Not Your Grandmother's Green Bean!

Haricot vert (sometimes known as filet beans or French beans) are not the same as skinny green beans. These special beans are bred to have a full bean flavor when extremely small, tender, thin and young.
We are growing non-GMO Maxibel Haricot Vert from High Mowing Organic Seeds. The seed catalog promises that these beans are "unsurpassed as a gourmet market specialty."

Here's a recipe that takes advantage of several vegetables now available from our farm.

Haricot Vert With Shallots and Tomatoes

1/2 lb. haricot vert

2 tsp. butter

1 small shallot, sliced

1 diced tomato

salt & pepper to taste

fresh lemon juice to taste

Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add haricot vert and set the timer for 3.5 minutes. Drain beans and plunge them into an ice bath to cool quickly.  In the same pot you've used to cook the beans, melt the butter. Add shallots and saute lightly for about 2 minutes. Add the drained and cooled beans and reheat in the butter and shallots just until warmed. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, place on platter, top with the diced tomato and squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over the mixture. Serve immediately. (If holding this dish, omit the lemon juice until the last minute for it may discolor the beans if left too long.)

We have a bumper crop of Haricots Vert begging to be picked every day here on the farm. They're competing for attention with the other green beans we've begun harvesting in hues of yellow, green and purple.

All will be available this week at the Potter County Farmers' Market Friday from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. in downtown Coudersport.

Chef At The Market!

I've always had a sense of how the rhythm of life on a farm rises to a fever pitch as the days begin to shorten. Perhaps it's because my extended family used to gather annually for a family reunion in nearby Allegany County (N.Y.) on a great-uncle's dairy farm with farmhands were busy in the fields and milking cows even as we enjoyed potato salad, hot dogs and hamburgers. Or maybe I recollect how my childhood friends who lived on farms were relieved to get back to school each fall, wearing their deep suntans as badges of honor.

These days, we're gaining a new appreciation of the busy-ness of farm life in August. In the midst of everyone's busiest season, the growers who comprise the Potter County Farmers' Market added another task to their to-do lists - orchestrating an outdoor cooking demonstration.
Chef At The Market came together with barrages of e-mails, telephone calls and hurried exchanges of information at the weekly Farmers' Market. This event was the brainchild of Alvie Fourness of Wooleylot Farm and his careful leadership is to be applauded!
As we all tended our tables at the Farmers' Market on Friday, our guests, Chef Butch Davis and Chef Colin Jack, demonstrated ways to use locally-grown vegetables and fruits and locally-made baked goods to concoct mock crab cakes (with zucchini) garnished with beet slaw and corn relish, brushetta (using some of our colorful heirloom tomatoes) and a delicious fruit compote served over pound cake for dessert.
Growing a local food movement is exciting to all of us who are setting up our canopies and tables on a grassy lot in downtown Coudersport each Friday afternoon. I delight in introducing a customer to a carefully-nurtured tomato that is yellow with red stripes or dark brown. And then we'll talk about the potatoes that are red and purple and blue and yellow inside!

It's very satisfying to see folks walk through the Market, making their selections at each canopy and I can only imagine the ways they'll enjoy local foods.
One of the stated goals of the Potter County Farmers' Market is to: 

Cultivate a community in which the values of eating locally are celebrated and promoted.

With our first "Chef At The Market" event, we've taken a giant step forward in realizing this goal for it truly was a celebration Friday afternoon.
Next week it will be business as usual at our Potter County Farmers' Market - Friday afternoon beginning at 1:00 o'clock. If you haven't come before, this is a perfect time to see what it's all about!

A riot of tomatoes - all colors, shapes and sizes!

More Light For The Greenhouse

Last year's plant starts were terrific but became quite "leggy" as we simply cannot depend on enough natural sunlight – even in the greenhouse. We have had a few "official" grow lights and moved the plants in and out of that artificial light but it still wasn't enough.
I did some research on artificial light and came up with a plan to add light to our growing carts with less expense than an investment in "official" grow lights and stands.

Arthur attaching the lights to the plant carts

We used 48" shop lights with T8 or T12 fluorescent tubes and selected (after much deliberating) natural sunlight tubes. The lights are on chains so they can be easily moved up and down to accommodate the growing plants.

Seedlings waiting to get under the new lights

These carts have been extremely helpful for the greenhouse. They were created from a couple of old broken library carts that had been put in the dumpster at the school where Arthur taught. He modified them to accommodate cell flats and plant trays. We've even used the carts to display potatoes in baskets at the Potter County Farmers' Market!

