Newsletter #15-09

We’re having a great time. Wish you were here. Dressed for the weather, we are digging potatoes. Yukon Gold, that is. We are very grateful for Shannon, one of our CSA  sharers who volunteered for the day. She came prepared to play in the snow last Friday. We appreciate her help and cheerfulness  in less than ideal conditions.

Besides the Yukon gold potatoes in your tubs this week, you will find some Blue Lagoon potatoes. These developed on our farm this year and you may never see them again. They have purple skins like the Russian blue potatoes but are white on the inside. It’s interesting how bees can cross pollinate and  make new varieties.

This year we planted celeriac, a root which is a member of the celery family. The celeriac can vary in size from tennis ball to melon. This year it’s  quite small. When you are ready to use the celeriac, you must first wash the root thoroughly in water, then peel its outer skin. You can then use the celeriac for cooking purposes or slicing it into sections that can be boiled. The leaves are a little tougher and have a stronger flavour than celery. They are most suitable for soups and stews.

Celeriac can also be baked, whole, in its skin. Once baked, you can remove its skin and eat its inner flesh. It is, however, especially good when  cooked with potatoes. It will give real zip to your mashed potatoes. Celeriac can be eaten raw but since its flesh will darken when exposed to air, sprinkle it with a little lemon juice or cook it as soon as it is peeled.

“The way we farm may be the single biggest and most undervalued way that we can mitigate global warming”Tim LaSalle –Rodale Institute CEO

If organic practices were performed on all the planet’s food-growing land it would be like taking more than 1.5 billion cars off the road.

More than 7,000 pounds of carbon dioxide can be taken from the air and captured in one acre of  soil in a single year, using organic farming methods.

Advanced organic farming could capture enough carbon from the air to offset about 25% of the total fossil fuel emissions in the United States.

Organic corn production requires 30% less energy compared to conventional chemical farming.

Organic farming provides the surest path to improved nutritional quality in our widely consumed fruits and vegetables. Vine ripened organic produce tastes better and produces more nutrients per calorie consumed. Charles Benbrook ph.D. Chief Scientist—The Organic Center

This  is the last week for this CSA season. We have had to work harder than usual to make sure you got a fair share this year. The beginning of the season always  produces a lighter tub but this year the vegetables were at least a month later than usual so we purchased 500 lbs of organic flour from Prairie Flour  Mills to bake you some focaccia using our vegetables for flavour. We hope you enjoyed your produce.  We thank you for sharing our enthusiasm and supporting our venture to erase some carbon footprints.  This summer we could have used some global warming but the climate change was most unpleasant. We wish you a pleasant winter and hope to meet again next spring.

Newsletter #14-09

We sure know how to have fun. We were cleaning leeks on a Sunday afternoon in parkas and toques. Then it got worse. Monday it rained, with  snow in the forecast for later in the week. No matter how unpleasant it gets, we still need to harvest all the vegetables still in the ground.

This week we give you 4 pounds of white potatoes.  We couldn’t find certified organic white seed potatoes anywhere this spring. Finally, in July a farmer friend came through for us and gave us some potato seed. Hence you are getting new potatoes in October. I call them tater gems. You will have some of the tiniest potatoes on the planet.  They are considered a delicacy.  My favorite way to cook them is to soak them in water to get the dirt off, rinse them and drop them into salted boiling water.  Then drain and brown them in butter and add your favorite herb.

Potatoes are a very healthy food. With the exception of vitamin A, white potatoes have just about every nutrient. One baked potato offers about 20 percent of the daily recommended amount of vitamin B6, which is good news for your heart. They are also very high in potassium, beating other potassium-rich foods. They are a good source of iron and copper, too. In fact, a potato a day is good for your heart, promoting normal blood-pressure levels.

Even your focaccia this week has potatoes in it, blue potatoes, that is. The blue color comes from the presence of anthocyanin, which is an antioxidant.

