CSA Week 1 News

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to Week 1.5 of our 2022 CSA. Happy Father's Day!

Week 1 CSA boxes have been delivered and ordering for Week 2 is underway.  Hopefully everyone is enjoying their boxes.  Week 2 is not an egg week. 

CSA members please remember to treat our share boxes gently and either leave them at or return them to our CSA drop sites.  We do reuse these boxes and this year they have not only double in price, but they are in short supply nationally.  We are looking into alternate boxes for delivery.  The wax coated boxes are certainly not ideal, but they do keep our produce fresher and they fold flat for easy storage at our delivery sites.  We also reuse clean egg cartons and paper pint and quart "berry" boxes. 

Can you believe the wind and cool temperatures today?  Actually feels like fall out there.  I am sitting now typing with my sweatshirt on and my winter slippers!  Looks like the weather is to warm up towards the end of the week.  Strange we spend all winter craving the warmth of summer and all summer craving the coolness of winter!  But, right now the farm could use some warm temperatures to push along our summer crops.  Peppers and tomatoes don't like these cold temperatures!  Peppers will even drop their flowers if the temperature remains in the 50's for too long.  Once the flower has dropped from the plant it, the flower, cannot mature into a fruit, or pepper in this case.  Plants will make more flowers and hence more peppers, but as farmers those dropped early blossoms can mean an entire picking of peppers lost.

With that being said, our fields are actually looking pretty good.  Farmer Don is pushing this week to get as much planted as he can.  And our greens love this cooler weather.  He was looking at the spinach bed last night and decided what he wanted to plant there next when he realized the spinach he harvest for week 1 is trying to grow back.  He will give it another week and see how it does.  Usually in heat spinach immediately "goes to seed", meaning it diverts all its energy into making seeds and shoots up a large inedible flower stalk.  It is all up to the spinach at this point!  We will be holding off a little bit on planting our entire crop of cabbage.  This means Farmer Don has assigned me the task of "potting on" the cabbage transplants.  Potting on means removing the small cabbage plants from their flats and repotting them into bigger pots.  The goal is to keep the plant from out growing its space and gives the plant another boost of nutrients from our potting mix. 

 I apologize for the newsletter being a little late.  I have had kind of a crazy week.  It started by me making a mess of some emails I was sending out concerning drop sites.  Hopefully everyone was able to find their Week 1 boxes!  And again I apologize for any confusion this caused.

Friday kind of sums up how my week went.  Friday morning I woke up and got going on laundry.  The sky was beautiful blue and there appeared to be a slight breeze.  Perfect!  for getting some wash out on the line.  I proceeded to strip the bed, complete with the winter comforter, and collect dirty clothes from their various laundry piles and lugged an overflowing basket of laundry to the washer.  Stuffed the washer full and noticed the water level was on small.  Small! That wasn't going to work, reaching for the knob it wouldn't turn.  It seemed stuck and stuck good.  I even tried using the pliers thinking maybe I needed better leverage.  Nope, not budging.  In the meantime, I shut the water off, but most everything had gotten wet.  So, I pulled out wet laundry and gracefully, well many not gracefully, threw it on the floor and reloaded the washer with what I hoped was a small load.  First load done and second one loaded and I carried the first out to hang on the line.  Got about half hung up and I noticed the wind was a bit more than a breeze.  At which point, I was close to throwing my hands up in defeat, but instead I pulled most of the load off the line and threw them in the dryer.  My clothes line is a bit temper mental and tends to blow down with wind, especially when drying something as billowy as sheets.  On a positive note, I did get my laundry done, one small load at a time and I was able to avoid picking clothes up off the ground and having to have Farmer Don get the ladder out to re-hang the clothesline.

So, it is strawberry season!  I have already eaten enough to make myself feel sick.  But, I just can never get enough when they are ripe and local.  We purchase them from a neighboring farm and I generally freeze quite a few quarts.  I also need to get busy drying herbs.  Often drying herbs takes a back seat to other kitchen tasks and before I know it the season is over and I am left with no stored herbs.  So, let's say in our kitchen we are already busy with canning and freezing for the season.  We are also busy enjoying all the fresh veggies starting to be harvested!  I find myself really craving those first greens of the season.  Tomorrow night Farmer Don and I will sit down and go over meals for next week and I am thinking of adding a massaged kale salad to one of our meals.

Speaking of Farmer Don and supper.  He just walked in the back door to tell me he is going back up into the field to try and row cover what he just planted.  Then he has to give Dilly a bath, since she found something dead to roll in and then he will be in for supper.  Good thing leftovers are on the menu tonight and they can simply be turned down.

Alright, I know, this newsletter is pushing the limit.  So, I will end here with my usual HUGE thank you for all of your support.

 Be safe out there.

 

Transplants on the Buying Club!

Greeting from a windy Dancing Hen Farm!

 Ordering is open for this weekend's buying club deliveries.  This our final buying club before Memorial Day; as we will not be delivering Memorial Day weekend.  This is also most likely our final buying club before our CSA starts up. The items to look for on this week's buying club include transplants.  Farmers Neil and Krislyn at Seedling Creek, have worked hard to produce some beautiful, healthy transplants; tomatoes, peppers and flowers.  These are large, healthy plants and are ready to help you get your garden growing.  Kale, braising mix, spinach and beet greens are ready to help you reach your healthy, local, eating goals!  So happy ordering!  Farmers Don and Phil are eager to see everyone on Saturday.

 We have really had a nice run of beautiful weather.  Warm sunshine and little rain.  To the point where a day of slow, steady, rain would be a welcome site.  We are actually quite dry here on farm.  We are lucky to have irrigation on farm, but most crops really need a nice soaking rain to get them established.  We did not get the promised rains over the weekend or on Monday.  We have had some showers, but not nearly enough moisture.  They are saying there is a possibility of showers tonight, we will see if we get any.

 So this newsletter was going to be about insects, specifically, the hated flea beetles destroying our arugula.  But, Dilly steals the show again. 

Yesterday, I was sitting on the couch doing some computer updates, ok fine, I was actually taking a little nap!  When Dilly about scared me to death.  Suddenly she left out a howling bark like I have never heard from her before.  She was not happy about something or someone.  Dilly had been napping on the porch in the sun, one of her favorite activities.  I waited a bit to get up, because sometimes when I get up to see what she is barking at, my actions act like a release, and Dilly goes after whatever she is upset about.  So, I sat on the couch for a few more minutes and listened her run back and forth on the back porch making a huge racket.  Then I saw a large white blur go by the front window.  A huge dog!  Afraid someone was walking the dog and Dilly was about to bite them, I got up and looked out the window.  At that moment 2 huge dogs, the white one and an even larger black one went strolling by the window and started up onto the back porch.  This made Dilly really go ballistic.  Every hair on her back was standing up and she was crouching low to the ground as she lunged at the two stray dogs.  She proceeded to chase them back onto the road!  Of course, my dog Mommy instinct kicked in and I rushed out onto the porch just as Dilly was making her way back.  She was still really upset, barking and running from side to side on the porch looking around the house for the dogs.  I started screaming for her and did manage to get her into the house.  Dill was not happy to be in the house when she still had two villains to run off.  Eventually Dilly calmed down and I called my sister to come and check our chickens for me (Thanks Sis).  Luckily the dogs did not seem to have chicken on their minds and I was told another neighbor had the stray dogs and was going to post their information on facebook.  It seems the owners have already been found!  And other than being a bit tired, Dilly is no worse for the wear.  Another Dilly adventure and luckily another real disaster avoided.

