From the Farmer
Greetings Friends and Neighborhs,
After a very relaxing mild stretch of weather in early December, winter finally arrived with a bit of a bang. We got 6" of snow on the farm on Sunday and are expecting some deeply frigid temperatures over the next couple of nights.
Over the past couple of weeks we had been taking advantage of the gentle weather to get a lot of year-end packing up done along with some deep cleaning projects that will serve the farm well into the future. We were lulled by the warm weather and had been hoping to stretch out the chickens' time on pasture a little longer. Now we're hustling to get the hens up to home for the winter and installed in their cozy cold-weather abode. We're in the process of draining the last of our water systems, spreading the last of the compost on the fields, and getting ready to call it a season.
In other news, we'll be wishing a fond farewell to our apprentices, Austin Davis and Caralyn Roeper, who have poured themselves into the farm to help make for an incredibly productive, fun and successful year. These two have transformed parts of the farm and their contributions will be felt and appreciated for years to come. From substantial improvements to apprentice housing, to a major purging of mountains of unused metal, from our best-ever flower production year, to the demolition of a crumbling old cabin and so much more, these two have made significant contributions to Natural Roots. We wish them both the best in their next endeavors. Thank you Austin and Caralyn!
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Holiday Gifts
Natural Roots farm store is a great place to shop for locally-produced gifts for the holidays. We have maple syrup and honey along with maple candies (which fit nicely in stockings, fyi), artisanal cured sausages, and our own popcorn. We have beautiful art-cards and gorgeous books by local authors as well. And, did I mention that we now have eggnog?!
If you'd like to give something especially beautiful, we still have several of our home-grown and farm-made dry flower garlic bundles.
So come check out the farm store!
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Holiday Sale!
Winter has arrived and with it a sale on many of our farm shop items. Come stock your pantry and help us clear our shelves in anticipation of the colder days ahead. The following items are 15% off:
All soft cheeses - goat, cow and dairy-free
Garlic butter
Sweet Birch Herbal Tinctures
Muir Glen and Valicenti Tomato and Pizza Sauces
Appalachian Naturals BBQ Sauce
Chubby's Salsa
Herrell's Dairy Free Hot Fudge
Apex Golden Delicious Apples
In other Farm Store news, we presently have bagged lettuce and bagged spinach from Old Friends Farm in Amherst.
Also please note that in preparation for the very frigid nights we have moved some of our freezable items into the coolers, so if at first you don't find what you're looking for in it's usual location, just look around the coolers for them.
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The Last of the Sugar Pie Pumpkins
This has been a bountiful year for many of our crops including an incredible yeild of winter squash. We still have a few bushels of pie pumpkins that, when roasted, make a delicious filling for pumpkin pie. The seeds are also wonderful roasted with a little oil and salt. Here is David's famous Pumpkin Pie Recipe to inspire you.
Pumpkins are available in the farm store for $2/lb.
Sugar Pie Pumpkin Pie with a Nut Crust
(It is gluten and potentially dairy free!)*
Nut Crust:
1 ¾ cup ground walnuts or pecans
3 Tablespoons melted butter (or vegan butter or coconut oil)
2 Tablespoons sugar
Grind nuts and sugar in a food processor or nut grinder, until coarsely ground. Add melted butter. Press into a 9 inch pie plate.
Pie filling:
Preheat the oven to 375. Wash and cut squash in half. Scoop out the seeds and place the squash face down onto a baking sheet. Roast squash for 45 minutes until fork tender. (You can add water to the pan if you’d like. if you do that use a glass pyrex for baking instead of a baking sheet.)
After the squash is cooked:
Whisk thoroughly in a large bowl:
2 eggs (3 eggs makes a more custardy filling)
Add:
2 cups cooked squash
1 ¼ cream, milk or dairy-free milk
⅔ cup sugar or maple syrup
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
Pour the pie filling over the crust. Bake for 35 - 45 minutes, until the pie is set in the center. Enjoy!
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