Author: bloomingglenfarm

26 Oct

Posted at 22:38h in Recipes by
3 Likes

Frosty mornings and a cold chill in the air- no better time to make a super nutritious soup chock full of vibrant fall greens and a bit of ginger and jalapeno heat. Pair it with warm-from-the-oven perfectly spiced muffins that take advantage of the proliferation of winter squash this time of year and dinner is served. Thanks to Chef Samara Salisbury (bio after recipes) for sampling her wonderful recipes at the farm on Tuesday. Delicious!

Gingery Super Green Soup with Coconut, Jalepenos & Lime
Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 1/2 tablespoon organic, unrefined, virgin coconut oil
1 small yellow/sweet onion
1 leek, top removed, washed well and sliced thin
1 stalk celery, small dice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
5 tablespoons fresh ginger root, peeled and grated on micro-plane
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
2 kefir lime leaves, broken in half
zest and juice 2 limes
1-2 jalapeños, seeded and minced (add more or less depending on the level of spice you prefer)
7 cups greens (any type of kale, collard greens, spinach or Swiss chard leaves), washed well, stems and ribs removed then chopped
4-5 cups cold water
2 cups unsweetened fully fat organic coconut milk
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves

Garnish Suggestions
Fresh grated coconut, hemp seeds or roasted chickpeas

Method
In a large heavy bottom stock pot warm coconut oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, celery and leek and sauté about 5 minutes until onions are soft and translucent. Generously season with sea salt and fresh black pepper. Add grated ginger root, jalapeños, lime leaves, zest and juice, greens, 4 cups water and coconut milk. Turn up heat and bring to boil then turn down and simmer on low for 25-30 minutes. Greens should be very soft and tender. Turn off heat, remove kefir lime leaves and add cilantro. In small batches, puree soup in Vita-mix until completely smooth. Check seasoning and adjust with more sea salt and black pepper.

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Spiced Butternut Squash Whole Wheat Muffins
Makes 16 standard size muffins (or 48 mini)

Ingredients
3 eggs, room temperature and beaten
2 cups roasted and pureed butternut squash **
1/2 cup organic, unrefined & virgin coconut oil, melted
1/3-1/2 cup water
1 cup local raw honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon fresh ginger root, peeled and grated on micro-plane
3 cups Castle Valley Mill whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or almonds (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 2 24-cup (or 16-cup standard size) mini muffins pans with a small amount coconut oil. In a large mixing bowl combine beaten eggs, squash puree, coconut oil, water, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger root. Whisk until smooth. In another medium mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and using a wooden spoon mix until just combined. Using a small ice cream scoop, portion out batter to fill 48 mini muffin tins. Bake for 9 minutes (or longer for larger size) then cool on wire rack. Store in glass airtight container up to 5 days or freeze.

** Butternut squash puree can be substituted with any of the following: Cheese pumpkin, kabocha squash, acorn squash or sweet potato. You can also combine different squashes.

Recipes created by Samara Salisbury. Chef Samara Salisbury, known as “Chef Sam” to her clients, is a graduate of The Culinary Institute of America. Her background includes cooking professionally in both New York City and Paris, and working in marketing for Whole Foods Market. Over the years Chef Sam has developed a strong passion for supporting local organic farmers and food artisans. She enjoys using her cooking skills to help educate customers about where to source locally grown ingredients and how to prepare simple wholesome dishes with them.

Chef Sam has worked extensively with farmers markets in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania and has created seasonal recipes featured in Edible New Jersey magazine and cookbook. This past year she created a farm to school afterschool cooking program for 3rd-6th graders at Bridge Valley Elementary in Furlong, PA. Her goal is to further educate young children and their parents about the many amazing farms we have right here in Bucks County. Raising more awareness about supporting sustainable agriculture and nourishing our bodies with fresh wholesome foods needs to be a priority with this generation. Chef Sam is hoping to expand this program district wide.

Services include: Personal cooking lessons/parties, Monthly Farmer’s Market Recipe Club, Farm to Table Catering and Wholesome Pantry Make-Overs. For more information please visit her website http://www.chefsamcooks/ (website currently under construction but will be live soon) or follow her Chef Sam Cooks Facebook page and @chefsamcooks Instagram page. You can email Samara at mailto:chefsamcooks@gmail.com or call 973-202-2026.

Post and photos* by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community. (*Muffin photo provided by Chef Sam.)

05 Oct

Posted at 16:43h in On The Farm by
4 Likes

The signs of autumn are here. The warm color of the light at dawn, as the sun breaks through the mist. The view from our hilltop of the golden hued trees shedding their leaves. We shift to a later start, an extra hour to sleep, or plan, or sip coffee, as we move toward darker and colder mornings. Sweatshirts and muck boots and warm layers abound.  Fields that sat empty during the drought are able to get tilled and seeded with cover crop seed, as a stretch of rainy days has finally moistened the earth. Out into the fields we spin seed- crimson clover, rye, vetch- a mix depending on our plans for next year, or the needs of the soil in that particular field. Out on the farm we are cleaning up the fields of summer crops, cutting down the cherry tomato and eggplant trellis twine, removing stakes and lifting mulch.

