4th CSA basket

You can expect the following in this week's basket:

Shelling peas, head lettuce, kale, spinach, chard, bok choy, tatsoi cabbage, parsley, cilantro, dill, oregano.

Some pictures of things to come...

Fava beans

Broccoli

Swiss chard

Trellised peas

Scallions

Seeding leeks

Cilantro + dill

3rd CSA basket

You can expect the following in this week's basket:

Lettuce mix, head lettuce, arugula, tatsoi cabbage, radishes, kale, bok choy, collards, cilantro, dill... maybe shelling peas if we get some sun

2nd CSA basket

Thanks to all who were able to come out to our member gathering on Friday.

Now that the heat has subsided, we can finish putting a few things in the ground. And we finished prepping our last 2 beds for tomatoes - how did we ever get anything in the ground with all of these rocks and boulders we keep finding??!? Most things are looking good, the garlic is starting to scape... but our eggplants have been targeted by the flea beetles, which I didn't think would ever happen, so we are trying to nurse them back to life.

In this 2nd basket you can expect the following:
lettuce mix (washed and dried), head lettuce, spinach, kale, greens for cooking (chard, vitamin green, Tokyo bekana or braising mix), arugula, radishes, oregano, cilantro, sage

2013 1st CSA basket

Welcome to the season! We'll have out first pick-up today.

Pick-up days are Tuesday or Friday and you can come by the farm between 4-6pm. We'll have the produce available up at our wood shed in the garden and we'll be supplying you with a basket to put your veggies in. There might be times during the summer bounty that we ask you to bring extra bags for yourself.

This week you can expect the following in your baskets:
Kale, chard, spinach, lettuce, radishes, sage, oregano, chives, parsley.

Coming soon... tatsoi cabbage, Chinese cabbage, peas

Some wins and some losses

The dry weather has kept slugs at bay, but the cool temperatures (up until today - hit 90 at 2:30 here) have delayed some vegetable growth (but I did see a pea flower this morning). We've ordered some more meat birds and laying hens and have 3 turkey poults coming our way, but the hawks did get two of our favorite birds - a strong white plymouth rock layer and - sniff, sniff - our lone bantum rooster. All's quiet on Longhaul Farm without the banty's call.

We're pining for June, when we get a reprieve from planting and can focus on maintenance and other tasks around the farm. And this also marks the start of the CSA season, kicking off on Friday, May 31, with a member gathering and distribution of the first basket. We'll update the blog posts weekly so folks know what's coming their way... holding off now because you never know what might explode or whither away in the next 10 days. 

More progress on the greenhouse

With help from Dane, we put up the insulation, outer cedar wall and cap on the greenhouse foundation. Next we'll put up the inner wall... and then, finally, we'll be ready to figure out the actual framing.

Recipe w/ corn + tomatoes

Corn and tomato savory pie (adapted from smittenkitchen.com)

OK, OK, so why am I publishing this recipe in May, when corn and tomatoes are still 3 months away? Because I used my frozen veggies... inspiration for everyone to stock up during peak season for a taste of summer even on a rainy spring day.

Ingredients: pie dough, tomatoes, corn, onions, herb (basil, oregano, thyme, etc.), shredded cheese (I used
cheddar), mayo, lemon juice, butter

Preparing: Make your pie dough - you'll need a top and bottom. Caramelize several onions (I used 6). Spread onions on the bottom pie crust. Then layer tomatoes (I used frozen-then-thawed roasted cherry tomatoes), corn (I used frozen-then-thawed kernels), herbs (I used oregano), salt and pepper, shredded cheese. Repeat the layering. Pour about 1/2 cup mayo whisked with juice from one juicy lemon over the filling. Put the top crust layer on, scoring for steam release. Brush with melted butter and bake at 400F for ~40 minutes, or until crust is perfectly browned.

Eating: Serve with a fresh salad. Can be eaten warm or room temp.

Dish history: I can finally make a good pie dough (thanks, Olga!). Plus, we are chipping away at our frozen vegetables during this spring hunger gap and today's humidity reminded me of a summer pie.

A quenching rain

It's been a dry spring. But today's rain has hopefully soaked the fields to the core so that all of our little seedlings can grow. We are putting in our precious tomatoes, eggplants and peppers this week. And they'll be joining a nice spread of veggies already in the ground: kale, collards, spinach, lettuce, chard, bok choy, Chinese cabbage, carrots, peas, beets, fennel, cilantro, celery, radish, turnip, onions, leeks, parsnips. Basil and beans are following shortly.

Take a look at these before-and-after photos - the first one taken 2 years ago today in 2011; the second taken yesterday.

May 2011

May 2013

2013 April Work-ation

Thank you from the bottom of our double-dug beds to all of our friends, family and neighbors who joined us on Saturday for our Spring Work-ation!

We spent the day yesterday taking in all of the amazing work that was accomplished in just a few short hours because of the time and energy you put in. I'm sure there are some sore muscles and maybe some farmer's tans/sunburns out there in the crowd, but I hope it was well worth it.

