Warmer Weather Please!!

Of course, part of the fun on the farm is taking care of the animals during the cold snaps. The thing that I love the most is when all the water freezes in the barn. The water line running to the barn and the chicken waterers, all solid as a rock. That means that all the waterers must be brought to the house to thaw out and be refilled every day. Not a huge deal, but pretty much doubles morning chore time. Plus, the chickens just won't go out in the snow, which means a lot more feed consumption.
Looking forward to the warmer weather coming!

Apples IV We will be heading to the organic orchard tomorrow (Thursday) for your cider and apples. Pick up for your orders will be at our farm Saturday 12/21  9-5.  If you cannot pick up Saturday, just let us know when you will be coming and we will have your order ready for you.  Sorry for the week delay.  Mother Nature is not always cooperative.
	Happy Holidays! Vicky and Steve

Apples II We have sufficient early orders to warrant the apple trip.  If any one else would like to order apples or cider, deadline for ordering is midnight Monday.  Apples and cider will be ready to pick up at the farm Saturday 12/14 from 9-5.  If you can't make it during that time, we can make other arrangements. Happy Holidays!!
	Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Apples Don't know about you, but our apple supply is getting a little low.  We will make another run to our friends in Pennsylvania, Oyler's Organic Farm if there's enough orders.  Remember these apples are all organically grown.  No sprays and none dipped in wax to enhance appearance.  I know many of us get waxed to enhance appearance, but we don't eat it!  At least I don't think you eat it.  I've never been waxed so I really don't know.  Well, I say I've never been waxed, there was that whole back hair incident back in the nineties that was a horrible mistake from the start...uh..ok...let's get back to apples. Anyway, the apples are $2.49 a pound and the cider is $9 a gallon and $5 a half gallon.  Many of you who bought cider the last time said it was the best you ever had and I have to agree.  The cider is nothing but apples and is not pasteurized. Just shoot us an email or give us a call to order.  We will have to know what kind of apples and how many pounds of each type you want.  There's about 3 or 4 to the pound.  If you want cider we'll need to know how much you would like.  Remember you can freeze the cider if you want to store it. Also, we have plenty of eggs, chicken and honey that's always available at the farm year round. Eggs and honey are self serve.  If you are interested in chicken just honk your horn for service. Here are the apples available with a brief description.  As you can see there are a few new varieties since last time.   If non-perfect skin on your apple bothers you, I found in the last batch we brought to the farm the York was probably the nicest looking Golden Supreme The Golden Supreme apple is a good multipurpose apple due to its crispness.  It’s crispness makes it good for fresh eating while it also holds it’s shape nicely for baking. It is white to light-cream colored flesh.  The flavor is sweet tart.    Golden Delicious The Golden Delicious is sweet, mellow, and juicy.  It is less crisp then a Golden Supreme, but is still a firm apple. Red Delicious The Red Delicious is sweet but very mild flavor.  It is a refreshing apple to eat due to it’s light crispness. Ida Red The Ida Red is a sweet tart apple that has a slightly pink flesh.  If your looking to make applesauce, this apple will give your sauce a pleasant color.  York The York apple has several strong characteristics.  It is firm, crisp, slightly tart, and juicy.  This apple is ideal for storing over the winter months. Enterprise The Enterprise apple has a sharp flavor with a white to cream colored flesh.  This apple stores well and has great cooking qualities. Fuji  The Fuji apple is very sweet and juicy.  It’s the perfect fresh eating apple.  It tastes great on salads and makes a great unsweetened applesauce. Gold Rush The Gold Rush has a crisp hard flesh and develops a sweeter flavor the longer you store it after harvest.  It is harvested late in the season.

Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Poached Egg Anyone?

This came from Mark who visited the farm searching for the perfect eggs to poach.  I asked , in return, could he let us in on his secret preparation and he said,"yes!"

