Farm Update

Down on the Farm As many of you know, last year we had a heck of a time with raccoons. I trapped 5, over the course of a few nights, in our "catch and release" trap. It seemed to end the problem and we have had no signs of raccoon carnage on the chickens this year. We have, however, had problems with a great horned owl that has been doing some chicken hunting at dusk before the chickens are closed up for the night. It's a beautiful bird with a huge wing span, but inflicts instant death on his or her chicken of choice. I decided to try the trap on the owl. I grabbed the trap from the barn, stumbled into the edge of the forest where the coop is, put in my bait (remnants of a prior owl attack), set the trap and waited for action. After the first night..nothing. After the second night....nothing. Checking the trap on the third morning, I could tell the trap door was shut as I approached. I thought,"Wow I got 'em!" I could see something moving in the trap as I got closer. My heart pounded with anticipation. I was at the trap, I looked down and I had trapped.....a chicken!! I couldn't believe it! Apparently a chicken had made it's way into the trap the prior evening and spent the night behind bars. I figured, well at least she was safe from the owl. Tomatoes are finally coming!! A few are ripening everyday. Mostly Heirlooms at the moment. The good news is we have some tomatoes in the market! Along with the tomatoes you will find: Sweet white onions Red onions Sweet corn Red potatoes White potatoes Prairie Blush potatoes (our favorite-a cross between a red and yukon gold) Cucumbers Beets Green peppers Hungarian Hot Wax peppers( more like a banana pepper now, will get hotter as it matures) Turnips Radishes Egg Plant Summer squash Garlic Jalapeno peppers Chicken Eggs Honey We have our fresh chicken in the cooler through Saturday. We also have some frozen thighs, wings and drumsticks available.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Week 9

Hi,

Jeez, I almost forgot about the weekly CSA email. After watching the Orioles win in the 11th, I knew there was something else to be done.

Tomatoes are beginning! Just beginning, that's why there will only be one tomato in your share this week, but it's a start. It seemed so great to have that first tomato sandwich a couple of days ago. Hungarian Hot Wax peppers are in the share this week. At this stage of their growth they are not hot at all. You can use them more like a banana pepper. Once they get a little more mature they have a little bit of heat. If you get one that is beginning to turn color from the yellow green to orange or red, you will have a little heat.

This week:

Salad Mix

Green Pepper

Hot Wax Peppers

White Potatoes

Red Potatoes

Beets

White Onions

Red Onions

Cucumbers

Tomato

Sweet Corn

Garlic

See you tomorrow!

Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm We can't believe that we are winding our way to the end of July already and we're still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen!! We're predicting by the end of next week we should be able to start picking a few. We have cherry tomatoes and a very few of the heirloom tomatoes, so they're just beginning. We are a full week behind last year at this point. With all our farmhands this year, friendships develop, customs begin, nicknames pop up, etc. Tina brought a fresh picked raspberry pie a week ago Tuesday. I smartly declared Tuesday as "Pie Day" the rest of the season. We have "No Sweat" Matt2. We have "Apples" That's Jeffrey who made an apple pie week 2 of Pie Day. We have Harvey "H-Bomb" We have "The Queen" That's Annabel who's English. And Ginny received her nickname this week with much grace and a description of how and when nicknames came to be. Ginny, who can tell you something about just about anything has been dubbed "Wikiginia" a play on the on-line encyclopedia "Wikipedia" This week at the farm: Beets Salad Mix Arugula Red Potatoes White Potatoes Onions Garlic Cucumbers Summer Squash Green Peppers Jalapenos Turnips Sweet Corn Cherry Tomatoes Egg Plant Cabbage Radishes Eggs (get here early) Honey Have a great weekend!

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Farm Update

Down on the Farm We are up to our ears in green beans at the moment. We have tried every bean recipe known to man. Bean pudding, bean tacos, bean ice cream, bean cheese, etc. We have tried to do a bean mosaic art piece along the drive, but the chickens ate it. We have whittled the ends off to make them sharp like darts for the new bean dart game, but contestants kept snacking on them. We have paved pathways around the farm with beans, but they don't hold up to work shoes. We have chartered an airplane out of Fallston International Airport and dropped them from the sky, but were promptly arrested for littering. So.......what we have decided to do is to have an incredible bean sale this weekend, today, Saturday and Sunday. This weekend our fabulous fresh green beans will be at almost giveaway prices. They were $3.99 per quart/pound. This weekend $1.99 per qt/pd or two for $3. You can't beat that price with a bean stick! Also at our farm market: Red Potatoes White Potatoes Kale Egg Plant Sweet Corn Cabbage Cucumbers Summer Squash Zucchini Salad Mix Spinach Arugula Green Peppers Jalapeno Peppers Carrots Beets Herbs Eggs Honey Still waiting for the tomatoes to ripen. We are supplying Fallston's new restaurant, Acappela, with a lot of our fresh produce. They even had an organic salad on the menu this week! See you down on the farm.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Week 7

Hey CSAer's,

OK, I'm putting my earplugs in, there I'm ready......You will get no turnips this week!!!! I still heard you cheering.

