We were glad to add our voices to the excellent testimony and vibrant buzz at the State House Wednesday, rallying stakeholders to support legislators to get behind a proposed $500,000 of additional tourism investment. This infographic overview of VT tourism presents the overall status. We are grateful for the formation of a dynamic new alliance and caucus of legislators organizing to steer money toward this proactive investment.
It really felt like history was in the making, a pivot point to reinvest in this strength. Of all days to be at the State House… Mari looked up to see a real live Green Mountain Boy in full late 1700s regalia and quick conversation revealed that the Green Mountain Boys were raising their commemorative flag to honor Revolutionary War fighters.
Thanks to the members of Col. Seth Warner’s Extra-Continental Regiment, a volunteer group of living historians the Food revolutionaries at Green Mountain Girls Farm and the revolutionary Green Mountain Boys finally got a chance to meet!
January isn’t usually thought of as the height of great local food in Vermont, but our farmstand is stocked with a wide range of delicious and healthy offers. We will have fresh greens when the weather allows and frozen for in between or your larger needs.
This week at our Farmstand you can find:
• Eggs*
Fresh/Stored Veggies
• Beets
• Black Currants, frozen • Cabbage, Red & Green • Carrots (us & FSF) • Celeriac • Chard, frozen • Delicata Squash • Garlic • Ginger, Baby (LRF), frozen • Onions: yellow, Red & Blush
• Potatoes: Satina, Purple Viking, Caribe • Pumpkins: Winter Luxury & Long Pie Pumpkins *
• Spinach
• Sweet Potatoes • Tomatoes, Frozen • Winter Squash: Butternut, Buttercup, baby blue hubbard
• Organic Kidney, Pinto & Black Beans, Morningstar Farm
• Honey Mead Vinegar, Artesano
• Cyser (Apple & Honey Mead) vinegar, Artesano
• Maple Balsamic Vinegar, Artesano
• Vermont Apple Cider Vinegar, Artesano
• Farmstead Pizza from Field Stone Farm
• Cider Syrup, Brookfield Bees
• Honey, Brookfield Bees
• Maple Syrup, Brookfield Bees
This Week’s Member Special
All of the above is available for members and retail shoppers, but we also offer some specials for our members. To learn more about our flexible, free Choice Farm Share memberships, see the details on our website.
• Eggs
• Pumpkins
• Odd Bits (organ meats, pork heads, feet, etc)
• Bones
Farm Stand (Fully Stocked) & Open Farm Hours: Thursdays 3:30 – 6:30pm
Self-Serve Farmstand: Every Day 7am-7pm
Call us with any questions 802-505-9840
We recently dined at Kismet and yes, had to have their bread pudding! It reminded me that we learned to make it last winter and the time has come to drink & eat more bone broth — here is a great way to eat it!
Friends are wonderful for so many reasons, one of which is inspiration and new recipes. Our friends Brent & Liz, fabulous cooks that took over our kitchen this weekend, came with new recipes that work well with our farm fresh ingredients. This was the most decadent one. Decadent, but also so comforting and delicious. To add to the weekend’s decadence and for a comparison, we also dined at Kismet and had their bread pudding. They are similar in style, deliciousness, so make some at home AND have a version at Kismet!
One of her key notes, ” This dish is about the marriage of bread and stock, so the better these are, the better the panade will be. And don’t be afraid to really submerge the bread in the stock before baking.”
Ingredients
Bread, something delicious, crusty & available to soak up broth, but now stale (1 lb or so; enough to fit your pan)
6-8 tablespoons of Butter, poultry fat, lard or other good fat
4 lbs (or so) of onions, thinly sliced
salt
2 Tablespoons nice vinegar (we used local cider vinegar)
1/4 cup wine or hard cider
5-6 cups bone broth, anything good will work
2-4 cups of grated cheese (original recipe calls for a mix of gruyere & parmesan, we used some of those and some Vermont tarentaise. Cheddar would also work as would a mix of cheeses. Kismet has worked in some blue cheese, which is lovely! – cheese as you like it by type and volume)
Directions
Make sure bread is dry/stale.
If not already, slice and put on a cookie sheet in the oven to toast and dry. She calls for a crusty sourdough. We used what we had in the freezer, which was a mix of Red Hen baguette and one of Deeter’s hearty german style rye.
Caramelize the onions
Using a sturdy pot, cast iron pan or dutch oven, melt 4-5 tablespoons of your fat of choice over medium heat, once melted add the sliced onions and a teaspoon of salt. Cook covered for 15 minutes, occasionally stirring (wooden spoon is best).
If at 15 min, onions have cooked down a bit and released some liquid, remove the cover and increase heat a bit to medium high. Continue cooking and stir regularly until onions are tender and dark golden, about 45 minutes.
