Quail Hill Farm eNews 


Celebrating its 27th season, Quail Hill Farm is a stewardship project of the Peconic Land Trust. Among the original 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. Contributions--recipes, news and events, poems, photographs and drawings--are welcomed. Send them to QHF@PeconicLandTrust.org. 










Summer!  


July 15, 2016

    


WEATHER REPORT with Scott Chaskey
 
by Monika Norwid --  filling in for Jane Weissman
 
Here's the good news: The weather this July has been, for all edible intents and purposes, perfect.
 
"It hasn't been overly hot and we've had a couple of rain falls which oftentimes stop in June, so that's actually been very helpful," Quail Hill Farm's director Scott Chaskey tells me as we sit in the dappled shade of the trees near the farm's main buildings. "There was one rain that was an inch-and-a-half, so if you get an inch, inch-and-a-half once a week, you're fine, and you don't really have to water." Just the kind of helping hand the already overworked crew could use this month. And, apparently, just what the crops at Quail Hill Farm needed to reach peak abundance.
 
So here's the even better news: There is simply so much to look (or feel around) for right now! We'll mention only some of the notable favorites, starting with Scott's: "The potatoes are now ready -- that's one of the favorite ones for members I think -- and lots of different kinds of greens, and the lettuce is still going strong. Summer squash comes in and grows to be two feet long in one day! It grows so fast. Zucchini and the summer squash is ready."    
 
What does all this good news mean for the apprentices, three farmers, several volunteers and three dogs that make up the Quail Hill crew?  When I stop by one day at lunchtime to chat with Scott, it's clear that the phrase "too much of a good thing" has never found a more literal expression than in the full swing of an organic farm on a mid-summer afternoon in Eastern Long Island.
 
Everyone is in overdrive.
 
"So July is the month we get overwhelmed, definitely," Scott reflects softly, taking a deep breath as if for the first time all day. It's also the rite of passage for any young agricultural hopeful -- as many a fledgling farmer will recall from his or her apprentice days on the farm. "Two of my apprentices, Katie and Amanda at Amber Waves, remember this nine years later," Scott continues in a hushed tone and trance-like cadence, as if sheltering even his voice from the high-noon heat. "They now tell their apprentices that I used to say -- 'If you can just make it through July, just get through the Julys -- then you're over the hump.'"
 
While the rest of us consider July the time to kick off our work shoes, let the breeze rustle through our hair, and confine our worries to the occasional tick bite or sunburn, farmers have a very different itinerary: get over nature's "hump" (some might say mountain) of bounty, all the while maintaining the growing crops and planting the future ones. And hopefully live to tell the tale.
 
But, it's also clear from all the dazed-yet-sparkling eyes and slap-happy grins on the crew that these folks wouldn't have it any other way. Great weather in July means seeing one's work, often done months ago (and occasionally forgotten), come to vibrant, explosive fruition.
 
"The garlic, which has been in the ground since October, has to be harvested now," Chaskey explains, his voice rising with glee. "You only get a two-week window when you have to harvest the garlic. It's one of my favorite jobs." Besides all their other tasks, the crew now has 35,000 bulbs to harvest and hang, and fast. "We actually don't have space here so we hang them at Mary Ryan's barn at the end of Springs Fireplace because it's a perfect drying space," Scott says, clearly thankful for the contribution but, even more so, seemingly charmed by the aesthetic beauty of the garlic wall, which he insists I should see with my own eyes. "It's a production," he quips, accepting the demands of his favorite crop with signature good humor.
 
And what about those "forgotten crops" that might still be lurking about the fields, waiting to surprise us? "It's not like we've forgotten them exactly; we don't have time to go back to look for them," Scott qualifies. "For instance, we planted artichokes and we've had some artichokes the last couple of years. Most people don't realize you can grow them in this climate but you can. And they're buried in weeds because we've got so many other crops that we have to tend to right now." Practically a treasure hunt waiting to happen, for all you artichoke fanatics out there.
 
