Today as we were walking in from weeding sweet corn and contemplating
lunch, Les said, "Sometimes I feel guilty for eating this well!"
These days at lunch we have been doing variants on skillet-cooking
fresh vegetables in the garden -- the same veggies that have been
coming in the CSA boxes! I am the souz chef, chopping beets, cooking
greens, potatoes, onions, or summer squash, and Les handles the heat, timing, and seasoning.
This summer skillet is built in layers -- just a look
at your vegetables to decide which will take the longest to cook, and
then begin with about half an inch of water in the skillet. Usually
the potatoes come first, then when they are on the way to tender, the
onions, followed by the summer squash, with all the tenderest green
things on the very top, oh-so-briefly -- it was green onions and a
chard/spinach mix today. Salt, black pepper, parsley flakes, and
little pinches of cayenne to taste. As Julia Childs said, "You don't
have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces...just good food from
fresh ingredients."
~Maggie
Friday, July 11, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Exploring the Power of Intention
Dear Friends in Spirit,
I started re-reading the book The Celestine Vision about a week ago and came across the part about how our thoughts and intents effect the people and things around us. It came to my attention while cultivating soybeans the other day that if I petitioned as many people as I can think of to send love and positive energy to the farm and all of my plants and animals, that this would help them reach their fullest potential. So, if the spirit move you to send love and positive energy to the crops and animals on my farm, I would be deeply appreciative.
So far this season we have been spared from the heavy rains that other areas around us have encountered. My soybean crop looks nice and for the most part the weather has cooperated enough to implement timely planting and weeding. My goal for this year is 52 bushel per acre which is a healthy yield, but well within the potential of the beans.
Many Blessings on your Path!
Les
I started re-reading the book The Celestine Vision about a week ago and came across the part about how our thoughts and intents effect the people and things around us. It came to my attention while cultivating soybeans the other day that if I petitioned as many people as I can think of to send love and positive energy to the farm and all of my plants and animals, that this would help them reach their fullest potential. So, if the spirit move you to send love and positive energy to the crops and animals on my farm, I would be deeply appreciative.
So far this season we have been spared from the heavy rains that other areas around us have encountered. My soybean crop looks nice and for the most part the weather has cooperated enough to implement timely planting and weeding. My goal for this year is 52 bushel per acre which is a healthy yield, but well within the potential of the beans.
Many Blessings on your Path!
Les
Food As Spirit
Dear Friends in Spirit
I am inspired to share with you today some of my discoveries relating to food and spirit.
Being given the opportunity in this lifetime to steward land and cultivate plants, I have made some powerful connections with the land, the food that is harvested from it and the spirit that it invokes. I can not stress enough the difference in energy that you will feel from the different ways that our food is prepared or the intent of the hands that produced it. The material age has created a food system that has forced farmers to rely primarily on profit margins for growing food vs. focusing on quality and the health of the community benefiting from his or her labors.
Now with the price of fuel increasing, the price of food at the grocery store will likely double over the next 6 months or so.
It would be a wise move while we are in the productive season to buy extra produce and put some up for winter. Locally grown, fresh organic produce is the best for the health of your body and for nurturing the spirit within.
I have been harvesting from my garden for a good 4 weeks now. Fresh asparagus, spinach, salad greens, broccoli, snow peas, baby beets, new potatoes, zucchini, summer squash and more. I have also been experimenting with sourdough bread and making yogurt from our cows milk. Pretty much every day I eat from the farm and the benefits are tremendous!
Seed saving this summer and fall should also be a priority. Any efforts in this regard will be rewarded!
Many Blessings on your path!
Les
I am inspired to share with you today some of my discoveries relating to food and spirit.
Being given the opportunity in this lifetime to steward land and cultivate plants, I have made some powerful connections with the land, the food that is harvested from it and the spirit that it invokes. I can not stress enough the difference in energy that you will feel from the different ways that our food is prepared or the intent of the hands that produced it. The material age has created a food system that has forced farmers to rely primarily on profit margins for growing food vs. focusing on quality and the health of the community benefiting from his or her labors.
