CSA week #7

This little guy belongs to our friends, but he was too cute for me not to share him!!

Farming in the winter? In Ohio?

While it may sound crazy, farming in the winter time is definitely possible if you prepare yourself. There are many crops that can tolerate cold temperatures, and with proper storage, you can have veggies long after summer is over. Here are some things we do.
First off, you need to start seeds now for the stuff that needs to be started inside. This includes broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, brusselsprouts, etc. You can either place them in your window or start them outside since it is now summer and warm. If you want to know exactly when you should plant, add ten days to the length stated on the package, and count backwards from our last frost date which will usually be the first weekend in October (e.g. the variety of broccoli that we have takes 58 days, so add 10 to make 68 and count backwards to July 26th).

There are also things that you can direct seed outside that you need not worry about until a little later in the summer. Things like lettuces, salad greens, radishes, carrots, or other root crops. The trick is to plant them so they have long enough to grow to maturity. Then, the cold weather becomes like free refrigeration for them.

Some crops can just store in the ground while others need to be stored in a root cellar. This is what people did in the olden days to store things like potatoes and onions, although there are other things that tolerate this method of storage. This way, once they are cured, they are stored in a cool, dark place without the moisture that you would get of storing things in the soil.
This idea is not new to farming, but more people are experimenting with it again lately. Eliot Coleman, who is a fabulous farmer, has figured a lot of this stuff out. Any of his books will give you more information on it and he’s easy to read. They are usually available through your local public library.

What’s included this week?
1. Carrots
2. Lemon basil- great in Italian or with chicken
3. Onions- finally, big onions!
4. Green Beans- from Paige’s Produce since ours got devoured by the deer
5. Hybrid tomatoes- your typical red, round tomato
6. Swiss chard- same instructions as previous weeks

Recipe of the Week

Simple Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes (the whole quart)
Basil (1/2- whole bunch)
Onions (1-2)
Garlic (1 elephant clove or 2-3 regular cloves)
Salt and Pepper to taste

It is hard for me to give you exact measurements for this recipe because it all depends on your taste buds. You will need at least an hour to make this sauce, and don’t forget about it and let it burn to the bottom of the pan, it needs lots of stirring. If you don’t mind the tomato skins being in your sauce, you can chop the tomatoes up and put them into a large pot. If you want no skins, you have two options. First, you can put the tomatoes in a blender or food processor to mix them in. Or, you can boil water and put the tomatoes into the water until the skin peels off nicely. Doing it the second way makes this sauce not so simple.

The tomatoes will cook down and the mix will look real watery. Then, they will start to boil off that water until it is thick enough to be sauce. You don’t want to add the other veggies and spices until the tomatoes are done cooking down and starting to reabsorb some of their own juices. You can also add any other veggies to this mix if you like peppers or mushrooms in your sauce. How chopped up you make them just depends on how chunky you want your sauce to be. It’s okay if it turns out different every time, so be creative!

Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

Christmas ham

You may think that this is cruel way to think of these piggies, but they are so cute I have to keep reminding myself of this so I don't get attached. The day they get put on the truck to be processed will definitely be a sad one. But, they will be raised right with brothers and sisters to play with, kitchen scraps to eat, and even a good back scratching every now and then. These are hogs that would have been raised for meat anyways, but now we just know that they have led a happy pig life.

We are raising them on another farmer's property because I don't think that the neighbors would appreciate us doing it here. These pictures are from the first day we got them so they were just settling in. The bigger troughs will be built for their food and water but for now we are just using baby pools. Once they discovered the water, they were really enjoying themselves. They even enjoyed being sprayed off with the hose since it was a hot day.

They should be ready by November- the 1st of the year. If anyone is interested in buying half a pig, a whole pig, or can find friends and family to split one, definitely contact us. We haven't quite calculated the cost yet, but we will have more information once we know what the cost per pig is going to be for us. If you let us know before they are processed then they can be made into sausage, brats, etc. to your liking. Soo-ee!

The biggest wedding yet!

This wedding was definitely our biggest, most important one yet! Everything was white and green, so not my typical style of bouquets. Usually I like bright colors and funky flowers, but this was very elegant. They looked beautiful though and I'm glad that I challenged myself to this. Luckily we were contacted by this bride last year, so we knew that an all white wedding was coming. Lots of planning went into seeds ordered and specific things planted to her liking. The grapevine around the columns was kind of an experiment that we were told held up throughout. The wedding was at East Golf Club in New Albany and it really added to the beauty of the place. To check out more photos from their wedding and see the flowers in action, visit http://mjstudio.zenfolio.com/ and look at Tara and Austin. They look fabulous!

