A few announcements from Maple Wind Farm, they will be quick!

Saturday March 26th we will be open for the Huntington Sugarmaker Tour from 11-3pm. Come by and see our sugar shack in operation, take a peek in the barn at the piglets born last month and take home some delicious syrup or some of our frozen meats. New this year! Maple Wind Beef and Pork hotdogs!

Our partner farm, Monitor Barns Farm, at the Vermont Youth Corps in Richmond is still taking memberships for our summer vegetable CSA. June-Oct on Thursdays. 3 pickup locations! Great PYO gardens to enjoy with herbs, flowers and vegetables abound. order form found at www.maplewindfarm.com or www.vycc.org.

There will be an information meeting (Q and A) on April 7th from 5-7 at the Monitor Barn on Rte 7 in Richmond.

Maple Wind Farm is offering our Monthly Meat CSA again this year. Rolling start.. you choose. 6 month or 12 month membership. 10lbs of our frozen meat per month. A mix of beef, pork, poultry and lamb! See our website for details.

As always, you can find our eggs around town. See us at farmers markets or come to the farm!

Let the sun shine!

Beth and Bruce

Hello friends,

We hope that 2011 brings you all wonderful new adventures. With the holidays behind us we can all look forward to a new slate…

Resolution for this year? Eating more locally? We can help with that… Fill your freezer with locally raised pork, beef, lamb and poultry.

10 of our 35 pigs are at the butcher now. You can reserve 1/2 or whole (buying in bulk saves between 20-30% off retail prices). ORDER NOW (thru Mid FEB) and get it custom cut to your family needs. Smoking fees are extra. You can use our order form and send in a deposit, balance due on actual meat received per pound is due upon delivery.

Beef? Not much room in a freezer? We have 8 small family packages (20lbs)  available now. We also have one quarter cow package available.

Whole chickens? Pasture raised really does taste better! $4.50/lb or buy 5 and get them for $4.00lb

Our lamb supply is a bit low. Whole lambs will be available after they have been on pasture this spring for a bit. Reserve one now. Some lamb available at Farmers Market.

You can always find us 2x a month at the Burlington Winter Market. Stop by and say hi! If you need something specific, give us a call for a special order so its there waiting for you.

Information coming soon on our summer 2011 Monitor Barns Vegetable CSA. Stay tuned.

Eat well,

Beth and Bruce

Hello folks,

Wishing you and your family a happy and healthy holiday season.

Here at Maple Wind, all the animals are nestled are snug in their winter housing; Eliza Jane with the 2 bulls in the pole barn, the 500 layer hens and the 185 Katahdin sheep  in our solar barn and the 30+market pigs and the 3 pregnant sows with Bigfoot the boar in our arena barn! And yes, the 100 beef cows will be wintering in Bolton this coming season at our leased property along the Winooski. All dreaming of next years green pastures!

Beth, Bruce, Bryn, David (Molly, Izze, and Captain) are looking forward to the holidays with lots of snow for sledding, fort building and skiing at Mad River Glen!

A few farm announcements! READ ON:

*We have a few organic turkeys frozen if anyone is interested for an amazing holiday bird (they are all 30+lbs!)

*Come see us at the Burlington Farmers Market on Sat December 18. (10-2 at Memorial Auditorium) We’ll have a great selection of beef/pork/lamb and whole chickens (maple syrup too!)

*Pasture Raised meats make great holiday gifts! Let us put a gift box together for you and your budget!

*Fill your freezer with pork, we will be offering ½ and whole pork packages cut to your specification in late January-reserve now!

*Our Yurt Rentals have been very popular this winter. Call to check availability and bring your out of town guests for a winter camping adventure.

We are excited about next years Monitor Barns Farm CSA season with the Vermont Youth Corps. Stay tuned for more information about 2011 membership! In the meantime, email us if you have questions.

Enjoy the holidays. Eat well. We appreciate your support of our family farm.

All the best,

Beth and Bruce

Its not too early to think about a delicious MAPLE WIND FARM pasture raised turkey gracing your family table this coming holiday. We continue our tradition of raising our turkeys on pasture and feeding them organic certified grain. ORDER SOON as we only have 125. Last year we had a wait list for turkeys. Please send a 25$ deposit and then pay the balance due upon pickup of your fresh turkey. They are $4.95/lb and will range from 12-22lbs. Send to: Maple Wind Farm 1340 Carse Rd Huntington VT 05462 or email me, beth@otloose.com.  Specify your Pickup: Sat Nov 20 in Burlington at the winter farmers market, Sun Nov 21 in Richmond at the Andrews Farm Store, Middlebury TBA, Waitsfield at the Kingsbury Market in Warren TBA.  Past customers rave about the taste and say its the best they’ve had!

