21 May Thu 2009
Boulder Belt Farm Share Week 7
It's another week of yummy food.
The weather is improving quite a bit. We got over 3" of rain over the weekend which was badly needed. It got cold but we did not get much, if any frost (I think a couple of the tiny asparagus spears got frost damaged but not more than .01%) and now we get some very nice dry and sunny days to get a lot of weeding/hoeing/tilling done.
The farm is very beautiful. The trees are leafing out and the early summer flowers are opening. Mostly irises (my favorite flower) with a bit of phlox and soon we should have a hillside covered in daisies
Monday was spent weeding, mainly onions and garlic. We have a really nice method to take care of the weeds that is not too labor intensive. First we get out the wheel hoe and hit the big areas. Next we use a stirrup hoe to get smaller areas that the wheel hoe blade is to wide to do. after all that is done we hand weed what's left. Usually there is hardly anything to hand weed but today we hit several beds that need a lot of hand weeding. The scallions are the worst but fortunately they are well on their way to being done. I am happy that the onions and garlic did not need much hand weeding at all, just a few thistle plants that had to be pulled per bed. if there is not a lot of little weeds growing up in between the plants and the weeds are small we can get a bed done in about 15 minutes. If there are a lot of little weeds between plants than a bed will take about 2 to 3 hours with one person doing the work. From now until mid July when it usually gets dry we will be doing a lot of weeding, than the weed pressure usually lightens up a lot.
Beside weeding (and the perpetual harvesting) we are gearing up to put out about 750 tomato, pepper and aubergine seedlings. This means many beds to till (about 2/3 are tilled), than landscape fabric mulch and irrigation tapes are put down. the mulch is secured by digging in the edges. 7' tall metal fence stakes are driven into the ground for the tomatoes-10 stakes per bed so we have something to support the tomatoes. We also stake the peppers but they take much smaller stakes and could even use tomato cages, if we had any. We do not use cages for tomatoes as we grow great big indetermanent tomato varieties and they get way too big for cages so we stake them and support them a la the "Florida Weave" (google it).
A lot of crops are close to coming in. We should have a little bit of fresh basil maybe next week. We might have small zucchinis this week and if not certainly next week (they will be ready Thursday but are not quite ready to pick Tuesday so to keep things even we will probably wait until next week so everyone gets the same thing at the same time) The first peas are in flower and should have peas in 2 weeks. We grow three kinds, snow, sugar snap and a couple of types of shelling peas. The garlic should be forming scapes at the end of the month. Scapes are the flower stalks and have to be cut off, they are yummy. Broccoli is beginning to form heads. We will have cabbage, carrots, beets, chard, scallions (the one's you have been getting were from an over wintered bed that was planted around this time last year.), sweet onions in June and beyond.
As some thing are coming on others are going away for a few weeks. This would be the strawberries. We grow an everbearing variety that sets fruit, fruit ripens, fruit gets picked and than it grows more flowers and sets more fruit. A cycle takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Cycle one in just about over. So this will be the last week for strawberries for a while, I believe. But soon enough we will have red Latham raspberries (mid to late June)
We have the pot luck dinner coming up this Sunday. I have RSVP's from 4 people, The Platts, Gliddens, Lathams and Herbskerman. I need to know Yes or no from the rest of you, ASAP (sorry if I have forgotten your RSVP, you will have to tell me again-farming can make one brain dead). As mentioned, it starts at 5pm, we will conduct a tour of the main market garden at 5:15 or so, Nancy will do her herb demo around 6pm than we eat good food out under the apple trees. It should be a lot of fun and the perfect opportunity to get to know the farm and ask us questions. Try to be on time. oh and we will have a home brew tasting of some sort. We will provide a big salad, a couple of kinds of dressing and Apple cider. You bring a dish to share (meat, dessert, side dish, etc.,) things to eat/drink with/from (we really want to avoid disposable plate/cup/flatware use) and any wine beer, soda you want to drink if cider is not for you. We may have some pear wine left over from last year. We have many interesting people in this group so conversation should be interesting.
June is coming up I need to know if you are one of the members doing this by the month a) are you joining in June? b) if so and you pick up on Tuesday which 4 Tuesdays do you want-there are 5 in June. I need to know ASAP about these things. Those of you who have committed to the entire season, don't worry about this 5 Tuesday thing.
Recipe
Asparagus and Kale Omelet
3 eggs, use pastured eggs you can buy at any farmers market
2 spears of asparagus, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 kale leaves, cut the mid rib out and chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or whatever pleases you), shredded
butter
salt to taste
In a pan over medium heat melt the butter and saute the onion, asparagus and kale, add the salt. Cook about 5 minutes, until the onions get translucent and the asparagus is tender crisp. Also place the top oven rack in the highest position and preheat the broiler
While this goes on beat the eggs in a small bowl
In a hot omelet pan (preheated over medium-heat-the pan must be hot for the eggs to slide out of the pan, not stick) melt some butter (don't worry if it starts to turn brown) and put in the scrambled eggs. With a spatula stir the eggs, pushing them down the side. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Put eggs under the hot broiler for 30 seconds. The eggs should be puffed up and turning light brown, even. Remove put pan on a cold burner and add the veggies to one side of the eggs and top with the cheese. Put back under the broiler for 30 to 45 seconds, until cheese is melted. Flip onto a plate, veggie side first and let the rest of the eggs fold over top.
Asparagus-around a pound this week, you may notice some spears are purple-those are the purple asparagus and they are super tender and good.
Kale-Russian White kale, a big bag. this is simple to cook-cut the center rib out and chop and steam like spinach
Spring mix-another bag of salad
Lettuce-mix of reds and greens this week
Radish-lots of little radishes. This planting of radishes never did take off and now we need them out of the ground. hopefully the later plantings will do Much better for us.
Chives-the flowers are at their peak right now and quite edible
Garlic chives-another bunch of garlic chives
Oregano-many of you got this herb about two weeks ago instead of rosemary. This is the pizza herb and is also a good herb for digestion.
Strawberries/zucchini-Since the berries likely will not make it to Thursday the Thursday group may get zephyr zucchini in their shares this week
Arugula-Eugene says there is enough to harvest. As I write this it is 5am and I have not gone out to check nor will I until after dawn. There may be arugula in the shares or there may not be
The weather is improving quite a bit. We got over 3" of rain over the weekend which was badly needed. It got cold but we did not get much, if any frost (I think a couple of the tiny asparagus spears got frost damaged but not more than .01%) and now we get some very nice dry and sunny days to get a lot of weeding/hoeing/tilling done.
The farm is very beautiful. The trees are leafing out and the early summer flowers are opening. Mostly irises (my favorite flower) with a bit of phlox and soon we should have a hillside covered in daisies
Monday was spent weeding, mainly onions and garlic. We have a really nice method to take care of the weeds that is not too labor intensive. First we get out the wheel hoe and hit the big areas. Next we use a stirrup hoe to get smaller areas that the wheel hoe blade is to wide to do. after all that is done we hand weed what's left. Usually there is hardly anything to hand weed but today we hit several beds that need a lot of hand weeding. The scallions are the worst but fortunately they are well on their way to being done. I am happy that the onions and garlic did not need much hand weeding at all, just a few thistle plants that had to be pulled per bed. if there is not a lot of little weeds growing up in between the plants and the weeds are small we can get a bed done in about 15 minutes. If there are a lot of little weeds between plants than a bed will take about 2 to 3 hours with one person doing the work. From now until mid July when it usually gets dry we will be doing a lot of weeding, than the weed pressure usually lightens up a lot.
Beside weeding (and the perpetual harvesting) we are gearing up to put out about 750 tomato, pepper and aubergine seedlings. This means many beds to till (about 2/3 are tilled), than landscape fabric mulch and irrigation tapes are put down. the mulch is secured by digging in the edges. 7' tall metal fence stakes are driven into the ground for the tomatoes-10 stakes per bed so we have something to support the tomatoes. We also stake the peppers but they take much smaller stakes and could even use tomato cages, if we had any. We do not use cages for tomatoes as we grow great big indetermanent tomato varieties and they get way too big for cages so we stake them and support them a la the "Florida Weave" (google it).
