Come the time when we have to start thinking about the farm going into hibernation, the tomato trellises are long gone and storage crops like celeriac, onions, cabbages, and root vegetables are piling high in the walk-in coolers.  There are subtle changes to be noticed on the farm, like the slow disappearance of greenhouse seedlings that are normally ready to be transplanted out into the fields; and there are other signs that are hard to miss, like a foot of snow in October.  The shorter days, almost nightly frosts, and the fact that the chickens sleep in on cold mornings, are more of the gentle reminders to our still summer-crazed minds that it’s getting to be that time of year again:  time to shift into a lower gear, time for us to buckle down and tuck in the farm for winter.

I think this is different for everyone involved with farming, but for me, the start of the whole process is marked by the blanketing of the strawberry plants with row cover (a light fabric that helps protect the plants from damage by the cold).  Then a rhythm begins: bed after bed the fields are stripped of weed barrier fabric, irrigation lines are taken up, and any remaining rough plant material is removed and brought to the compost pile.  The hoses and water pumps, mowers and tillers, are all brought in under the cover of the field house.

In The Sylvia Center Children’s Garden–the slice of the farm devoted to farm, food, and culinary education for kids–the asparagus, raspberries, and rhubarb are given their last feeding of nutrient-rich compost and surrounded with straw mulch to protect the soil.  Perennial herbs that need a little extra protection over the winter are potted up and brought inside the greenhouse.  Winter greens like lettuces, salad mix, and spinach are seeded and transplanted into the greenhouses. The chicken coop will be moved closer to the barn to avoid daily treks through snow-drifted fields to do chicken chores.  The scuffle hoes, spades, hay forks, garden rakes, and other hand tools are given their annual spa treatment of rust removal, sharpening, and conditioning.

The farm’s soil gets a spa treatment too.  Out in the fields and in the Children’s Garden, the soil may get spread with compost or seeded with a cover crop.  Winter hardy cover crops such as rye, wheat, and vetch are planted with no intent to harvest their biomass, but to instead let them grow and keep the soil ecosystem active during the off-season.  Turning that biomass back into the soil next season will replenish soil nutrients, increase organic matter, and improve the overall health and quality of the soil.  We’ve asked a lot of the soil since the springtime and as we put the farm to rest in the fall, we get to give back.

 
As fall makes room for winter to settle in, our to-do lists guide our time and energy toward end of the season reports, greenhouse work, farm “fix-its” and improvement projects, and planning for the next turning of the seasons.  Meanwhile, we continue to cheat the northeastern cold as the starter greenhouse pumps out microgreens – mustards, cilantro, basil, and mizuna, while the other 6,000 sq ft of protected growing space gives us gorgeous greens.  A little bit of the summer, all winter long.

-Julie Cerny, Farm Education Director for The Sylvia Center

Visit the Katchkie Farm General Store to purchase a 2012 Veggie Calendar for your favorite cook.

At only $5, this mini-calendar (5″ by 5″) is the perfect gift for any locavore.

It seems to be the year of the Habanero for many of our CSA members. If you can’t handle the heat, try making the recipe for Habanero jelly and gift it to your spice-loving friends come the Holidays. This is a great way to harness the spice.

When slicing and seeding the peppers, we recommend wearing protection (rubber gloves should do the trick). Although the bright peppers may seem innocent, they can leave the skin burning for hours once they’ve been handled.

The recipe at left follows many of the same steps as others we’ve provided for canning. If it’s your first time, I recommend consulting other sources (online or real life books) about the processes to ensure you don’t contaminate your food.

• 8 half pint canning jars with lids and rings
• 1 1/2 cups cider vinegar
• 6 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 cup shredded carrot
• 1/2 cup minced red bell pepper
• 15 habanero or serrano peppers, seeded and minced
• 2 (3 ounce) pouches liquid pectin

1. Stir the vinegar and sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat until the sugar has dissolved, then stir in the carrot and red bell pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium, and simmer 5 minutes. Add the habanero peppers and simmer 5 minutes longer. Pour in the pectin, and boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Skim and discard any foam from the jelly.
2. Sterilize the jars and lids in boiling water for at least 5 minutes. Pour the jelly into the hot, sterilized jars, filling the jars to within 1/4 inch of the top. Wipe the rims of the jars with a moist paper towel to remove any food residue. Top with lids, and screw on rings.
3. Place a rack in the bottom of a large stockpot and fill halfway with water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then carefully lower the jars into the pot using a holder. Leave a 2 inch space between the jars. Pour in more boiling water if necessary until the water level is at least 1 inch above the tops of the jars. Bring the water to a full boil, cover the pot, and process for 5 minutes.
4. Remove the jars from the stockpot and place onto a cloth-covered or wood surface, several inches apart, until cool. Once cool, press the top of each lid with a finger, ensuring that the seal is tight (lid does not move up or down at all).

People find many reasons to join CSA s—for the highest quality vegetables, to lower a carbon footprint, to support small farmers, to focus on healthy eating, to gain contact with the source of their food—your reason might be a different one altogether. Many CSA members tell me they joined the CSA for the challenge of cooking with new vegetables and experimenting with cooking outside their comfort zone. That is challenge enough for many CSA members, but others are going further, trying to use every piece of their produce and let nothing go to waste.

The most obvious, and one of the simplest, ways to use your vegetable scraps, is to make a simple vegetable stock. I usually start mine by sautéing some onion and garlic, then add water and anything else I have leftover from the week of cooking; kale and chard stalks, beet shavings (warning: these will turn your stock pink, though it’s not unpretty), garlic and onion peelings and carrot tops all found their way into my most recent version. You can add almost any vegetable scrap you have in your kitchen for a good stock. Pepper ribs and seeds will add a sweet touch to the stock, diced root vegetables will make it a bit heartier.

