Tag: Gardening

U Pick CSA

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Can’t wait to get my hands on Goodness Grows’ U Pick CSA!  We offer the area’s only 100% certified organic CSA from May – October and now we will offer the area’s only U Pick CSA.  With the additional option of renting our commercial kitchen, you can get the most from the farm on your […]

Wreaths that make me say “Hello Winter”

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We are definitely shifting gears for the holiday season.   Now that it’s colder out, we have been baking lots more, getting our turkeys ready for Monday, and starting to make wreaths for some winter cheer!    The wreaths that we normally do are total mixes of all natural, fresh picked greens.   I like to throw in herbs such as artemesia, lavender, rosemary and thyme for fragrance and color.   Our american holly trees had a great year this year, and are loaded with beautiful plump red berries.

 

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We use juniper for garland, just because it makes a nice, flexible and full band.   Also, we use “machines” to make the wreaths and garland.   The tools are not electric powered, and are rather primitive, but work fine for the amount that we make.   We are making garland to order and 10 and 16 inch wreaths.   We are taking orders for different sizes, but these are the most common.

 

While making the wreaths, we use several different tree varieties.   This makes our wreaths ornate, without the use of a bow.

Wreath

 

But if bells and bows are more your style, then by all means:

Wreath with bow

 

If you want to come see us this winter, this is our winter season schedule:

Under The Son Wed 4:30- 6pm
11 North Liberty St Cumberland
Wehnwood United Methodist
Altoona Thursdays 2-5:30pm
Station Medical Center Every other Friday
Altoona Beginning November 7th 10am-2pm
Mountain City Traditional Arts Frostburg, MD
November 1,15 December 6,20 10am-1pm

We won’t be at markets the week of Thanksgiving and Christmas, but you may order and pick up baked goods and farm products at the farm.

I hope to see you this week!

Heirloom Tomato Salsa

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Heirloom Tomato Salsa

Today I made salsa from some of the garden goodies our crew picked.

 

Heirloom Tomato Salsa

 

Heirloom Tomato Salsa

  • Three Houseworth Tomatoes
  • Three Black Prince Tomatoes
  • 2 Pineapple Tomatoes
  • 1 pint of Bell Star Tomatoes
  • 1 Pint of Tomatillos
  • 3 Carmen Peppers
  • 3 lunchbox Snack Peppers
  • 2 Pimiento peppers
  • 3 sweet onions
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 left over corn on the cob, cut off the cob
  • 2 Tablespoons of lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Chop all ingredients into 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch pieces and toss with lime juice and salt.   Serve chilled.

 

I only wish I had some cilantro to go with this recipe!   It is really hard for me to have cilantro the same time as my tomatoes, peppers and tomatillos, but its coming.  Cilantro likes cool weather, while all of the other salsa ingredients like it hot.  We had cilantro at the beginning of the summer, but as does the lettuce, it bolts and nothing until it cools down again.    I planted cilantro at the beginning of the month, and just transplanted it to the ground last Sunday.   Maybe next week we’ll see some of it harvested.

 

Tuesday is a big picking day at the farm, so if anyone is looking to get some volunteer time in at the farm, Tuesdays are oipen for farm help!   Email me if you are interested!

 

Also we are planning our farm to table dinner for the third week of October.   We plan to have our pig roast with live entertainment by “The Canned Hams” more news to follow as the event unfolds!

 

See you this week!

 

Dawn

 

Beans.

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The beans are in!  There’s a lot more too, here’s this week’s haul:

Tomatoes

Eggplant

Beans

Peppers

Cucumbers

Basil

Okra

Zuchini

Patty Pan Squash
IMG_2437[1]

These are the different kinds of beans we grow: Jade- Green, Carson Yellow Wax & Royal Burgundy.  They’re all delicious 🙂

 

 

Basil

We all know basil is great for making Pesto.  Here’s a simple recipe and some excellent ideas for meals and snacks:

Pesto

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
  • 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
  • Special equipment needed: A food processor

Method

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Yield: Makes 1 cup.

pesto-and-tomato-quesadilla

Pesto quesadilla (above) take one: pesto, tomato and mozzarella between a whole wheat quesadilla.

Pesto pasta with extra protein: Toss steamed, shelled edamame, lightly sautéed spinach (optional) and whole wheat rotini in pesto. The buttery texture of edamame complements pesto surprisingly well.

Pesto tortilla pizza: Top an organic whole wheat tortilla with pesto, reduced fat mozzarella and sliced tomatoes. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit, preferably on a baking rack, until the cheese is golden and bubbling.

Pesto scrambled eggs: cook your scrambled eggs as usual and take the pan off the burner once the eggs are mostly set. Stir in pesto and top with Parmesan and diced tomatoes.

Pesto popcorn: stove top popcorn lightly tossed with pesto and grated Parmesan (optional).

Pesto grilled cheese: layer pesto, mozzarella, and roasted red peppers or tomatoes on good whole wheat bread. Grill. Amazing!

Arugula pesto pizza bagel: Top a 100% whole wheat bagel with pesto, mozzarella pearls and cherry tomatoes. Bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about ten minutes, until the cheese is melted. Let the bagels cool slightly and top with arugula that has been lightly tossed in lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Avocado pesto pasta: This might not be the prettiest pasta around, but it sure is tasty. Combine roughly equal parts avocado and pesto in your food processor. Add a squeeze of lemon juice. Blend thoroughly. Drizzle in extra olive oil if necessary. If you’re feeling adventurous, blend in some goat cheese, too. Toss with whole wheat pasta.

 

Hoping that everyone is having a great week,

Your Farmer,

Dawn

Lots of recipes, and new things to try!!!!

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Purslane salads!!!

puslane1

Purslane and yogurt salad

1 bunch of purslane

yogurt, enough to coat the purslane

garlic minced to taste

Crushed red pepper flakes to taste

 

Purslane Cucumber Salad

1 bunch of purslane

1 cucumber chopped

1 tomato chopped

1 hot pepper minced

2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice

salt to taste

 

Okra recipes!!

Ginger and tomato okra

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 pound small fresh okra, untrimmed

1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves

coarse salt and black pepper

place ingredients in a skillet in the order they are listed and saute for 10 minutes

Roasting Okra

Roasting and grilling okra can reduce the slime texture that turn people away from eating okra.

Preheat oven to 475 and roast okra for 10-15 minutes.   Add salt and pepper to taste.

 

Eggplant Recipes!!!!

Here is a link to my favorite eggplant recipe…This is a recipe that my father and I made together often!

https://goodnessgrowspa.com/2012/12/11/eggplant-moussaka-recipe/

 

And here is a list of what we’ll be preparing for the week!

Tomatoes

Okra

Purslane

Cucumbers

Zuchini

Patty pan Squash

Eggplant

Basil

Dill

Beans late in the week!!

Kale, of course!

Tofu

Soysage

Eggs

Squash blossoms

Grape leaves

Cut flowers to make you smile the rest of the week!

 

See  you all soon!

 

 

 

 

 

Back with new stuff to please your plates!

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After a much needed vacation, and some great times with family, we are ready to get back on track for the rest of the growing season!

 

Speaking of the rest of the season, we have a whole new line of great organic produce to bring to you all this week!

 

I loved seeing those that came over last week to pick your own, we had lots to clean up, and still have a little left from the early spring season, so if you are in the mood for more broccoli, cauliflower, kale or swiss chard, than you are in luck!   Last Saturday for our family reunion I made a wonderful-

Asian Kohlrabi and Broccoli Salad

1 Kohlrabi shredded

1 cup of broccoli broken into tiny florets

1 Tablespoon of sesame oil

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/4 cup sunflower seeds or pine nuts

1/4 cup dried fruit of choice ( I used dried figs on Saturday, but I have used other fruits too and it seems like any work well)

Combine and chill for 30 minutes.   Serve cold.

So what’s new this week?

From left to right: Fairy Tail, Orient Express, Raveena, and Black Beauty.
From left to right: Fairy Tail, Orient Express, Raveena, and Black Beauty.

Eggplant will begin to appear on our tables as well as Okra, Peppers and serous amounts of TOMATOES!!!!!!

I’m also excited to tell you that our zuchini and squash blossoms are ready to take a place at the table too!

This evening I made a delicious pesto pizza for our crew!

Pesto

1 bunch of basil, large stems removed

2 cloves of garlic

2 T olive oil

2 T sunflower seeds or pine nuts

2 T Parmesan cheese

pinch of sea salt

Add all ingredients to food processor and process on high until well mixed and there are no chunks left.

You can freeze this pesto in ice cube trays for the winter months.   Just fill your ice cube trays with the pesto and freeze.   Once you have pesto cubes, you can pop them out of the tray and into freezer bags with the date and contents labeled.
These cubes will make quick and easy meals for you later on!

We will have plenty of basil for the rest of the summer!

Our green beans are blooming,  but I’m not sure we will see beans until next week.

 

 

 

How to get the good stuff.

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Our peas have been blooming since last week so we may start picking a few soon.   Also, our onions that we planted in plastic are ready to pick.

