It’s that time of year again. They spring up so quickly, where there was nothing there are now huge primeval looking plants with big globes and spines. Beautiful and delicious. Baskets brimming with fresh picked artichokes, I am a happy gardener. Early in the season I cut the stems long, a foot or more, and cook the whole stem with the artichoke. It is just one big extension of the heart. Don’t miss out on this extra bonus, you just don’t get them like this at the store.
Storm regarding her first Morel.
On a quick trip up to Washington state, several hours in the woods rewarded us with a nice haul of Morel mushrooms, widely regarded as the best tasting wild mushroom on the planet. For anyone who has ever picked morels, stumbling on a decent patch is like the best Easter egg hunt ever. These little woodland gems are so hard to see, you can kneel down to pick one and suddenly realize there are 10 more all around you that you never saw at all. One lucky year I picked around 100 pounds over the course of a week. It was simply glorious. Storm enjoyed her first mushroom hunt, and enjoyed eating them even more. She was stuffing sautéed Morels into her mouth as fast as she could and pointing and yelling for more. It runs in the family I guess. There is something about mushroom hunting that is very catching. I would spend hours as a kid roaming the woods and bringing home baskets of all different sorts of wild mushrooms. We would sit around with Mushrooms Demystified, the mushroom hunters bible, and try to identify everything we found. Hopefully our children will carry this same passion for the beautiful, magical wonders of mushrooms that their parents do.
This weeks veggie box contains:
4 large Artichokes, 1 bunch turnips, 1 bag spinach, 1 bag sugar snap peas, 3 Kholrabi & greens, 1 head Lolla Rossa lettuce, 1 bunch swiss chard, 1 bag chive flowers, 1 dozen eggs
A nice change from the typical green broccoli that we are used to, Purple Sprouting Broccoli does not make heads, but rather produces lots of little sprigs of broccoli with wonderful flavor. It took a while, growing slowly over the winter, but has finally rewarded us with a plentiful amount of lovely purple broccoli florets.
This Weeks Farm box includes: 1 large bunch young turnips & greens, 1 bunch red beets & greens, 1 large green Cabbage, 1 bag chive flowers, 4 heads Lettuce, 2 bunches radishes, 1 Dozen eggs.
Boxes can be purchased weekly at: http://www.pick-a-pepper.com/view_farm.php?fid=89&back=welcome
This Easter we dyed our Easter eggs from things in the garden and around the house. The rich and beautiful colors are much more beautiful and unique than anything you will get from store-bought dyes, and it can be so much fun. You will be surprised by every color.
Boil 4 cups of water for approximately 30 minutes with several tablespoons of vinegar and a good couple of handfuls of dye ingredients to make these lovely colors. Pour the dye into mason jars and let the eggs soak in the fridge for the night. You can leave them in longer or shorter for varying shades. Be very carefull when lifting the eggs out of the dye, it scratches off easily when wet. If they look dull after they dry you can rub them with a little bit of vegetable oil to give them a beautiful polished sheen.
Onion Skins: Yellow onion skins made the rich orange/red color.
Red Cabbage: the brilliant blue surprised me. Didn’t expect that from red cabbage.
Red Beets: The marbled pinkish-red. Not sure why they marbled like this, but lovely just the same.
Spinach: I was hoping for a slightly darker shade of green, but got a yellowish/green with marbling.
Coffee: The rusty-brown color in the center is from boiled coffee.
Turmeric: The light yellow is from turmeric powder boiled and strained.
This Weeks Farm box includes: 3 heads Lettuce, 1 dozen eggs, 1 bag mixed citrus (blood oranges, sweet white grapefruits) 1 bunch Radishes, 1 bunch Swiss Chard, 1 bunch giant red Mustard Greens, 1 bunch Chives, 1 bunch Oregano, 1 bunch Rosemary. All produce is grown with absolutely no chemicals. Eggs are Animal Welfare approved and come from free range chickens. Pick-up available at our Farm in Potrero. Contact me for more specific details. Delivery to Deerhorn VAlley on Tuesday April 3rd. 3:00pm-6:00pm.
