Sunday, 18 June 2017

Week 4 Newsletter 2017


June 16, 2017
Week 4

Here are some of the items you may be receiving in your delivery this week:
Purple Radish, Rhubarb, Red Kitten Spinach, Scarlet Kale, “Ella Kropf” Head Lettuce, “Bunte Forellenschuss” Head Lettuce, “Yugoslavian Red” Head Lettuce and Oregano

Hello Everyone,

Quite the heat wave we had earlier in the week. I was worried our cool loving greens were going to bolt in the heat. We gave them a bunch of extra water and kept black window screening on them for shade. The red kitten spinach pulled through especially well. One of our favourites not only for its beautiful red stems but for it’s tender taste.

For these lovely spring greens I enjoy making my basic salad dressing:
1 part olive oil
1 part balsamic vinegar
A dollop of Dijon mustard
Flavouring (Optional)

Mix everything together in a mug or jar. The mustard helps bind the oil and vinegar together so they don’t separate. You can use any type of mustard or vinegar. Use your favourite and experiment! For flavouring I love to use raspberry jelly but you can use chopped oregano, jams etc. 
Have fun and create your own unique recipe.

Your Farmer,

Amber

Saturday, 10 June 2017

Week 3 Vegetable Delivery 2017


June 9, 2017
Week 3

Here are some of the items you may be receiving in your delivery this week:
French Breakfast Radish, Arugula, Lovage, Rhubarb, Mustard Greens, Red Russian Kale, “Ella Kropf” Head Lettuce, “Bunte Forellenschuss” Head Lettuce, “Yugoslavian Red” Head Lettuce

Hello Everyone,

This is the last week for radishes for a while. The arugula seems to be hanging in but with the huge changes daily in temperature the plants are suffering from the stress and going to seed before reaching full maturity. I am hopeful to get one more week from the rhubarb. The amount of amazing recipes I’m finding for this early “fruit” from the garden has been so yummy, I’m thinking of starting its own board on my Pinterest.
Here’s a couple of my favourite:
And

This week we have Mustard Greens and Red Russian Kale, both wonderful sautéed as a side dish. Lovage has arrived. This is a large herb with a celery/parsley flavour. It can be used for soup, butter, flavoured salt, and vinegar. It’s very easy to dry, simply hang upside down and then crumble the leaves into a mason jar to use as a dried spice. The Lovage, Carmelized Onion and Potato Fritata recipe featured in the Wall Street Journal is super delicious:

Lovage, Caramelized-Onion and Potato Frittata
Potatoes and lovage are a natural pairing. Here, onions cooked to a dark brown balance the herb's pungency with caramelized sweetness.
Total Time: 45 minutes Serves: 8
Lovage, caramelized-onion and potato frittata JAMES RANSOM FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY ANNA KOVEL, PROP STYLING BY LIZ ADLER
Ingredients
6 small potatoes (about ½ pound)
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, smashed
4 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon lovage leaves, chopped, plus additional for garnish
What To Do
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Rub potatoes with 1 tablespoon oil. Place on a baking sheet and roast 30 minutes. When potatoes are cool enough to handle, slice thinly crosswise. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, in a 9-inch nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons each oil and butter over medium heat. Add 1 clove garlic and cook until beginning to brown, about 2 minutes. Add onions and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté, stirring often, until darkly caramelized, 10-15 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove garlic and discard. Remove onion mixture from pan and set aside.
3. Preheat broiler to high. In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Stir in potatoes, onions and chopped lovage, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Rinse and dry skillet. Place skillet over medium heat and add remaining butter and oil. When butter begins to foam, reduce heat to lowest possible setting. Add egg mixture and cook until set and only top surface of frittata is runny, 10-15 minutes. Set skillet under broiler until top is just set and only lightly browned, 30-60 seconds. Loosen edges of frittata with a spatula and slide onto a platter. Sprinkle with chopped lovage. Serve warm or at room temperature.

This week has been difficult on the farm starting Saturday. We came back from staying the night in the city to be told by a neighbor that a hail storm had come through. Thankfully the greenhouse seems to have survived alright but the field took quite a beating. All the broccoli, Brussel sprouts, spinach, baby swiss chard, peas and nasturtiums I had planted were shredded. I am restarting everything and hope that the fall will find us enjoying it all. Broccoli and definitely Brussels sprouts take quite a while to grow so we will see.

The longer hours due to also having a part time job have been pushing my body to the limit. School is over for us at the end of the month where I will be able to fully focus during the day on the farm instead waking up at 6, taking care of the boys and farm chores, off to my job at 8:30 until 2:30 and then coming home to work at the farm most nights until 9pm, unless the boys have school activities. Thursdays and Fridays start even earlier and end later. It was fantastic sleeping in until 7 this morning!
Monday found us without a working lawn tractor. It has a belt issue and needs some attention which found me using the weed wacker. We have plastic blades on ours which cuts down the harder stalks. Headphones under Safety Ear Muffs work great. Loved listening to my favourites on YouTube and it kept me moving.

