Greetings!  I hope you had a really fun and safe 4th of July. I certainly did, enjoying the turn in the weather to sun and heat. The greenhouse is cooking with peppers, basil and tomatoes.

I’m going to keep this week’s newsletter short and sweet, I’m still harvesting this evening for tomorrow’s CSA delivery taking advantage of the cool temps. Did you know if you harvest in the heat of the day everything just wilts? Keeping the field heat off the veggies with ice or by harvesting in the nighttime keeps everything crisp and fresh.

This week we have some good tasting grub coming to the CSA members.  The harvest isn’t even, many things are ripening at different times with the hard switch from cold rain to heat. So, we have a bit of a smorgasbord going on this week. Here’s what CSA members will find in their shares this week:

* Assorted herbs – you’ll receive one of the following: Basil, sage, or mint

* Kale – siberian

* Carrots – mini rainbow carrots. These are really special seeds and I’m very excited about them. A rainbow of colors and sweet flavor in these tiny gems:

* Brassica grab bag – for whatever reason, the brassicas are maturing on their own schedule. You will receive one of the following:

• Cabbage – Couer De Boeuf Des Vertus – A delicious, pre-1856, French bull-heart type cabbage that has tall, pointed green heads .
• Kohlrabi – a bunch of this lovely broccoli-tasting treat. Very strange looking, if you’ve never seen one:

• Romanesco broccoli – another very strange looking brassica, looks more like cauliflower rather than broccoli. The true and popular Italian heirloom with spiraling, heads:

A Week of Dry Miracles

There was sun, it was beautiful, I hope you also are enjoying the good weather. We got our wish of at least 4 dry days and I have been madly tilling and planting.

I start every day by walking around the whole farm checking things out. I take notes, root out slugs, log the weather, and identify any pest problems. This week, I rambled by a few spots I haven’t check out in a while and was very happy to find shiitake mushrooms have been soaking up the rain and fava beans have been defying the calendar. I did a whimsical late February/early March planting of favas that have been really turning into monsters with the weather, they love it.

On my walk through the farm there were positive signs of good things to come:

Lots of kohlrabi

Good looking romanesco broccoli

The real sign of summer this week, squash blossoms.

This Week’s Harvest

*  Shiitake mushrooms, grown on a variety of mediums at the farm: straw, alder chips, and logs.

*  Fava beans – usually an early spring treat, I planted some of these guys in late winter/early spring more as a cover crop than anything else. Well, it was cold and wet enough to get a crop out of them! Please note: some people have a genetic condition that results in fava “allergies” or favism. It’s rare but real.

* Scallions – evergreen hardy bunching onions

* Kale – white Russian variety

* On rotation – new potatoes. This week full shares will be receiving new potatoes. These should not be stored but eaten fresh this week. New potatoes aren’t cured in the sun and don’t store well. They are very creamy and very tasty. Half shares will see potatoes in the coming weeks as well.

Fava Beans

This might your first go at eating or cooking fresh fava beans. I love favas and used to eat them all the time for breakfast. Unshelled, fresh favas look like giant, bumpy string beans. They are 5 to 7 inches long and lined with padding on the inside that looks like cotton batting.

Fava beans have been a staple food for thousands of years in Asia, South America, the Middle East, North Africa and Europe. For some reason, they just haven’t caught on in North America.

Molly Watson has a really good tutorial on how to prepare favas, most recipes call for a cup or two of cooked favas, this tutorial shows you how to shell the beans and gets you to the point of cooked favas for your recipes.

Personally, I don’t take of the thin membrane on the individual bean as Molly instructs in the tutorial. Some people insist they must be peeled, I like the texture of the shell and leave it on.

Recipes for the Harvest

Simple Italian Fava Salad

1 cup coked favas
1/4 c grated pecorino cheese
olive oil, lemon juice, parsley, hot pepper – experiment with your own preferred ratio of ingredients to your tastes

Toss, plate, eat.

