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April showers bring May flowers (and asparagus)!
Month:
April | Year:
2014 | Issue:
8 |
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CT Cherry Blossoms. Check out our Spring's Top Ten for fun things to do including the Cherry Blossom Festival in New Haven and the Daffodil Festival at Hubbard Park this weekend! |
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Upcoming Events
Natureworks, Northford
Free workshop appropriate for children ages 3 and up. children will plant their very own burlap seed pouch and finish up with giant bubbles in the garden.
April 26
Day long classes in Goat Husbandry! Spend a day at the farm and learn about goats and their care on April 26. We will start with morning milking and practice hands-on milking. We will cover hoof care, herding goats (weather dependent) and will cover topics such as nutrition, lifespan and clinical issues. We will also make cheese and discuss basic cheese making.
Please join us for our 104th annual festival. What began in 1909, as a program "to promote the keeping of sheep in Connecticut", has become a unique event providing exhibits, demonstrations and vendors from the sheep, wool and fiber arena and includes producers from throughout New England.
Started as a community event, the Meriden Daffodil Festival has grown into one of Connecticut's premier celebrations. With food, crafts, music, parade and amusements, the Daffodil Festival is a springtime funfest for young and old!
Natureworks, Northford
Featuring a conversation with organic leaders Bill and Suzanne Duesing of Old Solar Farm in Oxford.
Wallingford
Farmer Joe is having a Fairy Garden Party and you're invited! Everyone can use a bit more sunshine for their family during these cold winter months. Join us to make a Fairy Garden to take home.
Sterling
It's a potluck farm day! Come out and meet us, whether you're a CSA member or not, and get a tour of the farm in it's early season glory - full of exciting ideas and designs for the new year! We're a small produce farm with a focus on biodiversity and our CSA program.
Jones Family Farms & Winery, Shelton
Hands-on Cooking with Farm-Fresh Foods Prepare meals from start to finish using seasonal ingredients. We work together in small groups to learn new cooking techniques and to learn how to incorporate real farm foods into our busy lives. We then gather around the big kitchen table to enjoy our meal.
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April 26
We are happy to announce our Open House event! There will be plenty of staff, volunteers, and board members available to give tours of the new commercially licensed kitchen and answer any questions you may have. Food and drinks will be provided. We are also having a fundraising tag sale.
April 27
East Canaan
Come join us at our annual Draft Horse Field Day. Local horse enthusiasts and draft horse teams will be out on the field with plows, harrows and carriages in tow to show off their team work. Horse teams will be plowing lines in preparation for this year's corn planting and a pair of draft horses.
Bishop's Orchards, Guilford
Join us for this free event. In addition to the many classes and events for the donkeys and mules, there will be wagon rides taking folks on guided tours of our orchards. Lots of fun things to do for a fun filled day with the entire family!
Bozrah
Come to the beautiful countryside of Maples Farm Park, home to the Bozrah Farmers Market named "Connecticut's # 1 Favorite Farmers Market" on Saturday May 3, 2014 from 9am - 2pm for a French Country Market. This special springtime market will feature 30 vendors offering everything from baguettes.
Jones Family Farms & Winery, Shelton
Hands-on Cooking with Farm-Fresh Foods Prepare meals from start to finish using seasonal ingredients. We work together in small groups to learn new cooking techniques and to learn how to incorporate real farm foods into our busy lives. We then gather around the big kitchen table to enjoy our meal.
Natureworks, Northford
Featuring 3 free workshops on growing our favorite berries: strawberries, blueberries and elderberries.
Winterberry Gardens, SouthingtonSign up to learn about the tradition of Fairy Gardening, what it is and why it's so fun! During this hands-on class you will hear about what you need in order to make your own miniature garden and then create your own! Cost of the class is $60 per kit, which includes a decorative planter box, soil.
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Announcing the TRAILS section of buyCTgrown.com!
Check out our new Trails Section to discover more about CT food and gardening culture! We will be adding more trails as the season progresses and as people recommend their favorite personal trails. Have a set of places you like to visit in certain areas of CT, let us know by suggesting a trail!
Visit buyCTgrown's Trails Section
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Featured Product
CowPots, LLC
As she tells the story, Matt was sitting at the lunch table, thinking aloud, and asked 'What can we do with all this poo?'. Matt's daughter Amanda, now the 3rd generation on her family's dairy farm spoke with us this week about a product they make on their farm called CowPots. When Amanda is not busy marketing CowPots she works with the buyCTgrown team and the 10% Campaign.
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Amanda's sister, Rachel shows
off the largest CowPot
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What are CowPots?
That's what I'm supposed to ask you...what do you think a CowPot is? We actually make biodegradable, plantable pots out of composted cow manure. It's the only biodegradable pot made from a renewable resource in the United States.
Where/How are CowPots made and who are the masterminds behind CowPots?
All of the manure used to make CowPots comes from our own dairy cows in East Canaan, CT and the factory is right on the farm. During the summer while the ladies are out to pasture sometimes we have to retrieve manure from our neighbor's dairy farm, but even that we make sure to keep local! My dad, Matt Freund is the guy who started it all...using the farm house kitchen stove and one of my mom's soup pots for stirring up the first batch...that was 16 years ago though, we're not in my mom's kitchen anymore!
Read more about CowPots as our featured product...
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Asparagus! Did you know?
* One of the first vegetables ready to harvest in the spring. The spears maybe harvested from their first appearance in the spring through May and even into June (As long as 8 to 10 weeks)
* Native to the Mediterranean, asparagus was eaten by the ancient Greeks.
* Nutritionally, it's high in fiber and contains bone-strengthening vitamin K and antioxidants.
If you're starting asparagus in your garden this year, remember that you'll have to wait 3 years after planting for your first crop. But that patience pays off, because once planted, an asparagus plant can keep producing for 20 years.
It's definitely the veggie that keeps on giving!
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Seasonally Spring Recipe
From Jonathan Rapp at River Tavern - a truly local dish with local asparagus as well as easily available local eggs, cream, ch�vre, herbs and bacon.
ASPARAGUS WITH A POACHED EGG, CRISP PANCETTA AND CREAMY CH�VRE DRESSING
 Ingredients: * 4 ounces pancetta, bacon or prosciutto, cut in thin strips * 3 ounces plain ch�vre * 1/3 cup heavy cream or half-and-half * Juice and zest from 1 lemon * Salt and pepper * 4 local eggs * 1 pound CT grown asparagus, bottoms trimmed * Chives or chervil for garnish Directions: Put pan of water on high for poaching eggs. Put on a second pan or asparagus steamer for asparagus. In a saut� pan, gently saut� pancetta until crisp. Drain and set aside. Whisk ch�vre, cream and lemon juice until smooth, creamy and pourable. Season with salt and pepper. When egg water boils, add salt, lower to simmer and gently poach eggs. Remove and drain. Blanch asparagus in salted, boiling water or steam in asparagus steamer until just tender. Drain. To assemble: Arrange asparagus on 4 plates, top each with egg, dressing, pancetta, herbs, lemon zest and black pepper.
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The CT 10% Campaign is a collaborative project led by
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