Smashed Turnips with Horseradish

2 pounds of Turnips

½ bunch scallions, thinly sliced

2 tbsp freshly grated horseradish

½ c sour cream

2 tsp salt

(1) Trim the ends off the turnips. (2) Peel and (3) cut into quarters. Place them in a pot, and cover with water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer until turnips are fork-tender, about 25 minutes. Strain until completely dry. Place the turnips in a large bowl while they’re still hot, and add the remaining ingredients. Mash with a whisk or a potato masher until well combined but still chunky. Serves 6.

Source: http://nymag.com/restaurants/recipes/inseason/turnips-inseason-2011-3/.html 

2012 CSA Basket Share Values

Running a CSA farm entails a surprising amount of record keeping. Shareholders are our first priority as we make decisions about what to grow and how to sell it. If there is extra produce beyond the CSA baskets, we sell what is left to the co-op stores, local restaurants and Farmer’s Markets.  The price for a Henry Got Crops share has stayed the same for the four years it has been offered ($410 Small, $700 Large). We are grateful to returning shareholders for supporting the farm as the value of the baskets has fluctuated between year to year.

This year was excellent and shareholders were compensated generously for investing in the farm.  The baskets offered 53 produce types with 23 of 24 baskets calculated. The numbers are based on the average of the weekly basket value from each pickup’s 2:00 basket items. Great effort is made to substitute equal priced items as the day continues but this is how we start to value the weekly share.

The share value we calculate is based on averages between the pickup days and can include the average of the U-Pick item choices. We use one average retail price per produce item per season. U-Pick items are valued at wholesale prices.  Averages mean that the basket value may be slightly different from what your share actually was in a particular week but it is a close enough number to be useful  to evaluate our products from week to week and year to year.

We thank you for investing in HGC! and we hope you will return as 2013 shareholders! We had a great year and met our goals to start some longer term projects such as the tractor acquisition, planting of the fruit orchard, the perennial herbs, even new soil and raised beds in the greenhouses. Scott’s compost operation is in full swing and we will applying it to the beds in the next month allowing the manure from the Saul barn to be returned to Saul land as a safe soil amendment. We continue to work to improve the land and the products we grow at Henry Got Crops!
2012

What you paid

Share price/24 weeks in 2012 season

Small: $400/24 = $16.67

Large: $710/24 = $29.58

As of week #23, including the value of U-Pick, Total value you received:
           Small    $546.55

Large    $1,050.55

Week High/Low
            Small    $45.95, $16.80

Large    $89.90, $31.60

As of week #23, U-Pick separated, Total value you received:

Small

Items on table $473.72

U-Pick   $71.80

Large

Items on table $943.11

U-Pick   $107.45

 2011

What you paid

Share price/26 weeks in 2011 season

Small: $400/26 = $15.38

Large: $710/26 = $26.92

As of week #26, U-Pick included, Total value you received

Small     $400.03

Large     $790.32

Week High/Low

Small     $28.17, $7.68

Large     $56.34, $15.37

We do not have corresponding numbers for other years at this time.

Next Year's Shares

It is hard to believe next season will be our 5^th year of operation. How far we have come! The strength and uniqueness of a CSA is the core membership base. We hope you will consider signing up again for the 2013 season. Keep your eyes and ears open for the 2013 sign up form. We hope to have it advertised and circulating by December first. I will email all current and past members, and post the online sign-up form on the Weavers Way website.  

Season Wrap Up

For those of you who have been members for four years and read the newsletters every week, you can probably predict how this “Season Wrap Up” will go: it has been a long season, but  it flew by; it was a hard season, but satisfying. I probably say the same thing every year, but this is the essence of farming- the days are long, but the weeks go by in the blink of an eye.  The work is endless, but so are the rewards.

All in all, the weather was very good to us. The spring was strangely hot, early summer was dry, there were a few brutally hot days in July, and the fall has been absolutely beautiful. In my short history of growing for five years in Philadelphia, this was one of the best growing years yet. There were a few weeks of extreme weather, but it always seemed to balance out before it got unbearable or troublesome.

This year was the largest CSA membership yet. We filled our goal of 80 large share equivalents (counting a small share as half a large), but when the season was so promising, we continued to accept memberships mid season. We finished the year with 140 families (large and small shares total).

This year was also the largest staff yet. Chris, Matt and Nancy were pillars of support, hard work, and fabulous company. There was no task too large and I was always surprised with how hard this team worked! With the three of you, there was more laughter on the farm this year than ever before. The three of you were a huge part of what kept my stress levels down this year and I thank you for bringing a refreshing balance of hard work and silliness to Henry Ave.

