April Produce Parable
By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

The Produce Department is thrilled to offer a new line of gardening products from Potting Shed Creations, a gardening supply company based in Troy, Idaho. Founded in 1998 in an old elementary school building, Potting Shed Creations has been designing gardening products that are organic, sustainably produced and practical. Their minimalist designs are both efficient and eye-catching. The company states on their website: “we believe style and substance are not mutually exclusive” and this philosophy is evident in the simplistic design and beauty of these products.

We are bringing in a small selection of their products for adult and children gardeners alike. Here’s a list of the products we will be bringing in this spring:

Alpine Strawberry: Who wouldn’t want to pick fresh, bright red and delicious little berries right off their windowsill? These plants produce strawberries that are larger than wild berries, but not quite as big as ones you can buy in the store. They will likely not produce fruit until the second growing season so you can use the plant that first year as a lovely green houseplant.

Catnip: Give your furry little buddy a treat by way of this little bag of catnip. It’s easy to grow and maintain, and your cat will absolutely love it. Let them roll around in it fresh, or dry it and stuff it inside a cat toy. You can even enjoy catnip yourself; it makes a calming tea when steeped in hot water.

Forget-Me-Not: Having long been a symbol of undying love, the forget-me-not is a wonderful addition to any gardener’s home. These tiny blue flowers have been used throughout the ages to remind people of their love, but also to remind people of the plights of the poor, destitute and to honor the dead.

Basil: The king of herbs, basil has a long history of culinary and medicinal use. Undemanding to grow, lovely to look at and a delight on the tongue, basil is an easy addition to make too many dishes. Grow your own right from the bag, then eat it fresh or whip up some pesto.

Jack’s Magic Beans: Made from recycled US steel, this 5” by 1” tin contains organic bean seed, garden stake, pencil, activity and recipe cards as well as directions. Your child will delight in watching their beanstalk grow to the sky, just like in the children’s story Jack and the Beanstalk.

The Princess’ Pea: This tin is also made from recycled US steel, and contains organic pea seeds, garden stake, pencil, activity and recipe cards as well as directions. Your little princess’ face will light up as her pea plant grows big and strong. Don’t forget to put a pea under her mattress to see if she is really a princess or not, just like in the children’s story The Princess and the Pea.

Bird Habitat Scatter Garden: The seeds in this mixture will attract songbirds and hummingbirds to your garden, bringing with them all the magic and wonder those birds contain. You and your children will become bird-watching professionals in no time with the included notes and field guide. The seed mix contains annuals and perennials so your bird watching can start this season and continue on for many more. Each kit includes thirty five seed varieties (enough for planting 100 square feet), notes, field guide, pencil and directions.

With these exciting new products, what are you waiting for? Come on in and get some soon and get a head start on spring!

By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

“There once was a man filled with dread, wondering how his family’d be fed. He realized, with a shout, they’d eat coleslaw and kraut, all he had to do was use his head.” ~ A Cabbage Limerick by Molly McDonald, Produce Staff Member.

It really is that simple, all one needs to do to feed their family is use their head of cabbage to make something wholesome and filling for dinner.  Whether you want creamy American-style coleslaw, hot German sauerkraut flavored with juniper or a savory stuffed cabbage roll, you just can’t go wrong when you make cabbage a part of your meal. 

Cabbage is a good source of vitamin C, so much so in fact that sailors used to take barrels of sauerkraut with them on voyages as they noticed regular consumption of it prevented scurvy. Cabbage is also a good source of beta-carotene, fiber and it only has 25 calories in a 3.5 ounce serving. Do be careful when cooking cabbage, as over cooking produces hydrogen sulfide gas and this gas causes the cabbage to have a strong, unpleasant odor and taste.  

To get you excited about making cabbage for dinner tonight, linked below is a recipe for cabbage rolls stuffed with a mixture of sushi rice, spicy house-made Italian sausage (from the Wheatsfield Meat Department), grass-fed beef and onions. The rolls are covered in a zesty tomato sauce and baked in the oven until tender. They are great for dinner or a wonderful appetizer for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. 

If this recipe has won you over, and you want to make cabbage dishes several times a week, then you may want to try your hand at growing cabbage. Start with the right seed for your home garden and/or growing region. If you live farther to the north, where the growing seasons are shorter, you may want to find a fast growing cabbage variety such as “Early Jersey Wakefield” and if you have a small garden then the compact, upright “Winnigstadt” variety might be the one for you. Look for cabbage seeds in the Produce Department from Seed Savers Exchange. 