Fresh eggs produce the best results due to a chemical change that occurs in the albumen within as little as a day or two. Older eggs will dissipate into the water, making a murky mess that's hard to see into. They also tend to spread out into an amorphous mass rather than spinning into the nice oval that is the hallmark of the perfect poached egg. Smaller eggs are better; large eggs tend to spin the yolk out so that you end up with the yolk on the outside and all of the white trailing behind it. Though less pretty, they do, as my Southern-raised wife says "eat the same". So, here's the process.

1. Fill a deep saucepan (about 3 quarts) 2/3 full of water.
2. Add about 2 tablespoons of white vinegar (I prefer rice vinegar). Make sure that it has no salt in it as this defeats the purpose of helping the white to coagulate.
3. Crack the egg into a small "ramekin" sized bowl. I like the small, tapered Pyrex bowls that are about 3" across at the top and 1 1/2" deep.
4. Bring the water to barely boiling. Lines of tiny bubbles should be rising to the surface. Once at that point, I turn the gas down to just above "low".
5. Using a slotted spoon, swirl the water to form a vortex. Take the spoon out and let it slow down for a couple of seconds. It should be a well-centered, shallow cone.
6. Carefully bring the egg bowl to the surface of the water and tip the egg in. The closer you are to the surface, the better.

Under the best of circumstances, the egg will flare out, then begin to tuck itself into a spheroid over the next minute or so. If all goes well, the surrounding water will remain clear.

7. After about three minutes, you can gently insert the spoon under the edge of the egg and lift it. At this point, the white will have gelled and become translucent, showing only a shadow of the yolk. In another couple of minutes, it will begin to float. I usually give it a minute or so beyond this to make sure that the white is thoroughly cooked but the yolk is still mostly runny. Experience is the best teacher in this regard.
8. When your best intuition says that the egg is ready, lift it out and put it onto a plate.
9. Repeat for as many eggs as you can stand to cook.
10. When the last egg is just about finished, re-heat the others by returning them to the water. Tip the plate and ease them in with the spoon.
11. Dry the plate and put a few paper towels (or a tea towel) on it and spoon the eggs out. Roll them gently with the spoon to dry them all around.
12. Eat! Enjoy

Our Final Market Day at the Farm. Saturday 9-Noon. This is it!  The end of the 2013 produce season for us.  Can't wait for next year!!  Well, if you want me to be totally honest, let me re-phrase that. After a few weeks of rest, we will be looking forward to the 2014 season! There.... We have been pulling, digging, cutting, inspecting and sorting what's left in the fields.  With one frosty night after another, even the hardiest plants are beginning to feel it but there appears to be plenty for Saturday.  We do have a lot of broccoli.  We have a ton of nice small cabbages and we'll have some greens.  We also still have apples available.  And we will have carrots too! We suddenly have an abundance of eggs, which hardly ever happens, so if you want to stock up for the Holidays, now is the time.  Remember our eggs stay fresh for a very long time.  Heck they've just been laid!   This Saturday's bounty: Carrots Kale Apples-Golden Supreme, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Fuji, and a few Ida Reds Mild Salad Mix Radishes Turnips Broccoli Cabbage Eggs Cybee's Local Honey Plenty of Chicken in the freezer Just so you know...Eggs, Honey and Chicken are available year round!

Thank you so much for a wonderful year! Locally yours, Vicky and Ste

Farm Update

Like us on Facebook!  Our page is up and running! We have finally begun work on our Facebook page.  It's still in it's infancy, but we have big plans for the page.  More info, pictures and videos then we can do here.  We hope to provide some growing tips, recipes, animal and human interest stories and more, that we find around the farm. We are always open with the self serve eggs and honey.  Chicken is not self serve, but with a blow of your horn or a knock on our door we can help you. We will not be open for produce this Saturday, but are expecting to open a week from Saturday 11/23,  with offerings of everything left in the fields.  Prices will never be lower!  Selection will never be greater!  It's the Rousedale Farm end of season blow out sale!!!  Jeez sounds like a commercial.

