Spring Color

For many people, the stars of the garden are of course the flashy tomatoes, rambling cucumbers, towering okra, and dazzling spectrum of flowers, but you don't have to wait until June for color and taste to come pouring out of your soil. 

Greens are often maligned as boring and bland, perhaps because many people have only ever encountered them out of a can, which is no way to meet any vegetable. The traditional method of cooking a mess of greens is to boil them for hours with pork fat. While sopping up potlickins with homemade cornbread is indeed delightful, greens are very versatile and can be used in a multitude of dishes.

Turnip greens, mustard greens, cabbage, and kale are the most commonly encountered greens in the grocery store. Kale has recently been enjoying celebrity status in foodie culture—with good reason. High in vitamins and minerals, kale and the other greens can be an important part of maintaining good health through healthy eating habits.

Swiss chard, closely related to and resembling beet greens, has also been featured in many cooking shows and blogs. The large glossy leaves are tender with a mild flavor. Use them raw in place of a tortilla in chicken or egg salad wraps. Chard stalks come in a stunning array of florescent colors. I finely chop the tender stalks to sprinkle over my deviled eggs or salad like edible confetti. 

Add a nutritional punch to almost any savory dish by throwing in some chopped greens. From scrambled eggs, quiche, and fritatta, to chicken, egg, and potato salad, soups, and stir fry, there is little for dinner or lunch that can't be improved by adding greens. 

Mild greens can be shredded or julienned and added raw. More pungent greens can be used in small amounts or cooked lightly to mellow their flavor. A big mess of mixed greens cooked for 15 minutes in just a little water and coconut oil, dressed with cider vinegar and a drizzle of honey, seasoned with salt and pepper, is a fine addition to rice and beans for an easy and nutritious simple meal.

Add sensational diversity to your bowl of lettuce and elevate the salad to a work of culinary art. Combine curly, frilly leaves that hold a dressing well with leaves that have a big crunchy stalk. Throw in speckled leaves, purple leaves, dark green spinach and the blanched chartreuse inner leaves of a head of romaine lettuce, and you'll forget that you're even working with “greens”. Top off the salad with slices of a white and pink 'Chioggia' beet and a 'Purple Dragon' carrot, and you'll have a creation worthy of the finest dining establishments.

Cold hardy and easy to grow, greens will heartily welcome spring to your garden and can even be grown in pots on a sunny porch. The kale and arugula I planted last week germinated in less than 24 hours! Sprinkle seeds over soil you've prepare for a seed bed and cover lightly with soil. We use lightweight row cover directly on the soil to speed germination. The plants will push up the row cover as they grow, and it will afford some protection from pests.

About the time the summer bugs start having their heyday with your greens, the cucumbers, squash, and tomatoes will be gearing up. Chard and kale left in the ground through the summer will rebound when fall's cool-off begins, so you can get two harvest seasons from one planting.

Wild Garden Seed is a small seed company that improves and develops varieties for direct-to-consumer growers, which includes home gardens. Their lettuce varieties 'Joker' and 'Freedom Mix' are the most stunning lettuces I have encountered. From 'Purple Peacock Sprouting Broccoli' to 'Scarlet Ohno' turnip, the color and taste of their varieties are superior to anything you've ever bought from the grocery store. A few of their varieties are offered through FedCo Seed Company, as well.

The world of greens is vastly more expansive than the shelves of Food Lion or Wal-Mart would lead you to believe. Grown without toxic sprays, harvested fresh, and prepared lovingly, these leaves can support good health while providing beauty to be appreciated around the table with family and friends.

Cusp of Spring

These teases of warm weather have gardeners and bees alike yearning for spring. It's a good time to reflect on the importance of the present moment. In a few weeks, we'll all be busy bees with too much to do to waste time wanting for what is not. Anyway, the daffodils, still hiding their cheerful yellow faces, are letting us know in no uncertain terms that spring will be later than it was last year.

