Spring Update

Spring has sprung! Well, at least in the basement and the greenhouse.

Today we have seen a gray morning, a moment of sunshine, a black sky blizzard, and now pristine blue sky sunshine with dazzling sparkling snow. Crazy springtime weather…but at least it is predominantly sunshine!

The greenhouse is sporting all of the growing seedlings— onions, green onions, leeks, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, boc choi, greens, celery, celeriac, lettuce, tomatoes, violas and pansies. With the nasty sub-zero temps we had recently, everyone had moved back into the house; propane heat couldn’t keep up during those low nights. But if spring stays, they will continue to live out there until the ground is free of snow!

Recipes for your Consideration

At the junction of winter into spring, I am trying to clear out the freezer, root cellar and canning shelves in anticipation of the upcoming harvests; making soup is just about the easiest route for accomplishing this task. The soup recipe below is probably my favorite. Lots of taste variety!

Remember to “put-up” some of your produce box ingredients (directions in parentheses) this coming year.

Tortilla Soup (fresh from the freezer and root cellar!)

3 onions, ¼ and sliced
6-8 cloves garlic, crushed/minced
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp ground black pepper

6 cups diced tomatoes (core, dice, freezer bag, freeze) or cherry tomatoes (just pop in a bag, freeze)
3-5 large carrots, chopped
4 cups vegetable broth (or just use water and increase your salt and pepper as needed)
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground paprika pepper (slice, dry, grind)

1 cup green/red or paprika peppers, diced (slice, freezer bag, freeze)
½ cup green olives, chopped
1 pkg WheatMeat (seitan), chopped/ripped or 1 pkg extra firm tofu, cubed
1 cup cilantro (loose chop, plastic tub, cover w/ water, freeze, pop out and freezer bag)
3-4 leaves dino-kale, chopped (wash, pat dry, freezer bag, freeze)

Optional:
1-2 jalapenos, diced (freezer bag whole, freeze)
2 cup corn (blanch 2min, ice water cool, slice from cob, freezer bag, freeze)

To serve—
Top with crushed tortilla chips and/or Tofutti-brand Sour Supreme.

For Your Reading Pleasure

All New Square Foot Gardening, 2nd Ed: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space by Mel Bartholomew

This book was a starting point for me; early on in my vegetable growing life, I suffered from gardner’s block (like writer’s block). Mr. Bartholomew makes growing vegetables mentally manageable! And if you only have a small space, this growing concept is absolutely perfect and productive.

So if you want to do a little growing yourself, give this book a read.

Farm News

The new high tunnel addition to Farm Where Life is Good finally has its skin!

The snow is melting fast inside, leaving lots of mud puddles! Soon, soon, it will be filled with greens and boc choi and broccoli and salad mix. And then it will slide to position #2 and warm the soil for the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. Come fall, it slides to position #3 to protect the winter salads, carrots, and greens. We have a huge learning curve for high tunnel growing this next season, but thus far planning is going well.

A handful of 2013 full season CSA subscriptions are still available; have a look under The Market tab (here on the website).

Have a wonderful week, and enjoy the anticipation of vegetables.

We hope to feed you soon!

Roger and Lara