First Asparagus Harvest: Shaved!

Our asparagus is finally starting to produce!  Love asparagus season.  Farmer Man and I had taken a walk last Friday and found one spear, which we promptly shared right there and then.  Took a walk yesterday and found about a pound: a nice, big handful!  I've been reading all over the Internet about shaving asparagus, for a different take on this fabulous Spring vegetable.  Asparagus is being shaved into thin strips for salads, roasted vegetables and pizza.  We had a pizza crust in the freezer, so off we went!  I referred to one of my favorite foodie blogs Smitten Kitchen for the basics.  Like so many things there are a million different ways of doing this!  We had a lovely jar of homemade pizza sauce from our neighbors Mike and Naomi, so that went down first.  Then a light layer of mozzarella cheese.  I had shaved the asparagus spears with our usual veggie peeler, than tossed them in olive oil, cracked black pepper, sea salt and a little bit of chili pepper.  I know, we were doing so well on this being a local dish but the cheese wasn't local, either.  Anyway, arranged the shaved asparagus, an asparagus head per piece and into the oven for fifteen minutes.  Even shaved, the asparagus flavor was excellent! A great, fast meal!  I can hardly wait for next year, when we should have a little homemade goat cheese to use!  And Smitten Kitchen has a waaaaaaay better picture than mine - check it out!

The First Asparagus, and The First Skunking...

Ah, Spring. Farmer Man found the first asparagus last night. We'd walked the rows about a week ago and found no sign of anything but weeds. Last night, he scored!! A handful of short, fat shoots - just yummy!! If you've never had fresh asparagus from the garden (truly fresh, minutes from the garden) it's glorious! Are we still eating local? You bet! Last night's dinner was our own, homegrown pork roast, our own Russian Blue potatoes, fresh asparagus and some store-bought yam (from far, far away, as they say in The Dark Days Challenge). Just delicious!

All this has been tempered this morning by Blaze and Grizzly Bear having their first meeting with a skunk this year. Wasn't as bad as it could have been....neither was fully sprayed. But even a little whiff of skunk is too much! The occasion called for an impromptu bath by hose with the special skunk shampoo. Much struggling, whining, and shaking later, the situation seems under control! Now we've just got a couple of wet dogs getting dirtier by the minute as they go around the farm!

The Third Ever.....

Well, if you're reading this blog you now where I'm going with this! It WAS just Friday night. The Friday Night Farmers' Market at Shoppers' Mall had a pretty good night for its' third night ever. Wasn't really busy; we were hoping the volume would be building every week. But, admittedly, in Brandon it is soccer weekend. It seemed like almost every child in Brandon, and therefore every parent was down at the soccer pitch at Optimist Park. It was crazy down there!

Maple Valley Farms was first to market with some very nice radishes. They sold very quickly! We were there with asparagus, onions, our pickled beets and some plants. The asparagus is definitely slowing down now, although a good rain may perk it up. Farmer Boy did repairs on the irrigation system today (Saturday) so we can get the drip irrigation running on the asparagus. We didn't run any ads for the market this week, so maybe will try a bit more advertising next week to see if we can build the volume. Cory came by with her registration for CSA and she's so excited. It's so invigorating for us to see someone enthusiastic about what we're doing!

The First Friday Night Farmers' Market!

The first ever Friday Night Farmers' Market at Shoppers Mall was, well, a great success! With little budget to advertise, we had over a hundred people out. We're counting that as a success. It's amazing what a little visibility can do for a Farmers' Market! We had people drop in from seeing the sign and the action. Lots of appreciative locals who are excited that there will be a market in their neighbourhood. We think that Market can grow quite nicely this summer!

We didn't have much to take. We got about nine pounds of asparagus off - the first time we've ever sold asparagus! That's the nice thing about an early market! The Farmers' Market at Riverbank Discovery Centre doesn't start until beginning of July, so the little bit we've gotten off the asparagus we've used for friends and as an early signing bonus for CSA members. Now the asparagus is a little older, it's finally cropping well. We also had some winter onions (very tasty!) and some of our more interesting seedlings like ground cherries and tomatillos. The other vendors with baking and jams did well and Julie of J.R. Greenhouses was the star with greenhouse grown cukes and tomatoes! We treated ourselves to a couple of tomatoes and they were good! (not quite like field-grown, but waaaaaaay tastier than what's in the stores!) Good to be back with some of our favourite suppliers - we've waited all winter for honey buns from Mann Apiaries and flax bread from Maple Valley Farms!

It's getting easier to get FRESH in Brandon!

Hard to believe, but our first Farmers Market is just four days away! It's a new market: The Friday Night Farmers Market at Shoppers Mall, corner of 18th and Richmond in Brandon. Great location, lots of visibility. People can get FRESH on the way out of town to their cottages or just to prepare for the weekend. It runs from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM, so lots of time for people to come by!

Not much veggies will be ready for Friday night. We will have some fresh asparagus, which should sell well. We'll have some fresh herbs and lots of veggies plants! Unfortunately, we are unable to sell eggs at the Market because they are not inspected (we can sell them at the farmgate, though, because then it's a customers choice to come on in). It will just be fun to be back at the Market, talking to people about good food!

The Asparagus IS Alive!!!

Farmer Boy insisted on tilling through the asparagus field late this spring. The worry was that he might damage emerging stalks, because really, it was rather late. But at least some of the asparagus is still alive!! After the weekend heat and yesterday's rain, about seven little stalks have popped up. Now, it has all come up in one row and there are four rows..........well, we'll keep our fingers crossed!