Hello folks, Happy Spring and mudseason too! We have happily begun our sugaring season with the first 10 gallons of sweetness! Maple Open House all over Huntington Saturday March 27 11-3. Come by and visit and see our sugarshack in operation!

Thank you to our returning members who have signup up already for a summer of fresh vegetables, flowers and herbs!

If you felt like you missed our offer to receive a 10% discount-have no fear! Please consider joining our MONITOR BARNS CSA (partnership with VYCC) this summer and send in your form by April 1st.

Pickups will still be on Thursdays 3-6:30 (expanded hours) at the Monitor Barn in Richmond or after 4pm in So. Burlington at Healthy Living or Maple Wind Farm in Huntington.

Share a membership with a neighbor! Augment your own home garden! Give a share to a friend! or even donate a share to the local Food Shelf!

Vegetables and Poultry CSA 2010- please use the Monitor Barns CSA form

Maple Wind Farm Meat CSA and other sized meat packages/turkeys/syrup CSA- please use the Maple Wind Farm form

Forms can be downloaded here: http://maplewindfarm.com/forms/

INFORMATIONAL CSA MEETING Tonight! Thursday March 11 6:00-7:00 at the Monitor Barn. Past and potential members welcome. Come with your questions.

Contact me with any questions.

Eat well, Beth

Hello CSA folks,

I owe all of you an apology, with the busy-ness of the end of the season I neglected to get you all your fourth and final pint of delicious Maple Wind Farm syrup.

I can in fact finish the canning of the jars and get your final CSA syrup to you before Thanksgiving! It will come in handy when sweetening up your squash dishes or apple pies…yum.

How do you get your jar you ask? I want to make it easy for you. If stopping by the Andrews Barn is not convenient any longer since the CSA is over, please let me know and I can bring it to you, put it in the mail or make a drop off somewhere.

We will definitely be at the barn Sunday November 22 from 10-3 and I will bring them that day with a cross off list. If some time after work, works better, please email me.

Thank you for your understanding. In no way did I mean to not provide you something I had promised.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beth

Hello folks,

CSA members, now that our season is over, Thursdays seem quite quiet. Again, thank you for a wonderful year and your support.

If anyone is interested in stocking up on MWF vegetables, I still have a few early winter storage shares available! Its 35 lbs of vegetables for $70 including potatoes, winter squash, garlic, onions, leeks, beets, pie pumpkin, cabbage, celeriac, and kale/collard greens. It’s a one time pickup! Great for holiday cooking needs. Im arranging pickup Thursday Nov 5 or by arrangement. Just email me by Wednesday to reserve one! beth@otloose.com

As the summer farmers market season comes to a close, you can find us indoors! Shelburne Town gym  on December 5^th 10-2 and at the Burlington Winter Market every 3^rd Saturday of the month from Nov-April 10-2  in Memorial Auditorium.

Just about 10 organic pasture raised Thanksgiving turkeys left! Spread the word! Ready for pickup fresh Nov 21 or 22.

We have some beef at the butcher now that is not spoken for and they are the last of the season before next summer. If you have thought about buying in bulk for your freezers, now is the time. We have split halves (that’s a quarter cow’s worth), halves and even a whole cow available. Think about “cow-pooling” with a neighbor if you don’t have a lot of freezer space but would love to have some healthy grassfed meat at your fingertips. The larger quantity you buy, the better price you get. Our order form can be downloaded from our website www.maplewindfarm.com.

If you are interested, please email me asap! Then you can send in your deposit. beth@otloose.com

Looking ahead, we have a nice group of pigs that will be ready late December if pork is your preference. (1/2 and whole)

Lambs will be ready in the spring, we have decided to overwinter them since they are on the smaller side. (whole only)

Thanks for reading, here’s to your and your family. Have a great upcoming holiday season.

Eat well,

Beth and Bruce

Hello folks,

Wow, 20 weeks…5 months of seeing all of you every Thursday for your vegetable pickup- next week is going to seem so quiet. I want to first and foremost THANK each of you and your families for giving us the opportunity to grow your produce this season. Even with the funky weather this year, Id say we came out great (tomatoes or no tomatoes!). I really appreciate it when I hear from you all that I’ve helped you “eat better”, “eat out less”, “opened my eyes to some new vegetables we’ve never had before”. So, again thank you for your support of our family farm- we’ve enjoyed getting to know all of you and I hope we’ll see you next year for another wonderful Vermont season. We have some new ventures in the works for next year so stay tuned for our exciting news. A reminder of those who pickup in Richmond only and have not come to visit our home farm in Huntington, please give us a call when you are in our neck of the woods and come by to see the animals and say hello this fall/winter!

