A few weeks to go!

We have a few more weeks left of the 2016 season! Some of the best is yet to come!

CSA Week #18 List

 We're open until Halloween at the farmstand and we still have lots of delightful produce! Stop by and see us for squash, tomatoes & corn. Stock up on HG's tomato sauce to get you through the winter while we're closed and grab some fall decor while you're here!

Pumpkins (for decorating & for eating!), gourds, hay bales, corn stalks & more

We also have a variety of colors of mums to help get you in the fall mood! All of the decorations you'll need to set the perfect fall scape at home.

Falling leaves among the mums

Come see us before the season is over!

CSA Week #16 and more!

This week's CSA list is abundant and looking great!

CSA Week #16 List

We're excited for the change in seasons and what it will bring! We'll have more and more winter squash coming in the next few weeks. We'll also have figs for a few more weeks so get them while they're here! They're delicious! We're full on fall at SIW now. We have pumpkins, gourds, mums and more to get you in the spirit. Hayrides for the whole family and more!

Welcome Fall!

Stay tuned for a recap of some of the amazing dinners we've been hosting on the farm this season. We're so humbled to be working with great organizations and chefs in the community! We'll get those posted soon so you can see all the great things happening at the farm!

CSA Week 13 is here!

CSA Week 13 is here and bringing more variety!

CSA Week #13 List

 We're hitting the point of the season where late summer fall veggies are pairing with early fall veggies. This is bring a lot of variety to the CSA and the Farmstand! If you're interested in freezing/preserving quantities of corn, tomatoes or limas, email us at siwveggies@gmail.com or give us a call at 610-388-0318.

Don't forget to keep an eye out for all the fun fall events we'll have coming up! More to come soon!

Crop Mob #1 of 2016

We held our first Crop Mob of the 2016 season on Saturday, March 26th with the DCH. 

We had perfect weather for the day. It wasn't to warm but there was a nice breeze as well. It was the perfect day to get your hands dirty. There were a few things that were tasked to get done during the Crop Mob. So with the tasks given out the volunteers were sent off to "work in the fields".

The Dark Red Norland Potatoes as well as the blue potatoes needed to be planted. The rows were already prepped for the volunteers to plant the seed potatoes in. Be sure to look for the the creamy Red Norlands and the solid blue potatoes on the stand later in the season. Fun fact about the blue potatoes; they are one of the few blue vegetables that keep their color once cooked!

The garlic is well on it's way. To help it along further some of the volunteers helped weed the garlic. This prevents the garlic from losing any nutrients. 

Another group of volunteers were sent along to tend the raspberry canes. They are trimmed back early in the season to promote new healthy growth and more fruit. 

The volunteers put in hard work to help get some of the needed tasks done around the farm. Once lunch time rolled around, they all sat down to talk over a delicious lunch from Talula's Table. 

Even Willow joined the group for lunch!

We would love to thank everyone that came out to help! If this looks like a fun day to you, join us at the next Crop Mob on April 30th! Email siwveggies@gmail.com and let us know you're interested in attending. 

A Good Question and This Week's Growth

Last week someone posted a good question:

"Can you provide some tips behind your success at gardening."  

H.G. said:

"Start with a farm (garden) that has good soil! Take a soil test (#1 most important thing).  Add compost but not too much, 1-2 inches a year.Follow soil test recommendations.  Weed and pick off insects weekly at the VERY LEAST!  Cover bare soil with something. Straw, newspaper, whatever. 

Squash and Cucumbers

Sunflowers

Basil

Onions

Water every three to four days.  Skip irrigation if rainy. Rotate away from same crops every year (peppers and eggplant should be considered the same). Hope and pray no disease come in (do a lot of this).  If you rotate religiously or if it never rains, disease will be minimal.

Eat veggies when hungry!  HG"

Hope this helps and if you have any questions, please post them below!  

Here are a few more pictures of this past week's growth!  Enjoy and we look forward to seeing you all in a few days! 

