Dear CSA Members:
At the end of each
week of the Visiting Students Program, we ask the children to describe their
favorite farm activity and their biggest surprise of the week. Often they tell
us that their biggest surprise was that the farm looked different than they
thought it would before they arrived. They usually imagine the farm being at
the end of a dirt road, with an old house and an old barn, a few animals, a
small garden, and nobody else around for miles. Their picture of farming comes
from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Farmer Boy.
When the children
arrive at the farm they land in the center of a thriving village community. A
busy road bisects our campus. Farm equipment and machinery can seem loud and
all around. Cars and people come and go from the store and school all day long.
Eighteen wheeler semi trucks even rumble past the children’s house and dining
hall a couple of times each day with pickups and deliveries. There are always
lots of people on the farm and a lot going on. The farmstead is not often the
serene, peaceful, isolated setting of their imagination.
It is because of all
this busy activity, not despite it, that the farm provides such a deep farm
experience for the children. When they participate in activities here on, they
make connections to people and places far beyond the farm property. Harvesting
leeks in the market garden has an immediate reward of seeing a job well-done
with the leeks trimmed and cleaned in the big blue harvest buckets. Harvesting
leeks also helps the rest of the class because we’ll use some of the leeks in
the soup we’ll eat for supper. The children also know they are helping the
farmers by getting an important job done. The children also learn that most of
the leeks we harvest will be going to CSA members in different cities or maybe
to the Green Market in NYC.
The children come to
the farm to see what farming is really like in 2006, not to see what farming
used to be like 150 years ago. They get a sense for how widely our food is
distributed when they see hundreds of yoghurt contained in the dairy cooler
packaged and waiting to be loaded into the semi truck or when they see all the loaves of bread cooling
on the racks of the bakery waiting to be displayed and purchased at the Farm
Store. The children can really experience the way our farm is connected to our
community – the store patrons, school families, CSA members, and other farms –
during their stay at
Matt Davis
Visiting Students
Program
Children’s Gardening
Coordinator
Looking Forward to
Next Week
Anticipated
for October 5th
Carrots
Rainbow
Chard
Onions
Lettuce
Winter
Squash
Got Plans?
Autumn is officially
here as the zucchini and tomatoes in your share have been replaced by leeks and
winter squash.
So why not take a moment to reserve Columbus Day Weekend for some CSA and
autumnal fun?
Plan your
weekend around a day-trip to Hawthorne Valley Farm for its Annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 7 from
At the
Festival there’ll be plenty of food and activities for the whole family, plus
time to explore the Farm and meet the many people who have contributed to
bringing you the food in your shares and articles in this newsletter.
Fill the
rest of the weekend with apple picking at Thompson-Finch Farm or scenic drives,
nature hikes and more in the beautiful surroundings of
Look for more
details next week or call 518-672-4465.
Drying Apples
Thanks to Dina, the site manager at
the Riverdale CSA, who prompted Steve, a long-time shareholder, to write down
what he shared with her and send it in:
“Just
thought I'd tell you what I do with the apples when I'm sick of
applesauce:
·
Wash,
core, peel and then slice them to about 3/16" to 1/4" thick.
·
Place
them on a screen (I actually use about 5 screens with spaces between them) and
put them in the oven at the lowest setting, which is about 1700 F on
mine. Bake for about 3 to 4 hours
depending on how dry you want them.
·
Take them out, let them cool, and you can store them for at
least 3 weeks in a tight container. Maybe they'll last longer, but we've
always eaten them up within 3 weeks, so I'd don't really know.” Steve
Thompson-Finch Farm
Apple Varieties
Don and Marnie MacClean
are the farmers at Thompson Finch Farm. They are good friends and great farmers
and provide all our apples and potatoes each year. By request, here is a list
of the varieties you might see in your fruit share:
Empire Selected
from a cross breeding of McIntosh and Red Delicious. Crisp fresh eating apple,
sweet and a bit tart, not good for cooking.
Fortune Offspring of Northern Spy and Empire with the
best traits of both. Large and beautiful apple.
Golden Delicious Great for fresh eating and pies or apple
crisp. Makes a pale colored sauce. Sweet with pear-like-aroma. An old time
favorite of ours.
Ida Red
Long
keeper. Flavor improves with storage. Brilliant red, white flesh, tart flavor,
good for eating and cooking.
Jonagold Beautiful red blush over yellow. Long
keeping. Favorite of ours. The sweet aromatic taste of Golden Delicious crossed
with the tart snap of Jonathan.Crisp and juicy.
Macoun Northeastern
old-time fresh eating favorite. Super crisp & juicy.
McIntosh Old fresh eating favorite and for applesauce;
when cooked with skins creates a lovely pink color.
Northern Spy Another antique favorite for eating sliced or
cooking. Maintains firm consistency when cooked in pies. Mix with another
variety for best results. Very tart.
Red Delicious This is the old original variety before extra
red color and hard rock shipping characteristics were bred in. Sweet, mild,
extremely aromatic.
Snow Apple Antique McIntosh
ancestor. Red striped over green skin
with brilliant “snow” white flesh. Fresh eating.
Frizzled Leeks
These are especially delicious as a
topping for last week’s Squash Soup. They also are great over mashed turnips and
potatoes, or sprinkled over melted brie.
3
cups julienne leeks*
2
tablespoons flour
2
cups vegetable oil
Salt
to taste
*Cut leeks 1/16-inch thick by 2-inch
long, white parts only.
In a
2-quart heavy bottom pot heat oil until very hot. Meanwhile, toss cut leeks and flower and
place in strainer to shake off excess.
Cook leeks in 3 separate batches.
Place each batch in oil and cook for 3-4 minutes until light
blonde. Remove with slotted spoon and
drain on paper towel. Sprinkle lightly
with salt and serve hot. “
Beets and Apples with
Onions
1
cup chopped onion
4
tart apples (1 ½ pounds)
1
Tablespoon sugar
½
Teaspoon salt
¼
cup raspberry or cider vinegar
5
medium beets, cooked
Sauté
onions in butter until tender. Peel core and chop apples and add to
onions. Add sugar, salt and vinegar to
pan. Simmer until apples and onions are
very tender, 15 minutes. Remove from
heat and add peeled and chopped beets.
Serve
chunky, or puree. To puree, transfer mixture to bowl of a food processor or
food mill and process until smooth.
Reheat puree in saucepan. Serve
immediately or set aside to cool, then cover, chill, and serve very cold. Garnish with fresh dill if desired.