Double Brook Farm - Sustainable Farm in Hopewell, NJ

Shiitake Mushroom Innoculation!

Robin McConaughy — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:14:55 +0000

Did you ever wonder how mushrooms are produced by growers? If you’re not foraging for them and want to have a steady supply of mushrooms, it takes some doing. Andrew and the vegetable crew were busy this week doing just that: innoculating logs with shiitake mushroom spores to secure future harvests.

First you have to drill the holes for the innoculant.

These wooden plugs are soaked in shiitake mushroom mycelium (that would be the vegetative part of a fungus, to us laypersons). They look like gnocchi!

Then you have to hammer the wooden dowels into the logs and seal the holes with soy wax. Here is Ian hammering and Dori using the soy wax.

Finally once the logs are all coated with soy and ready to go, they can produce mushrooms for up to seven years. Seven years!?

This kind of longevity makes the mushroom crew happy!

I can almost smell the saute now…

Thanks to Stephanie for the pictures!

Great Time Had by All at Hopewell Cruise Night

Robin McConaughy — Sat, 11 May 2013 21:01:59 +0000

Wow. We flung open the doors (and the garage bay) and just let it happen.

People got to see what we’ve been working on for 3 years and I think they liked it! I know the farmers and Andy (our long-suffering GC) had a good time…

And they really got to connect with our customers – the people who will end up buying and appreciating all their hard work in the fields.

There were giveaways to be had and sandwiches, brownies, cookies and ice cream to be bought and devoured. So delicious. There was NOTHING left!

We are so thankful for our excellent teams on the farm and at the market for everything they did to make this ‘soft’ opening a huge success. And, no, I will not be posting pictures of the after party…

Cruise Night at the Market – This Friday, 5-8pm!

Robin McConaughy — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:11:43 +0000

Join us at the Brick Farm Market for Cruise Night in Hopewell this Friday, May 10! We will be open from 5pm – 8pm with sandwiches, sweet treats, drinks, ice cream and bands for you to feast on as you watch the cars cruise by. Come early for giveaways and samples while they last!

Bands will be The DRB Trio, a jazz ensemble featuring Bo Child (the hubby of our fantastic baker, Karen) and Hopewell resident, George Arguila, on drums! Following the jazz, Bosco & Peck will take the stage with their original soul music.

Executive chef, Chase Gerstenbacher will be there dishing out pulled pork and turkey. here he is working the deep fry cooker.

He made potato chips cooked in lard. I already mentioned to someone who saw this picture that they will ruin you forever. No chip will ever be good enough.

While we wont have these particular chips Friday, we will have them when we open the following Friday. We hope to see you there, rain or shine!

Just a reminder, our hours at the market – starting May 17 – will be the following through June:

FRIDAYS: 7am – 7pm

SATURDAYS: 8am – 6pm

SUNDAYS: 8am – 1pm

Cinco De Mayo Fiesta at the Farm!

Robin McConaughy — Mon, 06 May 2013 14:58:12 +0000

To prepare for the upcoming opening of the market and all the intense work that will entail, we decided to have a party Sunday to celebrate farmers, the market staff and their families. Dubbed ‘The First Annual Jerry Baker Invitational’ for the varsity-caliber soccer that was played, we had a perfect day.

Tim was here at 5:30am getting the smoker ready. Above with Chase and Cole, watching the meat and monitoring the ‘bark’.

Wow! This wood-fired pork was exceptional. Here is Tim chopping it up.

The aroma brought people in from far and wide to eat and socialize.

Stephanie, Josh, Taylor and Kayla

Jerry and son Cameron

Bob, Stephanie, Bo and Karen

Everyone brought a side dish or dessert to supplement the pork. I think none were so busy as Karen. In addition to massive trays of cornbread, rolls and biscuits, her cupcakes left every single diet in its wake. No willpower could overcome these tasty mountains of sugary goodness. Just look at this array!

After a serious buffet, it was time for soccer. There were all winners on the green and red teams (though I will say that green did some substantial scoring…just saying’).

Sami never left the general area of the food (she was actually being quite naughty and had to have a canine ‘time out’).

All in all, evryone left happy, well-fed and hydrated and ready for a nap afetr and afternoon of basking in the sun!

A Week on the Farm

Robin McConaughy — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:56:29 +0000

Last week was a heavy week here at Double Brook Farm.

For starters, the sheep are almost done lambing and we have about – and this is just an estimate – a million lambs running around. Actually over 200, but when they’re all moving, who can possibly count?

Even Bea is thoroughly exhausted…

Then it was ‘Bring Your Child to Work Day’. And like any good parent, we took our child to work, instilling the building blocks of a future farmer.

But this did not come without some sassy back-talk. ‘Weeding!!??’ ‘Can I just pull up anything??’. (Note: other son was totally fine with his school not granting this ‘opportunity’!)

After Jerry ~~threatened to throw our son under the low tunnels and leave him there all day~~ explained the basics, we were off to the races!

Cabbage and garlic are safe from invasive weeds for another week.

On Aunt Molly Road, we are having babies of another sort. The cows have just started calving! Josh F. is cool as a cucumber waiting for 80 calves to be roaming around, and finally getting them on fresh grass.

Below is one of the first!

The cows seem OK with the fact that the office was removed from this pasture. Still never figured out who put it there…

Over in downtown Hopewell, we got some great news from our inspections.

It looks like we will be open on Hopewell Cruise night (May 10, 5:00 – 8:00pm) selling pulled pork and sandwiches and then hope to be open, even if on a limited basis initially, immediately after. All the details will be here so check back often! This is excellent news after a busy and challenging week…