MONROE - Ken and Luanna Parr haven't bothered getting their farm, Paracres, officially certified as organic.
It just is organic, naturally.
"We're selling locally, so people know what we're doing," said Luanna.
Certification is expensive and unnecessary at their level of production, her husband adds: "We tell them we're organic, and we are."
The couple, married since 1961, has been selling produce at the Monroe Farmer's Market for five years and will return when it starts for the season this Wednesday. The market operates Wednesdays 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through October on the north side of the Square.
The Parrs moved in 1975 from Sheridan, Ind., and bought the 248-acre farm on Bethel Road just south of Monroe from the Abplanalp family estate. They ran a 60-head dairy operation here until an economic farm depression in 1987 forced them to sell most of the acreage and switch careers to trucking.
After they retired, they continued gardening - only now they're growing for more than their kitchen table.
"We've always had a garden," said Luanna, 70.
Ken, 73, chimed in: "We do it because we like to grow things."
Growing organic means fighting pests in creative ways. The first line of defense is a buffer strip of alfalfa around the garden plots, protecting the soil from chemicals on neighboring corn and soybean fields.
Inside the gardens, their pest-deterrant tactics are sneaky. They grow flower varieties that poison any Japanese beetle that dares eat a petal. They spray diluted vanilla extract on plants to scare off flea beetles. They pick potato bugs off plants one at a time and drown the vermin in soapy water. Hanging on their apple trees are red balls that trap bugs in a sticky layer of Tree Tanglefoot, an all-natural compound of resins, wax and oil.
Garlic is the all-purpose deterrant, and the Parrs grow a lot of it.
"Most insects don't like garlic," Ken said.
Humans do. It's one of the Parrs' best sellers at the market. They sell it fresh and pickled. Phyllis Perrin of Albany pickles their garlic; it's surprisingly sweet, almost fruit-like.
The cows are long gone from the farm - the only animal around now is the Parrs' all-black cat Coal - but the soil is still rich from decades of absorbing manure. It supports a cornucopia of produce: asparagus, snowpeas, kohlrabi, cauliflower, spinach, French Breakfast radishes, Easter Egg radishes, edamame, arugula, leeks, carrots, strawberries, fava beans, beets, Buttercrunch lettuce, sweet corn and more.
They make a point of growing lots of potato varieties, including German butterball, purple Viking, fingerling, and blue and red Adirondacks.
"We say, 'We don't have common taters'," jokes Luanna.
The Parrs also tap syrup from the maples in their yard and, in the fall, sell the bittersweet that grows around a long-dormant silo.
For the second year in a row, they're offering a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program: a weekly box of fresh produce that can be picked up at Paracres or at the Super 8 Motel in Monroe ("like having your own garden without all the work"). For more information, call Paracres at 325-2557.
The couple shared the following recipes for dishes that can be made with produce available now, lettuce and rhubarb.
Wilted Lettuce
Luanna Parr inherited this recipe from her mother, Eva Wright. The recipe has been around as long as Parr can remember, and probably predates her mother: "She probably ate it when she was growing up."
- Leaf lettuce
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat
- 3 or 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- Equal parts sugar and vinegar, about 1 tablespoon each
In a large skillet, heat bacon fat until melted, then add onions and cook slightly. Mix sugar and vinegar and add. Quickly add beaten egg, stirring rapidly until mixture thickens. Add lettuce, stirring to coat each leaf. Remove from heat and serve.
Rhubarb Bread
The Parrs eat this bread in the spring when their rhubarb crop comes up. The recipe comes from Monroe resident Deborah Krauss Smith.
- 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
- 2/3 c. oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon each of salt, baking soda, vanilla and butter
- 1 c. sour milk or sweet (regular) milk
- 1 1/2 c. (or more) diced rhubarb
- 2 1/2 c. unsifted flour
- 1/2 c. nuts
- 1/4 c. white sugar
Mix all ingredients, except white sugar and butter, and pour into two loaf pans or one 9x13-inch cake pan. Sprinkle top with white sugar creamed with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
It just is organic, naturally.
