This gal swears she’s a great radio voice.

Last Wednesday Arlo and I traded the juicy tomatoes and the excruciating heat of the farm for some blessed A/C and delightful conversation at the WRIR studios in Richmond. (Don’t get us wrong: we love the farm! But the cool of the studio was something else.)  We joined our good friend Eli of Eli’s Greens and Sunny Gardner of Lightly on the Ground for a great chat about farm life and local food systems.

Have a listen!

Lightly on the Ground radio interview, 21 July 2010

My word, Richmond!  You really pulled out all the stops this weekend.  That weather!  Those irises in your front yard gardens!  The heady scent of paulownias along the Powhite!

Best of all, of course, were the smiling faces and open arms at the opening weekend of our farmers market.  We could not be more delighted to be back in the swing at St. Stephen’s.  And introducing Arlo — now a hefty six months and grinning ear to ear! — to our community there was nothing short of joyful.  Thank you so very, very much!

For those of y’all who are market customers: we’re just doing the Farmers Market at St. Stephen’s this year.  This market is in its second year and is loads of fun.  It’s expanded quite a bit since last year and if you’ve never been, come see us next week!  We’ll have vegetable, herb, and flower starts for your garden.  A bit later in the month we should have some lettuce and maybe scallions.  More vegetables start coming in around the first of June.  There’s loads at market to tide you over until then, though: meats, cheeses, eggs, preserves, pastries, granola, coffee, ice cream, prepared foods, jewelry, handmade clothes, and lots more.

If you’re considering joining our CSA, St. Stephen’s is a really fun spot to pick up.  It’s our biggest CSA site so you’ll meet lots of other members, and you can make a whole morning out of a visit to the market!  (We’ve also got pick-up sites in Ginter Park, Church Hill, and Midlothian.)  We’re accepting registrations for just another few weeks; forms can be had here!

Well come on over!  We’ll be at Central Montessori School (directions here) in Richmond next Thursday, April 1, at 4:30pm for a Q&A session.  We’ll bring photos from the farm, talk about the CSA model of eating fresh local vegetables, and have lots of details about our farm’s CSA program.  Come ask about eating purple tomatoes,  squishing squash bugs, and managing a fridge full of kale.  Bring your friends!

We’d love to meet you.

(We’ll also be bringing our very smoochable 5-month old.  We’re just sayin’.)

Richmonders, do you know the little slice of heaven that is Jimer’s Frozen Custard, just a half hour southwest of y’all on 360/Hull Street Road?

As a once-upon-a-time Pennsylvania gal who spent many a summer down the Jersey shore, I can say with considerable authority that this stuff is the real deal!  It’s rich and creamy and cold and delicious.  There’s no better treat at day’s end, after a hot and sticky afternoon delivering vegetables, than a chocolate/vanilla twist on a wafer cone — particularly if you’re seven months pregnant, particularly if the humidity finally breaks as you sit at the picnic table slurping at the cone, particularly if Jim the owner has time to come out and chat with you about mountains and road trips and good neighbors.

So wonderful.  Click here for directions.  Coming from Richmond, it’s in a gas station parking lot on your right, just after the turn-off for Chesterfield Berry Farm, and just under a half mile before the Chesterfield Berry Farm Market.

Hie thee!

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I was in Richmond all day yesterday and didn’t post a photo.  So check back for a second Daily Farm Photo later today!

And now, here’s Teri!

I have always looked at my Californian family and friends with a touch of envy.  Don’t get me wrong; I love Virginia and plan to live here until I’m pushing up daisies.  It’s just they seemed to have the advantage of having large groups of like minded people working together for the common good.  I remember reading about a CSA there and thought — that would be so amazing, to pick up a box of produce and try to figure out what everything was and what to do with it. I really liked how it changed the dynamic of what’s for dinner.  Instead of trying to figure out what to make (you know most people recycle the same 10 meals over and over and over = boring) you have all this stuff and just have to figure out what to do with it.  That’s where the fun begins!  Zucchini tart = amazing.  Summer squash and cornmeal pizza crust = not so much — but at the very minimum, not the same old thing again!

