The Joy Of Beets

Beets are a crop we love to grow here on Crandall Hill. Whether they're planted early in the spring or later in the summer, they thrive in our garden spot.

Detroit Dark Red along with a couple Chioggia in the mix

They were planted mid-summer this year and we've been harvesting for about a month and a half. Today they're all coming out the ground and it's your last chance to buy these certified organic jewels.
Many folks are into juicing and finding fresh beets - let alone certified organic beets - is a chore in this area. Beets are high in fiber and rich in vitamins A & C. Here's a local, convenient source so call today 814-274-8004 to reserve yours.
Beets are high in fiber and rich in vitamins A & C.
I have found they keep well for several months in the refrigerator when they're lightly wrapped and when there's a paper towel to absorb any extra moisure that accumulates.
Here's a recipe to get you started.
Onion Beet Salad
2 1/2 lbs. of whole fresh beets
5 Tb. olive oil
1 large red onion, chipped
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
2 Tb. honey
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. pepper
Scrub beets and place on a large square of aluminum foil. Drizzle with some of the olive oil and turn to coat. Fold foil over beets and seal tightly. Bake in 400-degree oven for about an hour or until tender. Allow beets to cool and the skins will slip off.
Cut beets into cubes and place in large bowl. Add the onion. In separate bowl whisk together the vineyard, honey, salt, basil pepper and rest of the olive oil. Pour over beet mixture and gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve with a slotted spoon.

Autumn Reflections

It seems like an older brother can get one's attention like no one else! Oldest brother Steven is visiting from Alaska with his wife, Johanna, and he mentioned that it seems I don't update the blog often. And he's right!

So today, while looking for photos needed by another sister-in-law, I downloaded a bunch of recent photos taken a couple of weeks ago on two sunny mornings in October.

Morning sun hits the venerable
old Northern Spy apple trees

The nearly-full moon was
still in the western sky as the
sun rose in the east.

Johanna mentioned that the beauty of fall in northern Pennsylvania was especially dear to her after all her years in Alaska where autumn "falls like a curtain and it's winter." And our autumn has been particularly beautiful this year - even today on the next-to-the-last day of October when the most colorful of the leaves have fallen.

The view from my back porch on Oct. 18.
Old orchard in the foreground and
potato field at the top of the hill.

2016 Potato Harvest Complete

Arthur completed the 2016 potato harvest before the rains came on Thursday and they're all in storage. Now begins the sorting and packaging process.
We worked yesterday and this morning to sort, package and label an order for Todd Williams at Costa's Shursave Food Shop in Coudersport.
And that work really reminded me of my father. Some of my local readers will remember my father, Joe Heimel, who worked at the family's grocery store on Main Street in downtown Coudersport. Dad was the produce guy and he was a speed demon at sorting and preparing produce for display. And he was artistic to boot - hand-lettering signs and putting together attractive displays on benches out in the front of the store. His fruit baskets were works of art!
Our potatoes are on display at Costa's in a beautiful wooden rack, created by Arthur especially for this purpose. We've bagged our popular gourmet assortments as well as bags of individual varieties including red, purple and yellow potatoes.
Our USDA Certified Organic potatoes will also soon be available at Genesee Natural Foods.

Todd Williams from Costa's checking
out our new display rack.

USDA Organic Certification, Year Two

Wednesday morning we met with our certifier from Pennsylvania Certified Organic (PCO) for our annual site visit. This visit is the culmination of a process that began in January as we submitted our organic systems plan for managing our farm.

Binders containing
pertinent information such
as invoices, product labels,
receipts & other data
along with the PCO-provided
accordion file filled with paperwork.
And yes, the zinnias in the
vase on the dining room table
are certified organic, too!

The purpose of the annual inspection is to verify the information submitted electronically to PCO and to take a look at fields, storage facilities, etc. This year our fellow PATH participant, Alvie Fourness of Wooleylot Farm, was along to audit the process in his quest to become a USDA Organic inspector. Between them, they were very thorough and I was delighted to be able to locate all the documentation they requested.

We are pleased to report that we met all the criteria for year two of USDA Organic Certification for this old family farm. 

When we set our on the path to USDA Certified Organic certification, we knew that it would add additional expense and lots more record keeping than we were used to in all of our years of "organic" farming. But, we also felt we owe our customers the assurance that our farming practices – from the sourcing of organic seeds (and seed potatoes) to the management of disease and pests, to soil health and fertilization – meet the standards of organic production.