Our kitchen has not been real exciting recently.  We are still enjoying spring greens and still eating out of our stored food from last season.  And of course, we are eating a lot of leftovers.  With only two in our family, we seem to have so many leftovers!  Leftovers are nice this time of year, when Farmer Don is so busy in the fields.  It allows for us to get supper together quickly, without a huge amount of pressure for him to be inside to eat at a certain time.  Life is good here and anytime we can make things run more smoothly is great.

Despite the fickle spring weather, we are still scheduled to start CSA deliveries the second week of June. And that day is almost here!  We do still have a few memberships available.  Please remember, unless you have contacted us, we do need to have your payment in full before the start of the season.  If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 And don't forget about buying club this weekend.  This is your chance to get a jumpstart on your own garden with some transplants or to enjoy the taste of spring with some tender spring greens.  Again, if you have questions, please, do not hesitate to contact us.

Thanks again for your continued support and for allowing us to grow and produce food for you and your family.  We are humbled to have such a loyal group of supporters!

Believe it or not it is looking a bit like rain!  I need to wrap this up and get my laundry off the line before it gets a second rinse.

be well, my friends

Buying Club 5/14 and Farm New

 Greetings from a sunny and warm Dancing Hen Farm! 

The buying club is now open.  You have until Thursday at 5 pm to place an order for Saturday pick up.  Once again Seedling Creek (Farmers Neil and Krislyn) have beautiful greens and transplants available.  New this week are tender nutritious beet greens.  They have also added pepper plants and some more flowers to their transplant availability.   New this week are Black Krim Tomato plants.  Black Krims are one of my favorite tomatoes, ripening to a beautiful dark maroon and oh so flavorful! 

After last weekend's heavy rains, it is so nice to finally have a stretch of sunny weather.  And the weeds are growing like crazy!  But, our crops are also starting to grow.  The peas are looking good and we are starting to see some germination in our other direct seeded crops.  This time of year, the seed house is a flurry of activity as we scramble to get our summer crops seeded for transplant into our fields, once the danger of frost is truly behind us.  Our laying hens are looking good.  The pullets have begun to lay, so we should have eggs for the CSA and for the Back Mountain Farm Market.  The first batch of meat birds are looking healthy; outside enjoying the sunshine and fresh grass.  And so far Dilly has not been harassing them too much.  She did dig under their pen the first day they were on grass, allowing 3 birds to free range, but thankfully she seems to have lost interest. 

However poor Dilly's adventures continue.  I always called Rosie "Calamity Rose", but I am starting to think Rosie's calamities were nothing compared to Dilly's.  Dilly is barely 2 and already has a large list of adventures, she is a true Calamity Dilly!   If any of you follow Farmer Don on Instagram, you already know that Dilly had yet another run in with a porcupine!  Yes, you read that right "another run in with a porcupine".  This was her second adventure with a porcupine in her 2 years of life!  The other night I was making dinner and was beginning to worry a bit.  Farmer Don and Dilly were not in from doing chores yet.  Just as I was about to head out on our back porch and ring the bell, Famer Don appeared at the back door and told me he would be eating dinner late.  Dilly had tangled with a porcupine and had quills stuck in her snout.  Ouch, poor Dilly! Farmer Don got busy collecting the tools for quill removal, securing Dilly in the workshop, and got to work.  Dilly screamed, literally screamed, but he was able to get all the quills but one.  She was losing her patience and getting a bit grouchy and snappy.  Farmer Don decided both Dilly and he needed a break.  He got Dilly comfortable on her bed and grabbed a beer for himself.  I am happy to say the final quill has been removed and we are declaring Dilly quill free once again.  Of course, less than 24 hours after meeting the porcupine, she was across the road barking wildly at something.  Lucky for her and us, she did not find the porcupine or skunk again.  Stay tuned for more updates on the "Adventures of Dilly".  I have a feeling as the summer moves along there will be many more Dilly stories to tell.  Let's hope for her sake, happier and less painful stories!\ 

Like the weather, our kitchen is starting to transition from winter to spring.  It is so nice to have some early spring greens to be cooking with and eating right now.  On Monday, I made a cream sauce featuring spinach, mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.  I ended up putting it in a casserole to finish, as Farmer Don and Dilly had their date with the porcupine quills!  We are also trying to use up preserved food stores before the fresh veggies start to be harvested.  So, tonight we are having a Pennsylvania Dutch favorite, ham and green beans.  A easy meal to make and tasty to eat.  I like to add a bit of apple cider vinegar to my ham and green beans.  One of the remaining days this week we will have leftovers and I am thinking a Dancing Hen Farm standard of sausage, kale and roasted potatoes another day.  This is a nice meal, as we often have just enough leftovers to add to eggs either for a hearty breakfast or an easy supper.  I do love to cook and one of my goals right now is to move back into the kitchen!  I will keep you posted on how this goes.  

Our CSA is scheduled to start in June and we do have a few spots available.  We are excited for this season.  Excited to be partnering with Neil and Krislyn up at Seedling Creek.  We are already seeing the beautiful vegetables and transplants they can grow!  Krislyn will also be helping out here on farm, nice to have some new younger energy on farm.                                

So, I really need to wrap up this newsletter.  It is after 2 and want to get a few things done before I get started on supper.  So in Farmer Don's words:  be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies.  Don't forget buying club.  Greens are looking beautiful and I can attest to the fact that it really feels nice to again be eating locally.

News and Buying Club Open May 7

Greetings from sunny and warmer Dancing Hen Farm!

Buying Club ordering is now open for deliveries this Mother's Day weekend.  In celebration of Mother's Day we will be offering one dollar off all orders for this week's (May 7) delivery only.  Note, the discount will not be reflected on our website, but you will be charged one dollar less when you pick up.  Our buying club availability is growing thanks to Farmers Neil and Krislyn.  This week we have added tomato and flower transplants to our list.  New also have beautiful and tasty baby bok choy and braising greens to order.  Remember all items are on a first serve, first come basis, so be sure to order early.

We are getting busy on farm!  The seed house is filling up quickly and we have started to direct seed some hardy spring crops.  Our peas are finally germinating.  The recent cool temperatures have kept the soil temperatures down, which had kept our peas from germinating.  Lettuce, arugula, radishes and spinach should not far behind, these should be ready for harvest for our first CSA delivery.  Farmer Don has also been busy taking care of our soil.  In years past we have used our small truck to haul multiple loads of compost to spread on our fields.  This year we had a large amount of compost delivered to the farm.  This has been a huge time saver for Farmer Don, as now he simply has to go to the barn for compost as opposed to driving 10 or 20 miles down the road, sometimes multiple times in one day.  Taking care of the soil is so important on the farm and using compost is one of our main ways doing this.  Compost adds organic matter, tilth and fertility to our soils and keeps them balanced so we can continue to grow nutrient dense vegetables.

As I have mentioned in another newsletter, this year we are welcoming Farmer Neil back to Dancing Hen Farm.  Early this spring, Neil contacted us about getting he and his family involved with the farm again.  Neil worked for us for a number of years in the past and recently he and his partner Krislyn have been busy raising a family and turning their small property into a thriving homestead, Seedling Creek.  Farmer Neil and Krislyn have taken what Neil learned from Farmer Don to a whole new level of intensive vegetable production.  This season they will be growing for us on their property, as well as, helping us here on farm.  The energy and new ideas this young family is bringing to Dancing Hen Farm is perfect for the farm right now.  So, stay tuned as we keep you updated not just on the happenings at Dancing Hen Farm, buy also at Seedling Creek.

Dilly is sitting here next to me on the couch, as if to say "Mom, you are going to mention me in the newsletter, aren't you?".  So yes, Dilly you will get your paragraph! 