It was fantastic to work alongside Clare for the second year in a row, as she took the education programs with Saul students to a new level of integration and interdisciplinary approaches. We had our largest youth summer internship program as well, thanks to Clare.  Clare also wants to thank everyone for a great year and looks forward to seeing you at the farm next year!

This farm wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the support and involvement of teachers and their students at Saul. Thank you to all the teachers and students who work so hard alongside us, and make this farm the unique, trailblazing, educational farm that it is.

A major highlight for me this year was the Harvest on Henry  Festival. The amount of work that the fundraising committee put into the organization of this event made me feel so lucky to have such dedicated CSA members. The inspiration behind having a fundraiser event at the farm was to bring cohesiveness to the different communities that are a part of this farm. On the day of the event I saw Saul families, CSA members, neighbors and teachers enjoying the farm together.  This day was a huge step in the right direction of bringing community together.

Thank you all for your support this year. Not only your financial support in buying a share, which keeps this farm running, but in your emotional support too. Coming down into the field for U-pick, saying hello in the driveway, asking how things are going at the farm when we run into each other in the neighborhood, taking the time to meet Saul students who are an integral part of this farm, telling me the successes you have had getting your kids to eat string beans- these are the ways I feel supported by you and I thank you!

Thank You Chris!

Back in the spring I was getting nervous about filling the CSA shares for the season. Chris Obrien had just started working on the farm and he said he thought his friends would really be interested. The one problem was that he lived in South Philly and his friends were in that area as well. He knew asking them to trek out to Roxborough was unrealistic. Excited about sharing this farm with his friends, and dedicated to sustainability, Chris offered to bike 10 shares to his friends every Tuesday evening, from the farm, to South Philly, with many stops in between. We dusted off a bike cart which the co-op had purchases years ago. Every Tuesday he loaded up two large coolers, strapped them on to the bike cart and pedaled down Henry Ave. Thank you Chris for sharing our harvest with your supportive friends!

Celeriac Soup

INGREDIENTS:

·       3 tablespoons butter

·       2 leeks, green top removed, coarsely chopped

·       1 onion, coarsely diced

·       2 bay leaves

·       3 sprigs fresh thyme

·       1/2 cup white wine

·       1 celeriac, peeled, coarsely diced

·       1 potato, peeled, coarsely diced

·       6 cups vegetable stock

·       1 cup 35-percent whipping cream

·       Salt and freshly ground black pepper

·       Pinch fresh nutmeg

·       1/4 cup sour cream, for garnish

·       1 tablespoon black sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions:

Put 2 tablespoons of butter in a pot over medium heat. Once thebutter has melted, add the leeks, onion, bay leaves, and thyme and stir until the onions are translucent. Add the white wine and reduce the liquid by 2/3. Add the diced celeriac and potato, stir. Add thevegetable stock and bring up to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook until the celeriac is tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes.

Carefully transfer the mixture into a food processor and puree until smooth. Stir in the cream and remaining tablespoon of butter. Season the soup with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

To serve, garnish the soup with sour cream and black sesame seeds.

Source: http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/roger-mooking/celeriac-soup-recipe/index.html

Pie Contest Results

Traditional Fruit
1st - Joanna Sinclair (Apple Raspberry Pie)
2nd - Jen May (Caramel Apple Pie)
3rd - Kate Plusi (Apple Crumb Pie)

"Other" Pies
Equal 1st -  Nicole Cournoyer (Meat "cheeseburger" Pie)
Equal 1st - Beige Berryman (Maple Pumpkin Pie)

2nd - Liam Spady - Saul Student - (Sweet Potato with Apple Pie)

Saul HS and PHeaST

Two weeks ago Channel 6 news came to the farm to interview teacher Jess McAtamney and her class. Jess was recently awarded the Champion of Change award for her leadership as one of the advisors to the FFA (formerly known as the Future Farmers of America) chapter at Saul High School. Jess received recognition of her honor at the White House last week.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8834632

Gardening at Southern for a PHeaST

The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) hosted a fundraiser last Friday, October 19^th at the Navy Yard. Urban farmers were paired with restaurants to provide locally grown ingredients for dishes that were tasted by participants. PHS is a long standing partner with Weavers Way and Henry Got Crops. Matt and Chris from the Henry Got Crops staff represented our farm at the event. The other farm mentioned in the article, in addition to HGC, is the farm at South Philly High, started by Molly Devinney, Henry Got Crops Apprentice in 2011.

Saul HS in the News

The Inquirer has caught on to the talent as Saul High School and has recently run two great stories showcasing the great people and unique qualities of the school.

