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Seed Saving Update

July 10, 2017 By admin

June and July are busy seed saving months: we harvest and clean biennial seeds (plants that flower and go to seed in the spring of their second season), hand-pollinate cucurbit crops (squash, cucumbers, muskmelons/cantaloupes, and watermelons), trellis bean and tomato crops, and begin scouting and hand-pollinating corn crops.

This season, we only had one spring biennial crop : Variegated Collard Greens. We planted them last fall in our new hoop house, where they have been growing ever since. They began flowering in February, and we harvested the seed the first week of June. I’m very glad we had them in the hoop house, as it kept them dry despite all the rain we have had. They produced a really beautiful crop (about 6 pounds of seed off of 105 selected plants). The seeds are below.

We are growing a really special corn this season: Chapalote corn. It is thought to be the oldest corn still in cultivation. It is from northern Mexico and is used for pinole (a spice mix), atole, and popcorn. It produces small ears of various shades of brown, late in the season. We are just beginning to bag male tassel flowers and scout ears, where the female flowers or silks will emerge. Below is a picture of a stalk of Chapalote corn where the ear is just beginning to emerge from the stalk.

We are hand-pollinating several varieties of winter squash this season for pure seed: Veracruz Pipian, San Jose Club squash, Upper Ground Sweet Potato squash, and two breeding projects, San JosexWaltham Butternut squash (F2) and CarrizoxWaltham Butternut squash (F1). We are still waiting on the Veracruz Pipian squash to produce female flowers, but we have successfully pollinated all of the other squash. Below are two San JosexWaltham squash, that appear to be of the phenotype we are looking for, and a CarrizoxWaltham Butternut squash, which we will use for grow-out next season.

The “Tsakones” are an ancient people, now Greek, whose language and culture are endangered, see http://www.troumpasfamily.gr/en/location/laografia/. The “Tsakoniki”eggplant is attributed to them. Although not available commercially, its popularity is growing among independent seed companies and seed growers. We are growing it for seed for the first time this season. Its shape is like a mix of Asian and Italian eggplants, and it has a wonderful flavor. We have had some rotting issues this season due to all the rain, but we have had that problem with all of our eggplant varieties. We are just waiting for the seeds to mature, and then we will begin seed harvest.

We are growing several beans for seed this season: Cades Cove Bean (Anderson strain), TN White Crowder Pea (as far as we know we are the only source of this bean, although we shared it with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange last season), Blue Moro beans, Brown Bunch beans, Grandma Nellie’s Yellow Mushroom bean, and Tankuro soybeans, which are typically used dried for kuromame instead of green for edamame. Below are pictured Cades Cove Bean, TN White Crowder Pea, and Blue Moro beans, which we have begun to harvest.

We have a few other seed crops growing as well. The Roseland cucumber seed is also almost ready for harvest. The Mexican huauzontle (a nutritious green similar to Lamb’s Quarters) is starting to produce seed heads. The Elephant’s Ear (or Slonovo uvo) peppers are loaded with peppers but haven’t started ripening yet, and our Gito’s chiltepin peppers (which produce very late) have yet to begin flowering.

Week 31: The regular CSA season is coming to an end.

November 16, 2016 By admin

Here is some important information that you may need:

If you are a Sustaining Member or you want to sign up for a 2016 winter share, please make your final payment of $250 by November 15.
If you are not participating in the winter share, please bring your plastic bins as well as plastic bags to your last share pick up. I will bag veggies, and keep both your plastic bins until next season. Our last drop off will be Saturday, 11/19. If you pick up every-other-week, this may be your last week to pick up.
Applications for returning members for next season are due 12/15/16. I emailed them out last week. If you did not receive one, I will have paper copies at pick up this week and next, or you can email me for one.
We also have a small survey for members to fill out. In general, I feel like we have a good idea from year to year the changes that members would like us to make, but there are a few questions that we have for this coming season.
We will begin taking new members in early December. If you do not plan to return, please let us know so that we can return your bin deposit and also so that we can notify anyone who is interested in a share for next season.

This week’s share: sweet potatoes, stone-ground heirloom “TN Red Cob” cornmeal (we grind it on the farm on a mill that is designated just for cornmeal; it is gluten-free), “Lorz Italian” garlic, head lettuce, choice of bunched green, choice of salad green. one bunch mild mustards, one bunch spinach, leafy broccoli shoots, carrots, jalapeños, and a choice of herb.

An easy mustard green recipe: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/mustard-greens-pesto-on-pasta-with-shiitake-mushrooms-and-smoked-mozzarella

The farm rhythm is starting to slow

October 7, 2016 By admin

The farm rhythm feels like it is starting to slow. All the crops are planted and all of the large harvests are finished. We have started cover cropping fields for the winter (the oats and peas that we seeded before last Monday’s rain are germinating well), packing seed crops, and preparing for things like first frost (which still seems a long way off, although it shouldn’t be). It is always a welcome shift: more time to spend together. Evan Shea and I spent the morning yesterday at the Union Books, one of his favorite indoor spaces.

