Frog Holler Farm - September 19, 2020

  

Winter Squash harvest almost complete - photo by Ashleh, who also helped pick them!



RECIPE IDEAS: In a completely scientific farm taste comparison (test sample of three), roasted beet flavor far surpassed the flavor of boiled beets. This analysis has been corroborated throughout the food blogs of the internet and this one from Tori Avey: Every Day Inspired by the Past for Roasted Beets seemed especially good. Most recipes call for wrapping the beets in aluminum foil, which works fine, but Ms. Avey is removing foil from her cooking and shows how you can achieve the same results with a Dutch oven or oven-proof pan with a cover. We applaud less use of aluminum foil in cooking as well as the appreciation of this delicious and nutritious vegetable! Ms. Avey includes a number of links to roasted beet recipes in this blog post as well - many many uses!

Butternut Squash is traditionally halved, baked and then used for pie or soup. Another way to prepare it, which we often do on the farm, is to saute onions and garlic and then add cubes of peeled butternut. But we only make this when we have cooked or roasted beets on hand, for the next step is to slice the cooked beets and add to the softened squash. (If the beets are uncooked they will take too long to soften.) A little apple cider or orange juice can be added to braise the mixture; salt and pepper to taste. A vibrant deep red, sweet and fall-flavored dish!

NOTES FROM THE FARM:

This week we started to dig sweet potatoes and there will be more on that next week when they appear in your share.
Ashleh hauls in a nice "catch"!


Sweet potatoes - washed and curing a bit before heading out in share boxes


We also planted 875 lettuce seedlings this week. Will they make it before freezing temps? Well, we really don't know. Gardening in general is part faith and part folly - the weather will decide which prevails. But if they make it, what a glorious colorful frilly celebration of salad!

They don't look like much now! Lettuce can take light frost so they have some time.

NOTES FROM PASADENA: Okay, what you really want to know is how did our adventurers do on their road trip to Hollywood? 

Camping on the way to Pasadena

The screening of Nomadland went very well, and here's a little clip from the event to give you the flavor of a drive-in premiere. Although Nomadland is based on a work of non-fiction, Ms. McDormand's character was created for the film. Many of the real life nomads were featured in the film and invited to the premiere. In the clip, you will see how van-dwellers applaud!



Nomadland was also awarded the top prize(the Golden Lion) at the Venice Film Festival the same weekend it aired in Pasadena. The incomparable skill of actor Ms. McDormand, the unique talent of rising star director Chloe Zhao, the creative and dedicated team shepherding this project along, and the Frog Holler veggies that cast and crew consumed 😉 all contributed to this project that we will surely be hearing more about as awards season nears.

The beginning of the film on the drive-in screen


Freya the farm pup was able to attend the premiere since it was at a drive-in. She did get out of the car to schmooze a little and was a big hit. Maybe she'll be in the next film!

Freya at the "selfie wall" at the hotel

Freya will be at the market truck between 1-2 pm to hand out paw prints.

 Lol - actually she took the whole 5500 mile trip in stride and seems happy to be back at the farm.

Taking the ride in stride!

Thanks for your comments and interest in this project. Ms. McDormand has earned wide respect over the years through her choice of roles and impeccable execution thereof. For Nomadland she has also relied on an accomplished team to bring the project to fruition. Case in point: our own Emily Foley!

Edwin and Emily





Have a great week everyone!




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Frog Holler Farm - September 26, 2020

Image
    Billy King warming up for this season's Sweet Potato Bowl! And Keegen makes the catch! RECIPE IDEAS: Well you just might feel like eating sweet potatoes this week! We like to simply bake them, either whole or halved (if whole, poke several times with a fork first), and when done, enjoy with a little salt, and (optional) butter or plant-based butter substitute. The skins are very edible and fiber-licious!  If you would like some basic info on roasting sweet potatoes, this post:  How To Roast Sweet Potatoes  is very helpful and includes some links to interesting-sounding sweet potato dishes. We enjoyed a Roasted Root Veggie Medley this week, prepared by Donya Huber, who cooks most of our farm lunches. Donya roasted Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Rutabaga, Onion, and Garlic.   She added rosemary, sage, summer savory (and/or thyme), salt, and cooking sherry, and b aked it all at 425 for about an hour.   Optional to add butte...
Read more

FROG HOLLER FARM - August 8, 2020

Image
Our view from the packing area NOTES FROM THE FARM - WEEDS! From Adrian Higgins, Home & Garden writer for the Washington Post: If   you had to define the purpose of gardening, the answer might be that it is the act of crafting beauty from nature. That would be the poetic response. At its base, gardening is about holding back the immense, ravaging forces of weeds. A garden is, metaphorically, a quivering bunny rabbit surrounded by snarling wolves. This sounds like hyperbole. It is not. In the Mid-Atlantic, and surely in many other regions of the country, the weed pressure is unrelenting in every month of the year. In the heat and humidity of summer, the pace is supersonic. Well, it sounds like Mr. Higgins has been weeding a lot - or maybe too much :-)! But here's another expert chiming in  - from Timothy Tilghman, the head gardener at Untermyer Park and Gardens in Yonkers, N.Y., a 43-acre former estate on the Hudson. “If you can’t enjoy weeding, you won’t be a happy gardene...
Read more