Fava Spread

Boil, mash then mix in salt, lemon, minced garlic, dash of olive oil, and spread on crusty bread or crackers

Ful Mudammas

The national dish of Egypt.  Favas are called “ful” (pronounced fool) in Arabic. I lived in Egypt, Jordan and Israel off and on for several years and while I was there this was breakfast every day in every single one of those countries. A plate with a bowl of ful and a bowl of hummus is loaded up with with pita, tomatoes, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs and goat cheese, it was the most fantastic thing every single morning.

There are a ton of ways to prepare this using dried, canned, and fresh favas. I like to use fresh when I can:

1 cup shelled fava beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
cumin
lemon juice
minced garlic
minced onion (optional)
parsley (optional)
tahini (optional)

Bring a quart of water to boil in a pot. Add the fava beans and olive oil, partially cover the pot, and boil over medium heat for about 30 minutes, or until the fava beans are tender and can be squeezed out of their skins. If you like, add a teaspoon of salt during the last few minutes of cooking. Be careful not to overcook, or the interior of the bean will be mushy rather than intact.

Drain the fava beans, coarsely mash and add the remaining ingredients (I go heavy on the olive oil, lemon juice, and tahini for a thinner consistency).

This Week’s Harvest

We have a very lovely late spring harvest for you this week. It includes a few ingredients you may not be familiar with or have had a chance to work with before. Let’s start with Escarole.

Escarole is a type of endive that is incredibly versatile. It can be eaten fresh or cooked, used in everything from salad, pasta, and soup. Escarole is very bright green with broad outer leaves that get progressively smaller towards the center of the head. A picture pre-harvest of the escarole you will be receiving (escarole on the left, frisée on the right):

Escarole is really unique in that it provides various degrees and of flavor as the outer leaves are removed. While the outer leaves are a dark green, peeling back a layer will reveal a lighter shade of green. As more layers are peeled back, the leaves continue to lighten in shade. As the shade of the leaves lightens, the degree of bitter taste also lessens. The result is that it is possible to use different layers of escarole to achieve the taste you want with the dish you are preparing.

Next in the harvest that may be new to you is bunched pea shoots. We’ve included the young shoots as a salad ingredient in past harvests but this week you will receive a large bunch of pea shoots to work with. They are fantastic fresh or absolutely delicious stir-fried with sesame and ginger.

Finally, we have some nice baby cabbages that are really lovely grilled if you will be taking out the bbq this weekend. There is the Bacalan cabbage, a very old french variety characterized by its arrow shape, and we also have baby Bilko napa cabbages.

Enjoy!

What you will find in this week’s share:

* Strawberries!!!!!!!!! We have a good harvest this week and will be spreading the love in all the shares. Berry shareholders will also receive their first berry share this week in addition to the pint included in half and full shares.

* Escarole

* Cabbages – Bilko and Bacalan varieties. You’ll notice some of the baby napa cabbages have a little raab or flowering going, this is due to the longer days we’re entering and the flower is really delicious. To be eaten and enjoyed!

* Mixed greens

* Bunched pea shoots

Recipes for the Harvest

Escarole with Bacon and White Beans

*  2  bacon slices, chopped
* 1  cup  chopped onion
* 1  garlic clove, thinly sliced
* 6  cups  chopped escarole (about 2 [8-ounce] heads)
* 1  teaspoon  sugar
* 1/4  teaspoon  salt
* 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
* 1  (14-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1  (16-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained

Cook bacon in a large saucepan over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan; set bacon aside. Add onion to drippings in pan; cook 12 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add garlic; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add escarole, and cook for 2 minutes or until escarole wilts, stirring frequently. Add sugar, salt, pepper, and chicken broth; cook 15 minutes or until escarole is tender, stirring occasionally. Add beans; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle with bacon.

Simple Escarole and Beans

Saute a small handful of chopped garlic in some olive oil. Add red pepper flakes and coarsely chopped escarole — saute till wilted. Add beans (we use chickpeas), capers and some brine — heat through. We served over whole wheat pasta with a side of baked carrot fries, but this would be fantastic over brown rice or stirred into a simple Parmesan risotto.

