2016 Week 20 and the Buying Club is Open!

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm.  Welcome to Week 20 of our CSA.  After this week's deliveries, there are 2 weeks remaining in our 2016 CSA.

The winter buying club is open this week.  Ordering closes at 5 am on Thursday.  Deliveries are Friday night to Bloomsburg and Saturday morning to Dallas and Forty Fort.  Mountain Top orders can be picked up at market on Sunday.  All buying club ordering is done online.  If you have not already done so, you will need to create an account on our website and "purchase" a free winter buying club share.

Ah, yes, the weather.  The seasons are changing in Pennsylvania and that means temperature swings!  Crazy to think we were in the 80's a week ago and tonight we are to get a hard freeze.  And I have heard a rumor there may be some snow on the ground on Thursday!  Hard to believe,  Farmer Don was working in shorts last week and he now he is burning our woodstove for heat!  Let's hope he doesn't have to get the plow out just yet!

Even though our main CSA season is winding down, we are still busy, busy, busy on farm.  In the fields we are planting the last of our winter cover crops and getting beds of greens ready for the winter.  Tonight, we will be covering many of our cooking and salad greens with row cover and plastic to protect them from the cold winter temperatures.  With a bit of luck, we will be able to harvest from many of these beds into December and then will again harvest from them in late February or early March.  If the weather and the wind cooperate, this week we will be putting the plastic back on our large greenhouse.  The past few weeks we have been cleaning out and preparing the beds in this greenhouse for overwintering.  Lettuce and kale will be planted for early spring 2017 harvest.  It will nice to have our greenhouse back for production next season. 

In boxes this week, we are continuing to pack winter squash, cabbage, sweet potatoes, kale, swiss chard, arugula and mustard greens.  New this week are rutabaga.  Our rutabaga are a bit small this year and please do not throw away the greens.  Rutabaga are in the same family as kale, mustard, cabbage and turnips and their greens are tasty and nutritious.  Use the greens as you would any cooking green.  It appears as though tomatoes, green beans and peppers are done for the season.  Look for greens and storage crops to continue to be available.  We have a small planting of celery and a small planting of baby leeks which will, hopefully, be ready before the end of the season.

With our regular season winding down, we have put a plan in place to extend our CSA into the fall.  The extension will be for 4 weeks, starting November 15.  The extended shares will be part shares, six items per week, and will be farmer's choice shares.  Egg shares are also available.  Vegetable shares are $100 and egg shares are $10.  If you would like eggs every week, you can purchase two egg shares.  These shares will not be offered through our website, so if you are interested, please email the farm.  We will need to receive payment prior to the start of the extended season.

So, I have a confession to make.  I have a habit of buying kitchen appliances which I am convinced will change my life.  But in reality, I have a shelf of kitchen gadgets which seldom get used.  Some of the things you will find on this shelf are, a pressure canner, an immersion blender, a food processor (now used often to make dog food!), a stand mixer, and a crock pot.  Although I use all these gadgets, I don't find them nearly as life changing as I had anticipated.  For instance, I had visions of using the crock pot to make chicken and beef stock and then using the pressure canner to produce jars of shelf stable, non-frozen stock.  Let's just say, I am still making stock in my trusty stock pot and storing the jars in the freezer!  I did make some delicious peach butter in the crock pot the other year, but canned it in my old enamel hot water bath canner.  But, over the weekend, I used the crock pot for dinner!  I started by placing a mix of veggies in the bottom of the pot.  I used onions, sweets, winter squash and white potatoes.  Next I rubbed a chuck roast with some salt, pepper and dried herbs and seared it on all sides.  The roast was then placed on top of the veggies and a small amount of liquid was added.  The liquid was a mix of wine, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce and water.  I set the pot to low and let it cook all day.  The resulting dinner was really tasty!  And as I did chores around the house and farm, it was nice knowing that dinner was already made!  Maybe there is still hope for the crock pot to change my life?

We do still have some bulk freezer pork available.  If you are interested in bulk pork or have questions for us, please contact us!  We are anticipating pork orders to be available the second or third week of November.  Individual cuts of pork will be available through our winter buying club around that same time.  Bacon and hams are cured using a nitrate free cure.

I want to take a few minutes to thank some Bloomsburg area restaurants who regularly use our, and other farms, products.  The Blind Pig Kitchen is a true "farm to table" restaurant, sourcing all meats fruits and vegetables within 65 miles of the restaurant.  Toby and Sarah purchase 5 CSA shares from us each year to use in the restaurant.  More information, including their seasonal menu, can be found on their website (www.blindpigkitchen.com).  We also sell produce and eggs to the Inn at Turkey Hill.  The farmhouse at the Inn is a fine dining establishment and their menu features locally produced items.  More information can be found on their website (www.innatturkeyhill.com).  Please support your local farmers by supporting these two fine restaurants!

The end is here...  until next week.... "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies"

CSA Season Extension

Announcing Dancing Hen Farm's 

2016 Season Extension

4 Additional Weeks of CSA deliveries (Nov 15, Nov 22, Nov 29, Dec 6)

Part Shares (6 items) Farmer's Choice Boxes

Egg Shares also available (2 Weeks - Nov 15 and Nov 29)  Double egg shares also available

Prices:
$100 for the vegetables
$10 for an egg share

These shares will not be offered through our website.  Please email us at the farm to confirm your registration.  Payment must be received prior to delivery.

