Brooklyn Farm

An Eggplant is born

2011-08-17T15:36:00.000-04:00

Farm Dinner

2011-08-08T11:08:00.000-04:00

Minimal preparation, just sliced tomatoes and basil, sliced cucumbers, steamed beans with thyme.

Farm renovation

2011-08-08T11:05:00.000-04:00

There's been a lot of construction on the farm this season. The barn in the background is nearly complete. But the even bigger project has been to replace the crumbling concrete. We're laying down red brick (having it laid down is more accurate). It's been a few weeks of demolition and transporting 1400lbs of red bricks through the homestead. The upshot is that the brick will be stronger and taller than the concrete was. And it'll hold the dirt in. All the crops are doing well considering.

A very pregnant Farmer No. 1 surveying the land and harvesting.

Scaffolding

2011-07-30T09:59:00.002-04:00

Since we excavated the old cucumber trellis to make room for the barn, we needed to build some new structures for the beans and the cucumbers. We choose bamboo because it's rot resistant and really strong.

The cucumber box is on the left, the heirloom beans on the right. Whoa! We need to cut these back a bit. They are getting unruly!

In Progress: The Barn

2011-07-24T12:40:00.000-04:00

What we've really been missing is a barn. So Farmer No. 2's project of late has been barn construction. Well, truthfully, it'll be more like a shed. When it's done it'll be useful all around structure for farm tools… and maybe a bar.

More pictures to come.

Nick's Tricks

2011-07-11T15:54:00.000-04:00

Nick the Farmer does not disappoint. Along our fence border he has been growing rows and rows of luscious scallions. He treated us to a bunch and told us that he was at the grocery store and saw a pile of wilted yellowing scallions and got them really cheap. He stuck them all in the ground and a few weeks later here we go. They were huge!

The grocery store rubber band is still on there.

Cherry Hot Pepper

2011-07-11T15:41:00.000-04:00

The Lettuce Bucket

2011-07-07T09:17:00.000-04:00

We are putting to work a few extra pots that have just been laying around. Lettuce, beets, carrots.

Our Berry Situation

2011-07-03T12:34:00.000-04:00

The farm has two types of berries growing along the Western perimeter; blackberries and raspberries. Both came from Nick the Farmer in the form of sticks with a little root ball at the bottom. We never thought they would thrive like this.

You can see two shades of green in that bush. The darker green are the blackberries, the lighter leaves are members of the raspberry bush. Some of the raspberries are ripe. We had them for dinner last night with a salmon that was swimming in Alaska just a couple days ago.

Coming soon

2011-06-30T16:07:00.000-04:00

History Beans

2011-06-26T10:53:00.000-04:00

This year we ordered seeds from the Baker Creek outfit in Missouri. They've got a great selection of heirlooms like these beans that came over with the Mayflower in the 1620s. They've been in the ground for a few weeks now and we'll share the progress.

Also of note… these beans darkly named Cherokee Trail of Tears. Read more about these here.

What's Been Growing

2011-06-18T11:47:00.000-04:00

Our most prolific crops so far are the diverse family known as weeds. We've been really behind this year so we are taming the beasts and finally getting the season underway.

Nick's Secret

2011-05-04T13:23:00.005-04:00

A month ago we spotted freshly turned soil in Nick the Farmer's plot of land. Looking closer we spotted feathers everywhere. This bag could be a secret of his success.

Spring Cleanup

2011-05-04T13:10:00.020-04:00

Over the weekend, Farmer No. 2 excavated 6 months of cat nasty. Thank you NYC Department of Sanitation. We spent time turning and conditioning the soil… and of course covering it up again… all to get ready for the first planting later in the month. We are also redoing the weed cloth surrounding the boxes.

Plant Friends

2011-04-12T11:44:00.001-04:00

We spotted a nice simple diagram that shows which plants grow well with each other.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626352.600-family-trees-the-social-life-of-plants.html
Even more helpful would be a diagram that shows which plants DO NOT go well with each other.
Diagram by Nigel Hawtin

57" Snow vs Halloween Pumpkin

2011-03-22T11:28:00.000-04:00

It was a brutal, record breaking winter. We surveyed the land this past weekend to see the damage and to start cleanup. A lot of pots broke and the halloween pumpkin deflated like a basketball.

We are really excited to get started. Unfortunately we might have to wait a little longer. More snow is in the forecast.

Farm Fall Cleanup

2010-11-02T08:11:00.001-04:00

The cleanup was a little early this year. A few weeks back our region got hit with a massive hail storm which made all the leaves see through. Next year we need to remember to plant fall and winter vegetables. Lower maintenance and hail-resistant.

