Fresh local organic green zucchini, a summer squash harvested young so the skin stays thin and tender and the flesh stays creamy and mild. Zucchini is botanically a fruit, the swollen ovary of the plant's yellow-orange blossom, but it's picked and eaten well before those seeds mature, which is why the skin is soft enough to eat and the interior stays firm rather than fibrous. Left on the vine, a zucchini can grow to nearly three feet, but flavor and texture peak much smaller, which is why it's harvested at just six to eight inches long. Its mild flavor and high moisture content make it a flexible base for the grill, a quick sauté, or shaved raw into ribbons for a salad. Halved and grilled with olive oil, sliced into rounds for a gratin, or spiralized into noodles, zucchini takes on whatever seasoning it's paired with. Pairs well with garlic, basil, lemon, parmesan, and olive oil.
Chester, NY
Sun Sprout Farm is located on New York’s famous black dirt in Chester, NY. The land is being leased from the Chester Agricultural Center as part of an innovative farmland preservation project that provides long term, stable leases for high quality farmland.
Sun Sprout Farm is co-owned by Simon Ziegler and Madeleine Banulski who met in 2006 as volunteers at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills in Kimberton, PA, a living community that includes adults with developmental disabilities. Simon worked on the bio-dynamic dairy farm and Madeleine worked in the CSA garden, apple orchard and village cafe. After their two-year service, Simon returned to Germany in 2008 to study and obtain his bachelor’s degree in Organic Agriculture Science in Witzenhausen, Germany while Madeleine started going to nursing school in Philadelphia, PA. Simon came back to farm during his summer breaks every year, and worked on Riverbank Farm in Roxbury, CT with Madeleine as well as various CSA and community gardens in Philadelphia. Simon moved permanently from Germany to the US in 2011 and worked for six years as the field manager at Riverbank Farm, a fifteen-acre organic vegetable farm in Roxbury, CT.
They always dreamed of starting their own farm together. They have been in love with the Hudson Valley for a long time, and after several years of looking for the right place, found our destination in Chester, NY. Madeleine is a nurse and works on the farm part time while continuing her nursing career.