Week 12! Po-Ta-Toes!

We got some much needed rain this week.  Over 3 inches in total.

New this week:

Potatoes: It's our second year growing potatoes. Last year was difficult, the weeds took over and the harvest was very poor. This year, we experimented with growing potatoes using plastic mulch. Based on what we see so far, it works! Weeds were controlled, hilling was not necessary, yield was up, and the quality looks nice. 

Recipes to try:
Corn and potatoes means its time for Sausage Corn Chowder!

Or corn and peppers in this Mexican Street Corn Salad

Green Bean & Mini Sweet Pepper Salad
1 lb.green beans
1 lb. mini sweet peppers, sliced
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
salt and pepper

Boil green beans for a few minutes,  then chill in cold water immediately.  Place chilled green beans and sliced peppers in a bowl.  Add garlic, apple cider vinegar and olive oil.  Mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

2016 Week 8 Sweet Corn!

Sweet Corn is here!  So glad to have sweet corn in your share for this week leading up to the 4th of July.  My words of wisdom about our sweet corn is eat it as soon as you can, it will taste the best this way. If you can't eat it right away, leave it in the husk and put in the refrigerator.  I've had many people tell me the have kept their corn for a whole week in the fridge and it still tastes delicious!  

Parsley-  is such a versatile herb.  It is so much more than just a garnish.  Try making Chimichuri ( a sauce served over grilled meat, Parsley pesto, or Tabolueh.  

Red Cabbage is super good for you. Recipe ideas: Grandma Jeanette's Red Cabbage or Red Cabbage Slaw

Purple Top Turnips- You can roast them, boil them, mash them. Or make this really delicious souffle.


Turnip Soufflé
3 to 4 turnips, peeled and sliced                   ½ cup butter
1 ½ tsp. salt, divided                                  2 Tablespoons flour
½ tsp. sugar                                               2/3 cup milk
4 eggs, separated                                       3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

1.      Place turnips, ½ tsp. of salt and sugar in a saucepan; cover with water.  Cover and cook until turnips are tender, about 15-20 minutes; drain well and mash (do not add milk of butter)
2.      In another saucepan, melt butter; stir in the flour and remaining salt until smooth.  Add milk; bring to a boil.  Cook and stir for 2 minutes.  Beat egg yolks in a small bowl; gradually stir in ½ cup hot milk mixture.  Return all to pan cook and stir for 1 minute.  Stir in turnips; remove from the heat.  Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form; fold into batter.  Spoon into a greased small casserole dish.  Sprinkle with bacon.  Bake, uncover at 350 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

2015 week 20 // Final Pick Up

Wow! It really is hard to believe that 20 weeks have passed.  Thank you so much to our precious CSA members for your support this season.  Your smiles and words of encouragement are greatly appreciated.

New this week:

Spaghetti squash:  I love this stuff! Here is a link to a tutorial for cooking one.  And here is my favorite spaghetti squash recipe: Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole.

KiwiBerries: Kiwi Berries are a small variety of the kiwi fruit with an edible skin. They are best eaten when the skin is wrinkled and they yield to pressure.   Really, the softer the better. As they soften they get more  and more sweet. Leave at room temperature to ripen.

Potatoes: We are so glad to have these beautiful potatoes from Rabbit Hill Farm in Shiloh, NJ.  Many potato growers in the area suffered a poor season due to a disease that came in the seed from Maine. Somehow Abe Baker and his daughter Hillary managed to pull off this beautiful crop.  

Yum, yum corn and potatoes means its time for Sausage Corn Chowder!

2015 week 18

New this week:

Apples! from Schober Farm in Monroeville. They have a retail farm stand, I highly suggest visiting them for all your apple needs this fall!  They have gorgeous apples.

Delicata Squash-  This is a new winter squash for us this year.  Like other winter squash Delicata can be stored for long periods of time, unlike other winter squash you can eat the skin.  Fantastically rich and sweet.
Here is a link to a simple recipe of Roasted Delicata Squash.
Here is a link to a recipe for Stuffed Delicata Squash, I would swap out the spinach for kale!

2015 week 17

Cantaloupe are back after a painful hiatus.

New this week:

Plums from Circle M Farms in Mannington Twp.

2015 week 16

2015 week 15!

Watermelon is here, and kale is back!

2015 week 14 -

New this week:

Cilantro!  Store in refrigerator with cut ends in a jar of water and leaves loosely covered with a plastic bag for several days.  Delicious in salsa!

