April Farm Update

View after the April 18th snowfall and new 
crew members below that we hope 
won't be staying around too long!

Well friends, if we had to choose one word to describe April it would be “Challenging!”  Over the course of the past forty years of farming, we are typically able to start field work and planting late March or the first of April.  Sometimes the weather is still cool and things grow slowly, but at least we can start marking things off the planting list.  Historically, April 18 was the latest date we started field work which means we’ve set a new record this year for the latest spring!  Here we are on April 19 with nearly a foot of snow (although it looks like it could melt fast)!  Back in March it looked like we were going to have an early spring and we pushed hard to secure appointments with the consulate in Mexico so our crew members could get their visas and return to Mexico by the first of April.  We are thankful to have 29 of our crew members back at the farm.  They are ready and willing to work and have helped us get caught up on our greenhouse work as well as tackle some big cleaning and repair projects.  Unfortunately, they’ve had to take some days off as there are limits to what we can do on days when it’s snowing, raining or just too muddy and cold to do what needs to be done in the field.  They’ve been advised to rest and take advantage of the down time as we have some long days of work ahead of us as soon as this snow melts!  In those years when we were able to start our field work earlier, it didn’t necessarily mean crops were ready much earlier.  As mentioned, things grow more slowly in the cool of the spring than they do when they are planted later when the day and night temperatures are higher.  It is helpful though when we can get things in the ground, even if they grow slowly, as it spreads out our workload.  Now we’re facing some long days and the time crunch to get it all done!

Head lettuce transplants in greenhouse

While we enjoyed some gorgeous sunny days and warmer temperatures in March, April has definitely proven itself to be wet and cold.  Last week we had 2.75 inches of hard rain accompanied by hail.  That was followed by about 8 inches of wet, heavy snow over the weekend.  Much of the snow had melted away, but now our valley is once again blanketed in white.  We know, all too well, that sometimes Mother Nature trumps us despite our best efforts to overcome weather challenges such as these.  There isn’t much we can do aside from being prepared to hit the ground running and put forth our best effort as soon as the snow melts away and we can get into the fields.  We’re preparing machinery, getting seeds ready and making sure everyone is ready to go when the conditions are favorable.  With a few warm, sunny days, the picture could change and we just might get a window of opportunity.

Herb Packs 

Our greenhouses are nearly full and the plants look really good right now.  The onions and our first plantings of broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, kale and collards are residing in our cold frame greenhouse where they enjoy breezy days and chilly nights with temperatures dipping down into the 40’s.  Our goal is to keep them on the cool side to toughen them up and keep them growing at a moderate rate so they develop into strong, sturdy plants.  The peppers and celeriac plants were transplanted into larger cell trays last week and they look very good.  Earlier this week Leonardo, Lupe, Miguel, Pepe and Leon spent a sunny day in the greenhouse planting herb packs for you!  We are planning to deliver them in mid to late May so you can plant them in your own garden space or put them in pots on your patio and enjoy fresh herbs throughout the season.  Our pollinator packs are also looking really good!

Celeriac seedlings in the greenhouse

We were scheduled to plant zucchini this week, but we’re planning to delay that planting a week or so.  Zucchini grows very fast and when it’s ready it needs to go to the field.  We are hoping to transplant some head lettuce into our tunnel greenhouse next week, if the weather is a bit more favorable.  The goal is that we would have mini romaine head lettuce by late May, a few weeks ahead of lettuce that will be transplanted into the field.

Perky pepper transplants

French Breakfast Radishes

CSA deliveries start in just two more weeks.  What does all this snow mean for the start of our CSA deliveries?  Good question.  The early boxes may be limited in variety, but we’re hoping to fill them with delicious overwintered spinach, parsnips, sunchokes and ramps!  If you’ve been with us in previous CSA seasons you know that we often struggle to have overwintered spinach and ramps in our early CSA boxes.  Sometimes these crops come in early in April and are nearly done by the start of CSA.  We’ve even had years when we aren’t able to include ramps in May boxes.  Perhaps the silver lining in this year’s late spring will be that we get to enjoy the luxury of more ramps and overwintered spinach in our early boxes!  That’s not such a bad tradeoff!   Yes, the early boxes might be more limited, but we do have our perennial crops to rely on until we can start harvesting spring planted crops such as radishes, salad mix, bok choi, etc.  Some of those perennial crops include asparagus, sorrel, chives and nettles.  We will also have green onions that were planted last fall to round out the selections until the green garlic and spring scallions are ready.  This is the adventure of eating and cooking with the seasons.

