Kitty Garden - Bandit's First Look

Last time I was at Ace Hardware, I saw a seed mix called "Cat Treats - Gourmet Mixed Greens" and the cats on the front certainly looked like they were having fun playing with and eating the results. The mix includes rye, oats, barley and wheat. Bandit doesn't like a lot of regular treats so I figured it was worth a try. I planted them last weekend and the firs greens were up today so I brought the tray inside for him. He seemed to know right away that it was for him. Here's his first reaction:

So I'd say they were a hit. Good thing I have more seeds.

Kale & More Kale - First Week Back with the CSA

It was the first week back with Great Country Farms CSA plus I finally got everything planted in the garden and on my patio. If everything comes in from the garden, I'll definitely need to get the vacuum sealer and get a lot more in the freezer this year.

I planted more herbs including chives, savory, cilantro and lemongrass to go along with the tarragon, rosemary, sage and mint that's already thriving. I put in handfuls of pumpkin seeds plus sweet potatoes to join the potatoes already there. I'm trying onions instead of shallots this year (though I may still add some shallots - they were a treat last year). I'm trying different eggplant this year, 2 squash, cucumbers again (let's hope they do better this time), more tomatoes, and some beans that Sonya said "just scatter the seeds." So that's what I did. Sadly, one one of my artichoke plants made it through the winter so we'll see what happens. I'll keep trying. On the patio I have more tomatoes, lavendar, a few herbs and a kitty garden for Bandit. I'm also trying a few melons since they always got eaten by the voles at the garden. We'll see if they fare any better here.

I cut my first greens and had salad all week (mostly red and butter lettuce) from the garden and the farm all week. And over the weekend, I made myself a treat - eggs and asparagus.

But then there's the kale. And I have to use it all before the weekend, because we're getting collard greens next week. (I love greens, but they do come all at once at the beginning and end of the season.)

I've made kale chips a couple of times (such a great alternative to chips when you want something crunchy). Just tear the kale into bite size pieces and toss lightly with olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet (I line mine with parchment) and sprinkle lightly with salt or other spices. I just tried a batch with Penzey's Turkish seasoning and they were amazing. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes.

I also found a great recipe for Chickpea and Kale soup. I modified it a bit - since I'm not vegan and wasn't particularly looking for a fat free recipe, I sauteed the vegetables in a swirl of my good olive oil and used the onions we got in our boxes this week. And I used chicken stock that I'd made earlier in the week. And half the fun is playing with the seasoning - I used aleppo peppers, smoked paprika, tumeric, cinnamon, ginger and saffron and then ground some pepper over it all. The kale took a bit to soften up, so I let it simmer for about 20 minutes. The smoked paprika added a flavor and aroma that make it seem like it had been cooked over a fire for hours - perfect even on a hot summer day.

I still have more kale though. I guess I'll just make a batch of my green chicken chili and blend it in with the chicken broth - it's a great way to add more fiber and vitamins to the chili. I could also make kale-sesame salad. But I know I'll be doing that with the collard greens next week.

Community Garden

Out of the blue I got an email the other day. "You may not remember signing up for a community garden plot almost 3 years ago, but one just became available if you still want it." Heck, yeah!

So, $50 later I have a 300 square foot community garden plot in Arlington. I'm so excited! I have my seeds ordered and I've been working on clearing it out so I can get it tilled. I'll be planting several varieties of heritage tomatoes, lettuce, peas, melons and as an experiment, artichokes. I'm also going to grow sweet peas since I think the flowers are pretty.

And I've signed up for the CSA program from Great Country Farms again. I'm counting the weeks until pickup starts and especially until Strawberry Jubilee at the end of May!

Break Week

Each year the farm takes a break from deliveries (over the 4th of July), so nothing to report this week. They did host a barbeque out at the farm on Sunday for Members Day, so Jeanette and I headed out in the heat and enjoyed some chicken, hot dogs and potato salad in the Berry Barn. They had a really good zucchini casserole that I'd like the recipe for (Kate - if you're reading this, that's a hint.) It's always interesting to see the terrific variety of people who choose to join the CSA and support the local farm.

We said hello to Wilbur, took a walk through the yard to say hi to the other animals, and sat in the shade and just relaxed. But the gnats and the heat got the best of us and we headed back into town after a couple of hours and then I took a long nap.

More to report after Saturday's box and picking. And then I've arranged for a friend to pick up my vegetables while I'm away for a few weeks. Perhaps I can prevail upon her to guest write - she's a better and more interesting cook so it would be good to get some new ideas of what to do with the vegetables.

Picking Peas + Broccoli, onion, swiss chard

There weren't many strawberries left this week, so I only picked about 1/2 pint (and I'd stopped at the farmers market, but more about that separately), so I concentrated most of my time in the field with the English peas. I did much better this week, picking peas that were much further along and actually looked like peas. And this week's allowance was a whole bag.

And when I saw how much broccoli was in my box, I figured I'd better use peas and broccoli in another batch of curry along with the pak choi (I've been eating a lot of curry - it's a good thing that's a flexible recipe). My neighbor's basil went to pesto that's now in my freezer.

Another batch of stamp pot (which turned out really well) will take care of the rest. And Kate sent along a recipe for swiss chard and gnocchi that looks really good.

Can Strawberries be an addiction?

I went to the farmer's market in Arlington on my way to the farm on Saturday. And even though I said last week that I felt like I'd made good use of strawberry season, seeing the last of those really red ripe berries, I couldn't help myself. I bought 3 quarts (yeah, I know - that's a lot) plus a pint of raspberries to have with my yogurt this week.

I knew I didn't want to get into another round of jam making, so I made strawberry muffins, strawberry sour cream ice cream, strawberry-walnut bread, and ate a bunch of strawberries including with my yogurt for two days before switching to raspberries. Which was good before I went hiking on Sunday up in Seneca Park.

I've been giving the muffins away in my office because I'm eating the strawberry-walnut bread and not the muffins - that's made me pretty popular. And the ice cream is still in my freezer, but that will be really good later this week (I think this is the longest it's lasted.)

Okay, now I'm ready for strawberry season to be over. (We'll see if that's still true when I get to the farmer's market on Saturday.)

Stamp pot

When I told my friend Leslie that I was planning to make stamp pot for dinner, she said, "I think you're the only other person I know who knows what stamp pot is." Basically, it's mashed potatoes with kale, onion, and sausage. (I'm sensing a European theme of sausage, kale and potatoes.)

It seems like there are a variety of preparation methods for stamp pot - some including bacon. I cut up potatoes and started them boiling for 15 minutes, added the chopped kale for another 10 minutes and set that to drain. Then I melted the butter and sauteed the onion, added back in the drained vegetables and mashed everything, stirring in about 1/2 cup of milk. Add in sliced sausage (I heated mine up in the oven but the recipe I had suggested steaming) and salt and pepper to taste and there you go - stamp pot. It was quite tasty. I divided the remainder up into four tupperware containers, so I have stamp pot for 4 meals and 1 more container of chicken curry. That will get me through Friday dinner (no surprise we're going out for pho).

So I guess I'll be making more kale-walnut pesto and freezing it because the stamp pot didn't use up all my kale and I'm already stirring berries into my yogurt for breakfast. Today's newsletter from the farm said we'll be getting kale or swiss chard in our boxes this week - I'm kind of rooting for swiss chard in mine. And my neighbor is leaving town, so I'm getting his pak choi (more curry) and basil (more pesto).