The last 'kitchen' post

Fall's sweet treat ripening

If your reading this last post, you're either my mom, brother, distant co-worker, or a hapless google traveler who likes fresh food grown in the southwest. Sorry, but this blog ended in mid-August.

There was no reason in particular; but I guess everything in general- restrictive free wifi being most notable. My garden kept growing, I kept selling to customers who became my friends long before the final market, and many, many local food developments continued to blossom beneath the radar of the www.

September harvested Brussel Sprouts long before their frost-induced sweet prime; harvest hindsight is 20/20 ish

Before I sign off from Black Diamond Canyon Kitchen, here's a bunch of the local food developments I'd thought about posting, but didn't. They include the constant improvement/refinement of the Ramah area local-food juggernaut (bee and fruit tree workshops, harvest festival, multiple organic beef, lamb, poultry, and dairy producers- read the Ramah Farmers' Market Beet publication!), Gallup's Walk in Beauty CSA biggest season yet, Steve Heil's organic Navajo Tea available at the Co-op, the new local meat packing plant north of Gallup, abundant winter produce grown by Tom Kazmarek at the Community Food Pantry's 3 hoop houses, and so much more! And not to over-look the garden at my school produced over 250 lbs. of green cabbage, and we made the front page of the local paper again with kids smiling over their own huge vegetables. The cabbage, along with potatoes and onions played a role in 10 school lunches for 420 students!

There is so much 'local food' stuff going on in and around the Zuni Mountains!! Alas, though, I'm not the person to write about this stuff and post it on the web. It's all fascinating, and so many people in this region could benefit solely from the knowledge of all these disparate food-growing efforts, but I need to focus my efforts inward for a while, and so this is the last post of the Black Diamond Canyon Kitchen. While I had originally intended to focus this blog on the greater local-food scene, it ended up focusing on my growing and sustainable/season-extending tricks of growing in the high southwest. So, here's a wrap up of how my garden faired.

The market week following my last post was the high-point of the growing season. By my estimates, more than a thousand dollars worth of produce were sold (or distributed: CSA) at the Gallup Farmers' Market that morning. The market had 11 vendors and my stand (a full subaru wagon load) brought me more than $230! For the rest of the season, my sales and the number of customers at the market steadily decreased as the growing and market season gradually wound down, ending on October 9. The second to last week of the market I remember four of us growers, tables half-filled with produce at 10:30, standing alone in an empty downtown walkway; Gallup's farmers' market needs more customers!!!

This 'La Nina' winter brought us an extra month of the fall growing season, and maybe more in my warm canyon on the north side of town, and as I write this I still have produce in the ground. The numerous frosts and freezes (down to 10.5 at the lowest; tomorrow will dive into negative numbers) have produced absolutely the sweetest collard greens (bitter in summer, like candy in winter), brussel sprouts, and carrots. Green onions and August planted carrots continue to grow under row covers and uncovered arugula proved the hardiest fresh green of the fall- resisting even the hardest freezes and only finally succumbing to the blades of the tiller this morning. Other than the over-wintering onions and carrots, the memory of the 2010 harvest persists in my chest-freezer and 50 quarts of tomatoes and various pickles on the pantry shelves. The end of Black Diamond Canyon Kitchen.

Black Diamond Canyon Farm. I'm opening a bank account for the farm on Friday and all the garden beds have been amended with the 14 cubic yards of manure I bought and tilled in this fall (Then most beds were planted with cover cropping (nitrogen fixing and humus building) 'green manures' of clover, rye, and hairy vetch). Three long rows were planted with 550 onion transplants to over-winter in my east field, and the backyard of the foreclosed trailer-house at 318 Black Diamond Canyon became my garlic trials garden with 2500 cloves planted in 6, 50' rows representing 12 varieties of hard and soft-neck garlic. My remaining winter projects include building a small 8 x 25' green-house and completing the paperwork for becoming a 'registered' organic farm in New Mexico.

