TOMATOES IN THE SNOW

GROWER’S LOG, 11.12.13 The addition of a high tunnel to an organic farming operation has innumerable financial benefits ranging from season extension of marketable crops to ease of production and labor costs. Here at The Dahlia Farm however, what we find most exciting is the complete juxtaposition of the normal farming curve. This year’s addition of our passive solar temporary building has enabled us to have summer bouquets of May peonies (hydra-cooled) and August dahlias side by side – a first in 50 years for us! It has also given us spring gladiolas, near-winter lettuce and Halloween dahlias. The coup-de-grâce however is this morning’s harvest: tomatoes in the snow! It is indeed financially beneficial to add at least one of these greenhouse structures to nearly any farming operation, but it is a spiritual trompe to any seasoned grower to finally have a laugh at nature… even if for just an hour.

Quick Peek, May 21

Just a quick peek at what's coming up tonight, May 21. From upper left, clockwise is red leaf lettuce, green lettuce, mustard, snap pea tendrils, baby spinach and baby kale. It won't be long now!

2013 Season

Greetings everyone! We are fast approaching another new season here at The Dahlia Farm, and again this year we’re excited to offer CSA membership. We will have both the Half-Share and the Full-Share sizes, so that you can choose the quantity of vegetables, fruits, herbs, eggs and flowers that best fit your family’s lifestyle. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support over the last 5 years and let you know we look forward to seeing you again this season! If you have not yet signed-up for this season, now’s the time! Simply visit our website TheDahliaFarm.com and print out the ‘CSA sign-up sheet.’ We can usually accept memberships throughout May, but don’t delay as openings are filling up quickly. Here’s to a wonderful season for all. We look forward to seeing you soon!

MASSACHUSETTS MUSHROOMS

To be candid, I was initially leary about growing and eating mushrooms. Let's face it, in today's fear-based society we have so many precautions and supersticions we're scarcely able to make a decision at times. And complicating our daily habits with "risky" ventures like eating mushrooms from the backyard is just not a high on most folks to-do lists. I mean what could be more scarey and dangerous than being completely responsible for one's own food...? And therein the teetering scales in my mind weighed in. Time to try something new - and growing shittake from mycelium spours was just the ticket. I have to thank my friend Tim over at the USDA in Wareham for turning me on to this "underground" delicacy. The entire process is actually quite precise and I can whole-heartedly recommend it to any avid gardener who feels they've exhausted the lot of the seasonal challenges, or who yawns at the thought of growing some new variety of zucchini. Shittake culture, and any myceliuum for that, requires a bit more attention, skill, patience and determination than most Massachusetts crops. You will need fresh oak logs - white or red - that are 4" to 10" in diameter, and have been cut live 6 weeks to 4 months prior. You will need to drill 3/8" holes 1" to 1-1/2" deep in a crisscross patern, plug them with mycelium-impregnated plugs and cover each plug with melted parafin, as well as the log ends. This will keep parasites out of the logs. The logs will then need to be stacked garrison-like in a shady, dark, relatively windless, damp area of your yard (think wooded wetland - not TOO wet). If you can place them on clean oak pallets on top of an old tarp or sheet of plastic - even better. Shittakes in particular can be purchased from many online sources. The one I used is www.fungiperfecti.com up in Nirvanarama Puget Sound. They've been at it for a while, offer a free catalog if you're interested and have a great info resource on their website, as well as kid-friendly projects. The Puget Sound Mycological Society up in Seattle is also a good source of info: http://www.psms.org/index.php There is also a central-Mass area website at http://mushroomhunter.net/ if you're more daring and care to venture out into the woods to hunt the wild varieties. Caveat: I'm not there yet and don't endorse it. To get back to the locally-sourced (150 feet from where I type this) shittakes, they are deliciously earthy and richly flavored. They are magnificent reduced in butter at a low temperature with a pinch of kosher salt. Any French chef would be proud to serve them as an appetizer. Enough of them would make a meal, if paired with a petite syrah or bolder red. If you have the space, time, and appreciate a gardening challenge, I would highly recommend attempting to grow mushrooms. April, with its rains, is a perfect time to begin. The autumn is good also. If you are a greenhouse, farm or other agricultural professional, Tim will be speaking in Dartmouth on May 11 through the USDA. Drop me a line and I will forward the details.

