December Share!

Christmas is upon us!

At the Burgess Farm that means Christmas Tree Sales for a solid month! It's a lot of fun for everyone and that includes the whole family who is involved at the farm (including Lizzie). But by Christmas Eve we're all happy it's the last day of sales.

A quick note about the apples. They froze in the root cellar during that really, really cold stretch a few days ago. I was pretty bummed when I found them the next morning. But I did some research and found a University of Wisconsin paper showing that they are still fine to be used in cooked dishes like pie or sauce. Keep them frozen and then right before making whatever you are making, thaw them and cook them. In other words, they wouldn't be very good fresh eating because when they thaw they'll turn very, very soft.

I did not get to post a blog for the Thanksgiving shares so I figured I'd try to do it early for the Christmas Shares. Below are some photos of what is in the holiday shares.

Leeks on the left, Turnips in the middle and Australian Butter Squash on the right. This is my new favorite squash! It is interesting to look at, delicious and yields a ton of food! What more could ask for from a squash? Actually, from a gardening perspective it offers more. I've never seen a squash plant yield so many squash as this one did this fall. In the back are a couple of decorative 'Moonshine Pumpkins' and some Falstaff Brussels sprouts. The beautiful dark color will be augmented by the flavor now that they have seen frost. These loose their color as they are cooked.

This photo is from the Thanksgiving shares so it includes New England Pie Pumpkins. I will try to put one in each share but I'll also be putting in Long Pie Pumpkins. Delicious heirloom pumpkins that were the pie pumpkin in Maine a century ago. They are the only pie pumpkin that will ripen consistently after harvest. I picked them mostly green in September and they have been ripening in the root cellar since then. I also have included several types of potatoes in this share and hope you enjoy the variety.

Another shot of the Australian Butter. I love this squash!

Here is a shot of the leeks this morning just after I had uncovered them. They have been frozen and thawed a few times under there but the plastic allows the ground to warm enough to dig them. And Leeks are hardy enough to take a few freezings and still be edible and quite good.

Here is everything all laid out before it went into the box for the Thanksgiving shares. The December Holiday Share will have many if not all of the same things though some of the greens will be different due to the cold snap we just had (No Chard for instance).

A couple of specific notes:

Here is a shot of a carrot that has begun to crack at the bottom and show signs that it is not holding much longer in the field. The portion I'm holding however, is still perfectly good. I put carrots like this in during the winter because 'perfect' carrots are far and few between and there is no reason to discard an entire carrot because one section is bad. Cut off that part and eat the rest. The carrot will be sweeter for the frost. Yummy!

And here is a shot of the Long Island Improved Brussels Sprouts. You might have received this one in your share (or one like it) that shows the little black specks on the sprouts and stem. This is a result of excessive fall moisture followed by several freeze/thaw cycles. They don't look great when like this I admit. But, Brussels Sprouts are like several other Brassicas. They taste better after a few frosts. Not all of the sprouts you received will look like this, most look fine. But these specimens are still good. Just peel off the outer layer to reveal the good part on some of them.

Nothing to report on the turnips...I just liked this photo. ;-) They were frozen solid in the field but this is another hardy crop that will be able to stand that. You should be able to thaw them out just before using and have a great dish!

Here is a final shot of the garden for 2010. It was a great season and it was nice to be a farmer. More importantly, it was nice to be your farmer. Thank you for supporting local agriculture and choosing to feed yourselves and your family local, beyond organic, real food from Parker Produce. We hope to see you next season.

Happy Holidays to all!

Final share for 2010

Hi all:
Another season comes to an end for the Parker Produce CSA. It was certainly a great season. The weather made up for its niceness for the rest of the summer. We had 30 mile per hour, sustained winds and horizontal rain for the whole morning and into the afternoon. We tried to stay inside as much as possible but eventually had to brave the weather for a few things. Here Brittany is putting the Leeks into the bags after pulling them off the garden this morning. You'll notice this week's leeks are a different variety and they are much, much longer than last week's.
Blue Hubbard Squash is also in this week's share. It's a wonderful squash. If you're one of the folks who claims they don't like Blue Hubbard because it's too watery...I would suggest that perhaps you haven't tried cooking it quite the right way. Hubbards are a baking squash. Here is a a quick link describing the method I would use http://www.recipetips.com/glossary-term/t--34114/hubbard-squash.asp. These are from our garden and they came out pretty well this season for the stress of a late weeding. We also put in Buttercup from John for those who said they would like it.