At Saul High, Talented Crop of Students, Saturday, October 20th

http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20121021_At_Saul_High__talented_crop_of_students.html?page=2&c=y

Here is an excerpt: "There's no other place like this," Bonaparte said of the Roxborough school, set on busy Henry Avenue with cars whizzing by.

True. At no other city school are there two farmers on staff. Nowhere else in the Philadelphia School District will you find students hauling 50-pound feed bags, driving tractors, harvesting eggplant, studying milk produced on site for bacteria, and caring for horses.

(It also has Pennsylvania's largest chapter of FFA, the organization formerly known as Future Farmers of America, and one of the biggest chapters in the country, FFA officials confirmed.)

One of a handful of agricultural high schools nationwide, Saul is one of the largest of its kind. It's long been a below-the-radar gem, a well-regarded city magnet school.

But lately, Saul has been on a roll.

Junior Isaiah Nelson, an aspiring botanist from West Oak Lane, recently won a state agriculture science fair and is headed to nationals - the first Saul student to do so.

And teacher Jessica McAtamney, who has helped develop a large community-supported agricultural (CSA) program at the school, just returned from the White House, where she was honored as a "Champion of Change" for her work with Saul students.”

The school offers multiple Advanced Placement courses, and 75 percent of its graduates go on to college. Last year's top student is attending Cornell University's agriculture school.…

The school, which requires strong grades for admission, has a diverse student body - 63 percent African American, 23 percent white, 12 percent Hispanic. Ten percent of its students require special-education services, and 62 percent are considered economically disadvantaged.

Many pupils travel on multiple buses for an hour or more a day to get to Saul. The school has an open campus, with students moving among buildings on both sides of Henry Avenue several times a day.

Saul students said they find themselves picking up bits of knowledge they never knew they would be acquiring such as: "You can feel it when a cow steps on your toe, even if you're wearing steel-toed boots," Bonaparte said. And: When the lettuce you grew at the school appears in your salad in the cafeteria, you feel a particular sense of pride. Also: Animals need to be fed and cared for, even when the weather is bad.

"I walked my sheep in the rain, hail, and snow," said senior Debbie Mayo.

The spotlight is nice, said McAtamney. And so is a renewed focus on urban agriculture.

"It's been happening at Saul for so long," McAtamney said. "But now it's hip, which is great for us."

Harvest on Henry: Huge Success

The weather was perfect and Henry Ave was lined with cars! Our second annual Harvest on Henry festival  was a huge success.  CSA members, Saul families and neighbors all came together to enjoy the farm. The hay ride was perhaps the most popular event, and the sheep and baby goat stole everyone’s hearts. There was always a line at the food trucks- The Spot, and Birds of Paradise. Pumpkin painting was perhaps the busiest table of all the children’s activities. It was great to see the farm full of so many people, listening to the live music, enjoying good food and good company. Our goal was to raise $2000 for discounted shares and donating food to the Saul cafeteria, in 2013. We exceeded our goal, thanks to literally, the hundreds of people who showed up to support the farm.  The event was possible only through the cooperation of many generous people volunteering their time for many months. I want to especially thank the CSA Fundraising committee, without whom this event would have ever gotten off the ground!

Harvest on Henry Planning Committee:

Hollie Holcombe, Joanna Sinclair, Kate Pelusi, Sukey Blanc, Ken Schamberg, Clare Hyre, Sarah Pundeson, and Nancy Dearden.

Minestrone of Late Summer Vegetables

Vegetable broth

·       3 tablespoons olive oil

·       3 large carrots, peeled, sliced

·       2 medium onions, sliced

·       1 medium fresh fennel bulb, sliced

·       1 medium celery root (celeriac), peeled, sliced

·       1/2 head of garlic, crushed (with peel)

·       6 large fresh Italian parsley sprigs

·       3 bay leaves

·       1 large fresh rosemary sprig

·       2 large tomatoes, chopped

·       2 tablespoons tomato paste

·       16 cups water

Garlic croutons

·       2 tablespoons olive oil

·       3 large garlic cloves, minced

·       3 cups 1/2-inch cubes baguette or rustic country-style bread

Vegetable soup

·       1 cup dried cranberry beans or cannellini (white kidney beans)

4small carrots, peeled, sliced

3 large leeks, thinly sliced

·       3 garlic cloves, minced

·       2 medium white-skinned potatoes, peeled, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

·       1 cup fresh edamame beans or frozen, thawed

·       1 cup sliced trimmed Italian pole beans or green beans (about 5 ounces)

·       1 cup 1/2-inch cubes peeled celery root (celeriac)

·       1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper

·       4 lacinato (black) kale leaves or tat soi thinly sliced crosswise

·       2 1/2-pints red and/or yellow cherry tomatoes, cut in half

·       1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

Instructions:

For vegetable broth:
Heat oil in very large pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots and next 7 ingredients. Sauté until vegetables are golden and begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato paste; stir to blend. Add 16 cups water and bring to boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 2 1/2 hours.

