other cooking greens choice

Last of the Tomatoes (probably) and first of the fall greens (probably, though I guess the arugula might have counted from last week) and a winter squash. Yes, it all adds up to fall is in the air share, if not actually here. I suspect next weeks share will more definitively be fall-y. Anyway, besides wishing it would rain, the field looks great. I will be getting oats on as a cover crop this week, first time I have been ready in time to use them since starting to farm in Vermont.

Here is a recipe that one of our members made using our eggplant. She also attached these pics, please try and enjoy

http://www.kitchendaily.com/recipe/lamb-and-eggplant-kebabs-148523/

Week 13

2012-08-26T19:22:00.001-04:00

Yep, there are two weeks missing, that's summertime for ya! or tomato-time. The craziness is slowly abating though, and I'm back to the blog, which a few people actively said they missed, so . . .

We do have at least two weeks more of tomatoes, though you are probably going to notice amounts diminishing. Could even be three weeks. I've learned a few things about tomatoes this year, but I'll wait till the end of the year to go on about it, in short: air flow.

Fall-ish greens will be making there debut appearance this week. For those that don't know fall is a great time to grow all those greens that can't stand the heat, either because they would bolt or cuz there are too many bugs out. Many of my favorites are included: mustard greens, collards, spinach

this week

potatoes
arugula (option of chard for those who know they don't like arugula)
white onions
tomatoes
cucumbers
dill/cilantro
green beans

For those not already excited by arugula, let me offer two simple recipes, a pesto (which could also involve the cilantro if you wanted to experiment), and a salad.

enjoy

Week 10

2012-08-05T20:28:00.001-04:00

Potatoes
Onions
Tomatoes
cucumbers
chard
beans
melons

I hope we might be able to add dill/cilantro to this list. if not, then next week. I have been eating the melons the past week (definitely the best farmer perk is melon "testing") and they rock. Best since I've been here, hopefully we will have three weeks of them. The onions for this week are white fresh and sweet. Tired from a hot weekend that resulted in a little rain, enough for me to not think about irrigating tomorrow, but maybe the day after.

Week Nine

2012-07-29T20:22:00.001-04:00

Basil
Eggplant
Tomatoes
Garlic
Lettuce
Carrots
Squash / Zucchini

I think the theme here is pretty obvious: Italian. Though you will have the option to choose Asian eggplant, which is also often used with basil and go that route.

The onions look great, which I mention because we are going to start harvesting them en masse this week or next. Probably the best and largest crop since Rachel's and I's first year, seven years ago. Mostly due to heavy mulching. This was the first time we have done that since we have been here: better onions and less time spent working on them too. Yeah!

Seeded most of our Fall things this past week, which then got rained in, so knock on wood, things continue to go well, I can almost taste the spinach and arugula. All the varied fall greens can be a relief after kale/chard/random drop-in choices. Be on the look-out for totsoi, my favorite unknown green, seen to your right.

Bringing out the rosemary to the herb circle, so if you are out there for other things like flowers feel free to come by and snip some.

Week 8

2012-07-22T22:16:00.001-04:00

Well, Week 7 saw tomatoes come out in full force, a pound a share, and I thought they were both some of the tastiest and prettiest I've seen in recent years, basically due to our mediterranian weather the past two months or so. This week should have at least a pound again. Always hard to tell when you will make that next leap in volume, we all want it (the tomatoes) so bad it certainly colours my judgement. In other news we will be taking a break for a week from squashpocolypse, or whatever you call it when you are getting alot of squash, though even saying it sounds sad and I may try to offer it as a bonus to those who would still like it.

The Field is looking pretty good, this week we will actually be putting in alot of fall stuff. Brocolli, Cauliflower, Turnips, Carrots, Cabbage etc.

The Share:

Tomatoes
Lettuce
Beans (either green or wax)
Beets
scallions
cooking greens (chard, kale, cabbage, napa cabbage)
parsley or basil

Here is a wax bean recipe in case you have never used them, I like it for its basic-ness, but that also means there is lots of room to throw in your own favorite herbs, nuts, etc

1 1/4 pounds wax (yellow) or green beans, trimmed
1 tablespoon mild honey
3/4 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Cook beans in a 4-quart pot of boiling salted water until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Drain in a colander, then immediately toss with honey, zest, and salt in a large bowl.

Week 7

2012-07-15T22:21:00.002-04:00

I was shocked to see we are in week seven. I skipped week six, not intentionally but it happens. Nice share this week:

Lettuce greens
Carrots
Cauliflower
Eggplant
squash/zukes
tomatoes
garlic
cukes?

