Notes from the Farm — Plot Twist Farm

We freeze the farm’s “seconds,” meaning produce that’s damaged in some way. These peppers all had holes. Usually, the pepper is completely fine inside after nixing one little part and washing. Other times, it’s an insect palace, and you have to sprint to the back porch to chuck it in the woods as fast as you can.

A fridge we ordered almost half a year ago arrived last week. We keep two fridges, which is a lot of fridges for little old minimalist me, but Fridge No. 2 lives in the basement and stores seeds. It’s also what we use for winter produce when we shut the walk-in cooler off in late fall. When No. 2 conked out last winter, it was sorely missed.

When its replacement arrived, I’d forgotten we’d ordered a bigger size, which meant more freezer space. So I bought a new box of quart freezer bags and just by George went to town last weekend on peppers, green beans, and blueberries. And we now have more than enough cherry tomatoes and slicers for the CSA, so I can start marching those into the freezer.

Around here, Jason’s the good directions follower. I’m “bad” at directions, which is to say lazy. So Jason’s the canner. He mostly likes to can jam, and makes a nectarine and lime jam that’s summer on a spoon. It’s one of Marisa McClellan’s unique recipes from her Food in Jars book. She specializes in small batch recipes, which makes canning less of an all-day chore. Not that I’d know. I only freeze things. Here’s a couple of my favorites.

Note: I use quart freezer bags. After the first use, I wash and dry them for other purposes. I often do reuse them in the freezer, and haven’t had any problems. Sometimes I’ll double up reused bags.

• Cherry tomatoes: Rinse, let dry, and pop in freezer bags. After freezing, they aren’t fit for a salad or anything like that, but they have many uses, like cooked on pizza or in chili or pasta.

• Heirloom tomatoes & all slicer tomatoes: The easiest way is to cut in chunks and cook down to a sauce. I’m not talking about simmering on the stove for hours, this takes mere minutes. I don’t add anything – no sugar, no salt, nothing. That way, when you reheat the sauce six months from now, you don’t have to taste it to remember what’s in it. This yields a thin sauce, with lots of tomato pieces. It makes pasta in January that tastes fresh. It’s also great in chili and soups.

• Peppers: Rinse, dry, chop, and baggie. These freeze really well.

• Corn: Some people cook corn first, but I don’t find that necessary. I slice it from the cob and put it raw in the baggie.

• Green beans: Blanch green beans first, which means you cook them briefly in boiling water, then cool them in ice water. After letting the beans dry somewhat, freeze them in bags. (I once tried freezing green beans without blanching, and they tasted awful.)

• Blueberries: Funnel right into baggies.

• Strawberries: Chop in half and add to baggies.

Do you freeze fruits and veggies? Which ones, and what’s your method? Email [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.

~ Stella

When I was collecting the paperwork for Silas to complete kindergarten at home, I acquired high school transcripts for me and Jason. When I realized my transcripts included my class rank, I immediately snatched up Jason’s. What was his rank? More specifically, where was his rank compared to mine? Would I be able to lord it over him, noting, henceforward, in any decision, that he was technically outranked? Or would I need to keep the discovery a dark, permanent secret, entombed inside of me and the halls of our old high school. If need be, could I get a hold of the original transcripts and burn them both?!?

When I found Jason’s rank, I laughed out loud. We started “going out,” which didn’t entail actually going anywhere since neither of us had a driver’s license, in the ninth grade. As I remember it, we weren’t in many of the same classes in school, and I feel like we diverged as far as what academic tracks we were on in a few ways. Nevertheless, in a class of 126, I think it was, we were exactly one person apart in class rank.

While amusing, it made sense. When we started dating, we got along really well. Really well. And we kept getting along all through school… all through college… and now, almost 21 years later, we mark 14 years of marriage today. We still get along really well. He’s nice to me, and I’m nice to him, and the rest has kind of fallen into place so far.

