Weather Forecast: Tuesday, sunny, 70 degrees F; Wednesday, 65 degrees F
Sounds like the Tuesday group may hit the weather jackpot this week! But if there's one thing I know for sure after farming for so many years, it's that weather forecasts are frequently wrong. So, we'll just need to be flexible and roll with whatever Nature sends our way.
Last week we split you up into groups, with half of you learning about soil biology management in the orchard and the other half working with the annual vegetable beds. This week (weather permitting) we'll take everyone over to the orchard to do a little scouting. Then those of you who didn't get over there last week will have the opportunity to work on improving the orchard's soil biology while those that worked in the orchard last week will come back to the vegetable gardens to work on bed preparation and planting.
The rain and warmth we've had during the past two weeks has really pushed bud development along on all of the fruit trees. John and I have been working hard to try to finish up pruning before the buds get too tender for us to continue that work. John has also been applying "holistic" sprays to the trees, to support the health of the trees and disrupt insect and disease cycles. We'll tell you a bit about those this week, as well as another kind of "disruption" we use to cut down on predation from certain types of pests like Oriental Fruit Moth and Codling Moth. It's called "mating disruption" and it works by flooding the orchard with the pheromone emitted by the female moths, making it a lot harder for the males to find them to mate. Less mating =
less egg laying = fewer worms in my apples!
You don't need to read this entire article, but the first
graphic ("Mating Disruption") is a nice visual aid to help you
understand how this process works: http://jenny.tfrec.wsu.edu/opm/displaySpecies.php?pn=-80 . See those twist-tie like things in the trees in section B of the graphic? Those are the pheromone dispensers that I'm going to have to put in every tree in the orchard. It's quite a job! I hope to have it done by the time the Tuesday group comes out, but if I don't, maybe some of you can help me finish it up.
If we get a rainy day this week I will keep my promise to teach you vermi-composting. This 9 minute video explains how vermi-compost can be a powerful tool in building soil biology that protects and nurtures healthy plant growth: http://cwmi.css.cornell.edu/vermicompost.htm. Watching this video always makes me wonder what could happen if every neighborhood had a worm farm to compost its food waste!
If the weather is at least relatively dry, we'll take a detour from the gardens
and head into the woods to do some foraging. And we'll talk about the
role of foraging in the local foods movement. This article gives a good
example of what can happen when a marketplace mentality is applied to
wild foods: http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-urban-foraging-wild-onions-met-20150510-story.html.
So that you will be prepared to forage with good intentions, your assignment before coming to the farm is to do a little research to get to know the plant we'll be looking for: "ramps" or "wild leeks". Search online and see what else you can find out about this plant. Post one "fun fact" plus a link to a recipe that you plan to make with the ramps you harvest.
It was interesting to read a little about ramps – it reminded me of the craze surrounding Morel mushrooms. When I was growing up, I always thought it was weird that our town up north had a Morel mushroom festival, seeing as they’d grow on our property all the time. They didn’t seem particularly special to me. It turns out the same kind of thing definitely happens with ramps; they’re way more popular than I’d realized. It’s kind of crazy how certain foods end up becoming so popular and trendy. The idea of a food’s appeal being tied to its scarcity is so strange to me, and honestly kind of disturbing. Even if these foods are rather tasty, their popularity is a little overwhelming. I think that people are right to remind us to think about long term populations and sustainability when it comes to these foods.
ReplyDeleteFun fact: Ramps can take up to four years to flower and reproduce! (That’s according to this article - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/24/what-are-ramps_n_7128438.html)
As I mentioned during our first class, when it comes to food, I absolutely love pasta. I thought it might be worth looking into pesto recipes that incorporate ramps, as that is something that I love to eat. It turns out that there are a lot of recipes floating around; it seems that this is a pretty common way to use them.
I’ll leave a couple of the recipes here:
https://foodandstyle.com/ramp-pesto/
http://www.tinyurbankitchen.com/ramps-pesto/
I'm excited to go and forege for some ramps! The most "foreging" I have ever done was looking for wild blue berry, black berry, and rasberry bushes. I am interested to actually forege for something that isn't a berry, and then trying my hand out at cooking with it. As I was looking up recipies to use with the ramps I found that several of the recipies were just subsituting scallions with ramps, which kind of makes sense considering that they are part of the same family along with onions (this is my fun fact! I found it here: http://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Ramps_775.php). That website also told me that ramps contain a lot of vitamin C so that is really great!
ReplyDeleteAs far as what to actually cook with them, I am leaning towards two difference recipies that both are actually recipies that call for scallions. After consulting my friend who is talented in cooking, I decided to try and just subsitute the scallions for my ramps, as she said it would taste just as good. The first thing I am considering cooking is a scallion pancake, but with ramps. It sounds and looks declious: http://www.crumbblog.com/flaky-chinese-style-ramp-pancakes/ The second thing I am concidering cooking is a much more complicated dish, but I am only considering it because my friend promised to come over and cook it with me. That is a twice-cooked pork dish with vegtables found here : https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1794-twice-cooked-pork
Ramps - Wild Ramps grow in groups strongly rooted just beneath the surface of the soil.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.saveur.com/jose-enriques-ramp-escabeche-recipe
Wild Leeks - Leeks have a mild, onion-like taste.
http://www.food.com/recipe/potato-and-wild-leek-soup-419711
I'm surprised I've never heard of these, considering the praise they receive from chefs. One interesting fact I learned about these tiny vegetables is that they are commonly overharvested. It is recommended that harvesters only cut the leaves off and leave the bulbs intact.
