Because We Are.

A merry Meredith meal of radish top soup and kale salad — Thank you for sharing!

The CSA members this year are composed of such dear friends and vivacious families… one of them being the Merediths, Rick and Nancy. The Merediths shared this photo with me a while back and I’ve been meaning to incorporate it into a blog piece. The picture is so beautiful and as a sweet little touch, a heart shaped rock on its side being held up by the salt and pepper. Nancy is a collector of heart rocks and this one I found and gifted to her from the Himalayas. In my heart this makes it all come full circle, and in turn, becomes the fuel to continue and keep this beautiful circle in strong, prosperous and gleeming fluidity.

Another facet I’ve been wanting to share with readers: Literature. Summer time is not that of novel reading for busy farmers. Time is scarce and to keep track of a story plot, along with a growing garden plot has it’s difficulties. What summer time has meant for me in the last few years is short stories, essays and poems! It’s amazing what people write. How they take in through the senses and express out in the same words we often speak, but their arrangement and pattern in thought becomes authentically revealing and luminous. From the beginning, and in the theme of ‘full circle’, I’ve wanted to share a piece that is special to me. I came across this Rosalind Brackenbury poem in a book “You are there for I am,” by Satish Kumar.

       Because We Are.

I am because we are, the five-toed,

the elegant-fingered, the ones

whose brains flower like coral

whose dreams span earth and move out-

I am because we animals

love to rub and huddle, because

our tongues love to lick skin,

nuzzle and enter each other’s

mouths, clean milky young,

taste sweat from necks and slick

fur flat, lap water from clean pools:

because we love to swim, sleep, eat,

lie in the sun, move to the shade;

and because we are the fish

flying in ballets through shallows

and deeper, where the ocean floor

hollows and darkness begins;

I am because of centuries of thought

and centuries of dream, because of poetry,

grass, music, growing corn,

because of wine from grapes

and bread from flour,

because of a million hands

because of cave paintings

and the true line drawn,

the bison on the wall,

doe in the clearing, because

of shooting stars and sudden floods,

ships going out, footprints,

because of men and women

coming together, lying down

together, coming, again and again,

because of father, mother, brothers,

lovers, children, everyone making

enough love, because of skins, eyes, hands

and words, because of closeness,

because of breath: Because

of the touch in the night

the surgeon who saved me

because of intelligence

because of care

because enough people

loving enough people

for those centuries

forever, I am. We.

-Rosalind Brackenbury

Alli-yum!

Alliums, a genius genus, are one we can’t get enough of. Alliums have power in the kitchen! They can bring you to your knees (as they saute in butter) and at times cause breath unease. The species are many, but you may know them best by their common names of garlic, onions, scallions, shallots and leeks. Alliums are a staple in daily meals and they’re a joy to grow. At Green Fire Farm we grew beautiful onions and patrons to the local farmers’ market swooped them up quickly.

Onions take much devotion. They’ll take 100+ days to mature when sown from seed. I started my seeds in little trays in the living room window at the end of February and planted them out as the first brave Homeward Bounty transplants in mid April. When young, they’re no match for bullying invasive weeds. So the pampering begins with constant and detailed weeding. Onions grow side by side and swell with the sun and rain. They’re very proper in their little que, green tops marching in place to the hum of earthworm vibrations and the ever present 3 o’clock Shasta Valley wind.

The sweet, fresh onions are some of my favorites, my Dad’s too. Coming home after a long day on the farm, he  will greet me with, “How are the torpedo onions doing?” It’s as if the torpedo onion will go local food viral, here in Siskiyou County. People will come from far and wide, like from Yreka or Dunsmuir, and Gazelle to witness, fight over, possess the amazing (they ARE pretty amazing) torpedo onion. I can see myself at the People Food Choice Awards – “And I would like to thank God…for making the torpedo onion!” Now you might find yourself thinking, “So how are the torpedo onions?” They’re doing great and will show up in CSA boxes in a matter of weeks.

Onions, garlic, leeks, we can almost regard them as condiments- herbs. They accent and enhance, but don’t take the show or the cake, but sometimes they do take the pie. The very fine folks who make up this year’s CSA membership may be getting on the verge of onion overload. So here are some recipes that request onions to take the protagonist’s post.

Walla-Walla sweet onions cleaned up and ready for CSA baskets.

