Most recipes and the French have always called for the "white and pale green parts" of the leeks only. But then what do you do with those leek greens? Please cook with them! You can chop them up and cook them as you would onions. They add green to your dishes. They are great with eggs, in risottos, on pizzas, in soups and many other meals that start off with the classic carrot, celery and onion sweat (in place of the onions). If you have a juicer, you can also juice the greens and use them as a base to a delicious salad dressing or marinade. Just another step to reducing food waste...
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Eating leek greens
Most recipes and the French have always called for the "white and pale green parts" of the leeks only. But then what do you do with those leek greens? Please cook with them! You can chop them up and cook them as you would onions. They add green to your dishes. They are great with eggs, in risottos, on pizzas, in soups and many other meals that start off with the classic carrot, celery and onion sweat (in place of the onions). If you have a juicer, you can also juice the greens and use them as a base to a delicious salad dressing or marinade. Just another step to reducing food waste...
Enjoying flowers for more than their beauty
![]() |
| Yellow kale flowers |
When a vegetable plant flowers, wanting to "go to seed," the tiny flowers are a delicious garnish to salads, soups, potatoes, eggs or anything else. Scallion and leek flowers taste oniony and add a teeny-tiny crunch. Arugula flowers are peppery. Kale an other brassica flowers are spicy and mistardy.
So don't throw them away or pass them by! Enjoy them on your next meal.
Monday, May 19, 2014
Making minds meet
On May 3rd we convened a group of friends on a Saturday to discuss daunting issues related to the sustainability of our ecology, our economy and our health.
Walking the mundane - towards a productive urban landscape
We started from the premise that we all accepted the idea that the
way the great majority of us currently live is unsustainable, and that continuing on the same course
without deep change will leave a world behind for the next generation that is
increasingly unhealthy, unhappy, unequal, and unable to sustain a growing human
population.
We have become impatient waiting for scientific or political consensus on
the exact degree to which we are in trouble, and believe together we must begin
the work of envisioning a more sustainable and joyful way of life at both the
individual and societal levels.
And so we turned to our
friends to join in this work.
With just one day planned for talks, we invited a small group of people across different disciplines to talk about where they and their worlds fit into these issues. With representatives from the fields of research, environment, public health, law, social justice, media and journalism, food and agriculture, landscape architecture, planning, design, art and culture, and politics, we sat together with family and engaged in serious dialogue for eight hours. Each talk was inspiring, imformative and eye-opening, some even revolutionary. (see the speakers and topics below.)
Now that we've met, exchanged ideas, gotten the ball rolling, we have to keep the momentum up. We can't let these ideas fizzle in the summer heat. So we'll start acting and reporting back on some of our progress.
~ ~ ~
Inaugural convening of "Meeting of Minds"
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Agenda:
Abrupt climate change or abrupt societal transformation? Which comes first?
Radley Horton, Research Scientist, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University
Radley Horton, Research Scientist, Center for Climate Systems Research, Columbia University
Reversing the reversing trend in life expectancy: Corporate and cultural responsibilities in promoting the public’s health
Jocelyn Apicello, Farmer, Longhaul Farm | Educator, William Paterson University and Bard College Prison Initiative
The opportunities and limitations of ethical consumption
The opportunities and limitations of ethical consumption
Dahni-El Giles, Attorney | Social entrepreneur
The reality of making a living in the sustainable food system
The reality of making a living in the sustainable food system
Pablo Elliott, Farmer, Marble House Project
Walking the mundane - towards a productive urban landscape
David Seiter, Principal, Future Green Studio
News organizations today and the shift towards sustainable communications
News organizations today and the shift towards sustainable communications
Ned Rauch, Environment Reporter, The Journal News
Art & social activism: From the farm to Sao Paolo
Art & social activism: From the farm to Sao Paolo
Cannon Hersey, Artist | Organizer
Undamming the mass movement: Exploring barriers to sustainability progress at the government, community, and individual levels
Undamming the mass movement: Exploring barriers to sustainability progress at the government, community, and individual levels
Jason Angell, Farmer, Longhaul Farm | Advocate
Monday, May 12, 2014
The chickens and the crows: A love story
I can't begin to explain the wonder I feel when I think about the relationship that is going on between our chickens and the crows.
