June 2011  

Written by Jane Weissman and produced by Justina Fargiano 

In This Issue
Volunteers Needed!
Upcoming Events
Di-Vine Harvest Sign
Recipes
In the Field/At the Stand
What is This? How Do We Use It?
Weather Report: A Conversation with Scott
Down In The Valley: Member & Farm News

FARM BREAKFAST &  

"COFFEE AND..."

 

Please note that the Farm Breakfast will not take place this year.

 

We hope, however, you enjoyed the two Coffee and...welcome tables that greeted farm members the first two harvest Saturdays - a nice way to meet old friends and make new ones.

 

It was easy to linger over a steaming cup of Jack's Stir Brew - Jack's Stir Breworganic, fair trade, and shade grown coffee - contributed by new farm member Jack Mazzola whose eponymous shop is located on Main Street in Amagansett Square.  

 

And it was impossible not to gorge on Carissa Waechter's delicious muffins, scones, eclairs, and quiches.  Almost everyone remarked on those amazing quiche egglets, and while theCarissa's Breads filling is a secret recipe, it can be revealed that the tops of the shells were lopped off by the round end of a large pastry tip and the filled shells were baked in a water bath.  Tempting us with her signature loaves and pastries, Carissa's Breads will be a Saturday fixture at the farm stand starting June 18th.  For special orders, call 917-715-8453 or email Carissa.  

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NEW MEMBER  

ORIENTATION WALKS

 

Many thanks to Kevin Coffey, Susan Cole, and Jane Weissman for leading the orientation walks for new members.  The last of these walks scheduled for Tuesday, June 14th, was rained out.

 

A rescheduled walk will take place on Saturday, June 18th at 9 AM.

 

Please note that all new members are required to join one of these walks.  If you have not yet taken the orientation and cannot do so this Saturday, please call Scott at 631-267-8492 to arrange a private walk.


Thanks, too, to Nancy Goell, Rebecca Chapman, Francesca Rheannon and Hilary Leff for being farm stand greeters.

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volunteerVOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

 

It's a busy time of year at the farm - crops still to be seeded or transplanted and, always, weeding.  If you can help out, call Liz on her cell phone at 203-788-4035 the day before.  If you get voice mail, indicate your morning or afternoon availability and a phone number where you can be reached.  Someone will call you back with a time and place to meet.  Thank you!

 

Many thanks to Ross and Hannah for their help in the fields.

 

Special thanks to Nick Stephens who is constructing the farm's new cooler which will enormously help farm crew prepare for market days.

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UPCOMING EVENTS

in the Apple Orchard

 

QHF FARM

POT LUCK SUPPER

Saturday, July 23 

 pot luck

AT THE COMMON TABLE

Benefit Dinner

Saturday, August 27

 common table

GREAT TOMATO TASTE-OFF

Saturday, September 10

.tomatoes

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AT THE FARM SHOP

 

QHF Eggs

 

Bee's Needs Honey

 

From Ronnybrook Farm....

Milk, Butter, Ice Cream, Yogurt, and Drinks

Please remember to return glass milk bottles! ($1.50 deposit) 

 

Quail Hill Farm Cookbook

Edited by Hilary Leff and Linda Lacchia

 

French Fridays at the Farm

By Sydney Albertini

 

Garlic Scape Pesto

From Taste of the North Fork

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YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS

ARE WELCOME

 

Please email recipes, anecdotes, news, photos, poems, etc. to e-news writer/editor Jane Weissman or call her  

at 631-267-6963.

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DI-VINE HARVEST SIGN 

QHF-harvest sign

Many thanks to Barbara DiLorenzo for creating the beautiful chalk board that greets members at the farm stand.  Those beautiful pea vines are the perfect invocation of QHF's early spring crops.  

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Volunteer artists WANTED!    

 

The harvest board will need redoing as the season progresses. Call Scott (who does the interior lettering) at 631-267-8492.  Please and thank you!

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RECIPES

 

Click here for new and wonderful ways to prepare kale, tatsoi, and rhubarb (chutney, a savory compote for cheese, roasted with orange, a cake, and crumb bars).  Thank you Jerry Pluenneke, Hope Millholland, and farm apprentice Jen Griffith for your recipes.

 

RECIPES WANTED!  QHF E-News is always looking for creative ways to prepare farm produce.  Please email your favorites for vegetables that are now in the fields/on the stand or coming soon to .  If the recipe is not yours, be sure to include its source (book/author or web site) and note any adaptations or tips.

 

For recipes from recent years, click here

 

A friend recently recommended The City Cook, a very smart and The City Cookuseful web site that provides

recipes, menus, advice, and ingredient information, each issue revolving around a theme. 

The most recent mailing -

Early Summer Cooking - offered good recipes for rhubarb, asparagus, spinach, and peas. 

Visit the website for the recipes and to sign up for its newsletter.

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quail hill farm
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.
 

