May 2010
05/09/2010
Happy Mothers Day,
First or all I want to let you know, that we have a new web site: http://birdsfootfarm.weebly.com - go and check it out!
We got all the onions and leeks that were started inside in the beginning of March planted outside. Cloudy weather is the best for that, because it is a bare root transplant and they don't want stress with sun and heat. Two plantings of spinach and mixed greens are up. The first plantings need weeding. It is nice to see all that fresh green. I got the old broccolis and cauliflowers that got sick with the swede midge fly last year plowed down with the help of a neighbor who as a large tractor. The hope is, that the swede midge can not find its way back up to the surface. I seeded the beds into oats and peas and clover, all together, to not be plowed anymore this year. The new tender broccolis are outside my house, far away and are hardening off, before they get transplanted hopefully later this week. We will cover them with row covers to keep the root magots( another tiny fly that eats the roots) and the flee beetles out.
The greenhouse has one half of the inside siding done and I am working on insulating the ceiling. It is really nice and warm to work in there. I will have to move all the plants from my house in there this week because the trees have leafed out and not enough sun gets into my windows. I have about 30 flats of parsley, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, kale and flowers on special tables in the window sills. When Seba was little he had to move out of his bed onto the floor, so I could put plants on his bed platform. He will not let me do that any more, he wants his room.
Bread: I have a neighbor who just had an Amish family move onto his land. Mary Miller is interested in baking bread for sale and asked me if the CSA members would be interested in weekly bread. She would bake with organic flour and can do all whole wheat, all white or a mixture of whole wheat and white. Their kitchen is not certified as none of the Amish kitchens are. I would be bringing it to the drop off places at no cost. It would be her business. The price would be $3 per loaf. Let me know if you are interested and what kind and how much.
I hope you all are getting enough outside time in this lovely spring weather. (well I started this letter last week)
Peace, Dulli
05/09/2010
Happy Mothers Day,
First or all I want to let you know, that we have a new web site: http://birdsfootfarm.weebly.com - go and check it out!
We got all the onions and leeks that were started inside in the beginning of March planted outside. Cloudy weather is the best for that, because it is a bare root transplant and they don't want stress with sun and heat. Two plantings of spinach and mixed greens are up. The first plantings need weeding. It is nice to see all that fresh green. I got the old broccolis and cauliflowers that got sick with the swede midge fly last year plowed down with the help of a neighbor who as a large tractor. The hope is, that the swede midge can not find its way back up to the surface. I seeded the beds into oats and peas and clover, all together, to not be plowed anymore this year. The new tender broccolis are outside my house, far away and are hardening off, before they get transplanted hopefully later this week. We will cover them with row covers to keep the root magots( another tiny fly that eats the roots) and the flee beetles out.
The greenhouse has one half of the inside siding done and I am working on insulating the ceiling. It is really nice and warm to work in there. I will have to move all the plants from my house in there this week because the trees have leafed out and not enough sun gets into my windows. I have about 30 flats of parsley, tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, kale and flowers on special tables in the window sills. When Seba was little he had to move out of his bed onto the floor, so I could put plants on his bed platform. He will not let me do that any more, he wants his room.
Bread: I have a neighbor who just had an Amish family move onto his land. Mary Miller is interested in baking bread for sale and asked me if the CSA members would be interested in weekly bread. She would bake with organic flour and can do all whole wheat, all white or a mixture of whole wheat and white. Their kitchen is not certified as none of the Amish kitchens are. I would be bringing it to the drop off places at no cost. It would be her business. The price would be $3 per loaf. Let me know if you are interested and what kind and how much.
I hope you all are getting enough outside time in this lovely spring weather. (well I started this letter last week)
Peace, Dulli
June 23, 2010
06/22/2010
Dear friends,
It is 10.20pm and I finished packing the boxes and counting the cash box for market tomorrow. Steve is in London for meetings and Seba, my 16 year old is at the movies in Canton and wants me to pick him up at midnight. Kira fell asleep in the car, listening to music while I finished packing the boxes. My house is 400 yards from the driveway and I think I stay here in the community main house until the movie ends.
I am so exited to have the first box ready for you. The peas are coming in slowly. We had bad germination. Two other farms have the same problem. There are more peas on the way.
Please bring your own bags to take the veggies home in. We need the boxes to fill the next week. If you forget bags, there will be some there, but is a good habit to have shopping bags in your car or on your bike. Any clean plastic bags returned will be reused, same for cardboard court containers.
If you can not make a pick up or have a friend do it for you, please call me the day before and I can hold it at the farm or give you more the next week. If you can not make it I will give it away to a neighbor the next day, unless I hear from you. As "foodists" we do not like food to sit around and go to waste. A phone call makes all the difference. Thank you
We have Spinach, Lettuce, garlic scapes , cilantro and peas.
PEAS: there are three kinds of peas.
Sugar Snap Peas, you pull the string and you can eat the whole pea, pod and all raw or cooked or stir fried.
Shell Peas, you pull the string and open the pod and eat the peas inside.
Snow Peas are best raw in a salad or in a stir fry.
All peas loose their sweetness within a day or two and should be used as soon as possible.
Garlic Scapes are the flower of the garlic plant. We pick it , so the plant puts more energy into the bulb. It tastes like garlic and is delicious in salad dressing, an omelet or in a stir fry. You can use the whole stem and flower. Or you can make a garlic pesto with olive oil and sunflower seeds in a blender.
