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Seed Starting
Winter / Spring 2012 Workshop Schedule
CSA Program Update

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Greetings all! cabbages

I truly believe that one of the very best ways to live a healthier and happier life is to garden. It combines spending time outdoors with great  exercise. And then you get to harvest a variety of nutrient dense, artisanal fresh food that nourishes your soul as well as your body. Your garden should be inspired by your kitchen, and your harvest from the garden will inspire great home-made meals.

I've been gardening all my life. � I truly couldn't imagine living without food growing around me. The process of planting the garden, caring for it, harvesting, and planning for the upcoming season is totally integrated into my life. Growing food does have its tough and frustrating moments, but as one season comes to a close, I always seem to find myself excitedly planning for the next...

I spent the last month or so pouring through seed catalogs - � a great way to get through the winter! Many seed catalogs are great reference sources, providing inspiration and growing tips for various crops. Johnny's Seeds is one of my favorites as is Bountiful Gardens and Baker Creek.

RadicchioThere seems to be a never ending supply of new things to try.... We are harvesting wonderful puntarelle and radicchio right now, this is the first year we tried growing them into the winter and we are so excited! As you harvest new types and varieties of vegetables and greens and herbs, you find yourself being more and more creative and experimental in the kitchen and life just feels more colorful and vibrant!

One of our missions for our farm is to inspire people to start gardens or expand the space or timing of their gardens. Many people see gardening as a finite scheduled series of events rather than as a lifestyle. And people tend to have limited views of how much they can fit into the designated garden space in their yard. But with some creativity, you can grow throughout the year and you can grow a tremendous amount of food in a small plot, especially if you grow organically and focus on the art of soil building. You can grow a wonderful summer kitchen dooryard garden in pots and containers right on your back deck or patio. Easily enough to make every summer meal stand out!
Radicchios in winter greenhouse
I wanted to write a bit on Seed Starting, a very timely topic! I am presently starting quite a few varieties of seeds right now.

It is a bit too early for hot-weather vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and for quick growing vegetables like lettuce, but there are many things you can start now or in the next week or so and get a jump on the growing season.

Soil
It is important to use high quality soil mix for starting seedlings so early. They will be spending a lot of time in those pots in the house under lights and so mold and fungus will be your main challenges.

A note on "Organic" Soils: If the soil says it is OMRI certified it is organic. Many soils will say something like 'good for organic gardens' or 'approved for organic gardens' but these terms mean nothing in a legal sense. There is no regulation of the word 'organic' when applied to soil and gardening amendments like fertilizers, etc. The OMRI certification will let you know that you're using a truly organic soil according to NOP standards. Of course that is not to say that there aren't other small producers of soil that are truly organic and wonderful that just aren't OMRI rated, but in that case you have to research the company and its ethics and standards.

Don't use left over soil from last year for these early seedlings; especially with organic mixes, fungus could have built up over the course of the year depending on how it was stored. I was having some trouble finding organic seed-starting mix, and I needed to start some flower and herbs very very early, so I ended up taking some of last year's soil from McEnroe Organic Farm, and I baked it in the oven to sterilize it... it smelled good baking actually.

I've used ProMix Organic, Sunshine Organic, Vermont Compost, and McEnroe Organic all with good results.
 
Damping Off
Once the seedlings have emerged, I spray them with German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) tea. I just pour boiling water over a handful of dried chamomile blossoms, let them steep for an hour or so, strain, and pour into a spritzer bottle. I keep the spritzer bottle next to the seedlings and spray them periodically with it. It lasts about a week or two. I have found this to almost completely stop damping off or other fungal infections seedlings can be prone to.

Watering / Air Movement
I like to water the seedlings with a spritzer bottle as well. You don't want to have it on full hard stream; you want it to spray gently, not enough to crush the seedlings into the soil. Although many people will say to water seedlings from below, I find that the spritzing keeps the soil from getting too soggy and the spritzing itself helps the seedlings grow stronger stems. That is one big issue with starting seedlings in the protected environment of the house - � they can get spindly and weak stemmed due to not enough air movement. There is no wind or breezes in your house. You find that the seedlings will be able to withstand harder and harder spritzing as they get stronger. I call it "tough love" when I spray them! I usually alternate spritzing them with the Chamomile tea and the plain water. You can also set up a small fan in the room with the plants to keep the air moving through the seedlings. I don't though - the spritzing seems to be enough.

Lighting
Also, to prevent spindliness, I keep the lights only about 1-3 inches from the tops of the plants. I use regular 'shop' fluorescent lights on chains and hooked up using S hooks, so you can lift and lower them as needed.

