What a Wet Summer

Talking with local long-time farmers, they say they can’t recall taking their first cut of hay so late – in July. (Early June is typical).

Our first plantings went in during the heat-wave in late April. But we were kept waiting for most of June to have more than two dry days in a row. We need this to prepare our beds then seed a wide variety of vegetables. This significantly delayed our second plantings of many crops.

But there are advantages to a cool and wet spring. Baby Salad Greens have been gorgeous! It has also kept the Mixed Arugulas Hot Mizuna and Mixed Asian Greens sweet and more or less free of the “buckshot” flea beetle holes. The cool weather also kept the Italian Black Kale (Cavallo Nero) and Red Russian Kale bitter-free. Mixed Spinaches (Bloomsdale and Bordeaux) have remained at their spring-time richness ever since we began our outdoor harvesting on May 10. Rainbow of Chards are a little large for salad use, but they are a colourful and delectable cooked green. Due to the excellent quality of our lettuce we are trying something new. We are now harvesting and washing Larger Mixed Lettuces as well as smaller 8” Lettuce Heads.

The cool wet spell has also been very good for our cool loving crops: Candy Cane Beets have started the earliest ever. Though not as tender and sweet as the fall crop will be, they are very good for summer beets. Golden, White, and Cylinder Beets will likewise have early starts. Carrots are also extra early! Purple Carrots and Yellow Carrots are coming soon. Black, White and Orange Nantes Carrots will start soon afterwards.

The cool weather has also provided a good initial start for other cool-loving crops such as tender Baby Summer Leeks, striking Red/Green Onions, wonderfully useful Garlic Scapes, succulent Tulip Chives, refreshing Baby Fennel Bulbs, and our spicy green Radish Pods.

One cool loving crop for some reason did not benefit from the cool conditions. Sugar Snap Peas, English Shelling Peas, and Purple Snow Peas took their own sweet time in coming from April and May plantings. They are starting now, but with summer heat they normally do not last long.

Chandler Strawberries is a new crop for us. We chose this variety because it is the first choice for top San Francisco and New York chefs. This heritage variety is not considered hardy this far north, but with global warming and an extra straw blanket, it seemed worthwhile to learn how to grow and harvest these exceedingly luscious red jewels up here in Ontario.

Warm Weather Crops

Tomatoes have an advantage this cool spring because our main crop is grown in the greenhouses. They required additional expensive propane and they suffered a bit from lack of sunshine, nevertheless they are now tasting and looking terrific. So as soon as Summerlicious is over, you can begin treating your guests to some memorable tomatoes. Rainbow of Tomato Firsts are best for handsome tomato salads. Seconds are fine for rough-and-ready salads. And Thirds are best for soups and sauces. Cherry Tomatoes are the morsels of choice.

Always eagerly anticipated are our summer Gold Nugget Squash and their conveniently smaller Squash Blossoms. They are late (as expected) but with some hot nights and warm showers they will soon be ready for your mid-summer presentations.

Beans are also running late this year. But their flower buds are just waiting to open and morph into luscious Yellow and Green Italian Flat Beans, or into Green and Yellow French Filet beans.

Summer Slowly Coming

We still have Lessons to Learn

Lots of hot days and lots of cold nights; accompanied by lots of wind and no rain is playing havoc with our summer crop schedules. This is the kind of climate the experts have been forecasting to occur with Global Warming. Thanks for all the little things you are doing to delay the looming turmoil. Please be patient as we slowly learn to deal with our new climate.

The quickly changing spring crops have finished. Now we are waiting for the steady joys of mid-summer Rainbow of Tomatoes, Rainbow of Cherry Tomatoes, Summer Nugget Squash, Squash Blossoms, and Baby Summer Leeks. We’ll let you know when these eagerly awaited crops are steadily available.

But some of our favourite summer crops have already begun! Our creamy/rich (never bitter) Rainbow of Swiss Chards are a tremendous ingredient for inexpensively and quickly adding colour and texture to your main courses. Garlic Scapes are a versatile way to incorporate that loved-to-be-hated flavour that can add subtle intensity to many dishes. Baby Fennel Bulbs (raw or cooked) provide refreshing licoricy notes so appreciated in hot-weather menus. Our unique Radish Pods are an elegant way to provide a light radishy “bite”. Another great refresher is cucumber – Armenian Cucumbers are the best! Welsh Onion Bulbs (Asian scallions) are like green onions with a more garlicky oomph.

Root vegetables don’t have to be limited to winter menus. Our famous, firm Fingerling Potatoes can be the star in Summer Potato Salads. A refreshing non-starchy summer favorite is our easy to clean, peel and slice (knob-free) Jerusalem Artichokes. For a delightful “oyster-like” flavour we still very fine White Salsify.

Last Fall’s warm temperatures meant our winter roots failed to harden-off properly. So shelf life was short. Many of our customers have begun to rely on a steady supply of our superior flavour. To provide a steadier supply of superior produce, we have decided to link with a sister farm in the fertile virgin soil of the Cloud Forest one hour west of Quito Ecuador. Organic Blooming is using our seeds to grow some out-of-our-season vegetables such as: Candy Cane Beets, Amber Turnips, Red Valentine, Green Flesh, Black Icicle, and Red Icicle Radishes.

While visiting the farm to monitor their growing methods, the workers offered me an ancient Incan vegetable (that the Spaniards failed to send to Europe). Arrancacha Root is in the carrot/celery family but has the starchy texture of a potato. Try it steamed, baked or deep-fried. You can now experience one more of the pantheon of Incan vegetable breeding. Please request a sample.

