I truly enjoy seeing all of our members each week and discussing bits of this and that in the moments it takes them to fill their bags with their shares. I also have noticed an increasing amount of discussion and introductions among our members. Share distribution afternoons have begun to have a festive air, a cheerful gathering of community members on their busy way here and there.

I recently stumbled across Camp-fires And Guide-posts: A Book Of Essays And Excursions published in 1921 by Henry Van Dyke. Blessed with a rare 5 minutes of peace, I very much enjoyed reading the title essay which included passages like this one. 

The author writes about the importance of stopping to talk over our common concerns beside the camp fire (which is symbolic for a meal at a kitchen table, a cup of coffee at a cafe, even a drink at a bar). The camp-fire itself is a particularly lovely image of warmth on October days. I know many of you are blessed with wood burning fireplaces, wood stoves or fire pits - so be sure to take the time to gather round!

We owe so many messages of thanks to the people that support us on a regular basis. No act of kindness goes unappreciated! A special thank you to Joan for her tireless dedication to the farm and for the most delicious homemade chicken pot pie we have ever tasted. Thank you to Sharon for sharing a loaf of her amazing apple walnut bread with us. To Bruce's sister, Sue for the homemade jam. To everyone who has been generous with their time to help us make this tremendous undertaking possible: Thank you for acts of kindness large and small.

Now Harvesting: New England Pie Pumpkins, Crook-Neck Squash, Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Collards, Kale, Radishes, Peppers and Tomatoes. Also beets, broccoli and cabbage. I thought we were supposed to be winding down? This is the big finale folks. Get out your cookbooks!

Acorn Squash will be at the table next week. These "Honeybear" Acorn Squash are small and delicious.

Now for the cooking. My sister-in-law recently made sauce with some of our tomatoes and shared this recipe from Epicurious. We still have plum or "sauce" tomatoes in the field if anyone is interested!

Tomato Sauce

Yield: Makes 6 to 7 pints

This recipe makes enough sauce for 6 to 7 meals (for 4 people) if you figure on 1 pint of sauce per pound of pasta. We used a food processor to save time. Be sure to use very ripe tomatoes to get the best flavor. If your tomatoes lack sweetness, the sugar will help balance their acidity.

You will need a food mill fitted with fine disk

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar (optional)
• 10 lb plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, cored, and coarsely chopped (24 cups)
• 6 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves

Toss salt and sugar with tomatoes in 2 large bowls, then let stand until very juicy, about 15 minutes.

Cook garlic in oil in a wide 8- to 10-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 3 to 5 minutes, then discard garlic. Carefully add tomato mixture (it may splatter) and basil, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil, covered, stirring occasionally, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring more frequently toward end of cooking, until sauce is thickened and reduced by half, 2 to 3 hours.

Force sauce through food mill into a large bowl, discarding solids. Ladle sauce into 1-pint airtight containers and cool completely, uncovered, then freeze, covered.

Cooks' note: Sauce can be chilled up to 5 days or frozen 6 months.

On Saturday, I made a variation of Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans
and would recommend it to anyone looking for a way to use the fresh chard that is available now.  I also thought I'd share this Whole Foods recipe for a green gratin originally shared by our member, Cristin.

Green Gratin with Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 425°F. In a large saucepot, melt butter over medium heat. Add leeks and cook until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in greens, cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes or until just wilted, stirring occasionally. Cook greens in batches if your pot doesn't hold them all at once.