Sweet Onion Pie – Provided by Macheesmo.com

Visit the website for pie crust recipe, use your tried and true favorite or just buy a shell –

Filling:
4 large onions (3 1/2 pounds), sliced. I would recommend a sweet variety, such as Walla-Walla or Siskiyou Sweet.
6 ounces bacon, finely chopped
1/2 stick butter
1 Cup sour cream
2 large egg yolks
Salt and Pepper

Preheat oven to 375

Cut onions into even-sized slices. Chop the bacon into tiny pieces. For veggie folks, add kale, spinach and or squash in the place of Wilber.

In a large pan, melt butter over medium heat and add bacon. Once cooked, add all your onions. Cook covered for 20 minutes. This is when you sigh, for the most amazing smell has filled the room. Ou’ de onions & butter. Que fantastique! After 20 minutes, a lot of liquid remains. Keep on burner another 20-30 and cook with lid off to evaporate some of the juices. Let the onions fully cool, accelerate by placing in the fridge.

In a bowl, add cream and yolks. Once the onions are cool, add it all together. The idea is to not cook the eggs when adding them to the onion mixture! Season with salt, pepper and herbs of choice. Grated cheese would also make a good compadre. This is pie after all, if you’re on a diet, forget about it!

Place filling in shell and bake for 80 minutes at 375. Onions take persistence, so does this pie and they both always pay off! YUMMMMMM!

O’Brien Onion Soup –

Serves 6

Ingredients:

6 T butter

4 large onions – again, I recommend sweet types

O’Brien Onion Soup

1 cup white wine  – our household adapted it using beer and it come out great!

6 cups stock – chicken or vegetable

1 T salt (if butter isn’t salted) and pepper to taste

Chop onions up into thin slices. Melt butter in a large wide pan; the wider the pan the quicker it will cook, allowing the onions to cook at one layer thick. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Stir in the wine or beer and bring to a boil. Scrape the bottom of the pan to get all the browned bits. Continue to scrape as you pour in the stock. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a boil then drop to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Place toasted french bread or croutons in oven safe bowls, add soup, top with cheese and broil on high for 4 minutes or until brown and bubbly.

***Don’t forget, onions are a grills best friend! It’s summer time, so I’m sure that grill has been getting some action. No grill is complete without thick slices of sweet onions. We use Montreal Steak seasoning on our veggies for embelishment. Just be careful when flipping those beautiful onion rings, because they will slip through the grill plate and you’ll just get a burning ring of fire.

Going to Seed

Spinach going to seed. Female plant on left, male plant on right.

Seeds! As stated, this is ‘a homeward journey to grow food and SEEDs to share with the community I love’!      It didn’t take long, in my first introductions working with agriculture, to become very curious about seeds. There was an intriguing first impression -a strong hand shake. The weight of wisdom in the palm of my hand as I would cup them and individually sow each seed into trays in a greenhouse or directly into their beds in the field. They were authentic in the truest sense. They held everything, the will, comprehension and enlightenment all within, as well as the patience to retain it for the perfect moment. I knew I wanted to journey with them-to play and to learn. There will be a lot of that this year, how exciting.

I’m growing out a nice array of crops for seed this year. Most notably, two crops through a seed contract with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a small seed company located in Virginia. Grady, at Green Fire Farm has maintained seed contracts with them for many years and encouraged me to make a big move this year and connect with them. It has been really special the way the way things have worked out and here I am, a farmer with two seed contracts: Dean’s Purple pole bean and Reverend Marrow’s Long Keeper a variety of storage tomato. With one of the longest growing seasons in Siskiyou County, afternoon winds and isolated location, I feel there’s great potential for the Shasta Valley area to be a very successful region for seed crop production.

Dean’s Purple – purple pole bean

Reverend Marrow’s Long Keeper – storage tomato

Some other crops that are now bolting, a term used when a plants starts sending up flowers that will produce pollen and then seeds, are pak choi, tulsi, cilantro and spinach. I’ll be saving seed from fleshy fruits too, such as tomatoes, peppers and watermelon. Saving seed is a journey in persistence. It goes beyond growing the plant, caring for it and seeing its leaves and fruits develop. If you’re saving the seeds you go further and get to interact with the bold flowers, pods and bees, bees, bees. In a good season, plants mature and then fully dry in the field. There are seed extraction and cleaning steps and drying, then testing for germination rate. Persistence, persistence, from seed to seed.

