Life on the Farm (Week 25)

Things are slowly getting back to quasi-normal this week. With the sunny, warm weather, we were able to get a lot of the seeds and transplants in that were waiting out the wet soil. 1500 row-ft of carrots…translate that to 1500 row-ft of challenging weeding! If the weather cooperates, we are going to try some flame-weeding on the carrot beds this year. It’s tricky— weed 1-2 days before the carrots emerge and get the pesky weeds. Too soon and the weeds are still hiding. Too late and the carrots go up in flames too! Oy vey! But, we’ll give it the ole’ college try.

(Just had a flame-out of our power momentarily as I type, so maybe this newsletter and market opener will be delayed!)

Rog is back to being vertical again. Whew! But can’t lift, pull or push more than 10# for 6wks. Now you tell me, how do I enforce that? You’ll be seeing a new face on delivery days. A childhood friend of Roger’s, John Myaya, has been helping out on the farm. He’s a great help and will share the heavy lifting for the next few weeks.

Taking back the field from weeds— occultation!

The cool weather, spring produce has already bolted (i.e. gone to flower) given the unusually warm spring we have had thus far (and losing a week of harvest last week), so we’re experiencing a dearth of items this week and probably next. Eat your salads and enjoy them!

Broccoli coming along; napa cabbage next door under cover.

The Market is now open for some leafy spring greens.

Ordering will be open from Sunday morning until Monday 8pm. Get your orders in now so harvesting can begin specific to your requests.

Deliveries will be made Wednesday per usual to your chosen Dropsite Location .

Recipes for your consideration

If you’ve never tried grilling your salad, you certainly should! A little olive oil, a little salt, and a minute on the grill and you’ll have crisp greens with crunchy grilled flavor. You will be amazed how much romaine one person can eat when it’s prepared this way! Different and fun!

Grilled Romaine

romaine lettuce
olive oil
sea salt
pepper
crushed croutons

Cut each head in half the long way.

Brush with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt & pepper (Tip: Brush the concave sides first – if you do the flat side first, all the salt falls off when you turn the head over to brush the back)

Grill 1-2 minutes per side. It works well to grill these on 3 sides – concave side down, leaning to the left, then concave side down, leaning to the right, then flat side. They don’t take long, just a couple of minutes total!

You can sprinkle them with crushed croutons and Parmesan cheese once off the grill – and eat them by picking them up by the base and biting pieces off – like a big green grilled carrot. Delicious!

From: Kathy & Beth

A little time consuming to make, but well worth the effort. If you’d like to use as a main course, consider increasing the recipe and adding a protein (the Italian or kielbasa Tofurky-brand sausage, diced; nice!)

Greens Risotto

1 tsp sea salt
1 cup cooked greens (boc choi, mustard, spinach, kale, chard, wild greens)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, minced (alternate: chives, green onion, onion)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup Arborio/risotto rice
2-3 cup vegetable broth, divided
1/2 cup dry white wine (optional)
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp margarine (Earth Balance brand is nice)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add a spoonful of salt.

Put the greens into the boiling water. Stir the greens and let boil for about 3-5 min. Remove the greens with a skimmer or tongs and immediately dump them into a big bowl of ice water. Once the greens are cool, drain them in a colander.

Roll up the greens in a cloth or tea towel. Twist one end of the cloth one way, then the other end of the cloth the other (like a candy wrapper) and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.

Chop the greens finely (don’t use a food processor, or you will get mush). The finer you chop, the smoother your risotto will be. Remove any stray stems.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large saucier or heavy pot over medium-high heat; add the shallot. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often.

Add the garlic and the rice and stir to combine. Stirring constantly, cook everything for a minute or so or until all the rice is well coated with margarine.

Stir 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 cup of the vegetable stock into the rice and increase heat to high. When the rice starts boiling strongly, turn down the heat to medium and stir often, at least every minute or so, until the rice absorbs the stock. Repeat with a second cup of stock.

When the second cup is absorbed, add the greens and the third cup of stock. If using store-bought broth, switch to water for this third cup—otherwise your risotto could become too salty. Stir well to combine. Keep stirring constantly to develop the creaminess in the risotto and to distribute the greens evenly. Let the stock absorb well. Add white wine and allow to absorb, stir well.

Add additional salt, if desired. The risotto may need another full cup of stock or water, as you want the dish to be loose, not firm (and you will need at least a little more stock to loosen the risotto for the nutritional yeast).

Add tablespoon of margarine as well as the nutritional yeast. Stir everything well and let the margarine and nutritional yeast melt in the risotto for about 2 or 3 minutes, stirring often. Serve immediately.

Adapted from: Organic Gardening website

Did You Know…

The Predisposition Theory, proposed during the 19th century, suggested that host plant must first be negatively predisposed by unfavorable conditions before the pest can prevail. This theory brings into practice the concept of plant-positive (vs. pest-negative) means of managing plant-pest interactions. (“Plant-pest interactions” Ha! Mind you, I type that phrase calmly when I am NOT sitting amoungst my flea-beetle ravaged spring greens.)

“Let a man profess to have discovered some new Patent Powder Pimperlimplimp, a single pinch of which being thrown into each corner of the field will kill every bug throughout its whole extent, and people will listen to him with attention and respect. But tell them of any single common-sense plan, based upon correct scientific principles, to check and keep within reasonable bounds the insect foes of the farmer, and they will laugh you to scorn. — Benjamin Walsh, The Practical Entomologist (1866)

Thomas Jefferson (in a letter to his daughter in 1793) wrote: “When earth is rich it bids defiance to droughts, yields in abundance and of the best quality. I suspect that the insects which have harassed you have been encouraged by the feebleness of your plants and that has been produced by the lean state of the soil.”

So the trick to “true” organic growing is: Healthy plants are not bothered by pests. Some trick, huh? And the trick to THAT trick is…. Well, it’s what we are striving toward here at FarmWLIG. Stay tuned!

Subscription Box Highlights

Anticipated this week for the CSA/Subscription Boxes:

Broccoli
Boc choi
Kale
Head lettuce
Radish or salad turnips
Potatoes
Salad mix
Chives
And maybe some kohlrabi and/or spring cabbage if they size up after this rain!

Start your meal planning now!

We hope to feed you soon!

Roger and Lara

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