Transfer greens mixture to a bowl and set aside. Add milk to saucepot and heat just to a simmer. Remove from heat, crumble in goat cheese and whisk until melted. Stir in greens mixture until combined, then transfer to a shallow 3-quart baking dish. Bake 10 minutes, then top with cracker crumbs and continue baking until crumbs are toasted and greens are heated through, about 10 minutes longer

Serves 8

Our Farm Share Potluck was held last Saturday and a good time was had by all. Gathering with members who share a love of locally grown food is one of the highlights of our growing season. What an incredible feast! We are blessed to have such a wonderful group of people supporting our little farm. Most folks incorporated vegetables from their share in their dishes which gave the group a good opportunity to taste new dishes as well as popular favorites. The grilled eggplant roulade with curry cream from the Gershon family kitchen was among my favorites but really who could choose? There was eggplant Parmesan, kielbasa with sauerkraut and potatoes and Turkish braised green beans with greek yogurt. Confetti rice salad, peppers and sausage and my mother-in-law's red-skinned potato salad. Vegetable fritters with cilantro chutney (out of this world!), Aunt Ruth's Butter Beans and several other delicious contributions.

As we turn the calendar to October, our workload is finally slowing down to a more manageable pace. Referring to all the hard work over these past months, several members have asked me if it's all been worth it. The growing season is not yet over but there are several factors that lead us to believe the hours in the field have been time well spent. For example, members have told us they are cooking more and eating healthier because of their farm share. The knowledge that the vegetables from our little farm are in over 80 kitchens in the community every week is truly amazing. It's no secret that nutritious food contributes to good health and an overall sense of well being. If even a fraction of our members are eating better, than we will absolutely put that down in the PRO column. One member told us that his colesterol level has dropped 20 points over the summer!

Now Harvesting: Swiss Chard, Collards, Kale, Fennel, Eggplant, Peppers and Tomatoes.

We hope everyone has had a chance to enjoy the potatoes in their shares. These "Kennebecs" are a particularly good potatoes with thin skins and good flavor. Appelget Farm was once a large potato farm and our soil is particularly well suited to tubers. We also have the added fortune of having Kevin's father teach us what he's learned about growing potatoes over the years. Who would have guessed that the 50 year old burlap potato sacks in the barn would once again be put to good use?

Pick Your Own: GREEN BEANS and FRESH HERBS (Rosemary, cilantro,  thyme, chives and parsley.)

While you are out in the field, you may encounter grasshoppers, caterpillars and bees busy pollinating. I recently came across parsley caterpillars and was surprised to learn that they grow into the beautiful black swallowtail butterflies! Parsley caterpillars may be familiar to gardeners but I don't recall seeing them before. They may be here this year thanks to our first crop of fennel. They also like parsley, dill, and Queen Anne's lace but I have seen them sampling other things too. I never imaged the array of garden pests I would find at our farm. Earlier in the season, members of our team were equally fascinated and repulsed by the tomato hornworm. We do our best to keep at pests away but really, we are forced to share some of the bounty with the bugs.

Members are encouraged to get out in the field and pick their own green beans this week. We realize that schedules are often tight but this is one of the benefits of a farm share program. If you are unable to pick on your designated pick-up day, you are welcome to come on the alternate day. (Share distributions are on Tuesdays and Fridays). It's amazing how just 15 minutes in the field can miraculously erase a day of burdens.

As you plan your meals for the week ahead, check out a couple of our Potluck Recipes.

Italian Bake with Bell Peppers

3 pounds chicken breasts (cooked & cut into bite size pieces)

6 Italian sausage links (cooked & cut into bite size pieces)  - Mild is more popular with kids but this recipe works well with the hotter sausages too.

2 jars of your favorite seasoned tomato sauce (or fresh!)
1 pound of pasta (I used the twists called Gemelli)
1 large package of shredded mozzarella cheese
1 onion chopped
2 large bell peppers - red & green, cut into chunks

Cooked the chopped onions until brown. Combine the cut up chicken, onion, peppers and sausage.

Boil pasta and drain.

Mix pasta, sausage, onion, peppers, chicken and sauce.

