Really quickly – without making this blog too long winded. As I mentioned in my first post about my bees, my goal for the summer is to fit blogging into my routine. Sharing more about my urban beekeeping, gardening, introducing farms, eating seasonally, eating locally, recipes, kitchen tips and tools etc., I don’t plan to post every other day, once a week or so. With the recipes, they will be seasonal, and will share tips about how I source my ingredients, and sometimes a bit more about the producer(s) behind those ingredients. This post is a bit of a double post, asparagus season is coming to an end – I wanted to share a bit about Edgar Farms, as well as a recipe. I promise the posts won’t always be this long. If there is anything you’d like to see on the blog get in touch and let me know!
Asparagus – every year I ask myself – is it that I LOVE asparagus? Or is it that it’s one of the first tastes of spring? I know it’s both – they are one of my favourite vegetables, I eat them everyday (sometimes twice a day) for about six weeks every spring. It’s always exciting to see an email in my inbox from Edgar Farms with asparagus in the subject line. I don’t eat asparagus out of season, and I don’t EVER buy them from a supermarket, only locally grown from Edgar Farms.
I have wanted to get out to Edgar Farms for their open farm days for several years now and just haven’t managed to due to scheduling conflicts. Edgar Farms is in Innisfail, and they are the largest asparagus operation – but don’t let the word large scare you hear – it’s not big Ag, they are passionate, and darn good at what they do. They believe in eating locally, seasonally, and being good stewards of the land – all key things to me when I get to know a farm / farmers. This year, I finally made it out to see the sixth generation farm and see how things are done! It was such an enjoyable afternoon. Asparagus come into season mid to late May in Alberta, and are generally harvested for about six weeks. Picking is weather dependent, as is the growing of asparagus, so although they produce for six weeks, some weeks may be better than others. Elna and Doug Edgar started growing asparagus in the early 1980’s and were told by Alberta Agriculture that they couldn’t grow asparagus on the scale they had hoped to – and DO!
Asparagus growing isn’t simple – it takes five years from planting a seed to harvesting, and through those five years lots of work. The perennial plants are started from seed and are planted quite shallow. The following year the plants (crowns) are dug up and planted into trenches about 8 inches deep. The crowns are covered up with a little bit of soil. The plants over the next few years will get established with a strong root system, and will produce spears, the spears are not harvested, instead will be left and go to fern – the spears will get taller and taller and fern out, through this the plant continues to get stronger and stronger. In year three and four some asparagus can be harvested from these plants for the first two weeks of the season. In year five the harvesting is normal, and they can harvest everyday for six weeks. Every time an asparagus is picked, the plant sends up a new shoot, over time this is very hard on the plant, and the shoots will become thinner and thinner, an indication that the plant is stressed, this is when harvesting would be complete for that season.
Asparagus crowns will produce for 25 – 30 years, don’t take too much care once they are established, and produce such a delicious and tender vegetable. At Edgar Farms, they do not cut the asparagus from the field, rather break them off the plant where they willingly break which means the tough woody bit is left in the field. Lots of people know that when you cook asparagus you should snap them, and they will naturally break that woody bit off, when you’re buying from Edgar Farms, there is no need to do this because it’s been done in the field. The asparagus are so fresh when you buy them that they will last in your fridge for a week or two without any problem. As you can imagine, harvesting asparagus is back breaking work, they use little buggies that take them through the fields, so they aren’t bending quite so much, although it still can’t be an easy job – as I always say, thinking about food production from this perspective makes us value the ingredient so much more. The asparagus are harvested, bundled and cooled to remove any heat from the field and stored – they are fresh, fresh, fresh!
I was given two asparagus crowns from a student this year, and I am SO excited with how well they took, I wasn’t able to harvest any asparagus this year, next year I will be able to harvest a few, and in year three I can harvest normally. I also started some asparagus from seed inside this spring, and have translated those into the ground – as I explained above, these seedlings will establish themselves and I will dig up those crowns and plant into trenches next year – babying those plants for the next few years before I can harvest! Exciting!
I love asparagus yes, but I also think this farm is such a prime example of producers in our province doing incredible things – although they grow a other market vegetables on the farm, raise cattle and grow wheat as well, this niche market of asparagus tells such an incredible story of the resilience, passion and determination that so many farmers share.
