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
Week 12 summer CSA
What lovely weather today is! It's been so hot and muggy we appreciate a cool morning and so do the animals and vegetables! We hope you are all having a wonderful summer and maybe enjoying some travel. We will be going to a short family farming conference the last weekend in July. We are looking forward to staying with friends and enjoying some time in fellowship and learning good things to help us grow and live better. There will be come herbal classes by my favorite herbalist, Rachel Weaver, and we can't wait to attend. She has several books that I find so helpful in keeping our family healthy. The first one I ever got is called "Be Your Own Doctor" and it's packed full of great info.We have been really enjoying our hams lately and I have posted before our favorite recipe, but I will recap here....I make a brine of 3/4 c sea salt and 1 cup maple syrup, and about a gallon of water and mix it up in a stock pot. I then place a ham in it in the fridge. If I put it in frozen I let it brine for 5 days, if it's thawed I do 3 days. Then I take it out of the brine and bake in the oven at 325 until it reached 160 degrees. You can make a glaze, but I never do. It is so amazing my family never leaves a scrap. We try and do a few at a time so we can also slice it thin for sandwiches the next day. The best part is the brine is reusable (assuming you keep it in the fridge). We like to put a chicken in it next and do the same thing. I have used the brine up to 4 times before dumping it.Now for the exciting news! The tomatoes are coming in! I'd say finally, but really we are only at the brink of tomato season, but it never comes soon enough for me! Then when it comes, whew it comes! We will have canning tomatoes for extra purchase in the next few weeks. Just let us know if you'd like some (cabin pick up only). We have some kohlrabi still, lots of summer squash, first potato harvest is happening, the onions and garlic are all in and stored in the walk in cooler. That is a huge project and we are always thankful to see it finished. Cucumbers are going strong and peppers. The kale and lettuces are slowing down in the hot weather, but still some to be enjoyed. If you are running out of ideas for all the squash we are blessed with then try this au gratin recipe, it looks great! I for one, can saute it in butter with onions and never tire of it!That's it from the farm, hope you are enjoying it all!Blessings,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
Week 4 Summer CSA
Well, the sunshine is back and the garden and farmers are thankful! We have some delicious salad and veggies coming your way this week! Baby leaf lettuce, head lettuce, cucumbers, radishes, baby bok choi, and lacinato kale! We have been enjoying lots of salads and we made rabbit pie with bok choi and chard. We had some very old and sad looking white sweet potatoes and here is what we did: (Inspired by attempting to make out of season shepherds pie.)I cooked one rabbit (purchased from the Day Spring Farm kids) in the instant pot with 3/4 cup water and salt and herbs for 15 minutes. While it was cooking I chopped a bunch of chard, stems and all and 3 baby bok choi and sauteed them. Then added 2 cups of frozen marinara (from last summer) and covered to simmer. Then I took the rabbit out of the pot to cool and added the peeled sweet potatoes cut into 3 hunks. I let them cook on high in the instant pot for 20 minutes and I went out to harvest lettuce for CSA. When we headed in we pulled the rabbit off the bones and added to the simmering veggies and sauce. Then drained and mashed the sweet potato with some butter and salt and topped the dish with them. Pictures on facebook and instagram, let's just say yum, it was a hit! So we named it rabbit pie! When the carrots are back in season, we will do shepherds pie!I also can't wait to make this cocoa as a treat now that I have more gelatin. Don't get me wrong homemade bone broth from your bones and chicken backs is an excellent way to get nutrients, but this is one fun way!Frothy Hot Cocoa(and if there are leftovers that you put in the fridge they become pudding!)4 Cups Raw Whole Milk1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder1/4 Cup Raw Honey or Maple Syrup1/4 Cup Grass Fed Gelatin2 Tbs Grass-fed Butter2 Tbs Coconut Oil1 tsp VanillaHeat 3 3/4 cups of milk in a pan. In a small bowl mix the remaining 1/4 cup milk with gelatin, honey and cocoa powder. Stir with a small whisk until a smooth paste is formed. Pour the cocoa paste into the heated milk and whisk until smooth. Add the butter and coconut oil. Whip in a blender or with an immersion blender until frothy. Serve with whipped cream for an extra fun treat! Yeild: 4 servings (We always double.)For the holiday we will be mostly gardening and tending the animals, but we will set aside some time to grill some of our beef and play some games. Our favorite hamburgers are easy, just thaw your ground beef, mix in some of our garlic herb rub (located in the cabin store) and shape! Did you know if you push a dent into your burger before cooking that it won't puff up and get rounded on top? Then it cooks evenly and isn't too fat for a bun. Can't wait!We hope you have a great holiday weekend and enjoy your food!Blessings,The Bakers
