Metro Detroit Flooding

Many metro areas got hit including Clawson with the major flooding recently. The systems were overloaded and some areas flooded with storm drain water and others became flooded with sewage water. If any would like to help with clean up or to donate furniture of clothing email me and I will get your information to the appropriate parties.

Squash Blossoms

Stuffed Squash Blossoms
By Donna Mohr
Here’s our recipe: remove the bugs (their harvested fresh and kept cool) than remove stamen and fill w/about 2 t. goat cheese & a small bit of anchovy. Dip in a flour/water slurry & twist to close. Fry in olive oil ’til lite brown & crisp. Drain & add a little sea salt . Serve immediately.

Sautéed Kale

1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/2 cup stock or water
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft. Turn heat to High add the stock and kale, toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/sauteed-kale-recipe.html?oc=linkback

Small Farm Clutter

Those that have visited small diversified farms may wonder why they have a collection of junk. Some farms are clean and orderly, but generally those farms are only growing a few crops while others that are more diversified have piles of more equipment here and there (more diversification usually mean more different types of equipment & supplies). Ours is one of those that have piles of stuff here and there. Today Fritz Auction has a trailer outside which is fully loaded with stuff. Some of the stuff that was once considered junk is now considered collectable antiques. Children of depression era parents (me) tend to collect way too much stuff. Farmers with older equipment hang on to other equipment just in case they need to repair their older tractors with parts from other equipment. Most small organic growers don’t make enough to purchase new equipment so they learn to be mechanics as well as farmers; and soon the junk piles up, often a tractor that needs repairs sits in one spot waiting for the farmer to find time to repair it.
Other stuff like the wagon wheels pictured above once were used on the farm generations prior and still remained in the equipment graveyard; now they are being shipped to Fritz Auction to find a new home.
Each time I walk past our junk I sigh wishing to put the stuff in a dumpster, send it to a recycling center, donate it to the thrift shop or to store it again just in case we may need it someday.
A farmer’s dilemma is if today we take the time to do something about the junk the weeds are not getting pulled and the sweet potatoes say please pull the weeds that are choking me. They don’t seem to care about the stuff hiding past their small space. While the weeds are growing, the paper work piles, other garden plots are not getting planted, the yellow jackets are making homes where we don’t want, the rye needs to be combined, the irrigation system is plugging up, the shed where the potato digger is in is still collapsed from the snow, the ground hog is digging under a building, the roof is leaking, and the list goes on each day as we have to prioritize as to what needs more attention and the stuff piles get ignored. Today is different, the stuff piles are going, by removing the clutter we hope it will allow us to focus more on growing and less time moving junk from one spot to the next wishing we had more room.

Until Next Time
Marian Listwak

Organic Certification Visiting Day

Each year the inspector for our organic certification visits the farm; each inspector is rather unique as to how long they stay and how much they look at. Some have been at the farm for eight or more hours others only for two hours.
The inspectors look at everything, ask a lot of questions and sometimes even look at all our financial records to be sure we are .
This year our inspector was David Demler, he was quite a character and since he knows and has inspected many farms in the area it made the day rather pleasant. He was somewhat of a comedian which was a breath of fresh air since in the past some had dry serious personalities. All the inspectors all trained and they inspect farms for many different certifying agencies, they make no judgments and just report their findings to the certifying agency. The actual application for organic certification is about 15-20 pages, not including the attachments they require. One of the big things they push is record keeping, so each day Dale has to write everything down each day.
Becoming Certified Organic can be a grueling process also keeping up with the changes is also grueling. The certifying agency is usually only a call away, so if we have any questions they are always willing to help us.

Until Next Time
Marian Listwak

Sauteed Kale

1 1/2 pounds young kale, stems and leaves coarsely chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1/2 cup stock or water
Salt and pepper
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook until soft. Turn heat to High add the stock and kale, toss to combine. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove cover and continue to cook, stirring until all the liquid has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add vinegar.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/sauteed-kale-recipe.html?oc=linkback
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Maple Dill Carrots

3 cups peeled and sliced carrots
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Place carrots in a skillet and pour in just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat; simmer until water has evaporated and the carrots are tender. Stir in butter, brown sugar, dill, salt, and pepper.

Submitted by Racheal Yonkman

Edible Plants or Weeds

……Plantain…………….. Lambs Quarters……………..Purslane

This is the time of year that most of us spend time pulling weeds. A weed is a plant that is growing not where we want the plant to grow. Many of the weeds that we pull out are actually quit edible and tasty.
We have had visitors from other countries that were amazed that we would pull lambs quarters (often referred to as wild spinach). We would feed them to the chicken or chopped them up to use as mulch. Other edible weeds include purslane which is a succulent small plant high in omega 3’s, chickweed, sorrel, plantain, dandelion and more.
Maybe we should pull the plants and harvest the weeds since they seem to grow with little effort as compared to the plants we want to have grow. It may sound good although I can’t imagine sacrificing eating the first tomatoes that come out of our garden each year. Tomatoes bought in the grocery store can’t compete for flavor of our local tomatoes and many people refuse to buy tomatoes until Michigan tomatoes are ready.

To Learn More about wild edibles you may want to attend an Education opportunity: The Friends of Herbs at Seven Ponds will host speaker: Jim McDonald- innovative Michigan herbalist and wildcrafter on Tuesday, August 19 at 7:00 pm at Seven Ponds Nature Center. He will share with us what herbs and weeds can be harvested during this time of year. Preregistration is required by calling 810-796-3200 to reserve your seat. Join us for a wonderful informative program, cost is $5.00 per person.

Until Next Time
Marian Listwak

Happy Birthday America!

Happy Birthday America!

From everyone here at CSA Farmers Market, We hope you have a wonderful Fourth of July!

Just a reminder we are open for ordering this weekend until Midnight Monday. We know there was some confusion as to when we would be open again after the holiday. The market is constantly growing ( no pun intended :) ) there is always new produce being added as well as other great products. We sincerely appreciate your business and support!

Garlic Scapes

A couple of the growers grow garlic. Each year they plant the garlic in the fall and cover it with a heavy layer of chopped straw. Once the snow melts in the spring one of the first green plants to be seen is the garlic which pushes it’s way up through the chopped straw. This year since it was so cold I did not have the patience to see if the garlic plants were coming through the mulch so I dug a little to see if any was growing and sure enough there were some green plants. The straw not only acts as an insulator from the cold it also helps keep the weeds down and it also insulates the ground from the heat of summer.
At about this time of year the garlic creates a center stem that curls in a circle. This stem is where the seeds are going to be produced; although instead of allowing the plant to go to seed we cut the stems and these stems are called Garlic Scapes.
In many other countries Garlic Scapes are considered the best part of the garlic. In this county we tend to think the garlic bulbs that grow in the ground are the best part of the plant. The bulbs are usually harvested in about August when it is hot and the plants turn brown. Garlic scapes are now available on the website. They taste like garlic but they do not have as strong of a flavor. They can be eaten raw in salads or cooked in many different dishes. I find when I stir fry them they mellow out a little. Here is a website with recipes and good ideas of things to do with garlic scapes; Things to do with garlic scapes

When the scapes are cut from the top of the plant the plant puts its energy into the bulb which is below ground instead of the flower the scape will form which contains seeds. This gives us bigger garlic bulbs and we get tender tasty scapes.
Until Next Time
Marian Listwak