Japanese or "Hakurei" turnips. These are sweet and juicy. Eat like radishes. The greens can also be cooked.

Enjoy!

This time of year is like a second spring–we are busy seeding spring crops like radishes, turnips, spinach and salad mix.  Many of these crops are sweetest this time of year, and there is nothing better on a dreary winter afternoon than working in a cozy, warm and humid greenhouse.  Temperatures can easily reach into the 70s in the greenhouse, even in the middle of winter.

Front view of our new greenhouse, as our cow looks on.

There is still time to sign up for our Fall CSA.  Find out more and sign up here.

Here are a few more recent pics:

View of tomatoes and peppers inside our greenhouse.

The September garden: salad mix, romaine, spinach, cherry tomatoes, turnips, zinnias, golden beets.

As our summer season is winding down, we realize we will have a lot of good memories from this year.  We feel fortunate to be able to farm as part of our livelihood.  It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun.  Without great customers like yourselves, this would not be possible.  Thank you for supporting local farms.  We appreciate it!

Kale and potatoes are a great combination.  Here’s a kale potato soup recipe from Simply in Season that we like this time of year:

Kale Potato Soup

1 bunch kale (chopped)

steam and set aside

1 T butter

1 large onion (chopped)

1 clove garlic, minced

Melt butter in soup pot.  Add onion and saute until golden.  Add garlic and saute another minute.

2 large potatoes, diced

2 C hot water or broth (we recommend broth)

Add, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft.  Remove half of the cooked potatoes; puree the rest with the cooking liquid and return to the soup pot.  Return reserved potatoes and steamed kale to soup pot.  (Puree everything if a smooth texture is desired)

3 C water or broth

1/2 t salt or to taste

pepper to taste

Add along with additional hot water or mild to preferred consistency.  Heat gently until hot and serve.

Enjoy!

Ben and Rachel

A hot summer it’s been!  We were excited to see our spinach and other favorite fall crops start to grow, but then this week the heat set them back again.   Setbacks aside, the news here on the farm is that we have broken ground on a new greenhouse!  It will be the same size as our other large greenhouse, but a bit simpler in design with just one layer of plastic and no heater (other than the sun).  It will allow us to offer more in the early Spring and Fall, and will give us more room for summer peppers and tomatoes.

To be sure, it’s a lot to take on this time of year.  We’re not expecting the construction to go fast, but if we can have it covered by early October we can seed crops for the fall and winter.  Thanks to Jason Oswald at the Constant Spring for some early work helping Ben lay out the posts.  We will hire an Amish crew to help with parts of the project.

Ben standing next to the first row of posts for our new greenhouse.

Elsewhere on the farm, we have now put up all of our onions for the Fall CSA and winter markets…

Clay Bottom Farm storage onions.

We are also excited to now be delivering to the Goshen College cafeteria.  Getting local food into local institutions is a popular trend nationally, and it’s fun to be a part of it in Goshen.  Here is a picture of Ben dropping off the first delivery.

A word to our CSA customers about our peppers: beware that occasionally we add small hot peppers to your boxes–jalapenos, habaneros, cayenne, etc.  The big peppers are always sweet.  We like to use hot pepper in small amounts in our fresh salsas.  You’ll also start seeing apples and pears.  The apples are Mollie Delicious, a mild and juicy apple usually available only until mid-September.

Here’s a quick apple-raisin bar recipe from family circle:

2 cups flour

2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t salt

2 c light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup butter

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 cups Mollie Delicious apple, diced

3/4 c raisins

1. heat oven to 350 degrees.  Coat a 13×9 pan with nonstick cooking spray; wet aside.

2. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium, blend together sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla for 3 minutes or until smooth.

4. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture; mix to 2 min or u ntil incorporated.  Stir in apples and raisins and spread into prepared pan.

5. Bake at 350 deg for 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool completely before cutting into bars and serving.

Enjoy!