Boxes can be ordered online at: http://www.pick-a-pepper.com/view_farm.php?fid=89&back=welcome
This time of year we have to embrace the sometimes less desired vegetables. Those leafy greens, the things we all remember from childhood, dark and stringy and cooked to a mush. We dream of juicy red tomatoes, crisp cucumbers, tasty beans… but alas, we find ourselves loaded down with armloads of Kale,Swiss Chard and Mustard greens. Most people think of these greens as edible only after being steamed, smothered in butter, and then eaten only because we all know it is good for us, not because they actually taste good. If you are guilty of having thought these unkind feelings towards leafy greens, let me share a little secret with you. You can cook up the healthiest, tastiest veggie dish in a matter of minutes with only a couple of ingredients. Simply rough chop the greens, toss in a pan with a little bit of hot olive oil, some garlic, and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Sautee for several minutes. Add a little salt & pepper, and there you have it. If you want to get a little fancier, you can spray or rub the entire leaves with olive oil and place them on a hot BBQ grill for several minutes until they just start to brown a little. Then chop and sautee. This adds a wonderful smokey flavor. So if you are still holding onto a lifelong prejudice against greens, now is a great time to get adventurous in the kitchen and embrace these beautiful and healthy vegetables.
Look carefully. We saw this beautifully camouflaged Bobcat on a walk today while looking for wild mushrooms. It is always a rare treat to see a wild cat.
Trying to grow a anything here is like waging war with nature. The ground squirrels, rabbits, gophers, bugs and diseases that plague me daily are bad enough, but when our Peacocks decided to start making daily rounds through the garden, gobbling everything green along the way, I was at my wits end. It is true that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and when I beheld the cabbages munched down to stubs, the Kale left in a tattered ruin, and the lettuce completely demolished, the beauty of a Peacock was less than impressive to these eyes. I immediately suggested that maybe it was time to start eating Peacocks. We were coming up on Christmas after all, I hear they taste like wild turkey. I started to imagine a golden bird hanging in our smoker. Jason is not as attached to the cabbages as I am though, and is still fairly enamored with the magnificence of these birds. So instead of roast Peacock, I got bird netting. Lots of it. Jason made a pvc frame and clips to easily attach the netting for some of the bigger crops, and simply pulling the netting over the smaller veggies seems to work nicely. Now everything that gets planted is immediately covered with netting and the Peacocks and I are once again on speaking terms.
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We initially became interested in these majestic trees after learning about their rapid growth and many environmental benefits. We quickly discovered that they were not the easiest trees to find. Most nurseries don’t want to be bothered with them, because they out grow their pots too quickly. We found quite a bit of information online, many sites claiming they are the “worlds fastest growing hardwood tree”, etc., but I quickly discovered that there was a lot of conflicting information about these trees. Some sites selling them seemed kind of shady and even had pictures of Jacaranda trees instead of Paulownia trees. The flowers do look very similar, but the leaves are completely different. This didn’t give me much confidence in the credibility of the claims about this tree. Could it really be that good? Or was it simply an over-hyped tree that would leave everyone trying to grow it frustrated and disappointed? All we could do was purchase a few and stick them in the ground. We stood back and watched, feeling a bit skeptical. We were amazed. The first year the two 6 inch seedlings that we planted both grew to over 18 feet tall. This was no ordinary tree. We had something special here.
We quickly fell in love with the Paulownia tree. Their big, fuzzy, heart-shaped leaves, the joy of watching them grow, the fast shade they provide, the intoxicating flowers that smell like lilies. Commonly known as the Royal Empress Tree, they are indeed royalty among trees. Launching a website in 2008, we wanted to share our love for these trees, offer a trustworthy view of what the Paulownia tree really has to offer and how they actually grow. We also wanted to offer a place to purchase trees that would guarantee the customer was actually getting what they expected. We keep only a small inventory in stock and give each tree our undivided attention.
While the Paulownia tree is indeed somewhat of a miracle tree, it is also a tree, and conditions can determine a lot about how it grows. Some trees can get off to a rocky start. For no reason that we have been able to put a finger on, sometimes they just don’t grow very quickly. They may only reach 3 or 4 feet the first season. It is best to cut the tree back if it hasn’t grown 8-10 feet the first year. Your patience will be rewarded. This makes the roots stronger and your tree should grow much quicker the second season. Our hitching post Paulownia is a great example. We planted it next to our hitching post to provide shade for the horses while they are getting saddled up. The first year it only grew about 4 feet high. Following the general rule we cut it back to ground level. The following year it took off like a rocket and was about seven feet high by late June. Then it was attacked by gophers, and it wilted and appeared dead. We cut it back to the ground and held our breath. The next year it sprouted back and grew like crazy. I topped it at seven feet and it now has four branches reaching twelve feet high.
