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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Pea Shoots
• Green Onions
• Garlic Scapes
• Spinach
• Fresh Mint

COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Arugula

I am so disappointed that the salad greens are still not big enough to harvest. One more week will do the trick though. And last night’s beautiful rain will do wonders.

But, the spinach is finally ready, and it is beautiful. We have one part of the farm that is nearly pure sand. Before the dam was built, the Green River used to meander quite a bit more than it does now, and it flooded regularly. That’s what gave our valley it’s incredible fertility. But, the river also deposits a lot of silt and sand when it floods.

This spot of the farm is perfect for planting early in the season because it is high and dry. But, it is poor in the summer because it is impossible to water it enough. Even every day watering will not help, so we have always ignored it after June and replant in September for winter. But last year, we planted a summer cover crop on this acre, and grazed the cows there for the summer, and followed the cows with a flock of chickens. THAT did wonders for the soil there. The spinach is lush and dark, and there are no flea beetles—and there are flea beetles everywhere else on the farm right now. This is definitely an experiment to repeat on other parts of the farm.

We finally made it through the surprise salad onions. But now, the green onions that we planted in February are ready. We planted four varieties of garlic in the fall, and of the two hardneck varieties (Chesnok Red and Spanish Roja) The Roja is the first to make scapes. Scapes are the flower stalk of the garlic (or any other onion family) plant. They are delicious used as garlic—chopped and cooked, or roasted or grilled like asparagus. They are a little spicy raw, but some people like them like that. Other customers have reported that they like to purée them with olive oil like pesto and drizzle it on all kinds of things.

And now, a funny little story: The other day, when it was warm I indvertently left the back door open. Usually the dogs guard the back door, but I came inside to find everything knocked off the kitchen counters and the piano. The living room had plops of chicken (ahem) droppings in several places. Luckily she missed the rugs. The kids locked her in the bathroom while I was cleaning up the mess, and then I caught her and put her outside where she belonged, flustered but unharmed. This morning, Cosmo was looking for his socks under the living room chair and came out with a green egg. It took a minute to figure out that it was laid by that hen the other day, and that the boys were not indeed playing with a fresh egg in the living room.

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One of the highlights of our spring season is the abundance of the flower shoots of all of the various Brassica plants. This amazing edible family includes turnips, kale, cabbage, broccoli, and many others. While we’re used to eating the flowering parts of the broccoli plant, many people aren’t aware that all of the brassicas do the same thing in the spring. They flower. They are all edible, and they are all delicious, each with their own particular flavor. In the photo above, you can see a sample of Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Green Cabbage, Purple Kale, and Turnips.

Turnips are the true “Broccoli Raab”, also called Broccoli Rabe, or Rapini. “Rape” is the Italian name for turnip, and broccoli means something like flowering thing (in Mike’s rustic Italian). Adding “ini” at the end implies that it is a small thing, so if we put it all together “rapini” is a little turnip thing, and broccoli rabe is a flowering turnip thing.

No matter what you call them all, they’re all delicious. They cook quickly, and are great simply sauteed with a little olive oil and garlic, or topped on a pizza, or tossed with pasta. Enjoy them while they’re in season in April and May, because once they’re gone everyone is disappointed until next year.

BROCCOLI RAAB PASTA

1 Large Onion
6 to 8 cloves Garlic
2 bunches Broccoli Raab (1-1/2 pounds)
Extra-virgin Olive Oil
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
1/2 to 3/4 pound Penne Pasta
Red Wine Vinegar
Pecorino Romano Cheese

1. Peel and thinly slice the onion. Smash, peel, and thinly slice the garlic. Wash the broccoli raab, removing the heavy stems, and chop the leaves and sprouts coarsely. Put a large pot of water on to boil.

2. Liberally cover the bottom of a sauté pan with the olive oil and sauté the onion over high heat. When the onion has begun to wilt and brown a little, add the garlic and pepper flakes, to taste, and salt. Toss briefly, then add the broccoli raab and a splash of water. Lower the heat and cook until tender, stirring or tossing frequently. Meanwhile, cook the pasta. Taste the broccoli raab for seasoning and add a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil and a splash or red wine vinegar. Toss with the freshly cooked and drained pasta, and garnish with grated cheese.

