Farm Staff Part 2; and Beet Recipe

Moises, our only full time staffer, has been with us for twelve years.  You can't visit the fields during the summer without seeing him cutting flowers, picking vegetables or weeding.

Ruby Swiss Chard

Nina, whom you met on our post  Farm Staff Part 1, has a passion for beets.  She will often wander into the rows of beets after a long day working, gathering up an armful to use in multiple ways.

One of our favorite ways Nina prepares them is the simplest (which is how we like to cook) and is as follows:

  

Remove green leaves (save for leafy salad) and rinse beets till clean.  Place beets on cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast in hot oven (400) till done (about an hour depending on size).  When tender, remove from oven and twist off skin (we like to leave most of it on), cube with a knife and sprinkle with goat/feta cheese (for added protein if you like).  Delicious and simple.  Nina also shared a family recipe for Borscht soup that we will post in the future.

Strawberry Shortcake

This is the time for native strawberries. We have been selling fresh, unsprayed native strawberries from a nearby farm at our stand this week.

Strawberries growing in rows in the field.

At Our Stand

  

While they are delicious raw with the field sun warmth, here is my recipe for strawberry shortcake:

Biscuits:

• 2 cups flour (substitute ½ cup with whole wheat) 
• 3 tsp baking powder 
• 1 tsp salt 
• ¼ cup butter 
• ¾ cup whole milk 

Mix together and pat out ½ inch thick biscuits onto ungreased baking sheet
Bake at 450 degree (hot oven) for about 10 minutes or until golden

Then:
Cut up quart(s) of native strawberries and sweeten with sugar to taste
Beat whipping cream until desired thickness and sweeten with maple syrup, if desired, to taste.

Spring Produce

Here is some of the local produce available (in some cases via cold frames or greenhouses), and how we prepare it (simply):

• Carrots: grated in salads; steamed as side dish; chopped in stews
• Broccoli:  steamed as side dish; sauteed in broccoli/pasta dish
• Rhubarb:  stewed and served over ice cream
• Beets:  steamed whole with skins on (to preserves nutrients) then peeled, sliced, and lightly buttered
• Strawberries:  eaten raw (and, in this case, mostly eaten before we took this photograph!)
• Cucumbers:  raw and sliced in salads or just used for grazing
• Asparagus:  steamed and lightly buttered as side dish
• Lettuce:   raw in salads
• Spinach (not shown): steamed and lightly buttered as side dish

Farm Staff Part 1; and Onion Scapes Recipe

 

As the CSA season opens, our Farm Staff is at full production levels.  While most of you know me, and all of you know Kingsley, here are some of the other people whom you may see.

Farm Staff

Claire has been working here since she was three, when she used to tag along with her big brother and sister! Claire has even had her own WWOOF experience, taking her skills to Hawaii!

Claire

Nina is our most recently added WWOOF intern.  She comes from New York City, where she just graduated from Columbia. 

Nina

Many of you saw Nichki when she was our WWOOF intern.  Now she returns when she can as a part time staffer.

Nichki

Nichki has a new puppy, Moo, an honorary staff member!

Moo

Some Upcoming Produce

The root crops beginning to fill in Mokum carrots and Bulls Blood beets

 

One of the greens of springs is onion scapes.  They are a wonderful fresh used like scallions in recipes (click here for a recipe from last year).

 

We are so excited to see old friends and new members of the farm share, and we are off to a great start.

 

The Season Begins

 

Next week is the first CSA/Farm Share pick up.  A quick scan of the farm and greenhouses shows not just what will be ready in a few days, but many of the crops that will be producing in the weeks and months to come. 

 

Peas will be climbing this fencing. 

 

Flowers will dot our fields with color.
 

 

What appears to be nearly inert soil is teaming with hidden life.

 

We are adding more fencing to grow field tomatoes to augment our greenhouses'. 

 

To increase our yield in the weeks and months to come, we are making sure the certain sensitive plants are properly covered and protected now.

 

 

This technique keeps away many kinds of bugs so that we can keep our plants chemical free, making for what I think are healthier and more tasty produce. 

 

The leaks, usually a fall crop, survived and almost thrived over the mild winter. 

 

We grow many varieties of lettuce, ready now and throughout the spring until it gets too hot.    

 

Peas and pea shoots, now so small, will be full grown and ready for harvest in a few weeks.

 

Kingsley is also preparing our new WWOOFers for the season ahead.

 

Every microclimate needs to be tended differently... 

 

...to get the best bounty.

 

Two New Arrivals at Barberry Hill Farm

 

Friday, May 4th was a busy day for us.  We received a new calf from Deerfield Farm. 

 

And we also got the key ingredient to inseminate our heifer, Mabel.  

Deerfield Farm's Melynda Naples brought her much needed and appreciated expertise.

 

I was able to help out, such as getting the water to the critical temperature.

Everyone was in good hands.

We are so excited to have our new calf, Betsey, and hopefully, in ten months, to have another.

 

Friday was also the first Madison Farmer's Market of the 2012 season.

Setting up the Greens

Kingsley is also serving as the Market Master this season.

Getting a Jump on Buying Produce As the Bell Rings

A Visit from The Country School

We recently had a great visit from the fifth grade class from our Madison neighbor, The Country School.  Kingsley and Nichole (our current WWOOFer) were able to share their knowledge and excitement around how our food is produced.

 

 

 

At Barberry Hill Farm, we love farming, and we love sharing our excitement with "the next generation."  We know that we have to not only enrich our soil and produce the best food we can, but almost as importantly, inspire a conviction in why eating real food is so important across the generations. 

Grace (on the right) helped her father out.

 

As we gear up for the farm stand, participating in the Madison farmer's market, and fulfilling our CSAs/Farm Shares, it was nice to reflect on why we do what we do.