Feb [ideas] Brew Airy

The days are getting longer, the snowbanks taller, my students are becoming more nomadic, and the wheels are starting to turn-- Hello, 2011!

The first few shipments of seeds are in to beat the Rush, which is a fantastic dilemma in itself; how great is it that seed companies selling out of stock! So, some of my favorites: Misato Rose (giant, sweet-hot, tri-color, storage) radishes, Romanesca cauliflower, sugar snap and snow peas, among others, are all here and waiting for those 60-degree soil temps... After the two feet of snow and crust disappear. The spreadsheets are cranking, and we've got a few exciting projects lining the distant horizon now that we've officially kicked off Quarter 3 of classes:

Sunday Morning Bouquets: Not bad for spending the night on the porch post wedding! (photo courtesy Liz Hand)

+ Growing and arranging flowers for Kate and Matt's wedding, and hopefully having lots of extra backup for Becky and Pete,

+ Contract growing cukes, picklers, cilantro, parsely, and serrano peppers for Koala Kitchens' zhug stock/pickle crocks,

+ And some great CSA buzz!

Don't hesitate to contact me if there is some exciting new crop you'd love to have for the summer, or you're interested in some extra bedfeet, custom-grown produce, "pick your own" arrangements, or help with your gardens-- we can work out just about anything, especially early on.

Also, here's an updated form for GPF's 2011 CSA: early payments save some bucks (and make a farmer happy!)

Of course, taxes have to happen sometime in between now and then, too (spreadsheets, check.) Looking forward to some warm summer days... They'll be here before we know it.

Garden to Bed

Happy Thanksgiving to all! After a whirlwind conference and family visit in Boston, today is a beautiful, sunshiny day to get some photo updates...

Garlic is planted, with a few different varieties and some experimental early shallots...

Sunshine is great for drying up the last of the summer herbs. Rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage.

Still some nice, sweet red cabbage out there in the field. The kale, parsely, fennel, and salad burnet are still going strong!

Cover crop with a nice view.

Week 12 CSA, Plus one

Hi there,

It's that time of year again. You know, the time where you turn around, and all of a sudden it's been a month since I've written anything, the nighttime temperature has dropped thirty-five degrees, everyone's busting out the wool, and recipes are being tinged by sage and thyme...

So we've closed the official season of the second year of GPF's CSA, and I hope that it has been a good experience for all. I will publish a survey, similar to last year's, and email it around. I welcome your comments, and love that you members have so many fantastic ideas. I look forward to hearing your support in the form of honest feedback that will continue to help Green Peak Farm develop a stronger CSA program. Thanks in advance.

And, as you know, I am a bit disappointed in my ability to be one of the last gardens in the area to have ripe tomatoes... Which is a great reminder to me as a grower about TIMING, and what an important role it plays in successful crops. I hope you've been enjoying the tomatoes, and soon there will (finally) ripe heirloom tomatoes that are worth waiting for. I've got some Aunt Ruby's German Green, one of the finer-tasting toms, in my opinion, that are big and beautiful. Soon!

I had the honor of presenting a short talk about food preservation and home-gardening season extension techniques this past Saturday at Live Green in Manchester. It was a lot of fun, and I'm always interested to hear other people's ideas about season extension, and "Best Practices" to get the most out of the garden. We (everybody) have been doing this for a long time, and it's amazing how much knowledge is out there, ready to be shared.

And on that note, here's a random trivia fact that I learned in a new-to-me book, Seed to Seed, published by the Seed Savers' Exchange... Did you know that the chenopod family (think beets, swiss chard, spinach) also stretches to encompass the lovely, South-American wunder-grain, Quinoa?

I've been hearing a lot of great recipe ideas floating around, too... and here are some to share: carmelized sage as a lovely, delicate garnish or accompaniment to a nice, stinky soft cheese; slicing, dousing in olive oil, and salt-and-peppering then roasting tomatoes for frozen storage (bonus by-product: delicious, super-fragrant olive oil infused with that distinct tangy bite of tomato.... toss with copious amounts of fresh basil and pasta, and done!); zucchini blended into pesto for a little extra body; oiled and roasted, thick onion tops for those that didn't quite bulb up fully; in-pumpkin residency for pumpkin soup (especially with the Rouges)... So many ideas!

