Another week of wind, some sun and now rain. Snow on tap for tonight, too. That means another week on the farm in April.
Either way, the plants seem awfully happy in their little nests of soil. With the exception of things that we over-wintered, and have written about extensively, most of the vegetable life on Black Cat Farm now is juvenile — blades of wheat, skinny green wands that signify onions, squat clumps of leaves that soon will transform into bushes dense with fava pods.
There is youth, too, in the pleasant houses we build for our sows. Charlotte this week had a litter, and the piglets are happily burrowing beside her and guzzling milk whenever she strikes the dinner bell — that is, when she makes a certain kind of grunting sound.
And now, time for this week’s farmers’ market treats.
- Red Russian kale
- Siberian kale
- Spinach
- Turnip greens
- Swiss chard
- Escarole
- Frisée
- Baby mustard Mix
- Parsnips
- Carrot bunches
- Arugula flower bunches
- Mustard flower bunches
- Chives
- Thyme
- All pork cuts
Don’t these parsnips look scruptious? Parsnips, which have an almost baking-spice kind of flavor, are perfect root vegetables for early spring, when the days swing wildly between soup and stew kinds of afternoons and bright days when all you want is a fresh spinach salad with some radishes, olive oil and lemon. We will have parsnips for a bit this spring, and then again in the fall.
