Category: Updates

We just found this article about High Hill Orchard, where we get our ecologically-grown fruit for our CSA shareholders!

Frosty Harvests, A Season in Reverse
by Jan Ellen Spiegel, New York Times
October 1, 2010

In the dead of winter when other farmers are ordering seed, Mr. Young, 51, will be dealing with farm chores and customers. “It’s kind of like — January and February: ‘Oh, what am I doing here? Oh yeah, I got paid for it a long time ago,’ ” he said. “It does drag it out a little longer with a winter C.S.A. than you might want.

But that has been Mr. Young’s choice for the last dozen or so years. Not that he is the only one taking advantage of the exploding demand for local produce year round. He is, however, one of the few who focus on fruit in winter. His farm, High Hill Orchard in Meriden, has 13 acres of apples and 8 acres of pears among 25 cultivated acres that also include peaches, plums and other strictly summer fruits and vegetables, which he sells directly from his farm stand.

Click here to keep reading…

Hi everyone,

Read on for the latest news from the farm! 

Produce for this week

• Cider
• Greens – escarole, bok choi, kale, chard, tatsoi
• radishes (might be a choice or for everybody)
• beets
• carrots
• potatoes – sweet Georgia Jets or pink-skinned Desiree (you’ll get these if it stops raining, otherwise, in the special distribution on 10/20!)
• lettuce (I think)
• tomatoes – still ripening (if it gets cold we’ll give out green tomatoes for chutney and relish preserving)
• peppers
• tomatillos
• basil – regular, lemon or Thai or maybe a mixture

PICK FLOWERS, husk cherries, and HERBS – Herbs can be gathered and dried for winter. Peek under the row cover for strawberries. Our first year plants are bearing now!

The special share on Oct 20th

Here’s what you could receive:

• cider
• parsnips
• Chinese cabbage
• carrots
• beets
• leeks or scallions
• lettuce
• braising greens
• arugula (may be pick your own)
• herbs (pyo)

Price is $16 for current CSA members and $22 for the CSA waiting list and Friends of Boulder Knoll members. I have a limited number of slots available. Let me know now if you’d like to participate and, if you’d like, pay the fee at your distribution this week. You can also send it to Friends of Boulder Knoll, PO Box 1329, Cheshire CT 06410.

Work needs

We need harvesters and prep people for Sunday Oct 3 and Wed Oct 6. Please let Annmarie know if you can help.

We’ll be harvesting potatoes tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 – 1. Let me and Annmarie know if you want to help with this. Kids are welcome.

We need folks to clear out the squash and cucumber beds and get some leaves on them. Please sign up for this weekend work if you can. We can do some work after the harvest.

Caseus

Here’s their website address www.caseusnewhaven.com

Our produce (tomatoes, greens, tomatillos) is featured there every week. Yesterday we had the wild boar stew – Wow, what a nice treat after a wet harvest.

See you at the farm!

Brenda

Hi everyone, I’m back from a great weekend at the Common Ground organic agricultural fair in Unity, Maine. Wow! What a lot of great people, exhibits and workshops to learn from and great local organic food to eat! I’m sure I gained 5 pounds this weekend.

Read on for this week’s news from the farm, including our current work needs, some tidbits on our current crops, and news about our upcoming special distribution.

Work needs:

We have one more harvest week after this one. I can’t believe how fast this season has flown by! Don’t worry too much if you haven’t finished your work hours. There will be things to do well into November. My goal is to get manure, cover crop or shredded leaves onto every bed before the winter, and to create some new beds. Please watch for Annmarie’s messages about available work times and sign up soon. We’ll do one more potato harvest this Friday and Saturday mornings. If you can come to help, please let Annmarie and me know. We can use one more person on the harvest tomorrow starting at 9. Please send Annmarie an email and call me at 645-1734 if you can come.

Food musings:

• If you haven’t used your winter squash yet, it will benefit from a bit more time. It will get sweeter and will last for a long time in storage.
• We are harvesting the leaves of the sweet potato plants now. You can eat them like any other cooking green – They are tender, nutty and delicious and can be prepared with kale, chard, tat soi or any other green. Just pull them off the stem and cook lightly. I’ve made a delicious saag with sweet potato leaves, tatsoi and chard. Next week we’ll harvest the tubers – I’m hoping for the best, as we’ve never grown them on this site.
• The red, long, bumpy peppers are sweet Jimmy Nardello peppers, bred in Naugatuck, CT. I have heard from one member that she got a pepper that was hot instead of sweet, so taste a tiny bit before you use it. Sometimes seed batches contain an off-type seed or two. The sweet Nardellos are the most delicious peppers for frying or eating raw!
• Tatsoi is delicious raw in sandwiches or salad or sauted or braised. It’s also beautiful enough to be used as a table centerpiece! You’ll need to give it and any other greens a good rinse after this rain. Ahh… my kingdom for a washing station with running water! Next season, we hope…

Special distribution:

If there is enough food remaining in the garden on Wednesday October 20, I will make one special distribution to current CSA members and to folks on the waiting list and members of Friends of Boulder Knoll (as space permits). The share will include a fruit selection as well as veggies (maybe cider). I plan to limit this distribution to the first 25 people who tell me they want to participate. The cost will be $16 per share for current CSA members and $22 for non-members.  If you would like to participate in the extra distribution please let me know. I’ll start taking money next Sunday during distribution. (Some people have already emailed me about this – Thanks for your interest. I’ll put you on the list.) As the time approaches, if I don’t think the remaining produce is adequate for the group, I will reduce the number of participants and refund people’s money if necessary.

