moroccan spiced whole roasted cauliflower
plus some highs, lows, and mysteries from this week
When we woke up on Tuesday morning, same as every morning, we had 7 chickens in our coop. And when we went to close up the coop on Tuesday evening, there were only 2 chickens, who were both huddled in the back, looking rather traumatized.
There was no sign of struggle and we were left (literally) in the dark and very worried about the rest of our flock. The next morning, with the help of my friend Hannah, we thankfully found the 5 missing ladies hiding in various spots around the barn, all looking a bit rattled, but overall doing okay. We’re pretty sure some kind of avian predator (maybe a hawk or owl?) tried to swoop in and attack our sweet ladies, and they were understandably pretty shaken up. We’re so grateful they’re (mostly) okay, and we ended up deciding to re-home them with Hannah and her flock, as we felt like these ladies would be safer and happier over there.
That’s kind of been the story of this week on the farm – a bunch of highs and lows and some mysteries thrown in. Here’s a sampling of some of the other ups and downs (and a mystery) on the farm this week:
A big high came on Monday, when our Spring CSA sold out in record time… every spot was claimed within 2 hours! I’m honored and grateful to have such a loyal and committed community of friends and neighbors who trust me to be their local farmer, and it’s a relief to have the economic boost from the purchase of these CSA shares, which helps offset the many expenses that come at the beginning of the farm season.
However… the “low” part about the CSA selling out so fast (with a long waiting list) is that I feel like I’ve let folks in my community down. I know many friends were disappointed that they weren’t able to secure a CSA spot, and it just sucks that I can’t meet the very clear demand. But this season, I made the hard decision to scale back the farm and offer fewer CSA shares, in hopes that scaling back will help me stress less and focus more on our young family. And putting myself/our family first in this situation has meant that I have to let go of the weight I feel about potentially letting some folks down. (As a Type-A people pleaser, this is wildly uncomfortable for me, but we can do hard things.)
Another low came on Tuesday, when our son Sawyer had a total epic meltdown when our very sweet teenage neighbor came over to help babysit, which ended with me having to send her home early because her mere presence was sending him into hysterics. The high of this whole debacle? As soon as he calmed down, Sawyer and I had a grand old time searching for ladybugs around our house for over an hour, and it was sweet and adorable and how is it, exactly, that these little humans can be so maddening and so endearing all at once?
One more motherhood-related high/low this week… on Wednesday night, I was flying solo with both kids and had to navigate dinner/bath/bedtime alone for the first time. All week leading up to that night, I was dreading it and honestly wasn’t sure if I was capable. And maybe I just got lucky, but I managed to get both kids fed and bathed and asleep by 8pm without any meltdowns or disasters, and you know what? I was so freaking proud of myself. (Oh, but then last night, I had to bring baby Hudson with me to a meeting, and she screamed and cried the whole time and I felt entirely inadequate as a mom. So… ya win some, ya lose some?)
Oh and here’s a mystery… for the past few days, we’ve been finding an increasing number of enormous piles of poop around the farm, with zero clue who/what/where they’re coming from. I’ve been sending photos of the piles to some of my most animal-savvy friends (surely the weirdest/grossest texts they will receive all week) and we’ve all concluded that there must be a neighbor’s cow on the loose? So now every time I look out the window, I’m expecting to see a confused and wayward cow stomping around, but I’ve yet to have a sighting… I’ll keep y’all posted if/when the mystery is solved.
This week has been about riding out the highs and lows, and accepting the reality that two things can be true – ie, acknowledging that life throws us things that are hard and scary, AND those hard/scary things often push us to grow and be better. (Still TBD what lesson the mysterious cow poop is supposed to teach me… I’ll get back to you on that).
What about you? What were your highs, lows, and/or unsolved mysteries this week? What are two things that you are learning to hold at once?
Need some culinary inspiration for the weekend? Here’s my weekly round up of seasonal recipes from around Substack (and from my ever-growing recipe index) to help you eat like a farmer:
Green Power Salad from yours truly /
Baked Camembert with Oven Roasted Grapes from
/Flounder with Spinach, Sweet Potatoes and Coconut-Curry Sauce from
/
Cauliflower is one of those vegetables that, when done wrong, will leave a literal terrible taste in your mouth and you’ll probably never want to see/eat it again. But done right, cauliflower can transform into this wildly beautiful, complex, and altogether luxurious thing.
I’d like to argue that this recipe for moroccan spiced whole roasted cauliflower is an example of this veggie done RIGHT. The key to roasting a whole head of cauliflower is a (super easy) two-step process. First, you briefly steam the whole head to ensure it’s tender from the inside out, and step two – you rub it with olive oil + fragrant spices and roast it in a hot oven to achieve that gorgeous golden char. I promise this recipe is very straightforward… and it’s a great example of one of my rules for eating like a farmer: minimal effort for maximum wow factor.
When I brought this glorious, golden head of cauliflower over to our dinner table a few nights ago, Matthew said that it looked (and tasted!) like something you’d order at a fancy farm to table restaurant. (I promise I didn’t pay him to say that). This is the kind of recipe that’s easy enough to crank out on a busy weeknight, but it’s also special enough to make the centerpiece of your next dinner party. Get cookin’ good lookin!
Keep scrolling for the full recipe (and a handy 1-page PDF for easy printing).
A reminder that access to my weekly recipe is available to paid subscribers (free subscribers get access to full recipes on the 1st Friday of the month).
To get in on this deliciousness EVERY week, consider joining as a paid subscriber. You’ll also get access to my full recipe archive, gardening guides, monthly giveaways, and you’ll be able to join our private community chats.
Moroccan Spiced Whole Roasted Cauliflower with Tahini-Lemon Sauce
Serves 4-6
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Eat Like a Farmer to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.