Spring Ledge Farm in New London, NH will be open Friday the 21st from 3-6pm (yes, even with this snowy weather).  Home grown potatoes (available in bulk as well), garlic, micro mix, beets, turnips & winter squashes and the best sweet potatoes you've ever tasted. Locally grown and raised offerings include Lamb, Beef, Eggs, Honey, Maple Syrup, Cheeses, Ice Cream, Cookies and Bread.   Lamb from Hopewell Farms in Newbury, NH.  Grass fed, true lamb raised on the fields at Hopewell Farms.   This week, we'll have leg of lamb, ground lamb and rib chops.  Next week there should be more cuts available.   _________________________________________________________ Orchids by Crozer & Crozer - Katie Crozer will bring a great assortment of orchids in bloom. Orchids are especially beautiful this time of year, and the blooms last for months.  Have a question about orchids?  Ask Katie. _________________________________________________________ 2010 marked Spring Ledge Farm's year of growing sweet potatoes.  Mother Nature provided a perfect summer for this crop - hot and dry.  New varieties of sweet potatoes include 'Baeurigard' and 'Covington', both bred to mature between 90-105 days.  This is a shorter days to harvest than other sweet potatoes, which allows them a chance here in N.H. to grow a successful crop, even with our short summers They received the "seeds" as small slips of plants.  Slips are small sprouts of the potato that do not yet have roots.  They planted them immediately into the field on June 1st.  They were planted  through a black plastic layer of mulch, which warms the soil, retains moisture and keeps the weeds down.  Plants were spaced 12" apart in rows that were 6 feet apart. They will have sweet potato slips available for purchase this spring, so you can try growing some in your garden this summer. Sweet potatoes are in the Ipomea family, the Morning Glory family.  They are a vine that mounds and spreads out over the ground as it grows.  In fact, dozens of varieties of sweet potatoes are used as ornamental plants and grown as annuals.  They look great in hanging baskets, in mixed window boxes or in the garden beds.  And yes, they also produce a sweet potato tuber, albeit smaller and a little less sweet.  Here is a link to a few varieties that are in the Proven Winners line of plants. With last summer's heat, the vines filled out the rows by mid summer and continued growing until they were harvested just before frost, in late September.  They were cured  in a dry greenhouse and packed  into boxes which were carried down to the cellar. In the cellar they are at just the right temperature and humidity for storage, along with their other storage potatoes.  They keep the farmstand stocked with sweet potatoes, ready for your kitchen and table. Sweet potatoes are a fantastic source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C and fiber.   Below are a few recipes for sweet potatoes, with hundreds more available at this site, appropriately named as "sweetpotatorecipes.net". _________________________________________________________ Sweet Potato and Chicken Empanadas You need:

1 lb Spring Ledge Sweet Potatoes

2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded

1 large Spring Ledge onion

1 clove Spring Ledge garlic

2 t. ground cumin

1 t. ground coriander

1 t. cinnamon

Olive oil, salt and pepper

1 package frozen puff pastry sheets

Peel and chop sweet potatoes into ½ inch cubes. Toss with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast at 350 until soft, about 20 minutes. Heat 2 T olive oil, add spices and cook 2 minutes.  Add onion and garlic, cooking until soft. Add chicken and cooked sweet potatoes. Thaw the puff pastry sheets and cut each in half. Spoon in as much filling as you can and still fold the top over, pressing the edges together. Bake at 350 20-25 minutes until browned. _________________________________________________________ Sweet Potato Fries  You need: Many Spring Ledge Sweet Potatoes Olive Oil salt pepper Any other spices you feel like such as cajun, rosemary, or seasoned salt. Preheat oven to 425. Cut sweet potatoes into desired sized pieces. Toss with the olive oil and seasonings. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes or until soft, turning once.