Cabbage Curry

Ingredients:
Cabbage (1 medium)
Peas (1 tea cup)
Mustard seed
Cumin seed
Salt
Turmeric

Recipe: Cut cabbage to your desired size and add turmeric and salt. Mix it properly and keep it aside for 20 minutes. Keep a vessel on the heat and add oil to it. Once the oil is hot, add mustard seeds, cumin seed and urad dal. Ones it is properly done, add cabbage and peas. While adding cabbage, squeeze out the water out of cabbage (adding salt would draw the water out of cabbage). Let it cook for 10-15 minutes string occasionally and add water if required. Once you are through, can also add grated coconut if you like. You can have this cabbage curry with rice or chappati.



A photographic update from the farm

Spring Preparations Down on the Farm

It’s always encouraging to see the first green bits coming up in the spring. The first crocus, dandelion, and lush lettuce responding to the longer days. I have been harvesting Shiitake mushrooms and mustard greens for scrambles and stir frys and can’t wait to share them with you. It’s no surprise that the bugs that have been slumbering in the soil all winter are also excited to see the first green bits too.

Often when we first set out our small veggie starts from the greenhouse to the field every pest within a mile or two seems to descend in force. Imagine a lush green baby cabbage plant in an early spring field, it’s an easy target for a flea beetle and I don’t blame him. So I spent the better part of the week negotiating with our bug friends to try to bait them off the cabbages.

Here is the flea beetle, looks just like a flea:

This guy and his buddies will swipe a whole row of cabbage in an afternoon or two. These and cucumber beetles are always the first challengers to our crops that appear each spring. There are a few different approaches you can take to these bugs as an organic farm, and this week found us experimenting with several.

The first trick was a “trap crop” of radish. It’s essentially a bright shiny distracting object for the pest we are trying to draw off our main crop. Flea beetles love radishes and the seed is relatively inexpensive so it makes sense to plant a few rows of these throughout the field to draw the flea beetles off the main crops and into the radish trap crop. The second option, which is a good long-term solution I hope, is nettle “liquid manure”. After a little research this looked like a good option for insect control for us, there is a ton of nettle growing in one corner of the field.

So after planting my radish trap crop, I put on some sturdy rubber gloves and began harvesting the green tops off the stinging nettles. I placed these in a bucket filled with rainwater and kelp meal. This is brewed for 10 days into a tea. I sprayed a full acre of crops last night (by hand! It took a while…) and noticed the flea beetles immediately vacated, this was awesome!  No pesticide required. This morning the beetles are on the trap crop and off the main crop.

The idea is that this mixture adds nitrogen, iron and other essential micro-nutrients that will strengthen the immune system of plants, making them more resistant to insect and disease attacks. They also appear to really hate this solution on contact so it has a repellent quality as well. Perhaps this effect is due to no more than the fact that the plant is in a state of optimal and balanced nutrition. In any case, if this is something that can be applied during a small plants vulnerable points in its growth cycle, this could be a great option for insect control.

So far, the radish trap crop has solved the immediate problem of the flea beetles. Yay! I’m hoping the nettle tea will be a long-term management technique for flea beetle as well as pressure from other pests as they emerge this spring. They tend to come out in waves over the next few weeks as the first generations come out  from their winter hiding places.

Replacing Nutrients as Naturally as Possible

Each time we grow a crop packed with vitamins and minerals that come from the soil, we need to replace those nutrients for the next crop. This is both to create big beautiful produce AND to make sure that it contains vitamins and minerals for your health. You can quite literally grow a stock of beautiful broccoli using chemical fertilizers and that broccoli winds up being very low in nutrients. Looks big, looks green, but is not as healthy as it could be. I’ve spent quite a bit of time researching fertilizer and nutrition and have come to understand that it’s pretty basic: it all occurs in nature to begin with, so let’s use natural ingredients to put it back into our crops. Chemical fertilizers are nothing short of steroids and simply don’t account for adding minerals to the final product.

