2016 Week 17 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to Week 17.  I hope everyone enjoyed their Week 16 boxes!  This week, Week 17, is an EGG week and is also a CHICKEN week.  After this week, there are 5 weeks remaining in the CSA.

The calendar says fall and the weather has been saying rain.  Lots of rain the past few days.  Very welcome rain for the low water table and some of our newly planted fall crops.  However not welcome for the last of some of our summer crops, such as tomatoes.  This coming week looks drier with the possibility of more rain over the weekend and maybe a cool down for the start of next week.

Our fields and harvest are really starting to look more fall like and less summer like.  Tomatoes are starting to wind down and the rain has caused much of the fruit to split and show some disease.   We will continue to harvest tomatoes up until the first frost, but the numbers available will most likely be decreasing each week.  In the upcoming weeks we will be harvesting more green tomatoes, so get your fried green tomato recipes ready.  Our greens, on the other hand are really starting to thrive with the cooler weather.  Look for kale, chard and mustard greens to continue to be available.  Arugula is looking good and should be available for the next few weeks.  The green beans we are harvesting right now are absolutely beautiful and we should have green beans available at least for another week or two.  Winter squash should continue to be available.  Radishes are beautiful right now and we are hoping our succession plantings will keep them available for several more weeks.  Sweet potatoes should continue to be available and we will be digging white potatoes soon.

In the kitchen, I am still in preserving mode.  I think I am finally done with tomatoes!  However, last week I did experiment with lacto fermenting some sungold tomatoes.  The initial ferment in complete and the fermenting jars are now resting in the fridge.  I have been sampling them and they are tasty, with the tomatoes actually being a bit fizzy when you bite into them.  I am still deciding if I like them enough to make another batch this year or even make them again next year.  This weekend we froze beans and next weekend we are hoping to make and can some applesauce.  I am also hoping to make some sauerkraut and ferment some radishes as well.  And if our beets come in high enough numbers, I will try and can some pickled beets.  Wow, it seems I will be canning and freezing into the winter!

With cooler temperatures we are using the grill less and the oven and stove top more.  Last week, I used one of our hams and made a big pot of ham and green beans.  I usually make this meal in the winter and use my frozen green beans, but it was so nice using fresh green beans this time.  We are also eating lots of sweet potatoes right now, usually baked or roasted.  One of my favorite go to recipes for sweet potatoes combines sweets, cooking greens and apples.  Here is a link to the recipe http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/sweet-potatoes-apples-and-braising-greens-240487  I usually make this dish with kale and skip the parsley.  I also prefer to cube my sweet potatoes and slice the apples.  Another fall and winter go to recipe here on farm involves roast white potatoes, kale and sausage.  As fall and winter progress, we make this dish almost every week!  Here is a link to the recipe https://www.caloriecount.com/kale-sausage-garlic-roasted-potatoes-recipe-r150667  I feel like I have shared these two recipes every year with our CSA members.  Maybe for next week I will try and come up with something new! 

With the CSA and farmers markets starting to end, it is time to talk about how you can receive Dancing Hen Farm products into the fall and winter.  We will be extending our CSA this fall, most likely for 4 additional weeks.  Please watch upcoming newsletters for pricing and details.  We will also be starting our winter buying club soon.  Again watch upcoming newsletters for details. 

Our 2016 apple orchard pork will be available in November.  We sell our bulk pork by the half and whole and are now taking reservations.  Please contact the farm if you are interested in bulk pork.  A whole hog will yield 125 to 140 pounds of meat and will require a at least 7 cubic feet of freezer space for storage.  We will also have a limited amount of cuts available for purchase through our buying club. 

The night is getting late and the boxes are packed, time to end this newsletter.  Have a great week!  

2016 CSA Week 15 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm and Welcome to Week 15 of our CSA.  Week 15 is an egg week.  After this delivery there are 7 weeks remaining in the CSA.

