See your share before you get it!

Here are some pictures of us packing the shares that we take to members in the Bronx today!

Enjoy!
















In all we pack 64 shares. There are another 50 or so members who come to the farm on Tuesdays. On Saturdays there are 100 members who pick up at the farm.














Items above include spinach, two heads of lettuce, 10 garlic scapes, two kohlrabi, bok choi, scallions, radishes, and yellow summer squash.

Newsletter #2, June 5th and 9th

From the Apprentice Perspective

Greetings to the entire Sisters Hill community! My name is Andrew Buckwalter and I feel honored and privileged to be afforded the opportunity to help grow your food for the 2007 season. As an apprentice I am inspired weekly, if not daily, by Farmer Dave’s enthusiasm and passion for growing great wholesome food for the members of Sisters Hill Farm. Melissa and I frequently reminisce about our frigid first days on the farm in early March. The days of long underwear, winter hats and wonder are over. Now we marvel at how exquisite and delectable the fields currently look, while we converse about how we can’t wait to share the harvest with all the members. It was a pleasure to meet many of you during last week’s distribution and I look forward to getting to know you better over the next few months.

How in the world did a guy from Lancaster, PA find his way to the Hudson Valley you ask? Well, allow me to give you a brief glimpse into the adventures of an aspiring farmer. I arrived at Sisters Hill Farm after retiring from the world of private school education at the ripe old age of thirty. I worked at the Trinity-Pawling School for six wonderful years as an English teacher, college counselor, dormitory parent and soccer coach. The plan was to pursue a graduate degree in business after a three year teaching stint, but my love for education and working with young people trumped my aspirations for a career in the corporate sector. With a little help from a friend, I realized that I had been lucky enough to find a true calling. While at Trinity-Pawling, I began conducting research on environmental issues as they related to the schools community. My research quickly blossomed into the development of an Environmental Council, which offered students and faculty a chance to address concerns and express ideas about our schools impact on the environment. A primary focus of the Environmental Council became the schools dining hall and food service. We started small by purchasing locally grown apples in the fall and then built up to an “organic night” in the dinning hall with education segments worked into the class day.

My involvement in setting up such a program inspired me to work on an organic farm in Washington, CT for a summer. The following summer was spent working for a wilderness adventure company, guiding their leadership programs in Washington and Alaska. During one of the backpacking segments I began to seriously ponder the idea of starting my own farm. The cream colored pages of my leather bound journal began to fill with ideas and concepts for my farm. That was it! I had found a new calling.

My aspirations for the future are to return to Pennsylvania where my family owns eighty plus acres of tillable farm land. It served as a testing ground of sorts for New Holland Tractors during the 1940’s. The land has been conventionally farmed for many years, but I have managed to begin to transition ten of those acres to be certified organic by 2009. When I am not at Sisters Hill Farm, I am at my apartment working on my business plan. My fiancé and I hope to pack up our belongings and our beloved ninety pound golden retriever/yellow lab Otto, and make the move five hours south as early as November. We would like to have a CSA much like Sisters Hill Farm. Coral, my bride to be, currently has her own organic gardening business in the local area and will look to take her love and knowledge of plants to our greenhouse in PA. Because of my education background I would also like to develop an on farm educational segment for the local school districts.

My goal for the season is to learn as much as I possibly and get to know as many of you as time allows. Thanks for reading and happy eats to all.

Life is a garden, Dig it.


From the Editor

Our first Saturday pickup was a wonderful bounty of Spring greens and veggies. The farm was a sight to behold. Farmer Dave, Melissa, and Andrew deserve much praise for their work. A job well done.
Bob Cohen

All Hail Kale (Recipes from "Eating Well")

Think of it as spinach on steroids: robust flavor, real texture and over-the-top nutrients. Season it just right and they’ll always ask for more.

Kale is low in calories, at just 36 per cup (cooked), but rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and manganese. It is also a good source of vitamins B1, B2, B6 and E—as well as calcium, copper, iron, lutein, and zeaxanthin.


Basic Sautéed Kale

Simply sauteed kale seasoned with the big blast of sherry vinegar is a deluxe combination.


Makes 4 servings, about 1/2 cup each
ACTIVE TIME: 10 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 25 minutes
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil, divided1-1 1/2 pounds kale, ribs removed, coarsely chopped (see Tip)1/2 cup water2 cloves garlic, minced1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper2-3 teaspoons sherry vinegar or red-wine vinegar1/4 teaspoon salt

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add kale and cook, tossing with two large spoons, until bright green, about 1 minute. Add water, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until the kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Push kale to one side, add the remaining 1 teaspoon oil to the empty side and cook garlic and crushed red pepper in it until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Stir in vinegar to taste and salt.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 80 calories; 5 g fat (1 g sat, 4 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 7 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 176 mg sodium.

TIP: Tip: A 1- to 1 1/2-pound bunch of kale yields 16 to 24 cups of chopped leaves. When preparing kale for these recipes, remove the tough ribs, chop or tear the kale as directed, then wash it, allowing some water to cling to the leaves. The moisture helps steam the kale during the first stages of cooking.


BOK JOY

A member of the powerhouse brassica family (think: cabbage, broccoli), bok choy is high in all the nutrients you want and works well in preparations from roasting to braising. You can even eat it raw.

BOK CHOY NUTRITION: A 1/2 cup serving of cooked bok choy has 10 calories and provides 70% daily value of vitamin A and 35% dv of vitamin C . It also contains some folate, calcium, iron and fiver and is rich in antioxidants: Indoles, isothiocyanates and beta carotene.


Roasted Baby Bok Choy
A quick trip to a hot oven, combined with a drizzle of lemony dressing, brings bok choy to the table in no time at all.

Makes 4 servings, about 3/4 cup each

ACTIVE TIME: 15 minutes
TOTAL TIME: 15 minutes
EASE OF PREPARATION: Easy

4 heads baby bok choy (1 1/4 pounds), trimmed, leaves separated
(the bok choy from the farm works just fine)4 teaspoons canola oil1 clove garlic, minced (I used 4 cloves)1/4 teaspoon kosher salt1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest1 tablespoon lemon juice1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh tarragon or 3/4 teaspoon dried1 teaspoon mirinFreshly ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss bok choy, oil, garlic and salt in a roasting pan. Roast on lowest rack, stirring twice, until wilted and tender-crisp, about 6 minutes. Whisk lemon zest and juice, tarragon, mirin and pepper in a small bowl. Drizzle over the roasted bok choy.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: Per serving: 58 calories; 5 g fat (0 g sat, 3 g mono); 0 mg cholesterol; 3 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 1 g fiber; 110 mg sodium; 12 mg potassium.

First newsletter of 2007!

Here is our first ever posting of a farm newsletter..

Notes from Farmer Dave

Welcome everyone, both new and returning members. It is exciting to be starting another harvest season here at Sisters Hill Farm. Its hard to believe that more than 9 years ago, I sat at a table with several enthusiastic Sisters of Charity, including Sister Mary Ann our director, as they explained to me the vision that they had for this land that I now know so intimately. After listening intently to their concerns, I let them know, in no uncertain terms, that I was the right man for the job. It was a match made in heaven!
I grew up on the other side of the river, in Orange County. But the town of Stanfordville and this community of people have really grown on me. This is now my home. My wife Margaret and I are not the most outgoing people in the world. Were it not for the farm, I’m sure our lives would not be nearly as rich as they are today. There is a certain spirit about this place, a sense of community I don’t feel anywhere else. It is good to be jumpstarting that community once again…
A couple of quick notes that might be useful... If you are new to the farm, you may be surprised by the profusion of greens, both familiar and unknown; you will be getting in the next few weeks. Our aim is to provide as much variety in each season as we can. When the farm first starts up the earliest things to mature are greens, so naturally that is what your early shares will consist of. Most weeks you will get two heads of lettuce or more. My advice to you would be to get a salad spinner if you don’t already have one. When you get home rip the heads up, wash them and spin them dry. In our house we just leave them in the spinner and put it in the fridge. As for other greens, don’t be afraid to experiment. Arugula is more or less spicy depending on how hot the weather has been. If it’s relatively mild, I eat it alone as a salad green. If its heat is off the charts, I mix it with lettuce or put it on sandwiches.
Pretty soon we will be giving turnips and beets. The tops of both of these are excellent eating. Unlike the usual purple top kind, the turnips we grow are so sweet and crunchy they can be thinly sliced and put on sandwiches. Swiss chard is another excellent spring green we grow. By the way, the colorful stems of swiss chard are meant to be eaten, not discarded. When cooking, just throw the coarsely chopped stems in the hot pan a couple of minutes before you throw in the leaves.

