Tantalizing Tastes and Smells: The First Major Harvest

Our gardens are flourishing, and last night marked the first major food preservation event of the season.

The herb garden smells tantalizing and is growing beyond expectations . Our basil plants were ready for a good cleaning, and our summer savory was beautifully out-of-control.  Chamomile was definitely gorgeous, but also in need of a good harvesting as well. I harvested basil, spearmint, chamomile, and summer savory. My hands smelled like a Sicilian countryside (at least in my imagination).  On a non-food note, our butterfly weed is an eye-catcher. Butterflies are rapidly increasing in our yard!

Chamomile 

Basil Plants

Butterfly Weed and Caterpillar

Our first three pints of pesto are in the freezer. The same basic recipe was used as last year, but this time we also added in some green carrot tops in conjunction with the basil and used walnuts in place of pine nuts.

 Pesto...pizza anyone?

Our dehydrator wasn't working due to the humidity, so we oven-dried (yes, in this heat and stickiness!) a pint of chamomile and 2/3 pint of spearmint. Today, we're drying several batches of summer savory.

Summer Savory waiting for the oven

Chamomile and Spearmint - dehydrated and waiting to be brewed

We also pulled our first beets. The greens were blanched and are now chilling in the freezer. We plan to make Beetniks with this crimson bundle of goodness after tomorrow's 60-minute run.

 Finally, a raspberry-walnut vinaigrette is in the fridge waiting to dress fresh salads!  Our raspberries are producing well, though picking is such a continuous process as all raspberries are not ready at the same time. Jam is hard to do with just a few quarts, but vinaigrette is perfect for such an amount. Not much measuring was done for this process; it was a fly-by-the-seat-of-the-chef's-pants dressing, but it turned out fabulous. So, adapt this to your liking.

Raspberry-Walnut Vinaigrette
about 3 cups of raspberries
about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of walnuts
about 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of olive oil
about 2-3 Tbs. of lemon juice
a couple teaspoons of Dijon mustard
about a teaspoon of honey (or other sweetener)
salt and pepper to taste
small clove of garlic

Put all ingredients except for the olive oil in the food processor. Process until well-blended. Slowly drizzle in olive oil until emulsified. Viola! It's done! Should keep in the fridge for quite some time. Always shake before using.

Strawberry Days 2010!

Every summer, we attend Harmony Valley Farm's (HVF) Strawberry Days. As always, this year Strawberry Days fell on Father's Day, June 20.  HVF is right outside of Viroqua, a small Midwest city with a personality that coincides well with my and Andy's interests. So, we usually spend a night or two in Viroqua leading up to the festivities. This year was no different. We dined at two favorite Viroqua locations on Saturday: the Driftless Cafe for lunch and Chilito Lindo for dinner.

On Sunday, we made our way out to Harmony Valley Farm. As we pulled in, we heard Richard (our farmer) over the loudspeaker introducing the field workers. Simultaneously, people listened to the introductions and went through the potluck line. It is always a delight to contribute to and partake in the potlucks at our CSA parties. Like-minded people bring all sorts of local, organic, and in-season food. Plus, there are always vegetarian options. At this year's party, there was a magnificent veggie "meatloaf" for which I am desperately seeking the recipe.

After brunching, members and guests loaded onto three wagons to see our farm's progress this year. We stopped in the zucchini fields first.

Next were the pea fields. The kids were really excited for this stop! We drove around the tomato fields and pepper fields. We were happy to see that our home garden's vegetables were at about the same height as HVF's. That's always a good sign!

Finally, we made it to the strawberry fields.

Understandably, because of the early spring, strawberries were not as plentiful for picking as they were last year.

So, while we didn't pick enough for Strawberry-Ginger Jam, we did scrounge up four pounds, which we juiced once we got home. We used part of the juice for a tasty Strawberry Vinaigrette (recipe courtesy of Harmony Valley Farm). Excellent over a leafy green salad!

Strawberry Vinaigrette

1/2 cup of olive oil
1 Tbs of balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup strawberries (we've done this..which makes for a thicker, creamier dressing. Today, we're using strawberry juice because that's what we have!)
1 Tbs minced onion

Mix all ingredients together in a blender until smooth. Refrigerate.

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We will probably use the rest of the juice for Strawberry-Ade! In Andy's words, "Wow! This tastes like Strawberry Kool-aid!" He's right ~ the cool part of that statement/thought is that while it tastes like a childhood favorite, Strawberry-Ade contains absolutely zero artificial sweeteners and all of the ingredients we used are traceable.

 

Strawberry-Ade

2 cups of strawberry juice

6 cups of water

1/2 cup of sugar or other sweetener

Juice strawberries using a juicer. Or, if you don't have a juicer, blend strawberries in a food processor and then strain out the seeds using a colander or cheese cloth. Add sugar. Stir to dissolve. Add water. Serve cold.