Soup kitchen deliveries:

We will continue to harvest for the soup kitchens on Thursdays after the CSA season is over. I’d be happy to have help with this.

See you at the farm!
Brenda

Produce this week

• potatoes
• butternut squash (for the Sunday group)
• basil (quite a bit – for making pesto)
• leeks
• parsley
• apples
• radishes (for Wednesday and next Sunday I think)
• tomatoes
• Choice bin could include: eggplant, hot and sweet peppers (Try the long, bumpy, red Nardello sweet peppers – delicious), beans, tomatillos, Hakurei turnips (very sweet and tender – eat raw or cooked – saute the greens – look for recipes in the bin), maybe a squash or cuke share

There are 3 more distribution weeks in this CSA season. Please remember to pick up or tell me you’ll be late. I will leave the shares in the bins and you can come get them after hours. Anything left after noon on Thursday gets donated to the Meriden or Waterbury soup kitchens (unless you tell me to hold it).

Special distribution

If there is enough food remaining in the garden during the week of Oct 17, I will make one special distribution to CSA members and open it up to folks on the waiting list and members of Friends of Boulder Knoll. I plan to limit this distribution to the first 25 people who tell me they want to participate. The cost will be $12 per share for CSA members and $18 for non members. If I don’t think the remaining produce is adequate for the group, I will reduce the numbers.

Talk by member Domingo Medina tonight

Potluck & Talk by CSA member Domingo Medina

sponsored by New Haven Bioregional Group/Transition Greater New Haven – Connecting New Haveners to Their Life-Place Since 2005

Sat, September 18,   Potluck 6 PM,    Talk 7 PM

UU Society, 608 Whitney Ave, New Haven

In the search of local resiliency: People in different contexts going in different directions

“Here in New Haven we have been thinking of ways to become a more resilient community, and better adapted to our local bioregion; working to provide for our basic needs and address the implications of oil dependency, environmental change and economic instability.

Elsewhere —- in the Venezuelan Guiana Shield  —-  indigenous communities confront other types of pressure to change their ways, with implications for their cultural control, survival and environmental sustainability. Through my work in an environmental and social non-governmental organization, I have become acquainted with some of the forces that are impinging upon the Ye’kwana people in the Caura region and how are they adopting, negotiating or resisting change.

I will present an overview of these forces and the people’s responses, illustrated with slides. We will then explore the similarities and differences of the issues and contexts between the New Haven – Quinnipiac Bioregion and the Caura region and discuss together what can we learn for the future we want to have.”

-Domingo Medina

***Bring something to share for the Potluck or just come for the talk***

Hi everyone,

Yesterday a Cheshire Public Works employee told me that the dairy barn on the farm will be knocked down next week.

I’m very disappointed about this.

I value conservation of resources and have always thought that the barn would be a wonderful educational space for the town. I have heard that some of the timbers will be used in the restoration of the Ives barn on the Cheshire land trust property. This is very good because the frame of the barn is in excellent condition – one can’t find long lengths of 2 inch dimensional lumber any more. It would be a travesty if perfectly good framing lumber were to end up in a landfill or burned.

OK That’s my rant. Hopefully the demolition will not take place on a share-out day.

See you at the farm.

Brenda

Hi everyone –

Produce in your share

I expect to have the following food for people this week

• Cabbage (Sunday)
• Lettuce (Wednesday)
• Sungold cherry tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Squash
• Swiss chard
• Eggplant (may be on the choice bin)
• Basil (may be on the choice bin)
• Sweet onions
• Peaches (not sure about this – probably)

Sunday hours

8 – 11 harvest and prep (have enough people for that – thanks)

The Tours des Farmes bicyclists are rolling in around 10:45. There will be live music and fun! All are welcome to greet the riders and enjoy the music.

12 – 5  Field work

Hi everyone –

This week’s harvest:

• Sungold cherry tomatoes
• scallions
• lettuce (from my friend Whitney’s organic farm)
• blueberries
• peaches

Depending on the numbers on each pick-up day, we might have these veggies as a choice or for everyone (be prepared to choose!)

• tomatoes (4 – 6 oz. red)
• eggplant (mostly Orient Express)
• cucumbers (General Lee’s Slicing and an incredibly delicious, weird looking Asian variety)
• summer squash (several different yummy varieties)
• beets
• As always – flowers and herbs (pick-your-own).

Check out the 45 watt solar panel that’s powering our radio and a tiny fridge. It’s in the hoop house. Thanks to Hap Jordan for ordering and installing it and to Bob Carruthers for wiring and the battery. The grant we got from Northeast Utilities last year will pay for it all.

Thanks for all the rain dances! We’re ok now.
Brenda