Touch the Earth Farm Blog

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-07-27T18:36:00.002-04:00

farm fresh eggs
mixed beans
mixed tomatoes
mixed potatoes
mixed greens
yamato cuke
white scallop squash (L); yellow scallop squash (S)
yellow squash
jersey wakefield cabbage (S)
carrots
bell peppers
Anaheim chili
basil
dill
sage
parsley (L)
chocolate mint (L)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-07-20T18:28:00.002-04:00

farm fresh eggs
bell peppers
cucumber
scallop squash (L)
sweet corn (L)
mixed beans
mixed potatoes
mixed tomatoes
Jersey Wakefield cabbage (L)
carrots
salad mix
basil
dill
tarragon
rosemary (L)
nasturtium (L)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-07-13T18:25:00.000-04:00

farm fresh eggs
costata zucchini (Monday L)
bell peppers (Thursday L)
cabbage--red or Jersey Wakefield (L)
mixed potatoes
mixed beans
gold nugget tomatoes
carrots
chard/ braising mix
basil
dill
sage
thyme
oregano (L)
chocolate mint

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-06-26T11:57:00.003-04:00

We've mostly found the garden from all the weeds. The break in the rain was nice, giving me time to get to get a handle on all those weeds! Tomatoes are trellised, setting fruit, and growing nicely. Beans and squash are flowering and coming along nicely, too. Soon, soon.

farm fresh eggs
mixed braising greens (kale, swiss chard, batvian endive)
drunken woman lettuce
black seeded simpson lettuce
mixed gourmet potatoes (red nordland and Russian banana fingerlings)
1/2 pint mixed raspberries
tarragon
chives
oregano
citrus thyme (L)
sprig of chocolate mint (L)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-06-19T08:34:00.003-04:00

In between rain storms this week, I actually managed to get things planted. Hooray! The tricky part with all this rain has been getting into the gardens to work the soil without ruining its structure and creating big clods of concrete-like dirt.

On Tuesday I planted the third and final planting of sweet corn. Succession planting helps us to extend the harvest by spacing out the maturation date of the plants, so by doing three plantings of corn, we hope to have an early, mid, and late season corn harvest. Sometimes the corn ear worms throw a wrench in the plan, but we deal with that. Pests are an inevitable part of organic farming, and I'd rather deal with a little bit of insect damage than contribute to the pest resistance by overuse of even organic insecticides.

I also finally got the Amish paste tomatoes in the ground that have been languishing in a seed flat for the past couple weeks waiting for a break in the rain. We'll see how they do. The tomatoes that are already in the ground are setting fruit and growing nicely with all this rain, showing little to no signs of disease as I had worried about at first. The healthy dose of compost mulch helped on that front, I'm sure. I also planted several rows of watermelon and muskmelon, hoping that a slightly delayed planting would help starve some of the emerging squash bugs that plagued us so badly last season.

The beans plants are just beginning to flower, and the first round of squash plants are about to do the same. So, those veggies are just around the corner, and they got a healthy does of compost mulch yesterday and should be very happy. Potatoes, too, are looking good, and we may begin harvesting the first new potatoes soon, depending upon how they're sizing up. Raspberries should be ready for harvest next week, as we're already enjoying the first few ripe ones of the season. Yummmmm. So look forward to those in your share and enjoy them while they're here.

The large head lettuces are just about spent with this warm weather, bolting and turning bitter. So it's back to the mixed greens for a while. Harvesting greens while young with multiple plantings helps extend the green season into warmer weather. We'll also be growing our summer lettuces under shade cloth, helping to keep them cooler and happier.

