Jen and Derek's Farm Fresh Veggies: 5th CSA Week


Veggies!!

What a wild weather day. It started off pretty good but very windy. Around 10ish it started to cloud over and Sally and I put the rush on to finish up harvesting. At 11:00 we started the last thing on the list, the carrots. The skies opened and sheets of rain along with high winds showed up. We both got soaked and rain gear was in the truck and at the house so we just kept on working. The insides of my rubber boots were absolutely soaked from the water running down my legs. Finished up the carrots in record time and headed back to the wash station to try and get them clean. They were really dirty so you might find a bit more dirt than usual.

The pick-up went pretty smooth tonight, so nice to see all your lovely faces!! I even got a bottle of dilled carrots, so yippie!!! This weeks large share had romaine lettuce, dill, beets, carrots, green onions, broccoli, red cabbage, zucchini, spinach and radishes. The grab box had cilantro, basil, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi and more of the above mentioned veggies. I was worried the boxes would look small this week but I think they were a nice variety. Somewhere along the day today I lost my veggie list which shows what veggies the large and small share are getting and I could not remember everything on the list so when it was time to pack I had to go on memory and at 2:00 on Tuesday afternoon I've realised is not the time for "memory exercises"!!

Here are a few recipes that my friend Sandie gave me which uses up spinach and kale.

Green monster smoothie
1 cup milk (almond or soy if wanting vegan)
1 ripe banana, peeled and frozen
2 handfuls spinach
1 Tbs chia seeds of 1Tbs ground flax
1 Tbs nut butter (almond/peanut)
1-3ice cubes

Add ingredients to blender in the following order: Milk, chia/flax and nut butter. Next, add spinach, then banana. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and blend some more. Options: 1/2 cup blueberries, kale, pineapple.

Kale slaw with Red cabbage and carrot
1. In a small bowl, whisk 1 Tbsp olive oil, 1 Tbsp dijon mustard, and 1 tsp apple cider vinegar. Season with coarse salt and pepper.
2. In another bowl, combine 3 cups shredded kale and red cabbage, 1 peeled and julienned carrots, 1/4cup fresh parsley leaves (I think dill or cilantro would most likely work too), 2 Tbsp diced red onion, and 2 Tbsp each sunflower, hemp and pumpkin seeds.
3. Season with coarse salt and pepper, drizzle with dressing and toss to coat.

I am really hoping for more rain tonight. What we got this morning was awesome but a nice steady rain alright would be even better. Things are growing really well and I"m so pleased with how the tomatoes and peppers are looking. We have been spending alot of time trellising the tomatoes both in the greenhouse and in the garden. We have a few early varieties that are doing really well which we are super excited about. After last years tomato disaster I am really hoping for a bounty of tomatoes!! And peppers too.

We are spending alot of time on the weekends weeding but thankfully its getting more and more by tractor and less with hoes. We are still finding alot of hand weeding in the carrot rows and those determined lambsquarters are proving to be a real pain. They grow really fast and turn into "trees" in no time. You can go through the rows and think you've gotten them all and then the next weekend they are all back, but its just the small ones that were hiding the first time, grrrrr!!! But in reality the garden is doing really good and the weed pressure is mostly under control.

So, someone asked me tonight what I do for fun? Well, I would say that working is fun, most would disagree but I honestly love getting up early on the weekend and knowing I"m going to be weeding/trellising/thinning/whatever all day. I really enjoy having a big to do list and scratching off items as they get completed.

Evidence of a good time working - Tomato pruning fingers

But you can't work all the time right? So, Derek bought a bike a few weeks back, its a dual sport (street/trail) and its awesome. Let's just say it was Derek who bought the bike and I did not have any say in it!! I might not have been happy at first but I have seen the light!! I have never had any desire to ride a bike but after my first ride I was hooked. I even bought my own helmet on the weekend. So, that is what we've been doing for fun these last few weeks. Derek has been taking it to work every day and I try and grab a ride a few times/week. Good times.


This farm girl just wants to have a little fun!!

Dad and I went for an adventure on Sunday night, we were a wild pair!!

It was such a pretty ride


Dad and I coming out of the wicked trail in the woods we went through on the weekend, it was amazing

Not sure what they are doing here but Ben is wearing his super man shirt so he's probley being a super hero going to save the weeds from Mommy's hoe!!