Put in a large deep dish. If it won't all fit, make a little side dish to freeze for lunch later.
Top with cheese and bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Collards and Sweet Potatoes
From the kitchen of Peggy Redman

Our collards and sweet potatoes dish was pretty simple, but unmeasured.  I julienned 2 sweet potatoes and sautéed them in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until they began to soften.  I set them aside. Then I deveined and chopped the collards into pieces about 1” x 2”. I finely chopped 4 cloves of garlic, sautéed them in 4 tablespoons of olive oil until the garlic just started to turn tan, then tossed the collards in the heated oil and garlic over medium heat just until the collards turned bright green and softened.  Normally I would have then added in the sweet potatoes and served the dish right away.  Instead we ate it at room temperature. We usually use ½ a sweet potato, 2 cloves of garlic, and 3 TB of olive oil, and plenty collards for 2 people.

If a family isn’t as fond of garlic as we are, you might want to use finely chopped ginger.

This recipe incorporates the 7-minute rule about green vegetables: chop your vegetables small enough to let them cook in less than 7 minutes, because after 7 minutes of heating they start to turn gray instead of green and get the taste familiar in overcooked brussel sprouts.

May your week be bountiful in all ways!

Members have been eating a lot of tomatoes, eggplants and peppers lately!
The plants are thriving and we continue to harvest from them each week. On very large farms, an entire field of a single crop is often harvested mechanically at the same time which destroys the plant in the process. I suppose this method is efficient in some regards, but a single one of these plants is actually capable of producing a lot of vegetables before it tires out. While harvesting by hand can be tedious and hard on the back, it's gentle on the plants which keeps them viable over the course of several weeks.

This viability often means an over abundance of crops since there is no way to turn a plant off or at least slow it down. Fellow farmer Helen Chandler's recent essay for Edible Jersey titled "Problem of Plenty" does a great job describing how it feels to have too much of a good thing. One obvious solution is cutting the plants out but this doesn't seem right given that so many people are hungry and in need of nutritious food. In the future, we can work to fine-tune our planting plans to provide only what our members need but for now, Kevin has been making regular trips to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen where a staff member told Kevin they provide over 1,000 meals a day. A good example of one way a Community Supported Ag Program also supports a community.

One local deer may have heard about our abundance and come to feast on our bounty as a decent sized buck has been hiding within the confines of our fence for days. Nothing quite tops off a long day like chasing a deer around the farm at midnight. This guy is full of bravado and actually stood his ground against Kevin as he approached him! I was not exactly thrilled with my assignment earlier this week to stand alone holding nothing but a flashlight in the lower pasture and point him toward the door if Kevin should successfully scare him in my direction but fortunately and unfortunately, he had other plans and disappeared into the cornfield for another night. If this guy knows what's good for him, he'll move on. Soon. Or there's going to be a venison share for those interested.

Now Harvesting: Beets, Eggplant, Peppers and Tomatoes. Potatoes and fennel will also be at the stand for members this week, a great combination (check out Ina Garten's recipe for Potato-Fennel Gratin).

Pick Your Own:
A fresh crop of green beans is up! From time to time, there are some available at the stand but this may be pick your your this week so plan to take a little time and pick!

IN THE HERB GARDEN: Rosemary, cilantro, sage, thyme, parsley and chives.

We still have plenty of beautiful bell peppers so I have the making of stuffed peppers simmering on the stove.  As for the rest of the week, I'd love to try Grilled Eggplant Paninis replacing the red peppers with figs from John's fig tree. Member Keith recently grilled eggplant and served it with figs at Ben & Uta's and I've been thinking about this combo ever since. I've yet to make Ratatouille yet this summer so that's on my wish list too. Along with a a couple quiet afternoons of sleeping children to accomplish it all!

We have so much gratitude for deeds large and small that's it's impossible to mention them all here. Thank you to John and Dave & Andrea for the fresh figs, a coveted delicacy in our household. Thank you to Kathy and Kenny for their help with farm work while they were visiting on vacation, it was wonderful to see you. To Bruce for all the mowing he has volunteered to do this summer to help keep the farm looking great. To team members for pausing in their work to collect toads, grasshoppers and other farm life for the delight of our girls.

