By Joe Dennis, Nostalgia Farms, Walcott, IA
Day light savings time, less sleep more work.
Our first week of spring! The days are getting longer, and I must start getting up an hour earlier. A quick walk through the flower beds and signs of life are starting to poke through the ground. Shouldn’t be long before the crocus and forsythia start to show their true colors.
At our house in Illinois, plant production is in full swing for me here in town with over six thousand ‘babies’ already in various stages of growth. I have many more to get started and all will be in need of transplanting in some shape or form.
Work at the farm in Walcott is starting to go full speed with most of the labor still in the high tunnel: planting new beds of spinach, spring greens, arugula plus an early planting of fava beans and sugar snap peas.
We’re already selling greens at the Freight House.
An early crop of Mache should be ready for harvest near the end of March. Mache is an under appreciated green here in the U.S., but it is becoming more popular among ’foodies’ and one of those cold hardy greens that every gardener should add to their fall planting schedule. A planting in March should still produce a suitable crop in May as well. A flavor often described as nutty, its delicate flavor is delicious with a light dressing of lemon and olive oil, salt, pepper and shaved aged parmesan.
March is also a time I like to go into the orchard and do any seasonal pruning needed on the fruit trees to keep the air-flow circulating. The red currants and gooseberries require a yearly pruning of dead and older branches, and also the main task is to keep air flow to the inside of the plant and to keep young branches producing, since the heaviest crops coming on 2 and 3 year old canes.
We will be adding black currants and an ever-bearing (day neural) strawberry to our expanding fruit orchard. Also going into the ground this year will be a purple variety of asparagus with a 20 percent higher sugar content — sure to be a hit with our customers in years to come.
Spring to me means delicious asparagus (check out our delicious recipe for asparagus and goat cheese frittatas) and plans for Easter with my carrot cake. I wanted to share both recipes as they are favorites and always requested by our family.
See you at the Freight House Farmer’s Market!
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Joe Dennis is a farmer at Nostalgia Farms in Walcott, Iowa. Together with his partner, Ed Kraklio, they sell locally-grown, organic produce at the Freight House Farmer’s Market in downtown Davenport, IA near LeClaire Park, every Tuesday (3-6 pm) and Saturday (8 am -1 pm). You can visit the farm’s website at: www.nostalgiafarms.com. Read more of Farmer Joe’s blog posts on MVHNews, or try any of the Nostalgia Farms recipes on this website. |
