December on the Acre

It’s the time of year where a delicate blanket of snow covers the once flourishing vegetable patches of our little acre. The heavy lifting is done, and our work consists of reading gardening books, planning for the 2019 garden market year, and my favorite, decorating the garden for Christmas. 

We began the prep for the winter months in late summer, when we sowed cover crops like hairy vetch, oats, and clover into some of our beds. The cover crops protect the soil from erosion during the blustery winter months, add nutrients to the beds, and break down into a mulch, which makes for lovely soil when spring comes. In late October and early November, we cleared out the beds, added compost to them, and used mulch and black plastic to “tuck” the garden in for the winter.

Now that the garden is tucked in, we’ll be tucked inside enjoying the veggies that we spent all summer growing, canning, freezing, and drying.

May you have a peaceful and joyful holiday season! We’ll see you in 2019!

Shell Peas

Shell peas are time consuming to shell, but the burst of sweetness you get when you eat them is well worth the effort. I freeze my peas in early summer and mourn the day I run out of them in the winter, because you can’t find that same flavor anywhere else in the grocery store. Shell peas fresh out of the garden are so sweet, they taste like candy.

Shell peas are like corn. Everyone says you need to have the water boiling for corn before you go out to pick it, because the minute you pick it, it starts losing sweetness. Once you pick shell peas, the sugars start converting to starch, and that beautiful candy-like flavor is lost.

I recommend growing your own peas. They are super easy to grow, and can be grown vertically to save space, as well as in containers. As soon as you pick them, you want to shell them and prepare them for a meal or to freeze.

If you pick them up at the farmer’s market, don’t be afraid to ask the farmer when they were picked. Most of us pride ourselves on offering super fresh veggies and are more than happy to answer that question! Shell peas should be picked the day before or the day of market, if they are older than that they are still perfectly usable but may not have the same great flavor as fresher ones.

Look for peas that are bright green and plump. Yellowing shells indicate that they are old and if they aren’t plump, you won’t have any peas to eat!

Once you are ready to freeze them, you need to shell them. The pods on shell peas are not edible, so you will want to open them up, pop the seeds into a bowl and discard the shells. (Theses are great for your compost!)

Once all of your peas are shelled, then you want to cover them with water and bring them to a boil. As soon as they peas come to a boil, take them off the heat and pour them into a strainer. It’s best to shock them in an ice bath, but I don’t always have ice on hand, so I run cold water over them to keep them from continuing to cook. Once the peas are cooled, put them into freezer bags, mark what they are, and place them in the freezer to enjoy all winter!

Easy peasy!

Carrie's Market Picks June 2018

Two of my top picks for the farmer's market this week come as a result of helping my cousin Ali and her husband Jonah at Teter Organic Farm last summer. Jonah introduced our family to kohlrabi and a variety of turnips called Hakurei turnips. As avid vegetable lovers, we couldn't believe what we had been missing out on in the vegetable world!

When we planned our garden and decided what we would sell at our market for 2018, we made sure to include plenty of kohlrabi and Hakurei turnips!

Our June market booth

If you are out and about, and looking for something fun to try this week from your farmer's market, I suggest picking up these three things...

1) Kohlrabi- this vegetable kind of looks like an alien head, but it has a delicious cabbage-like flavor and an incredible crunch. Our favorite way to eat it is to cut it into sticks and dip it in ranch, which is super refreshing on a hot day! We also love to toss slices of it with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and grill it for dinner.

2)Hakurei Turnips- these are amazing turnips. They are sweeter and less starchy than the turnips we've all grown up with, and are a great on salads or roasted in the oven. They also make a beautiful addition to a crudité platter.

3) Romaine Lettuce Heads- If you can find full heads of lettuce, they are beautiful and vibrant. The leaves are great for salads, wraps, and grilled with a drizzle of green goddess dressing (or whatever your favorite dressing may be)!

Hope you get to try some of these fun vegetables this season!

Picking and Storing Asparagus

It’s the time of year where asparagus is popping up through the dirt in Indiana. It seems to grow before our eyes, starting itty bitty in the morning and pushing half a foot by evening.

Whether you have your own asparagus patch or you are purchasing it at the grocery or farmer’s market, you should look for 8-10 inch spears with nice tight heads.

Tight head

Starting to bloom

If you grow your own asparagus and the heads are starting to bloom, it’s still okay to eat it! But if you are buying it, the tight heads show that it is fresh, so get your money’s worth and purchase the fresh ones.

When you pick asparagus you want to cut it with a sharp knife at the base of the spear. Cut anything with a diameter thicker than a pencil. If it’s the same diameter as a pencil or smaller, it’s best to let it grow to give energy to the plant for next year.