"We're selling locally, so people know what we're doing," said Luanna.
Certification is expensive and unnecessary at their level of production, her husband adds: "We tell them we're organic, and we are."
The couple, married since 1961, has been selling produce at the Monroe Farmer's Market for five years and will return when it starts for the season this Wednesday. The market operates Wednesdays 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. through October on the north side of the Square.
The Parrs moved in 1975 from Sheridan, Ind., and bought the 248-acre farm on Bethel Road just south of Monroe from the Abplanalp family estate. They ran a 60-head dairy operation here until an economic farm depression in 1987 forced them to sell most of the acreage and switch careers to trucking.
After they retired, they continued gardening - only now they're growing for more than their kitchen table.
"We've always had a garden," said Luanna, 70.
Ken, 73, chimed in: "We do it because we like to grow things."
Growing organic means fighting pests in creative ways. The first line of defense is a buffer strip of alfalfa around the garden plots, protecting the soil from chemicals on neighboring corn and soybean fields.
Inside the gardens, their pest-deterrant tactics are sneaky. They grow flower varieties that poison any Japanese beetle that dares eat a petal. They spray diluted vanilla extract on plants to scare off flea beetles. They pick potato bugs off plants one at a time and drown the vermin in soapy water. Hanging on their apple trees are red balls that trap bugs in a sticky layer of Tree Tanglefoot, an all-natural compound of resins, wax and oil.
Garlic is the all-purpose deterrant, and the Parrs grow a lot of it.
"Most insects don't like garlic," Ken said.
Humans do. It's one of the Parrs' best sellers at the market. They sell it fresh and pickled. Phyllis Perrin of Albany pickles their garlic; it's surprisingly sweet, almost fruit-like.
The cows are long gone from the farm - the only animal around now is the Parrs' all-black cat Coal - but the soil is still rich from decades of absorbing manure. It supports a cornucopia of produce: asparagus, snowpeas, kohlrabi, cauliflower, spinach, French Breakfast radishes, Easter Egg radishes, edamame, arugula, leeks, carrots, strawberries, fava beans, beets, Buttercrunch lettuce, sweet corn and more.
They make a point of growing lots of potato varieties, including German butterball, purple Viking, fingerling, and blue and red Adirondacks.
"We say, 'We don't have common taters'," jokes Luanna.
The Parrs also tap syrup from the maples in their yard and, in the fall, sell the bittersweet that grows around a long-dormant silo.
For the second year in a row, they're offering a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program: a weekly box of fresh produce that can be picked up at Paracres or at the Super 8 Motel in Monroe ("like having your own garden without all the work"). For more information, call Paracres at 325-2557.
The couple shared the following recipes for dishes that can be made with produce available now, lettuce and rhubarb.
Wilted Lettuce
Luanna Parr inherited this recipe from her mother, Eva Wright. The recipe has been around as long as Parr can remember, and probably predates her mother: "She probably ate it when she was growing up."
- Leaf lettuce
- 1 tablespoon bacon fat
- 3 or 4 green onions, chopped
- 1 egg, beaten
- Equal parts sugar and vinegar, about 1 tablespoon each
In a large skillet, heat bacon fat until melted, then add onions and cook slightly. Mix sugar and vinegar and add. Quickly add beaten egg, stirring rapidly until mixture thickens. Add lettuce, stirring to coat each leaf. Remove from heat and serve.
Rhubarb Bread
The Parrs eat this bread in the spring when their rhubarb crop comes up. The recipe comes from Monroe resident Deborah Krauss Smith.
- 1 1/2 c. packed brown sugar
- 2/3 c. oil
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon each of salt, baking soda, vanilla and butter
- 1 c. sour milk or sweet (regular) milk
- 1 1/2 c. (or more) diced rhubarb
- 2 1/2 c. unsifted flour
- 1/2 c. nuts
- 1/4 c. white sugar
Mix all ingredients, except white sugar and butter, and pour into two loaf pans or one 9x13-inch cake pan. Sprinkle top with white sugar creamed with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.