After our initial beet planting failed, our second planting is coming in this week. Squashes are slowing a bit. Many of our market customers have asked how we could have spinach and lettuce this time of year. The answer is, I know they don't like the hot weather, but I wanted to try anyway and found a couple of shadier spots and it's working. Pretty much just one cutting of the spinach, because it bolts (goes to seed) almost immediatley in the hot weather. You will be getting only a small amount of arugula this week, but I think this is the tastiest, most tender, perfect sized arurgula ever.

We have taken the time to rinse off many of the greens. With all the rain in the last couple of days, it was extremely dirty. You, as always, will have to wash again, but we got the first layer off for you.

This week your share includes:

Beets

White Potatoes

Red Potatoes

Summer Squash

Zucchini

Carrots

Salad Mix

Spinach

Arugula

Green Beans

Kale-Red Russian

Cucumbers

Sweet Corn-Your choice

Herbs are always available. Tomatoes coming soon!!

See you tomorrow. 9a-8p for pick up.

Steve

Farm Update

What's Going On This Week It's really interesting how different we all are. Not just our personalities, but also our physical make up. We have such a great group of Rousekateers that work on the farm with us, we consider ourselves very fortunate. There's the A girls, Amber, Abigail, Ashleigh and Annabel. Tina, of course, she's been here for a number of years. Tiffany, the early morning phantom worker. Ginny, who has been here almost a year now. Harvey, who can fix and do about anything, Jeffrey and the two Matts, Matt one and Matt two. There's some farm talk that Matt 2 may not be a humanoid. Robot? Maybe. Alien? Highly likely. Why do we wonder about Matt 2? The man never sweats! He absolutely could care less if it's a thousand degrees or 50 degrees. Today we were all out in the fields, it was hot! Everyone was moving a little slower than normal, except Matt 2. Everyone's clothing was soaking wet, except Matt 2's. I saw sweat dripping off the noses of everyone, except Matt 2. As I was walking out to the field with him after a drink break, I said to him,"Good God Matt 2 it's almost unbearable out here today!" Matt 2's reply,"It's not that bad, what is it like 82?" I said,"Dude it's 93 degrees out here in the sun and humidity. The heat index is probably above 100 degrees!" He said,"Yea, I can see you're really sweating and you might want to consider a shower soon." I've also noticed his skin never changes color, even though he's in the sun everyday. I've decided, tomorrow I'm going to push him in the farm pond. If he sparks a little and goes up in a puff of smoke, we know my hunch was right. Keep you posted. This week at the market: Sweet Corn Carrots Red Potatoes Egg Plant Sugar Snap Peas Green Beans Cabbage Zucchini Summer Squash Lacinto Kale Spinach Cucumbers Swiss Chard Herbs Honey Eggs As you know, all of our produce is grown organically. The sweet corn is from another farm and grown conventionally. We hope to have some organic corn later in the season.

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Heat Index:1018 degrees! Whoa Nelly it's hot. When I lived in Maine the natives would say,"It's a real scawchaw out they-aw, a-ya." That meant it was hot, a real scorcher out there, yes. A couple of news notes: The new restaurant in Fallston, Acappella, is using some of our produce and also Hayfields Country Club in Hunt Valley! In the Rousedale market this week: Green Beans Black Raspberries Sugar Snap Peas Napa Cabbage Summer Squash Zucchini Cucumbers (regular and English) Regular Cabbage Swiss Chard Leaf Lettuce Turnips Red Russian Kale See you soon!

Locally Yours, Vicky and Steve

Week 5

Hi Everyone,

I'll find any excuse to come inside today and get out of the heat! When everyone asked where I was going, I said I had to go and send our CSA members week 5 info. Thank you for being here for me!! 

This week you will find in your shares:

Napa Cabbage (the Kim Chi cabbage)

Cucumbers

Red Russian Kale

Leaf Lettuce

Yellow Squash

Zucchini

Zephyr (the yellow and green squash)

Turnips (best of the season so far)

Swiss Chard

Blueberries (pick your own)

Herbs (in the market so you can take whatever you would like)

We will have string beans for next week and they are delicious!!

See you tomorrow!

Steve

Week 4

I forgot to post week four and five. So....

Hi CSA'ers,

Week four is here and away we go!

A couple of new and different items this week. Some of our romaine lettuce has now grown into heads, so you will be getting a head and also a bag of another variety of Romaine leaf lettuce. Our salad mix lettuce is slow coming due to the warmer weather last week. New arugula has been planted and should be ready in three to four weeks.

This is your first week with Swiss chard. Chard is used a lot in Mediterranean cooking and is one of the healthiest greens. This week you get the plain green chard. Next week you should get the "bright lights" chard. It's beautiful with a multitude of different colored stems. Cabbage is a new addition this week. Not a lot to say about it....it's cabbage. We are also throwing in what I will call a "herb medley". It's 2 or 3 stalks of various herbs from the herb garden. Could be oregano, basil, curly parsley, Italian parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (start singing here) tarragon, lemon thyme etc. We will let you know what you have when you pick up.

Our blueberries are ripening each day and are ready to pick. You guys get first dibs on picking tomorrow. Your share will include a pint of pick your own blueberries. More are available at $4 per pound.

In your share this week:

PYO Blueberries

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Zephyr (a yellow and green summer squash maybe slightly sweeter taste)

Swiss Chard

Cabbage

Curly Kale

Romaine Head

Romaine Leaf

Radish

Turnips

The exclusive purple heirloom cauliflower

Herb Medley

Steve, Vicky and Crew