YAY for SPRING!!

Here in Boulder it's officially spring.  At the farm, we are almost done harvesting all of the overwintered vegetables and we're moving on to crops that were planted a few weeks ago.  We also just put all of our spring transplants in the ground: kale, chard, broccoli, cauliflower...  And the best part is I still get to wear my overalls with flannel lining - I LOVE cool spring temperatures!  They make you feel like you can farm for 10 hours straight.  As opposed to the summer months, when my skin is 10 shades darker and the sun is intense from 6am to 8pm.

At this time every year I become ravenous for greens.  We're just coming out of the winter months, where I've been cleaning out my freezer and pantry of all the preserved fall veggies, and now, we have fresh veg coming from the ground!  So exciting, seriously.

I cooked for an amazing group of gals at the All Souls Women's retreat this past weekend, and we had the BEST salad for lunch on Saturday.  I had to share it :)

Mixed Green Salad with Brown Rice, Cashews, and Dates
serves 8 as a main dish

For the Salad:
1 lb spring greens: spinach or baby salad greens
1 cup cooked brown rice
1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (1 14.5 oz can)
1/2 cup roasted cashews, roughly chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
8-10 dates, pitted and roughly chopped

For the Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
pinch of black pepper
1/2 tsp brown sugar

Assemble the salad ingredients, whisk up the vinaigrette, and toss the salad right before serving.  Enjoy!!