That we’re numerically ranked in school is so strange. What if we had number ratings in life? Life rank? I guess social media kind of does that for some nowadays. Well, if such a life transcript existed, and I looked up Jason, I’ll proudly admit, he’d probably still outrank me.

~ Stella

This day ranked pretty high on the happiness scale.

Today’s pepper harvest, all for CSA members. The high tunnels give us a jump on pepper season. A bucket of jalapeno peppers came out of a tunnel, too.

~ Stella

It’s a sopping wet mess up at the farm. We spent this afternoon clearing out lettuce that either bolted from the recent heat or was rotting from the humidity. We doubled down on our work today because we have some family fun coming our way tomorrow.

This photo was taken when the day’s work was over, and we just picked ingredients for supper (“farm nachos” … basically nachos that have a lot of veggies, too). Going home at the end of a day like this is something to smile about. Stay safe out there with all this ridiculous rain.

~ Stella

Our actual farm tour was rained out, so let’s at least take a zip through the gardens with pictures. Come along, friends!

First up, the Big Tunnel. This tunnel was built thanks to a grant. We knew this would be our only shot at a tunnel of this size, so we contributed farm money to go a little bigger. We grow in this unheated tunnel year-around.

The new lean & lower system for vining crops is working in the tunnels. The cherry tomato harvest just started this week. What a difference! Neatly hanging tomato vines let air flow through the plant and make harvesting MUCH easier.

Here’s the Big Tunnel from another angle. On the right is celery. Since this photo was taken, we filled in the spaces between the celery with fennel.

Here’s the tunnel from the front. The soil rows are seeded with carrots.

This is one of our parsley patches. Many of our CSA newsletter recipes call for parsley, so we like to have a good supply. As you can see, random kale pops up everywhere.

This is Caterpillar 2, another unheated high tunnel. We have a total of four unheated tunnels on the farm, and one at home for baby plants. This tunnel has tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant. The tomatoes in here need clipped to the string, but they aren’t the kind that must be pruned.

Here’s the same tunnel, but the other side. Those are eggplants. The flea beetles did a number on them, but they seem to be recovering. This whole tunnel has been covered in straw and grass clippings, twice in some places. As you can see, the grass still pokes up, but this is so much better than past seasons when weeds were unmanageable.

This is one of two potatoes patches. They’re doing very well. We’ve had good luck with potatoes.

Here’s the inside of the other Caterpillar tunnel. That’s squash and kale. There’s another parsley patch in the back, and a few rows of green beans that you can’t see in this photo. We used a combination of straw and landscape fabric in this tunnel. We put the landscape fabric down too early in the spring, and voles kept eating the kale and broccoli transplants. The lesson we learned is to skip landscape fabric in March and April, and use straw. When there’s nothing else for the voles to eat, the landscape fabric just makes it too easy.

Here’s one of our basil patches. This year we’re growing traditional basil and Thai basil.

THIS is Silas’s garden! He’s checking out his cucumbers and jelly melons.

He’s got carrots next to his collards.

Here’s his basil, Swiss chard, and tomatoes. He has his own CSA with three members (his two grandmas and Chef Jason, of ZEST – thanks, Chef!). He says his first share will be going out soon.

Just wanted to show that vole issues aren’t limited to spring. Any empty hole was a vole’s meal. Jason’s transplanted lettuce in these rows a few times. We’re looking into getting a dog who specializes in rodent control.

This is one of our big kale patches. The other patch is in a tunnel, and new kale transplants are a few rows over. We have green curly, red Russian, white Russian, purple, and dinosaur.

The garlic harvest has begun. The wet weather isn’t helping. Hopefully, we’ll have a dry couple of days soon.

The onions are doing well in their straw. We’re very excited for a good onion crop.

Here’s the broccoli. It was one of the first crops put under straw. At the time, we were trying to conserve straw because we only had so many bales. As you can see, these needed more. The plants still did fine. The little bit of a jump on the weeds made a big difference. However, the high temperatures we had before this rainy spell caused them to bolt, meaning they went to seed. Worms and other pests make growing broccoli difficult.

