Nitty Gritty News July 30th

From the Farmers….
I can’t believe that it is almost August! It seems like just last week was the first of July and it is time for another FARM FESTIVAL! This Sunday, August 2, starting at 2:30 pm come to the farm for our SUMMER ABUNDANCE FESTIVAL. While we don’t actually have the bulk of the summer abundance veggies like tomatoes and peppers yet (because of the cold spring) we will have plenty of farm abundance to share with you. Good food prepared by our amazing farm staff, hayrides around the farm, lots of animals and plants, Nitty Gritty Dirt FARM music, and we’ll be tapping another keg of our homebrew for you. This is a great time to come to the farm to see exactly how and where your food is being grown, harvested and packed for you. Let us know if you plan to attend so we can plan how much food to prepare.

From one extreme to another – I guess that’s farming. Rain on Monday, and again today. Twice, we watched the sky turn darker and darker, a few drops, then more and we grabbed our bean picking buckets and ran for shelter. The problem with beans and rain is that you can’t pick wet beans. There is some kind of reaction that makes the beans get little rusty looking spots when they are picked wet. It’s odd because it is fine to get the already picked beans wet – but you can’t pick in the rain. However, you can harvest cabbage in the rain – and so we shifted gears until the sun came back out and dried the plants so we could go back to beans – until the next shower – and the next. And you can also write while it rains, so that is what I’m doing now, while some of the interns bag the potatoes dug this morning and the others start the evening animal chores.

Looking around the farm, it seems that we’ve made quite a few changes this week. The sheep are in a new electro-net fenced pasture with lots of grass to eat. The lambs have moved next door to another fenced area off the barn. We moved the clothesline to the west yard instead of the back yard. And our new intern shower/composting toilet/washing sink building is nearly finished. We had started construction of this 6’ x 16’ building ourselves and simply have not had enough time to get it completed. When Jim, a construction guy who has done great work for us before, called and asked if we had any jobs he could fit in between his big jobs – we decided to hand the project over to him. Our simple shower house has become something of a ‘Taj Ma’ Shower ‘Hall’ - a lot more substantial than we had planned. It will be great though having a place for a lot of interns to shower, wash up cooking dishes and have their own toilet.

We also did a marathon weeding day on Tuesday. With the blessing of rain also comes the curse of weeds. And so, we decided to pull by hand the weeds between the tomato rows. Te tomato plants are already planted in black plastic mulch, but the four foot between row space in which I had planned to seed a cover crop – but didn’t because it was too dry - had now in just a few days grown up thickly in weeds. We’ll till, spread summer rye, and rake in the seed between the rows. With the amount of soil moisture we now have, we’re hoping the rye will germinate quickly, and with it’s allelopathic affect (inhibits weed growth) that it will suppress the weeds, make a nice pathway for pickers and bushy tomato plants – and as we work it in – provide fertility for the soil. We are hoping to seed the buckwheat seed waiting in the barn between the melon and cucumber rows also while this rainy spell lasts. Oh – and the rapeseed I seeded with high hopes is growing well and hopefully will provide good fall grazing for the sheep.

On my weekend wandering around the fields, I noticed that the pickling cucumbers had a bunch of cukes just ready for pickles – so on Saturday, we made 18 pints of bread and butter pickles and 4 quarts of Wild Child Dill pickles (dill, hot pepper, garlic, allspice and mustard seed). For those of you who like to make pickles, you will be getting some pickling cukes in your share in the weeks to come along with your slicers. We mostly grow picking cukes for the farm, but are usually overwhelmed in a couple of weeks and will then share them with you. We’ll be making Dilly beans this weekend or early next week and we are still making Kim Chee.

In your share this week, you are getting the last of the green and Chinese cabbage. We are planning to fence in the cabbage field with electro-net fencing and let the sheep graze all the leafy remains of the post-harvest cabbage.

On Monday, the big pigs had a blast mud wrestling in their rain drenched pen. They raced around and around and threw themselves into the mud over and over, completely covering themselves with mud – while we just watched and laughed.

Until next week…. (or Sunday)…


What’s in your share…

Potatoes - Norland red
Onions - Walla Walla yellow sweet
Zucchini ?? – mix or match from: Slick Pick (yellow long), Elite (green long), Cavell (pale green long), Zephyr (yellow and green bowling pin), Raven (dark green long)
Cucumber – Raider, Sweet Slice
Chinese Cabbage - Blues and/or Green Cabbage – Primax
Kohlrabi – Winner and/or Turnip – Hakkurei
Green Beans – Derby and/or Provider
Yellow Beans – Eureka
Herbs: Basil – Genovese (green large leaf), Ararat (purple multi. Thai), Lime
Dill – Dukat (leafy) and/or Cilantro - Santo

Nitty Gritty News July 23rd

From the Farmers….

