May Flowers & Opening Market!

I can't believe the market begins this Saturday already! The past week or so has been such a relief from this winter with all of the sunshine, green leaves, fresh cut grass, and blooming flowers. We hope we have a nice sunny day for the market.

This weekend we will be selling:

- tomato plants
- basil plants
- rhubarb
- green lettuce
- arugula
- green garlic (*new this year)
- grape jelly (*new this year)

We are excited to sell green garlic and we will have samples at our table as well as a recipe. It makes for a fantastic mild pesto that goes great on fresh bread or with a good cheese.  We are really looking forward to our 4th season at the market and can't wait to see all of you again soon!

Ada Jane, big enough to help out now!

Snowdrops

Lilac

Marsh Marigold

Red and green leaf lettuce in the cold frame.

Green Garlic

Spring Has Sprung

With spring officially here, we are grateful to be able to start our outdoor planting. Every day I see more and more bulbs coming up and this sunny day is a welcome break from the cold dreary days we've been having here in Cleveland. The basement is full of seedlings and this weekend we transplanted kale outside.

The garlic has pushed through the blanket of leaves and we look forward to another healthy crop. The garden is still pretty brown, but soon enough it will be green and abundant. The flower seeds have been started, as well as lettuce, kale, spinach and beets.  We are starting to move some flats outside during the day to give them some natural light and a breath of fresh air! They have to come in at night because it is still too cold for their tender leaves. 

Terry is tilling the whole garden to get the soil ready for planting. We sent off a soil sample and should get results this week to see if we need to add anything to our soil to balance all of the nutrients. 

The market will be here before we know it! Opening day is May 11th, right around the corner! We look forward to seeing you!

Hello Again!

Well it's been an exceptionally snowy winter here in Cleveland and I don't think it's quite over yet.  I can't believe it's already February and we've been busy thinking about this upcoming growing season.  Our seeds have been ordered and arrived!  We never order the exact same thing as we did the year before and make changes based on our successes and customer demands. This year we are going to grow more flowers and we make our selections heavily based on what makes a good cut flower and how long they last in a vase. Due to popular request we are growing cherry tomatoes and will start off the season selling tomato plants including our favorite, the Brandywines.

The market will be starting one week earlier this year on May 11th, the day before Mother's Day. It will be a great time to start off your market season and surprise your mother with hearty tomato plants that we have started from seed.

Anne and I have worked hard with a market committee and we are proud to present the new logo for the Geauga Fresh Farmers' Market! We hope you will see more of the logo around this year and please spread the word about the market as we can always use more customers!  Spring is almost here and I will be posting more as our season gets underway!

Green Tomatoes

Even though red tomato season is over, green tomato season is here! We have picked all of our green tomatoes and have an abundance of them (way more than I can pickle!) We will be selling 5 pound bags for $2.00 each at the house and you can either email me, endeavortofarm@gmail.com or call Terry at 440-596-0083 and we can arrange a time for pick up. You may ask, what can I do with all of those green tomatoes? They are great breaded and fried, as well as pickled. There are lots of recipes on the internet, and below is one from Joy of Cooking which has proven to be delicious.  Even though the tomatoes don't look fantastic, you just need to cut off the brown spots and they are good to go.

Pickled Green Tomatoes  
Makes 6 pint jars

Place:
4 quarts thinly sliced green tomatoes (about 5 lbs)
In a bowl with:
3 lbs onions, thinly sliced
Sprinkle with:
1/2 cup pickling or canning salt

Stir together well, cover, and refrigerate for 12 hours. Rinse the vegetables in cold water and drain.  Bring to a boil in a large pot:
6 cups cider vinegar
Seed, remove membranes, and add:
2 1/2 lbs green bell peppers, thinly sliced
1 lb red bell peppers, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
2 lbs brown sugar
1 tbsp dry mustard
1 1/2 tsp salt

Add the tomatoes and onions. Tie in a moist square of cheesecloth and add to the pan:
1 tbsp whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick, broken
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp celery seeds

Simmer until tomatoes are translucent, about 1 hour, stirring frequently. Discard the spice bag.  Using a slotted spoon, pack the vegetables into hot pint jars.  Add the hot liquid leaving 1/2" headspace. Process for 10 minutes. If you don't want to hot water process them, after they cool, put the jars in your fridge and let sit 3 weeks before eating!

Last Market

It's hard to believe that tomorrow will be our last market for the season. It's been an overall very successful year and we are grateful for our customers who come back each week! We hope you can make it out to see us tomorrow and even if you can't, we will still have some produce available if you'd like to call and arrange a pick-up.  We should have most things through the first frost but give us a call to see what we have!  Thank you everyone!

We will have beets, carrots, swiss chard, cilantro, kale, cabbage, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and cut flowers for sale tomorrow.

Applesauce

In the Cleveland area, it has been a rough year for apples.  We had an early frost which got the buds on the apple trees which really affected the fruit production.  This Saturday we went to Eddy's and they said they lost about 50% of their orchard this year.  We were still able to pick some apples, though there were not very many and of the apples there, I only considered 2 varieties edible.

I picked about 13 pounds of Melrose and Empire and made 11 pints of sauce this morning.  Applesauce is pretty easy to make, and you hardly have to add anything because the apples are so flavorful themselves.  You can freeze applesauce or hot water process it to store it, or just make enough that you can eat and keep it in your fridge.  Because I hot water processed it, I needed to add 4 tbsp of lemon juice for acidity which helps to preserve the sauce.  I also added 1 cup of sugar, and about 1 tbsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tbsp ground cloves for a little extra flavor.



If you have a strainer, applesauce will be infinitely easier and you will get more sauce from the apples, but you can do it without this handy contraption.  Wash the apples, quarter them, add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan and boil the apples until they are soft - about 20 minutes depending on the size, quantity, and variety. Cooking the apples with the skins on gives the sauce a beautiful pinkish color!

In batches, put the apples through a food mill or strainer until you have a puree.  Return the puree to a pot and add sugar, lemon juice, and other spices and bring to a boil, stirring frequently so it doesn't stick.  At this point, you can hot water process it, let it cool and freeze it or put it in the fridge, or eat it right away!  If you hot water process the sauce, you will need to do it for 20 minutes.

Happy Fall! 

Pork. Belly.

My eyes were opened to pork belly when I was working on a farm in Italy. I have never tasted anything more satisfying in my life and now any time I see pork belly on a menu at a restaurant, I have to order it.  Pork belly is the cut of meat that you get bacon from and has the most delicious layer of fat on top of tender meat.  The balance of the melt in your mouth fat that is also crispy on top combined with the flavorful meat is unlike anything else.  I've wanted to make my own pork belly for a while now, and finally did it this week.  We got a beautiful cut of meat from Sand Farm and found a recipe by Dan Barber that takes 3 days to complete. 

You start by making make a cure mix of spices that you rub into the meat and then let it sit in the fridge for 3 days.  Then, you rinse of the mix and roast it for 7 hours at 200 degrees.  The lengthy roasting is the key to the success of this dish because it allows the meat to slowly cook and become pull-apart tender.

After 7 hours, sear the pork belly on both sides that gives the meat that crispiness that makes every satisfying bite even more delicious. I highly suggest making this dish if you have the patience!

 Freshly ground spices in a mortar and pestle made by Seth.

The belly.

The belly with the cure mix ready for the fridge. 

Finished product with a side of roasted delicata squash with rosemary and rice.