The unseasonably cool nights in the last half of July and moist conditions have been hard on the garlic, tomatoes, cantaloupe and cucumbers. We hope that warmer weather helps stop the spread of Late Blight and Downy Mildew! Good news is that the sweet corn is coming along and we expect to have some for the August 1st pick-up. The gladiolas are slow to start, but I do see some flowers coming. We have pick-your-own sunflowers in the garden to the north of the house. A tip is to re-cut the stem when you get home and put them into warm/hot water.

Ken had to hook up his team of wooden horses to pull out one of our really big zucchini this year as the pictures shows! We have lots of Zucchini and Summer Squash, both can be used in the following recipe Jolianne has made this on her cooking night and it has been a big hit here at Orchard Hill Farm

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Italian Zucchini Pie

From Simply in Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert

Yields 2 pies

¼ cup warm water

1-tablespoon active dry yeast

Mix until yeast dissolves. Set aside.

¼ cup milk

1-tablespoon olive oil

1 egg (beaten)

Combine in a mixing bowl or food processor. Add dissolved yeast and stir.

¼ cup whole-wheat flour

¼ cup Parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

1-teaspoon salt

1 –2 teaspoons fresh basil (chopped)

Blend in.

2 cups bread flour

Add ½ cup at a time to make a smooth but slightly sticky dough. Place in a greased bowl, turn to grease both sides, cover with a damp cloth, and place in a warm place while preparing the zucchini filling.

¼ cup butter

9 cups zucchini (thinly sliced)

1-2 cups onion (chopped)

Melt butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add zucchini and onions and sauté until soft, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 tablespoon each fresh basil and oregano (chopped; or ½ teaspoon dried)

1-teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

Stir in.

5 large eggs (beaten)

4 cups mozzarella cheese (shredded)

Combine in a separate bowl, then stir into zucchini mixture.

Divide dough in half. Place each half on a lightly floured surface and roll into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Place each into a lightly greased 10-inch pie dish.

4 teaspoons prepared mustard

¼ cup Parmesan cheese (grated; optional)

Spread the pie crests with mustard. Divide the zucchini mixture between the two crests. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top, if using. Bake in preheated oven at 375F until center is set 18-20 minutes. If crust begins to brown before center is done, cover edges with aluminum foil. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Our apprentices are busy putting the final coat of sand/clay plaster on the interior straw bale walls in the bunkhouse. CSA members are welcome to go and have a look when they come to the farm.

Another week has rolled around. The garden is producing well. The zucchini and summer squash have kicked into gear. Any new recipes are always welcome. Remember to look at the side index of our blog to see past postings with recipes. Cucumbers will be the next new addition to the pick-ups.

Some of you may be wondering about the saga of the laying hens…as you may have noticed the layers have moved up to the north end of the farm again. After Ken spent the better part of a week building a special hawk proof movable hoop house we found that the laying hens didn’t like it and they essentially quit laying eggs. So…we moved them back to their old hen house and put up an electric poultry fence around it. In order to give them more free range we took down the fence, as we have done in past years, as soon as we did that we lost a hen a day to the hawk. So…we put them back into the fence that was good for about a week, but then the hawk decided that the fence wasn’t a deterrent after all and we lost two hens in one day. I guess the hawk was making up for lost time. Now we have moved them up near the house hoping that the proximity to the activity in the yard and maybe Caesar, our dog, will keep the hawk away. However, Caesar seems more interested in mice when he isn’t flaked out sleeping in the pick-up room.

The portable hawk proof hoop house is now housing a meat chicken pilot project. Anna, our senior apprentice decided that she would like to try and raise some meat birds this year for our own use. Since the day old chicks arrived Anna has been their mother hen and has done a fine job of nurturing them along. After spending their first three weeks in the workshop with a heat lamp they moved out to the hoop house. All was well for over a week until the chicks piled up next to the edge, pushed out the aviary netting, touched the electric fence that was put around the outside to keep the raccoons away at night and three died of electric shock in one night! So…we now have a secondary fence inside to keep the chicks from pushing into the electric fence.