Turn off the heat and add vinegar and wine/cider and stir to deglaze the pan. Taste and adjust as necessary. They should be “sweet, savory and pleasantly tangy.” We had to add a bit more vinegar. Put finished onions aside in a bowl.
Heat the broth
Once onions are removed, heat the broth in the pan used to caramelize the onions, this will allow you to get all that goodness that may have been left behind. As it warms, scrape pan well. Taste and add a smidge of salt if needed, though if you are going to use salty cheese, go easy or skip any additional salt.
Prep Cheese
Shred or grate your cheeses and mix together
Assemble & Bake
Preheat oven to 425
Grease (with butter or fat of choice) a baking pan. She uses a 9×13 baking dish, we used a 10 inch (though could have used a 12 inch) cast iron pan. It was fabulous and super pretty in the cast iron.
Line bottom with a layer of the bread, breaking up pieces as need to get a fairly solid layer.
Spoon half the onions over the bread and then sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese and you could add some pepper at this point
Do another layer of bread, rest of onions and 1/3 cheese
Final layer of bread (hold remaining cheese till end)
Ladle 3 cups (or so) of broth over the panade and then wait a few minutes, allowing bread to absorb it (you can poke or press it a bit to help it absorb) Add as much more broth as possible without overflowing. (we nearly overflowed so baked it with a cookie sheet under it)
Can dot top layer of bread with a few tablespoons of butter
Cover with parchment paper and foil and put in the oven
Bake 30 minutes covered (or a bit less if using convection), then remove foil & parchment. We checked at this point to see if we could add a bit more broth and added a little bit.
Sprinkle with remaining cheese and return to oven for 15 minutes more. Bake until golden brown.
Allow panade to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving
If you have leftovers, we added broth during our reheating either in oven or microwave both as a way to get more broth in and to ensure it didn’t dry out.
The Rural Economic Development Working Group heard testimony Wednesday evening (including from Mari) as they develop their legislative program to grow and sustain rural communities. I write to embolden them as leaders and encourage all of us to reframe how we see Vermont’s potential.
Green Mountain Girls Farm exists to contribute to a future within which Vermont persists as a global geotourism leader and as a place where farms succeed by working with natural cycles, providing healthy food and creating stronger rural communities.
Our farm links with humanity as we struggle to bridge divides and solve our global syndemic of obesity, under-nourishment, chronic disease and climate change. We are inspired by young people who work and shop at our farm. They stand together with Greta Thunberg, Time’s Person of the Year, striking out, living and spending with strong values of wellness, social fairness and ecological responsibility.
Young
twin girls visited our farm from London with their CEO dad and sophisticated
mom recently. One blurted out “this is more fun that our house in Bali!” To
which the twin added with emphasis, “and it has 3 pools’! We cherish our hill
farms but do we think of them competing with 3 pools in an opulent home in
Bali? Can
we sell our slice of sunshine at an equivalent price differential as our bold
brothers in craft brews?
Vermont has been selected to host the 2nd Global Agritourism gathering in the fall of 2020.You will hear about preparations underway. The first Agritourism World Congress was hosted in Italy, 2 years back. It is time for Vermont to comprehend our potential and capture the possibilities alive within the authenticity of our working lands and functioning ecosystems. Vermont had North America’s first alpine ski lift. Can we invest adequately to tap Ski Vermont type potential in regenerative agritourism?
Farmstay guests finding joy while trimming crops for pigs on pasture
I hope as a state and community we invest in the strength of our working lands and ecological wholeness, the authenticity and essence which is Vermont’s brand.
Looking for something new to add to the dinner party or just a festive, but easy new way to serve potatoes, or sweet potatoes? Look no further – this recipe transforms your everyday potato into something magical with minimal prep. These have become a favorite of many over the past few years. Some call them crispy Swedish Potatoes, but most often that are called Hasselback potatoes after the Stockholm restaurant that started serving them in the 40’s. It works great with sweet potatoes too. Go basic or play with the herbs and spices you use.
Ingredients
1 fist-sized sized potato per person or go larger and just give it more baking time (baking or sweet potato)
Cooking fat (lard works great, but could be schmaltz, roast pork fat, butter or olive oil), roughly 1 Tbsp per potato (you will probably not use all of it)
Garlic cloves, sliced
Salt (infused or smoked salts dress the recipe up nicely)
Herbs of your choice, rosemary, thyme…or you could go spicy
Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 425. Melt the fat if needed.
2. Slice the potatoes by putting them on a cutting board with another cutting board or wooden spoon snug up against the potato to help catch the knife and keep you from cutting all the way through the potato. Make cuts close together across the potato, as if you were cutting discs for chips, but do not cut all the way through (the spoon or cutting board should make this easier).