I think our other two dogs spoiled me.  Neither really liked the water.  They did not play in puddles, play with the hose or wade very deeply into the pond.  This is not true of Darling Dilly.  She tromps right through the puddles and loves to sprayed by and play in the stream from the hose.  This means she is often wet and well, wet dogs smell, but Dilly really smells!  Early this spring, actually probably late winter, Dilly had a conversation with the wrong end of a skunk.  Yep, you guessed it.  She was a stinky mess!  Farmer Don doused her in Skunk Off and diligently tried to rid her of this new perfume.  Unfortunately, as is often the case with skunk, the smell still lingers.  And the smell is really apparent when she is wet!  There have been a few nights when she has come in from doing chores with Farmer Don that I have been convinced she was sprayed again.  I have even gone as far as to chase her outside and told Don she has been sprayed again, only to realize she is really just wet.  So, I allowed her back in the house, but tried to keep her off my lap!!  As a warning, if you come visit the farm you will most likely be greeted by Dilly, a very stinky Dilly.  I am convinced she will smell like skunk for the rest of her life.  I am thinking we may need to change her name!

We do still have some memberships available for our summer CSA.  Visit our website or contact the farm for additional information.  It is hard to believe this will be our CSA's 15th year of existence! 

I think I will end this here.  Newsletters seem to take me all day to write!  And true to form, just as I started writing, my washer stop and I took a break to hang a load of laundry on the line.  Hard for me to believe that now that laundry is dry!  Yes, it is time for me to say done, wrap this up and bring my wash in.

So, following in Farmer Don's lead of this being a year dedicated the support we get from you, our community.  Thank you for your support, you make it possible to farm this stony hillside and hopefully leave this section of the earth a healthy place for the next generation.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Farmer Phil and the Buying Club is open!

Hi Friends! A couple of quick notes to pass along.

Number one: Aunt Joan and Uncle Don want to pass along Happy Birthday wishes to Farmer Phil! Happy Birthday Phil! We're looking forward to your help around the farm this coming season and getting back to doing the weekly farmer's markets with you this summer! Aunt Joan and I can't begin to describe how much your help on the farm means to us, and from me to you, Phil, you and I running buying clubs, doing farmer markets and all of our various activities puts a warm feeling in my heart and a smile on my face...may we have many, many more to come! Happy Birthday PHIL!

So, energy levels continue to build around the farm, despite the roller coaster weather. 6 inches of snow last Tuesday, 80 degrees and sun on Sunday, and now this morning 35 degrees with 15mph winds...just when I was ready to put the long underwear away, now I'm chopping wood and burning the wood stove....

This morning I updated all accounts, recorded payments received and activated all accounts for summer CSA. Still shooting for early June to open. The cold temps I can handle....but with all the rain and wet weather it has been tough to get into the fields to get some real work done. Spring has always been the toughest season to manage, and this spring has proven to be just that. We take our opportunities to work when we have them and move forward. We've been moving forward for 15yrs now with you, the Dancing Hen Farm's community support, and will continue to do so. Through thick and thin the farm comes together. Thanks again for all of the support.

Buying club is open again this week. We will keep adding new items as we can, and are featuring items from Neil's little farm up by Forksville. Neil and Krislyn have been working hard to be producers and are now in a position to share their harvest with you. Look for their items on our website.

Time to start the day's activities, get Joan another cup of coffee, run Dilly so she and I will sleep well tonight and enjoy another adventure filled day on the farm.

 Be well friends, thanks again for your ongoing support, and when you see Farmer Phil, wish him a Happy Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY PHIL!

 

Buying Club April 23

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Farmers Don and Phil will be out and about on Saturday (April 23) delivering buying club orders.  These are preorders placed on our website through the winter buying club.  Ordering for Saturday's buying club ends tonight at 5 pm.  If you have questions or are having trouble navigating the website, please contact us at the farm.  We will do what we can to help you place and order and get some local products to you.  Farmers Neil and Krislyn have been busy and are supplying the buying club with some tender spring greens as well as some wild harvested ramps.  Dancing Hen Farm has a good supply of eggs, pastured pork and some storage crops available 

How about this weather?  Spring in Pennsylvania is always a bit of a roller coaster ride.  Recently that ride has been on the wild side.  Lows in the low 20's and upper teens, followed by 7 plus inches of snow, and a couple of days in the upper 70's, has left us all a holding on waiting for the next curve Mother Nature has up her sleeve.  And yes the ride continues, we had snow, lots of snow, on Tuesday and 80 and sun is predicted on Sunday.  Hard weather to farm in!  This time of year we are even more obsessed with the weather.  Waiting patiently for fields to dry and overnight temperatures to stay warm enough to sustain our summer crop transplants. 

In spite of the weather we have been busy!  Farmer Don was able to get peas planted a couple of weeks ago.  Not quite St Patrick's Day, but we were so happy to get them in before the snow.  Now we will wait for the soil to warm just a bit for germination.  We have other fields worked and ready for planting as soon as things dry out a bit.  After peas, we usually plant onions and potatoes, followed closely by greens, both salad and cooking greens.  True summer crops, such as tomatoes, peppers and squash, will not be planted until after the threat of frost.  For our farm we consider the very end of May or the first of June to be a safe no frost date for planting these more tender crops. 

 Just a quick update on our instagram account.  Our instagram account is @Dancing_Hen_Farm.  Sorry for any confusion, Farmer Don had someone help him put instagram on his phone and they decided to create a new account.  Farmer Don will be using this account throughout the season to keep everyone updated on farm activities.  So go ahead follow him and enjoy the pictures he has been taking!

 There is still much to tell, including some Dilly stories, but I will end here for today.  As usual, I have been working on this newsletter all day!  Crazy how I can write all day and get very little written.  So my friends, be well, be safe and send us some warm weather vibes.

 

 

2022 March, Spring is coming

Hi Friends of Dancing Hen Farm....we've moved into March, cool, now hopefully we can keep snow and cold weather away, looking to get peas in the ground , St. Pats day is the traditional planting day...fields are still defrosting so still too early to get out just yet.....starting some seeds in the house.......

so, the message for tonight's newsletter is to ask our community to follow us on instagram......I'm doing all I can to post the farm experience for all of you to share....we are planning a farm open house sometime in May, so everyone can visit the farm and see where the sustainable agriculture you support is produced.

Message...pictures are on instagram.. look us up .https://www.instagram.com/Danc... .. trying to share the farm as best I can....you've been with us for over 15 years now, I can finally show the farm to you... enjoy and feel free to comment...I will do my best to show you anything on the farm...gonna seed micro greens tomorrow, let's follow them from seed to your family..........psyched to involve our community in what you support us to do.......

Be Well Friends,

Farmer Don

 

 

2022 February 24 Newsletter

 Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm! 

The buying club is now open for deliveries this weekend!  The window to order will remain open until 8 pm tonight.  After this week, buying club deliveries may become a bit more sporadic as Farmer Don has some commitments coming up during the months of March and April.  We currently have available proteins, including eggs, and storage crops for purchase. 

In case you haven't guessed it yet, I am back in the writer's seat, at least for this newsletter.  Farmer Don wants to write some newsletters when he has the time, so we will be switching back and forth a bit, at least until the growing season really gets busy.  We are trying to get a newsletter out to you each week and will hopefully continue this through the summer.

Is anyone else feeling that we have made the weather turn towards spring?  Yes, I know I am probably being optimistic, but the weather has been so warm recently.  Have you heard the birds starting to sing more in the mornings? And yesterday I saw a robin!  Of course today is cool and cloudy with a storm brewing for tonight and tomorrow morning!  But, I am feeling very optimistic that soon I will be sitting on the porch with Dilly watching the birds!  I may feel differently in March when we are still getting snow, but for now - spring is just around the corner!

