Farm News September 24, 2024
Our Farmstand is in full swing
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(PYO & Farmstand Hours):
Tuesday, Thursday, & Friday: 2 - 6:30 PM
Saturday: 8 am - 12:30 pm
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STAY TUNED FOR CHANGING FALL HOURS STARTING NEXT WEEK!
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This week’s Farm News comes to you from Faye Barry, long-time crew member of the farm. While Faye takes on multiple roles throughout the season, including harvest management with Dana, her key specialty is transferring her wealth of knowledge of dahlias into managing our dahlia patch, Dahlia Tuber Store, and the breadth of dahlia information on our website. Read below for an up-close view of what our (pampered) dahlia tubers experience on our farm. Faye writes…
Back in May, the ground was warming up, the farm was humming with activity, and this year’s dahlia patch began. We started by adding compost to the soil of a few beds and planting 1,250 individual dahlia tubers into shallow trenches. We raked the trenches closed, burying the tubers, laid out irrigation, mulched thickly, and then moved on to the many other farm tasks that needed doing at the start of the season.
Time to plant the dahlias!
When you grow dahlias, patience is key. Be sure to have lots of other items on your to-do list while they just do their thing. While we checked things off our never-ending list- harvesting the first veg, transplanting seedlings into the field and greenhouses, sowing seeds, weeding, watering, and prepping more planting beds- the tubers underground were waking up. Silently, and in total darkness, their eyes began to swell and reach for the light, and thin white roots sprouted directly out of their bulbous bodies. After a few weeks, a flush of green appeared in straight lines along the dark mulch. The dahlias had emerged!
The plants emerge and it's time to replenish the mulch.
To try to get ahead of the weeds hoping to also emerge at this point, we added straw to shore up the leaf mulch, and stakes to support the future plants. What were once single, dormant, small brown potato-looking tubers now quietly and diligently launched into churning out hearty stems and layers of verdant foliage above ground, and many more tubers below. All of this steadfast activity led us to the present moment, when the dahlias settle comfortably into their accolade of Most Glamourous Fall Farm Crop (some might argue the cover crops win that title, but it’s a tight race to be sure).
Yowzers! The result of a ton of planning and a lot of hard work. Do as Dana does multiple times a week – pick a gorgeous bouquet!
Now that the Autumnal Equinox has come and gone, don’t think of this as the end of summer, think of it as the Grand Opening of Dahlia Season! With about 100 dahlia varieties in our patch this year, the undulating rainbow effect in the field is pretty stunning. We hope you can make room in your to-do list for a trip during our farmstand hours to pick your own dahlias from our resplendent patch! The sky’s the limit on these luminous PYO flowers, so grab a bouquet for yourself, for a friend, or get a few more for an autumn event.
Faye, for the Fort Hill Farm crew
Featured veg:
Magic Molly potatoes: Really, what more could one ask of a potato? Deep indigo color (blue-all-the-way-through), moist flesh, rich potato flavor ... all in a plumpish fingerling shape. It’s a winner all around, and is easily one of our favorites. Store spuds a room temperature, in the dark, for several weeks.
Celeriac: This rooty cousin to celery may look a bit odd and may not win any popularity contests, but there’s’ nothing quite like it for fall. Simply wash, peel and cube the root for a yummy addition to soups and stews, roast with other root vegetables, or mix with spuds for a great gratin. Try the delicious recipe below! Store root for months in the fridge crisper.
Also available:
Head lettuce; salad mix; arugula; pea shoots; curly and lacinato kale; rainbow & ruby chard; purple, red and French Breakfast radish; cilantro, parsley, dill, red beets, chioggia beets and gold beets; red and Savoy cabbage; Chinese cabbage; (limited) Asian cucumbers (limited); heirloom and beefsteak tomatoes; Sungold, artisanal, and red cherry tomatoes (at the farmstand); fall carrots; broccoli and sprouting broccoli; German Extra Hardy garlic; red and yellow storage onions; jalapeño, cayenne, poblano and shishito peppers; red bell peppers: Sweet Red Italian and orange snacking peppers; Classic Italian, Graffiti, and Rosa Bianca eggplant (farmstand only); Dark Red Norland, LaRatte Gold and Pinto Gold fingerling, and Satina Gold potatoes; leeks; celery; fall fennel; collard greens; escarole; dandelion; radicchio; fresh ginger; acorn squash, and Jester delicata squash; romanesco (as available); Brussels sprouts greens (as available); zucchini and summer quash from the greenhouse!
Coming Soon:
Sweet potatoes
Pick Your Own:
Perennial Herbs:
There are HERB RINGS provided to establish the bunch size.
Chives and Oregano: trim long lengths from the base of the plant, leaving 1” behind
Sage: clip 4 - 6 inches from the largest stems
Thyme: clip 4-6 from the perimeter of the plant
Flowers:
Bouquets on SALE! The Dahlias are in full bloom, and there is still a good selection of other blossoms out there. Be sure to use the flower ring provided to establish the bunch size.
Recipes
Suggested by Rebecca Batchie
Not into this particular recipe? For more recipes outlined by crop, check out the Fort Hill Farm Recipe Database.
Celeriac and Sage Ravioli with Kale and Blue Cheese
By Delicious
Serves 4
I know it’s a busy time! If making ravioli doesn’t fit your time budget, you could cheat by deconstructing this recipe and have the yummy filling coat the pasta instead.
Ingredients
For the filling
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
½ medium celeriac, peeled and cut into smallish cubes
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
16 fresh sage leaves, half chopped
8.5 oz. vegetable stock or water
For the pasta
1.5 cup type ‘00’ flour, plus extra to dust
Pinch fine sea salt
2 medium free-range organic eggs
Semolina to dust
To serve
3.5 Tbsp. butter
7 oz. kale, leaves only
3 oz. soft blue sheep’s cheese – such as beenleigh blue
Method
For the filling, heat the butter in a heavy-based pan over a medium-high heat. When it’s foaming, add the sliced onion, celeriac and garlic, season and cook, stirring regularly, for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables soften and caramelise lightly.
Add the chopped sage to the pan and stir well. Cook for a further few minutes, then pour in the stock. Put a lid on the pan, bring up to a simmer, then turn down the heat and cook gently for 15-20 minutes or until the celeriac is very tender.
Use a slotted spoon to lift the veg from the pan into the jug of a blender or food processor. Whizz until you have a thick, smooth purée. Gradually add more liquid, if need be, to achieve the right texture. Taste and season, then spoon into a bowl, cover and chill (see Make Ahead).
For the pasta, put the flour in a large bowl and add the salt. Make a well in the centre and crack in the eggs. Use a fork to whisk the eggs together, then slowly incorporate the flour a little at a time. Once you have a soft dough, tip it out onto a clean work surface and knead for 8-10 minutes until it’s smooth and silky. Wrap the dough, then rest in the fridge for 30-40 minutes.
Divide the rested dough in half and work each piece into a flat rectangle. Pass one rectangle through the pasta machine on its thickest setting a few times. Then fold the dough into thirds and pass it through twice more on the thickest setting (this helps to give it structure).
Run the dough through all the machine’s settings, from its thickest to its second-thinnest, dusting both sides of the pasta lightly with flour each time you roll. After the second-thinnest setting, cut the pasta in half widthways and lay the two sheets on a floured surface. (If you don’t have a pasta machine, roll out the dough with a large rolling pin – get it as thin as you can.) Repeat with the second rectangle.
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