Wooden Hill

Sweet Potatoes are not as sweet as you

2010-10-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Dear Shareholders,

This week marks the end of our 20 week season. You guys have been our first ever shareholders here at Wooden Hill Farms. What you helped us do here this season fulfilled a dream that the three of us had. So, thank you for you made it possible. Feeding you guys and building a community around the farm has been so very rewarding. We look forward to hearing your comments in the shareholder survey so that we can continue to grow and improve and make your CSA what you want it to be. Let the hibernation begin.

Sincerely,

Spotty Pumpkin Face Cutey

Okay okay okay, all sappiness aside, we have lots of feelings going into this last week. First of all, it's quite a share. You will be receiving the largest sweet potato you've ever seen. If you've ever seen one bigger, please lie to us and tell us you haven't. The large sweet potato you'll get is from the very base of the plant. The normal sweet potatoes actually grow further out along the vines. You also will be receiving an apple gourd which is ornamental and awesome. Another feeling we've got going on is SO MUCH EXCITEMENT that we have finally earned our vacation! You guys know what vacation feels like. It feels like warm sun on a cool, crisp October day. The other feeling, of course, is anticipation for the kickin' shareholder picnic/HAYRIDE that will be going on here Saturday starting at 2PM. Hayride is at 4PM. Please remember to bring your covered dish to share because we don't want to cook and we've given all our food to you guys. JK. JK.

This week has been ridiculously good. We got a lot of end of season stuff accomplished. We cover cropped lots of fields with winter rye which comes in 56 lb bags that are fun to sit on and make handprints in. We then disked that in. We put the 20 lbs of German Red garlic in the ground today. The front herb garden has been laid to rest. We even made an appointment to speak with the accountant and more importantly, take Pico to the vet. When she sneaks in the house at night, her purr is so loud we think she'll knock down the house.

It brings us great sadness that no one will be reading our ramblings next week. Clearly, we love to ramble. Ever played the card game PIT? Do you like red candles? Do you think only non scented candles should be burned while one eats? Did you find the CHILE MINE RESCUE AMAZING? Have you ever had Halvah? Do you like Charlton's beard? Would you be interested in a winter share? Do you have a heated greenhouse to give us?

THE LAST CROP OF THE WEEK

SWEEEEEET POTATOES

Surprisingly, the sweet potato is only a distant relative to the potato. The young leaves and shoots are sometimes eaten as greens. The softer, orange variety is often called a yam in parts of North America, a practice intended to differentiate it from the firmer, white variety. The sweet potato is botanically very distinct from the other vegetable called a yam, which is native to Africa and Asia and belongs to the monocot family Dioscoreaceae. To prevent confusion, the United States Department of Agriculture requires that sweet potatoes labeled as "yams" also be labeled as "sweet potatoes". Ah ha, so there it is. That answers the old yam/sweet potato question. Our sweet potatoes were dug up on Monday. As sweet potatoes sit out and cure, especially in warmer temperatures, the starches turn to sugars. So if you wait a little bit, you'll eat a sweeter sweet potato. If you get a sweet potato that is blemished, we recommend you eat it ASAP because it will go bad quicker. Sweet potatoes are high in vitamin A and C, beta carotene and fiber. They are also a good source of copper and potassium. They are high in antioxidants, they contain anticancer stuff, and will protect your heart, but not from being broken so be careful in love, guys. Sweet potatoes are an edible tuberous root. They are native to the tropical parts of South America. (lots of this we learned from wikipedia:SweetPotatoes)

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Sweet Potato Pudding

1 cup mashed sweet potatoes

1-2 TBSP brown sugar

1 egg well beaten

1 TBSP melted butter

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c milk

1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350. Combine all ingredients and blend well. Pour into a buttered bakeware of your choice. Bake for 30 minutes or until done. This can be served as a vegetable side or dessert.

Wait....the sun just came out!

2010-10-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Boy has this season flown by...just one more pick-up left after this week! It seems like just yesterday we were all strangers...now we're wondering if you're tired of us yet. In case you are starting to feel like you might miss us too much to go on over the winter, we could arrange to visit your house every Thursday. Don't worry Phoebe, we can bring Meghan along too! On a brighter note, this rain is really starting to get to us, and we think we're starting to show symptoms of cabin fever. We've definitely been wondering to ourselves why this rain couldn't have spread itself out a little bit more over the summer. But hey!- what would the fun have been in that?! Every season is so different from the last. Each year there are new challenges (and some old challenges that we just haven't figured out yet). The rain this week has once again prevented us from harvesting the last row of taters and the sweet potatoes. No worries though, we'll get 'em out of the ground soon.
Now for some business matters...
This week please make sure you get our end of the season shareholder survey. You are welcome to fill it out here at the farm or take it home. We'll have a drop box set up to collect them over the next couple weeks. This is your chance to be brutally honest. It will be anonymous, so you can fold it in half, and then in half, and then in half again, and then give the box a good shake after you deposit your survey. But seriously, we need the constructive criticism, we're tired of you all telling us how fantastic we are.
You guys also might be wondering how next season will work as far as sign-up for the '11 season. Spots for existing shareholders are basically guaranteed for next year. So if you are interested in joining us again, there's no rush to reserve a spot or send in payment. You'll be receiving official invitations and payment information after the New Year. Woohoo!!!!
Speaking of the 2011 season, we'll have some Wooden Hill propaganda( informative postcards) available for you to take and hand out to friends, family, co-workers, or even strangers on the street who you think might be interested in becoming shareholders. Thank you for spreading the word!
Finally...The End of Season Shareholder Potluck! We'll be having the picnic on Saturday, October 16th at 2pm. Please bring a covered dish to share (if you want, bring a copy of your recipe to share with those who fall in love with your dish), and lawn chairs. Toys, instruments and leashed dogs are welcome as well. Any further details that may come up will be posted on the blog.
PHEW!

CROP OF THE WEEK
BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Indeed, butternut is another, and our final winter squash for the season. As with the other winter squash varieties, you can roast or boil butternut and then eat it as is or puree for use in soups and baking. And just a reminder, if you feel like the winter squash is coming at you faster than you can make them into delectable dishes, they do hold for quite a while if stored properly, in a cool, dark, dry space. However, keep an eye our for blemishes as once they start, you should probably get to cookin'. The Butternut is high in fiber, vitamins C & A, manganese, magnesium and potassium. This winter squash is commonly used in Australia and New Zealand as well as in South Africa, where it is often grilled. (some information taken from wikipedia)

RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
makes ~2 Qts.
2.5 to 3 lb butternut squash
2 to 3 TBSP olive oil, plus extra for butternut
2 onions, finely chopped
10 sage leaves chopped(1/2 tsp dry)
3 sprigs worth of chopped thyme (1/4 tsp dry)
1/4 C chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic, minced
S & P to taste
2 Qts. vegetable stock or water
"To Finish"-* all are optional
2 TBSP olive oil
1 head radicchio cut into 1-2" wedges
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
few drops of pumpkin seed oil or olive oil
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

1. Preheat oven to 425. Halve squash, scoop seeds and brush with oil. Place cut side down on baking sheet until tender (~30 min.). Scoop out flesh. Deglaze pan with 1 C water and reserve.
2. Heat oil in pot and add onion, sage, thyme, and parsley. Stir frequently and cook until onions have started to brown around edges (~15 min.). Add squash, garlic, 1.5 TSP salt, stock, and deglazing water. Bring to boil, then simmer, partially coverd for ~25 min. Add water if you want it thinner, add salt to taste, puree if you like a smooth texture.
3* To finish- heat 1 TBSP oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add radicchio wedges, salt and pepper, and brush with remaining oil. After 4 to 5 min., turn over and brown other side. Remove and sprinkle with vinegar. Chop into bite size pieces.
4. To serve- ladel soup, add radicchio, and drizzle oil. Add parmesan and serve!
(from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Soups)

Mud potatoes

2010-09-30T08:37:00.001-07:00

Hope you all are warm and dry. After the third outfit change before 9 am, we are finally all dry. We had hoped to dig out potatoes for this share, but due to the weather, were unable to. That is why we had potatoes on the harvest list yesterday and have removed it. It should stop raining at 11pm. That's only 12 more hours.

Here's 2 haikus about you know what:

Huge glass of water

Pours from the October sky

But it's September

Water, water, wa...

Umbrella operator

Puddle between bricks

The return of the salad mix!

2010-09-29T13:07:00.001-07:00

Spotty belly!

Konichiwa! Happy rainy and cloudy week everyone! That rain is giving our crops a much deserved drink and should give them a nice boost before they get to your dinner plates. We enjoyed a rain day Monday and got to organizing lots of things that needed it. We also had time to cook! We made some delicious potato dishes and finally, after 6 weeks, we made chili with lots of hot peppers and some tomato sauce with herbs and green peppers. We also got to cooking lots of apple treats including apple sauce, apple rolls and apple pie! Ain't apple season grand? We were happy to be able to include a couple apples in your shares a few weeks back. Apples aren't typically something we harvest for the shares, but we were able to share this year's bounty from our 2 apple trees. Everybody knows time flies (stink bugs fly too), but we really can't quite believe that this week is our 17th share. Including this week, we've got just 3 more weeks together for this season :( boo......hoo... We will be having another shareholder picnic though, so we can all look forward to that. :) Anyway, next week, we'll be giving out a shareholder survey to get your very, very valuable feedback. It will be anonymous. So sharpen your number 2s. No, you don't have to use a No. 2. Let's move onto your share info for this week, shall we?

Just as everything is about to turn gold out there, we will be giving you more greens this week. Tomorrow and Friday in your shares, we'll be giving out salad mix (it's a mesclun mix with mustard greens, baby kale, tat soi, mizuna and other microgreens). We'll also be including radishes and arugula, aka rocket, in your shares. We have a couple shareholders who go bananas over arugula. Us farmers are into it as well, and this fall's crop seems to be extra delicious. Arugula is high in vitamin C and potassium. We've been eating whole salads using arugula as the only "lettuce." Radishes, which Stef despises, are high in ascorbic acid, folic acid, and potassium. The other very exciting thing in your share this week is the cheese pumpkin.

CROP OF THE WEEK.

CHEESE PUMPKIN

Cheese pumpkins are one variety of squash known as cucurbita moschata. A more common variety of cucurbita moschata is the butternut squash. You will recognize their familial ties because they are pretty much the exact same color. Cheese pumpkins earn their name because their exterior looks like a wheel of cheese. They are a medium sized, flattened pumpkin and have a tan, smooth, ribbed exterior. We are proud to announce that out of the pumpkins we grow, cheese pumpkins, in our opinion, make the best pumpkin pie. They are sweet and contain dark orange flesh. They are also known as the Long Island Cheese Pumpkin. Anyway, pumpkin pie. I want to write it one more time. Pumpkin pie. This variety of winter squash seems to be more tolerant of hot, dry weather than others. And with all that heat and dryness this summer, that sure means a lot. Cucurbita moschata also seems to be more resistant to the nasty squash vine borer. Cheese pumpkins are high in potassium and beta carotene and are great for people watching their weight. We hope you enjoy your cheese pumpkin.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

CHEESE PUMPKIN BREAD

Ah ha, thought you were going to see a recipe for pumpkin pie, didn't you? We've decided not to include one on here because, well, most people already have their favorite tried and true pumpkin pie recipe. Sometimes they are family secrets passed down from generation to generation. I don't have access to my family's yet, so what do I know? I'm just the one who pours the molasses in. So, instead, here is a delicious recipe from Rodale's Whole Foods Cookbook:

4 eggs

1 cup honey

15 oz. cheese pumpkin puree (Cut cheese pumpkin in half and roast in skin in a pan in a 400 degree oven for 60 minutes or until flesh is soft; peel away skin and puree. If pumpkin is browning in oven, pour in some water or coat in oil)

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c plain yogurt or buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325. Butter two loaf pans. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and honey. Whisk in the pumpkin and oil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon. Alternately, add portions of the flour mixture and the yogurt to the pumpkin mixture, beginning and ending with the flour mixture.

Pour the batter into the loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the loaves are overbrowning, tent with foil. Remove from the pans and cook on a rack.

Harvestnox?!

2010-09-22T14:40:00.000-07:00

Hello all ye vegetable lovers!!
If we were to time travel to the past and visit ourselves thinking about this very week as it existed in the future, we would see ourselves excited for the 17th share of our CSA season. However, what we might not have known at that moment, and do know now is that the 17th share marks the official beginning of fall via the autumnal equinox! What makes this even more exciting is that we will have a full moon on this particular equinox for the first time since 1991. And in case you were wondering, this is indeed the true definition of a Harvest Moon. As if this all weren't amazing enough, this past monday was the closest that Jupiter has been to the Earth since 1963! In addition to these fun facts that you can now wow your friends, family and co-workers with, there are a few fun activities that can help you to enjoy the first day of autumn to the fullest extent.
For starters, make note of how the sun rises due East and sets due West. Very interesting, eh? Next, if you can find the time, we recommend going to the North or South pole to watch the sun skim across the horizon. This marks the beginning of a bout of insomnia for Santa, or a very pale complexion for a penguin. Finally, we'd like to remind you to make a date for lunch on the equator, where you can watch the sun pass directly over head. Needless to say, this 17th share marks a very exciting day for us all.
As for news and current events.... The wedding of Dan and Dani Skinner was a great success. They both showed up, which is a good start of course. Both the ceremony and the weather were absolutely beautiful, not to mention that the flowers were a pretty big hit. Meanwhile, back on the farm Stefanie cared for all of the animals and vegetables and partook in the ceremonial exchanging of the tractors. Spotty, Crude, Meghan, and Pico looked on as Charley rode his John Deere off into the sunset and Stef returned the International to its rightful home. And suddenly, all feels well, and just as it should be.

CROP OF THE WEEK
PUPMPKINS!
As you may have noticed this weeks theme is Autumn. Some of you have asked us weekly, and they're finally here. PUMPKINS! Pumpkins can range from an itsy-bitsy 1lb or less to over 1,000 lbs. Hard to believe, right? Wooden Hill has yet to grow one that big. We actually grow two distinct types of pumpkins. We grow a couple varieties that yield the large jack-o-lantern type, as well as a variety called "New England Pie Pumpkin" which are the smaller ones you'll see at the farm. Both can be used for decoration, or for cooking. As for fun facts, you may have guessed that pumpkins are a big seller here in America. In fact, the U.S. produces somewhere around 1.5 billion lbs of this traditional winter squash every year. Pumpkins are extremely versatile. You can put it on your porch, shelf or table for all to admire, you can paint it, you can have a catch with it, you can carve it, you can make it your pet pumpkin, you can use it as a paper weight, you can use it to help you invent the latest in pumpkin chucking technology, and don't forget, you can eat it! They're really good for you too. The seeds alone can be roasted for a delicious snack packed with vitamins and protein. The flesh itself is a fantastic source of dietary fiber and is high in Vitamins A, C, E and B6 among others.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK
PUMPKIN AND BLACK BEANS

(the Halloween colors add a nice touch)
1 onion chopped
2 TBSP olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Bell Pepper, chopped
1 cup veggie stock
2 cups cubed, peeled pumpkin
1.5 cups cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
2 TBSP fresh savory or oregano
1 TBSP minced gingerroot
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP soy sauce

-In large pan combine oil and onion. Saute for 5 minutes. Add garlic and Bell pepper and saute a few minutes more.
-Stir in stock. Increase heat to bring to a boil. Stir in the pumpkin, black beans, savory, ginger, lemon juice and soy sauce. Cover and reduce heat, simmering for 8-10 minutes or until pumpkin is tender
P.S. If this is a recipe you find you like, you can always use other winter squash and bean varieties to substitute and mix it up a little.

