Aug 10, 2010                                                                                  Check out our website www.greencroftgardens.com

Green Croft Gardens News

What’s happening on the Farm?

Much has happened since our last newsletter in February. It always amazes me how quickly the crops are growing once they reach that critical point of no return. We’ve been enjoying our rented field and we do have the nicest carrot patch we have ever grown, thanks to preparation of the soil and timely weeding. Thanks also to Donna for your persistent weeding. At home our fields have been mostly kept summer fallowed and most are now seeded in a green manure crop.  My kale and leek patch that was left for seed looks great. Kale seeds need to get harvested now and I am hoping for a long mild fall so I can get some viable leek seed this year. We planted a strawberry patch with ever bearing strawberries and we have been harvesting some very delicious berries for a few weeks. We are looking forward to a great crop next year. Our garlic has been harvested 3 weeks ago and is drying in our packing shed. The raspberries had a hard time last winter and were not as productive as we hoped for but our late crop is starting to bloom now and we should have some raspberries till it freezes. We had very good helpers this season from Germany, Finland, France, Bolivia and of course our son Philip’s friends from Grindrod and Enderby. 

We also helped organize the Riverside Music Festival July 18 with Philips band Clayvious which was a great success. Then last weekend we helped with our Grindrod Days Centennial Celebrations and just because I am a little crazy I took on the organizing of the Grindrod Garlic Festival Aug 22.

I am very excited about this event and everything is coming together nicely. The rest of our time we spend harvesting, preparing and going to the local farmers markets to sell our produce. O.K. I forgot we are also building a new cold storage, 4 times the size of our old one and the bed and breakfast is ready for anyone who would like to spend some great time in Grindrod on the farm and by the river. We will have an open house when the cold storage is finished. 

The Farm Animals

We had lots of lambs (16) this year and I decided to reduce my herd from 14  to 10 ewes. Our goats are doing great and all the new milkers are milking quite good. I have all the kids still with them so I can skip some milkings when I am too busy or have too much milk. Tomorrow I will get the ewes shorn. They will be happy to loose some wool and not be so hot anymore. The turkeys were very broody and sat on their eggs but nothing happened and then I gave them chicken eggs and nothing happend and now after 3 moths of trying they finally gave up and are running around again. I felt so bad for them. We only have one tom left and maybe there will be not so much competition and they will have fertile eggs next year. All the horses are doing fine teaching young riders confidence, patience and persistence. We got two kittens to join our old cat Clay. Their names are Sage and Clayvious. They are my upcoming mouse control team and the boys band room cats. Our dogs Tibo and Roo were not so impressed but have gotten used to them now.

Where are we selling this month?

Kelowna Farmers Market every Wednesday and Saturday!

Kingfisher Market every Wednesday 11 am - 1 pm till the end of August

Enderby Open Air Market every Friday 9 am - 1 pm

Vernon Friday Night Farmers from 3 pm - 7 pm

At the farm every Tuesday and  Thursday afternoon

Produce for Sale

We have great crops coming out of our gardens;  red and yellow potatoes, rainbow carrots, orange carrots, golden beets, candy beets, red beets, celery, assorted lettuce, rainbow chard, cabbage, Italian salad onions, cipollini onions, shallots, walla walla onions, yugoslavian garlic, garlic braids, zucchini, patti pan zucchini, raspberries, strawberries, green and yellow beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, 

Recipe of the Month

Beet Salad

Wash beets and trim off greens. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil; add beets and cook, covered, until beets are tender. Remove from heat, drain; peel and slice when cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Add beets and toss to coat. Let stand for several hours, stirring occasionally. Serve at room temperature or chill.

Citrus-Ginger Roasted Beets and Carrots

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Set aside 1/2 cup each of the beets and carrots for the dressing. Place the remaining beets and carrots in a 9”x13” inch baking dish, drizzle with 1 Tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and toss to coat. Cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Bake the vegetables in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the reserved beets and carrots in a blender. Add the  juices, vinegar, honey, ginger, soy sauce, and remaining  tablespoon olive oil. Blend until smooth. After the vegetables have roasted for 15 minutes, stir in the citrus sauce, then re-cover, and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender, about 45 minutes more.