Jalapeño Cucumber Lemonade

2010-10-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

This is a great combo. Lemonade, 1 cucumber sliced, 3 jalapeños sliced and seeded.

Crop of the Year: Peppers

2010-10-15T09:56:00.000-04:00

Our pepper plants are still producing. Poblanos, cayenne, jalapeño, banana, cherry. We are freezing some for later use. And before the bears get them.

State Fair Biennial 2010

2010-09-09T09:19:00.000-04:00

Two years ago Farmer No. 1 planned a surprise party for No.2's birthday. It was a Minnesota State Fair themed affair and was a blast so we revisited the theme for this years party. We planned this one out with different events throughout the evening.
6.30 Ice Cream Throwdown
7.30 Sausage Fest
8.30 Beer Tasting
9.30 Desserts
10.30 Spicy Tequila nightcap

State Fair Biennial: Ice Cream Throwdown

2010-09-09T09:13:00.000-04:00

Four contestants, all ice cream making enthusiasts. Votes were tallied from the tasting audience.

The entries were: Lychee Lime Sorbet (not really an ice cream but so good!), Chocolate, Chocolate Bourbon, Banana Bourbon, Fig and Lemon Zest, and one more that went so fast I couldn't even write it down. And the winner is…

State Fair Biennial: Food

2010-09-09T08:43:00.000-04:00

Tons of food. A lot of the ingredients we used were from our garden. It's the last harvest of figs this year and it was great to share them with everybody. Jalapenos are in abundant supply right now too and were made use of in a jalapeno lime butter, a green chile mayo and a big hit, the jalapeno fig jam. Friends brought a lot of food to share as well which makes a party even more fun. A main food attraction event this year was the State Fair Sausage Fest. In our italian neighborhood sausage is a specialty. On the grill were fennel sausage, broccoli rabe sausage, pepper and onion sausage, hot pepper sausage and some lamb sausage.

State Fair Biennial: Beer Tasting

2010-09-09T08:34:00.000-04:00

Another event we planned for this year's party was a beer tasting. Our friend Jeff Wallace has chosen beer as his career. Seriously (or vice-versa). He is a beer buyer for a major gourmet grocer here in New York and he is brewing his own beer too. For our event he presented four different types of beer for everybody to try and gave little food pairings to complement.

State Fair Biennial: Dessert Spread

2010-09-09T08:29:00.000-04:00

Farmer No. 1 was up to her usual tricks with concord grape pie and cupcakes. Farm friends brought more tasty treats like a JEFF cookie platter.

Making Fig Jalapeno Jam

2010-08-22T21:51:00.003-04:00

Figs are ripening non-stop right now. For this harvest we decided to make a Fig Jalapeno jam. Hot and sweet.

We are working on jam labels too and will show pictures of the finished product soon.

Cucumbers

2010-08-09T22:04:00.002-04:00

Our magnificent cucumber patch is where it's happening. We have a mix of japanese and kirby cucumbers in there. The kirby cucumbers are perfect for pickles because they are small and the seeds are soft. This first batch consisted of only four small jars. More on the way.

Tomatoes

2010-07-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

We are getting attacked by tomatoes. We have around ten tomato plants this year. There's a mix of roma tomatoes for sauce (less moisture) and tomato tomatoes for everything else.

The Last of the Blackberries

2010-07-25T23:01:00.000-04:00

Farmer No 1 tried a few new recipes with the last harvest of blackberries: Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting tops both homemade cupcakes and donuts for a tangy, sweet and delicious dessert.

It must be blackberry season

2010-07-19T22:57:00.000-04:00

It looks like caviar!

Farm friend Jon transformed two cups of our blackberries to make a special batch of ice cream and named the flavor Sent from my Blackberry. Read more about his ice cream creations at Churnin' & Earnin'. Farmer No. 1 complemented the ice cream with homemade poundcake and crushed berries.

They are blackberries

2010-07-14T08:53:00.001-04:00

The mystery has been solved and they are delicious.

We harvested 5 cups of them and there are more on the way.

Farmer No. 1 made a blackberry and blueberry pie.

In process: Concord Grapes

2010-07-08T16:49:00.000-04:00

Concord grapes are on the way. We've made a lot of improvements to the vine for accessibility and future growth. Pies are on the way.

Harvesting Beans

2010-06-29T18:45:00.001-04:00

Farmer No.Victoria came came over to harvest beans over the weekend. We got a little more organized this year by spacing out our plantings over two weeks. When the first crop finishes producing we'll have more beans from the second.