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Fresh Chicken Friday 3-7 and Saturday 9-noon We will have our fresh chicken in the coolers this Friday 3-7 and Saturday 9-noon.  We will just have whole chickens in this latest batch at $4.50 per pound.  So if you prefer fresh to frozen this is the time to grab one or eight.  This Saturday we will have, along with the chicken, fruit and produce as well.  We had a great turn out for the organic apples last week!  We purchased a few extra above and beyond the orders and will have them available Saturday morning.  We've been eating apples like crazy this week.  It's nice to know that your eating a pure apple with none of the lovely pesticide/fungicide residue or wax that they are commercially dipped in. This Saturday's bounty: Apples-red delicious, golden delicious, ida red, york and fuji Kale Radishes Turnips Salad Mix Fresh Chicken Eggs Honey Green Peppers Swiss Chard

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Apples!! We will be making the trek to Apple Land today. Those of you who have ordered, you're apples and cider will be ready for pick up tomorrow morning between 9 and noon.  If you can't make it then, shoot us an email and let us know when you can pick up. Thanks!

Farm Update

Who Needs Apples? We have an opportunity to purchase apples and cider from the same certified organic farm in Pennsylvania that Mom's Organic Market get there apples from.   The best part is that while Mom's charges $2.99 and 3.99 a pound, we will be able to charge $2.50 a pound.  You can order as much or as little as you want.  A half bushel is about 20 pounds and a case is 37 pounds.  I will have to know by noon Friday.  You can email or call.  If we have enough interest, I will make the trip to pick them up.  If not..never mind.  The varieties available are Golden Supreme, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Ida Red, York and Fuji.  The cider is made from nothing other than the organic apples, no preservatives and is not heated/pasteurized.  It has a shelf life of two weeks.  After that you may get a smile on your face, and some false confidence.  The cider is $9 a gallon $5.50 a half gallon.  A good opportunity to stock up on delicious organic apples for the holidays and the cold weather ahead.  Once again, please let me know by noon on Friday.  We can only do this by pre-ordering. We will be open Saturday morning 9-12.  We have gone through our first plantings of broccoli and cauliflower and now will wait for the second plantings to mature.  We will have Kale available this Saturday for $2 a paper grocery bag full(bring your own bag), the salad mix is half price at $1.50 a bag(our biodegradable bag) and the green peppers remain at a dollar a pound. (most of the bigger ones have been sold) This Saturday morning's bounty: Mild Salad Mix Green Peppers Swiss Chard Kale Turnips Radishes Arugula Chicken Eggs Honey

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Open Saturday morning 9-noon.   We headed to the field Thursday with the thought of a frosty night or two ahead of us.  Most of the fall crops can handle a light frost, but the peppers can't.  The peppers had to be picked...all of them!  Well, there were a lot.  So with the end of season not to far off, we have to move this merchandise.  Peppers are normally $2.29 a pound, tomorrow(Saturday) morning they are $1.00 a pound for organically grown green peppers! Tomorrow morning's bounty: Green Peppers Broccoli Cauliflower Mild Salad Mix Kale Swiss Chard Radishes Turnips Arugula Eggs Honey Chicken BTW the frost last night was extremely light and the pepper plants are still fine, however the Basil is history.

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Friendly Reminder!! We will be open tomorrow(Wednesday 10-6) and Saturday morning 9-12.  The broccoli and cauliflower are tremendous this fall! Wednesday's bounty: Broccoli Cauliflower Kale-Red Russian and Toscano Turnips Radishes Mild Salad Mix Arugula Green Peppers Chicken Eggs Honey See you soon! Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

