Fresh Harvest

I finally got it!

I applied for Organic Certification, gosh - was it in March?  And it has taken this long for it to come through.  But anyway, it's official now.  And although it won't change anything about the way that I grow things (I have never grown non-organically), it will certainly force me to be better about my record keeping.

For many years I didn't think the Organic Certification mattered.  I know many wonderful farmers who grow organically but choose not to be Certified by the USDA for one reason or another.  However, I finally felt last year like it was time for me to stand up and be counted.  

Otherwise, it is Fall on the farm.  A time of senescence.  I so appreciate the slowing down this time of year brings to my place.  I know there are some farmers who are gearing up for their winter season.  But I conveniently am not set up for that, so I get to watch things gently fade and wither and return to the earth. 

Pulling up tomato stakes?  Cleaning up the piles of drip tape?  Pulling up landscape fabric?  Those projects can wait until after frost, until some crisp clear day when I can wear a sweater and gloves and not break a sweat, then come inside and have some tea.

And so it goes...

Look how these babies have grown while I've been away!

Two things have happened that have put me off blogging for the past few months. 

The first is what most people refer to as "August", but what we at my house call "Farm-ageddon".  This is when the dueling forces of nature and the human manipulation of nature (i.e.farming) come crashing together and nature inevitably overcomes the human.  Big time.  I have learned during farm-ageddon time to just gracefully bow out and admit defeat .  I really don't have a problem with nature winning - I prefer it, philosophically speaking.  So, the weeds finally won and we spent lots of time at the creek.

The second "event" that has taken over a large chunk of our life is that we decided to homeschool this year.  I won't say much more about this other than, "Wow".  It's big, and challenging, and wonderful. 

So, I've had to let at least one thing go, which has been blogging.  Well, actually, some people might say house cleaning has also been let go.  But I am sticking to the point.

But now it is October, and we're are settling in to the next season.  It has been so rainy, that I am behind on getting the field disced and the cover crop in.  I was prepared this year,  too.  I ordered my clover and vetch seed early, etc. But between the rain and my tractor being broke, I am behind once again.  Still working on it, let's just say.

On a good note, it has been recently reaffirmed in my heart why and just how much I love my husband.  First of all, he has worked tirelessly on trying to fix the tractor himself.  It is downright impossible to get a mechanic out here to fix the tractor on site, and just as hard to take it anywhere, so we have been left to fend for ourselves.  So, finally, my husband figured out how to hot-wire the tractor, to get it started.  As in how-to steal-a-car kind of hot -wiring.  My grandfather's tractor from 1960 is now hot wired.  Cracks me up to no end, and now my husband is the coolest guy I know, for sure.

Second of all, he has served as the calm in the middle of my panic stricken "My cover crop is late!" storm.  After he hot-wired the tractor, we took it immediately out in the field for a victory lap.  And, as if scripted for dramatic effect - cue the laugh track - the rear tire blew out.  These large rear tires are filled with water, so when they bust, there is the initial thought of "Where is that sound of running water coming from?" 

I was too stunned to cry.  Kipp just said, "This is a test.  This is only a test". 

So the big guys in the big truck came out the next day to fix the big tire.  For a very big amount of money. 

Anyway, let's talk about food.  Because it is fall, and the food changes, and we all get hungrier for roots and greens and butter.  Is that just me?

John has grown sweet potatoes for the first time, and they are beautiful and delicious. Also, the peppers are at last ripening.  They are the jewels of Autumn - so vibrant and sweet.  We put them in every recipe, no matter what.  With eggs for breakfast, on sandwiches, in soups, stir fries, roasted and in salads.  Here are a whole bunch of links for  recipes we are eating right now.

Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Black Beans and Chilie Dressing

Green Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Ginger - I use kale for this!

Simple Red Pepper and Summer Squash Soup

Warm Butternut Squash and Chickpea Salad with Tahini

Kale and Cheddar Frittata

I know I already talked about melons.  But, really, did I say enough?

I mean, we are over run with them, and it is rather consuming.  The rain has affected the harvest in that they are splitting from absorbing all the water.  We have to be out there twice a day picking out the ripe ones before they crack.  I'd say I've lost almost half the harvest due to this.  So there are many piles of rotting melons scattered throughout the field, emitting a sickly sweet odor.  How's that for farm glamour?
However, we still are harvesting plenty for all.  And they are delicious.  We've been trying a plethora of recipes, moving beyond the "sliced-melon-at-breakfast" rut and going for some savory dishes.

A resource I have found is - who knew? - www.melonrecipes.com.  It's full of recipes for melons of all kinds.

