Celebrating its 26th season, Quail Hill Farm is a is a stewardship project of the Peconic Land Trust. Among the earliest CSAs (Community Supported Agriculture) in the nation, Quail Hill Farm brings together growers and community members on fertile soil in a relationship of mutual support.

 

Published monthly, the Quail Hill Farm E-News is written by farm member Jane Weissman and produced by Peconic Land Trust's Yvette DeBow and Caryn Hayes. Your contributions--recipes, news and events, poems, photographs and drawings--are welcomed. Send them to quailhillnews@aol.com. 

Scroll down for the winners of the

2015 GREAT TOMATO TASTE-OFF

 

 

 

 

 

This list is prepared a few days before harvest.

It could change, so please don't set your heart on any one item.

But then again, there will be welcome surprises.

 

 

 

 

     

 

Crops:  Arugula, Cabbage, Carrots, Leeks, Lettuce, Radishes, Autumn Squash. Herbs:   Cilantro, Dill.  Flowers:  Cosmos (Bright Lights), Marigolds, Sweet Alyssum

 

 

 

 

Starting the Friday before Thanksgiving and continuing every two weeks, swing by the Farm Shop to pick up carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celery root, parsnips, cabbage, kohlrabi, radishes, turnips, winter squash, garlic, shallots, wheat berries and frozen tomatoes, smoked hot peppers and 9 varieties of dried beans (Tiger's Eye, Jacob's Cattle, Vermont Cranberry, King of the Early, Quincy, Red Kidney, Soldier, Kenearly, and Lina Sisco's Bird Egg).

 

 

INFO: Robin Harris at PLT
631.283.3195 x19 or rharris@peconiclandtrust.org

 

 

 

 

"It is very, very dry," says Scott, shaking his head.  "I look around and see dying trees in woodlands and leaves browning early. In my 26 years at Quail Hill, the only time it's been this dry was in 1994 or 1995 when six weeks elapsed without any rain." Usually in August the nights cool off and we can expect steady rains that continue into September. (For some reason and not agriculturally relevant, October is again dry before the dank, rainy days of November.) We were lucky to have had one "decent" rain in August; its 1.6 inches did a lot to ease the stress on the tomato plants. It was, in fact, the most substantial rainfall since March.

 

Subsequent rains have only yielded a slight .1 or .2 inches of water, far less than what is needed.  "In many years, we've only irrigated in July, a traditionally dry month.  Now, unless we irrigate, it's almost impossible for plants to grow.  So we go from field to field, two sections per day, each 3.5 hours.  Unless the pump breaks down and we need to order parts, which has happened."  It takes two weeks of daily watering to irrigate all the fields, after which QH farmers begin the round robin again.

 

If the lack of rain weren't enough of a challenge, it's also been "very hot for weeks on end. Crops that generally thrive in the Northeast have really suffered -- except for heat-loving tomatoes, peppers, and the amaranth weed."  Growing 7 feet tall, this weed overran the summer squash, zucchini and cucumber beds "The nerve of them," pipes up Layton, sitting nearby. Usually, amaranth isn't so prevalent, but when there are irrigation hoses to lug around, it's impossible to find time to yank them out.

 

 

These dry, hot months have affected some crops -- the risk that members of a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project share with its farmers. At Quail Hill, there were longer than usual stretches without lettuce; a planting everyone counted on was lost. Without rain, the melons have been slow to ripen, but "the watermelons should be great as the heat concentrates their flavor."

 

 

 

When this E-News is issued, Scott will be in Santa Rosa, CA, speaking at the 5th annual National Heirloom Exposition.  Last year, this three-day event sponsored by Baker Creek -- a major supplier of QHF seeds -- attracted 18,000 people.  From there he goes to Santa Cruz to give a reading from Seedtime and will catch up with Ella, Jesse and Nick -- 2014 apprentices who are now studying at UCSC's Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems.  (Layton graduated from the program in 2012.) While there, he'll also visit with 2014 apprentices Brendan and Michele

 

 

 

 

Layton seeks a truck for the winter and next season -- part farm truck, part winter vehicle to combat the snow drifts. Her dream truck would have manual transmission, four-wheel drive, and no frame rust.

 

 

Contact Layton at lguenther@peconiclandtrust.org with leads or questions. Thank you!

 

 

   

 

                                 - Laurie Colwin

 

For all the challenges Quail Hill farmers faced this season (see Weather Report above), the tomato crop not only was bountiful and delicious, but it warranted the return of the Great Tomato Taste-Off -- last held in 2010 due to the actuality or threat of Late Blight arriving early and devastating the crop.

 

Saturday, September 5 dawned cool and clear, an auspicious start for the event, this year held on Birch Hill, adjacent to Bill King's 1972 sculpture West Side/East Side.

 

As harvesters entered the fields, their eyes were immediately drawn to both the 60 or so overflowing trays of tomatoes of all sizes and colors and the tables where their contents were cut into bite-sized pieces for the tasting and rating of 35 varieties.