Showing you this in the interest of full disclosure. So, those are peppers under there. We put down straw, but clearly they needed another layer. Under that jungle, the peppers are doing alright, but if we want them to actually produce anything, we need to free them from the weeds. We didn’t put fabric down because we were worried about voles. Well, the voles didn’t find them, and right now, neither can we!

Here’s one squash patch. You can see the fence in this photo. We plant summer squash in several places around the farm to try and evade squash bugs.

Here’s what we call the New Orchard, with apple, nectarine, and cherry trees. The tree line in the background is the Old Orchard. It has towering apple trees. The fruit falls from so high it tends to smash on the ground. Below the Old Orchard are the ruins of an old homestead. There’s a stone spring house and a creek that’s always washing up old crockery.

Here’s the tomato patch in the back corner of the farm.

Buckwheat cover crop – very pretty but needs mowed.

These are watermelons. There’s a third row on the right edge of the photo. Must be a strange gust that cuts through there, because no matter how much we stapled down the fabric, the wind kept whipping it loose.

These rows are seeded for a fall crop of green beans.

We leave the entire southeast corner of the farm wild for pollinators. Nature does amazing things with golden rod, ironweed, and Queen Anne’s lace here.

This isn’t exactly the geographic center of the farm, but it serves as the main entrance, and that strip of grass down the middle divides what we call the Upper Farm from the Lower Farm. The Lower Farm is on a hill.

Here’s the Big Tunnel and the two Cat tunnels.

That row along the tunnel is sunflowers.

This is the Lower Farm. Jason does some direct seeding, but almost everything you see in all these photos was started from seed in our basement and tended to under grow lights by Jason. The process starts for him in early February. I always feel like I should note that he’s worked a full-time off-farm job for all seven seasons. Gardens are a wondrous combination of Mother Nature and man’s own will.

The summer produce is just starting up.

I thought this looked like a stained-glass window!

We have a whole family of garter snakes that call our straw stack home. The other day, I accidentally tipped over the stack and two snakes rained down. Thankfully they didn’t land on me and they weren’t hurt. When the straw stack is gone, maybe they’ll finally go eat some voles!

Thanks for coming along on this tour. And thanks for supporting the farm and taking an interest in what goes on up here. It means a lot to us.

~ Stella

Hey, friends. We’ve got sunny skies for a little while longer today, but the radar shows some potentially nasty weather rolling through the region all afternoon. Based on the forecast, it’s best to cancel today’s farm event. It won’t be the same, but I’ll try to put together a photo tour of the farm this week.

~ Stella

UPDATE 7/11/2021

Hey, friends. We’ve got sunny skies for a little while longer today, but the radar shows some potentially nasty weather rolling through the region all afternoon. Based on the forecast, it’s best to cancel today’s farm event. It won’t be the same, but I’ll try to put together a photo tour of the farm this week.

~ Stella

We’d love to see you Sunday, July 11, any time between 2 and 6 p.m. Stay for a few minutes, or hang out the whole afternoon. It’s free and open to anyone interested in the farm. Fingers crossed for good weather. We’ll have plenty of shade available and light refreshments, but may we suggest a decent pair of shoes for the farm tour.

Schedule:

~ 2:15 p.m. A short farm talk

~ 2:30 p.m. First farm tour

~ 3:30 p.m. Second farm tour

~ 5 p.m. Final farm tour

Find the farm:

We’re 1 mile down Dingman Road, off state Route 27. You’ll see the Plot Twist Farm sign and house. But this is NOT the farm. Keep driving a few more seconds until you reach a blacktop driveway, on the right, with a sign that says Hickory Hill. If using GPS, look for 9276 Dingman Road, Guys Mills. Go up this drive. A sign will point you to a dirt path that leads to the farm.

