Too Little, Too Late

These are the turnips before thinning:

And these are the turnips after:

Clearly, I'm not expecting much of a harvest. And no...I did not eat the greens. With all the lettuce I've got coming out of my ears, I didn't see any reason to bother with random turnip greens.

Unfortunately, it looks like I probably won't be 'bothering' with any turnips either.

Roasted Radishes

So I was complaining to a friend about how I didn't really even like radishes. I only grow them because it's kind of expected. It's something you can get in the ground right away in the spring when you're all anxious and energetic to get things going...even things with a strong, nasty bite like radishes.

Well, my friend started waxing poetic over how wonderful radishes are when they're roasted--warm and a wee bit carmalized.

I found this roasted radish recipe on a food blog and gave it a shot. And oh yeah. Warm and mellow. That's the way to eat radishes.

More Greens

Believe it or not, with all this heat the greens still look pretty good. The doors are open on the high tunnel and the sides loosened, so we can get some good ventilation.

Here's some more of what we're harvesting....


Red Summer Crisp:


Green Grand Rapids Black Simpson:





Green Grand Rapids Simpson Elite:

Green Grand Rapids Tropicana:

Red Grand Rapids Red Vulcan:

SunChips Bag Day 26

On Day 26 of the SunChips compostable bag experiment. Dug this thing up and found no discernible difference. As I feared, my compost bin is probably not very hot, or active. Ah well, I buried it back down again. The bin has some fresh grass clippings and lots of new kitchen waste, so hopefully things will get moving.

Garden Chat

We moved the book discussion out into the garden Wednesday night. Mostly we chatted about our memories of food.

Olivia remembered getting 'grounded from raspberries' for a week after she brought a handful inside and smeared berry juice on her bed. (Truth be told, she snuck out to the garden and ate them anyway.)

Steve remembered climbing pear trees in the backyard. He liked them hard and green and not-quite-ripe.

Jenny talked about her grandmother's Cuban soup recipe that called for fermented pig something (I forget what exactly) that an uncle ships from Miami.

I mentioned my grandmother's caramel recipe which calls for cream. Not finding anything in the grocery store labeled simply 'cream' I had asked my mother...whipping cream? heavy cream? She wasn't sure, she told me--mum just went out to barn.

Speaking of going out to the barn...we talked about modern, policitical issues too, like whether the govorner would sign the raw milk bill (he didn't). Also--the complexities of getting fresh foods into the school lunches, and the societal benefits of buying locally produced food.

All in all it was a good night. Good conversation and good people. And everyone who wanted it went home with some lettuce!

Seeing Red

Merville des Quatre Saisons:

Red Grand Rapids - Red Sail:

Orach:

Really Red Deer Tongue:
Red Salad Bowl:

Harvesting

This:

And this:

Join Us on May 19th!

Planting the Seeds of Conversation: A World Cafe Discussion of Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman
Wednesday, May 19th from 6 to 8 p.m.
Location: Brown County UW-Extension Office, 1150 Bellevue St. in Green Bay
Registration: $12 per person, due by May 17th

Okay, so I'm going to be leading a table discussion at an upcoming World Cafe event. If you've never been to a World Cafe, they're pretty cool. You get a bunch of smart, community-engaged people in a room and you talk!

You move from table to table to meet new people and address different topics at each. In the end, hopefully we all walk away with ideas and energy to either improve ourselves or our community. Or at the very least we all walk away with a good meal in our bellies and good information in our heads.

We're using this year's One Book One Community selection as our jumping off point: Seedfolks.

It's a super slim little book. Won't take you more than one sitting to read. But if you can't read it before the event, come anyway!

Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman is the story of a community garden that evolves in a vacant lot, located in a neighborhood where no one seems to care. Thirteen very different voices tell one amazing story about a garden that transforms a neighborhood.

Here's just some of what we'll talk about:
What foods at your dinner table did your grandparents eat when they were your age? Describe a family recipe. Describe the very first time you tasted something that you picked off a tree, vine, stem or pulled out of the ground. How did it taste?In your day to do life where do you interact with nature?

Join Us to discuss these questions and more over a warm meal.

Sponsored by One Book, One Community. For more information about this event, Seedfolks and the organization please visit http://www.browncountyreads.org/.

Beet Sprouts

So I finally did that thinning at the garden. Came home with this big plate of beet greens. (Yes, really, my seeding technique is THAT bad.)

I had some pancetta, so I sauted that with some onions and then I threw the greens in. I did trim off most of the heavier stems and roots before I threw them in the pan. Shortly after adding the greens, I poured in a mixture of sugar and cider apple vinegar--less than a 1/4 cup.

All in all, I'd say...eh. It's definitely an earthy flavor. Maybe I would have liked it more with bacon and less vinegar.