Our CSA is totally up and running for the 2018 harvest season. Boxes are including ching ching, Joi Choi, bok choy, purple choy, and tatsoi (better than spinach!) which are all Asian veggies great for salads. Also, purple and green baby kale, Chinese cabbage which looks like green lettuce, red lettuce, spring onions, mustard greens, turnip greens, baby collards. I think the asparagus is done.  It was a bad year for asparagus.

The above is one of our favorites: tatsoi pizza! And below is a tatsoi, baby kale and fetta pie with walnuts!  (AKA quiche)

Either goes well with a tatsoi and choi salad or a bowl of soup! To top this salad, I used the avocado dressing full of “good fats” which I recently posted on the Blog. I know; it is a lot of “green.” But it is all pure energy and Vitamin C–healthy and nutritious and great tasting, too! Eat well; live well.

And don’t forget tatsoi smoothies along with any other green you want to toss in! I put some frozen cantaloupe in this one. Yummy. Robert planted more cantaloupe yesterday. The first wave “fried” in the recent heat wave. I put our smoothies in pint canning jars so they are easy to grab on the way out the door for a boost of quick energy. Energy Boosts are a necessity around here!

Oops! This might be a cherry pie! Farmer Robert needs “edible, sweet rewards” from time to time. Don’t worry, the crust is organic and so are the cherries. And the cinnamon on top is organic Ceylon Cinnamon. Google it. When the Farmers gets a “treat” only the best will do! It is by Simply Organic, but difficult to find. If you want Ceylon Cinnamon, you will probably have to use Amazon to locate it.

If you frequent Facebook, you can also find photos there, too!

Yes, boxes are delivered even on holidays.  The garden does not know a holiday!

CSA Shares are available!

By tomorrow all CSA Members will have received their first CSA Box! The box contents have already changed. The chois are double their size and weight in just one week! A new vegetable was added this week, too. It is the light green “lettuce looking” item which is actually a Chinese Cabbage. You are also finding a bit of green and purple asparagus along with Tatsoi, Joi Choi, Ching Chang, mustard greens, turnip greens, baby collards, spring onions, and baby green and red kale. This is Salad Season! We make a salad each and every day. Sometimes it accompanies veggie pizza or a bowl of soup. Sometimes it is the main dish and sometimes it is a side dish. We LOVE Salad Season!

If  you are looking for a quick, new salad dressing try this.  Blend a large avocado with 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1 TBSP EVOO, 1 – 2 TBSP rice vinegar, 1 TBSP Liquid Coconut Aminos, and to taste: freshly ground pepper, Himalayan sea salt, garlic powder with enough water to make the dressing easy to pour. This will make just over a cup of dressing. If you want more double the recipe! If you have some lemon juice left over, freeze it in an ice cube tray and have it ready for the next time you need lemon juice.

The greens will be all bundled together and not separated. When they are this young, they are difficult to tell apart! If you taste the ends, you should be able to distinguish mustard from turnip, however, and the collard is smaller and more roundish. The photo Vegetable ID albums will help you sort out any unknown veggies. Everything mixed together makes for wonderful first salads of the season! Or if like your greens cooked, wash, chop and saute the bundle of greens. You will find recipes under “G for Greens” or “T for Tatsoi.”  The first recipe under “T” is for Tatsoi Quiche Cakes. You will not need a pan as large as the one I am using! But we really like these, so I always make extra-large batches so there are plenty for the freezer.

In case you had any doubts, we are getting WAY TOO MUCH rain. We have received over six inches thus far in our micro-climate. When the ditches along the side of the road are brown with rotting grass as in the photo below, you know the crops are suffering as well.

Robert spent two full days ditching our areas which were holding more water. Some of the plants started to wilt, but with the sun shining again, they seem to have perked up. The truth will be told in the next two or three weeks. A special “thank you” to everyone who has been asking what the rains are doing to the gardens! We are happy to know that our CSA Members are making the connection between the local weather and local food and the “struggles” of your Farmers to provide that food. I always say the veggies come up from the garden like “magic,” but the reality is quite different.

One last thing, if you have not found these Jumbo bags in your grocery store, try a different store. I have seen them in many locations and they are large enough to handle anything we will send your way this season. Now, wash, chop, eat, repeat!

