Category: 2011 Newsletters

It appears (now that us farmers are back from vacation) that summer is starting to wind down.  The temperatures are getting mild and weight of your share is going up. Look for a few new things this week, most notably cantaloupe, leeks, celery, and our first ceremonial tomato of the year.

Our tomato plants are just starting to produce so the single tomato this week is just a teaser…

Onion harvest party

Come join in for onion harvest this Thursday 9am in the field. We will be harvesting our storage onion crop this Thursday and bring them into the greenhouse to cure for the next few weeks. This is a great time to get out in the field and jump in with the crew. If you have been avoiding weeding -this is your task! Look for us in the first field on the left coming from town on Pleasant Hill Road. We’ll be the ones with the orange tractor.

Pigs still available…

If  you’re on the fence about getting a whole or half pig come talk with Seth this week at pick-up. This is a great way to fill your freezer with ham, pork chops and bacon, bacon, bacon for the winter. Each whole or half is processed as you like (more ribs, fewer chops, etc.) and vacuum sealed for long-term quality in the deep freeze.

Labor on Labor Day

Mark your calendars for our annual csa potato harvest. Join the farmers in the field on Monday, September 5th at 9am. In years past this has been our biggest (and best) event for CSA members to get out into the fields and harvest. Last year we brought in over 10,000 pounds of spuds in just 2 hours! More about this in coming newsletters.

Blueberries…the saga continues

The weather is not working with our blueberry farmers this year. Stoneset Farm rakes and cleans berries the day before they deliver to us but if the berries aren’t dry they turn to mush.  Rain has again delayed the harvest.  If you are planning on picking up berries this Tuesday (16th) your berries will be delivered on Friday (19th) instead.  If for some reason you can’t come Friday we’ll hold them over for you in the freezer.  As of right now we can’t take any more orders for berries.  If you ordered at the farm this past Tuesday or Friday your orders will be delivered on Friday.  If you ordered via email last week we will not be able to fill your orders with this week’s delivery.  Stoneset Farm is done for the season and due to the rain can’t fill any more orders. We are working on a second farm that may be able to deliver the following week. We’ll keep you posted…

What’s in Upic…

Beans

Cherry Tomatoes (just starting…)

Dill

Basil

Flowers

What’s in the share…

Tomato

Peppers

Cukes

Eggplant

Broccoli

Melon

Lettuce

Chicories

Summer squash

Leeks

Carrots

Beets

Celery

We’re out of the heat and it has started to rain again…August is a great time eat. Maura and I are on vacation this week (tuesday-saturday) and the crew is running the show. Here’s the skinny on what is happening on the farm.

Blueberries

Organic blueberries, raked the day before and ready fro your cereal, freezer or canning jars. If you ordered blues last week for pick-up this week they should be ready for you when you come for your share. If you want more or you missed the order, don’t fret. Put in your order this week for delivery next week.

Pork for your freezer.

We still have whole and half orders or pork available. Nothing is better that chops or a ham coming out of the freezer in December. Each order is custom butchered to your liking (no, they can’t do a “all bacon” pig. Talk to us at pickup for all the details.

What’s in the share?

Carrots/beets

Summer onions (last week!)

Asian greens/Bok Choi

Chard

Letteuce

Chickories

Peppers

We have to rein in our newsletter writing this week as we are busy… Here’s a bullet point look at the week ahead:

