We're All Ears!

Although the heat has been turned up for a while now, this week is the official first of the summer. The crops are going looking good as we continue to put in hours and hours of hard work to make sure we produce the best product we can. With that comes lots and lots of tomato’s, zucchini, greens beans (oh the taste of fresh green beans cooked in bacon with potatoes) and of course sweet corn! Check out these photo’s of our early corn. It’s going to be ready hopefully within the next couple weeks and we can’t wait to have some.

To tide you over here is a yummy looking recipe I stumbled across in Southern Living Magazine.

I believe I’m going to give it a whirl tonight. Sacrficing heating up the house with the oven will be worth it. It looks super easy and let’s face it… Cheese, corn and bread can’t be all that bad!

Fresh Corn-and-Asiago Cheese Bread Pudding

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 (12-oz.) French bread loaf, cut into 1-inch cubes (8 cups)
4 cups fresh corn kernels
1 1/2 cups (6 oz.) shredded Asiago cheese

1. Whisk together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl; add bread, tossing to coat. Let stand 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 375°. Stir corn and cheese into bread mixture; spoon into a well-buttered 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Off and Running!

Wowza! What a great week we had last week. Time flies when you’re having fun and working like crazy people. Last week we stretched ourselves to the limit by going to several different locations to promote the farm and sell our fresh grown produce but it was completely worth it! I mentioned last week that we were heading to Columbia to the Farm to Table Festival on Mizzou’s campus. We met lots of people, reconnected with old friends and the best part is that we had the chance to tell them all about what we do. We were even fortunate enough to have the photo of our booth on the cover of The Missourian newspaper. Check out the photo!
Even through more rain over the past few days, the crops are still growing well. The pumpkins are starting to peep through the soil and we’re looking forward to the tomatos coming in full force. Here are a couple pics of Tomato Berries. They’re a new variety we’re trying out this year. Cute little guys aren’t they? They look like strawberries, a favorite fruit around here, but taste like tomatoes. Tasty!

Ready to Rock!

This is by far one of our favorite times of the year. The past couple week’s we’ve been running 90 to nothing, hence the gap in blogging, and gearing up for what we would call the super bowl of our year otherwise known as PRODUCE SEASON! This is the time of the year of 23 second phone calls about 15 times a day, eating on the run, sweating, suntans and little sleep. While other’s vacation during the summer we’re planting, picking and packing our goods for deliveries and markets. Some days I really feel like we’ve lost our minds but it’s completely worth it. Especially when our customer’s enjoy their first Fahrmeier Farms tomato, make a big batch of salsa using our peppers, onions, tomatoes and herbs or enjoy one of our fresh picked berries.
This week we will be at the Farm to Table event at the University of Missouri- Columbia (MIZ- ZOU! Sorry...had to get that in there!) promoting and selling our veggies and goods. We’re hosting a wedding at the winery at the farm and will be at our usual farmer’s markets in KC this weekend too. It’s so much fun meeting lots of new people and telling them about our farm and what we do.

Above is a pic of Bret working the fields and prepping to plant more pumpkins...Yes, it's already time to think about the fall.

It's All About Timing...

As the old saying goes, “If you’re on time you’re late and if you’re early you’re on time”. This is the case with a couple of our crops so far this year. Our red raspberries are growing like wild fire and our early tomatoes are starting to get ripe. Both crops are running about 2 weeks ahead of our schedule which makes our hearts smile!

Timing is everything on the farm and anticipating the wants and needs of our customers is something we work very hard at doing. With some more luck and lots of prayers this dryer weather will allow everything to catch up and jump start their growth.

Watching the plants grow is like dangling candy in front of a baby! It makes us want to eat the produce immediately but is so worth the wait when it’s fresh. We hope everyone enjoyed their first delivery of CSA’s. We appreciate any and all feedback we can get from our guests and customers! Now…back to work! The produce needs us!

Carrying On About Our Business

So we’re thinking about building an arc here at the farm…with all the rainy weather it feels like summer will never come. I believe we’ve even stopped checking the rain gauge knowing there’s just going to be more to dump out. Somehow with the all the moisture everything is still looking healthy and growing. On the upside, our first week of CSA’s are being delivered this week, we’ve been hosting some school tours, market weekends have been going strong and our roadside market is now open on the weekends with fresh asparagus, a few strawberries, bedding plants and a few other items. Stop by and see us soon! The market is located just west of Lexington on 24 highway.

