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happy new year!

12/29/2014

Happy new year! We're busy cleaning up our last few messes from this year - always good to start the year with a tidy farm - and wrapping up a lot of year-end records and paperwork. Then it's time this week to put in next season's seed orders, and before I can blink it'll be time to start filling up the greenhouse with flats of starts for the spring crops.

You'll never run into an odder-looking vegetable than romanesco (except perhaps kohlrabi). A member of the big and infinitely varied brassica family, it has sort of a mild broccoli flavor, with a texture similar to cauliflower. It is also one of those vegetables that you'll likely only find locally for a short time in late fall or early winter. Romanesco takes almost twice as long to grow to maturity as it's broccoli and cauliflower cousins; it does not like hot weather, it does not care for freezing temperatures; it doesn't really do well in the lengthening days of spring. I've tried growing it at other times of the year with absolutely no luck - this is one finicky plant that definitely has a 'Goldilocks spot!'

To cook, use a small paring knife to break the heads up into florets. Romanesco cooks up beautifully with much the same treatment you'd give cauliflower. Our favorite methods are steamed, raw, and especially roasted. While you're waiting for your romanesco to cook, give yourself an easy little math lesson on fractals to further appreciate the beauty of this weird-looking vegetable!

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weird vegetable week

12/15/2014

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'Black Spanish' radishes

The idea of black vegetables likely doesn't likely get a lot of you jumping out of your seats. 'Black Spanish' radishes are probably the ugliest vegetable you'll ever lay eyes on, with rough lumpy-bumpy skins that are, well, intimidatingly black. But inside they are a crisp pure white. Larger than a red radish, with a slightly meatier texture than the usual red radish, I feel like they firmly belong in the class of substantial winter roots, not just a crunchy extra something to slice onto your salad (though you can happily do that too). These are my favorite radishes since they have a spicier flavor than regular radishes. They are only available through the winter: chilly temperatures mellow the zesty flavor; grown in any other season, and they are like eating raw horseradish!

For those of you who view your food as medicine as well, Black Spanish radishes pack a nutritional punch, that can give your immune and digestive systems a good detoxifying boost that's always welcome in the winter. Don't forget to eat the leaves as well - and these roots come with some impressively large bunches of leafy greens. Saute, steam, or juice the greens just like you would any other leafy green specimen.

Then there's the brussel sprout leaves. (I'm just going to go ahead and dub this "Weird Vegetable Week.") Brussel sprouts grow on a long stalk, with large leaves growing all along that stalk in between each sprout. When the sprouts are roughly mid-sized, we need to pinch off all those lower leaves, so the sprouts have room to fill out. I mentioned this step in sprout-growing a year or two ago, and some of you asked for those leaves. Huh - never thought of that - but why not? The leaves have a mild cabbage or sprout-like flavor. They are a bit more tender than collards; maybe not as delicate as Red Russian kale. Use them just like you would any other dark, leafy winter green - sauteed, steamed, etc - I particularly like using them for wraps.

We need to give our kales a little R&R for a week or two in order to let the plants put on more new growth - it will be back soon. Many of you have been asking where this winter's carrots have gotten to. We're still waiting on the carrots - and other crops we typically have this time of year - to size up. Thanks to prolonged rains and flooding at our farm throughout the bulk of the fall/winter-crop planting season, a lot of our plantings were delayed. A few never materialized at all, and frankly, looking back at that time, I'm gratefully amazed that we got anything up and growing at all. The carrots shouldn't be too much longer; we also have a big bed of romanesco that should mature within a few more weeks, more broccoli and head lettuces on the way; and the brussel sprouts ought to get up to size...eventually. Hang on; they'll get there!

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cabbages and chemistry

12/8/2014

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A cold, grey day today that feels completely like winter...brr. I was looking at the calendar this morning, and found it hard to believe that we really have only a few more quiet weeks ahead before it's time to start planting for spring crops again.

This time of year is when I try to get a lot of reading and research done. Last winter I spent a fair amount of time studying up on re-mineralizing our farm, which are mostly old, sandy, leached-out soils no matter how one manages them. We put what I learned into action this spring, and I felt like we got measurable results, but it could be better. I think I have a pretty firm grasp on botany and soil biology, but where my knowledge falls short is the soil chemistry. The chemistry is every bit as important in trying to bring the soil to that perfect-pitch of a balance that will provide us all with the best nutrient-dense produce I can grow. The chemistry (never my strong suit) makes my head hurt. But I will get it figured out!

Short, grey days mean the plants put on very little new growth, so depending on what was in hot demand the previous week or two, sometimes we find we're sold out of that crop for the following week or two. I calculate our plantings for each season based on what sold in the previous season, but the weather and your eating habits vary from year to year, so it's never an exact formula. If you're new to eating with us through the winter, know that you'll see many crops cycle in and out of the list from week to week. Many times we just have to let a crop rest a week or three to allow it to put on more new growth - the perfect time to try eating outside your ordinary!!

In our kitchen, we tend to use regular green cabbage (there's more to be had in the near future, it just needs a little time to bulk up) for raw salad-y and slaw-like dishes. Winter's savoy cabbage wants to be cooked, and a super-simple roasted savoy cabbage couldn't be easier. Chop it up, sprinlkle with a little olive oil and salt, spread it on a sheet pan and roast at 400 until it's tender and slightly browned. Poor cabbage seems to have gone out of style while kale took over the trendy food scene: if you like that wrinkly, crinkly texture of Tuscan (also called dino or lacinato) kale, I can promise you that you'll like savoy cabbage.

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