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Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has lettuce, Chinese cabbage, kohlrabi, carrots, radishes, tomatoes, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts. leeks, basil, mint, watermelon, and crab apples.
Field Notes. The longer and cooler nights mean we are back in the lettuce. Ken has tried many things, but we always have a one or two week gap in August. The shorter days have us looking at the to do list for the season. For mean reality sets in during the month of August. All those many plans of May...
It may be difficult to believe, but it is a bit dry in the garden and field. We are hoping for rain before irrigation becomes necessary. In the photo Ken is transplanting fall greens.
Ken and I are still working to get the future field ready for the big equipment. As I write this, Ken is out "knocking down some trees." For photos and more explanation check out a prior blog entry.
From the Kitchen. Leeks! This is the creamiest member of the onion family. Great in cream or other soups. One friend uses them in any onion recipe; she says they have a mellow onion flavor. To remove any dirt, cut lengthwise and rinse. Enjoy!
Brussels sprouts are fun. My advice: don't overcook them. I like to steam about three or four minutes and top with butter and salt. I also like to cut carrots in matchsticks, cook, and combine with Brussels sprouts for a contrast in color, shape and texture. See last week's CSA newsletter for more ideas.
Mint is not just for juleps. I like to dry mint and add it to herbal winter tea blends. It is also great in tabboulleh, a bulghur salad from the Middle East. Prepare the bulgher as directed. Chop tomatoes, cucumbers, and mint to add with some olive oil, salt and pepper. It is a nice cool summer salad.
I brought my basil tomato salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to a pot luck Sunday. It was a real hit. Everyone agreed it is a change of pace. Ken especially likes it served with a cucumber salad with a cream dressing.
A week ago Monday Ken received a call. A friend was cleaning out his llama barn and for the price of hauling, Ken could get a couple loads of manure. (Ken usually loads and hauls, but the press is on for the mobile high tunnel.) So Ken said yes! And after two dump truck loads we got another call - would we like more? YES! We got six loads. Ken is very excited. Good manure from healthy animals is a valuable resource. He uses it in his compost blend.
The elderberries are just about ripe - maybe this weekend. Email or call to place your order. I could deliver when I deliver vegetables on Tuesdays to central drop sites in Amery or St. Croix Falls. Don't delay - once they are ripe the birds start in and they don't have shelf life!
Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, Walla Walla sweet onions, Beets, Chinese cabbage, Brussels sprouts, corn, parsley, thyme, and crab apples.
Field Notes. We are in the bounty of summer - corn, apples, tomatoes. Today we finish the first crop of corn, and there will be another in a week or two. The peppers have finished their first flush, but the plants have small peppers coming.
Ken is balancing necessary field work with getting the area ready for the mobile high tunnel. Areas that were weed free in mid-July before the rains started have weed pressure now. Most of the crops are well ahead of the weeds, but Ken is working one crop at a time to catch up. The photo is of buckwheat growing under the asparagus plants.
Progress on the mobile tunnel continues at a good clip. Sunday we had wonderful help from the Merton family and their exchange student "O" from Thailand. They helped move all the brush to the chipper we have borrowed. We filled two loads of chips and they are now out in the field for future use as mulch or a compost component.
From the Kitchen. Each year when I cook with Walla Walla sweet onions Ken asks me if I have added sugar to the dish. These sweet juicy onions are wonderful in salad or cooked dishes. The germination was low this year, so enjoy the few we have!
Once the nights cool in August the Brussels sprouts really size up. I love Brussels boiled or steamed and topped with butter, salt and pepper. We also like them in a basic white sauce or a cheese sauce. We have a friend who pickles Brussels sprouts. I also add to soups near the end of cooking time. This week you could make a borscht variation with the beets and Brussels sprouts.
The crab apples in today's box are wonderful quartered cored and poached in a bit of apple juice with some cinnamon or mace. Ken quarters, cores and uses them for pies as well. We don't peel them - just rinse them off. If you have a juicer they are great combined with beets or carrots.
Yesterday was a BIG day here at Keppers. The crew from Mertons - Keldi, Mike, Ian, Alastair, Avia and "O"(the new exchange student from Thailand) all showed up to help us move brush to the chipper. Sounds easy? Lots of lifting and hauling. They really made short work of it!
Each person has much to contribute: Avia did lots of smaller detail clean up, O was in the thick of it in spite of a short night's sleep, Alastair hauled but also pulled some oak rods for walking sticks (I felt better about the oaks having a second useful life),
Ian was our muscle guy - lifting and hauling small trees and logs, Mike was our big picture guy - co-ordinating and safety aware, and Keldi provided the three c's: competency, confidence the job was doable, and cheerfulness for all. I want just a bit of her enthusiasm!
And with so many people there was actually a bit of time to pause now and then as the chipper caught up to the piles assembled.
After the main haul we had filled more than one manure spreader load of chips.
We broke for lunch and tackled more and them wrapped up the event with the first watermelon of the season.
As I fell asleep that night I kept thing of that phrase from the movie Ghostbusters. I modified it only slightly "Who you gonna call? BRUSHBUSTERS!"
So, the opening in the woods is larger and cleared of brush and nearing a field to set up the mobile high tunnel. Thank you Mertons plus O!
Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, garlic, beets, summer squash, green peppers, cabbage, bok choy, kohlrabi, parsley, basil, apples, and the first corn.
Field Notes. Last Monday we unloaded the mobile high tunnel. This week we received a call from a friend; he was cleaning the llama barn - did we want any manure and bedding? You bet! Ken moved the wagon of high tunnel parts, so the dump truck could maneuver. We have gotten several loads of llama manure and bedding for the price of hauling. Soon we will be mixing it with leaves people bring us for next year's (and maybe more years) compost. Finding good manure is pretty exciting here. All manure is NOT created equal. Healthy animals eating their natural diet without chemicals provide good manure. Here is a photo of last year's leaves and corn and purple coneflowers.
The dry weather has been a relief to crops that were showing stress from too much rain. The next crop of celery and fall celery root had some rust - a first for us here. The chard had been a sorry sight, but is perking up now.
As the days shorten the plants are pushing to set and ripen fruit. We are experiencing a tsunami of cukes - anyone wanting to buy cukes for pickles, please call or email us.
From the Kitchen. We invited people to dinner on Sunday, and had several foods from the garden. Ken grilled green onions, summer squash, and meat. I made a tomato salad with sliced green onions, minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper and tomato wedges. We also had a cucumber salad with a cream, vinegar, honey, salt, pepper, and parsley dressing.
We had our first tomato sandwiches this week. One of the few times we eat white bread! Toast, homemade mayonnaise and tomato slices. It can be a juicy mess, but so delicious - it tastes like summer!
For people who don't eat butter: try steaming or roasting corn and top with umeboshi paste - a pickled plum from Japan. It is sweet, salty, and slightly sour. We buy it at the co-op or natural food store. It is also great on green beans or other vegetables as a change of pace. It gets more expensive each year, but a little goes a long way.
These apples are an early sweet soft variety - Ken eats them raw, but I usually cook them. Great for applesauce, pie, cakes. Eat them soon - these early varieties do not keep long.
This year Ken expanded from two to four hives. Three are doing really well, and he is running out of supers (boxes), so we will be taking off some honey soon.