The weeds, too, are loving all this rain, so there's much work to be done in the garden. In particular, the first plantings of carrots and onions are overrun, so if there are any weeding volunteers out there, we'd welcome the help. It's buggy and tedious work to find baby onions, so be forewarned.

farm fresh eggs
napa cabbage (L)
English peas (1 qt L; 1 pt S)
drunken woman head lettuce
red lollo head lettuce (Monday share)/ red salad bowl lettuce (Thursday share)
winter density head lettuce (Monday share)
garlic scapes (L)
spearmint sprigs (L)
chives
rosemary
sage

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-06-10T08:55:00.002-04:00

This has been a very challenging CSA season so far. All the rain has made it difficult to get things in the ground as well as giving the weeds lots to grow on. Soil structure can be ruined if it's worked too wet, so direct sowing this year has been a tricky task. We've started more seeds in flats than ever before just to keep things growing. So much wet also promotes perfect disease conditions, especially under row covers, our first defense against pests, creating a kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario.

The upside of all this is that we have another year of data under our belts for how well different varieties perform in different conditions. Overall, the lettuces are loving all the rain, but the high temperatures take their toll, and we need to harvest before they become bitter. Most of our spring crops have bolted because of the highs, so we're in transition right now as we wait for the warm temperature crops to mature. Despite the thermometer yo-yo-ing we've seen, most of our summer crops are thriving. Those that are in the ground now—potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, squash, beans, sweet corn—look great, but they'll take some time before we can begin to harvest. So hang in there and trust that every season has its ups and downs, and raspberries are right around the corner.

farm fresh eggs
black seeded simpson heirloom lettuce
winter density lettuce
bunte forellenschluss lettuce
mixed kale—red Russian and lacinato (L)
napa cabbage heart (L)
purly chives
oregano
rosemary
horseradish greens (L)
curly parsley (L)

2009-06-05T07:15:00.001-04:00

The first week of our seasonal CSA went well, and it was nice to meet our new members. Spent much of this week working in between raindrops and picking potato bug larvae off the potatoes in the market garden.

I also had a chance to check on the bees during one of the dry spells. One of the hives is going like gangbusters, and I'll likely steal a frame of brood to boost each of the other hives over the next couple of weeks. I think for whatever reason that many of the packaged bees went to hive #1 in the first couple days of sorting out.

The rain and widely divergent temps are taking their toll on some of the crops. The hakurei turnips were knocked out by some kind of fungus, unfortunately, and the radishes are beginning to bolt and go pithy. Still keeping an eye on the peas, cabbage, and broccoli: the napa cabbages are heading up nicely, so expect those in the next couple of weeks.

farm fresh eggs
mixed baby greens
black seeded simpson heirloom lettuce
winter density lettuce (L)
mixed kale—red Russian and lacinato (L)
French breakfast radishes
chives (L)
sage (L)
tarragon
oregano
citrus thyme
strawberries (1 pt L; 1/2 pt S)

Seasonal CSA Pick Ups Begin This Week!

2009-06-01T09:07:00.002-04:00

Our CSA is kicking into full gear today, and we're looking forward to greeting all our new members!

Monday pick up is from 6:30-7:30 pm.

Thursday pick up is from 3:30-6:30 pm.

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-05-29T11:26:00.002-04:00

I got the peppers and eggplants transplanted to the market garden this week, and they're growing nicely. I also got the second planting of beans in the ground—Louisiana purple pole bean and genuine cornfield pole bean—as well as the first round of squash.

farm fresh eggs
black seeded simpson heirloom lettuce
winter density lettuce (L)
mixed greens
French breakfast radish
pink beauty radish (L)
hakurei turnips
purly chives
oregano
curly parsley
rosemary (L)
strawberries (1 pt L; 1/2 pt S)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-05-22T08:35:00.002-04:00

Well, we came through this week's frost warnings unscathed for the most part, having gotten row covers on the tomatoes for protection. Meanwhile, the newly planted spinach—"longstanding bloomsdale"—is already trying to bolt. Not so longstanding, after all. Crazy weather patterns. It remains to be seen whether we'll get any kind of good harvest out of the peas and broccoli growing out there in the market garden.