Here is a shot of the leeks by themselves. As I said you will notice how much longer they are than the ones you received last week.

You will also find Red Russian Kale, a bunching green in this instance. We've been holding onto these all season and they turned out very well. Here is a recipe that we like in our house http://www.suite101.com/content/roasted-kale-a25130. Oven roasted Kale is a crispy treat. You'll have to scroll down past all the advertisements, etc. We also don't cut the stems off. They make nice handles for the kale. This is a delicious treat.

Finally, here is a shot of Brittany and I in the driving rain (which you can barely make out in the picture...which is weird since I could barely see Emily through it when she was taking the photo. Here we are using water collected from the barn roof to wash the leeks and carrots. This was the last thing we did before going in, sitting by the fire and getting dry. What a way to end the season.

You'll also find some tomatoes that need explanation. Green! We put a few ripe ones in, all that's left in the garden. Brittany pulled the bulk of the green tomatoes off the garden last week and they've been in the milk house. They will ripen in the warmth of your kitchen in the dark. Not all of them will ripen as some of them weren't mature. However, it's worth the effort to put them in a dark, warm place and check them daily or perhaps a little less frequently. This is a great way to enjoy local, beyond organic tomatoes later than possible in our climate. Here is a link to some interesting recipes for green tomatoes. I am actually going to try the pickles. Should be interesting. http://tipnut.com/green-tomato-recipes/

I hope everyone has enjoyed the season and that we will see you all in the Winter Club and next season! Enjoy and thank you all for participating in our beyond organic, local, real food chain!

The penultimate share...

Hi all:

We have Internet access again so I figured I'd post a quick blog update for this week's share. Many of the items are the same as last week which is good because I didn't have the camera this morning. Luckily, I took photos last week.

Here is a shot of the radishes just after they are harvested. This is how I count in the field. Bunching them in the field and keeping track of the bunches is the only way I've been able to keep track. This is much easier than guessing and having to come back out to the garden from the packing shed if I don't get enough.

Here is a nice shot of the top of the garden. This is just before the radishes were harvested. You can see the new greenhouse in the background. Happily, I've now completed the doors and end wall on the two ends and I'm in the middle of putting up the superstructure inside. It's much more secure now than it was in this photo. In the foreground you can see some of our low-tunnels which we use to cover things until the greenhouse tomatoes die off from frost and I can move the greenhouses over the fall/winter crops. Many of the things that will be available to our Winter Club members will come from this section of the garden which I can easily access in the cold, snowy winter.

Regarding this week's share, I first want to mention the leeks. Since I didn't have access last week, I hope everyone figured out a few things about the leeks. First, leeks are an amazing vegetable. They are a member of the onion family, they are beautiful, store well and hold in the field throughout the winter months if treated properly (i.e. mulched heavily). Most importantly, they are delicious and smell amazing when sliced and cooked. A couple of things you should know about leeks.

The first is the myth that only the white part is edible. I am continually shocked by the types of people who perpetuate this. Eliot Coleman himself mentions this in one of his books. The ENTIRE leek is good! And it all tastes like leek! There, now that's out of the way. The recipe I have for potato leek soup calls for 6 leeks. The recipe is considering only the white part of the leek. I've made the soup before with 2 medium sized leeks and used the entire leek. It's better. The photo above shows where I would cut the leek. The yellowish part above my finger is what I would discard, the rest is perfectly edible and tasty.

Next, due to the way leeks grow, are harvested and cleaned, they retain soil between the leaves. There is no way around this other than washing them thoroughly when you prepare them. As you can see in the above photo, this is one way the leeks collect water and other nutrients.

