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Snap Beans ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.

3/7/2014

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Capitano ~ A taste sensation, these glowing yellow Romano beans have a delicious full flavor and tender texture. A flattened bean that keeps it's tenderness even at full size.

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Purple Velour ~  French filet type beans, royal, deep purple color and equally rich, satisfying flavor make this the epitome of luxury in a vegetable. The slender, smooth, round pods are straight, gorgeous, sumptuous, stringless beans with extra fine texture and taste. When cooked, the purple color changes to brilliant green.

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Dragon's Tongue ~  Probably the best multipurpose bean available. It's suited to use as a fresh snap bean or as a shelled bean when fully mature. As a snap, harvest when the flat beans turn from lime green to buffed yellow with bright purple stripes.

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Mascotte French Filet ~ The first bean to win an All-America Selection in more than 25 years, it offers stringless, slender, crunchy beans packed with flavor and nutrition.

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Romano Purpiat ~ Lustrous purple pods, pods are so tender, crisp, and delicious that we found them irresistible picked fresh from the plant. The pods turns them a brilliant jade-green with a nearly stringless texture when cooked.

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Hot Peppers ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.    

3/6/2014

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Aji Cristal ~ Aromatic and flavorful, especially when not fully ripe. Almost a "sweet grapefruit" like flavor. Fruity heat and crisp medium flesh makes this pod perfect for fresh consumption, most flavorful when green, an unusual trait for this species. Origin - Chile

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Aji Dulce ~ The same shape, size, color and aroma of Habanero, but is sweet, spicy, and delicious, with only a trace of heat. The fruits are highly aromatic and the flavor is unusual and complex, with overtones of black pepper and coriander, and undertones of other spicy flavors.

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Beaver Dam ~ Ripening from lime-green to red.
The crunchy fruits are mildly hot and when seeded, they hold an excellent flavor. Rated as 3 on a heat scale of 1-5, the Beaver Dam is great for making fresh batches of cool and tangy salsas, also stuffed and grilled.

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Chimayo ~ An ancient heirloom from the mountains of New Mexico, this pepper is not meant to be very hot, it’s the sweet, complex, ultra-flavorful base for chili powder and enchilada sauce.

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Czech Black ~ Maturing from glossy black to a glowing garnet red color and perfect for ristras and fresh use in place of the slightly spicier Jalapenos.  Juicy, thick walled, and perfect for pickling. Great eating quality in all color stages.

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Early Jalapeno ~ Are hottest and fully ripe when they turn red.
The short, 2-3 inch peppers are thick-walled and juicy. Use fresh, pickled, or in sauces. Early Jalapeño will set fruit under cooler conditions than other jalapeño varieties.

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Fatalii ~ Hails from the Central African Republic, with Scoville ratings from 250,000-300,000.  Yellow-orange fruit that is about 3" long, with very few pepper seeds in the cavity. Some say besides the fiery flavor, they taste hints of citrus and even peach.

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Habanaro Peach ~ Everything its name indicates, offering a delicate balance between proper heat and a hint of peach flavor that just asks to be turned into a sauce.

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Hinkelhatz ~ A rare heirloom pepper which translates to “chicken heart,” a description of its size and shape. Its flavor is described as “stocky” and it is considered to be quite hot. Traditionally used exclusively for pickling. The Pennsylvania Dutch cooked and pureed it to make a pepper vinegar

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Korean ~ Make the best authentic kimchi. Not quite as hot as a Thai or cayenne, which means you can make your kimchi very red (tons of chili) without killing the people who eat it. Still fairly hot so be careful. The real greatness of this pepper is in its earliness to turn red in cool conditions & its enormous yields

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Long Red Cayenne ~ Long, slender, slightly wrinkled 4 to 6 inch peppers no thicker than a pencil are very hot. Fruits turn from dark green to bright red. Especially good for pickles, hot sauces and drying. Superb in chili and salsa.

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Martin's Carrot ~ Some call this the Pennsylvania Dutch jalapeño, since it can be used like a jalapeño in cookery. The Pennsylvania Dutch who pickle it whole often serve it stuffed with peanut butter; which makes an interesting hors d’oeuvre, especially when eaten with salt pretzels and beer.”

