Farm News

The hot and dry days of summer are back. One thing that became painfully obvious last year was that irrigation needed to be a high priority at Fort Hill Farm. Our sandy soils dry out very quickly, so even if it rains every 3 or 4 days we are smiling here at the farm, while other farmers and gardeners can’t get into their fields. The bad news with a situation like that is that this time of year it can be hard to keep the crops cool and well watered. We are fortunate that our new well is performing adequately. We have rigged up sprinklers and drip tape to irrigate all our fields, and for the last few days have been irrigating nearly around the clock as we try to wet down new plantings and seedings and keep larger plants growing well.

Even though it cuts into harvesting, planting, and weeding time, I actually enjoy irrigating. I feel like it’s a circus act sometimes. Tara carefully drives the Case tractor down the row pulling our second hand pipe wagon, and Michael and I swing pipe off the moving wagon and lay them between the crop rows. Then we connect the pipes to the well pump, fill them with water, and sit back and enjoy the show. The ‘Rainbird’ sprinklers spout air and blobs of water until the line preasurizes, and then fan out to a 40 foot arc of water. Sometimes I like to just sit in the grass and watch them spin. It’s really pretty mesmerizing, and it makes me feel good to see the crops getting water. And just maybe I also need to get a hobby or something!

It also makes me realize just how much water growing crops need. In the northeast, we are blessed with abundant (if somewhat spotty) rainfall. So our aquifers are recharged by spring and fall rains. In the western states like California or Arizona, where most of our produce comes from, quite a different situation exists. Arid fields are irrigated by rivers fed from snow melt from distant mountains, or water is pumped from aquifers that are often being depleted faster than rainfall can recharge them. Our demands on this water currently surpass nature’s capacity to replenish it. One striking result of our thirst for water is that the Colorado river, the mighty torrent that carved the Grand Canyon, no longer makes it to the Pacific Ocean. Instead it ends in a muddy swamp some several hundred yards from the sea, after it has been diverted by thirsty states for municipal and agricultural use. I hope we will learn to use our precious water resources wisely before we find ourselves in a water debt we can’t repay.

For the Fort Hill Farm crew,

Paul

In the box this week:

Red Leaf Lettuce Napa Cabbage

Spinach Garlic scapes

Strawberries Kohlrabi

Snow peas

What do I do with it?

Basil: Great for pesto sauce to put over pasta, or in tomato dishes. I ran out of room on the newsletter for a pesto recipe but they are easy to find. Store in the fridge (make sure its not too cold), do not wash until ready to use.

Spinach: This is some good stuff. Better for cooking than for salads at this size. Saute some chopped up garlic scapes in oil, then throw in spinach leaves (whole), wilt the whole thing down, squeeze on some lemon juice, saute, and enjoy. Soak in the sink and wash thouroghly, our ‘crinkly’ savoy spinach traps an amazing amoint of soil in the leaves.

Garlic scapes: These are the flower buds from our hard neck garlic. Everything but the thin ‘whip’ at the end is edible. Great in stir fry, steamed, or sauté. Can replace garlic in many recipes. Once you’ve tried these you will love them. They store for weeks in the fridge crisper drawer. We will have them for the next few weeks.

Napa cabbage (or Chinese) cabbage. Great in stir fry or shredded for cole slaw, see recipes below. Will store for at least 2 weeks in your fridge.

Kohlrabi: Our weird veggie of the week. I love this stuff, just peel it, slice it and eat it, with or without some dip or in salads. You can cook with it, though I usually just munch on it raw while I am in the field. Great mild ‘broccoli’ flavor, but sweet. Greens can be cooked as well.

Snow peas: are just coming in, only a few for each share this week. Great in stir fry.

Next week’s box:

Probably kale, lettuce, radishes, broccoli raab (this time I mean it), snap peas, and garlic scapes.

Recipes:

Paul’s Stir Fry Vegetables

-Chop a hunk of peeled ginger, and 3 or 4 cloves of garlic or a handful of garlic scapes

-Chop your veg and separate by crunch factor: hard veg (carrots, etc), medium veg (Chinese cabbage, broccoli, ect), and leafy veg (greens, spinach, chard, etc). Sometimes stems go in one category and leaves in another, use your judgement.

-Pour enough peanut oil to cover the bottom of your wok, add a shot of seasame oil. Add hard veggies, oil sould immediately sizzle. Saute hard veg. Add ginger and garlic. Continue to stir. Add medium veggies. When tender, add sauce. When sauce bubbles, add leafy veggies, cook until wilted. Serve over rice. You can also prepare meat or tofu ahead of time, and then add with the leafy veg.

-Sauce (approx. measures)

¼ cup tamari sauce (soy sauce ok but it is salty)

¼ cup vegetable stock

¼ cup water

1 tsp corn starch

1 tsp brown sugar

Chinese Cabbage Cole Slaw

Printed from cooks.com

4 c. shredded Napa cabbage

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

1/2 c. olive oil

2 tbsp. tarragon Vinegar

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

Paprika

Put the cabbage and onion into a serving bowl. In a small bowl, mix together the olive oil, vinegar, sugar and salt. Pour over the cabbage. Mix well. Sprinkle the top with paprika. Serves four