The Rare Posting from the Elusive Farmer Davison

Hello Friends!

We’re approaching a major life and farm transition … Noah starts kindergarten in three weeks. Our little baby boy is growing up! Sniff sniff. Actually, we’re just so happy for him. He’s totally ready for the next big step in life.

As for the farm, when Noah goes to school, Ben will become our littlest farm hand. He will start staying home from preschool on Tuesdays and Fridays (as Noah has for the last two years) to help with the harvest. He may enjoy farming more than Noah – he is very eager to please us lately, and he truly loves vegetables and eating them! You should see him in the green beans. Somewhat like a very big Japanese beetle but without the hard shell. Ha!

I’m including a picture of our boys in their new sun hats. We purchased them from a company called Sunday Afternoons. The hats are rated for maximum sun protection. Bill and I have had similar hats for a long time, and they’re amazingly light and comfortable. I let the boys pick the colors. After all, it’s important for kids to control what little they can in life. When I showed them the colors available online, Noah immediately picked his favorite color … bright blue.

Ben then had to choose from sand, dark grey, hot pink, and lavender/pink. He immediately chose the lavender. It was one of those parental dilemmas … do I say something about the fact that a pinky purple is, in many people’s opinions, a “girl color”? I asked him, “Are you sure that’s the color you want?” No hesitation … “YES!” Then I just had to ask him (based on the fact that I was spending $25 on a hat that I can’t afford for him to suddenly decide is unacceptable), “What if the other kids say it’s a girl color?” He looked truly puzzled for a second and then said, “But it’s beautiful!” And that was that.

I’m also including a photo of a ginormous onion with boys for perspective. This is Bill’s banner onion year. If you haven’t eaten any, you’re missing a real treat.

And now a word from the farmer himself …

I have a confession to make. This will be our first poor tomato year in 6 years of farming. After walking through our large hoophouse tonight, I can no longer deny that our bligh-infected plants are only going to yield a quarter of their normal production. (Fortunately, the tomatoes we will harvest will TASTE GREAT!) Since tomatoes are our best selling crop, this really hurts. I have been taking care of these plants since March. I have invested a tremendous amount of time, mental energy, and hope on these plants and they are now nearly dead. I kept thinking they may still produce despite the fungal infection that steadily crept up from the bottom of the plant and now has browned the leaves up to the top ¾ of our 10 foot tall plants. Hundreds of full size green tomatoes sit in a state of suspended ripening, waiting for nutrients the plant cannot deliver because it has almost no green leaves. Their photosynthetic capacity reduced to near zero.

Our field tomatoes are in better shape, but many of them have the same blight due to our rainy growing season. Of course, I have been breaking a cardinal rule of farming by trying to grow the same crop in the same space for three years in a row. You are always supposed to rotate your crops to prevent diseases from building up to the point they destroy your crop. Such is the allure of tomatoes! It is hard not to keep planting them in the hoophouse because few other plants can produce $60 worth of income from a single plant.

You tomato lovers may be asking yourselves what I am going to do to recover from such a tragedy. Do not worry. I have a plan. I am going to research the possibility of grafting tomatoes onto disease-resistant rootstock and planting those in the hoophouse. I am also going to research the possibility of creating mobile hightunnels in the field. They will consist of fabric rowcovers over wire hoops and a layer of plastic over pvc or re-bar posts above the rowcover. I may also lay down plastic mulch to help warm the soil and prevent soil from splashing up on the leaves. That is how the fungal spores get transmitted from the soil to the plant. All of this work will partially re-create the near perfect tomato growing conditions of the larger hoophouse but will allow me to rotate my tomato plantings. Of course this entails much more work, but my early tomatoes are worth it!

I learn so much every year and this year is no exception. I am already on my second 50 page field notebook. I take the time to write down everything I see and learn that I think will help me improve next year. As a result, I continue to get better every year. So, rest assured I will do everything I can to ensure a tremendous abundance of tomatoes next year. The poor yield of this year’s tomatoes is very disappointing, but learning to overcome such challenges is also one of the reasons I love to farm. Mercy tells me I am obsessed with vegetables. She may be right, but I think there are worse obsessions in life.

While I am filling you in on our challenges this year, I may as well let you know that we will have a gap of a couple of weeks in our head lettuce production after this week. I switched from transplanting lettuce to direct seeding and I lost track of time and did not plant lettuce seed soon enough, hence the gap in production.

