News & Reviews
News and blog
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-- April & Rob FixLedamete Grass Farm5471 Sell RoadSchnecksville, PA 18078610-767-4984
ledametegrass@gmail.com
ledametegrassfarm.com
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News:
As the fruit shares have just begun, there has been some confusion about switching pickup days and getting the fruit. Please read below to clarify.
*FRUIT SHARE POLICY - If you switch or miss your pickup day, we will hold your fruit for 1 week. You may pick it up on your next pickup day. When picking up a missed fruit share, please DO NOT take fruit from the yellow bins. Missed fruit shares are stored in the cooler and Heidi, Kay, or a farm crew member can get them for you. Please ask them for help. Any fruit that is unclaimed after 1 week will be donated to the farm crew.
North Star Orchard cannot switch your delivery day, unless it is a permanent switch for the remainder of the season. Please do not email asking them to do so. They have many delivery locations and cannot handle weekly changes to their complex delivery schedule. THANK YOU!
UPICK HARVEST
Edamame is plentiful this week. When harvesting, pull whole plants from the ground. The plants do not make more beans, like green beans, and tend to ripen uniformly. So it is easier to remove the beans after pulling the entire plant from the ground.
When pulling the plants, notice the small, white balls on the roots. Those nodules contain the nitrogen fixers. As a legume, soybean plants form an association with symbiotic bacteria called Rhizobia. The bacteria live in those root nodules and produce nitrogen compounds that help the plant to grow and compete with other plants. When the plant dies, the fixed nitrogen is released, making it available to other plants and this helps to fertilize the soil. Isn't that neat?
Now, to enjoy this yummy and fun food. Pull beans from the plant and rinse in a colander. 2 plants should serve about 4 people. Boil a pot of water. Once it is boiling, place beans in water and cook for 2 minutes. Drain and sprinkle beans with sea salt. After they cool slightly, pop the beans right out of the pods into your mouth, scraping some of the salt off the pod as you do so. Enjoy!
Paste tomatoes
As you can see in the garden, the paste and cherry tomatoes are slowly dying of late blight infection. You may pick what you can this week. We may take them down the following week. Be sure to use the tomatoes as soon as possible, as the lesions can show up even after harvest. Paste tomatoes with blight should not be canned. You can make fresh sauce and eat it or freeze it, but the fungus-like organism which causes the blight can interfere with storage quality in a home-canning situation. (If you missed my email with much more detailed information about late blight in the tomatoes, please check the News/Blog page of the website for the July 28th update.)
THE HARVEST
Potatoes - new!
Kale - new!
Leeks
Carrots
Eggplant and Asian eggplant
Green &/or sweet peppers
Sweet Onions
Fresh Garlic
Red Beets
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini
COMING SOON: sweet corn!
UPICK: Edamame, hot peppers, fresh herbs, lots of flowers, limited cherry & paste tomatoes (but they are close to the end)
RECIPES
Roasted Garlic Pate. If your garlic is adding up, here is a great recipe for a creamy garlic spread.
Summer Gratin Another variation of an easy-breezy one dish summer meal.
Spicy Kale Pasta A creamy, simple pasta dish with onion, garlic, and kale. Spiced up with red pepper flakes, which can easily be omitted. Lends itself well to variations!
Homemade Potato Crisps An old favorite, you will need to search for this on the recipe page. This is often the first recipe we make when new potatoes are in. They are quickly devoured.
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News: These are strange days of summer indeed. We are experiencing cooler temps than normal, especially night-time temps. This affects the summer fruiting crops, like the zucchini & squash, cucumbers, peppers, melons, etc. These crops tend to slow down their production when the temperatures drop, especially the night-time temperatures. This cooling usually happens sometime in mid to late August, very rarely do we get it in July.
So, we are waiting for crops to ripen. The farm crew spotted a few peppers and melons beginning to ripen in the field last week. We are hopeful that there will be a melon harvest this week, and sweet peppers soon after.