September. Possibly the greatest month of them all.

2010-09-15T07:45:00.000-07:00

Good morning ladies and gentlemen! There's a chill in the air and we are liking it. Hope you are climbing up the old attic steps and getting your sweaters out of storage. Or, if you're anything like me, you're just happy that you never got around to packing them away....

A note to a certain shareholder, we DO grow DINOSAUR KALE aka Lacinato, so look for that in the coming weeks.

What a gorgeous week it's been up here at the farm. It's wedding season for Marley and Charlton. Nono, they aren't getting married yet, but their friends and Marley's brother is! Congratulations Dan and Danielle! Marley will be arranging the flowers for her oldest brother's wedding this weekend. What an incredible wedding gift. Here, I grew your wedding flowers. I am not crying.

Tasks this week included planting our fall crop of lettuce and bok choi, weeding the root crops, harvesting the cheese pumpkins, spraying neem and peppermint oil on the fall brassica crops, etc, etc. We're also talking about the fall's cover cropping plan and the future farm fields of America. The mixes that we planted are coming up nicely and should be in your salad bowl in a few short weeks. We've got arugula, lettuce mix and mesclun mixes for you guys. Oh! And spinach too!

A few of you guys have been asking about how long your share goes. Our 20 week program officially ends October 14th and 15th. Around that time, you will be hearing plenty about our end of the season picnic, which will be complete with a field gleaning where we'll all get to picnic again and you guys can clean our fields of all remaining crops!

The variety of winter squash that will be in your share this week is called sweet dumpling. Like other winter squash, it's most easily prepared by halving it, scooping the seeds out and roasting it in a water bath. Sweet dumpling is a small variety of winter squash and is mildly sweet. Due to its shape and size, it is great for stuffing and presenting whole on the table. Online (at http://inspiredbites.blogspot.com/2008/10/stuffed-sweet-dumpling-squash.html) I recently found a delicious recipe for sweet dumpling squash stuffed with rice, peppers, onions and garlic. A sweeter variation I have yet to try is one that includes raisins, apples, carrots and rice. Let us know any good recipes you find or come up with!

CROP OF THE WEEK

POTATOES

Potatoes are delicious. Just like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, us 3 farmers believe there is no wrong way to eat a potato. We heart them. The variety of potatoes you will be receiving this week is Katahdin, named after the mountain in Maine. Saturday, I found myself making french fries with this white potato variety. All I did was fill the frying pan with oil (don't use olive!) and cut up the potatoes into long french fry shapes, with skins on, and gently placed them in the hot oil. I let them fry for a good amount of time, maybe 10 minutes, but timing will depend on your specific stove and how high you have the temp. Then I laid them out on a paper towel to cool and sea salted them up and then enjoyed! Often, during the growing season, we find ourselves having a insatiable desire for potato chips. After researching this craving, we found out that we are most likely trying to make up for a potassium deficiency. This is likely due to the ridiculous amounts of water we drink during the hot summer months. Our body is trying to restore the balance by making us eat potato chips.

Potatoes are known as a classic carbohydrate - a bulky, starchy food. Potatoes have vitamin C, potassium!, and vitamin b6. And remember that by keeping the skins on, you are keeping the most fiber rich part. Potatoes can offer protection from colon cancer and help improve glucose tolerance. Potatoes are a part of the nightshade family, and the edible tubers are eaten. Potatoes are grown by waiting until the plants above ground die, and then by letting the skins cure underground. If you ever find a green potato, DON'T EAT IT! Potatoes turn green when they are exposed to the sun and are poisonous. Potatoes are the world's fourth largest food crop, following rice, wheat and corn (info from wikipedia:potato). Today over 99% of all cultivated potatoes are descendants of a subspecies indigenous to Chile. Wild potatoes grow all over the U.S. and South America, though.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

POTATO, CHORIZO AND GREENS SOUP

4 TBSP olive oil

2 medium leeks, chopped or 1 medium onion, chopped

5 large potatoes

1 large clove garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth (can use vegetable)

2 cups water

6 oz. hard cured chorizo, pepperoni or other dry sausage, diced

1 lb mustard greens or kale (or any green), stemmed and thinly sliced.

salt and pepper

In a large saucepan, heat 3 TBSP oil over medium heat. Add the leeks or onion, cover and sweat until soft, about 5 minutes.

Uncover, add the potatoes and cook until they begin to brown, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.

Add the broth and water, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat. Slightly mash the potato until thick, but leave some texture.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the remaining 1 TBSP oil over med. heat. Add the chorizo and cook until light brown.

Add the chorizo to the soup along with the greens. Return to a simmer and cook until the greens are just tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Campfires and Shooting Stars

2010-09-08T13:27:00.000-07:00

We hope everyone had a fantastic Labor Day weekend, and that you've all fully recovered from any over indulgence in food and drink. We had a mini-vacation and our last hoorah for the summer with lots of guests from far and wide. Stef went vegan for a few days while Marley and Charlton ate way too much pork...but don't worry, it was pastured pork from our good friends at North Mountain pastures. There were campfires abound, drive-in movies, s'mores, melty trails, fireworks, picnics, kipona, atomic warehouse and yes...lots of shooting stars.
If we were grape growers this dry spell would be exactly what we hope for to make the grapes nice and sweet for the fall harvest. But alas, we are not, and the irrigation schedule has commenced once again. The newly planted and seeded crops require water everyday and even the established crops take their turns getting a drink.
Today we had our hands on a ton of winter squash. Another milestone as we find the fall creeping closer and closer. This weeks share will include acorn squash. Don't feed it to the squirrels. Please note that there may be soft spots on some of the acorns, due to the intense heat and sun last week. It's the squash version of sunburn. This is just cosmetic and the flesh inside will still be tasty as can be. For the unburned half, we give thanks to the shade provided by the weeds. You have just experienced a serious moment in Wooden Hill history, as this will probably be one of the only times you will ever hear us thank our weeds.

P.S. Remember to bring your jars and containers for the Food Bank!

CROP OF THE WEEK

ACORN SQUASH

You guessed it, acorn squash gets it's name from it's distinct acorn shape and ridges. Although acorn squash can also come in shades of white and yellow, the variety grown here is dark green when ripe. The flesh is a yellow-orange color and is high in vitamins A and C and potassium. Like other winter squash, acorn is also a good source of manganese and fiber. For those of you with a sweet tooth this is the ultimate winter squash as its most common preparation is to slice in half, scoop out the seeds, fill with butter and brown sugar, bake and serve as is in the shell. You can find a quick and easy recipe for this just by googling "acorn squash"

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Roasted Squash, Pear and Ginger Soup
adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Soups
1 acorn squash, rinsed
3 ripe but firm pears, quartered, seeds and stems removed
1, 2 inch chunk ginger, thinly sliced
olive oil
sea salt
2 TBSP butter
1 onion, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 425. Cut the squash in half, scrape out seeds, and then cut each half in half again. Bake in oven with pears and all but a few slices of the ginger. Brush with oil, season with salt and bake for 1 hour. If squash is very dry add 1 cup water to pan and cover with foil to create steam. When the squash is tender, transfer everything from pan to cutting board. Add 1 cup water to pan, and scrape to dissolve the juices, reserving the liquid. Scrape the flesh of squash away from the skins
2. To make a stock, bring 6 cups water to a boil. Eventually add the squash skins, remaining ginger and 1/2 TSP salt. Lower the heat and simmer, covered for 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in soup pot. Add onion and cook 10 minutes. Add the pears, ginger and squash, and the reserved deglazing water. Strain the stock into the pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Puree until smooth and serve.

The vegetables go back to school

2010-09-01T06:47:00.001-07:00

September! September!? But we were just celebrating New Year's eve...

Time sure does fly. September marks a big transition for Wooden Hill and you'll see it in your share this week. This week begins our winter squash harvest! Varieties of winter squash grown at the farm include butternut, acorn, spaghetti, sweet dumpling and different types of pumpkins, including cheese pumpkins. Even though it's 95 degrees, we'll all be in sweaters soon drinking spiced mulled cider by the fireplace. Well, maybe. More likely than the cider scenario is us eating spaghetti squash over Labor Day weekend.

This week, we were busy in the fields and in the e-mails. Fall root crops are weeded and thinned. Some seeds have been collected for next year. There was more field clean-up, lots of mowing, watering, flower dead heading. It's amazing how much we can accomplish in 3 days at this time of year. The marking of September is not this hothothot weather we're having, but the fields, and what they are providing us.

***This week, we are starting to collect jars and containers of all sizes here at the farm (mainly we are looking for quart, 1.5 quart containers though). This is for a Soup Project that a shareholder has started with the Perry County Food Bank. Soup is made and put in the jars, and then delivered to the Food Bank for distribution. Spaghetti sauce jars are great, even peanut butter jars (including the plastic ones, as long as they have a lid). If you have jars for canning that you have no use for, bring them on over and we'll make sure they get put to good use.***

CROP OF THE WEEK

Spaghetti Squash

This unusual squash, which pulls apart into strands when cooked is also known as the gold string melon. "Spaghetti squash can be baked, boiled, steamed or microwaved. It can be served with or without sauce, as a substitute for pasta. The seeds can be roasted, similar to pumpkin seeds." (from spaghetti squash wikipedia entry). If stored in a cool, dry place, winter squash will keep for several months. Spaghetti squash is low in saturated fat and very low in cholesterol. It is a good source of complex carbohydrates, niacin, vitamin B6, potassium, manganese, dietary fiber and vitamin C. Spaghetti squash is grouped in the winter squash category, which differs from summer squash in that it is harvested when the fruit is mature and the skin has hardened into a tough rind. Many people don't realize that we actually planted our winter squash in the spring. It takes all summer long for these plants to mature.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Spaghetti Squash Special

from The Rodale Whole Foods Cookbook

1 large spaghetti squash

1 pound part-skim mozzarella cheese, sliced

1 to 1.5 cups tomato sauce

1/2 cut grated Parmesan cheese

Place the squash, whole, in a large pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a summer, cover, and cook until the skin in easily pierced, about 30 minutes. Remove from the pot and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 1.5 to 2 quart baking dish.

When the squash is cook enough to handle, halve lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. With a fork, scrape the pulp from the shell and pull apart into spaghetti-like strands. Make sure you scrape pulp until the outer skin.

Arrange the squash, mozzarella, and tomato sauce in layers in the baking dish and sprinkle with the Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the filling is piping hot.

Southwestern Bean Salad

2010-08-26T12:11:00.000-07:00

This delicious summertime salad was something that was made for our shareholder picnic. Even though corn is done :( canned corn works really well. We thought you might enjoy:

1 15 oz. can red kidney beans (rinse and drain)

1 15 oz. can corn (rinse and drain)

2 scallions, chopped

1 teaspoon cumin (or more if desired)

1/2 teaspoon corriander

1/3 - 1/2 jar salsa (~1 cup)

1 tablespoon white vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Serve chilled.

A nice variation is to add cooked quinoa to this salad.

The Turning Point

2010-08-25T13:49:00.000-07:00

This week brought what felt like the major turning point in the season. Not only did we have this incredibly amazing cool weather (which sure beats baking in the fields!), but there seems to be an overall change in the crops. We've harvested the last of the cukes, melons, and summer squash and even the tomatillos seem to be slowing down. We've pulled the skeleton-like plants from their places in the fields and removed plastic mulch in order to turn the soil in preparation for our fall cover crops like alfalfa and winter rye. In just a weeks time, the farm looks like it's ready for spring planting all over again.

How did we do all of this without the International tractor, you ask? Why...with a John Deer tractor! That's right. After hearing us seriously discuss yoking ourselves to the tiller and potato digger, a dear friend and generous supporter came to the rescue! Thank you, thank you Charley! (Although, forcing Charlton to pull implements through the fields might have been more than just slightly amusing, hehe) We'll all be thinking of you while eating our mashed potatoes!

Oh yeah...did we mention how nice it's been working in this cool weather?!

CROP OF THE WEEK
WATERMELON

Since this very special crop has just about finished gracing us with its presence for the season, we figured it deserved this week's spotlight. This season, we grew three types of Watermelons. The first, which you received a couple weeks ago, was a small ice-box type called sugar baby. Last week's, which may have been a surprise if you didn't get a warning from a farmer, was an heirloom variety called orangeglo (hence the orange flesh!). And finally, this weeks variety (some of you may have gotten a preview last week) is called Sangria. Sangria is a large melon with the standard pink/red flesh. Although we generally consider them melons, watermelons are actually a part of the cucurbit family, which of course, includes cucumbers. Botanically, watermelons grow on vines and are actually considered large berries with tough exteriors, or what is know as a pepo. Watermelons are one of our favorite things to munch on out in the fields. And as they're over 90% water, they're the perfect thing to snack on while you're working hard. And yes, Watermelon does have nutritional value. They contain Vitamins C and A, potassium and iron...and there's more to be found the closer you get to the rind. In some Asian cultures, the rind is even treated as a vegetable. Try adding it to your stir fry or pickling! (Some info taken from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible)

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

We know a lot of Watermelon can sometimes pose a challenge. If you're not sure what to do besides cut it up and eat it, try this interesting twist on a summertime salad. Stef made a version of this earlier in the week, and her mother couldn't stop raving about it!

Refreshing Summertime Watermelon Salad
Serves 4
1 cup (or more) cubed/seeded watermelon
1 TBSP chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup crumbled feta
2 TBSP minced red onion
1 TBSP balsamic vinegar
1 TBSP olive oil
4 cups mixed baby greens

Combine and toss gently
ENJOY!
(recipe adapted from allrecipes.com)

Note about the corn

2010-08-19T08:14:00.001-07:00

1) The variety of sweet corn you will be receiving in this week's share is Silver Queen. It is less sweet than the previous variety we were distributing.

2) The smaller ears seem to be the sweetest.

3) To make sure you get ears you want to take home, please know you can shuck your corn here at the farm. For those of you who get your shares delivered, we will do our bestest to pick you out really really good corn and watermelons. Do let us know how our produce tastes!

Why is a farmer considered an expert?

2010-08-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

...Cause he's usually outstanding in his field.

Hee hee hee. Uh oh. That was definitely a Stef joke. Moving on... hello shareholders!

For those of you who were able to make it to the shareholder picnic last Friday evening, thanks so much for coming. We had such an awesome time and such a great turnout. The food was delicious. And no rain! We really do love spending time with you people.

