Vintage Quest Acres

We are going to try out the blog format for communication.  It seems it would be a good way to get recipes out and allow for searches, etc.  Our internet provider tends to cut us off if we try to upload too much on our website and we are reduced to worse than dial-up for 24 hours as a punishment.  (We have 20MB/hour as a limit - really low when updating a website with pictures.)

 We are also on Facebook under Vintage Quest Acres.  We welcome you as a fan.  We are fairly new to all this, as our life outside tends to keep us busy.  However we prefer internet as our primary means of communication so it makes sense to embrace these "new" technologies in our farm.  

 I have to admit, I missed sharing our farm abundance with you, although it did give me a chance to cook rather than harvest!  We are happy to report that the two week break was just what the farm needed.  What had been planted in April after the rains is now catching up with the Mesclun and radishes and we are getting delightful culinary surprises.  I ate my first ever Eight Ball Squash and made a delicious Italian type dish out of it.    We have a patch of soon-to-be-ready wild blackberries which we have gotten a handful or two out of…

We are seeing flowers on the cukes, and melons.  I keep looking for that bud of a fruit under the leaves. We hope our bees are doing their jobs!  Everyday we see something else growing stronger and bigger.  Even the pathetic corn is surprising us.  Our neighbors gifted us with some rare heirloom plants (when I say rare, I mean only grown on our street!)  These are plants that have been around here for 50+ years, and are so hardy they require Round Up to kill.  While we may not get enough to distribute, we plan to save seed for next year.  They gave us a handful of unique sweet potatoes plants that we can’t wait to eat. 

I wanted to take a moment to share my philosophy about tastes in food.  Remember back in elementary when you learned the 4 basic tastes – sweet, salty, sour, & bitter.  Our culture tends to eat mostly sweet and salty.    In certain cultures, having a balance of tastes is considered essential to good health.  If you overdo one, you will be out of balance and most likely have health issues.  This week, the boxes contain some bitter foods.  When I eat too many fats, I actually crave Swedish Bitters (an herbal mixture of bitter herbs).  I use it when I feel nauseated, have a migraine coming on, or any time I am feeling run down.  Last week, I experimented with the plentiful crop of radishes that were on the bitter side and came up with an interesting way of eating them that did not involve salad.   I ate the equivalent of 3 bunches of radishes on my own in one day!  I really felt that my body was enjoying the bitterness of my radish creation.  Can’t say I could get my kids or Farmer Z to eat it, but I truthfully did not want to share!  I urge you to take the time to consider when the last time you ate a bitter food on purpose was and to explore ways you can add that bitter taste more often to your diet.

In the box this week:

Mesclun:  Two days ago it was looking great but we know this heat is a challenge for it.  We will do the best we can to make it happy (watering it , picking it in the early morning, cooling it in water quickly, and refrigerating it) but it may not last very long.  Highly recommend you eat it sooner than later.  It may also be bitterer than the first 2 deliveries due to the heat.  You may want to soak it in cool water to perk it up before eating.

Radish:  This batch will probably be more on the bitter side as well because of the heat and size of the radishes.  One way to reduce the bitterness is to salt the radishes and let them sit for 30 minutes.  Then rinse them.  I find that slicing the radishes before doing this helps.  Check out the attached recipe for Sweet and Sour Radishes.

Calendula Flower:  The petals on this flower are edible.  If you are allergic to ragweed, you may want to pass on eating them. [I am allergic to ragweed and had no problems but every person is different.] Just take off the petals and add some color to your salad (He loves me, he loves me not…)The heat was affecting them too, so they may not last long in a vase before they lose their petals. For more info check out http://www.grandmas-wisdom.com/edible-flower-calendula.html

Beans: A smattering of different varieties – yellow wax, purple teepee, and jumbo green bean.  This is the beginning of the bean season and our first crop was severely damaged by beetles, however they still managed to kick out a couple of beans per plant.  I am not joking when I say that the beans were longer than the entire plant!  It just amazes us that they produced anything at all.  Since there are so few this week, we just cut them up and add them to soups or stir-fries.

Squash:  It is so much fun to watch the squash grow and know that I don’t have to cook all of it!  This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to summer squash.  Most of you will receive either a round zucchini-looking squash called an Eight Ball or a yellow crookneck.  These have not been washed, because they keep longer when they are “dirty”.  They were harvested from Friday to Sunday so using them within the week would be a good idea. 

Basil:  We are doing a maintenance picking this week, rather than a harvest.  Basically we picked the tops of hundreds of basil plants and you are getting a portion of the tops.  Picking the tops off will encourage the plants to get bushier.  This is Genovese basil, which is the type that we make pesto from.  Not enough this week to make pesto, but it is great in salad, or on a cracker with cheese.  Basil does not store long once it has been picked.  BTW, anyone have a source of bulk parmesan?  I would love to get hold of a 5 lb bag . 

Eggs:  These are not going to be a permanent edition to the boxes, but we will sporadically include them when our fridge gets full.  Egg production has gone down the last month from 70 eggs/day to 50  so we won’t have enough to do eggs for everyone every week plus some of you don’t eat that many eggs.  If you are interested in getting a guaranteed supply of eggs, we offer 8 week shares for $30/dozen. 

Sprouts:  These are red clover sprouts.  Add them to salad, sandwiches, etc.