Turtle Times

_____________________________________________________________________

Vol. 14, No. 8, July 7, ‘09     7260 NW 58th St., Johnston 50131  278-4522 (577-9208)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rain:  7/3-4,  1.1 “

In the Box . . .

Potatoes ‘Chieftain’ (red) and or ‘Caribe’

Lettuce ‘Ermosa’, ‘New Red Fire’

Cabbage ‘Farao’

Summer squash ‘Raven’, ‘Costata romanesco’, ‘Sunburst’, ‘Dark star’ (some sites)

Garlic Scapes

Scallions ‘Evergreen Hardy’

Basil

Ala carte options: lemon basil, thai basil, oregano, mint, chocolate mint, rosemary, parsley, tarragon ($1 ea.), Red Russian kale ($3)

Free to anyone requesting it: Braising greens, mature arugula greens, marjoram, sage

Email (info@turtle-farm.com) if you want any of these free or ala carte items

Farm Update

Despite the spring storms that whipped them about, our tomatoes are looking pretty good.  Part of the reason is that we are making a greater effort to trellis the tomatoes promptly.  That credit goes mostly to Adam, who eagerly goes out to trellis a row now and then so that we don’t get behind.  And Ben is usually right there with him.  On Friday they got the second row of string on all the tomatoes finished.  We are also trying a few caged tomatoes this year.  Recently a Practical Farmers of Iowa experiment compared caged tomatoes, trellised tomatoes in a basket-weave with string and trellised tomatoes on cattle panels.  The results were inconclusive.  So once again, always a sucker for an experiment, we decided to try the first two types to see which we preferred (cattle panels are quite expensive, so we chose not to do that one).  We have done the basket-weave in the past, but with twine that often broke after deteriorating in the weather.  This year we are using a nylon twine.  We hope the results will be more nice tomatoes and easier picking, regardless of the system.

We are hand digging potatoes this week.  The Chieftain, which is a favorite of mine for early red potatoes, was planted in a site that stayed wet this spring and didn’t come up well.  If we need to supplement them, we may dig some Caribe’s as well, another favorite.  We also are cutting the first basil springs, to arrive in buckets at your site.  The first trimmings will be smaller in number than what will come later in future cuttings.

Garlic Harvest Saturday July 11

If you have ever been curious about the process of digging and drying your garlic, we welcome you to the farm to see how it is done—indeed, we welcome your help!  Bring a spading fork if you have one. Come for an hour or more.  Snacks and drinks will be provided.  We will begin around 9 am and continue until the noon hour or until I have to drag the last person out of the field intoxicated from inhaling garlic fumes.

Recipes

This recipe came off the Seeds Savers Exchange Calendar from last year.

Golden Chard Dessert Tart   (by Rosalind Creasy)

Crust:                                                                          ¼ c. honey

2 c all purpose flour                                                      ¼ c. chardonnay wine

½ c. ground blanched almonds                          Dash of ground nutmeg

¼ c. sugar                                                                    2 c. finely chopped golden chard

¾ c. butter, room temperature, cut into small                     leaves and stems, about 5 lvs.

            Pieces                                                              1 T chopped fresh mint

1 egg yolk                                                                    1 ½ c. grated yellow zucchini, about

Filling:                                                                                     one large

3 eggs

15 oz low-fat ricotta cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Make the crust by combining flour, almonds, and sugar in the bowl of a stand-up mixer.  Stir well.  Add butter and egg yolk to dry ingredients; blend them on medium speed until the mixture is the texture of coarse corn meal.  Gather the mixture into a ball, wrap it in plastic, chill for 15 minutes.  Press the dough into a 9-inch tart or pie pan, smoothing the crust so it is evenly distributed. Cover crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and chill for 15 minutes.  Before pre-baking, the shell fill its cavity with dry beans to weigh down the crust so it will not bubble up.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove paper and the weights.

For the filling, blend eggs with the cheese, honey, wine, and nutmeg and then fold in the chard, mint, and zucchini.  Pour filling into the warm pie shell and bake for 50 minutes or until golden brown and the filling has set and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Serves 6-8.