The gardens look great. We got all the tomatoes, peppers and zucchini and cucumbers in the ground and we are starting to prepare ground for the fall crops. There is lots of weeding and on Wednesday we can use your help to pick garlic scapes, 10am till 2pm . Call me if you can come.
Enjoy and hope to see you tomorrow. I will be there from noon till 2 pm to meet you all.
Add Comment June 2010 06/02/2010 0 Comments Edit | Settings | DeleteDear friends,
Thank you for signing up with us for the 2010 Summer Season! If you have not yet let me know if you are still interested. The gardens are looking great. We are on schedule with the plantings. Last week we put in the fourth planting or spinach ( we are harvesting the first two), green and wax beans, 150 tomatoes and more broccoli and cabbage. We had planted some of the first broccoli in clover (we plowed furrows in it), some in hay mulch from last year that we topped off and some in bare soil. The clover and bare soil needed a replanting of each 30 plants, the hay mulch was almost all eaten by slugs that must have over wintered in the hay. I learned my lesson not to plant brassicas into old hay mulch. We made a new bed bought transplants from the Bennetts to fill up the beds again and I am watering them so they will grow fast. We will put celeriac into the mulched bed. The lettuce, peas potatoes, carrots, beets and cilantro are growing nicely. This year we had the greenhouse to start zucchini, cucumbers and melons and it is the first year where they did well and the seeds did not get eaten out of the pot by mice or squirrels. We are in the habbit of seeding twice as many as we need to have enough to plant and still often have to reseed directly into the ground. But guess what, every single one came up and we are gonna have a lot for all of us. I know we have not been successful the last few years with the melons, but I am hoping for a bombasting harvest. Lets see...
Here is a reminder to check out our new website at http://BirdsfootFarm.weebly.com It has a lot of photos on it. If you have any suggestions or stories for the web site let me know.
Bread: Amish baked bread is available at $3.00/loaf. Let us know if you want some, Whole wheat, White or Mix. Free delivery with the box every week.
We had a little camping trip this past weekend and I got to relax for two days. I hope you got to do some relaxing too.
Peace, Dulli
July 29,2010
07/30/2010
Hi All,
It is Thursday evening and it is my last night visiting with my aunt and
cousin. It is so nice to have them here. Annette has been harvesting
all the zucchinis and cucumbers for the last two weeks. Puddel was your
flower bouquet artist. There is something about the unconditional love
in family, so hard to do with friends, it comes easy in family for me.
I will miss them.
On Saturday Steve, the kids and I go on vacation to Sodus Point, NY with
Steve's parents and brother and his wife. Vacation, ahhh, I am so ready
to sleep, to not worry and to visit and play games and hang out with
that side of my family. One week is all we get together, since I have
busy summers and Steve has the busy school year.
Katie, Stephanie and Dan will take care of your boxes and everything else.
Tomatoes: I get asked a lot about how the tomatoes are doing. When I
was tying them up last week I found at first two than more plants with
black splotches on the bottom leaves that were on the ground. I thought
oh no, it can't be, stopped everything, went for breakfast and did not
want to go out again. My head was on the table and I started grieving,
possibly no tomatoes again...
A few hours later I called Cooperative Extension and they came out one
hour later, took a sample, drove it to the lab in Ithica the next day
and in 24 hrs I got the message, that it was not late blight. What a
relief.
The tomatoes are doing fine. There is green fruit on them and many
flowers. It will be a few more weeks before we see red ones, so be
patient with me. It has been so long since I had a good tasting ripe
tomato...
Cucumbers: Cukes are coming in strong, If you want some for pickling,
write or give me a call. Tel 386-4852. I will put some in the "Extra
Box", a bushel, 40# about 160 cucumbers sell for $32 whole sale.
We are still shopping for a van. In the mean time we shuttle with two
cars or two trips. The deliveries to Potsdam are done with boxes on
laps of passengers, very squishy. May be we find some thing on our way
to Sodus point?
I hope you all will enjoy the first potatoes this week. The variety is
"Carola", our favorite. We are all blissed out here.
Peace,
Dulli
July 15, 2010 07/15/2010
I thought I had a meeting tonight and I do not and now I use the time to write to you.
* _First of all this weekend 7/17 -18 is the big Garlic Festival here at Birdsfoot Farm._
*
There will be food served and snacks and live jazz music and lots of garlic to harvest, peel and hang up to dry. We" garlic" all day Saturday with harvesting starting at 9am and peeling starting at 10am until dinner and on Sunday we go until it is done. That is sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner. Call to see, if we are still peeling on Sunday.
Come and "garlic" with us for a couple of hours or all day. Sit in the shady back yard and chat while peeling and kids are playing or go out to the field and work up a sweat. Feel free to bring a friend or family
Second I want to apologize for not having more variety of produce yet. Zucchinis and cucumbers are coming in and so are carrots and a few beets next week. I had three bad plantings of beets from new organic seed and I bought another pound of seed from a different company and it is planted, but takes time. I get stressed seeing other growers bring more variety to market and yes there is nothing I can do other than wait the time it takes to grow and hope you understand and enjoy the peas and greens in the mean time. There will be garlic next week and garlic scapes as extras for the ones that like them still. I had one complaint about lettuce being tough and peas not tasty. Peas need to be eaten the same or next day. Please let me know if there is something not good so we can fix it.