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Our annual organic inspection was last week, another marker of the passage of time. Though this was the third year, we still get excited and a little nervous. We do enjoy the challenge of the audit where we trace a crop from seed to sale- on a 40 acre farm growing dozens of different crops it is no small task tracking everything that happens over the course of a season. We look at it as a fantastic opportunity to test our record keeping systems, to see where we need change and improvement. And we enjoy chatting with the inspector, hearing about the greater organic community which we can often lose sight of during the mayhem of our farm’s personal challenges.

Looking ahead to the remaining weeks of our season, we have garlic to plant, fall greens and roots to continue to harvest. Our sweet potatoes are out and curing in the warm greenhouse. The last of our potatoes will be dug as soon as the ground dries. Winter radishes and fennel will soon follow.

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The vegetables are a reflection of what our body needs to eat as the weather turns. Nutrient packed greens fortify us, winter squash contains the summer rays in its golden flesh. Celeriac, turnips, beets, carrots, radishes- all roots, ground us. Root vegetables are a true comfort food, delicious and satisfying, they fulfill carb cravings and often a sweet tooth- think beets, carrots and sweet potatoes- without bombarding our body with sugar. They are a powerhouse of nutrition, packed with vitamins, minerals, and disease-fighting phytonutrients, from the lowly turnip to the earthy beet.

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In our CSA share and on our farm stand this week you’ll find kabocha squash- this is my favorite squash to eat, and that’s coming from someone that really loves winter squash. Acorn, delicata, butternut, they all have their place, and their recipes are in a steady rotation in our house, but oh so sweet kabocha, with your beautiful blue gray skin, you’re the one we hoard and store for the winter, the one my daughter requests the most. You are definitely the least well known and perhaps most under appreciated of all the winter squash we grow. So I am here to sing your praises. Enjoy kabocha while we have it! This Japanese pumpkin is an excellent source of beta-carotene- just look at that bright orange flesh! I halve or quarter it, roast, scoop out of its flesh and mash and eat as a side with our greens. No need to add a thing! So incredibly moist and delicious all on its own.

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The fall greens are abundant and beautiful- kale, collards and swiss chard, broccoli raab, arugula, and those magnificent beet greens. If you do one thing for yourself and your health, eating your greens should be it. Sauté, add to a soup or blend them raw in a smoothie. Find ways to incorporate them into your daily diet and you will see and feel a difference in your well being.

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Our spaghetti sauce and ketchup is ready for sale…made almost entirely from ingredients grown on our farm. It was prepared and bottled locally by The Bauman Family in Sassmansville, Pa. This historic apple butter factory has been in their family since the late 1800s. A massive wood fired cast iron boiler from 1926 sends steam through the copper coils that heat up the vats of tomatoes (or apples).  It is quite an amazing operation! We hope you’ll purchase a sauce or ketchup to enjoy this winter- they taste fantastic and make great gifts.  The labels were designed by Michael Alan, an artist from Philadelphia. He has just completed the illustrations for a beautiful cookbook/history book, Colonial Spirits. Truly a collaboration, and an extension of the season, that we are so excited to share with you!

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Important CSA dates: Tuesday Nov. 8 and Thursday Nov. 10 is the final week of CSA pick-ups for full shares, and week B half shares. Tuesday Nov. 1 and Thursday Nov. 3 is the last week for week A half shares. The last boxed delivery shares will go out Wed. Nov 9.

Please note: *We will be taking this season off from holding our annual harvest festival in order to get inspired and energized for the 2017 season.

Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

14 Sep

Posted at 11:14h in Recipes by
2 Likes

With back to back chef demos last week (hmm…maybe we need to do our own version of an Iron Chef competition!), here are a few more recipes for your enjoyment. These are from Chef Rich Baringer of Dinner’s Done Personal Chef Service.

Spaghetti Squash Salad with Chickpeas and Feta (adapted from Cook’s Country), Serves 4

This is a different take on spaghetti squash. It’s light and tasty–and it’s not trying to pretend the squash is real spaghetti. Try it! ~Chef Rich

Ingredients
2 ½ lb spaghetti squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt and pepper
2 tsp lemon zest
7 tsp lemon juice
15 oz canned chickpeas, rinsed
½ cup feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup parsley, coarsely chopped
4 scallions, sliced thin on the bias
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds, toasted

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 375 degrees. Brush cut sides of squash with 2 Tbsp oil and season with salt and pepper. Place squash, cut side down, on rimmed baking sheet. Roast until just tender, 40-45 min. (Paring knife should go in with little resistance.) Transfer to a wire cooling rack, turn squash cut side up and let cool completely, about 1 hr.