About the plastic- this is very new to us this year.   We started planting in plastic mulch as an experiment this season.   I am not crazy about the plastic being on our ground.   However, just very recently a new ground cover mulch made from recycled newspaper has been approved for use n organic farms.   This is very exciting because the results of the plastic mulch have been remarkable.   Our onions in mulch are five times the size of the onions planted in plain ground, and we had no hand weeding at all with the ground cover.   So it looks like this will be a new method for many of our crops to come.   Only we will be using the biodegradable mulch instead of plastic.

I have had many CSA members ask how to get items saved back for them.   We had small amounts of strawberries, and asparagus namely that I know some members missed.   We will still be picking many more strawberries, and maybe a few asparagus stalks too.

We had a couple of families come to volunteer on the farm this weekend, and they took home some strawberries and asparagus, along with some more lettuce (great salad eaters!)

Getting to the markets early will certainly increase your chances of having the very best to chose from!

If you can’t make it to the market early or come to the farm, then email me and I will do my very best to save it for you.

 

Now for what we will have this week-

 

Strawberries

Onions

Broccoli

Lettuce

Fresh baked breads

Lamb’s Quarter

Kale

See you this week!

 

 

 

Happy St Patty’s day everyone! Lettuce pray.

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I took a look around today and I saw life.

Cilantro Ready To Be Transplanted
Cilantro Ready To Be Transplanted

Cold Frame

Edible Flowers and Onions
Edible Flowers and Onions
Swiss Chard and Carrots
Swiss Chard and Carrots
Lettuce and Cauliflower
Lettuce and Cauliflower
Germination Tent
Germination Tent
Edible Flowers and Onions
Edible Flowers and Onions

 

Germination Tent
Germination Tent
Cold Frame
Cold Frame
Cilantro Ready To Be Transplanted
Cilantro Ready To Be Transplanted

 

Lettuce and Cauliflower

 

Kale and Broccoli
Kale and Broccoli
Lettuce and Cauliflower
Lettuce and Cauliflower

I’ll leave you with a little poem I wrote for St Patrick’s Day a few years ago:)

Ode to the Potato

Oh we have misunderstood you, dear potato, taking your children but only a few.   We depended on them to provide for us and when they got sick, we fled.

Oh how we massively mistreated you, giving you a bad reputation, slicing you skinny and frying you in oil.

We didn’t see the beauty, your rich history, your diversity and complexity.

How I long to find your real roots, so I may restore you to your former glory.

I will plant you today with your eyes looking up.

I will respect you whole.

 

Beware the Ides of March

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That theme has rung true this week, and that statement has sounded clear a few times this week.

Oh I have so much to tell you all!

We had a visit from our PCO inspector and was awarded our very official Organic Certification

Organic Certification

We gave a workshop on organic gardening for Care for Creation.   Care for creation is a non-profit organization that has been growing vegetables for food banks and soup kitchens in our area.    Care For Creation is located at the Monastery in Holidaysburg PA.   They welcome volunteers, and if anyone would like to participate you may use the link to their website here:

http://www.thefranciscanfriars.org/c4c

We also had a wonderful Farmer to Farmer workshop here at the farm.   There were close to 40 participants from all over the state.   The high tunnel was part of the workshop.

IMG_3455

Hightunnel at during the workshop

Our hot water heater stopped working early in the week, so Rob spent some time fixing it.   Hot water is back, so nice!

Our high tunnel took a huge spill this week too.   This is what it looked like just hours after our workshop.

IMG_3538

So we picked up the pieces and life goes on.   I would like to thank all of the volunteers that helped us clean up!

We are trying to negotiate a reasonable and satisfactory solution with Grower’s Supply, a division of Farmtek.   We will keep you all updated with any progress on this.

We had a seed starting class on Saturday Morning.   We worked with seeds and seedling transplanting then Saturday afternoon we had Open Farm for tours of the farm.   It was great to meet all of our new farm members and show you what we do here1   Thanks everyone for the support you give!

We are putting up another cold frame so we have a place for all of the beautiful lettuce that’s growing here right now!

It will also be placed over our hot water heating pipes, so we will have some warmth during the really cold nights.   That has worked out really well for us this winter.

This week our hens have been laying oodles of eggs!   We are placing an order for peeps with Myers Poultry Farm.   They are located in South Fork, PA.   We plan to pick up the peeps, rather than have them go through shipping, and if you want to add to our order, we’ll pick them up.   The benefits of a combined order and reduced shipping will save $$$ so consider placing your orders with us.   I would like to have our peeps before Easter, so we have plenty of time to prepare for them.

Here is a link to that website:

http://www.myerspoultry.com/

We will also have spinach this week and Swiss Chard- Oh so exciting to see more veggies:)

I’m so glad the ides of March have passed….Whew!

We’ll see you this week-D