Tree and Leaf Farm

Washington Post artical about Winter Radishes

2012-01-12T14:09:00.002-05:00

Zach has loved to grow winter radishes for years, we have always enjoyed their refreshing taste, and their beautiful colors. Radishes are full of vitamin C and are a great way to spice up any meal. It is great fun when we get people to buy them and they come back to market the next week raving about them and wanting more.

We have been lucky to be featured in the Washington Post in Emily Horton's piece on winter radishes. Check it out:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-surprise-of-a-winter-radish/2012/01/04/gIQAd5JKoP_story.html

High Tunnel Love

2012-01-12T13:48:00.003-05:00

Sun set after a stormy day.

Early spring lettuce and Asian greens.

A perfect place to cure winter squash.

Fall at Dupont Circle Market

2012-01-12T13:14:00.004-05:00

Fall Harvest at Dupont Circle Market

2011-05-18T14:01:00.002-04:00

Zach loading up the plants that we grew and donated for the garden at THEARC, in Washington D.C's Ward 8. We will be doing a seed saving demo in the Fall, and advising them marketing their produce.

2011-04-07T15:09:00.003-04:00

Eoin and Jack

Lamu, Pam and Jack weeding herb boxes.

We had a great visit with friends Pam and Jack and their friend from Tibet, Lamu. Their energy revitalized us after a long winter.

Tree and Leaf Farm on NPR's Morning Editon

2011-03-30T16:18:00.000-04:00

Tree and Leaf Farm in the news

Old-Time Methods Yield Spring Greens All Winter As heard on NPR’s Morning Edition

by Nancy Shute March 21, 2011

It's officially spring, and people are hitting the farmers markets, looking for fresh, local greens. That can be a challenge in many parts of the country. But some farmers have mastered the unusual art of growing greens straight through the winter.

At the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market in Washington, D.C., people line up in the rain on a Sunday morning, standing in a line 10 deep, just to buy mustard greens, arugula and kale.

"We've come out of the winter doldrums," says one customer, Guilia Adelfio of Chevy Chase, Md. "We're into salad mode."

Farmer Zachariah Lester, who is selling at the market, has salad greens. But he also has a profusion of kale: Scottish curly kale, red Russian kale and dark-leaved toscano. There's spicy Piso mustard; a mellow Italian chard called Barese; and a bitter chicory mix with radicchio, endive, escarole and Rossa di Verona.

These greens are not only beautiful; they're among the most healthful foods out there. "They have such a fabulous nutritional profile," says Joan Salge Blake, a clinical associate professor of nutrition at Boston University.

Fresher Is Better

Aside from the obvious vitamins, Blake says, "leafy greens are full of nutrients Americans are falling short of, like calcium, potassium and fiber." Locally grown greens are likely to be more nutritious, she says, because vitamins deteriorate the longer vegetables are shipped and stored. And fresher greens are tastier, making it a pleasure for people to eat their veggies.

But most people live in places where nothing grows in winter.

Lester and his wife, Georgia O'Neal, have a solution. They grow their greens at Tree and Leaf Farm in Unionville, Va., just 80 miles south of Washington. It's freezing cold there in winter. But they use winter farming methods rarely seen in the United States to produce fresh leafy greens all winter.

In the late 19th century, market farms just outside cities in Europe perfected year-round food production. Lester cites as influences the 19th-century French maraicheres who farmed on the outskirts of Paris, as well as contemporary winter growers Anna Edey of Vineyard Haven, Mass., and Eliot Coleman of Harborside, Maine.

Now some plants can handle being outside all winter. The Scottish and Russian kales, for instance, bounce back in spring and are ready for a fresh harvest by late March. Being out in the cold actually improves their taste.

"I want things like kale and mustards and collards to get frosted a little bit," Lester says. "The flavor is going to be that much more enhanced — sweet, hot."

But not all greens are so hardy. That requires these year-round farmers to provide shelter. They do so with a variety of low-tech shelters. Long batts of polyester are laid right on top of crops to protect them from wind and cold. Knee-high wire hoops topped with row cover or plastic offer a little more protection. High tunnels covered with plastic sheeting act as greenhouses for tender crops like salad greens.

"I have arugula here," Lester says, pointing to 4-foot-wide rows inside a high tunnel. It was sown right after Christmas. "We've had two harvests off these beds."

