rhubarb

When I think of rhubarb season, the same scene always comes to mind: I’m nine or ten years old walking barefoot through the dewy grass with my mom out to her rhubarb patch early on a Saturday morning. She lifts back the giant leaves and cuts the perfect stems – not too green, not too pink, not too long, not too short. Each stalk is then stacked across my outstretched arms like tiny cordwood.

In the summer, we see local vegetables everywhere: at the grocery store, in a backyard garden, the farmers' market, or our CSA (community supported agriculture) box.  Sometimes there are so many vegetables, it's overwhelming to find uses for them all. (How do I prepare kohrabi? Can I eat carrot tops? Is there anything I can do with all this zucchini?) Plus, if you're like me, you have the additional challenge of living without air conditioning; so people like us want to avoid cooking and baking as much as possible. This video shows me demonstrating a few recipes for the less familiar veggies, prepared using little to no heat -- including carrot-top pesto. (No need to ever throw them into the compost again!) Enjoy!

I admonished myself last summer, as I canned tomatoes for days at a time, that I would certainly not need this many tomatoes! Well, I realize now that I was just tired of canning. This week, as I find myself heading down to the pantry, staring at shelves that used to be well-stocked, but are now almost empty, I'm reminded that, at these latitudes, March is the hardest month to eat local.

Yes, there are still plenty of root vegetables available. But who isn't tired of potatoes, parsnips, celeriac and beets by now? As for everything else, it's just too early. Last week, there was still snow in my yard, and nothing but mold, as far as I know, grows in the snow.

This is an excerpt of an article I wrote for Live Green Twin Cities. To read the entire article, click here.

The waiting is finally over. On my way home from work tonight, I'll be picking up my CSA box from Harmony Valley Farm. Here's what I'm expecting to pick up (direct from Harmony Valley's "What's In The Box" email newsletter):