Join us on Memorial Day weekend in either Millerton or Millbrook for the first Farmers’ Market of the season for 2013! (Both Farmers’ Markets on Sat, May 25. Click on the links above for info on either market.)

We will have lettuce and greens for you as well as a bunch of plants for you to purchase that we have been growing in our greenhouse for the past few weeks. Peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, lettuce, brassicas, flowers and more! Come and get em!

This past couple of weeks, we’ve been busy in the fields and the greenhouse getting more of our baby plants into the ground (including flowers, lettuce, radicchio, fennel, scallions and onions) and seeing the plants that we transplanted in early April grow to almost market size. Another necessary task (tiresome, but also very gratifying) was to pick rocks from our new fields at Riga so we can continue to get more of the million plants that we plan to grow into the ground.

Also, Andy will be heading down to Brooklyn this weekend to attend the GoogaMooga food festival in Prospect Park on Saturday only (find Andy in the non-profit tabling area to find out more about our CSA drop-off points in Park Slope and at Union Pool). CSA sign up for produce, flowers, cheese and more! Bring a friend (and a check) to sign up and check out our CSA page for more details.

One of my favorite moments during this past week was seeing the plants that were growing in the field that we had transplanted in the middle of April. The kale, lettuce and cabbage plants were showing nice lines down the field under the fabric. Andy moved over to the next bed where the spinach seeds were planted less than a couple of weeks ago. “Look”, he said with excitement, “you can see the spinach growing!” Sure enough, the two tiny leaves were moving as if they were blowing in the breeze, almost as if the plant was breathing and pushing it’s way through the soil to the bright sunshine.

Andy’s enthusiasm for growing food is infectious. It is one of the main reasons I choose to work at Sol Flower Farm and I have been excited each day we go to the greenhouse to plant more vegetables and flowers or transplant the growing seedlings into the field or in building the new greenhouse and helping to prepare the new fields for planting. The love that Andy puts into growing food is shared with everyone that comes into contact with this farmer and it shows.

We will start posting some video updates from the field. The above photo of Andy is taken on the day we planted radishes in the field. Sol Flower Farm now has a Youtube channel… check out the first video posted of Andy planting radishes: Seeding Radishes at Sol Flower Farm

Potatoes were planted this week!  We also have many plants from the greenhouse that are ready to be planted early next week

Sol Flower Farm partnered again with Herondale Farm, Amazing Real Live Food Co. and Hillrock Distillery for the second “Meet Your Farmer” mixer on Saturday, May 4th in Millerton. If you would like a flower/produce CSA, cheese CSA and/or meat CSA, head over to the CSA page and sign up today!

Check out more of our photos from the “Meet Your Farmer” event in Millerton on our Facebook page. (Don’t forget to “like” us on facebook for the latest from the farm!)

Click on this picture for a gif of Tron planting the summer squash on Friday!

Seeds and plants are getting in the ground and we are using our current greenhouse to plant more vegetables and flowers.

In our greenhouse, we have been potting up flowers, peppers, eggplants and planted lilies, seeded zinnia, summer squash, tomato, lettuce, broccoli and melon.

In our fields, we have transplanted our lettuce, cabbage, chard, kale and kohlrabi and direct sowed greens, carrots, beets and turnips.

Each day we are working on creating the farm at the new location too! Here is the crew celebrating last Friday afternoon as we completed putting up the greenhouse framework.

Turning over the soil for the first time at the new farm and more…

Andy and Trevor have been plowing up the fields this week as the warm and dry weather helped to dry out the ground for a few wonderful days of working the soil. The timing was just perfect for the soil and we now have 2 new fields that will be planted soon with flowers and produce!

The plants in the greenhouse are growing up! We are getting ready to harden off some of the cabbage and other brassicas with more seeds being planted every week. We will be erecting a greenhouse on the new property this next week and helping to set up the CSA pick-up location at the farm which is closer to Millerton too.

Sol Flower Farm is featured in the April edition of Main Street Magazine, a new monthly magazine in the Millerton area.

“Knowing who grows your food can be a very empowering thing. At least for me it is, and I value the reassurance that I am always getting the healthiest, freshest produce possible, tended by people who truly care…Buying a share at the start of the season not only allows Sol Flower to cover some of its operational costs, it allows you to partner with your farmer. In exchange for your trust and commitment, a weekly box of amazing organic vegetables await you throughout the season, from the first warm days until the last pumpkin gets carved in the chill of October.”