I planted fall crops today and I am so glad to see the rain this evening! I planted winter radish, daikon radish, arugula, choi, lettuce, tatsoi, kohlrabi, turnips, mesclun, beets, rutabaga, and ruby streaks mustard greens.

I have included a picture of a winter squash blossom with its biggest enemy (the cucumber beetle) and its greatest ally (the bee). I'm also including a picture of a young butternut squash. The plants look good and they appear to have potential. I will spare you all the details of what can go wrong with winter squash. Let’s just hope for the best.

And back to Mercy …

Wow. I’m exhausted after reading Bill’s posting! I usually don’t know this much about what’s going on, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. He usually makes it look so easy!

Here’s what we’ll be bringing to the market this week:

Head Lettuce
Green Beans
Eggplant
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Kale
Parsley
Basil
Swiss Chard
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Cucumbers
Carrots
Garlic
Bulb Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Okra
Fennel

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

The Rare Posting from the Elusive Farmer Davison

Hello Friends!

We’re approaching a major life and farm transition … Noah starts kindergarten in three weeks. Our little baby boy is growing up! Sniff sniff. Actually, we’re just so happy for him. He’s totally ready for the next big step in life.

As for the farm, when Noah goes to school, Ben will become our littlest farm hand. He will start staying home from preschool on Tuesdays and Fridays (as Noah has for the last two years) to help with the harvest. He may enjoy farming more than Noah – he is very eager to please us lately, and he truly loves vegetables and eating them! You should see him in the green beans. Somewhat like a very big Japanese beetle but without the hard shell. Ha!

I’m including a picture of our boys in their new sun hats. We purchased them from a company called Sunday Afternoons. The hats are rated for maximum sun protection. Bill and I have had similar hats for a long time, and they’re amazingly light and comfortable. I let the boys pick the colors. After all, it’s important for kids to control what little they can in life. When I showed them the colors available online, Noah immediately picked his favorite color … bright blue.

Ben then had to choose from sand, dark grey, hot pink, and lavender/pink. He immediately chose the lavender. It was one of those parental dilemmas … do I say something about the fact that a pinky purple is, in many people’s opinions, a “girl color”? I asked him, “Are you sure that’s the color you want?” No hesitation … “YES!” Then I just had to ask him (based on the fact that I was spending $25 on a hat that I can’t afford for him to suddenly decide is unacceptable), “What if the other kids say it’s a girl color?” He looked truly puzzled for a second and then said, “But it’s beautiful!” And that was that.

I’m also including a photo of a ginormous onion with boys for perspective. This is Bill’s banner onion year. If you haven’t eaten any, you’re missing a real treat.

And now a word from the farmer himself …

I have a confession to make. This will be our first poor tomato year in 6 years of farming. After walking through our large hoophouse tonight, I can no longer deny that our bligh-infected plants are only going to yield a quarter of their normal production. (Fortunately, the tomatoes we will harvest will TASTE GREAT!) Since tomatoes are our best selling crop, this really hurts. I have been taking care of these plants since March. I have invested a tremendous amount of time, mental energy, and hope on these plants and they are now nearly dead. I kept thinking they may still produce despite the fungal infection that steadily crept up from the bottom of the plant and now has browned the leaves up to the top ¾ of our 10 foot tall plants. Hundreds of full size green tomatoes sit in a state of suspended ripening, waiting for nutrients the plant cannot deliver because it has almost no green leaves. Their photosynthetic capacity reduced to near zero.

Our field tomatoes are in better shape, but many of them have the same blight due to our rainy growing season. Of course, I have been breaking a cardinal rule of farming by trying to grow the same crop in the same space for three years in a row. You are always supposed to rotate your crops to prevent diseases from building up to the point they destroy your crop. Such is the allure of tomatoes! It is hard not to keep planting them in the hoophouse because few other plants can produce $60 worth of income from a single plant.

You tomato lovers may be asking yourselves what I am going to do to recover from such a tragedy. Do not worry. I have a plan. I am going to research the possibility of grafting tomatoes onto disease-resistant rootstock and planting those in the hoophouse. I am also going to research the possibility of creating mobile hightunnels in the field. They will consist of fabric rowcovers over wire hoops and a layer of plastic over pvc or re-bar posts above the rowcover. I may also lay down plastic mulch to help warm the soil and prevent soil from splashing up on the leaves. That is how the fungal spores get transmitted from the soil to the plant. All of this work will partially re-create the near perfect tomato growing conditions of the larger hoophouse but will allow me to rotate my tomato plantings. Of course this entails much more work, but my early tomatoes are worth it!

