As you may have noticed, we've been away from market and our blog for a couple of weeks. It's a busy time of year for us, especially this year as Jerremie participated in a water harvesting course. I've been canning, drying and preserving our vegetables for the winter as well as taking care of our little ones.
We are happy to say that we will be at market for the last two weeks, with tons of potatoes in tow. Our potato plants have finished growing, and we have let the potatoes harden off for two weeks. This means that our long storing varieties (German Butterball, Russet Burbank & Purple Viking) have developed a nice thick skin that will make it easier for them to last through the winter and into the spring. In previous years, we have been able to keep these varieties into April and still enjoy them!
If you are interested in getting a bunch of potatoes to store for the winter, please email us or comment on this post. We can give our bulk orders a discount!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
To Market, To Market - August 23 plus How to Make Gnocchi
Our potatoes are coming along nicely and this week we will have seven different potato varieties at market! They are: Red Norlands, Purple Viking, Russian Blue, Dakota Pearl, German Butterball, Lindzer Deleketess, and All Red. More info on these varieties are available on our website: www.urbansunflower.ca.
Our lucky CSA customers will be getting Dakota Pearl potatoes for their baskets this week. Try my gnocchi recipe adapted from Biba's Italian Kitchen.
Basic Gnocchi Recipe
makes two generous servings or four small servings
1 pound of floury potatoes, like Dakota Pearl or Russet Burbank
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten in a small bowl
approx. 1 cup of all-purpose flour
Instructions:
1. Peel potatoes and put them in a pot of water. Boil them until you can poke a knife of skewer through them. Be careful not to overboil them.
2. Drain the potatoes and mash them thoroughly with a potato masher or fork. You can also put them through a potato ricer or a food mill for an extra smooth texture.
3. Put the potatoes in a large bowl and season with salt.
4. Mix in the egg and 3/4 cups of the flour. Mix it all together until the dough begins to stick together.
5. Transfer the mixture to a wooden board and knead lightly, gradually adding flour until the dough stops sticking to the board and to your hands. It should feel like smooth, pliable and just a bit sticky.
6. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each quarter into a long strip with your hands, then cut the strip into 1-inch pieces. Poke each piece with your thumb to make a little dent in it.
7. Put the pieces on a lightly floured platter or cookie sheet. You can cook it right away or store it in the fridge for several hours.
To Cook the Gnocchi:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt and the gnocchi. Cook uncovered, over high heat until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, approx. 1-2 minutes. Remove them with a slotted sppoon and toss with a little olive oil and grated Parmigiano cheese or with your favourite sauce.
Our lucky CSA customers will be getting Dakota Pearl potatoes for their baskets this week. Try my gnocchi recipe adapted from Biba's Italian Kitchen.
Basic Gnocchi Recipe
makes two generous servings or four small servings
1 pound of floury potatoes, like Dakota Pearl or Russet Burbank
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten in a small bowl
approx. 1 cup of all-purpose flour
Instructions:
1. Peel potatoes and put them in a pot of water. Boil them until you can poke a knife of skewer through them. Be careful not to overboil them.
2. Drain the potatoes and mash them thoroughly with a potato masher or fork. You can also put them through a potato ricer or a food mill for an extra smooth texture.
3. Put the potatoes in a large bowl and season with salt.
4. Mix in the egg and 3/4 cups of the flour. Mix it all together until the dough begins to stick together.
5. Transfer the mixture to a wooden board and knead lightly, gradually adding flour until the dough stops sticking to the board and to your hands. It should feel like smooth, pliable and just a bit sticky.
6. Divide the dough into quarters. Roll each quarter into a long strip with your hands, then cut the strip into 1-inch pieces. Poke each piece with your thumb to make a little dent in it.
7. Put the pieces on a lightly floured platter or cookie sheet. You can cook it right away or store it in the fridge for several hours.
To Cook the Gnocchi:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon of salt and the gnocchi. Cook uncovered, over high heat until the gnocchi rise to the surface of the water, approx. 1-2 minutes. Remove them with a slotted sppoon and toss with a little olive oil and grated Parmigiano cheese or with your favourite sauce.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Potato Progress Report
Seeing these bugs on my potato plants sends me into a frenzy of destruction. I gleefully squish all the ones I can get my hands on and start thinking about nuking my potato field. Jerremie, on the other hand, is more level headed, and heads to his non-chemical arsenal to deal with them.
Fire, it turns out, is not a potato bug's friend. Jerremie used his Tiger Torch to flame all the infested potato plants. Potato plants can take a surprising amount of abuse, and didn't seem to mind the heat. The bugs popped like Jiffy-pop popcorn (yay!)
We also have beneficial insect allies. Ladybugs, Daddy-Long Legs, Spiny Soldier Beetles and two types of parasite flies love to feed on the squishy pink larvae. When Jerremie was flaming the potato plants, he said that the beneficial insect allies were scurrying away to safety. Potato beetles are incredibly slow and clumsy, so they got fried. (Did you know that potato beetles are so lazy and clumsy, that if you knock them off the potato plant three times in a row, they will be too tired to climb back up on to the plant and will die of starvation? It's a wonder that they are such a menace...)
We're also shipping in some nematodes to add to our soil. They will attack the potato bugs when they drop off the plants to molt and grow a new shell.
Between flaming the plants, using beneficial insect allies and mulching we hope to slow the beetles down as much as possible.
It's reflex to jump to chemical solutions when these things happen. Let's face it, chemicals seem easier and more thorough. But the reality is, in this case, it's the non-chemical alternatives that I think will win the day for us.
