Hello folks! READ ON….many important items.

Wow, 19 weeks have flown by and here we are at the final week of our CSA. Thank you so much to all of you who have supported us at Maple Wind Farm. We hope that you have enjoyed your experience cooking and eating the array of vegetables we have grown for you and your family. Some of you have been out of your comfort zones a few times trying new items-kudos to you! I would love to hear stories of you or your kids experiences. Send them along. Recipes for next year or an additional blog later this month would be great - please submit to my email!

PLEASE ALLOW A FEW EXTRA MINUTES AT PICKUP THIS WEEK to fill out our member survey and have a cup of cider. We’ll trade you a filled out survey for your last installment of syrup! 

PLEASE BRING BACK OUR OTHER PINT JARS. they are expensive to keep buying. Our intention was to buy only one set and refill for you each time but that model didnt work as we planned. If you have any suggestions, let us know. We hope you enjoyed the sweetness and inclusion in the share this year.

Many many thanks to all the farm crew helping in the garden this summer harvesting, weeding and washing your vegetables. A special thanks to Jodi Dean, my right hand this summer, who is knowledgable and capable and took on a great bit of the responsibility in the garden.

Congratulations to Susan and Lars Whitman on the birth of their baby boy (little brother to Carter), named Issac born on Sept. 9th. They are doing well and Ive had many sightings at the Richmond Farmers Market!

Storage Vegetable Share baskets still available: 35 lbs of great storage crops with a tip sheet included. $65. Order by calling or emailing. Pickup at Andrews Farm mid November.

Organic Turkeys still available for Thanksgiving. $4.75/lb. $25 deposit holds your order.

We’ll be at the Burlington Winter Farmers Market this 08-09 winter season beginning on Sat Nov 22 from 10-2pm at Memorial Auditorium. Maybe we’ll see you there.

ON THE FARM: This week, we’ve been doing quite a bit of logging with our draft horses in the woods bringing out firewood for the house and our two yurts. With this wonderful weather, its been great progress and Bruce said he was so thrilled to see how Herbie and Henry have worked together so well. 

IN THE GARDEN: As you drive by the garden from up on route 2,  you will notice big changes as much of the garden has been tilled under and we are cover cropping for next year. There will remain the rest of the kale and turnips through the fall so we can harvest it for our pigs to eat.

THIS WEEKS HARVEST: Great big pumpkin (your choice, 1 per family), Acorn Squash, Cabbage, Turnips, Kale, Chard or Pac Choi, Beautiful broccoli and purple (yes purple) califlower, Some greens, Peppers, Onions, and Garlic. Oh yes, and the interesting Kohlrabi (see info below). ENJOY!!!!!!

Kohlrabi… 

Excerpted from Rolling Prairie Cookbook, by Nancy O’Connor.

Hello Folks, 

Many of you have been asking great questions about storage of some of the vegetables.

Please see this great website, its easy to read and has great information. Thanks to Robin at the Mad River Valley Localvore group for pointing me to this site so I wanted to pass it on to you.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/gist82.html

Hello folks, 

What a lovely couple of days, we have been blessed. This is what we’ve been waiting for… Today our son David started first grade, what a milestone! Its amazing that it is school time again.

CSA members: Please remember to bring back your syrup jars, we’ll be sending your third installment next week I think. Can you believe this is week #12! 

ON THE FARM: This week we have made a few big changes in animals groups. The group of 160 White Comets layer hens moved up the hill to be with all the other layer hens so now we have a mixed group of 250 hens producing our delicious organic eggs. You can now find them at Richmond Corner Market, Green Grocer, Beaudrys and our CSA pick ups as well as the 3 weekly farmers markets we attend. Thats alot of eggs! About 200 a day!!!!

We said goodbye to our market pigs and now we have just the group of pigs born in May that are in pasture. The boar and 4 sows are in a separate pasture enjoying the lazy days of summer with a nice cool mudpit!