The next time you buy free-range chicken and or eggs you can wonder how the farmer kept away all the other creatures that love chicken and still managed to have free-range chicken!

Erin and Liam Harder are pictured with Ken as the meat chicks are on their way from the workshop to the hoop house.

Edible Flowers are an eye catching addition to set off a salad. In the picture are Canada Lilies, Nasturtiums, Blue Borage Flowers and some burgundy Red Amaranth leaves, that were just picked from the side garden at Orchard Hill Farm.

The garden is growing well with all the rain. We expect to have our first summer squash and zucchini this Saturday! The strawberry season is just about over. We hope you are enjoying the early broccoli. Cauliflower and summer cabbage will be coming soon.

Due to all the rain (three inches in 14 days) we have delayed cutting the last of our first cut hay. As soon as it drys up we will hope to get it in the barn! Bunkhouse work on the dry wall has started again and we hope to have time to do some more mudding in July.

We have an Ontario CRAFT(Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training) day at the farm next Wednesday. Apprentices from other farms, who are part of the CRAFT apprentice network that we belong to, will be coming here for a tour and workshop. We expect to have the apprentices pull a walking plow to see what’s like to be a draft horse as part of the fun for the day.

Garlic Scapes come once a year when the garlic are sending up their flower. We harvest them so the garlic will bulb more, but you can use them too. I found some recipes from Mariquita Farm to share with you or just give you a jumping off point for using them!

Garlic Scape Ideas:

-You can add sliced scapes to any stir fry recipe.
-Slice and sprinkle over any pasta, or slice and cook them in almost any sauce recipe.
– Great in guacamole and fresh salsa, too.
– Chop & add to softened cream cheese.
-Add chopped fresh scapes when serving a light garlic soup; can also add them to buttered, french bread floated on the soup. -Use them as you would green onions, they’re just better.
– Good in salads, on bruschetta, pizza.
– An excellent addition to stocks….and much Asian cuisine.
-Put in Thai chicken/basil/coconut soup.

Garlic Scape Tortilla

1 & 1/2 cups chopped garlic scapes
1/2 cup chopped scallions
1/4 cup hot water
Salt & Pepper
4 large eggs
2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

Place garlic and scallions in a 10 inch skillet with 1 tsp. oil, 1/4 cup water and a pinch of salt. Cook covered over med. high heat until tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well. Beat eggs with salt and pepper. Add remaining oil to skillet. When oil is hot, shake skillet to spread greens evenly, add eggs. Cover and cook over med. low heat until top is set [2-3 Minutes].

Mashed Potatoes with Garlic Scapes

2 1/2 lbs. russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ pieces.
2 Tablespoons butter (can omit this if on a restricted fat diet/lifestyle)
1-2 Tbsp, olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped scapes
1/4 cup hot milk (or more)

Cook potatoes until very tender. Drain and return to pot. Over medium high heat, melt butter with olive oil in a small skillet. Add scapes and saute about 5 minutes. Add to potatoes and mash. Gradually add milk while stirring. Season with salt and pepper.

Chicken With Garlic Scapes & Capers

2 whole skinless boneless chicken breasts, halved
2 Tbsp. Unsalted butter
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 Tbsp. dry white wine
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
4 chopped garlic scapes
1 Tbsp. drained capers

Between sheets of plastic wrap slightly flatten chicken. In a large heavy skillet heat 1Tbsp. of butter and the oil over medium high heat. Saute until cooked through. Season with salt & pepper. Transfer chicken to a platter and keep warm. Pour off fat from skillet and add the remaining butter, the wine, lemon juice, scapes and bring mixture to a boil. Stir in capers and salt & pepper to taste. Spoon sauce over chicken. Serves 4.

Roasted Garlic Scapes

Take the scapes and put them in a lightly oiled roasting pan, top with salt (kosher or seas salt works best but any will do). Put the loaded and covered pan in a hot (425 °F) oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until they are beginning to turn brown. serve as a side or main dish. Tastes like roasted garlic but creamier.