Combine zest, juice, ¼ cup oil, ½ tsp salt and ½ tsp pepper in large bowl. Use fork to scrape squash strands into bowl. Toss. Add chickpeas and toss. Transfer to serving bowl and garnish with cheese, parsley, scallion and seeds. Drizzle with more oil before serving, if desired.

grilled-eggplant

Grilled Eggplant Dip (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook), Serves 4

This is a very healthy and flavorful dip/spread much like baba ghanoush–just with a few adjustments from the traditional. Serve with vegetables or crackers. You could even use it as a sandwich spread. ~Chef Rich

Ingredients
2 lb eggplant, halved lengthwise
2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
2 Tbsp tahini
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp parsley, minced
2 sweet peppers, halved, seeded and stemmed

Preheat grill to high. Score eggplant with paring knife, about ½” deep. Brush with oil and season with ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper. Brush the peppers with oil and season with salt and pepper. Scrape and oil grill grate.

Lay eggplant, cut side down, on grill until very soft and skin is shriveled. At the same time, place peppers on grill, skin side down until charred. Remove eggplant to a sheet pan to cool slightly. Place peppers in a zipper bag and seal. When cool enough to handle, scoop eggplant pulp into a mesh strainer set over a bowl and let drain 3 min. Meanwhile, remove skins from peppers and roughly chop.

Place eggplant, peppers, tahini, juice, garlic, ½ tsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper in bowl. Mash with potato masher until desired consistency. Chill for 30 min. Season with salt and pepper and garnish with parsley.

Recipes by Rich Baringer, Dinner’s Done Personal Chef Service. Phone: 215-804-6438; Email: mailto:DinnersDonePA@comcast.net Web: http://www.dinnersdonepa.com/ Like Dinner’s Done: http://www.facebook.com/DinnersDonePA

Post editing by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

14 Sep

Posted at 10:37h in Recipes by
5 Likes

As we move into fall, the harvest starts to see more root veggies, winter squashes and fall greens. Kristin Moyer’s chef demo last week was the perfect transition into fall goodness (her post and recipes follow). While it’s still warm enough to use your grill, this recipe makes for a delicious dinner. I love the addition of fresh herbs- you can really use whatever is to your liking. They always elevate a dish from ho hum to extraordinary.

Grilled Root Vegetables

Preheat grill to medium heat. Gather and wash your assortment of squash and root veggies (beets, hakurei turnips) from the farm share. Cut the spaghetti squash in half lengthwise, place on the grill and put 1 tablespoon oil, herbs and garlic into each cavity. Cut the remainder of the roots and any other winter squash (acorn and/or delicata) being sure to remove all seeds- you can leave skin on) and cutting them into pieces that will grill in a reasonable time and manner. You could also grill some eggplant to add in.

Put all of your beautiful rooty goodness in a bowl and toss with olive oil, salt, pepper and any other herbs and spices you like. Arrange them on your grill, adjust the heat to a real-deal medium and close the lid. Check every 10 minutes, flip and rotate as needed. The spaghetti squash will take the longest, followed by the beets and then the others will soon follow.

In a large bowl they go, one by one as they are done. I add the beet greens, chopped, some kale or fresh herbs (thai basil, lemon verbena, lemon basil, anise hyssop- any of these will work), salt, pepper, olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. Done! This warm root mash-up is perfect for either one of the sauces below (or the sauces can be enjoyed on their own as a dip with raw veggies). Nom Nom, Enjoy ~Kristin Moyer

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Harissa

Harissa is a spicy and aromatic chile paste that’s a widely used staple in North African and Middle Eastern cooking.

Ingredients, makes about 2 2/3 cups
1 tablespoon coriander seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seed
4 large garlic cloves, unpeeled
4 large sweet peppers
4 hot peppers (jalapeño,serrano,habanero, etc..)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 teaspoons dried crushed red pepper
juice of a lemon and juice of a lime

Stir coriander, fennel, and caraway in small skillet over medium-high heat until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Transfer to processor. Peel garlic; add to processor.

Char sweet peppers over gas flame or in broiler until blackened on all sides. Enclose in paper bag; let stand 10 minutes. Peel, seed, and coarsely chop peppers; add grilled peppers, oil, sugar, citrus, crushed red pepper and hot peppers to processor. Puree. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

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Avocado Pesto

Ingredients
1 avocado
1 cup packed parsley and cilantro leaves (I added some raw kale too)
1 jalapeño, ribs and seeds removed
1 Serrano hot pepper
2 cloves garlic
juice of one lime – or two
½ cup water
½ cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup raw almonds (you can sub other nuts)

Pulse all ingredients – except almonds – in a food processor or blender until incorporated. Add nuts and pulse until mostly smooth (depends on what consistency you want). Serve as a dip, spread, or sauce — or add additional water or oil to thin the sauce for use as a dressing or a marinade.

Recipes by Kristin Moyer, chef and food educator. Check out her website Carcass and Roughage for more information about the development of a Community Supported Kitchen and her pop up farm fresh meals, available locally for pick-up and delivery. Photos and editing by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen Farm.

