When we lived in a city, “back to school” advertisement in shopping malls was the sign of getting closer to the end of summer. Here on our farm, it is the cool temperature I feel as soon as the sun hides behind tree canopies, loud crickets chirping in the evenings, my shadow gets longer when I come back from our garden and our potato plants are turning brown, ending their photosynthesis and getting their tubers ready for harvest!

I am still starting and transplanting lettuce for late summer and fall salad mix.

Our red Shiso plants get themselves ready for the fall by developing seed pods.

These seed pods are called “Hojiso （穂紫蘇）” in Japanese and often used as a garnish on raw fish Sashimi plate, because one of its active ingredients, Perillaldehyde, has an antiseptic property and is considered to prevent food borne illnesses when eaten with raw fish.  The aroma of Shiso also refreshes your palate after seafood dishes.  

Shiso belongs to mint family (Lamiacease), and is native in Himalayan mountains and China, and believed to be grown in Japan since 5,000 years ago.  There are cooking books published in 18th century featuring Shiso Rice and fermented green Shiso leaves!  It has an anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-viral properties.  Sounds like it is a superfood.  This year we have only a handful of them in our garden but we are planning to grow more next year.  In the meantime, please enjoy this easy cucumber&shiso salad while they are still available at the market.

Slice one Suyo Long cucumber,
Finely chop a few Shiso leaves,
Toss them together with a pinch of salt, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
Enjoy!

Have you ever wondered why your tomatoes do not become red?  

Since we started our farm here, we have grown our tomatoes in the high tunnel installed along the north edge of our growing area.  Our tomato become mature much later than other farmers and particularly this year, they are really slow.  We only brought small number of cherry tomatoes to the market and all our medium and large heirloom ones are still green.  So, why??

Green colour of tomato or any plant body comes from the pigment called chlorophyll, which is responsible for photosynthesis.  When tomato fruits received accumulated temperature of 1,000 degree celsius, chlorophyll starts to disintegrate and is replaced by red pigment called lycopene, and tomato’s internal starch turns into sugars and the cell walls start to break down.  I thought it was the amount of sunlight received, but it was actually the sum of daily average temperature which is responsible for its fruits’ maturation.  However, above-35-degree hot temperature stops lycopene development, so steady warm temperature seems to be the key to make red and sweet tomatoes.  On the other hand, cucumbers need only 200 to 300 degree accumulated temperature for the fruits to mature from flower, and I think that is why they keep producing yummy fruits in the same high tunnel as tomatoes.  I need to wait for a little longer for red and sweet tomatoes.

About a month ago in our newsletter, I wrote that I witnessed a giant snake (at least for me it looked giant…).  I see them almost daily nowadays.  Their size ranges from a foot long to just about a few inches.  On Thursday when I was cleaning up flowered Shungiku bed, one crawled out from just under my hand and reluctantly moved to nearby Mizuna canopies…. Quick internet search says they are amazing free workers who control the population of garden pests such as slugs and some insects, both predators and prey and an indication that our garden is free from chemical contamination (they say snakes are very sensitive to chemical contamination).  In summary they represent a good biodiversity of our garden.  If only bells can be attached to them so I know when they are near me…. 

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!