Kretschmann Farm June 19, 2007
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com --note
our new e-mail address—
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
One could never have imagined beforehand how
this season would play out. In late
April I kept saying to Becky that everything was going so perfectly—good rains,
just long enough in between to dry out and get field work done; equipment performing
optimally; everything growing well in
the greenhouse… “I’m waiting for the
other shoe to drop,” I added. Well, it
appears that other shoe has dropped. We
got another good ½ inch rain last Wednesday (which thrilled us because it was
totally unexpected!) but the deficit continues to mount and it’s shaping up to
be one of the driest planting seasons we’ve ever had. It becomes a little worrisome now because in
two weeks we’ll begin to plant all our fall crops. If there’s not enough moisture in the ground,
it makes planting a real problem.
The zucchinis
are starting a little slow this year.
We’ve also planted quite a lot of yellow summer squash. Both can generally
be used in the same recipes. The best spinach field in memory continues! The rain last week and the drip irrigation is
bringing on the earlier planting for a second cutting. It can be frozen easily if it’s getting ahead
of you. After that we won’t have any
more until the fall. You can see our
offerings are slowly changing. The
summer veggies will gradually take over the lineup. It used to be that the time was defined by
the harvest season. The first weeks in June were strawberry
season, tomato season was August and early September; potato season was September. Nowadays we only have calendar dates and
grocery stores without seasons.
Enjoy the
few fresh peas. They surprised us all, making a small crop in spite of the
extremely dry weather. We wonder where
they got the water to fill out. It’s the
first peas we’ve had in many years.
Here’s the theoretical way to prepare them: remove from pods; steam for
a brief 2 min; serve. But one usually
just shells them and eats them at the same time. It says something that our Mexican helpers
are always eating them while we are picking them. Hey, we tried out our new bean/pea
picker on the peas today--maiden voyage.
It worked! We’ll be planting lots
more next year.
Hoping you
are enjoying the fresh eats as we progress through the season, we are,
sincerely,
Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew
Tip: Don’t
toss those beet greens. They are just as
tasty and nutritious as Swiss chard and prepared similarly.
Kale: The center rib in the leaf is thick and takes
longer to cook than the rest. Either
remove and discard it or cook a little longer than the rest of the leaves. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Add about 1# kale chopped roughly and cook
5-7 min. This can be cooled quickly and
added to your favorite salad. Or add
cooked kale to onions and garlic sauteed in olive oil. One variation is to add raisins and top with
roasted pine nuts. For "jag"
add 1/4 t each of sage, oregano, and cumin
and then add 2 c cooked pinto beans and 3 c brown rice. Lemon juice is also good with greens.
A subscriber
sent this easy recipe-
Kale Simply: Clean the kale, and
tear it into bite-sizes pieces, removing the center rib. Place into a pot
with minced garlic, a drizzle of olive oil, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and
a little water. Steam until tender & serve hot. Yum yum!
Squash Blossoms in Beer
Batter:
Remove stems from blossoms. Wisk ¾ c. cake flour with ¾ c. beer and salt. Dip blossoms in batter and deep fry.
Zucchini Fritters ala Turkey: Grate
1# zucchini, sprinkle with salt and let drain in colander 30 min. then squeeze
dry. Add 1 c. chopped onions, ½ c.
chopped fresh dill (if available), 4 tbs. chopped parsley, ½ c. crumbled feta
or grated kasseri cheese, 4 beaten eggs, 1 c. flour, and pepper. Mix well.
Drop batter by tablespoonfuls into
¼” hot oil in large saute pan.
Fry at med. heat, turning when one side is done. Drain on paper towels.
Eat hot or at room temp
Tip: In our homes with everyday meals we often
neglect what chefs call “presentation”.
The visual appearance of food adds greatly to our pleasure in eating. Make a dish a piece of art with colors and
textures. We recently had a beautiful
(and delicious) salad at a restaurant in which the lettuce was arranged on the
plate with several huge whole leaves “crusted” with shavings of fresh parmesan
and carrots and topped with whole anchovies.
Try this with your lettuce topping it with strips of deep green spinach
or some blanched kale. A few toasted
walnuts of sunflower seeds add a textural counterpoint. Parsley adds interest
to many dishes. (or even a salad)
Rogues Gallery: The cute picture of the
tree-coon who we suspected was one of may raccoons installing drinking stations
with our drip lines and has generated so much sympathy that we must
respond. The rest of the meal consisted
of several sacks out of a pallet of chicken feather meal in the barn. (An
organic source of nitrogen) They had a
lot of fun tearing the bags apart.
Dancing followed. Sympathy? What? … Then, there are the perennial “bad
boys”—the ground hogs—still at it. Just when you let down your guard, they hit
you. Prior to planting our broccoli and
cauliflower field in April we had “bombed” all the holes in the woods near the
ends of the field. For a month, no
damage was detected and we forgot about them.
We then started to notice damage
at the one end of the field. Suddenly it escalated and we countered with an electrified
mesh wall. The townhouse “command
bunker” was reoccupied. Gotta get those
homes off the Howard Hanna listing…
