CSA basket: Week of 7/6

This week we'll be processing our first batch of chickens. We've raised them in the forest on organic, non-GMO feed from a NYS farm, and because they are "Freedom Rangers" they are quite good at foraging the forest floor for more protein and nutrients. If you reserved birds earlier this season, you'll get priority, but we'll likely have a few extra for sale during Friday's CSA pick-up.

Thanks to Davoren Farm, we have 2 varieties of summer squash for you this week: Zephyr and Costata Romanesca. Both are sweet and crunchy and good when they are small or even fairly large.

Expect the following in your baskets this week:
Summer squash, green beans, carrots, salad turnips, chard, lettuce, basil, kohlrabi, cabbage, cilantro, parsley, scallions, baby onions.

CSA basket: Week of 6/29

Summer's here and baskets will be a bit more colorful!

And other cute news on the farm: we've got 3 8-week-old pigs. They are happily rooting around in the woods.

Expect the following in this week's basket:
Cabbage, green beans (just a taste), sugar snap peas or shelling peas, kohlrabi, bok choy or chard, hakurei turnips or radishes, kale, lettuce, arugula, basil, parsley, scallion, cilantro

CSA basket: Week of 6/22

We've tasted the first few ripe cherry tomatoes, a sign that they're growing well and will be abundant in a few weeks! Lots of greens this week, so keep enjoying those salads. We also have been making a very simple pasta sauce with them, see recipe here.

Expect the following this week:
Sugar snap peas, hakurei turnip, collards, kale, bok choy,arugula, lettuce, basil, parsley, cilantro.

Recipe w/ greens

Creamy greens pasta sauce
(adapted from here)

Ingredients: Greens (e.g.,  sorrel, collards, tatsoi, spinach, bok choy, kale, arugula), heavy cream, onions or leeks or garlic (or a combo), butter, s+p pasta

Preparing: Saute chopped garlic, onions and/or leeks in a few tablespoons of butter. Meanwhile, roughly chop greens of your choice. Add greens to pan and cook until slightly wilted (less cooking time for spinach, sorrel, arugula; more cooking time for tatsoi, bok choy, collards, kale). Add 1/2 cup to cup of cream and any herbs you want (e.g., tarragon, oregano). Let cream thicken for a minute or two. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.

Eating: We like a squeeze of lemon juice on the pasta and some shaved Parmesan. Our favorite version of this is with sorrel, which has a lemony taste.

Dish history: We tried the original recipe (see here) because we had an abundance of spring sorrel and eggs. And then we used it for a supper served over homemade pig kidney tortellini. The strong lemony-creamy sauce paired well with the powerful kidneys.

CSA basket: Week of 6/15

Garlic scapes!

Somehow the varieties of peas we planted this year have resulted in sugar snaps ripening before the shelling. Expect a fun basket this week:

Sugar snap peas, garlic scapes*, lettuce, bok choy, kale, radishes, hakurei turnips, arugula.

* Scapes are the flowering stems of the garlic plant... they come only once a season, are mildly garlicky in taste and can be eaten raw or cooked.

CSA basket: Week of 6/8

A few days of sunshine and our shelling peas will be ready. And the garlic plants are scaping. June is here.

We are full of lettuce! You'll be getting quite a few heads this week. And likely last of the spinach
(spinach is a long-day plant that is starting to flower with so many hours of daylight).

Expect the following in your basket this week:
Lettuce, Tatsoi cabbage, arugula, kale, collards, spinach (we hope), radishes

~ ~ ~
Radishes are our favorite pickles! Use this recipe for quick pickles that just go right into your fridge: http://longhauling.blogspot.com/2011/08/recipes-with-radishes.html.

CSA basket: Week of 6/1

Finally, some rain! This always seems to happen: serious downpours just as the lettuce is big enough to harvest and the pea plants are getting heavy with pods. This soaking will really make the vegetables boom.

And now that we've arrived in June, with all of the transplants and seeds in the ground, it's time for garden maintenance: weeding, mulching and tomato trellising.

Expect the following in this week's basket:
Radishes, kale, lettuce, spinach, braising mix, arugula, basil, chives.

1st 2015 CSA basket! Week of 5/25

We've been patiently coaxing the greens to grow, the peas to flower and the rain to pour down. And now that the radishes are fat and peppery, it's time for the first CSA basket of the season.

Pick-ups are from 4-7pm on Tuesdays or Fridays on the farm. We'll be up in the shed with baskets and coolers full of fresh produce.

Remember that eggs are always available ($5/dozen) and you can pick-up a compost bucket from us if you'd like to join our compost collective.