Can you believe what we accomplished together?!?... Thank you for:
- planting 1,000 onion plants
- edging and weeding 8 vegetable beds

- harvesting spinach and kale

- prepping 4 new beds for planting
- getting that huge boulder out of the pathway : )
- clearing tons and tons of rocks
- building a beautiful flower bed
- clearing the red pine field

- helping clean all the dishes after lunch

- helping cook in the kitchen while others were outside in the sun
- making the orchard look like a truly beautiful place
- digging 26 blueberry and 2 tree holes

- moving more tons of rocks

- building the fire pit

- shoveling gravel onto the greenhouse floor

- moving that chicken coop!

- consuming lots of food and beer together, and

- singing songs by the bonfire.

It is days like Saturday that remind us how awesome our friends, families and neighbors are. We love building this farm and community with you.

Enjoy some videos and photos...

A frantic day of planting... and now patience

Getting that last tree in

Our 25 fruit trees arrived three weeks earlier than planned, but with a lot of hustle and some crucial babysitting by grandma, the orchard has been planted! We now have Asian pear, Seckel pear, sweet cherry, pie cherry, peach and plum trees nestled into their holes, watered in well and happily mulched. These are 2-year-old trees, so nothing but 3-4 foot wisps, but we are patient - in it for the longhaul - and looking forward to the sweet taste of the summer of 2016.

South-facing view of the orchard

Spring's progress

Wow. What the first warm day of spring will do to you...

I spent today transplanting hundreds of leeks, sowing various radishes, watering in our recent kale, collards, spinach, onion, scallion and shallot transplants, and popping peas back in the ground that had surfaced after watering and wind. It was hot in the sun, but boy did it feel good after what seemed like an excessively long winter.

This photo of the farm shows off our greenhouse foundation wall, tool and wood shed and lots of beds prepped and planted (those that are tunneled off with plastic). We've got hundreds of tomato plants started and almost ready to move out to their holding beds. Peppers are up. Eggplants are up. And I'll be starting some basil, cilantro, dill, chervil and other herbs tomorrow and we'll be transplanting lettuce and chard. Oh, and our tree delivery will arrive any day... the orchard is coming along.

Seneca in her tent while we work in the orchard

The food waste challenge

Did you know that Americans waste at least 40% of their food, from field to fridge?

Call me crazy, but I see 3 loaves of banana bread...

This statistic disturbed me and my friend, Krystal, so we have tackled food waste in our own lives and kitchens and decided to tell our stories at the recent Just Food Conference held in NYC. We were two among dozens of presenters who discussed and struggled with issues of food justice, food sovereignty, farming and food education.


We both intersect the waste stream, preventing food from filling our landfills. We use all of the food parts, re-purpose leftovers into delicious meals, never waste abundance, compost, have animals to feed scraps to, and on Longhaul farm, we collect neighbors' and local businesses' compost all year round.

At the end of our presentation, we issued a food waste challenge. Here's the blurb from our facebook page, which you should check out:

"How much food do you waste? We challenge you to separate out your food waste for a week to see how much you're wasting. We want to hear from you, so post pictures or tell us what you are doing to reduce food waste in your kitchen! Get your family and friends to take the challenge!"

Consider the food insecure, our broken ecological system, the money wasted and the packed landfills the next time you toss a potato with a few eyes or those aromatic parsley stems or last week's leftovers from your favorite restaurant. Once I learned about the ins-and-outs of food waste in our country and the world, it was impossible to go back to my previous ways.

Pigs' pens

Custom-made pig shelter

Yes, Longhaul Farm is getting pigs. Not sure how many (probably 2 or 3) or when yet because our local farm source's sow is ready to sow any day now. But we're getting ready, building a shelter out of felled trees and brush, buying some port-a-huts, ordering fencing, and establishing a reliable (and rather large) source of food scraps.

Portable hut back in the woods

Got 92 cents?

How many of us have a postal worker who will buy them postage? (see picture below... with a UOMe, but still...) Community can be sweet.

Mighty kale

Starting another season indoors... our greenhouse is coming along, but won't be in full operation until after our early starts have been put in the ground. So our seed stations are in effect, grow lights and all. The mighty kale has germinated nicely. We'll be transplanting it out in 3 weeks and soon we'll all be eating it again, feeling good about ourselves and the earth.

The perils of public health

We all know that sodas - or "sugar-sweetened-beverages" or SSBs - are not good for our health. There is ample research to show that rising SSB consumption raises risk for obesity and obesity-related illnesses, such as diabetes and heart disease. I know I cringe when I walk by vending machines vending soda for $2 a bottle in hospitals, schools, prisons and other institutions. I know you wouldn't want your child drinking a cola every day.

And yet, many of us still consume it... in cans-ful, pints-ful, even liters-ful.

So what does a good public health practitioner do? We've tried to "educate" the consumer about how one can of soda is the equivalent of eating 10 teaspoonfuls of sugar. We label things and run public service announcements. We advocate for healthier options in school vending machines. But when these downstream approaches aren't successful, we really have no choice but to point upstream. And that means changing laws, policies and production.

