CHILLY HARVEST

Since Monday.

Despite the chill in the air this morning (51 degrees - my hands are still tingling) we had a bountiful few hours gathering for CSA shares.  Out the door just past sunup and we made it inbetween the moisture.  hahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!  Five and a half inches of rain since last Wednesday.












Radishes, onions, and greens were lush and full.  Ooooo the onions smell soooo good when we gather.  In fact, when I'm done with this post I am going to make Theresa and I eggs with those good smelling onions.  Her reward for helping us gather this morning!!!













We have the tomato field about half way through the first trellis step, and as we worked yesterday we found a Black Krim with a little, teenie tomato!  Getting the tomatoes trellised and off the plastic and pruned will help deter any disease potential with all this moisture. 















We are off to make breakfast now and and enjoy those yummy onions coming your way.  Be thankful for the chill, be thankful for the moisture, be thankful and enjoy your day!!!

WHAT IS IT? THE SECOND IN A SERIES

They were likely originally cultivated in ancient Rome and as we know them today as early as the 13th century in Belgium.  French settles brought them to Louisiana in the 1800's.  They contain an anti cancer agent which protects against colon cancer and another naturally occurring substance that boosts DNA repair in cells.  They also contain vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and other good essential nutrients.   The Netherlands produces 82,000 metric tons annually.

TO PARTICIPATE
1)  Well you have to go to SOL 'N TYNE BLOG. 
2)  In the comment section below this post you must leave your answer. You cannot leave an answer until after 12:00 pm on Friday, June 24.  You also cannot post an answer on facebook - you have to leave your answer in the comment section below this post on the blog and you cannot email me the answer!

THE WINNER GETS
Soooo...what do you get if you do all the above and your answer is the FIRST correct answer after 12:00 pm on Friday, June 24?

Well.....for the second ever SOL 'N TYNE WHAT IS IT? posts give aways - you will receive a fresh bouquet of flowers, already arranged, in your next CSA delivery or delivered to your door the week of June 26, 2011, if you live in Red Wing, Lake City, Zumbrota or  Rochester.  If you live far, far away - thanks for playing and we hope you enjoyed the challenge! 

There ya have the rules and regs for the SOL 'N TYNE WHAT IS IT? give away posts!  Have fun!!!

This is the second in a series of  WHAT IS IT? give away posts.  We will do these intermittently through November 1, 2011.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

Wisdom rolled up in a scroll.  This is what it said:

Interpretation:
This is a garden float.  It doesn't take a farm to make a garden or even a ditch of dirt you can take pots, pans and just a bag of soil. 

I think you should try to make your own garden.

I think everyone should have at least to have one plant.

Have a nice Garden.

See you.

Written by Bella (9) and Amaya (7) today while playing on the farm - wisdom at a young age.  There is hope.

LOVE IS IN THE AIR

RAIN ANYONE?

No more complaints about the soil condition.  Too dry - zip the lips.  Too wet - be thankful and zip the lips.  Here's why:

Thursday morning after a 24 hour rainfall 1.5 inches and the tomatoes LOVED it.























Saturday afternoon after a one hour rainfall an additional 1.5 inches and the tomatoes tipped over.  Of course the 45 mph wind and pea, bean, and dime size hail didn't help. 























Lesson learned - be thankful for each day no matter what the world has to offer.

SEASON'S 1ST HARVEST

Harvest mornings start early and this year our first 'official' CSA harvest was no exception. There was a damp chill in the heavy air, dew, and fog floating across the trees out of the valleys.  It was gorgeous.  What a way to start the day.

We gathered four types of lettuce - Amish Deer Tongue (loose leaf), Forellenschuss (romaine), Sunset (loose leaf), and Red Leprechaun (romaine). 

Then two different green mixtures - Elegance Greens Mix (Pac Choi, Red Mustard, Mizuna, and Leaf Broccoli) plus Spectrum Greens Mix (Red Mustard, Green Mustard, Chinese Cabbage, Pac Choi, and Tatsoi).  Then came beet greens - Bulls Blood Beet and a Yellow Beet.  We enjoy our greens mixed in with our lettuces for a salad with a punch.  It doesn't take much of the greens to spice up a normal lettuce salad.


Finally three types of onions and two types of radishes.  The long, slender radishes were French Breakfast and the ones most people would recognize are Scarlet Globe.  Toss in a smidge of cilantro and you have the makings for a salad deluxe or a radish sandwich.

RADISH SANDWICH

via Culinate - from the book Local Flavors by Deborah Madison

A good radish sandwich can be nothing more than sweet butter spread on bread and tipped with sliced radishes and sea salt. But this is an easier way for getting the radishes and butter on quickly (and getting them to stay on), especially if you're making radish sandwiches for a crowd.

6 radishes - keep the tender greens attached

4 T organic butter - softened

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest from an organic lemon

- Salt

Baquette slices for serving (or nice crusty bread of your choice - maybe from Rabbit's Bakery)

1.  Wash and trim the radishes and their leaves.  Thinly slice the radishes into rounds, then crosswise into narrow strips.  Each should be tipped with color.  Chop the leaves.  You should have about 1/2 cup.

2.  Mix the butter with the lemon zest until it's soft and then stir in the chopped radishes, radish leaves, and a few pinches of sea salt.  Spread on slices of crusty baquette and serve.

Remember to spin your lettuces and greens out before storing in your fridge.  If you do not own a salad spinner for around $20 you can purchase a Zyliss two serving spinner.  No other spinner does the job like a Zyliss -  Easy Spin Salad Spinner.  We've tried a lot of them and always come back to the Zyliss.

BEETLE PATROL

Yepper - I said Beetle Patrol.  Colorado Potato Beetle to be exact!  Buggers.  Literally.  They are so popular they have their own website - http://www.potatobeetle.org/.

We will not spray for them so we have to patrol for them.  The thankful part is they don't slither away, they are easy to spot, and their eggs standout like orange, neon lights on the back of the potato leaf.  You can crush or bottle.  Whatever your squeamish preference will allow.

Another recycle method for bottles - Beetle traps.

Anne and Paul 'patrolling'.

To slow down their reappearance we apply straw mulch.  Plus it keeps the unwanted weeds at bay along with trapping moisture in the ground and helps prevent exposure to the sun causing the green, bitter tasting, alkaloid to appear on the skins of the potatoes.

Theresa applying the straw mulch.

At the end of the day a snuggled in potato field will be a happier potato field.

HOT - OOOOO NOT TODAY

What a crazy week huh?  Tuesday we experienced a day like no other and this morning we almost have to turn on the furnace.  This is life on a Minnesota farm.

It was a desert day on Tuesday, even though we had a visitor from Idaho and Deb (her name is Deb too!) said she will take the high desert weather to 102 degrees here.  Between the heat and the wind our lettuce, greens, AND radishes just fell over.  Literally - they were laying flat.  The tops of the peas - Scorched.  Bean leaves - Burned.  Spinach - Bolted.  We could not believe what we were seeing.  This is Minnesota.  In June.  After a drink of water in the evening when the sun went down everything popped back up!  The resilience of life - gotta love it.

This morning - 54 degrees and drizzle!  Sure makes the soil look rich and the green more green!  The contrast was awesome in the fields this morning.

Watching the weather roll in last night - Flax from the Ellie Garden.

The farm is getting it's rhythm - or should we say - we are getting the farm's rhythm.  Gospel in the morning - country in the afternoon!  Plant, weed, maintain in the morning - water, water, water in the afternoon.