The Wednesday Weigh-In : Week #35

   

We're at 878.2 Pounds!

    

     While this was not our biggest week on record we still produced quite a lot of food.  In total for the week we produced 101.0 lbs.  Thats just over 14 lbs a day!  We ate all our meals with at least something from the garden and still were able to freeze some tomatoes for the winter, dry a bunch of herbs, and get another batch of half sour pickles started.  From the total, 3.3 lbs were from the 26 eggs our chickens laid.  The remaining 97.7 pounds was produce.  Here is the list of the top ten items for the week:

     39.5 lbs of tomatoes

     10.3 lbs of cucumbers

       9.0 lbs of pineapple sage

       6.6 lbs of sorrel

       5.1 lbs of celery

       4.8 lbs of chard

       4.6 lbs of squash

       4.3 lbs of lemongrass

       4.2 lbs of watermelon

       3.5 lbs of radishes

 Only 1121.8 Pounds To Go 

 

The Sunday Supper

  

     This weeks feature for the Sunday Supper is a garlic scape pesto.  While we made this a few weeks back, we never got the opportunity to share it with you.  This variation on the classic pesto has a such a wonderful unique garlic flavor it it has become one of our favorites over the past couple years for pesto pastas, pizza bases, and marinades.

     There are seven ingredients to this pesto and we've always done it to taste rather than with exact quantities.  The seven ingredients are:

        1. Garlic Scapes

        2.  Basil

        3. Olive Oil

        4.  Fresh Ground Pepper

        5. Sea Salt

        6. Red Pepper Flakes

        7. Pine Nuts

     We usually use equal amounts garlic scapes and basil.  If your using approximately one pound of each then a good place to start is with 1.5 cups olive oil, 3 tbsp salt and pepper, 1 tbsp red pepper flakes and 1 cup pine nuts.

     Add garlic scapes to food processor and blend.  Next, add basil and blend adding olive oil as necessary to puree basil and scapes.  Once basil and scapes are pureed add the pine nuts, red pepper, salt, and pepper mixing together well.  Taste and adjust as necessary.

     This freezes really well and can be stored and used throughout the winter.  For those not growing their own garlic, scapes sometimes can be found at farmers markets and co-ops.  It's also a great reason to start growing your own garlic!

  

The Wednesday Weigh-In : Week #34

   

We're at 777.2 Pounds!

    

     This was by far our biggest week! In total we produced 131.1 lbs of food from our urban lot!  A little crazy huh?!?  The primary ingredient in every meal over the past seven days was from our garden (except Saturday evening when we went out with friends).  Additionally, we were able to blanch and freeze kale, collards, and chard for the winter.  We put potatoes in storage and made a big batch of pesto.  From the total, 3.8 lbs were from the 31 eggs our chickens laid.  The remaining 127.3 pounds was all produce.  Here is a list of the top ten items this week:

     29.5 lbs of tomatoes

     16.8 lbs of potatoes

     12.6 lbs of cucumbers

       9.0 lbs of kale

       8.9 lbs of summer squash

       6.0 lbs of onions

       5.9 lbs of watermelon

       5.3 lbs of green beans

       3.4 lbs of kale

       3.3 lbs of basil

    

 Only 1222.8 Pounds To Go 

The Sunday Supper

  

     This weeks Sunday Supper features a Potato Kale Soup.  We harvested a bunch more potatoes this week so it seemed like a fitting meal to make. This simple soup is incredibly tasty and nutritious while taking less than 30 minutes to make!  It also easily feeds a whole family with leftovers for later in the week.

     Ingredients:

     1.5 lbs kale

     3 lbs potatoes

     1.5 oz chives finely chopped

     2-3 sprigs thyme

     2-3 sprigs rosemary

     2-3 sprigs parsley

     2-3 sprigs oregano

     4 tbsp fresh ground white pepper

     3 tbsp kosher salt

     Preparation:

     Chop potatoes into small chunks and place in a large pot.  Fill with warm water until potatoes are covered.  On high heat, bring to a boil. Immediately reduce to a simmer.  Tie the thyme, rosemary, parsley, and oregano together with butchers twine and add to potatoes.  Simmer until potatoes are soft, then discard herbs.

     While potatoes are cooking chop the kale into small pieces and steam for 2-3 minutes.  After steaming the kale immediately soak it in cold water then drain. 