It is early Monday morning, the sun has yet to rise and a gentle rain is falling.  Oh how we need this rain, and as I have said before, I really enjoy a nice rainy day.  I am sure the entire farm is soaking up this beautiful rain.  Saturday, I was up tending to the pigs and their area was so dry and dusty.  Large billows of dust drifted into the trees as the pigs charged around, excited to be receiving their vegetable treats.  Our crops were also feeling the lack of rain.  We have several beds of direct seeded crops for fall which also are enjoying this gentle moisture.  Plant growth and germination in these beds had pretty much stopped.  Hopefully it is not too late for them to recover.  However, as beautiful and welcome as this rain is, Monday rains are not always a welcome site here on farm.  Mondays are our marathon day of harvesting and packing for CSA deliveries.  Harvesting in the rain and mud is always a challenge.  Equally challenging is dodging the leaks in our pack house roof as we wash and pack the harvest!

On farm, our fields are in transition.  We are still harvesting summer crops, but we are slowly moving into fall mode, with more greens becoming available as the season progresses.  We anticipate peppers and tomatoes being available at least until we get a killing frost.  I think we are starting to see an end to our zucchini and summer squash harvest.  Sweet potatoes should be available through week 22 and we will be digging another bed of regular potatoes soon.  Our sunflower harvest is coming to an end, as is our basil harvest.  We have a nice bed of arugula planted, which should be available for harvest in a few weeks.  Our rutabaga are planted and starting to size up.  We have a small planting of kohlrabi which will also be ready for harvest soon.  This rain should push our lettuce planting along, so look for more lettuce and salad mix coming your way.  This week we started to harvest a few radishes and hopefully the rain will help the remainder of this bed mature.

In the kitchen, well on farm as well, we are still drowning in tomatoes.  Which isn't a bad thing!  I am still in canning mode.  Quarts of canned tomatoes, pints of sauce, half pints of ketchup and relish are all lining my shelves.  Although I have a pressure canned, the products I have been making this summer can all be canned in a hot water bath canner.  To me, there is something comforting and fulfilling about my old black graniteware canner, filled with jars, boiling away on the stove.  And once the jars are removed from the canner, there is nothing more satisfying than the familiar plink of a sealing jar. 

It seems when I am not canning tomatoes, I am eating tomatoes!  Last night we had a favorite and simple salad of sliced heirloom tomatoes with fresh basil and dressed with a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  With fall coming, I am looking to make some soup and I love tomato soup.  With sweet potatoes being harvested this sweet potato/tomato soup becomes a farm favorite.  http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe/carla-halls-tomato-sweet-potato-bisque-recipe-18228720 .  The soup calls for canned tomatoes, but fresh tomatoes can easily be used.  To quickly peel tomatoes, score the bottom of each tomato with a knife and dip the tomatoes in boiling water.  Chill the dipped tomatoes in ice water and then slip off the skins.  On farm we also often make a quick no cook tomato sauce over pasta.  No cook sauce is an easy recipe to master.  I generally use a variety of tomatoes, cherries, slicers, plum and heirlooms.  Dice the tomatoes, being sure to reserve the juices.  Place the tomatoes and the juice in a bowl and a couple of table spoons of olive oil, some basil, minced garlic and salt and pepper.  Allow the tomatoes to rest/marinate at room temperature for 30 or so minutes.  Meanwhile cook and drain your pasta.  Add the still warm pasta to the bowl of tomatoes and top with some fresh grated parmesan cheese and enjoy.

Speaking of tomatoes, we have cases of canning tomatoes available for purchase.  These are red slicing tomatoes, perfect for canning whole or cut up.  If you are signed up with the CSA buying club, you can order through the buying club.  If you are not a CSA buying club member, please contact the farm and we can arrange to get tomatoes to you. 

And as long as we are talking buying clubs, let me take a moment to explain our two buying club options.  We offer a buying club as an add on to our CSA.  This buying club is only available to our CSA members and requires a $50 deposit.  Purchases will be deducted from the deposit and items will be delivered with your CSA share.  Our second buying club is a winter buying club and is open to anyone.  The winter buying club is generally only open when our CSA is not running and we are not attending markets.  For the winter buying club, we meet customers at a designated location to deliver your purchases and collect payment.  If you have questions about our buying clubs, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We do still have a few members, who elected to pay for their CSA memberships with a payment plan, who still owe money to the farm.  If you have yet to pay your September payment, it is now overdue.  Thank you for your cooperation!

Staying with the reminder theme.  Please remember to return your share boxes, egg cartons and berry boxes for re-use.  Also please remember to treat your pick up site with respect.  Many of these sites have limited space for box pick up and storage, so please try to keep share boxes in the space allotted for them.  Share boxes do fold flat, to save space.

