Farm Friday

Green onions (and herbs) growing in a jar

It's been pretty much a "catch up" week around the house and farm for me so I have a laundry list of things I accomplished (I won't bore you with the details).  We still have broccoli, cabbage, rainbow chard, collard greens, bok choy, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, kale, radicchio, and spinach growing on the farm. 

The weather was unseasonably warm which was good and bad.  Good because 1) I hate the cold and 2) I was able to bathe our dog Ginny outside rather than struggle to get her into the bathtub (she hates baths).  Bad because 1) we need the cold to kill off the bugs that bite us and eat from our gardens in the spring and summer and 2) because our broccoli started bolting.  One way I'm using up the broccoli before it all bolts is to make broccoli salad.  I have had a number of people comment on how much they love my salad so I'll share my recipe:

Broccoli Salad

Large head of raw broccoli chopped very small (chopping is the key to the raves I get)

Large handful dried cranberries

Large handful sunflower seeds 

1/2 red onion chopped very fine 

¼ cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons vinegar

1 teaspoon sugar 

Mix broccoli, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and onions in a large bowl.  In a separate bowl , make dressing by combining mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar.  Pour dressing over broccoli mixture and mix (should be coated with dressing and not too wet).  Let sit refrigerated for at least an hour.

I also took time to pot up the rest of the basil that I had rooting in my kitchen window.  I've been growing fresh green onions there, as well, using the bottoms of purchased green onions in a jar of water.  You can get several cuttings before they give out.

Now that dark comes soon (too soon, if you ask me) in the evenings and Bill has fewer farm chores, we've gotten back into the habit of watching movies.  We've seen some good ones lately.  Our tastes are very eclectic as you can see from this sampling of recent viewings:

Exit Through the Gift Shop (about street artists)
Lars and the Real Girl (funny yet serious; don't let the description be off-putting)
Pray the Devil Back to Hell (how a group of women stopped the civil war in Liberia)

I witnessed an example of how social media can go very wrong for a corporation.  Cheerios put a "fun" app on it's facebook page and people furious over how General Mills helped defeat Prop 37 (labeling of GMO foods), took matters into their own hands.  Here's a screenshot sample of what people did to the Cheerios logo:

Read more here.  The app is gone but you can still go to their facebook page to express your displeasure - and your decision to boycott.  Same can be done on other corporate pages.

We have more goat babies due starting this weekend so I'll probably post photos of the new babies when they arrive.

Have a great weekend!