Discovering Crosnes

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We were quite excited this week because we managed to get our hands on the equivalent of one bushel of Crosne (Stachys Affinis) roots. Our older daughter first introduced us to these plants about a year ago, mentioning they were a delicacy which is highly prized by top chefs.

These plants resemble a small mint like ground cover and are treasured for their roots which really resemble a small grub. Also known as Chinese Artichoke, they are mainly consumed in France and China. They are used a bit like the Sunchoke which means that they are great pickled, pan pried or steamed. The taste is mild and nutty. They are as crunchy as radishes but not at all peppery. They are usually washed cleaned (with a toothbrush) so the harvesting and cleaning can be rather tedious. However, their little ridges are loved for their ability to hold whatever sauce is applied to a dish.

The "grub-like" Crosne root

Being great fans of odd plants and very much fans of perennials (those that keep giving on an annual basis), this was a great gift. It came to us from a husband and wife team in Fonthill that run a produce distribution company for local restaurants: Urban Graze. We have been using Urban Graze at the Tea Room not only because of the quality of their produce but their ability to source good local seasonal vegetables and their knowledge of local delicacies...and this week they made us twice as happy by providing us with a large amount of Crosne root stock for one of our raised beds. At $20-40/lb retail, this was quite a gift.

We're now looking forward to having a raised bed covered with this beautiful groundcover with dreams of pickling Crosnes this coming Fall. In fact, between our Sunchokes, our Rhubarb, Ramps and Asparagus, we are thrilled to add Crosnes to the list of perennial foods grown at the farm.

This week, we also noticed some wild Asparagus in the back of our lot. We took the opportunity to transplant them and begin the spreading of those plants into one single and large raised bed. We call these Asparagus "wild" but they are probably the remnants of Asparagus planted perhaps decades ago on the property. Not only have we been using their root stock but we have collected seeds and successfully grown them.

Slowly populating one large raised bed with "wild" Asparagus root stock

Last week, we were thrilled to transplant a few plants in the outdoors, proclaiming May 24th as the date beyond which frost is avoided in these parts. We were wrong! We (along with most gardening aficionados) were really caught off guard with a late frost which seriously damaged a few plants. In particular, the Scarlet Runners in our raised beds were decimated. Some survived closer to the barn but we will now have to replant this beautiful bean in the hopes of getting some flowers soon for the Tea Room dishes.

Scarlet Runner frost damage...back to square one!

Not only were some of our raised bed plants affected, but we fear some of our berries as well. Many bushes have past the flowering stage and are currently loaded with green berries. Haskaps and Currants seem OK, however the Red Gooseberries look completely damaged. Maybe they will recover, but we're not holding out much hope... they're goes our Gooseberry pies for the year :(.

What currenlty looks like a frost damaged Gooseberry.

Nevertheless, we have plenty of other berries on the farm and so far things look quite promising.

We'll end this week with an update on the Growing Dome. Those following the blog know we've had a very difficult time keeping fish alive in this environment...mostly because of temperature extremes. We were surprised to find more "floaters" a few weeks back. This means that although we've not taken care of the water, fish were still alive throughout the Winter. They died when we just did not aerate the water on a very hot day...we simply thought all the fish were gone.

This incident has given us new hope and we've now decided to tackle a major project in the dome, We intend to bury our water tank some 3-4 feet down. This will provide some insulation to the water tank and hopefully alleviate the temperature extremes for the fish. It will also allow us to move our aquaponic work tables to a more convenient height.

The next major project this Summer: bringing the water tank down into the ground some 3-4 feet. 

The Dome has also provided some surprises this year. So we'll conclude this post with a couple of pictures from the Dome. A small Avocado plant has managed to survive the Winter in the Dome, and one of our grape vine cuttings (Baco Noir) is already fruiting.

We had not given this small Avocado much chance...but it survived!

In the Dome, this Grape cutting is well ahead of our other vines.