 

 

Basing their judgments on taste and texture -- from 1= terrible to 5 = terrific -- 137 people completed rating sheets. Here are the 2015 rankings. * = first time grown at Quail Hill.

 

The top five tomatoes are: Sungold (by a large margin), Black Cherry,
Green Zebra, Yellow Brandywine, and the pink Wiesnicht's Ukrainian*.

 

         

 

While they are not the highest rated, tomatoes that ranked fairly well both overall and within their categories are: the paste Red Pear and the reds Legend, Red Zebra*, Carmelo* and Mountain Magic.

 

 A Great Tomato Taste-Off without its volunteers

A bushel of thanks to a group of amazing volunteers who answered a last minute appeal for help and pulled off a terrific Great Tomato Taste-Off in just 5 days.

 

To Quail HiIl's farmers -- Scott, Layton, Cait, Stef, Ryan, Gabe, Jess, Cailyn and Greg -- who harvested the pastes for sauce and others for the event, and helped with many details large and small.

 

Cynthia DePaula for transforming the paste tomatoes into six tasty sauces. If, as the season progresses, riper tomatoes yield sauces even richer in flavor they will not be so appreciated or fondly remembered. 

 

 

Friday's volunteer harvesters -- Joyce Munn, Susan Stout, Melanie Woods and Kevin Coffey -- who in three hours picked 18 varieties.

 

NIck Stephens and Scott who helped configure and set up Birch Hill.

 

Rand Stoll, Stephen Munshin, Gabriele Raacke and Kevin who showed up at 7:30 and, joined shortly thereafter by Nancy Nagle, Joyce and apprentice Stef, unloaded the tomatoes and prepared the tables so beautifully.

 

      

 

Carla Ash who welcomed the tasters and Enid Roth who suggested the idea of making sauce from the paste tomatoes that, uncooked, usually have little flavor.

 

 

 

Gabriele, Joyce, Nancy, Stephen, Melanie, Pam Choy, Carol Steinberg, Linda Lacchia, and the Trust's Yvette DeBow who kept the tables constantly supplied with bite-sized tastes -- no small feat.  

 

   

 

Carissa's Breads whose farm loaves not only cleansed our palates but gained lots of new fans.

 

Linda and Yvette who hung around long after the event's official end at noon -- people kept coming -- and then helped clean up with hearty assists from Scott, Layton and apprentice Ryan.  

 

Thank you, ALL!  It was a wonderful morning! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am perpetually enthralled with and fascinated by flowers -- they bring me so much joy. Those colors, those textures, those intricate shapes!

 

Here at Quail Hill, my love for flowers continues to grow the more I learn about fresh cut flower production and arranging for market bouquets and dried flower production for the farm's winter share.

 

I was first introduced to growing, arranging and (sometimes) eating flowers at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, CA, where I worked in the farm and garden. Harvesting herbs and vegetables for the kitchen in the morning fog is where I met the likes of Poppies, Calendula, Borage, and Nigella. Nigella, which is also known as Love-in-a-Mist, is one of my most favorite flowers; a light blue jewel-toned flower nestled in a ring of green, lacy bracts that, for me, evokes fairies.

 

 

My enchantment with flowers continued after moving to Brooklyn, NY, where I interned at The Youth Farm at the High School for Public Service (HSPS).  Cut flowers were incorporated into the beds of the one-acre educational production farm not only as a revenue source for the farm's flower CSA, but also for their ecological benefits. It was here I learned about the environmental and social justice issues surrounding today's global cut flower industry and the importance of the slow flower movement (www.slowflowers.com).  An astounding 80 percent of the cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported.  As we are increasingly conscious of the origin of our vegetables and fruits, it follows that we should know who grows the flowers we buy, how those flowers are harvested, and what farming practices are employed to transform a handful of seeds into a flourishing bouquet.

 

 

Although I am happy that the flowers I loved at Esalen are also grown at Quail Hill, I do have some new favorites -- China Aster, Scabiosa, and Prairie Sun Rudbeckia. Following my apprenticeship at Quail Hill, I plan to to continue learning about flower production and hope to start my own flower farm in the near future.

 

 

 

 

Quail Hill farmers always appreciate volunteer help.

 

Many thanks to stalwart volunteers Naomi and Alex Kamper (who is now back at high school) and to Gen, Maggie, Teddy, Colin, Jack and Harry.

 

 

A note from Layton: Alex was an incredible presence on the farm this summer, both in the fields and at Quail Hill's farmers market stand in Sag Harbor.  His enthusiasm and love of the land and farming is contagious.  Thank you, Alex!

 

 

 

 

Famer & Member News

 

 
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19

For the past 15 years, Gabiele Raacke has worked with the East End Special Players -- a group of challenged actors, performing throughout the East End -- first as its costume designer and, for the past two years, as its production coordinator.  At the upcoming EESP gala, the actors, who create their own material, will perform a 10-minute excerpt from their newest play. 5 - 7 PM, 44 Sayres Path, Wainscott, NY. Click here  for more info and to buy tickets ($75). 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

Thank you!