Week 4, June 25, 2012

Available for you:

• Salad Turnips w/ greens- 1 bunch
• Radishes (we hope?) - 1 bunch
• Peas – Sugar Snap - 1 pint
• Garlic Scapes - 1 bunch
• Napa Cabbage - 1 head
• Lettuce – 1 head of Red tipped
• Spinach - 1 bag
• Tomatoes - two 

Items available for Purchase:

Grown at Valley Dream Farm:

• Flowers, Herbs and Bedding plants

Grown Locally:

• Maple Shade Farm – Maple Syrup: all sizes available.
• Tomatoes – Our own!
• Eggs – M & K Farm organic eggs, Hyde Park - get them early we sold out last week!

Recipes of the week:

Overnight Oriental Salad
Spinach Squares

Greetings Members!

We hope you all enjoyed your strawberries last week. They sure were tasty. Although it was our shortest season ever, we now have ten thousand plants in the cooler. The plants are ready to be planted soon. This will provide us wonderful, abundant berries for the next few years.

Spinach and Nappa Cabbage, are both new this week and they both have recipes on the back. Napa cabbage is also great cooked up lightly in a stir fry. Yet the recipe we gave you this week, uses the Nappa Cabbage raw, like an Asian type of cole-slaw. The spinach recipe is for these delicious cooked cheesy spinach squares. They are a great snack too. It is great to have two vegetables that taste so great either Raw or Cooked.

How did you like the heat last week? It had Farmer Joe working on his irrigation system with no time to spare. We currently have ten thousand feet in the ground so it sure had him busier even earlier.

Other farm news:

Last year we received another certification called GAP (Good Agricultural Practices). We applied for and were approved for a 2012 GAP cost share grant, to put in an approved wash and pack room. This room will replace our plastic covered ceiling and walls with insulation and steel siding. Giving us washable surfaces that will be much easier to clean and it will also provide us a better work environment when we wash our potatoes in a cold January Freeze. The work is nearing completion and we hope to have lots of pictures to show you at the organic festival in October.

Thanks!
Anne

P.S. Members only can order a discounted MAPLE SYRUP SHARE now available, get two half gallons for $55.00 grade B (I think it is a little bigger in maple flavor, and a little darker in color, yet still my favorite). CALL to Order

Week 3, June 18-25, 2012

Available for you:

• Salad Turnips w/ greens- 1 bunch
• 3 Mini Red onions OR 1 cucumber
• Sugar Snap Peas - 1 pint
• Garlic Scapes - 1 bunch
• Lettuce – 1 head Deer Tongue + 1 head other
• Tomato- one med or Large, + one small
• Strawberries - U-pick only 1 pint available
• Tomato Plants - 1 plant or 6 pack of Moskivich a tasty heirloom and also an early tomato

Items available for Purchase:
 
Grown at Valley Dream Farm:

• Flowers, Herbs and Bedding plants

Grown Locally:

• Maple Shade Farm – Maple Syrup: all sizes available.
• Tomatoes – Our own!
• Eggs – M & K Farm organic eggs, Hyde Park - get them early we sold out last week!

Recipe of the week
Sugar Snaps with Baby Red Onions
About Garlic Scapes

Greetings Members!

We were so excited that our strawberries have chosen to make a quick appearance. All members are welcome to pick their own pint as soon as possible, bring the kids to the farm and get yours soon. We have several new items for you this week. The sugar snap peas are plumping out nicely with a great crunch and a snap. These delights never seem to make it home before they are eaten. Garlic Scapes are also new and will be here for a few weeks I hope, They are so delicious and can be cooked many ways. Jay likes his in his eggs at breakfast. They can be cut up as scallions on a salad. Jonny loves his in garlic mashed potatoes. I just like them sautéed with any fresh veggie and especially with greens, like another new item which is this week's turnip greens (cook or sauté washed and dried greens like spinach or chard). These turnips are sweeter than the winter storage varieties, hence the name salad turnips , so they can be used raw on a salad, for an added new taste and a crunchy texture. They can also be cooked until potato soft and always add a tab of butter, salt and pepper.

We know you love the tomatoes, but with all our variety you probably will want more tomatoes so this week we are sending you each tomato plant. The tomato plant we are sending to you this week is an heirloom variety named "Moskivich". This variety was picked by Jay for it's delicious flavor and its earliness. You should plant it deep in a very large container of organic soil mix or directly in the ground in your yard. It can be put on your deck or patio too. Pick a spot that has lots of sunshine, at least a half day. Water it daily except when it rains.

Thanks!

Anne

Week 2, June 11-17, 2012

Available for you:

• Lettuce – 1 head ( or two - all in one bag)
• Euro Cucumbers – one (from our greenhouse)
• Green Garlic - 1 bunch
• Mini Red onions - 2 (use quickly)
• Chives - choice up to a bunch
• TOMATO - one med-large, 2 small

Items available for Purchase:
Grown at Valley Dream Farm:

• Flowers, Herbs and Bedding plants

Grown Locally:

• Maple Shade Farm – Maple Syrup: all sizes available.
• Tomatoes – Our own!
• Eggs – M & K Farm organic eggs, Hyde Park - get them early we sold out last week!