An excerpt from a Seattle newspaper:

A report issued this week examined several recent studies by food scientists, nutritionists, growers and plant breeders. It found clear evidence that as the produce we eat gets larger, its vitamins, minerals and beneficial chemical compounds significantly diminish, as do taste and aroma.

Read full article >>

Our process is to start the year with an initial application of nutrients (a combination of cover crops and added amendments) and then just side dress the crops as needed through the season. After completing the initial tilling for the spring that incorporates the winter cover crops, I will add a mix of nutrients that make up our version of fertilizer that we make here at the farm using inexpensive naturally occurring ingredients. No chemicals. After this initial spring fertilizer mix is added, we will simply rely on compost added to the beds throughout the remainder of the season to provide the nutrients needed to support the plants.

The nutrients I prefer to use are complimentary to my soil needs. I will order a soil test in the fall and spring and make adjustments as necessary, but more often than not the soils of our region benefit from similar ingredients described in one of my favorite books, Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon. This book is both a great read and a reference.

The fertilizer mix described in the book that I also find good success with (and it’s cheap!):

* Four parts seed meal (pick your favorite, flax is very nice)
* ½ part lime in equal amounts of agricultural lime and dolomite. Leave out the lime for acid loving plants such as rhododendrons.
* ½ part phosphate rock or bone meal (for vegetarians phosphate rock would be the obvious choice).
* ½ part kelp meal – use more if you can afford it!

Mix these ingredients up in a bucket or tub and store indefinitely for later use.

You can buy these ingredients inexpensively at places like Naomi’s Farm Supply, Concentrates Northwest, Portland Nursery, and just about any feed store on the side of any country road. Which is why it’s awesome.

What We Planted Last Week

My what a busy week. After battling a few bugs, we got down to brass tacks and did some planting:

Benning’s Green Tint Squash

Heirloom patty-pan type, with pale green color that matures to a creamy white.

	Pea Shoots Pea Shoots are the choice green tips and tendrils of pea plants.  They taste very much like the pea pod and can be used in similar ways: in stir fry on or on salads.
	Te You Flowering Broccoli Young, thick stems and leaves are crispy and flavorful with a mini-broccoli floret. Also known as Chinese broccoli since its succulent, smooth stems and dark green leaves most closely resemble that of broccoli. The stems of this vegetable are considered best when young and tender.
	Extra Dwarf Pak Choy This tiny pak choy is picked when just 2″ tall! It has dark green, wrinkled leaves with thick, white petioles and can be used whole to make amazing salads and stir-fries! Very tender and delicious!
	Cosmic Purple Carrot Carrots have bright purple skin and flesh that comes in shades of yellow and orange. Spicy and sweet-tasting roots.

Today was a great day despite the cold, rain, and occasional hail. The day started with a lot of sun and found us harvesting the first round of nettles that are growing in abundance at the farm.

Nettles are a super-food with an impressive nutrient profile (and they’re yummy).  They are packed with calcium, protein, magnesium, a huge amount of vitamin A, iron, and have been used to treat an array of health conditions for thousands of years.

But one of the best uses I’ve found for nettles is pizza, which I am making tonight while it hails.

Wild Nettle Pizza

Preheat oven to 500 F with a pizza stone on the bottom rack. Blanch Nettles in salted boiling water for 1 minute, drain and plunge into an ice bath. Wring excess water from nettles and reserve.

Mix mozzarella, fontina and provolone together and set aside. Sprinkle the area you will be rolling the dough with semolina and roll the pizza dough into 4 thin rounds. Spread dough with roast garlic puree, sprinkle with salt, crushed red pepper and pepper. Sprinkle with pecorino and then thyme. Roughly chop nettles and sprinkle ¼ onto each pie. Top with your pizza cheese. Slide the pizza onto the stone in your oven and bake until the edges are lightly browned and crispy. Should take about 5-6 minutes, remove and add the next pie. Slice with a pizza wheel into 6 or 8 slices. Drizzle with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Happy Spring!

