Passing on an email I received from CSA Pastures. They will probably be offering tilapia in the October 11 delivery from Laughing Duck Farm. Read on for more about Laughing Duck ‘ practices and the tilapia!

Also, please note that the message mentions that the fish need to be scaled. This was a concern of ours and CSA Pastures. No worries! Laughing Duck purchased an electric scaler and will deliver the fish scaled to the CSAs.

Dear Coordinators,

We would like to announce the possibility of a new offering of whole Tilapia
fish from the Laughing Duck Farm in Westport, NY along the west shore of
Lake Champlain. We learned about this farm and it’s extensive greenhouse
system and contacted Don McCormick to see if he would be interested in
providing his fish to you. He describes his farm like this:

Now, about Laughing Duck Farm…

Laughing Duck Farm is a demonstration in deeply sustainable, year-round
growing.
Our single greenhouse is home to 12,000 gallons of filtered fish water and
home to about 10,000 tilapia. These fish are raised at low stocking
densities (less than half of standard commercial levels) in ideal
recirculated filtered water without the use of any hormones, antibiotics or
other medications and fed a plant-based feed. These methods yield superior,
clean, safe, stress-free fish that are harvested from their grow tanks and
moved to a super-clean purge tank for 5 days prior to final harvest. Here
they are taken off of feed and the temperature is gradually reduced daily so
that the fish slow down. At harvest they are placed in an ice-bath where
they quietly shut down before we process them, bag them and freeze them for
fresh delivery to you.

The greenhouse is designed so that all of the inputs are from sustainable
sources. We use solar collectors to heat the tanks and back this up in the
winter with a high-efficiency wood boiler. The electricity comes from a
low-head hydro plant on the falls next to the greenhouse. The filtered fish
water is used to feed the greenhouses vegetable crops and then returns to
the fish completely restored in a complete miniature eco-system. This
integrated technique, called aquaponics uses no chemicals of any kind and
saves enormous amounts of water compared to field-cropped vegetables (less
than one tenth of the water!). The only waste output is the fish solids
which is then used to create an outstanding compost. The result is superior
quality, flavor, health, for you and an untouched environment for all of us.
Laughing Duck Farm actually sequesters more carbon than it emits - we’re
carbon negative. To learn more about our greenhouse please visit
www.LaughingDuckFarm.com .

With regards to the Tilapia, he offers some tips in handling and
preparation. for this first time he is bringing us a delivery of 50 fish to
see if you all are interested. The fish are whole and gutted and frozen.

Handling Laughing Duck Farm tilapia:
It is best to thaw at room temperature or submerging in very warm water
(fish still in bag)if in a hurry works well too.

The fish has been gutted, but still has scales and head on. It takes a bit
of practice, but it will soon be easy to take the fish from here to your
favorite cooking method.

If you will be filleting the fish and removing the skin there is no need to
scale, however, leaving skin on can add tremendously to the flavor and
moisture of the fish. If you will leave the skin on then you will need to
scale the fish. I like using a fish scaler (from a sporting goods store) but
you can also use a stiff knife held perpendicular to the fish and “scrub” in
short firm strokes against the direction of the scales. They will release
(and fly a bit) so do this outside or in a deep sink. There are many
filleting methods and each person swears by their method once learned. A
good general cookbook like “The Joy of Cooking” or the internet can provide
the first lessons and pictures if you are new to it. Be patient, you will
get good at it.

If you can get used to seeing the fish with the head on, perhaps the best
way to prepare a fish and get all of the wonderful flavors is to scale the
fish, rub it with oil, and bake it whole with head on. You will retain all
of the moisture and pull all of the flavor from the bones into the fish for
a superb dinner. You can look to your favorite cookbooks or your own skill
to add herbs, and other flavor as the tilapia is wonderfully clean and mild,
receiving other flavors without competing for attention. Now, if the head is
still troubling you can remove it after cooking and still get all the
benefit without frightening your dinner guests. The French tradition would
be to place a slice of lemon or a sprig of herb over the eye and send it out
with the head on. Or, you can now pull the skin back and flake off the meat
from the bones easily and do the work for your family or guests. But,
whatever you do, save the carcass for fish stock! It is fantastic for a fish
base!

Generally speaking, Laughing Duck Farm tilapia can be prepared in an endless
variety of ways. I have grilled it, baked it, pan-fried it, broiled it,
breaded it, battered it, poached it, served it in curries, soups, stews,
tacos, raw (yes, it is great raw as sushi or citrus-cured as ceviche). Our
fish is exceptionally clean and healthy and the superior flavor and texture
come from the great care we give to raising them sustainably at low density.

Thanks for supporting our farm by enjoying our fresh healthy tilapia!

Don McCormick
Laughing Duck Farm

We are writing to ask if it is OK to offer these new items to the
memberships. Please let us know your concerns and ideas and we’ll be happy
to answer any questions. The fish weigh about 1-2 pounds and are frozen and
gutted. The farm is a couple of hours north and the fish are very freshly
frozen. We will pack them with the frozen items so there is no additional
effort at distribution. Let us know so we can let the members see the new
listing and we have a similar announcement ail all set to send to our
mailing list of the folks who have ordered in the past.

We also are going to announce a new late order policy for October.
Late orders are a disruption to all of the farms involved. The website right
now does not allow changes to be entered past the deadline either. So a new
order at least gets in the mix in the database but changes have to be
handled manually. If the orders cover a variety of farms - we have to
contact them all again to revise the order quantities and things get
confused. So these kinds of things mean our late order policy will be
implemented as soon as we coordinate with Mike, our webmaster to see what
kind of changes he can easily make to the ordering programming.

Take care and looking forward to your responses, Nancy

Lewis Waite Farm
Grass-Fed Grass-Finished Beef
Natural Pork

Alan & Nancy Brown
135 Lewis Hill Lane
Town of Jackson
Greenwich, NY 12834

www.lewiswaitefarm.com
www.csapasturedmeatandpoultry.com
518-692-3120 or 518-692-9208



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