We finished the yurt!!! It’s been a project in the works since early spring – and finally tonight we finished the last grommet- and tie - and inside carpet. As we all sat inside reveling in how neat it is, it began to rain. We rushed out to put on the crown cover – the ‘jester hat’ we call it – to protect the center top hole. Dale will be moving into this structure next week when we move it onto a wooden deck. Then we’ll get the second nine foot yurt finished.

We did get a little rain this week – less than ½ inch. Not nearly enough to make much difference to some of the crops like the sweet corn, but certainly better than nothing. While we didn’t get the 2 – 3 inches like some places in the twin cities, at least we did not get the hail that some got.

Over the weekend, we (Robin and Gigi) went camping up north. It was wonderful to get away – our first summer camping trip since we began the CSA five years ago. We are so thankful to have had Adrienne (intern from last year) who provided some weekend coverage so we could get away.

Back at the farm, we’ve been mowing between tomato and squash rows to make grass pathways. Now that we’ve had a bit of rain, we’ll be seeding some buckwheat and rye between the melon rows. The rapeseed that I seeded last week and wondered if it would germinate is all coming up – halleluiah!

On Monday, Jane, Sara and Cara mulched the late green beans and red cabbage. These three amazing interns spread three big bales of mulch over ten 220 foot rows in less than a day! We are using a lot of hay mulch again this year to help conserve moisture in the soil, control weeds and build the soil as it decomposes. We can see a huge difference in the crops that are mulched with hay, mulched with plastic and not mulched at all.

Tuesday, with rain imminent, we again worked on a variety of odd jobs – sewing on the yurt cover, making cheese, and seeding Mei Qing Choi and Kohlrabi in flats for fall harvest. We also seeded a couple of new rows of turnips and cooking radishes in the field.

This morning our interns made the big duck move – moving the fifteen Khaki Campbell ducks to new territory – with more grass. We’ve been moving them weekly to new space – but today the move was much farther. The technique of just moving the fence with the ducks moving along inside did not work for this distance, so each duck had to be caught –which they didn’t much like – and carried to the new pen. They should be happier with new foraging.

Until next week….

WHAT'S IN YOUR SHARE THIS WEEK

Chinese Cabbage
Primax Green Cabbage
Candy Onions
Provider and Jade Green Beans
Eureka Yellow Beans
Yukon Gold and some Norkotah Russett Potatoes
Packman Broccoli
Vates Collard Greens
Lime Basil
Ararat Basil

Nitty Gritty News July 16TH

REMINDER ABOUT THE BOXES

From now on you will have a box of your very own. We still highly recommend that you bring a bag, transfer your treasures into it, and leave your empty box at the drop site. CAREFULLY unfold the tabs on the top and bottom and gently flatten the box. If you try to force them, they could tear and they don’t hold the heavier produce well if the tabs have tears. Thanks in advance for your help.

From the Farmers….

Anticipating rain all day on Tuesday, we found all kinds of odd jobs that were not in the fields that needed doing – moving the sheep to yet another pasture, organizing and bagging seeds, assembling three new wheelbarrows, sewing the cover and walls for a yurt – and no real rain – only a few sprinkles. After dark, the lightning and wind came and finally – the rain. So badly needed, we only got about ½ inch which is not enough but certainly better than nothing. Our well got a day of respite from irrigating yet another field, and we took a day off from weeding.

The rain caused quite a few of the ready-for-harvest cabbages to split – and so we took advantage of the opportunity and after harvesting all day today, we dug out the antique kraut cutter and shredded and packed three five gallon pails of sauerkraut. With the abundance of various cabbages , we have also been experimenting with kimchee – a fermented bok choy or Chinese cabbage mixed with other veggies. Gigi thought the first attempt was a bit too heavy on red pepper and ginger so another is in the works. We are not sure that we will follow the tradition of Koreans who eat kimchee with everything – even breakfast, but it seems a good addition to a meal for those who like to add a bit of zing.

We are finally making progress on our yurts. Cara seems to have made it her mission to get the yurt covers sewed so Dale and Sara can move into them soon. With a few grommets and only a little more fitting of the cordura nylon fabric over the doorway, the first structure is nearly ready. On the potentially rainy Tuesday, we moved the whole yurt into our processing hoop house so we could work on it even if it rained. We also moved the sewing machine right outside to the hoop house too to make fitting and sewing more convenient.

Our baby broiler chicks are growing fast – already turning from cute yellow puff balls into less cute beginning-to-feather babies. And the baby rabbits have turned into teenagers – and Minerva is pregnant again – due to kindle in the beginning of August. All of the babies grow so quickly into big animals. The turkeys are growing fast, as are the pigs – even the second group of five are growing fast – especially with the addition of milk and whey to their diet.