A well deserved rain

Finally we are getting some rain here. Really, we have been waiting for at least a month. It seems that being on the Southeast side of the city, the storms always go right around us. They will get rain in Bexley or Pataskala, but never here. Well, I know the plants definitely are enjoying it and so are we! We actually got some things accomplished inside the house that have been waiting for a rainy day... which has been a long wait! You can see in the picture that we actually got enough to accumulate in the rain gauge. And, although it may look like a dreary day out on the farm, it is actually quite exciting. This means that our well will get a break from watering all day everyday.

We have already broken our well pump this year from making it work too hard, but the well guy said this one would last another 10 years. I guess it will just depend on how dry our summers continue to be. We only have one well for the house and the farm so it is not run out of water. Especially with flowers, they have to go straight into water. Luckily, we have nice neighbors who let us steal some water from them. But, now we shouldn't have to worry about that. YAY!

CSA week #6

Our wedding mania

While we previously thought that July and August couldn’t get any crazier, we started doing weddings. Around this time we are not only planting things for the fall, but are still trying to harvest everything for the market, lilies are coming on strong, trying to keep cleaned up around here, and weddings. Needless to say, we are very busy.
We have been fortunate to have help this year. My friends have come to the rescue when it comes to the day before the wedding, helping me by either going to the market for me, helping in the field, or actually doing some of the arranging. On these days Steve does a lot of field work by himself unless one of us has any down time. Sometimes even long days turn into long nights trying to prepare for our Saturday market as well.
So far, our weddings have been very successful. Brides have been pleased which is the most important thing, with mother of the bride coming next. Although sometimes the mothers don’t always agree with using wildflowers or non-traditional flowers in weddings, they usually end up happy in the end.
Next year we are still wide open, so spread the word. Anytime between the end of June and the beginning of September will be our wedding season. Lilies are available in the month of July and sometimes in the month of August too. If you are interested in looking at pictures, you can check out the ones on our website or on our blog.

www.oursunnymeadows.com
www.oursunnymeadows.blogspot.com

Overall we enjoy the weddings, despite the stress. It allows us to really put ourselves out there and show our product off. It also allows me, Gretel, to express my artistic abilities. It is very therapeutic to know that you worked hard at something and be complimented. Really, that’s what we live for!


What’s included this week?

Your CSA package will include:
1. Scallions- you can eat the green part too!
2. Okra- good fried or in gumbo
3. Cucumbers (see recipe below)
4. Dill
5. Heirloom tomatoes- the different colors bring different flavors- much better than what you get in the grocery store
6. Sweet corn- picked fresh, so eat it soon before the sugars turn to starch… that’s why corn is usually not as sweet in the grocery store (shipping, packing, storing, etc.)

Recipe of the Week

Cucumber Tomato Salad

2 large cucumbers, sliced into chips
1-2 scallions greens included, sliced
2 small tomatoes or 1 large, sliced or chunked, however you prefer
4 sprigs of dill, chopped
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. lemon juice (or you can use balsamic vinegar)
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop up veggies and combine in large bowl. Mix around to start to get the tomato juices flowing. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix it well. The salt brings the juices out of the cucumbers so be generous with it when making the recipe. Just taste it a few times while making it to check, you don’t want it oversalted either! You can either eat right away or store in the fridge for the next day. That way all the flavors and juices have time to meld, but in our house it never lasts that long! It’s a great addition to a barbeque.

Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

Busy, busy weekend

With wedding #3 this weekend, and lots and lots of flowers, we kept ourselves pretty busy. The flowers had to be ready in Newark by 6 am and then the farmer's market setup starts at 7:30. We woke up before the sun, loaded everything for both, and had to have Katie follow us with a third car because with all the stuff we had for the market, not everything fit into the two vehicles we usually have to take. What a good employee, being at work at 5 am on a Saturday morning. I'm sure she thought we were crazy!

Also, we had so many flowers that we sent Katie and Dan to a market in Athens. The flowers went well, as you can see with them working hard selling them. Overall, I would say the lack of sleep was worth it. Everything went really well. And, if the bride's happy then we are happy!

What are those crazy neighbors doing?!?!?