Chives

This week we welcomed a new crew member to our team.  Gwen has joined us in the office to help Kelly and Andrea with a wide variety of tasks.  We’re very happy to have her on our team and look forward to teaching her the ins and outs of managing the many details of a vegetable farm!  On April 30 we anticipate our final eleven crew members will arrive for their first day of work.  We’ll be welcoming four new crew members to our team this year and are anxious to meet them. 

Our CSA numbers are still down and we still have plenty of shares available.  If you haven’t sent in your order yet, please do so soon!  We appreciate the referrals we’ve received and ask that you continue to share your CSA experience with your friends, neighbors and co-workers.  We’re looking forward to getting this growing season underway and thank you for your continued support of our farm! 

Happy First Day of Spring!

Snow Drop

Can you believe it?  We made it through another winter and the promises of new growth, green vegetables, warmth and the adventures of another CSA season are in our near future.  Yesterday Richard found the first spring flowers of the season.  We have some pretty little Snow Drops poking through on our hillside.  They are the earliest flowers to bloom each year, which means the daffodils, crocuses and tulips will follow very soon.  As I was preparing dinner last night, Richard passed through the kitchen and said, “Spring is Coming, Isn’t this exiting?!  I love growing things!”  While winter never seems long enough to make it through our long “To Do List,” we always welcome spring and the refreshing sense of newness that comes with it.

The overwintered spinach with new growth!

Look closely to see the new garlic sprout just above the label.

As our valley and farm start to wake up and we celebrate the First Day of Spring, we thought it fitting to let you know what’s been happening on the farm.  Richard has been roving through some of the fields already.  It’s a little too soon to assess how well the garlic survived the winter, although Richard did see the very beginning stages of new growth.  The overwintered spinach plants look good.  Last year’s growth has died, which actually makes the first glance of the field look pretty bad.  The important thing though is that the actual crown of the plant has life in it.  It's still a little too small to cut any, but we’re hoping we can start snitching a few of those first leaves for a little green salad very soon.  For those of you who don’t know the beauty of overwintered spinach, listen up.  Historically this is the best tasting spinach of the season. It’s sweet and rich in flavor.  The leaves are thick, yet tender.  You do not want to miss out on this spinach!

Transplanting onions in 2017

We also have some overwintered parsnips, sunchokes and horseradish that we need to harvest as soon as the fields dry out…and we have a crew to harvest them!  Our small winter crew has been doing an awesome job taking care of, well everything.  They’ve been washing vegetables still in storage to fill a few winter orders, they’ve worked on repair and cleaning projects, set up two greenhouses, harvested the willow, shoveled snow, helped open up frozen drains and a whole lot of other random tasks!  But we’re going to need more hands very soon.  Thankfully, our final approval for our H2A visa application came through at the end of last week and we were able to schedule the appointments for our field crew to go to the consulate in Mexico where they’ll, hopefully, get their visas and make the long journey north to Wisconsin.  We hope to see the first group of 19 people by the end of next week.  Once they are here, we’ll start laying plastic mulch so we can transplant onions, have fields to clean up and prepare for planting, rocks to pick, seed potatoes to cut, animal fencing to fix, a fleet of pickup trucks to service, wheel bearings to pack and a whole lot more!  Yes, we’re anxious to have them back and hope all goes well with their travels.  It’s always bittersweet to see them.  Good for us because we enjoy working with them and they are an important part of our farm, but when they’re here it means they aren’t with their families.  They seem to make the best of it and we are grateful to their wives, children and other family members that take care of business on the home front while they’re husbands, sons, brothers are here.

Onion plants showing signs of growth every day!

Soon this house will be full!

Our greenhouses are rocking and quickly turning multiple shades of green!  All of the onions, shallots and leeks are planted and growing very nicely.  We’ve had a lot of nice days with full sunshine which means the plants are really able to suck up the energy and have growth spurts literally overnight!  When I went into the greenhouse yesterday morning some of the onions had about an inch of new growth that was not there when I walked through the house the night before.  By the end of the week we’ll probably have to give them their first “hair cut” of the season so they don’t start falling over.  Last Friday and Saturday Gerardo, Simon and Sarah finished planting all the celeriac and moved on to fennel.  Moises finished the fennel planting on Monday and now we’ve moved on to the first plantings of parsley and dandelion with plans to plant the first crops of broccoli, cauliflower, spring cabbage, kale and kohlrabi before the end of the week. 