A lot of crops are close to coming in. We should have a little bit of fresh basil maybe next week. We might have small zucchinis this week and if not certainly next week (they will be ready Thursday but are not quite ready to pick Tuesday so to keep things even we will probably wait until next week so everyone gets the same thing at the same time) The first peas are in flower and should have peas in 2 weeks. We grow three kinds, snow, sugar snap and a couple of types of shelling peas. The garlic should be forming scapes at the end of the month. Scapes are the flower stalks and have to be cut off, they are yummy. Broccoli is beginning to form heads. We will have cabbage, carrots, beets, chard, scallions (the one's you have been getting were from an over wintered bed that was planted around this time last year.), sweet onions in June and beyond.
As some thing are coming on others are going away for a few weeks. This would be the strawberries. We grow an everbearing variety that sets fruit, fruit ripens, fruit gets picked and than it grows more flowers and sets more fruit. A cycle takes about 6 to 8 weeks. Cycle one in just about over. So this will be the last week for strawberries for a while, I believe. But soon enough we will have red Latham raspberries (mid to late June)
We have the pot luck dinner coming up this Sunday. I have RSVP's from 4 people, The Platts, Gliddens, Lathams and Herbskerman. I need to know Yes or no from the rest of you, ASAP (sorry if I have forgotten your RSVP, you will have to tell me again-farming can make one brain dead). As mentioned, it starts at 5pm, we will conduct a tour of the main market garden at 5:15 or so, Nancy will do her herb demo around 6pm than we eat good food out under the apple trees. It should be a lot of fun and the perfect opportunity to get to know the farm and ask us questions. Try to be on time. oh and we will have a home brew tasting of some sort. We will provide a big salad, a couple of kinds of dressing and Apple cider. You bring a dish to share (meat, dessert, side dish, etc.,) things to eat/drink with/from (we really want to avoid disposable plate/cup/flatware use) and any wine beer, soda you want to drink if cider is not for you. We may have some pear wine left over from last year. We have many interesting people in this group so conversation should be interesting.
June is coming up I need to know if you are one of the members doing this by the month a) are you joining in June? b) if so and you pick up on Tuesday which 4 Tuesdays do you want-there are 5 in June. I need to know ASAP about these things. Those of you who have committed to the entire season, don't worry about this 5 Tuesday thing.
Recipe
Asparagus and Kale Omelet
3 eggs, use pastured eggs you can buy at any farmers market
2 spears of asparagus, cut into 1/2" pieces
4 kale leaves, cut the mid rib out and chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup cheese (cheddar or whatever pleases you), shredded
butter
salt to taste
In a pan over medium heat melt the butter and saute the onion, asparagus and kale, add the salt. Cook about 5 minutes, until the onions get translucent and the asparagus is tender crisp. Also place the top oven rack in the highest position and preheat the broiler
While this goes on beat the eggs in a small bowl
In a hot omelet pan (preheated over medium-heat-the pan must be hot for the eggs to slide out of the pan, not stick) melt some butter (don't worry if it starts to turn brown) and put in the scrambled eggs. With a spatula stir the eggs, pushing them down the side. Cook about 1 to 2 minutes. Put eggs under the hot broiler for 30 seconds. The eggs should be puffed up and turning light brown, even. Remove put pan on a cold burner and add the veggies to one side of the eggs and top with the cheese. Put back under the broiler for 30 to 45 seconds, until cheese is melted. Flip onto a plate, veggie side first and let the rest of the eggs fold over top.
Asparagus-around a pound this week, you may notice some spears are purple-those are the purple asparagus and they are super tender and good.
Kale-Russian White kale, a big bag. this is simple to cook-cut the center rib out and chop and steam like spinach
Spring mix-another bag of salad
Lettuce-mix of reds and greens this week
Radish-lots of little radishes. This planting of radishes never did take off and now we need them out of the ground. hopefully the later plantings will do Much better for us.
Chives-the flowers are at their peak right now and quite edible
Garlic chives-another bunch of garlic chives
Oregano-many of you got this herb about two weeks ago instead of rosemary. This is the pizza herb and is also a good herb for digestion.
Strawberries/zucchini-Since the berries likely will not make it to Thursday the Thursday group may get zephyr zucchini in their shares this week
Arugula-Eugene says there is enough to harvest. As I write this it is 5am and I have not gone out to check nor will I until after dawn. There may be arugula in the shares or there may not be
Lucy
05:54 PM EDT
14 May Thu 2009
Boulder Belt farm Share Vol 1 issue 6
Mid May on the farm means a lot of weed control. Since we do not use chemicals that means a lot of mowing (which also keeps small rodents from eating the crops, and this did happen over the weekend-something took out 1/2 bed of cabbage. Don't worry we have several beds of cabbage and Eugene has now gotten the grass short AND has caught a couple of voles in the area. So he thinks the rest of the baby cabbage plants will survive) hoeing when the soils are dry enough (which they were as of yesterday) and hand pulling. Oh and tilling. Something Eugene has not been able to do in about 10 days because they ground has been too wet. You really do not want to till wet/damp ground as it destroys the structure and you get clods that are hard to break down. But now the soil has dried out enough for the the tilling to resume and hopefully by tomorrow he will have most of the untilled beds tilled and the weeds that are in them killed. Most of these beds are for Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant.
If you want to know what tomatoes we will have come the end of August check out my blog http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2009/05/boulder-belt-2009-tomato-roster.html. It's a big list of fabulous heirloom maters (mostly). Those tomatoes are still tiny and a couple of weeks away from being able to go out side. I have contact with a lot of other growers via email list serves and a few forums and we start our tomatoes about 4 to 6 weeks after most everyone else in the US (except the folks in the Dakotas) but by doing this we get to miss the cloud of RoundUp that is hovering in our air as I write this (RoundUp literally melts tomatoes). This is because the no-till farmers use the herbicide to "burn down" the weeds in their fields a day or two before planting. Than there will be another huge application the beginning of June and another late July for weed control. This is one of the reason we use a lot of row cover-it keeps the chemicals off of our produce. Unfortunately it does not keep the herbicides out of our water table so in a month I highly recommend that you drink only filtered water so you (and especially your small children) are not drinking the stuff.
Another reason we start and plant our tomatoes and peppers later than most people is because there too often is a cold period in mid to late May that will injure such tender plants and cause them to produce later and less than they should (we are going through this right now and it would not surprise me if we get another round of cold air before Memorial day). So between the chemicals and the cold weather we are glad our tomato seedlings are tiny and safe in a warm room. The pepper and eggplant seedlings are big (I start these at least 3 weeks before the tomatoes because they take longer to get to a good size, though this year they both grew faster than expected) but also in the same warm room so safe.
Besides the nightshades (the family that peppers, potatoes, maters and eggplant all belong) we have planted in the market garden beets, green beans (or maybe wax beans), potatoes, carrots, celeriac, red turnips, rutabagas, radishes, early cucumbers, early cantaloupes, more lettuce, more spring mix, early basil, early zucchini (which is flowering so we should have zukes in shares in 2 to 3 weeks), chard and a few other things. I believe we have about 2/3 of the 250+ beds filled at this point and should be about filled by June 1st.
Oh yeah a couple of things. Oxford members St Rt 732 is closed this week by Houston Woods so you will have to find another way to get here if you use 732 to get to Eaton. The signs say it will be reopened May 16th. Don't for get the potluck dinner coming up May 24th bring food to share and something to eat it on/in/from (we do not want to use paper/plastic plates and cups and don't have enough china to supply everyone). Member Nancy Glidden has graciously offered to do a short workshop on how to use culinary herbs which I think will be useful to most everyone. This will take place right after the farm tour and before dinner (or maybe during dinner as this will be a casual event and we can nosh and learn)
Recipe
Chive Dip
1 pint sour cream
1/4 cup chives chopped fine
1 TSP thyme chopped fine
salt to taste
Mixed everything into the sour cream, let sit at least 2 hours so the flavors can blend (over night is best). set out with good tater chips
Strawberries-You get 2 pints this week (oh Joy!!). These will come and go all summer and fall as we grow Day Neutral strawberries and not the June bearing type
Asparagus-a half pound of spears. I wish we could give more but the plants are not producing as heavily as we expected. Next year will be better as we will be able to harvest some of the new area (planted spring of '08) and in 2 years we will have twice as much to harvest.
