Farm
to Folk Newsletter August 26, 2008
“A little extra info from the farms
to the folks”
website: www.farmtofolk.com
Buy Fresh Buy Local Weekly newsletter: http://www.drake.edu/news/dbletter/buyfreshbuylocal/Denise O'Brien is taking orders
for turkeys to be delivered to
November.
" Larry and I have been
raising turkeys for over twenty years and our customers have always been
satisfied with the quality of the birds we raise. There is nothing better than
a fresh turkey for the Thanksgiving table!
Our turkeys are raised in a large
house and spend the daytime outdoors. This building has been on the farm and
historically has been the "chicken house" for over fifty years. It is
well insulated and has excellent cross ventilation. The outside area is a large
pen. As the turkeys grow we let them free range over five acres.
Giant White Turkey is the breed. I
will be doing a limited number of heirloom birds, Bourbon Reds. Please indicate
if you wish an heirloom bird. They will be smaller birds.
The white turkeys are $3.50 per
pound delivered. The heirlooms are $4.00
per pound.
Nick Wallace – offering beef by the quarter –
email directly to him
"We have had many requests from
our customers over the years for options to purchase larger quantities of
beef. Attached to this email is the 1/4
beef option that is now available to those interested. Prepayment is required in order to help me forecast
how many beef to schedule and to help pay with upfront costs to the producer
and processor.
These orders will be filled in the
middle to late part of October......most of our cattle will be finished in
early in October.
If you have any questions please let
me know......I hope that this option helps those who are looking to fill their
chest freezer for the winter."
Berry Patch: Now harvesting red currants, blueberries,
apples, blackberries, red raspberries.
Notice
change in pick your own hours for August : Wednesday and Saturday mornings 8 -
Full Circle Farm: will not deliver this week but will accept
pre-orders for Sept. 2.
Grains
of Wisdom Breads – will deliver bread this week. Pre-order or take your
chances with first come-first served.
Meet the Members
Many of our members find us
through word-of-mouth referrals. However, Lauren Monahan found us by picking up
a brochure that had been placed at Ames Racquet and Fitness. It pays to
advertise! New to
Iowa
Hi everyone!
Cool evenings and talk around the
dinner table centering upon the day's happenings
at school and the impending football season.....Fall is
definitely not too far off... and I for one am ready. I always
look forward to the end of another season after those hot August days where you
wilt in the shade but then once they are finally here I'm a bit more
apprehensive. The change is good but also there's something to be said for
routine.....It takes me all Winter to resolve this and by then enthusiasm makes
it almost unbearable for Spring to come so one can get out and feel the dirt in
one's hand, sow some seeds and finally to see the 'green' replace the mud and
snow of the recent past. I'm probably jumping the gun a bit but today
"feels' like Fall, a nice change but it needs to remain aloof for a number
of weeks yet.
Weeds, unfortunately, are always another sign of the impending
Fall's
approach. This time of year we don't worry about the weeds other
than to keep them mowed so as to not produce additional seed for future years.
Weed seed is very resilient. On my way to Ames last Tuesday all the ponds that never
dried out soon enough for replanting are now flush with pig weed
(amaranth)...... somewhat surprising considering the amount of chemicals that
are poured onto the Earth over the years and even this year. Though given a
window of opportunity they flourish..... without constant attention our 'footprints'
would soon vanish.
Perhaps I'm feeling a bit more philosophical today than normal
but in
addition to the daily routines around here we've been investigating the farm lease- a
long and arduous task when one side needs to feel a connection or community and
the other thinks money can resolve all issues. BUT then from the time we moved
here 18 years ago we knew we'd be viewed as 'different" and in some
respects I've rather enjoyed that and even played it up from time to time....
always trying to grow something unusual close to the road for those who brake as they drive by. My Winter coffee
buddy reports back from time to time as some crops seem to garner more inquisitiveness at the local cafe
than others..... The best was probably simply the kale as when you harvest it
you leave the 'crown" and strip the lower leaves . After several times of
doing this over the course of a season you have rows of "miniature palm
trees" according to some of the locals.
this week we will be bringing:
hopefully
tomatoes( they are very slow to ripen this year)
Cherry
toms for those that didn't receive them last week
zucchini/summer
squash
salad
mix
green
beans
onions
carrots
cukes
bell
peppers
The cool weather of recent days has been welcomed by the new
plantings as well. Radishes are rowable now as is the latest planting of
lettuce. Spinach is just germinating and breaking the surface as well as some
of the oriental greens.
Nick's intra-squad football scrimmage- followed by weekly Friday
night "go hawks" chants....
Enjoy the weekend,
Bruce
Small Potatoes Farm
Hello
Everyone,
Deliveries
We will be bringing beets, potatoes ('
If you find you have more carrots, squash
or beets than you can use up, remember a topped beet or carrot will last many
weeks in the fridge in an airtight container. For all these vegetables, we make
soup or soup bases from them and freeze them for the winter.
Remember, for the potatoes, don't wash
them until you are ready to eat them and don't put you tomatoes in the fridge.
Greens
Share will be lacinato kale and mustard greens. I had hoped to bring chard,
but there has been an unfortunate deer incident. These events put me in a
murderous mood and turn my thoughts toward butterflied deer loins with baked potatoes
and whole roasted carrots.