This week’s share will include: pumpkin/winter squash, garlic, leeks, choice of greens (we will have mustards and turnips by Saturday), lettuce, arugula or mesclun mix, red radishes, pink and white turnips (like the ones above), beets, eggplant (looks like production will drop next week), sweet peppers (may be last week we pick these), jalapeños, okra, and cherry tomatoes. We will have herbs and slicing tomatoes for Sustaining Members. Fennel is ready. We usually wait to harvest it until there is an impending frost, but we will probably harvest next week. Bok choy is “ready” but has struggled to size up well with lack of rain. We may wait a couple of weeks still. Broccoli and cabbage is not far behind.

Turnip ideas? My favorite way is still in roasted mixed root veggies. I also like them mixed with potatoes (either mashed or roasted), raw in salads, and in soups. If you don’t love the taste, try them in something like this gratin: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013440-root-vegetable-gratin

Last scheduled week of the regular CSA 2015 season

November 20, 2015 By admin

This is the last scheduled week of the regular season CSA. Thank you to everyone for your support and participation this season! Please remember to bring bags to bag your veggies in this week so that we can make an accurate inventory of the bins that we have. I will try to continue to send pictures and updates over the winter. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

This week’s share includes: sweet potatoes, winter squash (mostly butternut although we may need to give out something else too), carrots, other mixed root veggies (beets, rutabagas, and turnips), spinach, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, kale or chard, cornmeal, or choice of herb.

The Thanksgiving meal causes much stress to so many…what new recipes to try, how to copy Grandma’s recipe perfectly, how to accommodate the vegan, the vegetarian, and the gluten-free guests and all at the same time, etc. For us, the Thanksgiving meal has always been simple and easy. Essentially, we take the bin that you are receiving this week and turn it into a meal, whatever that is in the given season. This year we are making mashed sweet potatoes, roasted veggie tart, kale salad, and pumpkin cheesecake. Mom will make a roasted chicken and dressing (from our cornmeal) and sis will make the appetizers: veggies with horseradish dip (the horseradish comes from the farm, too) and little snacks like cheese, olives, and pickled okra.

Above is the roasted veggie tart. Roasted veggies (peeled, cut into small cubes, and roasted with olive oil and rosemary for 1 hour…remember to stir often) are very versatile. They are one of Evan Shea’s and Lalo’s favorite snacks. They can also be served with eggs for breakfast, blended or semi-blended into a soup, added to lentils with some Moroccan spices for a great winter meal, served with cider glaze or goat cheese as a side dish, or made into a tart or individual tarts. I use 2 rutabagas, 2 turnips, 4 beets, and 6 carrots for each 8-9″ tart, as well as a sprig of rosemary, 1/4 of an onion and a couple cloves of garlic. You can also add white potatoes or parsnips. I make a gluten-free tart crust from tapioca starch, coconut flour, egg, olive oil, and water, but you can easily use pre-made pizza dough or puff pastry.

This is the kale salad we are making: http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/kale-salad-warm-cranberry-vinaigrette-recipe/

And pumpkin cheesecake, we are going to work off the following recipe, substituting real pumpkin for the canned! http://thepurepantry.com/recipes/cakes/pumpkin-cheese-cake/

I haven’t made cheesecake since we moved from NY, so we will see how it goes!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving, Megan

Last week for some summer crops, Weekly Share for September 30, 2015

September 30, 2015 By admin

This week’s share will include: butternut squash, scallions, red radishes, white turnips w/o greens this week (Saturday’s may be a different variety), arugula, mesclun mix, choice of kale or chard, bok choy (bunched), eggplant (Italian and Asian varieties), green beans, okra, summer squash, green, yellow, and purple bell peppers, red peppers, jalapenos, and choice of herb.

It is likely the last week for the following summer crops: summer squash, green beans, and okra. Their production and quality are diminishing! We will have pumpkins and fennel and/or kohlrabi next week. We may also have beets and lettuce, or it may be 2 weeks for those crops.

We have just started harvesting sweet potatoes, but the rain has delayed our progress. I will take a picture of them when we resume because they are beautiful! We are going to separate sweet potatoes this season into “fingerlings” and “full size”. I hate to admit that in seasons past we have tossed most of the small ones back into the ground or given them to the animals. Last year, in a rush to pull dinner together one night, I discovered how wonderful the small ones are roasted. We will never toss them again!

One of our new garlic varieties just arrived from Hood River Garlic in Oregon. They are considered one of the best organic garlic farms in the country. It is called Shangtang Purple, and supposedly grows better than most in hot weather (says Terri at HRG). We will start planting our garlic for next season in about 2 weeks.

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