Summer Crisp Lettuce - Lettuce in August is a new thing for us at Buzby Farm, we hope you enjoy these beautiful heads, much smaller than the spring heads, but so delicious!

Red Long Hots - We gave out long hots a couple weeks ago, these are from the same plant, the peppers just turned red from staying on the plant longer and having more time to ripen.  These would taste great in salsa!

2015 week 12

New this week:

Sicilian Eggplant!  Can be used just as you would a regular eggplant.

Returning from previous weeks:

Peaches
String Beans
Tomatoes
Collard Greens
Grape Tomatoes
Carrots
Sweet Corn
Onion

2015 week 11

Returning from previous weeks!

Onion
String Beans
Grape Tomatoes
Carrots
Bell Peppers
Tomatoes
Sweet Corn!!!

New this week:
Peaches from Larchmont Farms on Rt 77 in Deerfield.

2015 week 8!

Tuesday's storm was a whopper! Crazy fierce wind. Electricity was out for 2 days and there are many trees down. One tree fell on a greenhouse. One whole row of kiwi trellis collapsed! That looked scary, but we were able to reconstruct the trellis the next day and get them all standing. Looks like no kiwi were killed, only beat up a bit. Saturday we got another 2 inches of rain. Ugh!  And there are more thunderstorms in the forecast.  But at least the irrigation guys are getting a break.  Come on sunny summer days! 

Returning from previous weeks:
Blueberries
Kale
Carrots
Onion

New this week:

Sweet Corn- So glad to have sweet corn in your share for this week leading up to the 4th of July.  My words of wisdom about our sweet corn is eat it as soon as you can, it will taste the best this way. If you can't eat it right away, leave it in the husk and put in the refrigerator.  I've had many people tell me the have kept their corn for a whole week in the fridge and it still tastes delicious!  
Green Bell Peppers- Come on! Stir fried peppers and onion. . . heavenly! :-)
Beets- Our beet crop is a little underwhelming. Year after year we struggle to have a stellar beet harvest.  But we will keep trying to grow this elusive root crop.  I love roasted beets on a salad with goat cheese!

2013 week 7

Summertime

For all you folks who love your sweet corn, happy day to you. . . it's here!

It's New Jersey Blueberry season! Yippee!  The Pine Barrens of Atlantic and Burlington counties grow the best blueberries.  The berries in your share come from Hammonton, New Jersey.  

Did you know New Jersey is second, only to Michigan in blueberry production for the United States?

Parsley- a lovely herb that brightens flavor.  It is just wonderful added to so many dishes.
Have you ever made Chimichurri sauce for your steak, chicken, fish or pasta? It's amazing. 
Here are some recipes to try with Parsley

Chimichurri Recipe from Simply Recipes
Tabbouleh Recipe from Ina Garten
Parsley Tea to aide digestion
 Cucumber, Onion, Parsley Salad from Kalyn's Kitchen

 We are seeing the ill effects of all this rain.  Water laying in the field is not good.  We are pretty certain these peppers will not survive in this wet part of the field.

 To much rain is effecting the pickle crop as well, mold and fungus love to grow in wet areas

But we look to the future with hope for some dry, sunny days.
 Happy Summer!

2012 CSA Week #16

SugarBaby Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Red Cubanelle Peppers, Green Tomatoes, Red Tomatoes, Yellow Peaches, Sweet Corn, (not pictured PYO flowers, herbs, hot peppers)

Here we are WEEK #16.

We are enjoying this mild August weather! To quote Pop-Pop Buzby, "This is good weather for WORKING!"  To quote Farmer Andy, "Man, it is a beautiful day, I think you all should pay me for letting you work outside today!"  Haha.  Can you tell we love our job!  What a privilege to work out in this wonderful world we live in, the sun, fresh air, dirt.  We wouldn't want it any other way.

We have gotten about 5 inches of rain so far this August.  The corn is loving it, I just hope the pumpkins make it through this wet spell.

This originally came to me as a Jalapeño popper recipe.  Recently we have started filling cubanelles with it.  Both ways are amazing! 

This is what my father-in-law, Farmer Andy has to say about Stuffed Cubanelles, "I could eat about 10 feet of the that!"  

The filling:

One 8 oz block of cream cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup bread crumbs

dash of chili powder

dash of garlic powder.

