TRACY, Calif. • The green stalks poke upward, fingerlike, from their mounds, their purple tips vivid in the early morning light. Bent-over farmworkers move from row to row, their long-handled knives cutting asparagus spears one by one.If you bought your bundle of spears, bound with a purple rubber band, at a supermarket or Costco — or you live in Japan or Switzerland — chances are your asparagus began here, 10 inches below the surface of the earth. Furrowed farms across the Sacramento River Delta supply this quintessential spring vegetable to the world.Some of the farms are large family holdings, like Prima Bella, which has been owned by the Bacchetti family since 1946. Others are smaller organic farms and CSAs, Community Supported Agriculture enterprises, which deliver boxes of fresh asparagus to subscribers and restaurants such as Berkeley’s Gather and Gabriella’s in Santa Cruz each week.On this chilly Wednesday morning, with the blades of the windmills on Altamont Pass whirring in the hazy distance, the aroma of damp soil and fresh-cut vegetables rises from the fields. Prima Bella owner Mark Bacchetti, grandson of founder Bautista Bacchetti, has headed off to an asparagus breakfast to swap spear talk with fellow farmers. His cousin, John Bacchetti, drives out to survey the verdant furrows and check on the farmworkers who have been picking asparagus since dawn.The rains have let up only momentarily, and the fields demand attention.This is asparagus-cutting season, a three-month period of frenzied harvest. And as the weather warms and the days lengthen, Prima Bella’s farm crews will work from dawn to dusk, cutting and recutting the fields, one 9-inch stalk at a time. In the packing shed, the picked asparagus is being packed into wooden crates, assembled on the spot, to be shipped to diners in Tokyo and Kyoto. Fat spears, packed in trapezoidal cartons, are Switzerland bound. Costco? Those are the blue plastic bins.Growing asparagus is an exercise in delayed gratification.“It’s almost like planting trees,” says John Bacchetti.Linda Butler of Ben Lomond, Calif.’s Lindencroft Farms calls it one of the easiest crops to grow — if you can delay your dreams of succulent, butter-drenched spears for a couple of years.“The first year, you can’t touch them,” says Butler. “The second year, you can take a few spears.”You plant the crowns, the bulblike root of the asparagus plant, in well-prepared soil and then leave them alone. The second year is all about restraint. Greediness will doom these plants. You can have a taste, but that’s about it. By the third year, you dwell in asparagus glory.Lindencroft Farms planted its first crops in 2006. The small organic farm and CSA supplies produce for Berkeley’s 5-month-old Gather restaurant, as well as Santa Cruz’s Gabriella and Bonny Doon Cellar Door, the restaurant originated by winemaker Randall Grahm and David Kinch, now the executive chef at Manresa in Los Gatos.Butler drives asparagus and other vegetables up to Berkeley every week, and though she loves her spears prepared simply — grilled or roasted at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes, with just a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper — she’s not averse to embellishments.“On the weekends, we do asparagus risotto and frittatas with shrimp and asparagus,” she says. “(Gather chef) Sean Baker prepared a shaved asparagus salad — we copied it and now we have it all the time. With a vegetable peeler, you just peel them into long strips and dress it with olive oil, lemon juice and a little bit of pecorino or Parmesan.”John Bacchetti, who grew up at Prima Bella, has been eating asparagus for a very long time — his wife broils spears with a splash of olive oil — but the spears never lose their allure.“When we were kids, it was ‘Easter! Oh! Asparagus is coming,’” he says.Of course, some markets carry asparagus year-round now, sometimes at prices reflective of the airfare it must have taken to transport them. But once the cutting season is over in California in May, the plants — the crowns on Prima Bella’s vast acreage are 15 years old, and the Bacchettis pull 1,000 pounds of asparagus per acre — go to fern growth. Their fronds wave lazily in the summer breeze, catching sunshine and nutrients to satiate the crown.“We basically farm the fern,” says John. “In December, after a good frost, the fern goes dormant and the crown goes to sleep. We till it, water it in January and February, then you sit back. The first of March, here come the spears.”And they grow in moonlight, as well as sunshine. On a hot spring day, when there’s a full moon, he says, the plants grow four or five inches overnight.“You can watch it grow,” he marvels. “We cut a field by 6 a.m. and come back in the afternoon and cut it again. It just keeps coming and coming.”Everything is cut by hand with a single, downward punch of an asparagus knife, a 2-foot long, spadelike instrument with a gently curved edge. And each spear must be cut just below the surface, so the stalk doesn’t dry out, dehydrating the crown.