Like fresh vegetables, but not gardening? Try buying a farm share

Today's Enterprise News reports:

MIDDLEBORO — People who don’t want to toil in the garden but have a hankering for fresh vegetables, buying a share in local crops might be just the ticket. Participants buy a prepaid share to a local farm’s crops, knowing they will be eating fresh food and also giving farmers some financial security. In Middleboro, James D. Reynolds, owner of Daliah Farm, sells shares to the produce from his organic garden for less than $30 a week. A full share, enough for a family of four, costs $500 for 18 weeks of fresh vegetables, half shares are $290. A typical spring share might include: baby Romaine lettuce, heirloom turnips and turnip greens, Bridgewater strawberries, French breakfast radish and potted Greek oregano with some wild cutflower. Later in the season, the shares may provide Zephyr summer squash, cucumbers, Patty pan squash, Swiss chard, turnips, onions, new potatoes, basil and pineapple sage. Tomatoes are harvested in mid-season and the final shares include butternut squash, garlic, peppers and eggplant. Reynolds prefers to pack up the produce in customer’s reusable totes – “It’s more earth friendly” – but will supply brown bags if requested. Call 774-213-5075 with questions. Kim Almeida, of organically certified Eat Local Fresh Food, is farming several plots of land at the Soule Homestead, 46 Soule St., Middleboro. and selling shares for $600 each. Connie and Ron Maribett’s organic Colchester Neighborhood Farm on Brook Street in Plympton sells shares full-season shares for $600 and small shares for $350. The shares include arugula, celery, edible flowers, herbs and garden staples such as tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and onions. Those who don’t want to commit to weekly shares can still buy local. For a list of local farms, farm stands and farmers markets, visit the website for the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership: semaponline.org. Be sure to see the lates YOUTUBE video here. Public News Service also has a PODCAST here. Read more: http://www.enterprisenews.com/business/x1040012944/Like-fresh-vegetables-but-not-gardening-Try-buying-a-farm-share#ixzz1vim4Ge77

Garbage Warrior Reynolds Presents Carbon-Zero Living at TED

High-speed internet, LED TV, $100 per year utility bill....WHAT!?

My namesake's appearance at TED is nothing short of astounding

Some Chicks Can't Catch A Break

Backyard chicken-keeping is growing around the country, spurred by the interest in local food and sustainability.

Once upon a time everyone in Plymouth County had chickens, but recently even in Middleboro, we had a "Right to Farm" vote. That's right, we actually had to vote in a town election if a farm community that sustained a 90's real estate development boom and commuter rail installation still had the right to farm!

Apparently this is a problem around the country.

Town officials in Maplewood, N.J., decided this week that their community is ready for home chicken cooping—but only just. In a 3-2 vote, the Township Committee voted to allow a pilot program for a YEAR starting NEXT March where up to 15 households may be allowed a maximum of three chickens each; AND ROOSTERS ARE BANNED!

Read the ABC News article here.

Buying Straight From the Farm: A Growing Trend in MA

February 28, 2011
(Listen)MIDDLEBORO & BARRE, Mass. - The popularity of eating locally grown food continues to rise in New England agriculture. The number of Massachusetts and regional farmers turning toward community-supported agriculture, or CSA, has tripled in the last decade. Under the CSA model, people buy shares in a farming operation on an annual basis. In return, the farmer provides a regular supply of fresh, natural or organic produce throughout the growing season.

James Reynolds owns The Dahlia Farm, Middleboro. He says farming is hard work, but while the rewards may not necessarily be financial, the connection to community members is priceless.

"There's definitely more of a community aspect or community feel to it. We're meeting the people who are actually consuming our product, and we're getting involved with their families, their children."

Julie Rawson owns Many Hands Organic Farm and also is the executive director of The Northeast Organic Farmers Association in Massachusetts. She has run her CSA in Barre for the last 19 years. She says farmers have a huge number of expenses going into the growing season, and this business model relieves a lot of that burden.

"When people who are buying a share put up their money up front, that helps us not have to go into debt. It's a great way for the consumer and the farmer to work symbiotically: Farmers get their money up front and then consumers get their food throughout the season. You know it's of great value to both sides."

Reynolds says a lot of misconceptions still exist about buying directly from the farm - especially regarding price.

"You can actually get farm-fresh, no-pesticide, no-chemical food at a relatively fair economic price. In other words, the super-premium price you might expect to pay isn't necessarily there with your local farms."

