Farm News, June 29, 2021
With snap pea and strawberry almost in the rear-view mirror – there are some gleanings if you come early in the week – we’re always on the lookout for new crops to tempt you to come to the farm or meet us at the farmer’s market. The greenhouse tomatoes are picking up some of the slack, and we have a nice crop of red and sungold cherry tomatoes starting to ripen up, along with some beefsteak and heirloom slicers. The cucumbers from the high tunnel are starting to plump up nicely, along with the summer squash out in the field. After a brief gap between our early greenhouse crop and the field, carrots are back on the menu, and Rebecca brought in some pretty multicolored carrots, which should be making an appearance on the display tables soon. Sweet corn is on the horizon, with the first early varieties silking and tasseling now. If we can keep the birds, woodchucks and raccoons out the crop we should be picking in about 10 days.
Lauren and Emma are jazzed by the first summer squash of the season.
We had a shower or two last week that boosted our irrigation efforts, but with our sandy soil we pretty much watered straight through. With temperatures firmly in the 90’s for a few days, we’ve been in all-out watering mode to keep the lettuce crop cool and crisp, and to pop new arugula, carrot, beet, and cilantro crops that Emma sows weekly to keep us on track with those crops. We switch to an early start time during these heat waves to maximize our time out in the cooler morning air, but by mid-morning there’s really no way to escape the heat, so we put on straw hats and soldier on. We’ve had some welcome new additions to the field crew this past week to help us get on the weeding projects that had to take a back seat to strawberry and pea picking - we are racing to catch up before weeds get ahead of the crops.
Griffin weeds his way through the “weirdos.” These crops (which happen to be some of my favorites!-radicchio, scallions, fennel, chard, etc.) are so named because they are a mismatched bunch that take longer than most to mature, need their own section to grow and must be weeded again and again.
We’ll be opening the flower patch for Pick Your Own mini-bouquets this week, adding a splash of color to the deep green coat that fields are wearing this time of year. Remember to pick long, single stems, as new buds are close behind. While bouquets will start out small this week, you can expect to see the usual flower “fireworks” soon.
We hope you enjoy the farm and the produce,
Paul and Rebecca for the Fort Hill Farm Crew
Who doesn’t love fresh carrots and the rugged crew who digs them?
Featured this week:
Purplette onions: first onions of the season, very pretty, so tasty, and pulled fresh. Remember: good things come in small packages. Tear off tops and store in fridge crisper for up to a month.
Fennel: Quite possibly my favorite vegetable, this Mediterranean crop has a sweet anise flavor that is wonderful in salads, and it’s very yummy blanched and brushed with olive oil and salt and tossed on the grill. Stores for at least a few weeks in the fridge crisper.
Also available:
Salad mix, arugula, 5 kinds of head lettuce, pea shoots, fresh carrots, French Breakfast and red radish, salad turnips, scallions, fennel, Chinese cabbage, Conehead cabbage, kohlrabi, red beets, curly and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, garlic scapes, basil, parsley, cilantro, dill, chives, sweet potatoes, sugar snap peas, Purplette fresh onions, the first tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and summer squash!
Coming Soon:
rainbow carrots, cucumbers
Pick Your Own:
Flowers
The blossoms are starting to open, so we’ll be offering a mini-bouquet size of 6 stems. Please be patient as they come in in leaps and bounds, and be sure to leave the buds that are on the way.
Strawberries & Sugar Snap Peas
PYO Sugar Snap Peas and Strawberries are open but near the end. There are still some berries to pick, but they are harder to come by-best picking is earlier in the week.
PYO Hours: 1:30 - 7PM. (PYO begins 30 minutes before and goes 30 minutes beyond barn hours.)
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
For more recipes, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database
Celery, Fennel and Apple Salad with Pecorino and Walnuts
By Athena Calderone via Food and Wine
Ingredients
3/4 cup walnuts
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt
Pepper
3 celery ribs, sliced diagonally 1/4-inch thick
2 fennel bulbs—trimmed, halved, cored and thinly sliced on a mandoline
2 Honeycrisp apples—halved, cored and sliced
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn if large
Pecorino cheese shavings, for garnish
Directions
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 375°. Spread the walnuts in a pie plate and toast for 7 to 8 minutes, until golden. Coarsely chop the nuts.
Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk the 3 tablespoons of olive oil with the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper. Add the celery, fennel, apples and basil and toss to evenly coat. Transfer the salad to a serving platter. Season with pepper and drizzle with olive oil, then top with the walnuts and garnish with cheese shavings. Yields: 4 to 6 servings
Lentil and Kale Salad
Adapted from the FoodNetwork
Ingredients
1 bunch kale, stemmed and sliced
3 small grilled Purplette onions, chopped
3 tablespoons champagne vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups cooked French lentils
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions
Grilled onions first or while the kale marinates. Slice Purplette onions into 1” thick rounds. Grill on a hot grill for 5-7 minutes on each side. Chop when cooled.
Add the kale to a large bowl and set aside.
Whisk together the vinegar, honey and mustard. Slowly whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the kale and toss and stir roughly with tongs, about 3 minutes. You want to gently bruise the leaves of the kale. Once the kale looks soft, toss in the lentils, feta cheese, onions, and cranberries. Cover with plastic wrap and marinate 1 hour before serving, adding the onions at any point.