We are a part of a farmer's networking group and the Wall Street Journal contacted the head of the group whoe emailed us this:

Hi SPINners.
A reporter for the Wall Street Journal is interested in knowing what kind of relations do you urban and suburban farmers have with neighbors who live next to your backyard or front lawn plots. Apparently there has been an explosion of farm and garden creation within neighborhoods, and this reporter is doing a story on whether that has created any problems (not surprisingly, I guess, he is looking for negatives.) But if you have any feedback on reaction you are getting, positive or negative, please let me know, and I will pass on your feedback to him.
Thanks.
--Roxanne

And this was my response:

We are on almost 10 acres, although we are still considered an urban farm since we are technically still in the city of Columbus. We do a lot of cut flowers which take up most of our space, so our produce is done on a SPIN model. We use up most of the space we can and have gardens in the front and side yards around the house. At first, I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what we were doing tilling up the whole front yard, but now that we have been operating for a few years, they are all very accepting. They are just glad that something is being done with the property because before it was not taken care of. One neighbor is a science teacher so she enjoys that we have chickens and are contributing to the lan.

The part of town that we live in used to be more farm land before the city expanded, so the older folks that live in the neighborhood feel like it is taking this area back to the way things used to be. And, there is a little retail produce stand up the street that gets to dump their unsold produce on our land for composting. It works out great for us! We are close to the city so we have access to resources that other farmers may not have that live out in the country. There was one older lady next door who wasn't comfortable with the spot where we had the compost pile because she was afraid of rodents, but was understanding. She just asked that we put it further away from her house, but was supportive of us composting.

Also, we are in the process of working out a lease city owned property that is vacant. The program that they have allows properties in rough areas of town to be rented out for farm or garden use. They would rather have something done with the land than have it sit there vacant and unkempt. They will have us pay for the water, but the houses on the property are not using water so it will be easy to keep track of.

It seems like gardening is catching on again though. We are both in our mid-20's so it's encouraging to see that people from different generations are reconnecting through farming. It gives us more of an idea of how things used to be before there were factory corporate farms and before all our food was processed before eating it. And, it seems that older folks enjoy seeing young farmers who are passionate enough about growing fresh, all natural food that they want to till up their whole yard.

So, overall I would say that people may be shocked by it at first, but the more you advocate what you are doing, the more supportive they will be. If you can try to get them to understand the importance of buying locally and eating fresh, then it will be easier to convince them. My advice, just start giving them some of your product so that they can taste the difference themselves. Talk to them when you see them outside, and let them take a bite out of a freshly picked heirloom tomato, give them some flowers, or cook them some farm fresh zucchini bread; then they'll give in!

Gretel Adams
Sunny Meadows Flower Farm
3555 Watkins Road
Columbus, OH 43232
www.oursunnymeadows.com

CSA week #5

Don't throw that away...
That’s Good Compostable Material!

Another part of us doing things organically is our mass composting system. We not only compost everything from our farm, but we have a produce store up the road from us that also dumps all their waste on our property. This relationship is beneficial for both of us.
Instead of throwing kitchen scraps away in the trash, we choose to throw them in the compost pile. This means that it will break down and slowly decompose. This allows the nutrients it used from the soil to mix together. Then, the bacteria in the soil will get to work turning this decomposed material back into stuff that can be sprinkled on your garden.
In your compost pile, you will need green and brown material. The green will be the produce scraps that you have from your kitchen. You do not want to put meat, dairy products, or fats in it. You can also put yard waste in there too (grass clippings, straw). The brown material would either come from dead leaves, newspaper, cardboard, etc. For a complete list of do’s and do not’s, read some literature about it.
This process will take about a year, turning it once a month to ensure that everything is breaking down at the same rate. Inside the pile will be warm from the microbial activity inside, so don’t be alarmed if it smokes when you turn it. It’s actually really neat to see!
You also have the option of just letting it sit for two years before using it and letting it do all the work for you. At our farm, we try to work smarter to conserve energy and allow ours to sit. This, of course, requires space and patience so is a little harder for those with little to no yard.
Not long before you are ready to use it, you will want to control the moisture level (which may mean covering it if it is raining). You will be able to tell it is ready because it will be the consistency of clumpy dirt. You can then spread this on your garden to put the nutrients back in the soil that the vegetables took out of the soil to begin with. This is just a small overview, so if you are really interested you can find information on the internet or at the public library, or find literature.

Suggested reading:
The Rodale Book of Composting: Easy Methods for Every Gardener

Your CSA package will include:
1. Broccoli
2. Cucumber
3. Carrots
4. Elephant Garlic- hang to dry for proper storage. After a clove has been cut off, cover and put in refrigerator until later use.
5. Collards- don’t forget about taking the stem out before cooking these
6. Peppers- assorted colors
7. Canned tomatoes- from our harvest last year

Recipe of the Week
Stuffed Peppers
*can be made sans meat for vegetarians, just add some more veggies to the recipe instead
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked long grain white rice
1 cup water
6 bell peppers
1 jar tomatoes, drained but reserve juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, diced
1 small onion, diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning or oregano from last week if you still have it

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place the rice and water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and cook 20 minutes. Cook the beef in a skillet until evenly browned.

