Stony Loam Farm LLC

Greetings Friends and Members,
Summertime again, oh yeah!  Thank goodness for the return of decency as we move towards fall.  We're sure we're not alone in finding it incredibly hard to believe that school is about to start.  While we're not yet directly involved in the school year (Eli has a few more years of easy living), just knowing that school is beginning brings back a very palpable feeling.  One of us remembers a feeling of excitement, while the other remembers more of an "Egad-- how can this be happening to me" feeling (you can guess which of us felt which).
 
Out in the fields, things continue to look less than stellar.  Despite this really perfect stretch of weather, most crops don't appear to be responding as one would hope.  A lot of damage has already been done and, well, we've talked about that plenty.  Some little signs of positivity can be found in the baby beets and carrots.  Despite the facts that (1) they've been in the ground almost two months and (2) they should be harvestable according to the seed catalog "Days to Maturity", they are putting on new green growth.  Hopefully they'll hang in there, as we know how much our carrots are loved.  They're still a few weeks away from harvestable even if this great weather continues.
 
The main other action on the farm has been getting the onions out of the ground.  They apparently didn't mind the rain and it looks to be a bumper crop.  If you take a peek into the first greenhouse you'll see what we mean.  We grew a lot of onions with the intent of having them be a staple in our winter share, which we've officially cancelled offering this season as a result of crop loss due to the rain.  We'll shoot for offering a Winter Share in 2009.  In the meantime, we may have some storage crops for sale if your root cellar has room for more at the end of the season.  We'll keep you posted.
 
This week's share:
Lettuce, squash & zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, corn (? we're surprised more ears aren't showing up on our 7 foot tall plants.  We haven't given up, but we're wondering if the excessive water has impacted our corn production), greens (?)
 
U-Pick:  Flowers, beans, herbs, cherry tomatoes, jalapenos
 
Take care,
D, E, & e
 
RECIPE:   This is a recipe that we enjoy as told to us by Jay Volger (the Pizza guy!).  It features sun gold cherry tomatoes, garlic, and basil in an uncooked sauce over pasta.
 
Cook pasta of your choosing.
While it is cooking, slice a generous amount of sungold cherry tomatoes in half, peel several cloves of garlic, and coarsely chop some fresh basil.  When pasta is cooked, drain and transfer to a large bowl.  Add tomatoes, basil, and press in the garlic. Then, add appropriate amount of olive oil, salt, and fresh grated parmesan.  Toss lightly and serve immediately.  Use your judgment to adjust proportions to taste.  This dish tastes like summer itself.  Enjoy!!

Greetings Friends and Members,
It seems we are finally getting back to some summer weather and it sure feels good, doesn't it?  That was some spell we've been under.  Hopefully we can put all of that behind us and enjoy a beautiful late summer and fall.  We sure deserve it.
 
We're finding ourselves feeling a little quiet this week.  Despite the change in weather, the fields are still looking pretty rough-- sort of like how things look following a moderate frost!  The pumpkins, for example, are standing alone out there missing their leaves.  It's an odd sight for mid-August.  We also find ourselves feeling reflective and grateful, as our favorite little sprout Eli, turns two this week.  The heavy rains certainly haven't stunted his growth or energy!   Talk about the cycle of things....
 
We're hopeful that some nice weather and a bit of organic fertilizer lightly sidedressed along our rows will get things going in the right direction again.
 
This week's share:  Lettuce, squash, cukes, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, maybe the first corn, maybe some melons (which are ripening despite the fact that the plants look dead), maybe peppers & eggplant, cabbage, greens
 
U-Pick:  Flowers, cherry tomatoes, beans, herbs
 
Have a great week and enjoy the sunshine,
D, E, & e
 
RECIPE:   Grilled Eggplant Layered with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
 
2 large Eggplants, each cut into 9 1/2 inch thick rounds 1/4 cup, Plus 6 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 2 Medium tomatoes, each cut into 6 rounds Freshly ground pepper to taste, salt to taste   Approx. 12 large fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish Crumbled feta cheese (6 ounces) or slices of mozzarella