And finally thank you to members like Brenda for taking the time to share favorite recipes with us like this one! Please keep them coming everyone. People are running out of ways to eat eggplant.

RECIPE: SALSA PICANTE
From the Kitchen of Branda Stines

Ingredients

Place all ingredients (excluding lime juice and 1 can of tomatoes) in food processor and process until minced. Add second can of tomatoes and process until you reach the consistency you prefer. Combine mixture with lime juice and salt in bowl. Chill before serving and don't forget the chips!

Welcome August! The start of a new week and a new month.

Each Sunday night we sit down and make a list of everything that needs to be harvested for the week's share distribution. Once in awhile, we are surprised by a crop in the field - As in, oh! The fennel is ready! Some crops need to be harvested daily. Others, need only be harvested a couple times a week.  Once the harvesting is done, we do some calculations to determine how to divide our treasures among our 60 members. Harvest day arithmetic is easier for some crops than others. Share sizes are currently generous.

Now Harvesting: Watermelon, Tomatoes, Basil, Cantaloupe, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Fennel, Onions, Peppers, Shallots, and Zucchini/Summer Squash.

The tomatoes are here including greatly sought-after heirloom varieties like Striped Germans and Brandywines. Heirloom tomato seeds have been handed down from generations of tomato growers whose love of these tomatoes has been shared with their neighbors and communities. Their names tell the tale of their origins and the people who have grown them. The downside to heirlooms is the same reason you don't see them often in the supermarket -- heirloom tomatoes don't ship or store well, and they look irregular and imperfect. Be sure not to pass them over. Enjoy them while they last!

Meet some of your heirlooms: Striped German tomatoes are a yellow and orange, streaked, giant tomato that often weighs in at 2 pounds. The flavor is sweet, juicy, and complex, and the tomato's colors look beautiful sliced. It also has a wonderful smooth texture. Brandywine tomatoes look closer to your typical tomato, red and smooth and medium-sized but with outstanding flavor.

The watermelons are both the yellow and the large old-fashioned red variety and they are delicious. We may have been harvesting in the rain on Saturday morning but we were rewarded by being able to cut into the first of the watermelon. As juice dripped down our arms, we unanimously agreed that the watermelon was indeed ripe for picking! One of the best things about growing for a CSA is that everything gets to ripen naturally in the field and is picked when the flavor and nutrients are at their peak.  (One of the challenges is figuring out what to do with hundreds of very large ripe watermelons). These are the things that keep us awake at night.

Recipes
It should come as no surprise that we're eating a lot of tomatoes lately. Pick up some mozzarella cheese at the grocery store and toss halved cherry tomatoes with a little chopped basil and olive oil and you have something delicious for lunch. Also on my menu for the week is tortellini with fresh pesto and cherry tomatoes.

My mom made Stuffed Peppers last week which are always good. Sliced bell peppers are also good with hummus as a snack.

Summer produce is both delicious and healthful. For a list of health benefits and nutrients in your favorite share items, check out the list of the World's Healthiest Foods. At the end of each summary, there is often recommendations for how to prepare. For example, check out the health benefits of fennel.

Welcome to our new team member Joan ~ we are very happy to have you join our little hive of activity. Thank you to our entire team for working so tirelessly in all kinds of weather. Thank you also to our "village" of family members and babysitters who help look after our children while we work. The girls very much enjoy their energetic and creative caretakers. Thank you to our friends and family who tolerate our complete preoccupation with the farm for 6 months out of the year and love us anyway. And thank you to our members who take the time to send along kind notes and positive messages of support!

May your week be bountiful in all ways!

A lovely forecast for the beginning of the week. Great weather for farming and just about any favorite summer activity! The cherry tomatoes are ripening and are delicious. Team members have been known to devour the little sun-warm tomatoes right from the vine. These should be available for members to pick very soon. Basil is also here - perfect timing for a perfect pairing.

The team has been busy trying to stay on top of all the crops. One of the biggest challenges of a small vegetable farm like ours is learning how to grow so many different things at the same time. Farmers of a single crop become an expert on that one crop while we need to understand what more than 30 different crops need to not only grow but thrive. The various crops have different irrigation and fertilization requirements, are susceptible to different diseases and pests and require various levels of vigilance. Once in awhile, the notion of one very large pumpkin patch seems like a good idea.

We recently pulled out all the old broccoli and cauliflower plants in addition to the cabbage and tilled the soil for our new pumpkin patch. We also planted our winter squash here including butternut and acorn squash. This is called succession planting which means planting one crop after another and helps make the most use out of a small amount of space. Read more about succession planting. Mother Earth News also has an interesting article on how backyard gardeners can utilize succession planting to get the most out of a small area.

Now Harvesting: POTATOES!, Basil, Cantaloupe, Golden Beets (NEW!), Japanese eggplant, Peppers (bell and jalapeno), Carrots, Onions (sweet and regular), Shallots, Cabbage, Cucumbers (slicing and pickling) and Zucchini/Summer Squash.

So many wonderful things compete for the spotlight this week that I can’t begin to give an award to any item in particular but the Alyssa Craig Exhibition sweet onions are not to be missed. A show-size onion that is really delicious in just about anything or on your favorite burger. When you are going through your bounty, your sweet onions are your very large onions!

This week I had the opportunity to help harvest potatoes with Charlie and Sam. For those of you who may not be familiar with the process of harvesting potatoes, it typically involves two people with pitch forks and one rather trusting person crouched over picking up potatoes and placing them in a basket. The object is to push the pitch forks into the ground close enough to the plant to dislodge the soil around it but not so close that you spear any of the potatoes. Then, the plant and the soil around it are turned over revealing the potatoes (this is where the "picker" comes in). Yes, there is a machine that is made to do this. No we do not have one. With such a small number of plants - just enough for our members' dinner tables - it really isn't worth the trouble of borrowing a potato picker. Besides, it's not as much fun!

Recipes
I didn't cook very much this past week but I have been enjoying cherry tomatoes, cucumber sandwiches, carrots and cantaloupe. One of our members recently encouraged me to create a page dedicated to recipes. An excellent winter project! The project suggestion reminded me that Heidi Swanson's recipe journal at 101Cookbooks does a great job indexing healthful recipes by ingredient so you can find meal ideas for your fresh produce easily. For example, here is a list of zucchini recipes should your find yourself in possession of more summer squash than you know what to do with.

Enjoy the bounty!

We're heading into Week #6 and it looks like it's going to be a HOT one. The tremendous amount of rain over the past few weeks has given our team the opportunity for crash courses in reading radar and storm tracking. A lot of our members have asked if the rain is good for the crops and the answer is, yes, in general. Luckily we have sandy soil that drains pretty well but the record setting amount of rain does increase the risk of plant diseases which will require extra diligence to ward off such as the dreaded Late Blight.

Thanks to our parents, we got to sleep in an extra half hour this morning but prolific crops such as cucumbers, zucchini and summer squash needs to be harvested daily. As in every single morning or the vegetables will grow too large. So we rubbed the sleep from our eyes, grabbed enormous slices of zucchini bread and headed out to the fields with our harvest baskets in tow. Would someone please tell the plants that it's Sunday?

The pending heat wave means the team will need to get an earlier start each day to harvest before the crops absorb too much heat. A heavy rain followed by a heat wave often means increased yields so harvest baskets may be fuller than they were last week. We are a little short-handed this week due to vacation schedules. Harvest Helpers Wanted: Contact us if you are interested in contributing a couple hours of your time on TUESDAY or WEDNESDAY. Volunteers enjoy being part of the crescendo of effort that leads up to each share distribution. Not to mention they often get to go home with extras.