A couple beans were lost in battle.Unless you can still see those two in the pile here…

We made grilled pizzas, grilled skirt steak, grilled chicken, salad, and blueberry pie. This is what happens when Victoria comes over.

Berries and Broccoli

2010-06-14T15:35:00.000-04:00

Recap: A year ago, Nick the Farmer passed over a shoddy twig and told us to stick it in the ground by our fence. That twig sprouted some leaves and grew 8 feet in every direction and produced some kind of mystery berry. This year that twig now spans half the length of our fence and has berries everywhere. We hope to finally resolve what kind of berries they are. Jams and pies galore. Also on the watchlist is our broccoli. This particular one is the first to sprout. On one hand we're happy it worked where we planted it (a little shady). On the other, it's pretty goofy looking and we've got our fingers crossed that the others will be nicer. Maybe there was some pruning we needed to be doing?

Brooklyn Farm opens a plant stand

2010-06-09T20:51:00.001-04:00

Brooklyn Farm set up a plant stand at the Carroll Gardens Flea Market this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun talking to other plant enthusiasts.

Farmer No. 1 prepping the store.

We sold plant boxes and pots with chalkboard paint so you can write what is growing or what you'll use it for.

Pepper peeking out

2010-06-01T15:20:00.001-04:00

Kimberly Update

2010-05-27T14:45:00.001-04:00

Farmer No. 2 was very doubtful. There are written rules about composting and last fall one of the farmers broke 90% of them. In the fall we stuffed Kimberly (our composter) full of yard waste and basically let her sit there over the winter. To No.2's amazement it almost all decomposed into a rich black gold. We peeked in a few weeks ago and saw some sprouting weeds. That happens when you throw weeds in for composting and don't tend the pile. A well tended pile heats up hot enough to kill seeds.

Back to Kimberly. We emptied her out to use in a new pepper box we built. (you can see a weed sprout)

The compost was still a little clumpy so it needed to be broken up.

And behold! Sifted compost ready for the plants.

The subway makes it smell nice

2010-05-25T14:08:00.001-04:00

The F Train subway line comes out of the ground just down at the end of our street. At night the breeze of the passing subway smells like jasmine tea. The pleasant smell comes from our night blooming jasmine plant along one of our fences.

First Harvest: Lettuce

2010-05-18T18:27:00.000-04:00

Wedding Bells

2010-05-05T19:14:00.008-04:00

Farmer No 1 and No 2 were married this past august. The small outdoor wedding was held in the mother of the bride's beautiful backyard... you can see that our love of gardening runs in the family. Another farmer, Martha Stewart, is showing more of our photos on her website.

Soil Testing

2010-04-24T13:36:00.002-04:00

One thing that we never did till now is get our soil tested by a reliable source. Early on we tested the pH but that doesn't tell you much, only if plants will grow there. Who knows what's in there. The latest superfund winner, The Gowanus Canal, is only a half mile away (down a big hill).

So, we took samples from different parts of the farm and sent the specimen off to the Soil and Plant Tissue Testing Lab at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst to get results.

It took a few weeks, but what a wealth of information. The report goes over the soil pH, phosphorous content, organic matter, nitrogen… all of which the farm checks in as super.

What we really interests us is the lead content. There's been a lot of chitter chatter about eating food from contaminated soil so we had to get ours fact checked. Our lead content came in at 45ppm which falls in the 'low medium' category. Now, it would be easy to say that if there's any lead at all in the soil you shouldn't eat anything from it but lead occurs naturally in soil. Also, a recent discovery is that some the lead resides in the plant leafs, not the fruit. So tomatoes, figs, grapes, peppers are all harmless to eat because we eat the fruits. On the other hand lettuce, herbs, beet greens, root vegetables should be grown in pots or containers since we eat the leaves.

If you are doing any farming at all you should know what's going on in the soil.

Garlic: Will it Happen?

2010-04-21T18:08:00.001-04:00

We planted garlic two fall seasons ago and just like they were supposed to, they came up the following spring. It was great. We had so much garlic that we still have not finished it all. This spring Farmer No. 1 planted some remaining cloves in the ground to see what will happen. Nick the Farmer looked on with disdain explaining that it's not going to work and that garlic does need to be planted in the fall. Determined, Farmer No. 1 continued on.

Look! Garlic stalks are coming up. We'll see what happens.

Onions

2010-04-18T22:30:00.002-04:00

We planted some early spring onions this weekend.

We are still having problems with cats digging up plants. Plastic forks are the latest line of defense.

