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Saturdays to October 14th | 8 am to Noon
Beargrass Christian Church, 4100 Shelbyville Road
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Farm in the Spotlight
Duncan Farm
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Duncan Farm is our Spotlight Farm this week. The Boston, Kentucky farm is run by John and Sara Duncan and is home to 2,300 chickens and ducks, as well as multiple acres of fresh vegetables. They have more than 150 blackberry plants and 45 young blueberry plants, strawberries. They raise hogs to process and make delicious country ham, bacon and sausage, and pork chops. They also cultivate mushrooms. Located in the wetlands of southern Nelson County, All their products (including fruits, veggies, meats and eggs) are raised free of hormones and chemicals.
For the chickens, they have several free-range living areas including a 36' by 80' chicken house where the flock can come and go as they please to a large fenced in grassy area. Duncan Farm supplies fresh eggs to many local restaurants such as the popular Rye, Naive, Con Huevos, Grail House, Holy Grail, Seviche, Highland Coffee, 610 Magnolia, Napa River Grill, and many more.
Stop by and see John Duncan and he will show you a video of his free range singing hens. The hens themselves are treated to 5 acres of land on which to roam freely and enjoy the sunshine. Sara has a mobile coop near the rear of the farm, a large immobile coop in the middle of the farm and a coop for new chicks in between those two. The large coop and mobile coop both have large grassy plots for the mature hens to run around on while the baby chicks are kept safe and warm in their coop.
They also offer local honey of various types. It's amazing to see the difference the types of plants the bees use for pollination have on the color, texture, and taste of the honey. John Duncan, who is the primary beekeeper in the family, can tell you all about it when you stop by his booth. The Duncan's jams and jellies are all processed right on the farm and are delicious. Sara makes a variety of jams including strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, and peach. They also sell apples, berries, beans, greens, and melons. They are famous for their duck eggs and fresh brown eggs. They offer a variety of home canned vegetables and tomatoes in addition to the fresh meats..
John Duncan is a personable man and you'll find him in the corner booth nearest the breakfast tables. Stop by, take home some eggs, and much more. Buying your eggs locally is just one way you can help support your community.
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What's at the Market this week?
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Green beans are at most all farm stalls. Beautiful cantaloupe, watermelon, and other fruits are plentiful, sweet, and juicy. Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and hot and sweet peppers, beets, and winter squash abound. Cut flowers, muffins, bread, salsa, cheese spreads, rolls, croissants, nut and seed butters, soaps and lotions. Healthy dog treats. Fried pies, sausage, angel food cake. Corn will be in until mid-September. Beef, honey, eggs, peaches, peppers, kale, cabbage, potatoes, eggplant. Our musical guest is Gavin Caster. Our alternate vendors are: Maya Connection, Scarlett's Bakery, Splendid Bee, and Tim Burton's Farm.
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Featured Recipe
Pimento Cheese Hushpuppies
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Triple J Farm Pimento Cheese is a traditional pimento cheese that is perfect for just about any occasion. Served on bread, vegetables, or crackers. When it first appeared in the early 20th century, dainty pimento cheese sandwiches were served crustless at tea parties across the nation. They were regarded as a delicacy due to the high cost of cheese and pimiento peppers, then imported from Spain. It didn't take long, however, for the spread to reach the masses. James Lewis Kraft sold the first processed cheese in 1915. Soon after, farmers began growing pimiento peppers in the South, helping to lower the cost of the spread and to seal its fate as Southern fare.
Pimento Cheese is "held sacred by Southerners" and is "so ingrained in the lives of many Southerners that we don't realize our passion for the stuff doesn't exist outside the region." John Fleer, of Rhubarb Restaurant in Asheville, NC, created these delicious hushpuppies using pimento cheese. Fleer is widely known as a Southern innovator and for 15 years was previously Executive Chef of Blackberry Farm in Tennessee.
HUSH PUPPY BASE
2 scallions, finely minced
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup fine cornmeal
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tbsp. honey
½ cup buttermilk
1 egg
In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine honey, buttermilk and egg, then stir into dry mix until fully incorporated.
For the Hush Puppy Assembly and Preparation:
Pour 3 inches of canola oil into a deep skillet (or enough to cover the hush puppies as they fry). Heat to 350ºF. In a large bowl, mix pimento cheese into hush puppy base using a whisk. The mixture should be scoopable and hold its shape. If the batter is too thick, stir in a little buttermilk. If it’s too thin, add cornmeal to thicken. Drop mixture by tablespoons into the hot oil and fry until golden brown and crisp on the outside, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve warm with comeback sauce.
COMEBACK SAUCE
1 cup Duke's Mayonnaise
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup sambal (garlic-chili sauce)
¼ cup ketchup
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
¾ tsp. fresh black pepper
1 tbsp. Crystal hot sauce
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 small Vidalia onion, finely grated, with juice
1 clove garlic, minced
For the Comeback Sauce:
Puree all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
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Honey Tasting
September 7
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September 7 will be our annual honey tasting. Come and taste the fruits of our farmer's labor and learn about beekeeping! Farmers will offer their raw, unfiltered honey and other natural products. We are committed to creating awareness and interest in the health and well-being of one of the most precious members in our community: the honeybee.
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Catch Up On Past Newsletters
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Have you missed a newsletter? Check back issues for recipes, what's fresh, and to learn about our farms. Thanks for reading! You can even learn about the history of St. Matthews farms from a great article written by Art Lander. Enjoy!
Past Newsletters
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What's a Mortgage Lifter Tomato?
Hambley Farms Supplied the Mortgage Lifter and We Had to Investigate
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Our favorite story of Tomato Day was that of the Mortgage Lifter variety. They’re tasty without being acidic, and the flattened, pinkish fruits get big, a pound or two apiece. The best of them carried a longer name: “Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato.” Sometime in the early 1940s, Radiator Charlie Byles of West Virginia wanted to build a better tomato.
He planted ten plants in a circle with one in the center. He started with four varieties of tomatoes and placed a tomato called German Johnson in the center. All the tomatoes he selected were the largest seeds he could find. He collected pollen from each of the tomatoes in the ring, in a syringe, that was used to clean baby’s ears. He then squirted the pollen on the flowers of the German Johnson. He saved the seeds and repeated the process. After seven years, he felt he had a stable tomato with all qualities he was looking for, and once he was satisfied, he never worked with any other tomato plants, or did any other plant breeding.
Radiator Charlie Byles had quite a knack for marketing, and sold his tomato seedlings for a dollar apiece—a lot of money for a little plant in those days. He sold enough of them to pay off the mortgage on his house. In an article published in the 1960’s, Byles remarked, “I didn’t pay but six thousand dollars for my home, and paid most of it off with tomato plants.”
When you buy these heirloom varieties you are in a way saving the soul behind these seeds, the thin line that extends from one generation to another. The people are connected with the seeds, just as culture and agriculture are inevitably linked, like two sides of the same coin.
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