Chuckwagon Chili Cookout Friday Night...Live Music and Fun!

The Chuckwagon Chili Cookout features our 100% grass-fed beef chili, topped off with many choices: Traders Point Creamery's Fleur de la Terre cheese, jalapeños, tomatoes, onions, and organic sour cream.  The Chili will be served with corn bread and heart of romaine salad with homemade Italian dressing.  For those preferring a vegetarian option, we have our Traders Point Creamery Vegetarian Chili - rich, thick, and filled with beans and vegetables! 

Children are welcome to have a smaller portion of the adult menu, or we have organic, all-beef hot dogs grilled to perfection with Traders Point Creamery's Fleur de la Terre cheese on top. You can add some chili to that, and you've got one extra-yummy TPC Chili Dog!

Beverages: Choice of ice tea, lemonade, water

Dinner on the Farm

The farm now has a full line-up of specialty night dinners, with delicious made-to-order entrees!  If you haven't already, stop by and try: 

• Tuesday Night Tapas
• Wednesday Night Pizza Night
• Thursday Night Mediterranean Night
• Friday Night Dinner on the Deck or Party in the Barn
• Saturday Night Candlelight Dinner (starting Oct. 3)
  
• Sunday Night Family Dinner (starting Oct. 11)
  

We've got you covered SIX nights a week from 6 to 9:30 pm.

Getting Ready for Oktoberfest

Mark your calendars for Sunday October 18th, 2009 (12-5 pm) and attend our third annual Oktoberfest!  If you've come in the past, then you know that it's a special day on the Farm.  If you've never been, what are you waiting for?!? 

PolkaBoy, an Indianapolis favorite, will be playing throughout the afternoon.  We will have everything else you'd expect at Oktoberfest: hayrides, bonfires, a pumpkin patch, and games. In addition, there will be some exciting farm-inspired events: watching cow milking, baby calf petting, and sampling of our award-winning dairy products.  We will be selling traditional German food, beer, and wine, as well as Traders Point Creamery's own ice cream, cheeses and hot chocolate.  We will be serving Bloomington's Upland Brewing Co.  festive fall beers.  

Oktoberfest is a fundraiser that benefits the 7,000 acres of remaining greenspace in Traders Point Rural Historic Districts and surrounding areas.

Tickets are $8 in advance online, or $10 at the event. Children under 10 years old free.

Sunday on the Farm!

We have a got a Sunday schedule that jam-packed and full of fun!

Every Sunday at the Farm:

• Enjoy our award winning brunch
• Take a safari ride complete with Safari Sundae! ($10 a person)
• NEW!  Starting Oct. 11, bring the whole family for Sunday Night "Family Style Dinners" from 6-9:30 pm. Feed your family a delicious, nutritous, home-cooked meal just like grandma used to make!  

Channel 8 - Third Time's The Charm!

Check Us Out on Channel 8 on Sunday, September 27 at 11 am!

We are proud to be an Indiana business that provides the Midwest with local, organic, grassfed products. We are thrilled that Inside Indiana Business is going to be profiling the Creamery on WISH-TV Channel 8!

Savoring Harvest's Bounty...Now and Later

For the last several weeks, our garden has been in "full harvest mode".  This is the time of year when we reap the fruits (and vegetables and herbs) of our labor, and delight in making the freshest meals we can imagine!  After picking and serving your fresh produce you may need a break.  Let our cooks at The Loft prepare our harvest's bounty especially for you!

You can also prepare that fresh produce for enjoying tomorrow!  Both canning and freezing are excellent ways to do this.

CANNING

Pros: 

• Good Nutrition. Canning is a great way to preserve vitamins in the vegetables.  Additionally, if you eat produce that was picked more than a week ago, it has fewer vitamins than food that was picked and canned immediately. 
• Minimal Investment.  This includes jars, lids and seals; food safety additives (generally citric acid or ascorbic acid); and a canning device, which could be a large stock pot or a pressure cooker. 
• Storage ease.  Once canned, jars can be stored in any dark, cool, dry place. 
• Plentiful.  Since canning takes some time to set-up, it is usually done in bulk...therefore, plenty of delicious flavors for enjoying year-round.