(Thank you, Memoree Joelle! If you would like to read the rest of the article, please pick up a magazine in the tri-corner area.)

CSA Shares – Please sign up today!

As Memoree says in her article, signing up for your CSA Share today helps out the farm in paying for the costs of growing your produce for the season. Sign up for a Cheese Share, Flower Share and Produce Share by clicking the CSA tab above.

CSA Cheese Share from Amazing Real Live Cheese Co.

Spring is Here! Sol Flower Farm comes to life for 2013

We’ve been busy running around and planning for the season. The cold weather is finally abating and we will be preparing the fields for planting in the next couple of weeks. Lettuce, fennel, radicchio, celery, peppers and eggplant were all planted this week. Kale and chard are all growing nicely in the warm greenhouse.

Our farm crew is growing for the season as well. We welcome Bob New, who just arrived this past weekend, to help for the season. You will meet him on the farm or at one of the local farmers’ markets starting in June. Trevor has been helping Andy over the past few weeks and Sasha has been joining us for a few days each week too.

A new greenhouse is going up this week at the new farm! We’ll be pounding stakes and soon be growing more plants at the new location. We pruned the fruit trees here and worked to prepare a small bed for herbs too. Tractors are rolling and minerals added to fields for planting.

Also new this year is our Cut Flower share! Each week you will receive a large bouquet (15 to 20 stems) of flowers cut fresh from our fields. We grow over 25 varieties of flowers. Everything from sunflowers, dahlias, zinnias, amaranth, delphinium, asters, salvia, statice, celosia, bells of Ireland and so much more.

The flowers are grown with the same organic practices as our produce. Always fresh, always beautiful! We take care of every detail to bring you healthy, vibrate, long lasting flowers to brighten up your week!

• 12 weeks – $200.00

Add to your produce share or purchase as a stand-alone share. See our website soon for more details.

If you are looking to sign up for our 2013 CSA season, please click the above link (or the CSA tab on the menu) for a few different options as well as a new location for pick-up:

• Full share (June to November) – $650
• Summer Share (June to September) – $500
• Working Share (June to November) – $425

What’s new at the farm . . . 

Howdy everyone! I know the world looks brown and muddy right now but soon it will pop with every color green imaginable! I can’t wait for that. In the meantime, I have been planning like crazy for the season ahead.  Seeds, seeds, and more seeds are here! It’s always fun to pick out new varieties and of course order the tried and true favorites.  Lots of veggies to look forward to this season!

The new farm is amazing, so much to do and create within this community. We are taking big steps daily! First on the list is building our new greenhouse, the backbone of our operation. This house will be bigger and better than before to support our expansion. The crew has started showing up for work, time to fix tractors and equipment, seed our onions and set up the barns!  Basically it’s go time… it’s all happening!

Stay tuned for new CSA options:

• Flower Share & Floral Design - Introducing the talented artist Emily Sartor

• Cheese Share from Amazing Real Live Food Co. in Pine Plains

Also in the news:

You are invited to our Meet the Farmer Party in Williamsburg at Union Pool, 484 Union Avenue, Brooklyn this Sunday, March 24^th from 3pm – 7pm. Farm mixer, Herondale Farm, Hillrock whiskey, Amazing Real Live Food Co. cheese tasting, live music with Pocatello! Come on down and tell all of your Brooklyn friends. RSVP here. Find a friend! Share a share!

Hope to see you there!
Andy & the farm crew

Happy New Year!

Hope this letter finds everyone enjoying a little winter down time. I certainly am happy to have some time to walk in the woods, drink tea and plan for the season ahead. So many big steps in the life of Sol Flower are happening! We have moved the farm down the road to Millerton. The new farm is amazing, beautiful and an open canvas!  Our first project is to build a new greenhouse where we can start seeds and store and cure some of our crops like onions and winter squash. We will begin this project in February as soon as we get a little snowmelt. Other projects for the season include upgrading electric, digging a well, and building out a CSA pick-up in one of our beautiful barns. So exciting!

