The pace of everything on the farm really takes off in May. Not only are crops growing more quickly, but the to-do list is constantly growing as well. Our field planting schedule is a 15 page long spreadsheet, and May 25th alone occupies over 2 pages of it! Some of the crops to be transplanted this week include lettuce (which we plant every week), tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, cucumbers and flowers. Once those crops get planted in the field, we'll have more room in the greenhouse to seed our winter squash and Brussels sprouts, as well as the next succession of herbs and lettuce. We also have more sunflowers, beans and greens to seed directly into the field. In addition, there's plenty of harvesting, weeding, mulching and irrigation set-up to keep us busy this week. Finally, we're hoping to find a few hours to devote to finishing up our new greenhouse construction so we can have more space for seedling starts!
I always find late May and early June to be the most stressful time of the season. We've started harvesting, but we're also really pushing to set the stage for a successful summer and fall. This time of year I keep a pen and paper by the side of my bed so that when I inevitably wake up in the middle of the night thinking about what needs to get done, I can write it down! Thankfully, we have an excellent crew of field workers to help us accomplish our late spring goals!
This week in the store:
- Asparagus
- Spinach
- Salanova lettuce mix
- Head lettuce
- Arugula (there are holes in the leaves due to flea beetle pressure)
- Red Russian Kale
- Radishes (cherriette and French breakfast)
- Rhubarb on Thursday and Friday
Recipe of the week:
The past 2 years I've been focused on finding ways to get my daughter to eat green vegetables, and this spinach muffin recipe has become a really important part of the breakfast rotation. I make a double batch and freeze them!
Spinach Cheddar Muffins
adapted from allrecipes.com
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 egg
- 1 cup whole milk
- about 1 cup finely chopped fresh spinach
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 cup muffin cups. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a mixing bowl.
Stir the melted butter, egg, milk, spinach, and Cheddar cheese together in a large mixing bowl until evenly blended. Slowly stir in the flour mixture to form a batter. Spoon about 2 tablespoons into each muffin cup.
Bake in preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 35 minutes.