The melons are picked when they slip from the vine, and so all are ripe. You may keep them on the counter for just a few days. If you do not plan to eat it in a few days, please refrigerate for longer storage. The melons are one of our favorite things that we grow. A good muskmelon (cantaloupe) is so sweet and juicy, a thing quite different from its paler, lackluster grocery store/fruit salad counterpart. I never enjoyed melon until we first worked on a CSA farm. We hope you enjoy them as well!
Meanwhile, the fall crops such as leeks, kale, cabbages, and broccoli, are enjoying this September-like weather and growing very well. The leeks are actually ready now, and the kale likely by mid-August. We almost never harvest either crop before September!
We will begin sowing the fall greens this week, such as arugula and spinach, for harvest beginning in 1 month. We started the fall lettuce mixes in the greenhouse several weeks ago. The first succession has already been transplanted into the field. Fresh green salads will be returning with the coming of fall. Exciting, isn't it? As the seasons change, we farmers must be ready. So during the busy summer season, we are also sowing the crops for the fall harvest.
ATTENTION: Please Note
*FRUIT SHARES start this week! North Star Orchard is still accepting new members for the fruit share. For more information and to sign up, please go to http://www.northstarorchard.com/csa_fruit.php
*Pizza shares this week!
*To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
Leeks
Carrots
Eggplant and Asian eggplant
Green peppers
Sweet Onions
Fresh Garlic
Red Beets
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini
Melons, hopefully!
COMING SOON: sweet corn, sweet peppers, kale
UPICK: Green beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs & flowers
RECIPES
Curried eggplant Baking this curry dish results in a very tender, flavorful dish. You can bake some chicken alongside for a complete meal - contributed by CSA member and pastured poultry farmer April Fix (of Ledamete Grass Farm)
Creamy Carrot & Leek soup Reminiscent of the all-time favorite, Potato Leek soup (which is also on the Recipe page), but with the sweetness of carrots - delicious.
Roasted Carrot & Beet Salad Simply sweet flavors of roasted beets and carrots, with lemon, parsley and thyme.
Melon smoothie, Melon Sorbet Favorites of everyone in my house - these recipes are great for those who do not love just plain melon, like my son.
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News: Late Blight has come early again. 
Late blight is a fungal disease that affects tomatoes and potatoes. It is called late blight, because it generally arrives near the end of the harvest season. However in years where it arrives early, it can be a devastating disease. Under the right conditions, cool and wet weather, it can spread at an amazing rate. Clouds protect the spores from exposure to UV radiation, while wet conditions allow the spores to infect when they land on leaves. Late blight affects both the leaves and fruits of tomatoes, both the leaves and tubers of potatoes, and is fatal to the plants.
The pathogen which causes late blight, a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans, is best known for causing the devastating Irish potato famine of the 1840s, which killed over a million people, and caused another million to leave the country.
In the 12 years which we have been farming, we have had late blight arrive early only twice. Two years ago we lost most of our tomato crop, which some members may remember. A few weeks ago we discovered late blight in our heirloom tomato patch in the field. We removed the infected plants, in hopes of saving the patch, because the spores can only survive on living plants. However it spread and infected most of the heirloom tomatoes, so we cut them down to try to prevent spreading it to the other tomatoes and potatoes. We also began spraying the potatoes with an organically-approved copper product. Copper can only be sprayed preventatively, and full coverage must be renewed after every rain. A spore which lands on a copper-coated leaf cannot infect that leaf. However, the copper cannot slow or stop the spread of the disease, once the leaves have become infected. Thus you see, it is extremely difficult to control this disease organically.
We have been closing the high tunnel during rain-storms to try to prevent the rain drops from landing on the leaves and spreading the disease to those tomatoes. Because the copper leaves a residue on the fruits that must be washed off, and our washing water drains into the creek behind the barn, we are not comfortable with spraying copper on the tomatoes.
This picture shows symptoms of late blight in the cherry tomatoes in the U-pick garden. Notice the dark green lesions on the leaves which are spread over the entire plant (as opposed to starting from the bottom up as in Septoria Leaf Spot, another common tomato disease). We will not spray the U-pick tomatoes with copper, as we do not want members to contact residues of the copper dust. Although it is organically-approved and is a natural product, it is still a heavy metal. It must be used responsibly to avoid buildup in the soil. We have never used copper before this season, but we are using it on the potatoes now in hopes of not losing the entire potato crop.
