Maysie's Farm Blog

2010-09-09T21:09:00.005-04:00

Well, it looks as if the sunny weather is on our side for our Open House on Saturday afternoon. Please plan on joining us this Saturday, September 11th, beginning at 4pm. We will have children's activities, great raffle prizes, live music, potluck dinner and a bonfire!

The sunny , dry weather has been persisting for sometime. I guess now is the time we can be grateful for all of the snow we had over the winter, as our groundwater reserves are not yet depleted! Even though a drought warning has not yet been issued, please be sure to be judicious with your water usage! - and, hope for some rain sometime soon!

You may have noticed that our stand by greens (kale and collards) are taking a rest, as the extreme heat and insect populations have taken their toll on them. But, we have been harvesting some new greens that are now ready (Yukina Savoy, Komatsuna and Tokyo Bekana). They are all delicious greens and are quite interchangeable in recipes.

The tomatillos are coming on! You'll notice that the tomatillos have a papery skin. When harvesting them, you want to be sure that the fruit inside is flush with the skin. They need to be peeled and washed, as the paper leaves a sticky film on the fruit. Then, you can dice them and use them raw in salsa. I prefer to cook them before I use them. You can either roast them (by sticking them under your broiler) or boil them for 5 minutes. Then mix them with onion, jalapeno, cilantro and lime juice.

Recipe for the week:
Beef Stew
The crisper weather that we have had the past few days has gotten me cooking some stews and soups again!
Here's an idea to use up all of the ingredients in the share to make a simple one pot meal.

Coconut oil, olive oil, ghee, butter, lard or tallow
1 pound beef cubes (preferably Ben's grass fed beef!)
2 onions, cut into large dice
1 jalapeno or poblano pepper, diced
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons cumin
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 teaspoon coriander
4 turnips, halved
3- 4 carrots, cut into large dice
1 pepper, cut into large cubes
1/2 cup homemade beef broth or water
1 large bunch greens, chopped.
Juice of one lemon
Parsley, cilantro or mint (or a combination of all three)
Sea salt to taste.

Heat oil in a large pan. (When pan frying meat, it is best to use a healthy stable oil such as coconut oil, lard, tallow or palm oil)
Add beef cubes and let them sear on both sides.
Remove beef cubes to a plate.
Add more fat if necessary. Add onion, jalapeno or poblano and spices. Allow to cook for a few minutes to allow the flavors to meld. Add turnips, carrots and pepper. Saute for another minute. Add beef cubes back into the pot. Add 1/2 cup water or beef stock and let simmer for 40 minutes.
Add chopped greens and cook until wilted. Add lemon juice and season with salt. Add fresh herbs and serve.

* You can use any combination of spices with this stew- you can give it more of a Mexican flair by using cumin and hot pepper and top it off by mixing in fresh tomato or tomatillo salsa.

* Another variation is to substitute beans (chick peas, black beans or lentils) for the meat.

See you around the farm!

2010-09-02T08:45:00.009-04:00

Such a pleasant day at Pleasant Pastures!!!

This past Sunday, Sam and I and our friends (and CSA members) Cindy and Kevin Koser, attended dinner at the home of Ben and Anna Stoltzfus of Pleasant Pastures Organic Farm.

When we arrived, Ben and his son Aaron were relaxing outside as Anna, Mary, Katie and Fini were finishing up the preparation of the meal. We were having a "Haystack Meal", an apparantly fun and easy meal that many Amish people share together. Approximately 8-12 ingredients are set out on the table in separate bowls and guests each build their own "haystack" and top it off with a sauce or a dressing! For our particular meal, Anna placed bowls of crumbled crackers, their delicious grass fed ground beef, incredibly creamy brown rice (mixed with milk, cream and a touch of stevia!), onions, shredded carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, their delicious cheddar cheese, and the piece de resistance, crispy bacon!! She then made a sauce with their cup cheese to top the whole thing off. (Cup cheese is an Amish dairy specialty item with the consistency that falls somewhere between cottage cheese and yogurt!). What a fun way to enjoy this food that they lovingly grew and prepared! We were so thankful. Oh, can't forget dessert- peach cobbler with Ben's vanilla ice cream!!

After the meal, we got to take a farm tour. Well, we were separated a bit for the tour- Ben and the other men had one tour and Anna and the girls, and Anna's seven year old son, Yonnie, were on another tour! We met the horses, the cows, the pigs and the chickens. Everything was so peaceful and we were so grateful for it all as we walked around! At 4:30 pm everyone changed out of their Sunday best into work clothes in order to start milking the cows. We got to watch a bit of this as well. Watching Ben's efficiency in handling and milking the cows was quite incredible and there was this beautiful sense of calm in the stalls. The milk was then transferred to the holding tank, where Mary competently began separating the cream, both for cream and sour cream. The skim milk that was separated goes to supplement the pigs. Oh, the pigs... We met the 300 pound pigs that will be part of our October order of pork chops!
Possibly the most impressive part of the tour was seeing their storage facility. A nicely sized walk in cooler and a huge freezer for all of their meats.
It was then time to say goodbye. We were all so thankful for this opportunity to get to know Ben and Anna better and to express our gratitude for a wonderful day.
Please help support Ben and his family- they work so hard to produce these delicious nutrient dense foods for us. He will be delivering again next Friday (September 10th).

A warm welcome to Jenna Lombardo, our newest intern. Jenna just graduated from Downingtown West. She is taking a gap year before persuing other schooling and will be working with us most likely through the winter. A great big thanks to Dave Gardener who has been holding down the fort this week!!

OPEN HOUSE:
Don't forget about our open house on Saturday September 11th beginning at 4 pm.
We will have kids' activities, live music, raffles, Victory Beer, organic wines and a potluck dinner beginning at 6 pm. Invite your friends!!!
There will be a sign up sheet in the barn.

LABOR DAY:
Happy Labor Day!! Due to the holiday on Monday, the CSA pick up will take place on Tuesday September 7th from 1-7.

Now that the kids are back in school, keep in mind that Maysie's Farm does school group programs in the fall and spring. You can register your child's class , scout group or sports team for a "Down to Earth Gardening Workshop" or "Cooking on the Farm" by calling and speaking to Sam or Annmarie.

RECIPE of the WEEK:
Stuffed Tomatoes:- this is a great way to use some of those bigger tomatoes you are getting in the share. It is also quite beautiful with the yellow and orange tomatoes!
4 large tomatoes
3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup basil, minced
1 clove garlic minced
sea salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the insides. Chop up the pulp. Mix the pulp with the cheese, basil, garlic and sea salt. Fill the tomato shells and bake until cheese is melted and slightly browned (about 10 minutes). Serve warm.

Recipe Variations:

Cook up some of Ben's delicious ground beef with garlic and add that to the mixture above.
Make a mixture of bread crumbs, parsley, parmesan cheese, garlic, and anchovy. Mix it with the tomato pulp and stuff the tomato.
Add capers and olives to any of the combinations!

See you around the farm!

2010-08-26T21:32:00.003-04:00

We are officially half way through the CSA season. Only 13 more weeks to go- can you believe it? We know it's the end of summer here when our work staff continues to dwindle. This week, we say Good- Bye to Lauren Frazee who is leaving for Spain in a few weeks, and Jean Lemere who returns to Paris. Our longest term Guatamalen worker, Aroldo, will be returning to his family in Guatamala on Tuesday. We wish all them all the best. Mike Feddison has just returned from Palou, but will be taking the next two weeks off to vacation with his fiance.... look for his return again soon! (Quite an international group we have here!!)

We've had a nice repreive with the weather this week. We definitely needed the rain and the cooler temperatures were much appreciated! The yet unripe cherry tomatoes and the blackberries are looking forward to the sunny and warmer forecast so that they can ripen.

We have an excess of Sweetwater breads and cookies in the freezer that we need to sell before we can get new ones. You will find the breads in the first freezer on the left in the store area.

Salmon has arrived, and we have new deliveries of chicken and coffee.

Save the Date:

Saturday September 11th is our Open House/ Annual CSA party beginning at 4 pm. Potluck dinner begins at 6. Come meet great people from the community, share great food and listen to live local music. We will have kids' activities, raffles and a bonfire! Invite your friends and family!

Another item of interest:

The Weston A Price Foundation is holding it's annual conference in Valley Forge November 12-14th. It is an amazing conference which touches on all apects of food, farming and the healing arts. This year, the topic of the conference is "THE POLITICS OF FOOD". Learn about things such as how government politics affect our food supply, the politics behind GMO's, pasture based farming, and traditional cooking. The foundation is offering $50 off for all who register by Sept. 1st.

Find more information regarding the foundation and the conference at www.westonaprice.org

See you around the farm!

2010-08-19T21:14:00.005-04:00

The latest news report regarding the 380 million eggs being recalled for salmonella certainly makes us grateful that we know who are farmers are! It seems so insane that one farm in Iowa can sell eggs to 3 different states and make so many people sick. I guess we'll have to stay tuned to see what the government's response will be to better ensure the safety of our food supply- irradiate all eggs on supermarket shelves or encourage consumers to source their eggs locally from sustainably raised chickens?? Thank you for all of your support in the movement for developing a local, sustainable food system, and a big thanks to Ben for providing us with his delicious, nutritious eggs!

The quintessential summer pick your own crops of cherry tomatoes and blackberries are finally coming on strong! All of the vegetables appreciated the bit of rain we received in recent days!

Steve and Jenn Kurian, of Wild for Salmon, have returned from Alaska and will be delivering some of their catch to us this weekend. Starting this Monday, we'll have salmon filets, smoked salmon, nova salmon and new feta and dill salmon burgers that Steve and Jenn make themselves.

We now have a new generation of Jeremiah's chickens stocked in the freezer- whole chickens, thighs and skinless boneless breasts.

On Tuesday August 24th, we will be holding an impromptu cooking class for children ages 7-12. The class begins at 10 am and runs until 12 pm. Please register via email or by signing up in the barn!

Don't forget about our Annual CSA Party and Open House which will be held on Saturday September 11th beginning at 4 pm.
We will have children's activities (including a cooking station), live music, some great raffle prizes, Victory Beer, organic wines and a potluck beginning at 6. This is a great opportunity to connect with the Maysie's Farm Community and to introduce your friends to the farm. Please plan on joining us - all are welcome!

Here is a recipe for Pepperonata- a classic Italian dish that uses peppers and onions and cooks them until they are soft and sweet. There are many different variations for this dish. You can add olives, anchovies, cherry tomatoes, or a shaving of Parmesan cheese at the end of cooking!

Pepperonata:
2 Tablespoons of good quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 peppers, sliced thinly
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

Heat a large stainless saute pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and add onion and peppers. Stir to coat in oil. Lower heat and allow vegetables to simmer, making sure they do not burn. It will take approximately 30 minutes for the vegetables to soften. Add water or stock if necessary to keep them moist and allow the liquid to cook off at the end. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm or at room temperature.

See you around the farm!

2010-07-29T21:04:00.003-04:00

Sorry, it's been a little while since our last posting.

What's new, you ask? Well, things are busy here as always. And, now that it is the beginning of August, we begin to naturally undergo changes in workers here at the farm! We hope that you have all had a chance to interact with our interns this summer. They have really been doing a great job and have been so enthusiastic- even with the extreme heat we have been having!

Rial, Davis and Brianna will be leaving Maysie's Farm on August 13th. Rial is going back to begin her junior year at Virgnia Tech. Davis is embarking on his last semester at Eastern College and will be moving to the big city! Brianna is also transitioning to the city to take up urban agriculture. We wish them all the best!

Yesterday, Jean arrived from Paris. He comes to us from Academic Adventures in America- He will be interning with us for a month- hoping to improve his English while he is here!

And, later this month, we will be welcoming Mike Feddison, a perpetual intern if you will! He has interned here for a full season in 2005 and then went on intern at Kimberton, Charlsetown and Sankanac CSAs! He is returning from teaching chemistry in Pulau in the South Pacific to join us here!

Laruen will be leaving the beginning of September to travel to Spain to teach English for the year!

Dave, our team leader, will be staying around and holding down the fort!

Please be sure to thank them for all that they have done when you see them!!

This week, we will be distributing some fresh garlic and onions. This first distribution has not been fully cured, so use them soon or let them dry with adequate air flow before storing them away.

Blackberries are getting so close. It is very feasible that we can begin picking next week!!

We are having another Herb Workshop with Master Herbalist, Cindy Koser!

HERBAL FIRST AID

Everyday problems such as bruises, inflammation, sprains, cuts, wounds, low grade fevers, colds, bug bites and burns respond well to herbal remedies. Join us as we explore how many common herbs can be an effective first aid treatment at home. We will discuss and demonstrate how to prepare home remedies for these common ailments.

Saturday August 7th 1-3 pm

Cost: $20 per person

Immediately following the workshop, Maysie's Farm is hosting a pot luck for the Phoenixville Area Time Bank... please plan on joining us to meet new people in the community!

Also, mark your calendars for our annual OPEN HOUSE on Saturday September 11th at 4 pm.

RECIPE: Below is a recipe for caramelized onions- a great way to use up garlic and onion! It is a delicious condiment atop almost anything- grains, cooked meats; or puree it into some gently cooked chicken liver for a delicious sweet pate! Use whatever you have available to make this- below are just some guidelines.

Caramelized Onions

Butter, ghee or exta virgin olive oil

Onion

Garlic

Heat a stainless steel saute pan over medium high heat. Add butter, ghee or olive oil. Add onion and garlic and reduce heat Stir to coat the onion and garlic in the fat. Be careful not to let the onions brown too much. Add liquid if necessary (water, broth). Lower the heat and continue cooking. The longer the onions cook, the more the sugars will be released and the sweeter they will become. This can take about 40- 60 minutes for a deliciously sweet condiment!

garlic

See you around the farm!

2010-07-07T22:16:00.002-04:00

Just 5 months ago, we remember looking outside and being able to see nothing but stretches of white snow piled 3 feet high. Now, we look outside and see a brown lawn longing for some moisture. Let's hope that this intense hot and dry weather will not persist for the next two months!
All of the farm workers are working diligently to keep all of our crops watered, particularly the tender ones that have just been planted (like our blueberry bushes).
The cucumbers and zucchini continue to take off! This week, we will be harvesting purslane for you. If you are not familiar with purslane, it is a wild edible plant. Sure, some may call it a "weed". Call it what you will, but this little wonder is one of the most nutritious greens you can find! It is loaded with magnesium, potassium and beta carotene and is the one of the best plant based sources of Omega 3 fatty acids!! Below you will find a recipe for a cucumber- purslane salad, but be creative and saute with it, use it raw or slightly wilted in salads, or use it to make a creamy dressing! Read what Wildman Steve Brill has to say about it here: http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/Plants.Folder/Purslane.html

Please share with us here how you have used your purslane!!

Don't forget about our Herb Workshop being offered this Saturday July 10th from 10-12:30.
Cindy Koser will be showing us medicinal uses for some of the common herbs on the farm, as well as how to make delicious teas using some of our lesser known, but very prolific herbs!
Register by signing up in the barn or call or email us here at the farm! Price is $10 per person with proceeds going to Maysie's Farm Conservation Center.

RECIPE:
Cucumber Purslane Yogurt Salad http://www.starchefs.com/
5 cucumbers
1/4 pound purslane, leaves removed from stems and washed
2 tablespoons each fresh mint, cilantro and chervil
4 cups whole milk yogurt
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ground coriander
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Slice cucumbers and place in bowl with purslane and herbs. In a separate bowl, mix yogurt, oil, garlic, coriander, salt and pepper. Add yogurt mixture to the vegetables. Stir to combine and season to taste. Serve chilled.

2010-06-30T21:01:00.004-04:00

Quite the storm last week!

We hope that everyone is safe and sound with little damage to body, spirit and property.

When we woke up with no power on Friday, we needed to make a large, unbudgeted purchase (the loud generator!) This was very necessary to save all of our frozen items in the store. The generator, however, only let us power the freezers and refrigerators and not the well. So, the vegetables were not too happy in the intense heat on Friday. Luckily, our power came on Saturday and they were once again happy!

A couple of weeks ago, we posted that we needed a new freezer.
Well, thanks to Pete and LuAnn MacIlvane for donating a great freezer to us!

Our coffee supply is being replenished this week. Please let us know if you have certain preferences and we will stock them for you.

You will notice that we are now also carrying Granola from Sweetwater Bakery. The oats, seeds and nuts in the granola are all soaked and dehydrated, making it easier for you to digest and assimilate all of the nutrients. The granola is also gluten free! It sells for $7 per pound.