Lettuce-another bag of mixed heads-the mix this week will be a red leaf lettuce some old guy, Tom Chance, from Eaton gave us last year and marvel of 4 seasons, a french heirloom (this is a bibb type)
Chive-These are beginning to flower. The flowers are edible but tend to be on the hot side. Still they make a salad beautiful
Spring Mix-This might be mostly baby lettuce. The spring mix beds we should be harvesting have huge lettuce and the rest of the greens, despite being sowed a week before the lettuce are not growing much at all so have been too small to cut for the past 12 days. the cool weather should be good for this stuff and hopefully I will go out this morning to find beautiful arugula, mizuna, et. al.
Leeks-This should be the last week for leeks
Cilantro
Scallions
Thyme-Very small leaves, really good in things like potato and leek soup
Tarragon-This smells like anise, leaves green and slender
If you want to know what tomatoes we will have come the end of August check out my blog http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/2009/05/boulder-belt-2009-tomato-roster.html. It's a big list of fabulous heirloom maters (mostly). Those tomatoes are still tiny and a couple of weeks away from being able to go out side. I have contact with a lot of other growers via email list serves and a few forums and we start our tomatoes about 4 to 6 weeks after most everyone else in the US (except the folks in the Dakotas) but by doing this we get to miss the cloud of RoundUp that is hovering in our air as I write this (RoundUp literally melts tomatoes). This is because the no-till farmers use the herbicide to "burn down" the weeds in their fields a day or two before planting. Than there will be another huge application the beginning of June and another late July for weed control. This is one of the reason we use a lot of row cover-it keeps the chemicals off of our produce. Unfortunately it does not keep the herbicides out of our water table so in a month I highly recommend that you drink only filtered water so you (and especially your small children) are not drinking the stuff.
Another reason we start and plant our tomatoes and peppers later than most people is because there too often is a cold period in mid to late May that will injure such tender plants and cause them to produce later and less than they should (we are going through this right now and it would not surprise me if we get another round of cold air before Memorial day). So between the chemicals and the cold weather we are glad our tomato seedlings are tiny and safe in a warm room. The pepper and eggplant seedlings are big (I start these at least 3 weeks before the tomatoes because they take longer to get to a good size, though this year they both grew faster than expected) but also in the same warm room so safe.
Besides the nightshades (the family that peppers, potatoes, maters and eggplant all belong) we have planted in the market garden beets, green beans (or maybe wax beans), potatoes, carrots, celeriac, red turnips, rutabagas, radishes, early cucumbers, early cantaloupes, more lettuce, more spring mix, early basil, early zucchini (which is flowering so we should have zukes in shares in 2 to 3 weeks), chard and a few other things. I believe we have about 2/3 of the 250+ beds filled at this point and should be about filled by June 1st.
Oh yeah a couple of things. Oxford members St Rt 732 is closed this week by Houston Woods so you will have to find another way to get here if you use 732 to get to Eaton. The signs say it will be reopened May 16th. Don't for get the potluck dinner coming up May 24th bring food to share and something to eat it on/in/from (we do not want to use paper/plastic plates and cups and don't have enough china to supply everyone). Member Nancy Glidden has graciously offered to do a short workshop on how to use culinary herbs which I think will be useful to most everyone. This will take place right after the farm tour and before dinner (or maybe during dinner as this will be a casual event and we can nosh and learn)
Recipe
Chive Dip
1 pint sour cream
1/4 cup chives chopped fine
1 TSP thyme chopped fine
salt to taste
Mixed everything into the sour cream, let sit at least 2 hours so the flavors can blend (over night is best). set out with good tater chips
Strawberries-You get 2 pints this week (oh Joy!!). These will come and go all summer and fall as we grow Day Neutral strawberries and not the June bearing type
Asparagus-a half pound of spears. I wish we could give more but the plants are not producing as heavily as we expected. Next year will be better as we will be able to harvest some of the new area (planted spring of '08) and in 2 years we will have twice as much to harvest.
Lettuce-another bag of mixed heads-the mix this week will be a red leaf lettuce some old guy, Tom Chance, from Eaton gave us last year and marvel of 4 seasons, a french heirloom (this is a bibb type)
Chive-These are beginning to flower. The flowers are edible but tend to be on the hot side. Still they make a salad beautiful
Spring Mix-This might be mostly baby lettuce. The spring mix beds we should be harvesting have huge lettuce and the rest of the greens, despite being sowed a week before the lettuce are not growing much at all so have been too small to cut for the past 12 days. the cool weather should be good for this stuff and hopefully I will go out this morning to find beautiful arugula, mizuna, et. al.
Leeks-This should be the last week for leeks
Cilantro
Scallions
Thyme-Very small leaves, really good in things like potato and leek soup
Tarragon-This smells like anise, leaves green and slender
Lucy
04:10 PM EDT
09 May Sat 2009
FSI Newsletter Vol 1 issue 5
Greetings Farm Share Members,
We are into a new month. For us it means welcoming 3 new members and saying goodbye to to. Giving us a total of 12 members this month, we had 11 in April. A positive trend as we did not expect to fill all 30 membership slots in the spring. All we want is a steady increase in membership throughout the season. At this point we are 40% full and that is A-ok with us. The FSI is replacing the Tuesday uptown market as a marketing strategy and all we asked of it was that it make at least as much money as that market. So far it is making more than double for us. So while you guys generally get more than the $30 you paid per weekly share we still end up making more money from this system of selling food. Instead of spending the entire morning and early afternoon harvesting, cleaning and packing produce, driving to Oxford doing the market and coming back around 9 or 10pm (often we would dine and socialize with friends after market) now we can spend Tuesday harvesting for the FSI (which takes about 1/3 the time because I am harvesting for a known entity instead of trying to guesstimate how much stuff we may need for market) in the early morning and than the rest of the day Eugene can spend on his farming projects while I get the shares cleaned and packed. In other words, because of the FSI we get an entire extra day on the farm which is almost priceless to us. Also we don't have to drive the behemoth Dodge van that get less than stellar gas mileage and we don't have to schlep around heavy crates of produce. During melon season (high summer) this is a major pain-100+pound crates to be moved in 90+ degree humid conditions. yes, this is a part the glamor of market farming. So the FSI is literally saving our backs, as we are not getting any younger.
The month of May also means the garden is transitioning from winter/early spring crops to mid spring/early summer crops. Gone is the spinach and soon the leeks will be too. We are now seeing strawberries, asparagus kale, lettuces, radishes, chives, fresh herbs (tarragon, thyme, oregano, cilantro, rosemary, savory) and soon will have peas (all 3 kinds, shelling, sugar snap and snow), zucchini, broccoli, cabbages, garlic scapes oh and some Asian greens we have never grown before but should be wonderful. A part of this kind of food buying is the adventure in eating aspect. And Eugene and I are adventurous eaters as well as growers so there will be brand new items on occasion in your shares that will likely be new to everyone. This spring it will be Tong Ho. A green from SE Asia. We have never grown it or eaten it. There is some chance it will fail the first time we plant (okay it already has and we have replanted because now we are quite curious as to what this stuff tastes like.). I will endeavor to figure out how to cook anything completely new before putting it in the shares so I can tell you guys what you are dealing with. And I do realize we already are putting in alien items for you that we have been growing for years and have come to look upon as normal. I mean doesn't everyone eat Mizuna or golden beets? They should if they don't.
