The Marker

Radishes germinate and mature so quickly that we often use them as a marker for other slower germinating crops.

Crops like...

Carrots

I planted our third planting of carrots today. Marked them with over seeding of radishes. I'm trying out a new variety from Amsterdam, along with our standard candy carrots. Planted about 500 feet of row in a double row.

Radish - The Publication

We have a local publication called Radish that often does articles on growing food and farming.

They featured our farm in the June issue.

Here are the highlights.

Petersen's Market Menu for June 11

Still planting tomatoes, peppers, egg plant and other vegetables. The veggies in the field are coming on strong.

Here is our list for this week.

Brussels Sprout Slaw, with Maple Dressing

I know brussels sprouts are a little out of season here in Minnesota, but I had a craving for some slaw and that seemed like a good base.

It made a good complement to steel head trout.

Here is the recipe...

Bio mimicry

Did you know that Velcro was invented when a Swiss engineer thought long and hard about why burrs were so hard to get out of  the coat of his dog and his trousers. He analyzed the hook and loop structure over a number of years and came up with Velcro.

Using approaches from nature in engineering products is called Biomimicry. Here are some more examples...

Scapes

Garlic, the word brings out the best of flavor and and aroma. The garlic plant does its best to provide us with usable forms for most of the year. You can store hard neck garlic until March. In late March or April the garlic plant is up out of the ground and you can use green garlic until the aerial appearance of the curl.

What is the curl you might ask.

Five Feet Spacing

Andrea and I were getting ready to plant one of our crops that requires five feet between plants for maximum yield. The fruit averages 50 pounds each.

Can you guess what we were planting...

Graduation

Reed our third child and youngest graduated last Friday night. You know how the stereo type of the youngest child is happy go lucky and carefree. Doesn't take anything to seriously.

Well all our children took their academics very serious including Reed.

Here is why...

The Best Cucumbers

It is well worth your money to buy the best cucumbers varieties you can find. I will pay 5 times the price for a standard variety to get excellent yield and disease resistance. You won''t find the best varieties in the local green houses because the make more money if they use cheap seed.

I planted cucumbers tonight. Just starting with one row about 500 feet long. I'll plant another in about a month. We space the plants about 6 inches apart.

One of the varieties I like for Southern Minnesota is...