Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
After a few days in the garage and then a few more days in a sheltered outdoor spot, the red fox carlins have gone in. They'll still need some protection when it gets cold, so I have a fleece on standby.
I wanted to grow Red Fox Carlins because of the story associated with them: "... first recorded during Elizabethan times.[8][7] It has been suggested that the name "Carlin" comes from "Carling Sunday" or "Care Sunday" after the population of Newcastle were saved from starvation in a siege of 1327 or 1644 when a ship arrived from Norway with a cargo of these peas on that day.[9]" (from wikipedia). I love heirloom veggies, and we're growing more than a few heirloom peas this year, along with a few more modern peas like Alderman.
The crimson flowered fava have gone in too, as seeds. The squirrels find them irresistible so a lattice of offcuts from when I made my woven compost bin has been pressed into service.
Pasta - Creamy Gemelli Pasta with Shrimp and Spring Vegetables
This shrimp dish is made with corkscrew-shaped gemelli pasta and is bright green in color and flavor thanks to the addition of basil, zucchini, and fresh English peas.
Green Pea and Mint Soup
With a lot of green peas and fresh mint, this chilly soup is a celebration of spring vegetables. It is incredibly easy to make, and it presents beautifully when eaten.
Creamy Gemelli Pasta with Shrimp and Spring Vegetables
Basil, zucchini, and fresh English peas add brilliant green color and fresh taste to this shrimp dish made with corkscrew-shaped gemelli pasta.
I have a very short spring, especially this year. Usually I get my summer corn out in the beds in late February and harvest by late May. This year was an odd one. We froze all the way out into March and it was heavy freezes, too. Very bizarre for my part of the world, and I ended up getting my spring veggies in really late.
It’s now almost June and it is usually way too hot to be growing…
Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared
The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!
I have a very short spring, especially this year. Usually I get my summer corn out in the beds in late February and harvest by late May. This year was an odd one. We froze all the way out into March and it was heavy freezes, too. Very bizarre for my part of the world, and I ended up getting my spring veggies in really late.
It’s now almost June and it is usually way too hot to be growing…
The much-anticipated arrival of asparagus heralds the beginning of the growing season for farmers in New York State, as it is one of the first vegetables to appear in springtime. When soil temperatures reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the first tender green asparagus shoots will begin to push upwards and break through the thawed earth.
However, its appearance at farmers markets is short-lived as asparagus season only lasts from early May to late June. Blink and you miss it! This labile vegetable is ideally harvested when its stalks are between six to ten inches tall and about the diameter of one’s index finger. Once they get beyond this height they will start to ‘fern out’ or flower, which immediately turns the stems woody and fibrous. We’ve all experienced that one tough piece of asparagus, and it can be a rather unpleasant gastronomic encounter.
Asparagus is a perennial crop which means it only needs to be planted once to come back year after year. In fact, a well-cultivated bed can produce for up to twenty years with the right amount of TLC. Farming folklore has it that some asparagus beds have reliably produced spears for over thirty years! Green asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is regarded as the most nutritious of asparagus varieties and is the type that you’ll find at farmers markets here in the Northeast region.
The native range of green asparagus encompasses most of Europe and western temperate Asia. Since its introduction to the United States over four hundred years ago, it has escaped cultivation and can be found growing wild all over the Americas. However, this speared vegetable can be quite elusive to forage for, so your best bet is to grab a bunch or two when it appears at the stalls of your local farmers market. So, get it now before, poof, it’s gone again!
Asparagus does not keep for very long after its harvested, so be sure to consume it within a few days from purchase. Once it has turned mushy or slimy to the touch, it is past its prime and should tossed into the compost. To extend its storage life in your fridge, place the stems up in a glass jar with about an inch of cold water covering the ends and wrap the heads loosely with a produce bag or clingfilm.
My most memorable and delightful asparagus meal transpired just last May on a warm and sunny spring day. I had spent the morning with the New York Unit of the Herb Society of America tending to the Herb Garden at John Jay Homestead in Katonah. After our gardening session, the leader of our group invited my friend and I back to her house for a spontaneous lunch. She snipped lettuce leaves from the window boxes on her deck to make a fresh green salad with and then whipped up this warm Herbed Ricotta, Asparagus, and Phyllo Tart seemingly with little effort and within only a few minutes.
We lingered out back in the midday sunshine while chatting and savoring this al fresco treat. It was truly a meal to remember. As we reached for second helpings of the tart, I was reminded of Marcel Proust’s famous ode to asparagus in Remembrance of Things Past, “Asparagus, tinged with ultramarine and rosy pink which ran from their heads, finely stippled in mauve and azure, through a series of imperceptible changes to their white feet, still stained a little by the soil of their garden-bed: a rainbow-loveliness that was not of this world. I felt that these celestial hues indicated the presence of exquisite creatures who had been pleased to assume vegetable form…”
Bon appétit and be sure to enjoy asparagus season while it lasts!
Click the links below for some more recipe ideas:
Roasted Asparagus with Mushrooms
Stir Fried Asparagus with Garlic and Sesame
Photographs from The special foods of Tokyo. Isao Yabuki. [19--]. “a. Sushi, as it is served for sending out of the shop, b. Sashimi of maguro, suitable for any lunch or dinner, c. Wan, with shirauo and spring vegetables, d. Kabayaki of unagi, served in formal style.” https://newcatalog.library.cornell.edu/catalog/6731626