We hosted Hen of the Wood chef Eric Weinstadt at our farm on Wednesday for an dinner with Vermont Fresh Network. 

IN THE GARDEN: Nothing new to report other than we can really see the changing of seasons. We’ve pulled out all the summer squash plants and cucumber plants. Its looking more like fall. The tomatoes are finally turning colors! Yum. Huge winter squash on on their way and the pumpkins are looking great.

THIS WEEKS HARVEST: Beets, Carrots, Leeks, Red Cabbage, Patty Pan squash, cucumber, a final melon and some loose greens and delicious arugula!

IN THE KITCHEN:

Sweet and Sour Cabbage

2 T vinegar

2 T brown sugar

2 T soy sauce

2 T orange marmalade

Chop cabbage into big pieces. Put oil in hot skillet or wok. Add some grated ginger then the cabbage and stir for 2 min. Garlic is optional at this point. Add the above 4 ingredients and cover for 2 min. Serve and stir in 1/2 t sesame oil or seeds.

CARROT AND BEET SALAD WITH GINGER VINAIGRETTE

1/4 cup minced shallot

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1/4 cup rice vinegar (available at Asian markets and some supermarkets)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon Asian (toasted) sesame oil

 Tabasco to taste

1/2 cup olive oil

4 cups finely shredded carrots

4 cups finely shredded peeled raw beets (about 3/4 pound)

 spinach leaves, washed thoroughly, for garnish if desired
In a blender purée shallot, ginger, and garlic with rice vinegar, soy sauce,
sesame oil, and Tabasco. With motor running add olive oil in a stream and blend
until smooth. In separate bowls toss carrots with half of the dressing and beets
with remaining half. Divide carrot salad and beet salad among 6 plates and garnish
with spinach leaves.

Gourmet April 1996

Happy Eating and enjoy the rest of August...

Beth

Hello and Happy 4th of July weekend.

A bit of Housekeeping….

CSA members, please remember to contact me if you are not going to be picking up your share for the week. Also, call my cell phone if you know you will be late and we’ll put a bag together for you and leave it on the porch of the Andrews Farm or on the table in our barn. I hate to see a whole share go to waste. Id rather it stay in the field until next week. Beths # 233-3862 Don’t forget to bring your bags and some of you are reusing the produce bags, thanks!

Let us know if you would like some meat brought to the pickups for your weekend meals.

News of the Farm

On Monday, we had a HUGE day. We had an awesome crew of 12 that processed our first round of chickens…300 of them! Its not too late to pickup a fresh chicken, just come to the Andrews Farm from 3-6 Thurs or call us and we can bring one for you to a market on Saturday before they go in the freezer! All are between 3.5-5 pounds and look marvelous!  On Tuesday, Jodi, Lucy and Beth weaned our lamb flock from their mothers. The lambs seemed to be fine, enjoying frolicking in their new pasture by themselves. The ewes spent the first two days making a bunch of noise calling for their little ones. We do this so the mothers can dry up their milk production and the lambs can be more independent grass eaters for the summer. The crew making hay took 57 gorgeous bales of hay off of the southside pasture on the Teal Farm on Wednesday. When we get our next good weather window, we’ll cut the north side.

News in the Garden

We are happy with the growth of the garden. New varieties are soon to come ready for harvest. With all the rain we are trying to stay on top of weeds which is always a challenge. The plastic mulch is great under the plants, it the weeds in between the rows we have to stay on top of.  Many of the potatoes are flowering which means they are creating tubers. We should have some fingerlings soon!

This weeks harvest

Enjoy some early season cabbage, chard, head lettuce, leaf lettuce, and some summer squash. In Richmond, you will be invited to pick your own peas and boy o boy are they delicious…bursting with flavor! 

(Huntington, we’ll be picking for you) There will be herbs as always. 

The arugula (that I hoped you enjoyed last week) has bolted (gone to flowering stage) so we are going to pick the flowers. Jodi suggested that they are tasty on salads so give it a try!