08 Sep

Posted at 11:26h in On The Farm by
4 Likes

Hurricane Hermine brought us a whole lot of nothing in the way of rainfall.  The dry weather continues, with an added dose of late summer high temps reaching the hundreds over the next few days. The spiking temperatures are pushing along our late tomato planting, just as the first rotation dips off. Hopefully that means we won’t have much of a gap in the tomato harvest. Jeff is pictured here mixing up a fish kelp and sea salt fertilizer to run through the drip lines of the tomato plants. It is a mild concentration to support plant growth during fruit set.

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The summer crops of peppers and eggplants are peaking, and we are getting back into harvesting some of the fall greens- currently rainbow swiss chard, tuscan and curly kale.

With weather this dry we have to keep the irrigation pipes moving. Since the only moisture in the ground is coming from the morning dew, we need to irrigate to get the direct sown crops to germinate and continue growing. Pictured in the very top photo are teeny carrot seedlings in the beds to the left of the irrigation pipe and larger beets on the right.

We’ve also direct sown purple top and hukurei turnips (we’ll be harvesting the hakurei’s in the next week or so), broccoli raab, arugula, and winter radishes- (pictured below).

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The harvest of our popcorn crop has begun… we grew a larger eared variety this year so we could run it though a hand crank popcorn sheller, and prevent a lot of blisters from getting the kernels off with small hand tools. We are excited to try the three new varieties we chose- Dakota Black, Pennsylvania Dutch Butter Flavored and Calico.

Many of our CSA members have seen our note attached to the onions we are giving out in the share. You may remember this spring we mentioned the appearance of a new insect to our region- Pennsylvania experienced a “First in the Nation” sighting (lucky us) of the allium leafminer, introduced from Europe. The Department of Ag used our farm as an observation site- monitoring the bugs life cycle with sticky traps. Unfortunately the dire warnings were well founded. In addition to losses we experienced in the spring onions, we are seeing major damage in our storage onions as well as garlic. We made the decision not to plant leeks this fall until there is more information about how to prevent infestations- I can guarantee you it will be a hot topic at the PASA conference this winter. The onions you are receiving in the share are not the best quality. But we decided to give them out quickly, with the thought you can cut off any bad spots, rather than us composting them all. As our note read, if this is not to your liking, it’s probably best you don’t take them from the share.

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CSA share 9/6/16 (week #15/A). Top photo on-farm pick-up, bottom left large box share delivery, bottom right medium box share delivery.

The winter squash harvest is complete- it was a bountiful butternut year, along with kabocha and delicata. Kristin Moyer did a chef demo Tuesday at the farm featuring grilled spaghetti squash, acorn squash and root veggies, with herbs and greens that was absolutely delicious. We will be posting her recipes shortly. We will also share recipes from today’s demo with personal Chef Rich Baringer.

And last but not least I feel I need to introduce our resident spider. Or should I say spiders. We are now up to three spiders greeting you as you walk down the path next to the CSA distribution room (they are along the wall of the red shed, under the pear trees). They’ve been there for a number of weeks, happily stringing their beautiful webs and catching lots of bugs, being the subjects of lots of photographs and attention. They are orb weaver spiders, specifically yellow garden spiders (or zipper spider as I’ve always called them), argiope aurantia, and all three are females. They make a vertical zigzag band or zipper, above and below the middle of the web. They are not dangerous to humans, and are unlikely to bite unless provoked (best to observe from a distance, as we do want them to stay).

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Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

17 Aug

Posted at 14:21h in On The Farm by
3 Likes

As you can probably imagine, this has been a challenging few weeks (month??!) working on the farm. Whether in the fields, the pack house or at the farmers markets, it has been incredibly hot and humid. And August is a pretty busy and bountiful time at the farm so there isn’t really an option to close up shop and take it easy. The summer crops are rolling in- especially the tomatoes, peppers and melons. Unfortunately the greens have suffered- lettuces that usually hold up to the heat have bolted, though with temperatures feeling like 110, that’s really not a surprise. We do plant lettuce every 10 days, so hopefully the next rotation will make it to harvest (this heat wave has to break soon, right?!). As we are harvesting the summer crops, we are also harvesting our winter squash, before it literally bakes in the field. The acorn squash will be picked today, followed soon by the delicata squash and butternuts.

We are also trying to plant and nurture more crops for the fall. Bug pressure was severe and we lost our cabbage planting, but the beets and carrots that were direct sown at the end of last week are already up and growing (thank goodness for those late day thunderstorms…even though we did get some crazy wind and a few minutes of hail, the cooling drench of rain for the plants was worth it), and the fall kale and chard is looking promising. Fennel is in and growing, as are turnips and fall radishes, and our late planting of tomatoes should have us enjoying them until the first frost.

