Which type of hat do you wear when you work outside on a hot day?

For me it has been a baseball cap on most days because it is light and was just my habit.  And then a couple of weeks ago when it was super hot, I literally became sick…. After I worked hours outside in the afternoon under the sun, I had a bad headache, a little nausea and could not quench my thirst no matter how much water I drank.  I am afraid I suffered from heat stroke or exhaustion.  Fortunately, I recovered in a day or so and this experience reminded me of what Russian babushkas (meaning grandmothers in Russian) told me decades ago (I visited Russia several times for work in my twenties…), in a small town in Russian Far East, where temperature was minus 40 degree C. I was wearing a toque outside but apparently it was a wrong way. Whenever they saw me, they insisted that my toque should cover the entire back of my head because I would die if the back of my head was exposed to extreme low temperature too long.  According to Google AI (btw, Google AI is getting better and better…), there is a part of brain stem controlling body temperature close to the back of the head, along with major blood vessels.  So, when those things are exposed to extreme heat or cold, it will affect their functions and cause you become sick.  I should have followed grandmas’ advice all along!

On Sunday afternoon, I went to the speakers series event organized by Gabriola Seed Bank. Today’s speaker was Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds.  He has 40-year experience in seed business.  One thing I learned was that plants have tremendous capacity of adapting their environment and tuck that information in their seeds for next generation.  So, if you have a seed came from a plant exposed to hot and dry climate, it is more likely the plant from that seed will thrive in another hot and dry climate.  Based on this information, I think we will collect seeds from these two tomato plants now thriving outside.

They came from heirloom tomato seeds that one of my friends gave us back in Ontario before we moved here.  We have grown them ever since in our greenhouse but those pictured here germinated after survived composting process and applied to our garden.  I just let them grow wild and now one of them is about 5 feet tall with very thick stem and lots of fruits.  We tasted them first time this morning and although their skin was a bit thicker than those grown in greenhouse, they were flavourful.  They now must have been learned how to survive outside in our garden and store that information into their gene.  We will collect their seeds at the end of the season and will grow a little more outside next summer.  

Another outside summer crop is Suyo Long cucumber.  They are growing slow and steady and producing tasty cucumbers.  

Suyo Long Cucumber was originally grown in China and came to Japan during World War II.  They used to be a main variety in Japan but now mostly replaced by smooth-skinned variety because their prickly skin is easily damaged during transportation.  Those pricks contain fatty substance to fend off pests for the plants to protect themselves!  We will bring the cucumbers to the market as long as possible and then correct seeds for next season!

We also harvested German potatoes in the photos below from just two volunteered plants in our garden.  Amazing to see how they have waited for optimum conditions and produced this many!

We started to include leaves of radicchio in our salad mix last week. Our first batch of seedlings failed in spring. These are the second batch and transplanted later in the season. Although it might be too late, we will start another batch this week for late fall and winter harvest. Let’s see how it goes.

We are often asked by our customers how long our bread lasts. In general sourdough bread lasts longer because of the acidity made during fermentation. Dense rye bread will last longer without becoming too dry, because rye flour contains more dietary fibre called pentosan than wheat flour and this hold water molecules for longer period. Also rye bread’s dense structure limit airflow in the bread and help slowing down drying. If you have not, try our rye bread next time and see it for yourself!

Our market schedule is as follows:

• Island Roots Farmers’ Market: Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Road, Nanaimo, 3 – 6pm on Wednesday
• AGI Market: AGI Hall, Gabriola, 10am – 2pm on Saturday

Thank you for reading our weekly newsletter. Have a wonderful week!