PIZZA WITH BROCCOLI RAAB, ROASTED ONION, AND OLIVES

1 medium Yellow Onion
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Optional: 2 sprigs Thyme
1 bunch Broccoli Raab
1 clove Garlic
1 pinch Hot Pepper Flakes
Pizza Dough for 1 pizza
1/2 cup Grated Mozzarella Cheese
16 Nicoise Olives, pitted
1 Lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 375°.

2. Dice the onion and toss in a small ovenproof sauté pan with a pinch of salt and enough olive oil to coat lightly, and the leaves of the thyme. Put the pan in the oven and roast, stirring occasionally, until the onion is cooked and golden, about 30 minutes.

3. While the onion is roasting, wash and drain the broccoli raab, remove the heavy stems, and rougly chop the leaves and sprouts into coarse chiffonade. There should be enough to make about 2 cups. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Heat a large sauté pan and coat it with olive oil. Add the broccoli raab, season with salt, pepper, and the hot pepper flakes, and fry over high heat until the broccoli raab is tender. Add the garlic and fry, tossing, for a few seconds.

4. When the onions are done, take them out of the oven and turn the heat up to 450° to 500°. Put a pizza stone in the oven. Roll out or shape a 12- to 14-inch disk of pizza dough and slide it onto a floured pizza peel or the back of a baking sheet. Lightly brush the dough with olive oil, leaving a 1/2-inch border dry. Evenly sprinkle the cheese on the oiled surface, spread the onions over, and top with the broccoli raab and the olives. Drizzle about 1 tbsp olive oil over the pizza. Slide the pizza onto the preheated stone in the oven and bake from 5 to 10 minutes, until the crust is brown and crisp. Remove the pizza from the oven, sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice over it, slice, and serve.

RAPINI (OR BROCCOLINI) WITH THEME & THREE VARIATIONS

adapted from Cook’s Illustrated BASIC BLANCHED RAPINI (BROCCOLI RAAB)

1 pound Rapini (broccoli rabe), washed, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 teaspoons Salt

1. Bring 3 quarts water to boil in large saucepan. Stir in rapini greens and salt and cook until wilted and tender, about 2 1/2 minutes. Drain and set aside.

2. Cool empty saucepan by rinsing under cold running water. Fill cooled saucepan with cold water and submerge greens to stop the cooking process. Drain again; squeeze well to dry (or twirl in a salad spinner) and proceed with one of the following recipes.

Variation 1:
RAPINI WITH GARLIC & RED PEPPER FLAKES
2 T extra virgin Olive Oil
3 medium Garlic Cloves
1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
1 recipe Blanched Rapini Greens (above)

1. Heat oil, garlic and red pepper flakes in medium skillet over medium heat until garlic begins to sizzle, about 3 to 4 minutes. Increase heat to medium high, add blanched rapini greens, and cook, stirring to coat with oil, until heated through, about 1 minute. Season to taste with salt, serve immediately.

Variation 2:
RAPINI WITH SUN DRIED TOMATOES & PINE NUTS

Ingredients for Variation 1, plus
1/4 cup Oil-Packed Sun-dried Tomatoes, cut into thin strips
3 tbsp. Toasted Pine Nuts

1. Follow recipe for Rapini with Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes, adding sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
Add toasted pine nuts to skillet with rapini greens.

Variation 3:
RAPINI WITH ASIAN FLAVORS

Ingredients for Variation 1, plus
1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Toasted Sesame Oil
1 tsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Finely Grated Ginger

1. Mix soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, toasted sesame oil, and sugar in small bowl; set aside. Follow recipe for Rapini with Garlic and Red Pepper Flakes, adding ginger along with garlic and red pepper flakes. Add reserved soy sauce mixture to skillet along with rapini.

