We have purchased 23 acres of land on County Route 138 in the town of Ovid – less than one mile off the Cayuga Wine Trail.  To say we are excited is an understatement.  We will be working feveriously this winter to establish Blackduck Cidery.  We’ll put up a small tasting room and production building with a view of the lake.  We will also begin planting a new block of cider apples and perry pears.  And, we will begin planting a u-pick apple orchard.  We know everyone is eager to have a u-pick orchard that is organically managed in the area.

We had tremendous success last year growing melons.  We are selecting varieties that were customer’s favorites and will plant a much larger amount of melons on our new land for 2011.  We hope to expand our melon and pepper offerings next year.  We also will be adding pumpkins and winter squash.

We have a few available fruit shares for 2011.  Please check our Fruit CSA page for more information.  Our members enjoy 20 weeks of fruit all grown on our farm in Interlaken & Ovid.

The plant geeks were starting to layout the new land the day after we closed!

We took a little trip to Boston after harvest for a needed break away from the farm, but for some reason ducks follow us everywhere.

We finally find time to write a few things!  John hosted the apple tasting at Ovid Library – 21 varieties of apples.  We  hope everyone also enjoyed Three Stone Farm’s popcorn/maple syrup balls, Muranda Farm’s cheeses, and Lively Run Goat Dairy’s cheese.  Not to mention all those apple pies!  It was a tasty day.

As part of  the final CSA share members received quince.  This is an unnamed variety that was unsprayed and unloved this past season – and they look it!  Quince is used throughout the world in meat sauces, sliced thinly and cooked briefly to soften, and as a fragrant addition to the house. 

We have put out the email for current CSA members to rejoin.  Please do so by mid November.  On November 20th we will offer remaining shares to people who signed up for information this past season.

We are currently taking orders for fruit trees and fruit plants for 2011.  We will begin selling at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market in April 2011 offering trees and plants, duck eggs, jam and jelly. 

We are also seeking an intern for the 2011 season.  Anyone who is interested should send an email for more information.

More Aronia – hurray!  Okay, so most folks do not want to eat Aronia (commonly known as Chokeberries) fresh.  I concur.  But, the astringent quality of this berry disappears when baked.  What is left is a mild apple/cherry type taste and a blue/purple coloration.  This makes for some fun in baking.

I love trying every berry in waffles, but didn’t want to add these berries as they are a little large.  Inspiration struck after two Russian women visited our booth at the Ithaca Market this past Saturday.  The women purchased the Aronia with the intent to crush the berries and add a little honey.  They keep this in a sealed container in the refrigerator and eat a little everyday.  Some folks drink a glass of orange juice (not a local fruit by any stretch of the imagination) others a dose of Aronia.

To make waffles, I crushed about 3/4 of a pint of Aronia and added this to my waffle mix (and lessened the milk just a bit).  Recipe below.  The result was a colorful waffle with a slight cherry taste.  I served the waffles with our Colorado Rose potatoes fried in olive oil with basil (thanks Six Circles), a duck egg omelet with Northland Sheep blue cheese (just 2 eggs served the three of us), and a slice of our Ambrosia melon.  Breakfast from the backyard.

Waffle recipe:

Mix 2.5 cups 50/50 flour & 2tsp. baking powder.

Make a well in the center, add 1 pinch salt, 1/2 cup (or less) sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 2 duck eggs, crushed berries.

Gradually add 2 cups of milk.  Let the batter stand for 1 hour.

Our CSA members are seeing their second round of Seaberries this week and we are challenging everyone to come up with the best recipe.  We have a delicious sounding fish sauce – with wildcrafted mushrooms- from one member.  Any seaberry cocktails yet?

Roasted Cod with Chanterelles and Seaberries

As prepared by Tim and Sally Eller, July 23, 2010

This is a surprising combination of chanterelles and Seaberries with cod that tastes like a standard rather than an innovation. The Chanterelles give it an airy tartness reminiscent of apricots, and the Seaberries stand in for the tartness of lemon juice. We did this with the first golden chanterelles of the year, which were extraordinary. (They were collected from our secret spot in the Finger Lakes National Forest on July 22, 2010.)

The Seaberry juice is easy…zap 1/3 cup of fresh berries in the microwave; then run the batch through a fine sieve. Do this before starting the rest of the recipe.

Try this with a nice Muscadet or tart dry Riesling…

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

½ pound fresh chanterelles, cleaned, cut into 1/3-inch-thick slices

2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped

1/8 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley

1/3 cup dry white wine

1 tsp fresh Seaberry juice (see above)

1 – 1 ¼ lb fresh cod

1 tablespoons dry unseasoned bread crumbs

1 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F. Melt butter with 2 tablespoons oil in large brassier pan over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until beginning to color. Stir in garlic and parsley. Add wine; simmer until almost evaporated, scraping up browned bits in skillet, about 1 minute. Remove

from heat. Stir in Seaberry juice. Season with salt and pepper.