CSA Week 2
This week you'll enjoy:Kale, Mustard Greens, Sage, Carrots, Lettuce, Sweet Potatoes (or some other fun items if you pick up here at the farm.)We are enjoying the quick pace that spring has sprung on us! The leaves are now fully on the trees and everything in the garden is taking off. The tomatoes in the greenhouse are very happy and tons of eggplants, peppers and more tomatoes are waiting to go out into the fields to grow! Our second batch of meat chicks has arrived and is safely growing in their own hoop house. We are taking them veggie scraps and grass each day to teach them to actively search out healthy food in addition to the organic grains we grind for them. When they are three weeks old they will go out onto pasture each day and come into the safety of their house at night. The laying hens are also cranking out tons of great eggs, check the farm store for sales on eggs! Eating seasonally means eating more eggs in the spring when they lay more, have some egg salad or scrambled eggs today! When we get bored of scrambled eggs we just add sauteed veggies, onions and cheese and it's like a quiche without all the work!We have had some fun meals lately, the grill has been going with hamburgers and ribs! My favorite was grilled burgers, oven fries and sauteed chard with onions! Simple yet very satisfying. We also used a kombucha batter and lard to fry our onions from last week and the nasturtium blossoms!Remember healthy animal fats are good for you. YUM! Battered and friend flowers, what a fun treat! We also like them on salads. The carrots and sage are delicious together in this recipe, it's a fun website that teaches you how to make things ahead and freeze and reheat. To save your herbs for later you can either spread them in a sunny window to dry on a paper towel or even blend and mix with sea salt to preserve them (recipe here). The mustard greens are great sauteed with onion or chives and butter, then at the last minute I love to add some cream or shredded cheese. We also discovered the chive pesto from last week, is good in everything! I added it to a crustless quiche, dipped cucumbers in it and also mixed it into mashed potatoes. Crazy good!Remember the farm tour is coming up, the 19th and 20th we are open 10-4. Come on out and see where we raise your food! Pet some animals too.Have a great week,The Bakers
Summer CSA week 1
Fun finds in this weeks CSA:Chives, Chard, Onions, Cucumbers, Lettuce, Braising greens with some flowersWe had some great meals this busy day. We needed a quick buy filling lunch. So we baked some sweet potatoes, sauteed some ground beef with garlic and then added this weeks braising greens. They are a mini pok choy with some lovely floweres ontop, the entire plant is edible but some of the stems are tough so use your judgement about which to toss and which to cook. We did the entire bag, mostly because the 8 year old was preparing them and we just picked out the tough stems and were grateful! Otherwise go here to learn about great ways to use these greens.We also grilled pork chops for dinner along with onion slices (in your shares). The pork was rubbed with our honey, dried oregano, and bacon rub (from the cabin). They hit the spot! Tomorrow we are going to make chive pesto and serve it on some bread. We have a new soaked grains recipe we are perfecting. You can also make chive vinegar and make everyone think you are very fancy!Well different things happen on the farm all the time that throw off our plans for the day. We begin with a plan, but often things happen that are out of our control. Like a cow or pig being in labor, or a fence breaking. Sometimes that is hard and sometimes it's no big deal, we just reorganize. Well when it's the day before opening day of Summer CSA and we have purposely scheduled to harvest our chickens that day(basically because in VA starting them any earlier in the year isn't good for the farmers or the chickens), and the freezer is empty of last years chickens, and we need to harvest them to fill the CSA boxes AND the equipment is broken.....you see where I am going with this.We have lots of old members and some new ones at each turn of the season, and I just kept thinking how blessed we are that if I had to cancel the meat pick up until next week that everyone would be kind and understand! However it wouldn't be very convenient for anyone, farmers included! And so the farmer continued all day to try and fix the broken part. After many hours of trouble shooting, prayers and a trip to town, we were up and running! Phew, in a perfect world we would have had a trial run last week and made sure it was all working, but seriously there isn't time for that. We have thousands of plants that want to get into the garden, but maybe next year we'll schedule that maintenance in! So thank you for being a part of our "farm-ily" and making this a community effort!It is with much excitement that we are headed to bed with plenty of chickens nicely packaged and ready for pick up and delivery tomorrow. Enjoy your veggies and meat and especially the chicken! We will celebrate tomorrow by having some grilled chicken!