Swiss Chard and Scallion Frittata

1 lb swiss chard

¼ cup olive oil

2 garlic cloves

salt and pepper

8 scallions, chopped

8 large eggs, beaten


Instructions:

1.  Heat oven to 350. Remove the leaves from the chard (reserve the ribs and stems for another use). Wash and dry the leaves and cut them into ½-inch-wide strips.

2.  Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch ovenproof nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and sauté the garlic until golden-brown. Add the chard and salt and pepper to taste, cover, and cook over medium heat until the chard is wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Discard the garlic and transfer the chard to a bowl.

3.  Cook off any excess liquid left in the pan, then add the scallions and sauté until wilted, 1 to 2 minutes. Pour off any liquid that has accumulated in the bowl of chard, then add the scallions to the chard. Mix in the ricotta and half of the eggs.

4.  Heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining eggs and allow to set on the bottom. Add the vegetable mixture, spreading it evenly. Cook, uncovered, over low heat until the frittata browns lightly on the bottom, 3 to 5 minutes.

5.  Transfer the skillet to the oven and cook until the frittata is set but not dry, about 10 minutes. Let cool.

6.  Transfer the frittata to a plate, cover with wax paper, and refrigerate. (The frittata can be made up to a day in advance.) To serve, cut into thin wedges

Source: http://www.fitpregnancy.com/recipe-finder/mom-appetit-recipe/lidia-bastianich-swiss-chard-and-scallion-frittata

Sesame Roasted Beets

2 bunches of beets

3 tbsp sesame oil, divided

1 leek, ends removed and chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

sesame seeds for garnish

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Remove the greens from the beets and set aside.  Chop the beets. Toss beets with one tablespoon of sesame oil and lay flat on sheet pan.  Roast for 25 - 30 minutes, turning twice, until beets are tender (but not mushy).

Chop the beet greens.  Add one tablespoon of sesame oil to a pan over medium heat.  Add the leeks and sauté for two minutes.  Add the ginger and garlic and sauté for an additional minute.  Add the the greens and liquid aminos and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, until tender.  Add salt and pepper if desired.

Drizzle beets with remaining tablespoon of sesame oil.  Garnish beets and greens with sesame seeds and serve warm.

Source: http://www.fortheloveoffoodblog.com/2012/01/sesame-roasted-beets-and-greens.html    

Golden Beet Slaw

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

1 teaspoon orange zest

1 tablespoon orange juice

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 1/2 pounds golden beets, peeled and cut into matchsticks

3 scallions, sliced

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro




Instructions:

Whisk together oil, vinegar, zest, orange juice, salt and pepper. Toss with beets, scallions and cilantro.

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com

Rain Barrel Workshop Update!

Rain Barrel Workshop: Learn how to make rain barrels! Come to the farm Thursday, July 19^th, 5-8pm for an instructional workshop lead by Sally McCabe from the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. Sally will show participants how to make a rain barrel and send everyone home with the information they need to make one on their own. There will be a small fee to cover the costs of running the workshop.

Now all we need is some rain…

cost: $15

Participants will also go home with a screw-on spigot to get jump started on making their own barrel!

Education Corner

If I could go back in time, I’d want to be a youth summer intern at Henry Got Crops this summer! In addition to working in the field, running the farmstand and helping with the CSA, check out the list of workshops, cooking classes and discussion topics Clare has scheduled for the summer:

make sun tea

Talk about history of CSA and organic food

Make SALAD

Where does your tomato come from? Local food movement

fair trade discussion

Make pickles to take home

food miles workshop

Make popsicles and humus

make  sun tea! 

Harvest and organize for youth growers market

What's in your dorrittos

make your tortilla chips with cucumber salad

Soda game 

Food Cultures 

Beet Popsicles, chips and salsa

make up menus of dishes

pickle okra

Education Corner Update II :

One week of our youth internship program is completed! We have fabulous folks working with us this year so please say hello to our six interns as they work with the farm crew! Also, please come show your support for our interns and other farm education programs at our first Youth Growers Market of the season on Friday from 4 -7pm , location TBD. (I will put something up in the CSA building when I know where it will be). Youth farmers from the Urban Nutrition Initiative, Teens 4 Good, Earth Keepers, and Mill Creek will all be representing their various sites. COME OUT  and SUPPORT FARM EDUCATION!!!! 

Nina’s Musings on Being an Urban Farmer

Being an urban farmer is certainly an interesting thing. I say “thing” because I can’t quite bring myself to call it a job. Yes sure, sometimes it feels like a job, when I have required “all staff” meetings and timesheets and safety committee reports to fill out; but for the most part I feel like it is really simply what I do, how I am, who I am, my lifestyle. It is never, “what time do you finish work?” but instead, “I’ll leave the farm at such and such a time.”

On my taxes I say I am a farmer, yet I don’t fill out any of the agricultural tax questions about farm-based income. I used to travel over the Canadian/US border frequently and when asked what I did, I’d say I was an Agricultural Educator because it simply caused less trouble with the customs agents. I shake people’s hands and they look at my calluses and ask with amazement what I have been doing.

When new people come out to the farm we usually exchange the same three or four questions, “How long have you been here?” “How did you get into this?” “How did you learn how to farm?” The undertone of these questions is generally friendly curiosity, with a bit of perplexed intrigue. People are always polite with their questions, but I know I am a bit of an anomaly. Every now and then the conversation will continue to a different, yet still common question, “So what do you plan to do after this?”

Despite what anyone may or may not intend by this question, it carries with it the expectation that this is just a stepping stone to something next which is greater. While someday I may move on to my “own” 5 acres and a cow in rural Vermont, I typically reply, “this IS what I plan to do, I farm.”  Which is a subtle way or reminding people that farming in itself is a desirable goal, and once you farm, there is no climbing up the hierarchical ladder of job promotions- farming is the best part of…farming.

This is not to say I don’t have any other interests, and sometimes my friends will say why don’t you do this…or that, and I generally reply that I would love to, and half jokingly say I might after my back breaks and I can’t farm anymore. Or maybe someday I’ll get tired of filling out Weavers Way weekly time sheets, or locking 8 locks (yes 8, Saul has a new barn with 4 locking doors) on the farm before I go home, and I’ll pack my bags and open a breakfast café in Vermont, with real maple syrup.

But until then, I consider myself to have the best “job” in the world.