This is actually a Snowberry Clearwing Moth

While the bees brave this cool weather to forage on blushing red maple buds and tiny purple henbit flowers, gardeners and farmers are powerless against the urge to awaken tender plants from their slumber, nestled inside lifeless-looking seeds. 

Some need soaking, some require scoring; others can just be scattered on the soil surface and lightly misted. Some will burst through the testa (seed coat) after only a day, whereas others will dally for weeks—which seems endless.

damping off from 'State by State Gardening'

Once the tiny plants start their journey toward the sun, they need tender, loving care. In a greenhouse or on your window sill, they must have bright light or they will be become lanky and weak, to ultimately flop over and shrivel. But don't let them get too warm or you risk the soil getting too hot and scorching their tender roots. The growing medium must retain adequate moisture, but don't over-water, which can cause damping-off, lanky growth, and mildew. 

Seedlings from seeds sown directly in the garden must fend for themselves from the beginning. Some lightweight row cover can help them along, but if you cover with plastic, be sure to remove it on sunny days—even cold sunny days—otherwise the plants will bake. 

Carrots, beets, and other hardy Viridiplantae babies seem to appreciate row cover directly on the soil after sowing. The thin air space between the soil surface and row cover creates a high-humidity buffer that is a little warmer than the air temperature, preventing soil crusting and encouraging strong germination. The plants will push the row cover up as they grow, and the row cover can provide protection from pests looking for a spring feast.

Intrepid growers already have some seed potatoes and onion sets out. Some just couldn't resist seeding a round of root crops and hardy greens, like arugula, lettuce, and kale. Many are chomping at the bit to start tomatoes. I'm holding off for another week or so. I definitely heard thunder in February, which, I've been told, means frost in May. I don't want to end up with giant, leggy tomato plants by the end of April, a situation which contributed to a lack-luster tomato harvest on our farm last year.

If you haven't turned your soil yet, or even bought your seeds, fret not. You have ample time.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is an independent seed company offering many unique varieties specifically suited to growing in the humid heat of Southern summers. 'Louisiana Purple Pod' pole beans are a favorite of mine—productive whether it's hot and dry or comparatively cool and wet, always a stunning purple with great crunch and sweet taste. This variety is also open-pollinated, so it's easy to save your own seeds. Just let some pods dry on the vine, harvest, clean, and store in a cool, dark, dry place.

FedCo is another fantastic source for GM-free seed. With low prices and a staggering inventory, they offer something for everyone. As a cooperative, they offer seeds from many independent producers, constantly working to improve their varieties and to create new varieties specifically for the home garden and direct-to-consumer growers. A huge proportion of our yearly seed order comes from FedCo.

For my tomato-obsessed compatriots, Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company has no comparison. With literally hundreds of open-pollinated and heirloom tomato varieties of every color, shape, and taste to peruse, you'll have a hard time putting down their eye-popping catalog. They also offer a large selection of unique vegetables, collected from around the world. 

The cusp of spring is a time tinged with reflection, yearning, grand optimism, and colorful seed catalogs. Surely, this will be a year with just enough, but not too much rain, no vine borers or imported cabbage worms, immaculate weedless rows, and no trace of early blight.

Week 2 Shares

You'll find the same mix of fresh produce as last week, with the addition of some other goodies, like baby carrots and hardneck garlic scapes.


You can just chop up those greens, heat up some coconut or extra virgin olive oil, and toss everything in a saute pan. Add some grated or finely chopped fresh ginger, soy sauce, and a little black pepper for a simple, fast dish with lots of flavor. Serve with fast-cooking Basmati rice, quinoa, or pearl couscous to round out the meal and have dinner ready in under 30 minutes! (Take that Rachael Ray!)

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 One of my favorite things to do with chard is add it to tomato sauce. Add the chopped greens just a few minutes before serving. It pairs very well with the acidity and tang of the tomatoes.

