Bay Ridge CSA

pick your own

Spend Saturday at the farm!

As you may have read, Hearty Roots had to pull forward their garlic harvest this year because of the incredible weather that brought it to readiness a little earlier than anticipated. Those of you who picked up your share this weekend will, of course, have benefited from this – and I’m sure there’s plenty of garlic still to come this year!

Despite the change to the schedule, the Hearty Roots folk do still want to invite everybody along to the farm on July 17th as planned. There are plenty of other farm tasks that can be undertaken by those coming to visit, and they’ll also be offering tours of the farm at 11am and 4pm. It’s a perfect opportunity to spend a day outdoors, getting to see exactly where your food comes from.

It’s also a great opportunity to visit the farm’s pick-your-own garden. In the small garden, the farm plant herbs, flowers, and a few veggies that are too labor intensive to be picked for the CSA, but that CSA members and locals might like to pick for themselves. Peas and basil are currently ready for picking, and who knows what else you might find!

Snacks and beverages will be provided, but feel free to bring a picnic lunch and make a real day of it. Benjamin and co would love you to come for as much or as little time as you like, either to do some work in the field or just to take a farm tour or enjoy the day.

If you’re planning to go and you have space in your car that could be filled by another CSA member (or if you’d love to go but have no transport) please contact Rana at email hidden; JavaScript is required, and we’ll try to put people together.

Everybody who has been to the farm before has had a great day, so why not get involved this year. The event runs this Saturday (July 17th) from 10am – 5pm!

Hearty Roots Community Farm
223 Pitcher Lane, Red Hook, NY
Map

Tags: farm day, pick your own

Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 News 2 Comments

News from the farm – part 3

Wondering what to do with those curly garlic scapes? Baffled by the rapini? Worry no more – just check out this week’s update from Hearty Roots:

At the farm we set aside a small area as a pick-your-own garden, either for local members who pick up on the farm, or for visiting members from other sites. In the garden we plant herbs, flowers, and a few veggies that are too labor intensive for us to pick for the CSA, but that CSA members might like to pick for themselves.

We invite any Brooklyn members who want to make a trip up to the farm for one of our events to pick in the garden – or if you happen to the in the area on a Saturday you are welcome to come by and pick.

Currently the peas and basil are ready for picking. The herbs that are growing include thyme, oregano, cilantro, dill, parsley, sage, basil, thai basil, lavender, and chamomile. We have over 600 feet of flowers ranging from zinnias to ageratum to sunflowers. There are cherry tomatoes, tomatillos, and ground husk cherries. This year’s garden features more hot peppers than ever before with almost 500 feet of varieties like jalapenos, anaheim and ancho chiles, ho chi minh peppers and more. Green beans will also be available.

The pick your own garden is a wonderful place for kids and we encourage you to bring them along. We ask that you help them understand where to walk and where not to walk, teach them respect for the plants, and to take only what they can eat or use. The garden is also a great place to meet other members; connections are easily made and recipes are shared.

We welcome your help in the pick your own garden to keep it at peak production. The first Tuesdays and Saturdays of the month will be volunteer days. July 3 and July 6 will be our first volunteer days.

See you in the garden,
KayCee

Featured vegetables: Garlic Scapes and Rapini

Garlic Scapes are not usually found on supermarket shelves, but are common at CSA farms everywhere. Scapes are the tender stalk that the garlic plant sends out in a vain attempt to create a flower, before we snap them off to use as an early-summer seasoning (garlic cannot produce true seeds, even if we were to let the flower bloom). They go great with all types of dishes, adding a mellower flavor than garlic or green garlic; use them like chives or scallions, they are great in scrambled eggs. This year, along with many of the plants on the farm, the garlic is a few weeks ahead of schedule, and the scapes are coming up sooner than normal. Since we have thousands of garlic plants in the ground, we have lots of scapes, and you’ll be seeing them for a couple of weeks.

Rapini is a close relative of broccoli rabe. The broccoli rabe you see in the grocery store has lots of flower buds; this is characteristic of fall-grown plants. However our spring-grown rapini plants are a variety with more leaf and less flower, but with the same characteristic flavor of broccoli rabe. This cooking green has a delicious and slightly bitter flavor, and is great cooked with garlic, green garlic or garlic scapes, and with salt and olive oil.

Tags: garlic scapes, pick your own, rapini