Author: Five Feline Farm

Shopping the Farmer’s Market

Farmer’s Markets are in full swing throughout the country. It is mid-summer and produce is bountiful. How do you make the most of your Farmer’s Market shopping?

There are a couple of ways to approach your shopping, depending on your cooking style. Do you like to have a plan for your week’s menus ready and shop for only specific items? Or, do you decide meal by meal what sounds good to you and your family?

For Planners

If you are one of those who starts out the week with a full menu planned, it will be helpful if you know what is in season in your area. In season crops will be fresher and typically lower cost. You can always swap out an ingredient or two if you can’t find what you want or if something else is more economical. 

Ask vendors what they expect to bring to market in the future. Most vendors will be able to give you an idea what is ripening in the near future.

For Impulsives

Take a quick walk around the market and review what is available. Then go back and make your purchases. Think about how much produce your family can realistically eat. 

Once you get home, take a few minutes to wash and store your produce properly so it will last through the week. While you do this is a good time to at least make a mental plan of what dishes you can prepare.

For Both

Consider preserving some of your finds. Early August has tomatoes and peaches plentiful in much of the mid-West. Make peach preserves. Can tomato juice. Peppers are also available and can be combined with those lovely tomatoes for fresh salsa. 

Talk to the vendors. Ask about where their produce originates. Did they buy somewhere else and are re-selling? Did the vendor grow their own vegetables, herbs and fruits? Also ask about how items were grown? Vendors should be able to tell you if pesticides or herbicides are used if they are growing produce themselves? Vendors will also give suggestions about how to use different items.

As you are looking around the Farmer’s Market, be sure to take advantage of non-produce offerings. Most markets include craft vendors as well. Handmade soaps, jams, jellies and baked goods are available offering an alternative to the big box stores. 

Shopping local Farmer’s Markets makes good nutrition and financial sense. Not only are you gaining a fresher product for your table, but your support of local farmers is a welcome boost to the economy. 

Grilled Sweet Corn

It is that time of year in Central Illinois for sweet corn to be available in ample supply. We are growing a lot of our own vegetables but we made the decision not to grow sweet corn. To do sweet corn well and in the quantity we like to freeze, it takes a good size plot. We have the room, but have dedicated our efforts to other crops. 

In our continued quest to eat more local and healthy, what better way than looking around the Farmer’s Market after we set up our own booth? There is plenty of sweet corn available at the 18th Street Farmer’s Market. 

One of our favorite ways to enjoy corn on the cob is to grill it. 

To grill sweet corn, remove the outer dark green husks, leaving the lighter colored inner husks intact. Cut off the exposed silks and any extra cob on the other end. Soak the ears in cold water for about 30 minutes. Just enough time to get the charcoal grill ready to cook.

Throw the corn on the grates, turning every 10 minutes or so until the husk is charred on all sides. Remove from the grill and carefully remove the husks and silks. The best way I have found to do this: hold the cob in one hand protected by a hot pad while stripping away the husk and silk with the other. 

Serve with butter, salt and pepper for a classic summer treat. There are a number of equally good variations to spread on the corn: equal parts butter and blue cheese mixed together, substitute seasoned salt for the salt and pepper, just to name a couple. Another option is prior to grilling, peel back the husks, remove silks and spread with equal parts butter and prepared horseradish.

No matter how you enjoy your corn on the cob, grill a couple extra for this rainy day dish.

Roasted Corn and Potato Chowder

3 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes

2 ears of roasted corn, cut off the cob

2 cups milk

3 Tbsp butter

1/4 tsp Penzey’s Chipotle (ground red)

1/4 tsp Penzey’s Roasted Garlic

1 tsp minced cilantro

1 Tbsp finely shredded parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Boil potatoes in salted water until fork tender. Drain. While the potatoes are draining, melt the butter in the same pot. Add corn and stir until heated thoroughly. Add Chipotle, Roasted Garlic, salt and pepper. Stir for about 30 seconds until the seasonings are distributed and fragrant. Add potatoes and milk. Heat through over low heat, stirring occasionally. 

Ladle into bowls and garnish with parmesan and cilantro. 

There is always something new to enjoy here at Five Feline Farm. Thanks for stopping by and check in often on Facebook and Twitter to see the latest. 