For the record, I think the grand total was something like 6.5" of rain last Thursday and Friday. Whoa. Anyway, moving on to this week. This week has been such a lovely week. It's been back to the normal schedule for us three farmers and it feels great. We feel on top of harvesting, on top of maintenance and in a few minutes, we'll be on top of our fall crop. Instead of re-tilling the fields we need to plant in, we strip till where we need to so as not to disturb the already grown in cover crops (i.e. white clover, wheat, buckwheat). This prevents erosion and disturbs the ground as little as possible. Monday, we seeded lettuce and choy. In addition to lots of harvesting, we made a Perry County Food Bank donation, collected boxes from all over town, mowed, weed whacked and did other random things. Tuesday, more harvesting was in order. We did some field cleanup work and then we weeded peppers, asparagus, herb garden patches, strawberries and scrub a dub dubbed the horse trough. Harvesting and weeding may seem like similar things. You know, both consist of picking things from the earth. They are not similar. Don't get me wrong, they are both wonderful. They are both mathematics. Harvesting is addition. Weeding is subtraction.

Hmm.. in other news, the tractor is still out of commission and we are trying to find a way to get the potatoes out of the ground! If you receive potatoes in this week's share, that means we got them out of the ground ;o)

Crop of the Week

Hot Peppers

Beware. The crop of the week is hot peppers. Many people cower at the very words. People are scared of spice. And we don't blame them. One must exercise extreme caution when handling hot peppers so they don't get the oils on their skin. Anywhere those oils touch, will burn. That means, don't rub your eyes when your out picking hot peppers and a gnat flies in there. Just deal with it. That also means that it might be a good idea to wear gloves when preparing them in the kitchen. Or make sure that only your knife touches the very very hot stuff. The seeds are where most of the heat is, and when cooking with the super spicy ones (habaneros, cayennes, cherry bombs), we typically remove the seeds. Once you get over the heat, you really start to savor the flavor. And they are just so good looking. Those colors alone. Mmm mmm mmm!

Hot peppers are from the genus Capsicum and like all peppers, are in the nightshade family. There actually is a heat index called the Scoville heat index used to measure the heat of chili peppers. Habaneros are the hottest that we grow; Naga Jalokias from India are the hottest in the world. Eating chili peppers increases ones heart rate, induces perspiration and releases endorphins. Yep, that's right. Endorphins. The same things that are released during exercise and excitement. Research also suggests that eating chili peppers can increase metabolism. Capsaicin, the substance that gives peppers their heat, is also sometimes used in the treatment of arthritis pain, diabetic neuropathy, and headaches. In some cultures, the leaves of the pepper plants are eaten. Apparently, they still have some heat, but not nearly as much as the actual peppers. Another interesting chili pepper fact is that birds don't have the same response to capsaicin. The pain (i.e. burning) response is specific to mammals. The varieties we grow here at the farm that have heat are the following (from least spicy to spiciest): Anaheim, Hungarian Hot Wax, Cherry Bomb, Jalapeno, Cayenne, Habanero. Try 'em! Be careful, but try 'em! (some info we learned from Wikipedia entry for 'chili peppers' before sharing with you)

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Eggplant with Tofu

This week's recipe is from a Thai cookbook that was a present a few years back.

3 cups Japanese eggplant, sliced

1/4 lb tofu

6 TBSP vegetable oil

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 to 5 red chili peppers, seeded and chopped

10-15 sweet basil leaves

1-3 TBSP yellow bean sauce (can substitute miso)

Slice unpeeled eggplant crosswise into slices 1/8 inch thick. Cut tofu into 1/2 inch cubes. Heat oil in skillet; add garlic and stir fry until light brown. Add eggplant and tofu and cook for 5 to 7 minutes. Add remaining ingredients; mix gently. Serve immediately, since eggplant and basil turn dark if dish sits after cooking.

We also recommend the following Red Hot Chili Peppers songs to accompany your meal:

Tearjerker, Porcelain and of course Road Trippin' (thankyouFrancesca)

Wedding photos

2010-08-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

A few of you requested to see some wedding photos from the biggest wedding we've done thus far. Here they are! A great big thank you to Dawn for taking these and sharing them with us!

Busiest week of the year

2010-08-11T13:43:00.001-07:00

Whoa - Wooden Hill just got through possibly the busiest week of the year. Spring planting might have been busier, but last week sure felt tough. We got through it though, and have bigger muscles to show for it... and now really value the simple pleasure of sitting down. What made last week so busy, you ask?

...Welp, to begin with, we were busy harvesting delicious thing after delicious thing every day. Those plants are tough to keep up with, which is exactly what we wanted ! The first corn harvest was HUGE! and went really well but we had to figure out some Macgyver tactics to keep it cool so we set up a mock (read:shabby) cooler here at el farm with some clothes racks and blankets. But it worked! Then we picked more tomatoes. Then us 3 farmers ate 12 ears of corn, each.

Then we picked more tomatoes.

We were also busy preparing wedding flowers for a wedding in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. We had 33 arrangements to prepare, which took the greater part of last week. Flowers were cut late in the evening and early in the morning Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (when it's cooler out) and then arranged all day. Everything turned out beautifully and the pictures from the wedding are absolutely gorgeous! Congrats to Kenny and Barb on their recent nuptials!

Then we picked more tomatoes.

Monday went really well with lots of harvesting and mowing going on. Our fall crop seedlings look really good and strong and will find their homes in the fields starting early next week. Tuesday, we took the day off and took a farm field trip to Raystown lake to visit a friend and neighbor at his lake camper. We went tubing! We went swimming! We went on a boat! We went fast on a boat! We ate sandwiches! We sat by a fire! We ate mountain pies! We did not go water skiing! We all have sore muscles from tubing! Charlton can't really move his shoulder!

Today, we picked more tomatoes. And every other vegetable under the sun. Literally, everything under the sun. The hot, hot sun. Then we drank iced tea and life was good. Then we wrote a newsletter. Then we wrote that last sentence. Then we wrote "Then we". Okay, that brings us up to speed.

CROP OF THE WEEK

or in this case...herb of the week

BASIL

Ohhhh Basil, how we love thee! Basil is a tender herb that is used a lot in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and Far Eastern and Wooden Hill Farms cuisines. Basil is often said to have a sweet, yet peppery taste with some anise or licorice flavor that varies with intensity according to variety. That's right, there are a bunch of different Basil varieties, 5 of which we grow here on the farm. We grow a couple common Italian types called Sweet and Genovese Basil. These are the varieties that most of us are familiar with. I'm sure you've been a bit curious about the colorful Basil you've been getting over the past couple weeks. This purple variety is known as Red Rubin and has a very similar flavor to the two green Italian varieties. So, yes, you can use it in exactly the same way! We also grow Thai Basil, which has a very distinct, perfumey aroma, and is, of course, traditionally used in Thai and Asian cooking. You can also tell it apart by its small green leaves and dark purple stems and flowers. Finally, thanks to a good friend, we're trying an interesting variety called Lettuce Leaf Basil this year, which has large savoy leaves and a stronger Anise flavor. Basil also has some pretty cool medicinal uses. It can help with digestion, nerves and stress, as well as headaches. Basil is also known for its antibacterial, antidepressant and antispasmodic properties. (some info taken from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible)

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

First and Foremost, we've been having tomato-basil-mozzarella sandwiches for lunch almost everyday as of late....we think you should join us.

MARINATED FRESH TOMATO SLICES WITH SWEET BASIL
serves 4

3 large ripe tomatoes
2 TBSP chopped fresh Basil
3 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/2 TSP sugar
salt and pepper to taste
-slice the tomatoes into 1/4" slices, place into deep pie dish and sprinkle with fresh chopped basil. In small bowl or jar, mix together oil, lemon juice, sugar, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over tomatoes and basil, marinate at room temperature for 1 hr. Sponn dressing over tomatoes occasionally while marinating. Serve at room temperature

BOURSIN
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup chives
1 8oz. package cream cheese
1/4 cup black, pitted olives
-In food processor, chop garlic and herbs. Add cream cheese and blend until smooth. Add olives and chop briefly. Transfer mixture to small bowl and serve with crackers, french bread or anything you like. Can also be used as a sandwich spread.
( Both recipes taken from Country Wisdom and Know-How)

Corn and Tomatoes

2010-08-04T10:47:00.000-07:00

HEAR YEE HEAR YEE: Corn and tomatoes! This week, yee shall get corn and tomatoes!

All season long, actually, all year long, we get asked when our corn and tomatoes will be ready. We know you got some tomatoes last week, but let's not count that. This week is THE week. We hope those balloons help everyone's celebrations commence. We're excited too. The variety of sweet corn this week is called Bodacious Yellow. Pretty tubular name, huh? Here at Wooden Hill, we do not use any Genetically Modified seed. For us, we've found that the toughest non GM seed to find is corn. But we found it and it is delicious. A quick note about the corn. You may find a worm. You may find 2+ worms. Us farmers just break off the worm eaten part and use the rest. If you would like to shuck your corn here at the farm and leave the compost for us, go right ahead. You can then ensure that there are no surprises when you get home. That is of course, unless someone has organized an actual surprise party for you. If this is the case, happy birthday!

And now for a few words about our 17 varieties of tomatoes. Ask us if you would like to know the name of the variety you are taking! Mix and match to see which kinds you like. We'd like you to become well versed in Tomato Land. Here are some of the names of our all star varieties: Pruden's Purple, Jubilee, Black Krim, Rutgers, Jet Star, Green Zebra, Sun Gold, Brandywine, Martian Giant, Consoluto Genovese, Cherokee Purple, Super Sweet 100. The orange ones are less acidic. The oblong ones are known as paste tomatoes (Amish Paste and Roma). They are good for use in sauce. The gnarly shaped ones are heirlooms, which are gaining popularity rapidly due to their magnificent and delicate flavors. The normal looking ones are good too, so don't forget those guys.

In other news, this week marks week 10 of our CSA! This is the half way point! A great big thank you to all you wonderful shareholders for giving our vegetables such wonderful homes.

CROP OF THE WEEK - TOMATOES

or as some would say, tom-oh-ten-totes.

It is widely known that tomatoes are considered a fruit, in that they contain seeds. It is less known that tomatoes are actually perennials. However, they are grown as annuals in our climate zone. Tomatoes are thought to have originated in South America. "The word tomato comes from the Aztec tomatl, literally 'the swelling fruit'." (quoted from Tomato wikipedia entry). Tomatoes are high in lycopene (as are watermelons) which is an antioxidant. Tomatoes are also high in Vitamin C. Commercially, tomatoes are often picked unripe, and sprayed with ethylene gas to get them to ripen up. These tomatoes do keep longer, but are less flavorful than those ripened on the vine, which is why supermarkets started selling tomatoes on the vine. The scientific name for a tomato is Solanum lycopersicum which means 'wolf peach'. Wolf peach is really fun to say. Let's have some wolf peaches tonight, shall we? And now for some wolf peach recipes:

WOLF PEACH RECIPE

GAZPACHO

from allrecipes

4 cups tomato juice

1 onion, minced

1 green bell pepper, minced

1 cucumber, chopped

2 cups chopped tomatoes

2 green onions, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

3 TBSP fresh lemon juice

2 TBSP red wine vinegar

1 tsp tarragon

1 tsp basil

1/4 cup parsley

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Blend or process until slightly chunky. Chill for 2 hours in refrigerator. Serve cold. Enjoy!

A little a this, a little a that

2010-07-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, just like the bees pollinating the veggies and flowers out in the fields, the farm has been busy-busy this past week. We're at that point in the season where harvesting is an everyday, and sometimes twice-a-day activity. We sure hope you guys like cucumbers! The grass and weeds are back to growing at full throttle, which means lots of mowing to keep things lookin' fine and under control. Coincidentally, some of the machines decided to throw a fit this past week. The push mower needs a new blade and the big International tractor decided it was time to fry a valve. Hopefully, with a couple of trips to the supply store and with some help from our knowledgeable neighbors, everything will be up and running in no time.
The fall seedlings are growing big and strong in their plug trays and require constant babysitting to keep them hydrated in this hot weather. After soaking for several hours, the beet seeds made their home in the soil today, and the carrots will follow tomorrow. In other news, the deer have been partying up on the hill lately, so we've been spreading soap (Irish Spring to be exact!) to keep them from bringing their shenanigans down to the veggies...those hooligans! The tomatoes were kelpified (a kelp and water solution) earlier this week to provide them with those all important micronutrients. Hey, veggies need their vitamins too!
We're happy to report that the little kitty is happy, healthy and extremely energetic. She's been honing her hunting skills, is an expert bug chaser and has discovered that she owns a tail, which of course, provides endless entertainment.
As you guys may, or may not have noticed, we grow the occasional fruit or vegetale that might make you ask yourself "what do I do with this?". We're pretty sure that the Ground Cherries fall into this category for many, if not all of ye wonderful shareholders. These are the marble-sized fruits in the chinese lanternesque husks (they kind of look like itsy-bitsy tomatillos). If you haven't tried them yet, they have an interesting and hard to explain flavor that is best described as a mix between a pineapple and tomato. Their flavor does change quite a bit according to their ripeness. When fully ripe, the husk is nearly paper bag brown and the fruit is a yellow-peach color. The tasty treat is inside, so don't forget to take off the husk before eating! In the amount that we're giving out, they are best eaten as they are for a snack, or used as a substitute for raisins in salads and sautes. They'll provide that subtle sweetness that will make poeple ask...."what was that?!". Give them a whirl, and let us know what you think.
Finally, we hope that everyone saw our announcement about the first shareholder picnic scheduled for Friday, August 13th at 5 o'clock. It will be potluck style, so this week we'll be asking you to sign up (so we know about how many to expect) and to let us know what type of dish you plan to bring. Don't worry! Nothing is set in stone! We just want to make sure we don't wind up with 20 desserts...not that that would be such a horrible thing...

