By dennis
Stinging nettle is a for most people an annoying weed. A noxious weed that can easily take over your garden. They sting and leave a long lasting itch and burning sensation.
Maybe change your view of these plants and play with them a bit as they are actually very useful. Edible as they are, they make a delicious and cheap spring vegetable. When cooked they loose their sting and are delicious in a stir fry. Blended up into a pesto and mixed with the wonderful Kyoja niniku and almighty bacon makes a great spring pasta.
Also healthy as tea afterwards.
When you want to get rid of them, put them with you compost as they are a great source of nitrogen or, like i do, stuff them in large buckets and fill them up with water. Like all goodness comes from fermentation, you end up with a potent liquid fertilizer or even more handy :a pesticide.
It works great on caterpillars, aphids and the likes. Mix some of the concentrate with water and a bit of green soap and attack the grubs.
Leave them in the buckets with a lid on and stir occasionally and wait for a week or 3-4, depending on the heat outside. Strain, but use the left over pulp as fertiliser.
Just don’t forget to bring some proper gloves!
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By dennis
On Thursday the 11th of August, Niseko Green Farm’s vegetables and Mick Nippard’s A-wines will merge into a wine dinner at The Life Stock in Sapporo.
Mick will bring some Australian and New Zealand organic wines that match well with our organic produce.
How about a blended Moonvine, Hedonist rosé, or Terravin sauvignon blanc to name some.
Terasawa san, chef of the Life Stock has put a menu to these wines that will definitely bring out the best of each other.
●野菜のキッシュ vegetable quiche
●バーニャ・フレッダ bagna fredda
●様々な野菜のエトフェ sama zama vegetable etouffee
●ハーブでマリネした鮮魚のカルパッチョ herb marinated fresh fish carpaccio
●フジッリ スーゴ・フィント fussili sugo finto
●チキンのロースト 野菜のソースをディップで roast chicken with a vegetable dip sauce
●フロマージュブラン トマトのマルメラータ fromage blanc with tomato marmalade
Mick, Goto san and I will tell all about these gastronomic delights, but not too much to spoil your appetites. Come and join us for a fun night with good food and good wine. That’s all we really need in life!
There are still a few seats available. first come first serve.
The Life Stock. Sapporo. Odori west 23.
TEL: 011-631-1233 Fax: 011-631-1232
¥5000 p.p.
en vino veritas
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By dennis
We have had a bit of rain recently. On one of these days this frog was sitting on a fuki leaf waiting for the first drops to come down. Not using herbicides and pesticides greatly improves the frog population in your field. They are particularly sensitive to chemicals. They make some great insect munchers, so it is good to have them around.
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By dennis
This is a photo of a seed potato about two weeks after planting. You can see the root system has already developed well and the white bean sprout like shoots are about to come out of the ground. This one is dug up so the shoots are blanched and white like white asparagus, but they will turn green as soon as they see sun light and leafs will form. A good root system is essential for a plant to establish well, so it is the first thing they develop when they grow to absorb water and nutrients for the growth of the plant and new potatoes.
Planting vegetables from root cuttings is a safe way to get the exact same offspring as the mother plant, it’s like a clone. Planting from seed may result in cross pollination, but may create new varieties that could be staple food in the future.
Potatoes are almost always grown from a cutting or a piece of potato, but if you want to experiment and play with nature, save the seed of the berries that produce ofter flowering and seed them the year after. they will produce potatoes, but all with a new character. They may become your new favourite.
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By dennis
We keep our potatoes stored at 4°C until the Hokkaido potato supply starts to run low. To put them on the market they have to be sorted by size and shape. Medium is 80-100 grams, medium-large 101-120 grams, large 121-190 grams, extra large 191-250 grams. A bit hard to to this by hand, so we have this old potato sorting machine that does it all a lot quicker. Here is a you tube video of how it works.
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By dennis
There is so much research being done on the effect of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and cloned food and nobody really knows for sure yet what is good and what is bad for us.
One thing that does effect us all, is ourlocal economy and money. We never seem to get a rent reduction from a sympathetic landlord, who smiles and says: go buy some books for your kids, or take them out on a fun day. We are only as strong as our local economy. Supporting this is essential. By going to major supermarkets, the local grocery shops have all disappeared and with it it’s charm and local flair and the place to pick up the local gossip.
Slowly all small businesses are disappearing.
A farm is the same thing.
If you go local and buy your eggs, vegetables and fruit etc. directly from the farm, you know where the produce comes from and that it is fresh.
The farmer gets a better price than if he would dump it on the wholesale market, everybody happy.
By going local, ask your farmer if he does or if he can grow organic. Most farmers have a little veggie patch that is organic, just for them selves.
When you eat organic you can be 100% sure you are not eating something harmful.
If the farmers realize there is market and better value for them in organics, they will make that shift. If the supermarkets realize people want local and organic, they will make that effort as well. It makes the world a better place.
Below is an article with one reason to be sceptical about eating pesticide rich food.
do yourself a favour: go local, go organic.
children-exposed-pesticides-before-birth-likely-lower-iq
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By dennis
Niseko Green Farm produce will be used and sold at Restaurant Lupicia in Jiyugaoka in Tokyo tomorrow. Get it nice and fresh in the morning as it will get pretty hot down there. Restaurant Lupicia, Meguro-ku, Jiyugaoka 1-25-17. ph: 03-5731-7371
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By dennis
Sometimes on your tomato plants some really big flowers appear, usually at they start of the cluster. These flowers suck up all the energy of the other flowers and distubs the devellopment process of the other tomatoes.
The fruit of these flowers will usually be deformed as well. So to safe the plant a lot of energy, i take these flowers away. In the home garden it can be fun to grow them some times as you get the weirdest and biggest tomatoes from them.
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By dennis
Growing your vine plants on a string makes it easy for maintenance and control. Just don't tie them up too tight, otherwise the wind will blow the plant with the roots out of the ground.
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ニセコ グリーン ファームは、羊蹄山とニセコアンヌプリに囲まれた杜で、 新鮮なオーガニック野菜やハーブを育て、直接皆様にお届けいたします。
