It's finally strawberry season! Not only are strawberries a delicious early fruit, they've also got lots of vitamin C. Strawberries won't ripen after they're picked, when you pick your own, you get them when they are the sweetest and juiciest!
Spinach is up too, so now is the season for one of our favorite salads. You can find more seasonal farm-tested recipes here.
Cassandra's Strawberry Spinach Salad
- 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 8 cups spinach (5 oz.)cleaned
- 1 1/2 cups strawberries, cut lengthwise
Whisk together vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking well. Put spinach and strawberries in a large bowl and toss with just enough vinaigrette to lightly coat.
How to Clean Spinach
It's good to know how to clean fresh greens--
Consumer Reports says that 40% of prewashed supermarket greens test high for bacteria.
- Pick over the greens for wilted or yellow bits. Get a nice large bowl(a salad spinner bowl is good)and put it in your sink (or use your whole, clean, sink for large batches).
- Fill with fresh cold water and add your greens--give them room to swim a little. Swish them around gently, then lift them out, letting particles settle to the bottom. Empty and rinse your bowl.
- Repeat twice more.
|
|
 Strawberries
Asparagus Rhubarb
Spinach
Greenhouse plants - piglets
- lambs
- chicks
- goslings
Plus: - pet food + supplies
- large animal feed
|
Sat. June 4, 9 am-
3 pm, Youth Expo, Rondout Valley Rod & Gun Club Youth Expo at Kelder's, see article below.
Fri. June 17, 7 pm The Greenhorns, Transition Film Series at Marbletown Community Center with Deena Wade, Chris Kelder and others doing Q&A.
Sat. June 18, Rondout Valley Growers Barn Dance at Tralee farm in Stone Ridge, tickets for sale at Kelder's, $20 for dinner and square dancing, kids free, members $15.
|
|
The name strawberry comes not from straw, but from the word stray--because strawberry plants will spread like crazy!
|
|
|
|
|
|
| .
Who's holding that beautiful box of strawberries?
It's Tushar Gudadhe, who visited Kelder's with his wife and daughter on our second day of strawberry picking. They were on their way home in New Jersey from a holiday at Lake George. Tushar said they planned to make fresh strawberry pie with their bounty. |
|
Archery, trout fishing, bird-house building, b-b gun shooting are some of the things that kids will learn about at the June 4th Youth Expo, sponsored by the Rondout Valley Rod & Gun Club.
Natalie Buley, organizer of the Youth Expo, explained that the Rod & Gun Club is "like boy scouts and girl scouts combined," and said that the focus in the club is on enjoying nature and learning about foraging for wild food. The Youth Expo is "a way to introduce kids to fun and interesting nature activities that aren't video games."
Natalie said they'd be happy to demonstrate for interested adults, too.
|
|
The first two monthly winners of our picking spree give-away are Summer Roberts and Valeria DeSantis! Congratulations Summer and VJ! Choose your picking partners wisely! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
  Last year, the trio of geese that guard the ball drop on Homegrown Mini-Golf laid a clutch of eggs that were beautiful, but turned out to be duds. We thought it was because the geese were all female (it's hard to tell with geese). But this spring they surprised us when they hatched a pair of adorable little goslings! Papa Gander is as protective as a Navy Seal--when Chris was nearby with his back turned PG nipped his calf so hard he ripped Chris's jeans! (Guess that's how "goose" got turned into a verb!) |
|
|
|
Hope you can join us to pick berries and greens, or bring your kids to the Youth Expo this weekend, and stay for a round of mini-golf!
Your friends at 
|
|
|
