The Depot Farm

  A great bean soup for a very cold day!

3/4 cup dry beans

1 can chopped tomatoes

3/4 cup diced onions

1/2 cup uncooked rice

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped carrots

4 cups vegetable stock/broth

                                                                                        

• Rinse beans, cover with water in a pot, bring to a boil 2 minutes, remove from heat, cover and set aside for 1 hr
• In a larger pot, cook onions in a little oil till translucent (about 3 -5 min)
• Add 4 cups broth
• Drain beans, rinse, add to onions and broth, bring to boil, then simmer covered on low about 2 hrs till beans are tender
• Add can of tomatoes (including the liquid) and 1/2 cup rice to mixture, cover and simmer another 30 min.
• Now add chopped veggies and cook covered an additional 30-45 min or until veggies are tender

• Season to taste with a little oregano, basil, parsley, and salt and pepper

Serve with warm crusty bread.

                         

  With another cold blast this winter, my outside work comes to a halt. The past week with temps in the 30's got me out to start trimming and pruning the trees and bushes. Some needed maintainance work got completed in the barn while I mentally keep a list of the tools in need of replacement. Duct tape and wire only works so long. 

  I've ordered most of my seeds for this season; adding a few new varieties to "test" in the garden. Most seeds are old favorites, chosen over time for taste, vigor and production in my soil. The seeds I saved from last season have all been cleaned and processed; stored away till it's time to replant again.

With the temperature hovering in the single digits for today, I think its  time to make a pot of soup, sit by the wood stove, thumb through another catalog and dream of spring. Life in the fast lane!

                              

  After the long holidays of eating rich foods and deserts I don't normally indulge in;  I like to go back to eating healthy, natural foods. One of my favorites is a simple salad with fruit dressing. Mix lettuce with chopped veggies and add pineapple chunks, orange slices or any "soft" fruit. For the dressing, blend or puree 2 tablespoons of orange or cherry juice with 1 ripe banana till smooth. Pour over salad mix. This method works well with almost any fruit! Use blueberries or cranberries for a more tart dressing; raspberries or pear slices for sweeter version. With no added sugar or oil needed, this dressing light on fat and empty calories. A great little "pick me up" meal in winter!

   As growers and sellers, we all encourage and support the "buy local" initiative. It's good for us and the local economy. People purchase local foods fresh, meet the actual people producing them and can even see the production first hand with a visit to the farm. Friendships and relationships occur over time when you deal with the same people week after week. Something you don't get at the supermarket. Learning the origin of most produce is difficult, workers seldom know or care where something was produced or grown or when it was picked. Buyer beware!

  We (the sellers) also are consumers of products and we should know and care where they are produced. Supporting other local retailers over corporate box stores should be paramount to our own self interests. Locally sourced products can and usually cost more (not unlike our own products) because volume is lower, wholesale price higher, and overhead costs higher. Before we go to a mega store for lumber, or hardware or feed, consider getting it at a locally owned and managed store. Paying a few dollars more for something is not really gonna break the bank. After all, we expect to charge a "premium" for our goods and services to cover our costs, Shouldn't they?  Merry Christmas!

 

Today's recipe is sesame chicken. You will need about 1 lb boneless chicken breasts cut into 2-3 in. strips, 2 tbs soy sauce, 2 tbs flour and about 3/4 cup of sesame seeds. 

• pour soy sauce into 9x13 baking dish
• mix flour, sesame seeds and pepper to taste in a separate dish
• dredge chicken strips in soy sauce and then roll into sesame mixture to coat
• bake in same dish at 400 degrees for about 20 -25 min. until chicken is fully cooked and golden brown
• serve over rice with steamed peas and cooked carrot slivers

  In addition to canning, freezing and drying; we like to "store" some veggies right in the garden. We usually plant leeks, turnips, carrots, daikon radishes and cabbages in a patch together (closely spaced) in late summer for winter harvest. After cold weather sets in we cover the area with loose straw (about a foot deep) to prevent the ground from freezing. We're then able to pull the straw and snow back and dig some fresh veggies all winter long. The root crops last until spring while the cabbages and leeks carry well into February. Mice and insect damage is very minimal and the crops seldom freeze.   There's nothing like "fresh dug" carrots when it is 20 degrees and snowing out.

  This method also works well with spinach, chard and kale but the time frame for picking is shorter. Or you can just leave the straw on all winter and get an early crop in spring before the ground is even workable!

Here's a salad that tastes good cold or warm; or serve it as a side dish. Enjoy! 

