Summertime

Summer is officially here and so is the heat! The garden is soaking up the sunlight on these ultra-long days and growing fast.

In Fields 2 and 3 are potatoes, garlic, onions and various cover crops. Nearby are the two greenhouses. The old greenhouse in front is home to the tomatoes and the new greenhouse behind is still where seedlings mature before moving out to the field as transplants.

Through the roll-up sides of the old greenhouse (put up in the daytime for ventilation and put down at night for warmth) you can see the tomatoes are getting tall.

Inside view of the tomatoes growing up the string trellises.

Tomatoes!

In Field 1 are the peas, broccoli, eggplant, radishes, lettuce, spinach, bok choy, kohlrabi, beans, turnips, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, corn, carrots and beets. Most of the mid-late summer veggies are still small but growing by leaps and bounds every day.

Lettuce is one of the first late spring veggies to appear and we've been eating it for the past couple of weeks. It's so exciting to start digging into fresh garden produce after a long winter of root cellar veggies, preserves and pickles and the few things we buy at the grocery store. I'm never disappointed at the amazing taste of the food our land gives us.

Veggies aren't the only thing growing at the farm this season. Baby #3 is due to arrive in two months with all my late summer favorites like corn, peppers and zucchini.

The kids have started their own little garden in the front near the house. They check daily on the progress of the cherry tomatoes, beans, peppers, cucumbers, peas, carrots and lettuce. There's also a small corn plot nearby.

Stay cool during these sweltering days! Visit our CSA page for info on our local pick-up options.

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Recipe: Spinach Raita

This quick-to-make yogurt salad is delicious and very versatile. Pair it with a warm rice dish or something hot off the grill. In North America yogurt has unfortunately been relegated to the sweet snack or dessert category, and while I do love mixing it with jam, maple syrup or honey, there's so much more that yogurt can do. Mediterranean, Middle Eastern and South Asian cuisines have a wealth of savory uses for yogurt that are nothing short of amazing. It was a mind expanding experience for me the first time I mixed raw garlic with lightly salted yogurt and I guarantee once you've tried it you'll never limit yourself to "fruit on the bottom" yogurt cups again.

Here spinach adds a fresh taste of spring and is one of many veggies that can be combined with yogurt in this way. Raita is South Asian in origin and can be either sweet or savory depending on the ingredients. It's a delicious way to cool the tongue when eating a spicy Indian dish, and you may want to add cumin or mint to the raita if you're pairing it this way.

Ingredients:

- 1 bunch spinach, washed with stems trimmed off
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1/4-1/2 tsp salt

Steps:

1. Lightly wilt spinach in boiling water or steam. Set aside to cool.

2. Drain spinach and squeeze with your hands to remove all excess water. Chop finely.

3. Mix yogurt with garlic, salt and lemon juice.

4. Add spinach and stir until completely mixed. Serve with a hot main dish.

Raita can be made with many different veggies (diced cucumber probably being the most popular), so if you like this dish you can experiment with other versions as the season progresses and more fresh Eva Mae Farm veggies make it to your kitchen counter. Enjoy!

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Frost - The Morning After

The frost did indeed come last night. This morning the field was blanketed in a layer of ice.

Spinach is hardy enough to tolerate the ice so it spent the night uncovered. Once the sun melts the ice off later today these little plants will bounce back.

Below is a stray zucchini plant that slipped out of its row cover and got hit by the frost. Unfortunately, zucchini is much more fragile than spinach so this plant is a goner.

Happily, the rest of the zucchini plants were tucked under their cozy row cover and made it safely through the icy night.

The weather forecast is predicting an end to this late May chill today, and the morning has already been warming up nicely. The row covers will come off this afternoon before the plants heat up too much.

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Recipe: Wilted Spinach Salad

Wilted Spinach Salad

We're near the end of spinach and this week we're starting to pack tasty garlic scapes into the food boxes. So what to do? Throw the two together with some feta and dried cranberries for a delicious salad!

Ingredients:

1 large bowl of spinach
3 garlic scapes
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
50 g feta, crumbled
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Steps:

1. Wash spinach and set aside in a large bowl.

2. The top part of the garlic scape (the part that looks like a bulb or flower bud and beyond) is the toughest, so I typically cut it off and use the more tender bottom portion.

3. Dice the garlic scapes.

4. Heat 2 tbsp of oil on low-medium and cook garlic scapes for 5 minutes.

5. Add garlic scapes to spinach and mix.

6. Heat the remaining 2 tbsp of oil and add feta, melting and stirring for 1 minute.

7. Add 2 tbsp vinegar and mix quickly, taking the pan off the heat.

8. Add to spinach and garlic scapes and mix thoroughly, wilting the spinach and coating it in the dressing.

9. Sprinkle cranberries (or dried fruit of your choice) on top. Nuts would also be a great addition.

Sylvia is still skeptical about the deliciousness of spinach, but we're working on it!

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Spinach

With warm sunny afternoons the row cover comes off the hoops and the peas and spinach can bask in the sunshine. Here Eric is getting 3 different beet varieties planted.

Here comes the spinach!

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