Sifting the soil

2010-04-10T20:40:00.005-04:00

It's a Brooklyn Farm after all so we are definitely not the original settlers here. Every year Farmer No. 2 goes out and looks with disgust at all the debris that he sees in the fields. Mostly rocks, but also marbles, nails, plastic toys. This spring the self-imposed task of sifting out all the debris has been taken on. It's not 100% certain that this will actually help grow anything… but we all have our hang ups.

Wire mesh attached to a wood frame. It's not pretty. I hope she floats.
It took Farmer No. 2 four hours to sift through 32 square feet (going down about a foot). Now we have to figure out what to do with eight buckets of rocks.

The fresh soil getting put back into place.

Beautiful fluffy earth.

First Signs

2010-04-09T12:50:00.005-04:00

Under Siege

2009-12-20T15:35:00.003-05:00

Farm Film: Clean-up 2009

2009-11-30T21:16:00.005-05:00

Farm Friend or Foe...

2009-11-17T18:24:00.005-05:00

This reckless sign was sighted on Hicks and Degraw by a farm friend. Somebody call the DEA. Initial investigation found a lot of grow lights inside. Earlier this year we looked at this exact same space for a different purpose.

Further investigation leads to suspicion that it is a Brooklyn Chili Pepper operation. More news to come.

Death and Decay

2009-11-12T19:19:00.003-05:00

We've left the farm to rot. It's embarrassing. But pretty too. Clean up planned for this weekend.

Our neighbors have something weird growing

2009-11-09T22:07:00.002-05:00

We're just not sure. It is definitely organic. It looks like a gourd of some sort. We've watched this grow the entire season and it's gotten so large that it now touches the ground. Any ideas.

Eggplants are where eggs come from?

2009-10-30T14:54:00.005-04:00

NYTimes.com has a wonderful video series called One in 8 Million. Short video portraits of different people in New York City.
One of my favorites is of Buster English: The Green Thumb.

Habanero Tequila 2009

2009-10-18T23:10:00.003-04:00

Sip with ice. It's spicy and the ice makes you want to drink more to help with the heat.
Our first batch of habanero infused tequila is ready. We switched up the type of hot pepper this year and don't these things look sinister? They are white habaneros that we bought from the Union Square farmers market in the spring.
It's easy. Slice up a habanero pepper and drop it in a bottle of good tequilar. Let it sit for a coupel days and then get the band-aids out. Oh. and be careful. Wear gloves when you cut up the peppers.

How we used it: Poblano Peppers

2009-10-15T17:22:00.004-04:00

Pepper harvest over the weekend. They're still coming which is great since it's hovering around 40 degrees outside now.
Translated into delicious vegetarian chiles rellenos for farm friends patrick, erica, and patrick's mom.

End of Season Dinner Party

2009-10-03T20:17:00.008-04:00

A few weeks ago we invited some good friends over for an outdoor dinner. It's getting colder out and the light is fading. The dinner was a lot of fun and we can't wait for next year to do this more.
Farmer No. 1 setting the mood.

Farmer No. 2 and farm friend Mike picked figs and prepared them on the spot for a snack.

Fresh figs with peppered honey.

How we used it: Figs

2009-09-22T22:01:00.003-04:00

There is a massive abundance of figs right now. Since we took over the farm three years ago, the fig tree has grown three fold. We are constantly looking for different fig uses. Farmer No. 1 has made vast quantities of jam. We are almost figged out.

This fig tart recipe asked for 1.5 lbs of fresh figs. No problem there.

It is a Fresh Fig Tart with Rosemary Cornmeal Crust and Lemon Mascarpone Cream

The Best Pie in the World

2009-09-13T22:58:00.001-04:00

Have you ever heard of Grape Pie? We hadn't either, but when we discovered our Concord Grape vine actually produced lots and lots of fragrant, juicy grapes, we started looking for recipes. A friend recommended Grape Pie, so we tried it. The result is a fabulous, sweet pie similar to blueberry pie, but very grape-y and delicious. Here are the steps to make your very own:

Step 1: Harvest the grapes or buy from the local market (they are in season now!). 4-5 cups are needed for a 9-10 inch pie.

Step 2: A little labor intensive, but each grape has a seed inside that must be removed. Squeeze the grape so the inside pops out into a bowl, and put grape the skin in another bowl.

Step 3: Heat the insides with the seeds in a skillet until they turn pale yellow and the seeds become loose. Push the insides through a fine strainer or food mill to separate the seeds from the juice and pulp.