Silky Wild Rye (above) and Crew Planting Pollinator Packs in 2016

Does anyone remember when we did Pollinator Packs a few years ago?  Well, we didn’t do them last year and actually received quite a few inquiries from members interested in planting more pollinator plants.  So this year we decided to do them again.  The seeds have been planted and nearly everything is up and growing nicely.  Some of the plants in the mix are the same as the ones we did previously, but we also chose a few new things including more native grasses with fun interesting names such as silky wild rye and rattlesnake grass.  If you planted a pollinator garden with the packs we offered previously, this year will be your opportunity to diversify your space with some new plants! 

Seed Cooler is stocked up and ready for spring too!

Our seed cooler is full and we've received nearly all of the seeds we'll need for the season. We have a few new crops on the plan.  We found a new green called “Bau Sin.”  This is an Asian green that is supposed to have tender, sweet leaves and thrives best in the cool of the fall.  It’s supposed to form a head with broad leaves, so I imagine it to be kind of like a cross between cabbage and bok choi with a mild, sweet flavor.  We’re also growing a new bean called “Amethyst.”    As indicated by its name, this is a purple bean meant for fresh eating.  We haven’t grown purple beans before because once you cook them, they always turn green!  What’s the point?!  While green beans are typically cooked, they can also be eaten raw. These Amethyst beans are described as having very good flavor when eaten raw or cooked.  Yes, they still turn green if you cook them, but I think they could make a beautiful salad if used raw.  Perhaps a salad of thinly sliced purple beans tossed with some sweet onion slices, halved Sunorange tomatoes, some fresh basil and a light red wine vinaigrette…..I look forward to trying this.  While we’re on the topic of purple vegetables, I’ll mention our new Asian pepper called “Danjo Cheong Yang.”  If there is anyone in our membership that is familiar with this pepper or how to use it (or even how to correctly pronounce the name), please email me.  I’ve never seen this pepper before and am interested in learning more about how to use it.  It’s described as having the appearance and heat level of a serrano pepper.  They are a deep purple pepper that ripens to a deep, dark red when fully ripe.  Last fall we received some very positive feedback to our attempt at growing escarole and radicchio in our cold frame greenhouse for December delivery.  Unfortunately we didn’t have a planting big enough to cover all the boxes, but since it was well-received we’re encouraged to increase our planting sizes and plant some in the field as well.  This will hopefully give us some interesting greens for late November and December boxes.

Bau Sin (Osborne Seeds)

Amethyst Beans (Johnny's Seeds)

Danjo Cheong Yang Pepper (Osborne Seeds)

As far as the rest of our valley goes, we hear and see signs of spring all around us.  Richard’s ducks took a break from laying eggs over the winter, but resumed laying eggs a few weeks ago.  Richard is trying to encourage the hens to set so we can have new ducklings later this spring.  At night we can hear the owls hooting and the coyotes yipping in the distance, likely either defending their young or hunting for food to feed them.  We’ve seen some flocks of geese migrating through our area and are anxious for the return of the blue birds. 

We are planning to do some “Woods Walks with Farmer Richard” again this year, likely in May.  We’re still putting together the details, so watch for more information in our April emails so you can make your reservation.  Last year’s events were a lot of fun and we’re hoping to see more members take advantage of this experience again this year.  Our woods are an interesting and kind of magical place in the spring!

We are processing your CSA orders and getting ready to put together your Welcome Packets that will go out in April.  Until we get all the orders entered, it’s kind of hard to assess exactly where we are with number of shares sold this year in comparison to previous years.  From a dollars perspective, it looks like we are down 5.5% in vegetable shares and down 9.5% for fruit shares. We do still have plenty of shares available.  

If you haven’t signed up yet, please do so very soon so you don’t miss out on anything!  If you have a friend, co-worker, neighbor, etc that is interested in CSA, we’d appreciate it if you take a minute to share your first-hand CSA experience with them.  You can also offer them our “New Member Coupon” which will give them some money off their first order and you’ll also earn a referral coupon! Our CSA season starts in just 6 weeks and we are looking forward to growing for you this year!

----Farmers Richard & Andrea

In The Kitchen with Chef Andrea!

Are your produce stores dwindling? Are you down to the last few onions? Does your refrigerator resemble this picture? We’re likely all experiencing a bit of spring fever and longing for fresh greens from the field. We aren’t quite there yet, so if you do still have some winter vegetables remaining lets find some good uses for them before spring vegetables start rolling in.

Here are a few of our favorite recipe suggestions that we’ve featured in previous newsletters. Perhaps you’ll find a few suggestions that will help you come into the home stretch and use up whatever is left in your refrigerator or pantry!