So if the long winter months have you itching to plant something, consider putting in a Paulownia tree. They are both splendid and rewarding.
Visit our Paulownia tree website at: www.primevalgardens.com
Young Paulownia tree measuring over 11 feet in August.
My garden helper turns 1 year old this week. I remember when life was simpler, when I could work in the garden all day, uninterrupted, when I could sleep when I wanted and be out of the house early in the morning. I didn’t laugh nearly as much. My heart wasn’t as large. I was more selfish.
These days we are slow, this baby and I. There are so many little breaks we take, things we get distracted by, things that must be learned. I feel lucky to accomplish one or two small tasks in a day now. That is enough though. We manage. There is nowhere she would rather be than in the garden. It makes me happy to see her dirt streaked face smile. I have gotten past everything having to be clean. Let a child be a little wild. Let her experience the taste of dirt, the feel of leaves, mud and water. Let her grow in the garden like an artichoke, rambunctious and beautiful. She laughs out loud, throwing her head back to point at the birds. She squeals with delight when she gets ahold of the cat, and crawls like mad to get out of the way of the spray from a hose. This is nothing that can be replaced by toys. Nothing that can be learned from books or videos, parks or playgrounds. This is my child, sweet as the honeysuckle blossom, dirt and all.
We feel very lucky to have several hives of wild bees residing in the oak trees on our property. Last Spring in a storm, one of our oak trees broke off partway up the trunk, revealing this beautiful and intimate look into a hive of wild bees. I was sure they would move on to find a new home, their hive being so exposed, but they seem to be quite content going about their busy bee lives in their broken tree. They are a much loved sight in our gardens.
Once again the warm winter rains of southern California are bringing forth edible treasures for those of us who love mushroom hunting. Last year we discovered several locations to pick Honey mushrooms Armillaria mellea, and one of the delightful qualities of this mushroom is that they come back in the same spot every year if the conditions are favorable. The funny thing with Honey mushrooms is that you can really get no clear answers on them from mushroom books or web pages. Some books say they are hardly edible, less than choice, some people may have reactions, etc. While others claim they are quite tasty and edible. Almost unanimously everyone seems to agree that the stems are too tough and stringy to be considered edible. I beg to differ. Honey mushrooms can be found growing at the base of, or near stumps and dead oak trees in our area. They tend to grow in very large clumps, sometimes pushing up out of the ground like a volcano. The stems are long and profuse. It seemed like such a shame to throw away more than half the volume of mushroom by discarding the stems, so I gave them a good scrub and sauteed them up right along with the caps. They are a bit tough, but by no means inedible, and quite tasty. I suppose if you picked them when they were getting past their prime the stems may get a bit more fibrous, but we found them quite edible.
I suppose with Honey mushrooms you have to be a bit bold. They can be difficult to identify from several other slightly less desirable mushrooms and there are so many stories of gastric upset, that the lukewarm reviews most people give them may make you decide to skip this foray into mushroom territory. If you do positively identify Honey mushrooms and feel brave enough to give them a try, here is what has worked for me. Clean them well, they push up from under ground and can be quite dirty. Cut the caps from the stems and clean them separately. This makes things a bit easier. Boil them for 5 minutes. Not sure if this is absolutely necessary, but it is recommended and doesn’t seem to hurt any. Saute them in a hot pan with butter, garlic, salt and pepper until they just start to brown. Eat them on salads, pasta, rice, etc. And most importantly, if you find them as pleasant as I have, be sure to remember when and where you found them. As long as we have early rains they will be waiting for you in the same spot next year.
We were delighted to see this fuzzy fellow strolling across the garden last night.
This weeks full share CSA box contains:
Sweet Basil
Heirloom Tomatoes
Summer Squash
Eggplant
Melon
Cucumber
Sweet Corn (yes, it’s supposed to be red)
Tomatillos
Long Cayenne Peppers
Large Pumpkin