In the first boxes you can expect to find green and purple asparagus along with tatsoi, Joi Choi, Ching Chang, mustard greens, turnip greens, baby collards, spring onions, and baby green and red kale.  The greens will be all bundled together and not separated. When they are this young, they are difficult to tell apart!  If you taste the ends, you should be able to distinguish mustard from turnip, however.

Everything mixed together makes for wonderful first salads of the season!  The photo Vegetable ID albums will help you sort out any unknown veggies.

The vegetables are growing and increasing in size every day–rather like children!

 

The first veggie boxes are being prepared for delivery this week which is an exciting time on our family farm. If you did not get veggies this week, you will be getting them the week of May 21. Do not worry if as a CSA Member you have not heard from us!  I am sending out email notices a few days in advance. And if you do not RSVP as I request, I will call you! In other words, you will not be forgotten. Also, remember it will take two weeks for us to get the entire CSA up and running with our every-other-week (EOW) pickup schedule. My Grandson and I were doing a walk through in this photo.

In this angle of the Spring Garden I am peering through the seven-foot deer fence. As you look carefully, you can see the little squares of fencing. This fence is almost invisible to the human eye, but it really gets the attention of the deer and keeps them away!

In mid-May everything is fresh and green. I love the view of the gardens taken by the drone flying high above. From here most weeds appear non-existent–which is a beautiful illusion and a gardeners dream!

The top left garden is the asparagus which does have plenty of weeds and is not doing well in general. As I indicate on the web site, asparagus is a finicky crop. Our asparagus crowns have suffered from too much rain, then drought, too much heat in the summer, then not enough cold in the winter. Over the last twenty-five years, we have replanted thousands of crowns which were not producing to meet our expectations. We have now stopped the mania and our asparagus production is dwindling. It is okay because our gut microbiota and mitochondria want us to eat a variety of local vegetables. This is why we grow close to 99 varieties of veggies. This vegetable variety is the “& Company” part of our farm business name! Asparagus is just a tiny, tiny part of our family farm today.

For anyone interested in my ongoing attempt to grow a few strawberries in my front yard, I have news to relate. We were able to relocate one of the pesky chipmunks who last year ate practically ALL of my strawberries! We are getting a few berries to snack on this spring. I sure hope those little guys are territorial and no other chipmunks find out about my puny patch–then again, they probably have an app indicating where tasty treats are located! Wildlife–gotta love them; but can relocate them! Today I caught an opossum in my Have-Heart-Trap. I am reasonably sure he has not been the critter eating my strawberries, however. And yes, that is a sticker weed growing near my berry plants!

CSA Shares are available.  Now is the time to sign up if you have been procrastinating!

 

Look at the difference just one week can make– these spring onions are practically growing before our eyes!!

Much progress is being made in the garden.  Look closely and perhaps you can see the seven foot deer fence mounted to the white poles which surround the entire Spring Garden. It is there! The fence is difficult for humans to see. However, the deer can see it quite well and know they are to stay away. A windy day causes it to bellow in and out which makes it appear even more menacing to our Dear Pests.

Your farmer, Robert, is a well-oiled machine. I and everyone else are amazed at how rapidly he is able to plan and plant the gardens. It is not easy labor. If you have any doubts, make arrangements to come over on a 80 degree day and see for yourself!

Today’s overcast weather is absolutely perfect for getting the plants into the soil. Tomorrow is supposed to bring the same. We are pleased! The drip irrigation is operating. Look closely and you can see the damp, dark spots around the plants in the row to the right of the farmer. Our future salads!  I adore Salad Season!!

We do not know yet when the CSA will begin. We will wait until we can prepare a “decent” first box with a good variety of greens. I am guessing about two weeks. Each CSA Member will get a direct call or email when the time for their first box pickup arrives. I will try to give as much notice as possible so your ‘fridge is not full of “store-bought” vegetables. The veggies will be smaller and the total weight lighter in the first box, but these crops grow daily as you will see by your second farm fresh veggie delivery.

If you love veggies and the thrill of edible surprises in your CSA Box, join our family farm for the 2018 Harvest Season! CSA Farm Shares are available.

And yes, the summer gardens prep is also underway. Robert is a fantastic multi-tasker as you will see!

 

 

Hundreds–make that thousands!–of plants have been going into the garden soil this week. The deer fence will be in place before the end of this weekend.

There are still thousands more in the greenhouse awaiting their turn to move outside and acclimate to the real world. Once this planting process begins, we count empty trays as a sign of progress. Each tray holds fifty plants!

