The spring high tunnel season is wrapping up, just as it feels as if summer is here. A cool down is coming, but the last few days have brought on the feelings of a strong sun and hot day. Time to change gear.
The asparagus puts out more the warmer it gets, and right now you can practically watch them grow. It won’t be here forever, so have that favorite recipe a second or third time. Or try something completely new.
Last night the Asian greens were the perfect ingredients for a curry. Fresh spring vegetables, coconut milk, and curry powder were about all we needed for a restaurant quality dish.
Curried Spring Vegetable Stir Fry
2 medium or one large bok choi, stems and leaf chopped separate
3 hakurei turnips, cut into half-rounds
turnip greens, chopped
2 tbsp. ginger root, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 can organic coconut milk
2 tbsp or more curry powder
2 tbsp sesame oil
cilantro for garnish
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Clean, chop and prepare all of the ingredients. Heat the oil in a wok or skillet. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 minute. Add the bok choi stems and turnips, stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add the bok choi and turnip tops and cook for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry powder, stir and then add the coconut milk. Stir and cook for 2 to 5 minutes until desired tenderness. Serve over rice with a garnish of cilantro.
Eggs for Sale
Do not forget, there are eggs for sale and you can order them by emailing us. At $5/dozen they are a bargain. We have begun to really see that, as the costs associated with managing a flock of laying hens has become more apparent.
The organic feed bill for the year is estimated at over $2,200. Add in about 2 hours per day of labor to feed them in the morning, collect, clean, grade and store the eggs, keep track of their well being, move them every month or so, and close them up at night and you are looking at another $5,500-$6,000 per year.
Our hens do not lay enough eggs for this math to work. They do poop though and that is counted in their favor. We are hoping that we can utilize them so that our vegetable income goes up. We are still learning and have them here for more reasons than one.
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| Morning parade |
Thanks for pointing out that the math doesn't really work out for us small scale growers and selling eggs. I upped my price to $6.50/doz. and am sold out of egg shares this year. I appreciate their poop and move them in and out of the growing fields as much as possible but I probably don't consider their poop as "dollar wise" beneficial as you do. Their poop is highly concentrated around their coop and not so much in the field within which their electric net keeps them. So, their poop doesn't end up being equally distributed over the area that they are in. Which I am noticing is noticeable when a crop is grown in that field. I guess what I'm saying is… I like the chickens but definitely am not doing it b/c I think I'm making money at it.