I have a few bones to pick with the universe at the moment. And by the universe, I mostly mean birds.
I know this blog has pretty much turned into a vegetarian blog (by accident really) but don’t be surprised if there are a lot of “bird” recipes coming up in the near future. Don’t get me wrong, I am 100 percent against animal cruelty, but when those stinkers are interfering with our crops I have a MAJOR problem. We have a few pellet guns and Taylor has really good aim. We will stop at nothing to protect our plants.
Henry is doing his best at playing the role of guard dog, but the birds seem to be winning.
On Friday morning Taylor and I went up to the farm armed with fishing line, reflective tape, and lots of hoops. Unfortunately, the birds had pretty much done all of their damage by then. 3/4 of our kale planting was eaten. We were devastated. The good news (yes there is good news) we have 700 more kale plants just two weeks behind this last plating. We will put those guys in the ground next week (after our row cover has arrived!) We feel a little more prepared for this next round of crops.
And like magic, after wiping the tears away from my eyes after all the turmoil up at the farm, the UPS man delivered a special package to our doorstep.
My wonderful in-laws sent Taylor and me a HUGE box full of fresh parsnips all the way from Hutchins Farm (where we used to work!) It was exactly 1 year ago that my farm friend Ellen and I were harvesting hundreds of pounds of these puppies!
This picture makes me shiver! We were freezing that day!
Shivers and all we were blessed with a healthy harvest of parsnips. I can’t help but be a little jealous of all the farm workers back east who got to harvest this latest crop for us. And get this, the parsnips that went into this soup Taylor seeded last year! Naturally, these parsnips tasted extra sweet!
In celebration of fresh parsnips, springtime, and farmers everywhere, I made this simple soup.
Grab a fresh baguette of bread, a huge soup spoon and dig in!
Spicy parsnip and coconut soup (serves 4-6)
2 TBS coconut oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 TBS Garam masala
1 thumb-size piece of fresh ginger, minced
6 parsnips, scrubbed clean and chopped
1 can of full-fat coconut milk
4-6 cups of veggie stock (start with 4 and add more if necessary)
a dash of crushed red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Heat the coconut oil in a large soup pan. Add the onion. Saute for about 8 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and garam masala. Cook for about 1 more minute. Add parsnips. Cook for one more minute. Add coconut milk and stock. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes. With an immersion blender puree the soup. Season to taste with crushed red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. If soup is too thick add more stock or water. Serve warm with bread. Enjoy!
Have you ever heard that the more hairs a root vegetable has, the more stress it is under? Either cold, disease, water, etc. Isn’t that neat? Those are some hairy parsnips!
I love parsnips. I used to work on the student farm at UC Davis and loved taking them home.
I’ve heard that! And yes, those parsnips were pretty stressed out 🙂 You are totally hired to come work on our farm lady!!!
I know you’ll figure it out and keep those birds out! At least you have this delicious sounding soup to comfort you in the meantime! I could use a bowl of it right about now.
Fresh parsnips in the mail – I love it. Sorry to hear about the birds ;( Good luck with the next round of kale!!
I love coming to this site! Your recipes are so good and I really enjoy sharing your journey! Don’t feel bad about the birds. I have a huge rabbit that has been sorting through my compost bin and I know will be all over my veggies this summer. My husband and I have been dreaming of rabbit stew although we have never had it.
Rabbit stew!!! I love it! I think bird stew is on the menu very soon!
My heart breaks when I read about those damn birds. My gosh, farming is a challenging career. But I love your go-get-em attitude, and that you will continue to persevere and get those plants in the ground.
By the way, I love your blog logo! Who designed it?
Thanks Lisa! Farming really is challenging. If it was easy everyone would do it 🙂 My sister’s co-worker designed the blog. Glad you like it!!!
Hope you get better of the birds! Way to go, Henry!!
Oh Andrea, I am so, so sorry those damned birds got so much of the kale crop. But very glad that you guys still have back-up seedlings that will be ready to go out soon. My dad has the same issue with squirrels in Oregon, so he got a particularly strong sling-shot to deal with them. I am sending strong and powerful thought so Taylor’s pellet gun.
And parsnips! Those guys get so wonderfully sweet when cooked up, that soup must taste amazing. Especially with coconut milk, (one of my favorite soup and curry additions!) and garam masala. Such a warm and delicious spice mix.
Birds and squirrels are definitely on my shit list! A sling shot is a great-idea 🙂
Hahaha, you should definitely get one! I don’t have issue with the birds down here in California, but my squirrels are destruction machines. I have had to chicken wire the exposed soil of every potted plant or ground transplant until they’re big enough to withstand some digging around their base. It’s super tedious, but at least I still end up with plants instead of piles of squirrel mounds everywhere. Damn you squirrels!
I am 100% vegetarian but girl – you do whatever you have to do to those birds to get them to leave your kale alone!! Kale>>birds in my opinion.
This soup looks so tasty! I love the flavors in it. And yes, it must be sweeter since Taylor seeded these babies!
MMM this looks delicious! xx
Heheh I love how your blog is nearly all veggie. It’s amazing for me! Good luck with those birds. . . we have a problem with 2 cats that decide to fight at ungodly hours of the morning. ARGH!!
Think I’ve solved my bird problem here……found two cutouts of fierce looking owls, 16 in. long, cut out of a metal material….they are now swinging on the eaves of my house. And! in two days, the robins have moved out of my metal roof, no more bird shit on the deck, no more nest material dropping into my wine glass…..they are gone!!!! Only small problem with the owls is they are scaring my little doggie too.
So sorry about your losing plants to the birds….I now have to figure out how to stop losing my coldframe plants to the 4 legged critters (mice, shrews, etc). They have learned how to eat the peanut butter and leave the traps empty.
damn pests!!! It’s a never ending battle isn’t it?
Your recipe is so close to mine. The main difference is that I cook the parsnips in the broth (I use organic chicken). I learned from Thai cooking that coconut milk should be added last, as in Thom Ka Gai. Yummy!