I need some recipes!

Our apprentice garden finally dried out over the weekend so Bill could till the beds for us! I plan on planting out my rainbow chard, green onions, broccoli, thyme and parsley this week. I’m going to wait on my Roma tomatoes and brussel sprouts since it hasn’t reached a consistently safe nighttime temperature yet. I only have a few starts of each, but I figure it’s enough for me to keep track of on top of all the other projects I have going on.

I have to come up with recipes (18 of them) for vegetables I’ve been assigned to, which will go into the CSA newsletters this season. I’ve been given kale, green leaf lettuce, beets, broccoli, tomatoes, and baby bok choy. So, if any of you have a good recipe for those, email it to me please!

It’s amazing how one month of barn living will change a person. For example, I’ve grown so used to urinating outdoors that the last time I went into Eugene, I found myself choosing the grass on the side of the bike path over the hassle of finding a public restroom. I think most people would be appalled by this, but really, it was so much simpler. Plus, I didn’t have a bike lock on me. Of course, the moment I dropped trou a runner came up on the path. One of those really slow runners who was basically walking. I stared past him, as if there was something very interesting going on in the distant 7-11 parking lot. I think I scared him - as I hadn’t been very concerned about finding adequate cover. 

We’ve been moving and arranging the irrigation pipes for a few weeks, holding out for rain that hasn’t come through (in the quantity we need). Today Bill decided we could wait no more. Of course, an hour later we got the hardest downpour we’ve had yet - actually turning into a hail storm for a bit. This was bad news, as hail can seriously damage uncovered crops. Bill said that although there was no ‘shredding’, there could be bruising (on the lettuce, kale, cauliflower and broccoli) that wouldn’t show up for a few days. Our other challenge of the moment is the dying off of the cucumber (which I already mentioned) and basil plants. Bill suspects that the soil in the greenhouses is just too damp and there isn’t really anything we can do about it. We replanted some basil and gave all the greenhouses a good weeding; thankful to be involved in an ‘indoor’ task as the storm passed over. 

view from inside the greenhouse

 

 

 

 

Hail accumulating outside!