The Big Bolt @ High Star Farms

* Every Wednesday, I volunteer at a local organic farm - with high hopes of learning a whole lot more about growing my own veggies.

The Arugula is bolting. Which means we need to whip up a yummy salad quick! I've got you covered. There's a recipe in here, somewhere...

When salad greens 'bolt' it's their way of saying life in the greenhouse is too hot to handle. They send up pretty flower stalks, hoping to go to seed. Their leaves turn bitter quickly -- the best solution I have for such a dilemma is to compost these beauties and start all over again.

It's a jungle in here!
Twine dropped from the ceiling keeps the heirloom tomatoes upright.

They say if you do something 7 times it becomes a comfy new habit. On my 3rd volunteer day at High Star Farms, I was already feeling like the 2 managers didn't hate me nearly as much as I originally thought. I only made one faux pas - and that was to grouse about the exorbitant cost of heirloom tomatoes. Spoken like a true cheapskate. Heirlooms are worth their weight in gold. A lot of work goes into their goodness. So, I decided to shut up and prune them properly.

Pruning Tomatoes:
Tomatoes produce the best fruit when all of their leaves are exposed to the sun. If they get too thick and bushy then they switch their sugar production away from the actual tomatoes and back into the leaves.
* Remove the suckers and leaves below the first flower cluster. Let a second stem grow from the node above the lowest flower cluster and voila! In a couple months you'll need a booth at the local farmer's market.

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This week's fab harvest included fresh, baby carrots. They lounge on these screened tables after I give them a bath:

Rubbed, tubbed and scrubbed: first baby carrots.

Roasted Carrots and Arugula Salad
- Slice young carrots in half lengthwise (Remove the greens and feed them to my eternally grateful horses)
- Drizzle with olive oil
- Sprinkle with minced garlic, salt and pepper
- Roast at 400 F until the carrot tips have browned

* Create a bed of chopped arugula for your fancy carrots.
* Garnish with Feta cheese, walnuts and craisins.
* Add the finishing touch - your favorite vinaigrette.

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Every Wednesday, I volunteer at this very fun organic farm ~ located in Kamas, Utah. I've never had great luck growing my own veggies so this might help me discover everything I'm doing wrong. :)