The season of winter is upon us...don't miss it

A typical array of Tierra goods that might be available this time in the season is shown above....this was actually Dominique's purchase last season prior to her joining the staff and committing her time and energy to the success of the farm. Included is one giant parsnip, a colorful carrot array, sunchokes, puntarella, romanesco, Sangre de Toro beans and perhaps a few beets squeezed into the back drop.

While this is a tough time in the season that always includes failures and items missing that you may desire (perfect spring lettuces or luscious summer Seascapes), it is also a time of unique bounty that must be enjoyed now before it is time to move on to other seasonal spring bounty (for instance, asparagus is not far away) and while the plants are in their winter prime. This includes items such as the chicories, or hearty winter bitter greens. Yum both raw and cooked, it is hard to get enough of these. They will not remain when warmth kicks in in another month or two. Enjoy them now! Dried beans will store, but this is a darned good time to make use of them when other things are lacking. We are thankful to have carrots remaining in stock as long as we do not sell them all and as long as they hold under wet and freezing soils....I think the deer have even started demolishing the carrot tops to some extent, the challenges never end. Pretty soon it will be time again to try the cardoon, a seasonal stalk that takes like artichoke, but looks more like celery. The winter squash do not hold forever and now is the time to enjoy storage crops like these and onions and potatoes before their storage time is up! Brassica plants like broccolis, kale, cabbages will eventually want to flower and set seeds, destroying their edibility for the most part, so these almost must be enjoyed throughout the winter period.

Brussels, celery root, parsnips, beets, and dried beans. To some it may seem like the dark period in farming, for me it is hard to begin to choose....

Enjoy your winter veggies, they are waiting to be harvested for your tables!

Asparagus and Romanesco

An idyllic image here contains what we all hope to find when walking in to our local farm stand. First of the season (in fact, bonus really early because of perfect weather) asparagus in the foreground. Eggs from Wayne and Evie's chickens flaunting their myriad of colors in the background. These are the precious and hard to find items, much as we'd like to have enough for everyone.

When do you come to find these specimens of perfection? Usually, the target time for the harvest to come in out of the field is 11am, when we open. It seems from then on for another hour or two, some of the harder to harvest or less efficient items start to dribble in to the stand. Things like first of the season asparagus, or last of the season fennel. Whatever the customer has come for and cannot find upon arrival.

And I got Lee to stop in her tracks this week while she was packing the CSA boxes for delivery for a momentary photo opportunity. I had her pose with the precious asparagus first, but then she and I agreed it was something of a meager pile of vegetable to feature. Much more abundant to celebrate this week was the Romanesco broccoli/cauliflower. This seasonal veg served the winter CSA for the month of February on Friday and supplemented the purchases from most farm stand customers.

Cauliflower season is now thoroughly upon us. It seems to correspond with the mustard blooms out there in the fields that surround our green and misty county. Similar plants to the mustards, many of the broccoli, kales, brussels and cauliflowers from the fall planting get closer to setting flowers and seeds as the spring weather pressures them to do so. Hence, flowering cauliflowers seem to kick in right alongside the mustards. This is my annual observation and it seems to make sense with some variability, I'm sure.