Spring has sprung?

Happy spring on this anniversary of Robert Frost's birthday. Here are a few photos from the farm from this weekend... Jim's 350 fruit trees budding out"Home" garlic, a 3rd generation derivative of Merck Forest's from an epic day of garlic harvest, lightning storms, and prayer. It's already four+ inches emerged with a nice south-bound view.

Cottage beebalm is healthy and prolific as ever.

And this is what happens when you have a dry winter plus a solid five days of 60-85 degree weather in mid-March: dessication. Drying out. Remember the Dust Bowl?
To look at these photos and then to reflect on Bill McKibben's Saturday presentation is telling: this is what climate change looks like. In one year in the relatively stable Vermont, we've seen Hurricane Irene-- one of the largest rain events in VT, followed by one of the sunniest and driest Novembers-- a record that then then extended to the whole winter, followed by record-setting March temperatures. Not just records that were broken by a day or two, but a week of record highs that were surpassed by 20 to 30 degrees.Tonight the heat is back on, and South Londonderry's predicted low is to drop to 14 degrees. 14 degrees! That's a 68 degree swing from high to low over the course of 4 days. The forecast is unprecedented: with high winds and dry conditions, we had forest fire warnings in Vermont. In March. Unbelievable.

McKibben's presentation was unarmingly casual yet the threat of climate change to him was no less dire-- much like the threats that climate change offer us in our day-to-day lives. 80 degrees in March is a welcome warm-up to our winter skins, but who is going to pollinate those pear blossoms? Who's to say that a more densely-condensation laden atmosphere won't throw one more sub-freezing system at us, bringing one more night to frost the blossoms and render the fruit wasted? WWRFS?-- What would Robert Frost say?

Green Peak Farm CSA Info 2012

Hello, friends!

I hope this finds you and your families well. With the weather getting warmer, Green Peak Farm is gearing up for spring. Attached, you'll find information about this year's Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture. You'll notice that the overall price of a share this year is lower this year at $300; however, share cost is increasing on a per-weekly basis.

As such, please note the following changes to the CSA this year:

- CSA shares will NOT include meat chickens as they have in years past.

- While your weekly CSA share will still have a good variety of different types of produce, I'll be focusing in on fewer crops this year. Portion sizes will be larger, with somewhat fewer types of vegetables per week.

- Half shares are available for $200.

I look forward to hearing back from you about your interest in the farm. If you'd prefer not to return to CSA this year, or if you simply didn't get around to it last fall, I'd love to hear your feedback about last season's CSA in an anonymous survey here. I deeply value your feedback-- thanks for providing the opportunity keep making CSA at Green Peak Farm better.

Please submit your registration form and payment by May 1st. As with last year, early registration (by April 1st) will save $20. Thanks, as always!

In closing, here's "Mud Season" by Jane Kenyon.

Here in purgatory bare ground
is visible, except in shady places
where snow prevails.

Still, each day sees
the restoration of another animal:
a sparrow, just now a sleepy wasp;
and, at twilight, the skunk
pokes out of the den,
anxious for mates and meals....

On the floor of the woodshed
the coldest imaginable ooze.
and soon the first shoots
of asparagus will rise,
the fingers of Lazarus....

Earth's open wounds-- where the plow
gouged the ground last November--
must be smoothed; some sown
with seed, and all forgotten.

Now the nuthatch spurns the suet,
resuming its diet of flies, and the mesh
bag, limp and greasy, might be taken
down.

Beside the porch step
the crocus prepares an exaltation
of purple, but for the moment
holds its tongue....

For more information and a printable .pdf registration form head to http://www.greenpeakfarm.com/Home/first-flight-community-supported-agriculture.

Happy Spring!

Mego

Garden to Bed and Seeking Feedback

This past weekend of glorious, sunny days helped dry out the fields enough to get the tiller in, and so: goodnight, garden! Most everything has been cleared out, composted, and seeded in winter rye to tide over for next year. Next step is planting and mulching in garlic (four new varieties plus elephant garlic and a shareable seed stock of Green Peak Farm's HOME garlic!) and dismembering the hoophouse for the year, though I am still reluctant to say goodbye to the tomatoes, peppers and basil mellowing out under plastic.


Left in the garden is still a good spread of veggies, happily thriving in the cooler season: daikon, large storage radish, turnips (one of my new favorites, bright and tiny, crisp marbles of sweetness,) mustard greens, some beets, kale, of course, romanesca cauliflower, broc, radish, parsley and cilantro. We'll see how long they last under reemay; it's hard to believe it's mid-October already.


