Archive for May, 2009

S Is For Strawberries

Or is it for Swiss chard?
because my chard is doing quite well, thank you very much. I am now harvesting two big bunches a week, and with all that rain, and that nice temperature, it’s growing and growing and growing - as you can see from the photo taken just after a harvest, a couple [...]

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In Memoriam

Today is Memorial Day in the United States.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders [...]

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Making Radishes Lovable

There is somebody in the house who’s not so fond of radishes, especially radish leaf soup or stir-fried radish pods, but I’ve just hit the jackpot!
I made something with radishes where the reaction was: “I can eat radish like that all day long!” I am sure that was an exaggeration, and I won’t serve this [...]

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May!!!

First a quick update from Cherries-on-Top: in April, Garrick reported a black bear visited, knocking down the two hives that were there for increased pollination.They now have lots of little green cherries on the trees - growing!!! (the photo was taken by Garrick in early May). Not all of the blooms have resulted in cherries [...]

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Rappahannock Summer Solstice Farm Dinner

I treasure local seasonal produce, local farms, local farmers, local chefs and dinner parties that get us around the table for food, friends, conversation and laughter. You know that. So it should come as no surprise to anybody that I am helping to put together a fabulous dinner party for 150. It is to [...]

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Firsts and Lasts

First Shirley poppy (Papaver rhoeas), one of my favorite flowers that I let seed all over the garden.

They come on the heel of the orange-y wispy field poppies, and they come in shade of pinks and reds, from the clearest vermilion to dark wine; some have black crosses as their center, other white blotches. They [...]

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Cream Of Radish Leaf Soup and Homemade Farm Cheese

My frugal peasant instincts won’t let me throw out (OK, compost) perfectly good to eat radish leaves. Of course, there is somebody in the house (who shall rename nameless) who does not think that radish leaves are perfectly good to eat.
I still, sometime, manage to sneak them in soup and stir fries, when the leaves [...]

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Asparagus!

or sparrow grass or sparr grass. But an asparagus by any other name is still an asparagus.

I learned my lesson from last year: pick every single spear, the huge fat ones (some are larger than my thumb) as well as the skinny ones during asparagus picking season (from 2 to 8 weeks depending on the [...]

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First Radishes

I am told that open-face radish sandwiches are an acquired taste.
I am told - very firmly - that cream of radish-leaf soup is undoubtedly an acquired taste.
Nobody’s perfect!
I still plant radishes. Those ‘Radis de 18 Jours’ are young, crisp, mildly spicy and pleasantly rosy. Still… not quite “18 day” radishes as the French name would [...]

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