Friday, October 29, 2010

Week 24 The Final Countdown and Thank You!

Hi Everyone,

Hard to believe, but this is our last week of the 2010 CSA. It's been an incredibly interesting season full of a lot of smiles, challenges and many learning experiences. I think if we had to pick one thing that really opened our eyes about farming this year, it would be how thoroughly dependent we are on the weather. I know I have written before on all the various trials we faced because of hail, drought, heat and flood, but it was consistently amazing to us what pawns we are to the big picture. We were also constantly surprised by how crops would struggle through and would almost hibernate until a favorable weather factor would arrive and off they would grow. Most importantly, we want to thank all of you for having the faith and trust in us to supply you with much of your food supply. We have never taken that lightly and never will.

We will send out a short survey in the next couple of weeks that I hope you will take a couple of minutes to fill out. It will help us make our CSA better in the future. We hope to see you all next year, but if we don't, thank you again and have a wonderful fall and winter.

In your crates this week:

Rousedale Farm Chicken
Salad Mix
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Cabbage
Turnips
Kale
Peppers
Rosemary
Kohlrabi
Snow Peas
Butternut Squash

Just a reminder we will continue to have eggs and chicken year round. Honey is sold out until next Summer.

Vicky and Steve

Monday, October 25, 2010

Week 23 and covering the crops

Hi All,

Things are really winding down on the farm now. We have been cleaning things up around the fall crops that are still in the ground. This past week, taking out the tomato stakes and cages ended up in a tremendous pile of stakes and stacks of cages. Looking at them all reminded us of the work that went into starting the seedlings last spring, transplanting them in the ground in May, putting in the cages, staking the cages and wiring them together in June, mulching them all, watering the plants during the dry times of June and July, harvesting in July, August and September, and now, in October,the clean up and tilling the soil so it looks like nothing was ever there...... a lot of work, but they sure were good!

Thursday My Dad and his wife Joyce were visiting. We were talking in the kitchen when I looked at the outside temperature gauge at about 11pm and it read 39 degrees. I immediately panicked that a frost was on it's way, but decided to wait another hour to see what the temperature did. We are in a little "dale" so some of our planted areas do get frost, when higher areas may not. At midnight it was 37. At 12:30 it was 36. I hated to, but I told Vicky we had better get up to the front barn, grab the row covers and get the lettuces and peppers covered. So under the light of the full moon, we trudged to the barn, grabbed the covers and headed for the crops. We were back inside by 1am, the temperature was 35.6. I was up at dawn to see how far the temperature had fallen and it had fallen to......44! Apparently preparing our crops for the first frost had shot the temperature up to spring like conditions! Unbelievable. All the covers were out and crops were covered the next night and we had our first frost of the year on Friday.

In your crates this week:

Butternut Squash
Mild Lettuce
Spicy Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Basil
Turnips
Acorn Squash
Pumpkin

Enjoy, there's only one more week.

Vicky and Steve

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Week 22 and the winners of the coveted Napa Cabbage

Hi Farm Friends,

Before we announce the winners of the cabbage lottery, a word of warning. If you have won a Napa Cabbage and have Korean friends, watch them very closely. With the shortage of the cabbage in their native country, they may be willing to chance the loss of your friendship and snatch your cabbage. Please be careful.

The winners of the cabbage lottery are:

#1 Mel and Keith
#3 Rohini and David
#4 Tina
#5 Clara and Co.
#6 Jeni, Harold et al
#8 Nan and Jim
#9 Catherine
#10 Tracy
#13 Barbara and John
#14 Susan and Jerome
#15 Tina and Tom
#18 Amanda and Kirk

Congratulations to one and all!

In your boxes this week:


Cabbage
Hot Peppers
Potatoes
Carrots
Broccoli
Turnips
Tomatoes
Parsley
Kale
Garlic

Thank you,

Vicky and Steve

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Rain

Right oh yea

Friday, October 8, 2010

Week 22 and the cabbage lottery preview

Hi Everyone,

Week 21 finds the fall produce coming into it's own. It's just my opinion, but when you plant the same thing in the spring and then in the fall, the fall stuff just seems to taste better. One of the bonuses in the fall is that the bugs are about gone for the year. I pulled up a few turnips today, just to see how they were doing, and they looked beautiful. Maybe that's a little strong language to described a turnip, okay, it looked better then it's spring counterpart. This week you'll be getting a pumpkin that should be large enough for use as a jack o lantern, if you would rather display it than eat it.

Vicky came in the other day and asked me if I had heard about the Kim Chi shortage in South Korea. I hadn't. Apparently Kim Chi is a side dish that most Koreans eat with every meal. It's mostly made up of Napa Cabbage and due to weird weather in Korea this year, the Napa Cabbage crop has been the pits. Usually Kim Chi is a free addition to any restaurant meal, much like bread is here. Well, it's not a freebie anymore, because Napa Cabbage is going for upwards to $14 per head! Guess what? We, somehow, got a few Napa Cabbage plants mixed in with our other cabbages we planted and it should be ready for week 22. There's only 7 or 8 of them in the field. So we figured that it was so rare this year, everyone just couldn't wait to get their hands on a Napa Cabbage. We don't have enough to go around, so next week all of your crate numbers go into a hat and we will conduct a cabbage lottery. More on the lottery rules and regulations after the farm lawyers have figured out the do's and don'ts when it comes to a cabbage lottery next week. Wow, now that's excitement!!