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Rocotillos ~ They can be harvested and used in any of these stages. They can also be dried easily. Rocotillos have a fruity flavor with mild heat. They are delicious in Spanish or Mexican dishes such as soups, stews or salsa, and they make a great addition to side dishes, such as sautéed vegetables.


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Melons ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.

3/5/2014

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Charentais ~ A true French cantaloupe that originated in the Poitou-Charentes region circa 1920. Considered by many to be the most divine and flavorful melon in the world. Smooth round melons mature to a creamy gray with faint ribs. Sweet, juicy, orange flesh with a heavenly fragrance. 

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Collective Farm Woman ~ This very popular treat from the Ukraine was discovered on the Island of Krim in the Black Sea. Melons ripen to a yellowish-gold and the white flesh has a very high sugar content, a favorite among heirloom gardeners and gourmets alike.

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Crane ~ The famous California heirloom was introduced in 1920 by Oliver Crane . This delicious Crenshaw type melons has a pale orange flesh that is very sweet and fine flavored. Green skinned rind with orange spots when ripe.  

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Hales Best Jumbo ~ Talk to seasoned gardeners; they still swear by Hale’s Best. It’s exceptionally sweet, thick-walled, and the seed cavity is small, so you can enjoy more delicious, mouth-watering fruit! 

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Piel de Sapo ~ Also known as the Christmas melon for their ability to store until Christmas. These unusual melons, with the yellow and green mottled skin, are most commonly grown in Spain. The tend to be very sweet and aromatic.

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Snow Leopard ~ Not only beautiful to look at on the outside, this melon is thin skinned, aromatic, crisp and delicious. Wrapping prociutto around bites of this summer treat will let you take a trip to Italy without leaving the veranda.

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Carrots ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.

3/4/2014

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Atomic Red ~ Brilliant red carrots are very healthful and unique-looking.  The eight inch roots are high in lycopene, which has been shown in studies to help prevent several types of cancer. Crisp roots are at their best when cooked, and this helps to make the lycopene more usable. Very flavorful.

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Danvers ~  A stocky variety with broad shoulders up to two inches wide and a tapered V-shaped root averaging seven to eight inches long. Carrots are a bright, deep-orange color.  A great variety for canning, freezing, storing, and makes a superb glass of carrot juice for a home-grown daily dose of beta carotene.

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Cosmic Purple ~ Purple on the outside and bright orange on the inside these carrots are a real show stopper. 
Have trouble getting the kids to eat carrots?  Cosmic Purple to the rescue! This seven to eight inch carrot is sweet, tasty and coreless. 


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Purple Sun ~  Whether harvested as a baby carrot or grown to full size, Purple Sun fits the bill. Unlike other purple carrots, it has a striking strong purple color from skin to core. The conical roots are highly pointed at the tip with flat to rounded shoulders. Antrhrocyanin is a flavanoid with strong evidence of health benefits in humans, and you guessed it, Purple Sun is loaded with it

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Scarlet Nantes ~ Dates to the 1850s; original seed developed by Vilmorin in France. Cylindrical roots are seven inches long with blunt tips. Fine-grained bright red-orange flesh is nearly coreless. Great flavor, sweet and brittle. Good when used as baby carrots. Excellent for freezing and juicing. Widely adapted, stores well.

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Yellow Solar ~ A Danvers type of carrot with roots reaching about six inches in length. Their bright yellow color adds a special look to your salads and entrées especially when combined with red, purple, and orange varieties. The golden hues are linked with good eye health. Yellow carrots originated in Afghanistan, Turkey, and the Middle East in the 900s. 

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Beets ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.

3/3/2014

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Chioggia ~ Everyone loves this beet. Beautiful, candy sweet and the greens are tender and delicious. The skins are easy to slip off and if you don't overcook it, the white and red stripes are retained.
A great choice to get children to eat beets.

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Cylindra ~ A wonderful heirloom from Denmark, it produces much more uniform slices than round beets. This tender and sweet variety has a wonderful texture. The retain their tenderness even when they reach the size of carrots.

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Detroit Dark Red~ A favorite since 1892, this uniform round globe beet is tender, deep red, sweet a wonderful beet for canning and the table. The leaves are dark veined with a moderate bitterness that is a nice contrast for sweet lettuces in a salad mix.

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Red Ace ~ The smooth, round roots are at their highest quality when they reach 3-4 inches but remain sweet and tender even when older and larger. The bright red-veined green tops are a delicious table green.