I use chard and kale ribs in place of celery to add crunch in pretty much everything, from deviled eggs to tuna salad.

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A favorite go-to fast meal here on the farm is to make a giant salad for dinner. I'll top it with a couple boiled eggs, some chopped bacon, and dress it with a sweet lemon dressing. The dressing isn't terribly healthy; lemon juice to sugar at a 1:1 ration with a healthy drizzle of olive oil. But oh my GOODNESS it's delicious... and I figure if you're having salad for dinner, you can afford to splurge on the dressing. My mother taught me that recipe, and her mother taught her.


Part of the fun of CSA and seasonal eating is thoroughly enjoying produce when it's available. We just straight up refuse to buy lettuce in the store (SO inferior), so when it's not in the garden, we don't eat salads. But when the lettuce looks as beautiful as it does now, we eat it for lunch, snacks, and dinner, and sometimes even breakfast.

Soon enough it'll be 100 degrees and tomato season; the lettuce will have bolted and be bitter. Enjoy these beautiful greens while they're here! Experiment, and you never know when you'll taste your new favorite food!

More chard, our beautiful lettuce, and salad dressings

If you haven't dropped by the farmers' market, located in Smithville behind Ace Hardware, this is the perfect weekend to come on down. We've got two vendors selling fresh produce, so you can get the season's first lettuce, cabbage, kale, chard, and spring onions. The early birds got the eggs and fried pies; they go quick. There are all kinds of baked goods, canned goods, handmade soaps and lotions, vegetable and herb plants, fresh and dried herbs, and the best barbecue, hot wings, and smoked meats you've ever put in your mouth. 

Saturday, June 9th we'll really kick off the produce season with a “grand re-opening”, but there's plenty of good stuff to be had right now!

The fresh produce season starts off with a profusion of greens. I've encountered more people than I can count who have been turned off eating greens by a run-in with mushy, bitter greens. I can't emphasize enough that properly prepared greens are never mushy, never tough, and not bitter.

One of the leafy greens that's in season right now is Swiss chard. Swiss chard looks almost identical to beet greens because it's in the same family as beets. Chard leaves are rich in phytonutrients, which provide antioxidants with powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. One cup of cooked chard will supply you with more than your recommended daily allowance of vitamins K and A, in addition to a slough of other vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C, E, and B vitamins, and minerals including calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, fiber, and protein. Believe it or not, that list isn't complete, but it serves to demonstrate what a nutrient-dense food chard is.

Since chard is rich in protein and fiber, it is an excellent addition to your diet if you're managing diabetes. Protein and fiber help regulate the speed at which carbohydrates are converted to simple sugars during the digestive process, which minimizes blood sugar spikes.

Fresh chard isn't tough; you can use both the leaves and the ribs. I am absolutely in love with the bright colored ribs produced by the Bright Lights chard we grow at our farm. The variety of colors of the ribs represents a variety of phytonutrients, so including as many colors on your plate as possible ensures a wide variety of nutritional benefits!

You can use chard raw to dress your green salads, but people with a sensitivity to oxalic acid should eat their chard cooked. Quickly boil the chard, but only for 3 minutes. Pour off the water and season with a touch of salt and pepper and a dash of your favorite vinegar. You can also lightly sauté a bunch of chopped chard in some heated olive or coconut oil and season it the same way. It only needs to be sautéed for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat. The color should still be green when it's done cooking—never, never brown! Sautéed chard is a great side dish served with pork chops, steak, chicken breasts, fish fillets, or tempeh or tofu. 

Chard pairs remarkably well with tomato sauce, so when it's in season, I almost never make spaghetti without chard leaves in the sauce. I chop up the ribs and sauté them with the onions and garlic that start off my spaghetti sauce. About five minutes before the sauce is ready to eat, I throw in the uncooked, chopped chard leaves with a handful of fresh herbs. After just a few minutes of lightly simmering, the leaves are still bright green, and the herbs have infused the sauce. As an aside—did you know that six leaves of oregano have the same antioxidant content as an entire apple?

