Hello Everyone:

There are some new greens in your basket this week.  Not everyone received the same "leaves".  All are closely related to Arugula, so consume them the same.

Bau Sin has a fuzzy leaf, and a peppery flavour.  

Mibuna has long, slender leaves, and a very mild flavour.

Tokyo Bekana has a light green leaf.  Its flavour is hotter than the Mibuna, but not as hot as the Bau Sin.

If you received Arugula this week, you will receive one or another of the alternative Asian Greens next time.

Spinach was not on the list this week, but it was looking quite good the other day, so I added it to the baskets as well.

Our Celery improved somewhat this year - its flavour is not quite as strong due to increasing its watering.  Still small, probably due to the undersow crop being seeded a little too soon after the Celery was transplanted.  We have found that its intense flavour goes a long way, so use a little less of it than you usually would.  I found that it was too stringy for raw celery stalks, so sample it first before serving as such.  

By the way, undersowing is a growing method where a ground cover crop is sown under the main crop.  In this case, it was a low growing Dutch clover.  This is a first for us.  We are looking at different methods of suppressing weed growth (it did the job) without interfering with the main crop.  We could have waited a little longer to allow the celery to establish itself - it probably had to fight for sunlight and nutrients the first few weeks after transplanting. As well, when all of the celery is harvested, the clover will be tilled into the beds, providing a lot of composted material for the leaf crops (in this case, spinach) next year.

This weeks bed of Potatoes did not perform as well as most others, so there is not enough spuds for next week.  It appears that the bed for two weeks from now will have a similar yield.  The October beds look fine and healthy, and have not had any beetles or other problems.  As long as the season is not too wet, we should have a good take of winter storage potatoes, I anticipate starting in October.  If the season continues to be too wet, it is possible that we may have some late blight.  I have not heard any rumours of this disease (what ruined the potato crops in north west Europe in the 1800's), so I presume we shall be ok.

I shall start harvesting the Parsnips later this week, so there wil be a different root on the table.  If you would rather save these, they should keep for some time in the fridge.

Fall Peas are staring to send up there vines, and the next round of beans has begun - I anticipate everyone should be getting them in the next week or so.  More yellow and orange carrots next week as well.

Bob.  

Hey Folks:

A note about your Basil this week.  I was just about to leave the farm Thursday evening when I noticed that the sky was quite clear - one of the conditions that coincide with frost.  I knew the temperature was going down, and so gave the weather a quick check.  Sure enough, the revised forecast was now calling for lower temperatures and a risk of frost.  I went back, and covered up what I could. As I tightened up a row cover over the Beans, I caught a whiff of the Basil in the next bed.  What a reminder, it had not occurred to me.

Basil would turn black with plus 3 degree weather, even if not exposed to frost.  What to do?  It was getting late, and I knew that I would need an early (before dawn) start to the next day in order to hose down the Tomato and Pepper plants to prevent frost damage to them. (An old gardeners trick).  With so little time to do anything else, I grabbed the nearest buckets, and pulled all of the plants - roots and all - I figured with the roots still intact, the plants would not dry out as quickly.  I hauled the buckets to the car, tossed them into the back, and turned for home (Half way home I was wondering if the hoses were going to freeze overnight...)

So the Basil scented our apartment for the night.  I should have placed a cover of some sort over them, as the plants on top did dry out somewhat.

They were a bit messier than I wanted, and the well water is a bit too cold to really clean them but at least they were saved for a third harvest this year.  I debated whether to distribute the wilted portion of Basil, and opted to in the end.  Everyone received some.  Let me know if you would rather have less of this aromatic leaf (in better condition) in the future.

It is a tricky one to clean up with the particular facilities we have.  The heavy rain we have had of late also splattered the leaves, contributing to their appearance.

With the fall season here, there will be a lot of work preparing the field for next year, protecting the fall crops against changes in the weather, and getting as much as I can out of the shorter days.  A challenging time - my favourite season to farm.

See you soon,

Bob

The importance of variety in your leaf diet

Leaves are the place where plants deal with an array of challenges. The production of their food – photosynthesis – takes place in the leaves. This process involves freeing up oxygen atoms, which are unstable. This instability causes the oxygen grab other molecules (part of the plant) so that the oxygen can stabilize. Even these oxygen-based molecules (referred to as oxidants or free radicals) are not always stable, so the new molecules then try to grab more molecules within the plants. This action damages the cell structures. Plants have evolved to grow an array of anti-oxidants to intercept the oxidants before they cause damage.

Oxidants are produced during our own metabolic functions, as well as absorbed/ingested from a variety of sources, such as pesticide, medication, air pollution, etc.

Anti-oxidants remain intact after the leaf has been consumed, and continue to function within your cells. Some anti-oxidants are somewhat effective against many oxidants, while others are target specific and are very effective protection against a particular oxidant.

Which leaf vegetable provides the most effective source of anti-oxidants? This depends on which oxidants you are most concerned. There are hundreds (possibly thousands) of these compounds, and so a definitive, one size fits all approach does not make sense (though the pharmaceutical companies would have you believe otherwise – “nutritionists” have long touted beta carotene as the cure all, but they have little to say about the other hundreds of caratenoids).

Therefore, to my mind, the best way to ensure that you are receiving the optimal quantities of anti-oxidants is to consume the widest variety possible of leaf vegetables. Or to quote Michael Pollan, “eat food…especially leaves”.