Here's Bradley with the soil block maker. The soil block maker is pushed into a pan of rather wet potting soil, then the blocks are pushed out of the mold by pulling up while pushing down at the same time. Not the best explanation, but that's the best I can do. Next time maybe a short video! Another 22 flats seeded today with onions. We also seeded 600 cells with sugar snap peas, to be transplanted when the weather is more cooperative. And I filled 22 trays to be seeded with peppers later this week. This is the first time I will be transplanting peas. I never seem to get good germination when direct seeding peas early when the weather is unstable. This year I decided to try transplanting one variety and see how that goes. There never seems to be enough sugar snap peas for everyone! Maybe this year there will be enough to go around. Also, next time I will take a picture of Bradley's face!

The broccoli is up along with the cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and some of the herbs, in spite of the cold weather. It got pretty cold in the greenhouse the last couple of nights, but I won't turn the heat on unless absolutely necessary. That's why I don't start the warm weather crops until the weather warms up a little more.

Here's a link to a great recipe/idea from a blog I read, Well Preserved , written by Eugenia Bone. The recipe reminded me of the garden when it is in full force, but I'm so tired that I don't feel like cooking anything! This one is something I can do without too much effort and too much thinking. I have also purchased Eugenia Bone's book, Well Preserved, and will definitely be trying some of her ideas for preserving the harvest in small batches.

Planting Started for 2010

I spent 4 hours on Saturday, and 3 hours on Sunday seeding broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, celery, celeriac, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, and oregano in the greenhouse. Shareholder Bradley Cramer helped make soil blocks, 1,440 to be exact. Thank you so much Bradley, for helping and keeping me company this weekend. I never could have accomplished this much in two days if it had not been for you. Bradley is eager to learn as much as he can about market farming through helping me and reading about different farming methods. His particular interest is in raising chickens for eggs and meat.

I use soil blocks for some crops, those that don't need transplanted into a bigger pot before going into the field. I like them because they produce a bigger and healthier transplant and they also reduce the transplant shock when they do get planted outside. They are made using a special organic potting mix that I buy from Ohio Earth Food in Hartville, plus a 4 block maker that is a mold. (I should have taken a picture of the block maker!) Ohio Earth Food carries many of the organic supplies I need to comply with the organic standards for growing vegetables.

Next will be the onions, peppers, some tomatoes (not all), eggplant, and more herbs. I will have transplants for sale this year of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and just about anything that I grow. I know some of you have your own home gardens to suppliment your CSA shares. I will let you know when they are ready.

That's all for now. Thanks again, Bradley!

Savoy Cabbage Salad with Apples & Walnuts

 

Keep this one in mind for when the Savoy cabbages arrive in your box.  I had a half of a nice one leftover from making soup last week, so I adapted a recipe by Alice Waters, from Chez Panisse Fruit.  

The original recipe called for a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche or heavy cream, which I omitted.  At this stage of winter, I need to suck it up and become a Weight Watcher for the next month or so.  

Savoy Cabbage Salad with Apples and Walnuts - adapted from Alice Waters

1/2 head savoy cabbage

1/4 c. walnuts

2 T. cider vinegar

1 T. lemon juice

Salt & Pepper

1/2 c. olive oil

2 apples - crisp, eating type

Toast walnuts in skillet until golden.  

Remove core and any tough outer leaves from cabbage.  Slice into shreds.  

Combine dressing ingredients in jar with tight fitting lid and shake to combine.  

Slice apples.  Combine cabbage & apples and toss with dressing.  Chop walnuts and add when serving.  Season with salt & pepper.

Keeps well at least a day dressed, and maintains crunch.

-original recipe called for peeling the apples; I'd leave the peel on for color and added fiber.