So, now it is night  and harvest is done and boxes are just about packed.  It was a wet harvest, but the rain did end in the morning and held off until afternoon, when we received another nice gentle rain.  As our chores for the night came to an end, I finished up a batch of ketchup.  The timer just went  off indicating the jars are ready to be pulled from the canner.  Then I need to head to bed, for tomorrow is another long day.

Thank you again for your support of our small farm.  Be safe, be well and enjoy the veggies. 

2016 CSA Week 14 Newletter

Greetings from a fall like Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to CSA Week 14.  Week 14 is not an egg week.

First let me apologize for not  sending out a newsletter last week.  Some weeks are busier than others and last week was one of those hectic weeks and before I knew it, it was time to write Week 14's newsletter!  Speaking of where does the time go.  Here it is already after 4!  I am only halfway through my chore list for the day.  I guess cleaning will have to wait, again.....

What a difference a day (or even several hours) makes!  Yesterday was hot, hot, hot and oh so humid.  This morning, around daybreak here on farm, we were still hot and humid and then a cold front came blowing trough.  Unfortunately, it blew through dry and we did not get the good soaking rain our plants and animals could use.  It did however bring clear blue skies, lower humidity and cooler temperatures.  Today really feels as though fall is on its way and from looking at the forecast, we may need jackets and maybe even a blanket on the bed later in the week.

In the fields, I have to say, our tomatoes continue to produce.  We are harvesting lots of heirlooms, cherries and red slicers.  We anticipate our tomato harvest to continue until we get a killing frost.  Our tomatillo planting is also doing well.  Fennel will most likely continue to be available for several more weeks.  We have lots of greens in the field and they should enjoy this week's cooler temperatures.  We have had a nice little break from lettuce and salad mix, but the plantings are looking good and will become more plentiful as the season progresses.  Our new plantings of Asian greens, including mustard, are growing nicely and we should be harvesting them in the upcoming weeks.  The first of the winter squash and sweet potatoes are hitting the boxes this week.  Summer squash is starting to wind down.

In the kitchen we are still in tomato mode.  We continue to eat tomatoes at least 2 meals a day, if not 3.  I am not sure if I have passed on a favorite recipe of mine using chard, cherry tomatoes and eggs?  If not, it is makes a good quick dinner and here is the link  http://blog.williams-sonoma.com/polenta-fried-eggs-greens-and-blistered-tomatoes/  .  This just reminded me of another favorite egg and tomato dish, Shakshuka.  I guess traditionally, in Israel, Shakshuka is served for breakfast.  However here on farm, we generally have it for dinner, with a nice crusty loaf of artisan bread to soak up the juice.  Also, since we love our greens here on farm, we sometimes change the recipe a bit by adding some chard or kale to the tomatoes.  If you are not familiar with Shakshuka, here is a good write up and a basic recipe  http://toriavey.com/toris-kitchen/2010/07/summer-2010-travel-blog-shakshuka/  . 

In the kitchen, I am also in preserving mode.  Recently, each weekend has been dedicated to canning tomatoes and this weekend has been typical.  Yesterday I made and canned tomato sauce.  Today my sister and I canned tomatoes.  As I type, I have a pot of sauce cooking down on the stove and will can it later this evening.  I tend to make plain sauce and add spices, garlic, onions and peppers, later, when I use the sauce.  I flash freeze peppers and dry spices for this very reason and generally we have onions and garlic in our cellar until spring each year.  I really love putting food up and only wish I had more time to spend in the kitchen on this task!  I used to pickle quite a bit, but found I was the only one eating the pickles, so now I generally just make a few freezer pickles for a midwinter treat.  This year I did make some zucchini relish and other than more tomatoes, I am also hoping to make and can some applesauce this fall.  I also would love to be able to can some of our sungold tomatoes.  So, I am in search of a good recipe for canning (maybe pickled?) cherry tomatoes, so if anyone has a good recipe, please pass it on. 

We will again have a limited amount of freezer pork available this fall.  We anticipate pork being available the beginning of November.  If you are interested in freezer pork, please contact us for more details and pricing.  We sell our bulk pork by the half and whole.  A whole hog will yield 125 to 140 pounds of meat and will require a at least 7 cubic feet of freezer space for storage.