Here's some info on some of the vegetables and herbs I'm starting now.

onions 2 Alliums
I am starting all my alliums now. Alliums are plants of the onion family.  So, I am starting leeks, various heirloom onions, welsh onions, scallions (both red and white), and chives now.

The onions, scallions, and leeks are started in 3-4" pots. I sprinkle about 12 or so seeds into each pot and cover with about 1/2" of soil. They start coming up within a week at a regular household temperature of 65/72 degrees. Once they come up and unfold, you can move them into a greenhouse at a cooler temperature (above freezing though) or keep them under lights in your house if you have room. They can be grown out right in those pots until mid to late April, when you can remove them from the pot, separate the onion 'starts' or plants and plant them in your garden.

Nothing bothers onions. They are great companion plants and they don't compete with or crowd out the vegetables, so I usually plant them sprinkled throughout the other vegetables. They take up virtually no garden room, and yet are an intrinsic ingredient in cooking. Very easy to grow. There are so many varieties to choose from; � this year I decided to grow four different Italian heirlooms along with my usual welsh onions and leeks. The great thing about onions is that you can eat them at any time. They just get bigger as the season progresses. So I plant them pretty close together in the garden, and thin them as I harvest them eventually making space for the full size onions and leeks at the end of the season. If you leave a couple in the ground over winter and let them blossom in the spring, they are gorgeous flowers. And they will then seed themselves. Then you can just carefully dig up the seedlings and spread them out and plant just like you did with the original seeds in the pots. Onion magic!

The chives are a bit different. � I also start them by sprinkling about 10-12 seeds in a 3-4" pot, but instead of spreading them out when I plant them into the garden, I plant the clump all together straight from the pot. Chives like to grow in clumps. And they are perennial. They will come up every year, and the clump will get fuller. When you harvest chives you cut the tops off, leaving the bulbs in the ground. The more you cut chives, the happier the plants will be. Traditional chives have round hollow leaves and get purple pom pom flowers. You can also grow Garlic Chives, which have larger white flowers and a flat leaf. There are great super-wide-leafed Asian chives as well, like Ping Giant, which have wonderful sweet chive flavor. Both types of flowers are edible and tasty in salads or for making flavored vinegars. Chives, tarragon, sorrel, and salad burnet are all perennials and all start coming up at the same time each spring, and so I like to plant them together in a bed close to the kitchen.

young celery plant Early Start Herbs
Parsley & Celery (and Celeriac)
Parsley and celery take a long time to germinate. I usually stagger starting the seeds in two or three groups. I plant 1-2 parsley seeds in each cell of a sheet or tray of cells. Keep the lights as close as possible to the tops of the plants. Once the seedlings come up and get relatively bushy, I transplant them to 3-4" pots. If you wait too long and the parsley leaves get too big, they will be extremely difficult to separate from one another - � the leaves cling to each other. You can give the whole cell tray a hair cut if you find you waited too long, just trim the longest leaves off the tops of the plants - it won't hurt the seedlings, they will grow back new leaves very quickly. Parsley and Celery can be planted out in the garden around the end of April.

It is still a bit too early to start dill, chervil, cilantro seeds. � I start these in pots a couple weeks before I plant them out in the garden. And these can also be direct sown into the garden once the soil warms up around mid to late May.

Sorrel
A wonderful lemon-flavored perennial salad green and herb.

Salad Burnet
A beautiful, mild-cucumber flavored herb. I love mixing it in bean salads with cilantro and throwing a couple sprigs in ice water makes a wonderful refreshing flavored water.

Kale Seedlings 1
Brassicas

I will be starting these probably next week. Brassicas are the Cruciferous vegetables like Cabbage, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Kales, Collard Greens. I start the seeds in cell sheets/trays. � I use relatively small celled trays for these, and I transplant pretty quickly into 3-4" pots as they do grow quite fast and don't like to feel crowded in. Keep these nice and cool - if they get too hot, they won't perform well in the garden. I also give these seedlings some fertilizer quite early in their development - usually once they get a nice second set of leaves. I use Neptune's Harvest Liquid Seaweed on them. Keep the lights within 2-3 inches from the tops of the plants.

For Asian cabbages like Pak Choi (Bok Choy), Tat Soi, etc. be super careful not let them get over grown in the cells or too hot or dry as � they will bolt! And be very gentle while transplanting them, they don't do well if their roots are disturbed or damaged.

Don't plant your mustard, endive, escarole, chicory quite yet! It is a bit too early still. I plant these fast growing greens with lettuces, cress, etc. starting the second week of March.

