Ups and Downs

Holden enjoying fresh-picked berries and cream.

The end product of our first beet harvest.

Getting ready to dress chickens.

Unpacking our new arrivals.

Our gourmet salad mix.

I know it has been a long time since I have written. It has been a very busy time on the farm. Although the rain has kept us out of garden much of the time, we are still in there every chance we get. Dan had suggested that we never complain about rain. I am very thankful for the rain, even though we are a little behind on some extra planting we wanted to do. The wet conditions have also made prime conditions for bacterial plant diseases to thrive. I believe our peppers have bacterial spot and our squash have angular leaf spot. The weather, coupled with the fact that these are heirloom varieties, make some of this inevitable. I am not too worried, I will just have to keep my eyes on it and try to keep it under control.

The squash also have some other pest munching on the tiny seedlings that emerge. I have since replanted. I thought the cutworms were to blame so I have been vigilantly placing three toothpicks around every seedling I can see. There is still some damage so I am not sure if my diagnosis or my treatment are incorrect. Perhaps it is both. Either way, the damage to the replacements have not been as extensive so I am sticking with my plan for now.

We also had to replace about 64 of our tomato plants that we lost to what we think is a rabbit. Why do we think this? When I went to take pictures of the crop damage to send in to the extension office early one morning, I was met at the gate by a lovely rabbit munching happily. Needless to say, we (meaning my cousin Lincoln) have rabbit-proofed, and no more tomato plants have been lost.

Now for some good news. The beets are doing beautifully and seem to be be bothered very little by any pests or diseases. They are quickly rivaling the tomato as my favorite garden vegetable. They are so beautiful, come in so many colors (and shapes), and you can use every part of the plant. Plus, what else tastes so much like the earth it comes from? I have ordered so many more beet seeds and plan to have a continuous supply during the growing season as well as enough to pickle and can for winter use.

As you can see, our broilers are ready to dress. We have spent the last rainy days dressing chickens and freezing them or eating them. Some of our lucky CSA members bought a chicken minutes after it was dressed and was able to enjoy the freshest chicken you can imagine. If you have never had a fresh chicken, it is quite different from eating a frozen chicken, especially one that has traveled many miles. We had a new batch of broilers arrive just this week so we will be able to enjoy our chickens all winter long.

It has also been a big week for the family. My parents celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary. At this point, they have spent the majority of their lives together, truly been through the best and worst times, and still manage to get along most of the time. I find that highly commendable. We also had a great father's day as well as my dad's birthday, which happens to fall on the summer solstice. This first day of summer almost always coincides with the first wild raspberry harvest.

In true summer fashion, mom and I donned our plastic rain pants, long sleeved shirts, and plenty of mosquito repellant in order to gather these jewels from amidst the nettles, thorns, and voracious guard mosquitoes. It was worth it. When we walked back (because we had gotten the truck stuck in what I can only describe as a swamp), we enjoyed fresh berries and whipped cream. It made me forget my mosquito bites and bleeding knuckles.

All in all, it been an interesting time on the farm, full of ups and downs. However, at the end of the day, if we are able to put fresh food on our table and yours, we consider our efforts a success.

A Dandy Time After the Storm

Well, we finally got our rain. And lightning, and hail, and wind gusts. Luckily, the garden came out fairly unscathed. We lost our newly planted pole bean seeds to a wash out. We can only imagine where a nice pile of beans is going to spring up. We also lost a couple of cucumbers and a lot of our edible flowers. Everything can be replanted but the flowers may have to wait until fall. It is a reminder to be careful what you wish for.

As some of you know, I have become very interested in foraging. There are many things I have faithfully gathered every year...morel mushrooms, wild raspberries, mulberries, wild grapes, and even gooseberries from time to time. I have discovered some new things to add to the list, mainly weeds. While most people are trying to rid their landscapes of lamb's quarters, stinging nettles, and dandelions, I have decided to embrace the virtuous side of these plants and eat them. My newest love...dandelion bread. If Ray Bradbury dedicated an entire novel to making wine out of these weeds, I can surely take a moment to discuss their benefits in baking as well.

Dandelion bread is exactly what it sounds like. A simple bread recipe livened up with dandelion petals. This honey sweetened bread tastes similar to cornbread but the real treat are the eye-catching yellow petals. It reminds me of sunshine in a bread loaf. However, don't let the prevalence of dandelions fool you. Gathering these treats is bit more technical than you might think. First, you have to get over looking like a crazy person in your neighbor's lawn at 7 in the morning searching for the weeds. If you would like more of a visual, picture orange rain boots, clear buckets, and unbrushed hair. Next comes choosing the right flowers. I have heard gathering early in the morning is best but next year I am going to challenge this theory. The flowers are still closed early in the morning, making it very difficult to tell which petals are mostly yellow and which are mostly white. Finding the very tightly closed buds is a real treat because the petals are all yellow and a bit easier to clean. Finally, there is the tedious task of separating the petals from the green portion. Luckily, we have relatives visiting from Trinidad to help. (Our relatives happen to be fishers and and when comparing dandelion separating to shrimp deveining, dandelion cleaning was crowned the most difficult.) The result, of all this: baked sunshine.