Badger Rock Farm Veggie Share Newsletter - Week #6

YOUR WEEKLY FARM UPDATE:

What a switch from working hard to keep things warm, to working hard to keep them watered and alive! I will be very happy when I get all of my drip-hoses laid out, so that I can take advantage of our gravity feed irrigation system. Mother Nature had been helping me out by showering now and again, but this last week turned off the water and turned on the cooker. Many of the veggies like that a lot (as long as I keep them watered). The tomato plants are growing fast, as are the squash and many others. The lettuce's opinion of high heat is not nearly as friendly, but it will just keep getting reseeded so that we have a (hopefully) constant supply. I hope that each of you are enjoying this summer weather, and doing a better job at avoiding sunburn than I did this week :-D!


What's In Your Box


Salad Mix -- This week, the salad mix contains a variety of lettuces, beet greens, chard and sorrel. Herbs are mint, savory, thyme, chervil, cilantro and dill. The edible flowers include Johnny-Jump-Ups, Sweet William dianthus, and some brassica and chervil blooms. 


Swiss Chard -- Here is a recipe for this week's helping of chard:


2 tbps olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch chard, stalks discarded (or, set aside for use in another recipe) with the leaves cut into wide ribbons
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper to taste


Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir in the garlic and cook until it is tender and aromatic (approx 2 minutes). Add the chard and balsamic vinegar; cook and stir until the chard is wilted and tender (approx 5 minutes). Season with salt & pepper and serve.


Sorrel -- After being harvested heavily for the first veggie shares, the sorrel has had time to recover and is once again turning out delicious, lemony-flavored leaves. Here is a recipe for a sorrel cream sauce that is good with chicken fish or pork:


Sorrel Cream Sauce

1/2 pound of sorrel

2 cup of light cream

1 teaspoon of butter

4 egg yolks

5 cups of chicken broth

Saute sorrel in the butter until wilted. Set it aside. Heat the chicken broth to a boil and lightly beat together the egg yolks and cream. Remove the broth from the heat and add the egg mixture, stirring with a whisk. Cook until slightly thickened, stirring constantly, either over very low heat or over hot water. Definitely do not allow mixture to boil! Remove the mixture from the heat, add the sorrel and set in cracked ice to cool, stirring often. Salt and pepper to taste and refrigerate. 

Head Lettuce – A fan of cooler weather, we'll see what the lettuce heads think of 94 degrees. For now, though, they are still doing well and looking good!

Sage -- An herb whose aroma always reminds me of Thanksgiving (and stuffing!!), sage brings a delicious flavor to summertime recipes as well. You can also dry sage, to preserve it for later use. 

Sage Biscuits

2 cups self-rising flour

1 1/2 tsp fresh, diced sage

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 cup milk (or buttermilk)

Preheat oven to 400F. Grease a 12-cup muffin pan. Whisk sage into the flour. Using a large dinner fork, stir in the mayonnaise and milk until combined. Do not overmix. Divide batter evenly into muffin cups and bake in the preheated oven for 12 - 15 min. until golden. Note: Do not mix up the biscuits too far in advance in order to retain the leavening powder. This batter can also work great as a topping for pot pies (in place of the rolled crust).

Dill -- Dill is doing its best to stage a complete takeover of my garden! It enjoys seeding itself wherever it sees fit. I can't complain. Few things remind me of summer as does dill's unique aroma. Bees also love dill's flowers, which is why dill seed is frequently included with the "beneficial insect mixes" that I've ordered before. 

1 lb Salad Macaroni

6 whole eggs 

2 cups mayonnaise 

1 tbsp mustard 

1 bunch fresh dill (aprrox 0.75 oz) 

Salt & Pepper to taste

Boil pasta. Drain and rinse it with cold water. Put pasta in a large serving bowl. Boil eggs by covering them with water in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the water comes to a boil then lower heat to a simmer for about 10-12 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water with a spoon and run cold water over them to cool. Then peel eggs and cut into pieces. Add to pasta.

Mix mayonnaise, mustard and dill. Mix into the pasta and egg mixture. Refrigerate until chilled.

Hyssop – Hyssop is an ancient herb in the mint family that is mentioned in numerous places within the Bible. It can be used in soups, stews, or chopped into a salad to give it a refreshing flavor. Its flowers are also a favorite of honeybees, and they function to attract them to the garden. As a rule, it is good to remember that hyssop is strongly flavored. When in doubt, be sparing on the volume of it that you use. Taste your recipe frequently to avoid overpowering it with hyssop's characteristic flavor. Hyssop leaves can be preserved by drying them.