On farm the buzz for the 2022 growing season has begun.  We are busy ordering seeds and supplies and getting the seed house nursery cleaned up.  In the next week or so we will be starting seeds for some of our early transplants and in several weeks we could be planting peas!  Farmer Don and I are feeling motivated and excited to 2022.  Very much like the early days of Dancing Hen Farm.  We have had a tough couple of years health wise, but we are ready to get growing food for our community.  The farm doesn't look quite like we envisioned it when we started, but we have spent time this winter reflecting on the farm and we are happy with where the farm is, happy with what our farm has become, and happy, for the most part, with the direction our lives are taking.

We are excited to be going back to the Back Mountain Library Farmers Market this year.  Farmers Don and Phil are excited to see all their old friends at market.  I know is quite a long ways off, but if you go to market please be sure to stop by our table and say hello to the farmers!  We are hoping Farmers Neil and Krislyn will also be joining us at market this year.  Farmer Neil worked for us a number of years ago and he is eager to get involved in the farm again.  He and Krislyn have turned their small yard into a farm and are growing some really beautiful food.  Look for their items to appear on the market table and in our CSA share boxes. 

Please note registration for our 2022 CSA is now open.  There are a limited number of shares available and your share is reserved in order in which payment is received.  Thanks to all for your support.  CSA registration is one of my favorite times of the year.  We see the true sense of our community as we see people signing up who have been with us since year one.  It is also excited to see unfamiliar names appear as new members are finding and signing up for our CSA.  The CSA is the backbone of our farm.

In the kitchen we are still eating lots of soups and stews.  Every weekend we usually cook a chicken.  I then eat leftover chicken for lunch during the week and we make stock out of the bones.  I do love our chickens -- they taste great and by making stock, we feel we are really stretching the meals from one chicken.  The other week we stewed half a chicken and made chicken and dumplings.  So, good!  Nice rich broth, filled with chicken, carrots, corn and potatoes and then topped with some fluffy dumplings.  We are also trying to use up our canned and preserved foods.  Last year we canned salsa verde and this winter we made a really delicious white chicken chili featuring this salsa.  That recipe is a keeper for sure!  https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/white-chicken-chili-bake/

Ah yes, Dilly.  Dilly is very much the Queen of Dancing Hen Farm (we even have a picture of her in her Queen clothes!).  She loves doing chores with Farmer Don and loves running deer and other invaders off the property.  Even the invaders no one can see!  Yes she is a barker!  So far we are living with her barking and trying to give her no attention (positive or negative) for barking in the hopes that she will outgrow this latest Dillyism.  Even with all of this barking, she is still a cuddle bug.  In fact, if I am sitting on the couch on the computer, guaranteed she will paw at me and computer until I give up and allow her to cuddle up next to me and put her head on my lap.  As much as I hate having her stinky, little, farm body on the couch it is so nice to have her cuddle up next to me.  Of course, I won't be speaking so sweetly of her the next time she chews up the newspaper or drinks my coffee.  And by the way, it is coffee she likes.  I can have a cup of tea and she will not bother it, but coffee she will lap up any chance she gets!  Trust me she does not need to have the added caffeine in the coffee!

Well, I need to wrap this up and move onto finishing up organizing and inventorying our seed.  A much bigger task then I anticipated!  Look out Farmer Don, your seed tote will never be the same again! 

Thanks again for your continued support.  And thanks for reading.  We consider all of you our community and community is very high on Dancing Hen Farm's values list.

Until next week........

2022 winter buying club number two, open

 Hi Friends,

just a quick note to let everyone know our buying club is open again for orders with delivery this coming Saturday. We were able to add a few more storage crops to the selection. And stay in tune, as we are close to announcing more fun and exciting developments from the farm. Be well,

farmer Don

2022 the farm is now on instagram

 Hi Friends,

Farmer Phil and I were out and about today, slipping and sliding on the ice delivering buying club orders. Really nice to see friends of the farm who also slid on the ice to come see us and offer support. Love our community; and Karen be sure to tell Herb, Lowell George and I smile each and every day I come in from the farm...So, we now have an instagram account... dancinghenfarmpa ....trying to share more pictures of the farm as they happen...want to involve our community as best we can to share the farm that our community supports so well... we do ask patience as we navigate this new platform for us....but really excited to share the farm....be well..friends...and thanks again for your ongoing support...

2022 CSA Ground Hog Day

 Hi Friends! So glad to be back and about. Farmer Phil and Farmer Don were out and about today, visiting and celebrating our market friends and site hosts, in and around the Dancing Hen Farm Community. We were able to say hi to Gary and our friends at the Back Mountain Memorial Library, and let them know after a one year break we will be back to market for the 2022 season. Really happy to see and say hi to our friends at the Library. On to Verve Vertu, just missed Gwen, but enjoyed saying hi to our friends there and dropping off some eggs for all to enjoy. Seeing and saying to hi to Corrine, over at Balance Yoga, is always a feel support visit, and being able to share our harvest in such a healthy, positive energy environment is rewarding. Up in Mountain Top we stopped at the Crestwood Pharmacy to say hi and thank our friends up there for somewhere nearing five years of farm support as our local drop site for our friends up on the mountain. Over to Bloomsburg with a stop at Bloom Naturally, and a thank you there for many, many years of support. What a nice, friendly environment they share with our friend Mike, and the group at RT 11.

So, a fun day for Farmer Phil and Farmer Don to be out and about. And it doesn't stop there as we are preparing to fire up the buying club again and get out to see everyone prior to CSA and market season. Starting this week the buying club will open early tomorrow morning and stay open thru Thursday nite for orders to be delivered by Phil and I on Saturday. We have some carrots and potatoes to share as well as a few farm proteins. Eggs are the special purchase going forward. The hens are enjoying their passive solar house with the warm up the winter sun provides. And new this year, is a little something, again to celebrate our community will be another email with a "code" word, good for a dollar discount, off your purchase when you see Farmer Phil and I at market. Happy to be back. Ready to fire up the farm for 2022. Be well friends, and thanks so much for your support.

Farmer Don

First Newsletter of 2022

 2022 Farm update

Good afternoon family, friends and supporters of Dancing Hen Farm! Really happy to be back to reaching out to all of you with a brief recap of 2021 and some news for the upcoming 2022 season!

Number one : Thank you for your support! Each and every one of you! Joan and I would not have Dancing Hen Farm if it wasn't for the ongoing support you provide. Thanks again!

Wrapping up 2021, another year with covid all around us, a seaming lightening up in mid-summer only to come back in a different form later in the year. As you know Joan and I spent the season in a sort of isolation mode, and you know what, despite many hospitalizations, and such, Joan and I have been covid free and plan to stay that way! As you know, we have many other health issues to worry about, so covid can go pound sand as far as the farmer is concerned. Yup, so 2021, first year in 14 years we didn't go to a farm market. Ouch. Missed seeing all of our friends. I know farmer Phil missed market as much as farmer Don. Ups and downs with crop production, no biggie, same as every year. Fresh herbs were a positive last season, greens were okay, especially late season, root crops and fruit crops were okay, and deer continue to be the single biggest challenge to our farm operations. Even though Dilly is doing her barking best to keep them at bay. Not too many serious weather issues. Eggs were good all year long, and pork and chicken out of the freezer worked well. We also added fresh, sourdough bread to our buying club in 2021. We also welcomed our neighbor, Paul, into the fold, for help all over the farm. Very grateful for his help. And a shout out to Dr. / FarmerJohn, for his assistance with the delivery side of our operations. So thankful for all the help all season long!

