NEWSLETTER

THE HIGH SCHOOL FOR PUBLIC SERVICE YOUTH FARM

Farmer Column
What an exciting market day we had last week! After a slow start the first few weeks (perhaps due to weather, perhaps due to the heat), our market was packed with customers throughout the day last week with faces old and new. Multiple harvests of Callaloo were summoned and happily sourced - as were additional harvests of Kale, Zucchini and Collard greens. Even a few bouquets went home with smiling customers. Not only were we treated to new faces at our market, it was the first harvest and market day for our summer youth leaders! This summer, 12 High School for Public Service students are working at the farm under the leadership of Anita Singh (Summer Youth Coordinator) and Tanzania Roach (Youth Coordinator & School Liaison) practicing their team building, digging, marketing, and community service skills. From now till the end of the summer, these wonderful, energetic and hardworking young people will be helping out harvesting, washing, setting up market and selling, and will also be leading cooking demonstrations every week using a seasonal item or two. And finally, yet another exciting aspect to last week's market, Melissa Danielle made her first appearance as our resident Community Food Chef and will also be serving up tasty samples featuring Youth Farm produce every Wednesday. Melissa studied nutrition at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and has been a Just Food Community Chef since 2005. Thank you, Melissa, for being a part of the Youth Farms 2012 market! In the world of flowers, I enjoyed working with Shenika Williams and Herby Cela this past week making our 5 CSA bouquets they did an excellent job. We were also able to furnish an entire wedding party with Youth Farm flowers Snapdragons, Zinnias, Scabiosas, Millet, Sunflowers, Nigella, Calendula and more if you know of a friend getting hitched this year or have an event on the horizon, consider purchasing fresh, seasonal flowers from us! Enjoy! Farmer Molly

Farm News and Notes

Cooking Demos: We're excited to announce that we will have two cooking demonstrations this Wednesday; one starting at 2:30 and another at 4:30! Stop by the demo table each week for a cooking lesson, tasty sample, and a recipe.

Summer Youth Program: The Youth Farm welcomes our Summer Youth Leadership participants for the second week of their 8-week program. You'll see them at the market and around the farm as they build their farming and cooking abilities and strengthen their leadership and communication skills. Farm Benefit! The funds raised from this event will be used as the financial base for a new scholarship fund to expand access to our educational and training programs. See you Friday, August 3 at the Bell House! 7 pm in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Get involved! Come volunteer with us on select Saturdays throughout the season, and stay after the work day for a FREE community workshop! Please wear sturdy, closed-toed shoes and bring a water bottle and a healthy lunch. Youth under the age of 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Next volunteer day: Saturday, August 4th from 10 am to 2 pm Community Workshop: Beautiful Bouquets - Creating a gorgeous bouquet is food for the soul. You will combine local, seasonal flower varieties into dazzling arrangements, and learn how to make y our bouquets last! Saturday, August 4th from 2 to 3:30 pm

Week 1 June 20, 2012 www.hspsfarm.blogspot.com Week 5 July 18, 2012 www.hspsfarm.blogspot.com

Featured Vegetable: Leeks

Flower

of the week

The flower of the week is sedum! Sedum is also known as stonecrop and comes from a genus of over 400 different plants. Sedum flowers come in all varieties of colors, except for blue. The variety Autumn Joy has flowers that range from brown to pink to red. Autumn Joy is the sedum that we grow on the farm! Sedums are succulents and have thick leaves that are able to retain large amounts of water. For this reason, they require very little supplemental water. Some sedums can survive and thrive on as little as two rains per month. Not only are many varieties of sedum grown for there flowers, some are eaten, and some are used for medicinal purposes. Sedum divergens was eaten by the native people of Northwest British Columbia. It is used as a salad herb. Sedum acre was traditionally used to treat epilepsy and skin disease in ancient Greece. More recently sedum has been used as a roof covering for green roofs. The Rolls-Royce Motor Cars plant in England has a 242,000 square foot roof complex covered in Sedum. That's a lot of sedum!

Recipe: Cold Potato-Leek Soup serves 4, preparation time: 15 minutes, total time: 3 hours 6 medium leeks, (about 2 1/4 pounds), whites only, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced crosswise, cleaned (see note below) 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth 1 (8 ounces) baking potato, peeled and diced Coarse salt 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup snipped fresh chives Directions In a large saucepan, combine leeks, broth, potato, 2 cups water, and 1 teaspoon coarse salt. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until vegetables are very tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Working in batches, puree soup in blender, transferring it to a clean bowl as you work. (To prevent splattering, fill blender only halfway, and allow heat to escape: Remove cap from hole in lid, and cover lid firmly with a dish towel.) Stir cream into pureed soup, and season with salt. Cover loosely with plastic wrap, and chill until cold, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. If necessary, thin with water, and season with salt. Serve soup in chilled glasses, garnished with chives.

Our new crop circle!

Preparing for the flower harvest

Week 1 June 20, 2012 www.hspsfarm.blogspot.com

Week 5 July 18, 2012 www.hspsfarm.blogspot.com