Push mushrooms to one side of the pan. Place cod in pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover with mushroom mixture. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and Parmesan; drizzle with remaining 1tablespoon oil. Bake until fish is opaque in center, about 10 to 12 minutes. Instant thermometer inserted in thickest part of filet should be 130 degrees F.

Serve with a side of easy veggies like zucchini and yellow squash with tomato, shallots and garlic, and with brown rice.

Again this week you will receive a mix of berries – 3 varieties of gooseberries, black, pink, and white currants, black and red raspberries, plus a medley of some other berries.  I was informed by one share holder that he was not going to tolerate my “anti-biking” sentiment when it came to transporting berries.  #6 made a clam shell by taking last week’s berry boxes and nested them on top of his pints and half pints for this week.  His berries were well protected and he happily biked home.  There you go. 

We have had more red raspberry woes.  The one variety that was unaffected by virus this year, the Encores, are now suffering from sunburn.  We are able to selectively pick for CSA members but not in the quantity we would have liked to.  We will be planting a new row of reds next year.

And how about a gooseberry cocktail – (as shared by a member) muddle some gooseberries, add bourbon, seltzer water, and a dash of lemonade.

Some of our CSA members are taking their love of berries to new levels.  One member reports totaling her car after picking up her berries last week.  She escaped unharmed, but not before crawling into the back seat of her crumpled car to rescue her berries.  On the darker side, we did have a member take an extra half pint of berries.  Recently retired from a distinguished career, a community volunteer, and a huge weeding help on the farm- yet when berries were involved something switched, something sinister and unexpected.  

Okay, she did bring the berries back (maybe a few were missing?).  

We love the berries too.  So much that I did actually bake on this hot day –  oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with black currants.  I highly recommend pairing chocolate and currants.  For the serious bakers – the gooseberry pie and the currant pie are fantastic!  John is up for a slice of each every day left on the side porch (hint, hint).

One other fruit suggestion – black raspberry or red currant vinaigrette.

This week we have a plethora of berries ripening.  CSA members will share in this bounty – and get some unique fruit.  IFM shoppers will find our booth filled with a diverse mix of gooseberries, currants, and raspberries. 

What to do with all these berries?  Much of the fruit should be enjoyed fresh – especially the gooseberries which store in the fridge well.  For those of you interested in jam and jelly making,  the Hinnomaki Red Gooseberries and red currants make excellent single varietal jams.  We love black currant jam, but it also delicious when mixed with black or red raspberries.  As someone noted, the Invicta Gooseberry jam does not look appealing.  However, it can be juiced and made into jelly.  It is fun to experiment with different fruit blends.  We prefer to use Pomona Pectin (found at Greenstar) as it does not require sugar to jell.  We use honey as a sweetener.  Cooperative Extension is hosting upcoming canning classes: http://ccetompkins.org/nutrition/food-preservation

Freezing the berries is another option.  It is great fun to pull out a bag in the middle of winter to bake muffins, to make delicious fruit smoothies, and Idunn loves to snack on frozen currants.  You can also use the frozen berries to make jam or jelly when you have more time.  The currants and smaller Black Velvet gooseberries are best for pancakes.  The berries can also be cooked down into a sauce.  I should note that gooseberries are high in vitamin C and with frozen berries I can avoid purchasing tropical fruit altogether.  The New York State Hort Society just released a study on black raspberries which shows they are off the chart with antioxidant capacity.  http://www.nyshs.org/pdf/2009-Volume-17/Vol-17-No-1/Antioxidant-Capacity-of-Phenolic-Phytochemicals-in-Black-Raspberries.pdf

That said I am off to cook waffles which we will top with the Gooseberry Fool Michele dropped off.  It is delicious!  Michele is baking with berries in season so remember to check her blog: http://thehaywardhouse-aviewfromtheporch.blogspot.com/

I apologize for the lack of a recipe section yet, the berries began and everything else ended.

..and so are the Jonkherr van Tets red currants, the Pink Champagne currants, Bristol black raspberries, and the ever popular Hinnomaki Red gooseberries.  The Pink Champagne currants are sweeter in flavor than the red currants.  These are great eaten fresh and are used as a baby’s first fruit throughout Europe.  All currants freeze well.   

Need recipe ideas?  We will include a recipe page off of the fruit page in the next few days.   First, check out the Hayward House B&B blog where Michele is posting recipe ideas:  http://thehaywardhouse.com/

Ellie sent us a delicious mixed berry crumble recipe that we’ll work on getting posted.  Email if you would like a copy.

Hurray, we can finally begin!  The weather was not exactly kind to the cherries this year – early, hot temperatures, cool weather, and the rain the past week.  The Julelium Hungarian Tart cherries did ripen and we are picking those this week along with strawberries. 

We will begin our Saturday IFM market on June 12th at booth #51 and Tuesday market on June 15th at Dewitt Park.   We will have plenty of duck eggs for sale along with bench grafted apple trees.