Happy Sunshine!
Just wanted to send out a reminder that Midsummer Farm is open again this weekend for our 5th Annual Plant and Seedling Sale - From 9 am to 2 pm both Saturday and Sunday, 5/28 and 5/29.
We still have lots of great plants available; here are some highlights:
 Black Krim Tomato - Dark, juicy and sweet - a large heirloom in a purple-red color with greenish shoulders. Beautiful sliced, great flavor for sauces. Don't forget to get some Roma Plum Tomatoes into the ground as well for making sauces!
 Matt's Wild Cherry Tomato - Although we also have plenty of the larger, more traditional Sweet-100 Cherry Tomatoes, the Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes are just so wonderful and unusual. Small sized fruits, in curly clusters. Very red and very sweet. Intense Tomato flavor. Fabulous in cocktails!
 The 2011 Thyme Collection at Midsummer Farm is a bit extravagant! We went a little crazy with thyme this year. Creeping, Elfin, Upright, all sorts of flower colors.... Thyme is just such an easy and versatile herb to grow. It is deer and groundhog resistant, makes a beautiful ground cover. Easy to grow in most soil types. It likes sun and part-sun situations. Great for filling in spaces in rock gardens and other perennial beds. And most thymes are great to flavor food or make tea with as well.
We have a wonderful French Culinary Thyme, Caraway Thyme, Medicinal Red Creeping Thyme, bright White Creeping Thyme, Carbone Wine and Roses beautiful creeping thyme, adorable Elfin Thyme, Striking Silver King Thyme, Mother of Thyme, and pungent varigated Lemon Thyme. Grown in a grouping, the various shades of foliage combined with the white to lavender to pink to dark magenta flowers are breathtaking. And then to top it all off, thymes draw pollinators into the garden and provide important early spring food for honeybees!
Oregano/Marjoram - We have three fabulously tasty culinary oreganos. Like thyme, oregano makes a great Spring perennial plant and sports abundant flowers for our pollinators and honeybees. We have Italian, Greek, and a variety called "Hot and Spicy." We also have a couple left of the Zorba Red and Syrian Oreganos. And we have some not-so-culinary oreganos as well, such as Dittany of Crete, which is a mediterrean medicinal tea herb in the oregano family that is used as a general tonic and energy booster.
 Kent's Beauty Oregano is not really a good one for eating or drinking, but is absolutely beautiful - see photo at right. Varigated Oregano is also a pretty plant and looks great mixed in a perennial garden, but doesn't have much flavor compared to the Greek and Hot and Spicy varieties. The leaves look very pretty in a tomato salad though! I sprinkled whole leaves with chiffonaded Perpetuo Pesto Varigated Basil over yellow tomato slices and last year as a salad - it was so cool! We also have a Golden Oregano this year with a nice flavor - similar to Italian Oregano - but is a glowing yellow color, and has more of a creeping habit than the other oreganos. There are so many options for implementing it throughout the gardens, even as a bright ground cover.
We also have three different Marjorams - Sweet, Gold-Tip, and the great tea herb, Wild Marjoram. Similar flavor to the Italian Oregano, but with very different undertones.
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Lemon Flavors!
Sorrel - We have two sorrels - traditional "French" and Red-Veined (sometimes called Bloody Dock). Sorrel is one of the very first greens popping out of the garden in early spring. Delicious sweet-lemon flavor. It is a perennial salad green and is also great in soups and sauces.
 Lemon Verbena - Such a wonderful plant - grow it in pots so you can bring it inside in the winter. Wonderful to use in baking, it is a festive and celebratory herb. Here's a fun recipe:
Lemon Verbena Gimlet
1 cup water 1/4 cup sugar 1/4 cup torn verbena leaves 3/4 cup dry gin 3/4 cup club soda, chilled 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes) Lemon verbena sprigs and lime slices (optional) Preparation Combine 1 cup water and sugar in a small saucepan. Rub torn verbena to bruise; add to pan. Bring sugar mixture to a boil, stirring gently as needed to dissolve sugar evenly; cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat; cool completely. Strain mixture through a sieve over a bowl; discard solids.
Combine sugar mixture, gin, soda, and juice. Serve over ice. Garnish with verbena sprigs and lime slices, if desired. Lemon Balm - A great tea herb and a beauty in the garden. I like to chop up the leaves and add to course sugar and sprinkle on top of blueberry muffins. Lemon Thyme - The lemon scent and flavor seems to bring sparkle and accent to the thyme flavors... really a staple in the herb garden. 
