My Love of Tomatoes

Well,the tomatoes are starting to ripen. This is pretty exciting for me, because, although I raise a mix of produce, I really consider myself a tomato person. I consider it my true medium. You won't find too many in the box this week, because the first week is always a "hunt and peck" operation where I have to search high and low just to get a half case. But once they start going, it becomes an avalanche pretty quick.

So, what's so great about tomatoes you ask? There's a number of things.

• I like the huge variety of tomatoes. We grow 13-15 varieties-which seems like a lot-but it's absolutely endless. Even the names are good: Sungold, Green Zebra, and-my favorite-Nebraska Wedding (isn't that just a great name for a tomato?).
• I like endless tastes of tomatoes and how they change from season to season. Tomatoes are the closest thing we have to grapes around here. Considering on the soil, climate, weather, you get different tastes...terroir for you foodsnobs out there :) A real dry year produces vibrant sweet flavors. We've definitely had the heat, but we've been a bit wet, so let's see on taste this year.
• I like harvesting tomatoes. Things like carrots are just some you go out and harvest-there's no allure-but tomatoes are like a gold digging expedition. I crawl around under this big canopy of foliage, prospecting for big tomatoes, colorful tomatoes, ones with crazy shapes and so on. It's also a big harvest, which I have to approach as "hitting it hard" when the time comes, like a fisherman in high season. It's a great feeling pulling cases upon cases into the packing shed.

So, let the season begin. I can't think of a greater sign of high summer season!

In the box:

A smattering of tomatoes (Orange cherry ones are called Sungold, some small Taxi tomatoes)

Lettuce (Greenleaf, Redleaf, or both)

Beets (A bit on the small side, but I just couldn't wait any longer)

Red Norland Potatoes

Small Red Marble onion(s)

Native Gem Sweet Corn

Red Express Cabbage or Stonehead Green Cabbage

Lacinato Kale aka Dino Kale

Bunch of Carrots

Cucumbers

Kale Potato Soup

From "Simply in Season"

More of an Autumnal recipe, but would work well for this box.

1 bunch kale, chopped and steamed. Set aside.

1 T. butter

1 large onion

1 clove garlic, minced

Melt butter in soup pot. Add onion and saute until golden. Add garlic, saute another minute.

2 large potatoes, diced

2 cups hot water or broth

Add, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are soft. Remove half of the cooked potatoes, puree the rest with the cooking liquid and return to the soup pot. Return reserved potatoes and steamed kale to soup pot.

3 cups water or broth

1/2 t. salt or to taste

pepper to taste

Add along with additional hot water or milk to preferred consistency. Heat gently until hot.

Growing with Three Kids

Our third child, Graham (look left), was born this April with much to-do. I'm still not sure his birth fit into the growing season well or not. It was good that he came before too much fieldwork got going, but it got us off our game a bit at the beginning of the season when getting on top of things is really important.

I'm often asked how we actually operate Lida Farm with now three kids and myself with a full-time job. And the only way to explain it is teamwork. Maree and I learned a while ago that both of us trying to do work outside just makes our marriage suffer because we are always arguing about who's "turn" it is to hold the crying baby or catch a kid before he or she drives their trike into the township road. So, we do a constant trade off. When I get home from work, Mar is often in the mood to get away from kids, so I watch them and make dinner as she works outside. Then she does the same for me on other nights and on harvest days. A definite balancing act!

In the box:

Stonehead green cabbage

Broccoli

Silver Rose Garlic

Small amount of braising mix (mix of greens bound with a rubber band)

Arugula (oakleaf-looking green that has a peanut-y taste)

Parsley

Red Norland Potatoes

Chives (to go with the potatoes)

Yellow beans

Summer squash mix (some zucchini, some yellow)

Arugula Pesto

From How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

2 cups arugula, washed and dried

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 T. walnuts or pine nuts, lightly toasted

salt and pepper to taste

Remove any tough stems from the arugula. Place it in a food processor or blender with the garlic, nuts, salt and pepper.

Add a 1/4 cup olive oil and pulse a few times. With motor running add additional olive oil to make a creamy sauce. Use within a day. Goes well with grilled chicken or shrimp.