I'll be transplanting the peppers and eggplants this week now that we're surely done with the frost. I hope. Lettuces are growing nicely, and I just seeded three flats of heat tolerant varieties, still hoping to extend our lettuce season throughout the summer with the use of shade cloth on the high tunnel. Last year we were able to grow our lettuces most of the season, but the aphids and crickets took their toll late in the season. We've been continuing to build our beneficial insect population by planting host friendly plants, and solarizing the soil with clear plastic every other year should help prevent pest build up. Any spraying we do will always be a last resort and will include only controls approved for use within organic vegetable production.

In this week's market bag:

farm fresh eggs
mixed baby greens (red Russian kale, spinach, mesclun mix)
head lettuces (black seeded simpson and speckled bibb)
spinach (L)
spring garlic (L)
carrots
French breakfast radishes
tarragon
oregano
citrus thyme
strawberries (1 pint L; 1/2 pint S)

Busy As A Bee

2009-05-16T07:58:00.002-04:00

As I think I mentioned in one of the newsletters, both my hives from last year were deadouts this winter, which really stunk. They starved with frames full of honey just inches away, so bee numbers rather than honey stores was the culprit. Thinking I wasn't supposed to open the hives until the first nice day in late winter/ early spring, I missed the opportunity to move full honey frames in closer to the brood nest where the bees could reach them, likely preventing them from starving as they refused to leave the brood nest.

There were a couple other things I could have done, too. First, knowing that one hive was weaker than the other, I could've combined the two hives and their honey stores going into winter, and there's a good chance that I would have had one strong overwintered hive this spring. Second, although my mentor suggested that I could leave the screened bottom boards all winter, I could have put the IPM board in to reduce drafts, especially considering the way the wind whips across the pasture up there. Third, we could have parked our mobile coop on the west side of the hives for the winter, creating a bit of a windbreak for them. Hindsight is, as they say, 20/20, and the only way I know of gaining experience is by, well, gaining experience, sometimes the hard way.

The good news is that my bee inspector checked both hives and declared them free of disease, which means that I now have all that stored honey (probably 70 lbs or so, all without any artificial feeds or treatments) to help establish the new packages I installed last weekend, eliminating the need for any artificial feeding again this year. So, all is not lost, though the nucs I got last year were a much better start than packaged bees, and I'm sad to have lost them.

The packages I installed have a couple of things going for them, however, even if I do need to be on the lookout for mite and beetle problems. The queens I installed come from hygienic queen stock from Bee Happy Apiary in Vacaville, California, where the yard hasn't been treated for 7 years, which will give the hives a genetic leg up against mites. (For a list of hygienic queen dealers click here.) I'm considering requeening either later this year or definitely next year if they overwinter with a local source of hygienic queens: VP Queen Bees, who raises without treatments and, I think, using small cell, which I use as well as one tool to combat mites.

Installing the package:

I installed three packages last weekend using a place and wait technique that's a bit gentler on the bees than shaking them into the hives. Basically as you can see, you remove five of the frames in a deep box and place the package directly inside, place your queen cage between two of the center frames, open the package, and close up the hive. Come back in the late afternoon/ early evening and most of the bees will have moved out of the package and into the frames on their own. Remove the package and set it in front of the hive overnight if there are any remaining bees, replace the remaining frames, close up the hive, and you're done. Easy on bees and beekeeper alike.

Installing the queen cage:

Opening the package:

Closing up the hive:

Finishing touch, a brick on top:

We use an old piece of carpeting to set our hives on for weed suppression; it makes maintenance and mowing easier. When I came back that evening, I installed five frames of new small cell foundation. The five frames that were in the hive when I installed the package included both open brood comb, pollen, and plenty of capped honey. Between the queen and the frames of honey, I'm hopeful that the bees will want to stick around.

Checking on the hives a few days later, only one had released the queen, so I released the other two into their respective hives and closed up. I'll be checking on them in a week or so, depending on the weather, to look for signs that the queens are accepted and laying.