Just in case you haven't gotten around to the end of year CSA survey, here is the link again. As always, I deeply appreciate member feedback, and hope to impress the importance of your opinion on how the shares happen. Your CSA share is and should be custom-tailored to what works for you and what works for the farm, so please do speak up! Thank you!
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFFtRTc0QnJRdXJ0cGNyaGdjTjBaN3c6MQ


It has been a beautiful fall in Vermont, and no one says it quite so well as Robert Frost...


Unharvested

A scent of ripeness from over a wall.
And come to leave the routine road
And look for what had made me stall,
There sure enough was an apple tree
That had eased itself of its summer load,
And of all but its trivial foliage free,
Now breathed as light as a lady's fan.
For there had been an apple fall
As complete as the apple had given man.
The ground was one circle of solid red.

May something always go unharvested!
May much stay out of our stated plan,
Apples or something forgotten and left,
So smelling their sweetness would be no theft.

Congratulations, Jane and John!

It's official: the Pig Roast was actually A Wedding, and Jane and John are married! In true Jane and John form, the wedding celebrated the bounty of local talent, participation, and delicious eats. John says a few well-chosen words, with his brother officiating

Headgear and associated supplies provided by Green Peak Farm

Portable pig roaster, prepped and served by The Barn Restaurant in Pawlet

Three-layer cake: vanilla/raspberry, carrot cake, and chocolate ganache with apricots -- plus, Happy Birthday, Conor!-- from Ali of H.N. Williams Store

Mark at work/Angle of Repose for the swine

Uncle Fred and Aunt Amelia, from Portland, OR with Mom Bev

Check out Amelia's work with the James Beard Public Market, coming to Portland soon: http://www.portlandpublicmarket.com/index.html

Amelia helped establish a network between professional chefs and the Oregon Food Bank, helping to educate the public about healthful, delicious ways to prepare food and to use the seasons' bounty as it comes, in addition to being a restauranteur and advocate for good food culture in Portland. Be sure to check out the Public Market in the coming year!

Dancing to the sweet tunes of local bluegrass band, Goldtown. http://goldtownmusic.com/

Congrats on the new album, boys!

Big thanks and congratulations to the newlyweds and their families! XO

CSA 2011 - Week 12 - Last Share for the Year!

Hard to believe it, but we're already at our last CSA pickup for the year. In your share this week:

Delicata squash
Pie pumpkin
Soup pumpkin
Butternut squash
red and yellow onions
broccoli
tomatoes
green peppers
green and purple beans
slicing radishes, daikon radish

Herbs: basil, lemon basil, thai basil, thyme, savory, dill umbels,
flowers: gomphrena and celosia

A few notes about winter squash. Winter squash will keep in a warm, dry place for 3-5 months. The best way to store it is in the pantry or on the countertop-- if you're in for the long haul, most winter squash is stored by letting it "cure" in the sun to let the skin thicken up, increasing its longevity.

If you notice any spots or wounds on the squash, trim those away, store the good parts in the fridge, and eat them first. Only try to store unblemished fruits, as the saying goes: "one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel."

Another technique is to wipe down squash with a very mild bleach solution if you're planning to store and eat pumpkins/squash later on in the year.

It has been a pleasure growing produce for you this year, and I hope that you have been pleased with your share. I will be emailing around a survey in the coming week; if you happen to have a free minute and could respond and return it to me, via email or in hard copy, I'd appreciate it very much. Your feedback is important to me and it really helps the business to grow-- this is always a work in progress. Thanks kindly in advance. Happy Fall!

CSA 2011 - Week 11

In your share this week:
1 lb green and purple beans
2-3 Delicata winter squash
1 small pie pumpkin (New England Pie)
2 lbs potatoes (yukons and ADK reds)
1 head garlic
handfull of shallots
1 large hunk (5-7lbs) of soup pumpkin (Rouge Vif d'Etampes)
yellow and orange carrots
lettuce and baby chard mix
1 large crown broccoli
1/4 lb genovese basil
red and cippolini onions
cukes - slicers and picklers

Flowers: red and copper amaranth, multi-colored celosia, gomphrena, a few crooked zinnias
Herbs: thyme, sage, dill umbels (flowers), thai and lemon basil.

