1

One thing that makes Whirligig

Farm special, and worthy of
patronage, is its commitment to
serving the community. Did you
know that much of the farm crews
effort goes far above and beyond
the already-taxing demands of the
farm work itself? Whirligig Farm:
Donates hundreds of pounds of
produce every week to local food
pantries.
Offers big sales every week at
The Kingston Midtown Farmstand
when selling in neighborhoods with
limited access to healthy food.
Sells CSA shares on a sliding
scale to accommodate differing
fnancial situations.
Conducts free introductory
educational farm programs to local
youth in recreation programs.
Hosts two teenagers participating
in the Ulster Summer Youth
Employment Program.
Supports numerous community
events via produce sales, live
music, and/or hands-on activities:
Hurley Corn & Craft Festival,
Downtown Kingston Friday Evening
Market, Woodstock Friday Nights,
Rosendale Creative Co-ops Hungry
For Music Beneft Concert, Hurley
Stone House Day, Zena Corn Fest
25, just to name a few!
Offers the farmhouse as a place
for workshops and community
Tendersweet cabbage, ripening
heirloom cherry tomatoes, broccoli
and zinnias; popular in the butterfy
community of Hurley.
Rows of lush greens in the felds of
Whirligig Farm.
Newsletter
August 2014 Issue 5
Farmers Note: Farming for Your Community!
By Creek Iversen
CSA Vegetable List
Look for these items
in your share this week
Scallions, Head Lettuce, Heirloom
Tomatoes, Summer Squash,
Eggplant, Cabbage, Carrots, Kale
Choice Table, Pick 2:
Okra, Fennel, Beets
Hungarian Hot Wax Frying
Peppers,
Collard Greens, Sweet Peppers,
Broccoli
You-Pick:
Green Beans, Cherry Tomatoes,
Flowers, Herbs
(Basil, Cilantro, Dill, Parsley)
Marbletown Rec. Campers give each other a hand picking fowers during a
bouquet-making activity.
Continued on page 3
2
ON THE FARM:
Community Harvest
Supper
Thursday, August 7
4 to 8:30 p.m. or come
earlier!
Music Jam
Sunday, August 3
5 to 9 p.m.
potluck at 6:30 p.m.
Farmstand
Everyday!
9 a.m. to 7 p.m on
weekends
3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays
FARM
EVENTS
Its not too late to sign
up for our CSA shares.
As low as
$18/week!
Email:
CSA@whirligigfarm.com
Call:
(845) 331-0316
1375 Hurley
Mountain Road
Hurley, NY 12433
Rainbow Swiss Chard
The Whirligig farmhouse
T
his week we welcomed
45 Marbletown Rec.
summer camp youth to the
farm. Our farm crew worked
with them to harvest and taste
cherry tomatoes, green beans
and cucumbers; weed rows of
corn and beds of squash; and
learn about the importance
of insects to fowers while
making their own bouquets.
The children sang farm songs
and enjoyed a snack of chips
and salsa made from the
tomatoes and cucumers they
harvested.
The Farm Welcomes
Marbletown Summer Camp!
Campers snack on green beans in the shade
before heading back to camp at the end of
their activities.
Friends and members of the community joined us for our frst Harvest Supper of the
season. They picked more than 100 pounds of green beans!
COME TO
A HARVEST
SUPPER!
3
Farmers Note continued.
Meet One of Our Farmers: Nina Petrochko
Hometown: Oxford, Connecticut.
Favorite Vegetables: Sweet potatoes, cucumbers, and lacinato kale.
First farming experience: I raised rabbits and grew a vegetable garden while
in a 4-H Club at age 11. I still have my journal written in cursive handwriting and
lined with photos.