Ben and Rachel

This week we are enjoying the cooler weather, and so are our crops.  We seeded a lot of fall crops–turnips, radish, spinach, salad, etc., and are getting excited about our Fall CSA and markets.  The heat took its toll on our salads for a few weeks, but we expect to be back into full production soon.

Our newest item is edamame soybeans.  Pull the pods from the plants, rinse, then boil or microwave (see details below).  These are popular in Japanese restaurants and are a great summer treat.

Below are some pictures from the week and some recipe tips for fennel and edamame.  Enjoy!

Clay Bottom Farm edamame--edible soybeans!

Clay Bottom Farm cherry tomatoes: Yellow pear, isis, red pear, Wahsington, sungold.

Our newest planting of salad mix on the left, cherry tomatoes on the right.

Clay Bottom Farm bulb fennel

Recipe tips

Here’s a link to a good fennel recipe from the Barefoot Contessa: fennel recipe.  You could use the potatoes in your boxes.

2 ways to cook edamame:

1. Put in a bowl and just cover with water.  Microwave until pods are bright green, usually about 6 minutes.

2. Put in boiling water for 6 to 10 minutes.  The longer they boil, the softer the beans will get, so the length of time depends on the texture you prefer.

Rinse off the water, then salt with course salt.  Put the pods in your mouth and pinch the beans out–don’t eat the pods.

Some highlights:

Walla walla onions These are a delicious fresh onion, they did well this year.

Caraflex cabbage We often like to shred cabbage raw and toss with a vinaigrette or creamy dressing.  Caraflex is our favorite green cabbage–famous for it’s conical shape and sweet flavor.

Zucchini A great stir-fry item, or add them to the grill.

Heirloom tomatoes By now the plants are 9+ ft. tall.

Green beans We plant beans every other week for a continuous harvest of tender beans.

We also have organic sweet corn from Jerry Miller, an Amish man from Middlebury who is also our organic supplier for potting mixes and fertilizers.  We used to grow sweet corn but it takes up too much room to grow as much as we’d need.  Jerry is a good farmer and Ben asked him way back in March if he’d grow sweet corn for our CSA.  He picked it Friday just hours before our CSA deliveries.  Boil corn in a large pot for 4-7 minutes.  Don’t over-cook or it loses tenderness.

Fruits this week are sweet cherries and blueberries. The heat and humidity take a toll on these soft-skinned fruits, so be sure to keep refrigerated and we recommend eating them sooner rather than later.

Looking for Quality Local Meat?

Our friends Adam and Elise Derstine and Tom Stinson and Cassandra Byler are raising grass-fed and tasty pork, chicken and beef this year.  We purchased a pig from them last year and loved it!  Adam said they could arrange to drop off meat order at Peter’s porch (our Goshen CSA pick up location) and could also arrange delivery for Winona Lake and Elkhart folks.

Here is a flier with more info: Pastured Meat Ordering for Pickup with Clay Bottom Farm CSA.  You can also contact Adam at derstine@gmail.com.  Based on interest, they may offer more in the future.

Some pictures this week:

Ben exchanges ideas with Sen, an agronomist from Zambia. We hosted visitors from Mennonite Central Committee, a nonprofit peace and development organization.

This week we pulled our first succession planting of onions and are curing them in the barn. About 1500 onions. Another 1500 are still in the field.

Have a great week everyone!

Ben and Rachel

Stings aside, one of the joys of artisan farming on a small scale is that we are able to work with a wide variety of cultivars, and over time, we can select cultivars that we like because of taste, looks, or vigorous growth in our clay soil.

One example is garlic.  This year’s garlic was grown from seed we have been saving over the past four years.  The original seeds for much of our garlic came from the farmers market in Toronto, where Ben’s brother lives.  We saw the garlic on a trip, bought everything the vendor had, went home and planted it.  Each year since we have saved out the best of our harvest to use as seed for the following year (we plant individual cloves in October, which turn into heads by the next July).  The result is garlic uniquely matched to our soil and climate.  It is truly rewarding to see our garlic improve in size and taste year after year, as we improve the genetics of our seed stock.

Some pictures of new items:

Fresh garlic--it is has a great flavor and is stronger than some garlics.

Carolina Gold tomatoes--a yellow tomato with good flavor. This is the first year we have grown it, and we think it will be a keeper.

Walla walla onions--great on the grill!

Cylindra red beets--high in vitamin C.

Recipe tips…

For the red beets, boil for 20-30 minutes, then drain, cool and peel.  Season with butter and salt.

To grill onions, try threading 1-inch thick slices onto skewers and rubbing with olive oil.  Or try this grilling recipe:

Grilled Bell Peppers with Onions, Fresh Garlic and Yellow Tomato

Prepare a medium hot charcoal fire.

Prepare:

2 bell peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded

2 onions, trimmed and halved lengthwise or quartered

Head of garlic, with cloves whole or sliced in half or thirds

Brush with:

1/4 C olive oil

Sprinkle with:

Salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Place on the grill rack (or a grill plate with small holes so vegetables don’t fall through) and grill until well browned, about 5 minutes each side.  Remove and let stand until cool enough to handle.  Cut the peppers into 1/2-inch thick slices and separate the onion rings.  Toss in a large bowl along with:

1/4 C olive oil

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Place sliced yellow tomatoes around perimeter.

Enjoy!

We’re finishing up our Spring planting in the field. So far we’ve planted broccoli, cauliflower, kale, peas, spinach, salad mix, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, bulb fennel, carrots, chard, and more. So far, crops look good, but we could definitely use some sunny days and warm nights.

We’ve seen a lot more insect damage this year than usual, probably because of the erratic weather patters. Below are some picture of the farm this May…

These are indeterminate tomatoes, the kind that keep growing and growing...

We have at least 15 different kinds of crops in here, many of them inpterplanted side by side. Notice tiny basil transplants beside peppers in the right side of this photo.

Early field crops: peas, lettuce, onions, kale. Heirloom tomatoes are under cover in the background.

We’ve been selling out of our greens at the Goshen Farmers Market but soon we’ll have an abundance.  Would there be any interest in a Spring CSA?  For $9/week, we could deliver fresh cut salad mix, spinach, etc. to Peter’s porch (our 7th street pick up location in Goshen) once/wk. for CSA customers to pick up.  Once it warms up we could perhaps add some “salad fixin’s” like salad turnips or radishes or spring onions.

Our food is also available at the farmers market.  Let us know if you’re interested (email claybottomfarm@gmail.com) and we can perhaps set something up.  Here are a few pics to temp you:

What’s New at the Farm?

So what does a farmer do in the winter?

We get asked this a lot.  The answer this winter is simple: we farm!  That’s right, we’ve been planting and harvesting out of our (unheated) greenhouses all winter.   We’ve been working towards becoming a four season farm for several years, and this is the first year we’ve been able to say we harvested something fresh every month of the year.

Granted, we don’t plant as much or harvest as much as in the summer, but we’ve been surprised at how hardy some greens are.  We planted about 15 varieties of greens, and about 10 varieties were successful.  We’re also experimenting with November-December planted carrots–so far so good!  They survived the winter and the tops are about 2″ tall.

We’ve also been doing a lot of construction and maintenance work.  Ben and his Dad are remodeling our processing area–mainly, adding insulation and heat.  One of the realities of being a four season farm is that we need a four season processing room!

The maintenance seems never ending… Our farm relies on four small gas engines (in our tillers and mowers), a small tractor, four gas heaters, two electric heaters, a walk-in cooler compressor, and a cargo van.  That adds up to a lot of engines and motors–and maintenance!

Sadly, our dog Blue, whom some of you got to know, was hit.  He’s hurt, but he survived.  We’ve been tending his wounds in our temporary doggy hospital set up in the house.