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-05-14T18:19:00.004-04:00

Everyone can quit rain dancing now! We're well out of the drought and well into some wet weather and soggy soil. Great for the drought; good for the plants that are in the ground; tough in terms of getting new plants in when the soil's too wet to work. It's been a challenging spring season!

I squeezed about 300 tomato plants in between the rains this week, and I'm betting they'll be happier in the ground than being held in pots. We are seeing some signs of early blight on some of the plants caused by so much wet weather, mostly the Brandywine's, so I'll keep a close eye on them. I'll wait a bit longer before setting in the peppers and eggplants.

Flea beetle pressure is intense, so you may notice some holes in the leaves of some of the plants, particularly the cole crops: cabbages, mustards, kale, broccoli as well as radishes, turnips. They're also particularly destructive of eggplants. There are some organic sprays that are effective, though row covers are the most reliable form of protection. The downside of row covers is that they increase heat and decrease air circulation, leading to bolting and disease-favoring conditions. They also tend to blow off in high winds, allowing the beetles access once again to the crops. We do our best to minimize flea beetle damage, but they're one of the most challenging pests we face here at Touch the Earth Farm, second only perhaps to squash bugs.

farm fresh eggs
mixed baby greens
broccoli raab
head lettuce
French breakfast radishes
carrots
spring garlic
horseradish greens (L)
rosemary (L)
parsley
oregano
cilantro
daisies

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-05-08T17:28:00.000-04:00

Last week's 90° days took a toll on the garden, causing several of the spring crops to bolt. Our first sowing of radishes, turnips, spinach, chard and endive are spent, unfortunately, and it will be a little while before the second sowing matures. Luckily, we can start harvesting some of the younger spring crops as cut and come again crops as we wait for the next round.

farm fresh eggs
mixed baby greens
lamb's quarters
head lettuce
French breakfast radishes
carrots
oregano
parsley
sage

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-05-05T06:49:00.001-04:00

farm fresh eggs
spinach
swiss chard
speckled bibb head lettuce
carrots
radishes
hakurei turnips (L)
tarragon
cilantro
parsley
spring garlic (L)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-04-17T13:17:00.000-04:00

Everything is growing nicely with all this rain, but we're still in a moderate drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. We continue to irrigate with the drip tape when the rains don't come, so the crops should be fine. Still, if you can do a rain dance or two, or at least think wet thoughts, it might help.

farm fresh eggs
spring salad mix
red Russian kale
spinach
speckled bibb head lettuce (L)
carrots
green onions
radishes
hakurei turnips (L)
chives
oregano
sage

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-04-10T18:19:00.000-04:00

The rain held out long enough today for me to get several seed flats planted. (Teresa tell A. that I got those plants planted!) It was the perfect day for getting them out there: not too much sun during the day and rain in the forecast tonight and tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed that the rain will come tonight! I transplanted several varieties of lettuce, cabbage, and broccoli, as well as radicchio and giant red mustard.

Jim and Julia got lots of potatoes in the ground today, too: Yukon golds and red nordlands finally went in. The Russian banana fingerlings we got in a couple weeks ago still aren't popping, but they should be soon. Of course, it'll be early summer before we get any potatoes to enjoy.

This week's share included:

farm fresh eggs
spring mix
spinach
escarole
carrots
baby radishes (L)
baby cabbage (L)
green onions
spring garlic (L)
purly chives
sorrel
thyme

Shearing Time

2009-04-08T07:55:00.000-04:00

And every muscle in my body is sore. Wrestling three sheep will do that to a body. Some readers might remember that I took a shearing class last year in the New Zealand shearing method, so that's kinda, sort of what you're seeing below.

Okay, now I'm starting to work up a sweat! Time to shed some layers. Esther's not very happy about shedding her extra layers right now, but she will be soon enough.

You can see Esther's neck and head behind my leg. Her fleece is very nearly off by this point, as I work on her last leg:

Two shorn sheep back in with babies and feeling much happier:

And then, there was Candace, who flat out refused to cooperate for a second year in a row. She stayed on her rump about long enough for me to trim her hooves, and then it was a friggin' free for all!