Don't miss our upcoming workshop with herbalist, Cindy Koser
Making the Most of Maysie's Herbs- July 10th 10 am - 12:30 pm

Six of the world's most popular and useful herbs are grown right here at Maysie's Farm! We will discuss Basil, Lavender, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage and Thyme. We will discuss how these delightful herbs will serve you both in the kitchen as well as the medicine cabinet.
We will also discuss The Fine Art of Making Herbal Tea as we sample a few of the splendors being grown here- Lemon Balm, Red Clover, Nettle, Peppermint, Spearmint, Apple Mint and Chocolate Mint!
Come join us
$10 per person. Sign up sheet is posted in the barn, or you may call or email the farm to register. All proceeds will go to Maysie's Farm Conservation Center.

Zucchini and cucumbers are really coming on!!
This week's recipe is from Deborah Madison's cookbook, Local Flavors. It serves as a great way to use up some marjoram from the farm as well!!

Zucchini Frittata with Ricotta and Marjoram

Serves 4-6
1 1/2 pounds zucchini, preferable Costata Romanesco
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 Tablespoons olive oil
6 large market eggs
1 large garlic clove, crushed or minced with a pinch of sea salt
1 Tablespoon chopped marjoram
1/3 cup grated Dry Monterey Jack or Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup ricotta, drained if very wet

Coarsely grate the zucchini, toss with 1 teaspoon slat, and set aside in colander for 30 minutes. Rinse briefly, then squeeze dry
Warm half the oil in a wide skillet over medium high heat. Add the zucchini and cook, strirring frequently, until it's dry and flecked with gold, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out the pan.
Preheat the broiler. Beat the eggs with a few pinches of salt and some pepper, then stir in the garlic, zucchini, marjoram, Jack cheese and ricotta. Allow the ricotta to remain streaky. Add the remaining oil to the pan, and when it's hot, add the eggs. Lower the heat, cook for a minute or so, then shuffle the pan a few times to make sure the eggs are loose on the bottom.
Cook over low to medium heat until the eggs are set and the tip is nearly dry, about 10 minutes, then slide the frittata under the broiler to finish cooking the top. Invert the finished dish onto a serving plate.

And the Beets Go On and On and On!!

2010-06-23T21:23:00.002-04:00

Happy Summer!!
Thanks to those who came out to help us celebrate the solstice on Sunday evening. We had a great time sharing food, stories and listening to great music by The Spinning Leaves!

The heat is definitely on, and unfortunately, we have not had much rain at all and the forecast looks dry. Great for going to the beach, but not so great for growing. If the dry weather continues, we may need to wait a bit longer before lettuces are available again.

Peas and favas are on their way out, but, alas zucchini are on their way- Yellow, Green, Costata Romanesco and Bush Baby.....mmmmm- hold tight!!

And, the beets are continuing. Aren't they beautiful this year!! If you are running out of things to do with your beets, have you ever thought of drinking them? Sure, you can add about a quarter of a beet into fresh vegetable juice, or you can ferment it!

A traditional Ukranian drink known as BEET KVAAS is a very valuable tonic. According to Sally Fallon, author of Nourishing Traditions "Beets are loaded with nutrients. A four ounce glass of beet kvaas in the morning and at night is an excellent blood tonic, promotes regularity, aids digestion, alkalizes the blood, cleanses the liver and is a good treatment for kidney stones and other ailments"... Quite poweful for one little vegetable!

It is a great refresher during this hot weather, and it is incredibly easy to make.
The recipe below is taken again from Nourishing Traditions.

3 medium or 2 large organic beets, peeled and chopped up coarsely (not grated)
1/4 cup of whey (available through Pleasant Pastures)
1 Tablespoon Sea Salt (celtic Sea salt is also available through Pleasant Pastures)
filtered water

Place the beets, whey and salt in a 2 quart glass container. Add filtered water to fill the container. Stir well and cover securely. Keep at room temperature for 2 days before transferring to the refrigerator.

We will have some kvaas for sampling next week during the pickups!!

STORE ADDITIONS:
We are now carrying fresh, locally roasted coffee from the new Kimberton Whole Foods coffee line. All of the coffee is Fair Trade or Rainforest Alliance, and all are purchased organic at origin. Kimberton Whole Foods will soon be participating in the USDA certification.
Ed Humpal, the coffee roaster writes a blog: More than Just a Pretty Cup, where you can read all about some of Kimberton's social objectives in coffee roasting.

We will be carrying their most popular blends: Morning Mojo, Midnight Special and Lost Coal Mine. We will also carry their Mexican and Peruvian coffees. All bags have "roast meters" on the back so that you can see the degree of roast.
If you are interested in Decaf, please let us know, as we can carry a pre-blended half decaf or a full decaf.

RECIPE:
This recipe was provided by CSA member Cristie Kennie- Thanks, Cristie!!

Glazed Carrots and Turnips:
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1 pound white turnips, peeled, trimmed and cut into 3/4 inch cubes
2 large carrots, trimmed and peeled; the fatter end sliced in half lengthwise, then cut in 1/2 inch slices on the diagonal
2/3 cup chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice

In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. - or melt it on medium to avoid the butter from burning, if you are preparing the vegetables at the same time!
Add the turnips and carrots in an even layer in the pan and stir to coat. Let cook undisturbed for 4 minutes. Stir again and let cook for another 4 minutes.
Add broth, brown sugar, salt, pepper, thyme, lemon zest
Stir to coat.
Cover and simmer until vegetables are soft, about 8 minutes.
Uncover and turn heat to high until liquid cooks down to a glaze (stirring frequently)- this could take a few minutes!
Stir in lemon juice and serve immediately.

See you around the farm!
Sam and Annmarie

FAVA BEANS!

2010-06-15T22:31:00.002-04:00

Fava beans are really coming on now and persoanlly, they are one of my favorite things that we grow here. They are rich and buttery and have a terrific bright green color!

You will notice that the beans are well protected inside the pods (with a cotton like coating on the pod and a waxy covering on each individual bean). The covering slips off after boiling the beans for about a minute or two.

Ok- they are labor intensive, but the rewards are worth it!

Once you have freed the bean, the cooking possibilities are endless. Here are some ideas:

Simply saute in olive oil and garlic. Add chicken stock and grated cheese and add to pasta

After sauteing in garlic and olive oil, place the beans in a food processor. Add fresh mint, parmesan cheese and olive oil. This is a delicious spread for crostini or polenta squares

Puree the cooked beans with butter and cream!

They are delicious cooked with other spring vegetables like peas and artichoke hearts.

Here is a classic Italian recipe adapted from Marcella Hazan's book: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon finely chopped onion

1 slice pancetta, diced

1 pound unshelled favas, shelled and washed

Black Pepper

1/4 cup water

Sea salt

Cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Add pancetta and cook another 3 minutes. Stir in fava beans and black pepper. Add water and cook about 10-15 minutes. Larger beans will need longer cooking time. Cook until water is evaporated. Season with sea salt. Serve hot.

CSA Update

2010-06-11T00:09:00.001-04:00

Greetings!

We have had some wonderful pick ups the past two weeks. Our beets are now making the transition from growing in the hoop house to growing outside. The carrots are taking a bit of a break, as the ones in the ground need to get a bit bigger before we harvest them.

We continue to have delicious greens coming on!!

Are you overwhelmed and stymied as to how to cook them and enjoy them every week?

Then join us here this Saturday June 12^th from 11-1 for a cooking class where we take the mystery out of preparing greens.

Menu includes (but is subject to change based on availability)

Swiss Chard Bundles with Fried Shallots and Mint Dipping Sauce

Spanikopita

Tuscan Risotto with Kale, Bacon and Caramelized Onion

Green Smoothie

Collard and Green Olive Pesto

Price for members is $15 and non members are $20

Please call to RSVP or sign up in the barn!

We still have some room in our cooking camps- Information and sign up is in the barn. If you know of other children who may be interested in the camp, please pass the information along!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Summer is always a busy time! Here are a few items of interest:

First, please join us in celebration of the Summer Solstice at our Potluck on Sunday June 20^th beginning at 6 pm. It is a great opportunity to meet CSA members, share great food and listen to great music from the Spinning Leaves (who played at FarmFest)! We do realize that it is Father's Day that Sunday; bring Dad out to the farm!!

Ben Stoltzfus and his family are hosting a FARM DAY at Pleasant Pastures on Saturday June 19^th- this is a wonderful opportunity to meet Ben and his lovely family and witness the amazing farming operation they have built! Please RSVP directly to Ben at 717-768-3437.

Also on Saturday June 19^th, the Berks- Lancaster Green Buildings Association is holding its 2010 Sustainability Festival at Twin Valley Elementary School:

50 Mast Drive Elverson, Pa 19520. This is an opportunity to learn how you can reduce your impact on the environment. Admission is free Runs from 12-5 pm.

STORE HAPPENINGS:

CHICKEN: Jeremiah Eldridge of Laurel Hill Farms will be supplying us with chicken again this year. He is making his first delivery on Saturday evening, so come Monday, be prepared to pick up some of his delicious pastured chickens. He is offering whole chickens and parts.

SWEETWATER BREAD: We continue to carry Sweetwater Bread and cookies. They now offer a rye bread, but typically only have a couple to give us each week. If anyone is absolutely interested in getting the rye, let us know and I will order it in advance! The bread is delivered fresh on Fridays. On Mondays, you will find the bread in the freezer. Once defrosted, it is as good as fresh!

ONLINE ORDERING SYSTEM: Please remember that if you need to change your pick up date, you may do so on line. This is also where you have access to order products from Pleasant Pastures. All members are registered on the site. Please make sure that you can access your personal page, as well as the page for placing orders. If you have any problems, let us know and we will rectify it immediately!

THE BLOG!! No, it is not some scary sci- fi movie, it is our attempt to move into the 21^st century!! We will now be posting ALL updates and farm information on our blog, which you may find at www.maysiesfarm.org/blog. If you go to the site, you can register and have the blog sent directly to your email address. Otherwise, we ask that you save the web address in your favorites and check it frequently for updates. Please contact us if you have any questions. Of course, if there is any urgent information, we will send out an email the old fashioned way!!

RECIPES:

Two recipes this week taken from www.epicurious.com

TURNIP GRATIN:- you can get most of the ingredients right from the farm- if you haven't yet tried Ben's butter and cream- try them with this!!

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 1/2 pounds medium turnips, trimmed and left unpeeled
1 tablespoon chopped thyme
1/2 tablespoon chopped savory
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Rounded 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (use a Microplane)
Equipment: an adjustable-blade slicer

Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.

Melt butter in an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet, then cool.

Slice turnips paper-thin with slicer, then arrange one third of slices, overlapping tightly, in skillet, keeping remaining slices covered with dampened paper towels. Sprinkle with about a third of thyme, savory, kosher salt, and cayenne. Make 2 more layers.

Cook, covered, over medium heat until underside is browned, about 10 minutes. Add cream and cook, covered, until center is tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Sprinkle evenly with cheese, then bake, uncovered, until golden and bubbling, 10 to 15 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

SAUTEED RADISHES- A great way to use the radish tops!

4 bunches radishes with greens attached (2 lb)
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt (preferably sea salt)
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Cut greens from radishes and coarsely chop. Trim radishes and cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch wedges.

Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté radish wedges with salt, stirring, until crisp-tender, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a platter and keep warm, loosely covered.

Sauté garlic in remaining tablespoon butter in skillet over moderately high heat, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add greens and sauté, stirring, until wilted, about 1 minute .Return radish wedges to skillet and stir in chives.

See you around the farm!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update- New Member Orientation Meeting Monday May 24th!

2010-05-23T22:01:00.001-04:00

Greetings!!

Well, we held our Maysie's FarmFest 2010 yesterday and it was a smashing success!

We had amazing musicians performing throughout the day, and food and beer flowing all day. The mid- afternoon downpour may have prevented some more people from coming, but those who were here persevered the 10 minutes to eventually bask in the sun again! Thanks to all those who came out – we are so pleased with the way it turned out, whether it was a successful fundraiser for the organization or not (the results are still being tallied!)

For those of you who missed it, we may have some of the musicians come out to play for our pot luck dinners!

NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION MEETING:

Just a reminder that Monday evening, May 24^th at 7 pm, we are holding our New Member Orientation Meeting. We will meet out in the barnyard area. For this event you will be parking on the lawn between the barn and the house. (come into the gravel driveway). Looking forward to seeing all new members there!!

Our first Friday pick up is on the 28^th! Among other things, we'll have some beautiful beets and stir fry greens for you on your first pick up day. Preparation of these greens is so simple and the result is delicious!

Just heat up a pan with olive oil and garlic, add the washed and chopped greens and sauté until they are wilted! (You can use the beet greens like this as well!)

More diverse recipes for the specific greens will follow in later weeks, and as always, if you have a recipe that you love, please pass it along!

CSA UPDATES:

Each week, members receive updates regarding the farm. We are no longer using the email format to get you this information. The updates will be posted on our blog. I will send out detailed instructions later in the week. Basically, you would subscribe to the blog and it would appear in your email each week. If you do not subscribe, be sure to check the blog each week for the update! Stay tuned!!

PLEASANT PASTURES DELIVERIES:

Ben Stoltzfus will continue making deliveries every other week during the CSA season. His next delivery will be on Friday June 4^th.

LAUREL HILL CHICKENS:

We will be carrying Jeremiah Eldredge's pastured chickens again this year. They should be available by the end of June!

CHILDREN'S COOKING CAMPS AT MAYSIE'S FARM:

We start our first week of camp on June 28^th with the 6-9 year old group.

The pamphlet with all of the information is attached here and there is more info at the farm--- tell your friends! This is a great experience for little (and big) ones!

See you around the farm!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie's FarmFest 2010- Saturday May 22nd.

2010-04-20T07:31:00.001-04:00

It seems I didn't proof the update last night! The date of the FarmFest is May 22nd . It runs from 12-10 pm. We have a website devoted to it where you can see the list of bands...

www.maysiesfarmfest.org !!

Enjoy the day!

Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie's Farm CSA Update

2010-04-19T21:52:00.001-04:00

The start of the season is just around the corner. Things are busy out in the fields. Things are also busy behind the scenes, as we are preparing for our first annual fundraising concert- "Maysie's FarmFest 2010- The Conservation Concert". We will be featuring local music and local foods. We have about 12 very talented Philadelphia area musicians slated to make the day a lot of fun. We are featuring foods from Maysie's Farm, Why Not Farm, St. Peter's Bakery and Birchrun on A Roll. We are still waiting to hear back from the PLCB to see if we can get a liquor license for the day. Keep your fingers crossed, so that we can have some Victory here as well!

We now have tickets available for advance ticket sales. Ticket prices are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the event. If you are interested in getting your ticket in advance, give us a call and stop by the farm to pick it up!

This is a huge undertaking for us and we are so thankful to all of those who have helped us thus far! We are, however, in need of volunteers to help us out the week leading up to the event and the day of the event. All volunteers will be rewarded! Please tell your friends as well!

Contact Sam if you are interested in volunteering!

Blueberries!

We have had our 200 blueberry plants delivered. Most of the beds are now becoming dry enough to begin planting them. We could use volunteers to help us transplant these fairly large bushes. If you have time available in the coming weeks, please let us know. We have scheduled Sunday April 25^th from 1 pm – 4 pm (weather permitting) to plant the bushes. Please come out and give us a hand! Contact Sam if you can make it…. We hope to see you there!

Pleasant Pastures Delivery: Pick up on Friday, April 23^rd.

Ben will be making a delivery this week. Please have your orders into Ben by Tuesday evening, April 20^th, as he will be delivering to the farm Thursday evening and needs enough time to prepare all of the orders. The pick up day is still Friday, so when you place your order on line, the confirmation will be for April 23^rd.

See you around the farm (very soon!)

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update

2010-03-09T16:58:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

Spring is definitely in the air! We hope you are all getting a chance to enjoy this beautiful weather. Here at the farm, Dave, Nate and Meghan are busy seeding onions, broccoli and greens, as well as pruning our blackberry bushes and herb bushes.

Looking ahead to the CSA season, we have devised our programming schedule. Some important dates are as follows:

Saturday May 2^nd- Growing Families, Growing Gardens Workshop- 1-4 pm.

May 22^nd, 2010- Maysie's Farm Fest 2010- our first annual fundraising concert featuring local music and local food- many more details to follow. We have designated a webpage for the event- for the latest information, go to www.maysiesfarmfest.org. You may register your email there to be sure that you get the latest information as we send it out!!

Tuesday July 17th and Thursday July 19th- Teacher Training

Tuesday July 27th- Down to Earth Farming Workshop 8:30 am- 2:30 pm

And, as we mentioned, we are running weeklong children's cooking camps this summer. The camps will run from 9 am – 2pm.

Below are the dates for the specific ages. More information will follow!

Week of June 28^th- 6-9 year olds

Week of July 5^th- 9-12 year olds

Week of July 12^th- 13-16 year olds

Week of July 19^th- 17-21 year olds

We will also be holding Think Globally, Eat Locally Adult Cooking Classes throughout the season, as well as workshops on canning, fermenting, and healing and cooking with herbs.

