Featured In AgSquared Newsletter!

I wrote about using AgSquared farm management software on this blog last year and have been working at keeping up with it throughout this growing season. So it was with pleasure that I accepted the invitation for our farm to be featured as an "Ag Squared Case Study" for their newsletter. I was delighted to spend some telephone time with Mandy recently as she interviewed me about our farm and how we use this software in our operation. The article in their August newsletter showed up in my inbox today!

Busman's Holiday?

While we missed the Potter County Farmers' Market last week, a tip from our hosts at the Gonstead Guest House (Phil and Joyce Wall) led us to the Dane County Farmers' Market in downtown Madison, Wisconsin.

It's billed as the largest producer-only farmers' market in the United States with all items produced locally by the vendor behind the table. Vendors stretch all the way around Capitol Square and ring the Wisconsin State Capitol building (beautiful, by the way!) The market is bustling and crowded as folks move from table to table in search of their favorites.

Choices include a beautiful and bountiful variety of vegetables along with berries, apples, cherries, melons and other fruits. Value-added products abound including crackers, cheeses, salsas, jams, jellies, preserves, maple and honey. There are vendors offering meat and poultry, sausages, tofu and more. While craft vendors are not permitted, there are lots of beautiful cut flowers and perennials along with dried flowers. They tell me there is a long waiting list for potential vendors with a wait of more than five years for any opening!
We appreciated conversations with several of the vendors including one woman farmer who was delighted to tell me how she produces this amazing Swiss chard.

This vegetable garden is on the grounds
of the Wisconsin State Capitol - in fact
you can see the capitol in the background.

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.

Purple In The Garden

It's been a particularly crazy time on Crandall Hill the past couple of weeks because both of us have stolen some time away from the farm. I spent a transformative week at the Chautauqua Institution with a group of dear friends. Arthur returned yesterday from a 10-day fishing trip to Alaska. Our vacations overlapped a few days which kept us from the Potter County Farmers' Market only one week. Last week I did two Markets on my own which kept me quite busy!
This post has been rattling around in my brain since early last week when I snapped the pictures you see below.

Royal Burgundy Snap Beans in blossom
These beans are purple until they begin to cook and turn green.

 The garden and high tunnel feature a riot of color this time of year. From the bright sunny blossoms on the squash to the more subtle blossoms on the potato plants to the many red hues on the tomato plants, it's truly a feast for one's eyes.
Purple is not necessarily a color you'd expect to see in the garden but it's the one that really captured my attention last week.
It also turns out that purple foods have their own special health benefits.

Coming soon ... Purple Cabbage
Purple foods contain anthocyanins, health-promoting chemicals that act to protect and heal cells. They play a role in promoting heart and eye health and may decrease the rate of cancer cell growth. In addition to being found in vegetables, they are also in teas, honey, fruits, nuts, olive oil, cocoa and wine.

Some vegetables are bred specifically to have additional anthocyanins.  Feast your eyes on this assortment of purple growing right here at Metzger Heritage Farm and look for this great stuff at the Potter County Farmers' Market in coming weeks.

Czech Black Peppers
A delicious heirloom from Czechoslovakia.
Mild, jalapeno-shaped fruit with
fruity, cinnamon flavor

Two varieties of eggplants
share a bed in the high tunnel

These carrots are purple
on the outside
and organge on the inside

Indigo Rose Tomatoes
A favorite of Chef
Butch Davis

The Indigo Rose tomato which I first grew last summer is touted in the seed catalog as being the darkest tomato bred so far, exceptionally high in anthocyanins. The catalog description goes on to say that in the early stages of fruit development, Indigo Rose develops a dark purple pigment when exposed to direct sunlight. Green when unripe, purple-red when ripe, the cocktail-size tomatoes have good flavor with plummy overtones.

Purple Beauty Bell Pepper

Purple Basil
Mild, aromatic and ideal for garnish, sauces & dressings

And how can I forget the beautiful All Blue potatoes we've been growing for our gourmet potato assortment? They deserve a post all their own!

Cherokee Purple

At 72 days, the Cherokee Purple is one of the beefsteak tomato varieties that actually has a chance to produce fruit here in northcentral Pennsylvania. By contrast, the popular Brandywine tomato is listed at 82 days from transplant which is more challenging in our climate.

