Walkways in the farm and garden: Dutch White Clover

After the last few super rainy seasons our farm walkways between the raised beds have gotten a beating.  Where we had originally planned to have wood chips, torrential rains have managed to wash them away to the bottem level and on top of that, eroding the pathways as well.  Since then, we've been trying to figure out how to solve this problem assuming that extreme weather patterns will continue.  This season, inspired by Joan Gussow's garden, we've decided to plant dutch white clover inbetween all the raised beds.  You've seen dutch white clover before: it's typically in non-chemically treated lawns (along with dandelions) and produces a white flower if left to grow.  We needed something that has mutiple functions.  It needed to be:

1) steppable and tolerate, at times, high traffic conditions

2) provide erosion control

3) benficial to the farm by producing nitrogen and attracting beneficial insects and be

4) asthetically pleasing

Because this serve multiple functions, it is considered a permaculture plant.  Sounds great?  We hope so!

Here is a snapshot from Joan's garden...she told us the trick with planting these is to be very vigorous in pulling out competing weeds in the beginnng. 

Spring Has Sprung: The Year Ahead

Well, this isn't what you would expect for the second day of spring.  Forecast calls for even more snow today and tomorrow.  Though St. Patrick's day is the usual signal for us to get the peas into the ground, snow on the very last day of winter has deferred our plans giving us a little more time to plan.

This year we have decided to forego our seedling sales at the farmers markets and local plant sales and concentrate efforts on really perfecting things on our micro-farm.  It's a bittersweet decision.  We are relieved that the hard work that starts from February and ends around Memorial Day will come to an end but we are sad at losing that seasonal connection we have with our community.  We've already gotten so many emails from people who have grown our plants in the previous seasons, wondering if we'll be doing them again.  Marie from Nyack told us that she was only able to grow a certain Italian eggplant with our seedlings because of their strength and vitality; prior to that she had tried many times and failed.  This makes me a bit sad, but with a toddler, I have the pull the reigns in and prioritize!

So the key words for this season are "simplicty and abundance".  With that in mind, we're opting for less maintenance and more permenance. For example, we made our greenhouse just a place for dwarf citruses: Sweet navel orange called "Trovita", "Golden Nugget" mandarin orange, Bearss Lime, Keffir Lime and Meyer Lemon trees.  We found a great source for them at Four Winds Growers in California.  They were really exceptional at helping us choose what would work in the ground in a permanent greenhouse and we look forward to citrus fruits winter through summer.

Where we were growing things for large yields, we realized that you can actually have too much garlic.  We are trimming back on the amount of garlic grown and using beds to plant low yield veggies that we're interested in like artichokes.  We already started to seed them.  They are tricky to germinate because they need to spend 8 hours in temps of 85 degrees and the rest of the time in temps of 70 degrees.  A heatmat in the greenhouse will serve as a place for those alternating temperatures naturally.

Our Plymouth Barred Rock and Ameraucana. The Ameraucana just went through a period of broodiness which we were able to break.New chickens will be integrated to our current flock that has been whittled down to 5 chickens after some illnesses and predator attacks (one that included our own dog).  There's an art to integrating them so hopefully that will go smoothly.  Two years ago we ordered day old chicks from Ideal Poultry in Texas and they were sexed properly - we didn't get one rooster!  Look for updates in late spring... Speaking of animals, we are also toying with the idea of getting a cat to help keep the chipmunks and squirrels at bay this year but the thought of one more life to care for at this moment is definitely making me hesitate.

And finally, we want to better manage what we have already planted for the best yields.  That means really paying attention to pruning and training especially after a year of grape vines gone wild.  And we'll also continue more with the nutrient density soil management we were on top of before the baby came into our lives.  Hopefully this mama will get back on track continuing the blogs about what we do here after a short hiatus due to sleep deprivation.

Even "dwarf" citruses can grow up to 12 feet. Ideally they should be planted 4-5 feet from each other at the very least.

Happy Spring and may this season bring you simplicity and abundance!