Pak Choi pods forming

Pak Choi

Under Siege

All we know is the uncertainty of the unknown. It’s not always easy to remind ourselves of that revealing fact. In fact, we create structures, calendars, organize, orient and project our todays into tomorrows. We place rocks nicely in a path and think, if life takes me on this path, great, what a nice walk way I’ve shaped. There are many times when you find yourself on a path you didn’t even think to manicure and there you are, quickly placing stepping stones and trying your best to walk sure footed. And to add to the analogy, when you do find yourself on an unpredicted path one can sometimes stand there stunned. You knew in your core that there was a wedge of a chance of being redirected to this route and you maybe didn’t do all you could to prevent it or prepare. A plot fit for Shakespeare, a nonfiction wrapped in restless nights.

So here I am, creating a new walkway off the dirty plaid farmer cuff. Ahh, farming with its wondering roots and acres of outcomes. This unhypothesized path, full on bug take over!

Crikey Folks! What we have here are some genuine organic vegetable eating forms of wildlife! Just look at those voracious fangs and tenacious appetites-a force to be reckoned with, and I reckon we better reckon with it. To be honest, I’ve never had to deal with pest pressure like this before. I’m not sure if it’s due to a mild winter or a muggy, but not really hot summer or both. What I’ve identified thus far are earwigs, cabbage moths, flea beetles and aphids; freakin’ aphids! It has been quite interesting, because it has just been in the last two weeks where I’ve noticed apparent damage and an evident spike in pest population. All the spring planted and directed seeded crops grew and thrived untouched.

I do have to say that one of my least favorite elements of farming, beside the element of having your crops being ‘harvested’ by bugs, is the act of killing them. I would much rather focus on growing strong and healthy plants that are less prone to attracting such bullies. A part of me completely understands. Yes, this food is yummy. If they knew how to share I wouldn’t have a problem. But there are times for the fight and this goes with the job. The arsenal of ‘this is what my grandma used to do’ has been opened and is being put to the test.

Earwig trap

The good news is that the big bad bug killing farmer is making ground and I hope to see a white flag waving when I next poke my nose into a head of maturing cabbage! It seems like the earwigs are meeting a nice, dare I say somewhat pleasant end, by being attracted to the sweet ferment of beer and then drowning. And not just any beer, homebrew fresh from the tap is being used in this operation, only the best to lure these buggers. I’ve also been making rounds of hot pepper and garlic spray. I’ve been using ground cayenne peppers from Green Fire Farm and adding garlic to water and letting it steep for a few days. I’ve been spraying this on newly emerging seedlings to deter the flea beetles. Just because an operation is organic, doesn’t mean that it’s ‘no spray’! And my latest, piece de resistance, a job like this needs ultimate girl power – Ladybugs! Yep, Homeward Bounty now has 3,000 employees.

There will never be a moment in this year’s farming endeavors where I moved beyond being humbled, being in awe. It could be a discouraging day on the farm and then I get greeted by this on my drive home. Maybe this unpredicted path isn’t too bad.

More than Rad-ish!

Oh sweet and sharp radishes – they just smile, don’t you think? There is just something about the little things. You just want to squeeze their pink cheeks, give them a penny and say “now don’t spend it all in one place.” They provide something a tad different, beautiful color and a nice snappy, spicy crunch . Little, yet mighty. Maybe that’s the root of my affection.

The variety I’m growing this year is called French Breakfast radish. For those folks who like to still use the fodder of years past, you may also refer to them as Freedom Breakfast radishes. This particular variety has a pleasant amount of spice that adds without over powering. This characteristic makes is lovely for raw snacking!

Radishes usually find their way to the dinner table folded into the leaves of lettuce and other veggie delights in a salad. Things are not always as they appear; the unassuming radish can wear many hats. Try something new. They’re great in potato salad & tuna salad or try with arugula on warm pasta. Here are some recipes for thought –

Radish Curry Saute –

-Radishes don’t have much bulk to them, so the volume in this recipe isn’t high, but it makes a great small side dish or served on top of rice. Jonathan and I gave it a thumbs up! Serves 2 – takes 15 minutes

A bunch of radishes with leaves                          

One small onion, sliced

Garlic- 2 or 3 small cloves crushed

Turmeric powder- a pinch

Mustard seeds – a pinch

Curry powder- a pinch

Salt and pepper to taste

In a pan, add some oil. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds, curry and onions. Saute until onions turn slightly brown.