We sold some Fall zucchini and I have pictures! Yes, they all laughed when I said I was going to grow fall summer squash.  They smirked when I said I thought it could be done.  They turned away when I invited them to help and chortled when I said we might just pull this off.  Well, guess what, all you doubters out there, vine has been done!  Ok, there was only 4 zucchini for sale today, but they were fresh picked this morning and customer Carol Knickman bought them.  I hear what you're all saying, "But Steve, we don't care.  We were sick of summer squash in July!"  Whatever. We just had the soil from our various fields tested.  It's really pretty interesting to get the analysis back and find out how it stacks up with organic matter, minerals and such and what we can add to make it better for our growing purposes.  Apparently it's just perfect to grow summer crops such as squash in the fall.  Seriously, if you're planning on planting a few things or a lot of things, it's a good idea to get your soil tested so you can add the amendments  (organic only please) it needs to produce maximum growth and quality.  We do our sampling through the Mill in Bel Air.  It's $15 per sample.  Heck, you can make that back in squash alone! We will not be open this Saturday, but will be open next Wednesday 10/23 10-6 and Saturday 10/26 9-noon Looks like Wednesday's bounty will be: Broccoli Cauliflower Green Peppers Turnips Swiss Chard Radishes Mild Salad Mix Arugula Kale Spinach Chicken Eggs Honey

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

We have been hoping for rain...Ok we're good now..really. We will not be open for produce tomorrow(Sat.) morning as it's now too wet to get anything out of the fields.  We will open Tuesday and Wednesday all day 10-6 for produce.  Self serve eggs and honey remain available always. Tuesday and Wednesday's bounty: Broccoli Cauliflower Green Peppers Turnips Swiss Chard Butternut Squash Radishes Mild Salad Mix Arugula Kale Spinach Chicken Eggs Honey

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

We will be open Saturday 9-noon only.  Eggs and honey anytime by the honor system.  If you can't make it Saturday simply give us a call to come and see us! We are disappointed to say that it looks like the 2013 corn season is over.  We were hoping for one more gasp of corn this weekend, but not gonna happen.  We do have good news though...our summer squash experiment is really working.  Thanks to the hot Autumn, our Zucchini plants are blooming and setting fruit.  Although I haven't seen any bees for a month, it doesn't look like my pollinating services will be needed this time.  (for you newcomers to the newsletter my pollinating services became world renown last spring) Did you ever think you could have fresh Zucchini in October!?  Did you ever really want fresh Zucchini in October!?  Well, we had extra seeds so we thought we would give it a try and it looks like it's going to work.  The cucumbers are coming much slower, but that may happen too!  Keep in mind that as the season comes to a close we will be open less and less, but you can always call us if you can't make it Saturday morning.  410-215-6776. We planted a type of radish that we have never tried before called "cherriette".  It seemed in the past few years that all the radishes we planted were so hot they would have you breathing fire after one bite.  The cherriettes are perfect spheres of ruby red glory and much milder than there predecessors.  I love them and show them off any chance I get.  Vicky thinks that growing radishes is a waste of time and space.  Of course, every time we sell a bunch of radishes I come strutting into the house, "Sold another bunch of the radishes.  Yup, selling like hotcakes!!" This Saturday morning's bounty: Butternut Squash Kale Mild Salad Mix (lettuces) Radishes Spinach Honey Chicken Eggs ArugulaTurnipsGreen Peppers edit

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Fresh Chicken!

Our newest, freshest chicken is here. Whole and 8 piece cut up whole chickens. We'll have the chicken in the coolers Wednesday 10/2 through Friday 10/4 and then it will go into the freezer.  Our fresh chicken will be available each day tomorrow through Friday from 10-7! Vicky and Steve

No Corn This Weekend

There will be no corn this weekend!! We're sorry to say that the corn from the last corn patch of the year is not quite mature enough to be picked this weekend.  It should be fine for next weekend.  We will keep you posted