Reynolds advises customers to shop around before buying in to a CSA. Some farms also offer half-shares, he notes.

CSAs are not limited to produce; farmers may offer shares for eggs, cheese and other products in their weekly distribution boxes or baskets. The popularity of year-round CSAs is gaining traction, too, with some farmers growing crops in greenhouses throughout the year.


Monique Coppola, Public News Service - MA


Listen to TheDahliaFarm's most recent media podcast from the Public News Service.

Cow Power

Initiated in large part by our energy company in Vermont - CVPS - Cow Power is taking its place at the forefront on new alternative energies.

Featured in YouTube videos the manure/methane to electricity/propane conversion is now and early-stage reality, with an economic reality.

Although presently the economy of scale is for an 800-head dairy or larger, that efficiency should improve as the science continues to develop.

Subsidies aside, Cow Power is a new, rural emerging energy technology...

Yeehah!

2011 Season Begins

Happy new year and welcome back!

With this winter solstice we begin the new 2011 season on the farm. Our seeds have arrived and we have already begun to book shares for 2011.

This past year's "Compost Project" landed a generous supply of landscape waste and manure (about 120 cubic yards) which goes into our long-term soil-improvement program. We've also managed a seemingly endless supply of trucked-in oak leaves to use as a mulch for our fall-planted garlic.

Seed germination begins in about a month, so whether you are a returning share-holder or entirely new to our CSA program, be sure to sign-up soon for what promises to be our best season ever.

TURNIPS: DON'T TURN-UP YOUR NOSE

Don't make my mistake and turn-up your nose at turnips. Until this week I had never eaten a turnip in all me live long day. What folly!

If the greatest conquests arise from the greatest challenges, I reasoned, then discovers of insumountable pleasure and unknown goodness must hiding in this strange purple and white root.

I set the target in my sites.

Taking this view I found that the oft-forsaken turnip is not the mushy bland horror of the Thanksgiving table I feared. It is not an elder's bowl of paste sorrowfuly placed by senility or loss of palate. The turnip is in fact one of the most versatile vegetables I've yet found - albeit as near perplexing as the funky kohlrabi!
First; start at the top. Those unappealling fuzzy greens, pock-marked with flea beetle bites and laden with sand are of the highest calibre saute greens to be found. Chop the leaves and chop finely the stems, and saute with olive oil (or butter if you dare), salt and pepper. Liven it up with a little garlic, but treat minimally because the flavor is scrumptious (veganly-speaking).

Next is the beast itself. Cube the turnip (chop coarsely) and par-boil 4 minutes (already have the water boiling before you drop them in). Then Saute for about the same or a little longer. Olive oil is preferred with kosher salt and cracked pepper. Some like sea salt because it has less sodium. Personally, sodium is salt. Salt is what you're putting on. If you like the taste of salt, and there's not enough flavor, you're likely to put on more, ergo, you're right back to high sodium... Do it or don't - noone wants unsalty salt. Then again, my blood pressures not exactly low. Anyway, kosher salt is nice because its big and gritty and you can get visceral with it. You can even make a margarita glass look pissah. One of our CSA members has a penchant for "Himalayan pink salt," which is apparently rich in minerals and micro-nutrients. Enough digression. That's the basic start for turnips. Now it gets really interesting...

With the cubed, par-boiled, sauted turnips you can make an assortment of side-dishes. If you like some kick, continue to saute, but add cayenne pepper and garlic powder (or fresh). If you like it sweet, try adding a little honey, maple syrup, or sugar - you can also additionally flavor with cinnamon and/or nutmeg. Like it savory? Skip those last two treatments and add cumin or curry or fresh fennel. See where we're going? I'm already salivating like we were pouring red wine on buttered portobellos.

OK, last trick for tonight. Turnip Tomato Salad with Aioli. Take the sauted turnips with the garlic and cayenne and refigerate a couple hours. Make a fresh batch of aioli (Italian mayonaise - recipe on TheDahliaFarm.com website). Cube a couple fresh heirloom garden tomatoes and toss with the chilled turnips and ailoi. Serve it up - it will not last!

ANVIL

Due to last night’s aerial spraying of the pesticide “Anvil” by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Friday & Saturday baskets were picked the evening before and refrigerated.

You can visit the Massachusetts Health & Human Services website for “FAQ about Anvil spraying for EEE.”There is also a telephone info line: 2-1-1, but they failed to answer most direct questions.