Now with the price of fuel increasing, the price of food at the grocery store will likely double over the next 6 months or so.
It would be a wise move while we are in the productive season to buy extra produce and put some up for winter. Locally grown, fresh organic produce is the best for the health of your body and for nurturing the spirit within.
I have been harvesting from my garden for a good 4 weeks now. Fresh asparagus, spinach, salad greens, broccoli, snow peas, baby beets, new potatoes, zucchini, summer squash and more. I have also been experimenting with sourdough bread and making yogurt from our cows milk. Pretty much every day I eat from the farm and the benefits are tremendous!
Seed saving this summer and fall should also be a priority. Any efforts in this regard will be rewarded!
Many Blessings on your path!
Les
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Rhubarb bread
Just at the end of rhubarb and strawberry season, I want to post a recipe for rhurbarb bran bread that we've really enjoyed several times this season.
Below is the original recipe that we found on the internet, which produced a tasty dessert bread, followed by some modifications that I made the second time around, resulting in a moister bread, a little less sweet, with an aromatic strawberry flavor, in addition to the rhubarb's tartness! (That's the version that CSA member Angie's kids "inhaled," just like we did! :) )
Rhubarb-Bran Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
2 C finely chopped rhubarb
****
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
****
1 slightly beaten egg
1 1/3 C packed brown sugar
an 8 oz carton of plain yogurt
1/2 C bran cereal flakes
1/3 C applesauce
1/4 C cooking oil
Directions:
1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of two 8x4x2" loaf pans. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Stir together egg, brown sugar, yogurt, bran cereal, applesauce, and oil; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just til combined -- gently stir in rhubarb.
3. Spread batter into pans, and sprinkle with Streusel Oat Topping (see recipe for topping below.)
4. Bake in 350 degree oven about 50 minutes, or until the toothpick you insert comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, and if you can possibly wait, wrap the bread and store it overnight before slicing.
Streusel Oat Topping:
Stir together 1/4 C packed brown sugar, 1/4 C rolled oats, 1 T all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Stir in 2 T melted butter or margarine and sprinkle onto batter before baking.
Variations:
The second time I made the bread, we didn't have brown sugar or applesauce, so I substituted about 1/2 C raw cane sugar and 1/2 C raw honey, and instead of the applesauce I mashed up fresh strawberries to make about 1/3 C of a chunky strawberry "sauce." It turned out great!
~Maggie
Below is the original recipe that we found on the internet, which produced a tasty dessert bread, followed by some modifications that I made the second time around, resulting in a moister bread, a little less sweet, with an aromatic strawberry flavor, in addition to the rhubarb's tartness! (That's the version that CSA member Angie's kids "inhaled," just like we did! :) )
Rhubarb-Bran Bread Recipe
Ingredients:
2 C finely chopped rhubarb
****
2 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
****
1 slightly beaten egg
1 1/3 C packed brown sugar
an 8 oz carton of plain yogurt
1/2 C bran cereal flakes
1/3 C applesauce
1/4 C cooking oil
Directions:
1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of two 8x4x2" loaf pans. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
2. Stir together egg, brown sugar, yogurt, bran cereal, applesauce, and oil; add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just til combined -- gently stir in rhubarb.
3. Spread batter into pans, and sprinkle with Streusel Oat Topping (see recipe for topping below.)
4. Bake in 350 degree oven about 50 minutes, or until the toothpick you insert comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, and if you can possibly wait, wrap the bread and store it overnight before slicing.
Streusel Oat Topping:
Stir together 1/4 C packed brown sugar, 1/4 C rolled oats, 1 T all-purpose flour, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon. Stir in 2 T melted butter or margarine and sprinkle onto batter before baking.
Variations:
The second time I made the bread, we didn't have brown sugar or applesauce, so I substituted about 1/2 C raw cane sugar and 1/2 C raw honey, and instead of the applesauce I mashed up fresh strawberries to make about 1/3 C of a chunky strawberry "sauce." It turned out great!
