Kretschmann Farm Aug. 7, 2007
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com --note
our new e-mail address—
Greetings from the
Kretschmanns,
A
very good rain Sunday/Monday—the most we’ve had since April! It’s just what was needed to get all the late
season broccoli, cauliflower, winter squashes, carrots, beets, and cabbage
going. We continued to plant all through
the dry weather trusting that the dry pattern would reverse itself. Now, it’s off to the races for those
plantings.
One
of the bright spots last week was digging carrots. We quit irrigating the carrot and beet field
about three weeks ago because they appeared to have attained a reasonable
yield. Both crops have the ability to
remain in the field despite the hot and dry conditions of mid-summer and retain
very good quality. The early carrots we
pull and bunch as you have seen, but when the field is matured, we cut the tops
off and undercut them with a homemade stirrup
which loosens the soil underneath. Then we easily pull them, putting them in
buckets and wash them in our rootcrop barrelwasher and they drop into 18 bushel
bins
for storage in the cooler. The aroma of
so many carrots when you enter the cooler is ecstatic! And lots more to dig.
It’s
been an unusual year for both peppers and tomatoes. When we planted the peppers in May, we
covered them with a thin fabric (Reemay row cover) just in case it turned
cold. Our hearts sunk, as we flew out of
Hey, don’t look now, but there’s another planting of zucchini which
looks phenomenal—lots of little baby zucs just forming.
--- Don,
Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew
Daughter, Anne, visiting on a summer break from U of
Thai Mixed Veggie Crockpot Curry: Combine 3 T. yellow curry paste (available at Asian stores) with 2 c. coconut milk in crockpot. Add about ½# chicken, lamb, or beef chunks, 2-3 cubed potatoes, 1 small roughly chopped onion, and 2 cubed carrots. Cook until everything is tender. One can add nearly any vegetable you have on hand—green beans, zucchini, fennel…. Top each serving with chopped fresh cilantro and/or thai basil. Reheat adding more veggies for the leftovers.
Stir Fried Spicy
Carrots with Peanuts: Preheat the oven to 350 deg. Put ¼ c peanuts in a
shallow pan, and bake for 10 minutes . Cool and chop coarsely. Coarsely grate 1
pound medium carrots and stir fry in 2 tbs butter or peanut oil about 5
min. Stir in peanuts, ¼ tsp hot pepper
flakes or to taste. Season with salt
pepper and a dash of lime juice. Serve
hot.
Swiss Chard and Chick Peas: Saute 1 thinly sliced clove garlic and 1 sliced
small onion in 1 T. olive oil. Add 1
small diced tomato and 2 c. cooked chick peas and cook 5 min. Add 1 bunch chopped Swiss Chard leaves and
cook covered until leaves wilt, about 2 min.
Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice to taste.
Swiss Chard and Chick
Peas: Saute 1 thinly sliced clove garlic and 1 sliced small onion in 1 T.
olive oil. Add 1 small diced tomato and
2 c. cooked chick peas and cook 5 min.
Add 1 bunch chopped Swiss Chard leaves and cook covered until leaves wilt,
about 2 min. Season with salt, pepper,
and lemon juice to taste.
Special Order Items: Blueberries:
12 pint flat--$43 Still available by the
flat. Basil: ½ bushel--$10