CROP OF THE WEEK

EGGPLANT

Like some of our favorites- tomatoes, peppers and potatoes- eggplants are part of the nightshade family. Interestingly enough, although most farmers in our area till their eggplant under at the end of the season, it can actually be grown as a perennial in warmer climates. Believed to have originated in India and cooked widely in Asian cultures as well as in Italy, there are a multitude of eggplant varieties. Here at Wooden Hill we cultivate 4 different eggplants , 3 of which may be new to most. Swallow is the very dark, small and slender variety. Ping-tung, an asian variety, is also long and skinny, but is a brighter purple that verges on pink. Rosa Bianca is the round, white and pink variety. And last but not least, Purple Beauty is the dark purple variety that most resembles the classic Italian and eggplant. They are all very similar except in appearance, although some say that the Rosa Bianca has a denser, richer texture. The eggplant on this farm went through a lot earlier this season, surviving pretty serious attacks by both flea and potato beetles- but we're pretty sure they only taste the better for it! They're also good for you! They can lower blood cholesterol and prevent cancer and provide you with folate, B6 and Vitamin C.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Here's a recipe to make use of those long thin varieties

CHEESE STUFFED EGGPLANT ROLLS
2 long thin eggplants, ends trimmed
3 TBSP salt
3 TBSP olive oil
1 and 1/2 cup cheese filling (recipe below)
* preheat oven to 375
*2 baking sheets lightly oiled
1. Slice eggplant length wise (about 1/8 in. thick). Salt and lay in colander to drain for about 1 hour. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Place slices on baking sheets in single layer. Brush lightly with oil. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes (until lightly browned). Remove, flip and bake 3 minutes more. Using tongs, remove and let drain on paper towel. Repeat step two with remaining slices.
3. Place 1 TBSP of cheese filling on one end of slice and roll. Continue with all slices. Serve warm or refrigerate overnight and reheat at 350 for about 10 minutes
* if you like you can place in baking dish, cover with tomato sauce and heat through. Serve wtih rice or couscous for a meal.

now for the...CHEESE FILLING
(makes 1 and 1/2 cups)
1cup yogurt or farmer cheese
4oz. cream cheese
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp Garam Masala spice (or curry powder)- also optional
1 large, lightly beaten egg
2 TBSP chopped cilantro (or other appropriate herb)
combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well!
(Recipes taken from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible)

Back To The Grind

2010-07-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

This week was definitely a breath of fresh air for the Wooden Hill gang. After that wonderful series of storms, all the plants have decided to repay us for our patience in the form of heavier harvest baskets. We think it's safe to say that we've gotten over a serious hump and it's time to let the pickin' begin. Not to tease, or get your mouths watering, but it looks like the sweet corn won't be much longer...and trust us, we're checking every day! It may seem like our corn has taken longer than some folks. This is because we knocked out our super early variety, and planted just two types in the hopes that we would have larger amounts mature and ready for the picking at one time. We know, in fact we're absolutely positive that you guys are dreaming about the arrival of tomatoes too. As far as they go, there are a ton of green ones out there in the fields. You'll notice that this week we're offering a taste test of our two cherry tomato varieties- super sweet 100's and Sungolds. The Super sweets are red and are pretty standard as far as cherry tomatoes go. The Sungolds are the orange guys (which indicates a low acid tomato) and are extremely sweet- in our opinion, the candy of the tomato world. We promise the big 'maters are soon to follow. Also, we've started in on our Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers. These yellow peppers are perfect if you like something with some heat, but not hot enough that you can't taste your food or feel your mouth. Try one with a sandwich!
In other news, this past weekend marked our !st Annual Bug Hunt with the Little Gardeners class. This class has become our monthly reminder that the proper way to see the world is always as if it's for the very first time. Thanks kiddies!
And now for a couple quick announcements!
-You may notice that we have found a kitten. He was in the barn, vagabonding for some odd reason. He's never been owned (maybe????), has very low mileage and is very cute! Come check him out.
-ANNOUNCING OUR FIRST SHAREHOLDER POTLUCK PICNIC on Friday, August 13 from 5pm till dusk! Bring a favorite dish to share, folding chairs, kids, and toys ( and instruments if you wish!)

CROP OF THE WEEK
TOMATILLOS

While we're not giving out a ton of these bad boys, we're pretty sure that most of you have been wondering what they are, and what exactly to do with them. Also called husk tomatoes, or "tomate verde" in spanish, tomatillos are part of the nightshade family and are common in Mexican cooking. They are used for their sour-zippy-tangy-citrusy flavor, which is at its peak when the husk is filled out and the fruit is still firm and green. Tomatillos do become sweeter as they fully ripen. The variety we grow here is called Verde Puebla and is a pale yellow when fully ripe. Remember that the husks are inedible and should be taken off before using. If you don't plan on cooking with them right away you can leave the husks on and store them in the
refrigerator

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

SALSA VERDE
Like all great homemade salsas, ingredients should be added to taste to create your own personal blend. Don't be afraid to get creative. What's important here is the preparation of the tomatillos

INGREDIENTS
Tomatillos
Cilantro or coriander
Onion
Garlic
Lime Juice
Pepper (jalapeno, serrano, or other)
Salt
Sugar
1. Remove husks from tomatillos
2. Prepare the tomatillos in one of two ways. A) Roast by placing halved tomatillos on a foil covered baking sheet and broiling for 5 minutes or until skin begins to slightly blacken...or B) Boil by placing tomatillos in a saucepan with water. Simmer for 5 minutes and remove.
3. Place all ingredients (except salt) into food processor and blend to desired consistency. Than add salt to taste
(recipe adapted from simplyrecipes.com)

Another great trick with tomatillos is simply to add them to your favorite guacamole recipe (in addition to or instead of lemon/lime juice) or even add them to a prepared salsa for some extra ZIP!

P.S.
We hope that some of you got to try Stef's Carrot Ginger soup recipe. Definitely a great way to make use of those Carrots. In case you're still searching for things to do with them, we came across another great and incredibly simple (and quick!) recipe for...

PICKLED CARROT SALAD
1lb carrots (tops removed)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup vinegar
1/3 cup water
1 TBSP honey
2 minced cloves garlic
2 TSP dry oregano
1 TSP salt
1/2 TSP pepper
1/2 TSP dry mustard
1. Clean and shred carrots (you can also opt to chop and boil/steam just until tender)
2. Combine all other ingredients in jar or tupperware with lid. Shake well. Pour over carrots. Let chill for at least a couple hours...over night is even better.
*We'll also be trying this recipe with our cucumbers!
(recipe adapted from allrecipes.com)

Super Soakers

2010-07-14T05:51:00.000-07:00

What a difference a week can make! Last week, we were just hoping and wishing on a star for that delightful stuff that falls from the sky. We had forgotten what rainy days feel like (they feel mmm mmmm goood!) Today, as we type, the rain is still falling. Last night we got 2.2 inches. :o)

Saturday we got .7" on the rain gauge followed by a lovely Monday where we got 2.5". Finding out you got over an inch of rain is like finding out you got an 'A' on your bio exam. Monday's thunderstorm was a wee bit scary, but all our fields held strong. This is in contrast to last year where we had a slight wash out/run-off problem. That combined with how much it rained last year made for a bit of a complicated situation. After the rain we would trek out to the fields with shovels and move soil around and re-plant the plants that washed down the hill. This year, knowing what we were up against, we decided use a variety of methods to prevent any erosion. We strip tilled rows in the flood prone areas, made wider rows and left some space cover cropped with tall grasses. And everything held firm! The rain is doing a lot of work for us this week, and it is welcomed greatly.

In other non-rain related news (you guys are probably tired of hearing us complain and/or praise the rain), we received our fall seed order. It's always remarkable how quickly time goes by, and we can hardly believe it's already time to start seeding our fall vegetables. Fall vegetable crops include salad mixes, carrots, brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli and beets. And we bought 3 heavy duty harvest knives along with the fall order. We are really excited to use them. If you have any vegetables you need harvested, call on us and we can bring them over to your house to help cut summer squash. Anyway, in preparation for fall seeding, yesterday, another batch of potting mix was made. We also have started to harvest every day in order to keep up with those prolific crops. Harvesting becomes a full time job at this point in the season and is necessary to maintain your plants. If the fruit from a plant isn't continually harvested, it will stop producing. New growth is encouraged when the old growth is taken away (and cooked up into yummy dishes). So that's what we've been up to this week. And now, for our crop of the week..

CROP OF THE WEEK

CUCUMBERS

Cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are a common crop from the cucurbit family. Other related family members include melons and gourds. We grow 3 types of cucumbers here on Wooden Hill: Marketmore 76, General Lee slicing cucumber and Lemon cucumbers. Marketmore 76 is a leading slicing variety in the Northeast. General Lee cucumbers, according to the Fedco catalog never develop "yellow bellies" and retain their sweet salad flavor. Lemon cucumbers (small and yellow, like a lemon) are usually eaten at full maturity, when they are golden yellow, but some people prefer them when they are pale greenish yellow and claim that they are most tender at that stage, and certainly not as seedy. Lemon cucumbers are crisp and sweet.

Cucumbers are very nutritious. The peel contains dietary fiber and may help prevent some colon cancers. Cucumbers are high in potassium and may help reduce blood pressure and heart rates by countering effects of sodium. Cucumbers are high in anti-oxidants such as beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, vitamin A, vitamin C, lutein and

zea-xanthin. Cukes are known for their cooling and calming effects and have gained a reputation at spas all over the world. Placing slices of cucumbers over your eyes is thought to reduce puffiness and revitalize skin. This fact is disputed with skeptics saying that there may be a minor reduction in swelling simply because the cucumber is cold when placed on the skin. You guys be the judge!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

This week's recipes start with a great way to prep your cucumbers. Once prepped, you are then at a jumping off point for a myriad of other recipes. Try Grandma's Cucumber recipe (a favorite of Stef's grandmother, who was allergic to raw cucumbers, but could eat them in this form). Or... try Charlton's father's recipe, in which a yummy Cucumber salad is made with garlic, pepper, onion and paprika.

Cucumber Prep Tip: Use the slicing side of your grater to make thin cucumber slices. Then, salt the cucumbers (for 2 cucumbers, use ~1 TBSP salt) and place cucumbers in a colander over a bowl or sink with some sort of weight on top (we use a plate and a heavy frying pan). Let cucumbers drain for 1 hour. Cucumbers become tender and delicious. The salt helps to draw the moisture out.

Grandma's Cucumbers

1. Use the cucumber prep tip. Rinse with water and strain. Put cucumbers in bowl and pour white vinegar on top (~2 TBSP) and put into fridge. Let soak for 1/2 hour and serve chilled.

Charlton's Father's Cucumbers

1. Use the cucumber prep tip and squeeze excess juice out of cucumbers. Do not rinse with water. Add 1/2 sliced onion and one clove minced garlic. Add enough white vinegar and oil to coat all slices (~1 TBSP each). Add pepper to taste and 1/2 tsp paprika. Mix. Place in fridge for 1 hour. Serve chilled.

You can always drive way North to cool off

2010-07-07T14:35:00.000-07:00

Aww, image from the first share, just a few weeks ago :)

Hello all you shareholders out there!

As most of you are hopefully aware of by now, it is hot. It's so hot that it's a news story. In fact, we'd say it's fashionably hot. Irrigation is the name of the game over here. As you guys may notice roaming around town, plants are smaller than normal at this point in the season. We're hoping that this weekend, we'll get some MUCH needed relief. Do a rain jig.

On to a better topic, Dave has been making some amazing food. It all started with some chili, some venison teriyaki, some gnocchi, and moving onto this morning, a delicious chard, onion, and mushroom omelette. He had nothing to do with the frozen snickers bars.

This week, we harvested a bunch of summer squash, which includes some really unique varieties. We're hoping that at the pick up you guys try the Lebanese White Bush squash, Eight Ball zucchini or the Italian varieties of zucchini (Costata Romanesca and Coccozelle). Other news from the field includes lots of irrigation to keep those tasty plants hydrated and some greenhouse plastic removal. We remove the plastic simply so that it doesn't have to weather every storm until next spring. Yesterday, the thermometer on the porch said 104. In the greenhouse, it must have been 120. Stef wasn't in the greenhouse for very long, but a little bit goes a long way. Visions of being in a rotisserie roaster were enough to make her dream up a slip 'n slide. And then a slip 'n slide appeared. ..... Nope. But she did play in the horse trough. Beans were picked and afternoon siestas were mandatory.

Haiku of the Week

Golden wheat left bare

Groundhogs dance under the shade

Dave waits in silence

CROP OF THE WEEK

Beans

This week's crop of the week is everyone's favorite - beans! They are so tasty and so nutritious. Beans are high in choline, which can improve mental functioning. They are slso high in vitamins A, B, C, potassium, protein, iron and calcium. And let's not forget, beans are very high in amino acids, which makes them very valuable for vegetarians. This week, you will be receiving a mix of beans in your share. The varieties are as follows:

Dragon Tongue (flat, striped purple)

Provider and Jade (2 types of standard green beans)

Indy Gold Bush (yellow wax bean)

They are all good both raw or cooked, so do experiment (unless you eat them all before you get home).

The old rhyme, "Beans, beans the musical fruit.." suggests that beans cause yes, flatulence. In fact, scientists have discovered that it is oligosaccharides (sugar molecules also found in cabbage) that cause this. Normal human digestive tracts do not contain any anti-oligosaccharides and therefore need to be digested by bacteria in the large intestine. Gas is produced as a byproduct, hence the tooting.

The world leader in production of green beans is China, followed by Indonesia and then Turkey. [information from the last 2 paragraphs taken from Wikipedia]

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

We know you know what to do with green beans. We're sure all of you have your favorite green bean casserole recipe, your favorite seasonings (ours is just salt, pepper and butter), but here's a new twist on an old standard:

Summer Seasoned String Beans

[recipe adapted from allrecipes.com]

1 TBSP olive oil

2 TBSP butter

1 ham hock

Fresh Green Beans, ~ 1 lb

6 small red potatoes

Dry vegetable soup mix (can use vegetable boullion cube)

1/2 TBSP sugar

1/2 TBSP pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a large pot. Place ham hock in the pot, and brown on both sides. Reduce heat to low. Place green beans and potatoes in the pot, and pour enough water to cover. Mix in the soup mix, sugar and pepper. Simmer 1 hour, or until the beans and potatoes are tender. Remove the hock and shred meat into pot before serving.

yumyumyum.

Lookin' purdy

2010-06-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys! We hope this week's newsletter finds you well and hopefully not completely overdosed on Wooden Hill lettuce. You've undoubtedly been eating salads galore, but alas, all good lettuce crops must come to an end. The heat from the last couple of weeks was enough to send most of the remaining lettuce heads bolting to the sky and make it bitter, bitter, bitter. We've still got some romaine in the ground, so we'll see how much it can put up with. Speaking of heat! Can we talk about this amazing cooool weather we've got goin' on here?! Incredible! The spring we wish we had! Sweet relief! Just when you thought you couldn't take it anymore! Now if we could just get some more of that wet stuff to fall from the sky.
This week has been all about irrigation and making the farm look purdy. Tomatoes got strung, corn got hoed (and is knee high by the 4th of July), the bug wars continued with a particularly gory battle in the eggplant-Marley vs. the Potato Beetles. Roadways got mowed, cucurbit vines were whipped into shape, and the herb garden's lookin' as fine as ever. Most importantly, Farmer Dave made his return to Wooden Hill this week. This is Dave's 2nd year helping us on the farm part time. He has superb mowing skills, can wield a hoe with ninja like precision and can cook up one meeean pot of chili. But above all, he's a he, which Charlton is extremely grateful for. Charlton likes working with the ladies, but enough is enough. It's nice to have a change.
This weeks share will bring in a couple new crops. The beets you'll get are a mix of three different varieties. Chioggia appears normal on the outside, but are red and white striped inside. Marley's brother hated beets until he tried these guys! There's also a standard red beet as well as one called Bulls Blood which you'll notice is a very dark purple and a bit smaller. You'll also be getting our Red Norland potatoes this week! At this point in the year the skins are not fully set (also known as "new" potatoes). If you decide to store these guys for a while, keep an eye on any nicks on the skins. Sometimes these are the spots where they may start to go. We've also left some soil on the potatoes which can help protect them and keep them longer.

CROP OF THE WEEK
CARROTS

The carrots we know and love today were actually bred from the wild carrot. They were selected overtime for their larger, sweeter roots and are believed to have originated in both Asia and the Netherlands. Although we all think of carrots as orange, there are in fact white, red, yellow and purple carrots too. We'll probably be growing a variety called "purple haze" in the fall! Carrots are actually a "biennial" crop. During the first year of growth the carrot puts on leaves and stores all its nutrients and sugars in the root (the part we eat). If left in the ground, the carrot will use this stored energy to flower and set seed in the second year. Carrots are rich in Vitamins A, K and C. Carrots can promote healthy vision and healthy digestion and have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer and even lower blood cholesterol.

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Potato Salad for the Holiday Weekend
8 medium red potatoes
2/3 cup chopped onion
chopped parsley(to your taste)
1 cup mayo
2/3 cup sour cream
2 and a half TBSP sugar (or to taste)
2 and a half TBSP white vinegar
3TSP dry mustard (a prepared brown mustard works well too)
Salt and pepper to taste
* we also like to add some chopped celery and or grated carrots

Prepare potatoes and combine with onion and parsley. Combine all other ingredients in separate bowl and pour over potatoes. Mix and refrigerate for at least an hour. Letting it cool longer will allow the flavors to really meld

Carrots a la Dave
shred carrots, dice up a little bit of onion and some garlic if ya like. Saute in pan with oil, honey, a dash of chili powder, black pepper and a little soy sauce. Eat as is, or use to make mini stuffed cabbage rolls!

This Week

2010-06-23T13:08:00.000-07:00

Hello all ye wonderful farm friends. Wooden Hill would just like to thank all the shareholders, friends, neighbors, and volunteers for getting this year off to a great start. The support and encouragement we've received is priceless when trying to get a small business off the ground. In order to keep some of our benefactors anonymous us farmers would like to give a special thanks to some of our code named friends. Big sout out to Mr. Heartbeat of America, Sling Blade, French Fried Taters, Mr. Mobeggish, Chingachgook's Master, Pickles, Labatts on Tap, The Fast Bird Property, Mrs. Lookin Pretty, Geographical Reference Radio DJ, Tater and Momma, The One and Only Master and Commander of the Farm, Old Trail Walker, and of course big thanks go out to Spots. You all know who you are...maybe?

This week we scrambled to get most of our irrigation hooked up just as Smokey the Bear jumped out of his bed in the wheat fields. He started saying something about, "Only YOU can..." but we started running. Stef led the mad dash as she is particularly afraid of bears (and snakes). Unfortunately and fortunately all this dry weather is very favorable for weed nabbing and newsletter rambling so I'll end the intro right after a couple words from our sponsor. Marley runs from birds and Charlton does the same in the presence of lightning. And to clarify, our fears are merely a healthy respect for nature, specifically things that can sneak up and bite you!

Enjoy your share this week and keep on rain dancing!

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A few words about this week's share. You will notice that you are receiving small red onions. No, we haven't grown the world's smallest onion crop, we are giving you spring onions. Quite frankly, some are not so spring onions and that's just because they grew a bit more than the standard sized ones. OH! And you guys will also notice that you are receiving fresh garlic. You can either use this immediately or you can hang it to dry and cure it. Cured garlic has the classic papery skin that you get in the market. Also, like our spring onions, we have some spring baby cabbage for you. Keep in mind that the cabbage worms are out and about so soaking your cabbage and broccoli in salt water can help to get rid of them.

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CROP OF THE WEEK

GARLIC

Garlic! I don't think we are alone when we say that most dishes in our house start with olive oil, onion and garlic. It is such a staple. Garlic is the last thing we planted last year and the first thing that came up this year. That's right it took 8 months to grow! 8 months is almost as long as it takes to have a baby. Garlic originated in the wild in Central Asia and has more than 5,000 years of history as an important horticultural crop. Garlic is antibacterial, antiviral and anti fungal. It can help prevent heart disease and cancer and helps regulate blood sugar. Marley is sure it's what cured her strep throat last year and Charlton swears he hasn't gotten a cold in 2 years because of garlic (best remedy we've found to keep a cold at bay). We've also used it to repel insects and bad dates. Many people don't realize how many varieties of garlic there are; we grow Old German and Elephant garlic. Some of our Elephant garlic is big enough to feed the state of Pennsylvania....or at least Perry County. Without further adieu, here's a nice stir fry that includes many of our veggies this week!

RECIPE OF THE WEEK

Stir Fried Veggies

4 TBSP oil

1 TBSP minced fresh ginger

1 TBSP minced GARLIC!!!!

Dash of red chili flakes

Red onion, chopped

1 bunch kale (or any greens), chopped

1/4 lb broccoli (optional), chopped

3 carrots, chopped

6 scallions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 baby cabbage head, cut into 1 inch wide strips

2/3 cup of stock or water

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 TBSP corn starch dissolved in 1 TBSP cold water

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Put 2 TBSP oil in a wok over high heat. When hot, add ginger, garlic and chili flakes. After about 30 seconds, scoop out and set aside. Add remaining oil to the wok; when hot add the onions and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add your greens and broccoli and stir fry for 1-2 minutes more. Add carrots and scallions and stir fry 1-2 minutes more. Then add the cabbage and 1/3 cup of the stock and the reserved aromatic herbs (garlic, ginger, and chili). Continue to stir fry until veggies are tender crisp, about 2 minutes more. Add the remaining stock, soy sauce and corn starch mixture and stir fry until lightly glazed, about 1 minute. Serve! Garnish with sesame seeds.

Also, with your garlic, make us farmers real proud and make some garlic bread.

Photo sesh

2010-06-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Buggers

2010-06-16T15:07:00.000-07:00

Last week ended with a bang! We successfully got through our second little gardeners class. After two weeks of insanity, an hour with the kiddos amongst the herb garden and peas was just the refresher we needed. Don't ever let anyone tell you that 2 and 3 year-olds are too young for weeding.

After our little refresher with the little people, we jumped right back into work, and planted everything else we had! It's official - spring planting is done! Congratulations plants. You all have new homes and small mortgages. Now all we have to do is take care of them, so that they take good care of us. From now on our farm work is centered around harvesting, de-weeding and de-bugging. And lettuce tell ya, there’s lots of bugs. So if any of you shareholders out there feel an urge to pick potato beetles for nine hours, lettuce know. This year, we’ve seen more bugs than we’ve seen any other year. Some say it’s because of all the snow that insulated them during the winter. We think it’s just because our crops are incredibly delicious. But it’s not all bad. A bug nibbled leaf encourages the plant to grow that much stronger. And not all bugs are evil either, for every potato and flea beetle, there’s a ladybug or other beneficial insect that’s looking out for us. This is in contrast to conventional agriculture, where bugs aren’t allowed at all. Broadcast sprayed chemicals kill both good and bad insects, leading to super bugs and weaker plants.

For all the worries that these little creatures can bring, there is always the magic of the firefly. The wheat field is a lovely backdrop for them at dusk. We call them summer’s Christmas lights.

CROP OF THE WEEK

CHARD

The stuff in your share that looks like rhubarb is actually a variety of Chard called ‘Bright Lights’. Swiss Chard, may also go by the Latin name, Beta Vulgaris and is sometimes called Spinach Beet. That’s right, believe it or not, Chard is actually a beet green without the root. Chard is very popular among Mediterranean chefs. Wikipedia explains that when sautéed, the bitterness fades and leaves a refined flavor, much more delicate than that of cooked spinach. Smaller chard leaves, which you may have seen in spring mixes before, are often consumed raw. The larger leaves are usually cooked before eating. Chard can be quick boiled, which helps to release some of the oxalic acid and bitterness. Additionally it can be sautéed or steamed. Think of it like big spinach. Chard is also packed full of essential nutrients. It is extremely high in vitamin K, A, C and E, magnesium, iron, fiber, potassium, and the list goes on. So eat ‘em ups!

RECIPES

Lasagne and Quiche

Saute your chard with olive oil and add to your favorite lasagna recipe, quiche, or use to substitute for recipes containing spinach.

White Beans With Swiss Chard and Rice (taken from the New York Times)

3/4 pound Swiss chard (1 small bunch)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 pound (1 1/8 cups) white beans, washed and picked over

1 bay leaf

1 Parmesan rind (optional but recommended)

Salt

1 cup rice

Freshly ground pepper

A few drops of fresh lemon juice (optional)

1. Stem the Swiss chard, and wash both the stems and the leaves. Dice the stems if they’re wide, and set aside. Stack the leaves and cut in wide ribbons or chop coarsely. Set aside separately from the stems.

2. Heat the oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, and add the onion and diced chard stems. Cook, stirring often, until the onion softens, about five minutes. Add half the garlic, and stir together for 30 seconds to a minute until fragrant. Add the beans, bay leaf, Parmesan rind (tie the bay leaf and rind together with a kitchen string to make retrieval easier) and 2 quarts water. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer one hour. Add the remaining garlic and salt to taste, and simmer for another 30 minutes to an hour until the beans are tender.

3. Add the rice and pepper, and simmer 15 minutes until the rice is tender. Stir in the chard leaves, and simmer another five to 10 minutes until the chard is tender but still bright. The mixture should be soupy but thick. Season to taste with salt and fresh black pepper. Squeeze on some fresh lemon juice — 2 to 3 teaspoons — if desired.

Yield: Serves four.

Advance preparation: You can make this through step 2 up to three days ahead. Bring to a simmer and proceed with step 3.

Newsletter Numero Dos

2010-06-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

Weather: current status = raining.

Now that we have our super duper rain gauge installed (as of Monday), we will know exactly how much rain our crops are getting. Typically, vegetables need 1 inch of rain per week. If there is no rain, we will use irrigation. So far this year though, we've only used the irrigation once so we're off to a really great start. So, not only is the rain helping out with the crops, but it's giving us farmers a much needed rest after a very busy two weeks. We just want to take a moment to say thank you for making our first harvest such a great experience! Also thanks to those who submitted comments and new recipes. Keep the feedback and recipes coming!

We had a lovely weekend at the Hunters Valley Winery Open House craft fair. We sold some herbs and veggies and got the word out about the CSA a bit more. The pottery and crafts were beautiful and everyone had a lovely time chatting and enjoying the local wines. The waiting list is already filling up for next year!

Weeding was the name of the game out in the fields earlier this week. The root crops and lettuce field got a makeover and we are just about to jump into weeding the alliums (onion family) and bean row. We also did lots and lots of planting. We got our cucumbers and melons in the ground, planted more flowers and 4 varieties of BASIL!!! We intercrop the basil in with the tomatoes. Not only do they taste good together, they help one another grow. Just like peanut butter and jelly. So, make sure you plant your peanut butter plant next to your jelly plant.

Okay, so let's talk about our crop of the week. This week it's KOHLRABI! Woo-hoo!

CROP OF THE WEEK

Kohlrabi

The alien looking life form in your share this week is known as kohlrabi. It is odd looking and uncommon but we hope you enjoy trying it this week. Cruciferous vegetables, including kohlrabi appear to lower the risk of cancer more effectively than any other vegetable or fruit. Also known as the German

turnip, Kohlrabi was originally bred from the wild cabbage plant. All parts of this plant are edible, though in the Western world, it's usually the bulb that is used. The taste is reminiscent of a sweet broccoli stem or a mild turnip. In Kashmir, India, it is known as Monj and is one of the most commonly eaten vegetables. The variety you will receive in your share is known as Early White Vienna Kohlrabi and is one of the smallest kohlrabi varieties out there. And now for the recipe!

RECIPES OF THE WEEK

Kohlrabi a la Charlton

Peel and dice as many kohlrabi bulbs as you have.

Saute diced kohlrabi in 1 TBSP butter on medium low heat.

Cook until tender (easily speared with fork).

Eat or add to soups or stews (as you would potatoes).

Do your dishes.

Kohlrabi Slaw

2 small kohlrabi

1 cup radish

1 TBSP white wine vinegar

1 tsp sugar

2 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped

2 TBSP olive oil

Peel two small kohlrabi.

Shred the kohlrabi and radishes.

Mix 1 TBSP vinegar, 1 tsp sugar, 2 TBSP fresh parsley. Whisk in 2 TBSP olive oil.

Add shredded veggies and toss.

Chill for 30 minutes and serve.

Grrrrrreeeens!

2010-06-04T18:02:00.000-07:00

The first pick-up is complete! We're hoping everyone is enjoying the first harvest. We know what some of you might be thinking, "Umm...what on earth is all this stuff. Kale? Chard? AND collards? AND multiple bok choys!??"

Yes, the spring vegetables are uncommon, but have no fear as you may learn to love them and the "normal" stuff (carrots, beets, 17 varieties of tomatoes, summer squash, etc) will be here very soon. As the old saying goes, variety is the spice of life, so we hope you enjoy and have fun trying new recipes. Here are a couple of our favorite recipes for greens:

Easiest Recipe Ever for Kale, Chard or Collards

Heat frying pan with 2 TBSP olive oil.

Cut up one onion or one clove of garlic. Feeling wild? Use both!

Add chopped kale, chard OR collards. We never cook them together, but it may be good.

Stir until leaves start to wilt and cook down.

When pan becomes dry, add 1 TBSP water to pan and

Add 1 boullion cube of chicken or veggie stock.

Stir and serve as side dish!

Mashed Potatoes with Kale

Cook kale using above recipe.

Mix into mashed potatoes.

Enjoy!

Egg scramble with Chard

Cut up one onion and saute in a little butter.

Cook until onion starts to turn clear.

Add chopped chard leaves to pan (2-3). Remove stems for this recipe.

Cook until chard starts to wilt.

Add whisked eggs (2-4).

Stir constantly and scramble until eggs are cooked through.

Enjoy!

Bok Choy with Garlic and Ginger

Add 1 TBSP olive oil to skillet.

Add 2 cloves minced garlic and 1 TBSP fresh ginger (finely chopped).

Cook 1 minute.

Add 8 cups chopped bok choy.

Add 2 TBSP soy sauce.

Cook 5 minutes until greens are wilted but stems are still a bit crunchy.

Season to taste.

Enjoy.

First share is here!

2010-06-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

Hey kiddies,

Our first share is upon us! Things are looking terrific out here at Wooden Hill. We've finally set up the carport as our shareholder pick-up site. We've converted a chest freezer to a refrigerator using a $50 temperature regulator that we got on E-bay. AND! We pulled out the old school Philco fridge that was hiding in the garage. They sure don't make 'em like they used to. So, now we have nice, ample space to keep your fresh, local, organic veggies nice and chilly. Now, a word about the humidity. The word is DESPISE. When you come to pick-up Thursday and Friday, you'll most likely find one of us farmers hanging around the carport gazing off / playing hide and seek with the groundhog. We also might just be sleeping on the grass somewhere. You can wake us if you have a question about something. No no no, we only kid. The amounts for each vegetable that you can take will be displayed. We use the honor system here, so please take the allotted amount. Be sure to check the master list so you can check to make sure you've got everything. Also, remember to sign-in and bring your bags (and your extra bags).

Again, we're busy mounding potatoes and weeding as always. Just yesterday, your summer squash was planted out and then we got a crazy thunderstorm to water those puppies in. We heard from an old farmer that rainwater from a thunderstorm contains more nitrogen so hopefully everything just got a super rocket boost.

