United Way Day of Action Makes Everything Better

This week at Orchard Gardens the largest volunteer group ever (I mean it)  came and completely transformed the place.  Over the course of the day, over 60 volunteers, employees of DirecTV and Adventure Life and high schoolers from the Schwanke Honors Institute weeded, weeded, weeded and weeded.  Earlier in the week, I was feeling despair at the sight of so much weedy jungle.  Now, I feel like I work in a formal French garden.  Or at least something kind of like that.  We managed to weed all the onions (500-plus feet) and all the potatoes (450 feet).  People walking by on the bike path were stunned to see such a pretty garden where once was a wall of knapweed.  An entire drip tape installation was assembled in the winter squash and raspberries.  The fruit trees were freed of tall grass at their feet.  And on and on.  I spent much of the day walking from project to project oohing and awing in genuine surprise and delight at how much work was being achieved.

Proof again that many, many hands do a lot of stuff really, really quickly.

Veggie of the Week:  Yukina Savoy

Everyone in the CSA wants to know what Yukina Savoy is.  Well for starters, it’s probably my new favorite vegetable.  Yukina Savoy is yet another amazing Brassica family mustard green.  It has beautiful dark, green leaves that are shaped like giant, crinkled spoons.  “Savoy“refers to the crinkliness.  Here are two pages of yukina savoy info, nutritional facts and a few recipes.

As for me, like pretty much everything else, I like to stir-fry it.  Heat up some oil in a wok or skillet.  Throw in some chopped garlic and ginger and onion-type things.  Add a chopped chile pepper or two if you want.  Throw in a massive amount of chopped greens.  Maybe a mix of yukina, mustards and broccoli raab.  Stir and stir.  After a bit, add a splash of tamari and rice vinegar.  Eat with rice or noodles and maybe some tofu or poached eggs or steak.   See Cori’s recent post about simple cooking.

Otherwise, Yukina Savoy is very good in anything that calls for spinach.  Just substitute.  I made this Green Curry Broth using Yukina.  (Side note:  I did happen to have yuba, from a spring trip to Seattle, but any old noodle would work).  I also added some Chinese shunkyo radishes and some asparagus.  It was very yummy.