     Once the potatoes are soft add the chives, salt, and pepper.  Adjust salt & pepper to taste.  At this point the kale could be added to the potatoes, and the soup could be served. Our preference however is to puree the soup. Adding 1/4 of the kale to the potatoes in small batches puree the mixture in a food processor or blender.  Add the remaining 3/4 of the kale to the pureed soup and stir.  Serve hot or cold.

 

Black From Tula Tomato

 

     For the last month we've been harvesting over 20 lbs of tomatoes each week.  While it has become commonplace to pull beautiful tomatoes off the vine every day occasionally one tomato is so stunning it simply stops us in our tracks.  This is that tomato!  Weighing in at a little over a pound with it's dark purple color and black striping Black from Tula tomatoes can be simply gorgeous!

     It was so pretty we had a hard time eating it.  It sat on display for days before finally becoming a  tasty tomato, cucumber, and bacon sandwich. While this variety is not as productive as some of the others we grow, we would highly recommend trying it out if your not already growing it. Between it's wonderful flavor and simply stunning fruit it surely wont disappoint. 

The Wednesday Weigh-In : Week #33

     

We're at 646.1 Pounds!

    

     Despite being gone for much of the week we had another seven days of huge harvests.  In total we produced 75.8 lbs of food from our urban lot!  Of the total, 5.0 lbs were from the 40 eggs our chickens laid.  They've really been picking up the pace lately.

     The other 70.8 lbs was produce.  Here is a list of the top five items this week:

     39.3 lbs of tomatoes

     11.5 lbs of cucumbers

       6.4 lbs of watermelon

       5.4 lbs of green beans

       2.0 lbs of chard

     We used about 25 lbs of tomatoes to make sauce that we canned for the winter.  Otherwise we ate most everything fresh.

 Only 1353.9 Pounds To Go 

The Sunday Supper

     The feature for this week's sunday supper is a loaded veggie pizza.  This is a seasonal pizza that we miss in the middle of winter.  You can make the pizza with any variation of veggies from the garden and for this one we used:

     Brandywine Tomatoes

     Midnight Lightning Zucchini

     Candlelight Peppers

     Genovese Basil

     Red Grain Garlic

     Stems from Beet Greens

     The crust recipe is the same as from the Sunday Supper back on June 27th.  Once we had the crust made we spread a few cloves of minced garlic atop the crust then layered on the basil covering theentire surface.  Next we added 12 oz of shredded cheese.  Atop the cheese the tomatoes, zucchini and peppers were added.  Unlike most pizzas with less toppings that will bake in around 7 minutes at 500 deg this one took closer to 15 minutes.  In the end this provided each of us three fantastic meals!

 

Vermicompost Harvesting

 

     We've been vermicomposting with worms for a while now and have beautiful worm castings made from our produce scraps, used coffee, and paper towels.

     Because the worm castings are full of worms, and we don't want to loose any of these compost workers we bulk harvest the finished vermicompost every couple months separating the worms from the castings.  To do this we simply make a pile twice the size of the amount of castings we want and shine a light on half of it.  Within 8-12 hours almost all of the worms move from the side with the light to the side without the light.  Then all we do is just take the lit side of the pile for our plants and soil, while returning the other half, with all the worms, to the composting tubs.

The Wednesday Weigh-In : Week #32

  
We're at 570.3 Pounds!

    

     This was another incredible week for us, we produced 111.3 lbs of food from our urban lot!  Another new record!  It's definitely peak time here in Minnesota.  Of the 111.3 lbs, 3.9 lbs were from the 31 eggs our chickens laid.  

     The other 107.4 lbs was produce.  25 lbs of that was from the garlic that had finished curing in the garage.  We trimmed off the roots and stalk then weighed it and moved it to the basement where we will store it until we eat it tall.  We made a couple batches of pickles with cucumbers, canned some beans froze some tomatoes and generally ate like kings this week!  Here is a list of the top five items this week:

     35 lbs of tomatoes

     25 lbs of garlic

     17 lbs of cucumbers

       9 lbs of summer squash

       3 lbs of green beans

 Only 1429.7 Pounds To Go 
   

Summer Seed Sowing

  

     After harvesting the garlic back in July, and the first of the potatoes last week we were left with some empty space in the garden.  This gave us an opportunity to plant some new crops for the fall, and with the warm summer temperatures they've germinated quick.

     We started some more beets, chard, carrots, radishes, pac choi and other cabbages.  By the end of the month we should have some more space opened up and we'll add to that fall crops of spinach, lettuce, and a few asian greens.