august whirligig newsletter

8/12/2019 August Whirligig Newsletter

1/8

One thing that makes WhirligigFarm special, and worthy ofpatronage, is its commitment toserving the community. Did youknow that much of the farm crewseffort goes far above and beyondthe already-taxing demands of thefarm work itself? Whirligig Farm:

Donates hundreds of pounds ofproduce every week to local foodpantries. Offers big sales every week at

The Kingston Midtown Farmstandwhen selling in neighborhoods withlimited access to healthy food. Sells CSA shares on a slidingscale to accommodate differingnancial situations. Conducts free introductoryeducational farm programs to localyouth in recreation programs. Hosts two teenagers participatingin the Ulster Summer YouthEmployment Program.

Supports numerous communityevents via produce sales, live

music, and/or hands-on activities:Hurley Corn & Craft Festival,Downtown Kingston Friday EveningMarket, Woodstock Friday Nights,Rosendale Creative Co-ops HungryFor Music Benet Concert, HurleyStone House Day, Zena Corn Fest25, just to name a few! Offers the farmhouse as a placefor workshops and community

Tendersweet cabbage, ripeningheirloom cherry tomatoes, broccoliand zinnias; popular in the butterycommunity of Hurley.

Rows of lush greens in the elds ofWhirligig Farm.

NewsletterAugust 2014 Issue 5

Farmers Note: Farming for Your Community!By Creek Iversen

CSA Vegetable ListLook for these itemsin your share this week

Scallions, Head Lettuce, HeirloomTomatoes, Summer Squash,Eggplant, Cabbage, Carrots, Kale

Choice Table, Pick 2:Okra, Fennel, Beets

Hungarian Hot Wax FryingPeppers,

Collard Greens, Sweet Peppers,Broccoli

You-Pick:Green Beans, Cherry Tomatoes,

Flowers, Herbs(Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley)

Marbletown Rec. Campers give each other a hand picking owers during abouquet-making activity.

Continued on page 3


2/8

ON THE FARM:

Community HarvestSupper

Thursday, August 74 to 8:30 p.m. or come

earlier!

Music JamSunday, August 3

5 to 9 p.m.potluck at 6:30 p.m.

FarmstandEveryday!

9 a.m. to 7 p.m on

weekends3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays

FARMEVENTS

Its not too late to sign

up for our CSA shares.As low as$18/week!

Email:[email protected]

Call:(845) 331-0316

1375 HurleyMountain Road

Hurley, NY 12433

Rainbow Swiss Chard

The Whirligig farmhouse

This week we welcomed

45 Marbletown Rec.

summer camp youth to the

farm. Our farm crew worked

with them to harvest and taste

cherry tomatoes, green beans

and cucumbers; weed rows of

corn and beds of squash; and

learn about the importance

of insects to owers while

making their own bouquets.

The children sang farm songs

and enjoyed a snack of chips

and salsa made from the

tomatoes and cucumers they

harvested.

The Farm WelcomesMarbletown Summer Camp!

Campers snack on green beans in the shadebefore heading back to camp at the end of

their activities.

Friends and members of the community joined us for our rst Harvest Supper of the

season. They picked more than 100 pounds of green beans!

COME TOA HARVESTSUPPER!


3/8

Farmers Note continued.

Meet One of Our Farmers: Nina PetrochkoHometown:Oxford, Connecticut.

Favorite Vegetables:Sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and lacinato kale.

First farming experience: I raised rabbits and grew a vegetable garden whilein a 4-H Club at age 11. I still have my journal written in cursive handwriting andlined with photos.What made you want to work at Whirligig Farm? Commitment to communityand growing nutrient dense food for people. Originally, I helped at The Brook FarmProject before we changed locations. What first struck me was Creek Iversens wayof bringing people together through music and farming. My first time workingat the farm was a joyful, song-filled experience. Its been fun to see our currencrew and how theyve blossomed while supporting this great endeavor. Im alsoamazed at how much everyone cares for each other here.Whats the future of farming for you?First and foremost, vegetable farmingfor my health and the health of my family and friends. I would love to try organicfarming where the ocean meets the forest and field. The combination of sea air

and the woods sets my soul ablaze. Second, becoming a flower farmer! I am so excited about grow ing and harvestingcolorful, beautiful bouquets and brightening up peoples days at the market.

Nina

group meetings. Re-ignites vital local agri-cultural traditions such asharvest suppers, music jams and barn dances. Offers volunteer opportunities for people of allages who want to learn sustainable farming skills andexperience the farming lifestyle within a vibrant farmcommunity. Organizes public, hands-on, multi-artistic

celebrations of the land and harvest, to nurtureunderstanding and reverence for our regionsbeautiful, bountiful, farmland. Draws from local communities when hiring farmstaff. Supports sustainable local farms and smallbusinesses through our farm store product offering. Accepts Hudson Valley Current, a currencypromoting interdependence of local businesses. Supports Rondout Valley Growers and Northeast

Organic Farming Association of New York.

These services to the community all ow from

Whirligig Farms triple bottom line businessmodel, which balances nancial, environmental, andcommunity considerations. Buyingyour produce from Whirligig Farmautomatically supports ALL of theabove community services. For aCSA share for as little as $18/week,thats a lot of bang for your bucks!

See you down on the farm!

Creek

Dan Moon, Destiny Johnson, Nina Petrochko and Shay Otiswelcome CSA supporters with tables full of produce.

Destiny Johnson, Phil Erner and Natasha McCutcheonharvest heirloom tomatoes.


