2016 CSA Week 11 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to Week 11, the halfway point of our CSA.  Week 11 is an EGG week.

It is Sunday afternoon and the rain is pouring from the sky.  We are actually enjoying a rainy afternoon on farm.  I am, obviously, working on the newsletter and farmer Don is catching up on paperwork.  While Farmer Don was at Mountain Top Market this morning, my sister and I froze 100 ears of sweet corn.  Having an extra pair of hands made the task go quickly.  We also had fun reminiscing about freezing and canning growing up.  As we bagged our corn for the freezer and decided we would not need to freeze more this season, we were amazed that our family would often freeze 250, 300 or even 500 ears of corn!  WOW that is a lot of corn, even for a family of 6!  For me, another benefit of freezing corn is corn stock.  I have my stock pot on the stove right now, boiling some of the leftover cobs.  Corn stock is great to use when making risotto or as a base for soup or chowder.

As I mentioned above, we are at the halfway point our CSA.  What better time to say thanks to the many people who help us share the harvest?

On farm, we have several people who play a huge role in keeping our fields planted, maintained and harvested, in addition to helping us assure our animals are cared for.  Although Farmer Matt has moved on with his farming career, every crop we are harvesting right now is done because of Matt's hard work earlier in the season.  Thank you Farmer Matt!  All those tomatoes you planted and staked are starting to ripen and go out in share boxes!  We also have several part time people helping us in the fields this year.  First, Amanda.  Amanda volunteered several years on farm and this year has returned to work part time.  Lydia is another returning worker.  Many of you know Lydia from our Back Mountain Market stand.  Lydia also helps out on farm several days a week.  And Jason, sure shot Jason (you will have to ask him about that!).  Jason has been volunteering on farm for several years and is our "jack of all trades" and expert chicken bagger.  Ken is a new, very hard working, volunteer this year, working one day or so a week.  Thank you Amanda, Lydia, Jason and Ken!  On harvest day and also in our seed house, you will find Farmer Phil and Joyce working hard.  Many of you know Farmer Phil from market.  Phil is our expert scale man and spends most of Monday weighing and portioning the items members receive in their boxes each week.  Joyce helps on Mondays with harvest and also spends some time seeding and weeding.  Thank you Farmer Phil and Joyce!

We also want to sage a HUGE Thank you to all our CSA site hosts.  Our site hosts coordinate our drop sites and act as a liaison between the farm and our CSA members.  These individuals are our farm cheerleaders.  They graciously allow us to use their businesses or homes to help us share the harvest.  Please, if you seen any of our site hosts, thank them for their support of our farm, your farm.

And, of course, a big thanks to each of you; our farm members, customers and friends.  As I have said before, without your support, we would not be able to sustain our small farm. 

In the fields, our field grown tomatoes are starting to ripen.  You will see sungold and heirloom tomatoes available in the coming weeks.  We will also begin harvesting fennel soon.  Our chard and kale continue to look good.  The lettuce will enjoy this week's slightly cooler weather.  Our final planting of cucumbers and squash look great and we will be harvesting from these new plantings soon.  Basil loved the recent hot weather and our other herbs will continue to be available in small numbers.  Our latest planting of green beans is looking beautiful and we are excited to get a good harvest off of these plants.  We also have some soup beans planted and we are hoping they will have time to mature before the frost sets in.  Much of our broccoli fell victim to one of our resident groundhogs, but we are hoping to have a very small harvest in the next few weeks.  We continue to plant greens, cooking and salad.  We also have a large seeding of rutabaga to be planted in the next week or so.  Our fall root crops will be seeded soon, as well as some direct seeded cooler weather crops, such as arugula.

A quick trip to the kitchen and then I will let everyone rest their eyes!

A member recently emailed me about using our chard to make a pot of beans and greens.  This email made me realize I had yet to talk about this simple, yet delicious dish.  Beans and greens is very much a go to meal here on farm.  Traditionally, I believe this dish is made with cannellini beans and escarole, but can be made with any bean and any green.  Canned or previously cooked and frozen beans make this a quick mid week supper.  Generally, I start by sautéing some garlic and onion in olive oil in a dutch oven.  I add whatever greens I have on hand and a bit of stock or water.  I let the greens cook until wilted, but still bright green.  Next stir I stir in some red pepper flakes and the cooked beans.  Allow to continue cooking until the beans are heated.  Serve as a meal with some crusty artisan bread or use as a side dish.  I also sometimes add more broth to this dish to make a quick soup.

If you are a member of our CSA buying club option, you will begin to see some extra items available.  Farmer Don will be adding extra greens to this availability soon.  We also have a lead on some organic bulk roma or paste tomatoes.  If you are interested in these sauce tomatoes, please watch the buying club or contact the farm for information.

Time to sign off, allow Farmer Don to proof read this and move onto my next task.  Be safe, be well, enjoy the veggies and don't forget to return your boxes!