In your crates this week;

Broccoli
Pumpkin
Radishes
Peppers
Kale
Eggplant
Butternut Squash


Vicky and Steve

Monday, October 4, 2010

9.3 Inches of Rain!

2010 Flood

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Week 20-Rain

Hi All,

Remember when I asked you all to do what ever you could to bring us some rain? Well, stop it.....really. 9.3 inches Thursday along with 2.5 Sunday, Monday and Tuesday for a grand total of 11.8 inches should do us just fine for a while. Actually Thursday was pretty scary around the farm. I've never seen anything like it. I will upload some pictures to the web site in the next couple of days. Flooding and run off that was devastating. Our small run off creek was over it's banks with fast moving water and wiped out the chicken fence at the front barn. Along with the fence numerous chickens were swept away. I was watching as the water made it's way under the bee hives, expecting to see them tip over and go, but thank God they remained. The lower garden was totally under water for most of the day with the strong current wiping out one of the raised beds that was full of lettuce and carrots. The erosion to the fields that were laying fallow was unbelievable and water was rushing through the front barn like a river. We have 300 strawberry plants waiting to go in the ground, but it's still way to wet to plant. The garlic will go in Columbus Day, we're hopeful it will be dry enough by then to plant that. As I came in from checking everything Thursday I said to VIcky,"OK we've had hail, drought, the hottest summer on record and now a flood, when's the earthquake expected!" I don't know how, but stuff keeps growing. This week in your crates you'll find:

Butternut Squash
Tomatoes
Carrots
Radishes
Mild Lettuce
Spicy Lettuce
Summer Squash
Rosemary
Eggplant
Peppers

Also, we want to thank John and Susan, the innkeepers of the Van Diver Inn in Havre De Grace for putting on a delicious farm to table dinner this past Saturday night. All the stations at the Inn's outside pavilion were dishes made from local products. We contributed Chicken, Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard and Susan turned these ingredients into incredible dishes. All the dishes were paired with organic wine from Bonterra. More on the dinner and other contributors on another post on the web site.

Have a great week.

Vicky and Steve

Monday, September 27, 2010

Week 19-Slaughter at the chicken corral

Hi Everyone,

I try not to get to attached to the animals that we have here at the farm, with the exception of Molly the dog and Jinx and Rose the cats, sort of, but I did get a bit attached to our rooster "the falcon". He came as a miscue in sexing at the hatchery. We were supposed to get all females in our order, but sexing day old chicks can be a tricky business and occasionally one of the opposite sex can slip through. As that bunch of chicks grew, I noticed he looked different than the rest. Ever so often I would call Vicky out to the back barn and point him out asking her,"what the heck is that?" I decided one day that he looked like a falcon, thus the name. Well, the falcon grew up to be a beautiful Araucana rooster. He graced the pages of Baltimore Magazine and our web site and while many roosters in the past have been pretty ornery, he was a nice guy. He also treated the ladies with respect. Most of the roosters we've had in the past would chase a hen down, grab her by the neck,slam her to the ground and in a cloud of dust have his way with her, the falcon did not. As I have explained to many visitors, he seemed like the "tentative" rooster. He was fairly large and slightly slow and would usually approach a hen as if to say,"excuse me, would you mind if I climbed on your back for a moment? I promise it will only take a couple of seconds." Much of the time it would look like she would say,"all right, but don't do that grab the neck thing" and that would be it. Some of the time as he would try to mount, she would run off as if to say,"not now you big oaf, leave me alone." He was an interesting fellow and always took care of his flock, no matter how disrespectful they were to him. We lost the falcon a few days ago as part of a fox attack. A total of 22 chickens lost their lives including him as, I suspect, he was trying to save the ladies. A fox will attack a chicken house and just go on a killing spree. He won't just kill one and drag it back to the den for dinner, he goes into a killing frenzy and leaves bodies scattered all over. It was bad enough to go about picking up the hens, but when I came upon the rooster, my heart sank a bit. It sure seems quiet around the farm without the falcon's crow.

As I convey my sad chicken story, good things are happening to the produce on the farm. It's getting cooler, we're getting some rain and the Cole crops are liking it very much. We took a walk last night and noticed the broccoli was starting to get small heads and the lettuces,radishes, carrots etc. were coming along well. So, this week we start that transition.

In your crates this week:

Mild Lettuce
Spicy Lettuce
Sweet Potatoes
Tomatoes
Basil
Beans
Summer Squash
Pepper/onion/garlic basket

Vicky and Steve

Friday, September 17, 2010

Week 18-Volunteer Uprising

Hi Everyone,

Boy do these weeks fly by or what! Tina, who volunteers on the farm a couple of days a week, was very concerned when she saw me tossing unusable produce into a pile into the mowed area between our various fields. I asked her what was up and she said that she didn't like seeing things wasted. I made it clear to her that absolutely nothing is wasted on the farm. If we can't eat it or you guys can't eat it...it goes to one of two places, to the chickens or to the compost pile. It's amazing the difference in the amount of chicken feed we go through when the chickens are getting a lot of the "seconds". Apparently I got to serious for a moment because the next thing I knew I was hit in the head with a half rotten tomato. I felt THAT was very wasteful.

Speaking of chickens, a fox has made off with a number of the flock and our production numbers are down a bit. I am frantically looking for about 50 pullets to add to the flock. What is a pullet you ask? Now the educational part of the program....a pullet is a hen around 18 weeks old that is or just about to, start laying. Once a hen starts laying it also takes her about a month to get the eggs up to size. Her first eggs are quite small and slowly build to the size they will be.

In your crates this week you will find a bag of turnip greens. We think they taste pretty good. They have a little bite to them and may be nice to mix in to salads and of course you can cook them the old southern style with a piece of ham or ham hock and onion, sugar, and crushed red pepper. For measuring purposes, you have a pound of them. If you get a green gourd like thing, that is a buttercup winter squash, to be cooked like all other winter squashes. Also, we're throwing in a sizeable zucchini. Many people that have stopped by the farm have taken them to grate and freeze for winter zucchini bread. That's my story and I'm stickin to it.

Be aware that within the next couple of weeks we will be getting back into salad greens, radishes, carrots, and eventually cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale, etc. We sampled some arugula today, no bug holes, tender and spicy!

Week 18

Tomatoes
Buttercup and or acorn squash
Summer squash
Garlic
Basil
Beans
Turnip greens

Have a nice weekend and week!

Vicky and Steve

Friday, September 10, 2010

Week 17 a plea, a goodbye and what's that smell?

