CSA share, pickles and garlic

Another week has gone by! I'm afraid that the Summer is going by too quickly.  I am trying to savor it as much as possible.  This week's CSA share is below:

Summer squash, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, beets, fennel, cabbage, one beautiful heirloom tomato (first one!), four green and one purple pepper, two yellow onions, two head of garlic

Some people were worried about the last post when I said I was starting to get a little overwhelmed with the volume of veggies.  No worries!  Almost all of the veggies we get are eaten, "put up" or shared with others.  If there is any waste, it goes into the compost. (I like to think of it as recycling).  

Speaking of "putting up" or preserving vegetables,  I tried my hand at two different pickles this past weekend.  Our cucumbers are going crazy and we still have some garlic scapes leftover from a little while ago.  I decided to make refrigerator pickles with the cucumber and lacto fermented garlic scapes.  I don't have a photo of the pickles yet, they are sitting in the fridge waiting for lids, so I will get around to that this week.  Here are the scapes:

I made three jars full and I can't wait to taste them in about a week!  I think I mentioned the blog where I got this recipe in my last post.  Here it is!  I pretty much followed the recipe, except I didn't have any whey so I used more salt.  I changed the spices to what I had on hand: fennel seeds, yellow mustard seeds and black peppercorns.  Smaller Footprint was cutting back their dill.  Isaac mentioned that I wanted to make pickles so they gave him the dill flower heads to take home.  They are the best! So I added probably two tablespoons of dill as well.

Here is the recipe for the refrigerator pickles.  It was not hard at all.  Notice that I haven't delved into any actual canning...I'm taking baby steps.  I'm looking forward to eating lots of homemade pickles this summer!

I ordered this so I can get my sauerkraut on, hopefully soon.  Of course, I will report back.

While I was at work on Saturday, Isaac harvested all of our garlic. If I remember correctly we have about 40 heads total.  Some of this we are going to save and plant in the Fall for next year's crop. But honestly, this should (along with the garlic we get from our 2 CSAs) last us all year, until next season.  You know when it is ready when the greens start to brown or if you know the growing time, that would be your indicator as well.  All you do is pull them out of the ground. Shake the dirt off the bulbs, you will want to make sure most of the dirt is off.  Then you want to let the garlic cure outside in a shady well ventilated area for a few days.  This will allow them to dry out and will keep longer.  When you bring your garlic inside, store it in a cool dry place.  Here are some photos from the harvest.

bundled and hanging outside

garlic looks nice in black and white

On a final note, the greens are starting to dwindle as the summer crops start thriving.  As a last hurrah until they start coming in again in the fall, I experimented and made a greens (chard and kale) pie with feta, walnuts and lemon slices.  I use this recipe for the dough. I doubled it so I could make the (poorly formed) lattice on top and I used all butter.  I really liked the slices of lemon.  They really mellowed as they roasted in the oven. I'm being lazy and not posting the recipe here. If you would like one, please let me know. It's one of those things where I made it up as a went along, but I think I could point you in the right direction.

That is all for now! We are going to Michigan in a couple of weeks to visit Isaac's family.  The plan is to obtain as many blueberries that will fit in the car.  (We look forward to this all year!)
Stay tuned!

CSA Week 7

This is getting ridiculous.  We are getting quite overwhelmed with vegetables.  I am on a mission to get a lot cooked or preserved this week to give our poor overstuffed refrigerator a break.  We are up to three heads of cabbage and way too many zucchini to count, especially now that ours in the garden are coming in.  I made a chocolate zucchini cake, but that barely put a dent in the supply.  I think I am going to make a few loaves of "regular" zucchini cake and send some to the farm with Isaac. 
Here is what we got from Hazelfield Farm this week:

Swiss Chard, green beans, cabbage, green peppers, yellow onions, zucchini and zephyr squash, new potatoes, carrots, beets, fennel, and garlic.

I'm planning on making vegetarian stuffed peppers, something kind of like this, but probably with rice instead of couscous.  I'm also going to roast all of the carrots we have and cook down all the greens (kale, chard and beet greens).

We made mini goat burgers last night with tzatziki sauce to go with them.  Isaac got some ground goat meat from a neighboring farm in Yellow Springs.  We invited some friends over and had a little barbecue. Delicious!

