Mustard, radicchio, rutabaga, carrots, kale, and escarole. A wonderfully warm, dry day made harvest easier yesterday and the greens are abundant due to the weather. The red mustard is huge and will make a big pot of greens. Kale leaves are smaller and there’s a mix of lacinato rainbow and winter red varieties. Radicchio is definitely ahead of schedule so everyone got a head of Treviso and another (shown is one of the first Castelfrancos of the season). The escarole (broad leaf endive) makes great salad with l the leaves chopped into thin ribbons, and is also good in soups and other cooked dishes. Like all chicories my favorite part is the crunchy, sweet white leaf stem.
On the topic of escarole, this past weekend I was lucky to be invited to be the grower representing escarole at the annual Sagra del Radicchio that The Culinary Breeding Network has been putting on for a number of years. If you want to know more about radicchio and other vegetables her events are the best! You can also head over to my Slow Hand Farm IG feed to see a photo with a photo of my display there and the family tree that shows the relationship between lettuce, escarole and radicchio (all in the same family but two different genus and three different species).
With the dry day yesterday we got a good amount of field clean up done – moving tarps and pulling up irrigation lines – a muddy job even when it’s not raining! Bean trellises continue to come down as well.
Next week will be our final harvest of the year for the B week folks. Should be a similar share but with frisee (curly endive) instead of escarole.
Cully Neighborhood Farm 