​The newsletter is a bit late due to our internet service malfunctioning for the past few days. But it seems to back up and running for more than five minutes now.

We also have been taking care of 3 sick kids since last week, as well as losing one more of our farm hands to Florida last week. Ed was an invaluable member of our farm team all season, and while we will miss him we wish him and his family all the best of greener pastures in Florida. 

While losing two employees over the past few weeks means a bigger workload for us, that is nothing new to us.  Our core group of Travis, myself and Dave have run the show for the last few years with a bit of part time help as it is, but it was a great help to have a couple extra sets of hands to pick, pull and plant this summer. We have one CSA member who has gone from a work share member to a part time farm hand who has been with us all summer as well.

We are not trying to gloat, but to let our members know how small their CSA foodshed really is. We farm on about 15 acres feeding 130 CSA members and 3 farmers markets in 3 counties. Your food literally passes directly from your farmers hands to your plates, and as CSA members that is something you should all be just as proud of as we are. All the woes of our modern food system; from miserable work conditions and low wages, contamination with chemicals to both the soil, water and the humans in the fields, the carbon footprint of food miles, and the undercutting of food prices through the wholesale market- all these things you help us correct on our farm every day through your support in us as your local farmers. 

It's hell weeks like this, when the internet doesn't work, the kids are sick and you're down another worker and another doesn't come in, and there's the CSA harvest, and bulk harvests of potatoes and winter squash to get to, and it rained 2 inches  after a summer of drought, and the weeds are taking over the newest plantings that we count our blessings- and that number is 130! We don't despair and guarantee the rest of the season to be just as bountiful as it has been for the last 13 weeks! We may not get to newsletters, on time, but we get the freshest organic food directly to you, which is what we are here to do. We thank you all for your role in this adventure we call farming- tis not for the faint of heart, nor the picky of stomach.

​This week's CSA shares were as follows:
Small: tomatoes, sweet peppers (if you got the small multi colored ones- those are mini bells, not hot peppers) basil, garlic, swiss chard, summer squash, mini cabbages, and fennel
Regular:   all of the above and broccoli, green kale, cucumbers, and eggplant              

We aren't sharing any recipes this week, but can suggest making some pesto, or caprese salad for these dog days of summer with some of your share contents. Or a fresh fennel salad, or a traditional Italian  greens recipe with the kale or chard and the tomatoes and garlic.  And remember to please share recipes in the comments section or on our facebook page. If you've found a recipe you love, chances are someone else will too!                    

The rain finally came, and all at once. Three inches over the past 4 days, (which is more rain than we've seen cumulatively all season long)  with a bit of washout in some of the newest plantings. Everything with established roots is looking happy and healthy with new growth. 

This week's shares:

Small: Parsley, celery, sweet peppers, tomatoes (heirlooms and cherry) pickling cucumbers, summer squash, and red bunching onions

Regular: parsley, celery, sweet peppers, tomatoes (heirloom and cherry) pickling cucumbers, red bunching onions, summer squash, mini cabbage, dandelion greens, and striped Armenian or slicing cucmbers.

We were having some technical difficulties with our internet service earlier this week, which is why the newsletter is brief without pictures and so late. 

Try making some fresh tobouli salad with your parsley, tomatoes, and onions. We like to substitute quinoa for the bulgur wheat. 

The celery is not the best we've ever grown, and we know the hearts are quite damaged, but the outside stems are great and have wonderful flavor to add to any soup stock, or salad. 

We hope everyone enjoys their shares this week.

    Week 11; that marks the 1/2 way point of the Summer Season CSA. How the summer is flying by, before we know it the leaves will be changing, the kids will be back in school and we'll be hunkering down for cooler temps. But in the meantime there's a lot more great food to come. While the summer squash is tapering off, the winter squash is ripening, especially the the spaghetti and acorns, we are even seeing color in some of the pie pumpkins. The tomatoes in the high tunnel are almost reaching the rafters, and we're thinking we may need a ladder to harvest soon. The sweet potatoes vines are a sprawling mass choking out any remaining weeds and blossoming. Storage Onions are starting to die back and will need to lifted soon, and all our new seeding are coming on nicely with direct watering. We may not have as many daikon radishes this year as the past two years, but lots more watermelon radishes. The mini bell peppers are starting to get some color, and the sunflowers are bursting with color. 

