House in the Woods Farm has CSA memberships available for the 2013 season! Select your own items farmers-market style to fill your weekly or every-other-week bag. And new, a 5-week FlexShare option! Click on “How to join our CSA” for all the details.
I love to dip candles in December. Today was dipping day! Candles are a beautiful symbol for the season. Candles are symbolic for Solstice–it’s nice to have the warmth and light of candles during the dark days of winter. Solstice celebrates the return of light after December 21st. The holidays of the season–Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanzaa–embrace the same idea. So candle making is a universally wonderful thing to do in December, don’t you think?
We like making things for ourselves, and we especially like making it from the source. Homegrown from the start inspires us deeply. So this year’s candles were e-special-ly special dipped from our own bees’ wax. See the honey on the beeswax? It makes the candles smell even sweeter.
It was a year long project. I adventured in the art of refining lumps of dirty beeswax from February through August. I had dirty lumps of beeswax on the counter and in two different freezers, and one in the back of the fridge. It felt good to collect them (most of them?) and melt em down and clean em up into usable beeswax. I will write a post with the refining details later, for those of you with dirty lumps of beeswax in your freezer(s). But anyway, this month, we brought out the block of refined beeswax and melted it down to dip candles.
They aren’t smiling for the camera, but the kids get pretty into it. Probably though, I like it the most. It makes me feel warm inside, to dip beeswax candles.
The kids love having homemade, homegrown Chanukah candles for our menorah. Jonah made the menorah, too. Happy Chanukah to those celebrating this week and next.
My kids are pretty fond of the chickens.
They raised some of the chickens from little chicks…
So Jonah was crushed yesterday when he found out that a predator bird had killed his favorite chicken, Robber. Robber was actually given to us about seven years ago by a woman named Karen fondly known as “the chicken lady” (not to be confused with the cow lady or the goat lady). And it just so happens that the predator bird is a falcon. A Peregrin Falcon, we believe. A falcon! Falcons are amazing creatures. They have beautiful markings, Peregrins are spotted on the underside, they can zoom to their prey at amazing speeds, and they sit majestically on tree branches and WATCH. This guest of ours is likely migrating through, and will hopefully find that our generosity with chicken dinners is limited and he’ll move on. Meanwhile…will the awe of wildlife overcome the sadness of the loss for my child? Can he be a gracious host to this majestic guest on the farm? This morning, we ran out to the coop with binoculars. Sure enough, the falcon was at his perch on a tree branch overlooking our chicken coop, and we got to watch him fly off. There he goes! We spent the day on our studies, separated by dashes out to the coop to chase off “the killer”. The flock was hiding in the coop, they knew what was up, so I locked them in. Today they were bored, but alive (pick your battles). The kids and I pulled out the bird books, read about falcons, and printed a bird list. Another homeschool spontaneity project. We checked off “Peregrin Falcon” and “Blue Jay” for today. The neighbors came over, hoping to catch a peak at the falcon. We heard his call several times, and I saw him swoop past my windows. A falcon’s wingspan is 40 inches wide! Did the love for wildlife prevail over the love for livestock? I don’t know. Time might tell. It’s a mixed bag, when you are eight years old.
UPDATE: We haven’t seen the falcon for two days and the chickens have begun to venture out of their coop. Warily, no doubt. So we withheld lovely meals from our guest, and he eventually left to visit a more generous host. Those preparing meals for holiday guests might keep this strategy in mind. Just sayin.
It’s sweet potato digging time! We’re digging tomorrow–Sunday September 30, 1-5pm. You are invited to join us, get your hands dirty and dig in the dirt. Call Phil at 301-461-6574 for more information on Sunday. You can also email Ilene (ilene@houseinthewoods.com) to be in contact about future digs in the next couple weeks.
We have four varieties this year, including an amazing purple sweet potato with white flesh. Its very sweet and hints of citrus! No kidding.
Stop by the farm Friday 1-6pm for our on-farm Market. We are selling a wide variety of our organic produce, delicate lettuce and cabbages, peppers, winter squash, potatoes, sweet potatoes and more! Our sweets will also be for sale at The Common Market beginning this week.
HAPPY HARVEST September 28, 2012
**This is our 20th and final CSA pickup up the season!**But keep visiting us on Fridays for our on-farm Farmers Market, Fridays in October (except oct 19)
CSA members choose 8 from the following harvest items, so many season choices combining fall crops and lingering summer crops:
Sweet Japanese turnips are back for a sweet and crispy fall turnip!
Butternut squashuse this creamy squash in soups and pies and squash puree, to replace cooked pumpkin in any recipe.
acorn squashtry out Milli’s recipe (Ilene’s Mom!): cut them in half, scoop the seeds out, and bake them with orange juice, honey/maple syrup, and raisins in the middle.350 degrees until soft.
garlicsee tips on freezing garlic, its on the blog. Preserve the harvest!