Let me back up a bit... we live in hawk country. I mean HAWK country. Herds of them, flying overhead, sitting in our red pines, swooping right down into our backyard to pick-up a field mouse (you should see Seneca's impression of this). And worst of all: attacking our chickens. They just do it for sport... spot them, swoop down on them, pin them, and peck them enough to kill, but not enough to enjoy a meal. It's cruel, but nature.
And the strangest part about these hawks praying on our laying hens is the wild crows' reactions. When a hawk perches itself on a low branch, just above our chicken coop, ready to take any bird oblivious enough to be taken (i.e., any of them), a pack of crows starts cawing. Loudly. And they begin to dart at the hawk, not scaring it, just annoying it enough because the chickens scramble to the underbrush and the hawk has now to deal with 3 to 4 screaming crows in its face. We even see the crows chasing the hawk in thy sky, mid-flight, darting at it as it glides away. And now whenever I hear screaming crows, I throw Seneca on my back, slip on some boots and run outside to make sure our layers are ok.
I am not quite sure why those crows protect our chickens. But here's my theory: the crows love our compost piles, we love our chickens, so the crows protect our birds. And now we love the crows, too.
Let me back up a bit... we live in hawk country. I mean HAWK country. Herds of them, flying overhead, sitting in our red pines, swooping right down into our backyard to pick-up a field mouse (you should see Seneca's impression of this). And worst of all: attacking our chickens. They just do it for sport... spot them, swoop down on them, pin them, and peck them enough to kill, but not enough to enjoy a meal. It's cruel, but nature.
And the strangest part about these hawks praying on our laying hens is the wild crows' reactions. When a hawk perches itself on a low branch, just above our chicken coop, ready to take any bird oblivious enough to be taken (i.e., any of them), a pack of crows starts cawing. Loudly. And they begin to dart at the hawk, not scaring it, just annoying it enough because the chickens scramble to the underbrush and the hawk has now to deal with 3 to 4 screaming crows in its face. We even see the crows chasing the hawk in thy sky, mid-flight, darting at it as it glides away. And now whenever I hear screaming crows, I throw Seneca on my back, slip on some boots and run outside to make sure our layers are ok.
I am not quite sure why those crows protect our chickens. But here's my theory: the crows love our compost piles, we love our chickens, so the crows protect our birds. And now we love the crows, too.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Brooding baby chicks
We've got week-old Freedom Rangers out on pasture, foraging in the grass and soaking up sunshine. These future broilers are already showing happy signs of life, fighting over food, playing and sometimes ruffling their feathers at one another. Jason has built a proper home for them where we can control the temperature with heat lamps, secure them from predators, and be sure they have enough space to grow. Seneca is enjoying bossing them all around, although she'll be surprised in just a few weeks when this flock of 30 becomes adult-sized.


Monday, April 21, 2014
2014 April Work-ation
Thanks to all who came out for our 2014 April Work-ation! 
The power of many hands helped us prepare 33 beds for planting, dig a
new bed for asparagus, haul 13 loads of horse manure, innoculate 40 logs
with mushroom spores, build 2 raised flower beds, sink 3 berry fence
posts and begin the daunting task of cleaning up our new West field. And
thanks, too, to all who helped in the kitchen, with washing up, with
picking up rocks and building compost piles.Please send along photos you wouldn't mind having me post on our site.
Here's to a successful season...
Friday, April 4, 2014
Is Food too Cheap?
It’s not easy getting behind the idea of purposefully making
food more expensive.
Industrialized food production, global transportation networks, and the
concentration of food distribution into mammoth corporations have made food
cheaper than ever in developed countries.
This can only be a good thing, right? Particularly for poor people, who have
to make every dollar stretch as far as possible. But with endless articles about the new American farmer
movement and the need to build a “sustainable food system”, we have to wonder
if food is too cheap to make being a small-scale organic farmer financially sustainable.