What made you want to work at Whirligig Farm? Commitment to community
and growing nutrient dense food for people. Originally, I helped at The Brook Farm
Project before we changed locations. What first struck me was Creek Iversens way
of bringing people together through music and farming. My first time working
at the farm was a joyful, song-filled experience. Its been fun to see our current
crew and how theyve blossomed while supporting this great endeavor. Im also
amazed at how much everyone cares for each other here.

Whats the future of farming for you? First and foremost, vegetable farming
for my health and the health of my family and friends. I would love to try organic
farming where the ocean meets the forest and field. The combination of sea air
and the woods sets my soul ablaze. Second, becoming a flower farmer! I am so excited about growing and harvesting
colorful, beautiful bouquets and brightening up peoples days at the market.
Nina
group meetings.
Re-ignites vital local agri-cultural traditions such as
harvest suppers, music jams and barn dances.
Offers volunteer opportunities for people of all
ages who want to learn sustainable farming skills and
experience the farming lifestyle within a vibrant farm
community.
Organizes public, hands-on, multi-artistic
celebrations of the land and harvest, to nurture
understanding and reverence for our regions
beautiful, bountiful, farmland.
Draws from local communities when hiring farm
staff.
Supports sustainable local farms and small
businesses through our farm store product offering.
Accepts Hudson Valley Current, a currency
promoting interdependence of local businesses.
Supports Rondout Valley Growers and Northeast
Organic Farming Association of New York.
These services to the community all fow from
Whirligig Farms triple bottom line business
model, which balances fnancial, environmental, and
community considerations. Buying
your produce from Whirligig Farm
automatically supports ALL of the
above community services. For a
CSA share for as little as $18/week,
thats a lot of bang for your bucks!
See you down on the farm!
Creek
Dan Moon, Destiny Johnson, Nina Petrochko and Shay Otis
welcome CSA supporters with tables full of produce.
Destiny Johnson, Phil Erner and Natasha McCutcheon
harvest heirloom tomatoes.
4
i
Harvest Tips
Featuring some of our You-Pick selections: green
beans, cherry tomatoes, okra and herbs!
Okra
Cherry Tomatoes
Harvesting okra simply requires the
harvester to bend the okra down, in the
opposite direction in which it grows,
until it snaps. Often, the larger ones
require a knife. Harvest okra that is
the size of your pinky fnger or larger.
Cherry tomatoes are as easy as they are
delicious to harvest. Find the tomatoes
that have undergone a full color change
and simply pull them of their stem
with your thumb and forefnger. Dont
forget to lift up the leaves so you dont
miss any!
5
i
i
Harvest Tips
Featuring some of our You-Pick selections: green
beans, cherry tomatoes, okra and herbs!
Green Beans
Parsley
Dill
To harvest green beans, lift up the leaves
and fnd the thickest beans on the plant
to pick. If the beans are thinner than a
pencil, they could use more time on the
stalk. Parsley leaves can be cut 1 inch
from the root, and often, a few at a time
may be cut. At most, take one third of
a single plants stems. With dill, take
only one or two leaves of of each plant.
Choose the largest stems and cut 1 inch
from the stalk with a knife. Make sure to
put dill and parsley right into water to
prevent them from wilting.
6
Children and Food
As
I move closer to becoming a father for
the frst time, I catch myself refecting
on what was (and is) precious to my child-self.
I remember the feeling of soulful nourishment
when my father had time to spend with me - time
to show me how to do this or that, time to go
slowly. I remember meals that we had together as
a family where there was a sense of peace and of
communion.
Sadly, though,
the sense-
memory that is
most pervasive
in my child-
in-the-man
body is that of
anxiousness,
of being
rushed and
worried -
worried about
the increasing
antagonism
between
my parents,
worried about
whether I
was good (or
good enough),
worried about
my tenuous
sense of
connection, of
belonging.
A side effect of being hollowed-out by