Farm Update

Now's the time to order corn for freezing or canning and any special chicken orders! Hi Everyone! We have two more weekends for corn.  If you have been thinking about putting some up, let us know today, for this weekend, or next week, for next weekend,  if you would like to order a few dozen.  The time has come to freeze or throw out the pot!  Also it looks like our next batch of fresh chicken will be in the cooler next Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.  If you would like to order anything different than our whole and whole cut up chicken, let us know now.  Remember, cut up chicken can be packaged any way you like and cut or deboned any way.  Of course a whole cut up chicken with boneless breast will cost more than a chicken with the bone in breast.  Call or email if you have any questions.  I will send out a quick email beginning of next week with definite days and times for the chicken. Thank you all for whatever you did to help bring on the beautiful rain we received last weekend.  It was perfect!  It helped a lot.  I must admit the couple of rain dance videos we received from some of our customers, though, I'm sure helpful, were quite frightening. This weekend's bounty: Sweet corn Kale Mild salad mix (lettuces) Beets Honey Chicken Eggs Arugula Butternut Squash Green Beans Basil Radishes We are attempting to find replacement hens for some of our older egg layers.  It seems next to impossible to find any that haven't had the tips of their beaks singed off.  Growers do that when they're day old chicks to avoid dangerous pecking when hens are grown in crowded conditions.  We certainly prefer a hen with a whole beak.  Vicky said she thought losing the end of the chicks beak is horrible and has to be painful.  I rebutted, "Have you ever heard of a bris!"

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

This Weekend

Open this weekend Saturday and Sunday 10-6 We're hoping for a significant rain this weekend. We really haven't received any rain since the first week in August.  Great if you're not a farmer, the pits if you are.  We find ourselves in that transition time between summer's bounty and the fall's offerings.  This week we were taking out the tomato plants, removing and moving some blueberry plants to combine all the healthier plants in one area, ripping out most of the grapes and tilling and planting our cover crop.  The cover crop, which is winter rye btw, helps with erosion during the fall and winter and when tilled back into the soil in the spring, adds organic matter.  It's so dry here, that while I was out tilling, I was recreating a scene from the great dust bowl from the thirties!  When I was finished I, of course, came traipsing into the house looking like a giant dirty dust bunny with half the field covering me.  Vicky really was very understanding about it.  I believe she yelled,"What are you doing?"  I replied,"Getting a drink, I'm parched!"  "There's seven hoses outside, get a drink out there," she ordered.  "Good grief you look like you were shot with a dust gun!  You might want to take the dust mask off your face too before you attempt a drink !" Cybil Preston stopped by this week with a new supply of her Cybee's raw honey, so the shelves have been re-stocked.  The sweet corn is still coming, but much of our fall veggies are struggling a bit.  A rain dance would be helpful, if you know one, or feel free to adlib one, the neighbors won't mind. This weekend's bounty: Corn Butternut Squash Radishes Honey Garlic New Arugula* (tender and a bit milder than the arugula from the older bed, which is still available if you really want a punch) Red Russian Kale* (small and tender) Chicken ( whole and cut up whole) Eggs Beets Red Potatoes Spinach* Green Beans (limited amount) *Keep in mind the greens are just maturing and will be quite limited this weekend edit

See you soon! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Your Farm Update

Hi Everyone, Well, we were gearing up for a wonderful shot of rain yesterday.  We were so hopeful we would get what our fall crops needed.  We heard thunder to the south.  We heard thunder to the west.  A customer had come from Towson and reported that it was pouring there.  We had a call from a friend in Bel Air that it was raining there.  A customer had been in Conowingo where there had been a deluge.  Our skies were darkening over the farm.  We felt a drop and then another and another and........that was pretty much it.  I believe I counted 35 total drops that plunked me on the head.  We couldn't believe it.  We basically got nothing.  It's been over a month now with no rain on the farm.  One customer tried to lighten the moment by saying,"Boy these late tomatoes sure taste sweeter.  I guess because of the lack of rain, huh?"  I asked him to leave the premises immediately. We have harvested our Butternut Squash and a Turban squash called Buttercup.  They both are quite tasty.  We should have corn through the end of the month.  Now this is Maple Border Farm's corn.  GMO free, but not grown organically.  Tomatoes are about done.  We should have a limited supply while they last.  This is the time of year that we are caught between the waning Summer crops and the still maturing Fall crops. NEW HOURS FOR FALL:  We will be open just Saturday and Sunday through the Fall 10-6 each day.  We will go back to the honor system for our eggs Monday through Friday.  Until the small egg cooler is repaired, the eggs will be in one of the coke coolers and the money box on our main table in the middle of the market. This weekend's bounty: Sweet Corn Tomatoes Red Potatoes Butternut Squash Garlic Buttercup Squash Chicken-Whole and Cut up Whole Eggs Beets Honey edit

