What's going on at Smallholdings? Salad. Arugula, spinach, peas and herbs have been going strong for a few weeks now so I've been doing my best to keep up. The arugula is nice and spicy and goes great with hard boiled eggs and a salami I managed to smuggle back from Italy. The snap peas that I don't wind up eating before I even get back inside usually end up just sauteed with garlic or thrown on top of a hefty pile of arugula.
Strawberries and rhubarb are also on the scene but, much like this tart I put them in for the 4th, they're going fast.
I noticed that the first berries to ripen were much smaller than the later ones but sweeter and more intensely flavored. I'm not sure if the flavor difference has anything to do with the absurdly wet weather that started just after the first berries ripened, but I suspect the two are somehow connected.
Fennel is also ready- perhaps more than ready. During the long rainy spell a few plants got away from me and bolted before I could harvest them. As a fennel enthusiast, I really beat myself up over snoozing and losing so be warned, in wet weather, fennel can go from bulbous and perfect to leggy and bolted in the time it takes you to read this post. If you're growing fennel, I recommend you go check it now.
Fennel, radishes, broccoli, carrots and rhubarb all keep nicely in the fridge for short periods of time so pick them when they are ready rather than trying to leave them in the garden until the day you plan to eat them. If left too long, roots and stems can get woody and unpalatable. If you have to store some things in the fridge, just make sure the thermostat isn't on the coldest setting (you know, the one that keeps the beer really, really cold) or your veggies could freeze, which causes premature wilt and stale flavors.
As the season progresses, I'm trying not to forget to plant seeds for short-season salad supplies like greens and radishes so I have something to put the tomatoes on when they finally get here. Not that tomatoes are so far superior to the roots, tubers and leafies, they just take so long that the anticipation builds, sometimes to the point of distraction and neglect of crop succession. It's difficult to think about seeding when you're already harvesting but it definitely pays to put in on your calendar. I try to plant a row of seeds when I harvest a row of greens.
"Donde las papas, Sarita? Para la sopa!" My friend Pacho, a fellow cook (and farmer in his former life in Columbia), has been hounding me daily for fresh potatoes since I mentioned that I was growing them. He makes chicken and rice for our lunch every day and has serious plans for these potatoes. Pacho has a lot of good qualities but patience is not among them. "Soon, Pacho!" is not a good enough answer. The truth is, I'm not sure exactly when they'll be ready. Max, the farmer of Sienna Farm tells me that when the plants start to to look "really s%$@*y" I should pull one up and see what's underneath. I harvested too early last year and wound up with micro potatoes, which was fine... I just really like potatoes so bigger is better. Until then, all I can say is "Tranquilo, ok! Soon!"
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