Muddy Fingers Farm Newsletter

Winter Farmers' Market!

2012-01-10T13:14:00.001-05:00

Dear CSA members,

There is a monthly farmers' market happening in Corning this winter.

We will be there selling vegetables this Saturday.

The market is inside the Information Center of Corning at 1 West Market St. (near the location of our summer market) from 11:00 - 3:00.

We will have available:

Carrots

Brussels Sprouts

Radishes

Potatoes

Garlic

Celeriac

Beets

Turnips

Rutabegas

Salad Greens!!!

We will be taking CSA signups and offering a free 1 lb. bag of garlic to anyone who signs up for a share on Saturday.

We have been working hard planning for next season. So exciting!! You will be hearing from us soon with details.

You can also catch us at the Ithaca Winter Market at The Space @ Greenstar Saturdays (including this Saturday!) in January and February 11:00 - 2:00.

Week 7 + 8

2011-12-13T12:29:00.002-05:00

Remember: this is the last CSA pickup and it will be a double-share since we will not have a market next week.

Thank you for participating in our first fall/winter CSA. We hope you enjoyed it! We look forward to expanding it next year.

Catch us at the Ithaca Farmers' Market Saturdays 11:00 - 2:00 at The Space @ Greenstar starting January 7

Choose 10:

Lettuce

Greens Mix
Watermelon Radishes
Leeks
Potatoes
Onions
Jerusalem Artichokes
Beets
Carrots
Cabbage
Brussels Sprouts
Kale
Garlic
Tetsakabuto Winter Squash
Turnips - Hakurei and Red
Rutabegas
Celeriac
Spinach!!

Week 5

2011-12-07T16:12:00.004-05:00

We finished harvesting the rest of our storage crops two days ago so now all of the potatoes, carrots, celeriac, radishes, beets and garlic are all safely tucked into or cooler for the winter!

Here's the list for this week:

Lettuce

Greens Mix

Watermelon Radishes

Leeks

Potatoes

Onions

Jerusalem Artichokes

Beets

Carrots

Cabbage

Brussells Sprouts

Kale

Garlic

Winter Squash - new! Tetsakabuto Squash - pumpkin-sized green winter squash - mmm!

Turnips

Rutabegas

Celeriac

Week 5

2011-11-29T15:13:00.002-05:00

We've got more of the same still this week!! Please refer to previous list. And I'll try not to forget the onions this time. Sweet potatoes are gone, though.

Tuesday,
Dec. 6th -
The
Greenhorns
--
Documentary
film's local premiere at the Glen Theater, Watkins Glen.

60-min.
documentary film takes an inspiring journey across the US to explore
new food and farming enterprises, rural and urban possibilities and
diverse producer and consumer initiatives. A panel discussion and
community conversation is part of the evening event: How
can Schuyler County and the Seneca Lake area continue to nurture and
support the current and emerging potential for on-farm and food
related businesses? The
public is heartily invited. Doors open at 6:30 for the 7PM screening.
Refreshments will be available. Presented by Finger Lakes Bioneers
with local partners. http://www.thegreenhorns.net/
Contact:
Nick Vaczek, film series coordinator, at 607-793-7566 or
www.wemakeourfuture.org

This
is the list of panelists (two additional to be confirmed)-

Brett
J. Chedzoy as Moderator --- Senior Resource Educator, Schuyler County
Cooperative Extension Land Use Team

Jacob
Eisman: Six Circles Farm
http://sixcirclesfarm.com/

Liz
Martin: Muddy Fingers Farm

Kathryn
Engel: RK Farms
http://www.puregrassbeef.com/

Lou
Johns: Blue Heron Farm
http://blueheronorganic.com/

ADDITIONAL
BACKGROUND:

Watkins
Glen: Tuesday, December 6th at the Glen Theater
///
Local Film Premiere and Community Conversation on Food and Farming
/// Refreshments at 6:30, film at 7PM.

Finger
Lakes Bioneers will host a screening of The
Greenhorns-
a new documentary film that seeks to "embolden, entice and
recruit" people into provisioning the nation. The film is about
an hour in length so there will be plenty of time for discussion.
There will be a panel with audience dialogue and brainstorming on
ways to support local farmers, farming and food processing and a
vibrant and resilient local economy.

Local
Strategies and Possibilities Explored:

The
Seneca Lake landscape increasingly hosts a bounty of produce,
products and agritourism visitors. The local agricultural economy is
strong and getting stronger thanks to the grit, creativity, and
boot-strapping everyday research and determination of a wide spectrum
of the community. Our farmers and other food support system
entrepreneurs of the Finger Lakes have a long history of finding
innovative solutions to the problems they have faced. The current
economic climate is indeed challenging and may be somewhat unique
compared to the recent past, but new trends, new types of markets and
new types of marketing methods are offering opportunities to those
with the initiative to embark upon innovative rural renewal. It will
be demanding and it will mean learning a wide spectrum of skills. Yet
that has always been true of resourceful folks who make their living
from the land. And it is still true that the generations can engage
with and learn from one another. The dilemmas rural residents face
about making vocational choices impacts directly on the viability of
their communities. The potentials of an emerging and re-strengthened
food economy can confer benefits and stability in the Watkins Glen
area's immediate, near and distant future.

Information
exchange is key to the emergence of markets and marketing as we can
see in the region's inspiring and flavorful 'trail mix' options that
help both visitors and producers alike explore wine, cheese, ale,
art, fiber, green energy and more through the seasons. The goal of
this community conversation is to hear some reflections from a few of
the local heroes and to share thoughts about ways to incubate further
success stories close at hand- for young entrants into the scene
especially. We hope to have a free-ranging forum that includes
farming fans, food processors, culinary celebrants, wise sages and
novices, lovers of a good diner and a good donut.

As
the director of the film notes:

"We
want to update the general public's view of farmers into that of
being heroes of our time, so that communities may become invested in
rooting for their success- and even of helping to facilitate that
success."

Weeks 3 and 4

2011-11-16T07:45:00.003-05:00

We will have the same items available this week as we did the last two weeks (except for no husk cherries). Also very exciting, we saved sweet potatoes for your Thanksgiving eating! YUM!

***Remember: there is no market next week and therefore no CSA pickup. So this week you will need to pick out 10 items (5 items x 2 weeks). Don't worry though, many of our vegetables this time of year will keep just fine for a couple weeks. Actually they'll keep just fine for months!
Happy eating!

Week 2

2011-11-08T14:09:00.002-05:00

This week we will have:

Choose 5:

Lettuce

Greens Mix

Peppers

Radishes

Watermelon Radishes

Leeks

Potatoes

Onions

Jerusalem Artichokes

Husk Cherries

Beets

Carrots

Cabbage

Brussels Sprouts

Kale

Chard

Garlic

Winter Squash

Turnips - Hakurei and Red

Rutabegas

Celeriac

Parsnips

(Same selection as last week)

Week 1 of new CSA

2011-11-02T13:44:00.002-04:00

We are so very excited to be offering an extension to our regular season CSA and to be extending the Watkins Glen market into the late fall.

Check back here every week for a list of what vegetables we'll have available.

Choose 5:

Lettuce

Greens Mix

Peppers

Radishes

Watermelon Radishes

Leeks

Potatoes

Onions

Jerusalem Artichokes

Husk Cherries

Beets

Carrots

Cabbage

Brussels Sprouts

Kale

Chard

Garlic

Winter Squash

Turnips - Hakurei and Red

Rutabegas

Caleriac

Parsnips

See you Friday!

Last CSA week

2011-10-26T15:55:00.002-04:00

A couple of the beds of chard.
They have provided so abundantly for us this year.
We love how their leaves shine in the sun.

We spent most of the day today harvesting. It is an overall more pleasurable task this time of year. I say this as one who does not care for the heat. And though it rained early this morning before dawn, we did not actually get rained on while harvesting, which is always more pleasurable. But we did get .29 inches of rain this morning and with the soil already saturated one would think we got about 5 inches of rain just by looking at our fields. We can't drive the truck all the way out into the field for fear of it getting stuck - or at least making an even bigger mess - even though its a 4x4!

All of the potatoes are out of the ground now and stored away safely in the cooler. As are all of the watermelon radishes and most of the beets. The only storage crop still left in the field are the carrots. We are leaving them in the ground until after we've gotten a couple nice, solid frosts so they can sweeten up.

With many of our crops stored in our walk-in cooler, once the temperatures outside start dipping into the upper 20s, our refrigeration system will be turned off and instead we will use an incandescent light bulb in the cooler to keep the temperature inside around 33-35 degrees. This will take some trial and error to get the temperature just right - we may only have to have it on at night. And then when it starts getting really cold we may have to put a small heater inside. But we learned last year not to set the heater above the "low" setting. One night when it was going to get down to 10 or 15 degrees, we turned the heater up a bit only to come out before bed to check on it and find the temperature in the cooler to be about 85 degrees! Whoops!

What to expect this week:
We will not have eggplants or peppers
We will have parsnips, cabbage, Brussels sprouts
Everything else will remain as it has been the last few weeks

Don't forget our Nov/Dec CSA option! We still have a few shares available!

Portugese Sausage and Kale Soup

2011-10-20T17:27:00.002-04:00

lovely chard!

we tilted the solar panels to their winter position this week (a little late), the panel on the left is still in the summer position, right panel is the angle to catch the low winter rays.

hellooooooooo wet fall! This fall is the perfect bookend to the wet spring that we had. our fields are just about the muddiest, wettest, soppiest mess we have ever seen (they were also this bad this spring, which i guess is what makes it a bookend, i could have done without matching this particular item, though). We are starting to worry that the carrots that we are leaving in the ground to size up a little might rot! YIKES! Also the celeriac, potatoes, parsnips, and more are worrisome.

we've been making some progress on planting the garlic, 7 beds of the 11 or 12 are all done! Today i learned to keep my legs pointed downhill as if they were pointed up hill, water ran into my rain pants and up my legs! IT IS A MESS OUT THERE RIGHT NOW! each garlic is surrounded by its own little puddle.

thanks to all who are interested in the new fall/winter CSA. Spots are filling fast, so don't delay in getting your payment in. If you are not interested in the CSA, you can still make to the trip to Watkins Glen to shop at the new market, right now we have bread, organic beef, dried flowers and wreaths, honey, dried fruit, veggies, local flour, and beans lined up to attend the market!

This week and next week you will see some of the traditional fall foods arrive on our table! The last several years it has been a dance for us to decide when to start bringing them to market. Brussels sprouts and parsnips, as well as kale, and cabbage sweeten with a frost and several freezes can have them at their delectable best! we have not yet had a killing frost here, so these lovely fall delights have not come into their fullest, but, if we delay any longer, you our summer CSA will not get to have them at all, so we have decided that the final two weeks will contain these true signals of fall eating.

if you brought home parsnips and don't know what to do with them, try sauteing them in butter (you can precook them a little first to soften them up, or just saute them with a splash of water at first). or try this recipe from martha stewart living: smashed potatoes and parsnips
heat T of olive oil and cook 1/2 cup parsnips cut into half inch pieces with a 1/4 t salt for five minutes. add 1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cut the same size and 1 1/2 t salt. cover with water. bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until parsnips and potatoes are very tender, but retain shape- 12-14 minutes.

drain. add 1 t thyme leaf to 3 T olive oil to the empty pot. cook until thyme starts to sizzle, 1 minute. add parsnips and potatoes, mash until combined but chunky season with salt and pepper. drizzle with oil.

Portuguese Sausage and Kale Soup

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cups Portuguese Sausage (Linguica or Chourico), about 14 ounces, sliced, 1/2-inch thick
1 medium onion, chopped
2 large potatoes, peeled, cut in 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 tablespoons minced fresh garlic
10 to 12 cups unsalted chicken stock or low-sodium chicken broth
4 cups curly kale, about 4 ounces, stems trimmed, torn in pieces
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons Bayou Blast
5 turns ground black pepper
1/3 cup minced fresh mint

Directions
Heat oil in a large pot over high heat. Add Portuguese sausage and onion; cook, stirring, until onions begin to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add potatoes, parsley and garlic. Cook, stirring, 2 minutes.

Add 10 cups stock or broth and kale; heat to a boil. Add bay leaves, salt, thyme, pepper flakes Bayou Blast and black pepper. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until potatoes are tender, 20 to 25 minutes, adding more stock if necessary.

Skim fat from surface and ladle into large bowls. Top with mint; let stand a minute or two before serving.

*Note: Be sure to use curly kale rather than decorative or ornamental kale. Curly kale, a non-heading member of the cabbage family, has frilly, dark green leaves and is sold in bunches

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Makes 16 cups

found on FamousFoods.com

have a tremendous week!

Liz and Matthew

fall's bounty

2011-10-15T19:00:00.002-04:00

wish i had thought to take a photo of fall's bounty at market today! People often think that things are winding down as the days shorten, but that is not the case at all! There are a few of the last hanger ons of the warm season summer crops, there are still fresh greens, and roots with fresh edible tops like beets and turnips, there are storage crops that will sustain local eats through the fall and winter and the amalgam of the three makes for a great spread for cooking local foods!

Turnips are the word right now, the lovely white salad turnips shine and if you haven't tried them yet, don't miss out! they are crunchy and sweet and lovely raw or it turns out- cooked! i had always thought they wouldn't stand up to cooking but a CSA member undeterred by my warning tried them cooked, and reported that they are great that way. Bolstered by the report we have since had them roasted with other veggies as well as stir fried. they did hold up! Also this week really pretty red turnips! Nice raw as well as cooked!

A few ideas for your produce!
Try your watermelon radishes in this pretty salad!

Confetti Salad: from the asparagus to zucchini cookbook
3 watermelon radishes
4-6 medium carrots
8 ounces few cheese or substitute fresh chevre
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2-3 T rice wine vinegar
2 T fresh chopped fresh mint
2 T chopped fresh dill
1 T chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste

This is a fun cake that is blushed red, has a hint of the earthy beet flavor, and actually contains more beets than sugar!

Beet chocolate cake:
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
3-4 oz unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
1/4 cup oil (walnut is nice)
3 cups of shredded beets

heat oven to 325 degrees. grease two 9 inch cake pans. Wisk dry ingredients together. melt chocolate very slowly over low heat or in a double boiler. cool chocolate; blend thoroughly with eggs and oil. Combine flour mixture with chocolate mixture, alternating with beets. Pour into pans. Bake until fork can be removed from center cleanly, 40-50 minutes. from asparagus to zucchini cookbook.

this is a yummy dessert, too! found on the early morning organic CSA blog.
carrot brownie (or aubernies as they are more auburn than brown, since they don't contain any chocolate, but they are nice with a good texture and great flavor!)

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar firmly packed (can be halved)
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
2 eggs
2 cups finely grated carrots
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

preheat oven to 350.
in saucepan melt butter or margarine, add brown sugar and stir until well blended.
remove from heat, beat in eggs. cool
sift together flour baking powder and salt.
stir butter mixture into flour mixture.
add carrots and walnuts; mix well.
spray or butter a 9X13 pan. fill with brownie mixture.

bake 30 minutes until center springs back when pressed with finger.
cool completely.
frost with cream cheese frosting or dust with powdered sugar, then cut into squares.

happy eating this week! liz and matthew

Where are the pests?

2011-10-11T17:38:00.004-04:00

Our wonderful drip tape winder that Liz built this Spring allows us to easily roll our driptape up for winter storage in large rolls and then just as easily unroll it next spring! Hooray for efficiency and making things easier!

Throughout this past spring and summer, we noticed less pests. Compared to last year we had far fewer cabbageworm butterflies flitting about this growing season. I did not see more than a few Japanese beetles about the farm this year. In autumn we normally have gray aphids congregating on all of our kale plants, but we have not seem a single one this fall. Don't get me wrong, we still have plenty of pests left to complain about - cucumber beetles, squash bugs, voles, rabbits, flea beetles. We just thought it was strange for so many of our usual pests to be missing or reduced in numbers. Did anyone else have similar experiances in their garden? We would love to hear any anecdotal evidence you've observed this year.

Expected vegetables:
The same minus tomatoes, cilantro, beans, and sweet potatoes
Butternut we'll have this week.
Next week look for parsnips, cabbage, and Brussells sprouts

note: I'm unsure why the last post is screwy with the webdings. I already changed the font once and it just reverted right back. Try viewing in Mozilla or something other than Explorer.

Last CSA event of the season: Garlic Planting Sunday October 16 at 2:00
We were worried the rain would not stop in time to prepare the beds for garlic but the past week of sunshine and temoeratures in the mid-70s did it. We were able till the beds today before more rain sets in tonight.
Don't worry if you can't make it right at 2:00. We'll be working for a few hours and you can show up anytime (and leave anytime, too!).

Tropical Fall

2011-09-28T07:47:00.006-04:00

farm sunset

At this point it looks like we won't be able to get our last few trays of transplants that we wanted to overwinter under cover will not be able to get planted. In fact if the rain doesn't stop soon, we'll start to get worried about being able to till beds for planting our garlic in a couple weeks. This time of year, with lower temperatures and less sunlight, the soil takes much longer to dry out enough to cultivate it.

Expected vegetables:
Salad mix
Sweet potatoes
Potatoes
Celeriac
Winter Squash - Delicata, Carnival
Chard
Kale
Carrots
Beets
Leeks
Onions
Garlic
Ginger
Eggplant
Peppers
Jerusalem Artichokes
Cilantro
Beans
Husk Cherries
a few tomatoes
a few raspberries
a few cherry tomatoes

Next week: Acorn Squash, Salad Turnips, Watermelon Radishes (they only look like mini watermelons!)

Savory Bread and Cheese Bake

3 T butter
12 oz. crusty bread (French, Italian, sourdough, rye, pumpernickel, whole wheat)
1C grated cheese
1C chopped scallions (Muddy Fingers Farm suggestion: try with Leeks...mmm...)
6 eggs
2 C milk
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 generous T Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put the butter in 2 qt baking dish and place in the oven to melt. When the butter is melted, swirl it around to coat the dish. While the butter melts, cut the bread into 1-inch cubes ( about 6 Cups loosely packed). Place the bread cubes in the buttered baking dish. Sprinkle evenly with cheese and scallions (leek).
Puree the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and mustard in a blender, or beat the eggs in a bowl and then whisk in other ingredients. Pour the custard over the bread and use a spatula to push the bread down into the custard. Bake covered with aluminum foil for 25 to 30 minutes (depending on the shape and depth of the baking dish). Remove the foil and bake until puffy and golden brown, about 5 minutes.

from Moosewood Simple Suppers

Almost Autumn

2011-09-20T08:02:00.005-04:00

Above: Lettuce transplants for winter harvest.
Liz with the eggplants - taller than her!

Expected vegetables:
Now many of our summer crops are slowing down or done - eggplants, tomatoes, zucchini.
And fall crops are ripening.
This week expect to see potatoes, leeks, onions, garlic, kale, chard, salad mix, carrots, beans, ginger, cilantro, peppers. A few tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, husk cherries. Possibly some edamame.
New this week: delicata squash and celeriac
Next week expect more of the same plus winter squash, sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, beets again

It is the time of the CSA season where we try to force you to take and eat celeriac. For those of you who still resist here's another way to eat it.

Creamy Curried Celery Root Soup

Yield 4 servings

Time 45 minutes

Mark Bittman

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cumin
Salt and black pepper
1 1/2 pounds celery root, peeled and cut into 1- to 2-inch chunks
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock or water
1/2 to 1 cup cream, half-and-half, or milk, or to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley for garnish

Method

1. Put the butter in a large, deep pot over medium-high heat. When it’s melted, add the onion and garlic and cook until they begin to soften, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the curry powder and cumin and a sprinkle of salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
2. Add the celery root and stir just to coat it in the spices, then add the stock and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat so that the stock bubbles gently and cook, stirring occasionally, until the celery root is fully tender, 15 to 20 minutes more.
3. Cool the mixture slightly, pour into a blender, and purée carefully, or use an immersion blender to purée the soup in the pan. Return the soup to the pan and stir in the cream; reheat if necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning, and serve garnished with the herb.

Source: The New York Times

Late Summer

2011-09-15T11:30:00.009-04:00

The pictures above are from our friends farm in Vermont whom we visited them last weekend. The fields were completely destroyed after the nearby river jumped its bank and actually changed its course. The river now runs through part of what used to be their field. And the flood deposited a field of rocks and sand and toppled trees in the rest of their former fields. Believe it or not, if those pictures had been taken a few weeks ago you would have seen fertile farmland and literally tons of beautiful vegetables.

Muddy Fingers Farm is still busy. We've been busy every other day trying to get all the harvesting done. Sometimes unsuccessfully. And then we've been busy getting our fall plantings done. And certainly some of the tasks we'd like to get done have been falling by the wayside as we run out of time, energy and daylight. But we are enjoying the cooler temperatures, (over)abundant rainfall, the bounty of the harvest and the anticipation of a beautiful autumn.
The other workers here on the farm are also really busy, too. Every sunny day they are purposefully gathering pollen from the showy goldenrod, purple asters (my favorite), and the flowers of the buckwheat which we have planted as cover crop. And the smell of honey is so thick in the air right now that on a sunny afternoon it can be detected from hundreds of feet away from the hives depending on the direction of the wind.

Happy eating!

Expected vegetables:
Mostly the same, except melons are finished. So are the heirloom tomatoes.
We have eggplants again. Husk Cherries are here too.

Announcement:
Muddy Fingers Farm Fall/Winter CSA

This year we are offering an extension of the CSA season into November and December!

Shares will be picked up at the new Watkins Glen Farmers' Market Winter Market at St. James Episcopal Church on 6th St. in Watkins Glen. The market will be open Fridays evenings (hours not confirmed yet; either 3-6pm or 4-7 pm) in November and December.

The share will consist of 5 items/week and will cost $120.

We plan to have the following vegetables available:

Potatoes, Onions, Winter Squash, Garlic, Brussells sprouts, Carrots, Parsnips, Kale, Chard, Cabbage, Turnips, Radishes, Lettuce Mix, Greens Mix, Beets, Rutabagas, Celeriac, Spinach

Please note: The market will be closed the weeks of Thanksgiving and New Years. We will give out an extra share each week before to make up for these closures.

This is the first year for us doing this and so we are only taking 10 shares. So give it some thought and let us know soon if you're interested.

This recipe comes from a CSA member:

Stuffed Chard with Fresh Marinara

1 Lb. lean ground beef (I used 90% lean)
1/2 cup plain dry breadcrumbs (I used crumbs with Italian seasonings)
2 medium shallots
1 1/2 tsp. Italian seasonings (I don't have so used approx. 1/2 dried basil and 1/2 dried oregano, as I write this I'm wondering why I didn't use the fresh herbs I have in my garden)
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
8 large Swiss Chard leaves, stems removed
1 14 oz. can reduced sodium chicken broth
1 Tbl extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I cut up fresh tomatoes)
1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese

1. Gently mix beef, breadcrumbs, 1 Tbl minced shallot, 1/2 tsp. Italian seasonings, garlic powder and 1/4 tsp. pepper in large bowl until combined. Divide the mixture into 8 portions (oblong is suggested)
2. Overlap the two sides of a chard leaf where the stem was removed and place a portion of beef there. Tightly roll the chard around the beef. Place each roll, seam-side down, in a large nonstick skillet. Pour in broth, cover
and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until thermometer (in center of roll) reads 165, approx. 8-10 minutes (I cooked longer to get the leaves nice and tender). Discard any remaining broth.
3. Meanwhile, heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the remaining shallot, 1 tsp. Italian seasoning, 1/4 tsp. paper and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the shallot is soft - approx. 1-2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes and cook, until slighted reduced and thickened, about 8 minutes (a bit longer if using fresh tomatoes). Serve the Chard rolls topped with sauce and parmesan cheese.

