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 Happy Spring!
It has been a lovely mild start to spring in this area! This nice weather seems to inspire gardening thoughts and plans even more than usual!
Our first Asparagus Festival at Midsummer Farm is this Sunday, April 1st from 11 am to 3 pm.
We'll be starting a new asparagus patch and demonstrating how to go about planting this fabulous vegetable!
The coolest thing about asparagus is that it is a perennial vegetable. Once you establish your patch, you'll be able to enjoy asparagus each spring for 20 years or more! It is quite easy to take care of and you can even get fancy and blanch the stems and harvest your own white asparagus.
We'll be planting three different varieties of asparagus on Sunday - Jersey Giant, Purple Passion, and Jersey Knight. These all do great in our area, are relatively resistant to disease, and produce an abundance of delicious, tender asparagus sprouts! I ordered extra asparagus crowns of all three that we will have available for sale as well on Sunday.
So if you are interested in starting an asparagus patch - come on by and join the fun! We'll also have some asparagus snacks, and I have a great packet of my favorite asparagus recipes to give out to everyone! Sorry, but I couldn't find any asparagus musical acts.... Oh well!
The weather forecast is calling for overcast skies and a possibility of rain - but unless it is a monsoon, we'll be out planting asparagus! Plants actually like being planted on overcast damp days.... So for the asparagus crowns, it is a perfect day.
CSA Info: If you have been considering joining our CSA Program, we still do have some shares available!
Please feel free to stop by during the Asparagus Festival if you want to visit the farm or ask any questions. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 RECIPE: Raw Asparagus Pesto
~ 2-3 cloves raw garlic ~about 12 oz of cleaned and trimmed asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
~½ cup grated parmesan
~about 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
~¼ cup pinenuts (lightly toasted)
~1 tsp of chopped fresh oregano
~salt and pepper to taste
Put all ingredients in food processor and purée to a thick rustic consistency. Can be refrigerated up to a week with wax paper pressed on the surface.
Fabulous over pasta or chicken or just spread on a piece of rustic bread! ________________________________________________________________________________
Current April/May Workshop and Plant Sale Schedule
 Asparagus 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 Workshop 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
We'll be at Earth Day Celebration at the Hungry Hollow Co-Op! Saturday, April 21st A festive way to celebrate Earth Day - located at the the Hungry Hollow Co-op in Chestnut Ridge, NY. We'll have an early selection of Plants and Seedlings!
 Annual "Allium and Brassica" Pre-Sale! Saturday, April 28th 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.
Backyard 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
Annual Big Plant and Seedling Sale Opening Weekend at Midsummer Farm! Saturday and Sunday, May 12th and 13th 2012, 9 am - 2 pm We'll have our full variety of certified organic plants and seedlings available. Over 100 different varieties of heirloom and hybrid vegetables, over 200 culinary and medicinal herbs, plus annual flowers, native and pollinator friendly flowers, unusual and collectible perennials! Every year we grow more and more of each variety and we add over a hundred fun new varieties of herbs, veggies, annual flowers, natives, and perennials! All kinds of great things for your summer vegetable and herb gardens! We also have hard-to-find and really cool herbs and perennials for those of you with more eccentric tastes like Medicinal Yarrow, Dragon's Blood Clover, Skullcap, Trollius, Primula Viali, and St. John's Wort...
We'll be at Trade Secrets Plant Sale Saturday, May 19th The Northeast's most talked about annual garden event! Trade Secrets begins on Saturday, May 19th at LionRock Farm in Sharon, CT with the antique and rare plant sale from 10am to 3pm! For the past 12 years, Trade Secrets has brought garden-lovers from around the world to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut to discover new plants, topiary, and antiques for their gardens. 2012 will be no exception with nearly 60 vendors and garden antiques dealers from around the northeast region. Shoppers can find rare plant specimens from specialized growers and from some of the nation's best known small nurseries, as well as furniture, antiques, cloches and garden statuary from the choicest purveyors of garden antiques, wrought-iron fencing, textiles from select antiques dealers, and so much more.
We'll be at the West Milford Community Garden Opening! Sunday May 20th, from 11 am to 3 pm
Annual Big Plant and Seedling Sale Weekend #2 at Midsummer Farm!
Saturday and Sunday, May 12th and 13th 2012, 9 am - 2 pm
We'll have our full variety of certified organic plants and seedlings available. Over 100 different varieties of heirloom and hybrid vegetables, over 200 culinary and medicinal herbs, plus annual flowers, native and pollinator friendly flowers, unusual and collectible perennials!
Every year we grow more and more of each variety and we add over a hundred fun new varieties of herbs, veggies, annual flowers, natives, and perennials! All kinds of great things for your summer vegetable and herb gardens! We also have hard-to-find and really cool herbs and perennials for those of you with more eccentric tastes like Medicinal Yarrow, Dragon's Blood Clover, Skullcap, Trollius, Primula Viali, and St. John's Wort...
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Please check out our website for more info! Or email us!
info@midsummerfarm.com
Very best and thanks,
Barbara and Mark
Midsummer Farm
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Disclaimer
© Copyright 2012 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.
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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
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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