FARM NOTES: Wednesday, July 25, 2018.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Coordinator: Mike Rabinowitz Contact Us Before 5:00 pm. House Phone: 895-2884. Leave Message
Pick-UP Places and Time: 6 – 6:30 Mun Science Building Parking Lot
or Organic Farm: 5:30 – 7:30; other days by appointment.
Cell Phone on Pick-Up days: 709 749-2884. ( 6 – 6:30 only) .
Farm Notes will be short and sweet this week. Too much going on to settle down to writing! If you are a new Veggie member or haven’t read the previous issues of Farm News and Farm Notes that are posted, you may want to skim through the three first issues to get caught up and learn more about Who is Who on the Farm. For example, Rachel, our Apprentice this season is writing a free lance journal type of article and also managing Face Book. I am The Little Red Hen who helped Mike register the farm as a partnership almost 40 years ago and have helped around the edges, with everything from soup to nuts and in-between. My health started to slide in 2008; I have had several falls over the 9 years, resulting in a concussion and broken jaw and last spring/ 2017, I fell in Arizona and broke my hip; am slowly recovering walking and being outdoors but am still more an observer than doer. I ride around farm on the golf cart Mike bought and see all of the things that need to be done. In addition to the greenhouse and field crops, I see things which need to leave the farm in some form – re-cycling, habitat re-store, Salvation Army or Robin Hood Bay. So far, I have been able to schedule several exciting off-farm excursions from my Princess Look-Out on the Golf Cart. Oz, our son squeezes these runs in between deliveries to restaurants, the Kent Gardening Centres where we sell plants and other errands. One day, I ask why the little blue pull cart we bought at Princess Auto last year was lying on its side in front of the shed for weeks. A staff person helped with a more thorough investigation. We learned the wheels needed several screws; in fact, when we looked at two other limping carts/ also blue and from Princess Auto, they too, had some missing bolts and screws. That was the day I appointed myself, Director of Loose Screws.
Today, most of our in-farm and across farm communication is texting and a Google Cloud, but not in those days. For the first twenty years, the farm notes were printed in-house and slipped into the Veggie bags. I will write Farm Notes occasionally and hope Rachel picks up the slack with her columns.
Wash Me, Please. In our early days, the Sous Chef, Dave Thoms from the Sheratan Hotel made regular visits to the farm, to look over the seed catalogues and advise us on the veggies he was interested in buying. He introduced us to edible flowers, ever bearing strawberries like the ones he was shipping in from Halifax in the off season. Soon, the Organic Farm became know for its edible flowers, sprouts and micro greens. One was freshly picked lettuce varieties which he and Louis, our son began to introduce. He also convinced us that providing fresh, washed lettuce that could go directly into salads was a highly desirable product for restaurants. We took his advice and started offering washed, ready to eat lettuce. This increased sales; washed lettuce mix was in high demand; not only for restaurants but Farmers Market and the CSA. Over time, we stopped washing lettuce; we realized the labour costs were beyond the price anyone wanted to pay; also, the unwashed salad mix will keep for up to a week, refrigerated. While we were making this decision, other farmers were coming to the same conclusion. Over a period of time, five to ten years, several different varieties of salad lettuces begin to appear in seed catalogue. These are usually seeds for whole heads of lettuce that fall loosely into a salad mix; we lift the lettuce “heads” carefully with two hands from the bottom roots, handle them with clean hands, letting the leaves fall loose on their own. This is why you may find a speck of clean, organic dirt among outside leaves or a tiny, baby slug or two. Do not wash! Refrigerate and leave lettuce mix in the bag until the day you are making the salad. It will stay fresh for days. We use the same salad mix for the house; sometimes, it keeps for weeks in the refrigerator. The day you plan to make a salad, remove the lettuce head or pieces tenderly, loosen the leaves from the bottom and tear away, one by one. Dip leaves in cold water for a few minutes or hold under facet and rinse, removing any tattered lettuce edges or unwanted wild life. Tear or cut as desired; lay on a paper towel to drip/dry or use a salad spinner.
