Aside from a nice sunburn, though, there's not a lot to be gained from this time of year here.
So, what's a transplanted midwesterner to do in the Northern regions?
I've learned to adapt.
There is a lot of fresh, local foods to be had here if you just know what to look for! Last Friday, at my weekly foodshed pickup there was finally some green emerging from the tops of my bags! Green garlic and asparagus along with a few tomato plants as an emergency backup for a few of my own that had a short but nasty encounter with a cold, wet morning.
Steam that green garlic and asparagus and toss it with fresh farfalle, roasted red peppers, a few chopped pieces of honey ham and a homemade bechamel sauce and I've got a great spring meal! My favorite way to eat fresh asparagus, though, is brushed with a little olive oil and grilled for just a few minutes until tender. YUM!
By the way, if you, like I once did, think you don't like asparagus, you need to give it another try. This time, though, don't buy it from the supermarket. It's worth the extra effort to get it right from the farmer on the day it is harvested...completely different vegetable.
In my garden this weekend, I harvested the first in a long list of fruits and veggies that are to come: rhubarb. Now, if you are one of my midwestern friends you may never have had an encounter with this tart celery like fruit...that is probably actually a vegetable. I have loved rhubarb since I was a kid, and was horribly disappointed to find that it would not grow in my Oklahoma garden. Rhubarb likes cold nights, which it definitely gets plenty of where my garden is now. The first summer I lived here, a neighbor gladly parted with several bags of rhubarb stalks. One of them had the tiniest root attached. I literally threw it in the garden, assuming it would compost...and now I have more rhubarb than I can use in a single season!
Today I cooked down some of it with (sadly, non-local) berries, sugar and cornstarch to make a sauce. It is great in a spring pie, but it will not likely make it that far, as I can't keep my spoon out of it!
I also managed 2 loaves of rhubarb bread that keeps bringing my husband out the door looking for a snack. Almost ready!
With the tiniest starts of the sugar snap peas and the sudden rows of salad greens and radishes that are sprouting with the past weeks rain, I know the season is on it's way. But, for today, I was happy that I had my hands in the soil, my pots on the stove and a happy family eating my real food once again!