There's no artificial heat or light to fuel the plants' growth. But O'Neal says that even in the depths of winter, the passive solar heating can make it feel like May inside the high tunnel.

It "could be February and 30 degrees outside, and if the sun's out, you're sweating inside here. This is so pleasant to come into."

A Labor Of Love

Winter food production is labor-intensive, requiring that planting, transplanting and harvesting be done by hand.

"Farming in the wintertime is definitely a labor of love," says O'Neal. It's also hard work. "I cleared snow with Zach this winter," O'Neal says. "It was a wet snow, and it was night, and it was hard to see. You take brooms and you push 'em up over your head to push the snow off your high tunnel. It is one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life."

Todd Woods and his sous chefs prepare baby greens for a quick saute at Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C.

Cooking Up Healthy Winter Greens At Nora's

Greens don't have to be cooked to death. A top D.C. chef shows NPR the way to a fast, healthy dish.

Lester grew up in Waterford, Va., and has always loved working with plants and soil. O'Neal grew up in New York City, but realized she'd rather be outside with nature than inside a cubicle all day.

They met when he noticed a spectacularly beautiful salad, crowned with one edible calendula flower, at a party he attended when they both lived in New York.

"I was like, who made that salad?" Lester recalls. "Can I have that edible flower?"

He wooed O'Neal with armfuls of vegetables, and they realized they shared a passion for sustainable farming. They bought their farm near Orange, Va., in 2009, and run the business together. Their son Eoin, 4, helps with the harvest. Their produce is more expensive than the supermarket variety — $9 a pound, compared to about $6 a pound for organic salad mix at a chain supermarket — but the customers are happy to pay that price.

One regular customer is Nora Pouillon, owner of Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C. Hers was the first certified organic restaurant in the United States, way back in 1999. She knows good greens when she sees them.

"I'll take everything he's got," she says.

2011-03-21T15:29:00.002-04:00

It is officially the first day of Spring, and today our farm was featured on NPR's Morning Edition . What a nice way to kick start the next growing season. We hope you enjoy our story.

Tunnels

2011-03-10T11:43:00.005-05:00

We have had beautiful harvest at market the past month, in fact all winter. We are able to grow such glorious food because of our high tunnels, (2 & 20 x 200, 1 & 20 x 100) and our new addition the the low tunnel ( 3 @ 12 x 200). It is very difficult to harvest out side in the inclement weather as well as control the temp and moisture. Our tunnels are passive solar meaning that they are only heated by the sun, and every all the plants grown in the soil. When the temperature is really low we use extra cover inside the tunnels to protect the plants. The greatest threat to high tunnel growing is snow.
You have to be prepared to work many hours clearing snow from them, it is hard work to say the least, often having to be done in the dark of night with snow falling around you, armed with a broom racing to save the tunnel, and the harvest our source of income. At our old farm in Waterford VA, Zach and I would camp out in the green house, taking shifts every few ours to clear the snow. This winter we were spared most of the major snow storms that hit the East Coast, for that I am very thankful.

Tree and Leaf Farm featured at Ted X Session, Changing the Way we Eat. (Our story is about 1/2 through the live stream)

2011-02-14T12:18:00.005-05:00

tedx on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

A visit from Alice Waters

2011-01-24T22:37:00.004-05:00

We were happy to welcome Alice Waters to our stand at Dupont Market yesterday.

Alice Waters and Zach in front of our winter harvest. You would never know it was freezing out side the tent thanks to the three heaters and good company.

2010-11-30T08:08:00.001-05:00

A little fall color before the winter winds.

2010-10-30T20:05:00.001-04:00

School colors and kale!!

2010-10-23T22:10:00.001-04:00

Gathering up the harvest with Papa.

2010-10-23T22:04:00.001-04:00

Ginger and broccoli two great reasons to love October.

2010-09-29T12:43:00.002-04:00

Sun Flowers

Summer bounty at market 2010

2010-07-01T14:29:00.001-04:00

Early morning at Falls Church market. June 2010

2010-05-26T13:50:00.002-04:00

Three phases of the barn, it still need doors. But boy does it look better.

2010-05-05T13:05:00.005-04:00

It is May 5th and things are growing and looking beautiful.

If you look closely you can see the squash plants hanging on the inside of the greenhouse, we try to use every bit of greenhouse space that we can. And get a jump on the season with early zucchini at market.

