December 3rd
Our Vibrant Friends!
The pale chill of winter is upon us.
As we have so little, our daylight feels particularly precious, a clear day with gleaming shafts of sun a proper miracle. The island in winter is at its quietest, no bustling fray of summer river rats, or pumpkin people. Closed for the season! Signs read. It’s just us chickens out here.
Our land is frosted in the morning, taking on a blue silver sparkle, crop cover gleaming like gemstones, brittle underfoot. We still farming, through the winter windy days, the sideways freezing raining days, the darkening days, the quiet cold days. The land is still providing. The order of harvest and projects has shifted from summer months, when we would rise early to beat the sun and heat, now we cocoon, warm our bodies, and allow time to pass for frost to melt before taking to our leafing rows, knives in hand.
We are thankful, in no particular order, for :
Our winter storage! Satisfying masses of potatoes, celeriac, fennel, carrots, radishes, onions, kohlrabi, squash, squash, squash, and squash. Deeply satisfying to bulk harvest and then slow reap the rewards. Know the larder from us to you will be well stocked and sound.
Our hoop houses! What a joy to harvest tender greens and soft herbs when all else is ice. Peeling off layers, we get down to our short sleeves in the spinach house, and pretend we are on vacation in some tropic isle. Ooooh la la, it’s lovely in here! The spinach. Is. Delicious.
Our hibernating garlic! There’s so much of it! Planted in the front field! Slowly, ever so slowly, becoming what it will be. One clove growing to many, blooming below the earth. We like to think that we, too, are becoming what we will be this winter. Be the garlic. Good things take time.
The cats! The farm dog! The donkeys next door scream honking into the ether. The horses running together swift in a fit of fancy. The dogs at the kennel down the street howling in unison. The nutria in the waterway down the hill from the washhouse, gathering tender reeds. The birds in the sky. The rabbits in their warrens. The mice in their nests.
Well… not all are thankful for the mice. One year I kept an abandoned baby field mouse I found at the farm alive for two weeks. His name was Wriggles. I fed him little bits of goats milk every 4 hours on a piece of embroidery thread, and took him everywhere I went in a little box with a heating pad and cozy nest inside. He was my friend. And I cried for days when he died. So I am thankful for the mice, but that is a different story.
We are thankful for each other. We are proud of each other. This year we have spent countless hours together in an age when this wasn’t possible for many. We have all cried together. We have laughed so hard we couldn’t breathe. We have watched how our bodies have strengthened overtime. We have given each other space to heal. We have fought. We have made up. We have all grown. We have watched the seasons change and the world turn. We have eaten one million lunches while we talked about food, what we have made that day and what we want to eat for dinner that night, and what this chef is making, and what restaurants we miss most. We have supported each other through death, heartbreak, depression, anger. We have celebrated each other’s love. We have drug rusty pipes, and dug trenches, and pulled plastic, and built hoop houses, and tended earth through it all. We are humbled by each other. We are thankful.
We are thankful to you. For contributing your dollars. For your engagement. For all you do to champion Vibrant Valley. It is because of you that we can all be out here, so devoted to this earth. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Keep warm, friends. Keep safe. Hibernate. Make beautiful food. Be kind to yourselves and others.
Springtime will come.
Until next week, with love and gratitude to you and yours,
-- Rosemary Stafford for Vibrant Valley Farm
ROSE’S RECIPE IDEAS OF THE WEEK:
ROASTED DELICATA SQUASH WITH MAPLE TAHINI DRESSING, HAZELNUTS, AND POMEGRANITE SEEDS
Recipe amended from https://minimalistbaker.com/delicata-squash-bake-with-tahini-sauce/
Ingredients
2 delicata squash, halved lengthwise, seeds removed for roasting, squash cut into ½ inch slices (skin on!)
2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted)
Sea salt to taste
3 tablespoons tahini
½ lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon maple syrup
¼ cup pomegranate seeds
¼ cup dry roasted hazelnuts (loosely chopped)
¼ cup parsley (chopped)
Preparation
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Toss chopped squash with coconut oil and salt to taste, then arrange on a single layer on a baking sheet or two, as needed based on batch size.
Bake squash for 20-25 minutes, flipping once at halfway point to ensure even baking. When squash is tender enough to pierce with a fork, and is golden brown and slightly caramelized, remove.
While squash is baking away, prepare the dressing by adding tahini, lemon juice, and maple syrup to a small mixing bowl. Whisk to combine, then add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to whisk until the dressing is pourable. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
To serve, arrange baked squash on a serving dish and top with dressing, pomegranate seeds, hazelnuts, and parsley. Enjoy immediately!
CHICKEN WITH GREEN CHERVIL SAUCE
Recipe amended from https://akispetretzikis.com/categories/kotopoylo-galopoyla/kotopoylo-me-prasinh-saltsa-apo-myrwnia
Ingredients
Approximately 2lbs of your favorite cuts of chicken, ideally with skin on
1 bunch chervil, leaves and stems separated
6 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bunch parsley, leaves only
1 green onion, chopped
Juice of 1-2 lemons
Zest of 1 lemon
Preparation
Heat oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl, toss the chicken with the chervil stems and 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt and pepper.
On a baking pan, place the chicken pieces/breasts around equally; ensuring each piece has room to sizzle. Arrange the chervil stems between the chicken pieces.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the chicken turns golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside.
In a small blender, combine the parsley leaves, chervil leaves, green onion, grated lemon zest, lemon juice, and all chicken juices collected from the pan, along with 2 further tablespoons of olive oil and blend until completely combined, adding the remaining olive oil as you go.
Arrange your chicken pieces on a pretty platter and top with crispy chervil stems and herby lemon sauce. Divine!