News From the Farm

Recently, the Environmental Protection Agency released a report detailing the presence of rocket fuel pollutants in lettuce. Farms irrigating with water from the Colorado River have been exposing their crops to high levels of perchlorates which can have serious side effects. It appears that a manufacturing plant producing cruise missiles has been allowing its runoff into the Colorado River and may be responsible for an ecological and public health disaster.
I came across this story in one of my left leaning agricultural magazines. It was a couple paragraphs long tucked into the middle of the magazine. I understand that it did receive some play over the weekend but did not become a national news story. If it did become a national story, it could devastate the lettuce industry. The farms that irrigated from the Colorado probably had no clue that they could be endangering peoples health.

I was growing apples when the alar controversy hit that industry. Alar was a spray that was used to prevent apples from prematurely dropping. It was very common and recommended by many fieldsmen. It was found to have a cancer
causing agent and suddenly any apples that were sprayed with it were banned. That pretty much knocked out the entire crop for 1987. We didn't use that spray but we couldn't sell our crop. Across the northeast orchards went bankrupt and the industry still has not recovered. I hope the vegetable growers who use the Colorado to irrigate their crops are not going to be wiped out.

Take care,
Rhys

Varieties

Sugar Ann Snap Peas These peas can be eaten raw, steamed or stir fried. They come on all at once so we may get one more week out of them.

Detroit Red Beets/ Chioggia Beets: The majority of you will be receiving the dark red Detroit Beet. It’s the most common beet variety and maintains its sweetness as it sizes up. The Chioggia Beet is a lighter red and has red and white rings inside. Most of our beets are grown in the fall so you will have an opportunity to try both varieties.

Garlic Scapes or whistles: The scape is the flower of the garlic plant. You can use the whole stem as you would a
scallion but because of its thickness it must cook longer. Its perfect for garlic butter as it can be puréed easily.

Green and Red Kale: We have mixed 2 varieties of Kale, Winterbor [the green] and Redbor [the red] in each bunch.
Kale is a very versatile green and is very high in vitamin A and K. It can be steamed with a little vinegar or used in stir fry.

Kale and Swiss Cheese Bake
1 lb finely chopped kale
_ onion, chopped
3 eggs
1 egg white
_ cup skim milk
1 _ cups grated Swiss cheese
_ tsp salt
_ tsp pepper
_ tsp dried basil
_ tsp dried oregano
Saute kale with onions until tender. Set aside to cool. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat eggs well, add milk, grated cheese, salt, pepper and herbs. Add sautéed kale and onions and mix well. Pour into medium sized oiled casserole dish and bake, covered, until set-30 to 40 minutes.

Marinated Beets with Garlic
Scrub a potful of beets and boil 20-30 minutes until fork tender. Run under cold water to cool and rub softened skins off with your fingers. Dice beets into bite size pieces and combine in a medium size bowl with minced garlic and balsamic vinegar. Marinate at least a couple of hours, will last in the fridge for weeks.

To contribute contact Margaret Trott at 452-7493 or email margarettrott98@hotmail.com