EVA COON’S RAPINI/KALE-INI

1 bunch Kale-ini (or rapini)
2 tbsp. Anchovy Paste
Juice and zest of 1 Lemon
4 tbsp. Olive Oil

1. Stir-fry the kale-ini in a hot wok with a little oil until bright green but still crisp.

2. Whisk together rest of ingredients and pour over veggies in wok. Stir to heat dressing slightly and serve.

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Once our Summer Season starts I suspect that we will only have eggs available for subscribers.

And, the only way to get them will be with an Egg Punch Card. The cards are $45 and are good for 10 dozen eggs. You keep track of how many dozen you get, and when you run out of punches you buy a new card.

To make sure that you get eggs when you want them, be sure to email us and let us know when you want to pick them up. Especially if you want to pick them up at a neighborhood drop site or a farmers market. Otherwise I won’t know to bring them or save them for you. shelley@whistlingtrainfarm.com

And yes, we will happily take returned cartons so that we can reuse them. Thank you!

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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Swiss Chard
• Sweet Salad Onions
• Pea Shoots
• Collard Greens
• Green Garlic
• Leaf Fennel

COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Arugula
• Spinach

I meant to write last week, but then we got so busy all I could manage was the list of items. I hope everyone found the Cardoon recipes in the How To Eat It list.

I had so hoped for salad greens last week, but we had them planted in the greenhouse because it was so cold in March and April. But when it turned 95° outside, it was much hotter than that inside. The salad fried. The radishes gave up. So, artificial spring was over, and we turned to the real spring. Luckily we have salad greens and spinach outside that are four weeks old now and nearly ready to harvest. We should have both next week. We got them all cleaned up and hoed a lot of rows, and they’re looking beautiful now.

The hot weather also brought out the dreaded flea beetles, those nasty tiny bugs that quickly shoot holes through anything in the mustard family. Unfortunately, that list includes all the spring favorites like arugula, pepper cress, mizuna, and baby bok choy. We are trying to rescue a few of those, but we will probably have to start over with arugula because it just tastes bitter—a defense response to the sudden attack.

We are really busy now. I apologize if I can’t return phone calls right now. Email is the best for me because I can sit down at the computer after I get the kids to bed (which happens by 10:00 if I’m lucky, since we don’t eat dinner until 9:00). So please, if you need something from me, email it if you can.

More good stuff to come. There are two weeks of the spring season left, and then the summer shares will start. That means broccoli, peas, and lettuce! Yes, Monique, butter lettuce.

>THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Cardoons
• Sweet Salad Onions
• Pea Shoots
• Dandelion Greens
• Fresh Mint
• Swiss Chard
COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Arugula
• Spinach

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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Pea Shoots
• Sweet Salad Onions
• Purple Mustard Greens
• Kale
• Fresh Mint
• Beets with Greens

COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Mint
• Stinging Nettles

Hard to believe we were just complaining about the cold, wet spring. Now, overnight it’s midsummer. It was 85 here yesterday, supposed to e 90 today, and there’s a flood watch! The river was really high yesterday, I presume because the hot temperatures are melting the above-average snowpack. The beautiful thing is that we are finally planting! Yay!

Every once in a while we get a surprise crop, and they’re especially nice to have in the spring, when we are sometimes short of items. The Salad Onions are one of those surprises. They are “Walla Walla Sweet” onions that regrew after harvesting last year, and you can use them raw or cooked, bottoms and tops both. They’ll hold us over until the green onions are ready in a few weeks.

I know a lot of people are at a loss when it comes to mint. But, let me tell you, I’ve been experimenting over the years. One of my favorite “farmers market leftover” meals used pea shoots, mint, fresh goat cheese (chevre) and pasta. Here’s what I did: I trimmed the ends off of the pea shoots at the rubber band, blanched them in boiling salted water until bright, and then drained them. I cooked some pasta (we use a package at a meal, I think it’s about 12 ounces), and while it was cooking I mooshed up the chevre with a little milk or hot water from the pot until it was creamy. Then I chopped the mint and tossed it in, roughly chopped the pea shoots and tossed them in with the chevre and mixed them together. When the pasta was done I drained it and mixed it all up with a bit of salt and pepper. Voila! The kids and Mike loved it, and it only took about 15 minutes. The pea shoots and mint complemented each other nicely.