I learn so much every year and this year is no exception. I am already on my second 50 page field notebook. I take the time to write down everything I see and learn that I think will help me improve next year. As a result, I continue to get better every year. So, rest assured I will do everything I can to ensure a tremendous abundance of tomatoes next year. The poor yield of this year’s tomatoes is very disappointing, but learning to overcome such challenges is also one of the reasons I love to farm. Mercy tells me I am obsessed with vegetables. She may be right, but I think there are worse obsessions in life.

While I am filling you in on our challenges this year, I may as well let you know that we will have a gap of a couple of weeks in our head lettuce production after this week. I switched from transplanting lettuce to direct seeding and I lost track of time and did not plant lettuce seed soon enough, hence the gap in production.

I planted fall crops today and I am so glad to see the rain this evening! I planted winter radish, daikon radish, arugula, choi, lettuce, tatsoi, kohlrabi, turnips, mesclun, beets, rutabaga, and ruby streaks mustard greens.

I have included a couple of pictures of our winter squash blossoms and a very young butternut squash. The plants look good and they appear to have potential. I will spare you all the details of what can go wrong with winter squash. Let’s just hope for the best.

And back to Mercy …

Wow. I’m exhausted after reading Bill’s posting! I usually don’t know this much about what’s going on, and maybe that’s not a bad thing. He usually makes it look so easy!

Here’s what we’ll be bringing to the market this week:

Head Lettuce
Green Beans
Eggplant
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Kale
Parsley
Basil
Swiss Chard
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Cucumbers
Carrots
Garlic
Bulb Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Okra
Fennel

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

Bill Takes to the Air Waves

Hello Friends!

Thanks so much to all who came out for last week’s rainy market! We had an awesome crowd!

Did you hear Bill on the Dean of Green last week? Laura Kennedy and Don Schmidt did a very nice piece on local food. They even interviewed Jackie at the Garlic Press Market Café while she was cooking with local food – you could even hear her Cuisinart chopping up the pesto ingredients! I thought they did a great job, and not just because it featured our farm. Here’s a link to the show: http://www.wglt.org/podcasts/dean_of_green/audio/dog080718.mp3

I also have another link for you to check out: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/green/chi-evanston-farmer_bdjul20,0,4473050.story
It’s an article from the FRONT PAGE of the Chicago Tribune about local farmer, Henry Brockman. The piece is about Henry charging for his biodegradable bags rather than handing out free plastic bags. As you know, we’re also charging for bags this season (although a dime per bag rather than Henry’s 25 cents for up to 4 bags). It’s been going remarkably well. I’d estimate that we’re still handing out 75% fewer bags as a result. We’ve only had one or two irritated customers – we try to explain to everyone why we’re doing it. The bags are expensive and we’re just covering our cost. Henry also has a great letter on his website about bags if you’d like to check it out: http://www.henrysfarm.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38&Itemid=62

I’m including photos of our friends Sandy and Annie, the horse and goat next door. They feast on Bill’s compost every week. Have you ever had a horse run straight for you? It’s pretty funny (and not terrifying, because I’m on the other side of the fence!). When Sandy sees me walking to the compost pile with the pail, he just goes nuts. He’s a big fan of carrots, corn husks, and various other green things.

This week’s recipe is my favorite cucumber salad. I have never been a fan of cucumbers because the ones in the store have thick skins and are somewhat bitter. Bill’s are crisp, refreshing, and without a hint of bitterness. This salad is very quick to whip up. I’d say it requires a half hour lead time, and that’s only because the yogurt and cucumbers need to sit for a while.

Cucumber Salad with Tzatziki Sauce

Put 1 cup of yogurt into a fine sieve and allow to drain for 2 hours. (I do it in about half an hour by stirring frequently. That encourages the water to drain out more quickly.)

