Farm Blog
The Durham Farmers' Market winter hours start his week.
The Saturday Winter Market is open from 10 am to 12 noon.
We will have organic salad mixes, turnips, kohlrabi, and a variety of greens and herbs available at the market. Pasture raised chicken will also be available.
Given the short hours and the limited time, you may want to order ahead using our online ordering system. Place an order and it will be ready for you when you arrive. Click her to go to the order form: ORDER HERE
We are also offering gift certificates so that you can treat your friends and relatives with organic, local food from Harland's Creek Farm. Scroll down on the order form to find these items.
OUR WINTER LOCATION IS JUST DOWN FORM THE LADIES ROOM
ON THE PART OF THE PAVILLION THAT LEADS TO FOSTER STREET
Pre-orders are up an running. We have gourmet salad mix, chicken, and a variety of greens. If you are wondering how to prepare all the greens in the market, request a copy of our Greens Flyer which contains recipes for soups, pastas, pizza, and main courses that feature greens.
Our chicken has never been caged. It is pasture raised and feed grains that contain no animal products, as well as, grasses, bugs, and vegetables from our gardens. The chicken is antibiotic free, locally processed, and air chilled. Our chicken is frozen at -30 degrees Fahrenheit to preserve the taste and texture. We can provide whole, whole cut up, bone in whole breasts, livers, and soup parts
Wednesday CSA for August 3, 2011
This week’s CSA box contains corn, edamame, garlic, a small bunch of green onions, bell pepper, potatoes, lots of cherry tomatoes, and slicing tomatoes. The corn is from Roberson Creek Farm. Ben Bergman of Fickle Creek Farm is providing chuck eye steak and a chicken leg pair. Chapel Hill Creamery is providing mozzarella cheese. We will have mixed bunches of summer flowers for the flower subscribers.
A word about the meal plans. I am recommending that you stew some chicken for M1 and save the broth to make the potato soup. I think that stewing chicken is the best approach for summer because it yields meat that can be used in a chicken salad or tossed into a stir-fry right at the end and merely heated rather than cooked. Elote recipes in the meal plans are from my Mexican colleagues.
Rooting Basil. When you get a bunch of basil, the best way to care for it is sit it in a glass of water in your kitchen and use it as needed. Do not put it in the refrigerator. In almost all cases, it will root, and you could pot it and grow if for a winter treat if you wish. Below are some pictures of a bunch that I rooted in my kitchen. The method that I recommend is:
- Remove band or twist time from bunch
- Remove leaves from part of stem that would be under water
- Trim off bottom of stem a slight amount
- Place basil in a glass of water and sit glass in a window that gets plenty of light.
- Change and replenish water as needed
- Use basil as needed by picking from stems
If you look at the pictures closely, you will see that I did not remove the twist tie this time. The plants still rooted but the stems would have been healthier if I had removed the twist tie. These pictures are from a bunch that is about 2 weeks old. You can see that I have used a lot of the basil already. The picture on the left is the entire bunch. That on the right shows the root detail.
Wishing you healthy and delicious meals, All the farmers in the Durham Collaborative CSA,
For latest updates follow Judy on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/judylessler
Harland's Creek Farm will be at Durham Farmers' Market on Saturday July 22, 2011 with a BEAT THE HEAT recipes and a suggested strategy.We are bringing recipes for Packs for:
Salsa Verde and Salsa Cruda
Cold Potato, Basil, and Tomato Salad and Cold Potato Soup
Cold Green and Gold Chicken Salad with tomatillos and Sungold tomatoes and Cold Basil and Peach Chicken Salad
AND here is your BEAT the HEAT strategy: Stew a whole chicken, take the meat off the bones, and save the broth. Boil some potatoes and the same time. Cool all and store. Then you can use basic ingredients during the week for making the cold soups and cold salads.
We will have Vegetable Packs with all the vegetables and herbs you need to make the Salsa Verde, Potato, Basil,a dn Tomato Salad, and the Cold Green and Gold Chicken Salad. The latter recipe is below. Others will be available at market or you can email me at lesslerjud@msn.com for a copy.
Summer Green and Gold Chicken Salad
6 servings
1-1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken
8-oz tomatillos, chopped1/3 cup mayonnaise
¼ to ½ teaspoon salt according to taste
1/8 teaspoon pepper
6-oz (1½ cups) Sungold cherry tomatoes split
1-2 Serrano peppers, minced (optional)
Coarsely chop chicken and tomatillos and combine. Add mayonnaise, salt, and pepper and mix well. If desired, add minced Serrano peppers and mix well. Toss with split tomatoes and chill. Serve on lettuce leaves or in sandwiches.
Original recipe from Harland's Creek Farm. © August 16, 2001
A word about the nuts and bolts of being an organic farm: We have to document our work and processes for the inspection. Crop rotation is an important factor in organic farming because it makes for healthy soils with plenty of organic matter, and because the changing environment helps to control pests and diseases. For example, when clover is growing, the Colorado potato beetle has to move on. Unfortunately they seldom move on all the way to Colorado; however, after the cover crop and a rotation of potatoes to a new area, it takes the beetle some time to find the potatoes, and we, so far, have been able to control them with little effort. Below is are a couple of pictures of cover crops on the farm.
On the left you can see us mowing down a summer cover of Sudex grass and cowpeas On the right, the winter cover of crimson clover has flowered and is ready to turn under.
Kohlrabi is rapidly becoming one of my favorite vegetables. It is tender, crisp, and slightly sweet, and I just munch on raw slices. We are now able to buy seeds for different varieties that remain tender at larger sizes. Since one must peel off the rind, this greatly increases the edible to non-edible portion of the bulb. The leaves are also good and can be sautéed and used in slaws and salads. It turns out that there are storage varieties that have been grown in Europe for years. They are now available here in the US, and we are growing one of these varieties. Supposedly the bulbs can be stored in a cooler up to 4 months and retain their quality! We are going to test storing some, and if it works, CSA customers can look forward, some year, to it popping up in their boxes just when they think they never want to see another tomato or eggplant. Meanwhile, enjoy them now! We will have some at the DFM on Saturday.
Harland's Creek Farm will be at DFM on Saturday March 26, 2011 with a variety of Orgainc Greens. Look for Salad Mix, Arugula, Chard, Braising Mix, and Kale. Also, we will have beets and radishes.
New this market will be some organic lettuce transplants. These will come with instructions as to how to grow them organically.
Harland's Creek Farm is preparing for spring. Our green house is completely full of newly seeded trays, and our outside coldframe is stuffed with plants waiting to go to the field. The pond that we use for irrigating the farm is not completely full, and this is a bit of a worry for us. It was a dry winter; however, we have had three rains in the past week, which we hope will top us up.
We built a high tunnel this winter and have a few things growing in it. Below are some pictures--look for salad mix and arugula at the Durham Farmers Market beginning on March 12, 2011.