I hope you noticed the few sprigs of basil loose in your box today and the peas are snap peas, you can eat the whole pea. I often have beans by now and they are flowering heavy and should come in in one to two weeks.
Last week we caught up a lot in weeding. Thanks to you who came out in the heat and pulled and hoed. You did it, you were great! And it was so much fun to get to know you.
On the personal and drama level:
My aunt "Puddel" and my cousin Annette who I grew up with as a sister came last Monday and I picked them up in Montreal airport. Unfortunately I have a bad sense of direction and took the wrong turn out of the airport,( construction did not help). After asking two people for the road to USA NY State I was directed to Rouses Point. When I realized it I thought we would be there soon and just add the extra 11/2 hrs of driving on Rt.11, but did not think that it was July 5th and all the vacationers returning from Canada and we had to get visas for my family and so we spent another hour in traffic at the boarder and another hour inside to get processed. We just kept on talking and catching up on all the family stories and it is great to have them here. I am glad I do not have to drive and get lost to go to work every day.
We are shopping for a new veggie van or a used transmission which seems not to be available anywhere. We had just put a used transmission in last fall. Also the tractor will not start and I got my neighbors tractor to mow the fields so I can plow them. And that will not start either. I had the mechanic out twice. A pipe busted in the well box in the greenhouse on Friday and made Friday deliveries late( I happen to be the main plumber on the farm as well). So I am asking myself why things are so hard. I have been very patient and try my best to do everything well and with love.
Steve has been wonderful and supportive and I still see the sunny side each day. And I love the greenhouse. I often go in there for a few minutes after work and sit in peace with the plants. Rich Douglass and Levi Miller almost finished the siding today.
So much for now, my family is back from Seba's soccer match and wants me to play German card games. Hope to see you at the Garlic Festival this weekend.
07/30/2010
Hi All,
It is Thursday evening and it is my last night visiting with my aunt and
cousin. It is so nice to have them here. Annette has been harvesting
all the zucchinis and cucumbers for the last two weeks. Puddel was your
flower bouquet artist. There is something about the unconditional love
in family, so hard to do with friends, it comes easy in family for me.
I will miss them.
On Saturday Steve, the kids and I go on vacation to Sodus Point, NY with
Steve's parents and brother and his wife. Vacation, ahhh, I am so ready
to sleep, to not worry and to visit and play games and hang out with
that side of my family. One week is all we get together, since I have
busy summers and Steve has the busy school year.
Katie, Stephanie and Dan will take care of your boxes and everything else.
Tomatoes: I get asked a lot about how the tomatoes are doing. When I
was tying them up last week I found at first two than more plants with
black splotches on the bottom leaves that were on the ground. I thought
oh no, it can't be, stopped everything, went for breakfast and did not
want to go out again. My head was on the table and I started grieving,
possibly no tomatoes again...
A few hours later I called Cooperative Extension and they came out one
hour later, took a sample, drove it to the lab in Ithica the next day
and in 24 hrs I got the message, that it was not late blight. What a
relief.
The tomatoes are doing fine. There is green fruit on them and many
flowers. It will be a few more weeks before we see red ones, so be
patient with me. It has been so long since I had a good tasting ripe
tomato...
Cucumbers: Cukes are coming in strong, If you want some for pickling,
write or give me a call. Tel 386-4852. I will put some in the "Extra
Box", a bushel, 40# about 160 cucumbers sell for $32 whole sale.
We are still shopping for a van. In the mean time we shuttle with two
cars or two trips. The deliveries to Potsdam are done with boxes on
laps of passengers, very squishy. May be we find some thing on our way
to Sodus point?
I hope you all will enjoy the first potatoes this week. The variety is
"Carola", our favorite. We are all blissed out here.
Peace,
Dulli
July 15, 2010 07/15/2010
I thought I had a meeting tonight and I do not and now I use the time to write to you.
* _First of all this weekend 7/17 -18 is the big Garlic Festival here at Birdsfoot Farm._
*
There will be food served and snacks and live jazz music and lots of garlic to harvest, peel and hang up to dry. We" garlic" all day Saturday with harvesting starting at 9am and peeling starting at 10am until dinner and on Sunday we go until it is done. That is sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner. Call to see, if we are still peeling on Sunday.
Come and "garlic" with us for a couple of hours or all day. Sit in the shady back yard and chat while peeling and kids are playing or go out to the field and work up a sweat. Feel free to bring a friend or family
Second I want to apologize for not having more variety of produce yet. Zucchinis and cucumbers are coming in and so are carrots and a few beets next week. I had three bad plantings of beets from new organic seed and I bought another pound of seed from a different company and it is planted, but takes time. I get stressed seeing other growers bring more variety to market and yes there is nothing I can do other than wait the time it takes to grow and hope you understand and enjoy the peas and greens in the mean time. There will be garlic next week and garlic scapes as extras for the ones that like them still. I had one complaint about lettuce being tough and peas not tasty. Peas need to be eaten the same or next day. Please let me know if there is something not good so we can fix it.
I hope you noticed the few sprigs of basil loose in your box today and the peas are snap peas, you can eat the whole pea. I often have beans by now and they are flowering heavy and should come in in one to two weeks.
Last week we caught up a lot in weeding. Thanks to you who came out in the heat and pulled and hoed. You did it, you were great! And it was so much fun to get to know you.