You may hear a loud boom going off periodically while you are here at the farm. This is our noise-making corn cannon. This is the only effective prevention we have found to keep the flocks of blackbirds from chomping on the tips of sweet corn. It’s amazing how quickly and how extensively they can decimate a ripe field of sweet corn, as we saw with the last planting, where we were only able to give out 3 ears to each CSA member, and had none for market :(.

A number of our summer employees head out this week and next, back to school (and air conditioned classrooms?!). A big thanks to college students Clayton, Ian and Matty and elementary school teacher Mr. Grace, for all their hard work this summer, as well as high school students Ryan and Spencer.

Thank you all for supporting our farm- for coming out to the farmers markets even when it’s hot (because let me tell you it was an effort these past few weeks to get it all picked and packed, and there’s nothing worse than no customers at the market!), for our neighbors for visiting our little roadside farm stand and introducing themselves and sharing their appreciation, for our CSA customers coming out to the farm with smiles each week, for heading out into the heat to do your pick-your-owns (and getting a tiny taste of what a farmer’s work day is like), for sharing your recipes and cooking successes, for taking home our produce and eating it!

In the share this week: Spaghetti squash! Check out this previous blog post, Spaghetti Squash 100 ways, for cooking suggestions. The delicious sweet frying peppers are back- such a great raw snack, or add to your sautés. And have you tried the Eggplant Basil Sandwiches in From Asparagus to Zucchini? (Check out the farm copy in the distribution room, or purchase one for your reference- only $20 each). These “sandwiches” are a favorite of farm volunteer Megan Clymer!

The plum tomatoes are prolific- these we reserve to sell in bulk as a nod to all the canners and preservers in our community. They are still available in 25 pound boxes for $25. A steal for certified organic delicious roma tomatoes, these will be available for at least another week (email us to order). Be sure to try my favorite technique of halving, tossing in olive oil, sprinkling with salt and oven roasting at low heat (@225 degrees) for a number of hours or all day. Then put the whole tray in the freezer and pop them into freezer bags for those winter months when you want a little taste of summer.

A favorite recipe of mine using ingredients from this week’s share: Creamed Sweet Corn with Poblanos . This recipe was posted in our blog a few years past by Jana Smart, a former employee who worked with us for two years. She met her future husband here, Dave Koschak, and they are now living, working and homesteading in Vermont. Jana just opened a food truck in East Albany, Vermont selling her delectable farm to table meals and baked goods: check out her mobile cafe’s facebook page for a little envious drooling. As a recipient of many of her wonderful creations when she lived here at the farm, I am sure she will be a smashing success! Many of her recipes are featured on our blog- I encourage you to search by ingredient to find lots of tasty ideas.

Closer to home, Kristin Moyer who also cooked and blogged for us two years ago has started a pop-up kitchen in Perkasie on Tuesday nights. She sources her ingredients locally- most of her veggies are from our farm- and posts her menu on Friday on her website, Carcass and Roughage. You can also sign up on her website to be on her email list. You can then either pre-order (or not) and pick-up a delicious dinner at Down to Earth Café in Perkasie (the site of her pop-up kitchen) Tuesdays from 6-8 pm. What a wonderful community resource! We hope to have her back at the farm soon doing a cooking demo and tasting.

The creators of our favorite farm to table cookbook, From Asparagus to Zucchini has a new cookbook out! I just got a copy, Farm-Fresh and Fast: Easy Recipes and Tips for Making the Most of Fresh, Seasonal Foods, and I’m so excited to order a bunch to offer for sale to you all. This one even has seasonal cocktails, like one called Sungolds. So if you’re not sure what to do with all your cherry tomatoes, well this is certainly a new twist!

Ingredients (makes one)
4 sungold cherry tomatoes
1-2 thinly sliced jalapeno rings
3 teaspoons honey syrup (3:1 honey and water- combine in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until incorporated. Stir excess in fridge)
3/4 ounce fresh lemon juice
2 ounces gin
1 sprig cilantro, for garnish

Muddle the sungold cherry tomatoes, jalapeno and honey syrup in a cocktail shaker. (*To muddle is to crush ingredients to release their flavors into a drink. The technique is similar to using a mortar and pestle to crush herbs for cooking). Add the lemon juice, gin and some ice and sharply shake. Double strain into an ice-filled glass and garnish with a sprig of cilantro.

Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

04 Aug

Posted at 19:39h in On The Farm by
3 Likes

This is the time of year when we just try our best to hang on tight and survive the ride. The fields get fuzzy around the edges as all non-essential and semi-essential projects are neglected, our summer help of college and high school kids desert us for vacations and back to school, and the few full time full season employees we have left that survived one of the hottest summers I can remember are pretty darn tired. But it’s August on a vegetable farm! That’s peak harvest season for the summer crops and we still need to look ahead and plan for fall. Harvest, harvest, harvest! That’s about all we seem to have time for these days, with a bit of trellising and planting thrown in when we can fit it.

