Maysie's FarmMaysie's Farm Newsletter: Fresh from the Fields
May 2006
May 31, 2006
Greetings!

We hope you're enjoying your first week's worth of vegetables! Peas and broccoli are just around the corner...

Strawberries from Willow Creek Farm are still available!! Many of you already ordered in the barn for your next pick up. We can take orders via email or phone up to NOON the day before your pick up. The cost is $5.50/qt and they are DELICIOUS!! Also, don't forget about our other local vendors! Order one week for pick up the next week! Ben Stoltzfus has an extensive list of meat and raw milk products (look for his order form next to the sign in sheet) and Green Haven Farm provides us with pastured chicken and eggs (the chickens are frozen and usually about 3-5 lbs).

We have a few events in June that you need to be aware of (besides Ben's farm tour on June 10 - see the barn for more info on that): on Saturday, June 17 we're having a Summer Solstice Potluck Dinner at the farm. It kicks off at about 6:30pm. All you need to do is bring a potluck dish to share and your family and friends (all are welcome!). Some of our talented interns will be providing live music entertainment. There will be a sign up sheet in the barn, just to give us a rough idea of how many people to expect. We hope to see you there!!

And on Tuesday, June 20 we're having a Down To Earth Farming Workshop for children ages 6 and above. This full-day (8:30am-2pm) program will teach kids the whole farming process, from seeding to harvesting. Plus we play some games and have a lot of fun! The cost is $30/child ($25 for members) and includes lunch and plants to take home. Email or call (610-458-8129) to register. (This program will be repeated on Thursday, July 20.)

OTHER EXCITING NEWS...Dani Aubert, one of our interns, is starting an organic, bulk food co-op for our CSA members. She will be offering an assortment of grains, beans, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, flour, sugar, and nut butters. The idea is to combine enough orders to buy large quantities, thereby reducing the price. Dani will pre-package your order in recycled bags and jars and it will be delivered to Maysie's Farm once a month on the day of your pick up. If you're interested in learning more about this, please contact Dani at agapechild@gmail.com or sign up on the sheet in the barn.

FINALLY...returning members know that I try to include a recipe in these email updates each week (and if you'd like to share a recipe or two, send it along!). Because we have so many leafy greens (and because some people seem a little intimidated by them!), I thought I would give you some advice about how to use them. They can be eaten raw, steamed, cooked in stir-frys or soup...I've even been known to "hide" them in spaghetti sauce, quiches, and meat loaf! I've also found that they're pretty much interchangeable in recipes that call for just one type. When in doubt, stir fry them in olive oil with some onion and garlic and whatever other vegetable you have on hand! Go ahead and experiment — they are all very nutritious and delicious!

~Colleen

 
May 23, 2006
Greetings!

As if the start of the CSA season weren't reason enough to celebrate, our friends at Willow Creek Orchards will have strawberries ready for us beginning with your first pick-up! These certified organic Chandler strawberries are known for their great flavor and will be as fresh as can be, harvested the same morning they're delivered to the farm. As with all of our cooperative marketing products, they will be available on a pre-order basis. You can order by responding to this email (or calling the farm at 610-458-8129). Be sure to tell us how many quarts you want (at $5.50/quart). FRIDAY people need to order by noon on THURSDAY. MONDAY people need to order by noon on SUNDAY (although this week, because of Memorial Day, your pick up is on Tuesday, and you can order strawberries up until noon on Monday). To remind you to pick them up, there will be a red dot by your name on the sign in sheet if you've ordered them. The red folder on the table will be for your payment — either cash or a check made out to Maysie's Farm. Get them while you can; as you know, the strawberry season is too short!

Also, beginning with your first pick-up, you can order the other local products we offer. Pastured chickens (at $3.00/lb) and eggs (at $3.00/dozen) will be delivered every week from Green Haven Farm (use the green folders for orders and payments). Raw milk products and beef and pork products will be provided by Ben Stoltzfus. See his extensive product/price list in the barn. (To buy Ben's raw milk products this year, you will be asked to sign a contract with CARE - the Community Association for Responsible Eco-Farming - and pay an annual fee of $10.) For all of these products, you pay when you pick up. Checks for Ben's products should be made out to Ben Stoltzfus; for all other products checks should be made out to Maysie's Farm, but cash is acceptable for all our barn sales. Leave the payments in the appropriate folders: green for Green Haven Farm, blue for Ben Stoltzfus and red for strawberries (don't worry, they're labeled).

And back by popular demand, Ben is once again hosting a tour of his Amish farm, Pleasant Pastures Organic Acres, on Saturday, June 10 from 11am - 3pm (raindate June 24). Besides meeting his delightful family, you'll get to see cows, calves, pigs, horses, rabbits, geese, and chickens, go on a wagon ride, sample his raw milk products, and — my favorite — help make (and eat!) homemade ice cream! This is truly a fun and educational event. Ben asks that you call him at 717-768-3437 if you are planning on going so he'll know how many people to expect. The farm is located at 648 Cambridge Road in Honey Brook — see the barn for a map.

The unusually cold and dry spring we've been having has slowed down the growth of many of our crops, but the garlic that was planted last October is doing so well that we expect to offer garlic scapes on the first harvest days. Scapes are the green flower stalks that grow above ground. They are removed to enhance bulb development, and they're wonderful to eat! You can chop them up and add them to green or pasta salads, pizza, or anywhere garlic flavor is desired. You can also make pesto, using scapes in place of basil. In a food processor, add scapes and olive oil, then stir in parmesan or asiago cheese. Add pine nuts, olives, or tomatoes as desired and serve over pasta.