It took both of us some serious wrestling to get her shorn, and I ended up shearing quite a bit with her standing up.

We did finally get her shorn and back out on the winter pasture as we wait to see whether she will lamb or not. She didn't look terribly pregnant to me, but she has another month or so within the realm of possibility.

Arugula Salad with Lemon-Parmesan Dressing

2009-04-06T08:03:00.000-04:00

Ingredients:

1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel
4 cups (packed) baby arugula
1 cup halved cherry tomatoes

Preparation:

Blend first 4 ingredients in processor. Season dressing with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Cover; chill up to 3 days.

Combine arugula and tomatoes in large bowl. Toss with enough dressing to coat. Serve as a side dish or a gourmet pizza topping.

From Bon Appetit, April 2009

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-04-03T15:02:00.000-04:00

The plants that were in the high tunnels have been enjoying a nice drink. All this rain is wonderful for the drought and the plants in the ground, but it makes it tricky to get the seedlings planted. Working soil when it's too wet can ruin the structure and smother the roots by compacting the soil.

Our first round of plantings down in the market garden are just starting to pop. The radishes, turnips and broccoli raab are fast out of the gate. The first plantings up in the high tunnels are growing nicely, and we'll soon have radishes and turnips for the market bags.

farm fresh eggs
arugula
spring mix
escarole
kale (L)
carrots (S)
green onions (L)
chives
oregano
citrus thyme (L)

So Long High Tunnels

2009-04-01T14:28:00.000-04:00

We got the high tunnels down this weekend in between rain storms, and I have the plastic drying on the driveway as I type. As you'll see, we didn't get it down soon enough to avoid the bok choi or the tatsoi bolting, but everything else seems to be doing well. The February planting of turnips, radishes, kale and beets are doing well, and everything else is green and growing.

Early spring here in Maryland is a tricky season. We can be 70° F one day and 42° the next with night time temps still dipping into the 20s° occasionally. Cold season crops don't like high tunnels in hot weather, and that's one of the drawbacks of our homemade tunnels: the sides don't roll up, and the end venting is inadequate at best on warm, sunny days.

You can see the tunnel skeletons in the background of the picture above, but that's our neighbor's house in the photo, not ours. This is our house, looking pretty barren at the moment. It sits directly in front of the barn, and it's a nice, short walk out there for winter chores. Soon, we'll be moving all the animals back out onto our rotational pastures.

You can see the tunnel frames in the foreground. These lean against the side of the barn until they're needed again. The advantage to taking the plastic down, besides prolonging its life just a bit is that it helps prevent salt build up in the soil by allowing the natural rains to thoroughly flush it. Our tunnels are up between November and March. Plus, our summers get so hot that without being able to roll up the sides, we'd be hard pressed to grow much of anything in there. I'll be using the new tunnel again with shade cloth to try to grow lettuces through the summer.

My plan with the tunnel to the right, our first one, is to plant a buckwheat cover crop, till it in, solarize the soil, and have it ready for planting late fall/ winter crops by August. I've been dealing with some pest and lettuce disease issues in parts of it, so I'm hoping this will eliminate much of that non-chemically while also improving the soil. I'll till in the buckwheat, and the solarizing will help break down the organic matter, making its nutrients more available for the plants. Buckwheat is a fast growing crop, so it suits my needs particularly well here, in addition to being good at taking up phosphorous in the soil, one of the problems with Maryland soil in general, and mine in particular. So, it'll satisfy those fellas in charge of nutrient management planning.

I thought I'd post a photo of our set up for folks to see. If you click on the photo, you'll be able to see the captions I photoshopped in:

Our lot is shaped like a giant L: you're looking at the short part of the L and the long part extends out to the left past the market garden. I would guesstimate that the house, barn, and two winter pastures take up about 1.75- 2 acres; the rest we use for the market garden and summer rotations. Here's a picture of the kids and the dogs running through those pastures back in December:

That's the mobile chicken coop off to the right side looking like a solar panel.

