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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  After the Storm ....
Well it has been a crazy week ... we hope everyone got through it Ok and that you are getting back to normal at this point and that the effects of the storm aren't too long lasting.
The farm made it through very well. We were very blessed; our animals and chickens are fine, most of our plants and trees are fine, and our greenhouse and other outbuildings are in good shape.
We did spend some time really thinking about preparation - I tend to not watch the media and not get caught up in the media hype surrounding stories like this, but it is important to be prepared. Now that the storm is over I have created a check list of stuff I want to get ready and prep now, so we'll be more ready and less stressed-out if something like this happens again.
Between last year's and this year's freakish storms, people are asking themselves, "Is this global warming?" I have certainly been asked that question a bunch of times over the past week or so ... and yes I do believe that things have changed or are in a state of changing. I don't know if these particular storms we are experiencing are directly due to global warming or to natural cycles of change. But we can expect change - the earth is a living entity and as such goes through changes and phases.
As a farmer, I experience many surprises and subtle and not-so-subtle changes first hand beyond the big storms. And it seems there are more and more changes in recent years. I don't want to create a feeling of doom or panic or jump on my soapbox about the need for environmental initiatives here, but I do think it is smart to start to expect the unexpected and be prepared and ready to flow with change. I've always felt that way with the farm; like the earth, a farm is a changing and evolving entity. Whether the change is something I introduce, like a new kind of berry to my land, or something out of my control, like a new pest flies in by the bucketload, as a farmer, you have to be poised and ready to act and also to change along with it and make the best of what is happening.
Embracing change opens doors for learning and can help make big events like the storm we all experienced less stressful. I saw a lot of people becoming connected and helping one another during this storm and during the subsequent power outage. Communities seemed to form, friends and acquaintances became family... I saw connection and compassion and I think that often when things like weather get out of control, people become less separated and self-centered and more family and community-oriented... perhaps our society is poised for a social structure change - back to a more village mentality...
And along the lines of thinking about community, the snowy weather today has given me time to get together our 2013 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) registration materials ... I always end up dreaming about and planning vegetable gardens on bleak wintery days! All the info on joining our CSA for next season is below, feel free to email me with any questions you may have! And note our 'early bird' discounts!
And I have set up a couple new workshops as well for November .... I'm really excited about them!
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Workshops this Month
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 Making Great Vegetable Purées!
Saturday, November 17th
10 am - 12 noon
Oh these are so delicious and so comforting on cold nights! They are also festive and creative and make fabulous side dishes for Thanksgiving! They are easy to make a big batch and reheat. At the workshop, we'll be working with fennel, celeriac, carrots, beets, potatoes, winter squash, turnips, rutabagas, and more - creating fabulous purees that have the comfort level of mashed potatoes, but which are just fancier and tastier! Workshop takes place in the kitchen at Midsummer Farm | cost is $36 | registration closes 11/14/12
Scroll down for a great recipe for Cauliflower Bay Purée ...
 10 Common Herbs that Make Life Sparkle Workshop! Saturday, November 17th
1 pm - 3 pm
This workshop focuses on 10 common herbs that you probably have growing in your yard (or, if not, are easy to grow!) that can add SO MUCH to your household's health and well being:
Plantain (Plantago)
Mint (Mentha)
Self-Heal or Heal-All (Prunella)
Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
Nettle (Urtica dioica)
Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
Parsley (Petroselinum hortense)
Oregano/Marjoram (Origanum vulgare/Origanum majorana)
These are all easy to grow (some have been classified as weeds). I find them to be cornerstones of herbal well-being, and I want to share how I use them in my household and everyday life. There is still time to harvest many of these before the winter and store them for future use. We'll go over how to dry, tincture, freeze, etc. And we'll create some remedies, teas, and recipes using them to their fullest potential. Workshop takes place out and about in the farm and in the kitchen at Midsummer Farm | cost is $36 | registration closes 11/14/12
 Making Herbal Infused Salves, Ointments, and Lip Balms Saturday, November 24th
10 am - 12 noon
With a focus on organic, fair-trade, medicinal herbs and spices, we'll construct a variety of healing and soothing salves and lip balms. We'll also discuss different types of healing herbs, what they can do for us, and where to get them. You'll never want to be without a jar of Anti-itch salve made with white willow bark and plantain or Dry-skin healing Calendula salve made with self heal and chickweed once you see how fun they are to make and how effectively they work. A great autumn/winter project for making use of the herbs in your garden. And they make great holiday gifts! Workshop takes place in the kitchen at Midsummer Farm | cost is $36 | registration closes 11/20/12
Register using the REGISTRATION FORM on our website,
Or send us an email us at info@midsummerfarm.com
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 We are so happy to announce that our 2013 CSA is now open for registration!
And we have made some exciting changes this season!
