This Week's Vegetable Harvest:
Rainbow Swiss Chard
Fresh Dill
Purple or Green Asparagus
White Japanese Turnips
Green Onions
Red or Green Head Lettuce
Rhubarb*
Red-Stemmed Spinach
Bok Choy
*=not grown on our farm. See Notes from the Farm Kitchen for more info.
Farm Journal
In the past couple of years much has been written about the way in which eating local foods contributes to the development of a sense of place. Seeking out local foods and local food traditions makes us feel connected to the land and to the people who care for the land. In my own experience, food has had a powerful impact on how I connect to other people.
Growing up, there were a handful of special foods that we enjoyed only at certain times of the year. These foods include the juicy autumn pears from my grandpa's backyard trees, the buckets of mulberries that my brothers and I gathered during long, hot summer afternoons, and the rhubarb that my mom picked from the garden in the spring and baked into delectable pies topped with perfect bronzed curlicues of meringue. I loved these foods precisely because they were only available to me for a brief time each year. (Why else would a person love mulberries?!) This handful of special foods not withstanding, most of what we ate growing up wasn't strictly influenced by the seasons, and in this respect we were no different from most of the other families we knew.
When I was in high school I spent a year as a foreign exchange student near Milan, Italy. It was Italy that forever changed my understanding of the seasonality of food. From the moment I arrived in late summer, it was clear that most family activity revolved around the cultivation and preparation of food. In August we sat on the low stone wall in the garden eating fresh figs we had picked and getting to know one another. In September we made pesto, a magical concoction I had never before tasted. As the weather turned colder we took weekend trips into the foothills of the Alps to hunt for wild mushrooms. We spent winter evenings around the fireplace, peeling and eating hot chestnuts. In the spring my host mother would send me down to the garden to pick tender dandelion greens and lettuces. On occasion I would encounter Valeria, the 4-year-old girl who lived in the downstairs apartment, playing in the garden. Valeria and I would sometimes sit together there. She loved to brush my hair as she chattered away in little-girl Italian, most of which was completely incomprehensible to me. As we sat there, we would keep an eye out for the rather large tortoise that had lived in the garden for as long as anybody could remember. The tortoise, whom Valeria had named Giacomina, lived under a rock in a state of semi-hibernation during the winter and emerged each spring to feast on tender green plants in the garden. My host mother never seemed to mind sharing the bounty of her garden with Giacomina as there always seemed to be enough for all of us to share.
Fifteen years later, I still think about that tortoise and how she emerged from hibernation each spring to slough off the dust and debris of winter. I think about how I am like that slow-moving tortoise as I emerge from winter, eager for the nourishment that spring greens provide. I am comforted and heartened by the predictable rhythm of the seasons as much as I am nourished by the vitamins and minerals that the plants provide. Spring has arrived. Buon Appetito!
Notes from the Farm Kitchen
This Japanese turnip variety, called hakurei, is mild and sweet and is easily mistaken for a white radish. Japanese turnips are delicious eaten raw, and we’ve found that our kids really enjoy them (especially with a little dip)! These little turnips are also tasty sautéed in a little butter and sprinkled with salt. Like bok choy, turnips are a good source of Vitamin C, and rich in the minerals potassium and calcium. And don't forget the greens! Turnip greens top the charts as an excellent source of Vitamins A, C and B complex.
Although Swiss chard it is native to the Mediterranean, this leafy relative of the beet got its name because it was first described in the scientific literature by a Swiss botanist in the 16th century. Chard is flavorful yet mild, and can be substituted for spinach in many dishes including quiches, omelets, lasagna, pasta sauce, etc. Chard is high in vitamins A, E and C and the minerals calcium and iron. You can use the entire leaf as well as the tender stem. Here are a couple of other ideas:
-Sauté chard with onions and herbs and stuff in a pita pocket with a bit of cheese.
-Sauté chard with onions and herbs and stuff in a pita pocket with a bit of cheese.
-Slice leaves into ribbons and lightly steam. Toss with sesame oil, rice vinegar and soy sauce and serve with rice.
Although the exact geographic origin of dill is unknown, it is known to grow wild all over the European continent. It is used as a culinary herb as well as a medicinal herb that aids digestion. Dill is probably best known for its role in flavoring dill pickles, but it can also be used to flavor many other dishes including salad dressings and salads such as potato, pasta and tuna.
A Chinese vegetable that is gaining in popularity here, bok choy (also known as pac choi) has a mild, sweet flavor when cooked. Like many members of the Brassica family, its growing season is limited to the cool spring and fall. We cover our bok choy with fabric row cover while it is growing to protect it from one of our most persistent pests, the flea beetle. Nutritionally speaking, bok choy is loaded with vitamins. When cooking with bok choy, use the entire plant, both green leaves and white stems. It's also fantastic eaten raw. The mild, crunchy stalks are a particularly welcome addition to salads dressed with asian-inspired dressings.
This week’s rhubarb comes from our friends Steve Pincus and Beth Kazmar who have a certified organic farm near Evansville, WI. Rhubarb rivals asparagus as the quintessential spring food. Rhubarb is believed to have originated in China over 4000 years ago, where it was widely used as medicine, but was not eaten in Europe until relatively recently. Rhubarb’s slow takeoff as a popular food may be due to the fact that only the stalks of the rhubarb plant are edible; the leaves are highly toxic due to their significant oxalic acid content. Rhubarb is high in vitamins A and C and a variety of minerals, particularly calcium. It may be refrigerated in a plastic bag for up to 2 weeks. For long-term storage, wash rhubarb, chop it, then put in freezer bag and freeze it. It will be soft when thawed, but will still work beautifully in most recipes.
A spring bouquet of Lily of the Valley and rhubarb flowers.
Smoked Salmon with Dill-Mustard Sauce
Swiss Chard Tart
Couscous Salad with Spinach, Dill & Spring Onions
Radiant Bok Choy
Rhubarb Fool
Next Week's Vegetable Harvest (our best guess)... head lettuce, dandelion greens, curly endive, asparagus, arugula, radishes, spinach, fresh herbs and more.
