HARVEST

Wine Auction and Celebration of Long Island's East End

Saturday, September 25

Wölffer Estate Vineyard

4 - 7 PM

Join 28 wineries and 14 restaurants in celebrating the wine-and-food bounty of Long Island's East End. Taste an exciting array of award-winning wines and local, seasonal dishes from some of the region's finest chefs. And don't forget the silent auction! (Come early - the silent auction closes by sections, starting at 6 p.m.) Tickets for the Festival Tasting are just $125. Visit the Harvest website for more information and ticket purchase info.

VOLUNTEER THANKS

Thank you everyone who pitched in and helped the farmers make this season the best one yet!

Jerome Albertini, Karen Bellmare, Kevin Coffey, Ed, Steve Eaton, Judy Freeman, Emma Hoyt, Ursula Lee, Renee, Brandon & Aiya, Jonathan Rose, Nick Stephens, John Wagner

Jane Weissman

and to those others who helped but whose names we can't, with apologies, recall.

Thanks, too, to Frank Lee and Sydney Albertini for all the delicious treats.

WINTER FARM SHARES

Sign up now for QHF winter shares. From late November (in time for Thanksgiving!) through the end of February (and probably into March), members pick up a great array of storage crops (potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, celeriac, squash) and fresh greens grown in the greenhouses (mesclun, Swiss chard, arugula, tatsoi, mizuna, mustard).  Pick-ups are every other Friday/Saturday at the farm shop.

 Info: contact Robin at 631.283.3195 or

AT THE FARM SHOP

QHF Eggs

Bee's Needs Honey

From Ronnybrook Farm....

Milk, Butter, Ice Cream, Yogurt Drinks

From Taste of the North Fork...

Garlic Scape Pesto, Pickled Beets,

Pickled Cucumbers 

QUAIL HILL FARM

COOKBOOK

The second edition (2009) of this indispensable cookbook and farm guide, edited by Hilary Leff and Linda Lacchia, features over 30 new recipes, many from annual Pot Luck, At the Common Table, and Harvest Dinner events.  It also includes revised sections on harvesting and storing vegetables and a new introduction by Scott.  Available at the Farm Shop.

YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS

ARE WELCOME

Producing over 500 varieties of organically grown vegetables, flowers, fruits, and herbs, QUAIL HILL COMMUNITY FARM is located on 220 acres of land donated by Deborah Ann Light to Peconic Land Trust.  For membership information, call Robin Harris at Peconic Land Trust at 631.283.3195 or email her.

A Community Supported Agricultural (CSA) project, Quail Hill Farm helps to ensure the survival of agriculture on Long Island's East End by bringing together community members, farmers, and agricultural land in a relationship of mutual support. Quail Hill Farm is a stewardship project of Peconic Land Trust.

IN THE FIELDS / AT THE STAND

Late Summer & Early Fall Crops

Vegetables: Arugula, Broccoli Raab, Carrots, Celery, Edamame, Eggplant, Garlic, Husk Cherries, Lettuce , Hot & Sweet Peppers, Okra, Potatoes, Radishes, Raspberries, Spaghetti Squash, String Beans (yellow, green, & purple), Tatsoi, and Tomatoes, 

Herbs: Basil, Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Bronze Fennel, Anise Hyssop, Lemon Balm, Lovage, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Spearmint, Summer Savory, Tarragon, Thyme. 

Flowers: Argeratum, Cosmos, Mexican Sunflowers, Zinnias and lots more.

COMING SOON!

Bok Choy, Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Sweet Potatoes, Winter Squash

 Thank you!

SCOTT, JOE, JOSH, LIZ, ERIKA, & JAMES

for a most wonderful harvest season,

your good cheer, & all your hard work

RECIPES

Click here for recipes for Edamame, Eggplant, Lettuce, Raspberries, Swiss Chard, Tomatoes, and Wheat Berries.

Thank you Syndey Albertini, Barbara DiLorenzo, Steve Eaton, Pyser Edelsack, Richard Kelsey, Linda Lacchia, Stuart Selip, and Jane Weissman for your contributions.

Quail Hill Farm E-News is now collecting recipes for Thanksgiving.

They will be sent out in early November.

Send recipes contributions QuailHillNews@aol.com. Thank you!

WEATHER REPORT

A Conversation with Scott

Looking back over the season, Scott confirmed what many of us have been saying all summer: "2010 has been the best growing season in the farm's 21 year history."  Simply stated, plants love sun and heat and this year there was plenty of both.  "As long as there is sufficient irrigation - thanks to Mother Nature or farmers hauling hoses - there is the chance of a great season," Scott explains.  "If there is no water, the results are usually disastrous.  (Of course, the fencing that now surrounds Birch Hill ensured that all the produce ended up in our, rather than deer, bellies.)