Peel and dice about a pound of cucumber and then put into a colander. Toss in 1 tsp of salt, and let cucumbers drain for half an hour. Press out excess water, rinse quickly, and blot dry. (I skip this step and then don’t add the following amount of salt.) Mash together 2 cloves or garlic and 2-3 pinches of salt. Combine yogurt, garlic and cucumbers in a bowl along with:
2-3 tsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp chopped mint OR dill (It’s AMAZING with mint, although I’ve made it many times without any fresh herbs.)
Salt and ground pepper to taste

Bill is trying a couple of new things this season: fennel and okra. Here’s what Alice Waters has to say about fennel:

Fennel has celery-like stalks (although more bulbous at the end) covered with feathery leaves topped with umbels of yellow flowers. Its strong characteristic anise flavor goes well with many other flavors, particularly fish. Alice adds the feathery leaves to marinades for fish and to numerous salads, sauces, and soups. It also works as a garnish. Alice frequently slices the bulbs raw into salads, parboils it with pastas, caramelizes it for a side dish, braises it whole, and cooks into broths. You typically peel away the outer layer and eat the white hearts.

Okra is a favorite southern vegetable. I’ll admit to never having eaten it until college, when we bought a bag of frozen okra! It’s a tasty little veggie. Elizabeth Schneider (Vegetables A to Z) describes okra as a bit like eggplant in that its flavor is heavily impacted by the accompanying ingredients. She also says the slippery texture on the inside is balanced well with something more acidic, such as tomato, lemon, and vinegar. It thickens dishes while cooking, which is nice in low-fat recipes. Okra is pretty perishable, so eat it within a couple of days. To prepare okra, just trim off the stems. Elizabeth Schneider’s favorite way to eat okra is steamed with butter.

Here’s what we’ll be bringing to the market this week:

Head Lettuce
Green Beans
Eggplant
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Kale
Parsley
Basil
Swiss Chard
Japanese Turnips (white and pink)
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Cucumbers
Carrots
Garlic
Bulb Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Tomatoes
Okra
Fennel

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

Let the Tomato Extravaganza Begin!

Hello Friends!

I hope you are all well. We are great! We’re excited to really get Tomato Season 2008 started … this week we’ll be bringing many varieties of tomatoes to the market. Stupice, Rose de Berne, Striped German, Prudens Purple, Cherokee Purple, Nyagous, Juliette, AND MORE! Every year we include the following two recipes because they are just that good …

A Big Tomato Sandwich
(Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors)

1 large loaf ciabatta*
Herb Vinaigrette (see below)
2 or more big ripe, juicy tomatoes**
1 large yellow or red bell pepper, roasted, peeled and quartered
4 oz fresh mozzarella, goat, or other favorite cheese, sliced
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Slice the top third off the loaf of bread and set it aside. Pull out the inside. (You can use it to make bread crumbs for another recipe.)
2. Paint the inside of the bread with some of the dressing, then make layers of sliced tomatoes, pepper, and cheese. Bathe each layer with the dressing and season with salt and pepper.
3. Add the top, press down, then cut into quarters or sixths.

The Herb Vinaigrette . . .
¼ cup basil
1 T chopped marjoram
1 T chopped parsley
1 small clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup olive oil
4 t aged red wine vinegar
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Finely chop herbs with the garlic, then add olive oil. Add vinegar and season with salt and pepper.

* Ciabbatta is an ideal bread for this – crusty, strong-textured, and able to drink in some of the juice without falling apart.
** Choice tomatoes for this recipe are Prudens Purple and Striped Germans.

Tomato salad
(Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters)

Simply chunk up some ripe tomatoes. Moisten with balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle generously with olive oil. Mix gently. Excellent additions include croutons, slivered fresh basil, avocado, red onion, corn, fresh mozzarella, cucumbers, and small pieces of broccoli. This healthy and delicious dish can be made in about 10 minutes, and is best eaten fresh. (The texture gets funny if refrigerated and eaten the next day, but it can be done.) We eat this almost every day!

I’ve also had a request for the dip recipe that we make for eating Japanese Turnips raw. Here it is:

1 cup Tahini (a sesame paste – it looks like pale peanut butter! If you don’t have tahini, peanut butter works, too!)
2-3 Tbsp soy sauce or Bragg’s
2-3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Stir it and then add water to make it a good dipping consistency. The amounts are really approximate – just add the soy sauce and lemon juice to taste.

This week’s visual art are posters from the World War I and/or II eras. Bill really wanted me to include them because he thinks the times, they are a-changin’. Seriously. I am no historian, but it does seem that we are entering unchartered waters with the global economy and global food production. The demand for food will continue to increase quickly, and the demand on farmland will similarly increase. What will we choose to do with the good farmland that we have? Develop it? Grow ever more corn and soybeans? We can’t leave it to large agribusiness to grow food that we need to be healthy (and to enjoy!!). Instead, we will increasingly look to small-scale farms to provide the best, most nutritious food on the planet.