• Bring bags for your produce if you can.  We did order some bags, but the wrong sizes arrived and we haven’t received the new order yet.
• Nicole is on vacation this week, making our five-person crew a busy four.
• Eggplant and peppers are starting to come in heavy, look to the website for recipes.
• Cukes are multiplying like rabbits!   Maura made a delicious & refreshing agua fresca with them yesterday….
• Carrots are here! One of our favorite staples have arrived.
• We had 0.8 inches of rain last wednesday. The crops loved it. So did the weeds! Come help Wednesdays at 9am.  Immediate gratification and fun!
• 45 young farmers came to the farm Monday to see our weed control/rotation systems.
• We have harvested our first handful of ripe tomatoes…they will be in your share soon!
• Cantaloupes look great. They are turning and getting close.
• Storage onions, many tons of them, will be coming out of the field and going into the green house to cure next week.
• Blueberry orders start this week. These are the same great organic berries we have brought in the past couple years from Stoneset Farm in Brooklin Maine. Pre-order by the quart ($8.75) or the 5 pound box ($24). We freeze  them right in the 5 # box and add them to everything (literally) through the winter. Our family of four goes through 25 pounds each winter.
• Pork order forms available at pick-up. Reserve your whole or half pig now! Talk to us at pick-up for more details.

Thankfully the heat and dry of the past couple weeks has come to an end. We survived the sweat-soaked days but it is good reminder of why we live in Maine and not Virginia (although if the climate does continue to change maybe this will be the new norm).  We have been irrigating everyday for the past ten days trying to keep ahead of the dry wind. Here’s a shot of our leeks getting a much needed drink. The farm has but one irrigation well and it yields 45 gallons a minute. This may seem like a lot but when we’re trying to put an inch of water a week on 10 acres of vegetables it goes very slowly. Mostly we are doing very well with the weather, but the greens in your share will be a bit thin this week. We had some lovely red oak leaf lettuce that we planned to harvest this morning but the cooler weather came too late and we found our 275 heads bolted.  There are some very nice looking greens plantings coming up and we hope to have more of them in your share soon. Our old friend chard is thriving. Running out of creativity with chard? Look at our collection of recipes or jump onto the the csa facebook group for fresh inspiration.

Sweet onions are with us again this week and should be a regular part of your share for the next few weeks. Try them right on a sandwich or on the grill  – they are gifts of summer. Green peppers and eggplant have started and we have a mix and match this week so you should be going home with one or the other. The quantities on both should be increasing in the weeks to come. There is also more basil this week so find find your favorite pesto recipe, or ours: pesto . Great in the freezer to enjoy in cooler months!  Please DO NOT refrigerate your basil!  It is a hot weather crop and will turn black in a day at temps below 45 degrees. The best way to keep it fresh if you can’t use it right away is to trim the stems and put it in water on your counter.

Beans Step Up, Peas Die Back

Sadly the peas have come to an end. They were great while they lasted and we were a bit surprised that they held on so long in the heat. The good news is that beans are ready. Look for the signs in Upic.

Order Pork Now!

Whole and half pigs are available for pre-order. These are our own pigs raised here at the farm and processed however you like at a USDA inspected butcher. This is a great deal for high quality pork for your freezer this winter. Bacon, ham, sausage and ribs all processed and packed as you like. Neighbors and families can split halves or quarters. Whole pigs are $3.50/lb. hanging weight and halves are $3.75. Talk to us at pick-up for more details.

What’s in Upic?

Beans

Cilantro (in flower)

Dill

Sage

Oregano

Thyme

Flowers

What’s in the Share?

Sweet Onions

Summer Squash

Cukes

Pepper/eggplant

Cabbage

Chard

Basil

What’s in Upic?

Peas

Cilantro (help it’s bolting!, make pesto)

Flowers

Things are really exploding here. The heat and the regular rain have pushed things along getting us caught up from the dreary May, now just a hazy memory.  Potatoes have just started to form little tubers, eggplant is in flower, cantaloupe is vining out and full of little fruit, tomatoes are growing so fast we can’t keep ahead of the trellising.

Scallions are Onions

This weeks’ scallions are on the big side, some of them even bulbing up a bit. We will have these for the next couple weeks at least until we move into our sweet summer onions. Until the “real”onions start don’t be afraid to use the scallions any way you might use their bigger cousin, the onion.  Not just for the top of salads, scallions can enhance sautee or soups, – or even grill, and add to burgers.   Tonight we sautéed scallions and blended them together in the food processor with Chard making an amazing pesto we tossed onto ravioli (the kids loved it).  Kind of like a quick & simple basil – no cheese or nuts necessary.

