Farm News

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the middle of July. We’ve been hustling through hot, dry, sunny days now for a steady string of about 6 to 8 weeks and yet nothing can curb my excitement as I walk around the farm. I see seedlings popping up out of freshly seeded beds, summer fruiting plants of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and melons getting ready to burst with a (hopefully) bountiful harvest. Corn stalks swaying in the breeze, garlic hanging in the greenhouse, cucumbers vining and zucchini growing as fast as we can pick them, it all hums the happy tune of summer!

As exciting as a summers’ harvest can be, it also brings with it the long days of weeding, seeding, and irrigating and we’ve been doing our best to stay on top of it all in the absence of Paul as he’s gone to his ‘homeland’ of Italy for a well deserved vacation. My efforts would all be for loss if it wasn’t for our fantastic apprentice crew Jake Lau, Alice English, Nate Roderick, and Amanda Rockwell to back me up and get it all done. They make my job easy with their ever vigilant hard work. I would also like to take the time to say Thank You to all the folks behind the scenes that help to bring in the harvest week after week while keeping the weeds at bay. Thanks to our ‘Morning Crew’ for the hustle, Conor Coleman, Kristin Fable, Faye Barry, Basil Inferrera, Tom Harper, Haley Woodard and Austin Weyant.

Hope you enjoy the harvest.

Janine, for Paul, Jake, Alice, Amanda, and Nate

-Pick Your Own at the farm: Plenty of basil, cilantro, and other herbs for the picking. Green beans are in, about 1 pound limit per share. Lots of Sunflowers, up to 3 per share. Flower patch is opened as well. The Pick Your Own patch is open to all shareholders, once per week, Tues. and Thursday 2:30 to 6:30 PM and Sat. 8 AM to noon.

Featured this week:

Sweet corn: Best eaten immediately, you can also store sweet corn in the fridge for up to 2 days. Remember that corn is easy to freeze, just blanch and cut the kernels off the cob and put in a zip lock bag for a winter treat!

Gold and Red Beets: We had some trouble last year getting good germination for our gold beets but they are looking good this year! Gold beets are sweet like our Red beets but not quite as ‘earthy’ tasting. They also won’t bleed the way red beets will. Grate fresh into a salad with nuts and goat or feta cheese or see recipe below!

Kale: you might see curly green kale (frilly leaves) or lacinato kale (dark green dimpled leaves). Both can be used interchangeably in recipes. Store in a loosely closed plastic bag in your fridge for up to a week.

Also available: tomatoes, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, purplette onions, lettuce or salad mix, cilantro, fresh garlic

Potentially on the way: red torpedo onions, tomatoes, cukes, Swiss Chard, summer squash, arugula

Recipes, suggested by Janine McCormick

Avocado and Beet Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette, By Alice Waters

6 medium beets                                               salt and pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar                        extra virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, diced fine                                2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice                                 1 tablespoon orange juice
Chervil or Parsley sprigs                                 1/4 teaspoon chopped lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon chopped orange zest                  2 firm ripe avocados

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Trim and wash beets, and put them in a baking dish. Add a splash of water, and cover tightly. Roast for 45 to 60 minutes, until tender. Let beets cool, then peel and cut into wedges. Place in bowl, and season with salt and pepper; add red wine vinegar and 1 TBSP olive oil, and toss gently.

Combine shallots with white wine vinegar, lemon and orange juices and pinch of salt. Macerate 15 minutes. Whisk in 3/4-cup oil and stir in the chopped chervil or parsley, lemon zest, and orange zest. Taste for seasoning.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise and remove the pits. Leaving the skin intact cut the avocados lengthwise into 1/4″ slices. Scoop out the slices with a large spoon and arrange them on a platter or individual dishes. Season with salt and pepper. Arrange the beets over the avocado slices and drizzle with the vinaigrette. Garnish with a few chervil sprigs.

Sweet Corn and Fresh Tomato Salsa, By Paul and Janine

3-4 Tomatoes, chopped 2 ears sweet corn, shucked, cut the kernels

1 med red onion, diced off the cob, we used ours raw!

2 garlic cloves, minced 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced

2-3 TBSP fresh chopped cilantro (if you like it hot, leave the seeds)

½ lemon or lime salt and pepper to taste

2 TBSP oil

Put the oil in a pan and heat over low to medium heat, once the oil is hot add the garlic and cook for 30 to 60 seconds to sweat the garlic, this mellows the “bite” of raw garlic.

In a bowl combine the tomatoes, corn, onion, jalapenos, cilantro and garlic with the oil it was cooked in. Take the ½ lemon or lime and squeeze some fresh juice in with your salsa ingredients. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Organic Warm Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette and Chevre, From Recipes from America’s Small Farms

¾ cup extra virgin olive oil 3 cups Kale, washed and torn into pieces

½ cup balsamic vinegar 2 cups mixed greens

2 garlic cloves, pressed Salt and freshly milled black pepper

2 tsp honey 8 to 12oz firm chevre (goat cheese) sliced or crumbled

½ tsp paprika ¼ cup pistachios, toasted

1 ½ cups sliced white or cremini mushrooms

Whisk together the oil, vinegar, garlic, honey, and paprika in a small bowl. Bring ¼ cup of the mixture to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and cook for 2 minutes. Add the kale and cook, stirring once or twice, just until it begins to wilt.

Toss the hot mixture with the greens in a large bowl; add salt and pepper to taste. Divide the greens among 4 serving plates; top with the chevre and toasted pistachios. Serve immediately; which the remaining balsamic vinaigrette and pass to drizzle over the greens

Fort Hill Farm

Newsletter 7: July 21, 2010

Farm News