Kretschmann Farm July 22, 2008
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
As I look at the date, my head says,
“What! Didn’t July just begin?” The incremental seasonal changes coupled with
the torrid physical work schedule in hot and humid weather put the mind into a
fog which has no time. Was it last week
or this week that we had “ excitement of
blueberries …timely rains continue…. irrigating… a million cucumbers… bean/pea
picking machine…” All still true, so
ditto.
We’ve been busy getting all the tomatoes
mulched and tied up. We are starting to
see the first of the field grown ‘maters ripen and it appears we’ll have a
great crop. We’ve returned to several of
our old main season varieties which we had winnowed out after many trials over
many years. We had to abandon them about 10 years ago when the regulations came
down that organic tomatoes could not be treated in any way. The seed companies refused to sell them
untreated, but last year they appear to have relented. We seem to see the return to the great
quality of tomatoes which we have been missing. We’re eagerly awaiting the
proof.
This week we began planting the fall cole
crops—broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale.
They’re about a week later than normal, but it shouldn’t be a
problem. The unexpected rain last Sunday
was right on target to allow the fall carrots and beets to poke through the
hard crust which had developed after the last hard rain and the hot
weather. This was especially welcome
because we would have had to tediously lay out drip tape.
By next week we should be finally into a
really nice field of green beans. The
early pods were a struggle to get out of the ground in early May, but these
later ones are like perfect soldiers in a row.
There’s a later planting which just germinated which is about as perfect
as could be. We’re in for a run of
beans.
Between this week and last week, we’ve gone
purple—purple cabbage, blueberries, beets, raddichio. There is evidence that fruits and vegetables
with this color contain an abundance and variety of antioxidants
and phytonutrients which lower risk for cardiovascular disease and type 2
diabetes. Who’d a thunk it?
As you
well know there are lots of websites with recipes. We pass on below, some of
our favorites which fit what’s in season now.
We have compiled quite a list over the years from all the newsletters and
posted them on our website. ---- Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew
P.S. Subscribers often ask
about recycling bags and
containers. We don’t reuse plastic bags
or rubber bands. We would much value the
blueberry containers because we can use them later for cherry tomatoes. The
strawberry pasteboard containers we save and recycle back to the berry grower.
Thanks for thinking of this.
Here’s an old
favorite recipe forwarded by a
subscriber:
Cucumbers in
Sour Cream:
Select 2 tender young cucumbers; peel one but leave the other unpeeled. Slice
very fine. sprinkle with salt and let stand just three minutes, thus removing
any bitter taste of the skin. Mince 1/2 onion [or spring onions] and add to
cucumbers. Mix dressing of 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon
salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon mustard; pour
over cucumbers. Serve at once for full flavor.
(Evan
Jones, American Food: The Gastronomic Story, The Overlook Press, 3rd Ed.
1990.)
If you
have some fennel still hanging around the refrig…
Red Cabbage with Fennel: Coarsely
shred med. red cabbage. Cut up 1 large
fennel bulb into chunks discarding the tougher part of stalks. Chop 2 tbs fronds and reserve a few for
garnishes. Saute 2 cloves garlic in 2
tbs butter for 1 min. then add fennel pieces ¼ c. lemon juice, 1 chicken
boullion cube, ¼ c. chopped onions, ½ tsp salt, pepper, and 1 c. water. Bring to boil, then simmer until fennel is
tender. Meanwhile bring ½ c. cider or
wine vinegar and ½ c. water to boil, add red cabbage and simmer until tender. Drain cabbage well and put on serving
platter, then drain fennel and place on top of cabbage. Mix 3 tbs. cornstarch with ¼ c. cold water
and add to fennel cooking liquid. Cook
until thickened, pour over fennel & cabbage, garnishing with fennel fronds.
We’ll be listing things which we have in abundance
which we think you might like to put away for the winter or preserve. These will be delivered with your veggies
usually in a separate box tagged with your name. The blueberries are a perennial favorite and
extremely easy to freeze—just empty the pint into plastic freezer bags and
freeze. The garlic is available because our
good friend and neighbor, Tom Brenkle was harvesting his garlic and found many
bulbs had slight insect damage to them.
Special
Orders: Organic Blueberries—12
pt. flat $45
Cheeses: Order by Aug.
1, for delivery with veggies the week of Aug. 11-15. Feta and plain chevre from goats’ milk; raw
milk cheddar, Colby, and pepper Jack from grass fed cows. All cheeses are @$6.00/half pound. Raw milk Camebert must be ordered 60 days in advance--$10/half pound wheel, and is
best eaten within a week to 10 days. Rather than sending a small check, just
add cheese $ to the next payment in August.