~Maggie
Monday, June 23, 2008
Yummy!
> hi
> just wanted to let you all know that we had the most delicious dinner -
> stir fried all the vegetables - broccoli, spinach, asperagus etc etc. Had
> bismati rice with parsley, and had a big salad with your greens and
> radishes etc.
> THEN we had strawberry rhubarb pie. It was all delicious and all from your
> farm and your efforts. :)
> That must be so gratifying for you.
> Good job!!
> :)
> Nancy Cannon
> just wanted to let you all know that we had the most delicious dinner -
> stir fried all the vegetables - broccoli, spinach, asperagus etc etc. Had
> bismati rice with parsley, and had a big salad with your greens and
> radishes etc.
> THEN we had strawberry rhubarb pie. It was all delicious and all from your
> farm and your efforts. :)
> That must be so gratifying for you.
> Good job!!
> :)
> Nancy Cannon
Friday, June 20, 2008
One Mean Garlic Sauce!
I clipped the scapes into teeny-tiny pieces...I was afraid the food
> processor would damage them too much, so I snipped with scissors.
> Sauteed them in a heavy amount of garlic, almost covering them with
> olive oil and sprinkling in sea salt. (I used about 20 scapes, but it
> wasn't too much...I didn't use much beyond the pod, where it gets
> stringy). Sauteed for a while, then added meat and some more sea
> salt--tonight I cut chunks of a raw pork tenderloin, but use meat of
> choice! Turned up the heat to cook those bad-boy chunks of
> meat--wanted to sear them a touch. When the meat was just about done,
> I threw in several cups of spinach to wilt in the oil. Add diced
> tomatoes (didn't have fresh), and simmer for about 20 min 'til they'll
> mush up a bit. While this was going on, I pulled parsley leaves from
> you and dropped them in. Probably around a 1/3 cup, packed. Add
> tomato paste and water until you've got the volume you want--I
> recommend 1 cup of water for every 4 oz of paste. Season to taste--I
> milled some pepper in (not too much!) and about a tsp of Penzey's
> Italian Seasoning. Salt to taste, if needed--simmer low for about
> another hour, covered and vented slightly.
>
> Mmmm...if only I had some Romano cheese!!!
Jules
> processor would damage them too much, so I snipped with scissors.
> Sauteed them in a heavy amount of garlic, almost covering them with
> olive oil and sprinkling in sea salt. (I used about 20 scapes, but it
> wasn't too much...I didn't use much beyond the pod, where it gets
> stringy). Sauteed for a while, then added meat and some more sea
> salt--tonight I cut chunks of a raw pork tenderloin, but use meat of
> choice! Turned up the heat to cook those bad-boy chunks of
> meat--wanted to sear them a touch. When the meat was just about done,
> I threw in several cups of spinach to wilt in the oil. Add diced
> tomatoes (didn't have fresh), and simmer for about 20 min 'til they'll
> mush up a bit. While this was going on, I pulled parsley leaves from
> you and dropped them in. Probably around a 1/3 cup, packed. Add
> tomato paste and water until you've got the volume you want--I
> recommend 1 cup of water for every 4 oz of paste. Season to taste--I
> milled some pepper in (not too much!) and about a tsp of Penzey's
> Italian Seasoning. Salt to taste, if needed--simmer low for about
> another hour, covered and vented slightly.
>
> Mmmm...if only I had some Romano cheese!!!
Jules
Monday, May 12, 2008
Cabbage and Cow tales
The farm is taking a breath today after a good rain, with soft gray skies and a chilly breeze from the north. We had a lot waiting for the rain -- potatoes, onions, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, parsnips, and flower beds for the bees & butterflies around the greenhouse and office were all planted out at the end of last week! The barley fields like this cool weather, too, according to Orv Roggenbuck, Les's dad, who was out until 10:30 pm last Thursday preparing other fields for planting. This time of year seems to be all about watching for windows of opportunity and throwing yourself through them when they come! We were out until sunset with the potatoes on Thursday, and finished transplanting the cabbage out at dusk on Saturday with an eye to yesterday's forecast rain.
