Back to Market we go!

The skies are alive right now above the farm.  Looks like most of the Tree Swallows have fledged along with the Western Wood Pee Wee, Hummingbird and several others.  The Falcons visit the farm daily, looking for an opportunity for a meal.  The Tree Swallows always try to drive it away from the farm but the Falcon most often is not deterred and eventually will snatch a Swallow.  The Barn Swallows had a bit of a catastrophe with their young.  They all fell out of the nest, about a 30' drop.  We were noticing the parents being very aggressive toward us, whenever we were in close proximity of the nest area, and happened to come across the babies while watering the plant containers.  One of them survived and was able to make it's way over to the tree line beside the house.  It climbed a Saskatoon shrub and is happily being fed by it's parents.
Speaking of birds on the farm, the chickens are doing great. They are small eating machines, eating everything including one of their favorites, Rhubarb stalks.  We are moving their pen twice daily onto fresh grass as they are pooping soooo much.  They get very excited when they are moved to a new patch of grass and it seems the first thing they eat are the dandelion greens.

Sweet William galore.

Itoh Bartzella Peony

Foxglove and Clustered Bellflower

Peonies

The gardens are all doing well.  We had a total of about five inches of rain two weeks ago and the really hot weather the last week is drying it out pretty good.  Looking forward to the rain forecast for today.  The Peonies are all cut now and we still have about seven to eight hundred stems in the cooler. Half of those are put aside for a couple of upcoming weddings in July.  The Sweet William crop is phenomenal this year and the Delphiniums are just starting to come into bloom.  The Lilies we planted in the crates did very well, tall strong plants and we are in the process of cutting those as the buds swell and show colour.  From here on in we will just try to keep the weeds under control and mulch to hold the moisture and harvest flowers and vegetables as they are ready.  We are planning on having new potatoes for the first time for supper tonight.

We have been harvesting Garlic Scapes this week and I came across a couple of recipes over the winter that we are trying with the scapes. I will share the Garlic Scape Pesto recipe with you because it is amazing and so easy to make.  We also pickled Garlic Scapes last night and will let you know how they turn out.

Garlic Scape Pesto

Ingredients for about two cups:
1/2 cup (2.5 oz bag) slivered almonds
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper to taste

9-10 garlic scapes, knobby seed-pods removed and discarded

Special Equipment – A food processor; a rubber spatula

Preparing the scapes - Rinse scapes in cold water, then roughly chop into half-inch pieces.

Processing — Pour scapes and slivered almonds into the bowl of your food processor. Blend for 30 seconds, or until a fairly smooth texture is achieved. Scrape down sides of bowl with your rubber spatula.

With the machine running, slowly add olive oil, and process until thoroughly incorporated, about 15 seconds. Then add the Parmesan cheese, salt, and pepper, and blend for another 5 seconds. Taste carefully — you might like to add more salt and pepper.

Although this pesto is good freshly made, it is even better when refrigerated for several hours or overnight. 

Starting this weekend, we will once again be attending the Saturday markets at the Saskatoon Farmers Market with fresh cut flowers and perennial plants.