Thank you so much for allowing us to be your farmer and all your support through the Summer! Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Two of our smallest fans

Luke doesn't have many teeth (does he have any?) but somehow eats up the corn!

Auggie shows farmer Steve how to drive Hank the tractor

Farm Update

The chicken is in the house!!  Although we have already sold a bunch of our fresh chicken there is still plenty more to be had.  We will start putting what's left in the freezer Saturday morning. Many of the largest wholes and cut ups have been sold, but we still have plenty of whole birds from 2.5 to 4.5 pounds and cut ups from 1.7 to 3.7 pounds.  We also have chicken livers and hearts packaged in one pound bags.  For you folks that like to make your own stock we have some backs and feet as well.  I want to apologize to the customers that came in around noon Wednesday to pick up their birds and they weren't here yet.  They were ready for pick up a little later than noon and I had forgotten I had a dentist appointment at one.  As anyone in his right mind would have, I seriously considered cancelling the dental appointment on the count of I had to pick up 117 chickens.  I can hear the conversation now..."um hi it's Steve Rouse.  I have an appointment in an hour.  Um, I'm going to have to postpone it.  I have chickens I have to pick up that are, um bagged and ready.  I mean, they're dead and ready.  I mean they were alive and not ready, but now, oh never mind, see you at one."  Plus I got thinking, do I really want to upset a guy who attacks your mouth with a drill and an assortment of sharp instruments? Tomatoes are slowing down, but surprisingly enough, the heirlooms, cherokee purples and brandywines seem to be holding on a little better than the standard big beefs.  Squash is all but done, but our fall squash and cucumber experiment is coming along nicely.  They are all up and the warmer weather has been their friend.  We do have to say, however, that many of the other fall crops are having a hard time because we have had no rain since they have been planted.  We have been watering, but it's not the same as rain water for the plants. We are doing our first taste test of this year's sweet potatoes tonight.  If they taste sweet, we will have them available this weekend.  If not, will wait another week and taste test again. This week's bounty: Sweet Corn Tomatoes Garlic Beets Chicken Eggs Local Raw Honey Red Potatoes Basil Green Beans (Picking Saturday Morning) Arugula

See you soon! Remember Fall hours are Wednesday through Sunday 10-6 Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Can you believe that Labor Day weekend is upon us and school buses have hit the roads again?  Here at the farm, all of our fall plantings are pretty well done.  We are expecting more broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower plants to arrive any day and once they're in the ground that will put a wrap on it.  Planted so far: radishes, lettuces, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, swiss chard, kale, beets, bunching onions, potatoes, carrots, spinach.  We also had left over summer squash and cucumber seed that we have planted just to see what will happen.  That is actually the Rousedale Farm motto soon to be seen on signs everywhere, "Well, we'll see what happens."  We think if we have a warm fall, we might get another crop.  Ok, I hear the groans, "please no more squash, I beg of you!"   We will have fresh chicken in our coolers next Thursday, Friday and Saturday before it hits the freezer.  Whole chickens $4.50 per pound and whole cut up chickens $6.50 per pound.  This is the time to get the freshest chicken around!  Most whole birds should run between 4-5 pounds with a few below and a few larger.  The cut ups should range between 2-4 pounds.  If you would like to order anything, now is the time to let us know.  We have some photos of our chickens on our web site, www.rousedalefarm.com to show you how they are raised.  Quite unlike the normal store bought chickens.  I wanted to put up comparison pictures to show the differences.  I was quickly vetoed by Vicky with one word, "Gross"! Would anyone be interested in receiving produce delivery??  We are kicking around the idea for the Fall season.  We haven't work it totally out yet, but the premise would be...we send out our weekly list of what's available, you call or email in your order and we deliver on delivery day.  Any thoughts?  Any interest?  Please let us know. This week's bounty: Sweet Corn * Green Beans Cucumbers Summer Squash Beets Red Potatoes (all sizes) Tomatoes Arugula Garlic Local Raw Honey Eggs Chicken (beginning Thursday 9/5) *Please let us know in advance if you need more than a dozen ears, as we are not getting as much in the market with the slower season, but can if we know you need it. We will be open Monday Labor Day, but closed Tuesday  9/3. Have a great Holiday weekend! Vicky and Steve

