Sustainable Saturdays! Organic Turf Revival with Richard McCoy

Blue Moon Acres hosts
Sustainable Saturdays Workshop Series

Organic Turf Revival
Saturday July 26th 11am-12:30pm

Description:

Richard McCoy Horticultural Services offer environmentally responsible fine-gardening design and lawn care that promote a healthy ecosystem at your home or business. Richard is a New Jersey Grown Land Care Provider through Rutgers and a certified Natural Turf and Landscape Manager through the New Jersey Department of Environment.

Richard will lead 2 workshops this summer to prepare us for next season and next year. Sign up for both and receive a $10 voucher for our Pennington Farm Market

Saturday July 26th: Organic Turf Revival
Richard’s presentation will provide practical knowledge of basic organic systems for turf management, rebuilding soil, and soil health. Learn to revive summer stressed turf sustainably and prepare for next year’s growing season.

August: (Date and Description TBD)

Register online now:

$15 per person; $5 for each additional family member. Refreshments served. 10% off select market products.

http://sustainablesaturdayturf.brownpapertickets.com

You can also call our Pennington store at 609-737-8333 or stop in when we are open: Wednesday through Friday 9am-6pm and Saturday/Sunday 9am-5pm.

Sustainable Saturday workshops take place at our 63 acre New Jersey Grown farm in Pennington, NJ inside the big red barn next to our market (or just outside, weather permitting). Snacks, beverages, and coffee included. Workshop participants receive 10% off select products in our market.

By admin|July 1st, 2014|Events|Comments Off

Blue Moon Acres hosts
Farm to Table Dinner with Chef Max Hansen to Benefit T.A.S.K. A Rice Sagra
Sunday September 14th, 4pm-9pm

In Italy, a Sagra is a village festival centered around the harvest of a local and seasonal crop. The festivities feature an array of dishes prepared with the edible star of the day. Join us, Blue Moon Acres Farm, for our very own “Sagra Del Riso” featuring dishes made with New Jersey Grown rice we grow right on our New Jersey farm.

We harvest and husk our rice in very small batches so it is as fresh as possible when it reaches your plate – this night is no exception.

The evening begins at 4:00pm with hors d’oeuvres, drinks, live music, and a tour of our fields. The night will culminate with a delicious meal, under the stars, created by Chef Max Hansen, of Bucks County, using many other seasonal and locally sourced ingredients. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK). Please read about Chef Max Hansen’s many accomplishments in food.

REGISTRATION AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Location: Blue Moon Acres Farm in Pennington. 11 Willow Creek Dr. Pennington, NJ 08534.
Purchase Tickets by July 31st, 2014: $115 per person
Purchase Tickets on August 1st or later: $125 per person
Register in our Pennington Market during store hours; by phone 609-737-8333; online http://ricesagra.brownpapertickets.com
Exact Menu TBD
Dressy/Casual -comfortable, simple elegance encouraged!

By admin|June 27th, 2014|Events|Comments Off

Blue Moon Acres hosts
First Friday at the Farm Market – August – Movie Night on the Farm!
Friday August 1st, 5pm-9pm

Bring your blanket, chairs, and coolers of food & drink to picnic next to our organic flower field while watching two films (TBD) on the projector screen. Unionville Vineyards wine, Amwell Valley organic popcorn, and additional farm-to-table movie snacks will be available for purchase in our market. Set up your spot early to watch the gorgeous sunset over our field. Movies begins at 6pm. FREE event. $5 parking fee per motorized vehicle.

First Fridays at the Farm Market: A monthly open-house for our customers to celebrate local food producers and artists. In August we celebrate the art of film and the inspiration of the outdoors.

PLEASE NOTE: No First Friday on July 4th due to the holiday. The market will be open usual hours that day.

Please RSVP in advance to ensure we have space for all. http://firstfridayaugust.brownpapertickets.com

By admin|June 27th, 2014|Events|Comments Off

8 Tips on How You Can Live Locally

living local

Wondering what steps you can take to become more aligned with your local community and environment? Erica Evans, Beginning Farmer Program Coordinator at NOFA-NJ, shares with us 8 ways you can live locally.

1. If your municipality allows, raise your own chickens. In my own hometown, I participated in many town council meetings advocating for residents raising hens.

2. If you have space available, grow a garden, it can be as small or as large as you can handle. It can be in the ground, in raised beds, or pots. 1 or 2 tomato plants on your back patio is better than no tomatoes. Even a windowsill herb garden is better than nothing. Community gardens, roof gardens, porches, patios, windowsills, front and back yards are all great places to start your own garden!

3. Join a CSA! There are vegetable, meat, and fruit CSAs available. In my opinion, for lots of people this is a great option, especially those who don’t have time or space for their own garden. It’s fun, social, educational, and more! If a full-share is too much for you (if you have a small family or are single), choose a half-share option if available, or split a share with a friend, neighbor, or co-worker!

4. Eat with the seasons. Learn what’s in season. Knowing what’s in season means knowing if it is local. Some people like to organize their recipes by season. Having a reverse approach to recipes where you see what looks good at the whole animal, eat the organ meats (super nutritious!), and my favorite part: cooking fats for free from melting down fat into lard or saving the fat from a roast duck!

6. Preserve produce while it’s in peak season by freezing, drying, canning, or fermenting. Get friends, neighbors, or family together and make an event out of this! It’s always a memorable experience – especially for the kids.

7. A way I like to taste the seasons is by foraging for wild edibles. Each season brings something new you can forage for. However, do not do this unless you are 100% sure of what you are foraging, and make sure it is in an area free from chemicals (I’d be wary of those tasty looking dandelions that grow in every suburban yard where chemical fertilizers are used regularly) and not near traffic. Also, you must be sure not to deplete the entire stand of plants.

8. The most important concept to keep in mind (for me) and what I used to tell members of North Jersey Locavores is that a little bit is better than nothing. Maybe you can’t buy ALL your food from a local farmer or you can’t grow all of it yourself, but even just a little bit is better than not at all.

chickens and a beet

By admin|June 27th, 2014|News|Comments Off

How to Make a Simple Salad Dressing

One of the perks of working for Blue Moon is free greens. During the spring and summer, this means salad for at least one meal a day for me, every day of the week. A challenge (aka an opportunity for improvement) I face is keeping my salads interesting.

How do I do this when the greens themselves don’t change, though they are fresh and wonderful and delicious? It’s all in the dressing.

Homemade salad-dressings (mainly vinaigrettes) are relatively new to me. I grew up with bottled salad dressing (Thousand Island’s ranch, anyone?), and have been doing a simple oil and balsamic mix for the past few years. Now that I’m eating salad Every Single Day, my repertoire of simple dressings has expanded. I use the formula below as my starting point for dressings.

Basic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

I have a chart (I love charts) of different options in each category, and mix and match to create a dressing that suits that greens and my taste buds for the week.

salad dressing

My go-to combinations right now are honey mustard (olive oil + Dijon mustard + onion or chives + honey) and Asian sesame (peanut oil + rice wine vinegar + minced scallions + sesame seeds, Bragg’s liquid aminos, and grated ginger).

My challenge for you? Think of 2 different flavor combinations that you might like, and put them on your list to make over the next two weeks!

By admin|June 13th, 2014|News|Comments Off