So, in the end, I owe and enormous thank you to everyone who read my blog and all the supportive and constructive feedback I've received from the first post to the last; I've enjoyed writing every word of it. I mean it, thanks! Sorry to those readers who felt disappointed by my inconsistent posting. I hope to improve the consistency and depth of my postings as I morph the 'kitchen' blog into the blog of my Black Diamond Canyon Farm. Thanks for reading, and more over, thanks for eating my food. -Kevin

Farmer's Market Ceremonial Style

Not a truck-farm; a bike-farm this week

This past Saturday the Farmer's Market coincided with the Gallup's 89th Inter-Tribal Ceremonial parade in downtown Gallup. If you've never visited or lived in Gallup during ceremonial week, the event is really big deal with thousands and thousands of visitors in town.

Pickling Cucumbers, $3/lbs

The market manager Carole and Pete of Serendipity Farms gave me the heads up that usually Ceremonial weekend was an off-week for the market as road closures all around downtown make it hard for both customers and growers to get to the downtown walkway. Additionally, most people watching the parade are reluctant to buy produce and then carry it for hours in the midday heat before they reach home. Despite the warning, I and most other growers still braved the crowds and where set up much as any week.

Almost fully loaded at 70 lbs

The twist was how to get my dozen or so baskets of produce down there if the roads where closed starting at 6 am. I decided my trusty BOB trailer would suffice at transporting a much paired down harvest, and so I loaded it down with 70 lbs. of the more valuable by weight produce. Onions and beets stayed home. The select harvest included 30 lbs of zucchini, 20 lbs of pickling cucumbers, and 10 lbs. of rhubarb, leeks, shallots, mint and other herbs. My rolled-up table and bags surely brought the total weight up to around 80 lbs, and I gingerly made it south across the train tracks, and along the parade route to the market just as it opened at 8:30. Most regular customers stayed home as predicted, and I spent most of the day explaining what leeks are. Not the usual customer demographics. Yet with perseverance through the end of the parade and beyond (1:15), I finally came home with and empty trailer.

The Harvest Routine

35 lbs. of red, yellow, and white

Saturday mornings are a busy time for me, starting now around 6 am (minus a minute or two for mint tea and some oatmeal). So, as the height of the harvest season arrives I think I'll have to start getting up earlier to cut, wash, and load the crops. And, none of this is helped by the fact that I have a penchant for staying out late on Friday nights.

The reason I'm starting to dwell on this is because even with help, I'm yet to really bundle any of my crop together, or make it on-time (8:30) to the market. It takes far more time to prepare the onions/scallions/shallots/beets/herbs, etc I've been selling into pre-packaged bundles, but I think pricing by the bundled (twist tied or rubber-banded together), is more comfortable for the customer, and I would probably make more money. Plus, each sale would be a little quicker during the really busy time of market morning (a line 5 deep isn't uncommon when I first arrive each morning). This has all prompted me to really start a harvest morning check-list (I forgot 3 crops again this past week; the over mature cilantro crop is now coriander seed), and start to experiment which crops I could harvest Friday night, without any detrimental effect to the fresh and local food. Mature onions, peppers and bundled fresh onions will be picked this Friday. Maybe zucchini too, but I'm still experimenting/researching if it changes the sugars/sweetness.

The tall rinsing table

Ouch. My aching back! That's unfortunately my overwhelming thought when I'm finally done rinsing the soil from the crops each morning. And I have a rather strong back; 15 years pedaling a bicycle a little faster than the average citizen and a habit of moving dirt has given me two strong 'back-straps' (friends: if ever stranded in the high snowy mountains w/o food, and I've just died, you have my blessing to eat that choice cut first. Ha. creepy. gross)

30 pounds of beets on the rinsing table (tilted)

But now I have a solution to the problem of bending over too far (low faucet), for too long (40 pounds of onions and beets take a while to wash), each Saturday morning. I built two 8' harvest tables.

Light in the beet's low tunnel

The first table tilts at 30 degrees with plastic coated wire mesh running along one side. This lets me tilt the table while rinsing the roots of plants without muddy water running into the edible green leaves. A cable and pulley system supporting one corner allows me to quickly change the table between flat and tilted from a single corner of the set-up. It's rather high at 36" off the deck. This height leaves plenty of room for 35 gallon barrels underneath to catch the spray used in the rinse. Shelves beneath will offer a shady spot for harvested crops.

The second table will have a lower work surface (32") and a sink plumbed with tap water and rain water through the two sides of the faucet. Both water types have their place in the garden--the anti-biotic (good and bad) properties of chlorine being the difference.

Together these tables should make the harvest and planting much easier on my aging body, allow a higher quality of kitchen-clean produce at my stand, and allow recycling of all the water used to clean the harvest. And, in non-tilted mode, the rinsing table doesn't spill your beer. cheers.

Gallup Farmers' Market Week 4

Gallup Farmers' Market

The Gallup Farmers' Market is in full swing now being the fourth week of the season, and the variety and quantity of produce continues to grow. The biggest thing right now is more customers are needed (I still managed to sell-out by 10 am, and grossed $130; $40 from WIC checks w/o promised price increases over previous weeks:)! The reason I mention the dollar total is that it represents a lot of food; imagine filling a grocery cart with $130 from the produce department.

My neighbors shopping at my stand

New additions this week included leeks from my garden (along with the dozen or so other varieties of produce i've listed in previous weeks' posts- I forgot collard greens, cilantro, and something else.), the most desired being pickling cucumbers, Santa Fe Grande and jalapeno peppers. Giant rutabaga, eggs, and greens were also for sale from Janet Butlers farm, JB Ranch. She generally arrives between 9:30 and 10.

Sid Gillson, again had a bountiful supply of perfect summer squash and zucchini.

Pete and Jan Douglass continue to bring amazing rhubarb, radishes, and fresh greens among other crops and the folks from Fort Defiances' Sunrise School, again have the most amazing french breakfast radishes-- absolutely perfectly sweet half-cream, half crimson spicy delights.

The heavy monsoon rains should bring a bountiful harvest to all the growers this year, yet the much anticipated tomato crop is growing only in anticipation; several more weeks before the love apples ripen. However, large plants and smart season extending should result in Sid Gillson and I (Sid's shared many of his 'secrets' with me:) bringing in a huge crop when they're finally ready; customers needed!

This weeks' recipes shared by customers at the market and elsewhere were:

Tomatillo, onion, garlic, and chipotle pepper powder salsa. blend it 'til the consistency of guacuamole

New potatoes and sauteed leeks with bacon; a thick thunderstorm soup

Summer squash, anyway and with anything!!

(If you have any I haven't mentioned please list it in a comment)

Psssht. Blog readers exclusive: the summer rains and better/smarter husbandry have brought on the largest flush of shiitake mushrooms I've every grown. Available next week from under the table for those that ask only! I'll take everything left home for myself if needed.) $, TBD. Ha, priceless.

Gallup's 'greenest' burger and fries?

El Morro beef, potatoes, lettuce, onions, and lettuce from BDCK

So, this afternoon as the cumulus clouds built later than normal and All Things Considered drifted through the house (that's 4-6 pm around here) I grilled up a burger; a really 'green' burger. The meat came from the quarter of beef I bought from Charlie Mallory's El Morro Valley Ranch last fall, and the veggies came from my garden. It could have been made entirely from local ingredients, but I took some short cuts.

The first 'love apples' of the season; container grown

The cheese was from Tillamook (could be local goat cheese), and the bun was from 3rd street (Glen's Bakery makes infinitely better jalapeno topped buns, not displayed in the counters but just ask for one; $0.50 each). The red onion, black seeded simpson lettuce, cherry tomatoes (first of the season), and red potatoes were from my canyon. The latter being a 'wild' planting of potato. I don't remember ever planting potatoes in the bed in which this plant grew, but I must of. Expecting nothing much of potato harvest from beneath the un-tended or hilled-up plant, I pulled the 3' diameter lone bush mixed in with the carrots and shallots. To my utter astonishment, 2 lbs. of huge red potatoes came up with the stalk.

"How 'bout them apples?" is all that came to mind

Some perspective; above and below ground

Tomato season... not yet

They're coming: ripe tomatoes @ the farmers' market in a week (maybe 2 weeks)

2, 40' rows of tomatoes; celebrities left, romas right, covers off

I finally finished the first round of pruning the tomatoes and tying them up to the strands of bailing wire I strung horizontally over each row. It took more than several hours to support each and every heavy bearing branch with sisal twine, but it was finally done. What i'm to do is recreate a vertical trellis with bailing wire that will support 60+ plants in a more fiscally economical fashion than providing a cage to each individual plant (although, tomato cages are extremely cheap, so is soil, at the end of season clearance sales at our biggest of big-box stores in Gallup right now). The only caveat is that you have to track down each fruit bearing stem and tie a neat little sling around each one. Though time consuming, it's a great opportunity to commune with each plant, which in a normal size garden wouldn't be a problem, but with the market-size plots i'm dealing with takes most of a work day. I've also hung the Agribon19 row cover fabric over all the tomatoes to aid germination and speed the ripening of the fruit. The tomato harvest should be heavy this year, and I've already heard that I'll probably have to have a limit on how much each customer can buy at the market; when it rains, it pours.

Carrot ginger soup

That half-pound carrot I pulled up during the YCC tour of my garden was turned into a heart warming soup during one of these mid-afternoon downpours we've been having of late. The ingredients were: 1 huge carrot, chicken stock, peeled and chopped ginger, shallots, garlic, cumin, salt and scallion greens.
I used a mandolin slicer to break down the carrot, then simmered the bunch (minus the garlic and scallion greens, until the very end) for an hour or so. I used one of those 'blender-on-a-stick' devices to puree it's own pot.

YCC tours the BDCK 'Farm'

This morning Ella, Tom, and Amy of the Work in Beauty CSA finally succumbed to my anti-scheduling nature and we all coordinated for a long planned tour of my garden. Tom and Ella also work for Gallup's renowned NM Youth Conservation Corps, better known as YCC -- whose employed more than 350 of Gallup's youth over the years building trails,and growing food, probably more things to [woot, woot Karl Lohman]! Being the middle of the work week , Tom and Ella used the opportunity to give a dozen or so of the the YCC gardening crew a tour of my gardens.

Black Diamond Canyon Kitchen's street-side facade

As any good elementary teacher knows, you never talk for more than 5 minutes in-a-row while teaching 8 year-olds, so a rambling hour-plus tour of the garden with like-minded adults and teens left me feeling like I'd being talking for hours. Ha. and I probably had.

Me, talking up broccoli in my Grandpas cut down hip-boots under the shade of a well pruned elm

We covered a range of topics during our walk ranging from soils, nutrients, and watering to plant life cycles, genetics, and marketing, Crop protection, planning, and successional planting were common themes throughout our discussions.

Starting with the carrots, shallots, and sandy soil am

endments, I pulled a half-pound carrot demonstrating the difference in root size between a carrot that goes to seed early with a large showy white flower versus one that resists bolting and grows a large harvestable carrot. Danvers variety in this case.

Three dudes in red and hats; tomatoes and peppers too

We moved on to the 15+ year old apple, pear, and apricot trees planted by the Washburns' years ago. Plagued by borer beetles and my reluctance to use a systemic pesticides they're struggling in the clay soils. Late frosts killed any chance of fruit this year.

Then we looked at the remnants of the snow peas and shelling peas planted next to the warming stone wall, followed by the recently pruned and tied covered rows of tomatoes. Bolting lettuce and spinach in the waterlogged original 8x4 garden was next. We then checked out the water logged maturing onions and radishes I'm about to harvest seed from.

The half-pound start to pureed carrot ginger soup

In the backyard was the fortified chickens, flooded peaches, commitment of perennials, cabbage and friends, lodged corn, pumpkins, neon potato beetle eggs, beat up beet greens, dirty cucumbers, and monster kochia weeds. 2 fox dogs, alert foxes, and no rabbits. P.S. Water timers and shiitake mushroom oak logs soaking in rainwater.

So the 'farm' in the title of this post comes from the inspiration I got from the NM senior WIC farmers' market checks that I accepted last week, addressed to, 'New Mexico Authorized Farmer.' That last word. Ha.

Pruning Tomatoes

Celebrities: left-side trimmed, right-side dense and wanting

I think that since people have only 4 irreplaceable appendages we have a hard time with the concept of culling anything in the garden full of limbs, especially otherwise healthy branches of some tomato plant we've nurtured since it was wee little one. Who wants their left index finger cut off for the greater good of the others?

