Monday, August 31, 2015

Square Potatoes


We had several loyal farmers market customers ask if they could buy some potato plants, so we planted some potato seed pieces in 4 inch pots to get them started. We had a couple of pots left over so we have been diligently watering them.

Andrea noticed the pots were bulging a bit so she popped them out of the pots. 

Friday, August 28, 2015

Petersen's Market Menu for Saturday, August 29

We picked 32 baskets of tomatoes Friday, most of these were Roma tomatoes. These are great for canning, salsas and sauces. We also have lots of slicing tomatoes (shown below) and heirloom tomatoes.

Photo Cred: Reed Petersen
May I be the first to present, Tomato Baskets! Dozens of them! Photo Cred: Reed Petersen

Don't forget the basil to use with your tomatoes. We are harvesting lots and have gallon bags for $5. Basil at the same price as lettuce, now that's crazy!

Carrots are back, Oh Boy, are they back. The candy carrots continue to impress this farmer with their sweetness, flavor and that perfect carrot crunch!

If you didn't get some of our Ambrosia sweet corn last week you missed a treat. See us this week for fresh picked, chemical free, no sprays and no bugs. We have enough corn this week for freezing. We had some for supper Friday night and it is amazing.

Okra production has tripled from several weeks ago. More is merrier when if comes to Okra. I made some Okra pickles this week.

French Fillet beans are the best beans on the planet (tender, pencil thin and no strings). Just started a new fresh row.

Andrea dried some mints and herbs and is making some Vegetable Freak... Freaky Tea. Sweetened with fresh stevia.
  • Andrea's Tropical Tea - Orange Mint, Pinneaple Mint and Stevia
  • Jenna's Sweet Chocolate Tea - Chocolate Mint & Stevia
  • Lisa's Orange Blossom Tea - Orange Mint, Spearmint & Stevia
  • Just Mint - A Blend of Spearmint & Stevia
  • Perky Pinapple, Lemon Majito, Minty Sage, Rosemary Lavendar (lots more).

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, August 15, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)

Raspberries (20 pints, picked Friday evening)
Sweet Corn
Tomato
Tomatillos
Cherry Tomatoes
Roma Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomatoes
Garlic
Okra
Green Beans
Baby Zucchini & Patty Pan
Carrots
Leeks
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Radishes
New Baby Potatoes - Yukon Gold & Red 
Fresh Cut Herbs: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Oregano, Basil, Chive, Cilantro
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Baby Kale
Cress
Beet Greens
Dandelion
Mint Plants - Chocolate, Orange, Spearmint
Herb Plants - Chives, Sage, French Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Epasote, Stevia, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro


Bean Plants
Heirloom Red Okra Plants
Cole Crop Plants: Broccoli, Cabbage

Salsa: an array of different kinds

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made)
Potting Mix with our compost (ask us)

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Detours


Summer time travel is full of road work and we found our share on my college visit with Reed to Purdue.

Detours are associated with dirt, delays and danger.

Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Road Kill


Road kill in Iowa and Minnesota typically means a criter that was killed by a vehicle on the road.

You know road kill. Could be a deer, raccoon, rabbit or skunk (whew). If large and in the wrong place they can be quite hazzardous.

In Illinois on the way to Purdue we hardly ever saw critters.

But we did see lots of Road Kill, but it was mostly...

Monday, August 24, 2015

Road Maintenance


Reed had a good idea when we were traveling a few weeks ago.

He said I don't understand why there isn't a machine they can drive along at highway speed that can sense the need for a patch, crack repair or repainted lines. Use cameras, then apply the needed material as you go. They would be able to fix roads in no time with little or no down time. You wouldn't need all the cones and signs and other trappings of summer contruction.

At first I thought this idea might fit in the catagory of the robot he wanted to design when he was 10 to pull weeds on the farm, so he didn't have to do it. This technology is now available by the way and will likely be implemented as this technology becomes more cost effective.

But in the case of road maintenance I think he might be on to something.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Convocation


We were at Purdue last week visiting the engineering college for Reed.

I noticed they had something call convocation. Convocaation simply defined is a group of people assembled together. They use this often in academic circles.

At Pudue convocation was largely focused on big name entertainment groups (most of which I was not to familiar with, I guess I don't get out much).