4/8

HarveFeaturing some of ou

beans, cherry tom

Okra

Cherry Tomatoes

Harvesting okra simply requires the

harvester to bend the okra down, in the

opposite direction in which it grows,

until it snaps. Often, the larger onesrequire a knife. Harvest okra that is

the size of your pinky nger or larger.

Cherry tomatoes are as easy as they are

delicious to harvest. Find the tomatoes

that have undergone a full color change

and simply pull them o their stem

with your thumb and forenger. Dont

forget to lift up the leaves so you dont

miss any!


5/8

t Tips-Pick selections: greens, okra and herbs!

Green Beans

Parsley

Dill

To harvest green beans, lift up the leaves

and nd the thickest beans on the plant

to pick. If the beans are thinner than a

pencil, they could use more time on the

stalk. Parsley leaves can be cut 1 inch

from the root, and often, a few at a time

may be cut. At most, take one third of

a single plants stems. With dill, takeonly one or two leaves o of each plant.

Choose the largest stems and cut 1 inch

from the stalk with a knife. Make sure to

put dill and parsley right into water to

prevent them from wilting.


6/8

Children and Food

AsI move closer to becoming a father forthe rst time, I catch myself reectingon what was (and is) precious to my child-self.I remember the feeling of soulful nourishmentwhen my father had time to spend with me - timeto show me how to do this or that, time to goslowly. I remember meals that we had together asa family where there was a sense of peace and ofcommunion.Sadly, though,the sense-memory that ismost pervasive

in my child-in-the-manbody is that ofanxiousness,of beingrushed andworried -worried aboutthe increasingantagonismbetween

my parents,worried aboutwhether Iwas good (orgood enough),worried aboutmy tenuoussense ofconnection, ofbelonging.

A side effect of being hollowed-out bysuch worry was that I became susceptible to theblandishments of contemporary American culture- the siren-song of Madison Avenue. I fell preyto the notion that I could ll the hole in my heartwith stuff - with gifts my parents bought for me,toys my classmates thought were cool, and,like so many other kids, with unhealthy foods thatwere heavily promoted in my day: Frosted Flakes,Spaghetti-Os, Hostess Twinkies, Snickers bars...

After graduating college, I shared an

apartment with several other graduates in theYorkville section of Manhattan. Almost everyday, I would pass the Papaya King hot dog andsmoothie place on 86th Street. The standsslogan was (and may still be) Tastier than FiletMignon! I remember standing at one of therestaurants tall tables, wolng yet another wienerand washing it down with a sugary smoothie, and

thinking tomyself,Tastier is atricky word.

Children

aresusceptibleto culturalinuence inmany ways,but the areaof childrensvulnerabilitythat hasperhaps thegreatest

potentialimpact ontheir healthis that of thefood theyconsume.The increasein childhoodobesity anddiabetes has

been well-documented, and the cultural causesfor these epidemics frequently decried. Butall the hand-wringing and lamentation aboutour childrens health notwithstanding, sodamachines still nagle their way into our schools,and the media continue endlessly to promoteempty calories and food with harmful contents.The interests of the companies that sell thesefoods are powerful and well-organized, and it isfair to say that the health of our children is nottheir primary concern.

By Michael Rogers, landowner of Whirligig Farm

Jasmina DeLeon-Gill and Shay Otis discuss with a camper what a snap dragonwould sound like if it could talk.


7/8

A CREATIVE RECIPEFor the delicious but daunting vegetables youll fnd at Whirligig Farm

Beet Kohlrabi Slaw 6 Kohlrabi, peeled and grated 4-5 beets, peeled and grated 1 small cabbage, chopped 2 onions, grated 1 large cucumber, grated 1 cup raisins 2 tablespoons each of balsamic vinegar,extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar 1 handful each of chopped dill and basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:Mix all vegetables together.

Add raisins. Mix balsamic, olive oil, applecider vinegar, basil, dill, salt and pepper and

pour over slaw. Serve and enjoy!

As an expectant father,my intention is to provide mychild with a way of eating, andof understanding how food isproduced, that will be, if nottastier, much more avorfuland nuanced than whatcorporate advertisers can offer.This will mean showing him thelove and care that goes into

growing healthy food. It willmean introducing him to theworkers of Whirligig Farm andcarrying him through the eldsso that he can absorb, evenbefore he speaks, the respect,the abundance, and the qualitythat characterize the way foodis grown at our farm.

My intention - and that

of Creek and all the membersof the Whirligig crew - is toshare the bounty of the land aswidely as possible. Already, wehave donated over a thousandpound of delicious food tolocal food pantries, and we willdonate much more. As the farmsowner, I clearly want WhirligigFarm to be protable. I also

want us to be an integral partof the broader movement thatis sweeping the Hudson Valleyand beyond, a movement thatreects a more genuine care forour children (and our people)by providing them with healthy,nutritious, and life-giving food.

At Whirligig, wed like todo well... and to do good.

During one activity in our rows ofcorn, campers learn the importance of

keeping weeds maintained.


8/8

And go towhirligigfarm.com

to learn more about the farm, our CSAprogram and other opportunities.

Photography and layout by Gianna Canevari: [email protected]

Follow us on Facebook!d

1. Marbletown campers learn how to weed between rows of corn(with only a little help from their counselers). 2. High school crewmember, Destiny Johnson, and Phil Erner work their way down abed of green beans. 3. High schooler, Natasha McCutcheon, andfarmers Dan Moon and Duncan Crowley sing covers of our favoritefolk and bluegrass tunes. 4. Jasmina DeLeon-Gill and Shay Otis makea beautiful display for $2 Tuesdays at the Kingston Farm Market.

We Are Beyond Organic

3

3

4

2

1

august whirligig newsletter

Documents