But, that's just what tomatoes need: Branches cut; nutrients concentrate in the remaining tissue; fruit swells, then ripens; harvest; we smile.

This season I planted my tomatoes much closer together than recommended, 18" vs. 30", and I'm gambling that heavy pruning of the lateral stems and extra suckers (fruit bearing branch growing diagonally between the vertical stem and horizontal branch), and purposeful staking will produce a consistent and heavy crop of the celebrity and husky red cherry tomatoes. In all I have a 105' of tomato rows planted this year. I took nearly 5 hours to prune and tie the tomato branches to the four strands of horizontal galvanized wire above each row. Most of my tomatoes are also under the protective cover of agribon-19 synthetic row covers. This keeps them warmer day and night, and helps lessen the negative effects of wind and rain on the self-pollinating yellow flowers.

Pruning really is one of the more nuanced skills in the garden. As a relative amateur, I really liked this recent LA Times article on pruning tomatoes; it's among many other great local food/farmers' market articles on the LA Times website. They also have the best Science/Environment bureau reporting of any newspaper in country, in my opinon.

BDCK.com in the local paper

Over the past two weekends the Gallup Independent sent their reporter, Leslie Wood-Klopfer, and photographer, Adron Gardner to the Gallup Farmers' Market. They published a pretty neat and representative story on the farmers' market on page 2 of the Monday, July 26th edition. Short-handed and covering every story in town, the photographer got a sweet picture of me having a good time selling the last little bit of the 2nd week's harvest. They also mentioned this blog after a couple quotes from yours truly.

Since the Gallup Independent doesn't offer any option for reading the full-text of articles on-line (let us please subscribe, online!!), i'll post the full-text of the article in this same post in several days for those of my loyal readers who live out of town. In the article Ms. Wood-Klopfer covered everything from the Work in Beauty CSA to customer reactions, including some choice quotes from the true local gardening sage, Sid Gillson. The only clarification needed: my 'family' misquoted in the article, consists only of me... and two dogs; 'still working on the rest of it:)

Gallup Farmers' Market Week 3 and Recipes

The Gallup Farmers' Market really seemed to kick into gear this week. Several more vendors were set-up (7 booths in total) selling a variety of produce, home-made crafts and beautiful clothes, and sustainable living/recycling information. But, the biggest change was the lively groups of elderly people with their $4 WIC Farmers Market checks in hand, right when the market opened! The Gallup Independent also had their reporter and photographer preparing a story about the market. I was without a camera this week at the market.

The senior WIC program; NM is far more progressive than we're given credit for!

As with each week yet this season, I sold 80% of the produce I brought in the first 20 minutes. I love the fact that most of my crop goes to appreciative people who will surely let little go to waste, but discussions with other growers and feedback from customers will prompt me to raise my prices a little in the coming weeks. Though I've said it before, I'll reiterate I don't do this for the money (the therapeutic value of growing food is priceless), it's really nice to have such a fun time trading a dozen produce-filled baskets (a full Subaru wagon worth) for spending money the rest of the week ($72 this week:)

The candy-cane stripped Chioggia Beet- an italian heirloom- 1 of 4 beet varieties i've had for sale

The Saturday morning harvest began again this week at 7:30 and I made it to the market around 8:45 (the second to last grower to arrive, I was stuck with the less desirable sunny spot at the south end of the alley). I would've arrived significantly later, as the growing size of the harvest is taking longer and longer to bring in, if it weren't for the self-less volunteer help of my friend, Jessi- now an expert at rinsing onions, shallots, and beets. Not to mention an infinitely better retail sales manager than myself. Thank you!!!

So, in all I brought 16 different varieties of herbs and produce to the market, including pickling cucumbers and medium yellow dutch shallots for the first time this season. The former selling instantly in 6, $1 bunches of 7-8 small cucs. The latter in bunches of 5 for a dollar. Also for sale was a large head of cabbage ($3), white onions (10/$1), garlic ($1), rosemary, mint, sage ($1/bunch), collard greens, yellow beets, chioggia beets, cylindria beets (2-3/$1), bulls blood beets, cocozelle zucchini (striped italian heirloom), pepo zucs (round and great for stuffing), and male zucchini flowers (4/$1).

