Our Produce

Thanks to the influence of two of my great-grand fathers, I became interested in gardening at an early age.

One great-grand father, "Pop" Thompson, was the Head Groundskeeper at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Aside from his professional interests in landscaping, horticulture and gardening, "Pop" Thompson maintained beautiful flower gardens and productive vegetable plots at his home. I worked along side him both on the Academy campus after elementary school as well as in his home gardens. He grew enormous powder blue hydrangeas, dahlias the size of dinner plates, and hardy mums and perennial flowers that would rival anything what was available cut at the local florist.

My other gardening great-grand father, "Pop" Bove was an Italian immigrant as a child growing up in New Jersey and later moving to Annapolis, Maryland where he played the coronet in the Naval Academy Band. His interest in gardening was purely for pleasure and to provide fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs for his wife Mary Carmen to prepare authentic Italian meals from her kitchen. His garden included not only the requisite tomatoes and peppers, basil and oregano needed for virtually all cuisine italiano but also was punctuated with fruit and nut trees, and grape vines for making homemade vino. He had even planted figs started from cuttings of ancient fig trees from family plots in Castle Grande, Italy.

While studying under my great- grand father's watchful eyes, I learned about the importance of aerating the soil and preparing it for planting. I studied the growing requirements of each crop and how to improve the soil with various amendments such as bone and blood meal, manure, peat moss, leaf mold and compost. Crop rotation, companion planting, and how to interplant crops and flowers to attract beneficial insects, while controlling pests, were also part of the curriculum. While the education at the time also included the use of chemical fertilizers (the all purpose 10-10-10) and insecticides… eventually I chose to approach gardening and more specifically-- growing food-- from a wholly naturalistic point of view.

When we purchased our farm in 2001, we planted a small garden at first to "test the water" and evaluate what the ground was capable of producing. We stuck to "tried and true" varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash and the other popular residents of most folks' back yard vegetable plots. We were pleasantly surprised with the garden's production in its inaugural year. This led to an expansion the second growing season, and its further expansion each year thereafter until we eventually had a vegetable plot covering about1/2 acre. (I later ceded some of this area to my wife Danielle for additional corral space for her goats.) We now till and utilize about 1/8 acre of ground each year for growing food of impeccable quality.

While terms and labels such as "organic", "sustainable", "whole" or "natural" are becoming increasingly popular in the food marketer's vocabulary-- we chose not to subscribe to any of those labels when referring to our produce.

(These words mean different things to different people and the industrial food production and transportation complex has increasingly embraced these terms to capture part of the multi-billion dollar market comprised of consumers looking for healthier and safer food that is produced in a more ecologically sound manner than conventional means that rely heavily upon petroleum based chemical fertilizers and poisonous pesticides.)

We strive to be crystal clear when describing the produce we grow in our garden.

We do not use any of the following:

Herbicides derived from Petroleum

Pesticides derived from Petroleum

Fertilizers derived from Petroleum

Toxic/Poisonous Liquids, Powders, Granules

We only use the following components in our garden:

Aged Compost made from lawn & garden waste and barn bedding

Goat Manure

Composted Chicken/Peafowl Litter

Pulverized Limestone (to balance pH)

Earthworm Casings

Leaf Mold

Cover Crops for Erosion Control, Nitrogen Fixing, and

"Green" Manure/Organic Matter Incorporation

Natural Pyrethrin Insecticide derived from Chrysanthemums

What We Grow

I look forward to one thing (and only one thing) each winter…

the arrival of voluminous stacks of seed catalogues to our mailbox!

While I have favorite cultivars that I do generally plant each year… I look forward to investigating new introductions from the seed companies as well as the occasional discovery of a long-lost (non-hybrid) heirloom species.

And, from time to time I try out something new.

TOMATOES

Each year we grow a minimum of three types of tomatoes:

1 beefsteak variety (typically "Park's Whopper Improved")

1 sauce/paste variety (typically "Roma" or "San Marzano")

1 salad/saladette variety ("Juliet" is a favorite)

We've grown up to 17 tomato varieties in a single season. (350 plants in total that year!)