Lemon Bergamot (Monarda citriodora) - This is a new one for us this year. These plants were grown from seeds we ordered in the Horizon Herbs Bergamot collection. I can't wait to start using this herb. And as with all bergamots - AKA Beebalms - I'm sure our honey bes will enjoyit as well. Lemon Basil - Great for tea - I just pick off the tops just as they start to get flower buds, and drop one in a cup of hot water - let it seep until it is cool enough to drink. Elegant and rejuvenating summer evening tea. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IMPORTANT NOTE: We had a major crop failure of our Cucumber and Squash Seedlings this spring - our seedlings were attached and eaten by a ravenous groundhog. We have since created a solution to the issue so it can't happen again, but we still won't have Cucumber or Squash seedlings for this weekend. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can download our 2011 Plant and Seedling Listing of the Herbs, Heirloom Variety Vegetables, Cut Flowers, and Perennial Plants on our website: www.midsummerfarm.com. If you haven't been to our farm yet, we're located at 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990. And welcome! Driving directions can be found on our website! |
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 Nature's Best Certified Organic Poultry Feed - our favorite feed! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Some very good news for local people with organic flocks. Our favorite organic feed, Nature's Best, for laying hens and starting and growing chicks is now available through the Warwick Feed and Grain.
You check out the Nature's Best website Here.
Warwick Feed and Grain is not yet stocking Nature's Best feeds - so you do need to order it one week ahead of time. Friday is the ordering day and then you can expect to pick up your feed the following Friday.
The number for the Warwick Feed and Grain is 845-986-6604 if you want to place an order. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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CSA - Last Chance to sign up!
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 We have just a couple shares open still in our CSA program - Here's info.:
What is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program?
In the words of The Robyn Van En Center, CSA brings together community members, farmers and agricultural land in a relationship of mutual support based on an annual commitment to one another - a commitment that ensures the survival of local farms today and for future generations.
In a CSA, community members pay the farmer an annual membership fee to cover farm production costs. In return, those members receive a weekly share of the harvest during the local growing season. The arrangement guarantees the farmer financial support and enables many small-to moderate-scale organic family farms to remain in business.
Ultimately, CSA creates agriculture-supported communities where members receive a wide variety of foods harvested at the peak of ripeness, flavor, and vitamin and mineral content.
The methods of operating a CSA vary considerably. Each CSA is designed specifically for its community and farmer, yet all CSAs strive for a truly sustainable operation, both economically and environmentally. Crops are planted in succession to provide a continuous weekly supply of mixed vegetables chosen for flavor and nutritional value, and to support biodiversity. The farmer frequently grows a large assortment of seasonal vegetables so shareholders can expect a wide variety. This greatly diminishes the risk of crop failure while enhancing soil fertility without the use of synthetic chemicals. Organic growing techniques such as crop rotation, companion planting, green manuring, and composting are often standard practice.
Each week the farmer harvests fresh, ripe crops that are divided equally among shareholders. Usually, people receive their food within 24 hours of picking. A share is generally enough for a family of four or a couple on a vegetarian diet. The price of a share for a season varies widely depending on each farm's costs of operation, total months of distribution, variety of crops available and soil productivity.
Details of how the Midsummer Farm CSA program works:
We are accepting registrations now for the CSA - you can download the form HERE!
Fill out the registration form and send it to us with your check. Then starting in June, we will harvest and pack a bushel basket of produce for you each week. We have two pick up times - Wednesdays at 6:30 pm and Fridays at 10 am.
Traditional Vegetable Share:
16 weeks, $695.00: June 1st - Sept. 14th (Pick up Wednesdays 6:30 pm or Fridays 10 am)
Add-ons:
Summer Egg Share - 16 weeks, $125.00
Add the Herb Share (16 weeks) $55.00
Add the Flower Share (5 weeks, July 14 - Aug. 11) $60.00
Special Share:
"Total Taste of the Farm" Share - Make this a Summer of Vital Health
16 weeks, $1,195.00 (sign up with *Personal Health Coaching Program and take $100 off*) - This is the traditional vegetable share with the rest of the farm's bounty also included! As they are harvested and prepared, you'll receive mushrooms, honeycomb, eggs, flowers, herbs, and smoked and dried peppers, more!