I'm used to another focus for convocation...

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Pickled Corn Relish

The corn crop has been excellent this year. We had a few ears left over from market last weekend so I made corn relish. Also used a few red sweet peppers and sweet onions.

Here is the recipe...

Friday, August 21, 2015

Corn Salsa

The unique convergence of the sweet corn crop and the start of the tomato crop means  the first salsa I canned this year was a corn salsa.

Here is the recipe...

Market Menu for August 22, 2015

Slicing tomatoes are always a treat, whether used for salsa, sandwiches, or simply savoring, they beckon to be enjoyed thoroughly. It's the most wonderful time of the year.

New Slicing Tomatoes Beckon to be Enjoyed. Photo: Reed Petersen
New Slicing Tomatoes Beckon to be Enjoyed. Photo: Reed Petersen

Don't forget the basil to use with your tomatoes. We are harvesting lots and have gallon bags for $5. Basil at the same price as lettuce, now that's crazy!

If you didn't get some of our Ambrosia sweet corn last week you missed a treat. See us this week for fresh picked, chemical free, no sprays and no bugs. We have enough corn this week for freezing.

Okra production has tripled from several weeks ago. More is merrier when if comes to Okra.

Don't miss the squash blossoms, baby zucchini, or patty pan!

French Fillet beans are the best beans on the planet (tender, pencil thin and no strings).

Andrea dried some mints and herbs and is making some Vegetable Freak... Freaky Tea. Sweetened with fresh stevia.
  • Andrea's Tropical Tea - Orange Mint, Pinneaple Mint and Stevia
  • Jenna's Sweet Chocolate Tea - Chocolate Mint & Stevia
  • Lisa's Orange Blossum Tea - Orange Mint, Spearmint & Stevia
  • Just Mint - A Blend of Spearmint & Stevia
  • Perky Pinapple, Lemon Majito, Minty Sage, Rosemary Lavendar (lots more).

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, August 15, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)

Raspberries
Sweet Corn
Tomato
Tomatillos
Cherry Tomatoes
Garlic
Okra
Green Beans
Baby Zucchini & Patty Pan
Squash Blossoms
Carrots
Leeks
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Radishes
New Baby Potatoes - Yukon Gold & Red 
Fresh Cut Herbs: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Oregano, Basil, Chive, Cilantro
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Baby Kale
Cress
Beet Greens
Dandelion
Mint Plants - Chocolate, Orange, Spearmint
Herb Plants - Chives, Sage, French Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Epasote, Stevia, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro


Bean Plants
Heirloom Red Okra Plants
Cole Crop Plants: Broccoli, Cabbage

Salsa: an array of different kinds

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made)
Potting Mix with our compost (ask us)

The Magic of Okra


The much awaited okra harvest has started. People often ask how we grow okra this far north. Okra hates cold almost as much as basil, so that is a ligitimate question. 

The secret is to start transplants early so you can get the plants big enough to harvest of several months before frost. We have about six week until frost.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

Nimble


Academia is known for leading edge thinking, but how about leading edge lab space, class room space and computer resources. My experience is “not so much”.

We saw some pretty creative and leading edge student support areas, class rooms and labs when we were at Purdue a few weeks ago. Granted this was their newest building, with cutting edge building design, glass walls, white boards everywhere (even the horizontal work spaces), fully decked computer and projection resources in the class rooms, even social media enabled lectures, where the students could tweet questions or requests for greater explanation.
We later walked through the Chemical Engineer building where we saw the typical 50's architecture and less than cutting edge equipment. I know our tour was carefully crafted to put the best possible Purdue in front of the prospective student (and their parents).

But there were some ideas there that I'd love to implement in my work space.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Tippecanoe and Edible Crayons


Just so you know I was listening on our recent Purdue campus tour with Reed. Here are some little known facts.

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Best Laid Plans

Originally Reed and a friend were going to go to Purdue by themselves.

Then parents started worrying about things that could go wrong.

It might rain, the windshield wipers might not work, the hotel might not accept cash, we might have a lunar eclipse (though none was planned), or there might not be any bannanas in Indiana (Reed's favorite food. Minions seem to like them too).

So I volunteered to go along.

Monday, August 17, 2015

Sojourn


Reed and I went on an adventure Monday.