The field tomatoes waited for the cooler weather to ripen- people think well, it’s hot out, the tomatoes must love it, but actually the optimum temperature for tomato ripening is between 68-77 degrees. Anything above (or below) that will slow down the process. And it certainly was way above 77 degrees for the last month! But not anymore- this afternoon we harvested 1,245 pounds of red beefsteak tomatoes. Then it was onto the green bell peppers (the sweet fryers are a week or so away), and off to plant some fall fennel and greens.

The winter squash is looking to be a bumper crop, which is perfect, as our summer squash is winding down. Earlier this week we harvested all the spaghetti squash, so look for that coming up in your share and at markets this weekend- a nice change from all the zucchini heavy meals I know I’ve been making! The acorn and delicata squash look amazing, as do the butternuts and kabocha. Speaking of fall, the sweet potatoes are vining out nicely (see photo below).

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Enough talk about fall! It is still summer, and we have watermelon on the horizon- lots of gigantic red ones and some super sweet orange ones as well. The cantaloupes this week were smaller than we would have liked (this planting was one that went through that late frost way back in mid-May, and just never bounced back), but they are still super sweet and tasty- keep them in the fridge and eat them soon.

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Another summer time favorite, the Italian eggplant, is beautiful this year- big glossy purple globes. The sweet corn has been awesome (this week’s yellow variety is definitely the best corn I’ve ever eaten), and we hope to have a few more weeks of it (if we can get the corn cannon going to scare off all the blackbirds that like to munch on the tips- argh!).

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For our second planting of tomatoes we experimented with mulching it with a heavy carpet of leaves, instead of using plastic. It was very labor intensive, but we are hoping that not only will the leaves help build up organic matter in the soil for subsequent crops, but that it will also suppress the weeds for this crop of tomatoes. And the leaves are free from Perkasie- they’ve been breaking down here at the farm since the town delivered them last fall.

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On a more serious note we are definitely very short handed on the farm. We have lost a lot of full season employees that we did not anticipate losing, for various reasons. This farm is much larger than anything that Tom and I are able to handle on our own. The farm suffers when we have to retrain people constantly to do work that requires a lot of attention to detail, as well as physical and mental stamina, all during a season when people are used to vacationing, trips to the beach, and a slower pace. Farming is hard work, and it is definitely not for everyone. Actually it seems to not be for many people at all, and that’s becoming increasingly a problem. We’re really not sure what the answer is when it comes to labor, and I know we are certainly not the only farm to struggle with this issue. But I do know being shorthanded means we have to make a lot of decisions about what work to prioritize, and what to let go. For you all, this might mean less blog posts and things like classes and cooking demos scheduled, and out on the farm things looking a little rougher around the edges than we’d like- (there are definitely lots and lots of weeds not getting weeded, but maybe we are the only ones noticing ;). But we are hopeful that we will get more help hired in the coming few weeks, and get back on track. And we are super grateful for those field workers we have that are willing to put in the effort, the long days and long weeks, and see the season through.

Laura, our friend and CSA greeter, will be leaving us when her kids head back to school. We’ll miss her but we’re so glad she helped us out this summer! We will be looking for a new CSA greeter for Tuesdays (and possibly Thursdays) starting in September through the end of the CSA season in mid-November. The hours are 12:30 to 8pm. The ideal candidate has great customer service skills, has been a CSA member for a number of years, and really values the farm and the food. Must be physically capable of restocking- lifting up to 40 pound bins. Please email me directly for more details if you are interested.

Enjoy the bounty!

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Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

28 Jul

Posted at 18:05h in Recipes by
12 Likes

Farro is an ancient grain, similar in appearance to rice, but with a more nutty nuanced flavor and a chewy texture. To prepare whole grain farro you need to think ahead and soak the grains overnight, but you can cheat and get the semi-pearled variety, which cooks in 15-25 minutes, and is available at most grocery stores and whole foods stores. Whole farro retains all the grain’s nutrients; with semipearled part of the bran has been removed but still contains some fiber.

I fell in love with farro after making this one-pan farro with tomato dish from Smitten Kitchen. If you aren’t familiar with the blog Smitten Kitchen, you should be! Her seasonal recipes that highlight the delicious flavors of farm fresh veggies always impress me- it is super easy to search her site by ingredient, and pull up lots of ideas. You can choose a simple recipe like the one pan farro and tomatoes, or get a little more ambitious, like this delicious zucchini galette I made with our zucchini and some farmers market ricotta from Fulper Farms (they have a stand at the Wrightstown Farmers Market on Saturday’s). And don’t get me started on Smitten Kitchen’s desserts!

So when I saw the first harvest of our giant green bell peppers, I knew I wanted to stuff them with some sort of farro mixture. I brought 3 cups of water to boil and threw in a cup of farro and simmered it until the grains were the texture I wanted (chewy but not mushy), about 30 minutes. Some people say to simmer covered, I did it uncovered but had to add water periodically as it cooked off, so covered is probably a better bet (or start with more water and simmer gently).