So, by way of recipes, let's talk about eggplant. This is a vegetable that it is possible to mess up I think, in the sense that if it goes wrong the texture can be funny in a way that one can't mess up a zucchini. That said, we need not be afraid. Let's start with my favorite baba ganoush recipe, which also uses the garlic from this week. The recipe is from the vegetarian epicure book two, a cook book we go back to and flip through alot to try new things:

the key is the taratour sauce which is:

1 cup tahini
3 cloves garlic crushed or finely minced
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/2 cold water

mix all that and youve got taratour sauce

prick eggplant with fork in several places and bake at 400 for 45 mins or until it is soft all over, let eggplant cool and scrape out pulp into food processor, add

1/4 cup taratour sauce (so you'll have lots left over if you followed above recipe)
1/4 lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1/4 pepper
1 tbs plus 1 tsp olive oil

blend that briefly and voila, perfect baba ganoush. enjoy

Week 5

2012-07-01T21:50:00.002-04:00

I call this share summer without tomatoes cause we've got all the classics, except those, which I anticipate starting slowly next week. The plants (tomato plants), by the way, look really good. Absolutely no disease, knock on wood, so hopefully A nice long tomato season.

Before I get to the share a few other bits of business:

1. Flowers are plentiful. There must be fifty snapdragons waiting to be cut. Even the sun Flowers are starting so I encourage all members to take a bouquet or two a week, stop by the herb circle for mint, sage, oregano, and thyme.

2. Green Mountain compost: We did not use any compost from GMC from the time period they say may be effected. This is just a case of good fortune for us, one that is reminiscent of zen parable: a farmers son finds a beautiful horse and brings it home, the neighbors say, oh how lucky you are, the dad says, we'll see. Then the son tries to ride the horse and breaks his leg. The neighbors say, oh how unlucky, dad says, we'll see. Then some people from the army come around looking to conscript troops but see the son is injured and pass him by . . . you get the idea. Well in this case: Yeah flood. Had Last year been a normal year I probably would have used the effected compost this spring, but as it stands, I only used it last fall for the garlic, because we had not really enough farming the previous year to merit more compost (beside the fact that we are trying to move to green manure more instead of compost). In any case, we will not be using their compost again. It is just not worth the risk. I am sure lots of farmers will have the same position. It is a little sad to see a business like this flounder, one that could be so generally helpful, and in the larger analysis the herbicides used are obviously ones that they didn't create and that we should be questioning the use of. Larger conversations.

3. Tips for Lettuce Maintenance. A member told me last we that she cleans and cuts all the head lettuce right when they get home from pick-up. Then they know what they have and it is easier to eat. I admit I'm not always on the ball enough to do something like this but a great idea. This week we are moving to lettuce mix which will come to you cut washed and bagged. The trick for keeping it freshest longest is to not squish it, even keep the bag a bit puffy, and tied.

this week:

lettuce
parsley, dill, or cilantro
squash/zukes
peas
cuke(s)
kale or cabbage
new potatoes.

Week 4

2012-06-24T21:26:00.000-04:00

Things are definitely moving along. Probably a little quicker than average. Before I forget I wanted to mention that there is a really nice herb circle this year, with thyme, oregano, sage, and other things starting. Also lots of flowers for members to pick: zinnias, cosmos, snapdragons, bachelor buttons, calendula, marigolds. Sunflowers are a week or two out. Now to this weeks share . . .

carrots
squash/zukes
peas
lettuce
cabbage/chard (?)
garlic scapes

No one responded with a scape recipe, but I have a general CSA meal helper: pizza. We often buy dough either frozen or not from City Market or Leonardos. It is cheap and freezable, which makes it a great fall-back. There are obviously a wide range of things you can do here, and somebody surely has said it before, the dough is just the canvas and you are the artists. Some Pizzas recently made at our house: spinach and asian eggplant (which is great for this as it holds together really well) and yellow squash, chard, garlic scapes. In all cases this is my basic recipe:

1. Toss out dough onto oiled cookie sheet (I really do try to spin it, it makes for the thinnest best pizza)
2. Bake in Oven on 425 for 7-10 mins
3. Lightly saute the veggies you want
4. First add sauce if desired, then your vegetables, then your cheese or cheeses.
5. Put back in at 425 for 7-10 mins, or until cheese just starts to brown.

Enjoy, and see you soon, yeah for rain!

Week 3

2012-06-14T22:52:00.001-04:00

Things in the field are looking great. Many cosmos are out and some zinnias and a snap dragon or two. If you haven't heard my spiel about cut flowers it's this: Cut Them! Many of them, if will make them produce even more!

As for veggies this week

Beets
Lettuce
Peas
garlic scapes
broccoli
chard/kale

I might sub something in for the chard or kale, depending on how things are growing. It will have to be an exciting mystery. As for this weeks recipe, garlic scapes are the ur-CSA crop. Five years ago not many had heard of them, but now many Burlington restaurants will be featuring them the next few weeks. All members with garlic scape pesto recipes feel free to post them as a comment.

Week 2

2012-06-10T18:49:00.002-04:00

So, alot of the same stuff as week one, with gradual changes hinting at summer

spinach
kale / chard
broccoli?
radishes
lettuce
more dill/cilantro?

we won't have radishes (spring staple) too many more times but here is a recipe for those who wonder, "what do I do with these things?" This recipe will leave you wanting more radishes.