And you don’t need to make a stock every time you peel a potato; to maintain a steady stock for your stock, keep a bag full of the rinds, peels and stalks that might go in the trash or compost in your freezer so they’ll be ready the next time you whip out the stockpot!

THE KATCHKIE TRUCK serves a menu of farm fresh fare inspired by Katchkie Farm every Monday-Friday during lunchtime. The truck is parked in the Hudson Square Urban Courtyard, located on Spring Street between Hudson Street and Varick Street in New York City.

Menu

Katchkie Farm Veggie Burger
with Katchkie Farm Sliced Tomatoes, Katchkie Farm Tomato Jam and Lettuce on a House Made Chive Roll

Meiller’s Farm Burger
with New York State Cheddar, Katchkie Farm Sliced Tomatoes and Lettuce 

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich

Katchkie Farm Coleslaw
with Buttermilk Dressing Country

Potato Salad
with Eggs and Dill

Katchkie Farm Heirloom Tomato and Cucumber Salad

Strawberry Lemonade

After a couple weeks of troublesome weather and scarce production, Katchkie Farm had quite a bountiful harvest this week! Temperatures are heating up as Spring moves in to Summer, and the produce available reflects that seasonal shift, especially apparent with the addition of Strawberries.

At market we’ll be selling Garlic Scapes, A Variety of Lettuces, Basil, Beefsteak Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Radishes, Scallions, Chard, Kale, Spinach and Strawberries!

As odd as it can be to host a farmer’s market at Port Authority each week, we meet a wonderful variety of people and love the feeling of touching those who “Never expected to find a farmer’s market in the Port Authority!” (We hear that one a lot.)

Yesterday, I received this email from a new customer who was downright moved by something as simple as our celeriac soup:

I visited your table at the Port Authority market today for the first time ever and got your celeric soup. I really loved it, in fact love feels like an understatement, it brought back my childhood affair with cream of celery soup. Anyhow I just wanted to let you know that every Thursday I’m now planning on getting lunch from you. Thank you for making my day!

After a 12 hour day selling our (small) selection of winter vegetables and prepared foods, feedback like this makes it worth every minute.

In the farming world, January is a bleak month. It’s a month of cold, a month of monotonous storage vegetables and a month of the farmer retiring from the field to plan the new year of crops.  But for Katchkie Farm, things are a bit different.

Three lovely greenhouses allow us to supply more than just root vegetables at our winter markets. Last Thursday our Port Authority stand boasted fresh spinach, red choi and beautiful heads of butter leaf lettuce, red romaine, red lola and more…enough to make even a fan of summer salads swoon.

We are also taking advantage of this month to plan crops for next year. What would you like to see us plant in 2011? Let us know on Twitter @katchkiefarm or on our Facebook page.

EXTRA: If you’re New York City based but haven’t made it to Port Authority in a while (or even if you have), stop by Zabar’s on Friday, January 21st where we’ll be serving up tastes of Katchkie Farm Tomato Sauce to shoppers!

Just like that, November hit us with that rosy-cheeked winter chill. In the city, we’re counting our blessings that our weekly farmers market is indoors at Port Authority (if you haven’t checked it out before, now is the best time—the produce is still plentiful, and we’re temperature controlled).
November, this cold, and the bountiful autumn vegetables we  sell at the market each week, have turned my mind towards one thing: the upcoming food-focused holidays. So as news from the farm slows, we’ll be researching the best recipes to dress up your Katchkie produce at the holidays. Why not add a caramelized Katchkie onion puree or roasted poblanos to your mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving?
If you can bear the cold, head to a farmers market for inspiration, or just join us at Port Authority. It’s never too early to start testing those holiday recipes.

We currently have:

Acorn Squash, Arugula, Red and Golden Beets, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Butternut Squash, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celeriac (Celery Root), Chard, Cilantro, Garlic, Kale, Leeks, Onions, Parsley, Poblano, Bell and Cubanelle Peppers, Radishes, Rapini, Rutabaga, Spinach, Tokyo Turnips, Purple-Top Turnips and gorgeous, gourmet microgreens!

Of course we still carry our Beet Chips, Artisanal Turkey Sandwiches (DiPaola Farms turkey, Hawthorne Valley cheese, caramelized onions, microgreens with herb mayo on Bread Alone bread), Artisanal Cheese Sandwiches (Hawthorne Valley cheese, caramelized onions, microgreens and pesto on Bread Alone bread), Celeriac Soup, Butternut Squash Soup, Cream of Broccoli Soup, Katchkie Coleslaw and our famous Thunder Pickles!

We’re moving into autumn, but our summer vegetables haven’t left us yet. This week look for heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, broccoli, arugula, onions, lettuce, leeks, parsley, basil, chard, kale, okra and cranberry beans at market.

Here is a full list of produce in season right now. Of course the variety varies each week in our CSA and at our markets, but if you’re up at the farm, keep an eye out for:

• Basil
• Cranberry Beans
• Beets
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery Root
• Rainbow Chard
• Japanese Eggplant
• Italian Eggplant
• Baby Lettuce Salad Mix
• Red Lola Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce
• Red Onions
• White Onions
• Parsley
• Pumpkins
• Yellow Bell Peppers
• Poblano Peppers
• Jalapeno Peppers
• Radishes
• Butternut Squash
• Delicata Squash
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes
• Sungold Tomatoes
• Black Cherry Tomatoes
• Tokyo Turnips
• Zucchini