Grow Lights on Greenhouse Carts

The plants you see in the window behind the cart are headed to the high tunnel this afternoon. It's the first planting of lettuce and spinach.
Speaking of the high tunnel, here's a photo of the carrot/beet/potato planting with its extra layer of protection. I hope to see some of those little seedlings peeking up through the earth before the end of the weekend! The seed-grown shallots deemed too small to harvest last fall are also pictured here. It will be interesting to see what happens with them this spring.
At the other end of the high tunnel, the wintered-over Swiss chard and lettuce have awakened from  winter dormancy and are growing again along with some radishes recently planted.

And lest all this conversation about green things leads you to believe it's really spring here in northcentral Pennsylvania, I leave you with this photo to show that as we make out way back and forth to the greenhouse and high tunnel, we do so in barn boots, crunching along in the snow pack!

This post linked to the Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest:

http://theadventurebite.com/farm-girl-blog-fest-26/

More Edamame - Plus Recipes!

While once featured in vegetarian dishes and so-called "health food" recipes, edamame have been turning up in recipes featured in mainstream magazines such as Taste of Home, Better Homes and Gardens, Country Living and Family Circle these days. You have the unique opportunity to buy your edamame fresh at this time of year. Stop by the Farmers' Market tomorrow (Friday) in Coudersport and buy some to try.
By popular request, here are some recipes featuring edamame.

Edamame Appetizer

Cook 1 lb. of washed edamame (soybeans in the pod) in salted boiling water until tender, about 4 minutes, and immediately transfer with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Drain in a colander and pat dry. Toss edamame with salt (coarse salt or Kosher salt works best) and freshly-ground pepper to taste and serve with additional salt and pepper on the side.
(Please note that edamame may be cooked 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring to room temperature before tossing with pepper and salt.)

Edamame Hummus

3 cups shelled edamame

2 cloves garlic

2 Tb. tahini

3 Tb. fresh lemon juice

2 Tb. olive oil

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1/4 tsp. black pepper

Bring shelled edamame to a boil in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover and  occasionally, about 3 minutes. Drain in a colander and run under cold water. Pulse edamame, garlic, tahini, juice, oil, salt, cumin and pepper in a food processor until mixture desired consistency add additional oil or water if too thick. Cover and refrigerate until party time. Serve with vegetables or  pita toasts for dipping.

Lettuce From The Greenhouse

I've been boasting to my friends about our winter lettuce crop so I'm posting a photo below as proof. I am also posting this especially to boast to my brother Chris and his wife Connie who live in Arkansas to point out that they're not the only ones with seeds in the ground already!

We planted some of last year's leftover lettuce mix seeds in Vermont Compost Company's Fort Vee - All Purpose Compost Based Potting Mix a couple of weeks ago and set them under grow lights in the sunny space of our heated "greenhouse" space in the shop.  These luscious baby greens are a true harbinger of spring.
Having the greenhouse space coupled with the high tunnel should allow us the opportunity to grow greens all year round. While we didn't plant enough in the greenhouse for sale at this time, we will have greens for sale at the Farmer's Market when it opens Memorial Day weekend. And, as always, you may contact us directly if you'd like us to grow greens - or other vegetables - especially for you.

Rural Thursday Blog Hop: http://www.aruraljournal.com

Farmer's Market Today!

We're making our first trip to the Farmer's Market in Coudersport this morning. Stop by and see us when you're in town. The market opens at 9 a.m. and continues until around 2 p.m. and features fresh locally-grown produce from area farms and other local items. We'll be offering a limited supply of green peas, the first of the beets and eggs. But the focus of the table will be a big basket of new organic potatoes. You can choose your own from among the 10+plus varieties.
If you're not able to make it to the market today, peas and potatoes from Metzger Heritage Farm are available at Costa's ShurSave Food Shop in Coudersport.

Growers' Gathering

We braved the howling winds last evening to spend time with other "farmer types" at the home of Fitz and Sharon Fitzgerald, the proprietors of Fitzgerald Family Farm (aka Cheery Hill Farm). They took the initiative to bring together local folks who are committed to marketing produce locally. (Sharon has blogged more extensively on the gathering at her site: www. fitzgeraldsfamilyfarm.blogspot.com.) It was a delightful evening as we shared a bountiful potluck supper and traded tales of our adventures (and misadventures) as farmers. We also worked on a plan to be involved with the Farmers' Market on the courthouse square in Coudersport as well as some possible other locations in the Coudersport area. Thanks Fitz and Sharon – and also everyone else! We look forward to getting together again soon as we all plow these new fields together!