One of the best things about this week's market was hearing of how customers had prepared my produce from previous weeks. Here are some of the more memorable (i'll write them down in the future) recipes I heard:

Strawberry, watermelon salad topped with my mint

Zucchini flowers stuffed with braised mutton and rice

Zucchini flowers stuffed with crumbled goat cheese, battered, and fried like a chile relleno

Zucchini squash (large) stuffed with its chopped self, onions, cheese, and bread crumbs

Chioggia beet salad with goat cheese, walnuts, and balsamic vinegar

Mint leaves frozen individually in ice-cubes for a pretty aperitif garnish

The Gallup Farmers' Market runs each Saturday morning from 8:30-10:30 in the downtown walkway between Aztec and Coal street. The market manager is Carole Palmer and vendor booths are $5/day.

When it rains, it pours!

1550 gallons + 2 35-gallon barrels of rainwater; more falling in the yard

So, suddenly the thing we need the most, rain, has now become the problem. Flooding monsoon thunderstorms swept into Gallup this week. Torrents of rain and scary lightning left substantial amounts of soil and rock in Gallup's streets, the Puerco River flowing, waterlogged gardens, and at least 8" of mud in my peach tree filled gabion dam in my hillside arroyo.

Popcorn flattened by the storm

The downpours also turned my canyon's paved road on the city's north side virtually into a floatable southwest waterway as cascading water lapped over the tops of the curbs and high against the sides of houses in the turn at the canyon's mouth. The soaking rains and strong winds also knocked down most of my popcorn crop as the ponding water turned my clay filled soil, which lacks the structure of adequate organic content, to mud soup.

My hand-dug flood control canal, sweet corn, and 3 rows of potatoes

I'll turn off the automated drip-irrigation off for the next week or more, and wait for the saturated soil to dry enough before tilling the seed bed for fall crops of broccoli, radishes, lettuce, carrots, and spinach. I'll also keep the potato drip lines turned off even longer, as they're prone to developing potato blight when too wet (eg. cause of Irish potato famine).

Gallup's Rio Puerco flowing

However frustrating, the damage to the garden and around Gallup was minimal and definitely insignificant when compared to the devastating effect of storms spawned by the same tropical moisture system that brought deadly raging ash filled floods to Flagstaff's communities below the burned slopes of the recent Schultz forest fire. God bless that burned mountain.

Gallup's future water source? The San Juans of CO

Despite 2000 gallons of rainwater harvesting capacity (around 9K gallons annually), my garden still grows predominantly from 'fossil water,' mined deep below Gallup by our city's wells; it's something I'm not comfortable with. I'll post a full description of my extensive automated drip irrigation system and an expose of exactly how much city water I use growing food soon. I first posted about my water issues here in 2009.

Which water source will connect to this drip hose in my garden?

I recently spent some time at the source of what could be our future water supply: the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado. The water and snowmelt flowing out of this vast mountain range would be carried south from the San Juan river drainage to Gallup and the surrounding parts of Dine via a pipeline. The rhetoric on all sides of this issue is necessarily alarmist, and I have many mixed feelings about the need and effects of the Navajo-Gallup San Juan pipeline. The history of the multi-multi million dollar project is summarized well here. Anyway, here's a brief photo tour of my trip to the headwaters of the San Juan River in the Weminuche Wilderness, specifically the Highland Mary Lakes region; one of our most 'local' alpine lake trout fisheries.

The Highland Mary Lakes

Imitating the trout's local food: (in focus) a size 16 Adams and friends, all tied by me.

The only one of 4 dozen non-native and stunted brook trout I caught that was kept for dinner. What's more beautiful: my new Sage 3 weight, the 'elephant head' flowers, or the fish?

A native cutthroat- caught and released by Stefan

My onions, garlic, thyme, and the little brookie

Trip mates between lakes @ 12,400'- that's me on the left.

Navajo Copper Popcorn

Navajo Popcorn Tassel

I planted this heirloom variety of native corn on April 10th. It emerged on May 7th. Hopi pintos joined the small popcorn kernels driven into each divet formed by the corn planting stick. Read about the planting by clicking here. Both varieties of seed came from the non-profit seed bank, Native Seeds: SEARCH. Staccato.

