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 What's in the box this week?
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Greetings!
"Let the Good Times Roll!" or "Laissez les bon temps roulez!" as
they say in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. The celebration of Carnival is
always a good excuse for a party (and a batch of gumbo), but that's not the
only holiday happening this month. All around the Bay Area, Asian communities
are celebrating the Lunar New Year, the year of the tiger. Parades,
firecrackers, lion dances and big family banquets will be in full swing for the
next two weeks. Flowers and fruit play an important part in the holiday, as
families decorate their homes with flowering branches of plum, cherry, and
quince in honor of spring, and decorate altars and dining tables with piles of
golden oranges, tangerines, and pomelos, the bigger, the better. Potted kumquat
trees, heavily laden with tiny, jewel-like sweet and tangy fruits are also a
popular decoration (and gift) during the holiday. And while the customs of
Chinese New Year are the most widely known, Vietnamese communities have their
own celebration of the Lunar New Year, known as Tet.
Here on the farm, we're celebrating
spring with some wonderfully warm, spring-like weather, sunny with high temperatures close to 70 degrees. Now that January's mud has dried out, the winter pruning is continuing on schedule.
On the passenger side of Al's orchard golf cart, a big pair of long-handled
lopping shears has taken up permanent residence.
The trees are looking great right now,
with beautiful fat buds heavy with the promise of fruit to come. The plum trees
are always the first to break into bloom, but this year, one of our new early
peach varieties is already beginning to blossom. The Super Zee is one of the many delicious hybrids bred by Modesto's Floyd
Zaiger, fruit-tree breeder par excellence. How can you know which varieties
come from Zaiger? Just look for the "Z" or "Zee" in their names!
And did you know that stone fruits like
peaches, plums, apricots, and cherries are in the same plant family as
strawberries, apples and roses? The Rosaceae family is a broad one, but look closely at
the blossom on a strawberry plant, and you'll see a definite resemblance to
that of a plum or a peach flower.
And speaking of blossoms, we hope you've
marked your calendars for Frog Hollow Farm's first-ever Blossom Festival
on March 7. We'll have some very interesting talks about the role of pollination
in making the food we eat, as well as how to bring bees (and other native
pollinators) into your garden. A garden full of pollinators is a healthy,
happy, and productive one, and local bee specialist Dr. Gordon Frankie and beekeeper Alan Hawkins will be sharing fascinating facts about these amazing little
critters.
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Frog Hollow Farm invites you to attend its
SPRING BLOSSOM FESTIVAL on Sunday, March 7, 2010
10:30am - 2:00pm
at the farm in BrentwoodTickets are available athttp://www.froghollow.com/eventsDiscount ticket pricing is available for members of Frog Hollow Farm's CSA and their guests.
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We're also continuing our new on-line survey where you can tell us what you think about the fruit in this week's box. We've already found last week's feedback on the fruit to be very helpful. Thank you!
As always, you can find a copy of this week's newsletter on Frog Hollow Farm's web site.
-Stephanie J. Rosenbaum |
Recipe of the Week
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Crab Salad with Avocado and Citrus
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tablespoon lime or lemon juice
1 tablespoon grapefruit or orange juice
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon, or to taste
3 tablespoons chopped chives
freshly ground pepper
1 lb fresh crabmeat
3 avocados
3 oranges
1 grapefruit or pomelo
lettuce or salad greens
Whisk mayonnaise with citrus juices,
herbs, and pepper, adjusting to taste. Toss crabmeat with mayonnaise. Peel and
segment oranges and grapefruit, removing all the membrane between the segments.
Peel and slice avocados. Line plates with lettuce or salad greens. Fan out
avocado slices, then add a scoop of crab salad at the base of the avocado.
Arrange fruit segments around salad. Sprinkle with additional tarragon and
chives, if desired.
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