Hello, my name is Zoe and I am an intern here for the summer. May 11th marks the one month anniversary of my arrival on the farm, and so far I am absolutely loving it. I do not come from any sort of farming background, so everything that I am doing here is a first for me. I am currently in an interim period between high school and college, as I was unwilling to follow the “normal” path and dive head first into higher education. So this past year I have been trying, without much success might I add, to figure out what I want to do with my life. And after a few existential meltdowns and one somewhat spontaneous decision later, I find myself here. And I could not be happier.
Every night I fall asleep, back aching, legs sore, skin drenched in sun and dirt, and yet I am always excited for the day to come. I’ve already learned so much here, more than I even expected to. And not only about farming either; I’ve acquired knowledge about business, cooking, medicine, even dancing (thanks to Miriam who let me accompany her to a contradance, which was more fun than I could have ever imagined). But I think that one of the most significant things I am learning is to live off of what the land is producing, in the case, spinach. I can safely say I have never eaten so much spinach in my life, but hey, who could complain about a nearly limitless amount of fresh spinach leaves, as long as my head and as vibrant as a St. Patrick’s Day shamrock button? Not I, that’s for sure.
With this abundance of spinach comes a wide variety of ways to prepare and eat it, from soup to salad to stir fry and everything in between. There’s nothing tastier than a simple dish of spinach sautéed with garlic and olive oil, or a nice creamy spinach soup (for which I have written up a recipe), or an omelets made with farm fresh eggs to accompany your farm fresh spinach. But personally, I like to eat spinach fresh and raw. For dinner I will usually take a hefty bunch of the giant green blades, wad them up in my hand and bite the leafy sphere as if it were an apple. The taste of summertime earthy greenness erupts onto my taste buds and perfectly epitomizes the feeling that the aestival season is upon us. And after a horrible cold wet depressing winter that this past one has been, there is nothing in the world that tastes better to me.
Creamy Spinach Soup
1/2 of a Vidalia onion
2 cloves garlic
Olive oil (or butter, whichever you prefer)
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt
2 cups water
1 pound of fresh spinach, stems removed
salt and pepper to taste
Sauté spinach with garlic and oil until wilted. Put in food processor until spinach is in fairly small pieces, but not completely pureed. In a medium saucepan, sauté garlic and onions (both should be diced) in oil (or butter) until onions are soft. Add yogurt and water and mix well. Add spinach and cook on medium heat, stirring periodically until it reaches desired thickness. Enjoy hot or cold, or for a special treat try it au gratin, with a layer of melted Swiss cheese on the surface.
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