I had intended on posting this shortly after St. Patrick’s day but the stretches of sun had me taking the prime opportunity to prepare all the raised beds for the season. This put us about three weeks ahead of our planting schedule. Hopefully this will work out and we won’t see a hard frost we’re not ready for. Just before St. Patrick’s day it snowed one morning up at the farm. We’re somewhere between 500 – 1000 feet and are definitely vulnerable to frost this time of year.

During the break between Winter and Spring CSAs I’ve been finalizing the crop plans and getting last minute seed orders in. I spend a lot of time looking at soil temperature maps and pacing around the farm waiting for my chance to get the initial tilling complete. I only bring the tractors on about three times per year: once in the spring to prepare the beds, planting late spring and early summer cover crops, and finally planting  fall cover crops. The rest of the season, it’s just worked by hand tools and the occasional walking rototiller.

While we were waiting to get the spring tilling done, we busied ourselves building a new mushroom cultivation area.  We’re also building some pretty fancy chicken tractors for our new chickens arriving at the farm in the next few weeks. These will complete the egg-laying flock.

What We’re Growing: Seed to Table

During the harvest season this space is reserved for what we’re harvesting each week and recipes. I thought during the next few weeks I’d update with what we’ve been planting coming up to the first harvest in May.

I save a great deal of my own seed and when I do purchase seed, it’s from sources I know are providing me with seeds that have not been treated or genetically modified in any way. If you are on the hunt for some spring transplants for your own garden, we sell them to friends of the farm for around a dollar a piece. Let me know what you are looking for, we may have it!

The seed suppliers I use (and recommend highly for the home gardener too):

Uprising Seeds
High Mowing Seeds
Peaceful Valley Farm Supply

Here’s a sampling of what we have been planting during the sunny breaks over last few weeks:

Schweizer Riesen Snow Pea

Beautiful purple/pink bicolor blossoms are borne on sturdy 6+’ vines. The seemingly endless harvest of snow peas stay tender and sweet even as the pods mature and swell. An heirloom native to Switzerland, the name translates as “Swiss Giant”.

French Breakfast Radishes

An oblong, blunt-tipped radish, half red on top and white on the bottom.

Seascape Strawberries

Planted in early March, these lovely berries are already putting on a lot of growth. A cross between popular varieties, Selva & Douglas. Seascape is very productive all season – including the first season – with large fruit and excellent flavor.

Walla Walla Onions

Famous for its sweet flavor and fresh eating, Walla Walla is a medium to large mild onion with white flesh and light brown skin.

Suyo Long Cucumber

Started a few early in the green house. Suyo Long is a Cucumber that can grow to 15” long with a sweet flavor and crisp texture. This “burpless” variety can be used for fresh eating, pickling or even cooking as it is traditionally prepared. Fruits are spiny when young, and become smoother and less ribbed at peak maturity.

Cosmos Diablo

A different species than the taller more common cosmos, Diablo showcases bright scarlet/orange, semi-double blooms atop short bushy 3′ plants.

Nigella

The beautiful purple passionflower-like blooms make an outstanding and long lasting cut flower filler. Very delicate and abundant sprays with flowers that contrast from deep purple flower petals to dark purple centers to magenta stamens. Once the flowers are spent, the seed pod swells up into an unusual and quite ornamental balloon.

Snapdragon – Black Prince

A beautiful flower well suited for growing in the Pacific Northwest, it can be wintered over with blooms arriving in late may.

