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TENDING THE GARLIC

Posted on by Lazy Eight Stock Farm

FARM NEWS

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Although the squash plants are small and stressed from all the cold weather, they are starting to set fruit. We expect to have plenty next week if all goes well.

FROM THE FARMERS

Bryce is dealing with brain drain tonight so this week’s news comes from your farmer’s wife and baby mama. Which means Bryce is in the kitchen doing dishes. Jack is sleeping (in case you were wondering, we had kale and fried eggs for dinner, which we eat at least once a week this time of year).

Farming, like anything really, is hard work. What’s harder is keeping the work in check. The majority of our married arguments have something to do with the number of hours Bryce gives to the farm. I suppose that’s like all work and lots of marriages, too.

Farm life is like any other life. But I think because most of us came from farmers not so far back in our family lines, farming’s analogies, parables and symbols are that much more available to our collective imagination. Maybe this is one of the reasons that people join CSA…to be connected to the language that our people have been using for thousands of years to understand what life is about.

Dreaming, waiting, planning, fertilizing (to put it nicely), sowing, watching and waiting some more, sweating, weeding, harvesting, dying

-Anna.

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We’ve plowed up a lot of new ground on the farm this year, which means we’ll be fighting johnson grass and dock in these fields until frost.
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This is the first year we’ve grown garlic, and it was looking great until a couple of weeks ago. We think the rains my have diluted the nutrients in the plant and it’s showing stress in the leaf tips.

WEEK #4 CSA SHARE CONTENTS

  • KALE
  • NAPA CABBAGE
  • LEAF LETTUCE
  • SCALLIONS
  • GARLIC SCAPES

The garlic is starting to produce scapes. We will be harvesting these as the develop, so the plant puts more energy into producing a nice head of garlic. This is our first year of growing garlic and we are not sure how the supply will be through out the week. We will divide the supply as best we can, so everyone gets some scapes.

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Salanova lettuce is new to the farm this year. We’ll be harvesting these heads in a couple of weeks for CSA. We are hoping they will provide a higher quality leaf lettuce mix with less weeds to pull out while we are washing.

FARM NOTES & EVENTS

  • BEREA FARMERS MARKET is now happening – TWICE PER WEEK – Tuesdays 3:30 – 6 PM and Saturdays 9 AM – 12 PM
  • LEXINGTON FARMERS MARKET – We’ll see you at the downtown market on Saturday mornings 7:00 AM – 1:00 PM
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We found an interesting weed growing in the garlic this week. Looks like hemps wants to grow in our fields naturally.
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The potatoes have really grown this week. Our best looking potatoes are the fingerlings on the left. We saved our own seed last year, which makes us excited about saving all of our seed for next year!

 

FROM THE KITCHEN

NAPA CABBAGE SALAD

 

Topping for salad – Break two packages of chicken ramen noodles into bite-size pieces. Melt 1/2 stick of butter in skillet, and add uncooked ramen noodles. Stir frequently and brown noodles until toasty. Add the seasoning packet to the noodles, along with 1/4 cup sesame seeds, and 1/2 cup sliced almonds. Continue to stir until all are lightly browned.

 

Dressing for salad – 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, 1 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar or honey, 2 teaspoons soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon black pepper. Shake vigorously.

 

Napa cabbage – wash and drain, then place flat on cutting board. Cut napa into 1/2 inch springs and wash again. Drain well. Place cut cabbage in a large salad bowl, add dressing and toppings.

Kale Salad with Apple, Pear and Roasted Pecans

Try this Kale recipe. It comes recommended to us by the Hensley, second year CSA members, and veterans of creative kale use. We also recommend Kale chips. If you’ve got some left over kale in the fridge, this is a good way to make it disappear. Any recipe you find should work. We keep it simple…salt, olive oil, and kale.

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Lazy Eight Stock Farm