Happenings
This weekend is our annual pilgrimage to
my parents for the Wapsie Catfish Jamboree. Meaning we have been especially
busy to overcome my anxiety of not being on the farm for a day and a half in
the middle of the summer. Its Tillie's debut, though, and we haven't missed it
since it was conceived ten years ago. The main activities include a fishing
tournament (catfish only) with a $1 entry fee, trapshooting, horseshoes,
potluck/fish fry and fireworks of questionable legality. If you are a
burgeoning sociologist, you may want to join us for enough material to write a
journal article.
Aphids populations are exploding across
the state, including here at the farm. The worst effected crop seems to be
cucumber, but I've seen large populations in squash and potatoes. Our willow
trees are harboring great quantities of very large black aphids, which have
attracted many other insects, particularly wasps.
We've been weeding and hoeing. I've been
moving water around to emerging plants to give them a fair start. Although I
don't mention it often, harvesting takes a lot of time this time of the year.
We are probably up to 50-60 person hours of harvest and cleaning, packaging,
sorting and delivering. And, as crops come out, cover crops need to go in. The
onion/garlic field was planted to Austrian field peas and winter cereal rye
last night.
In the
Kitchen (by Stacy)
Squash is plentiful these days so we've
been eating a lot of it. This week I made
a white/cream sauce which we put over pasta with lightly stir fried squash,
onion and garlic. Here is the recipe for
the sauce:
-melt 2 Tbs butter in saucepan
-add 2 Tbs flour and mix well
-add 1 Cup warm milk and stir constantly
until it begins to boil
-reduce heat and let simmer for a few
minutes, stirring regularly as it thickens
-add 1/3 cup cream, stir
-add pepper, salt, a pinch of nutmeg and
cayenne pepper
I sauteed the onion in 2 Tbs olive oil
and 1Tb butter, then added squash and finally 3 cloves of garlic. Don't overcook. Tomatoes and parsley made a nice addition.
Coffee
If you order coffee with us regularly,
you know it is hit and miss on getting it on time. Its usually not because its
shipped too late to arrive, but that it arrives just in time with the wrong
amount or type of coffees. Fortunately, JustCoffee has been good about direct
shipping the missing coffee to our houses. They really screwed up last months
order. I complained and asked for an explanation. They said our orders were so
small they didn't have time to carefully fill them. We decided to not bulk
order coffee anymore. We really don't feel well about their poor attention to
detail being associated with us. Their coffee and politics are good, too bad
their shipping department isn't.
You can
order direct from them if you want.
What Stacy's Mom is Doing
Stacy's mom is on a perpetual quest to
find a new condo. She's been looking for
at least 3 years and is a regular on the open house circuit, repeatedly touring
the same expensive, multilevel condos near the
Most Notable Events - Good News
The plan had been approved by the DNR,
but the Environmental Protection Commission still denied the permit. Dallas and
Polk county residents had argued against building the 15,000 animal facility.
Have a
great week,
Rick, Stacy
and Tillie
Recipes
Roasted
Tomato Basil soup – off the internet, submitted by Marilyn
3# plum
tomatoes (I used a mix of the tomatoes I had from the garden)
1/4 olive
oil
1T kosher
salt (I used 2t)
1-1/2 t
black pepper
2 c yellow
onions
6 cloves
garlic
2T olive
oil
2T butter
1/4 t red
pepper flakes (I used a little extra)
28 oz can
tomatoes in juice
4 c fresh
basil leaves
1 t thyme
1 qt
chicken stock (I used vegetable stock)
Cut tomatoes
in half or quarters, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and place in a single
layer in baking dish. Roast at 400
degrees for 45 minutes.
Saute
onions and garlic in oil and butter. Add
garlic after onions are almost tender.
Add 1-28 oz
can of tomatoes in juice, chopped basil leaves, thyme, red pepper flakes,
chicken stock (vegetable broth) and the
roasted tomatoes with all the liquid from the roasting pan. Bring to boil then simmer 40 minutes. Recipe calls for putting it through a food
mill, but I pureed part of it and left some of it chunky. It is good hot or cold.
1 cup
lentils, picked over and rinsed
5 cups
water
1 bay leaf
1 celery
rib, finely diced
1 carrot,
minced
1/4 cup
finely diced red onion
2
tablespoons minced fresh parsley
1/4 cup
fruity olive oil
2
tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 garlic
clove, pressed or minced
1/4
teaspoon dried thyme
1/4
teaspoon ground cumin
salt to
taste
freshly
ground black pepper to taste
In a medium
saucepan, combine the lentils, water, and bay leaf. Bring
to a boil
and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes, or until the lentils are
tender but
still crunchy. Stir occasionally. Pour into a colander and
discard the
bay leaf. Drain the lentils very well,
and let them sit 5
minutes or
so to be certain all the water has drained out.
Place the
lentils in a serving bowl and gently stir in the celery,
carrot,
onion, and parsley.
Mix
together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, cumin, salt, and
pepper. Pour onto the lentil mixture, and carefully
toss. Serve at
room
temperature.
Jeanne
Lemlin's Quick Vegetarian Pleasures