We’ve also been tending our 100 or so early tomatoes, which we seeded the last week of January.  They’re in our germinating chamber, where we try to keep temperatures between 60 and 80 degrees (not easy in our cold February!).  By now they’re 6-8″ tall and we’ll plant them out into our seed starting greenhouse in about a week.  Here’s what they look like as of today:

We are also experimenting with caterpillar structures.  These are low tunnels used commonly in Europe to modify plant environments.  Their humped backs resemble caterpillars, hence the name.  Here is a low tunnel under which we’ve planted some early peas and onions.  We’ve had trouble with the wind blowing off the plastic, so last week Ben pounded in stakes and tied ropes across the tops.  It’s working so far…

A field "caterpillar."

On top of all that, Rachel’s been busy at Goshen Middle School working as an English language assistant.

So that’s what farmers do in the winter.  Around here, anyways.

Come Learn More About Us

Ben will be giving a presentation later this month in Middlebury about our farm.  Below is the announcement from the Middlebury Parks Department, who is hosting the event.  We’d love to see you there!

Organic Community Supported Agriculture Discover the true costs of food and listen to Ben from Clay Bottom Farm will share their passion of providing organic produce.  Learn about organic methods, local CSA opportunities and how both help create a healthy environment and community. This program will take place on Thursday, March 24^th at the Middlebury Library at 7 pm. There is a $2.00 fee, pay at the door. Pre-register by calling the Park Office at 825-3283

In Your Boxes…

Salad mix A larger-than-usual amount for this last CSA delivery.

Romaine head lettuce

Pea Shoots A garnish for salads.  A pinch of Spring in the middle of winter!

Christmas root bunch Turnips and radish, for a red, green, and white combo.  Great as salad toppers.

Sweet Winter Carrots See the picture below of a snowy harvest!

Cabbage Store covered in your crisper draw.

Apples These store best in the refrigerator.

Winter squash Keep cool, like on a porch or in a garage that won’t freeze.

Onions See the onion dip recipe below!

Garlic

Sweet Potatoes

Ornamental kale These flowers are meant as a decoration, not to eat (they are edible, but a little tough).  Put in a vase with water to keep the longest.

Honey Our Christmas gift to you.  The honey is from our hive, made by the same bees that pollinated your vegetables all year!

Down on the Farm

Some scenes from our last harvest…

To harvest carrots, we brush off the snow and remove thick mulch which has kept the ground from freezing.

We recorded temperatures in the mid-80s last week in the greenhouse.

We select cold hardy varieties for our Late Season salads.

Recipe

Every year the vendors at the Goshen Farmers Market get together for an amazing potluck.   This year, the dish that everyone raved about was this onion dip from Dale Hasenik at White Yarrow Farm.  Here’s Dale’s recipe:

Pan-Fried Onion Dip

Make 2 cups.  Serve with potato chips, fresh vegetables or crackers.

2-3 yellow onions

4 T unsalted butter

1/4 C vegetable oil

1/4 t ground cayenne pepper

1 t kosher salt

1/2 t freshly ground black pepper

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature

1/2 C sour cream

1/2 C good mayonnaise

Cut the onions in half, and then slice them into 1/8 thick half-rounds.  You will have about 3 cups of onions.  Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan on medium heat.  Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes, until the onions are browned and caramelized.  Allow the onions to cool.

Place the cream cheese, sour cream, and mayonnaise in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until smooth.  Add the onions and mix well. Taste for seasonings.

Serve at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Salad Mix Very tender this week, from the greenhouse.

Pea Shoots A garnish for the salad mix or other dishes.  These are tender and flavorful.  Eat raw.

Sweet Winter Carrots Cold weather turns starches into sugars, so the carrots get sweeter as the weather cools.

Roots Bag Beet, turnip, carrot.   See recipe below for ideas.

Lacinato Kale

Brussels Sprouts

Potato

Onion

Fuji apples

Recipe of the Week

If you are looking for something to do with extra winter vegetables, try this recipe out.  We serve it at least once a year.  From Simply in Season.

Roasted Winter Vegetables

6-8 C winter vegetables: potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, turnips, beets, winter squash

2 T oil

1 T dried herbs

Toss ingredients together (keep onions separate, as they will roast faster; add them to the pan 10 minutes into the baking time).  Spread in a single layer on greased baking pans.  Roast in a preheated oven at 425 F until tender, 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!