Tag: Herbs

Kitchen Cheat Sheet: Fresh Herbs

Kitchen Cheat Sheet: Fresh Herbs

Kitchen Cheat Sheet: Fresh Herbs. What herbs go best where? I remember way back in the olden days... around the turn of this century... when a farmer lived by the seasons.  We had planting season, summer, harvest time, and winter.  The winter seemed to last forever, probably because we weren't used to not being pulled in a million different directions at once.  It was a foreign concept, but certainly welcomed after the long year behind us. Winters were a time of lounging with a cup of coffee and the paper or snuggling with the cat in front of the wood...Read More
Field to Feast: Genovese Basil

Field to Feast: Genovese Basil

It always amazes me how much produce we grow here on our 55 acres of Black Dirt.  The sheer quantity is astounding. The veggies are all sold at farmers markets or through our CSA (community supported agriculture) programs. We also maintain numerous wholesale accounts. I realized the other day - when I was simply and utterly exhausted and barely had the energy to make my kid dinner - that I sort and/or stack about 85% of what leaves this farm.  No WONDER I'm tired in the summer! It probably comes as no surprise to any of you that I'm ridiculously...Read More
Field to Feast: Dill and Garlic Scapes

Field to Feast: Dill and Garlic Scapes

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
Pizza Night at the Farm

Pizza Night at the Farm

Sunday is often "Pizza Night" at our house, usually because we are out and about doing chores and such and the last thing I want to think about after a busy week with 2 farmers markets in a row (Friday in Goshen, Saturday in Ringwood) is planning a big meal. So, I don't. This Sunday, however, we did not get take-out from our favorite place (Village Pizza, Goshen.... Sal is the sweetest man and loves our swiss chard!).  Fletch and I delivered some produce to Adams Fairacre Farms in Newburgh and we kinda shopped around.  I saw some pizza dough...Read More
Grilled Corn with Parsley-Garlic Butter and Parmesan

Grilled Corn with Parsley-Garlic Butter and Parmesan

Parsley garlic butter with fresh parsley, to put on anything you can dream up. I was washing up bunches of parsley for our 3 markets last week and the smell caught me right there. You know the place. That place in your nose where the aroma hits you so deeply that it triggers your brain and makes you think  you just have to have it - kinda like movie theater popcorn. I brought a bunch home and whipped it up in the food processor with a few cloves of garlic, a stick of unsalted butter, a few tablespoons of olive...Read More
Summer Comfort Food

Summer Comfort Food

We had a CSA pick-up yesterday.   Shell peas were a major component of the share box this week and each time I greeted a customer I stood there snacking on a few raw ones, encouraging them to do the same.  Most were polite and ate one or two... I, on the other hand, had nearly a pound's worth of empty pea pods by the time we were done with our distribution. And yet I still wanted peas for dinner.  I had no child's whims to contend with last night, so Pasta with Peas and Ricotta it was. This was...Read More
I Fell Off the Meat Wagon

I Fell Off the Meat Wagon

The need for Chicken salad with curry mayonnaise, apples and chive blossoms. A few weeks back, as he does most every week, Thomas 'worked' the Ringwood Farmers Market with me. It's a good thing, too, because I needed his smiling face and skinny-armed hugs.  By the time I arrived I was NOT in any mood to display exemplary customer service. I got a flat tire on the way to market.   It was that sudden, "hey, is that a rock on the roadway...?" that got me. KLUNK! I saw the damn thing at the last minute and, sure enough, it...Read More
Salt-n-Rosemary Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Salt-n-Rosemary Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Fingerling potatoes, or...what to make when you are craving salt and starch and you don't want to run all the way to 7-11 for chips and onion dip. It was rainy last Monday. Oh, wait.  It's been rainy pretty much EVERY Monday since God knows when. I wanted to warm up the house a little so I got some Austrian Crescent fingerling potatoes ready for baking.  Then the idea of baking them in salt smacked me in the face. Years ago, my girlfriend used to get baby potatoes from us at the market. She raved about baking them in salt. ...Read More
Row, Row, Row Your Boat

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

All the way to market... IF there's anything left to sell. I know I sound a bit cranky right now, please overlook it.  I AM cranky.  Pretend I'm 4 and am having a tantrum but this time a cookie isn't going to fix it. It's been raining for days, and that's on top of the 4 inches of rain we had last week over a span of 4 days.  By the time all is said and done, we'll have had 8-inches in the last 8 days.  The veggies can't take it, and honestly, the people are starting to have a hard...Read More
Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Grabbing the Bull by the Horns

Should I apologize first or just get to the recipe? Ok, apology: I am so sorry for not posting anything in the last several weeks.  I haven't cooked all that much, actually, and although I have TONS of ideas floating around in my head, farmwork, heatwave and motherhood have basically wiped me out and left me the shell of a woman who nods off on the couch each night while her kid rides his bike with his cousins and  the dinner dishes sit in the sink until morning. I'm not going to lie.  I've eaten more than my share of Trader Joe's Thai Shrimp...Read More