3. You will need a baking dish with sides (a cookie sheet with low sides works fine) that will fit all the potatoes with some room between them, they won’t get crispy if they’re too crowded. Coat the bottom of the dish and brush the tops of the potatoes with fat and stuff some garlic slices in between the potato slices.
4. Every ten or fifteen minutes brush or baste the potatoes with fat again. The last time you baste them, sprinkle them with salt. You can also add pepper or other herbs and spices. Bake the potatoes until they are easily pierced with a knife and are golden to crispy on the edges, usually 40-60 minutes.
5. Serve alone for a festival-food snack or as a side.
Donna’s hasselback potatoes, tatsoi and pork chops with black currant gastrique
• Organic Kidney, Pinto & Black Beans, Morningstar Farm
• Honey Mead Vinegar, Artesano
• Cyser (Apple & Honey Mead) vinegar, Artesano
• Maple Balsamic Vinegar, Artesano
• Vermont Apple Cider Vinegar, Artesano
• Farmstead Pizza from Field Stone Farm
• Cider Syrup, Brookfield Bees
• Honey, Brookfield Bees
• Maple Syrup, Brookfield Bees
This Week’s Member Special
All of the above is available for members and retail shoppers, but we also offer some specials for our members. To learn more about our flexible, free Choice Farm Share memberships, see the details on our website.
• Odd Bits (organ meats, pork heads, feet, etc)
• Bones
Farm Stand (Fully Stocked) & Open Farm Hours: Thursdays 3:30 – 6:30pm
Self-Serve Farmstand: Every Day 7am-7pm
Call us with any questions 802-505-9840
Gratitude is a renewable resource and there is SO much to be grateful for, but it is often difficult to hold ourselves in that space. A blessing of this holiday season, is that it tends to pull us all back to those basics.
As we finish matching our pastured turkeys with the folks they’ll feed this coming week and try to finish getting ready for the winter that has actually already begun, we take a few moments to highlight some of our gratefuls.
We feel so fortunate to be have the opportunity to grow food regeneratively, in ways that capture the greatest potential of the sun, rain and natural systems, while enhancing food quality, plant health, soil life and ecosystem services. Farming in a way that prioritizes wellness and ecological health feels like both a luxury and a necessity.
Our supportive and patient customers, I hope you know the difference you make. How you choose to spend your food dollars can determine whether local, regenerative farms exist in your community or don’t. By choosing to purchase directly from farms you are making it all possible. And this farmer can attest to the value of the emotional support that also gets delivered with those consistent, regular purchases. It is the renewable resource of gratitude in action.
I feel myself smile and stand up straighter and as I relay a story or message to the rest of the farm team, I see the smiles amidst the dusty, sweaty faces and feel the uplifted mood despite the challenges of the day. So thank you. You and your shopping and your stories of enjoying the food do matter.
Being part of an amazing community of farmers:Can’t even name them all, but a few special treasures for us this year are Hannah Blackmer at Field Stone Farm for a fabulous partnership.
Sure, grateful for the gorgeous and tasty produce she has provided for our farmstand, but even more for being a strong and supportive partner at the Farmers Market with style, consistency and always space to share the joys and challenges of farming, all while also shouldering being president of the Montpelier Farmers Market.
Nicko from East Hill Tree Farm was so present in our minds this year as we watched our apples and pears fill with abundant, gorgeous fruit. His kind and steady tutelage and collaboration as we’ve planted, pruned and shepherded our young orchard is paying off. In fact, we crushed, pressed and canned the last batch of cider and applesauce just this week! And there is a gorgeous crate of apples headed for celebratory pies.
And of course our daily community of farmers make this farm possible.
The world (us included) worry about the age demographics of farmers. We are grateful that there are still young people interested in farming, for a summer and for a career. Unfortunately, it is still an uphill career challenge, but we hope together as a community we can make it both an attractive and viable path.
While the intangibles keep many of us going, it isn’t enough to enable many folks to farm for the long term. At your Thanksgiving meal, do thank the farmers, all of them, because their days were long, not always easy and probably not remunerated as well as we’d all hope.
10 years of farming, learning and sharing together It stills feels a bit unbelievable that our farm celebrated its 10th Anniversary this year.
As we sit down to each meal with friends and family, we are blessed to intimately know most of the food on the table and the care and grit with which it was grown. For that, we are deeply grateful.
May you too experience the joy of knowing where your food comes from, how it lived, and how your purchases contribute towards your dreams for the world.