Julia’s note: some the recipes above I found somewhere on the internet, others I played with in my kitchen.

June has been a busy month on the farm. The garden is growing well now with the rain and the heat! We have the first broccoli to harvest today and there are some baby summer squash and zucchini that will soon be ready.

Last weekend Ken and I headed off to Wisconsin to a one year Anniversary celebration for Ellen and Aaron, our daughter and son-in-law. We enjoyed meeting Aaron’s family and friends and I have posted a picture for those of you who remember Ellen. She and I started the CSA in 1997 to raise money for her to attend University! Since then the CSA has become the major focus of our farm operation.

I have received a rhubarb recipe from Karen Savino and would like to include it for those of you who have frozen rhubarb from our early pick-ups.

Hot and Sour Rhubarb and Crispy Pork with Noodles

By Jamie Oliver

1kg Pork belly, boned, rind removed, cut into 3-4 cm cubes
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Peanut or vegetable oil

14 ounces medium egg noodles
4 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 fresh red chili, deseeded and finely sliced
2 bunches of interesting cresses (such as coriander, shiso, or basil cress)
a bunch of coriander
2 limes

For the Marinade:
400g (14 ounces) rhubarb
4Tbsp runny honey
4 Tbsp soy sauce
4 garlic cloves, peeled
2 fresh chillies, halved and deseeded
1 heaped tsp five spice
a thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

Preheat to 180c/350f
Place the pork pieces in a roasting tray and put to one side. Chuck all the marinade ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have a smooth paste, then pour this all over the pork, adding a large wine glass of water. Mix it all up, then tightly cover the tray with tin foil and place in the preheated oven for about an hour and thirty minutes.

Pick the pieces of pork out of the pan and put to one side. The sauce left in the pan will be tasty and pretty much perfect, but if you feel it needs to be thickened slightly, simmer on a gentle heat for a bit until it is reduced to the consistency of ketchup. Season to taste, adding extra soy sauce if necessary, and put to one side.

Put a pan of salted water on to boil.
Add a good drizzle of oil to a pan or wok. Add your pieces of pork to the wok and fry for a few minutes till crisp and golden. You might need to do this in two batches. At the same time, drop your noodles into boiling water and cook for a few minutes, then drain most of the water away. Divide the noodles into four warmed bowls immediately, while they are still moist.

To finish, spoon over a good amount of the rhubarb sauce. Divide the crispy pork on top, and add a good sprinkling of spring onions, chili, cresses and coriander. Serve with half a lime each.

Note from Karen: If you don’t want to use pork belly because of the fat, try ground pork and make meatballs and bake them (Asian noodles and meatballs), or use a leaner cut of pork. If you find the taste too tangy, add a little extra honey or brown sugar to balance the flavour. I found the herbs and ginger really bring out the flavour too. Also, I found that the five spice is optional since it is harder to find.

The last of our corn has been planted. We decided to transplant all of our corn this year to ensure better germination. Jolianne and Jonathan are pictured with the last of the transplants. We also have the mulching finished in the main garden and now we are waiting for plants to grow! Late May and early June is always a very busy time on the farm. Now we can concentrate on making hay for the horses. We have our fingers crossed that we get the hay we cut the end of last week in the barn before the next rain fall.

This week we expect the CSA pick-up to have:
Hakurei
Green Onions
Snow Peas
Spinach
Strawberries (1 box)
Beets
Mesclun or head lettuce

We will open our strawberry patch for pick-your-own for our CSA members on pick-up days only. There is no extra charge. It is a help to us to have the patch picked clean and it is a nice way of sharing the bounty in a good strawberry year. If you come to pick please bring a container to put your berries in after they are picked.

Most of the main garden is planted and the mulching done. We have the last planting of sweet corn to be transplanted when the plants are big enough. We seeded the fall cauliflower and broccoli today in the greenhouse as well as our weekly planting of head lettuce.

Jonathan used our sub soil tooth to go down the field where our Christmas trees used to be to drag out remaining stumps. He is responsible for plowing the field, planting a cover crop and preparing the ground to be our garden area in 2010. Each of the apprentices have one field to look after during this season.

This week for the pick-ups we plan to have:
lettuce or mesclun
green onions
radishes
spinach
baby beets
Hakurei (mild, white summer turnip that you can eat raw or cook )
rhubarb
herbs
Maybe a few snow peas

The strawberries are starting to ripen and we should have some for next week. We need some nice warm weather to bring them along.

We have been very busy transplanting in the garden. A second major weeding of the main garden is almost completed. Once we have the mulching finished around the tomatoes, peppers and melons we hope to have time to do some more work on the bunkhouse. For the next three days we are also giving a draft horse workshop to teach participants how to drive horses.

We gave some of the first early beets on Tuesday and the early snow peas are blooming so they won’t be far behind!

Thanks to CSA member Colleen Burns we have two good spring recipes:

Maple Rhubarb Crisp

5 cups rhubarb, cubed
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp flour

Topping:
1/4 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Lightly butter an 8″x 8″ baking dish. Place chopped rhubarb into dish. Mix maple syrup, flour & salt in small mixing bowl. Pour this mixture over rhubarb. In a Small mixing bowl, mix oats, maple syrup, cinnamon, raisins & walnuts. Mix 1/2 topping mixture into the rhubarb in the dish. Spread the remainder on top & dot with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 -40 minutes or until rhubarb is soft when tested with a fork. Add tin foil near the end. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Radish & Cucumber Salad (serves 4)

1 English Cucumber
3 cups loosely packed Italian parsley leaves
1 cup coarsely crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Ground black pepper to taste
Dill to taste

10-12 small to medium size radishes
3 tbsp minced fresh chives
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 Tbsp white wine vinegar
2 Tbsp mince garlic scaves or red onion
A sprinkle of summer savory

Peel cucumber & cut lengthwise in half. Scrape out seeds. Cut into 1/4″ – 1/2 ” pieces. Put in a serving bowl.
Add all the radishes, thinly sliced.
Add parsley, chives, dill, savory & radish mixture & 3/4 cup of the feta cheese. Stir.
Add scapes and onion.
In a small mixing bowl stir the sugar & salt into the vinegar. Let stand a few minutes. Add olive oil & pepper. Toss this into the cucumber & radish mixture.
Just before serving, sprinkle the rest of the feta cheese on top.

Many of you may have seen our hot bed in the yard in front of the greenhouse. It was a great home for our peppers after they were kicked out of the greenhouse to make room for other seedlings. We made the hot bed the end of March with fresh horse manure inside of the straw bales. When the manure heated up it went up to as high as 16o degrees F. We waited for the temperature to drop to around 100 degrees F. before it was safe to put the trays of pepper plants in over it. We covered the wooden frame with plastic covered frames on cold days and at night we covered the frames with the green compost cover to hold in the heat. The other advantage was that when we removed the lids in the day time the peppers became accustom to the direct daylight.

Thanks to Carey Wood we have another rhubarb recipe to share:

Rhuberry pie

2 c Cut-up rhubarb
2 c Blueberries
3/4 c Sugar
1/4 c Flour
1/8 t. Nutmeg
1/4 t. Salt

Prepare pie crust according to pkg. directions for 2 crust pie or make homemade pastry for 2 crust 9″ pie. Heat oven to 400Ff. In large bowl, combine all filling ingredients. Toss lightly. Spoon into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust. Seal edges and flute. Cut slits in top crust. Bake at 400 F. for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown. Cover edge of crust with strips of foil after 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent excessive browning.

My mother’s tip of the week for using Rhubarb is to cut it into small pieces and stew it up with a very small amount of water on low heat and add a bit of minute tapioca or cornstarch to thicken. Cover it and stir frequently. After it juices up add sugar to taste.

The following two recipes are thanks to CSA member Pat Wieler.