Winter Broccoli

Minnesota winters are brutal to annual plants, with Zone 4 winters reaching subzero temps by late November and the temps may not relent until March. I picked the last of our field broccoli in November.

I have been growing broccoli since then in a different venue. I don't have a green house or a grow light, or...

You can do it too and here is how.

Market Menu January 24, 2015

Candy carrots with great flavor and sweetness. Just before the great freeze-up we had several hard frosts and that is just what the doctor ordered to turn normally sweet carrots into something magical. We will have a few bags of juicing carrots each week during the late fall and winter.

We will have about 20 pie pumpkins at market this week.

The squash varieties available this week:  Acorn, Butternut, Carnival. Spaghetti, and Pie Pumpkins. 

Wonderful Garlic Crop This Year

Reed took this picture of garlic a few weeks ago, and it's one of the best tasting crops we've had! I guess those minerals in the compost bring out the exceptional flavor and quality. The heads are nice and big, with cloves about the size of your thumb. As always, organic and fresh. Reed planted the garlic for next year during MEA break.

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, January 10, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)

Chipolini Onions
Sweet Spanish Onions
Red Onions
Leeks

Candy Carrots
Parsnips

Cabbage - Fresh Green, good for slaw, kraut or kimchi (see 8 delicious recipes on our website.)

Shallots
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes

Garlic

Charcoal (home grown, home made)

Superbowl Recipes from the Farmer's Market

Entertaining for the Superbowl is a time honored tradition of good food, good friends and fun. You may not have considered getting the good food part of the Superbowl equation at the Farmer's Market. True it is winter and some vegetables are not available locally. There are still many many options for the creative host.

Here are some Superbowl recipes where at least some if not the majority of the ingredients can be found at this weeks farmers market.

The Olive Tree

We aren't too familiar with olive trees here in Minnesota because they can't survive our harsh zone 4 winters.  I was reading about olive trees earlier this week. It takes 15 years for a sapling to reach olive bearing maturity. (In contrast fruit trees will typically bear in 3-5 years.). 15 years is a long time to dedicate space and nurture to a crop before getting any pay back at all.

However, once the root system and the scaffolding of the plant is in place olive trees can bear fruit for 2000 years. There are trees in the middle east that are this old. I've heard the analogy of slow and steady personal growth if we want to be  "a squash or an oak tree", Based on these new facts I guess I rather be an olive tree.

Learning about the olive tree made me think about the task of parenting and the parallels between olive tree husbandry and raising children. Here are 5 principles of raising children gleaned from the olive tree.

The Supper Table

As a father and a farmer I have learned that the supper table isn't just for eating it is also for leading. Many examples, values, and instructions are transmitted at the table. This won't happen if you are watching TV or talking on the phone. You need to pay attention and be intentional.

Here are five principle of "The Table".

The Rear View Mirror

We spend about 99% of our automotive driving time looking out the windshield and 1% of our time looking in the rear view mirror. The rear view mirror is important but relatively unappreciated.

But what happens when you want to back-up...

The Starter

I had trouble starting my 1993 pickup last night after work. A good Samaritan tried to help me jump start the engine to no avail. So Lisa came to get me and we left the truck in the parking lot over night. The next morning I called a tow truck and they took the pickup to the clinic to get fixed. No not the Mayo Clinic, Virgil's car clinic. After diagnosis they determined that I needed a new starter. An hour later I was back on the road.

Wouldn't it be nice when we had a bad day or something didn't go right at work, that we could just get a new starter.

In some respects each new year is like getting a new starter.

Let's look at 5 ways a new year can give opportunities to restart.

Inversion

Inversion is when two things are reversed, like air temperatures, chromosomes or taxes. It can be applied to lots of things.

Does anyone remember when diesel prices were way cheaper than gasoline? Yep the lowely diesel has recently become king of the fuel pricing scheme. This is great marketing by oil companies because..

Two Below

Why is it that when we talk about temperature we say it is two below and when we talk about gas prices we say it is below $2,00.

Well both things happened in confluence this week. We have gas prices reach the mythical $1.99 per gallon and we flew right by two below zero (farenheit) in the weather department as well.

I just thought I would document this for posterity as we haven't seen gas prices this low for quite a few years. We have three young drivers in our house hold and they have never seen prices this low. Using my HyVee fuel saver card I actually paid less that $1.50 per gallon last week. Sounds amazing but...