Another fantastic fresh green available right now is kale. If the only kale you've ever eaten was out of a can or that pre-chopped abomination in the grocery store, I implore you to give it one more try. 

Kale is a nutritional powerhouse. It contains vitamins K, A, and C, manganese, and fiber, in addition to having antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Its nutritional profile also includes high concentrations of carotenoids and flavonoids which have powerful cancer preventative properties.

Any of the recipes listed above for chard work just as well for kale. In fact, kale and chard mixed together make an excellent combination. However, my very favorite way to enjoy kale is by eating an entire cookie sheet worth of baked kale chips.

Baking kale chips is the ultimate route to winning over new kale eaters. No kidding, it's as easy as this: Lightly toss the washed and dried leaves with a little olive oil. They shouldn't be drenched, just lightly dressed. Arrange the leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet and season with a very small amount of sea salt and pepper; add some garlic powder if you're into that. If you're feeling fancy, sprinkle on a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 7-12 minutes, depending on your oven. You want the leaves crispy and dried but only barely browned. Before trying it, you can't conceive of how delicious this easy recipe really is.

Fresh salads are another delight of the spring season. Lettuce can shake off a light frost, and some varieties will hold out through some hot weather, but by the time the tomatoes are rolling in, the lettuce will be gone. Iceburg lettuce is popular and familiar, but the world of lettuce is vastly more exciting and aesthetically pleasing than those ubiquitous light green heads. You can grow varieties that are lime green with splashy red speckles, some with frilly, curled leaves, heads that grow a foot and a half tall, intense red frilly leaves, loose-head buttercrunch varieties with soft red speckles, iceburg style heads with pink speckles; the list goes on and on and on.

We've all tried the usual ranch, honey mustard, and French style dressings, but you shouldn't limit yourself to such a finite palate. Fresh dressings are infinitely variable and extremely easy to make. I usually make them in a canning jar so I can put a lid on and shake to emulsify (combine) the ingredients and store the leftover dressing in the fridge. 

Here are a few of our farm's favorite dressings:

For a simple vinaigrette dressing use a 1 to 3 ratio of vinegar to oil. Combine red wine, balsamic, or white wine vinegar with extra virgin olive oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper and maybe some dried herbs. Shake until emulsified and eat up! You can add freshly chopped garlic or garlic powder, use freshly chopped herbs instead of dried herbs, or try out grapeseed or sunflower oil instead of olive oil. You can't mess it up, so just experiment until you find a flavor combination that knocks your socks off. This style of simple vinaigrette goes great with a salad that's dressed up with feta cheese, green onions, and chopped kalamata or black olives.

To give your salad a more gourmet, exotic twist, try a ginger, peanut butter dressing. I know this combination of ingredients will sound a little strange, but I absolutely guarantee it'll blow you away. Combine about a tablespoon of peanut butter (the creamy, natural kind works best, but I've been known to make this with the regular crunchy kind, too), a teaspoon of soy sauce or Bragg's amino acids, a plop of honey, a half inch chunk of fresh ginger, grated, a dash of black pepper, a couple tablespoons of white wine or apple cider vinegar, and about a ¼ cup of olive oil. Shake, shake, shake until all the ingredients have combined, and give it a taste. Depending on your palate, you might want a little more tang, so add some more vinegar, or maybe a little sweeter, so add some more honey. I usually end up adding twice as much ginger because I just can't get enough of it. The recipe is just a guideline; play with it to suit your taste. We love this dressing so much, sometimes I'll make an enormous salad just as an excuse to make this dressing.

Since you've got ginger leftover from trying the peanut butter dressing, the next night you can try out a lemonade ginger dressing. Combine equal parts sugar and lemon juice, add as much freshly grated ginger as you want, a dash of salt to bring out the flavor, and top off with extra virgin olive oil at the same 1 to 3 ratio, using the lemon juice instead of vinegar. This sweet and tangy dressing pairs phenomenally well with a salad that's jazzed up with some chopped fruit, like apples, strawberries, or peaches.

