Vote With Your Fork

We are about to start another exciting season at the Rochester Downtown Farmers market. The market is a great shopping experience and a chance to talk to local farmers, and meet your friends and neighbors.

Have you ever thought about the "power of the fork"...

Honors Choirs Spring Finale - The Beginning of a Lifetime of Music

We went to the Honors Choirs Spring Finale Sunday afternoon and we heard some truly great music. This whole season has just been one superb concert after another. Just when you think it couldn't get any better the next one is just a little bit better than the last one.

A great Honors Choirs season reflects a commitment to excellence...

How to Till a Straight Row

I was out tilling for the first time of the season today. We use a large walk behind tractor with a 36 inch rototiller attachment.

She is a beauty, cobalt blue paint, 13 horsepower, live PTO and 3 speed transmission. It will till down full sized corn, virgin sod, small sapling trees, you name it, nothing can stop my tiller. Did you know that Ferrari made my tiller, yep she's an "import". Like Dave Ramsey says, "It is the Status Symbol of Choice" for Italian farmers. Funny thing is, it has a Honda engine. Well I'm not Italian, but it works good for Scandinavian farmers too.

I was making trenches for planting potatoes. Nope I didn't plant yet, even though Good Friday, the traditional day for planting potatoes, has come and gone. I got to thinking about how you get the tiller to make straight rows. Farmers pride ourselves on straight rows, especially when you are planting a crop. Because if you don't get the rows straight you have to look at crooked rows for a whole season. Plus if you get them too close together you can't till between them and the weeds take over.

I had a college age guy working for me a few years ago and he was the first of our hired farm workers that I had let run the tiller. He generally did OK, but there was a problem, he couldn't get the rows straight. Well I'm going to let you in on a secret that will change your life and help you get your rows straight.

The Hug

When we got back from my father's funeral Lisa had to leave on tour with the Cross Roads College Choir. She is the accompanist for the choir. We attend Autumn Ridge Church, and the High School group meets on Saturday night, so we sometimes attend Saturday night services.  It was after the Saturday service that evening, the pastor had announced that my father had died in the service that night and I was feeling a little sad and alone...

Count Down to Summer Market

Summer market starts next Saturday and we are looking forward to seeing all our market friends. The farm is greening up. We have some special things in store for our first week.

• New baby spinach
• Candy carrots
• Sweet red onions
• Extra Large Herbs - ready to use

No market this week.

Happy Birthday Vegetable Freak

The Vegetable Freak website debuted a year ago next week. We had written about 50 posts prior to this so our new readers would have some content during their first visit. The main focus of Vegetable Freak is to support our customers at the Farmers Market, to educate fellow farmers and gardeners.

I have also written posts on several other passions of our family: honors choirs, financial  stewardship and a quick primer on chemical agriculture.

Most people are curious about the number of blog reads we have had in the last year. It has been...

How to Select the Best Leeks

The use of leeks in cooking is growing in popularity in the last few years. It is important for the consumer to understand how to select the best leeks...

How to Plant Leeks, A Deep Subject

Onions grow on top of the ground and bulb enlargement takes place at the air to soil boundary. Leeks are typically planted in trenches about 8 inches below the ground. Leeks do not form a bulb but...

Market Menu for April 19, 2014

We will have the following items at the Farmers Market for Saturday, April 19, 2014. Stock up for your Easter holiday cooking. We are at the fair ground for winter market this week.  (New items are in Bold Print)

Salsa - Brandywine, Cherry Tomato, Roasted Roma, Hot'n'Sweet, Jalapeno Jelly (yum)

Crunchy Candy Carrots - these are amazing eating carrots. We also have a few juicing size.
Red Onions
Garlic (We ran out of garlic, but shallots are a good substitute, see "shallot week posts")
SHALLOTS
Sweet Spanish Onions - these babies are very sweet.
Chipolini Onions - limited supply
Dried egg plant (see recent blog posts)
Cipotle Smoked Peppers
Smoked Sun Dried Tomatoes
Sun Dried Tomatoes

I have a few herb plants big enough to bring this week,

• Chives
• French Tarragon
• Apple Mint
• Chocolate Mint
• Oregano
• Rosemary
• Sage
• Thyme

These herbs are all able to handle a light frost, but should be protected from a hard freeze. There are a limited quantity that are big enough so if you want a pot or two to set on your window sill or porch please stop by early. The weather is looking good for next week.

Enjoy the warm-ish weather. See you there.

How to Plant Perfect Potatoes

Planting potatoes in Minnesota is full of tradition and technique. It is traditional to plant the first crop on Good Friday. Our best technique is to...