Week 2: June 19

June 19, 2012

Arugula, Red Butter Lettuce, Radishes, Salad Turnips, Yukina Savoy, Salad Mix, Mizuna – Mustard bunches, Cilantro & Garlic Scapes           

            Last week I watched a young moose wade through the wetland at the end of our property. I had gone out for a walk at about 9 pm with the dogs when I heard a lot of splooshing down the road in the wetland.  I could just make out a head going through the cattails.  His antlers were just stubs, and it took me a minute to realize he did not have four ears.  I watched him as he continued swimming and wading through the middle of the wetland, disappearing into the trees.       

Garlic Scapes:  the immature flower stalks and buds of the garlic plant.   We snap them off so the plant puts its energy into growing a bigger bulb instead of seed production.  To prepare, snap off the bottom where it is tender same as asparagus, then use the rest.  Later in the season I cut off the flower bud and just eat the stalk, but right now the whole scape is tender so I would eat the whole thing.  I steam or sauté them for about 7 minutes and served them with butter, pepper and salt.  Garlic scapes can also be chopped up and used in any dish where you would normally use garlic for flavour.  I recommend chopping up a few and sautéing them with the Yukina Savoy, or using them instead of garlic cloves in the recipes below.  You can also try adding a few to your scrambled eggs or mashed potatoes.   

Mizuna: white stems and sharply pointed leaves, the purple variety has purple stems and edges.  Mizuna is tasty raw, but can be sautéed.   

Mustard Greens:  have a spicy mustard flavour.  Add them to your salad or cook like chard.  They would go nicely with the Yukina Savoy as a cooked green. 

Salad Turnips: small, round, white turnips that taste fruity and delicious.  Eat them raw.  Yum Yum.

Yukina Savoy: Tatsoi’s bigger, better, more nutritious cousin.  With its white stems and deeply wrinkled dark green, spoon shaped leaves it is a common ingredient in commercial salad mix.  It makes an excellent addition to stir fries, but I like it best raw, and would mix it with some lettuce and other greens for salad.  

            Yesterday as I walked through the garden I was amazed how things had grown in the last week when we have had so much rain.  Everything should look stressed from all the water but the plants are looking great.  The chard will be ready for harvesting next week, and all the peas are blooming.   When the rain stops everything is going to explode.  

            Our apprentice Derek is a trained chef, and he has been making the most amazing salad dressings for us, so I thought I would share a couple of his recipes with you. 

Derek’s Asian Salad Dressing

1 cup vegetable oil

½ cup white vinegar

¼ c soy sauce

3 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp minced ginger

1 tsp sesame oil

1 Tbsp sugar

Chili paste or powder to taste

Raspberry Vinaigrette

1 cup vegetable oil

½ cup white or apple cider vinegar

½ cup frozen raspberries

3 garlic cloves

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 Tbsp sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

For either recipe, blend all of the ingredients together in a blender or use a stick blender.  Keep refrigerated.

Garlic Scape Pesto

2 cups chopped garlic scapes

½ cup pine nuts

½ cup grated Romano cheese

6 cloves garlic

1 tsp salt

½ tsp chilli flakes

½ tsp pepper

½ cup olive oil

Pulse all ingredients, except oil, in a blender or food processor to form a coarse paste.  Add the olive oil and pulse to blend.  Keep refrigerated.

Arugula pesto makes a great sandwich spread, cracker or vegetable dip. 

Mix it with yogurt or mayonnaise and a bit of lemon juice to make an excellent salad dressing.

The week in review

CSA UPDATE

The first distribution from the CSA garden took place this week.  Bags included baby beet greens, arugula, Asian stir fry mix, spinach, radishes and komatsuna mizuna bunches. 

PIGS

There are now three litters of piglets exploring the barnyard.  It has been fun to watch the variety of "first encounters" between the piglets and all of the other animals.  There is usually a bit of sniffing and snuffling but it never seems to take very long for mutual acceptance to occur.  Watching a piglet get nose to nose with the donkey Jethro was pretty funny.  A little tentative contact and a bit sniffing and snuffling seems to occur and then within moments there appears to be some kind of mutual acceptance and the space is shared quite happily. The third litter is younger and just starting to explore freely.  They have not yet discovered the other piglets but that should happen shortly and then look out world!

SHEEP

After three years with few predator problems, the tide has turned and the local coyotes have discovered a taste for lamb!  In a period of seven to ten days I lost four lambs and a young Gotland ewe.  It is tragic and disheartening.  Coyote problems seem to be on the rise in other areas so we are not along but this does not make it any less frustrating.  The lambs have now been weaned so that I can keep them close to home.  Losing a ewe was a bit of a shock, I thought that the sheep themselves would not be at risk.  We are working on reducing the local coyote population so that the ewes can go back out on the lease pastures where the grazing is better but I will have to continue bringing them in at night.  

For those who are interested, I have put together a list of sale rams (both yearlings and rams) and also posted photos and pedigree information on the Ranfurly Farm Bluefaced Leicester and Gotland sheep blog.  Check it out!


The FOOD FOREST PROJECT


Tim and Mike have been talking about adding shelter belts along some of our property lines for at least a year.  Over the winter, the project has evolved and the shelter belt has now become a "food forest" composed of nut and fruit trees, and various fruit bearing shrubs and bushes.  Fences were completed two weeks ago and we have been waiting for some sunshine to complete the task of planting trees and shrubs and bushes.  A small window of opportunity opened this week allowing Mike and the interns to get the first plantings in the ground.  Planning and selecting items to include has been quite a process and I will ask Mike to provide more information for sharing.  

Baby Pigs

The first babies from the Tamworth gilt "Hero" arrived yesterday morning.  Lots of spots as you can see.  Here decided that she preferred the bedding pile to the snug little pig house that Mike had built for the purpose.  It took us a bit of convincing to get mother to make the move but now all are settled in and doing just fine.

