Early Carrots and the Chard has arrived!

Hi all:
Another week, another harvest. Here is the pre-dawn view out my 'office window', ie over the garden. Just awesome!
And here is the pre-dawn view of the western part of the farm. The moon over that maple tree always gets me this time of year. Makes waking up at 4 am totally worth it. Well, almost, the vegetables make up for the rest ;-).

And here comes the sun. Sunrise and sunset are real treats here at the farm. This morning's was no exception.

Here is a shot from the harvest I did on Tuesday for Barrels Community Market in Waterville. I use kneepads in the garden when harvesting or weeding. You only get one body and it makes sense to take care of it! We have a lot of rocks here in Maine and my knees don't appreciate rocks the way some might.

Another shot from Tuesday's spinach harvest. Yes, this was taken on the 15th of June. Yes, that's a winter hat and fleece coat. Yes, that's a piece of spinach bigger than my head!

Now onto this week's share. Chard!!! What an awesome veggie. Color and flavor and good for you too. What else can you ask for? this is a braising vegetable though you can certainly eat it raw and we often too. Also, cut the stalks from the leaves and use them for crunch in a salad or stir-fry. I can't stand croutons and don't get me started on 'Bacon Bits'. But when I need extra crunch in my salad, I use chard stalks. They're better and more colorful!

Here is a shot to remind people about some of the choices I make in bagging. The carrot on the left was given to the pigs. The one on the right went into someone's share bag. A little crack or blemish is not worth wasting an entire carrot, or whatever vegetable is in question. However, sometimes the deformity warrants the food being tossed to compost or animals!

Early carrots which were actually planted last October and overwintered nicely in the garden. They are sweeter for having been in the cold. This is only a teaser with thinnings and baby carrots. We have lots more on the way and I just planted some more at that! Hope you like them. Don't forget the carrot tops (when they're young) make excellent pesto that is amazingly good for you! This is why we leave the tops on when they are baby carrots. When they are older we use them in the compost as they are a bit too bitter for pesto.

We also included a new lettuce mix. This red/green mix consists of Tango (green) and Red Salad Bowl. I really like this mix for color and good flavor. The Tango is a first cutting which makes it more tender than later cuttings.

I have to run to Bangor now for deliveries but plan to do another couple of blogs this week about things you'll see in our garden that don't exist in the industrial 'food' system. Until then, check out this interplanting of beans and lettuce.

Enjoy!