ASPARAGUS AND SPRING ONION FRITTATA—Yield: 4 servings

1/2 pound small red potatoes, unpeeled6 large asparagus spears, ends peeled1 cup finely sliced spring green onions2 tablespoons butter, divided8 whole eggs3 tablespoons heavy cream2 tablespoons coarsely chopped herbs of your choiceSalt, black pepper3 ounces bacon, chopped and fried until crisp4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbledProcedure:1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the potatoes until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain. When cool enough to handle, slice thickly.2. Steam the asparagus spears for 2 or 3 minutes, cool in ice water to stop the cooking and set the color. Slice crosswise into bite-size pieces.3. Sauté onions in 1 tablespoon butter until softened.4. Whisk the eggs and cream thoroughly. Stir in onions and herbs. Season with salt and pepper.5. Spread the cooked asparagus and bits of remaining butter in the bottom of a 10-inch, nonstick, ovenproof sauté pan, over medium heat. When sizzling, about 2 minutes, whisk the egg mixture to recombine and pour over the asparagus. Evenly distribute the bacon, potatoes and goat cheese around the pan, being sure not to neglect the outer edges. Cook for 2 minutes.6. Transfer to hot oven and bake until fully set, about 12 minutes. It will be a little loose in the center. Pass the pan under the broiler for 1 minute, or until lightly browned. Invert onto a warm serving plate, slice into wedges and serve hot or at room temperature.Source: Linda Butler, Lindencroft Farm, Ben Lomond, Calif.

GRILLED LAMB AND CALIFORNIA ASPARAGUS PITAS WITH TZATZIKI SAUCE—Yield: 8 servings

TZATZIKI SAUCE1/2 cucumber, peeled and chopped1 cup plain Greek yogurt1 teaspoon lemon juice1 small garlic clove, minced1/4 teaspoon each salt and pepper1/4 cup chopped fresh mintPITAS1 1/2 pounds lamb, cut into 2-inch cubes2 bunches asparagus, ends trimmedOlive oilSalt and pepper to taste4 pita breads, cut in half (8 halves)1/4 cup mint leaves, whole2 tomatoes, cubed1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olivesProcedure:1. Puree all the tzatziki ingredients in a blender until almost smooth. Chill.2. Toss lamb cubes and asparagus with oil, salt and pepper. Grill until asparagus is tender and lamb cubes are medium-rare. Cut asparagus into 2-inch pieces.3. Lightly grill both sides of the pita breads until heated through but soft. Wrap pitas in foil for a few minutes to steam.4. Divide sandwich ingredients evenly among the 8 pita-halves. Drizzle with the tzatziki sauce and serve immediately.

Source: California Asparagus CouncilASPARAGUS AND LEEK RISOTTO—Yield: 4 servings

1 pound asparagus spears, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch slices5 cups chicken broth3 tablespoons butter1 tablespoon olive oil1 cup thinly sliced leeks1 1/2 cups Arborio rice1/2 cup dry white wine2 ounces prosciutto, minced3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsleySalt, pepper to tasteProcedure:1. Blanch asparagus in boiling, salted water until crisp-tender, 2 minutes. Plunge asparagus into ice water to cool. Drain.2. In saucepan, heat broth to simmer; keep warm.3. Meanwhile, melt butter with oil in large, heavy saucepan. Add leeks and sauté until tender, 5 minutes. Add rice and stir 2 minutes. Add wine and simmer until absorbed, stirring constantly, 5 minutes.4. Add 1/2 cup hot broth, reduce heat and simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently. Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed and stirring frequently, until rice is tender and mixture is creamy, about 30 minutes.5. Add asparagus and stir until heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in prosciutto, Parmesan and parsley. Season with salt and pepper and serve.Source: Adapted from Bon Appetit

A packing house worker weighed a bundle of asparagus, adding or subtracting spears as needed. Photo by MCCLATCHY