(We are updating our webpage, this is the May 3rd newsletter)

 

Is that…broccoli?

 

Kale raab

No, this is kale raab. Kale, along with broccoli and cabbage, are all members of the Brassica family. And all will send up a flower shoot in the spring after overwintering. If it’s from broccoli, we call it (naturally) a broccoli head. But this year has been a revelation. Our overwintered Rainbow Lacinato kale is just bursting with flowers and tender greens. The cold winter weather has produced some exceptionally sweet florets. This will be a fleeting delicacy, the plants really want to do their business and set a seed head. But we will try to extend them as long as possible. Treat the raab like an extremely tender broccoli; it will cook very quickly. It’s great just sautéed in a little olive oil and garlic with some sea salt sprinkled on top. Try in a stir fry. Boil in water (again for only a few minutes), drain, and add a small pat of butter. Add to soups or in a frittata. Raw in a salad. It’s all good. If you are used to firm broccoli the florets will look a little wilted but that is normal; we think the taste is even better. Good thing because our fall planted broccoli meant for the spring got zapped by the cold. Kale is much hardier!

Another new crop will be the scapes of the Egyptian Walking onions. These are a variety of top setting alliums. Instead of forming a flower, they form little bulblets on the top. Eventually the weight of the bulblets would cause the top to fall over and the bulblets would root, thus causing the plant to “walk” across the garden! All parts of the plant are edible, we’ll start with the scapes and move on later to the bulblets and bulb. It is not as round as a regular onion, looking more like a shallot, but is quite pungent. Use these scapes as you would a green onion. In that stir fry with the Kale raab would be good. Chop up and mix in a tuna, chicken salad, or pasta salad, or over a baked or mashed potatoes for a zingy topping. Sprinkle in soup. In an omelet. The possibilities are endless.

Egyptian Walking Onion scapes

You will notice we have some new packaging. These plastic clamshells are meant to keep produce fresh in the refrigerator, as well as protect some of the more fragile crops. Let us know how they work out. Also, please help us keep our costs low and recycle by returning any that are in good shape with your basket the next delivery.

What we thought was a rough spring actually turned out for the best. No 90 F heat waves and plenty of moisture. And as we found out the late cold delayed the bolting of the fall planted crops such as Swiss chard and kale. Not to mention making them sweeter than ever! And the garlic? They are huge! By this time next week, the start of our Session I, we will have an abundance of fresh greens.

Chinese cabbage

Romaine lettuce

 But do we get to rest on our laurels? Of course not! We have already started working on the hot weather crops. The potatoes have gotten their first hilling to give the tubers plenty of room to form.

Hilled potatoes

 

Tomatoes are in the ground. Looking a little small, but we know once the hot weather hits they will be trying to take over the garden like last year! In the next week or two the really delicate hot weather plants such as peppers and eggplants will be transplanted. The 1^st succession of beans is also planted and has had the advantage of a nice soak to get them sprouting quickly. We’ve also done 2^nd and 3^rd succession plantings of the quick salad type crops such as lettuce and radishes to carry us through until the hot weather hits.

The chickens also seem to know to get ready. With the increased daylight they are all participating in the laying process. The broody hens eventually got over hogging the laying boxes, or maybe it was all the chickweed we used to entice them out. In any case we have plenty of eggs!

With the beginning of the 2013 season deliveries next week, we look forward to seeing our returning subscribers and greeting our new.

Until next time,

Jeff and Sandra