As I write this newsposting, so much is going on in my head. Im thinking about this weeks wonderful harvest of fall vegetables for tomorrow.  Im also reflecting on the season as a whole and looking back at my list of the harvest at each pickup week in my records realizing the bounty that the earth can give us in such a short season. As a grower who also strives to learn and do better each season, I start to make notes on what I might do differently next year (or the same). I hope all of you will take a few minutes to fill out my CSA end of season survey to help me with your thoughts on the farm share. Id appreciate that! As we all understand, its implicit when signing up for a CSA, that mother nature will do her thing and we have to accommodate and hope the selection of vegetables will withstand her forces of nature. We certainly try to beat the odds as much as we can. Thank you for all of your support this season.

REMINDERS: Bring 2 bags! It will be a nice hearty harvest this week – heavy stuff! Reusing any produce bags is also appreciated.

There will be cider at the barn, enjoy and save a few minutes for filling out the CSA survey. Thank you in advance. 

My guess is that folks will be out of veggies by Nov 5th. So consider a Early Winter Storage Share bag of vegetables! 35lbs of mixed vegetables for $70! Its a great way to finish off the season and get ready for the holidays. You can cook dishes for your family and guests and tell them “they are from my CSA!” Just put your name on my list and pay at the time of pickup.

ORGANIC TURKEYS- we are still taking orders! Let us know Thursday, call us or fill out an order form from our website.

THIS WEEKS HARVEST: Are you ready? Parsnips, Brussell Sprouts, Potatoes, Garlic, Celeriac (celery root), Cabbage, Winter squash: Delicata and also your choice of several of you favorites, a few small turnips, Onions, and of course a large pumpkin for Halloween.

A few tips on your root crops:

In the refrigerator: Beets can be stored for up to 1 month (store greens separately), Carrots are best in a plastic bag for up to 3 weeks, Celeriac can be in for 1-2 weeks, Parsnips are also good in a plastic bag for up to 3 weeks and Turnips for about 1 week.

For longer storage, they need to be in a cool, humid environment. 

AGAIN, THANK YOU FOR A GREAT SEASON! KEEP IN TOUCH. EAT WELL! HAVE A GREAT WINTER!

Beth, Bruce, Nate, Micheal, Jason, Ashley, Bryn and David

IN THE KITCHEN: Dont forget to remove the woody core of your parsnips before using.  Many of you are stumped about what to do with your cabbage. If you are not into saurkraut, then try Molly Stevens recipe

Braised Cabbage wtih Carrots and Onions

1 med, head of green cabbage (2lbs)

1 onion, sliced into rough 1/3 inch slices

1 lg carrot, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds

1/4 cup chicken stock or water 

1/4 cup olive oil

coarse salt and ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 325 and put rack in the middle. Cut cabbage into 8 wedges, and trim away some of the woody core leaving each wedge intact. Arrange in baking dish laying in a single layer. Scatter the onion and carrot over the cabbage, and pout the stock and oil on top of the mess. Season with salt and pepper. Cover the dish TIGHTLY with foil and put in the oven. Cook for 1 hour and remove and gently turn the cabbage wedges. If dish is dry, add a few tablespoons of water. Cover the dish and cook until the vegetables are tender about 1 more hour. When the cabbage is tender, remove the foil turn up the oven to 400 and cook until the vegetables are browned lighlty on the edges (another 15 min).

Parsnip Purée with Sautéed Brussels Sprouts Leaves

Gourmet  | November 2008

Hello folks!

Well in our neck of the woods we woke up today (Tues) with some wet snow on the ground covering our fields with a spotty blanket of white we havent seen in a while! Then of course, true to early season temps, it all turned to rain and now we are left with some good ol fashioned MUD!

CSA Members, be thinking about how this season has been for you. I will be asking you next week to fill out a survey on your experience with Maple Wind Farm CSA. Im looking for comments that can help our CSA in years to come meet your needs. Constructive comments and kudos are welcome.

We would love to have you back next year. I will put a 2010 CSA reservation form in the mail in November (with a early bird incentive of course). Let us know if you have friends or neighbors that I should send one to. Thanks.

