Our next public farm tour will be on October 12th at 3pm and 6pm. Adults are $10 each and children under 12 are free. Any card carrying member of a local library can tour for free in October!

Come walk the farm and learn about sustainable agriculture and local watershed issues… while listening to birds and the sounds of tall grass whooshing underfoot.

We may encounter mud, insects, pollen and other acts of nature. Dress appropriately with boots, long pants and longer sleeves. Bring your camera!

Tickets can be bought in advance online. Card carrying library people can drop in for the fun.

#beallyoucanberead

A quick and easy summer meal using leftover steak!

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1/2 head romaine lettuce, cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 large head Belgian endive, thinly sliced crosswise (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced into rings
• 3 cups fresh baby arugula
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 ounces blue cheese (like Gorgonzola or Bette Davis Eyes) coarsely crumbled
• Red Wine Vinaigrette, recipe follows
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Roughly 1 pound sliced steak (such as New York, rib-eye or filet mignon), pan-fried or grilled and chilled
• optional avocado chunks, or pickled red onion instead of fresh

Red Wine Vinaigrette:

• 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup olive oil

Red Wine Vinaigrette:

1. Mix the vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt, and pepper in a jar with a tight lid. Making sure the lid is tight, shake it vigorously til the mix is emulsified (thick and opaque with all ingredients mixed).

Salad Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the romaine lettuce, Belgian endive, red onion, baby arugula and cherry tomatoes, and half of the cheese. Toss the salad with enough vinaigrette to coat. Season the salad with salt and pepper, to taste. Arrange the salad on a platter.
2. Cut the steak crosswise into thin slices. Arrange the steak slices atop the salad and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. Drizzle more vinaigrette over the steak slices and serve.

Terroir is the French word specific to winemaking that means “the characteristic taste and flavor imparted to a wine by the environment in which it is produced.”  Another way to think of it is taste of place… and now we understand that terroir influences everything from grapes to tomatoes to the milk from grazing cows.

All those seasonal grasses and plants, the chickory flower, the orchard grass, dock and pineapple weed, the wild mustards in summer and onion grasses in spring… all those flavors dance in our cows’ raw milk. Some are more prominent in spring, and fall back in summer. Other disappear altogether until the following spring. Some weave in and out throughout the season. And all those flavors alchemize as they age to become luscious, earthy raw milk cheese.

When the cheesemaker’s heart turns to Trilby making in summer, we handpick edible leaves from fig and chestnut trees to wrap the cheese when it is ready for sale. Trilby is a small washed-rind cheese that, while ageing, is washed with rye whiskey from Dad’s Hat in Bristol. The chestnut leaves above were picked from our head cheesemaker’s yard and then soaked in that lovely local whiskey until fully saturated. The leaves soak up all that flavor and when wrapped then help seal it into each little wheel.

Come into the farm store or visit us at our farmers markets this week for a taste! #Trilby