What's Happening on the Farm

In spite of the heat, a great deal of work got done around the farm last week. We are now waging war with the weeds and the bugs, and while sometimes it feels as if the weeds and bugs are winning, we don't plan to give up anytime soon. Tiny, innocuous weeds suddenly exploded after July 4th into Godzilla-like proportions threatening to take over the garden, and the bugs want to eat everything else. We're working to stay ahead of the weeds, and treating the bugs with a combination of two organic sprays: Spinosad and BTK. Both are bacteria specific to the pests that are eating our plants and are organically approved. We have also set up a bunch of Japanese beetle traps baited with flower essence and pheremones, and they work really well. 

We extracted honey from 10 frames from our hive on Friday and got about 35 pounds. It needs to sit for a few days to get all the bubbles out before it can be bottled. Many thanks to Jim and Julie Jillet for loaning us their extractor equipment this summer. We've got another super on a very active hive that's about half-full that we'll be able to harvest a little later on. A very good year for the bees at Mehaffey Farm!

The other big news is we now have full 200 amp electrical service in the barn! Our neighbor, electrician Peter Woodberry did a great job coordinating with the Town of Rowley to get us up and running quickly. What this means in the short term that we can operate our small cooler at the same time as the freezer next to it! The long term benefit is we can now construct the walk-in "cooler room" that's going to be in the back of the barn. This will make it possible to harvest and store vegetables and flowers and keep them at a temperature that will keep them fresh for you!

Our next phase is to plant more crops for the late season share. Please let us know if you plan to purchase a late season share, so that we know how much we need to plan for. We have a short list so far of folks who have already signed up. The late season share runs from the first week in October until the week before Christmas and includes lots of wonderful things like carrots, beets, turnips and rutabaga, winter squash, potatoes, storage onions and a weekly selection of canned jams, relishes, salsas and pickles, and frozen goods we prepare with fresh veggies all summer. This year we plan to freeze lots of tomatoes and sauces, pesto and other items that will be part of the share. There will also be winter hearty lettuces, spinach, leeks and other items from the greenhouse. It's a real bargain for $400. If you decide to participate, please let us know right away, and give your a deposit within the next week or so. We will be happy to take payment in installments for the rest.

This recipe works for pretty much any vegetable, like cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, squash or onions. You can even throw in a few cloves of garlic, and sometimes we add a few whole cherry tomatoes. (Coming soon at your favorite farm...) We roast our veggies all the time. It's simple, quick and delicious. The roasting brings out the veggie's natural sweetness and flavor, and keeps in more of the nutrients. We often roast a whole pan of mixed veggies, add a favorite herb like thyme, rosemary or basil, salt and pepper.

1. Cut the broccoli into florets.

2. In a large bowl, toss with olive oil.

3. Season with salt, pepper and minced fresh herbs. 

4. Heat oven to as high a temp. as you dare. Richie, having worked in restaurants, does his roasting at 500 degrees. I'm afraid of forgetting to check and will burn things at that temperature, so I do it at 450. Either way, stay close by and check often. Turn veggies about halfway through the cooking. Broccoli takes about 20 minutes. Root veggies take longer, 30 to 40 minutes, so check and turn after about 10 minutes. Sometimes, during the last half of cooking, we drizzle on some balsamic vinegar, which is very good also.

Enjoy!