So now it is after 5!  Where does the time go?  My sauce is processing in the canner.  Farmer Don is still in the field, turning some plots over in our lower field for some late season plantings and cover crops.  I need to get some chicken in the oven for dinner or we will be eating at midnight!  Soooooo  as Farmer Don would say:  "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

2016 CSA Week 12 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!  Welcome to Week 12 of our CSA.  Week 12 is NOT an egg week.

Sorry for the delay in getting this newsletter out to everyone.  Time really got away from me this week.  I do hope everyone is enjoying their boxes!  I also want to give everyone a heads up that next week (Week 13) will be a chicken week.  If you purchased a chicken share, don't forget to look for your chicken in the cooler at your drop site.

As we drift into the second half of our CSA, I do believe I feel fall in the air.  This morning even felt a bit chilly!  The days are definitely getting shorter.  It is now 8 pm and already dark and this morning when I left the dogs out at 5:30, I put the porch light on for them.  The barn and tree swallows seem to have already migrated from the farm for their southern winter homes and the flowers in our wild areas are changing from white Queen Anne's lace to brilliant yellow Golden Rod.  This weekend at market, I noticed the fruit vendors' tables are starting to be filled with more and more apples.  I am not complaining, as I do think fall is my favorite season.

Speaking of fall, I am happy to say I am also seeing lots of butterflies on farm this fall.  This included quite a few Monarchs.  For the past couple of years, I saw very few if any Monarch butterflies.  Let's hope we have left enough diversity in our landscapes that these magnificent insects will survive.

 

However fall is not the season we are actually celebrating on farm right now.  We are celebrating tomato season!  You will be seeing lots and lots of different tomatoes in your boxes in the coming weeks.  We will continue to harvest right up until frost.  Our heirlooms are ripening well right now.  Remember heirlooms are called "ugly tomatoes" for a reason.  Do not expect the heirlooms to be a perfectly shaped tomatoes and don't expect them to be without blemishes.  Although I think heirloom tomatoes are beautiful, their real claim to fame is their taste!  If you read the descriptions in the seed catalogs, you would think they were selling wine and not tomato seeds!  If you are at one of the markets we attend, stop by our table and ask Farmer Don for some samples.  He loves to do tomato tastings!  Speaking of taste, we are continuing to harvest sungold tomatoes.  Sungold tomatoes are orange/yellow sweet cherry tomatoes; a real farm favorite.  We are also starting to harvest some grape and paste tomatoes.  Something I want to mention again about our tomatoes is the bluish residue you may see on some.  This is an organic copper spray we use to control fungus on our crops.  Farmer Don is determined to not lose our tomato crop to late blight this year, so he is spraying copper every couple of weeks.  Sorry for any inconvenience this may be causing.

Speaking of tomatoes.  Are there any canners out there?  We will be offering bulk tomatoes through our buying club.  The first available will be some certified organic paste tomatoes from our Amish neighbors.  Please see the buying club or contact us at the farm if you are interested.  If you are not a CSA buying club member, you can pick up pre-ordered bulk tomatoes at one of our markets or here on farm. 

In the kitchen, what else would we be focusing meals around, but, tomatoes!  This time of year, I eat tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!  A simple tomato sandwich (bread and tomato!) for breakfast, grilled cheese and tomato for lunch ( I like mine with sharp cheese and open face, under the broiler) and always, always tomatoes some way as a salad for dinner. Growing up, my family ate a lot of tomatoes.  Often we simply had sliced tomatoes as our salad.  Heirlooms are especially nice served as simple sliced tomatoes.  Add some fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a special treat.   A favorite salad from my childhood and now a favorite on farm, features sungold tomatoes.  No recipe here - halve a pint of sungolds, add some thinly sliced onion and pepper and dress with a simple red wine vinaigrette.  You can save the dressing in your fridge for a week or so and add more tomatoes (or cucumbers) each night.  Tomatoes also pair wonderfully with pasta.  Another farm favorite, pasta with fresh, no cook sauce, also doesn't really require a recipe.  Simply chopped a variety of tomatoes and place them in a large bowl.  To the chopped tomatoes add some fresh herbs, minced garlic, salt and some olive oil.  Cover the bowl and allow the tomato mixture to sit for about 20 or 30 minutes.  I usually get the tomatoes ready first and then start the water to boil for the pasta.  Once the pasta is cooked and drained, I consider the sauce done.  Add the pasta and some parmesan cheese to the tomatoes, stir to combine, serve and enjoy!  Tonight for supper we had another farm tomato favorite, BLT's, and again, no need for a recipe.  Ok, enough about tomato meals, well at least for this week!

