Quotes from the Farm

Lately I find myself and my guests saying things I never would have thought would come out of our mouths. Here are a few that came up this week

- "There is no fence that can contain a horney goat."
- "Ever since I hit that waterer with the truck, its been nothing but trouble."
- "Well at least there isn't a cow on my front porch"
- "Idle hooves are the devil's playground."
- "Arghh!! Fu*k it. Fu*k it, and fu*k you" (said mid-project all around the farm)
- "I realized very early on, this farm is no place for dainty women"
- "I'm just glad the goat didn't die."
- "Man... I look GOOD when I'm clean!"
- "I wonder how long that chicken was *in* there?!"
- "Carmen honey please, you're standing on the chicken."
- "The irrigation system is fine. Its the gravity that's the problem."
- "I didn't mean to tackle your dog like that. She was just stressin' me out."
- "Listen you useless meat sack. I AM triming your hooves."
- "We're practicing planned parenthood here. If I'm not breeding, no one is."

We just crack ourselves up! I'll keep a running log...

Introducing... VALENTINO!

We have a new member in our little goat family, Valentino. He came to the Art Farm from Ed and Cindy in Oregon City and is a real sweetheart. His first and most important responsibility is to knock-up my girls! Yes, he is an entact buckling and a love machine.

From day one Valentino - Tino, for short - has been taking this task very seriously. Morning, afternoon and evening he woos those lady goats. Mind you, he is about 1/3 their size but that doesn't seem to occur to him. So far I believe we have a pregnant Lola and a pregnant Carmen. As I look out my window right now, I see that he has broken out of his stall and fence (again) and is frolicking with the others in the green, grassy run. What a life for a little boy goat.

In preparation for his arrival, I fixed up the previously un-used other stall. It is quite the little love nest in there... New windows, fresh water, soft bedding and a big heavy door.

He loves it here and we love him. Once I'm more sure the girls are "in a family way" Tino will be wethered (fixed) so he can live the stress-free life of an art farm pet goatie. And hopefully there will be a few brown and black babies with his sweet temperment this spring!

2007 Summer Growing Season

Well, I have to admit this was a challenging season. It seemed like everything that could have gone wrong, did. Here's the short list:

- Spring came at the end of May so everything was in the ground two weeks late
- It was a cold spring so almost nothing germinated in the first round of planting
- It rained every other weekend so the weeds grew like crazy ALL SUMMER
- The corn was teeny-tiny and was quickly dwarfed by the weeds
- There were insects like I've never seen before - some kinds I didn't even recognize!
- The insects brought with them a virus that killed half the cukes & melons
- The gophers ate half the potatoes and most of the carrots before I noticed
- By the time it finally warmed up enough to get thing growing... Fall came three weeks early

You can typically expect one, or even up to three, of these things to happen every year. Certainly not all. But on the positive side, we had a bumber crop of blackberries, plums, walnuts and cherries! The tomatoes were wonderful, there WAS enough to feed all the clients, and we didn't have any animal emergencies this year. Managed to keep the new orchard and vineyard alive and built the new kitchen, too. Not too shabby.

Week 15 - WINTER SQUASH

There are a lot of squashes and gourds in your delivery this week, but not all are edible. Here’s a quick guide to the ones you’ll want to save...

ACORN: Sweet and flakey. Wonderful baked with butter, brown sugar and a hint of chili powder.

DELICATA: Great baked. Not overwhelmingly squashy. Smooth flesh with a sweet nutty flavor.
BUTTERNUT: Extremely sweet and moist. These are definitely the best squash fro soups in the bunch.

GOLDEN NUGGET: Very flavorful. Their small size make these great for roasting. Beautiful golden flesh.

HUBBARD (NW Native): These huge squashes are very sweet and dry. They store well and are great for pies!!

SUGAR PUMPKIN: This little squash is perfect for holiday pies. Tiny & sweet with yummy seeds!

All of these will store in a cool dark place for up to four months. They are a wonderful way to decorate your home for the season and an even better way to treat yourself after the fact. Check pages 7, 12, 75 & 79 in your cookbook for some great recipes. Enjoy the season!!!

Week 14 - ONION TART

The Walla Walla onions in your box are a wonderful, sweet, NW native. Similar to Vidalias if you are from the southern US. They don’t keep especially well so I recommend this recipe as a way to use them up quickly.

2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp butter
2 yellow onions, thinly sliced
2 tbsp fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ C ricotta cheese, room temp
½ C cream cheese, room temp
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
¼ C gorgonzola, crumbled
¼ C dried currants

Preheat oven to 375° F. Heat olive oil and butter in large saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add onions and sauté until onions start to lightly caramelize, about 10 minutes. Add chopped thyme and garlic. Continue sautéing until onions are more golden and caramelized, about 8 minutes more. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.

In a bowl, mix ricotta and cream cheese together until smooth. Set aside. Remove puff pastry from refrigerator and quickly roll out into 9"x13"-inch rectangle. With sharp knife score a line about ½-inch from edge all around border of pastry, making sure not to cut all the way through. This creates a puffy border.

