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What's happening on the farm right now:
The edition was written by our apprentice, Theo Gould.
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With the change in weather, flower season is rapidly coming to a close. The flowers curl up and die when the frost comes. Monday morning was our first light frost, and while there are still some flowers in the field, most are finished. Working with flowers has been an absolute joy for me this season, and so I thought today I would honor the flowers and write about them.
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What right have you, whimsical and odd creations, to spark such joy? I ponder this as I cut you stem by stem, as I strip each leaf and plonk you in a bucket.
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I find a particular beauty—a purple dahlia with pink edges— and demand everyone around me stop what they are doing to witness what I am holding. “Look at this!” I say. “Look!” I repeat this seven to eight times a harvest. It never grows old.
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Sitting among the gomphrena I hear it— the rapid beating of hummingbird wings. My eyes dart to find the source: there are two dancing between the tithonia. Do the hummingbirds marvel at the beauty as well? Do the countless bees that buzz and bumble among the buds? The flowers provide and provide.
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After harvest we make bouquets. I add spikes and greenery. I turn the bundle this way and that to make sure it is balanced. When I am finished, I smile. I think, “someone is going to love this so much,” and I feel immense gratitude at having had a part in making someone else’s life more beautiful, if only for a moment.
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Loving flowers, buying them and putting them in vases in our homes, is to watch something die. We trim their ends and freshen their water, but regardless, they wither and fade and then we return them to the earth. Knowing this, we indulge anyways. What a glorious reminder of ephemerality. All we love will one day end. That doesn’t mean it isn’t wonderful while it lasts.
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The vegetables feed our body, but the flowers feed our spirit.
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View from the gomphrena patch
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What's available in the store and at market this week?
The brassicas are rapidly becoming the last ones standing in our fields. The kales, collards, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower all enjoyed those two cold nights we had over the week end. They are the sweeter for it. The basil, though, is done. Most of the flowers are done and, alas, the tomatoes are done. We still have delicious sweet and hot peppers and a smidge of eggplant. Romaine is back, along with green oak, red leaf and red butter. Lettuce mix. Onions and potatoes. Butternut, honeynut, red and green kabochas, acorn, delicata, jester and tetsukaboto winter squash. Cilantro and parsley. And new this week we have some lovely little white Japanese turnips and, for next week, radishes on the way.
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North Asheville Tailgate Market hours are
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Saturdays 8am-12pm on the campus of UNC Asheville.
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River Arts District Farmers Market hours are
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Wednesdays 3-6pm at the Smoky Park Supper Club, 350 Riverside Drive.
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John's Recipe of the Week
| John Loyd is our dear friend, neighbor, CSA worker member and a gourmet Southern cook. His delightful observations on gardening and cooking appear here each week. |
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” Oscar Wilde
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We really like slaw, both Carolina Red and the mayo variety. Here is a recipe Dan Hentley uses at his South Carolina home, sometimes with barbecue and sometimes not.
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RED SLAW – You might consider putting the cayenne and hot sauce in last so as to come up with a heat you like.
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1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
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¼ cup tomato-based barbecue sauce. He likes Sweet Baby Ray’s.
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1 or more tsp. hot sauce. We like Frank’s.
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Core and cut the cabbage into matchsticks or chop in your processor to a size you like. Place in a large bowl. Combine everything else in a small bowl. Pour over the cabbage and mix well and chill for an hour before serving.
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GRILLED CAULIFLOWER – You can also broil If you choose. Serves 4 to 6. This recipe has a topping for the cauliflower, but it can just be brushed with olive oil, herbed as you like and grilled.
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2 large heads of cauliflower – plan on 2 or 3 steaks per cauliflower
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2 lemons, zested and juiced
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2 cloves garlic, finely minced
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Toppings can be chopped parsley and toasted walnuts
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Remove the leaves and cut the stem off the bottom to make a flat base. Stand on the flat side and cut away the sides, then cut thick steaks.
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In a bowl mix together the rest of the ingredients.
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Brush one side each with the lemon oil mixture and season with salt on both sides. Place the steaks salted side down on the grill, cover and let cook for 5 or 6 minutes until the bottom is beginning to char. Flip over, recover the grill, and cook for about 5 more minutes, until the cauliflower is tender. Brush some of the lemon oil mix on if you like. Sprinkle with the toppings and more salt as needed.
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I thought I had missed my favorite fall seed pods, so I was happy to find this little patch of wild clematis in a downtown parking lot still blooming away.
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Your farmers, Vanessa and Alex
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Love the flowers. Honor the vegetables. Let the weeds go!
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- Cheri Huber and Ashwini Narayanan
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