Cons:

• Time Consuming.  Canning take time for setting up the supplies, steralizing, preparing food, and then processing. 
• Food Safety.  While not rocket science, heating, sealing, acidification, etc. must be done properly to prevent molds and bacterias.  If you haven't canned before, you can try "apprenticing" yourself to a seasoned canner.   The USDA offers a thorough guide to canning at: foodsafety.psu.edu/canningguide.html

FREEZING

Pros:

• Good Nutrition.  Even better than canning.  If you use fresh picked food, you can preserve all of its flavor and nutrition.
• Ease.  Other than blanching (for some vegetables) or preparing sauces (e.g. salsa, marinara, pesto, etc.), preparation can be as simple as chopping and finding the appropriately sized container.
• Safety.  Because food is being stored frozen, bacteria and mold are generally not an issue.
• Choose the amount you want.  You can freeze small or huge amounts of food - it's up to you.

Cons:

• Equipment. This method requires extra freezer space, which may mean investing in a chest freezer.
• Cost.  While still far cheaper and healthier than buying out of season produce later in the year (or buying frozen at the grocery store), the cost of freezing food is still higher than canning.  The initial cost of buying an extra freezer is steep, and your utility bill will increase a bit as well. 

Turn of the Season Doesn't Slow Down Our Green Market

The calendar tells us that autumn arrived this week, but you wouldn’t  know it by our summer-like weather. Take advantage of the pleasant temps to visit our farmers market  this Friday. You will see a few more fall crops among the veggies, including spaghetti squash and Long Island Cheese Pumpkins from Farming for Life. This great heirloom can be used for pies and other baking, or even made into a Jack-o’-Lantern if  you would rather carve it up than eat it up.  If you don’t like dual-duty food, Zen Sheep Farm will have pumpkins too; theirs are strictly for eating. Bluffwood Creek is “all ears”, thanks to a little boost  their sweet corn crop got from the rain.  Swiss Connection is branching out into lamb cuts for a limited time, offering everything from shoulder chops to legs and all sheep parts in between. Choose what you need to fill your grill or oven. For dessert, talk to Country Orchard about the best baking apple from among the array of varieties they grow. In fact, we don’t mind if you put the apples in with the pumpkins when you make your pie. Even if you don’t cook at all, our produce vendors have enough great vegetables to keep you in salads for every day of the week, and if a salad is too much effort for you, get something ready made from our artisan bakers. One way or another, we’ll get you to eat fresh local food and love it for life!

Vendors Attending This Week

* Aboubakar Allal - handmade silver, leather and wooden works, as well as traditional drums from Niger, Africa  

* Bluffwood Creek Organic Farm and Apiary -honey sticks, hand cream, lipbalm, honey, and MORE SWEET CORN

* Countryside Orchard – Several apple varieties; also CANTALOUPE and APPLE CIDER

* Daina's Petite Pies - single serving dinner and dessert pies made with premium local meats and vegetables

* Farming for Life - Lacto-fermented vegetables, including real crock-fermented dill pickles, and lacto fermented beverages, including garlic beet Kvaas and Kombucha. This week’s features: HEAD LETTUCE, SPAGHETTI SQUASH, AND LONG ISLAND CHEESE PUMPKINS

* Feast Catering - a variety of tamales, salsas, and gourmet baked goods

* Fields of  Agape - chemical-free grains (Omega III golden flax, hard red wheat berries, hard white wheat berries); free flour grinding while you wait

* Flower Child Aromatherapy – handmade soaps, sachets, incense, perfumes, and liquid hand sanitizer

* Harvest Cafe Coffee Company - freshly brewed coffee, a variety of freshly roasted coffee beans or freshly ground beans, loose tea, iced tea and iced mochas  

* Kelsey's Cultured Foods - cultured organic vegetables

* Life Farm - certified organic produce. TAKING A WORKING-ON-THE-FARM VACATION!  BACK ON OCTOBER 2.

