Valentines Day 2011

Happy Valentines Day to all. Here at the farm we are starting out with a warm cup of coffee to prepare for a day of renovation, before a Valentine evening.



The onion seeds are starting to sprout (yeah!) A moment that has been less tenative as we have become more proficient in the greenhouse. But nonetheless, it is always a beautiful sight to see healthy seedlings beginning their new life.



Out in the fields the snow continues to melt. The insulating blanket of a foot of snow was a great benefit during the cold spell, and now the melting snow is adding some much needed moisture to the soil. It will warm up, before cooling down again later in the week, which is just fine with us farmers. No need to rush the Spring and have things damaged by a late cold snap.

Starting the Greenhouse

We remain quite busy at the farm. When we're not farming or remodeling we are using chain saws, log splitters, bobcats, tractors, trailers...and chains. Cutting, splitting and hauling wood through and around snow drifts is something that just has to be experienced. Lots of problem solving mixed with fresh winter air.

The main priority of the week, however, has been the greenhouse. We recieved our humified compost from Microleverage (of Sedalia) on Saturday, the last piece of the puzzle, and started seeding onions on Monday. It is a tedious job seeding 10,000 onions, so we spread it out over several days, finishing today-Wednesday.

We are trying something new this year relative to onion planting. Normally we grow onions from seeds and transplant each little plant 4 inches apart. We found last year through a trial that we can instead plant 4 together, and space them at 1 foot. This spacing allows us to use the water wheel transplanter to plant onions and save us from one of the most tedious (there's that word again) jobs on the farm. More to come on the onions.


Planting sheet and seed pack


Planting onion seeds in soil blocks

Remodeling continues on the office and living room. It has been a dirty, uneventful tearout, but there was one interesting suprise. Our living room ceiling was drywall over cracked plaster. The furring strips that were used to attach the drywall are 18 foot long tongue and groove floor boards. They're coated with a nice green patina of lead paint, but may prove useful in some other part of our renovation.


Furring strips

Friday

Monday

Winter Hits the Farm

Considering the fact that an estimated 100,000,000 people were impacted by the Blizzard of 2011, this is but another snow story. Here at the farm we experienced mainly bliss though it all. The heads-up that modern meteorology provides allowed us to plan ahead, and view the snow and wind from the safety and warmth of our small farmhouse.

We spent the day moving our office and living room out of the back half of the house to prepare for our latest home renovation project---total tearout of plaster and lath, insulating of exterior walls, some carpentry, electrical, drywall, painting, and a new wood stove. We ended the day making a large pot of chili, cole slaw and pumpkin-coconut pie.

We awoke today to 5 degrees and a beautiful sunny morning, with an inch of snow in some areas and drifts of 2 to 3 feet in others. The cats as you can see have the life, sitting on a sunny chair looking out at the bird feeder (a word that means something different to them).







The knowedge of impending snow also kicked us into gear on Friday and Saturday to do some much needed repair to the greenhouse before the start of the season. Both corners of the greenhouse were rotted and required repair. Also, the plastic had several major rips and needed replacement.

With the help of one of our 2011 interns, Lucas Knutter, we tackled the job over two days. Day one consisted of the carpentry. Day 2 with installing the new plastic. Once we get some openings sealed along the roof line the greenhouse will be ready to go. The only things keeping us from planting the onions is the arrival of our Microleverage compost (Tuesday's delivery had to be cancelled), and waiting for the single digit and sub-zero temps to pass. The season is about to begin.

Removing the rotten lumber

Installing a new corner

Removing the old plastic

Installing new wiggle wire channels

Installing the new plastic

The bubble inflated, trimming the plasic

January at the Farm

Well, Hawaii (see post below) is but a memory now (a nice memory), and it is back to work on the farm.

January is always busy for us. The last 4 years we have helped teach a full day CSA Mini-School at the Great Plains Growers Conference on the first weekend of January. Gearing up to spread the good word about CSAs takes a lot of our focus that first week. The minute the conference is done we dive into the seed and equipment order, with a self-imposed deadline of 1/15.

The seed order has become easier over the years, as computers and the internet are incredibly helpful. But spending $3,000 on thousands of tiny DNA packets still requires organization and planning. This year's order is on its way, with the hope that all the seeds we want are still left. The growth of organic vegetable growing has been a boon to the seed market, but does occasionally create shortfalls. We should be in pretty good shape though, as our order is usually timely.


Ordering the seeds


Thank heavens for spreadsheets

Once the seeds have been ordered, we work at getting all our other purchases to begin moving towards the farm. From potting soil compost, to a new mower, now is the time to get ready for the season. The first week of February is coming up soon, and that is when we start up the greenhouse, seeding the onions.

With the early planning done, and the greenhouse requiring limited tending, we are able to fill our days in late January and February with the fun of home remodeling (for the 8th year). This year's work will include tear out and insulation of our living room and office walls, electrical work, drywall and painting, replacing our wood burning stove with an efficient one, and other tasks if time allows. We are looking forward to completion of this "final" stage of work.

