Hard to believe it is still April. The weather has been mild and we have finally gotten some rain. It has gotten a lot of things growing and blooming. Keeping up this time of year includes lots of harvesting.

Walking onions

Our perennial allium crops come on according to their own schedule and this week the chives and walking onions are peaking. The onions are a bit sturdier than a scallions, and can be cooked or used fresh. We also have the Bridger overwintering onion in the field and will begin pulling them too.

The chives include their blooms, which are perfect as a garnish to either fresh or cooked dishes. If you are enjoying our eggs, chives are a savory accompaniment.

Chive flowers

Hello 2016 CSA. We are happy to see the harvest start on schedule with good spring fare for the first share. Each season has its own characteristics and we are ready to see what this year brings.

Two of the items in the share –carrots and potatoes– are crops that we harvested last year and have stored in our cooler. If kept at the right temperature and humidity many vegetables can be stored for long periods of time. You need to create an environment that puts them into a comfortable state of dormancy.

This cold storage also changes the taste of the carrot, usually towards the sweeter side. This year we are planning on installing new refrigerated storage in the barn that will be used, in part, to store vegetables over the winter for spring-time enjoyment. Let us know what you think of our efforts so far.

The fresh veggies are coming on too, and a couple of the stars are also over-wintered. The spinach and gailan plants we are harvesting from were first planted last fall. They have been nurtured, watered, fertilized and protected in the high tunnel their whole life, and are reaching their spring peak right about now.

During the off-season we have been enjoying the gailan. We are working to learn as much as we can about the best ways to raise and harvest it. We will trial a few new varieties, and see what harvest methods produce the best growth. We love the flavor and texture—milder and tender than other sprouting broccoli’s, like the Italian broccoli raab.

Gailan (Chinese broccoli)

It is exceptional raw, so we regularly make a salad. You can chop it and then add whatever you want. We suggest grated carrots, some salt and pepper, garlic chives, and your favorite dressing. Simple, tasty and nutritious.

Gailan and carrot salad

Tractor repair with Spike

It is the last day of what seems to have been an endless March. This year has come to life about as early as we have ever seen. The fields are planted with potatoes, peas, onions, herbs, lettuce, carrots, beets, chard, cabbage and broccoli. A first from what our records show.

This unique situation has made us anxious, hopefully in a good way. Timing is everything with vegetable growing. The soil has felt wonderful, and things seem to be doing well.

Tom and I are joined this year by apprentices, Kimberly and Karen, along with Jody, who has returned for a third season here working part-time. Add in the CSA members and our farm team for 2016 is set.

Thanks to the Core Group for a smooth as always sign-up meeting. The cash flow that CSA brings to the farm in mid-March is another example of how timing is everything. Thanks to all new and returning members.

Big news for the CSA:  we have a new site in the crossroads to pick up your share. The partners of the soon-to-be opening, Lifted Spirits Distillery at 1732 Cherry Street, just blocks away from the old Bad Seed, have graciously allowed us to use their space for CSA distribution. We are very grateful to their willingness to house us after a long search. 

In 2004 our first CSA share went out at the Crossroads farmers market started by local food pioneer, Heather Hands and her store, Local Harvest at 18th and Wyandotte. After a short stint on 39th Street we returned to the Crossroads and resided at Bad Seed for the past eight years. We are thrilled to keep our roots in this vibrant part of KCMO. 

For those who may be hesitant about the “bar” ambiance, we will be in a back store room that has it’s own entrance, so no one will need to walk through a haze of spirits to get their produce.  But, of course, you can swing by the front of the building on your way, if you so desire.

Back on the farm, we have ambiance too.  Enjoy the roll of photos below.

Working on the deer fence

In the greenhouse

New cover crop planter-part of our SARE project

Row covering the cabbage

Home field at dusk 

Sign up

Easter egg hen

While it has been a bit since we last posted, it is not because of a lack of activity on the farm. The modern world has shifted some of our on-line presence to our Instagram (fairsharefarm) and Facebook (Fair Share Farm-Community Supported Agriculture) accounts. They are linked together and are a convenient way for us to keep you informed on our daily progress.

Among the recent goings-on has been the burning of the native grasses on the parts of the farm surrounding our vegetable operation. Burning 175 acres is a two-day job, and we are happy that we were able to keep things tamed. Much of this area drains into our irrigation pond and our fields. Having our water flow through a restored prairie prior to using is yet another benefit of how the Graff family is managing the overall farm.

Late morning laying and brooding at FSF

On the vegetable front the greenhouse work has been going as good as ever. This year we started buying organic compost instead of making it ourselves. We are really impressed with the results we are getting from the Purple Cow Organics potting mix. It is saving us the time of mixing our own potting soil (all farm workers and apprentices cheer at this point), and the results have been consistent with extremely healthy plants.


Onions acclimating to the outdoors

Planting and seeding in the high tunnel has been going on for almost a month, and we are itching to get out into the field this week once the dampness from yesterday’s rain is gone. Spinach is already in the ground, and we will next be planting potatoes, followed by the seeding of peas, carrots and beets. Kale, cabbage, lettuce and herbs are soon to follow. It may be an early spring this year.


Planting lettuce in the high tunnel

Potatoes warmed to the sprouting stage and ready for the ground.

Lastly for now is a reminder for all our members of the Annual Spring Sign-up Meeting on March 19 from 2 to 4 pm at St. James Lutheran Church on Vivion Road.

We returned to the farm to find that our new Automatic Chicken Door had arrived!! Tom promptly installed the thing and we have been loving it ever since.  It’s light activated and runs on 4 AA batteries that are supposed to last for years.  Hooray for the end of late night dashes through the snow to close the door!

And just after we got back to the farm, the snow started.  Only a handful of chickens were brave enough to venture out in it.

