Archives by Year: 2016

EAST MEETS WEST APPLESAUCE

apple_7237 (2) (800x692)BROOKE’S BULLETIN

October 2016

A seasonal recipe and narrative from our loyal and long-time (25-years) customer Brenda Glasure

“Thank you to all the people who keep spaces, converted pole barns and haywagon harvests. Thank you to the growers and risk-takers, rolling the dice with the wind, the hail, ice, water – or lack thereof. Putting in the work; believing in the work. You nourish us, body and soul. I feel a vast contentment, buying a bushel of apples that grew on trees I have met.”

East Meets West Applesauce, from the kitchen of Brenda Glasure

  • Peel, core and slice about 25 apples. I like to use one variety that completely breaks down with cooking and one variety that tends to keep it’s shape. Today, I used Fuji and Crimson Crisp.
  • Place the prepared apples in a large, heavy pot. I add about 1 cup of water or cider, if you have it. Cover and cook on low heat until the apples break down and become *saucy*. Cook down to your liking. We like our applesauce thick, so I cook for a little over an hour.
  • Add about ¼ teaspoon of salt, ½ cup of brown sugar (this is completely optional. I don’t generally sweeten our sauce, but it is a great addition if you like your sauce as a sweet dessert.)
  • Add ½ to 1 tablespoon Garam Masala to taste (recipe follows)

Garam Masala Mix:

1 tablespoon cumin

1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander

1 ½ teaspoons ground cardamom

1 ½ to 2 teaspoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoons ground cloves

½ teaspoons ground nutmeg

Mix all together.  You can purchase this mix already made from various companies. I like to make my own as I like it heavier on the black pepper and cinnamon.   ENJOY!

My grandparents had a dairy farm, a mighty Ohio spread, measuring nearly 180 acres in Champaign County. I spent quite a bit of time there while growing up. Farms are not easy. There was always work to be done. Besides the crops and the milking of the cows, there was often food to be harvested, canned, frozen; meals to be cooked. The lessons were simple, primal and deep; lessons of nourishing the people and animals who lived there. From seed to plant, from bloom to fruit, from fruit to harvest, to the kitchen, to the table. Buying fresh and direct from farmers is natural and right to me.

So it begins – the day after buying apples at Quarry Hill – the order of things – putting food by. After a good scrubbing, the apples are divided. Plenty of the bright, snappy fruit will be munched fresh from the fridge. But with a nod to the icy days to come, at least one big batch of apples (usually about 40-50) are peeled, sliced and cooked down with some spices. The homemade apple sauce is unbelievably delicious on cold winter nights, alongside a bowl of hot soup. It reminds us of sunny days and renews a reverence for the vitality the earth provides.

Applesauce – I cook in batches of about 25 apples. I will spice them with either cinnamon, ginger, mace or an Indian spice mix called Garam Masala, which includes black pepper and coriander with cinnamon and ginger and various other spices. Both variations are absolutely delicious. Freeze the sauce in Ziplocs or freezer containers to be meted out for holiday dinners and cold days when you just need a little sunshine.

— Brenda Glasure

The Orchard Is Sparse

apple_7237 (2) (800x692)BROOKE’S BULLETIN

September 2016

A look into orchard life through the lens of lady Farmer Brooke

“We have a fraction of the apples as we did last year” were the first words out of Ben’s mouth yesterday morning at 6am.  I tried to extract the gravity and reason behind his statement over the clanking of breakfast making and lunch packing for our littles (kinder and pre-school).  As husband-wife business partners , AND expectant parents of our third child due in six weeks, small talk over morning coffee consists of snippets of orchard updates in the same breath of “don’t forget your OB appointment, it’s picture day, and you’re in charge of the Karate carpool!”  Here’s a shot of our preschooler (and 4th generation), Henry, out inspecting the Ginger Gold harvest: 

Henry Gammie

“Mother nature has not been kind to us.”  I’ve heard that statement every season since uprooting my brood from the Arizona desert three years ago to take up this fruit growing thing.  16 hours later after a full day managing the farm, putting the littles to sleep, and un-packing the smelly karate clothes, Ben and I finally get a quiet moment to finish the conversation.  “It’s a combination of the spring frost we saw during Spring Bloom, lack of summer rains, and bi-annual bearing cycles.”  Ah-ha.  I knew the fruit was coming in small this year because of the dry summer, but did not even think the spring frost affected the apple yields in the same devastation as the stone fruits (homegrown Crest Haven peaches pictured below were the cream of the peach crop this summer). 