Rocky and the cats are surviving the winter. The cats are going a little stir-crazy though, as they stay inside a lot in the winter, and start getting on each other's nerves. Their favorite spot is under the wood stove. Cozy.

Rocky on the other hand, can take the cold like the Great Pyrennes/Anatolian Shepher cross that he is. Laying on a frozen pond is just fine with him.





The farmers stay cozy too. How can we not, with a stocked larder and freezer. One reason I got into canning and preserving was that, hard work though it is, it has a big payoff. Some folks seem to think you can't eat well with local food in the winter---it is the time that we actually fatten up on local fare. The recipe below is a delicious example of it.


A well stocked larder

Lamb Meatball Stew
The meatballs are an excellent way to make lamb stew, without the need for a cut of meat. You can season the meatballs to suit your taste. The carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic and herbs are all part of our winter stores.

Ingredients:
1 lb Parker Farm ground lamb
1 tbsp roasted garlic puree (optional)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 medium carrots
2 to 3 medium onions
1-1/2 lb potatoes
1 tbsp dried mint
1 tbsp dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 quart chicken, turkey, vegetable or other stock
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour

Method:
1. Mix the garlic puree, salt, and pepper with the ground lamb and shape into small meatballs (30 or so).
2. Brown the meatballs and then set side.



3. In the same pot, saute the onions and carrots for 5 minutes. Add the potatoes, salt, pepper, and herbs and cook for 3 minutes more.



4. Add the meatballs back to the pot along with the stock. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are tender.
5. Make a roux with the butter and flour---melt the butter in a small pan, add the flour, stir constantly for about a minute. Add the roux to the meat and vegetables and blend in.
6. Let the stew simmer for 3 to 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
7. Serve hot with bread and butter and a cooked green (ours was kale with an olive oil/mustard sauce).
8. Enjoy winter eating.

December Vacation

We do our best every year to push our farm work to the back burner in December, and save time for some serious rest and relaxation. Vacation travel has been sparse the last several years, so this year we made plans to visit Kauai, Hawaii and some free family lodging.

It was a wonderful week, complete with sun every day, great beachs, snorkeling, amazing flora and fauna, and local food that included tropical fruit and fresh seafood. We were able to cook at our accomdations, so we visited the market each day, and prepared many of our meals "at home." Here are a few photos we took. Aloha.


Rebecca along a north shore beach


Breakfast


Taro fields


After a day of paddling an
outrigger with Rebecca's
Aunt Phyllis


The everpresent wild rooster

Your Thanksgiving Share

The Thanksgiving share harvest continues into it's third day on Friday as we reap the last of the 2010 vegetables from the fields. While we unfortunately have to scratch brussel sprouts from the list (too many aphids on them to make them palatable), we have a quality crops of 13 items.

Lettuce: Small to medium sized heads, crisp and delicious.

Endive: A bitter green that adds a nice bite to a late Fall salad. If you saved any strawberries from the Spring try our Week 4 recipe of Garlic and Strawberry Dressing over Endive.

Kale, Collards or Arugula: Kale (or Collards) with Vinegar and Egg is an awesome side dish to add some greenery to a Thanksgiving meal. The last few frosts have sweetened up both of these greens. The arugula has a bit of a kick this time of year, so you may want to use it as you would a herb in your salad, chopped somewhat fine.

Asian Greens: Chop them up and add them fresh to your salad, or stir-fry a light meal on either side of the holiday.

Butternut Squash or Sweet Potatoes: Recipes abound here in the cyber world. Or use a family
favorite, if you have one. Roasting, mashing, soup and pie are all options.

Bulb Fennel: A favorite of ours. We only grow it in the Fall, as that is when its flavor is the mildest. Treat it as you would celery. It is delicious cut into pieces and added to a salad dressed with a red wine vinaigrette. Check out the recipe below for another yummy dish.

Broccoli or Spinach: The last of the hearty broccoli, still as flavorful as ever. Or do you want some of our lone spinach crop of the year?

Roots assortment: The carrots, radish and Hakurei turnips will make a diverse crudités platter for your Thanksgiving guests. A little beet grated onto your salad adds a beautiful color.

Kohlrabi: Fall kohlrabi is the best, sweet, juicy and crunchy. Just trim the top and the root end, peel it, and cut it as you like. It is another staple crudités item, or a great addition to roasted vegetables (see recipe below).

Cabbage: We like it as a raw addition to the Thanksgiving meal. Think cole slaw.

Leeks: Use them wherever onions are called for, or in the recipe below.

Garlic: Everyone needs some garlic if they’re doing any cooking.

Cilantro: Fresh as can be for topping a salsa appetizer, or as an addition to a creamy dressing.