Hi Everyone,

Please all, anything you can do to bring some rain would be wonderful! It will be three weeks Monday since we had a drop of rain, so the Fall crops that we had to delay planting because it was so hot, had a little rain on the 23rd, but nothing since. This has been now officially the hottest Summer on record and many farmers in Maryland have lost up to 70% of their crops because of it. It's a business that can succeed or fail no matter what you do, so much of it is totally out of your hands.

OK enough of the sad tale of farming.

There is however another reason I'm a bit sad today though...we are saying goodbye to a couple of friends that we have grown quite accustomed to, Beta Vulgaris and Cucumis Sativis. They have been good to us this season and I hope you've enjoyed there presence, but this will be the last week for beets and cucumbers. The Fall beets never germinated, so see you in the Spring. You will be getting a cute little pumpkin that is a pie pumpkin that you can use for pie filling or use as you would any winter squash.

Vicky's been making sauce all week and I've been eating it all week. Anytime you walk anywhere near the house the aroma of this incredible sauce is wafting through the air. It's like I've been beamed over to Italy and am wandering outside Luigi's trattoria. I sneak into the kitchen to dip a buttered piece of bread into the boiling caldron and inevitably am caught by the cook yelling," Get out of there, it's not ready yet!"

In your crates Week 17:

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Beets or Eggplant
Rosemary
Summer Squash
Pie Pumpkin
Beans
Swiss Chard

Have a great weekend and week.

Vicky and Steve

Friday, September 3, 2010

Week 16

Hi,

Well, here we are at week 16 and as I may have mentioned before, the winter squash is about a month ahead of where it usually is, due to the record setting heat this Summer. Thus you will start receiving some winter squash in your weekly crates. Although spaghetti squash is classified as a winter squash, winter squash to us is, Hubbard, butternut, buttercup, acorn, pumpkin, anything that is orange inside. We start you off this week with a Hubbard type called a Kabocha. Ours is a scarlet kabocha called sunshine. Flesh should be bright orange, smooth, sweet and great for baking, mashing and pies. The potatoes this week are small baking potatoes that can be baked, used as home fries, or the real little ones, steamed and mixed with salt, pepper, herbs and butter.

We worked on the grapes this week and they have grown incredibly this summer. All are seedless eating grapes and we hope to have a few next season. I let one concord vine set a small cluster this summer and tasted one this past Wednesday. Without saying a word I called for Vicky to come up and handed her one. I think her direct quote was,"Now that's what a grape is supposed to taste like." She apparently liked it.

This week in the crates:

Tomatoes
Potatoes
Hot Peppers
Garlic
Summer Squash Variety Pack
Beets
Parsley
Kabocha (winter squash)
Beans

Friday, August 27, 2010

Week 15 and The Case of "what did we just microwave?"

Hey Everybody,

Week 15 finds the winter squash way ahead of schedule and the tomatoes beginning their slow down that will end soon with no more of those delicious fruits! More lettuces were planted today for fresh salads this Fall.

Spaghetti Squash is in your crates this week and we had never tried it before, so before we let you all crack into one I went out into the staging area (the garage) where all the veggies are brought in and sorted etc. and grabbed a spaghetti squash to try out. You can cut them up or cook them whole. You can bake or microwave. For the sake of speed and not really goodness, we decided to stick it in the microwave whole. I punctured it a few times so it wouldn't build up pressure and explode, set the timer for 12 minutes and off we went. When the timer dinged that it was done, we pulled the squash out of the microwave and let it sit for the prescribed 5 minutes to let the inside steam. When it was done steaming we took a knife, hacked the squash in half, and prepared to take the seed core out and test our spaghetti squash. Well, when we looked inside the squash was very watery in the middle and there was a greenish color all around the edges of the squash. Vicky looked at me and said,"Honey, I don't think we'll be giving out spaghetti squash, it looks horrible." I wasn't ready to throw in the towel. I examined the weird looking squash. I tasted the hot horrible tasting squash, and determined then and there that we had just microwaved..... a honeydew melon.

When we later cooked an actual spaghetti squash it was very good. Hope you enjoy them.

In your crates this week:

Spaghetti Squash
Summer Squash Variety
Tomatoes
Basil
Sweet Peppers
Young Swiss Chard
String Beans
Onions
Cucumbers

Steve and Vicky

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Week 14

Hi Everyone,

Week 14 finds many items in the crates. We are including a basket of Big Mama and San Marzano tomatoes, along with the regular Heirlooms and Beefsteaks. The mamas and marzanos are great for bruschetta and salsa. Just a reminder, for you sauce makers out there, we have crates of the Big Mamas and San Marzanos for $15 for 30+ pounds.

This will be the last week for the Cantaloupes. Last year we didn't have much luck with the melons and this year they came on like crazy. Next year we will stagger the planting to get them more throughout the season.

The Patty Pan squash (flying saucer) is cooked like any other squash, you don't have to skin it.

For you Sweet Potato fans...I dug into them yesterday to see how they were doing and found them to be massive and beautiful. They should cure for a couple of weeks after they're dug, so you'll see them coming to a crate near you soon!

Many of the Fall crops have been planted in the last week including, radishes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, kale, a variety of lettuces, kohlrabi, snap and sugar peas, and beets.

In the crates this week:

Tomatoes
White Potatoes
Hot Peppers-the redder the hotter
Squash
Garlic
Eggplant
String Beans
Onions
Basil
Cantaloupe

Steve and Vicky

Friday, August 13, 2010

Week 13

Hi Everyone,

Week 13 finds us relaxed after a nice rain and a day today, 8/13, that was in the 70's with a breeze...how refreshing after a Summer that has been consistently 90 or above everyday. We know we promised a break from the squash, however, a couple of new varieties are coming in a bit quicker than we thought and at least one will be in your crate this week. The yellow and green squash is called zephyr and is a hybrid of summer squash and zucchini. So now you can have all in one! Also, to cut down on the squash onslaught a bit, you will have a few squash blossoms. The female blossom makes the fruit and may have a little tiny squash on the end of it, and the male blossom does not have the fruit on it, but as everyone knows, plays a very important role in making the fruit happen. Without the very important male blossom there would be no fruit at all, none, not a thing. The female would just be hanging there and that would be about it. (excuse me for a moment...what Vicky.....that's enough about the important role the male blossom plays?...okay..sorry....where was I) Oh yeah, the squash blossoms, anyway, they are very edible and if you Google squash blossoms and then click on the seasonal chef site that pops up you'll find a bunch of recipes. We'll post some of those as well. I hesitantly ate one today and found it very tender and for me, it finished with a slight vanilla taste....very nice.