Apple Turnip Quiche

TURNIPS: 

Apple Turnip Quiche

Turnip Risotto  

CARROTS:

Carrot Oatmeal Cookie

Winter Veggie Wraps with Miso-Carrot Spread

Sesame Noodles with Seasonal Variations

BEETS:

White Bean & Beet Dip

Carrot Oatmeal Cookie

Creamy Horseradish Beets

CELERIAC:

Sesame Chicken Celeriac Salad

Maple-Bacon Roasted Apples & Celeriac

ONIONS:

A Pizza In the Roman Way

Green Lentils, Rice & Caramelized Onions

A Pizza In the Roman Way

SWEET POTATOES:

Moroccan Sweet Potato Salad 

Coconut Pan-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

See you next month!

Chef Andrea

Happy Spring Everyone!

 By Andrea Yoder

Onions still in the greenhouse

April showers bring May flowers…..and green hillsides on our farm!  The pace of the farm has picked up and we’re rocking and rolling again!  This week we returned to the fields to harvest, work ground and plant.  Spring cleaning is happening in the packing shed and we’re all starting to get back into our vegetable groove.  Our CSA deliveries start in just three weeks and we’re excited to return to Madison, Wisconsin this weekend for our first farmers’ market of the season!  Things are changing fast and there’s quite a lot to fill you in on this month!

Both planting crews out in the fields

Our first group of field crew members returned from Mexico and started work on Monday.  We were thankful for their safe travels and were happy to see their smiling faces.  They hit the ground running on Monday.  Rafael, Juan, Jose Ramon and Nestor started off the week getting tractors, trucks and equipment out of winter storage.  By noon Nestor had already prepared ground for planting, so after lunch Rafael and Tomas were in the field doing our first direct seeding of the season!  Manuel and Juan Pablo followed behind and planted our first baby lettuces on Monday as well.  Angel and Juan Pablo have been working on fencing in the pastures……the cattle are anxious to be back out on grass and are happy to see the hillsides greening up.  Other crew members hopped on spring cleaning projects, joined the packing shed crew to transplant baby pepper plants in the greenhouses and started working on some field clean-up projects.

Ramps ready for DCFM

We decided to start our harvest for the farmers’ market on Wednesday, seeing rain in the forecast for Wednesday night and the latter part of the week.  While the ramps are still a little small, the crew was able to find enough to take to market and we anticipate they’ll be ready for larger harvests next week.  In the afternoon they went to the spinach field and spent the afternoon harvesting some sweet, tender overwintered spinach.  The hum of vegetable sorting and washing has returned to the packing shed this morning.

Lettuce planted in the Flower Tunnel

We have had some rain this week, so some of our field work is on hold.  We’re hoping to see some dry days in the near future so we can get some critical things done.  The onion transplants are almost ready to go to the field, but first we need to prepare their beds by covering them with the reflective plastic mulch that helps with weed and pest control as well as heat gain.  Next week we will be receiving some rhubarb and strawberry plants and need to get those fields ready for planting as well.  We are also anxious to plant some of our other early-planted crops including parsnips, burdock root and our first carrots and beets.

Transplanting pepper plants

The greenhouses are almost at full capacity, with only about two tables left in the nursery greenhouse……and we need those to finish the plantings on this week’s schedule!  The plants are looking very nice and many will be ready to go to the field within the next few weeks.  This year we’re trying something new.   Usually we use our greenhouses for transplant production only in the spring and we have one small house we seed edible flowers in for our salad mix.   This year we decided to try growing some early season head lettuces in these houses.  Simon, Scott and Gerardo started preparing the soil for planting last week and on Monday Scott and Leonardo finished planting the lettuce.  We’re hoping they’ll be ready for CSA boxes and the farmers’ market by the first to middle part of May which is several weeks earlier than the head lettuce we’ll harvest from the field.  

Jicama starting to come up in the greenhouse

Over the winter, Richard and Lisa spent quite a bit of time reviewing the results of the survey we did at the end of last year.  We really appreciate the input we received from those who chose to participate.  One of the questions we asked was for input on helping us choose three vegetables from our list of “unique crops” that you would like us to grow this year.  The top three vegetable choices were jicama, broccoli raab and dried beans!  We’re happy to report the jicama is planted and started sprouting this week.  The broccoli raab will be planted within the next few weeks and we’ll probably do a fall planting too.  It’s a little early to plant beans, but we have the seed!

