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Seeds from Italy News
Vol 2, # 1. March 2002
We publish four times a year and include information on all aspects of Italian vegetables, herbs and flowers: selecting, growing, harvesting and storing and cooking. We would be happy to receive and if space permits, publish your experiences in these areas.
This newsletter is sent out to all people who purchased seeds from Seeds from Italy as well as anyone who requested a catalog and included their email address. If you want to unsubscribe, simply send me an email: send to
bmckay@growitalian.com In the subject line just put unsubscribe. Conversely, if someone you know wishes to subscribe, do the same but put subscribe in the subject line. There may be some duplicates; I have tried to clean up my email list, but may have missed a few of you. Let me know if you get two and I will fix it.
If you have a friend who is interested in all things Italian (at least for vegetables, herbs & flowers, please feel free to forward this to them.
Previous newsletters are on the web site.
Contents of Vol 2, # 1
1. What is new: new catalogs; credit cards; even more new items arriving in January.
2. What a difference a year makes.
3. What's growing in the garden.
4. Growing basics: making effective use of transplants.
5. Recipe of the quarter
6. A new cookbook & some very interesting web sites
7. Customer comments (I promise to print both the good and bad.
1. WHAT'S NEW.
a. New catalogs were mailed out in early January. If you do not have one by now and you want one, drop me a note. The catalog has expanded from the original 55 or so varieties we started with to about 170 or so varieties. Prices for 2002 are unchanged.
b. Credit cards. We finally are set up and take credit cards on line and for catalog orders. Right now we take MC, VISA & Discover and American Express.
c. I decided to add a bunch of herbs to the product line, along with some flowers. I have
majoram, french thyme, dill, rosemary, oregano, capers, wild celery, and probably some others along with a yellow anelino bean and yet another winter squash. We also have a very nice Alpine Strawberry. We are also carrying a winter squash collection: 8-9 winter squash
(padana, marina di chioggia, long of napoli, berritina, and a bunch more.) They come in a 20 gram (3/4 ounce) pack so you will have enough winter squash for soup, gnocchi & whatever throughout the year. Everything is listed in the new catalogs (except perhaps for
catgrass, aka erba gatto. A few more items are not yet in; the analino bean missed the last shipment. Also, we are probably out of Fava Beans for the year; more on that nightmare later. Also just added several items which are not in the catalog. We have another San Marzano tomato- San Marzano
Redorto. This one is a Franchi Sementi special selection variety. Very big plum (as in 10-12 ounces). I have not grown it, but the Franchi agent in London tells me it is quite an amazing tomato. It should be on the web site.
d. We also have three new melons. Zatta. In Italy it is called bruto ma buono (ugly but good). It is quite ugly, but has a very sweet orange flesh. Retato Degli Ortolani is a very nice netted melon; orange flesh and the melon of choice to eat with parma ham; finally we have Asahi
Miyako; a Japanese Hybrid Watermelon. Round, @ 8 lbs and early. A grower in California who bought a bunch of packs says they are the sweetest melon he has ever grown.
2. WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES. It was just about one year ago that I decided to do this. I had run into Franchi seeds the month before, in December 2000. Talked to some garden center operators in early January and decided it might work. I did my first order from Italy during the second week in January. I was delivering to garden centers in Eastern Massachusetts by the middle of February. It sounds a lot easier than it was, especially for a guy old enough to begin making IRA withdrawals if I wanted. This year I have garden center customers (and Italian Markets) throughout most of New England, New York, New Jersey and even a few further away. Franchi Sementi will be at the Philadelphia, Boston & Providence Flower shows-I will not be at the shows, but the seeds will. If you go to one of these, look for the Seed Source out of Groveland, MA. Anyway, it has been a lot of fun this past year. The first Web site went up in April, I think; it was one of these 'free' ones. Finally bit the bullet, bought a domain name, got a web site host and got a real site up in August (I think). Heck of a year.
