Seasons

This a turning point in the farm's seasons.

For some people, the upcoming solstice--official beginning of summer--is The Day. For me, it is the harvest day when I realize that the lettuce is at its end. Of 7 varieties, only two were harvestable for market today. I may graze off the others a bit this week, but the stalks are bolting into great ruffly towers, and the flavor is becoming more and more bitter. Spinach, too, is bolting--I wish I'd harvested more last week, but as it was I didn't sell it all.

At market this morning, I told customers "It will hold better in your fridge than it will in the field." I urged them to stock up, at least a little.

At the same time, other crops are coming into their own.Over the past week or two, I've picked snow peas from the few plants that survived the "Easter Freeze"--not enough for market, but a bounty for personal use and to share with friends. I rummaged out a few new potatoes from the plants that sprang up from last year's lost tubers. The broccoli that survived the freeze yielded a few small heads. The remaining green onions are all progressing into nice-sized, pungent bulbs which I'm keeping for home use. The garlic that regrew from bulbs the tenants didn't get dug was ready to harvest, so I did. The carrots that survived the freeze--esp. a beautiful red-skinned variety named Purple Dragon, if I remember right--are sizing up.

All that added up to a pasta salad, with a few raisins, dried cranberries and pecans thrown in, and some cooked chicken breast. Instead of mayonnaise, I use plain yoghurt as a dressing: low-fat, and blends well without overwhelming the various flavors of the fresh veggies.

No other seasoning is really needed.