Let's move on to 2022! Dancing Hen Farm, Joan and Farmer Don, want to dedicate this season to our members and supporters! Many of you have been with us since the start, 15 years ago! Community does not build spontaneously. It has taken all of us, together, to build the Dancing Hen Farm community. Sharing the nutrient dense harvest, one of our founding values, with all of you has been so satisfying and rewarding, time has come to reward our community. So, for 2022, a few of the thoughts and ideas we have to support this celebration! Let's start with increasing our season to 20 weeks with no price increase, adding two more weeks of harvest for you, our members to enjoy. Extras and surprises included with the weekly shares. Revisiting nutrition information and education on a weekly basis. Offering on farm events. Increasing our web presence, with more farm stories and pictures. Increasing our support towards on farm education, focusing on the younger generation. Farmer Phil and Farmer Don returning to market and continuing our meet and greets. More involvement with off season buying clubs. Welcoming farmer Neil back to the farm, with his friend Krislyn and their family assisting with all aspects of operations. Introducing and nurturing long term crops to the farm, such as trees to include nut trees, fruit crops and berries. Bringing pigs and chickens back to the farm. And, doing all we can, as we enter year 15, to make this a celebration year, celebrate the support you have shown us all these years. You now have two excited and motivated cancer survivors sharing the harvest and running the Dancing Hen farm operations. We couldn't be happier or more motivated for the upcoming season.

We will be opening memberships shortly, as we can always use your early support to purchase supplies and equipment. Details will be very similar to last year, same pick up sites, no home deliveries, but an extra 2 weeks, one on the front and one on the back end. Specifics will follow shortly, stay tuned.

And, Thanks again for your ongoing support! Be well friends.

Farmer Don

2021 Final CSA Delivery

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

CSA members:  The boxes you received Wednesday, 10/20/2021, was our last delivery of the 2021 CSA season.  This week was not an egg week.  Farmers Don Phil will be making the rounds to our drop sites in the next few weeks to pick up share boxes, so please leave (or return) you box to your drop site.  We hope everyone enjoyed the 2021 CSA.  THANK YOU to all our CSA members for trusting us to deliver farm fresh, in season, vegetables to you.

The weather, what can we say about the weather so far this fall.  I feel we have had our share of clouds, but this week we had some beautiful fall days - lots of sun, a light breeze, lower humidity and not a cloud in the sky.  We have had few cooler days and nights, but we still have not had a frost here on farm.  Some areas have seen frost and we were worried the other night.  This resulted in Farmer Don out with his headlamp trying to harvest any temperature sensitive crops.  But no frost here.  That night we bottomed out at 42.  

With this warmer weather, our fields look pretty good and we still have some harvestable crops to be picked.  Our collard greens are probably the best we have ever grown and our Swiss chard is coming on beautifully again.  In fact all of greens are looking great and we will be able to harvest and store some other crops, such as peppers and eggplants, before we do get a frost.  On a side note, greens tend to get sweeter as the temperatures get cooler.  So fall is the perfect season to pull out those recipes for kale, collards, Asian greens or chard.

Since we still have crops to harvest, we are finalizing plans for a fall and early winter buying club.  The details are still being worked out, so please watch your email for buying club information. 

I must say this has been a good growing season for us.  We felt the CSA boxes looked good going out and although we dealt with our usual invasion by weeds, deer and groundhogs, our crops fared quite well this year.  Farmer Don and I, for the most part, are on the mend, feeling healthier and stronger.  By reducing our CSA numbers and pulling out of markets, we accomplished one goal for the 2021 season.  This goal was to bring the stress level on farm down and have some time to spend enjoying life and the farm.  We have had a nice growing season.  We have both felt more relaxed and have been able to spend more time together, including time to create meals from our veggies, enjoying the back porch and reviving our decades old ongoing Scrabble challenge. 

Our kitchen has been quite busy this year.  I am happy to say as the summer moved along, my energy has increased and I have been doing more cooking and canning.  Farmer Don and Farmer Phil's Mom Joyce are huge cheerleaders for my "take back the kitchen" campaign.  Our pantry is filled to overflowing with cans of preserved veggies and thanks to Joyce I have green beans, peppers and corn in the freezer.  Most recently eggplant has been the chosen ingredient in our kitchen.  We have made eggplant parmesan, eggplant lasagna, eggplant gratin, eggplant stew, eggplant soup; I think you get the idea!  Lots of eggplant to be used.  I still have some in storage and may try to bread and bake them and then freeze them for later use in parmesan or lasagna.  With cooler temperatures coming on we will shift into greens mode.  I need to find a good recipe for collards.  I have to confess these are not my favorite greens.  With our collards being so beautiful (and healthy!), they are, however, calling my name and I need to start cooking with them more. 

Of course, what would a newsletter be without an update on Dilly.  Dilly has had a bit of a rough summer.  She was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease.  This explains her intermittent limping and general joint stiffness!  She is now on medication and doing much better, although she still seems to have some occasional stiffness in her back and hind legs.  However, despite Lyme disease Dilly is still Silly Dilly.  She still loves coffee and her bouncy balls.  She also still enjoys helping us with the newspaper.  The other day, while I was on the phone with the doctor, she decided to be helpful and  fetch the newspaper for me.  However, the paper never made it off the patio, where she made a nice pile of shredded newsprint.  The front page and some of the ads were shredded completely, but Farmer Don was happy that the Sport's page remained mostly intact. 

I want to again, take this opportunity to thank everyone for your continued support.  As I said above, this has been a nice growing season for Dancing Hen Farm.  Farmer Don and I have been more relaxed and I think this has been evident in the quality of crops we were able to distribute this season.  So, thanks to our farm family, our community.  And Thank You for reading my newsletters.

Did you know we have a social media presence?  We have a facebook page and a blog.  You can always find farm pictures and information at these sites.  https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Farm/Dancing-Hen-Farm-111155465564952/

and our blog

http://dancinghenfarmcsa.blogspot.com/

Please remember to watch your email for buying club announcements and ongoing farm news.

In closing, the words of farmer Don, "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".

 

Thanks to this year's helpers!

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

We do hope that all our CSA members have been enjoying their boxes.  The boxes delivered this week are Week 13 and Week 13 is an egg week.

So, first let me apologize for being so lax in getting newsletters out this season.  I could come up with some real excuses, like hospitalizations, medication making me tired, and what not.  But in reality it is simply because I am a self proclaimed Procrastination Queen.  I can say I will try to be better as we draw the 2021 season to a close, but only the weeks will tell if I continue wearing my Queen crown or not.

After the remains of Hurricane Ida tore through the area, didn't we had some beautiful weather.  Not to make light of the destruction from rising flood waters and tornados, but I truly felt like fall had arrived.  Clear sunny days and cool nights!  I kept telling Farmer Don it looked and felt like fall.  I love fall, so this message was delivered with a bit smile on my face!  Farmer Don would patiently point out to me that it was not fall yet, as the trees were still green.  I would just as patiently remind him that we usually get our first light frost in September and look how short the days are becoming.  I mean the golden rod has been turning fallow fields into blazes of yellow and today, while running errands, I saw trees turning a brilliant red.  Only a few trees, but red none the less!  Of course recently it has been a little hot and sticky, but trust me fall is just around the corner.