Me hosting a pick-up happened completely by accident.  I went to a hooping workshop (as in hula hoop) at the Carver Healing Arts Center and saw a brochure for Frog Bottom Farm.  It was beautiful.  I left it there because it was the only one and thought, I hope I can remember that name.  A couple of days later I looked it up online, and amazingly, they were looking for a Midlothian pick-up.  I flipped out.  I was so excited at the prospect of hosting.  Not only would this really cool thing be happening in Midlothian, but I would be a part of it!  My California friends and family (who by the way are Midlothian transplants) thought it was really awesome too!

What I have found is there are like-minded people here and probably everywhere who want to eat locally grown, freshly harvested foods, and have a connection to the people who grow it.  They get excited about seeing what each week brings.  Some anxiously await tomatoes while others dream of ratatouille recipes.  I have noticed personally I didn’t eat enough vegetables.  And, when you do, you feel great!  I am so looking forward to the rest of the growing season.  The interesting people I have met.  The adventurous recipes I have yet to try.  They all make me look forward to each and every Wednesday with a smile and excitement so big I feel like I have to pinch myself.  What an awesome ride.

Below are two recipes from Teri that highlight ingredients you’ll find in your CSA share right now: zucchini and tomatoes.  The Zucchini Tart — which would be equally wonderful with any of our summer squash — tastes somehow fresh and rich at the same time.  Teri warns that “you’ve really got to be in the mood to look at and fool around with zucchini for quite a while –  it’s a labor of zucchini love!” and so she also offers a quick crowd-pleaser recipe for Tomato Pie.

Zucchini Tart with Feta

Adapted from a recipe in Saveur magazine, May 2006
Serves 6

Lynne Curry serves this tart by the slice from her stand at the Matakana farmers market in New Zealand.

1 10”x13” sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed and chilled
12 small zucchini (or other summer squash) (about 2 ½  lbs.), trimmed
Salt
3 Tbsp butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
10 cherry tomatoes (or better yet, Frog Bottom Farm tomatoes of equivalent amount), finely chopped, strained in a sieve, excess moisture pressed out
1 cup (4 oz) crumbled feta cheese
½ cup ricotta
2 Tbsp chopped basil
Freshly ground pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350°.

Fit pastry into a 9”x12” baking sheet, pressing it against the sides.  Score around bottom inner edge of pastry (beside crease where bottom meets sides), being careful not to cut all the way through, with a paring knife.  Prick bottom of pastry all over with a fork, line with a sheet of parchment paper that fits the bottom only, and fill with pie weights or dry beans.  Bake until edge of crust begins to puff and color, about 25 minutes.  Remove weights and paper.  Bake until bottom is golden, 6-8 minutes more.  Let crust cool.

Grate 4 of the zucchini on the large holes of a box grater into a large bowl.  Add 1 Tbsp of salt, toss well, and set aside to let weep for 30 minutes.  Transfer to a clean kitchen towel and wring thoroughly to remove moisture.

Meanwhile, slice remaining zucchini into ¼”–thick rounds.  Working in batches, blanch rounds in a large pot of boiling salted water for 1 minute.  Drain and spread out on a paper towel- lined sheet pan; set aside.

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Spoon out and reserve 1 Tbsp.  Add onions and cook until soft, 5-6 minutes.  Add grated zucchini and cook, stirring often, until just beginning to brown 5-7 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl; let cool.

Stir tomatoes, half the feta, ricotta, basil, and salt and pepper to taste into zucchini mixture.  Stir in egg and spread mixture evenly in crust.  Arrange zucchini rounds, slightly overlapping in rows, like tiles on top.  Bake for 15 minutes, then brush the top with reserved butter.  Continue to bake until crust is deep golden, 10 minutes more.  Let cool to room temperature, then sprinkle remaining feta over top.  Cut into squares.

