It's raining, It's pouring.......

As our two year old says "It's raining, it's pouring the mail man is snoring!" We can't correct it for now because it's just too cute! Well the greens in the garden are happy, but we have never had such a rainy season before! Thank you all for coming out to the farm week after week to pick up in the rain! It's a blessing to us to see you each week and have your support! We are also thankful that so many vegetables thrive despite the abnormal growing conditions. I guess that is why it's helpful to grow varieties that are good under organic production. We spend a lot of time in the winter deciding what to grow based on what sounds, looks and tastes amazing, but what will also actually grow here!Soon we'll starting seeing mustard greens and asian greens again, so get ready! The sweet potatoes are also starting to come in. We don't usually harvest them until the last week of October. However last year they were a bit too big and the total harvest was over 1,200 pounds! So we started digging some this week to keep and eye on them. The small, new ones are great to cut and roast as is, no peeling needed! They will get sweeter and bigger as the season goes on. They don't like to be cold at all so keep them on the counter, not in the fridge.We are still making plans for our fall festival, but are looking forward to seeing everyone the 20th of October 10-5pm. We will be making apple butter and doing farm tours!Have a great week and be safe, there is bound to be flooding out there!Blessings,The Bakers

What kind of poppers do we have this week?

Special invitation to to our "Friends and Farm-ily" and anyone who is interested in seeing the farm! We will be having a fun farm open house and Apple Butter Festival October 20th from 10-5pm. Come meet the baby calves, bunnies and our mini horse who finally has a name.....Juniper! More details for the farm day coming soon, but mark your calendars and plan to come enjoy some time on the farm! It marks the final pick up for Summer 2018 Season. November 1st is the start of Winter CSA, details for that coming soon as well.Well if jalapenos poppers are your style, I promise Passion Poppers will be! They are a kiwi berry grown in the US. We love getting them from a farm in PA every year (hope to have our own growing eventually). We are sharing them with you this week in the CSA. As the box states you let them ripen on the counter until they begin to look a little wrinkly and then pop them in your mouth! They are delicious and you won't want to share! We hope you love them as much as we do!I have some awesome recipes to share this week. We were beginning to think we had used every possible way to enjoy eggplant, but since it's been so abundant this year we had to find one more way. A "farm-ily" member mentioned eggplant moussaka so we had to try it! You won't be disappointed. And it freezes well for a last minute meal later on.We are still enjoying peppers and sad to see the tomatoes go so early this year. But the different weather patterns make some things thrive and others struggle. So it was no bumper tomato year, but there was plenty of other veggies to be thankful for. My new favorite pepper recipe is this casserole! You can add any sauteed veggie to it as well as peppers. We serve it over rice for a nice vegetarian dinner (or add ground beef or sausage). When even the 4 year old devours it, I know it's a winner! He loves vegetables, but only raw....not a huge fan of cooked ones yet.It's time for winter squash!!! Best way to eat acorn squash. Spaghetti squash is my second favorite and here is a great way to prepare it. I love it served like pasta with pesto on it. Butternut will be here soon!Enjoy!The Bakers

Fall is around the corner

We are awaiting the cooler weather and so is the garden! The summer crops are still pumping, like eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and green beans. We are having a slow okra season, but hope for a bumper crop soon. Some of you are cheering and some are groaning, I hear you! I love okra any way I use it but I find first time okra fans like this post might help. I love it just plain roasted with butter and garlic and salt, you know me....I don't usually use a recipe, but here is one if you need some guidelines (but skip the bad oil and double the butter).The Squash is back after two successions were mysteriously killed buy some weather issue or bug we couldn't determine. Potatoes, garlic , onions are abundant and sweet potatoes will be harvested in the next month. Which brings me to the mystery green this week.....did anyone know what it was?Sweet potato greens are a wonderful treat and full of vitamins and minerals! Here are some fun ideas for using it.Farm baby updates, we have two precious calves doing great on their nurse cow mama Elise. She had suffered an abscess on her leg and wasn't able to do the long walk back and forth to the pasture we rotate. As we needed her nearby for treatment and nursing back to health we decided a more gentle way to handle her full bag of milk was to let two calves nurse her. She has taken to them splendidly and is healing nicely. She will begin to put weight back on now that she is healing. Next farm baby expected is a baby Baker, due date December 31st!For canning and freezing ideas look here and here. We love to make double when we cook and freeze for a busy day.Don't forget meat pick up from 2-4 this Thursday in the cabin or during regular pick up hours at your dropsite!Keep your eyes open for a special invitation to a fall farm visit we are planning!Blessings,The Bakers

Jalapeno Fun!

