Week 2 Wild Spinach

Another delicious week of greens, herbs and shallots. Use the wild spinach in any recipe calling for spinach. I really like it in artichoke dip. Just pour marinated artichokes into a baking dish with olive oil, soaked cashews, diced garlic and wild spinach. Bake at 375 till the greens are wilted then puree in a blender adding enough water for a smooth consistency. Sprinkle salt and pepper to serve. We're deep into transplanting season. Up potting hot crops in the greenhouse and adapting others outside and in the tunnel. June is shaping up as wet and wonderful.

Here's a hawk moth we found in the tunnel the morphological mimicker ~ Hemaris diffinis ~ in a suspended state during the snow weather. 

Squash Blossom Farm CSA Food Share 2013

The rain is welcoming in our first food share of the season and after the last few spells it is finally hydrating the dry spring ground. You can see the plants and garlic growing before your eyes.

Besides the enduring nature of garlic I'm always an admirer of spring greens in Montana. Germinating early in spring they taste and feel highly energetic and so fresh after winter in the snow. This weeks share includes an assortment of our garden's greens, spring herbs, flowers and nettles which is highly nutritious in vitamin and minerals. You'll be cart wheeling after eating them. So in honor of jumping around the nettle patches and welcoming them into our lives we have a superfood soup recipe this week. 

Spring in your Step Nettles Soup

grapeseed oil

6-10 shallot greens

1/4 lb nettles

2 cups water
1.5 cups cooked quinoa

2.5 cups hemp milk

salt-pepper-thyme 

Heat oil and gently stir fry chopped shallots for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and carefully add several cup of water. I fill my 3.5 qt about half way. Return to high heat and toss nettle tops in (just tip the bag without touching the greens-the sting is inactivated in boiling water). Bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Add cooked quinoa and milk and reduce heat to simmer. Add 2 tsp thyme and salt and pepper to taste. 

Nettles is a nourishing and replenishing herb loaded with calcium, Vitamin A, C, D, E, F, K, P chlorophyll, b vitamins, selenium, zinc, iron and magnesium. It also makes a great tea or hair rinse. Enjoy Spring!

May Day

We went on a hunt for spring singers of Central America. We found Trillums, a raging creek perfect for otters, Fomitopsis pincola the great forest recycler and last years migrant nest.