An Update to Today's Market

We did very well today at the farmer's market and sold a lot of lettuces!  Sold a lot of honey and maple syrup, too.  I mentioned in my previous post today that there would be a chef doing a food demonstration today, featuring our lettuce!  To go with the salad she prepared, she made the following dressing.   Everyone thought it was good - so did I! 
     I have quit using bottled salad dressings, and prefer to make my own.   Bottled dressings have so much "other stuff" in it that isn't good or pronounceable!  So I offer here, the salad dressing made today at the market, plus a couple other favorites that we like.

HOMEMADE CATALINA DRESSING

2/3 c ketchup
1/4 c sugar
2/3 c vegetable oil
1/2 c lemon juice
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder

Mix all ingredients well with a whisk, or whirl in a blender for a few cycles.
You can store the extra dressing in a jar in the refrigerator for about a week.  I would probably make half a recipe for just a few salads. 
    (recipe source:  Univ of Minnesota Extension Service)

Here is another favorite recipe that I got from my sister a while back.   She said she got it from a salesman at work, who brought a salad dressed with this dressing.

VINAIGRETTE STYLE SALAD DRESSING

1/4 c sugar
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/3 c red wine vinegar
salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of garlic salt to taste

Shake in a jar until well blended. 

And finally, here is a creamy style dressing that is so easy to make and very refreshing.   This one cannot be stored, so you just make a small amount and dress the salad with it. 

CREAMY SALAD DRESSING

1/4 c whipping cream (yes, that's heavy whipping cream!)
1 T. sugar
1 1/2 T cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk everything together well (but make sure you don't whip it enough to actually whip the cream!).   Makes enough for 2 or 3 salads.
     (recipe source:  The Pioneer Lady's Country Kitchen cookbook by Jane Watson Hopping)

If you go to the older posts in my blog, go to August of 2014 and I wrote down a recipe for a sweet onion dressing.    These 4 salad dressings make a nice variety for summer salads, and you will never miss the bottled stuff.   Both the sweet onion one and the creamy one, are also good to use on coleslaw.

Bon Appetit!

Preparing The Greens

This morning I spent about 3 hours picking various lettuces and bok choy from the greenhouse, washing everything well, and bagging it up for sale at the farmer's market this afternoon.   Besides the greens, we will also be selling honey and maple syrup.   It's a beautiful sunny day - not too hot, and not too cold!

I had a whole counter full of lettuce drip-drying on towels, even going around the corner of the counter!  It is a mix of various lettuces and escarole. 

I bagged up the lettuce into gallon plastic bags.

I also bagged up many heads of romaine lettuce.

Plenty of bok choy for the market, too!

Today the 'market chef' is going to feature salads and various dressings, so we should be able to sell everything.  Every week, there is a demonstration cook who prepares foods on site, using produce from the various vendors.   This week's dressing will feature honey, so we should do well selling that too!
     This will probably be the last week for fresh salad greens from the greenhouse, as the temps are getting quite warm and lettuce is a cool weather crop.   I'll wait until late July and plant more in the greenhouse for fall market.  Up here in Minnesota, July is probably our hottest month.   Things cool down considerably in August.    For next week's market I should have some small cabbages and fresh green onions and cilantro and basil.   Maybe even some yellow tomatoes!

Back Home Again - a Little of This and That

A few days ago I returned from my trip to Indiana and Massachusetts.  Since my return, I've been so busy!  Husband Harold did his best to take care of things while I was gone, but it really does take two people to keep the farm going smoothly.   The timing of this trip was not my first choice, but grandchildren do grow quickly, my sister doesn't retire every day, and I am so very blessed to still have my Mom with me at age 94.   So I spent some time with family in Indiana, and about a week and a half with my son and grandson in Massachusetts.   I went via Amtrak, and that is always enjoyable - at least I think so!  A person meets interesting people on the train and there's plenty of scenery to watch go by.
     I spent the first day and a half with my Mom, meeting some of her friends and playing cards with her.   I think Mom looks great for age 94!

Hope I age as well as my Mom!   Doesn't she look good for age 94?

     In Massachusetts, my son participated in the Annual Blackstone Valley Friendship Tour in Whitinsville Mass., which was a fundraiser for local charities.   It was a big deal, with several kinds of walks and races, a band for music, plenty of free food, and a  clown who did tricks and made balloon animals for the kids.  The day was sunny, and I think the whole town came out for the event.

Here is my son Jerry coming back from his portion of the charity Walk. 

The Clown Balloon Man just made a cat for my grandson Jeffrey, and is drawing the face on it. 

My grandson enjoying his lunch - note that he ate his dessert cookie first! 

The Blackstone Valley Friendship Tour took place at the edge of the falls in Whitinsville MA.  You can see the flags and balloons at the upper left on this photo. 

There was plenty of good free food for this event, prepared and donated by students at a local culinary program. All the food was healthy and fresh.

We also went to the Southwick Zoo, but my grandson was more interested in the great playground equipment than the animals.   Here he is sliding down his favorite slide:

During the week, grandson and I baked bread together (he loved punching and shaping the dough!), we made cookies together, and his favorite Polish Pierogies (homemade, of course!).  We also planted green beans (two 10 ft rows, which are starting to come up now)  and I taught him a great card game to play.
     After taking the train from Massachusetts to Indiana again, I stayed to visit family some more, and also spend some time with my niece and great nephew.   My sister had a birthday to celebrate, and she officially retired from her job.   Mom and I were able to be at her big retirement party, which was a lot of fun!  It was at an Italian restaurant called Papa Vito's and the food was absolutely fantastic!
Here is my lovely sister  at her retirement party:

Diana looks great at her retirement party!  Congratulations!  Enjoy retirement!

After all the visiting and partying, it was time to go back home on Amtrak.  I must say that Amtrak was pretty much on time, and lots of people took the train.  I think train travel is becoming a popular alternative to flying.   I met some interesting folks from Chicago, Missouri, Cleveland, Germany and Mexico on this trip.
     When I got back home, there was so much to do!  Weeds, plants overgrown (how can that be in only 16 days??) and grass needing cutting badly.  It rained most of the time, so Harold was not able to do as much as he wanted.   I discovered my greenhouse plants were a jumbled overgrown mess.   When I left on June 1st, everything was small in the greenhouse.  Then I came back to this:

Everything is way overgrown, including bolted spinach.

My beautiful spinach crop exploded in growth and "bolted".  So what is bolted spinach, you ask??  Well, that's when spinach goes to seed.   The leaves become pointed like arrowheads, and the plants shoot up big spikes of seedy growth.

This is what bolted spinach looks like.  Spiked leaves and big seedy shoots growing from the top.  It isn't very  edible at this point and tastes rather bitter.

I spent the last couple days catching up on chores.   A few posts ago I showed a photo of some new kittens.  Mama cat took those kittens and hauled them off to some other place, bringing them back a couple days ago.  But by now the kittens were really 'wild' and not used to humans.   But other mama cats brought back kittens to the house (for us to feed, I suppose?)  One of these kittens is just adorable, a white kitten who is so docile and friendly.   Not sure if I should name this kitten Henry or Lucy yet, so I will wait to name the little one.

One of our favorites of the new kittens.  I even brought this one inside for the photo!  A little cutie, huh?

Now that I am back home, we have done two days at the local farmer's markets selling various lettuces, bok choy, romaine, herbs and honey and maple syrup.   When the main gardens dry out a little bit, I have a lot of weeding to do!  But everything is growing nicely.   We will have a great summer.