As I was looking up quick pickling recipes for the remaining scapes, I came across the blog cook.eat.think.  She has a recipe for lacto-fermented scapes which I think I will try.  She also shares her CSA share for the week and is also linking to other blogs sharing their CSA baskets.  If you are curious about what other people get in different regions of the US, click here and here!


On a farming note.  Check out the article "Illegal Food is better for you" from the blog Instead of the Dishes.  The article discusses Polyface Farms and the farmer/owner Joel Salatin.  He discusses many of the food regulations in the country that are contradictory to what is actually healthy for humans. One quote I will take from the blog in which they took from his discussion: “Opt out and do it.  We vote three times a day on the legacy that we will leave our grandchildren, one bite at a time.”  I can't stress this enough, we need to take a direct interest in our food, how it is grown/produced and supporting the small farms that make it possible.  This matter needs to be dealt with on a local level, not in big government.  Take a look!

CSA and Garden Update

I hope everyone had a nice Independence Day! The holiday has thrown me a little off schedule, but here I am-better late than never.

I first want to send a little shout-out to a new reader, Nazneen.  She was nice enough to mention one of my blog posts in her blog Coffee and Crumpets.  Her blog post is about visiting her local farmer's market and shared the lovely vegetables that she purchased and her intentions for them.  Take a look!

Speaking of Farmer's Markets, I am back with photos of the CSA shares from Hazelfield Farm and Smaller Footprint.

Above: left to right

Garlic, summer squash (zephyr and zucchini), sweet peppers, new potatoes, green beans, onions, basil, beets, cabbage, kale, carrots, lettuce-phew!

 

Smaller Footprint: leaf lettuce, green beans, broccoli, zucchini, kohlrabi, kale, swiss chard-not shown: wild blackberries, a couple tomatoes and eggs

Of course the lettuce is devoted to salads.  I also added some chopped carrots, onions and kohlrabi to the salads.  Kohlrabi is in the cabbage family.  It has a mild taste but is crunchy and fresh tasting in a salad.

During our cooking extravaganza we have the day before Isaac goes back to the farm, I kind of made something up that turned out pretty good.  I found a recipe online, but I couldn't find it when it was time to cook, so I tried to go from memory.  

Mashed Potato and Zucchini Cakes

You will need to make a batch of mashed potatoes.  Make them however you usually like to.  We just boil potatoes, skin on, until tender, then drain.  I throw in a lot of butter, sour cream and half and half and mash it all up with the potatoes.  Salt and pepper to taste. I made about 2-3 cups worth.

As the potatoes are cooling, grate two medium sized zucchini on the large holes of a box grater.  Either wrap them in a clean towel, or place in a fine mesh strainer and squeeze out as much water as you can.  Once you do this, add to the potatoes and mix.  Add one or two eggs, depending on the size you have, I used one duck egg.  Mash to all together so the egg is combined. This will hold the cake together better as they cook. Add salt and pepper and any herbs you like.  We used lemon thyme.

On a large plate, place breadcrumbs and grated Parmesan cheese.  Form the potato mixture into approximately 2" wide patties and dredge in the breadcrumbs on both sides.

In a large skillet heat about 1" of oil in the pan.  When the oil is hot, fry the patties until golden brown on both sides.  Remove from pan, drain on paper towels and sprinkle with salt.

I am thinking about making sauerkraut with the cabbages that are accumulating in the refrigerator.  I need to find a large crock to do so.  If I do, I certainly will report back!

The garden is doing relatively well.  We mulched and weeded quite a bit last week, but there is always more to do.

 

 Above: Looking at the yard from the back.
Right: The large garden is doing well.  The giant green in the back are Jerusalem Artichokes.  They will bloom a pretty yellow sunflower-like bloom very soon.  We need to dig up a lot of them as they spread quickly.

A portion of the front part of the largest raised bed.  Clary Sage blooms flank chamomile (German and Roman), California Poppies (see other photo), white poppies and amaranth (not yet blooming)

One of our Elderberries is blooming, we didn't expect any blooms this year as they are new transplants, so this is exciting!

Some peas have escaped the jaws of the rabbits that hope about in the garden frequently.