Two years ago when we this happened on the farm, it was thought to be a freak occurrence for late blight to show up so early in the season. We were devastated when we discovered it again this year. Fortunately, the high tunnel tomatoes are very productive this year and are fairly well-protected from the rain which spreads the spores. We also trialed a blight-resistant variety in the field, and it is still healthy and green, although all the heirlooms around it have been cut down.
Now we are researching other tomato and potato varieties that have shown blight resistance in experimental trials. We have found several potatoes, two cherry tomatoes, one paste tomato, and a few field tomatoes. We are planning on including many blight-resistant varieties in our crop plan for the next season, as this seems the only sustainable solution for organic growers to manage this devastating disease. Given the recent epidemics of late blight, we expect that breeders of organic seeds will begin focusing even more attention on breeding blight-resistant varieties in the coming years. So although this will be a difficult season and we will not be able to provide you with as many tomatoes and possibly potatoes as we had hoped, we are working on both short-term, such as blight-resistant varieties, and longer term solutions, such as installing another high tunnel to grow heirloom tomatoes. We are trying to use this as a stepping stone to further improve our organic vegetable production. We thank you for your understanding and support.
ATTENTION: Please Note
*FRUIT SHARES start next week! North Star Orchard is still accepting new members for the fruit share. For more information and to sign up, please go to http://www.northstarorchard.com/csa_fruit.php
*Cheese shares and chicken shares this week!
*Extra beets for canning/pickling are still available this week. You can place an order by email or check in with Heidi in the barn.
*To order pastured meats from Ledamete Grass Farm, please click on the link for the Quiet Creek pre-order market. Pickup will be Friday August 1st and Tuesday August 5th.
*To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
Carrots - new recipe!
Eggplant and Asian eggplant
Green peppers
Sweet Onions
Fresh Garlic
Red Beets
Cucumbers - new recipe!
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini -new recipes!
Swiss Chard
COMING SOON: sweet corn, melons, sweet peppers
UPICK: Green beans, cherry tomatoes, herbs & flowers
RECIPES
This recipe was requested by Heidi, after she sampled some cookies I brought for the farm crew: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies!
Other yummy treats for baking include Lemon Zucchini Bread - a new twist on zucchini bread. Also Yellow Squash & Carrot Muffins, a great place to hide veggies for the younger set, or anyone!
For a simple meal, try this Summer Vegetable Tian, a layered vegetable dish topped with cheese and baked, a one-dish supper with bread and cucumber salad.
Lastly, here is a recipe for an Asian Cucumber Salad.
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News
Please take note of these guidelines for U-picking flowers and herbs. We have noticed that some flowers and herbs (in particular the basil and celosia) in the U-pick garden have been cut down to near the ground. Cutting below the leaf branches removes the plant's method of making its own food (the leaves), and the plant will not be able to continue to grow. Many of the flowers and herbs in the U-pick garden will continue to grow and provide for us until frost, IF they are cut properly. Please pay attention to these instructions to insure that the garden remains productive for all members for the entire season. If you have any questions about how to cut something, do not hesitate to ask Heidi, Kay, or a farm crew member. Thank you for your cooperation!
ATTENTION: Please Note
*Some of you have asked about being able to purchase extra beets for pickling. As we have now moved onto our 2nd planting of beets and still have one more full planting of summer beets to come in, we are able to offer 2nds from the first planting for canning. If you would like to order beets for canning, please send an email with your name, pickup day, and the amount of beets you would like, in pounds. We are offering them at the wholesale price of $1/lb. See our Recipe page for a Pickled Beets recipe for canning.
(NOTE: All members will continue to get 1 bunch per week in their share. We have an excess of beets, but not enough to provide bulk amounts for canning for all members. Therefore we are offering these beets at a discounted wholesale price to those members who are interested in canning/preserving them. We feel that this is an equitable way to provide this resource to those who are interested, without burdening those who are not, and keeping the shares equal among all members.)
*To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
Carrots
Eggplant and Asian eggplant
Green peppers
Sweet Onions
Fresh Garlic
Red Beets - new recipe!