Just because most of the fresh produce right now is green doesn't mean it has to be boring or bland. Part of the joy of seasonal eating is enjoying the changing palate throughout the year and becoming a more robust and creative cook. Experimentation is fun. There's literally no end to the number of dishes you can create utilizing fresh greens!

Some delights of spring: chard, kale, and lettuce

If you haven't dropped by the farmers' market, located in Smithville behind Ace Hardware, this is the perfect weekend to come on down. We've got two vendors selling fresh produce, so you can get the season's first lettuce, cabbage, kale, chard, and spring onions. The early birds got the eggs and fried pies; they go quick. There are all kinds of baked goods, canned goods, handmade soaps and lotions, vegetable and herb plants, fresh and dried herbs, and the best barbecue, hot wings, and smoked meats you've ever put in your mouth.

Saturday, June 9th we'll really kick off the produce season with a “grand re-opening”, but there's plenty of good stuff to be had right now!

The fresh produce season starts off with a profusion of greens. I've encountered more people than I can count who have been turned off eating greens by a run-in with mushy, bitter greens. I can't emphasize enough that properly prepared greens are never mushy, never tough, and not bitter.

One of the leafy greens that's in season right now is Swiss chard. Swiss chard looks almost identical to beet greens because it's in the same family as beets. Chard leaves are rich in phytonutrients, which provide antioxidants with powerful anti-inflammatory benefits. One cup of cooked chard will supply you with more than your recommended daily allowance of vitamins K and A, in addition to a slough of other vitamins and minerals, including vitamins C, E, and B vitamins, and minerals including calcium, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, fiber, and protein. Believe it or not, that list isn't complete, but it serves to demonstrate what a nutrient-dense food chard is.

Since chard is rich in protein and fiber, it is an excellent addition to your diet if you're managing diabetes. Protein and fiber help regulate the speed at which carbohydrates are converted to simple sugars during the digestive process, which minimizes blood sugar spikes.

Fresh chard isn't tough; you can use both the leaves and the ribs. I am absolutely in love with the bright colored ribs produced by the Bright Lights chard we grow at our farm. The variety of colors of the ribs represents a variety of phytonutrients, so including as many colors on your plate as possible ensures a wide variety of nutritional benefits!

You can use chard raw to dress your green salads, but people with a sensitivity to oxalic acid should eat their chard cooked. Quickly boil the chard, but only for 3 minutes. Pour off the water and season with a touch of salt and pepper and a dash of your favorite vinegar. You can also lightly sauté a bunch of chopped chard in some heated olive or coconut oil and season it the same way. It only needs to be sautéed for 5-7 minutes over medium-high heat. The color should still be green when it's done cooking—never, never brown! Sautéed chard is a great side dish served with pork chops, steak, chicken breasts, fish fillets, or tempeh or tofu. 

Chard pairs remarkably well with tomato sauce, so when it's in season, I almost never make spaghetti without chard leaves in the sauce. I chop up the ribs and sauté them with the onions and garlic that start off my spaghetti sauce. About five minutes before the sauce is ready to eat, I throw in the uncooked, chopped chard leaves with a handful of fresh herbs. After just a few minutes of lightly simmering, the leaves are still bright green, and the herbs have infused the sauce. As an aside—did you know that six leaves of oregano have the same antioxidant content as an entire apple?

Another fantastic fresh green available right now is kale. If the only kale you've ever eaten was out of a can or that pre-chopped abomination in the grocery store, I implore you to give it one more try. 

Kale is a nutritional powerhouse. It contains vitamins K, A, and C, manganese, and fiber, in addition to having antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. Its nutritional profile also includes high concentrations of carotenoids and flavonoids which have powerful cancer preventative properties.