And, with Jane's permission, here I shamelessly post her lovely recipe for using up hot peppers, appropriately...

"a ga ga gorgeous thing:

Char peppers over an open flame (gas stove) until they are blackened.
Scrape the skin off. Cut off the top, open up, and take most or all of the seeds out.
Do the same with a big sweet red bell pepper
Puree the above in your cuisinart with enough olive oil to make a thin paste. Add salt to taste.

O MY GAWD is this ever GOOD! Thinking of using it as a drizzle over the grilled steaks tonight. It's creamy, spicy, with lots of smokey flavor and yumminess. I'm sure it freezes will, as it's full of olive oil."

(Thanks, Jane!)

Shares will continue for at least another week, after six pm on Tuesdays, or plus some when it's convenient. More chickens and illicit frozen/canned goods are available for purchase... The password is "Autumn"! Enjoy, and thanks again!

Everready Dressing Recipe

This one's a constant in the fridge...

1 small shallot, diced
handful of parsely, chopped with scissors
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinager
3 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp maple syrup

I like to put all the ingredients into a pint mason jar, then cap, shake, and enjoy! Keeps easily in the fridge for 2 weeks, and would be a great glaze for grilled squash, too!

Week 9 CSA

A couple of important notes:

Your next two chickens will be ready for pickup this Saturday, anytime after 2pm. You are welcome to pick them up fresh anytime Saturday or Sunday. After that they are going into the freezer, and can be picked up on Tuesday with your next share.

In your share this week:
basil
cucumbers
summer squash
carrots
green and purple beans
fennel
beets
parsely
cilantro
lettuce mix
red onions - loose
yellow onions - loose
bunch of cippolini onions
bunch of red shallots
green peppers

More peppers are coming on this week, as well as onions. You can use the onion tops to add a dash of flavor and color just like scallions, and I'm excited to run a few taste-test-trials to see how great a difference there is in using shallots, cippolini, red, and yellow onions. Please let me know your thoughts!

Onion family bulbs store best in the dark of the refrigerator, and if you're interested in keeping the greens crispy, store them in an untied plastic bag. If you don't intend to use your onions/shallots/cipps in the next few weeks, you can "cure" them for storage by bending the greens back and leaving them in the sun for a few days. The sun cues the bulb to develop a thin, papery shell to help prevent bruising and permeability-- like wrapping itself in a brown paper bag. All onions that you purchase in a grocery store have been cured-- and then stored from the summer. As onions and allia are one of the few commercial crops that are sensitive to seasonal day-length periods, they can only be grown in the summer. Of course, we can't forget about South America and the southern hemisphere-- but still, that only gives us, as eaters in a modern, global community, two growing seasons for onions. Scallions and leeks are, to some extent, exceptions.

Here's a pickle recipe, as promised. Adapted from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Dill Sandwich Slices-- Makes about 5 pint jars. I like this recipe because it takes the "cold pack" method-- you don't have to cook the cucumbers twice, which is faster, neater, and ends with a nice, crispy pickle.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp pickling spice (available in bulk at natural food stores)
4 cups cider vinegar
4 cups water
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup pickling or canning salt (non-iodized)
5 bay leaves
5 cloves garlic
2.5 tsp mustard seeds
5 heads fresh dill
13.5 cups sliced, trimmed pickling cukes

Other supplies:
mason jars with metal bands and lids
medium square of cheesecloth
large ladle
clean dish towels
towel-covered cutting board for letting jars rest overnight.

I also really like having the gizmos that Ball sells for canning-- small tools that make everything very easy and neat--jar grabbers for removing jars from water or steam bath, a medium-sized funnel for filling jars with liquid, and a small, magnetic lid grabber to get them out of hot water without burning fingers.