4 servings, 2 rolls each.

Nutrition per serving: 388 calories; 16 g fat (5 g saturated); 43 mg cholesterol; 32 g carbohydrate

Original recipe came from Eatingwell.com; you'll see I took some liberties (which I often do).

end of august

2011-08-30T20:23:00.002-04:00

our "newphouse" right now

a pepper eye view of the world

rainbow cherry tomaoes!

What a week it has been! Reminiscence have been heavy on hurricanes and luck and how hard it really is to rebuild a strong local food network. Almost six years ago, we were third year farmers on brand new land, but with two years of farming under our belts. It was bone dry, we wept in the fields several times at how dry it was- would rain every come? Would we be able to pay our bills? Could we remain farmers, or would we have to give up this occupation that had its hooks deep into us? Hurricane Katrina, swept through new Orleans, breached the levies leaving ruination there, moved up the country and deposited 5 glorious inches of rain onto our rented land in Montour Falls. The season and our farming careers were saved by that event. I still think today that we would not have been able to be farmers today if not for that storm.

On Sunday our dear friends Kara and Ryan at evening song farm (third year farmers but on a brand new piece of land) were treated to the other kind of luck with a hurricane. They were having a great season producing amazing produce and building a new community around their farming venture, and then hurricane Irene swept through Vermont causing a levy to breach, the river that flowed alongside their farm now flows through where their fields used to be. Their greenhouse and all their fields are now under the new course of the water. The newly purchased and installed irrigation system now is buried under the new route of the Mill River and they have now lost not only all of their crops (and income for the rest of the year), but their land as well. Luck is so cruel and it seems hurricanes bringeth and they taketh away. We hope that they have clarity as they decide their paths forward and community support to help them as they recollect, relocate, and restart. www.eveningsongcsa.com shows what they are facing. We are currently focusing as much postive energy as we can their way and will be sending what other aid we can soon. We are so impressed at how organized they have been in laying out what help they need from their community and can only hope that we would show the same resiliance if an equal time of trial were to come to our lives. I do hope their community is steps up to their aid.

In mudddy fingers farm CSA news, there will be no Watkins Glen Market on friday the 9th as the park will be filled with race cars. If you did not receive and email about the alternate plans, please let us know.

Hard to believe but our thoughts turn to winter at this time of year, that's because the window for planting things that will be harvestable before winter is closed or very quickly closing, as the days shorten plants start to grow with less vigor than they did in the extended days of June and July, suddenly the evening is shorter and the shadows longer sooner, even though there is still lots of nice days left in the year, in september we start to think of fall, and eating like its fall. in september we start to bring some fall crops forward, you will see leeks coming every week very soon (we have occasionally brought them up to now), celeriac will make an appearance fairly soon and winter squash too will be showing up before long quite soon our kitchens will be full of the simmers of soups and stews.

For those who want to simmer tomato sauces right now, we have paste tomatoes in good quantity right now and are glad to sell you a half bushel sized box so you can make sauce for the winter. (Sauce tomatoes are bred to make sauce as they are dense and less juicy than other tomatoes and so don't need to be cooked for as long to make a thick sauce, we have red and white- white sauce!?!)

we are arranging and will let you know when our last CSA events of the year will be, check your email in the next week to get them on the calendar. I hope to schedule the ever popular perogie making day and then of course a garlic planting day, and then the season will be done before we know it.

before then, look out for fresh ginger! We begin harvesting in the first week of september and hope to have it for about six weeks! There have been lots of people asking lately and it will soon make its appearance!

keep eating the good stuff,
liz and matthew

over the hump! the wednesday of the season...

2011-08-15T16:21:00.011-04:00

at least that's what it feels like. we seem to have passed the hump of the summer. we are at week 11 of 22 for the CSA, so we are halfway through the season! the worst heat of the last few weeks has cooled and there has even been a hint of lingering coolness in the shady spots well into the late morning a few days this week. (but just a hint, it is still august after all!)

the pond still has some water in it for irrigation needs, but the pressure for water is less what the temperature is lower, so it feels like what is still in there should last us the rest of the season. and we had a nice rain over the weekend, getting more than an inch in the rain gauge for the first time in a few weeks.

we were lucky to have no rain on friday night so the meteor watching event was undisturbed by the weather. the moon was quite bright but a few meteors were spotted as they streaked through the sky and we had a nice campfire and some yummy snacks to eat while sat around it. thanks to those who came and slept out with us!

if you didn't hear about the event, let us know perhaps you are not on our email list for some reason!

it seems that the heirloom tomato season will be a short one this year, as the plants are looking like they will not be with us for the long haul, but they will be producing for us for a few weeks more at any rate. make sure to enjoy them in all their colored beauty while they are still with us.

veggies:
tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, beets, chard, kale (back after a couple of weeks off), baby leeks, sweet and regular onions, beans, basil, and fingerling potatoes.

try this yummy recipe for eggplants and squash!
slice asian eggplants, squash, and peppers into bite sized pieces. slice a shallots thinly, toss all in a baking dish. toss wiht olive oil, salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar. bake 10-15 min. stir and toss with cut up basil leaves. bake another 10-15 minutes until soft. enjoy. we had this with pesto pasta the other night and it was nice!~

have a good week! liz and matthew

Week 10?

2011-08-06T10:29:00.002-04:00

Sorry no new pictures. Our staff photographer is on vacation apparently this week.

I am happy to report that a gentle rain is falling outside right now (which is why I'm not outside planting!). We are grateful for that and the radar currently looks like like more is on its way. Sorry for all you weekenders who had big plans for today, but not everybody can be happy with the weather all the time.

The farm is looking really messy right now. This is mostly because the weedeater we normally use to keep the paths mowed is STILL in the shop awaiting a new carburater. AGHH! This makes harvesting more difficult as we have to wade through the weeds.
But at least we have had lots to harvest in the last two weeks! And now the share size is up to 8 items, and we hope that it will stay at that number for the remainder of the season!

For those members in Elmira, Grove Park Farmers' Market now has a presence on Facebook. It is in the development stage as each vendor starts to add postings of what products they will have available. Here at Muddy Fingers Farm we are Facebook novices, so we will be learning our way around it and I will post a link to the market's facebook page here on the newsletter blog just as soon as I figure out how to!
We have squash blossoms. This is a new crop for us this year that we wanted to try out.
A couple squash blossom recipes that we have not yet tried:

What you’ll need:
6 medium squash blossoms – washed, cleaned and trimmed
2 cups Ricotta – room temperature
1 tablespoon flat leaf Italian Parsley – chopped fine
1 tablespoon Basil – chopped fine
2 large eggs – beaten
1 cup flour – or enough to dredge
Vegetable/Canola oil – enough to fry
salt/pepper

What to do:
1. Place a few inches of oil {enough to submerge blossoms} into a deep sided pot or fry machine and heat to 350 degrees.

2. Place the Ricotta and herbs into a small bowl and mix well to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer into a pastry bag or zip lock bag and set aside.

3. Set up your dredging station by placing the beaten eggs into a small bowl and the flour into a separate bowl. Set aside.

3. Wash and clean the squash blossoms and gently pat them dry. GENTLY pull back the tops of the blossoms, insert the pastry bag/ziplock bag and GENTLY squeeze enough of the Ricotta mixture in to fill the blossom without bursting it. GENTLY twist the tops of the blossoms to seal. Continue until all blossoms are filled.

4. Dredge the blossoms into the egg mixture and then coat with the flour. Tap off any excess flour. Continue until all blossoms are dredged.

5. Place blossoms into the heated oil and cook until golden {this will only take a few minutes} When golden, transfer blossoms to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any excess oil and you can season them lightly with salt while they’re still warm. They’re best eaten when still warm.

Source www.bellalimento.com

Squash Blossom Quesadillas
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 poblano pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, and diced
10 squash blossoms
1/2 cup chicken stock
3 sprigs fresh epazote, finely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 flour tortillas
1/4 pound grated Mexican white cheese
Olive oil, butter or margarine, for cooking

1. Heat a large saute pan with a little oil and saute the onion, garlic, and the roasted poblano pepper for 5 minutes, until the onions have become translucent. Then, add the squash blossoms and deglaze with chicken stock. Add the epazote, and cook for another 5 minutes until squash blossoms have wilted. Season with salt and pepper, and set aside to cool.

2. To compose the quesadilla, lay two of the tortillas on a flat surface. Distribute the cheese equally on both tortillas. Then, spread 1/2 of the squash blossom filling over the cheese. Cover with the other tortillas, place on heated griddle or nonstick saute pan with a little olive oil, butter or margarine, and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. When golden brown on each side, remove and cut into quarters.

Source: Adapted from recipe demonstrated by Aaron Sanchez
of the Food Network’s show, Melting Pot.

New items this week
Leeks
Tomatillos
Purple potatoes
Squash blossoms
plus more of the same

week 9 is fine!

2011-07-31T17:42:00.010-04:00

this week i have been thinking about the choices we make consciously and unconsciously each time we lift a fork to our mouths. i appreciate how carefully our CSA members and customers think about their food choices and am always glad that they have chosen us to provide the foods that they eat. What got me thinking about food choices lately is that a shopper made a comment about not shopping for vegetables from some farms at the market because they raised animals for meat as well. as a strong proponant for local farms, the comment stuck with me and i started to think about how it depended what the alternative is.

if rather than support a local farmer who raises animals, the choice is vegetables shipped from california from a giant farm which is bound to the earth, is the choice necessarily a better one? though i have not researched it, i have the funny feeling that this large farm would be owned by a huge food conglomerate that also owns and runs factory farms and/or their enormous feed lots, and/or slaughter houses. now the animals production portion is not on the same land, i imagine, but nonetheless would be controlled and would profit the owners of the vegetable producing component as well. just a much larger more complicated and more profitable version of the small farmer selling a mix of veggies and meats.

the consolidation and aggregation of the food in our country in the hands of several very large players means that most of the food dollars we spend go eventually to the hands of just a few big players (3 percent of the nations farms supply 75 percent of the nations food). all the problems of low wages to farm workers, the environmental cost of shipping food 1500 miles before it is consumed, the low food quality of food that is several days old when it arrives in the store all add up to weigh against this california grown food.

the choice conscious or not must be made. What is the bottom line for me? (animal welfare, global climate change, pollution of waterways with farm runoff) what do i value about local farms, or what value do they provide to my community? does this outweigh the fact that i disagree with raising animals for meat? Or with using pesticides? Or with using fertilizers? or whatever the thing we disagree with. for i know lots of local farms that spray no pesticides on their fruits (and veggies)but use round up to clear weeds from around them. (fruit is a great case study, it is notoriously hard to grow tree fruit organically in the humid northeast united states where disease grows in the water droplets on the leaves . here in the empire state, is it better to get local apples (from growers who spray) or is it better to buy certified organic apples that travel from desert dry washington state (where trees are irrigated with water from the much battled over salmon rivers in an area that is too dry to naturally grow fruit trees.)

as i have thought about the conundrum, it becomes obvious to me that food is very complex and the choices we make about where we get it, how we cook it, and how much we eat of it could consume us all day. one thing is for sure, though- when buying from a local farm, we have the chance to talk to the farmer who produced our food and ask them about the choices they made about their operation and voice concerns as consumers of the food, about why they choose to use pesticides, or herbicides, or to raise animals for food. and listening to what they answer can help us understand how complex producing food can be. and as producers explaining to our eaters can help us understand what eaters worry about and can help us always keep moving toward more perfect systems.

this week was not just full of thiking of food issues, it was also full of garlic harvesting and hanging. it nice to have all of it out of the ground and drying stuck through the slats of our greenhouse tables (photo next week). it feels nice to have that big task behind us. we are honestly quite vain about our garlic and pride ourselves on growing nice big heads. alas, this year we have produced just normal sized heads but given the fact that they were almost underwater for several weeks this spring and then had almost no rain for several weeks this summer, we are glad to have gotten a crop at all, and we will just have to let our heads shrink down to regular size this year along with the garlic's heads.

this week try making a deliciouse coleslaw with cilantro:
one head of cabbage
one bunch cilantro cut finely (half may be enough)
large ground salt
mayonaise (try 2-4 Tablespoons)
drizzle of lime juice or vinegar
drizzle of olive oil
fresh ground pepper.

grate cabbage and toss with other ingredients. allow to chill and serve.

hope you have a great week and hope for some more rain here!
liz and matthew

The New Normal

2011-07-21T12:41:00.002-04:00

As climate change begins to affect us in unpredictable and traumatic ways, we begin to wonder what extreme weather events are results thereof and which are just our usual weather variations. Whenever I hear scientists discuss global climate change, they are reluctant to say any particular weather event is a direct result of climate change. But as the reports of droughts and floods, tornadoes and hurricanes, extreme heat waves and burying snow storms pile up around the world I can't help but think that the warnings about the future of the planet are already coming true.

So is this the new normal for our area: extremely wet springs with tornadoes in upstate New York and then equally dry summers with temperatures in the 100s.

If it is, we like to think that small, diverse, organic farms are uniquely suited to survive these trying times.

As an aside here are a couple of my climate change pet peeves. They are mainly PR issues. First, calling it "global warming" - because, hey, who would mind the earth 1 or 2 degrees warmer? Not a big deal right? In fact that sounds pretty attractive in the middle of February. Also, raise your hand if the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the words "global warning" or "climate change" is a polar bear. People need to realize that, while the extinction of the polar bears will be a tragedy, it will be just one of many. And climate change will have much more immediate and tangible effects on the world's human population (and ecosystems).

Available vegetables:
Tomatoes
Lettuce
Beet greens
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Potatoes
Onions
Beans (Dragon Tongues are in)
Peppers
Basil
Parsley
*new - mint
raspberries
chard
kale
squash
pickling cucumbers

next week
same plus
beets
sweet onions
lettuce mix
carrots??

Here's a cool salad:

Tomato Basil and Pasta Salad:
3 Lbs Tomatoes (about 4 large)
1 T kosher or sea salt
1 lb. Pasta such as penne, bowties, elbows, ect.
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
About 30 basil leaves
3 T good quality vinegar- balsamic or red wine
Salt and fresh ground pepper

Cut tomatoes in half and squeeze out the seeds. Coarsely chop and toss with the salt. Put in colander to drain for ½ hour.
Cook pasta until al dente. While still hot, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.

week 7

2011-07-14T22:17:00.004-04:00

this is what it looks like around here on a harvest morning.

our first experience with tomato wilt. We have had to pull a few plants, maybe ten, not a lot on the grand scale of things, hopefully it will not spread any further...

onions bulbing up!

ducks at king bird farm, glad to get to see another farm during the busy time of year, went on a tour over the weekend!

hello happy (we hope) eaters!
we wanted to take a moment and let people know that due to the generosity of you, our members we now have six low income families getting half price CSA shares. It has been super fun to see people's faces light up when they get to pick their items at the market. we feel really rewarded to know that those low income folks are getting to be involved in our farm. the exclusion of poorer members of our community due to the initial cost has always been a concern for us, and we were wowed and warmed by the number of people who choose to give extra money to subsidize a low income family.

we were also surprised at how hard we had to work to find families to join at half price. We started the journey to low income members four months before the CSA started, with the thought that people could pay $50 per month and that would not be too much of a strain on the budget. We sent a letter to everyone who gets food from the food bank in our county. got some interest but no members. We visited the food pantry three times (two locations), went to headstart, talked to office of the aging, went to the WIC office hours and tabled twice, and yet didn't have a single person willing to try the half price CSA concept! Finally we started talking to everyone at the watkins market especially people who we knew we had received food stamps from in the past and we asked the managers to get the word out. We were glad through word of mouth that we filled them all! but our eyes were really opened to many of the factors affecting those in our community with less financial resources.

new this week:
you'll see the first of the pickling cucumbers coming in soon. don't think they aren't tasty and delicious just because you don't plan on pickling them!

still here:
chard, kale, lettuce, scapes are still sticking around somehow, fresh onions, summer squash and zucchini, tomatoes (a few cherry tomatoes), cucumbers, parsley, basil, and new potatoes!

try this yummy quinoa tabouli recipe from the greenleaf:
1 cup quinoa
1 tsp coarse salt
fresh ground black pepper
1 cup flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup fresh mint or 1/4 cup dried
4 scallions
4 T lemon juice
4 T extra virgin olive oil
1 large ripe tomato

rinse quinoa well. bring to a boil covered in 2 cups salted water. cook over very low heat until water is absorbed (~15 min)
chop herbs and onions
remove quinoa from heat, remove lid cover with a clean towel, replace lid. allow to cool, fluff with fork.

combine with herbs, onions, lemon juice, olive oil and pepper serve at room temperature.

planning a jam making event here in july, word will come by email in the next day or so. have a super week!
liz and matthew

Week 6

2011-07-07T07:38:00.004-04:00

As many of you know, Debra Whiting died in an automobile accident last week. She was the owner and executive chef at Red Newt Bistro here in Hector. It was in this capacity that we got to know her. She was always excited by whatever vegetables we had to offer her. And she always seemed to have so much energy. She was so great to work with. We also were aware that she was an avid supporter of local farms and other local businesses - she served as chair of the boards of Finger Lakes Culinary Bounty and Watkins Glen Area Chamber of Commerce. But we did not know her personally all that well and we did not realize just how much of an integral part of the larger community she was until we attended the memorial celebration on Tuesday at the Red Newt.
Cars were parked a half mile both up and down Tichenor Rd. as overflow from the parking lot. And the line of people waiting to sign the registry was about 200 feet long for probably almost an hour. And it was impressive to learn about all of the other activities she was involved in. It was nice to know there are so many people to support her family.
So our community has a giant piece missing from its heart. This void will certainly take a long time to fill. Debra will be missed for a very long time.

The farm is doing well. We have been lax the past couple months about setting up our irrigation system for the year since we thought we might never need it! But the last week has been hot, sunny, dry and windy. So the last couple evenings we have been laying driptapes and turning on the irrigation. And yesterday evening we were feeling so jealous as we watched two large storms pass us - one just to our north and one just to our south. So when my sister and her boyfriend showed up at the farm drenched after picking cherries in a downpour at the orchard less than a mile south of our place, we were a little miffed. But we figured that's just how summer thunderstorms are. And then last night we were awoken at 2:30 by the sound of a torrential downpour. This is always a nice surprise for farmers in the middle of the summer's dry spells. So we smiled sleepily and then laid back down to sleep.

This week's expected vegetables
Green beans
Cucumbers
Beets
Green Onions
Eggplant
Summer Squash and Zucchini
Chard
Kale
Basil
Scapes
New Potatoes
Raspberries
Lettuce
a few tomatoes

next week...
more of the same
perhaps some carrots

Refrigerator Sun Pickles: makes 1 quart
Cucumbers to fill a quart jar
2-2 3/4 cups vinegar (white or cider)
1 Sprig Fresh Dill
1 clove garlic, chopped.

Wash cucumbers. Cut ¼ inch off of each end. If cucumbers are large, slit them into quarters within ¼ inch of the ends. The cuts allow the vinegar to penetrate the cucumbers and in larger cucumbers, make it easier to divide the pickles into spears. If they are not cut, the centers will not be crisp.
Pack the cucumbers as they are prepared into the jar vertically. Don’t over pack by stuffing in too tightly. Add dill and garlic, then add vinegar until it completely covers the cucumbers.
Expose the jar to sunlight for 2 days for a total of at least 14 hours of sunlight. Chill and eat. These pickles must be stored in the refrigerator. And they are really, really good!

*If you wish to use salt, add 1 teaspoon salt to 2 cups water and decrease vinegar to 1 cup.

from Stocking Up, third edition Carol Hupping and the staff of the Rodale Food Center.

week five

2011-06-30T20:25:00.005-04:00

hello lovely folks. the eating has turned to summer foods and none too soon for us! summer food is easy, quick and everyone seems to know what to do with these firm little beauties. we are glad to be harvesting our summer squash and zucchini, green beans *but not every day this week*, new potatoes (though some of you saw them last week), the first few tomatoes and a nice amount of cucumbers from the new hoophouse (for convenience around here slangified to newphouse). what's left of our raspberry patch is starting to produce and you will start to see little boxes of those gems showing up at market soon!

thanks to those who made the party, for those who didn't, here is a mini tour of the farm...

what are the white spots on the tomato leaves? we get that alot, its a fine white clay that helps keep cucumber beetles off of cucumbers (the cukes are next to the tomatoes, not pictured)

this week's veggies:
squash
lettuce and or mix
chard and kale
cucumbers
tomatoes (not lots yet)
green beans
parsley and basil
eggplants from the hoophouse (not to be confused with the newphouse, which is why we make the distinction )
and of course garlic scapes which won't be around much longer, maybe 10 days....

simple bruschetta to honor the first tomatoes
we had this the other night and it was tasty!
tomato chunked up
basil and or parsley sliced finely
drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. serve with crusty bread or with fresh mozzerella.

have a delicious week!
liz and matthew

Welcome summer!

2011-06-20T21:40:00.004-04:00

lettuce under shade cloth- a new thing we are trying this year...

Week four starts thursday
All of you husk cherry fanatics out there can relax!
After an exhaustive search we were able to locate some plants from our friends in Vermont at Evening Song Farm. They were the leftover plants that they had after planting their husk cherry bed. Kara and Ryan - if you read this "Thanks again!" The harvest will be delayed a few weeks for sure, but they are in the greenhouse so it should also be extended a few weeks!

It sure has been a joy to be able to work outside the last few weeks - the weather has been wonderful - not too hot and just the right amount of rain.

Thank you to all of our CSA members for your patience. We know June is always a difficult time when you pick up your CSA share and get mostly greens. And this year the selection has been especially sparse. We are confident that we will make up for it with a bountiful summer and autumn (though I hope I didn't just jinx myself).

don't forget about the "welcome summer" party on saturday night, we had a terrible spring and are so ready to move onto summer, so starting at seven we will have a dessert potluck that should be delightful! Farm walks and tours in the cool of the evening- the best time of day around here by far! lightning bugs will make their nightly appearance, see the solar panels and ask questions to the installers, see our brush clearing crew of two goats and the great job they are doing of clearing out invasive brush. See our new hoophouse and the tomatoes and cucumbers twining up the strings in there, chat with other CSA members and friends of the farm and a campfire to boot! we hope you can make it to come see the farm, we are anticipating a nice evening!

have a good week,
matthew and liz

Week 3

2011-06-14T21:56:00.004-04:00

transplanting celeriac into hay mulch

dead raspberry plant

cucumbers in our hoophouse....coming soon!

As we went about our work this past week we noticed that the farm is starting to actually look like a vegetable farm again. Crops are putting on growth quickly now and there is hope that somewhere in the near future we will have more interesting crops to look forward to harvesting.

