Farm Photos

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bulb onions bbbbbbbbbbbbshallots

coming soon... flowers!

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bbzinnias bbbbbbbbbbbbbbsunflowers, amaranth and cosmos

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peppers bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbtomatoes!

fruit...

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peaches bbbbbbbbbbbbbbthe very first raspberries

know your squash....

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green buttercup bbbbbbbbb butternut bbbbbbbbbbbbbbhubbard blue ballet

amazing summer, fall and spring honey... now with Ellen's fabulous labels!

I hope those of you who haven't had the chance yet will be able to visit soon and see firsthand how your fruit and produce is coming along.

Week Eight

This week everyone received: beans (three varieties), basil (variety), parsley, cucumbers (english and/or pickling), peppers (variety), chard (variety), scallions (ishikura and deep purple), and full shares also received purple haze carrots.

You may notice that your chard has some some small holes... there is a mystery beetle that I'm having problems with, and some other local farms are as well (there's a discussion about it on the listserv). This beetle manages to get under the row covers and cause the damage to chard and beet greens, and currently no one is sure what it is or how exactly to deal with it. But we're working on it!

We have honey for sale! Contact me if you'd like to buy some. The first 8 oz bottle is $5 and if you return the bottle your next one will be $4. We currently have all three varieties of honey (spring, summer and autumn) and plan to do a few more harvests this year. Thanks to my friend and stellar graphic designer Ellen for the amazing honey labels (and all the CV Farm labels/logo/design)!

If you're at a loss as to what to do with this latest batch of chard, I can share two great suggestions from CSA members. My friend Jen likes to wrap the chard leaf like a little package around a few slices of tomato, some goat cheese (or cheese of your choice, though goat is excellent with this), drizzle with balsamic and grill! Julie shared a link for a great and amazingly simple recipe for stuffed chard with fresh marinara - www.eatingwell.com/recipes/stuffed_chard_marinara.html

Photos

Shivaster
removing the wax cappings from frames with a heated knife



uncapped frames in the extractor


hhhhhhhhhhhhh
bbbbbbbbbbbbbbfresh honey!



Shivani, carrot harvester extraordinaire

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week six

In shares this week:
red fire lettuce, 1 bunch of kale, 1 bunch of carrots (mokum and parmex), raw summer honey, and a few of our very first peppers.

We harvested the summer honey on Saturday (pictures soon - it was a full house!) It's definitely darker than the pale spring honey but significantly lighter than the deep, rich fall honey. Let me know what you think of the flavor.

I've noticed that even a day or two after harvest the carrots tend to become limp and wilted. This is caused by moisture loss and can be avoided by removing the green tops and keeping the carrots in a plastic bag in the refrigerator, with or without a moist paper towel. If you find that they are already wilted, put them in a shallow dish of water in the fridge and they will regain their crispness.

The peppers are a mix of sweet and mild - no hot peppers yet, and when you get them I'll make sure to package them separately. This is only a sample of our first peppers, so you might try them cut up on a salad with some red fire lettuce and herb vinaigrette.

Some recipe suggestions for this week...

kale: Thinly slice, saute with onion and garlic, cover to steam (steaming makes the leaves more tender than frying). Serve with crumbled feta cheese on top (substitute the Ivory Lace, or your favorite grated cheese) Thanks for the recipe suggestion, Kate!

carrot and couscous salad: Add couscous to a pot of boiling water, turn off heat, cover, let sit for ten minutes. Shred carrots and mix with the juice of 1 lemon, a few tablespoons of orange juice, 1/4 cup of olive oil, a bit of cumin, and salt and pepper. When the couscous is done, fluff with a fork and add to carrots with a handful of raisins. Toss and serve. (You could also substitute quinoa or any grain of your choice)

honey: There are countless uses for this amazing honey, but here are some simple favorites. My husband drizzles it on cereal, and I eat it for breakfast on a toasted whole-grain English muffin with a bit of butter. My friend Jen highly recommends honey drizzled on toast with peanut butter, and my friend Ellen uses it when she bakes bread. I love it mixed in with my favorite yogurt, and in any recipe in place of sugar (general guidelines for substituting honey for sugar in recipes can be found here: www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1923,145167-243192,00.html)

We are now selling 8-oz jars of our honey! Contact me if you're interested.

Honey!

We did the spring inspection today, and were lucky enough to locate our star - the queen! (in the center, with the red dot).

The honey supers are already full so I plan to experiment with a mini honey harvest this weekend... and I say experiment because we've never done it before. Like so many things here, it's all just a learning experience ;)

Some frames we pulled from the hive still have fall honey, leftovers that the bees didn't eat over the winter (this is the dark honey, on the right). Spring honey (below - I scooped some out with my finger but it's practically clear) has a light, less intensely sweet and more flowery taste, while the amber-colored fall honey has a deeper, richer flavor... probably what most people expect when they taste honey.

It's pretty incredible to pull a heavy frame out of the hive, scrape off a bit of the wax capping, and taste the fresh honey. CSA shareholders will have the opportunity to do this soon, and judge the difference for themselves!