Hail!

Seems like every year I write at least one "disaster" entry. For this season, our biggest disaster came Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. We had hail, serious rain, and a massive wind. Yes, this definately affects the plants, but, on the good side, this came at a pretty good time (if there is one). This is the time of year when tomatoes are not only small and green, but also hidden under a lot of foliage, so it will leave some pitting, but won't leave bid open sores on the fruit. If tomatoes were orange, ripening to red, it would be terrible.

Not that there's no issue with hail.

You will probably notice some holes in the Napa cabbage leaves and maybe some dents. The chicks in the new lean-to also got a bit wet through the whole ordeal too, so I had to carry a few under the heat lamps to get them going again.

FYI: Member workday this Sunday at 2 pm at the farm. This isn't anything mandatory, but if you'd like to get your hands dirty a bit, see the farm, and pull some weeds, please come. I promise to find something for you to do. We'll probably go til 4 or 5, so come for what you can.

In the box:

Napa cabbage

Cauliflower (not the best...it's a bit purple from the heat and sun, otherwise just fine).

Cukes

Summer Squash (the yellow variety called Sunburst and you'd use the same way as Zucchini)

Fennel

Green Beans

Green kale

Bunch of Carrots

Greek Fennel Skillet

(from Simply in Season)

2 cloves garlic (crushed or minced)

In a medium skillet saute in 2T olive oil for 1 minute

2 medium fennel bulbs (the white part of the fennel plant)

1 large onion

Add and saute until tender, 5-10 minutes

1 T lemon juice

3 medium tomatoes (chopped)

Add and cook over medium heat until part of the liquid evaporates, 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.

1 1/2 cups feta cheese (crumbled) or mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup black olives (optional)

Stir in.

Mar and I gave this a try last season and really liked it. We served over crusty Italian bread, although it would work over pasta too.

Weird Produce in a CSA Box

What can I say? I strive to go long on the standard veggies, but what would a CSA be without a little surprise? You know when you open your box and find some real oddball veggie you need a botanical guide to identify.

Members often tell me this is part of what they like about CSA, although too many surprises tends to scare some people away. Still, I think you trying to hit a curveball every now and then is probably good for you...when you get that bulb of fennel in your box here in July, I hope you approach it as an adventure to reach out for that cookbook you never look at and try something new. I'm just as bad as anyone, making those dishes I've always done, but it's good to get out of my rut too.

I was thinking about this today when I was out picking fava beans. I have to confess I've never grown these or eaten these in my life, so they are a grand experiment. We had to do a little research to get a general jist to prepare them, especially since you just have a few. A simple way to use your fava beans is to shell them, boil the beans (just a few minutes), remove skin, and toss with olive oil and lemon juice and serve with a sharp cheese like pecorino or parmesan. Otherwise, you're on your own-good luck!

In the box:

English Peas (the ones you need to shell)

Deep Purple Scallions

Broccoli

Kohlrabi (these could also be added to recipe below)

Parsley

Fresh Mint (stuff that look like a weed)

Fava Beans (big monster beans):

1-2 little cucumbers (just a taste, but the first of the season!)

Black Spanish Onions (see recipe below)

Salad Mix

A bit of Spinach (every week for 4 weeks...are you tired of this yet?)

Raspberries (for some)

RADISH SLAW

This could also be good without the cabbage.

2-3 black Spanish radishes, scrubbed and grated
3 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 cup coarsely grated carrots, any color
1/2 cup thinly sliced green or red onion
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, cilantro, or mint leaves

In a bowl toss together the radishes, the cabbage, the carrots, the onion, the lemon juice, the sugar, the oil, the herb, and salt and pepper to taste.

Farming in June

June's a tough month in market gardening.

The guy I used to work for would always say, "If you have a good June, you'll have a good season." Sitting here in my 7th season after being an apprentice, I would have to agree.

June and into July is the only time of the year when a grower has all major activities going on at once: cultivating/weeding, planting, and harvesting. It's a tough balancing act, because, you can get sidelined concentrating on one and do a bad job on another. So, spending too much time on pulling weeds and hoeing and you may just forget about that second planting of beans or putting in cabbage or cauliflower for the fall. Or Thursday rolls around, and, although you have potatoes that need hilling and beets in need of weeding, you have to spend half a day picking strawberries and peas. Yep, it's a balancing act.

