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
