I’m seriously mourning having to leave behind my garden, which is just getting established after several years of improvements to the soil. It is going to be hard to start over, in some ways, but easier than starting the first time when I didn’t know nearly as much as I do now.

I will try to update this site with news about Chapter 3: selling the farm and moving to Maine.

My plans to start the CSA baskets at the beginning of June were deferred  when the weather went from cool/early spring to suddenly hot, causing the early spring crops such as lettuce, kale, spinach to stop producing.  I replanted lettuce and kale, and arugula, beets, carrots only to have the heat remain and obliterate those crops again.  July 1 came and went, and I realized that I would not be able to provide the range and selection of vegetables I feel are needed for good CSA baskets.

I have finally definitively decided that I have to totally cancel the CSA this season.  It is just too hot and dry at our farm to grow the quantity and the selection that would be necessary to make nice baskets.  I think that the baskets need to be able to have at least 8 different items, in different vegetable families, and in quantities sufficient to make a meal for 3 or 4 people with each item.  Since it has not rained here, the only vegetables in the garden that have survived are those under daily drip irrigation.  The tomatoes appear to have blight again this year, which is likely to be a problem nationally.  I have concluded that while I could make nice baskets THIS week, and next, I do not have enough that is coming in over time (next 2 months) to be confident that I could provide at least consecutive weeks of good quality veggies.

My plan is to continue to sell as much as I can at the online farmers market (http://www.jonesborough.locallygrown.net/) including per-order CSA baskets when I have a good selection of produce.

Today at the farmers market I had French Fingerling, LaRatte, and Red Thumb fingerling potatoes, King Harry potatoes, Haricot Vert thin french green beans, basil, freshly harvested garlic, scallions, and a good selection of summer squash including dark and pale green pattipan, gray and black beauty zucchini, and yellow crookneck.

It looks like I will continue to have basil, beans, a good selection of potatoes, scallions, and garlic. The melons and eggplants are very happily growing under row cover, with drip irrigation. Tennessee Valencia Peanuts are alive but not thriving with no irrigation. The sweet potatoes – orange, red skinned, and white – are very happy in the heat. I planted a variety of pumpkins especially known for the quality of their “pepitos” (seeds) and I hope they will be ready at Halloween.

Here are a few more recent farm photos

All that is to introduce a recipe I made last night, for Wild Scallion Pancakes.  I used to buy these at a Chinese restaurant in Boston where I lived, and though they were supposed to be a side dish I ordered two orders and made them the main course.  They were crunchy and oniony, with a salty/gingery dipping sauce.  This recipe is very close to what I remember.

Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup sliced scallions

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 cup olive oil

1 hr 0 min Level: – Easy

30 min

Serves:

4 servings

1/2 cup ginger dipping sauce, recipe to follow

Directions

In a bowl, sift flour. Slowly add water in a steady stream while mixing with a wooden spoon. Keep adding water until a ball is formed.  Stir or knead in chopped scallions.  Let ball of dough >relax for about 30 minutes and cover with damp cloth.

Cut  the dough ball into 4-6 equal sized pieces, then make each wedges into a small ball.  Roll each one into a thin pancake. Brush with olive oil on each side. In a hot pan coated with olive oil, sear both sides until golden brown. Cut each pancake into pie-type wedges and serve immediately with dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce is key to this dish.

GINGER DIPPING SAUCE:

1/4 cup soy sauce, 3 tbsp sesame oil,1/4 cup sliced scallions, 1 teaspoon minced fresh or pickled ginger, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes all sauteed until scallions are soft.

Modified from the FoodNetwork.com on Mon Mar 29 2009

CSA Plans:  Yes, I do plan to do another CSA this year!  Please contact me if you are interested in a work share or in pay share!  I will post CSA information soon.

Eggs: I’m learning about natural chicken raising and hope to have enough eggs (if not this summer, maybe next?) to have an option in the CSA baskets to add 1/2 to 1 dozen eggs.  I could also incubate chicks for folks who would like to start a heritage breed flock that follows natural guidelines.

Onions: I will be growing more varieties of onions this year, after the gorgeous success of the onions I planted last year.  I will also be adding celery and shallots.

The sun is shining now for the first time in weeks, and it is time to go outside.  I’ll have to write part 2 of this update…when it is raining again.

Happy Spring!

“What do you DO over the winter?” people (who don’t have farms) ask me.  I organize and order seeds.  I plan the new garden.  I clean the house more than once a month.  I bake more.  I start thinking about what to change for the upcoming season, what my goals are, what I want to do differently, and I try to be realistic about it.  I dream of fresh tomatoes and basil!

This winter I have been learning to build chicken coops.  I’ve never built anything before, and learned something new about myself:  I have a measuring disability.  I can measure a board to 63 inches four times, mark it, cut it, and find that it is 62 7/8.

I started by turning a really ugly old doghouse into a really cute chicken tractor:  Next Update will be about plans for the upcoming year! Stay tuned.

Baskets this week will include:

• Lotta carrots
• Lotta Potatoes
• Fresh Sage (See recipe for Pumpkin Sage Balls (Posted later today- they’re delicious)
• Okra (SMALL, not large – I’m learning!)
• Eggplant
• Peppers
• Swiss Chard
• Tomatoes
• Basil

This week, CSA baskets will have:

Pears!  These are still firm, just off the tree, and if you like them soft will need to be allowed to ripen in a paper bag, with an apple, in the fridge.  The first year we had them we kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting for them to ripen on the tree.  They never did.  Once we stored them, they became juicy and perfect.  Who knew!  For directions about how to ripen, see  http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=1003&storyType=garden

• Mixed Potatoes
• Heirloom Tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Carrots
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Jacob’s Cattle Shelling Beans (either shell and cook the beans fresh, or shell them and let the beans dry for using in soups later on during the winter.  I steam them fresh, then saute them with other vegetables for added protein.  Good sauteed with fresh greens, like swiss chard or Lambsquarters!

Take a look at THESE Lima Beans!  Aren’t they amazing!?

Would anyone like to get a “tomato sauce making basket” for next week, instead of the usual mix?  I would include a basket of tomatoes (not all perfect, but great for cooking), fresh Oregano, Basil, Garlic, possibly green peppers.  You could make a big batch of fresh sauce, which is so rich you would not believe it when made with these heirloom tomatoes.

Coming Soon:  Green, Red, Orange Sweet Peppers, Okra, Sweet Potato, Winter Squash, More Lettuce Mix, Bouquets…

Heather

And so far this morning, it has been first an absolute downpour and now a steady rain.  Not easy to pick and process vegetables in these conditions, everything turns out all muddy and the soil structure gets ruined.  I am putting together what I currently have, and waiting to see if I will be able to pick the rest.

If it all goes as planned, the baskets this week will contain:

• Potato mixed colors
• Salad Mix
• Green Beans – blue lake
• Scallions
• Tomatoes
• Basil
• Cilantro
• Dill
• Cucumbers
• Carrots
• Swiss Chard
• Garlic

Please check back later (I have to be mostly done by 2:00 or it is too late) to see if I am able to pick baskets or not.