Specialty Purple Sweet potatoesOH MY we have this Japanese sweet potatoes with purple skins and white flesh. OH MY they are creamy sweet and delicious. Really beautiful mixed with regular orange sweet potatoes in a batch of mixed baked sweet potato fries– slice them into sticks, toss lightly with olive oil and spices, spread onto baking sheet and bake at 410 degrees til slightly browning and soft (35 minutes?).
We might also have some regular orange sweet potatoes cured and ready to go.
tomatoesmix of reds, heirlooms and romas (slowing down but still here! thank you, lovely hoophouse)
jalapenosstill making some fresh salsa?
basil (mainly sweet still producing, maybe red or thai)
bell peppers, and pimentos and italian long pepperslikely plenty of reds
sweet potato greenssauteed green vegetable
Leaf Lettuceanother great fall crop that we are so grateful to harvest. You dont know how challenging it is to get lettuce to germinate and grow in hot August, compete with summer bugs and survive transplanting in the heat. Thanks to Phils new sprinklers misting over the plants in their first days after transplanting, the plants thrived.
Chinese Cabbageits beautiful and delicate, I eat it raw like lettuce but its great lightly sauteed as well. Or make a batch of kimchi!
We might have some extra white potatoes for the table too, and we’ll see what else is out there.
UPICK THIS WEEK
herb gardenlooking good: sage, parsley, chives, oregano, sorrell. Try lemongrass, the bunch of grass in the herb garden row. Ask us how to harvest it.
RECIPE IDEA
I have been making lettuce wraps with the delicate Funjen Chinese Cabbage–oh boy, is FunJen a fun kid-food! Wraps are good with lots of fillings: rice, ground beef/turkey/tofu, chicken, beans, chopped veggies raw or cooked. Make leftover wraps! The magic ingredient for me is a yummy peanut dipping sauce. Look up a recipe for Thai Dipping Sauce with a peanut butter base. My kids are messy with these, but that’s fun and they down lots of cabbage leaves this way.
ABOUT SWEET POTATOES
Did you Know? Sweet potatoes are starchy when first dug up. We cure them for a week in warm, humid conditions and their starches turn to sugar! The curing process is one reason why our sweet potatoes are so yummy sweet. They are good just simply baked, you don’t need to add anything to them. We grow a lot of sweet potatoes so we can sell them to The Common Market through the fall. Maybe they’ll be available there through Thanksgiving. We will also offer sweet potatoes in our weekly fall Farmers Market.
House in the Woods Farm presents
our Fall Farmers Market…at the farm
Fridays 1-6pm (closed Friday October 19), beginning this week Sept 27
Certified organic and 100% grown by us at our farm
(if we ever offer you a product not grown or made by us…we will label its source)
Offerings:
leaf lettuce
Chinese Cabbage
sweet potatoes and specialty sweet potatoes
heirloom white potatoes
acorn and butternut squash
hard neck garlic (more fragrant than grocery store soft-neck garlic!)
bell peppers and specialty peppers
and more!
Keep posted on our blog (which feeds onto our Facebook page as well).
This is a great chance to check out our CSA program, inquire within.
DIRECTIONS TO THE FARM via our Park Mills farm lane:
For GPS purposes but there is no mailbox: 2225 Park Mills Rd, Adamstown, MD.
Questions? Call Phil at 301-461-6574
Take 270 to Rte 80 West, go two miles, take a left on Park Mills Road,
go about three miles, pass Mt Ephraim Rd and Bear Branch Road. Watch on
your left side–you will cross over Bennett Creek, pass a house, then
immediately look for our farm lane with a “House in the Woods” sign.
(Gone too far if you get to Lilypons Rd.) Drive up the lane and follow
it around the field for parking. PLEASE DRIVE SLOWLY.
— Ilene Freedman
ilene@houseinthewoods.com
http://www.houseinthewoods.com
https://blog.houseinthewoods.com
Find our Facebook page: House in the Woods Farm
HAPPY HARVEST September 21, 2012
CSA members choose 8 from the following harvest items, so many season choices combining fall crops and lingering summer crops:
Butternut squash–use this creamy squash in soups and pies and squash puree, to replace cooked pumpkin in any recipe.
acorn squash and pie pumpkinsthese were offered the past couple weeks and we’ll offer them again, if available.
garlicsee tips on freezing garlic, its on the blog. Preserve the harvest!
Sweet potatoes first of the harvest is ready for you to take home! Enjoy!
cucumbersmaybe a cucumber or two if we have enough. We’re so grateful for this late summer crop.
tomatoesmix of reds, heirlooms and romas
jalapenosstill making some fresh salsa?
basil (sweet or red)
thai basil (use like sweet basil or as a green vegetable in a sautee)
bell peppers, and pimentos and italian long pepperslikely plenty of reds
sweet potato greenssauteed green vegetable
Leaf Lettuce–another great fall crop that we are so grateful to harvest. You don’t know how challenging it is to get lettuce to germinate and grow in hot August, compete with summer bugs and survive transplanting in the heat. Thanks to Phil’s new sprinklers misting over the plants in their first days after transplanting, the plants thrived.
