Bok choy, a member of the cabbage family is available just before cabbage forms heads. It is the original ingredient in chop suey. I often use it in a stir fry as either or a side dish or with meat and rice. Today’s midday meal was a side salad, a bok choy stir fry, reheated white rice, and a pork stir fry. I set up some small dishes and start chopping. First onion …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has summer spinach, chard, kale, mixed brassica greens, beet thins, bok choy, green onions, rutabagas, and herbs – parsley and marjoram and the last of the strawberries Field Notes. Ken has been planting and weeding. He plants some crops like greens throughout the season. Others like peppers he plants and transplants once. As the plants grow he keeps the plants ahead of the weeds so …
We have hens for eggs. In the past we did a combination of buying day old chicks and encouraging broody hens to hatch out a clutch of chicks. A few years back the price of day old chicks straight run (a mixture of male and females – it’s cheaper) rose to nearly $4 per chick! Ken got serious about setting up a successful breeding situation. Last summer he had a series of batches of chicks …
Green beans mean summer! First they bloom, then they have tiny fruit – what Ken calls rat tails, and these grow into the pods I will pick Once I see blossoms I start checking for tiny pods – today I saw the first one! In a couple weeks we will have beans for sale.
Ken has a set of radio headphones. He really enjoys folk music, so most Sundays he sets them for Wisconsin Public Radio’s Simply Folk show and heads out to garden or field. This week he is going through the walkways in the garden with his wheel hoe It is a two handled tool that has one wheel and various attachments – one has tines one has a pointed …
We grow berries. Now we have strawberries. Many berries are “utilities” – not cute enough to be number one, but perfectly good to eat or freeze or cook. I cut them up and make jam. Today I made jam. The ping of the canning jars sealing is so satisfying. It will taste so good when no other fresh berries are in season!
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has lettuce, spinach, salad greens, braising greens, snap peas, beets or carrots, green onions, herbs, and strawberries Field Notes. Although Ken is always planting, right now he is really focused on cultivating and weeding. If he and the crops can stay ahead of the weeds now when plants are small, those crop plants can establish “canopy” and make shade so they can stay ahead of the weeds …
Best Wishes for July 4th to one and all. Here is a flower that Ken thinks looks like fireworks. Bee balm or monarda. (I think it looks like court jesters, but that may just be the theatre major in me)
Here at Keppers we emphasize greens. We usually have lettuce and salad greens, braising and cooking greens and green fresh herbs. This week we have arugula, an Italian cool weather favorite with a peppery flavor. We like it in salads. I like to add it to cooked beets with a sour cream or yogurt dressing and some toasted walnuts or pecans; the sweet earthy beets pair nicely with the fresh pungent arugula, and the nuts …
I am not as spry as I used to be. I still pick many of the small items we offer for sale like strawberries, peas, and beans. I usually pick the peas into a four or five gallon bucket; this one is a second hand molasses bucket from the co-op. The strap on portable milking stool is a real lifesaver – one of the best investments I ever made!