Step 4: Combine strained juice/pulp with skins, 1 cup sugar, 1 T lemon juice, 3 T cornstarch and stir until smooth. Pour into an unbaked pie crust (homemade crust is worth it!), dot with butter pats, and cover. Cut vents. Sprinkle crust with sugar and cinnamon (the cinnamon is key for the perfect flavor). Bake at 450 degrees for 30 mins, then 375 degrees for 30 mins until bubbling through the vents.

Step Five: Enjoy this slice of heaven with a little vanilla ice cream!

If you can’t “beet” ‘em, join ‘em

2009-09-07T23:53:00.013-04:00

Hello! This is guest blogger, Farmer 1st Place (1st Place as in the street. I can only hope to one day be a 1st place, blue ribbon farmer). My only regret in moving to Brooklyn is my lack of a back yard and place to grow my own vegetables. Luckily, Farmer No.1 and Farmer No.2 are quite generous with their bounty and thus, prevent any envious thoughts I may have over their beautiful space.
This weekend, they entrusted me with lots of beets and orders to make something delicious to share at dinner that night. I’ve been really inspired by Mark Bittman’s article “101 Simple Salads for the Summer” which he wrote for his “The Minimalist” column in the NY Times. #32 on the list suggest pairing beets with corn, arugula and shallots- yum! I had also picked up some really cute sunburst/pattypan squash from the Park Slope farmers market, as well as some green peppercorn goat cheese (and we all know the love story of beets an goat cheese...). This is what came together:

I peeled and chopped the beets (red and golden!) in large chunks of equal size. I also chopped to the squash to about the same size and tossed them both in olive oil, salt and pepper. I then roasted the beets on 400 degrees. After about 15 minutes, I added the squash and cooked everything for another 40 minutes (til they seemed tender, but the beets hadn’t went to mush. While that was in the oven, I boiled 2 ears of sweet corn (also from the farmers market) and cut the kernels off. This would be even yummier if you could grill the corn, but I also think it’s perfectly acceptable to use good quality frozen corn. I mixed the three vegetables with chopped shallots and let them cool. Once they were at room temp, I mixed them, with a big handful of arugula, the crumbled goat cheese and more salt and pepper. Pretty simple and pretty darn yummy. The colors were also quite festive.(top two images by Farmer No.2, bottom two by my stupid iphone)

How we used it: eggplant, peppers, basil

2009-09-01T21:18:00.003-04:00

For dinner tonight we grilled eggplant and peppers, topped with feta cheese, basil, olive oil, lemon juice. It was very tasty. The lemon and basil really make it complete.

Harvest: Figs!

2009-08-30T10:21:00.003-04:00

They are delicious right off the tree. We'll be making jam and other goodies with them.

Nick the Farmer was on a rampage today as he guided us through the do's and don'ts of fig harvesting.

- Only pick when soft. If you pick them before they are ready nobody wins. You or the birds.

- The white fig sap is bad for the skin.

- The fig leaves are itchy.

How we used it: cherry tomatoes, basil, garlic

2009-08-28T10:00:00.000-04:00

This was a yummy preparation of cherry tomatoes that we marinated in balsamic vinegar and put on toasted ciabatta rubbed with garlic, topped with ricotta and sprinkled with basil. We got the recipe from a really pretty cookbook A Platter of Figs.

Harvest

2009-08-24T09:52:00.000-04:00

We are rounding up some pretty peppers.And the carrot harvest is on. We are still trying to figure out why the carrots aren't bigger. It could be that the soil is too dense and the carrot can't push down.

A gift for farm friends

2009-08-23T15:16:00.003-04:00

One tomato for each member of farm friend family Brendan, Helen and baby boy on the way.

Nick the Farmer's Beans

2009-08-18T08:58:00.002-04:00

This guy knows how to grow some beans! Always generous, whether it's advice about chicken poop, giving us seedlings, or giving us full-fledged ready to eat vegetables, Nick the Farmer is a good farm friend. We asked if he knows how to blog and he just shrugged and walked away.

Harvest

2009-08-16T20:52:00.008-04:00

It's been a whole two weeks! Farmer No. 1 and No. 2 got married on August 8! The ceremony was hosted by Farmer Barbara and Dave Murphy in their beautiful backyard garden in Colorado Springs. We'll post pictures in a few weeks.

Well we got right back to work at Brooklyn Farm. It's peak season right now with crops piling up everywhere. Here is Farmer No. 1 looking very serious and determined hunting down ripe tomatoes.

Our lima beans are ready for picking!
Tonight we ate a local fresh dinner with homemade spaghetti sauce. Onions from the farmers market, pasta from Caputo's, and Brooklyn Farm tomatoes, garlic and basil. The only major carbon footprint comes from the 4000 miles the parmesan travelled. Tough to avoid.