Fresh Flavouring and Garnishing Herbs NOW Available

After many years of receiving requests for fresh herbs we NOW have an assortment to enhance your culinary creations. Tulip Chives have leaves so thick and succulent they could even be cooked as a vegetable. (Or try them as a “pesto”.) Sorrel Leaves in sauces are most refreshing. Lovage Stalks sport a heavenly celery-like aroma. Fava Bean Leaves have a lovely buttery flavour for a perfect addition to many presentations. Shiso Leaves make an exotic basil substitute. Chrysanthemum Leaves boast another appealing Oriental flavour. Begonia Blossoms add intense red/orange colours with a dramatic tart taste.

Lemon Thyme has all the fine flavour of English Thyme but with added lemon peel notes. French Tarragon remains a classic. Purple Sage is a smart herb to use. Marjoram is the very best version of oregano. Chervil makes a refreshing change from parsley. Our Baby Dill selection is amazingly refreshing.

French Mint Tips are an unusually refreshing cross of peppermint and spearmint. Chocolate Mint Tips combine a fine mint flavour with (alas) only the aroma of chocolate. Lemon Balm is a fine alternative to mint. Lavender Leaves look very interesting and of course smell really great. Wood Sorrel looks like delicate clover leaves but with an absolutely enchanting tartness. Gem Marigolds look great and have a cheery citrusy flavour. Pineapple Sage lacks a bit in taste, but its captivating pineapple perfume makes customers pause and enjoy. Lemon Verbena has the most amazing lemon peel aroma. Large Lemon Verbena is miraculous for infusing into sauces and ices. Get cooking!

Still Springing Forth

It’s still Spring in the Garden

    It may seem like summer in your kitchen and patio. But it is still only Spring in the garden! This means several new treats each week; but it also means most of these disappear just a quickly. So you have to act very quickly this time of year. Think Specials!
   Asparagus in several forms short and unusual Bi-Coloured Asparagus, sweet and tender White Asparagus, amazingly rich and creamy Green Asparagus, and tiny garnishing Asparagettes have a few days to go. Over-wintered Baby Leeks are tender, sweet and delicious (until they decide to go to seed). We also have a few Green Sweet Cicely Pods and Green Chervil Flowers and Pods either of which provide amazing bursts of clean licorice flavour. Also surviving the winter are last year’s surprise hit, Puntarella Chicory.
   Many Wild Favourites have come and gone. But a few more are now coming until the summer garden vegetables start ripening. Wild Spruce Candles are the tender, tart (i.e. Vitamin C) and very aromatic baby spruce leaves. Infuse them into oil, vinegar or honey for use as a true Canadian Flavouring throughout the year. Wild Ginger is back, but we will not pick very much this year because we seem to be over-picking it. Wild Cattail Hearts are very plentiful, but it takes an awful lot of work to get a pound of the “queen of the wild vegetables”. This Northern “heart-of-palm” is unbelievably delectable either raw or lightly cooks. Please order it a few days ahead because we cannot prepare these on spec.
   Spring Radishes have been toughened and bitten by the early heat so we likely won’t sell any more. But the pure White Turnips survived the heat with even more of their luscious spring-time flavour. All the early heat has slowed the early peas. So when the Purple Snow Peas, hand-picked Sugar Snaps and classic Shelling Peas are ready, they may be coming all at once. So be prepared for this early summer delicacy. But the early heat did wonders for bringing along the early Rainbow of Heirloom Tomatoes and Rainbow of Cherry Tomatoes. So a few are ready now!
   In the Ontario garden, Spring says sweet and tender leaves. Easy-to-use aromatic Mint Tips (either aromatic “chocolate” or our unique “spearmint/peppermint” cross), and small packets of baby Chervil Leaves are perfect spring-time herbs. For more substance there is a colourful Rainbow of Chards and buttery Fava Bean Leaves. For some heat we have lovely blends of various shapes of Baby Arugulas and Baby Cresses. Either works well as salads or as garnishes. Tulip Chives are a succulent variation of this popular spring herb.
   Spring also says flowers! Our mix of small (i.e. very usable) Edible Flowers and Edible Petals (i.e. extra easy-to-use) will remain steadily available throughout the summer. What an easy way to make stunning garnishes!

Delicacies still from Our Root Cellar

   Most of our chefs are very happy to know how well our root vegetables are keeping. Some of this has to do with the excellent growing season last year. It also has to do with getting most of our harvest in the cool of November. But most of it has to do with getting our soils both minerally balanced rock dusts;and biologically active with organic matter.
   Roseval, Ratte, Black and especially the Fingerling Potatoes are all keeping very well and should make it through the summer just fine. These can all contribute magnificently to that early summer icon: Potato Salad!
Chefs tell us the SP2 Frying Potatoes are superb for frying – notably souffléd.
   Red, Purple, Black, and Yellow Carrots are still rich and sweet (raw or cooked) for a few more weeks. Also the Red Valentine and Green Flesh Radish remain absolutely gorgeous and delectable raw, pickled or grilled in your summer presentations. Our large and easy-to-peel Jerusalem Artichokes are great as a Summer Pickle or light Summer Veg. For more delicate flavours, you can still make use of the Tuberous Chervil Root, Large White Salsify, and Long White Leeks.

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Cookstown Greens, 6321 Line 9 RR#3, Thornton, Ontario L0L 2N0 Canada • Tel: (705) 458-9077 • Fax: (705) 458-1707

• Web: cookstowngreens.com • Email: info@cookstowngreens.com