New York State Dept. of Health has the most comprehensive fact sheet we could find: http://www.health.state.ny.us/publications/2738/

Anvil use has been controversial since its inception. It is a synthetic pyrethroid, manufactured and distributed by Clarke Mosquito Control. This chemical is toxic to fish, beneficial insects (such as carnivorous ladybugs and pollinating bees and butterflies) and all other invertebrates. Anvil was previously used by the Commonwealth in 2006.

Kohlrabi Parmesan

This neat treat was just featured in Better Homes & Gardens.


Kohlrabi Parmesan:
ingredients

3 tablespoons butter or margarine
4 small kohlrabies (about 1 pound), peeled and coarsely shredded (3 cups)
1 medium red or green sweet pepper, chopped (3/4 cup)
1 medium carrot, coarsely shredded (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
2 teaspoons snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)
Fresh thyme

directions

1.In a large skillet melt margarine or butter. Stir in shredded kohlrabi, chopped red or green sweet pepper, and shredded carrot. Cook and stir for 4 to 5 minutes or until vegetables are crisp-tender.
2.Stir in the 1/4 cup Parmesan or Romano cheese, thyme, salt, and pepper. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired. Garnish with fresh thyme. Makes 4 servings.

CSA Week #7

CSA Week #7 Full-share includes:

Green Beans

Summer Squash (Zephyr)

Chinese Cucumber (“Suyo Long”)

Cucumbers

Kohlrabi (See our video on YouTube: “Funky Kohlrabi” for ideas)

Bok Choi (Joi Choi)

White Radish (Ping-pong) Salad topping, or slice & bake with olive oil, salt, cayenne pepper & garlic powder.

HERB: Parsley plant

INTERNATIONAL FARM

It's official -- The Dahlia Farm has gone international!

Sort of...

When the largest egg farm in the Cape Verde Islands couldn't get standard-sized birds (tradititional chickens off the coast of Africa are bantams), they turned to their friends and relatives in the U.S. to personally transport fertilized large eggs home in the hope of breeding their own.

Success!

The Cape Verde Islands are now developing a flock of large birds, thanks to The Dahlia Farm!

So if ever you're travelling there and you should stumble upon Rhode Island Reds or Plymouth Rocks -- our southern New England traditional breeds -- you can rest assured, they are from your very own CSA farm, right here in Middleboro!

CSA Week #2

CSA Week #2 Full share includes:

Sugar Snap Peas Whole pods, best eaten raw as a snack (do not shell).

Tai Sai (heirloom) Sauté, steam, stir-fry or bechamel.

Scapes (Garlic topsets) Treat as asparagus. Grille, bake or sauté with olive oil & coarse salt.

Arugula (heirloom) Salad green, but may be sautéd or added to side dishes. Use edible flowers to decorate salads and soups.

Lettuce (1 red, 1 green) Raw green.

Rapini (Sessantina Grossa) Sauté, stir-fry, or incorporate into soups.

Pac Choi (Mei Qing) Use as a raw green, sauté, stir-fry, or incorporate into Asian soups.

HERB: Potted Genovese Basil.

CUT FLOWER: Wildflower bunch (stachys,lysimarchia puntata, veronica & lathyrus(sweetpea)).


Be sure to see our website for additional recipes and to share ideas with other CSA member in our forum

WILTED GREENS...? JUST GIVE THEM A DRINK!

MY LEAFY GREENS HAVE GONE WILTY, WHAT CAN I DO...?

Because we do not treat our produce with a chemical preservative, this will naturally happen. The process is called transpiration, which is kind of like sweating.

Plants draw moisture through their stems by means of cellular constriction (like a snake digesting an animal). The excess water then evaporates out the tops of their leaves.

Treat your fresh-cut leaf vegetables like cut flowers. Give the stems a fresh cut (at an angle) and place them in a glass or vase of water. They will perk right back up and look wonderful again, lasting for days.

And of course, refridgeration always helps - but only after they've revived.

PEA TENDRILS: A Seasonal Delicacy

Pea tendrils -- the tender curly ends of sweet pea plants -- are truly a seasonal delicacy, blending the tender texture of stem with the lush sweet foliage of baby greens, and the just plain COOLNESS of edible flowers.

These short-seasoned precursors of snap peas are a high-sugar, early veggie snack and a favorite of locavores everywhere. Enjoy as a soup or salad topping - or for the purist, a pea tendril salad with cracked black pepper, kosher salt, olive oil & balsamic vinegar.

