Bok Choi and Artichoke Dip

Ingredients:

2 medium bunches of spinach (or one medium bag of baby spinach), chopped
3 heads of baby bok choy, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed or grated
2 tbsp olive oil
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
4 oz cream cheese (low fat)
4 oz grated swiss cheese
A squizzle of mayonnaise (optional)
1 tsp each salt and pepper
1 tbsp~ horseradish mustard OR you can mix regular mustard with wasabi
Panko breadcrumbs

Preparation:

1) Start with sautéing your spinach and bok choy with the olive oil and half the garlic in a large frying pan over medium heat. Keep the cover on so that the greens cook down more quickly
2)       Add the artichoke hearts and turn the heat down to low low low low. After stirring, add the cheeses, garlic, salt, pepper, and horseradish mustard. Stir well.
3)       You can either store this in the refrigerator for a few days if you want to make it ahead of time,  which I think helps the flavors really gel, or throw it right into a baking pan, top it with breadcrumbs, and bake at 180C/350F for 10-15 minutes.

http://www.thepudcasts.com/2012/03/bestill-my-artichoke.html

Hearty Vegetable and Fresh Herb Dumplings

Brrrrrr, the weather is cold, bring on the comfort foods!!!

Ingredients:

For the stew:

6 cups organic vegetable broth
1 large sweet onion, peeled and diced
1 cup diced fresh carrots
1 cup frozen or canned sweet peas
1 cup celery, diced (try celeriac from the CSA share)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 tablespoon dried Italian herbs (sage, thyme, oregano from the U-Pick!)
Salt and pepper to taste

For the dumplings:

2 cups baking mix such as Bisquick
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
4-5 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon onion powder

Preparation:

In a large saucepot over medium heat, add all of the ingredients for the stew (vegetable broth,  onion, carrots, sweet peas, celery and seasonings), stir well and bring to a simmer. Cook covered for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to medium low.
In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients for the dumplings, mixing well.
Using a small cookie scoop or spoon, drop spoonfuls of the dumpling mixture into the stew. Continue to cook covered until all the dumplings are cooked completely (they will float to the top).
Ladle into serving bowls and garnish with fresh herbs such as parsley or extra thyme and serve.

http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/1016289/hearty-vegetable-and-fresh-herb-dumplings-recipe

What Happens over the Winter?

The CSA might be finishing up, but the farm education programs, run by our non profit, certainly are not! Clare will be busy all winter continuing her work with Saul classes. She will be teaching about nutrition and cooking in the classrooms, as well as winter growing in the three hoop houses we have at the farm.

Although the growing slows down tremendously with the colder, shorter days, it does not stop completely. We will still be able to harvest a small amount of food from our hoop houses over the winter. This food will either be sold to the Saul cafeteria, or the Weavers Way produce departments at both co-op stores. Other work on the farm includes infrastructural repairs and organizing/cleaning tools, and our storage buildings, as well as equipment maintenance and spreading compost over the entire field.
Other winter work for me is mostly behind a computer or spent at meetings. I try my best to avoid meetings during the growing season, which means I have to make up for lost time during the winter. Working for a larger organization, Weavers Way Co-op, I have to ensure there is good communication in place for the upcoming season with our finance department, our IT department, or marketing department, our produce department and our communications department. Unfortunately my slow season coincides with the busiest time of year at the stores (near Thanksgiving and Christmas).  Other farm administration consists of ordering seeds, editing our crop map and planting schedule (should we plant more beets next year? If so, where? And how many? And how often?) . My coworkers and I also look at applications for our 2014 seasonal apprentice positions and conduct interviews. We usually attend the PASA (Pennsylvania  Association of Sustainable Agriculture) conference in State College as well. And of course, I will be advertising the 2014 CSA shares and tracking shareholder sign-ups and payments. Despite this long list of winter ambitions, I do manage to take some time off and enjoy a less structured schedule. I usually get my winter fix and spend some relaxing time in Vermont with family and old friends.

WHYY Article

A reporter from Newsworks came to the farm to write about our exciting news about selling food from our farm to the Saul cafeteria. Take a look here: Farm to Cafeteria

Info About Next Season

In the blink of an eye one season is finished and it feels like the next is just around the corner. We will have 2014 CSA sign up information available on our Weavers Way website by December. I will be emailing everyone as soon as the form is up and we are ready to accept sign-ups. Current shareholders will get priority for 2014 before we advertise to the greater public and accept new shareholders. You can also keep your eyes open for a 2013 end-of-season survey that I will be sending out in the next few weeks to get your feedback on ways we can improve our CSA for next year. I take your feedback to heart, so please take a few minutes to fill out the survey when it comes to your inboxes.

Highlights of the Season

Harvest on Henry- Without a doubt, this year’s Harvest on Henry festival was our biggest event ever! We had record breaking crowds, which translated into our best fundraiser yet. It truly felt like a collaborative effort between teachers and students at Saul, as well as staff from Weavers Way and Weavers Way Community Programs, not to mention the amazing CSA fundraiser committee who really pulled all the pieces together. The weather was perfect, the food trucks were a big hit and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Pot lucks- Our kick-off-the-season and end-of-the-season potlucks were our best attended potlucks ever, as compared with past years. I am glad to see a community of shareholders that loves these types of gatherings as much as I do! It is a rare thing for me to stop working and sit and relax with shareholders and take in the farm, so thank you for sharing these evenings with me! It is great to talk with you all and enjoy delicious food!

Limited super hot days-  A farmer’s review of the year would not be complete without mentioning the weather. All in all, this was a good growing year. There were moments of too much rain during the summer, but it’s been worse! It was a highlight for me that the brutal 100 degree days with high humidity were short lived this year. I am a New Englander at heart and I don’t fare well with the hot Philadelphia summers, but luckily these unbearable days really only lasted about a week this year.

Highest number of working shareholders- Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this year for me was the number of and level of dedication of all our working shareholders. We have never had so much interest in working on the farm and I am grateful for every minute of it! It is a real pleasure to feel so well supported from the community for whom I am growing food. There were more than one down-pour harvest days when loyal working shareholders came to the farm to help us make sure the harvest was ready for the CSA pick-up the next day. From staffing the pick-up, to harvesting, to event planning and everything in between- thank you all!

First Frost

Saturday morning I went to the farm and saw that the night before marked our first frost of the season. Reaching 32 degrees will rupture the cells of the most sensitive plants on the farm, turning their leaves and stems dark green/brown and structure-less. Friday night’s temperatures killed our basil, summer squash, nasturtiums and beans. It could have done in our tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, tomatillos and ground cherries if we hadn’t already pulled them from the ground due to disease or low productivity. A few of our more sensitive crops were able to withstand the low temperatures because we were able to cover them with the white row cover fabric we use for pest protection. The cold temperatures can be beneficial for some plants. It will cause carrots, sweet potatoes, parsnips, kale and collards to taste sweeter. This year’s frost came about one week later than last year, but one week earlier than the average frost date for this region (which is Halloween).  It is with both sadness and relief that I say winter is on its way!