We have half the wood cut, split and stored from our wood lot for the winter. I am so excited to be using wood off our own land! I’m hoping to get more done soon.

I was proud to come back this morning to see my driveway had not suffered from the rain yesterday. I had 10 minutes in my schedule to find the pick and dig out the trench at the top so the water wouldn’t wash it out.

The week ended with my car breaking down on the way to Halifax for deliveries Friday. I was able to get to the shop in Bedford after 2 hours of limping the car into the city. David rescued us there and helped me make sure you all received your deliveries! Yea!!! Love my man, so lucky! I am also very thankful for all the support I have from my friend Catherine too who played a huge part in taking care of me, checking in to make sure I got into the city and then later her and her husband Bryce had me over to watch a movie, Mad Max.
I will find out what the damage is on Monday. Unfortunately I will probably be looking for a new one if it proves too expensive. C’mon Auto Trader.

Tonight the boys and I are hoping to have bon fire. I got two cast iron pans for my birthday last week which I’m excited to try out. Anthony declared he wants to have as many meals on the fire as possible this summer including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and dessert. So we have started figuring out ideas, you can only have sausages and s’mores so often and I’d like to try baking over the fire.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend and week ahead. Looks to be beautiful weather!
If you have any questions as always please feel free to contact me.

Your Farmer,

Amber

Week 2 Vegetable Delivery 2017


June 2, 2017
Week 2

Here are some of the items you may be receiving in your delivery this week:
French Breakfast Radish, Tatsoi, Arugula, Rhubarb, Hakuri Turnip, Red Choy, Swiss Chard, “Ella Kroft” Head Lettuce, “Speckles” Head Lettuce

Hello Everyone,

The first “fruit” of the season has arrived, Rhubarb. Pies, compotes and many other desserts are possible with this one. The boys and I prefer easy so we go with stewed. Wash and chop it up, throw it in a pot with some sugar and a little water on medium heat. Stir often and once it’s softened check for desired sweetness. Wonderful on oatmeal, biscuits and of course ice cream.

Hakuri Turnips are an anticipated arrival. The turnip bulbs are wonderful sliced up raw in a salad or steamed. The turnip greens come out a a fabulous side dish sautéed. Tatsoi (green spoon shaped leaves), swiss chard and red choy are usually steaming greens as well. Try mixing them together!

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me.

Your Farmer,

Amber

Week 1 Vegetable Delivery 2017




May 26, 2017
Week 1

Here are some of the items you may be receiving in your delivery this week:
Green Garlic, French Breakfast Radish, Gunsho, Beet Greens, Arugula, Bok and Pac Choy

Welcome 2017 Vegetable Season!

This year is off to a fantastic start with gorgeous greens and amazing radishes. It’s looking like we will all be enjoying some beautiful sautéed dishes this week. We love to keep things simple with just a little salt and pepper added or some Balsamic vinegar.
Some chopped green garlic will certainly punch up the flavor intensity to any dish, yummy with rice.
Anthony is thrilled with the peppery Arugula arriving, he immediately stated it was salad for dinner mom!

It was wonderful harvesting as a family again. First thing was to go up to the top of the vegetable patch to see our tall stalks of garlic emerging from the straw. Those pillars will withstand a lot they are very secured into the ground. The only way to get them out is to get your garden fork and lift them, even they it was a good hard pull to get them free. So… that was my job, the guys then took them and knocked as much soil off as possible and put them in the bin to go to the house. Love the color! We have a lot more harvesting to come from this patch with garlic scapes and the bulbs in the fall. Yum!

The other really fun harvest was the radishes. I was delighted to listen to the boys get more and more excited. “Mom!” “Look at the size of this one!” “Wow!” All smiles.

A lot has been happening at the farm. We already have our first arrival of meat birds plus the new fluff bomb layer chicks. Pics to come soon. David has been surprising me with many little upgrades to the farm including a new gravity feeder for the layers and new nesting boxes.

This year I had to take on a part time job to get through. As a result I’m finding myself to be even more busier than normal. Nuts. I started working at the school and now have a position working in the cafeteria. Fun and exhausting. It’s great to see all the kids and Anthony and Navarre are happy to have me there too. They are starting to get used to Mommy setting them up with snacks at home and then finding me up working later. They’ve had to tell me to stop and come in it’s getting dark. Honestly I couldn’t stop that night. The bugs weren’t bad with the wind and there were only 3 more wires to finish on the deer fence.

The next 4 weeks will continue to be a crazy until school gets out. Oh goodness. Yes stolen moments will get me through plus maybe meditation and of course, Coffee.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. The apple trees are all in bloom now too. If you are down near Mahone Bay message me and come check out your farm!


Your Farmer,

Amber