Tomato Pie

Frozen pastry crust
Tomatoes
Red onion
Basil
Hellman’s Mayonnaise – about a cup per pie
Shredded Mexican cheese blend – about 2 cups per pie

Preheat oven to 350°.

Slice tomatoes and onions in rounds and layer into the crust, sprinkling with fresh chopped basil — stopping to close your eyes, smell the basil and smile.

Mix the mayo and cheese into a paste –- sort of.

Press the mayo/cheese mixture on top of the pie. Decoratively add basil leaves.

Bake until gorgeous.

Try to wait ‘til it cools to eat it or it will be a mess –- but who cares? Make 4 of them and then you’ll be sure to have one to cool that will slice pretty.

Well, we’re glad we stuck around.

What you see there is one bunch of Easter Egg radishes. We’ll be bringing just a few dozen bunches to our Richmond markets tomorrow. It’s a bit of a tease — just like this spring! — but we promise it means mountains of gorgeous veggies are just around the corner. We’ll also have loads of flower, herb, tomato, and other veggie seedlings at our markets for another few weeks.

Some of y’all have been writing to be sure you haven’t missed the start of the CSA season. No worries: you haven’t! Our first deliveries (and on-farm pick-ups) will be in early June; members should keep an eye on their inboxes for an email with details about the first pick-up. You should have that by the end of the weekend. Just as soon as we finish scrubbing these radishes for you.

We’re pleased as punch to announce we now have five Richmond-area pick up spots for the CSA:

1. CHURCH HILL: Central Montessori School, 323 North 20th Street.  Wednesday afternoons.  Exact pick up times TBA.
2. GINTER PARK: Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, 3601 Seminary Ave. Wednesday afternoons.  Exact pick up times TBA.
3. MIDLOTHIAN: Journey Christian Church, 3505 Old Hundred Road S.  Wednesday afternoons.  Exact pick up times TBA.
4. NEAR WEST END: St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, 6000 Grove Avenue.  Saturday mornings 8am – noon.
5. FOREST HILL: South of the James Market, 42nd Street & Forest Hill Avenue.  Saturday mornings 8am – 1pm.

The full list can always be found here.

And we’ve still got shares available, so please tell your friends, neighbors, and co-workers!  We’re always available over the phone or email to answer any questions at all, so please be in touch.

Both markets are on Saturday mornings, and we’ll be there starting May 2!! We’ll be bringing lots of vegetable and flower seedlings for your gardens.  Within a week or two our first vegetables will be in and we can all breathe a collective sigh of “At last!”  Look for lettuce, scallions, carrots, beets, and summer squash to start.  We can’t wait to meet you.

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You can pick up your CSA share at either spot as well. We still have shares available so please be in touch or download an application to get started.

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We’ve got lots more news to share this week, so check back in.

Oh, lovely Richmond, we have got the biggest crush on you.

We spent several days last week getting to know Richmond — tromping through the snow and introducing ourselves to folks in parks, cafes, bookshops, local businesses.  Reception to us and the farm was overwhelmingly warm and open.  Words don’t describe the joy we feel in making a home here in gorgeous central Virginia, so close to such a vibrant city.  We are discovering a place committed to good food, strong neighborhoods, fantastic arts and music.  We can’t wait to know Richmond better.

We’re happy to announce we have TWO confirmed pick-up locations in Richmond:

1. Wednesdays at Central Montessori School, 323 North 20th Street, Church Hill.  Late afternoon/early evening.  Exact times TBA.
2. Saturdays at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, corner of Grove Avenue and Three Chopt Road, West End.  Mornings.  Exact times TBA.

We’re researching the possibility of a third pick-up location in or near Midlothian.  Please leave a comment here or send an email if you have ideas about a good location!  This could be a home, church, community center, school, or workplace.

And, there are still spots left in the CSA.  It’s going to be a delicious year.  Please tell your friends!

We really did have ourselves a goodly time on last week’s visit (see below for proof).  Something tells us we’ve only just begun.

Coming soon: tales of early spring on the farm; Lynchburg CSA pick-up location; farmers market schedule