We’re noticing the longer days of sun as we’re starting to see substantial growth again on our winter crops! This season of preparation for warmer weather harvests will go flying by, with tender fruits and veggies returning in no time. For now, we’re enjoying the view of the mountains covered in snow, watching the baby greens come in, while the high tunnel of collards stays warm and humid all day. This year’s upcoming irrigation install project should eliminate the joy we’re having hand watering the high tunnel full of high clay content soil after some pipes have split. Excited over this extra sun, I’ve planted new seed this week! We’re testing a patch in the high tunnel of snow pea seed from last year to see how our germination rate looks, before we set out a larger patch in the next few weeks. Fingers crossed, we’ll be eating either pea shoots in just a few weeks, or we’ll be harvesting peas April and May. Now that we’re back over that ~10 hour of sunlight in a day mark in the year, we can start direct sowing cool crops again like radish, arugula, and pak choi, as long as we keep them covered up to insulate them against the frost.

Produce shares

Purple, red, or Covington orange sweet potatoes

Rutabagas / Beets / Turnips / Carrots

Fuji, Black Arkansas, or Granny Smith Apples / Bronze fennel or basil

Collards, Kale or Swiss chard / Lettuce / Alfalfa sprouts

Bakery shares

potato bread sandwich loaf with sesame seed

roasted chickpeas with fajita seasoning

blueberry scones / apple pie cupcakes

semolina spaghetti noodles

2x pizza kit with dough, sauce, and cheese.

High tunnel collard greens coming on strong!

See our southern sour greens recipe below.

Meal Planning Suggestions

Dinner1 : Sirloin cap roast with stewed sour collard greens & sweet potatoes

Traditional meat and potatoes! Trim and dry brine your sirloin cap, aka culotte, with a salt/pepper/herb rub, uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. Set out 2 hours before cooking to start to bring up to room temp. Set the oven to 275F. Tie the roast so any thinner sides don’t dry out while the center fully cooks. Set it up on a rack over a drip pan in the oven, temp to 115F. Heat a heavy bottomed skillet, iron preferred. Melt butter, add aromatics garlic/onion/herbs. Sear off the outside of the tied roast, and bring to 120F, let rest to 125F for med-rare. We cook the whole roast to slice thin and minimize our portions for a meal, allowing for easy reheat by pan frying the thin slices. These leftovers never make it as far as we intend! The thin slices are great for lunch sandwiches, or chopped up for pizza topping.

Stewed sour greens: These can of course be prepared vegetarian or not. Our recipe usually has a few slices of bacon, or a chunk of ham, to get the base started. If you don’t have the meat to start, heat 1 Tbsp bacon grease or veggie oil in a deep pot, add aromatics onion/garlic and diced apples, deglaze with a splash of lager/stock/water. Add chopped collard greens, enough water or stock to cover, and season to taste with salt, molasses, hot sauce or chili flakes for heat, liquid smoke/Worcestershire. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover. Wait till the greens are tender after ~30 minutes, and add vinegar to taste.

Good news on those sweet potatoes—we even skip the aluminum foil. Preheat 375F. Rinse clean, poke a few holes, place in a lidded oven safe pot. Check for doneness around an hour—finish interior temp 200F, but you’ll be able to tell when they’re soft. Time will vary on size. Cut open and finish with a drizzle of oil and salt in and out, un-lidded, for the final 15 minutes of cooking.

Dinner 2: Home made pizza with kale, onion, feta, capers, smoked trout, fennel

Proof the frozen dough ball minimum 24 hours in the refrigerator. Use a stovetop smoker with your hood on high to quickly smoke-flavor your fish, or you can do this on a grill outside. No indoor smoker? Consider this set up the same as a steamer basket, and put your wood chips in foil in a lidded pot. It doesn’t take long to infuse the flavor for a “cold smoke”; you don’t need to preserve or even cook the fish here. Tear the kale by hand, removing any tough stems. Add salt and quickly “massage” to tenderize. Brown garlic in olive oil to infuse it with garlic flavor. Preheat oven to 450F. Stretch the pizza dough with a rolling pin and/or the backs of your hands, on a floured (we use semolina) or cornmealed surface. Transfer stretched dough to an iron skillet, cookie sheet, pizza screen, or pizza stone. Brush the dough with the garlic infused olive oil. Layer: Kale, mozzarella, onion, capers, trout, feta, and more mozzarella to hold it all together. Bake ~20 minutes, using top and bottom heating elements to brown the top and crisp the bottom. Let it cool before slicing, and finish with fresh fennel. Serve with side salad with roasted beets & lettuce.

Lunch: Leftover pizza!

Breakfast: Roasted sweet potatoes & scrambled eggs.

And obviously those blueberry scones, warmed, with coffee.

Happy eating! Elise, Jamie & the crew at River Creek Farm