Beet Information

Red beets are an extremely healthy root vegetable. Like other vegetables that are deeply coloured, they are high in antioxidants. A diet rich in these types of vegetables has been shown to be heart healthy and may aid in the prevention of some cancers.

Different varieties of beets are now available at local markets. Lovely golden beets don’t “bleed” like red ones and are sweeter and milder in flavour. An Italian heirloom variety, Chiogga or Striped Beets, have attractive circles of red and white inside. 

Handling & Storage

• Don't throw away the green leafy tops as they are very nutritious and can be cooked like spinach.
• Cut beet greens off, an inch from the root, and store separately in the fridge. Use the greens within 3 days; large roots can keep for weeks.
• Don’t peel beets before cooking. Scrub and boil until they can be pierced by a sharp knife; slip the skins off when cool .
• Use a large pot so the steam doesn’t stain your stove top red!

Serving Suggestions

• Grate raw beets finely as a beautiful addition to your green salads. 
• Beets go well with roasted chicken, duck and pork. 
• Garlic, shallots and onions pair well with beets. 
• Enjoy hot beets with drizzled butter, fresh herbs or seasonings such as cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger, lemon or orange zest and salt and pepper.
• Roasting brings out the beet’s flavour to the fullest. 
• For an attractive presentation, cook red, gold and striped beets separately but serve them together, cold or hot.

Icelandic Lamb skins

We got our beautiful and soft lambskins tanned and are selling them for $ 120 each. 

You can choose from colours white, black and brown.

Wool products

We are offering 

• Beautiful Icelandic raw fleece from our summer shearing in multi colours $ 25 per fleece
• Wool bats for spinning, felting $2 per oz
• Roving for easy spinning, hooking and felting $2 per oz
• Hand spun wool in many natural colours for $4 - 5 per oz
• Handmade cozy slippers, hats and scarves.

Come Join us for the Garlic Festival August 22 !

check the garlic page on our website www.greencroftgardens.com

                                                                                            The First Annual 

GRINDROD GARLIC FESTIVAL

at the Grindrod Park

  Sunday,  August 22,  2010

10 am - 5 pm

Admission by Donation

  8:30 - Pancake Breakfast

  8:00 - 10:00 – Garlic Competition entry drop times. 

            Judging to be announced

10:00 - Vendor Sales start

10:00 - Musical Entertainment

11:00 - Children’s Games at the Bouncy Tent

11:00 - Garlic Eating Contest

11:30 - Garlic Growing Workshop

12:00 - Musical Entertainment

  1:00 - Garlic Cleaning Contest

  1:30 - Garlic Cook off Competition

    2:00 - Band – CLAYVIOUS

  3:00 - Children’s Games at the Bouncy Tent

  3:30 - Garlic Braiding competition

  4:00 - Silent Auction closes

  4.30 - Musical Entertainment - Robert

Ongoing throughout the Day: 

Concession Stand,  Vendors,   Silent Auction,  Grindrod Centennial Tent with stories and pictures from the past, T-shirts and Centennial Pins on sale,  Seed Swap Display,  Bouncy Tent,  

The Garlic Festival vendors will offer a great variety of products:

Garlic, Garlic Braids, Organic Produce, Honey, Pottery, Healing Products, Flours And Grains, Native Flutes, Arts and Crafts,  Jewelry, Garlic Cook Books, Seeds, Cut Flowers, Lavender, Soaps and Body Products, Paintings and Greeting Cards and  Everything Garlic         

Garlic Festival Contests

Best Hard Neck Garlic

Best Soft Neck Garlic

Best Coloured Garlic

Biggest Garlic any variety

Most unusual shaped Garlic 

Best Garlic Braid

Most varieties of Garlic

Best Garlic pickles

Best home-baked garlic bread

Bring your entries to the Garlic Festival between 8 and 10 am August 22 

We will also have:

• A garlic eating contest 

Who can peel and eat the most raw garlic in a set time limit.

• A garlic cleaning contest

Who can clean and prepare garlic for market the fastest.

• A garlic cook off

Contestants will get the same ingredients and will have to prepare a dish of their choice.

• A Garlic braiding Contest

Contestants will braid a garlic braid with the same number of garlic. It will be judged by speed and appearance.

We will have Kids Garlic games

and a garlic growing workshop by Ian Richardson from Rocky Ridge Farm in Mara

You can sign up for these contests or the workshop at the garlic info tent