A great deal of Matcha Green Tea energy is required to power the Farmer through this planting process. Now grow plants grow! Below are red kale transplants with drip irrigation line running down the middle of the row.

 

We have not transplanted to the garden the plants which we started in the greenhouse. They are outside getting acclimated to the real world, but we have deemed it prudent to slide them into the garage a couple of nights recently. We see no need to risk frost on the tender leaves. We learned long ago that Mother Nature can never be rushed!

Meanwhile, things are being accomplished in the first garden. Drip tape is being laid for the irrigation which we may or may not need this season–still one must be prepared! The fabric is being placed between the rows to keep down the weeds and provide a clean working space. The bean fence has been erected on the far left side.

Eventually there will be a seven foot tall deer fence surrounding the entire Spring Garden. We know from past experience the deer like lettuce, greens, peas and beans the best, so we always fence in these crops. And yes, many of these rows have been direct seeded. The plants from the greenhouse will grow quickly once they get their roots into the soil!

Join us for the 2018 Harvest Season! CSA Farm Shares are available.

I love this season of renewal. Flowers are popping up all over the yard, the tree leaves are budding, the birds are chirping and busy building nests–if only we could stop the weeds from growing at the same time! Those weeds have a mind of their own. They grow everywhere there is a bit of sunlight, of course. Still how do they know that if they entangle themselves with a plant I love and encourage, they will have a better chance of survival? I see this too many times to believe this entanglement is random!

Things are busy here on the farm. We have been watching the weather forecasts carefully and thus far have only planted onions, beets, carrots, potatoes and such into the gardens. The first spring greens, lettuces, broccoli, and cauliflower, etc. are out of the greenhouse and acclimating to the real world. However, we are waiting until after this weekend’s weather event passes before moving them into the gardens. They are beginning to outgrow their starter cells and will grow quickly once we get them into the soil. We do not start the CSA until we have a variety of veggies for our CSA Member’s boxes. More news later on the starting date.

We are in the process of covering all of the gardens we will be using with fabric and plants and seeds. Here is a recent drone shot. Some sections will have a seasonal cover crop. This is just a “second in time.” It is the beginning! Considering the inevitably messy state the gardens at the end of the season, it is refreshing for us to see it pristine–even if just for a brief moment. The soil has been resting all winter and is ready to provide its miracles!

CSA Farm Shares are available. If you have been procrastinating, now is the time to join for the 2018 Harvest Season. We add shares mid-season only if the harvest yields allow.

EFSA: Home kitchen hygiene crucial to fight foodborne illness

By News Desk | February 13, 2018

Relatively minor gastrointestinal illnesses can be serious, even fatal, for people from risk groups including small children, pregnant women, very old people or people with weakened immune systems, prompting a reminder that kitchen hygiene is of vital importance.

In an effort to reduce the number of foodborne infections, the Member States of the European Union submit data on foodborne outbreaks every year to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The agency reports that food consumed in private homes was the source of 40 percent of the European outbreaks in 2016.

The recently released EFSA report on zoonoses — diseases that can be transmitted to humans from animals — and foodborne outbreaks in Europe in 2016 showed that 205 of the 521 “strong-evidence” outbreaks were caused by the consumption of food in private households. The next highest category were outbreaks caused by food in restaurants, etc., with 133 identified. Communal catering facilities, such as lunchrooms in schools, nursing homes and hospitals were found to be responsible for 87 outbreaks.

Outbreak investigations showed that the major sources of disease were meat and meat products, in particular poultry meat, which accounted for 126 outbreaks. Mixed food and buffet meals were responsible for 85 outbreaks, eggs and egg products for 72 outbreaks, fish and fisheries for 70 outbreaks, and milk and milk products for 45 outbreaks.

Although vegetables, fruits, cereals, sprouted seeds, herbs and spices and their products made a much less significant contribution to the outbreak situation in Europe with a total of 34 outbreaks, they should not be ignored, according tot the report..

Overall, Salmonella was the dominant pathogen reported by the EU Member States.

The risk of food-borne infections can be minimized through consistent compliance with the rules of good kitchen hygiene, according to the report.

(To sign up for a free subscription to Food Safety News, click here.)

© Food Safety News

 

Your CSA Farmer says:  Do not fret!  Just read the previous Blog Entry .