7th Week

It has been busy at Broadturn Farm! We are so fortunate to be close enough to the greater Portland area to have most of our community come to us to either pick up produce, come to farm camp, or just experience the farm. But on July 13th Broadturn Farm made an appearance at a trial-run Farmers Market at Scarborough's 350th anniversary celebration. A Farmers Market is one of the most difficult endeavors to get off the ground. It can be a real chicken and egg problem-- ensuring that the community is interested and willing to visit the market, and ensuring enough farmers' participation. Most farmers markets are duds for a few years until enough consistent customers make it a reliable and profitable option for farmers. Of course we are very happy with our on-farm CSA program, but we are looking down the road with the hope of increasing our production, and serving more of our community by attending a market. The trial run was a success! There will be a second Scarborough Farmers Market in September, and next year with luck there will be a weekly market. Stay tuned!
We have some amazing flowers this time of the season. We sold some bouquets at the market, and we continue to sell them at Lois' Natural, The Cheese Iron, and Aurora Provisions. Here is Stacy surrounded by Flora and flora!
Stacy is the flower master and she put together an amazing display for the wedding we hosted over the weekend. Here are some of her table arrangements,
...the bridal bouquet...
and Stacy's wedding corsages modeled by her adoring farm crew...
Last night we hosted another event, a tour and dinner for 40 current and prospective state legislators. They were here to learn more about farmland conservation and the importance of working farms to our communities. We are convinced of course that food can (and should) be a central issue which can unify a diverse population. Food and farms have been very much an afterthought in recent political history, but yesterday's visit might be an indication of change.
This week's harvest list-
garlic
mizuna
arugala
dill
basil
Napa cabbage
carrots
parsley
rainbow chard

The Garlic we distributed last week and this week will be "fresh garlic" in that it has not been dried for long term storage. It can be stored for several weeks, but not through the winter... more storage garlic will be available later. We have been using garlic in all of our salad dressings.
Here's a basic dressing to last the week:
1 head of garlic,
1 T honey,
2 T Dijon mustard,
3/4 cup balsamic,
blend until smooth in a food processor,
slowly drizzle in 2 1/4 cups of olive oil,
touch of salt and pepper.
Garlic harvest, sorting, and curing sone by farm camp kids:We are taking a week's break from lettuce, but we have an abundance of arugula and mizuna. Napa Cabbage is an open head savoy type cabbage which makes the very best cole slaw. It is also known as Chinese cabbage and can be used in stir frys of all kinds. In the field the plant is enormous with huge leaves, and in the past we have distributed these monsters without shearing them down to size. That scared off a lot of people, so these are trimmed up to something that can fit in your refrigerator!
Blessings on the meal!
--John