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 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.

New Plants

*Click on the Links for more information about the plants mentioned!*
Last post I showed you some new plants we bought from Companion Plants.  We are slowly finding homes for them and others that have been waiting for attention for a little while.
One of the homes for several plants is the finished compost pile I shared with you in an earlier post.  Here is the pile now:

It's hard to see, but there is a species (wild) rose: Rosa sancti-andreae (syn. R. villosa?) at the top of the pile.  It will get rather large: 6ft tall and spread; and have small pink flowers.  While this plant will be beautiful in its own right, we are also growing this for its hips that will emerge after the flowers fade. Rose hips are high in vitamin C among other things. Surrounding the rose are small clumps of Roman Chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) that we are hoping will spread all around this pile. I think most people are familiar with Chamomile tea. Once the plants start blooming, you can collect the flowers and the leaves to make a soothing cup.  Ideally, when the hips on the rose form, we can collect the hips and the chamomile to make an even more nutritional tea. The final plant in this arrangement, to the left and bottom of the pile, is Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) that Iz collected from my most gracious parents who have too much of it. It likes moist and shady places and we hope that the shed next to it and the Paw Paw behind it will give it enough shade in the hot summer months.
Sweet Woodruff is used medicinally for stomach ailments as well as in culinary applications such as to flavor teas and juices.  It is also used to flavor May Wine which is a punch made with Woodruff infused white wine, oranges, pineapple and sugar. This is only one example of May Wine as apparently there are other versions with different flavors. We are really looking forward to making herbal teas from the garden once again. There is nothing like gathering a bunch of fragrant herbs and making a nice iced tea with honey to drink on a hot summer evening. Perhaps that will be a blog topic in the near future!

Since the taking of this photo Iz has added more to this bed: Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citriodora) (another delicious herb in tea or putting under the skin of roast chicken); Codonopsis (Codonopsis pilosula), Meadowsweet (Filipendula ulmaria), and Meadowfoam (Limnanthes Douglasii)

In other plant news Iz planted the Goji Berries (Lycium chinese or barbarum). It is also known as Matrimony Vine.  The folklore attached to this plant states that one must not plant this vine near the home as it may cause "marital discord".

This is Iz planting the Goji in one of the beds at the front of the house, and with my permission, near the house! While the folklore is charming, the best place we have for the Goji is near the house. We promised to move it if we start lashing out at each other for no reason.  This is a vine and Iz added some stakes next to the plants to give them something to climb on.
I better end this now, we have more additions but I will leave that for later! I shall leave you with a little honeybee that was visiting our tulips. Bzzz Bzzz!

Changes are coming



Year One Seed Starting



Over the past three years, my husband and I have become very interested in living closer to the land, living simpler-more cretive and fullfilling lives.  This started when we moved into I's childhood home and promptly began planning a garden.  If you look back through this blog, I have a few entires where we go through starting seeds in the basement and if you check out our Flickr page you will see what we have been up to the past few years.



Year One Garden-just finished

 We are also in our third year of investing in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share through Hazelfield Farm in Kentucky. It has been so enjoyable to be able to pick up a bag-full of fresh produce grown locally and sustainably by the same people we interact with on a weekly basis at the farmer's market. We enjoy the challenge of using what is available, creating less waste and becoming more self-sufficient. Iz has begun to realize that horticulture, gardening, sustainable agriculture (whatever you want to call it) is indeed a passion of his. We have discussed the idea of buying property and turning it into our dream permiculture farm and have begun looking at property in ernest. Taking a step further, Iz began to look at farming interships and apprenticeships. We realized that if this was going to happen, Iz would have to leave his current job and commit 100% to his passion.  Through luck, devine intervention or whatever you want to call it, Smaller Footprint Farm contacted Iz and asked if he would be interested in applying for their internship in Yellow Springs, OH.  We thought, why not check it out? After a few agonizing weeks-debating back and forth-weighing the pros and cons, a visit to the farm and an interview, Iz was offered an apprenticeship with them.  By this time we had discussed the subject to death and were ready to take the plunge. Iz accepted the offer this weekendand turned in his letter of resignation at work today.



Some seedlings from last year

 It is still a little scary to think about living with one income, being away from home etc. but this is something that we both believe in and believe that it will all work out. The education Iz will get during this apprenticeship will be invaluable. It will indeed be an interesting year and we are looking forward to the challenges. I thought I would take this opportunity to use this blog to talk about our experiences and about sustainable agriculture, small farms, plants and beyond. I hope to visit the farm often to take lots of photographs and report back here.
We are still getting a full-share CSA with Hazelfield Farm this year and we will still have plans for a full garden at home as well. I hope to be able to talk about what we are doing with all of the beautiful produce and how to preserve the surplus.