As always, we welcome your feedback and comments. Please call or email.

Beth

In the kitchen

Did you know dill heads go well in potato salad and look nice too with great flavor. We hope you are enjoying all the great herbs.

Try this slaw recipe for your 4th of July picnic. Great with Maple Wind Farm ribs, pork chops or hamburgers.

SUPER SLAW

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

6 tablespoons vegetable oil

5 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

3 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar

2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger

1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic

5 cups thinly sliced green cabbage

2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage

2 large red or yellow bell peppers, cut into matchstick-size strips

2 medium carrots, peeled, cut into matchstick-size strips

8 large green onions, cut into matchstick-size strips

 /2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Whisk first 7 ingredients in small bowl to blend. (Dressing can be made 1 day ahead.

Cover and chill. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before

continuing.)

Combine remaining ingredients in large bowl. Add dressing and toss to coat. Season

with salt and pepper and serve.

Bon Appetit

July 1998

What a week! If you dont like the weather, wait a few hours (minutes even!)

On the farm: Another great week, we are busy cutting more hay on our leased fields in Richmond and watching for our third sow to have her babies…any day now. The herd of cows on the home farm here in Huntington is just about finished rotating these fields and they will go early next week to their new summer home at the Teal Farm in Huntington Center. The crew here on the farm has been working dilegently setting up a whole new fencing system on Melissa Hoffmans property as well as a water system (including digging and establishing a spring). We will graze her property with the cow/calf group and bring all of them back in 5-6 weeks to the home farm for some high density pasture grazing.

Farmers markets are going well. Its so nice to see friends, make new ones and serve up some grilled sausages and hamburgers (soon). Come visit us and enjoy all the other hardworking farmers, artisans and growers. Richmond Fri. eves. Middlebury Sat a.m. and Shelburn Sat. a.m.

In the garden: We planted the pumpkins this week, weeded the onions and hilled the 1700 feet of potatoes amoungst other chores. We uncovered some remay off the summer squash and were excited to see small fruits forming and the plants look wonderful! So many veggies are really coming along nicely!

This weeks harvest:

Head lettuce, Spicy greens mix, Swiss Bright Lights Chard, Scallions, Herbs and Red Leaf Lettuce. There might be enough peas for PYO in Richmond…stay tuned!

Ideas for your kitchen: 2 recipes for our greens this week! Simple and tasty.

Simple Swiss Chard (serves 2, prep 10 min cook 10 min)

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stalks discarded, leaves cut into wide ribbons
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Spicy Greens with Warm Balsamic Dressing

1 bunch arugula, cleaned, trimmed and chopped
1 head radicchio, chopped
2 cups chopped escarole, 1/2 head
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, cracked
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Arrange greens on a large platter. Heat oil and garlic in a small pan over moderate heat. Simmer garlic in oil to infuse the flavor. Remove the garlic from the oil and transfer it to a small bowl. Wipe the pan and return to heat. Add balsamic vinegar. Raise heat to high and reduce vinegar by 1/2, 30 seconds. Stream oil into saucepan and whisk to combine with vinegar. Drizzle dressing over the salad and season the greens with salt and pepper.

 Please tell your friends they can sign up for this posting if they want on our website. Enjoy your week!

Good news, beef is coming back from the butcher - the first of 2008! See you at the farmers market for best selection.

Be well, Beth & Bruce and family

Quote: “Living the slow life with food as the focus is as rewarding as it is easy, and it can be done daily by each one of us. Ultimately, it is about pleasure and taste, knowledge and choice. Once we begin to take an interest in the enjoyment of food, and in finding out where our food comes from, we can begin to see the effects of these choices. When we shorten the distance—both literal and figurative—that our food travels to get to us, we are participating in the Slow Food movement. Slow Food is about coming together as a food community—connecting producers and co-producers, coming together on the farm, in the market, and at the table—to create and enjoy food that is good, clean and fair.”

Download the Maple Wind Farm Newletter 2008