Blue Gate Farm News – Volume VII , Number 4 – June 24, 2008
In
this week’s box:
Lavender
(fresh cut)
Lettuce
(assorted heads)
Mulberries
Peas: Sugar Snap (round pod) or Snow (flat pod) first group starting with the end of the alphabet
this time
Tapestry Salad Mix
For
those with the Egg option: one dozen free-range eggs (assorted colors)
For
those with the Herb option: Summer Savory, Parsley & Sorrel (see Herb Book for info and recipes)
Featured Recipe(s) (see
below): Cinnamon Mulberry Muffins
Lavender Lemonade
Rain this week: 0.35” (from 6/17 - 6/23)
What’s up on the farm?
We had a very strange
realization this week. We have over an
acre of vegetables, and not much to put into your boxes right now. The early crops just didn’t mature as they
normally do in this crazy spring weather. By now we are usually well into peas, chard,
beets, summer squash and kohlrabi. Those
things are all coming, albeit slowly. So
in celebration of the “adventure” of CSA, we’ve gotten a bit creative with the
box contents this week. Don’t worry, the
crops are coming along and we should be back “on schedule” before long.
The theme of the past week
has been weeding and trellising. The vining crops had finally grown to the point of needing
support, so those beds were weeded pretty aggressively and the trellises
installed. While weeding the cucumbers
in preparation for the trellising, we found that we have lost/are losing
several plants in the row. They are
particularly susceptible to disease when kept too wet and the early part of the
month was very hard on them. So far we
haven’t lost enough plants for you to notice the difference, but we are
watching the cukes closely and have started seeding
replacement plants in the sunroom in case the trend continues. We also tilled up the spinach and radish beds,
which were done producing and prepped those beds for their next crops. The final job of the week was getting the
sweet potato beds ready and one variety planted. The second will go in later this week.
We were finally able to put
up hay over the past week. Both our
hayfield and adjoining pasture were several weeks beyond optimum but it had been
too wet to cut. Instead of our traditional small square bales we
opted to make big round bales (thanks to Uncle Don who ran his baler for us). Let us know if any of you need a 1200 lb bale
of hay – we can strap it to your car roof! All in all it’s been a good week on the farm,
with lots of progress made.
Care and handling
of mulberries: Mulberries are a fragile berry and are best used within a few
days of harvesting. The berries keep
best in vented plastic berry boxes in the refrigerator. They have not been washed and store best this
way. Please rinse and drain well just
before using.
What to do with
lavender? For easiest use, dry it. Just hang the bundle up to dry somewhere out
of the sunlight. When dry, strip off
buds and store in an airtight container. If you want to use your lavender sooner, the
fastest way to get high-quality dried buds is to take the bundle apart and loosely
spread the stems in a large paper grocery bag. Close the bag up and place in a car with the
windows up, in the sun (needs to be a sunny day) for a day or two. Then the buds will be dry and your car will
smell amazing! We particularly like to
use lavender in lemonade for a refreshing summer treat, but if that’s not your
style, try placing dried sprigs of lavender between your sheets or towels in
your linen closet. It smells wonderful
and has the added benefit of repelling moths. Herb share members, check your Herb Book for
more lavender recipes.
And finally, let’s
talk about peas. This is another crop
that was unhappy with our spring weather, so like the asparagus, we will be working
through the alphabet in groups to get them to you. We raise both sugar snap and snow peas, both
of which have edible pods. They are very
easy, just store them in their bag in the fridge for
up to 5 days. When ready to use, just
rinse and pat dry. We tend to eat them
raw, just as a snack, but they are very good in stir-fries and salads. Or just a quick sauté in olive oil makes a
fresh, tasty side dish.
A final reminder about the Ice Cream Social
this Sunday, June 29th, from
Directions to Blue
Gate Farm
From the DM
area: Take Hwy 5 south through
From
Take Hwy 5 north
to Hwy 34 at Albia. Take Hwy 34 west to
One last
thing: about your delivery boxes. We are
having an early season rash of forgotten and disappearing boxes. Please do try
to remember to bring your empty boxes back when you come for the weekly
pick-up. And even more importantly,
please make sure that everyone in your house knows that these are not trash or
recycling. We are short nearly a third
of the boxes for this week’s deliveries which makes for creative packing and
delivery. So in the interest of our
sanity and your safely packaged produce, bring those babies back to us.
Best from the
farm,
Jill & Sean
Cinnamon Mulberry Muffins
1 1/2 cup All-purpose
flour
1/2 cup Sugar
2 1/2 tsp Baking
powder
1 tsp Ground
cinnamon
1/4 tsp Salt
2/3 cup Buttermilk
1/4 cup Margarine,
melted
1 x Egg,
lightly beaten
1/2 pint Fresh
Mulberries
1 tbl Sugar
1/4 tsp Ground
cinnamon
Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, and make
a well in center of mixture. Combine buttermilk,
margarine,
and egg,
and stir well. Add to the flour
mixture, stirring just until moistened. Very gently fold in mulberries.
Lightly grease a muffin pan or line with muffin
papers. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pan.
Combine 1 tablespoon sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon;
stir well. Sprinkle evenly over muffins.
Bake
at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly
in center. Remove muffins from pans immediately, and place on a wire rack.
Yield: 1 dozen
Lavender
Lemonade
3 cups sugar
7 lavender sprigs (stems and
buds), plus additional for garnish*
2 cups fresh lemon juice
(from about 12 lemons)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
(from about 5 limes)
In a large saucepan, bring one gallon of water and the sugar
to a boil. Remove from heat; add 7 lavender sprigs and lemon and lime juices.
Cool to room temperature, strain, and chill. Serve on ice, with additional
lavender for garnish.
Makes about 16
servings
Recipe Source: O Magazine, August 2002