BUY LOCAL CHALLENGE

This week is “Buy Local Challenge” week, which encourages Marylanders to incorporate at least one locally-grown, produced or harvested product into their meals each day. 

Buying local is good for you, good for the local economy, and good for the planet.  In addition to providing food that’s fresh and nutritional, buying food from local farms promotes cleaner air and water and reduces our carbon footprint.  Buying local keeps your dollars circulating in the community.  Buying local cuts down on the distance food travels reducing the consumption of oil and carbon emissions nationwide.  As Governor O’Malley said; “as anyone who has driven the Beltway knows, a tomato that has had to come a long distance to get here will be so stressed out that it can’t possibly taste as good as one grown right here in Maryland.”

 

The Buy Local Challenge is simple.  For one week; July 17-July 25^th, everyone in Maryland is encouraged to eat local items every day.  Please don’t stop with just the farms…remember our hardworking local watermen as well.   

Here is a recipe for a wonderful Tomato, Corn and Crab Salad that will make a wonderful main dish on a hot summer evening.

1 Lb Maryland lump crab meat

2 large local tomatoes

3 ears of local sweet corn

1 local onion

1/8 c brown sugar

Splash of apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Old Bay

1 bunch chopped parsley

1 bottle local white wine reduced to 1 cup.

Dice onion and tomato, remove corn from cob and toss everything together.

    

CPRC Storytime Features our Underground Buddies Earthworms!

July 10th, Bob and Otto by Robert O. Bruel

• Read by Nicole Barone Callahan
• Worm and composting display by Cheverly Green Plan

Farmer Russ says that this is the kind of year for bankruptcy on some farms.  These are the hard times that you pray never come and hope you have enough reserve to make it through.  We are running irrigation pumps from the ponds from 4:30 in the morning until 9 each night.  We pray for rain because the ponds are not bottomless.  Irrigation water out of the ponds is also just a substitute and not a replacement for a good rain.  The fuel costs of running just the water pumps is staggering.  There will be reduced yields in many crops and sometimes reduced quality.  When a plant is forming it's flower or fruit it needs exactly the right amount of water and sun at exactly the right temperature to form an ideal product.  A miracle of life that is around us every day and that we sometimes overlook in perfect conditions.

     You also asked if prices would increase.  Our operation is two-fold; retail and wholesale.  We can't exist without both of these.  On the retail side we come to Farmer's Markets like Cheverly.  Communities where we have grown close to our customers, and know them by name.  We know what they like, what produce they wait for all season.  We know many times what they do for a living, how big their families are, how many kids they have in college, or if they have a medical problem.  We know what it costs to put healthy fresh food on the table every night and we feel like we're partners in helping our customers to do this.  We hate to raise our prices and we haven't raised them on most of our produce in several years.  Yes, we have to make a living too, but we try always to be very fair.  On the wholesale end, we unfortunately don't get to determine the prices.  We have to accept what they offer or they will go elsewhere.  In a bad year for one region the big chains will just pull from another.  They have to stay in business as well.

     On a good note, in a dry, hot year you will have a reduced incidence of disease in some crops and have less need for crop protectants.  Another benefit is that the fruit will be sweeter because the sugars get concentrated.  The stress of the heat and the drought is physically and mentally challenging, but the fact that halfway across the world in some God forsaken land young men and women the same age as our boys risk their lives every day and don't have the benefit of a few stolen minutes of air conditioning and an ice cold Gatorade, puts the whole thing in perspective and allows us to keep plowing ahead.

     Additionally, on 6/29 we found a baby girl in the cabbage patch.  Kallie Marie Shlagel was born to our oldest Karl, and his wife Apryl.  New life gives us renewed strength and optimism.

Last market day everyone got to meet Farmer Russ, as I had to take Karl's market in Rockville.  This week I'll be back and I'll be bringing: Huge sweet onions (wait until you see these babies), spring onions, beets, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, cantaloupes, watermelon, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, green beans, kale, collards, cabbage, squash, zucchini, specialty peppers and we just started picking eggplant.  I'll also be bringing ciders. I've enclosed a few pictures of Luke doing tractor work in a cloud of dust and some of irrigation water raining down.  See you on Saturday.      Eileen Shlagel

Precious Produce

This past June was the hottest on record for our area, and July is now poised to be even hotter. As we've retreated to air-conditioned comfort and indoor plumbing, our farmers have spent grueling, long hot days in their fields trying to save their crops. 

Matt Rebert writes, "Mother Nature has us scrambling.  We are trying to irrigate as much as possible with trickle.  The only problem is we haven't really used our system much in the last two years - and things aren't running smoothly---yet.  We are pumping water on our apples, peaches, tomatoes, etc.  Our corn is suffering the most.  We have to rely on overhead irrigation for the corn which is not very efficient."

Kristen Carbone with Radix Farm sent in her report. "We plan to be at the market on Saturday.  Hopefully with plenty to sell, but some things on my list are tentative due to the weather.  I haven't had any major devastation from yet, but the recently seeded crops are growing very slowly, and the tomatoes and eggplants aren't really setting new fruits in this heat.  Some plants (like tomatoes) stop growth when the temperature is over 90 degrees, so the heat and the lack of rain are really taking a toll on even seemingly healthy plants."

Sally Voris of White Rose Farm has posted "Of Loss and Lettuce" on her farm blog.

We are waiting to hear from Eileen and Russ, Emma Dudley, and Al Pong, and will post as soon as we can.

 In spite of the wicked weather and to the credit of the determination and perseverance of our farmers, Saturday's market is worth making  a SPECIAL EFFORT to come and shop. 

Reberts

Yellow and White Peaches
Apricots
A variety of plums
Nectarines
Lodi apples

Radix Farm

Summer Squash

Cucumbers

Carrots

Bok Choi

Garlic

Basil

Parsley

Herb Seedlings

Potatoes

and possibly small amounts of peppers, tomatoes and eggplant.

White Rose Farm

Pork: sausage, pork chops and ham slices, and we
have many other cuts available. This month we are featuring ham
ends--not slices--and our hams are on sale for $4.00/pound. People can
pre-order from our web site any cut we have available and we will
deliver on Saturday.

This is from the garden:

Beans, Roma--and possibly Burgundy
Cucumbers
Okra
Onions, cipolini, scallions, Red Bull, and Shallots
Potatoes, Red Pontiac, Yukon Gold and All Blue
Squash, Summer
Tomatoes, Early Girl and Sun Gold

Herbs:

Basil: Anise, Genovese, Lemon, Opal and Thai
Celery, leaf
Parsley, Flat Italian
Peppermint
Spearmint

Flowers: Zinnias