Eagle in the tree

Farmer Richard is getting very excited for the May Woods Walks that he has planned.  In case you haven’t heard, we’ve invited our members to come to the farm this spring to join Farmer Richard for a walk through our wooded hillsides.  You will have the opportunity to explore areas of the farm we don’t usually feature at our other farm events.  There are a lot of treasures to discover in our woods and Farmer Richard is looking forward to guiding you on a walking tour using the new trails he and his crew made last fall!  As you hike through the woods, you’ll have the opportunity to look for spring wildflowers, learn how to identify different species of trees by their leaves and bark, forage for wild edibles, listen and look for birds, and you might even stumble on a morel mushroom or two!The two dates are May 13 and 20.  You’ll find more information about the event in this week’s email. This event is for CSA members only and space is limited, so we do ask that you email with an RSVP in advance.


We do still have CSA shares available for this year’s season, so please remind your friends and neighbors to sign up soon!  If you are in Madison, please stop by and visit us at the farmers’ market starting this weekend.  If you reside in the Twin Cities or our local area, please read your email for more details about some of the other events going on in the next few weeks.  Ok, that’s a wrap for now…time to water the greenhouses!

March Field Update

Sorrel popping up after the snow melted

by Farmer Richard

Just six weeks until our first CSA delivery and things are on the verge of getting very busy around here!  With all the snow melted away, Jack and I have been out looking at the fields and working on our field plan.  We had a pretty mild winter and thus far our overwintered crops seem to have done pretty well.  Last week we dug a handful of parsnips and sunchokes.  There are quite a lot remaining in the field and they have definitely become sweeter over the winter!  Yesterday we had pretty high winds that managed to rip the cover off our overwintered spinach field which allowed us to get a better look at the field.  So far it looks pretty good and tastes delicious!  The garlic is definitely up and looks to have a pretty high survival rate.  We even have some scarlet turnips, black radishes and parsley that seem to have survived the winter, even though that wasn’t the plan!

Onions in the greenhouse

Our greenhouses are filling up quickly.  The onions and shallots will be ready for their first trimming within the next week or so and we hope to transplant them in the field the first week of April.  Our first crop of dandelion greens and parsley are planted and starting to come up.  We’re hoping to see the first broccoli, cauliflower and kohlrabi sprouts this weekend.

We started the first herbs for our herb packs this week and some of the wildflowers and grasses for our pollinator packs are already poking through.  Next week we’ll be planting the first lettuce crop and hope to see the fennel pushing through as well.  We’re impatiently waiting for the ginger and turmeric to sprout.  Shouldn’t be too long now as the rhizomes were already starting to swell when we planted them!

The garlic field!

Our small winter crew is trimming the last of the pussy willow today and we hope to finish pruning the curly willow hedge rows next week.  We’re in the midst of a few winter repair projects and will be tackling our massive spring cleaning projects very soon.

We just received approval yesterday for our H2A visas.  These are agricultural guest worker visas we rely on for our seasonal field crew.  We plan to see our first group of guys back at work on April 4!  With all indications that it will be an early spring, we’re anxious for their return.

And the question you may still have on the tip of your tongue….what about the ramps?!   Jack and I haven’t ventured out to the ramp woods yet, but stay tuned for more spring updates.  They’re right around the corner!

April Spring Update!

By Andrea Yoder

Spring is always an exciting time in our valley and this year is no different.  While we’re grateful for the bounty of fall root crops which nourish us through the winter months, we always breathe a sigh of relief when we finally have something fresh and green to eat again!  Last week we pulled the row cover off the overwintered spinach and were happy to see a sea of green leaves!  Couple that with the pretty little ramps growing in the woods and thus marks the start of our spring season.

Manuel and Juan Pablo planting the first Salad mix crop!

 Every year we anxiously await the transition from winter to spring.  It seems like nothing is happening and then suddenly everything is happening!  We’re excited to be attending our first farmer’s market in Madison this weekend and our first CSA delivery is only 3 weeks away.  This week we’re harvesting the first of our overwintered spinach and the first ramps of the season!  Soon the asparagus will be poking through the ground and before we know it May will roll into June and we’ll start picking strawberries!  Here’s a little snippet of just a few things happening on the farm.

Field of overwintered Spinach

First ramp harvest of the year!