In the process we also noted two very disappointing things.
First a large swath of our raspberries have been killed by phytophthora root rot this spring. This means that we will have less raspberries available this year (and next). This disease has been especially bad in the raspberries this year as a result of the wet spring.

Second, the husk cherries that we thought we planted in our greenhouse have turned out to be tomatillos. When they are young the plants look very similar and it was only this past week that we noticed the mistake. We don't know if we planted the wrong seed by mistake or if the seed was mis-packed by the seed company. We are currently desperately seeking some husk cherry plants from area farmers, but at this point the outlook is not good. We know that we have quite a few husk cherry fans out there and we will be very disappointed if we are unable to provide them this year.

Despite how slow the vegetables are coming in this year, we are glad to know that our local foodshed is getting stronger all the time, and we appreciate that we are able to tap into some other local people who are working to get good food out there to plump the share up a little.

We are thrilled to be able to distribute and get the word out about our friends' Steve and Michael's new business venture-Culinary Kiosk, www.culinarykiosk.com (some of you may know Steve Kettelle who runs Hendy Hollow Farm near Elmira). This week they were kind enough to allow us to distribute certified organic herbs in the share, we had a nice selection and if you missed them this week, we have a few left that you can get this week, ask at the booth.) If you liked them get more at the website, they also have certified organic coffee and soon sauces.

Another thing that we are excited about is that there are new vendors at all of the farmers market's that we attend!
at the Grove Park market in Elmira, we have last years staple vendors:
The flower lady with organic flower bouquets as well as veggies and tomato plants

Silver Queen farm with fruits and vegetables- get your strawberries now or you pick your own at their farm they are open 8-8 everyday and the picking is great right now and the warmth last week made the season come on fast and may make it shorter, so don't delay, (we went today)! (6O7-387-65O2)

new vendors this year are providing lovely wooden handcrafts, baked goods, plants, meat and eggs:

We have the Ort Family farm who has delicious baked goods including shortcake this week (to go with your strawberries)as well as a wide variety of herb and vegetable plants. They also have free range chicken, duckling, turkey, goose, and eggs. Grass fed beef and lamb, pastured pork, and farm raised rabbit are also available from the Ort family farm.

Heritage Pastures farm name sums it up well, they raise heritage breed animals on pasture and they come to market with fresh chicken, turkey,and pastured pork. Benjamin also makes beautiful wooden items for sale as well. check them out for sure.

At the corning farmers market, a new vendor of note is flour city pasta www.flourcitypasta.com they use local and organic ingredients in their locally produced, organic artisanal pasta and they have a beautiful display of shapes, sizes, and colors of pasta! (the flour in some of their pastas are from the same farm as the flour you can get in your share)

At the Watkins Glen farmers' market we have several new vendors as well. Sheepskin, eggs, plants and more from Wolftree farm. Hilker haven farm has quite a spread of jams for sale including some really unusual varieties (ginger is really gingery, and horseradish is interesting...)

We had been feeling a little down with the raspberry and husk cherry situations but this week we have felt really supported by our community with three different baked goods coming our way in the last few days and we even had a friend come by with dinner in the back of the car, so we got a tailgate dinner on sunday night!

Anyway, to further perk up our spirits, we are having our June CSA event, we will be having a bonfire and dessert potluck on Saturday june 25th. Come on by to see the farm as it shapes up to look like something for the summer. Meet our goats, look at the solar system, and most importantly meet other CSA members as you listen to the frogs trill and watch the lightning bug displays start for the evening. Bring a dessert to share and a chair. Hope to see you here, starts at 7 ends when the embers go out.

Expected vegetables this week:
lettuce
lettuce mix
chard
kale?
baby carrots
garlic scapes
snow peas?

Next week's expected vegetables:
lettuce
lettuce mix
chard
kale
carrots
garlic scapes
new potatoes
summer squash
snow peas?
beans?

have a good week,
liz and matthew

Week 1

2011-06-01T22:08:00.004-04:00

Welcome to the Ninth season of Muddy Fingers Farm! Wow time flies when you are having fun! Thanks to those of you who are back for the ninth serving of fresh veggies, hard to believe we have been together for so long thanks for your renewed faith each spring!

it is so good to see your lovely faces returning and meet new members each year to our stand this and each spring after a winter apart, it bolsters our spirits to remember who it is who will be eating the food the our fields produce!

Speaking of the foods we produce, as you all know it was a cool wet spring, the affects of which will be felt for weeks, but for now, all of the plants that we rapidly outgrowing their cells and eager to be tranplanted are in the ground. the overflow tables are almost empty of plants for our farm, but there are still plants for your gardens if you want them, next week will be your last chance for tomatoes and peppers, but we may have basil and lettuce for two more weeks, depending how well they go. There are also cucumber and zucchini plants for the next week or if they last two.

We may be caught up with planting but the weeds are still ahead, so this week will involve cultivating (using a tractor pulled implement to cut weeds off just below the surface) and putting our tomato cages up around those quickly growing plants.

We wanted to take a moment and remind you where the organic beans and flour come from. The beans are from Cayuga Pure Organics in Brooktondale, right now we have black and pinto beans. We just think it is so fantastic that someone is growing organic beans and we want to help spread them around the food shed. We should have them all season a pound is a share. http://www.cporganics.com/live/

The flour is from Farmer ground flour which is Cayuga Pure Organics and Oeschner Farm in Newfield. They bought an old mill in Trumansburg and are grinding their own grains. This is so fantastic that we had to bring some of it to you! We have All purpose flour and whole wheat, a share is two pounds (five pound bags can be taken and count as two items). We also intend to have that all season. farmergroundflour.squarespace.com/

As I write this, snow is floating down in the sunset. Not actual snow, but cottonwood tufts, a nice reminder that its June and of all the things that happen in June. Of course there are the bird nests. I am watching the second robin's nest grow, four hungry beaks in the garden shed whenever we enter to get a shovel or rake, there they are begging us to stuff a worm in there! I've been tempted, but don't know the bird Heimlich, so have controlled the urge! Also two wrens with their sassy little tails and petite little eggs. A tree swallow and several barn swallows. The daisy's are just about to start popping in the orchard, their cheery little heads complement the little fruit that is growing every day. We hope to get a small crop from some of those young trees this year.

Its nice to smell like tomato plants again, but not so nice to see the ever present green marks on our towels starting to form, perhaps we should just own green towels for the summer. (Tomato plants leave an oily green film on your hands especially when you touch lots of them like we tend to, it is persistent and hard to wash off, read a great article in growing for market about what that stuff is http://www.growingformarket.com/articles/green-powder-on-tomato-plants

What is in the share this week:
Lettuce (lots of kinds and lots of it)
lettuce mix
red veined spinach
radishes
frisee (a slightly bitter green)
plants for you to grow
flour
beans

no recipe this week, make salad! Serve with slivered almonds, onion, and raisins, YUM!

thanks for supporting our farm, see you at the market!
liz and matthew

A few more pictures

2011-04-29T11:32:00.004-04:00

Solar panels

2011-04-29T10:40:00.004-04:00

Drilling the holes for the poles

Concrete pump truck - it can pump the concrete about 100 feet. And its operated remotely with the controls he's wearing around his waist. Wow! Neither of us had ever seen one of these before. Its pretty amazing to watch the hydraulics unfold in the air.

Well, we've had a whole 24 hrs with no rain (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc.).
So we've been pulling weeds - yes - weeds have already started growing. Unfortunately we've not had a chance to use our new cultivation equipment. Its just been too wet even for that.
But our blueberries bushes and little pawpaw trees have been mulched.
With most of our tilling, seeding and transplanting being delayed, we may be asking for some help possibly next weekend with transplanting. If the ground dries out this week we will need to begin transplanting onions, broccoli, cabbage, kale and chard. We'll update you next week on whether this will be possible or not. We realize this would be very short notice, but unfortunately we don't have control over this. But also if the weekend doesn't work for you, we would welcome help any day you want to come up and get your hands dirty. Just give a call ahead of time. If we get a few more sunny, warm, windy, rain-free days, we will be able to till and the plants will be going in the ground.

Tilling OK!

2011-04-22T20:20:00.002-04:00

We just got in from tilling. We were able to get 12 more beds prepared (with our new tiller!).
We didn't think it would be dry enough, but it was - just barely (except for a few low spots).

April showers

2011-04-22T14:52:00.004-04:00

These are the racks that will be mounted on large poles. The solar panels will be mounted on the racks.

This ditch will be for the electric to run from the panels to the inverter in our basement.

One of the few beds we have been able to get planted. These are lettuce transplants that were beaten by the wind and snowed upon after they were transplanted. They still look good though!

We know of a farming couple that say they that whenever customers ask about how the farm or business is going, they always say "Superb", "Wonderful". I guess that's because farmers have a reputation or stereotype that they complain too much - mainly about the weather.
So I don't want to complain too much, but I will be honest - this has been the wettest, coldest spring since we started farming ten years ago.
The rain we've been having at least every few days means that the soil has not had a chance to dry out properly. This means that we cannot get into the fields to prepare our vegetable beds. If we try to operate the rototiller in the soil when it is wet we will end up with "smeary" soil that will form into chunks that will be as hard as rocks when it dries. Vegetables need loose crumbly soil in which to form their roots and that kind of damage could take years to amend.
So mostly we wait. We had one afternoon when part of our field was dry enough to till, so we took advantage of it and got some beds prepared and planted. Last year we got our first beds planted April 5 - this year it was almost two weeks later. I will attempt to till a few more beds this afternoon before more rain sets in tonight, but it may be too wet. And the forecast for next week has showers every day. It has also been quite cold with some snow showers, so we are not sure even that the seeds we did get in the ground will actually germinate or if they will rot in the ground.
The one comforting thought is that we know all the other farmers in the area are experiencing the same frustrations and we'll get through it together!
What this means is that when (if?) the soil does dry out we will have a lot of planting (3-4 weeks worth) to do all at once.

On a happier note, installation has commenced on our solar panels! See pictures above.
Check back in a couple days for more pictures.

Late winter

2011-02-24T12:48:00.005-05:00

The other morning it was 3 degrees when we awoke and the trees were covered with frost. Liz hurried outside to snap a few photos before the sun melted it all.
We have extended our greenhouse by 12 ft. Here we are moving the endwall with help from friends.

Here we are dragging our new hoophouse out the new field piece by piece so its all ready to be put together.

All of last year's CSA members should have received our winter letter and CSA membership form in the mail yesterday or today - if not let us know. If you plan to rejoin this year, please return the membership form with check ASAP to ensure we have room for you. We have a long list of people interested in signing up for the first time year. We like to give you a head start so we plan to send CSA information out to them in 2 weeks. Membership is first-come basis, though.

Our first seedlings have germinated! Onions and tomatoes were the first to pop up. We also have eggplants and leeks planted. I'm sure when its 110 degrees in the hoophouse and we are in there picking tomatoes we'll think back to now when they are so small and we have to do so much to protect them from the weather outside.

A minor case of "What did we just do?!"

2011-01-30T19:42:00.006-05:00

Your vegetables for 2011 - in a different form.
Instrument that measures amount of shade throughout the year around a potential solar panel site.
The new hoophouse is here - though not installed!

We still can't believe we've done it considering how expensive its going to be - but we signed the contract to have solar panels installed here at the farm. So starting this Spring, Muddy Fingers Farm will have 100% solar electricity. Yes, we might be crazy, but at least we're committed to it. We signed for Halco to do the installation and they are helping us with writing the state and federal grants (actually they're pretty much doing it for us).
When will it be economically feasible for more people who aren't as crazy as us to install renewable energy such as this? Never? According to the prediction we were presented, our system will pay for itself in less than twenty years. This is taking into account inflation and the increasing cost of electricity. So I guess as the cost of electricity does increase in the next couple decades this may become a more attractive option. And if the cost of the panels could come down over time while their effeciency increases (our top of the line panels are only about 18-19% efficient) this could help, too.
Any comments?

What do we do in the winter?

2011-01-18T20:20:00.009-05:00

winter market stand

evening song farm

The Rutabega Curl

"So what do you do in the winter?"
We get this question once in awhile from customers and people we meet. And I admit it has started to get on my nerves. They are not trying to be rude, but I get the feeling that the asker is thinking "what could there possibly be to do on a vegetable farm in the winter?" I do hope somewhere in the near future we won't have so much to do on the farm in the winter. It would be nice to do some volunteering and be a little more active in our community. But this winter so far has been a bit overwhelming and not too restful. I guess its better than being bored though!

Here's an update on some of the things we've been working on this winter:
Spending money!!! Beyond the normal ordering of seeds, organic fertilizer and yearly supplies we are also ready to purchase a new tractor-mounted rototiller and cultivation equipment.
The really big news (and big expense) though is that we are planning to sign a contract soon to have solar panels installed for the farm (and home)! When installed, the panels will produce about 100% of our yearly usage, though they will be hooked to the grid. We will post more info about these as progress is made. This is a HUGE investment for us. It is made possible partly by the NYSERDA grant and state and federal tax credits, but mostly because we were fortunate to receive an inheritance from our family.

We will be expanding our greenhouse by 12 feet so we will be able grow more seedlings. And our new hoophouse will be arriving Monday. We need to get that up as soon as possible so it will be ready for the tomatoes and cucumbers we plan to plant in there later this spring.

And we are putting our heads together to figure how to improve the Grove Park Farmers' Market in Elmira. We are still attending the winter market in Ithaca on Saturdays 11-2 at the Women's Community Building on Seneca St. See photo above.

And, oh yes, we did take a vacation from the farm to visit friends and family. During this trip we visited a couple good friends who are just starting to farm on their own. They bought a farm in Vermont last year and this will be their first year growing there. It was very exciting to visit and see and hear about all the progress they've made in such a short period of time. The two snowy photos above are from their farm.

As always we've been analyzing our growing practices and figuring out how to improve our systems. And we've been crunching the numbers on all the records we kept last year, we even wrote up our findings and sent them to a local farming publication, so they may go out to be of use to other farmers, and we're also figuring out what we want to do to get ready for this year. This means a lot of reading and "farm meetings". To this end we plan to attend an upcoming farming conference. We might come back with a dozen more items to add to our "to do" list. Ah well...
hope you are faring well this winter, matthew and liz

Winter Harvest

2010-12-06T17:38:00.010-05:00

Ice lickers
Sprout mound
Hairy leeks
Isn't this fun?!
Visual oxymoron

HI ALL,

Life here at Muddy Fingers Farm has slowed since our last newsletter post, but our to-do list is still full!

Here's a few of the things we've been working on.

Finishing the outdoor harvest. Most of the crops we are harvesting this time of year are inside the hoophouses, but there are a few that that have been outside braving the cold. These include salad turnips (at least we put some plastic down on top of them to afford them some protection), kale (can be harvested frozen stiff!) and leeks and Brussels sprouts (both of which we finished harvesting today and put in our cooler). Though calling it a "cooler" this time of year is not accurate. We've been running the air conditioner fan and turning on a small heater inside when necessary to keep the produce from freezing!

There are some crops we planted late in the season (onions, leek, carrots, mache) that we have covered by low-tunnels that we hope will survive the winter in order that we can get an extra-early harvest from them next spring!

And we are still at the market in Ithaca! If anyone would like to brave the cold, come on to Ithaca's outdoor market the next two Saturdays from 10:00-3:00. On the 18th of Dec. the market will hold the annual Rutabega Curl.

What, you may ask, do we have available at our stand? Brussels sprouts, kale, salad turnips, leeks, onions, garlic, celeriac, carrots, beets, parsnips, lettuce mix and heads and spicy greens mix.

We have also already started planning our next CSA season. We've been analyzing our crops from the records we kept this year. We will determine which are most profitable and which are least profitable so we can know which ones we need to improve upon our efficiencies in growing or even stop growing.

We learned last year that the CSA is an efficient way for us to market our vegetables - more efficient than at the farmers' market. Also this year our sales were down at our markets (except in Watkins Glen!). For these reasons (and for our sanity) we have decided to drop yet another market for next year. We are fairly certain this will be the Ithaca market on Tuesday. We plan to make up for this loss of income by increasing the shares in the CSA again next year up to around 90 shares.

We also realized the shares at the end of the CSA season (September and October) could have and should have been larger this year. There was lots of vegetables available, but we had priced our share for the fall to be smaller. Therefore we have decided to increase the cost of a share to reflect an increase in the size of a share for the months of September and October. We plan for the cost of a basic share to be $400 next year. And the cost of the larger share will be $520. We will still be providing the same 10-15% discount, only with more produce.

Offering low-income shares is something we have wanted to do for several years now, but we have never felt that it was something we were able to take on. But next year we are planning to raise funds for at least a few families to be able to join the CSA at no or reduced cost. More details about this later as we work them out.

We've also had compost to spread, eight months of messy farm to clean up and reorganize and/or repair.

And we've been loving this early blast of arctic air. We both love winter weather (though one of us enjoys working outside in it a little more). Soon we'll be able to go ice skating and hopefully cross country skiing, too.

week 21

2010-10-14T14:00:00.011-04:00

thanks to all who came and helped us to plant garlic, we have never gotten so much planted on the same day before! julie, garrett, evie and dorothy deserve a medal for most garlic plantings under their belt!, thanks and different color medals to jane, david, mary and our mini crop mob of two, too! Today we spent some time spreading mulch to keep it from being heaved out of the ground by frost over the winter. Anytime it is above freezing this winter, the garlic will grow roots, anytime it is above 40, the leaves will grow, generally they don't poke through the mulch until next spring, about the same time as the daffodils come up~! nice to see food growing at that time of year!

the leaves have been just lovely at the farm lately and all around, too. we have a huge list of chores for the fall and are eagerly awaiting getting them started, october is when going to four markets a week gets in the way, there are just not as many hours in the day as there were a few weeks ago and lots of what we have on the docket takes two.

the next two weeks will involve some harvesting, going to markets and seeing all of your lovely faces another one or two times (depending which day you pick up and when you are reading this), mulching the rest of the garlic, hopefully planting two more beds (too wet to till before), moving our caterpillar tunnel (should have been done a week or so ago, but we are tired by this time of year, what can we say?), reviewing the season and starting to run our numbers on what crops are profitable and which are not.

we have done some talking already about next year and are thinking it would be nice to start a low income share fund of some kind. we have long been bothered that healthy food is considered "too elite" for low income people and wonder if we all chipped in $10-20 dollars, how many people could we feed? do you think you could spare a bill or two next year when you buy your share? more about that over the winter, i'm sure.

lots of warm filling recipes this week!

Garlicky Samosas from Jane:
Samosa dough:
2 cups flour
2 T butter
2 T yogurt/butter milk
pinch of salt
1/2 cup water

Filling:
1 carnival squash baked until very soft
3 cloves garlic (or less, this is really garlicky! baked with the squash)
1 can giany white beans

bake squash and garlic if you haven't done it already. combine it with the beans and puree.

divide dough into 6 balls and roll out into circles. spoon squash mixture into dough and fold over to form a pocket (like perogies). bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

red lentil soup: this soup and the following bread are our always good meal that we make in the winter for guests, if you get a dinner invite, this is almost surely what will be on the menu, its always good!)

2 cups of red lentils
4 cups of cold water
1 T salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup butter
2 tomatoes
1 large onion
1 T dill
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves

you can saute the onions and garlic first, or not, i usually just throw it all in the pot and let it simmer, i often replace the water and tomatoes with a quart of home-canned tomatoes.

Cheese-herb bread

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried dill
1/4 tsp. dried marjoram (i usually omit, since i don't "stock" this)
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
2 eggs
2 T honey
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup oil
1 1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese (or more!)

mix dry ingredients, mix moist ingredients then mix them together until blended add cheese and mix thouroughly. bake in greased 9"x5" pan at 350 for 50 minutes.

this recipe will be good only if you still have ginger left:
we've been enjoying healthy smoothies made with this customer recipe:
concord grapes (seeds included)
fresh ginger
maple syrup
cinnamon

blend together, sit on the porch and enjoy as you spit all those seeds, very tasty!

apple ginger cobbler:
chunk up one or two apples per person
cut ginger finely to taste

top with a simple crumb topping:
local flour
walnut oil or butter
maple syrup (or sugar)
cinnamon (opt)
bake at 350 for 35 minutes or until done, great dessert!

i can't believe i haven't put this recipe up here yet!

Baked Kale Chips!
from smitten kitchen.com

1 bunch (about 6 ounces) kale (I used Lacinato or “Dinosaur” Kale but I understand that the curlier stuff works, too, possibly even better)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea salt, to taste

Preheat oven to 300°F. Rinse and dry the kale, then remove the stems and tough center ribs. Cut into large pieces, toss with olive oil in a bowl then sprinkle with salt. Arrange leaves in a single layer on a large baking sheet (I needed two because mine are tiny; I also lined mine with parchment for easy clean-up but there’s no reason that you must). Bake for 20 minutes, or until crisp. Place baking sheet on a rack to cool.

these are fantastic! Really, try them!

have a stupendous and delicious week!
liz and matthew

Garlic Planting Is Still On

2010-10-13T21:08:00.003-04:00

We have been getting worried we would not be able to till the soil to prepare the beds for garlic planting this weekend (or anytime before there's a foot of snow on the ground for that matter). With all the rain we've been receiving and more in the forecast for Thursday and Friday we knew if we were going to get ready for the garlic it had to be today before the rain moves in. So we rushed through our harvesting today and threw compost on the beds and tilled them. They were a little too wet in some spots, but I figured it was probably now or never (well, maybe next spring).
So, anyway, the beds are prepared and garlic planting is still on for Saturday 2pm with dinner to follow. Please RSVP if you can. Its gonna be muddy and chilly but we hope you'll still be up for it!

week 20

2010-10-12T20:29:00.003-04:00

hello all, hope the week is great for you! we had a great turnout and a great time at our perogie making day! Thanks to all who made the trip for the event, the fillings were varied but all were delecious! I hope to post at least one of them in the upcoming days.

don't forget there is one last CSA event coming up! we are planning to plant garlic on saturday oct 16th at 2 pm, (though we may have to reschedule as our soil is quite wet right now and we may not be able to work it with out damaging it before saturday, we will keep you posted via email if the event is to be rescheduled.)

also upcoming the local foods fest, it is targeted at schuyler, chemung, and steuben county residents, this is where you can learn where to get local meat, eggs, cheese and more! friday oct 22 5-8 at the corning museum of glass, see last weeks post for more details. or call 607-664-2300 for more info.

and the last announcement, on thursday october 21st, we will be packing up from market 15 minutes early or so, an email reminder will be sent, but please be aware, we will be leaving market a tad early on thursday the 21st to attend a meeting.

the leaves are just lovely this fall! We're glad that many people got to take a tour of the farm in all of its fall glory, and were really impressed at how eagle eyed you all are! People had great questions and obervations when they got back to the kitchen, several people noticed what a pretty color the hazelnut bushes we planted this spring are turning, the blueberries are also very nice right now!

try this great chard recipe from trisha via mary martin, simple and easy!
wash chard and slice the stems,
cook five minutes in lightly salted water
add leaves and cook until wilted,
pour off water, pour swiss chard into oven proof casserol
and sliced onion, garlic, and soy sauce, top with parmesan cheese.
bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

have a super week!
liz and matthew

First week of October

2010-10-04T15:10:00.001-04:00

Sorry, we have no pictures this week.
Today is another rainy day - the first time the temperature has not topped the 50 degree mark this fall. This time, I am the lucky one to stay inside and get indoor work done while Liz stands at market in the rain. We appreciate this rain (though it would have been nice to have more during the summer) as it will help our irrigation pond slowly recharge. But we are getting a little worried the soil will not dry out for us to till our beds for garlic planting. In the summer, the soil dries quickly as the moisture evaporates in the heat, but with cooler days the soil dries much more slowly, so we will need several sunny, breezy days. We also hope to get a good layer of compost spread on the beds before tilling.
Well things with Knox (our new dog) had been going very well (probably too well!) until this past weekend. When our attention was drawn away from him momentarily, he dashed over to our neighbor's property and fatally wounded one of their chickens. Arghh! Well for now we are keeping him restrained when we are up by the house - this means either in the house, in the farm truck or on a leash. But we may need to figure out a better way of keeping him out of the road and away from the chickens in the future!

