Saturday, September 26, 2009

Farm Workers in the NY Times!!!

I thought you might be interested in this article appearing in the sunday times. On slide number 9 you can see the lovely and talented Carroll Anderson, one of the amazing young women who helped harvest your vegetables this summer. Carroll is a total rock star when it comes to lettuce picking. Besides working for Inverbrook and Northcreek Nursery, Carroll also makes amazing feather earrings and handmade paper journals. Such talent, I am truly blessed with an amazing crew.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

This Week's Share--Happy Fall!

Happy autumnal equinox! The weather is certainly doing its part to usher in the next season, and consquently the garden is doing its party to fit in with the seasonal change by winding down (it actually feels like its ending a little too quickly). This week's share marks the last of the beans, and the transition from summer to fall crops. It certainly has been a challenging season, I will post more on that later. In the meantime enjoy this week's share:

Rutabagas
Green Beans
Salad Tomatoes
Potatoes--fingerling/russet
Summer Squash (mainly patti pan)
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Basil
Okra
and Pick your own Zinnias


Rutabagas might be a new crop for you. Click here to read a rutabaga and russet potato recipe.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

This Week's Share-Garlic and Romano Beans

This week's share is very similar to last weeks, with the addition of garlic bulbs. This will be the last week for the fresh shelling beans and one of the last weeks for green beans. In honor of the green beans you have been getting I wanted to do a final push for the often picked over roma or romano bean (my grandmother's personal favorite, and she is not even Italian). See recipe below from the Boston Globe.

This Week's Share Includes:
A few teeny tiny tomatoes (more on the lack of tomatoes in a future post)
Green Beans
Fresh Shelling Beans
Basil
Summer Squash--mainly patti pans
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Fingerling Potatoes
Cut your own Zinnias


Garlic Romano Beans (from the boston globe)
Serves 4

Romano beans, if you don't already know them, are meatier than green beans, and a favorite among Italian cooks. As such, they're also known as Italian green beans, Italian string beans, Italian flat beans, and pole beans. They're flat and broad (about 1 inch wide), tender, and sweet. They're available through the end of September. To prepare the beans, trim them and cut them on a diagonal into bite-size pieces, then simmer them in boiling water to serve as a side dish. You can also leave them whole and roast them, which intensifies their flavor and produces slightly charred beans that are addictive. They'll become your new favorite snack.

1 pound romano beans, stem ends trimmed
1/4 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
3 sprigs of fresh thyme, broken in half
Salt and pepper, to taste
1. Set oven at 450 degrees.

2. On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the whole beans with the oil, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Spread the beans into a single layer.

3. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, turning once, or until the beans are tender and browned. Serve warm or at room temperature. Rachel Travers

© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Mushroom Festival Weekend

In honor of the availability of chickens and the world famous Kennett Square Mushroom Festival, I thought you might appreciate this recipe for Chicken, Portabellas, and Polenta. One of natures only natural sources of Vitamin D the pride of Kennett Square has much to offer. Click here for a great primer on mushrooms and don't forget to check out the Festival this weekend in Kennett Square. On the way home from the festival you can stop by the farm (see post below) and buy a chicken.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Fresh Chickens Available

Fresh chickens will be available starting Saturday morning in the refrigerator in the distribution shed. You are welcome to stop by and serve yourself to a fresh chicken Saturady, Sunday, and Monday anytime between 9AM-7PM. The chickens are being given a new feed, that is not certified organic, but does NOT contain any GMO seed/grain. Its an exciting move for us--so we actually will be able to lower the price of our chickens to about $3.20/lb (as opposed to $3.80). For those who prefer organic feed, we still have plenty of frozen chickens from flocks raised on organic grain. These chickens will be available in the freezer section of the refrigerator in the distributions shed. If you have any further question feel free to contact us through our website.

I have given you a link to this article before, but its a great step by step guide to delicious roast chicken. In honor of the popular new movie Julie & Julia I thought you might also enjoy this video. Bon Appetit!

Monday, September 7, 2009

This Week's Share--More Beans and Basil

Happy Labor Day! It certainly feels like the season has changed, there is definitely a feel of Fall in the air. Labor day is the perfect time to start thinking about freezing, canning, and other methods of preserving some of the items in your share. And perhaps there is no better way to bring a little summer to your winter meal than to add pesto. This week's share includes an abundance of basil just in case you would like to take the time to make some pesto--and one of my favorite cooking blogs has just the advice need for making pesto like an Italian grandmother.

Along with basil, this week's share includes green beans and fresh shelling beans. The fresh shelling beans include baby limas, edamame (this time taken off the stems, I realize how time consuming that process can be), and cannellini beans. Cannellini are the beans typically found in pasta e fagioli--a perfect soup for this time of the year. Enjoy your share.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

A plug for Patti Pans














I apologize for not posting about the patti squash a little sooner. Its one of my most popular products at the kennett market, so I just assume everyone is familiar with the delicious sweet and slightly nutty taste of this odd shaped little summer squash. It actually took a recent recipe posting in one of my favorite blogs Chocolate and Zucchini to remind me to post about the patti pan. Perhaps you could substitute the cranberry beans for the chickpeas in the recipe featured--just a thought. Otherwise treat patti pans just like you would any other summer squash. The beautiful bright yellow skin is edible as long as the squash still have a slightly shiny appearance--otherwise you might want to peel. One note, patti pans do not store as well as other squash, so eat them up quick. Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

This Week's Share--Shelling Beans and Melons


I love beans, all kinds of beans--so this week you will have your pick of green beans (a slightly smaller quantity), more edamame beans (the edible soybeans), and the beginning of a couple of weeks of different types of shelling beans. We will begin with the Cranberry or Horticultural Bean -- click here for a nice blog posting on crandberry beans from the Streaming Gourmet. For more info on shelling beans in general read this article from the San Francisco Chronicle. Good for you and good for the soil, enjoy your beans.

This week's share includes:
Green Beans
Edamame Beans (certain varieties also known as butterbeans)
Shelling Beans--cranberry/horticultural beans
Summer Squash
Potatoes
Melons--mainly watermelon and a few cantaloupe
Sweet Peppers
Hot Peppers
Okra
Basil