Our Produce Coming Soon to Portland Farmers Market and Salvador Molly’s

Two very exciting developments over the last few weeks: 15 Miles Farm will have a booth at the Saturday Market at PSU in the park blocks beginning May 30th and we will also be supplying Salvador Molly’s carts at the markets with our heirloom tomatoes and cilantro all summer. Come by and say hello. Last Winter CSA Week! This is our last delivery week for the Winter CSA. We’re extremely grateful to have you with us this winter and look forward to making another go at winter again in 2010. Please feel free to keep or otherwise recycle any remaining boxes you have. The Spring/Summer CSA begins on May 17th and runs through November 8th. For those continuing on to the Spring CSA, please look for more details in your email inbox in the coming weeks. This e-newsletter will continue on every few weeks before the CSA begins, then we’ll switch to a weekly format. Stay tuned! Winter CSA Harvest List Week of 3/1 Red Loose Leaf Lettuce Italian Kale Arugula Flat Leaf Italian Parsley Easter Egg Radishes Escarole Dandelion Greens Broccolini Eggs Alsea Acres Cheese (basil-hazelnut flavor) Eggs Attention Herbalists: Fresh Comfrey Available Comfrey leaf is used in herbal pastes, ointments, tinctures, decoctions, poultices and in cosmetics. It is a popular addition to herbal salves and ointments, which can be used for bruises, sprains, eczema, swellings and burns. We are currently swimming in comfrey leaf and have more than we could possibly use. If you’d like some certified organic comfrey leaf, please let me know and I’ll load you up in your box this week. This Week’s Recipes and Ingredients Bitter Greens The little signals that spring is here are popping up all over the place. Cherry blossoms, daffodils, the first bright green tiny leaves on trees, ferns unfurling and of course, rain. Felt like I was going to grow gills today. The warm temps and rain are bringing the first wave of late winter bitter greens. There are some new greens in this week’s box, maybe some things you have never tried before. I always look forward to the first round of bitter greens when the weather warms up. After a winter of root crops and heavy comfort food, I’m always in the mood for something light and green. Doesn’t always have to be a salad… Bitter greens include varieties in chicory and endive family: Belgian endive (also called French endive and witloof), curly endive (sometimes called chicory or frisee), aruguala, escarole and several varieties of radicchio. Then there are dandelion greens, mustard greens and turnip greens (yes, keep the tops of your turnips). This week, we are bringing the arugula (not really that bitter), escarole, and dandelion greens. To tame their bitter bite and bring out their amazing flavors, toss greens in vinaigrette, give them a quick sauté, or blanch them in salted boiling water. Winter Greens with Cranberry-Port Vinaigrette 1 cup tawny Port 1/3 cup packed thinly sliced shallots 1 cup fresh cranberries 1/3 cup safflower oil 3 tablespoons raspberry vinegar or red wine vinegar 8 cups assorted greens (such as escarole, arugula, red leaf lettuce and  dandelion greens), torn 2/3 cup crumbled Stilton cheese 1/4 cup crumbled pistachios Combine Port and shallots in heavy small saucepan. Boil until liquid is reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 10 minutes. Add cranberries, oil and vinegar. Boil 3 minutes. Season vinaigrette with salt and pepper. Let cool slightly. Combine greens in large bowl. Pour