Get Ready for Basil

Next week we hope to have our first harvest of Basil. New this year we are growing basil in our high tunnel that we will harvest and distribute in your shares.  If you are pesto fan you may want to get your pine nuts/walnuts and parmesan ready. Here’s the link to our favorite pesto recipe .  Don’t forget, if you are wondering what to do with your greens (chard & kale) go ahead and add them to your pesto.  (May want to lightly steam the kale first.)

Mad Rush for Kale

We have been growing food for CSA members for the past thirteen years. The most complex part of farming in this way is figuring out how much and what to grow. Each year we tweek things a bit, taking your feedback from the fall survey along with our own harvest data and trying to get closer to that “perfect” share. Sometimes we are way off base and grow too much of one thing or too little of another. One thing we have consistently over grown for the past few years is kale. Call it wishfull farming, we have been encouraging CSA members to eat more of this superfood for years. This past winter we gave in and cut our plantings way back, almost 40% from last year. Wouldn’t you know it but this year so many of you have jumped on the kale bandwagon and the past two weeks the kale has been more popular than the typically favorite, chard, in the mix and match! This is like the donut shop running out of bran muffins! Kudos to the kale lovers – more coming soon!

Weeding Wednesdays

Come help us beat back the weeds and enjoy some good conversation or peaceful quiet as you choose! Stay for as long of as short as you like. Meet us at 9am at the CSA Barn.

More recipe ideas, just for you…

A current member has set up a facebook group specifically for our CSA members to share tips and recipes week to week.  There are some great ideas on there & we encourage you to join if you’re looking to give or receive ideas on using your share.  Find it here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/152345198170344

What to expect in your share this week:

Scallions

Lettuce

Chard/Kale

Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Beets

Cabbage

Don’t get behind on your cabbage, there’s more food coming next week. Look at our recipes in the sidebar to you right… See you at the farm.

What’s in the Upic Field?

• Snap Peas
• Snow Peas
• Flowers with signs

The Upic field opens this week and peas are ready. Please read further for more info about how upic works. The suggested amount to pick is two pints (we’ll supply the pints) this first week so that there is enough for everyone. There are a few flower varieties starring as well. Look for the plantings that have signs, this means they are okay to pick.  Pick carefully so that we can keep the plants healthy.

Here’s the skinny on how Upic works. We prepare, plant, and weed this ½ acres plot just for you, the members of the farm. Growing there you will find cherry tomatoes, green beans, herbs, flowers, and most notably this week, peas. These are crops that are particularly rewarding to harvest and can add a lot of value to your share as they often are great accompaniments to the “field crops” we harvest and wash for you each week.

The important thing to understand about this field is that it belongs to everyone who has a share in the farm. There are 250 shares this year and we try very hard to plan each planting so that everyone will be able to enjoy every crop. The idea is that all of these crops are compliments to the field crops and not necessarily staples in and of themselves. While we would love to be able to plant enough Upic basil for everyone to make pesto for the winter or sow enough beans to share with your neighbors, it’s just not possible in the space we have to work with. Those of you that split shares, we ask that you be particularly aware of your picking quantities.

With the exception of these first couple weeks we will not suggest amounts for you to take from the upic field. The idea is that we all take our share and consciously leave behind enough for everyone else. The upic field has always been our grand experiment in community spirit and in thirteen years of CSA growing all over the Northeast we have never been disappointed.