The farm has been wet for the past week. This is great news-we were down over 3" on rainfall for 2009 and the 3.5" we got at the end of last week was just what everything needed. the farm has greened up and the crops, trees, flowers, grass and weeds are growing the way they should. Eugene has been doing a lot of mowing as keeping the grass short around the beds keep diseases at bay by allowing air to pass freely over the crops as well as allowing sunlight in. Short grass is also a bane to pests like mice and voles, so it keeps them out of the beds where they can do a lot of damage. It's been too wet to plant seeds or seedlings or potatoes though with it being dry since Saturday I expect by Tuesday we will be back at it. There are about 50 pounds of seed taters to put in the ground this week (and than we will plant another 100 pounds in 3 to 4 weeks and another 100 pounds 4 weeks after that), lettuce and celeriac seedlings to transplant into the market garden, hoeing, fertilizing, tilling and a zillion other tasks to do
Remember we have a pot luck dinner and farm tour coming up May 24th starting at 6pm. Recycle your bags with us-paper or plastic, just the clean ones, though. We will also take back all berry boxes, the plastic sheet on top and the rubber bands that come on radishes, asparagus, berries, chives, etc.. We do not want rubber bands or berry boxes/clamshells from non Boulder Belt Sources
Recipe
Spring Salad
This a favorite at our farm
1/2 bag spring mix
at least 8 strawberries
Several radishes
2 to 3 scallions
Several spears of asparagus (as many as you want)
Wash and spin dry the spring mix. Cut the strawberries in half or quarters if they are huge. Wash and slice the radishes. Wash and slice the scallions. Wash and cut the asparagus into 1" pieces than blanch for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender crisp, drain and cool. Put the clean greens into a big bowl and top with all the other veggies. Dress this salad with the following:
1/2 cup vinegar. I use a combination of rice and balsamic vinegar but really, any will do.
1/2 tsp garlic powder OR 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced/mashed
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup olive oil
This Week's Share
Leeks-Likely the last week for these. It was a great run.
Spring Mix
Lettuce-4 heads of mixed lettuces
Kale-White Russian kale, an heirloom we first grew last year and found it delicious
Strawberries-out of our hoop house and about 6 weeks earlier than if we gave them no protection. And some of the scant few organically grown strawberries in Ohio
Asparagus-A pound or so of green asparagus.
Fresh Rosemary-This is the classic poultry seasoning (along with sage). Also good with roasted veggies, especially taters and it is great in salad dressing
Radishes-Easter Egg radishes this week
Scallions-This may be the last week for the over wintered scallions as they are threatening to make flowers. But soon enough we will have scallion that were planted this spring to harvest.
Fresh Savory-this herb is great with dried beans (it lessens the fart factor as well as adds flavor), pea soup and about any savory dish (you think that may be where the term "Savory Dish" comes from?). This was a new herb to me 5 years ago and now it has become one of my mainstays as it is good in so many things be they vegan or meat dishes.
We are into a new month. For us it means welcoming 3 new members and saying goodbye to to. Giving us a total of 12 members this month, we had 11 in April. A positive trend as we did not expect to fill all 30 membership slots in the spring. All we want is a steady increase in membership throughout the season. At this point we are 40% full and that is A-ok with us. The FSI is replacing the Tuesday uptown market as a marketing strategy and all we asked of it was that it make at least as much money as that market. So far it is making more than double for us. So while you guys generally get more than the $30 you paid per weekly share we still end up making more money from this system of selling food. Instead of spending the entire morning and early afternoon harvesting, cleaning and packing produce, driving to Oxford doing the market and coming back around 9 or 10pm (often we would dine and socialize with friends after market) now we can spend Tuesday harvesting for the FSI (which takes about 1/3 the time because I am harvesting for a known entity instead of trying to guesstimate how much stuff we may need for market) in the early morning and than the rest of the day Eugene can spend on his farming projects while I get the shares cleaned and packed. In other words, because of the FSI we get an entire extra day on the farm which is almost priceless to us. Also we don't have to drive the behemoth Dodge van that get less than stellar gas mileage and we don't have to schlep around heavy crates of produce. During melon season (high summer) this is a major pain-100+pound crates to be moved in 90+ degree humid conditions. yes, this is a part the glamor of market farming. So the FSI is literally saving our backs, as we are not getting any younger.
The month of May also means the garden is transitioning from winter/early spring crops to mid spring/early summer crops. Gone is the spinach and soon the leeks will be too. We are now seeing strawberries, asparagus kale, lettuces, radishes, chives, fresh herbs (tarragon, thyme, oregano, cilantro, rosemary, savory) and soon will have peas (all 3 kinds, shelling, sugar snap and snow), zucchini, broccoli, cabbages, garlic scapes oh and some Asian greens we have never grown before but should be wonderful. A part of this kind of food buying is the adventure in eating aspect. And Eugene and I are adventurous eaters as well as growers so there will be brand new items on occasion in your shares that will likely be new to everyone. This spring it will be Tong Ho. A green from SE Asia. We have never grown it or eaten it. There is some chance it will fail the first time we plant (okay it already has and we have replanted because now we are quite curious as to what this stuff tastes like.). I will endeavor to figure out how to cook anything completely new before putting it in the shares so I can tell you guys what you are dealing with. And I do realize we already are putting in alien items for you that we have been growing for years and have come to look upon as normal. I mean doesn't everyone eat Mizuna or golden beets? They should if they don't.
The farm has been wet for the past week. This is great news-we were down over 3" on rainfall for 2009 and the 3.5" we got at the end of last week was just what everything needed. the farm has greened up and the crops, trees, flowers, grass and weeds are growing the way they should. Eugene has been doing a lot of mowing as keeping the grass short around the beds keep diseases at bay by allowing air to pass freely over the crops as well as allowing sunlight in. Short grass is also a bane to pests like mice and voles, so it keeps them out of the beds where they can do a lot of damage. It's been too wet to plant seeds or seedlings or potatoes though with it being dry since Saturday I expect by Tuesday we will be back at it. There are about 50 pounds of seed taters to put in the ground this week (and than we will plant another 100 pounds in 3 to 4 weeks and another 100 pounds 4 weeks after that), lettuce and celeriac seedlings to transplant into the market garden, hoeing, fertilizing, tilling and a zillion other tasks to do
Remember we have a pot luck dinner and farm tour coming up May 24th starting at 6pm. Recycle your bags with us-paper or plastic, just the clean ones, though. We will also take back all berry boxes, the plastic sheet on top and the rubber bands that come on radishes, asparagus, berries, chives, etc.. We do not want rubber bands or berry boxes/clamshells from non Boulder Belt Sources
Recipe
Spring Salad
This a favorite at our farm
1/2 bag spring mix
at least 8 strawberries
Several radishes
2 to 3 scallions
Several spears of asparagus (as many as you want)
Wash and spin dry the spring mix. Cut the strawberries in half or quarters if they are huge. Wash and slice the radishes. Wash and slice the scallions. Wash and cut the asparagus into 1" pieces than blanch for 2 to 3 minutes, until tender crisp, drain and cool. Put the clean greens into a big bowl and top with all the other veggies. Dress this salad with the following:
1/2 cup vinegar. I use a combination of rice and balsamic vinegar but really, any will do.
1/2 tsp garlic powder OR 2 cloves of fresh garlic minced/mashed
2 sprigs of rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup olive oil
This Week's Share
Leeks-Likely the last week for these. It was a great run.
Spring Mix
Lettuce-4 heads of mixed lettuces
Kale-White Russian kale, an heirloom we first grew last year and found it delicious
Strawberries-out of our hoop house and about 6 weeks earlier than if we gave them no protection. And some of the scant few organically grown strawberries in Ohio
Asparagus-A pound or so of green asparagus.
Fresh Rosemary-This is the classic poultry seasoning (along with sage). Also good with roasted veggies, especially taters and it is great in salad dressing
Radishes-Easter Egg radishes this week
Scallions-This may be the last week for the over wintered scallions as they are threatening to make flowers. But soon enough we will have scallion that were planted this spring to harvest.
Fresh Savory-this herb is great with dried beans (it lessens the fart factor as well as adds flavor), pea soup and about any savory dish (you think that may be where the term "Savory Dish" comes from?). This was a new herb to me 5 years ago and now it has become one of my mainstays as it is good in so many things be they vegan or meat dishes.