* Litterally Divine Toffee and Truffles-chocolate and vegan truffles (made with organic ingredients) and almond toffee (both vegan and organic), coffee toffee made with Harvest Cafe Coffee's beans, and ice cream toppings

* Magnolia Mill Farm – yellow beans, white eggplant, zucchini, peppers and OKRA

 * New Leaf Farm – tomatoes, peppers and spinach

* Pet Lover’s Organic Bakery - handmade organic pet treats; 50% of sales go to benefit the Humane Society

* Phelps Family Farm - a variety of beef and pork meats, sausages and eggs

* Redwine Farm -  farm fresh eggs, hot sauce and pepper seasoning, sweet candy onions, zucchini, yellow squash, heirloom tomatoes, red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, green and yellow beans, eggplant , kale, watermelons, cantaloupe, basil, cilantro, dill

 * Reflexology by Lenore – therapeutic reflexology by certified reflexologist  Lenore Sudhop

 * Seldom Seen Farm - transitional organic produce. This week's features are spinach, winter squash, gourmet lettuce mix, shallots, heirloom and red tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, arugula, various bunched mustard greens, cilantro, summer squash, bell peppers in red, purple, green, flower bouquets

* Seven Springs Farm - beef, chicken (whole and parts), eggs, popcorn. Now taking orders for Thanksgiving turkeys!

* The Swiss Connection - unique (and delicious) cheeses, meats (including beef sausage products) and ice cream, plus a variety of pet products.  Featuring for a limited time: LAMB CUTS, including lamb chops, ground lamb, stew meat, shoulder chops, leg steaks, rack of lamb, leg of lamb (both with bone and bone out), and shank

* Trader's Point Creamery - organic milk, ice cream, pourable yogurt, artisan cheeses, eggs, and ground beef

* Valentine Hill Farm - variety of whole grain breads, English muffins, Mediterranean Herb pasta, European style lemon and orange pound cakes, Santa Fe nibblers and spritz cookies (all made with certified organic ingredients)

* Zen Sheep Farm – Certified Organic peppers, pie pumpkins, garlic, and products made from organic wool, including pillows, yarn, roving, and batts.   

Volunteer for Oktoberfest!

We need volunteers to fill slots from 11:00 am until 6:30 pm during Oktoberfest. We need your help to host this event! Many of you have volunteered in the past, both financially and physically, and we thank you so very much! This project benefits us all and is our only fundraiser of the year. Please volunteer for a three hour shift during the event--it will be great fun.

Greater Historic Traders Point, a 501(c)(3) green space preservation group, is hosting its third annual Oktoberfest on the Farm. This event began in 2007 to raise funds for the completion of two rural historic districts.

We have wonderful news--our nominations to the National Register have been fully approved. This means that Traders Point Rural Historic districts are presently on the National Register. Our goal for this year’s Oktoberfest is to raise money to complete signage to designate and highlight our districts. Oktoberfest is on Sunday, October 18, 2009 from 12 pm until 5 pm. The Polka Boys Band is back, and we have food and drink for everyone!

Please contact Cindy Lamberjack at 250-6504 or email her at c_lamberjack001@comcast.net to set up a volunteer time.
If you are unable to volunteer, please consider donating to the Traders Point Rural Historic Districts. Checks may be made payable to Greater Historic Traders Point and may be sent to:

Greater Historic Traders Point
7103 W. 96th St.
Zionsville, IN 46077

Recipe of the Week - Sun Dried Tomatoes

HOMEMADE SUN DRIED TOMATOES

Another way to preserve what you harvest for later! 

• Choose tomatoes of a uniform size so they dry at the same rate.
• Slice tomatoes in half, place on a raised screen, and lightly sprinkle with salt (you can also add herbs, if you like).
• "Tent" with cheesecloth to keep out critters. 
• Place in the hot sun until dry.  This takes between a few days and a week or two.  Be sure to bring them in each evening, as the morning dew can "undew" any drying that occured the day before!

 Plan on 10 standard tomatoes to get one ounce of dried tomatoes. If this sounds too time-consuming, you can get the same results in a fraction of the time using a dehydrator or oven-drying.

Quote of the Week

"Remember to be gentle with yourself and others. We are all children of chance and none can say why some fields will blossom while others lay brown beneath the August sun. Care for those around you. Look past your differences. Their dreams are no less than yours, their choices no more easily made. And give, give in any way you can, of whatever you posses. To give is to love. To withhold is to wither. Care less for your harvest than for how it is shared and your life will have meaning and your heart will have peace.”

Kent Nerburn, American author, sculptor, theologian, and educator, born 1946