As we approach Labor Day, the nights are cooler and longer, and I feel a sadness. That long list of plans from May needs to be revisited with a realistic eye, prioritized, and edited. The perky plants of May and June are large and sprawling; some have even started to die back. Their efforts have gone into making fruit and they have the look of an older woman – just as beautiful as the perky …
Last summer Ken tried something new – he chopped and froze bell peppers. Peppers do not require the blanching that most vegetable do. Previously we dried pepper slices in the dehydrator, and I often used them in things like chili and stews that I cooked for a long, low temperature on the wood cook stove. Frozen peppers do not need to be re hydrated, and can be placed in a dish just before serving to …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, carrots, onions, garlic, eggplant, cabbage, greens, basil, parsley, and cilantro Field Notes. Ken has been harvesting! And he is planting fall crops as well. He has been mulching and composting and preparing the soil where the mobile tunnel will move for late fall and winter. From the Kitchen. I am moving into preserving mode. Last week I made jams and froze ripe …
Ken loves stone fruit like peaches, apricots, cherries, nectarines. They are always on the Environmental Working Groups “Dirty Dozen” list for chemical pesticide residues, so we avoid any thing that is not organically grown. this year while visiting some friends I was able to get a box of organic peaches. And our host who knows Ken loves peaches offered a second box. I came home and set them on the cook stove to watch for …
This time of year as the tsunami of produce arrives, it is time to think of the future in addition to the present. Preserving that summer bounty is crucial to eating year around local food. In addition to freezing berries and this year, peaches, I also make jam. Our jam is maximum fruit with minimum sugar, and pectin. I searched for the recipe that gave me the least amount of cooking time and additional ingredients. …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, eggplant, garlic, cabbage. greens, parsley, and basil Field Notes Ken has been cultivating adding compost and mulch to the area next to the mobile high tunnel. This will add organic matter and fertility when the tunnel is moved to that location. He has also been planting, weeding, and of course, picking. either of us need …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, radishes, eggplant, zucchini, cucumbers, cabbage, onions, garlic, greens, parsley, and basil. Field Notes. Ken had a weekend off! This year we each are trying to take some time for other things to avoid burn out. It is one of the more difficult times of the year on a farm; it is easy to focus on the farm’s needs and forget what the people need …
Summer is the time of great fresh produce. We currently have tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini, cucumbers, carrots, beets, green onions, parsley, basil and more.
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has salad and braising greens, beets, bok choy, green onions, celery, cukes and zucchini, snap peas, and green beans. Field Notes. The hot weather crops are starting to produce! People are asking for them, but with the beautiful cool nights we have had they are a bit slower to ripen than most years. We usually have a couple red tomatoes by July 4th, but they are just …
Greetings from the Garden! This week’s CSA box has salad and braising greens, Carrots, snap peas, herbs, green onions, the first of the potatoes, beans, and green top Walla Walla onions Field Notes. The key words for the week are green manures and mulch! Ken is nearly done mulching. And he has green manures coming up all over – field to the former flower garden! Last weekend Ken traveled to the Mother Earth News …
