Tuesday, July 28, 2015

July 28th and 31st

Time to Get Your Cuke On!

I believe summer is here!  The heat is rolling in and so are the heat loving veggies!
 
 
Most of the cukes I grow are pickling cucumbers.  There may be a crate out containing two longer (one real long and one sort of long) that are not--but it should be obvious. 
 
The various shades of yellow come from the Phoona Keerna cuke and its slighter thicker skin is perfect for crunchy pickles.  No they are not overripe cucumbers!  Geeze, what kind of farmer do you think I am?  : )
 
 
Tomatoes are making their way onto the scene as well, with eggplant and melons not far behind.  The bit of rain was much needed but this humidity sure is not.  It makes farming not only physically more challenging, but it also presents air flow problems for plants...and plants like good air flow...  Anyway, harvest, harvest, harvest is mostly what we are doing these days and it is keeping me out working longer hours in order to keep up with the other tasks that still need doing.  (Hence the late blog post this week.)  And today, well, I think we just may be dodging lighting bolts most of the day.  And by the end of the week?  Well, by then, I just may be a pool of mush, melted from the heat.  Sweat equity?  Yes, I think I've got that covered : )
 
 
This week's BOUNTY: lettuce, beets, summer carrots, zukes, ss, cukes, beans! scallions, hakurei, fennel, kale, chard, broccoli, sugar snap peas, basil, garlic scapes and a tomato(?)
 
 
Recipes:
Yes you can!  ... freeze fennel and kohl rabi
 
The Farmer's Table:
*Salad with leftover chicken, home made green goddess dressing, crutons (paul's bread), cukes, radish, parmaseasn and our 1st tomato
*pasta with sautéed zucchini, summer squash....
*panko baked chicken legs from Sunnyside farm and sautéed hakueir and greens
*Beef Soup Bone with sugur snap peas, new pottoes (coming to you next week), kale, scallions, zuchinni and tomato
*Pulled pork shoulderwith coleslaw made with last week's tendersweet cabbage and a home made blueberry sauce
*Sour cherry (from our tree!, but you can use any fruit) Clafoutis -- made by Keena!
 
The Shareholder's Table:
A new favorite recipe.  I followed this to the tee, until I decided to put hakurei turnips in with the squash.   Everything else the same.  LOVED it.  Served it with grilled polska kielbasa. 



Sunday, July 19, 2015

July 21st and 24th

A Tale of Tall Peas

The snap peas are beautiful specimen this year.  The first planting did not germinate, but the 2nd did perfectly.   They have been growing, growing, growing...
 
 
Now, a "tale" usually has an up side and a down.  And so it begins...
 
 

# of times I had to seed the peas (by hand, mind you): 2
# of days the peas have been growing: 70
# of days the catalog says the peas will take to mature: 60
# of row feet: 200
height of peas currently: 8-10 feet
# of times I have trellised the peas, so they stand up: 5
# of times I have had to fix the trellis because it has fallen over: 3
# of peas we have picked thus far: maybe 5

THIS COULD BE THE WEEK!!!!  Hopefully they fatten up to their tasty sweetness and we can enjoy them before this tale takes a turn for the worse : )


PYO Flower Garden is in full swing.  Beautiful.  Good job, Zachy.



This week's BOUNTY!  lettuce, arugula, radish, hakurei turnip, fennel, kohl rabi, broccoli, beet greens, scallions, tat soi, tendersweet cabbage, chinese cabbage, summer squash, zukes, cukes, garlic scapes and herbs  ... eat up!!!!


Recipes:

Fennel: Don't be afraid to try this on sandwiches, in salads, grilled....  It's a lighter flavor than you think!!!

Martha's 25 fennel recipes

• Fennel stalks can take the place of celery in soups and stews, and can be used as a "bed" for roasted chicken and meats.
• Use fronds as a garnish, or chop them and use as you would other herbs, like dill or parsley. Chopped fennel works especially well in Italian tomato sauces, but add it late in the cooking process so the flavor isn't diluted.
• Trim the stalks about an inch above the bulb.
• If you want pieces to stay together for grilling, keep the root end intact. Otherwise, trim about a half inch off the root end before cooking.
• To slice fennel, stand the bulb on the root end and cut vertically.


Chinese Cabbage:  great sliced thin on burritos or as a side salad.  Crispy and light

Tendersweet Cabbage: Tender leaves are very thin, sweet, and crisp - perfect for coleslaw or stir-fries.

Radish: other things to do with radishes...

Roasted Radishes

13 Real Simple Radish Recipes


The Farmer's Table:
*Portland Pie Dough Pizza with dill, parsley and basil pesto and fennel
*Sunnyside chicken baked on top of fennel stalks.  Topped with hakurei turnips and their greens and a lemon from my brothers yard in CA : )
*pulled pork stir fry with haurei turnips and carrots
*leftover pulled pork with pickled hakurei and kohl rabi slaw
*leftover chicken sandwiches with Paul's bread, dill, arugula, mustard and Spring Day Creamery Fromage Blanc
*Saturday snack of sliced radishes and cukes with a Winter Hill Farm yogurt and herb dip
*marinated London Broil (our grass fed beef) with millet, broccoli and sliced radish

...Oh yes, we have it so gooooood!!!!!!!!!!

Shareholder's Table:
A delicious kohlrabi, fennel and apple salad tossed in olive oil and lemon, with a bunch of the fresh herbs. That' was an excellent way to use up some of the fennel!

Sunday, July 12, 2015

July 14th and 17th

Flowers, Flowers Everywhere!

The PYO garden has been a bit slow to start this year with the lack of rain and the cooler weather early in the season.  BUT  I think we are underway now!!!  The colors are popping and Zach has been adorning our windowsills with shades of pink and yellow.


Buckwheat and potatoes are in full bloom in my fields.  The bees are happy and I have seen more ladybugs than ever before.  Both are welcome creatures in my gardens.
 
 
The turkeys aren't in flower, but they are in full sprint!  I opened their pen this weekend for a little more room and they are using it like runway.  Super cute, these little chirpers, only two weeks old and they are growing FAST.  Soon they will start their pastured life...I think they are going to love it.


As I type it is near 90 outside!  I have a become a pure wimp when it becomes humidity, so since it's Sunday I thought I would come in and cool off with some vanilla ice cream and strawberries and catch up on the blog.  The warm season veggies are happy to have some heat...the zukes and summer squash are starting to produce and there are several peppers and eggplant starting to form.  Tomatoes are gaining some height and most things are looking tip top : )
 
 
 
This week's bounty:  (I am being a little indecisive this week, but this list will be close...)
lettuce, arugula, radish, hakurei, beet greens, basil, zukes/summer squash, radish, broccoli, tat soi, scapes, and kohl rabi

Monday, July 6, 2015

July 7th and 10th

Happy 4th!

 
Simon had the BEST weekend EVER!!!  My nieces were visiting from California and they took very good care of him.  I can't say that my cats had as much fun (they were missing most of the time). 
 
 
I took two whole days off from the farm!  Well, I still fed the pigs and harvested some things, but for the most part I slept in and had a great time with family.  They even helped me move the pigs!
 
Hope your 4th was bright too.
 
 
This week's bounty: lettuce, arugula, radish, hakurei, kohl rabi, beets with greens, tat soi, carrots, garlic scapes, herbs, broccoli/zuchinni for some.