This weekend we aren’t doing anything other than farm planning. Okay, and cooking and baking (like a fool) and watching the Oscars and maybe even taking a hike or two, but mostly we are farm planning because believe it or not, the 2015 farming season is almost upon us!

We begin planting things in 8 days. 8 days! 8 short days until there’s dirt under our fingernails and the smell of soil comes back into our lives. We are helping our friend Beth get her greenhouse up and running for its inaugural year and then will begin greenhouse growing in 3 short weeks. From here on out, time is going to start moving ridiculously fast, so we are doing our very best to get organized and get ready for all the madness that lays ahead.

Excel spreadsheets, long methodical talks with my sweetie (er, farming partner), planting calendars, logistical e-mails, checklist making, website updating: that is what peaceful February weekends are for.

In celebration of the farm-focused weekend, I cooked up our very last summer vegetable: a teeny tiny head of red cabbage that has been chilling in the fridge (hehe, chilling, get it?!) since last October. I made a simple coleslaw with our last lovely cabbage and tossed it with a sesame dressing (because by now you probably know I think everything tastes better tossed in some kind of sesame something) to be served atop BBQ pork tacos.

This fun meal takes me back to summer. To farm dinners that put our veggies and my parents’ pork front and center. To simple yet elegant meals with so much color, happiness and sunshine in them that your mood elevates with every bite. I don’t know about you, but in the dead of winter, in this it’s-almost-spring anxiousness, I’ll take all the happy, love-grown food I can get my hands on! Here’s to the weekend! And here’s to good food! And here’s to the season ahead!

Happy Saturday!

Love,
Leek

RED CABBAGE COLESLAW WITH PEANUTS
Adapted from John Capelo’s BBQ Pulled Pork Tacos from Food Truck Roadtrip
You won’t often find me making coleslaw without a food processor.  I shred both the cabbage and carrots in my food processor for ease.  You don’t have to but it does yield nice, small, tender strips of the veggies. 

Takes 30 minutes
Makes 12 cups, enough for 20 tacos!

1 small red cabbage, cored and shredded
3 carrots, peeled and shredded
1 jalapeno, diced
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
Kosher salt
Sesame Dressing:
1/4 cup peanut oil (olive will be fine if you don’t have peanut)
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sriracha or other hot sauce

Combine the shredded cabbage and carrots with the jalapeno and peanuts in a large bowl.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt, toss and salt a little more.
Combine all the dressing ingredients in a small bowl.  Whisk until completely combined. It will take quite a bit of whisking to get the oil incorporated.
I kept the slaw and dressing in separate containers and dressed my coleslaw as needed so that it didn’t get too soggy. If you like a soupier coleslaw, mix the dressing with the veggies and store it this way.  Salt to taste.

I made a variation on this pork to be served on corn tortillas with some sour cream, shredded cheese, a touch of BBQ sauce and this yummy slaw!!!  Lime wedges are a great idea if you have them on hand. Yumm!!!