Each Pennypack Farm share comes with the expectation that the shareholders will participate in some form of farm activity for a total of 4 hours per season per share.  We call this share duty and it is fun to get to know the farm more intimately! Now, just a few months remain of the season (until mid November) and we are reminding you of this responsibility.

If you have not yet fulfilled your share duty requirement for this season, here are some options:

• Help with the harvest - come to the farm between 7 and 11 am on Monday, Wednesday or Friday and help harvest, wash, and pack the daily harvest.  If you have physical limitations, ask to work at the wash station.
• Farm work - come any weekday between 8 am and 5 pm to join in with whatever we are doing that day.  
• Special needs: for lighter duty or special considerations contact Margot at  coordinator.pennypackfarm@gmail.com
• Help clean up the farm for the harvest festival - next Saturday, September 26 from 10 am to 4 pm we will be sprucing up the farm in preparation for our annual harvest festival.  Join in anytime between 10 and 3.
• Chicken care -  we will be looking for volunteers to help do weekend care for the chickens in November and December.  You'll be feeding and watering the chickens, collecting eggs and closing them up for the night.  Contact Andy at pennypackfarm@gmail.com.
• Become an active member of the Community Education Committee (contact janice.blades@gmail.com)  
• Pay $60 (make a check out to the farm and put Share Duty Buy-Out in the memo) if you are not able to complete share duty for the 2009 season.

Thank you , in advance, for your much needed help!

Our first book will be Mark Bittman's Food Matters.  If you are interested please contact Kate Steinmetz at krsteinmetz@hotmail.com and include your preference for a meeting time, morning or evening.

The first meeting will be in late October.  Happy Reading!

Click here to visit the website for the book.

Green Tomatoes remind me of fall.  They bring back memories of mincemeat and relish canning.  Our family would gather at my grandma's or aunt's house and chop, cook, can and eat.  The smell of cooking mincemeat clouds my eyes with so many different feelings.  Contentment and love because of the memories that I will never lose.  Loss because of family members who are gone.  And regret.  Once upon a time, putting up food for the less plentiful seasons brought my family together.  Tomatoes (red and green), beans, beets, peaches, and apples were made into treats to enjoy when it was snowing and there wasn't a leaf in sight.  I remember being sent to the basement to bring up something for dinner that had grown in the garden over the summer.  Do you have memories like mine?  Will my kids and yours have the same?  Investing a few hours a year to process an abundant harvest from our gardens (or that of a local farmer) is time well spent.  Giving our kids and grandkids valuable memories of their family working together to sustain themselves, as well as an appreciation for the real food that nourishes us and the work involved in taking responsibility for our own nutrition and sustenance is an investment with infinite return.

Green Tomato Pie
Line a pie plate with a pie crust.  Thinly slice enough tomatoes to fill a pie plate to heaping. Grate nutmeg over it, put in 1/2 cup of butter and 1/2 cup sugar.  Pour in 1/2 cup of vinegar, put on the top crust.  Bake at 350 for about 1/2 hour.

Green Tomato Relish (ideal for sandwiches, burgers, etc)
Grind together 1/2 gal green tomatoes, 3 onions, 3 red sweet peppers, 3 green peppers.  Add 1/2 cup of salt and let it stand overnight.  Drain.  Add 1/4 gallon vinegar, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 pt prepared mustard, cook 1/2 hour.  Can if you want to.

Green Tomato Mincemeat (for cookies, pies)
1.5 lbs green tomatoes, 1.5 lbs apples, 1 lb raisins, 1/2 cup suet, 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 lbs brown sugar, 1 tbsp salt, 2 tbs cinnamon, 2 tsp cloves, 1 tsp nutmeg.  Chop tomatoes and apples, mix in a large pot and boil until syrup is thick.  Makes 10 pts.

** Back in the day, the canning rules were different.  My Grandma canned everything in a hot water bath, if she canned it at all.  Sometimes it just sat on the counter until the seal dinged.  Please call the Extension Office if you have questions about canning the above recipes, times have changed.

Farmer Andy Hour - 100 Mile Diet
Thursday, September 24 ~ 7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Have you ever thought about eating food that was grown/raised within 100 miles of your home? Can it be done?  Farmer Andy did it and he will outline the challenges and the successes that he faced.

Registration is required by Sept. 22
Fee: $10.00/person

October topic - Soil

Bring Your Group to the Farm

Fresh eggs from the hens you know!

Apple Tree chevre, garlic herb
Apple Tree chevre, plain
Hope Springs Sharp Cheddar
Misty Creek Hard goat cheddar: reg and smoked
Noble Cave aged cheddar
Herbal Jack
Toy Cow Black Cherry Yogurt
Toy Cow Blueberry Yogurt
Toy Cow Smoothies

7 Stars: lowfat maple yogurt
7 Stars: plain yogurt
7 Stars: lowfat plain yogurt

Butter
Organic Milk

Goat Feta

Fresh Mozzarella

Broilers

Liver/heart packs

Neck packs

Bison, ground
Bison, bugers

Chicken, basil and tomato sausage
Chicken, broccoli rabe sausage
Chicken, mozzarella and basil sausage
Chicken, white wine and garlic sausage
Chicken, spinach and feta sausage
Ground Turkey

Various seasonal fruit IPM
Cremini Mushrooms
Portabello Mushrooms

Organic Spelt
Rosemary Olive Oil
Whole Wheat Baguette
Whole Wheat Sandwich
Granola 12 oz
Granola bars

Honey: raw

Maple  Syrup

Garlic Hummus
Jalapeno Hummus

Kauffman's Cider; 1/2 gallon

Vrapple