Glazed Carrots with Hyssop

Approx 1 lb carrots, scraped and thinly sliced 

1 cup chicken stock 

1 tbsp honey 

1 tbsp unsalted butter 

1 tbsp finely chopped fresh hyssop leaves 

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste.

In a saucepan, combine the carrots, stock, honey, butter, salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and cook over low heat until the carrots are tender and the liquid is a syrupy glaze (approx 20 min or so). Be careful that it does not burn. Toss the carrots with hyssop and serve immediately.

 

Badger Rock Farm Veggie Share Newsletter - Week #5

YOUR WEEKLY FARM UPDATE:

What a beautiful-weather week it has been! Perfect for ushering in the longest day of the year and the summer season. The plants in the garden are soaking up the sunshine and growing fast. These lovely days have allowed for some real catching up from the flood's delays and I am happy to report that all of the major crops have been transplanted out into the ground. As they put on size, it remains a time of enjoying spring's bounty (which includes largely greens and herbs), while looking ahead to summer's abundance.

WHAT'S IN YOUR BOX:

Salad Mix with Edible Johnny Jump-Up & Sweet William Flowers – In this week's salad mix, there are several types of lettuce, spinach, chard, beet greens and sorrel. The herbs included are dill, cilantro, mint, thyme and chervil. The flowers are Johnny Jump-Ups and Sweet Williams. I hope that you enjoy it!

Swiss Chard – A close relative of the beet, chard is one of my favorite leafy vegetables that is able to be harvested all summer-long (as long as I win the competition for it with the grasshoppers....). You can enjoy it raw, in a salad (there are some leaves in your salad mix this week), or cooked. When cooking, take care not to keep it on the heat for too long, as it can overcook easily (been there, done that :-). Here is a recipe to try:

Sauteed Chard with Parmesan

2 tbsp butter 2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

1/2 small red onion, diced

1 bunch Swiss chard

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, or to taste

2 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt to taste (optional)

Cut the stems and center ribs out of the chard and chop them. Separately chop the leaves. Melt the butter in a skillet with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook them for approx 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Add the chard stems and the white wine. Simmer until the stems begin to soften (approx 5 min). Stir in the chard leaves, and cook until just wilted. Finally, stir in lemon juice and Parmesan cheese; season to taste with salt.

Green Garlic – This is the green garlic's last hurrah for this season. I hope that you enjoy it. Still to come later this season are mature garlic heads. Here is a new idea for how to use your green garlic:

Green Garlic Vinaigrette

3 oz. green garlic, trimmed & chopped

3 tbsp chopped cilantro 

3 tbsp white wine vinegar 

2 tbsp water 

½ cup oil Salt & pepper to taste

Blend the green garlic and cilantro first, then add the vinegar and water and blend again. With the blender still running, slowly add the oil until the mixture is well blended. Enjoy on salad, over a meat dish, or over anything else that sounds good to you!

Head Lettuce – The veggie of the season for our cool, overcast spring, head lettuce is still going strong. Enjoy it cut into a salad, on a sandwich, or even wilted:

Wilted Lettuce 

5 slices of bacon 

2 tbsp red wine vinegar 

1 tbsp lemon juice 

1 tsp white sugar 

1/2 tsp black pepper 

1 head leaf lettuce - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces 

6 green onions, sliced thin. Include tops (you can substitute green garlic here, for a more garlicy, rather than oniony flavor)

Cook bacon over medium heat. Remove it from the skillet, crumble and set aside. To the bacon drippings remaining in the skillet, add the vinegar, sugar, lemon juice and the black pepper. Stir mixture until heated through. In a large bowl, combine the lettuce and green onions (or green garlic!). Add the warm bacon dripping 'dressing' and toss evenly to coat the lettuce. Sprinkle this dish with bacon and then serve.

Thyme – A truly versatile herb, you can sprinkle thyme on many dishes to give them a bit of extra zing. You can add a bit to your vinaigrette, sprinkle it over potatoes, add it to soup stocks, or meat marinades, place it under the skin of a chicken before roasting, add it to your scrambled eggs, dry it (after its dry, crumble the leaves from the stems), or even freeze it for later use.

Spinach – The first round of spinach would like to offer us one more helping before giving way to summer's heat. There will be more spinach to come, but this is it from the first seeding. That must mean that it's finally hot outside, right :-D?