This week, your share is all about greens greens greens. Treat 'em all like spinach! Sautee in oil and garlic! Steam! Stir-fry! Put them in an omelette! Put them in soup! Make a sandwich! Bake them into a quiche! Mix them into your rice! MAKE SAVORY CREPES! Mmmm. And trust us, no matter how you make them, you'll taste the vitamins, which will give you a super rocket boost. You may be curious about the long green skinny garlic scape you'll be receiving. It's the flower stalk from one of our garlic plants and you can eat it. Treat it just like garlic. It has a milder flavor. Chop up the whole thing. Or don't. Or do.

CROP OF THE WEEK

Hakurei Turnips

This gourmet Japanese variety of turnip is like no other turnip you've ever had. They are delicious chopped up into your greens mix and eaten just the way they are. They have a mild flavor and almost a melon-like texture. Smaller than the turnip you are used to, they are incredibly delicate. "The turnip's root is high only in vitamin C. The green leaves of the turnip top are a good source of vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin K and calcium. Turnip greens are high in lutein." (taken from Wikipedia) So do your body good, eat some turnip greens! Turnips are also in the same family as broccoli and cabbage. You'll also be getting the normal Purple Top White Globe variety later this season.

RECIPE

White Hakurei Turnip Gratin

Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a non-stick 12 inch skillet (make sure you have a top to fit the pan.)

Wash one bunch of white hakurei turnips well, top and tail them, and slice them in 1/4 inch slices. Save the turnip greens for another recipe. You don’t need to peel the turnips. Layer the slices in the pan. Sprinkle the sliced turnips with 1 teaspoon dry thyme, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper, and 1/8- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper.

Cook for 3 minutes over medium heat, then pour 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1/2 cup chicken stock over the top. Cover and cook the turnips over medium heat for 20 minutes. The turnips will be completely cooked through, but there will be considerable liquid left in the pan. Remove the cover and cook to reduce the liquid. When most of the liquid has reduced (about 5-10 minutes), and the sauce is thickened, grate finely 1/2 cup of fresh parmesan cheese evenly over the top. Watch closely as the cheese melts and make sure that the liquid does not entirely cook away. Serve hot! {Recipe taken from gfzing.com}

We're so excited to meet all of you this Thursday (6/3) and Friday (6/4)! Remember our pick-up times are Thursdays from 1PM-7PM and on Fridays from 8AM-12PM. Espresso Yourself deliveries will be there every Friday at 3PM. As always, e-mail us if you have any questions!

Announcements

-You are responsible for picking up your share during our open hours. If you cannot pick-up for any reason, please contact us before the pick-up so that we can work with you to make other arrangements.

-All dogs MUST be leashed.

-Shareholders are welcome to come anytime during our open hours for pick-ups. Otherwise, kindly do not show up to the farm unannounced. We'd like to hang out with you guys, it's just that we're eating dinner, or really really busy.

-Share size is subject to natural growing conditions.

-We will have a sign-in sheet here at the farm when you come to pick-up. Please sign-in so that we know you've received your share.

-Please bring us your spare shopping bags so that we can provide bags for people who forgot to bring their own.

-Park anywhere once you drive up the lane. Also, kindly do not park-in others.

***Be cautious when entering and exiting the driveway. It is one lane. When turning in and exiting, please DRIVE EXTREMELY SLOWLY and watch for other cars***

First Newsletter

2010-05-21T06:16:00.000-07:00

What have we been doing?

Oh you know, just eating as many of our neighbor's strawberries as we can.

Oh yeah, and growing over 30 types of vegetables from seed.

So far, so good. Here at Wooden Hill things have been pretty much rolling along on schedule. And by schedule, we mean that we've been able to plant when we wanted to and the rain fell when it wanted to. It's a beneficial relationship that we like to pretend we have some tiny bit of control over. The deer have kept their distance and the groundhogs (aka Mr. Nibbles and Co.) and the bunnies seem to be busy with other things for now.

Since this is the first of many field updates to come, there's really a lot to catch up on, so we'll try not to bore you guys. Most of the winter wheat that covered our fields during the off season has been tilled right back into the ground to make way for the future seedlings of America. After starting all the way back in February with seeding our onions in trays on the dining room table, most of the seedlings are now making their homes in the fields. The peas are shooting, we have greens galore, tomatoes are in the ground and our fragrant, whimsical herb garden is taking shape. We've even been seeding white clover between our raised crop beds to ensure that the soil is maintained and replenished. This also gives us a chance to strengthen our raking skills. This essential trade skill is not just important for collecting autumn's detritus, it's very important when learning how to properly and very manually mound potatoes.

Other skills that we've been adding to our resumes include shuffle hoeing, beet thinning, speed planting, row jumping, tomato stake driving, soap grating, Olympic speed walking, and tractor surfing. So remember, if you need to give a dog a bath, have 'em run through a dewy wheat field and you can't steer a sled on ice.

Looking forward to meeting the best shareholders in the world next Thursday and Friday (6/3 and 6/4). E-mail us if you have any questions about or can't make it to the first pick-up! Also, check back for next week's newsletter and RECIPES!!!

Announcements!

- You are responsible for picking-up your share during our open hours. If you cannot pick-up for any reason, please contact us before the pick-up so we can work with you to make other arrangements.

- All dogs MUST be leashed.

- Shareholders are welcome to come anytime during our open hours for pick-ups. Otherwise, kindly do not show up to the farm unannounced. We'd like to hang out with you guys, it's just that sometimes we're eating dinner, or really really busy.

- Share size is subject to natural growing conditions.

- We will have a sign-in sheet here at the farm when you come to pick-up. Please sign-in so we know you received your share.

- Please bring us your spare shopping bags so that we can provide bags for people who forgot to bring their own.

Conversion

2010-04-26T07:59:00.001-07:00

Hello all! Woo - hoo! We are at 50 shareholders!

This blog, which functioned as a personal journal, is about to take on a new face. It has been collecting dust over the winter. With our business website we have sort of forgotten about this old blog. That's all about to change.

This will now be where Wooden Hill posts its weekly newsletter and harvest list. Doing this on good old blogspot will allow shareholders to leave comments and interact with one another. We can all share recipes and keep up to date on all things farm related.

Beginning again.

2010-02-20T10:30:00.000-08:00

It is a sunny, Saturday afternoon in February. And it's official - our second season has started. We made our first batch of potting soil on Monday and seeded onions on Thursday. We are all back from our winter adventures and are feeling great after a rejuvenating winter. Winter is a time to be still, and reflect, and regain all the energy lost from a growing season full of taxing work. As a farmer, every new growing season allows for a whole new beginning. With all the knowledge from seasons past, farmers can plan differently, and better. This is why old farmers have a wisdom that can never be faked. For instance, my grandfather had knowledge from about 40 growing seasons. 40! That's 40 years of experiencing everything your plants experience - the storms, the sunshine, the bugs. Curve balls make less of an impact than they used to at that point. It's about progress, and learning what works for you and the individual plot of land you are on. Learning every dip in the field, no rock remains unturned. So there's this knowledge at the beginning of a season, which is important, but it's coupled with a freshness. It's this energizing freshness that makes me crave being out there in the fields under a sunny day.

The other jungle

2010-01-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

non GMO info

Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T13:25:00.001-08:00

I just arrived back from picking up our 24.5 lb pastured turkey at North Mountain Pastures, a local meat CSA run by some friends. They raise a fine fine bird without hormones and antibiotics and I can't wait for Thanksgiving to share this bird with loved ones and friends. Our main meal (and even some of the desserts) will consist of local products. The broccoli, the pumpkin, the potatoes, the sweet potatoes, the cauliflower, the salad greens, the turnips - yeah, I grew all that. No big deal. And it makes sense. Our climate is the one in which all the traditional Thanksgiving food was grown, so it should be really simple to find it all grown and raised close by. Yeah, it's good for the planet. Yeah, it's responsible eating to choose an animal that lived a humane life. But even if you were an Earth and animal hating creature, a misanthrope who ate Thanksgiving dinner alone, eating locally would still ensure a meal that tasted a thousand times better. Better tasting food? Sold. As if we didn't already have enough to be thankful for.

2009-11-11T12:56:00.000-08:00

There's still broccoli and cauliflower and carrots and beets out there, but they are in the cold ground. Cold ground is much different than the warm stuff I had my hands in all season. With most of the fields cover cropped with red winter wheat, it looks as though nothing happened out there this year. The same land, but vacant. I realized the other day that I know nothing about ornamental plants. Not a thing, other than being able to point out an azalea. I know only about plants that can feed us.

Before and After

2009-10-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Before

After

2009-10-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

2009-10-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

October

2009-10-06T10:50:00.000-07:00

All that green is finally slowing down. One by one, crops are disappearing from the fields. Winter wheat is planted in their place. It's the opposite of painting. It's painting in reverse. You start with a full canvas, and one by one, using white paint, take out each element. Your finished painting is a blank canvas. This is much different than just buying an empty canvas. What on earth am I rambling about?

We have started marketing ourselves as a CSA for next year. We've got a mailing list going and have been mailing and e-mailing people our brochure and CSA sign-up form. We understand that most people will want to sign up in the Spring, but we just couldn't wait to start getting the word out. The response has been great. Many people are asking us to reserve a space for them for next season. The video that Stacey made us also has been a great marketing tool for us. With over 350 views already, we've gotten several Harrisburg area residents who have inquired more about our farm and CSA! Facebook really is an incredible way to network. We have a few people coming for tours over the next week or so. We also have another shareholder who signed up for the remainder of this season! We couldn't be happier about this. It's also a reminder that though things are slowing here, we still do have a Fall crop to harvest that inludes cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, beets, turnips and broccoli. Hmm... what else is going on? Butternut squash soup with pear and ginger has been made. Red lentils with homemade naan has been made. Apple pie with apples from our very own apple tree has been made. Pumpkins have been carved. Heat has been turned ON. Tonight we are off to North Mountain Pastures for dinner. We met Anna and Brooks and their son Kaj from North Mountain Pastures a couple weeks ago. They run a meat CSA that delivers grass-fed beef and pastured chicken to the Harrisburg area. They also have goats and sheep and pigs! Their homemade chevre is so delicious it's indescribable. Tonight we will help out with their evening animal chores and then enjoy a nice farm to table meal.

2009-10-02T21:07:00.001-07:00

This is a new post.

2009-09-28T20:32:00.001-07:00

Just what everybody wanted ... more close-ups of vegetables ...

A night at the cinema in 3:56

2009-09-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

Without further adieu, below is the link to a video that Stacey Szewczyk, a talented friend and ex co-worker, made about the start of our CSA here at Wooden Hill Farms. Stacey has been a freelance journalist for many years, and you can check out her awesome website and published articles here. Stacey came out to the farm a couple weeks ago for a lovely visit as she did an article for the Daily News about the Susquehanna Valley Wine Trail. I think this post has the record for most amount of links included. Let's include a few more for fun, shall we? Good for your ears. Good for your mind. Good for your body. Anyway, I'm not much of a talking head, but I am passionate about the work I'm doing on this land. Enjoy this kickin' video that Stacey made. A million thank yous to Stacey wouldn't be enough.

The start of our CSA

Perry County Times and Duncannon Record, September 24, 2009

2009-09-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

We made the local papers today! The Duncannon Record and Perry County Times both included a picture of Marley on the front page. The caption explains that we donate organically grown produce to the Perry County Food Bank every Monday. Gettin ze word out.

Wogga Wogga

2009-09-24T09:38:00.000-07:00

2009-09-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

I put on a little extra weight (terrible joke)

Break time

Grapevine transfer

2009-09-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

People are incredibly kind.

Things have started to snowball around here. Now that we have our first shareholder, we're feeling good ... and confident ... and capable of anything. Networking isn't so hard. Neither is weeding corn. Both just take time. We've got flyers and brochures and postcards in all sorts of places where potential customers might frequent. Information about our farm and CSA was included in a 1,500 person e-blast to everyone on my yoga studio's mailing list! This e-mail mainly went to people in the Camp Hill/ greater Harrisburg area. People who are interested in yoga might very well be interested in the local, organic movement. Time will tell. That was last week. This week I've been helping harvest grapes at the local winery. I'm learning how to make wine! Today, we were asked if we'd like to be included at two upcoming events they are having at the winery. We'll set up flowers and organic vegetables, sell our stuff and talk about our kickin' CSA program. And!! We're going to be included in the winery's 1,500 person e-blast regarding these events. People who drive up to this winery and drink wine might be well inclined to a) pass our farm on their way and b) eat organic food. Things are happening. Things are really starting to happen.

Oh man, I almost totally forgot to mention 3 other things we're in the midst of working on:

We're working on having monthly workshops on the farm next year with my yoga instructor who would invite her clients up and teach soon-to-be mothers (she teaches prenatal yoga) how to garden organically. We also were approached by a local meat CSA to see if we want to join forces to be able to offer shareholders local, organic meat! And tonight we'll attend a meeting at the local food bank to brainstorm about how to expand the food bank to include a soup kitchen component (right now it's just people picking up groceries there - no food is prepared there). Anyway, we're thinking of holding events at this possible soup kitchen where we would teach people how to cook with vegetables and herbs. Many people at the food bank pick up the processed food because it's quick and easy. We'll show people that it's just as easy and quick to eat the good stuff.

Bacco and Delaware grapes

Our watermelon umbrella rocks

Me looking very tired because we've been very busy (but it's all good)

2009-09-02T14:41:00.000-07:00

A lot of tomatoes.

Close-up of a lot of tomatoes.

These are watermelons I grew.

Corn and steam.

3 cayenne peppers.

Community Supported Agriculture

2009-08-26T09:58:00.003-07:00

The recent champagne and fine dinner at Harvest, the Hotel Hershey's newest restaurant, prove that this is a big deal. A barn sized big deal. We accomplished what we set out to do - start our own CSA program. WHAAAAT! Am I dreaming? This is amazing! It's a time to celebrate, but not rest on our laurels. We have exactly one shareholder. It happened so quickly. It happened like this: we received a call Saturday afternoon from a woman who is currently unhappy with the share she's been receiving from the CSA program she signed up with this year. She called saying she'd like a full share, starting now. There's still ten weeks left in the season, kiddies. Plenty of time to eat well. An hour later she came to our farm, took a tour, and signed up on the spot. We picked her first share; we picked our first share. She'll be picking up fresh herbs, a fresh-cut flower bouquet and 8 - 10 different vegetables every Friday morning. After seeing the harvest she received, I sort of want to become a shareholder here, too. Anyway, our lovely lovely shareholder found out about us by picking up our brochure at the local health food store. A lot can happen in one day. What in December 2006 seemed like a wild, unachievable dream came true last Saturday. It's beautiful. It's exciting. It's hard to believe. And it's just the beginning. Awww, yeah. No more champagne, for I have some celery to go plant.

