Edible Weeds, Peak Strawberries, Zoe on Weeding, Terra on James Beard
Date: June 4th 2010
We’ve had some spectacular electrical storms this week -- the kind where you stand at the window slack-jawed with awe, as continual lightning creates a pulsing Pleistocene world. As you turn back to your warm, dry bed, you are newly appreciative of shelter – and newly sympathetic to poor King Lear upon the heath, who had none, but who still knows a good metaphor when he sees one: this tempest in my mind/Doth from my senses take all feeling else,/Save what beats there, filial ingratitude.
‘Round these parts, we have filial gratitude (mostly) – as you’ll see in the Farm Notes that Henry and Hiroko’s daughter Zoe writes this week (yes, she’s back! by popular demand!) – all about the planting and weeding marathon this past Sunday.
You know, when I first started these notes (over 10 years ago!) blogs didn’t exist, and many people were not that comfortable with the internet. But times have changed, so I’m going to try something new this week . . . putting out a brief email with highlights, and then giving you links to the details – which you can find, with photos, on our Food and Farm Notes Blog. (go ahead and bookmark this if you like http://foodandfarm.blogspot.com/)
We’ll do it this way for a few weeks as a trial . . . please let us know which you prefer, the previous version with one long email, or this shorter email with links to the full (illustrated) story, and an easier way to refer back at previous Notes to find recipes, etc.
Here goes . . . click away!
Teresa announces the peak of the strawberry season, and the many virtues of sage.
If you need a reason to buy organic strawberries, or to convince someone else to do so, read about the incredibly dangerous methyl iodide California is poised to approve for use on strawberries.
Everything you've ever wanted to know about delicious, nutritious native plants -- the wild green, golden giant, and hopi red dye amaranth you’ll see at the market, plus a few recipe suggestions.
The reader’s digest condensed Food Notes are:
· Wild greens – amaranth, lamb’s quarters, and purslane
· tons of lettuce of every color and frill factor
· big bunches of sweet and tender beet greens* (2 for $3, while they last)
· great green garlic, and some bunches of garlic scapes
· more carrots
· bigger bunches of kale
· and (new this week) lovely Broccoli, Tatsoi, Japanese Turnips and, we hope, a small amount of Snow Peas and Sugar Snap Peas.
* The story on the beet greens is that Henry planted beets all around the greenhouse tomatoes to make good use of the valuable real estate. Now the tomatoes are about 4 feet tall, and it’s hard to trellis them while a carpet of beets is underfoot. So the plan was to harvest them out and give you bunches of beets on Saturday, but on Thursday evening, when Henry started pulling them, he saw that the mice beat him to the beets, having found the sweetness irresistable. So Henry gave unto the mice the rest of that which was the mice’s. And what you get is a special sale on Beet Greens – 2 for $3 . . . as long as they last. Here’s a s
auteed beet greens with garlic and olive oil recipe from the NY Times. You can use green garlic instead of the garlic cloves, and be sure to use the red stems as well as the green leaves – all are sweet and tender, delicious and nutritious.
You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll sweat, you’ll groan . . . but mostly, you’ll love it.
There’s a rumor that The Seasons on Henry’s Farm will be reviewed in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday . . . stay tuned!
Oh, and don’t forget to stop by our neighbors the Wettstein’s stand at the other side of the market this Saturday. They’ll have certified organic beef, pork, lamb, eggs, and plenty of chicken--whole, cut-up, breast, wings, drums, thighs, backs, gizzards, and livers. Marilyn says:The pastures are green, and the oats are looking good. The corn is just breaking through the ground. We baled some hay between the rain drops this week. After the last two days of heavy rains, it is too we
t to plant any soybeans. So we are coming to see you in Evanston.Marilyn’s cell phone for Sat (309) 251-1334
Happy Eating, and thanks from all of us at Henry’s Farm
Terra
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Food and Farm Notes: A weekly peek at what's happening on Henry's Farm and what's coming to market, and what to do with it (with a side helping of poetry, science, philosophy, and what have you) For more information: http://www.terrabrockman.com/Henrys_Farm/welcometohenry%27s.html
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