Cucumbers -new recipe!
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini -new recipe!
COMING SOON: melons, cherry tomatoes
UPICK: Green beans - new patch. Flowers & herbs - see cutting instructions above!
RECIPES
A big thank you to farm members for contributing more wonderful recipes this week: Beet Green Gratin, Zucchini-Summer squash skillet.
Other new recipes this week:
Chilled Cucumber Basil, and Mint Soup
Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
(Two old favorites from the recipe page for chocolate-lovers, a Chocolate Zucchini Brownie recipe which includes dairy and eggs; Secret Chocolate Cake, which includes beets in the cake.)
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News
Admittedly, this picture of farm members U-picking beans is from a few years ago. But this is important, because tha
t was the last time we had a healthy crop of green beans prior to this season! For the past two years, as we have had warm, mild winters, the Mexican bean beetles, which are normally more of a problem in the south, have devastated our bean crop. The adults lay their eggs on the leaves, and the larvae eat the entire plant after hatching. They can have many generations in one summer, and before long there are only lacy leaves and no beans left. Last season we introduced beneficial predatory wasps to try to combat this destruction, which helped somewhat. However, we received the best solution to this problem this past winter - a deep cold, hard winter. The deep freeze, extended snow cover, and very low temperatures, knocked back the bean beetle populations extensively. And now we are reaping the benefits of a wonderful bean harvest and so far, it looks like the successive generations are going to be good as well. So although it may have been a difficult winter, we can be grateful; for that cold, hard winter created the opportunity for us to have a wonderful bean crop this summer.
ATTENTION: Please Note
*Flower-picking time is here. Please remember to bring your own scissors and a container to fill with water to transport them home. A pitcher with water is usually available on the side of the barn.
*To order pastured meats from Ledamete Grass Farm for pickup this Friday or next Tuesday, please go to Quiet Creek Market Pre-order. Form more information about their farm, see their website.
*To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
New - eggplant and Asian eggplant
New - Green peppers
New - Sweet Onions
Fresh Garlic
Red Beets - new recipe!
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini - new recipe!
CHOICE: Cabbage, broccoli, chard (new recipe!)
COMING SOON: melons, more tomatoes, cherry tomatoes
UPICK: Flowers, herbs, green beans.
RECIPES
A big thank you to farm members for contributing all the delicious recipes this week!
Beet Salad with Basil Vinaigrette
Swiss Chard Pancakes (can sub. beet greens or spinach for chard)
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
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Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News
Full-grown garlic plants prior to the harvest of the scapes (see the curlicues at the top) are pictured on the left. The farm crew is bringing in the garlic this week. This marks the first bulk harvest of the season. About 5000 garlic bulbs must be pulled from the ground. We clean the excess soil from the roots and bundle the plants in groups of ten. These bundles are loaded onto the truck for transport to the greenhouse. We then lay them out on wooden racks placed under the tables, to keep them out of the sun. The greenhouse is also covered with a shade cloth at this time. With all the ventilation fans on, the greenhouse is a warm and dry - an ideal place to cure the garlic. Once it is dry, we clip the bulbs from the tops. We store it in the barn to distribute weekly for the rest of the season. We grow enough garlic to plant our own seed again each fall. We sort out the largest bulbs to be planted as seed in mid-October.
ATTENTION: Please Note
*Flower-picking time is here. Please remember to bring your own scissors and a container to fill with water to transport them home. A pitcher with water is usually available on the side of the barn.
To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
Carrots - first picking of the season. Fresh dug carrots are so crisp, sweet and earthy. A real treat from the garden.
Fresh Garlic - Fresh-dug garlic is quite tasty and a bit spicy. The papers surrounding the cloves are still moist because it has not been dried yet. You can store in a cool, dry place, like a cupboard or basket on the counter.
Red Beets - delicious sweet roots and tender cooking greens. This time of year, it is nice to peel, cube, and steam until tender or roast on the grill (in foil packet for juicer beets, or in grill basket for smokier flavor.) Beets are also delicious and beautiful grated raw in salads. The cooking greens can be used just like swiss chard. Enjoy!