Zucchini is coming in! If I knew what I was doing, I would stuff those blooms.  Maybe someday...

I added some more photos to our Flickr page. Take a look!

CSA and National Day of Action

Well, Isaac put away the veggies too quickly on Sunday for me to get a photograph and then I was too lazy to pull them all out of the fridge again.  So, here is this week's list: One head of lettuce, one cabbage, one head of broccoli, zucchini, beets, new potatoes, carrots, a bulb of fennel, and green onions. I am doing this from memory, so I may have missed something, but I think that is it. 

Isaac and I had a cooking marathon on Sunday, we made him a lot of food to take to Yellow Springs such as egg salad, cole slaw and Five Spice Beet Soup.  The soup was very easy, we cut up the beets as the recipe describes and roasted them with olive oil in a covered casserole dish in the oven at 375 for about an hour.  We decided to add some mushrooms for more flavor so we reconstituted some dried chanterelles in red wine for about an hour.  We got two beautiful red onions from Smaller Footprint so I sauted them in some olive oil. I added the beets, the mushrooms and the ginger and the vegetable broth to the pan and let it all simmer.  We didn't have pre-blended Chinese five-spice, so I "Googled" the ingredients and found that we pretty much had all the whole spices. So I ground those up in a mortar and pestle and threw them into the pan.  We didn't have any celery but we do have lovage, so I tossed in a small handful of the leaves at the end. Lovage is similar is taste to celery but a bit stronger. We use the stalks like celery sometimes as well in tuna and egg salad.  After all the ingredients simmered for about 10 minutes, I used an immersion blender to smooth everything together. I love this thing; it is much easier than moving hot liquid into a blender or food processor, but if you don't have one, you can use the others.  I ended eating the soup cold with a dollop of sour cream, it was very good. I was pretty aggressive with the spice, but I think I would still add more if I made it again. If you don't like beets, you may still like this soup, the "earthiness" of the beets and the rich texture is muted by the other ingredients. Plus it is a beautiful reddish color.

For dinner we grilled some fresh sausage and some thick slices of zuchinni that were marinated in olive oil. So simple and delicious!

I have to get on my soapbox for a moment once again, so please bear with me.  As many people know the federal budget is in deliberation in the Senate right now.  The Senate is proposing to cut "$1 billion for fiscal year 2012 to the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentive Program and the Wetlands Reserve Program.  These cuts will require USDA to break contracts with farmers who have committed to conservation practices and they are disproportionate to other spending cuts"

Please call your Senators today! Here are some talking points.

Now, I know we can expect the government to fix all of our agriculture problems.  I am a big supporter of grass roots support, where the people make choices about their food and support their local farms. However, a lot of local farms rely on some sort of government program and we can't let the government undervalue the importance of sustainable, small and local farms. I understand that this country is in a financial crisis, but there are other ways to make sure that the budget is balanced without taking steps backward when it come to sustainable agriculture.

Stepping off soap box.
Thanks for letting me add that! I will be back with more photos soon. I'm  planning on taking some pictures of the garden for an update. We will also be taking a trip to look at more land this weekend, so I hope to have an update on that as well.

CSA Week 3

We had a busy weekend so this is the first chance I have to do our weekly CSA update.  It still looks like spring in the CSA share: two heads of lettuce; one red, one romaine; three small heads of broccoli, a large bag of those peas that I am loving, green onions, carrots, fennel (yum!) and apple mint (super yum).

We also get a share from Smaller Footprint, but I didn't take a photo of that for the week. It is pretty similar except for the addition of radishes, swiss chard, and strawberries!

I went to the farm on Friday and helped out for the day.  One of the tasks was to pick strawberries for CSA shares.  After competing with spiky thistle, very tall grass and one angry bird squawking at us the whole time, we got to take home some literal fruits of our labor.  Tart and sweet. They didn't last long enough for me to consider what to do with them. We just ate them as is.

I made a frittata with spinach, garlic scapes, green onions and feta cheese last week.  Fritattas are easy to make and easy to take to work for lunch.  I'm planning on making another one tomorrow morning using the broccoli, onions, scapes and swiss chard.  I don't use a recipe, I just cook the vegetables first, remove from the pan, add the eggs (about 6) whipped with a little bit of cream to the pan, let them set in the pan and then add the cooked veggies and cheese.  Put under the broiler for a few minutes until set. I'll try to take a photo of my creation tomorrow. Here is an inspiring recipe for those who would rather have one. 
I haven't forgotten about the fava beans! I will make something with them soon.