IN THE GARDEN: Frost hit the garden on Monday morning, we did  have time to harvest the rest of the eggplants and tomatillos for this week and cover about half of the pepper plants. The basil, may it rest in peace, did not fair so well.  We’ve started readying the garden for the winter; ripping out irrigation drip tape, plastic mulch and putting our tools away. I will say that I underestimated the time broccoli and cauliflower grows in the later part of the summer and fall. I planted a nice crop and they are a long ways off to producing any harvest. It will be into November possibly and then I might have to right it off as a lost cause. My apologies for giving you ideas we’d have fall broccoli- more like winter broccoli? The bright side: we will be having some great veggies these next two weeks.

Have no fear the CSA doesn’t have to end…you can reserve a one time pickup of a  Storage Share for Nov 5 or 12 . I’m taking reservations for the share (35 lbs for $70!) at the final weeks of the CSA. Pickups will be at the Andrews Barn. Its a great way to have some extra vegetables from Maple Wind through the holiday season.

Thanksgiving Turkeys- still taking reservations! Spread the word! They will be between 10-20 lbs @ $4.75/lb. $25 deposit required.

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST: Potatoes, Carrots, Leeks, Tomatillos, Small Eggplants, Whats left of the peppers, Greens (Kale, Chard, Collards), Spinach!, a nice winter squash selection – Butternut & Kabocha, Onion

Next week, parsnips, beets and more celeriac.

IN THE KITCHEN:

Hello folks,

Well the leaves are a changin’…fast no less. I’m sure all of you are experiencing signs of fall- pumpkins are popping up at the grocery stores and roadside stands, talk of Halloween already (my kids have changed their minds about 5 times about what they want to be) and the crisp air temps. I’ve also enjoyed some sightings of turkey flocks in the fields near the garden and I saw a bull moose off route 2 one night on my way home. I love Vermont!

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Thursday is FRESH Chicken Day! Think about taking one of our delicious chickens home and making a roast chicken this weekend with all the wonderful veggies! Leftovers make a great soup, of course! How can you go wrong! Thank you to Harold, Bea, Nate, Caitlin, Micheal, Ashley, Jason, Bruce and Natalia for a great chicken processing day- 182!

Don’t forget your canvas bags and try to use just a few produce bags when you come. Many of you reuse yours which is great! Thank you.

If you have a dearth of vegetables, I hope you can find a friend or neighbor to take them or you are experimenting with putting food up for the winter (canning or freezing).

Dean Menke will be bringing another round of baked goodies! Consider his winter CSB-yum!

SHARE THE HARVEST OCT 1-(CSA DAY! Pick up your veggies and head out to a participating restaurant-take a break from cooking) NOFA Vermont believes that all Vermonters should be able to eat local organic food, regardless of their income level, while also making sure farmers get a good wage for their hard work. NOFA Vermont’s Farm Share program is a great way that low-income Vermonters can afford to purchase CSA shares of fresh veggies from their local farmers. The program served over 1,400 people statewide this year and 50 Vermont farms participated. This year there has been more need for the program than ever before: demand for the program was more than we could financially support and we had to start a waiting list.

We would love your help making this important program even more successful. Tomorrow 83 restaurants and food stores will help “Share the Harvest” by donating a portion of their sales to the Farm Share program. We hope you’ll take this is as a great excuse to patronize one of these businesses tomorrow and support our low income neighbors and local farmers in the process. Please mention to your waiter that you’re there to help Share the Harvest!

Learn more about the Farm Share program, and find a complete list of participating restaurants at www.nofavt.org.

ON THE FARM: This week we took 8 pigs to the butcher and our first 9 lambs of the fall. If you are interested in a 1/2 pig for the winter in your freezer, please let us know by Monday! The next group of pigs wont be ready to go to the butcher until late December.

Speaking of pigs… we are proud owners of a new Berkshire Boar named Bigfoot. He comes to us from Addison, VT and will now be the new “BPOC -Big Pig on Campus!”

IN THE GARDEN: As the season winds down (we have 4 more weeks including this one) of our CSA program, it fun to see what comes from the garden as the seasons change. We’ve still got some wonderful vegetables that will grace your tables. Be creative!

THIS WEEK’S HARVEST: Delicata Squash (one of my personal favorites- eat it with the skin on!), Leeks, Potatoes, Onions, Carrots!, Peppers, one last BIG kh0lrabi, decorative gourds, Lettuce, Eggplant, Basil and perhaps something I’m not thinking of.

Its late and I’m all out of creativity to post recipes, bad excuse I know. I do love looking through cookbooks and on the web. Ill let you find a great recipe and encourage all of you to fwd me a link or a recipe I can post on next weeks newsletter.

Thanks for taking the time to read my musings.

Eat Well,

Beth