The dry weather has been a drag for many farmers in NY, so much so that state legislators are considering disaster relief for many farms who have lost production due to the dryness. Being a diversified farm  growing such a wide variety of crops, while we have lost some seedings, and some produce is a bit smaller than usual, we are in much better shape than others. I know some livestock farmers who have lost pasture, and can't cut hay, fruit farms who lost much to the late frost and even more to the dryness, and vegetable farms who have drained their wells over and over and can only pray for some rain now. While our costs of production have increased now that we have  to pay for water to irrigate and the unplanned irrigation supply expenses altogether, we are getting by much more comfortably than many other farms we've spoken with this summer. We are also set up for many more seasons no matter the weather with the 3 enclosed growing spaces, and the ability to make raised beds in rainy seasons and to water profusely in the dry times. 

Another great benefit of being diversified and organic (aside from buffers against crop loss)  is that our soils are built up with organic matter and hold the moisture we've been adding, and even the dew.  Some bugs didn't move on as they usually do (such as flea beetles) some good bugs have moved in to keep them in check. We have never introduced any beneficial insects to the farm, yet ladybugs and praying mantis's, monarch butterflies and bees are so populous here this summer. We can't walk through our upper field planting of tomatoes without  tiptoeing around the praying mantis's which are voracious eaters of pests that could spell disaster for crops. 

We bid farewell to Rich this weekend as he heads back to Florida to start seedlings for his winter growing season on his farm, and will be saying goodbye to Ed in the next week as well. Both of them have been such a blessing to have working with us this season, and have put so much into the food you're eating. We definitely couldn't have been able to grow on this much more space, and keep the weeds in check without their help this season. We're hoping to get away sometime this winter and go visit them both in Florida, and check out Rich's farm, EarthPerks Farm, and see how things grow in Florida!

This week's shares are as follows:

Small: oregano, cucumbers, sweet onions, summer squash, tomatoes (heirloom, or cherry) blueberries and garlic

Regular: all the contents of the small share but in larger quantities and eggplant, and hot peppers


We're hoping, even with the lack of cilantro (one of the direct seeded crops that didn't do well, which was replanted, and just popping up now) you can use some of your veggies to make a fresh summer salsa this week.

I made a quick off the cuff dish last night that was a big hit and used many of this week's veggies that perhaps you might give a try. I grilled some sausage, along with some peppers and onions.  Sauteed some summer squash, eggplant, garlic and oregano together and added it all to some pasta with a jar of Alfredo sauce with some extra cheeses, and everyone loved it, even those who claimed they "don't like eggplant".  We are pretty excited about the eggplant this season, it is one crop that just has not done well for us in the past, but this year they are producing quite nicely, despite the early attacks of flea and potato beetles. We choose varieties that are smaller because they take less time to ripen, and who really needs a 4lb eggplant anyway?

A reminder that there are still pickling cucumbers available by the 1/2 bushel for special order as well as other great products we are offering on the online store. Get them while they're still there, the plants look like they've done their time and are tapering off. Next week will probably the last week they're available, and then we'll be onto paste tomatoes for bulk orders. 

We hope everyone enjoys their shares this week. Happy 1/2 way through the CSA week!

   It was another beautiful, hot week on the farm with another light rain on Monday, which mostly served to wash away the dust rather than water crops. We reseeded a bunch of our fall crops in the field that didn't germinate well in earlier seedings (such as turnips, watermelon radishes and beets) due to lack of adequate soil moisture. We figured out a simplified way to run our drip irrigation right along the newly seeded beds to get them watered in right away, and are seeing success with good germination now. It might be hard to think of fall with such a nice hot summer we're having, but we are always thinking ahead, and are pleased to see so many of our fall crops thriving. These cold hardy and storage crops will hold into the winter months  and for our fall shares. If you are interested in the fall share, there are still shares available. 

We also have pickling cucumbers for sale b y the 1/2 bushel on our online store to be delivered with your CSA share, and just started picking our paste tomatoes and heirloom slicers, and likely will be offering them bulk as they come on more.

Some of of might be thinking that you have more than enough veggies and why would I order more?! If you're feeling overwhelmed with the abundance, consider preserving some of the crops to enjoy when the weather turns colder. Freezing is a simpler way of preserving your veggies than canning (and much more forgiving in the heat.)

