Kitchen Garden Journal

The Big Deal

Tim Wilcox — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:33:49 +0100

We are pleased to announce the marriage of our farm to another. Tim and Caroline, do you take Jarrett Man of Stone Soup Farm to be your lawfully wedded co-farmer? We do!

You heard right. We are teaming up with Jarrett, merging our farms into a single new farm that will be called The Kitchen Garden, LLC. Jarrett has been operating his CSA farm at the New England Small Farm Institute in BelchRead More...

2012 CSA News

Tim Wilcox — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:26:21 +0100

Big changes are happening at our farm this year, and that means we’re switching up what we’re doing in the way of CSA shares. We won’t be offering the boxed shares anymore. Instead, we’re teaming up with our new business partner Jarrett Man of Stone Soup Farm to create a CSA program that has some exciting new and improved options:

On-farm pickup at our beautiful new HRead More...

dia de los tacos

Tim Wilcox — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:00 +0100

Rumors have been circulating about a secret taco party in January. Consider yourself officially in the know. We are teaming up with Neftali Duran from El Jardin Bakery and Open Square in Holyoke to put on a night of tacos in homage to everyone’s favorite street food.

Grab a beer, order a plate of tacos, sit and eat. Get up and mingle. Repeat. If this sounds like your kind of party, you neRead More...

The Kitchen Table

Tim Wilcox — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0100

Something is missing in our food landscape. And I'll tell you one thing, it's not a lack of amazing local ingredients. For those who seek out and invest in the many dedicated farmers that have put down roots in the Valley, the dividends of flavor are extremely generous. And we're lucky to count as friends and clients several restaurant chefs who really get this.

Yet what about all the Local “Heroes” who buy locally grown food “whenever possible,” (i.e. wheRead More...

The End of the Season…for now

Tim Wilcox — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 17:39:50 +0100

We are now finished with the main 2011 farm season. Thank you so much to all of our shareholders, market customers and chefs for your support through a pretty tough season. There are very few things left growing in the field, which means we’ve harvested and sold most everything that managed to grow this fall. The last thing we’ve got to do out there is to plant and mulch next year’s gRead More...

Our First Farm Dinner

Tim Wilcox — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:34:58 +0100

Last Sunday night we hosted our first ever dinner at the farm. It was a great success, and as we bask in the glow of this experience, we have to ask ourselves, “What took us so long?”

Cooking the food we grow at the farm is something we do every day. Each day, one member of the crew cooks lunch for everyone using the vegetables that we’re harvesting in season. It’s a great waRead More...

To Our Shareholders

Tim Wilcox — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:34:09 +0100

This week will be the last share of the season. We are ending distribution a week early because there is simply not enough left in the fields to put together a share.

You have read all about what a difficult fall this has been for us: relentless rains, pathetic yields, crop failures. Despite these difficulties, we have done our best to provide the same quantity and variety of produce you would receive in a normal year. We hope that when you opened your box each week it didn’tRead More...

This Week’s Share

Tim Wilcox — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:30:29 +0100

1 Savoy Cabbage

2 lbs Fingerling Potatoes

1 bunch Rosemary

1 bunch Leeks

1 bunch Japanese Turnips

1 bunch baby carrots

1.5 lb Gold Ball Turnips

1 bunch assorted cooking greens

Deluxe Items:

2 lbs Bartlett Pears (Clarkdale Fruit Farms. Deerfield)

2 lbs Mixed Heirloom Apples (Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield)

This Week's Share

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 22:35:20 +0100

1/2 lb Mixed Greens

1 head Treviso Radicchio

1 bulb Fennel

1 bunch Mustard Greens

1 lb Red Meat Radishes

1 lb Cipollini Onions

2 lbs Sweet Potatoes (Next Barn Over, Hadley)

1 bunch Thyme

Deluxe Items:

2 lbs Macoun Apples (Apex Orchards, Shelburne)

1/2 Gallon AppRead More...