If summer isn't tasty enough I just discovered the joy of jalapeno's! Sure I have made poppers before and being a little bit afraid of spicy things I mostly like watching the kids enjoying them, and tentatively eat some. One customer told me he eats raw jalapeno poppers, I am for sure not that brave. However it would be so good for you! For some reason yesterday I decided to add some to our scalloped potatoes thinking that the long baking time would moderate the heat. Boy was I right and the flavor was unbeatable! I just used this recipe and added sliced jalapenos and cooked pork bbq to make it a whole meal. We loved it! Try it out, we don't pack hot peppers in delivery shares, but they are always available at the csa pick up and in the cabin store. The keep a really long time, too!If you haven't tried the fennel yet, this is a great way to enjoy it! And if you don't have goats or bunnies to serve the tops too try some of these great ideas! We love this seldom seen vegetable!We had the first of the three calves born on Monday night! Look at facebook or instagram soon for pictures of her. The littlest farm boy has claimed her as his and named her Blossom. She will be on display near the cabin soon, but right now she is up in the newborn stall in the barn getting lots of little farmer snuggles. She did take a walk with them yesterday and came to the kitchen to visit me! What a silly surprise. We also had a neighbor's donkey get loose and come visit our donkey, he too came up the back porch steps for a visit! Life on the farm!!!OH, and this weekend we are going to try grilling a whole chicken. I plan to rub our bacon rub under the skin and cut the chicken in half along the backbone and splay it open (spatchcock style). We have a charcoal grill so I'll get the coals going and then spread them out to either side and cook it over indirect heat for about an hour. I'll let you know how it goes!Enjoy your week and your lovingly raised goodies from the Bakers!

Week 15, Summer is flying by

Wow, we are enjoying the heatwave after all the rain this summer. Feeling blessed as there are parts of our country where they are experiencing drought, but sometimes it's fun to farm without being in a downpour! We have some great things coming out of the garden right now!Eggplant, Peppers, Shallots, Onions, Basil, Cucumbers, Carrots, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Melons, Green Beans, and Garlic. Squash took a break and will return soon (we lost two sucessions to unknown causes and are waitig for the next to catch up. Lettuce is struggling a bit in the heat, but should be back strong soon. Okra is almost ready, yay!If anyone would like to order bulk cucumbers, peppers, onions or tomatoes for canning please let us know. We will have them soon. My favorite summertime recipe for canning is Rotel. It's somewhat like salsa and somewhat like tomato sauce. A good friend introduced me to a recipe for it years ago and I hear it can be bought in grocery stores, but don't go to those often so I wouldn't know! We use it as salsa in the winter when we miss tomatoes and also in chili or soups. This is my go to recipe, I use honey instead of sugar and have great results and I usually don't use hot peppers, but add more bell peppers.Another favorite right now, as the cherry tomatoes start coming in, is roasted cherry tomatoes with garlic and basil. It's so good on anything! Tonight we had it over quinoa for a simple supper. I just slice mine, toss with olive oil, mix in basil leaves and sliced garlic and roast for about half hour at 350 or until we want to eat! If you need more precise details try this recipe and add the basil.Shallots are the dark pink skinned 'onion' looking items! Here is a fun site with great recipes for shallots, though we tend to just use them like onions, you can be more creative! It wouldn't be summer if I didn't mention my favorite dish.......Ratatouille! My version is to either saute or roast any combo of Eggplant, Peppers, Onions, Shallots, Squash, Garlic or Tomatoes and serve along side meat or with ground beef. I love to make this in huge batches and freeze it for a quick meal or even a winter craving for summer veggies. For a detailed recipe try this!Farm update: We have three cows due to calf in the next three weeks so be on the lookout for some cute babies! We had 6 piglets born last week and they are doing great! Sadly Mama pig doesn't like visitors so we won't be showing them off. We have one kitten left looking for a great home, let us know if you are interested.Enjoy!The Bakers

Happy Independence Day!

