Once again we found ourselves looking up at the skies today.

This afternoon, Amy was in the tomato patch, suckering & tying. I was transplanting lettuce seedlings into the field. But both of us were eyeing the clouds, marvelling at the lightning and listening to the thunder.

Mostly it seemed to be going north, over the lake …

Towards the south all looked clear …

But to the west the storm was building and approaching …

When the lightning got too close for comfort, we headed in to the barn and worked there.

The storm began with a bit of rain which quickly increased in intensity & then turned to hail. The hail lasted 8 minutes (we timed it) and was the size of peas, even large peas! Looking out the barn door, we could see it build up on the ground.

Hail is always an unwelcome event. It can cause a lot of damage, even devastation in a short time. What makes hail particularly cruel is that it usually happens in the summer when crops are ready or almost ready for harvest. It can also be very local and ruin one farm & leave surrounding farms untouched. Hail does not play fair!

Today’s hail appears to have been widespread in our area & caused varying degrees of damage. Some farms in our neighbourhood are reported to be wiped out. We were fortunate and seem to have experienced less damage – mainly rips & holes in leaves. While this will make the vegetable plants more susceptible to disease we think most will be okay. But we will find out the full extent of the damage when we harvest for CSA tomorrow.

After the storm the skies continued to awe.

What’s in the box?

Beets, broccoli/zucchini, snow peas, lettuce,

spinach, garlic scapes, green onions.

• The first of the red beets will be in your share this week. They will be baby beets, quite small, but very tender & sweet. Enjoy!
• We are picking broccoli (in fact last Friday’s pick-up got a surprise of broccoli in their box!) & zucchini – but not a lot of either. Depending on how the picking goes tomorrow, each share will have a choice of broccoli or zucchini but probably not both. We’ll see what happens for Friday?
• This is likely the last week for snow peas. Unfortunately they never last long.
• Lettuce, spinach, garlic scapes & green onions will all be part of your CSA share again. Remember to wash, dry, & bag them and store them in the refrigerator.

Here’s last week’s box.

The skies over the farm were beautiful again this evening.

We were hoping the dark clouds contained some rain for us. The hot temperatures we’ve had & the strong winds have really dried out the soil & the vegetables.

Sure enough, a good rain of about 10mm fell, refreshing the ground & the crops.

What’s in the box?

Snow peas, kohlrabi, salad turnips, garlic scapes, green onions & lettuce.

• Fresh snow peas are always a favourite – perhaps because they are never around too long. Often we get 3 plantings in the ground to try to extend the season. This year we managed only 2. And both plantings are ready at almost the same time. So it will be a short season again! Enjoy your snow peas raw, steamed or stir-fried – but cook them only briefly to preserve the colour, flavour & texture.
• Kohlrabi is a strange-looking vegetable – sort of like a cross between a little cabbage and a turnip. It is usually considered a root vegetable, though the edible round globe grows above ground.Kohlrabi is usually eaten raw – just peeled & sliced. The taste & texture resembles fresh, crunchy broccoli stems, with a bit of radish thrown in. Use on raw vegetable platters and serve with a creamy dip. Grated kohlrabi can be added to slaws. Kohlrabi can also be steamed or boiled but don’t peel until after they are cooked. When the bulbs are tender, peel skin, and season with butter, salt, and pepper, a cheese sauce, or just enjoy plain. They are good for mashing with other vegetables – parsnips, carrots or potatoes. Kohlrabi absorbs the flavour of other ingredients making it ideal to add to soup, stew and stir-fries. If the leaves attached to the kohlrabi bulb are fresh and green, they can be enjoyed as a cooked green. Wash the leaves and remove the ribs. Blanch in boiling water until just wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and squeeze excess water from leaves. Chop leaves, then sauté in a little olive oil or butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add a splash of vinegar or squeeze of fresh lemon juice. The bulbs should be stored, unwashed, in a plastic bag in the fridge. They will hold for a week.

Our favourite way to eat kohlrabi (other than raw in slices) is to sautée it in butter & garlic scapes               for just a few minutes. Then add just a dash of nutmeg. Delicious!

• Salad turnips are small, round, white turnips that resemble radishes, but without the bite – usually! This season, due to the recent heat, the turnips have a similar bite to radishes. Mild in flavour, crisp, and quite tender, they are best eaten raw – simply wash, cut off the tops and enjoy! They can also be stir fried, sautéed, or steamed – both the turnips & the green tops.
• Garlic scapes are a favourite for many. They are the top of the garlic plant. We cut them off so the garlic puts all it’s energy into forming a nice big bulb underground. Leaving the scapes to grow would produce flowers & seeds instead, which we don’t need or want. Use them wherever garlic bulbs are used – raw or cooked. Their flavour is a bit milder than garlic. We have included our usual recipe for garlic scape pesto which is quite popular.
• The first onions of the season are green onions, also called bunching onions or scallions. Use the whole thing – the green leaves & the small, bottom white bulb.
• Enjoy more lettuce in your share again this week.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1-2 tbsp lemon juice (or lime)

1/4 pound roughly chopped scapes

1/2 cup olive oil

salt to taste

Directions:

Puree scapes, olive oil, & lemon juice in a blender or food processor until nearly smooth. Gently stir in cheese. Taste & adjust juice & salt to taste.

Serve as a spread on bread or crackers, a dip for vegetables, or on pasta or pizza.

Store in refrigerator for 2 -3 days. Pesto can be frozen for longer storage.

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Here’s something to look forward to…

Our blackberries came through the winter healthy & well. The canes are in bloom now, and full of bees. We anticipate a good crop of these dark, juicy, delicious berries – starting in early August.

Monday mornings are always a surprise.

