Today’s box reflects the early spring garden – lots of greens and leaves. We like to use everything from the garden – like the young tender beet leaves thinned from the beet planting. Their vibrant color and mild flavor are a real treat in a salad. The farm and garden are a place of potential right now – young seedlings and transplants, maturing fruit, 13 young pigs, growing chickens and a new puppy called Bella.
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| One Spinach Leaf At A Time |
We’re kicking off the season with a near perfect weather day. We could all use a few more days like today – light winds, mild temps, low humidity. The garden and livestock will be comfortable today. It’s been another eventful spring with weather conditions all over the place. We snuck in our first plantings April 1, then rain and cold. Got a few turnips in a couple weeks later, more rain and cold. The turnips sat under water and struggled and we eventually tilled them under. Another 2 weeks gone and we got the broccoli and cabbage in the ground in early May. More rain, cold and then hot. Right now the garden is behind where we want to be but a day like today certainly helps things along.
We are planting every chance we get once the ground dries out. Our soil is quite heavy with a high clay content so we must be patient and let the soil dry. If we work it too wet – (till or cultivate) we make ‘pottery’ once the soil dries - hard dry clods and a firm crust over the soil surface that can be impenetrable for little seedlings. Every year our soil improves as we add more organic matter, proper soil nutrients, and livestock grazing. The earthworm population is phenomenal and in a dry year, our soil holds more moisture than a sandy lighter soil. But in a wet year it comes down to patience.
We’ll be looking for sugar snap peas in the next couple weeks as well as garlic scapes – the dramatic seed stalk that emerges from a garlic plant in early June. The lettuce is sizing up and the radishes, despite struggling through wet conditions, will hopefully be ready for next week.
We’ll keep you updated throughout the season with the newsletter, a weekly email and the blog. We’re glad to have you along.
Greens Blend – A lovely blend of baby beet greens (deep purple stems), baby swiss chard, and arugula. All leaves and stems are quite tender and mild. You may not have eaten something like beet greens before but think you will find them quite delicious. We are going to make you stray from the usual lettuce salad this year and introduce you to leaves with different flavors and textures.
Spinach – Young tender spinach from our hoophouse. These leaves are delicate and mild – excellent flavor. The stems are long but tender and tasty – don’t toss them! Use them for dipping – great for kids and easier to eat than celery.
Green Onions
Green Garlic – These big stalks of garlic are actually immature plants from our November planting. These plants should be treated more like a fresh onion or leek as they should be refrigerated (if the stalk is too big just cut in half. The entire stalk is edible from white bulb to the green stalks. You will even see the early sign of the garlic scape or seed stalk emerging from the center of some of the stalks. Use any portion of the garlic plant wherever you want fresh garlic flavor. The garlic planting does not fully mature until July when we pull the remaining plants, size, bunch them in 10, and hang them in the corn crib to cure. The curing process assures the bulbs will store for months.
French Sorrel – One of the first greens to emerge in the spring, French Sorrel is a perennial in the garden. The leaves have the most unique flavor of any green – sour citrus. Add a bit to your salad or sandwich – the flavor will certainly awaken your taste buds.
Fresh Oregano – Add chopped fresh oregano to a basic salad vinaigrette, pasta sauce, or dry for later use by removing from the bag, spreading out the pieces and place in warm dry area out of sun until leaves are completely dry and crumbly.
Organic Pastured Eggs – The garden is getting a slow start this year but our laying hens are giving us plenty of eggs. So we’re sharing the harvest and giving out a dozen eggs with the vegetable box today. These eggs come from our laying hens grazing on pasture that will be the garden next year. They peck, scratch and graze from sun up until sun down. And somewhere in between they lay one beautiful perfect pastured egg. With the green pasture so lush right now, these are some of the best eggs of the season. The hen’s diet is perfect – plenty of pasture to graze and a certified organic grain ration. If you have not tried our eggs before, you will be pleasantly surprised by the deep yellow yolk – a clear sign of a perfect egg.
Homemade Salad Dressings
I’m a H.S.D.A - homemade salad dressing advocate. They are easy and way better than store bought. Here are a couple favorites. For supper last night we had salad bar – we lined up the greens and fixings on the counter and each of us went through the salad bar and filled our plates. If you can chop a few veggies, wash greens and make a salad dressing – dinner is ready. And don’t forget the sunflower seeds and raisins – both are excellent on a salad.
Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/3 c balsamic vinegar
½ tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
2 T Strawberry Jam
1 cup olive oil
Combine all but the olive oil in a deep bowl (to prevent splashing). While whisking constantly, drizzle in olive oil. Adjust seasonings to taste.
Thousand Island Dressing
1 c plain organic yogurt
¼ c mayo
¼ c ketchup
1 T apple cider vinegar
2 T finely chopped sweet pickles such as bread and butter type or pickle relish
Freshly ground pepper and salt to taste
Combine all ingredients. Use as a salad dressing or dip for vegetables.
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