So what's Scott's other favorite crop (besides garlic)? His answer might surprise you. Or, on second thought -- considering how Scott's boundless curiosity and openness to surprises seems to drive much of what makes Quail Hill Farm so abundant to begin with -- not. His favorite crop isn't even within the boundaries of what's considered the farm proper. "My favorite thing this time of year is the meadow as you go up into Birch Hill, which is filled with milkweed now," Scott says, beaming with pride at what he is willfully not farming. This land used to be part farmed, too, but was left fallow when they moved the fence further up the hill. "Now all we do is mow that once a year to keep it a meadow, and the milkweed has taken over," Scott adds. He explains that milkweed is the food for the monarch butterflies. Has he seen the butterflies themselves? "I've seen some larva. I haven't really seen the butterflies -- maybe I've seen one or two monarchs. They usually come late summer."


butterfly
Monarch butterfly photographed by Patrice Dalton at Quail Hill Farm in 2013
It seems that the work of facilitating beauty in our natural world -- whether in produce or in lepidoptera -- has an unusual effect on us: we become capable of valuing gifts even when they are at their most abundant, and even when we are at our most exhausted and overwhelmed by their abundance. Taking stock of Quail Hill Farm in July left me with one overwhelmingly reassuring take-away about human nature: we can appreciate what we've got, after all -- even when we've got it.












IN THE FIELDS/AT THE STAND


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 for Harvest: Potatoes, lettuce, kale, collards, swiss chard, summer squash, cucumbers, radish, beans, garlic, basil, beets, summer squash, zucchini, and  flowers


Tips: in the past, we've made a few videos on harvesting, including peas, herbs, tomatoes and potatoes. Check them out on our YouTube page.

 



 



MEET YOUR FARMERS . . . Katrina Siladi



Each issue, we'll introduce you to a farmer (or two) who are tending the fields of Quail Hill Farm this season -- in their own words. Our second is Katrina Siladi. 
 
Last year, in Santa Cruz, California at the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Farming Systems I continuously exclaimed, "We are so lucky! We've made such good choices!" to my fellow apprentices in the farm fields. In my fourth month at Quail Hill I still shout the affirmation, especially as we head into the sweet abundance of mid-summer. I sprint down the furrow to each new blossom, close my eyes to taste the first cucumber, pause to admire the work we have done to deliver nutrients to ourselves and to you -- an embarrassment of riches.
 
When I was studying Ceramics and Peace and Conflict Studies at a small Quaker college in Greensboro, NC, I discovered that all of my great-grandmothers were farmers in Europe before they or their descendants immigrated to the Tri-State area. At the time of this realization I was dreaming of what my work would be to creatively address global inequality and injustice. After reading through a bibliography of nature writers, scientists, philosophers, economists, and poets all discussing the traumatic treatment of soil and the root causes of hunger I knew that I was well suited to grow and distribute good food. So, nine years ago, I went to a kooky farm in Vermont and have been engaged with food production ever since.
 
After spending six years teaching at the Edible Schoolyard -- an organization that brings garden and kitchen classrooms to urban public schools, then volunteering with my friends on their farms, building stone walls in Italy, saving seeds in India, and studying ecological farming in California -- I am so happy to be just south of my hometown on the Connecticut shoreline growing food and learning with my friends.
 
Quail Hill Farm is the perfect place for deepening my production farming skills and confronting the challenges of managing natural systems. I'm here with a beginners mind and am humbled every day by the hustle it takes to keep plants, animals, and soils alive. Because I was interested in fashion magazines and broadway musicals as a young person, I wasn't exposed to mechanical thinking or power tools. But! this season you can find me out of my comfort zone on the Kubota bucket tractor with the water wheel transplanter attached.


Katrina reading from Wendell Berry's The Art of the Commonplace
Katrina reading from Wendell Berry's

The Art of the Commonplace
We engage in all kinds of difficult work on this planet and the way we produce and eat food says so much about what we value.  It is a powerful thing that you make enough time to engage with the fields by digging your potatoes, snipping your greens, and (SO SOON!) picking your tomatoes. By doing so, you are saying "yes!" to life, to care of the soil, and to a culture of healing. It's inspiring to be at such a unique farm with eaters that experience the same things that farmers do -- the weather, the weeds, and the fresh tastes of the fields. It's a pleasure to spend my days learning and growing at Quail Hill!



 
-- Farmer Katrina Siladi 


 




 





SAVE THE DATE:

POT LUCK SUPPER 
 

 
Sunday, July 31

5 - 7 PM  
 

  Join us in the orchard for our annual Pot-Luck picnic at the farm.

