Farm News, September 14, 2021
BRING YOUR MASK! Due to the everchanging pandemic conditions, we are requiring masks for all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, while visiting in the barn. Masks are not required outside the barn. Thank you!
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After some crisp weather we seemed to have see-sawed back into a bit of a summer rhythm, but the task lists has “autumn” written all over it. High on our to-do list is to bin up the winter squash. We specialize in butternut squash, which generally provides us large, sweet, bright orange fruit. We’ve got the crop clipped and drying in the field and have begun windrowing and binning them up. Then it’s off to the squash spa (otherwise known as Greenhouse 1), to warm and sweeten up. After this curing, we should have them ready to bake and roast in a few weeks.
The gang bunches the last bunch-able carrots of the year - the many, many other beds of fall carrots we sowed have tops that were ravaged by rain.
We’ve still got some planting tasks to attend to. We are sowing the fall spinach in the field and will soon clean out the greenhouses and sow them to spinach for our sweet winter crop. We built a new cold frame to harden off our seedlings in the spring, and last week we got to turning emptying the benches and broad forking the compacted earth from all our footsteps from tending the seedlings. We generated some impressive compaction! We took turns broad forking the earth, which basically meant we had to jump on the broad fork like a pogo stick to try to loosen up the earth. We added a ton of our leaf compost to the beds and filled the space with kale for early-winter harvest.
Paul spies this tiny tree frog at rest…
Faye captures this one in play!
We’ve begun to plant our lettuce in the high tunnel, knowing that shorter days and chilly nights aren’t too far off. And Kathy will put the cherry on top of the 2021 greenhouse propagation work today by doing the final sowing of spinach into flats- we sowed the first seeds in early January - what a haul!
Bin the pumpkin game - beware of the stems!
But fall and winter prep aside, the warm weather seems to have perked up the tomato harvest and given a good sugar kick to our last shot of sweet corn. (We’re not sure we’ll be able to stretch the corn until the end of the week, but we’ll do our best.). We’re starting to dig spuds in earnest and should have the Fort Hill Farm full variety pack available by the end of the month. With some quiet weather in the forecast, we’re looking to focus on bringing in the late season crops and putting the farm in order without any weather drama.
We hope you enjoy the farm and the harvest,
Paul and Rebecca for the Fort Hill Farm Crew
Windrowing the Butternut on a beautiful day.
Featured this week:
Kennebec potatoes: a great all purpose white spud, great mashed, fried, roasted, baked, whatever .... Mix it up with Blue Gold and fry away – or try the tasty recipe below. We couldn’t get our normal quantity of seed this year, so these won’t go until winter as usual.
Escarole: In my humble opinion, this lettuce cousin is a most underrated vegetable. It is bitter raw (love me once) and mellows to a deep flavor when cooked (love me twice), and is very nutritious (love me three times, baby!). It is essential for soups, and is fab in stir-fries or as a pre-sautéed pizza topping. Try Ginny Bucciaglia’s classic escarole and beans recipe on our recipe database, or if you’re feeling summery, the recipe below. Stores like lettuce.
Also available:
Salad mix, arugula, limited head lettuce this week(-try the salad mix!), pea shoots, new radish planting coming in mid-week, limited salad turnips, scallions, Red cabbage, Chinese cabbage, savoy cabbage, red, Chioggia, and gold beets, curly and lacinato kale, rainbow chard, parsley, chives, oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary, radicchio, red and yellow onions (at the Farmstand only), Dark Red Norland, Satina, Blue, and Red Gold potatoes, German Extra Hardy garlic, Heirloom, beefsteak, and plum tomatoes (still on sale!), Sungold and red cherry tomatoes, limited sweet corn-(get it while it lasts!), last of the watermelon, escarole, fennel, green bell peppers, sweet peppers, mixed Italian and Asian eggplant, hot peppers, leeks, fresh young ginger, limited pears and apples from our certified organic, no-spray orchard
Coming Soon:
Sweet potatoes, fingerling potatoes
Pick Your Own:
Flowers: * please get a flower ring from the barn for bouquet size.
There are still a lot of flowers out there, despite the deluge of rain. Don’t miss the Dahlias, some of which are short and hiding behind the other flower rows.
Perennial Herbs: * please get an herb ring from the barn for bunch size.
Chives, Oregano, Thyme, and Sage
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
Oven-Roasted Haddock on Potato and Olive Hash
By RicardoCuisine
Ingredients:
Lemon Yogurt Sauce
1/2 cup (125 ml) plain yogurt
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp (15 ml) lemon juice
Potato and Olive Hash
4 cups (640 g) peeled and diced potatoes 1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
2 tbsp butter
2 cups (280 g) cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup (60 g) oil-packed Kalamata olives, drained and finely chopped 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 1/2 lb (675 g) skinless haddock fillets
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
Salt and pepper
Preparation
1. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
2. With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven’s broiler.
3. In a large non-stick ovenproof skillet, brown the potatoes and onion in the oil and butter for 15 to 20 minutes or until tender and golden brown. Season with salt and pepper. Add oil, if needed. Stir in the tomatoes, olives and garlic. Adjust the seasoning. Set aside.
4. Lightly oil the fish, season with salt and pepper and place on the potato mixture. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, or until cooked.
5. When ready to serve, drizzle with the yogurt sauce. Sprinkle with the chives. Serves 4.
Chopped Salad With Apples, Walnuts and Bitter Lettuces
By Martha Rose Shulman via the New York Times
FOR THE DRESSING
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar or champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 small garlic clove, green shoot removed, puréed (optional)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons walnut oil
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
FOR THE SALAD
4 to 5 cups chopped bitter lettuces such as radicchio, endive or escarole
2 crisp, tart, juicy apples, cut in small dice (1/4 inch)
1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts
1⁄2 cup crumbled blue cheese or feta
1⁄4 cup chopped fresh parsley or a mix of parsley, chives and tarragon
PREPARATION
Step 1
In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together vinegars, lemon juice, garlic, mustard, salt and pepper. Whisk in walnut oil and olive oil.
Step 2
Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with dressing until well coated, and serve.
Tip
Advance preparation: The salad is best tossed and served right away, but it has good staying power and won’t suffer if it sits for an hour before serving. The dressing can be made a day ahead and refrigerated. Let it come to room temperature before dressing the salad. Yields 6 to 8 servings.