Have you checked out the CSA for Cheese Lovers??

Catherine and Al Renzi of Yellow Springs Farm Native Plants raise Nubian goats on their property. They have been producing artisanal cheeses made with the nutrient rich goat milk and are offering a Cheese CSA this season.

Members of the CSA will receive their goat cheese 2 times per month. The assortment of cheese typically includes 3 varieties totaling 12-14 ounces. The varieties include both fresh pasteurized cheeses and aged raw milk cheeses.

Maysie's Farm is proud to be a delivery location for these cheeses. If you are interested in becoming a part of the cheese CSA, please visit Yellow Springs Farm's website at www.yellowspringsfarm.com. There you will find information regarding the CSA share.

If you do choose to join, please join directly with Yellow Springs, and we will work out the delivery dates directly with them.

Jenkins Arboretum has also agreed to be a delivery location and we have arranged it so that the cheese will be available at Jenkins on Tuesday afternoons. If you pick up your vegetables at Jenkins, you will also conveniently be able to pick up your cheese!

Pleasant Pastures Delivery:

Ben will be delivering on Friday this week. (March 12th). Please get your order in to Ben by Wednesday afternoon (March 10th).

Celebration of Community:

Saturday, March 13^th, Kennett Flash in Kennett Square is hosting Mugs and Music- a celebration of functional pottery, beer, local food and music which benefits Chester County Buy Fresh Buy Local and the Chester County Food Bank. For more information on the event, go to

http://www.downtoearthexhibit.org/mugs2010.html There you will find a link to purchase tickets!

Membership:

There are still memberships available for the 2010 season. Please note that we are offering payment options:

$200 deposit; $550 by March 15^th or:

$200 deposit with $285 by March 15^th and $285 by June 15^th.

The membership form is easily accessible on our website. You may print out the form and mail it in with your check. Please be sure to indicate your pick up day on the form!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA UPDATE

2010-02-09T18:48:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

Boy, Puxatawny Phil really does know what he's talking about!! Hope you are all managing to stay safe and warm through the storms!

All of us here at Maysie's Farm just returned from the PASA conference (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) and received some mid- winter inspiration to continue to lead by example and spread the word that our future really depends upon sustainable farming practices! It is not just a conference for farmers. PASA's membership also consists of educators, activists, consumers and foodies!! If you wish to learn more about the organization, visit their website at www.pasafarming.org.

CSA for Cheese Lovers:

If you do choose to join, please join directly with Yellow Springs, and we will work out the delivery dates directly with them.

Pleasant Pastures Delivery:

Ben will be delivering on Friday this week. (February 12^th).

Please place your order by Wednesday afternoon. You will notice some changes on Ben's order form.

You will also find Ben's February Newsletter attached.

Membership:

There are still memberships available for the 2010 season. Please note that we are offering payment options:

$200 deposit; $550 by March 15^th or:

$200 deposit with $285 by March 15^th and $285 by June 15^th.

The membership form is easily accessible on our website. You may print out the form and mail it in with your check. Please be sure to indicate your pick up day on the form!

Upcoming Lecture Series:

A four part lecture series based on the presentations of Sally Fallon Morel, President of the Weston A Price Foundation will be held on the following Sunday afternoons from 2-4 pm: 2/14/10, 2/28/10, 3/7/10, and 3/14/10. This series describes the groundbreaking nutritional work of Dr. Weston A. Price who studied the health and vitality of traditional cultures and integrates the lessons learned from their diets with the understandings of modern science.

The attached flyer describes the workshops. Please contact Annmarie at ambutera@verizon.net to register.

Facebook:

Maysie's Farm is now on Facebook!- Thanks to Dave, Nate and Meghan for ushering us into the 21st Century! Check it out and become a fan!!

Happy Snow Day!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Message from Maysie's- Haiti

2010-02-01T07:03:00.001-05:00

Greetings Friends -
       If you have been interested in helping the people of Haiti in this time of their desperate need, but have been unsure of the best way to provide that assistance, I can offer you a means of reaching out, if not exactly person to person, at least community to community, to directly aid suffering individuals.
   I will be leaving for Haiti next Sunday, February 7th, and hope to be able to deliver financial donations from people in my community to members of a community there. I also hope to be able to offer assistance in the form of advice on planning and implementing sustainable food production, as I have done on my three previous visits to Haiti.
       I will be traveling with my friend, Aldo Maggazeni, who accompanied me on my 2001 trip to Haiti and then became involved in implementing a water system for a village in Afghanistan. His approach of offering some financial assistance, recruiting local engineers and engaging the villagers themselves in the project, was so successful that he replicated it numerous times in that country and in Kenya and in Mexico. He created a non profit organization, Traveling Mercies (travelingmercies.org), to raise funds for such very efficient, very effective, community level "foreign aid" projects and humanitarian efforts. Now he even has a donor interested in funding the construction of a school.
       We will be working through the Living Hope Mission (livinghopemission.org), near Cap-Hatien, where I designed and started an organic vegetable garden in 1999 that still feeds the Mission staff and their community. Wilbert Merzilus, the Haitian Director, and Meg, his American wife, will be able to connect us to a community or communities that will benefit directly from our financial assistance and project expertise.
       If you are able to offer assistance to people in Haiti I would be very grateful if you could do it by writing a check to Traveling Mercies and sending it to me as soon as possible (though our assistance will be ongoing, continuing after we return from the trip). We will deliver 100% of the donations received to people who will use the funds wisely to ease the suffering and begin the healing process in Haiti.
       The country of Haiti has been in an unbelievable state of desperation for many years - far more so than any of the three dozen-and-some other countries I have visited in my four years-and-some of traveling (mostly in third world countries). There has been almost no infrastructure - pathetically inadequate education, health care and transportation - and governments that were woefully negligent in the good times and brutally oppressive in the bad times. A decade ago it was clear to me that the country's resource base was gone, totally depleted. It looked like the badlands of south Dakota, mountains once covered with tropical forests, now only mountains of gravel. But the people there are human beings - desperate human beings for sure - but capable of love and hope and good will despite their desperation. It's almost unbelievable that that is so, but if you would put yourself down among the mass of people trudging through the sewage filled gullies beside a pitiful track in Port au Prince, if you would open yourself up to engage an individual and look into his eyes, you would see that it is so.
       And now this devastating earthquake has increased their pain and suffering and desperation immeasurably. But it has also brought their situation to the attention of many of the people in the developed world. There is no question about it: we must look at this catastrophy not only as an opportunity to help some of our fellow human beings heal from their terrible wounds, but also as a chance to facilitate the rebuilding of a dysfunctional and devastated country into something better, a place of hope instead of a place of despair.
   I hope you can help.
   Thank you so much -
                                             Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update- Change in Stoltzfus Delivery

2010-01-24T23:48:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

Hope you are all enjoying this mid winter weather break we are having. Maybe we'll have an early spring!

Membership:

Even though the membership discount period has passed, we are asking members to sign up as quickly as possible. (You will see various payment options on the member form). One of the identifying characteristics of Community Supported Agriculture is that members provide the funds at the beginning of the season when some of the greatest costs are incurred. Our new farm manager and 2 returning full time interns are working hard to get the season off to a good start! We are about to place our seed order for the year and will soon have to make payment for the blueberry bushes we have ordered. We greatly appreciate the members who have donated toward that purchase and we are still accepting contributions.

Thanks for your continued support!

Farm Deliveries:

Ben Stoltzfus will be delivering to the farm this Thursday, January 28^th. Please have your orders into Ben by Tuesday afternoon. You can order on line or call Ben directly at 717-768-3437.

If you have already ordered on line, there is no need to reorder (and you should have gotten a confirmation response).

We now have a new shipment of salmon in!

Upcoming Free Event: RECHARGE, REGEN, REJUV:

Saturday January 30^th 11am-3pm,

This community event is sponsored by WellSprings and is an opportunity to learn fun and healthy ways to enrich your life by connecting with experts in the fields of health, nutrition, creative arts and spirituality. Maysie's Farm will be participating in the event. Hope to see you there!

Montgomery School- 1141 Rt. 113 Chester Springs

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie'sFarm CSA Update

2010-01-11T17:07:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

Thanks to those who came out to our mid winter membership meeting on Saturday. Remember that you have until this Friday, January 15^th to receive the $30 discount on the share price!

Farm Deliveries:

Ben Stoltzfus will be delivering to the farm this Friday, January 15^th. Please have your orders into Ben by Wednesday, January 13^th. You can continue to do this through the online ordering system or call Ben directly at 717-768-3437.

Anselma Winter Ordering System:

Maysie's Farm is participating in the Winter Ordering System through the Anselma Farmers' and Artisan's Market. Items will be for sale every other week. To participate in the market, you need to sign up by sending an email to anselmamarket@gmail.com. Every other Thursday, you will receive an online order form listing each vendor and the items available. Your orders must be placed by the Monday before Pick up (you can order directly from the farmer) and pick up is Wednesday afternoons between 4:30 and 6:00 pm. (The next pick up will be next Wednesday, January 20^th).

Looking Forward to Summer:

Can't wait for those blueberries! We are continuing to offer gift certificates for our blueberry bushes as a way to honor someone and help support Maysie's Farm. Bushes cost $25 per bush. If you choose to buy a bush, you will receive a certificate and a donation letter. Please contact Sam to arrange for the donation.

Stay Warm!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie's Farm CSA Mid Winter Membership Meeting

2010-01-08T15:21:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year!

Just a reminder that Maysie's Farm is holding its mid winter membership meeting on Saturday January 9th at 10am in the community room of the Henrietta Hankin Library 215 Windgate Drive in Chester Springs.

Please join us to hear about the plans for the 2010 season, and tell your friends who may be interested in joining.

Remember, if you join by January 15th, you will receive a $30 discount off of the $750 share price!!

Hope to see you all there tomorrow

Coffee and snacks will be provided!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update- Pleasant Pastures Delivery this Thursday!!

2009-12-28T10:30:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Just a reminder that Ben will be delivering on this Thursday, December 31^st.

Please have your orders into Ben by Tuesday- stock up on some milk for hot chocolate and enjoy the snow fall this weekend!!

We hope to see you out at the mid winter membership meeting on Saturday January 9^th at 10 am in the community room of the Henrietta Hankin Library. Please pass the word along to anyone who may be interested in joining the CSA.

We wish you all a happy, healthy and prosperous new year!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Communit shoppng night- tonigt!!

2009-12-18T09:30:00.001-05:00

COMMUNITY SHOPPING NIGHT

TO BENEFIT

MAYSIE'S FARM CONSERVATION CENTER

FRIDAY December 18, 2009

5-9 PM

TEN THOUSAND

VILLAGES

AND

WENDELL AUGUST FORGE

LOCATED AT MAIN STREET EXTON
Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie's Fam CSA Update

2009-12-14T17:45:00.000-05:00

Greetings!

Time is flying by so quickly. We are already in the midst of the Hannukah Celebration and Christmas is just another 2 weeks away!

We wanted to remind you of some shopping opportunities that will help support Maysie's Farm Conservation Center.

Come out to two unique stores in Exton this Friday, December 18^th from 5-9pm.

Ten Thousand Villages and Wendell August Forge will be donating proceeds of the evening's income to Maysie's Farm. Both shops are located in Main Street, Exton.

Looking for another unique gift idea which will help support the farm?

Buy a Blueberry Bush and donate it in someone's honor! Gift Certificates for the bushes are now available and each costs $25. We are excited to have these 4 year old blueberry bushes, as they will bear a substantial amount of fruit for us this summer!

Farm Deliveries:

Ben Stoltzfus will continue to deliver his delicious dairy and meat products to the farm every other Friday this winter. He will be coming out on this Friday, December 18^th.

Please have your order into Ben by Wednesday. You can continue to do this through the online ordering system or call Ben directly at 717-768-3437.

You will still be able to pick up the Wild Alaskan Salmon (however, Wild for Salmon is out of their portions!), as well as Jeremiah's chickens and pork.

Winter Membership Meeting:

Mark your calendars for Saturday January 9^th. We will be holding our winter membership meeting at 10 am at the Henrietta Hankin Library. Please bring anyone who may be interested in joining the CSA for next season.

Remember that we are offering a discount to those who pay their membership in full by January 15^th!

Happy Holidays!

Hope to see you out on Friday evening!

Sam and Annmarie

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Maysie's Farm CSA Update- 2010 membership information

2009-12-06T22:56:00.001-05:00

Maysie's Farm Conservation Center

Community Supported Agriculture

Think Globally,

Eat Locally

Sunday, 6 December, 2009

Greetings CSA Members!

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are happily gearing up for the rest of the holiday season. Annmarie and I ate a lot of turkey and gave a lot of thanks for families, friends and all the households who helped support our CSA this year and we are now happily gearing up for the 2010 season.

Our overwintering staff of three, Dave Hubbard (transitioning from Intern to Farm Manager), Nate Ela and Meghan Morris, are working on project after project, such as gradually acidifying the soil in the beds in the lower end of the Barnyard Garden where we plan to establish blueberries this spring, repairing and expanding our irrigation system, finishing the walk-in cooler we started this summer (with the help of CSA member, Ted Harlan), building half a dozen new tables, digging a huge new hole and moving the outhouse and assembling a vegetable oil handling system that will let us run a couple of our vehicles on (free) used vegetable oil instead of (expensive and non-renewable) diesel fuel. When the weather precludes outdoor work, they're busy taking an inventory of our remaining seeds and compiling a seed order for the many varieties of each of the fifty-some crops we grow, updating our crop history spreadsheets so we can effectively rotate the crops in each of our 370 beds or tackling the ultimate challenge of organizing the barn.

One of the preparations for the upcoming season that I'm attending to is trying to develop an organizational budget that will allow us to avoid the nasty cash flow deficit situation we've encountered this year. How can we make sure our operation is at least as sustainable economically as it is ecologically and socially? I researched the share prices and season lengths of the other CSAs in the area and found that every single one of the thirteen closest CSAs charges more than we do or has a shorter season (or both). We didn't raise our membership price at all last year, so I hope you can appreciate that this year we have no choice but to do that (since we won't be increasing the number of memberships budgeted). You'll see from the attached 2010 Membership Form that our Family Share is now $750 but that we are also offering a discount to encourage full payment right away, which would be very helpful to our cash flow predicament. I certainly hope to be able to provide you with more than a $2.30 per week increase in the value of your share and feel that some of the things I mentioned in the paragraph above are, by themselves, some assurance of harvests more bountiful than last year's: three very capable workers continuing into their second season (the first time I've ever been able to look forward to a Farm Manager trained here, on this farm), an improved irrigation system, a much improved cooling arrangement and about 200 new blueberry bushes!

We will also be enhancing our educational programs in 2010 and Annmarie will be looking for help in resurrecting our Children's Garden in the early spring so that your children will have their own special place to visit on each pick-up day and be able to experience a little hands-on food production. As a natural complement to our children's garden, she will be offering week long Summertime Cooking Camps for kids in age groups from 6-18. Children will learn first-hand where their food comes from and master some of the basic kitchen skills necessary to prepare great meals! Also, with the help of herbalist and CSA member, Cindy Koser, she's planning a medicinal herb garden so that members will have the opportunity to learn how to cultivate, harvest and use these herbs for their own benefit. More specific information on these and other programs will be released by early spring.

It's an exciting time here at Maysie's Farm Conservation Center and we'd like to share our enthusiasm with our members. We've scheduled a Membership Meeting for Saturday January 9^th at 10:00 am in the Community Room of the Henrietta Hankin Library, in the Weatherstone development, about half a mile from the farm. We'll be accepting new members there, so if you know of anyone interested in joining a CSA, please bring them along. We will also be seeking to recruit a few new Board Members or other volunteers interested in helping us with fundraising, marketing and promotions or volunteer coordination.

We greatly appreciate your involvement with Maysie's Farm Conservation Center and hope you will continue to be "part of the solution" and help us as we work toward a local, sustainable food system.

Thanks –

Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update- last pick up days!

2009-11-15T22:27:00.001-05:00

Greetings!

Just a reminder:

LAST PICKUPS:

Monday November 23^rd is the last Monday pick up.

Friday November 20^th is our last Friday pick up.

WINTER ORDERING SYSTEM:

This winter, Maysie's Farm is participating in The Anselma Farmers' and Artisan's Market Winter Ordering Market. Vendors from the Anselma Market and the Great Valley Market are participating in this and it allows people the opportunity to procure some delicious vegetables and other goodies in the off season. There is a scheduled pick up every other week at the Mill at Anselma between 4:30 and 6:00 pm.

Every other Thursday, you will receive an email ordering form listing each vendor and the items available for pick up the following Wednesday. You can order either through the email or by calling each vendor directly.

All orders must be received by noon on Monday. There is no commitment to order each week. It is based on what you would like!