• 4 cups baby kale chopped
• 1 cup cooked artichokes
• Italian salad dressing
• 3-4 leaves fresh basil chopped fine
  
• 1/2 cup roasted red peppers cut into pieces

1) Steam kale until tender

2) Combine kale, artichokes and basil in a sauce pan: add enough Italian dressing to keep from sticking; and place over medium heat (about 5 min.) or until artichokes are warmed through. Stir occasionally.

3) Place onto serving dish and sprinkle with red peppers and serve.

  With rain forecast for tomorrow and they are calling for snow over the weekend, I need to finish putting the asparagus patch to bed today. I first cut the asparagus ferns off at the ground; cover with about 6" leaves; add a layer of straw and top off with a sprinkling of manure and wood ash. The old ferns will go into the compost.

  In spring I'll pull the covering back to the paths to make harvesting easier. After I finish picking the crop for the year, I weed the beds thoroughly and rake the mulch back in to help control the weeds.

  I plant only Mary Washington asparagus; it's an old variety, dependable and hardy. I tried growing  the "modern" varieties: the all male, better yield hype catalogs tell you about. After 3 years growing, the spears produced were all thin (like in the supermarket), inferior tasting and no noticeable increase in yields compared with Mary Washington roots planted the same time. I removed them and planted my trusted variety. Lesson learned.

Easy to make oatmeal bars for lunches and snacks!  Takes about 15 minutes.

2 cups old fashioned oatmeal  (not instant)

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup brown sugar (optional- if you like sweeter granola bars)

Roast oatmeal and nuts in oven at 350 degrees about 10 minutes or till golden brown. Mix remaining ingredients; add roasted oatmeal and nuts and stir until well coated and blended. Pour into square baking dish (coated with non-stick spray); cover with wax paper and press mixture down firmly with your hand. Remove paper, refrigerate 2-3 hours

Take out, cut into bars and store in covered container in fridge with wax paper between layers to prevent sticking.

You can add cranberries, dates, dried cherries etc. to this mix; whatever you like. The bars stay together and hold their shape well.               Enjoy!

We received our first snowfall last night. Not much, only a couple of inches. Just enough to cover the ground over. I bundled up in my hat and gloves, took my morning coffee and went out to sit on the deck. Something about the first snowfall; everything clean and white, makes me feel that this is how everything was meant to be. The sun just rising, causing the snow to sparkle in the trees. No wind, No sounds. Peaceful. Calm. Right. 

  Slowly things come alive, the hustle and bustle of people with places to go, people to see, but I will keep that feeling with me. It gives me a sense of Being. Of life and purpose.....

       Here's an great recipe using turnips and other fall crops. Enjoy!

2 turnips peeled, halved and sliced thin                                                        

2-3 red apples cored, unpeeled and cut into 3/4" cubes

1 med. celeriac peeled & grated

1/2 carrot  grated

1/2c chopped raisins

1/4c walnuts chopped

1/2c orange juice

1/2 c mayonnaise

 Place 1/4c orange juice in a bowl; add celeriac, turnips, carrots and apples; let mix marinate 10-15 min. Stir occasionally. Wisk mayonnaise with remaining orange juice until smooth. Pour over the marinated mixture. Add raisins and walnuts and mix well. Chill before serving.

We grow multiple plantings of all your favorite foods. Mixed leaf lettuce, 2 kinds of head lettuce, spinach, Asian greens, kale and swiss chard. Root crops include beets, carrots, leeks, onions, celeriac, radish, daikon radish and turnips. With beans, snap peas, cucumbers, broccoli, califlower, kolarabi, cabbages, peppers, corn, heirloom tomatoes and zucchini, your choices abound.   Add winter squashes like acorn, butternut, red kiri, sweet dumplin and delicata; along with fall pumpkins and gourds, you'll have a great variety from spring until fall. Have a suggestion of a crop you'd like us to grow? Send it to us.

  Hi All, Thanks again for a great season! While it is still fall and things are still growing (lettuce, spinach, Asian greens, turnips), we begin to look ahead to the next season and planning.

   We are currently looking into forming a organic, limited membership CSA in the Alden-Corfu area. A group of 20-25 full shares to start. Pickup days would be Saturdays at the Alden Farmers Market and Tuesdays here at the farm. Pricing has not been determined yet, but should be in the $25-$30 range with half shares around $15-$20. Payments would be made in advance monthly rather than seasonally; starting in May. This gives you the option to quit the group after a month if it does not fit you needs. You wouldn't be locked into a full season.

  If there is enough interest in this plan, we will have informational meetings later this winter (Jan-Feb) with full details on the operation of the CSA. Your thoughts, ideas, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you have an interest joining something like this, respond by posting comments here or contacting me directly.