We have an artistic and gourmet vision for our CSA shares. We are a small farm - our cultivated garden area is under 2 acres. We do all of our growing, maintenance, harvesting, and packaging ourselves. This allows us to grow varieties of vegetables and greens that just cannot be grown on a large scale, where produce needs to survive mechanical harvesting and mass storage. You won't ever see most of the stuff we grow in any supermarket and only very rarely at the farmers' markets. Our lettuces are soft and frilly and our tomatoes and squash are tender-skinned and perfectly ripe. Many of our veggies go straight from the field into your basket - never seeing the inside of a fridge.
We also provide plenty of recipes and ideas for using your veggies as sometimes the unusual varieties may be a bit overwhelming if you're not used to them. We are dedicated to making sure that each of our shareholders can make good use of each week's harvest basket. We don't want anyone to feel over-burdened with veggies! And we understand busy schedules - our recipes and tips are designed for cooks with limited time but advanced taste-buds!
As a Holistic Health Coach, I really recommend becoming a member of a CSA - one of the key ways to achieve better health is to eat more vegetables and greens. By joining a CSA, you are automatically receiving a big basket of fresh vegetables every week and you have to use them! For some it may be a healthy challenge - but it is one well worth the effort! And we're here with all sorts of ideas and recipes for helping you make the best use of all the great veggies!
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Here's a list of the types of crops you'll see in your basket during the four months of our CSA program:
In June: You'll see: two different sorrels, lovage, lamb quarters, a huge variety of different frilly, soft heads of lettuce, baby greens mixes, garlic scapes, three different kales, rainbow chards, red and white dandelion greens, our fabulous collection of heirloom chicories, radicchio, frisee endive, escarole, edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, french breakfast radishes, round cherry radishes, watermelon radishes, long white sweet turnips, round tokyo turnips, collards, 4 different types of chives, green onions, scallions (both white and crimson), welsh onions, raspberries, strawberries, various colors of beets, fresh peas, rainbow carrots, nettles, spinach, and more !
In July: You'll see: broccoli, early and savoy cabbages, basils, cilantro, summer squash (zucchini of various colors and flavors, pattypans, trombicino squash, cucumbers of all sorts (we are planning 18 different varieties of cucumbers), peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), blueberries, currants, mulberries, gooseberries, a variety of different frilly, soft heads of lettuce, baby greens mixes, some kale, lots of rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, radicchio heads, frisee endive, escarole, hot-weather edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, collards, continual green onions, scallions - both white and crimson, welsh onions, summer onions, various colors of beets, stringbeans (green, yellow, purple, flat podded), and more !
In August: You'll see: tomatoes (a huge variety of colors of cherry, plum, slicing, and giant tomatoes - we're currently planting seeds for over 40 different varieties), various colors and sizes of eggplants, cauliflower, tomatillos, leeks, broccoli, basils, cilantro, summer squash (zucchini of various colors and flavors, pattypans, trombicino squash, cucumbers of all sorts (we are planning 18 different varieties of cucumbers), peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), some lettuce, some kale, rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, radicchio heads, frisee endive, escarole, hot-weather edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, collards, continual green onions, scallions - both white and crimson, welsh onions, summer onions, and more !
In September: You'll see: fennel, burdock roots, other cool roots, winter squash, turnips, various colors of beets, brussel sprouts, tomatoes (a huge variety of colors of cherry, plum, slicing, and giant tomatoes - we're currently planting seeds for over 40 different varieties), various colors and sizes of eggplants, tomatillos, leeks, broccoli, basils, cilantro, peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), baby spinach and lettuce mixes, kale, rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, frisee endive, escarole, flat and curly parsley, collards, scallions, welsh onions, storage onions, storage cabbage, and more !
