A note about baby carrots. The easiest way to clean them is by rolling them vigorously between your palms in running water. We also clean "micro" potatoes, radishes, other small root vegetables this way. They usually retain soil stains in the crevices but I have never had any "grit" in my food after using this method.
My favourite way of consuming baby carrots is to steam them for about 5 minutes, then pouring a honey garlic or honey ginger sauce over them (recipe by customer Dick Alta Vista). Baby Carrots are also great roasted.
By the way, I have heard (double check this to be sure) that heat enhances carotenes, so light cooking does not necessarily reduce the nutrition content of vegetables.
As for the Carrot greens - just clip and use the smallest leaves at the top, the larger stems are too fibrous. Can be used wherever you have a need for extra greens that are cooked or steamed - not sure if they can be eaten raw.
Now that we have passed the solstice, root vegetables will start to put on some size. The next round of carrots will be larger.
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Spending a night at the Farm would be instructive. Perhaps entertaining. I found more prints on the freshly raked beds on Wednesday morning.
These were different - kind of like a one legged animal had pogo-sticked along the ground. This is the track pattern that Foxes make. I called Dick over to get his opinion. He agreed, noting that Foxes are nimble enough to get through the fence without hitting the electric lines.
Perhaps I don't need that cat after all, I just have to figure out how to make the field more welcoming to this Fox, her mate, a litter of kits...
On a related note, I have seen several snakes lately. Evidently, farms are no place for small vegetarians.
As for our food, the early potatoes have started to flower, the Garlic Scapes are beginning to curl, the Green Onions and Zuchinis are about a week away from harvest, Kale and Chard are preparing for their first harvests, Fennel is starting to look like Fennel, and Lettuce and Chicory have started to grow. If that were not good enough, the corn germinated under 7 days (compared to over a week last year), and the Broccoli hasn't died yet.
I feel like we are starting to get into the main course.
The Asian Cabbage will probably be small - the heat is too much for it (see post from about a week or two ago) and I should harvest it a bit early. All of the rest of the Cabbage Family leaf plants (except the Kale) bolted this week, about a week early by my estimation) due to the heat. These were planted in warm beds in anticipation of cool weather, which probably helped them a month ago. It simply became too warm too fast. I will plant some more in the cooler shaded beds, but only when these beds are empty of their current crops.
I have not been particularly impressed with the quality of the Arugula this season so far. It may have been a couple of days late for its best harvest quality.
I am a bit concerned by the appearance of flowers on the recently transplanted winter squashes. The plants seem way too small to start flowering. I will have to consult my books, but this may be a bad sign for their productivity.
We'll see what the next week brings...
Bob