Lucy
07:50 PM EDT
03 May Sun 2009
Boulder Belt Farm Share Initiative, Week 4
It's been a busy week here at the farm. I have been starting hundreds of seeds-Asian greens (something called tong ho and a bok choy), celery that was completely unplanned but Eugene found a packet with a lot of seeds so I planted several hundred. parsley that should have been started about 3 weeks ago. And 5 kinds of lettuce for late May/early June harvest. Some time this coming week I will start about 1000 tomato seeds (I plan on starting around 20 different kinds). While I have been doing all that Eugene has been mowing, tilling, direct planting seeds for things like spring mix and I believe some spinach got planted as well but I do not have high hopes for it if it does not cool down a lot and start raining. You may like temps in the high 80's in April but this is very hard on the cool weather crops. lettuce gets bitter in the heat and the spinach wants to bolt to seed, among other things.
Because of the heat I harvested most of the spinach on Saturday morning as it was either gonna bolt to seed or die of heat and lack of water. Either way it would mean the end of that crop and no more in your shares. So I decided to harvest early so you guys can get one last week of spinach.
Okay, we have also been doing a lot of transplanting. We finished off the leeks, put in about 100 lettuce plants and another 150 of broccoli, kale and cabbage. This we did in about 3 hours. If all we had to do was simply pop seedlings into the soil 3 hours would be a leisurely pace for us, but on Boulder Belt Farm most seedlings get the following treatment. A bed is raked smooth, seedlings are put in the soil. Than they are each given a drink of water spiked with freeze dried kelp and fish (smells like the seas shore) from a watering can. Than 7 wire hoops are put in place along with 14 heavy rocks per bed (and the rocks always seem to be in another part of the market garden so there is usually a good amount of toting) and finally a row cover is stretched over the whole thing and weighted down with the rocks. The row cover protects the seedlings from wind and hail as well as from insects and keeps the moisture in the soil and leaves. Things love growing under row cover.
This week we got 6 yards of compost from up north in Union City, OH. We had ordered the compost in Feb and were told we would have it the 3rd week of March and got it Friday evening. It would have been nice to have had the compost a month ago better a month late than never. This has added to our repertoire of chores. Big pile of compost must go on all 225 beds and that has been happening too.
And on top of all this, the asparagus and strawberries are coming in and need to be harvested at least once a day. Asparagus will be plentiful this week. Tuesday folks will get a double dose of it as they got none last week. No one will get any strawberries in their share before May. While they are beginning to ripen there is no where near enough to fill 11 shares this week.
If you are paying by the month you can leave a check (or cash with an explanation of who left the money) on the counter at the store to pay for the month on May. Oh yeah, please do not toss out the jars the apple sauce came in. If you are not going to use them (I know some of you are canners) I will take them back (lids and rings too) as I go through a lot of jars in a year and I don't want to see them recycled or (ugh) land-filled. One last important note. I have just changed ISP's (and DSL after 19 or so years with dial-up) and have a new email address- boulderbelt-at-embarqmail.com. Please update your address books. I will have the old email for another month or so but after that if you use it to try to contact me your email will be sent off into a void
Recipe
Asparagus and Leek Salad
4 spears of asparagus
1 leek
1/2 bag of spring mic
several radishes
1/4 of the chives (or more or less depending on your taste)
Cut the asparagus into 1" pieces. Cut the leafy green part and the root off of the leek than cut length-wise (as opposed to cutting it into rounds) and cut the leek into quarters, you will end up with a lot of julienned pieces. Put the leeks and asparagus into a saute pan that is on medium heat and has a dollop of butter or olive oil melted and hot. Cook for about 5 to 6 minutes or until the veggies are tender. Remove from heat and let these cool a bit, say 5 minutes While the veggies are cooking wash and spin dry the spring mix and wash and slice the radishes. Put the greens into a salad bowl, top with the radishes and right before you are ready to serve add the cook and still warm veggies. Top with a nice vinaigrette or other favorite dressing (ranch is really good on this)
Here's what's in the shares this week (kind of a small share this week but soon there will a myriad of produce coming out of the garden. We are at the point where late winter/early spring stuff is ending and mid spring/early summer stuff is just coming in)
Green Asparagus- We also have purple which is better but we are not getting much yet but should later in May for everyone to get some
Lettuce-like last week a bag of mixed lettuces
Spring Mix
Leeks-believe it or not this is about it for the leeks. We might have them one more week after this week Chives-a nice bunch of fresh chives
Radishes-Tuesday gets D'avignon and Thursday will get easter egg which are round radishes in pink, red, white and purple
Cilantro-this is really good in Macaroni and cheese
Spinach-I believe this will be the last week for spinach until fall or next spring. We never have much luck with mid spring planted spinach.
Lucy
01:26 PM EDT
27 Apr Mon 2009
Boulder Belt Farm Share Initiative, Week 3
It's a new week. And it is Earthweek (Earthday being Wednesday). being in our farm share program is one of the greenest things you can do. planting a tree is also nice and that is something we did this week-planted several nut trees-english walnuts (carpathians), hazelnuts and I forget the 3rd nut tree. Our goal is to have a nut grove in the next decade or so. So far e have several carpathians and a scad of black walnut trees growing in the valley
After a lovely Friday and Saturday, both days spent preparing or attending the Oxford Uptown Winter market, rain and coolness has moved back in and this is bad news for the asparagus lovers who pick up on Tuesday. I went out to see how much asparagus is out there Monday afternoon, and the answer is a lot of spears emerging from the ground. But very little is big enough to harvest. This might change by Tuesday afternoon but I doubt it. Because it is cool and cloudy the asparagus will not do much growing but as soon as it gets sunny and warm (that would be Wednesday afternoon and on into the weekend) it will start producing in abundance. That means that you Tuesday folks will probably not get asparagus this week and the Thursday folks will. So what I will do is put a double amount of asparagus into next Tuesday shares so everything is even steven. I feel bad about this but I cannot do anything to get the asparagus to grow more quickly.
We finished planting out the last of the onion seedlings on Sunday. We planted somewhere around 2500 onion plants that look a lot like blades of grass. We start our own onion seeds (as we do with everything we grow) in January and start transplanting them in mid March and in past years finish up the first week of May. This year we got done early. Eugene was commenting through out he planting process that we had gotten a lot faster over past years. We still have a couple of hundred feet of leek seedlings to put in when it stops raining. We have also put in cabbage, kale, broccoli and lettuce seedlings seedlings, as well as have sowed seeds direct for spring mix and peas (3 different kinds) this week. The strawberries are looking good and I think we will have them for the farm share initiative by the second week of May.
We cancelled the pot luck this past Sunday. Only one member was coming out and the weather was nasty so we said ferget it. There will be another Pot Luck dinner and farm tour May 24th. Along with the tour and eating we will have some home brew beer to sample (Eugene brews beer in the winter and is quite good at it). I hope everyone can make it as these have been a lot of fun in the past, the farm is very beautiful in May and our farm tours are quite informative for the non farmer and farmer alike.
Speaking of farm tours, we have been asked by Innovative Farmers of Ohio to hold a farm tour the end of August. This is a big deal as people will come from all over Ohio as well as Indiana, W Va, Michigan and Kentucky. We will be focusing on organic strawberries. It turns out we are the only farm in the state that grows strawberries sustainably/organically. Than in November we will give a workshop somewhere in Columbus on organic strawberries to follow up on this farm tour. Pretty exciting stuff for us. it has been several years since we have gotten into the educational side of farming and we have missed doing so but the move to the new farm meant we had to put a lot of things on the back burner in order to get this new place up and running sustainably and we have.
Okay, that is the news from Boulder Belt this week.
Recipe:
Leek and Spinach Quiche
1 pie crust (either home made or store bought. I do not recommend the "Pet-Ritz" style of pie crust, pre-made in a aluminum pan. Get the kind that comes in a box and you put in a pan if not making your own. Since I found out Eugene can make a better pie crust than just about anyone I have not had to buy pre-made crusts in about 12 years )
1/3 to 1/2 pound spinach, washed, spun dry and chopped (chiffinade)
2 leeks cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 medium yellow (not sweet) onion, diced
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cheese, grated
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil (any kind)
salt to taste (when I cooked quiches at DiPaolo's we used Lowery's seasoned salt and paprika for seasoning.)