The green bean and lima beans were steamed with butter and truffle oil. Yummy!

Operation Red Chard

2009-08-04T23:53:00.011-04:00

Hello! Farmer-for-a-day guest blogging here!

There’s nothing better than getting fresh produce from Brooklyn Farm. It’s a combination of all my favorite things – food, free stuff, and usually a trip to see Farmers 1 & 2. Once upon a time, I had a green thumb, but my choice of borough and the airshaft that casts a permanent night (and pigeon habitat) on my windows has left me without a garden.

Farmer No. 2 met me at an undisclosed Manhattan location to deliver to me fourteen tomatoes, two jalapeños, and a beautiful bunch of red chard.

I have never eaten chard. In fact, until this incident, it scared me. Sometimes vegetable names scare me, like scapes. (I have heard that scapes are like garlic, but frankly, I do not eat scapes because it sounds like scabies or scabs or scabbies.) However, as a guest blogger I had a duty to cook and eat the chard.

Today could not be another ice-cream-cake-for-lunch-Tuesday.

Meanwhile, I found a recipe in the New York Times. I roughly followed the directions and boiled the chard for about a minute in heavily salted water, immersed it into a large bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

As it cooled, I heated olive oil in my pretty blue pot, roasted pine nuts and sautéed minced garlic. The recipe said to sauté the stalks for 3-5 minutes before adding the leaves, but given that the Brooklyn Farm produces tender baby chard-lets, and not the tough stalks on grocery store chard, I didn’t feel bad about disregarding this step.

The pièce de résistance of the dish was the golden raisins and cranberries that I soaked in hot water for about 10 minutes. I added these reconstituted fruits and the ½ cup of soaking water into the pot with the chard, pine nuts, garlic. I added a little salt and pepper and was ready to eat!

It looked like Christmas in a blue pot! Red, green, and Christmas light-shaped pine nuts. Would it taste like Christmas, too?

First bite analysis: It tasted like stir-fried lettuce boiled in beet juice. But as the flavors melded together, it got much, much better. I added more salt and pepper and experimented with a sprinkle of nutmeg. The bites with the golden raisins were divine, and the moment I got some of the browner, crispy pine nuts in the bite, I was a chard convert.

Recommendations for next chard preparation: more pine nuts, fried longer until golden, and more golden raisins. I’d also add bacon at the beginning.

Everything’s better with bacon.

Our Little Ones

2009-08-01T13:39:00.005-04:00

Seems like a lot of our friends are enjoying having babies. Here are ours.

Baby Tomatillo
Baby Habañeros. These little ones are going to be HOT!
Baby eggplant.
And baby cucumber. This one is going through some ugly growing pains right now.

Harvest

2009-07-30T13:48:00.000-04:00

A lot of the crops are producing at a good clip now. Today we harvested a couple poblano peppers, cherry tomatoes, green beans, plum tomatoes, eggplant, regular tomatoes, and a single hot red pepper.

Farm Portraits

2009-07-30T10:03:00.002-04:00

From left to right (sort of): Arugula, Mizuna Greens, Pickling Cucumbers, Basil, Marigolds, Pole Beans, Thyme, Thai Basil, German Thyme, Chair, Tomatoes, Nikki's Tomatoes.

From left to right (sort of): Jalapeños, Marigolds, Tomato crop, Cucumbers, Concrete Path, Beets, Swiss Chard, Peas, Lettuce Mix, Eggplant, Lima Beans, Green Peppers, Hot Red Peppers, Poblano Peppers, Marigolds, Flat Leaf Parsley, Carrots, Garlic

Pictures by Patrick.

Farm Pizza

2009-07-26T19:47:00.006-04:00

Farm friends Patrick, Erica and baby Lyla came by on Friday to experiment with grilled pizza. First we got some dough from Vinny's Pizzeria. $5 each which I think is a bit stiff… can't you tell when somebody's eyes go to the upper left they are lying? So when I ask 'Vinny' how much just dough is… his eyes go upper left and says…$5… he just threw out a number right? Anyways, it was worth it. Farmer No. 2 still had to throw the dough around to spread it out.

And then on a super hot grill you lay the dough down for 20 seconds. Turn it 90 degrees for another 20 seconds and the flip it for 30 seconds. As read by Farmer No. 1 from Men's Journal.
Take the dough off the grill and put down the ingredients on the first side. Then stick the pizza on the grill for another 2–5 minutes.
Done! This was the first pizza and you can see Farmer No. 2 was still figuring out how to get the shape right.
Fresh beets and tomatoes from the farm. A caprese salad by Farmer No. 1.