Mix the above and use to fill all kinds of peppers.  For cubanelles bake at 400 until cheese is melty and the peppers are getting some browned edges, about 20-30 minutes. Feel free to use what ever cheese you have, switch out the cheddar for monetary, YUM!

Farmer Andy prefers this filling in red cubanelle peppers.  I cut them in half length wise and take the seeds out, and then smoosh some filling in.  

I enjoy using the cheese mixture to make my own jalapeño poppers. I bake the jalapeños at  300 for little bit longer, 40-50 minutes.  

It is amazing in any hot pepper!

Enjoy!

CSA 2012 week 13

This weeks share starting at the top going clockwise: sugar baby watermelon, 12 ears of corn, 4 cubanelle peppers, yellow peaches, eggplant, 3lbs tomatoes. (Not pictured) PYO flowers, herbs, grape tomatoes, and hot peppers.

New this week *Peaches*

The peaches this week are from Larchmont Farms on Rt 77. Elmer, NJ

The peaches need a day or two on the counter to ripen. Or keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

5 ways you can tell it is August around the farm

#1 the weeds- Around this time of year the weeds in every field are out of control.  We are doing our best to keep them out of our late field of eggplants, tomatoes, and pumpkins.  But the farm has definitely lost that clean spring look.

#2 The corn planter is put away-  We have been planting corn on a regular basis since April, but now the corn planter is tucked away in the storage building.  It depends on the weather, but we should have corn through the end of September.

#3 The bush hog comes to work. . . to clean up some fields.  We use the bush hog to chop up the fields when we are through with them.  We have already chopped up the first 2 cantaloupe fields. Next on the list the first tomato field. Oh and lots of corn has been chopped up too.

#4 Red and Yellow Peppers-  The colored peppers take a long time to ripen.  A pepper plant first makes a green bell pepper and then as it sits on the plant the pepper continues to ripen and turn those beautiful shades of red or yellow that we all love.

#5 The farm workers are all a little bleary eyed.  Everyone is pushing the limits of exhaustion.  The to-do list is long and never finished.  The jokes in the packing house get sillier. And everyone is starts dreaming of a fall vacation

CSA 2012 week 11

This weeks share includes: corn, green bell peppers, Sicilian eggplant, onions, heirloom tomatoes, PYO grape tomatoes, blueberries, watermelon and cantaloupe.

You can use Sicilian eggplant just as you would use your black globe eggplant.   Sicilian eggplant is great for eggplant Parmesan and is said to have slightly sweeter taste.
 Here is a link to my all time favorite eggplant recipe.

Tomato harvest is in full swing.  I LOVE it.  Here is my BLT I made for myself tonight.  That is one of the Big Beef tomatoes.  I had tomato juice running down to my elbows. YUM-O!

Also enjoying:

-Grilled Cheese with tomato
-Tomato Bruschetta
-Pico de gallo with our tomato, onion, and jalapeno
-Fried Eggplant with a slice of tomato on top
-Eat a tomato like an apple (Gram is famous for this one)

Enjoy!

CSA Share 2012: week 7

 Starting at top right and continuing clockwise.  Sweet Corn, beets, yellow squash, zucchini, string beans, carrots. 

I wish you all could have been there when Gail, Angie and I were pulling carrots this morning.  Pulling these beautiful carrots up from the earth could only be followed by great squeals of delight.  We were like giddy school girls, so excited with our harvest.

Beets!  I love them roasted.  Check out this recipe for Roasted Beets with Balsamic Glaze. It's my favorite beet recipe...... the orange, with the balsamic, and the beet. Ummmm, yeah, amazing.  And don't throw away the tops, you can cook the the beet greens just like you would, collards or kale. 

I would like to proudly announce the arrival of SWEET CORN to the CSA share this week.  Nothing tastes like summer like some corn!

We grow about 90 acres of corn every year.  It is all hand picked by an elite crew of specially trained guys.   Here at A.T. Buzby Farm, we are sweet corn snobs.  The lengths that we've gone to for this corn are remarkable. The corn that you are getting this week was started in the greenhouse and transplanted to the field, then covered with a mini-greenhouse. check it out here. It has been cultivated, irrigated and cared for. We harvest it at just the right time, when the flavor is at it's best and we harvest first thing in the morning, when the corn is the most turgid (crisp) and cool.  So I have some specific directions for you so that this extra special corn is cared for properly.

For the best flavor eat your corn as soon as possible.  I mean the same day you pick up.  If you can.