We are in a hiatus on lettuce for the next couple weeks, which we know some of you might be relieved to see, and others might not. But that doesn't mean you can't enjoy a summer salad with your veggies. here are a couple recipe ideas for simple cold salads using this week's harvest. Cucumber fennel salad, Tomato basil salad,
and a sweet bread and butter pickle recipe to make use of of all those cucumbers (you can also try using the summer squash to make these as well!)

This week's share contents are as follows:

Small Shares: Pickling and slicing cucumbers, sweet onions, summer squash, sweet peppers, fennel, basil, and fresh carrots.

​Regular shares: Same as small shares, but larger quantities and minus the sweet peppers, with heirloom tomatoes, broccoli, and swiss chard in addition.

We hope everyone is enjoying their veggies. We are almost 1/2 way through the summer season already and expect to see many more tomatoes, peppers eggplant and a beautiful onion harvest in the coming weeks.

    Yesterday we got the first remotely substantial rainfall since early June, all 1/10th of an inch of it.  While the rain cooled things off it  and washed the dust away, it did little to water crops. We connected to municipal water last week and now have drip irrigation lines run in sections all over the farm.  Many of our direct seeded fall crops have been reseeded with water on them and we watched the thirsty soil drink it up.  We have been amazed at how well things were growing with so little water, so now that we have it, we expect some many more months of beautiful yields. So many of our neighbors are hauling water to fill wells, and many other farmers we know are running dry without access to alternatives. While we have a sound, reliable supply of water, we still hope for a good rain for all our fellow farmers in this drought. 

   The summer season is full swing with so many crops coming in we had a hard time deciding which to pick for shares this week, and decided not to buy in blueberries from Grindstone. (Grindstone's blueberry u-pick is open for the season, mon-fri. Please call 315-298-4139 for details)  We are taking a break on some of the greens and started picking peppers and sweet onions this week. The cherry tomatoes are starting to come on, so the heirloom slicers and paste tomatoes are about 1-2 weeks away. We are swimming in pickling cucumbers and will start offering them by the 1/2 bushel on our online store, so look for them later this week to add to your CSA delivery next week if you'd like some for your own home preserving. 


This week's shares are as follows:

Small: 0.5 Beans (lb)
1 Dandelion Greens (bunch)
1 Garlic (each)
1 Lettuce (head)
1 Onions (Sweet)
1 Pickles (lb)
1 broccoli (bunch)
1 Parsley (bunch)
1 radishes (lb)
1 lb summer squash

Regular: 1 Beets (bunch)
1 (herb) Oregano (bunch)
0.5 Beans (lb)
1 Dandelion Greens (bunch)
1 Cucumbers (lb)
1 Fennel (each)
1 Garlic (each)
1 Lettuce (head)
1 Onions (Sweet)
2 Pickles (lb)
0.25 Peppers (sweet) (lb)
1 radishes (lb)
1 lb summer squash

   Many people have asked if you have to make pickles with the pickling cucumbers, and the answer is no, you can just eat them like any other cucumber. But if you want to make pickles, but don't have the time or know how to can them, you can always make quick refrigerator pickles. Here's a link to a good article for all sorts of quick pickles, from cucumbers to daikon radishes to onions. 

  Other have said they just don't know what to do with that fennel. Here's a recipe for one of our family's favorite ways of preparing it with beets, and the leaves can be used to season sauces, fish  and poultry.
   
   Dandelions greens are usually feared or praised for their bitterness. Did you know the more bitter a  green is generally the healthier it is for you? Convince your taste buds with a sauteed dandelion dish using a bit of fresh oregano and garlic.

We hope everyone enjoys their share this week, and don't forget to share your favorite recipes!

 

 
Another week of "massive storms" all of which missed us altogether, but still put on a good show of lightening, thunder, high winds, and dark broody clouds. We spent a bulk of time in last weeks' sweltering heat lifting our garlic. Luckily with our clayey soils dried they came up without much fuss or even the use of the pitchfork. They aren't as big as last year's fist size garlic, but still beautiful full sized heads, now drying in the greenhouses. 