Spinach & Strawberries

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 ½ tsp poppy seeds

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/8 cup distilled white vinegar

1/8 tsp paprika 

1/8 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tsp minced onion 

2 cups fresh spinach, torn into bite-size pieces 

½ quart strawberries, sliced 

1/8 cup slivered almonds

In a bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Chill for one hour. In another bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour the dressing over the salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Cilantro – This sowing of cilantro has decided that it is too hot for its taste and it is trying very hard to bolt. I wanted to include some in this week's share though, so you could use it in the Green Garlic Vinaigrette recipe, if you wanted to.

Weekly Veggie Share Newsletter

BADGER ROCK FARM NEWSLETTER

YOUR WEEKLY FARM UPDATE:

What a week it has been! Large hail hit on Tuesday 6/7 (the night funnel clouds were sighted around Billings, and even in Musselshell county). Roundup also flooded for the second time in as many weeks. This time, I got stuck out at the farm, which is a mile down the road from my house. This was a much more productive place to be trapped, and I was able to make some progress with transplanting. I think that the farm has fared through all of this crazy weather relatively well. I was lucky that I was running behind due to the previous flood, when I got stuck at the house. All of the tomatoes, squash and cucumber plants were still safe inside the greenhouse! Cabbage and broccoli were already out, however, and did receive some damage. I am hoping they stage a full recovery! Some sunshine will do them, and all of us, a world of good! Thank you, to everyone, for your patience through this challenging beginning to your weekly shares!

WHAT'S IN YOUR BOX:

Salad Mix -- One of my favorite summer staples: fresh salad mix. Included in this mix are various mixed lettuces, as well as sorrel, chard, beet greens, arugula, mustard leaves, cilantro, dill and mint.

Spinach – It's delicious either raw, in salads, or cooked. Spinach quiche is good....you can prepare it following the same recipe for the sorrel quiche from a couple of weeks ago, substituting the spinach leaves for the sorrel. Wilted spinach is also yummy:

2 quarts young spinach leaves, stems removed 

2 slices of bacon, diced 

1 tbsp flour 

2 tbsp sugar 

1/3 cup vinegar 

½ tsp salt 

3-4 tbsp diced onion

Place spinach in a serving bowl, tearing the leaves if they are too large. Fry the bacon until crisp and sprinkle it over the spinach. Add the flour to the bacon drippings that are left in the pan and stir until blended together. Then, add the sugar, salt and vinegar. Cook while stirring until the mixture is thickened. Drizzle it over the spinach and sprinkle the diced onion on top. Toss salad and serve. Serves 4.

Rhubarb – I have to apologize for the appearance of the rhubarb this week. It took a hammering from large hail the night before harvest. I only included the best looking stalks in your share, but there are still some dings and dents visible. Sorry about that. Hopefully Mother Nature sees fit to give us a break from this rigorous Spring we've received thus far!! Here is another rhubarb recipe for this week.

Rhubarb and Spinach Salad

4 stalks rhubarb, cut into thin slices                                                                                      1/4 cup sugar                                                                                                                     2 tbsp. red wine vinegar                                                                                                      Salt & pepper to taste                                                                                                         16-20 spinach leaves                                                                                                          6 tbsp vegetable oil 

Place the rhubarb in a pan, sprinkle on the sugar and add enough water to cover by 1 inch. Place over high heat and bring water to a boil. Cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and pour mixture through a large sieve into a bowl. Return the liquid to the pan. Stir in the vinegar, salt and pepper, and place over high heat. Cook, uncovered, until the mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup. While that is cooking, divide the spinach onto serving plates. Arrange the rhubarb over the spinach. When the liquid is reduced, remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the oil. Pour over the salads and serve.

Chamomile – There is nothing like a cup of fresh chamomile tea before bedtime. To prepare, simply add approximately 2 tbsp of the fresh flowers to 2 cups of boiling water and allow to steep. You can adjust how much chamomile you add to strengthen or weaken to the tea to your taste.

Dill – Dill pickles aren't the only thing you can make with fresh dill. One of my favorites is dill dip, which can be used for dipping veggies or crackers.

1 cup sour cream 

1 cup mayonnaise 

1 ½ tbsp minced onion (or chives!) 

1 ½ tsp salt (or to taste) 

4 ½ tbsp finely chopped fresh dill

In a medium bowl, stir together the sour cream, mayonnaise, onion, salt, and dill. Mix well. Chill at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to mingle. 

