I hope you’ve been enjoying the recipes we’ve been posting on this blog. Farming is just as much about cooking as it is about planting and weeding and harvesting. Good food comes from healthy soil, from land that has been carefully tended, from kitchens scented with good work and good friends, from folks who take joy in the making, and eating, and giving away of nourishment. I can’t imagine not being both a farmer and a cook; for me the two are interwoven, two parts of the same cycle.
Like farming, cooking is better when shared. There’s nothing I love more than giving away food; giving away recipes is almost as good. In winter, when I have more time to cook, but have to be more creative with the roots and hardy greens I can still get fresh, I am always looking for new recipes, to give and to receive. So if you have a tried-and-true winter favorite, or threw together the best stir-fry you’ve ever had on the fly last night, or if you know the secret to making the best gingerbread (and are willing to share), send us an email at firstrootfarm@gmail.com and we’ll add it to our recipe archive. Likewise, if you’ve sick of cooking carrots and potatoes the same old way, you don’t know what to do with that turnip that’s been sitting in the back of the fridge for weeks, and that celeriac you bought because it looked sort of cool has you stumped, let us know, and I’ll gladly dig up some delicious recipes for unusual veggies. (And unusual recipes for familiar veggies.)
Winter cooking is different from summer cooking – it’s hardier and denser, full of big-pot soups and slow-cooked meat. It feels different to cook in the early dark, with the snow falling outside and the sky so sharp and cold. I love it just as much as I love the raucous bounty of summer, and I look forward to sharing my journey through good winter food with you, as the days get darker, the roots pile up in the pantry, and I scour the cookbooks for yet another way to cook butternut squash.
Laura