In the next couple of weeks we will be giving you bok choi as well. This is not a very familiar vegetable to many. I am no connoisseur, but I love to just chop it coarsely and cook it quickly over high heat with a little garlic and oil. Then just before I take it out of the pan I add some tamari. It is a great vegetable side dish with almost any meal.
I am getting hungry just writing about it… I’ll end with a quick note on washing your produce. Even though we don’t spray any pesticides what so ever, you still should wash your vegetables before you eat them. Healthy food is produced by healthy soil. We do many things to promote healthy earthworm and microbial life in the soil. We use cover crops extensively, but we also use organically certified fertilizers, well composted horse manure, wood ash, mulch hay, rock powders and our own composted veggie scraps. We sometimes wash the vegetables to keep our valuable farm dirt where it belongs, here on the farm. We also wash them to make a more beautiful and user friendly share for you. But you should always assume that we didn’t wash it; in fact, most of the time we don’t wash greens. They simply keep better for you if we don’t ever get them wet. The same is true of potatoes.
I hope you all have a wonderful season here at Sisters Hill Farm! Its my pleasure to be your farmer.

From the Apprentice Perspective

Hello there! My name is Melissa Rosenberg, and I am currently interning here at Sisters Hill Farm. With one month behind me and six more to go, time seems to be flying! It seems like yesterday that I was arriving at the farm in 35 degree weather, looking out at the bare fields wondering how in the world it would all turn into a half a year’s supply of wholesome vegetables for 200+ families. That wonder and uncertainty is quickly becoming an awe-inspiring reality. We have already put many crops in the ground, many of which have been nurtured first in our greenhouse. Lettuce, carrots, peas, onions, potatoes…the list goes on, and it seems like new crops are being thrown in every day. Lots of other work has been going on as well, including tuning up all of our equipment, cleaning out the barns, setting up irrigation systems, and any other nitty-gritty detail work that you might think would need to be done – we’ve been doing it all!
Let me back up for a moment to give you a little information about myself. After being raised in Port Washington, NY (on Long Island), I attended New York University for four years, living in SoHo and the East Village during that time. Beginning my studies in elementary education, I quickly switched my focus after falling in love with geology and environmental ethics. By my senior year, my required colloquial thesis was devoted entirely to the study of past environmental thought from Plato to Rachel Carson, and how these influences could be applied to today’s challenging environmental problems on a broad scale.
Well, as the saying goes, think global and act local. After wandering the planet for a couple of years after my graduation, from Alaska to Asia, and working various sorts of outdoor recreation/environmental research jobs, I decided it was time to get back to my home state. For several years, I had had the idea of organic farming always on the back burner of my mind. I had studied the benefits of community supported agriculture in college and had pictured working for one to be an amazing, rewarding adventure full of good, honest, and hard work. So after dreaming of farming and advocating the benefits of organically produced food, I decided it was time to throw myself into doing what I so whole-heartedly believe in.
But where to start? I come from a culture that would usually rather pay more for the newest IPod than for good, wholesome food. As a child, I was never told where my food came from or how it grew; it was just there in the aisles, at our convenience, anytime we wanted it. Enter Sisters Hill Farm. I was delighted to discover the farming apprentice system in the Hudson Valley, and Sisters Hill was just what I was looking for. It took a little convincing for my digitized/supermarket/Wall Street-style family to accept that this would be a worthwhile venture, but I think all that will change once I bring home some of our first harvest. I know this farm has already made a positive change in me, and that I will be reaping more than just good veggies this year.
Thanks for reading, and I look forward to meeting you all and to a great season here at Sisters Hill Farm!

From the Directors Desk

Welcome to all as we begin another season at Sisters Hill Farm. I look forward to meeting our new shareholders and to welcoming back familiar faces.
We are grateful to you for joining us to make our mission a reality- “ growing healthy food which nourishes our bodies, spirits, communities and the earth” as an expression of our reverence for creation.
In this time of food “ insecurity “ you can be secure in receiving fresh, wholesome, organic food thanks to the hard work of our wonderful farmer Dave and our two apprentices Melissa and Andrew.
May Sisters Hill Farm be for you a place of peace, healing and connectedness with all that is. It is a gift to all of us.
Enjoy!

Recipe Corner
This week by Gail Haas

Here is a recipe from Mississippi; I hope you enjoy it!

GRITS AND GREENS
6 oz. sausage
1 cup chopped red bell pepper, 1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 teas. Salt 1/4 teas pepper
4 oz spinach or asian greens
2 cups low fat milk 1-14 oz can chicken broth
1 1/4 cups uncooked quick cook grits
1 tbs. butter
Heat a large skillet over med. Heat and add the sausage. Brown
(about 4 mins) stirring, add bell pepper, onion and salt. Sauté
3 minutes until tender. Add greens and cook 1 min. remove pan from heat.
Combine milk and broth in a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Slowly add the grits, stirring constantly, cover, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes until it thickens and grits are tender. Stir frequently. Remove from heat and add the sausage mixture and butter. Serve and enjoy!