To participate in this and receive the emails, you need to email anselmamarket@gmail.com

Remember that the Maysie's Farm store will be open this winter, carrying salmon, eggs, and ice cream and Ben's full product line will be available for delivery. We will let you know how often Ben plans to deliver over the winter!

FUNDRAISER FOR MAYSIE'S FARM

On Friday December 18^th, from 5-9 pm, Ten Thousand Villages and Wendell August Forge are hosting a Community Shopping Night. A percentage of the sales of both places will go to Maysie's Farm. This is a great opportunity to get your Christmas shopping done and to support the work of our nonprofit educational conservation center. Both shops are located in Main Street Exton.

See you around the farm! ( for a short while longer!!)

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update

2009-11-11T22:42:00.001-05:00

Buona Sera!

We have returned from a fabulous trip to Sicily and are so happy to see the farm running so smoothly! Sicily's history is quite extensive and magical. We saw Greek ruins, Roman ruins, Norman castles, a lot of Baroque architecture and countless medieval towns perched on hilltops with cobblestone streets only a few inches wider than the microcars that zipped through them!

We had the opportunity to see vineyards, olive groves, citrus groves and lush mountain flora.

We indulged in regional dishes and sampled local wines, but by the end of our time, we were longing for some Maysie's Farm food!

A big thanks to Dave, Andy, Meghan, Nate, Erin, Pete, Mario, Milton and Brian for continuing the good work they'd been doing all season and for keeping the Maysie's Farm food coming!

We will surely miss Mario who left on Tuesday to return to Guatemala. We wish him the best and hope to see him back here again soon (maybe with a wife or something?!)

The season is quickly coming to a close and we are energized and working on plans for next year!

We are happy to say that Dave Hubbard, an intern since early April, will be staying on and becoming our farm manager next season!

We are expanding our Board of Directors and are looking for some people interested in serving on the board. We especially need people with expertise in marketing and promotions and fundraising. We are also looking for a volunteer coordinator to assist us with some of the projects we have planned for next year. If you are interested or know of someone who is, please contact Sam at 610-458-8129.

We are busy setting up our schedule of workshops and programs to offer to our members and the community at large.

With the help of volunteers, the spring will see the resurrection of our children's garden and the birth of our medicinal herb garden.

Cooking classes for both adults and children will extend through next year. The children's cooking classes were such fun and next year, we will provide cooking camps for different age groups!

We will also be holding workshops on utilizing the bounty of the farm's herbs, both medicinal and culinary!

If you have suggestions of things you would like to see as part of the programming at Maysie's Farm, please let us know!

Turkey:

If you have not yet ordered your fresh turkey from Ben, you can do so up until next week.

For delivery on Friday November 20^th, all orders must be placed by Tuesday November 17^th. For delivery on Monday November 23^rd, all orders must be placed by Thursday November 19^th. Please call Ben directly to place your order. (717) 768-3437.

Upcoming Events:

Recipe:

With the weather turning cooler, our thoughts turn to soup. We have a lot of onions, so here is a recipe for onion soup. You can use a lot of local ingredients to make this soup (beef and chicken stock and butter from Ben, and bread from Sweetwater Bakery!)

This recipe come from Cook's Illustrated and roasts the onions in the oven to get them to caramelize!

Onion Soup:

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

6 large yellow onions, sliced

Sea salt

2 cups water

½ cup dry sherry

4 cups chicken broth

2 cups beef broth

6 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

Freshly ground pepper

1 small baguette (or Sweetwater bread) cut into ½ inch slices

2 ½ cups shredded Gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 400.

Generously spray the inside of a heavy-bottomed large (at least 7-quart) Dutch oven with a nonstick cooking spray. Place the butter in the pot and add the onions and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, covered, for 1 hour (the onions will be moist and slightly reduced in volume). Remove the pot from the oven and stir the onions, scraping the bottom and sides of the pot. Return the pot to the oven with the lid slightly ajar and continue to cook until the onions are very soft and golden brown, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours longer, stirring the onions and scraping bottom and sides of pot after 1 hour.

Carefully remove pot from oven and place over medium-high heat. Using oven mitts to handle pot, cook onions, stirring frequently and scraping bottom and sides of pot, until the liquid evaporates and the onions brown, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if the onions are browning too quickly. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the pot bottom is coated with a dark crust, roughly 6 to 8 minutes, adjusting the heat as necessary. (Scrape any fond that collects on spoon back into onions.)

Stir in 1/4 cup water, scraping the pot bottom to loosen crust, and cook until water evaporates and pot bottom has formed another dark crust, 6 to 8 minutes. Repeat process of deglazing 2 or 3 more times, until onions are very dark brown. Stir in the sherry and cook, stirring frequently, until the sherry evaporates, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the broths, 2 cups of water, thyme, bay leaf, and 1/2 teaspoon salt, scraping up any final bits of browned crust on bottom and sides of pot.

Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and discard herbs, then season with salt and pepper.

For the Croutons:

While the soup simmers, arrange the baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven until the bread is dry, crisp, and golden at edges, about 10 minutes. Set aside.

To serve:

Adjust oven rack 6 inches from broiler element and heat broiler. Set individual broiler-safe crocks on baking sheet and fill each with about 1 3/4 cups soup. Top each bowl with 1 or 2 baguette slices (do not overlap slices) and sprinkle evenly with Gruyère. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly around edges, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Scorzonera, our unusual root vegetable

2009-10-26T15:22:00.004-04:00

Hello from Amy, the webmaster!

Today in the barn, several of us were marveling over the unusual root vegetable, scorzonera. There was a small amount grown, so that everyone can just get a little taste of it! We all wondered what it would taste like, how it would come out if we all prepared it differently, etc. So I said that I would put up a blog post devoted to this lovely, unusual root vegetable, and suggested that people could post comments talking about how their scorzonera came out.

To get us started, I found a few links about cooking scorzonera, and I should also add that you might know it better by its other name: salsify. Interestingly, it is a genus of the sunflower family. Here are some links:

PracticallyEdible.com's page on Scorzonera

Wikia, the Recipes wiki

Food Network salsify recipes

West Star Farm (WI) salsify recipes

Good luck, and please remember to post your results -- good or bad! -- in the comments!

Cheers,

Amy

CSA Update

2009-10-07T21:16:00.001-04:00

There is definitely beginning to be a chill in the air! As we mentioned, the peppers and eggplants will not survive the first frost. So, when you come, pick those hot peppers!

We will no longer be getting deliveries of that delicious apple cider from Camphill Soltane. We will, however, be getting their apple butter! Beginning this Friday, Soltane's apple butter will be available in the store for $5.00

For those of you who let out a big sigh at the thought of no more apple cider- fear not! Ben Stoltzfus has just conveniently begun offering his cider. We will have some this Friday in the store!

Attached is Pleasant Pasture's Newsletter for the month of October. Please open it and check out the deals that Ben is offering – and get ready for some nutritionally sound potato chips- available the end of this month!

Don't forget to order your fresh turkeys for Thanksgiving. We have a signup sheet in the barn and in the store. All orders need to be placed by November 9^th.

We will have more Wild Alaskan Salmon in stock beginning this Friday.

Jeremiah Eldredge has said that chickens will be available again in a few weeks.

On a more personal note, Sam and I will be leaving for a three week trip to Sicily this Saturday!

We can't wait to take in the sites, the food and wine, the culture and history. We may even stay at a farm or two! Did I mention the food and wine?!

The farm is in great hands with all of the interns. If you should need to change your pick up day, please do so either through our website or by leaving a note on the sign in sheet. We will not be able to receive your emails regarding day changes. You may also call the farm at 610-458-8129 to change your day, or if you have any other issues. Dave Hubbard will be covering things for the farm.

We'll see you again in a few weeks- and the updates will resume then!

RECIPE:

This week, we are offering a recipe for BROCCOLI PESTO- the basil may be done, but the broccoli is beautiful- and here is a different way to use it!

2 cups fresh broccoli florets

1/2 cup fresh parsley

3-4 cloves garlic

1/4 cup pine nuts (toasted, if you have time)

1/4 cup shredded fresh Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

2 Tbsp. part-skim ricotta cheese

2-4 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Fill a medium saucepan three-quarters of the way full with water. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Add the broccoli and cook for 3 minutes or just until slightly tender, but still with a bit of snap.

Drain and immediately immerse the broccoli in ice cold water to retain the bright green color.

Drain again, and transfer the broccoli to the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade.

Add parsley, garlic, pine nuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and ricotta cheese. Pulse 6-8 times, until the mixture forms a chunky paste. Do not puree!

Pulse again, drizzling in a few tablespoons of olive oil at a time. When the mixture reaches the desired consistency, stop and serve immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

*Note: You may not need to use all of the olive oil in this pesto recipe.

Makes about 2 cups of pesto.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

SAITA presents Shellbark Hollow Farm, Cheese Making workshop and tour

2009-10-07T15:36:00.008-04:00

Our last workshop of the season was held Saturday, October 3rd at Pete Demchur's Shellbark Hollow Farmin East Goshen Township, where he raises Nubian goats and makes excellent cheeses. Managed with the help of his sister Donna Demchur Livitsky, who was involved with the Harvest Festival at Stargazer's Vineyard, their friend Maureen was helping Pete coordinate the day.

Pete has worked the farm for about 15 years, on just 3.6 acres, with another 2 acres across the street and a separate 1.5 plot and barn in the same block. With a total of 50 goats, 30 of them milkers, he doesn't need much land. He averages about 1 gallon of milk daily from each, yet suggests that most larger farms get 2-3 quarts from their goats. It's obvious that Pete's goats adore him. They're all happy, very vocal and as friendly as your pet Lab.

Pete began the workshop with a little history about how he began cheesemaking. He spent five years perfecting his recipes before he sold one ounce. Rather than copy what other cheesemakers produced, Pete developed the signature tangy taste of his Sharp 2, his wonderful spreads and his creamy chevres for his own palate. Most of the time he doesn't even add salt. He depends on the quality of his milk to give him one of the best award winning products this side of the Atlantic. Even the French producers have commended him on his talents as a cheesemaker. Latest is a Tomme that he's perfecting.

Because goat's milk has a smaller molecular structure than cow's milk, it is more easily digestible and more like human milk. The genetics of breed and quality of feed are important too. Pete mixes a custom grain, made up of flax and western alfalfa. His babies and bucks get local hay because they don't need much protein when young. The milkers get the special mix, up to 2 lbs per day. His milkers get as much food as they want; he keeps them fat and again- happy. Because goats are susceptible to the same diseases as cows, cleanliness is paramount.

He tries to breed early in the year during September, so a buck is put in with the 'girls' in June, in an effort to get babies before the fall. Separating them at birth reduces stress and disease on both the mother and baby, making future animal management easier as well. Pete has a monitor set up in the birthing room so that he can be ready when they are. His 3-4 mature bucks barely eat during rutting season and the dominant animal breeds the most. At between 3 and 5 days old, most bucks are sold at auction as either pets or for meat. Longevity for males is 7 years, for females it's a little longer at 9 to 10 years.

Amazingly, goats will eat very brushy plants like poison ivy, thistle and multiflora. Azalea, rhododendron and hemlock are all poisonous to goats so be careful about which fields you put them in to graze. Pete suggests that if they have enough good food they won't go for the bad stuff. Goats have been used in the city of Los Angeles instead of landscape crews for cleaning steep hillsides. They're more environmentally sound than gas weed whackers, and they cost the city less! Read about it here.

Back to the cheese. Pete showed us how to pasteurize. Heat milk to 160 degrees, cool to 80 or 90 degrees, then add bacteria or your live culture. If you're doing a raw milk cheese, only heat to 80-90 degrees. For a sharp cheese, add enzymes before you add the rennet. There are different enzymes for different kinds of cheeses. Pete documents each batch to have a record of what went wrong, when anything rarely does. We sampled one cheese that had a pronounced moldy skin that was especially tasty. Mold is a naturally occurring antibiotic.

There are several suppliers who will sell to small producers. New England Cheesemakers is one online store to buy your cultures, rennets and other supplies. Dairy Connection and Canada's Glengarry Cheesemakingoffer supplies for both home hobbyists and commercial producers. Pete buys untreated butter muslin for straining his milk from Rockland Industries and uses plastic baskets from garden nurseries as the containers.

The cheese room is where Pete does all his cutting and processing, packaging, weighing and adding herbs. He uses a commercial Hobart mixer to whip their delicious spreads; Hot and Sweet Chevre was the variety I brought home... and promptly consumed half. It had a little spiciness from hot peppers, superbly blended with a trace of sweetness.

For yogurt he suggests letting it sit for 12 hrs as opposed to the shorter 8hrs for cow's milk. First he heats to 140 degrees, using a homemade bread warmer hooked up to a thermometer.

For his cheesemaking, he bought a special PA approved graph temperature meter that new, costs about $4,000. His pasteurizer, a PK120 Goldelite normally runs $22k and is designed for making ice cream. He got his on EBay for $3800. Unfortunately my searches for a link came up with nothing, I expect they're no longer made.

We ran into similar legal issues at Shellbark Hollow that we saw at Pleasant Pastures with the Amish farmers trying to market their raw milk. Pete complained that the graph temp meter isn't as accurate as other less expensive versions, but that by PA law, he's bound to use only that model. All cheese laws are written for cows and don't take into consideration goats.

Pete says that knowing your animals is key, he says- 'you can't make good cheese out of bad milk'. And he spends most of his time milking and working with the goats. Sister Donna helps to develop recipes, manages sales and packages and ships for the farm. Seven part-time helpers round out the team and help with a weekly farmers market. Pete has found them on craigslist, PASA and through word of mouth.

The seven interns/farm apprentices, one youngster and I had a great time at Shellbark Hollow and I'd like to thank Donna, Pete and Maureen for coordinating and offering so much of their time. This workshop went way beyond our normal end, but was well worth the couple of extra hours that Pete generously donated.

Make sure you stop by or hit the Phoenixville Farmers Market to get some of his incredible cheese. And don't forget to say hi to the goats!

Look for SAITA's workshops to begin again next spring.

Best wishes for a restful and healthy winter!
Victoria Webb
SAITA Coordinator
vic@furiousdreams.com

http://www.maysiesfarm.org/saita.html#calendar

CSA Update

2009-10-01T22:26:00.001-04:00

It's truly fall! The chestnuts are falling at a rapid rate. You will see them listed on the board as a Pick Your Own item. When you pick the chestnuts, you do need to take them home and roast them, boil them or freeze them for later use. If you leave them to sit out on your counters, you will become inundated with tiny little worms! Apparently there's a little wasp that lays eggs in the chestnut flowers in July and the nuts and prickly husk form around the eggs. In late September, the husks open and the nuts fall to the ground. If they sit there for an extended time, the eggs inside hatch and little white worms emerge to carry on the wasps' life cycle. Quite the science lesson, but not really what you want to witness on your kitchen counter!

If you choose to roast the chestnuts, simple take a sharp knife and cut an "X" in the flat side for the shell (to prevent them from exploding), then put them in the oven. You can also boil them in salted water for about 20 minutes. Then, you will need to peel them! A bit time consuming, but well worth the effort!! Search the internet at www.badgersett.com for chestnut recipes.

A classic recipe is chestnut stuffing for Thanksgiving. Yes, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and Ben is now offering his delicious pastured turkeys. Turkeys less than 15 pounds cost $3.80 per pound. Any turkey over 15 pounds costs $3.65 per pound. Turkeys will be delivered FRESH either Friday 11/20/09 or Monday 11/23/09. He will also have frozen turkeys in time for the Christmas season (but more about that later!). There will be a sign up sheet in the barn- please write your name, the weights you would prefer and the pick up day. You need to order the turkeys by November 9^th.

Sunday October 4^th, 6 pm Maysie's Farm Harvest Full Moon Pot Luck Dinner. This is our last get together of the season. Sunday is slated to be a beautiful day- join us for the potluck and bonfire under the full moon! Hope to see you there!

Welcome to our two new interns- Meghan Morris and Nate Ela. We're looking forward to having them here- please stop by to meet them when you pick up your food!

RECIPE:

Celery Root (or celeriac) is an edible root vegetable in the celery family. It may not look pretty, but is delicious when roasted, braised, put in soups or mashed. It can also be sliced very thinly and eaten raw.

Celery root needs to be peeled before cooking. The leaves are not very edible, as the plant puts most of its energy into producing the root. Celery root can be used in any recipe that calls for celery.

Below is a recipe for a celery root salad with apples and walnuts:

Celery Root and Apple Salad with Toasted Walnuts
serves 4 to 6

2 medium celery roots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 medium red delicious apples, cored and cut into matchsticks
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 bunch watercress leaves
dressing:
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon mustard seed
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
salt and pepper
1 cup walnut halves, toasted

Combine the celery root and apple in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss with the green onion and watercress. Whisk the vinegar, mustard seed, mustard, honey and oil until well combined. Toss with the celery root mixture. Taste for salt and pepper and garnish with walnuts.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

SAITA presents Pennypack Farm, Community Started Agriculture

2009-09-28T23:03:00.013-04:00

Fred Beddall, Farm Manager of Pennypack Farm in Horsham, PA, led a series of questions for the 7 interns and 3 speakers who attended this workshop on Saturday, September 26th. Speakers included Margot Bradley, Pennypack's Program Coordinator, Amy Johnson representing Red Hill Farm and John Fowler from Anchor Run Farm in Wrightstown Township.