A quick reminder concerning share boxes.  Thank you to everyone for so diligently returning your boxes.  Did you know our boxes fold flat for storage?  As many of you know, some of our drop sites have limited space for our boxes.  Please when you pick up your share from these sites, fold you box and stack it neatly in the spot designated for boxes.

 

I also want to remind everyone that in addition to our website, we also have an online blog and a facebook site.  I post some farm updates and pictures to both of these sites and post newsletters to our blog.  Find our blog at http://dancinghenfarmcsa.blogspot.com/  And if you are on facebook, please visit and like our page at https://www.facebook.com/Dancing-Hen-Farm-111155465564952/

It is getting late, let me get a copy of this printed for Farmer Don and then email and posted for all our members and friends.  Have a great week!  Be safe and enjoy the veggies.

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!

2016 CSA Week 10 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to CSA Week 10, one week shy of the half way point.  This is NOT an egg week.

Summer.  We seem to be caught in the grips of summer.  Heat, humidity and almost daily thunder storms have become the norm.  I do think today was not quite as oppressive as the past few days have been.  And the forecast is for some cooler and drier weather coming our way Wednesday and into next week.  Even with the hot weather, I do see some signs of fall!  Yes, fall.  Have you noticed the days are getting shorter?  I already have seen goldenrod blooming.  Soon I will be writing about changing leaves and frost!

A few notes about some items in your boxes this week.  We really like to work with our friends and neighbors to share the harvest.  The beautiful corn and peppers are from our next door neighbors.  They are transitioning their farm to an organic operation and these products are no spray.  We also offered a very limited number of carrots and cabbage this week.  These items, along with some greens, came to us by way of Farmer Neil.  Some of you may remember Farmer Neil.  Neil worked for us for several years.  He now has his own small operation specializing in log grown mushrooms and organic vegetables.  Nothing please Farmer Don more than a past employee using the knowledge gained at Dancing Hen Farm to grow their own vegetables!

On farm, the big news is tomatoes.  It is officially sungold season!  Sungolds, those ever so sweet orange, cherry tomatoes.  A true favorite here on farm.  In fact, all of our field grown tomatoes are finally starting to ripen.  Our kale and chard also continue to look good.  The kale has grown out of its early flea beetle damage and we are harvesting both Red Russian, a flat leaf kale, and the more traditional curly kale.  Our salad mix continues to produce.  Zucchini and summer squash are going strong.  We should be digging another bed of potatoes shortly.  Okra is slowly growing and we are eagerly awaiting a good flush of okra in the coming weeks.  Our second planting of cucumbers is very close to producing and we have our fingers crossed for some broccoli we have planted.

In the kitchen, we are continuing to cook on the stove top and the grill to avoid heating up the house with the oven.  But, I have to confess.  I have used the oven to roast some cherry tomatoes.  To me roasting these small tomatoes really brings out their flavor.  I simply coat them with some olive oil and a bit of salt and pop them in a hot oven.  Once they start to burst and shrivel; they are done.  I like to use these roasted tomatoes (along with all the juices from the pan!) with some fresh basil as a pasta topping.  At least one night a week, we have a large salad for dinner.  The base of the salad is our salad mix and we add all sorts of chopped vegetables and top it all with some type of protein.  This week our protein was poached salmon portions, but, most weeks we use leftover meat from a previous meal.

I am fairly certain boxes are packed for tomorrow morning's deliveries.  It is getting late, time to wind down for today and plan for tomorrow.  Thank you again for your support not only of our farm, but of all local small farmers.

2016 CSA Week 9 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to Week 9 of the CSA.  Week 9 is an EGG week.  Week 9 is also a CHICKEN share week.

Sometimes I really do not know where the time goes!  Here it is Monday night already and I am just now getting a minute to sit down and write this newsletter.  I cannot complain, because, for me, keeping busy is a good thing.  Now if I could just somehow find an extra day in each week!

