July 3, 2013 Happy 4th of July!

In Your Share

·         Romaine Lettuce

·         Mesclun lettuce mix

·         Ailsa Craig Sweet Onions

·         Savoy Cabbage

·         Carrots

·         Kohlrabi- eat raw in salads or with a dip, can be cooked (from the cabbage family)

·         Snow Peas (large, flat, edible pods)

·         Cucumber

·         Garlic Scapes (the tops of the garlic – use like fresh garlic)

·         Turnips- boil and mash these with your potatoes

Recipe

Turnip Salad with Caraway-Mustard Dressing

I like turnips best in soups and stews, but since it is too warm for soup, I thought I would try a salad with turnips.

·         2 lbs turnips

·         3 T white wine vinegar

·         3 T lemon juice

·         2 tsp. crushed caraway seed

·         2 tsp. Dijon style mustard

·         1 ½ tsp. sugar

·         ¾ tsp. pepper

·         ½ tsp. salt

·         ½ c plus 2 T olive oil

Cut turnips into 1 ½ in. strips a quarter inch wide.  Drop strips into kettle of boiling salted water.  Return water to a boil and cook turnips for 2 min. Drain in colander and refresh them under running cold water.  Drain, pat them dry with paper towels, and transfer them to a salad bowl.

In a small bowl beat together vinegar, lemon juice, caraway seed, mustard, sugar, pepper, and salt.  Add olive oil in a stream, beating.  Toss turnips with the dressing and chill salad for at least 6 hours.

What’s Happening on the Farm

I was gone for a few weeks and it is amazing how everything has grown – and yes, even the weeds!    That’s job security, I guess.  I’m so excited to see the baby peppers and tomatoes on the plants.  Most of the tomatoes have been caged to help manage the jungle that they usually become.  This year I put all of the tomato rows on the outside of the garden to try to minimize the jungle effect.  The sweet corn is knee high by the 4^th of July and seems to be growing well.  The beans are flowering as well, so those should be coming along soon.  The beans are usually ready to pick when it is 90+ degrees out, so be ready for that.    Also flowering and coming soon are the zucchini and eggplants.  I haven’t noticed whether the potatoes have flowered yet or not, but I was going to dig a couple of hills to see if the new potatoes are ready.  These were planted fairly late so it may be a bit longer.  The cooler weather (for July) and the low humidity will make the weeding much less of a chore, but I’m sure it will keep us busy for awhile.  It always seems to take forever waiting anxiously for that first ripe tomato from one’s own garden.  Nothing tastes more like an Iowa summer! 

Enjoy