Fred moderated the session, asking a series of questions that ranged from how the farms originated, to infrastructure and operations and how funding processes were developed. He also followed up with details about shares, which crops are grown and finally asked how the farms had each found 'good fortune' and evolved profits. Some of my video is challenged from the gusty winds that day, but you can turn up the volume to hear the audio.

Red Hill Farm CSA: Amy Johnson is the former Director of Farming Operations from Red Hill Farm in Aston, PA. The farm's 6 acres is in its 8th year of production, on a 183 acre tract owned by the Sisters of St. Francis. The Sisters generously bought everything, including two high tunnels, and other equipment required to run the farming operation. Luckily they already owned mowers, backhoes and bobcats with an auto shop and heated greenhouse with potting shed on the premises.

Amy was paid full-time with benefits as manager at Red Hill and they offered 3 interns $100/week with 3 meals a day. One of the interns received housing but the other two were local. The second year the Sisters hired her husband as a co-farmer and the CSA doubled. However, since the rules forbade women and men living together, this became a hardship for housing issues. The small trailer on the land wasn't large enough to support two adult men, and women interns didn't always show up in pairs. The solution was hiring local help at $10/hr - no benefits.
The CSA supported 100 people the second year and they offer 10 workshares. In exchange for 100 hours a season, the farm offers a share. Members are required to work 4 hours weekly.

Red Hill applied for a $40k grant to put solar panels on the barn, supplying energy to the well. They have a strong core group of 10 people who were there from the beginning, helping with fundraising, orientation and on pickup days. They work with their members to coordinate farm products, newsletters and office type jobs.
Red Hill has participated in potlucks and fundraisers to save for necessities like a walk-in cooler and composting toilet even though the Sisters cover most items. The farm supplies food for the 70 to 80 member convent and there is also a large retirement center on the property. Although children are welcome in a designated garden, the living situation for women and men is not ideal and families who want to work and live on the farm would find this a challenge.

Anchor Run CSA: John Fowler, a professional geologist and member of the Wrightstown Township EAC, was raised on a small farm and has been with Anchor Run Farm since they began. The space was purchased by the township through a planning grant with the support of 2500 residents and supervisors. The CSA was begun through a master plan developed through a grant given by the PA Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The process to organic farming has been gradual, and John mentioned that most farmers in the area still rely on outdated methods; using Roundup and mono-cropping corn or soybeans. Anchor Run does have issues with drift from these treated fields that can compromise their organic beds.

The farmers on Anchor Run own all the mobile equipment like tractors and mowers, and the township, through a combination of financing assets, maintains the deer fences, greenhouse, existing barns and homestead. Anchor Run used grants from the state to drill a well and had an Energy Harvest grant for solar panels that power the well and cooler. Volunteer labor was used to help build the deer fencing, greenhouse and hoophouse. The township provides one house at a reduced rental rate for a farmer.
Two farmers live on site and pay rent to the township. They employ and pay out of their own pockets, the 3 interns at $10/hour - no benefits. The farmers make their income from 180 CSA shares, from 230 families. They have 75 families currently on their waiting list and offer a small discount off the $750/share fee to Wrightstown residents.

However, John admits that the last farm managers had two young children and were barely able to sustain themselves. With no affordable healthcare or retirement funding, they decided to move to Israel and work a Kibbutz where housing and healthcare costs are covered. Fortunately they knew how to operate and set up a farm before they arrived at Anchor Run, so that a system was in place after their departure, for subsequent farmers.

There is an active core group at Anchor Run, which helps to operate the CSA and website, scheduling and interaction with the farmers. They have benefited from highly supportive township supervisors, state grants and advertising on PASA, NOFA and other farm sites. The Bucks County Foodshed Alliance is a local entity that offers much support for the area. Check out Anchor Run's website for some great ideas. They offer a newsletter, recipes, events and links to other farmers markets in the area.

Pennypack Farm CSA: Pennypack is unique in that it's both a farm and a non-profit education center employing Andy Andrews as the full-time Farm Director, Fred as the full-time Farm Manager, both with full benefits, and Margot Bradley as the center's half-time Program Coordinator, along with 2 seasonal farm workers. Initially called farm interns, the second year workers are elevated to 'farmer' status. Mid-season intern Jessica Gerani was there to answer any questions about her own experience.

Margot Bradley was one of the original founders of the farm in 1999. Now coordinating projects, writing grants and developing new programs for the non-profit center, she talked about its origins. In March of 2003 the land was basically barren. By May they had a CSA up and running and hired a farm manager, offering full benefits. Two years ago the farm was able to support a second full-time farmer with benefits, and local interns were brought in to help during the season. There is no available housing and they have never had unpaid internships. The center has as its core value a 'living wage', even though in the past this has sometimes been beyond their reach. Over 30 workshare members bring in the harvest on about 8 acres and help with distribution. All members have workshare duty at 4 hours/share or can buy them out at $60.

From their website:
'Pennypack Farm grew from the commitment of a handful of citizens who responded to a letter in a local newspaper (Ambler Gazette, April 2000) suggesting the formation of a community farm for the purpose of accessing fresh, local, organic produce and preserving land within our watershed. Initial dialogues among these committed citizens grew into a vision and a plan for action. The organization gradually took shape over the next two years, finally culminating in early 2003 with the formation of an 11-member Board of Directors, the signing of a lease for land to grow crops, the hiring of a farm manager and assistant, and receiving official charter as a 501(c)(3) educational non-profit corporation.'

Starting with 90 shares, the CSA increased to 100 the second year, and the share model was changed to units in 2006. Pennypack offers units in two different sizes; a large share equals 10 units/week at $675, the smaller share is 6 units/week at $450. The unit is approximately a bunch or 1 lb, members are trained to weigh the produce and a limit for units is set on whatever is not abundant at the time. There are sign-in and out sheets for workshare members, a long-time volunteer board member usually overseeing these time management tasks.

This year they hired a professional bookkeeper and plan to increase the share prices in 2010. Margot says they also plan to expand to having 14 acres in production over the next few years.
In addition to the CSA, Pennypack offers a Local Foods Market in their pickup building, open to members 3 days a week from 2:30pm to 7:30pm. Margot proudly showed off the two new coolers she'd picked up from a liquidation company located in Princeton, NJ - and they even deliver!

In 2009 Pennypack's farming program will operationally break even, not including equipment purchases. $70k is raised yearly from individuals and grants to support capital improvements and educational programming. The goal is to have a 3 month operational pad.

The education center offers a low income summer camp and partners with the College Settlement of Philadelphia, their land-lease host who who has owned the 253 acres since 1973. The community landowners are a non-profit with their own board, offering the farm a one year revolving lease. Wonderful educational signs identifying farming techniques and methods are situated in front of crops and various garden beds; secured through a grant, they explain to both children and adults the benefits of sustainable farming, like no-till, beneficial insects and crop rotation.

Margot suggests that the Local Foods Market at the farm will begin generating more profits as it becomes more well known. Greeters work the register and network with the local community. There is an outreach volunteer and they are expanding events and potlucks, adding activities like cooking demonstrations, and family campfire evenings. Giving the public an opportunity to participate and help is an effective way to build membership and visibility in the community.
The final agreement was that while all three farms are sustainable, none are yet making much of a profit.

With more public support-through pledges to buy from local producers- and with a variety of funding and creative efforts, farming has a very good chance of becoming profitable in urban communities. The state of Illinois just passed a bill making a commitment to restructure the food system to promote local consumption. Vermont launched a Keep Local Farms program this month and the Mayor of San Francisco pledged this July to create a Sustainable Food Mandate for the city, reputed to be one of the most ambitious food policies in the country. There is renewed hope for local farming!

We appreciated the different aspects and challenges of each farm startup and heartfelt thanks to Fred, Margot, Amy and John for sharing their individual goals and 'good fortunes' with us.

Stay tuned for the last SAITA presentation of the season on October 3rd, 11am to 1pm at Shellbark Hollow Farm. Topic will be a Cheesmaking workshop and farm tour, with special appearances by Maggie and others.

Happy fall and best wishes for a productive and healthy winter!
Victoria Webb
SAITA Coordinator
vic@furiousdreams.com

ps Happy Cat Organics will be offering a tomato seed saving workshop on October 9th at the Fermentation Festival in Kennett Square. Tim's workshop with us has been cancelled for this season.

CSA Update- Happy Autumn!

2009-09-24T23:29:00.003-04:00

Happy Autumn to everyone! Can you believe we are entering a new season? It seems that summer passed much too quickly, but there are so many things to look forward to now: cool, crisp days, warming squash soups, spiced cider. The evenings are now becoming chilly and the traditional first frost day is right around the corner- October 1^st. Once the frost hits, we will no longer have eggplant and peppers. So, go ahead and pick those hot peppers before you lose your chance! You can preserve the peppers by freezing, drying, or pickling (or use them in your fermented vegetable mixes!)

Speaking of pickling and fermenting, we held PART II of our food preservation workshops…. For all of those who came, we hope you are enjoying your fermented cabbage and pickled peppers! Liz Alakszay who taught us how to pickle and can this year has provided websites for information about freezing your harvest: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/gen_freeze.html and

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw296.pdf

October is turning out to be a busy month, and there are a lot of events occurring around Chester County:

Sunday October 4^th, 6 pm Maysie's Farm Harvest Full Moon Pot Luck Dinner.

This will be our last get together of the season. Please mark your calendars to join us then!

Friday October 9^th Kennett Square Fermentation Festival: Join Harvest Market and Kennett Square Farmers' Market for their first annual Fermentation Festival from 2-6 pm. There will be demonstrations in yogurt making, seed saving, kimchi and kombucha making and homemade herbal medicines. There will also be tastings by Zukay Live Foods, GT Synergy Drinks and local breweries. Stop by for the Fermentation Fever! For more information, go to http://ksqfarmersmarket.wordpress.com

Saturday October 10^th, Longwood Gardens- 2 events to benefit PASA:

10am- 2:30 pm- Guided Walk of Sustainable Longwood- A 2 hour behind the scenes walk where you will learn about Longwood's commitment to sustainability (composting, water treatment systems, farm lease programs). The walk will be followed by a locally sourced casual lunch. Price is $35 for PASA members; $55 for non members.

6:00 pm- 9:30 pm Harvest Celebration Dinner – Enjoy a scrumptious locally produced meal in the ideal setting of the Longwood Conservatory. Price $150.

See the store for flyer and details.

Saturday October 17^th- Phoenixville Area Time Bank Fundraiser – It's About Time Dance Party at the Moose Lodge, Phoenixville 7-11pm. Come out for an evening of dinner and dancing to help support the Time Bank- a nonprofit organization made up of a community of neighbors who provide services to one another – there is no money exchanged- only time. For more information on the Time Bank or to become involved, go to www.pa-timebank.com . Tickets for the dinner are $30 in advance, $35 at the door. Look for the flyer in the store.

And, for your listening pleasure this fall, you can check out the Moondawgs' myspace site. Many of you who attended our Open House have been inquiring about where Sue and Paul play. Visit them at www.myspace.com/moondawgs for listings.

RECIPE:

The tomatillos are coming on in field 2. Tomatillos or "tomate verde" as they are known in Mexico are staples in Mexican cooking. They are members of the nightshade family and are related to the tomato. Tomatillos are only about the size of a large cherry tomato. They have an inedible green husk that needs to be removed before cooking.

Here is a recipe for a Tomatillo Salsa (or Salsa Verde), which also utilizes some of those hot peppers!) This recipe comes from a website : www.whatscookingamerica.net

2 large fresh Anaheim chile peppers*
1/2 pound tomatillos, husked, rinsed, diced**
1 1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 large green onions, chopped
1 large serrano chile pepper, stemmed, seeded
1 large garlic clove
1/4 cup (firmly packed) fresh cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon half & half, heavy cream, sour cream, or whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice (optional)
Sugar, white or brown (optional) ***

Char Anaheim chilies directly over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Rinse off all of the blackened skin and then chop the chilies. NOTE: Remove seeds for milder flavor. Warning: Wear gloves when working with the chilies and don't rub your eyes.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, add tomatillos, chicken broth, green onions, serrano chili, and garlic in medium saucepan; bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until mixture is reduced to approximately 1 2/3 cups, stirring occasionally, about 18 minutes.

Transfer mixture to blender. Add charred Anaheim chilies, cilantro, and cream. Puree until smooth. Season salsa with salt and pepper. Add lime juice.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to small bowl; cover and chill. Can be served warm or chilled.

Variation: Mash an avocado or two with a fork, then stir into salsa. The avocado adds a nice texture and richness to this salsa.

Makes approximately 2 cups.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update- Happy Autumn!

2009-09-24T23:29:00.001-04:00

http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/pnw/pnw296.pdf

October is turning out to be a busy month, and there are a lot of events occurring around Chester County:

Sunday October 4^th, 6 pm Maysie's Farm Harvest Full Moon Pot Luck Dinner.

This will be our last get together of the season. Please mark your calendars to join us then!

Saturday October 10^th, Longwood Gardens- 2 events to benefit PASA:

6:00 pm- 9:30 pm Harvest Celebration Dinner – Enjoy a scrumptious locally produced meal in the ideal setting of the Longwood Conservatory. Price $150.

See the store for flyer and details.

RECIPE:

Here is a recipe for a Tomatillo Salsa (or Salsa Verde), which also utilizes some of those hot peppers!) This recipe comes from a website : www.whatscookingamerica.net

Transfer mixture to blender. Add charred Anaheim chilies, cilantro, and cream. Puree until smooth. Season salsa with salt and pepper. Add lime juice.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Transfer to small bowl; cover and chill. Can be served warm or chilled.

Variation: Mash an avocado or two with a fork, then stir into salsa. The avocado adds a nice texture and richness to this salsa.

Makes approximately 2 cups.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

SAITA presents In my Backyard at Misty Hollow Farm, Small Scale CSA

2009-09-20T22:49:00.008-04:00

September 19th, autumn is officially here. Sally and Jim Hammerman of IMBY at Misty Hollow won big points from the 7 interns (and me) who showed up on this lovely Saturday morning, by offering us a spread of dark french press coffee, herbal tea and donuts in their charming circa 1750 kitchen. Their 2 suburban acres in Westtown, PA backs up to a school soccer field and is jam packed with the fruits of their efforts from over the past six to ten years; vegetable and herb gardens, a mini-orchard of apples, pears, two young apricot trees, grape vines along with blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry bushes.

The couple began the workshop by serving refreshments and telling us a little about their respective backgrounds. Sally is an artist, teacher and nurse and Jim is also a teacher and self taught carpenter. Both avid gardeners finding themselves with quite a bit of surplus, they decided to begin a small CSA a few years ago, mostly just for family and friends. Beginning with just 10-12 members working as core members of the LLC based CSA, the Hammermans have expanded to about 30 members. They offer half or full shares and ask members to work either 40hrs or 80hrs respectively.

Sally and Jim originally required this work time commitment in exchange for a reduced shareholder buy-in. To fulfill the farm needs, however, they were 'policing' members' time in the garden. So at one of the first gatherings they held for members, they asked for suggestions on how to manage work time. The result was a tiered solution to be fair to both the farmers and the members; charge a top buy-in price which can be worked down over the growing season- or not, as each shareholder wishes. For those who do work, hours accumulate and they are paid back. It's not a 'living wage', but the satisfaction of participating in the garden seems to provide more than the money (Sally suggests that perhaps it could be called a 'wage to live by'). Although some of the work time is with other activities, 50% of it must be spent in the garden working. A sign-in sheet helps in tracking time and a CSA manual clarifies procedures.

Misty Hollow also sells value added products on the farm; honey from a local beekeeper, garlic, dried tomatoes, roasted peppers in oil, goat cheese, herbs, postcards and t-shirts. Sally grows an extensive herb garden and also offers herbal bath salts, a garlic salve called 'Goot' and herbal oils and vinegars. My Great Pumpkin, Kimberton Whole Foods and Pete's Produce are a few of the retail stores that offer Misty Hollow non-food products. Look for the Green Man or Garden Goddess logo. You can find this on their site .

There is a living space with bath above the workshop in the lovely barn that Jim built, fitted out with a pot bellied stove and friendly calico cats for company. They have had interns live there, and out of season, it's offered to guests and friends. There are farmer-in-training workshops offered for 8-11 year olds and 'Fun on the Farm' days for 4-7 year olds. Westtown school has been assisting Misty Hollow with these two programs.