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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 Spring Crops: Asparagus, Garlic Scapes, Kale, Lettuce, Mizuna, Ruby Streaks Mustard, Radishes, Rhubarb, Tatsoi, Peas: Shucking, Pea Shoots & Flowers, Spinach.  HerbsQHF-Sage Flowers: Chives, Coriander, Dill, Bronze Fennel, Anise Hyssop, Lemon Balm, Lovage, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon (French & Spanish), Thyme.  Flowers: Bachelor Buttons, Zulu Daisies

 

COMING SOON!

Arugula, Fava Beans, Hakurei Turnips (for salads and quicQHF-Peask cooking), Peas: Sugar Snap & Snow, Scallions, String Beans, Swiss Chard.  More Herbs: Parsley. More Flowers: Calendula, Snapdragons and at least 40 more varieties.

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WHAT IS THIS?  HOW DO WE USE IT?

 

The herb LOVAGE has an intense celery flavor and is usually used to flavor soups.  Try this recipe for a salsa verde (New York Magazine, June 5, 2011) that uses many farm crops.  QHF-Salsa VerdeRoughly chop 1 Tbs. salt-packed capers, well rinsed, and place them in a bowl with 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed, 1 Tbs. Dijon mustard, and 1� Tbs. red-wine vinegar.  Wash and dry 12 lovage leaves, a bunch of Italian parsley and a handful of arugula leaves.  Chop finely (making sure there is still plenty of texture) and add to the bowl with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper. Add � c. olive oil and stir well to combine.  Try it on asparagus or grilled meat or poultry.

 

Very young garlic, planted in October and harvested in July, is soft and onion-like.  (According to Scott, this year's crop "looks beautiful," growing in newly prepared fields on Town Lane.)  Earlier this season, we were treated with garlic scallions - they look like scallions, but have the bite of garlic.  As the underground bulb gets bigger, it sends out a long thin shoot that curls into a beautiful tendril.  If left unattended, the tendril's soft top will harden and form a mini-garlic bulb that inhibits the growth of the "stinking rose" below.  Thus, the GARLIC SCAPESQHF - Garlic Scapes are removed from the plants and, much to our delight, can now be found at the farm stand.  Once the stringy bit above the soft top is removed, the scapes can be used in many ways: cut into 1� inch lengths and saut�ed alone in a little olive oil or with asparagus or peas (try a little summer savory on them), fold shorter lengths into scrambled eggs, or make pesto. This pesto keeps for a week in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.  It also freezes well and can be used long after the scape season on fish or in soups.  Just leave out the grated Parmigiano and pine nuts or walnuts that you would add to the cut up scapes, oil, salt, and pepper when making pesto for pasta.  Jeri Woodhouse of A Taste of the North Fork is transforming bushels of scapes into pesto for sale to members; it will be available shortly at the Farm Shop.

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WEATHER REPORT

A Conversation with Scott

 

We all know it was a cold wet spring, but the burning question is, "Was it colder and wetter than usual?"  "Yes," exclaims Scott, adding, "It was the trickiest spring to farm that I can remember.  We expect cold springs, but this year was very cold.  It took longer for the soil to warm up, and then we had lots of rain.  There were no windows - when the soil was both warm and dry enough - to plant and transplant."  However, with a great farm crew, the farm is now buzzing along on schedule, with planting taking place daily.

 

Birch Hill has another 3� acres in production - all potatoes, spud lQHF - Potatoesovers! - joining the 4� acres that opened to great acclaim last year.  This extra land allows our farmers to rotate crops more easily, planting cover crops to replenish and enhance the soil.

   

Walking to Birch 2 for peas and radishes, farm members pass Birch 1 and its many rows of great looking tomatoes.  Off to the north, beyond a row of beach plums are 2 acres of land the Trust is leasing to John Wagner and Karin Bellemare of Sunset Beach Farm, based in Sag Harbor.  Having begun their farm a couple of years ago, they needed extra land to supply both their CSA in Sag Harbor and their stand at East End farmers' markets. 

 

Speaking of farmers' markets, Quail Hill began its eighth year at the Sag Harbor market on Saturdays and joins the Montauk market on Thursdays.

 

Scott recently attended the Baker Creek Spring Planting Festival in Missouri - QHF buys many of the unusual seeds gatheredbaker creek from all over the world that the seed company offers.  His talk, "Nature Spelled Backwards" - addressed how farming is the "front side" of building community around nature and connecting people to the land.

 

Part of the Quail Hill community is the East Hampton School where for several years the entire fifth grade visits the farm.  This year, led by Anita Wright of the Group for the East End, 90 kids helped plant flowers, eggplant, and cabbage.