However, it has not all been fun. Many of you have been waiting for seeds which I keep saying will be here soon. Let me tell you what happened. I had put in an order last October which was supposed to be shipped 2 January by sea to Boston. Well, it did not leave until 21 January, and the ship went to New York, not Boston. US Dept of Agriculture rules are that inspection must take place at the port of entry. This meant the container had to be moved to another site where there were USDA inspectors; since they could not get at the seeds, they had to unload the container (which was supposed to be trucked up to Boston). Then they couldn't find all the seeds-manifest said 88 boxes; there were only 86. Took another week to figure out the shipper marked the wrong number of boxes and there were only 86 boxes. Another week to inspect and send the freight back to the original shipper. Then new paperwork had to be done, since they had been taken out of the original container. We are talking arrival in Boston on 28 February. Second shipment, by air, was misrouted to Newark rather than Logan Airport; since it had no paperwork (no sanitary certificates, no air bill of lading, etc.) it took a week to figure out whose it was and five days to get it inspected and up to Boston. Third shipment got lost in Amsterdam. The factory now has a new shipper I hope. So, those of you who were waiting for seeds, please understand and I hope that the free seeds and an apology from me partially makes up for it. Speaking of back orders, everyone should have got theirs weeks ago; if I still owe you seeds, let me know because you should have them.
3. WHAT IS GOING ON IN THE GARDEN. Are you thinking perhaps I am crazy given that I live in Massachusetts, we have already had a several feet of snow and the ground has been frozen solid for four months. No, I am not. It is possible to grow (or at least have plants survive) in the northern winter. Outside, kale survived through the winter (which I admit was pretty mild). The cold does not bother it and it will last until we get some freeze/thaw/snow/lots of ice stuff. Picked some the other day; it tastes sweeter after a frost (of which there have been many). To my great surprise, the savoy cabbage also did incredibly well in the cold. I cut one in early January and although it was quite frozen, brought it inside to let it thaw, and it tasted pretty good. (It was part of the recipe of the quarter, of which more later).
However, the place with the real action is the unheated hoop house. This is a real simple structure, 10 x 16 feet, made up of one inch pvc pipe for hoops, some 2x6 lumber for the base and plain old six mil plastic from Home Depot for a cover (plus a few made up windows and a door). I have rosemary, sage, lettuce, escarole, parsley & some other greens in there. They grew up until about mid December; the limiting factor has primarily been lack of sun; they hibernated until late January when they started growing again. I harvest all through the winter. There are some photos and plans on how to build one on the web site along with some suggestions on how to use one. The best thing about one of these for a northern gardener is that during some nice clear crisp day in late January, when the outside temperature is perhaps 19 degrees, you can take a walk out to the
hoophouse. Sit down inside where the temperature is perhaps 75. The other day (Feb 25 or so) it was 44 outside and 89 in the greenhouse. Rub you fingers over the rosemary. Munch some arugula & think spring.
4. GROWING BASICS: MAKING EFFECTIVE USE OF TRANSPLANTS. Consider extensive use of transplants to improve the effectiveness of your garden. There are a number of benefits to using transplants other than the obvious one of getting a crop ready to harvest a few weeks faster. With transplants, not only do you get a jump on the season, you get a jump on the weeds. The plants have a headstart and shade out most of the weeds. Take lettuce, for example. If you direct seed, you put your seeds in, wait for them to germinate, thin them (and pull weeds at the same time, and then have to weed at least three more times. If you use transplants, you run a hoe over the area you plan to use and set out your transplants. They take a week to get going. In three weeks or so, they are doing pretty good, and a new crop of weeds is coming up. Run your hoe around the transplants to get the baby weeds. That is the last time you will have to weed. The plants will keep growing and shade out the area, more or less preventing other weeds from getting going. Transplants also allow you to grow more intensively. If you use transplants, you may be able to get three crops out of a given space rather than the two crops possible with direct seeding. The final benefit is that if you have a steady supply of transplants handy, you can fill in little holes in your precious garden space: assume a baby woodchuck snuck through the fence and munched the final planting of peas and it is too late in the spring to replant. No problem (after you shoot him); fill in the space with lettuce & broccoli transplants or whatever you have.
Always grow plenty of extra transplants and keep the extras hanging around. Seeds are cheap (especially if you buy our Franchi packs which have many more seeds than the competition). If you don't use the transplants, just toss them on the compost pile if your neighbor does not want them. As for what vegetables to use, think beyond the usual transplants of tomatoes, pepper, eggplant and celery. The following are really easy to start and do extremely well when transplanted: celery & celeriac, lettuce, chicory (radicchio), endive (escarole), beets, all
brassicas(cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower), and most herbs. Some plants do not like to have their roots disturbed, but still do well as transplants as long as you (1) do not try to pot them up to a larger container and (2) are a bit careful when you set them out. This group includes fennel, artichoke, cucumbers and squash. The list of vegetables that you can not transplant or is just not worth the trouble is fairly short: beans, peas, carrots,
arugula, spinach & radish.
