Canning Day

18. August 2010 by admin.

Each August I host a hands-on canning demo day for CSA members. We collect split tomatoes from the plants and can them up in the barn, our impromptu outdoor kitchen right next to the garden.  Now that’s fresh! Here’s Jackie posing with the goods, jars of tomato puree.

The outdoor kitchen stove:

I find it completely satisfying to take split tomatoes from the garden and can a batch of tomato puree for winter use. Its a bit like taking lemons and making lemonade. Sour turns sweet. Split tomatoes or tomato bounty hanging on the vine, you are going to have waste. But add some hard work and you have tomato puree. Wait, its not hard work, but its focused and time-consuming. I’m getting into the zen of canning this month. I think after a few years of it, its an easy process for me. I don’t have to pour over the Ball Book anymore, getting overwhelmed by the choices, the step-by-step details of canning, and the fear paragraphs about germs and botulism. Which, by the way, you can’t taste or see or smell, but enjoy your canning experience, you’ll be fine…

I’ve tried a variety of techniques and products over the past few years, and now I know what I like to do. I like to make tomato puree, a straight tomato base. It can be a soup base. It can simmer longer on the stovetop and become pizza sauce or ketchup. It can be thickened with garlic and onions and other veggies for a pasta sauce or lasagna sauce. I keep it pure and simple when I can it, and then I can add all those goodies later when I’m cooking. Did you know tomatoes are on the edge of acidity? 4.0-4.6, and 4.6 is the limit to safe water-bath canning. Add some lemon juice and you throw it over the edge into higher acidity, where botulism can’t thrive. Add anything else to tomatoes–like herbs and vegetables–and you  could throw it over the other edge, where botulism can survive. So I play it safe, and keep my tomatoes as plain puree. (I know tons of people who add things and continue to live, just sayin’)

I don’t mess around with peeling tomatoes. That process drives me crazy. I quarter them unpeeled, and stew them a bit in a big pot. Then I pour off the water from the tomatoes. This  saves hours of evaporation time during thickening. The stewed, drained-off tomatoes go to Victoria, and come out a bit watery. It takes more simmer time to thicken this way (improved by pouring off the water) but I just saved loads of time and patience by not peeling tomatoes.  So I don’t mind simmer-time. One day I made my puree and left it simmering on the stove (with Phil home to monitor) and I went to yoga. Came home in a couple hours to a nice thick puree ready to can. [Of course, if I don’t have time to thicken it, I’ll can it anyway. It takes more cans and is much more watery, but it’ll still be useful. I’ve also skipped the Victoria and blended the stewed quartered and poured-off tomatoes with skins and all, with an immersion blender. That works too. ]

Meet Victoria (Victoria Mill, that is). She helps us squash tomatoes into juice and puree, spitting out the skins and such.

Elaine and Victoria.

The Super Canner: this baby can fit almost 20 jars at a time. Simply constructed with cinder blocks, a half-barrel (that’s not what its called?) and a blow torch. I need to credit our friends the Horsts at Jehovah-Jireh Farm with this idea. Phil dug a hole to set the blow torch in, the Horsts put an elbow on theirs to shoot it upward, I believe. And they had a sink base. Different ways to do it.

Thirty minutes boiling in Super Canner, and we’re done. Phil’s taking out jars with the Jar Taker Outer. (ok, tongs)

Let those jars rest for a day, so as not to bump them (dare I say…jar them?) before they cool and seal.  Gaze at them. Revel with them. Label them and put them in a pantry or other dark ideally cool-ish space.

Posted in Events, Veggies, On the Farm | 1 Comment »

Garlic

19. July 2010 by admin.

 Aaaah, the garlic is curing. Its all bundled and hanging in the barn to air and dry.

Here’s Donna helping to hang the garlic. I like that she wore overalls for the occasion.

Here’s what its like to eat your lunch in the garlic barn:

Sneak preview

Posted in Veggies, On the Farm, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Loopy Garlic Scapes

1. July 2010 by admin.

Beautiful wonderful delectible healing garlic. I could go on.

I even like how it plants. You plant it in the fall (not in the busy spring planting season) and harvest “between solstice and fourth of July” (in the words of my farmer friend Eric from Country Pleasures Farm). Oh my, how we have harvested. Thank goodness Phil likes to think outside the box and used his plow to dig under the garlic row. We used to pitchfork every bulb! And stab some. He only sliced a few with the plow. After the row is plowed, its collecting and bringing to the barn in the pickup truck. Pitchforks, lay still. Saved Phil’s back and tons of time. The barn chairs are full of garlic bundles instead of concert-goers. Phil says the bundles are not watching a concert, they are awaiting trial. Who shall be hung (in the barn to cure) and buried in the fall? Who shall be eaten alive by CSA members and Common Market shoppers? But I prefer the vision of a spicy concert. Before I send you a photo of the garlic harvest, I need to share the scape photos I took last month.