So many people repeatedly ask me how we're dealing with the drought. In part it's been the wonder of nature- our soils with high clay content and high organic matter  are holding moisture, whether from the last pathetic drizzle, or the morning dew. We haven't be able to irrigate a bulk of our plantings, yet they are thriving and producing. We did invest quite a bit of money into irrigation supplies last week, and will be getting drip tape run and digging lines to hook up to municipal water. Watch, we do that and it rains. After digging the trenches to shed water this spring, I figured Karma would throw at us a dry season, and it did. But all is well, we will be able to shed water in times of rain and heavy snow melt, and now irrigate in time of dryness.  Every season since we started in 2014, I've said of the weather "if we can make it work in this we can make it work in anything" and we have. And we will.  We are officially in a declared state of moderate drought along with much of the wine country in the finger lakes region. 

Don't forget that we have added several items to our online store to be added to your weekly CSA shares. A wise farmer once said that instead of trying to add new customers, one should offer their existing customers more options. That is something we have taken to heart, and what better way of doing so than working with our neighbors and friends of the farm to offer more locally produced incredible edibles to their tables? Working smarter not harder sometimes means working with others, and helping each other grow. 

This week's CSA shares:

Small:  Lettuce, swiss chard, fennel, pickling cucumbers, summer squash and 1/2 pint of Grindstone blueberries

Regular: Lettuce, kale (dino or red russian) pickling cucumbers, mustard greens, peas, green beans, 1 pint of Grindstone blueberries and summer squash.

Summer Squash is term that all summer squash falls under- zucchini, patty pan (or scallop squash) yellow squash etc. When we pick, we try to rotate a variety of squashes into your shares. All of these squashes are interchangeable in recipes, and generally have the same flavor and texture (just not color or shape.)  We grilled some tossed in pesto on the grill the other night until just tender, added a bit of Parmesan cheese and served over some pasta. Simple and didn't heat the house up using the oven.

A friend of mine who teaches cooking classes in Connecticut shared this recipe idea shared this recipe which i'd like to try using the greens, which I would like to try. Crustless Greek Pie. The recipe calls for swiss chard, but kale can be used instead. 

CSA members (or market customers too) as encouraged to share recipes here in the comments section or on our facebook page, Also share pictures of your shares. If you love your CSA, let everyone know!  We will be running a promotion from July until September. Share a recipe or a picture celebrating you CSA on our facebook page and we will pick one member each month to receive a $5 credit towards products on our online store, or farmer's market booths. 

(By the way, the newest fad- Pokemon Go -there is a Poke-stop across the street from the farm at McClelland Cemetery, (named after the man who built our farm) and also Middle age Brewery is Poke Gym.  We will be getting a small farm stand set up here now that we are getting into more crops that can sit out, so stop and support your local farms as you adventure in the virtual world.)

    For all the rain forecasted and the massive storms that hit the NE this past weekend we saw less than a 1/4 inch of rain here at the farm. We actually had to haul water in to top off the wells so we could irrigate and wash veggies, and ourselves; cook dinner wash dishes, laundry  etc.  An unexpected but necessary cost of production. We do count our blessings that we have neighbors willing to share and help out with 1000 gallon cisterns and that we live in such a water rich area that we can do this when the need arises. While the rain may not fall where we want it, we are surrounded by a goldmine of water resources here in CNY. We invested in a backhoe this spring to terraform and dig trenches after the last two years here on our property, knowing that the heavy clay soils hold water, making it difficult to till in the spring, and plant. Now we may be using it to dig an irrigation pond! As frustrating as it may seem, that is one of the best parts about what we do; HAVING to be so in tune with the land we work to be prepared for anything mother nature throws at us. And we thank all our CSA members on joining us for that adventure!

   While it may not have seemed much to us, the little rain was the world to many of our crops who really started coming on this week. So, moving on from greens to more summer produce.

Small shares: 2 lettuce, 1 head fresh garlic, summer squash (yellow crookneck, koosa, or zucchini) kale, snow peas and genovese basil

Regular shares: 2 lettcue, 1 head fresh garlic, summer squash (yellow crookneck, koosa, or zucchini) kale, snow peas, genovese basil, pickling cucumbers ( & broccoli for all regular shares who did not get it last week) and fennel 


Fennel may be a new veggie to many of you. It has a distinct licorice/ anise  flavor that sweetens when it's cooked. It is in the same family as carrots and parsley, and has been a staple of Mediterranean cuisine for centuries. It compliments fish and other seafood well, but we prefer it roasted with copiuos amounts of garlic in our house (as roasting brings out it's sweetness.) A good source of vit C, potassium and folate, we hope you find a great way to enjoy this seasonal veggie. Here is a link to a recipe for the fennel and peas, but we hope you have fun and find some more recipe ideas, as this is the first but not the last of the fennel bulbs for the season.

We know some of you may be "kaled out" as it has been in shares every week. Some of you may be thinking "keep it coming, I love it!". Kale is a great crop as it just keeps growing- where other crops need to be reseeded or seeded once hoping for the best weather conditions so long as we can keep the deer and the bugs out, it thrives no matter what. Last year however, the deer and the woodchucks kept our kale minimal and sparse. We are excited at how well the kale is doing this season with bunches the size of the totes. If you are kaled out, why not try some kale bail pesto, and freeze it for later use? It might  seem like a lot now, but come the dead of a CNY winter, you might be thanking your lucky stars for that jar in the fridge and that fresh taste of summer as the snow flies! Pestos are great served over pasta, or lightly grilled summer squash, or even raw and cold over some "zoodles" on a hot day. 

Speaking of the freshness of summer preserved, we are happy to announce that we have finally added some products to our website for CSA members to add on to their CSA shares.  So far we've added some of BackDrop Organics coffees, The little Tea Cart's teas, and Lake Bluff Bee Farm's 1lb jars of spring honey. Next up will be Flying Oppossume Farm's free ranged non gmo fed whole chickens, and Summertime Natural Food's frozen pestos. You can get to the online store by signing into your account and on the left will be a shop option, where you will find the products and prices. As we get picking there will be more options in the produce section, in the way of beans, tomatoes, garlic and pickling cucumbers for you own preserving. We will update in the newsletter as these items become available, and offer to our CSA members first.

We hope everyone enjoys this week's shares with some new items and can beat the heat over the next few days. A rain dance is still requested for our neck of the woods too, so dance your crazy hearts out to the rain gods!

  

      We hope everyone enjoyed their holiday weekend. Our 4th included harvesting, weeding, and emptying both of our wells irrigating. (We did get some family fun and fireworks mixed in, so it wasn't all work.) This season has brought most of the state of NY to a rating of abnormally dry to moderate drought according to the weather man, but we don't need the weather man to know how dry it has been. I don't recall such a dry hot  summer since 2012.  But looking at all the flooding that's been going on all over the country so far this summer, we count our blessings. And we've been lucky to have gotten some of the little rain that's passed over some of our other fellow farmers. We also have some really good soils with lots of organic matter and high clay content that has held that little bit of moisture. The good part about all this dryness is good for really killing the weeds, compared to last year when it seemed like it rained almost every day of June, making weeding a futile endeavor. And the heat is favoring the sweet potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. There is rain in the forecast for Thursday, so we ask that everyone do a little rain dance for us this week!

   Last week we welcomed a new farm hand to the farm. His name is Rich is and he is a farmer from Florida, who owns Earthperks Farm, a small organic  farm in Southern Florida. We are excited to exchange knowledge and share the workload with him while he's here over the next few weeks in his down season. He even brought us some eggplant, while our's here is just beginning to blossom. 


   Many crops are loving this heat,  such as the melons, cucumbers, and tomatoes; they are wanting for more water, but otherwise putting their roots nice and deep sucking up nutrients and moisture. Other crops such as lettuce wants to bolt (flower) in this heat, so everyone will be getting two heads in this week's shares.  We started harvesting summer squash and broccoli this week, and while there won't enough for everyone this week, it looks like there will for next week.  

  We will be adding extras to the website this week for folks to place orders by Thursday, for the coffee from Backdrop Organics, organic teas from the Little Tea Cart, and pastured whole chickens from Flying Opossumme Farm. It doesn't take much more than finding the time in the office over the fields to get to, and I will be making time so that you all have the chance to try some of these great products from local producers. 

This week's shares are as follows:

Small Shares: 2 lettuces, Kale, garlic scapes, radishes
Regular Shares: 2 lettuce, garlic scapes, radishes, dandelion greens, swiss chard, and broccoli or summer squash

   

    As stated earlier in the first newsletter, this week started out very hectic and we did not have  the time to get to the newsletter until now, Wed morning before the market. 