The combination of rain and heat also means the weeds will be looking to gain the upper hand in the coming days. The list of weedy invaders is long and includes gypsum weed, crab grass and purslane which just so happens to be not only eatable but nutritious. I can't vouch for how it tastes as I've yet to try it but perhaps a unique addition to our salad this week. If any member wants to head out to the field in search of their own to try during their pick-up time, just let me know. Speaking of weeds, Weeders Wanted! Please contact us if you are willing to hand weed one morning this week or hoe a row. No experience necessary.

Recipes

Pickles: Yes we still have pickling cucumbers! You don't need any fancy canning equipment, you don't even need glass mason jars if you don't have them on hand. We made pickles Friday night using this recipe for Easy Refrigerator Pickles. Unable to wait the full 4 days to eat them, we enjoyed them with burgers tonight.

Someone passed me this recipe for Swiss Chard Pesto that I think sounds delicious. If anyone wants extra chard, just ask. Also, another local farmer posted a recipe for Grated Kohlrabi Salad that sound like a worthy use for any leftover kohlrabi you may have in your fridge.

Our member, Helene has been busy putting her CSA share to good use and was kind enough to share the following recipes:

pasta with pancetta and zucchini (she said she deglazed the pan with a bit of white wine and used less parmesan than called for.)

sauteed collard greens

zucchini gratin (she used mix of zucchini and yellow squash, skim milk, mixed some of the cheese in with the squash, panko crumbs on top.)

smitten kitchen cole slaw

Mark Bittman's blog in the nytimes is always interesting. Helene recommended Bittman's "how to cook everything" app for ipad/iphone.  "It's great because you can put in an ingredient and it will give tons of recipes for that ingredient, including variations.  For instance a search for kohlrabi and came up with all sorts of root vegetable ideas." I plan to check it out! 

Thank yous. Thank you to our member and friend Tiffany who showed up on a recent pick-up day to help harvest unasked. Thank you also to the Nielsen Family and Jeremy P. for volunteering on a recent Saturday. Thank you to everyone who has brought us simple gifts lately - Ronda for the lovely hydrangeas from her garden, Dave for the clam chowder and Sharon and Jeff for the banana bread. Your kindness is appreciated!

Above all, we want to thank our small but dedicated team who pull together each week to accomplish an unimaginable amount of work. We thank you for working in the heat and the rain for the better part of many of your days despite the mosquitoes and weather. We especially appreciate our Apprentice Martine's efforts and general Joie de vivre. We don't know what we'd do without your help!

Sometimes I wonder if any little farm has accomplished so much with such a small team. Hope everyone is enjoying the bounty!

One of the first recipes my mother-in-law passed along to me was her recipe for zucchini bread. Great for all those summertime zucchinis and delicious any time of day. I haven't been baking much lately but we've still managed to enjoy many still-warm loaves, thank you Sue!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini (if you are doubling the batch, you might want to use a food processor to speed this step along). 
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups all purpose white flour (I sometimes substitute ½ the white flour for whole wheat)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. cinnamon
½ teas. Baking powder

1/2 to 1 cup nuts (optional)
½ cup raisins (optional)

Instructions
Beat eggs. Add oil, sugar and zucchini and mix well. Stir in vanilla.

Combine flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder. Add to zucchini mixture. Stir until well blended.

Fold in nuts and/or raisins if desired.

Pour into 2 WELL GREASED loaf pans.

Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Slide a knife around the edges of the pan and carefully turn onto cooling racks.

Enjoy!

We have an abundance of zucchini right now. And by abundance I mean, members are invited to take all they can carry. Seriously, vegetables make great gifts, surely you know a neighbor or friend who could use a few dozen? I love zucchini bread as much as the next person but I'm begging Kevin not to plant anymore!

Zucchini Fritters
Our friend Tiffany M gave us this recipe years ago and we love it! These fritter-like zucchini cakes look like crab cakes and are a great way to use zucchini. We double the recipe to guarantee leftovers.

