Turnip Recipes

Our farm harvest right now is turnip-tastic, and I have to admit, I have never given much thought to turnips until we began harvesting them.  It turns out I LOVE turnips!  They have a great, savory flavor and are easy to cook.  I am even getting a taste for wilted turnip greens!

Try these recipes - or leave your own favorite turnip recipe in the comments.

Roasted Turnips
Ingredients:
turnips, olive oil, Salt & Pepper, Herbs (optional)
Preparation:  Preheat oven to 400°F. Cut the heads of the turnips (save them for wilted greens, or young turnip leaves can be added raw to salad mix --the high calcium content in turnips will make more developed leaves bitter).  Small turnips can be used whole, or slice turnips into bite sized pieces.  Toss the turnips in your olive oil and add salt, pepper, and fresh herbs according to your taste.  Place in the oven and check about every 30 minutes until tender.  Cooking time will depend on the size of your slices. Enjoy!

Wilted Turnip Greens

Turnip Greens are a great source of calcium, lutein, and folate. 
Ingredients:  turnip greens, 1 TBS soy sauce, 1 TSP Sugar, Salt & Pepper, Herbs (optional)
Preparation: Chop turnip greens into aproximately 1 inch pieces, cover in water with two tablespoons of soy sauce and a teaspoon of sugar (the sugar cuts any bitterness in the turnip greens).  Allow to boil about 10 minutes.  Drain excess water or reserve for broth.  Enjoy!

Turnips & Couscous
Ingredients: 2 cups cooked couscous; 3 turnips; 3 cloves garlic; 1/2 onion, chopped; olive oil; chopped; parsely, chopped; oregano, chopped; 7-8 leaves of Kale, chopped; salt and pepper to taste
Preparation: Cook couscous according to instructions.  In a separate pan, heat olive oil, then add galic and onion when the oil is ready to sizzle.  Cook until yellow, then add turnips, cook for 10 minutes, add Kale and cook additional 10 minutes or until desired Kale texture is achieved.  Stir in the Couscous and herbs and mix well.  Enjoy!

May Employee of the Month - the Cicada

 While Ches and I (and several of the chickens) were really hoping to make Employee of the Month for May, it quickly became apparent that this was not in the cards for us.  The cicadas had simply out-shined us.

While our farm is in Pittsboro, our chickens live in our yard in northern Guilford county.  It turns out that the line where the 17 year cicadas emerge falls somewhere in between the two areas.  At home, there are cicadas in every spider web, dozens --probably hundreds--of cicadas dripping from every tree.  And at Iron Fish Farms/Ayrshire, we have not seen a single cicada.  According to this cicada map, we fall right on the northern line of the cicada emergence, which then stretches all the way to Rhode Island.

These 17 year cicadas are a subset of cicada called the Magicicada, which emerge every 13-17 years.  Each group is called a Brood, and our brood is on the 17 year cycle.  It will not be seen again until 2027.  

A theory for why cicadas only emerge after the passage of a certain number of years is that this was a survival adaptation called predator saturation.  That is, even though the cicadas are easy prey, there are just too many of them for predators to eat them all.

The chickens have done their part to challenge this philosophy.  They have quickly evolved the brood amongst whom only a handful of chickens had the gumption to eat a worm, and now swallow 2-3 inch long cicadas in about two seconds.  Ironically, the windfall of insect protein has caused many of the chickens to lose their taste for worms.  I recently watch a worm wriggle the long way out of the chicken coop, clearly spotted by several of the chickens.  Our chicks are only about 3 months old.  In their world, we will always have an endless supply of cicadas.  Why waste time on worms?  Sadly, the cicada mating season will be over by the end of June, and our chickens and their decedents will have a 16 year cicada drought to endure before we should see this many emerge again.

Chatham Mills 5/5

Chilly day at the market, but lots of great people still coming out.  For sale today: radishes, herbs, lettuce, azaleas and soap :0)