Mint also goes well with beets. I made another pasta salad with roasted or boiled beets, chopped up cooked beet greens, a little chopped sweet onion and chopped mint. I have put raisins in it before too, and a touch of salt and pepper. It’s tasty too.

Don’t be afraid to experiment. Just add a leaf here and there to find out what goes together. I once told Chris Keff (the owner/chef of Flying Fish) that I wasn’t a chef or anything, I just tried to make food that tasted good, and she told me that that’s all that a chef does. It doesn’t matter if it’s fancy and complicated, if it doesn’t taste good and no-one eats it, then it’s not worth anything.

>THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Leeks
• Swiss Chard
• Kale
• Baby Purple Bok Choi
• Pea Shoots
• “Zlata” Radishes

COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Mint
• Stinging Nettles

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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Collard Greens
• Chives
• Sorrel
• Kale or Cabbage Rapini
• Pea Shoots
• “White Icicle” Radishes

COMING SOON
• Salad Greens
• Mint
• Stinging Nettles

After what has seemed like an eternal winter, we feel like we’re experiencing spring. Mike and I were able to get a lot of ground worked up last week, and Sunday we planted all day–peas, fava beans, salad greens, spinach, arugula, etc. All the things that are safe to plant now. What a relief. With all those seeds safe in the ground, we hoped for rain, and got it Monday. It was almost as if we planned it.

And, as crazy as it feels (because our chronological clocks are still back in March, with the weather) we are starting farmers markets this week. Wednesday is opening day for Columbia City, and we return to West Seattle on Sunday. We don’t have much to sell, but we will be there consistently now, rain or shine, or snow.

I wanted to add a few notes about meats and milk. Our friends the Sillimans have been working hard all winter on building a microdairy and have obtained their Grade A Dairy license, and all the permits necessary to legally sell raw milk. We will have it available for all of our CSA members to pick up at the farm, in the farm stand fridge. They are charging $10 per gallon, plus a $3 jar refundable jar deposit. This luscious raw milk is from their grass-based Jersey mini-dairy. The cream is golden, and the milk is sweet. I highly recommend it. There is a sign-up list on the fridge, and once sales get going, Tom and Darlene will need to know how many gallons to bring each week, so please feel free to sign up. If you’re not signed up, please check with us before taking a gallon, so we have enough for everyone.

We are currently taking orders for purebred Berkshire PORK that will be ready in August. We have four halves remaining for purchase. Please ask for details if you’re interested. We also have three sides of honest-to-goodness, natural VEAL available. Our big cow makes SO much milk, that she can feed two calves, plus give us 2 gallons of milk every day, so she gets to feed extras. We get the Jersey bull calves from an organic dairy in Enumclaw, and convince big Skunky to feed them as her own until they get too pushy to have around. They get all the milk they want from her, and whatever grass or other plants they feel like nibbling on throughout the day. Can’t get much more natural than that. No dark boxes for confinement, no antibiotics. Lots of sunshine and mama attention–a much better life than they’d otherwise have, even if it’s a short one.

We had to put an old sow down a few weeks ago because her arthritis was making her very uncomfortable, and we chose to make a big batch of SAUSAGE. We have Sweet Italian and Bratwurst links available at the farm, vacuum packed and frozen.

And, finally, we are still taking orders for juicy fryer/roaster CHICKENS. We will be butchering every week, starting the first week of June. Some dates are filling up, but many are still available. Pick up an order form in the farm stand, or email me for a pdf.

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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Beets with Tasty Greens
• Collard Green Rapini
• Purple Mustard Greens
• Green Garlic
• Turnip Rapini
• Swiss Chard
• Collard Greens

COMING SOON
• Radishes
• Salad Greens
• Mint
• Pea Shoots
• Stinging Nettles

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THIS WEEK’S SUBSCRIBER MENU:
Clockwise from Left:
• Salad Kale
• Chives
• Radicchio
• Cabbage Rapini
• Turnip Rapini
• Sorrel
• Lofty Cabbage

COMING SOON
• Swiss Chard
• Mint
• Pea Shoots