On the personal and drama level:
My aunt "Puddel" and my cousin Annette who I grew up with as a sister came last Monday and I picked them up in Montreal airport. Unfortunately I have a bad sense of direction and took the wrong turn out of the airport,( construction did not help). After asking two people for the road to USA NY State I was directed to Rouses Point. When I realized it I thought we would be there soon and just add the extra 11/2 hrs of driving on Rt.11, but did not think that it was July 5th and all the vacationers returning from Canada and we had to get visas for my family and so we spent another hour in traffic at the boarder and another hour inside to get processed. We just kept on talking and catching up on all the family stories and it is great to have them here. I am glad I do not have to drive and get lost to go to work every day.
We are shopping for a new veggie van or a used transmission which seems not to be available anywhere. We had just put a used transmission in last fall. Also the tractor will not start and I got my neighbors tractor to mow the fields so I can plow them. And that will not start either. I had the mechanic out twice. A pipe busted in the well box in the greenhouse on Friday and made Friday deliveries late( I happen to be the main plumber on the farm as well). So I am asking myself why things are so hard. I have been very patient and try my best to do everything well and with love.
Steve has been wonderful and supportive and I still see the sunny side each day. And I love the greenhouse. I often go in there for a few minutes after work and sit in peace with the plants. Rich Douglass and Levi Miller almost finished the siding today.
So much for now, my family is back from Seba's soccer match and wants me to play German card games. Hope to see you at the Garlic Festival this weekend.
August 27, 2010
08/27/2010
Dear friends,
I would like to change the friday pick up time to 5pm if that is possible. I will still try to be there earlier, it just seems I am often late and I do not want you waiting. Let me know what you think.
Todays box has the only beets that made it all year until the fall planting. We searched through the field to find them. I had bought new seed from FEDCO and figured out after the third planting that it was the seed and not the weather , got new seed from High Mowing and got a better but not great germination for the fall planting.
Katie is going to nursing school full time since Monday. She loves it. I have a student from Little River Community School helping me for 50 hrs in August. That is part of the schools high school program to intern . Maddy and I have wonderful time. She helped pack the boxes today. In the fall she will be attending a writers class at SLU, also part of her high school program at Little River Community School, and she will be volunteering for that program here also. I have accepted 15 students from SLU to do their volunteering at the farm every week. As of September 13 they should come and help.
It is going to be a lot of coordinating to keep every body going. The students have given me a lot of energy and good talks over the years. So I am looking forward to the time spent together.
We have a new van, a 2000 Pontiac Montana with 72000 miles and little rust. Kira named her "Meadow" , because she is green. That was in a nick of time, since Katie is taking her car to nursing school.
On the farm we are busy doing one more weeding of cabbages and broccolies, the fall spinach (looks good!) and harvesting the onions. I also want to put in clover or oats and peas as a cover crop to keep the fields covered for the winter.
This week we had three visitors interested in community at Birdsfoot and I am hosting them. They cooked us a wonderful Indian meal and baked great bread.
Kira is back from her summer vacation with her grand parents in Maryland and very busy catching up playing with her friends. Seba is playing soccer and needs to be brought to practice to Canton school every morning at 6.30am. That gets us out of bed early.( time to write news letters). He also plays Jazz at the Spicy Iguana restaurant in Canton every other Wednesday 6-8pm if you enjoy Jazz, stop by, the next time is Wednesday September 9th.
I hope you all had a great summer and hope to see you.
Peace,
Dulli
Add Comment August 10, 2010 08/20/2010 0 Comments Edit | Settings | Delete Hi All,
Vacation was wonderful. I am all relaxed and not feeling on the edge any more. This is an article and fundraiser that NOFA, NY asked me to pass on to you. You have or will get the post card in your box this week. North Eastern Organic Farmers Assosiation (NOFA) is the group that certifies our farm as organic. (NOFA, NY Certification LLC) They are a wonder ful organisation where farmers can connect and they have fun conferences with dozens of workshops for farmers, gardeners, eaters interested in organic food. So if you want to support their efforts and try the challenge, I would be very proud of you.
You are all doing great, eating all those veggies every week. Please let me know if amounts are too much or too little. I am doing less beans and cilantro and you can find them in the extra box if you want more.
Also returning the purple cardboard containers is coming along. Please do not give me other clam shells or Styrofoam containers. s They come in all sizes and shape , are hard to stack then and some of them contained meat and that is not everybody's cup of tea or if not super clean not safe. NOFA would not approve of that. I will take cardboard containers pints or quarts that had fruit or veggies in them.
Thank you Dulli
The New York State Locavore Challenge
Greetings, Locavores! This fall brings us another opportunity to support local farms and strengthen the connections between our store and the organic farmers in our neighborhood.
NOFA-NY is launching its 1st Annual New York State Locavore Challenge. Each person who signs on can to commit to a day, a week or the entire month of September of local eating. Meeting this challenge may change forever the way some people eat. At the least, it will help build awareness and raise funds to support NOFA-NY’s educational work and technical assistance to organic farmers and gardeners as well its advocacy for food and farm related legislation at the state and federal levels. If a few thousand people all over the state make this commitment, it will make a greater statement that consumers in all communities are standing up for local sustainable farms and the food businesses that support them.
Besides the challenge, NOFA-NY is sponsoring a Potluck Across New York on September 23rd. On one night, New Yorkers from Niagara Falls to the tip on Long Island will eat together in their own communities. Sign up to host a potluck with your family and friends, church group or community organization! Or look for info on local potlucks on www.nofany.org .
About the Challenge:
When: Participants who choose the Day or Week challenges may select the day or week during the month of September that they prefer. The Month challenge runs from September 1st to 30th and all challenges must be completed by September 30th.
How Far: All foods consumed during the day, week or month, must be produced locally within 250 miles. However, challengers are encouraged to strive for the more challenging 100 mile radius.
Participants Contribute to NOFA-NY: Non-members - $7 for one day, $15 for one week and $45 for one month. NOFA-NY Members - $5 for one day, $10 for one week and $25 for one month.
Participants Receive: Printed resource packet including: a listing of in-season foods, suggested pantry items shopping list, menu plans, featured recipes from local chefs, a directory of Farmer’s Markets, Co-ops, participating Grocery Stores and Restaurants, as well as a copy of the 2010 Organic Food Guide. After completing the challenge, each participant will also receive a gift item.
08/27/2010
Dear friends,
I would like to change the friday pick up time to 5pm if that is possible. I will still try to be there earlier, it just seems I am often late and I do not want you waiting. Let me know what you think.
Todays box has the only beets that made it all year until the fall planting. We searched through the field to find them. I had bought new seed from FEDCO and figured out after the third planting that it was the seed and not the weather , got new seed from High Mowing and got a better but not great germination for the fall planting.
Katie is going to nursing school full time since Monday. She loves it. I have a student from Little River Community School helping me for 50 hrs in August. That is part of the schools high school program to intern . Maddy and I have wonderful time. She helped pack the boxes today. In the fall she will be attending a writers class at SLU, also part of her high school program at Little River Community School, and she will be volunteering for that program here also. I have accepted 15 students from SLU to do their volunteering at the farm every week. As of September 13 they should come and help.
It is going to be a lot of coordinating to keep every body going. The students have given me a lot of energy and good talks over the years. So I am looking forward to the time spent together.
We have a new van, a 2000 Pontiac Montana with 72000 miles and little rust. Kira named her "Meadow" , because she is green. That was in a nick of time, since Katie is taking her car to nursing school.
On the farm we are busy doing one more weeding of cabbages and broccolies, the fall spinach (looks good!) and harvesting the onions. I also want to put in clover or oats and peas as a cover crop to keep the fields covered for the winter.
This week we had three visitors interested in community at Birdsfoot and I am hosting them. They cooked us a wonderful Indian meal and baked great bread.
Kira is back from her summer vacation with her grand parents in Maryland and very busy catching up playing with her friends. Seba is playing soccer and needs to be brought to practice to Canton school every morning at 6.30am. That gets us out of bed early.( time to write news letters). He also plays Jazz at the Spicy Iguana restaurant in Canton every other Wednesday 6-8pm if you enjoy Jazz, stop by, the next time is Wednesday September 9th.
I hope you all had a great summer and hope to see you.
Peace,
Dulli
Add Comment August 10, 2010 08/20/2010 0 Comments Edit | Settings | Delete Hi All,
Vacation was wonderful. I am all relaxed and not feeling on the edge any more. This is an article and fundraiser that NOFA, NY asked me to pass on to you. You have or will get the post card in your box this week. North Eastern Organic Farmers Assosiation (NOFA) is the group that certifies our farm as organic. (NOFA, NY Certification LLC) They are a wonder ful organisation where farmers can connect and they have fun conferences with dozens of workshops for farmers, gardeners, eaters interested in organic food. So if you want to support their efforts and try the challenge, I would be very proud of you.
You are all doing great, eating all those veggies every week. Please let me know if amounts are too much or too little. I am doing less beans and cilantro and you can find them in the extra box if you want more.
Also returning the purple cardboard containers is coming along. Please do not give me other clam shells or Styrofoam containers. s They come in all sizes and shape , are hard to stack then and some of them contained meat and that is not everybody's cup of tea or if not super clean not safe. NOFA would not approve of that. I will take cardboard containers pints or quarts that had fruit or veggies in them.
Thank you Dulli
The New York State Locavore Challenge
Greetings, Locavores! This fall brings us another opportunity to support local farms and strengthen the connections between our store and the organic farmers in our neighborhood.
NOFA-NY is launching its 1st Annual New York State Locavore Challenge. Each person who signs on can to commit to a day, a week or the entire month of September of local eating. Meeting this challenge may change forever the way some people eat. At the least, it will help build awareness and raise funds to support NOFA-NY’s educational work and technical assistance to organic farmers and gardeners as well its advocacy for food and farm related legislation at the state and federal levels. If a few thousand people all over the state make this commitment, it will make a greater statement that consumers in all communities are standing up for local sustainable farms and the food businesses that support them.
Besides the challenge, NOFA-NY is sponsoring a Potluck Across New York on September 23rd. On one night, New Yorkers from Niagara Falls to the tip on Long Island will eat together in their own communities. Sign up to host a potluck with your family and friends, church group or community organization! Or look for info on local potlucks on www.nofany.org .
About the Challenge:
When: Participants who choose the Day or Week challenges may select the day or week during the month of September that they prefer. The Month challenge runs from September 1st to 30th and all challenges must be completed by September 30th.
How Far: All foods consumed during the day, week or month, must be produced locally within 250 miles. However, challengers are encouraged to strive for the more challenging 100 mile radius.
Participants Contribute to NOFA-NY: Non-members - $7 for one day, $15 for one week and $45 for one month. NOFA-NY Members - $5 for one day, $10 for one week and $25 for one month.
