Nutrient Dense Foods: Transplanting and Ensuring Prolific Yields Part 3 of 6

Fennel and Caraflex CabbageSo it’s midsummer, the time around summer solstice, where most of us have planted our summer crops and we’re eagerly awaiting the first tastes of summer: tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, and eggplant.  For us here, we’ve been enjoying beets, broccoli, beans, herbs, peas, carrots, fennel, fava beans and kale for some time now but our eyes are on the prize: our fruit laden tomato plants.  After growing, freezing, and canning our own tomatoes we vowed never to eat a tomato out of season and it’s been 6 months now since our last fresh tomato.  Sungolds are the first of our tomatoes starting to ripen and we hover around that plant dreaming of meals where we can showcase these little orange jewels.  But there’s a bit of fear lurking around every time we check on our tomatoes.  It’s a little PTSD from last year’s blight epidemic in the northeast.  I remember the day: July 11th, 2009.  We had the most healthy looking fruit-full tomato plants and the heirlooms with their gigantic beauties were starting their transition from green to yellow and red.  We knew we’d have many hundreds of pounds of tomatoes that we’d hope to bring to the market.  And then it struck, signs of blight in one area of the farm quickly took down 100 of our 120 tomato plants.  We frantically pruned, sprayed the plants with biodynamic equisetum prep, used anything in our means necessary, except fungicides of course, to keep the plants alive and hope that the weather would turn hot and dry which it never did.  Thankfully, we had a great biodiversity of other fruits and we learned to be happy with the 240 lbs we were able to salvage.
Plum Regal Tomato Plants Loaded and Dreams of Marinara Dance in Charlie's Head
This time it’s different.  We have 44 tomato plants instead of the 120 we planted last year.  It is recommended that you do not plant on blight-infested areas for 3 years but since we have such a small operation, that wouldn’t be possible for us.  We decided to limit our tomatoes in the main growing area that was affected and use only highly blight resistant tomatoes like Mountain Magic and Plum Regal and we’d grow our non-resistant heirlooms in the greenhouse and in a small area that was not affected last year.  But it’s also different this time because we're using nutrient dense techniques to increase soil nutrients through drenches and foliar sprays to ensure that the plant is strong enough to resist disease.  This is an absolute corollary to ensuring human health by preventative measures like proper nutrition, exercise and stress management and ultimately a strong immune system to resist diseases like cancer.

We took part in the 3rd series of ND growing with Dan Kittredge at Udderly Wool Acres in Glastonbury CT.  This time it was packed with extremely practical information and field demonstrations.  We were ready to get out of the classroom and get our hands dirty.

Dan measures the electrical conductivity of the soil

Electrical Conductivity

For crops to have access to nutrients needed for optimal growth the soil needs to have the proper electrical charge.  For high brix fruit you need sufficient energy in the soil.  You can measure the soil conductivity with a meter and this is helpful to discern whether or not there is an imbalance in the soil that needs to be addressed.  This is done weekly throughout the season (ideally in the early AM) but it’s most important to do this at transplant time.  Have you ever transplanted something and it sat there for eternity without growing?  I have and it drives me crazy.  If there is low conductivity, it’s a good indicator that there is insufficient nutrition for crops.  You want to see a level of 200 in the spring and 600 when the plant is filled with fruit.  Looking back at last years blight epidemic, there was much less sun which meant less photosynthesis, less sugar feeding the biological life in the soil, and further the constant rain leeched out the soil electrolytes. The high water table then decreased oxygen which asphyxiated the soil biology.  Dan tested his parents (prominent NOFA farmers) soil last year and it showed a conductivity reading of 40-50 in the area of tomatoes.  He did a broad spectrum nutrient drench (minerals, electrolytes, molasses) and the tomatoes survived!  With every transplant we do now, we add a "transplant drench" by the Nutrient Density Supply Company which is a combination of mycorrhizal fungi and microbes, seaweed extracts, minerals and enzymes

Brix Measurements in Plant Sap

In the previous posts on ND growing, brix was a measurement used in discerning how nutrient dense a food was before consumption.   I was referring to the final carrot or fruit, but the sap of the plant's leaves and its brix can be used to determine whether or not the plant is taking up nutrients from the soil and if it is in general a genetically strong plant.  For example, when I was growing eggplant seedlings indoors this spring I noticed that one plant out of 20 sitting in a try was infested with aphids.  None of the other plants were touched which led me to throw out the plant because I knew it was weak perhaps to some genetic variability.  Ideally this should be done before fruit sets and levels should not be below 12.  Early morning is the best time to test and keep a consistent area to test on the plant to minimize experimental factors i.e. the 4th newest full size leaf.  If the measurement is under 12 then it indicates that your plant is stressed in some way and needs your help.

 Squeezing plant leaf sap with a vice onto a refractometer

Beyond this, one can measure the pH of the plant (not the soil, which is typically done) which helps to discern mineral imbalances without having to send off a soil sample for testing.

Farm and Garden Maintenance

Though this may all seem time consuming for the average gardener, it's even more so for the farmer with a larger acreage and even less time.  However, if measurements are made 15 minutes once a week, it's a way to ensure minimal disease (remember insects do not choose to eat strong plants only weak ones), maximum crop yields, and a superior vegetable or fruit in nutrition and in shelf life.  On our microfarm, it can also be quite time consuming as each raised bed has to be treated like a seperate "field'. After the transplant solution, weekly to bi-weekly nutrient drenches to the soil and foliar sprays depending on measurements are done throughout the season.  Foliar sprays are another way to provide plants with nutrition other than through their roots.  Like skin, they absorb nutrition from their leaves as well and the best time to do foliars are at 5 AM or 7 PM (when the birds are out singing).  This way of growning is beyond organic growing.  Though this method of growing is more costly and time intensive to the farmers the viabiliity of seeing ND produce in markets can only be brought there by consumer demand just as the organic food movement did decades ago, it's an important area to explore.  ND food will likely cost more but it's worth it.  It helps when consumers understand the work that goes into their food.  The best way to understand this is to grow your own food, join a CSA and actually get out into the fields and work!  Only then can one really understand and fully appreciate what it takes to bring food to the table.

Farmers doing a nutrient drench in the fields

The Raw Food Detox: Transitioning Back With A Renewed Perspective On Food

Freshly shucked peas. The work it takes makes you think twice about using that bag of frozen peas as an icepack for your knee.Two weeks ago, in an attempt to detox from a suboptimal diet, we began a strict 7 day raw food cleanse knowing full well that we'd be irritable, hungry, weak and likely symptomatic with headaches, dizziness and weakness.  We knew we'd have to overcome it with persistence and discipline.  And we did it!  What's more surprising is that we are continuing with this detox program but attempting  to make it seasonable, local and real world.  The reason is this: we feel better, lighter, trimmer, our sleep is deeper and eating this way has forced us to enjoy and appreciate fruits and vegetables even beyond the level we reached from growing our food for the last 2 years.  It has also forced a sense mindfulness and presence during eating because it has allowed the clear clean notes of the food to shine through unencumbered by extraneous fillers like sauces, bread and elaborate seasonings.  In a nutshell, this was, for 1 week, a vegan, extremely low carbohydrate (but not carb-free) diet.  After the first week we began adding animal meats back in and some more starches.

The Basic Principles:

1. Eat as much raw foods (cooked no higher than 112 degrees) with the larger meals at dinner.

2. Crucial combination of foods.  This was the most difficult for us.  Though I am very aware of how fermentation can occur with certain combination of food types  (I've had several patients with digestive issues get dramatically better) it is VERY hard not to have protein with carbs.  Eggs without bread?  Meats without potatoes? Chicken without rice? 

The food groups to keep apart for 3-4 hours: a)Animal meats, eggs, raw cheese and fish  b)starches (rice, pasta, bread and cooked legumes)  c) nuts/seeds/dried-fruits   d) Fresh fruits.  Non-starch vegetables may be combined with any of these.

This is based on how quickly food leaves the digestive track and I have seen patients experience less bloating and gas with food combining principles.  The principle is that our digestive tracks were not designed to handle complex meals.  Each food type has very specific enzymes produced by the body to breakdown those substances, for example, lipase is made to breakdown fat, lactose for milk sugars etc.  Food combing is not new.  Carlos Gracie, founder of the Brazilian Gracie Jiujitsu, has championed a food combining diet. He lived until the age of 92 and his diet and teachings still live on.Broth made from leeks, pea pods and parsley

Observations.

This is NOT a local food diet.  In fact, I felt quite guilty about consuming a ton of tropical fruits like bananas, coconuts and grapes from chili, apples from New Zealand.  The best I could do were berries from California although strawberries are just coming into season locally but hard to find organically grown. [FYI: Non-organic California strawberries should have a surgeon general's warning.  In 2006, 280 lbs of pesticides (known carcinogenic ones included) were applied PER acre for a total of 9 million pounds].  What we did use locally from our farm was tons of siberian and tuscan kale, peas, sugar snap peas, yellow and green beans, lettuces, edible flowers, tons of herbs, collard greens, kohlrabi leaves, small fava beans, carrots, mustard greens, garlic scapes and celeriac stems.

As physicians who are already very conscious about nutrition and health, especially me, this took us to the next level and showed us that we really had a great deficit in fruits and vegetables in our diet.  I love fruits but I do not go out of my way to obtain it because of seasonality issues, organic availability and shelf life.  Now, I can't stock enough fruit in my house but better yet, our plans for an edible permaculture forest garden will provide us with paw paws (great local substitute for bananas), strawberries, raspberries, black and blue berries, currants, gooseberries, and sweet cherries. There are also plans to install a mini-orchard with apples and stone fruits next year.

So, we continue our quest for optimal eating and growing with a celebratory LOCAL cooked meal with all HMG produce and lamb chops from McEnroe's farm in Millerton NY.   Tonight's menu:

Elixir of Fresh Peas

Herb Salad with purslane, celeriac and parsley leaves, basil and lettuces

Grilled Lamb chops with oregano and lemon

 

ELIXIR OF FRESH PEAS

1 bunch scallions or 2 small leeks including 2" of the greens, thinly sliced
5 large parsley stems with leaves
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 1/2 lbs of fresh pod peas, shelled and reserve the pods for the stock
1 tsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup thinly sliced onion or young leek
1/2 tsp sugar (optional)
truffle oil, garnish with fresh chervil and chive blossoms

1. Bring 1 qt of water to boil.  As it's heating, add scallions, parsley and 1/2 tsp salt. Add about 3 cups of the pea pods.  Once water boils, lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes then strain.

2. Melt butter in a soup pot and add the sliced young leek/onion.  Cook over medium heat for a minute then add 1/2 cup of the stock.  After 4-5 minutes add the peas, 1/2 tsp salt and optional sugar.  Pour in 2.5 cups of the stock and bring to a boil and simmer 3 minutes

3. Transfer soup to a blender or processor.  Puree.  Serve immediately in small soup bowls, adding a few drops of truffle oil to each bowl, chervil and chive blossoms as garnish

Wine is back. To the Village Vitner of Nyack, we await a celebratory wine tasting you promised! 

 Recipe adaped from Deborah Madison, Local Flavors

A Late Spring Detox: Remedy to too much Grass-Fed Meats and Biodynamic Wines

We are bursting with food even before setting foot into June and looking back at last year's photos, we are way ahead of the game thanks to high tunnels allowing us to plant beans, tomatoes and peppers in April and to planting things normally direct seeded like snap peas and English peas in soil blocks weeks ahead of time to get a head start.

It's been a tough month of May between our usual jobs but with the added stress of Charlie's hospital, St. Vincent's closing, 4 farmer's markets, an eco-house tour we participated in, planting our own farm, expanding another area to accomdate our next experiment (permaculture and edible forest gardens), me prepping for a talk on Food and Cancer at Donna Karan's Urben Zen and moving my private practice to Beth Israel's Center for Health and Healing, this Memorial Day weekend has been our first breather.

I've been wanting to do a "detox" or juice fast for a long time.  The closest I've ever gotten was during a Goenka Vipassana retreat in 2004 but I never found the time to actually buckle down and do it.  Then after getting married to a meat and bread lover, it became even tougher.  And since I guide people in food as part of my work, I've put myself through a variety of food challenges from yeast, gluten and dairy free diets to elimination diets to partly understand how difficult the process is, but to also be able to tell patients how to exactly navigate these sometimes difficult food modifications.  I mean, it's hard to give advice and conversely take advice from someone without a true understanding of what's it's like to embark on such a journey of food  that can be so emotionally charged.  I've had a variety of patients ask me about detoxing and the various different protocols and books written on the subject.  I have to say, they all have a very common thread plus or minus colonics (which I don't routinely advise), multiple supplements and herbs usually profiting the author's protocol (though there is sometimes rational use for them).  I have now decided to plunge in and go through a detox regimen.  Thankfully, it was suggested by Charlie who was ready to make changes as well.  So much easier when you have a partner in crime.  In this case, a partner in health.