Over the weekend, we figured out the average rates of gain for the pigs, the lambs and the steers – and then based on our figures and data from the last two years, we made appointments at the two local butchers where we get our meat processed. It is a little hard to know exactly when the livestock will be the correct market weight – and in order to get an appointment, we have to book it months ahead – especially as the dates go into September and October.
Even though we have almost no pasture and are feeding hay to the sheep and steers and goats – everyone seems to be doing pretty well. On Monday, with potential rain, I disked one pasture field, seeded it with 25 pounds of rapeseed and dragged it – and waited for rain – which did finally come by evening. Hopefully we will get some more so the crop grows to provide grazing for the sheep this fall.

Janet Fletcher, the cookbook author was back last Thursday to talk to us again and see us get everything harvested, cleaned, sorted, and packed into your boxes. She sent us a couple of pictures that she took – which are on the blog site.

Intern Jacq is gone this week – camping in Alaska. We miss her but hope she is having fun and getting reenergized. Tomorrow is Avery’s last day at the farm. He will be leaving to drive to Earlham College in Illinois where he will meet up with a group who will then turn around and drive back up north – far north – for a long canoe trip for a college class. We wish Avery well and hope he will come back for a visit.

Cara and Sarah have become our farm cheese queens – making batches of cheese nearly every day they are at the farm. Cara made Panir – an Indian cheese – and used it for part of an Indian curry meal she made for us. Both Sarah and Cara have learned to make several soft yogurt cultured spreadable cheeses and today made a feta like cheese which will be ready to eat next Monday. I (Robin) made some squeaky cheese curds to eat as a snack. It is a bit tricky making cheese when we have to work around the farm schedule and can’t simply stay by the cheese kettle and watch the process carefully. It has meant we need to stick to fool-proof types of cheese that don’t require such careful and timely steps.

Tomorrow morning we’ll begin the harvest at 6:30 and so…

Until next week……………. Robin and Gigi



What’s in your box?

Yukon Gold potatoes
Knight shelling peas
Provider and Jade Green Beans, Eureka yellow beans
Baby Collard greens
Red Russian kale
Primax green cabbage
Blues Chinese cabbage
Packman broccoli
Walla Walla onions
Joi Choi bok choy

Nitty Gritty News July 9th

INDIVIDUAL BOXES THIS WEEK!!!

So far, your share has been in various bags and bunches. This week, you will have a box of your very own. We still highly recommend that you bring a bag, transfer your treasures into it, and leave your empty box at the drop site. CAREFULLY unfold the tabs on the top and bottom and gently flatten the box. If you try to force them, they could tear and they don’t hold the heavier produce well if the tabs have tears. Thanks in advance for your help.

From the Farmers….

Wow! It’s been a busy week at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm! While others were shooting off fireworks on the 4th, we (Gigi and Robin) spent all of Saturday first picking shell peas and then shelling them and freezing them. We listened to four MPR programs while we picked and several more while we shelled, including the Prairie Home Companion anniversary show in Avon, which we had hoped to attend. It was a long job, but we have over 40 bags of peas in our freezer which will taste wonderful next winter.
On Friday, as we were returning the chicken plucker which we borrowed for butchering our first batch of broilers to Robin’s son Lucas, we received a phone call from our neighbor Chick (from whom we get our pigs). He said he had a deal for us – and we thought “oh no!” We didn’t want to try to save any more teeny tiny baby pigs – but this time he had five 50-60 pound pigs that were an in-between size for him – they were too big for the small group and too small for the older pigs at his farm – and he wondered if we or someone we knew might be interested. We conferred and decided, “We’ll take them.” So home again and building another pig pen and pig shelter and then over to the neighbor’s to pick up the five cute new pigs. They make us realize just how big our first group of five already is – probably well over 150#.
We made a new home for the turkeys – a secure and large pen with a big shade section. They seem to be very happy in their new quarters – which should suffice for them for at least a couple of weeks.
On Sunday afternoon, intern Cara arrived. Though it is only Wednesday as I write, it seems as though she has been with us from the beginning. We worked on our yurts (round living quarters) on Tuesday, and it was exciting to take advantage of Cara’s sewing ability to help with cutting out the cordura nylon and begin sewing pieces together. Hopefully by the next farm festival, we will have our colorful festival yurts up and interns living in them.
On Monday, our friends, Kevin and Connie, dairy farmers from down by Rochester, visited. They gamely put up with our work day, following us around as we weeded and weeded and weeded – red cabbage. We had expected our next shipment of 50 broilers to arrive on Monday morning at our post office but no phone call at the usual 6:30 AM, so we assumed that they would not arrive until Tuesday. We didn’t remember that the holiday might change the delivery time – and the phone call announcing their arrival came on Gigi’s phone at about 3:00 pm while she was on her way to teach at the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor. I (Robin) didn’t answer my phone, so she called Jacq to pass on this less than desired news since we only had Jacq’s car at the farm. But Kevin and Connie saved the day. They drove into North Branch to the feed mill to pick up a bag of Chick starter and another of shavings for bedding (the other was in Gigi’s trunk in Richfield) and then back to Harris to the post office to pick up the box of chicks. All except one were fine – healthy and cute and ready to eat and drink. Thanks Kevin and Connie for all of your help and the great pictures.
And on Wednesday, cookbook author, Janet Fletcher came to visit to talk to us about our farm for the cookbook she is writing and in which we will be one of the featured farms. It was a lot of fun sharing our meal and our day – though it was a bit disconcerting to have our meal inspected so carefully. Janet and her publisher Doralece will be back tomorrow to follow us around as we harvest more food and pack your weekly share.
And in the middle of all of this, many feet of new irrigation hose was laid and plants watered, bushels of peas were picked and hundreds of feet of rows were weeded – and we still had energy for a spirited group lesson and added a drum circle time.
Until next week. Robin and Gigi