Here is one way to clean them. In the photo above, my ring finger is pointing at the outer layer which is often not worth keeping as it's mushy or damaged. You can peel it off like a banana peel. In my thumb and forefinger I'm pulling back a section of leek. You can do this and hold it under running water until it is clean. You will have to do this with each layer. A much better method in my opinion is possible if you are preparing an entire leek for something like potato leek soup. Simply cut the leek into medallions or any other cutting style you like. They put the pieces into a colander and rinse them that way, very thoroughly. You may even consider floating the pieces in a sink full of cold water for a while, then rinsing them in the strainer. It's more work than an onion but totally worth it.

You'll also find some winter squash in the share this week. If you are one of the folks who said you would like conventionally grown squash you'll have Buttercup in there (the green one). Everyone also got some Butternut (the yellowish one). The Butternut is actually from our beyond organic gardens. Those ones did alright after all. Brittany pulled them all from the garden this week and when I got there that day I was pleasantly surprised at how much we actually had. It didn't look like that much in the garden.

You'll also find two mixes. One is a small greens mix which contains Endive, Red Lettuce, Baby spinach and baby beet greens. The other is a braising mix containing Red Russian Kale and Mixed Chard.

Also in this week's share is the dwindling tomato crop. Frost is expected on Saturday night so we (and by we I mean Brittany-thank you Brittany) worked this week to pull all good tomatoes off the garden, green or not. They are all in the milk house, hopefully ripening. You will have received some green tomatoes today too probably (not everyone got green ones with their cherry bunches). You can put them in a darkened place, keep an eye on them and eat them as they ripen. Please note that not all green tomatoes will ripen properly. Simply discard the ones that don't.

Also, this week is the last of the zucchini and summer squash. I know some of you haven't enjoyed that part of the share. I am sorry about that but I have to say it's one of my favorite parts as the farmer. There really are few plants that I know of that will produce as much food from one plant as a zucchini plant. There are lots of options for zucchini of all sizes and perhaps this winter I'll have a chance to get some recipes together for them. That will help next year!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions. Next week is the last week of the CSA season for 2010. Please remember to return all bags and sign-up for the Winter Club.

Ready for fall!

Hi all:
Thank you all for your patience as I've been neglecting the blog the past week or so. It's amazing how autumn brings out the 'stuff to do' list in full force. Speaking of autumn, Brittany and I have been preparing the garden for fall, winter and next spring. It's a great time of year when all of our work throughout the summer culminates in a great harvest season and we can visualize the garden in the coming season. Below are a couple of photos showing some of our work to ensure our fall and winter crops are protected from any oncoming frosts. The greenhouse in the distance will soon roll over the row covered plants in the foreground. You cannot see it but our newest greenhouse will also roll over the row covered crops on the left.
These row covers will protect our crops for our Winter Buying Club. This is the program we have that allows our members to avoid being forced to return to 'produce' from the industrial 'food' system at the end of the CSA season. Each week I publish a list of available produce, the price per unit and our Winter Club members email me with a list of what they would like. Then, I harvest the produce and deliver it to one of several predetermined, convenient locations. It's a wonderful way for our community to enjoy our beyond organic produce throughout the fall and winter. We hope this year to be even more successful at prolonging the season through the winter months. Please email me at ryan@parkerproduce.org if you would like to sign-up for our Winter Club. There is never any obligation to purchase produce.

Finally, the share this week contains one of our squash success stories. Delicata squash! See the photo below for id. This is the first year I've grown Delicata and I'm glad I did. While my buttercup and butternut were doing nothing, these little beauties were working like crazy to produce this beautiful bounty. Here is a recipe that sounds wonderful but it's really just to get your creative juices flowing. There are lots of other preparation methods. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Delicata-Squash-with-Rosemary-Sage-and-Cider-Glaze-104125

I usually wash the squash, cut it in half lengthwise and then roast it in the oven at a high temp. (depending on the time of year and the outside temp.) on a cookie sheet with the skin side down. I spread raw, local butter on the flesh and sprinkle salt and pepper on it. (Some people like Nutmeg on their squash when roasted this way. I despise nutmeg so I never put it in but people say it's great.)