Note: There’s no bathroom at the farm, but we’ll offer shuttles to a bathroom.

~ Stella

Here’s a look at the Big Tunnel, July 3. Last week, we transitioned from almost entirely greens harvests, to picking peas and beans daily. Now, we’re on the verge of full-blown summer produce. It’s the time of year when our arms are constantly in motion from plant to bucket.

This shot doesn’t show it, but there’s a row of peppers along the wall, and we’re hoping to include them in the CSA next week.

Those are cucumber vines in the first row on the left. They’re just starting to produce. Silas cut some for the farmers market last week, and it felt good to set them on the table. We don’t hold back on what we charge for the earliest cukes of the season. Extra work went into having them early, and like everything on this farm, they’re zero spray.

I once overheard a comment at the farmers market that stayed with me. It came from a woman selling no-spray strawberries. When someone mumbled about the price, she said, “My knees told me how much to charge for these.” In other words, she’s paid the cost of weeding and harvesting those berries on her hands and knees. Now, she’s asking a fair price for her labor. I also remember her tone. It was said without a trace of meanness. It was simply a fact.

Her comment comes to mind when holding a half pint of red or black raspberries. They’re slow picking, and my final price decision is made after surveying the map of scratches up my arms and legs.

In our first few seasons, I experienced what many young farmers do: a complete disbelief that anyone will actually want to buy anything from us. Every item was priced with a big dose of trepidation. Like I was scared to sell my own produce! It was mostly me who suffered this complete lack of confidence. Jason was unsure at first, too, but he pushed us to go for a price that was fair to the farm and our family. There were times when I’d throw out a low number, an overly cautious amount, and he’d say, “Now, wait a minute.” And we’d talk about what went into that vegetable – that good, that product – in my hand.

All that said, let me say how grateful we are for all the people who understand what goes into a farm and choose to support local growers. If life came with merit badges, there’d be one for people who buy from local farms, and they could stick it right on their farmers market reusable tote bag.

Alright, let me get my stumpy little legs down from my soapbox. Back to the tunnel. We’re still looking at the photo above all this text. The strip of soil you see was previously lettuce under landscape fabric. The weedless earth beneath the fabric was a snap for Jason to work up with the wheel hoe and rake. He seeded carrots in that space.

The next row is tomatoes. Jason pruned them already, but they need it again. These are doing terrific. We’re so hopeful for a great tomato season!

It looks like he’s running away from a 10-pound vole here, but actually he’s using the wheel hoe.

Above, is the view from the other side of the tunnel. You can see the peppers now a little on the far left.

On the far right, is an empty row that I just cleared. This was lettuce without row cover. Since this photo was taken, Jay prepped the bed and seeded more carrots.

Next up, is a row of celery. The empty spaces between the celery supported Asian greens up until the other day. What a mess those ended up being. Asian greens grow super fast, and they tend to get away from you. I wanted to use them for last week’s CSA recipe, but they were too huge. I spent a hot, humid morning yanking them out and turning them into basically loose leaf Asian greens. Hardly an ideal situation. One of those farm tasks that makes you say, “Whew, glad that’s over.”

After the celery row, is a row of cherry tomatoes. These have just started to turn color. Our fingers are crossed for at least a few tomatoes for the shares next week. Jason just finished pruning and clipping those plants.

We have more tomatoes in one of the Cat tunnels. Those aren’t the kind that need pruning. The other night, I worked on clipping them to the string so Jay could do a little weed trimming in that tunnel. There were hundreds of garden spiders in their webs. They had me on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But after awhile, there were so many, I got used to them and forgot about them … kind of … It was another task joyfully complete.

~ Stella

As I walked toward the peas with my bucket this morning, I was stopped in my tracks by how beautiful the little yellow wildflowers looked beside the green vines. This view is exactly how summer exists in my mind.

~ Stella

Hey, Little Firework! Be careful up there.

~ Stella