For a fundraising event to raise money for their high tunnel greenhouse, the Hammermans held a 'Gaze and Graze' silent auction. They offered an automatic 20 work-hours to those members who organized and greatly helped in raising the much needed $2500. Among other things, friends donated an apartment for a NYC weekend, a restored boat house for a Vermont long weekend, and a Long Beach Island house for a relaxing week-at-the-beach. The result not only got the Hammermans their high tunnel, but it was a community building effort that has spilled over into their Fall Harvest and May Meet and Greet festivals.

Offering Tuesday and Friday pickups, Sally and Jim also devised a shareholders skill-set list that they give out to members for bartering or trading. The offerings range from Thai massage, Reiki therapy and hypnotism, to used cars and micro-lending progrms. There is even someone who runs an eco-village in Mexico with time shares available. It appears that you're only limited by your own imagination as to what you choose to sell, swap or trade.

Another facet of Misty Hollow's creative take on farming and sustainability are the wonderful workshops they offer. Pizza making, dandelion wine production, preserving, canning and making pies - they offer something for everyone's interests. There are also children's workshops that offer games; like presenting the kids with closeup photos and asking them to find the object on the farm.

One point brought up by Maysie's intern Erin Raser, was the importance of being centrally located. Jim admitted that their proximity to shopping centers and a large population doesn't hurt. We've heard this from other CSA host farmers as well, the advantage of high visibility. Another important point that Sally and Jim emphasized, is the advantage of running a smaller and more manageable CSA. It seems to allow them a creative latitude in developing ideas for promotions and community building efforts that we hadn't heard about from the larger scale farm CSA's reviewed in the SAITA workshops this season.

One of the current members, Anna, happened to be out in the garden working and we got to hear some of her reasons for joining Misty Hollow's CSA: she and her husband don't have enough knowledge or sun in their own yard to support a substantial amount of produce.
This way they get to participate in the growing process and also have a much wider variety of items than might be found in a grocery store or even a farmers market. If she does need to drive somewhere, nurseries and markets are nearby.

That's a 40 solar panel field array that provides 80% of the Hammermans' electricity. They bought the panels at a time when tax credits were offered and aggregators now combine solar credits for the property. The house also has a spring in the basement, providing fresh water and irrigation to the gardens. It's attractive to toads who eat more than their share of bad insects and are a welcome addition to any garden. Jim had two 150 gallon stock tanks joined together and plans for a third 300 gallon to give them 600 total. There is a small greenhouse for Sally's herbs, the high tunnel and a separate greenhouse with shed for starting seeds. Black plastic is used for weed control, but it's biodegradable and breaks down in one season.

The pick-up shed was an $1800 mail order package from Vermont's Jamaica Cottage, which has manufactured post and beam structures since 1995 and delivers the best looking chicken coops outside Lancaster, PA. Their Vermont cottage would make an awesome studio space for any artist.

The spiffy blue Italian made BCS 11 horsepower tiller has a Berta rotary plow attachment that Jim raved about. His rotation includes white clover, winter rye and oats that he's trying in one area. Always working towards sustainability, Jim and Sally follow the model of wasting nothing on the farm and ask members to return veggie residue and scraps for composting.

Other practices include storing kelp and fish emulsion in large drums near the cooler shed that houses a couple of old fridges, planting Russian comfrey at the base of apple trees for companion planting, and a software program exclusively designed for the CSA farmer, including ideas on what to plant and the ability to fax seed orders. I'm not sure that this is the same program from Back40Books, but it looks similar.

Many thanks to Jim and Sally for their gracious farm tour and the highly informative talk. (and the donuts) We learn so much from each and every farmer and there are new processes to discover at each workshop!

Stay tuned for the next SAITA presentation on Saturday September 26th, 11am to 1pm at Pennypack Farm. Topic will be Community Started Agriculture with a twist. Farms and CSA's begun by groups of regular folks. Three farms will be presenting.

Happy fall! See schedule and addresses for the last remaining workshops here.
Victoria Webb
SAITA Coordinator
vic@furiousdreams.com

CSA Update

2009-09-17T23:06:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all those who joined us on Sunday at our Annual CSA Party. Unfortunately, we needed to cancel the day on Saturday due to the inclement weather, but Sunday was just beautiful!

As usual, the Moon Dogs (Sue and Paul McKenna) contributed their talents and provided wonderful entertainment into the evening- thank you so much!

We are having our Harvest Full Moon Pot Luck on Sunday October 4^th, beginning at 6 pm. This will be our last get together of the season. Please mark your calendars to join us then!

There is still room to join us this Saturday:

Pickling/Fermentation Workshop – Saturday September 19^th-Join us for this workshop to learn about how to preserve your harvest. We will cover the differences between pickling and live fermentation and show you how to do both! Cost $20 Time- 11 am

We are once again stocked with Jeremiah's Chickens- they are in the freezer.

We have a lot of Sweetwater Bread and Cookies in the freezer. Please help us use these up so we can order more fresh ones. The breads are just fine when defrosted and toasted slightly.

RECIPE:

Glazed Turnips and Carrots

This recipe from www.epicurious.com will help you utilize those delicious turnips- both the white and red variety!

1 pound baby turnips (about 2 pounds with greens attached) or regular turnips

3/4 pound baby carrots (about 2 pounds with green attached)

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Trim turnips and carrots, leaving about 1/2-inch stems if green were attached, and peel if desired. If using regular turnips, peel and cut into 1-inch pieces. In a steamer set over boiling water steam turnips and carrots separately, covered, until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Vegetables may be prepared up to this point 1 day in advance and kept covered and chilled.

In a large heavy skillet cook vegetables in butter with sugar and salt and pepper to taste over moderately low heat, stirring, until heated through and glazed, about 4 minutes.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA party postponed until Sunday September 13!!!

2009-09-12T12:26:00.001-04:00

Greetings!

Due to the inclement weather today, we have decided to postpone our CSA Annual Party and Open House until tomorrow, Sunday September 13^th beginning at 4 pm.

We think the day will be so much more pleasant tomorrow if we are not concerned about the constant mist and possible down pours!

We are planning to have all of the same activities!

Please join us tomorrow!

Hope to see you there!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA PARTY & OPEN HOUSE POSTPONED UNTIL SUNDAY, 9/13!

2009-09-12T12:18:00.002-04:00

Please note that today's (9/12/09) Maysie's Farm CSA Party and Open House has been postponed to SUNDAY, 9/13, due to rain. We'll see you tomorrow starting at 4PM, for lots of fun, food, live music, and kids' activities!

CSA Update

2009-09-10T22:34:00.001-04:00

It's beginning to feel a bit like fall already!

The stir fry greens have certainly been abundant! Some new things to look forward to include broccoli, daikon, lima beans and fresh shelling beans.

Remember that our CSA Open House/ Annual Party is this Saturday September 12^t^h at 4 pm No worries if you haven't signed up, just show up! It is a great opportunity to meet other CSA members and partake in a great meal! We will have music and activities beginning at 4 pm. The potluck dinner will begin at 6 pm.

Bring your friends to introduce them to the farm and the work we do here!

When you come on Saturday, you will see a sign for parking on St. Andrew's Lane, shortly after the Church playground. Please park in the lot up behind the greenhouses and walk down to the farm.

Harvest Full Moon Potluck Dinner – Sunday October 4^th 6 pm. That's right- it's fall again! Join us for the full moon to celebrate the fall harvest!

RECIPES:

Daikon is an incredibly versatile vegetable. Also known as the Japanese Radish, it has a crisp texture and a slightly peppery taste. When eaten raw (like at a sushi restaurant), daikon has the ability to help digest fats. It is also effective against many bacterial and fungal infections and it contains a substance that inhibits the formation of carcinogens in the body…… all that in one root!

To eat it fresh, you can grate it and add freshly squeezed ginger juice and some soy sauce. Or, slice it into thin rounds and add it to salads.

Below is a recipe for braised daikon- with this recipe, you can also make use of the nutritious daikon greens (or add some of the stir fry greens) Braising the daikon brings out its sweet taste

BRAISED DAIKON:

Butter, coconut oil, olive oil

1 daikon radish, washed and cut into thick rounds (tops washed, cut and reserved)

Water , chicken stock or vegetable stock

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Sea Salt

Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add oil to coat the bottom of the pan.

Add the daikon rounds, being careful to spread them out in a single layer.

Allow the daikon to brown slightly on one side. Gently turn and begin to brown the other side, taking care not to burn it.

Sprinkle with sea salt

Add about 2 tablespoons of liquid (water, chicken stock or vegetable stock).

Add the cut up greens and stir gently.

Immediately lower the heat, cover and let simmer until daikon softens and the liquid evaporates.

Season again with salt as needed and add lemon zest. Serve hot.

See you on Saturday!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

SAITA presents Fernbrook Farm, CSA - Creative Partnership

2009-09-08T16:16:00.005-04:00

Interns are returning to school, but we did have 4 attend the workshop this past Saturday, September 5. Fernbrook is a 400 acre preserved third generation farm of good sandy loam located in Chesterfield, NJ near large populations of people. The people/market quotient is half of what makes the farm's 260 memberCSA work, according to Farm Manager Jeff Tober. Owner and family patriarch Larry Kuser hired Jeff in 2006 after interviewing quite a few folks. They met via the NJ Farm Link program and Larry suggests that Jeff had as many hard questions for him as a landowner as he did for Jeff.

Some of those questions involved the infrastructure that the farm already provided; water, greenhouse, parking, equipment and community contacts. Jeff gave us great handouts that itemized some of these challenges. He suggests that when reviewing a farm to develop a possible CSA, you should be aware of either advantages or disadvantages that the land offers. If you're renting or leasing from a landowner, make sure you paint a visual picture of how the process will look and be specific. Remember that some people like the idea of running a farm and have a more romantic, rather than practical, vision. Fernbrook is diversified - there is a wholesale nursery and tree farm that Kuser has operated since the early 1980's, they offer a charming circa 1750 Inn and locale for weddings, and there is an Education Center and summer camp for children. Fernbrook Farms Education Center is the NJ liaison of the National Farm to School Network, working to advance greater knowledge about nutrition and health for schools and youth.

Kuser suggests that preservation of farmland is increasingly important as communities grapple with development and local fresh food sources. As people become aware of the concept of shipping distances for food contributing to global warming, they are also beginning to take responsibility for their own health. Questioning the relationship between nutrition and disease has compelled large numbers of urban citizens to seek out farmers markets and CSA's for their food sources. Jeff also maintains that value is a big motivator and spends time educating the public about the holistic spectrum of farming and the environment, health and fresh foods.

The CSA began in 2007 with 65 shares and is fast approaching Jeff's goal to financially break even. In the third year of production, his staff of 1 full-time apprentice (Rob Ekman, working on his memoir 'The Apprentice Who Cried Himself to Sleep') and 2 part-time apprentices (Brooke McGinn and Jennifer LaMonaca) work 10 acres. Jeff hires hourly labor as needed, during the summer months. The CSA also has a full-time bookkeeper to keep them on track. For an overview of farm happenings and seasonal challenges, you can read Jeff's newsletters here.

There is no delivery, folks can choose one of two days weekly for pickup at the farm store and there is a weekly and Saturday 'UPick' offered as well. When Jeff has surplus he offers discounts. Except for potatoes, everything is offered by bag, which makes combining produce a bit easier than weighing. For example, if he has only 60 melons, he'll replace those with another choice extra in the bag for those who didn't get a melon. (Jeff plans to replace the current plastic bags with biodegradables, so if you have any ideas send his way)

The farm also raises young pigs for sausage, pork and bacon, about $6.50 per lb in the shares- at our visit there were about 11 piggies happily milling around in their pen, charming the local children- and sells some chicken from a local farm near Princeton. In addition, the store offers Bob Hughes' Buzzy Bees honey and eggs, along with a few books.
The farm shop was the original stable on the farm, recently expanded and an 8'x10' walk-in cooler was added on top of a poured concrete pad. An ingenious cooling system was added via a small Energy Star window air conditioner and a 'CoolBot' device. No need for a costly compressor, Jeff says this system is a lot cheaper. The 10 acres for the CSA are watered by a well on site, with drip irrigation. Other parts of the farm farther away are watered via the traditional overhead system. Row covers like Remay are used for seedlings and spinach gets a deer repellent spray. This year Jeff trapped 35 pesky groundhogs.

Jeff uses a 5210 John Deere tractor for disking with a spader and power spreader. He mows the cover crops, lets it sit for a week, than uses the spader. He also employs a 1982 International 274 that he bought for $6200 with 600 hours on it. Rob demonstrated the Buddingh wire basket weeder's magic, and they use a Dibbler and a Planet Jr. seeder.

With a 75-85% renewal rate, Fernbrook has accomplished one of the more important tasks to building a CSA, forming trust with their customers. There are also advantages to being close to other farmers and specifically, Jeff orders his yearly seed with Honeybrook Farm, one of the largest CSA's in the country. Jeff suggests that an empty field is extremely high risk and to remember that infrastructure is immensely helpful in setting up a partnership with a landowner. Someone who has farming experience will most likely be a better candidate.

He advises attending a workshop that will help in fleshing out ideas; 'Exploring the Small Farm Dream', offered in various states in conjunction with the New England Small Farm Institute. Fernbrook's CSA is now close to accomplishing Jeff's projections and he's thinking about offering winter shares and adding another 25 acres to the project. He admits that expansion might increase inefficiencies. It's easier to control the process when you start small. His mantra; don't give your customer too much food or over promise food. In other words, manage their expectations and keep them happy.

Jeff builds on one customer base at a time and tries to stay personally involved with all of his. I watched as people came into the farm shop, calling Jeff by name, their young toddlers high five'ing him. It was a happy sight.

Stay tuned for the next SAITA presentation on Saturday September 19th, 11am to 1pm at Misty Hollow Farm. Topic will be the Small Scale CSA with a business workshop - and possibly a canning demo.

Happy harvesting! See schedule and addresses for workshops here .

Victoria Webb
SAITA Coordinator
vic@furiousdreams.com

CSA Update

2009-09-03T21:59:00.001-04:00

Happy Labor Day! (Remember no pick up on Monday, September 7^th)- we'll see you on Tuesday!

You may have noticed that our work crew is a bit smaller these past few weeks. Our interns and volunteers have headed back to school (Libbie, Charlotte and Zoe). We so appreciate their hard work and all that they've brought to the farm! Dave, Andy, Erin and Pete are still with us. If you know of anyone who is looking to intern during the fall/ winter, please send them our way!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

CSA Open House/ Annual Party: Join us Saturday September 12^t^h at 4 pm for our annual CSA party. Bring your friends to introduce them to the farm and the work we do here! There will be activities, music and a pot luck supper. Please bring a dish to share. If you are interested in helping us during this event, please contact Annmarie.

Harvest Full Moon Potluck Dinner – Sunday October 4^th 6 pm. That's right- it's fall again! Join us for the full moon to celebrate the fall harvest!

RECIPES:

Escarole is making an appearance! This delightfully slightly bitter green can be used raw in salads or cooked into soups. With the weather turning chilly at night, it makes a great one dish meal paired with white beans!

Escarole and Beans

1 head escarole washed well

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons minced garlic

Pinch red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1 cup cooked white beans (cannellini beans, navy beans)

Quality chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

Sea salt

Wash escarole well, chop roughly and set aside.

In large pot, heat oil slightly. Add garlic and begin to cook, without browning the garlic

Add red pepper flakes and white beans. Allow beans to begin to soften a bit more.

Add escarole and stir to coat with oil. Add stock or water to cover and simmer escarole until most liquid evaporates. (The softer the escarole becomes, the more delicious it is!)

Serve warm. Can serve with grated cheese, and, of course, a slice of Sweetwater Bread!

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

Annual CSA Party & Open House

2009-08-31T17:08:00.004-04:00

Maysie's Farm Annual CSA Party & Open House will be on Saturday, September 12th this year. Party is from 4:00 PM on. We will have children's activities, a pot luck dinner, live music, Victory beer, and more! You can sign up at the farm, or just show up. The advantage of signing up at the farm is that you can see what dishes other people are bringing, and decide what you'd like to bring based on that list. But you can feel free to show up even if you haven't signed up — just bring along something delicious to eat!

Because this is an open house, guests are welcome. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, September 12th!

CSA update - August 27, 2009

2009-08-28T12:59:00.003-04:00

Green beans, wax beans, purple beans- beans, beans, beans! They are still looking beautiful, so bring your bags and fill them up!

If you have any pint or quart berry containers to spare, we could use them here!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

ECOFEST '09 - Sunday August 30^th in Kerr Park, Downingtown. 10 AM- 9 PM

The goal of this festival is to connect consumers with green businesses, farmers, artists and musicians in the community. Maysie's Farm is a sponsor of this event, and we will have a table there. Stop by and enjoy local food, music and art!

