A New Year & A New Season
WILD HARE WEEKLY WINTER #1/8
Today, we reported back to our first real full day of work for 2019—our 5th year in business to boot! There’s always a bit of inertia to overcome when we get back to it, but we’ve been beyond thankful for the opportunity to take a break from our routines for a few weeks. Though I will say that walking out to a field of sunshine and just enough cabbage certainly helped!
A new year tends to bring about a certain level of resolve and good intention. We’re looking forward to spending the coming weeks pruning and planning for the year ahead, and we’re always eager to dive into the seed catalogs, our growing notes and our cookbooks this time of year. It is what gets us through the next few months on our farm—the leanest months of the year. This is why we’re extra thankful for our Winter CSA members and their willingness to cook up shares of roots and storage vegetables of all kinds. We’ve done our best to get a punch of color and flavor put up into the root cellar this year (those Red Daikon and Black Spanish Radishes being great examples), but we know that it takes a bit of creativity and an extra dose of willingness to tackle eating in season over the Winter. A couple of months ago, after growing hundreds of pounds of them, Mark started grating and soaking black radishes and onions, draining them and serving them with sour cream or cream cheese on dark grainy bread. I stole this idea and put the mix on my avocado toast too—gamechanger. Be sure to check out the links and recipes below for some more helpful insights about these vegetables.
Hazel, who just turned eight over the break, wanted to make sure that I let you all know how good random root vegetables are sliced and rolled up into Fresh Salad Rolls—and she’s right—packed with cabbage, carrots, and daikon to go with her herbs, tofu and avocado, these made for a fun, gorgeous, delicious and refreshing for dinner last night. She assembled more than a dozen herself, and I lost count of what portion she consumed. The worst part is that I have had the rice paper wrappers in the cupboard for ages and never thought to bust them out in the middle of Winter. This video was a great inspiration. Here’s to learning from one another and trying new things in 2019!
Best,
Katie
IN THE FARMSHARES THIS WEEK:
Cabbage
Onions
Radishes: Black Spanish & Red Daikon
Carrots
Small Squash
Apples
SEASONAL RECIPES, TIPS & INFO
ODE TO A DIFFICULT FOOD: BLACK RADISHES - Not Eating Out in NY
5 HEALTHY SPRING ROLL RECIPES - A Sweet Pea Chef
CABBAGE RADISH & APPLE SLAW
5 cups shredded cabbage, red or green
1 cup Granny Smith apple, cut into matchstick pieces
3/4 cup radish, cut into matchstick pieces
2 tbsp white onion, very finely diced
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1.5 tbsp water
1.5 tbsp oil
1/8 tsp celery seed
a shake of powdered mustard
a shake of salt and pepper
COZY CABBAGE & FARRO SOUP
Smitten Kitchen via Six Seasons by Joshua McFadden
1 pound cabbage, savoy or green
Olive oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 sprig of rosemary or thyme (optional because I’ve forgotten it each time, and not regretted it)
1 tablespoon red wine or white wine vinegar
2/3 cup uncooked farro
About 4 cups homemade or storebought chicken or vegetable broth
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Shaved parmesan, to finish