Heirloom Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

4 lbs. heirloom tomatoes, sliced seeded and chopped
1 bulb fennel
1 lb carrots
1 lb onions
4 oz extra virgin olive oil
1 qt liquid vegetable stock
bouquet garni (thyme, rosemary, sage, 1 tsp peppercorns, 1 small head of garlic halved)
salt & pepper to taste
2-4oz heavy cream (optional)
sprig of basil for garnish
 

Method:

1. Begin by braising the fennel, carrots, and onion in the extra virgin olive oil - this process can take 15 minutes or 2 hours depending on how much flavor you want to extract from the vegetables.

2. Once you are satisfied with the color, texture and aroma from the vegetables, add the bouquet garni and the tomatoes. Combine well, adjust the consistency of the soup with half of the stock and bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.

3. Puree the mixture in a blender and pass through a mesh strainer make it smoother, if desired.

4. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. If you want a more luxurious soup, add a small amount of heavy cream to the finished soup and a sprig or two of basil. 

Safe Solutions - Mosquito Barrier Will Keep Mosquitoes Out of Your Yard!

You do not have to let mosquitoes chase you, your children and your pets out of your yard this summer. We sell a wonderful product called Mosquito Barrier that will keep the mosquitoes out. At first glance, it seems a bit pricy; but it’s a concentrate and a one quart bottle covers 1.25 acres. We also carry it in gallons. Still, if you’re on a budget like I am, you can stretch the product by using it only where you spend most of your time. I have used Mosquito Barrier around my back deck and from my front door to where I park my car (pretty much right in front of my front door – I live in a townhouse). That way I’m covered most of the time and a one quart bottle lasts me two to three months.

You may notice a strange phenomenon if you treat a small area like I do. When you approach the edge of that area, you may see mosquitoes swarming. Although you’re standing only a few feet from them, they will not approach you. It’s a little surreal . . . like there’s an invisible wall between you and the little blood suckers. They really will not approach you unless you step outside the treated area. Unfortunately if you do so, they will stay with you when you walk back into the treated area. When this happens, you’ll have to kill those pests that come into the area with you. Once you do, you’re mosquito-free again.

One application lasts for two to three weeks and will even continue to work after rainy weather (if it has time to dry thoroughly after application). The directions say you can use a pump or a hose-end sprayer, but we recommend you go with a pump sprayer. Oh . . . and be prepared . . . your yard will smell like an Italian restaurant for hours (or even days) after application.

Message to Spring Vegetable Gardeners from Donna

Be on the lookout for insect pests on your vegetable plants. While hand watering this morning, I discovered leaves on several tomato plants that looked almost like netting. I cut the whole leaf off and turned the leaf over to find lots of tiny, tiny caterpillars - you almost cannot see them. By catching them early and picking off the whole leaf or section of leaves, I can get rid of them before they grow and spread out to the whole plant.

If you are too late and the caterpillars have spread (they are called army worms for a reason!), you can dust your plants with Dipel or spray with Thuricide - both are used by organic growers to specifically kill caterpillars on vegetable plants.

The other pests I encountered this morning were stinkbugs - quite a few of them hanging out together on our potato plants. First I noticed the tips of some of the plants wilting and upon closer look I saw 2 - 3 stinkbugs on each of the wilted tips. My gardening partner, Ann Morrow, and I keep a plastic jar in storage by our garden for stinkbug removal. We have never had a problem this early and never before on the potatoes - usually later in the season on the tomatoes. Put a little liquid soap in the jar and fill about half way with water. Then hold the jar under the infested leaves and thump the stinkbugs in. They will soon drown.

The beauty of hand watering is that you take the time to visit each plant and observe problems before they get too far. I switch to drip irrigation when the watering needs of the tomatoes become greater as summer approaches.

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplant and new potatoes are all coming along nicely. We are still enjoying lots of kale, shallot shoots, Swiss chard and lettuce from the winter garden, but that will come to an end soon with the heat!