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Backyard Organic Poultry Rearing Workshop Sunday, June 12th 2011, 11:30 am - 1:30 pm For anyone who has dreamed of walking out to your own chicken coop and collecting fresh eggs for breakfast, this course will guide you through starting up your own flock and in organic and natural rearing methods. We will discuss all of our secrets to Organic chicken care that we have discovered over the years. Chickens are wonderful stewards of the earth; and kept in proper conditions, chickens are valuable assets to the garden, lawn, and compost pile. They also provide backyard joy. They are easy to take care of, are not noisy or smelly, and are an important part of the Organic garden. We may also have young birds available for sale at the end of the workshop. (Please be sure to check with your town to make sure that chickens are allowed where you live.) Workshop takes place mostly outside (dress appropriately - wear boots) and is weather permitting. Cost is $36 | registration closes 6/9/11 Legumes! Cooking with Beans Workshop Friday, June 17th 2011, 11 am - 1pm Beans are one of those things that can make a huge difference in your health and well-being just by adding them to your weekly eating plan. And we'll go over a bunch of different ways to integrate them into your every day life easily. This workshop will lead to better overall health. Beans have been missing from the typical American diet and people have strange opinions of them, but they are delicious, easy to digest when prepared properly, and nourishing on many, many levels. We'll do a selection of fabulous bean dips, nourishing bean soups, refreshing bean salads (great for packing for work or school lunches), minestrone, and a variety of other recipes, as well as bean spouting. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged - it takes place in the kitchen at Midsummer Farm | Cost is $36 | Registration closes 6/14/11. Crafting Herbal-Infused Salves, Ointments, and Lip Balms Friday, June 24th 2011, 10 am - 12 noon With a focus on organic, fair-trade, medicinal herbs and spices, we'll construct a variety of healing and soothing salves and lip balms. We'll also discuss different types of healing herbs, what they can do for us, and where to get them. You'll never want to be without a jar of Anti-itch salve made with white willow bark and plantain or Dry-skin healing Calendula salve made with self heal and chickweed once you see how fun they are to make and how effectively they work. Workshop takes place in the farm kitchen | Cost is $36 | registration closes 6/22/11 Pestos and Salsas Workshop Friday, July 8th 2011, 11 am - 1 pm Creating Pesto and Salsa Verde is truly an art in the artisanal kitchen. And although we'll do a great traditional Basil pesto, we also have a whole range of absolutely wonderful and creative mixtures using arugula, parsley, cilantro, lovage, chervil, dandelion, unusual heirloom Italian chicories, and more. All the Pestos and Salsa Verdes we will be making will also be fully balanced using nuts and seeds and can be thought of as the main course as well as the appetizers. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged | Cost is $36 | registration closes 7/5/11 Too Many Zucchini! Workshop Saturday, July 9th 2011, 11 am - 1 pm By popular request - I'm doing a workshop on what to do with all your summer squash. I also used to feel overwhelmed and even bored by summer squash, but now I can't wait to get my hands on as many as possible! I have a wide range of truly delicious recipes that I am thrilled to share with you so you too can fully enjoy all those zucchini you're pulling out of your garden this time of year! As with my other cooking workshops, you'll take home a variety of recipes and building outlines for creatively designing your own meals. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged | $36.00 | registration closes 7/6/11 Processing Meat from Your Own Poultry July 16th 2011, 9:30 am to 12 noon Workshop takes place at Two Pond Farm in West Milford, NJ and is taught by Allison and Randy Hosford. This workshop focuses on how to humanely and properly process your own poultry for meat. There are two ways to participate: Hands-On: limited number of spaces available. You will slaughter and butcher 2 humanely and pasture-raised birds from Two Pond Farm with the option to take home your freshly dressed birds at $2.80 per pound! Or you can take it as an Observer-Only. (You can still purchase humanely and pasture-raised meat from Two Pond Farm.) Two Pond Farm is located at 176 Weaver Road, West Milford, NJ 07480. There is a 'Fresh Eggs' sign at the end of the driveway. Please dress appropriately, this is a messy process. Wear something over your hair as the feathers will be flying. Cost is $36 | Registration closes July 12th 2011.
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Workshops at Midsummer Farm: Classes are taught from a strictly Holistic and Organic standpoint. Class size is kept small to ensure individual attention. Fees include all materials and supplies needed. Children are welcome; children under 5 are free. If more than one person from a single household is taking the workshop together, the second person may deduct $5 from the cost of the workshop. Many classes take place outside in the gardens and are weather-permitting. Participants must register in advance. Cooking classes are hands-on and tasting is encouraged. NOTE: times and dates of workshops are subject to change.
You can register for workshops and events by emailing us or by filling out our registration form, which you can download here!
If you haven't been to our farm yet, we're located at 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990. And welcome! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ |
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Midsummer Farm Contact Info:
Barbara and Mark Laino
Midsummer Farm
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
info@midsummerfarm.com
Holistic Health Counseling Contact Info:
Barbara Taylor-Laino
Barbara Taylor Health
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
info@barbarataylorhealth.com
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