The cool summer has been good for crucifers. This week you are getting three kinds of cabbage, green, red and flowering cabbage or kale. There is no better use for raw cabbage than in a crunchy coleslaw. Shred green and red cabbage to make a colorful salad.  Make this at least a day ahead so it can marinate overnight in the refrigerator.

For about 20 years, we’ve known that many phytonutrients work as antioxidants to disarm free radicals before they can damage DNA, cell membranes and fat-containing molecules such as cholesterol. Now, new research is revealing that phytonutrients in crucifers, such as cabbage, work at a much deeper level. These compounds actually signal our genes to increase production of enzymes involved in detoxification, the cleansing process through which our bodies eliminate harmful compounds.  The red color in  cabbage adds the additional benefit of flavonoids. Red cabbage grows more slowly and is usually smaller and not quite as tender as the green variety.

The flowering cabbage or kale is edible but not as tasty as other cabbage. Use it creatively to garnish your Thanksgiving meal.

The celery did not finish large this year. The stalks are still small but very tasty for cooking. Celery leaves do not stay fresh long but turn yellow after it is picked. That is why you always buy your celery in the supermarket with the leaves cut off. Here you are getting a lot of leaves to use in soups. Use it in your turkey stuffing. If you can’t use it all now, freeze it for future use.

Add chopped celery to your favorite tuna fish or chicken salad recipe.

Use celery leaves in salads.

Braise chopped celery, radicchio and onions and serve topped with walnuts and your favorite soft cheese.

Next time you are making fresh squeezed carrot juice give it a unique taste dimension by adding some celery to it.

Add celery leaves and sliced celery stalks to soups, stews, casseroles, and healthy stir fries.

We have included sage in your tub again so that you can add it to your turkey stuffing

Newsletter #13-09

The moment we dreaded has come. The weatherman used the F word yesterday and sure enough we had Mr. .Frost pay us a visit. He was very selective and was just passing through quickly, touching things lightly in his haste to spread as much destruction as possible. It was 0 degrees in Winnipeg, -2 at the airport and probably less than that out here. We had been warned and we  worked feverishly all weekend harvesting tomatoes and yesterday  we picked every tender thing that would  succumb to Jack’s icy grip. The summer squash was flourishing with blossoms and fruit, some of the cucumbers were just coming into their own and the beans were bursting with blooms again, ready to give us a second crop.

This morning the roof was white, the grass was white and although a lot of the hardy plants stood their ground, the warm season crops hung their heads in lifeless submission. It’s like a death in the family. They were cut down in their youth this year because they had so much more to give. They continue to be useful when we till them into the soil where they add much needed organic matter to the clay and nourish the soil which will nourish next year’s crop.

This is the last week for the taste of summer. The pattypans you get are medium size. Treat them like a zucchini or get creative like one of our CSA members did. Shelly emailed this idea.” I tried another way to use the patty pan squash. I cut off the stem end then grated the whole thing with some grated onion, added about 2 Tbsp flour and one egg per small squash, salt and pepper and a chopped jalepeno and then spoon into pan with generous amt of hot oil going. Turn once when golden on one side. Drain on paper towel and serve with salsa and sour cream. They were a big hit.”

Both beets and Swiss chard are different varieties within the same plant family and their edible leaves share a resemblance in both taste and texture. Attached to the beet’s green leaves is a round or oblong root. Although typically a beautiful reddish-purple hue, beets come in many varieties roots. Your bunch this week includes Red Ace, which look like conventional beets, Cylindra, which have an oblong root, Chioggia which are white and purple striped, touchstone gold which are a golden root and Bull’s Blood which have purplish leaves. Beets’ sweet taste reflects their high sugar content, which makes beets the candy of the vegetable world. Raw beet roots have a crunchy texture that turns soft and buttery when they are cooked.

The greens attached to the beet roots are delicious and can be prepared like spinach or Swiss chard. They are incredibly rich in nutrients, concentrated in vitamins and minerals as well as carotenoids such as beta-carotene and lutein/zeaxanthin. Cook beets lightly. Studies show beets’ anti-cancer activity is diminished by heat.

