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Thursdays
and Fridays at 7:49 am and 5:00pm Hosted by Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm in Watsonville.
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This is Florence Fennel Ready for sale at the farmers market. |
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July 15th, 2004 Walk on the Wild Side This is Andrew Griffin of Mariquita Farm with Life On The Farm. Foeniculum vulgare is the botanical Latin name for wild fennel, a tall, rangy, anise scented weed that grows in empty lots and along roadsides all over the central coast. Finnochio is the modern Italian word for the bulbous vegetable we call fennel, but it is also an Italian surname. Weedy fennel is descended from vegetable fennels that escaped the gardens of Italian immigrants and went to seed. Fennel, or Finocchio, was once considered an ethnic Italian vegetable. Now non- Italians are discovering that fennel makes an interesting substitute for celery and can be used raw or cooked. Sooner or later people are even going to discover that the fennel seeds they buy in little spice bottles for use in baking or Italian sauces are the same as the seeds of the foeniculum vulgare weeds in their yards. Vulgare doesn't mean vulgar in botanical Latin, but "common." And Finocchio doesn't just mean fennel in street smart Italian, but fairy, fag, or homosexual. By curious coincidence Finocchio's, the once famous transvestite club in San Francisco was named after the owner, Joe Finocchio, not after the common fennel that took a walk on the wild side. Most of America's fennel is grown right here on the central coast. If you have never tried fennel buy a bulb and take an anis-scented walk on the wild side yourself. Check out the Life On The Farm link at K.U.S.P. dot org for recipes. For K.U.S.P, this is Andrew Griffin copyright 2004 Andrew Griffin ----- More about Mariquita
Farm: Website More about Andy's writings: Ladybug Letter Website Andy's Vegetable Photo Gallery: hundreds of vegetable and farming photos |
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