Preheat the oven to 400F. Cook 30 minutes or until quiche is golden brown and firm to the touch)
Saute the leeks and onion until tender (about 5 minutes). Toss the spinach in the last 2 minutes of cooking so it is just wilted and not over cooked. While that is going on scramble the eggs in a small mixing bowl and add the milk and seasonings. When the vegetables are cooked put them into the prepared pie crust than dump the grated cheese in than the egg mixture. Put the pie on a cookie sheet (there may be some boil over and this keeps your oven clean) and into the oven. let the quiche cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Asparagus-as mentioned, Tuesday members probably won't get any this week but will get a double amount next week-though you may get a couple of spears as a teaser if I can find 24 to 36 spears big enough for the Tuesday group.
Leeks-these keep on coming but boy are they gooood
Scallions-
Spinach-we have maybe 2 more weeks of spinach before it gets too hot and it all bolts. we were going to plant more spinach but it looks like we will have a hot mid spring and that means bad spinach conditions so we probably won't bother with it.
Lettuce-Mainly red heads this week. The round leaf type is marvel of Four Seasons, a French heirloom, I cannot ID the other red types-various leaf lettuces
Spring mix-a mix of several kinds of heirloom lettuce, mizuna and arugula. Normally there is also red mustard and tat soi but the first planting of those two things failed. in a couple of weeks we will be harvesting from spring mix beds that have all the ingredients
Garlic chives-aka Chinese chives. These have a nice garlic flavor that is not too strong. Use in a salad or chop and garnish the leek and potato soup right before serving. like the onion chives these do not take to cooking well.
Fresh tarragon-this is the first herb to grow in the spring. Taste is anisy and this goes well in tomato based sauces (I love this in marinara sauce)
D'avignon radishes-aka French breakfast Radishes
Apple sauce-I make this from a mix f the apples we grow. Also cinnamon, brown and white sugar and lemon juice. Everyone who has tried this loves it. if you love it the bad news is this is the last of the sauce until Fall when the apples come back into season
Garlic powder-I have been making our own garlic powder for about 10 years. It is a mix of the 3 kinds of hard neck garlic we grow. I dry it in dehydrators than grind it to a powder-et voila! Powerful Strong garlic powder. I have gotten many people addicted to this over the years. Granted, it is not the same as fresh garlic but considering the real garlic is all compost this is as close as we will get until July when the new crop is harvested (and you get fresh, uncured garlic which is the BEST.)
After a lovely Friday and Saturday, both days spent preparing or attending the Oxford Uptown Winter market, rain and coolness has moved back in and this is bad news for the asparagus lovers who pick up on Tuesday. I went out to see how much asparagus is out there Monday afternoon, and the answer is a lot of spears emerging from the ground. But very little is big enough to harvest. This might change by Tuesday afternoon but I doubt it. Because it is cool and cloudy the asparagus will not do much growing but as soon as it gets sunny and warm (that would be Wednesday afternoon and on into the weekend) it will start producing in abundance. That means that you Tuesday folks will probably not get asparagus this week and the Thursday folks will. So what I will do is put a double amount of asparagus into next Tuesday shares so everything is even steven. I feel bad about this but I cannot do anything to get the asparagus to grow more quickly.
We finished planting out the last of the onion seedlings on Sunday. We planted somewhere around 2500 onion plants that look a lot like blades of grass. We start our own onion seeds (as we do with everything we grow) in January and start transplanting them in mid March and in past years finish up the first week of May. This year we got done early. Eugene was commenting through out he planting process that we had gotten a lot faster over past years. We still have a couple of hundred feet of leek seedlings to put in when it stops raining. We have also put in cabbage, kale, broccoli and lettuce seedlings seedlings, as well as have sowed seeds direct for spring mix and peas (3 different kinds) this week. The strawberries are looking good and I think we will have them for the farm share initiative by the second week of May.
We cancelled the pot luck this past Sunday. Only one member was coming out and the weather was nasty so we said ferget it. There will be another Pot Luck dinner and farm tour May 24th. Along with the tour and eating we will have some home brew beer to sample (Eugene brews beer in the winter and is quite good at it). I hope everyone can make it as these have been a lot of fun in the past, the farm is very beautiful in May and our farm tours are quite informative for the non farmer and farmer alike.
Speaking of farm tours, we have been asked by Innovative Farmers of Ohio to hold a farm tour the end of August. This is a big deal as people will come from all over Ohio as well as Indiana, W Va, Michigan and Kentucky. We will be focusing on organic strawberries. It turns out we are the only farm in the state that grows strawberries sustainably/organically. Than in November we will give a workshop somewhere in Columbus on organic strawberries to follow up on this farm tour. Pretty exciting stuff for us. it has been several years since we have gotten into the educational side of farming and we have missed doing so but the move to the new farm meant we had to put a lot of things on the back burner in order to get this new place up and running sustainably and we have.
Okay, that is the news from Boulder Belt this week.
Recipe:
Leek and Spinach Quiche
1 pie crust (either home made or store bought. I do not recommend the "Pet-Ritz" style of pie crust, pre-made in a aluminum pan. Get the kind that comes in a box and you put in a pan if not making your own. Since I found out Eugene can make a better pie crust than just about anyone I have not had to buy pre-made crusts in about 12 years )
1/3 to 1/2 pound spinach, washed, spun dry and chopped (chiffinade)
2 leeks cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 medium yellow (not sweet) onion, diced
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup cheese, grated
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil (any kind)
salt to taste (when I cooked quiches at DiPaolo's we used Lowery's seasoned salt and paprika for seasoning.)
Preheat the oven to 400F. Cook 30 minutes or until quiche is golden brown and firm to the touch)
Saute the leeks and onion until tender (about 5 minutes). Toss the spinach in the last 2 minutes of cooking so it is just wilted and not over cooked. While that is going on scramble the eggs in a small mixing bowl and add the milk and seasonings. When the vegetables are cooked put them into the prepared pie crust than dump the grated cheese in than the egg mixture. Put the pie on a cookie sheet (there may be some boil over and this keeps your oven clean) and into the oven. let the quiche cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.
Asparagus-as mentioned, Tuesday members probably won't get any this week but will get a double amount next week-though you may get a couple of spears as a teaser if I can find 24 to 36 spears big enough for the Tuesday group.
Leeks-these keep on coming but boy are they gooood
Scallions-
Spinach-we have maybe 2 more weeks of spinach before it gets too hot and it all bolts. we were going to plant more spinach but it looks like we will have a hot mid spring and that means bad spinach conditions so we probably won't bother with it.
Lettuce-Mainly red heads this week. The round leaf type is marvel of Four Seasons, a French heirloom, I cannot ID the other red types-various leaf lettuces
Spring mix-a mix of several kinds of heirloom lettuce, mizuna and arugula. Normally there is also red mustard and tat soi but the first planting of those two things failed. in a couple of weeks we will be harvesting from spring mix beds that have all the ingredients
Garlic chives-aka Chinese chives. These have a nice garlic flavor that is not too strong. Use in a salad or chop and garnish the leek and potato soup right before serving. like the onion chives these do not take to cooking well.
Fresh tarragon-this is the first herb to grow in the spring. Taste is anisy and this goes well in tomato based sauces (I love this in marinara sauce)
D'avignon radishes-aka French breakfast Radishes
Apple sauce-I make this from a mix f the apples we grow. Also cinnamon, brown and white sugar and lemon juice. Everyone who has tried this loves it. if you love it the bad news is this is the last of the sauce until Fall when the apples come back into season
Garlic powder-I have been making our own garlic powder for about 10 years. It is a mix of the 3 kinds of hard neck garlic we grow. I dry it in dehydrators than grind it to a powder-et voila! Powerful Strong garlic powder. I have gotten many people addicted to this over the years. Granted, it is not the same as fresh garlic but considering the real garlic is all compost this is as close as we will get until July when the new crop is harvested (and you get fresh, uncured garlic which is the BEST.)
Lucy
06:05 PM EDT
Boulder belt Farm Share Initiative-Week Two
It's week two for the farm Share Initiative (Eugene doesn't like the word "Program". I think we have been watching too many episodes of Lost, so program has been changed to "Initiative"). Like last week, Monday and Tuesday's weather is not being cooperative for harvesting. It is cold, windy and raining heavily as I write this. I am hoping that sometime between now and 9am tomorrow it will get better for at least 2 hours so we can go harvest in relative comfort. But if it doesn't let up than harvest will be in relative discomfort. Thursday is forecasted to be a beautiful spring day.
