Asparagus Pickles

Twilight at 10 PM...when the mosquitos come out!


When the sun goes down it's time to make asparagus pickles!


Our fresh asparagus is so good you can eat it raw. And since it's never touched by anything but rain water you can eat it right out of the garden. Lot's of people like it grilled on the BBQ with seafood or chicken and a simple oil/herb dressing before you grill is simple to do.

Steaming is good too and I like a honey mustard vinaigrette on top. Try this with chilled asparagus for a lovely summer side dish.

Don't over cook it! Steam or grill for about 6 minutes, depending on the thickness of the stalks.

I've been having a hard time keeping up with mine and some of the stalks got a bit ahead of me. Still nice and tender and good to eat, but not as attractive as they should be in the market. So I made some hot and spicy asparagus pickles. I like to make pickles because it's something I can do with a simple hot water bath canner.

I make my brine with salt, vinegar and water and then I add the flavors I want with the asparagus. This time I used a southwestern style mix of garlic, red pepper flakes, chives , fresh oregano sprigs and cilantro seeds.

If you live near a farmer's market you can probably find asparagus now. Buy enough to eat fresh and about 4 or 5 pounds to pickle. Then serve your pickles as a summer treat along with olives or fresh tomato slices or cut up in a mediteranian style salad.

Drop me a comment if you'd like the recipe.

From the Farm

Some days, like yesterday, everything goes wrong. The washer had a leak. The car wouldn't start. It was about 60 degrees and REALLY WINDY and showery! I muddled about. I went to Montague and bought groceries. I grumped and growled and went to bed.


Clouds on Dunn Creek


Lilacs and Apples coming into blossom.

Today was perfect. I picked a few pounds of asparagus. I harrowed a field. I worked in the greenhouse and composted some asparagus beds. I weeded, I walked a hay field, I visited my neighbor and had a belt of fine single malt scotch.

Now I'm writing in the shop studio and I'm being dive bombed by these huge dumb clumsy brown beetles.

The frogs are peeping. A coyote is barking in the back field and at 10:00 PM there's still light in the sky from a long northern sunset.

Life is good again!

New Friday Podcast From The Farm!

CLICK - HEAR Listen to the new podcast from Dunn Creek Farm

Hello again!

Sorry I haven't been adding new entries this week. I've been pretty busy! There is so much to do in the spring. But I did manage to record and produce a new podcast from the farm.

I want to offer a special welcome to the blog if you've been listening to the weekly podcast on The Homecast Show.

A Few Notes:

I always try to keep the podcast time at about 5:00 minutes. But sometimes that means making a few short cuts in my story. I had planned to do more to explain how / why we decided to move to Prince Edward Island. But I only spent a minute with Tom Rath on Anne of Green Gables and didn't really finish the story.

Anne is the heroine of Lucy Maud Montgomery's series of novels about life on PEI. It was those stories which brought PEI to the attention of my wife, Susan. She came to visit "Annes Land" and that was what made her want to come back and find a little place on the island to call her own. I've never read the books but they changed my destiny and brought me here!
I'm sure we will revisit Anne and her part in our story another day.

NEW FROM THE FARM!

We're offering fresh, local PEI organic asparagus for $4.00 a pound. Quantities are limited but the plants are just now getting active so we will have more for you in the next few weeks! Just stop in or call ahead and I'll put an order together for you.