Please be sure to give your produce an extra rinse this week. With all of the recent rain and wind, many plants were knocked over and subjected to a thorough coating of mud-- thank goodness that's about the extent of the damage from T.S. Irene.

PUMPKINS! Fall is here! I broke into the wool hat collection tonight, not going to lie. Some notes about the different winter squash:

Pumpkins are indeed winter squash, and members of the enormous Cucurbita "family" (really a genus.) The different squash-family veggies that GPF offers are from a variety of the 6 cucurbita species-- and I'm of the mind that knowing the species (each species can embrace up to a few hundred different varieties) helps us to know how to cook them better. Mmm. It all comes back to eating, doesn't it?

Of the squash offered here at the farm, here are the Genus species (Genus species, variety name):
Cucurbita moschata: Butternut
Cucurbita pepo: Delicata, Yellow Crookneck [Summer squash] and New England Pie (also in this family: Acorn]
Cucurbita maxima: Rouge Vif d'Etampes (also in this family: Hubbard, buttercup/Turk's Turban-types)
And of course, the trusty old cukes: Cucurbita sativus.

Because your squash have not been "cured" for long (left in the sun to let the skins thicken and harden) I'd encourage you to save a step of potentially hazardous knife wielding and just eat the skins. They cook down easily, and I have not found that they deter from the silky smooth flesh.
Here's a rough recipe for a delicious, creamy treat good for these cool nights:

Slow and Easy Cindella Pumpkin Risotto
4-5 lbs Rouge Vif d'Etampes/Cinderella Pumpkin cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
2 cups short-grain rice (arborio is ideal, I used brown)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 shallots, chopped finely
2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup dry red wine
Salt, pepper, chopped sage, thyme, rosemary to taste

In a large skillet, heat olive oil to medium-high. Add cubed squash and cover, stirring often. Let cook for approx. 10 mins.

In a medium to large-sized pot, melt butter and gently fry rice in melted butter until the rice becomes fragrant and begins to turn (about 5 mins.) Add stock, onions, garlic and bring to low boil; cover and let cook. As stock begins to cook off, reduce heat and simmer low, adding cream. Be careful not to let boil. As rice softens and liquids cook off, add wine, S&P, and chopped herbs. When rice is al-dente, add pan-roasted squash. Serve hot. Total cooking time: approx 45 min-1hr.

This stands up very well to re-heating, gently fried the next day as a patty, or with grated parm and a simple greens salad. Feels like fall!

A few notes about Tropical Storm Irene

Here are a few photos from an afternoon spent on Day 6 of cleanup in Wilmington, VT. There was an outpouring of volunteers from the Stratton Mountain School community-- over 80 parents, students and staff members came out to help. The damage in Wilmington was extensive. The entire downtown areas were severely flooded, and the force of the water is hard to believe.Which way is up? Shovelling debris and sludge from the basement of a bar on Main Street The red line demarcates the flood line

Our crew of workers from school, plus Senator Bernie Sanders, who was visiting and checking out the damage

It is hard to convey how much damage had been done in this community-- it's truly a disaster zone. The disparity between having been so lucky on the flank of Green Peak and the damage done in Wilmington and Jamaica makes those towns feels strangely distant. In case you have not already checked out the outpouring of response from Vermonters helping out their neighbors, browse around this website to see what's been going on: www.vtresponse.wordpress.com

Donations for the town of Jamaica can be directed toward: www.strattonfoundation.org

Donations to the town of Wilmington can be directed toward a number of allocated funds-- see their website at: www.wilmingtonvermont.us

My heart goes out to these, and so many other small communities and individual families in Vermont who were hit by this storm.

CSA 2011 - Week 10

(Retroactively.)

Missed one in there, with the start of meetings for school, and subsequently the first week of classes plus Irene. I deeply appreciate everyone's flexibility in pickup times/dates, and now that we're through with the madness of the first week plus wedding in the eye of the tropical storm, things are back on track for our last two weeks of pickups.

To expect for this week (Week 11: Tues. the 6th/Thurs. the 8th)

broccoli

Green and purple beans

onions

2-3 delicata winter squash

pie pumpkin

1/2 a large Cinderella-type soup pumpkin

2 lbs potatoes (last week for potatoes)

big bag of basil

garlic and shallots

a few cukes each

a few tomatoes and peppers

mustard greens, lettuce, baby kale mix

potentially: carrots, radish

Thanks, and we will see you Tues. and Thurs. Shares should be ready by 5:30-- and the door is always open if you need to come later.