The rains ushered in by Hurricane Earl measured a healthy 2 inches on the farm's water gauge.  Coming when the ground was totally parched, this downpouring of water represented the only significant precipitation since late May (rain at the end of July measured less than an inch).  Alas, the benefit was short lived.  With the ground again very dry, the storms of Thursday, September 9 (when a tornado wreaked havoc in NYC) were especially welcome.  Anticipating the rain, the farmers quickly seeded in another round of cover crops - they add organic matter to the soil and help maintain its fertility - looking forward to the quick growth the water would stimulate.

Note to farm members: When you see lines in the soil, please don't walk over those areas.  Cover crops are planted there but the seed has yet to come up.  If the soil gets compacted, the viability of the plants is compromised.

At this time of year, harvest baskets are groaning with late summer as well as early autumn vegetables (see In the Fields / At the Stand).  Many autumn crops that were either seeded or transplanted in August were helped by the recent rain.  Another round of lettuce will be transplanted by the time this e-news is distributed, which will keep us in salad greens through October.  The brassicas-broccoli, cauliflower, and bok choy and cabbages look great and will soon be ready for harvest.  A few cool nights will help sweeten the autumn squash, and it looks like a banner year for sweet potatoes.  And there are still lots of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants on the vine!  And plenty of raspberries which - thanks to our farmers who tidied up the rows and tied back the plants - have become a pleasure to pick.

We are very lucky to have those gorgeous eggplants in the Valley; the crop on Town Lane was totally decimated by Colorado potato beetle.  The beetles on Long Island are known to be the fiercest of them all and, while controllable elsewhere, they have become resistant to every organic remedy ever used to combat them.  That we are now enjoying eggplant is due to the back-breaking persistence of our farmers and dedicated volunteers who, every other day for the entire month of July, hand-picked beetles off the plants.

Even with the beetles laying siege to the potatoes on Birch Hill, it was a great tater harvest.  The spuds were planted early and the plants were well established before the beetles appeared.  Also, there was some success with a recently developed organic remedy that researchers at the University of Maryland tested and found to be efficient.  Scott has had scores of conversations with these Colorado potato beetle experts who study how the beetles work in order to control them.  And it is likely that the newly ploughed fields on Birch Hill - about 3.5 acres - that will be in production next summer will be planted with potatoes.

As the season winds down, we can look forward to another inventive and delicious annual Harvest Dinner hosted by chef Colin Ambrose of Little Estia.  As soon as the details are confirmed, an announcement will be sent out.

The last official harvest day of the summer season is Saturday, October 30.  Thereafter, farm members are invited to glean the fields.  Until there is a hard frost, there will be plenty to pick.

DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Farm & Member News

BIODYNAMICS & THE FUTURE OF AGRICUTURE

At the upcoming national conference of the Biodynamic Farming and Gardening Association in Chestnut Ridge, NY (September 30 - October 3), Scott will moderate a panel entitled "Future Directions for CSAs."  Speaking will be CSA pioneers Elizabeth Henderson and Jean Paul Courtens (Roxbury Farm).

FOOD SAFETY & SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE

For the past few years, Scott has been part of the ongoing effort partnered by the James Beard Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trust to investigate the potential for new alliances that would provide more Americans with access to a safe and nutritious diet. In conjunction with this effort, Quail Hill Farm will host a site visit by graduate students from New York University's food studies program on Saturday, October 2.

LOCAL FOOD

Scott joins Brain Halweil of Edible East End, farmer Marilee Foster, and Larry Perrine of Channing Daughters  for a Locavore panel, to be held at 11 AM, Saturday, September 25, at Channing Daughters Winery.  This panel discussion is part of the Wine Auction Event -- HARVEST -- to be held on this weekend at Wolffer Estate Vineyards and to benefit the Peconic Land Trust and East End Hospice.

THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA

A camera crew recently came to Quail Hill Farm to  document Alec Baldwin picking up vegetables for a meal he would prepare with Ina Garten for an upcoming episode of her show on the Food Network.  Scott also has a starring role "fiddling" with vegetables.

AT ASHAWAGH HALL

Over Columbus Day weekend, farm member Gabriele Raacke will exhibit her latest Glass Paintings, Boxes, and Prints. Opening reception: Friday, October 8 from 5 to 8 PM.  Weekend hours: Saturday (10/9) and Sunday (10/10), noon to 5 PM.

AMAGANSETT FOOD INSTITUTE

Quail Hill Farm members John DeCuevas, Gary Bradhering and Chris Harris have teamed up with former QHF apprentices Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow of Amber Waves Farm to establish The Amagansett Food Institute (AFI), whose mission includes promoting sustainable food and farming in the community of Amagansett.  For more info, contact managing director Carissa Waechter (former pastry chef at the Amagansett Farmers Market) by email or visit the AFI website.