Although, if you can't eat your corn that night leave the husk on and store it in your refrigerator.  Refrigeration really helps to slow down the loss of the corns sweetness.  We have had many customers tell us that they leave their unshucked corn in the fridge for up to 7 days and it still tastes great!

To prepare your corn, husk and wash the corn.  Bring a big pot of water to boil.  Toss the ears in, cook for about 5 minutes.

What I normally end up doing is tossing the ears in the boiling water, bring it back to a boil, and then shutting the burner off.  Then I just let the corn sit in the water until we are ready to eat.  This works well for me because, I don't always know when Eric will come in for dinner.  This way the corn stays warm until I need it.

Corn is going to be a regular in the share for july and august.  If you ever have a week when you can't eat all the corn or it just isn't fitting into your meal plan. Freeze it!  It is so easy. Just cut the corn off the cob, stick it in a freezer bag, and toss it in the freezer. Done! If you're feeling extra ambitious, you can date the bag. Once you get used to eating this frozen corn, you will be ruined for all other frozen corn.

Drip Irrigation Video

Farmer Eric shows us how to close drip tape in the corn field.

Corn Planting Day!

All this effort to get Buzby Corn 7-10 days earlier. . .

 

 We use this tunnel layer to make mini greenhouses over each row of corn.

 

My Farm Guy shovels down the plastic at the beginning and end of each row.  He is a pro at the shovel.

 Farmer A. is the wire flicker.  He puts a wire in at just the right time. The tunnel layer has clippers that grab the wire, bend it, and shove it into the ground.  The wires form the tunnel.

 The rig is well known for being fussy and trouble-ridden.  Notice above Farmer A. doing a side plank, trying to fix a wire that got out of place. Honestly, the machine has a reputation for making good men curse.

 But it is pretty cool when it works. Cute little tunnels all in a row.

 Happy corn plants safe from the harsh spring winds.

 These plants were started in the greenhouse, just a couple weeks ago.

 

Here the clippers have grabbed the wire and are beginning to bend the wire.

 The little wheels in the back put tension on the plastic and hold in on the ground while the discs throw dirt on to hold it in place.

 It really is amazing to watch.

Lily the dedicated farm dog.  She is haulin' to keep up with the dirt bike. Eric racing back from the shop with a tool to tweak the tunnel layer.

 Just on the other side of the roadway the planter is trudging along.  This carousel-like wheel has pockets to place the plants in. The pockets dig a whole and drop the plant, then the tubes in back gives each plant a shot of water.

 One row at a time, up and back, all day long. (But really fun, I LOVE riding the planter!)

Waiting for the next crew to come and get covered with a tunnel.

 Reload the planter at the end of each row.

 And give the packer wheels a kick to get the mud off, just for good measure.

And what is a little guy supposed to do while mama is taking forever to take some pics?. . . play in the sand!

Spring is Here! {{Happy Dance}}

On Tuesday spring officially arrived which is marked by the vernal equinox.  From here on out the days are longer than the nights. . . which means "It's time to get to WORK!"  Yay! We have lots of daylight hours to be in the field and get things going.  Farmer E says he is like a snake, he moves a lot faster after he warms up a little bit.  And boy oh boy are we warm!

 

Farm Queen giving the eggplants a good drink.

We have a happy little greenhouse full of happy little eggplants--the standard globe eggplant, Sicilian, and NEW THIS YEAR. . . Spanish striped eggplant.

First corn field

The first corn seed is in the soil, germinating as we speak!  We plant the seed in a ditch then cover the ditch with plastic, creating a tiny little greenhouse.  This helps get the soil warm enough so the seed will germinate well.  The plastic almost seems unnecessary this year.

Romaine

Swiss Chard

The CSA field is off and running.
Sugar snap peas
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Broccoli Rabe
Romaine
Swiss Chard
The ground is dry, I have already been through with the water tank to give them a much needed drink.  Carrots and beets were planted along with the turnips today too!  Enjoy!

Sausage Corn Chowder.

This is a hearty and easy supper.  And it can be ready in about 30 minutes!

1 lb. Italian Sausage, casing removed
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cups potatoes, diced
3 cups water
2 teaspoons dried Parsley
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 can evaporated milk (12oz)
4 cups corn
In soup pot over medium heat brown sausage and onion.  Add potatoes, water, parsely, basil, salt, and pepper.  Bring it to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes.  Add remaining ingredients cook 5-10 minutes longer.