Good Chi Farm & Garden

I mentioned earlier that I was experimenting with fermenting ginger leaf for tea. Here is what happened... I mistakenly did not dry the leaves before processing, which entailed bruising the leaves rolling them up in a clean tea towel, wrapping with plastic wrap then stuffing in jar and capping. After the recommended three days it developed a strong fishy smell. Yuck. Still, I was reminded of the familiar scent of dried and fermented goods at an Asian grocer, so I finished drying it and steeped a cup tonight. The sun and then oven drying reduced the odor and simmering the tea was not that bad. In the end the tea has a pleasant very light grassy mushroom scent and taste. Hardly a hint of ginger! A fascinating transformation. I would not do this process again but all was not wasted. I might use these leaves for soup stock. I'll try again with dry leaves. What is confusing is that the two Youtube posts that I based this process in doesn't make sense because it's anaerobic, whereas most tea processing is an oxidation process. I will also try just using a typical black tea process and see what happens. If you have any experience with making black tea, please share!

Dutchman's breeches. A 2 week flowering period. Glad to run into you! 🌺🍃🐝

Renewal. I'm feelin' it in a quiet but dramatic way. See it? Be it.

I thought these were fake when I first saw them, like plastic Easter eggs. Still cute nonetheless.

Appreciating the wild beyond the yard and long shadows of late fall.

Not wasting these little ones at the bottom. They were at a standstill while the cukes higher up on the vine were younger yet growing bigger. It's getting colder and any nights below 50 will kill off these container plants. So I pruned leaves below and harvested the bbs. Fermenting in a brine.

Beit alpha cuke update: so it turns out that this mini that's ready to be harvested soon is an anomaly. It's the only one that is growing from the main stem. It seems that the habit of this variety is to first put out a profusion of male flowers, then send out flower stems with female flowers, even from the bottom! Good thing I did not prune too many leaves from the bottom! What I was expecting was more female flowers from the top. I hardly took off any suckers, which I actually should have kept if I wanted to do 2 vines per plant. The original thought was to do an umbrella pruning but I don't think it will send out any suckers. I'll be happy if these plants keep growing and just cascade over the top.

Beit alpha cukes mostly male flowers and few suckers. 5 feet tall already. Hmmm.

Time to retire these, even though we are still trying to figure out food security and farm sustainability. 1-2. Just Foods tee, circa 2009. I got this Obama era shirt when I first learned about CSAs and have worn it in the fields since I started farming in 2011 through this year. Cotton lasts, people. 3. Circa 2011, my first farm job at Hilltop Hanover, ditto. Remember when brown and robin blue were on trend? Does anybody wanna buy these? Lol

Hey friends! Is there anyone out there who could do me a solid? A farmer friend hooked me up with to sell my last boxes of Asian radishes but there's no more room in their delivery truck. So I'm wondering if anyone near the farm is headed to Brooklyn this week. I could pay for gas and tolls and you get some mini-mu too. DM me if this sounds fun to you! TY! 💗

Myoga ginger rootlet from in Trumansburg, NY. This is a cold hardy variety of Japanese ginger I'm trying out. Ginger is an important part of my culture, used almost daily. But I question whether growing Zingiber officinale, the kind we use in Chinese cuisine, is worth growing in our climate zone 6. The rootstock is usually from Hawaii or Peru and the plant can only be grown as an annual for baby ginger here, not as storage ginger. Rootstock is expensive and to get it started requires heat (electricity), season long space and protection. Baby ginger is very special in our region, so kudos to all the fellow farmers who grow it! But I want to find a way to grow ginger more sustainably. So although Myoga is a different type and its shoots (not roots) are eaten fresh, I'm curious to see how this perennial, which requires less inputs, fares. See you next year, little one. ;)

Just when I'm feeling drained by the farming season and also sad it's coming to an end, nature lifts me. These are the first blooms from a Chrysanthemum tea plant, bo-ju-hua, I never got in the ground. I trimmed the potted plant and put the cuttings in water and the buds still opened as the leaves are fading. They typically bloom in November. Next year I'll get the plants in the ground, so then I'll always have something to look forward to at the close of the season--and a cup of tea!

Oh yeah. Getting ready for the big storage crop haul. Remembering this Chinese children's song, Ba Luobo, Pulling Carrots. It takes a village. Lol

We can have it all! Plant-based Chinese home cooking! Thank you, Maggie Zhu for coming up with this book! Chinese Homestyle. Go to our bio to get your copy. And come by and check out our giant Taiwanese bai luobo!

The perfect seed density, the right weather conditions, just enough compost makes the best ultrababy choy. Is it the generous autumn or have we finally nailed the recipe for this particular variety? What makes ultra bb choy special is it's cut to cook. No trimming. We hand harvest every piece, so of course, one of our goals is to make it easier! There is no machine that can do this. So grateful for this nice stand. Cuts like butta.

These came out nice and thiccch. I'm gonna save seed frim this planting fosho. When peeled, the color is like jade. 💚🤩

Brrrr!!! Box pickup is Wednesday, 4-6 pm at the farm. Order by 9 pm Tuesday. This week: Tatsoi Rosette, new breed Radish Cabbage, Chrysanthemum Greens (tong ho), Yardlong beans*, Ping Tung eggplant*, Mu (Korean Radish), Scallions, Kkaennip*. DM us your order and preferences. $25 cash or Venmo. Please bring your own bag! 🙏🏽🌎💗TY!

*Last of the season

First bulk pickup at the farm in Kingston tomorrow, Wednesday, Sep 28, 4-6 pm. Order by 9pm tonight! We also have bulk kkaennip, $15 for 5 bunches, which each is about 6-7 stems of 20 leaves of various sizes. La Tia To is in flower already, sorry, but isn't it pretty?! The rest: Case of 8 Napa cabbage (currently this tall Green Rocket variety), $42 (about $2/lb). If you prefer the barrelhead type for baechoo, they will be available Oct 15, but put your order in now. Mu 20 lbs for $40. Chonggak, $15 for 30 pc. Scallions $2.80/bunch. You can also order now for pickup at Schenectady Market, Sunday October 2. That helps us a lot! 😘

DM me to order! Pay by cash or Venmo. Thank you!