Roasted Fennel, Leeks and Kohlrabi
While harvesting the bulb fennel today, and being soothed by its aromatherapy, our apprentice Emily said how she thought the fennel would be great roasted. So, not being one to let a good idea go to waste, I decided that tonight’s dinner should test her theory. The result (with the addition of leeks and kohlrabi) was a warm, savory and hearty dish. Add what you want to this, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic...


trim the top and core the root

Ingredients
2 medium fennel bulbs
2 medium leeks
1 medium kohlrabi
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp butter


cut the fennel like you would celery

Method
Cut the tops off the fennel bulb and core out the root. Chop in half, and then crosswise to make celery like chunks.
Clean and chop the leeks into ½ inch slices and rounds
Peel the kohlrabi and chop into ½ inch size chunks
Mix vegetables with salt, oregano, thyme and olive oil
Spread on a baking sheet and top with butter
Bake at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring once.

The Wedding of Rebecca and Tom

Hello good friends. Not our normal post here, as we would like to let everyone know that on Noveber 6, 2010 we got married.

arriving at the Ratcliff's

The Officiant, John Erb

John is a good friend who made wine with Tom for many years in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. He is also a Catholic deacon with an anti-establishment bent.

John 18:37 Pilate said to him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice."

John said he wished to express how he felt that we were living, rather than simply speaking a life of caring for the earth, living a life of love outside the status quo, and sharing our life with the community.

the wedding procession with flower
girls Pearl and Josephine

Here Comes the Bride

First Reading:
Not sure, but we feel that this may be a true story.

Excerpt from Aristophanes's Speech from Plato's Symposium
Translated by Benjamin Jowett

Aristophanes professed to open another vein of discourse; he had a mind to praise Love in another way, unlike that of either Pausanias or Eryximachus. Mankind, he said, judging by their neglect of him, have never, as I think, at all understood the power of Love. For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men, the helper and the healer of the ills which are the great impediment to the happiness of the race. I will try to describe his power to you, and you shall teach the rest of the world what I am teaching you.

… the primeval man was round, his back and sides forming a circle; and he had four hands and the same number of feet, one head with two faces, looking opposite ways, set on a round neck and precisely alike; also four ears, two privy members, and the remainder to correspond. He could walk upright as men now do, backwards or forwards as he pleased, and he could also roll over and over at a great pace, turning on his four hands and four feet, eight in all, like tumblers going over and over with their legs in the air; this was when he wanted to run fast.

Terrible was their might and strength, and the thoughts of their hearts were great, and they made an attack upon the gods. Doubt reigned in the celestial councils. Should they kill them and annihilate the race with thunderbolts, as they had done the giants, then there would be an end of the sacrifices and worship which men offered to them; but, on the other hand, the gods could not suffer their insolence to be unrestrained. At last, after a good deal of reflection, Zeus discovered a way. He spoke and cut men in two, like a sorb-apple which is halved for pickling, or as you might divide an egg with a hair …

Each of us when separated, having one side only, like a flat fish, is but the tally-half of a man, and he is always looking for his other half. And such a nature is prone to love and ready to return love, always embracing that which is akin to him. And when one of them meets with his other half, the actual half of himself, whether he be a lover of youth or a lover of another sort, the pair are lost in an amazement of love and friendship and intimacy, and one will not be out of the other's sight, as I may say, even for a moment: these are the people who pass their whole lives together, and yet they could not explain what they desire of one another. For the intense yearning which each of them has towards the other does not appear to be the desire of lover's intercourse, but of something else which the soul of either evidently desires and cannot tell, and of which she has only a dark and doubtful presentiment.

There is not a man of them who when he heard the proposal would deny or would not acknowledge that this meeting and melting into one another, this becoming one instead of two, was the very expression of his ancient need.

And the reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love.

with our witnesses, Jessica and James

Second Reading:
Readings from our journal that we are trying to keep. We looked back at the days before our engagement to see if there was anything that prompted it.

Thursday, September 30
Weeded cabbage, rolled up irrigation, mowed, sprayed Bt on brassicas. Found 2.7 lb baby puffball mushrooms, also some oyster mushrooms. Mushroom bisque, froze extra, bought tickets to Kauai.

Friday, October 1
Harvest sweet potatoes, many jumbos, cherry tomatoes, wash last of pumpkins. Mushroom quiche, okra & Caesar salad. Spices from Angela Farnung.

Smudging ceremony

Saturday, October 2
CSA day, harvest last beans. Forecast for frost tonight. Harvest rest of sweet potatoes, also green peppers, eggplant and tomatoes. Sonic for dinner. Watch “The Lady Vanishes”

Sunday October 3
Frost on grass, not too much damage. More frost predicted tonight. Froze beans, peppers and eggplant. Got engaged! O’Henry sweet potatoes, pork chops with apples, Roma beans and last bottle of 1999 homemade champagne. Brought in houseplants.

dinner with John, Brooke and Dan

The Bride at Bad Seed

So there you have it. It was a beautiful day.