Valley City Farmers Market Pictures

Here are some more pictures from Valley City Farmers Market this past weekend.

Cooking at the Farm

I do not live where I grow so when I get hungry I either have to bring food with me or pick food to eat.  So the other day, I brought foil, butter, some of my greens and garlic seasoning, some sausage, a knife and a fork and in the end this is what I ended up with.

 

I picked a scallion, a turnip, garlic, some celery, a three summer squashes, some sweet peppers, a green tomato, some broccoli, snow peas and shelling peas, and some swiss chard (that is not in the picture).

I put some butter in the foil first cut up all the veggies, mixed in some of my garlic and greens seasoning,  put some more butter on top and sealed it up real well.  Put it on the grill for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the veggies are tender, and done!

I also did this again just recently and added some beans and cucumbers to the mix, I did not have them producing in the first time.  You can basically do this with a mix of any vegetables that you like, no mater what it still tastes awesome.  It is great for cookouts, instead of just having hamburgers and hotdogs you can have a bunch of veggies too! 

Rats Tail Radishes

This is the first year that I have grown Rats Tail Radishes and I will, for sure, be growing them again.  Rats tail radishes are not grown for their roots (in fact they do not grow roots like regular radishes) but are instead grown for their seed pods.  Actually you can eat the seed pod of all radishes, but rats tail radishes are grown specifically for their seed pods.  So the seed pods of other radishes may be edible but will most likely not taste as good as rats tail radishes do.  They taste much like regular radish roots but are not quite as strong tasting, which can make them a wonderful addition to salads, you do not even have to cut them you can just throw them in.  They can also be great added to stir-fries and can even be pickled.

Rat's Tail Radishes are an Asian heirloom that began being grown in gardens in the US in the 1860's.  The great thing about this radish is that it may be grown all summer long since it actually likes the heat.  Most radishes will go to seed (bolt) when it is too hot (and will not produce a good root), well that is not a worry with rat's tail radishes since bolting is what you want them to do.

Unfortunately my first planting of rat's tail radishes is almost done producing, but I do have another planting in the ground that I should be able to start picking from in a few weeks.

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What's Growing Update:
Just thought I would let everyone know how things are growing and what you can expect to be available over the next few weeks.

~ Peas ~ They are slowing down but my guess is I should have some type of peas available for at the next week or two.
~ Turnips ~ Sadly I have almost pulled all my turnips for this spring.  I should still have some for this next market, but that may be it until the fall, when I will be planting some more.j
~ Lettuce ~ Lots of people have been asking about lettuce.  I have a bunch of summer lettuces and greens growing right now but it will still be at least 2 or 3 more weeks before my summer salad mix is available.  Of coarse in the fall I will have all my main salad mixes available again, since I am planning on planting a very large variety of lettuces and greens.
~ Mustard Greens ~ I know a lot of people liked the mustard greens, and they will return again in the fall, when I will once again have them available for sale in mixed bunches and also in my Spicy Salad Mix and also mixed bagged mustard greens.
~ Zucchini and Summer Squash ~ My zucchini and summer squash is just now beginning to produce.  I am expecting to have some available for the next market.  Some varieties are ahead of others so I will not have all my varieties of summer squash and zucchini available this week.  The common green zucchini, and a few different varieties of yellow summer squash should be the first that I will be bring to market.
~ Zucchini Bread ~ Of coarse since I am going to be beginning to pick zucchini, I will be able to start making some zucchini bread for market again.

Well that is just a little update of how things are coming along.  If you are wondering exactly what we have available right now check out the list in the column to the right titled "What We Currently Have Available".