Don’t peel beets until after cooking. When bruised or pierced, beets bleed, losing some of their vibrant color and turning a duller brownish red. To minimize bleeding, wash beets gently under cool running water, taking care not to tear the skin since this tough outer layer helps keep most of beets’ pigments inside the vegetable. To prevent bleeding when boiling beets, leave them whole with their root ends and one inch of stem attached.

Newsletter #12-09

It was easier to crop the picture of this flowerbed than to have Angela weed it but weed it she did, many times and much of the rest of the farm as well. Angela came to us through the mentorship program because she wanted to learn how to grow her own food. Highly motivated by her vegetarian, mostly raw food diet, she went out every day, rain or shine, using her trusty raincoat to ward off rain, mud, wind and mosquitoes. She rarely returned  without some newfound edible weed to augment her medicine chest.

This is her last week with us. A lover of country life, she has embarked on a new venture on an acreage near Anola. She will put her new skills to work, starting with a large vegetable, herb garden with many medicinal weeds, of course.

Much to our delight, we have had warmer night temperatures in the last few weeks than we had throughout July. This has been a boon to our tomato plants. The heritage tomatoes deliver  peak flavour right now. Tomatoes are one of the most common vegetables consumed in the American diet. . University of California-Davis researchers found that organically grown tomatoes were significantly higher in flavonoids, a type of antioxidant. Flavonoids are a class of bioactive plant compounds that help protect plants from UV-radiation, chemicals and other environmental stressors. In humans, flavonoids help protect cells against environmental insults that may contribute to chronic disease. Flavonoids may help protect against cardiovascular disease, certain cancers and other age-related conditions, such as dementia. The results found, over time, that the organic tomatoes had increasingly
higher amounts of the three flavonoids studied: quercetin, naringenin and kaempferol, whereas the levels of flavonoids did not vary significantly in conventional tomatoes. Mean values for quercetin and kaempferol in organic tomatoes were 79% and 97% higher than those in conventional tomatoes, respectively. Conventional farming uses mineralized nitrogen fertilizers, while organic crops receive nitrogen through animal and green manure application. The researchers suggest that the organic crops contained higher flavonoids due to the type of nitrogen available to the tomato plants. There was no significant difference in the crop yields the two agricultural systems, but the organic plot had less year-to-year variation in crop yield than the conventional plots.

This week you are getting small pattypans, a gourmet delight. Last Sunday we went tropical. Stefan braised leeks in a little water, then added them to coconut milk and red curry paste. He tossed in the little pattypans and simmered the mixture till tender.

At the market people have told us that they prefer pickling cucumbers since they have more flavour. This week you can decide for yourselves since your cucumbers are pickling cukes. If you prefer to pickle them, we have included dill and spring garlic. This garlic too has a stronger flavour than the hardneck The taste of dill leaves resembles that of caraway, while the seeds are pungent and aromatic. Freshly cut, chopped leaves enhance the flavor of dips, herb butter, soups, salads, fish dishes, and salads. The seeds are used in pickling and can also improve the taste of roasts, stews and vegetables. Try grinding the seeds to use as a salt substitute. Both the flowering heads and seeds are used in flavored vinegars and oils but the chief culinary use of dill seeds is in pickling cucumbers:  You can try this easy recipe for pickling cucumbers one jar at a time.

Why do we grow a rainbow of carrots?  Scientists say that there is added nutritional benefit to choosing a colorful vegetable over a more conventional one. Red carrots have extra lycopene, which is also found in tomatoes and is believed to lower blood pressure and help to reduce the risk of some cancers. Yellow carrots promote eye health with beta-carotene-like pigments, and purple carrots have powerful antioxidants.   For an outstanding presentation, eat them raw with dip or or try baking them to retain their colour .

