Summer has arrived!

This week there was a lot of changes/additions to the infrastructure of Backyard Bounty. First, changes to the farmer's market stand. Paul (my husband) improved the signage dramatically. I think it looks so much better! Also, I brought more produce to make the display look more abundant. One of my CSA customers, Sally, offered some more great suggestions that I will implement this coming week. Slowly the stand will evolve until I am happy with it. Below is Paul's daughter Emily who came to help me at market last week. Thank you Emily!


Paul did a fabulous thing for me this week that will help my time management - he found me a really great used small rototiller on Craig's List. I LOVE it! I couldn't afford a new one so he drove all the way out to Maple Ridge, brought it back and spent a day servicing it to get it working. Gotta love handymen partners! :o)

And that's not all - Paul also built another hoophouse at the farm so that I can plant my tomatoes etc out under cover (I'm sure you are all aware that tomatoes need to be grown under cover to help avoid blight). My current hoophouse is overflowing with tomatoes in pots, which are all quickly getting root bound. The new structure is 10'x30', so there is lots of room.


This weeks veggies are:

salad mix - the salad greens are not slowing down at all!
Italian parsley
kale
chives
peas
garlic scapes - garlic tops, called flowers or garlic scapes, are a gourmet delight! Steam them whole and serve with melted butter like asparagus. Cut them into short lengths to add to a stir fry. They have a delicate garlic flavour which gives a subtly different and delicious flavour to the sauce.
zucchini - I hope! They are growing nicely, just not profusely.

Enjoy the sun! :o)

CSA delivery and Farmer's Market

This past couple of weeks has been very busy - mostly weeding - the weeds are growing almost as fast as the veggies, particularly at the farm where the newly turned over soil is chock full of weed seeds. I've also been doing a lot of planting: carrots, parsnip, cucumbers, turnip, bush beans, beets, scallions. My 'to do' list is still very long though - never a dull moment! :o)

Here is a picture at the farm a couple of weeks ago (it already looks more prolific than this). What fun it is to compare to the pictures of the land back in April when it was fallow, I can really see all the hard work I have done!


This week I will be harvesting:

salad mix - the usual mix of lettuces with a little extra added
fennel bulb - I chopped up some kale and fennel and sauteed them together in a little olive oil and garlic until tender - yummy!!
rainbow swiss chard - looking incredibly beautiful in the garden, it really is a rainbow of colours
parsley
peas - the snow peas are starting to produce well now; enjoy them as is, added to salad or sauteed.
red mustard
mizuna
maybe a baby zucchini - they are producing already but not in great numbers yet, hopefully there will be enough for one each this week

Other news, I attended my first farmer's market on Saturday. It was a lovely day and was quite well attended. Please spread the word that the Fiddlehead Market in Gibsons is every Saturday 9-1pm. I was quite nervous about going, particularly because I would have to do my first market alone (everybody was busy!). It started off well, I managed to get the canopy up (my biggest concern), but then while setting up the table the leg broke off!! I couldn't get it back in, and a friendly gentleman couldn't even bang it back in with a hammer. I'm quite proud of myself because I managed to 'jimmy' it together and it held for the whole time.

I had plenty of greens (I was concerned that I would run out), received lots of encouraging comments, and enjoyed meeting a whole bunch of new people. People are quite intrigued by the concept of farming in other people's space.


I'm going to work on changing my display a bit. After looking at this picture I think it looks pretty sterile. I want it to look more appealing/inviting from afar.

Spring's Bounty

Well, this is the first week of the 2008 CSA season! It is very exciting for me to see my dream realized and to be sharing the abundance growing in the gardens. A reminder that the pick up will be on Thursdays at 811 Marine Drive in Granthams (the corner of Central and Marine) between 3-6pm.

The season starts with lots of greens. In your bag this week will be:

assorted salad mix a yummy mix of 5 types of salad greens, red mustard, endive, arugula
dill delicious if generously added to your salad mix, with salmon, added to your favourite soup, or make a dill dip
flat leaf parsley
a head of lettuce
kale below find a really great, easy to make, kale soup recipe that will make a kale lover out of anybody!
mizuna a really tasty green that is delicious steamed, added to salad, or included in a stirfry
radishes
and maybe fennel bulb this is almost ready and may be included this week or next

As the season progresses you will find more variety in your bag, and quantities will increase. Growing right now are carrots, snow peas, snap peas, beets, potatoes, peppers, basil, swiss chard, daikon radish, broccoli, cauliflower, celeriac, scallions, kolibri, onions, chives, zuchinni, patty pan squash, cucumber, tomatoes and just planted yesterday bush beans and edamame. Phew....no wonder I've been so busy!

The past week has, yet again, been insanely busy! Paul and I held a huge garage sale (combining our households means 2 of everything!) and then over a few days moved the rest of my stuff over to his. The move is finally done! Yeah, now my life can get back to some semblance of normality and routine perhaps.

The last few days were spent entirely in the gardens. How nice to finally write that! I pulled out all the pac choi and chinese cabbage at Tim and Wendy's that had gone to seed and replanted with peppers, tomatoes and basil. The mizuna is growing into a forest so I've cut it back to stop it going to seed. At the farm I've planted out the zuchinni and squash that I had started in the greenhouse - some are already fruiting! Yesterday I seeded two 30' rows of tri-color bush beans, 1 row of silverado swiss chard, 1 row of rainbow chard, 1 row of edamame. Gotta love the Earthway Seeder that made short work of seeding.

Today I'm off to Lee Ann's to start more carrots, lots of carrots. Of course in between plantings there are major amounts of weeding to be done. I've found that keeping on top of the weeding is the only way to go, so each time I'm at one of the gardens I spend a good hour hoeing or pulling weeds.

Oh, this week I went to see Barbara Kingsolver who was appearing at the Vancouver Writer's Festival. She appeared with her husband Stephen Hopp, they were delightful. I had already read her book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle so there were no surprises, but it was fun to see her in person and listen to her thoughts on being a locavore.