By Joe Dennis, Nostalgia Farms, Walcott, IA
How about our weather? April is definitely the month of extremes, mid 80’s one week and a chance of snow the next! Gotta love the Midwest, but we are a hardy bunch. Our rewards for tolerating the extremes are the flushes of spring color, daffodils naturalizing into waves of color, tulip trees and the intoxicating smell of hyacinth all in bloom.
In the ground at the farm
Work is in full swing here at the farm. Onions are planted as well as the first plantings of beets, radishes, kohlrabi, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, while the potatoes will actually be in the ground by Good Friday. We are planting an all-blue variety again this year as well as our best seller, the ‘Russian Banana’ fingerling potato.
I’m sure I’ll end up planting some red potatoes as well, if for no other reason for myself, because nothing says summer like roasted red new potatoes with olive oil and fresh rosemary.
Spring greens have sprung at Freight House Farmer’s Market
Much of April is spent jumping up our large selection of heirloom tomatoes and huge array of herbs that were all started in the basement throughout the past few months. The herbs are now enjoying the solar warmth of the greenhouses. I’m still starting new plantings of lettuce heads for transplanting throughout the next few months. Our best selling varieties are ‘Baby Star’ romaine and ‘Esmeralda,’ a butter head lettuce for spring and early summer production.
We have been harvesting some beautiful heads of ‘Winter Density’ romaine from the high tunnel that were planted late November and wintered over before starting their growth mid-March into April.
Summer flowers
The next couple of weeks will be spent digging and dividing 20 some varieties of day lilies for summer sales as well as hostas, coneflowers, black-eyed susan’s, and several varieties of perennial grasses. We pride ourselves in providing winter-hardy perennials, grown on the farm and proven to withstand our harsh winter climates.
Ed has been busy with the farm-to-food program at McKinley School. We provided the students with a spring lettuce/spinach salad for their program on April 15, and Ed showed up as a guest speaker bringing a few of our Angora rabbits for the kids to play with. We shared with them the importance of rabbits in our farm production as they provide a great fertilizer as well as serve as a source for meat and wool.
Easter Egg Hunts: How to Hard Boil Eggs
So with Easter around the corner, here’s my quick lesson in boiling farm fresh eggs: Start with a pan of cold water add your eggs and bring to a boil, boil for five minutes, turn off heat. I take the back of a heavy spoon and tap each egg to crack the shell and plunge into ice cold water. This aids in peeling the eggs and the process of starting in cold water keeps the yolks from getting that green color around the yolk. If you plan on coloring your eggs eliminated the cracking of the shell. As long as you keep the colored eggs refrigerated until the kids do their Easter egg hunt you can use them for a plate of deviled eggs for your Easter dinner.
Check out my mom’s deviled egg recipe is great for kids and adults as well as a more grown-up version with smoked salmon.
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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. |