China and the Coming Urban Waste Crisis
For the first time in human history, the majority of us live in cities. One hundred years ago, 2 out of 10 people lived in cities, as of 2010 just over 5 of 10 people live in cities, and it is projected that 7 out of 10 people will live in cities by 2050. One could say both positive and negative things about this development, but regardless of what you think of urban life, it is undoubtedly here to stay for the near future.
The process of urbanization has largely been caused by the transition from agriculture-based economies to modern economies based on manufacturing, technology, and services. As farms have become largely mechanized and consolidated into large-scale operations, farmers without work have moved to cities to find new jobs. This process has repeated itself in developed countries throughout the world.
From an ecological point of view, the urbanization of society presents a real dilemma. Humans need a fair amount of basic resources to survive: adequate food, fresh water, and homes with basic heating and sanitation. At a Western standard of living, these needs greatly multiply. Urban areas consist of great concentrations of people living in small geographic spaces. These concentrations of people cannot produce the resources they need to live from within the area where they live, so they must be brought in from outside of the city. All of these needs must be met with resources and once used all of these resources produce waste.
Why Buying American Could Help Solve Our "E Problems"
What started first -- our addiction to cheap goods or the exodus of American manufacturing jobs overseas? It’s hard to say, as each feeds the other: the more cheap goods we buy, the poorer we become and the more demand we create for cheap goods. If left unchanged, this dynamic must inevitably trap a growing number of Americans in a low-wage economy and accelerate our environmental problems (the “E” problems).
Most
of us don’t think about the story behind each thing we buy. This is not surprising,
as the story is both complex and it’s often not in the best interest of the
producer to tell it to us. A
recent National Public Radio initiative, “The Planet Money T-shirt Project”,
attempts to unpack one of these stories by following an order of 25,000
t-shirts from cotton farm to manufacturing to final delivery. The project goes a long way towards
explaining how our current consumer culture supports an unsustainable global
economy.
In
a forthright interview, the CEO of Crystal, the Columbian company that makes
the women’s Planet Money t-shirts, sums up the operating principles of modern
production concisely:
![]() |
| The garment worker commute in Bangladesh. |
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Spring's first salad
One of the hardest tasks for me is "thinning."
I've spent many minutes sowing delicate little seeds into our homemade-soil blocks. I read the germination rate on the seed package and sometimes sow extra seeds in each hole to be sure at least one of them germinates. Then we wait, trying to maintain optimum soil temperature and humidity.
And the plants start to come up.
But then that sad day comes when I have to thin the seedlings, when I have to terminate the life of the seemingly weaker plant so that the stronger one can have the space and nutrients to thrive. Those cute, perky little kale and collard green starts look so fresh and so hopeful - but some of them have to go. In previous years it had been so difficult for me to thin that I just didn't do it. And what we ended up with were two spindly seedlings in one tiny space whose dense root systems were ripped apart upon transplant. Not good.
So I've reframed our art of thinning this season for peace of mind: spring's first salad.
I've spent many minutes sowing delicate little seeds into our homemade-soil blocks. I read the germination rate on the seed package and sometimes sow extra seeds in each hole to be sure at least one of them germinates. Then we wait, trying to maintain optimum soil temperature and humidity.
And the plants start to come up.
But then that sad day comes when I have to thin the seedlings, when I have to terminate the life of the seemingly weaker plant so that the stronger one can have the space and nutrients to thrive. Those cute, perky little kale and collard green starts look so fresh and so hopeful - but some of them have to go. In previous years it had been so difficult for me to thin that I just didn't do it. And what we ended up with were two spindly seedlings in one tiny space whose dense root systems were ripped apart upon transplant. Not good.
![]() |
| Spring's first salad |
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Sausage stuffing
That fine-looking 5-lb-capacity sausage stuffer had been staring me in the face for too long. Despite the long winter, we hadn't yet attempted to transform our ground pork into the delicious thing we call sausage. But the time had come... spring was here, the snow was melting, a good friend was in town to join in the festivities, and we had planned an over-the-top stuffed leg-of-lamb dinner for the weekend that called for Mexican-style chorizo.
So 11 pounds of ground pork went through the processor and we mixed up 4 flavorful sausage stuffings: a classic Sicilian-style sausage with fennel seeds; a garlic sausage; a luganega sausage that included freshly grated orange and lemon zest in it; and, of course, the chorizo, which had ancho chile pepper, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, cloves, pepper, bay leaf, nutmeg, cinnamon, paprika, cayenne, garlic and salt in it. We got our hands dirty, deep in pork fat and spices. We mastered those natural pig intestine casings (how cool to see them expand under the faucet water as we rinsed them of their salt preservative). We figured out the timing and pressure on the sausage stuffer. And we froze about 50 sausages for the future.
Friday, March 21, 2014
On the first day of spring
On the first day of spring, my true love gave to me a beautiful day to be working outside.I saw ground for the first time on our vegetable beds. The snow melt from the mountains is now gently trickling down our seasonal streambed. We pruned our fruit trees with a great friend of ours visiting from overseas. We tidied up the greenhouse, anticipating being able to put our tomato, eggplant and pepper starts out there in just a few days. We unloaded the 2000 pounds of organic potting soil we bought from a local farm. We trekked up to the compost pile for the first time in weeks. And back inside the house, we made some delicious homemade sausages (more on that in a later post).


We are officially delayed in our planting now (usually we get the peas in the ground today), but I feel hopeful that it will start soon. We've adapted to the weather and we're anxiously enjoying our last few days of "vacation."
Saturday, March 15, 2014
In the greenhouse
This will certainly be a learning curve for us. We're using heat mats to keep soil temperature around 70, but daytime temps can be over 100 degrees and nighttime temps dip to near 32. It's amazing the wide temperature range one structure can produce. So we're using our go-to technique of "hooping up" - we put greenhouse plastic tunnels over the seedlings at night to trap in heat and moisture.
After this week's forecasted snow (?!) passes, we're hoping more spring-like weather will settle in, so water sources can be turned on, the ground starts to thaw and we can get our shovels in the soil.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
The season begins
But the seeds must start. Our beautiful new greenhouse is just waiting to be put to use - and once nights don't drop too far below 32, we'll be able to move all of our starts out there.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Holy homemade bacon
This is one of those times when you try something and you really, truly know you will never, ever go back to the way it was.We cured our fresh pork belly last week with sugar, blackstrap molasses, salt and pepper, following this recipe, and just cooked some up this morning. Wow. It was so delicious. We were planning on smoking the slabs, but have decided against it because it is just too darn good. This stuff won't be for sale, friends... we are keeping it for special dinners (like tonight's V-Day homemade pizza-by-the-fire), lazy Sunday mornings, and maybe a lucky Supper Club or two.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Rendering
With 20 pounds of leaf lard in our freezer from our pigs, I decided to render the lard. Leaf lard is, at room temperature, very soft and oily, almost spreadable. But there is still a bit of muscle in there, so it has to be rendered at a low heat to be able to strain out impurities. So I chopped about 3 pounds up, put it in a baking dish, and baked it at 300 for a little less than 2 hours, following a simple "recipe" from Flying Pigs Farm. I strained the lard into ice cube trays for freezing and some into the small mason jar that is ready to use tonight for sauteeing vegetables, making pie crust, roasting potatoes, frying an egg, or for pretty much any other dish you'd use bacon fat in. We'll offer some to our pork customers - save money by not having to buy butter, which goes for about $5 per pound for organic unsalted (and, believe me, doesn't cook up savory dishes as flavorfully).
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Your not-so-standard Super Bowl fare
But we spiced it up with some non-traditional tastes. Making room in our chest freezers for all of our delicious pork, we thawed out 40 chicken feet and one pig's tail. Think: "buffalo chicken feet" and "brined, braised, broiled tail."
It was a lot of work. Chicken feet: clean, clip off claws, boil for an
hour, bake to dry out, deep fry and toss in buffalo chicken sauce. Tail:
brine for 24 hours, braise for 3 hours, rest for 8 hours, broil for 30
minutes. And it didn't taste all that great. But it was so worth the adventure (and the extra square foot of freezer space).