vinaigrette over greens and toss. Sprinkle with cheese and nuts. Toss lightly and serve warm. Escarole and Beans 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 head of escarole salt and pepper to taste 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 1 clove garlic, minced 1 (16 ounce) can cannellini beans, undrained 3 sprigs fresh Italian parsley, chopped Directions Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Toss in escarole, turning to coat with oil. Season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes, or until tender. In a separate skillet, heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Stir in garlic. Pour in beans with juices, and simmer until creamy, about 10 minutes. Stir in escarole and parsley; simmer 10 minutes more. Tuscan Oven Grains and Greens 2 tablespoons olive oil 8 ounces sweet Italian sausage, casings removed 4 ounces fresh arugula, coarsely shredded 4 ounces escarole, coarsely shredded 1 tablespoon finely minced garlic 3 cups fat-free, low-sodium chicken broth 2 teaspoons dried oregano 4 ounces medium-sized shell-shaped pasta, uncooked 1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice 1/2 cup dried quick-cooking barley 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for serving), optional Place oil in a 10- or 12-inch skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and cook, breaking up clumps, until no longer pink. Add arugula, escarole and garlic. Cook, stirring, until greens are wilted, 2 to 3 minutes; reserve. Place the broth and oregano in a medium-sized saucepan and bring to a boil; reserve. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place pasta in the bottom of a 10- to 12-cup covered casserole. Spoon reserved sausage and greens over pasta. Scatter rice and barley over greens. Stir in reserved broth; bring to a boil. Remove from heat, cover and bake until pasta and grains are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven, add parsley and stir well. Serve immediately with cheese, if desired. Dandelion Greens with Hot Olive-Oil Dressing 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced lengthwise 1/3 cup sliced almonds (1 ounce) 1/2 cup golden raisins 2 tablespoons Sherry vinegar 1/2 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1 pound tender young dandelion greens, any tough stems discarded Heat oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook garlic and almonds, stirring frequently, until pale golden, about 2 minutes. Add raisins and cook, stirring, until garlic is golden and raisins are plumped, about 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper, stirring until combined. Pour hot dressing over dandelion greens in a bowl, tossing with tongs to coat. Pasta w/ Dandelion Greens, Toasted Garlic and Avocado 1/2 lb fusilli — or other short pasta 1 bunch dandelion greens 4 cloves of garlic 1 avocado 1/3 cup pine nuts a handful of olives enough olive oil salt and pepper to taste Cook pasta according to instructions Cut dandelion greens in small pieces Bring water to boil with enough salt so it tastes pretty salty and add the dandelion. Blanch for anywhere between 2 to 7 min., according to your tolerance for bitterness. Transfer to a colander and wash with very cold water. Bring olive oil to medium heat in a saute pan, and add the crushed garlic cloves. Lower the temperature and toast the garlic gently Add pine nuts and olives. Season with salt and pepper Add pasta and dandelion greens and mix Dice the avocado and add right before serving. Mix gently.

