Next Generation Organics

So close to having the new greenhouse addition ready. Benches are built, plastic is stretched, only the end wall plastic remains. We had a perfect 2 hours of calm yesterday to get the plastic on. Not 5 minutes after we were done the wind came up and it would have been impossible to do. The greenhouse gods were kind for sure. End wall will get done today and Robert is your Muvas Bruva. We had our 2 greenhouses packed to the brim last year and we are going even bigger this year so it had to be done. Can’t wait… We were contacted by a rep from Toyota today about buying some potted herbs for a Farm to Table event on the 23rd of April at the Capital City Public Market . It sounds pretty cool, they are pairing local chefs with local producers and giving away culinary herbs as part of the promotion. Sounds cool. Stay tuned for more info.

Its that time of year again, hop rhizomes are dug and ready to grow into those beautiful little nuggets to flavor your beer. I have four different varieties ready to plant. Cascade which is an American standard used mainly for aroma. Canadian Redvine which is similar to Cascade but grows and yields more. Centennial which is a high alpha variety for those really hoppy beers like IPAs and Chinook also a high alpha variety. All Certified Organic of course. My counts are a little down this year due to an irrigation project last year that led to a lack of water in the fall. Ooopppssss. On the plus side I got a drip irrigation project funded by Uncle Sam and the NRCS. OK, let me know if you need some rhizomes, you can ‘comment’ at this site or email me direct at oldbart@hotmail.com

It was  80 degrees in the green house yesterday. Plants are popping and I’m ready for spring. Is it really only February?

Spring comes a little early around here. We are firing up the greenhouse, with all those wonderful herbs, onions, chives, spring greens, and early tomatoes. Its so nice to duck into a 70 degree greenhouse when its 30 outside. I have a hot water heating system made from a recycled water heater and some 1/2 in. tubing that circulates hot water at the plants root zone. It works awesome and keeps the soil of the plants nice and toasty. We are super excited to be into our 3rd year of production, and can’t wait for the Capital City Public Market to kick off in April. There are lots of plants to care for until then so stay tuned.

Check out these baby tomatoes, so cute. Those are Bull Blood Beets in the background for a killer micro greens mix.

Guy Hand, who does  the radio shows Edible Idaho and NW market news on BSU radio did a piece on our Mulberries today. How cool is that?  He writes on all sorts of great food and ag stories as well as the restaurant reviews for the Statesman. He comes by the stand on Saturdays sometimes and was pretty intrigued by the Mulberries. His piece spoke of the Farmers Market being the perfect venue for super short season, fragile produce like the Mulberries.  The Redfeather lounge is running a Mulberry soufle special this month also. MMMM…. Matt at the Bittercreek/Redfeather is always looking for unusual stuff so the Mulberries were a perfect fit. We sold some to them last year and this year people were starting to ask and request them again so thats pretty cool.  This will probably be the last week on the Mulberries, there might be a few next week but the trees are looking pretty thin. Next week we will have red and black raspberries though…. IF you come early we might even have a few this week.    Here’s a link to the Mulberry story and Guy Hands website.

http://www.nwfoodnews.com/2010/07/09/market-garden-report-mulberries/

http://guyhand.com/

As I was walking past the greenhouse yesterday I saw this bright purple berry just laying there in the dirt????? I realized it was a whole ripe mulberry a bird had dropped.. what are the chances?   So that’s Natures way of saying “Hey, there are ripe Mulberries back there go pick them”    They are delicious, they are almost like a concord grape with a real mild flavor. They are the  most organic product we have. We don’t do a thing to them.  They are considered a wild harvest product under our organic plan. The trees are about 40 feet tall and chock full to the top. We let the birds pick the top, and they stay off the raspberries.  

I took some of the B grades and made a syrup we had over vanilla ice cream last night.  IT WAS GOOD……  We will have some available at the Capital City Public Market this saturday. We are on the NW corner of 8th and ID. Look for the Next Generation Organics banner with the picture of my grandparents sitting on the old Ford Model A.