Crest Haven Peaches

My brain immediately goes to how this affects our business:  First thought is more small apples for our Farm to School program, which is a PRO.  Our customer base has grown in this segment from ~15 local (Erie County – Cuyahoga County) school districts to upwards of 26.  This ability to scale is a direct result of the resources that have stemmed from our partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and the USDA Farm to School Grant Project we are currently funded under.  This is a snapshot of the corner of our cooler the day before our Wholesale and Farm to School deliveries are scheduled:  

Farm to School

Second thought (not mine; credit goes to our pack-house manager, Becky):  reduced variety in our holiday apple gift box that typically includes 12 different apple varieties (with a corresponding stamped map and flavor profile, see photo below), and this season we’ll be lucky to have 5 or 6.  Good thing I’m having a baby this holiday season and the “sparse orchard” is not compromising a huge portion of revenue I’ve slated for Corporate Gifting (yes, we’ll still have gifts for sale!).

apple-map-picture-05

Varieties that were impacted?  I cringe just even thinking about it:  Honey Crisp, Crimson Crisp, Goldrush, Pink Lady, Granny Smith, Suncrisp, and Cameo.  The more robust varieties that stood up to the weather are the Reds and Golden Delicious.  The “Red Riding Hood Red” colored apples pictured just beyond the humongous Spy Golds in the foreground are the Crimsons – my favorite!  If this table looks familiar, you are a loyal customer at the Saturday Shaker Square Farmers Market.

Not to worry:  we DO have an apple harvest, the apples ARE delicious, and we STILL have Pick-Your-Own.  The crews are out daily harvesting bins after bins of Blondee, Gala, Honeycrisp, Golden Supreme, McIntosh, Jonathan, and Cortland.  Our harvest dates are pretty much on schedule this year despite the “sparseness”.  Here is ONE morning’s work of harvesting the Honeycrisp from ONE of many Honeycrisp blocks in our 90-acre apple orchards (we don’t grow all the Honeycrisp in the same place – the tractor and the crews have to trek all over the farm to get these guys in the barn – one of many reasons for the high price tag):  

Honeycrisp Harvest“We still have PLENTY to harvest and PLENTY of apples” was the comforting conclusion to our late night discussion.  Our 2nd annual APPLE PEAK event happening on October 15th will be the best opportunity to taste the full variety of our harvest, including the Crimsons, Suncrisps, and unique varieties that are not as prolific this season.  Top 5 things to do at Apple Peak this year:  

  1. Pick-Your-Own Apples
  2. Go for a hike in Edison Woods
  3. Sip on some hot cider and soak up some local tunes by Cleveland’s own Brent Kirby
  4. Snack on some local apple-wood fired pizza from Cleveland’s Nelly Belley food truck
  5. Get your family photo taken for this season’s Christmas Card (here’s the Gammie card from last year):IMG_6901 - web large

Growth and Gratitude

Blue sky emerged today. The long shadows of the days beginning from the loping locust of yard
trees oversees the growing world. A pair of geese are guarding their goslings from a barking Walter
in the quarry behind the house. Spring seldom seemed a reality, but now the greening will leap at us.

The lingering earthy scent of newly turned soil is brief compared to other eras yet it streams over us encouraging to quicken the pace. Yet we pause, outside can wait. A last flurry defies the calendar.

Our family like yours, is evolving. Adrianne, Tom and all of us have rejoiced in the birth of their daughter Arra Kirana last July. the image of Adrianne now is one with their child in arms, seldom separated and is both joyful and trying. We have to admire her saucy approach in reaching perfection that radiates from her mother and grandmother. Arra will easily recognize her family’s love. Their sojourn to Tom’s home in Indonesia was once one of the perseverance, but balanced by the glee of tom’s mom and dad clutching their new grandchild for the first time.

Brooke, Ben, Payton, and Henry have nurtured an uplifting closeness. “Mommy, Mommy!, Daddy, Daddy!” – when separated for only a brief time they run to their partents, filled with laughter and arms open to gather in a hug or leg. that ritual delights “Gigi” & “Popi Bill” as little else can. But they do tax our limits. Anticipation is a great motivator for ensuring a family’s joy for one another. This fall we will revel in the glory of the birth of their third child. How can a full, hectic day find room for a new life? It just does.

Through the kindness of Cathy and Sparky Weilnau we were able to escape to Sanibel for a brief refreshing interlude. Grey there, grey here gives rise to the regeneration for the greening of Ohio.

Like the young saplings planted last week there is a basic need to grow. To nurture is a way of life for those who encourage.

And the farm, flux is always the constant for you and me. Spring cold, lack of hardening off in Fall’s warmth, gray skies during bloom, but there will be crops to harvest. A few cherries in mid June will announce the season, but it appears now that maturity will be later than usual.