Last week of the season. Thanks for sticking with us this year. We hope that the extended season has provided a bounty to you, as we feel the high tunnel has performed well and produced a generous amount of nutritious veggies.

We will be down at the Bad Seed Holiday Market on Friday (4-9pm), so come by and stock up for Thanksgiving week with some fine ferments from the farm, and the many goodies that other vendors will have. One such item, which compliments the share quite well, is chestnuts.

Back in the 1990’s I bought an excellent cookbook—Cooking at the Academy, from the California Culinary Academy. One recipe I was especially interested in was the Chestnut and Carrot Soup. I modified it a bit to fit what I had at hand and you can too. You can’t go wrong with a creamy soup with chestnuts, carrots, onion, potato and/or sweet potatoes. Quite elegant.

Ingredients:
1 lb carrots
2 medium onions
1 lb chestnuts
1 lb sweet potato or white potato
1-1/2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup half & half
salt to taste
3 tbsp. olive oil
Dill or parsley for garnish

Method:
1. To peel the chestnuts first cut an “x” in them and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees F for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the shell starts to “peel open.” Peel the chestnuts and chop them into quarters.

2. Clean and coarsely chop the other vegetables. For a more refined soup you should peel the potatoes.
3. Heat oil in a heavy 3 quart saucepan over moderate heat. Add onions and carrots and sweat for 1 to 2 minutes or until onions are transparent.
4. Add the potato and chestnuts and sauté for 2 minutes.
5. Add stock and salt and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

6. Puree mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor.  Lightly whisk the half & half into the soup to lighten the texture and extend the volume. You can also add water or stock to thin out the soup if desired.

7.  Top with sour cream, yogurt or crème fraiche and garnish with fresh chopped herbs.

With the warm weather lately the farm has been greening up. We have been able to do a lot of work in the fields in preparation for spring. It has been nice weather to tidy up and check this important job off the list. If we take care of business now we can get to a time when we have no need to go out into the fields and we can both rest.

For now there are still a few goodies out there though, like carrots and cabbage. With some fresh  radish, kohlrabi and dill you have about as fresh a slaw as is possible. There are recipes from our blog and newsletters here, here, here and here.We hope that you take advantage of this tasty combo. 

One nice thing about a fall like this is that we get some time to hike around. On Sunday we went to the Crooked River, east of the farm on the way to Richmond. It was a gorgeous fall day, and the hike is through interesting terrain.

A couple of highlights include multiple beaver evidence and a very old bridge. The soil would be great for vegetables.

While things are blue all over town, they are green here. The high tunnel is growing well and there are still some nice vegetables out in the field thanks to the mild fall. The weather has been pretty spectacular over the last month or so.

One thing we are doing right now is prepping for the winter by stocking up. This includes roasting cloves of garlic. We are in the middle of garlic planting right now and the cloves that are not perfect enough for planting are waiting to be used. If you are overstocked right now, you may be in a similar situation

Garlic roasting is easy, and warms the house with a wonderful aroma. Peel the cloves and trim off the root ends, wet them with olive oil,  put into a covered baking dish, and roast in the oven at 425 deg F for about 45 minutes. Let them cool and then pop them in a freezer bag whole, or puree and freeze. They are a great addition to soups, spreads, pizza or whatever you want.

As we finish our pepper harvest and prepare to mow down the plants, we coaxed one more harvest of the Numex Suave Orange. Along with great taste, they are a quite beautiful plant, and one we want to keep growing. A choice this week, these habanero-shaped peppers are much milder than those hotties, and are a nice addition to any meal that needs just a little spice. Let us know what you think.

Dawn’s early light on the farm

This week we start harvesting from the high tunnel. It is very difficult to schedule peak harvest times for the vegetables we grow, and sometimes we let things keep growing if they are happy. The Tokoyo Bekana is listed in the seed catalog as a miniature Chinese cabbage but will be about the biggest thing in your share. It’s great when things thrive.

We’ve been using it up in the stir fries.  We have made it two ways recently.  One is with Parker Farms pork sausage rolled into mini-meatballs that have been browned and added to the dish. The other uses their sirloin strip. Marinate the strip in sesame seed oil, rice wine vinegar and garlic before broiling for about 20 minutes (turning once). Let it rest, cut into strips and add to the stir fry.

Stir fry with pork sausage

Out in the fields we have been preparing the ground for next year. We started putting down cover crops wherever we could once the rains stopped this summer, and they have done quite well, growing into a significant plant mass. Yesterday I started chopping them down in preparation for the rain and some subsequent tilling.

mowed cover crops

Here it is, the last week of the regular season. Thanks for having the farm and its partner vendors be one of the main sources of  your food this year. We do what we do because we know that the nutritional value of food is fundamentally important. We appreciate the opportunity to live and work in the middle of it all.

The sweet potatoes are being used up fast, and we want to make sure the membership gets all we have left. So this week you will be seeing some No. 2’s in the share. Trimmed up from damage in the field, we let these tubers cure and heal over. Enjoy this resilient and tasty vegetable.

Another thing with the sweet potatoes is that some of them are jumbos. They look intimidating, but if you just think of them as a winter squash you can find plenty of uses for them.

The escarole has grown as good as anything lately, and is a hearty part of a good salad. Chef Ted Habiger and his crew from Room 39 featured these greens in the first course at last week’s Outstanding in the Field dinner. Poached FSF eggs were a nice touch.

Our day off the farm at Ft. Scott, Kansas was a quite enjoyable one. Learning more about our area’s flora, fauna, food and history is always fun. The poor eating habits of the US Army in the 1840’s was news to me, but shows the real effect of vitamin deficiency. The reconstructed dragoon barrack’s kitchen showed the past dependency on barrels, crocks and sacks. It is a beautiful room reminiscent of a Shaker building.