Another wonderful community event -- bring a dish to share and

enjoy a summer evening at the farm.



pot luck



This is a great time to meet your fellow harvesters and farmers! 














RECIPES 
from farm member Julie Resnick of feedfeed . . . 
Pickeled Chard Stems




Servings: 
Makes two 8-ounce jars or one 16-ounce jar 

 
Ingredients

  • One large bunch of rainbow chard stems, cleaned and cut to fit into mason jar, about 3/4 inch from the lip
  • 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
  • 3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
  • 1/4 cup sugar or 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons sriracha
  • 1/4 teaspoon celery seed, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds, divided
  • 2 cloves garlic, divided


Preparations:

Add each half of the celery seed, peppercorns, mustard seeds, and garlic to each jar. (If just making one jar, this can all go together.) Pack chard stems tightly into jars.



Bring vinegars, sugar (or maple syrup), salt, and sriracha to a boil, in a small saucepan until sugar and salt is dissolved. Then pour over chard stems. Let sit until cool, then put lids on and refrigerate. Wait two days before eating for flavors fully develop. Will last 1 month in refrigerator.





Hasselback Potatoes With Rosemary / Garlic 'n Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

 
Serving: 1



Ingredients
  • 5 small, as perfectly ellipse, shaped potatoes
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 2-3 springs fresh rosemary plus more for decorating
  • 10 large cherry tomatoes
  • 1tbsp melted coconut oil / olive oil (for the cherries)
  • + 4tbsp melted coconut oil / olive oil (for the potatoes)
  • a pinch ground white pepper
  • a pinch ground ginger
  • a pinch fine Himalayan salt 
  • + a pinch Himalayan salt crystals
      
On the side:  
  • 1/2 avocado 
  • 1/2 lemon - juiced slightly on the potatoes  


Preparations 
  • Heat the oven to 200C.
  • Wash carefully the potatoes , removing all dirt. Pat the potatoes dry.
  • Cut thinly the potato, leaving the bottom intact. Make sure you do not cut all the way through 'n the slices stay connected to the bottom of the potato. You can use a serving spoon or chopsticks as a guide for when to stop slicing - slice straight down 'n stop slicing when your knife hits the edge of the chopstick.
  • Cut the garlic to thinly slices 'n mix with the coconut oi , fine Himalayan salt , ground white pepper 'n ground ginger powder ; Then brush the potatoes with the mixture. You can add some of the slices garlic in between the slices of the potatoes.
  • Cut the cherry tomatoes 'n mix with the flavored coconut oil.
  • Arrange the potatoes in a baking dish. Bake for 35 minutes 'n when the layers start separating , remove from the oven. Brush with some more flavored coconut oil, add some fresh rosemary in between the slices. Sprinkle the Himalayan salt crystals. This time add the cherry tomatoes to the baking tray. Bake for another 20-25 minutes.
  • Serve immediately -- that's when the the potatoes are at their crispiest and the tomatoes are yummiest.
  • You can also drizzle some freshly squeezed lemon juice or white tahini on top, Spinkled hemp hearts to
    o makes it even more delicious.


Spiraled Vegetable Tart

 
Serving: Makes one 10 inch Tart
 
Ingredients:



Pastry crust:
  • 8 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into one inch cubes
  • 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Ice water
  
Filling:
  • 1 Cup labneh, homemade or store bought
  • ⅓ cup pesto
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • Juice of half a lemon
  • ½ tsp red chilli flakes
  • 3-4 large zucchinis
  • 3-4 large carrots
  • 2-3 large eggplants
  
