Fog and Thistle Farm

Fog and Thistle Farm is located in Germantown, NY on a 60 acre parcel which includes our 4 acres of vegetable fields and animal pasture, an old apple orchard, an active sugar bush, and a medicinal herb business. The vegetable farm is run by Eileen Wallding and Nicholas Pandjiris. Ashley Loehr runs the livestock operation. These dedicated farmers bring with them over 15 years of farming experience, a wide range of skills and interests, and old fashioned hard working attitudes. In addition to stewarding the land and running the vegetable business, we also host a variety of free educational and community events at the farm.

Our Mission

Fog and Thistle Farm works to create a food system that is based on local control and distribution of resources in the face of an industrial agricultural system that is unjust and unstable. We strive to craft and share a business model that is both economically viable and addresses food insecurity.

Our Farming Practices

Our growing practices are regenerative to the soils we work and the agro-ecosystems we work within.  Our management techniques focus on building healthy and diverse communities of plants, microorganisms and insects without the use of synthetic pesticides or fertilizers, or genetically modified seeds.  We adhere to all organic standards, and also incorporate biodynamic methods into our practices.  We use cover crops to prevent soil erosion and build fertility, work to minimize our dependence on fossil fuel powered machinery, and work to support local businesses in our farm purchases.

Rain Rain Rain and an ode to less achey backs

Feast or famine, drought or flood, familiar old adages that I always forget to believe. But here it is, the rain gauge read 5 inches last week and it’s still coming down. The fields last Friday were so mucky we were afraid to walk in there just to harvest, our booted feet were making deep compacted sinkholes in the paths. After this hot droughty summer it had to come down eventually. We have three weeks left of CSA including this one and the fields are still quite bountiful. After those three weeks fall shares begin and will go on for 5 weeks taking you up to thanksgiving. We still haven’t heard word whether the bridge will be open in time for farm pick-up of those. If you have signed up for a fall share or are interested in signing up let us know if the detour is a deal-breaker for you, we are considering a Hudson pick-up back-up plan but would like to know how many would be interested in that.

On a more personal note we wanted to give a shout-out to Julia Wilson, an amazing chiropractor and CSA member who has been attentively taking care of our backs all season, helping us work through old injuries and new ones with adjustments, advice, and a good sense of humour!

She practices out of the Hudson Chiropractic Office at 64 Green St. and comes highly recommended from these 3 over-used spines. If you need an adjustment, give her a call…

this weeks haul…

salad mix

arugula

spinach

beets

watermelon radish

scallions

celery

cabbage

peppers

tomatoes

winter squash

ARUGULA PESTO

• 2 cups of packed arugula
• 1/2 cup of walnuts (or any nut or seed)
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves

put them all in a food processor and blend it up until you like the consistency…

in case the celery is a mystery to you, here’s a delicious dish a friend made last week:

SAUTEED CELERY AND WINTER SQUASH

Slice and rinse one head celery into half inch pieces, and one winter squash (acorn, buttercup or delicata!) into slivers after opening and seeding it. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a pan and sautee the celery on medium low heat, add a pinch of salt and a cup of broth and cook until it is desireably soft!