Doorstep Harvest Newsletter 6-8-13
As always, try new foods with caution, and in small amounts. Also, please note that some herbs-foods may interact with pharmaceuticals so, if you use meds, please go to http://www.drugs.com/ to check them out.
News from the garden
I planted okra a few days ago (just in time for the rain again!). I’ve read that beans climb well on corn, so I’m experimenting by intercropping them with the okra to see how well they climb on okra! Several more hills of Crenshaw melons are sown now (they are like cantaloupe) and they thrive in the late summer Kansas heat. We planted some heat loving spinach, more lettuce, more carrots (for late fall), more onions (for late fall), some salsify (for winter and spring2014 harvest), and some summer diakon radish. The parsnips that I replanted still have not come up, and the organic heirloom peppers that had started indoors are transplanted and just sitting there, not doing anything. The starts purchased from the store and transplanted at my garden at Grandma’s are blooming, are organically grown, but not organic plants. We direct sowed some more winter kobucha squash (my favorite winter squash) and zucchini. Both varieties of blackberries are blooming profusely, and setting fruit. Grapes have set. Enjoy the peppermint this spring and try the recipe for honeysuckle flower-peppermint-green tea. No more radishes, they have bolted and become very woody. The organic heirloom cucumbers planted from seed (direct sown) have come up, and are about an inch tall. The organic heirlooms I started and transplanted are struggling. Because I expanded my garden by 300 sq ft this month, and the city has placed water usage restrictions, Grandpa brought in a load of hay and I’ve been busy mulching this week. Mulching not only helps drastically reduce water waste (evaporation), it also keeps the soil cool, and keeps the weeds down (translating to less labor for me!). I put a layer of cardboard beneath the mulch to act as week barrier, act like sponge to hold water, and it will break down by spring and return to soil.
This week, in your delivery, you will find:
Salad mix: standard lettuce mix plus red and green orach and spinach. When I picked the orach, the bottom of the leaves appeared to be glowing!
Braising mix bags:
Kale: (Wikifact: see printout from past newsletter)
Mustard: (Wikifact: Brassica juncea is more pungent than the closely related Brassica oleracea greens (kale, cabbage, collard greens, et cetera), and is frequently mixed with these milder greens in a dish of “mixed greens”, which may include wild greens such as dandelion. As with other greens in soul food cooking, mustard greens are generally flavored by being cooked for a long period with ham hocks or other smoked pork products.)
Chard: (Wikifact: Chard has been bred to have highly nutritious leaves at the expense of the root (which is not as nutritious as the leaves).[4] Chard is, in fact, considered to be one of the healthiest vegetables available and a valuable addition to a healthy diet (like other green leafy vegetables).
Berry Bag: Strawberry patch is still small so harvest happens over a period of days. Your berries are a combination of fresh pick today and a few days old stored in fridge. Enjoy daily in small bites as they ripen or prepare in desert this weekend. This may be last week for them. This may be last gooseberry week as well. (Wikifact: he garden strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in the 1750s)
Roots:
Beet: (Wikifact: Beetroot can be peeled, steamed, and then eaten warm with butter as a delicacy; cooked, pickled, and then eaten cold as a condiment; or peeled, shredded raw, and then eaten as a salad. )
Carrot: (Wikifact: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that world production of carrots and turnips(these plants are combined by the FAO for reporting purposes) for calendar year 2011 was almost 35.658 million tonnes. Almost half were grown in China.)
Tea Herbs:
Peppermint: (Wikifact: Mint leaves are used in teas, beverages, jellies, syrups, candies, and ice creams.)
Honeysuckle flower: 9 grams fresh herb
Lemon Balm: (Wikifact: Lemon balm is often used as a flavouring in ice cream and herbal teas, both hot and iced, often in combination with other herbs such as spearmint. It is also frequently paired with fruit dishes orcandies. It can be used in fish dishes and is the key ingredient in lemon balm pesto. It has been suggested that it might be a better, healthier preservative than beta hydroxy acid in sausages)
Bee Balm: (Wiifact: Bee balm was traditionally used by Native Americans as a seasoning for wild game, particularly birds.)
Peas:
Sugarsnap (Wikifact: Often served in salads or eaten whole. They may also be stir-fried or steamed. Before being eaten, mature snap pea pods may need to be “stringed”, which means the membranous string running along the top of the pod from base to tip is removed. Over-cooking the pods will make them come apart.)
Snow pea cook whole by steaming or stir-frying.
Sage: If you cannot use this over the weekend, please remove it from the plastic bag and place it in a paper one, or leave on counter to dry for later use.
Italian Flat Leaf Parsley
Wild Oregano
Flower Bouquet: Salvia, Pink Spirea, Rose, Larkspur.