See you soon! A little different than the industrial poultry houses!

Farm Update

Here's what's happening at the farm! It should be obvious to you folks that have been receiving our emails for a while that our look has changed substantially. We are trying a new newsletter look with a few bells and whistles. Unfortunately with bells and whistles come mess ups and failures. While transferring all the email addresses last night until 2:30am, I may have dozed off a couple of times and a twitchy sleep deprived hand may have erased or added strange addresses or eliminated some. We hope you will let us know if any changes have to be made. We have been extremely busy this week harvesting and planting. Harvesting not only gives you some nice fresh organic veggies, but it also creates room to plant some new items for fall. Harvested this week along with the regular squash, tomatoes etc. We have dug 400 pounds of Red Pontiac potatoes and 80 pounds of sweet potatoes. The reds are ready to rock, the sweets will have to cure for 2-3 weeks to allow the enzymes in the potatoes to turn into sugar. Thus the name. Without waiting they would be called "tasteless taters". We found that out last year along with some of our customers. Don't worry we allowed those unruly customers, picketing out in front of the farm, to trade them in for another food item of their choice. This week's bounty: Sweet corn Our organic corn this weekend Tomatoes Red Potatoes Green Beans Garlic Beets Summer Squash Carrots Arugula Local Raw Honey Egg Plant (Friday through the weekend) Cucumbers (Friday through the weekend) Eggs

See you soon at the farm! Open 9-7 everyday. Locally yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Look at that Heirloom!!  I don't mean Vicky.  That was a two pound Brandywine

This is just one tomato in our 12 inch skillet

Newcomers to the farm

Can you see the black snake?  Nice surprise when I reached for the gate!

Hi All,

Okay two nights ago I was sweating trying to go to sleep, this morning the heater kicked on! What a crazy summer.

I have to apologize to the customer that was coming down the drive just as I spotted a hawk dive bombing the chickens. I was out planting, when I heard the chickens squawking and looked up to see them running for the coop as a small hawk was flying above them. I got up off my knees and sprinted, well I say sprinted, my sprint these days looks more like a slow gallop of an old hobbled sway back horse. The timing couldn't have been better as a car was coming down the drive just as I was galloping across the field screaming with my arms flailing, what would have seemed to the driver, directly at her car. She said she saw the hawk, but didn't see me. I'm sure if she had, she would have made a u-turn and a quick exit.

This week and weekend we have:

Corn (non-GMO grown conventionally)

Beets

Garlic

Honey

Zucchini

Summer Squash

Green Beans (tender and delicious)

Chicken

Eggs

Cucumbers

Tomatoes

We're finally getting some of our fall crops in the ground. Broccoli, cauliflower and spinach have been planted. We will get lettuce, radish, Swiss chard, kale, turnips and potatoes in the ground today.

Hope to see you at the farm!

