12 Aug Wed 2009
Starting to think about fall
Our local eating this week has again consisted of whatever we have in our garden (carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, summer squash, cucumbers, beans, beets, scallions, asparagus pea, cabbage, and kohlrabi) and often whole meals are planned around the vegetables.
·Burgers with homemade hamburger rolls (look at Mother Earth News for another good recipe), Smith’s Country Cheddar, beets, carrots and cucumber salad (condiments and pickles not local).
·Bacon, egg and cheese crostini on English Muffin bread served with raw broccoli and dip. Alright, they really are sandwiches, but doesn’t “crostini” sound so much more legitimate for a quick evening meal?
·We had a head of cabbage from the garden and needed to build a meal around it. One quarter of it went into coleslaw so we decided fish and chips were in order. Andy performed a bit of magic in our kitchen and turned out the most delicious crusty fried fish with French fries cut from potatoes that I had just dug from the garden. Meanwhile he made a fish chowder for the next night. About a month ago we had lobster sandwiches so we froze the broth, shells and all. That makes quite a nice base for any kind of chowder. We also freeze broth from steamers when we have them. You may as well get two delicious meals out of your shellfish!
This past week was a busy week preparing for Mass Local Food delivery day and the farmers’ market. All this while we have 500 bales of hay that need to get into the barn before the rain! We did it, thanks to Andy’s ability to work endlessly and thanks to the help of six very strong Westminster teenagers that have a work ethic that would make your head spin!
We are planting more vegetables now for fall. We have planted several hundred more carrots and beets along with starting a seed bed for Kale, Kohlrabi, spinach, broccoli and assorted winter vegetables – which are up after only 4 days! I have moved my leeks out of my spring seedbed and replanted them around the strawberry rows and anywhere else I could find room (including along the walkway to my front door). I use the seedbed to sprinkle whatever vegetable seeds I am planting. I do not get picky about rows or anything – my goal is just to get some seedlings. As they come up, I will thin them and move them to empty areas of my garden. Currently the empty areas are getting filled with carrot, turnip, beats, and other vegetables that are not so easily transplanted. As more areas empty out (corn and cabbage get picked, beans no longer produce…) we will fill in with the items from our seedbeds.
This week we have canned some blueberry lime jam. It tastes yummy! I hoping some of our jams don’t set because they will be much nicer to stir into yogurt that way!