Friday marked a seasonal milestone, gorgeous weather and all. Our youngest chickens, the ones who arrived here last September when they were barely a day old, have graduated from the brooding house and are now scratching, pecking and clucking around out in the field. David, Kelly and Mark were tasked with catching and moving all 250 birds, and I just heard that they found five tiny pullet eggs in their nest boxes today. So, it sounds like we got them settled into their new digs just in the nick of time. Phew! You’re still welcome to walk out and visit the chickens if you’d like, but you’ll want to bundle up, wear shoes that can get muddy and mind the active electric fence that surrounds their yard when you do.

In February, leafy things are precious in few. Seeing a crop through from seed to harvest takes extra work, extra time, and a bit of sheer luck. We had two of those things this year, depending on how you look at it. There’s a good-sized little Turnip at the end of those tufts of green, but unfortunately, the roots split and went soft with the infamous January deep freeze. Though the roots are toast, they provided just enough sustenance to keep their beautiful greens alive though—and now Kelly and David are keeping the dream alive this week, carefully harvesting what survived of these rotations of mixed greens in our tunnels. There’s a little bit of Bok Choy to go with the Turnip Greens, along with a bit of Mustard and a little Spinach too. Just enough for you to wilt or blanch for a little side dish like this Goma-ae, to flavor a soup, chop or sauté.

Over the years, as we have leaned into Winter growing, Mark and I have made a good intentioned but lofty (maybe unreasonable) goal to grow “something green” to offer the CSA, even in the coldest weeks. Sometimes that something green is purple, and sometimes that green is maroon or pink. We may not be sentimental creatures, but Mark and I really love it when the chicory harvest aligns with Valentine’s Day. Indeed, the crew harvested them today, but heartbreakingly, it looks like less than a quarter of our Winter Chicories survived the January deep freeze and there’s not enough to cover the shares. (Ugh) But, we’re going to make it work to the best of our abilities. Bitter Chicories, while beautiful, are not everyone’s favorite flavor-wise. (If they were, we’d grow enough to have them every week). So, we’re going to make the most of what we lack this year and give our CSA a choice of Cabbage or Chicories this week. We will see if a bit more braising is available tomorrow as well.