Summer is in swing... the old haying equipment: mower, tedder, and loose hay loader are whirring in the fields behind a steady team of horses, followed by the quiet pitchforks of a hard-working crew and the constant chatter of Ruth as she leaps into the piles. Included in the photo above is Paul, a retired train engineer who, lucky for us, has a fascination with old horse equipment. He has spent many afternoons this summer pouring over our horse books and tinkering with the mower in preparation for these long-awaited sunny days. Much work has been done since this photo; the pole barn is now about half-full of hay.
The crops continue to thrive, and we are thrilled to finally offer a bit more diversity in the CSA share as well as on our kitchen table. However, we're all still feeling the inpact of the rains, as we should also have cucumbers, beans, and cabbage for you this time of the season. We planted the cucumbers and beans at The Morris Farm, usually a great spot for mid-summer crops. But not this year! Our first two plantings of beans rotted in the ground, as did the first cukes. These soils are simply too heavy for a rainy season. A friend of ours and fellow CSA farmer came for a visit and a little advice this past week. He also leases a farm, and the majority of the soils on that farm are the same as The Morris Farm's. After this season, he is considering moving to find lighter soils elsewhere. At least we are not alone in the frustrations of this season! Another frustration we are not alone in is the disaster of late blight descending on the northeast. The stories of farmers loosing their entire potato and tomato crops have been all over the news. We thought for awhile that we had avoided the devastation, but now it seems like our plants, too, are being brought down by it, and we may not be able to glean any tomatoes for the CSA shares. We are so sad... what is summer without tomatoes? Last season our CSA members were enjoying (or becoming overwhelmed with) 4 lbs. of tomatoes a week, our canning pots were bubbling into the night preserving tomato sauce and salsa, and our winter CSA freezer was brimming with bags of frozen paste tomatoes. The only farmers we know that are harvesting any tomatoes have the plants in hoop houses where they are regularly spraying copper. Farmers with plants out in the fields are not having any luck fighting the disease. We will do what we can to coax our plants along, and will keep you posted. Without efficient, but expensive, power spray equipment, we have not been willing to spend the excessive hours spraying copper, which is toxic to humans and many critters, with a hand pump backpack sprayer. Jeff tried homeopathy, a modality that has worked with our family and livestock, spraying the remedy Alium Cepa one time as recommended by a book he purchased. It was probably too little to late and has shown no positive response. At some point you have to let the past go and focus positive energy on the future. Jeff and Kate are doing a great job keeping the crops weeded, and they just planted the last seedlings from the greenhouse into the field: chard, arugula, and spinach. They also seeded spinach, lettuce mix, mustard greens, radishes, and salad turnips for cold weather fall harvests.
Also in
the good news department is the simple celebration of our seventh wedding anniversary, which happened to be on the last CSA pick-up - Aug. 18th. Our unborn baby is growing rapidly and kicking like a farmer itching to plow on a snowy spring day. Our new house is growing rapidly, too. What amazing carpenters we've found (Emerald Builders of Bowdoinham)! Since these photos were taken, they have boarded in the house and framed the upstairs interior walls. I wanted to share these photos with you so you could see the beauty and structure of the timber frame.
Your Farmers,
Jeff & Amy
August 18 CSA share:
- new potatoes
- summer onions
- summer squash
- head lettuce
- basil
- romaine leaf lettuce
- carrots
- radishes
- kale (see recipe for Kale Chips below if your bunch of kale still sits idle in your fridge)
- cilantro
- head lettuce
- carrots
- new potatoes
- chard
- green peppers
- summer squash
- summer onions
Lovin’ Carrot Cake
From Amy's Aunt Sheryl and Mother Thyle ~ Makes two 9 inch layers
1 1/2 cup sugarFrom Amy's Aunt Sheryl and Mother Thyle ~ Makes two 9 inch layers
7/8 cup canola or sunflower oil
4 small/medium eggs (room temperature)
2 cups flour (all-purpose white)
1 2/3 tsp. baking soda
1 T cinnamon
13 1/3 oz. carrots (about 3 1/3 cups)
5 1/3 oz. chopped nuts (optional)
1. Pre-heat oven to 325.
2. Beat the sugar, oil, and eggs for about 2 minutes on medium speed
3. Mix the flour, baking soda and cinnamon in a separate bowl
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and beat for about 1 minute
5. Beat in the carrots and optional nuts
6. Pour batter into 2 greased 9 inch round cake pans
7. Bake at 325 for 40-45 minutes
Frosting: you can find my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe on the inside of an Organic Vally Cream Cheese package.
Baked Kale Chips
* 1 bunch kale* 1 tablespoon olive oil (or more; enough to coat all leaves)
* 1 teaspoon seasoned salt
1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Wash and thoroughly dry kale and rip or cut into large bite size pieces (the pieces will shrink during baking.) Drizzle kale with olive oil (toss in bowl to coat leaves) and sprinkle with seasoning salt (and other spices/seasonings if desired).
3. Spread kale out in a single layer on a baking sheet.
4. Bake until the edges brown but are not burnt, 10 to 15 minutes. Toss once mid-way through baking to brown and crisp both sides.
Topher and I had a great talk with Paul about the mower he was working on earlier this summer. He really knows his stuff. You're luck to have found him. or have him find you.
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