ReplyDeleteHere is a link that describes their importance from a culinary perspective:
http://www.eater.com/2015/4/10/8384255/everything-youve-always-wanted-to-know-about-ramps
This link also describes the taste difference between ramps, scallions, and leeks. I want to try a raw ramp...which I might regret.
What always gets me about humans (as a species) is how greedy we are. Similar to what Rachel said, yes, foraging can be a great experience, BUT we've managed to ruin that incredible experience by allowing our needy hands to get in the way. The article about Chicago reminds me a common tale in extinction ecology about passenger pigeons. Just several decades ago they were so common that their meat costed less than a dollar, and majority of it was left to rot because there was a massive overflow. There have been enough documentations to believe that their flocks covered the sky and their sound (wing beating) could be heard for miles away. But in just few years, the species went completely extinct. When there were evidences to suspect a possible decline in population, people refuted it, claiming that those were isolated events - well now we don't have passenger pigeons anymore. Yes, leeks might be an accessible food source, but again, we need to question what "accessible" means in this scenario. How many people can really afford to walk around and pull out greens for fun?
ReplyDeleteMy fun fact is that there are two leeks, Chinese leeks and the wild leeks here in US - which explains why I could never find any in grocery stores.
https://www.melissas.com/Chinese-Leek-p/550.htm
I really missed fragrant greens like leeks and spring onions because in Korean food they are very heavily used as spices and the food is not quite the same without them. I don't know if I can do it with Western Leeks, but I would like to make cucumber Kimchi flavored with leeks if possible. The link isn't identical to what I have in mind but lot of the ingredients can be substituted.
https://eatpersimmon.wordpress.com/2012/08/09/korean-leek-kimchi-recipe/
I found ramps to be interesting. Especially the problem with over foraging due to this ramp craze. I find this problem to be, both, interesting and sad as some groups of humans can completely harm the number of wild ramps.
ReplyDeleteFun Fact:
Apparently, the high vitamin C in ramps has been used by mountaineers to save themselves from scurvy and other nutritional maladies. -http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-urban-foraging-wild-onions-met-20150510-story.html
Recipe #1: Ramp and chorizo Quesadillas
-http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/05/ramp-week-chorizo-quesadillas.html
Recipe #2: Fried egg with bacon and ramps
-http://www.seriouseats
.com/2015/04/ramp-scallion-spring-recipes.html
Fun Fact:
ReplyDeleteRamps are not usually growed by large industrilized farms, so people can barely see ramps in supermarket. Ramps are usually sold in farmers market during April to May. The shape of ramps looks like rabbit ears. According to the word of chinese blogers, ramps taste like chinese chives (they are sold in asian market).
Receip:
Mapo Tofu with Ramps Recipe
by J. Kenji López-Alt
-http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/04/mapo-dofu-tofu-with-ramps-recipe.html
Fun fact about ramps: The entire plant is edible, even the roots. This is why foraging can be so dangerous since it is not often a piece of the ramp is left behind.
ReplyDeleteRecipe 1, "Chickens in the Road": Fried Ramps with Potatoes and Eggs
Recipe 2, "A Little Zaftig": Wild Ramps Cream Cheese
Fun Fact: ramps contain high doses of Vitamin C!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Ramps_775.php
Recipe: Buttermilk Ramp Biscuits (yum!)
https://food52.com/recipes/11694-buttermilk-ramp-biscuits?utm_source=cj&affil=cj&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Food52+Outdoor+Goods+Page&company=Skimlinks&website=7112259
Fun Fact: There is an actual black market for ramps in Quebec! I read a whole article about it (http://modernfarmer.com/2014/06/theres-black-market-ramps-quebec/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=huffpost&utm_campaign=partner) and found the following quote, which was too funny not to share!
ReplyDelete"In 1995 foraging of ramps for commercial purposes was banned in the province and the plant was listed as a vulnerable species. Under the ban, anyone caught with more than 50 bulbs is subject to a minimum $500 fine. In the past few years there have been several notable arrests of ramp smugglers caught red handed with hockey bags (oh, Canada) filled with freshly picked bulbs."
A recipe for pickled ramps! : https://www.thespruce.com/pickled-ramps-recipe-1327782
Wild leeks are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, selenium and chromium!! All very important for the body, and selenium is especially unique because it's a mineral necessary for optimal metabolic function and isn't found in most foods! So eat up!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping to find and take home quite a bit of this today, both the leaves & bulbs, because I'm going to make pesto! I'll mix a big pile of the leaves & bulbs with another big pile of Garlic mustard leaves & roots that I picked at the Arborerum yesterday, with some walnuts and olive oil, salt & garlic! I'll blend this all together and pour over some spaghetti squash for some garlic mustard wild leek pesto noodles :-)) I will definitely take photos and let you all know how it goes!
Ramps have a short season so there quantities are very limited. They are also one of the first veggies to emerge from the soil after defrosting from.
ReplyDeleteA recipe for ramp pizza: https://smittenkitchen.com/2013/04/ramp-pizza/
Similar to Anika's post about the ramp black market, I also found a lot of information about how illegal ramps are in some parts of Canada. They are considered a delicacy but are also under protection as a threatened species by Quebec legislation. No one is allowed to harvest or possess more than 200 grams of ramps per year and all commercial transaction is prohibited so they cannot be served in restaurants.
ReplyDeletehttp://wildwestvirginiaramps.com/wild-ramps-brief-introduction/
This is a cool looking recipe for vegetarian ramp quiche: http://www.vegetarianventures.com/loaded-vegetable-spring-quiche/
Also, ramp drop biscuits look super yummy! http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/05/ramp-drop-biscuits-recipe.html