So on farm we are getting ready for fall as well.  Winter squash is being harvested.  Tomatoes and summer squash harvests are coming to an end.  We have planted some cooler season fall crops, including arugula, radishes and another rotation of Asian greens.  Look for greens to come back with a flourish soon, as the kale and chard are coming along beautifully.  Our lettuce has also enjoyed the slightly cooler temperatures and should be available in both loose leaf heads as well as some salad mix 

I want to take a bit of written space now for my annual thank you newsletter.  A huge thank you to all of you, our members, friends and family of the farm.  Without your continued support, we would be unable to do what we are doing, growing food sustainably here on a rocky hillside in north central PA.  I want to specifically thank Farmer Phil.  As many of you know, Farmer Phil has been with us since year one.  Phil heads up our pack house, keeping busy weighing and portioning for csa boxes.  He also is our delivery assistant, helping our driver know where to go and helping with carrying boxes.  Speaking of deliveries, another huge thank you to Farmer John.  John has his own farm and has been helping us this year with Wednesday's deliveries.  I also want to thank our neighbor Paul for his help during the season making certain greenhouses stayed watered, seeding schedules were maintained and entertaining Dilly.  We also would be unable to do this without the help of our delivery site hosts.  Thanks to the staff at Crestwood Pharmacy, Corrine and the staff at Balance Yoga, the staff at Bloom Naturally and Gwen and all the artists at Verve Vertu Artist Studio.  And last, but not least, a huge thank you to Farmers Joyce and Mike.  Joyce and Mike also happen to be Farmer Phil's parents.  They help out the farm in too numerous ways to list, but include harvest, supplementing our production, helping me with medical appointments and helping to assure Dilly is getting walks and play time when necessary.  If you see any of these folks out and about, please take a moment to say thank you.

The kitchens, ours and Farmers Joyce and Mike's, have been really busy this year with canning and preserving.  Early on Joyce and I canned peaches and Joyce and Mike have been kind enough to freeze beans, corn and peppers for me.  In the mean time they have been busy making pickles, peach preserves and salsas.  This year Farmer Don is making his presence known in the preserving kitchen.  He and I have canned tomatoes and 2 rotations of salsa (a hotter and milder version).  Still this season, we have plans for applesauce and tomato sauce.  I have to say it has been a productive preserving season this year!  As I have said before, I love to can and preserve food in general, so it makes me feel good to be back in the canning game!

Also in the kitchen, I have been waiting patiently for cooler weather for soup and stew season to start.  I do love to cook and eat soups and stews.  I am waiting patiently to use one of remaining stew hens to make a nice pot of chicken corn soup and I am hoping to use some of our cabbage to make an unstuffed cabbage soup.  I love stuffed cabbage, but find I don't have the patience for all the steps involved in stuffed cabbage.  Several years ago I found a recipe for a casserole or soup for unstuffed cabbage and I was hooked! 

And then there was Dilly.  What can I say about Dillburger.  She is starting to live up to her sister Rosie's title of Calamity Rose.  Most recently Dill has come up lame with one of her back legs.  We have had her to the vet twice to be checked and of course as soon as she walks into the vet's office you can't even tell which leg is the problem one!  And nothing has been found that could be causing the limping.  She has also had a slight run in with a skunk.  Somehow she seems to have been sprayed on her belly?  We are thinking she was not the target of the spray and maybe walked through some high grass with the skunk spray on it.  But, in all honesty, only Dilly and the skunk know for sure!   She also had a not so slight run in with a porcupine!  As she nursed a sore muzzle and nose, I am hoping she learned her lesson with porcupines and will stay clear of them.  Oh yeah, and clear of the skunks, as well! 

I will end here with a "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

Until next week! (well, I guess I should be honest and say until next newsletter)

 

2021 Most Recent Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

 CSA Members:  I hope everyone enjoyed their CSA boxes.  Thanks for returning boxes to us.

 Can you believe it is August already?  What a roller coaster the weather has been this summer.  From cool, almost fall like, with morning lows in the low 50's and upper 40's.  To a brutal heat wave with day time temperatures pushing 90 plus and overnight lows in the 70's.  Personally, I will take the cooler temperatures.  The heat is hard from me to deal with, as is the need to keep the air conditioning on and the house shut up. 

 In general our fields are looking good.  The weeds, of course, are growing nicely!  Our true summer crops are a bit slow to ripen, but this heat should push them along a bit.  Our cooking greens continue to look beautiful.  A few years back Farmer Don was all about nutrient density of certain vegetables and greens are very high on the nutrient dense list.  Meaning they are packed with vitamins and minerals for a low caloric intake.  We love our greens and add them to stir frys or scrambled with eggs.  We love these green eggs for either breakfast or a quick summer dinner.  Green eggs are simply scrambled eggs with greens stirred in.  Any of the cooking greens do well with eggs.  I usually saute the greens a bit first with some garlic and/or onion and then add the eggs and cook until the eggs are the consistency you like.  A nice salad and some bread make these eggs a fulfilling supper.  Our bok choy this season has been some of the best we have grown for a number of years.  Bok choy, another nutrient dense vegetable, and another vegetable that does nicely in stir frys.  There are also some really great salads out there which use bok choy.  We used to do some cooking demonstrations at farmers markets and would often feature a bok choy salad with a creamy vinaigrette dressing and goat cheese.  All parts of bok choy are edible, but for a milder dish, omit some of the leaves and just use the stems.  Salad greens are also coming on strong.  Farmer Don is very happy to be starting to harvest some mixed greens.  A few will be on this week's choice, with hopefully larger numbers available in the coming weeks. 

 In our kitchen, like most of you, we are busy cooking zucchini!  Zucchini on the grill, zucchini in stir frys, zucchini as a side vegetable, zucchini added to salads and so on!  Yes, it is still zucchini season.  Farmer Don is telling me harvest is starting to slow down, so if you haven't gotten your fill of zucchini yet, order some before we run out.  Yes, we do actually run out of zucchini!  In fact, I need to get some in the kitchen, as I haven't made any zucchini bread yet.  I am also contemplating making some zucchini relish, as peppers are ripening.  Often the zucchini ripens too far ahead of the peppers to make relish.  On the preservation list this year are tomatoes, tomato sauce and applesauce for sure, with some extras thrown in if I have the energy.  If you see Farmer Phil out doing deliveries, you will have to ask him about all the pickling and preserving his parents have been doing.  They have been busy!

 Do any of you remember a number of years ago when I had some snakes take up residence in my herb bed?  Two to be exact and I was convinced they were going to have some huge number of babies.  At that time we had two CSA members who were amateur snake charmers.  Ok, so they were amateur snake hunters, but doesn't charmers sound so much better!?  Anyway the snake charmers were unable to capture the snakes and I never saw any babies.  At some point the snakes left my herb bed and have never returned.  Well this year, earlier in the spring, Farmer Don came down to the house carrying something.  He stood outside the window holding up a long ribbon of some sort.  This "ribbon" was really long - at least a foot longer than he is tall and he is about six feet, making the "ribbon" easily 7 feet long.  What in the world?  I got up to get a better look to discover he was holding a snake skin!  A 7 foot long snake skin!  Oh my!  "Where did you find that?"  I asked.  He told me laying on top of the bushes along the edge of the orchard and then he showed me a second one which was only 5 or 6 feet.  Only 5 or 6 feet!  Ok, so I do not mind snakes, but I have to be honest and say I do not want to run into either of the snakes which left behind those skins.  I mean what are they eating?  They aren't making too huge of a dent in our groundhog or fox populations, but I cannot imagine they are getting that big on field mice and voles?  Anyway I had the great my plan to take a picture of Farmer Don holding both skins and use the picture as a lead into this "snake newsletter".  It was getting dark when he brought them down to the house, so I told him I would take the picture the next day when the light was better.  Farmer Don hung the skins on our back porch where he felt they would be safe.  Of course he did not account for Dilly Dog's ability to get at anything we are trying to keep from her, so first thing the next morning, she ran out the door and snagged a snake skin even before she pottied!  Before I knew it she had the second one down as well.  I decided a half chewed skin didn't make a great picture, so I had fun watching her play with them.  Shaking them, growling at them and rolling on them and yes, also chewing on them like snake jerky.  Eventually we picked them up and poor Dilly had to go back to chewing on her toys.  I have yet to see any super large snakes on farm, but I am treading lightly and keeping my eye out!

