Week Nine

Hello-
It's high summer and I have to remind myself to enjoy every hot steamy minute of it. It comes and goes so quickly! The tomatoes are pouring in and I still can't get enough of them... the peppers are recovering pretty well from their aphid attack and are sending up new growth even as the first peppers on them are turning all sorts of bright colors- reds, oranges and yellows, mostly, but there are some lovely shades of purple and green, too. To control the aphids, which are tiny little bugs that reproduce incessantly and suck the juices out of the plants, leaving them brown and wilted, Sue bought a box of ladybugs and set them loose in the pepper tent. Ladybugs love to eat aphids, and they really went to town in there. We weeded the peppers today (which is very hot work, since the pepper tent is actually a pepper sauna...) and didn't find a single aphid, just lots of ladybug babies. I've read about using beneficial insects to control a problem like this often enough and I plant lots of flowers to try and attract beneficial insects to my garden, but I'd never seen what 4500 hungry ladybugs can actually do to an aphid infestation that must have numbered in the millions. Very cool-
Here's a picture of some not-so-lovely aphids:

And here's a ladybug nymph that turns into a full-grown ladybug

Here are some other pictures of summer!

Garlic that's drying before getting braided-

A delicious pasta "sauce" made from some of my heirloom tomatoes, fresh PA peaches and an Ailsa Craig onion from the garden. Yum!

Happy Farm Day!

Hello everyone-
Today Lucky Moon Farm took part in Madison County Agriculture's Open Farm Day. It was the first year Lucky Moon has been involved in the program, though I think this is its third year running. Open Farm Day is the feature event of the county's "Eat Local Week." We spent many hours getting the farm looking its best and we were lucky to have good weather and lots of visitors! Thank you to everyone who came out to the farm and had a look around. It was nice meeting you and it was fun to show everyone who came what Lucky Moon Farm is all about. I was really impressed by how many people decided to take part in the giant farm open house that included 37 farms and 3 farmers' markets. If I wasn't busy helping out at Lucky Moon today, I would have loved to visit some of the farms on the list. Really, without a program like this, I would never have known about a lot of the places that were on the list of farms to visit. If you're interested in finding a local spot to get beef, pork, lamb, chicken, eggs, vegetables, miniature donkeys, organic grains, flour, lambs fleeces, yogurt, milk or even elk meat, then I suggest you take a look at the website: http://madisoncountyagriculture.com/buylocalweek/openfarm.html There are links to information about each one of the farms, and if you download the "passport" that people used today, then you can read a little bio/description about each one of the farms. I hope all of you who traveled around today had fun and hopefully found some local folks who produce some of the food you need.

For the rest of the season, we're planning on having a farm stand open on Saturdays (sorry if I told anyone differently today) and we'll be offering a variety of vegetables, including tomatoes, in the coming weeks. The "stand" will actually be inside the sugar shed which is the first building on the left as you pull into the driveway. It will usually be a serve-yourself kind of thing, but the veggies will be fresh and tasty!
For those of you in our CSA, the tomatoes are starting to pour in and it's time to get out all those great tomato recipes that you've been saving up!

Here's a dinner that seems rather gourmet for such a simple supper:

The other night, Andrew and I sliced up a bunch of cherry tomatoes and tossed them in with some whole wheat pasta (really good flavor!), olive oil, salt and pepper, some oregano and basil I had in the herb garden and a little Romano/Parmesan cheese for the top. Oh, and make sure to slice the tomatoes over the bowel that you toss the pasta, oil and herbs in so you don't lose any of the juicy goodness!

Have a nice weekend everyone-
Oh, and I'm looking for a good tomato sauce recipe if any of you have one that won't cause you to be disowned by your family if you share it. I know these recipes can be closely guarded family heirlooms. :>)

Week Eight

Hi everyone-
Sorry I missed a few weeks in there... life has been very busy.
Things at the farm are going well- we had a hot, dry start to July, and now we've had a nice amount of rain, so most everything is growing happily. We're harvesting very often to keep up with how quickly everything is ripening. The zucchini and summer squash are doing well despite the setback they had earlier in June when a fair number of them were washed away by heavy rains and a torrent of mud from a neighboring field. The peas are starting to fade, but there are still buckets of them coming in every few days, and now the beans are starting up.

And the really exciting news is that the tomatoes have arrived, ladies and gentlemen! Of course, not all at once, but there is a nice supply of cherry tomatoes that are ripe and practically bursting with juicy sweetness (I'm remembering how a few of them tasted today when we were working in the greenhouse) and some of the sandwich tomatoes are ready, too. We had two Black Krims for lunch- I forgot ho much I love tomato sandwiches. And for any of you who are in our CSA, you'll be enjoying them soon!



Andrew and I made a version of Egg Foo Young for dinner tonight, and it was very tasty-
It's more of an Egg Foo scramble than an omlet, but we had it over some couscous, and loved it. Rice would be the more obvious choice, of course, but we had limited options.

Here's what we did:
Gravy: 1 cup water, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 Tbsp cornstarch, 2 tsp sesame oil (or another oil)
Mix until smooth in a small sauce pan and then bring to a boil on high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and simmer for about a minute until the gravy thickens and becomes clear.

Egg Foo Young:
In a wok pan (we just used a large, nonstick skillet) heat up some oil and add:
1 onion, chopped as fine as you like it
Some scallions (we used about 4)
1 green pepper, chopped
Peas- can be snow, snap or shelled peas- a good sized handful, and it helps to cut them into half or thirds
We also threw in some Arugula at the last minute and let it wilt down
NOTE: the great thing is all these veggies are optional and easily replaced by others- beans, bean sprouts, shredded broccoli or cabbage, chopped carrots, corn, etc. Whatever sounds tasty to you.

In a separate bowl, mix 4-6 eggs (depending on how many people you're trying to feed), 1 Tbsp soy sauce and some black pepper. I also had come Thai Basil in my garden, so I minced some of that and added it to the egg mixture.

Once the veggies have stir-fried until they're tender-crisp, reduce the heat to low and add the eggs. Cook until the eggs have set, and if there are more veggies than eggs, try scrambling the whole mixture- it works quite well.

Serve over rice or couscous with the gravy drizzled on top.


Hope you're all enjoying your summers!
Sarah