In a large saucepan I sautéed in olive oil 4 cloves of garlic and one thinly sliced onion (you could use a sweet onion or the red torpedo’s). Then I added in a chopped tomato (or two), about a cup of leftover cooked corn kernels from our dinner the night before (cut off the cob). I also diced up a chicken breast from Hershberger Heritage, also leftover from grilling the evening before, and threw in a handful of chopped basil. Then I added most, but not all of the cooked and drained farro.  I simmered everything until the juices from the tomato were running.

Meanwhile, I cut two bell peppers in half lengthwise, seeding and coring them, being careful not to pierce the walls of the pepper. I also cut the tops off of some poblano peppers. The peppers went into a steamer basket for 15 minutes. Let cool enough to handle and carefully lay out on a cookie tray. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Spoon the farro mixture into the pepper halves, and stuff into the poblanos. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and mozzarella (or whatever cheese you have on hand). Bake for 20-25 minutes until cheese is melting and peppers are slightly browned. You can really improvise with the ingredients and scale depending on how many peppers you are stuffing and what you have on hand. Removing the seeds of the poblanos does reduce their heat, but I noticed that the membrane that the seeds are attached to is very hot, so as we got closer to the tip of the pepper, we were in for some delicious heat. You can either try to remove this membrane better than I did, or save the poblanos for those in your family who like that smoky heat.

Serve with a tossed salad- chopped romaine, cucumbers, grated carrots (and a glass of white wine?). Delicious!

Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

20 Jul

Posted at 13:39h in Recipes by
3 Likes

Yesterday at the farm, Chef Rich Baringer of Dinner’s Done Personal Chef Service served up some delicious samples of dishes he made using farm fresh ingredients from this week’s CSA share. He also shared tips on using some of the more unusual greens like dandelion and agretti. (Though agretti was not in the share this week, we figured you might still have some in your fridge from the past 2 weeks). The recipes are below for your enjoyment. Be sure to check out Chef Rich’s website and sign up for his newsletter for more recipes and tips, or check him out on Facebook.

Mediterranean Chopped Salad (adapted from Cook’s Country)

Serves 6. Chef’s Note: I used heirloom tomatoes in place of cherry and added dandelion greens for half of the romaine.

Ingredients
12 oz cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut into ½” pieces
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
15 oz can chickpeas, rinsed
1/3 cup Kalamata olives, chopped
¼ cup red onion, minced
1 Romaine lettuce heart, cut into ½” pieces
3 oz feta cheese, crumbled
½ cup parsley, chopped

  • Toss tomatoes, cucumber and ½ tsp salt in colander and let drain for 15-30 min.
  • Whisk oil, vinegar and garlic in a large bowl. Add tomato, cucumber, chickpeas, olives and onion. Toss to combine. Let sit at room temp for 5 min.
  • Before serving, add lettuce, feta and parsley. Toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper

 

IMG_4711Agretti Salad

Serves 4. Chef’s note: You can blanch the agretti in boiling, salted water for a minute or two if you want it less raw.

Ingredients
1 bunch agretti
4 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 large oranges, 1 sectioned and 1 juiced
¼ cup sunflower seeds, toasted
Red pepper flakes, to taste
Salt
Parmesan cheese, shaved (optional)

  • Trim agretti from woody stem (thinner, more tender stems can be used) and roughly chop.
  • In a bowl, whisk the oil with the juice of one orange. Add salt and pepper flakes to taste and set aside.
  • Dry the agretti (if damp) and place in serving bowl. Toss with dressing. Add orange sections and toss. Garnish with seeds and cheese (if desired).

 

IMG_4710 (2)Green Bean Salad (adapted from Cook’s Country)

Serves 4. Chef’s note: Some thinly sliced radish is a nice garnish.

Ingredients
2 lb green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 ½” pieces
Salt and pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon zest
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove, minced
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp dill, minced (I used lemon verbena, which is available in the herb boxes a the farm.)
½ cup almonds, toasted

  • Bring 4 qt water to a boil in a large pot. Fill a large bowl halfway with ice and water. Add beans and 1 Tbsp salt to boiling water and cook until crisp-tender, about 6 min. Drain and place in ice bath. Drain again, dry in salad spinner.
  • Whisk shallot, mustard, zest, juice, garlic and 1 ½ tsp salt in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the oil until incorporated. Toss dill and beans in dressing and let sit for 30 min (or up to 2 hrs), stirring occasionally. Stir in almonds. Season with salt and pepper.

