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| Multicolored beans and Rudbeckia flowers, because they're pretty |
This week is your classic good news, bad news juxtaposition. The bad news first: our spring crop of kale has finally succumbed to insect pests, so no kale this week (please know that we are as bummed about this as anyone). Also, this week will be the last for Big Red Farm eggs (see below for details).
The good news: we harvested our first baby carrots and beets this week, as well as a small quantity of summer squash! Also, while hilling potatoes, Jake knocked over a few plants, so we have a few new potatoes available as well. This week is our last for spring lettuce (which is actually pretty good -- it's July!), but the summer lettuce is looking great, and we anticipate harvesting it on schedule next week.
A few other crops will be making their final appearances this week, including scallions, Napa cabbage, radishes, and garlic scapes (we may be harvesting "real" garlic for next week -- stay tuned!).
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| This hen now resides at Cherry Grove Farm. Jake is obviously staying here. |
After a lot of deliberation, we have decided to sell off our small flock of laying hens, so that we can concentrate more on growing produce for the farm stand and for Sustainable Fare.
For more than two years, we worked hard to keep the hens safe from foxes, coyotes, raccoons, hawks, and even two hurricanes. We braved the high summer heat and the coldest snowy days of the year to bring them food and water. We built a series of coops for them, and we stayed up late at night washing and packing the eggs for sale.
The thing that finally conquered our little chicken operation was time. There are (alas) only so many hours in the day -- and at this time of year we often use all of them to get everything planted, weeded, harvested, and washed -- and keeping the egg operation going was taking a lot of time.
Fortunately, our friends at Cherry Grove Farm just down the road were interested in experimenting with pastured laying hens on their dairy farm. Earlier this week, we helped the farmers from Cherry Grove move the hens and their coops to a nice piece of back pasture less than a mile from the Big Red Farm.
We will certainly miss the eggs, and we imagine that many of you will, too. But Cherry Grove will be selling the eggs from our hens before long -- just stop by their farm store -- and we're confident that the ladies are going to enjoy roaming through the 200+ acres of beautiful pasture over there.
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| Season's first carrots and beets |
RECIPE
As farmers who love food, we are always looking for new ways to prepare our vegetables that are simple, fairly quick, and put the veggies squarely in the spotlight. Why grow them otherwise? Nigel Slater's book Tender is a boon to anyone who wants to make vegetables the centerpiece of their meal, and we dip into it frequently (especially since his chapters are organized by vegetable!). This baby carrot and beet salad takes only minutes to prepare, and is the perfect spring preparation for small, tender root veggies. {Baby Carrot and Beet Salad}
AT THE FARM STAND
This week we hope to have the following available from 1pm to 5pm in front of Pop Hall:
- Multicolored String Beans - $3.50 quart
- Beets - $2.50 bunch
- Napa Cabbage (last week for this) - $2.50 each
- Baby Carrots - $2.50 bunch
- Cilantro - $1.50 bunch
- Dill - $1.50 bunch
- Eggs (last week for these) - $5.00 dozen
- Flowers - $5.00 bouquet
- Garlic Scapes (last week for these) - 3/$1.00
- Lettuce - $2.50 head
- New Potatoes - $2.50 lb
- Radishes (last week for these) - $2.50 pint
- Rainbow Chard - $2.50 bunch
- Scallions (last week for these) - $2.50 bunch
- Summer squash - $2.00 lb
HOW TO FIND US:
The farm stand is located right in front of Pop Hall, at the top of the stairs that lead down into the Bowl. Enter campus by the main gate on Route 206 (opposite the Lawrenceville Post Office and Craven Lane) and bear right into the circle. Bear right again at the fork in the road and continue straight until you see the farmstand signs.
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