We decided on following Natalia Rose's book The Raw Food Detox Diet for the next week rather than taking off days from work to do a juice cleanse.  Juice cleanses are fine if one has the time to rest and relax but Natalia's book allows for meals which makes working plausible.  What is most motivating for us is the availablity of our own food which has offered us access in abundance at the moment in kale, beans, snap peas, shell peas, chard, beet greens, celery, lettuces, fennel, leeks, garlic scapes, cabbage, mustard greens, bok choy, berries, and herbs galore (chervil, basil, sage, marjoram, oregano, savory, thyme, cilantro, vienamese cilantro, dill, parsley).

Wish us luck and we'll report back shortly with our findings!  Tonight we feast on wine, cider beer, pizza, Wagyu beef burgers, and BBQ'd organic chicken drumsticks.  You gotta hit rock bottom sometimes before surfacing to the top.

Weekly Musings: Spring Lettuce - Guest Writer and Nyack Chef Jolie Lampkin

This journal entry, we invited a local Nyack Chef, Jolie Lampkin, who purchases our produce for her clients (and herself!) to write about what is abundant at the moment: spring lettuces. Jolie is singlehandedly able to consume the entire contents of a large bag of our salad greens in a couple days (no small feat!) so we think she's the perfect author for this article on lettuces. A gardener and veggie-lover, her focus is using local and sustainably grown ingredients as inspiration to create meals that are healthy, imaginative, and delicious. She specializes in fresh, seasonal cooking for busy families and intimate multi-course dinner parties for special occasions....
 
 
"Spring is here at last, bringing with it the first green leaves, those wild pinks and yellows of daffodils and tulips, that heady scent of lilacs. We venture outside, half-delirious, spring-dizzy, our tender winter arms and legs like white shoots soaking up the sun on those first warm days. It's with this change in the weather that I start to crave salad greens. Goodbye, savory stews of winter, long-simmering pots of soup! Now's the moment for something really fresh-tasting and light.
 
In times not so long ago, our farmer ancestors survived the long winters by storing hardy fall fruits and vegetables in underground root cellars (think cabbages, root vegetables, onions and apples), and by canning the more perishable fruits and vegetables. Beans and grains were dried, to be made into nourishing soups and ground for loaves of bread; meats and cheeses were preserved by salting. Conspicuously absent from the winter diet, however: fresh greens. So it's no wonder that after a winter of eating all that heavy food, people were thrilled by the appearance of the first early spring greens. They'd eat them as salad, as we do now, but also concoct spring "tonics", thought to help purify the body. Tonics might include a bit of whatever was around--dandelion, nettle, watercress, and violet leaves--all valuable sources of many of the vitamins and minerals which would have been lacking in the winter diet. A new favorite lettuce: "Spouted Trout
 
Of course, these days we can eat salad--and pretty much anything we want--year round. Whether we should or not, though, is another thing entirely (is that January tomato anything at all like a July tomato?). But even if you're not eating exclusively seasonal produce, many people do find themselves naturally leaning towards the heartier fare during the fall and winter and lightening up during the spring and summer months. So if, like me, you find yourself scarfing down salad by the bowlful lately, don't be alarmed! This is a good thing--your body is telling you what it needs--and you should listen.
 
Lucky for us salad-lovers, lettuces are easy to grow, and are actually at their best in cool temperatures. This is because cold weather encourages lettuce to produce more sugars, resulting in much better flavor. Ever tried to grow lettuce in the summer? Not only will it tend to bolt quickly, but it will most likely be more bitter than you'd like. Because of this, it's best to grow it in partial shade during the summer months.
 
Chives, an early spring arrival, have a great assertive flavor. They're deliciously oniony without being overpowering. Also easy to grow, they are perennials and will come back each spring. They like a lot of sun and will even continue to do well into the early summer months, if you continue to cut them back. Their purple blossoms are also lovely in the garden or as a garnish, if you allow them to go to seed.
 