You can buy cabbage seedlings from transplants, but it is easy and fun to start your own from seeds. Start the seeds indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost of the spring. Plant seeds one quarter of an inch deep in a small seedling pot full of moist potting soil. Seeds should germinate in about a week to a week and a half. Harden off the seedlings by exposing them to outdoor temperatures for an hour at a time adding an hour each day until a few days before you are ready to transplant them. At this point the seedlings should be hardened and can stay outdoors until they are ready to plant. Transplant the seedlings outdoors, spaced two feet apart, about a week or two before the last frost. Plant the cabbage in a sunny place with well draining soil.  Even moisture will help the heads grow densely and uniformly. 

I hope these recipes and the planting tips above inspire you to cook or grow some cabbage of your own this growing season!

Recipes

• Stuffed Cabbage Rolls
  
• Colcannon veg
  

Fun Cabbage Facts

According to the Guinness Book of World Records records:

Heaviest Cabbage 127.0 lb
Longest Cabbage Roll 50.4 ft
Largest Cabbage Dish 2,040 lb

Cabbage Storage

Store the whole head of cabbage in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Cabbage can be stored for various time periods depending on the cabbage cultivar and harvest techniques.

The older it gets, the stronger the flavor and odor will be!

March Produce Parable
By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

The produce staff and I have all been taught to appreciate the unique nature of our department. We are taught to look at produce with a trained eye when we are setting it up on the sales floor. The colors, shapes, textures and sizes off all the different food we sell is taken into account every day in each display we build, each bunch of celery we trim and every apple we stock.

Does that blocky green pepper look good next to those shiny, curvy black eggplant, or would that slender yellow crookneck squash really pop next to the eggplant instead? The long, mousy tails to the radishes really draw your eyes in, so let’s leave them on instead of trimming them off. Alternating the rows of shimmering blackberries, glossy and ruby-red strawberries, slightly ashen looking blueberries and dark, deep red raspberries makes for a cascade of beautiful berries. What looks better next to the rough, mottled brown skin of a bosc pear: nectarines with their smooth skin and fiery splash of red and yellow, a peaches golden hue and fuzzy skin or the taught, burgundy peel of a plum? Do those apricots all have a slight blush of the side that was facing the sun? They sure do, so we’ll be sure to stock those apricots so each and every one is revealing that blush to you. When we do, you will look at them and think the same thing we think each and every day: “This produce, it’s all so beautiful, like a work of art!”

No artificial pigment, volatile chemical or processed food will ever match the vivid colors, aromas, flavors and textures of whole, fresh fruits and vegetables. It is our job to use all of that produce as a palette, to use our produce department as a canvas. We’ve spent years learning, training and growing and each year our department grows a little bit more. Each season increases the diversity of the palette we get to craft from. Many people may not realize how much thought and care goes into the produce we sell at Wheatsfield Cooperative, into each and every produce display we set up and in each piece of produce we sell. It is much labor indeed, but it is absolutely a labor of love. Come on in for a visit and see for yourself what beautiful, edible works of art we are creating here every day.

February Produce Parable
By Adam Calder, Produce Manager

Fair trade roses will arrive on Friday, February 8 and will be red, yellow, pink and lavender. We will be selling them by the each and the dozen.

Instead of giving someone wine and chocolates, why not give someone social justice, environmental protection and economic development for Valentine’s Day this year?

If you give the gift of Fair Trade roses, you are doing just that. Not only are these roses stunning to look at, these flowers come to us from One World Flowers. This business is committed to the people growing these flowers, the land and the economy that ties the two together.

Social Justice is ensured for the farmers in the 10% price premium all importers pay to purchase from the farm. The farm workers vote on how to spend these funds and voted to use them to fund scholarships, microloans and on-site day-care. Sexual harassment and any discrimination are also forbidden on One World farms. Women are given 12 weeks of paid maternity leave, and when they return to work there are on site doctors to help make sure they stay healthy.

Environmental protection comes in the form of Integrated Pest Management, where applications of chemicals are made in accordance with the cycles of plants and pests to best mitigate their environmental impacts. Natural pesticides, like chamomile extract and cayenne pepper, are used in lieu of carcinogenic ones. Some of these farms grow chemical-runoff eating algae in fish ponds built in to catch rainwater. These nutrient-rich algae are then harvested and used as fertilizer for the roses.

Lastly, the economic development spurred by these farms has improved the nearby economy by paying workers a living wage. In Ecuador, where these roses are grown, the minimum wage is $240 a month, although the estimated living wage is $500 a month (the pay rate of the fair trade farmers.)

So this year, show the ones you love that your love extends beyond them all the way to a hard working farmer in Ecuador.