Week One! 2010 CSA Season Begins!

Beet green bunches~ spinach bunches~ salad mix~ garlic scapes~radish bunches

Welcome to your vegetables, Village Farm CSA Members!

I grew up eating beet greens, steamed for 10 minutes with a pad of butter, squeeze of fresh lemon juice, salt and pepper. That is still my favorite way to eat not only beet greens but most vegetables, actually. Beet greens can be enjoyed, roots to leaves. Give them a scrub to remove any bits of earth that we missed, steam them , saute them or add them to a risotto, soup or even a stir fry. They are overflowing with Vitamins A and K and other good for us nutrients in their most natural and absorbable form--fresh food!!

Spinach bunches and salad mix are self-explanatory but the radishes we will recommend with a touch of vinegar and salt. Somehow that cuts the hot and spicy radish flavor that is exciting but a little much for some people (like myself).

Garlic scapes are the flower buds of garlic plants. The bulbs grow under ground and the leaves fan out above in a symmetrical array. At this time of year, the plants produce a flower bud that goes straight up from the leaves and then starts doing a lovely loop-de-loop. We snip these flower buds and they are mildly garlic-y in flavor and so artistic in their form. They can be chopped by hand or in a food processor and used as your would garlic. They can also be sauteed whole until tender and served as a side vegetable. I have not tried it but have heard that they are great on the grill: baste with a bit of oil and roast them up! A friend brought a garlic scape pesto that we all devoured. I do not have a recipe but I am guessing that it was pine nuts or walnuts, garlic scapes, olive oil, salt and parmesan cheese blended until smooth in a food processor.

Our "Resources" page of our website has links to several websites we like for identifying and enjoying many vegetables that we produce. I often use them myself for inspiration for farm lunches.

Next week: (Always a bit of a guessing game...) Peas? Cilantro, salad turnips, head lettuce, salad greens again. . .and more I am sure. Things are looking so good out there.

Please come and visit anytime!

And mark your calendars with the following dates:

Farm Project Parties--a great way to see the farm, visit and lend a hand on whatever is going on around here.

July 10 -- 9-11 am with a lunch provided

August 21-- 9-11 am with a lunch provided

October 9 --9-11 am with a lunch provided

Evening Potlucks--Walking Farm Tour with a potluck dinner on the porch.

August 17th 5pm

October 5th 5 pm

All the best from one and all,

The Village Farmers

First CSA Distributions Next Week!

Planting continues here on the Village Farm. We installed some horizontal trellising for the zinnias this week which is looking pretty snazzy. (First picture below). The last of the nursery stock was planted. (Second picture below) These beauties are Cornus Rugosa, a native dogwood that I am so excited to watch grow. We grow about 3000 or so trees and shrubs each year and dig about half of that number in the fall to sell to FEDCO Trees of Waterville. The nursery is one of the many enterprises here that all add up to a biologically diverse farm, varied work through out the seasons and cashflow through out the seasons. Importantly, we find it fun to have different crops and are constantly noodling over how they and we fit together here.

The last of the peppers and eggplants were planted into black plastic mulch. We try to use as little of this "stuff" as possible but for the heat loving crops, it really makes a huge difference in vigor, yield and earliness. The field tomatoes (there are hundreds more in a hoophouse/hothouse) behind Andy are mulched with oat straw and will be trellised up the fencing. Most of these tomatoes are cherries and pastes.

Last fall, our wettest field was chisel plowed and then planted to rye and vetch. The rye is now flowering and will soon form viable seed--and lots of it. Andy is bushhogging it with the deck of the bushhog set high so that the rye will be mowed down but the vetch will be clipped and continue growing. Vetch is a legume and so gifts the farm soils with atmospheric nitrogen caught or "fixed" and then deposited into the soil.

Below is a snapshot of what can be harvested in about two minutes--a harvest for my parents. They came to visit and play with the children and so received their reward. Cilantro, beet greens and spinach. CSA members will also receive mesclun mix, radishes and salad turnips next week. And of course, whatever else is ready!

( I have no idea how the following got underlined, nor do I know how to Un-underline it!! The mysteries of this blog program!!)

We are looking forward to first CSA distributions next week;

Monday, June 21, 4-6p.m. Belfast at the UU Church

Tuesday June 22, 4-6 p.m. at the Farm in Freedom

Friday June 25, 4 -6 p.m. Rockport at Farmers Fare

As always, please be in touch with any questions.

Best wishes to all from your

Village Farmers

VF seedling sale days

If you still need a few seedlings or a whole garden's worth of seedlings, come over to Freedom for herbs, vegetables, and lots of flowers.

We have got winter squash, summer squash, melons, cukes, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, basil, parsley, and dozens of flower varieties, just to name a few.

We will be open for seedling sales

Friday, June 4, 7 am to 5 pm

Saturday June 5, 7 am to 12 noon

Friday, June 11, 7 am to 5 pm

Saturday, June 12, 7 am to 12 noon.

Email us if you would like an availability list or need directions or have questions.

Hope to see you!