Author: Kasha

Field to Feast: Dill and Garlic Scapes

Field to Feast: Dill and Garlic Scapes

Posted on by Kasha
Dill and Garlic Scapes It's the second week of July (yes, this is how long it's taken me to write this post) and we just held our sixth annual farm tour here in sunny, humid and oppressively hot Orange County.  Ordinarily we would be setting up at our local farmers' market every Friday from Memorial Day through Halloween, but there is a special event in our town that is held each July 4th weekend, the preparations for which have forced our market's closing for the last six years. A typical farm summer doesn't allow us the luxury of a day...Read More
Field to Feast: Strawberries and Rhubarb… The Day After

Field to Feast: Strawberries and Rhubarb… The Day After

Posted on by Kasha
This pic pretty much sums up my absolute favorite way to use the strawberry-rhubarb sauce recipe which I posted earlier in  the week.  Well, other than just eating it with a spoon, that is.  The full-fat ice cream, whipped cream and vanilla spongecake are outrageously decadent and surprisingly light!  You cannot BELIEVE how much of this you can pack away before you even realize you're full! It all started with my grandmother, Babci Sophie.  Babci was an excellent cook - not a professional chef, but very skilled nonetheless - and it was fairly common for her to bake a cake for her...Read More
Field to Feast: Strawberries and Rhubarb

Field to Feast: Strawberries and Rhubarb

Posted on by Kasha
We plant about 500-750 new strawberry plants each year in addition to transplanting daughter plants and maintaining the previous year's mothers.  These new 'bare root' plants come from a supplier in what looks like a box of tangled, dirty never-gonna-grow roots.  With careful planting - the roots below the surface of a plastic-mulch-covered raised bed of soil, the crown just above - the plants will take hold, and begin to produce flowers in 4-6 weeks. That doesn't mean we'll get berries at that point.  In fact, and this probably goes against instinct, but we actually pluck off the first set...Read More
It was the best of times… (Field to Feast: Spinach)

It was the best of times… (Field to Feast: Spinach)

Posted on by Kasha
It was the worst of times. Yeah, Mr. Dickens was right.  I kinda want to punch him. But that's not going to stop the rain from falling.  We had over 8 inches of rain fall in a week's time here at the farm.  Perhaps you can imagine our poor little plants standing in puddles and mud for days and days. Perhaps you can't, so I'll show you. It hasn't rained here in 4 days and for that we are thankful.  But the effects of such weather are long-lasting.  The cucumbers that we planted a month ago probably won't be producing...Read More
Field to Feast: Green Garlic and Asparagus

Field to Feast: Green Garlic and Asparagus

Posted on by Kasha
Welcome to my very first "Field to Feast" post!  I hope you will enjoy the recipes and photos that Amy Roth of Minimally Invasive and I (Kasha Bialas of The FarmGirl Cooks) have in store for you this season.  Our goal is to provide our readers with plenty of ideas and recipes in which local seasonal produce can star. We've learned over the years that some produce items, while delicious and absolutely edible, are completely unavailable in stores.  One of those items is green spring garlic.  Green garlic is just what the name implies - it's the green, very young...Read More
What to do with Bespeckled Bananas

What to do with Bespeckled Bananas

Posted on by Kasha
Obviously, make banana bread. But not some oily, bland, burnt banana bread... you want one that tastes just like Aunt Pam's! And Aunt Pam would be whom, you ask? Well, she would be my mom's sister, and she is also the family expert on banana bread baking.  None of the banana breads I've had can compare to hers. I set out to find a recipe on Sunday morning (because Sunday mornings were made for baking... in case you didn't know), and found one in The Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham.  It looked like it would be similar to...Read More
Roasted Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Main Dish Salad

Roasted Sweet Potato and Blue Cheese Main Dish Salad

Posted on by Kasha
or.... they eat flowers, don't they? I do, for sure. In fact, at this time of year, when our homegrown onions are sprouty and bound for the compost heap, I get antsy for all things allium.  I'm starting to panic a little.  I've even gotten to the point where I ration the few onions I have left. I have this issue with BUYING vegetables that are 1) not local and 2) inferior to what we grow here in the fertile valley known as "the Black Dirt region". That's not to say that I don't buy produce in the off-season.  I...Read More
DIY Taco Seasoning Mix

DIY Taco Seasoning Mix

Posted on by Kasha
I have a thing for spices, and for Taco seasoning. 'A thing' meaning I cannot stop buying them even if I don't use them. I use a lot, don't get me wrong. It's just that cardamom pods and Bell's poultry seasoning aren't exactly things I use every day. I needed them for a particular recipe and bought them, then they got lost behind the myriad other spice bottles in my closet that undoubtedly fall out onto my head when I'm digging around for something. I took Thomas grocery shopping with me the other day and he decided he wanted tacos...Read More
There’s No Place Like Home

There’s No Place Like Home

Posted on by Kasha
Out here in the Black Dirt area of Orange County, NY, we have to deal with very unique circumstances and events, and after 40<cough, cough> years of living here, I'm kinda used to those things.  My father, after 70 years on Celery Avenue, probably knows the place better than anyone else, except maybe his big sister Beverly.  Hell, my kid has seen 3 devastating floods in his short lifetime, each one worse than the last, and he thinks it's just the way things are here in the farmland. Twisters, or dust devils, are a regular occurrence around here and while...Read More
Forgot to buy colored sugar for cookies? MAKE IT!

Forgot to buy colored sugar for cookies? MAKE IT!

Posted on by Kasha
A friend of mine asked me to make a cookie donation to a very worthy cause: The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. As her way of raising funds for this cause, Katie hosted a Spa Day complete with raffles and giveaways and the cookies I sent her were included. I was absolutely honored to help. I can't say that I've lost anyone very close to me because of breast cancer, but it's touched the lives of several in my family and surrounding circles over the years. I've even had my own 'let's have another look at that shadow' and 'perhaps...Read More