Our irises bloomed this week

I’m a little late getting a menu plan posted this week.  That’s because last weekend was Alumni Reunion weekend, and extraordinarily busy for band director/rifle coach/corps of drums director/Lancer Band director type folks.  Barely a moment to breathe!

However, our asparagus has recovered from the wacko weather, so we’re back to harvesting twice a day, and distributing it widely.  I’m actually a bit tired of eating it already this year, which is strange.  I think the weather had us actually eating a bit more, because there wasn’t really enough harvest to sell during the frosts and freezes, but there was some to eat.

Keeping up with the meal plan combined with busy season both at work and on the farm, plus the start of the farmers’ market season, has been rough.  I just don’t have the energy I used to before developing this autoimmune thingy.  Nonetheless, I feel good that we pretty much stayed on menu last week through Wednesday.  This week is a transitional one, then the following will be grad week – the most insane of the year.  But summer is in sight!

New from the farm: The asparagus and radishes are the main fare right now.  Hopefully salad greens will be along shortly.  Can’t believe they’ve been this long.

Groceries: Whole Foods – $13.  Kroger – $128.17.  Park N’ Shop – $42.92.

Our medlar trees are blooming profusely!

The weather really kicked us last week.  4 days of frost and a 29 degree frost, meaning we lost about 50 pounds of asparagus harvest.  Sigh.  Also, our almond trees, tree cherries (but not bush cherries), peaches, and nectarines all failed to bloom this year!

On the other hand, our medlar trees are blooming like crazy!  Medlars are a fruit that was very popular during the medieval era.  Similar to persimmons, they are left on the tree to ripen and soften (actually, bletted – over-ripened and softened.  They are inedible until this occurs), giving fruit at a time of year it often is not available locally.  I actually don’t know if we like medlars or not.  Our trees are new, and we had one set last year. We waited until it was ready to eat, but something else ate it before we had the chance…  Rare fruit can be a challenge. Our hazelnuts are also blooming!

Getting this thing off, rolled up hill, and into the truck by myself nearly killed me. In addition to the rim, hub, tire, and tube, the thing was filled with about 380 pounds of water and calcium chloride for ballast!

This week will be an enormous challenge.  It’s crazy busy at work, with alumni reunion weekend taking top billing in the mind of band directors.  Lots of ceremonies and performances from Thursday all the way through Sunday.  We’re also crazy busy in the garden – way behind planting and transplanting due to the weather, my illness, and having a flat tractor tire last week at a horribly inopportune moment (is there ever a good time to have a tractor problem?).  Also, I’m going to need to set up irrigation – despite the flooding of the past couple of weeks, our sand is already dry, and it’s not supposed to rain again for at least a week.  Can’t transplant seedlings into a desert and expect them to take hold!

This menu is ambitious given the schedule, but I think I stand a chance of making it happen…

New from the farm: The asparagus is starting to make a comeback.  Rhubarb is being harvested, as are radishes.  Fresh herbs are starting to come in as well, adding a great boost to flavors.  Normally we’d be awash in salad greens, but they’re still at least a week from harvest.

Groceries: Kroger –

Some of our Asparagus harvest. We usually harvest about 800 pounds of asparagus a year!

Last week, the asparagus really started to come in.  This is always an exciting, if somewhat exhausting time on the farm.  We’re focused on getting much of our planting done, but also harvesting asparagus at least once a day.  Sometimes twice a day!

Asparagus is an important marker on our farm.  It starts the season of great fresh eating.  It also marks the point where we start to have a positive cash flow.  And, because the market hasn’t started yet, we get to visit a lot of our customers as we deliver the asparagus.  It’s also pretty.

Last week was a bit tough keeping on-menu, so you’ll see some repeats.  They’re repeats on the plan, not so much repeat meals, because I never made them.  This next few weeks is going to be extraordinarily crazy as we pack three months worth of activities into four weeks of school, plus the farmers’ market  starts up (I’m the vendor coordinator, so in addition to being a vendor ourselves, we’re organizing the other vendors).  If I can manage even eating one home-prepared meal a day over the next several weeks, Ill consider it a success!

New from the farm: The asparagus is reaching it’s peak.  Rhubarb and radishes are coming along.  Salad greens are running a bit behind due to all of the cold weather lately…

Groceries: Kroger – $98.13

Old Fashioned Bleeding Heart blossom

We survived parents’ weekend! Actually, it was a very successful weekend, musically.  It wasn’t pretty as far as following the meal plan (and, in truth, involved way too many cookies, too much ice cream, and too many dining hall meals).  This week, I need to get refocused on following the meal plan.

Also, you may have noticed the addition of a lilac photo last week.  I decided to add a bit of photo gratitude to the menus, so each week I plan to include a photo of something on the farm that is indicative of the week and makes me happy.  The last week was rainy, and started a change in the types of flowers that are blooming.  I spent a bit of time in the rain Saturday morning playing with my macro extension tubes.  The wind was annoying (when you’re 1/2″ from your photo subject, and it moves just a little bit, it’s gonna go out of focus), but I enjoyed the quiet time in the midst of a crazy weekend.  Had a hard time deciding on the one to use for the post, though.  Here are others I thought were worthwhile.  Which should I have used?

• Wild strawberry blossom
• Orange wildflower
• Redbud blossoms
• More redbud blossoms

New from the farm: The asparagus is really coming in strong!

Groceries: