Thursday, May 26, 2011

Still very spring like



It continues to be cool and wet and our irrigation duties continue to be put off a while longer. We did throw in some tomatoes and basil today that really needed to get out of the greenhouse and we're keeping our fingers crossed that it won't get too cold for them at this point. These went into beds where overwintered kale, and cover crop had been. Pulling out those very tall crops to plant the relatively short tomatoes made a big difference in the way the farm looks right now.

Today's share has some of the spring standards: lettuce, radishes, arugula and green garlic. I cut three varieties of lettuce today and they're getting bigger all the time. I selectively thin larger heads leaving room for the small ones to get bigger for the next week. Not all of the varieties mature completely evenly, especially in this weather. The radishes are French Breakfast, and they do have some damage, but are completely edible, and probably pretty tasty, both roots and greens. I've been quick pickling my roots lately, just slicing them thinly, salting them and letting that stand for 15 minutes are so. Then I rinse off the salt and toss them with a little white vinegar. It's a nice condiment. The arugula is beautiful, even though the stand was a little thin we got some size which made up for the quantity. Green garlic this time of year is an easy one, and it's starting to get to the point where we might have scapes in a few weeks as well.

2 comments:

  1. love the idea of quick pickling! I recently just quick pickled some daikons (& subsequently blogged about it, ha).

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  2. I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure it out, it's super simple and a great way to add flavor to a meal. I only started doing it this last winter but the pickles go great with all kinds of food. I especially like them with tacos, although I first read about it in a japanese cookbook.

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