Expect the following in your baskets this week:
Lettuce, radishes, Swiss chard, parsley, chives, scallions, leeks, kale/collards

~~~

Here's a delicious collards recipe - no cooking necessary as it's a raw salad. Kale can be easily substituted.

Recipe w/ collards

Collard greens salad w/ ginger and spicy seed brittle

Found in Bon Appetit (April 2015) and copied exactly from this link:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/collard-greens-salad-with-ginger-and-spicy-seed-brittle-56389371

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated peeled ginger
• 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper or 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, divided
• 3 teaspoons honey, divided
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons raw sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
• 1 tablespoon raw sesame seeds
• 1 bunch collard greens (about 10 ounces), center ribs and stems removed, leaves thinly sliced

1. Whisk vinegar, ginger, 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper, and 1 teaspoon honey in a large bowl. Whisk in oils; season with salt.
2. Combine remaining 2 teaspoons honey, remaining 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo pepper, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl. Toast sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame seeds in a dry medium skillet over medium heat, tossing, until sesame seeds are lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add honey mixture and cook, stirring, until seeds stick together in small clumps, about 3 minutes. Scrape seed mixture onto parchment paper; let cool. Break into small clusters.
3. Toss greens and 2 teaspoons dressing in a large bowl; season with salt. Squeeze and rub collards with your hands to tenderize until glossy and darkened in color, about 30 seconds. Drizzle salad with more dressing and serve topped with seeds.

Dish history: We over-wintered our collards so started eating this fresh salad in late March.... also tastes great with kale. The key is massaging the greens in the dressing to tenderize them.

2015 Spring Workation @ Longhaul Farm

Thanks to all of you who came out to the farm for a hard day's work. We prepared a lot of space for planting, got all of our potatoes in the ground and finished off transplanting onions. We are looking forward to sharing the harvest!

Enjoy some pics from the day...

Almost back to work...

It has been a looooooong winter. It was even snowing big, heavy snowflakes yesterday... and that's no April-fool's-day-joke. But, the snow is nearly gone and we are back to work outside with any hint of sun. The greenhouse is in full swing, we have hundreds of tomato, pepper and eggplant seedlings to re-pot, we'll be  hardening-off the onion family in our cold frame once the nights promise not to dip below freezing, and peas and radishes will be seeded in the vegetable beds any day now.  Feels good to be back.

Sign up now for our 2015 CSA season

We invite you to become a part of the Longhaul Farm community 

by joining us for our 2015 CSA season.

 

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, from June to September.

What kinds of vegetables will CSA members receive? You will receive a variety of seasonal vegetables, from arugula to zucchini and everything in between. Please click here to see a list of vegetables we will grow.

When and where are pick-ups? Pick-ups are on the farm on either Tuesday or Friday afternoons (4-7pm), 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 is 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 improvement.

What are your CSA membership options?

(1) Household share: Whatever is seasonal and harvestable, we share with you. The weekly box feeds 2-3 vegetarian adults or a family of 3-4 with mixed diets; includes a variety of 5-15 items. Household share price: $650.

--- Split shares are also available: 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 split shares in 2 ways: (1) every-other-week pick-ups; or (2) dividing weekly pick-ups with each other. Split share price: $325.

(2) Community share membership: Receive a weekly household share of vegetables, plus anonymously subsidize a share for a family who doesn’t have the means to become a member themselves. Community share price: $1,250 ($650 for full share + $600 for the subsidized share).

******** Please reserve your share early – space is limited! longhaulny@gmail.com | (845) 424-6277 ********

You can also purchase naturally-grown, pasture-raised meat and eggs at Longhaul Farm: 

• Chicken: $6/lb – Reserve your chickens for $15/bird
• Turkey: $8/lb – Reserve your holiday turkey for $50/bird
• Pork: $375 for a quarter hog (cut list available upon request) – Reserve with a $50 down payment
• Eggs: $5/dozen – Available year-round

We offer two payment options: (1) full-pay: pay your CSA membership fee and/or meat reservation fees by February 15, 2015 – this option gives us the most freedom as growers because we can rely on early resources throughout the season; or (2) pay in installments: pay half of your CSA membership by February 15, 2015 and the other half can be paid in installments throughout the season based on an agreement we work out together.

Contact us to become a member or learn more:

e: longhaulny@gmail.com

p: (845) 424-6277

a: 69 S. Mtn. Pass, Garrison 10524

w: longhauling.blogspot.com

A Thanksgiving pardon

Call us softies, but when we got requests from three people to spare one of our turkeys... and when Seneca asserted, "but not the old one," when we told her the turkeys were going away... and when she outmaneuvered us endlessly the morning of the harvest... we decided to pardon one of our Black Spanish birds, "the old one," the lady who was always smarter than the rest of 'em and the one, frankly, who we just couldn't bear to do in. There is no wonder such a pardon exists. Enjoy the holiday.

All's quiet on the farm