Could you be one of those small-scale “farmers”? How about in your own backyard with a Victory Garden?? We don’t face the obvious enemy of Hitler or his ilk, but we do have a war to win against shortages of good food. I just love the posters from the past. At one point during World War II, approximately 40% of the food eaten in this country came out of home gardens. Wow! Bill may do a class this fall/winter to help you plan a small victory garden in 2009. It’s really not difficult to grow a handful of vegetables … and we assume that you’ll still come to the farmers market to fill the gaps. Some of our best customers have gardens!

Here’s what we’ll be bringing to the market this week:

Head Lettuce
Green Beans
Eggplant
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Kale
Collard Greens
Parsley
Basil
Swiss Chard
Japanese Turnips (white and pink)
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Cucumbers
Carrots
Garlic
Green Onions
Bulb Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Don’t forget that we’re delivering fresh veggies to Common Ground and the Garlic Press on Tuesday evenings …

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

60% Chance of Rain, 100% Chance of AWESOME VEGETABLES!

So the weather forecast is less than farmers market stellar ... what to do? COME TO THE MARKET! We will not be deterred by the clouds. Nay, we'll be out there with totally awesome vegetables no matter the weather! And it's that time of year when the produce is so DIVERSE and DELICIOUS that you really don't want to miss it.

Heirloom tomatoes just picked off the vine -- Bill has too many varieties to name! Be sure not to miss the first week of the brandywines, striped German, and more.

Cucumbers and Onions -- sounds like we making gazpacho at this point! Have you discovered the joy of gazpacho? Tomatoes, cukes, onions, and whatever else you like! We always add croutons from the Garlic Press Market Cafe! We also LOVE to make a quick cucumber salad with a tatziki sauce -- thinly sliced cukes in a dressing of strained yogurt, onion, garlic, and white wine vinegar with a dash of salt and pepper. Toss in some fresh dill or mint if possible!

Awesome lettuces -- Bill grows varieties that don't get bitter in the summer heat. It takes a very special farmer to do this (in my unbiased opinion!).

Carrots -- to die for! These are so crisp and sweet that they'll be eaten up before you know it!

Potatoes -- get in on the new potatoes before they get ... older! They're great all season, but there is something extra special about the newbies.

And all the rest of the amazing greens! This could be your week to try swiss chard, kale, collards, or some other tasty green heretofor missing from your diet.

We REALLY hope to see you tomorrow, rain or shine! Come join us under our rain-free tent!

Mercy

p.s. WE HARVESTED ALL OF THE GARLIC YESTERDAY! We had an amazing crew of volunteer harvesters who helped bring it in from the field in one day. To Liz, Timothy, Kevin, Jeff, and our loyal farmhands -- THANKS!

Name that Bug

Hello Friends!

It seems that summer has finally arrived. The hot daytime temperatures and warm nights are just what the doctor ordered for the heat-loving vegetables like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. We hope you enjoy this change of seasons as much as we do!

As the season progresses, so does the crazy parade of bugs that we see on various plants. The picture I’m including this week is a mystery caterpillar. If any biologists know what it is, feel free to post the name on the blog! We just love the color. It says, oh-so-subtly, "Eat me and puke." (I'm also including a photo of the garlic harvest in progress. It's going well!)

Did you happen to catch the recent New York Times article on “The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t Eating?” It a great list – check out the article at http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/the-11-best-foods-you-arent-eating/?em&ex=1215316800&en=1d0deabcae7532d5&ei=5087%0A.

And what are the TOP THREE items on that list?
1. Beets
2. Cabbage
3. Swiss Chard

Does that sound like our farmers market stand, or what??!!

We recently heard that one of our youngest customers -- a high school BOY, no less -- has been cooking up a storm with our vegetables. His mom called me to say that he'd seen swiss chard cooked on the Food Network, and he was inspired to try the recipe out on his family. They all LOVED it! And now they all know the joy of cooking with greens!

Another customer recently told us that she’s having her wedding in Bloomington rather than the Chicago area because she wants to incorporate Bill’s food into the reception! How flattering! If you have any special requests for catering ingredients, just let us know and we’ll see what we can do!

And finally, a fit of insanity came over me this past week and I mowed. I grew up with three brothers, and my dad never made me mow. They always had to do it. My first time mowing was only a couple of years ago. Can you believe that?? So the urge to mow just came over me and Bill got me set up. He has to pull the cord the first time (when it’s harder to start), and then he has to give me the refresher course over which levers do what – a blade lever, throttle, speed lever, and those two bars. Totally confusing.

