Fisher Hill Farm

October 20, 2018

Our Family, Our Farm

The Fisher Hill Farm Family poses for a picture

Everyday we are so happy to do what it is we do. Farm life for us isn’t just a job but it’s our identity and our way of life. Growing takes a lot of patience and time, sometimes a little luck, and a deep understanding of the land and the crops. It’s not meant to be completely cerebral but a combination of established practice, research, and accountability.

It some ways, it’s much like raising children and sometimes we see our kids walking through the crops, amazed at how fast they’ve grown, how quickly they adapt, and how much more they know than we can account for.

Our family farm is just that, a family farm. And it sounds simple and looks simple in words but honestly it couldn’t be any simpler. We would never feed our family something that we wouldn’t sell and we treat our crops and animals with the same careful persistence as our kids.

We like to share news, pictures, and crop reports with everyone because if you shop with us it’s like your part of the family too. Our ties to the community can only feel stronger when we are recognized at one of the markets we attend!

Rochester is an awesome city with a great group of people living in it. The Rochester Public Market is one of the most amazing places we’ve ever been and studies have shown that its one of the most multi-cultural meeting places in the northeast. Up there with Chicago city markets and New York city!

We couldn’t be happier to be at any of the markets we attend. And we also have on farm pickup on Wednesday’s from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. So stop on by! We’re easy to find and we’d love to have you.

Here’s a recent gallery of pictures from the farm!

September 14, 2018

Fall Harvest Begins

In the last seven days we have seen many weather extremes that have made farm life interesting. We really didn’t enjoy the stretch of hot weather as it definitely shortened the work day and production levels. Then it was much cooler weather that made everyone feel much better but that was followed by almost three inches of rain. It has been a rather long run of wet days the last few weeks. Seems like it just starts to dry out and it rains again. We have not been able to dig potatoes for a few weeks and now we are out of harvested potatoes. Hopefully we can have some nice sunny days with a little breeze to help dry out the soil because there are still more than plenty in the ground!

new potatoes - Fisher Hill Farm — Running low on harvested potatoes because of the rain

All of the shallots have been pulled and we started on the red onions today. One more cycle in the greenhouse and all the onions will be dried for the season. The early planting of winter squash has been cut and piled. Hopefully in the next day or two we can get it all picked up and into storage. We have wagers going among the guys on how many 20 bushel bins we will fill. The high guess is 17 and the low is 8. I would be happy with any of those numbers and only time will tell.

Squash Harvest - Fisher Hill Farm — The start of fall squash harvest

Sadly, watermelons are all done for the year. We really enjoyed some of the sweetest melons we have had in a couple of years. I think it was a combination of a dry June and such warm weather. I know that many people will be asking for them at the market. Cantaloupes have slowed down but warm weather should pick their production back up. Tomatoes are at their peak right now with canning and freezing quantities available.

RECIPE

After a wet and cool market Monday I was inspired to make a warm hearty meal for dinner. Honestly the prep work took longer than the cooking and I think the results were amazing.

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, cut up

2 ears of corn, cut off the cob

1 large onion, chopped

1 head of garlic, peeled and chopped

4 san marzano tomatoes, diced

Cook the onions and garlic in a frying pan with olive oil. When they are cooked add the rest of the ingredients at medium heat. Cover and stir for a few minutes. Transfer to a Pyrex pan and cook at 400 degrees for another 15 minutes. I added a little balsamic vinegar just before serving it. Sandi and I enjoyed it very much, the girls liked certain veggies more than others! For dessert we had baked apples with a little cinnamon and whipped cream. Nothing fancy but very tasty. Please share some of your favorite recipes and I will include them in the future newsletters.

Phillip

September 6, 2018

Tomatoes and Tomato Sauce

Tomatoes, admittedly, is not a subject we should be writing about. We are not a tomato-loving household and, as much as we regret it every year, have never prepared our own sauce for preserving.
But, we know that there are plenty of you out there who love to can, love to experiment with new dishes or love to create those time-honored family recipes each season.