Isaac and I are in the process of looking for our own little piece of land; 6-12 acres to be exact.  If anyone has any leads, or has a friend of a friend etc., please let us know!

CSA Week 2/Farmer's Markets

This is the first week that the Hyde Park Farmer's Market is on Hyde Park Square. This creates an increased visibility for the market, more space for everyone to walk around, more shade as the square had many lovely well established trees and possibly more traffic to the stores that flank the square if they are open on Sundays.
We don't live in Hyde Park, so why do we go to this Farmer's Market versus others? It really is mainly because Hazelfield Farm sells there and that is where we pick-up our CSA every week. We have met other farmers that we like and buy from every week.  The market is on a Sunday, so that helps too as I work on some Saturdays.  There are plenty of other Farmer's Markets to visit in the city and I would like to try to go to others sometime this summer.  Here is a list of just a few.
Not just a Farmer's Market but definitely worth mentioning: Findlay Market. The busiest day is on Saturday and there is a whole wing devoted to local farmers during the growing season. There is also meat vendors, bakeries, cheese shops etc.
Anderson: Saturday's 9:00-1:00
Loveland: Tuesday's 3:00-7:00
Sayler Park: Tuesday's 4:00-7:00
Wyoming Farmer's Market: Tuesday's 3:00-7:00
Northside: Wednesday's 4:00-7:30
College Hill: Thursday's 3:00-6:30
Cheviot:  Friday's 3:00-7:00
Here is a link to even more!
What/Where is your favorite farmer's market? 

We are beginning to experience first hand how much work goes into bringing food to market.  10-12 hour days are the norm for a farmer during the growing season.  There is constantly something that needs attention, whether it is mulching to keep the weeds down, or chopping weeds; preparing beds, feeding animals, sowing seeds or planting seedlings and much more.  This doesn't even include harvest days.  All of those portioned out pints of peas, or bunches of radishes were most likely be done by the farmer or their family.  All of this and then they still have to go to market and sell the product. Then finally they will get paid for their work.  Vegetables at the grocery store may be slightly less expensive, but most of it comes from large farms with large machinery and cheap migrant labor to help. Even then, those farmers don't make a lot of money based on the amount of work they put into the crops.  What I'm trying to say is that if you go to the farmer's market, know that most likely the money you hand the farmers goes into his or her pocket to take care of their farm and family.  This is the essence of a local economy that is waning in the time of large corporations.  Don't think for a second that a lot of farming isn't  part of a large corporation.  If you have ever heard of Monsanto, Cargill, Conagra-to name a few- these are agri-businesses that are pushing small family farms out of business.  By supporting local farmers, and other businesses you are investing in your community and getting fresh, healthy food in the process. By local I mean a 100 to 200 mile radius of where you live. Some people would even say buying American is akin to buying local.
Ok, I will step off my soapbox, in a moment.  It is not my mission to preach to people I don't want anyone to feel bad that they are not doing anything that I mention.  I just feel the need to let you know my viewpoint, where I am coming from. I am not an economist, I don't have statistics or fancy charts to back up my opinions. I am just trying to communicate what makes sense to me.  I encourage discussion, so please do not hesitate to ask questions and continue the dialogue.  Everyone has a different perspective there is no one right answer for everyone. Not everyone can have a garden, not everyone has access to farmer's markets, however, there is no denying that Americans need to eat more fresh food.  We are all creative and thoughtful human beings and it is important to discuss how we can try to create a healthier life for ourselves, our children and future generations.

Moving on!  This week's CSA varies a little bit from last week's.

Two heads of Red Leaf Lettuce, a bunch of green onions, swiss chard, carrots, garlic scapes, broccoli, snap peas (the sweetest I have ever eaten, I have to restrain myself or they will be gone in a day!), and fava beans.  The lettuce is cleaned, dried, chopped and put in a bowl in the fridge with a damp paper towel over it. I cut up a carrot, radishes from Smaller Footprint, green onion and scapes. Add some walnuts, Craisins and Parmesan slivers and we had some delicious salad! I made a new salad dressing this week, sort of like a ranch, but better. I added the following ingredients into medium mason jar, largest quantity to smallest. I don't measure, so the amounts are approximate. You can change the ratios to make more or less.