2013 Changes to our CSA program:
New Double Flower Add-on Share Several people have asked for more flower bouquets, and we love growing and arranging flowers, so we're offering a double share. The single share is 5 weeks of bouquets and is $60, this new double share is 10 weeks of bouquets and costs $110.00 New Baked Good Add-on Share (Sweet Share) One of my main goals in running this CSA is to make people healthier, and sweets are not very healthy - but I do love baking and so many people are asking me to do a sweet share ... so I am going to try it this year, and I believe it will be good for the soul! And although sugary in essence, these will be nutritious baked goods! This share will be 17 weeks and will consist of farm-baked goodies made with our own eggs and mostly organic and fair-trade-where-appropriate ingredients. Emphasis will be on baked goods made with organic nuts as well as produce and herbs from our farm whenever possible.I'm currently planning: Pistachio Squares, Brownies with Fair Trade Chocolate Nibs, Walnut Crescents, Zucchini Bread, Baklava, Cardamon Pecan Squares, Lavender Pound Cake, Lemon Balm Blueberry Muffins, Peanut Butter Cookies, Pecan Praline Tart, Meyer Lemon Tart, Pignoli (Pine) Nut Cookies, Pumpkin Pie, etc. This share will cost $360.00. A festive Bonus Share for people who sign up for the Total Taste of the Farm Membership! We're going to offer a bonus share basket the week of May 1st for the Total Taste shareholders. This will be like an appetizer to the start of the CSA season which will begin the first week of June. This special basket will include early spring greens, asparagus, artichokes, and other very early crops! Free with Total Taste of the Farm Share Registration.
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What is a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Program?
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In the words of The Robyn Van En Center, CSA brings together community members, farmers, and agricultural land in a relationship of mutual support based on an annual commitment to one another - a commitment that ensures the survival of local farms today and for future generations.
If you are new to the concept of a CSA, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture where a household subscribes to a local farm for the growing season and picks up a weekly basket of fresh, organic produce at the farm. The basic idea of CSA farming is a cooperative relationship between the small farmer and his/her customers. With a preseason payment, you purchase a share of the season's harvest. You then receive a weekly basket of fresh produce during the course of the harvest season, from June to September. By subscribing to a CSA, you are providing a farmer with a very welcome measure of certainty, and in turn the farm is dedicated to providing you with varied, nutritious vegetables. The arrangement guarantees the farmer financial support and enables many small-to moderate-scale organic family farms to remain in business.
Ultimately, CSA creates agriculture-supported communities where members receive a wide variety of foods harvested at the peak of ripeness, flavor, and vitamin and mineral content.
Members of a CSA are called "shareholders" or "subscribers". The portion of the harvest each shareholder takes home is referred to as a "share."
The methods of operating a CSA vary considerably. Each CSA is designed specifically for its community and farmer, yet all CSAs strive for a truly sustainable operation, both economically and environmentally. Crops are planted in succession to provide a continuous weekly supply of mixed vegetables chosen for flavor and nutritional value, and to support biodiversity. The farmer frequently grows a large assortment of seasonal vegetables so shareholders can expect a wide variety. This greatly diminishes the risk of crop failure while enhancing soil fertility without the use of synthetic chemicals. Organic growing techniques such as crop rotation, companion planting, green manuring, and composting are often standard practice.
 Each week the farmer harvests fresh, ripe crops that are divided equally among shareholders. Usually, shareholders receive their food within 24 hours of picking. A share is generally enough for a family of four or a couple on a vegetarian diet. The price of a share for a season varies widely depending on each farm's costs of operation, total months of distribution, variety of crops available, and soil productivity.
I see the #1 most important reason to join a CSA is to dedicate and commit yourself to receiving, and thus using and eating, a whole basket of super-fresh, seasonal, organic, local, vegetables, greens, and herbs each week!
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How the Midsummer Farm CSA Program Works
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 We are accepting registrations now for the CSA ; all you need to do is download the registration form, fill it out, choose the options that work best for you and your household, enclose your check, and send to: Midsummer Farm at 156 East Ridge Road, Warwick, NY 10990.
Then starting in June, we will harvest and pack a bushel basket of heirloom, super fresh, certified organic produce for you each week from our small biodynamic farm.
Pick up is at the farm - just stop by each week for your big basket of delicious vegetables, along with recipes and ideas for using and storing. We also send out a weekly CSA newsletter with more recipes and information on the week's harvest.
We have two pick up times - Wednesdays between 6:30 and 7 pm and Fridays between 10 and 10:30 am.
Traditional Vegetable Share: 17 weeks, $695.00: Wednesday, June 5th through Sept. 25th or Friday, June 7th through Sept. 27th
Add-ons: Herb Share - (17 weeks) $65.00
(For the herb share, we add 6-12 bunches of fresh culinary herbs to your basket each week; one specific culinary herb will be highlighted each week with recipes and info, and we'll also be including a highlighted medicinal/tea herb as well each week.)
