This Weeks Veggies
Cabbage – More of the beautiful Savoy cabbage. Please help yourself to one of the larger heads or two smaller ones.
Romaine Lettuce – This lettuce is tender and juicy, perfect for a Caesar salad.
When preparing Romaine lettuce for your shares, I debate with myself the best way to present it to you. I’ve discovered that the outer leaves of the of the Romaine fall off easily so it needs to be contained. Placing it in plastic bags is the most visually appealing option. But since I can’t reuse your plastic bags, it wastes a lot of petroleum resources. The other option is to rubber band it, which squishes the heads more tightly and makes them look smaller and less attractive. But, the rubber bands are made from real latex, which is a renewable resource from the Latex tree. Today, I opted for the Rubber bands in hopes that after washing and spinning the romaine, you’ll see that it is more than it first appeared to be.
Fennel – Choose at least three bulbs. There is plenty to share.
Farm Life
We have spent much of the week weeding, transplanting and sowing seeds.
One of the things about farming is that I must always be thinking in both the short term and the long term. Which bed is the highest priority to weed today in order to have a crop to harvest next week? What so I need to sow today in order to fill your shares four months from now?
Yesterday, I sowed seeds for the veggies that will appear in your share in November. Many of them will remain in the hoop house for five to six weeks before they are ready to transplant. They will then take another two to two and a half months to mature in the ground.
In the last several days we have also transplanted the lettuce and fennel that will appear in your shares in six to eight weeks. One batch of each was sown on June 15, the second on July 7th. Both are ready for transplant now.
Why is that seeds sown three weeks apart are ready for transplant at the same time? Part of it is that I changed growing mediums. The first batch of seeds was started in a locally produced potting mix. Unfortunately, it was not of very good quality. The second batch of seeds was started in an organic professional grower’s mix that is manufactured by a large corporation and is made of products produced outside the continental United States. I have used this growing mix elsewhere and always found it to be of consistently high quality.
But, the biggest difference is the weather. On June 15 I moved the seed sowing operation into the hoop house because it was a warmer place to work. During the initial germination period the high temperature was 74 degrees. The low was 51. Obviously, with air temperatures like that, the soil temperature wasn’t very high either, even in the hoop house, slowing the germination process.
When we sowed seeds on July 7th, we looked for a cool place to work. During the germination period the high temperature was 93 and the low was 72. This made for warmer soil and therefore faster germination. That combined with the higher quality sowing medium meant that the second batch of seeds caught up with the first.
What affect does this have on your shares? This time around, very little really. I sow lettuce seeds every three weeks. Each time I sow, I plant a mix of varieties with maturity dates ranging from 55 to 75 days. The range of maturity dates and the sowing intervals greatly increase the likelihood that there will be lettuce ready to harvest every week.
In the case of the fennel, it is so fickle that there is no guarantee that it will be ready for harvest at any particular point in time any way. It will be ready whenever it pleases and there is little I can do about it. So I will baby it along, and practice being patient!
Featured Veggie of the Week
One of the shareholders from the Friday pick up site contributed a wonderful slaw recipe that uses both your cabbage and fennel. With her permission, I have included it below.
CABBAGE AND FENNEL SLAW
(adjust for quantities available)
2 medium fennel bulbs with tops
1 medium head cabbage, shredded (about 8 C)
1-2 C fresh Italian parsley leaves, chopped (or more if you like)
1 C mayonnaise
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C cider vinegar
1 T dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
Remove and snip green leafy tops from fennel bulbs. Set aside.
Discard stalks. Thinly slice fennel bulbs, removing core.
Combine sliced fennel, snipped fennel tops, cabbage, and parsley leaves.
In a small bowl stir together mayo, sugar, vinegar, mustard and salt
until well combined. Add to cabbage mixture, tossing to coat
evenly. Cover and chill for 2-8 hrs before serving.
Yogurt could probably substitute for the mayo, but I haven’t tried it.
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