With all of the veggies on the verge of finishing growth and ripening it’s easy to stay optimistic through it all. Here is a pic of the sweet corn taken the other day when the sun was actually out. Can’t wait for it to be ready! Everything sweet corn related is a hit around here.

And here is a pic of some okra- still in its growth stage of course but any growth is good growth. The fuzzy stuff will be ready June to July and is a good source of vitamin A and K. Most people like it fried but a favorite here is to eat it pickled from the jar.

If you're looking for a different way to fix Okra here’s an easy recipe to add to your collection. It was found in the Seasonal and Simple guide from the University of Missouri Extension Service. Enjoy!

Crusty Okra

2 tbls. Bread Crumbs
3 tbls. Parmesan Cheese, grated
1 tbls. Cornmeal
3 c. Okra, sliced
¼ c. Olive Oil
2 Garlic Cloves, minced

Mix bread crumbs, cheese and cornmeal. Add the okra and stir to coat. Heat the olive oil, then sauté the okra and garlic for about 5 to 10 minutes. Most of the roping should disappear and the okra should be tender.

CSA's Are On The Way, Yummy New Recipes Shared Today!

Just a little heads up. We will be starting our CSA’s next week! Of course since it’s still early to have lots of crops everyone will be getting some asparagus which around here, getting some of the fresh stuff is like winning the lottery. Be checking your email for more information.

And now for a really important topic…Rhubarb. I’ve always thought that this odd plant was something that only an 80 year old grandma would enjoy cooking with but boy have I been proven wrong in recent days! Sorry to all you younger folks that have come to know and love this vibrant plant before me. You’re a true pioneer. We stumbled upon this ridiculously easy recipe, made a couple changes to suit our tastebuds and made this creation with flavors and color unlike any out of the freezer pie or cobbler. Serve this cobbler warm with vanilla ice cream and be prepared to want seconds! I added a cup of halved strawberries, because we had some fresh picked ones in our fridge and it worked out very nicely.I’ve never really cared for cooked strawberries, it’s a consistency thing but trust me, in this, it’s very much worth it!

Turn somthing kind of odd looking into...

This! A very "rustic" rhubarb cobbler. Baked in Missouri made pottery I might add...

Make this for your family tonight. They will thank you!

Easy Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler

• 3 cups Diced Rhubarb

• 1 cup strawberry’s, halved

• 2 tablespoons Orange Zest

• 1 package Strawberry Jello, 3 Oz. Box

• ½ cups Flour

• 1 cup Sugar

• ½ teaspoons Cinnamon

• ¼ cups Butter, Softened

Place diced rhubarb and strawberries in a small baking pan. Sprinkle zest over the top then sprinkle the package of strawberry jello over the rhubarb mixture. Combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Sprinkle over the top of the rhubarb goodness.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until it’s bubbly.

Fresh picked early berries!

Cook Out Time!

Bret and I love lots of things but two of our very favorites is cooking and spending time with our family and friends. When we get to combine the two it’s even better! Over the past four days we’ve had dinner with the Fahrmeier family 3 times, at two of these dinner’s I brought a salad that was literally a brain child made on the fly using the fresh ingredients that we had in our fridge. It was a hit with our family so I thought I would share it with you.
The items are simple but good and it’s an easy recipe to adapt to make your own also. After careful thought about the quantities of the items used (because I usually don’t measure things out when cooking) here is the recipe for what I’ll call the “On the Fly Asparagus Salad”. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! What I like most about it is that it’s using some things that we already have growing on the farm!


“On the Fly Asparagus Salad”

1 lb. Fresh Asparagus break stalks in 2 and blanch until bright green

8 cups Red Leaf Lettuce or your favorite spring mix salad blend

1 half of a Red Onion thin sliced

3 cups Cherry Tomatoes, halved

1 small container of Feta Cheese

Dressing:

¾ cup Olive Oil

¼ cup White Vinegar

1 tblsp. Dijon Mustard

1 tblsp. Minced Garlic

Small handful of minced basil (rosemary and terragon will be good)

Salt and Pepper to taste
How to:

With a wire whisk mix all ingredients for the dressing in a small bowl until fully blended and set aside. Place Asparagus, Lettuce, Onion and Tomatoes in your favorite salad bowl and toss together. Take dressing and pour over salad and toss again. Once all ingredients are coated, top with the feta cheese and serve!

It truly is simple but so tasty. We enjoyed it last night with beef kabobs and a black bean salad.