I was using the 1987 John Deere from my grandma. (We call it the Sissy Mower because Grandma went by “Grandma Sissy.”) We inherited it a few years ago after she passed away. She spent almost $900 when she purchased it in the late 1980s, which was a small fortune. She had it tuned up EVERY YEAR. It’s all metal, has 5 speeds, and is self-propelled. I was practically pulled off my feet a few times! I think I may have suffered permanent hearing loss, and the smell of exhaust was horrendous. Still, I had a pretty good time!

Here’s what we’ll be bringing to the market this week:

Head Lettuce
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Kale
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Collard Greens
Parsley
Basil
Swiss Chard
Japanese Turnips (white and pink)
Summer Squash/Zucchini
Cucumbers
Carrots
Garlic
Green Onions
Bulb Onions
Leeks
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Don’t forget that we’re delivering fresh veggies to Common Ground and the Garlic Press on Tuesday evenings …

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

Garlic Harvest Help Needed!

Hello all!
I realize I may be pushing it to ask for help TWICE in the span of one week, but it really must be done. We are now on the cusp of the GARLIC HARVEST. The rain, although desperately needed for new seeds and seedlings, was poorly timed in relation to the garlic harvest. You see, there's a very narrow window for garlic harvesting, as I understand it. Bill wanted to start harvesting it today, but the rain meant it would be too muddy. (And you don't want thousands of heads of muddy/dirty-cloddy garlic hanging in the garage.) So after waiting a couple of days for it to dry, the garlic all has to come out at once or else two things will start to happen: 1) the thin, papery garlic covering will start to deteriorate (which leads to earlier rotting) and 2) the stalks will dry out and will tend to snap off while harvesting (which is awful).
Thus, we need to harvest the garlic THIS WEEK on THURSDAY, SATURDAY, and SUNDAY! Would you like to help? You don't need any prior experience, and we don't require letters of reference! It's not all backbreaking, sunny work either. Some of the time is spent in the field pulling garlic, and some of the time is spent in the shade bunching the garlic to be hung in the garage. I'm attaching pictures to inspire you! It's really quite a lot of fun, and you'd get to see how some of the season's more important harvesting happens.
You wouldn't have to commit a ton of time, either. Just come out for an hour or two -- many hands make light work, it takes a village, make hay while the sun shines, etc.!! Pick whichever aphorism seems most appropriate.
Let me know if you're interested. This is a kid-tolerable activity for kids 4 and older. We have our 4 and 5 year olds who will be helping and/or who will be available for playing with other kids.
Thanks for helping to run our farm!
Mercy

T-Shirts! Tomatoes! Market Help NEEDED!

Hello Friends!

Guess who’s NOT using dial-up anymore? That’s right … the high-tech Davisons at the Blue Schoolhouse Farm. We’re flying high with our new wireless connection, downloading YouTube videos and checking out all of the other memory-intensive things that we’ve been “missing” on the internet for all these years. I’m afraid Bill may not have time to farm anymore now that he’s connected to the rest of the world at a reasonable speed. Ha ha! And now that we have the speedy connection, we can attach photos with ease. Instead of taking 25 minutes to attach one photo, I was able to stick in these VERY ATTRACTIVE photos of Ben (top) and Noah (bottom) in about 2 minutes.

I have three news items for you …

1. T-SHIRTS! We’re selling t-shirts with the farm logo on the front. The shirts are 100% organic cotton and cost $15. We have a women’s and a men’s style – the women’s has a more feminine neckline and shorter sleeves. The men’s is very masculine. Ha ha.

2. HELP AT THE MARKET STAND! Our awesome new assistant, Kanna, is going on a family vacation this holiday weekend. The nerve! Just kidding. He’s been a great help and really helps the stand run much better in the early hours of the market. Have you noticed? We actually have produce in the crates for the first two hours while we still manage to sell food. (Previously, we’d either leave customers high and dry, holding dripping wet lettuce while we tried to stuff more food into the emptying crates OR we’d just keep selling and people would have no idea what was being sold from the empty crates. QUESTION: Would you like to help us this Saturday?? We really need help from about 7:30 a.m. until 9 a.m. The first hour is the most critical, so even just an hour from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. would help. The benefit is that you’d get first dibs on the produce, and we’d give you a free bag of food. And, of course, you’d get to hang out with us – that’s reason enough, right? And don't worry -- working for us once does not mean we'll be bugging you all season.