Flower Share - (middle 5 weeks) $60.00
(For the flower share, you'll receive a big bouquet of cut flowers for the five middle weeks of the CSA season. If you are having an event where you would want your flowers earlier or later we would be happy to accommodate that!)
Double Flower Share - (middle 10 weeks) $110.00
(For the flower share, you'll receive a big bouquet of cut flowers for the 10 middle weeks of the CSA season. If you are having an event where you would want your flowers earlier or later we would be happy to accommodate that!)
Summer Egg Share - (first 8 weeks) $60.00
(For the summer egg share, you'll receive 1 dozen eggs in your basket for the first 8 weeks of the CSA season.)
Mushroom Share - (17 weeks) $78.00
(For the mushroom share, we add a container of fabulous certified organic mushrooms each week - a variety of types, recipes also included. Mushrooms combine so well with vegetables...)
Sweet Share - (17 weeks) $360.00
(For the sweet share, you'll receive a fresh farm baked good each week with your vegetable basket. Baked goods will usually have nuts or herbs or vegetable components and will be made with our own eggs and organic ingredients.)
We also have a Special Share, we call the "Total Taste of the Farm" share. It includes the Traditional Vegetable Share, along with the Herb, single Flower, Summer Egg, and Mushroom Share for $932.00. You also get other farm products we produce in small quantities such as honey comb, smoked and dried peppers, duck eggs, and more!
What to expect at Pick Up... We aim to have the baskets all ready to go when you arrive. We don't have a lot of refrigerator space so we usually are harvesting for the shares the same day you pick up. We will try to have some extra fruit or other organic products available for sale that same day as well. Although you can just drop in fast and grab the basket and go, it is also a chance to talk with the other CSA members, discuss recipes and cooking tips, tour the gardens and greenhouse, visit with the chickens, and enjoy the company of like-minded people.
We want to encourage our CSA members to spend more time in the garden - as the season progresses, we'll have some pick your own options - that are especially nice for children - we'll have pick your own cherry tomatoes, green beans, and raspberries.
We have an artistic and gourmet vision for our CSA shares. We are a small farm - our cultivated garden area is under 2 acres. We do all of our growing, maintenance, harvesting, and packaging ourselves. This allows us to grow varieties of vegetables and greens that just cannot be grown on a large scale, where produce needs to survive mechanical harvesting and mass storage. You won't ever see most of the stuff we grow in any supermarket and only very rarely at the farmers' markets. Our lettuces are soft and frilly and our tomatoes and squash are tender-skinned and perfectly ripe. Many of our veggies go straight from the field into your basket - never seeing the inside of a fridge.
We also provide plenty of recipes and ideas for using your veggies as sometimes the unusual varieties may be a bit overwhelming if you're not used to them. We are dedicated to making sure that each of our shareholders can make good use of each week's harvest basket. We don't want anyone to feel over-burdened with veggies! And we understand busy schedules - our recipes and tips are designed for cooks with limited time but advanced taste-buds!
As a Holistic Health Coach, I really recommend becoming a member of a CSA - one of the key ways to achieve better health is to eat more vegetables and greens. By joining a CSA, you are automatically receiving a big basket of fresh vegetables every week and you have to use them! For some it may be a healthy challenge - but it is one well worth the effort! And we're here with all sorts of ideas and recipes for helping you make the best use of all the great veggies!
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Here's a list of the types of crops you'll see in your basket during the four months of our CSA program:
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 In June: You'll see: two different sorrels, lovage, lamb quarters, a huge variety of different frilly, soft heads of lettuce, baby greens mixes, garlic scapes, three different kales, rainbow chards, red and white dandelion greens, our fabulous collection of heirloom chicories, radicchio, frisee endive, escarole, edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, french breakfast radishes, round cherry radishes, watermelon radishes, long white sweet turnips, round tokyo turnips, collards, 4 different types of chives, green onions, scallions (both white and crimson), welsh onions, raspberries, strawberries, various colors of beets, fresh peas, rainbow carrots, nettles, spinach, and more! 
In July: You'll see: broccoli, early and savoy cabbages, basils, cilantro, summer squash (zucchini of various colors and flavors, pattypans, trombicino squash, cucumbers of all sorts (we are planning 18 different varieties of cucumbers), peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), blueberries, currants, mulberries, gooseberries, a variety of different frilly, soft heads of lettuce, baby greens mixes, some kale, lots of rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, radicchio heads, frisee endive, escarole, hot-weather edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, collards, continual green onions, scallions - both white and crimson, welsh onions, summer onions, various colors of beets, stringbeans (green, yellow, purple, flat podded), and more!