I See Daffodils….

Spring has sprung as far as I’m concerned. The daffodils and other little bulbs are popping up everywhere. This recent warm weather spell has been really great for us at the farm. During the sunny weather we spent some time migrating many of our supplies from our Sauvie Island parcel up to Malinowski Farm where we also work several acres. We have put up another greenhouse up there and I believe we’ll consolidate 15 Miles Farm entirely to the Malinowski land. The conditions have been so ideal there, we have our organic certification in place, it just really can’t be beat. I’ve been seeding many many flats of veggies for the spring/summer CSA while continuing to tend our winter crops. It’s a delicate balance between seasons working on closing out winter and moving into spring. I cannot believe how fast winter has gone by. The weather has been wonderful for the greens as well as the mushrooms. I’m really excited about a grove of trees we’ve expanded into at Malinowski farm – I’m setting up many oak logs that I will grow oyster and shiitake mushrooms on in the shade of these trees. I’ve also got 1,000 strawberry plants coming from Seeds of Change that we are just waiting to get into the ground. To prepare for that we’ve been digging the beds by hand with shovels and adding chicken manure compost. We’re working by hand because it is entirely too wet for rototillers or other machines and it is definitely warm enough to start getting some things for spring and summer in the ground. Also going in this week are all the onion transplants. Exciting!  I have a ton of photos I’ll be uploading to the flickr account over the next few days. Winter CSA Harvest List Week of 2/15 Shiitake Mushrooms 15 Miles Salad Mix Collards – champion variety Spinach Carrots – little golfball shaped Baby Bok Choy Broccolini – Italian type Eggs Alsea Acres Cheese, Garlic and Chives This Week’s Recipes Broccolini with Lemon Oil 1 large lemon 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 Broccoli bunches trimmed and thick stalks halved lengthwise Remove zest from lemon in 1-inch-wide strips with a vegetable peeler. Cut off any white pith from zest with a small sharp knife. Halve lemon and set aside. Heat oil and zest in a 5-quart wide heavy pot over moderate heat until zest is golden, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and discard zest, reserving oil in pot. Cook Broccolini in an 8- to 10-quart pot two-thirds full of boiling salted water , uncovered, until crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain well in a large colander. Reheat lemon oil over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Add Broccolini and cook, tossing, until coated well and heated through, about 1 minute. Add salt and pepper to taste, then squeeze half of lemon over Broccolini. (Reserve remaining lemon half for another use.) Chicken, Mushroom, and Bok Choy Kebabs 3 large garlic cloves 1/2 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce 1/3 cup dry Sherry 1/4 cup packed brown sugar 1 tablespoon finely grated peeled ginger 2 teaspoon Asian sesame oil 1 1/2 pound skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch pieces 1 pound baby bok choy (5 to 6 heads) 1/2 pound shiitake mushrooms, stems trimmed flush with caps 1/2 cup vegetable oil Marinate chicken: Mince and mash garlic to a paste with a pinch of salt. Boil soy sauce, Sherry, and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until reduced to about 2/3 cup, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in garlic paste, ginger, and sesame oil, then cool to room temperature. Pour half of marinade into a large sealable bag and chill remainder for basting. Add chicken to bag and marinate, chilled, turning bag occasionally, at least 3 hours. Make kebabs: Prepare grill for direct-heat cooking over medium-hot charcoal (medium-high heat for gas). Meanwhile, halve bok choy lengthwise and blanch in a large pot of boiling salted water (2 Tbsp salt for 5 qt water) until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Immediately transfer with tongs to an ice bath to stop cooking. Pat bok choy very dry, then, bending leaves, thread 3 or 4 halves (through bulb and leaves) onto each of 3 or 4 skewers. Put on a tray. Toss mushrooms with vegetable oil. Thread mushrooms (through sides) and chicken (discard marinade) onto remaining skewers, alternating them. Put on another tray. Oil grill rack, then grill chicken-and-mushroom skewers, covered only if using a gas grill, 6 minutes. Turn over and baste with some of remaining marinade, then grill, turning and basting occasionally (but not during last 3 minutes), until chicken is just cooked through and mushrooms are tender, 6 to 8 minutes more. Lightly brush bok choy with oil and grill, covered only if using a gas grill, turning once, until grill marks appear, about 2 minutes total. Citrus Collards with Raisins Redux 2 large bunches collard greens, ribs removed, cut into ribbons 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 2/3 cup raisins 1/3 cup freshly squeezed orange juice In a large pot over high heat, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add the collards and cook, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes, until softened. Meanwhile, prepare a large bowl of ice water to cool the collards. Remove the collards from the heat, drain, and plunge them into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking and set the color of the greens. Drain by gently pressing the greens against a colander. In a medium-size sauté pan, combine the olive oil and the garlic and raise the heat to medium. Sauté for 1 minute. Add the collards, raisins, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Sauté for 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add orange juice and cook for an additional 15 seconds. Do not overcook (collards should be bright green). Season with additional salt to taste if needed and serve immediately. (This also makes a tasty filling for quesadillas.) Shiitake Mushroom Bundles 8 large collard leaves, stems and thick portion of center ribs removed 1/2 cup dry white wine 2 tablespoons minced shallot 1 teaspoon minced garlic 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided 1/2 pound shiitake trimmed and cut into wedges (3 cups) Cook collards in a large pot of boiling water with 1 tablespoon salt until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes, then drain. Transfer to a bowl of cold water, then spread leaves, undersides up, on paper towels, overlapping cut edges slightly, and pat dry. Bring wine to a boil with shallot, garlic, 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a heavy medium saucepan. Add mushrooms and cook, covered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 12 minutes. Butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish, then strain mushroom juices into baking dish, reserving mushrooms. Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in lower third. Mound about 1/4 cup mushrooms in center of each collard leaf. Fold leaves to enclose filling and arrange bundles, seam sides down, in 1 layer in baking dish. Dot with remaining tablespoon butter and cover with foil.