OK, I love garlic scapes too. They are a fun and loopy byproduct of the garlic plant. Its the seed pod, and since you don’t even grow garlic from its seed (you plant its cloves from the bulb), you can snap off these seed pods. i love that they are edible. They have a garlicy juice that stays on my hands for a day or two. Chop em up and scapes are wonderful in stir-fries or roasted or baked.

Here are some scape models:

Posted in Veggies, On the Farm | 1 Comment »

First CSA Harvest

25. May 2010 by admin.

An exciting week at the farm, with our first CSA veggie pickups. Here are some highlights.

I think the bok choi won my prize for most beautiful offering in the share.

Yes! Real dirt on vegetables!  Straight from the garden.

These Oasis white turnips are so sweet and mild. I like them best in a salad or thinly sliced and marinated in a dressing all by themselves.

Kohlrabi is the alien purple thing. Nobody comes into the CSA familiar with it, but kohlrabi is easy to make friends with. I like it best peeled and sliced raw, like carrots. I gave out samplesall weekend, so that nobody gets scared of the purple alien. Its docile.

Yep, that’s a big super cabbage.

Jackie actually brought her clay pot and we planted her herbs right at the sale display.

Our new (as of last year) veggie shed. Needs a better name than that. Any suggestions?

U-Pick herb garden.

Posted in Weekly CSA Harvests | 1 Comment »

Heirloom Seedling Sale is here!

28. April 2010 by admin.

House in the Woods Organic Heirloom Plant Sale

 

One of the most delicious tastes of summer is the heirloom tomato. These old-time varieties are bred for their taste and unique characteristics, unlike hybrids developed for a thick skin to withstand shipment to the grocery store. They are also indeterminate plants which means they flower continuously so you get a longer harvest. Heirloom varieties are bred for backyard gardens with a priority on taste–find out for yourself in your garden.

 

Sale Hours —

MAY 2-8:

Sunday May 2, 10am-5pm

Tuesday-Thursday (May 4th-6th) from 4-7pm

Friday May 7th, 10am-5pm

Saturday May 8th, 10am-5pm

2104 Mt Ephraim Rd, Adamstown, MD 21710
Contact ilene@houseinthewoods.com or 301-607-4048 for directions and appointments off-hours.

 

 

$4 per tomato plant, $3.50 for others, plus 6% sales tax. Ask about other plants for sale. We have another dozen heirloom tomato varieties beyond this list!

 

Bring a box for your plants. Return pots to our mailbox, we’ll re-use them!

May 2-8, 2010. More info–ilene@houseinthewoods.com    301-607-4048

 

REDS AND PINKS————————————

 

 

____ Black Krim–Dark red beefsteak with rich sweet taste from Black Sea of Russia

____ Brandywine–Pinkish red, most popular heirloom originated in 1889. 

____ Cherokee Purple—A favorite, from Tennessee cultivated by the Cherokee Tribe.        Plants loaded with beefsteak tomatoes. Deep red interior flesh, rich, complex flavor.

____ Arkansas Traveler—flavorful perfect rose-pink heirloom, 100 years old from the south. Tolerant of high heat, humidity, drought. Resistant to splitting.

 

UNIQUE COLORS————————————-

 

 

____ Old German—a mild sweet tomato, with red-yellow streaks to skin and flesh.  Low acid, as are most yellow, orange and green tomatoes.

____ Persimmon–Rose-orange like a persimmon, big, sweet. Fruit up to 2 pounds!

Vigorous and prolific plants.

____ Green Zebra–A magic tomato, green with dark green stripes, skin blushes

yellow when ripe. Green salsa or even green sauce! A hit for contrast on a potluck platter. Also have some Cherokee Green.

 

 

PASTES for cooking and saucing————————————————

____ Speckled Roma–Paste tomato, Red with a hint of orange and wavy yellow

streaks, a beauty! And sweet, you’ll want to cut some for the salad too.

____ Purple Calabash—rich red tomato good for saucing. Squatty shape.

____ Orange Banana –another unique paste, this one is orange!

 

CHERRIES————————————————

 

 

____ Matt’s Wild Cherry–Mini red wild cherry tomatoes, prolific. Cute little stems

with six bite-size tomatoes on each. Kids love ‘em!