Announcements:

Locally-Grown Harvest Festival

Friday, October 22, 2010

5:00-8:00 PM

Corning Museum of Glass

1 Museum Way, Corning, NY

If you missed this exciting event in February, here is your chance to attend a unique tasting experience. Sample a wide variety of meats, vegetables, fruits, cheeses, artisan breads, baked goods, wines, microbrews and other farm products! Meet dozens of Finger Lakes farmers! Learn how and where to buy fresh, healthy, local foods. This event will feature even more local vendors, with plenty of autumn vegetables and fruits for sale!

●Meet farmers ●Purchase local products

●Taste samples ●Recipes and Demonstrations

The event features:

Tastings of meats, vegetables, cheese, fruits,

breads, preserves, wines, and microbrews!

Everything you need to create healthy, delicious holiday meals!

$5.00 per person or $10.00 per family

Contact

607-664-2300

for more information

No registration required

Cornell University

Cooperative Extension

Muddy Fingers Farm CSA annual pierogie making day will be Saturday October 9 at 10:00 am - bring your favorite pierogie filling and we'll all work together making the dough and filling, folding and boiling! Dough provided. RSVP required (for knowing how much dough to make).

Our garlic planting CSA day is scheduled for Saturday October 16 at 2 pm with dinner to follow. Please bring your garlic cracking hands and be prepared to get muddy planting the cloves. A "crop mob" from Ithaca may also be in attendance. This will be our final CSA event of the season, so come on up to the farm and enjoy the crisp temps and beautiful foliage and get your fingers muddy one last time for the year. RSVP preferred.

New vegetables this week:
Broccoli
Pumpkins
Brussels sprouts
Celeriac

Cabbage recipe:

Heat 1 tsp olive oil in saucepan. Add 4 cups thinly sliced red cabbage (try with green). 3/4 tsp. caraway seed, and 1 tsp salt. Cook, covered, until tender (8-10 min) Remove from heat; add 1 crisp, sweet apple, cut into matchsticks, 1 minced shallot, 1 Tbs, red wine vinegar, 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard and 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper.
Thanks Rusti for the recipe!

New Addition

2010-09-28T19:33:00.004-04:00

The only photos this week are of Gemini and our new addition to the farm life - Knox. We have been thinking for quite a while that we would like to have another dog (especially one a little smaller than Gemini). And now that the season is winding down we feel that we can put some time into training another dog. And he does need some training. He knows how to sit and that's about it. We will have to teach him how to not run through the vegetables beds - especially the tender greens! And apparently wherever he lived previously he was allowed to get up on the furniture. But we'll have to put an end to that since now he's a farm dog and will often be quite dirty we're sure. We got him from the Tompkins County SPCA on our very first trip out looking for a dog to adopt! We brought Gemini along and they played very well with each other at the shelter and they're getting along great here at home. And it seems already that Knox may be able show Gemini a thing or two about how to decrease the rodent pest population out in the vegetable fields.

Reminder:
October 9 Pierogi making day 10 am
Bring a filling traditional or funky! No Polish heritage necessary!

October 16 Annual Garlic Planting CSA event 2 pm
Dress for the weather and come help break bulbs, plant cloves and lay hay mulch. It will be a real community event!

New vegetables available this week:
Winter squash
Broccoli
Cabbage
Celeriac
Potatoes again
Lettuce again

Basic Baked (Winter) Squash
1 winter Squash, halved
2 pats of butter
2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Scoop the seeds out of each half with a spoon
Add 1 pat of butter, 1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup, and salt and pepper to the hollow scoop of each half. Place upright on a greased cookie sheet and roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until tender when flesh is poked with a fork.
Enjoy just like this as a delicious, quick and easy side dish that is great anytime of the year. Or, leave out the butter and honey/syrup and use the baked squash as a great base for soups, put chunks of cooked squash into baked goods to add great nutrients and a little natural sweetness and nice texture to a quick bread, yeast bread, or pancakes.
This recipe from Muddy Fingers Farm

weeks 16 and 17

2010-09-19T19:45:00.006-04:00

welcome to fall like weather! summer crops are winding down and fall food is starting up it is a transitional time at the farm. we are grateful for the night falling earlier and the cool evenings that make it perfect to pull up a good book and do some reading after a long summer.

husk cherries! if you haven't yet tried them, don't miss the experience- sweet and nutty!

what are those colorful hermit crab shells doing in the farm newsletter? the farmers were on vacation and enjoyed some time on the board walk by the shore where there are hermit crabs galore!

this is the time of year that people start asking, "when does this thing end, anyway?" The answer is the last week of october, there are 22 weeks total to the csa, (elmira will have only 21 weeks of pickup this year, but will recieve extra items in october to make up for the last week which falls on november first- as the market ends the week before on october 25th)

lovely, local ginger! see recipe below

also, coming on up, put it on the calendar, saturday october 9th the ever popular perogie making day will be coming up again! bring a filling of your choice, creativity is encouraged! in the past we have had both sweet and savory fillings with many different colored potato, sweet potatoes, ricotta with fruit, grape pie type, cabbage or saurkraut.
make and bring a filling to share. then we will make perogies and bag them all mixed for fun surprises when you cut into them and enjoy at home! this event will begin at 10 am.

what's up on the farm, we have been seeding the last few items that may or may not make it in time, even for our january/february markets, we have one more planting of lettuce to put in (tiny heads that will size up some before winter hits) and then there will be the garlic in the middle of october. you will have a chance to help plant garlic on saturday october 16th starting at 2pm, that will be the last CSA event of the season.

Carrot-Ginger-Cashew Soup
This is a tangy cool-season comfort food that‘s loaded with distinctive flavors and antioxidant-rich ingredients. The blended cashews add a creamy dimension to this soup, along with muscle-fueling protein and heart-healthy oils. (Adapted from Morris Press Cookbooks; cookbooks4sale.com)

1 1/2 pounds carrots, raw (peeled and washed)
2 tablespoons olive oil or butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1/4 cup gingerroot, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
7 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine (optional)
1 1/2 cups cashew nuts, unsalted and either raw or dry-roasted
2 tablespoons lemon juice
(orange juice may be substituted)
Curry and/or coriander powder,
one pinch or to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Fresh chives or parsley for garnish

Peel and cut carrots into half-inch pieces. Place oil or butter in large stock pot over medium heat. Add onion, ginger, and garlic; sauté for about 15 minutes. Add broth, carrots, and (if using) wine. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat until carrots are tender (about 45 minutes). Purée in blender with cashews. Season with juice, curry, coriander, salt, and pepper, as desired. Serve hot or cold with garnish. Serves 6.

have a super week! roast some veggies make some soup and eat well!
liz and matthew

Still planting

2010-08-31T13:31:00.004-04:00

Summer's bounty

We have not done much planting here for the past few months - just a few beds here and there. This includes salad greens - as I'm sure many of you have noticed their absence the past few weeks. However it has generally been too hot and dry for greens to grow well this summer and the ones we have planted have mostly just bolted.

But we are trusting that soon it will not be so hot and, yes, it will even eventually get cold. So now is that very short window in time where we can get greens, turnips, radishes, etc. planted so that they may reach maturity before we lose the sun too much and they stop growing (toward the end of October). If we time it right we will have many greens for the last weeks of the CSA and also through the winter! How is this possible? Well many crops, while they don't grow through the winter's short, cloudy days, will certainly stay fresh and vital right in the ground as long as they are provided with a little protection. These include crops like spinach, lettuce, kale, turnips, carrots. The protection comes from our hoophouses (with two layers of plastic) and the white, floating row covers directly over the plants.

And I don't know about you, but here at Muddy Fingers we are definitely looking forward to some cooler temps!

Additions to the selection to look forward to next week:

leeks

ginger

maybe apples

hopefully some lettuce mix

Probably next week will be the last week for melons - hope you've loved 'em as much as we have the last few weeks.

weeks 11+12

2010-08-16T22:18:00.003-04:00

the garlic is all pulled from here and a cover crop of appin turnips has been planted, they will grow this fall and open lovely channels in the soil, leaving lots of room for microorganisms and earthworms in the soil. They will die over the winter and act as a "biofumigant" naturally killing disease organisms in the soil.
this is the kind of photo we like to use as a background on our computer in the winter to remind us of how lovely the summer is!

its seems we have slipped to a bi-weekly update, sorry don't know where the time has been going lately. we've spent the week picking for you all to eat, pruning raspberries for next summers yummy berries, harvesting onions, cutting tops off of garlic, doing some planting of greens for later in the CSA season, and even some things that will overwinter until next june and hopefully be in the CSA during that lean month next year.

Hearing no replies, we skipped the meteor sleepout this year, and were a little sad to do it, we'll have to get a date set for a september event soon so that it can go out and onto your calendars before too long.

The cultivating event last week was informative and helpful, and we are looking forward to going to see the setup at a local farm this week as well, so we should be well on our way to buying some new weed control tools for our selves.

food you may see this week:
melons! tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, garlic, onions, lettuce, spicy greens mix, chard, a few beets, zucchini/summer squash, potatoes, beans, parsley, basil, cilantro

things you won't see: (or at least not many of you will) cucumbers, our newest planting has gotten downy mildew and is dying even before it comes into full production- darn!

a few updates:
we are a sponsor for a symposium entitled "awakening the dreamer, Changing the Dream" which will take place on saturday august 21st from 9:30-4:00 PM at wisdom's goldenrod in hector. register on line at www.awakeningthedreamer.org

also, NOFA-NY (Northeast Organic Farming Association of new york) is hosting a locavore challenge as a way to promote local farms and raise funds to help keep small, organic type farms like ours strong. Want to pledge to eat local for a day, a week, or the whole month of september? Pay a small fee to get resources to help you learn where to get food from organic and sustainable farms as well food ideas to get through the month eating the local/100 mile/250 mile/seasonal diet (if you have read any of the spurt of recent books about this topic, you may be interested in trying it yourself!) You have a good headstart on it by being in a CSA!

this recipe sounds so tasty that i have to post it despite the fact that i just said our cukes are doomed, i'm sure it would work stuffed into peppers instead!

feta-walnut stuffed cucumbers: from prevention magazine
1/2 cup walnut halves
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup fat free milk
1 small clove of minced garlic
1/2 t paprika
1/8 t ground red pepper
4 medium cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise and seeded.

combine walnuts and parsley in food proccesor, and pulse until powdery, add rest of ingredients (except cukes), and puree until smooth. fill cucumbers wiht mix and pat in place, slice into wedges and sprinkle with paprika before serving.

this is a good way to try tomatillos if you are a pork eater, thanks wendy for sending this recipe!
3/4 lb cubed pork--or, works well with cheaper bone-in cuts like pork steaks or western style ribs
1 lb coarsely chopped tomatillos
1-2 cans Great Northern beans, rinsed
1 can chicken broth
1 large (or more) onion halved and sliced thin
1 4 oz. can mild green chilies
6 cloves garlic, sliced or chopped
1 t. cumin
S&P to taste
1/2 c lightly packed fresh cilantro, chopped
sour cream (optional)

Brown meat on all sides. Place in slow cooker and add remaining ingredients to cumin. Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-7. Add S&P and taste. Stir in cilantro and cook ten minutes more on low. With wooden spoon, shred meat against side of cooker. Serve with optional sour cream.

hope your week is lovely and if you are about to send a beloved child (or the unlikable ones, too) off to school, may you all enjoy good food together before its cafeteria fare for them and lonelier dinners for you! take time to cook together this week!
liz and matthew

week ten

2010-08-04T20:12:00.003-04:00

this week the tomatoes and cherry tomatoes seem to really be starting, finally! i was chatting with another farmer at the market this week and he commented that his tomatoes were taking a long time to ripen, too!
lets see, this week has been another dry one and pretty hot, too. We have been irrigating, but the pond is getting low enough we are starting to worry a little.

this year our focus has been on how to make our business more efficient and profitable. to this point, we have made a modest living at the farm, but not necessarily the kind that will sustain us long term. We have been keeping lots of records, which we will use this winter to determine which things we grow are profitable and which are not. With a CSA we may not be able to drop all of the crops that are unprofitable, but armed with the knowledge we will be able to look into how to grow things more efficiently and which items would be acceptable to stop growing. we'll keep you posted once we do all the math.

one area that we know needs to be improved upon is weed control and we have spent some time since we bought a cultivating tractor last fall (you may remember the photo- it looks like a little orange dunebuggy!) reading about weed control with it. There are lots of options for tools to hang below it to use to kill weeds and we are still not positive which one(s) are right for us. We visited a nearby farm a few weeks ago and they were kind enough to give us the basics and show us their tools and even let us weed some of their vegetables! (wait, they let us do their work for them, we've been swindled!) all joking aside, they were very generous with their time and we learned a lot, but still don't feel confident in this new technology on our farm. We are looking forward to sending an representative to a workshop tomorrow about tractor cultivation and there is one more local farm we'd love to visit as they have a system like ours- with permanent beds and paths, which is a little different than how lots of other people do things and needs to have tools set up differently. We'd like to get one or two cultivating setups set up by the fall so we are all set up for next year. The weeds really slow down by the fall, but it doesn't hurt to get some practice in first on a less weedy patch, where the crops maybe will be easier to see between the little weeds.

love these large mild onions

its funny, we farm on small scale, and a slightly awkward one. We can certainly use well made tools that are geared towards home gardeners, and we do. But we can also benefit from technologies that larger scale farmers use. Sometimes it is hard to find the balance between when a technology will be cost effective for us and when it will just be nice to have but not make a difference in whether the crop profits or not.

For example, with our cultivating tractor, we do have one basic set of "Beet knives" for it. These are shaped like half of an elongated "V" and weed next to beets and other crops. we have used them several times, but they are not quite the right tool for what we were using them for. To cultivate a bed with them takes about 3-5 minutes to actually do the cultivating, but it also takes several minutes to check the gas, oil, coolant, and what not on the tractor, start it up and drive it to the field. To use a hand held "scuffle hoe" (a capital D shaped blade that scrapes tiny weeds with two sharpened edges on the curved side of the D, works on the pull and the push stroke) it can take as little as 12 or 15 minutes per bed (or much longer if the weeds are large!) So when there are lots of beds to be done, the cultivating tractor makes sense, but if there are only one or two to be done, (or there are lots of different kinds of beds that require the tool to be adjusted to different positions) the scuffle hoe can be just as fast.

these are the kinds of questions that our record keeping will help us to better understand, we are really looking forward to sitting down and looking through each crop at the end of the season.

produce:
new this week: shallots. nice large mild onions. lovely mild salad turnips

also chard, kale, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash, zucchini, tomatillos, lettuce mix

coming soon, melons!

we saw this cool humming bird moth at the farm, we had only seen them in the insect books before! (sorry these photos seem less clear than they used to, though this wasn't that clear to start with)

still looking for feedback on the august and october events. any ideas, let us know. we are thinking of doing the meteor shower sleep out on friday the 13th, let us know if there is any interest, if not, we will plan something else later in the month. We are interested in having co-operative extension do a nutrition event, give us feedback if you have it.

ok, happy eating, see you around!
liz and matthew

week eight is great!

2010-07-22T21:28:00.003-04:00

winter squash leaves.

shallots are a new crop for us this year, they grow in a clump, they are nice looking!

HELLO ALL! lets see, first off the picnic was great fun, thanks to all who came! a few items were left here, if you are missing a water bottle, a serving spatula, or scented bubbles, let us know! (i do know who the bubble belong to, its just fun to write the words scented bubbles, we'll try to get them back to you all.)

this time of year the story is harvest, harvest, harvest, and hope for some rain. things here have been dry, but fine. we were transplanting cabbage plants for the fall this week and will be doing some seeding for the fall and even into the winter months pretty soon. and of course there is always weeding

the last several days we have spent some time working on preparing a new field, which was pictured a few weeks ago on this page. It will be planted fairly soon, we have just spent some time between those photos and now letting weeds germinate and then killing them to make sure there are less weed seeds in the soil's "weed bank".

we are looking for feedback on our next CSA event. For the past several years in august we have had a sleep-out event corresponding with the annual Perseid meteor shower, the first year it was kind enough to fall on a weekend, the next time and, alas this year, the shower peaks midweek (aug 11+12)and we are trying to decide- should we hold the event midweek, or should we just have it on the closest weekend and enjoy the sensation of sleeping under the stars whether there is a promise of meteors or not? send us feedback by hitting comment, by email or in person. If enough people were interested in sleeping out midweek, we would hold the event then, otherwise, we will plan on the weekend.

start thinking ahead to october as well. 10-10-10 is the international day of climate action, we'd like to host an event of some kind, have ideas? let us know!

things you'll see in the share:
leeks
cucumbers, pickling and slicing
tomatoes!
cherry tomatoes
kale and chard
basil!
new potatoes, this week purple, and really bright purple, at that!
green and speckled beans!
fresh onions
fresh garlic
zucchini and summer squash/patty pans
cabbage
tomatillos!
beet greens
rainbow carrots

we had beans cooked like this the other night and ate a whole quart in about two minutes, they were so good!
Saute a quart of beans (the speckled ones are nice like this, and keep their color better) in butter or olive oil. When just about tender, mince a clove of garlic and a tsp of soy sauce and toss on top of the beans, cook another few minutes, serve and enjoy. Simple and so tasty!

have a treemendous week,
liz and matthew

week 7 of CSA

2010-07-16T20:18:00.012-04:00

these radicchios were at the end of a bed that finished, they couldn't take the heat with out irrigation and boy are they a mess now! "hello, i'm kale, get used to me, i'm versatile and you'll see me or my curly leaved sibling a lot this season. I am high in calcium, iron, and vitamin K, your doctor will be proud if you learn to like me. I am a little bitter, but great cooked with a bouillon cube until bright green and tender (but not so long that i get overcooked and soggy) or cooked with a dash of water and caramelized onions, toss a handful of raisins in and the contrast of sweet and bitter is lovely!"

love these onions!

how did this happen?! sorry regular checkers, we flubbed this week!

i guess by the fact that we didn't post this week you can infer that we have been busy. our working shares start up in july and it has been a hot first two times out for them, with temperatures into the 90s and humidity high as well. thanks cindy, brendan, devin, danielle, pat, mark, terri, lydia, and reeder for being so tough in such hot weather! not a single wimp or whiner in the group! and an extra huge thanks to pat and mark who loaned us their truck this week when ours had to go into the shop at 5:15 the night before market and we didn't know how we were going to get things to market in corning the next morning! (a minor problem fixed in a few hours, but not in time for us to get to market in our truck.)

we are looking forward to the picnic tomorrow and are tidying the fields up so things look their best for the crowd. If you are coming and play an instrument, bring it, we will be having a campfire at dark!

things you have seen in the share:
baby leeks
cucumbers, pickling and slicing
first tomatoes! (a few)
some cherry tomatoes (not too many saw these yet)
kale and chard
basil!
new potatoes
green beans, new this week!
fresh onions
fresh garlic
zucchini and summer squash/patty pans
cabbage
a little lettuce, but the hot dry weather has been hard on it, it makes it bitter and then it bolts (goes to flower)

things you'll see soon:
tomatillos! (some times called mexican green tomatoes, and make a great salsa)
beet greens
rainbow carrots

this weather has been great for coleslaw, hope you have a favorite recipe, here's a suggestion if not:
shred cabbage and toss with shredded carrots, mayonnaise, dill seed or weed, a splash of vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.

have a great rest of the week!
liz and matthew

week six of csa

2010-07-07T14:10:00.010-04:00

well lets not beat around the bush, last week we began by talking about the change of the weather and how cool it was going to be, slowing the growth of our warm season plants. this week, that has not been an issue! All along the east coast its been hot and dry and we aren't done yet, at least tomorrow will continue to cause us to swelter! it wouldn't be so bad to be so hot if it weren't so dry. Things would be growing like crazy if we had had a big rain before things heated up. But instead, we have been watering by irrigation mostly, but a few newly planted things by hand and hoping to get a good soaking rain sometimes soon.

we've decided that we should just have a fun event on july 17th, we'll be hosting an evening of fun on the farm! We'll have a picnic dinner (bring a dish to pass) and we'll have games like badminton, bocce ball, Frisbee, a bean bag tossing game (good for little kids) and a collection of games and challenges that take a minute to play. this will be a great event for those who want to see the farm and meet other members, but don't feel that they can do a farm work type event. Know someone who would like to see the farm? Invite them along! We'll have dinner at six, arrive as early as five on saturday, july 17th.