We hope you all had a blessed 4th of July filled with family or friends or both, and of course good, local food as we did! We are waiting on the first tomatoes and excited to have peppers by this weekend. It's almost salsa time! It's fun to talk to other farmers and see what is thriving in their gardens. One friend has green beans already but their peppers are behind ours, it's hard to predict!The garlic is amazingly fresh and this week you may also enjoy basil, cabbage, kohlrabi, kale, squash, cucumbers and more! The cooking is easy as any of those items taste good together! My new favorite hot weather meal is this:Brown rice, cooked and cooled and dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, splash of liquid aminos and maple syrup. Chopped cabbage, cilantro and scallions. You can add cooked chicken to make it a main dish or leave as is for a side. It's quick, easy and can be eaten room temperature or cold. OH and we top it with avocado if we have it. Can't wait to add tomatoes to it!We harvested tons of chickens this week in the hot weather and are thankful to have that hot chore behind us. All the equipment worked well and it was a blessing to have it go smoothly. Our next batch arrives next week along with THanksgiving Turkeys! Can you believe we are already planning our and your thanksgiving? We are, in more ways than one. We are also planting brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and more for November!We have a few spots available in the herbal class we are teaching this weekend in Waterford if you are intersted in learning how to keep your family healthy with homemade medicine. We need to know by tomorrow so we can harvest enough herbs for everyone. Let me know if you want to register and have trouble. This is an in depth class and you will take home lots of herbal remedies along with lots of knowledge.Have a great week and Sean and the little farmers look forward to seeing you for meat pick up this weekend 3-5. We enjoyed seeing those of you that came today! Thanks for everyone's patience with the cabin fridge being broken, we hope the part arrives today and that it will be fixed soon.Blessings,Your Farmers

Week 8 Summer is here!

Summer is here! Wow, we enjoy all the garden has to offer this time of year! So many healthy choices, eating local is always fun, but in the summer it's hard to choose what to eat! We enjoy how many different ways to enjoy winter crops since there are less choices. Today we made zucchini boats by scooping out the flesh with a melon baller and chopping it up with garlic scapes and sauteing it with ground beef. Then we mixed in cheese and put it all back in the boats and baked them. Yum! A few nights ago we made the best ever chicken fried steak recipe. It takes a little time, but so worth it!We have also been making our minute steaks in the instant pot (its perfect for making them tender quickly) and then slicing them up for stir fry with rice and summer squash. The onions are almost ready and I can't wait! For Father's Day we got a smoker and smoked some chickens on it. If I loved pasture raised chicken before, I can't tell you how excited I am about this! So juicy and tender and delish! Let's just say the farmer was pleased with his gift!We are still making garlic scape and chive pesto, but the real deal is right around the corner! Basil is here and there is plenty this week! Try this pesto when you can! Scapes can be substituted for garlic nicely. And pesto freezes well.We made our first batch of hay this past weekend and ended up with 35 lovely round bales of nice organic hay that we will use for the cows and horses in the winter. It's always a blessing when the rain holds off and the hay doesn't get rained on during the process. Now we have two more properties to make the hay on and we'll be done until it grows back late summer and we start the process again. Finding three days in a row with no rain can be a challenge, so we were thankful! We are working hard keeping the animals cool during this warm week, but it's good to remember those cold days when water freezes and different things are hard!Guess what was born this week???Have a lovely week and enjoy the bounty!Blessings,The Bakers

Week 6 CSA

Wow, June already! We are enjoying this cool weather, after some really hot and really rainy times! This week your shares have a fun new(to some of you) veggie! Green Kohlrabi!! We love this little gem because it's fun, and you can't go wrong with how you eat it. Raw, baked, stir fried, no wrong way! Even the leaves are edible. We like to put them on grilled cheese sandwiches or chop and saute them. Try these ideas out!If you haven't made anything with your scapes yet, you have to try the pesto! We put some on homemade pizza last night and it was amazing! We used some summer squash that we sauteed first and ground beef, too. It was so good I can't wait for pizza night again. Don't worry there are still some scapes if you have already used yours!We are also loving the salad and happy for that easy side dish almost every night. We alternate between a homemade oil and vinegar, ranch (made with our spice rub in the cabin and homemade sour cream or mayo) and a great asian dressing I make (I tweak this with honey instead of sugar and I use olive oil instead of peanut with a splash of sesame oil).I also made a great salad the other day that made a perfect portable lunch for Sean and the CSA delivery helper this week. The children take turns each week dropping off CSA with him and this week he and Emily got to stop for a picnic at Mom's Apple Pie in round hill after delivery our teas to them. I cooked and cooled some quinoa, cooked a frozen chicken in the instant pot and chopped and cooled the meat, then diced some raw summer squash and salted it and let it sit for 15 minutes. I chopped kale and added to the cooled quinoa and chicken, then rinsed and drained the squash and added it to the mix. Then I poured the asian dressing over it all. It was delicious!OH and we sent some yummy cube steaks out this week, my favorite way to make them is this! I don't make the gravy and we love it without. Scared of how to cook your ham roast? Don't be! I use the instant pot and sautee each side first, then cook for 55 minutes at high pressure with a cup of apple cider and a sprinkle of our bacon rub, then finish in the oven to crisp it up. It's perfect, you could modify with a crock pot as well. Don't forget the bacon rub is also perfect on your bacon and even a chicken!We hope you enjoy the bounty!Blessings,The Bakers