Date: April 19th 2012

Teresa and Marilyn are coming up with farm-fresh food of all descriptions -- this Saturday, nine to noon, at the Evanston Ecology Center  -- and look forward to seeing you!

You'll find them in the little patio area just outside the main big room -- with fabulous cut herbs, herb starts for your garden or windowbox, jams, herb teas, and goat milk soaps (Teresa) and certified organic meats and eggs (Marilyn).  Henry is too busy to harvest anything right now, so you'll have to wait until the first regular Evanston Market to get his veggies.

Teresa’s Fruit and Herb News
Every year is different, and every year has its weather challenges, but this has got to be one of the most peculiar and challenging ever! 

It started with an unusually warm and dry winter, continued with the hottest March on record which caused all of the fruit plants to bloom  a month early.  Then about 10 days ago we had three nights of hard freezes.  I lost all of my peaches and cherries, the kiwis and pawpaws look like they’ve been torched, and the harvest of strawberries and pears will be greatly reduced.  The jury is still out on the extent of damage to the blueberries and aronia, but the apples and currants seemed to make out OK.  Even some of the herbs suffered damage, but they will come back nicely with time.  Despite two small rains over this past weekend, it is still very dry and we are not out of the woods yet as far as freezes go either. 

Nevertheless . . . because we have a very diverse farm (insurance against disasters of all sorts), I’m bringing up a great variety of FRESH HERBS despite all our weather woes. Look for a couple kinds of mint, thyme, Pennsylvania Dutch thyme, lemon thyme, lemon balm, sage, tarragon, chives, Asian chives, rosemary, and even some bags of nettles, and possibly some bunches of lamb’s quarters.  And probably a few more things I’ve forgotten . . .

I’ll also have my jams, herb teas, and goat-milk soaps  . . .  and my first PLANT STARTS of the season!

Get a head start in your garden with these organically grown, beautifully aromatic (and medicinal!) herb starts. This Saturday, you can choose from: rosemary, thyme, basil, marjoram, lavender, Italian flat leaf parsley, lemon balm, lemon verbena, lemon thyme, and MORE. Oh yes, two new herbplants this year are pineapple sage and rose geranium!  I had some of the pineapple sagealong with lemon thyme and marjoram on chicken a couple of days ago and it was fruity and delicious!

AND, I have some Hinnomaki Red Gooseberry plants.  These will make delicious, sweet, large, red gooseberries probably by next season.  Easy to grow too.

I will NOT be bringing up any tomatoes, peppers, or other warmth-loving plants because it is still much too early to plant these outside.  So don’t succumb to those boring red tomatoes and green peppers at the big box stores.  Heaven only knows where and how those plants were grown!  If you wait until May 5th when the regular Evanston Farmers Market opens, that’s when I’ll bring up over 65 kinds of tomatoes, 30 kinds of peppers, 40 kinds of herbs, eggplants, squash, cukes, kales, swiss chards, and A LOT MORE--all lovingly grown by yours truly using all organic methods and our own black dirt and compost!

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you!

Teresa

p.s. Sign up now for the talk Terra will be giving Saturday May 26 at Wellness House.  (Wellness House improves the quality of life for those affected by cancer and its treatment and provides information, support, and a community to help families living with cancer.)  Terra will talk about the health and happiness fresh foods can bring.  She'll show slides of Teresa's organic fruit farm and Henry's organic vegetable farm, and talk about the ripple effects of our food choices–including the health, economic, and environmental benefits of eating great foods grown by local farmers.