1/2 c. whole milk yogurt

1/4 c. mayonnaise

1/4 c. olive oil

2 Tbl. white wine vinegar (or lemon juice)

1 Tbl. Dijon mustard

2 tsp. honey

1 large garlic clove finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Any fresh or dried herbs you like 

( I added fresh oregano, apple mint, lemon and regular thyme)

Shake it up vigorously until emulsified. Enjoy!

I am still deciding what to do with the fava beans.  We bought a whole chicken at the market today, so I'm thinking about making this.  We have radishes, and the arugula in our garden is quite abundant, so that would use some of it up.  Or maybe I will just do something simple like this subbing the creme fraiche with yogurt or sour cream. I want to use what I have on hand, not buy extra stuff for a recipe. I know this will not always be possible, but I'll do my best.  I'm also thinking of a puree of some sort, like a hummus with the fava beans. I'll report back when I make up my mind.

First CSA pick-up

After a two week delay due to the wet and cool weather, we were able to pick-up our first CSA basket at the Hyde Park Farmer's Market yesterday.

Included in this week's pick-up: Three different lettuces (buttercrunch, romaine, and red leaf); Green Onions, Broccoli, oregano, mint, radishes, garlic scapes and swiss chard. I wanted to weigh everything, but I couldn't find the kitchen scale as the kitchen is still not all the way put back together. I will start doing that next week, Isaac found it after I had used some of the veggies.
I made a giant salad last night to eat through the week with some of the lettuce Isaac brought home from the farm, the buttercrunch lettuce here, radishes and green onions. I will add walnuts, Craisins and chopped garlic scapes when we are ready to eat it.

 This is what the scape looks like on one of our garlic plants. They grow on the hard-neck varieties of garlic. This will be the bloom and eventually seed of the plant if left on. They taste like garlic but much milder. You can leave the scape on if you want to save the seed, but removing it to eat will allow the plants energy to focus on growing a larger bulb. Here is more information!

I make my own salad dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, a crushed and chopped garlic clove, dijon mustard, honey, thyme and oregano and salt to taste. I make it in a mason jar and shake it until it is nice and emulsified.

Most of this CSA will be devoted to many salads which is fine with me because I don't think I will ever tire of eating salads. Now, cooked greens I can make me a little weary after a while, so I'm making Kale chips to share with family today.  We have Tuscan Kale growing in our garden and Isaac brought home a curly variety from the farm.

I think I mentioned making Kale chips before. Isaac's sister turned me on to them. I highly recommend them to people who aren't sure if they like greens or are tired of cooking them the same way all the time.  Try seasoning them with different spices. I'm making batches with salt, black pepper, and hot Hungarian paprika. Here is the recipe I'm using today.

 Finished, with many more batches to go.

I am also making an asparagus salad with asparagus from the farm, green onions and radishes.  It will be kind of like the recipe here, minus the mushrooms.

I hope everyone is having a pleasant Memorial Day! We are thankful to all of those who have sacrificed their lives for our country. I am happy that I get Isaac one extra day this week.

It Has Begun!

It is finally time for Isaac to go to Yellow Springs and start his apprenticeship with Smaller Footprint Farm.  This is bittersweet as I will miss him very much until I see him on the weekends.  Despite missing Iz, I am really proud of him and happy that he is doing this!

We packed Iz up this morning, put his bike in the back of the truck and we were off.  We met Doug, one of the farmers, and he introduced us to Al, the man with whom Isaac will be staying with while in Yellow Springs.  Al is a very nice man who is a retired farmer.  He is also a veteran host as he told us that he has had people from China, Russia and Africa to name a few stay with him in the past.

 After we unloaded the bags, we followed Doug to the farm where he gave a tour.

The entrance:

View from the other side

Doug pointed out all of the beds that are growing vegetables for their CSA including, onions, Red Russian Kale, Kholrabi and Radishes to name a few.  We also saw the green houses/hoop house with tomato and other seedlings.

We then had the pleasure to meet the newest additions to the farm:

Pigs!