I wrote a post on social media about eating seasonally after I had left Elna and Doug’s farm two weeks ago, and it’s funny, that post had been in the works for a few days. I am always inspired by conversations arise in classes, conversations with friends who get it but seeing and hearing farmers stories inspires me more and more every year to share their stories, and educate my students about the importance of supporting local growers. Some of this is redundant but I thought I would share the post anyway.
“You all know how much I love asparagus and how I only eat them in season from Edgar Farms – but did you know asparagus in the store can be two to three weeks old before you buy it? I started writing this post two nights ago, after listening to Elna Edgar talk about their farm yesterday at their open farm day – it reminded me even more, just how important this is – the timing of listening to Edgar’s story, spring produce starting to pop up in our markets and this thought that’s been on my mind a lot lately just couldn’t be more perfect. Often, I think there is a key word missing it the conversation of eating locally — seasonal. if you’re eating locally it should mean you’re eating seasonally. We all know a wee bit about seasonality with food, but often because of big super markets supplying us with everything, everyday coming from far away, that line can be very blurred. In Alberta fruit and veg come into season in the blink of an eye with one or two things popping up in markets being harvested from fields not too far away and before you know it those same fields are producing a bounty. As we head into the months that come with this bounty it’s hard to imagine going back to the hungry months of root veg, hot house grown veg and more root veg…. but now is the time to think about preserving those fruit and veg as they come into the markets – and more than that savour them, enjoy those first carrots, freshly shelled peas, tasty sweet strawberries. Don’t read a guide or what’s in season because often they’re skewed – talk to farmers, go to farmers markets, visit farms and ask questions! Be your own advocate and soon, you’ll know just what’s in season within a few weeks depending on the year. Edgar Farms has an open farm days again on the 2nd and 9th of June – enjoy a drive, see the farm, hear their story and try and try breaking off an asparagus in the field and eating it right there. As always, visiting farm will leave you feeling inspired and grateful!” – May 27, 2019
If you’re keen to hear more about their story, head out this Sunday to their last open farm day – you can read more about it on their website.
Did you know?
- Asparagus can grow up to ten inches on a hot day? Which means, they have to be harvested twice, morning and night on those big growing days.
- Asparagus in our super markets can be shockingly old (three to four weeks). They have to be harvested, packaged, shipped, and then make it onto the shelves. Check the labels of your food, and see just how far it’s travelling.
- We are heading into the last few weeks of asparagus growing in Alberta, so do head to Old Strathcona Farmers’ Market or the Downton Market this weekend to visit the Edgar’s and grab some asparagus to make this salad – or to eat raw, or roast, or add ribbons to your green salad, or dip into a jammy egg or… or… or…. The options are endless. I promise if you haven’t had them, you’ll notice a difference in flavour, AND texture.
Asparagus + Radish Salad with Green Onion
This recipe comes from River Cottage A – Z. It’s the perfect spring salad – radish and green onion are two of the first things to pop up in local markets, as are asparagus.
250g asparagus
75g radish
2 – 3 spring onions
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
¼ tsp dry mustard
salt and pepper
Place the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper into a small jam jar. Cover, shake well, and set aside. Snap off the woody bit of the asparagus at the natural breaking point by holding the top and bottom of the asparagus and gently bending. Slice the asparagus on an angle to create elongated oval slivers. Slice the radish into thin rounds, and the spring onions finely, adding to the asparagus. Toss well with the dressing. It is best to make this salad an hour or two before serving, leaving it in the fridge to marinade.
“That initial glorious bundle should be enjoyed reverently in the simplest ways… It’s possible to buy asparagus any time of year. You could, if you wanted, chargrill it on the BBQ in August, slather it with hollandaise with your Christmas dinner, or take full advantage of it’s suggested form and dunk it seductively into a soft boiled egg on Valentine’s Day. But, while I strongly believe you should explore all of these methods of serving asparagus you’ll be selling yourself and this glorious vegetable short if you eat it in any month that isn’t [May or June], so draw a metaphorically black line through the rest of the year and instead cram all the joy of asparagus eating into the brief but blissful period.” – Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall