Author: Bryan Housel

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – October 8, 2015

Hi Folks, so after much premature hysteria we were spared from the wrath of Hurricane Joaquin. We nevertheless received about 3½ inches of rain from 3 days of drizzle and occasional showers. This will be beneficial to most of the crops, especially the brassicas and the root vegetables, but as previously mentioned will speed the demise of the tomatoes. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – October 1, 2015

Hello Everyone, So it’s been nearly 3 weeks without precipitation now, but we are forecasted to receive heavy rain on Wednesday. There is also rain forecast for Saturday, which will put a damper on my markets (both literally and figuratively). We are still managing to glean a few tomatoes from the fields but if it starts raining too much that will be the end of the tomato harvest for this season. The broccoli continues to head up prolifically and we have been sending Romanesco cauliflower to various groups over the last few weeks. If you haven’t gotten any yet you will soon. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 24, 2015

Hi Folks, so autumn has officially arrived, and the nights are getting quite chilly out here in the hills of Northwest New Jersey. The long term forecast for the Northeast is for warmer than average temps through the fall, so hopefully we won’t have a frost until late October. This is a great time of year for veggies since we can still enjoy some of the summer crops, and the fall cool weather vegetables are beginning to come in as well. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 17, 2015

Hi Folks, we received little over 2 inches of rain last week, ending the latest dry spell. The fall crops are growing beautifully, and the recent seeding has germinated well. Unfortunately the cool nights and heavy dews along with this rain are causing a premature end to the tomato harvest. We have mostly cherry tomatoes left and a late planting that may produce a few slicers and some plum tomatoes. We will distribute these as supply permits over the next few weeks. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 10, 2015

Hello Everyone, Happy Labor Day! I hope you have all enjoyed your long weekend and have put your veggies to good use for your parties and barbeques. Of course here on the farm it’s just another day and we labor away. We don’t get long weekends or even weekends – the crops won’t wait! I’m just saying — not complaining — we get our time off in the winter! I will complain (as I am wont to do) about the weather: dry, dry, dry. The rain predicted for last week evaporated before it got here. There is more predicted for this Thursday (100% probability at present). Hopefully the weatherman has got it right this time; it does happen occasionally. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – September 3, 2015

Hi Folks! So we have reached the mid-point of the season.  As we move into the 2nd half, greens will become more abundant again.  We will begin to have more of the cool weather root crops such as radishes and the salad turnips and you can look forward to receiving parsnips and celery root as well.  We will begin to go through the various brassica family crops, beginning with Napa cabbage and kohlrabi and then soon broccoli, cauliflower, and finally Brussels sprouts.  (more…)

Salsa Verde

Spicy Salsa Verde

Salsa Verde is to Mexican cuisine what tomato sauce is to Italian food.  Salsa verde is similar to red salsa, except that instead of using red tomatoes, it uses the small green tomatillo. Its most popular use is as a chip dip, but also used as a sauce on meats and poultry.  This salsa verde recipe, found at whatscookingamerica.net, makes great use of the tomatillos, cilantro, and hot peppers in late summer shares.  Feel free to reduce the hot peppers and increase the tomatillos if you don’t want it too spicy. Makes approximately 2 cups. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 27, 2015

Hello Everyone!  On Thursday of last week a series of storms delivered nearly 2 ½ inches of rain. This is, of course, more than we really wanted at one time, especially since most of it came in very heavy downpours.  I had just seeded radishes into very dry soil the day before and I was worried they would be washed off the beds, but they seem to be popping up okay.  We were also in the process of preparing more beds for planting and the rain came before we had a chance to till in the fertilizer we had applied, so some of it was probably washed off the beds. I’m not complaining though — I know that many areas to our east that have been very dry did not receive any rain. And then there’s the Plainfield / Scotch Plains area that had significant road damage from flooding caused by a stalled storm that dropped 6” of the wet stuff in just a few hours! (more…)

Tomato Garlic Salad Dressing

Tomato Garlic Salad Dressing

Now that we have tomatoes to spare, why not try an easy salad dressing with some of the tomatoes that are “riper” than others. As we start to ease back into salad greens, it’s a good time to broaden our salad dressing repertoire, too. (more…)

Circle Brook Farm

Farm News – August 20, 2015

Hi Everyone!  So I thought we were almost done with the brutal heat and humidity for this year but I guess the forecasters were wrong (imagine that!). We received about an inch of rain last week but my soil dries out quickly and I am hoping for a good rain soon.  We are in the midst of a big push to get planted up with the fall brassica crops, greens and lettuces and I really count on precipitation, especially for the direct seeded crops like arugula, radishes, turnips, and spinach. (more…)