some of this season's heirloom tomatoes varieties

By signing up for our CSA, you are getting consistent access to organic, local, seasonal produce grown by a community of young and enthusiastic farmers who genuinely love what we do and who infuse this joy into the produce that you take home to enjoy with your family. You are also helping us out at the farm in a big way, because we are able to plan how much food we need to grow and because it gives us income at the beginning of the season when we need it most to get our operations underway again (not that we ever really stop!). When you cook with your “weekly bundle” you deepen your connection with the earth through food, tasting the changing of the seasons as the year progresses from spring to summer and summer on into the fall. We grow a much wider variety of produce than you can find at the grocery store too! Say, have you ever met a Daikon radish? a Lipstick pepper? Sorrel? a sun gold tomato? a Ping Tung Lung eggplant? We grow unusual heirlooms and are always experimenting with new varieties along with the old-time favorites.

And don’t worry, if you haven’t met the Ping Tung Lung eggplant, we send out a weekly newsletter, the Weekly Bundle to all of our CSA members letting you know what is going on at the farm, what vegetables you will be receiving in the share and simple and delicious recipes.

There are many opportunities throughout the season to get involved with the farm: come with your family for a tour, come work with us and harvest your own vegetables, or attend our organized events (“craft-lucks”, the Music Festival, cooking and preserving workshops and many others). At the end of the season we host a potluck at the farm for CSA members to meet each other and share a meal together. Our farm table is always open to you. Expand your meal possibilities, feed your family healthy food and become a part of a farm community!

hayride at the end-of-the-season CSA Dinner

To Register:

Download the 2012 Application, print it out, sign it and include the registration portion along with your check payable to “The Anthill Farm” and send it to:

We ask that you kindly fill out the form below too. This will automatically enter you into our system today. Thanks!

Signup

Every Saturday from 11am-1pm, the Cooperage opens it’s doors to the community and folks file in to get their goodies for the week. You’ll find anything from Hardler’s Raw Milk to Treeline Farm’s sprouts and homemade apple cider. There are baked goods, alpaca products, maple syrup products, bread, mushrooms, cheese, meats and veggies too! Everything you’ll need to keep eating locally throughout the cold months.

Here at Anthill, we’re featuring a host of staple storage crops including garlic, potatoes, onions, leeks, radishes and rutabagas. Then there’s our value added products; pestos, black bean spread, and pickled garlic scapes.  The main attraction at our table, however, are all of the fresh greens that we’re growing in our 2 newly constructed 90′X40′ high tunnels.  Right now they are fully loaded with arugula, spinach, tatsoi, gourmet lettuce mix, mesclun mix, swiss chard and kale; and we’ll be harvesting a few pounds each week to keep you stocked up.

The building’s owners/operators, Pennell and Edward have been tirelessly working out all of the kinks necessary to get the building rebuilt and ready to fully open by Spring 2012. We’re so grateful to have made use of the building already- It’s wonderful to have a place to meet up, see friends and neighbors and share in the season with good food. The Cooperage will be a mixed-use facility playing host to the market (primarily at first) as well as a performing arts center, a commercially licensed kitchen and a second floor space that can be used for various community functions.  As things continue to roll along, we’ll be looking to add musical entertainment to serenade you while you shop at the market.  So stay tuned for details on that; until then, we’ll see y0u at the Cooperage!

If you’re across the river in Narrowsburg, NY, you won’t want to pass up on the chance to eat at The Heron Restaurant.  The food and atmosphere are outstanding and the crowd is great too! We’ve been making weekly deliveries of fresh greens, leeks and watermelon radishes to accompany all of the other great local ingredients that chef/co-owners Paul and Marla use. Tell em The Ants sent ya!

 Here are a couple more great places we’ve been working with too!

The Hotel Fauchere-  Milford, PA

The Settlers Inn- Hawley, PA

February 1st marks the start of the annual PASA  (Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture) conference. Farmers, gardeners, foodies, educators and many more will gather at the campus of Penn State University in State College, PA to discuss the latest issues, innovations and happenings in the Ag world here in Pennsylvania. Along with several workshops and discussions, the 4 day conference will feature live music, keynote addresses, a vendor expo and some delicious local food donated by regional farms.

To help us develop the faculties to better serve our food community, strengthen our CSA and inspire more people to support local agriculture, we’ll certainly be in attendance! If you can attend and wanted to research pricing and accommodations, download the conference .pdf HERE

~LB

Ceceilia, I know, is the main cause for this profuse merriment and sentimentality that has swept over the farm. Though this may not be a memorable Christmas for her, it certainly will be for us.  In short, we’ve been having a lot of fun and we can’t wait for Christmas morning to unfold.  Whatever your traditions this time of year, we hope you are enjoying them and valuing the loving spirit that goes into them.

There really is something special about this time of year. The closing of a season, the ever shortening visit of the sun’s light and warmth on our days forcing us to retreat inside.  The past month (besides holiday merry making), we have been reflecting on the season, the farm and our own roles as farmer’s both here and in the greater community.