Other varieties we have grown in the past include: "4th of July", "Mortgage Lifter", "Celebration", "Big Boy", "Early Girl", "Lemon Boy", "Super 100" Cherry, "Jelly Bean", "Better Boy", "Brandywine", "Pineapple", "Black Cherry", Yellow & Red Pear types, and "Big Beef."

PEPPERS/CHILES

We grow at least 2 varieties of sweet pepper and at least 1 hot pepper each year.

One of the sweet peppers is always a bell variety- "California Wonder" being a time tested favorite. We've also grown Red, Orange, Yellow, Ivory, Chocolate, and Purple bells; and another sweet pepper favorite called "Gypsy". These peppers are great for stuffing, as well as stir frying, raw eating/salads, and roasting. Occasionally we'll plant a few Sweet Bananas, or some Pimento types. When we have too many peppers we can them as sweet pickled peppers for use on pizzas and subs out of season.

When we turn up the heat, we look to Jalapeño, Serrano, or Cayenne. I have friends who grow scotch bonnet, habanero, and other types popular in Latin America and the Caribbean- but I find they are just too hot. We use these chiles in various dishes during the summer including salsas and marinades and then dry them toward the end of the growing season and have even ventured into making homemade hot pepper sauces and homemade ground chile powders.

SQUASH

Year in and year out, we always grow one variety of Zucchini as well as a Yellow Summer Squash.

We use squash a lot in our summer cooking. We'll season it and sauté it in either butter or olive oil as a side dish. We also slice it, layer it in a casserole and alternate layers of semi-soft and grated hard chesses, light cream and butter then top with seasoned bread crumbs for an outstanding gratin. Squash is of course also a major ingredient in ratatouille, which we serve all summer long accompanying grilled meats. And speaking of grilling, we often marinate and charbroil flat strips of squash along with onions and peppers as side for Garlic-Lime Grilled Chicken, Adobo Grilled Flank Steak, and Pineapple and Chili Glazed Grilled Shrimp.

The last few years we have favored "Black Beauty" for our zucchini and a Straight Neck yellow squash (we don't care for the crook neck variety). We've planted many other types of squash before including "Eight Ball" and a striped Romanesco zucchini, as well as Spaghetti and Patty Pan squash varieties.

BEANS

At least one Green Bean or "String"/"Snap" Bean variety is planted each year. We used to grow the famous "Blue Lake" bush bean, but over the years have found nicer, straighter and string-less beans like "Slenderette" which produce a bean similar to the French haircot verts. One of the simplest and tastiest ways to enjoy them is to sauté them in half butter and half extra virgin olive oil with fresh, thinly sliced garlic cloves and a little salt and pepper.

Lima Beans, also known as Butter Beans, are a favorite of my grandmother- so I always plant some for her. "King of the Garden" and "Better Bush" have done well for us, though I have never had a yield that has satisfied me. A local variety that many a gardener swears by is called the "Dr. Martin" Pole Lima. Folks pay upwards of $1 per plant and nearly as much per seed for this variety around the Delmarva.

We've also cultivated Roman flat beans, Purple String Beans, Yellow Wax Beans, and shelling beans like Cranberry Beans and Cannellini Beans that we have harvested, dried, and reserved for winter soups.

SALAD GREENS

We eat lots of salads year round, but summer is the best as we are able to literally pick our salad daily from the garden. We grow Romaine/Cos, "Black Seeded Simpson", "Green Ice" as well as no less than 5 "Mesclun" lettuce assortments that have a varied blend of spicy, tangy and sweet leaf lettuces often found in "Spring Mixes" and "European" Salad Blends. These blends include Green and Red Oak Leaf, Deer Tongue, Frise, Arugula, Mache, Chervil, Endive, Radicchio, and Mizuna; among others. We also grow a cool weather and a summer Spinach.

CUCUMBERS

Danielle loves cucumbers. So, naturally, I grow them for her to add to tossed salads and to make a tomato and cucumber salad she enjoys for lunch on hot summer days. I've grown the standard bearer "Straight Eight" but lately have been planting "Burpee's Burpless"-- nice, dark green, shiny-skinned cukes that are crisp and crunchy without the sometime unpleasant side effect!