Because they will not last without converting their sugar to starch, and because they are so fragile, one must either grow their own or have immediate access to a CSA or local farmer's market to enjoy.

Fortunately, here at the Dahlia Farm, we presently have a solid supply (as long as the cool weather lasts) and look forward to including this specialty treat in our first CSA baskets.

See you soon!

Enterprise News Story: EARTH DAY 2010

On eve of Earth Day, Brockton area farmers celebrate new consumer trend.
Local farmers get boost from program that sells share of harvest to consumers.
By Amy Littlefield
ENTERPRISE STAFF WRITER


The tiny spinach transplants are still covered with a protective cloth, but soon the crops will make a hearty offering for the people enrolled in CSA programs.

Community-supported agriculture programs, or CSAs, have become increasingly popular in recent years. They allow consumers to pay for a share of a farm’s harvest ahead of time and then receive weekly offerings of produce through the summer and fall.

James Reynolds, who runs The Dahlia Farm in Middleboro, said his farm started receiving requests for CSA shares in December.

“Last year, we were just flooded with interest. This year, it’s been even bigger,” said Reynolds.

On the eve of Earth Day, which is celebrated on Thursday, Reynolds attributed that popularity to a growing awareness of the benefits of buying local, healthy food.

“I think it’s more of a paradigm shift in the consumer mind,” said Reynolds. “I think the average American is becoming more aware of exactly the food that we’re eating, the environment that we live in, the global community.”

Last year, Reynolds provided a basket of vegetables, greens, flowers and herbs to CSA customers every week for 20 weeks in return for $500. Reynolds also sells egg shares and half-shares.

Community-supported agriculture programs began in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1986, said Katie Cavanagh, Farms Forever coordinator at the Southeastern Massachusetts Agricultural Partnership. There are now 22 registered CSAs in Southeastern Massachusetts alone, Cavanagh said.

“They’ve grown more in popularity recently as farmers have realized the benefits of selling directly,” said Cavanagh.

She said Massachusetts farmers sell more farm products directly to consumers than farmers in any other state.

“Because we’re primarily small farms, we have that close relationship with the consumer,” Cavanagh said.

CSA programs provide revenue before a harvest, when farmers need it most.In return, customers are offered a chance to meet their farmer and see the source of their food. Some programs even allow CSA members to pick their own produce.

The only downside is that there may one day be more interested consumers than available shares.

“Just within Massachusetts, there’s more of a demand than a supply,” said Reynolds. “There’s only so much land that’s available, in addition to resources, capital and people who are willing to work as farmers in a modern society.”

ENTERPRISE STORY: As snow falls, summer veggies sprout in Middleboro

By Alice Elwell,
ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT

MIDDLEBORO — While others were shoveling snow this week, two local farmers were starting their seedlings of onions, spinach, leeks and broccoli to get a jump on spring and be ready to offer up home-grown vegetables when the weather breaks.

Dave Purpura of Plato’s Harvest Organic Farm has already potted his onions and spinach plants, while James Reynolds of The Dahlia Farm is germinating his broccoli this week...

Reynolds grew more than 4,000 tomatoes plants last year with one German heirloom that weighed in at 3 pounds. There’s also basil, parsley, dill and cilantro for those gourmet cooks who seek the freshest herbs...

Laurie and Dean Rantz tried a half-share in Reynolds farm last year and said they were very happy with the produce. “It was something to look forward to every week,” said Laurie Rantz.

Dean Rantz said Reynolds would fill baskets each week with vegetables, herbs and flowers, sometimes with things the couple had never tried. One week they were given kohlrabi, something Dean Rantz described as looking like an alien, but turned out to be tasty. “Hey, I’ll try anything,” he said.

Rantz said another bonus is supporting local business. He said with all the talk of living green, he decided to do what he can for the environment and invested in a local farmer.

Read the complete story HERE.





Bumpkin says:
I had a half share last season from The Dahlia Farm and was very happy with it. Fresh, no chemicals, and a variety of stuff that you just won't see in the supermarkets. The eggs are 2nd to none with amazing orange yokes and texture. I wrote about the experience several times on my blog - nemasket.net
http://nemasket.net/new-csa/
http://nemasket.net/podcast-csa-middleboro/
http://nemasket.net/csa-update/