Farm Fall Cleanup

The cleanup was a little early this year. A few weeks back our region got hit with a massive hail storm which made all the leaves see through. Next year we need to remember to plant fall and winter vegetables. Lower maintenance and hail-resistant.

Jalapeño Cucumber Lemonade

This is a great combo. Lemonade, 1 cucumber sliced, 3 jalapeños sliced and seeded.

Crop of the Year: Peppers

Our pepper plants are still producing. Poblanos, cayenne, jalapeño, banana, cherry. We are freezing some for later use. And before the bears get them.

State Fair Biennial 2010

Two years ago Farmer No. 1 planned a surprise party for No.2's birthday. It was a Minnesota State Fair themed affair and was a blast so we revisited the theme for this years party. We planned this one out with different events throughout the evening.
6.30 Ice Cream Throwdown
7.30 Sausage Fest
8.30 Beer Tasting
9.30 Desserts
10.30 Spicy Tequila nightcap

State Fair Biennial: Ice Cream Throwdown

Four contestants, all ice cream making enthusiasts. Votes were tallied from the tasting audience. 

The entries were: Lychee Lime Sorbet (not really an ice cream but so good!), Chocolate, Chocolate Bourbon, Banana Bourbon, Fig and Lemon Zest, and one more that went so fast I couldn't even write it down. And the winner is…

State Fair Biennial: Food

Tons of food. A lot of the ingredients we used were from our garden. It's the last harvest of figs this year and it was great to share them with everybody. Jalapenos are in abundant supply right now too and were made use of in a jalapeno lime butter, a green chile mayo and a big hit, the jalapeno fig jam. Friends brought a lot of food to share as well which makes a party even more fun. A main food attraction event this year was the State Fair Sausage Fest. In our italian neighborhood sausage is a specialty. On the grill were fennel sausage, broccoli rabe sausage, pepper and onion sausage, hot pepper sausage and some lamb sausage.

State Fair Biennial: Beer Tasting

Another event we planned for this year's party was a beer tasting. Our friend Jeff Wallace has chosen beer as his career. Seriously (or vice-versa). He is a beer buyer for a major gourmet grocer here in New York and he is brewing his own beer too. For our event he presented four different types of beer for everybody to try and gave little food pairings to complement.

State Fair Biennial: Dessert Spread

Farmer No. 1 was up to her usual tricks with concord grape pie and cupcakes. Farm friends brought more tasty treats like a JEFF cookie platter.

Making Fig Jalapeno Jam

Figs are ripening non-stop right now. For this harvest we decided to make a Fig Jalapeno jam. Hot and sweet.

We are working on jam labels too and will show pictures of the finished product soon.

Cucumbers

Our magnificent cucumber patch is where it's happening. We have a mix of japanese and kirby cucumbers in there. The kirby cucumbers are perfect for pickles because they are small and the seeds are soft. This first batch consisted of only four small jars. More on the way.

Tomatoes

We are getting attacked by tomatoes. We have around ten tomato plants this year. There's a mix of roma tomatoes for sauce (less moisture) and tomato tomatoes for everything else.

The Last of the Blackberries

Farmer No 1 tried a few new recipes with the last harvest of blackberries: Blackberry Cream Cheese Frosting tops both homemade cupcakes and donuts for a tangy, sweet and delicious dessert.

It must be blackberry season

It looks like caviar!

Farm friend Jon transformed two cups of our blackberries to make a special batch of ice cream and named the flavor Sent from my Blackberry. Read more about his ice cream creations at Churnin' & Earnin'. Farmer No. 1 complemented the ice cream with homemade poundcake and crushed berries.

They are blackberries

The mystery has been solved and they are delicious.

We harvested 5 cups of them and there are more on the way.

Farmer No. 1 made a blackberry and blueberry pie.

In process: Concord Grapes

Concord grapes are on the way. We've made a lot of improvements to the vine for accessibility and future growth. Pies are on the way.

Harvesting Beans

Farmer No.Victoria came came over to harvest beans over the weekend. We got a little more organized this year by spacing out our plantings over two weeks. When the first crop finishes producing we'll have more beans from the second.

A couple beans were lost in battle.Unless you can still see those two in the pile here…

We made grilled pizzas, grilled skirt steak, grilled chicken, salad, and blueberry pie. This is what happens when Victoria comes over.

Berries and Broccoli

Recap: A year ago, Nick the Farmer passed over a shoddy twig and told us to stick it in the ground by our fence. That twig sprouted some leaves and grew 8 feet in every direction and produced some kind of mystery berry. This year that twig now spans half the length of our fence and has berries everywhere. We hope to finally resolve what kind of berries they are. Jams and pies galore. Also on the watchlist is our broccoli. This particular one is the first to sprout. On one hand we're happy it worked where we planted it (a little shady). On the other, it's pretty goofy looking and we've got our fingers crossed that the others will be nicer. Maybe there was some pruning we needed to be doing?

Brooklyn Farm opens a plant stand

Brooklyn Farm set up a plant stand at the Carroll Gardens Flea Market this past Saturday. It was a lot of fun talking to other plant enthusiasts.

Farmer No. 1 prepping the store.

We sold plant boxes and pots with chalkboard paint so you can write what is growing or what you'll use it for.

Pepper peeking out