No Escaping Scapes

We've been growing garlic for quite a few years now. We break apart the garlic into cloves and bury it closely together about an inch deep in fall.

It's a favorite because it's a winter sleeper - it goes into the ground in October with a nice foot-thick mulch and we forget about it until it's leaves poke up. We always enjoy a little mild spring garlic in April and May when our stored garlic from the previous season's harvest has given it's last gasp.  But we like to wait for most of the crop to mature.

In June (usually right around the solstice) on it's way to maturity, the garlic puts out it's flower.  The lovely "scape" curls around with a hooded flower at it's end. If we left the scape on the plant, it would draw power from the growing garlic. Gardeners just snip off this scape to keep the energy directed to the growing garlic bulb.

But oh those scapes!  They can be refrigerated and then added to foods just like a clove of garlic.   Although we use a few like that, we go crazy for garlic scape pesto. We make it and freeze it for cold winter meals where, combined with pasta and veggies, it brings a warm remembrance of solstice and summer when we looked for it's distinctive curl.

The recipe below was shared by Cate and Mat, our CSA from Ridgeland Harvest*

Garlic Scape and Almond Pesto

• 10 garlic scapes, finely chopped
• 1/2-1/2 c. finely grated parmesan (or to texture/taste)
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds (toasted lightly if you'd like)
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• sea salt

Put about 1/3 of the scapes and almonds in a blender or food processor with some of the olive oil and mix. Continue to add these until these three ingredients are blended. Scoop into a bowl and add the sea salt and cheese.

If you don't use it immediately, press a piece of plastic against the surface to keep it from oxidizing. It can be stored for a couple of days or frozen for a couple of months (though we've been known to discover a tasty frozen chunk the next spring!)

*This year we got the sad news that their garlic crop hadn't made it.  Difficulty in obtaining the winter mulch and an over-wet spring has taken it's toll. We know how much their garlic harvest means to the farm's livelihood.  So we thank them for their efforts when the weather brings drought one year and too-frequent and too-heavy rains the next.

The John and Yoko of Carrots

I'm not sure any carrots could get better than these two found in our bag of carrots from our CSA. They remind me of the iconic Rolling Stone cover photo by Annie Leibovitz.

I love the real variety and trueness of produce like this that would never make it through the corporate food chain to a grocery store.  True food love brought to us by our farmers Cate and Mat from Ridgeland Harvest CSA!

Getting Some Morroccan Roots On

One of the fun parts of any CSA share (community supported agriculture) is the surprise of just which veggies and fruits are found in the box each week. We have tried all kinds of new tastes and found real excitement in exploring recipes to enjoy them. We received shares in both November and December from Ridgeland Harvest, our CSA, that were full of great root vegetables - turnips, rutabagas, beets, potatoes, carrots.

We don't often eat rutabagas and turnips so we wanted something tasty that could be a "keeper" recipe to return to annually when the bounty of root vegetables comes. We found a winter-satisfying recipe that really elevated them into something scrumptious - I know, I know, for some people root veggies are never described that way -
Morroccan Style Chicken with Root Vegetables from Epicurious.

Although it broke my 10-ingredient rule, we had everything the recipe called for on hand or a close substitute to keep it rocking. The roots used were rutabaga, turnips, carrots and sweet potatoes.We had home canned tomatoes; chicken stock; currants and even cilantro hanging around. Biggest prep time was just peeling & cutting up the veggies - about 7 cups worth. That took as long as the quick cooking of the stew.  But with curry, cumin and cinnamon perfuming the root vegetables, it was worth every chop. This is indeed a root-recipe keeper!

CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

The seed catalogs are arriving. In the cold of winter, those of us who garden are thinking of what we want to plant in the warming days of spring.  January also brings the first notices from farms who have CSA's that its time to think of buying a share so they know how much to plant.

The basic premise of a CSA is that a household helps support the farm by buying a share in the harvest. The farm then provides a weekly or bi-weekly delivery of vegetables, herbs, fruits, eggs and sometimes meat throughout a sixteen to twenty week harvest season. By becoming a member, you agree to share in every farmer's risk - the harvest may be bountiful or poor depending on the weather, pests and other factors that affect yield.All the CSA's we know about provide organic produce at a fair price. Ridgeland Harvest has been our CSA since we came to town.

We support CSA's for a number of reasons. For us, knowing where our food comes from is important. Equally important is directly supporting nearby farm families who are caring for the land. We love to buy locally and organically. We appreciate the concept of investing now for a reward later. We have been treated fairly and respectfully in our relationships with our CSA farmers  both here and on the eastern side of the state.

We also love the crazy kismet of opening the box and seeing what we get to cook with for the week - we commit ourselves to using everything in our meals. We have discovered and come to love many vegetables we never tried before (rabid collard green fan!). With all the produce, we simply eat healthier - less meat and more cooking to the season. It is an great incentive to celebrate the bounty of the harvest that we have right here in Wisconsin.

Besides the newsletter from the farm that has great recipes, a couple of cookbooks have helped with tasty uses for the bounty - our favorite is Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Season Produce from the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. It is full of recipes for all the fruits and vegetables found in CSA boxes and farmer's markets.  We also rely on Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

We still stop by the farmer's market during the season. We like to browse, see friends, pick up a little extra here and there and support more farm families. But it's our CSA food that truly sustains us, challenges us and that we support our farmers by investing in.

Winter Farmer's Market

It's been over six weeks since our last winter delivery from Ridgeland Harvest, our CSA. We have a some carrots, beets and turnips left; a smattering of onions, one last bag of potatoes and beautiful garlic. The radishes and squash are long since eaten.  But more winter vegetables are still plentiful for us because of winter farmer's markets that linger into February.

What kind of food can you possibly find in the dark, cold days of mid-winter? Cabbage and onions, meats and eggs, root vegetables - and best of all - greens are still coming our way. We went down to Madison's market on Saturday and found sweet microgreens and frost-touched spinach, more squash and onions, a great cabbage and more of our new addiction - beauty heart radishes.

There were also potatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, beets, rutabagas, delicate lettuce, sunflower oil and all the wonderful winter-keeping root vegetables that can sustain you and are marvelous in soups and stews.

Root vegetables like turnips and rutabagas have been a revelation to us over the last few years. The waxed roots at the stores were always a little disgusting. So never purchased, never eaten.  Now that we have access to these roots through our CSA and winter markets, we've embraced them and found their rich flavor and high vitamin content a welcome addition to our winter eating. I'll share a recipe or two over the coming weeks to motivate you - and hope you share your favorites with me!