The Great Flood - May 26, 2011

I had planned on writing this week about Badger Rock Farm's very first CSA share delivery, which occurred on Wednesday, May 25. And I will (please scroll down for this week's CSA newsletter, contents and recipes). But, I believe it is impossible to begin an account of anything that happened in Roundup this week without first speaking to what happened on May 26. As of this writing, the view one block from my home looks like this:

And this:

The farm, which is a mile away from our home, and also--thankfully on high ground--was not affected by the floodwaters. Our near, more low-lying neighbors, however, were inundated. This is the view from the bottom of the hill, near the farm:

That is Highway 87 that is underwater in this picture. The highway would also normally be visible in the first picture of this entry. Boats are the only vehicle traversing it now, however. Happily, the farm's first CSA delivery to Roundup subscribers happened the night before the floodwaters rose. Billings customers, whose first delivery was supposed to take place tomorrow--May 28--will be postponed for one week. Those subscribers can count on getting this week's veggies, as well as next week's share, in one, extra-full bag, to make up for missing this delivery. I am very grateful for their kind understanding, and am (very) hopeful that floodwaters will be a thing of memory a week from now. Of course, that will only be the beginning of the clean-up effort. My thoughts and prayers are with those that have watched their livelihoods and homes disappear underwater :-(.

May 25 & 28 CSA Share Contents, Newsletter and Recipes!

BADGER ROCK FARM NEWSLETTER

YOUR WEEKLY FARM UPDATE:

This week, I am very grateful to my garden perennials and fall-planted crops. They have bravely weathered the cold, gray rain that seems to have made up our entire Spring thus far, and are ready for enjoyment. There can be no doubt that everything in the garden is very well-watered at this point. Now we just need some warmth and sunshine to get everything growing at its expected rate. I have been working on garden bed preparation, transplanting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and brussel sprouts, moving the electrified chicken netting, seeding more spinach and lettuce (greens will be seeded throughout the summer to ensure a constant supply), weeding carrots and placing the drip irrigation system and fabric row covers (and trying to stay dry).

WHAT'S IN YOUR BOX:

Egyption Walking Onions (also called topset onions) – These hardy plants are one of the first green things to emerge in my garden in early spring. They earn their name because, instead of producing a flower at the top of their stalk as regular onions do, they produce a cluster of bulblets. As these bulblets mature, they weigh down the stalk, causing it to bend. The bulblets, now resting on the ground, root and grow into new walking onions. If left to their druthers, they can “walk” across your garden in this manner! The whole of a walking onion is edible. The hollow greens may be chopped and used raw to garnish salads or they can be cooked in stir fries and soups. The onion at the base of the stalk may be used in any recipe that calls for regular onions.

Green Garlic – Green garlic is simply immature garlic, harvested early for enjoyment in the first days of Spring. To use, chop off the roots and the upper parts of the dark green leaves (where they get tough). Keep the white bulb, the light green middle portion and first couple inches of the dark green leaves (where they are still tender). Having a milder taste than mature garlic, you can chop it up and use it to give a kick to any recipe that calls for green onions or garlic. There are many green garlic recipes available online, but here are a couple that I'd like to highlight.

Green Garlic & Sorrel Chicken 1 bunch green garlic 2 packed cups sorrel leaves 2 tbsp olive oil 6 chicken thighs salt & pepper to taste Make a bed of sorrel and chopped green garlic in a baking dish. Place the chicken on top. Salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for an hour and 45 minutes to two hours. Green Garlic Pesto

Green Garlic Pesto 6 shoots of green garlic, roughly chopped ¼ cup nuts (pine nuts or walnuts) ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese ¾ tsp salt ½ tsp pepper ½ cup warm water 6 tbsp olive oil Process the green garlic in a food processor until it is minced. Add the nuts, Parmesan, salt and pepper to the food processor and process for approx 10 seconds. In a measuring cup, combine the water and oil and slowly pour the mixture into the food processor while it is on. Process until mixture is incorporated. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Add more oil if you would like a creamier texture (if pesto will be mixed with pasta, for example).