CSA Open House/ Annual Party: Join us Saturday September 12^t^h for our annual CSA party. Bring your friends to introduce them to the farm and the work we do here! There will be activities, music and a pot luck supper. Please bring a dish to share. If you are interested in helping us during this event, please contact Annmarie.

HELP NEEDED:

Weeding!! The herbs in the rock pile are in need of some weeding. If you have some time during your pick up to stop by and help us clean it up, it would be greatly appreciated!

IN THE STORE:

We are stocking our freezers full of chicken and salmon- When you take food, please be sure that the freezers seal and close tightly, as sometimes, the doors are open and the freezer begins to defrost.

Chicken:

We are now carrying Jeremiah Eldredge's chickens in the store. Jeremiah has whole chickens and parts. Unfortunately, our freezer started to defrost and we needed to move the pieces out of the freezer…… Monday people got to take advantage! We will be ordering more parts.

Prices for the chickens are as follows:

Whole Chicken: $3.30 per pound.

Boneless, Skinless Breasts: $8.70 per pound,

Thighs and Legs $3.60 per pound

Wings: $3.30 per pound..

Wild Alaskan Salmon: A new shipment of salmon will be delivered on Monday August 31!

RECIPES:

Thanks to member Sally McQuail for sharing this week's recipe for

Poblano Pepper Jelly

Sterilize 8 half pint canning jars, lids and rings

Core and chop poblano peppers finely, 4 cups total- throw in some hot peppers if you'd like!

Place in a large stockpot with a heavy bottom.

Add 2 cups cider vinegar

Add 1 package pectin (1.75 oz)

Stir. Bring to rolling boil.

Add 5 cups of sugar

Bring back to rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and pour into prepared jars.

Process for 5 minutes in boiling water.

Sally also offers this great idea for blackberries!

Have you run out of ideas for blackberries, but can't stop picking them? Seed them through a fine sieve or with a Chinoise, and place four cup increments in freezer bags. In the winter, you can make jam with it, or our family favorite is to make sorbet for Christmas dinner.

See you around the farm!

Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update - August 20, 2009

2009-08-20T15:00:00.002-04:00

IN THE FIELDS

The eggplants are continuing to thrive, as are the peppers. Bok Choy and Chinese Cabbage are available again.

The pick your own crops are going strong as well- as we continue to have beans, cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and very plump blackberries!

Labor Day is right around the corner. For those who are scheduled on Mondays, please note that the pick- up will be moved from Monday September 7th to Tuesday September 8th from 1-7 pm.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Canning Workshop Sunday August 23rd from 2-4 pm. You can still sign up for this workshop by calling, emailing, or signing up in the barn on Friday. Cost is $20

CSA Open House/ Annual Party: Join us Saturday September 12th for our annual CSA party. Bring your friends to introduce them to the farm and the work we do here! There will be activities, music and a pot luck supper. Please bring a dish to share.

IN THE STORE

Chicken: As mentioned in an earlier update, Jeremiah Eldridge will now be providing chickens for us. Jeremiah and Sam met when Jeremiah was 14 years old and working at Springton Manor Farm with Sam. Now he and his wife are farming sustainably in Coatesville! Jeremiah and Bridgette follow the highest standards for raising their chickens- they are truly pastured and fed only organic grain.

Jeremiah’s chickens will be available shortly, as we need to finish our supply of the chickens that Ben has provided for us in the interim. We are offering lowered price on Ben’s chickens this Friday- reduced from $3. 72 per pound to $3.50 per pound. Jeremiah’s chickens will be offered at lower prices.

Wild Alaskan Salmon: Steve and Jenn Kurian of Wild For Salmon will be delivering a shipment of salmon to us shortly! We also have some salmon left in the freezers to move out before our new shipment comes!

RECIPES

This recipe for Curried Eggplant comes from www.epicurious.com

3 lb Asian eggplants (about 6), cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick rounds
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 large garlic clove, chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeño chile including seeds
1 teaspoon yellow or brown mustard seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
3 tablespoons oil*
1 large onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced lengthwise
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 cup roasted cashews (1 1/4 oz), chopped

1) Toss eggplant with 1 teaspoon salt in a colander set over a bowl, then let drain 30 minutes. Rinse eggplant, then drain, pressing gently on eggplant to extract any excess liquid.

2) While eggplant drains, mash garlic, ginger, and jalapeño to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt using a mortar and pestle (or mince and mash with a large heavy knife and transfer to a cup), then stir in mustard and cumin seeds and turmeric.

3) Heat oil in a 5-quart heavy pot over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sauté onion, stirring occasionally, until softened and golden, 8 to 10 minutes. Add spice paste and cinnamon stick, then reduce heat to moderate and cook, stirring, 1 minute.

4) Add eggplant and cook, stirring, until it begins to soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in water, brown sugar, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until eggplant is tender but not falling apart, 20 to 25 minutes. Season eggplant with additional salt.

5) Discard cinnamon stick and serve eggplant sprinkled with cilantro and cashews.

6) Serve with Basmati Rice

*the best oils to use are coconut oil, ghee, butter or olive oil!!

See you around the farm!
Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

CSA Update - August 13, 2009

2009-08-13T14:54:00.000-04:00

The summer crops have finally enjoyed a couple of days of summer heat (and we have all been complaining about the oppressive humidity!)

The eggplants are especially beautiful this year. You will notice that we have a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors. The same cooking styles can be used for the different eggplant, as their taste and texture seem to be similar. They are especially delicious when brushed with olive oil and sea salt and placed on the grill! You could also add zucchini, peppers and onions.

Changing your Pick up Day: Please remember to notify us if you need to change your pick up day. You may do this either through the online ordering system, or by calling, emailing or writing a note on the pick-up list. We try to harvest the crops to provide for the exact number of shares expected each day. If you show up on a day when you are not scheduled, you will be taking someone else’s food. We apologize to those who did not receive lettuce on Monday - we noticed that at least 4 people came unexpectedly.

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES/ WORKSHOPS:

Listed below are the remaining classes and workshops scheduled throughout the month:

Please note that the Seedlings Cooking Classes are $10 per child.

Friday August 14th 3-4 pm- Seedlings Cooking Class for 9 through 11 year olds:
Cold Zucchini or Cucumber Soup
Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
Blackberry Smoothies

Monday August 17th- 4-5 pm- Seedlings Cooking Class for 12-18 year olds:
Italian Eggplant Spread (Caponata)
Green Bundles
Garden Salad with Herb Dressing

Sunday, August 23rd- Preserving the Harvest : Canning Workshop with Liz Alakszay
2-4 pm $20 per person
This is the first workshop in a series given by Liz, an avid vegetable and small fruit grower in Chester County. This workshop will answer questions related to canning such as:
Why and how do you can?
How does canning preserve the food?
How do you store canned items and ensure that they are safe?
Various processing methods and equipment will be discussed and displayed. The participants will work along with the instructor to use the boiling water canning method to apply these concepts create their own canned vegetables. The specific vegetables will be determined based on availability.

FOOD INC. - This pivotal movie about the industrialized food system opens Friday August 14th at the Colonial Theater in Phoenixville. The Maysie’s Crew is planning on going to opening night- please join us! The movie starts at 7 pm. Also, on Wednesday evening, August 19th, there will be a discussion led by Liz Anderson of Charlestown Cooperative Farm and Dan Heckler of Jack’s Farm after the showing. Below is an excerpt taken from the film’s website:

“Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our environment.”

One of the recipes this week comes from CSA Member Kelly Pipich, who says that this soup is delicious - and it uses everything you can get this week- including the purslane!!

Chilled Zucchini Soup with Purslane

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon thyme leaves
1 bay leaf
8 small zucchini (3 pounds), thinly sliced, plus long zucchini shavings for garnish
Kosher salt
3 cups water
2 tablespoons finely shredded basil
2 cups ice
Freshly ground pepper
2 cups purslane or baby arugula

In a large saucepan, heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat until translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the thyme and bay leaf and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the sliced zucchini, season with salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 10 minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Discard the bay leaf and stir in the shredded basil.

Working in batches, puree the soup in a blender until very smooth. Transfer the zucchini puree to a large bowl. Stir in the ice. Refrigerate the zucchini soup for at least 3 hours, until thoroughly chilled.

Season the soup with salt and pepper. Ladle into shallow bowls and top with a small handful of purslane and zucchini shavings. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

And, to use up those eggplants, here is a recipe from a website: www.aubergines.org

Eggplant Catalana
4 large eggplants
1 medium size onion
garlic to taste
1 cup oil
1 pound fresh tomatoes
6 walnuts
fresh parsley
salt
1 cup stock

Cut the eggplant in slices crosswise, with their skin, sprinkle with salt and let rest 10 minutes. Drain, dry and fry in hot oil. Put aside.

In an earthenware pot with a little oil, fry the peeled and minced garlic, with the peeled and minced onion. When done, add the peeled tomatoes cut in small pieces, and when cooked, add the eggplant.

Salt and pepper to taste, and then add the walnuts, processed coarsely in a food processor and stirred in the cup of stock.

Cook at very low heat until not too liquid. It is served in the earthenware pot in which it was cooked, and can be served with a fried egg per person if desired.

See you around the farm!
Annmarie and Sam

Think Globally, Eat Locally
Maysie's Farm Conservation Center
15 St. Andrew's Lane Glenmoore, PA 19343
(610)458-8129 www.maysiesfarm.org

2009-08-06T06:41:00.001-04:00

UPDATE- Tomato Blight, Workshops, Recipes

FARMER’S NOTES:

Unfortunately, we have our second major disaster of the season to report, and this one makes the total failure of our corn crop seem fairly insignificant. Our tomatoes have been hit by the Late Blight that you may have heard about in the news (such as the front page story in July 16th’s Inquirer). We have already cut and burned about 90% of our twelve hundred and some tomato plants. The fungus, Phytophthora, (“Plant Destroyer”, the pathogen responsible for the Great Irish Potato Famine of the 1840’s) apparently travelled from Florida, where it can overwinter, to the northeast on tomato seedlings sold by “big box” stores. Then the relentlessly cool, wet weather conditions we experienced for most of the last two months proved to be ideal for it to proliferate. In moist conditions, an infected plant will shed spores that can be carried by the wind for many miles and can then be washed down from the air by rain falling on innocent, unsuspecting, even dearly beloved tomato plants. Once infected, plants quickly release more spores and die. So we’ve invested about two weeks worth of the firewood I use to heat the house, forty-five gallons of used vegetable oil (courtesy of the restaurant next door) and many, many man-hours to burn the infected plants – beautiful plants with thousands of beautiful green tomatoes patiently waiting for warm nighttime temperatures to trigger their ripening. I’ve never had to do anything like this before, destroy a beautiful crop. But we’re not the only ones suffering from the blight – all of the other CSAs in the area that I’ve heard about have been devastated as well.
It’s unusual this year that the weather is directly responsible for our biggest problems. Sure, the weather is always a concern, but in most years, the labor situation is more likely to be the cause of our greatest difficulties. We’re very lucky this year to have a great team of Workers and Interns persevering against the obstacles put in our path by Nature (or by Global Climate Change, the disruption of Nature) and I’d like to encourage you, when you get the chance, to acknowledge the hard work they’ve done to bring you your food. However, I should mention, this is the time of year when we can expect to lose some Interns as they head back to school or off to their next adventure. So if you know of anyone looking to learn about the (often harsh) reality of organic vegetable production, please send him or her my way.
Thanks for your support -

SCHEDULE OF CLASSES/ WORKSHOPS:

We have organized our schedule of classes and workshops for the month of August listed below
You can register for the events by calling 610-458-8129 or emailing: Sam@maysiesfarm.org

Monday August 10th- 4-5 pm- Seedlings Cooking Class for 6 through 8 year olds:
Vegetable Quesadillas with Salsa

Friday August 14th 3-4 pm- Seedlings Cooking Class for 9 through 11 year olds:
Cold Zucchini Soup
Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
Blackberry Smoothies

Monday August 17th- 4-5 pm- Seedlings Cooking Class for 12-18 year olds:
Italian Eggplant Spread (Caponata)
Green Bundles
Garden Salad with Herb Dressing

Saturday August 22nd- Canning Workshop with Liz Alakszay
Come learn the basics of canning as a way of preserving the summer harvest.
(Date subject to change- more details to follow……)

In the Garden:
Purslane: Friend or Foe?
Friend, definitely! This weed which is now growing rampantly in some of our beds is perhaps one of the most nutritious greens you can find. As far as Omega 3 fatty acids are concerned, purslane takes the lead in supplying the most alpha linoleic acid of any green crop.
Recorded use of purslane dates to at least to the Middle Ages, when it was particularly popular with the Greeks, as a citrus-like addition to fish. Medicinally, the Greeks considered purslane a blood tonic. It is used frequently in Latin American cooking. We have included a recipe for purslane this week. Go ahead, be adventurous and give it a try. We have the beds marked where you can find it!
When you get the purslane home, wrap it in a damp towel and keep it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. (I hear the stems can be pickled, but I haven’t tried it yet!)

Another interesting addition to the farm this year is shiso leaves. We have an abundance of the purple shiso and the green is beginning to come up nicely. Shiso is described as “Japanese Basil” or “Japanese Mint”. The flavor of the leaves is pungent and grassy with tastes of spearmint, basil, cinnamon and hints of curry…a bit complicated! The leaves are delicious to add to Mesclun mixes or sprinkled over cucumber salads, cabbage salads or fish. You can also add shiso to green tea after it has been steeped. So, go ahead and pick a leaf or two and see how you like it!!

Chicken:
We have the option of providing chicken of the same quality as Ben’s at a lower price to you. Jeremiah Eldridge, a local farmer has begun raising chickens this year. He is not certified organic, but uses organic feed and his chickens are out on pasture. We have tasted them and they are quite good. This generation of chickens is a bit larger than what you might expect. In order to provide these chickens, we need to first free our freezer of the chickens in there now…..

GREEK POTATO SALAD WITH PURSLANE
Salt
3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/3 inch thick
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped
1/4 pound purslane or arugula, torn
1 large cucumber—peeled, halved, seeded and cut into half-moons
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, seeded and minced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 cup chopped mint
Bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the potatoes and cook until tender, about 12 minutes. Drain and let cool.
In a small bowl, combine the olive oil and vinegar and season with salt. Break the potato slices into quarters and spread on the bottom of a large, shallow bowl. Season with salt and drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the dressing. Layer the tomatoes over the potatoes, followed by the purslane, cucumber, onion, jalapeño, parsley and mint. Just before serving, pour the remaining dressing over the salad and toss well.

See you around the farm!
Annmarie and Sam

SAITA presents Pleasant Pastures, Diversified Amish farm marketing

2009-08-02T15:45:00.011-04:00

Pleasant Pastures is a 67 acre Amish organic farm in Honeybrook, PA. In attendance this past Saturday were 4 interns and 3 general public from the Philadelphia area. Benuel and Anna Stoltzfus and their nine children work this idyllic farm in western Chester County, raising grass fed beef and Jersey milk cows, free range chickens, pigs, rabbits and one sheep for weed control. They also grow fruits and vegetables, mostly for home use. Ben employs 3 part-time helpers in addition to his family's contributions.

Bought by Ben's dad in 1983, the farm was originally conventional and used pesticides and chemical fertilizers. By the early 1990's the Stoltzfus's had switched to organic methods, realizing that even with chemicals and herbicides they weren't getting enough weed control. By chance, Ben had discovered his back fields that had escaped the sprays, actually had less weeds through cultivation, than the near fields receiving the spraying. Full transition to all organic practices occurred soon afterwards.

At the beginning of our workshop, we discussed milk prices and marketing, since Ben has been producing and shipping raw organic milk for sale since 2000. He suggests that pricing for farmers is even lower now than in the 1960's. Farmers get $1.05 per gallon of conventional milk, which simply can't cover their costs. Many small dairy farms are predicted to close down this winter because of the failure to achieve higher pricing. Ben said that in the mid 1980's the price was up to $14/hundred lbs but that imports and politics have affected current pricing, which has dropped to $11/hundred lbs.

According to Ben, the PA Milk Board does not have a clear floor on pricing. I found an interesting historical forecast at this 2006 Cornell article. Another more recent link to information on the drop in prices can be found here. The Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund suggests there is a glut of dairies producing organic milk and that the demand has dropped with the current recession. And you may be interested in reviewing thesecommentaries about the issues on NODPA (Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance).

An excerpt from Francis Thicke's comments about the pricing mechanics in the dairy sector:

"During recent years, the dairy marketplace has become increasingly concentrated, to the point that monopoly power now appears to play a role in setting dairy prices. Economic literature indicates that if four (or fewer) firms control 40% of a market, that market no longer functions as a competitive market. Today, just one firm purchases 34% of the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers. That firm, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA), also has marketing agreements with other dairy purchasers, leading industry analysts to estimate that DFA by itself indirectly controls over 40% of the commodity milk market.

