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May 29, 2010
               THE BELLS BENDER

Week 3
This weeks harvest:
  • Broccoli - Tasty, heirloom broccoli called Di Cicco stores best in the refrigerator.  Not all of our Saturday members will get broccoli this week -- more to come!
  • Kohlrabi - These purple and green kohlrabi are related to broccoli, with similar taste.  See recipes below.
  • Radishes - Your choice between round Chariette radishes or longer French Breakfast radishes.  Both are a little spicy and are great sliced in salads.
  • Dinosaur Kale - Also called Lacinado, this kale is delicious sauteed, baked, or chopped for salad.
  • Lettuce - Our most beautiful lettuce so far this spring, Red Butterhead.  We hope our lettuce will outlast this heat!
  • Green Onions - some are starting to turn into bulbing onions!
  • Garlic Scapes - Our last round of scapes.  They're here for such a short time!
  • Arugula (not pictured) - we're getting rid of our arugula to plant something else.  You have free-choice on these whole stalks.  The leaves can be harvested and the flowers are edible as well.
  • Parsley (not pictured)
  • Mint (not pictured) 
 

News From The Farm
 
       The recent hot days, and the projected heatwave to come, are having mixed influences on the crops.  The peas seem to be among the least enamored with temperatures pushing 90 degrees, as they turn yellow and wither in the heat.  The tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, and beans however, are really starting to take off due to the warmth. 
       Seasonal growing and seasonal eating is exciting for me.  I appreciate and enjoy the cool-weather lettuces, greens, carrots, beets, and broccoli of the current season, and look forward to all the warm-weather veggies and fruits to come.
      There is some stress that comes with the warming weather, so it is important to prepare for the hot days we're having.  Lettuces, onions, arugula, and many more of our cool-weather spring plantings are going to seed, or "bolting".  When the roots of these cool-weather plants get too hot, the plant sends a signal to develop a flower stalk that will eventually form seed a pod.  Stressful, because bolting makes many of these plants bitter, also called "unmarketable".  Besides planting late-spring vegetable varieties that can hold better in the heat and resist bolting, we also mulch around the plants with hay to keep the soil and plant roots cool and moist.
          The hot, sunny days are doing something great, however: they're drying out our fields!  I never complain about the rain, but the last few weeks have just been too wet.  Wet fields mean little field work other than harvesting, which means the weeds have the chance they've been waiting for to take over!  With drying soil, we've been able to hoe out the potatoes, corn, beets, carrots, turnips, leeks, squash, cucumbers, beans, peppers, tomatoes, basil, chard, celery, the flowers, and more.  That's a lot of hoeing.  We also dried up enough to plant our  watermelons, cantaloupe, pumpkins, and winter squash.  Cultivating and planting until 8pm again makes me appreciate the days when you don't have to cram two weeks of work into three days...but I never complain about the rain. 
 
Hoeing not only takes out young weeds, but it also aerates the soil/plant roots.  This, when done on the correct day at the right time of day (as we try to do), is almost like a fertilizer boost to the plants.  Back-ache aside, a long-awaited full day of hoeing has never felt better. 
 
 
 
Here is a shot of our spring garden from about half way down the field.  Emily picks sugar snap peas in the background with (in order from her) lettuces, kale, beets, and carrots in the foreground.  Even with busy days and aching backs, a walk through the garden reminds us how well the plants are doing and how beautiful everything is!  Visit us if you haven't -- we're only 10-15 minutes from town!
 
The garden is doing very well and we can't wait for you to try these beets and carrots next week!
 
 
Your farmers,
 
Eric, Brooke, George, Kevin, Adrian, and more!


 
Again, pick up times and locations are as follows:
 
Pick up Location
Directions (click)
 Day/Time
First pick up
           Sulphur Creek Farm
  Tuesdays
   4 - 6pm
   May 11!
  East Nashville Farmers Market
Wednesdays
3:30 - 6:30pm
   May 12!
  West Nashville Farmers Market
  Saturdays
9am - 12pm
    May 15!
 
Recipes
 
Getting to Know Kohlrabi
Kohlrabi, from the German words kohl (cabbage) and rabi (turnip), is not actually a cabbage or a turnip. Cultivated in Europe since at least the mid 1500's, this cold loving member of the brassica (cabbage) family is low in calories, high in fiber, and a good source of several vitamins and minerals. Although kohlrabi has been grown the U.S. since at least the early 1800's, it still has yet to become very popular.
Sweet and mildly flavored, kohlrabi can be braised, boiled, stuffed, sliced, scalloped, steamed, julienned, roasted, and sautéed. You can grate it into slaw, toss it into salads, slip it into soups and stews, snack on it raw with dip, and stir-fry it. You can even wrap it in foil and grill it.
 
Braised Kohlrabi
- 2 pounds untrimmed kohlrabi, about 1 pound trimmed
- 1 small onion
- 2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper
  • Heat butter in a heavy skillet. Chop onion and sauté in butter over medium heat.
  • Peel kohlrabis to remove fibrous skin. Slice thinly, or grate coarsely. Add to skillet, stir to coat with butter, and cover. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until kohlrabi is tender, about 15 minutes for slices, less if grated. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
Sesame Sugar Snaps
Ingredients
  • 1 pound sugar snap peas
  • Dark sesame oil
  • Black sesame seeds
  • Kosher salt
Directions
  Remove and discard the stem end and the string from each pod. Toss the snap peas in a bowl with sesame oil, sesame seeds, and kosher salt, to taste. Serve at room temperature.
Note: If the peas are too tough to eat raw, blanch them in boiling salted water for 5 minutes, drain immediately, and then immerse them in ice water before starting the recipe.
 
Enjoy!