Reed is a high school senior this year and starting to look at colleges.

Reed is interested in engineering.

He has a teacher that he likes and respects that attended a school quite a bit east of where we live.

The school is in Indiana. Can you guess which one.

Sunday, August 16, 2015

The $10,000 Summer

I asked Andrea to write this article for our website. She was a little reluctant to do so because "we aren't supposed to talk about money, right". 

I told her that her ideas on how to fund her college education could be very helpful to other students. 

Her approach is very entrepreneurial and unique. 

Andread started her own business. 

She developed a whole series of curriculum for a broad age-range of students her first summer out of college, and she has been implementing this vision for teaching young people about music and music theory. God has been blessing her vision academically, financially, and spiritually as she serves her students and their parents through these classes.

Andrea is a double major in Music Composition and Vocal Music Education at The University of Northwestern in St. Paul. She has a 2-inch thick binder full of very positive evaluations from her students and recommendations from her student's parents, from these summer classes she has been teaching, and she hasn't even started her student teaching yet.


As you can tell she is a very talented teacher and a very hard worker both in the classroom and on the farm.


--- Brian, Andrea's father


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Some things just don’t seem possible.

Like graduating from college without debt. Right? With the price of universities all across the country skyrocketing, there is no way to go to a university for 4 years without at least a LITTLE debt, is there?

What would your world look like if you could make $10,000 in one summer?

But is THAT possible? (Probably only if you are a senior in engineering or maybe if you worked construction and a lot of overtime.)

I am here to tell you that it is; here's how I did it:

Saturday, August 15, 2015

What is an Heirloom?


Heirlooms are typically open pollinated garden vegetables that can trace their lineage back to the early 1900's or late 1800's, or before.

Tomatoes are a good example.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Market Menu August 15, 2015

Heirloom tomatoes are starting in ernest. They aren't always as pretty as the hybrids but they have that great "Old Time" flavor just perfect for BLTs, your favorite made from scratch pasta sauce, or just fresh eating. Our favorite and one of the most famous heirloom tomatoes is the Brandywine show in the picture below taken at our stand at the Rochester Farmers Market last week.
Heirloom Tomatoes! Photo by Reed Petersen
Heirloom Tomatoes! Photo by Reed Petersen

Don't forget the basil to use with your tomatoes. We are harvesting lots and have gallon bags for $5. Basil at the same price as lettuce, what a deal.

If you didn't get some of our Ambrosia sweet corn last week you missed a treat. See us this week for fresh picked, chemical free, no sprays and no bugs. We have enough corn this week for freezing.

Andrea is picking Okra, it starts slow the first few weeks. If you want some, come early.

Don't miss the squash blossoms, baby zucchini, or patty pan!

French Fillet beans are the best beans on the planet (tender, pencil thin and no strings).

Andrea dried some mints and herbs and is making some Vegetable Freak... Freaky Tea. Sweetened with fresh stevia.
  • Andrea's Tropical Tea - Orange Mint, Pinneaple Mint and Stevia
  • Jenna's Sweet Chocolate Tea - Chocolate Mint & Stevia
  • Lisa's Orange Blossum Tea - Orange Mint, Spearmint & Stevia
  • Just Mint - A Blend of Spearmint & Stevia
  • Perky Pinapple, Lemon Majito, Minty Sage, Rosemary Lavendar (lots more).

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, August 15, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)

Raspberries
Sweet Corn
Tomato
Garlic
Okra
Green Beans
Baby Zucchini & Patty Pan
Squash Blossoms
Carrots
Leeks
Walla Walla Sweet Onions
Radishes
Baby Potatoes - Yukon Gold & Red 
Fresh Cut Herbs: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Oregano, Basil, Chive, Cilantro
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Baby Kale
Cress
Beet Greens
Dandelion
Mint Plants - Chocolate, Orange, Spearmint
Herb Plants - Chives, Sage, French Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Epasote, Stevia, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro


Bean Plants
Heirloom Red Okra Plants
Cole Crop Plants: Broccoli, Cabbage

Salsa: an array of different kinds

Chipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made)
Potting Mix with our compost (ask us)

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Soil Testing


I test my soil with plants.