Thursday, January 30, 2014
How to put a price on our pigs?
We purchased our piglets from a
local farm. They were born to two happy, healthy parents who grew up on that
same farm, foraging in Hudson Valley woods, living in spacious huts with access
to plenty of sun, shade and water. When the piglets came to our farm, we gave
them the same treatment. They had their own house and fresh forest ground to
root around in for acorns and insects. They roamed and slept and pranced around
all day in our woods. They had fresh water every day. We made mud pits for them
in the summer heat so they could cool down. We fed our pigs grain and supplemented
it with delicious table scraps that came from our kitchen and yours. When it
came time, we brought them to a clean, family-run facility that prides itself
on its humane practices and attention to detail.
Now, we have their delicious,
carefully-raised meat to share with you. If you’ve only ever eaten pork from a
grocery store, you will be utterly shocked by the difference in quality and
taste. The meat is redder and flavorful. The fat is melt-in-your-mouth.
We’re a small operation. We were
able to keep track of every expense we put into raising our two pigs. The price
of our cuts reflects the price it costs small, sustainable growers to raise
meat in this country.
The intensive pig farming that
happens in the U.S. which raises domestic pigs to slaughter weight indoors in
massive structures, on GMO-corn-feed, with antibiotics to encourage growth, and
with few, if any, opportunities to be a
pig raises animal welfare concerns. This is the standard way that we raise
meat to feed our nation. And this is the standard meat that a majority of us
feed to our families. Learn more about it and consider trying humanely,
sustainably raised meat. You’ll pay more in dollars. But you may decide it’s
worth the benefits.
Pork sale!
Good news! Longhaul Farm now has pork available for
purchase. You might have seen our happy pigs foraging or roaming through the woods
of our farm this past season - this is as local as it gets. All cuts were flash
frozen at their peak freshness. Available cuts and pricing are listed below.
We will be “open” to sell pork this Friday, January 31, from
11am to 7pm and Saturday, February 1, from 9am to 2pm. Just come on by.
Enjoy some breakfast sausage patties in the morning… cook up
some delicious pulled pork or loin chops for Superbowl Sunday… enjoy a slow
Sunday roast… or stock up your freezer for an upcoming party… and we have delicious recipe ideas to share.
|
Pork cuts (size of
cuts)
|
$/lb
|
|
Loin roast (4-6 lbs)
|
9
|
|
Pork butt roasts, boneless (3-5 lbs)
|
9
|
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Rib roasts (4-6 lbs)
|
9
|
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Shoulder roast (5-8 lbs)
|
9
|
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Ham steaks (1-2 lbs)
|
9
|
|
Pork loin chops (1-3 lbs; packages of 2)
|
10
|
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Fresh pork belly (1-2 lbs) *
|
6
|
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Fresh ham (10-12 lbs)
|
9
|
|
Fresh hocks (2-3 lbs)
|
3
|
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Breakfast sausage, pattie-style (1 lb)
|
7
|
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Feet (3-4 lbs)
|
3
|
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Tail (1-2 lbs)
|
3
|
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Leaf lard or fatback (3-6 lbs)
|
3
|
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Neck bones (2-4 lbs)
|
3
|
Monday, January 13, 2014
Please join our 2014 CSA community!
What is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)? In CSA, a farm offers "shares" or
memberships to the public. In return for your investment you receive a weekly
box of freshly harvested produce throughout the growing season, typically from
June to September/October.
What are your member options? We offer two membership options:
(1) Household share membership: Whatever is
seasonal and harvestable, we’ll share with you. The weekly box should feed 2-3
vegetarian adults or a family of 3-4 with mixed diets and include a variety of
5-15 items, season and weather-permitting. Household share price: $700.
--> Split shares are also available. For a small farm
with limited hands, a ‘split share’ will make harvesting more manageable. You may split your
share with a friend or neighbor. Or, if you’d like to split but don’t have
anyone in mind yet to share with, we can do the pairing up for you. People
often split shares in two ways: (1) every-other-week pick-ups; or (2) dividing
weekly pick-ups with each other. Contact us for more information. Split-share
price: $350.