Here are a few points and guidelines to keep Upic going strong all summer:

• Picking is open on Tuesday, Fridays, and Sundays from dawn to dusk. Please pick just once a week.
• Look for the signs we post in the field indicating what is ready to pick. If you don’t see a sign, please don’t pick it.
• Scissors are provided to help in cutting things that need to be cut (not peas). Please use them –clean cuts help keep the plants healthy and productive. Please don’t put scissors in your pockets! You’ll remember them when you get home. The loop on each pair is to go around your wrist and keep them handy for picking.
• Be gentle with the plants when picking and USE BOTH HANDS, one to hold the plant and one to cut or pick. Parents please teach your little ones how to do this before letting them loose.
• Be aware of where you are walking and try to walk between the beds and not on them.
• Know and teach your young ones that all of the fencing at the farm is electrified, including the fence around the upic field.
• Make sure the kids (and adults) stay out of the buildings and off of the tractors and farm equipment. The farm is old and there are numerous serious dangers to be found.
• Weeding, picking rock,s and squashing bad bugs are always welcome. If you question whether a bug is bad leave it be: it could be an ally.

What’s in the Share?

Another splendid week ahead here at the farm. After a few drab days of cold temps and fog we had an amazing day today, getting ready for harvest and catching up with field work. The big themes we are working with right now are weeds and pests. Our melon and potato crops have been in the ground for a while look good but the past week has seen an explosion insects. Specifically for these two crops, the cucumber beetle and the colorado potato beetle (click the links for nightmare inducing photos) are thriving and their numbers that have us a bit worried. What do we do as organic farmers to save our crops? Well we have a few options at hand. First and foremost, we rely on the the diversity of the farm and of the crops in our fields. When we are planning the season each winter we look closely at the arrangement of plant families and types and try to mix them in each field. For instance we put our potatoes (solanaceous family) alongside our storage onions (allium family) along with our strawberry crop (rose family). This diversity in one field along with grassy strips and field edges filled with flowering clovers provide places for different beneficial insects and bacteria to thrive. These insect and micro-organisms help keep large populations of pests and diseases in check. To keep crops healthy we also use physical barriers like floating row cover, which are large pieces of special fabric that cover the crop and keep the pests out or we actually move through the fields and pull the pests out by hand. This week we had some help with this in the potatoes from the kids attending our farm camp. Here’s a shot of the kids picking beetles of the plants into buckets of soapy water. They got several hundred in less than an hour!

If all of these approaches don’t stop the pests from taking the crop we still have one other option, and that is spraying an organic approved control. Most people don’t think organic growers can spray anything but in fact we have a many naturally derived compounds we can use. These options are developed from non -synthetic sources and are extensively tested to be sure they are safe for both humans and wildlife. Controls derived from hot peppers and garlic are well known by home gardeners. Potato beetles have a couple of compounds that target them, one is kaolin clay, a fine clay that when added to water and sprayed gets into the joints and breathing holes in their exoskeletons, making them very uncomfortable. The other control option is using a concentrated soil bacteria called spinosad that affect a small part of the beetle family, harmless to ladybugs, and has no effect on other bugs or mammals. Hopefully the work the kids did this week will do the trick!

More kohlrabi this week!

If you didn’t use your kohlrabi last week you can make something really great with all of it this week. Check out these recipes.

Greens are great.

Master minimalist chef Mark Bittman of the New York Times has a great and simple guide to enjoying the luscious early summer greens.

What to expect in this weeks share:

Strawberries

Salad greens

Kale/chard

Scallions

Kohlrabi

Broccoli

Fourth of July is coming! What better way to celebrate than having lobster! Call Harpswells’ own Interstate lobster Co-op and order yours today! 833-5516

After a May that reminded me of a visit to Seattle, we are finally getting summer.  Warm, dry weather makes life pleasant for all of us that work outside; for farmers this weather also makes us busy.  For the past two weeks we have been really running here.  Here’s a snapshot of my day on Monday (yesterday): 4:30am: out of bed and outside, set-up hand-washing station for first day of farm camp, measure out grain for pigs, chickens and lambs, assemble flats for the first harvest of strawberries. 6:00am: meet with farm crew, water greenhouse, head down to the fields to pick berries for 2 hours – 216 pints total.  8:30am: quick breakfast, four phone calls and a trip to the greenhouse to spray Koalin clay on the watermelon seedling to deter the cucumber beetles that are feasting on them. 9:30 am: work with farm campers to feed animals. 10:00am: prep beds with apprentices to begin transplanting basil into the high tunnel, 1176 plants in the ground by midday. noon: Quick trip to Lewiston for supplies.  1:30 pm: meet with researchers from UMaine Orono for interview on high tunnel production techniques. 2:15 : pick up the first load of 115 bales of hay  that Tom Settlemire is baling on River Road across town. 2:30-6:30pm, shuttle hay from river road to the farm crew who is rapidly stacking them in the barns to feed sheep over the winter. 6:45-8pm diner with the family and put kids to bed. 9:30 write this down in the newsletter. Phew.  Most days aren’t quite this nutty but this time of year you never know.

