An Eggplant is born

Our Berry Situation

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.

Crop of the Year: Peppers

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

Making Fig Jalapeno Jam

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

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

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

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

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

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.

Harvesting Beans

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.

First Harvest: Lettuce

Habanero Tequila 2009

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

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

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

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

Harvest: Figs!

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.

Harvest

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.

Harvest

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!

Harvest

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 Pizza

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.