What’s in your share this week:

Norland red Potatoes
Knight shelling peas
Cascadia edible podded peas
Primax green cabbage
Blues Chinese cabbage
Joi Choi Bok Choi
Bull’s Blood Beets and Greens
Vates Collard Greens (baby)
Easter Egg and Pink Beauty Radishes
MAYBE Packman Broccoli
Candy Onion

Ideas for using your veggies this week – make slaw. Today, I used a mix of Chinese cabbage, green cabbage both sliced very fine, chopped broccoli, shredded radishes and chopped onion. I sprinkled the mix with a little salt and let it sit for about ½ hour then squeezed out the water. I made a vinaigrette of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, ground ginger, salt and pepper. It was pretty and very tasty. You could use just about any mix of cabbage type greens including the collards and bok choy. Just thinly slice. Add some crunchy veggies like radishes or peas. And either use a creamy dressing or any kind of vinaigrette. We have also been enjoying a variety of stir fries this week, using a lot of bok choy and Chinese cabbage with a variety of seasonings.

Nitty Gritty News July 2nd

From the Farmers….
What crazy weather! From 90 + degrees on Saturday to 51 on Monday – our poor plants don’t know exactly what to do. After sweating profusely as we worked on building the shower/composting toilet/sink house for our interns on Saturday, we have been enjoying the cooler weather – even wearing sweat shirts all day to work in the fields. We did a bunch more weeding on Monday and butchered fifty broilers on Tuesday. We do have a great crew of interns – all willing and enthusiastic to learn whatever we throw at them.
Just this evening after livestock chores, we made a new area of pasture for the sheep. Being so dry, the pastures just are not coming back after being grazed. We are planning to disk up one big area for the sheep and plant with rapeseed (a kind of grazing plant in the cabbage family), but are waiting for a forecast of rain so we know when to seed.
We have added another new intern. Sarah joins us from out east and will be with us for about six weeks. She is a great addition and brings new skills and enthusiasm. One of the perks of being an intern at Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm is that Gigi will teach music lessons for banjo, guitar, mandolin, drums, ???? This year, everyone is participating - so the lesson has become a group one. Today we had Dale and Sarah on banjos, Avery, Jacq and Robin on guitar, Sue on the djembe drum and Gigi on mandolin – kind of crazy but a LOT of fun. Then back to the field to pick snap peas.
Until next week…. Robin and Gigi

Whats in your share this week

1 bag of salad greens – includes a variety of romaine, bibb, oakleaf lettuces, mizuna, red Russian kale, mustard greens, tatsoi, arugula, collards, chard.
1 bundle of Joi Choi bok choi
Walla Walla green Onion
Cascadia Sugar Snap Peas

Robin's Early Summer Soup

Just today we made a wonderful hearty soup with one head of bok choy - chopped, one green Walla Walla onion – chopped , a handful of peas, a big handful of greens chopped, , 4 cups of cooked Jacobs Cattle beans, canned tomatoes and tomato juice. I sautéed the onion and bok choi in about one Tablespoon of olive oil, then added two quarts of canned tomatoes and 1 quart of tomato juice (this all canned from last summer – or you could get by with purchased) Add the beans (you could substitute kidney beans) and 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon spike seasoning, 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning, 1 teaspoon salt and a little pepper. Cook for an hour or so on very low heat. It was delicious.