Sorrel – Sorrel is a perennial green with a delicious (in my opinion) lemony tang. It is also one of the first things to emerge after winter begins to loosen its grip. You can use it in a salad, or cooked. Here is a recipe:

Sorrel Quiche

2-3 cups sorrel, coarsely chopped
3 shoots green garlic, chopped
3-4 ounces grated cheese
3 eggs
1½ cups milk
¼ teaspoon salt
Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spread grated cheese in the bottom of a piecrust. Cover the cheese with chopped sorrel and green garlic. Beat the eggs, salt and milk together. Pour over the greens. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Chervil – A member of the parsley family, chervil is an herb that loves the moist and cool Spring we've been having thus far. It's lacy, fern-like leaves have a mild, licorice-like flavor. My favorite way to use chervil is raw, added to a salad. It is also great cooked but it is delicate, so to avoid over-cooking only add it to a hot dish at the end of the cooking process.

Chervil and Chives Dressing

1 tsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped chives
1 tbsp chopped chervil
salt & pepper to taste




Chives – A member of the onion family, chives are one of my old-reliables in early spring. Chopped and used fresh, they make a great garnish and flavor-enhancer for baked potatoes, soups, egg or fish dishes and, of course, salads.




Mint – One of the garden's most refreshing herbs, mint is delicious chopped into a salad, but my favorite way to use it when the weather is cold, gray and rainy is for fresh mint tea. Simply pour boiling water over your fresh mint sprigs, let it steep for five minutes and enjoy! You can increase the mint flavor by adding sprigs. You can also add tea bags to combine the mint flavor with other types of tea.

Bread made from Prairie Heritage Farm Sonora wheat – Jim and I participate in an ancient grain CSA via Prairie Heritage Farm in Conrad, MT. Each fall, we get 100 lbs of various ancient grains. One of those grains is Sonora wheat, which we ground and used to make this bread for you. We hope you enjoy it, and that it helps make up for the rather lean offerings of this very first share. The garden's abundance will kick in soon, and your bags will be overflowing! Until then, if you would like to learn more about Jacob and Courtney Cowgill's grain CSA, you can check out their website at www.prairieheritagefarm.com (click on Community Supported Agriculture Programs at the top of the page). I see them fairly often, so if you wanted to subscribe, I would be happy to be the transport person when it comes time for the once a year delivery. 

What We Eat....And What We Use To Nourish It

Preface: I write this little column for Roundup's local paper, the Roundup Record, each month. It is called "What We Eat....". Thought I'd post it here as well.

It was with a sinking feeling that I examined the twisted, cupped and curling leaves and stunted growth of my tomato, potato and pepper plants. Sure that I was witnessing the effects of a malevolent blight or virus, I called the county extension agent to help me diagnosis my problem. After he took a look around, however, he did not rattle off the name of a plant disease. Instead, he asked me if I'd recently added manure to my garden. When I said that I had, he delivered the blow. My garden was not suffering from a plant malady. Herbicide was the culprit.

My immediate question was how that could be, since I'd never once used any sort of chemical on my grounds. And I certainly hadn't used herbicide in my garden beds. Minimizing exposure to such substances is one of the main reasons that I choose to grow my own vegetables. Unfortunately, intentional application is not the only way that herbicides are finding their way into gardens anymore. I learned the hard way that these chemicals are gaining entrance via contaminated manure and compost.

Unfortunately, cases of gardens damaged via this method are becoming increasingly common. Often, the poisonous offender in contaminated manure and compost is found to be from a class of herbicides called pyridine carboxylic acids. Common examples include aminopyralid (Milestone), clopyralid (Stinger), and picloram (Tordon). These substances are used to control a variety of broad-leafed weeds and are approved for use on hayfields and pasture. Animals that graze grass or consume hay that has been treated with these chemicals pass them through their systems largely undigested. After being excreted in the animals' manure, the herbicides can continue to exist at levels high enough to damage gardens for years, even after the manure has been composted. It is also possible for contamination to occur if sprayed plant material is added to a compost pile. As with the manure, the chemicals can continue to persist at damaging levels in the compost for unusually long periods of time.

Symptoms of pyralid contamination typically include poor seed germination, yellowing, cupped and curling leaves, stunted plant growth, misshapen fruit, lowered yields, and a distortion of the plant's growing point that gives it a fern-like appearance. Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, beans and peas are especially sensitive to this type of herbicide damage, but beets, carrots, lettuces, spinach and other garden crops might also be affected. If you believe your garden has fallen victim to pyralid contamination, Montana State University Extension offers several suggestions via their “Minimizing Pesticide Contaminated Soil Around the Home and Garden” publication. Options include planting non-susceptible crops, such as wheat, corn or berries, moving the location of your garden until its soil passes toxicity tests, incorporating charcoal (one – two pounds/100 sq ft) in the top six inches of contaminated soil, and, in the case of small gardens, removing the contaminated soil and replacing it with soil from a non-contaminated source.