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Touchstone Gold ~ Round, smooth, golden roots retain their color when cooked. Good uniform shape for an OP beet. Buttery, fine texture and sweet when eaten raw. Touchstone has glossy green tops. Does not bleed like red beets. This is as sweet as a table beet gets.


Boiled Baby Beet Recipe 
  • Leave roots intact and 2 inches of the tops, so your baby beets won't bleed. 
  • Start with two 2" beets per serving and place in a medium saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil. then simmer. Start checking for doneness  after only 12 minutes. 
  • When a knife slips in easliy, remove from heat, drain and rinse under cold water until they can be handled. 
  • Wearing kitchen gloves, slip off the peels, roots and tops with your fingers, slice and return to saucepan.
  • Add a teaspoon of sweet butter per serving, add salt and pepper to taste. 

Enjoy!

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Radishes ~ Varieties we’re planting this year.

3/2/2014

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The recipe for radishes à la crème is beautifully shown in this photo from the wonderful cookbook. "One Good Dish" by David Tanis. The simply recipe inspired us to try new varieties of radishes this year. 
Simply dress an assortment of sliced radishes with crème fraiche, salt and pepper.

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Cincinnati Market ~ Heirloom from 1885 with deep red radishes that are 6" long and tapered. Flesh is tender, crisp, and mild.

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Early Scarlet Globe ~ A favorite small globe radish for over 100 years, and one we've been growing for decades. Crisp white flesh that is mild and tasty.

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French Breakfast ~ Our customers favorite radish, and my personal favorite. A pre-1885 French heiloom with mild spicy flavor, with a red top and a whilte bottom. The name? In France it's cooked with butter and put on toast for breakfast.

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Hailstone ~ Is a very mild, crisp and maintains their pure white globe color and firm flesh even when stir fried. Shaved thinly on a mandolin, they're almost translucent.

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Purple Plum ~ A deep plum purple globe shaped radishes with tender, crisp, white flesh. Their inner flesh vaires from white to mottled, a beautiful contrast tot he Hailstone.

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Round Black Spanish ~ Can grow as large as 5-inches. A winter type, probably grown since 16th century or before. Near-black skin and snowy white flesh will keep all winter in good conditions. Fine, fairly hot flavor, good raw or cooked.

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Salad Rose ~ From Russia with love... Salad Rose is a gorgeous rosy pink that grows to 8" long. A great salad or beer radish. Peppery, but it won't repeat on you. Similar to the Cincinatti Market, but stockier.

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Watermelon ~ It's light green on the outside, magenta inside, with the crisp heat of its radish brethren. 

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Floriani Red Flint Corn

3/1/2014

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We are growing this corn for the first time this year, using the 'Three Sisters' method of production. We're pairing the corn with Tarbais pole beans which are de rigueur for the classic French cassoulet and two incredible squashes, Lakota and Sweet Fall.

From Mother Jones  "Floriani Red Flint corn is a rare, open-pollinated corn variety from Italy with unforgettable flavor — and the possibilities for cooking with it are endless."..."
if you’re looking for a cornmeal with a rich, distinct taste and texture, then you’ll love Floriani. This heirloom corn is an old variety from the Italian Alps that was originally selected for qualities that make great polenta. This particular variety is a landrace (a locally adapted variety that has more variation than a variety bred for specific qualities) from the Valsugana Valley, where subsistence farmers grew it as the staple food until the mid-20th century. The Alpine farmers dried their crop, shucked the ears, and ground the corn into a coarse meal that they boiled and served as polenta.

While the hulls are red, the meal is a deep yellow with a hint of pink. It is physically beautiful and has a rich, complex flavor to match. ‘Floriani Red Flint’ is the ideal grain corn." 
"Fedco, a Maine-based seed company, had this to say about Floriani in its 2010 catalog: “Stop the presses! Fabulous flavor is why we stuck Floriani into the catalog at the last possible moment. Its medium-to-deep red, pointed kernels are easy to shell. They grind into a fine, pinkish meal that bakes with an appealing spongy texture. Floriani’s richly sweet, delicious, corny taste beat the competition silly in our pancake and cornbread muffin bake-off.”