The Menu for this Sunday's Dinner

Tim Wilcox — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:27:46 +0100

This Week's Share

Tim Wilcox — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 13:15:02 +0100

1 Butterhead Lettuce

1 Red Butterhead Lettuce

1 Daikon Radish

1 head Broccoli

1 lb Sweet Peppers

1/2 lb Baby Bok Choy

1 bunch Baby Carrots

1 bunch Scallions

1 bunch Cilantro

Deluxe Items:

1/2 lb Fresh Young Ginger (Old Friends Farm, Amherst)

2 lbs Peaches (Apex Orchards, Shelburne)

This iRead More...

Garlic & Arts, This Weekend!

Tim Wilcox — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 14:24:13 +0100

Preparations are underway at the farm for this year’s Garlic & Arts Festival in Orange, MA. This year marks 5 years we have been selling our garlic and other produce at the festival!

The Garlic & Arts festival is so much more than a garlic festival. Over the years, Deb and Ricky from Seeds of Solidarity farm, along with an army of volunteers, have turned this festival into one of the Read More...

This Week's Share

Tim Wilcox — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:49:28 +0100

1 head Cauliflower

1 bunch Red Radishes

2 heads assorted Lettuce

1 head Radicchio

1 bunch Leeks

1 orange Kabocha Squash (Enterprise Farm)

1 lb Beets (Enterprise Farm)

1 bunch Tarragon

Farm Dinner on October 9, 2011

Tim Wilcox — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 05:00:00 +0100

We are collaborating on this special event with our friends Neftali Duran of El Jardin Bakery in Deerfield and Rose Weiss, who trained at Chez Albert in Amherst and the French Culinary Institute (Caroline's alma mater) in NYC.

This Read More...

After the Hurricanes

Tim Wilcox — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 19:23:17 +0100

For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to think of an appropriate response to the back to back hurricanes that brought relentless rains and flooding to the valley. As the waters recede, we have been taking stock of the damage and grappling with what it means for us as farmers, for our community, and for local agriculture in general.

For maRead More...

This Week's Share

Tim Wilcox — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 14:27:11 +0100

2 heads assorted lettuce

1 head frisee

1 lb broccoli

1 bunch Japanese turnips

1 bunch broccoli rabe

2 heads garlic

a handful of hot chilies

2 lbs golden potatoes

1 butternut squash (Riverland Farm, Sunderland)

1 bunch sage

Deluxe Item: 1 lb Grapes (Clarkdale Fruit Farms, DeeRead More...

Summertime Sendoff

Tim Wilcox — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:08:51 +0100

What better way to use that last primo tomato of the season than on a final summertime B.L.T.? All B.L.T.’s are not created equal, and this one had to be perfect.

Care must be taken to select the best bacon, the proper bread, and the right condiments.

TomRead More...

This Week's Share

Tim Wilcox — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 18:05:59 +0100

1 Romaine Lettuce

1 Red Romaine Lettuce

1 bunch French Breakfast Radishes

2 lb Red Thumb Fingerling Potatoes

1 bunch Leeks

1 bunch Thyme & Rosemary

2 lb Multicolor Sweet Peppers

1 lb Summer Squash

1 head Savoy Cabbage

Deluxe item:

3 lbs Honey Crisp Apples (Clarkdale Fruit Farms)

Delayed Gratification

Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:35:50 +0100

This is the time of year when a turn in the weather will trigger fits of hording. The fruits of summer are living out their final days, and the mind begins to fearfully anticipate a season when the supermarket will again become a source of fresh produce.

Over the years we have honed in on some easy ways to preserve the bounty of the abundant seasons, mostly involving freezing. (We put aRead More...

Corn Chowder for All Seasons

Tim Wilcox — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:38:58 +0100

Corn chowder is quite possibly the world’s perfect soup. It’s sublime in its simplicity and infinite in its variability. I’ll give you the basic principles and a few ideas for jazzing it up, but I leave the rest to you.

2 Tbsp cooking oil

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 large potatoes (russets, yellows, reds, doesn’t matter), cut in ½ inch cubes