 Ok, considering this newsletter has been sitting on my computer for several weeks, I think it is time to simply consider it done and send it out for everyone to read.

 As always Thanks to all members and friends of our farm.  Without your continued support, we would not be able to farm and care for this rocky hillside we call Dancing Hen Farm.

 Closing in Farmer Don's words: "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

2021 CSA Week 4 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

CSA members.  We hope you are enjoying your Week 4 boxes.  Week 4 was not an egg week.  Week 5 is an egg week.  A huge "Thank you" to everyone who has returned boxes to us.

Ah yes, the weather.  Today brings clouds and cooler temperature.  I just checked radar and it looks as though we may remain dry this evening and night.  But, that has not been the case recently, when each day brought high temperatures and evening storms.  Other than Thursday, I cannot remember a day recently without the storms and rain.  On farm, we have been easily getting 0.5 to 2.0 inches of rain a day.  This much rain is almost as challenging as a drought on farm.  With these heavy rains, we are lucky that our fields drain fairly quickly.  However this much rain and days of high humidity means foliage stays wet and wet plants leads to disease problems.  Weeds also love the rain, so many of our fields are starting to look a bit like a jungle.  Time to get out the hoe and even the weed eater to tackle those pesky weeds.

 Our fields are filling up and believe it or not, soon we will be transitioning to planting late summer and fall crops.  Cucumber are setting fruit, so we should have cucumbers available in the next week or so.  Greens continue to be harvested and look really good thanks to the rain!  The Chard and Red Russian kale are both looking beautiful right now.  Red Russian is my favorite kale.  I think it less bitter and I am convinced the red hue is giving me some different, healthy, phyto-chemicals then green curly kale.  Try a massaged kale salad with this red kale for those hot days when cooking seems exhausting.  Our Romaine Lettuce continues to be harvested and we are waiting a new planting of leaf lettuce to size up soon.  A second planting of eggplant went in the ground today and our next planting of summer squash, cucumbers and lettuce has also been planted. 

The farm is still collecting pets.  The most recent is a chicken.  This chicken has decided she should live at the house, not in the coop with her 100 or so sisters.  Each night she makes her way to the porch.  We watch her walking down from the barn, through the yard, a bit before dusk.  She then walks along the railing, cooing and clucking, until she finds her spot to roost.  When chickens roost they tend to poop a lot, so now Farmer Don has to muck the porch!  A job he is not fond of.  We have tried several tactics to get her to go back home, to the coop, at night.  We have shooed her off the porch only to have her clucking and cooing her way back before we even get a chance to sit back down.  Farmer Don has carried her back to the coop and placed her in the far corner near the roost, but she was not deterred!  Nope, she followed he and Dilly all the back to the house and proceeded to once again find her roost on the porch railing.  She has been doing this long enough that Dilly now considers her a member of the house pets and rarely even gives her a second look.  We have to be a bit careful with the chickens and Dilly.  She is not as gentle as Rosie was with them.  Rose would herd the chickens away from the house and back towards the barn.  She sometimes would nip at them to move them along, but she never grabbed them with her mouth.  Dilly, on the other hand, does not have any herding instinct.  She would prefer to grab the chicken and proceed to carry it back to the barn.  Kind of comical to see Dilly, who as I have said before, is not that large, carrying a full grown chicken around.  And as you can imagine, Dilly is not as gentle with the chickens as we would like.  She usually initially grabs them by the neck and unfortunately the outcome is not always a positive one for the chicken.  Since our chickens are free range, Dilly has fairly constant access to them.  For that reason we have spent a good bit of time teaching her not to "carry" chickens and for the most she has learned.  Only occasionally do we now find her with a chicken in her mouth.

It seems our kitchen has been filled with leftovers recently.  We seem to only cook one or two dinners a week and eat the leftovers the rest of the time.  I think we need to learn to cook smaller quantities!  Farmer Don made a really good ratatouille which we had for three meals!  As a side dish to chicken the first meal and over pasta for the next two.  I also made use of beets to make one of my favorite, pickled beets and eggs.  My sister and I are already starting to plan for canning.  We are hoping to can peaches this year and of course tomatoes, tomato sauce and hopefully applesauce.  Last year we didn't get much canning done, as I was not feeling up to it.  This year we are determined to get some jars on the shelves!  Stay tuned for our canning adventures!

Let's see, I talked about the weather, the fields and harvest, the adventures of the farm and now the kitchen.  I am thinking it is time to wrap this newsletter up.  I am ashamed to say I started it over a week ago!!!  

So, as Farmer Don would say:  "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

Until next week (hopefully)...

2021 CSA Week 1 and 2 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm! 

We hope everyone had a safe and happy July 4th.  We had a simple picnic here on farm with Farmer Phil and his family.  With illness and the pandemic it had been quite a while since we had people over for a meal.  It felt good to plan the meal and cook for others!  I think everyone had a good time, nothing too exciting, just a relaxing early supper on the back porch.  Of course beware, because next time we are threatening to get the games out!

Welcome to Week 1 and Week 2 of our CSA. 

I apologize for blending 2 weeks newsletters in to one.  I need to get back into the habit of weekly newsletters.  With that being said, I hope our CSA members enjoyed their Week 1 and week 2 boxes and are ready for their Week 3 Box.  My plan is to have a Week 3 Newsletter out to everyone later this week.

First some CSA notes.  Members, please remember we reuse the wax boxes your shares are packed in. This week we have a lot of brand new boxes being used.  They are stiff and will require patience to keep them from tearing when you open them. Farmer Don says please remember to push not pull to avoid tearing the tops!  Thank you, these waxed share boxes are an expense for the farm as they cost over two dollars each.   We also reuse clean egg cartons and berry boxes.  These items can be returned to your pick up site and we will collect them.  Another reminder:  The window to choose items for your share opens on Thursdays at 6 pm and closes Sundays at 6pm.  Forgot to sign on or finding most items not available when you do sign on?  Please consider a Farmer's Choice box.  These boxes have looked really good going out this year. 

The weather, what would a Farm newsletter be without me talking about the weather.  What a roller coaster ride the weather in June provided!  We had a heat waves early and late in the month with some chilly weather in between.  We actually had an overnight low of 43 in mid June -- that is very cold for June!  These cool overnight temperatures were good for our lettuce and kales, but not good for peppers or Asian greens.  Peppers will actually drop flowers and fruit at these temperatures.  Temperatures below 50 cause some Asian greens (such as napa cabbage) to bolt or set a flower stalk.  For this reason we are in the process of re-planting our napa cabbage and our peppers may be delayed in harvest this year.

Speaking of harvest we continue to bring in some beautiful bok choy.  Our kales and Swiss chard are also looking really good right now.  Zucchini continues to be harvested and with any luck we should be able to keep zucchini and other summer squash going for the majority of our season.  We have started harvesting romaine lettuce and it is looking really nice.  Our pea harvest is pretty much over as the heat has taken its toll on the pea plants.  Next week we are hoping to have spring onions and garlic available.  This year we are again partnering with some other growers in our community to bring you the best selection of items.  One of these growers has greenhouse space which is where the early tomatoes and eggplant are coming from.  

