Winter Storm Warning Fresh Soups!! Vt Grown and Made!

Hi,
Heading out the door to deliver fresh soups to Hunger Mtn Coop and Red Hen. Having some fun and made a Cream of "Loaded Baked Potato" yup it has all the goodies in it. The other soup is a Jacobs Cattle Bean Minestroni. Plenty of tomato and basil in it and the beans have great flavor they are an old heirloom.

Spinach harvesting starts this weekend, the heat and sun of this week have really moved it along. The salad house is still a bit behind but getting there.

Sun just keeps coming, chickens just keep laying

As long as I can make it through the very cold mudroom and into the greenhouse I can spend the whole day in the greenhouse. Sunny and 80 degrees in there. Seeded radishes, salad turnips, and some new greens. Weeding in Feb. is something I am still trying to get used to. Easier now than in June though. Thinking about a cream of baked potato soup for Friday. Not sure what the other one will be yet.

Summer in the greenhouses! woohoo!

Well what a day. Just collected 21lbs of salad mix in the greenhouse. It was 85 degrees in there! Meanwhile outside it was 21 degrees. Ahh feels good to be workin the dirt in a tshirt!   Peeps are doing very well. I have only lost 4 so far. Spinach house is lookin great. A fair amount of loss in the lettuce house. Need to get replacements goin and start resetting some of the beds.

Market today----What happened to spring? Soups On!!!

Good Morning, Wow, snow and 40 mph wind gusts up here this morning. Winter is back for a few more weeks I think. Headed to market today.
Bringing some of the best tasting spinach I have had all winter. Limited amount still though since things are still trying to get going in there. The warm temps the last few days have really helped things along though. No salad today. It just was not there nor was my backside. Plenty of eggs and two great tasting soups.

Gingered Coconut & Sweet Potato w/ Peanuts

Lemon Ginger Chicken Soup w/ Brown Rice.

Also Fermented food workshops today at market.

Spinach!!!! In Feb!!!!!

Wow, What a day! Procrastinating a bit on the harvesting to enjoy the sun and warmth. So market tomorrow for those of you who have not escaped to some exotic winter break spot. Last year I was flying to Huntingtonbeach, Calf. at this time. Ah well.
Great soups at the Co-Op ----Cream of Tomato with mostly tomato in it. Try some saltines on it.
                                              -African Sweet Potato and Peanut, unique and really tasty, some chilis and ginger in it make it tasty.
At Red Hen and for the Market tomorrow the same. Remember 10-2pm Saturday at the VCFA gym.

New peeps arrived this morning at 6 am and doing very well. The heat helps with getting them adjusted.
Spinach is looking good, salad house is looking pretty rough or still asleep. I have not decided yet.

Feb.15th Soups and Some post Valentines day musings

Good Morning, Well spring is in the air, kinda anyhow. Rain yesterday, then high wind, and a bit of snow. Warming up later this week and even more rain on Thurs. and Fri. Now on to the news.... Still no flats started and a new seedling shed still in NH. Thinking road trip next week to go get it. Spinach is coming to life and looking quite good. Salad is hanging in there but bouncing back a bit slower. Went through all my seeds yesterday and got them organized. Now to get some semblance of a growing plan done and soil testing for the greenhouses done.
Soups are looking to be tasty and decadent for the one and quite healthy for the other. So arriving at the Co-op today Grafton Cheddar and Broccoli soup, and  Cabbage,Tomato with Bacon. Same ones available at Red Hen also.
I have been working slowly on the website as well. Some new photos are up. The new peeps ship tomorrow and arrive Thurs. or Fri. 

FEB. 11TH Soups and Salad happenings

Greenhouses are looking good. The spinach house in particular. Sunny and 70 in there today and it was 16 outside with a pretty wind blowing. Soil temp change is amazing. The surface down to 2 inches was at 60 and at 3-4 it was at 40. Perhaps all spinach next year and no lettuce. Who knows. Well for soups tomorrow
the Co-Op will have Cream of Mushroom (vegetarian but rich) and a Chipotle Black Bean Chili (vegan) that has a bit of Otter Creek Ale in it. Both are very tasty. Red Hen will have the Cream of Mushroom also and classic Chili. I am willing to get a bit of feedback on the soups if you have some or would like to make a request. I am already working on the chilled summer soup menu. Hopefully the strawberry growers will do better this year and I can make the chilled berry soup that did not happen last year.

                                                       Salad House Feb. 4th

The list of things to do around here just never seems to get smaller. Items do get crossed off but always something moving right into it's place. Debating weather to shovel the roof's off. Should be fine and walking on the shingles when they are frozen is a whole different set of issues. New peeps show up end of next week. Always a good sign. Trying to get setup for seed starting. Bought a new seeding greenhouse, that has to get picked up and built as well. It was suggested I jack hammer through the frost line to get it built before spring.

Welcome Sun and real cold--coming soups.

Good Morning,
Well today is a planning/paperwork day. Looking like a large amount of unexpected sunshine. This is very welcome in the greenhouses. The temp in them should hit 65-70 F degrees today even with an outside windchill approaching -4 F !  A great opportunity to water the spinach and help it get a jump start.
Soups coming for the weekend are looking to be a wicked rich cream of mushroom and a hearty vegan black bean chili.  Not sure what's going to Red Hen yet.  Here's a look at my spinach house from Feb. 4th.

Tues. Soups coming together

At the Coop in Montpelier there will be Cream of Potato with Roasted Garlic and a Barley Corn, Carrot (pun intended- where is John when you need him?) At Red Hen there will also be an Italian Sausage w/ tomato, basil, sweet peppers. Cold weather coming back this week but the greenhouses are looking very good. Need to seed some flats this week.

Post market wrap up......Feb. 5th

Well a big apology to those of you who came out and the spinach and salad were already sold out. Things are going really fast this time of year. The good news is that by next market the greenhouses should be going full tilt and I will have plenty of salad and spinach. I appreciate all the compliments, it validates all the hard work. Thanks Joe

Montpelier Farmer's Market today 10-2pm

Good Morning, Loading the truck and heading out the door. Limited amount of spinach and salad today so come early if want to get some. Clam Chowdah and Thai Curry soup. Plenty of wicked good eggs. so far looking cold and sunny. Joe

Feb 4th Sun and Soup!!

Good Morning, Today is the day the sun is finally back up in the sky where it has an impact on plant growth in my greenhouses. Spinach and salad should start to be very plentiful by about the 3rd week of Feb. Granted we get some sunny cloudless days. Today is to be one of those days.
Soup for delivery today is a wicked Clam Chowdah, Thai Curry Coconut w/ Roasted Blue Hubbard Squash, and a Spiced Chick Peas & Vegetable. Available at Hunger Mtn Coop and the Montpelier Farmer's Market tomorrow.

Post Blizzard Soups

Lookin like a classic Clam Chowdah for Red Hen and the Farmer's Market. Thai Curry Coconut w/Roasted Sqaush for Market and Hunger Mtn Coop with another veggie soup to be determined for the Coop. Growler night at the Coop tomorrow. Stumbled across it last Thurs (started the weekend early) seems like a great deal. They will even sell you the growler and you bring cleaned for refill the next thurs. Great beers on tap. Enjoy the snow. What a really nice day today, great being outside.  Joe

Vermonters getting soft.

Some "blizzard". A nice 8 inces of snow, no wind, and warm temperatures. Guess meteorologists decided everyone needed a day off and to slow the economic recovery down.

Big winter storm coming. Soup heading out the door this morning to the Coop. Stock up on quarts of Wicked Corn Chowduh and Herbed Tomato Lentil.