Newsletter #11-09

Last Friday we had 41 people for dinner by hosting a farm tour for OFCM. Of all the pleasant days we’ve enjoyed in the past few weeks, this wasn’t one of them. It started out with fog and a significant amount of rain. The farm was a sea of mud.  Some urbanites came in shorts, bare feet and sandals, exposing a lot of succulent skin to the hordes of hungry mosquitoes that swarmed us as Rene towed us around the field with his tractor. In spite of these  unpleasant circumstances, everyone claimed they found it interesting or they enjoyed it, especially since  we ate our meal indoors. Stefan cooked up a feast of Blue Lagoon produce and at the end of the day there wasn’t a crumb left.

Another corny tale has to be told this week. Since we had such a late cold spring and I wanted to make sure you all got some sweet corn to eat, I germinated each kernel on paper towels in our germinator, planted them into six packs and when it was safe to move  them outside, we transplanted them into the mulch. There was no local corn anywhere this summer until now. We waited a long time for our corn to ripen and watched it anxiously. Will we get corn this year? Some experts in the field alerted us to its readiness. We found hundreds of stalks broken as greedy little fingers stripped the ears and gorged on the tender young kernels. The ground was strewn with half eaten cobs, covered with flies. This week you share all that was left by the raccoons. We picked everything with dried silks. No time to wait for it to reach the peak of perfection. Enjoy. This week even the focaccia is corny.

Newsletters #10-09

Oh happy day. We purchased a potato digger that would qualify as a museum piece. With no tires to go flat, this gem was once pulled by horses. It has made our potato digging a pleasure. All we have to do is pick them up. This weekend was the perfect time for this job since we didn’t have to deal with mud.  We didn’t have to wash the potatoes, leaving more of the new skins intact. What a great way to spend Labour Day.

So what’s bugging me this week? Grasshoppers and mosquitoes. The sound of  grasshoppers bouncing around on the plastic mulch is like pebbles thrown against a window. Grasshoppers do not make holes in leaves. They eat the whole leaf and every day we have to assess new damage as plants become denuded of their canopy. They seem to especially love beans but they will feed on  anything green except us.

The mosquitoes are another story. They feed on us. Since we are a certified organic farm we have to request that the fogging with malathion stops 100 meters on either side of the farm.  The mosquitoes  thrive. They are undeterred by everything we have tried including Deep Woods Off. A stiff breeze slows them down but does not stop them. We have to wear mosquito shirts that have hood parts covering our faces.  They hide in the shade of the plants we are harvesting and become brazen aggressors. Crazed for a blood meal, they swarm us in clouds with the persistent sound of a buzz saw. Wherever the shirt touches our skin, they sink their proboscis and make us feel like pin cushions. We thought that we had escaped this nuisance but with the late season summer temperatures came the reminder of Manitoba’s  fame. With all due respect, we even have a statue of this provincial bird in our back yard, a mosquito bigger than a child’s head.

Newsletters #9-09

They arrived from Montreal on Sunday to film a segment of Active Toi, a show for children, urging them to Get Going or Get Involved. They were focusing on agriculture and the family farm. Blue Lagoon Organics was chosen to present the organic CSA section. Three Junior High students from Ecole Real Berard in St. Pierre Jolys interviewed us and decided they would promote the local organic farm by having two tubs of organic veggie snacks dropped off twice a week at their school. This was all done in French, to be televised in Quebec and we let Rene play the lead role at Blue Lagoon. It was an interesting experience and took up a lot of our time but the kids did help us harvest potatoes for a short while. Therefore you have 3 lbs of potatoes in your tubs this week.

These potatoes are an unexpected success story. Because the soil was wet we planted late but optimistically Rene and Ranko planted a lot of potatoes. For years we have been battling the Colorado Potato Beetle which reduced our potato crop significantly. This year, much to our surprise, there were hardly any beetles and the plentiful rain bulked up the potatoes nicely. Unfortunately it also made the potatoes very muddy so we had to wash them. New potatoes should not be washed as it rubs off their papery skins. If your potatoes have bald patches, it is because Angela scrubbed the gluey dirt off. The skins went with it.

