Meet this week’s Mac veggies:
- Spinach — Delicious tender spring spinach, especially well suited for eating fresh as a salad base (or mix with your salad mix to make a bigger salad).
- Salad mix — What kind of dressing do you like best? We’re stuck on the most simple in our house: take an empty canning jar; pour in some good vinegar; pour in about two to three times as much good oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper; add some minced onion or green garlic; then put the lid on give it all a good shake.
- Broccoli — Little broccolis from over-wintered plants. Prepare as you would bigger broccolis!
- Kale — Picked from our field hoop house (we are so grateful for that hoop house this year!). See this week’s newsletter for kale ideas!
- Radishes — The quintessential spring salad topping! Most people prefer radishes when sliced thinly for salads, but of course the die-hards will eat them whole like candy.
- Carrots — Everyone’s favorite vegetable! These are especially delicious carrots — they were also grown in our hoop house. We know you’ve been waiting for these for many weeks, so we went ahead and starting picking them young and small. Enjoy these precious treats (we sure have been!).
- Sweet onion — They keep getting bigger and bigger! Remember that these are sweet onions, suitable for eating raw. Some suggestions: diced in a tuna or chicken salad, in rings on hamburgers, or minced in salad dressing. We use them to cook with too though!
- Green garlic — We’ve been loving the green garlic lately and are eating it in everything. See the quinoa recipe in this week’s newsletter.
A long time ago, I ate kale for the first time when we were working on a farm up in Bellingham. Honestly, I wasn’t too thrilled and didn’t give it a good try for many more months. Looking back, I now know that mid-summer kale (such as I ate at the time) isn’t the sweetest or most tender (spring kale, such as in this week’s share, is amazing!). I also now know so many more ways to prepare it!
I tell this simple story to illustrate a basic principle about eating vegetables: you won’t always like things the first time you try them. Even as adults, our palates have to adjust to new flavors and textures. The first time we taste something, I don’t know that our brains can often do much except register it as something novel. It often takes familiarity (through repetition) to register a taste as good. Of course, some foods remind us of things we already eat and love, making them easier to enjoy the first time.
But, I’ve found that many vegetables represent very unique and new flavors. For folks who love to eat (as we do), this is part of the joy of vegetables. The word we use as a singular culinary category (i.e. ‘vegetable’) actually represents an incredibly diverse range of plant families that have been cultivated over generations for their ability to produce an edible part.
In some cases, such as lettuce, the leaf is cut or picked and eaten in its freshest state. In other cases, such as potatoes, the tuber of the plant is dug and eaten cooked in various ways (and often stored for long periods before eating). And, in even other cases, such as tomatoes, it is the mature fruit that we enjoy to eat fresh or processed (cooked into a paste, for example). Yet, in even other cases, such as cucumbers, it is the immature fruit that we enjoy eating (again, fresh or processed with vinegar or through fermentation for storage).
These are just a few examples, all representing completely different plant families, flavors, and culinary roles. And, yet, they are all grouped together into something we simply call ‘vegetables.’
Then, much to Casey and my great chagrin, we tell kids to “eat their vegetables,” often before giving them dessert, implying of course that the chocolate cake on the sideboard is the good stuff and the vegetables are just the “healthy” things we have to force ourselves to eat to get to the good stuff. Then we wonder why so many kids are reluctant to go through the many taste trials it takes to love new flavors of vegetables.
In fact, studies have found that kids are much less likely to voluntarily eat vegetables that they have previously been forced to eat before getting desert! That should make a parent think twice before making chocolate cake contingent upon finishing one’s broccoli! (Chocolate cake is of course awesome on its own right — but should we let it supplant broccoli as a truly delicious and satisfying food?)
Of course, the reality is that most adults today were also raised with this mindset (vegetables are health food; cake is the good stuff), so it’s no wonder we keep it alive. As farmers, Casey and I have countless conversations with full-grown adults about their own preferences and eating habits, and we’ve learned that most of them encounter new foods in the CSA, some of which they admit take several tries to appreciate. But, we also hear that taking those risks and trying, trying, trying again has led to passionate new culinary loves.
Because, again, let me remind us that we’re actually talking about amazing, diverse foods, representing such a wide range of potential gastronomical pleasures. Vegetables can provide sweetness (cooked onions) or spice (raw onions); vegetables can serve as a filling main dish (baked stuffed winter squash) or a light side dish (spinach salad); vegetables can become stock for soup or accompany hamburgers on the grill … vegetables can bring color, flavor, nourishment, and joy to every meal, every dish, every person. And, yes, they’re healthy too — full of vitamins, antioxidants and generally low in calories. What a reason to celebrate vegetables!
Obviously, as a CSA member, you are already a vegetable lover or on your way to being one. But I know that often new members (and sometimes even long-time members) sometimes balk at certain vegetable families or types. Cooking greens and kale being a prime example. And, I understand, having had my own such experiences in the past.
Which is why I just wanted to remind you of the awesomeness of vegetables and encourage you to try, try, and try again this season. Our job is to provide you with the best quality vegetables you can buy, along with some tips for preparing them in different ways. Your job is to be open to brand-new flavors and combinations and cooking methods, and to make time and space in your life to spend a little more in the kitchen and at the table as you experiment.
Ultimately I think absolutely enjoyment is the best reason to eat vegetables. Perhaps one might first begin eating more vegetables for health reasons, but no one will sustain such a diet for long unless they discover and cherish the pleasures of a vegetable laden table and all its delights: the bright orange of a carrot, the perfect mix of oil and vinegar on a fresh lettuce leaf, the smooth sweetness of a crunchy spring onion … the perfectly nourished feeling one attains after eating a vegetable-rich meal.
There are so many experiences of pleasure one can attain in a diverse, vegetable-rich diet — those pleasures are what keep us eating these delicious, perfect range of plant foods. On that note, enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Upcoming dates!
- June 26, 3-5 pm ~ CSA open house at the farm! I will include driving directions in upcoming newsletters, but please make sure you put this date on your calendar!
- July 1 ~ CSA payment due for those of you on the payment plan. Check your invoice for payment amount (or look in upcoming newsletters for reminders). Mac folks, you can bring a check to pick-up or mail it. Newberg folks, please mail your payment to us. Mail checks made out to “Oakhill Organics” to P.O. Box 1698, McMinnville, OR 97128.