(2) Community share membership: Receive a
weekly household share of vegetables (see [1] above), plus anonymously
subsidize shares for families who don’t have the means to become members
themselves. Community share price: $1,350 ($700 for full share + $650 for subsidized share).
What kinds of vegetables will CSA members
receive? Members will receive a variety of seasonal vegetables - here's a tentative list: | Late spring |
Summer
|
Early fall
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Arugula
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Basil
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Brussels sprouts
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Beets
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Carrots
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Cabbage
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Bok choy
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Cherry tomatoes
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Celeriac
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Broccoli
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Chives
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Chinese cabbage
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Broccoli raab
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Cilantro
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Collard greens
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Kale
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Cucumbers
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Kale
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Lettuce
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Eggplant
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Lettuce
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Peas
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Fennel
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Mustard greens
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Radishes
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Garlic
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Parsnips
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Spinach
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Green beans
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Pumpkins
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Tatsoi cabbage
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Herbs (dill, sage, etc.)
Heirloom tomatoes Melon Parsley |
Rutabaga
Spinach Sweet potatoes Swiss chard |
Peppers (hot and sweet)
|
Turnips
| |
Potatoes
Scallions
Summer squash
Swiss chard
Tomatillos Tomatoes for canning |
Winter squash
| |
When and where are pick-ups? Pick-ups are on the farm on either Tuesday or
Friday afternoons (4-6pm), your choice.
Will Longhaul Farm’s CSA be different from other
CSAs? We follow a similar model of
CSA as most local, organic farms. The main difference between our CSA and
others is that our CSA will be small-scale, offering up to 30 memberships per season. That means we can provide
more individual attention to you as members and collaborate on ideas for
improving the current CSA model. We hope our smallness leads to more
flexibility and a more satisfying season for both us and our members.
How you can become a member: Space is limited. Please contact us at longhaulny@gmail.com
or (845) 424-6277 to become a member. We offer two payment options: (1)
full-pay: pay your membership fee by February 15, 2014 – this option
gives us
the most freedom as growers because we can rely on early resources
throughout
the season; or (2) pay in 2 installments: pay half of your membership by
February 15, 2014 and the other half by June 1, 2014. If you would like
to request
additional payment options, just contact us and we will work something
out.
Other ways you can participate in Longhaul Farm’s
season:
(1) Buy Longhaul Farm naturally grown, pasture-raised meat and eggs:
(3) We will hold classes on food preserving, food preparation, food waste, gardening skills and other educational issues. There will be a fee for participation in the classes. We are looking forward to these small group gatherings where we can share ideas and learn a skill or two together. We will send out more information regarding 2014 classes in the coming months.
- Chicken: $6/lb - Reserve your chickens for $15 per bird
- Turkey: $8/lb - Reserve your holiday turkey for $50 per bird
- Pork: pricing depends on cut - Reserve your pork for $50 down
- Eggs: $5/dozen - Available year-round
(3) We will hold classes on food preserving, food preparation, food waste, gardening skills and other educational issues. There will be a fee for participation in the classes. We are looking forward to these small group gatherings where we can share ideas and learn a skill or two together. We will send out more information regarding 2014 classes in the coming months.
Supporting our neighbors
with local, nutritious food and a spirit of community is an important part of
Longhaul Farm’s mission that we look forward to fulfilling throughout the year.
If you have any questions or would like to join, please be in touch: call us at
(845)424-6277, email us at longhaulny@gmail.com, or just do it the old
fashioned way and drop by at 69 South Mountain Pass.
Monday, January 6, 2014
The bushel basket
I agree it is a sad fact that our pigs are no longer with
us, but I write this post for edification, for others who might have to corral
their swine into a vehicle of sorts to transport them to their final
destination.
