June 19, 2013

In Your Share

·         Buttercrunch Lettuce

·         Onions

·         Kale

·         Carrots

·         Kohlrabi

·         Snow Peas (large, flat, edible pods) or

·         Sugar Snap Peas (plump edible pods)

Recipe

Glazed Snow Peas

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add 8 ounces snow peas, 1 bunch chopped scallions, a pinch of sugar and ¼ c water.  Cover and simmer 2 minutes, then uncover and boil until the water evaporates, 2 more minutes.  Season well with salt.

What’s Happening on the Farm

It’s hard to believe it is mid-June already.  Weeding and cultivating keep us pretty busy as well as shooing those pesky gnats away.  Will they ever leave?  It’s great to see flowering peas, and nothing tastes better than a pea picked and eaten in the garden! 

The last of the cabbages have been planted (I think I mentioned that before, but they finally, really did all get planted).  Another bed of green beans has been planted and the tomato cages have been put up.  Many of the heirloom varieties of tomatoes are indeterminate which means that they can grow to be eight feet tall or more.  Determinate are bushy plants.  Bushy plants would be much easier to manage, but I am partial to the Amish Paste Roma and Rose Tomatoes, so I use concrete reinforcing wire to make sturdy cages to try to contain their voluptuous growth habits.

The eggplants, peppers and tomatoes have really hit a growth spurt with the recent sun and heat.  They are loving life!  Cucumbers are just starting to come on.  On the agenda are finding the carrots and beets – among the weeds.  The garden is never totally weed free.

I will be out of town so there won’t be a newsletter next week, but you will still get your CSA share.  Enjoy!

June 12, 2013

In Your Share

·         Romaine Lettuce

·         Onions

·         Kale

·         Carrots

All of these items are greenhouse grown – except the kale, to get an earlier start.

Recipe

Panfried Kale-makes 6-8 servings

I large bunch kale                                                           3 or 4 garlic cloves

3 tbsp. olive oil                                                                Salt and black pepper to taste

1.      Thoroughly rinse the kale in cold water and tear into pieces

2.      Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and quickly stir it around to avoid burning.

3.      Throw in the kale and use tongs to move it around the skillet.

4.      Sprinkle in plenty of salt and pepper and continue cooking until slightly wilted but still a little crisp, about 2 minutes.

5.      Remove the kale to a plate and serve.

Kale is high in carotene and vitamin K.

What’s Happening on the Farm

Most plants and seeds are in the ground except some herbs.  Just when you think you can take a respite from all the work, it’s time to plant the second round of vegetables!  The cooler weather has been great to get work done outside like weeding and cultivating,  and the gentle rains have kept the ground soft.  Unfortunately the tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and zucchini would love some sun and heat!

Because of the cool, wet spring, many vegetables were put into the ground late, definitely later than last year, but last year was quite an anomaly and not the standard.  This year we took all of the hay  mulch off and used it on the tomatoes and the pathways.  I have created permanent beds and even squared the garden using the Pythagorean Theorem – remember that from geometry?  The permanent beds will make crop rotation a much simpler process (as long as I keep copious notes about what was planted the year before).  It also seems like it makes it easier to maintain the garden and keep the weeds at a minimum, except the pathways.  There are more weeds there than anywhere.  Always a work in progress!  We are also using a tractor pulled cultivator to keep the potatoes and sweet corn nearly free of weeds – which saves a lot of tilling and hoeing!  I admit, I have never spent too much time on the sweet corn, but I HAVE spent loads of time weeding potatoes. 

The early lettuce and spinach grown in the overwintering greenhouse are nearly finished and are being pulled out.  The heat loving crops have taken their place.  The cucumbers and some tomatoes are starting to flower as well as the peas outside. 

April 27-May 4

Reminder, next week will be your last Spring share CSA, May 11. 

In Your Share

·         Spinach

·         Lettuce

·         Winter Onions/Leeks

·        Arugula

·         French Breakfast Radish

Recipe

Vegetarian Spinach Enchiladas                                      

1 14 oz can diced tomatoes                                                   Chopped spinach – equal to 10 oz. frozen

1 small onion, chopped                                                            1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

3 tsp. minced canned chipotle pepper                               1 bunch scallions, sliced

¼ tsp salt                                                                                      ½ tsp. garlic powder

1 ½ cups cottage cheese                                                         8 six inch tortillas

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Coat an 8 inch square baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place tomatoes, onions, 2 tsp. chipotle and salt in a blender.  Puree until smooth.  Mash cottage cheese, scallion whites, garlic powder and the remaining 1 tsp. chipotle.
3. Spread1/4 cup of the tomato sauce in the prepared baking dish.  Cover with 4 tortillas (they will overlap).  Spread on 1/2 cup sauce, then all the spinach filling.  Top with another 1/4 cup sauce.  Layer on the remaining 4 tortillas and the remaining 1 cup sauce.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup cheese on top.
4. Bake the casserole until the cheese is melted and the filling is hot, about 25 minutes.  Sprinkle with 2 tbsp. of the reserved scallion greens

What’s Happening on the Farm

Finally warm and dry weather!  I was able to get into the garden last Saturday to plant some more peas, plant the potatoes and till up more area to plant turnips, kohlrabi, and carrots and transplant cabbage and cauliflower plants.  Rabbits love these fresh green leaves and so plastic jugs and tile were put over them to protect them from critters and extreme wind.  The onions and leeks are doing well, and the Sugar Snap peas are about an inch tall.  I hate to say it, but a little bit of rain would be nice.  The soil underneath is still moist, but the top is dry and dusty.  I prefer Mother Nature to do as much work as possible, besides, she does a much better job of watering and providing sunshine.

April 20, 2013

Well, once again, not much happening on the farm this week.

This is who keeps dad company in the greenhouse!

In Your Share

·         Spinach

·         Lettuce

·         Winter Onons

·         Arugula

Recipe

I don’t know about you, but I have been eating quiche nearly  every week now.  It makes a great breakfast, quick lunch or light supper (with a nice spinach salad!)

Arugula:  another item that can be added to almost anything to add some zing.  When I was in Italy, and starving after cycling all day, I ordered a pizza.  Being from the Midwest, I was anxiously awaiting an Italian specialty with meat!  I was so hungry for some meat.  But, since my Italian wasn’t very good, you can imagine my disappointment when a pizza topped with tomatoes, cheese and arugula was placed in front of me.  That’s it?  To my surprise, it was the best tasting pizza ever.  So I challenge you to try arugula in all sorts of things.  Here is a salad dressing for arugula:

                ¼ c balsamic vinegar

                1 tsp. Dijon mustard

                1 tsp. sugar

                ½ tsp. salt

                Freshly ground black pepper

                1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed on a cutting board

                ½ c extra virgin olive oil

                2 ounces shaved Parmesan

Whisk together the vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, and garlic until the sugar and salt are dissolved.  While continuing to whisk, add the olive oil in a thin, steady stream until emulsified.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.  Pour some over the salad mix and add the shaved Parmesan on top.

Any remaining vinaigrette will keep for up to 2 weeks stored in a non-reactive container in the refrigerator.

Magic hangs out in the greenhouse on rainy days.

What’s Happening on the Farm

Not much!  There was some sun and dry weather last Sunday, so another bed of peas was planted in the outside garden as well as a few more beds tilled.  A lettuce mix and kohlrabi were seeded in the greenhouse.  Broccoli and cabbage plants have been hardening off outside, but I’m too leary of cold weather yet, and the fact that the garden hasn’t been dry enough to transplant into anyway.  The potatoes are waiting for some dry dirt as well.  And, Dad has been busy transplanting:  herbs, tomatoes, celery, peppers, kohlrabi and many more.  I think it keeps him from getting bored!