New York City's recent attempt to ban SSBs in sizes over 16 oz in establishments that serve prepared foods was a noble attempt to save the consumer from his/herself. But consumer groups and lobbyists have risen up against this effort, following in previous footsteps, calling out the paternalistic nature of such public health tactics.

Really, does having the "choice" to order a 32-ouncer of coke (i.e., nearly 30 teaspoonfuls of sugar) constitute freedom? Don't we as consumers realize that those super sizes are the profit margin that these big corporations have used to fatten their wallets while they fatten our waistlines anyway? Should we sit back and let our fellow citizens who think they want a half gallon of sugar water poison their arteries, shorten their lifespans and transfer life's unhappiness to the satisfaction of a few slurps from some uber-sweet, addictive beverage?

But on the eve of the super-size-soda ban going into effect, a judge has tarnished the effort, calling it "arbitrary and capricious." Public health's paternalism can only go so far. Don't get in the way of the people and their pepsi.

The season starts

This last week of February -11 weeks before the last average frost date in our area - our farming season begins. Our seed starting station in the front hall is in its place (hopefully the last time we'll have to use it since we'll be putting up our greenhouse this spring). Our cold frame is now a hot frame, full of hot manure and compost to keep seedlings warm at night. And today we started the onion family - red onions, yellow onions, leeks, shallots and scallions.

Farmer's insurance

I wish, when I mention "farmer's insurance," I were referring to the notion that at the very least we'll have food, if not a lucrative salary!

Sadly, I am referring to that giant structure we've created, that is mandatory in some circles, foolish not to get in others, but nonetheless, an additional expense that also dredges up the true complications of our highly legalized world. Insurance no longer feels like a friendly safety net for those times of loss, but rather a preventive measure we must pursue to avoid potential costs associated with our era of frivolous, out-of-control litigation.

I won't dither in our personal woes of trying to obtain insurance for our farm. Instead I'll comment on the broader problem I see happening in the farming world...

A little over a century ago, lots of people were in the farming "business." That is, many people managed their own diverse ecosystem with some crops in the ground and some livestock for meat, dairy and eggs. Then, along came a hefty movement, motivated in large part by two forces: industrialization and a growing population. Born out of this movement was what we now call "conventional farming," a practice of agriculture that creates monocultures. There's a spinach farm here, a broccoli farm there... a dairy farm here, an egg farm there. Farmers become specialized, species are separated. And this is a "good" thing, because, among other things, there is no contamination of plant species with animal manures. The public health community got behind it, the agricultural community got behind it, and the food-purchasing community got behind it, too.

Only now, after at least one generation grew up in a world where packaged, factory-produced food seemed safer and better that conventionally-conventionally (i.e., naturally and biologically) produced food, us farmers are reversing the trend. We are scared by the prospects of mono-cropping and have moved back to diversity. We want to grow a variety of vegetables. And we want to have some animals to supply ourselves with manure and compost. And we might even want to throw in some fruit and situate ourselves next to woodland so we can really be a part of our naturally diversified ecosystem.

But, our system of insurance now has to grapple with this change. Things were simple when you could insure a dairy farmer for everything that could go wrong with a dairy farm and didn't have to worry about that farmer "biting off more than they could chew." Now that you've got dairy farmers who also want to cultivate vegetables and go to farmers markets with their goods, insurance companies are taking pause (to put it nicely). They are starting to realize that they are entering into uncharted waters (that is, the insurance companies have never really had to insure mass amounts of diversified farms because they've become accustomed to the ease of specialization; not that diversified farms are uncharted) and they don't know how to distribute the risk. And this is what they are in the business of.

So instead of distributing risk, running new algorithms, problem-solving how to safely insure this growing movement of small-scale, diversified, biological and organic farms, they are dropping farmers' coverage. Farmers who have paid their premiums and retained policies for years are receiving calls from their insurance companies informing them that they are no longer being granted the "safety net" of insurance.

I interpret this as insurance underwriters being scared of litigation and having to pay out huge sums of money that they had not hedged on before. As new methods for "regulating" these small-scale diversified farms are under development and old ones are being modified (e.g., GAP guidelines), farmers have to struggle to keep up. Or some might choose to ignore. But whichever the case, the potential for increased litigation in an era of chickens living next door to spinach and tomatoes is playing itself out now.

A season's stillness

A good friend took a trip up here this past weekend to take a winter break from the City. He was exactly the right person and came at exactly the right moment to revel in the stillness of a snow-covered landscape, untouched by cars or plows, trodden on only by little feet, basking in the low, lazy winter sun. Barely a breeze, feeling shorter than usual as we sank into the snow up to our knees, the boys tapped a melting sheet of snow off of our wood shed roof. We peeled back the carpet covering our winter compost pile and witnessed the steam of decomposition, some sprouts sprouting and our springtime humus taking form. Appreciating these opportunities to capture the little things the land and nature have to offer is what seasons are for.

Snow cover

The winter storm arrived and now our outdoor work is properly stalled and the ground is properly insulated. We got about 16 inches and - after shoveling - enjoyed the beautiful outdoors.