News from Windy Willow Farm
2008 Week 2

This week’s share includes:

1 bunch asparagus- The sunny, warm weather helped the asparagus take off. I hope you’re enjoying them as much as we do.
1 bag mesclun – A beautiful mix of red and green lettuces, kale, arugula, bok choy and other asian greens. It has a lovely flavor, mild plus some spice. It was picked this morning, and plunged in ice cold water. Be sure to rinse again in cold water, spin or pat dry, and store in a plastic bag. (There are as many lettuce storage techniques as there are lettuce leaves, but this is mine.) Don’t forget to pick out the odd weed or piece of grass.
1 bag arugula – Welcome to arugula from an organic farm! As you can see, this stuff is “pre-eaten” by the flea beetles. They love the stuff and descend upon it as soon as it peeks out from the ground. The only way to avoid the swiss-cheese look is to cover it as soon as you plant it, and make sure there’s no holes in the cover. Our row covers regularly flap in the breeze, letting all sorts of critters underneath. The arugula has a spicy, peppery flavor and is awesome mixed into your lettuce, or sautéed with garlic and olive oil and tossed with pasta. (Cooking tames the spicy bite).
1 bunch lovage – a cousin to celery, it is the orginal “straw” in a bloody Mary (the stems are hollow). A little of this herb goes a long, long way. I love it in potato salad, soups and regular lettuce salads. It adds a little flavor and some salt to your cooking. All parts of the leaves and stems are edible.
1 bunch mint – stuck for ideas for your mint? Steep in hot water for tea, mix with sugar, lime and rum for a mojito, chew leaves straight for a “pick me up/breath freshener”, toss with peas for a refreshing treat, chop and sprinkle over vanilla ice cream, float in cold water for minty water…. The ideas go on and on.
Best guess for next week – Asparagus, greens (spinach and/or lettuce and/or arugula), an herb (maybe oregano), radishes.

As you can see, our CSA starts slowly and picks up speed as the season progresses. This season may be starting a bit slower, due to our greenhouse struggles, so our apologies for this. We have been busy, as usual, in the garden, planting, weeding, irrigating, and covering with row cover. I’m still waiting for the threat of frost to be over…. At the house this morning it said 33 degrees, but there was frost in the grass. Already my tomatoes (under row cover) have suffered from the cold: evidence of frost burns on the leaves are visible. They’ll pick up again after the weather warms up consistently, but I always want them to grow vigorously from the get-go!

You may have noticed field activity in the south-west corner of our property. Our dairy farm neighbor, Tony, is using the field to plant Sudan grass. He prepped the field by plowing and disking, and used a backhoe to pry out the visible ledgerock. Mark took advantage of this to drag huge pieces of rock around the farm. One piece ended up in the front lawn: what better kid toy is there? Several large rocks now live near the pond, as wildlife-viewing posts. The best one by far now is located at the corner of our property: it’s going to be our sign-rock! All it needs is a hole to be tipped into, and a coat of paint to have a farm sign. If there are any artists out there who want to help design the sign, please let me know!

I just looked out the window to the chicken pasture and saw a puff of dirt fly into the air. It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, since I saw no chicken in the area! Our chickens are enthusiastic fluffers. They love to fluff/bathe in the dirt since it keeps them cool while controlling parasites. Apparently they have fluffed in the same spot for so long, it is now a chicken-hole, and is much lower than the surrounding grass. Hence, the puff of dirt. Not only is the chicken pasture a dangerous place to walk due to the holes in the ground, but the pigs are making quick work of their pasture as well. Pigs love to root, and these seven pigs root with the best of them. It generally takes a while for small pigs to root up their pasture; we usually can get a few weeks to a month from the pigs’ first pasture. These guys have been rooting since they arrived at WWF, and have been hard at work ever since. We intentionally put the pig and chicken pastures in the spot reserved for our next garden. This way the animals are helping us fertilize the soil, kill the grass and eat all the roots and bugs they can find. Hard workers, our animals.

Thanks for your support!
Gwen, Mark, Sarah and Jason Hyde

© 2008 Gwen Hyde

Lentils With Lovage (from http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/lovage.html)
Ingredients:

1/2 small chopped sweet onion
chopped butter
12 ounces whole green lentils
1/2 cup chopped lovage
1 sprig of fresh thyme
orange zest/peel
chicken stock or water

Sauté the chopped onions in the butter to soften but do not brown. Stir in the lentils. Add the chopped lovage, thyme, one strip on orange peel or a small amount of zest and stock. Cover and simmer until tender. Remove the lentil mixture with a slotted spoon and reduce the liquid in the pan, while adding a little more butter and salt and pepper to taste. Serve over the lentil mixture. Serves 4.

Asparagus with roasted-garlic aioli
Gourmet February 2007

Roasting the heads of garlic results in a less-pungent aioli — a nice quality in an appetizer, since too much raw garlic can hijack the palate for the rest of the evening.

Makes 8 (hors d'oeuvre) servings.

2 medium heads garlic, left whole
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups mayonnaise
2 teaspoons apple-cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 lb medium asparagus, trimmed

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut off and discard tops of garlic heads to expose cloves, then brush each head with 1/2 tablespoon oil. Wrap heads together in foil and bake until tender, about 45 minutes. Cool to warm.

Squeeze garlic from skins into a food processor and purée with mayonnaise, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Transfer aioli to a bowl and stir in chives.

Arugula Pesto Recipe #102668 (from http://www.recipezaar.com/102668)
A variation over one of the best italian sauces.
by ekives
10 min 10 min prep SERVES 4
2 cups arugula leaves
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic

Put all the ingredients on a mixer and chop until it forms a paste.
Serve over pasta.