And they sure live up to their name when the eat!

We then took a stroll over to the chickens.  Here is one proud rooster!

The stylish coop.

See more chicken photos here.

I think Isaac is going to have a lot of fun even if working on the farm is going to be hard work!

After our tour of the farm, Iz and I decided to take a tour of the town. We have been to Yellow Springs before, but we wanted to spend as much of the day together.  Besides, we had never been to the famous Young's Dairy.  Every time we tell someone about Isaac working on a farm in Yellow Springs, they mention Young's.  So off we went. We had some yummy ice cream.

And met some super cute goats!

Again, please click here to see more photos.

It has been a busy and emotional day and there are many more days to come.  I think Isaac will post some entries in the future, I hope. We just have to make sure that he has access to wifi.  Thanks to everyone who has been so great to us. We really appreciate all of your support and encouragement!

Road Trip: Companion Plants

Iz and I took a trip to Athens, Ohio this week to visit a nursery where Iz has bought a lot of our plants. We drove three hours to visit Companion Plants buy a flat of plants and then drove home! The drive through South East Ohio is beautiful, changing from flat farmland to rolling pastures to dense pine forests. There is really no major interstate that goes from Cincinnati to Athens, so there is plenty of scenery.

We have met the owner of Companion Plants before at and herb festival, but Iz took a moment to reintroduce himself and chat. The owner is so nice and knowledgeable! We took our time to browse, they offer around 600 different plants, and started to accumulate a nice stash of plants.


Click the images to see what we purchased.



Here is Isaac browsing in a small section of the greenhouse. Look at the eucalyptus tree!


There were some really cute terra cotta plant tags for sale but I abstained from buying any.


 We didn't manage to plant everything when we got home, but we found a home for the Kentucky Colonial Mint. Isaac divided the plant into three to give it more opportunity to spread around the bed.

 I can't wait to use it in tea and other yummy summer drinks!








Even though it was a short road trip, we had a great time!

Cover Cropping It

Since my last post was about working with your soil to get it healthy and nutritious, I thought I would continue on the theme and talk about growing cover crops.  Generally this is done after your last harvest of whatever you have grown for the season or if you are planning on leaving a plot empty for a season or two. This publication will give you a lot of specific information on choosing which plants to grow and all the benefits or growing cover crops and green manure.

I found a few good passages to put here to give you a better idea of what I am talking about.

"Green manuring" involves the soil incorporation of any field or forage crop while green or soon after flowering, for the purpose of soil improvement. A cover crop is any crop grown to provide soil cover, regardless of whether it is later incorporated. Cover crops are grown primarily to prevent soil erosion by wind and water. Cover crops and green manures can be annual, biennial, or perennial herbaceous plants grown in a pure or mixed stand during all or part of the year. In addition to providing ground cover and, in the case of a legume, fixing nitrogen, they also help suppress weeds and reduce insect pests and diseases. When cover crops are planted to reduce nutrient leaching following a main crop, they are often termed "catch crops."

A major benefit obtained from green manures is the addition of organic matter to the soil.

Cover crops will also aid in fixing nitrogen into the soil. provide a healthy ecosystem for beneficial bacterial and aerate the soil.

Iz and I chose to add some winter cover crops to our large raised bed last fall. We sowed seeds for winter rye, red and white clover, dandelion and alfalfa.  Since this was the first year for this raised bed, which is sitting on top of plain old Ohio clay soil, we wanted to try and break up the soil beneath the bed and encourage the worms and other nutrients to travel up into it.

It looks a mess but will be incorporated into the soil as it decomposes

A winter cover crop is planted in late summer or fall to provide soil cover during the winter. Often a legume is chosen for the added benefit of nitrogen fixation. In northern states, the plant selected needs to possess enough cold tolerance to survive hard winters. Hairy vetch and rye are among the few selections that meet this need. (From the ATTRA Publication)

We turned over the plants two weekends ago and found that the plants did a good job and rooting deep and providing some organic matter to build the soil as it decomposes.

Look at the tap root and root system of this red clover!

The nice thing about having dandelions in the mix is that you can eat the greens and dry the root for tea instead of turning them into the soil. They just might be the first edible crop you harvest from your spring garden! Enjoy!