This week we celebrate the beginning of the Ravens season with a pint of purple potatoes...enjoy.

Week 13

Squash blossoms
Rosemary
Corn
Potatoes
Green Beans with a few purple ravens beans mixed in..don't worry they turn green when you cook them
Tomatoes
Beets
Carrots
Squash
Sweet peppers
Cantaloupe


Have a great week!

Steve and Vicky

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Week 12

Hi all,

Week twelve, we're halfway through the CSA season! The farm received a
much needed inch of rain yesterday. Many of the crops seemed to just stop growing, but I'm sure with this little kick in the butt things will
get back to business. This will probably be the last week for awhile
that you'll be getting summer squash and zucchini.....whoa...what was that...a group cheer, that's not nice. Green beans and beets make a comeback this week. The new chickens are here and in the coolers. Well, we wanted them smaller and guess what, they are. No more giants in this bunch. Most are the size of your typical rotisserie or broiler chicken four to five pound range and a few that we actually classified as Cornish game hens. In your crates this week will be:

Summer Squash
Cantaloupe
Green Beans
Beets
Swiss Chard
Eggplant
Cucumbers
Basil
Tomatoes

Good eating to one and all!

Steve and Vicky

Friday, July 30, 2010

WeeK 11

Hello Farm Friends,

Week 11 finds us beginning to be overwhelmed with...........you guessed it tomatoes. They are really starting to come on now and you will find a hefty quantity in your crates this week. Paul Robsons, Cherokee Purples, Brandywines, Goldies, Big Beefs, Early Girls, Big Mamas and orange, red and yellow cherries. In "pepper world" a new pepper arrives this week it's a Hungarian Hot Wax pepper. They look somewhat like a banana pepper and are yellow-orange in color. They are a hotter pepper. We have had a couple of requests for green tomatoes. They are wonderfully tart when they are fried. Let us know if you're interested in having some.

This week's crate includes:

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Corn (butter and sugar...yellow and white)
Onions
Garlic
Peppers
Basil

If you would like a fresh chicken, as opposed to frozen, the next batch will be in the coolers 8/5-8/8. These should run 5-6 pounds.

Also, you folks at Rohini's pick up on Park Heights, we would love to have you visit the farm and see where your food is coming from. Feel free anytime you would like.

BTW Thank you for the recipes. They are all posted on the web site under recipes.

Steve and Vicky

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Week 10

Hi Friends,

Wanted to thank everyone for their recipes last week. They haven't shown up yet because we are trying to construct a separate recipe page on the site. It should be done soon.

Week 10 is here and you will find some new items in your crates this week, eggplants and a variety of peppers. One of the peppers you may find is a long, crinkled up red one that looks deadly, it is not, it's a Jimmy Nardello sweet pepper that is supposed to be one of the best frying peppers there is. The drought didn't do any favors to the tomatoes, you may find some with cracks in them, but they still taste real good! Speaking of tomatoes you will find a horribly ugly heirloom tomato that is green on top and reddish on the bottom. It won't look ripe but it is, it's a Paul Robeson tomato and we think you'll find it delicious. Paul Robeson was an African-American opera singer in the fifties that was a star in Russia. They loved him so much they named a variety of tomato after him and that's the one in your crate this week. We've been experimenting with some lettuce during this scorching summer and most has not been successful, but the arugula is tender and tasty. It has a few holes in it, which proves it hasn't been sprayed with something to kill everything. It's really got a nice spicy kick to it.

Hope all is well and we'll see you this week.

Week 10

Arugula
Eggplant or Carrots
Peppers
White Potatoes
Green and Yellow Zucchini
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Sweet Corn

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Week 9

Hi all,

Thank you all so much for performing your rain dances! I understand many of your neighbors called the authorities while observing your strange behavior, but you at least got the rain here. We received nearly 6 inches of rain between last Friday and this past Wednesday. It's an incredible phenomenon to see what a good rain does to the crops. You can water your brains out, but it's just not the same as a natural rain. Things are looking great right now. We had almost given up on the last summer crops we had planted and then the rains came and everything has popped out of the ground and are beginning to grow.

We extracted 5 gallons of honey this past week. It's delicious. $7 a pint, that's about a pound and a third, and $12 a quart that's 3 pounds.

This week in your crates you will find:

The first of the tomatoes (yahoo)
Blush (a cross of red and Yukon gold) or white potatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini (green and yellow)
Yellow Crookneck squash (buttery)
Green Beans
Carrots
Swiss Chard (new recipe on www.rousedalefarm.com
Sweet Corn!!!!!!!!!!

If anyone else would like to share any recipes, please do.

Have a great week!

Steve and Vicky

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Maryland Farms

For more information on local farms and their offerings check out

http://www.marylandagriculture.info

We were honored with having web site of the week on their site this week!

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Honey, Chickens and Eggs, Oh My!

I keep receiving inquires about the chicken, eggs and honey and whether they are available to just the CSA members or can non members enjoy them as well. The answer is that they are available to everyone. We always have eggs. We have chicken whole and cut up year round now and I am extracting, what I hope will be, many pounds of honey tomorrow. So if you're interested, just drop by the farm or drop us an email.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Week 8

I'm sitting here Saturday morning writing to you as the rain is falling. You have no idea what a relief it is to us. So much of our time has been taken away from other projects so we could water every day and deciding what was the most important to water each particular day. Not only that, but the constant fear that you're stressing the well or well pump. So far, on our way to an inch and it still is a beautiful steady rain. OK...geez, I don't think I've ever been so emotional about rain.

You will notice that your shares will be in new 1/2 bushel wooden crates with the Rousedale Farm logo on the side. You're number is on the bottom and on the support corners on the top. These are solid, should last forever, and you won't have a crappy cardboard box to look at all week.