Cook With What You've Got - Green Chili Soup

Tonight I made Green Chili Soup from Well Preserved, another blog that I read regularly. This one concentrates on preserving food, and the author, Eugenia Bone, has some very interesting recipes for preserving all sorts of things. In fact, I just bought her book of the same name, and will be trying some of her recipes this summer. The soup uses posole, a dried corn I got from Rancho Gordo. It must be soaked for several hours, (I soaked it for 24 hours!), and then cooked for an hour before you even make the soup. At this point, it is known as hominy, which you can buy in cans. The recipe also calls for roasted chiles, which I had in the freezer. These were easy to do: roast the whole chiles under the broiler or on the grill until the skins blister, let them steam in a plastic bag or bowl covered with a lid until the skins loosen, remove the skins but don't remove the seeds or stem, (leave the chiles whole) then freeze in plastic bags. The soup was just OK, I'm not sure the posole was cooked enough, it seemed kind of chewy. From pictures I have seen, it looks like it puffs up like popcorn, and some of it did this, but not all. I have never bought hominy before, so I really don't know what it looks like!

Cook With What You've Got - Bean Salad

Last night I made a bean salad using two cans of beans (different) and a can of artichoke hearts from the pantry, some pickled red onion I had made previously, celery, parsley, S & P, olive oil and red wine vinegar. It is my lunch today, and it's not bad, I do say so myself! Pretty simple and easy, but after removing two cans from the pantry, I still don't see any new space available.

I have been trying to duplicate pickled red onions that I had at L'Albatros Brasserie in University Circle in Cleveland a while back. They were wonderful. I have made David Lebovitz and Smitten Kitchen , but I haven't hit on it yet. Next I'm going to try Thomas Keller's recipe from Ad Hoc At Home. Anybody got one they like? For me it needs a little sweetness to it, and probably a pricey vinegar!

I bought a pricey red wine vinegar a few weeks ago, and the difference between it and the regular grocery store brand is pretty amazing. I can't remember where I got it or the name, but I'll post it in the future. The expensive vinegar (at least this one) doesn't have that "bite" that others have. It is smooth, for a vinegar. I will continue on with the "pantry clean-out", so stay tuned. There's lots of beans in there!

Pork Chop Saute with Orange Mustard Sauce

This was a great meal, Pork Chops with Orange Mustard Sauce from Dad Cooks Dinner , glazed carrots (I pulled them out of the ground last night before the snow and before the sun went down; I had about 10 minutes after work!), and oven roasted potatoes. Thank you, Tami, for introducing me to Dad Cooks Dinner. I am really enjoying reading Mike's cooking tips and thoughts. And he's from Copley, so that makes his blog even more interesting. The meal was wonderful. The pork chops are from an Amish farmer that runs a food co-op that I belong to. He supplies milk, cream, eggs, butter, beef, chicken, lamb, and pork, among other things. Our group takes turns picking up the food each week and I am very fortunate that I can participate in this. I usually make yogurt from the milk, but I am going to try my hand at making cheese soon. The potatoes are from another food blog, Chocolate and Zucchini . This was the first food blog I started reading. I have added many more, it has become an obsession!

Cook With What You've Got Challenge

Today I made lentil soup from a recipe in Cook's Illustrated that I have made before. It's a great recipe, and the best part is that I had everything on hand, since I am trying to cook only with what I have. Everything was available, until I got to the 1/2 cup of white wine. How could I be out of white wine? (Guess I drank it!) The recipe calls for carrots, onions, and garlic, all of which I had, the carrots and onions from my garden, and the garlic from a neighbor, Jim Lusk. By the way, Jim grows alot of garlic and it is for sale around the end of July. More on that later. I even picked some thyme from the herb garden at my house, and just for fun, walked out to the large garden where there are still some carrots in the ground. I meant to cover them with straw before the cold set in, but I never got around to it. I thought I would have to dig them out, but they popped right out of the ground with a little tug! I picked 6, washed them off, and they actually tasted pretty good. I will have to get out there and pull some more before we get another cold spell! I used homemade chicken stock and my canned tomatoes. And I used red wine instead of white, and it tastes fine. Now I'm out of white AND red wine!