 

IMG_4712Grilled Potatoes with Garlic and Rosemary (for gas grill) (from Cook’s Illustrated)

Serves 4

Ingredients
4 Tbsp olive oil
9 garlic cloves, minced (about 3 Tbsp)
1 tsp rosemary, chopped
Salt
2 lb red potatoes, small, scrubbed, halved and skewered (so flat sides are level with each other)
Pepper
2 Tbsp chives, chopped

  • Preheat grill to high for 15 min. Clean grill grate. Leave primary burner on high, reduce others to medium.
  • Heat olive oil, garlic, rosemary and ½ tsp salt in small skillet over med heat until sizzling, about 3 min. Reduce to med-low and cook until garlic is light blond, about 3 min. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a small bowl; press on solids. Measure 1 Tbsp solids and 1 Tbsp oil into large bowl and set aside. Discard remaining solids, but reserve oil.
  • Place skewered potatoes in single layer on large microwave-safe place and poke each with a skewer. Brush with 1 Tbsp oil and season liberally with salt. Microwave on high until potatoes offer slight resistance to knife, about 8 min, turning halfway. Transfer to baking sheet coated with 1 Tbsp oil. Brush with remaining oil and season with salt and pepper.
  • Place potatoes on the hotter side of the grill. Cook, turning once, until marks appear, about 4 mi. Move to cooler side and cook 5-8 min until knife slips in and out easily. Remove potatoes to bowl with reserved oil and solids. Add chives and toss.

 

IMG_4709Grilled Zucchini Salad (from The Barbecue Bible)

Serves 4

Ingredients
1 lb zucchini (and/or yellow squash), scrubbed and trimmed
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
12 large mint leaves (or 1 tsp dried), minced
2 Tbsp parsley, minced
1 Tbsp lemon juice (or more to taste)
1 garlic clove, minced
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp cumin

  • Preheat grill to high.
  • Cut zucchini into ¼” length-wise slices. Brush each with oil and season with salt and pepper.
  • Grill, turning until tender and well browned, about 8-10 min. Transfer to cutting board.
  • Cut each slice on bias into ¼” strips. Transfer to a bowl and stir in remaining 2 Tbsp and rest of ingredients. Season with salt, pepper and additional lemon juice. Should be highly seasoned.


Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.

 

07 Jul

Posted at 16:49h in On The Farm by
1 Like

Excessive heat warning in effect is not something to underestimate. Our tractor operator Tom Thorpe, a 10 year veteran of the marines, gave a presentation to our crew on how to recognize the signs of heat exhaustion and how to prevent them. The take away- start thinking about the work week ahead over the weekend- hydrating and getting enough rest.

20160707_155613_1467921401161-001At this point our bodies have become somewhat adjusted to the heat, as have the vegetable crops. But they require lots of hydration, just as we do. Our irrigation manager Jeff (pictured to the right), is kept busy zipping around the farm on the orange 4-wheeler, managing the water needs across the entire farm. Monday night’s rain was cause for celebration, but we were right back to watering the next day. Tom was able to direct sow carrots, beets and green beans just before the rain arrived.

The tidal wave of red field tomatoes is probably about 10 days away. Hopefully we will have enough volume of heirloom tomatoes from our greenhouses to start distributing them to the CSA next week. Don’t worry- they’re coming! Also sizing up beautifully are the watermelons (first up- a delicious yellow variety) and cantaloupes- we’ll be enjoying them in just a few weeks.

Looking ahead to fall, the sweet potatoes are vining out and slurping up as much water as we can spare them. The spaghetti squash will be here before we know it. We are busy prepping ground and preparing to plant fall crops like Brussel sprouts, kale and cabbage. As farmers we must always look ahead a few months- there’s no playing catch up- it won’t grow if we don’t plant it. Erick keeps busy in the propagation greenhouse sowing seeds and potting up plants when necessary.

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We will see a gap in the cucumber harvest. This first planting we have all been enjoying went through that late frost we experienced back in mid-May, and never fully recovered. It’s weakened plants were more vulnerable to bug damage- that’s the scarring you see on the skin. The next planting coming up looks way healthier and productive. Another casualty of the late frost seems to be the potatoes. Overall we are getting lower yields per plant compared to previous years.

The pick-your-own flowers are a sight to behold. There is no excuse not to fill your house with flowers for the next few weeks.

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My favorite variety, nigella (first photo above), is thick right now with wiry blue and purple blooms. It is only in bloom for a short time, but then the seed pods are just as lovely. As I was harvesting them to make market bouquets the flowers were alive with the sound of hundreds of honey bees, all with pollen balls tucked under their wings. I hope you enjoy the flowers as much as I do- it is a labor of love to grow such an extensive variety of blooms. Enjoy them while they are at their peak.

In this week’s share is agretti- most likely a new crop for many of you. It is an Italian green, also known as seawort or monk’s beard. You can eat it raw- it has a tangy flavor, or you can sauté it with lemon and garlic and toss with pasta or put with fish. Think Mediterranean!

CSA on-farm share, week #6, 7/5/16, week B.

CSA on-farm share, week #6, 7/5/16, week B.

Post and photos by Tricia Borneman, Blooming Glen farmer and co-owner.  Tricia and her husband Tom have been farming together since 2000. Blooming Glen Farm is celebrating its 11th season bringing high quality certified organic vegetables, herbs, fruits and cut flowers to our local community.