Vicky and Steve

What's Going On

Hi Everyone,

It's been a damp and soggy last couple of days, which has set us a bit behind in getting our Fall planting started. Some of the things we are planting are: Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Salad greens, spinach, Swiss chard, kale, carrots, bunching onions, turnips, beets, radishes, arugula, potatoes. If there's anything else you would like us to plant for you, let us know.

New meat chicks arrived this morning. They come through the mail and the people that work in the Fallston post office love me. This morning the call that I received went something like,"Steve, oh my god can you come and get these noisy birds a sap!" I usually try to give them an hour or so of joyous chirping before I manage to get there.

We do have some chicken on hand from last week's processing. The next batch will go, we're thinking, the first week of September. We do have a few advance orders, but plenty of room if you would like to order in advance. You don't have to advance order, we will have chicken on hand to purchase as you go.

We have corn today (Wednesday) through the weekend. Cybee's chemical free honey and produce wanted to know if we would like any organically grown, no spray corn for our weekend customers. We were like, "DUH!" Buying it in volume we have been able to work out a price that is excellent for no spray corn. We will have that corn available Friday until it's gone.

Our Maple Border Farm regular silver king corn is $5.00 per dozen or .50 cents per ear

Our Rousedale Farm argent and sugar pearl organically grown corn already shucked is $8.00 per dozen or .80 cents per ear

Cybee's organically grown silver king will be $6.00 per dozen or .60 cents per ear.

Also now available:

Beets

Arugula

Tomatoes

Corn

Zucchini

Summer squash

Garlic

Green Beans

Cucumbers

Small onions

Green peppers

Eggs

Chicken

If you would like to call before you come to check on availability please do...410-215-6776

The sun will come out tomorrow! (now you'll be humming that the rest of the day, sorry)

Vicky and Steve

Heirlooms

So the heirloom tomato came in this morning and said,"Steve, I'm not feeling so good." I looked at him and said,"I think you need to be hydrated." The heirloom said, " I want a second opinion." I said, "Okay, you're ugly too!"

Well, we all know that the heirloom tomatoes are not that pretty, but have a huge taste. Vicky brought in some magnificent specimens today. There were some, however, that have cracked or in one way or the other have one or two blemishes. We feel that we can't sell them at the regular price. So, this weekend we will sell the blemished heirlooms for .50 cents a pound. Parts can be cut away and you should still get a lot of tomato.

Now that the tomatoes are really starting to come in, we will lower the tomato prices from $3.99 a pound for heirlooms to $2.99 a pound. The conventional tomatoes will go from $2.99 a pound to $2.49 a pound.

This weekend:

Tomatoes

Corn

Beets

Zucchini

Summer Squash

Onions

Garlic

Green Beans

Honey

Arugula

White Potatoes

Cucumbers

Chicken

Have a great weekend

Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Hi Everyone,

After an impromptu survey of Tuesday's customers at the farm, we found out that most would have purchased corn if we had any available. I took this as a staggering defeat in my marketing strategy and took action immediately. We have corn today (Wednesday) through Sunday. If the corn sign is out the corn is in the building.

Most have let my macho male ego slide after the last update email about Vicky not allowing me to pick beans anymore because of my ineptness. Of course, there were a few that marched in and asked, "Hey Steve, how's the bean picking going!"

A couple of questions have popped up as a result of the Chicken email. The answers:

1...Yes, you have to buy the whole chicken.

2...Yes, you can order in advance.

3...Yes, we will normally have some on hand for purchase.

4...Yes, we will do a hundred about every three to four weeks with the last group in November

5...No, the chickens don't swim in the pool and do cannonballs off the diving board.

Available now:

Tomatoes-heirlooms, conventional and romas

Onions

Green Beans

Garlic

Arugula

Basil

Red and White potatoes

Zucchini

Yellow Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Corn

Chicken

Eggs

Honey

Everything produced and grown here at the farm except the corn from Maple Border Farm in White Hall and the raw honey from Cybee's in Jarrettsville.

The weather is beautiful. Come see us!

Vicky and Steve