Cherry Blossoms in front of our redecorated packing shed ~    ; )

What’s Growing This Week:   Broccoli (all) Cauliflower (all) Oroblanco grapefruit (all) - % Tangelos (all) Carrots (all) Spinach (All) Green garlic (alL)  Navel oranges (L) Asparagus (L) Leeks (L)

 Pablito.... 

FLOWERING IS CONTAGIOUS
It’s blossom time of year in Northern CA. Almonds, apricots, peaches, nectarines, and plums are all in full bloom right now around Winters.   Thirty years ago, we would have been enveloped in a sea of blosssoms, when this was the apricot capital of the state.  Now, there are just a few islands of scent and scenery in a sea of bare branches — the thousands of acres of walnut orchards that will wait another month or so before their aesthetically uninspiring flowers (catkins, actually) do their thing.

 While it’s always great to see nature renew itself this time of year, trees aren’t the only plants that flower.  For a vegetable grower it means that just about every crop we currently have in the ground and are harvesting is getting ready to flower, and then go to seed.  With a few exceptions, this signals the end of the harvest of these crops:  kale, chard, spinach, carrots, beets, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage.

 An aside:  Although cauliflower has “flower” in its name, the part you eat is not the actual flower, but rather the tightly compacted stems of what would eventually become the flowers — if it were not harvested and eaten.  Harvested cauliflower plants do not in fact make flowers or go to seed; while broccoli and cabbage do so even if the heads are harvested.  They produce additional shoots from the base of the plants that grow almost three feet tall before producing a spray of bright yellow blossoms.

 Most vegetables have flowering stages.   Fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, squash, and cucumbers flower before they make the edible crop.  Most of these are warm weather crops.  Strawberries are not a vegetable, of course, but they are just about the earliest fruiting crop to produce each year.  Right now, we are weeding our overwintered strawberries and keeping a close eye out for flowers that will take about 4 weeks to then turn into ripe red fruit.

 Legumes such as peas and beans also flower before they produce.  Our fall planted peas have been flowering for about two weeks, which could mean harvestable peas by April first — except that nighttime frost at any time during the formation of the peas will knock them off the plant.  Fava beans grew quite slowly this winter, so they are still quite small and just starting to a few flowers.  Legumes, like most other fruiting vegetables, produce flowers according an internal clock that governs their growth.  For example, peas begin to flower when they develop a certain number of leaves, and tomatoes when they reach a certain maturity.

 But back to my original point.  With day length getting longer and temperatures rising, our fall-planted winter crops are getting the strong signal from Mother Nature to quite messing around and go to seed, too.  Leafy greens and root crops, in particular, are plants that don’t produce edible seeds or fruit, yet humans have manipulated and tricked them over the years into a producing a different edible form.  Unlike legumes or most fruiting vegetables, these “annuals” or “bi-ennials” only produce seed once a year, during the shift from winter to spring.  That means that we have an entire nine months or so that they can be grown and eaten in one geographic area.

 Carrots can be planted from January until about mid-October, although in this area the hot summers make later spring plantings unfeasible.  They can be harvested from mid-May until early April — leaving a month when just about any carrot still in the ground would have flowered.  During this month, cold-stored carrots are still commercially available.  Carrot flowers are almost identical to Queen Anne’s lace, and quite similar to fennel — which are both in the same family.

 Beets, spinach and chard planted in the fall all go to seed around April 1st if they are still in the ground.  When they do so, they take on an amazing resemblance to lambsquarters and amaranth, with which they share the same family tree.  They throw out a multitude of tiny leaves and seed pods containing five seeds each.
 
Kale and collards are related to broccoli and cauliflower, and when they go to seed they appear almost identical to those plants.  However, while the “heading” brassica plants will progress directly from their vegetable stage to flower stage — whether harvested or not — the leafy greens flower just once each year.  Like carrot, beets, and chard, they are responding to the command of the seasons.  Within a month, all of these crops we’ve relied upon to fill your boxes for the last four months will heed the call.  Then, we’ll have to find something else to harvest…

IN YOUR BOXES
One vegetable I didn’t mention on the first page is Asparagus.  Its spring emergence is powered by the same fuel as the blooming trees — the urge to make seed.  We just cut it down before it gets that far.  Our asparagus crop is just starting to think about coming out of its winter hibernation, and so we only had enough this week to put a small bunch in the Large boxes.  Small and Medium boxes can look forward to their own asparagus in a week or two — but only if the spring-like weather holds and we don’t get any freezing nights.  Frost destroys the individual spears, delaying harvest for a week or so — although it doesn’t permanently damage the crop.

Potatoes are the first crop we’ll be planting this week as the soil dries out.  Meanwhile, we have a good supply of freshly dug, fall-planted potatoes.  These will help us keep your boxes full during an otherwise tricky time of year.  They will pair up nicely with that asparagus coming in a week or two, and go great with green garlic.
Dry weather has allowed us to go back into our spinach field, and the warm weather has given the crop a shot in the arm.  While it’s not “baby” size anymore, it’s still classic winter spinach — sweet and chewy.  I recommend cooking it lightly rather than trying to make a salad with it.  With kale already going to seed and lettuce a distant memory, you can count on seeing lots of chard and spinach in your boxes during the next month.  There’s another planting of escarole and romaine lettuce out in the field, but it’s anybody’s guess whether either of those will reach harvestable size before they, too, decide to reproduce in the face of impending doom, uh, spring.

Thanks,

   Pablito

Recipes............................

Spinach Potato Knishes
Soak and drain 2 C. spinach leaves, then steam briefly and chop roughly.   Soak 2 T. raisins in hot water for 30 minutes, then drain. Cut potatoes into chunks to make 2 C., then place in a covered pot with salted water and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until just tender, then drain.  Return to the pot and dry out over low heat.  Place in a large bowl and mash well.
Add 1 C. chopped green garlic (green and white parts), 2 T. butter, 1/2 C. drained ricotta cheese, and the spinach.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in 3/4 C. grated provolone or mozzarella cheese and the raisins.  Add enough breadcrumbs to firm up the mixture.  Let it cool.
Preheat the oven to 375.  Melt 2 T. butter in a pan.  Lay out 1 sheet of phyllo dough on a work surface and brush with melted butter.  Top with a second sheet and brush with more butter, then top with a third sheet of phyllo.  Cut into 8 sections.
Place 2-3 T. filling on each phyllo section, fold in the sides, and roll up like egg rolls.  Brush with a little more butter, then place on a lightly greased baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minute, until golden and crisp.
 

Produce 101: preparation & storage  OROBLANCO GRAPEFRUIT are midway through the three year process of becoming certified organic.  This year’s crop was grown using exactly the same methods we use on our certified organic citrus —but they’re not certified organic. SPINACH has been through more types of weather than the Postal Service, so make sure to soak and drain it 2-3 times before using.  Sand and silt are sure to have wedged themselves into every nook and cranny.

Vacations & Billing Inquiries
We need seven days notice before a vacation hold or other change of service.
Contact Valerie through voicemail at (530) 756-2800, or e-mail Goldenbell@aol.com

Account Balance Inquiries The account sheet is hiding under the sign off sheet each week with your account balance on it.  Mid month I've been e-mailing statments, so if you're not getting it send me an e-mail requesting to be added to the list.

MAILING ADDRESS:
Terra Firma Farm
P.O. Box 836
Winters, CA 95694
(530) 756-2800
www.terrafirmafarm.com
Goldenbell@aol.com
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