CSA basket contentsIf you're interested in more garden-starting and spring planning tips - sign up for one of our two Plotting Your Organic Garden Workshops  -

We're doing one on Feb. 25th and another on March 24th. More info/details can be found below and on our website!


Next best thing to a garden of your own or a great additional source of plant foods is through joining a CSA. As a CSA member of a farm, you truly are an intrinsic part of that farm's back bone and infrastructure both through your financial support, your presence, and you can also physically add your help to the harvest .... We are still accepting members into our CSA program - please checkout the details here: Midsummer Farm CSA Program 2012!

Thanks very much as always
~Barbara and Mark


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Our Winter / Spring 2012 Workshop and Events Calendar - with updates!

This schedule covers our events and workshops from late February through April 2012 at Midsummer Farm

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You can register for a workshop by simply clicking here:

Registration Form

Please download and print out the form, fill it out, and send it, with your check to:
Midsummer Farm, 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990

We also offer gift certificates for our workshops!
Email us for more info: [email protected]
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Current Workshop Schedule:
  
Plotting out the gardenPlotting Out Your Home Organic Garden
Saturday, February 25th, 2012, 1 - 3 pm
With a strong emphasis on Bio-Intensive Methods. This is an interactive workshop - bring you garden plans and seed catalogs. We'll create a garden plan for you to grow your favorite veggies in less space for a longer season! We'll discuss seed starting, creating a new garden bed, companion planting, boosting the efficiency of an old garden and so much more...Cost is $36 | registration closes 2/21/12.





kaleCooking with Dark Leafy Greens Workshop
Saturday, March 3rd 2012, 10 am - 12 noon
Dark Leafy Greens - The #1 Missing Ingredient in Today's Diets! We will demonstrate a wide range of ways to use dark leafy greens of all types. You will leave feeling empowered to live more healthily with a solid collection of great recipes. Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged. In the farm kitchen. Cost is $36 | Registration closes 2/29/12
 
Maran Rooster and HensBackyard Organic Poultry Rearing Workshop
Saturday, March 3rd 2012, 1 pm - 3 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. This is the optimal time of year to plan for chickens for the Spring. (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 2/29/12
Jamaican Meat Patties!
Pocket Pastries!
Saturday, March 10th 2012, 10 - 12 noon
We'll be making dough and fillings for a variety of what I generally call "Pocket Pastry". We'll make Jamaican Beef Patties with bright yellow tumeric dough, several different Empanadas from various nationalities, and a Spinach/Paprika Calzone. Workshop takes place in the farm kitchen | Cost is $36 | registration closes 3/7/12


Sham in NY TimesMaking Homemade Dog & Cat Food Workshop
Sunday, March 11th 2012, 10 - 12 noon
Featured in the NY Times! Check out the article here!
Healthier, Economical, Delicious. Either as a supplementary meal or as your pets' regular diet, homemade food is better, safer, and easy to make. We will mix up a batch of balanced food using raw chicken as a base. We'll go over tons of options in food bases - raw vs cooked, various nutritional additions, dogs vs cats, special needs pets, and discuss the wide range of commercial diets and brands. You'll take home recipes, a clearer knowledge of the commercial pet food available, and resources for suppliers. We'll also make up a wonderful whole foods supplement that you can add to a commercial diet using higher quality ingredients and for a lot less money than the fancy brand names. Even if you're not ready to switch over completely to a homemade diet, you'll get a lot from this workshop. Workshop takes place in the farm kitchen | Cost is $36 | Registration closes 3/8/12

Ladybugs off they go!
Gardening For Good Bugs Workshop
Sunday, March 11th, 2012, 1 pm - 3 pm
This is one of our passions! We love bugs. The focus of this workshop is to garden for your good bugs, provide them what they need (and maybe a little extra), and regain balance in your garden to prevent the bad bugs from damaging your harvest. We will get into native pollinators, honey bees, butterflies, predatory bugs and mites, etc. Cost is $36 | registration closes 3/8/12


Crafting Herbal-Infused Salves, Ointments, and Lip Balms
Sunday, March 18th 2012, 11 am - 1 pm
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 2/16/12

beans assortedLegumes! Cooking with Beans Workshop

Saturday, March 24th 2012, 10 - 12 noon
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), and a variety of other recipes. Workshop takes place in the farm kitchen | Cost is $36 | Registration closes 3/21/12

Plotting Out Your Home Organic Garden

Saturday, March 24th, 2012, 1 pm - 3 pm
With a strong emphasis on Bio-Intensive Methods. This is an interactive workshop - bring you garden plans and seed catalogs. We'll create a garden plan for you to grow your favorite veggies in less space for a longer season! We'll discuss starting a new garden bed, boosting the efficiency of an old garden and so much more...Cost is $36 | registration closes 3/21/12.

