Farm News
| ********************************** October 2009 ********************************** |
2009 Farmers Market Schedule
Tuesdays
Fairfax – Van Dyck Park on Old Lee Highway
May 5 – October 27
8:00 AM – Noon
Wednesdays
Oakton – Oak Marr RECenter
May 6 – November 18
8:00 AM – Noon
Annandale – Wakefield Park, Braddock Rd.
May 6 – October 28
2:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Saturdays
Fairfax – Behind old Fairfax Co. Courthouse
May 2 – October 31
8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Vienna – Beside the Red Caboose
May 2 – October 31
8:00 AM -Noon
Washington DC – 14th and U Street, NW
May 2 – November 22
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Sundays
Lorton – VRE Parking Lot
May 3 – October 25
9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Hello Loyal Farmers Market Customer,
Earlier this week all of our summer fields were covered with our first official freeze for the season. So we bid goodbye to tomatoes ripe from the vine, cut flowers, and fragrant raspberries. And as our harvest is winding up, (just a few more apple varieties to pick!) we also bid goodbye to the farmers market season. This is always a bittersweet time of year, for we all need some rest, but we also miss our interaction with our customers and harvesting such an abundance of produce. A big “thank you” for your patronage all season long and cheers to another best year ever at our markets!
Please note that all of our farmers markets continue through the end of October. In addition, we will attend the farmers markets at Oak Marr RECenter until Nov. 18th, and 14th and U Street until November 22nd, so you can gather a bounty of produce to create your Thanksgiving meal!! We’ll continue to offer all kinds of apples, cider, and a wide variety of pumpkins and winter squash throughout the month.
Make sure to reserve your half bushel box (or more) for the last week of market so you can continue to enjoy apples far into the winter. The best apples for storage include: Fuji, Goldrush, Braeburn, Pink Lady, Stayman, and York. We’ll take your orders at market, or give us a call or send us an email.
On a different subject, we are signing the documents this week to permanently protect 40 acres of land on our farm through the US Dept. of Agriculture’s “Wetland Reserve Program”. In addition to the preservation of a large stand of virgin native grasses (the land has never been tilled), the USDA will help us to restore portions of this former pasture to function as valuable wetlands that once existed prior to the installation of tile in the 1940-1950 era. Many generations of our family have made a living off of our land, and we hope that by protecting and restoring it, we can provide the same opportunities to all future generations and the land can continue to serve as wildlife habitat and a water resource forever.
Sincerely,
David, Mary Margaret, and Sidney Kuhn
Sandy Lombardi, Rusty Lamb, and Steve Donaldson
At the Market
Pumpkins, Squash and all kinds of Apples……………
During the month of October, we will have the following available for sale:
* Apples – Many, many varieties. To find out when your favorite will be available at market, check out our Apple Variety Availability chart online or at market.
* Bartlett Pears
* Winter Squash – Acorn, Delicata, Butternut, Mini Blue Hubbard, Pink Banana, Tennessee Sweet Potato, Zapalo Plomo and Kabocha (Green, Blue and Red) to name a few.
* Pumpkins and Gourds – A rainbow of colors and shapes for your fall decorating and cooking needs.
* Chestnuts – Our sweet-flavored Chinese Chestnuts are produced on our massive 50 year old trees.
* Onions – Sweet white ‘Candy’ and spicy red ‘Mars’.
* Apple Cider – Pressed from our own Gala, McIntosh and Jonathan apples for a crisp, sweet/tart taste.
* Sweet Peppers – An array of Italian Frying peppers that are also great roasted, plus Round of Hungary (perfect for making Pimiento Cheese).
* Tomatoes – We grow a wide variety of fresh slicing tomatoes on raised black plastic beds. Many of our tomatoes are “heirlooms”, and the rest are the best of the more recent varieties. Harvested mostly green right before our first freeze, these tomatoes may not taste vine-ripened, but they’re the best you’ll get this time of year!
* Quince – A relative of pears and apples, with hard strongly-perfumed flesh. Quince are too astringent and sour to eat raw, but they make excellent jam. They also may be peeled, then roasted, baked, stewed into a sauce or poached. The flesh turns a red color after a long cooking time.
* Sunchokes (Jerusalem Artichokes) – The tubers are harvested from this Native American plant that is part of the sunflower family. The tubers look like small knobby potatoes, but are crunchier and have a mild, nut-like taste that works well sliced raw into salads, sautéed in a little butter, roasted, or in cream of sunchoke soup. Unlike most tubers, sunchokes store the carbohydrate inulin that is stored as fructose, instead of starch, which is served as glucose, making them great choice for diabetics.
* French Filet Beans (Haricot Vert) – Thin and tender green (Maxibel) and yellow (Soleil) stringless beans.
* Canned Peaches – Our own Bounty peaches canned in light syrup. Save some for a taste of summer in the middle of winter.
How to Prepare a Chestnut
Cut an “X” on the flat side of the nut using a serrated knife, making sure you cut all the way through the shell to keep the it from bursting. 1 pound unpeeled chestnuts yields about 3 cups of meat.
Roasting
Fireplace – Use a long-handled chestnut roasting pan or a fireplace popcorn basket. Hold the pan just above the flame, and shake as if you were making popcorn. Cook about 15 minutes or until the outside shells are black.
Oven – Place nuts in a single layer in an ovenproof baking dish. Bake at 325° for about 20 minutes.
Stovetop – Place nuts in a single layer in a large heavy skillet (preferably cast iron). Cook over medium-high heat, shaking the pan occasionally, for 15 minutes or until shells darken.
Cool before peeling.
Microwave
Place chestnuts around the outer edge of a paper plate, and cook at HIGH in 15-second intervals until shells are soft. Cool before peeling.
Our 50+ Year Old Chestnut Grove
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