Great Road Farm

French Breakfast Radish

Steve — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 16:08:06 +0000

Pulling the first radishes from the earth in Spring is a true delight. Raw on a salad, sauteed in butter, or quick pickled to last longer these beauties are a reminder of our connection to the cycles of seasons. Soon after radishes come sugar snap peas. Snap peas take some time to pick individually, but are worth the effort. Their shells are edible and taste so sweet they can be eaten on their own as a snack. While we are hauling in pounds and pounds of snap peas we are also pruning our heirloom tomatoes in the high tunnel. We still have a long way to go before tomato season, however harvesting the snap peas reminds me that endless afternoons of picking tomatoes are right around the corner. Enjoy the bounty of the season and eat what is fresh and available now!

West Windsor Farmers’ Market

Steve — Fri, 24 May 2013 23:32:51 +0000

Tomorrow will be our first local market. We have been looking forward to connecting with our local community. Today was cold and rainy, however we were able to harvest some wonderful produce. We have some unique mixed greens to offer: Beet Green and Toscano Kale, Arugula and Escarole. Each mix has a nice balanced flavor and texture that goes great with some squeezed lemon, olive oil, and salt to taste. A limited amount of Nasturtium petals, which adds a peppery kick to a salad, and green garlic are also available. Fresh thyme, rosemary, and garlic chives will add a supportive role in your culinary adventures. Stop by our stand and say hello! We love to talk about vegetables and cooking. The market runs from 9am – 1pm at the West Windsor train station. Click here for more info.

Fava Leaves (and beans soon)

Steve — Sun, 05 May 2013 19:28:26 +0000

First seed that goes into the ground at Great Road Farm is snap peas and fava beans. We seeded the fava beans by hand because the seed is too large for our mechanical seeder. To insure proper germination we seeded them closer than desired so we could thin them out at a later date. Our method worked great, and we were able to give our restaurant, Agricola, the fava leaves to use for a special dish. The rest of the plants in the ground will grow to produce fava beans. All of our peas have been trellised and we are watching them grow inches every day. So far we have over a acre planted in fingerling potatoes, beets, kale, carrots, napa cabbage, lettuce, radishes, and swiss chard.

Spring Time

Steve — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 13:44:04 +0000

The greenhouse is full and we are starting to get the field ready for planting. In our permanent raised beds we have planted sugar snap peas, snow peas, fava beans, heirloom carrots, mizuna, mustard, chicory, arugula, and escarole for cut greens. The high tunnel we started building in February is near completion that will house tomatoes and a early crop of radishes and turnips. Fingerling potatoes have been delivered and will be planted out in the field this week. Spring time is very busy and all of the planning is starting to be executed. We look forward to our new market in West Windsor, NJ and doubling our stand at McGolrick Park in Brooklyn, NY. Spring is here and we are excited for the season ahead.

Culinary CSA for Princeton, NJ

Steve — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 22:34:13 +0000

High Tunnel

Steve — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 16:39:37 +0000

A high tunnel is a unheated greenhouse that will allow us to get an early start on heirloom tomatoes and extend our season into the winter. We went with a 30′ X 96′ gable style structure. The process has been slow in putting it up because this is the first time I have built one. Our construction began after a bit of head scratching and double checking measurements to make sure the ground posts (basically the foundation) were square. We had to borrow scaffolding from a friend to be able to raise the hoops and decided to place it on a hay wagon so it could be moved easily. This system worked until we had a beautiful day and our portable scaffolding got stuck in the mud! We are about half way done and look forward to growing in it this season.

Romanesco Cauliflower

Steve — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 22:44:41 +0000

Winter does not seem to exist in New Jersey anymore. I planted cauliflower in September hoping it would survive some frost and be ready by the middle of December just in time for the opening of Agricola. The restaurant opening got delayed and I spent most of December working from home on season summaries and exploring Vermont. I went on a field walk the other day to check on conditions and harvest some kale for personnel use. When I arrived at our cauliflower out in the field I was shocked at how well some heads turned out. They were not under any cover and it appears the plants with more leaves protecting the heads survived better then the larger ones that got exposed to freezing conditions. We still have beets and carrots out in the field to look forward to harvesting soon.

Last chance for Arugula

Steve — Sun, 18 Nov 2012 02:15:49 +0000

This is our last market for the season. Our first year has been a huge success with setting up infrastructure, setting up our fields, and growing over 120 different varieties of vegetables. We are anticipating our restaurant, Agricola, opening next year. It has been challenging working in the fields recently. We have to wait for the frost to thaw off our plants and then hurry up and harvest them while the daylight decreases. The arugula has made it through a hurricane and a snow storm. We have a limited amount, but this tender green is worth all of the care. Thank you to everyone who has come out to purchase at the McGolrick Park Farmers Market. Swing on over this Sunday and stock up.

Snow

Steve — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 22:42:49 +0000

A week after the hurricane we had a snow storm. Some crops were damaged while others survived. We were able to harvest all of the Napa Cabbage just as the snow began to fall. Our kale under row cover suffered some damage because of the weight of the snow on the fabric crushed some plants. The kale with no row cover sprang back from the snow to produce a sweeter crop. Beets, arugula, and spinach all survived the snow, however it was challenging harvesting because the snow has not completely melted. Carrots also become sweeter with the frost…or snow…and we have a good amount to harvest to round out our season. One thing I was reminded of this week is to never give up. We have to push through all of the struggles to end our season as intended. Otherwise we could just purchase vegetables from California and resell them at the market, but where is the integrity in that? Real food is still grossly undervalued, but we will fight to make sure it survives in today’s climate.

The Aftermath

Steve — Sun, 04 Nov 2012 17:27:01 +0000

Hurricane Sandy hit us hard. Some of our vegetables have been damaged, however all of our buildings remain fine. We lost power for four days which made us cancel our Sunday market. A lot of trees have fallen on the property and we have begun clearing them. Some fallen oaks will be used for mushroom logs, cedar for building materials, and the rest turned into wood chips. Our thoughts and heart go out to all who have been affected by Sandy. Mother nature has given us another wake up call to build a resilient future.