Purple Top Turnip Rapini
Tomorrow we begin our spring season. It’s been a long, cold winter. But now the days are longer, and even though it’s been soggy, it is bright. The goldfinches and robins have returned, and soon the hummingbirds and swallows will bring us a solid spring.
THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
• Rapini
• Yokatta-Na
• “Orchidea Rossa” Radicchio
• Siberian Kale
• Parsnips
• Eggs
COMING SOON:
Kale Rapini
Collard Greens
Baby Leeks
There isn’t a lot to harvest yet, but some things are ready. We found some parsnips lingering in the weedy patch they grew up in. The weeds are long gone, but we are freeing the sweet roots from their disguise so you lucky folks can enjoy them. We have also found some new growth on the kale and collard plants, although the neighboring Swiss chard is largely dead from the December freeze. Over the years, we have found one chicory that fits perfectly with our spring harvest timing. It is called “Orchidea Rossa”, or “Red Orchid”, and it is a “Grumulo”-type radicchio. It doesn’t make any kind of big, solid head. It makes an abundance of reddish-green leaves in the summer that are fine for salad, but if we leave it alone through the winter, the increasing daylength draws it into lush, open rosettes.
We tried to overwinter the famed “Yokatta-Na” that was so popular last spring, It died over the winter, but has regrown and is sprouting. Slightly bitter, and tastes good, but not quite as good as the Rapini, queen of the spring.
We plant four varieties of turnips, in various colors for fall harvest. Not only do they assemble into a rooty rainbow, but they all flower at different times in the spring, giving us a longer harvest of Rapini.
And, the egg harvest has been very large lately thanks to the increasing daylength, so everyone is getting a dozen eggs. Enjoy!
Whistling Train Farm 