Tonight, I was making dinner (baked pork chops, sauteed Asian Greens with leeks and sweet potato circles) and noticed as I was cutting the sweet potatoes that some white dots appeared on the newly sliced potatoes. At first, I was wondering...did I forget to wipe the knife off before I used it?!? But, wait, I didn't cut anything that had a milky white texture. This was so weird.
I posed a question to the resident farmer. He looked at the potato. Hmmm, he remembered looking into this last year, but couldn't exactly recall why it was there. So, he sniffed it. Rubbed it. Turns out I even perplexed the farmer. What do we do when we are stumped? We google it of course! Google says that sweet potatoes that dribble a milky white substance when cut means that they are sweet and fresh. Score! Of course, I already knew that...they were harvested Monday! Also, of course, we spot checked a few more websites to make sure that what we found was correct, so that my post this evening would be accurate. Phew!
The sweet potatoes that we had night were delicious! Perfectly sweet with a great, smooth texture. I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I scrubbed the skins clean (but left them on) and sliced the potatoes in thin circles (as thin as possible given how big these taters are!). I threw them in a bowl with olive oil, salt and pepper. In the past, I have also sprinkled them with some cayenne pepper or red pepper flakes (sounds weird but the spiciness is a nice contrast to the sweetness of the potato). I cooked them for about 30 minutes (turning half way through) until they were nice and crispy. (Note, the thicker your slices, the longer you need to cook them to get them crispy). A nice, easy way to make baked sweet potato "fries".
This week's share includes: Tat Soi (it looks AMAZING and tastes great, too!), greens mix, radishes (mind you, these are the best looking radishes I've ever seen...I swear!), winter squash, sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes, and hot peppers...
Tell us what you are making with your share this week!!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
The NFC East Showdown...
Nope, it is not what you think. Not even close. Most males in the 18-35 demographic (to our dear friend Jill -- who works at Nielsen -- please do not be offended if I have misrepresented the demographic range) are gearing up tonight for the start of the NFL season. Most males in the 18-35 demographic in the D.C. area are getting ready for tonight's NFC East showdown...the Cowboys and Giants. Prior to this week, too, most males in said demographic have also been calculating, researching, strategizing their draft picks for their fantasy football teams (I, myself, am in two leagues this year and completely forgot that tonight was a draft...we'll see how that turns out for me this year).
Not Michael. Nope. Instead of compiling football stats, over the course of the last week and a half or so, Michael has been strategizing, researching and calculating all sorts of different formulas for fertilizer for the farm. Here's the long and short of the situation:
Before our plants go in the ground, Michael spreads aged compost and then spreads fertilizer (from the country's oldest organic fertilizer company, thank you very much) on top. Michael selects the appropriate fertilizer based on the results of his soil tests; for instance, if the soil is lacking in nitrogen but is high in potassium, then he will select a fertilizer (that is, organic fertilizer...I swear they need to come up with a different name than fertilizer especially since it is organic...the word fertilizer has such a bad connotation) that is high in nitrogen and low in potassium. Simple enough, right? For a lot of crops, this methodology seems to work. As a matter of fact, all of this season's bounty has taken root because of this combo.
After visiting another farm, Michael realized how underfed certain of our crops were (such as peppers and eggplants, which is why these crops were not as bountiful (and thus, not as successful) as other crops we've had this year). Cut to this past weekend, Michael's "vacation" from the farm and he is nose-deep in some farm book, calculator in hand, scratching his head and talking through his formulas. In this house, the NFC East showdown we've been preparing this week has nothing to do with football...the D.C.-area team, Michael has a fierce competitor in the nationally-recognized (well, at least amongst 7th grade math students) villian...Alegbra! I cannot tell you how many times we had to turn percentages into fractions and cross-multiply.
Spoiler alert...Michael (with plays being called from the offensive coordinator, i.e., me (!), Michael narrowly defeats Algebra!!! Okay, so maybe the football analogy isn't working here, but you've gotta give a girl a point (two point conversion?!?!) for trying!!
After we mastered the formula, we were able to identify the proper levels of different nutrients that we can funnel to the plants through our irrigation system. Michael just described as the difference between an all-you-can-eat buffet (current system) and a hot dog eating contest...with the buffet on the side. The current fertilizing system provides a stable, consistent amount of "food" to the plants from the second they hit the ground until they are ready to be harvested. The "new" system (the benefits of which we probably won't see until next year) maintains that same consistent food source and adds the volume of a hot dog eating contest (a targeted amount of fertilizer being fed through the drip tape irrigation system). I am getting queasy thinking about it! Hopefully our plants don't feel the same way!
This week's share you can expect: sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes), carrots, tomatoes, paste tomatoes, leeks, garlic and peppers.
Not Michael. Nope. Instead of compiling football stats, over the course of the last week and a half or so, Michael has been strategizing, researching and calculating all sorts of different formulas for fertilizer for the farm. Here's the long and short of the situation:
Before our plants go in the ground, Michael spreads aged compost and then spreads fertilizer (from the country's oldest organic fertilizer company, thank you very much) on top. Michael selects the appropriate fertilizer based on the results of his soil tests; for instance, if the soil is lacking in nitrogen but is high in potassium, then he will select a fertilizer (that is, organic fertilizer...I swear they need to come up with a different name than fertilizer especially since it is organic...the word fertilizer has such a bad connotation) that is high in nitrogen and low in potassium. Simple enough, right? For a lot of crops, this methodology seems to work. As a matter of fact, all of this season's bounty has taken root because of this combo.
After visiting another farm, Michael realized how underfed certain of our crops were (such as peppers and eggplants, which is why these crops were not as bountiful (and thus, not as successful) as other crops we've had this year). Cut to this past weekend, Michael's "vacation" from the farm and he is nose-deep in some farm book, calculator in hand, scratching his head and talking through his formulas. In this house, the NFC East showdown we've been preparing this week has nothing to do with football...the D.C.-area team, Michael has a fierce competitor in the nationally-recognized (well, at least amongst 7th grade math students) villian...Alegbra! I cannot tell you how many times we had to turn percentages into fractions and cross-multiply.
Spoiler alert...Michael (with plays being called from the offensive coordinator, i.e., me (!), Michael narrowly defeats Algebra!!! Okay, so maybe the football analogy isn't working here, but you've gotta give a girl a point (two point conversion?!?!) for trying!!
After we mastered the formula, we were able to identify the proper levels of different nutrients that we can funnel to the plants through our irrigation system. Michael just described as the difference between an all-you-can-eat buffet (current system) and a hot dog eating contest...with the buffet on the side. The current fertilizing system provides a stable, consistent amount of "food" to the plants from the second they hit the ground until they are ready to be harvested. The "new" system (the benefits of which we probably won't see until next year) maintains that same consistent food source and adds the volume of a hot dog eating contest (a targeted amount of fertilizer being fed through the drip tape irrigation system). I am getting queasy thinking about it! Hopefully our plants don't feel the same way!
This week's share you can expect: sweet potatoes (or regular potatoes), carrots, tomatoes, paste tomatoes, leeks, garlic and peppers.
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