It's an open house y'all!

Come check me out selling soap at Sue Renner's Open House.  See date and time below.  

Shoot me an email if you are interested in attending and I can give you more details...

I would love to see you there!

Find homemade gifts and sweet treats for you or your loved ones during the holiday season.

CSA week #14

Our chestnut tree has been producing for us, some yummy chestnuts even raw... a little early for chestnuts roasting over an open fire though.








Fall has fallen
The transition into fall is always bittersweet for us. It is nice that we are not going to have to deal with sweltering weather, but is also a gentle reminder that the season is nearing an end. The farmer’s markets go through about the third week in October, which is typically when the first frost date is. Pretty crazy to think about huh?
With markers such as football season, and returning to school, we begin to reflect on the things that we have accomplished in the summer and thinking about what we are going to do through the winter. Our goal is to continue farming through the winter and making soap, and seeing how much the farm can support us without having to get other jobs.
Since I am going to school, it would be nice to be able to just do the farm for now and focus on school without having to work too. Last spring, I was taking classes full time, working full time, and trying to run a business which quickly became too much on my plate. Every year we have tested the waters a little bit more to see how much the business can sustain itself.
After the first year of farming, I quit my full time job as a social worker so we could farm full time in the summer. Slowly, Steve has worked little to none at the coffeeshop, with it first still being a couple days a week, then not through the summer, then last year barely any through the winter, and maybe this year not at all. And as for me, substituting is always an option, but my plan is to not start subbing until I need to.
Between the spinach and greens we will be growing in the winter, and all the soap making, maybe we won’t have to have outside jobs. It is crazy to think how much we have built the business up and kind of scary when your success lies totally on your own shoulders. But, I would much rather that then be working to make someone else’s business successful I suppose. But hopefully between our hard work and some good networking, we will continue to grow.




What’s included this week?
1. Pie pumpkin- great for pies or soup, see instructions below
2. Radishes
3. Lettuce mix
4. Sausage
5. Peppers- hot and sweet




Recipe of the Week
Cooking Fresh Pumpkin
A medium size pumpkin (4 lbs) yields around 1 ½ cups of pureed pumpkin (perfect for filling a pie). Preheat oven to 400 F. Cut your pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Place ½” water in a 13”x 9” baking dish and add the pumpkin, cut-side down. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until done. Allow to cool. Scoop out the flesh from the skin; place the flesh in a food processor, and puree. If your puree seems loose and wet, pour it into a fine sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth placed over a bowl to drain off some of the liquid. Then, you can either follow the recipe below which was given to me by a CSA member, or follow your favorite pumpkin pie recipe.




ZESTY PUMPKIN SOUP
¼ C. butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 t. curry powder
½ t. salt
¼ t. ground coriander
1/8 t. crushed red pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1 ¾ cups pumpkin



1 cup half and half
Sour cream – chives (optional)

Melt butter, sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add curry, salt, coriander and red pepper; cook 1 min. Add broth; boil gently, uncovered for 15 to 20 mins. Stir in pumpkin and half and half; cook another 5 mins. Pour mixture into blender, cover and blend until creamy. Garnish with sour cream and chives if desired. Makes: 6 cups

I personally enjoy the mixture of sweet and savory when it comes to the nutty flavors of fall, so I also added some chili powder and brown sugar, giving the soup another layer of flavor too.



Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

CSA week #12... sorry I skipped it!

Homemade pizza made from scratch with all farmer's market ingredients. Too much junk on there to be able to pick it up without it falling apart, so it required fork and knife to eat, but was super delicious!




Farm happenings
The busier we have gotten, the more reliant we have become on our wonderful help. We have two friends helping us out this year for which we are very grateful. There is no way we would be able to do all of this ourselves, that’s for sure.
Along with good people, we have also invested some money in working with better tools too. You would be amazed at the difference between trying to hand weed everything versus being able to use the walk- behind wheel hoe and all the other different garden hoes that we have been using this year.
We also just found out that we were approved for a grant through the Natural Resources Conservation Service for working on season extension with flowers. We are hoping to get the greenhouse up for use this fall, but that seems to be sneaking up on us quick. With the greenhouse ordered, we are now beginning to plan when we can get some extra help out here. There are anywhere from 25-30 hoops and each one is about 7 pieces that you have to put together, drilling metal to metal.
At this point, between raising our own greenhouses and helping others, we have constructed quite a few. It helps to know the method for the madness, but that doesn’t make it any less laborious. So we thought about buying pizza and beer for all of our friends, and seeing how many people we can recruit.
The first year that we decided to put up greenhouses, it took us all winter. It is not so much fun being out in the cold trying to drill through metal. We have to get the ground posts in before the ground freezes, but we were able to do it. Rain or shine, or snow I guess when you do it in the winter. Hopefully this year we can get enough recruits that we won’t have to be bundled up doing it in the snow. I mean at least you are enjoying being outside in the winter time, but I would much rather be throwing snowballs instead!


What’s included this week?

1. Apple Cider from Paige’s Produce… man it’s good!
2. Butternut squash because we are approaching fall quickly J
3. Tomatoes- probably the end, as summer crops are ending soon
4. Potatoes
5. Onions
6. Yams- great like a baked potato with brown sugar and butter inside, or slice real thin and make chips by either frying or baking until crispy… yum!

Recipe of the Week

Tasty Butternut Squash Soup
(I know it’s just barely fall, but this is such a comfort food for me sometimes I just can hardly wait.)
1 (2 to 3 pound) butternut squash, peeled and seeded
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
Nutmeg
Salt and ground black pepper

Cut squash into 1-inch chunks. In large pot melt butter. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 8 minutes. Add squash and stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until squash is tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove squash chunks with slotted spoon and place in a blender and puree. Return blended squash to pot. Stir and season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Serve.

Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

We made another blog!

http://chickpeasplease.blogspot.com/2010/09/good-work-in-progress-sunny-meadows.html

Check it out!

CSA week #13

Farm cooperative: Working together just like your momma taught you

Through this year, we have realized that we may not be able to do everything on our own, despite how much we would like to. So, we are working on putting together some type of cooperative so that a gathering of farms could provide for a CSA. This year our flower business has expanded so much, that we are just running out of space to grow produce.

We have been in conversation with other growers to see who wants to be involved, and to gather a large variety of things to be provided to the CSA. Then, we could be responsible for spring and fall cool weather crops, soap, and pork; and find another farmer to grow the summer crops so we can focus on our flowers during the busy season. Until we figure this out, I don’t think there is anyway that we would be able to expand the CSA beyond what it is right now.

We will keep you updated on the progress as we have just begun to spread the idea around through our farmer friends in hopes to collect a large array of different types of products that our customers would be interested in. Since we already have a support system built up of interested CSA members, that has been a plus in our conversations with the other farmers since they wouldn’t be starting from scratch. And at this point, working together just seems like the best thing to do rather than abandoning the whole idea of the CSA when we have worked so hard to build it to what it is now.

We will let you know before the end of the season what the plan is for next year, so you can start saving up for the winter payment for the CSA. Being a returning customer, or being early will result in a discount on the price. Once we get established too, we would like to figure out some way to take food stamps or honor senior coupons to ensure more equal access to our produce. That may be a project for next year though, once the cooperative is established. But in the meantime, thanks for your support and continued interest in our farm!

What’s included this week?
1. Bell peppers
2. Soap
3. Onions
4. Tatsoi- an Asian spinach, eat it raw or braised
5. Beans
6. Sweet Corn

Recipe of the Week
Stuffed Peppers
(I love this recipe because you can do lots of variations from whatever is in your fridge)
4 red, green or yellow bell peppers, tops sliced off and chopped up
2 cups leftover rice or couscous
1 cup leftover meat, either ground or chopped up
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 scallions, chopped (or ½ of an onion, diced)

Slice off tops of bell peppers, remove seeds and discard. Chop up the bell pepper tops and place into a large bowl. Add rice or couscous, chopped meat, dried basil, parsley, chopped pepper tops, chicken stock and scallions. Toss to combine and season with salt and pepper. Stuff each pepper with filling and place in a square baking dish. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until tender. I also like to melt my favorite cheese on top too, so in the last 10 minutes of baking, just add it on top and let it get all gooey on top…yum!
Thank you for your support,
Gretel and Steve

CSA week #11

Press Release

As our business has continued to build on our reputation, we have had some very fortunate encounters. Having a business, we have learned that you are always on in public, even if just going out to dinner. Last year we were given the opportunity to be in Columbus Monthly and the editor liked the picture so much, we even made the cover!

After it came out on newsstands, we went out to dinner to celebrate at Black Creek Bistro, the owner (Kent Peters) recognized us from the cover, and that began our relationship with them. We sold them greens all winter and have continued to sell produce to them since. We were approached by Kent about a month ago to be involved in a tour that was being held for some food writers here in Columbus. He wanted to show them our urban farm too since they would be spending a few days here.

So, a couple weeks ago, we held a tour at our farm for these food writers. They were brought in by an organization called Experience Columbus to give a little more exposure to the scene around town. After the tour, we got to eat at Black Creek Bistro with the group and get to know some of the writers a little better. Kent also purchased a bar of soap for every writer that was at dinner.

It was a great experience and have just been contacted by Country Living magazine as they are going to place my soap in the gift edition of their magazine for the holidays. How exciting! We now are being shown on Ohio magazine’s website too: http://ohiomagazine.com/Main/WishYouWereHere/8.aspx

And to think, it all began with just going out to dinner wanting to support a local business. Now Black Creek has been carrying my soap at the restaurant, I am in the process of building up the shopping cart on my website, and Village Flower Basket in Granville is going to carry my soap too! I may not be substitute teaching until after the holiday soap escapades have ended. Until then, I will just have to be making more soap then I ever could have imagined!

What’s included this week?

Apples- Galas that have not been sprayed, good for snacking

Peppers

Tomatoes

Okra

Squash

Sweet Corn

Recipe of the Week

Bubba’s Shrimp Gumbo (don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients, it’s worth trying)

1 cup butter (2 sticks), plus 1 tablespoon

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 chopped yellow onion

1/4 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped green bell pepper

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup sliced fresh okra

3 cups shrimp stock

2 cups bottled clam juice

(can use any stock for above two ingredients if it’s already in the pantry)

1 cup chopped tomatoes w/ juice

3 bay leaves

1 tablespoon dried parsley flakes

1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked smoked sausage, sliced diagonally

2 lbs shrimp, cleaned and deveined

Serving suggestion: Over cooked white rice.

In a large heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt 1 cup of the butter. Add the flour, and cook on low heat until the roux is dark brown; about 30 to 45 minutes, stirring constantly. *Cook's Note: Brown does not mean burnt; if you burn the roux you have to throw it out and start over again.

Add the onions, celery, peppers and garlic and saute until translucent.

Mix in the okra and the remaining ingredients, including the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter, and simmer over medium-low heat until thick, about 1 hour. Before serving, remove the bay leaves. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve over white rice, if desired.

Thank you for your support,

Gretel and Steve

Public exposure of the decent kind...

Another write-up from the food writers that paid us a visit. Check out Columbus!

http://heavytable.com/should-you-find-yourself-in-columbus-ohio/