What a Handful!

As we were loading the truck for market the other day, I came across this ENORMOUS heirloom tomato!

And this HUGE apple! :-)

They're quite a handful!:-)

Recipes for Red Beets

Here are some recipes and ideas that were emailed to us by some of of our CSA's. Since red beets are the "most unwanted item" on all of our CSA subscription forms, my Mother is trying to get people to branch out and try new things. So we asked our CSA's for their advice on how the would fix reb beets. This is what some of them came up with:

Roasted Beets

Wrap each beet in foil,(no need to peel) and roast in a pan at 435 for about an hour, or until a fork or a skewer punctures the beet easily (you can do it through the foil). Keep them in the foil until you want to use them, and the skin just comes right off!!

Pickled Beet and Onion Salad

Combine 1 cup cooked sliced beets

1/2 cup sliced onion

2 TBS cider vinegar

2 tsp sugar or equiv. sugar sub,

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

And I'll see if I can post more later!

Try these recipes out and see how they go!

Recipes and ideas

We've been receiving a lot of emails from our CSA members detailing how they prepare their produce each week. We thought it would be great if members could read about other members' cooking ideas. Feel free to comment on this post with your favorite recipes, ideas, etc.

Sorry its been so LONG!!!!!!!

WOW!!!!!

It's been a LONG time since I last posted!

We've been keeping very busy with CSA's, baking, and just farm work in general.

Here are some pictures I took about two weeks ago. These are piles of shallots, spring onions, and radishes which had just been pulled and cleaned.

Here is the rhubarb and asparagus.

My mom wrote several weeks ago in an email that I would be posting pictures of the now-installed solar panels. Well, as you can tell, I'm just now getting around to that! :) Here are some pictures that I took.

And that is all for now. Hopefully, I won't wait QUITE so long before the next post!!!!:)

Bees, and Solar Panels!

Whew! Its been a busy week for us!

With getting ready for our CSA season to start, as well as all of the other things that need to get done, we've been keeping really busy!

Yesterday we had one of our Bee Hives swarm. They gathered on a nearby butterfly bush.

Fortunately, my Dad was able to catch them all before they flew away. They're in a new hive now, but they're still REALLY mad. :)


Another BIG thing going on, is our Solar Panels!
We've been talking about getting them, but we still were working out the details.
But yesterday, they came and began work on the garage. As of right now, there are ten panels in place!



And then, just some random pictures of the garden.

Our lettuce is looking REALLY nice!!!!

We're just glad that the rabbit's haven't gotten to it!

Our Strawberries are in now! We've been picking for the past week, and each picking gets bigger and bigger!

And that is all for right now! I'll write more later!

Planting

Well! A lot has been going on lately! We haven't had time to write on the blog in awhile!

This is just going to be an update on our produce which is growing VERY fast!

These are some of our blueberry bushes. They have already flowered, and now they have berries on them.

One of our patches of Strawberries. They are flowering right now.
Long rows of peas and garlic. :) I wonder who will be picking them this year? ;)

Some of the little green strawberries which are on the plants. They should start ripening within two to three weeks.

Our lettuce is doing very well, as you can see!

Some Pepper plants.

TONS of Tomato plants!

Some of our Rhubarb

This is the top garden, which is full of peas, onions, carrots, and red beets.

As I was walking past the bee hives, I noticed the bees hard at work.. So I took this picture to put here on the blog.

That's mainly what we've been up to. Planting and weeding mostly. Today Lydia, Daddy and I planted lots of Okra, and artichoke! :)

That's it for now! Until later!

Hello to all of our CSA Members, and anyone else who might stop in!

For those just visiting our blog for the first time, we would like to introduce ourselves.

We are the Keckler Family. We are a small farm located in Gardners, Pennsylvania. Growing and distributing fresh produce is our goal in what we do.

This Family photo was taken at our daughter, Katie's wedding last year. From the Left : Sarah, Tamara, Stuart, Mark, (Lydia's fiance), Gregg, Louise, Lydia , Ryan,(Katie's husband), Katie, John and Meriam,(Louise's parents), Oliver, Martha, Daniel,(Martha's boyfriend), and Virginia.

We have created this blog so that our CSA's have a way of "keeping in touch" with us, and also a way to see whats going on around the farm.

These past few weeks, our Apple and Peach trees have been blooming. I (Virginia) was able to get some pictures of the Apple Blossoms.





This was the first picking of Rhubarb from our smaller patch. We were very happy with the amount we got. Each picking will get progressively larger through the season.


This is the first picking of our Asparagus. Although it may not look like much, there's about 22 pounds of Asparagus in the buckets. We're keeping them in our walk-in cooler to keep them fresh. We've also grilled some up for eating!! :) (It is VERY good!)
As with the Rhubarb, each picking is getting larger and larger.

That's all we have for right now. Keep posted for more updates on whats happening at the farm!!!