Also this week is another round of our potatoes. Despite some set-backs, we've had a wonderful crop of many of the varieties planted and we will have more in the next three weeks (Can there really only be three weeks left in this year's CSA season?!?!) You'll also find a braising mix including chard, kale and beet greens. Our tomatoes have slowed down in this fall weather but we're still getting some. As long as we're getting enough to divide amongst our members, you'll be getting them in the share. Also this week is another round of onions, carrots, and our full shares received a rosette of endive. I hope everyone enjoys!

A break in the weather...and now it's fall

Hi all:
I hope everyone is really enjoying this wonderful change in the weather. Brittany and I were ill-prepared for this morning's temperatures at the farm. When I awoke at 5 the wind chill was down to 40 degrees F. We were both wearing long sleeved tops and pants and I even broke out the wool cap! What a difference a hurricane makes. This is what I was talking about last week when it was 98+ degrees F and I was considering that a frost could happen anytime. Supposed to be 40 tonight I hear. We picked the tomatoes pretty hard today. You might have received some tomatoes in this week's share that need to sit a bit on the windowsill. The same message from last week applies. Please go through the tomatoes and get them dried out. I actually rinsed the cherries today because they were cracking so much. Brittany and I did a very good job of avoiding the cracked ones but the weather change is really messing with things. They are so fragile!
Here is a shot of me trying a new idea. We get a lot of fertility off the farm from municipal leaf collections from the town of Newport and Brewer. I don't really like the time it takes or the fact that I have to drive all the way to Brewer with a very large truck to get the leaves. I have done some research and other alternative farmers use the fertility from their own farms as much as possible. It turns out that hay can really increase fertility in the garden. I am trying it and I hope to report good results.

I also want to mention one of the problems we've had in the garden this season. Even in a 'perfect' growing season we can experience problems. I must confess that these problems are mostly of my own making. You've noticed I'm sure that we haven't had many cucumbers. I tried something new this year by growing cucumbers among the corn after reading that cucurbits can be grown that way to keep raccoons off the corn. It turns out that it only works with certain types of squash. Cucumbers aren't quite hardy enough to cope with the shade from the corn. Lesson learned, never experiment without growing the crop the regular way. I apologize to everyone who was really expecting cukes this year and hope we've been able to make up for it with other stuff (i.e. tomatoes...and more tomatoes and tons of other stuff).

Keuka Gold potatoes. This week's potatoes are Keuka Gold. A wonderful potato! Here is a link describing why I purchased this seed originally http://www.fedcoseeds.com/moose/MooseItem.php?id=7280&MooseName=keuka gold&descKey=7800. I have talked to several small farmers who actually don't like them. I cannot figure out why. I love these potatoes. They are great for making mashed potatoes and good for baking too.

Also, the Kohlrabi is in for the rest of the shares who didn't get it last time. We offered the first of it to about half of you this summer. But that left a few of you who didn't get it. I hope you enjoy it. Here is a link about Kohlrabi http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-use-kohlrabi.html# but you can learn a bit about it from a google search.

The rest of the share holds the usual fare. We are also saving lots of seeds this year, as much as we can anyway. Below are some beautiful beans. The color is amazing and I can't wait to harvest the majority of them. They are even more beautiful when they are fully dried.

I will be getting in touch with all of you in the coming weeks about some of our future plans for next season and your thoughts on this season. I hope everyone is enjoying the share.

Update on the previous post

I forgot to mention an important fact about the potatoes. Green on the potatoes needs to be cut off. A lot of people don't know this but that is actually indicative of the presence of a toxin that the plants produce if the tuber (the potato, actually not a root but a tuber) is exposed to the sunlight. The chemical is toxic but take it from someone who has eaten his share of it, it takes a lot to make the average person sick. But don't take the chance and cut it out. All the green means is that the mulch we used didn't quite cover that particular potato. The rest is edible and you can just cut the green part out. Here is a link to information about the green you might find on some potatoes. http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/potato.asp
There are always some potatoes that don't get covered up. In the industrial, global 'food' system, they are discarded because they don't look right. In a local system, they are recognized for what they are, a good, hearty food that might require a little extra work to remove the part you don't want. Thanks for participating in the latter! Enjoy.