       Last week our first group of field crew members returned after spending a few months in Mexico with their families.  The pace and energy of the farm changed overnight and we’re thankful that everyone made it back to Wisconsin safely.  Juan has been staying busy managing repairs in the shop.  Rafael got right to work spreading minerals on fields.  Jose Ramon wasted no time subsoiling

Jose Alejandro taking a turn at correctly putting out a fire!

some of the fields that were still a little wet so they’d dry out faster.  Rogelio has split his time between helping Juan with repairs in the shop and spreading compost on the dry days.  We've also taken advantage of these first few weeks of spring to put fresh coats of paint on our harvest wagons and to some of the rooms in our employee housing.  We managed to squeeze in a few safety trainings including how to use a fire extinguisher and an entire day devoted to chainsaw safety.

Benjamin helping to unload a bin of overwintered sunchokes.

       Chef Martin Clark, our summer farm chef for the 2015 season, joined our team this week.  The crew is anxious for him to start preparing lunch next week.  We’re excited to share all of our wonderful vegetables with Martin to see what kinds of creative things he can make with them!
The greenhouses are quickly filling up.  This week we’re transplanting celeriac and pepper plants into larger trays.  The jicama just started poking through & I’m happy to say the ginger plants are the healthiest looking sprouts I've ever seen!  Within the next several weeks we’ll be planting the herb packs so they are ready to send to CSA members in May!

Overwintered parsnip crew!

While we were able to plant some things last week, the rain held us back from doing very much.  We’re anxious to get some important plantings done this week.  Beets, carrots, peas, chard and even onion transplants are on the list for Friday and Saturday.  The guys have been busy preparing the fields and we have our fingers crossed that the rain will hold off until we can get some more seeds into the ground.

Juan Pablo with new baby goat!

Earlier this week the harvest crew finished the overwintered sunchoke harvest and quickly moved onto planting potatoes.  The packing shed crew has been diligently moving through each of our packing areas as they do our annual spring cleaning. Every corner gets cleaned, equipment is being repaired, and we’re getting everything ready to start a new season.  There’s nothing that makes me happier than a clean, neat and organized packing shed!
As for the pasture update, we’re happy to announce the birth of our first little baby goat of the spring.  He’s a healthy little guy who had enough strength to walk to himself from the pasture where he was born to his cozy little goat house!  Juan Pablo & Angel are back as our resident animal care-takers.  The chickens were so happy to see Juan Pablo that they laid 17 eggs one day last week!

       Needless to say we’re staying busy.  We’re happy to be back in the swing of farming and are looking forward to the growing season.  Thank you for your continued support of our farm and we look forward to growing delicious food for you this season!

Creamed Ramps and Overwintered Spinach

Chef Andrea Yoder, Harmony Valley Farm

Serves 4
2 bunches ramps,  ½ lb.
4 oz spinach
3-4 quarts water
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 pint cream
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
½ tsp salt, or to taste
¼ tsp ground black pepper, or to taste

1. Bring 3-4 quarts of water to a boil.  Cut ramps into 1-2” pieces keeping the  bulbs separate from the leaves.  Blanch the ramp leaves by boiling just until wilted and bright green.  Remove from water and put in a colander.  Rinse with cold water and squeeze off excess water.  Repeat the same procedure with the spinach.
2. In an 8-inch oven proof skillet, heat oil.  Saute ramp bulbs just until slightly tender.  Remove from heat and top with ramp leaves.  Season with ¼ teaspoon salt and a pinch of black pepper.  Layer spinach on top of ramps and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and pinch of black pepper.  Pour cream over vegetables and top with cheese.  
3. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 20-30 minutes or until cream is bubbling and has thickened, and the top is golden brown.

Ramp Butter

Chef Andrea Yoder, Harmony Valley Farm

Ramp butter on bread served with soup!

Yield ½ cup

1 stick unsalted butter, softened 

½ bunch ramps

1. Soften butter to room temperature.  
2. Clean ramps and remove the root end.  Roughly chop the ramps (white bulb and green tops) into 1-inch pieces.  Place ramps in the bowl of a food processor and process until they are finely chopped. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the butter to the ramps and process just long enough to evenly incorporate the ramps into the butter.
4. Put into a covered bowl and refrigerate until ready for use. Will store for about 1 week in the refrigerator, or put some in the freezer to enjoy this winter!
5. This is a super simple, yet delicious way to enjoy the flavor of ramps and can be used in a lot of different ways.  Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Melt ramp butter in a saute pan and cook your morning eggs in it.
• Put a pat of ramp butter on top of a grilled steak.
• Spread ramp butter on bread and bake it in the oven until the bread is toasted. Serve it as a side with your favorite soup!
• Melt ramp butter on grilled asparagus spears.
• Stir ramp butter into warm rice or pasta.