Because we do not work on Sundays (other than making sure the chickens have fresh water & enough food, and watering the seedlings & pots of vegetables in the greenhouse & around the yard), I usually don’t go out on the farm that day. In fact I try not to even think about the farm on Sunday (a day of rest means a day of rest!).

And so on Monday it’s always a surprise to see how much the vegetables have grown, especially this time of year. You wouldn’t think 1 day would show such a difference, but it does.

These 2 rows of beans, for example, were hardly starting to poke through the ground on Saturday. Today they’re all up.

The broccoli is starting to form heads & the green onions are almost ready.

Snow peas are not only blooming – but there are little pea pods hanging thick on the vines.

The zucchini that we planted on black plastic & under row covers also has tiny fruit – almost ready.

The kohlrabi stems are swelling & forming their turnip-like bottoms.

Some surprises were not good!

The fava beans are covered with black aphids, perhaps enough to cause damage.

Something continues to chew on the broccoli stems – both the small, new plantings as well as the larger plants.

And of course the weeds! How they grow! Everywhere we look, there is a carpet of green magically appearing.

But the onions got weeded today. Now they look great!

We’re starting to mulch the tomatoes. The straw will keep the weeds in check, hold the moisture in the ground & keep the tomatoes cleaner.

This year we are experimenting with ground cover. This black, woven plastic fabric allows some water in, but should keep the weeds from growing. Eggplant & peppers are planted here as they should benefit from the extra warm soil that the black covering provides.

What’s in the box?

Green garlic, arugula, pea shoots, lettuce, spinach, radishes.

• Green garlic is a young garlic plant harvested now – in spring before the large garlic bulb has formed. It resembles a scallion or green onion – lots of flat green leaves with a very small bulb at the bottom. Green garlic is milder than fall garlic bulbs. Use them raw (eg. sliced into salads or mashed with goat cheese for a spread) or cooked (sautéed with scrambled eggs)  anywhere you would use garlic. They are also delicious coated with olive oil & tossed whole on the barbecue. Store green garlic in the fridge.
• Arugula is a spicy salad green. It adds quite a punch to a spring salad, so use it with caution. Arugula makes a very flavourful salad all on it’s own. We also like it in sandwiches in place of lettuce.
• The box of pea shoots in your share this week is meant to be eaten – not planted!  Place the box outside in partial shade or inside near a window. Keep them well watered & use as needed. Simply cut what you need and add them to your salad or sandwiches. Let them reach about 10-12 cm. Then cut them about half way down, leaving stem & some leaves. They will grow back – slowly – and you can harvest them again. Cutting them all the way down at soil level gives a larger harvest – but only once.
• Enjoy more spinach & radishes & lettuce again this week. The lettuce may be the same salad mix as last week, or lettuce heads and the radishes might pack a bigger bite due to the heat. Remember that all greens have been rinsed once. You will want to wash them more thoroughly & then store in the fridge.

Here is a picture of last week’s share.

Please remember to bring your box back each week to hold your fresh vegetables!

Thursday 25 May – Our 1st farmers’ market of 2017, North York. The weather – lots of rain all day, very windy, and cold. The results – just enough sales to pay for our gas & our coffee, but not wages … (lots of time to take pictures though!)

Thursday 1 June – Our 2nd farmers’ market of the season, North York. The weather – no rain, but extremely windy, and cold. The results – pretty good sales …  (but no pictures – we were too busy hanging on to our tent to keep it from blowing away!)

Saturday 3 June – Our 3rd farmers’ market of the season, downtown Georgetown. The weather – sunny, no wind, and warm. The results – excellent sales … (but no pictures – we were too busy serving the crowds of customers!)

Tuesday 6 June & Friday 9 June – Our first week of CSA for the season. The weather – chance of showers both days. The results – we already know that our CSA members will be here, excited to pick up the first vegetables of the season. And we’re excited too – excited to see our friends again from other years, and to meet the many new CSA members that are joining us for the first time.

With both markets running, and now our CSA too, the rhythm of the season has begun. Planting, weeding, harvesting, marketing … these will be our main activities for the next 5 months.

We’re ready!

What’s in the box?

Lettuce mix, spinach, bok choy, radishes & rhubarb.

• Lettuce & spinach – it’s salad time! We will have rinsed it once to remove most of the field soil. You will want to wash it a bit more thoroughly, bag it & store it in the refrigerator.
• Bok choy grows best when the weather stays constant & a bit cool. When temperatures fluctuate bok choy can quickly go to flower. That’s the story of our spring this year, so your bok choy is a colourful mix of green leaves & yellow flowers. These flowers are beautiful & totally edible along with the green leaves. Flowering bok choy might be less tender though. The simplest way to cook bok choy is to stir-fry it in sesame oil. Or include it in your favourite stir-fry recipe. We will have washed the bok choy once – it will probably need additional washing.
• Yes, the radishes are big! They could easily have been harvested last week – but nothing else was ready. They are plenty hot too! Soaking them in ice-cold water for 20 minutes will cut some of the sharpness & also make them crisper. Add them to the lettuce & spinach salad. For something different, try roasting the radishes in the oven – see recipe suggestion below.
• Who remembers munching on raw rhubarb as a child? Now, I prefer my rhubarb in a pie. There will be enough rhubarb in your share this week to make a pie. Or, make a crisp – much quicker & easier and almost as good!

ROASTED RADISHES

Aunt Elvira’s Fruit Crisp

Cut up rhubarb (or any fruit) and half fill a pie plate.

Mix together …

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup flour

¼ cup rolled oats

½ tsp cinnamon

3 TB butter

(adjust the amounts to suit your preferences)

Cover fruit with this mixture.

Bake for approx. 12 minutes in the microwave.

(We sometimes bake it in the oven – 350 F for approx. 30 minutes. The topping gets crispier & browner)

The farm this week …

Tomatoes are planted!