As American as Strawberry Shortcake.

Strawberries arrive this week. This looks like a really good crop. There is lots of fruit yet to mature and as long as we don’t get multiple wet days in a row I would expect a couple of weeks of berries at least. If your strawberries actually make it home, remember to refrigerate them and keep them covered. Ours are picked to be ripe or very close, so they they need a bit of extra care to keep, unlike the California ones that are picked almost green and ripened with ethylene gas when they arrive.

The Aliens Have Arrived.

Less well know than strawberries you will also find in your share an odd sputnik looking beast know as a kohlrabi. Don’t fret or frustrate over this vegetable. It is easy to use and tastes great raw or cooked. Here’s a simple way we use them: coarsely grate them over you salad and drizzle on the dressing of your choice. There are a few other ideas for enjoying  kolrabi under the “recipes by ingredient” sidebar on the website. Here’s a link to the kohlrabi page I love kohlrabi This vegetable is fun. Just look at it. Can you believe that color? Nothing says I like to laugh while I cook quite like a kohlrabi.

What’s in the Share this Week?

Strawberries

Endive/Escarole

Kale/ Chard/Bok Choi

Spinach

Lettuce Heads

Kohlrabi

Down to Earth Ideas About Greens

Greens are great. A couple of CSA members contacted us this past week with their praise and ideas for how to stay excited about the greens in their share. “We make pesto with kale, chard, and spinach”. Talk about easy, just throw the greens and a few table spoons of olive oil and a dash of salt in the  food processor. From  here you can add your pesto to sautéed onions and toss the whole thing with pasta or rice.  We also freely add greens pesto to tomato sauce. You can freeze you “county pesto” add find even more thing to do with it come the winter.  Another member has started a facebook group for CSA members to “share their favorite recipes, ask for help on a new-to-you share item, or inspiration on what to do with all those darn zucchini!”. Check it out by following this link  facebook . Thanks for the advice Emily and Joanna!

Volunteer weeding parties every Wednesday and Saturday morning from 9 am until 11 am.

Weeds and witty conversation, or contemplative solitude with fresh air. Come yuck it up with all of us while we free the farm world of undesirables.

Lobster!

We saw some beautiful lobster delivered last week here at the farm. Bring some home this week to your family and friends. Call the Interstate Lobster, our own Harpswell lobsterman’s co-op and they deliver your freshly landed lobsters to the Tuesday or Friday CSA pick-up 833.5516.

Port Clyde Fresh Catch

Maine groundfish shares available. This is fresh fish delivered to the farm each Tuesday during CSA pick-up. Check out their website for more info www.portflydefreshcatch.com

Tofu Tempeh, Mushroom share will start the first week of July.

Look for Maine-produced tofu, tempeh and mushrooms for sale and to taste at pick-up during the next couple weeks. We hope to get all of you excited about these great products and sign you up for a share that will start the first week of July. Each week you will get either a pound of tofu, a pound of tempeh or half a pound of mushrooms, all produced here in Maine. Whata great way to rounding out you Maine meals!