2009-08-22T20:57:00.000-07:00

Late blight

2009-08-22T16:14:00.000-07:00

So, our tomatoes are not looking so good. In fact, they are dying. Some of the 14 varieties seem more resistant, but it's just a matter of time before they succumb to it. What they've got is called late blight ... and it's everywhere in the Northeast this year. The wet weather helped the conditions for it, the spores are airborne and it was bound to happen. For weeks we've heard nightmarish stories about farmers losing their whole tomato crop. Some farmers grow upwards of 20 acres of tomatoes and sell them all to canneries. And it's sad, cause tomatoes sell for a premium and farmers bank on them every year. Farmers are hurting. So we worried, and sympathized, but thought we might escape its wrath. We started our tomatoes from seed. Our plants showed no signs of it. Blight? What blight? Or so we thought. Then, in one day, it happened. One freaking day. The plants died. Some show a little sign of green. The fruit that already formed looks good, so that's a glimmer of sunshine. We'll pick them clean. We'll enjoy what we've got. It's funny too, because we reached a point in tomato season where it was getting overwhelming. So many tomatoes. So so many tomatoes. We've sold a ton, but they were producing so many and ripening so quickly that we started to smell the funk - the rotten, over-ripe tomato funk that gets all over your clothes. Once you reach that point in a season, you start thinking about the good tomatoes differently. The good tomato smell starts to remind you of the rotten tomato one and once that blends, salads turn strange. Anyway, now that the season will be shortened significantly, I'm looking at each tomato tenderly once again, just like the way I did when that first tomato came in. Things that are fleeting tend to get looked at tenderly, with much sweetness. Once a thing becomes eternal, it can start to be taken for granted. It can start to collect dust. I don't want to sound too depressing or too inspirational here. I don't want to make this a profound meditation on life and its lessons. It's simple, really. We grow plants. Plants are a part of nature. We do what we can as farmers to make sure everything goes "right", but ultimately, nature is in charge. We'll eat (and savor) the rest of the tomatoes and move on, as all farmers do.

Apprenticeship

2009-08-18T12:11:00.000-07:00

Grandpa teaching my brother how to farm

Same style

2009-08-18T11:59:00.000-07:00

Eating some corn in 1985

Growing brie

2009-08-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

Bananas, brie, grandpa's hat and glasses

me looking forlorn in my grandpa's glasses and other hat

because we cannot grow bananas nor brie

Not so ready watermelon that was still delicious and made

really good agua fresca.

Train with giant tomato cargo coming through the living room

2009-08-14T10:13:00.001-07:00

Corn consumption

2009-08-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Sunday

Wednesday

Best hotel ever

2009-08-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Roadside Stand

2009-08-13T08:18:00.000-07:00

Roadside Stand

By Charles Simic

In the watermelon and corn season
The earth is a paradise, the morning
Is a ripe plum or a plump tomato
We bite into as if it were the mouth of a lover.

Despite the puzzled face of the young fellow
In scarecrow overalls reading a comic book,
It's all there, the bell peppers, the radishes,
Local blueberries and blackberries
That will stain our lips and tongue
As if we were freezing to death in the snow.

The kid is bored, or pretends to be,
While watching the woman pick up a melon
And press its rough skin against her cheek.
What makes people happy is a mystery,
He concludes as he busies himself
Straightening crumpled bills in a cigar box

Retrospective

2009-08-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

THEN (April 2009):

NOW ... actually, two weeks ago (July 2009):

The only way I can describe it is like this:

THEN: = NOW: II

Let's advertise, yes?

2009-08-11T13:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings from a tall corn field.

It's impossible to imagine that these fields were empty four months ago.

We needed signs, so we made some signs.

We still need to ask permission from landowners to see if we can put some up on the southbound side of 11/15. The northbound side is looking perty.

We needed brochures for the local health food store and some restaurants, so we did a large scale printing of them.

Then, we delivered them.

We made postcards to hand out to everyone we've ever met and ever meet. We will go to art fairs and festivals, and hand them out. If you are reading this, I hope you have a postcard.

We needed a CSA sign-up form, because there's interest. So, we wrote one up and printed some. Now, we can send info packets out to everyone who inquires about our indestructible, unstoppable vegetables. Did you know we figured out a way to prevent them from ever rotting? Tricks of the trade. Eternal immortal vegetables. Errr... umm... sure.

Here are some photos. Share them with your grandchildren. Or your pets.

Not a bad way to spend a weekend

2009-08-06T11:36:00.000-07:00

Chamomile, mint, basil iced tea. Oh. yes.

Black walnut

We found purple

2009-08-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

It is healthy not to think about vegetables sometimes

2009-07-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Sample baskets and pho night what what

2009-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Oh man. Marley's uncle, Chris, made us pho on Sunday night. The broth takes four hours to make and is loaded with herbs and spices - anise and corriander to name a couple. The beef (which is sliced really thin) gets cooked when you pour the broth into the bowl. Broth, rice noodles, hoisin sauce, chili peps, basil and bean sprouts and you've got yourself a Vietnamese soup that eats like a meal. Holy toledo. Imma go have some for lunch.

I count 4 chins

Monday we filled baskets with an array of samples from our field and brought them around to local businesses and restaurants. We probably should have done this a while ago, but better late than never. We're learning as we go. Learning to put ourselves out there, learning to be bold, learning to take the first step and then take the lead. For some places, we were just wondering if we could leave brochures for their customers to pick up. They said yes. Oh yeah. For the restaurants, we're hoping that after the chefs sample our goods and see our flowers, they will want to place orders. On the spot, we already got a tomato order from the Doyle Hotel. It also was pretty sweet to walk into a diner this morning for breakfast, and be met by a bouquet of flowers that once grew out behind the barn. It was like, "Hey, I know you guys. You guys are as bright as you were a few days ago when you were in my backyard. Good to see you again. Now it's time for some eggs over easy."

And then you find the perfect timing

2009-07-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

After that last post about 900 squash and one tomato, I just learned to eat my words. I devoured my words. Wooden Hill has found the perfect timing. A salad is not a salad without lettuce, tomato and cucumber. I think this is the only week in the whole season where we will be enjoying a complete (read: perfect) salad using only our produce. The lettuce is still in, the cucumbers and peppers are just starting to reveal their tasty selves, the carrots are still hiding their delicious secrets underground, and hell yes, I've found a couple cherry tomatoes. Perfect timing. Totally worth the wait. Kismet, as they say. Sometimes we just fall together.

I FOUND ONE! ACTUALLY, TWO!

Combine them with their favorite buddies.

Good looking group of friends

Oh baby

Nine hundred squash and one cherry tomato

2009-07-25T12:28:00.000-07:00

The name of the game is eat in season. It is, for sure, a game. Just when you think you have eaten all the squash, there's more. Just when you think you can't eat anymore squash, there's more. Squash on the grill, roasted squash, curried squash, sauteed squash, stuffed squash. Raw squash. Yup. And then finally, just when you want more squash, there's none. It's best not played alone. In fact, the main objective in this game is to find the most amount of people in the world who want to eat squash. These people are hiding everywhere. They are rich and poor, old and young. This game inevitably becomes a story about both patience and indulgence. It's about knowing what other players are charging to get rid of their squash. Yes, get rid. Ultimately, it becomes about giving squash away to the community that can't afford your squash, but that wants to be eating in season. One needs to be both gluttonous and reserved to play this game. Also, we must not be invidious. Squash will come and we will eat squash. Tomatoes will come and tomatoes we will eat. Radish season was tough for me, but I got through it. Squash squash squash right now. I want to eat a tomato. I stopped buying them at the store a while back in anticipation of tomater season. Has tomato season arrived? For some it has. For us, we've eaten one cherry tomato. One. 1. Uno. Life gives you lemons, they say make lemonade. Life gives you squash, makes some squash pie, squash pancakes, squash art, squash paper, wash your clothes with squash. Dreams of salsa and gazpacho while I eat another eight ball.

1979

2009-07-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Excuse me Goat, can I see some ID?

2009-07-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

The tipping point

2009-07-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

Malcolm Gladwell would be proud to know that this organic farm has recently reached its tipping point. Within the past week, things have just exploded out here. We are harvesting every day. Contrary to the USDA's food pyramid, I'm thinking we all should be eating about 45 servings of vegetables daily. The summer squash cannot be tamed, them beans need to be picked every day or so, the flowers are almost all in bloom. Le tomatoes are getting big and green and are about to produce ethylene gas to ripen up any day now. There are baby cucumbers, flowering melons and hot peppers abound. All that energy in, and now we sit back, chow down and sell some bushels. ... And work our tails off keeping those weeds under control.

Thoughts during a thunderstorm

2009-07-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

I went from living in the largest city in the country, with 8 million people, to living on a farm next to New Buffalo, PA, population 123. I moved out of New York for lots of reasons. One of the reasons was to s l o w s t u f f d o w n . Have I been successful? Hell no. There's a ton to worry about in the city, and a ton to worry about in the country. Safety concerns and making ends meet come to mind quickly for both. There's a ton to do in the city and a ton to do in the country. Museum concert stuff your face vs. pick squash shovel mulch stuff your face. I have come to the ever so un life-shattering conclusion that life is busy anywhere. Different tasks, same hands moving. However, there is stillness where you find it and where you create it. The best way to slow stuff down in life is to think it slowly. Be methodical. Take your time with your thoughts. There's a heck of a lot of time to think and plan when you spend 4 hours hoeing corn. Seize it. It's yours.

Food

2009-07-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Blueberry networking

2009-07-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Deep breath. Okay. We have started networking. Lots and lots and lots of networking. We connected with a chemical free blueberry grower and are selling ze wonderful fruit at our stand. Restaurant owners have approached us asking if we would sell them our produce (we will once we are an official business). We've got a meeting with our accountant Thursday. We might also go to a local farmer's market once or twice a week. We finally donated our surplus to the food bank and will continue doing so weekly. It felt amazing to provide them with safe, healthy, fresh food. We are getting to know our community. We got invited to a neighbor's 4th of July party! We are getting positive feedback and much encouragement from our neighbors and community. We are already moving locations. Starting July 17th, we will be setting up shop next door to our farm at the Trading Post, a local novelty shop. This business happens to be directly on Routes 11 & 15. The stand currently is about 100 feet off this main highway. Needless to say, we anticipate this location change will encourage much more traffic that's just passing through. We sold beets by the half bushel. We actually sold our whole beet crop. There are about 10 secret ones in the field for our own private culinary purposes, though. Don't tell the arborio rice. Some things go right back to the compost, which I'm still learning is OK. We need a walk in cooler stat. We are suntanned and tired. Things are moving quickly and like I said in the first post, it will be October before I know it.

A Southern farmer

2009-06-30T10:33:00.000-07:00

My grandfather, Oliver Winslow Owens

Fish he caught with a naturally occurring thirteen on its tail

Talk about sustainable agriculture. Horses pulling a plow on our farm long ago.

Photo graph E!

2009-06-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Finally, I'm posting again. Woo hoo. Here are some photos taken by Alan while he was visiting us this past week. He really knows his way around a camera. Some of these shots are extraordinary!

Flamingos don't eat beets

2009-06-16T16:42:00.001-07:00

You know what they say about flamingos. That if you happen to find one brushing its teeth, it means you will grow delicious vegetables. We haven't gotten any feedback from our customers yet, but I'm sure they are finding them delicious as I type. One of the great things about direct farm marketing is that you get to meet the people who will enjoy the food you've been working so hard to grow. We're really confident about the quality of food we grow, so we have no worries in that respect. However, one thing I'm concerned with is that very few people had ever heard of the unique veggies we had for sale. And when people don't know a veggie, they ain't gonna buy it. It's intimidating I guess. It sure is silly to be intimidated by a vegetable. I mean, it's a vegetable. But I know when I'm in the market, I never buy for instance, jackfruit, because I have no clue how to pick it or what to do with it. It sure would be easy to look it up on the internet, though. I think only one or two people bought kale and chard (and those aren't that uncommon!) We wound up giving away nasturtiums. Oh, and you can forget about kohlrabi and senposai all together. Those two were destined to fail if Swiss chard was having a rough time getting to someone's plate. Since the three of us come from a CSA background, we are used to the comfort of being able to grow all sorts of wacky stuff and being able to get "rid" of it each week when people came to pick up their shares. If they received 2 vegetables they had never heard of, it was okay because they were also receiving 8 other vegetables they had heard of. The unique ones were a chance for people to learn and try something new. How fun! An insider's secret is that it also helps "pad" the share. Trying a new vegetable is like learning a new language. Once you learn it, you know it. If you like speaking Urdu, by all means, speak Urdu. If you don't like speaking Urdu, then stop. Actually, it's nothing like learning a new language, but it sure is a chance to live a little, you know. So throw caution to the wind, and chomp down on some chioggia beets and kohlrabi tonight.

FARM STAND HAS OPENED !

2009-06-14T18:24:00.001-07:00

Here I am with Marley at our lemonade stand earlier today. I think charging people 10 cents per cup was too little you know... because those were organic lemons. Right. I wish we could grow lemons. I also wish we could legally sell lemonade. I believe we are prohibited to sell processed food at this point. Five year olds are breaking laws, man. I'm not bitter.

Anyway, we opened up for business yesterday ! It was our first official harvest day and it was more bountiful than initially suspected. Chard, kale, kohrabi, salad mix, scallions, radishes, sage, chives and senposai were all for sale under a bright white tent. It was hot, but we did good business. We made a lot more than twelve dollars, which was all I was hoping for for day one. Lots of neighbors stopped in to say how nice the farm and our plot have been looking. Lots of people asking us who the hell we are. A couple Jersey jokes. Lots of people telling stories of my grandparents, remembering them sweetly. Lots of people excited for us, wishing us the best and offering great suggestions. If you ever want to meet your neighbors, open up a stand in your front lawn and sell something. People come out of the woodwork. This season, we anticipate being open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Mondays we'll bring extras to a local food bank. It feels great to have finally sold something. All that money out, and finally we see something come back in. We should frame that first dollar, that's for sure. We are trying our best to get the word out about the CSA we hope to run next year. It's tough to explain it all in a brief encounter, which is why we'll have flyers for next week. Next week, we will also put up signs on the main highway announcing these vegetables, herbs and flowers. The best thing about this farm stand is that we can learn each week and make a change for the following week.

Yellow split pea soup with spinach and rice

2009-06-14T18:14:00.000-07:00

Everyday for two weeks, I wanted to try out a recipe for yellow split pea soup which has coconut milk, cardamom, turmeric and cloves in it. HOLY PETE - it was worth the wait. And to make it a full meal, I added fresh spinach and rice. It's topped with a spiced plain yogurt sauce (with turmeric, cumin, and paprika). I thought I overdid it on the cardamom, but this puppy came out juuust right. If anyone visits me, I'll make up a fresh batch. (yes, I am trying to lure you with food like I would a puppy dog)

I'll let the pictures do the talking here

2009-06-14T17:54:00.000-07:00

If only I liked these

This is no Jackson Pollock

2009-06-09T18:16:00.000-07:00

Brassica and tomato fields

Some kids from Jersey you may know just planted all their eggplant, peppers and summer squash. 2/3 of our fields are planted to capacity. It looks gorgeous! If you are interested in eating local organic veggies grown by some of your fun-loving broccoli and dirt eating friends, get your behinds up to this farm. We will hide fresh vegetables in your car, hats, shoes, socks, underwear, and pants. Not to mention what kind of farm fresh fare we will stuff in your belly.

