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News from the farm...
We extracted the honey from our 3 hives last week and, according to Dave Coward, our neighbor, a professional beekeeper and my bee mentor, it is ALL sourwood.
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Most of the nectar the bees collect around here comes from trees, not flowers. The first big blooms are the maples, followed by the locusts and then tulip poplars. Most of the early honey flow was lost due to that late freeze we had in May. When I check my hives at the end of May, they had put up almost nothing and I resigned myself to having a poor honey year. Other bee keepers were saying the same, worst ever honey flow. Well, something happened because now I've heard it called a historic honey flow because of all the sourwood honey the bees put up. Sourwood honey is specific to this mountain region, kind of like tupelo honey is to north Florida/southern Georgia. It has a rich caramel taste with a sight "thwang" at the finish. Dave calls it the Cadillac of honeys and we have a lot of it. Thank you to our hard working honey bees!
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Another fall task we did this week was to harvest all of our popcorn. It needs to cure for several weeks and is now hanging to dry, along with our hazelnuts in the greenhouse. That we can hang things to dry in the greenhouse is a sure sign of things slowing down on the farm. We reached the last page of our 26 page seed sowing schedule and have sown our last lettuce of season. The greenhouse is all but empty of growing transplants. What is in there now are actually crops that will planted in October 2020 but harvested in 2021.
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PLEASE NOTE: Pick times at Cecilia's Kitchen are now from 9am until 11am.
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Below: Popcorn hanging to dry in the greenhouse
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What's Available This Week
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Sourwood honey! Also red butter, romaine, red leaf, panisse green oak lettuce as well as lettuce mix. Green cabbage, collards, Swiss chard, lacinato kale and green curly kale. A smattering of red beets. Lots of winter squash, a few new varieties, including full sized butternut, jester (a super sweet variety) and winter sweet kabocha. Plenty of yellow and sweet onions. We are sold out of the red onions. Potatoes of various kinds. For tomatoes, we have cherries, heirlooms and red slicers as well as a few quarts of the cocktails. Lots of lovely dahlias and mixed bouquets.
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John's Recipe of the Week
John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful cooking observations and delicious recipes offerings appear here each week.
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“Good food is very often, even most often, simple food.” Anthony Bourdain
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If you have delicata squash, remember that it only keeps about a month or two. The same goes for the honeynut butternut and acorn squash. The regular butternuts and the kabochas will keep a long time. If kept fairly cool and in the dark or dim light, they’ll last 6 months or longer. With all produce you store, check on it every so often.
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SWISS CHARD WITH OLIVES AND LEMON – From Bon Appétit, March 2010. Serves 6.
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Cut stems from the center of the chard and slice stems crosswise into ¼ slices and place in a medium bowl. Slice leaves crosswise into 1-½ inch strips.
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Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt generously. Add chard stems, cook until just tender, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Drain in a large colander, pressing out any water. This step can be done a couple hours ahead and kept at room temperature.
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Heat 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add olives and garlic. Sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add chard and chard stems. Toss until heated through and any remaining water evaporates, about 4 minutes. Mix in the remaining 1-tablespoon of olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
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Dave showing off one of the frames of honey.
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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