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Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
What's New In January 2012
So, we're finally cracking out our macadamia nuts this week. The harvest, considering HALF the farm is planted to macs, is disappointing, as I've mentioned before due to squirrels running amok on our organic farm. There is NO organic solutions, and this year our CCOF inspector point blank suggested we give up, as others have. We're accepting defeat and will start chain sawing the West grove this week. We'll maintain the East grove, in the hopes that someday a solution will arrive, or until we need the land for something more productive. We plan on planting olive trees in the West grove.
This week is pretty much the last of our persimmons, you'll find only one each in the large shares. I'm trying to dry the ones left on the trees that are overripe. You'll begin to see an avocado or two in boxes most weeks now for a while.
The greenhouse is rapidly filling up with our heirloom tomato starts. I can't believe it's that time of year again!
We moved our sprouting production to our greenhouse, thinking that would solve the problem of how slow they're sprouting in this cold time of year. Didn't work. Although the greenhouse is quite warm in the day, without a heating system, it eventually goes down to the same temperature as the outside, which absolutely stops sprout production. Stop start, stop start, the sprouts were beautiful this week, but with all that stopping and starting, they took twice as long to grow. So we're moving the sprouting production AGAIN, this time to a heated little house that is being insulated. That should do the trick! Assuming success, we will have our amazing sprouts back in boxes on a weekly basis shortly.
We harvested three different spicy leafy greens this week: cress, arugula, and mizuna. All three can be eaten raw in salads, or lightly sauteed.
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Candied Kumquats
This is such a simple recipe, and the results are amazing. Even if you disdain fresh kumquats, this concoction is worth a try.
Ingredients:
1 pound of kumquats or so, cut in half and seeds flicked out.
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon of a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
In saucepan, bring water and sugar to a boil. Boil for 3 or 4 minutes, which will thicken the sugar mixture to a syrup. Add fruit and spices. Lower heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Use slotted spoon to remove kumquats from the mixture. Continue to cook the syrup to about half what you started with, then pour over fruit, jar and refrigerate.
Kumquat Salsa
Adapted from simplyrecipes.com
2 cups chopped and cleaned, thinly sliced kumquats (seeds removed)
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Dash of Tabasco
Pinch of salt to taste
Combine all ingredients. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.
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