News and Views from Circle A Garden
WHAT’S HAPPENING
Hope you have all had a chance to enjoy the glorious January weather!! Such a switch from last year!! It hasn’t been as cold{only a couple of nights that dropped below zero}, a lot less snow, and a lot more sunshine. Last year at this time we were running out of places to put any more snow when we were clearing paths to the mailbox and the greenhouses. A good bit of our snow that we got in late Dec. is already melting. {now we just have to figure out what to do with all the mud!!} The forecast is calling for more moisture the next few days, so we may get a bit more snow, but who knows… we may just get rain down here. So long as the mountains continue to get snow, we’ll be happy!!
We have gotten most of our seed orders placed and most of the seeds are here.. We have just a few odds and ends left to order. We found a few new things we want to try this season. We found several tomatoes that look like they will be fun to try {as well as yummy!!}; Pink Grapefruit with dark yellow fruit that are blushing pink inside and have a sweet tart taste with citrus overtones; Vintage Wine; pink with gold striped, pastel hued tomatoes with an elegant sweet delicious flavor; Blondkopfchen; a brilliant yellow gold cherry tomato that has a deliciously sweet flavor with a slight citrusy tart finish; and Red Fig; a red pear tomato with a wonderful delicious sweet flavor that was named for a sweet delicacy that was made with it in the mid 1800’s. It will be interesting to see if they live up to the descriptions!! Another thing we want to try is called Agretti. It is a cool season green popular in Italy that has a crisp texture and a tart taste. We are also trialing a couple of different Chinese cabbage, a couple of radicchios, and a long Italian frying pepper. We’ll keep you posted on how they do for us and will want your feedback if we have enough o them for the CSA.
Mom and I are plugging along in the propagation house and the high tunnel. Thanks to Jenny, Barb, and Larry, we have all the beds in the high tunnel cleared. So far, we have green onions, green garlic, spinach, peas, carrots, beets, and the first succession of greens planted. This next week we hope to get more spinach, chard, kale, and lettuce in. In the propagation house, we have onions, leeks, shallots, parsley, cabbage, artichokes, marjoram, thyme, lavender, pansies, celery, celeriac, and the heirloom tomatoes for the high tunnel all started. {most are now up and growing well} The first planting of lettuce, chard, kale, Chinese cabbage, and radicchio are ready to be transplanted to the high tunnel this week.
During Feb. Mom and I will be planting more things in the high tunnel; transplanting all those chard, kale, choi and lettuces, watering, weeding and watching everything as it starts to come up. In the propagation house we will be starting cauliflower, broccoli, more lettuces {we do successions of lettuce all spring} We will be pricking up the cabbages, artichokes, parsley, high tunnel tomatoes {Della will be starting the other tomatoes later in the greenhouse off the main house}as they get big enough.
Della and Linda have been busy redoing the greenhouse off the main house. They are redoing the beds, changing the ventilation system, and hopefully creating more room for transplants. Della already has plans for all sorts of unique plants to grow!! By the time they get finished it should be warmer in the winter, cooler in the summer, have twice the space for transplants, and all sorts of strange and wonderful plants growing!!
FEATURED VEGGIE; PEAS {PISA SATIVUM}
The pea is a legume in the Fabaceae family. It is most closely related to beans of all sorts {green and dry, favas, soy, etc.}, but you will find many other nitrogen fixing plants such as clover, alfalfa, vetch, indigo and locust in the Fabaceae family. Food historians have differing opinions on the exact homeland of the pea. One group believes that it originated in a region that spans the near or middle east across to central Asia. Other historians believe the country of origin may have been northern India, Burma or northern Thailand. The word “peas” comes from the Latin “pisum” The old English word was “pise” which evolved into the word “pease”. By the 1600’s, the se was dropped to form the singular word pea. You may remember the old English rhyme; Pease porridge hot, Pease porridge cold, Pease porridge in the pot, Nine days old. {Pease porridge was a staple food of the peasants in the middle ages. They had a pot over the fire that they added dried peas and any other vegetables and herbs they had on hand. They would eat some and just keep adding more peas, etc. each day.}In early times, peas were grown mainly for their dry seeds. Along with lentils and broad beans, peas formed an important part of the diet of most people during the middle ages. They are one of the earliest cultivated food crops and ranks among the oldest grain legumes of the old world.Eating peas as a green vegetable was not common until 1700’s. Even toward the end of the 17th century they were such a rare delicacy that fantastic prices were sometimes paid for them. Louis XIV popularized green peas in France by making them an item of high regard on the menus of parties held at his palace.The garden pea or English pea as we know it today was developed from a field pea during the 18th century. Thomas Jefferson grew over 30 varieties of garden peas at Monticello.Some sources I found credit China with the development of the snow pea while others credit Holland. Sugar snap peas are a cross between English peas and snow peas and weren’t developed until the 1970’s.France, China, Denmark, and Russia lead the world in production of dried peas, while the USA, England, Hungary, and India produce mainly green peas.Peas are a good source of Vitamins A, C, K, B6, B1, B2, potassium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, dietary fiber, protein, magnesium, and phosphorus.Peas are great eating raw; many of them don’t even make it in out of the field when we pick!! They can be added to salads or stir-fries, can be steamed and are excellent with new potatoes and/or pearl onions. I added a new recipe to the website;{www.circleagarden.com} Spicy Peas and Rice.CSA SIGNUP
April 4, 2009 is the anticipated date for our first veggie pickup of the new season. {Weather permitting of course!!} Last season we had 38 members. We are increasing our membership to 50 shares {hopefully an even mix of all three sizes}. We have a new feature on the website for CSA signup this season. I am hoping that it will make things a bit simpler and less of a hassle for all of us. {look under Our Products for member signup; not mail list}. You will need to choose the size share you would like {full, mini, tiny}, your payment option {all, ½, or ¼}, answer a couple of questions, fill in your name and contact information, and send us a check in the mail. You will get a confirmation e-mail and when we receive your payment you will get another one confirming your payment and the amount you owe. Please include the size share you are getting and your name {and if you are sharing with someone, their name} with your payments. If you were a member last season and are planning on returning, Please let me know ASAP. I have not heard from some of you who indicated in December that you were going to join us again for the 2009 season. I need to know soonest just how many new members we need!!! Give me a call or shoot me an e-mail so I can reserve your space!!WORKDAYS
We are already starting to plant for the new season. In February, we will be planting in the hightunnel and starting transplants in the propagation house. In March we will be working on the low tunnel, pruning trees and shrubs, getting beds ready to plant outdoors, starting to plant cool season crops, and starting new transplants in the propagation house. Please consider joining us in getting ready for the coming season!! Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!
Hope you all have a happy and healthy February!!
All of us at Circle A Garden