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Summer Squash & Zucchini-still plentiful. Check out the recipes for zucchini pizza, zucchini brownies, and more below!
Salad mix - probably the last week for salad - enjoy!
Head lettuce - likely the last lettuce harvest until the fall. Lettuce does not like to grow in hot weather.
COMING SOON: Cherry tomatoes, eggplant, green peppers
UPICK: Snap peas are still going! Green beans are plentiful. Plus herbs & flowers - enjoy!
RECIPES
There are so many wonderful ways to eat summer squash and zucchini. I liked so many of the recipes on Martha Stewart's seasonal produce guide, that I decided to include the link to her guide. I could not pick just a few recipes! Check out this link for delicious ideas - Savory Parmesan Zucchini Bread, Summer squash and chicken lasagna, Zucchini Almond cake, Zucchini -Ricotta Spread, and more!
Also, on our Recipe page, are Sausage-stuffed Zucchini Boats, Baked Summer Squash (with bread crumbs, olive oil, and parmesan), and Zucchini Fritters.
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Animals are raised on pasture and fed grains that are locally and organically grown - this quality and flavor is hard to beat. Check out the new Sampler packages and Monthly specials from our friends at Ledamete Grass Farm!
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Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm
Farm News
The farm is looking quite green this year. We are experimenting with using cover crops as "living mulch" between our plasticulture beds. Pictured on the right are the young squash and zucchini plants (the next succession - not the plants we are currently harvesting) growing on the black plastic mulch, which warms the soil and conserves moisture. Between the rows we planted a grass mixture which helps to keep down weeds, prevent soil erosion, and also build soil fertility. A bonus for the farm crew - these grass paths make for easier picking after a heavy rain. Plus, we think it makes the farm even more beautiful!
ATTENTION: PLEASE NOTE!
*There will be NO PICKUP on Friday July 4th this week. Friday pickup is moved to Thursday July 3rd!
* Pizza, chicken, and cheese shares this week!
* Pastured meats monthly market this Thursday - online pre-orders and day of sales accepted. Watch for link in next email.
*MUSHROOM SPECIAL - 2 BAGS FOR $16 THIS WEEK!
To order mushrooms for this week's pickup, contact Matt & Jesse at PrimordiaFarm@gmail.com. Give your name, amount, and day. $9/lb payable at pickup.
THE HARVEST
Red Beets -
delicious sweet roots and tender cooking greens. This time of year, it is nice to peel, cube, and steam until tender or roasted on the grill (in foil packet for juicer beets, or in grill basket for smokier flavor.) Beets are also delicious and beautiful grated raw in salads. The cooking greens can be used just like swiss chard. Enjoy!
Cucumbers - first picking of the season - yeah!
Tomatoes - first fruits from the high tunnel - more to come!
Garlic Scapes - enjoy these tasty curlicues (as our son Lyle calls them) for another week or so, then fresh garlic will be in!
Summer Squash & Zucchini - Harvest is still plentiful. These plants are super-productive and huge! They are 5 feet apart in the rows, and there is barely room to walk between them!
Salad mix - Enjoy the last weeks of lettuce; the end is coming soon. As the heat increases, the lettuce stops growing.
Head lettuce
Kale or Swiss Chard
Possible choice items: turnips, radishes, scallions, broccoli
COMING SOON: Fresh garlic, more tomatoes, carrots,
green beans (Upick)
UPICK: Snap peas (last week), herbs
RECIPES
Don't compost those beet greens! They are quite similar to swiss chard and can be used interchangeably. Check out this recipe for Pasta with beet greens, blue cheese, and hazelnuts. It calls for 2 bunches of beet greens, but you can use one bunch of beet greens and one bunch of chard or kale.
Grilled beets is a wonderful way to enjoy this sweet root on a hot summer day.
Looking for a new way to use your garlic scapes? Try Garlic Scape Pesto or White Bean and Garlic Scape Dip.
The pasta and pesto recipes are new - but the other 2 are returning favorites. Just use the search box or scroll down the veggie list to find them!
Enjoy!
As always, if you need an idea for the produce in your share, check our Recipe Page! You can search by vegetable!
Your farmers,
John and Aimee Good
Quiet Creek Farm