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TWIN SPRINGS FRUIT FARM


"Purple Flash" banker plants in the Manar planting

For what's at market this week please see below.  (Click here for locations and time) 


LETTUCE SALE EXTENDED FOR ANOTHER WEEK!

     It looks like we have decided that it would be best if Twin Springs extended the lettuce sale, which we put in place over the past week. The monthly 10% discount, however, is over. This is to say that we will still offer both our Green Buttercrunch and Red Oakleaf at just $2.50 a head or 2 for $4.50, rather than the regular $2.95 each. 
     Everything is just growing so well and the greenhouses look so healthy; it helps that we are getting more warm sunny days lately. It just makes sense to pass the bounty along to our customers, and ask that they try to work a bit more of something like the lettuce into their weekly menu.


TWO NEW VARIETIES OF WINTER SQUASH

     Winter Sweet and ChaCha are the two new varieties of winter squash on display at our markets. Both are "Keepers", in other words they hold better in storage that the BonBon and Sunshine which we have just sold out of (Out of which we have just sold, doesn't sound right. Does it? Oh well, let the darned participle "dangle"!). For a couple of years we have grown some squash to hold back until late in the winter; while not quite the same look as what we have been selling for the last couple of months be assured that they are great substitutes for those that are now gone.
    We have had reports that both varieties are very sweet, though a bit less smooth than BonBon, more like the Sunshine, which is also a Kabocha squash. Jillian, who works with me at Takoma, and is Tom's daughter, cooked one for the family and her mom, Ellen, thought that she had "put honey on it because the juice came out sticky sweet while baking".
     If you take a look at the two pictures in the bottom section "What's at Market This Week" you'll see two pictures, on the left is the green one, "ChaCha", on the right, "Winter Sweet", more a shade of gray. Johnny's seed catalog describes it thusly:
"Winter Sweet delivers a combination of sweetness, flaky texture, and depth of flavor that has made it a favorite on our research farm... Best eating quality between 2 and 5 months after harvest."
About the ChaCha they have only this to say:
"Bright orange flesh cooks up dry, flaky, sweet, and delicious."

Well what's the point of droning on about winter squash without a recipe, so here goes:

WINTER SQUASH AND GOLDRUSH SOUP

INGREDIENTS
5 lbs. TSFF Winter Squash
2 lbs. TSFF GoldRush apples
4 cups sliced TSFF Candy onions
2 Tbs. Unsalted Butter
2 Tbs. Good Olive Oil
1 1/2 - 2 Tbs. Curry Powder
2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
2 cups TSFF Pure apple cider
2 cups chicken stock *
Sour Cream and/or toasted Pumpkin seeds - both optional garnishes
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook onions and curry powder in the olive oil and butter for 20 minutes or until tender and slightly caramelized.
Stir and scrape bottom of pot, and add peeled and cut up chunks of squash and apple, salt, pepper, and stock.
Bring to a boil and simmer on low heat, covered, for 40 minutes, until very soft.
Process soup with an immersion blender, if you have one, barring that use a blender or food processor, carefully, in small batches.
Add cider to thin to your desired consistency.
Check salt and peppers, and serve hot.
The soup should be slightly sweet and quite thick. Garnish with a dollop of sour cream when served, and pumpkin seeds if desired.
(I often also use frozen veggie juice, as I've previously described saving from steamed vegetables, and then freezing in a dedicated ice cube tray, as well as frozen saved clam juice)

BANKER PLANTS

     The top picture, which Michael sent me today, is of pots planted with decorative pepper plants, "Purple Flash", which Tom seeded many weeks ago solely to use as a kind of "Bait and Switch" for certain insect pests. The theory of "banker plants" mentioned somewhat last year, is to place something in the greenhouse which is more attractive to pests, in this case Thrips, than the crops you are trying to grow, and therefore protect. It turns out that Thrips just love pepper flowers, as do the predators we introduce to control them.
     This is just one of many organic, chemical free, Integrated Pest Management techniques with which Tom is experimenting. In this case the tremendous amount of flowers put on by these ornamentals will attract not just the Thrips, but are also attractive to the predator species "Orius" which we are introducing into appropriate greenhouse bays. Tom used these predators last season, introduced weekly along with a predatory mite, to control the awesomely awful thrips. They worked great in our sweet pepper bay, but we had a lot of problem with thrips in our cucumbers. 
     Tom's theory is that if we grow the ornamental peppers in pots as you see in the photo, and hang them in with the cucumber plants, both the thrips and their predator, the Orius, will be attracted and "duke it out", with the predators being the winners, no contest. If needed, say the predators die off or something, the pepper "banker plants" can be pulled out, bagged and destroyed. For this reason Tom is planting a succession of the ornamental peppers to have the ability to introduce them as needed. 
     A real key to control of pests is to get a good start, ahead of time; beginning with a clean greenhouse in early Spring is paramount. You want a low, but not zero, pest population, as a food supply, in place, when predators are introduced is a necessity with certain species. 
     A number of biological control techniques are being implemented at this time to stay on top of any pest issues, before they become entrenched. Tom pointed out that as Spring progresses we all get busier and busier, and are more likely to not have the time needed to keep up with all the control measures we wish to maintain. 


Baby  Shallot plants getting ready for Spring Planting



 It won't be long before Cherry Blossoms are out! 
Aubrey & the crew
Best wishes from Twin Springs
 
WHAT'S AT MARKET THIS WEEK
Here is a list of what we expect to carry at all locations this coming week. 
  • Manar Cucumbers - Plenty for the week ahead. I dropped my price at Takoma last Sunday as we had a bit more than usual; a good thing for everyone.
  • Apple Varieties - GoldRush, Fuji, Pink Lady, Buckeye Gala and Nittany, out of regular storage, and out of controlled atmosphere are Cameo and Golden Delicious.
  • Fresh Green Garlic -  It is back for the week ahead; there is plenty.
  • Watercress - I am told that we will have quite a few bags of our "roots on" watercress on the weekend.
  • Winter Squash - "Winter Sweet" and "ChaCha" both being Kabocha squash, as well as Butternut squash. Please see the write-up above as well as the pictures below.
  • Sweet Potatoes - Both the traditional Beauregard and the extra sweet Japanese sweet potatoes, both are considered to be super-foods. 
  • Pure Apple Cider - Tangy and light, with the superb flavor you expect from our apples. There is never any sugar or preservatives added to our wholly natural and nutritious cider. It is "flash-pasteurized" for safety, but the quick and relatively low temperature ensures that the flavor is unaffected, and the healthful enzymes remain unchanged.
  • Spring Mix Salad Greens - Arturo tells me we will have a fair showing of micro-greens.
  • Vivaldi Potatoes - (a Weight Watcher's Club pick) We advise a simple wash but not a hard scrub or peel, many nutrients, especially minerals, are in or just below the skin. 
  • Onions - We have both the Candy, sweet yellow onions, and Mercury, the mild red onions, available.
  • German Hardneck Garlic - We are bringing over a fresh supply from the farm; we had held it back due to the low temps, and the fact that it always seems to remain on the trucks. Remember Jo's advice to always crush or press the garlic and let it sit for at least 10 minutes so that it will produce the Allicin, a beneficial compound only formed after the cloves have been "damaged" in some fashion, at which point the Allicin is created by a reaction between two substances, alliin and alliinase.
  • Radishes - Arturo says we'll be harvesting a good number this week.
  • Arugula - We expect to be a little short this week; so get out early if you must have some. Also, please feel free to hit reply to let me know how the new packaging is working for you. Due to its being cut and packed dry there may be an issue with it drying out.
  • Lettuce - We will have an abundance of lettuce; see the sale mentioned above, Green Buttercrunch for the most part, but as mentioned there will be some of the Red Oakleaf.
  • Carrots - Purple carrots, the first we have grown, will be in the mix of three colors in 1 lb. bags.  Sugarsnax are the orange variety at this time and are in 2 lb. bags at $5.50, a slight discount over purchasing them loose. We are sending some "loose" purple ones so that you may just try them separately; you may mix them with the orange.                     
  • Large Carrots - Large Bolero carrots are to be found in 4 pound bags at a discount (a bag is going for $6.00 at this time, only 1.50/lb.!). These are still superior carrots; we simply need to move them.
  • Pink Lady Dried Apples - "Apple Snitz" as the Amish call it 
  • Twin Spring's Own Products - Jarred Peaches, Hot Pepper Jelly, Peach Jam, Chipotle Ketchup, Marinara Sauce, Apple Butter and Apple Sauce. All may be purchased individually, or by the 12 jar case, for 10% off. 
  • Patty's Apple Cider Caramels - Made fresh weekly using the current batch of Twin Springs' Cider, these caramels have become a new hit, with some customers purchasing a number of bags at a time. Patty only has so much time; these will always be few and far between. For my Takoma customers: you may purchase them from Patty herself at the Audia Farm stall. 


 

In addition, we will offer the following products at OUR OWN Markets: 

  • Joe will have some fresh Kale and Spinachgrown in his greenhouse for us.  
  • Tart Cherry Juice - a very powerful  natural anti-oxidant food (this is a new link in which you may be interested) which is simply Montmorency sour cherry juice with no added sugar etc. I still find that drinking about 8 oz., around two hours before bedtime, usually adds at least 20 to 30 minutes to my sleep. It also seems to help with inflammation, especially of the arthritic kind, as in the case of my thumb joint.                                     
  • Fresh Hard Pretzels - both Regular and Honey Whole Wheat, now from Revonah Pretzels in Hanover . Let us know how you like them compared to our old supplier.
  • Michelle's Granola handmade and freshly baked in the DC area
  • Allen's fresh Eggs - Raised right outside Gettysburg, both brown and white, from "free walking hens". Delivered fresh to us every Wednesday.
  • Artisanal Cheeses - Twin Springs carries Ed's fresh local: Sharp Cheddar, Cheddar, Smoked Cheddar as well as Smoked Jalape�o; also available are his Goat Gouda and Goat Cheddar.
  • Local Wildflower Honey - Jim Small has kept us supplied with his pure, raw honey, much of it drawn from hives kept year-round at our farm.
  • Maple Syrup and Maple Sugar - tapped and bottled on the Patterson Farm in Pennsylvania.
  • McCutcheon's Products - We carry an extensive line of their jams, some fruit sweetened, ie. no cane sugar or corn syrup, and jellies as well as many other great products created right in Frederick Maryland.
  • Baked Goods - from the Stonehearth Bakery, also in Frederick, all items are baked "that" morning: Baguettes, innumerable kinds of fresh breads, both sliced, and unsliced crispy crust loaves, croissants, scones and cookies