Interns have arrived and are hard at work!

We are fortunate this year to have two couples join us on the farm as interns wanting to learn more about gardens and livestock and how the two can work together symbiotically.  Dylan and Natalie arrived from the Lower Mainland at the beginning of May.  We were pleased that we had passed the test when they came for an earlier visit just to make sure that being on Ranfurly Farm provide them with the kind of experience they were looking for.  Derek and Lisa arrived later in the week after an exhausting  drive from Ontario with their all of the their gear and their cat.  Early experiences have included cow milking (and occasional chasing!), learning all of the chore routines and helping Jen in the garden.  It has been very exciting to have them around and we are enjoying the expanded table conversations immensely!

This morning saw  Natalie and Lisa helping Jen transplant brassicas in the garden while Mike, Derek and Dylan were getting the irrigation ready. 

Becoming a CSA Share Holder

Click on the CSA PAGE listed on the right to find out more about how you can become a Shareholder in the Ranfurly Farm CSA!

CSA Update for 2012

	Farm Fresh Vegetables, Free Range  Eggs & Pasture Raised Meat

Welcome to Ranfurly Farm.

Our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) offers weekly deliveries of fresh and delicious vegetables, free range eggs, and pasture raised meat from our farm in Turtle Valley.  Imagine eating tomatoes full of flavor and the best pork chops you have ever tasted while you relax on your deck this summer.   That is what you will experience when you join our CSA.  

How does Ranfurly Farm CSA work?  

Vegetables:  Each week, starting June 12^th, shareholders receive a selection of the ripest vegetables and herbs from our garden.  Everything is chosen for peak quality and flavour, and grown without industrial chemicals.  A box may include such reliable staples as potatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and carrots, but with over 100 different heirloom and specialty varieties to choose from, each box will also contain something unique to expand your culinary horizons. Simple recipes and preparation tips are included in the weekly newsletter making it easy to enjoy the bounty.  

Sign up for the full twenty week season, or any portion of it. If you are only in the area for a few weeks this summer your share price will be set according to the number of weeks you subscribe for vegetables.  Boxes are delivered to central pick up locations in Chase, Scotch Creek, and Sorrento, or can be picked up at the farm in Turtle Valley.  

Season price:  Small share $425,  Large share $585

Eggs:  This year you can add free range eggs to your weekly delivery.  Choose 1-3 dozen per week or 1 dozen every two weeks, whatever your family needs.  $4/dozen

Meat:    Ranfurly Farm specializes in pasture raised pork, beef, lamb, and chicken from heritage breeds known for flavour and quality.  New for 2012, we have monthly meat packs that offer a variety of cuts for a fixed price.  For example, a $100 meat pack might include: 1 whole chicken, 2 lbs bacon or 2 lbs breakfast sausage, 3 lbs pork chops, 3 lbs ground beef, and a 4 lb pork picnic roast (perfect for pulled pork in the crock pot).  Once a month on a distribution day we will deliver the meat pack along with your vegetables to your regular pick up location.  Our meat is free of antibiotics and artificial growth hormones, and processed at a government inspected facility.  You can also custom order directly from our price list. 

Please contact us for more information and to register.   Make your holiday a breeze this year; order meat for the BBQ, farm fresh eggs, and a vegetable box from Ranfurly Farm CSA.

Jennifer Fryatt & Adam Cooke

ranfurlycsa@gmail.com

250.679.2735

The Cycle begins ...

The snow is falling as I write and in the last two weeks we have gone from temperatures in the minus 20's to temperatures now hovering around zero.  It has been crazy weather and so far we do not have a great deal of snow although there is more than enough to cover the ground now and necessitate plowing and shovelling after each new fall.

I have neglected the blog in recent months -- and will strive to do better as the new year advances.  Jen was delivering to her CSA customers right up to the first week in November and then there is the serious work of putting the garden to bed.   There comes a time when one is almost happy to see the frost that brings the garden to a close for the season. 
When the clean up of the garden and storing of veggies is completed the subject of gardening is taboo for the next couple of months.  I think that is the gardener's version of a "staycation". Now, Christmas and New Year have come and gone, it would seem and thoughts are turning once again to the planning and organizing that makes the whole process possible. 

The "SEED" order went in this week and that means that the cycle begins again.  I hesitate to count the number of seed catalogues that have arrived in recent months.  My husband likes to refer to these as "garden porn" or "crack" for gardeners and for different reasons both seem appropriate.  When Jen asked for my list of flowers and dye plants, it took me exactly 30 minutes to amass an order of 34 items and really I was just getting started :-) .  We should be share holders in William Dam's for the volume of business that Ranfurly Farm represents - Jen's CSA veggies, Mike with his annual forages for various critters and personal list of favorites, brother Tim with his penchant for the odd and unusual and me, just trying to keep up with everyone else!  I am sure that if you are reading this, you understand the addictive nature of gardening - even for the novice.  The irony will be that even with this wealth of seeds, there will still be items that we overlooked or forgot about.

While it is too early to even speak about the coming of spr... , there are chicks hatching in the spare room and this will be the third or fourth batch to date.  Jen and Adam wanted to hatch their own laying hens in a time frame that would have the hens starting to lay in early spring/summer just as the market and the CSA take off.  It has been an interesting exercise.  The chickens are in the greenhouse for the winter where they have lots of space and seem to be extremely comfortable while doing their job of adding fibre and nutrients to the soil.   

The Gotlands will begin lambing in another month which means that I have to give them their boosters and selenium shots this week.  We have four Gotland ewes bred to AI rams and they will be the first to lamb this year.  They are already looking pretty round.  My BFL's will start lambing a month later.