Spread the cheese mixture evenly between the score lines. Cover with the onion mixture, again spreading evenly between the score lines. Sprinkle the blue cheese and currants over the onions.
Bake at 375° F for about 35 minutes, until puff pastry is golden on top and crispy and golden on the bottom. Remove from oven and cut into 2' squares. Eat it while hot, or at room temperature.

Week 13 - DRIED BEANS

DRIED BEANS

I’m not exactly why I grow beans specifically for drying. It takes up tons of space and water. They take forever to dry, THEN you have to shell them by hand as quickly as you can before the vines and leaves get moldy. They are much cheaper at the store, so why do it? The warm flavor and smooth texture of these beautiful, home-grown and hand-harvested Cranberry Beans will show you why.

Cranberry Beans & Rice

1 C dried cranberry beans
1¾ C veggie or chicken stock
1 C stewed tomatoes, drained & chopped
¾ C water
1 T Worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
½ t salt
¼ t Tabasco sauce
4 oz thick cut bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
1 small onion, diced
1 cloves of garlic, minced
4 C cooked whole grain rice

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Place the beans in a medium-sized bowl, cover with boiling water and let stand for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350º. Combine stock, tomatoes, water, Worcestershire, bay leaves, salt and Tabasco in a soup pot and bring to a boil. Drain the beans and add them to the mixture. Stir in the bacon, onion and garlic. Toss in ¼ teaspoon of pepper flakes if you like a some heat.

Cover the pot and move to the oven. Bake until beans are tender, 1½ hours. Let the dish stand for 10 minutes before serving over the rice. Great for weekend guests. Serves 6.

Week 12 - HERBS

The season is winding down and spending some quality time in the kitchen sounds better and better. This weekend I made zucchini bread (page 64 in your cookbooks, some in your box for sampling), plum cake, tarts and jam. You’ve had some herbs in weeks past, but just as a reminder here’s what you can do with some of them:

Flat Leaf Parsley: Great in just about everything! This flavorful version of the curly kind is pretty versatile. Potato salad, every home made soup, on top of alfredo or the gratin from last week.
Oregano: Fuzzy leafed with a mild savory flavor. Perfect for tomato sauce or tossing into grilled veggies. Also interesting in a hearty salad.
Basil: 100% Italian. Basil loves tomatoes. My favorite is a tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich grilled or broiled for some extra crunch.
Chives: I usually chop chives into my macaroni or shrimp salad in the summer, but in the fall its all about the omelettes!
Rosemary: Very strong flavor. Goes well with beef and chicken. Great for grilling. Also lends itself to bean soups and potatoes.

Small Game Hunter

The gopher dead-count is currently THREE. Let this serve as an example to anything else who eats my veggies without permission!

Week 11 - POTATO FENNEL GRATIN

I found this recipe for Potato Gratin a few weeks ago and I’m officially IN LOVE! It is super easy to assemble and goes great with anything. I served it with grilled salmon, but it would work with a good steak as well. Several of the ingredients are in your cooler this week if you’d like to give it a try…

1 large fennel bulb
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 lbs yellow potatoes (~4 large potatoes)
2 cups heavy cream
2 ½ cups grated Gruyère or swiss cheese (~½ lb)
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter the inside of a 10x15x2-inch baking dish and set aside.
Remove the stalks from the fennel and cut the bulbs in half lengthwise. Remove the cores and thinly slice the bulbs crosswise, making approximately 4 cups of sliced fennel. Sauté the fennel and onions in the olive oil and butter on medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until tender.

Peel the potatoes, then thinly slice them by hand or with a mandoline (I used the slicer on my cheese grater and it worked fine). Mix the sliced potatoes in a large bowl with 2 cups of cream, 2 cups of Gruyère, salt, and pepper. Add the sautéed fennel and onion and mix well. Pour the potatoes into the baking dish. Press down to smooth the potatoes. Combine the remaining 2 tbsp of cream and ½ cup of Gruyère and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 1½ hours, until the potatoes are very tender and the top is browned and bubbly. Allow to set for 10 minutes and serve. Yummmmy!

Week 10 - TOMATOES

In spite of the 1+ inch of rain Amity has had already this week, the tomatoes have been able to survive with a minimum of cracking. I planted WAY too many this year. Every year really, but this year it was worse. 43 plants all together. It would take pages to tell you about all of them, but here is some info about my favorites:

Brandywine*: huge, delicious, comes in pink, yellow & black.
Roma: standard pasta tomato. great for sauces or salads.
Tiger-Like: medium-sized and stripey! green or red.
Stuffers*: comes in yellow and red striped. mostly hollow like a pepper.
Pink Accordion*: deeply veined pink and gorgeous
Hillbilly Potato Leaf: I have no idea what to expect… Pretty though!

*Heirloom Variety (not hybridized in 50+ years)