Newsletter w/c 22/03/10

Our poly-tunnel arrived on Tuesday, last week, and although I thought it might be quite tricky to construct, I had planned to have it finished by Sunday night. It is now Sunday Night and I’m nowhere near finishing it. I've got all the groundwork done, which has been the time consuming bit. I decided that since we are in such an exposed position, I’d put anchor plates on all the poles. This meant I had to dig out each one by hand. I’m used to digging, so didn’t really think too much about that, until I started and realised that the tunnel is going over the area where all the unwanted stone from our house construction was dumped. It took ages to dig out the stones that were obstructing my anchor holes. Anyway, I’ve got the ground poles in and the hoops in place now, so next bit is the ridge poles and support brackets. Andy is off on holiday this week, so I’ll have to harvest and deliver on my own. This means I probably won’t have a chance to finish the tunnel until next weekend. I’ll get there eventually though.
We’ve now moved our packing operations to the new shed, now that we have lighting and water down there. The team have much more space to work in, and are enjoying the change of scenery, I think!
There are Jerusalem artichokes in the bags again this week. I thought they’d be finished by now, but the late season seems to be helping to hold back the sprouting that usually has me planting them rather than eating them. If you’ve had enough recently you could always plant the tubers in your garden and you can have your own crop late this year/early 2011.
In the field, I’d like to get a move on with ploughing soon, so that we can get the ground fully prepared to re-sow the jerusalem artichokes and get some of the early crops or types that need a long growing season. Andy and I split up the rhubarb plants and replanted them a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t think we’ll get much of a crop from them this year, although they did get and excellent feed round about them. We also di the same for the Lovage.
Next week we hope the standard bags will contain potatoes, carrots and onions, along with swede, broccoli, leek and pepper.
Potatoes Solanum tuberosum. Tatties this week are Remarka a good general purpose potato.. The tatties will be various sizes for a while until they’re big enough to go through the grading machine. Potatoes are the only commonly available source of B3 and Iodine. Excellent source of Vitamin C and also Vitamin B6, Potassium and fibre.
Onion Allium cepa. Used in stews, pasta dishes, soups. Source of Vitamins A and C, Iron, Calcium and Potassium .
Carrot Daucus carota Carrots are eaten fresh in salads or cooked in just about any way you like. They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and also contain significant amounts of Vitamins B, C, D, E and K. and Potassium.
Beetroot Beta vulgaris Contains Vitamin C folic acid and potassium. Can be cooked in various ways, but don’t peel the beet until you’ve boiled it as this stops it ‘bleeding’. My recipe for you this week completely disregards this, so have a pair of rubber gloves and newspaper handy. I’m going to tell you how to make Super Boost Juice – Put on the rubber gloves, spread out a newspaper and peel your beetroot and cut it into chunks. Take 4 apples and quarter and core them. Take 4 carrots and trim and peel them. Take 1cm/1 inch of fresh ginger and peel it. This is easily done by scraping the skin off with the side of a teaspoon. Process all the ingredients through a juicer. Stir and serve immediately, adding ice if desired.
Celeriac (1head). To prepare celeriac, treat it much as you would a swede. Peel it thickly and slice. As you slice the flesh drop it into a pan of cold water with a couple of drops of lemon juice to avoid discolouration. Here’s a recipe for Celeriac with mushroom stuffing: Prepare as above but slice crossways into discs 1 inch thick. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Drain and keep the celeriac warm under a dry cloth. Meanwhile, take 250g (1/2lb) mushrooms, keep whole if small and slice thickly if large. Fry the mushrooms in 50g (2oz) butter for 5 minutes until golden. Arrange the celeriac slices on individual plates, top with the fried mushrooms and sprinkle with paprika. Serve as an appetiser.
Jerusalem Artichoke Helianthus tuberosus Source of Vitamin B1, B2, B3, calcium, potassium, iron and fibre. To cook scrub off the worst of any dirt on the root, then boil for a couple of minutes without cutting off the root or the top. This loosens the skin and allows you to rub it off quite easily. Then boil in slightly salted water for a further 15-20 minutes or until tender. Add lemon juice to the water before boiling to keep the roots white. Can also be roasted after parboiling, and makes very good soup. All you really need are the artichokes, some onion, simmered together until soft, add a stock, boil for 30 minutes maybe a little nutmeg. Puree it then reheat with a little milk added and bob’s your uncle. Delicious soup.
Brussels Sprouts Brassica oleracea Gemmifera Group.. Excellent source of Vitamin C and phytochemicals and also contains Vitamins A and B6, potassium, fibre and calcium. Wash the sprouts in cold water and peel off any ragged or marked leaves then cut an X into the base of the sprout. Cook in a minimum of boiling salted water for 8 – 10 minutes, NO LONGER, or they’ll go soggy.
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