Farmstand Now Open

The days move so quickly now that it's harvest season on the farm. Check out our farm stand! We're offering carrots, beets, chard, new potatoes, green, purple and yellow string beans, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers and lettuce. Remember, we can pick to your order if you need larger quantities. I also have a good number of round zucchinis that are perfect for stuffing. Recipes to follow.

Bring On The Beans

I love growing beans! They offer almost instant gratification with their big seeds and vigorous growth.
I snapped these photos of the soybeans and two varieties of "string" beans.
Last year I raised several different kinds of dried beans and saved the seed to plant this year.
I'm quite excited about the soybeans. They're a short season variety and some will be harvested as edamame, while others will be allowed to ripen and dry on the vine.
Ready now are green beans and purple beans (beautiful purple color which cooks to a deep green). Let me know if you'd like some. I have quantities suitable for eating and preserving.

Peas Ready Now!

Peas growing on tall trellises have a long tradition on this old farm on Crandall Hill. Though my (Jane's) tenure tending this patch of earth reaches only back to 1971, I have long appreciated hearing the loving recollections of those who can still see Grandpa Matteson out in the garden with his hoe and can hear the laughter of the women gathered on the front porch working at shelling peas still warm from the sun.
We're picking our 21st century peas daily and offering them for sale at $3 a pound. They're available at our makeshift roadside stand at 905 Dingman Run Road or call (274-8004) or e-mail (metzgerfarm@gmail.com) and we'll be happy to accommodate your needs. All the vegetables are grown without chemical fertilizers, herbicides or pesticides.
We also have Swiss Chard available now. Watch for some recipe suggestions in the next couple of days. We appreciate your interest in our soon-to-be-organic farm.

Good, Good, Good For Us All!

Tom Chapin serenaded a large crowd last evening in the Chautauqua Ampitheater in what was billed as a concert for children and adults. Tom is known these days as a children's performer but he doesn't hesitate to include social commentary in his songs. I couldn't help but sing along as he began to sing about locally grown food with the catchy refrain "locally grown and locally eaten is good, good, good for us all!" Could this be a theme song for our fledgling farm? With lyrics like "it seems paradoxic and carbon-dioxic to force all our food to commute. Wasting gallons of fuel which we know isn’t cool for people or planets or fruits." and  "Aside from the karma of helping the farm-a who lives in your county or state, the very best reason to buy what’s in season the taste is incredibly great!" This great song is by John Forster and Tom Chapin and will be included an a cd being released later this summer. (Check out www.tomchapin.com)
We're just days away from a bumper group of peas on the Metzger Farm. If you'd like some, please call the house (814-274-8004) and leave a message or e-mail metzgerfarm@gmail.com. Remember . . . "locally grown and locally eaten is good, good, good for us all."