You should store asparagus like you would a bouquet of flowers, freshly cut in a Mason jar or glass of water. Asparagus will last on the counter in water for a day or two, and in the fridge for a week.

Enjoy!

Seasonal Eats- April

As an avid Indiana gardener, I’m always a little entertained when I read recipe ideas or watch cooking shows featuring seasonal recipes in April. They include things like parmesan roasted asparagus, buttered peas, radishes and salad greens, and fresh strawberries! Yum!

Buying local food and from farmers markets is super trendy right now, so a lot of the articles I’ve read say things like, “Just go down to your local farmer’s market and look for the freshest asparagus, or, “Buy strawberries now, because they are in season!”

But here’s the thing. These things may be locally available in other parts of the country, but they are definitely not growing here in Indiana yet. If you are shopping for asparagus, or peas, or strawberries at the grocery store, they have been shipped across the country, not grown in Indiana!

April garden beds in Indiana

When I was working at the farmer’s market last year, I saw a lot of this. There were all kinds of veggies and fruits people thought that us growers should have because they could find it “seasonally available” at the grocery, and were disappointed to find they weren’t available yet at our market.

In fact, most Indiana farm markets won’t even open until May because there just really isn’t much to sell yet. (The exception to this would be local growers who can afford a heated greenhouse to get a head start on vegetables.)

So what is actually growing right now? If you truly wanted to eat in season and locally, what would you find?

In our garden you would find…

Run-up Turnip Greens. We planted these late last summer and they overwinter and pop up again in early spring. The small leaves are tender with a slight spiciness to them. My hubby and I will use them for a salad (nothing like eating fresh greens when you have eaten home canned and frozen vegetables all winter…sooooo good!) and my kids will tolerate the slight bitter leaves in soups and stews.

Curly Leaf Kale

Red Russian Kale

Kale- another hearty green that overwinters in the garden well! We planted this kale last fall and it started to thrive again in early April. The frosts make this normally bitter green sweeter, so it’s definitely a special treat if you can find it or grow it in the spring. Later varieties you find throughout the summer won’t be nearly as tasty and a lot more bitter once it starts to heat up outside.

Spring garlic- We don’t usually pick or eat our garlic in the spring unless we are desperate for fresh garlic because the bulbs are still small. But spring garlic can be found at markets. It is milder in flavor than summer garlic. You can also find garlic scapes (also known as garlic chives) which are the tender shoots that garlic plants put up in the spring. These look like chives, but have a garlic flavor and are absolutely delicious to cook with.

Spring Onions- we grow these Egyptian Walking Onions, which are amazing! They overwinter and you can see that they are already vibrant and ready to eat! The whole plant of this variety can be eaten, the roots like a normal onion and the tops as green onions.

Herbs- we have tarragon, oregano, mint, lemon balm, sage, and cilantro springing up in our garden. While herbs don't constitute as a meal by any means, they do add great flavor to your food!

And don’t worry, if you are dying to try parmesan roasted asparagus or buttered peas, they are on their way! They are starting to push up through the ground and should be making an appearance in May!

Broken Things and Spring

We are calling 2018 the year of broken things. It started with the dryer, then the furnace, the T.V., the car, the stove. And then the toughie... the trampoline we penny pinched for the kids for Christmas. One gust of wind sent in up into the air and crashing through our garden fence, and in a matter of moments two things were left mangled and broken.

As we untangled the trampoline from our fence and dragged the remains across our lawn, the kids kept asking us, "Can it be saved?" "Mommy? Daddy? Is it broken? Can you fix it? Can you save it?"

 It made me think about how many times I’ve asked that in my own life, calling out to God, “Can you fix it? Is it broken? Can this mangled mess be saved?” And as spring comes, the season of renewal and fresh beginnings, I feel like it answers that question deep in our hearts. During the winter, everything in the garden looks so dead, so gray and lifeless. It's hard to imagine in the winter the life that flourishes from that patch of dirt in the summer. But as spring awakens, I see that dull patch of dirt come to life. Green leaves through dark soil, white and pink buds from brown stems, and sunshine warming the cold ground after long stretches of overcast days.

 If life feels lifeless, or hopeless, or like a mangled mess and you are wondering if it can be saved, God answers every spring with a resounding yes! The patch that looks gray and lifeless can flourish once again. In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Aslan stands before the creatures of Narnia that the White Witch turned into statues. They are cold, gray, lifeless, and Aslan opens his mouth, breathing life, and warmth, and color back into them again. God can stand before our lives too, and the God who breathed into the dust, creating man, can breathe into our lives and awaken and renew them once again. Happy spring!