We are currently looking for investors or lenders to help realize the bigger vision for the farm. This could be any arrangement from a short-term investment to a longer-term relationship. We are looking to build Sol Flower into a farm where we provide many resources for the community: a gathering place where we share food and exchange stories, a farm that provides healthy & safe food, and an educational center growing future farmers who want a career in sustainable agriculture.

We need your help realizing this vision! We can join forces and work together to make our community stronger. If you are interested in learning more about how you can get involved and would like to see the business plan, please contact me directly. I would love to set up a meeting to give you all the details. You may reach me by email: solflowerfarm@gmail.com or on my cellphone (518) 567-1951.

Warmly,
Your farmer Andy

2013 CSA sign-ups are in full swing! 
Join now and you will provide the farm with much needed income to help us purchase seeds, cover labor and equipment costs.
Email us at solflowerfarm@gmail.com for CSA sign up information & member agreement.

Trevor for hire! 

• dead and downed tree clean up
• firewood cutting and splitting
• brush clearing and more

We are hosting two Thanksgiving Pop Up Markets at the Herondale Farm Store, 90 Wiltsie Bridge Road in Ancramdale, NY.  The markets will take place on Saturday, November 17^th from 10am – 3pm and on Tuesday, November 20^th from 1pm – 5pm.

This is our first season offering holiday markets. Thanksgiving is all about sharing food with friends and family, and we wanted our customers to be able to shop for their favorite local produce and meat for the holiday

At the Herondale Farm Store customers will be able to find 100% grass fed and grass finished beef and lamb, pasture raised chicken and pork and beyond organic seasonal vegetables like – winter squash, potatoes, turnips, beets, carrots, kale, and more. In addition to the standard fare at the farm store, you will also find familiar local farmers, bakers, and food artisans selling holiday provisions.

Saturday Market:

- Herondale Farm meat

- Sol Flower Farm produce

- Cheese tasting with Rory Chase from Amazing Real Live Food Co. (Pine Plains)

- Barbara Ray’s sourdough bread (Millerton)

Tuesday Market

- Herondale Farm meat

- Sol Flower Farm produce

- Don Lewis from Wild Hive Farm – local grains & flours (Clinton Corners)

- Coco’s Crumbs gourmet baked goods (Millerton); Call Leela DiNunzio at (518) 789-3761 to pre-order your Thanksgiving pies & pick up at the farm store. Choose from pecan, pumpkin, apple with or without cranberries, Belgian chocolate cake, and fresh sweet potato pie with meringue.

For more information, get in touch with Betsey at Sol Flower Farm solflowerfarm@gmail.com or 518-329-1004. Visit us online at –solflowerfarm.com and herondalefarm.com.

The Herondale Farm Store is located at 90 Wiltsie Bridge Road in Ancramdale, New York.

Herondale & Sol Flower Farms’ Fall Feast was a huge success! A BIG thank you to all of our friends, family, and CSA members for a great party!

Fall Feast:

Last Sunday, we threw our annual harvest party at the farm, and it truly was a team effort. Jerry Peele at Herdonale Farm provided us with the delicious pig that Trevor and his friends, Chris Roberts and Alex Delia, smoked for two days. Our potluck committee made up of dedicated friends and CSA members cooked farm-to-table sides with Sol Flower veggies including kale salad, cabbage slaw, roasted roots, pickled peppers & green beans, countless desserts, and so much more good food. You can just tell from the picture above that everyone at the party enjoyed the food.

Friends of the farm – Pocatello and Cowboy & The Rockhearts (featuring CSA member Jim Wright) provided old-timey and bluegrass music. Being under the tent and dancing added to the hoe-down feel of the party. Meghan’s friend Willa Horton did an amazing job with the kids activities including face painting. A special thank you to everyone at Herondale Farm for all of your hard work making this party happen. Thank you to Emily Sartor for designing this year’s party image. Of course, we couldn’t have thrown this party without the help of Andy’s family who comes in town every year for this. They hung lights, ran errands, and even showed up the day after to help us clean up!

We thought it was such a special night with our community coming together to enjoy good food and music and all that the fall harvest has to offer. Because of everyone’s efforts, we are happy to share that we raised enough to cover one veggie CSA share for a family next year. This will certainly get the ball rolling for our 2013 plans. We hope to see you all at many more of our Sol Flower & Herdonale Farm events next year.

