Notes from the farms on a sunny February day ☀

At Stick and Stone Farm we are starting shallots and onions, and looking forward to lots of seeding in March. The lengthening daylight and glorious hours of sun are stoking our enthusiasm for the season ahead. We've got our brains all tangled up in taxes and farm plan spreadsheets and seed orders but hoping to wrap all that up soon.

Several of our winter crew have taken breaks and gone on adventures over the last few months, and we are up next. Chaw, Lucy, and all the kids are packing up and heading to visit family in San Diego!!! It'll be an epic train adventure, returning by way of New Orleans. We've been counting down the days for months, and we'll be leaving at the end of the week. (*knocking on wood, crossing fingers, etc*) Carrie, Andrew, Jesse, Ira, and Abby will be holding down the fort, washing & packing for CSA shares and orders, seeding, delivering, and going to farmers' markets over the next two weeks.

At Remembrance Farm I have been holed up in my office for weeks (which feels like months...) wading through tax preparation, a new accounting system, crop planning, obtaining work visas for our seasonal workers, organic certification, and a seemingly endless list of other tasks that require a computer screen. So this week's sunny days and warm temps were a welcome excuse to take a break and do something else!

I took a long walk around the farm, breathing in the smells of the land waking back up, and planning for early spring projects. We brought the cabbage for this week's shares outside to clean it, left the barn doors open while washing roots, and basked in the sun while harvesting spinach in the high tunnels. We started renovating the high tunnel beds for planting early greens, and in the next week or two we will start our early transplants for the coming production year. Most of the milking cows will dry off over the next month or so, in anticipation of calving in May when the grass starts growing in earnest.

As the sign-up season for summer shares begins, as always we are so grateful to our devoted members, who make this farming adventure possible! Thank you!

this week’s Full Plate veggies

crops are our best estimate & may change a bit after harvest.

• spinach - remembrance

• parsnips - remembrance

• cabbage - remembrance

• braising mix - stick and stone

• muu radishes - stick and stone

• garlic - stick and stone

• dilly beans - food and ferments

• sprouts - clover and lentil - dancing turtle

• sweet potatoes - three stone farm

• onions - blue heron farm

fruit bowl off week

last fruit share next week! 2/23

this week’s Remembrance cheese

Connecticut Hill Melter - a Raclette style melting cheese - often eaten melted over boiled potatoes or charred vegetables. Also delicious in its own right.

updates from the farm & friends…

SAVE YOUR SPACE IN THE SUMMER CSA!

Full Plate Veggie CSA, FLX Fruit Bowl, and Remembrance Yogurt, Milk and Cheese shares are on sale now. We’d love to see you all this summer!

We’re almost 1/2 way to sold out already! (Thank you!!)

Reserve your share of local, organic produce as fresh as it gets…

on our plates…

share what you’ve been cooking! We’re always glad to know, and eager to pass along. Just email Molly. Find this week’s ingredients in bold.

Winter Vegetable Chowder

from a fellow member! “after making for about the 10th time, I thought I better share it”!Recipe here

For the Milk Aromatic

• 2 cups milk (I used 2% but you can use any kind--soup might be thinner if you use skim)

• 4 large parsley branches

• 1 sprig of thyme

• 2 bay leaves

• 1/2 onion, sliced

• 1 garlic clove, halved

• 10 peppercorns, lightly crushed

For the Soup

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 4 leeks, sliced into 1 inch thick slices, rinsed very well

• About 10 cups of veggies, peeled and cut into chunks ( I used turnips, a rutabaga, parsnips, and celery root--don't worry if it's a bit more than 10 cups and use whatever you like in the root family--broccoli, cabbage, other green veggies might not work as well)

• About 1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into large pieces

• 2 bay leaves

• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley

• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

• 3 tablespoons flour

• 5 cups water

• Black pepper to taste

• 1 baguette or other crusty bread, cut into slices and lightly toasted

• Grated or shredded cheese to sprinkle on top of bread

• Thyme sprigs for garnish (optional)

PREPARATION

1.  To make the Milk Aromatic:  Put the milk, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, sliced onion, garlic and peppercorns in a medium saucepan and slowly bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and cover. Let sit while you prepare all the veggies.

2.  Place the butter into a large pot and melt over medium heat. Add all of the vegetables, bay leaves, parsley and salt. Cook for about 5-10 minutes, gently shifting the veggies around to heat them up. Then use a large wooden spoon to stir in the flour and add the water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer, partially covered for about 20-25 minutes, until the veggies are tender but still a bit firm.

3.  Strain the milk mixture into a blender, add about a cup of the veggies and puree until smooth. Stir the puree back into the soup. Taste for salt and add some pepper.

4.  Into each serving bowl, place a piece of the toasted bread. Break it up if necessary and top with a handful of the cheese. Then ladle the hot soup on top. Decorate with the thyme sprigs if using and serve immediately.

5.  Leftover soup can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5-6 days. It reheats really well.

More in-season inspiration…

• While root veggies are in abundance this time of year, it’ll be a few months before they come back again. Preserve their perfect crunch and flavor with pickled root veggies

• Parsnips: Brown Butter, Radicchio and Parsnip Cake

• Parsnips, spinach, onion: Creamed Spinach and Parsnips

• Cabbage, spinach: Cabbage & Lime Salad with Roasted Peanuts

• Sweet potatoes, spinach: Sweet Potato & Spinach Pakoras

• Sweet potatoes, onion, spinach, parsnip: Sweet Potato & Chickpea Stew

• Cabbage: Cabbage Apple Ginger Kraut

• Braising mix, garlic: Braised Greens

All about parnsips