In pick-up news, we've decided to try giving one pound of dry beans or small bags of flour as items that you can choose in the shares, at first it felt odd to give something that we had not grown, but we thought we'd give it a try. (sorry ithaca pickups, we do not bring these items to the market there as the rules do not allow it.) We have been bringing whole wheat bread flour and all purpose flour both locally grown and ground and certified organic from Farmer Ground Flour in trumansburg as well as black beans all from cayuga pure organics in brooktondale (which is one of the two farms that grows the wheat for farmer ground flour). We have begun bringing these items to the markets because we really feel that to have a strong, vibrant local food system, we need farmers to grow staple food items like these, and we need them to be successful doing it, and bringing these items to markets that they otherwise wouldn't get to is one way that we can help make the local food system stronger. don't know how to use dry beans? see recipe below, it includes both the flour and beans!

things you may see this week:
chard and kale
lettuce and lettuce mix
new potatoes
patty pans and zucchini
cucumbers are new!
raspberries
fresh onions
fresh garlic, last few scapes
cherry tomatoes first few

coming soon:
green beans!

recipes for the week:
hummus with garlic scapes
one can of chick peas
olive oil start with 1/4 cup
1-3 garlic scapes
splash of lemon juice
T of soy sauce
pepper

mix all in food processor until smooth, adjust seasoning to taste.

here's a favorite of ours, Burritos with homemade tortillas:
1 lb flour, about 3 cups, can use some whole wheat (i often use one cup)
2 pinches of salt
1/4 cup oil
1 T baking powder
about a cup of water, add a little at a time

mix flour, salt, and oil then add water in increment. knead dough and add flour if needed to get a doughy consistency. cook on a hot, dry skillet until brown bubbles form, flip and cook other side.

we make burritos with any number of fillings- but especially greens, rice, beans, cheese, and salsa (tomato, tomatillo, or peach).

to cook beans, soak several hours or overnight, drain and simmer until tender. flavor as desired, we use onions, garlic, and hot peppers. wrap in tortilla and enjoy!

have a good week, hope to see you at the picnic!
liz and matthew

week 5 of csa

2010-06-29T21:23:00.005-04:00

hello all,
what a change in weather is being anticipated for the next few days!

the rapid growth of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and bean plants as well as the other summer crops will slow greatly with temperatures in the 70s rather than mid 80s.

we've had several questions lately about keeping greens, and want to take a moment to remind you what a terribly dry and destitute place your fridge is for a poor bunch of greens that is bare naked- cloth those poor little greens in a bag of some kind to keep the frigid fierce refridgerator winds off of them! If you are trying to get away from plastic, you can use a muslin or fabric bag, anything to help hold a little moisture and keep the air from flowing directly over the leaves.

another storage note, remove tops from carrots when they go in the fridge, or you will find rubbery carrots when you go to eat them later, the tops are still transpiring and pulling water up through the roots. same for beets if you are going to store them for more than a day, just detach the tops and store them in a bag, (can even be the same bag, the roots and tops are friends, and once they are separated, the tops can't cause the roots to dry out).

i've recently been wondering when we will move towards a community supported model for more of the things that we do. I know some musicians are asking their fans to help them pay to make albums and then sending them a copy once the album has been cut, why don't we put money down up front for more of the things that we care about? after all, each dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of world we want to live in, why not help out the people and organizations
that we want to buy from anyway?

we have tons (not literally, baby birds are quite light) of birds just about to take to the air! there are at least 5 nest boxes stuffed to the gills with baby birds, almost falling out and quite soon, we will have 5 empty nest boxes, and about 25 new babies filling the muddy fingers air space!

what may you see this week?
garlic scapes, (maybe 10 days left in the season)
cabbage!
beets
rainbow carrots
zucchini/summer squash
fresh onions red long heirloom or short, squat cippolini onions
swiss chard
kale
new potatoes!
lettuce
raspberries

pictured this week, baby house sparrows spilling out of the box, beautiful beneficial insect habitat with garlic and caterpillar tunnels in the back ground. we were prepping a new field this week, matthew spreading soil amendments and starting to plow.

on july 17th we will be having our next CSA event. details to be announced, but we hope to have a nice potluck, perhaps with a zucchini theme?! and do a little farm job. hope you can make it.

here's a recipe for the week:
if you have never had patty pans, try them sliced and sauteed with onions and beet greens, serve as is or over pasta!

happy eating this week,
liz and matthew

CSA week 4

2010-06-20T21:27:00.003-04:00

Welcome to the csa week! Lets see, we are beginning to shift from all the greens to produce that new members may be more used to eating. You will start to see the first raspberries, zucchinis, potatoes, and possibly cherry tomatoes this week (more likely next week for the cherry tomatoes and even two weeks before there is any quantity).

Its been nice meeting our new CSA members, its doesn't seem that long ago that we new every single member from our social lives. Now there are plenty of new faces, as we have grown a little bit each year to where we are now at 75 and pretty close to where we think our cap will be. While we have lots of new faces, we are so glad to say that we have lots of familiar faces in the CSA, too. We have always been lucky to have a great retention rate. Of our original 14 members, seven are still with us seven years later, some of the rest moved away or started gardens, a few still shop with us regularly and some decided CSA is not for them. Which is fine, of course. We some times have people apologize to us when they don't rejoin the CSA, but don't worry we not offended, we know that every family is different and busy, don't feel bad when you do what works for your family. (Of course if you were not rejoining because you had had a bad experience, we hope that you would please let us know so that we could learn from you.)

Speaking of what works for your family, a few weeks ago, we had little bit of a tongue in cheek emergency weeding day. Lots of people gave apolgies for not being able to make it, don't feel bad, everyone is busy, and weeding is definately not for everyone. We decided to invite people to come out and help since it makes a job more fun, but also because we realized that we really enjoy working outside on the farm, hearing and watching the birds, or listening to the solar radio, or just thinking our thoughts. Its nice to converse, too of course! In general, its so lovely to work outside and be in the natural world and we should give people a chance to enjoy that with us if they are interested in doing that. That said, we wanted to publicly thank those who joined us- thanks- Garnet, Dan and Dorothy, Pat and Mark for coming out to help us on that rainy Sunday. If you ever feel the need to connect with the "real world" come out to the farm and stroll through the orchard, walk in the woods, sit by the pond or even pull some weeds.

Thanks to all of our Elmira pickupers for helping to make the new market a big success the first week! (Last week was a little slow, also a little rainy, so we will see how the third week goes.) We will have more posters in hand, and if you have a spot you can hang one or more, we would be much obliged if you would tack it up for us, workplace, place of worship, coffee shop, library, any place you frequent could benefit from a poster. Also, please don't be afraid to tell your people about the friendly new little market in town on Monday nights!

Another note to Elmira pickupers, you may see that this post is titled 4th week of CSA and that this is the third week of Elmira pickup, the way the months fell, the new market is one day shorter than our other pickups, we will make it even with you- don't worry. We will either extend a week and get permission to have a pickup there, or at another spot, or we will give extra items to you over several weeks so that you are even with everyone else. But at any rate, we are aware that you are not in sync with the other pickup days.

Thanks John, for the suggestion, we finally are able to put photos on our blog again! Hooray! He suggested that we try a different browser, and it did the trick! Sadly, our camera has been idle recently and we only have old pictures to add. Like these blurry baby robins, maybe it is the heat up there by the roof that blurred the photo!

thanks for sending this recipe in, Laurie this is simple and sounds delicious! its almost too late for the asparagus, but there may still be a little around.

Fruit and Vegetable Salad Supreme

Prep: 10 minutes; Cook: 3 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 2 3/4 cups)

1/2 pound asparagus spears, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups thinly sliced carrot
8 cups mixed salad greens
2 cups sliced strawberries
1/2 cup light balsamic vinaigrette
1 cup (4 ounces) crumbled goat or feta cheese
1/2 cup pecan halves, toasted

1. Bring a large saucepan filled with water to a boil. Prepare a bowl of ice water. Add asparagus and carrot to boiling water. Remove after 2 minutes, or when color has brightened; drain and plunge into ice water. Drain, and pat dry.

2. Combine salad greens, strawberries, and vegetables. Add dressing; toss well before serving. Top with cheese and pecans.

CALORIES 227 ; FAT 15g (sat 4g,mono 4g,poly 2g); CHOLESTEROL 15mg; CALCIUM 132mg; CARBOHYDRATE 19g; SODIUM 478mg; PROTEIN 7g; FIBER 6g; IRON 2mg

Health, MAY 2005

my eyes are starting to droop, but first, please mark your calendars for July 17th, we will be having our next CSA event on that day, not sure what we will be doing yet, but wanted to get it on your calendars. details to be announced.
happy eating this week!
liz and matthew

2010-06-19T21:23:00.004-04:00

CSA week 3

2010-06-15T20:47:00.003-04:00

Only one thing to write about this week: rain. Our rain gauge total for the month thus far is 3.49 inches - going no more than 2 days without recorded rainfall. And rain is in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow. Obviously other sections of the country have had much worse experiences with excess rainfall recently and all we have is soggy soil, but there's been no tilling, no cultivating and no direct seeding here. That leaves a lot of hand weeding! Admittedly these are good conditions for that, but it takes up a lot time. And we've been able to get a few already prepared beds transplanted. I am sure we are not the only farmers in the area worried about the diseases that struck so hard last year under similar conditions - late blight and downy mildew. We'll be scouting for signs of their arrival!
As you can see below we are beginning to harvest a few more crops. Including garlic scapes. Please note our always popular garlic scape pesto recipe and enjoy some on your pasta while they last!

Raw Scape Pesto

Garlic scapes make a pesto that is a pretty green color and a knock-your-socks-off rich garlic flavor. If this pesto is too strong for your taste, add mayonnaise or sour cream to dilute by 1/1 or even 2/1.

½ lb. scapes (chopped into 1" sections)
1½ c. olive oil
2 c. grated parmesan cheese

In a blender, combine the scapes and olive oil. Pour mixture into bowl and blend the cheese in by hand. Can be used as a cracker or pizza spread. Can be frozen in plastic ice cube trays and used later - this applies to the other pestos, dips, and dressings as well. Put them in a freezer bag, use all year for making bruschetta, with pasta or pizza.

ALSO, garlic bread: 2 or 3 cubes thawed works great as a substitution for the oil component of bread.

This week's vegetables:
Kale
Chard
Broccoli
New Potatoes
Peas
Beets
Garlic Scapes
Lettuce
Lettuce Mix
Frisee
Spinach

Next week's (expected) vegetables:
Broccoli
New Potatoes
Peas
Beets
Garlic Scapes
Lettuce
Lettuce Mix
Carrots
Zucchini/Summer Squash
Raspberries

2nd week of CSA

2010-06-10T20:05:00.004-04:00

First of all I apologize for the late post. Blogger has been giving us troubles in posting and uploading photos. So, sorry but still no pictures.

As I'm sure you've noticed the harvest season has gotten off to a slow start - as usual. You've gotten mostly greens and the quantity has been rather low.

But with all this rain the crops are growing well. And thanks to those CSA members who came out for our weeding session last weekend we were able to eliminate the weeds in our broccolis and cabbages and most of our tomatoes and peas were trellised, too.

If we could download photos you'd see some of the newly hatched chicks in the birdhouses Liz has placed around the farm. And you'd see Liz planting our ginger in the caterpillar tunnel. And the lush, new green growth of the tomatoes planted at our May CSA event.

And you'd see pictures of our poor truck after it had been rolled. Yes, that right! Liz was driving home from farmers' market last Thursday when it happened. We had been up late the previous night and had been up early harvesting. Then after a busy day at market, Liz says she must have been more tired than she realized and when she opended them again she was driving on the side of the road. It was when she tried to get back on the road that the truck rolled. Amazingly she crawled out of the truck with only a few cuts and the x-rays and catscan at the emergency room all were negative.
Let this be a lesson to everyone - don't drive tired. Take a nap!!!
And if we could show you photos, you could see our new pickup truck! This is not the time of year for us to be without a truck for any length of time. So, as if we needed something else to do, Saturday we went out truck shopping and came home with our previous truck's green twin.

This week's vegetables (I know its kind of late):
lettuce
greens mix
radishes
frisee
carrots
green onions
spinach

Next week's (expected) vegetables:
lettuce
garlic scapes
baby carrots
beets
broccoli
new potatoes
radishes
maybe kale and chard
a few zucchini

Thought you might appreciate a salad dressing recipe!:

Staple Maple Dressing
1 c Canola Oil
5 oz. Olive OIl
1/2 C balsamic vinegar
1/4 tsp fresh ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch of pepper
1 1/4 tsp crushed garlic
2 T maple syrup
3/4 soy sauce

Mix together.

CSA week 1

2010-05-30T07:23:00.006-04:00

Welcome to Muddy Fingers Farm CSA's 8th year.

Our May 22 CSA workday was a pleasant event with nice weather and several families coming out to experience the farm. After lunch we headed to the field and planted 2 beds of tomatoes and 2 beds of potatoes. While the potatoes are not up yet, the tomatoes are doing great in all of this heat we had last week. Thanks to all who showed up to lend a hand.

Farm Update:

Its been hot, hot, hot. We've irrigated the last couple days for the first time

And we've been getting in all of our summer crops as fast as we can - beans, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, summer squash. While hoping that our mature spring crops - radishes, lettuce, spinach can hold on for our first week CSA harvest before they start to bolt.

Good thing we finally got our new (used) cooler put together and the air conditioner and Coolbot installed (The Coolbot is a nifty little device that connects to the air conditioner and tricks it into continue cooling the room down to as low as 32 degrees)

We also got our new root washer. It is not installed yet and we probably won't need to use it until August.

Hopefully Blogger will cooperate with our computer again soon and we can get some more pictures posted

This week's (expected) vegetables:

Carrots

Frisee/Endive

Lettuce

Dill

Cilantro

Spinach

Leeks

Radishes

CSA right around the corner now...

2010-05-10T21:44:00.003-04:00

Hello friends of the farm, I hope the spring is treating you well. It has been a weather rollercoaster around here. We’ve had heat, we’ve had cold, we’ve had rain, and we’ve had none, it seemed that we would have to be watering back in late April until the rain started coming reliably and so much so that we have had trouble getting in to till the soil. In all weather fun, we even had our first hail storm! NO damage, so don’t worry, it would have been funny to see us from the outside of the house, noses pressed against the window as we watched those little pellets fly. It was the longest minute of the day, but we made it!

Speaking of dramatic weather, we were away for the night on Friday to go to the memorial service for Matthew’s beloved grandfather. Our neighbors were kind enough to water our greenhouse and care for the farm. We had no idea that there would be a windstorm with 40+ mile per hour gusts. One or more of which took the top right off of our greenbarn! (Our greenhouse that is used like a barn) Our neighbor was kind enough to pick up everything in the building that would get ruined by being rained on, it was so nice to come home and find every single tool and cardboard box safely stored in our walk in cooler, where it would stay dry.

And speaking of normal weather, worry not about the frosts and even snow flurries of the last few nights. We certainly have lots of plants in the ground and the only ones that could be harmed by a frost are the few rows of the earliest potatoes that are up six inches tall. We covered them last night, but even if they do freeze, they will regrow, but we would like them as early as possible, so we don’t want to lose them.

This is a busy week, we are glad to be hosting two high school groups and to be speaking at a middle school career day all through the career development council. It is really gratifying to have farming be considered a career that we may want to introduce our youngsters to. With the average age of farmer’s today being well in the 50s, we will be glad to have young people entering farming in the future.

For those members who pick up in Elmira, we hope you will be excited to see the farmer’s market that will be happening in Grove park on Monday evenings. While we have not technically received permission for the market yet, at this moment we are just waiting for the paperwork from a few of the farms to get turned into the city. We will let you know when it is official, but for now, we have ourselves, a flower vendor (corning and WG members will recognize Christina from high meadow flower farm from those markets), an egg and meat vendor, a fruit and veggie vendor, and just today we talked to a food vendor who expressed interest, we’ll see how it pans out. We had asked an ice cream vendor but it doesn’t seem that they will be attending.

We’re thinking tomatoes right now, we spent a little while tonight potting up our plants into larger cells. Last year we tried grafting our favorite tasty heirloom varieties onto disease resistant root stock, but did a poor job of it. This year we tried again and achieved much more success, not a 100% success rate, but far better than last time. When we first attached the tasty variety on the top of the disease resistant bottom, they were very wilted and looked like there was no chance that they could live (see photo) many or most of them took and now they are growing on top of totally new roots- amazing!

Speaking of tomatoes, we will plan to do some transplanting of them at the May 22^nd CSA get together, hope you can make it, we will be starting with a potluck at noon followed by a tour and a little transplanting.

praying mantis case on a tree in the orchard, (they are beneficial insects and we are glad when we see their egg cases.)

that about does it for now, hope to see some of you on saturday the 22nd. and the rest of you in the first week of june when the CSA pickup begins.

liz and matthew

what the heck, weather coordinator?!?

2010-04-20T20:26:00.005-04:00

cutting potatoes to plant

plamting potatoes

i would like to lodge a complaint with whomever is in charge of weather. We have had lots and lots of lovely days lately including today, and yesterday, and at least half of Sunday. But Saturday, a nice day it was not! And we hosted our first CSA get together that day, too!

farm tour

When the phone rang at 11 o'clock, i was certain that it would be someone calling to cancel, but what?- it was someone calling to say that they were coming and had not RSVPed, wow! It was chilly with a wind that was a times stiff. But our CSA members were by and large unperturbed! How grand!

we all enjoyed a lovely potluck lunch (inside by the heat of a cozy fire) and then took a tour of the farm. Then we left it up to how we felt if we were going to go out and do a farm project of some kind. when the question was, will you stay or will you go, a four year old member, felt strongly that we should go do something, and i guess everyone else felt that way, too, since we ended up getting three different kinds of potatoes planted. Fun, and thanks for coming out, gang.

we will be crossing our fingers for the may 22nd date that the weather will be warmer and maybe a little sunnier, too. especially since there may be a film maker in attendance. We are taking part in a beginning farmer film series, which cooperative extension, Tompkins county got a grant to do. it will be brief videos of different farm tasks and we are so glad that it is being made, where was this kind of thing when we were getting started?

planting is in full swing and right now onions, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, carrots, beets, chard, kale, potatoes, spinach, and leeks are in the ground. if you are gardening along at home, its okay to have all of those things in the ground in our area of the country.

happy week, time for sleep!
liz and matthew

It has begun!

2010-04-12T20:07:00.004-04:00

Hello lovely CSA members, and other various blog readers! The peaceful waiting that we wrote about last time is gone and it is replaced with lots of "to do" lists. Plant this, water that, till this, mulch those over there. Each week has a list, every day has another list. Don't forget to call this place, pick up the last few supplies from the place in penn yan, mail the insurance form to that place before tommorrow, write a letter of support for the grant and find a few other farmers to do it, too. Get final permission in place for the new farmer's market in elmira. Spend hours outside listening to the lovely spring sounds. It is so much fun to be back into the season! (this is not sarcasm, don't worry, we really do like what we do.) the rodents and the snakes have both arrived since we last wrote! here is evidence of the rodent's arrival. No pictoral evidence of the snakes yet, sorry!

lettuces and frisee

I would say, "you should see the farm right now"! It is so beautful, cherries and plums in bloom the garlic plants stretching up through the mulch. Teeny little lettuces in straight rows down the beds, lots of birds nests in funny hidden places (inside a barrel in the hoophouse, two birds in hollow holes in the same dead tree, maybe ducks at the pond), baby broccoli plants under covers in the field. There are brand new plantings of hazelnuts and elderberries (we meant to plant them last year, but had a mixup on the order, so we didn't get them) and soon will be more new yellow raspberry plants. I said, "would say, you should see the farm right now" because you can see the farm right now --saturday is our first CSA get together day! We will start the day with a potluck at noon, bring a dish to pass, then we will have a brief farm tour, then we will be planting some onions and leeks as well as potatoes for an hour or so. Hope you can make it! we will email directions out soon. Don't forget our second CSA get together day which is may 22nd, put it on your calendar now, please!

gemini and liz with the new hazelnuts before they were caged to keep out rabbits, and mulched to keep them moist.

we are planting more ginger this year, here is our unhappy cat modeling how cool the "mother plants" look before we cut them into smaller pieces and plant them.

don't worry, once the CSA season starts, we write every week with recipes and updates, for now, we seem to make it happen monthly, thanks for checking in!

hope to see you saturday, and that your spring is busy and good, too!
liz and matthew

farming, in march

2010-03-18T09:49:00.003-04:00

a few old shots of the snow storm that is now ancient history, see the drift outside though?

This time of year feels like the last few days of a pregnancy- restless, ready for the change, aware of the storm of work that is about to arrive, yet not able to begin it until the time has come. The warm beautiful weather is enjoyable, we walk and feel the sun on our faces, we plant the seeds in the greenhouse that it is time for, we check our supplies, and order last minute ones, things lay in the ready, but the time to begin in earnest has not yet arrived. Soon we will look back and wonder what was so wrong with reading for a few hours or taking a walk around the orchard just to enjoy the morning. For now we are restless.

Despite the sense of waiting, it’s a joy to live on a farm and really be a part of the cycles of nature. We wait eagerly each late winter for the signs that spring is arriving. Several weeks ago, we saw the first snow geese heading north- white wings with the lovely black tips, the arrival of red wing black birds lifts our spirits with their distinctive call causing our hearts to give a joyful beat, we can hear them as we sit and seed in the greenhouse. The robins arrive and we are reminded of how they follow us down the beds after we work the soil, getting an easy meal and sticking close to where the soil is being turned. The killdeer calling its own name is a good friend and reminds us to be mindful of where they place their nests on the ground so that we don’t spoil it with the tractor. We remember the times they have nested right in our field and spent hours over the course of the nesting period, faking a broken wing to keep us away from the nest that we are well aware of already. We are holding our breath to see if bluebirds will move into one of our nest boxes again this year, as last year we scored our first brood and we glad to see them hatch and fledge successfully. Last night on the way to light the woodstove in the greenhouse, long vees of Canada geese could be heard moving overhead under the constellations. It is truly a magical time of year!

Most of the action at this time of year revolves around our horse manure hotbed. Basically manure mixed with the bedding in a frame of hay bales , the manure gives off heat as it decomposes, and we keep our seedlings sitting a few inches above it- the right temperature without the use of fossil fuels! We have used these every year that we have been farming, and this year we have answered questions from four other farmers about the “system”, we’d love to see other people get free heat for their seedlings, so it is great to answer questions about it. All of the seedling trays begin in that spot and once they have germinated, they are moved off to make room for the next batch. The greenhouse is better than half full now, and filling with more trays every few days.

there are snow drifts in this one, too, but this is the hotbed with plants being started on top.

Its always exciting to have a sunny warm day at this time of year, because you can almost watch the first tomatoes as they pop up through the soil in the light. Yesterday morning, there were about five tomato seedlings up and visible, and over the course of the day, another 50 or more popped right on through! I’m sure today many more will make their dramatic appearance, slim neck dramatically unfolding from out of the soil to ease any doubt that it knows what its meant to do.

The next step in the cycle is for the rodents to move in. Every year it happens all of a sudden we notice the tunnels in the surface of the manure, and then a few seedlings clipped off (sometimes more than a few). And then the snakes arrive and suddenly the problem is gone. The rodent social network must be faster than the serpentine one, but they always arrive eventually. Then lifting trays becomes interesting, because sometimes you’ll find your finger resting on a strangely smooth, scaly object and as the realization of what is happening hits both parties involved, it slithers rapidly away, and drops neatly down into the manure and disappears.

we had a delicious meal the other night of multi-colored pierogies, which was exqisite! this is a look at them before they were sealed and cooked.

we hope you are eating well and biding the last few days of winter in good spirits and health. Please don't forget the first two CSA days of the season, april 17th and may 22nd. we still have room if you haven't signed up, please do so!

sunny thoughts, liz and matthew

Snowy Seeding

2010-02-24T15:36:00.008-05:00

Rabbit tracks

A couple shots of freshly planted beds and trays. Its always fun and reinvigorating to plant seeds when the snow is falling outside. And the smell of the earth, compost, peat moss and even horse manure in the greenhouse is intoxicating this time of year.

There's Liz at the highly successful Local Foods festival in Corning last Friday night. Thanks to those of you who came out to support local agriculture. Liz and I were both hoarse by the end of the evening from talking to so many people interested in the CSA over the rumble of the crowd!

Here is a photo of Liz on our "dune buggy"/cultivating tractor. We were getting it out to fit it with its cultivating equipment.

what do farmer's do in the winter, anyway?

2010-02-17T20:04:00.013-05:00

a common question. Obviously not write on blogs, sorry followers that its been so long.

This winter we have been doing the business end of farming. Lots of planning, plenty of reading, and we attended a conference to beef up our farming skills for next year. We have been doing a bunch of talkings and planning for changes, we will be simplifying our marketing schedule from five things a week (four markets and a CSA pickup) down to Four things a week- three markets and a CSA pickup (that we may try to build a new market around). We will make up for some of the lost income by growing the CSA up to 75 members, from 60 last year.

We are tweaking our crop rotation scheme and trying to work in some more cover crops into the mix. We have been reading about both soil health as well as caring for our orchard, which may begin to bear a little this year.

We have finished going to market one day a week as our supplies have finally run out.

but you can find us this friday at the local foods fest at the civic center in Corning from 5-8 PM.

We've sent out our CSA forms for the season with a more extensive letter to our members, if you haven't recieved yours yet, please let us know!

Thanks to those who have signed up already, they are coming in fast now~ so don't delay too long!

We are also fortunate to do a lot of playing in the winter! reading for fun, watching some movies, cross country skiing, ice skating, and this winter we are doing plenty of olypmics watching!

even playing a little badminton!

We hope you are enjoying your winter as much as we are, first seedings are in just a few weeks, so things will be rolling again here before too long!

Happy winter days, liz and matthew

Refridgerator panels are up!

2009-12-08T17:41:00.009-05:00

They've been stacked in our yard for over two years, waiting. But now, at least the panels are in place.

A reminder: you can still find us at the Ithaca Farmers' Market at the outdoor location on the lake for the next 2 Saturdays. Then the Ithaca Farmers' Market will move indoors for January and February to the Women's Community Building Saturdays 11-2 pm. We'll be away for the holidays the first Saturday in January (Jan. 2.), but we will be attending after that.

We still have potatoes, chard, lettuce, arugula, garlic, onions, celeriac, cabbage, carrots, and hakurei turnips.

a learning day

2009-11-18T19:15:00.010-05:00

caterpillar ariel view

celeriac by the cartful

This has been a season of learning. During the last week of the CSA we learned that we did not have a secure enough email password and you all got a wonky email from our email address directing you to the website of some chinese company. Turns out password security is super important. If yours is still your pets name and a few numbers, time to secure it up (that's not what ours was, but i hear it is very common.)

Today we learned that fire extinguishers work really well. and also how strange it is to hear the words, "your tractor is on fire". our friends dropped off some mulch hay to us today to mulch our garlic, and while they were here the tractor caught on fire. Turns out its important to have a secure email password and a couple of working fire extinguishers, just in case. tomorrow i'm going to buy a fire extinguisher to put on our tractor, just in case. It aslo seems like a good idea to keep one in the car.

we also are learning how advance planning can pay off. we've just filled up our last little spot with inside the fence. We had hoped for a while to plant some native fruits. during the last year we grew persimmon and paw paw trees from seed. The pink flags are marking the little trees stretching out to almost the fence (visible in the background). Hopefully some day we will be bringing some native fruits to market.

the last thing we learned is that some of you are still looking for us and you can still find us at the ithaca market on saturday's from 10-3, it goes all the way to the 19th of Dec. we will be missing the week after thanksgiving, but otherwise, we'll see you there!

liz and matthew

Caterpillar!

2009-11-06T19:49:00.011-05:00

Here's a new concept (for us anyway) that we are trialing on our farm this winter and next spring: a temporary, moveable hoophouse. The kind folks at Cooperative Extension provided funds and materials for this cool "caterpillar tunnel" at our farm. The tunnel is covering fall-planted turnips, radishes and spinach. We'll monitor their progress, hopefully harvest them early spring (?) and see how the moving of the hoophouse goes next spring! And we'll also keep track on how it holdss up to the winter weather!

We got together Thursday to construct the hoophouse. Things went quite smoothly despite a little rain and cold and the structure was completed in the afternoon. In the first picture you can see we bent the pipes for the ribs of the hoophouse.

Thanks so much to Molly, Eric and Matt. We had a lot of fun putting it up.

Please stop by sometime to check it out!

last week of the CSA season

2009-10-26T19:25:00.003-04:00

4th Week of October - LAST WEEK!!

Thank you all for putting your trust in us to deliver vegetables to you each week. We appreciate all of the support you give us. We get so much positive feedback from you each week and it really lifts our spirits knowing that what we do is valuable to you. Though, honestly, we would also appreciate any constructive criticisms you may have.

So, we will be asking you to complete our 2009 CSA survey this week. You can fill it out when you pick up your vegetables. We'll have an envelope to place them in so you can return them anonomously. Or take it with you and send it in to us. We'll also send a copy through e-mail. Your input is useful to us in planning for next year.

Last week we poured the concrete slab on which we will put our walk-in cooler. We think it turned out okay. The concrete is almost done curing so we can start to think about the installation.

The season-long cycle of farmers' markets is finally coming to an end. And none too soon. Our list of things that need to be repaired, cleaned, organized, built, cut or prepared for winter has been growing all season with many items being put off for the "slow seasons". And we will both be ready to break into that list with full force next week as we will be harvesting only one day per week (Friday).

Check into this blog periodically throughout the winter as we will update it infrequently. Or you could just become a "follower" of the blog and you'll be notified if and when we update it.

Thanks for your interest in the CSA and thanks for taking time to read the newsletter this season!

roasted fall veggies to warm the home and your belly!

cut and cube potatoes, parsnips, carrots, leeks, onions, garlic, celeriac, sweet potatoes, beets, winter squash, and what ever else you have lying around. Cut according to how fast it will cook, winter squash should be cut a little smaller than other things.

toss with olive oil and crushed garlic (1-2 cloves worth), rosemary, thyme, or your favorite herb can be tossed in, too.

bake spread out from each other a little on a tray at 350 degrees, for 40-60 minutes stirring every twenty- until tender. toss with fresh parsley, frozen (or fresh) pesto, or serve with ketchup and enjoy!

thanks for eating through this season with us and investing in local agriculture!

matthew and liz

3rd Week October

2009-10-19T20:37:00.010-04:00

Scenes from a midwinter snowfall? No this was just last Friday morning. That's Liz harvesting some frosty leeks for the Friday and Saturday farmers' markets. But it didn't last long - the snow was gone by afternoon and the week is looking to be toasty in comparison.

Steven, our friend from Chicago, spent this past week with us. He loves to work - why else come to visit a farm, right? - and he helped us out a great deal in harvesting and preping for the cold weather. And at market as you can see here.

Also a picture of just-planted garlic cloves - thanks to those who came out for the garlic planting event! (just little rat tails sticking out of the soil)

We are finally acting on our longstanding plans to install a walk-in cooler in our "greenbarn". We hope to get the cement foundation poured for it this week while the weather will be warm. Its a will be a big space for us - 9'x12'! Practically big enough to live in. It was bought for practically nothing from a business that was closing. And its been waiting the past few years for us to install it. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

thanks for these recipes, laurie!

SUNCHOKE PECAN SANDWICH
(from http://www.vegparadise.com/highestperch26.html)
Raw sunchokes, sometimes called Jerusalem artichokes, are spotlighted as the featured ingredient in this unique sandwich. Crunchy pecans and a smooth creamy avocado sauce pair up in supporting roles. Serve the sandwich with a salad and fruit for a tasty light meal.
Sunchoke Pecan Sandwich is one of the delicious recipes in Zel Allen's cookbook The Nut Gourmet: Nourishing Nuts for Every Occasion published by Book Publishing Company in 2006.
Yield: 3 to 4 sandwiches
1 ripe avocado

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

Dash cayenne

1/4 to 1/2 cup (60 to 120 ml) organic canola oil
2 cups (480 ml) coarsely shredded sunchokes

1/2 cup (120 ml) raw or toasted pecans, coarsely chopped or coarsely ground

1/4 red bell pepper, finely diced

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

6 to 8 slices whole grain bread

12 to 16 large basil leaves

3 ripe tomatoes, sliced

3 to 4 butter lettuce leaves

To make the avocado sauce, wash the avocado, cut it in half, scoop out the flesh, and place it in the blender. Add the lemon juice, salt, and cayenne and blend briefly. With the machine running, slowly add the canola oil, using just enough to create a thick, creamy sauce. Stop the machine occasionally to scrape down the sides of the blender jar and stir the mixture.
To make the sunchoke filling, combine the sunchokes, pecans, and red bell pepper in a medium bowl. Add enough of the avocado sauce to moisten and hold the mixture together. Season with salt and pepper if needed.
Spread a thin coating of the avocado sauce over one side of each of the bread slices. Spread the sunchoke mixture over half the bread slices and top with the basil leaves, tomato slices, and lettuce. Place the remaining bread slices over the filling and cut the sandwiches in half..

Parsnip And Carrot Slaw with Apricot Dressing
2 c Coarsely shredded parsnip

2 c Coarsely shredded carrot

1 c Coarsely shredded celery root

1/2 c Plain nonfat yogurt

2 tb Apricot preserves

1/8 ts Salt

1/8 ts Ground ginger

1/8 ts Pepper
Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl; toss well. Combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients; stir well. Add to vegetable mixture; toss gently to coat. Yield; 4 servings (serving size: 1 cup).
Just Vegetable Recipes is located at www.justvegetablerecipes.com

thanks linda for this recipe!
Ginger Drink from Sundays at Moosewood

6 cups boiling water cup fresh lime or lemon juice
1 cup peeled fresh ginger root 1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar 8 cups cool water
2 teaspoons whole cloves
4 cinnamon sticks
Pour the boiling water over the grated ginger root, sugar, cloves, and cinnamon in a large nonreactive bowl. Cover and set aside in a warm place for at least an hour.
Strain the liquid through a fine sieve or cloth. Add the juices and water. Set aside in a warm place for another hour or so. Gently strain the liquid again, taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom. Store in the refrigerator in a large nonreactive container.
Serve warm, chilled, or on ice, either as is or diluted with water or sparkling water. Add some honey or freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice.

We like it best hot with honey. We have made many different variations. We don’t use white sugar, but substitute with maple sugar. We often increase the cloves and/or cinnamon, and substitute more orange juice for some of the cool water. We usually increase the steeping times and aren’t too concerned about the sediment. Hope you like it!

make your own Hummus!:

1 can chick peas, or about two cups if you cook your own.

clove of garlic

1/4-1/2 cup olive oil

2-3 T lemon or lime juice

1-2 T soy sauce

1/4-1/2 t. corriander

1/4-1/2 t. cumin

1/4 t. pepper

blend in food processor until smooth. also great with roasted red peppers blended in.

two weeks to go, thanks for eating with us!

liz and matthew

second week of october

2009-10-12T21:35:00.004-04:00

(rainbow over the farm)

Three weeks left folks, we're coming into the real fall crops now! We had our first killing frost last night officially making this the shortest frost free season that we have had since we started farming! Worry not, tomatoes, peppers, and beans were winding down on their own several weeks ago with the onset of cooler nights and shorter days. Now they are brown and dead and we get to really enjoy fall's true bounty!

leeks, onions, garlic, celeriac, potatoes, winter squash- warm foods that lead us to roasting and souping and stewing. Foods that warm the kitchen and then warm our bellies, too! we stuffed a pumpkin with wheat berries, carrots, black beans, and other good things and got to share it with our working shares and their familes at our thankyou dinner this weekend, thanks again guys for sharing a nice meal with us and for your essential help this season! remember we will be looking for a few more next year, so if you are interested, please do let us know!

we've been reviewing the season a lot recently and will be solicting your feedback as well in survey in a week or so (feel free to give imput before then as well). for returning members, how did you like the new pick up method with more choices? for elmira pickups, would you like more options? Are there crops you'd like to see us grow that we don't?

There are so many angles to consider about next year. We took part in a cornell cooperative extension project this summer tracking our marketing channels and comparing each one to see which are efficient and lucrative and which are less so. armed with this data, we are able to look at our week and make some decisions. selling at four farmer's markets each week with two people is a lot, we may make some changes for next year, so the survey will help us in our decision making processes.

don't forget about the garlic planting on saturday the 17th! starts at 2:30. bring work gloves and warm clothes.

things you'll see this week:

potatoes, leeks, onions, celeriac, garlic, winter squash

peppers (early in the week)

spinach

lettuce

parsley

parsnips!

brussels sprouts!

kale

chard

this great recipe sent in by john and donna, thanks!

Celeric remoulade-from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters
1 med. Celery root
salt and pepper
juice of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
½ cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp heavy cream
parsley
Peel the celery root and julienne it to about 1/8 inch. In a bowl, dissolve a pinch of salt in the lemon juice, grind in some pepper, and stir in the mustard, mayo, and cream. Toss in the celery root. Let stand at least 15 min before serving. Mound on plate and sprinkle with parsley leaves.
We used it as a dip on crackers and plum tomato slices.

zucchini season has ended on our farm, but we just got these two great recipes from lisa, so we'll put them on for posterity's sake and in case anyone is buying zucchini:

I make this pasta dish fresh from my garden when there is an abundant yield of tomatoes and zucchini. It is a fast, simple and satisfying dish – an easy end to a long summer day! I vary the amounts of onions, zucchini and tomatoes based on how many will be sharing the meal. I serve this as a main course, but often accompany it with a green salad and a nice loaf of bread. I vary the dish sometimes by adding a few leaves of fresh basil, or fresh spinach, or other vegetables, but my favorite version is with just zucchini and tomatoes.

Summer Harvest Pasta
2 ripe tomatoes
2 zucchini
2 onions
Olive Oil
Fresh Ground pepper
Salt
Toasted pine nuts
Grated Parmesian cheese (optional)
Pasta (bow-tie or Rombi
Toast the pine nuts by tossing them in a bit of olive oil and cooking until golden brown. Shake the pan a few times to make sure that they are browned on both sides. Set aside.
Cook the pasta while the vegetables are being prepared.
Prepare the vegetables. Chop the onions medium fine. Slice the zucchini into ¼ inch rounds and then quarter them.
Sauté the onions with olive oil in a pan until golden brown. A small amount of carmelized onions in the mix is perfect. Add ground pepper and salt. Add the zucchini and sauté until just tender. Note that they should not be overdone. They will not have released any liquid. Chop the tomatoes directly into the pan and cook until just sauced. The beauty of this dish is in the fact that the tomatoes are just cooked until they release their juices. Overcooking destroys the flavor.
Spoon over the pasta. Toss pine nuts on top. Sprinkle with fresly grated cheese – if desired. Bon Apetit!

Adapted from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum,
1.5 cups sifted cake flour (I just use regular, unsifted)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp cinamon
1/2 tsp. powdered ginger
the recipe calls for 1/4 tsp ground cloves...I use approx. the same of cardamom instead
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup toasted and coarsely ground (or broken up by hand) walnuts
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (firmly packed) light brown sugar - I use dark
1/2 cup safflower oil (I use canola)
2 cups firmly packed grated zucchini (squeeze extra liquid out)
optional, 1/2 cup raisens
Preheat the oven to 350
Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, baking soda, spices)
Beat the eggs, sugar and oil for 2-3 minutes or utnil lighter in color
Add the dry ingredients and beat/mix until blended.
Add the zucchini, then the walnuts (and raisens)
Scrape batter into muffin tins 3/4 full
Bake for 20-25 minutes until toothpick in center comes out clean.
Cool on rack for 5 minutes. Then take out of muffin tins and enjoy!

that's it for now, have a splendid week!

liz and matthew

1st week October

2009-10-05T19:15:00.008-04:00

Thank you Ryan, Kara and Chris for your help harvesting on Wednesday - what a big help! And it is always educational and fun to have fellow farmers visit and ask each other many questions. Kara and Ryan have a CSA and market farm operation in NE Pennsylvania at Journey’s End Farm Camp. You guys are awesome - keep up the good work!
And another thank you to all the performers at our little concert on Saturday - Dan Maloney, Tim Newton and Joe Chiccone and friends. The tiny crowd was treated to some excellent folk and roots music.

Isn't the light of a bright autumn afternoon the most spectacular of all the long year?

Items to pick from for this week’s share:
Winter squash
Pumpkins
Jerusalem Artichokes
Chard
Kale
Parsley
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Sweet Potatoes
Leeks
Peppers
Watermelons
Beans
Cabbage
Broccoli
Celeriac
Kohlrabi

Here’s another delicious idea for celeriac: cook and mash them with potatoes - with a little garlic mixed in if you like - mmmm, hearty.

We think Jerusalem artichokes are best enjoyed raw. We slice them into salads. If you figure out how to cook them successfully let us know how you did it!

Our annual garlic-planting CSA workday will be Saturday October 17th at 3 pm. This is our final CSA event of the season so come out and enjoy the lovely autumn weather.

Bring strong fingers and perhaps a pair of garden gloves. We'll supply the garlic!

last week of september

2009-09-30T21:54:00.004-04:00

pumpkin season

fingerlings

tools of the trade

Hey all, the big news this week is getting ready for our concert on sunday (the 4th), hope you can make it! It will be 2-7 here at the farm. (here's the blurb from the poster...)

Muddy Fingers Fall Concert & Jam will
Feature:
¬Folk Singer-Songwriter Danny Maloney
¬Joe Cicconi & Friends
¬Tim Newton’s Claw-hammer Banjo
¬Open-mic for your talent, craft or art!
¬A Jam/ Sing along finale!

Bring a lawn chair, blanket, picnic dinner, and beverages to this free event, and enjoy original and traditional roots-folk music. Bring your own voice, instruments and songs - or whatever talent you wish to share for our open-mic!

Remember garlic planting will be october 17th and these two will be the last events of the season.

This week you will see:
pumpkins, we have one per share, i think.
winter squash
chard
kale
beets
broccoli
cabbage
sweet potatoes (not a great harvest, turns out mice really like sweet potatoes and got far more that we did)
garlic
onions
leeks
spinach
parsley
cilantro
beans
tomatoes
tomatillos
potatoes
celeriac
watermelons

have a great week! hope to see you on sunday!
liz and matthew

fourth week of september

2009-09-21T19:18:00.003-04:00

sweet peppers

Hey all welcome to fall! This week we have turned the corner into the autumn. Worry not, the CSA goes well into the fall with the last week of pickup being the last week of october. I find as the days start to become noticeable shorter a lot of people start to ask when the CSA ends, getting tired of us already?

the one thing that is ending quite soon is our working share program. We have had five awesome working shares this season and they have been an immense help to us. On monday Danielle has heroically harvested what next year will be a two person job. On thursdays Ryan and Jane have helped us set up for the day and kept our boxes filled and produce piled for the first several hours. On Fridays Terri, Lydia, Reeder, Mark, Pat, Harold, and even a few times Linda. Have helped us pick our way through the field. Without their help the summer season would not have been half as fun and would have been at least twice as hard. Thanks guys.

speaking of working shares, we will be looking for at least three more next year so if you are interested please be in touch with us. Generally the trade is for 11 weeks of work (july-sept) four hours each week. We are looking for people who enjoy being outside, can handle the ups and downs of vegetable harvesting (that's literally getting up and back down), is reliable about showing up when they say, and enjoys spending time both harvesting with other people and yet will not wither way when left briefly (yet trained first) to harvest alone.

Last call on basil at market this week. We preserved a big batch of pesto this week and thought, too bad this will be the last of the year as the leaves are starting to get to be small. We wanted to give everyone the heads up, last chance to get basil as we will be mowing the bed in soon.

or a frost could take it. the last few years we have not had a frost until the middle or end of october, but we are nearing the time of year, where statistically 5 years in 10 there will be a freeze. (at least according to our soil survey book from 1974, 5 out of 10 years would have a freeze by sept 28). the other night a farmer friend was very close as some of her flowers were nipped by frost. Our location on the slope to the lake offers good air drainage and we are unlikely to actually freeze for several weeks, but again, its not impossible.

the perogie day was fun! thanks to julie, garet, evelyn, dorothy, sarah, margot, chris, david, mary, (and later joan, alan, and betty- hope you read the blog now~!) for coming out to make perogies with us.

kids reading books, instead of making perogies, i guess its the child labor laws...

farmer siblings making perogies with a blurry niece face

hey what is that hairy thing on the table this week? Well its celeriac, a super vegetable. It holds for months in the root cellar, when cooked, it has the texture of a potato, but a lovely celery taste. Can be used raw in salads or used lots of times in soups. there is a great article on the NPR website about it, included below is one of the 3 recipes from that article. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6551175

Boiled Celeriac with Butter and Herbs from NPR.org

3 large celery roots, peeled
Juice of 1/2 lemon, plus extra for acidulating water
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
1/2 cup chopped parsley, chives, tarragon, mint, lemon balm or basil (you can pick one or use two in a savory combination)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Fill large bowl with water and add lemon juice. Add celery roots as they are peeled.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

Cut peeled celery roots into three or four thick slices, then cut each slice into three or four fat sticks, returning them to their bowl of acidulated water after each step.

Shape the sticks into "batons" by shaving off the square "corners" and pointing the ends (like sharpening a fat pencil) with a paring knife.

Place the batons in the boiling water. Add juice of half a lemon. Bring water back to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until batons are soft but not mushy, about 30 minutes. Drain thoroughly and return to the pot.

Add butter, herbs of choice, and salt and pepper to taste. Heat through before serving.

have a great week!
liz (and matthew)

Delicata squash

2009-09-15T20:22:00.001-04:00

What can one do with a delicata squash?

Basic Baked (Winter) Squash
1 winter Squash, halved
2 pats of butter
2 teaspoons of honey or maple syrup
Salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Scoop the seeds out of each half with a spoon
Add 1 pat of butter, 1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup, and salt and pepper to the hollow scoop of each half. Place upright on a greased cookie sheet and roast for 20 to 30 minutes or until tender when flesh is poked with a fork.
Enjoy just like this as a delicious, quick and easy side dish that is great anytime of the year. Or, leave out the butter and honey/syrup and use the baked squash as a great base for soups, put chunks of cooked squash into baked goods to add great nutrients and a little natural sweetness and nice texture to a quick bread, yeast bread, or pancakes.

Hope this helps!

Third week of Sept.

2009-09-14T20:42:00.004-04:00

happy sunflower from our friend's kara and ryan's garden

We will be hosting a pierogie-making event on Saturday September 19. If you plan to attend, bring a filling that is suitable to go inside of a perogie. We will make the tasty little pockets and you will take a bag or two home to freeze (or eat fresh). Details on the event were sent to your e-mail. Please make sure to let us know if you are coming as we need to shop for ingredients.

We are planning to host a concert here on our farm on Sunday October 4th. Singer/songriter/folk musician Dan Maloney (fellow CSA member) and banjoist Tim Newton will perform at 2:00.
Donations for performers will be accepted. Bring a chair and an instrument if you are so inclined to participate in a jam/folksing afterwards.

things you may see this week in your share:
tomatoes
peppers
eggplants
beans
cherry tomatoes
garlic
onions
delicata squash
cabbage
carrots
beets
chard
kale
tomatillos
patty pans/zucchini
potatoes
melons
raspberries
ginger
leeks
celeriac

a few yummy recipes!
Ginger greens tea:
cut ginger leaf stalk into about 1 inch pieces. add to a quart of water, simmer about 10 minutes. Serve with honey or brown sugar to taste.

red lentil dahl from journey's end farm camp cookbook:
1 cup dried red lentils
4 cups of water
pinch of salt
1 c diced carrots
1 celery stalk
3 T vegetable broth powder

1 t olive oil or ghee
1 T mustard seeds

1 t corriander
1 t tumeric
1 inch piece of fresh ginger root, grated
1 tsp cumin

2 T soy sauce

rinse lentils and add first group of ingredients to a stock pot.

in a skillet, heat the ghee and mustard seeds unil the seeds sputter and pop.

add third group of ingredients

add soy sauce and simmer over low for 15 minutes.
enjoy over rice or with chapatis!

thanks for checking in with us! have a splendid week!
liz and matthew

2009-09-09T17:53:00.004-04:00

We've been falling down on our newsletter-writing responsibilities (as we are apt to do this time of year). But our niece Margot is visiting with us this eveing and she's asleep in the bedroom so its a good excuse to sit down and write.