Week 8

Green Beans
Summer Squash
Onions
Garlic
Potatoes
Cucumbers

Cherry Tomatoes are ripening and the rest of the tomatoes are starting to move away from green. Corn next week?..could be.

Vicky and Steve

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Week 7

Hi Everyone,

Week 7 is here already and the farm is a very busy place, as massive watering has been added to the daily chores. We have had 5/8 inch of rain in the last 20 days and most crops like an inch a week, so we are very dry. The summer squash is coming on like gangbusters and the cucumbers have begun along with the red potatoes and carrots. The beans, corn and tomatoes aren't far behind. This week's share consists of:

Red Potatoes
Summer Squash
Pickling Cucumbers (you don't have to pickle them to enjoy them or be pickled to enjoy them)
Swiss Chard (recipe on web site)
Onions
Garlic
Golden Beets
Carrots

Remember we still have a stock of chicken in the freezer, eggs are always available and we will be extracting honey in another week or so with our brand new shiny extractor!

All the best!

Vicky and Steve

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Week 6

It's been 12 days straight with no rain here at the farm with temperatures consistently in the nineties and things are getting quite dry. We had one of our helpers Zak water yesterday and he literally watered for 8 hours. I don't know how he did it, I would have been an insane lunatic if I had to water for 8 straight hours. Our farm help, Michael, Tina, and Zak have been a great help this season and continue to accomplish so much when they're here. We planted 15 peach trees this week with hopes of having peaches as part of your share as we move into future years.

Here's what to expect for Week 6:

Saturday

Blueberries
Garlic
Beets
Spinach
Lettuce
Cabbage
Swiss Chard
Summer Squash Teaser
Kale

Wednesday

Garlic
Cabbage
Squash
Spinach
Lettuce
Swiss Chard
Beets
Blueberries?
Onions

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Week 5 and the case of the "Radish Caper"

We had found some rogue radishes and offered them up to anyone who enjoyed a nice refreshing radish on pick up day at the farm. So, a few of you took me up on the offer and left with a nice bunch of radishes on Wednesday along with everything else. If you have tasted the "radishes" yet, you're probably thinking to yourself or out loud to all around you, that those could have been the worst tasting radishes on the planet. That's what I thought too Wednesday night when I bite into one and that's when I figured out......those weren't radishes, they were baby beets!

Hopefully I'll be able to tell an onion from a blueberry in this week's box which will include:

Blueberries
Garlic Scapes
Onions
Mild Mix Lettuces
Arugula
Spinach
Peas
Beets

What to do with a garlic scape?

Garlic Scape Pesto

The curly garlic scape made its appearance at many a farmers market this summer, confusing some with its curly, scallion-like appearance. The scape, which is the flowering, curly, central stalk of the garlic plant, has a pleasing, mild garlic flavor that translates well in this pesto. Try it on pasta or crackers or crusty bread.

(serves 8)
1/4 pound garlic scapes, chopped into one-inch lengths (seed bulb portion and above discarded)
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt or more to taste

Puree scapes and nuts in a food processor until finely chopped. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil until smooth. Stir in Parmesan, lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve on bread, crackers or pasta.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Week 4

Hi Everyone,

Here's what to expect in your week 4 box:

Blueberries
Spinach
Beets
Purple Kohlrabi
Onions
Mild Lettuce Mix
Sugar Snap Peas

Also chickens are fresh and looking good...most in the 7-8 pound range.


See you Saturday and Wednesday!

Vicky and Steve

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Fresh Chicken

Hi all,

The chickens will be in Thursday afternoon 6/10 and will be kept in the cooler fresh until Sunday evening at which time into the freezer they go. They are free range, all natural chickens, raised here on the farm. We will offer cut up and whole. I believe they will be quite large again this round, 8-lbs.. average. The price has been set at $2.99 per pound for whole and 3.19 per pound cut up. The cut up packages will include the whole chicken with the whole breast, the legs and thighs, and the back (good for soup). So four pieces. It's easy to split the breasts once you're ready to cook.

For the Saturday Park Heights crew, let's us know if you would like us to bring any with your CSA delivery this Saturday.

Steve

Sunday, June 6, 2010

What the "Hail"

Just wanted you all to know that Friday evening a tremendous storm came through the Fallston area. There have been some reports of a tornado touching down a short distance from the farm. We received incredible high winds, a virtual downpour of rain, and the farmer's nightmare...hail. Many of our crops received some pretty severe damage. We'll see how things play out, but you may see a slightly smaller box of goods the next couple of weeks. Walking around the place looking at the plants, it looks like they were just hacked up or shot up with buckshot. Many of the bigger leaves, like the spinach, has holes sliced right through them where the hail just plowed through. The strawberries really got mangled, so it's doubtful they will recover in time for Wednesday's pick up. You Saturday folks lucked out because we picked most of your items Friday afternoon, just before the storm hit.

It's amazing how in maybe two minutes, things can be totally wiped out. The good news is that we aren't totally wiped out and will be fine. The blueberry bushes seemed to weather the hail pretty well. Many of the ripe berries were knocked off the branches and onto the ground. The only thing we could do was to collect them and eat them immediately...there's always a silver lining.

Vicky and Steve

Friday, June 4, 2010

Rousedale Farm CSA Week 3....plus the broccoli and cauliflower quandry

Hi Everyone!

Your boxes for week three will include:

Cauliflower (more on that in a moment)
Strawberries
Spinach
Sugar Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Romaine Lettuce
Iceberg Lettuce
Mild Mix
Spicy Mix
Spring Onions
Radishes
Red Russian Kale


A quick note on Broccoli and Cauliflower.....

It is very tough to grow these two vegetable in the Spring in our area of Maryland. Many growers have thrown in the towel and given up on springtime B&C. The problem is, it gets so hot so fast, these two cole crops don't perform well in the heat. The fall crops of these two are usually wonderful. That's why many have decided to just go for the Fall crops instead of Spring and Fall. We keep trying. Last year we threw it all out. It looked great, but tasted extremely bitter. Last week we picked all of our broccoli, as it got so hot, and threw half of it out. We taste tested all of it and felt the broccoli you received last week was OK, not fall like, but not bad. That brings us to the Cauliflower this week...I harvested all the cauliflower this week as the extreme heat was killing it. It doesn't look beautiful, but we cooked some up and it tastes fine. We would suggest cooking it instead of eating it raw. Raw, a bit of the bitterness comes through.

This Fall you will see a huge difference in these two crops.

So, will we try again next Spring for Broccoli and Cauliflower? Vicky says no, I say let me try one more year planting it under row covers so we can get in the ground a week earlier and see what happens. Really that's all we're talking here is a week or two that could make all the difference in the world.....maybe.

Steve

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Who Wants Peas?

If you're interested...we have an abundance of snow peas and sugar snap peas that are delicious.  Please email us and we can give you the price and a time to pick them up

Saturday, May 22, 2010

What to do with that big head of Bok Choy in your box this week.

Bok Choy is a member of the cabbage family and quite popular in Asian cuisine. Also known as Chinese white cabbage, among other names, it is frequently found in wonton soup and many stir-fry dishes ordered in Japanese and Chinese restaurants. Mildly flavored with a tender sweetness, bok choy is a welcome accompaniment to many meals without being overpowering. It can be found fresh year-round in supermarkets.

Important health benefits that have been associated with consuming bok choy include its abilities to aid in healthy digestion. It is high in vitamin A, vitamin C, beta-carotene, calcium and dietary fiber. The leafy vegetable is lowfat, low calorie, and low carb, and also contains potassium and vitamin B6. Some of the vitamins found in bok choy are also powerful antioxidants, making this tasty cabbage an extremely healthy treat.

The rich amount of beta-carotene inherent in bok choy can help to reduce the risk of certain cancers. Beta-carotene has also been known to reduce the risk of cataracts. Bok choy is also an excellent source of folic acid, and can also contain other healthful nutrients like iron.

Bok Choy Salad



1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup sesame seed

2 (3 ounce) packages ramen noodles (uncooked, broken up, & do not use seasoning packs)

1 (3 ounce) package sliced almonds

1 (2 lb) bok choy

3 stalks green onions with tops

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

In large pan melt butter and add sugar, broken ramen noodles, almonds.

Brown and set aside to cool. After cooled, break up and set aside in small bowl.

Wash and chop/shred bok choy (smaller is better) and green onions in large salad bowl.


For Dressing


Mix vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, and soy sauce. Mix well.

Just prior to serving the salad, mix bok choy, ramen noodles mixture and sunflower seeds together. Then add dressing over salad and mix.

Note: You could also grill chicken that has been marinated in garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar and soy sauce. Cube or shred chicken and add to salad for a complete summer supper.


Bok Choy Stir Fry Recipe

1 1/2 pounds bok choy or baby bok choy

1 1/2 tablespoons canola, vegetable or peanut oil

1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

3 tablespoons broth or water (or 2 tablespoons broth/water + 1 tablespoon wine)

salt to taste

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Start by trimming the stem off – don’t trim too much – just the end. Cutting the thick stem off will ensure that the bok choy cooks evenly. Separate out the leaves, keep the tender center intact and clean under running water. Drain.

2. Finely mince garlic and grate fresh ginger with a microplane grater. Grating the ginger helps break up the tough fibers! (and yeah, sometimes when the ginger is nice and fresh, I don’t even bother peeling off the paper-thin skin)

3. Place wok or frying pan on your stove and pour in the cooking oil. Add the garlic and ginger. Turn the heat to medium-high. Let the ginger and garlic gently sizzle in the oil. When the aromatics become fragrant and light golden brown, add the bok choy leaves. Toss very well to coat each leaf with the garlicky, gingery oil for 15 seconds. Pour in broth, water or wine. Immediately cover and let cook for 1 minute. Season with salt and drizzle a bit of sesame oil on top.

Some info and a couple of recipes for Broccoli Rabe...it's in your box this week!

Broccoli Rabe - Information and Recipes

Broccoli rabe is becoming ever more trendy because of its nutritional benefits and savory qualities, but its pungent taste is not for everyone. Blanching it is a must.

Broccoli rabe (pronounced rob) is a member of the enormous brassica family tree and a relative newcomer to the U.S. culinary scene. It goes by many aliases, such as choi sum, rapini, broccoli de rape, taitcat and broccoli raab. A few of its many relatives include turnips, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, radishes, kohlrabi, rutabaga, and good old everyday broccoli. But its relationship to broccoli is a very distant one in spite of the strong family resemblance. Broccoli rabe’s character is far more brassy and in-your-face.

Broccoli Rabe Info for the Cook

Rabe is a bitter green and an acquired taste for many. Those who like other bitter or assertive greens such as endive, chicory, radicchio, or arugula will probably be attracted to it. It teams well with other strong flavorings, like garlic and heady olive oils. While many recipes do call for blanching it, there are those that do not. However, it would always be better to blanch it to tone down the bitterness a bit, as it will result in the best of both worlds. Those who like the bitter quality will have enough of it to be happy and those that don’t want too much of it will probably be all right with it too. Anything that could help increase broccoli rabe’s following is a good thing, as it has multiple benefits for the wellness gang.

Broccoli Rabe Nutrition

This cruciferous vegetable packs mega-doses of “healthy,” as do many of its relatives such as cabbage or Brussels sprouts. Just 85 cooked grams (~3 oz.) supplies 10% of recommended fiber, 77% of Vitamin A, 52% of Vitamin C, 10% of calcium, and 6% of iron, and all at a low cost of 28 calories. It is also a good source of Vitamins E and K, potassium, folate, and phosphorus. A complete listing of its nutritional benefits is at the USDA National Nutrient Database.


