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)