Sunday, February 8, 2015

Farm News Feb 8 2015

Greetings Farm Dancing Hen Farm!

Buying club deliveries will begin again next week.  We will have limited vegetables, but a good supply of chicken, eggs, pork and beef.  As always, ordering will start Tuesday (2/10) at 5 am and will end Thursday (2/12) at 5 am.  Deliveries will be Friday (2/13) to Bloomsburg and Saturday (2/14) to Dallas and Forty Fort.  If you have questions concerning the buying club or our delivery site locations, please do not hesitate to contact us at the farm.

This last week saw Farmer Don and I on a rare trip off farm, a vacation for us.   Annually, in the beginning of February, we travel to State College to attend the PASA (Pennsylvania Association of Sustainable Agriculture) annual  Farming For the Future Conference.  This conference allows us to spend several days surrounded by like minded people focused on sustainable living.  We spend our time catching up with many of our farming friends, meeting new people and attending workshops.  This year Farmer Don really focused on the soil health workshops.  He even spent an entire day of intensive workshops learning about restoring and keeping soils healthy and alive.  (yes, only a group of famers could spend an entire day celebrating soil!)  The  PASA conference is really a highlight of our year.  We leave the conference excited and re-energized, ready to make a difference farming sustainably.

February is a month of transition for us.  It is during February that we really begin to see the effects of lengthening days.  By the end of February, the dormant plants in our greenhouses will slowly start to grow and we will begin slowly awakening our seed house.  Greens, cold hardy herbs, scallions and onions will be planted out in seed flats.  Approximately 5 to 6 weeks after seeding, these small plants will be transplanted into our fields and then approximately 4 to 6 weeks after transplant we will begin harvesting.  Seeding really gets underway in March and the first part of April, as we seed our summer crops like tomatoes and eggplant for planting out in May.  There is nothing more beautiful than a greenhouse full of transplants!

We are accepting memberships for our 2015 CSA.  The CSA is really the basis of our farm, building a community of members to share our harvest with.  Our CSA is 22 weeks, generally beginning around June 1 and running through October.  We are a full choice CSA.  Members are able to choose weekly from a list of seasonal fresh produce.  We then harvest and custom pack your box for you each week.  We offer central pick up sites throughout Luzerne and Columbia counties and for a small, additional, fee we also will deliver your weekly share box to your home.  In addition to vegetable shares, we also offer egg shares.  Eggs are from our own free range chickens.  If you have questions about our CSA or our farm, please do not hesitate to contact us

We eat a lot of eggs here on farm and I often find myself looking for new recipes.  I came upon this article on Huffington Post's website.  (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/12/01/egg-recipes-breakfast-brunch_n_987844.html )   .Some of the recipes are classics, like burritos, soft scrambled eggs or egg sandwiches.  Other recipes are a bit more unique, like kimchi omelets, breakfast pizza or quinoa breakfast hash.

Recently I have been craving tomato soup.  One of my favorite recipes if for a Tomato Sweet Potato Bisque.  ( http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/carla-halls-tomato-sweet-potato-bisque-recipe-18228720 ) .  I can't remember if I have shared this recipe before or not?  I alter it a bit by using my own canned tomatoes and homemade chicken or vegetable stock, whichever is in the freezer.  This time of year, I generally do not have jalapenos, so I skip the jalapeno and add maybe a pinch of dried red pepper flakes for a bit of heat.

It looks like this week will bring a real range of weather.  Tonight, as I type, our outside temperature is still in the mid 30's.  Freezing rain and snow are to move in tonight and tomorrow and then by the end of the week we are to be back to high temperatures in the teens!  I guess we won't be putting the snow boots and long underwear anytime soon.

I want to thank each of you again for your continued support of our farm.  Buying club delivery days are exciting for us!  So exciting to see the support we get from each of you for the food we are producing.

Take care, stay dry, stay warm.....

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