* * * * *
We read in several reliable sources, and listened to the
sage advice of experienced livestock farmers, to leave double the time you
would expect to load your pigs. So with an 8am appointment at Hilltown Pork on
January 2nd, we spent the evening of our first day of 2014 hanging
out in the woods with our two 6-month-old, 300-pound pigs. After rigging up a
truck+cap (forgoing the trailer since a snowstorm was predicted for
transport-time), we collected our most delicious compost buckets ever to entice
the pigs into the truck’s bed. Just Jason and I, we did manage to get our
heavier, greedier, not-as-smart pig to follow the slop bucket and Jason into
the bed, chowing down on some beef liver that yours truly cooked up just for
the occasion. But then, the not-as-smart farmers lost it all when our second
pig squealed, freaked out by the sight of the confined space, sensing what was
to come, signaling to the other one to break free. And that’s what they did.
Broke free. Around 5pm, in the last of the daylight, into the woods, with the
electric fence down, and two tired, broken-down farmers silently watching them
graze the new ground they found themselves on. What could we do?
We let them go to bed in their pig hut. That’s what they
wanted after all, it was bedtime.
Getting an appointment for slaughter was a difficult task.
And the coming days of winter did not promise any easier moving opportunities,
with snow cover to come, bad driving conditions, and frigid temperatures
forecasted. We knew we had to get them into the truck and upstate on the
morning of January 2nd. So we called three neighbors, who at 8pm
that night, agreed to meet us in our fields at 7am the next morning.
I didn’t really sleep that night, having lost my dignity
trying to move the pigs to no avail, despite being physically exhausted from
the work of pushing such strong, heavy beasts, and running through how I
thought the morning’s corral would go. We had the “V” all ready, the corralling
boards made up nice with handles and everything, we re-read our reliable
sources, called again our experienced farmer friend, and felt confident that using
panels to calmly nudge the pigs to their destination and block their sideview
so they could go nowhere but forward would take us 5 adults just a few tries,
with assured success.
The pigs were still sleeping at 7:05, as daylight just
broke. They usually sleep until 8 or 9, but Jason was sure they’d wake up with
the second batch of delicious food scraps we brought up. And wake up they did,
following him the 200 feet all the way to the narrow path we created that led
to the truck after one final left turn at the big maple tree.
But that’s where it ended. The sight of the red truck sent
one pig straight into the electric fence, rooting it up but being shocked as he
did so. In five seconds, they were both free. Again. Into the woods, with the
electric fence down, and five shocked people looking on. We thought we had had
them. But my confidence sank after the previous night’s failure. We spent the
next hour and a half using the “V”, our panel boards, long sticks, calm voices,
patience, petting, prodding, tantalizing buckets of food slop, to lure them
back our way. Maybe we’d get just one in again, and that would have been enough
for me. Maybe we’d get none in and we’d have to seal the deal on our own farm
in the coming days or weeks.
But thank god for youtube. (never though I’d say it…). Frank
had done some research the previous night and told us about the
bushel-basket-over-the-head trick: when a pig’s head is covered, he wants
nothing else but to back out of that bucket. And if you have someone daring
enough to keep that bucket on, and another person daring enough to steer the
pig backwards by the tail, you might just get your pig to where you want it to
go.
So we did. In 2 minutes, Frank and Jason got our big one
backed up 200 feet into the truck, taking it but 3 seconds after we slammed the
bed door shut to find some more food we left for it to settle down and
munch. But could we really get the second? Could we time the door drop
perfectly, without scaring the captured one to break free?
Yes, we could. Frank and Jason got the smaller but smarter
one backed up 195 feet to the edge of the truck door, Luke and I dropped the
bed door and raised the paneling, the pig’s foot slipped under the door and
down the stone wall it was propped up on, and Frank and Jason bench-pressed that
300-pound pig into the bed as we slammed that door fast. Pig is magnificently
strong, but man can be surprisingly stronger.
Then we were off for upstate. I’ll spare you the rest of the
story of the treacherous road conditions and slaughterhouse arrival. But I’ll tell
you… throwing food scraps into the “pig bucket” just isn’t the same now.
Lessons learned:
(1) When
corralling your pigs, if you must: listen to the old-time farmer who swears by
his bushel baskets.
(2) You
must: learn to do it all yourself, for the honor of eating your meat. Next year
on Longhaul… raise, thank, slaughter, butcher, eat.
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