See you at the farm!

~Colleen

 
May 19, 2006
Greetings!

FINALLY!! The CSA season is about to begin!! Sam, Trey, and the interns have been working very hard and are just as excited about the season starting as the rest of us are! Here are some important dates:

MONDAY, MAY 22 at 7pm at the farm is the NEW MEMBER ORIENTATION MEETING. Sam will walk you through the pick-up procedure and you can tour the farm. Ben Stoltzfus, who is our raw milk product vendor, will be there Monday night with samples of his delicious products.

If you know of someone who may be interested in joining the CSA, invite them to the meeting on May 22. We do still have some memberships available, but Fridays are just about sold out.

If you are a FRIDAY pick-up, you begin next Friday, May 26 (from noon until 6pm). If you are a MONDAY pick-up, you begin on TUESDAY (because of Memorial Day), May 30 (from 1pm until 7pm). If you FORGET which day you signed up for, send me an email and I'll tell you!

Please remember that it helps us if you bring your own bags, although there should be a supply in the barn if you forget. Also, right from the first week you'll be able to order pastured poultry and eggs from Green Haven Farm, organic beef and pork from Pasture's Pride Natural Meats, and raw milk products from Ben Stoltzfus. Order one week, and pick up and pay the following week. ALSO, this year we are beginning a fruit partnership with Willow Creek Orchards, an organic orchard in Collegeville. Their fruit trees are still young and probably won't be producing enough for our CSA this year, but in a few weeks they're hoping to sell us fresh, organic strawberries!! Look for details in the barn or in a future email update.

Finally, for those of you who were members last season but have decided not to join again, this will be your last email update. We sincerely thank you for your past support and look forward to seeing you on Wednesdays at the Eagleview Farmers Market.

See you (SOON!) at the farm!

~Colleen

 
May 3, 2006
Greetings!

It's shaping up to be a great season at Maysie's Farm! We now have a full house of interns. As you know, we have a new Farm Manager, Trey Flemming. Michael McShane has been with us since last September, and is happy to see the return of warm weather after a long winter! Charlie Blume gets the longevity award - he's been with us part-time for about a year and a half and is planning on staying until he begins graduate school in the fall. Joining them are three new full-time interns: Danielle Aubert is a Penn State graduate and Glenmoore native who has spent the past six months farming in New Zealand; John Ferro is a Drexel Environmental Sciences student who is doing his cooperative semester with us; and Aimee Jo Bartholomew is an artist from Bethlehem who is eager to learn more about sustainable living. They've all been hard at work and are eager to meet the CSA members when the season begins.

And this will be an exciting season — we're celebrating the 10th season of Maysie's Farm CSA! As part of the celebration, we're putting together a "scrapbook" of the ten years. We're looking for stories, memories,or photos you may be willing to share. We hope to put them on a poster in the barn and post them on our website. Please see the attached letter for more information about this.

We're still looking for more members for this season, and we hope that you can help us spread the word about our CSA to friends, family, neighbors — anyone you can think of who might be interested in receiving fresh, healthy food. Please refer them to our website (www.maysiesfarm.org) or have them call the farm for more information or for a tour. If all else fails, have them attend our New Member Orientation Meeting, 7:00 pm, Monday, May 22nd, which may be their last opportunity to sign up this year.

It's not too late to register for our Growing Families, Growing Gardens family workshop this Saturday, May 6th, from 1-5pm. The cost is $30 ($25 for members). Call the farm to register.

See you (soon!) at the farm!

~Colleen

 
As we get into the busy spring season, there's a ton of work to be done! The interns do a great job at growing the vegetables, but there are lots of other jobs around the farm that are begging for volunteers. We've come up with the list below, and hope that these spark an interest for some of you. Notice that some of these jobs are ongoing, while some are one-time efforts.

  • Establish and maintain the culinary herb beds (these were a disaster last year because they were not tended to!).

  • Restore and maintain the Children's Garden (ditto!).

  • Landscape an "island" behind the new barn office (after trenching for solar electric lines is completed). Take down the mulberry tree.

  • Establish native ground cover in full sun along the rock wall on the southern side of the hoophouse.

  • Construct a bio-diesel processing facility (instructions and examples are available).

Once again this year, we also put the call out to members to volunteer some extra time on their pick up day to act as Distribution Managers in the barn. No experience is necessary, and their presence helps the distribution go much more smoothly.

To volunteer for any of these jobs (or if you think of others...weeding, mowing, etc!) call Sam at 610-458-8129. Thank you!

 
 
CSA memberships for the 2006 season are going fast! Spread the word about Maysie's Farm to anyone you think may be interested in joining, and register BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE!

Wish List
Looking to get rid of any of the following items? Maysie's Farm will put them to good use! The first three needs are for our new "office," which is (still) under construction in the old "staff room":

• Wooden file cabinets
• Small electric range/oven
• Sink base, under-counter cabinets, wall cabinets and a short length of countertop material
• Picnic table(s)
• Large outdoor canopy
• Solar powered walkway lights (ideally to match the two donated by Martha Thomae)
• Straw bale chopper (for mulching large areas)
• Assistance building a bio-diesel production system or a compost tea brewing system
• Diesel station wagon or delivery vehicle for use as our produce hauler (for the Farmers Market and our Farm and School partnership) that we could run on bio-diesel or vegetable oil
• Housing for potential Farm Manager
Please contact Sam at (610) 458-8129 if you can donate any of these items.

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