1. Heat grill to medium.
2. Spread eggplant slices on 2 baking sheets or trays. Brush 1/4 cup oil over both sides of eggplant slices. Spray another baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange tomato slices on it. Season eggplant and tomatoes with pepper.
3. Oil the grill rack. Grill the eggplant slices until browned and tender, 5 to 7 minutes per side. Set aside. Place the baking sheet with the tomatoes directly on the grill rack; cover and grill until tomatoes are bubbling and warm, about 7 minutes.  (OR, we often just grill the tomato directly on the grill, just be sure the slices are thick enough to not completely fall apart!) 
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray six 7 to 10 ounce ramekins or custard cups (about the same diameter as an eggplant slice) with cooking spray.
5. Assemble the towers: Using a wide spatula, layer an eggplant slice, a tomato slice and a basil leaf in each ramekin. Sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon feta (or use mozzarella slice). Repeat the layering once more, then top with an eggplant slice. Press down lightly.
6. Place ramekins on a baking sheet and bake until heated through and juices are bubbling around the edges, 25 to 35 minutes.
7. To serve, run a paring knife around the sides of each ramekin. Invert a plate on top and, grasping ramekin and plate with oven mitts, carefully invert the ramekin onto the plate. (Use caution as both the ramekins and juices are extremely hot.) Remove the ramekins. The juices will form a sauce around the tower. Drizzle each tower with 1 teaspoon oil and garnish with a basil sprig. Serve hot, warm or at room temperature.

Greetings Friends and Members,
Welcome to Week 10 of our season together.  It is hard to believe how quickly the weeks go by, and that here we are already past the half-way point of our season.  Hopefully we'll even have some more summer to enjoy before we're through!  We're doing our best to keep our chins up over here, and we have really appreciated all of your supportive e-mail.  Suffice to say, we could all use a break from the rain.
 
In terms of how all of this will impact our season, let's just say that it will be significant.  We haven't planted or seeded anything outside in almost a month, and eventually that is going to catch up with us.  However, before the rains started, we'd already planted a whole lot of stuff out there, so we've got some fuel left in the tank.  Thousands of pounds of potatoes are sitting out there in the mud, waiting until it's dry enough to get them out of the ground.  As well, our two corn seedings look great.  You can see them growing in the fields at Pizza on Earth.  The later of the two seedings is our personal favorite variety, Silver Queen, and is over seven feet tall.  Both should be coming your way soon, along with lots of other crops-- tomatoes, peppers, squash, cukes, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, onions...and many more hopefuls.  One of our saving graces in terrible years is that we grow so many different crops that lots of them are bound to work no matter how bad the weather.  That's the idea, anyway.
 
In other news, we're going to be the focus of a Better Homes and Gardens photo shoot/facelift this week.  We're not sure what kind of impact this might have, but presently they are planning to visit on Tuesday and take some pictures for a story (for next year) about farmstands and U-Pick flowers.  Don't be surprised if things look a little different as they spruce us up!
 
So, as another red band of thunderstorms approaches on our radar screen this Sunday afternoon, we wish you well and we deeply appreciate your participation in our community supported farm.

D, E, & e
 
This week's share:  Lettuce, squash & zucchini, scallions, garlic, tomatoes, peppers (maybe), carrots, cabbage, fennel
 
U-Pick:  Flowers, beans, herbs, cherry tomatoes (?? depending on how they're faring ??) 

RECIPE:  Fennel Gratin with Tomato
 
Ingredients:

2 large bulbs fennel

2 medium cloves garlic peeled and minced

1 cup diced tomato

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup warm vegetable (or chicken broth)

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Trim off and discard fennel stalks. Cut bulbs in half lengthwise, then slice thinly. In a gratin dish, combine the fennel, garlic and tomato. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour the warm chicken broth over the vegetables and bake on center oven rack in a preheated 350-degree oven 1 hour, or until fennel is very tender. Stir every 20 minutes. Remove dish from oven. Turn oven to broil and place an oven rack at highest level. Drizzle fennel with cream and sprinkle with Parmesan. Broil until the top is golden. Cool a few minutes before serving.

Greetings Friends and Members,
Okay, already.  Uncle!  Mercy!  Anything...just please let it stop raining.  For us, this weather has gone beyond ridiculous to down right damaging.  It wasn't too long ago that we were just cruising along, taking care of business, and feeling great about how things were coming together this season.  Then, two weeks ago today, the rain started and now we have a whole different ball game.
 
Many of you have been asking what happens exactly when it keeps raining as it has, so we're going to try and give you some of the main issues.  First of all, when the soil is too wet, we can't get tractors into the field to prepare the soil for seeding and planting.  So, we begin to fall behind and we miss getting things into the ground.  And, at this time of year, that is of critical importance because Fall is rapidly approaching.  Things are to the point where our plans to offer a Winter Share this year are in jeopardy because we just can't get things planted in the earth.  Thus far, we've had to discard two batches of lettuce seedlings, one round of broccoli, and all the late season greens that were patiently waiting to be transplanted to the field.
 
