Blog
Hello Everyone,
Life is good on the farm with the steady rains and cooler temperatures. The fall season crops are rock'n! So come out and see us Saturday at the market - rain or shine.
By the way, the last day of the BAE Farmer's Market is 26 October - mark your calendars. After that, we'll move south to the Red Barn market ("Home Grown") beginning 2 November.
For this week, we'll have the following veggies:
- Bok Choy (New): bright green member of the cabbage family brings flavor, vitamins, and a delightful crunch to any recipe.
- Salad Mix (New): Instant salad! Mix includes, red and green romaines, oakleafs and loose leafs. Arugula is optional.
- Beets, Chioggia and Golden: We have an excellent supply for market. Come and get'em...Yum!
- Swiss Chard, Rainbow: super healthy, but most importantly tasty sauteed or braised.
- Hakurai Turnips: Japanese white, so sweet, crisp turnips, and don't forget the wonderful, healthy greens that are delicious simply sauteed. We always sell-out of these turnips so come early.
- Baby Ginger: More of our amazing ginger is coming your way this Saturday. We have the first of our fresh, sweet, aromatic ginger coming to market.
- Tomatoes: Last of 2013! Supply is limited
- Radishes: Sweet, rosy, and sometimes spicy Pink Beauties, French Breakfast and Oster Grusse.
- Arugula (Rocket): Love it or hate it, we have it and plenty of it.
- Sweet Potatoes: We roast them in the oven @ 400 degrees, tossed with olive oil and sea salt. OMG!!!
- Lettuce: Romaine, Bibb, Red and Green!
- Oranos Sweet Peppers
- Padron Peppers: Delicious sauteed as a Spanish tapas. About every 15th is hot.
- Jalapeno Peppers: essential to any salsa
- Fish Peppers: The white and green-striped, fruity, hot peppers that are part of the Chesapeake Bay's history of cuisine. These are great in salsa too. They have a nice hot, fruity finish. Try Them!
- Cippolini Italian onions: wonderful flavor, slightly sweet, great carmelized
- Garlic: "hard-neck" garlic, the flavor favored by chefs
Please check out our Web site for simple, delicious recipes for all of our vegetables.
Photo of the week: Your Farmers
We look forward to seeing you and your friends at the BAE Farmers Market this Saturday, 9 am - 1 pm!
Your Local Farmers,
David and Jennifer Paulk
Sassafras Creek Organic Farm 
https://www.facebook.com/sassafrascreek.farm?ref=ts&fref=ts
Assistance offered to those interested in getting into the business. A great news article about creating opportunities for new farmers in Southern MD.
Hello Everyone,
It's early October, sunny and warm...Indian summer? We think so!
Then come on out, when it's cool in the morning and enjoy the best vegetables that summer and fall have to offer.
For this week, we'll have the following veggies:
- Scallions (New): the first of fall, fresh green onions.
- Beets (New): Chioggia and Golden...yum!
- Swiss Chard: ...is back!
- Summer Squash: We still have sweet, nutty Patty Pan and Zephyr.
- Hakurai Turnips: Japanese white, so sweet turnips, and don't forget the wonderful, crisp, healthy greens that are so tasty sauteed.
- Baby Ginger: We have the first of our fresh, sweet, aromatic ginger coming to market - limited supply.
- Tomatoes: Come and get them, we're getting close to the end of their 2013 season! Big Beef, Sun Gold and Green Zebra heirlooms.
- Radishes: Sweet, rosy Pink Beauties and French Breakfast.
- Arugula (Rocket): Love it or hate it, we have it and plenty of it.
- Sweet Potatoes: We roast them in the oven @ 400 degrees, tossed with olive oil and sea salt. OMG!!!
- Lettuce: Romaine, Bibb, red and green!
- Oranos Sweet Peppers: Great raw, grilled, sauteed. Our friends at Woodberry Kitchen have discovered these delicious peppers.
- Padrons: Delicious sauteed as a Spanish tapas. About every 15th is hot.
- Jalapeno Peppers: essential to any salsa
- Fish Peppers: The white and green-striped, fruity, hot peppers that are part of the Chesapeake Bay's history of cuisine. These are great in salsa too. They have a nice hot, fruity finish. Try Them!
- Onions:
Cippolini Italian onions: wonderful flavor, slightly sweet, great carmelized
Superstar sweet onions: as sweet as a Walla Walla or Vidalia.
- Garlic: "hard-neck" garlic, the flavor favored by chefs
Please check out our Web site for simple, delicious recipes for all of our vegetables.
Photo of the week: Morning on the farm
We look forward to seeing you and your friends at the BAE Farmers Market this Saturday, 9 am - 1 pm!
Your Local Farmers,
David and Jennifer Paulk
Sassafras Creek Organic Farm
https://www.facebook.com/sassafrascreek.farm?ref=ts&fref=ts
Learn Organic Vegetable Farming!
For 2014, Sassafras Creek Organic Farm is proud to become a training farm with Future Harvest CASA's Beginner Farmer Training Program. Applications are being taken during September 2013. See the CASA FH beginner farmer training website for details.
A nice Washington Post article about our friends from Woodberry Kitchen and their work to preserve local foods. We've been growing Espelette peppers for them this season to make into paprika. Go Spike!
Today, we had the opportunity to participate on a panel discussing new farmer training in Maryland. It was great fun talking about what we enjoy most, farming! To listen to the podcast click here (Marc Steiner Show)
We have exciting news to share! "Farmhand Joe" has fresh pasture-raised chickens for sale.
Joe McGuire ("Farmhand Joe") works on our farm. He and his wife are new farmers and have been raising chickens for sale on our farm. The chickens are ready AND delicious. Please contact Joe directly at the email address provided below, if you are interested.
Thank you,
Dave and Jen
Sassafras Creek Farm
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Hello Sassafras Creek Farm Customers,
My name is Joe McGuire and I work for Dave and Jen and am pleased to offer you my pasture-raised poultry for purchase. They are available for on-farm pickup. Chickens are fed a Non-GMO grain ration, and are not administered antibiotics, steroids, hormones or any other additives. They are moved to fresh pasture daily and a priority is placed on humane handling. We process the birds on the farm. Chickens are fresh/frozen, and are $3.50 per pound. Chickens weigh from 4-6 pounds.
The chickens are bagged and ready for your dining table. Please call or email me to ask any questions and arrange for pickup.
Thank you,
Joe McGuire
240-561-9395
mcguire.josephw@gmail.com
This time of year can be very hetic but we're holding it all together. The garlic, onions and most all of the pototes have been harvested which is a big relief. We've also completed the last of the big plantings; tomatoes, peppers, watermelon, cukes and squash. Our focus now is keeping up with the harvest of tomatoes, peppers, AND keeping the weeds in-check. Before you know it, soon we'll be planting Fall seasoned crops and harvesting sweet potatoes, kale and winter squash.
Photo: A new bee hive thanks to Farmhand Joe.
This week we took delivery of our new "high-tunnel" also called a "hoop-house". This structure is similar to a greenhouse except it is not heated, or I should say, it's heated only by the sun's solar energy. Unlike a greenhouse, the high-tunnel is built on top of the ground and provides a sheltered home for plants growing directly in the soil. Greenhouses often have concrete or gravel floors and are mostly used to grow transplants in seed trays in a controlled environment that will later be planted out in the field.
Our new high-tunnel will allow us to grow more crops later into the fall and earlier in the spring because the structure helps to keep the soil warm and protect the plants from frost. We're super-excited about the possibilities and look forward to experimenting with it this fall - once we figure out how to put it together =:-)
Some assembly required...
What a week it's been! Between rainstorms and nearly 5" of rain (for the week), we managed to get some lettuce transplants in the ground (while wearing hip waders), weed the seemingly endless rows of onions, trellis tomatoes, prune a thousand strawberry plants, seed over 40 acres of summer cover, trim 45 ac of field edges, take delivery of our new "high-tunnel" (unheated greenhouse), and become selected as the first farm in St Mary's County and first organic vegetable farm in the state to be FSCAP (Farm Stewardship Certification and Assessment Program) certified! Not bad for couple of greenhorns... And many thanks to our hardworking crew who keeps us on our toes!