And here are some parting shots of the tunnel plantings:

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-03-27T09:34:00.000-04:00

We really needed the rain yesterday, and hopefully it will continue through the weekend as they're predicting. Going into the winter water levels were good, but the lack of snow dropped us into the "moderate drought" category according to the US Drought Monitor, a resource I follow fairly closely during growing season. The good news is that this year we have our drip irrigation in place from the very beginning of the growing season, allowing us to get a good start in the market garden.

Last weekend we got four 100' rows of Russian banana fingerling potatoes planted, so we'll be hoping for an early harvest on those. We need to let the Yukon gold potatoes eye up a bit more before planting in the next couple of weeks. The red nordlands have yet to arrive, so I'll be calling to check on those this week.

Also this week I direct seeded spinach, a gourmet lettuce mix, two varieties of broccoli raab, leeks, two varieties of peas, and chioggia beets. Hopefully we'll start to see some germination soon. In the meantime, we'll continue to harvest out of the high tunnels, which are doing well. We'll likely remove the plastic either this weekend or next, as temps are really heating up in there!

In this week's bag:

carrots (L)
spinach
spring salad mix
mixed kale, vates and red Russian (L)
baby napa cabbage (L)
arugula
tarragon
oregano
chives (L)
thyme (L)
grab bag radishes

Arugula Pesto

2009-03-20T18:31:00.000-04:00

Looking for a way to use all that arugula? Try this delicious recipe over pasta or potatoes, or try it on a gourmet pizza:

Ingredients

4 cups (packed) arugula leaves (about 6 ounces)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/4 cup (packed) freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
garlic, fresh or roasted (optional)

Preparation

Blend arugula, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese in processor until almost smooth. With machine running, gradually add olive oil; process until well blended. Season pesto to taste with garlic, salt and pepper. (Can be made ahead. Cover and let stand up to 2 hours at room temperature or refrigerate up to 1 day. Bring to room temperature before using.)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-03-19T18:06:00.000-04:00

The greenhouses are hopping, and with this beautiful weather, we've even gotten a jump start on the market garden. Jim tilled in some good compost last week, and yesterday, the kids and I got the irrigation tape laid. Last evening, I direct sowed several varieties of onion, carrots, kale, radishes, and turnips.

The first planting of radishes, beets, turnips, and kale in the high tunnels is taking off, as are the first of the spring lettuces, which were featured in this week's spring mix. Unfortunately, the high temperatures have caused several of our cold-loving greens to bolt: bok choi and tatsoi are gone, and the argula keeps trying to bolt on me. The endive looks lovely, though, as does the kale. I'm starting to notice some signs of aphids and slugs, so I'll be getting a jump on those this weekend as well.

farm fresh eggs
arugula
swiss chard
kale/ spinach mix (L)
spring greens mix
tarragon
thyme
oregano (L)
carrots (L)

Lamb Watch

2009-03-16T16:18:00.001-04:00

Well, today was our first official day of lamb watch, and yet again before I have a chance to post, there are babies! There was sweet little furry head out there to greet me this morning when I went to milk Bella. I fed and watered everyone as usual, milked, and went back inside to process the milk and tell the kids.

While I was back out giving Bella's calf, Daisy, her morning bottle, Jules came out and exclaimed that Faith had twins. No, there was only one when I looked. But Jules was sure that she saw two fluffy white heads, and she was right. Faith gave birth to the second little boy while I was giving Daisy her bottle!

We went out together, and Jules helped me to dip the navels in a gentle iodine to help prevent infection called navel ill/ joint ill, which is just nasty and not worth dealing with when it can be prevented with good hygiene. One of the umbilici was too long, so I shortened it a little bit by teasing it off jagged like with my nail before dipping, which is supposed to be better than cutting to prevent bleeding. All went well; though Faith is still very skittish and uncooperative, she let me handle the lambs.