In August: You'll see: tomatoes (a huge variety of colors of cherry, plum, slicing, and giant tomatoes - we're currently planting seeds for over 40 different varieties), various colors and sizes of eggplants, cauliflower, tomatillos, leeks, broccoli, basils, cilantro, summer squash (zucchini of various colors and flavors, pattypans, trombicino squash, cucumbers of all sorts (we are planning 18 different varieties of cucumbers), peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), some lettuce, some kale, rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, radicchio heads, frisee endive, escarole, hot-weather edible flowers, flat and curly parsley, collards, continual green onions, scallions - both white and crimson, welsh onions, summer onions, and more!
In September: You'll see: fennel, burdock roots, other cool roots, winter squash, turnips, various colors of beets, brussel sprouts, tomatoes (a huge variety of colors of cherry, plum, slicing, and giant tomatoes - we're currently planting seeds for over 40 different varieties), various colors and sizes of eggplants, tomatillos, leeks, broccoli, basils, cilantro, peppers (sweet and hot varieties - we are planning over 40 different types of peppers), baby spinach and lettuce mixes, kale, rainbow chard, the bigger heirloom chicories like punterellas, frisee endive, escarole, flat and curly parsley, collards, scallions, welsh onions, storage onions, storage cabbage, and more! |
7 Reasons to Join a CSA
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1. You and your family's health. The number one missing ingredient to a healthy disease-free lifestyle is a variety vegetables! If you have a big basket of fresh veggies on hand, you will use them! And we are here to fully support you in using them!
2. Living more sustainably - by joining a CSA, you are personally and directly addressing the flaws of our global food system. By paying attention to what you eat, you participate in a more environmentally and socially sustainable way of life.
3. Living more ethically - you are supporting a circular farm with animals, plants, and the soil itself being treated with respect and care.
4. Supporting Local Business and strengthening your community.
5. Supporting Organic Farmers. It is more than just supporting the particular farm you have a membership with - it is about showing policy makers that people want local, real, organic food, and it is about showing the local farming community that you appreciate their efforts.
6. Creative cooking - to be the ultimate 'foodie' you must cook! In your basket will come a huge variety of flavors, scents, textures, and all of these can be cooked up and presented in thousands of different ways!
7. Saving fossil fuels - Typical grocery store produce travels 1,500 miles to get to your table!
Questions? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please do not hesitate to email or call us!
CSA@midsummerfarm.com | 845-986-9699
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 RECIPE: Cauliflower and Bay Purée
This also works with the big chartreuse heads of Romanesco Broccoli or on yellow colored cauliflower varieties. (I wouldn't use purple cauliflowers for this recipe....)
~1 head of cauliflower (rinsed and cut into evenly sized chunks)
~about 10 bay leaves
~freshly ground fresh black pepper ~sea salt
~4 tbsp butter (cut into slices)
Boil a large pot of water. Add cauliflower chunks and cook at a gentle boil until cauliflower is soft when poked with a fork. Strain and remove bay leaves.
Put hot cauliflower into a food processor, and lay butter slices over them so the butter melts. Once butter melts, start food processor and process until the purée runs nice and smooth. Taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper ifyouwant.
Enjoy immediately or refrigerate in for another day. Heats up quickly in a sauce pan on the stove - use low heat and
stir often, making sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
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Thanks very much and best wishes always,
~Barbara and Mark
Midsummer Farm
Warwick, NY |
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Disclaimer
© Copyright 2012 Barbara Taylor-Laino, HHC / Barbara Taylor Health. All Rights Reserved. This content may be copied in full, with copyright, contact, creation and information intact, without specific permission, when used only in a not-for-profit format. If any other use is desired, permission in writing from Barbara Taylor Laino is required.
This information newsletter is designed as an educational tool for better health. Recipes and information are included as examples for you learn from; they are not diagnostic or prescriptive. Everyone's health needs are different. This newsletter is not to be used as a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment of any health condition or problem. Any questions regarding your own health should be addressed to your own physician or other healthcare provider. The entire contents of this newsletter and the websites of Barbara Taylor Laino and Midsummer Farm are based upon the opinions of Barbara Taylor Laino, unless otherwise noted. Individual articles are based upon the opinions of the respective author(s), who retains copyright as marked. The information on the www.midsummerfarm.com website is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified health care professional and is not intended as medical advice. It is intended as a sharing of knowledge and information from the research and experience of Barbara Taylor Laino. You are encouraged to make your own health care decisions based upon your research and in partnership with a qualified health care professional.
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Midsummer Farm Contact Info:
Barbara and Mark Laino
Midsummer Farm
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
info@midsummerfarm.com
Holistic Health Counseling Contact Info:
Barbara Taylor-Laino
Barbara Taylor Health
156 East Ridge Road
Warwick, NY 10990
845-986-9699
info@barbarataylorhealth.com
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