____ Sungold Cherry–Orange, super sweet mini tomato. A rare exception to our

heirloom rule in our tomato collection, this hybrid is worth it. Our CSA members

eat them all up on the car-ride home.

 

 

PEPPERS and EGGPLANT——————————————————

____ Marconi—heirloom long green bell pepper that ripens to red

____ Purple Beauty—beautiful purple skin, green inside like a regular bell pepper

____ Pimento—Ripens to red quickly, tangy but mild, ideal for cooking or roasting

____ New Ace—a boxy hybrid green bell pepper that ripens quickly to red

____ Jalapeno—the medium-hot salsa pepper, prolific

____ Nadia Italian Eggplant—beautiful shiny standard Italian eggplant

____ Japanese Eggplant—long skinny Asian eggplant, great sliced for cooking.

 

PERENNIAL HERBS—————————————————-

____ Chamomile—beautiful little daisy-like flowers, dry them for tea

____ Sage, Thyme, Oregano—great culinary herbs for any herb garden.

____ Basil and Parsley too–most popular herbs in the garden

Posted in Greenhouse, Heirloom Tomatoes | 1 Comment »

What’s for dinner?

17. October 2009 by ilene.

One of my greatest pleasures on the farm is witnessing my children’s experience of the garden. They inhabit the garden with confidence and comfort, as they snack on sorrel leaves, Long Tom tomatoes, and red peppers. Jonah eats cabbages and peppers like apples. Noah has an eye for what’s ready to harvest, some exciting new vegetable to pull from the ground. They are endlessly entertained during CSA harvests, by helping harvesters collect the goods or playing with visiting children or by themselves, filling toy dump trucks with dirt in the open-sided barn. They love CSA pickup days, when members bring their children to experience the farm. Noah takes kids into the garden to snack on cherry tomatoes together and pick flowers. Jonah offers peppers, with a confidence that makes even skeptical children feel more adventurous with garden snacking.

One quiet evening we ventured out to the garden with the mission of “What’s for dinner?” They ran here and there collecting garden prizes–a mix of sorrel, chard and sweet potato greens, bok choi, green beans, and red peppers, and herbs. Phil and I love the sweet potato greens sauteed, the kids prefer raw sorrel. Bok choi is a raw edible spoon for rice (or dip) with the green part as a wrap. Green beans go fast raw or absolutely gobbled down sauteed with garlic and soy sauce. That was a daily sautee for my kids during the season, and they loved when these were not rationed, but “all you want to eat”. I would say “I’m making them until you say stop.” I wish it were that easy to feed my kids vegetables during the off-season. This is a truth with my kids, and likely with many of the kids who are CSA members–When it comes straight from the garden, especially if they help harvest it, and even more especially if they helped grow it, it is a completely different eating experience for them.

 

The boys, trekking home with their garden prizes, to make dinner

 

So busy with this, I haven’t posted in months, but the farm is wrapping up for the season, and I am digging up collected photos to share with you. All summer, I wrote blog posts “in my head” with visual snapshots and all (do other bloggers do this??), but sometimes I actually did document them with a real camera. And its not too late, so the written blog entries may happen as well, coming to you during the cold months as a taste of the summer gone by.

Posted in Veggies, On the Farm, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Donate to the Frederick Food Bank

26. July 2009 by ilene.

We donate to the Frederick Food Bank. Never often enough (people eat every day!), but we are trying to go more often. I have made a point to grow extra chard this year for the Food Bank, because I know how popular greens are there, and such a nutritious fresh food. They do not receive enough fresh vegetable donations. Whenever I donate, there are always a couple people with their eyes on the greens. They ask, “that going to be available in the Food Bank today?” or “when did you pick those greens?” I hope that we get there routinely with a batch of fresh greens from our extra row. Here are our greens donated last week:

 You don’t have to have a farm’s quantity to make a wonderful donation to the Food Bank. They accept donations of food in any quantity, and they make it easy now. You can just stop in at the loading dock and drop your donation into this bin:

Here are the homegrown veggies that were in the bin when we delivered. Someone went to the wonderful effort to pick bags of green beans, and there were some big zucchinis that your neighbor doesn’t want, but the Food Bank does:

 

The information online does not make it easy to find the loading dock with this bin conveniently located. SO, I will tell you all about it. Head into downtown Frederick on Main Street (this is coming from south, or Costco, or 355/Buckeystown Pike). A few blocks into the downtown area, take a RIGHT onto ALL SAINTS ST. The Soup Kitchen is there at the corner on your right. Pass it and a little courtyard and immediately next is the FOOD BANK, all on your right. Take a RIGHT into their parking lot. The loading dock is on the RIGHT and there you will find the BLUE BIN.