August arrived a bit cooler.  Cooler is a relative term.  I am just happy for the daily temperatures to be out of the 90's.  And even happier to have the air conditioners shut off and the windows open.  It looks like the beginning of this week will be sunny and dry.  Perfect weather for ripening our field grown tomatoes!  Although it once again appears the heat and humidity will be making a return by the end of the week, with daytime temperatures predicted in the 90's and overnight lows near 70.

Our field grown tomatoes have been very slow to ripen this year.  We are finally starting to see some ripening and have started picking sungolds.  Watch for heirloom tomatoes to begin ripening in the next few weeks.  As with every year, we are battling a bit of disease in our field grown tomatoes.  Farmer Don has sprayed some copper on them to fight the fungal diseases.  Copper is an organic approved fungicide and is one of the few sprays we use here on farm.  If you notice some blue residue on your tomatoes, this is the copper.  We try to wash and wipe down tomatoes before they go out to our customers, but sometimes we do miss some areas. 

For several weeks now the farm has been serenaded by hawks.  I am convinced they have a nest across the road, up behind our house.  Today the calls were even louder and seemed to be originating around the willow tree by our lower field.  Sure enough, around lunch time, Rosie and I spotted a large hawk soaring over our lower field.  Diverse farms, such as ours, have a real love hate relationship with hawks.  As vegetable farmers, hawks are really nice to have around the farm.  They help to control many of the smaller creatures which tend to wreak havoc with our crops.  And personally, I love watching them glide and soar with the wind!  However, as chicken farmers, hawks are very much the enemy.  We have watched hawks take down chickens very close to us, our dogs, our house and our barn.  I have been working on training Rosie to respond to the hawks' cries.  She already does a really good job at responding to a chicken's distress call and seems to know to look up for a hawk.  She will chase after the hawk, if present, and I like to think she is chasing it away.  My goal is to get her to chase the hawk (based on hearing it) before it has its eyes (and talons) set on a chicken.  Speaking of hawks and chickens.  Our chickens are actually smarter when it comes to hawks than you might think.  If they see the shadow of a large bird flying over, they run for cover.  Literally, they run under the nearest bush and hide.  Now, I am not saying we still don't lose our share of chickens to hawks, but I find it interesting to watch the chickens' behavior.  I often wonder how they learned this?

In the fields.  I have already talked about the anticipated ripening (and harvest) or our field grown tomatoes.  New to pack this week, were tomatillos.  Our salad greens continue to look good, as do our cooking greens.  Kale, chard and lettuces should be available for the remainder of the season.  We are harvesting our second planting of beans.  We have had some issues with beans this year.  Our first planting was lost to the deer and this second planting was also hit hard by the deer.  The harvest numbers are small and we apologize for this.  Please be patient, we have more beans planted and we are working to keep the deer and ground hogs away from it.  Summer squash continues to produce, including patty pan and eight ball zucchini.  Our first planting of cucumbers is finally done.  We have another smaller planting of cucumbers which will be ready in a few weeks.   Beets are done until later in the fall.  We are continuing to dig red potatoes.  Okra is slowly setting fruit and should be available in a week or so.  Our peppers are setting fruit and hopefully we will have a small harvest in a few weeks, followed by a larger harvest prior to frost.

In the kitchen, I am waiting patiently for some tomatillos, so I can make one of my favorite recipes,  roasted tomatillo bread salad.  Here is a link to the basic recipe.  http://www.tucsoncsa.org/2009/07/tomatillo-bread-salad/  I generally roast the tomatillos in the oven, being sure to save all the juices.  Other than freezing some berries, I have not started canning and freezing yet this summer.  I wanted to make some easy freezer pickles and hopefully we will have some extra cucumbers from the next planting for me.  I also have plans for zucchini relish and, of course canned tomatoes.  Farmer Don will probably want me to make some salsa, as well.  I generally freeze green beans, but will have to wait and see how our next planting does.  We will buy in some sweet corn to freeze and some apples to make into applesauce, as well.  Stay tuned for how my canning and freezing progresses! 

Well, you all know, it is Monday night, which means Farmer Don is packing tomorrow's boxes.  I need to make my way down to our pack line and see if he needs help.  So, I will say "until next week".