such worry was that I became susceptible to the
blandishments of contemporary American culture
- the siren-song of Madison Avenue. I fell prey
to the notion that I could fll the hole in my heart
with stuff - with gifts my parents bought for me,
toys my classmates thought were cool, and,
like so many other kids, with unhealthy foods that
were heavily promoted in my day: Frosted Flakes,
Spaghetti-Os, Hostess Twinkies, Snickers bars...
After graduating college, I shared an
apartment with several other graduates in the
Yorkville section of Manhattan. Almost every
day, I would pass the Papaya King hot dog and
smoothie place on 86th Street. The stands
slogan was (and may still be) Tastier than Filet
Mignon! I remember standing at one of the
restaurants tall tables, wolfng yet another wiener
and washing it down with a sugary smoothie, and
thinking to
myself,
Tastier is a
tricky word.
Children
are
susceptible
to cultural
infuence in
many ways,
but the area
of childrens
vulnerability
that has
perhaps the
greatest
potential
impact on
their health
is that of the
food they
consume.
The increase
in childhood
obesity and
diabetes has
been well-documented, and the cultural causes
for these epidemics frequently decried. But
all the hand-wringing and lamentation about
our childrens health notwithstanding, soda
machines still fnagle their way into our schools,
and the media continue endlessly to promote
empty calories and food with harmful contents.
The interests of the companies that sell these
foods are powerful and well-organized, and it is
fair to say that the health of our children is not
their primary concern.
By Michael Rogers, landowner of Whirligig Farm
Jasmina DeLeon-Gill and Shay Otis discuss with a camper what a snap dragon
would sound like if it could talk.
7
A CREATIVE RECIPE
For the delicious but daunting vegetables youll fnd at Whirligig Farm
Beet Kohlrabi Slaw
6 Kohlrabi, peeled and grated
4-5 beets, peeled and grated
1 small cabbage, chopped
2 onions, grated
1 large cucumber, grated
1 cup raisins
2 tablespoons each of balsamic vinegar,
extra virgin olive oil and apple cider vinegar
1 handful each of chopped dill and basil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Mix all vegetables together.
Add raisins. Mix balsamic, olive oil, apple
cider vinegar, basil, dill, salt and pepper and
pour over slaw. Serve and enjoy!
As an expectant father,
my intention is to provide my
child with a way of eating, and
of understanding how food is
produced, that will be, if not
tastier, much more favorful
and nuanced than what
corporate advertisers can offer.
This will mean showing him the
love and care that goes into
growing healthy food. It will
mean introducing him to the
workers of Whirligig Farm and
carrying him through the felds
so that he can absorb, even
before he speaks, the respect,
the abundance, and the quality
that characterize the way food
is grown at our farm.
My intention - and that
of Creek and all the members
of the Whirligig crew - is to
share the bounty of the land as
widely as possible. Already, we
have donated over a thousand
pound of delicious food to
local food pantries, and we will
donate much more. As the farms
owner, I clearly want Whirligig
Farm to be proftable. I also
want us to be an integral part
of the broader movement that
is sweeping the Hudson Valley
and beyond, a movement that
refects a more genuine care for
our children (and our people)
by providing them with healthy,
nutritious, and life-giving food.
At Whirligig, wed like to
do well... and to do good.
During one activity in our rows of
corn, campers learn the importance of
keeping weeds maintained.
8
And go to
whirligigfarm.com
to learn more about the farm, our CSA
program and other opportunities.
Photography and layout by Gianna Canevari: gianna.e.canevari@gmail.com
Follow us on Facebook!
d
1. Marbletown campers learn how to weed between rows of corn
(with only a little help from their counselers). 2. High school crew
member, Destiny Johnson, and Phil Erner work their way down a
bed of green beans. 3. High schooler, Natasha McCutcheon, and
farmers Dan Moon and Duncan Crowley sing covers of our favorite
folk and bluegrass tunes. 4. Jasmina DeLeon-Gill and Shay Otis make
a beautiful display for $2 Tuesdays at the Kingston Farm Market.

We Are Beyond Organic
3
3
4
2
1