Strain vegetable mixture, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer. Measure 13 cups broth and pour into large bowl (reserve remaining broth for another use). Season broth with salt. DO AHEAD: Can be made 5 days ahead. Cool slightly. Cover and refrigerate.

for garlic croutons:
Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add garlic; stir 30 seconds. Add bread cubes; stir until crisp and golden, about 7 minutes. Remove from heat; cool. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

For vegetable soup:
Place cranberry beans in medium bowl; add enough cold water to cover beans by 2 inches. Let stand at room temperature overnight. Drain. Place beans in large saucepan; add enough cold water to cover beans by 3 inches. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until beans are tender, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Drain beans; set aside.

Bring 13 cups vegetable broth to simmer in large pot over medium-high heat. Add carrots and next 7 ingredients to broth; bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes. DO AHEAD: Soup and beans can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill beans. Cool soup slightly, then chill until cold. Cover and keep chilled. Rewarm soup over medium heat before continuing.

Add cranberry beans and kale and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in cherry tomatoes and parsley; simmer just until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Ladle vegetable soup into bowls. Garnish with garlic croutons and shaved cheese and serve.

Source: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Minestrone-of-Late-Summer-Vegetables-235833

A Visit from Jack Frost

The frost date in Philadelphia is around Halloween. Last year if you recall, we not only got a frost then, but a few inches of snow! Last Friday there were rumors of a frost in the forecast, so during the day I checked a few different weather reports. One said low of 37, one said low of 33. I thought, “Two weeks before our frost date? If we do get a frost, certainly it will be very light, if at all.” I surveyed the field and noted that many of the most cold-sensitive vegetables were at the top of the hill, and therefore more protected from the sinking cold air. I went to a friend’s party that evening with a handful of farming friends and we spent most of the evening comparing weather reports and our own personal predictions about the frost. Like many of you, I’m sure, I woke up Saturday morning to frost on car windows. The Vermonter in me was excited; the farmer in me felt my heart sink. A frost marks the coming of winter which brings a sense of relief after a long hard season. A frost also marks the death of certain crops which can be stressful when there are still three more weeks of CSA shares to fill. When I arrived at the farm on Saturday to inventory, I realized there was no denying we certainly got a frost, and a hard one at that! It is amazing to see the transformation of some (but not all) plants under 32 degrees. Our basil, beans, peppers and Swiss Chard were hardest hit.  The chard might bounce back, there are some salvageable peppers and beans, the basil looks like it was torched! The silver lining is that some crops improve with a frost, in that they taste sweater. This is true for sweet potatoes, kale, parsnips and carrots.

Farm Education Corner Update

by Clare Hyre

This Saturday three farm apprentices and one education intern and I took a bike tour of west Philadelphia farm education programs. Or first stop was Mill Creek Farm on 49th and Brown and we were greeted by a lively farm stand with samples of pasta and squash as well as delicious looking veggies just harvest. Jo Rosen (Executive Director) took us on a tour of the farm and told us the amazing history and then sent us on our way - of to Preston's Paradise . 

We were very lucky to find Ryan Kuck, outside in his yard harvesting sweet potatoes. "I forgot all about ya'll coming" , he said but happily let us into his urban farm. In his tiny yard there was a small plot of veggies, chickens, and an amazing cob greenhouse. Down the street he had planted an orchard for some neighbors and he said there were other small plots they were working with all around the neighborhood.

"I really love farming," said Kuck, "but now we are focusing on getting the food distribution". Look out for Kuck and his partners in their food truck on Lancaster Avenue. The food truck is a partnership between Greensgrow Farms and Preston's Paradise. 

Our next stop was the Urban Nutrition Initiative University City High School Garden were we stopped to eat lunch. Don Key, the farm educator there was not around but we were able to walk around the garden and discuss farm education models and the complexity between for and non-profit establishments. After lunch we snuck over to the Green Line for a quick cup of coffee. 

Last stop ( a little more Southwest) was to Bartram's Garden and Bartram's Farm and Community Center. Located on 54th and Lindbergh Ave. Bartram's Garden is an Oasis in and industrial complex. Judson , Katilyn, Erin, and Matt seemed awed by the age of the garden and the history and were excited to learn about Osage Oranges and other trees. At the farm we met with farm educator Chris Bowden-Newsom and learned about the work the newest UNI farm is doing. 

It was a beautiful fall day and we all had a great time!  The tradition of Weavers Way bike tours continues!!!!