After apple picking

While we haven't been picking apples, this is exactly how we feel. Robert Frost always says it best. 

“After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost

My long two-pointed ladder’s sticking through a tree
Toward heaven still,
And there’s a barrel that I didn’t fill
Beside it, and there may be two or three
Apples I didn’t pick upon some bough.
But I am done with apple-picking now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night,
The scent of apples: I am drowsing off.
I cannot rub the strangeness from my sight
I got from looking through a pane of glass
I skimmed this morning from the drinking trough
And held against the world of hoary grass.
It melted, and I let it fall and break.
But I was well
Upon my way to sleep before it fell,
And I could tell
What form my dreaming was about to take.
Magnified apples appear and disappear,
Stem end and blossom end,
And every fleck of russet showing clear.
My instep arch not only keeps the ache,
It keeps the pressure of a ladder-round.
I feel the ladder sway as the boughs bend.
And I keep hearing from the cellar bin
The rumbling sound
Of load on load of apples coming in.
For I have had too much
Of apple-picking: I am overtired
Of the great harvest I myself desired.
There were ten thousand thousand fruit to touch,
Cherish in hand, lift down, and not let fall.
For all
That struck the earth,
No matter if not bruised or spiked with stubble,
Went surely to the cider-apple heap
As of no worth.
One can see what will trouble
This sleep of mine, whatever sleep it is.
Were he not gone,
The woodchuck could say whether it’s like his
Long sleep, as I describe its coming on,
Or just some human sleep.

Scenes from the farm: Re-skinning the greenhouse (it took 4 tries but we finally got it done), winter greens seeded, Farmer Malaika so happy with her arm full of radicchio.

The Share:

salad mix

head lettuce

arugula

salad mix

kale

spinach

cabbage

beets

carrots!

kohlrabi

broccoli

escarole

fennel

radish

watermelon radish

radicchio

tatsoi

celery root

sweet peppers

eggplant

cilantro

dill

parsley

potatoes

winter squash

onions

garlic

Recipe of the week:

Arugula, Carrot & Celery Root Salad with Almonds

 

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbs. apple cider vinegar
  • 2 Tbs. honey
  • 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 6 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 medium carrots (1 lb.)
  • 1 medium celery root (3/4 to 1 lb.)
  • 6 lightly packed cups baby arugula (about 6 oz.)
  • 3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Preparation

  • In a small bowl, whisk the vinegar, honey, and mustard. Whisk in the oil and season with 1/2 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper.

    Peel and trim the carrots and celery root and then grate them in a food processor fitted with a medium grating disk. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the arugula, half of the almonds and half of the cilantro; toss with the vinaigrette. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the remaining almonds and cilantro and serve.

 

Malaika SpencerComment