SUMMER SOLSTICE SALUTATIONS and YOU-PICK
June is finally here! And with it, the beloved (and long awaited) Summer Solstice.
Summer Solstice is a day full of joy and growth, and globally celebrated by many. It is known to represent the first day of summer, signify the longest day of the year in our hemisphere, and celebrate the incredible power of the sun. So naturally, Summer Solstice warrants much love, praise and appreciation in the mind of gardeners and farmers.
To celebrate the upcoming Summer Solstice at Nan’s, we will be planting several of our tender seedlings that we have been raising (some since before April). They are ready to sink their feet into the soil and get growing. We can hopefully expect to share some of the following with you later in the summer or early fall:
- Peppers of all kinds - we will have a pepper patch, as well as one or two plants destined for inside the greenhouse
- Eggplant - we will also have an eggplant patch, with Asian and Italian eggplants
- Edamame - we have a small pathway stroll through some soy beans that we hope will be a fun place for the kids to wander and pick something they may be familiar with
- Beans - we have both vining/climbing beans and bush beans, and these have been planted over the past few weeks and will continue to go into the ground througout June. Beans are a hit for everyone, and we have a variety - beans to eat fresh, beans to shell fresh, and beans to keep for the storage for winter and seed for the following year. And we have beans with lots of color. We are very excited for this, and keeping our fingers crossed our crops match our dreamy visions
- Brussel Sprouts - we have two small Brussel sprout patches. While we’ve only had mild success (and more failures than successes due to pests) with Brussel Sprouts in the past, we are giving it a try once again. With more attentive pest control measures we hope these guys will be able to thrive this year.
- Carrots - We are succession planting carrots all summer, so plan to see spots all over the farm with carrots popping up. Refrain the urge to pick them, though, unless the patch is open for picking!
- Corn - living in a high pest population, we are planting corn as a lottery crop. If at end the season we come out with a successful, untouched crop, it will feel like we won the lottery and WHAT A BONUS THAT WILL BE! In the past, we’ve lost corn to pests - birds, raccoons, squirrels etc. We hope to plant enough to share with our population and implement deterrence methods to strengthen our odds
- Squash - we have started a small patch with some delicata, spaghetti and kabocha squashes, and plan to have these going for the fall boxes
- Okra - we’ve tried growing okra on two different occasions/seasons and with little success. We will continue to try this year, and again, consider this a lottery crop if we have any success. We believe it’s better to try than to not, as we learn more and more each time we try.
- And last, but not least…… Pumpkin Patch! We will have a small pumpkin patch this year, with 12 little pumpkin plants. Perfect end to the growing season, in our opinion.
A little nostalgic note - Nancy had a pumpkin patch 20 years ago, in the same spot we have ours this year. It’s a sweet memory to reflect back on and know that her joy of growing food in this same special place lives on. We believe her spirit lives on in all of us, that’s how and why we started Nan’s Estate.
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YOU-PICK
Saving the best for last, we have decided to tentatively host our first YOU-PICK on June 26th in (slightly belated) honour of Summer Solstice!
Our Summer Solstice YOU-PICK will have limited spaces available, so if you’re not on our subscriber’s list, be sure to get on it to be the first to know about when we release the spots.
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SUMMER SOLSTICE SALAD
Truly, any garden picked goodies can be made into a salad and will be DELICIOUS. We suggest going out to your garden on Summer Solstice and harvesting an array of your available produce, chop, slice and spiral them up and toss them in a light vinaigrette and enjoy it in the sun.
But for a more concrete suggestion, here’s what we will be doing for our Summer Solstice Salad. We like a strong herb-y tasting salad, and LOVE cilantro, so keep that in mind if you're not a strong herb lover - adjust to your liking.
We eyeball this, and everything tastes so fresh and yummy - it never fails to satisfy.
Garden Ingredients:
- 5-6 Sliced French Breakfast radishes, marinated in apple cider vinegar
- 1 “bunch” Paris Island Lettuce - finely chopped
- 1 “bunch” Spinach - finally chopped
- Handful Sunflower microgreens
- 1 Sliced cucumber (if available)
- Large helping of Parsley - chopped
- 2 Chive flowers, crumbled and mixed in
- 1 bunch Chervil - chopped
- Handful of fresh shelled peas
- 1 bunch Cilantro - chopped
- 1 bunch Celery leaves - chopped
Dressing we like to make:
- 1/4 cup braggs aminos
- 1/4 cup water slightly sweetened with monk fruit sweetener
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup high quality olive oil
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon Nan’s fresh garlic powder (or any high quality garlic powder - sub with diced garlic if you don’t have good garlic powder)
- 2 teaspoons onion powder
Combine ingredients, dress well, toss well and enjoy!