Any of the recipes listed above for chard work just as well for kale. In fact, kale and chard mixed together make an excellent combination. However, my very favorite way to enjoy kale is by eating an entire cookie sheet worth of baked kale chips.

Baking kale chips is the ultimate route to winning over new kale eaters. No kidding, it's as easy as this: Lightly toss the washed and dried leaves with a little olive oil. They shouldn't be drenched, just lightly dressed. Arrange the leaves in a single layer on a cookie sheet and season with a very small amount of sea salt and pepper; add some garlic powder if you're into that. If you're feeling fancy, sprinkle on a little freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake in a preheated 350º oven for 7-12 minutes, depending on your oven. You want the leaves crispy and dried but only barely browned. Before trying it, you can't conceive of how delicious this easy recipe really is.

Fresh salads are another delight of the spring season. Lettuce can shake off a light frost, and some varieties will hold out through some hot weather, but by the time the tomatoes are rolling in, the lettuce will be gone. Iceburg lettuce is popular and familiar, but the world of lettuce is vastly more exciting and aesthetically pleasing than those ubiquitous light green heads. You can grow varieties that are lime green with splashy red speckles, some with frilly, curled leaves, heads that grow a foot and a half tall, intense red frilly leaves, loose-head buttercrunch varieties with soft red speckles, iceburg style heads with pink speckles; the list goes on and on and on.

We've all tried the usual ranch, honey mustard, and French style dressings, but you shouldn't limit yourself to such a finite palate. Fresh dressings are infinitely variable and extremely easy to make. I usually make them in a canning jar so I can put a lid on and shake to emulsify (combine) the ingredients and store the leftover dressing in the fridge. 

Here are a few of our farm's favorite dressings:

For a simple vinaigrette dressing use a 1 to 3 ratio of vinegar to oil. Combine red wine, balsamic, or white wine vinegar with extra virgin olive oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper and maybe some dried herbs. Shake until emulsified and eat up! You can add freshly chopped garlic or garlic powder, use freshly chopped herbs instead of dried herbs, or try out grapeseed or sunflower oil instead of olive oil. You can't mess it up, so just experiment until you find a flavor combination that knocks your socks off. This style of simple vinaigrette goes great with a salad that's dressed up with feta cheese, green onions, and chopped kalamata or black olives.

To give your salad a more gourmet, exotic twist, try a ginger, peanut butter dressing. I know this combination of ingredients will sound a little strange, but I absolutely guarantee it'll blow you away. Combine about a tablespoon of peanut butter (the creamy, natural kind works best, but I've been known to make this with the regular crunchy kind, too), a teaspoon of soy sauce or Bragg's amino acids, a plop of honey, a half inch chunk of fresh ginger, grated, a dash of black pepper, a couple tablespoons of white wine or apple cider vinegar, and about a ¼ cup of olive oil. Shake, shake, shake until all the ingredients have combined, and give it a taste. Depending on your palate, you might want a little more tang, so add some more vinegar, or maybe a little sweeter, so add some more honey. I usually end up adding twice as much ginger because I just can't get enough of it. The recipe is just a guideline; play with it to suit your taste. We love this dressing so much, sometimes I'll make an enormous salad just as an excuse to make this dressing.

Since you've got ginger leftover from trying the peanut butter dressing, the next night you can try out a lemonade ginger dressing. Combine equal parts sugar and lemon juice, add as much freshly grated ginger as you want, a dash of salt to bring out the flavor, and top off with extra virgin olive oil at the same 1 to 3 ratio, using the lemon juice instead of vinegar. This sweet and tangy dressing pairs phenomenally well with a salad that's jazzed up with some chopped fruit, like apples, strawberries, or peaches.

Just because most of the fresh produce right now is green doesn't mean it has to be boring or bland. Part of the joy of seasonal eating is enjoying the changing palate throughout the year and becoming a more robust and creative cook. Experimentation is fun. There's literally no end to the number of dishes you can create utilizing fresh greens!