Where have I been, where have I been?
Planting, of course! Those 6 1/2 acres don’t plant themselves you know. (Actually, they do – with weeds. But that’s another story.)
So what are we planting this year?
All the usual suspects – then some very unusual ones. I love experimenting with new things to see if a) they grow here, b) people like them, and/or c) we like them. So here’s some of the new things we’re experimenting with:
Emmer
I first discovered my love for emmer in Italy. There it’s called farro. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite cookbooks that I bought in Tuscany titled Piano, Piano, Pieno (translated, “slowly, slowly, full”).
Farro is an ancient grain said to be one of the first ever cultivated in the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of modern agriculture. It was used by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, but in the last century it fell from fashion in favor of modern, higher-yielding wheat varieties. By the 1960s this grain was all but extinct in Tuscany, cultivated only by a few stubborn growers in the remote mountainous corner of the region called the Garfagnana.
Today farro from the Garfagnana has been awarded an IGP, an Italian designation of protected geographical origin. It is a tender pearled grain similar to rice, with no need to presoak. It has a nutty flavor that I love, and is perfect in soups, salads, risottos and I’m sure other recipes. If only I can find them!
Agretti
Another Italian vegetable, agretti is something I haven’t tried eating yet but I couldn’t find it in stores or farmers markets here, so I decided to grow it. Of its culinary value, Frances Mayes has written that “Spinach is the closest taste, but while agretti has the mineral sharpness of spinach, it tastes livelier, full of the energy of spring.” WOW!
Very tender agretti can be used raw as a component of tossed salads; simply rinse and dry, then break or cut up the tender parts and add to the salad. More usually, the edible stalks are separated from the root, rinsed and blanched for up to ten minutes, then drained, drizzled with oil and lemon juice, and served as a green or warm salad.
Ramps
This is one of my failures. I read about ramps in Bon Appetit and then googled them to discover recipes galore – all of which sounded yummy. Where had I been that I hadn’t had them before now? Well, seems they don’t grow well in California (perhaps this is the only vegetable that doesn’t!) – they grow wild in a wooded, damp site covered in snow. That’s not Two Rock. Sierras anyone? If you want to see what all the fuss is about, read this blog. And if you find some somewhere, let me know!
So what are we planting this year?
All the usual suspects – then some very unusual ones. I love experimenting with new things to see if a) they grow here, b) people like them, and/or c) we like them. So here’s some of the new things we’re experimenting with:
Emmer
I first discovered my love for emmer in Italy. There it’s called farro. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite cookbooks that I bought in Tuscany titled Piano, Piano, Pieno (translated, “slowly, slowly, full”).
Farro is an ancient grain said to be one of the first ever cultivated in the Fertile Crescent, the birthplace of modern agriculture. It was used by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans, but in the last century it fell from fashion in favor of modern, higher-yielding wheat varieties. By the 1960s this grain was all but extinct in Tuscany, cultivated only by a few stubborn growers in the remote mountainous corner of the region called the Garfagnana.
Today farro from the Garfagnana has been awarded an IGP, an Italian designation of protected geographical origin. It is a tender pearled grain similar to rice, with no need to presoak. It has a nutty flavor that I love, and is perfect in soups, salads, risottos and I’m sure other recipes. If only I can find them!
Agretti
Another Italian vegetable, agretti is something I haven’t tried eating yet but I couldn’t find it in stores or farmers markets here, so I decided to grow it. Of its culinary value, Frances Mayes has written that “Spinach is the closest taste, but while agretti has the mineral sharpness of spinach, it tastes livelier, full of the energy of spring.” WOW!
Very tender agretti can be used raw as a component of tossed salads; simply rinse and dry, then break or cut up the tender parts and add to the salad. More usually, the edible stalks are separated from the root, rinsed and blanched for up to ten minutes, then drained, drizzled with oil and lemon juice, and served as a green or warm salad.
Ramps
This is one of my failures. I read about ramps in Bon Appetit and then googled them to discover recipes galore – all of which sounded yummy. Where had I been that I hadn’t had them before now? Well, seems they don’t grow well in California (perhaps this is the only vegetable that doesn’t!) – they grow wild in a wooded, damp site covered in snow. That’s not Two Rock. Sierras anyone? If you want to see what all the fuss is about, read this blog. And if you find some somewhere, let me know!