Jules and I went to collect siblings and Sam's lasso to bring them all up to the barn where it's clean and dry. At first, I tried just picking up the little boys, hoping Faith would just follow, but of course that would've been too easy. It took me about 5-6 tries with the lasso before I got her, and she fought me the whole way up to the barn. Sam held the lasso while I push/ dragged Faith, and the girls brought up the rear with the babies. Whew! Next year I'll need to figure out some system for all the births.

Mama and babies are doing well. Faith passed the placenta and has nibbled a bit. Both boys have nursed multiple times, and seem nice and strong, though we'll be keeping a close eye on them for the next few weeks.

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-03-12T22:49:00.000-04:00

Don't forget that we do have recipes listed over at the archived blog. If you click on the link in the sidebar, it will take you to our old blog where you can browse the recipes. Just click "recipes" in the categories list, and it will bring up several.

farm fresh eggs
spinach/ kale mix
rainbow swiss chard (L)
arugula
turnip greens
citrus thyme
chives (L)

In this week's Market Bag:

2009-03-07T09:06:00.000-05:00

Today was the first pick up of the extended season. Winter shares start off small and grow as the season goes on.

farm fresh eggs
mixed winter greens (arugula, spinach, chard, endive, kale, salad burnet, tatsoi, bok choi)
carrot
sorrel
thyme

Because I hate WordPress

2009-02-19T12:33:00.001-05:00

The original blog over at wordpress came with the hosting for the farm website, but due to spam, the comments kept getting turned off. Since part of the purpose of a blog is the interactive nature, I've given up on wordpress and moved the blog over to blogger.

Comments will require word verification and will be moderated to avoid spam, but anonymous comments are welcome.

There's no simple way (i.e. without some complicated python script, ugh) to import the existing posts, so until that becomes available, I'll leave the old blog up and provide a link to it in the side bar for anyone wishing to search the farm history, and we'll just move forward in this space.

Birth Announcement

2009-02-16T10:41:00.000-05:00

Before I even got to post about being on calf watch, Bella had her baby. She was due on the 18th, but had already begun bagging up, so I knew it was imminent. This morning around 9-9:30 am the event occurred, and I missed the actual birth by just minutes. Baby was on the ground by the time I arrived, and mama was cleaning it nicely. We had a light dusting of snow yesterday, but it was a nice, warm sunny morning with relatively little wind.

I quickly fed the pigs so we didn't have a mutiny, and then ran inside to get Bella some warm molasses water. Blackstrap molasses provides energy, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium and other useful vitamins and minerals. I give it to all my livestock after they give birth. Bella gratefully sucked down two canning pots full in between licks to clean off baby.

Baby was up and standing within the first hour, wobbly but strong, and has nursed a couple times already today, and Bella passed her placenta with no problems about 3 hours after giving birth. We had a healthy little heifer calf, and we're still trying to settle on a name. We won't likely be keeping her, but we'd like to halter train her and enjoy her a bit before we try to sell her.

I was able to milk out about a quart of colostrum from one of Bella's quarters, but she was a little fussy about the back teats. I froze the clean bit I was able to catch, then went back out to try to milk some out of her back quarters to give her some relief. I was able to milk some by hand, but she's so distended at this point that it's hard to get my hands around her teats. I'll milk her out fully, hopefully, tonight with the milk machine, which should give her some welcome relief. I'm hoping the milking will go smoothly so I'll be able to freeze some of this colostrum as well, but I'm not counting on it.

More later....

Artisan Bread Baking

2009-01-18T10:44:00.000-05:00

For my birthday, my mother-in-law gave me some cash, which I quickly disposed of by signing up for two artisan bread baking classes offered through our Rural Heritage museum. Our instructor, Bill Theriault, a historian and founder of the Peter Burr Living History Farm, has been baking artisan bread for many years. That's my friend Joan standing next to him in the photo to the left.