3. TOMATOES! That’s right, the first tomatoes of the season. There won’t be that many, as we’re just picking them from the small greenhouse. It’s the “Stupice” variety, which does well for us every year. It’s a great, medium-size heirloom tomato hailing from the Czech Republic. Remember that tomatoes DO NOT like to be cold – don’t put them into the fridge unless you want to greatly reduce the flavor. Here’s our absolute favorite thing to do with ‘maters …

Tomato salad
(Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters)

Simply chunk up some ripe tomatoes. (We halve the cherry tomatoes.) Moisten with balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle generously with olive oil. Mix gently. Excellent additions include croutons, slivered fresh basil, avocado, red onion, corn, fresh mozzarella, cucumbers, and small pieces of broccoli. This healthy and delicious dish can be made in about 10 minutes, and is best eaten fresh. (The texture gets funny if refrigerated and eaten the next day, but it can be done.) We eat this every day!

This recipe is infinitely variable with additions and subtractions to your heart’s content. Let us know what you like to do with it on the blog as a “comment”! (Note that you don’t have to “register” to leave a comment. You can just hit the button for “anonymous.” That’s what I do when I leave comments on the Mitchells’ blog site!)

We think this Saturday is going to be a fabulous market weekend!! The weather will be perfect, and many people are staying at home (for a “staycation”) to avoid the high price of gas. There is an up side to that – all the more time to relax and enjoy a nice barbecue/cookout with friends and family. Not to get started on a diatribe about modern life, but there is something positive to be had with a forced slow-down of the fast-paced American life.

As a recap, here’s what we’re bringing:

Head Lettuce
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Garlic Scapes (LAST WEEK!)
Kale
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Collard Greens
Parsley
Swiss Chard
Japanese Turnips (white and pink)
Summer Squash
Cucumbers
Carrots

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison

Come Hungry!!

Hello Friends!

I’m typing with a 4-year-old boy in my lap. It’s like having a really heavy cat. He just insists upon this arrangement every now and then, and I figure I’d better make the most of it while he’s still interested in me at all!

We all went into the field over the weekend to do some weeding. I used Speedy Weedy for the first time – it’s a crazy little machine that that our friend Dave made. It moves forward very slowly with the wheels straddling the bed. It has a pad that you lay on, facing the ground. From that position, you weed away. It saves your knees and your back, but you end up with funny sun burn marks on the backs of your legs if you’re not careful!

This is the LAST WEEK for garlic scapes! Be sure to snatch them up because it will be another year before they’re available again. They are a wonderful seasonal item!

NEW ITEMS AT THE MARKET!

1. Cabbage

This week we are bringing a new vegetable to the market. It may well be the most underappreciated vegetable that we grow: cabbage. Many people see cabbage as merely survival food, or something you eat on occasion just because it’s there. The cabbage in the store feeds into that notion – cheap and bland.

According to the book “From Asparagus to Zucchini,” cabbage is possibly the most cultivated member of the brassica family in the world. Fermented cabbage in northern Europe and Korea was a traditional preservation method – consider sauerkraut and kim chi as two prime examples. The spicy/sweet flavor of cabbage comes through when eaten raw or cooked, although if overcooked it can result in a strong odor and flavor. Alice Waters serves cabbage with duck and pork and even wraps fish in it for steaming. (The cabbage traps the juiciness and flavor.) Our friend Saad uses cabbage as a “vehicle” for other food. He simply lays out cabbage leaves on a plate and uses them to transport a variety of side dishes such as tabouli from plate to mouth.

Bill and I have made wonderful sauerkraut with our cabbage, and it’s very easy to whip together coleslaw. For a twist on the traditional coleslaw, try this recipe from Alice Waters:

Warm Cabbage, Onion and Apple Slaw

1 medium red onion
1 medium red or green cabbage
2 large crisp, sweet apples
olive oil
salt and pepper
vinegar

Peel and slice the onion very thinly. Trim the cabbage, core it, cut in half, and slice into fine chiffonade, as for coleslaw. Peel, core, and slice the apples very thinly.

In a large sauté pan, heat a little oil and begin to sauté the onions. When they are translucent and just beginning to brown, add the apples. Saute about 1 minute so everything is sizzling, and add the cabbage, the seasoning, a dash of vinegar, and a little water. Stir on a hot flame just long enough to barely cook the cabbage. It should retain a little crunch and the sweetness of fresh cabbage.