When I was in high school and starting to drive in the 70's the typical price was a whopping

Sprouted Chia Low Carb Dessert

As I mentioned in previous posts I have switched our gardening focus to my window sill sprout garden over the last month or so. One of my delightfully successful experiments was to make a sprouted chia desert. Chia seeds have 4g of carbs per tablespoon and it is all fiber. Unlike alfalfa or mung bean sprouts, chia sees have a gel sack around the outside that absorbs all the mositure needed for the seed to germinate. This gel sack makes the liquid they are in thick and viscous.

This gelling process happens quickly and the thickening can be substantial by just letting it stand overnight. Here is the recipe using chia seeds, coconut milk, stevia and the fruit of your choice.

The Science & Creativity Behind Great Coleslaw

We had a great cabbage crop this fall and so I have been experimenting with any coleslaw variations and recipes. This has been a very tasty and healthy fall. We are now heading into the heart of winter and we still have about 120 heads of cabbage left.

So how does this delightful salad called coleslaw work?

Fianancial Peace University, January 18th

Dear Farmers Market Friends,

Lisa and I will be coordinating a class called Financial Peace University taught by Dave Ramsey via video. It will start Sunday morning January 18 at 9:00 at Autumn Ridge Church in Rochester and be held at this time every week for 9 weeks. The class consists of a very entertaining lesson by Dave Ramsey followed by a small group working session where class members can ask questions and process the information. You can register by going to Daveramsey.com.

This will be our 10th class. We have had nearly 400 people attend and have had $850,000 in debt paid off just in the 9 weeks of the class with many families now reporting they are debt free.

Who should come to the class? People who are struggling with debt and other financial issues. People who are doing OK but want to learn more about how to manage their finances. People who have high school students heading for college and don't quite know how to help them pay for it all (that is me). People who are doing great financially but want to have a financial check-up to make sure everything is the best it can be.

Here are the topics of the lessons...

January Kale

It never ceases to amaze me how much winter cold our kale plants can take. We had an extremely cold November and early December with temperatures near zero for several days. We picked quite a bit of kale before then and thought the rest of the crop lost.

But that was not to be....

Market Menu for January 10, 2015 (Winter Market)

Candy carrots with great flavor and sweetness. Just before the great freeze-up we had several hard frosts and that is just what the doctor ordered to turn normally sweet carrots into something magical. We will have a few bags of juicing carrots each week during the late fall and winter.

We will have about 20 pie pumpkins at market this week.

The squash varieties available this week:  Acorn, Butternut, Crnival, Delicatta, Spaghetti, Orange Hubbard, and Pie Pumpkins. 

Wonderful Garlic Crop This Year

Reed took this picture of garlic a few weeks ago, and it's one of the best tasting crops we've had! I guess those minerals in the compost bring out the exceptional flavor and quality. The heads are nice and big, with cloves about the size of your thumb. As always, organic and fresh. Reed planted the garlic for next year during MEA break.

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, January 10, 2015 (New items are in Bold Print)

Chipolini Onions
Sweet Spanish Onions
Red Onions
Leeks

Candy Carrots
Parsnips

Cabbage - Fresh Green, good for slaw, kraut or kimchi (see 8 delicious recipes on our website.)

Shallots
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes

Baby Kale
Kale Bunches

Garlic

Charcoal (home grown, home made)

Pie Pumpkin - Pumpkin Pie

We typically sell out of pumpkins between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I still have a few left after the last market in December. We have been enjoying them for pumpkin pies. You can also use winter squash for pies, especially Butter Nut.

Here is a link to 15 pumpkin pie variations and serving suggestions....

Coleslaw - Easy Farmers Market Recipe

Even though it is late in the season we still have all the fresh ingredients for this fresh cole slaw at our farm stand at the local farmers market. Come see us on January 10 at the next market.

I like this recipe because it has a fine texture and is sweet without sugar,

Coleslaw - With Amazing Sprouts

Last winter I published the directions on how to make a large variety of sprouts. As soon as the greens were done for the season back in December I started growing sprouts for our winter greens. Since we have been doing a series on coleslaw I developed a recipe that is just great using sprouts. I didn't have any cabbage sprouts so I used broccoli sprouts, lentil sprouts and clover sprouts. Yum!

Here is the recipe with several substitution suggestions and a great sauce...

Top 10 Vegetable Freak Posts for 2014

On reflection over the past year I though it would be good to review some of the top Vegetable Freak posts for 2014.

Here they are...