Ingredients

2 ½ cups grated zucchini (use a food processor if you have one)
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup bread crumbs (we use whole wheat but Italian style would be good too)
¼ cup minced onion
1 teas (or more) Old Bay Seasoning
¼ cup flour

½ cup vegetable oil for frying

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, egg and butter
2. Stir in bread crumbs, onion and seasoning. Mix well.
3. Shape mixture into patties the size of a large crab cake. Dredge in flour
4. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes a side.

Makes 4 large cakes.

It's the beginning of July and activities around the farm are in full swing. Our first few weeks of share distributions went well. We really enjoyed seeing returning members and meeting new ones. All this rain has been good for our crops for the most part and we are seeing a tremendous amount of growth. We are very glad we invested in a tent as it as showered almost every pick-up day!

Life feels full. There are always more things on our to-do list than we can get to in a day but that's just the way it is. Days start early and often don't end until midnight and even when we finally collapse into bed we are still talking about turnips and tomatoes. The funny truth is I wouldn't be half as happy working anywhere else right now and in the rare moments that we have to reflect on what we are working toward, the dream of establishing our own farm is still very real.

There are a number of challenges that we are faced with at present but our small team has pulled together with an unbelievable level of dedication. Thanks to the work of many hands, we have been able to harvest and prepare shares on time. And to top it off, the produce that we are sharing is first rate. While we are lucky to have many top notch grocery stores in the area, it's easy to see and taste the difference in produce that has been harvested fresh. We love getting messages from our members telling us how much they enjoyed their fresh produce or how they cooked the items in their share.

Now Harvesting: Kale, swiss chard, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, lettuce, zucchini and scallions. Also celebrating the first harvest of cabbage! Time to get out your coleslaw recipes just in time for 4th of July picnics.

Pests and Problems: In an effort to protect the crops from insect damage, we occasionally spray Bacillus thuringiensis (or Bt) on crops such as collards, kale, cabbage and cauliflower. Bt proteins are allowed in organic farming as a insecticide because it is a natural, non-pathogenic bacterium that is found naturally in the soil. Bt breaks down within days, is applied only when needed and never right before a scheduled harvest.

Recipes: Each week I plan out meals for the family and this time of year it's both wonderful to have so much fresh food and challenging as there isn't always a lot of time for cooking.  I've let almost all my magazine subscriptions lapse but Eating Well is one publication that I still make time to enjoy. Even non subscribers can search their website's treasure trove of nutritious seasonal recipes. Just in time for the Swiss Chard harvest - Check out their recipe for Skillet Gnocchi with Chard & White Beans. I made a double batch of this back in May and froze the second meal to sit down to on a share distribution day.  I also think of Chard as a good breakfast vegetable as it goes so nicely with eggs and diced onions.

Some recipe ideas for the week:

Monday - Raw kale salad (My streamlined version is just chopped kale, chopped onions and diced mango tossed with 3 TBLS lemon juice, a sprinkling of olive oil, some sesame seeds and a little sugar). A delicious light summer dinner.

Tuesday - Penne with roasted broccoli, cauliflower and onions. Shave fresh parmasean on top if you have it!

Wednesday - Summer Vegetable Crepes using vegetables from your share or the local farmers market.

Thursday - 4th of July! A great excuse to make Broccoli Salad.

Friday - Chicken Caesar Salad using fresh lettuce. Plus a loaf of sourdough bread.

Delicious appetizer or snack: Raw Kohlrabi crudite - Use a sharp knife to cut off the ends and the skin. Slice it as you would an apple but thinner and enjoy raw. Tzatziki sauce makes a really good dip. One less reason to turn on the stove on a hot day!

Appelget Farm Book Club
I'm finishing up Organic Manifesto, How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe by Maria Rodale.

For those of you who are reading along, in part 7, the author puts forth the following statement.

Those reading along are invited to comment on this statement and on their overall impression of the book. Suggestions for our next book welcome!