Broccoli Rabe and Sausage Sandwich with Sharp Provolone

1 small bunch broccoli rabe, stems removed

1 small minced garlic clove, optional

2 tsp olive oil

A few shakes of crushed red pepper

Salt, to taste

1 small 8-9 inch loaf crusty Italian bread (I like Ciabatta)

2 tsp olive oil

4 slices sharp Provolone cheese

Some crushed red pepper

2 links Italian sausage

1 tsp olive oil



Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Boil broccoli rabe for 1-1 ½ minutes; drain. Plunge in a bowl of ice water. Shocking the rabe will maintain its vivid green color and stop them from cooking.
In a skillet, add 2 tsp olive oil and garlic. Sauté until garlic starts to turn golden. Add broccoli rabe, crushed red pepper, and salt. Sauté 1-2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
Slice loaf in half to make 2 sandwiches. Brush the center of the bread with the olive oil. Place under the broiler for 3-4 minutes, or until golden and crunchy.
Slice sausage links in half. Add 1 tsp olive oil to a skillet, and pan sear 5-7 minutes per side, or until they are brown and crispy.

To make the sandwiches, add the provolone cheese to the hot bread. Top with sausage and broccoli rabe. Season with crushed red pepper and salt. Serve right away while the cheese is hot and melty.


Rapini Saute

1 bunch Rapini

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

To prepare:

Rinse Rapini and cut off base of stems. Cut crosswise into 2-inch lengths. Drop into large saucepan full of boiling salted water for 1 minute. Drain well.

To cook:

Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add minced cloves of garlic and cook 2 to 3 minutes. Add Rapini; cook and stir until just tender (about 5 to 8 minutes).
Season with salt and pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper, hot pepper sauce or red pepper flakes, if you wish.
Serve as is or add hot, cooked penne or other pasta. Or, try adding cooked white beans with plenty of shredded parmesan cheese for a topping.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Thank You Rousedale Farm Egg Customers

Just a quick thank you very much for supporting local agriculture and in particular our endeavors to bring you great tasting all natural and organic products.  The growth in our free range egg deliveries this year has been outstanding.  We have increased ten fold compared to last year at this time.  So, again, THANK YOU

Fresh Chicken the Weekend of June 12

Our free range chicken will be ready for the grill, stove top, oven or freezer on June12.  If you would like them fresh, let us know and you can pick them up on the weekend of June12.  After that they will reside in the freezer.  The all natural chicken is $2.99 per pound.

The 2010 CSA Begins!

This Saturday and next Wednesday our 2010 CSA begins.  We're excited, we have a full membership and already many on the waiting list for next year.  It looks like the first share box will be filled with strawberries, bags of salad mix greens, both mild and spicy, a bunch of broccoli raab, a bag of spinach, a variety bunch of radishes, a jar of our honey, bok choy, a bunch of red kale, a bunch of spring onions, and we're hoping the sugar snap peas, the snow peas and the broccoli will make it for this first week.  If not this week, very soon.

Remember for members picking up at the farm Saturday 5/22, the hours are 10-5.  If you pick up at the Park Heights location Saturday, the hours are 12:30-2:30.  If you pick up at the farm on Wednesday 5/26, the hours are 10-8.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Chickens in da house

Just wanted to let you know that the first batch of the meat chickens have arrived and the incredible edibles will be ready for the grill or freezer by mid June.  We will do a second batch this year to be ready in early September.  The all natural, free range birds can be purchased here or send us an email for delivery.  The cost this year should be around $2.99 per pound.

Spring Planting

It's been almost a month since the last update, I'll try to do better.  It's been very busy around the farm.  Most of the spring crops are in the ground and we'll be adding to them as we go through the next few weeks as we try to stagger plantings so every thing doesn't come all at once.  Beets, radishes, snow and sugar snap peas, onions, leeks, potatoes, spinach, salad greens, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, cabbage, broccloi raab, kohlrabi, strawberries and, I'm sure I'm forgetting something, are all in.  The strawberries, that we planted last fall are growing gangbusters.  The blueberries, grapes and asparagus are all doing well too.  Ah, the asparagus....the asparagus is shooting up like crazy.  I don't think I have ever had asparagus cooked up fresh five minutes after picking.  Oh...my ..God  incredible!!!  Even bulkier shoots are tender as velvet. (I'm not sure how tender velvet actually is, but you get the picture)  It's the first year, by asparagus law that we are allowed to pick some, so I don't want to go to crazy, but it's really good.  A large area of crimson clover I planted last fall as a cover crop is growing well.  We can't wait to see the red blooms covering the field.  We hope the bees are appreciative.  Speaking of the bees,  all the colonies survived the winter and have been working hard these warm spring days.  Even when nothing was blooming on the farm, they were bringing pollen back from somewhere.  Standing by the hives you can see the saddlebags on their hind legs loaded with different colors.

Steve

Steve

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Boy, it's wet!

Well, there's good news and bad news....first the good news, all the snow is finally gone.  Now the bad news, it's rained over two inches today into a ground that just absorbed four feet of melting snow.  Yea, it's saturated.  We do have many plants started inside, that's good news!  I should be direct seeding a few things in a few days, don't see it happening, that's the bad news.  So we work inside.  Worked on a new chicken coop in the new barn so I can split up the flock.  The purpose is to give them more ground to range on.  Built a small area in the old barn for the broilers.  They'll be coming April 7. 

Noticed some erosion happening in one of the fields today with all the rain.  Guess what, it was the one field I didn't get a cover crop on last fall.  That won't happen again.

I have a friend who always plants his potatoes on St. Patrick's Day.  I've always waited a little longer to get them in the ground, but I was thinking maybe this year I would try a few that early.  I'm  not sure that's going to be possible.  A good sign that it's wet and muddy is when you're walking along and the next thing you know, you took a step, but your boot stayed in the mud behind you.  I'm glad no one was taking any video of that dance.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Rousedale Farm in Baltimore Magazine!

We have an incredible article in the March issue of Baltimore Magazine. You can read it in the magazine, complete with a few photos or check it out on line, minus the photos, at baltimoremagazine.net. A few months ago writer Jane Marion spent an afternoon with us talking a little about my past radio life, but mostly about the farm. You never know what to expect when someone shows up at your front door to write about you, but Jane is an incredible person and we enjoyed having her and loved the article. We had a great time with Cory Donovan too, who came a few days after Jane to take some photos. (hundreds of photos) I'm sure Cory's highlight was holding a frame full of bees I had pulled out of the hive so he could feel the weight of it filled with honey. It's funny, we never heard from him again.