As to what to use for containers, my favorite is the 72 cell tray. This is a single molded plastic tray with 72 cells which is very sturdy and with care will last for years. You will not find them at Home Depot or the hardware store, but a greenhouse supply store may sell you a few. An even better source is your local garden center; you may be able to beg or buy a few, or perhaps can find them in the trash since they usually toss them in the dumpster when done. You can grow five-six week lettuce,
brassica, chicory & beet transplants in these quite well. The other container is the common six pack. If you get sturdy ones, you can clean them and reuse them for years.
5. RECIPE. There is a story with this recipe (isn't there with most?) I am a bit of an heirloom tomato geek and every year grow a hundred or so heirlooms. One difficulty with this is, what do you do with the hundred or so pounds of tomatoes a week they produce. You can only eat so many tomatoes. After a while the neighbors would avoid me when they saw me coming with tomatoes. I wound up selling them to a local North Italian Restaurant-Il Capriccio in Waltham, Massachusetts, a really great restaurant. It didn't take me long to figure out that if I delivered around 4:45 PM, they were cooking for the staff and I could have a taste of something. One day they had this dish and I asked the chef how to do it. I thought of it when I cut the cabbage last month in the garden.
This, like most good Italian food, relies primarily on the quality of the ingredients. It really requires fresh cabbage and carrots (of course like our verza verona savoy cabbage and nantes di chioggia carrot). Anyway, for two people, slice a large onion as thin as you can and cut the slices in half. Mince a clove of garlic. Take a half head of savoy cabbage, cut out the core, and slice it as thin as you can. Shred a few carrots in one of those metal graters using the largest setting. Get about four ounces of
pancetta-this is critical. Your local Italian market/deli should have pancetta. If they don't, find another deli. Do not try & substitute bacon. Slice the pancetta @ 1/8th inch thick and then cut it into small strips. Put on some water and when it is boiling, add @ 1/2 pound of long thin pasta. In another pan, add a tablespoon or two of olive oil and set the heat on medium. Add the
pancetta. Cook it just a bit, perhaps two minutes; you want it soft, not all hard like crisp bacon. Add the garlic and stir around some. Add the cabbage & carrot and toss everything around. Cook about thirty seconds and shut it off(I know it will not be cooked). When the pasta is about 3/4 done, reserve a bit of cooking water and drain the pasta. Put it in the pan with the vegetables, toss everything to mix, add some salt & pepper and let it sit a few minutes to finish cooking. Add a bit of reserved water if things are too dry. Serve.
A NEW COOKBOOK AND SOME INTERESTING WEB SITES. Ciao Italia, Bringing Italy Home, Mary Ann Esposito, St Martin's Press, New York, 2001. I am sure that most of you know that she is the host of Ciao Italia, the popular Italian cooking show on PBS that has been running for years. This book has recipes from the
Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Campania & Sicily. The recipes are great, but for me, the best part of the book was the little stories and vignettes interspersed throughout the book. Her description of shopping on market day in a little town in Tuscany got me so nostalgic I wanted to go out an buy an airplane ticket to Italy. A really nice read.
Web sites. Ms Esposito has a web site, ciaoitalia.com that is a lot of fun. Recipes galore, links, a newsletter, and lots more.
The other site is one done by Helen Donegan, who I think is Irish, but married to an Italian and living in Northern Italy. Her web site is www.italywithus.com You can subscribe to the newsletter there. It is done monthly and is described as a newsletter for 'lovers of Italy' and is about "the lifestyle, food, fashion, places and people, as well as an Events Guide..." It really is a lot of fun. Lots of personal vignettes and stories. Her description of the Italian Christmas meals was priceless and typical of her writing.
7. CUSTOMER COMMENTS.
A couple of customers have commented on the personal touch: a handwritten note with an order, an email explanation of why an order may be delayed, etc. For me, this is just how I want to do things. When I started this business, I was at a point in my life-age, finances- where I could afford to do things the way I wanted. While I obviously expect to make a profit, the most important thing for me is to have fun and to connect with people. If it turns out that at some point that this grows such that I will no longer be able to do that, then I will either downsize things or close the door. (I have to admit that during the past six weeks chasing lost/misdirected shipments, I came close to not having fun any more.)
A couple of other folks wrote and expressed disbelief that I did not take credit cards. Comments went something like "how can you be an online business and not take credit cards" and "are you a real business?" The best one was, "I got all the way to the end of the order and discovered you did not take credit cards. You chump." So, I thought about it, checked into the costs (significant) and did it.
Good growing
Bill McKay
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