The first piece of exciting news is that our experimental ginger crop is being harvested now and the yield is pretty decent - about what we expected. We planted it in the hoophouse, two beds, in late May after sprouting the "mother roots" for about a month and half. We will be evaluating the final yield and income earned from this crop and see if it something we want to add to our list of crops that we grow in the future. There certainly were many exclamaitions of excitement at the farmers' market on Tuesday and it sold very well. And we think it tastes pretty good too!

You may be happy to know that, based on demand from the CSA, we have also agreed to set aside our inherent greed and include raspberries and ginger in the CSA share. But be warned that these items are in short supply and you might need to get to market early as they usually sell out quickly. And we probably will not have raspberries at the Saturday market as they usually sell out the night before in Watkins Glen. And the ginger harvest will be a short one. We will have it this week and the next week and that will probably be it. This is fresh, immature ginger and should be eaten within a couple of weeks and should be stored in the refrigerator.

Right now we are trying to work some time into our schedule for post-CSA harvesting. Many beds are empty of vegetables but have weeds taking over or have vegetables that have already been picked over. These beds need to be mowed, the vegetation turned under and allowed to rot for 1-2 weeks. Then we will hope to plant either rye and vetch (a favorite winter cover crop), oats (another favorite fall cover crop that dies back over the winter) or some valuable crops for winter harvest such as carrots, leeks, greens, turnips or spinach. This is a part of farming into which we are still just getting our feet wet. We will be writing more about our efforts in preparing for a winter harvest in the coming weeks.

Cold Peanut Sauce
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup tahini (we often omit)
1/4 cup soy sauce or less
1/2 cup hot black tea (or hot water)
3 Tbs brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp chili powder or less
2 Tbs vinegar
4 cloves garlic
1 3/4" ginger root or less

Combine peanut butter, tahini, soy sauce, 1/2 of the hot tea, sugar and chili, vinegar, garlic and ginger. Blend until smooth. Add remaining tea to thin as needed.

Sound like a bizarre combination of ingredients? Maybe it is, but we love it as a topping on spaghetti. Had some for lunch and didn't want to stop eating it.

G!

2009-08-26T21:07:00.003-04:00

We are not usually “impulse buyers.” But sometimes you have to be impulsive in order to get what you want. We try to keep an eye on the local papers for auction announcements just in case there might be something there that we could put to use on the farm. We are not seasoned auction-buyers, though. The only things we’ve bought in the past at auction are our refrigerated truck, our large hoophouse and some raingear. But when I looked through the auction section of the paper last week I spotted a listing for an Allis Chalmers G at an auction this past weekend. This is not a tractor we were planning to buy. But, then again, I’m not sure you can really plan to buy one of these. They are pretty rare and you’ve just got act on it when one comes up for sale.
Being a small organic vegetable farm, we don’t mind hand weeding. It’s somewhat inevitable. But by this time of year, things are always getting completely out of control. So many different beds are in desperate need of weeding, its tempting to just give up on all of them. So, we know that this is one part of our operation that needs some rethinking and improvement.
The Allis Chalmers G is pretty funky-looking. It is strictly a cultivating tractor and only has a 10-12 horsepower engine. They were manufactured in the late ‘40s and early ‘50s, just before herbicides began to make them “obsolete.” But they have still been useful to many over the years because about half of the 30,000 made are still in use.
We ended up “winning” the G at the auction for the price of $1700 (only $200 above our the $1500 we said was our limit!). It needs some work (it came with no cultivators, nor the levers to operate them), but we hope it will help us keep out the weeds on most of our unmulched crops.
We are always leery about taking on new equipment since neither of us are mechanically inclined. But we think the pros will greatly outweigh the cons of owning this machine.

Vegetables available this week:
Pretty much the same as the last few weeks except that we have a few cantaloupes (if you're early you might get one).
Leeks next week and probably more cantaloupes.

you must take squash!

2009-08-18T21:56:00.004-04:00

these patty pans just won't stop!

Harold and Linda hard at work!

Rainbow cherry tomatoes

A busy week at muddy fingers farm. We are still managing to keep the late blight away from our tomatoes and our late season potatoes, so that is good news! We are using several management strategies currently to keep the late blight contained to where we first spotted it. we are also having some help from several things that are just dumb luck. First the weather has been less conducive to blight. We have been having warm days and warmer nights and it has been drier. Secondly, the early and midseason potatoes are planted separately from the other vulnerable things, and they are physically separated by a windbreak.

We are also actively taking steps to contain the late blight that we do have. First of all, when we discovered the disease very early in the outbreak in our early and mid season potatoes, we pulled the infected plants and any near them, that was about four 100 foot beds. Those pulled plants are under a piece of plastic, cooking in the sun to kill any spores that were on them. Then we noticed that the rows below the first 4 had also become infected, so we took the brush hog through and mowed those plants to the ground to stop more spores from forming and spreading to other plants both here and on our neighbors land (another 8 beds, I think).

Thirdly, we are spraying copper hydroxide which is what is recommended for organic growers to prevent the late blight. This treatment if preventative only, so the leaves must be sprayed with a coat of it before the spores land on them, meaning after rain and every week or so they must be sprayed again. According to the Umass extension website, oral toxicity of copper is low (lower than aspirin or caffeine), but washing tomatoes is still recommended before consuming. We are washing our tomatoes and potatoes before we give them out. But this is a general reminder that it is always a good idea to wash all produce before you eat it. We are extremely careful about hand washing and hygiene, but unfortunately, not every person who picks up produce before you is as conscientious.

When mowing the potatoes last week, it was sad to know that we were cutting their growing season short, but we know that they were mostly sized up already and we may be able to save our tomato crop as well as the storage potatoes that have not yet sized up. So, it was a hard decision that we felt was the only way we really could go. As I was mowing the plants, two things came to me. The first was the smell of the late blight. I had read that the extremely fast decomposition of the plant material caused by late blight infection can cause an intense smell. I accidently hit the corner of the plastic covering the pulled up plants from the first few beds, and the only two words that can describe the smell are GAG REFLEX! Wow! The poor irish! As the boats left the island after the famine, the smell of rotting potatoes must have followed them miles out to see, the last memory of their homeland must certainly have been the awful odor of rotting potato plants.

I haven’t mowed anything taller than a lawn in a while and I had forgotten the way the barn swallows swoop excitedly around the tractor as it scares insects up for them to eat. The little nestlings in our barn and carport were well fed the night, and it made me smile to see the birds swoop and dive snatching up insects. I felt like part of the flock as they soared at eye level dipping down and grabbing their prey. Even if we were mowing growing plants, life does go on!

On the bad news front, this will most likely be the last week for cucumbers as the downy mildew has finished them up. Get them while you can (see the recipe below for cucumber soup!) In reference to the title, the squash are doing great, please, please take them and eat them and LOTS! in case you need inspiration, see several recipes below.

In the news that could have been worse department. We have been pulling onions this week and they managed to size up pretty well before they got downy mildew. We even pulled one that weighed in at 2 and a quarter pounds before it was peeled and cleaned!

We had a nice time at the star gazing sleep out, but who knew so many people go on vacation in august! There were lots of people who expressed interest in coming, but in the end it was a small group of us who slept out and a bigger group who enjoyed the dessert potluck. We haven’t scheduled or planned September’s event yet, but keep your eyes out, we are talking about having a perogie making day!

Things you may see this week:
squash
last of the cukes
potatoes
squash
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
celery
lettuce
carrots
peppers
eggplants
beets
squash
edamame
basil
parsley
chard
kale
beans
cabbage
dill
lettuce mix
garlic
onions
squash

try this delicious heirloom tomato salad recipe from the Edible Finger Lakes magazine!
3 lbs heirloom tomatoes, cut into wedges
1 garlic clove grated (or minced and mashed with salt)
3 T extra virgin olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
2 stems of oregano leaves
1/2 tsp coarse salt, more to taste
1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

put tomato wedges in a bowl and whisk together the other ingredients, then toss it over the tomatoes. this recipe is great tossed with feta or goat cheese!

"Quick Zucchini julienne" from "more house specialties"
heat 2 T olive oil in a large skillet
saute one medium onion, thinly sliced
add 1 lb (4 cups) of matchstick sized zucchini until lightly browned and crisply done
stir in 1 T sesame seds and 1 T soy sauce, add salt and pepper if desired.

Zucchini-potato pancakes:
2 medium zucchini, grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 large potato peeled and shredded (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 small onion, grated
2 T. cornmeal
2 T flour
3/4 t salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
oil for frying

sourcream if desired for serving.

Drain zucchini, pressing out as much liquid as possible, mix with potato and onion. stir in cornmeal, flour, and salt and egg until well mixed.

lightly grease griddle or skillet. cook using 2 T for each pancake, pressing down to flatten, 3-4 minutes per side, until lightly browned. Serve with sour cream.

this recipe from our friends, kara and ryan, sounds so good, can't wait to try it!

BEET CHIPS
MMMMmmm... even non-beet-lovers enjoy this snack.

4 beets, scrubbed -- do not peel
1 Tbsp. olive oil
sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Using the slicing blade of your food processor, a mandoline or a sharp knife, slice beets as thinly as possible. Toss with olive oil and salt. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet. Roast 30 minutes to 1 hour, turning halfway through, until crisp. Check often to make sure they don't burn. Let cool and enjoy!

on the same note, try roasted green beans! large beans are especially good for this recipe!
toss beans with olive oil. bake at 450 for 20-22 minutes, turning after 10. salt the beans and serve, they are like green bean french fries, really great!

last chance for this recipe, i guess:
cucummber soup:
place 2 peeled cucumbers, one shallot(or small onion), 1 tsp dill, and 1 tsp. parsley in the food processor and puree. Add 1/4 cup yogurt and 1-3 tsp. cider vinegar. season with salt and pepper to taste.

hope the week is super! liz and matthew

2nd week of August

2009-08-10T19:20:00.005-04:00

What a day!
Powerful thunderstorms succeeded a sweltering, thick-aired morning. (So this is what summer feels like?)
A couple hours of heavy rain and thunder and lightning surrounding us sent us inside for a couple of damp breaks from harvesting. At least no hail!

Liz mowed the rest of our late blight infected potatoes today. Unfortunately that was this morning right before the thunderstorms struck. We hope the infection doesn't wash down into the soil to infect the tubers.
The infection is evident by the brown splotches on the potato leaves in the pictures. As you can see its not too bad, yet. Maybe we have a less virulent strain.

this is the big picture of that spot.

a little friend got washed out in the storms, seen here taking a break with liz.

You are all invited to join us this Saturday night for a campout to watch the Perseid meteors. We'll have a campfire and some treats to eat and breakfast in the morning (homemade granola and blue berries). Feel free to sleep out overnight or just join us for a few hours Saturday night. We'll be starting at 8 Pm with a dessert potluck, bring your favorite and try some one else's favorite while you are at it! Bring a tent or don't last year just about everyone slept out without the tent as the stars are so spectacular that way. The moon will be quite dark, so it should be a great night! Come on out!

Vegetables you're likely to see this week:
tomatoes
eggplant
peppers
squash
zucchini
celery
*edamame soybeans
lettuce
potatoes
onions
cucumbers
herbs
garlic
beans
kale
chard
carrots
tomatillos

Edamame Soybeans are served in Japan and China both as a vegetable in meals and as a snack food. Edamame soybeans are easy to prepare. Just remove them from the stems and place in salted, boiling water for about ten minutes. They are delicious and nutty as well as being extremely nutritious, with all of the much celebrated health benefits of soy beans. Edamame is traditionally drained and salted with coarse salt then removed from the pods as they are enjoyed at the table or bar, just slip them out of their shells and pop them in your mouth. (When boiled, the beans easily slip out their shells.) To skip adding the salt, you can boil them in salted water instead or just forgo the salt all together.

grilled tomatillo salsa
you need: fresh tomatillos
garlic cloves, unpeeled 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
onion, coarsely chopped lemon or lime juice
Hot Pepper 2 teaspoons coarse salt

Preheat broiler.
Broil chiles, garlic, and tomatillos on rack of a broiler pan 1 to 2 inches from heat, turning once, until tomatillos are softened and slightly charred, about 7 minutes. Peel garlic and tomatillos pull off tops of chiles. Purée all ingredients in a blender. • Salsa can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Makes about 3 cups.

hope to see you this weekend, have a great week!
matthew (and liz)

first week of august

2009-08-05T19:40:00.003-04:00

an exquisite white faced hornets nest

a birds nest on our truck's undercarriage

a truck full of garlic

This week has been intense. There is not really much of another way to describe it. Its been a double whammy with the arrival of both of the dreaded, unstoppable diseases that we wrote about last week. First of all, we were the first in the state! Unfortunately, it is at having downy mildew. We reported our suspected case to the extension agent and as she was already scheduled to be here for some other thing, so she looked at it and concurred that it did indeed look like downy mildew, the first reported case in the state if the look at the spores through the microscope validates it.

the phone has been ringing with new cases of late blight on tomatoes and potatoes. In the last week alone, we have heard of 8 farms that have it, not just locally but all over the place. When I sat down to write this hours ago, i was ready to say that our scouting has not turned up any yet, but as i sat down to write this, matthew came in and asked me to look at something in the field with him- and there it was, late blight. We have spotted it early and have some possible hope for control- depending on the weather.

we had already decided earlier in the week to begin a biological herbicide spraying regime and the copper and a new larger sprayer is en route at this writing. Matthew will spend some time tomorrow pulling the infected potato plants which he will then destroy (either by burning or smothering with plastic for later disposal) and we will begin spraying with copper hydroxide. This is a preventative measure to keep the infection from spreading. Again it may or may not succeed depending on the weather and other factors, we may lose all our tomatoes and all of our potatoes in a worst case scenario. We hope to avoid that worst case.

If you have tomato or potato plants, check them often, at least twice a week for brownish spots with a water soaked appearance around the outside. If you do get late blight as a kindness to your neighbors and to farmers, pull diseased plants and dispose of them in a sealed bag in the trash or by burying, smothering under plastic, or burning. The spores thrive in cool, wet weather and are air born.

In addition to these two awful diseases, we pulled our german white garlic and found that our harvest is about half of last years since some rotted in low spots over the winter. and we have downy mildew on our onions which will kill the leaves and will make the lose a little of their potential size. Like i said, its been a rough week.

here's hoping next week is a better one.
liz and matthew

things you may see this week:
squash
cukes
tomatoes
cherry tomatoes
beans
celery
lettuce (mix)
beet greens
potatoes
basil
dill
cilantro
parsley
eggplants
peppers
husk cherries
tomatillos
cabbage
broccoli

last week of july share

2009-07-29T21:21:00.012-04:00

pat at the washing tub

mark and harold washing the first garlic harvest of the year!

There are plant diseases that try a farmer's commitment to organic agriculture. I can think of two, and hope that those are the only two that i ever know. We had one last season when we got downy mildew on our cucumbers and could do nothing but watch as they died one by one down the row. It was sad, and a loss of income, but we grow a wide array of vegetables and in any one year can afford to lose one without being too adversely affected.

this year the disease de jour on the whole east coast is late blight it affects tomatoes and potatoes. Its a bad one, this is the pathogen that caused the irish potato famine changing the course of irish (and i would say american, too) history!

Late blight has been in the newspapers, its been on the radio, the farmers at market have been abuzz about it for weeks- apparently it was brought in on tomato plants at one of the big box stores and worsened when diseased plants were offered at a discounted rate rather than destroyed. (this, my friends, is why it is recommended to buy plants from a horticulturist, rather than a cashier. a grower would not have allowed a diseased plant to leave their farm, and certainly would not have marked them down to move them, spreading the disease further in the process. This means that if you eat a non-organic tomato this year grown anywhere in the northeast where it has been generally cool and wet- the requisite conditions for the disease- it will probably have been thoroughly sprayed to prevent late blight. It also means that there may not be any organic tomatoes at all as there are currently no organic controls.) As of now, no local farmers that we have talked to have found it in their fields, but last week, a home gardener in Ithaca told me he had it.

This week, our friends Kara and Ryan called, they are in the poconos in their first year of having a CSA, and they have it, as apparently does everyone else in that area.

It is at the moment that you find such a disease in your field that you must decide, how much do i believe in not spraying, because there are chemical sprays that will stop or at least slow, depending on the weather, the spread of downy mildew and late blight, but there are no organic solutions. And to lose tomatoes and potatoes, would be a huge loss. That said, we have been scouting our fields regularly and have no sign of late blight, hooray!

unfortunately it looks like we have downy mildew again this year, so it may be "bye, bye cucumbers". tomorrow we will be ripping out the infected plants, and hoping that we could have caught it in time.

Don't forget the sleep out event on saturday august 15th! The last two years have been tons of fun, hope you can make it to our 3rd annual sleep out event!

Things you may see this week
new potatoes
beans
zucchini, patty pans
cucumbers
celery
lettuce or lettuce mix
radicchio
fresh onions
beans green, yellow, or speckled
kale
chard
scallions
radishes
broccoli
cabbage
beets
cilantro
basil
parsley
cherry tomatoes (first few)
peppers (first few)

Grated Zucchini:
2 T butter, unsalted
1 small clove of garlic, minced
3 medium zucchini, unpeeled grated
Freshly grated nutmeg
Salt and pepper

Melt butter in skillet, add garlic, cook3 minutes.
Toss zucchini in hot garlic butter until tender 2-3 minutes. Season with nutmeg salt and pepper to taste serve immediately.

From Martha Stewart’s quick cook

colorful market stand

hope the week is good.
liz and matthew

3rd week of july

2009-07-21T21:41:00.012-04:00

loading up the market truck

In market farming there is a threshold that we watch out for when it comes to weeds (and insect pests) as well. If the weeds are below a level that will damage the crop plant that we are growing, then we leave them until we have time to deal with them, or until the crop is finished and they can just be mowed and tilled in. As long as the weeds do not set seed, there is no harm done. But, when the weed (or insect) level passes that threshold and the invador will damage the crop, then something must be done. This is a different mindset perhaps, than a home gardener has. The measure that is used in a home garden tends to be an aesthetic one. When weeds pass the asthetic threshold (whatever it is in that particular garden), then the garden needs to be "tidied up a bit". This being said, many of our beds are looking the best they ever have this year with less weeds than in the past. Now if we could only get some real rain from the sky, they would really be thriving!

the harvest list of the week

Every harvest day starts with a list. We are grateful to have five working shares this year helping us with on farm harvesting, before their arrival, we make up a list of what needs to be harvested for the day, it generally stays the same all week, though we do add or remove items as they come into and leave productivity. Our big harvests are monday, wednesday, and friday, but we harvest tuesday morning, thursday morning, and saturday morning before market as well to supply really fresh greens for the day. this leaves monday and wednesday mornings only where we are both home to do farm work that necessitates two people. We take Sunday's off starting in July. It is a busy time of year for us still, but things are slowing down compared to June when we are harvesting (though not as much) plus still doing lots of planting and weeding tasks as well.

Things you may see this week
new potatoes
beans
zucchini, patty pans
cucumbers
celery
lettuce
radicchio
fresh onions
snow peas
kale
chard
scallions
radishes
broccoli
cabbage
carrots
cilantro
basil
parsley

for those who haven't used raddichio before, it is slightly bitter green. It can be used in salads, eaten lightly salted and drizzled with olive oil (cooked lightly or raw) or in this great recipe:
Yield: 6 servings.

VINAIGRETTE:
1⁄2 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
* * *
12 radicchio leaves, blanched slightly in simmering water to soften
3 4-oz. logs goat cheese, cut into rounds
6 small tomatoes (yellow and orange, if available), sliced
to taste, salt and pepper

Whisk first four ingredients together for vinaigrette. Arrange leaves on work surface. Brush center of each leaf with marinade. Place cheese rounds in center of each leaf. Fold up leaf around cheese, creating bundles; cover and chill. Heat seasoned grill to medium-high. Brush each wrap with dressing and grill until cheese softens and leaves char slightly. Arrange tomato slices on plate, place bundles on top. Drizzle with remaining dressing, salt and pepper.
from EVS FARMS

Here's a zucchini idea!
1/3 cup biscuit mix
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 cups shredded zucchini, unpeeled
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
2 slightly beaten eggs

2 T butter for frying

mix all ingredients, except butter. melt butter in pan, drop 2 T of batter for each round, drop onto hot skillet, cook 2-3 minutes per side, flip when bubbles form on surface. Serve with applesauce.

we never got our act together for a july CSA event, sorry! In august we will be hosting a sleep out event! For the past two summers we have had a sleep out event to watch the perseid meteor showers, this year the shower's peak is august 12th, which is a wednesday, due to the fact that most people have "real" jobs and are unable to sleep out midweek, we will host a sleep out event on the night of Saturday august 15th, put it on your calendars now! There may not be a major meteor shower coming that night, but the sky will relatively dark, and if you have never slept out with out a tent over you, be ready to be amazed, its dark and lovely at night on the farm! (of course you are welcome to bring a tent, but the stars aren't nearly so nice through the nylon and we are lucky to have very few mosquitos.) a potluck supper for dinner and campfire are planned, we'll make homemade granola with fresh fruit for breakfast on sunday morning. More info to follow later.
hope the week is great!
liz and matthew

2009-07-14T21:43:00.008-04:00

this is what the farm is looking like right now!

small field

greenhouse, hoophouse and view into big field

Wow, so this summer, huh? I almost wore a winter hat out to the field to harvest this morning, but found a hooded sweatshirt would work instead. It was 52 degrees when we headed out! The predicted low tonight is for 46, not exactly tomato growing weather!

In fact, if i was making a bet i'd say that this will not be a good tomato growing season. First of all, tomatoes love warm weather and we have had nary a day in the 90s and not even that many in the 80s. Not to complain, its been ideal weather for spending the day outside~!

Lots of stuff coming on right now!
this week you may see:
new potatoes
fresh onions
scallions
cabbage
lettuce mix
snow peas
zucchini, patty pans
cucumbers
maybe fresh garlic!
basil
parsley
cilantro
carrots
beets
beet greens
spinach
beans

sesame noodle sauce-- great with wheat berries or pasta!:
2 T soy sauce
1 T hot sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 t rice vinegar
1 t sugar
1 clove garlic
1 T Tahini (almond or peanut butter can be used instead)
1 T lime juice

toss with
1/3 cup sesame seeds (toasted is best)
1/2-3/4 cup peanuts
1 can of chick peas

Marcia sent in this yummy recipe for...
Coleslaw:
1 c. mayonnaise
4 T. half-and -half
1 t. cider vinegar
2 t. prepared mustard
4 t. honey
1/2 t. salt
1 t. celery seed
1 medium cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, grated

Mix all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the shredded cabbage and carrots. Gently toss util the vegetbles are well coated. Makes 8 servings.
----from Cooking with Honey by Joanne Barrett (c) 1981

The other morning it occured to me just how delicious a time of year it is, when i picked black caps right into my cereal bowl and then topped it off with mulberries and sweet cherries. if you hurry, there are still some cherries to be picked in hector. Also soon there will be blueberries, (we picked our first small harvest off of our young bushes), and raspberries are now available at markets and local u-pick farms! Its a delicious time of year, get out to pick fruit!

