week eight is great!

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

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

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