Newsletter #8-09

Wonderful sunshine at last. The 2009 climate is quite schizophrenic. The plants are all treading water. A good thing is that we planted on raised berms and mostly into biodegradable (corn based, not plastic) mulch. The water runs off the mulch and fills the walkways  between. It took days for our sneakers to dry out after the deluge of water we were showered with but fortunately we found an entrepreneur  who  sold high tide heels in all our favourite colors; just what we needed this summer.

We have bees on our property but they are not flying on most days. It has been too cold for the nectar to run and the bees have to be fed sugar water by the beekeeper. No bees, no pollination. Lots of flowers, no fruit. This year it is the survival of the fittest and the cucumbers and summer squash are just starting to produce. What heroes.  Better late than never.

This week you are getting the flavours of the summer that never was, We planted hundreds of eggplants, Snowy White, Rosa Bianca Black Beauty and Japanese eggplant. Only the snowy white has produced fruit sparingly.

There are four kinds of zucchini, green zucchini, Golden Dawn, straight neck and the striped is called Striato d’Italia. We grew two kinds of pattypan squash, sunburst and flying saucer (pointy tips) also called scalloped squash, they are part of the summer squash family but the smallest of the lot. Patty pan squash is a great source of vitamins C and A, as well as folic acid. It is 90% water and a cupful of this squash has less than 30 calories.

Newsletter#7-09

Ann-Kathrin, a WWOOFer from Germany was only here for 10 days. Her favourite job was not weeding, not pruning tomatoes, but picking. During those 10 days we had 3 days of  blistering heat, 3 days of that elusive summer when she could get a sunburn. When it started to rain again she headed for drier ground in Regina.

There is no hiding from the rain here. There is water everywhere. Everyday we have to slosh out to pick whatever is ready. By the time we drag it back to the house we look like mud wrestlers. Our feet are always wet and cold and the plants don’t like wet feet either.  Below is a quote from the Johnny’s seed newsletter in Maine USA. “This has been a particularly challenging growing season in the Northeast. Rain, rain, and more rain and cool days have been the weatherman’s mantra through June and July. This has resulted in waterlogged berries and fruits that are lacking in flavor because they didn’t get enough sun, and heat loving vegetables that are in a holding pattern waiting for some sun. My advice is to “hang in there”, the weather can only get better.” I hope he’s right.

Newsletter #6-09

Sunshine and flowers.  Emilie is all smiles as she soaks up the rays, picking chamomile for our tea boxes. Last weekend she returned to Quebec where she is an educational assistant in an English school, helping students learn French. We enjoyed her sunny disposition and appreciated her help with pea picking and pole bean trellising as well as a myriad of other tasks. Her favourite was filling CSA tubs.

We have a new WWOOFer from Germany, just passing through and experiencing prairie summer weather for the first time. She finds this week very hot and is wilting in the sun as she takes over Emilie’s pea picking duties.

All of us feel a little sun dried but the plants love the heat. The beans are showing promise for next week. When they are all producing we will have 2 ½ kilometers of bean plants to pick. OUCH. The cucumbers are stretching in the sun as if they just awoke from a long sleep. The zucchini are expanding their leaf canopy to hide their precious fruit from our prying eyes. But the lettuce is not happy. If it hasn’t bolted already, it is threatening to do so. A plant’s job is to make seed and reproduce itself. When it feels stressed it bolts into seed making . The green romaine  has felt the heat stress and has had to be discarded because of its bitterness. The rubin romaine is handling the heat better. We have picked all the lettuce at risk and included it in your salad bags. The dominant lettuce is Feckles, our favourite. Please wash your lettuce. A salad spinner is great for removing excess moisture. Wrapping the leaves in a clean, damp cloth and then placing them in a plastic bag before refrigerating will ensure the longest lasting, crispiest lettuce.

Another green that likes cool weather but is still  flourishing in the heat is Swiss chard. This not so well known vegetable is high in Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper, Manganese, Thiamin, Folate and Zinc. Also high in Sodium. The nutritional value of Swiss chard makes it ideal for weight loss and maintaining optimum health.