2010-05-04T14:05:00.002-04:00

It is May and Tree and Leaf Farm is Back at market.
We are at:
Falls Church on Saturdays from 8-12
and
Dupont Circle Market on Sundays from 9-12

2010-01-31T17:56:00.001-05:00

Clearing the snow away from the green houses.

2009-11-15T14:55:00.002-05:00

Tree and Leaf
has a new home!!!

After renting farm land for the past
8 years we finely bought our own farm in Unionville, Virginia.
Now the hard part begins, moving farm and home and getting back to market by March 2010.

2009-10-24T18:36:00.001-04:00

Watermelon Radish Salad

- 2 shredded radish
- 4 tablespoon soy sauce
- 4 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
- 1 tspoon chopped ginger
- 2 dashes fish sauce
- 3 dashes sesame seed oil
- 2 tspoons sesame seeds

Mix together and let stand for 10 min.
Eat and enjoy, alone or with brown rice

2009-10-24T18:10:00.002-04:00

Eoin in the broccoli patch
Fall is the best time for broccoli they a sweet and crunchy. The field in front of our house is booming right now.

2009-08-20T13:39:00.003-04:00

Eoin birthday at Dupont Circle Market. 8.9.09

2009-06-16T23:00:00.002-04:00

Mount Pleasant Farmers Market 6.13.2009

2009-06-12T13:45:00.001-04:00

Stormy sky
and Chiogga Beets.

I love the contrast of the gray sky with the bright red beets.

2009-05-08T14:49:00.003-04:00

It is always a good idea to be inside cooking when it is raining.

This week I made Chive pancakes with stir fried greens, carrots and edamame. The chive pancakes were made with chickpea flour, and are very simple and fun to make.

Chive Pancakes with chickpea flower
1 cup chickpea flour
1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped chives
pinch of salt
pepper to taste
enough water to make mixture the thickness of heavy cream

Mix together all dry ingredients except for chives.
whisk in water.
Set aside for one hour.

Heat pan with enough cooking oil to coat the bottom.
Pour batter sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of chives on top of pancake.
Cook first side for approximately 3 min,
flip
and cook other side for 1 min.

2009-04-28T22:03:00.002-04:00

Persian Lilac at Dupont Circle Market April 26.
Though the weather was in the 90's the lilacs were stunning.

This week Tree and Leaf Farm will be at
Mount Pleasant Farmers Market: Sat 9-1
Falls Church Farmers Market: Sat 9-1
Dupont Circle Farmers Market: Sunday 9-1

2009-04-03T14:59:00.001-04:00

Katherine getting the stand ready for Dupont Circle market on March 22.
Great weather beautiful produce.

2009-03-18T13:55:00.002-04:00

Spring is here and this week at market we will have watercress. One of my favorite early season salad green. Eaten raw or cooked it is a great addition to your meal.

SAUTEED WATERCRESS
Gourmet, October 1991

Can be prepared in 45 minutes or less.
Serves 8.

ingredients
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons olive oil
6 bunches of watercress, coarse stems discarded and the watercress rinsed but not spun dry (about 16 cups)
preparation
In a large heavy skillet sauté the garlic in the oil over moderately high heat for 30 seconds, or until it is fragrant, add the watercress, and stir the mixture until it is combined well. Sauté the watercress, covered, for 2 to 3 minutes, or until it is just wilted, and season it with salt and pepper.

ROAST CHICKEN WITH WATERCRESS
Bon Appétit, May 1993
Jackie O'Halloran

You can turn this into a main-course salad for brunch, lunch or a warm-weather supper by simply drizzling vinaigrette over the sliced chicken and watercress.

Serves 4.

ingredients
1 onion, sliced
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 4-pound chicken
1 large bunch watercress, trimmed, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large bunch watercress, trimmed
preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Place onion and garlic inside chicken cavity. Slide fingertips between chicken breast skin and meat to loosen skin. Stuff chopped watercress under skin. Tie chicken lets together. Place chicken in roasting pan. Rub butter over chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Bake chicken until juices run clear when thickest part of thigh is pierced, basting every 15 minutes with pan juices, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to platter. Let stand 10 minutes. Surround with remaining watercress and serve.
Bon Appétit, May 1993
Jackie O'Halloran

2009-03-13T12:08:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Tree and Leaf Farm blog. We look forward to providing you with seasonal recipes, photos and farm up-dates.