August 24, 2010 by Debra.

In celebration of this summer’s abundance of tomatoes, Tracey Miller will be featuring recipes for this versatile fruit on her Wellness blog — a new one every day for the last 10 days of August. The recipes will include using raw tomatoes as well as cooked, with the series starting off with one for Fresh Pasta Sauce, followed by another for Cherry Tomato Chewies. Tips on preserving will also be offered along the way. Make sure to check Tracey’s blog daily to see what’s new!

Many local farmers are offering bulk orders of tomatoes and the option of pick-your-own.  Warren Farm (weekdays 9–6, weekends 9–4) and Brookford Farm (daily except Sunday, 9:30–1 and 2:30–6) are both offering  pick-your-own tomatoes, wilth Brookford Farm also offering special pricing for bulk orders of tomato seconds. Many other farms are also taking bulk orders on tomatoes, such as Stout Oak Farm and Pickpocket Farm, or ask at your local farmers’ market. It’s a perfect time to get canning!

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August 20, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

New Roots Farm is offering pre-orders of fresh (not frozen) pasture-raised chickens for pickup at the Exeter Farmers’ Market on Thursday 8/26.

New Roots grass-fed chickens are raised on certified organic pasture in the Joel Salatin style as seen in Food, Inc.  We will be offering whole roasting chickens (4-5 pounds) for $4.50 per pound and half-chickens for $5.50 per pound.  The chickens are humanely processed on our farm in Newmarket and are shrink wrapped, sealed and labeled for pickup.  Limit two whole birds per customer.

Order your chicken by emailing Jeff and Renee Cantara at farmers @ newrootsfarm.com or by calling 292-5902

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August 6, 2010 by Debra.

Just in from New Roots Farm in Newmarket — they will be offering special prices on tomatoes at the Portsmouth Farmers’ Market this Saturday, August 7th. Time to start canning!:

I find myself in the happy position of drowning in tomatoes. Thus we are running a special at Portsmouth tomorrow. 5 pounds of slicers for $15 and 10 pounds of canning/”seconds” tomatoes for $15. These are are organic, field grown tomatoes. Many heirloom varieties are available.

For more information please contact New Roots Farm at farmers[at]newrootsfarm.com or (603) 292-5902.

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July 20, 2010 by Debra.

Pasture-raised chicken from New Roots Farm will be available for the first time at the Exeter Farmers’ Market this Thursday:

New Roots will have fresh chicken from our Certified Organic pastures at the Exeter Market on Thursday. These are not commercial cornish cross birds, but instead, are genetic stock derived from American and European heritage breeds. Freedom Rangers were developed in the early 1960’s to meet the highest standards of the French Label Rouge Free Range program. Currently, the Freedom Ranger genetic stock is used by most non-factory farm production models all across Europe and also by small pastured poultry producers in search of a traditionally raised farm chicken — just like the “oldies,” healthy and with a succulent flavor and texture.

Since our Freedom Ranger Broilers are a slower growing breed, they are naturally better suited to being raised on pasture and have none of the health issues associated with industrial birds and their ultra-rapid growth rate. 

We are thrilled to add high-quality chicken to our vegetable, pastured pork and grass fed lamb offerings and should now have chicken throughout the market season in Exeter.

For more information, please contact New Roots Farm directly. The Exeter Farmers’ Market is located at Swasey Parkway, and is open weekly on Thursdays, 2:25 to 6 p.m., through October 28th.

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July 13, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Sherri sends a note, “wild blueberries and blackberries are ready to pick this week at 379  Tolend rd in Dover, NH. Call for picking conditions: 603-740-9332″

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July 6, 2010 by Sara Zoe.

Here’s the .pdf of the Toot Sweet menu, where you can have local food focused breakfasts and lunches. Chef Ted McCormack is also offering “Farmers’ Market Meals” to go and catering!

tootsweetmenu.pdf

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July 2, 2010 by Debra.

Add  Saltbox Farm  in Stratham to the list of PYO places now open! They expect to start picking blueberries and raspberries today, July 2:

Saltbox Farm

321 Portsmouth Ave, Stratham, NH

Hours (berries and weather permitting): Tues–Fri 8–6, Sat–Sun 8–5, closed Mondays

Information: (603) 436-7978

Many other local farms offering pick-your-own can also be found at  Seacoast Harvest, newly updated for the 2010!

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June 29, 2010 by Debra.

In addition to strawberries and cherries, the blueberries and raspberries have arrived! We’ve received updates on berry picking conditions from Blueberry Bay Farm in Stratham:

Greetings from Blueberry Bay Farm!

 

The warm spring weather has accelerated our berry crop ripening!  So due to the abundance of blueberries and raspberries ripe now, we have decided to open weekdays for picking beginning TOMORROW, Tuesday June 29 (through Friday July 2), from 9AM to 4PM, so that the birds, etc. don’t reduce the crop available to you. On Saturday, July 3 we will, as planned, begin our summer hours: 8AM to 6PM, except Wednesdays & Fridays, to 5PM.   We look forward to seeing you all soon. This should be a great year!!

 

*And remember this important hint: For especially red raspberries and later for black raspberries and blackberries, come early in the morning for best picking, as we usually pick out early.

And from Warren Farm in Barrington:

Pick Your Own Raspberry Season Has Begun

 

Raspberries are early this year and ready for picking now.   The early varieties have a very good berry set and they are ripening up quickly. The picking is good to very good in our early varieties and improving every day. We are in for some great weather this week and if we get an unusually large crowd we may have to close the beds for ripening. Both beds are ready now with three varieties at this point. Our hours are 7am -6pm Monday thru Thursday and 7am – 4pm Friday thru Sunday. Raspberries are $3 per pint. We also have very good picking on sugar snap peas and snow peas.

If you’re looking for a new way to feature fresh-picked berries, I highly recommend “Warm Cornmeal Shortcake with Farm Stand Berries” via Local Harvest. No need for tinkering, it came out deliciously perfect on the first try. Those ends of the cake they instruct you to slice off before serving? A cook’s treat while the cake is still warm from the oven and no one’s looking.

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June 28, 2010 by Debra.

Growing up we had a board game where the moving pieces were little wooden cherries. Shiny and colored the perfect shade of cherry red, they were irresistible and it never failed that one of us new to the game would try to eat them. We happened to arrive at Butternut Farm on the first day the cherry orchard was opened to picking — just as irresistible.

Do call ahead for information about the day’s picking, conditions change often: (603) 335-4705.

Listings for other farms offering cherries can also be found through Seacoast Harvest, newly updated for 2010.

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June 6, 2010 by Debra.

Yellow House Farm is taking pre-orders for Narragansett turkeys — reserve one now for the holidays!

Yup, it’s that time of year again. The turkeys are a’hatchin’ and just about everything else along with ‘em. It’s always exciting to announce Narragansett turkeys. They are such an important part of New England culinary history. Your support enables our breeding program, which is of great benefit to this breed in our region.

Follow this link for ordering information: TURKEY!

To learn more about heritage breeds, here’s an interview with Yellow House Farm from NHPR’s recent series, “Eating In: New Hampshire’s Food Supply”: Hailing Heritage Poultry in New Hampshire (audio and transcript)

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