Kale

 

Gooseberry

Green Beans

 Garlic

Peas

Peppers

We hope you all have a great Memorial Day weekend.  We are very thankful to all of you who have served our country!

CSA Week 12!!!!!!!!

CSA Week 12

Can you believe it is almost Labor Day?? We can't either! Here is week 12's CSA

2 #2 Tomatoes

1/2 Pint Raspberries

2lbs Yellow Squash

2lbs White Potatoes

1 Bulb of Garlic

1 Red Onion

1 Yellow Onion

6 Ears of Corn

1 Bunch of Beets

4 Hot Peppers

2 Green Peppers

1 & 1/2 lbs Eggplant

3 H.G. Tomatoes

3 Sunflowers

1 Butternut Squash

1 lb of Doc Martin's Lima Beans!

CSA Week 9

CSA Week 9


3lbs of Squash

2lbs of Potatoes

1 Bulb of Garlic

1 Red Onion

1 Candy Onion

6 Ears of Corn

1 Bunch of Beets

3 Hot Peppers

1 1/2 lbs Eggplant

2 Heirloom Tomatoes

2 H.G. Tomatoes

1 Pint Heirloom Cherry Tomatoes

3 Sunflowers

1 H.G. Sugarcube Lope

1/2 Pint of Raspberries

Easy Potato Leek Soup

I added some snips of chives to make it pretty :)

I think I may be catching a cold. This weather change is messing with everything! Except for instant cravings for warm, satisfying comfort food... mmmm. On a whim, I decided to make potato leek soup and looked to my trusty How to Cook Everything cookbook for the basics. You cannot get more simple than this recipe! A few cobs of the last of SIW corn thrown in plus homemade cornbread= damn tasty if I do say so myself.

Mark suggests adding some cream or a little sour cream to pep it up. You can also serve it cold with added cream for that famous soup with the name I love to recite. I blended half with an immersion blender to add some natural creaminess. Voila! 

Potato Leek Soup

recipe by Mark Bittman

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons butter or extra virgin olive oil
• 3 medium potatoes, any type, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 3 leeks, white and light green parts only, washed and thinly sliced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 cups chicken, beef, or vegetable stock or water (I used veggie)
• (I also added corn cut from 2 cobs, about 1.5 cups)

Directions

• Put the butter or oil in a large, deep pot over medium heat. When the butter melts or the oil is hot, add the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until starting to soften, 2 or 3 minutes.
• Add the stock, adjust the heat so it gently bubbles, and cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes. (At this point, you may refrigerate the soup, covered, for up to 2 days; reheat before proceeding.) Taste and adjust the seasoning and serve.

CSA: Weekly Share

We are shifting into fall mode here. Our mums have arrived and some of the cool weather crops are just getting ready to pick. Brent's lettuce has begun again. It is so tender and sweet! 

Do try the sweet potatoes. Some are a bit gnarly, but they are fresh dug and very delicious!

The next patch of tomatoes are just starting to be picked. A few more heirlooms were ready yesterday so the table is pretty full today. And it looks like we should have enough cherry tomatoes for everyone as well. But a reminder that we will have plenty of corn and tomatoes until frost.

The melons are over from our fields. We will be getting local ones—as long as they are available.

No sign of pumpkins yet but they are certainly right around the corner. 

8 corn, you pick the type

1lb. doc martin lima beans

1lb. regular tomatoes
1lb. heirloom tomatoes (possibly)
1 pint cherry tomatoes (possibly)

1 bag lettuce
1 lb. squash
1 cukes
1 garlic
2 onions
1 hot pepper
1 lb. potatoes

1lb. sweet potatoes
1/2 lb. eggplant

1 edamame (possibly)

1 bunch flowers
1 sprig basil 

Pick-A-Peck—The hot and heirloom peppers are abundant!

CSA: Weekly Share

The season is just starting to change a bit. We are picking in our last cantaloupe patch, so enjoy the last of our melons. Peppers have come on very strong and so have the eggplants. In the post yesterday I mentioned that the doc martin limas are finally in strong, so we are able to add those to the CSA share this week. Blackberries are dwindling, they are only picking a case or two here and there so they are no longer part of the share. But our raspberries are still going like mad, though, and will be around until the nights get cold. No pumpkins yet, but I expect mums to make an appearance very soon. 


This weeks share:
8 corn, you pick the type
1lb. doc martin lima beans
1lb. regular tomatoes
1lb. heirloom tomatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. squash
2 cukes
1 garlic
2 onions
1 green peppers
1 hot pepper
1 lb. potatoes
1 lb. eggplant
1 cantaloupe
1 sugar baby watermelon
1 razz
1 bunch flowers
1 sprig basil

CSA: Weekly Share

This week we've seen the tomatoes come on in full force. Our regular (field) tomatoes are now the Fabulous variety. We like these because they have the best flavor and gorgeous color, even though they are a bit more delicate that some of our other field tomatoes.
And the Heirlooms! Oh, my, we now have a plethora of heirloom tomatoes. Seems when it rains around here it certainly pours. Not only do we have plenty of our slicing varieties of heirlooms, look for the multi-selection of heirloom cherry tomatoes that we have. They are so sweet it is like eating little sugar bursts.
Don't miss some new products we've added in our cooler. Bobbi's Best Hummus comes in many different varieties. This is absolutely the best hummus we've ever tasted. Goes perfect with the italian crostinis (a cracker) we sell. And we've added a few new sizes of the Claudio Fresh Mozzarella.  We still have the 8oz buffala size which is the large dome shaped size. We also have a 4oz. ovalini size which is two smaller ovals, perfect when you can't use up a whole 8oz dome. And we also added the cherry size, which like it sounds, are small round cherry sized balls. Please note that we can only get the Claudio cheese delivered once a week on Friday afternoon (usually after 5). So we are usually out for the days our CSA's pick up their orders. So sorry about this! Please come see us on the weekend to get some of this delicious cheese.

Here's the share for the week:

8 sweet corn
1 lb. regular tomatoes
1 lb. heirloom tomatoes
1 pint cherry tomatoes
1 lb. squash
2 cucumbers
1 garlic
2 onions
2 ea. green peppers
1 jalapeno or banana pepper
1 lb. potatoes
1 cantaloupe
1 razzberries
1 pint blackberries
1 lb. eggplant
1 bunch zinnias or sunflowers
1 sprig basil

CSA: Weekly Share

We are just getting into the "meat" of our growing season. Cantaloupes started to come in last week and now they are coming in like gang-busters! We have 3 kinds, 2 of which are heirloom varieties. The large are a more regular musk melon-type. We also have a "striper" that is delicious and then the "sugar cubes" which are the cute, teeny ones I mentioned last week. You are welcome to take a couple of the sugar cubes for one of the larger ones in your share.
Green beans are taking a break, it will be up to a week before we have them again. Eggplant made the list this week. We have 7-8 kinds, so feel free to try different ones to see what is your favorite. I think mostly it is the shape that is different on eggplants, but if anyone notices a big difference in taste, please let us know so we can tell others the difference.
Our blackberries are producing like mad this year. We put them into the green pint containers (usually we only sell the berries in 1/2 pints) to get folks to take notice and buy a larger portion. Must be time to make a blackberry-peach crisp!
By the way, although the peaches we sell come from Glen Willow Orchards in Avondale, they are outstanding right now! So sweet and juicy.
As always, enjoy your share! We look forward to seeing you at the farm.

8 sweet corn
1 lb. tomatoes
1 ea. heirloom tomato
3# squash
3 large cukes
1 garlic bulb
2 onions
1# potatoes
2 cantaloupe
1 pint blackberries
1/2 pt razzberries
1 lb. eggplant
1 bu zinnias OR
3 sunflowers