Great pictures by Patrick.

A funny looking one

2009-07-24T16:10:00.002-04:00

What happened to that swiss chard

2009-07-23T16:17:00.001-04:00

Linguini with Brooklyn Farm's swiss chard and tomatoes.

Harvest: Garlic

2009-07-21T14:56:00.002-04:00

When garlic stalks are about half yellow it's time to take them out of the ground. If you leave them in the ground the garlic heads will rot. Once out, you are supposed to hang them in a cool, airy, shaded location for a couple weeks to finish whatever it is they do. Some of the heads look a little small compared to the gigantic ones you see in the grocery store. One reason may be because we didn't cut the garlic scape early enough to promote the head to grow.

This head is huge.

Harvest 7/19

2009-07-19T14:58:00.001-04:00

Jalapeño peppers, swiss chard, and peas.

First Cherry Tomatoes

2009-07-19T14:55:00.002-04:00

Our first tomatoes are ready to be eaten. Which reminds us to brace ourselves for the onslaught of a full crop of tomatoes to ripen all at once.

Blueberries. Raspberries? Yes, blueberries.

2009-07-19T14:53:00.001-04:00

Last year Nick the Farmer passed through the fence a twig with roots and told us to stick it in the ground. It grew pretty large that year alone but it was just sticks and leaves. This year, berries have popped out.

Nick told us that they're blueberries…

"Don't you mean raspberries?" Farmer No. 1 replied.

"Yeah, blueberries" Nick said.

Clearly they're not blueberries and Farmer No. 1 sacrificed life and limb by trying one and reports that they're not even raspberries.

Japanese & Italian Greens

2009-07-12T20:30:00.003-04:00

Farm friend Olivia gave us some special Japanese greens seed: Komatsu, Shinkgiku and Mizuna. Our italian neighbor Nick gave us arugula seeds. The greens are all very flavorul and not your average supermarket blend. Everything has sprouted and is almost ready to eat...

Harvest: Lettuce Mix with Basil

2009-07-09T15:09:00.005-04:00

We have plenty of lettuce for salads nowadays. We'll have to come up with more ways to use all this greenery.

There are some pesky little bugs camping out on them. The bugs aren't eating the greens but we don't want to eat them either so it takes a few rounds of cold water baths.

Jalapeños

2009-07-01T09:39:00.003-04:00

Pea Shoots Salad

2009-06-22T22:31:00.005-04:00

Our pea shoots!

Here is our pea shoot colony. It is really just an ordinary garden pea variety that we planted. The leaves and tendrils are called pea shoots. They can be eaten raw in a salad or sauteed. There is a hint of pea flavor. Of all our crops, peas are doing the best because the temperature has been so low. Unfortunately we've let these plants grow waaaaayyyy too long. Pea shoot harvest should happen when they are only five or six inches tall.
Lettuce show you lettuce.

Garlic Scapes

2009-06-21T22:19:00.001-04:00

Garlic scape is the flowering stalk of the garlic cloves we planted in the fall. We picked some to include in our Sunday dinner and… news to us… it matters when you cut the scape. It should be young, tender and some say you should cut it before it starts to curl. Farmer No. 2 cut the big ones that had been there for probably a month and after sauteing them for a few minutes in olive oil they turned out to be a woody gnawing tool more than food. There were a couple tender ones that found themselves in the mix and they were tender and sweet. But overall it was a disaster.

There are still some young ones popping up in the shaded areas of the farm so we'll try it again. Garlic scape pesto is a really popular recipe. And using them in dressings too. Has anybody heard of anything else. We sauteed them like string beans and threw in some of our pea shoots (that was another mistake that we'll address later).

More Herbs

2009-06-17T08:06:00.004-04:00

We have more herbs than what we know what to do with. A few types of exotic basil, a selection of thyme, oregano, chives, wild arugula and more. So we are on the hunt for recipes that can take advantage of all of this. Mixed in with salad is our usual route. Last night No. 2 made a herb risotto that wasn't so good… probably too many different kinds of herbs. Any other ideas?

Green Architecture

2009-06-07T15:16:00.000-04:00

We are learning from past mistakes. Although unsightly, putting the cages in earlier is a lot easier than wrestling with a unwieldy four foot tall tomato plant.We are also trying out pole beans planted from seeds. The said pole is salvaged wood from a bench that went from "I can fix this" to "look! now we have wood for poles!".

Harvest: Green Garlic

2009-06-06T12:20:00.000-04:00

The cloves we planted last fall have turned into majestic stalks of garlic. They still need some time before they are full bulbs of garlic but we couldn't wait any longer. We pulled a couple stalks for fresh green garlic and scape.