Soil scientists have learned to test soils for various nutrients. This is done by using strong chemicals to strip off the nutrients or react with the nutrients in the soil and establish a quantitative measurement. I'm always a little skeptical that the strong chemical processes can correctly detect nutrients available to the plants in a organic system that uses biological processes to make nutrients available.

I have never done any soil testing on our farm. Instead I observe the plants. For example...

Monday, August 10, 2015

Squash Blossoms - Recipes and Serving Suggestions

Instead of searching Epicurian or Bon Appetit for recipes for squash blossoms all you need is our blog.

Here are 4 novell recipes and 10 serving suggestions...

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Dilly Bean - Pickles

We have a good crop of beans and a good crop of dill right now. You put the two together and you have "dilly beans".

This recipe is for pickling the beans so you can use a simple water bath canner.

Here we go...

Friday, August 7, 2015

Petersen's Market Menu for August 8, 2015

Ambrosia super sweet corn is the full season, full flavor, corn you have been waiting for. We don't use any chemical fertilizer or any sprays on our corn so you can rest assured in the purity of our corn. We also move the corn to a different spot each year and to out smart ear worms. Chemical free sweet corn with no worms...nice. We had some for supper last night and it was outstanding.

Sweet Corn for days! ~Reed Petersen
Sweet Corn for days! ~Reed Petersen

Andrea is picking Okra, it starts slow the first few weeks. If you want some come early.

Heirloom tomatoes are starting. Brandywine is the best.

Don't miss the squash blossoms and the baby zucchini and patty pan.

French Fillet beans are here. Best green bean on the planet (tender, pencil thin and no strings).

Andrea dried some mints and herbs and is making some Vegetable Freak...Freaky Tea. Sweetened with fresh stevia.
 
  • Andrea's Tropical Tea - Orange Mint, Pinneaple Mint and Stevia
  • Jenna's Sweet Chocolate Tea - Chocolate Mint & Stevia
  • Lisa's Orange Blossum Tea - Orange Mint, Spearmint & Stevia
  • Just Mint - A Blend of Spearmint & Stevia
  • Perky Pinapple, Lemon Majito, Minty Sage, Rosemary Lavendar (lots more).

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, July 25, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)


Sweet Corn
Tomatoes
Garlic - Giant heads
Okra
Green Beans
Baby Zucchini & Patty Pan 
Squash Blossoms
Carrots
Leeks
New Crop Walla Walla Sweet Onions
New Crop Garlic
New Crop Radishes
Baby Potatoes - Yukon Gold & Red 

Fresh Cut Herbs: Mint, Chocolate Mint, Oregano, Basil, Chive, Cilantro
Baby Spinach
Spring Mix
Baby Kale
Cress
Beet Greens
Dandelion
Mint Plants - Chocolate, Orange, Spearmint
Herb Plants - Chives, Sage, French Tarragon, Rosemary, Basil, Thyme, Epasote, Stevia, Oregano, Dill, Cilantro


Bean Plants
Heirloom Red Okra Plants
Cole Crop Plants: Broccoli, Cabbage

Salsa: an array of different kinds

Cipotle Smoked Peppers

Charcoal (home grown, home made)
Potting Mix with our compost

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Baby Patty Pan Squash - 10 Serving Suggestions

"Oh what are those, they are soooo...cute" is a frequent exclamation we here about our baby patty pan squash.

The next question is "How do you use them."

So here are some serving suggestions.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Maple Patty Pan Baby Squash - Pickled

I made this neat pickling recipe for baby patty pan squash. It would be good with just the pickled patty pan but the maple syrup adds a delightful twist and the jalapeno peppers create a slight spicy undertone.

We have baby patty pan squash in abundance.


Monday, August 3, 2015

When a Student Is Ready the Teacher Will Appear.

I like to eat Chinese food, mostly for the vegetables. Occasionally I get a good fortune cookie with my meal. I have found you can increase your chances of getting a good one by taking two and then keeping the best one!

I have a whole collection of reasonably good ones in my office. I put them in a large cup. When we are having a boring meeting I pass them around and every one takes one. Kinda breaks up the monotony.

The title of this post is one of the best, "cookie proverbs". It says, "When a Student is Ready the Teacher Will Appear."  I have seen the reality of this many times, for example...