Participants Receive: Printed resource packet including: a listing of in-season foods, suggested pantry items shopping list, menu plans, featured recipes from local chefs, a directory of Farmer’s Markets, Co-ops, participating Grocery Stores and Restaurants, as well as a copy of the 2010 Organic Food Guide. After completing the challenge, each participant will also receive a gift item.
September 5, 2010
09/06/2010
Hi All,
it is raining, I do not have to water the gardens. The house is full of tomato smell. Katie is canning all the grade b and c tomatoes for Birdsfoot. Once we have our 100 quarts canned we will be offering canning tomatoes to you or others interested.
We were in the Adirondack Mountains for a day and a half. We stayed with our friends on Rainbow Lake. Since all their cabins were rented out we camped on their living room couch. We cooked yummy meals and went hiking with Kira, learning different trees at the Visitor Interpretation Center.
We have lettuce and greens again. I know it has been a hard two weeks for most of you without. So here we go.
Also tomatoes are coming in strong. I will give up to three pounds per week for the B-share.
Also a new carrot planting with bigger carrots is getting harvested. We actually have to use a fork to dig them up, so they do not break off. Our summer carrot variety is "Kurota" from Seeds Of Change Seed company. We think they are so tasty and crunchy. For the winter we will change to "Royal Chantnay" carrot. They do not stick out above ground and can not get frostbite and they keep an excellent flavor all winter.
Cucumbers got downy mildew and are dying off. Enjoy them while we have them
Katie is liking nursing school and this weekend she got the metal roofing on her house. She is building the house herself since this summer. She does all the planning and building with occasional help of friends. On Mondays she helps with harvest after class.
Mondays have become very long harvest days. We picked 80-90 pounds of beans each harvest day last week. 10 pounds of basil and lots of tomatoes... Katie used to go to market on Tuesday mornings while I packed the boxes. Now I try to get as much sorting (CSA-market-Birdsfoot) on Monday evening, so the packing does not take so long on Tuesday morning and I get to market when I am done, CSA boxes and market veggies all in the new van together, late but only one trip. This week school starts and I have to fit feeding and making lunch for the kids in as well. It is gonna be interesting.
I wanted to let you know that a few families took up the "Localvore Challenge" a fund raiser by NOFA NY to only eat local food from within 100 or 500 miles for a day, a week or a month. The discussion I overheard when they shared their thoughts were about coffee in the mornings or no coffee. If you want to share with us how it is going I can post it on the newsletter.
Basil, basil, basil we have it plenty special price for pesto makikng: 1/2 lb for $7, for 1lb $13
we make our pesto with toasted sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts. Walnuts also work.
Pesto recipe:
1[2 lb of basil -wash
7 cloves of garlic
1/2 to 1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds, toasted in a frying pan
optional 1/8to1/4 lemon juice
Start with oil and basil in a blender than add other ingredients. Freeze as ice cubes and than store in a bag in freezer for small portions or freeze in small plastic containers.
and here is a green bean salad recipe fro my mom
Nanni's Green Bean salad:
green beans
summer savory
salt
onions diced
cook beans with summer savory and salt for 20minutes,
marinade with :
1 part vinegar pepper
2 parts bean water soy sauce
1/8 cup oil 2 cloves of garlic
salt oregano
let me know how you liked the recipes
Dulli.
October 10, 2010
10/10/2010
Dear All,
I have been planning to write you all for two weeks . The season is wrapping up fast now. We had a killing frost on Saturday 10/2. The heavy rains the week before brought us late blight in tomatoes and potatoes on 10/1. It may seem with the frost on 10/2 it was no big deal, but almost all the tomatoes that I had picked for hours on Saturday rotted in storage. We removed the potato plants, leaves and stems, to avoid spores from washing down to the tubers which would cause them to rot in storage. It is not advised to harvest potatoes for two weeks after that to make sure all spores died. We had so much heavy rain. I have no idea if we will have potatoes that will store or not until we harvest and give them time to show. All this is a bit depressing, especially all the extra work of removing tops, when we would like to harvest. And we can not save our own seed potatoes this year. On the good side we had a wonderful tomato year after not having any last year. And the potatoes we had were so creamy and tasty.
It is a bit hard to predict what veggies to offer for the winter share. We ave plenty of garlic, onions, parsnips and carrots. Some cabbage, some winter squash, celeriac, and few beets, lots of potatoes?
The summer share ends on Tuesday October 19 or Friday October 15. Then we have a two week break before the winter share starts for the group that wants it. I will give you more info on this soon.
I am having a good time with the students that come from SLU every week. They are funny, motivated and have lots of energy. They go to a class called"dirt" and volunteering at the farm is their practical experience. Last week we had to cut the spinach harvest short, because we heard this kid like whining sound and we followed it to find a family of four porcupines sitting in a tree calling to each other. The students were fascinated and watched them for a long time. Then they found the long rope swing that swings down the log house hill...
I am playing in the SLU string orchestra again and it is a lot of fun. Because CSA member Genelle Bayer had a nightmare dream abut picking potatoes when it was not time yet and she told me at the orchestra I did not harvest potatoes this week and will wait the two recommended weeks.
You probably noticed the boxes are getting lighter. We gave out almost the full value of the share and pace it to the end. Also flowers, Mixed Greens and Extra Lea fies are done for the season.
Scott Goldie reminded me of the "End of season potluck get together". How about next weekend, Saturday October 16, 4-6pm? At Birdsfoot Farm Main House.
10/10/2010
Dear All,
I have been planning to write you all for two weeks . The season is wrapping up fast now. We had a killing frost on Saturday 10/2. The heavy rains the week before brought us late blight in tomatoes and potatoes on 10/1. It may seem with the frost on 10/2 it was no big deal, but almost all the tomatoes that I had picked for hours on Saturday rotted in storage. We removed the potato plants, leaves and stems, to avoid spores from washing down to the tubers which would cause them to rot in storage. It is not advised to harvest potatoes for two weeks after that to make sure all spores died. We had so much heavy rain. I have no idea if we will have potatoes that will store or not until we harvest and give them time to show. All this is a bit depressing, especially all the extra work of removing tops, when we would like to harvest. And we can not save our own seed potatoes this year. On the good side we had a wonderful tomato year after not having any last year. And the potatoes we had were so creamy and tasty.
It is a bit hard to predict what veggies to offer for the winter share. We ave plenty of garlic, onions, parsnips and carrots. Some cabbage, some winter squash, celeriac, and few beets, lots of potatoes?
The summer share ends on Tuesday October 19 or Friday October 15. Then we have a two week break before the winter share starts for the group that wants it. I will give you more info on this soon.
I am having a good time with the students that come from SLU every week. They are funny, motivated and have lots of energy. They go to a class called"dirt" and volunteering at the farm is their practical experience. Last week we had to cut the spinach harvest short, because we heard this kid like whining sound and we followed it to find a family of four porcupines sitting in a tree calling to each other. The students were fascinated and watched them for a long time. Then they found the long rope swing that swings down the log house hill...
I am playing in the SLU string orchestra again and it is a lot of fun. Because CSA member Genelle Bayer had a nightmare dream abut picking potatoes when it was not time yet and she told me at the orchestra I did not harvest potatoes this week and will wait the two recommended weeks.
You probably noticed the boxes are getting lighter. We gave out almost the full value of the share and pace it to the end. Also flowers, Mixed Greens and Extra Lea fies are done for the season.
Scott Goldie reminded me of the "End of season potluck get together". How about next weekend, Saturday October 16, 4-6pm? At Birdsfoot Farm Main House.
November 19, 2010
11/19/2010
Dear All,
It is Friday morning, freezing and I just got down to the main house from ny house, the" Hugging House", where I got the kids ready and off to school. Today I promised Katie to help her on her house. To put in the electric lines and outlets and switches, so she can insulate and sheet rock the place. I am going to use the old Readers Digest Handyman book to guide me along, since it is 19 years that I wired my house. The benefit of a daughter of an electric engineer. I am not great at it, but always willing to try. On my way down to the Main House I opened up the duck house and let out the five jolly ducks listeneing to their purring like quacks and digging their beaks into the small heap of grain. There were four eggs from four female and one male duck. Either I missed a couple last night when I collected eggs after dark or they upped their lay after molting. Usually they completely stop laying at this time of year and become pets. So eggs for breakfast this morning. The Main Mouse is cold, but there is firewood in and it is already starting to warm up. I had put on a wool sweater to be in Katies house with no fire. People are comming in to make their breakfasts, its like family and I love it.
The farm is getting ready for winter. I have picked up most of the waterlines and picked up row covers and tools. There are still 14400sqft of suchokes to digg, about half. The other half is in the cooler and about 400lbs are waiting to be washed. May be Monday. That is supposed to be a warm day. All the veggies, except for potatoes and onions are waiting in the cooler for the root cellar to cool down.
I am reading a wonderful book "The dirty life" by Kristin Kimball. It is about her changing her life from a journalist in NY city to a start a farm in the Adirondacks with horses, a CSA. My life here feels really cushy compared what she went through in the beginning stages. I would highly recommend it may for the holidays.
Lets get to the Winter CSA: There will be no more potatoes, (I know, they were so yummy) and only a few more carrots. I will send just a few less onions. But with that we can fit everybody in. ( Ahhh, I was just served hot tea by the breakfast crew.)
Pick up dates are:
Tuesdays 11-23
12-7
12-21
1-4
1-18
in Canton after 4pm, in Potsdam after 5pm (I forgot that Kira has piano lessons until 4.30pm in Canton, so I can not make it to Potsdam before five)
prices:
Basic B share $ 48 + delivery $6 = $54
Basic A share $90 + delivery $6 = $96
Full B share $ 77 + delivery $6 = $83
Full A share $148 + delivery $6 = $154
So, may be I see you next Tuesday. You can send a check to Birdsfoot Farm, 1263 CR 25, Canton, NY 13617
Thank you, Dulli
Winter CSA begins 11/08/2010
Hi all,
I am very close to having all the totals to make up the winter share. I am hoping to give out the first share this week. It will usually happen on Tuesdays. This week it will be Friday , to give you all time to respond, that you are interested. Potsdam Pick up at the Caamanos house, 22 Waverly Street at 4.30pm
Canton pick up at the Oyes house on 7 Pleasant Street in Canton at 4pm
Please let me know if you are interested in
a basic share: potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage and garlic
a full share: potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage, garlic and parsnips, celeriac, some sunchokes.
as far as share size,
B-share gets 4# potatoes, 3# carrots, 2# onions, 2 garlic, 1 winter squash, 2 cabbages,(2# of parsnips, 1/2 # of celeriac and 1# of sunchokes) every two weeks
A-share twice the amount of B-share
I can give the price, when I know how many of you are interested and from that I can tell how many weeks we will have potatoes and carrots and winter squash. I was thinking for a long time, wether to limit the amount of people or the amount of weeks to give out. We have plenty of garlic, cabbage, parsnips and onions to give, I could not bring myself to limit the list to some of you and so we will have some things for 6 pick ups over 12 weeks and some (potatoes and carrots) for 1-2 pick ups.