All's quiet on the farm. (Except for those baby chicks who think it's funny when we chase them each evening in the dark to get them back in their coop, safe and sound.)

Seriously, there is a void on the farm. Our pigs are gone, and the sounds of them frolicking in the woods, eating their feed, moving around in their hut, running up to Jason each morning... all gone. I felt this void last year, too, after we shipped our pigs off to a slaughterhouse to come back as delicious, packaged protein that we thoroughly enjoyed and shared all year long.

But this year's feeling is different, because this year's slaughter was different. There was no shipping off. There were intense, intimate moments with our three pigs up until their slaughter and even just after. With the help of a skilled friend, we took the lives of "the brown one," "Brigitte" and "the other one," as I so affectionately called them. Images from that morning are, thankfully, now ingrained in me. I will never be the same. Which sounds dramatic. But I only wish people could still have such real experiences with life and nature and death in order to grow and situate themselves appropriately in the world and in existence.

When the three of them were dead - when there was silence - I felt so conflicted. I felt respect, joy, sadness, relief, guilt... but mostly I felt love (again, dramatic - but true). I wanted so badly to hug my kid right after the deeds were done (only after I hugged those pigs, of course).

I can't express how thankful I am to have had this experience.

Now 5 days later, after we butchered the pigs under the tutelage of a master butcher right in our very own garage, after we vacuum sealed all of our precise cuts until midnight that evening, and after I cooked up a delicious country-style pork chop for dinner the next day, I'm expecting the cold weather to set in for a winter of rest and reflection.

2015 season begins

Seneca and I started our 2015 planting season last week, planting garlic into some newly prepared beds. Garlic has a long growing season, so the cloves are put in the ground in October in these parts, where they start to grow enough to have a head start in the spring, but not so much that they are damaged by the cold winter to come.

Recipe w/ winter squash

Miso-butternut squash soup w/ black beans and cilantro salsa

Ingredients: onion, olive oil, ginger, cumin, cayenne, butternut squash, miso broth*, cream, cooked black beans, yellow tomatoes, cilantro, shallot, sherry vinegar, salt and pepper

Preparing: Dice your onion and cook gently in olive oil. Add grated fresh ginger, 1-2 tsp cumin, a splash of cayenne pepper and stir for 1 minute. Next add cubed butternut squash, salt and pepper, and miso stock (about 4 cups of stock to one medium squash). Cook until squash is tender. Puree soup until very smooth. Put back on heat and stir in heavy cream (about 1/2-1 cup, to taste), cooked black beans, and chopped yellow tomatoes. Heat through.

Eating: Serve hot soup with this garnish/salsa: cilantro leaves, sliced shallot, 1-2 Tbsp sherry vinegar and salt.

Dish history: Leftover miso-squash soup (original adaptation from here) with some freshy-harvested black beans and end-of-season yellow brandywines... delicious. If you don't like cilantro (shame on you), at least stir in some sherry vinegar to the soup before eating.

* To make miso broth: I suppose everyone has their own method... I heat 1 cup of water for each Tbsp of miso paste. But the key is stirring the miso paste in a small amount of that water until it forms a paste, and then stirring it into the rest of the hot water. Never let miso stock boil.

Recipe w/ parsnips

Parsnips w/ ginger

Ingredients: parsnips, butter, ginger, sour cream, salt + pepper

Preparing: Cut your parsnips into matchstick-thin strips. Blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes. Cook grated fresh ginger in some melted butter for 2-3 minutes. Then add the parsnips, s+p. Next, add sour cream and toss to coat. At this point you can either continue to cook until hot on the stovetop, or pop it in the oven at 375F for about 15 minutes (the latter will result in a drier dish).

Eating: A good side dish to some stewed or braised red meat.

Dish history: Another adaptation from Classic Home Cooking.

October 2014 Workation

Thank you to all who joined our fall workation on Saturday. We had about 60 people join us here for some work in the garden - clearing beds and preparing them for the long winter and even weeding our fruit trees. It really means a lot to us and our farm to see so many friends, family and neighbors come together for a community day.

Enjoy some photos and the recipe for the corn chowder...

Recipe w/ corn

Corn chowder

Ingredients: onions, carrots, celery, olive oil, tarragon, potatoes, sweet potatoes, winter squash, chicken stock, corn, heavy cream, salt and pepper (serves 6-8)

Preparing: Dice your onions, carrots and celery and sweat in a pot with some olive oil. Meanwhile, chop potatoes (we don't peel ours), sweet potatoes and winter squash (we use butternut squash and delicata) to desired size, about 1/2 inch chunks. Once onions are translucent, add tarragon and salt and pepper and stir for 1 minute. Next add potatoes, squash and 4 cups of chicken broth and 4 cups of water. Simmer, partially covered, until potatoes and squash are tender. Then add corn kernels from about 4 ears of corn (if frozen, be sure to thaw them beforehand) and 2 cups heavy cream. Heat to hot and taste for salt.

Eating: Add grated cheddar cheese to each soup bowl and ladle the hot chowder on top.

Dish history: Made this for our 2014 October workation - a nice, hot soup on a cold, rainy day.

Final CSA basket

Baby chicks have arrived!

We have reached the end of our CSA season - thanks to you all for being a part of it!

Expect the following in this final basket:
Potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, peppers, eggplant, beets, radishes, kale, braising mix, arugula, lettuce, parsley, leeks