  We got a good rain, which the plants all needed but set us back on the harvest Monday. The kids are done with school, so there's been all that running around, and we were readying some guest accommodations for an organic  farmer from Florida who will be staying with us for a couple weeks  to do some work, and hopefully learn from one another. So it started out a busier week than usual. We will be back on track next Monday evening with the newsletters. 

  This was a week of many greens, and I'm sure many of you might be wondering what some of them are. 

This week's shares are as follows:

Small: mustard greens, kale, lettuce, garlic scapes, chives

Regular: mustard greens, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, arugula, dandelion greens, braising  mix, lettuce, garlic scapes and mixed Italian herbs.

It's looking like we will have summer squash for everyone by next week, more radishes and broccoli as well.

I will post some recipe ideas later today after the market, so in the meantime I hope everyone can find some recipes they like.  We will also be adding a few items for special order on the website in the next couple days. We will be sending out an email to members explaining how to utilize the online store shortly once  we've gotten it updated.

      Summer is officially here and came in with a hot sunny day perfect for cultivating and sidedressing plants with fertilizer and ended with a lovely summer storm to water it all in. 

    While we still don't see buds on the peas (which were replanted later than usual due to poor germination in the early spring) the cucumbers and summer squash are blooming like crazy. Growing vegetables all these years you sort of get used to patterns and this season is breaking lots of pre-established rules. Summer squash before peas? But we learn to go with the flow and take whatever mother nature throws at us; the good and the bad.

   I addition to our close relationship with the weather, we also like to build and maintain close relationships with our local businesses. So, that being said, we are happy to announce that we will be working with Backdrop Organics  to offer their products to our CSA members.  We will be getting their products on our online store soon for members to order to be added to their shares, but in the meantime you can also order directly through them. They will need your order by Thursdays to be delivered in your following week's shares. Their commitment to tasty organic food shows in their products. So take a moment to check out their offerings of fair trade organic coffee, non gmo popcorn and their divine hot cocoa mix.  (Their Jamaica Me Crazy coffee is to die for and gets us up an running on early mornings here on the farm) While we are working on offering some more products (such as organic teas, maple syrup and honey) to be added to shares from some of our friends' small food businesses, this is the first official agreement and we are excited to be working with Katie and Andrew and to share their awesome products with you!

   This week's share contents: 

Small Shares: lettuce, garlic scapes, radishes, kale, parsley, (and strawberries we'll start rotating through by drop site, as  we won't have enough this week for everyone.)

Regular Shares: lettuce, garlic scapes, asparagus, kale, radishes, swiss chard, parsley and mizuna for Tuesday pickup and mustard greens for the remainder of the week's members.


While we were a bit disappointed with the yield of the strawberries this first season picking them, we hope regular share members  enjoyed them last week. It seems they came on, and peaked all in one week. We had planned on offering u-pick to members but that wouldn't be worth your's or our time. If you're looking for someplace to pick organic berries for freezing or making jam, we recommend Greyrock Farm, who if offering upick during their farm store hours. 

The first 4 weeks of the CSA it has been a lot of greens and we hope everyone has learned to love them. A lot of people ask us at the markets why we don't have tomatoes and cucumbers, or zucchini or beans yet. The answer is quite simply; they are not in season. But rest assured they will be before you know it. Being a CSA member keeps you in the loop of the seasonality of the crops grown here in NY, not shipped in from out of state or out of the country. Before the days of global food trade and hybrids bred to ship and have a longer shelf life (albeit loosing much in flavor) this is how everyone ate. While the tomatoes are starting to set fruit, we patiently wait for them to ripen. The carrots are burrowing their long tap roots deeper and deeper for moisture in their beds. Bees buzz the cucumber flowers, pollinating. Pepper flowers open with their white blossoms. We watch it all grow and develop, watch for pests and deficiencies. And soon there will be more than greens in shares. 

But in the meantime, here are some links for some great recipes to get more out your greens, both old favorites and new to you tastes. Mizuna, Mustard Greens, Garlic Scapes Kale, Parsley


​We hope everyone enjoys week four of their Summer share.