Pesto:
  • 2 cups fresh basil (approx one large bunch), washed and drained
  • 1 clove of garlic
  • ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
  • ⅓ cup pine nuts or walnuts
  • ½ to 3/4 cup olive oil
  • Salt and pepper to taste
 Preparations: 
  • To make the crust, sift flour into a large bowl and add the salt. Add butter, and with your fingers or a pastry blender, cut in butter until pea-sized chunks remain. Add ice water a teaspoon at a time until a cohesive dough is formed. Shape into a disc and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes to an hour
  • Roll out pastry on a floured surface and place into a 10 inch greased removable bottom quiche tin (ideally one that is quite deep). Prick base with a fork, and rest in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes
  • Preheat oven to 350˚ degrees. Cover pastry with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake covered for 20 minutes, then remove foil and weights and bake a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool  
  • Combine pesto ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Season to taste.Combine pesto ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor or blender. Pulse until smooth. Season to taste.
  • Place labneh into a medium bowl. Add pesto, lemon juice, grated parmesan and chilli flakes and mix well. Spread into the bottom of the cooled crust.
  • Slice the zucchini, carrot and eggplant into thin slices lengthwise using a mandolin or vegetable peeler. If necessary, briefly blanch the carrots in salted water make them more pliable. Trim slices so that they are all roughly the same height (this will make rolling them significantly easier) Roll a strip of zucchini into a tight spiral, followed by a strip of carrot and then eggplant.
  • Continue alternating, forming a tight spiral. As the roll gets larger, you may find you need to use two strips of vegetable to complete the circle. Once the roll gets too large to handle easily on the bench, place in the centre of the filled crust. Continue arranging alternating layers of vegetables around the spiral until you reach the outer edge of the crust.
  • Drizzle tart with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees or until vegetables are slightly tender. Serve warm with remaining pesto on the side.




Garlic Cheese Pull Apart Bread 






Ingredients:

  • 3 garlic cloves
  • A few leaves of parsley
  • 3 Tablespoons butter 
  • 15-20 grains of pink pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • About 4 slices of fresh mozzarella
  • 1 rustic bread
  • Sesame seeds


Preparations:

  • Preheat oven to 400F 200C Combine garlic cloves, parsley, and pink pepper in a food processor until you have a small pieces. Put the mix of the ingredients in a small saucepan with the butter. Heat over medium heat until the butter is melted. Cook around 3 minutes. Remove from the heat. With a serrated knife, make diagonal cuts on the bread, making sure that you do not cut all the way through the bread. Cutting diagonals into 2 ways opposite, you will have diamond shapes on the crust.
  • Cut the mozzarella slices into a small rectangles With your fingers, separate and open each cut on the crust to drizzle the garlic and pepper butter with a spoon. 
  • Place the mozzarella rectangles in the cuts too. Put the bread on a rack. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and cover it with foil. 
  • Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and bake 5 more minutes or until cheese is completely melted. 
  • Serve immediately








Save the Date

Through Farms and Fields

August 7, 2016 at 
Quail Hill Farm



honoring the conservation accomplishments of our friends

John de Cuevas and Margaret de Cuevas





Join us for a beautiful Sunday evening in celebration of conservation, 
and honoring the conservation accomplishments of Maggie and her father John. 
 

The festivities begin at 4:00 pm



Supper by Honest Catering featuring

Nick & Toni's Chef Joe Realmuto 


Wines from McCall Wines, Channing Daughters,

Wolffer Estate, and Sparkling Pointe 


Secret Box donated by Susan Rockefeller & Protect What Is Precious

Master of Ceremonies: Chef George Hirsch  
 
For more information, and to purchase tickets call 631.283.3195 or online. 









Thank you to everyone who joined us for the annual

Farm Breakfast on Saturday, June 25



A special Thank You to all our volunteers for their dedication, led once again by Ronnie Grill who did a wonderful job of leading the team! 





   

On behalf of Ronnie
and all of us at the farm, thank you:



to our farmers: Scott, Layton, xxxxx for gathering the eggs, harvesting rhubarb, schlepping and setting up the orchard



Robert Leibel and Laurie P. for water play 
 
Judy Freeman, Robert Leibel and
Joyce Munn for preparing the potatoes



Heather Lind, Carissa Katz, Alajandra Dubove and
Kathrin Henderson for preparing the strawberry rhubarb compotes



  



Peter Cobb, Marty Meth, Charlie for the wonderful pancakes
 
Jane Umanoff, Bo Parsons, Rand Stoll, Ben Stoll and 
Dorothy Leibel for roasting the potatoes and cooking the eggs 
 
Sarah, Emily Stoll, Ben Stoll, Peter Kupfer, Carol Steinberg,
Marjorie Silver, Doug Block, Pitt and Zanzy, Dorothy Dolan,
Rand Stoll, Jane Umanoff, and
Bo Parsons for helping to set up the orchard



Carla Ash, Gabi Raacke, Bettina Volz, Carli, Enid Roth,
Peter Kupfer for watching the tables
  




Sue Petersen, Linda Lacchia, Nessy Rice, Dorothy Dolan, Jane Umanoff, Bo Parson, Victor Delrida, Andy McGee, Janice Hummel, Tom Oleszczuk, Heidi Oleszczuk for bringing the delicious baked goods  
Dorothy Donovan, Judith Feder, Gordian Raacke, Bettina Volz, 
Alyssia and Sarah for helping with the clean up.