Make the effort to seek this out the first time, and then you will realize how easy it is to stop by with even the smallest donation from your garden or pantry shelf. They will appreciate it so much! If you take a large enough donation that you would like a tax donation receipt, you can find someone there (likely Sarah) and request a tax deductible donation receipt. Here is their address  and more info:

FCAA Foodbank Program
George L. Shields Foodbank Facility
14 East All Saints Street, Frederick, MD 21701
Telephone: 301-600-6263

 

The Frederick Community Action Agency accepts a wide range of donations, including non-perishable food items such as pasta, rice, canned or frozen vegetables, canned fruits, canned meats, breakfast cereals, and other staple items (home canned foods cannot be accepted).

In addition, the agency accepts donations of disposable diapers, baby food, infant formula, blankets, gloves, hats, underwear, and adult hygiene supplies such as razors, soap, toothbrushes, shampoo, and deodorant.

Monetary donations are also accepted and are tax-deductible.

For more information about making donations, please contact Sarah McAleavy, Coordinator at 301-600-6263, or email smcaleavy@cityoffrederick.com.

Posted in Veggies | 3 Comments »

Heirloom Tomatoes “Not too late” Sale

20. May 2009 by ilene.

Due to popular demand, we have more heirloom tomato plants ready for sale, in many interesting varieties. And plenty of peppers! Here is your chance to add a magic heirloom tomato to your garden collection, sneak in one more, or start that late garden. You are not too late! Tomatoes will be happy to go in the ground now that it is warming up more consistently, and they may give you tomatoes farther into the fall than earlier plantings.  That’s why we grow a second set.

I will update this list of varieties each evening this week.

ORGANIC HEIRLOOM TOMATO SEEDLING SALE–this weekend!
at House in the Woods Farm

Friday May 22–10am-2pm
Saturday May 23–10am-2pm
Sunday May 24–10am-2pm
Other times and days available, just email or call to set up a visit.

 

Go to http://www.houseinthewoods.com for more information about the sale.

 

THANK YOU–Thank you all for a sell-out tomato sale in early May with our first planting of tomatoes. Bring the 4-inch pots back to the sale, or put a bag of them by our mailbox if you are in the neighborhood. We’ll re-use them.  Happy Gardening!

$4 per tomato plant, plus 6% sales tax. Ask about other plants for sale. Return pots to our mailbox and we’ll re-use them!

 
REDS AND PINKS————————————

Black Krim–Dark red beefsteak with rich sweet taste from Black Sea of Russia

Brandywine–Pinkish red, most popular heirloom originated in 1889. 

Purple Calabash—rich red tomato good for saucing. Squatty shape.

 
UNIQUE COLORS————————————-

Valencia-Beautiful round bright orange tomato, mild, fruity sweet like a Valencia orange. From Maine.

Persimmon–Rose-orange like a persimmon, big, sweet. Fruit up to 2 pounds! Vigorous and prolific plants.

Green Zebra–A magic tomato, green with dark green stripes, skin blushes yellow when ripe. Green salsa or even green sauce! A hit for contrast on a potluck platter.

 
PASTES————————————————–

Long Tom–Especially long red paste tomatoes with few seeds and thick walls. Great sauces, good in salads.

Speckled Roma–Paste tomato, Red with a hint of orange and wavy yellow streaks, a beauty!

Black Plum–Russian plum variety, Two-inch elongated plum-shaped dark red fruit. Close to a paste but thinner walls. Sweet and tangy.

 
CHERRIES————————————————

Matt’s Wild Cherry–Mini red wild cherry tomatoes, prolific. Cute little stems with six bite-size tomatoes on each. Kids love ‘em!

Sungold Cherry–Orange, super sweet mini tomato. A rare exception to our heirloom rule in our tomato collection, this hybrid is worth it. Our CSA members eat them all up on the car-ride home.

 
PEPPERS————————————————

Marconi—heirloom long green bell pepper that ripens to red

Purple Beauty—beautiful purple skin, green inside like a regular bell pepper

Biscayne—Mild yellow banana pepper. Prolific

Pimento—Ripens to red faster than bells, tangy but mild, ideal for cooking or           

roasting

Ace—a boxy hybrid green bell pepper that ripens quickly to red

 
PERENNIAL HERBS—————————————————-

Chamomile—beautiful little daisy-like flowers, dry them for tea

Sage and Thyme—great culinary herbs for any herb garden.

