This Saturday (weather permitting) is our annual Garlic Planting Gala. We need more people to lend a hand. Here are some comments from participants in past seasons:
“The same day as the garlic planting I had front row tickets just behind the Twins dugout for the American League Divisional Series game with the New York Yankees – in New York! It was a tough choice but I am glad I gave up my tickets and went to the garlic event. It was so much fun!”
“The first year I planted garlic was the year it was held on the same day as the Twin Cities Marathon I was planning to run. I really wanted to plant garlic. So I hustled through the marathon and arrived at the farm just as the truck was heading out to the field. I had the best time planting garlic and set a personal best in the marathon!”
“My wife went into labor that day. What was I going to do? I looked forward to planting garlic all season and now my plans are ruined. But my wife told me she’d handle it and that I should go plant garlic. I had a great time and we named our new baby girl Chesnok Red. Great memories…”
Quite inspirational! I don’t see how anyone can pass up this opportunity. All ages, all physical abilities are welcome. So please let me know if you can lend a hand. I need to figure out how many kegs to order for the post planting dinner and bonfire. (If we get rain this week please check the farm’s newsletter to confirm we are still on for Saturday. Even if it isn’t raining on Saturday we may need to postpone if the soil is too wet).
We have four more weeks of veggies this season before we wrap things up.
I’m not sure if anyone else out there is into award shows like I am. The glitz. The glamour. The beautiful dresses and red carpets. All the celebrities. What’s not to like? Actually, I’m not into award shows much, except for the one that recently announced the nominees for 2014. Did anyone else catch it? The 2014 Farmie award nominees? I noticed the big networks no longer carry the nominee show, kinda depressing, but I guess that is the state of award shows these days — an over-saturated market. Anyway, for those who missed the show I figured I would include some of the highlights here with my prediction of who will win:
Supporting Vegetable in a Side Dish or Dinner Salad, the nominees are Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Scallions, Kohlrabi and Carrots. Sun Gold tomatoes have won three of the past four years mainly on their strength in the dinner salad. But they have also shown versatility with their role in the beets and heirloom tomato salad recipe. Kohlrabi is always nominated but is always a long shot. My choice for this season is carrots. They have been coming on strong here during the nomination season and look to continue a strong showing until the very end of the season. They will upset Sun Golds for the first time in over ten years.
Lead Vegetable in a Side Dish or Dinner Salad, the nominees are Norland Potatoes, Green Beans, Summer Squash, Sweet Corn and Eggplant. No surprise here, based on its performance in both yield and taste this season the winner of the 2014 Farmie will be, without a doubt, Sweet Corn!
Lead Vegetable in a Soup or Stew, the nominees are Potatoes for Leek and Potato Soup, Leeks for Leek and Potato Soup, Pie Pumpkins for Soup Inside a Pumpkin, Heirloom Tomatoes for Tomato Basil Bisque, and Sweet Corn for Corn Chowder. With both potatoes and leeks nominated for the same soup I have to believe their votes will be split resulting in neither taking home the Farmie. It is too bad since they both performed remarkably well during the nomination season. I think Sweet Corn has a chance especially with its fantastic performance this year, but with its nomination in two categories I think the academy is going to give its nod in the Lead Vegetable category and not the Soup category. This leaves us with Heirloom Tomatoes and Pie Pumpkins. I have to go with Pie Pumpkins this year. With the cooler weather I feel the academy is going to forget about the warm season Heirlooms and lean toward the phenomenal performance Pie Pumpkins had keeping the kitchen warm on these cool fall days. My pick is Pie Pumpkins.
Lead Vegetable in a Main Dish, the nominees are Eggplant for its role in Ratatouille, Bell Peppers for its role in Stuffed Peppers, Cauliflower for its role in Cauliflower Potato Curry, Basil for its role in Pesto! the Musical, and finally Bok Choi for its role in Sweet and Sour Bok Choi. First of all these are all great choices. There are no losers in this category. No matter which vegetable is chosen by the academy it will be a good choice. I think Eggplant has a good shot this year. Bell peppers won last season so the academy may hold that against it. Cauliflower is a great choice but I think its role was overshadowed by Potato. With Bok Choi it really didn’t do well early in the season and this may affect the voters. The only one of the nominees I can’t find fault with is Basil. (Though not technically a vegetable it was allowed special dispensation early this century to allow it to compete in the Farmie Awards). So my prediction is Basil for Pesto! The Musical.
These are my predictions for the 2014 Farmie Awards. Feel free to chime in with your predictions. I’m sure there will be a few surprises at this year’s telecast!
What will we have this week? Bok choi makes its return. It is looking quite fabulous with almost no flea beetle damage. Sometimes frost is helpful. We will also have carrots, onions, winter squash, the remaining pie pumpkins, the last harvest of beans (most likely), peppers, possibly celery, possibly leeks, possible kale, possibly chard, and hopefully salad mix. I think that is everything.
FruitShare, CheeseShare, EggShare, SeafoodShare and SalmonShare are all here this week. MeatShare arrives on Friday.
Here is a joke a couple kids and I made up in the pick-up tent last night:
What do you get when you step on a pumpkin?
Squash.