Kretschmann Farm March 31, 2010
don@kretschmannfarm.com www.kretschmannfarm.com
Greetings from the Kretschmanns,
Often people ask, “what
do you do all winter long?” It’s
understandable that the assumption is that because there’s not the outdoor
activity normal in the summertime on the farm that there’s little to do. But what a backlog of tasks from the prior
season, and all those things to do in preparation for the next! If not completed and not pressing, some of
the backlog extends well into the future.
When we move to our farm 30 years ago, this was quite evident by all the
things stashed away in the farm outbuildings which was a treasure trove of
information about several generations of farmers and what they didn’t get done
in the off season. There were all kinds
of broken farm machinery (most of it quite heavy and therefore quite valuable
when recycled as scrap metal). There
were piles of glass cream bottles (now collectors
items) which someone had set down intending to “get back to them
sometime”. There were all manner of truck
beds, and tools which someone thought would be useful some time or one might
need in the future. So it is now that we
had years ago exorcised all the previous owners’ paraphernalia, now we are
collecting our own. Since buying a much
needed modern diesel tractor in 1985, the old
1939 John Deere A had sat in a corner of the barn when the battery gave
out. Every year the
thought was to “get ‘er running again” for next year. Guess what?
We did it last week. The old girl
fired over after all those years with very little fussing. What a testament to the durability of implements
made in the era when farmers really didn’t trust fully the new powered
equipment and horse and mule power was much more common. (Take that Bill Gates!)
We’ve been quite busy too, getting the
first fields tilled and are nearly done pruning the apples. The buds
are swelling fat and some have begun to show a little green tip. The lower orchard looks to have a lot more
flower buds than last season, so we’re looking forward eagerly to the bloom. (beginning of May) The
cover crops are greening up and greenhouses are in full swing.
The giant 1# bag of mesclun
mix is just heavenly this time of the year.
Enjoy.
We made another partial barrel of
sauerkraut from the rest of the stored cabbage which should be ready soon.
Will
keep you posted on the goings on.
Hoping you are enjoying
the spring sunshine and warmth, we are, sincerely,
Don, Becky, & The Kretschmann Crew
P.S. For those who received turnips this week,
we’ve discovered a whole new use for those golden balls—use in place of water
chestnuts in a stir fry. When not
overdone, they have that crisp crunchyness which adds
a delightful texture to the stir fries.
If you didn’t get turnips, you got
spinach. It has a little browning on
tips of the leaves where while it was growing, it froze. This isn’t any kind of a rot and you really
don’t need to trim it to cook or use it in a salad. Just simply wash. It’s so incredibly sweet after surviving the
winter.
The small bag is the spicy field cress. It’s terrific either mixed in a salad or in a
special salad with roasted beets. See
under the beets and arugula sections in the recipes.
If you got a second bag of mixed greens,
these were repicks of older plantings which are great
to use as you would cooked spinach.
We’ve made many a Sunday morning frittata with fried potatoes and onions
then tossing in the chopped greens for a minute just before adding the
scrambled eggs and topping with cheese. Mmmm.
