Everybody Loves Kohlrabi!!!!

Kohlrabi is one of my favorite vegetables.....and it's so easy to grow! My Dad always grew it in our garden when I lived at home, so to me it is a very common vegetable, but most people who visit the U-pick garden for the first time have never even heard of it!

Kohlrabi is from the brassica family, along with Broccoli, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Kale and Brussel's Sprouts. It is a bulb that grows above the ground. They come in 2 colors....green and purple.

They sort of remind me of Mike Wazowski from Monsters.Inc....

Both the bulb and the leaves are edible. The leaves can be used like Kale.

Once people try Kohlrabi, they find out that they love them, and they become just as excited about them as I am!

Even kids love Kohlrabi....

Sometimes they can't even wait until they get home to eat them!

So here's a little tutorial on how to pick Kohlrabi.

HOW TO PICK KOHLRABI

1. Kohlrabi are $3.00 each regardless of size, so be sure to pick out one that is large enough to be worth picking....roughly 4 inches across seems good to me.

2. There are 2 ways to harvest Kohlrabi, either pull them out or cut them free. In this example I pulled it right out of the ground. 

3. Carefully set the root ball on the ground. Kohlrabi has quite a large root ball and it makes quite a mess if you shake the dirt off.

4. Use a really strong clippers to cut the bulb loose from the root ball and throw the root ball in the compost pile.

5. Remove the "core" of the root with a shallow cut using a pointy paring knife.

6. Peel the bulb. The peeling is thicker on the bottom then it is on the top. Discard the peelings.

7. People ask me all the time how I cook my Kohlrabi. Honestly, I have never cooked one.....I doubt if one has ever even made it to our table. Kohlrabi is just a delicious snack that needs to be eaten raw while standing over the sink.

8. Remember to gather up the leaves and use them just like Kale. Some folks even think they taste BETTER than Kale.

Come on out and try a Kohlrabi today!

The Last Straw

The ducks have been driving me crazy! Up until about a week ago they had been pretty good, but then all of a sudden they started getting into everything! It all started when I uncovered the Lettuce and Spinach....

The fencing on that particular row has 2x4 inch openings - large enough to allow the ducks to reach their head and necks into the row 12 inches.

I didn't mind it at first - a little snacking is allowed. 

But then they really went to town!

And the ducklings discovered that they were small enough to fit through the fencing completely and they started snacking away.....eventually they just took up residence in the Spinach.

Oh, and there was a lot of this...

The last straw was that they absolutely would not leave the Lemon Sorrel alone. I COULD NOT KEEP THEM OUT OF IT NO MATTER WHAT I DID!!!!! It was just nibbled down to the ground. For some inexplicable reason it had become just irresistible.

It was just time....time to lock them out of the garden....so I put up a fence.

Once the fence was up things became calmer and the ducks seemed to be behaving nicely.
And then, today, I cleared some brush out of the area where they are now living and I found this.....

ARRGGHHHH!!!! It never ends! The last thing I need is more ducklings.....they're eating me out of house and home!

It Was A Good Week

It was a really good first week! A little rainy, but good. It tried to clear off for a couple of days, but it wasn't completely successful. Check out these photos.....photo #1 was taken outside the post office looking toward the ocean.

Photo #2 was taken immediately after photo #1 in the exact same spot looking in the opposite direction......toward our house.

So you can see that although it didn't rain for a couple of days this week it never did get "hot".

One day Pam brought me a green smoothie from Botanika that was made from greens purchased here at the U-Pick Garden.......it was as delicious as it was beautiful!....and wasn't that nice of her?

There were lots of hungry people who came to pick vegetables....when it wasn't raining!

And Max came to play in the dirt.....

.....watch the ducks....

....and sweep the garden with a broom.....

Hey, somebody's got to do it!

Thankyou Sitka!

It was a fabulous first day! My Gloxinia is blooming and the ducks are laying eggs.....

The rain wasn't terrible and the customers trickled in all day. This is Anna from Hawaii....she was bicycling by lost and stopped to ask me directions. When she realized this was a u-pick garden she decided to pick some greens......what a fun chance meeting!
 

2 new female ducks joined the herd today.....they needed a new home and I was happy to take them. One of them has really lightly colored plumage.

They seem happy to be here.....

The vegetables are looking spectacular and they taste delicious!

 Look at the size of this rhubarb stalk!

And Willow ordered the first garden basket of the season!

 Thanks! everybody!