The Origin of Nash’s Red Kale

Farmers have been developing new crop varieties for thousands of years. An excellent example of this ancient agricultural tradition is how Nash Huber developed the red kale that is in your box this week.

Back in 1990, Nash planted 3 acres of a kale variety called Vates, a green kale with frilly leaves. He noticed 2 bright purple plants in the middle of the sea of green. They were “sports,” or plants that had randomly mutated on their own. Realizing he could encourage this purple color, Nash dug up the 2 plants and isolated them in his home garden. He surrounded them with  10 Brussels sprouts plants so they would pollinate each other, because he also wanted eventually to achieve a kale plant with the height of the Brussels sprouts and with leaves that could be harvested from lower to upper levels as the plant grew. This would make it easier to harvest, and the farm could get several bunches of kale per plant, making it more profitable. “That was a lot to ask,” Nash says. “But I thought I may as well go for it!”

Some of the offspring of the kale sport/Brussels sprout cross showed these characteristics. But it took many seasons of planting and cross-pollinating, before Nash and his team were able to consistently get kale with the desired traits. However, about 5% of the plants continued to be green instead of purple. With the help of Dr. John Navazio of Organic Seed Alliance in Port Townsend, they were able to greatly reduce the number of plants manifesting the green color. This year the farm was finally able to sell seed to other farmers, relatively confident that they would get the crop they were expecting.

Nash’s Red Kale also has a bonus benefit—cold-hardiness. It can reliably survive in temperatures down into the teens and has become a mainstay winter kale.

This is NOT “genetic modification” as in GMOs created by Monsanto. Nash only influenced how those original sports were pollinated. He did not forcibly inject the genetic material from one completely different species into another in a laboratory as biotech companies do. He used the classical seed breeding methods that farmers have safely used throughout the history of agriculture.

Week 5, August 8

Both boxes have: Sweet peppers, broccoli, Walla Walla onion, Romaine, nectarines, pickling dill flower

The Small box also has: Cucumber, green cabbage

The Standard box also has: Chiogga beets & greens, collards, dried Diana fava beans, bunched carrots

The sweet peppers in your boxes this week come from Alvarez Farm, an organic farm in Mabton, WA, that specializes in 155 varieties of sweet and hot peppers.

Peppers are high on the list of veggies that you should only eat organic. They are thin-skinned and on conventional farms they are sprayed several times in the course of ripening to prevent pest and fungus damage. These chemicals are absorbed through the thin skins, and no amount of washing will remove them.

But Hilario Alvarez farms organically, so enjoy these peppers without worry!

Recipe for Roasted Pepper & Onion Wrap

Pickling Dill Flower

This is a little bonus for your box. We had a bumper crop and wanted to pass the bounty on to you. If you make pickles, you probably know what to do with it. But if you don’t, chop up the flowering heads into salad dressings, marinades, or in cold salads such as potato salad or coleslaw.

Use the flowers and fronds to make dill-infused vinegar. Just pack the pickling dill heads into a glass bottle or jar and fill it to the top with your favorite vinegar. Then cover and let  sit in a cool, dark pantry for about six weeks. Besides making a great base for salad dressings, the dill vinegar can be poured over sliced cucumbers and onions with a bit of fresh ground pepper for a refreshingly cool summer salad.

Fresh dill is also a natural flavor companion for fish, especially salmon. Use snippets of the flowers to garnish any fish dish, or mash them up with butter or olive oil, salt and pepper, and season chicken or fish accordingly.

Dill flowers do start to wilt shortly after being picked, but retain their robust flavor and if kept wrapped in a damp towel or plastic bag, will keep for a week or more in your fridge.

Diana Fava Beans

Fava beans are one of the best sources of vegetable protein ever. Thoroughly rinse and inspect the beans, picking out small pebbles or damaged beans that made it through our seed cleaner, and rinse off the diatomaceous earth we have dusted them with as a safeguard against bean weevils in storage. Dried Diana fava beans can be prepared as you would pinto beans. Soak 1 part beans in 2 parts water for 6+ hours. Strain, rinse and combine 1 part soaked beans in 2 parts fresh water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 65 minutes. Allow for additional cooking time if the beans have not been pre‐soaked. Favas become very tender when simmered on low in a crockpot over‐ night. Dianas are a very hard bean (which makes them a good storage bean) with a resilient seed coat, so make sure the outer skins are very tender. If necessary, add additional water.

You can use your beans to make hummus or half way through cooking, season with salt, chili powder, cumin, coriander, bay leaf, garlic, peppers and/or onions. Add a couple of cut up tomatoes towards the end of the cooking process, and use as a side dish or in soups and stews.

In the 1970s, Washington State changed its regulatory policies, making it easier for owners of large parcels of land to short-plat their properties and get maximum prices selling for development. The end result was the loss of thousands of acres of fertile farmland in Western Washington.

In an effort to curtail the losses , concerned citizens all over the state started to form local land trusts. One of the most effective and innovative of these is the PCC Farmland Trust (PCCFLT), created by PCC Natural Markets, a chain of natural food co-ops in the Seattle area, that is also one of Nash’s biggest wholesale accounts. Its first acquisition was the 75-acre Delta Farm in Dungeness, now leased by Nash Huber and his team of young farmers.

The Delta Farm is prime farmland with incredibly fertile soils and ample access to excellent irrigation water. It is the location of our farm’s most important barn, the mechanics’ shed, farm housing and the livestock operation.

PCCFLT purchased the land in 2000, extinguished the development rights and wrote a conservation agreement preserving the land for organic agriculture in perpetuity. Every year, the Trust visits Delta Farm and each of the eight other farms it has preserved since its inception (1,264 acres, supporting 13 organic farming operations) to ensure that the farms follow all the articles of their respective conservation agreements, by walking the properties and talking to the farmers.  Above, from left, Sam McCullough shows PCCFLT’s Brenda Campbell, Conservation Stewardship Manager, and Eve Boyce, Americorps Intern, Delta Farm’s property lines and the farm’s compost system on this year’s visit.

Standing, from left: Sid Maroney (farm share/sales), Mary Wong (special projects), Sam McCullough (field/grain/equipment), Josh Gloor (infrastructure/facilities), and Chris Tipton (vegetables/seed). Kneeling, from left: Patty McManus-Huber (promotions), Kia Armstrong (sales/promotions), Waylon Barrett (vegetable production), Devon Beck (farmers markets/farm housing) and Nash Huber. Front: Prancer (human-canine relations).

The season is in full swing. Everything is happening at once at this time of year. We are already harvesting grain—the first barley of the season was combined this week—and the crew is now putting in the seed and transplants for winter crops.

It’s a delicate dance, keeping all those balls up in the air during this busy time. We are still working soil, planting, irrigating, cultivating, harvesting, and marketing.  None of it could be done without the work and leadership of our stellar management team.

It’s been many a year since Nash Huber stopped farming solo. He now does his best to oversee the entire operation, to keep the diverse components working well together, but the real work is done by the incredibly diligent and creative group of young managers in the photo above.