1. Prepare canner, jars and lids. I prep these in a dishwasher, making sure that your dishwasher has a "sterilize" setting. While these are washing and heating up, wash, trim, and slice cukes into spears, and prep garlic cloves.

2. Tie pickling spice in a square of cheesecloth, creating a spice bag.

3. In a large stainless steel saucepan combine vinegar, water, sugar, pickling salt and spice bag. Bring to a boil over med-high heat, stirring to dissolve sugar and salt. Reduce heat and boil gently for 15 minutes, until spices have infused the liquid.

4. [I like to go jar by jar, start to finish here-- keeps things hotter, in my opinion, but the book has you ...] Place 1 bay leaf, 1 garlic clove, 1/2 tsp mustard seed and 1 head of dill into each jar. Pack cucumbers into hot jars to within a generous 1/2 inch of the top of jar.

5. Ladle hot pickling liquid into jar to cover cucumbers, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot pickling liquid. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to finger-tight.

6. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

Disclaimer: this recipe is not recommended for first-time canners, as risks exist with food preservation (as in all things) and I can't be held responsible for mistakes or incorrect information. Please familiarize yourself with basic canning techniques before consulting this recipe! Whew!

Anyway, this recipe also works well if, instead of canning for long-term storage, you just want cooked pickles -- in which case, skip all the jar parts and toss everything in the pot! This style of pickles should keep in the fridge for 2 weeks or so.

Chickens Saturday!

CSA Week 8

In your share this week...

cukes-- slicers and picklers

summer squash

sugarsnap peas (likely the last week for these)

bunch cippolini onions

bunch scallions

small bulb fennel

bunch beets

lettuce mix

baby carrots

mixed green and purple beans

dill

lots of sunflowers!

bunch cilantro

bunch parsely

Recipes for this week... Two Dressings adapted from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons

Lime-Cilantro Dressing (makes about 2 cups)

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 1/2 cup lime juice (from 2-4 limes)
• 1 cup canola or corn oil
• 1 cup sour cream (your choice, whole, low-fat, or non-fat)
• 1/2 tsp salt or more, to taste
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste

In a blender or food processer, puree garlic, sugar, cilantro and lime juice. With the machine running, add the oil in a thin stream. Then add sour cream, 1/2 cup at a time, blending between additions. Season with salt and pepper. This will keep for up to a week in the fridge.

Shocking Beet Vinaigrette (makes 1.5 cups)

• 1 small beet, trimmed but unpeeled
• 1 tsp minced fresh ginger
• 1 shallot or cippolini, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Simmer the beet in a small saucepan until it is tender. Drain the beet, cool with cold, running water, and slip the skin off-- cut into a few pieces. In a food processor or blender, puree the beet, ginger, shallot/cippolini, and mustard. Blend in the balsamic vinegar. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil, then salt and pepper. Should keep well for 5 days.

Chicken Scratch

Some notes on your chickens...

Your chickens are a hybrid cross between Cornish and Rock breeds-- known for their efficient grain:meat ratio. They were fed premium grain from Green Mountain Feeds, a Vermont-based, family-owned company. In addition, for the final day, your chickens were fed the most local grain possible: soybeans grown here at Green Peak Farm. It's a good feeling to complete the cycle of energy-- even if it is only one day in seven weeks-- and feed grain that is grown here.

Chickens and dried soy plants-- edible beans are inside the shells.

Chickens, Round One

Our first batch of chickens will be ready for pick up on THURSDAY, August 5, anytime after noon.

Youur birds will be fresh on Thursday. If you'd like to freeze your birds in sections or halves, please be sure to pick them up fresh so you can divide them before they're solid.

The second harvest will be approximately three weeks after Thursday. If you'd like to order additional birds, or are not a member of the CSA, please contact me to reserve a bird at $4.25/lb (birds average 5-6 lbs each.)

Winner, winner-- Chicken dinner!