To add to this growing monopoly power within dairy marketing, the retail food industry has undergone major consolidation in recent years, resulting in a few large grocery chains controlling the majority of retail sales of U.S. dairy products. What can be done? For one, the federal government needs to enforce antitrust laws. We need Teddy Roosevelt-style action to bring back competitive markets.

Recent massive imports of dairy products are contributing to the havoc within dairy markets. According to recent data, the equivalent of 20,000 semi tanker trucks full of skim milk were imported into the U.S. during one month’s time in the form of milk casein and milk protein concentrates (MPC). It has been reported that much of the imported MPDC has not been subject to FDA safety testing. After the contamination we saw in Chinese dairy products, this is more than an academic concern."

The consumer has a choice and can affect the market by making a statement with their purchases; buy from local dairies or farmers markets and health food stores and bypass the big box stores and retail supermarkets.

In an average year Ben is able to produce 35 lbs of milk per cow per day. Much of it goes directly to cheese markets. Ben raises organic hay using no pesticides and has found that since grain prices have increased along with oil increases, it's more economical for his cows to be grass fed. He does grow some organic wheat to feed his cows in the winter, but this spring was difficult with all the rain that we had. He also grows Sudan grass for feed. However, it takes from 2-3 years to switch cows and he has been most successful in switching his young calves. Pasturing livestock is tricky because you can easily ruin your field through over grazing; cows will eat to the ground. Ben allows 2 Acres per every 2 days for his cows and moves them when the grass is at 2".

In early 2003 and through 2005 the organic milk market exploded and Ben was able to go direct to the consumer. He became involved with Maysies's farm in selling his products. He also got involved with the CARE program, a private club of 30 or so mostly Amish and Mennonite, with 2 'English' farmers based in Lancaster. They work to help market local products, including sending his grass fed beef to drop-off points in Virginia and Long Island, and provide a legal defense fund for protection from liability and other issues.

Ben has a well on the property near the house, but to get it out to the fields for his 39 milk producing cows, he needed to run 700' of 1/2" line laid into a trench. The challenge was pumping it up 90' out of the ground and then more than 60' feet up to the fields. He uses a 275 gallon tank filled with water to empty into tubs to water his 12 Belgian and standard carriage horses. He uses a gas engine to power the fan in the barn used to cool off the horses and the breeding bull that we saw relaxing in a back stall.

His beautiful Belgians pulled us through the fields on a farm tour after the workshop. We saw the Jersey cows grazing under the shade of trees towards the back of Ben's property. He was concerned about getting too close and making them nervous, 'they don't need to be panting in this heat'. It was obvious that Ben takes exceptional care of all his farm livestock, but he did mention an axiom that I'd never heard before;'Where there's livestock, there's dead-stock'. Meaning that every winter, they lose one or two animals to disease or some unforeseen event. He has had to manage mastitis in some of the cows, although he's begun using homeopathic remedies, probiotics and vitamin C with some success. He also sees improvement in their health on his rich, organic soil. 'When the soil's more alive, everything else is too.'

For extra energy and to help with milk production, he adds liquid cane molasses to the cow's winter hay feed. His 1100 free-range laying hens provide Kimberton Whole Foods with eggs and he found another farmer to help raise broilers for sale. He has 2 sows with a new litter of 16 piglets just days old, and sends his larger meat hogs to a custom butcher for slaughter.

Anna and Daniel make yogurt, butter and cottage cheese in a front processing room, equipped with butter churner and whey strainer for the cottage cheese. There is also a compressed-air powered egg grader called the Egomatic, which ingeniously conveys the eggs down a conveyor belt to measure and drop into a basket. I was waiting for an 'I Love Lucy' moment, but Anna had it under control. I found one machine listed in the NJ Museum of Agriculture, noting: "Egomatic" Egg Grading Machine (electric), ca. 1940, made in Titusville, NJ by Otto Niederer Sons, Inc. and sold worldwide. Proving that farmers reuse and recycle better than anyone else.

Other main costs for the Stoltzfus's are fuel: oil and propane prices. Ben stated that rising oil prices from last year took all his averaged profits for the last two years; he paid $600-700 for propane and $900 a month for oil.

He doesn't like using plastic, but this past season had to bring in someone to wrap his hay bales in an effort to help dry them out. There is cost incurred with the plastic and then he has to find some way to dispose of it.

Thanks to Benuel and Anna for a wonderful workshop and tour, and insights into Amish organic farming. We also appreciated meeting their delightful children, who helped dish out our post workshop/tour homemade ice cream. It was delicious and I highly recommend a trip out to the farm to pick up a quart of vanilla or chocolate, or both! Also be sure to try some of their rich and healthy raw milk, yogurts and cheeses. They also offer handmade local soaps, honey and herbal hand salve in the barn shop.

Next SAITA workshop on Integrating Livestock into the CSA at Sankanac CSA is Saturday August 8th from 11am-1pm in Kimberton, PA.

Happy growing! See schedule and addresses for workshops here .

Victoria Webb

SAITA Coordinator

vic@furiousdreams.com

SAITA presents Quiet Creek Farm at The Rodale Institute

2009-07-27T16:01:00.010-04:00

Saturday July 25th saw a total of 16 interns in attendance for SAITA's Vegetable Cultivation Techniques workshop at Aimee and John Good's Quiet Creek Farm. Situated at the Rodale Institute, a few miles east of Kutztown, PA, the Goods lease 8 acres from the Rodale's 333 acres. Rodale is renowned not only for its longevity in the organic community, but also for its Farming Systems Trial (FST), the longest-running experiment comparing organic and conventional farming practices.

Founded in 1947 by J.I. Rodale, this is now a third generation farm, impressive for its tidiness and beautiful rolling hills. In fact, I was struck by the similarity to the vistas of Umbria's agrarian horizons in Italy. On a personal note, this was the highlight of our workshops, as I had wanted to visit the institute since the late 1960's, during my own early involvement with the 'back to the land' movement.

Quiet Creek operates a 225 member CSA and has on-farm pickups on tuesdays and fridays. John works the farm full-time, Aimee works part-time and takes care of their young daughter, Celia Rose. Jonathan Maier works as their full-time apprentice and there are two other full season apprentices helping out.

They also offer two 1/2 acre U-Pick fields, including flowers, that usually bring 50-60 people out at a time. They partner with other farms to offer pork, bacon, eggs, grass-fed beef, and even locally produced organic spelt flour. The objective is to make the barn shop a one-stop shopping experience. The Mennonite farmer next door sells raw milk and butter.

Because Rodale has large equipment on site, the Goods hire them to do some of the harder field work, like cover cropping. They also borrow the potato digger and planter. They make their own potting soil from compost and on the last part of our tour we viewed the compost sterilizer and turner, designed and built by the local Mennonite farmer next door, the same one who sells raw milk and butter. The screener pasteurizes at 200 degrees. John amends his compost with a butter dishful of lime, bone meal, rock phosphate, bloodmeal, greensand, using a 1 to 1 ratio of compost to lightening products; perlite, vermiculite and peat.

John works aggressively with cultivation to keep bushy type weeds like foxtail and ragweed from getting out of hand. He will go through the beds with the cultivator at least twice before seeding or transplanting. This he says, can exhaust most of the weed seeds in the top 2-3" of soil. To find out if the land is too wet, grab a handful of soil and ball and drop; if it breaks up, it's safe to work the field. Cultivation will also help to dry out the surface of wet soil, helping with disease and fungus. The resulting top 2" of soil will then help preserve moisture below. Some farmers who use no irrigation only use cultivation as a means of conserving water.

Quiet Creek and Rodale share a pond as their irrigation source with a hydrant on each of 6 pillars. There is also a pumphouse and 4" pipes @ 100 psi are sized for the 300 acre farm. There are 3 big guns on tripods for Quiet Creek, with 200' broadcasting ability for 2-3 hours. John uses Rainflo tripods and flat hoses and praises the company's prompt and personalized customer service.

He uses Typar as a heavier type of row cover; it never rips and will last much longer than the earlier products like Agronet or Reemay. Fall kale is planted under these now.

An ingenious way to roll out large row covers onto fields, John inserts a roll through the pipe, lays it onto 2 sawhorses and another person at the far end helps to unroll while it's laid onto the field:

To avoid a lot of hand weeding, John marks his rows, getting as close as possible with his cultivator. He suggests that if you don't kill a few plants, you aren't close enough. He demonstrated tractor passes on cucurbits and lettuces, using a 13" pumpkin knife on his Williams Weeder from Market Farm, showing us how to avoid swerving when going down the row, and how to raise and lower the knife to slide underneath the drip tape and plants. Keeping a 15/16" ratchet wrench in the tractor box for changing out tools can help save time. For plastic covered rows, John will remove the two middle tines with the knives facing to the outside. He cultivates his beds at least once every two weeks and tries for each week in May or June when weeds are growing their fastest.

His Holland made Lely weeder has adjustable tines that float independently. He also uses the Williams system with a rake, that flips the weeds over and gets roots up into the sun to bake. His tractor is a Kubota L245H, with the offset engine that all cultivators use. John suggests going to auctions to find this equipment since companies stopped making cultivating tractors in the mid 1980's. You can also search back to Shane LaBrake's June 16th workshop in the blog to find information on tractors. John found his at auction for about $7000, circa 1985. These tractors may be easier to find in the southern states, since they've been used more recently for tobacco cultivation. An interesting paper by a U of VT vegetable/berry specialist on the pros and cons of cultivation equipment with source addresses, can be found here.

Back in the storage barn, Aimee showed us their Planet Jr. version of a European push seeder, with three different seed plates. Read comparisons of Cole's seeder to the Earthway product here. Johnny's makes a European model that's similar to the Planet Jr.

Another nifty piece of equipment demo'd was the Flame weeder, a propane powered contraption that basically burns weeds to a crisp. Helpful for weed control and possibly for disease as well, John suggests trying this on damp weeds and wetter ground; the extra moisture helps to steam them to death. Open the propane tank before you put your backpack on. The model that John was using can be found, with a photo tour, on Flameweeders.com in West Virginia.

Hand tools include 3 different stirrup hoes and a small hand hoe from Johnny's :

The farm uses Surround on cucurbits for cucumber beetles, BT on their cabbages and broccoli for cabbage worms. Actinovate is being used for bacterial diseases and Quiet Creek is experimenting with Agriphage ,for their tomatoes. Agriphage is a new bacteriophage treatment that is actually a virus, injecting its DNA into the offending bacterium, which then replicates as new 'phage'. From all the data I read online, it appears safe, although there is some concern among scientists about these viruses entering our food system and future effects on human DNA and metabolisms. (This link suggests: Although these two dsDNA viruses infect hosts from very different kingdoms, their striking similarities, from major coat protein through capsid architecture, strongly suggest their evolutionary relationship.) I'm slightly suspect of any company who is working with the Department of Defense to develop biological weaponry and Omnilytics, a biotech company in business since 1954, makes Agriphage.

Quiet Creek leases a Greenhouse from Rodale for $1000/year, but waters in exchange and ends up even. They put their lettuces underneath heatpad covered tables and once germinated bring them to the top. Garlic was drying under the tables when we walked in and it smelled like a giant pizzeria.

Rodale's bookstore is not to be missed, it's housed in a historic one room schoolhouse. I even met a couple of New Yorkers out tending their plots nearby. LingLee told me they drive out 2 hours and go back in the same day. Just to be in the country and have some fresh home grown vegetables. Now that's dedication!

Rodale and Quiet Creek are both worth a trip to see the lovely fields, the stunning demo and visitor gardens and the chance to meet the friendliest farmers around - Aimee, Celia and John.

Next SAITA workshop on Diversified Amish Farm Marketing at Ben Stoltzfus's Pleasant Pastures Organic Acres is Saturday August 1st from 11am-1pm in Honey Brook, PA. Be sure to check Maysie's website on friday, as there may be a time switch to 10am start time.

Happy growing! See schedule and addresses for workshops here .

Victoria Webb

SAITA Coordinator

vic@furiousdreams.com

2009-07-23T22:18:00.002-04:00

This week, we seem to be continuing our discussion on the environmental factors that affect farming: Our tomatoes are being hollowed out and have puncture marks in them. Insects? Disease? Weather? Soil? No……. CROWS! For some reason, this year the crows are all over the tomatoes. We are trying a variety of deterrents such as building a scarecrow, suspending shiny objects, such as aluminum pans and cds (anyone have old cds to spare??), and even resorting to the old shotgun! We’ll keep you posted!

Then there are the potatoes: You may have noticed that some of the larger Yukon Gold potatoes have a hollow center. “A hollow heart (a lens- or star-shaped cavity at the center of the tuber) results when conditions such as high rainfall…………over stimulate growth” (from Rodale’s Garden Problem Solver). We certainly had high rainfall and very rapid growth of our potato plants in June. You cannot tell from the outside of the potato if this condition exists inside. The outsides look perfectly fine. The hollowed area, however, is typically quite small, is easily excised and in no way affects the taste of the rest of the potato, but for now, maybe you should plan on cutting open your larger potatoes before cooking them.

Reminder: Please bring bags appropriate for use on pick up days. Lately we have been running low!

Classes:
Our first Seedlings Cooking Class for 3-6 year olds will be Monday August 3rd from 4-5 pm. We will make flowers out of a variety of vegetables and a yummy spread to dip them in!
Please register your child by calling us or emailing us. The cost is $10 per child.

We will have a complete schedule of children and adult classes ready shortly.

Farm Tour:
Ben and Anna Stoltzfus are hosting a Farm Tour on Saturday August 1st. It is a great way to see the workings of a true Amish farm and enjoy hay rides, Ben’s homemade ice cream, and samples of his other delicious dairy products. You can find the details attached here.

Some of the zucchini coming in from the field are dangerously large….. great for bread.
Zucchini Bread
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups grated zucchini
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
3 cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1 cup dried raisins or cranberries

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large bowl, mix together the sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Mix in the grated zucchini and the melted butter.
Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the mixture and add in. Add the flour, a third at a time. Sprinkle in the cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix. Fold in the nuts and dried fruit..
Divide the batter equally between 2 buttered 5x9 inch loaf pans. Bake for one hour. (Check for doneness at 50 minutes) or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on pans for 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to cool thoroughly.
Makes 2 loaves.

For those of you looking to eliminate gluten from your diet, here is a Zucchini Bread recipe from the internet: www.jenncuisine.wordpress.com

Although the recipe below calls for canola oil, a much more healthy alternative would be melted coconut oil, melted butter, or olive oil!

3 eggs1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 cups fresh grated zucchini
3/4 cup tapioca flour
3/4 cup white rice flour3
/4 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup arrowroot powder (in place of cornstarch)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbs. xantham gum
1 tbs. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1. Preheat to 350F, just like in the other recipes.
2. I did not use a mixer. I used a plain old fashioned, no-power-needed, whisk. It worked fine. I beat the eggs, and then added in the sugar, oil, applesauce, and zucchini. The recipe says to add the zucchini w/ the dry ingredients, but after grating my zucchini I really felt that it was not a dry ingredient, and belonged with the wet. After adding everything, I mixed some more w/ my whisk.
3. Mix the rest of the ingredients together, and gradually add to the wet while stirring. Keep stirring until all the flour is incorporated and you have a smooth texture.
4. Grease a 9″ x 5″ bread pan. To grease a pan, since I don’t like breathing in pump sprays very much, I do it the old fashioned way – take some butter and grease the pan, then coat lightly with flour, and shake. I think greasing a pan by this method works a lot better than spraying some non-stick spray.
5. The Baking Beauties says to fill 2 bread pans half way. My batter only filled one bread pan half way. Maybe I just have an abnormally wide bread pan? Not sure. Do what fits, but don’t fill anything more than half way, because this will rise a lot in the oven.
6. Bake until done. For me this was about an hour, and I used the “sticky knife” test to determine when it was done. I liked the tip on Baking Beauties about adding the aluminum foil if the crust is browning too quickly before the loaf is done. Mine didn’t, but very useful tip if yours does!
By the way, this bread is great w/ melted butter and homemade jam, or as a sandwich, or as toast, the list goes on and on….

This recipe for Lemon Verbena Ice Cream comes from our member, Harriet Stone, who says that the taste is heavenly… can’t wait to try it!! This will be especially delicious with Ben’s milk and cream!!

Lemon Verbena Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
2/3 cup sugar (I use ½ cup)
60 fresh lemon verbena leaves
1 T. vodka (optional to keep the ice cream from freezing too hard; you usually don't have to worry about storing left-overs)
In a large sauce pan, combine the cream, milk, sugar, and verbena leaves. Heat over moderate heat just until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for an hour. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve (I just scoop out the leaves with a slotted spoon.) and discard the leaves. Refrigerate until well chilled. Process in an ice-cream freezer.

See you around the farm!
Annmarie and Sam