ASPARAGUS

When we first moved to our farm, one of the first things we planted was 2 year-old asparagus crowns. It usually takes about three years before you can harvest asparagus after planting the crowns so we figured the sooner the better when it came to purchasing the crowns and getting them established. Indeed, three years later we began cutting slender, tender green spears from our garden each Spring. We heavily compost and manure the asparagus beds each Autumn and this seems to be the key to their prolific production for us.

We steam the spears, grill them and sauté them. Our only complaint is that there is such a short harvesting window of only a few weeks before the plants require the spears to open into their seed-producing fern stage.

PEAS

We grow three varieties: Snow Peas, Sugar Snap, and English Peas for shelling.

All three are nitrogen-fixing vines so we sometimes interplant or rotate a crop of peas behind a crop from the previous year that was a heavy nitrogen feeder. (That and of course adding plenty of our goat and chicken manure to the soil each year.)

ROOT CROPS

We have grown both Potatoes and Sweet Potatoes with great results. "Red Pontiac" and "Yukon Gold" potatoes have proven very productive in our soil. We have harvested them early as "New Potatoes" as well as giving them a fully season to grow before harvest and storage. We are interested in trying out a fingerling potato variety in the near future as well as some rare and unusual varieties from Chile.

"Beauregard" has been the sole sweet potato cultivar we have tried.

We've also grown radishes for family, turnips to feed our livestock, and several carrot varieties for both our benefit and treats for our livestock and horses.

We've decided to start growing horseradish to process for storage as we enjoy it as a condiment when making beef roasts and as an addition to homemade cocktail sauce.

MELONS

Summertime is just better with watermelon!

I've grown "Charleston Grey", "Sugar Baby", and the famous "Carolina Cross" which produced melons for us that weighed over 140 lbs! We also occasionally grow cantalope too (also known as musk melon). Whether eaten at breakfast, as a snack during the day, or as a dessert after dinner, melons just make summer sweeter.

THE ONION FAMILY

We grow several different types of onions and members of the onion family. I usually start bulb onions like Spanish Yellow and Italian Sweet Reds from sets, while I plant Scallions/Spring Onions from seed. I also grow shallots and garlic from sets.

While I have yet to attempt leeks (they tend to take a very long growing season of well over 100 days) I may give the "Walking Egyptian Onion" a try as it has the ability to not only produce subterranean bulbs like most onions- but also clusters of small bulbs on the tops of the onion plants.

HERBS

I grow virtually all the herbs I cook with (occasionally I run out before the next growing season and have to purchase some).

Our spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, black peppercorns, etc) come direct from Grenada in the Caribbean either via mail order or we purchase them in ample quantity in person while on vacation each year.

(Just visited Grenada on 12/14/09 and replenished my supplies!)

I make homemade Paprika and Chili Powder from our garden's sweet and hot peppers.

We grow Sweet Basil, Oregano, Cilantro, Dill, Thyme, Rosemary, Italian Parsley, Sage, and Chives.

CORN

We love fresh-from-the-garden sweet corn. Despite all the hybrid corn varieties that are available nowadays that slow the process of sugar conversion to starch, I've never eaten a better ear of corn than "Silver Queen." We've also grown a sweet bi-color corn called "Peaches and Cream" which we enjoyed as well as a yellow sh2 variety called "Northern Xtra Sweet."

A couple of years ago we also grew a few novelty corn varieties: "Strawberry Popcorn", "Earthtones" a mutli-colored pastel-hued drying corn we used to make homemade cornmeal and corn flour, and "Indian Corn" we used for seasonal decoration and to feed the squirrels around our farm during winter.

We enjoy our garden's produce and share it with our family and friends, and we also offer some up for sale from time to time at our makeshift farm stand. Additional surplus is donated to a local food bank and a senior citizen center. We've been asked by a lot of our past produce buyers to establish a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) cooperative and are investigating this possibility where folks could purchase a subscription to receive fresh produce weekly throughout the growing season.