While reading this book, I am reminded why Kevin and I are working so hard to transition the farm to organic. Growing vegetables for our CSA in soil that was previously farmed differently presents a few unique challenges that I will address in another post but we are already seeing the return of worms, spiders, beneficial insects and toads to the fields and celebrate each as a sign that natural balance is being restored. Just as important, we can be confident that the food we are growing for our table and the tables of our friends and fellow community members has not been sprayed with dangerous chemicals.

Thank yous! We appreciate all the support of our friends and family during this very busy time of year. This is a family farm in the truest sense as there is no way we could accomplish half of what we set out to without helping hands. Thank you also to Bruce for showing up and offering to mow (and mow and mow) unasked.  While there are days that we long for the cold, quiet month of January, we are happiest when the farm is humming along growing food that nourishes our family and the families of our members.  

ENJOY THE BOUNTY!

We are very happy to announce the start of share distributions this week! Despite the fact that we are getting hit with a ton of rain as we prepare, it still feels celebratory! (I'll try to hold on to that celebratory feeling while we are harvesting in the pouring rain.) On a positive note, we don't have the heat to contend with which is good. Thankfully there wasn't too much damage from last week's rainstorm. The fennel appeared to take the brunt of it but we're optimistic most of the plants will recover. This is a big planting time for us and while the team managed to get a lot in the ground last week, the rain did interrupt our progress a little.

Members, come and get it! The star of the show this week will be French Breakfast radishes. This radish is considered to be a spring radish, and while I don't particularly love radishes, I still find them lovely. It is generally served raw as hors d'oeuvres or in salads. Store without the leafy tops and place in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic to keep fresh for several days.

The team put up the tomato stakes on Saturday and Kevin has the callouses to prove it. Our cold storage room is up and running and our new wash table is in place. In the coming days we will be working to set up our washing/share preparation area and distribution area. A lot needs to happen in time for our first pick-ups but we are confident that it will all come together. Somehow. There is something so celebratory about the first harvests and the first week of share distributions. We've been working for months toward this goal and and are excited to see our returning members and meet our new ones!

Fresh From the Fields In addition to radishes, we plan to harvest kale and collards this week as well as spinach. Get ready for your greens! Our friend and member Jason recently told me that one of best aspects of our CSA is that it inspires his family to cook with things they don't ordinarily buy at the grocery store. We have heard this from several members and couldn't agree more. So start thinking about how you will use your kale and collards!

While our new fence is effective at keeping deer out, smaller animals can pass right through with ease. There seems to be an abundance of rabbits around the farm which means our young plants are susceptible to becoming rabbit lunch! Our children are delighted by their presence. Farmer Kevin is less so.

Thank you to Sue and Charlie for countless hours of assistance with weeding, mowing,  planting, and harvesting. Thank you to Bruce for fixing our rototiller and thank you to Steve Jany for lending us his back hoe so that we could move our new washing table into place.  

Welcome Martine! A big welcome to our first Apprentice, Martine! Martine is an Art Major concentrating in photography at Warren Wilson College in North Carolina. She will be spending a good part of her summer weeding, harvesting, preparing shares and lending general assistance around the farm and we couldn't be more grateful. If you see her, be sure to say hello! 

Weeders Wanted! Do you enjoy gardening? Let me rephrase that. Do you enjoy weeding? There are no shortage of weeds competing with our young plants for energy and since we don't use weed killer, these need to be pulled out by hand or hoe. If you are interested in volunteering for a couple of hours, please send us a note with your availability via email or our contact us page.

Appelget Farm Book Club
This is a book club in the most informal sense as there are no scheduled meetings. Instead, I will be announcing a few titles over the course of the growing season and encouraging anyone who is interested to read along. You will be invited to share comments but not required! Our first book is Organic Manifesto, How Organic Farming Can Heal Our Planet, Feed the World, and Keep Us Safe by Maria Rodale. The paperback Edition is just $6 from Amazon. I'm reading are you?