Spring Vege Bag - Week 4
Click on any vegetable that has a link to see previous posts with recipes and cooking tips. You can also browse the filter the whole vege bag archive by vegetable here.
The hungry gap
While I was figuring out if I wanted to leave behind a different (more financially advisable) career to pursue vegetable production, I took a 9 month internship on a permaculture farm in Ireland at the start of 2020. I started work there in what Irish growers referred to as “The Hungry Gap.” This refers to the time of year where vege grown through winter starts to dry up and storage crops start to spoil. In Ireland, important staple foods of kale and cabbage start to bolt, the quality and quantity dips on overwintered carrots and beetroot, potatoes and pumpkins might start to rot - or targeted by rodents feeding their new offspring.
I’m not sure if the term is specifically Irish, as the challenge really applies to anyone growing in a temperate climate - does anyone know if there’s a similar term in te reo māori? (I haven’t come across one).
We’re seeing this here - our Fennel and Collards have shown signs of bolting. We’re in the final couple of weeks of storage potatoes. Piggy Wiggy is getting more pumpkins than ever before. We’re coming to the end of our overwintered carrots (maybe 3 weeks left until our spring sowings come in for harvest in December). We’re confident we’ll continue having a good supply of kai through careful planning and management. But this is the first time we’ve run Ōtaki Vege Bags through “The Hungry Gap” - so we’re in uncharted territory! We’re working our way through the crown pumpkins we’ll have for a while longer. We’ll be using the storage kamokamo last - they seem to be invincible to rot.
On the upside, the first zucchini were planted this week (should be ready in November), cucumbers will go in a couple of weeks, and tomatoes a few weeks after that! Spring carrots and Beets are on their way too.
This week we have:
Salad (Ahoaho māra kai)
Salad Radishes (Ahoaho māra kai)
Cabbage (Common Property)
Microgreens, Spinach or Dill (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Carrots (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Fennel (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Collard Greens or Cavolo Nero Kale (Crooked Vege Ōtaki)
Pumpkins (Crooked Vege Ōtaki/Live2Give Organics) or Potatoes (Mingiroa Farm)
Vege highlights/suggested uses
Fennel
Unfortunately our autumn planting of Fennel was probably about 2 weeks late. These have been growing since February, sloooooowly through the winter. But Fennel bolts (goes to flower) when daylight hours and temperatures start to increase after winter. We were aiming to harvest through winter, but didn’t get it started early enough to size up appreciably for that. A lesson for next year.
We had several hundred kilograms in the ground that all needed to be harvested over the last week. Way too much for Ōtaki Vege Bags. Most of that has gone out through Live2Give Organics (thank you to everyone who helped start that harvest on last Saturday’s working bee). We’ve still got a load of the “less presentable” for Vege Bags this week - so take as much as you like.
Cooking Suggestions
Fennel is polarising. People who love it seem to really love it. Others are put off by the anise flavour of it. If that’s you, and you want to “hide” it I’ve found I can’t taste if when its cooked into a stew or curry.
Personally I think, like a lot of vegetables, many of us have had bad experiences with someone (usually parents) cooking it poorly.
I really love a creamy fennel soup. Basically cook the fennel (fry, roast, boil - whatever), add cream (and/or yoghurt and/or feta - etc), stock, garlic, salt, pepper and blend. Potatoes, dill (or other herbs), cumin, chilli, a bit of cheese on top or a squeeze of lemon are all nice additions.
Fennel is also really nice roasted. As a side, or with other vegetables. Keep the chunks large. Drizzle a bit of balsamic/lemon/wine vinegar over the top.
Finally, I quite like making sauerkraut (I posted some general sauerkraut guidelines here) with some finely sliced fennel!
Collard Greens
This is an heirloom variety, called “Dalmation Cabbage” - the Kōanga Institute has a nice description of it:
Once widespread around the North (especially around the Marae and areas of strong Dalmatian heritage). They are used as leaf cabbages and are picked throughout the winter and spring (until October, when they head up to seed). Traditional Dalmatian recipes used these leaves for stuffing with mince and beans dishes and then baking. Dalmatian cabbage is one of the few varieties which are easy to save seed from in the North, and this cabbage is known around the world as being one of the most nutritious brassicas. Probably because it is an open leaf variety so all leaves are in the sun. Collards are known in Africa as Ethiopian cabbage, and this vegetable travelled with the slaves to America and became one of their most important critical vegetables. It is still eaten daily by people of African descent in the Southern states and is regarded as essential ‘soul food’.
They're similar to kale, but more tender (the stems are sweet and tender - unlike many kales with have stringy, tough stems).
We use them anywhere you would use spinach or kale!
We wish collard greens were more popular in Aotearoa. They're probably our favourite larger "cooking green!" But we've found they're a poor seller through our honesty shop at Faith Fresh and the other retailers we supply. Like many underrated vegetables, we assume this is down to a lack of familiarity.
We wish
Ka kite ano,
Jon