Serve with pork, roast chicken, or duck; a savory grain and legume pilaf or roasted potatoes; or by itself, cold.

Serves 8-10.

Cabbage varieties have many different colors, shapes and flavors. Bill will be bringing “Tendersweet” and “Super Red” cabbage. Tendersweet has an oblong/flattened shape and is light green. As the name implies, this cabbage is amazingly tender and sweet. Super Red is round and dark purply red.

2. New Potatoes

Finally, we have the season’s first new potatoes at the Blue Schoolhouse. We’ve eaten them once in our favorite dish …

New Potatoes
(Local Flavors by Deborah Madison)

Scrub, but don’t peel, the potatoes. Boil 3 qts water with 2 cups sea salt. Add potatoes. Boil until fork-tender, 15-30 minutes, depending on potato size. Drain and then toss potatoes with ½ cup unsalted butter (melted) and 1.4 cup finely chopped mixed herbs (marjoram, chives, lemon basil, etc.) and freshly ground pepper. It’s really delicious!

You can also roast new potatoes with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. They’re just so tasty and moist that it’s hard to mess them up.

3. Garlic Heads

We had a few heads last week, but now we’re in full swing. One customer last week said that he couldn’t believe how moist our garlic is, given that the heads in the store are frequently dried out. Bill’s garlic is also more flavorful. The heads in the store are all softneck garlic, and most of it is grown in China. (I have no quarrel with China but I do know that shipping veggies from half way around the globe takes a heavy toll on both the vegetable and the environment.)

JOB OPPORTUNITY: Would you like to help harvest garlic? It’s quite fun pulling them out of the mulch, cutting them, sorting by size, and hanging them in the garage. A day of garlic harvesting typically involves beer around 5 p.m.! Let us know if you’re interested in helping us our even for part of a day. We will be starting to harvest on Thursday and will continue through Monday of next week. This is one of Bill’s largest tasks every season and ensures that we will have garlic every week of the rest of the season and enough cloves to plant more next year.

4. Basil

We had basil about two weeks ago from a bed-thinning event, but now we’ll have the regular-size bunches until the first fall frost. Basil is an amazing herb with a distinctive, refreshing flavor. We love to sliver it onto anything involving tomatoes.

Basil makes a great pesto. (Did you know you could make pesto out of any other green, including parsley, arugula, cilantro and others?) Here’s the pesto recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook . . . Place 3 cups (packed) fresh basil leaves and 3 garlic cloves into a food processor and mince well. Add 1/3 cup pine nuts, walnuts, or almonds (we use almonds) and keep blending until ground. Drizzle in 1/3 cup olive oil while machine is still running, until you have a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl and then add in 1/3 cup parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste. If you want freeze the pesto for later use, leave out the parmesan, which can be added when you thaw out the pesto. We freeze pesto into ice cube trays and then put the pesto cubes into freezer bags. Then we thaw cubes as needed.

Here’s what else we’ll be bringing to the market:

Head Lettuce
Beets (Traditional, Golden, and Chioggia)
Garlic Scapes (LAST WEEK!)
Kale
Kohlrabi
Broccoli
Collard Greens
Parsley
Swiss Chard
Japanese Turnips (white and pink)
Summer Squash
Cucumbers
Carrots

What happened to the radicchio? The d**n deer ate it last night. After two months of growing with no incident, the radicchio was taken out over the course of a few hours. Two words spring to mind … deer burger. So no more radicchio for a very long time. Sniff sniff.


Don’t forget that we’re delivering fresh veggies to Common Ground and the Garlic Press on Tuesday evenings …

On Tuesday evenings Bill delivers produce to Common Ground in downtown Bloomington and to the Garlic Press in Uptown Normal. So if you miss a market or just run out of veggies mid-week, head to Common Ground! And if you need the veggies prepared into a fabulous meal, Garlic Press is right down the road.

We’ll see you at the Downtown Bloomington Farmers Market on Saturdays from 7:30 a.m. – noon. BRING YOUR BAGS!! We’ll also be at the Trailside Market in Uptown Normal, every Tuesday from 3:30 – 6:00 p.m.

Please let your friends know about the blog. We plan to put out the email sign-up sheet during the market season again. Call us at 467-9228 or email us at blueschoolhouse@yahoo.com if you have questions.

Thanks!
Mercy Davison