Dilly is still ruling the farm.  She has outgrown some of her puppyhood and is starting to settle down.  Never did I think I would say Dilly and settle down in the same sentence!!  But she is suddenly content to hang out with us on the porch or lay on the couch for an afternoon nap.  She is learning the workings of the farm, learning what is good and what is bad and learning what to avoid!  I am fairly certain she now knows porcupines and skunks are bad and she is slowly learning that chickens and barn cats are good.  She has most definitely determined that groundhogs are bad and one of her personal vendettas is to eradicate the farm of them.  Dilly s not a large dog, so she can handle the smaller groundhogs by herself, but needs help from Farmer Don for the larger ones.  This leads me to a classic Dilly story!

The other afternoon, Farmer Don was off farm, and Dilly was patrolling the property.  I was inside and heard a ruckus outside the garage door.  Dilly and another animal seemed to be in the fight of their lives.  Being an overprotective doggy Mom, I decided Dilly needed help and made the decision, the WRONG decision, to open the garage door.  With the garage open barely a few inches in ran a groundhog with Dilly close behind.  As the groundhog made a run for me and inside of the house, I screamed and quickly slammed the inside door.  But, the fight continued, inside the garage now.  Every time I open the door to check things out the groundhog seemed determined to run for the inside door.  When I heard Dilly yipe, I opened the door to find that the groundhog had Dilly on her back!  Now all three of us were screaming.  Dilly had recovered and was now on all fours growling and barking at the groundhog, the groundhog was on its haunches hissing and squealing at Dil and I was standing in the doorway yelling for Dilly to get inside.  Dilly did eventually listen and came running in the house with me.  At about this time the back-up calgary (my sister!) arrived to help.  She helped me back the car out of the garage and scoot the unhappy hissing groundhog out with the broom!  Thankfully Dilly escaped the fight without a scratch.  I am not sure about the groundhog, as handling a hissing, angry groundhog is not high on my list of things to do.  If nothing else, I think Dilly convinced it to not hang out by the garage door!

There have been some changes here on farm over the last year.  Most notable is that we have downsized quite a bit.  Our CSA membership is less than half of the members we had last year and we do not anticipate attending farmers markets this year.  Farmers Don and Phil will miss their friends and customers at market!  We are trying to figure out the logistics of a setting up a pay as you go summer buying club, so our market customers can still order from us if they like.  Pre-ordering will most likely be required and you will need to meet us at a designated place and time to collect and pay for your order.  Watch up-coming emails for more information and details.  Please send us an email if you think you might be interested!  (dancinghenfarm@epix.net) 

Ok, ok, I know this is getting really long!  So, I will close this saga here.

Thanks again for your support of our farm and local sustainable agriculture.  

And as Farmer Don would say "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".

2021 CSA Details and Farm News

 

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

We have finally made some decisions concerning our 2021 growing season.  Farmer Don has been writing this newsletter for over a week, but his life is quite busy right now, so I thought I would take over the task. 

So, first for our CSA.  We will be offering a CSA to our customers again this season.  We will continue to be a full choice CSA.  You will again be able to sign into our website and choose the items you want in your box each week.  We are hoping to start deliveries sometime in June and end regular deliveries in October.  Deliveries will again be on Wednesdays.  We will be making some changes to our CSA.  We will be eliminating our chicken shares from the CSA.  If you already purchased a chicken share for this season, we will touch base with you on an individual basis.   In an effort to be more sustainable and cut our fuel and delivery costs, we will not be offering home deliveries this summer.  Again, if you already sent in payment for your 2021 CSA to include home delivery, we will contact you individually.  Farmer Don is very optimistic about this year's growing season.  He is feeling well and is ready to get growing for us and for our community.  Thanks to everyone for your continued support of our CSA.  It is hard to believe this is our 14th season!  If you have questions about the 2021 CSA or our farm, please do not hesitate to contact us. 

The 2021 CSA is now officially open for registration.  Like last year, we are limiting number of members.  Shares will be reserved in order in which payment is received.  At this time we take cash (in person) or check.  We are not set up to take plastic.  Please visit our website to register and sign up for a share.

As we celebrate the spring equinox and the first day of spring, I do believe we are making the turn from winter into spring.  The sun is getting higher in the sky and we are starting to get some warmer days.  The snow seems to have finally melted.  I know we can still get some snow storms, but it is so nice to feel this rebirth we call Spring.  Here on farm the crocus are blooming and the other spring bulbs are pushing up from the soil.  Animals and birds are slowing returning and waking from their winter slumber.  We have seen robins, groundhogs, chipmunks and skunks.  If you see Farmer Don you will have to ask him about the skunk.  The other week he had a minor and very much unwanted encounter with the wrong end of a skunk!  His story gets more and more animated with each telling.  I am convinced soon he will be telling everyone he fought the skunk off with flaming arrows! 

Dilly, Dilly, Dilly; yes, Dilly is still ruling the farm and the house.  She is a very active pup!  She is busy learning what does and doesn't belong on farm.  Farmer Don is convinced she will be a good varmint dog.  Only time will tell, she does seem very interested in our farm enemies, but she has yet to have a one on one encounter with any.  Shady also was a good varmint dog until she had a run in with a groundhog and after that she watched things from a safe distance.  I don't think Dilly has seen the chipmunk yet, but she is very interested in the groundhog and the rodents in the barn.  And, of course, the barn cats.  We are very thankful Dilly was in the house when Farmer Don was doing battle with the skunk!  Dilly is also our resident kleptomaniac.  She is the ultimate counter and table surfer, stealing whatever she feels is of high value.  She chews her finds and then hides them under the couch!  Yesterday this was a pen.  She brought the rubber finger grip to me in the bedroom.  It took me awhile to determine what she had and where she got it.  When I went looking for my pen, I realized what Dill had and then panicked that it had exploded and ink was seeping into the rug.   Luckily the pen seemed to be fairly Dilly proof.  It sustained enough chewing it became trash, but thankfully no leaking ink. 

Several weeks ago Dilly was spayed and needed to wear the collar of shame, only she didn't seem to mind the collar.  Any other dog I have ever owned or been around has tried to remove this big collar as soon as it is put on, but not Dilly.  She even learned how to manipulate it to get into small places and even was still be able to steal off the table.  It was so cute to see her jogging around outside with this big plastic cone on.  Secretly, I think she may have actually liked the collar!  The vet was amazed that all her stitches were still intact when we took her back for the follow up appointment. 

On farm we are busy planning and planning for this upcoming season.  We have lined up some help for the summer.  Farmer Don will be working some off farm, so we have arranged for our neighbor Paul to stop by and water plants and animals.  He has also agreed to allow Dilly to run while he is here.  I am sure he will become one of her best friends!  We also are welcoming Jason back to help up on Saturdays.  Rumor has it he will be bringing his boys around as well to help with chores and projects.  We are also planning on our friend John assisting Farmer Phil with deliveries this year.   I am sure there will be more people added to this list as the season moves along. 

We hope everyone is weathering the COVID pandemic well.  Hard to believe it has been over a year now of masks and social distancing.   On farm we are thankful toilet paper is again available at our local grocery store and that for the most past we have remained untouched by the virus and the pandemic.  We very much feel getting vaccinated is a personal choice.  Farmer Don decided he would feel safer, being off farm if he were vaccinated, so he spent a bit of time this morning at the Benton Fire Hall getting his first of the series of two COVID vaccines.  Hopefully his second shot will be available when he needs to receive it.  I am waiting to get the vaccine until I can feel confident it will not aggravate any of my pre-existing health concerns.  Please, everyone, stay safe out there. 

Ok, this is getting long!  Time to print and have Farmer Don read and review this newsletter before I send it out to everyone.