Can you see the three different leaves of the sisters?

The corn and beans emerged at the same time, but the former seemed to grow better in the newly manure-amended soil. Last week the tassels began to emerge on the corn that has grown 3-5' tall. That's taller than the expected height of the generally shorter (popcorn) family of Zea mays. The Navajo hubbard squash was transplanted really late, in mid-summer, and may or may not produce a crop. The tall corn shades the sensitive beans, who in turn fix nitrogen from the air benefitting the corn. The squash also loves the bean's nitrogen and in exchange, their broad leaves smother weeds that would otherwise smother the beans, but wouldn't hurt the corn; All for one, one for all.

Gallup Farmers' Market 2010 Week 2

The 7/17/10 harvest

I'm no farmer. I was reminded of that realization Saturday morning, when once again, I was sleeping my soundest when I should have been up and about in the cool dawn air picking spinach or something of the sort. Instead, it was 7:30 when I finally dragged myself from the covers; 1 hour to harvest and get to the market that opens at 8:30.

Me harvesting (out of frame), Rio scanning for fox/rabbit

Harvesting the produce that wilts the least first, I started with a wheel barrow load of 140 immature white onions (10/$1) topped with the a couple dozen mixed beets (striped Chiogga and classic bulls blood), some already 4" around. The onions went quickly into a water bath to loosen the dirt from the roots and the beets got a cursory rinse.

Citrusy lobed leaves of the nutritious weed Purslane amongst the cucumbers

Next, I grabbed the pruning shears and a large basket for the zucchini and male squash blossoms. Since I'm only harvesting the fast-growing zucs once a week, several of the cute little baby fruit from Tuesday had already grown into foot-long monsters! Yet most were in the preferred 6-9" range. Combining the striped cocozelle with the round pale green pepo zucs, I brought a 20 lb. basket to the market. The edible male flowers I cut (4/$1) buzzed with bees long after I filled a small basket with the 6" golden trumpets.

Collard Greens

Rosemary, sage, mint, and spearmint filled the next small basket. 8 am. Yellow dutch shallots growing in too shady of a bed were pulled next (most of my shallots are elsewhere and triple the size; harvest starts next week) and rinsed. The green leaves imitating a luxurious scallion.

The last three baskets were filled with collard greens, the last of frilly lettuce heads, and the native 'weed' purslane. The latter being a relatively novel addition to salads with a citrusy crunch.

First cabbage head to be harvested

Finally, fearing the cabbage worms may leave me with nothing but swiss cheese like cabbage if I waited too long, I cut the 2" wide stem of a green cabbage and carried the whole plant to my harvest staging area. It measured nearly 4' across with a nice 10" head (I think I got $3 for it). Filling the entire Subaru with baskets of food I was out the door at 8:25! Even without taking up the generous offer of a harvest assistant yet-- a 55 minute harvest! I forgot the garlic at home though.(

Work in Beauty CSA's nice handwriting (and produce)

The market was again full of the early customers when I arrived at 8:45. In addition to the regular Work in Beauty CSA distribution table and myself, this was the first week of the season for market-regulars, Serendipity Farm from Vanderwagon.

Serendipity Farm's early-season table

Most customers from last year would remember farmer Pete Douglass's produce and amazing woodcrafts; real wood toys from only $10!!! Pete also had flyers/maps inviting people to visit their farm in Vanderwagon; what a great chance for kids to see where/how food is grown and beat the Saturday morning rush for their fresh produce. I'll visit him and his wife soon and post a story. Handmade native jewelry was also for sale that morning.

Bull's Blood beets and their greens

Market manager Carole Palmer was out of town and many regulars attended the bee workshop in Ramah, so the morning felt a little less busy than the previous week. Though the number of customers was up from the first week, and with a larger harvest, I made $65 selling out of everything but the purslane by 10:30.

... STILL watching the hills; the best fox dog ever!

The fee to sell crafts or produce is $5/day or $15/season, and as summer crops ripen, more and more backyard growers will come out each weekend. Hopefully, the number of customers will also grow each week. Contrast the low prices at our farmer's market with the squabbles and insane fees the LA Times described at southern California farmers' markets in this article.