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Ken plants onions first. Finally I have a couple photos to demonstrate how they come up folded.
Then they widen like a bow, and finally they open up. It is magical!
Greetings from the Garden! This week's box has micro greens, red, yellow and purple potatoes, and the last of the celery root, black radishes, carrots, beets, squash, and onions.
Field Notes. Ken has snowshoed out to check the temperature in the hoop house. Soon it will be warm enough to work up the soil to transplant and plant. He is planting inside for garden and hoop house plantings. Meanwhile we are waiting for the sap to run so Ken can begin making maple syrup. Usually it has started by now.
From the Kitchen. We have been savoring the last of many of our winter favorites. The last of our celery root went into chicken soup. The last of the black radishes will go into sprout slaw in the next couple days. While we are still lighting the cook stove, there are roasted potatoes. And squash pie. Now, as we enter egg season, I add a beaten egg to left over cooked squash and cook over toasted nuts like pecans or walnuts in butter in a hot skillet in the oven for a puffy baked change of pace. I saute onions in a skillet, add soup stock and herbs, and poach eggs with a few greens added just before serving for a warm, savory breakfast.
Oscar is waiting. With less and less patience. Usually by now the people are spending time outside with him. Once days are sunny, above freezing and the nights are below freezing it is perfect weather for the maple sap to run. It has been too cold for Ken to go out and tap the maple trees. Not yet.
Ken continues to make pots, look at the thermometer, and wait. I, like Oscar, am less and less patient.
Each year it amazes me. Ken plants onions in February, and they come up out of the soil folded and then spring open. /It reminds me of a chorus line (I am a theatre major...). It is great to see them. As they get long, Ken will give them a trim and soon he transplants them.
Even with the snow on the ground, spring seems close!
We both got to go to the Midwest Organic Farming Conference this year in Lacrosse, Wisconsin From February 24 - 26th. Thanks to our farm sitter Abbie who made it possible. We arrived early Thursday for the "Organic University" - a day long seminar. Ken chose high tunnel production and I chose carbon sequestration.
Friday and Saturday each had a keynote speaker and three workshop times. Friday's speaker was from Consumers Union; she spoke about accurate and meaningful labeling. Saturday we heard from the man who started High Mowing Seeds in Vermont about the local food systems in the Hardwick area. Both speeches were thought provoking and inspiring.
Workshops covered a broad range of topics - growing year around, high and low tunnel use, plant and human health, fruits, pollinators. pesticide and herbicide residues in humans, poultry feed blends, corn varieties, and many more.
Friday night we got to dance to Daddy Squeeze and the Cafe Accordion Orchestra. Saturday evening we visited our friends in Lacrosse and talked about extended growing season in their back yard.