This time of year we are spending lots of time harvesting. There is till a little bit of weeding to be done and a smidgen of planting, but the main item these days is harvest, harvest, harvest.

We also are spending quite a bit of time putting food away for the winter. Peas, kale, chard, and pounds and pounds of cherries are going into the freezer on top of last months strawberries.

hope you have a great week!
liz and matthew

First week of July share

2009-07-07T20:41:00.005-04:00

Even organic farmers spray things, they tend to be gentle things and generally don't require gas masks and protective clothes, with chemical resistant gloves and goggles. But never-the-less whenever i am in the field with our little back pack sprayer, i want to put up a "don't panic, its organic" type of sign for passerbyes. The urge isn't nearly so strong here on our quite road, but when we used to live on a busier road, it was quite strong, making me feel like spraying at dawn or dusk to avoid feeling like people would think we were "spraying poisons".

here is our "pest management" shelf. On it can be found ground up fossilized microscopic animal shells (diatomaceous earth) which cause small abrasions on slugs and then allow them to dry out in the sun, kaolin clay- an inert clay that can confuse insects or clog their tiny mouth parts, vegetable oil for drowning some pests when they land in yellow trays thinking they are landing on cucumber blossoms, and a bottle of neem oil that we owned for about 4 years before we ever opened and have sprayed just once in the time we have had it. Neem comes from the african neem tree and is a powerful organic insect killer. Not on the shelf, but often used this year are homemade garlic and hot pepper sprays. Those are most of the tools in our "arsenol".

You may see evidence of the clay on your cucumbers and squash in the form of a white film, it is inert and harmless, if traces remain, wipe it off and enjoy!

cucumber leaves with clay on them

picking our own cherries! Matthew, look down!

eggs have hatched (and by now, fledged)

Items you may see in your share this week:
cabbage
beets
new potatoes!
onions
baby leeks
squash
spinach
peas
cucumbers
broccoli
basil
cilantro
dill
parsley (maybe not till next week?)
lettuce
snow peas
carrots

Here's a nice recipe for carmelized onions and cabbage, from Sarah:

Saute onions until almost translucent
make a bouillon cube up according to recipe and add half the "broth"
and a finely cut up cabbage, cover and cook until "tender crisp"

have a super week!
liz

cherry picking in hector

2009-07-04T14:57:00.002-04:00

Hey, for those checking in, the cherry picking places in hector are open. Seems like two or three of them opened thursday. The recent rain has caused some splitting, but just drive north on 414 there are 4 places before you get up to our place. One of them is just up ball diamond road. We picked there on friday, got 4 buckets of large sweet cherries, we'll eat a lot of cobblers and smoothies this winter!
don't delay too long if you want to pick cherries.
liz

Week 5 of CSA

2009-06-29T22:19:00.015-04:00

This week has been full of weeding and harvesting. That's about the summary of it. We also have had to pleasure of spending several of those days with our four year old niece. Here she is helping matthew harvest new potatoes.

We had a great time at the garlic scape pesto making event and with the scavenger hunt. It was so neat to see people roaming the farm with their buckets in hand looking for items to match the list. Here are a few pictures of the day. Thanks to all who came out! A light rain didn't seem to dampen any one's spirits and everyone still got pesto to take home.

Lots more stuff coming in right now. Let me remind all that the way we are doing our distributions this year, the earlier you come the more options you will find to choose from. We should have a good selection until noon or so, but when the market is almost over, the options are more limited.

I cleaned our canning area up this past week and found i have about six boxes of extra jars. Anyone interested in learning to can, just let us know. We can give you some jars and rings to get you started. They are mainly quarts, but there are some pints, too.

Things you may see this week:
New potatoes
peas snow or shell
beans
zucchini
cabbage
broccoli
kale
chard
cilantro
lettuce heads, or mix
spicy greens mix
dill
garlic scapes
carrots
maybe cucumbers

Cilantro and Toasted almond pesto:
3 T slivered almonds
2 cups chopped cilantro leaves
3 T extra virgin olive oil
3 T lime juice
3 cloves, garlic (or garlic scapes)
3 T grated parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper to taste

toast almonds in a dry skillet until they are fragrant, about 3 minutes.
blend ingredients until smooth. from the Times leader newspaper

have a great week!
liz and matthew

week 4 of CSA season

2009-06-23T22:11:00.006-04:00

a nest in the orchard!

our first peach harvest (we hope)

Welcome to summer! We have arrived officially and now each day will get shorter as we approach the winter solstice, but that is still, oh, so far off, and we will just enjoy all the lovely long days until then.

Things here are really starting to come on now especially after a few days of rain! We got at least three inches in the last week, which is more rain than we had in April and May combined, i do believe! Between the dryness and the leaf miners, this is the slowest start to the CSA season that we have ever had. But this week, we will be picking lots of new things and once we have a few more sunny days, i'm sure we will actually be able to see the plants take off with recordable growth throughout the day.

pea blossoms aplenty

we have finished the bulk of the planting and now will be mostly direct seeding and planting successions of crops for later in the season. The greenhouse still houses our fall planting of broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower (collectively called Brassicas), of course there are always trays of lettuce being started in there, and a few other random trays, but the greenhouse right now is almost empty.

This week we have a couple of really delicious recipes sent in by a member, i wish i had gotten them before dinner, so i could have made them, but it will have to be for a dinner later in the week!

I have been experimenting with saving money on buying canned beans and have tried soaking and cooking a large batch of beans and then freezing them ready to eat. It seems to be a huge success! I cooked about 4 lbs of dried black beans, we ate a huge meal of them (as two farmers are apt to do in the middle of the growing season), and then froze 6 more quart bags of them (4 cups in each bag). Now we just remove the bags when we want one and there is a large meal of beans ready to eat with just a few minutes of thawing. So, for $8 and the same amount of time as it takes to cook one cup of beans, we have at least seven very large meals of beans with a substantial leftover size meal. A big saving over buying the cans at the store. Yum!

I can tell that summer is upon us as our freezer and canning shelves are beginning to fill back up again. thanks to my mom, who helped me defrost the freezer last weekend and then helped me to start refilling it and the canning shelves. We canned strawberries whole and as jam and froze lots, too for smoothies this winter or cakes or other desserts! Don't miss the tail end of asparagus season and the last bit of strawberry season! There are several great u-pick places where you can get a great deal on berries! We'll be seeing local cherries very soon too, i'm sure. I'll let you know when i see the signs as we are lucky enough in Hector to have quite a few u-pick cherry spots.

Things you may see in your share this week:
Lettuce
Garlic Scapes
Scallions
Zucchini
Green Beans! (Haircot verts, very slender, gourmet,expensive & delicious!)
snow peas (snap and shell peas toward the week's end)
cilantro
chard or kale
broccoli

will see soon:
beets, cukes, new potatoes!, cabbage

Some great recipes this week, check them out!

Linguine with Walnuts, Green Beans, and Feta from Sunset, thanks Laurie for sending this on, sounds so good and its perfect since the beans this week are Haircot verts!
Yield
Makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
1 cup walnut halves or pieces
12 ounces dried linguine
1 tablespoon olive oil
12 ounces slender green beans (1/4 in. thick) such as haricots verts
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup toasted walnut oil or extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (5 oz.)
Preparation
1. Put walnuts in a 10- by 15-inch pan and bake in a 350° oven until golden under skins (break one to check), 8 to 10 minutes. Pour from pan. Increase oven temperature to 500°.

2. Meanwhile, in a covered 5- to 6-quart pan over high heat, bring about 3 1/2 quarts water to a boil. Stir in linguine and boil, uncovered, until barely tender to bite, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and return to pan.

3. Trim ends from green beans; rinse and drain beans. In the 10- by 15-inch pan, combine 1 tablespoon olive oil and green beans; spread level in pan. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast in a 500° oven until green beans just begin to brown, 4 to 6 minutes.

4. In a large serving bowl, combine walnut oil, lemon peel, and feta cheese. Add pasta, walnuts, and green beans; mix gently. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

Wheat Berry Salad with Dried apricots, this recipe is making my mouth water and fits so well, too as we have wheat berries and snow peas available this week! Thanks for two great recipes, Laurie! this one from better homes and gardens.

Ingredients
1 cup wheat berries, rinsed and drained
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), rinsed and drained
1 cup slivered fresh snow peas
1/2 cup dried apricots, sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3 Tbsp. toasted walnut oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Directions
1. In a medium bowl combine wheat berries, 3 cups water and 1/8 teaspoon salt; cover and refrigerate overnight. Transfer to medium saucepan; bring to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, 45 to 60 minutes or until tender. Drain; cool 1 hour.

2. In large bowl combine drained wheat berries, garbanzo beans, snow peas, apricots, cranberries and green onions. In bowl whisk together oil, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper. Pour over wheat berry mixture; stir to coat. Serve at once or cover and refrigerate up to 24 hours. Makes 8 side-dish servings.

Braised Red Chard and Shiitake Mushrooms:
10-12 dried Shitake mushrooms
1 bunch chard
1 tsp. Olive oil
1 onion, diced into ½ inch pieces
1 large clove garlic minced, or 1-2 scapes minced
1 cups water
Salt to taste

Cover mushrooms with ½ inch boiling water, Soak 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash chard, cut stalks into ½ inch pieces and set aside. Coarsley chop leaves and measure 6 cups, set aside separately
Heat oil in skillet with a tight cover. Add oil to coat pan, add diced onion and garlic and saute for 5-10 minutes, until soft and translucent.
Remove mushrooms from liquid, save the liquid. Cut the tough stems from the mushrooms and discard, quarter caps and set aside.
Add mushrooms to onions and cook for 2 minutes to brown lightly.
Stir in chard stalks and enough mushroom-soaking liquid and water to equal one cup. Cook, covered, over medium heat for 5 minutes, until stalks are almost tender.
Sir in chard leaves, cover, and simmer for 4-5 minutes, until the leaves are tender and wilted, but not dull in color. Drain excess cooking water and save. Season with salt and serve hot. Place cooking liquid in a bowl and pass it with some crusty bread for dipping. Great flavor! From greens glorious greens

have a stupendous week!
liz and matthew

Aunt Ruby's Brilliant Tip Top Bright Lights

2009-06-15T21:43:00.005-04:00

Hey all, before i forget for the third time in a row, i wanted to let people know that we are selling locally grown, certified organic beans to CSA members! They are grown by Cayuga Pure Organics in Brooktondale. Right now we have black, pinto, and soy as well as hard red wheat. We have directions to cook them and brochure's about the farm with us at all pickups, except ithaca, sorry folks, you can get them at greenstar and the market rules at this market do not allow selling other farm's products.

Dry beans are an extremely nutritious and inexpensive piece of a meal. Hope you'll try some, its so great to have a local source!

Member, Julie recommends this recipe.

Cuban Black Beans
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ingredients:

2 cups dried black beans (or 3-4 cans)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
1/2 cup white cooking wine (add at end, optional)
1/2 cup distilled white vinegar (add at end, optional)

Directions:

Dried/soaked beans:
Sort and rinse dried beans, and cover with water (about 2 inches above level
of the beans). Soak for at least 4-6 hours, or overnight. To cook, saute
onions and green pepper in olive oil, and add cumin, oregano and bay leaves.
Add soaked beans with soaking water, plus enough water to cover beans about
1 inch above the level of the beans. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently
until beans are tender, about 1 hour. Add water if the beans begin to look
dry. Stir in vinegar and wine (if using) and 1-2 teaspoons of salt, to
taste.

Canned beans:
In a medium stockpot over medium-high heat, add some oil to pan. Stir fry
onions and pepper. Add all ingredients except wine and vinegar. Stir this
in when beans are cooked through (optional).

Notes:
Cuban Black Beans are good with crusty bread, on top of rice, or wrapped in
a tortilla with some cheese and cilantro or lettuce.

For more bean recipes, and advice about soaking and cooking dried beans, see
www.ranchogordo.com (they grow and sell heirloom beans in California). Also try the cayuga pure organics website www.cporganics.com.

This time of year we are always finding plant labels kicking around our farm. We find them in the laundry, in the couch cushions, in every pocket, and crevice in the truck and in our carts. The Title of this post is the names of an heirloom tomato, celeriac, acorn squash, and swiss chard in that order. Its sort of like a dada poem to pick up a handful of labels and read them aloud. We like to reuse them, but haven't quite developed a system of where to put them for reuse, so we tend to just pile them all together in various spots until the time when we can group them all together for recycling next year.

I learned a shocking fact this week. 10% of all oil used in the US is used in plastic bags. This seems an appropriate time to remind members to bring their own bag to pickup. We of course always have some, but we do pay for them and then most bags get thrown away and not recycled. Please get a reusable canvas, cloth, or other kind of bag to reuse. We can bring Ithaca farmer's market bags for sale for $1 to the shares next week if anyone is interested. They are also available from all of the local grocery stores now (not ithaca farmer's market, but reusable bags). Also please remember to return grocery bags to the store to be recycled. They are number 2 plastic and it is the law that any store that distributes them must have a recycling bin for them.

There is currently a contest for america's best farmers market. Get on and vote for yours. Ithaca, corning, watkins glen, if you love it, you can vote for it at www.farmland.org/vote.

Its been snowing here all week. Between the cottonwood's and the willows, the "flakes" have been floating down all week. It hasn't piled up too much yet, but we know where the snow shovels are if it gets out of hand.

Items you may see in your share this week:
lettuce
garlic scapes (See below)
Kale
chard
broccoli (not a total loss, in fact seems ok)
peas
cilantro

Will see soon:
summer squash and zucchini, cabbage

don't forget to mark June 28th on the calendar. We will be getting together at 3 PM to make garlic scape pesto and we will have a farm scavenger hunt for those who are interested. RSVP is mandatory for pesto-making so that we can shop accordingly, an email will go out early in that week. Or make garlic scape pesto your self this week!

Raw Scape Pesto
Garlic scapes make a pesto that is a pretty green color and a knock-your-socks-off rich garlic flavor. If this pesto is too strong for your taste, add mayonnaise or sour cream to dilute by 1/1 or even 2/1.
½ lb. scapes (chopped into 1" sections)
1½ c. olive oil
2 c. grated parmesan cheese
In a blender, combine the scapes and olive oil. Pour mixture into bowl and blend the cheese in by hand. Can be used as a cracker or pizza spread. Can be frozen in plastic ice cube trays and used later - this applies to the other pestos, dips, and dressings as well. Put them in a freezer bag, use all year for making bruschetta, with pasta or pizza.
ALSO, garlic bread: 2 or 3 cubes thawed works great as a substitution for the oil component of bread.

Pak Choi (works with Kale) and Greens with Ginger
Wash a mixture of Pak Choi and greens. Steam for 3 to 5 minutes. Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce (or tamari), 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger, and 2 tablespoons water. Remove greens from steamer and pour sauce over them.

We said goodbye to an old friend this week- our 1985 Volvo station wagon. It was matthew's first car. he owned it for more than a decade. It served us well for six years of farmer's market. We loaded it so full that sometimes vegetables hung out the windows. I know i saw tomatoes growing in the cracks under the seats a few times from cherry tomatoes that had gotten loose en route to market. It was a great car, if we hadn't outgrown it, i'm sure we would have just driven it until it couldn't go any more. Any way, this is it leaving our driveway for the last time.

have a great week,
liz and matthew

CSA week 2

2009-06-08T19:06:00.004-04:00

onions, newly weeded

We hope you all enjoyed the first week's share. The first couple weeks of the CSA its always a challenge for us to provide an interesting and varied share there are always lots of greens, which we feel ok about knowing that they are so incredibly healthy. But they are not the most interesting shares.

We apologize to those who missed the reminder about this past week being the first week of pickup. It was embedded in the announcement about the May 23rd CSA workday. We should have additionally sent it in a separate e-mail, sorry for those who were caught unaware, mostly Thursday's folks.

I see the forecast for tonight is calling for thunderstorms with a chance of hail and it seems like a great time, since it is early in the season to talk about the risk of CSA. In joining a CSA consumers are helping to farmer in buying a share in the bounty of the farm, but they are also buying into the risk of the season. In our previous six years of doing CSA we have never experienced a catastrophic loss leading to a major shortage of produce for the CSA shares, but it is always a possibility tickling at the edge of our minds that such an event could happen. The two most likely scenarios for a major loss seem to be represented by hailstorms and severe drought (though our pond would provide water for quite a long period of drought, in a severe drought, we would eventually run out of irrigation water.)

Each year we experience a certain amount of small scale loss, just this spring so far we have lost a bed of spinach, a bed of spicy greens mix, a bed of turnips and kohlrabi, most of a radish planting, a bed of beets, a bed of beans, a bed of peas, 2 1/2 beds of cauliflower, and perhaps we will lose all 4 beds of broccoli (the jury is still out on that one). Additionally the spinach in your share this and last week has experienced a major infestation of leaf miners, a small insect that burrows (or mines) between the layers of the spinach (and chard and beet leaves) and we have had to pick off half the leaves of each spinach plant due to the damage done by those small critters, so we have lost half of our spinach productivity. We also lost many transplants due to mouse activity which reduced our anticipated plantings a little.

The beauty of running a diversified farm is that in general, losses like these while frustrating, will generally not result in dramatic lessening in the share that you take home with you. We generally grow enough of a diversity of things that even several losses like those will not affect our ability to deliver a share that is tasty and still interesting to your table.

But with a catastrophic loss like a hailstorm could produce, the possibility exists that there would be not produce for several weeks as we replanted and waited to see what things would be able to out grow the hail damage. we know plenty of farmers who have been the recipients of hail storms and can't help but think that some day, we will be as well.

I have done lots of thinking about this possibility and it strikes panic in my heart. I wonder if we would attempt to cover and protect fragile items with the row covers that we use to protect from cold and insects. The problems are that there is not that much notice before a thunderstorm in which to prepare, maybe 45 minutes, but not much more. And while, if the hail was small, row covers may save a crop, if the hail is large it could destroy both the row cover and the crop costing us even more money in replacing our row covers as well. Then there is the worry about at what size hail will destroy the plastic on a green house and suddenly you can see what causes a farmer to lose sleep at night!

At any rate, we hope that 2009 is another year of bullet dodging and that we will continue providing produce to feed you and that even small losses are kept down to the bare minimum.

Things you may see in this weeks share
radishes
bok choi
carrots
spinach
lettuce heads
lettuce mix
beet greens

Bok Choi stir fry:
Bok choi is excellent stir fried. Here is my favorite way to prepare it.
Slice onion, sauté in skillet on medium until translucent. Meanwhile slice bok choi into bite sized pieces, keep leaves on one end of cutting board and stems on the other. When onions are clear (or close) add bok choi stem pieces, cook for 5-7 minutes until getting softish. Add leaves, cook for 1 or two minutes. Add soy sauce and serve over rice or noodles.

Velvety Carrot and Ginger Soup: from the Candle Café Cookbook

1 T olive oil
3 medium onions
5 C low sodium veggie broth
6 large carrots, diced
3 T finely grated fresh ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t. ground coriander
Pinch of cayenne
Salt and pepper to taste
½ cup tofu-cilantro sour cream for garnish
½ cup minced chives for garnish

In a stock pot, heat the oil, saute onions for 5 minutes, until softened.

Add broth 1 cup of water, carrots, and 2 T of ginger. Bring to boil, the simmer for about 20 minutes, until carrots are tender.

Let cool for an hour and then blend the soup with rest of ginger, cinnamon, and coriander until very smooth, thin with water or broth to desired consistency. Season with cayenne, salt and pepper.

Reheat to serve warm, also can be served cold. Garnish with tofu-cilantro sour cream and chives if desired. Is tasty without, if you don’t have the ingredients!

Tofu-cilantro sour cream for garnish:
2 t agar--agar powder
4 T fresh lemon juice
2 T fresh lime juice
1 lb. Firm tofu
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T safflower oil
¼ c chopped cilantro
1 ½ t salt
¼ t cayenne
½ t minced garlic

Dissolve agar in lemon and lime juice. Blanch tofu for 5 min and drain, allow to cool for 20 min. crumble tofu and transfer to blender. Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Will keep in fridge, covered for 3 days.

Don't forget to mark you calendar for the next CSA event, June 28th 3 PM.
have a great week! liz and matthew

first week of the csa!

2009-06-01T21:06:00.006-04:00

watering in tomatoes

garlic looking great!

unusual though not completely out of the normal last frost range for our area, there was a frost warning last night for after 2 am. So we went to bed the last day of may hoping to not have a frost on the first day of june, as i said, not totally out of our historic frost window, but it has not been the norm the last 7 years to have a frost so late. After "heated" debate about how cold it could really get on the last night of may, we spend several hours covering the tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, hot peppers, beans, cucumbers, zucchinis, and basil. ironic because i was just thinking how we would have to brag in the newsletter about how we are ahead in our planting compared to any past year. In the end, we didn't have a freeze last night, and it took us a few hours today to clean up the row covers, hoops, rocks, and what not today. a wasted effort, but better than losing all our plants at this point in the year. "its all in the game", so its cool.

covered up for the "frost" last night

we installed this bee nesting block this spring, its for orchard mason bees to nest in, they are supposed to be great native pollinator bees, especially for blue berries. the instructions said to hang the block facing blue berry plants, so we did. and have seen several holes with bees in them. Hard to say if they are orchard mason bees, as all i can ever see is a tip of the bottom or a little yellow on the top. i keep waiting to see one fly out, but am a little nervous of having my face too close when it happens. I'll have to break out the insect book and look them up to satisfy my curiousity.

Its the first week of CSA pick ups! Here are some things that you may see in your share:
beet greens
lettuce heads
lettuce mix
bok choi
spinach
baby carrots
potatoes (last year's)
cherry or regular tomato plants

As we start off the season, please remember, if you are happy with us, please tell your friends, but if you are unhappy with something please tell us (you can of course tell us when you are happy,too). every year we do a survey at the end to make sure our share is sized appropriately, that people are getting the produce they want and in general how we can improve the CSA experience, and it never seems to fail that someone will say that at some point they recieved a bummer of some sort, yet we didn't hear about it until october! We can't fix it, if we don't know, so if your share contains a soft tomato, bitter cucumber or some such thing, please do let us know so that we can fix it right away!

Basic Beet Greens:
Beet Greens
Olive Oil
Garlic
Sunflower seeds toasted in skillet or oven

Put olive oil in pan, crush garlic and add it, cook 30 seconds. Rinse beet greens and add them slightly wet to the pan, cook 2-4 minutes until tender. Serve hot with sunflower seeds on top.

a simple easy to make dressing, that is tasty!
Honey Mustard Dressing:
Whisk together:
¾ cup olive oil
¼ cup vinegar
¼ cup Dijon Mustard
¼ cup honey
2 cloves crushed garlic
Pepper, freshly ground

we're planning our next CSA day for Sunday, June 28th. We will start at 3PM. Details to follow. last year we had a scavenger hunt planned for our june event, but alas, did not get to do it. Maybe we will pull together another one, or maybe we will make garlic scape pesto, at any rate, put it on your calendars now!
hope your week is good!
liz and matthew