You can also conduct a simple test recommended by Cecil Tharp, the MSU Pesticide Education Specialist. He suggests that gardeners fill five pots with uncontaminated soil and five with soil randomly collected from the garden. Plant the intended vegetables (tomatoes, beans and peas are particularly sensitive to pyridine contamination and will be most likely to exhibit symptoms) in each pot and allow them to grow until they have at least three leaves. Compare the appearances of the plants growing in potentially contaminated soil with that of the plants growing in uncontaminated soil, and examine for the affects of herbicide damage.

To prevent pyralid contamination within your garden, MSU Extension recommends that gardeners question their suppliers of manure, grass clippings and/or compost. If the supplier does not know whether the plant stands or pastures used to produce the manure, clippings or compost were treated with a pyridine herbicide, do not apply it to your garden. MSU Extension also states that you should not use manure from animals that have grazed forage or eaten hay harvested from treated areas within the previous three days. Grass clippings from treated areas should not be used as compost or mulch that will be applied to your garden.

I am happy to report that my own garden contamination occurred a number of years ago, and the test described above has revealed that the soil is finally, once again, herbicide free. Thank goodness. Please learn from my mistake. Manure and compost are very valuable tools within a garden, but herbicide contamination can happen easily. It is incredibly difficult to address after it occurs, so it is worthwhile to be as careful as possible as you consider sources for garden inputs.

If you would like to read more about this issue, you can find useful information within the following articles:

http://www.pesticides.montana.edu/Reference/minimizingpesticidecontaminatedsoil.pdf

http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=8423

http://www.pesticides.montana.edu/News/Bulletins/MTPestBulletinDec2009.pdf (page 2)

It's Springtime at Badger Rock Farm!

A great deal has been happening at the farm over the last number of weeks. It must be springtime once again! It hardly feels like an entire season has passed since winter's frosts put last year's garden to bed, but pass it has. Growing, green things are peeking out of the ground at me, trying to decide if they're brave enough to make their appearances yet. Here are some pictures that show what's been happening here lately:

Here is the "greenhouse" in our basement, where the earliest seedlings (onions and leeks, for example) get their start at the end of February. It is still potentially too cold outside to keep the real greenhouse at the farm above freezing. Everything stays nice and cozy here, with the basement woodstove not far away.

The real greenhouse, up at the farm, got a new door this spring. Last May, a major windstorm ripped the old doors off, and even though Jim re-hung them, they were never the same after that. This screendoor will be just the thing for the job, I think!

Jim also built new shelves for it (please excuse the disarray leftover from winter disuse). These replace my rigged up cinderblock and metal grating system from last year. This will be a much more efficient use of space. (And believe me, this little greenhouse needs to eventually contain MANY seedlings, so an efficient use of space becomes important quite early in the spring).

I love the cheerful face of the intrepid Johnny-Jump-Up. There's nothing like this surprise of color when so much of the surrounding foliage is still winter-brown.

The garlic, which was planted last fall, knows that it is spring.

Several trays of onions on their way up to the farm, after being evicted from the "basement greenhouse." The space there was needed for other things (like tomatoes, peppers and basil!)

Baby tomatoes coming up in the "basement greenhouse!" These are Cosmonaut Volkov's.

Future chard, seeded in the "corral garden." Also already seeded outside are some cutting lettuce, some heading lettuce, cilantro, arugula, beets, carrots, peas, radishes, spinach and scallions. Here's hoping they all decide to come up.

Another ongoing farm project is the removal of decades worth of accumulated scrap iron, old broken down trucks and other detritus left behind by the previous owner of the property. Slowly (very, very slowly) we are reclaiming areas that were previously messy piles of junk. Here, a truck is dropping off a dumpster that will be filled with scrap metal.

Today's happy event: The arrival of 3 huge loads of beautiful, 15 year old, chemical-free manure from the Charter Ranch. Each vegetable picked for market, or for the farm's new CSA, or for my own dinner plate, will be in memorial to Jeanne Charter and all that she did to inspire those that knew her. Thank you so much to Steve Charter, and her entire family for still being willing to allow me to have this. It is going to make EVERY difference in my garden this season!