Remove and discard the tops, seeds, and insides of the peppers. Arrange peppers in a baking dish with the hollowed sides facing upward. In a bowl, mix beef, cooked rice, tomatoes, Worcestershire, garlic, onion, salt, and pepper. Spoon the mixture into each hollowed pepper. Mix some tomato juice and Italian seasoning in a bowl, and pour over the stuffed peppers.

Bake 1 hour in the oven, basting with sauce every 15 minutes, until the peppers are tender. If you would like, you can melt cheese on top during the last 15 minutes of cooking. In our house, they wouldn’t be eaten any other way!

Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

CSA week #4

Our Seasonal transition

While the calendar may say that summer is here, our crops didn’t get the memo yet. I have heard that patience is a virtue, but can be troublesome for a farmer. Our plants are producing here and there, but we are still waiting for the big harvest. It is always well worth the wait though!

Our tomatoes are big and green, waiting for the sun to ripen them into beautiful tomatoes. Although we still love those first fried green tomatoes, it is difficult to just sit around and play the waiting game. As a farmer at this point, you know that they have their nourishment, that they have been properly trimmed and tied, and now it is Mother Nature’s turn to do the work.

Along with the wait for the tomatoes to turn red, we are also waiting for the peppers to turn colors. This year we planted all different colors of bell pepper and they are just beginning to get their color. Soon we will have yellow, orange, red, purple and even chocolate colored peppers. With the different colors come different flavors too… not just your typical green pepper.

And, soon we will have big, huge good smelling Oriental lilies blooming which means wedding season has begun for us. We will be harvesting our garlic in the next few weeks, our annual flowers will start to bloom, and it will be prime picking time for our berry plants.

You may be thinking to yourself that you have been eating greens and lettuce for a month now, but things will be changing shortly. And besides, all those greens are good for you!

*****Check out the new movie coming about food awareness and it will change the way you look at the big corporate farms that provide our main food system. They do say you are what you eat, so make sure that’s a good thing:

FOOD, INC.- Drexel theater starting July 17th
See the trailer at their website
http://www.foodincmovie.com/

What’s included this week?

Your CSA package will include:

1. Bell peppers- assorted colors
2. Swiss chard- see #3
3. Red Russian Kale- both these greens are good roasted
4. Baby leeks- a nuttier flavor than onions, especially when roasted… try with greens
5. Green tomatoes- for frying
6. Oregano- good for Italian
7. Peach apricot jam- canned last year from fresh from the orchard peaches
8. Mixed bouquet

Recipe of the Week

Fried Green Tomatoes

As many tomatoes as you think you can eat fried… in our house it takes a lot to feed us!
2-3 eggs, scrambled
Bread crumbs
Chopped oregano
Salt and Pepper to taste

Slice the tomatoes hamburger style. Then scramble a couple eggs in a small bowl. Chop up the oregano and mix salt and pepper in with the bread crumbs. Dip the tomatoes into the egg mixture and then into the flour. Place in the skillet and cook for a few minutes. Flip the tomato slice and let it fry on that side for a few minutes. The tomato should be squishy in the center before taking it out of the pan. Place a paper towel on a plate and place the fried tomatoes on the plate. Allow them time to cool before eating; the freshly fried juice of a tomato is squirting hot!

Thank you for your support,

Gretel and Steve

Wedding #2 for the season

While preparing for our second wedding of the year, I was attempting making a headdress for the bride. Unknowingly, the first one was way too big until I tried it on and looked like someone who should be in a Vegas show. It was no big deal though, the dogs enjoyed it as you can see in the pictures! The second attempt at the headdress came out a lot better. Using much smaller flowers was the key. The wedding was in their backyard, very laid back. So far we haven't had any "bridezillas" and we hope to keep it that way. Since we let them come over, take a tour of the farm, and kind of pick what they want in their bouquets, it has seemed to work out very well. This wedding used their husky as their ringbearer, how cute! I don't think that Philo (our husky) would have worked out so well. We thought about using our dogs in our wedding, but what happens when they see a squirrel and then take off with your rings? I know that I wasn't going to chase them around in my dress. Plus, Captain was not very happy about these flowers around her neck as you can see in the picture of our Chocolate Lab, and Philo was trying to eat it.