So, Ryan, how was June? Well, plantings are on and harvesting is going well, but those weeds are getting fierce. Good thing we have a long 4th of July weekend to do battle with them.

In the box:

Kohlrabi

Basil

Snap Peas (edible pod)

Red Oakleaf Lettuce

Strawberries

Spinach

Deep Purple Scallions

Some get Raspberries (others are coming in the next couple weeks)

Recipe: Ginger Stir-Fried Snap Peas and Fish Maree is reading this book called the "Art of Eating in" and the author has this website where she's posting some pretty interesting recipes.

Ducks in the Garden

Growing is all about the unexpected and usually the unexpected is a bad thing.

The other day my neighbor told me that my ducks were eating my lettuce and I thought "oh, they're probably eating that old bed of salad mix...what can they really do?" Well, I found out when I went out there today to find two little ducks had eaten about half of the head lettuce out there and I caught them red handed doing it!

Now I've read that ducks are good to have around a place like ours because they are supposed to eat potato bugs, but I've yet to see any truth to that. Instead, they are more like farm saboteurs than f'arm helpers.

Honestly, if you or someone you know would like to adopt these ducks, let me know soon. Otherwise their lives will be cut pretty short.

In the box:

Strawberries

Snow Peas

Spinach

Head Lettuce (either green oakleaf, red boston, or romaine)

Radishes (standard cherry belle or french breakfast-the ones which look like bobbers

Braising Mix (bunch with a mix of greens-weird purple one, mustard greens, kale): see recipe below

Spicy Braised Greens from the food network (http://www.foodnetwork.com)

(note: you probably didn't receive as much as a lb, so adjust accordingly).

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 pound turkey bacon, diced
• 1 cup sliced yellow onion
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 pound collard, mustard, or beet green leaves, or a combination
• 2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Heat a large, 12-inch saute pan over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil to the pan, and when hot, add the bacon in the pan and cook, stirring often, until the bacon is well browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the onions to the pan and cook, stirring often, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Add the greens to the pan and cook, stirring frequently, for about 1 minute. Add the water and salt and bring the liquid to a boil. Cover the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until the greens are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove the lid, and raise the heat to medium-high, and continue to cook until most of the liquid has reduced, about 5 minutes. Taste and re-season the greens if necessary.

CSA Season is Starting

Welcome to the 2010 Lida Farm CSA season! This is our 5th season operating a CSA in the Pelican Rapids area, so we should know what we're doing at this point!

If you've come to this blog looking for news from the farm this spring and past winter, you've been sadly disappointed since I write little in the off season. But now that produce is coming in expect an entry every week about the going-ons at the farm, what's in season and in the CSA box, and my general musings about small farms and the like. We also highlight a recipe each week which features a veggie in season.

Overall spring has been good as we get ourselves organized for summer. Spring is a time we ramp up on projects we just can't pull off in July or August when we get on a treadmill of plant, harvest, wash and repeat.

For example, This year we offered a chicken share where people pre-arranged whole broilers which we'll deliver late summer or early fall. Now that we've promised all these people some 250 chickens, we actually need to raise them. Part of that is giving them a place to live, so my carpenter father-in-law Don and I have been diligently building a lean-to off the side of our woodshed (mainly Don...he's the professional. I just haul tools and stuff for him). It still needs some tin for the roof, but the hard part is done we hope. As you can see from the picture, the lean-to juts into our pasture, so, when the chicks arrive they will have easy and free access to grass and pasture.

In the box:

Salad Mix

Napa Cabbage

Spinach

Baby Bok Choy

Strawberries

Daikon Radish

Catalina Dressing

Taken from the U of M nutrition program that Maree teaches at Pelican Rapids Elementary

Ingredients:

2/3 cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)

1/2 cup sugar or equivalent sugar substitute

2/3 cup ketchup

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

Mix all ingredients well. Store in refrigerator.

Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons