last week of july share

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

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

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

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

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