Maplewood Organics

1 bunch of baby carrots

1 bunch of baby beets and their greens

1 bunch of kale (or any other greens – Swiss chard, turnip greens, bok choy…)

3 to 4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 spring onion, sliced (or any other small onion or green onion)

1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 -2 tablespoons of your favorite vinegar

¼ cup of feta cheese

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 tablespoons of fresh garden herbs of your choice (or 2 tsps. dry herbs)

Hand full of nuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the carrot and beet tops off and scrub them till nice and shiny. Save your beet greens and put them in a jar of water like a beautiful bouquet, while they wait. (This will get them all perky.) Put your roots in a small baking dish and toss them in one tablespoon of olive oil and bake till you can poke a knife through them, about 45 minutes or so. When they cool, cut them into halves. Some people like to remove the skins of the beets, but I like them and they provide more nutrients.

Wash the greens and chop them up into bite size pieces. Now, heat the remaining olive oil to medium high in a skillet that has a lid. Throw in the garlic and onion and sauté for a minute or two till they become translucent and aromatic. Then add the greens and herbs and sauté with the onions and garlic for a few minutes. Add a tablespoon of vinegar and put the lid on and simmer, stirring here and there for about 8 to 10 minutes, adding a bit more vinegar when needed. When the greens are done, add a bit of salt and pepper, place them in a pretty bowl and artfully put the carrots and beets in the dish. Sprinkle the snow white feta cheese and nuts on the top and serve with pride. This dish is saving America’s farms.

We’re ending the season with lots of choices for you. As the weather gets cooler, the crops slow down in production…so there’s less of certain foods. This just means that you get to make more choices about what goes into your share. Let us know how you like this!

Local Harvest website blog (

Garden Progress

Lots of new crops are under cover. We use floating row cover to protect our early and late season crops from frost, but also to raise the temperature just a bit on cool and warm days to make everything grow a bit faster. Floating row cover can also protect against insect damage when set up at planting time. If taken care of well, the same row cover can be used for years. Every year I buy a few more rolls so I can cover a bit more in the spring and fall. A farmer friend of mine buys very wide rolls so he can cover many rows at once. I’d like to try some next year.

This week, We’re planting a small patch of spinach to see if we can get it started and over-winter it. Other than that, planting is done for the season. We move on to garden clean up and some winter rye cover crop. We plan to plow our big garden this fall and apply compost and manure. We’re going to build up some of the low, wetter areas with topsoil first. Then in the spring, we’re going to hire a rock crusher, then seed the whole field down in oats and clover to smother the weeds. We’ll mow the oats when the clover has a good hold and leave the clover as our paths all season. All of our earliest crops will go in the smaller garden behind the house.

Farm News

Thank you to everyone who has filled out our survey. It very helpful to know what everyone wants. We’re in the process of compiling the data to see what crops are most and least desirable. There are of course different people who want more and less of the same vegetable! For instance, many of you want lettuce for salads every week. Some of you were overwhelmed by the lettuce. We did a better job this year than ever before of planting crops multiple times to be able to offer them week after week. The best examples are peas, beans, yellow squash, and lettuce. We’ll keep at it and keep improving next year. We plan to get closer to having lettuce at least as a choice every week. We’ll plant our broccoli and bok choy in multiple plantings. We’ll also be returning all of our melons to the greenhouse. We had such great success for two years, followed by two years of disappointing results in the field. Back to the greenhouse we go!!!

Potato Parsnip Latkes

8-10 ounces of potatoes

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 medium parsnips (1 lb total), peeled and coarsely grated (1 Maplewood bunch)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Peel potato and coarsely grate into a bowl. Add lemon juice and toss to combine. Place potato on towel, then gather up corners to form a sack and twist tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Stir potato together with parsnips, flour, eggs, chives, salt, and pepper until combined well.

Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking. Fill a 1/4-cup measure three-fourths full with latke mixture and carefully spoon it into skillet, then flatten to 3 inches in diameter with a slotted spatula. Form 3 more latkes in skillet, then cook until golden, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Transfer latkes with spatula to paper towels to drain. Keep warm on a rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven. Make more latkes in same manner, in batches of 4, with remaining mixture.

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BAKED ACORN SQUASH WITH APPLE STUFFING from COOKS.COM

1 med. acorn squash

2 sm. apples, unpeeled, diced

2 tbsp. diced celery

2 tsp. minced onion

2 tsp. butter, melted

2 tbsp. water

Dash of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut squash in half. Remove seeds. Place cut side down on baking sheet sprayed with vegetable pan spray.

Combine apples, celery, and onion. Add butter and water. Put in small baking dish. Cover.

Bake squash and apple stuffing for 45 minutes or until tender. Remove from oven.

Salt squash. Fill with apple mixture.

Serves 2.

Maplewood Organics ~ A Noël Family Farm Since 1972

Conserved in 1995 with the Vermont Land Trust, this 300-acre certified organic farm in Highgate, Vermont, is home to Hannah and Eric Noël’s beef and vegetable CSA operation. Hannah, a graduate of Smith College, is a certified teacher, who has always had her hands in the soil having started her first garden in her sandbox as a little girl. Eric, aka the "organic mechanic", has a passion for both farming and race cars. He grew up on the farm and received his training in automotive repair from Vermont Technical College. After working as a race car mechanic in the IndyCar Series, Eric returned to the farm with plans to diversify and continue his parents’ land stewardship. He was trained in Holistic Management Planned Grazing by his local farm mentor and certified instructor, Abe Collins of Cimarron Farm in St Albans, Vermont. Eric and Hannah were married on the farm and home-birthed both of their children, Madeleine and Calvin.

Roasted Root Vegetables from www.drweil.com

2 pounds root vegetables (use potatoes, carrots, radishes, beets), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 medium onion (2 of your small onions), peeled and cut into 1/3-inch wedges
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
1 head garlic, separated into cloves and peeled
Chopped fresh herbs like rosemary or balsamic vinegar (optional)

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Place the root vegetables and onion in a roasting pan.

2. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil and salt to taste. Do not crowd the vegetables.

3. Roast the mixture for a total of 45-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. After 30 minutes, scatter the garlic cloves in with the vegetables. Continue stirring every 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender and evenly browned.

4. Before serving, add a sprinkling of fresh chopped herbs or balsamic vinegar, if you like for additional flavor.

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OVEN FRIED EGGPLANT from COOKS.COM

1/2 c. seasoned crumbs
1 tsp. salt
1 sm. eggplant (about 1 lb.), pared
1 egg, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch). Mix seasoned crumbs and salt. Cut eggplant into 1/2 - 1 inch slices. Dip slices into egg, then coat with crumbs. Arrange in pan. Bake uncovered 15 minutes. Turn and bake 15 minute longer. (4 servings)

Substitution: For seasoned crumbs: 1/2 cup dry bread crumbs and 1/4 tsp. pepper, or herbs of your choice (garlic and onion powder, parlsey, paprika, basil all go well with eggplant)

This is also great with parmesan and mozzarella cheese melted over the top.