Thinning out our sprouts

2009-05-31T22:15:00.003-04:00

Our sprouts are up and it was time to thin them out. Trimming off every other sprout will give the survivors more space to grow. Here Farmer No. 1 thins out the swiss chard. You can see the red stalks taking shape.
The lettuce mix has been doing very well and deserves the landscaping.
And then, we used all of the clippings in a super salad. There is swiss chard, beet greens, salad mix, arugula and assorted herbs.

Morning Sprinkle

2009-05-25T12:01:00.000-04:00

A Big Bee

2009-05-24T16:16:00.000-04:00

More gifts from Nick the Farmer

2009-05-23T07:55:00.002-04:00

Nick the Farmer gifted us seeds from the crop of italian long beans he grew last year. That other suspicious package are sunflower seeds that he also gave us. Thanks Nick!

Sprouts

2009-05-21T19:46:00.003-04:00

Seeds we planted a week ago are up.

And even though it is a little late we are going to try growing tomatillos this year.

Filling the Pots

2009-05-20T22:54:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend we dumped out all our pots on a tarp to mix in fresh new potting mix.
Farm friend Charlene stopped by to help out with labeling.
For now we are keeping the herbs in pots. This keeps them closer to the door for easy access when we are cooking.
We are starting to address the eyesore of a neighbor by working on a border beautification project.

Seeding

2009-05-13T09:07:00.006-04:00

Soaking sugar snap pea seeds in milk overnight is supposed to help them germinate easier. Who knows, apparently it is the lactic acid in milk that breaks down the seed coating. Farmer No. 2 is lactose intolerant and remains skeptic.
Beets!

Pepper Box

2009-05-12T13:17:00.005-04:00

Farm Boxes No. 3 and No. 4 are ready for their plants.
We had really good luck with peppers last year and have designated Farm Box No. 4 as the Pepper Box.
Farm Box No. 3 (left) got three eggplant plants and some lima bean seeds.

Iris blooming

2009-05-12T12:57:00.005-04:00

The iris bulbs that the Colorado branch gifted us last year are blooming. One reason the iris is interesting is the design; side pedals are used as landing pads for pollinating insects.

Nick the Farmer's Baby Basil

2009-05-07T10:12:00.005-04:00

Our friendly neighbor Nick the Farmer gifted us basil sprouts yesterday. He's got an interesting operation next door and we'll try to go more in-depth soon.

It's been near constant rain the past week but we managed to get those basil sprouts in. Our first planting of this season.

Figlets Are Out

2009-04-29T08:49:00.007-04:00

It's hot here. The 80 degree temperatures in the last week has motivated some plants to start earlier than normal. Our fig stump has little figlets popping out everywhere which means there will definitely be jam this year!
And these leaves show that the grape vine survived Farmer No.1's landscaping. Grape Pies!

Our Dirt

2009-04-22T12:32:00.002-04:00

The farm spent the weekend prepping our dirt.
Famer No. 2 turning the dirt.
Farmer No. 1 mixes compost and soil conditioner to the soil.

We built two new boxes (Farm Boxes No. 3 and 4) this year. Here Farmer No. 2 fills the box with our new super soil.

Springtime Signs

2009-04-18T12:26:00.002-04:00

Farmer No. 1 pruning the grape vine.
Our Bleeding Hearts plant.

Daffodils blooming

2009-03-31T13:48:00.003-04:00

Progress 09: End of March

2009-03-31T13:44:00.003-04:00

Garlic is happening

2009-03-19T09:59:00.004-04:00

The garlic we planted in the autumn is sprouting!

"Is all this effort doing the planet good?"

2009-02-23T09:30:00.000-05:00

In the New York Times: Urban Composting: A New Can of Worms. The article explains some of the unique circumstances we city folk have to deal with when it comes to composting. There are some funny stories in there. The article also asks how much good does composting do. It is no where near as helpful as recycling. That is the single best thing we can do. But it does keep trash out of landfills and finished compost is great for plants.

For us, yes, it is a bit of work to manage Kimberly (our composter); chopping everything up, making sure there's a good balance of material we put in there, turning it…just add it to the list. But it's fun. She is our own little science experiment.

Article written by Mireya Navarro.

NYTimes.com also has an entire section about composting.

Petition: Food Democracy Now!

2009-02-21T12:15:00.004-05:00

Help encourage President Obama to fill the Department of Agriculture with individuals who believe in sustainability and are motivated to change our food chain for the better. Sign the petition… read about the nominees and just hope they've paid their taxes.