Hey There !
Dave from McElhoes Family Farm/Belmont here.
Our
roller coaster weather continues. Cold, rain, dark, mist, followed by
hazy, hot and humid, followed... Last week we nearly caught up in our
planting and transplanting, and dug through hard, dry rocky soil looking
for our broken waterline. Our hens, pullets and our meat birds spent
the week alternating between happily eating grass and bugs and panting
in the shade. The aromas of honeysuckle, and our old fashioned red
climbing roses fills the air even as the sudden rains beat the blooms
asunder.
Friday
found me sweating hard and exhausted with a 5'x5' hole two feet deep,
and even with the valve wide open, no sign of the wet spot that would
indicate the leak, and frankly my (difficult) exploratory digs deeper
have still failed to even find the errant waterline itself yet. Turning
the valve off, I dragged myself into the house to make supper.
Imagine
the irony then of Saturday, after yet another abnormally hard downpour,
to now have a 5'x5' pond. In the middle of my driveway.
Garlic
scapes are ready to pick, and if I can get my fill of them (sauteed in
olive oil, garnished with a splash of wine or balsamic vinegar is my
favorite), some of them might find their way into the Farm Stand. They
don't have a great shelf life, so I may try pickling a few, though I
haven't yet investigated recipes and methods. If I was to guess, I'd
probably blanch them, then brine them with a couple of green garlic
cloves and a splash of whey for insurance, and let them ferment for a
few days.
"How
many of us lobby for green energy or protected lands, but don't engage
with the local bounty to lay by for tomorrow's unseasonal reality? That
we tend to not even think about this as a foundation for solutions in
our food systems shows how quickly we want other people to solve these
issues." ~ Joel Salatin
The
new strawberry plantings are producing, but there probably won't be
enough to sell this year. I will say, the new varieties, AC Valley
Wendy, and AC Valley Sunset look like the varieties we have been seeking
here. They are June bearing only, but they look like they will have a
nice overlap from early June through mid to late June for good
availability next year. The shape of the "Wendy" is beautifully conical
and their size uniform. The taste, always important to us, is
spectacular. Not those huge, misshapen, hard cardboard berries that I
find in the grocery stores.
My
Grandma had a large cut glass pitcher which she would fill with the
largest, prettiest strawberry specimens. She would sprinkle a bit of
sugar over them and keep them in the "icebox". If we were good, we
might get to reach in and get one as a treat. My brother and I would
sit in the shade of an old haw tree and nibble them slowly, savoringly
as the juice dripped on our bare chests in a sticky, fly attracting
mess. Trust me, it was more fun than it sounds.
OK, back to work.
I'll
let you know if and when we have a few garlic scapes in the Farm
Stand. They're pretty perishable, so I want you to have dibs!
Thanks for listening,
Dave
("Memory nourishes the heart, and grief abates" - Marcel Proust)
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