Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has onions, garlic, rutabaga, kohlrabi, daikon or black radish, winter squash or pie pumpkins, beets, carrots and cabbage Field Notes. As I write this on Monday, snow is swirling around, and I join the snow day joy of school children.  Snow acts as an insulating blanket over the garden and helps slow the frost dropping into the soil.  The frost will affect how soon soil temperatures are warm …

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Asparagus in Winter

Each spring I freeze some asparagus.  Why?  In winter when I crave green food I make some creamed asparagus soup. For this batch I fried some onion, added stock, thyme, asparagus and some salt and pepper with a bit of lemon juice.  Then I ran batches through the blender.  It is nice to add a dollop of yogurt when serving

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has lettuce, kale, arugula, French breakfast radishes, green onions, garlic scapes, snap peas, carrots, parsley, strawberries, and the last of the asparagus.     Field Notes.  Ken is wrapping up asparagus season with weeding and mulching the beds with the assistance of his faithful helper, Oscar the dog!  The plant shoots will grow and send energy to the roots for next year’s crop.  One of the most …

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Asparagus Season Coming to an End

Asparagus is a perennial, and each spring the plants send us shoots that Ken harvests.  Along about July Ken stops harvesting, weeds again and either mulches or plants a green manure crop in the asparagus, and allows it to rest, grow and build energy for next spring.   This year he decided to mulch rather than plant buckwheat or some other green manure.         First he weeds – a “hands and knees …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has lettuce, salad mix, braising greens, beets or carrots, asparagus, radishes, herbs, snap peas and strawberries Field Notes.  Ken has been vigilant about keeping the growing spaces cultivated.  After the rain, once it is dry enough he is out with either the wheel hoe or hand cultivator.  He has also been planting – cabbage for fall is now in the garden.  And he is weeding and mulching …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has lettuce, salad greens, baby brassica greens, green onions, garlic scapes, radishes, herbs, asparagus, and strawberries. Field Notes.  Sunday we got rain!  It had been dry, and Ken put off irrigating in garden and field when he heard we could get up to 2 inches.  He is still irrigating greenhouses as needed.  Prior to Sunday’s rain he was racing around getting all he could done before the …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has asparagus, spinach, lettuce, salad mix, beet thins, salad turnips, green onions, potatoes, and herbs Field Notes.  Ken got the poultry moved, the beds ready in the garden, planted there, and then got everything ready so I could help move the mobile high tunnel to its summer location.  It was downhill and went smoothly.  Then he anchored it.  Next I will need to help with the cucumber …

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And from the freezer – Asparagus for Cream of Asparagus Soup

Each year I freeze some vegetables.  In winter it is nice to have a taste of summer in the form of frozen berries or sweet corn or bell peppers, etc.  I freeze a couple quart bags of blanched, chopped asparagus.  Why?  It makes GREAT cream of asparagus soup in February.  Asparagus is considered a tonic for kidneys. Saute onion, add soup stock, herbs like thyme and tarragon and thawed asparagus. Run through blender, processor or …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has lettuce, spinach, salad and braising greens, Napa cabbage, green onions, radishes, herbs, and asparagus. Field Notes.  Ken has been juggling tasks around rain.  After a couple days of dry weather he gets out and cultivates the garden, field, and around the mobile high tunnel. Once we got the last of the perennial flowers out of the loop on the drive, Ken moved the hens down near …

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Freezing Asparagus

Each year about this time I start freezing green vegetables for winter.  This week I froze some asparagus.  Asparagus is a great boost to kidney function – like a cleanse.  I like to make cream of asparagus soup in the winter when we start to feel sluggish.  When friends come who do not eat dairy, I use oats as a creamy thickener instead – an old trick of Ken’s     I blanch most vegetables …

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