So, I have been thinking about dealing with whole foods. I have been cooking with such for the past 15 years or so and this has become second nature to me so I tend to forget that a lot of you are rather new to this whole idea of buying local and cooking with fresh, whole ingredients. To make your life easier you need some items (if you don't have them already). Get a salad spinner, they cost. A vegetable peelers is essential for carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, etc.. Get the wide/horizontal kind over the traditional skinny/vertical bladed kind (I just found this out about 2 weeks ago after resisting change to the wide (horizontal) bladed peeler). One of my all time favorite cooking tools is a micro-planer. This is wonderful for grating hard cheese like parmesan, chocolate and garlic (You will toss out your garlic press after processing garlic using one of these, at least I did and have never regretted it). Buy one of these at a hardware store as they are about 30% cheaper this way. There are other useful things but at the moment they are not coming to mind.
Things on the farm are coming along. I have spent the past 4 days dealing with pepper and eggplant seedlings that will eventually be transplanted to the garden in early June and be harvested in August through frost. I started about 500 seeds of both a week ago and over the weekend most germinated and that meant I had to make 200 soil blocks in order to transfer the germinants into more soil so the seedlings will grow and thrive over the next 8 weeks. Because it has been too cold to put the lettuce and cabbage/broccoli seedlings that are under lights out into cold frames we had a log jam of seedlings over the weekend in the germination room. but now it is warm enough to move to older and more cold hardy seedlings outside in order to make room for the peppers and eggplant. On tax day I will start the 400 tomato plants that will become our main tomato crop.
While I have been starting seeds Eugene has been moving hoop houses so we have them where we need them to grow early zucchini, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. these early crops will, if all goes well, ready to go a good 4 to 6 weeks earlier than the main crops. That said about 1/2 the time the weather does not cooperate with us (it gets too cold) and that cold causes the early crops to slow down and than they are ready to harvest only a week early (and a couple of times they were so cold shocked they started producing fruit 2 weeks after the main crop was coming in). He also has been tilling up beds in the garden so we have a place to put more lettuce, spring mix, broccoli, onions, leeks, peas, etc.
We have a potluck dinner coming up this Sunday from 5 to 8pm. We will supply a huge salad and a couple of different dressings and will also have a gallon of sweet apple cider we pressed from our apples last year. You bring a dish that can feed six or so people and something to eat with (i.e. dishes and cutlery). Please RSVP a yes or no about this dinner ASAP.
We will take back any paper or plastic bags you get from the FSI and re use them. we will also take any other plastic or paper grocery bags you were going to toss/recycle. we will use them to pack shares, at the farmers market and at our farm store. We go through a lot of bags in a year and do not like to ever use virgin plastic
Recipe
Tarragon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup vinegar (I mix a good balsamic with rice vinegar)
1/2 cup olive oil (get a good Spanish oil-i recently found out almost all the olive oil we buy in this country comes from Spain, even the oil that says it is Italian. But the oil that is labeled it is from Spain is higher quality that the oil they sell to other countries for export so you can get cheaper and better quality oil this way. I get all my olive oil at Jungle Jim's-they have by far the best selection and prices on 3 liters cans)
2 cloves fresh garlic minced or put through a press
1TSP dried tarragon
1tsp dried basil/cinnamon basil
1tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
Mix everything but the oil together in a glass carafe or jar (a pint canning jar works okay for this). Put a lid on the container and shake well until everything is mixed. Now add the oil and shake a gain. Let this sit at least an hour so the flavors can marry than it ready to dress a salad.
Spring Mix
Spinach
Red Turnips
Garlic
Leeks
Chives
Dried Cherry Tomatoes
Lettuce
Popcorn
Dried Tarragon
Radishes
So, I have been thinking about dealing with whole foods. I have been cooking with such for the past 15 years or so and this has become second nature to me so I tend to forget that a lot of you are rather new to this whole idea of buying local and cooking with fresh, whole ingredients. To make your life easier you need some items (if you don't have them already). Get a salad spinner, they cost. A vegetable peelers is essential for carrots, turnips, parsnips, rutabagas, etc.. Get the wide/horizontal kind over the traditional skinny/vertical bladed kind (I just found this out about 2 weeks ago after resisting change to the wide (horizontal) bladed peeler). One of my all time favorite cooking tools is a micro-planer. This is wonderful for grating hard cheese like parmesan, chocolate and garlic (You will toss out your garlic press after processing garlic using one of these, at least I did and have never regretted it). Buy one of these at a hardware store as they are about 30% cheaper this way. There are other useful things but at the moment they are not coming to mind.
Things on the farm are coming along. I have spent the past 4 days dealing with pepper and eggplant seedlings that will eventually be transplanted to the garden in early June and be harvested in August through frost. I started about 500 seeds of both a week ago and over the weekend most germinated and that meant I had to make 200 soil blocks in order to transfer the germinants into more soil so the seedlings will grow and thrive over the next 8 weeks. Because it has been too cold to put the lettuce and cabbage/broccoli seedlings that are under lights out into cold frames we had a log jam of seedlings over the weekend in the germination room. but now it is warm enough to move to older and more cold hardy seedlings outside in order to make room for the peppers and eggplant. On tax day I will start the 400 tomato plants that will become our main tomato crop.
While I have been starting seeds Eugene has been moving hoop houses so we have them where we need them to grow early zucchini, melons, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers. these early crops will, if all goes well, ready to go a good 4 to 6 weeks earlier than the main crops. That said about 1/2 the time the weather does not cooperate with us (it gets too cold) and that cold causes the early crops to slow down and than they are ready to harvest only a week early (and a couple of times they were so cold shocked they started producing fruit 2 weeks after the main crop was coming in). He also has been tilling up beds in the garden so we have a place to put more lettuce, spring mix, broccoli, onions, leeks, peas, etc.
We have a potluck dinner coming up this Sunday from 5 to 8pm. We will supply a huge salad and a couple of different dressings and will also have a gallon of sweet apple cider we pressed from our apples last year. You bring a dish that can feed six or so people and something to eat with (i.e. dishes and cutlery). Please RSVP a yes or no about this dinner ASAP.
We will take back any paper or plastic bags you get from the FSI and re use them. we will also take any other plastic or paper grocery bags you were going to toss/recycle. we will use them to pack shares, at the farmers market and at our farm store. We go through a lot of bags in a year and do not like to ever use virgin plastic
Recipe
Tarragon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup vinegar (I mix a good balsamic with rice vinegar)
1/2 cup olive oil (get a good Spanish oil-i recently found out almost all the olive oil we buy in this country comes from Spain, even the oil that says it is Italian. But the oil that is labeled it is from Spain is higher quality that the oil they sell to other countries for export so you can get cheaper and better quality oil this way. I get all my olive oil at Jungle Jim's-they have by far the best selection and prices on 3 liters cans)
2 cloves fresh garlic minced or put through a press
1TSP dried tarragon
1tsp dried basil/cinnamon basil
1tsp salt
1/4 cup honey
Mix everything but the oil together in a glass carafe or jar (a pint canning jar works okay for this). Put a lid on the container and shake well until everything is mixed. Now add the oil and shake a gain. Let this sit at least an hour so the flavors can marry than it ready to dress a salad.
Spring Mix
Spinach
Red Turnips
Garlic
Leeks
Chives
Dried Cherry Tomatoes
Lettuce
Popcorn
Dried Tarragon
Radishes
Lucy
06:05 PM EDT
Boulder belt Farm Share Initiative-Week One
Farm share program season has finally started! Pick up your share in the store between 4 and 7pm on the day you agreed upon. One bag per person/family/share this week (some weeks later in the season there may be two bags of stuff).
It is snowing as I write this but spring really is here. The grass is green (and almost needs mowing!), daffodils are in bloom. Things are going well so far. We are getting things planted in an orderly and timely manner. Spring is busy for us what with the planting of seeds, (both direct out in the soil and starting seeds in doors), tilling, hoeing, moving hoop houses, transplanting seedlings and harvesting. We have just started planting things and have about 10% of the beds filled up, mainly with crops we either are or will be harvesting in the next few weeks. Though we are starting to plant long term crops like onions, leeks, parsnips along with the spring things like broccoli, peas, radishes, lettuce, arugula, etc..