Add the garlic and turmeric powder, mix up well.

Add the radishes – Cook covered for about 3-4 mins. It’s nice to have the radishes soft, yet crunchy.

After you remove the radishes onto a plate, in the same pan quickly you can saute the leaves for a few seconds and add it to the top of the radishes. Great served over rice.

Radish Top Soup – 

– I’ve made this recipe twice this week, it’s lovely. It comes out nice and hardy, like a super food soup. Ironically we’re actually experiencing bona fide soup weather, so this is June in Siskiyou County- humm? Serves 2-3

One bunch of radish greens (and or any other greens you may have)

One small onion, chopped (I made it a top – top soup and used the green tops of an onion as a substitute) 

Few cloves garlic, chopped

One medium potato, cubed

Chicken/Vegetable broth – 3 cups

Milk or Creme – 1/4 cup

Salt and Pepper to taste

Radishes, sliced for garnish * a little lemon squeezed on top was quite nice as well!

Add oil or butter to a soup pot and saute onions and garlic until aromatic.

Add potatoes and greens. Add broth and bring to boil until potatoes are tender.

Allow soup to cool slightly. Ladle into a blender and blend until smooth. Add milk and transfer back to pot to reheat.

Let The Bounty Begin –

Yes, the season is in earnest taking a shift to harvest mode. How nice to cradle green goodies in my arms as I come home. The last grocery store stop was last week; it’s solely the soul of Homeward Bounty harvest from now on. Just as rewarding, if not more, sharing with those I love. Some of the members of this year’s CSA have known me before I could eat uncooked carrots. They are family and having the privilege to provide food for their households makes me speechless. I was grinning from ear to ear, around my head and back (proceeded by another grin), when distributing the first CSA share to south Siskiyou County on Monday.

And well, you can’t have a CSA with out the quintessential CSA basket. I had been brainstorming for a while on which route to take when my sis asked if I would have use for wire baskets. Her boyfriend’s family has been farmers in Yuba City for many generations. For a while they were harvesting hundreds of acres of millet and these baskets were part of the process, now they’re just hanging out in the barn. A little doctoring up, a cloth liner to keep things clean and cool a sign (just incase you forget why a basket of food has arrived at your door) and voila – beautiful, bountiful, basket bearing buku bunches of bright ….vegetables.

It was quite the crafting process. Ahh, the marriage of crafts and farming, it can’t be paralleled by many other matches.

There will be more flirtation between craft and farm as the season continues. A project I’m very excited to develop is the seed facet of this year’s farming endeavors. I have a packet design in mind and am overjoyed to collaborate with a very very talented and dear friend Ashely Mersereau. Her sketches are like none other and will be stunning as illustrations on seed packets. Ashely visited Siskiyou on her way home to Oregon from a creative traveling adventure on the California coast. She was the inspiration for Homeward Bounty the blog, as she keeps her own blog that allowes her to share her journey with nears and dears. A recient post on her blog describes her travels to Homeward Bounty, it is accompanied by energy capturing photographs.                www.rootsandwingsjewelry.wordpress.com

We’ve always been ones to share those venerable dreams with each other and here we are manifesting and expressing. She has also migrated back to the geography that raised her and is transitioning into being a small business owner herself with her hand crafted jewelry, photographs and pen and ink drawings. Her are some moments that she captured –

Kale Yeah!

The first harvest has come and gone; the flood gate has opened and harvest knives, rubber bands, washing tables and packing tubs are floating in on it’s waves. It’s finally the time in the season where harvesting will start taking front and center, that is along with distributing produce, weeding, trellising, watering as well as sewing and prepping beds for fall crops. A mile-stone, baby farm and farmer’s first harvest composed of bunches of kale and bags of loose leaf spinach.