 

--

Ilene Freedman

ilene@houseinthewoods.com

www.houseinthewoods.com

Posted in Greenhouse, Heirloom Tomatoes, On the Farm | 2 Comments »

Heirloom Tomato Varieties

4. May 2009 by ilene.

Thanks everyone, for a fabulous tomato sale! We cleared out the first planting of tomato plants, I still have a few Brandywine and that’s it. I have a second planting of lots of varieties for sale, ready around Memorial Day weekend. All these varieties are available again for the second planting. For sale by appointment.

ORGANIC HEIRLOOM TOMATO VARIETIES FOR SALE. $4/each

REDS AND PINKS————————————

Black Krim–Dark red beefsteak with rich sweet taste from Black Sea of Russia

Arkansas Traveler–One hundred year old heirloom from the south, Arkansas to North Carolina. A lovely round tomato, resistant to cracking and disease. A favorite of ours.

Brandywine–Pinkish red, most popular heirloom originated in 1889.  One pounders! I have tons of Brandywine plants!

Carmello–The French Carmello is popular in Europe for its exceptionally fine flavor. Very productive plants. The grower “de-hybridized” this seed from the original hybrid.

Cherokee Purple–Deep red beefsteak with dark shoulders, originated in Tennessee by the Cherokee tribe. Rich flavor.

Prudens Purple–Beautiful deep pink-red and rich taste like Brandywine. A mainstay slicer on our farm.

Giant Belgium–The name may warn you—this tomato averages 2 pounds but can reach 5 pounds! Great for cooking, canning, or showing off.

UNIQUE COLORS————————————-

Valencia-Beautiful round bright orange tomato, mild, fruity sweet like a Valencia orange. From Maine.

Persimmon–Rose-orange like a persimmon, big, sweet. Fruit up to 2 pounds! Vigorous and prolific plants.

Striped German–A fruity sweet treat! This tomato will show you what heirlooms have to offer—a big sweet tomato with red-yellow stripes with streaked red and yellow juicy flesh.

Pineapple—Just like a Striped German. Pineapple fruity sweet, streaky red-yellow, yummy tomato.

Green Zebra–A magic tomato, green with dark green stripes, skin blushes yellow when ripe. Green salsa or even green sauce! A hit for contrast on a potluck platter.

PASTES————————————————–

Long Tom–Especially long red paste tomatoes with few seeds and thick walls. Great sauces, good in salads.

Speckled Roma–Paste tomato, Red with a hint of orange and wavy yellow streaks, a beauty!

Amish Gold—Paste cross between Amish Paste and the beloved Sungold, a sweet idea.

Black Plum–Russian plum variety, Two-inch elongated plum-shaped dark red fruit. Close to a paste but thinner walls. Sweet and tangy.

CHERRIES————————————————

Matt’s Wild Cherry–Mini red wild cherry tomatoes, prolific. Cute little stems with six bite-size tomatoes on each.

Sungold Cherry–Orange, super sweet mini tomato. A rare exception to our heirloom rule in our tomato collection, this hybrid is worth it. Our CSA members eat them all up on the car-ride home. Kids love ‘em!

We have a few kinds of peppers and eggplant. We have thyme, sage, and chamomile. Sold out of basil.

Posted in Greenhouse, Heirloom Tomatoes | 2 Comments »

It’s Tomato Seedling Sale Week!

3. May 2009 by ilene.

Six weeks in the greenhouse and these plants are beauties. Over 20 varieties of heirloom tomato plants, for our garden and those of our plant customers. You can come by the farm this week on Friday May 8 or Saturday May 9, 10am-5pm, for tomato plants. Email me for directions.

We had a good Pre-sale day today, with some of the regulars stopping by for their tomatoes.  Shannon came for her tomatoes, she has been a customer for years. She keeps a blog called Grown in Frederick. She went home and wrote this post about the sale, read all about it at her blog.

I have the greenhouse set up for the sale, with photos of the tomatoes whole and sliced, above each type of tomato plant. A few years ago we had a Tomato Tasting Festival, and took photos of each type of tomato on the tasting table. The event was fun, and I am still enjoying the ongoing benefit of it– helpful photos I get to use for the sale.

 

 

Perennial Chamomile plants for sale:

 By early August, this will be our treat, we can hardly wait:

Posted in Greenhouse, Heirloom Tomatoes | 2 Comments »