On Saturday morning we sorted the herd for the second time this spring, separating the bull from the cows who are going into heat, and weaning more of last year's calves from their mothers. This takes some presence of mind, effort and patience, along with a couple handy buckets of roasted soy and barley to get the majority of the herd into the corner corral! It took about an hour and a half to move several calves out of the cowbarn into the back pasture, and sort a portion of the herd into the front pasture, including the adult bull and our little up-and-coming bull, Curley. Everybody got a little bothered and stirred up (including us humans!) but overall the move went smoothly.
And talk about separation anxiety! Some of the calves had stopped nursing on their own, and these youngsters seemed to take pretty easily to life away from mom. But each cow and calf react differently, and as the herd spread out across the pasture into the afternoon, the pitch and intensity of the bawling was eerie and sad, and sometimes hilariously funny to us as it swelled & roiled, stopped & started again. Things quieted down yesterday, but even today the calves we call 67 and 68 have been breaking off from the herd to come back and call through the fence for reassurance. Their moms are answering, but less, and when they come together again the relationships will be changed and less particular.
Another exciting item of news is that we are going to start milking for the house this week! Devons are a good dual-purpose breed, and we've picked a light red 2-year-old we call Violet, who is nursing her first calf Rosco right now. She seems to be a good "community cow," as she has already let an unmothered calf nurse besides her own, so here's hoping that she will be tolerant of us too! All we need is to set up a pen and warm our hands to begin drinking the freshest, creamiest, healthiest milk around.
On Saturday morning we sorted the herd for the second time this spring, separating the bull from the cows who are going into heat, and weaning more of last year's calves from their mothers. This takes some presence of mind, effort and patience, along with a couple handy buckets of roasted soy and barley to get the majority of the herd into the corner corral! It took about an hour and a half to move several calves out of the cowbarn into the back pasture, and sort a portion of the herd into the front pasture, including the adult bull and our little up-and-coming bull, Curley. Everybody got a little bothered and stirred up (including us humans!) but overall the move went smoothly.
And talk about separation anxiety! Some of the calves had stopped nursing on their own, and these youngsters seemed to take pretty easily to life away from mom. But each cow and calf react differently, and as the herd spread out across the pasture into the afternoon, the pitch and intensity of the bawling was eerie and sad, and sometimes hilariously funny to us as it swelled & roiled, stopped & started again. Things quieted down yesterday, but even today the calves we call 67 and 68 have been breaking off from the herd to come back and call through the fence for reassurance. Their moms are answering, but less, and when they come together again the relationships will be changed and less particular.
Another exciting item of news is that we are going to start milking for the house this week! Devons are a good dual-purpose breed, and we've picked a light red 2-year-old we call Violet, who is nursing her first calf Rosco right now. She seems to be a good "community cow," as she has already let an unmothered calf nurse besides her own, so here's hoping that she will be tolerant of us too! All we need is to set up a pen and warm our hands to begin drinking the freshest, creamiest, healthiest milk around.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Spring is here!!! And CSA's upon us.
Today it was 90 degrees in the greenhouse by noon! We have a happy crop of baby tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants and spent a warm hour seeding cabbage and brussels sprouts for the season. The cows were calling to each other out back, the horses were horsing around in the paddock, and we are looking forward to a new CSA community this year, and some new additions to our farm community: Maggie, our eager intern fresh from the MSU Student Organic Farm, and hopefully two colonies of honeybees! We have been consulting the great bee minds of Sanilac County and will have two bee motels started by mid-May. We are also going to put together a couple of empty hives in the hope of capturing the interest of some of our healthy wild bees. Get ready for La Casa Abeja, Le Maison d' Abeilles, Das Honigbienehaus, and the Bee Motel! Looking forward to our first meeting.
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