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Sowing the seeds for a new season

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By Emily Meagher

Greenhouse full of seedlings at Pleasant Valley Farm

Walking around a farmers’ market, you see tables neatly displayed with mountains of produce. There is a long journey before produce lands on market tables and then, eventually, your table. Farmers are on a tight schedule to do all they can to make sure their crops flourish. Now that we are deep into winter, we asked local farmers how they are preparing for this year’s growing season.

Planting onion sets to be scallions, photo courtesy of Pleasant Valley Farm

Laurie Kokinda, owner of Kokinda Farm, says, “It’s the hardest time of year, in terms of grunt work.” Farms are working tirelessly to sanitize their greenhouses and tunnels and repair and order new equipment. Farms are starting their first seedings like tomatoes, alliums, and head lettuce. This year, many farmers ordered their seed supply earlier than usual due to Coronavirus-related increases in demand as well as mail delays. Paul and Sandy Arnold, owners of Pleasant Valley Farm, note, “Normally, we can get seeds in the day after we order. This year, we’re waiting weeks!”

Local farms often choose to work together to share resources. Pleasant Valley Farm’s Sustainable Farmers’ Network Group is hard at work in the mid-winter, bulk-ordering supplies so that farms may share discounts. Gomez Veggie Ville works with Denison Farm to get this year’s supply of organic potato seeds. And, for the first time, they will work to grow ginger. “I am learning how to grow ginger well in our climate. Hopefully, if it works out, we’ll be able to bring some to the market in September,” says Efrain Gomez.

Finished planting garlic, photo courtesy of Squash Villa Farm

Owl Wood Farm is taking this year’s seed shortages as an opportunity to try a new practice: seed saving. “We’ve wanted to save seeds that aren’t offered commercially, like tomato heirloom varieties and Abenaki flint corn, for a while. It involves a lot of work and isn’t very economical; you have to dedicate a new plot of land and grasp a whole new knowledge base,” says Mark Bascom. “But we see that seed saving is important this year especially.”

Squash Villa Farm (formerly Squashville) is trying not just a new crop or practice but also a whole new land plot after moving farms in 2020. “There’s lots of anticipation! As soon as the snow melts, I’m eager to walk the new land and just get a feel for what it’s like to step into the soil,” says Himanee Gupta-Carlson.

This week’s recipe: Beans and Greens

Hebron Valley Veal: A Difference You Can Taste

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By Madison Jackson

Hebron Valley Veal, photo provided

A passion for dairy farming is what fuels Ariel Garland and her boyfriend Matt Campbell every day at Hebron Valley Veal. To maintain Matt’s fourth-generation family dairy farm in North Hebron, the pair decided to start raising veal as well, backed by his lifetime of farming experience and Ariel’s knowledge as a calf and heifer specialist at an animal feed company. This opportunity has offered the couple the ability to carry on family tradition while using their vast knowledge of farming to bring high quality, naturally raised veal to their community.

Hebron Valley Veal prides themselves in the care they provide their animals, which are always locally born and raised. The calves are whole milk fed from the farm’s herd of pastured Holsteins with no added hormones or antibiotics. Using their herd as the milk source for feedings, they can keep their cows once they calve and produce milk. The calves are also allowed to move freely through the farm, never tethered, and are offered free-choice water and hay in addition to milk feedings. This natural style of raising the calves results in the highest quality of veal, a difference you can truly taste.

Ariel Garland at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, photo by Madison Jackson

Hebron Valley Veal’s rosé veal, characterized by the meat’s rose-colored appearance, is synonymous with humane veal or young beef. The meat is very lean and tender and has a delicate flavor, making it a versatile meat for cooking. The veal can be purchased as cutlets, chuck roast, ground, sirloin steak, loin chop, rib chop, and many other varieties of cuts.

Joined by their chocolate lab, Gusto, who spends his days watching over the farm and playing with the cows, Matt and Ariel enjoy spending their time working together and watching their little herd grow and develop. They appreciate that each animal has its own unique personality, from the blind jersey Helen who loves neck scratches and grain, to their spunky red Holstein, Mounds. The couple is grateful to help feed the community while also feeding their passion for dairy farming.

Hebron Valley Veal attends the Saratoga Farmers’ Market every Saturday, bringing locally and humanely-raised veal to the local area. Their products may also be preordered and picked up by appointment at the farm.

This week’s recipe: Veal Piccata Meatballs