What to expect in this week’s share:

• Lettuce
• Kale/Chard
• Scallions
• Endive/Escarole
• Broccoli (see the story below)

June is warming up after a cooler than desired May. The crops are coming in well considering these lower than normal temps and big swings of heat in between. We had a beautiful Arugula crop two weeks ago that we lost in the those few days of ninety degree temps. Growing early crops could be called an art but really, its closer to a roll of he dice. Unlike the weather for the rest of the summer, late April and all of May are quite variable in almost every way. The crops that we are harvesting in these first weeks of June have all been in the ground for the past four to six weeks and suffered through the ups and downs. During this stretch we can have temps that range from 30 to 95 degrees with days of rain followed by days of strong sun. Crops, especially tender leafy ones, are all trying their best to produce leaves and then flowers and seed, the goal of the plant is to reproduce. When the plants are stressed by extreme temps, wetness and or lack of sun, they switch into reproduction mode, setting flowers and seed earlier than they would have without these stressful variables. As farmers and eaters we want these plants to take their time getting to reproduction stage (also called bolting) so that we can harvest them a few times, enjoying their tender leaves, like in the case of arugula. The leaves of crops that are not rushing towards bolting also taste better. The good thing is that we have many successive plantings of these tender crops, like the arugula we have this week to replace the crop we lost last week.

Two crops to look for in the next couple weeks are strawberries and zuchinni. Both look strong in the fields and should be along soon.

Volunteer weeding parties every Wednesday and Saturday morning from 9 am until 11 am.

Join the crew in the fields pulling weeds amongst your vegetables. This is not like when your parents sent you into the jungle-like backyard garden to weed when they should have sent to in to bush hog.  Our crops are in beautiful rows and the work is easy, instantly satisfying, and dare I say, fun.  Chat with our lovely apprentices & fellow CSA members while you weed, or find your own quiet space.  Past weeding volunteers have thanked us for the free meditation sessions!  Meet at the CSA building at 9am on Wednesdays and Saturdays or find the crew in the fields anytime after 9 until 11.  Help your vegetables win the battle against the persistent weeds & arrive with vitality on your table.

Lobster!

We saw some beautiful lobster delivered last week here at the farm. Bring some home this week to your family and friends. Call the Interstate Lobster, our own Harpswell lobsterman’s co-op and they deliver your freshly landed lobsters to the Tuesday or Friday CSA pick-up 833.5516.

Port Clyde Fresh Catch

Maine groundfish shares available. This is fresh fish delivered to the farm each Tuesday during CSA pick-up. Check out their website for more info www.portflydefreshcatch.com

Tofu Tempeh, Mushroom share will start the first week of July.

Look for Maine-produced tofu, tempeh and mushrooms for sale and to taste at pick-up during the next couple weeks. We hope to get all of you excited about these great products and sign you up for a share that will start the first week of July. Each week you will get either a pound of tofu, a pound of tempeh or half a pound of mushrooms, all produced here in Maine. Whata great way to rounding out you Maine meals!

Salad Dressing Recipes this week.

Look on the website for more  recipes where you can search by ingredient (look for the sidebar at the right on the page) www.crystalspringcsa.com and send in your favorites for us to post.

The season of eating fresh green salads has begun.  At the end of the day, sometimes making a salad dressing can seem like one extra step too many.  Keep it simple!  Just a little effort really does go a long way in this case. Start with the basics and build from there.  Adapted from Mark Bittman.

Using the blender makes emulsifying easy & effective, but there is nothing wrong with shaking everything up in a jar or using a fork.  Avoid the giant list of ingredients in store-bought dressings and make some simple ones at home.

The Basic Recipe: ½ cup olive oil + 3 tablespoons wine vinegar + salt + pepper

• Lemon:  ½ cup olive oil + ¼ cup lemon juice + tablespoon warm water + black pepper
• Mustard: add 1 teaspoon (Dijon or whole grain) to the basic recipe
• Soy: add tablespoon soy + 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil to the basic recipe
• Ginger: add 1 inch (or more!) of peeled & chopped fresh ginger + tablespoon warm water to the basic recipe
• Honey-garlic: replace the wine vinegar with balsamic + a clove of garlic and a tablespoon honey