Drying herbs: Lessons Learned. There is information galore on drying fresh herbs on the Internet these days. The Veggie group got lots of herbs and ideas about managing them one year because we had an over supply of herbs. For a number of years, we seeded herbs for Dominion and delivered big orders into the Industrial Park on Sunday evenings for delivery on Mondays. This arrangement was suddenly discontinued. The national office made a corporate decision to ship herbs to all the stores across Canada from one source/BC. The CSA members were flooded with herbs; some were overwhelmed with too much parsley or sage, etc. I sent out material with suggestions for drying. One was to spread the herbs on a paper towel placed on top of the micro-wave for a few days, turning them as needed. Valerie reported that her herbs ( maybe parsley) was looking good and she was pleased with herself – but she forgot to tell her husband. One day she wrote that her herbs had disappeared. Upon further investigation, she learned that her husband had thrown them in the compost because he felt she was being careless and had let the herbs ruin.
Garlic Scapes. I am from Tennessee and never heard of garlic scapes although my Dad kept a garlic patch near the house. This is another exciting discovery we learned several years ago from a garlic farmer in Ontario. Garlic Scapes are high on the list of restaurant orders this time of year. We use garlic scapes in soups, salads, and stir fry. My favourite way is a Frittata, quick, easy and more interesting than the age old omelet. Google: garlic scape Frittata from the Cedar Mt. Farm video on making garlic scapes; also, shrimp scampi with garlic scapes. Their video is a little wordy but a good place to start if this is your first time cooking with scapes.
Zucchini Coming Soon. We had our first “mess” of zucchini last evening; It was from the greenhouse and not really as much as I would have liked for six people gathered around the table for supper. The zucchini came from the greenhouse and has been producing more slowly than we hoped. But Get Ready! Eventually, there will be enough to share even though the two bags groups may be blessed at different times and ways. Meanwhile, you can look up our favourite Zucchini recipe in the farm recipe file. It is Zucchini with Monterrey Jack Cheese. Keep a look out for MJ Cheese as sometimes it is hard to find. When we were in Tucson, where we go in the winter from mid-November to mid-April, Zucchini, Monterrey Jack and Pepper Jack Cheese was plentiful. Try about half and half if it is available.
Damaged Radishes. Rachel brought in a large refrigerated of tub of radishes, sliced and ready to eat. They had been trimmed to remove any parts that were conspicuous with insect damage. She and her friends took them with them on their picnic to Bell Island. Same Advice this week. Trim out the damaged section, no matter how large or tiny and use the rest. Please, please, do not put the whole radish in the compost because of the part with insect damage. We have radish pieces in our house salad every night. Use the salvaged radish pieces in your salads or nibble them while you work in the kitchen and be thankful for your good luck.
WHAT’S HAPPENING OFF THE FARM? Two big events in the “City.”
Grand Opening: St. John’s “Community Market” at Empire and Freshwater, home of St. John’s Farmers Market/ Saturday, July 21s. The weather was wonderful. I haven’t’ heard yet the actual numbers but it seemed like most of the population of St. John’s was there. Rachel drove me in and helped me down the steps from the upper parking lot. I went to visit/see the Organic Farm vendor set-up. My main concern was if our booth was in the shade. It was! Oz our son, who manages our sales, seemed in good spirits. My guess is half of our CSA members were at the market. I met a few. I am a member of the farmers’ committee; we are interested in any and all feed-back. Send to me or the market manager.
Folk Festival coming up the first week-end of August. We are helping Toby, my daughter review her wares; she has a table in the Newfoundland and Labrador Craft Council tent. Try to stop her booth and say hello! She will be selling art cards, shirts, beads, hand made pendants and small figurines. Also Bead stringing for children. !!!
How you can help SJFM! The SJFM Market is a cooperative, managed by a volunteer Board of Directors, who have done the fund raising and planning and development through board committees which is an amazing achievement!!! See SJFM Website for how you can become a volunteer and a member of the SJFM Cooperative.
Please send in your feedback and recipes for sharing.
The Little Red Hen of the Organic Farm
July 25, 2018
