This past week or so has seen some good news and bad news, The worst news was the frost that occurred over Mother’s Day weekend. Freeze warnings were issued and of course, because everything got an early start this year, lots of stuff was at risk. Some fruits and vegetables were affected; see the details below.

We have also been busy planting, plowing and planning this year’s planting scheme for the farm. So let’s just cut to the chase and tell you the good, the bad and the just plain ugly news from Magicland Farms.

The Good

• The strawberries survived the frost on Mother’s Day weekend due to the use of sprinklers. So it looks promising that we will have a strawberry crop this year.
• The peas, onions and garlic also survived the frost due to the fact that these crops are cold hardy. They can take a lot of cold and still keep on going.
• The tomatoes in the high tunnel sustained no damage.
• Most of the sweet corn plantings are okay because the early plantings were small and the growing point was still beneath the soil.
• The green beans were just coming up so they sustained no damage. Tom was amazed the other day with how well they are growing. At the rate they are going, it looks like a super early bean year for us.
• We have planted three different varieties of sweet potatoes: Beauregard, Carolina Ruby and Vardaman.  Here is a photo of our sweet potato planting: The row at the right is a row of tomatoes; the rows to the left are the sweet potatoes.

The Bad

• The potatoes sustained some minor damage. On Sunday, Tom and I went to look at things at the farm and you could see new green growth coming from the potatoes so while they might have suffered a setback, the plants are starting to make a comeback.
• The tomato plants we had in the low tunnels out in the field were about half damaged. Interestingly, the side of the low tunnel that received some of the sprinkler water meant for the strawberries survived; the side that didn’t was a loss. Those tomatoes that died have been replaced with new transplants.

The Ugly

• The pawpaws sustained heavy damage from the frost.
• The apples sustained moderate to heavy damage depending on the variety and the location in the orchard.
• Tom looked at the peaches the other day and thinks that there might be moderate damage to the crop. However, we should still have some peaches.

Overall things are looking good. We all wish the frost hadn’t happened but we know that everything happens for a reason. Planting is continuing, we still have lots more to go. Keep on checking back for updates. You can see some more photos at my previous post: Sunday Stroll Around The Farm.

Growing up with a Polish mother, I saw a lot of cabbage on the dinner table usually in the form of golabki (cabbage rolls) or sauerkraut. I really didn’t like either but I did like the inside of the cabbage rolls. Luckily for me, my dad would eat the cabbage and let me get away with eating the inside. As an aside, I also didn’t like the pepper part of a stuffed pepper, just the insides. (I know, very strange).

I am still not a big fan of cabbage, although I do like cole slaw a whole lot. However my husband and the kids are way bigger fans of cabbage than I am, which is good for us since we grow the stuff.

About

Cabbage developed from a wild mustard plant that flourished along the Mediterranean Coast as well as in Denmark and England. Some mention of cabbage has been found dating to the early days of Greece.

There are several types of cabbage:

• Green  -  The most popular type available. Used for everything from cabbage rolls to cole slaw.
• Red  -   Has a  nice red color that adds beautiful contrast to salads and stir fries.
• Savoy –  Has a loosely formed head with crinkled leaves, great for cole slaw. Available primarily in October and November. It is very tender and sweet.
• Chinese –  There are two varieties included here: one is an oblong cabbage used primarily for salads and Chinese dumplings and the other is bok choy which does not form a head but leafs in clusters.

Varieties We Grow

• Platinum Dynasty – a main season cabbage
• Ultima Vantage –  a mid to late season green cabbage
• Red Dynasty – a main season red cabbage
• Super Red 80 – an early red cabbage that is highly rated for appearance and taste
• Rona – a deep red late maturing cabbage that is good for storage
• Savoy King – considered by many to be one of the best Savoy varieties

Yields

One and one half pounds of cabbage yields about 4 servings. Ten pounds of shredded cabbage yields about four quarts of sauerkraut.

Freezing

Cabbage becomes limp and loses flavor when frozen. Canning is also a problem with cabbage as it discolors when canned. So don’t can cabbage unless you are making sauerkraut.

Fortunately cabbage will stay crisp for several weeks if you remove any outside leaves that may be wilted before storing in your refrigerator crisper drawer.

Serving Tips

Add shredded cabbage to your salads.

Combine shredded cabbage with other vegetables and stir fry until crisp tender.

To boil cabbage, heat one inch of water in a large pot until boiling. Add wedges or shredded cabbage and cover pot. Cook wedges about ten minutes; shredded cabbage about 5-7 minutes. As always, cook until tender crisp. Salt and serve with seasonings of choice.

Melt two tablespoons of butter in a frying pan, add several cups of shredded cabbage. Pan fry only until wilted, stirring regularly (about 10-15 minutes).

Nutritional Value

• Cabbage is rich in vitamin C, with 1 cup shredded raw green cabbage containing about 1/3 of the daily requirement.
• It is a very good source of fiber, manganese, folate, vitamin B6, potassium, and omega-3 fatty acieds.
• Cabbage is also a good source of thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), calcium, potassium, magnesium, vitamin A, and protein.
• It is low in calories with 1 cup shredded cabbage containing only 24 calories.

I apologize for my lack of postings lately but that doesn’t mean that things have been quiet around here. Over the last couple of weeks, we have been able to start planting at the farm. We  even put in some sweet corn, hoping that the warmer than normal weather will provide us with early sweet corn. Here is what has been happening at the farm.

• The orchard got pruned and the brush hauled away.
• The first planting of beets went in.
• Our garlic crop is about six inches tall and looking good.
• All of the broccoli (early, midseason and late) has been planted. Also we have planted most of the cabbage.
• The sugar snap peas have been planted.
• The high tunnel is in use with the first planting of tomatoes.
• Norland, Yukon Gold and Kennebec potatoes are in the ground.
• New strawberry plants were purchased. They are in the ground being grown on plastic.
• Our famous Newaygo Newaygo onions were transplanted in the field. Hopefully they will do well this year.

There is much more to  come and we will keep you posted as things happen around here. Also, I have been working on the blog behind the scenes and hope to start posting regularly next week.

Taking advantage of the decent weather today, more vegetables and herbs got planted today. We planted cabbage, carrots, parsnips, cutting celery and dill.

Yesterday, we finished transplanting the onions – Riverside variety. Matthew made a new door for the high tunnel which also got installed. The old one gave out and couldn’t be repaired so he constructed a new one.

The crew also pruned the new fruit trees.

Tomorrow might be the day the next patch of sweet corn gets planted.

We have been trying to take advantage of the weather to get some of the early crops planted. Last week, we got the ground ready for planting the cabbage, for example, but then the rains came and made it impossible to plant.

Well, today’s weather was much more cooperative so some planting got done today. The kohlrabi, broccoli, cabbage and beets were planted. I believe that we are going to try to get another patch of sweet corn planted this week, weather permitting.

Even though the weather wasn’t good for planting yesterday, the crew managed to clear out the rest of the brush from the orchard. Pruning the trees over the winter leaves quite a bit of brush to clear and it is not one of the favorite things to do in the orchard. So everyone was quite pleased that this task got completed fairly quickly.

This morning some tomatoes were transplanted from seed flats to peat pots. Among the varieties transplanted were Big Beef, Black Prince, Green Zebra, Cherokee, Mortgage Lifter, Martin, Sun Sugar and our secret variety that provides a lot of the delicious slicing tomatoes you find at Magicland Farms during the summer. If you haven’t tried any of our heirloom tomatoes yet, make sure to give them a try; they are a tasty treat!