FarmChef

Funny garden things.

Some of my tomatoes are trying to look like Davy Jones of Pirates of the Caribbean. Haha.

I’m trying out vertical pumpkin growing in my tiny spaces. But they got so heavy that I’m using my daughter’s old holey tights to keep them on the fence and not break the vine. The tights will grow with the pumpkin. We’ll see how it goes. The vine is strong enough for the small ones just hanging out right now but that first one is sooo heavy!

Summer harvest. It’s pickling time.

Time to start our seeds indoors. We just got our soil!We are so excited that this year we get to use soil from .soil. This stuff is so fluffy and lucious. I have high hopes for our seedlings. Huge thanks to for recommending them and organizing the order.

Tip: if you have old metal blinds cut them up to make plant labels. You can reuse them year after year. Also, has a ton of previously used pots for free that can help you with seed starting.

Late spring garden check in. Yay! My garden is coming along.

Aren’t these King Tut purple peas so beautiful? From “One of the most historical peas known, this particular variety is said to have been taken from the tomb of famed Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, or King Tut. The story is, his servants planted and harvested these peas to help provide for his afterlife. Though some claim to have debunked the story, Lynn McKee’s family tradition asserts that her father received the seeds found in the boy King’s tomb, where they had been undisturbed for nearly 5,000 years until Howard Carter found the tomb on Nov. 4, 1922. From there, as the legend goes, the seeds were taken to England where they were propagated and shared with friends.” Check out their website for more of the story.

Fava bean farinata. On our trip to Italy this past fall we bought a bunch of dried fava beans at the farmers market in Puglia where our dear friend lives. She said to wait to prepare them until her olive oil comes in. Her delicious olive oil from their recent harvest came in, so it’s time to cook them up.

In Puglia one of the traditional ways of cooking the fava beans is to boil (with a potato to make it less bitter if you want that) and purée. Then serve with sautéed bitter greens, hot chili flakes and a bunch of olive oil. While that is super tasty, we tried it a little different tonight.

I made farinata (chickpea flatbread that Amanda taught me how to make) and topped it with a layer of crème fraiche then the fava purée. From there we topped it with chive and blossoms, prosciutto, parsley, wood sorrel, pickled onions, Parmesan, and doused it in her delicious olive oil. It was the perfect spring meal.

If anyone is interested in getting any of Amanda’s perfectly spicy in the back of your throat olive oil DM me.

Yayayaya!!

📣 Breaking news: BIG wins for farm to school! 👏
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Yesterday, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service announced the updated nutrition standards for schools, early care and education sites, and out of school programs. The new rules contain major wins for farm to school, including a measure to simplify local purchasing that National Farm to School Network has long championed!
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Under the new rules, child nutrition programs will now be able to use 🥕 “locally grown,” 🐓 “locally raised,” or 🎣 “locally caught” as a specific requirement for unprocessed or minimally processed food items.
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Basically, this removes a lot of the complexity that child nutrition programs had to navigate in order to purchase local food. School cafeterias and child care programs can now purchase local foods more easily!
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Thank you to all of our Partners and community members who contributed to NFSN’s comments on the proposed version of this rule in Spring 2023. Your advocacy has made a difference!

View the full rule summary here: https://bit.ly/3xT9OFG

Sad sad seedlings. Potting soil matters when you seed start! I learned the hard way.

- The first image is of my seedlings around this time last year.
- The second image is of the potting soil I used.
- The third and fourth image is of my seedlings this year.
- The fifth image is of the soil I used this year.

All seedlings were planted roughly around the same time frame as last year’s planting and had the same light setup.

The only thing different was the soil and wow! My plants are so so puny this year! So so sad! I know what potting mix I’ll not be getting next year.

Want to learn how to cook healthy for your family on a budget? Join on Saturdays starting Jan 13th from 10-12:30 for 5 weeks during our Cooking for the Family program. Register online: thefarmchef.com/programs/cook4family
*Classes open to residents of Walnut Hills

Wanting to learn how to cook healthy for your family while on a budget, or know anyone who would benefit from this 5 week culinary course? Join La Soupe on Saturdays starting January 13 for 5 weeks from 10-12:30.

Register online: https://redcap.link/irzxglem

*class is open to residents of Walnut Hills

https://thefarmchef.com/2024/01/04/lasoupe-is-offering-public-cooking-for-the-family-classes-starting-soon/

So honored and proud to be helping serve some of delicious food to none other than James Beard Award winner and some of the professors at the . Harvest salad, creole inspired Mac n’cheese, vegetarian lentil Cincinnati chili, seasoned rice, and challah. Yumm Yumm.

Tomato hornworm and braconid wasps. These worms decimate tomato plants, but this is an example of nature at its best.

“A female wasp has laid her eggs under the skin of that hornworm. As the eggs hatch the larvae actually feed on the hornworm insides. The larvae eat their way out of the caterpillar and spin the cocoons you see. Eventually adult wasps will emerge from the cocoons and the weakened hornworm will die.”

I try to plant small flowers like tansy and yarrow in my pollinator garden close by and let some carrots, dill, cilantro, and fennel flower to entice these wasps to stay in my garden and do pest management for me.