 It was a wonderful morning . . . and a wonderful way to start the season.



Thank you!!!





Interested in helping next year?

Ronnie would love to have a partner to help! Email her at QHFbreakfast@gmail.com



To see more photos, visit the Quail HIll Farm Facebook page    














Invitations will be mailed in late July . . .
 and Reservations will begin on August 10, 2016. 








UPCOMING TALKS, WORKSHOPS AT OR FEATURING QUAIL HILL FARM 
    
Tuesday, July 19, 10:00 to 11:30 am

Secret Life of Bees with Mary Woltz

Quail Hill Farm, Deep Lane, Amagansett 


Bees play an important role in the health of our food supply, simply by pollinating all manner of flowering plants at the farm.Come to the farm and meet beekeeper, Mary Woltz, owner of Bees' Needs, and learn more about the critical work of her bees.Get an up-close look at the hives and learn about the lifecycle of these little creatures as Mary discusses colony collapse and other issues impacting the health of the local bee populations.
FREE! Please park on Deep Lane, reached via Town Lane or Side Hill Lane, and meet by the farmstand with your blanket or chair. Rain cancels.
 







NEWS FROM THE VALLEY . . . 


Check out: farm member Adelaide Mestre's upcoming show at Guild Hall:



TOP DRAWER: Stories of Dysfunction and Redemption from Park Avenue to Havana:
first produced in the 2011 New York International Fringe is writer and performer Adelaide Mestre's autobiographical story of her journey to Cuba to seek out her deceased father's piano, left behind when her family fled in 1960. With sentiment and humor she spins a tale of dysfunction and redemption and, ultimately, shares her discovery that art can be a kind of alchemy that transmutes loss and abandonment into freedom. TOP DRAWER will make you laugh, cry and maybe even... sing. Written and performed by Adelaide Mestre with Doug Oberhamer at the piano. Directed by Coco Cohn.
 
Tuesday, July 26th at 7 p.m. at the John Drew Theater at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton




 . . . send along your announcements and we'll include in upcoming eNews! 












FOR SALE AT THE FARM STAND & SHOP
(Prices posted where sold)
 
QHF Hats 
 
QHF Eggs (chicken & duck)  
 
 
Carissa's Breads, made from QHF wheat 
 
Garlic Scape Pesto
produced by AFI's South Fork Kitchens from QHF scapes 
 
Mary Woltz's
Bees' Needs Honey from QHF hives 
 


  
Ronnybrook Farm Dairy's ice cream, 
milk, yogurt drink, coffee milk, butter










FARM ETIQUETTE
 
Please help make harvesting an enjoyable experience for everyone.
 
OBSERVE FARM HOURS: Fields open at 8 AM and close at 5:30 PM.
 
OBSERVE SHARE LIMITS: Check the Farm Stand and Birch Hill boards as well as the signs at end of harvest rows. Ask a harvesting neighbor if in doubt. If no share limit is posted, harvest only what you can reasonably use until the next harvest day.
 
HARVEST ONLY
in rows headed by signs or poles with ribbons 
 
NO DOGS in the fields. 


 NO CELL PHONES.




THANK YOU! 

Producing over 500 varieties of organically grown vegetables, flowers, fruit and herbs,

QUAIL HILL FARM is located on 220 acres of land donated by Deborah Ann Light to

the Peconic Land Trust. Quail Hill Farm is located on Deep Lane in Amagansett, NY, 

Summer harvest days are Saturday and Tuesday from 8:00 am to 5:30 pm.  

Winter harvest days are every other Friday and Saturday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

  

Also, keep up on farm news,

 

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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



Financial Disclosure Statement: A copy of the last financial report filed with the New York State Attorney General may be obtained in 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. 


Peconic Land Trust | 296 Hampton Road | PO Box 1776 | Southampton | NY | 11969