Recipe of the Week:
Pickled Pink Cucumber Salad

Howdy Members:

Hope you enjoyed your first week of vegetables. We would like to know how you enjoyed them. We love to share recipes too, so if you have a favorite, feel free to e-mail it to me and then see your name in print the next time we offer that veggie. We like to hear any exciting news from our members also. EMAIL = valleydreamfarm@wildblue.net Mini Red onions are from our winter storage this week, so use them as soon as possible, remove the green center if they do sprout on you.

Are you enjoying receiving the newsletter by e-mail? We will have a paper copies for those that need them, just drop us a note if you need a hard copy.

Farmstand : Check off the list and fill your own bags.
Deliveries: If you are ever out in our area please stop by the farm. You can meet us, your farmers and check out our farm stand open daily 10-6.

We were so excited that our tomatoes are ripening ahead of schedule. This is their earliest appearance for our members, ever. Hope we can eat our fill before there is any talk about late blight this season.

Next week we will be sending you a tomato plant because no one ever gets enough tomatoes. You can put this on your deck or patio or even in your yard. Pick a spot with lots of sunshine.

Thanks!

Anne 

P.S. Members can order a discounted MAPLE SYRUP SHARE now available, get two half gallons for $55.00 grade B (I think it is a little bigger in maple flavor, and a little darker in color, yet still my favorite). CALL to Order.

Looking for something to do on a nice day?

Visit us at one of these fun farmers markets.

Mondays	8am - 11:30am	Smugglers Notch Resort, Jeffersonville
Wednesdays	3:30pm-7:30pm	Jeffersonville Artisan Farmers Mkt, Rte 15 in Jeffersonville, in lower field behind the "Family Table"
Fridays	3:30pm-7:30pm	Essex Junction
Sundays	10am-2pm	South Burlington F.M. at S.B.High School, near train station

Week 1, June 4-9, 2012

Available for you:

• Baby Lettuce – 2-3 smaller heads - deer tongue - pointed leaf tips very sweet or black seeded simpson - a green leaf - bright green and also very sweet, magenta- our favorite a leaf & romaine cross red tip crisp (all in one bag)
• European Cucumber – one (from our greenhouse)
• Broccoli Raab - 1 bunch
• Green Garlic - 1 bunch
• Chives - choice up to a bunch
• A red TOMATO - 1st 1 of our own

Recipe of the week:
BroccoliRaab and Zukes

Welcome Members:

This is your first week of the season. We would like to welcome you to VALLEY DREAM FARM LLC and our certified Organic C.S.A. (Community Supported Agriculture).

It is a little warmer than our normal season and due to all this the greenhouses are growing well and are slightly ahead of schedule. Lettuce is looking nice and ready for another growth spurt. Before long, you won’t believe all of your veggies.

We enjoy bringing you the freshest and most delicious produce each week. As our member you will receive a new “Valley Dream Farm" shopping bag. Last year’s members really enjoyed them and used them when shopping at other establishments too. It is your bag to keep and reuse weekly, to collect your produce.

New this year is your newsletter will come by e-mail, let us know if you do not have an online account and we will have a paper copy for you.

PICKING UP AT THE FARMSTAND:

1. Highlight your name on your specific pick-up day list
2. Take a copy of this week’s newsletter to shop and we will send you an emailed copy. Please feel free to keep one if you do not have an e-mail address.
3. Shop for items on your list using your Valley Dream Shopping bag
4. Let us know if you have any concerns, or changes to your pick-up day for the following week.

DELIVERIES:

1. Please make sure your name is on your new bag. (there are different sizes please take yours)
2. Please return your clean bag the following week. You will receive another bag filled with your new items next week.

Our staff is available to assist you with any purchases or questions that you may have. Read about them below.

Thanks!

Anne

Thank-you for supporting local farmers.

We are looking forward to another successful growing season in 2012!

Here’s how we get all those vegetables to you every week. It takes a lot of preparation and a wonderful work crew to get all those vegetables to you each week. We are very fortunate to have both.

Our Crew includes: Shane (Field and Equipment Manager), Victor, Doris, Amy, Sally, and Mira and our Laraway high school students (harvest and weeding crew), Amy, Sally, and Mira (greenhouse and field crew) Heidi (CSA, farmers market and deliveries ), Jackie &Tommy O'Connor (married just last year), and Wendy (CSA and blog news editor, and most importantly the Book Keeper). In addition, The Tisbert Family (Joe – oversees all the land, equipment, wholesaling, and crop planning; Anne –marketing, CSA, deliveries, farmers markets and newsletters, Jay – our oldest son, Chief Consultant, supervisor of all varieties, head seeder, greenhouse designs and crop planning, also the CSA and farmers market welcoming committee. Becky- available occasionally now that she has a job in her interior design field of work at Smugglers Notch, Jon – our youngest son is employed at Smugglers Notch as a line cook part time, He loves the tractor work and creates amazing displays for our farmers markets (when available) and of course our dogs Zippy (now 10 yrs old-chow mix) and Bella (4yr old bouncy black lab).