Another major issue with this weather is disease.  Wet foliage that doesn't get an opportunity to dry and water logged soil are perfect breeding grounds for a whole host of blights, mildews, and other nasty problems.  Carrots, beets, and turnips are beginning to turn to mush (Bacterial Soft Rot).  The vines of the pumpkins, melons, and winter squash are turning yellow and are beginning to wilt (Powdery Mildew).  Tomatoes and potatoes begin to look like they've been hit by a flame flower (Early Blight, the cause of the Irish Potato Famine).  Luckily, all of our greenhouse tomatoes look good so far and should be coming your way soon.  The garlic, which is now hanging nicely in the pole barn, was pulled out of the ground earlier than usual to avoid having some mysterious rot that was found spread throughout.
 
Other issues?  Plants just don't grow well when the sun doesn't shine and the roots can't breathe-- except for weeds.  Weeds are so much better adapted and they appreciate that the soil has been too wet for us to hoe or cultivate.
 
So, it's pretty sad out there right now.  These are probably the worst conditions Farmer Dave has seen in twelve years of farming.  Our intention isn't to send a depressing note, but to give you the facts about how things are fairing.  Rest assured, the weather is bound to change (Isn't it???), and regardless, we will continue to have lots of delicious food for you to enjoy.  It is just not looking like one of our real banner years.
 
This week's share: 
Lettuce, squash & zucchini, cucumbers, garlic, onions, fennel, tomatoes (hopefully), cabbage (see Recipe), scallions, carrots
 
U-Pick:
Flowers, beans (look around out there in the weeds, there are lots of yummy beans lurking), herbs, cherry tomatoes (hopefully)
 
Your faithful crew,
D, E, & e
  
Recipe:  Cabbage Salad with Lemon and Olive Oil
 
1/4 cup extra virgin Olive oil
3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1 clove garlic (crushed)
1/2 tsp salt Freshly ground black pepper
1 Cabbage thinly sliced
2 scallions sliced
1 carrot coarsely shredded
1 tablespoon chopped italian parsley

In a large bowl, whisk together oil lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Add the rest of the ingredients and toss.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Dear Friends and Members,
We're guessing we're not alone in feeling that the novelty of the rather frequent and heavy rain has worn off.  It's hard to believe that just last Saturday we were racing around the fields on the tractor trying to get some fall crops seeded before the predicted big rains were to arrive on Sunday.  As it turned out, the rains came earlier than predicted (Saturday afternoon) and, aside from interrupting the seeding process, they're given us quite a mess.  Quite frankly, those puddles aren't all that much fun anymore.
 
A rough guess would be that we've gotten six or seven inches of rain since last Saturday.  Just when it seemed like things were on the way to drying out (as it seemed Friday and Saturday), along comes that "30% chance of showers" Saturday night to top off all of our puddles.  All we can hope for is an end to the rains and some sun and wind to dry it up.  As of this afternoon, we still have standing water in many places in our fields and many of the plants are showing the effects.  Luckily, we grow a lot of different crops in a lot of different places with multiple seedings and varieties.  So, chances are, and experience shows, that most things will recover just fine.  We've just got to keep our chins up 'till then (and if anyone is up to it, some dances pleading with the Sun spirits might not hurt either).
 
This week's share:  Lettuce, greens, squash & zucchini, cukes, cabbage or broccoli, potatoes, garlic (for real this week!, see recipe), scallions
 
U-Pick:  flowers, beans (see Recipe), herbs, cherry tomatoes (see Recipe)
See you on the farm,
D, E, & e

Recipe:
 
Green Beans Simmered with Tomato

2 tablespoons olive oil                        
1 large ripe tomato, diced (or a good sized handful of cherry tomatoes cut in halves)
2 small white onions, sliced into thin rounds                                                        
1-2 garlic cloves, finely chopped                   
1 pound green beans, tipped and cut into 2 inch lengths
2 teaspoons chopped parsley
2 teaspoons chopped summer savory or dill
Salt and freshly milled pepper

 Heat the oil in a medium or large skillet, add the onions, and cook over medium heat until soft and translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add the garlic, beans, tomato, and enough water just to cover.  Simmer until beans are tender, then add the herbs and simmer 1 or 2 minutes more.  Timing will depend upon on the age and size of the bean.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve hot, tepid, or even chilled.