We would love to hear what your recipes are for preserving and canning tomatoes!

Send us a message on Facebook, Instagram, or leave it right here in the comments of our site. We think if more people like us had more recipes we would be more inclined to try some of them.

If you freeze them or can them just let us know your fall process for tomatoes and we’ll share them with the whole group. Sauce, salsa, purees and whatever else we’re forgetting!

Being that we’re at the acme of tomato season if you are in need of any large quantities of these versatile red fruits to let us know and we’ll arrange farm or market pickup logistics! We have tons of them and they have been sweet and delicious (so we hear….)

Happy stewing, saucing and salsa-ing!

What to expect this coming weekend

Tomatoes

Cantaloupes

Sweet Corn
Winter Squash (acorn, butternut, delicata, honeynut, spaghetti)

Beans

Fennel

New Potatoes

Onions

Beets

Kale

Chard

Radishes

Lettuce

Cucumbers

Zucchini and summer squash

Garlic and garlic scapes

Shallots

Eggplant

Peppers

Carrots

Cabbage

Watermelon

Eggs and fresh chicken too!

Look for more information about Thanksgiving Turkey!

They are growing fast and we can’t wait until they are ready. We will release more information as it comes along and will have a way this year to be able to pre-order and pre pay right on our website!

Looking forward to seeing all of you at the markets soon!

July 31, 2018July 31, 2018

Takeover of Marty’s Birdland Food Truck

That’s right! We’re taking over! Marty’s Birdland Food Truck will be at the Brighton Farmers Market on Sunday August 12th for an amazing meal made with what we grow. We’re so excited for this event and we really want to make sure everyone is there!

Don’t miss this event because it is only happening once! The menu is set and everyone is ready to go, now we just have to wait until Sunday August 12th so we can EAT.

We will still be at the market that day with our tables ready with your weekly local groceries but make sure to come to the market this day hungry.

In other news, we have a new video that was just released. Check it out!

July 24, 2018

Crop Report: Dry Weather Hasn’t Been Detrimental

It’s been rather dry until the last few days. We got a very nice soaking rain and didn’t see any washouts or damage to the crops. We did get about a week behind in our transplanting and now that the soil is nice and moist again it’s full steam ahead. We have heavy clay soil and it has many pros and cons. But in a dry year we really shine! In the fall or even early winter we perform our heavy tillage in preparation for the spring. Then when the weather turns in the spring we only disturb the top three to four inches of the soil leaving all that moisture underneath to be saved for dry spells like this. The major con of our heavy soils is a wet year we really struggle.

Tomatoes!

Today we got caught up with the cherry/grape tomatoes in the high tunnel. We grow them inside to prevent them from cracking and keep the diseases away. The guys got them all weeded and trellised up. I was able to Rototill the drive paths and in between the pumpkins to control the weeds. Soon we are transplanting the last of the cauliflower, fennel, turnips, rutabaga, and broccoli. We are on the home stretch but will still be transplanting for about another month.

Announcements

A couple big announcements this week!

We are teaming up with Chef Gabe Sanders of Hearth & Cellar for another Feast on the Farm. Sunday, October 7th we will transform the packing shed into a five star restaurant with white linens on the table and a five course meal you’ll be thinking about until next year’s dinner. Tickets are not on sale yet but don’t miss out because people are still talking about last years dinner and want to be first in line for this year!

We are also teaming up with Marty’s Birdland food truck to provide Fisher Hill Farm chicken dinners at the Brighton Farmers Market on Sunday August 12th. We are calling it the Fisher Hill Farm Takeover featuring the best food around.

Sandi celebrated her birthday last week with a day off from market on Sunday to spend her usual market hours completely alone. As much as she loves her kiddos and truly enjoys seeing the customers each week, those few hours of solitude kayaking on the West River were immensely rejuvenating!

New crops this week include broccoli, fennel, and fresh shallots. Hope you enjoyed the corn last week because we sure did and it just keeps getting better from here!