July update

Happy Summer! We are definitely in the midst of the peak season here at the farm and are keeping busy, busy, busy!

We had another hatching of chicks last night, so will have to do some rearranging in the chicken coop. The last bunch of chicks are ready to join the outside world and general poultry population, just in time to make room for these fluffballs.

Last week we started digging the garlic and sending it as fresh garlic to the CSA, as well as drying the bulk of it for later in the season. This week's CSA newsletter tells the whole Harmony Valley Farm garlic story. It's not easy, but it is so worth it!

The other animals are doing well and getting bigger every day! Adam & Darin rave about the beautiful pastures our cattle graze on and how well they are filling out. Dan keeps an eye on the goats and pigs - the pigs are fat & happy in their big pasture! Besides a whole bunch of veggie trimmings and compostables, they also get a couple buckets of organic grain each day.

Flame Weeder

I finally got to see the flame weeder in action! On Wednesday Richard trained José in on the art of burning up weeds in the carrot field. The carrots were planted about a week ago and some were just sprouting, but Richard said they were planted pretty densely so if some got burnt the field could afford that loss.

Basically the flame weeder is used when little weeds come up before your crop - you can burn the weeds off, leaving a clean field. A far more dramatic operation when done at night, but still pretty cool.

Barn dance!

I'm glad to see that so many people came out to enjoy some juicy tasty berries last week. For those of you who just can't get enough Harmony Valley, or for those of you who were unfortunately unable to make it to Strawberry Day on the 21st (I fall into this group), don't forget about our upcoming BARN DANCE next weekend, Saturday, July 11th! This is a big deal, because it is the only Saturday the whole season we aren't at the Dane County Farmers Market.
Join us at 2:00 for field tours, followed by a potluck dinner, and then dancing until the cows come home... or whenever.
We'd love to see you here! Don't forget to keep the "C" in your CSA. Take some time to relax, enjoy some good food and music, and meet the people who have been growing your tasty veggies! Check out our website and click on "events" if you'd like a little more info.

Thank you! Strawberry Day inspiration

I just wanted to take the time to thank all the members who attended the Strawberry Festival on Sunday. (special thanks to the first time CSA members!)

It’s wonderful to know where our food goes and how much it’s appreciated. What an inspiration you are! I’ll be sure to think of you all the next time I’m having one of those days when things aren’t going according to our plans (bad weather, equipment malfunctions).

You make it easy to keep on keepin’ on – farming that is.

Thank you!!
Sincerely yours,
Farmer Darin (picture soon come!)

First CSA box for June

We've had a wonderful and delightful, if cool, spring this year & here comes summer! What is that rhyme (nearly a limerick) my friend & co-worker Mike says? Something about the weather and fun things to do in the great out of doors. I'll have to try to remember it.

Here's some pictures of what we're getting out of the fields and into the CSA boxes these days.

Some may think I'm strange, but dang those baby white turnips are sexy!

Spring veggie pizzas

After work last Friday, I left the farm with an armload of leftover produce (okay, so it was a shopping bag, an overflowing shopping bag) and headed home for the weekend with fresh Harmony Valley arugula, spinach, salad mix, green garlic, and some tiny red beets leftover (and still fresh!) from the fall.
My parents and sister were visiting for the weekend, and I thought it would be a fun idea to have a few neighbors over for a little pizza party. My mother was concerned that cooking for 11 people might not be a relaxing way to spend a day off; I tactfully pointed out that after cooking for 35 people a day, dinner for 11 ain't no thang.
For pizza # 1, I finely chopped several bunches of green garlic, then pureed it in the blender with olive oil and a little apple cider vinegar. I spread it raw on an uncooked pizza crust and topped it with mozzarella and sliced summer sausage.
For pizza #2, I roasted all those tiny little beets with olive oil until super tender, then peeled them and pureed them with balsamic vinegar, oil, oregano, and black pepper. I spread this on my pizza crust as the sauce for a pizza featuring fresh chopped morels (the last of my stash for this year!) simmered in butter, Fontina cheese, and a little bit of Sterling Country Jack goat cheese. Yum.
Pizza #3 was a simple combo of sundried tomato, Capri goat feta, and lots of chopped spinach with just a little olive oil.
Served it all with a huge lovely bowl of salad and a maple balsamic vinaigrette.
So how did it turn out? Well, definite thumbs-up to the green garlic sauce. Try it. The pie's cooking time was just long enough to take the edge off the raw garlic bite, but it was still robust enough to be fun ("fun" and "garlicy" are basically synonyms in my mind.) I have been having a reeeeeeeally good time with the green garlic these last few weeks.
The morel and beet pizza was equally delightful, although the flavor of the morels sort of got buried in all of those other ingredients. I tried to select milder cheeses for this one, and felt that the earthy flavor of beets would be a nice complement to the tasty wild mushrooms. I guess the mushroom to crust ratio was just a little low. Eh, c'est la vie. There's always next year.

Spring Field Tour

Read this week's CSA newsletter for the (loose) narrative. Here's the pictures to go with it (taken Sunday, May 10 - love you Mom!):

Sunchoke, (Richard goofy on) spring radish, spring spinach, lettuce, garlic field, freckles, currant blossom, blueberry blossom, asparagus, arugula under cover.

yum.