 

Quail Hill Farm and SUNY Stony Brook are partnering on THE ROOTS PROGRAM, a two year old initiative that takes good nutrition out of the classroom and brings it to low income people in Suffolk County through community gardening.  Acting as a consultant to the program's founder - Dr. Josephine Connelly, Assistant Clinical Professor of Family Medicine - Scott has provided transplants to the eight gardens now in production.  Closest to QHF are gardens at the Tuckahoe School and on the Shinnacock Reservation.  Each garden, where families grown their own food in raised beds, has a coordinator who works with overall coordinator, Iman Marghoob.  Not only has Scott visited the gardens offering advice to the coordinators and gardeners, the coordinators have visited Quail Hill, as have the dietician interns who, to better planting seedsunderstand the growing process, help seed and transplant.  Following a recent visit to Quail Hill, Dr. Connelly wrote Scott: "To watch and listen to you go about the daily/seasonal activities with such purpose and liveliness and excitement is thought provoking and really inspires me to want to do more in this area - connecting people with land and growing food for their health, for their emotional well-being, and sense of connectedness to each other and for taking care of the land itself.  Our partnership is really making a difference in the lives of people and I really look forward to our continued work together!"

 

This Conversation with Scott, which started with the spring rains, ends on the three days of rain since Saturday, June 11.  The weekend rains could only be described as "beneficial" as they tomatoessaved a lot of work, coming just when the farmers thought they would have to haul out the hoses to irrigate recent transplants.  Yesterday was warm and sunny, and a new planting of tomatoes went into nicely moist ground.  However, this morning's rain - on Tuesday, June 14, when this is being written - were not at all welcome, saturating the ground and making any planting or cultivating impossible.  Nevertheless, the sun is now out and its warm rays should help dry out both the soil and plants and hasten growth.  Alas, weeds also flourish when rain is followed by sun.  Now is the time when volunteer help is especially appreciated. Please see left column for how you can volunteer.

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MEET THE APPRENTICES

 

Here's a photo gallery of this year's farm staff.  Short bios for Liz, who joined QHF last year, Sam, and the four apprentice farmers will appear in future issues of QHF E-News.  In the meantime, stop and chat them up on harvest days.  They are a most interesting, lively, and hardworking crew.

 

Scott

Scott Chaskey

Director, Quail Hill Farm

 

QHF-Sam

Sam Rogers

Farm Manager

QHF-Liz

Liz Moran

Field Manager

 
















  
QHF-Barrett

Barrett Hawes

Apprentice


QHF-Jen

Jen Griffith

Apprentice



















QHF-Miriam

Miriam Goler

Apprentice

QHF-Mark

Mark Stonehill

Apprentice













 

 

 




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DOWN IN THE VALLEY

Member & (former) Farmer News

 

Joe O'Grady - who came to QHF farm in 2005 - as an apprentice, moving into the farm manager joe 2009position before leaving at the end of last season - and Emma Hoyt are still searching for the perfect property to start their own farm.  In the meantime, they are working at Balsam Farms and are often found staffing the Balsam stand at many of the area's farmers markets.

 

Congratulations to Sarah Shapiro and Ben Borkovitz on the birth of their daughter Hannah Yael in early February 2011.  Sarah, who apprenticed at QHF for several years in the early 1990s, and Ben both work for Hawthorne Valley Farm - Sarah as manager of the farm's marketing activities - in upstate New York.  By now they may well be bringing Hannah to the Wednesday Greenmarket at Union Square.

 

Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow (2008) of Amber Waves Farm will host a wine taamanda and katiesting event on June 25th from 4 to 7 p.m. to support the Amagansett Food Institute (AFI).  Clickhere for tickets and more information.  Congratulations to QHF member Jennifer Desmond who was recently appointed executive director of AFI.

 

Erika Brenner (2010) is farming a � acre incubator garden as part of DeKalb Market, opening early summer at the intersection of Willoughby Street and Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn.  The garden will provide produce for cooking and nutrition demonstrations and workshops.

 

Devin Foote (2008) recently took time off as farm manager of the two-acre Urban Farm at Romanowski Park - a project of The Greening of Detroit - to hike barefoot and without a Detroitcompass in the section of Canyonlands National Park known as the Needles.  QHF E-News is glad to report there will be no 127 Hours 2 in your local theaters and that Devin's work continues to provide resources for urban gardeners throughout the city, increased access to food, and nutritional awareness and health to neighborhood residents.

 

Matthew Shapiro (2009) is husbanding animals in California, running his own 9-acre farm, one of ten members of the Living Lands Agrarian Network.  Follow his progress on his blog. 

 

Paul Hamilton (early 1990s) continues to grow vegetables in his plots at EECO Farm and is the founder/manager of the Springs Famers Market which takes place on Saturdays at Ashawagh Hall.

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Quail Hill Farm is a stewardship project of the
Peconic Land Trust.

For information concerning Quail Hill Farm, please contact Robin Harris at 631-283-3195 or by email, or visit us online at www.PeconicLandTrust.org/quail_hill_farm

The Peconic Land Trust conserves Long Island's
working farms, natural lands,
and heritage
for our communities, now and in the future.


For more information concerning the Trust, call us at 631.283.3195 or visit us online at www.PeconicLandTrust.org.

This Quail Hill Farm eBlast is written
by Jane Weissman and produced by Justina Fargiano.


A copy of the last financial report filed with the New York State Attorney General may be obtained by writing to: New York State Attorney General's Charities Bureau, Attn: FOIL Officer, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 or Peconic Land Trust, PO Box 1776, Southampton, NY 11969.