My mother resting in the pepper field after being a HUGE help

A World of Grace

2009-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

My friend Nicole in New York, who I miss like crazy, sent me a copy of a poster she received in recognition for her work at the Poughkeepsie Farm Project. The poster is titled A World of Grace (it's from Yes magazine) and it lists different ways some cultures go about pausing before a meal to give thanks. Here are some that rendered me speechless. Across the globe and throughout time, people have been trying to figure out how to remain grateful for the food they have. What the earth gives us is so worthy of respect.

Buddist

This food is the gift

of the whole universe.

Each morsel is a sacrifice of life,

May I be worthy to receive it.

May the energy in this food

Give me the strength

To transform my unwholesome qualities

Into wholesome ones.

I am grateful for this food.

May I realize the Path of Awakening,

For the sake of all beings.

Ashanti, Ghana

Earth, when I am about to die

I lean upon you.

Earth, while I am alive

I depend upon you.

Hindu, India

Before grasping this grain,

let us consider in our minds

the reasons why

we should care for and safeguard this body.

This is my prayer, oh God:

May I be forever devoted at your feet,

offering body, mind, and wealth

to the service of truth in the world.

Coptic, Egypt

Bless, O Lord, the plants, the vegetation,

and the herbs of the field,

that they may grow

and increase to fullness

and bear much fruit.

And may the fruit of the land

remind us of the spiritual fruit

we should bear.

Sioux, Native American

I’m an Indian.

I think about the common things like this pot.

The bubbling water comes from the rain cloud.

It represents the sky.

The fire comes from the sun,

Which warms us all, men, animals, trees.

The meat stands for the four-legged creatures,

Our animal brothers,

Who gave themselves so that we should live.

The steam is living breath.

It was water, now it goes up to the sky,

Becomes a cloud again.

These things are sacred.

Looking at that pot full of good soup,

I am thinking how, in this simple manner,

The Great Spirit takes care of me.

Rubble and copper

2009-06-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

So the weekend started at 6 A.M. at Amity Hall Inn, which burnt down a few weeks ago. Apparently, some kids went ghost hunting there in the middle of the night, wound up throwing a mattress on the small fire they had started to keep warm and the rest went up in flames. Marley, Charlton and I were asked to come pick up the handmade historic bricks that were still intact. We climbed on top of destruction and loaded around 3,000 bricks onto pallets before lunch. I didn't even get to see a ghost. Anyway, during the morning brick picking, I remembered how much I enjoy the work I am doing on the farm. It's incredibly rewarding to feel connected to my work. And I'm not just connected because I'm eating it. Most of the connection lies where my feet hit the ground. I am fortunate to get to roam around this land and see how busy everything is out here. The plants, the animals, the bugs, the fish ... and us. I have never experienced a season so fully quite like I have this Spring. Rainy days feel much different here than they did in New York. Rain means something more than just "oh I need an umbrella." And then there's the 4 baby Kildeer that were born last Monday in our cucumber/melon field. Kildeer apparently make their nests in the middle of open fields. I knew those fledglings as eggs and know their chirp. I also know that their mother tries to divert our attention by acting injured. I'm understanding things I never did. I'm seeing nature differently, and the landscape changes everyday. The work is hard and sometimes my hands go numb, but the rewards are far greater than the cost. We all worry about achieving longevity in farming. I guess that's why God created Excedrin Back and Body.

Whoa

2009-06-06T21:15:00.000-07:00

Check out number 43

First farm meal

2009-06-05T07:45:00.000-07:00

Okay okay, so we've eaten a little bit from our fields (for quality assurance purposes), but last night was our first full-fledged farm meal! Spinach, radishes, rhubarb, chives and bok choi. Luck is everywhere when one can walk behind a barn at 6 pm and go pick their own dinner. The fruits of labor are bright green and pink. The bok choi had so many holes we're almost sure it's Swiss. The holes are from flea beetles, and we won't be able to sell any of that choi at our farm stand or at auction, because holey food is not desired unless it's a dry wafer or made with grapes. Consumers don't want veggies full of holes, even though it's perfectly safe, even though it's grown organically. I don't blame them - I am one of them. More bok choi for us. Once sauteed, you can't even notice the damage. I don't blame those tiny buggers -they need to eat something to stay alive. It's all a part of the intricate biodiversity that keeps us all in check. The flea beetles didn't get to try it with that ginger sauce though. Poor little guys. Bring on the choi.

Fresh spinach and radishes in le salade

Sauteed bok choi with ginger

Polenta pizza with spinach and Danish blue cheese

Soleil - the raw food pooch

Spinach overfloweth

Rhubarb for mr. strawberry rhubarb crisp

Cherry pie (using no fresh farm ingredients ... still delicious)

proud and satisfying.

I bet this guy knows where the wild things are

2009-06-03T08:30:00.000-07:00

French Breakfast and Cherry Belle radishes

2009-06-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

Turkey

2009-06-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

In mid-April, a family friend brought over a 22 pound gobbler that had been shot while he was out hunting. Larry brought it to us as a gift, and wanted to show Charlton how to de-feather and de-skin it. It was strange to hold a 22 pound dead thing. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to eating fresh turkey for the first time in my life. I liked the fact that it was an older bird who had lived a natural life. It was wild meat, and I knew the guy who had been out hunting for it. I wanted to watch them clean it up and prepare it as one of the main reasons I moved out to Pennsylvania was to get closer to my food source. At first I was okay watching it. It was bloody, but interesting. And then I smelled it, and it made me so incredibly nauseous. It was death, and it was fresh. I certainly was getting close to my food source. Is there such as thing as getting too close?

While consciously trying to make the "right" choices in my life as an eater, I've only been concerned with CAFO's versus free-range animals. Antibiotic grain-fed animals versus grass-fed. Organic versus non-organic. Wild meat versus caged meat. I forgot about the very obvious notion that when you eat meat, you are eating something that was once alive and warm on its own. I was so close to the death of that turkey. There it was, sitting on my front lawn. There it was, losing it feathers. If there was one turkey in the world I should have eaten, it would have been that one. No death should be in vain. I felt unworthy of it though. My desire for protein and tasty sage flavored meat surely was not worth something's life. Who am I to take something's life? I'm not that important. I'm not starving. I took a walk and went up to the horses. They were more alive than I'd ever noticed. Their skin was warm, their breath moist.

Later that night at dinner, I had one bite of the turkey. It made me sad to chew. Picking out the buckshot added another level of closeness to the death. I thought about becoming a vegetarian. I thought about how often some people eat meat (> 3x / day). I'm still not a vegetarian. I don't eat meat everyday, or every week, but I do eat it and I do enjoy it. Ever since I met that turkey though, I notice I'm more thankful for the food I eat, and not just the meat. This is not to say that being thankful for something means one is more deserving of it. Far from that, I feel less deserving of it than ever before. Yet here I am, very much a part of this system that I did not create. I'm not religious, but maybe we should all say grace?

The night sky

2009-06-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

What we're up against

2009-05-31T08:39:00.001-07:00

We're pretty much starting from nothing out here. Most of the time it doesn't feel this way because we're surrounded by tons of stuff - old farm machinery and hoards of my grandfather's tools. We also of course, have the several years of agricultural practice we earned while working at the organic farm at Rutgers. A somewhat strong knowledge base in farming and old equipment doesn't start a business though, and it certainly doesn't keep the groundhogs away.

We have many people rooting for us, even the ones who think organic farming is just a punch line. Conventional farmers up here have already asked us if we want help spraying our crops and others have told us that they give us a year. I'm learning that a glimpse into the typical American farmer's mindset is at once practical and depressing. Yet I still think they are hoping we succeed. It's not us against them - it's us against the almost microscopic flea beetle.

We are growing in pasture land that has had perennial grasses growing on it for decades. We don't just have the standard pests found everywhere in fields growing vegetables, we have pests that live in grasslands. We have ants ! ? And they are eating our cabbage ? ! We have tilled into a nest of miner bees and there now are thousands swarming around us when we're in the root crop field. Some of the main weeds we've been conquering are orchard grass and timothy, also known as hay. We have fat groundhogs, poison ivy hiding around every corner, and hungry deer. We've got asparagus beetles, cabbage moths, and flea beetles, to name a few. And then there's the heavy rains, which cause so much erosion that we must rebuild and replant row after row. Nature is definitely to be respected, but where is that warm fuzzy feeling organic farming promises when it gently claims to be about working with nature, not against it?

Tortillas and rain

2009-05-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Rainy days let the color through

2009-05-28T08:18:00.000-07:00

Herb Jardin

2009-05-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

We decided early on in this venture that we'd have our perennial herb garden out back behind the house. Always nice to have easy access to the oregano for pizza night. We planted nitrogen-fixing alfalfa as a cover crop on that plot this year. Starting next year, we will have a full-fledged English garden with meandering pathways, arbors and plenty of sage patches to roll around in. The perfect place to read a book or fake a British accent. We couldn't help but have a temporary herb garden though. We chose my grandpa's old vegetable garden plot right in front of M/M Hors Ease. It'll be a place for our herbs to grow big and tough and strong this year. Next year, we will have them pack their bags and make the journey to the far side of the house where they can make their permanent home. Charlton will pretend to be an immigration officer/ border patrolman at the carport and will make sure they are not smuggling any thistle or pokeweed in their bags. Once they pass the security check, he will stamp their tiny passports and teach them the elephant smackdown.

Soap Expose

2009-05-26T19:39:00.000-07:00

Today I realized we have 13 different soap options in our shower.

List of soaps:

1) EO lavender castile soap

2) Saint Ives collagen elastin body wash

3) Dove body wash

4) CVS cleanser

5) Random soap bar no one uses

6) Lilac glycerin soap

7) Dove bar

8) Oil of Olay sample body wash we received in the newspaper

9) Oatmeal exfoliating bar

10) Pinetar soap (possibly containing jewel weed for poison ivy relief)

11) Bronner's lavender castile

12) Bronner's almond castile

13) Bronner's peppermint castile (it will make you know what tingle)

You might think we are overdoing it. The castile soap trilogy in the one corner is a little excessive, but we think that peppermint oil fits if you want an invigorating morning shower and lavender fits if it's late in the evening. Pinetar soap is used if you want to mask your scent and go out and see wildlife (or go hunting). Oatmeal soap makes us want cookies. The random bar no one uses is always soggy for some reason. Probably cause it sits in no mans land in the middle of the tub. We are not your average soap users scrubbing clean the grit from the office keyboard. We are filthy and need variety. There's not just one kind of cheese in the world. Why would there only be one kind of soap. Who wants to put Kraft singles on their bagel. Wouldn't you much rather have cream cheese on that? Exactly. Farmers get very dirty. Farmers need to get clean. And being clean is the American way.

P.S. We grate Dial around the perimeter of the farm to keep deer away. We hear Irish Spring works better though. Please send us all of your Irish Spring.

Irish Spring can be sent to :

111 Old Trail Road

Duncannon, PA 17020

2009-05-26T08:12:00.000-07:00

Dirt and a corn cob will get you clean

2009-05-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

We made our last batch of soil. We use a nutritious blend of peat moss, alfalfa meal, rock phos - wait a minute, if we told you our special proprietary blend, we'd have to kill you. Just kidding, we use brownie mix from Duncan Hines. This last batch of soil will be used to start our summer squash, melons, and winter squash in. Baby pumpkin nursery. I've been sampling the horse sweet feed when no one is watching.

2009-05-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

I get the news I need on the weather report

-Paul Simon

Holy mackerel our feet hurt

2009-04-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

It's official - the trees are greeen! That unseasonable heat is finally over and we can put away our anti-perspirant deodorant for now. Back to hooded sweatshirts and that Tom's of Maine shtuff. The past few days we have gotten so much accomplished that I feel like I really deserve the cold Sam Adams that sits in my hand.

Spring planting is the name of the game recently up here on Wooden Hill. Our brassicas are in and those little guys have irrigation all hooked up so that they can drink Powerade all day and get their electrolytes. We also now have radishes and more carrots in. We must not forget to give those carrots vitamin A pills tomorrow. Hmmmm..... ohh yeah, and we reached a great milestone when we planted all of our onions this morning. Walla walla sweet spanish onion bing bang. The fields are changing so rapidly that we even catch the horses staring at us out there. Don't worry, they'll get some of those carrots.

Other than the planting, we are finding that there's always something to do here on the farm. Whether it's curry combing the horsees, watering all our little guys, weedwacking, or making sure the greenhouse isn't 102 degrees, we have our hands full and find that no grass is growing under our feet. Megan the horse nibbled on our lawnmower earlier today. Oh, and Charlton saw a groundhog this morning and now we're about to eat a "mystery meat" dinner. There's also now a scarecrow northface fleece in the fields.

"Spotty doesn't eat the pate"

First harvest

2009-04-20T19:29:00.000-07:00

We thought our first harvest would be right around the start of June, but here we are mid April eating some fresh home grown veggies ! Lettuce seedlings! Mmm MMM good. Exactly one (small) bite of heaven.

Wooden Hill

Sweet Potatoes are not as sweet as you

Wait....the sun just came out!

Mud potatoes

The return of the salad mix!

Harvestnox?!

September. Possibly the greatest month of them all.

Campfires and Shooting Stars

The vegetables go back to school

Southwestern Bean Salad

The Turning Point

Note about the corn

Why is a farmer considered an expert?

Wedding photos

Busiest week of the year

Corn and Tomatoes

A little a this, a little a that

Back To The Grind

Super Soakers

You can always drive way North to cool off

Lookin' purdy

This Week

Photo sesh

Buggers

Newsletter Numero Dos

Grrrrrreeeens!

First share is here!

First Newsletter

Conversion

Beginning again.

The other jungle

Thanksgiving

Before and After

October

**A night at the cinema in 3:56**

Perry County Times and Duncannon Record, September 24, 2009

Wogga Wogga

Grapevine transfer

Community Supported Agriculture

Late blight

Apprenticeship

Same style

Growing brie

Train with giant tomato cargo coming through the living room

Corn consumption

Best hotel ever

Roadside Stand

Retrospective

Let's advertise, yes?

Not a bad way to spend a weekend

We found purple

It is healthy not to think about vegetables sometimes

Sample baskets and pho night what what

And then you find the perfect timing

Nine hundred squash and one cherry tomato

1979

Excuse me Goat, can I see some ID?

The tipping point

Thoughts during a thunderstorm

Food

Blueberry networking

A Southern farmer

Photo graph E!

Flamingos don't eat beets

FARM STAND HAS OPENED !

Yellow split pea soup with spinach and rice

I'll let the pictures do the talking here

This is no Jackson Pollock

A World of Grace

Rubble and copper

Whoa

First farm meal

I bet this guy knows where the wild things are

French Breakfast and Cherry Belle radishes

Turkey

The night sky

What we're up against

Tortillas and rain

Rainy days let the color through

Herb Jardin

A night at the cinema in 3:56