{ Community Supported Agriculture Newsletter {

Anticipated Sept. 23th

Braising Greens
Lettuce
Onions, Red
Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Winter Squash

Farm Walks: Ecology of HawthorneValley Farm

Woodlots and Hedgerows

Saturday, Sept. 18, 1:00 pm

Meet at the Farm Store

Rain or shine

Presented by the

Farmscape Ecology Program

This week has been such an inspiring week that I couldn’t resist writing another newsletter article myself. You will certainly continue to hear more about Hawthorne Valley and all we do here in the coming weeks. –Farmer Katy

Dear CSA members,

This morning I gave the annual kindergarten farm tour to the kindergarten children and their parents from the Hawthorne Valley School. There was a huge turn out of interested children as well as interested parents. We walked to the front of the big, red milking barn and saw two calves inside, just four days old. Then we walked out to the Dairy Field, the pasture behind the barn and the dairy processing building. The Dairy Field is green and lush, full of clover and grass for the cows to eat soon. We looked and saw the cow herd on the North Pasture hillside, all the cows were standing with their heads bent down to the grass, busy with their lunch. Then we went to visit the chickens, across on our Dairy Field.

Actually, I asked if there might be anyone interested in running across the field to the chickens. There were certainly some kindergarteners and even some parents willing to just take off and run in a big, wide open green field with geese flying south overhead and the warm sunshine on our backs. After visiting with the chickens awhile, we walked across the field again, this time toward the piglets. We saw Farmer Steffen on the big Agco tractor, unloading big round bales of hay, stacking them and getting ready for winter when the cows will eat all the hay we’ve been making all summer long.

At the pig shed, we found Farmer Dan tending to the pig pens, mucking them out. Mucking out and collecting manure for our farm’s compost piles is one of the most important jobs on the farm. The manure from our farm animals is “farmer’s gold”, the real basis for the thriving soil life on our farm. The kindergarteners and parents visited with the one-month old piglets. The little chubby piglets will grow quickly, faster even than the kindergarteners, so I told them to come back frequently and check on the piglets.

All in all, what with running and visiting and listening and watching, it was a grand morning, the farm and all its picturesque fields showing off gloriously for the inquisitive children and equally curious parents. I am continually grateful to be involved in a real working farm with such strong community support surrounding us

Katy

A search for “Kale” at www.epicurious .com yielded 75 recipes.

Here are a few that looked interesting and easy:

Colcannon – Irish Potatoes with Creamy Kale

4 medium to large all-purpose potatoes

Coarse salt, for boiling water

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 head dark curly kale, chopped

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup whole milk

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg, fresh or grated

1 teaspoon ground thyme

2 scallions, sliced

A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Peel potatoes and cut into chunks. Boil for 15 minutes in salted water. Drain potatoes and return them to the hot pot and mash. Heat stock or broth to a simmer. Chop kale tops, discarding tough stems. Add kale to broth and cover. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes.

In a large skillet over moderate heat melt butter and add milk. Season with nutmeg and thyme and add scallions to the pan. Remove kale from cooking liquid to the milk and butter mixture using a slotted spoon. Stir in 1/2 cup of cooking liquid. Add mashed potatoes to milk and kale and stir until combined and creamy, 1 or 2 minutes. Stir in parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Rachel Ray at www.epicurious.com

Caldo Verde- Portugese Green Soup

1/4 cup olive oil, in all

1 cup chopped onion

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

2 cups potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced

2 quarts water

6 ounces chorizo sausage, thinly sliced

Salt and black pepper

1 pound kale, washed, trimmed of the thick stems and thinly sliced

In a medium soup pot, heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil, add onions and garlic and cook for 2 to 3 minutes until they turn glassy, don't let them get brown. Add potatoes and water. Cover and boil gently over medium heat for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, in a skillet cook sausage until most of the fat is rendered out. Drain and reserve. When the potatoes are tender mash them with a potato masher right in the pot. Add sausage to the soup, and then add the kale. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the remaining olive oil and season. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Emeril Lagasse at www.epicurious.com

Mixed Greens with Garlic, Cumin and Paprika

12 cups mixed greens, such as kale, chard, beet, etc.

Salt to taste

3 large garlic cloves

1 cup finely chopped Italian parsley

1 cup finely chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons hot or sweet paprika

2 teaspoons ground cumin

3 tablespoons fruity olive oil

Garnish: green or oil-cured Moroccan olives, lemon wedges, and tomato (optional

Discard any inedible parts of the greens, such as kale stems and tough ribs. Plunge the leaves into boiling salted water and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, then chop into small pieces.

Pound the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a mortar until you have a rough paste, then work in the parsley and cilantro and pound them briefly to release their flavors. Add the paprika and cumin. (If you do not have a mortar and pestle, chop the garlic with the parsley and cilantro, then add the spices.)

Warm the oil in a wide skillet over medium heat with the garlic-herb mixture. As soon as it releases its flavor, when the oil has heated, add the greens. Cook, stirring frequently, until any extra moisture has evaporated. Taste for salt. Pile into a dish and garnish with the olives, lemon, and tomato wedges.

Deborah Madison at www.epicurious.com