Garlic Scapes

What Are Garlic Scapes?

Garlic scapes are the tender end of the shoot in hard neck garlic varieties. As the plant grows in springtime, it sends up a shoot that is tender at first and later turns into bulbils. Those tiny bits of garlic are also edible. The scape is this white end and the first 5-6 inches of tender shoot. 

Harvest

When the shoot has a whitish end that looks like a bloom is starting to form, the scape is ready. The green part may be curled back on itself. Snap off the shoot approximately 4-6 inches below the end just as you would asparagus. The plant will snap off at it’s tender point. 

Use

Scapes taste like garlic. The flavor is lighter than garlic cloves but still clearly garlic. Dice and stir into any dish where you would use garlic. Scapes may be sautéed as is, chopped as a garnish for lettuce salad, used to flavor pasta salad, fried with potatoes or any number of dishes where garlic is a complement. Garlic scapes may also be pickled.
This past week we tried scapes in an asian inspired dish.

Beef Curry over Coconut Rice noodles.

6 ounces filet, trimmed of visible fat and cut into thin strips

5 garlic scapes, washed and chopped into a fine dice

1 inch piece of fresh ginger root, finely diced

1/2 can coconut milk

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/2 package rice noodles, prepared according to package directions

2 cups chopped cabbage

2 Tbsp olive oil

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

curry seasoning to taste

Sauté the filet, garlic and ginger until beef starts to lose pink color. Add chopped cabbage, black pepper and cook until tender crisp. Add soy sauce and curry seasoning. Stir until heated through. Meanwhile, in a saucepan heat the coconut milk, add chopped rice noodles, stirring until heated through. 

Serve beef and cabbage mixture over noodles. Add Sriracha sauce if desired. 

The use of garlic scapes is limited only by your imagination. As an added bonus, snapping off the scapes will divert the plant’s energy into bulb development. So not only does the gardener get a fresh taste of garlic in the spring, the fall harvest will be improved.

If you have garlic, give scapes a try. If you don’t have your own and you are in the Charleston area, stop by the 18th Street Farmer’s Market this Saturday and pick up some from us.
 
 

How Do You Do All That?

One of the most frequently asked questions about the Farm is “how do you have the time to do all this?” It’s a question we even ask ourselves sometimes. There are only two of us working this hobby farm. No employees, no volunteers, no interns. There are some things that we do contract, but those are the big things like installing a generator or building a garage. The day-to-day is all us. 

There is always something to be done. Build garden beds. Plant those gardens. Inspect the beehives. Prepare for the 18th Street Farmer’s Market. Document what we do on the blog and Facebook. Not to mention the regular everyday chores that keep a household running. 

And of course cater to the every whim of the felines. 

We tend to be self-reliant and try to figure out a way to do for ourselves whenever possible. That includes lots of hard physical labor, repurposing, creating and constant improvements to the Farm. 

Back to the question at hand. How do we have time to do all this? 

Everyone has the same 24 hours a day. It is all in how you choose to spend your 24 hours. It is important to us to build this hobby farm into a viable business, so we make decisions about our time accordingly. 

Sometimes it comes down to planning. What thing can be accomplished in the 15 minutes before signing on to the computer for work?  It only takes a minute to pour leftover apple cider into a jar and cover it with cheesecloth to make vinegar. Maybe 30 seconds more to add a bit of mother from a previous batch.

We try to break down projects into manageable tasks. Preparing for new package bees requires location preparation, hive box building, setting up the new hive and preparing a starter batch of two gallons of syrup per hive. All of that happens before the bees actually arrive. These steps have been in progress for over two months with each step wedged in whenever time allows.

Lists are key. When life gets busy there is typically a to-do list on the kitchen counter. Either of us who has a spare moment will check the list and take care of a task that will fit into that moment. This keeps us focused and gives a sense of achievement when we can scratch through the final task on a list.

So it really is a matter of choices, planning and hard work. We look for efficiencies to maximize our time and effort, but there is no shortcut to doing a job well.  

Thank you for following our blog and your interest in Five Feline Farm. We’re always up to something, so keep an eye on our Facebook page for up to the minute action.