Notes from the Farm
Another great Saturday in the books. Saturdays at the Meadville Market House are always a good time, and Second Saturdays especially so. It was lovely catching up with friends I haven’t seen in awhile. And it was such a beautiful day, I took a stroll around town after market and treated myself to lunch at Kettle Lake Kitchen. The fun is back in farming for me.
~ Stella
We eased into the farm season this year. Our first market appearance was today. We love hanging out at the Meadville Market House on Saturdays, so we were happy to be back. See you next week!
Jason and Luna (above) spent Sunday afternoon prepping the Big Tunnel for planting. We’re hoping to plant our kale and other greens as soon as this weekend. The first farmers market is only about six weeks away!
It’s been a blur of baseball, cyber school, farming, and other work. So it goes with spring.
It’s Silas’s first year playing ball. Grandpa Gary mowed a ball field at the farm. We’ve had a lot of fun helping Silas practice and watching him play. By extremely lucky circumstances, I get to watch my 7-year-old and my 74-year-old dad play ball.
The photo above is how every season begins — with Jason starting dozens of seed flats. If you follow along, you know Jason quit his full-time, off-farm job in December. He also started his own company — a grant-writing and project management firm. We were both surprised — OK, stunned — at how quickly this took off. Another one of life’s plot twists. It’s been great for our family, but it’s re-shaping our year. We’re also going through the formal process of officially making me an employee of the new business. We’re still figuring out what a “typical” week looks like during the growing season, and trying to rein in the number of hours worked.
So this winter and early spring, Jason ended up poking seeds in potting soil late into the night once more. We thought days like that were behind him, but we were wrong. We were mistaken to think this new life would neatly click into place, but we’re figuring it out.
This garlic was planted last autumn. We’ll harvest mid summer.
The night Silas scored his first run!
First market of the season. You’ll find us every Saturday at the Meadville Market House at 9 a.m. We’ve been loving our market Saturdays. For one thing, the Friday harvest is so much easier and more enjoyable with Jason and me working as a team. The Market House has been a bustling place Saturday mornings. Opening the doors and at times seeing people milling all around has been awesome.
Down to the last chive. Someone came along and bought it.
Notice the change in attire from Week 1 to Week 2.
The Big Tunnel after Jason straightened it out and I put straw down thick. Green onions, oregano, spinach, broccoli, and radishes were growing earlier this spring. The empty rows now have tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers.
Here we have garlic, kale, broccoli, and lettuce. You may notice the lack of landscape fabric. We learned last season that fabric is a no-go for anything in spring, and unwise year-round for any crop voles find delicious and we hold precious — like lettuce.
The onions are doing terrific. We put down thick straw and planted directly into it. We won’t worry about those anymore until late summer.
Above is a photo of the tomatoes and peppers we planted Memorial Day weekend.
Hope you’re enjoying spring. The CSA will likely start in the third week of June. We’ll send out plenty of notifications beforehand. We’ll probably open our online orders around that time, as well.
In the meantime, if you’re in the Meadville area, come see us on Saturday mornings.
~ Stella
While we sat drinking tea and coffee after breakfast, Jason shared a memory that came up on his phone for today from 2019. It was the day we put up the plastic on the Big Tunnel.
As Silas and I scrolled through the photos, we chimed, “There’s Angelica! There’s Garrett! There’s grandpa!”
On that March day, Angelica returned to the farm early to pitch in with the plastic. And Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, is community-minded, and well known to set aside time to help when he’s needed. Another person who has always been the first to volunteer a helping hand is Gene. He spent a long, frigid December day with us in 2018 putting up the trusses for the Big Tunnel. My dad, Gary, spent many cold days working with us on that project, too. And we couldn’t have done it without my mother, Darlene, caring for Silas. Friends of ours from Bradford, Fawn and Greg, drove down one day to help dig holes in the cold and snow before we realized we really needed to rent an auger! It is a credit to all of their natures that they lent us their time and labor.
Seeing the photos this morning whipped up feelings of gratefulness. They were a good reminder as we embark on Season 8. Few people reach their goals by sheer will alone, even when it may seem that way. The kindness of others helps lift trusses along the way.
~ Stella
That’s Garrett, of Fat Hawk Farm, in the air in March 2019.
There’s Angelica! Spring 2019.
Grandpa Gary and Jason drilling the post holes in November 2018.
Grandpa Gary, left, and Gene working on the frame in December 2018.
Jason giving his father-in-law a much-deserved coffee and doughnut.
From the time he could help, he often has. But on those days when it’s just too cold, or the work will be too dangerous or long, we’re lucky to have the support of his grandmothers.
This is a year unlike any other for us, as you know. For those of you who are new, Jason no longer works off the farm. That was not the case for our previous seven seasons. And Season 8 is a milestone year for another reason. After entering this year’s CSA memberships into a spreadsheet, Jason learned that 75 percent of our CSA members from last year have signed up for this year. The average retention rate for CSAs is about 45 percent.
The prospect of seeing and communicating with most of the same people this year came as happy news to me, and it makes me excited for the season. Many of those CSA members have been with us for several years now - if not from the very beginning!
A few CSA members opted out this year because they have plans to travel, with the end of the pandemic hopefully on the horizon. This, too, is happy news!
~ Stella
P.S. And we do have a few CSA spots still open. Last count was five.
Silas, me, Jason, and Luna on the ladder to Si’s tree fort, at his request.
It took plenty of wrangling to get a 7-year-old and a pup in this photo. But, alas, I dilly-dallied getting our Christmas cards made, and realized they’d be delivered to our doorstep by Dec. 22 at the earliest. I really didn’t want to spend that day feverishly filling out cards that weren’t even going to make it to their destinations by Christmas. That’s Silas’s last day of cyber school for the year (yay!) and Jason’s last day at his off-farm job (yayyayyay!). Please forgive the holiday card lapse. I have so enjoyed the cards we’ve received.
To close the blog for this season, I’d like to say thank you. Thanks for reading. And thanks for caring about the little farm way back in the woods, whether we’re friends, family, or acquainted only through these words. I hope you and yours have a lovely holiday and a peaceful, happy New Year.
Merry Christmas, friend!
~ Stella
Hello, friends! Fun news to share. Over the summer, PCN spent a day on the farm with us, and now it’s time for our show to air!
Here are the details sent out by PCN:
Get An Insider’s Look Into Plot Twist Farm with PCN Tours
One of our most popular weekly series, PCN Tours has brought viewers into more than 500
Pennsylvania museums and manufacturing facilities. Sunday, Oct. 24, at 6 p.m. we are giving
you an insider’s look into Plot Twist Farm in Guys Mill, Pa.
In this episode, you’ll learn about this no-spray, pesticide free vegetable farm. The farm sells to
local markets and offers a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, where consumers
can become CSA members by purchasing a “share” before the farm season and in return receive
fresh, seasonal produce.
Watch PCN Tours to learn more about what makes this Commonwealth a great place to live and
work. New episodes are shown on Sundays at 6 p.m. with previous tours airing weekdays at 7
a.m. and 6 p.m.
ABOUT PCN: PCN is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit television network dedicated to educating,
connecting, and celebrating Pennsylvania's past, present, and future through cable television and
streaming platforms. To make a tax-deductible donation to support PCN’s mission or to get the
PCN Select App, visit pcntv.com.
HOW TO WATCH: Have cable? You have PCN. No cable? Stream with PCN Select on your
favorite device. Learn more at pcntv.com/how-to-watch
WEBSITE: pcntv.com/tours
DVDS, BLU-RAYS & DOWNLOADS: pcntv.com/shop
SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube - @pcntv, Instagram - @pennsylvaniacablenetwork
I love food aha! moments. When someone introduces you to a simple and delicious ingredient or recipe. This happens at least once each season, thanks to a CSA member.
The recipe below is for panzanella, and it was one such moment. It was sent in by CSA member Mark. I used it in this week’s CSA newsletter, and also asked him to share a good Italian proverb about food. I’ll let the curious amongst us seek its meaning.
Mark’s explanation of panzanella is so interesting and clear, I’ll just let him take it from here.
~ Stella
“Mangia bene e caca forte e non aver paura della morte.” - Italian folk saying
HOW TO MAKE PANZANELLA
Panzanella is the epitome of Italian cucina povera or “poor kitchen.” Historically, this was the food of the impoverished. Now, it’s a catch-all phrase for an inexpensive dish that makes use of simple ingredients and is prepared easily.
Panzanella is a mixing of the word for bread - pane - and that of an archaic word for bowl - zanella. This high-summer dish is native to Tuscany, but one sees variations across the region.
Bread, tomatoes, red onion, basil, olive oil, salt, and pepper are at the core of panzanella.
This is a fool-proof recipe! That stale bread on your counter or buried in your freezer? Toast it, cube it, and put it into a bowl.
Then, add a number of diced, very ripe tomatoes and a few slivers of red onion. Thinly slice some basil and add it, along with some salt and a few grinds of black pepper.
Finish the dish with a healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and toss it gently.
You’ll see variants of panzanella, depending on what’s in the fridge and needs to be eaten. When I have things like cucumbers, peppers, and celery on hand - as we CSAers have had recently - I often add them to the dish. Sometimes a bit of red wine vinegar or some capers is added to give the dish a boost. Italians closer to the sea often add anchovies to the mix, too.
Mangia bene!
~ Mark
Here’s the scene on Thursdays after CSA share packing. Every ripe veggie on the farm finds a home each week, whether it’s in the CSA shares, sold to a shop or at market, donated, given to a friend or family member, or in our tummies. There’s no food waste on the farm.
As always, many thanks to Gene for his assistance. And thanks to Fawn, too.
~ Stella