It was in 2005 when I first ‘ate the kale,’ something analogous to ‘drinking the koolaid.’ Of corse that was the year that I moved to Arcata. Kale may be the mascot food for the coast. On those costal farms they can grow it year round. Kale is such a beautiful and hardy green. I truly find that my body craves it. I’ve sense exposed my family and friends to this frilly leaf  wonder, the cult is growing! Kale is extremely versatile and packed with nutrients. You can steam kale, saute kale, bake kale, make an egg dish, rice dish, pasta dish,casserole, soup, lasagna, salad…you get the point; it’s as multifaceted as shrimp. There are many varieties of kale. Two common types, the types being grown on Homeward Bounty, are Red Russian and Lacinato, which is sometimes called Dinosaur kale.

Lacinato Kale

Lacinato Kale

Red Russian

Red Russian

I know that kale may be new to many, so to help you get hooked (because I know of a good source), I have compiled some of my favorite ways of preparing the one and only, extremely yummy Brassica Oleracea.

Massaged Kale Salad

1 bunch Kale

olive oil

dash salt

1/2 Tbs lemon juice (optional)

This is an Arcata classic! Tear the kale leaves from the stalks and into bite size pieces. Place kale pieces into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and lemon juice if available. Dig in with clean hands and proceed to massage your meal, this is where the Arcata bit comes into the picture! Don’t forget to give it love, thanks and positive energy. It’s probably most therapeutic for the chef, the oil even acts as a moisturizer. Massage the kale until it’s wilted and glossy, a thorough minute will do. I find that this method almost gives the kale a seaweed texture. It comes out divine! I recommend adding pumpkin seeds, grated beets and carrots, avocado and your favorite dressing.

Kale Chips –

Kale Chips

Kale Chips

1 bunch Kale

olive oil

dash salt

parchment paper (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove kale from the stem. A good technique of doing this is by grabbing the stem from the bottom and running your hand across the rib instantly separating the leaves. Break the kale up into chip size pieces. Toss kale in a bowl with olive oil and salt until thoroughly coated. Place kale on a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper if you like for easy clean. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until crisp.  *Grind kale chips into flakes and add to popcorn..oooh-la-la!

Kale can be dressed up or kept simple. I’m sure it can be found on the menus of some of the nicest city restaurants. At the same time it packs light, stays crisp and makes a lovely addition to any camping adventure. Here are some of kales most recent adventures, a snowy hike up to Beautiful Porcupine Lake – yumm!

Now that’s fine dining!

Aunts in the garden

The farm feels as if it is transforming daily. The longer days are fully taking hold of reaching green leaves and encouraging them to stretch and settle in for the many days of growth ahead.

With the warm days and lengthening sun, the starts in the green house have started to glow, buzz and create somewhat of a commotion. With roots ready to reach beyond their plastic square homes and upgrade to more spacious lodging; a movement akin to Occupy was rumored to take hold. They were ready, in mass, to take over the fields. I knew the weather would be a bit dicy, but with a busy schedule you can’t always accommodate to precision timing. If time and good weather presents itself and plants are begging to go in, then you just have to do it. Monday was a big planting day, half of the tomatoes went into the ground at 60 plants, some peppers and eggplant too. They were given love, water, a blanket of frost cloth, a gesture of prayer flags and wished the best of luck for the somewhat chilly nights ahead…like Firday, when we were ‘graced’ with snow. As slyly as rumored, Siskiyou County weather tossed in a wicked curve ball. I think the local Spring saying goes as such; in like a lamb, out like the abominable snowman.

Although the weather outside was frightful, those sun-soakers hunkered down and pulled through! Yahoo! At present the frost cloth is off and hopes are being cast for amiable lows that don’t dip below 50. A girl can dream and dream I will.

With non-stop work on the daily docket and the dockets of days yet to come, additional hands, smiles and company out in the fields is a blessing. I’ve already expressed how the journey of this land and project has filled it’s significance and reward, just with the people and relationships it has cultivated. Homeward Bounty has seen and will see a lot of special visitors, but this week might take the cake, or the lamb chop, as would be appropriately coveted by the O’Brien family. Memorial weekend brought the whole clan to Lake Shastina. All five of my Dad’s brothers and sisters and their partners, my sister, cousin Ben and Kelly all made the trip for one fun-filled and incredibly loud weekend. Now the weekend couldn’t be all play and no work. That would have been horrible, right!? While the guys when out golfing all the ladies rolled up their sleeves and set out to work on the farm. It meant the world to me to show them all the land and work that’s been invested into it. They were great out there, planting tomatoes like professionals. What a blast! Talk about hard workers. They even folded up the frost cloth like fine linen.

Irrigation & Cowboys

     Irrigate! Irrigate! It’s in, it’s installed, the drip tape has landed!

Purchasing a drip irrigation system was a mega ‘gulp’ investment, but after hand watering each individual plant for the last month, it feels so nice to just be able to hook up a hose and let her run. I even surprised myself with over the top excitement, when two big boxes of irrigation bits and bobs arrived at the doorstep. The days are getting longer and the 80 degree trend has not ceased. Time for everyone to stay hydrated.

The irrigation came with impeccable timing. The big tasks that accompanied the big field have finally found completion. The three hundred feet of fence, applying manure and tilling. I played a small roll in getting the field to the state it is in now. A major highlight of this year has been making beautiful connections with hard working, high spirited individuals who are shaping this season.

The services of Austin were recommended to disc the field back in March. At 13 years old, he owns his own tractor and contracts out his services at a nice penny, that he earns through good work. A Siskiyou boy through and through, Austin stands with a hand in his back pocket and all his weight to one side as he spits out sunflower seeds and discusses the weather, this year’s season and the price of diesel.

Ed, our neighbor to the west skillfully and amply applied manure to the field. He is also very much of this land, offering a warm smile and stories of growing up in the area circa 1950. In addition, I’ve had the joy of meeting Ed’s mother-in-law who has shared story gems of her own. With delight in her voice she talks of how she, at 87, is third generation Siskiyou County. The house where her father was born still stands near Greenhorn Park in Yreka. It was her elders that taught her how to garden, a tradition she continues, although her hip slows her down now. I can’t help but continue to feel blessed and humbled. As turbulent in joy and hard work as this season will be, it’s grounding to know that in the end it’s all just a part of a story. To know that my story and that of Ed and his families’ have come together brings a depth to this project that makes everything feel right.

Ed has further extended his generosity to the farm in lending the use of his Troy Built rear-tine tiller. With this tool now a part of the farm’s arsenal I feel as if I can take over the world. It’s as if I ask, “What are we going to do today Tiller?” And it responds, “The same thing we do every day. Try and take over the world!” It’s the type of power I could get used to. A half an acre of pasture has now been converted, weeds tilled in and fluffy beds created ready for transformation and transplants.

A half an acre is a lot of work by one’s farming self. Just enough to truly appreciate the companionship and help of additional hands. Jonathan Mann has become a devoted friend to both myself and the farm. Even with a full time job of his own, working 40 hours plus on a fire engine for the Forest Service, he continues, week after week, to be there. Always in for the adventure he’s there to the milk cow as part of the milking share, plant transplants, put in fences, install irrigation, weed, till, dig trenches and more. He’s been catching on quick, having never worked in a garden or with plants. We’ve come to an agreement that I’ll teach him what I know about farming in exchange for chain saw skills, harvesting and bucking fire wood and to learn how to drive a stick shift. Yep, that’s right folks, she can grow your food, but can’t drive la manual.

Not Romantic, but Yummy

I can officially say that I’ve indulged in the fruits of my labor. Sown from seed, cared for in the green house, planted out in the field with encouraging thoughts of Napa Cabbage grandeur. Allas, those chinese cabbages are truly fickle things when it comes to day length and heat. I knew that the cold nights and random 80 degree spikes of a few weeks ago would trigger its primal response, “if we don’t go to flower now and produce seeds then our whole gene pool will be lost. We’re not going to be able to survive these long hot days.” Plants interpret many different conditions as stressful; longer days, shorter days, extreme heat, extreme cold, too much water and not enough. These stresses can trigger premature bolting in some plant species. I’ve always found it extremely fascinating that that response is truly imbedded in their tissues and plant memory. What a drive. I wonder if it’s a individual battle of making sure that YOUR seeds are out there in the world or a collective consciousness, where each plant is responsible to invest their best for the greater good of the species. Regardless, up they went! When life gives you lemons, we all know what to do with them. So when mother nature gave me bolting (the term for plants flowering and going to seed) Napa cabbage I harvested the leaves and made a lovely saute with garlic and onions. The perfect green for a summer time burger! Not the most romantic of first harvest’s on my new land, but it had to be something. The bed is already cleared and a new crop has already taken it’s place. Live and learn.