This past week we moved hoop houses around so we would have a place to put early tomatoes and peppers. This meant the lettuce, radishes and peas we had started inside hoop houses are now out in the weather. The cold weather we will be getting for the next couple of days is a bit too cold for these things so have had to cover them with row cover to keep them from getting frost bite and dying (or going into shock). The lettuce is covered no matter what because we are more afraid of heavy rain and hail hurting it than cold. But the peas and radishes, while they both appreciate cool weather, do not take 26 degrees well without protection. I would also be worried about the strawberries in the hoop house which are in full bloom and making berries but 2 years ago we had a warm March which put the berries into full bloom a bit earlier than this year. The warm weather was followed by a hard freeze (17 F) and high winds for about 5 days. The berries were fine that year and should be fine after this puny 2 day cold patch seeing as how they have the same amount of protection. If all goes as it should we should have some strawberries by the end of April and certainly we will all through May
Recipe
Roasted Parsnips
Clean all the parsnips like you would carrots and put in a covered dish along with whole cloves garlic that you have removed from their wrappers and leeks cut into 1" slices. Drizzle olive oil over top and salt to taste. Cook for 30 minutes in a 350F oven and serve as a side dish
What's in the Share This Week
Spinach-this is over wintered spinach, something too few people grow around here. Having survived the winter, this spinach is full of vitality and great flavor.
Lettuce-3 heads of different varieties
Parsnips-over wintered we won't see these again until September
Scallions-like most things in this week's share these are over wintered. We Thought they were dead but about 3 weeks ago they came back and have been excellent in our salads. we should have these yearling scallions for about 3 to 4 weeks than will start harvesting the spring sowing
Chives
Leeks-like the spinach these are over wintered and very tasty
Cilantro
Garlic-you are getting many because there will be bad cloves in most heads and some heads will no good at all. this is what garlic does this time of year.
Dried Basil-this is really good for roasted meats and vegetables, soups, stews, sauces-anything that you will be cooking a while (more than 45 minutes).
Fresh Apples-4 heirloom Dr Matthews apples
It is snowing as I write this but spring really is here. The grass is green (and almost needs mowing!), daffodils are in bloom. Things are going well so far. We are getting things planted in an orderly and timely manner. Spring is busy for us what with the planting of seeds, (both direct out in the soil and starting seeds in doors), tilling, hoeing, moving hoop houses, transplanting seedlings and harvesting. We have just started planting things and have about 10% of the beds filled up, mainly with crops we either are or will be harvesting in the next few weeks. Though we are starting to plant long term crops like onions, leeks, parsnips along with the spring things like broccoli, peas, radishes, lettuce, arugula, etc..
This past week we moved hoop houses around so we would have a place to put early tomatoes and peppers. This meant the lettuce, radishes and peas we had started inside hoop houses are now out in the weather. The cold weather we will be getting for the next couple of days is a bit too cold for these things so have had to cover them with row cover to keep them from getting frost bite and dying (or going into shock). The lettuce is covered no matter what because we are more afraid of heavy rain and hail hurting it than cold. But the peas and radishes, while they both appreciate cool weather, do not take 26 degrees well without protection. I would also be worried about the strawberries in the hoop house which are in full bloom and making berries but 2 years ago we had a warm March which put the berries into full bloom a bit earlier than this year. The warm weather was followed by a hard freeze (17 F) and high winds for about 5 days. The berries were fine that year and should be fine after this puny 2 day cold patch seeing as how they have the same amount of protection. If all goes as it should we should have some strawberries by the end of April and certainly we will all through May
Recipe
Roasted Parsnips
Clean all the parsnips like you would carrots and put in a covered dish along with whole cloves garlic that you have removed from their wrappers and leeks cut into 1" slices. Drizzle olive oil over top and salt to taste. Cook for 30 minutes in a 350F oven and serve as a side dish
What's in the Share This Week
Spinach-this is over wintered spinach, something too few people grow around here. Having survived the winter, this spinach is full of vitality and great flavor.
Lettuce-3 heads of different varieties
Parsnips-over wintered we won't see these again until September
Scallions-like most things in this week's share these are over wintered. We Thought they were dead but about 3 weeks ago they came back and have been excellent in our salads. we should have these yearling scallions for about 3 to 4 weeks than will start harvesting the spring sowing
Chives
Leeks-like the spinach these are over wintered and very tasty
Cilantro
Garlic-you are getting many because there will be bad cloves in most heads and some heads will no good at all. this is what garlic does this time of year.
Dried Basil-this is really good for roasted meats and vegetables, soups, stews, sauces-anything that you will be cooking a while (more than 45 minutes).
Fresh Apples-4 heirloom Dr Matthews apples
Lucy
06:02 PM EDT
15 Apr Wed 2009
Boulder Belt News-April 15th 2009
Greetings,
This is the third week of April and that means we will be at the last Oxford Uptown Winter Farmers Market in Uptown Oxford from 9:30am til noon in the public lot at Church and Main Sts.
We still have some room in the May Farm Share initiative. You can join for the month for $120 or for the rest of the season, 27 weeks for $810. Check out http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa/csa.html for all the details.
Things on the farm are growing. The grass has greened up, the birds are back (though in lesser numbers than in the past is seems), leaves are unfurling on the trees. The hoop house strawberries have green fruit on them so we should have some berries by the first week of May. The first planting of peas is growing along with lots of heirloom lettuces. The over wintered spinach is ready for a big harvest so be prepared to get some spinach this weekend. It has been so darned good, almost addicting. The same is true with the over wintered leeks. they have loved the spring weather have gotten better than they have been all winter (and they have been fabulous!).
We have been busy starting seeds and planting a lot of seedlings. put out about 1000 onion seedlings (it's like planting blades of grass) earlier this week and started hundreds of pepper seedlings to be planted in late May or Early June. We have lots of broccoli, kale and cabbage already transplanted in the garden and more seedlings waiting to go into the dirt in cold frames. many beds have been tilled up waiting seeds and seedlings when it quits raining and more will be tilled when it gets dry enough to do so. It's a lot to do but it's good work, we like playing in the dirt.
On that note here is a short list of what we expect to bring to market
spinach
leeks
scallions
cilantro
garlic powder
dried herbs
popcorn
hops plants (Cascade, I believe)
catnip
Spring mix
heirloom lettuce
radishes
Thanks, as ever, for your support.
This is the third week of April and that means we will be at the last Oxford Uptown Winter Farmers Market in Uptown Oxford from 9:30am til noon in the public lot at Church and Main Sts.
We still have some room in the May Farm Share initiative. You can join for the month for $120 or for the rest of the season, 27 weeks for $810. Check out http://www.angelfire.com/oh2/boulderbeltcsa/csa.html for all the details.
Things on the farm are growing. The grass has greened up, the birds are back (though in lesser numbers than in the past is seems), leaves are unfurling on the trees. The hoop house strawberries have green fruit on them so we should have some berries by the first week of May. The first planting of peas is growing along with lots of heirloom lettuces. The over wintered spinach is ready for a big harvest so be prepared to get some spinach this weekend. It has been so darned good, almost addicting. The same is true with the over wintered leeks. they have loved the spring weather have gotten better than they have been all winter (and they have been fabulous!).
We have been busy starting seeds and planting a lot of seedlings. put out about 1000 onion seedlings (it's like planting blades of grass) earlier this week and started hundreds of pepper seedlings to be planted in late May or Early June. We have lots of broccoli, kale and cabbage already transplanted in the garden and more seedlings waiting to go into the dirt in cold frames. many beds have been tilled up waiting seeds and seedlings when it quits raining and more will be tilled when it gets dry enough to do so. It's a lot to do but it's good work, we like playing in the dirt.
On that note here is a short list of what we expect to bring to market
spinach
leeks
scallions
cilantro
garlic powder
dried herbs
popcorn
hops plants (Cascade, I believe)
catnip
Spring mix
heirloom lettuce
radishes
Thanks, as ever, for your support.
Lucy
07:50 PM EDT