Thank you Edible Michiana readers for choosing us as Michiana’s 2012 “Local Hero” in the Farm/Farmer category!  We are lucky to live in area with so many great food enthusiasts and a great food magazine.

Farm Happenings…

Corinne and Matthew brave the elements on Friday picking strawberries. They're sweeter in the cold, right?

Yum!

Our baby onions are growing up... teenager onions? Within a month the heads will swell to the size of tennis balls.

What see-saw weather we have had this Spring!  On the positive side, many crops, including tomatoes and strawberries, are maturing earlier than normal.  A challenge has been getting field seeds to germinate–hot days and wind have made it tough to keep the soil surface wet.

Fresh food these days…

Salad mix  Salad grows best in cool weather, so it was pokey in the heat wave last week.  Still we were pleased with harvest, helped by cool temps the last couple of days.

Onions  Our onions are slowly growing from “green” or Spring onions into baby onions.

Beets  Very nutritious, beets contain a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains, which have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification benefits.

Broccoli  Normally a mid-June crop, our broccoli grew quick in the last few weeks.

Kholrabi  A descenent of wild cabbage, kohlrabi is great raw or cooked.  To eat raw, simply peel the skin and slice like a turnip.  Or try steaming it and adding to frittatas or stir fries.  It’s popular in Germany and India, where it complements many Indian spices.

Garlic scapes  This is the seed head that garlic sends up.  Use it like you would garlic–to flavor rice, in stir-fry, etc.  (It’s awesome steamed in the grill!)  Has a mild flavor.

Radishes  With the heat, our radishes are now somewhat spicy.

Strawberries  Our own organic strawberries and some from Rob Niebert, a small farmer in Leesburg.  All fresh-picked on Friday.