Break from the Root Cellar – Squash and Onions Come Inside

Yesterday while Ken was at a bee workshop, I moved the squash and onions inside to the north east corner of the main floor.  The forecast of low temperatures below twenty degrees provided incentive!  The squash had been on racks covered with a tarp and with a light inside the racks for heat.  I packed bulb crates and got them inside. Then I opened the hay enclosure Ken had made for the onions and garlic …

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Onions and Squash Still Outside.

The onions and squash are still outside curing.  Ken has created an insulated space for the onions using hay bales and the ground heat.  We then covered the onions with plywood and tarp.        The squash is in the racks with a tarp to keep it out of the wind and a light to provide heat to maintain temperature above freezing.         Once it gets really cold and the house …

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Sorting and Cleaning Onions

Each year as Ken harvests onions, we place them on racks to cure.   Here is the rack of curing onions.         Once we need the space for winter squash, I pull dried tops and rob off dirt, and sort onions by size.         The dried tops go to compost or chicken bedding               Empty racks ready for squash           …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has cabbage, kohlrabi, potatoes, green peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, onions, and parsley   Field Notes.  Ken got a new area set up for the pigs, and we moved them Friday.   Ken is also irrigating green houses, planting fall crops, and more.  The soil is dry, but I am careful what I wish for – some friends  just got six inches of rain!   Ken checked his …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has onions, garlic, squash, carrots, parsley, salad mix, and the first spinach from the mobile high tunnel! Field Notes.  The days are getting longer and we look toward next season.  Ken has planted t onion seed – the first of the full season crops.  This starts a succession of seed plantings and shifting from warm germination chamber to sunny window, to outside with protection to transplant.  And the …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This CSA box has squash, onions, garlic, beets, carrots, potatoes, braising and salad greens, spinach. Field Notes.  Transition time is here!  Ken has planted the first full season crop – onions and celery and celery root.  This starts the succession of plantings Meanwhile in the greenhouse we have spinach, some lettuce, turnip greens and chicory.  Time to wrap up making pots and head outside! From the Kitchen.  Here too, we are …

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Onion Seed Pops

Each year Ken plants onion seeds in February.  When they come up, they are bent.  And then like a magical green Rockettes kick line, they unfold.   This, our first full season crop planting signals spring is coming.  It makes me smile to see those onion shoots boing open each year.  I am grateful – for the onion, for Ken, and for the lengthening days.

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More Recipes: Sofrito and Beet Pepper Soup

This season we have a great crop of beautiful ripe peppers.  I chopped and froze (no blanching) some for future use.  At Ken’s request I made some ripe pepper jam, and today I made sofrito.  Sofrito is a combination of vegetables that are cooked slowly with fat or oil to reduce moisture and preserve color and flavor.  What started as two cast iron skillets of onions, peppers and some garlic became four small freezer jam …

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Harvest Newsletter

Greetings from the Garden!  This week’s CSA box has tomatoes, potatoes, cukes, peppers, onions, garlic, beans, beets, greens and lettuce. Field Notes.  Ken transplanted fall greens.  Ken starts them , moves up to 2″ soil blocks and then transplants to the garden. This means more time in that garden space for other things and more importantly transplanting a small seedling in a clean bed gives the plant a decided edge over the weeds. Ken is …

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Harvest Newsletter

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 …

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