• Organic Kidney, Pinto & Black Beans, Morningstar Farm
• Honey Mead Vinegar, Artesano
• Cyser (Apple & Honey Mead) vinegar, Artesano
• Maple Balsamic Vinegar, Artesano
• Vermont Apple Cider Vinegar, Artesano
• Farmstead Pizza from Field Stone Farm
• Cider Syrup, Brookfield Bees
• Honey, Brookfield Bees
• Maple Syrup, Brookfield Bees
This Week’s Member Special
All of the above is available for members and retail shoppers, but we also offer some specials for our members. To learn more about our flexible, free Choice Farm Share memberships, see the details on our website.
• Herbs
• Odd Bits (organ meats, pork heads, feet, etc)
• Bones
• All Goat Cuts
Farm Stand (Fully Stocked) & Open Farm Hours: Thursdays 3:30 – 6:30pm
Self-Serve Farmstand: Every Day 7am-7pm
Call us with any questions 802-505-9840
Triage seems overly dramatic. Squirreling away too proactive
and everyday. How to describe the stimulating challenge of bringing everyone
and everything in out of winter’s way? Did our ancestors read the skies and
feel the press and know to scurry?
All aboard! Our truck-tractor helped us haul veg in fast AND then work in civilized temps.
Our team, like all sorts of folks who work outside, triangulated weather apps during lunch. Déjà vu! (SnowVember 2018)
Ordinary Fall systems didn’t work and carrot washing was an icy affair!
On the one hand last year’s early and sudden onset winter gave us a bit of a template and we sorted, sifted and selected from our fall prep lists. It seemed though with each day the predictions intensified and actual temps seemed to clock in below the predicted.
We cannot say it happened without a hitch!
Single digits in the forecast put some pep in the pacing of some seasonal projects, including t-post pounding.
Poor Darienne! Friday’s pro-active greens harvest aimed to trim lush high tunnel greens which might not be able to handle predicted low temps. Monday morning, with temps predicted to plummet much further, she and Christina diligently headed back to cut more. These plants can typically handle winter but often temps step down instead of dive. So many decisions!
Darienne tucking in the spinach, cilantro, chard, kale, lettuce Asian greens and parsley.
With the beets, Brussels and carrots it was much more
straight forward. Haul them in! As for livestock, we wish they were still
enjoying the stimulation of pasture, scattering fertility, but they and we are
much better off with them in winter positions.
Rin Tin Tin, Tiggles and Toto dress up the barnyard, which won’t be PG some days next week.Balto and Griz also prepare to create the next generation of pork.
The best things about farming besides eating well and meeting great folks are that we are close with the elements and we sleep very well!
All farmers wound up tired but Uno’s coat really adds perspective on the onslought!
Well, at least that is what it feels like. Thanks to some very busy, long days the farmstand and walk-in are chock full of goodness that had still been in the field last week! All safe & ready to enjoy despite the sudden snow and single digit temperatures.
Now onto some of our processing agenda. We plan to have lard & hopefully pate starting Sunday at the market and then throughout the holiday season!
Fresh Pizzas: Caramelized Onion, Fennel & Olive; Spinach Bechamel with peppers and artichokes; tomato cheese
This week at our Farmstand you can find:
• Eggs
Fresh/Stored Veggies
• Beets (Red, Golden & Chioggia)
• Black Currants, frozen • Bok Choy (Field Stone Farm) • Broccoli • Brussels Sprouts
• Cabbage, Red & Green • Carrots* (both) • Celeriac • Chard • Delicata Squash • Garlic • Ginger, Baby (LRF), frozen
• Herbs* (Parsley & dried Sage) • Kale • Komutsuna (Field Stone Farm)
• Leeks (Field Stone Farm) • Onions: Sweet, yellow & Red
• Potatoes
• Salad Turnips (Field Stone Farm)
• Spinach
• Sweet Potatoes (Last Resort Farm) • Winter Squash: Honeynut (Last Resort Farm), Buttercup, baby blue hubbard, Pumpkins & Butternut
• Kidney, Pinto & Black Beans, Morningstar Farm
• Honey Mead Vinegar, Artesano
• Cyser (Apple & Honey Mead) vinegar, Artesano
• Maple Balsamic Vinegar, Artesano
• Vermont Apple Cider Vinegar, Artesano
• Farmstead Pizza from Field Stone Farm
• Cider Syrup, Brookfield Bees
• Honey, Brookfield Bees
• Maple Syrup, Brookfield Bees
This Week’s Member Special
All of the above is available for members and retail shoppers, but we also offer some specials for our members. To learn more about our flexible, free Choice Farm Share memberships, see the details on our website.
Receive weekly or seasonal updates from the farm including recipes, farm happenings, event announcements, and what's on sale this week at our farm stand. Subscribe
Happy New Year!
Happy December!
Happy Thanksgiving to All!
Holy Deep Winter….