Delivery available to:  Drums, Bear Creek, Dallas, Forty Fort, Bloomsburg and Danville

Contact us at the farm if you opted for home delivery during the regular season and would like home delivery for the extension. 

Buying Club this Saturday!!!

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!

Our buying club is again open for deliveries this weekend. Ordering opened this morning at 6 and closes Thursday (10/20) at 6 am. Deliveries will be .Friday night to Bloomsburg and Saturday to Dallas and Forty Fort.  Mountain Top orders can be picked up at the Mountain Top Farmers Market on Sunday.  On farm pick-ups will be available anytime after 5 pm on Friday.

On this list this week you will find cooking and salad greens, including arugula, mustard, kale and chard.  We also have a selection of winter squash, sweet potatoes and white potatoes.   Radishes, both salad and storage, are also being harvested.  Non vegetable items include half chickens, a limited amount of pork and eggs.

Thanks again to all of you, our farm community, for allowing us to share our harvest with you.

2016 Week 19 Newsletter

Greetings from Dancing Hen Farm!  Welcome to Week 19.  Week 19 is an EGG week.  After week 19's delivery there are 3 deliveries remaining in the CSA season.  We have one more chicken share delivery and it will be our final delivery, Week 22.

Last Tuesday, we awoke to a frosty wonderland.  Fluffy white ice crystals clung to everything.  Our first hard frost of the season.  The temperature outside was 30 and the temperature inside was cool enough to cause Farmer Don to start a fire in the woodstove.  For the most part we were ready for these cold temperatures.  Mid October is late for our first frost, so the majority of our tender, summer crops were already done for the season.  We were able to harvest or protect most other crops.  Many of our late season crops, such as lettuce and kale, continue to thrive in these cooler temperatures. 

On farm we are busy preparing for our fields and farm structures for winter.  Fields are being cleared and the last of our late season cover crops are being planted.  Other field plots are being covered by mini-greenhouses to prolong their harvest into the early winter.  Soon we will be putting the plastic back on our unheated greenhouse.  This large high tunnel will then be planted with cooking and salad greens.  These greens will rest peacefully until late winter/early spring.  Once the days begin to get a bit longer (think end of February or the beginning or March) these plants will begin to grow again and should be ready for harvest in April.

Speaking of harvest.  We are continuing to harvest greens.  Kale and mustard greens will become sweeter with the frost.  Salad greens and chard are also looking good and will continue to be harvested.  Potatoes are still being lifted from the ground.  We should have salad radishes and specialty storage radishes available for the remainder of the CSA season.  We are hoping to continue to have winter squash, sweet potatoes, cabbage and carrots available as well.  We have a planting of rutabaga which we are hoping will size up in the next few weeks. 

The mustard in our fields is absolutely beautiful right now!  Last week at market, Farmer Don did a taste test with arugula and young tender mustard.  Much to his (and our customers') surprise, most people liked the taste of the mustard over the arugula!  Mustard greens are one of the most nutrient dense greens you can eat, with high levels of vitamins, minerals and anti-inflammatory compounds.  They have a peppery, almost horseradish, taste, which does mellow with cooking and as the days get cooler.  Cook mustard greens as you would any green.  They pair well with sausage and we often substitute them for kale in our sausage, kale and garlic potato soup/stew.   Farmer Don likes mustard greens raw, in salads or as a substitute for lettuce on sandwiches or burgers.  A favorite are burgers or roast beef sandwiches topped with blue cheese and mustard greens.  Massaged mustard greens also make a great salad.  We generally just substitute mustard for the kale in our favorite recipe, but here is a recipe http://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/252168/massaged-mustard-greens-salad/   There are two different mustard greens options on the choice right now.  One is a bag of smaller, more tender greens.  These leaves are perfect for salads and if cooked, require very short cooking times.  The other mustard greens available are bunches of larger leaves.  This mustard can be eaten raw, but are not as tender and they hold up better for cooking. 

I am still busy preserving for the season!  Most recently, I lacto fermented some radishes.  Our salad radishes were so beautiful, I couldn't resist putting some in brine!  They are now bubbling away on the counter.  I tasted them yesterday and I decided they haven't been curing for quite enough time.  I like them a bit more sour.  I also have some cabbage in the cooler which I have set aside for sauerkraut, another lacto fermented product.  So, as the lactobacillus bacteria worked their magic on my radishes, my sister and I made and canned applesauce!  Ideally I would like to can one more round of applesauce and then, once my sauerkraut is finished, preserving will be just about done for the season.  It has been a productive year in Dancing Hen Farm's canning kitchen this summer!

Attention winter buying club members!  Next Saturday we will be starting up our winter buying club.  This buying club is separate from our CSA.  Ordering for the buying club will begin at 5 am on Tuesday, October 18 and will close Thursday, October 20 at 5 am.  Deliveries will be on Saturday, October 22.  If you are not already a member of our buying club, you will need to register through our website and  "purchase" a free winter buying club membership.  If you need additional information or have questions please contact us at the farm.

It is hard to believe our 2016 CSA and market season is coming to end.  We want thank all of our customers for their continued support.  As I have said in the past, it is you, our customers, which make Dancing Hen Farm possible.  Our goal is to leave this little farm and our environment a healthy place for future generations.

In closing Farmer Don's quote: "be safe, be well and enjoy those veggies".

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"