Thank you!
The Sol Flower farm crew – Andy, Betsey, Colin, Meghan, & Trevor

CSA 2013:
Stay tuned for information about our 2013 CSA! You can sign up at the farm starting on Saturday, October 20th. Andy & Betsey will be in NYC on Wednesday, November 7th to sign up our NYC area members.

Thanksgiving Pop Up CSA:
This year we’re trying something new for Thanksgiving. We’ll be open at the farm store on Saturday, November 17th and Tuesday, November 22nd for a special Thanksgiving Pop Up CSA. You will be able to purchase all of your favorite fall produce just in time to cook up a big Thanksgiving meal. More details coming soon!

Last pick-ups of the season:
As we start to wind down here at the farm, CSA members have started to ask about the last pick-up dates. Here is a complete list:
On Farm Saturday: November 3rd
On Farm Tuesday: November 6th
NYC Area Wednesday: November 7th
Millerton Friday: November 9th

RECIPE OF THE WEEK – BUTTERNUT SQUASH RISOTTO – from Martha Stewart
This is an amazing recipe that Betsey’s friends made her for her birthday dinner. Click here to view recipe online.

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth, skimmed of fat
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 shallots, minced
• 2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, plus sprigs for garnish
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Thank you, volunteers!

Wow, it’s been a busy week at the farm! There are tons of crops to harvest right now – eggplant, cucumbers, summer squash, alisa craig onions, arugula, beets, carrots, pick-your-own beans & herbs, and the season’s very first watermelon for this weekend . . . which means it really is summer. Lucky for us, every Wednesday we have additional hands on the farm to help the farm crew out. A few CSA members are regulars and we now have the North East Community Center Farm & Food Education Program joining us for six weeks. Because of the additional help, we were able to weed four rows of potatoes in no time and we had more fun because we were all working together and motivating each other to finish the job! We really appreciate all of our volunteers hard work and wouldn’t be able to get a lot of the big jobs done without you.

What else means summer? Tomatoes, of course. We’ve really been taking care of them, and they should be ripening soon. The farm crew just put another 7,500 plants into the ground, so you know you will be eating very well all the way into fall. You’ll continue to see fresh onions in your share for another one to two weeks, followed by storage onions in a couple of weeks that we’ll have for the rest of the season. Right now, we’re harvesting summer beets and carrots with tons more seeded for the fall. Just this week, we seeded spinach, daikon radishes, and turnips. For now, it’s all about making summer meals with eggplant, cucumbers, and summer squash.

Enjoy!
The Farm Crew
Andy, Betsey, Colin, Meghan, & Trevor

PICK UP TIMES . . . REMINDER:
Saturday On Farm: 9:00am – 1:00pm
Tuesday On Farm: 2:00pm – 6:00pm
Wednesday Davis & Warshow: 11:00am drop
Wednesday Brooklyn: 12:00pm – 1:00pm or 6:00pm – 8:00pm
Wednesday Garden City: 3:00pm – 7:00pm
Friday North East Community Center: 3:00pm – 6:00pm

RECIPE OF THE WEEK -  Excerpts from 12 Recipes for Grilled Eggplant from Mark Bittman The New York Times
For the complete series, click here.

Greek Style Eggplant
Slice eggplants in half lengthwise; make shallow cuts on flesh side. Combine 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup each minced onion and minced or puréed olives (or tapenade); brush all over eggplant, pushing into slits. Grill, covered and turning as needed, until flesh is soft and skin is crisp, 20-30 minutes. Garnish: Crumbled feta and more olives.

Bruschetta
Grill whole eggplants, turning occasionally, until blackened and collapsed, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool, peel and mash; combine with toasted whole garlic cloves, 1 diced tomato, olive oil, lemon juice and minced garlic. Spread onto slices of baguette.

North-African Style Eggplant
Cut eggplants into 1-inch-thick rounds; make shallow cuts on both faces and rub with a mixture of 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1 tablespoon minced garlic. Add 2 tablespoons honey and 2 tablespoon ground cumin. Grill, covered, until tender and lightly browned, turning and brushing with more oil as needed, about 20 minutes. Layer with grilled tomato and onion and if you like, cooked ground beef or lamb. Garnish: Parsley.