Through that article we've received many emails asking about our CSA among other things. It really helped in getting the word out about what's going on here.

Thank you Jane!

Rousedale Farm eggs now at Savory Deli!

Starting today you can purchase our eggs at Savory Deli in Fallston at Upper Crossraods on the corner of Baldwin Mill Road and 152 (Fallston Rd.) The eggs at Savory will be our brown eggs. Vicky and I discussed whether or not to include some white and green/turquoise eggs with them, like we do with our delivery customers. I felt people may intially be surprised and put off a bit when they opened up their dozen and had a turquoise egg staring them in the face. I mean, the egg itself is no different than any other egg, except the shell color, but if you've never seen one before..well... She thought it would be different and unique, I thought it would be scary. You're not going to beleive this, but I won! I still am in a bit of shock. I think that's the first discussion we've had that I actually got my way. What I'm expecting to happen is no one will by any eggs until we put a turquoise one in each dozen.

Thanks to Scott and the gang at Savory.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

I think I smelled Spring!

Oh man, Vicky and I went for a walk today and as we were walking up the road I told her I thought I smelled Spring.  What a wonderful aroma that is.  An earthy fragrance, that if it could be duplicated, could make an incredible room freshener.  It seems so good to have the weather slowly getting warmer.  I don't remember a winter like this ever and we STILL have snow on the ground in a lot of the garden areas.  I was hoping to get a few early veggies in the ground soon under our row covers, but I may have to shovel snow to get them in!  Up on the hill, where the blueberries are it's much better, drier and most of the snow is gone from the south facing slope.  The strawberries?  Still covered with snow.  Happy to say that all three bee hives survived the winter.  Now is a very important time to feed them some sugar water just to make sure they have enough to eat as the queen is starting to lay eggs and all the new brood will be hatching soon.  The bees really need to be looked after this time of year. A lot of times you think you got them through the winter, but now is the time they will start eating the honey reserves in the hive more then during the colder months as they begin to come to life and start getting ready for Spring and if they eat up all the reserve and you aren't feeding them anything and there is certainly nothing blooming right now for them..it's bye bye bees.

We have such a great variety of veggies we're planting this year, we can't wait.  Many heirloom varieties of vegetables will be grown.  We have become a country that is so force-fed by the industrial food complex, that we have almost forgotten what a real tomato or carrot tastes like.  If you haven't experienced trying some of the multitude of heirloom or different varieties, instead of the one or two you find in the supermarket, you're in for a treat when you do!

We have ordered our first batch of meat chickens.  We'll start with 100 on April 7.  They should be ready for the table by the first or second week of June.  When they're done we'll start another 100. Hopefully we'll have plenty for sale from June through the end of the year.

Vicky's got many of our early vegetables already growing inside.  I'm excited to get stuff in the ground!!

Steve

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Winter Wonderland/Oily Food

26 inches of snow here at the farm! Twenty six!! So that's two incredible snow falls this Winter so far. Baltimore, which were near, is close or may have surpassed the record snowfall for a winter season. While we've been snowed in, I've started to read Barbara Kingsolver's book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." I wanted to share her insert in the book entitled "oily food". She writes, "Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We're consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen-about 17 percent of our nation's energy use-for agriculture, a close second to vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines, but the so-called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers. But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one-fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lion's share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate. Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles! If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That's not gallons, but barrels. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast."

Another great book I've read this winter is "The Omnivore's Dilemma"

Seeds and plants are ordered for this season, more on what's going in the ground at Rousedale in the next blog.

Message to all....find a farmer!

Steve

Friday, January 1, 2010

Here's what's happening on the farm!

Hi everybody,

This winter has been pretty rough and it's just begun! Thanks to neighbor Ken for plowing us out when we got 20 inches of snow a couple of weeks ago. I think we would have been snowed in for a week. The average snowfall for the entire month of December here is 1.7 inches and we got 20 inches in a day! It was so wet in the fall and now so snowy it's been tough to clean up some of the garden areas from the fall harvests. I finally took Hank the tractor and the big tiller out a couple of days ago and even though the top inch or so of the ground was frozen, I was able to till under much of the remnants of the fall crops like broccoli, cauliflower, lettuces, some herbs etc. and get them into the soil to start adding more organic matter. It just looks better all cleaned up too.

A lot of the newer chickens are beginning to lay their eggs right on schedule. It usually takes about 5 months for them to start laying. The first couple of weeks that they lay, the eggs are much smaller then what they will be once they get rollin'. Just a reminder, I deliver eggs in the Fallston area every other Thursday and once a month to many other areas. If you're interested just send me an email and we'll get you on the list for delicious fresh, free range eggs from happy chickens. Also if you're interested in having a small flock of your own, I will be happy to part with a few of the newer girls that are just starting to lay. These would be perfect for you to start with.

We're already starting to cruise through seed catalogs and are starting to plan for this coming year. I planted some strawberries this past fall in hopes we could have some fresh strawberries this spring for our CSA customers and for us too, without having to wait a year before we could enjoy them. They seem to have gotten a good foothold, we'll see how they winter over. Of course the garlic is in the ground and should be ready in June or so. This year we planted a type of garlic called "music". It's very tasty and the name is the best!

We have heated with wood for almost 30 years. Here at Rousedale for 17 years. Here we have two woodstove inserts in fireplaces that have done the job. This fall I purchased an outdoor wood furnace. This is not one of the hot water boiler types, but rather, a forced air system that I hooked right into the duct work of the house. It works pretty well and it keeps the dust and mess out of the house. When it's been really cold and windy, we still start the wood stove in the family room just make it a little more cozy. I do have to say, though, that the furnace is doing a pretty surprising job.

We still have a few spots still available for this year's CSA and plenty of eggs, drop us an email if you need any information beyond what's on the site.

Happy New Year!

Steve