Great Ways to Use Great Eggs! Cooking Eggs Workshop
eggs
Sunday, March 25th 2012 10 am - 12 noon
Includes breakfast in the sunny greenhouse!
Everything from simple tips like how to tell the freshness of an egg, or how to clarify a broth, to building our favorite egg recipes like Luscious Acadian Style Scrambled Eggs, Smoked Salmon Fettucine, a variety of Frittatas and Omelets using seasonal ingredients, Shirred Eggs with Spring greens, and more! Cost is $36 | Registration closes 3/22/12

ameraucana chicksBackyard Organic Poultry Rearing Workshop
Sunday, March 25th 2012, 1 pm - 3 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. This is the optimal time of year to plan for chickens for the Spring. (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 3/22/12

asparagus patchAsparagus Festival
Sunday, April 1st 2012, 11 am - 2 pm
We'll be planting a new asparagus patch and we're inviting anyone who wants to stop by to come and check out how to do it - It really is simple and an asparagus patch is so worth setting up! Asparagus are one of very very few perennial vegetables and once your patch gets established, you'll have asparagus for years and years to come with very low maintenance!
We'll also have 3 different varieties of asparagus crowns available for sale, and everyone gets a great packet of our favorite asparagus recipes!






Backyard Organic Poultry Rearing WorkshopMing La Rooster
Saturday, April 7th 2012, 10 am - 12 noon
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. This is the optimal time of year to plan for chickens for the Spring. (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 4/5/12

Leek Seed HeadsAnnual "Allium and Brassica" Pre-Sale!
Saturday, April 21st 2012, 9 am - 2 pm
      We designed this Pre-Sale for our gardener and farmer friends, who want to plant in stages. So, we'll have a nice variety of cold-hardy plants and seedlings for sale that are ready to go in the ground! (Or you can hold them for a bit too.) We'll also have some hardy perennials for sale and some awesome orange-colored bearded iris rhizomes.
     The Brassicas are all the dark leafy greens: kales, collards, cabbages, pak koi, broccoli, raabs, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, mustards, etc.
     The Alliums are all the onion-flavored plants - leeks, chives, scallions, welsh onions, walking onions, bulbing onions, etc.
     We'll also have spinaches, chards, escaroles, endives, radicchios, chicories, parsleys, lettuces, many thymes, a couple oreganos, a couple sages, cilantro, flowers like violas and violets, celeries, cresses, dill, lovage, mints, many of our hard to find European greens like erba stella and agretti, and lots of perennials and native plants.

Herbal Cocktail Party!
Saturday Evening, April 28th, 5 - 7 pm
A great way to celebrate the Spring Garden! We'll be creating fresh herb-garden inspired tapas and canapes along with great mixed drinks you can make with fresh herbs and other spring garden accompaniments....Lots of festive ideas for your spring herb harvest! Workshop is hands on and tasting is encouraged. Workshop takes place in the herb garden | Cost is $36 | Registration closes 4/25/12.

Maran Rooster and HensBackyard Organic Poultry Rearing Workshop
Sunday, April 29th 2012, 10 am - 12 noon
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. This is the optimal time of year to bring home chicks! (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 4/26/12

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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.
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You can register for a workshop by simply clicking here:

 Registration Form

Please download and print out the form, fill it out, and send it, with your check to:
Midsummer Farm, 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990

We also offer gift certificates for our workshops!
Email us for more info: [email protected]

If you haven't been to our farm yet, we're located at 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990. And welcome!   

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   CSA BasketsOur CSA Program 2012!

We're currently accepting registrations for our 2012 CSA season!

2012 Details are now posted to our website:




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Disclaimer

� Copyright 2011 Barbara Taylor-Laino, HHC / Barbara Taylor Health. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Barbara Taylor Laino is required.

 

This information newsletter is designed as an educational tool for better health. Recipes and information are included as examples for you learn from; they are not diagnostic or prescriptive. Everyone's health needs are different. This newsletter is not to be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your own health should be addressed to your own physician or other healthcare provider. The entire contents of this newsletter and the websites of Barbara Taylor Laino and Midsummer Farm are based upon the opinions of Barbara Taylor Laino, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author(s), who retains copyright as marked. The information on the www.midsummerfarm.com website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Barbara Taylor Laino. You are encouraged to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.


Questions?  Please do not hesitate to contact us!

Midsummer Farm Contact Info:

Barbara and Mark Laino
Midsummer Farm
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
[email protected]

Holistic Health Counseling Contact Info:
Barbara Taylor-Laino
Barbara Taylor Health
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
[email protected]

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