City of Lakes Third Grade

A big thank you to the City of Lakes Third Grade Class who joined us on the farm for three days helping with chores, mucking the chicken coop and Burrito's stall, mulching strawberries, seeding the pumpkins, raking leaves, and learning about farm life. The students brought a wonderful enthusiasm for the animals and chores, making the week a delight.

All students had the opportunity to feed the chickens and get to know chicken life better, and some students had the task of smashing (slightly rotten) pumpkins in the chicken yard so the flesh would be accessible to the pumpkin-loving chickens.

Last week of Summer CSA Harvest...in the snow!

You may have noticed that this week's boxes are less full of vegetables than the other summer boxes. These photos offer a bit of an explanation...

Conditions were dire while harvesting leeks, and thank goodness Anna, Loyal, and Amy arrived to help out. The shared work and conversation helped block out the cold fingers!

As you can see in the background, we still have leeks remaining in the fields for fall shares.

The kale was a miniature forest.

Braised Chard

"Delicious! The best chard I've ever had." We found this recipe in Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. The paprika gives a rich depth to the chard.

Yield: About 4 servings

Ingredients
2 large bunches chard, leaves sliced into 1-inch ribbons
chard stems, chopped
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup cilantro
1/3 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1 garlic clove, minced
salt and pepper

Procedure
Place all ingredients in a wide, heavy pot with a few pinches salt. Add 1/4 cup water, cover tightly, and cook over low heat for 45 minutes. Check once or twice to make sure there's enough moisture. If anything is sticking, add a few tablespoons water. When done, taste for salt and season with pepper. The chard should be silky and very fragrant.

Northwest Passage High School

This group of hard-working, down-to-earth young women visited the farm as part of their expeditionary learning program.

We separated 25 pounds of garlic into individual cloves for planting.

Planted 2 beds of garlic

Harvested the remaining carrots in the snow on Saturday morning

And moved firewood for the winter. Thank you for all your hard work!

Celery Root and Wild Rice Chowder

This recipe by Deborah Madison seems perfect for Philadelphia Community Farm garden members since it uses celery root, leeks, celery, and potato.

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients
1/2 cup wild rice
1 celery root
2 large leeks, white parts only
2 tablespoons butter
1 celery rib, diced
1 cup thinly sliced russet potato
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 large thyme sprig
salt and pepper
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 cups half and half or milk
truffle oil, optional

Procedure

1. Cover the wild rice with 5 cups water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes or until tender.
2. Thickly cut away the celery root skins, then quarter and chop the root into bite-sized pieces. You should have about 3 cups. Chop and wash the leeks.
3. Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the vegetables, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the half and half and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Taste for salt and season with pepper. To give the soup a creamy background, puree a cup of the vegetables and return them to the pot. If the soup is too thick, thin it with some of the rice water or additional stock.
4. Divide the soup among 4-6 bowls and then add a mound of the wild rice to each. Garnish each bowl with parsley and a drop of truffle oil, if using, and serve.

Celery Root AKA Celeriac

Cold Hands in October

As you can see, we have been bundling up for the October harvest and washing. It has been quite chilly in the mornings, so we're going to pack boxes in the heated green house tomorrow morning. Hooray for warm fingers! Besides harvesting for the second to last summer delivery, we also winterized a few more garden beds with an extra layer of compost.

Remember, October 13th and 15th are the last summer deliveries!