Chinese Cabbageits beautiful and delicate, I eat it raw like lettuce but its great lightly sauteed as well. Or make a batch of kimchi!
UPICK THIS WEEK
flowerszinnias, pick a bouquet
herb gardenlooking good: sage, parsley, chives, oregano, sorrell. Try lemongrass, the bunch of grass in the herb garden row. Ask us how to harvest it.
20th and LAST WEEK OF CSA PICKUPS: Friday September 28
HAPPY HARVEST September 14, 2012
CSA members choose 8 from the following harvest items:
acorn squash–Each week we will offer one of the beautiful winter squash varieties that we grew for you! This week its acorn squash. Cut one of these squash in half and you have two cute bowls. Scoop the seeds, fill it with raisins, a little orange juice, cinnamon, drizzle of honey. Then bake about 35 minutes, until soft. Yum.
garlicsee last week’s tips on freezing garlic, its on the blog. Preserve the harvest!
Sweet potatoes– first of the harvest is ready for you to take home! Enjoy!
cucumbers–we have a small late crop of cucumbers! Enjoy this late treat of summertime.
tomatoesmix of reds, heirlooms and romas
jalapenos–still making some fresh salsa?
basil (sweet or red)
thai basil (use like sweet basil or as a green vegetable in a sautee)
bell peppers, and pimentos and italian long pepperslikely plenty of reds
sweet potato greenssauteed green vegetable
Chinese Cabbage–its beautiful and delicate, I eat it raw like lettuce
UPICK THIS WEEK
green beanstake a snack, some young ones are on there, avoid the really chewy bulgy ones.
flowerszinnias, pick a bouquet, get em while they last
herb gardenlooking good: sage, parsley, chives, oregano, sorrell
LOOK FORWARD TO THESE CROPS IN SEPTEMBER:
butternut squash
sweet potatoes
loose leaf lettuce (we hope!)
20th and LAST WEEK OF CSA PICKUPS: Friday September 28
HAPPY HARVEST September 7, 2012
CSA members choose 8 from the following harvest items:
pie pumpkins! Each week we will offer one of the beautiful winter squash varieties that we grew for you! You don’t need to make pie to enjoy these pumpkins. Bake and puree and make squash soup. Substitute into any recipe that calls for pumpkin or butternut squash. And they make lovely little jack-o-lanterns.
garlic–see my tips below on freezing garlic. Preserve the harvest!
potatoes (white Kennebec, heirloom)
tomatoesmix of reds, heirlooms and romas
jalapenos
basil (sweet or red)
thai basil (use like sweet basil or as a green vegetable in a sautee)
bell peppers, and pimentos and italian long pepperslikely plenty of reds
sweet potato greenssauteed green vegetable
chard
Chinese Cabbage? this week or next
UPICK THIS WEEK
green beansprobably pretty tough by now, but go check em out if you like
flowerszinnias, pick a bouquet, get em while they last
herb gardenlooking good: sage, parsley, chives, oregano, sorrell
LOOK FORWARD TO THESE CROPS IN SEPTEMBER:
butternut squash
acorn squash
sweet potatoes
Chinese cabbage, a lettuce type
cucumbers, a late crop of em by next week, we hope
loose leaf lettuce (we hope!)
TIPS FOR PRESERVING GARLIC
Did you know…you can freeze garlic! I puree garlic cloves, put it in very small jars and fill with olive oil, leaving 1/2 inch room at the top.Use small containers, because it should only be kept in the frig for 2-3 weeks. Use the flavored oil as well. OR make a garlic log–puree garlic and add just a little olive oil to hold it together, drop it in a piece of parchment paper and squeeze it into a log. Put it in a ziploc and freeze, keep it handy, like the door of the freezer and just slice off a frozen piece as you need it.It will melt in the pan and be instant pureed garlic, ready to sautee. I also like to peel a bulb or two at one time and puree it, so that I can keep pureed garlic in the frig for easy use. Then the frozen batches are for winter time, when I don’t have bulbs left.
This is the time to stock up on garlic! Farm-cured local organic garlic is a special treat. This is hard-neck garlic and more fragrant than the industrial farm soft-neck garlic. Also, this year our garlic harvest was ready too early, so most of it split from the bulbs. That meant we couldn’t sell the portion of the crop that we grew for the Common Market. So I have surplus this year, and have been offering it at a sale rate. Time to stock up! Its been $7/lb, instead of $10/lb ($11 in the store), and CSA portions have been three bulbs instead of the usual 2.This is the year for a great deal on great tasting garlic.