The Natural Medicine Cabinet: Elderberries for Immune Support

The permaculture growing area we planted in the Spring of 2011 surprisingly began to really mature this year.  We didn't expect to have much in the way of fruits so early on and we also didn't expect to be stripped of most of it by early summer due to squirrels and chipmunk activity.  Fruit protection will be another venture for next spring but there were a few things that the animals left for us: blackberries and elderberries.  While blackberries are easy to come by, elderberries, or sambucus nigra, are a rare find.  A plant with many uses, these berries are edible, their flowers bring beneficial insects and the berries have medicinal properties.  Elderberries have relatively strong scientic evidence that they have activity against the flu and can reduce the duration of symptoms by 56%.  The popular extract "Sambucol", made by Nature's Way, was specifically studied.

You can tell that the primary flavinoids are the anthocyanidins based on the deep fuscia color in the extract (don't wear white when preparing it!).  These anthocyanadins are thought to have immunomodulating and anti-inflammatory effects.  Laboratory studies show activity against H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) and inhibits replication of several strains of influenza A and B.

Be careful not to use unripe berries, leaves or stalks of the plant which contain cyanogenic glycosides which release cyanide when consumed.

Uses: Drizzled on top of vanilla ice cream, in a cocktail, mashed in some bananas for baby food, and as a medicine.  We plan on having this ready as a syrup for upper respiratory infections for us and baby during the upcoming winter months...

RECIPE: ELDERBERRY SYRUP

I made this without honey since we have an infant under 1 year old...

8 ounces of elderberries

sugar

Directions: Carefully heat elderberries in a small sauce pan.  Add a few teaspoons of water to prevent burning.  Using the back of a spoon, mash the berries as they very gently simmer.  When you've extracted all the juices, strain through a fine sieve.  The liquid will be a gorgeous dark fuschia color. 

Put liquid back into sauce pan and for every 1 Tbs of liquid you extracted use a little less than 1 Tablespoon of sugar into the pan.  Gently simmer stirring frequently.

You can use this right away or use a canning method to preserve the syrup for future use.  The end of the summer is right upon us and this is the time to squirrel away all that food you've grown to enjoy in the upcoming months...

An Afternoon with Food Legend Joan Gussow

Every growing season brings its successes and failures.  What was easy to grow last year for us was much more difficult this year but on the upside what we've struggled with last year grew beautifully this year.  When the New York Times wrote about the "bumper crop" of tomatoes this season a few days ago, I became angsty since that hasn't been our experience.  Our tomato "trees" filled with large gorgeous fruit early in the season became a big hit with seemingly all the squirrels and chipmunks in Rockland county.  Some furry creature must have spread the word.  We were all but stripped of our fruit until we took action with 1) Predator netting 2) Fox urine (Shake Away: A product Eliot Coleman uses) and 3) a solar powered owl perched on one of the raised beds.  Our eggplant were also under attack by flea beetles but on a very positive note, we somehow dropped off the radar for the squash vine borers and all of our brassica veggies grew strong, healthy and abundant.  We are always keeping an ear open to hear about how our neighbors and other farmers compete with the pests and bugs and this past weekend we had a special visit with local and global food legend Joan Gussow to hear about her experiences.

Sitting on the second floor balcony of her home overlooking her garden and the Hudson River, we began comparing notes for this growing season.  Even with decades of growing experience, gardeners like Joan are always surprised at new discoveries.  And the best gardeners are the ones that assume very little.  What Joan found was that when she planted her tomatoes in a bed that still had last season's brussels sprouts stalks intact, they grew vigorously and prolifically!  I wonder if the deep undisturbed root structures allowed beneficial microbes and mycorrhizal fungi to stay intact in the soil ready for spring's tomato seedlings...

LEFT: Eggplant with one singular flea beetle.We were thrilled to learn some tricks that have worked for Joan.  Our Japanese eggplant suffered much this summer from the flea beetles.  I'm usually on top of this with a little organic neem spray but alas Farmer Gabriel kept me inside most of the summer.  Joan plants radishes at the end of the eggplant row as a trap crop and it will be a definite trial here next year.

Other discoveries included Joan's white clover groundcover.  I knew about this from our permaculture studies as a nitrogen fixer but never knew it could be so beautiful and so steppable.  She said the trick is to make sure you pull all other weeds out early on as it starts to grow in.RIGHT: White Clover: Ground cover and nitrogen fixer

Two new varieties really caught our attention. One is a pepper called "Puerto Rican No Burn Pepper."  It looks like a habeñero, has the smoky unique taste of one but there is NO burn.  I was hesitant when Joan asked me to bite into one but it was truly a surprising taste.

The other variety that excited us was a basil that does not flower.  As I was behind with the flea beetles this year, I was also behind trimming off the flowers on my Genovese basil.  This variety not only does not flower, you can save it as a cutting over winter and then just replant the flower in the spring.  It has a more sweet cinnamon taste and grows in a columnar fashion.

Aussie Basil

And if you've read Joan's two books: This Organic Life: Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader and Growing Older: A Chronicle of Death, Life and Vegetables, you will know this famous fig tree that is thriving very well.

And here is a shot of seasoned farmer Joan and our new farmer Gabriel who attentively basked in all of Joan's stories as we sat there...

Recipe: Burnt Okra with Potatoes, Garlic and Basil

Our intern Pippa requested Okra to be grown this year.  We had little experience cooking/eating okra and heard it was slimy.  The trick is to harvest when young (less than 4" long).  From a greenhouse bed measuring 4 x 6, we've been getting 1/2 lb every 2 days.  Here is a delicious way to serve them...

Peanut Oil

2 cups Okra tops discarded sliced 3/8"

2 cups small dice potato

1 Tbs minced garlic

2 Tbs minced basil

salt and pepper

Using a cast iron skillet, coat the bottom with peanut oil and heat to medium.  Add okra in one layer and cook until browned.  Stir and then add potatoes, salt and pepper.

Stir and cook until potatoes have browned adjusting heat or adding more oil if necessary.  Once they have browned, add garlic and stir.  Then add basil and stir once more.

Serve immediately!

Adapted from a recipe from Food52

Growing Food to Feed Your Baby

Everything is really taking off here at Hook Mountain Growers and the new employee is beginning to demand a taste of the farm. Our new farmer Gabriel will soon be adding solid foods to his diet and we have begun to really focus on what we can grow to satisfy his needs both nutritionally and with attention to his newly developing senses.  Though just shy of 5 months, the little guy has been heavily eyeing us whenever he sees us eat and this is all good timing because in the next month, he will be facing a bounty of food choices that we've carefully planned and planted in our farm.  One thing is for certain, I am not going to start with boring rice cereal for this one. 

He's already been introduced in utero to a wide variety of food and his breast milk has had a rotating flavor menu of various spices and eclectic foods.  He's been exposed to harvesting, meal preparations and delicious aromas wafting in the kitchen.  We hope this is all preparing him to understand the importance of food in our lives. 

In his book, Feeding Baby Green, Dr Alan Greene encourages starting solids with vegetables because they are the toughest flavors to learn to enjoy. Grains and fruits, the most commonly introduced foods, take a back seat because they can be bland or too sweet.  The idea is if you start with sugary flavors, the baby will seek out that sugary taste.  If you give bland food like rice cereal, then addition of flavors and spices later on may be too foreign and not enjoyable.

So what do we have that's on the menu for Gabriel in 2012?

Purple, Yellow and Orange Carrots

Baby Japanese Turnips

Sugar Snap Peas and English Peas

Blue, red and white potatoes

Swiss Chard

Yellow Beets

Kale, Collards and Cabbage

Butternut and Rampicante Squash

Angled Luffa Gourd

Bush Beans, Long Beans, Fava Beans

Watermelon

Apples, pears and peaches

Blackberries, raspberries, and currants

HERBS!

I want to highlight HERBS because I believe baby food shouldn't be bland.  What better way to start introducing flavors than adding them either to the broth the vegetable will be steamed in, or directly pureed with the vegetable.

We're going to puree the Japanese baby turnips with tarragon and the Sugar snap peas as well for the baby, but for us...

RECIPE: Baby Turnips with Sugar Snap Peas

Serves 2 as an appetizer

1 cup sugar snap peas
1 bunch baby turnips, cut in half or quarters
1 Tbs butter or Earth Balance if dairy free
2 Tbs bread crumbs
2 Tbs chives
2 Tbs lemon zest
Siracha hot sauce
Salt

Blanch the the turnips for 3 minutes and the sugar snap peas for 2 minutes.  Heat the butter in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat and add the turnips and peas and cook for 2 minutes.  Then add bread crumbs, chives, siracha and salt.  Cook for an additional minute.  Remove heat and add lemon zest and serve.