I hope all is well with you, I am starting to work on the green house again. It has a chimney and the last door put in by Rich Douglass and is much tighter and warmer now. We are harvesting the last parsnips and sunchokes just started. We will be digging those until the ground freezes. I have to dicipline myself to go out and start work ealy again. I gave myself a few weeks of staying in and reading for a while, after the kids were send to school. But it would be good to have the green house done and the barn organized with shelf s and for everything a place to go.
We had fun at the after season pot luck . There were only three of us, but Nellie had brought a dinner, Gale a desert and I had made a salad. So we were covered for a delicious meal and we had a good time.
Thank you all again for a fun summer and the evaluations you send back.
Dulli
11/19/2010
Dear All,
It is Friday morning, freezing and I just got down to the main house from ny house, the" Hugging House", where I got the kids ready and off to school. Today I promised Katie to help her on her house. To put in the electric lines and outlets and switches, so she can insulate and sheet rock the place. I am going to use the old Readers Digest Handyman book to guide me along, since it is 19 years that I wired my house. The benefit of a daughter of an electric engineer. I am not great at it, but always willing to try. On my way down to the Main House I opened up the duck house and let out the five jolly ducks listeneing to their purring like quacks and digging their beaks into the small heap of grain. There were four eggs from four female and one male duck. Either I missed a couple last night when I collected eggs after dark or they upped their lay after molting. Usually they completely stop laying at this time of year and become pets. So eggs for breakfast this morning. The Main Mouse is cold, but there is firewood in and it is already starting to warm up. I had put on a wool sweater to be in Katies house with no fire. People are comming in to make their breakfasts, its like family and I love it.
The farm is getting ready for winter. I have picked up most of the waterlines and picked up row covers and tools. There are still 14400sqft of suchokes to digg, about half. The other half is in the cooler and about 400lbs are waiting to be washed. May be Monday. That is supposed to be a warm day. All the veggies, except for potatoes and onions are waiting in the cooler for the root cellar to cool down.
I am reading a wonderful book "The dirty life" by Kristin Kimball. It is about her changing her life from a journalist in NY city to a start a farm in the Adirondacks with horses, a CSA. My life here feels really cushy compared what she went through in the beginning stages. I would highly recommend it may for the holidays.
Lets get to the Winter CSA: There will be no more potatoes, (I know, they were so yummy) and only a few more carrots. I will send just a few less onions. But with that we can fit everybody in. ( Ahhh, I was just served hot tea by the breakfast crew.)
Pick up dates are:
Tuesdays 11-23
12-7
12-21
1-4
1-18
in Canton after 4pm, in Potsdam after 5pm (I forgot that Kira has piano lessons until 4.30pm in Canton, so I can not make it to Potsdam before five)
prices:
Basic B share $ 48 + delivery $6 = $54
Basic A share $90 + delivery $6 = $96
Full B share $ 77 + delivery $6 = $83
Full A share $148 + delivery $6 = $154
So, may be I see you next Tuesday. You can send a check to Birdsfoot Farm, 1263 CR 25, Canton, NY 13617
Thank you, Dulli
Winter CSA begins 11/08/2010
Hi all,
I am very close to having all the totals to make up the winter share. I am hoping to give out the first share this week. It will usually happen on Tuesdays. This week it will be Friday , to give you all time to respond, that you are interested. Potsdam Pick up at the Caamanos house, 22 Waverly Street at 4.30pm
Canton pick up at the Oyes house on 7 Pleasant Street in Canton at 4pm
Please let me know if you are interested in
a basic share: potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage and garlic
a full share: potatoes, carrots, onions, winter squash, cabbage, garlic and parsnips, celeriac, some sunchokes.
as far as share size,
B-share gets 4# potatoes, 3# carrots, 2# onions, 2 garlic, 1 winter squash, 2 cabbages,(2# of parsnips, 1/2 # of celeriac and 1# of sunchokes) every two weeks
A-share twice the amount of B-share
I can give the price, when I know how many of you are interested and from that I can tell how many weeks we will have potatoes and carrots and winter squash. I was thinking for a long time, wether to limit the amount of people or the amount of weeks to give out. We have plenty of garlic, cabbage, parsnips and onions to give, I could not bring myself to limit the list to some of you and so we will have some things for 6 pick ups over 12 weeks and some (potatoes and carrots) for 1-2 pick ups.
I hope all is well with you, I am starting to work on the green house again. It has a chimney and the last door put in by Rich Douglass and is much tighter and warmer now. We are harvesting the last parsnips and sunchokes just started. We will be digging those until the ground freezes. I have to dicipline myself to go out and start work ealy again. I gave myself a few weeks of staying in and reading for a while, after the kids were send to school. But it would be good to have the green house done and the barn organized with shelf s and for everything a place to go.
We had fun at the after season pot luck . There were only three of us, but Nellie had brought a dinner, Gale a desert and I had made a salad. So we were covered for a delicious meal and we had a good time.
Thank you all again for a fun summer and the evaluations you send back.
Dulli