Johnny-jump-ups (violas, a cousin of the violet), our guest star, thrive in cool weather as well, but will do fine into the summer if planted in a partly shady area and consistently pinched back. Their blossoms have a delicate, mild flavor and look beautiful in salads. The leaves and blossoms are also very high in vitamin C. Johnny Jump-Ups
 
So here's a spin on the idea of spring tonic: a recipe for a simple salad with some of the first flowers of the season, with a dressing that tastes both subtle and intoxicating. It allows the flavors of the lettuces to shine, while truffle oil lends a note of mystery. Arugula's hiding in the mix, with its unexpected peppery bite. Chives give things a little zip. The Johnny-jump-ups are my nod to the violet leaves featured in old-time tonics--and besides, they're just gorgeous".
 
Spring salad with truffle oil vinaigrette
 
1T Champagne vinegar
1/4t fresh lemon juice
3T white truffle oil
2T extra-virgin olive oil
salt (I like fleur de sel) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
 
Hook Mountain Growers lettuce mix with Johnny-jump-ups, washed and spun till very dry in a salad spinner
1T chopped chives
 
In a small bowl, whisk together the Champagne vinegar and lemon juice. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking as you go till the mixture is emulsified. Add the salt and pepper and adjust to taste. Toss a spoonful or two of the vinaigrette around with the greens (you might not need all of it, depending on how much salad you plan to eat--the leaves should be very lightly coated with the vinaigrette), add the chives and serve immediately. If you're a salt fiend like me, you may want to sprinkle a little fleur de sel on top of the dressed salad as well.

 
Jolie Lampkin

For more information on what Jolie offers, you may contact her at jolielampkin@gmail.com

photo by Jolie Lampkin

Weekly Musings: Spring Sorrel

One of the very first things to appear in the garden is the perennial herb Sorrel (rumex acetosus).  Rarely  found in produce sections, sorrel is more frequently seen in farmers market stands.  But this one is easy for you to grow yourself.  This European vegetable/herb is used in cooking (as a sauce accompaniment to fish and meat, in salads as young leaves, sauteed, and in the class French sorrel soup) and has medicinal properties as well.  Sorrel has an acidic apple-lemony taste to it which adds a tangy flavor to dishes.

 Medical Notes

Sorrel is high in Vitamin C and A and was used in the distant past to prevent scurvy.  Like spinach and rhuabarb, sorrel is high in oxalic acid.   It's important to note that oxalic acid binds calcium, zinc and iron to some degree in the gastrointestinal tract so that it possible that it can interfere with the absorption of these minerals in supplements.  Also, in large amounts sorrel can theoretically increase the risk of calcium oxalate kidney stones, the most common type of kidney stone.

Sorrel is also found medicinally in certain combination products with gentian, European vervain and elder used together for the treatment of acute and chronic sinusitis and in the herbal formula Essiac, purportedly helpful for cancer.  The high level of tannins have an astringent affect of mucosal tissues reducing secretions.

Growing Sorrel

Tiny seedlings in CowPots in the greenhouseThis is one of the easiest plants you can grow - there is little maintenance and it comes back every year.  It is also a cut-and-come-again plant that can supply you with food throughout the growing season.  Sorrel tastes best when harvested as young leaves.  Once established it is one the earliest greens to appear and after the second year it begins to spread and can be divided every few years.  It likes sun but perfers partial shade especially when the weather gets hot.

You can directly seed in early spring and thin to 12" apart or start early indoors and transplant when the threat of a hard frost is over.

Leeks planted last summer overwintered nicely under a row cover.I used Nicola potatoes stored in the root cellar from last fall.

Recipe: Potato, Leek and Sorrel Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Butter

3 Large or 6 Medium Leeks, white parts only, finely chopped

1.5 lbs boiling potato, quarted and thinly sliced.  You may leave the skins on if potatoes are organic.

2-4 handfuls of Sorrel leaves, stems removed

Salt and Pepper

7 cups of water

Heat butter in a wide soup pan and add leek and potatoes cooking over low heat covered for 10 minutes.  Add 7 cups of water and 1.5 tsp of salt and bring to boil.  Reduce to a simmer, partially covered, until the potatoes become very soft to the point of breaking apart, about 35-40 minutes.  In the last 10 minutes, add the sorrel to the pot.  Press a few of the potatoes against the side of the pan to break them up and give the soup some body.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve. Optional: top with creme fraiche or snipped chives.

Serves 4-6.

Adapted from Deborah Madison’s cookbook Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone

Farmer Pam, MD