Our contemplations have lead to incubations of many creative and practical  ideas for the new year. In fact throughout the winter season we like to do our homework, reading, attending lectures and conferences on farming like the PASA conference in February.  That’s part of what I like about winter; there is time to meet up and talk and time to just plain think.  We are hoping to meet up with all our CSA groups this winter to mingle and share ideas and concerns for the upcoming 2012 season.  So be sure to check your email for an invitation to a winter CSA meeting!

Also a reminder that the Winter Market will be open this Saturday, Christmas Eve Day, for all your last minute Holiday Feast Fixins, there are also a lot of great gifts available, knitwear, yarn, homemade soaps, maple syrups and lots of sweet treats to stuff stockings. And don’t forget a CSA share makes a great gift for the  family and friends, its truly the gift that keeps on giving!

Now I may be showing some bias here, but my mom’s pierogies are truly the best- And since she’s in pierogi-mode already, as we approach Christmas Eve,  I asked her if she would come up to the farm and share our family’s tradition with our friends here at Anthill. She was delighted to- so on behalf of her and everyone up here at the farm, we would like to extend an invitation to you to come join us as we celebrate the season, Polish-style on Sunday, December 11th at Noon at the farm.

potato and farmer cheese filling

Guest “chef” and pierogi-extraordinaire, Cindy Braun will lead us as we make dough, fillings and a few other Polish side dishes common on our dinner table during the holidays. You’ll be taking a batch home with you too so make sure to bring a take-home container along with you.

If you have a rolling pin, bring that too as they’ll be in limited supply. Pierogies are very filling and when you’ve had enough, you always want some sauerkraut nearby to aid your digestion. If you happened to do any lacto-fermenting this season and wanted to share your sauerkraut, we’d love to try it. We’ll certainly have some of our own out on the table for you to sample. A small cash donation is welcomed as well but most of all, bring your holiday cheer! See you at the farm!

Here’s some info:

The turkeys are all-natural: pasture raised without hormones and antibiotics. The birds are never confined indoors and are let out to roam during the day (they have an outdoor pen for the evening due to a fox problem).

They are all 4-8 months old. The breeds are Narragansett, Bourbon Red, Royal Palm, and Broad Breasted Bronze and White. The Broad-breasted will be the larger birds, as they are a more domesticated type of breed. They will all have a deep flavor, however, because they are outside eating slugs, bugs and grasses during their daily foraging expeditions.

Price range are as follows:
7-15 lbs ($7.00 pp)
16-20 lbs (6.50 pp)
21-25lbs (6.00 pp)
25-28 lbs (5.50 pp)

Anyone interested should drop us an email: info@theanthillfarm.com

Please add the subject line, “THANKSGIVING TURKEY” and indicate the desired weight and breed that you are interested in. We’ll get back to you with confirmation so that you know your order is secured. The turkeys will be processed Sunday 11/20 and Monday 11/21. They will be fresh, not frozen. Orders can be picked up here at the farm. Additionally, we will be making deliveries on Tuesday and Wednesday to our Brooklyn, Milford and Scranton CSA drop-off points. Times are as follows:

Brooklyn: (Tuesday) 6:00 – 7:00pm

Milford: (Wednesday) 5:00 – 6:00pm

Scranton: (Wednesday) 7:30-8:30pm

We must have cash in hand when we pick up the birds, so we’ll need your check delivered by Monday 11/21. You can also make a paypal transaction to larrybraun99@hotmail.com or call in a credit card purchase to 973.896.8189

If you do decide to make a CC or Paypal transaction, we ask that you include the $.30 plus 2.9% of the total that paypal charges us to complete the transaction. We will send official invoices via email for all orders.

Make checks payable to:

The Anthill Farm

1114 Beech Grove Road

Honesdale, PA 18431

We served a warm winter squash and apple soup followed by an unbelievably fresh and tender baby greens salad with watermelon radish, tri-color potato gnocchi with a sausage ragu (with sausage from Mike Hardler’s farm in Honesdale) or a roasted garlic tomato cream sauce and a pumpkin custard with lavender ginger shortbread cookies and whipped cream to top it off, oh my! Lauren milked the cows and separated the cream herself for the event at the Hardler farm and the flour used in the entree and dessert was sourced from the Finger Lakes in upstate New York. Most everything else was straight off the farm!
We hope this is only the first of many Farm-to-table cooking and Yoga events a Jaya–there is talk of a “Chocolates and Chakras” event this winter…hmm, sounds decadent, I’m not sure how the farm veggies play into that one but we will make it happen!

We were honored to introduce a taste of the farm to so many wonderful new people and to show off everyone’s hard work all season. It is incredibly rewarding to be able to cook such decadent meals sustainably and responsibly and to facilitate a community meal experience that brings together local food and local people sharing a great night together. Bon Appétit!

Special thanks to Larry for these wonderful photographs and to Alex for taking a nap with Ceceilia in the car!

In Gratitude,
Monique and Lauren