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Vegetable Varieties We're Growing for 2014

2/25/2014

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Arugula 
Arugula Organic 
Beans (Dry) 
Black Valentine 
Dragon's Tongue 
Calypso 
Painted Pony 
Lina Sisco's Bird Egg 
Jacob's Cattle 
Kenearly Yellow Eye 
Vermont Cranberry Bean 
Silver Cloud Cannellini Bean OG 
Beans (Fresh Snap)
Dragon's Tongue 
Purple Velour 
Yellow Capitano 
Mascotte French Filet 
Romano Purpiat Bean 
Beans (Pole Dry) 
Tarbais 
Beets 
Detroit Red 
Cylindra 
Touchstone Gold OG 
Red Ace OG 
Chioggia OG 
Broccoli 
Romanesco 
Calabrese 
Fiesta OG 
Broccoli Raab 
Ice-bred Rapini 
Quarantina Raab 
Brussels Sprouts 
Catskill 
Rubine 
Carrots 
Deep Purple  
Solar Yellow 
Scarlet Nantes 
Atomic Red 
Cosmic Purple 
Danvers OG  
Cabbage 
All Season 
Red Acre 
Cauliflower 
Cloud Hybrid 
Cheddar (Orange) 
Graffiti (Purple) 
Corn (Popcorn) 
Bear Paw 
Calico 
Corn (Ornamental and Dent) 
Rainbow 
Painted Mountain 
Floriani Red Flint 
Cucumbers 
True Lemon OG 
Diva 
Telegraph Improved European  
Eggplant 
Snowy long
Rosa Bianca
Purple Blush 
Rosita 
Pin Tung Long
Black King 
Kale 
Lacinato 
Rainbow Mix
Kohlrabi 
Giant Winter  
Early White 
Vienna Purple 
Lettuce (Exotic )
Mizuna 
Radicchio 
Early Treviso 
Lettuce (Mixes) 
Encore Lettuce Mix OG 
Melon 
Crane 
Piel De Sapo 
Hale's Best Jumbo 
Charentais
Collective Farm Woman 
Snow Leopard 
Onions 
Red Weathersfiled 
Yellow of Parma 
Flat of Italy 
Valencia 
Ambition Shallot 


Peas
Taichung 
Golden Sweet 
Shiraz Snow
Peppers (Sweet)
Tequila Sunrise 
California Wonder 
Sweet Bell Mix 
Jupiter 
Ashe County Pimento 
Bull Nose 
Pablano 
Numex Big Jim 
Beaver Dam 
Shishito
Peppers (Hot)
Early Jalapeno 
Chimayo  
Korean Pepper 
Long Red Cayenne 
Aji Dulce 
Martin's Carrot 
Hot Pepper Mix 
Aji Crystal
Fatalii
Peach Habanero
Czech Black
Hinkelhatz
Potatoes 
La Ratte Fingerling 
Yellow Finn Fingerling 
German Butterball 
Reddale 
All Red 
French Fingerling 
Rose Finn Apple Fingerling 
All Blue 
Pumpkin 
Early Sweet Sugar Pie 
Jack-O'-Lantern 
Lumina 
Radishes 
Early Scarlet Globe 
Salad Rose 
Purple Plum 
Cincinnati Market 
Hailstone (White globe) 
French Breakfast 
Watermelon 
Round Black Spanish 
Rutabaga 
Lauentian 
Spinach 
Space 
Squash (Summer) 
Zucchini Black Beauty 
Italian Ribbed Green 
Golden Delight 
Scallop Early White Bush 
Pool Ball Mixture 
Celestial Scallop Mix 
Squash (Winter)
Sweet Fall 
Lakota 
Waltham Butternut 
Delicata 
Early Acorn 
Musquee de Provence Organic Guatemalan Blue Squash 
Swiss Chard 
Bright Lights 
Tomato  (Small)
Yellow Pear Organic 
Black Cherry  
Cherry Rainbow Mix  
Red Grape 
Sun Sugar 
Tomato  (Large)
Speckled Roman Organic 
Ultimate Opener  
Japanese Trifele Black  
Debarao  
Gold Medal 
Brandywine Mix 
Grande Marzano Red  
Bloody Butcher 
Principe Borghese  
Golden San Marzano 
Roma Organic 
Indigo Rose 
Turnip 
Purple Top 
Red Round  
Gold ball 
White Egg 
Watermelon 
Sugar Baby Organic 
Orange Tendersweet
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    Bryan Black
    Farmer 

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