Largest Raised Bed we made last year

This is still all very new and exciting! I hope I will have a lot of information and ideas to pass along as this spring and summer progress. Of course, I will be posting photos of our garden as it grows this year. I love to see the transition of empty beds to a profusion of flowers and vegetables! I am also going to try and reorganized our Flickr page into collections and sets that are relevant to eachother-probably one for each year for the garden at the house. Since this is the third year, we have a lot of photographs and perhaps they can be of better use if more organized.




 Stay Tuned! Izzy & Lizzy

Feeling the love!

I just listed a new print today in my Etsy store and it is already featured in an Etsy Treasury! How lovely! :)

xo,
Lizzy

Mountain Rose Herbs Giveaway! take 2!

Week two of Mountain Rose Herbs giveaway of fabulous products!
Check it out!

Aloe

DSC_0606, originally uploaded by etoilee.

Soothing and healing

Photo a Day

Looks like I'm going to have to try photo a week. Have some to catch up. Haven't had a moment to post until today. I was inspired by some of the amaranth growing in the garden today. xo

Phew!

Photo a Day and Garden Update

Here are a few to make up for lost time...

Check out our Flickr page for updated photos of the garden. We are starting to get more tomatoes which is exciting. The peas are there but we are waiting for more of them to grow before picking.  We have melons but they are smallish still and need to ripen. The beans have finished. We cleared out the plants and will probably plant a cover crop there. We harvested the garlic (as you can see above) and the potatoes. In their former bed we have planted cover crops: comfrey, borage, yarrow, bee's friend, fenugreek and sea kale.  Now is the time to start thinking about a second harvest so I think some more greens are going to go in as well as some carrots and maybe a few other things!

Photo a Day

2 July 2010

Castor Bean Leaves
ricinus zanzibariensis

Garden etc.

The largest raised bed is flourishing. The cosmos, amaranth, night scented stock, chamomile and poppies are all blooming.

Catching up on some favorites from the past few months.

 Carousel at St. Joe Michigan

 Domaine Berrien Cellars

 Headless Hebe's pitcher

Beach at the Outer Banks

 I'm thinking of a new project to get myself a little more focused. I'm going to try and take at least one photo a day and post it here.  I'm trying to do better at editing my work and hopefully this will help!  I'm trying to find new subject matter too and by taking the camera everywhere with me, I may find myself inspired in random moments.

Happy Summer!

The garden is well on it's way this first day of summer.  We have all but one raised bed filled with plants! We've already harvested the Royalty Purple Pod and Empress green beans, and lots of herbs (made the first pesto of the season tonight!).  The tomatoes are green, I cannot wait for them to ripen.  The cone flower, cosmos, prairie coreopsis, rubeckia, monarda, vitex and one sunflower are blooming.

Much more has been uploaded to our Flickr page.

Garden Update-way past due!

April went by way to quickly, and we are trying to keep up with the garden.  That is my excuse for not keeping current here! We are making progress but due to some family priorities and some long days at work, we don't have everything in the ground that needs to be there. It is raining today, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to catch up.

Large Raised bed about a month ago...

...and now!

It doesn't look like tooo much progress however, there are many flower seedlings about 2" tall sprouting in the middle areas. We moved some Peonies into the back right corner and lemongrass in the front right.

We have already harvested about a dozen "Cincinnati Market" Radishes. I made them into a yummy salad. On the far right are more radishes waiting for harvest, beets in the middle. In the second batch kale and mustard greens are bursting and waiting for picking. Various flowers coming up in small troughs in front.

Brussel Sprouts on the left, beets in the middle, and where the radishes were harvested, new seeds were planted and they are now sprouting.

Our first harvest of the season. Last year it was lettuce, but it isn't quite ready yet this year.

We also welcomed new family members. About two pounds of earthworms. They will live in the basement where we will feed them kitchen scraps (no dairy or meat!) on a weekly basis. In about 3 to 4 months, we will have worm castings for fertilizer in the garden. We went to a vermicomposting class at Glenwood Gardens and came home with worms in two tubs filled with leaves, newspaper and a cultivator. I will make sure to keep that process up to date.

The broccoli is getting bigger in the garden.  The melons, beans and sunflowers have sprouted. Tomatoes and peppers are in the garden, raised beds and containers.  We are moving along nicely but much more to do.
Current blooms:

Bachelor Buttons

Valerian

Sweet Rocket

And kitties! Scarlett went out on a leash. I think she liked it. We live near a busy street and lots of dogs. I wanted to see if the kitties could enjoy the outdoors with us so we are trying the harness and leash. We'll see what happens.

xo,