Fresh Asian Radish Salad

Source: Adrienne Meier, Ocean Mist Farms

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 bunch Radishes, washed and thinly sliced
1 Cucumber peeled and diced
1 Carrot, grated
2 tablespoons chopped Cilantro
4 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons Asian chili garlic sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil

Directions

Combine in a small bowl the following: Soy Sauce, brown sugar, chili garlic sauce, sesame oil.
Toss radishes, cucumber, carrot and cilantro with the Soy Sauce dressing.
Serve on chilled plates.

Week 1

2012-06-03T15:26:00.000-04:00

In this weeks share

head lettuce (red oak leaf, green leaf, butterhead)
spinach
broccoli raab
arugula
radishes
salad turnips
dill and cilantro?

The question mark for that last item means we will see if it is big enough.

2 recipes

Greek fritatta

fry in olive oil one medium onion and one medium potato with a pinch of salt and pepper. while that is cooking chop four cups of spinach and two tablespoons of fresh dill. also crack six eggs in bowl and scramble, and crumble 1/2 cup of feta cheese. once the potatoes are soft add the spinach and dill. once that is wilted add eggs and cover for five minutes, then add cheese and cover again for five minutes. Then eat fritatta. This is a new staple in our house. In the fall you will be able to make it with onions and potatoes from your share as well.

The JFK

For all of you who haven't tried broccoli raab, and those who like on the fly cooking like myself (Rachel is the meal planner in our house)

saute in olive oil a few cloves of garlic roughly chopped, and either red peppy flakes or an actual hot pepper chopped up. Add one bunch of chopped Broccoli Raab and cover. It will wilt quickly. Put sliced provolone or Havarti on 1/3 a baguette. Put greens on baguette. Eat. I had this last night. It was awesome. Raab is the first green I fell in love with when I started working on farms, so I'm excited to share it with you all.

This is a week earlier than we have ever started our CSA, and I was on the fence about whether to hold off or not. I did choose to start a little earlier based mostly on the spinach and arugula, which I thought would start going by if I waited, and that seemed like too much. Why think about it at all: I don't like to have too too many early weeks with just leafy greens. Well the weeks and weeks of above average temps (about 7 degrees above at least with a few spikes) have brought everything on quick, and we will have peas and beets either next week or the week after, and I can't imagine squash being too far behind that.

Intervale Open House

2012-05-16T21:38:00.000-04:00

Hey all, I will be at some or all of this open house (link to details) to discuss with anyone who wants to listen about farming, farming in the Intervale, farming this year (going really well if I haven't specifically mentioned yet), farming on our specific farm, and ways you might get to eat things that are grown on our farm.

While I'm writing about such things I had a few thoughts.

1. Reasons I like our CSA: I am at all of the pick-ups, so you get to ask the farmer questions about how something was raised. More things specifically good about our CSA: Choice. You aren't just handed stuff in bag or box and that's what you get. You get to choose your squash, or more importantly, your tomatoes (you may like orange ones better than red ones), or sometimes choose peppers over eggplant or vice versa.

2. Reasons CSAs are still pretty cool beside the aforementioned: you are usually getting a very good deal, sometimes as much as 20% more vegetables. Secret awesome reason: you are in the position to learn alot about agriculture in America if you want.

3. Organic is still important: I know local seems to trump all these days, but I was looking at some asparagus at the farmers market (can you tell I obsess about asparagus (and what was I even doing at the market anyways (bus man's holiday))) and saw some super-huge asparagus. I'm not naming names, but sufficient to say it was not from an organic farm, and once I got over my asparagus envy, I remembered that bigger does not always mean better, certainly not better for you, and usually not as tasty (my go to evidence for this is carrots and celery from California, I mean the celery tastes like salt water and the carrots like domino sugar in suspension.) Now I know organic comes in many shades, heck, I am not even certified organic. It can be confusing, what the end result healthiest for you and planet food to eat is, which is why I keep circling back to points 1 and 2 on my list.

And how is Open Heart going (just in case you can't make it for cookies and lemonade (uh, did I mention free cookies and lemonade)) - swimmingly is the best word I can think of. Very much without hitches so far, not even the normal ones you would expect like spending a whole day setting up irrigation or having to reseed something, etc. If you want to know more you'll just have to come.

2012-05-09T23:32:00.002-04:00

Our first asparagus is coming in, slowly. It apparently doesn't like temps much below 36. Very Interested to see what the season is like, I've never worked with such young plants (we started them from seed last year).

Today I put up the pea trellis, tilled a bunch of beds (which will contain tomatoes, eggplant, melons, second rounds of beets and head lettuce, among other things), and planted fennel and zinnias.

Tomorrow, put out cosmos, beets, two more beds asparagus, seed first round of beans, and if it is dry enough wheel hoe, but if not just weed the spinach (both plantings had great germination thanks to the wet weather).