The first class I took was a beginners class that covered the basics of sourdough starters, kneading, shaping, proofing, and baking. By the end of that class, we'd all baked at least one loaf of bread and tasted all the others, and had some to take home to our families in addition to our very own bag of established starter.

For the past month, I've been diligently practicing my basic artisan bread skills at home, trying to figure out how to integrate them into my world. Baking artisan bread is about a 24 hour process from start to finish, and while it's not all that labor intensive, it can be tricky to remember to do all the steps at the right time and to figure out how to fit it into one's already-busy day.

The process begins with pulling the starter out of the fridge the morning before baking and feeding it, though I'm baking often enough that I'm just leaving my starter on the counter. First, discard any "hooch" (the alcohol waste-product from yeast feeding) on top and the very top layer, which probably has some dead yeasties. Then feed it with about a pound of flour and a pound of water. About 12 hours later, or before you go to bed, reserve half the starter to store in the fridge, and feed the remaining starter enough flour/ water mixture for the recipes you'll be using the next day.

Kneading takes about 20 minutes, the 1st rise with a natural leaven will take approximately 3 hours at temps between 70-85°, and the "proofing," or second rise will take approximately another 3 hours. The bread itself bakes for around 45 minutes, and then it will need to cool an hour before cutting. Quite drawn-out a process, eh?

For Christmas, I got these gorgeous willow proofing baskets along with a stoneware cloche in each shape—a boule and a batard. The cloche is absolutely essential for reproducing at home the thick, chewy crust that defines artisan bread... short of putting in your own masonry oven, which of course I'd love to do, but doubt that's happening any time soon. The floured proofing baskets are what create the beautiful pattern on the bread, along with the slashing, which can take any shape the artisan baker chooses. Some folks have made their own cloches by using terra cotta planters, a great, low-cost solution, but at such high heats, I was concerned about any lead or additives that might be in these off-the-shelf buys and decided to invest in good, food-grade stoneware. Breadtopia is a great source for both materials and tutorials—loads of information there.

I just took the advanced class this Saturday, and it was wonderful. We made several flavored loaves as well as several different kinds of recipes, including bread pudding, savory french toast, stuffed dinner and dessert rolls, and English muffins. We experimented with many toppings and fillings and ingredients, creating lots of variations on a theme to expand upon at home.

Knowing my family's likes and dislikes, I left the chocolate breads to others and jumped all over the savory breads and English muffins. I made a delicious savory French toast from a 3 pepper bread, as well as a raisin spice artisan loaf, and raisin spice English muffins. I made a double batch of raisin spice dough, enough for a 2 lb. loaf and at least 8 muffins. Here I am rolling out the mini-boules to create the muffins after the first rise; the bread boule is already resting after its first shaping. By the time I was done the muffins, the bread loaf was ready for its second shaping before placing in the proofing basket.

Here I am taking my finished loaf out of the oven. The raisin spice recipe was amazing, though I'll be adding walnuts to mine because we love nuts. Jim was wild about the 3 pepper dinner rolls stuffed with roasted peppers, which I knew he would be. For any chocolate lovers out there, we had one loaf made with ghirardelli cocoa substituted for 1/3 of the flour in the recipe, making for a stunningly black loaf of bread with an intense chocolate flavor reminiscent of a black forest cake when topped with cherry preserves and a dash of powdered sugar. We also made cranberry chocolate dessert rolls; a pecan, cinnamon, carrot bread; 3 pepper bread; and a 3 pepper bread pudding stuffed with sausage and caramelized onions.

The class was invaluable because we talked about when to add different ingredients, which ingredients are yeast-inhibitors and how to deal with those, how to troubleshoot different problems, etc. The English muffins were amazingly easy to make, as was really just about everything else, but just having the chance to play around with all the recipes with an experienced someone along for the ride was really helpful. Bill's a terrific mentor, and the best part about all this is that come Spring, we'll hopefully have community baking days in the new brick oven he's helped build at the museum! Because I've been a part of the classes, I'll have dibs on baking my dough when it's fired. I'm very excited!