Picked July 8, 2014, tipping the scale at nearly a pound!

The High Mowing Organic Seed catalog promises "brownish purple skin with green shoulders and red flesh. The most popular of the black tomatoes for its outstanding flavor and texture. Large beefsteak fruits weigh in at 12-16 oz. Believed to trace back over 100 years to the Cherokee Indians."
While we probably won't have enough ripe tomatoes to bring to market this week (July 11), it won't be too much longer!
Here's today's harvest:

Tomato varieties pictured include Black Cherry, Stupice, Black Sea Man, Nyagous, Austin's Red Pear,
Sweetie Cherry, Speckled Roman, Silvery Fir Tree, Cherokee Purple and Amish Paste.

This week at Market we will once again have a nice supply of leafy red and green head lettuce, limited Jalapeno and Hot Wax peppers, limited heirloom zucchinis, sweet green shelling peas and (fingers crossed) new potatoes, fresh herbs including dill, flat leaf parsley, cilantro, limited basil. If you're counting on having the produce which may be in short supply, contact us ahead of time and we'll reserve your selection for pickup at the Market. You might even talk me out of some of the tomatoes!

Tomato Season Has Arrived

Black Cherry

Nyagous

Silvery Fir Tree

Black Sea Man

Sweetie Cherry

The wait is over - at least for our family! This morning I picked a Sweetie Cherry tomato and popped it right into my mouth. Ahhh! There's absolutely nothing to compare with a warm tomato plucked from the vine. What makes it special for me is that I planted each seed, transplanted each little seedling, watered and fussed until handing the plant off to Arthur who planted it in the high tunnel in mid-May. Since then, it's been watered, pruned and had its winding stem attached to the trellis system.  Today's enjoyment is a culmination of all the little steps so familiar to a farmers or gardeners!
This beautiful Black Sea Man tomato on the left is going to find its way into the first BLT of the summer - thick slabs of locally-sourced bacon, slices of homemade whole wheat bread, a twist of black pepper, lettuce from the garden and a touch of mayonnaise!
I'm not sure whether we'll have enough tomatoes to sell when we head to the Farmers' Market on July 7 at Cole Memorial but I'll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, I have lots of lovely leafy head lettuce for anyone who is interested. If you live in Coudersport, we can make arrangements for delivery by calling 274-8004. I also have some fresh herbs – four kinds of basil including purple, Thai, lemon and Genovese, flat leaf parsley, sage, dill, oregano, cilantro.
As always, I am happy to take orders for any of our produce. I can pick it especially for you and hold it for you at the Farmers' Market or we can make other arrangements. Just give me a call or email: metzgerfarm@gmail.com.

Here's the other crop we've been watching with great anticipation. It's the 2014 crop of Alderman Tall Telephone Peas. Since we won't be coming to the Farmers' Market this week (July 4 holiday), we expect to have a limited supply available on July 7 at Cole Memorial and again on July 11 at the Farmers' Market on the courthouse square.
 

Red Cabbage

Those of you who have been driving past the farm, may have notice that the covers have been removed from the long rows of brassicas. We used floating row cover to discourage flea beetles and other pests while the plants were trying to become established. They're growing nicely now.

Broccoli just beginning to form heads

déjà vu

We've been taking carrots to the Farmers' Market the past couple of weeks and I pulled this one from the ground Friday morning and immediately felt a sense of  deja vu.
Wonder why? See this post from February 2014.
http://metzgerfarm.blogspot.com/2014/02/farmers-as-healers.html

We're taking at least one week off from the Potter County Farmers' Market as we planned for the lull between the early produce and the regular and more plentiful mid-summer selections.
We do, however, have a beautiful supply of leafy head lettuce and would be happy to make arrangements for anyone who wishes to order and purchase some. There are 3 varieties currently ready and in a couple of weeks, I'll have a new variety of green leafy head lettuce ready to sell as well.
As far as the tomatoes go, I'm optimistic that I'll see some hints of ripeness very soon. I'm excited to share some new heirloom varieties this summer including a selection of multi-colored cherry tomatoes.