By achieving this certification, our customers can be assured that all of our farming practices meet the National Organic Program standards. In the words of PCO, this process provides "evidence of the operation’s adherence to a prescribed system of agriculture and food production that involves the building and enhancing of the soil naturally, protection of the environment, humane treatment of animals and avoidance of toxic synthetic substances."

And now it's on to complete our 2016 harvest  of certified organic potatoes and apples along with the last of the vegetables in the high tunnel.

Though the Farmers' Market is now done for 2016, please call us (274-8004) or email metzgerfarm@gmail if you're interested in buying any of our offerings. Presently we have lots of hot peppers (mostly Maya Red and Ring of Fire but some Hungarian Hot Wax, Jalapeño, Czech Black, Hot Portugal); Swiss Chard; limited green beans in 1# quantities; lots of beets along with potatoes and apples.
We'll have potatoes soon at Costa's Shursave in Coudersport and at Genesee Natural Foods.
Thank you all for your support during the Farmers' Market season. I know I speak for all of the participants when I tell you that we appreciate your encouragement and friendly faces every bit as much as your purchases!

South From Alaska

We've been back from our Alaska adventure for a week and, after a morning spent picking, washing and sorting tomatoes and beans, watering in the high tunnel, making a batch of oven-roasted spaghetti sauce, I'm stealing a couple of minutes of time to update the blog before working on freezing a batch of sweet corn.
We spent nearly two weeks in the Matanuska Valley in Alaska, where son Joe, Jen and their dog Niles have been making their home this past year.

The view from Joe & Jen's front yard

This area of Alaska is know for producing giant vegetables and the borough of Palmer takes full advantage of this distinction with lots of tourist promotion. Palmer is also the site of the Alaska State Fair which opens next week for its annual run.

You can read more about it at this link. http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/08/20/341884706/why-vegetables-get-freakish-in-the-land-of-the-midnight-sun

Of course we visited a couple of Farmers' Markets while we were visiting in Alaska and I'll post some photos of the market in Palmer in a later post.

And speaking of Farmers' Markets, we were on hand at the Potter County Farmers' Market last week with a nice supply of tomatoes, potatoes and more. That is due in a large part to the help of Elaine and Kristen Russell, who so conscientiously tended the farm in our absence. Thank you wonderful friends!

This week we'll be setting up with the other Potter County Farmers' Market vendors on Friday afternoon. Because we have evening plans, our booth will be closing up shop by 3:30 p.m. so come early if you are looking for luscious heirloom tomatoes and more!

Things To Come

This is the time of year when it would seem things might slow down ... the plants have found their permanent homes in my garden or yours, the seeds have been planted, and one of the farmers has gone on a weeklong vacation.
But ...

Calendula just coming into blossom

My first try growing melons

Coming very soon ... Haricot Verts

Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomatoes

Gold Nugget cherry tomatoes
are destined to win the
race to ripeness in 2016!

Have already enjoyed the first cucumbers
in our salads

Heirloom zucchini hiding in foliage

Sweet corn is more than knee-high
on this third of July

Red Cabbage in the Sunday morning sunshine

Apples in the new orchard.
See the protective layer of kaolin clay

For those of you who have missed us at the Potter County Farmers' Market, we are thinking we'll have some produce to sell this week. However, the best way to ensure you'll have first choice is to give us a call (274-8004) to see what's available and we'll reserve it for you. Emailing also works – metzgerfarm@gmail.com.

Potato Planting Crew

Arthur Metzger, Wanda Metzger, Barbara Heimel
& Jerry Phillips

Spring is always a busy season for farmers, leaving no time to catch up on blogging. When you're racing the clock to get all the plantings in the right spaces to take advantage of our short growing season, spending time taking and editing photos and sitting down to write a post, seems impossible.

On the Saturday afternoon that the potatoes were all in the ground, I gathered the crew for a quick picture. Our nonagenarian mothers have, for many years, been our potato cutters and this year was no exception as they sat in the doorway of the shady shop chatting and preparing hundreds of pounds of certified organic potato seed for the planter. We couldn't do it without them!

This year our neighbor, Jerry Phillips, rode the potato planter as it deposited its seeds in the waiting warm soil.

Potato planting has been checked off the to-do list for 2016.