Besides, potato beetles will never be immune to squishing. :)
p.s. Here's a pic of our potato packaging. It's all 100% recyclable paper products :)
Monday, July 30, 2012
To Market, To Market - Aug 1
We have pulled some new potatoes from our potato field and they will be available at market this week. There are three varieties: Red Norland, Lindzer Deleketess, and a mixed variety of Russian Blue, All Red and Dakota Pearl. There isn't a lot of stock right now, so come early!
For our CSA customers, we have sent some Saskatoon Honey Jam for you to enjoy. The saskatoon berries are from The Saskatoon Farm, just outside of Calgary. We highly recommend a visit for the great saskatoons as well as their awesome garden centre. They also have an incredible rice pudding with saskatoons, our personal favourite!
We are currently doing battle with potato beetles, which have infested the northwest corner of our field. This is a very serious matter because we don't want the beetles to spread into the tomato greenhouses at Paradise Hill Farms. We will be using every weapon in our organic gardening arsenal to try to control these destructive bugs. Jerremie has used a flame-weeder to lightly torch the infected plants, burning up the beetles and their eggs. We will be applying nematodes to the soil to hopefully destroy the beetles when they drop down off the plants to molt. Keep checking in with us to see how these methods are working. Also, if you have a chemical-free way to control potato beetles, please let us know.
- Rita
For our CSA customers, we have sent some Saskatoon Honey Jam for you to enjoy. The saskatoon berries are from The Saskatoon Farm, just outside of Calgary. We highly recommend a visit for the great saskatoons as well as their awesome garden centre. They also have an incredible rice pudding with saskatoons, our personal favourite!
We are currently doing battle with potato beetles, which have infested the northwest corner of our field. This is a very serious matter because we don't want the beetles to spread into the tomato greenhouses at Paradise Hill Farms. We will be using every weapon in our organic gardening arsenal to try to control these destructive bugs. Jerremie has used a flame-weeder to lightly torch the infected plants, burning up the beetles and their eggs. We will be applying nematodes to the soil to hopefully destroy the beetles when they drop down off the plants to molt. Keep checking in with us to see how these methods are working. Also, if you have a chemical-free way to control potato beetles, please let us know.
- Rita
Sunday, July 29, 2012
Queen Faustina moves out
Last Sunday, we got a call from Queen Faustina's host family saying that there was a large bunch of bees in their oak tree. After a moment of panic, Jerremie zipped over there with his equipment to see if we could capture Queen Faustina before she left with her workers. Here's a picture of the swarm:
Here's a picture of Jerremie, getting ready to catch the swarm:
-Rita
Jerremie had no problem knocking the bees out of the tree into the waiting box. After Queen Faustina fell in, all her worker bees were happy to dive in after her. Any worker bees that got left out seemed to have drifted back into their home hive, happy to wait for their new queen to hatch. I love it when hives swarm. I know that traditional beekeepers say that swarming is bad, and there are all kinds of strategies to stop your hive from swarming (like crushing the developing queen bees in their cells) but I like to think that it's a sign that the bees are thriving and making new families. How could that be a bad thing?
Queen Faustina is now sitting in our back yard in a little temporary hive. We'll be looking for a new home for her soon.
Our host family is a little sad that they have lost Queen Faustina, but they have her new daughter to name. The Queen is gone, long live the new Queen! We'll introduce you to the new queen as soon as the host family gives her a name.
-Rita
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
To Market, To Market - July 25
Our potatoes are slowly growing, and we have some precious baby ones available for market today. Come early as we only have a few packages available.
See you at market!
-Rita
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Updates on Queen Lilibet and Queen Zazzala
Jerremie had a quick peek into Queen Lilibet and Queen Zazzala's hives on Friday night, during the break in the summer heat.
Queen Lilibet is doing well, laying her eggs in a nice pattern on the comb. The hive is expanding, filling up the really big top bar hive in our yard. Jerremie wanted to make sure that Queen Lilibet felt like she had lots of room, so he 'checkerboarded' the bars. This means that he took empty top bar pieces and put them between full top bar pieces. Hopefully, this will encourage the bees to stay in the hive and not swarm.
Queen Zazzala and her minions are not doing as well, as they have only managed to fill up half of their Langstroth long chest hive. We are not sure why this is happening. It could be that Queen Zazzala's just an easygoing kind of bee, taking her time with building and laying. We will try to keep a closer eye on the hive to make sure they make it to a point where they will survive the winter.
Well, that's all for our hive updates today. We do have an update on some other hives which we will publish in the next few days. Keep coming back for more updates and intros!
-Rita
Queen Lilibet is doing well, laying her eggs in a nice pattern on the comb. The hive is expanding, filling up the really big top bar hive in our yard. Jerremie wanted to make sure that Queen Lilibet felt like she had lots of room, so he 'checkerboarded' the bars. This means that he took empty top bar pieces and put them between full top bar pieces. Hopefully, this will encourage the bees to stay in the hive and not swarm.
Queen Zazzala and her minions are not doing as well, as they have only managed to fill up half of their Langstroth long chest hive. We are not sure why this is happening. It could be that Queen Zazzala's just an easygoing kind of bee, taking her time with building and laying. We will try to keep a closer eye on the hive to make sure they make it to a point where they will survive the winter.
Well, that's all for our hive updates today. We do have an update on some other hives which we will publish in the next few days. Keep coming back for more updates and intros!
-Rita
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