Potatoes, Tomatoes and Decisions

Evening all:
I'm short of pictures tonight, as well as time since I'm prepping for high winds so I'll make this brief and just include some information about certain things that need to be taken care of in the share.
First, the tomatoes. The cherry tomatoes are suffering a bit from this heat and lack of water. I don't really irrigate except when it comes to seedlings being planted out. They need a bit of a boost. Other than that I really try not to irrigate because it is very, very damaging and has long-term consequences that people haven't begun to think about (unfortunately). Thus, sometimes crops begin to become stressed. Hopefully the promised rain from the hurricane will help get us back on track.
The stress in the cherry tomatoes is showing in thin skin. The moisture is being sucked out of the cherries into the atmosphere. Also, the plant itself is unable to give up as much moisture to the fruits as it's simply attempting to survive at this point. Thus, the skins are weak on the cherry tomatoes. It is very, very important that you remove your tomatoes from their bag, look them over and rinse them lightly in a colander. This will remove any tomato juice that may be on them from any cherries that split or burst in transit. Carefully go over your tomatoes and look for signs of splitting. This is especially prevalent in the cherry tomatoes. Remove any that have split. You may wish to eat them right there is that's the only thing wrong with them. If you don't have fruit flies (sometimes at this time of year they are a menace) you can leave the rest of the tomatoes right in the colander overnight to dry. Then store them as you normally would. This is all very important as it will prolong the life of your tomatoes through the week. If you don't do this, please expect some rotten tomatoes in the bottom of your bag before too long. Isn't biology fun?
Second, Potatoes are in! We've included the first of the potato harvest in today's share. I don't have the camera or I'd include the photos I took today. Sorry. But they are the ones in the brown paper bag. Please note that potatoes do not go in the fridge. When potatoes get that cold the starch (i.e. the thing that makes a potato a potato) turns into sugar. If you've ever tried to eat one after that's happened you know not to do it. Not very appetizing. So please store them in a dark, cool place with lower humidity. Here is a link about storage of potatoes (this link applies to all of the potato varieties you'll get this season from Parker Produce. http://www.ehow.com/how_3480_store-potatoes.html And here is a link to Johnny's Seeds page about Kennebec potatoes. Just for information about the specific variety.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-6684-kennebec-og.aspx
Also this week is Basil, Garlic (Inchelium Red), Onions, Carrots, Zucchini and Summer Squash.
The 'Decisions' part of the title implicates our thought process as we move closer to potential frost. I realize most people probably think the idea of a frost is just silly in this heat wave. However, the average first frost date of fall in Newport is September 15th. That leaves us only two more harvest weeks prior to the potential. Thus, we have to start harvesting things as though there will be no tomorrow. Certain things in the garden can survive a frost or two...winter squash is a good example. However, some things are not tolerant of any frost at all...Tomatoes and Basil are good examples. They immediately shrivel and turn into disgusting masses of previously wonderful stuff. In fact, as soon as the nightly temperature starts to consistently drop into the 50's, tomato growth is done. (We have some in a greenhouse which gives us a buffer on that.) So we have to start harvesting very hard and you may start to get things like green tomatoes in your share. I'll try to explain when that happens but just a heads up.
Please see the link at the right about storage information from the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Emily took this class last year with her sister as a fun thing to do and a great way to learn some very, very valuable information. It has proven very useful in our household. I don't agree with all of the over-protective steps they sometimes preach but the class is very valuable and exposes people to a great way to preserve the harvest. Check it out and see if you can get to know someone who wants to/does preserve food this way. You'll love going to the root cellar in the winter and finding all of your hard work of fall lining the shelves.