Also, melon can be frozen.  This was a revelation!  They are great in smoothies all year long.
To freeze melon balls, slices or cubes, use only firm, ripe fruit. Cut melon in half, remove any seeds and cut out fruit. Don't cut into the rind. You can place melon directly in containers, label, date and freeze. But to keep their shape, place melon pieces on a cookie sheet and freeze overnight (6-12 hours). Transfer frozen fruit to plastic freezer bags or containers.   Melons, if properly frozen, will keep up to a year in your home freezer.

Here is a salad we've enjoyed, adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant New Classics.  After we had it with only the melon, I went back and added black beans, sauteed corn, and queso fresco.  You could serve it over lettuce, but that is not in season right now.  So let it go, okay?

Spicy Cantaloupe Salad

1 cantaloupe, seeded, peeled, and cut into cubes.  (I've used both cantaloupe and the 'San Juan', similar to a honey dew)
1 Tbl chopped cilantro
2 Tbl chopped scallions or red onion
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 cup fresh corn, sauteed and then cooled
queso fresco or feta cheese

Combine all this, then whisk together this dressing:

2 Tbl olive oil
2 tsp cider vinegar
3 Tbl fresh lime juice
2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne, or to taste
1/4 tsp black pepper

Pour dressing on the cantaloupe and toss well.

It has been a very productive season.  The weather has basically been wonderful .  It seems that all we do is harvest, and there is still so much out there we can't keep up with it.  This is a good thing, but all the harvesting does take away from the other chores that need to be done, like getting the fall crops in.  So we are a little behind over here. 

Sawyer says, waving his arms around the barn, "We are FULL mama!" and he is so right.  The barn and cooler are packed .  This is over 300 pounds of 'Juliet' tomatoes harvested in one afternoon.  They do have a purpose, which I will write about soon.  I also have to write about cold soups!  Fun with a blender!  Perhaps tomorrow I'll get them in.  For now, I have to leave you with this, the new addition to our family:

Meet pound puppy Pluto.  That's his name for now at least - it seems to keep changing.  Sawyer has been asking for a puppy, which, you know, what 7-year old boy who is also an only child doesn't want a puppy?  I couldn't say no, but it has taken me awhile to warm up to the idea.  It's not that I don't like dogs, but dogs and my vegetable plot do not mix well.  We rescued a large shepard mix that could take out a whole bed of lettuce in one romp.  Oh, it was horrible.  Not to mention the chicken chasing.  So we have been sans dog for quite some time now, and I could hear that sound of inevitability.  So far it's been a joy, and I'll publicly admit I'm sorry that I called my husband a "sucker" when they phoned me from the pound asking if it was OK if they brought one home.

This picture was of the melons just after planting, on a rainy morning in early June.  The patch looked like this for awhile.  I didn't use landscape fabric this year.  We've been tilling in between the rows to keep the weeds down.  However, the thing about that grass and other green things, is that they just grow and grow and grow.

Now it is melon harvest time, and it is a jungle out there!

"Melon time" consists of a twice daily walk through the patch to catch the ripening melons.  I've narrowed my varieties down to the ones that change color dramatically once ripe, and slip off the vine easily.  None of this checking the tendril at the vine and fruit stem or sniffing the blossom end for me.  Those days are way over (along with sleeping in and doing yoga).  I'm down to the quick and easy recognition of what is ripe and what is not.  However, there is always the requisite tasting just to make sure.

The 'San Juans' are a lovely muskmelon type variety, and they become this nice yellow tone which is easily discerned through the leaves:

 

The watermelons are another story.  The yellow and green variegation that makes them so beautiful also camoflages them perfectly.  The only way to find them is to trip over them, like blindly walking through a field of bowling balls.  I fell over two just taking this picture:

It is the time of the season when I start to miss lettuce.  We eat a lot of chopped salads these days, which are just raw chunks of whatever veggies I have on hand in some sort of salad dressing.  However, I do sometimes lack imagination/motivation.  Thankfully, Mark Bittman from the New York Times has come up with a great 101 Salads for the Season, which is filled with interesting, simple, and quick ideas for making summer salads.
Also, the freshly dug potatoes are so delicious right now.  Two nice ideas for potato dishes are on Nancy's blog, Good Food Matters, and on Orangette's a "Salsa Verde" to go on roasted potatoes.  Thanks to a customer suggestion, I roasted some Dragon's Tongue beans for 15 minutes along with the potatoes, and tossed them in the dressing as well.  Really delicious.   

I love my compost volunteers.  These are not, unfortunatley,  people who volunteer to come out and turn my compost (now that really would be true love!) but those plants that "volunteer" themselves to grow with reckless vigor out of the compost pile.  There are always tomatoes, which I find don't taste as good, and amaranth flowers, and of course the squashes.  I have no idea what this is - some sort of winter squash I guess.  It is certainly a most beautiful specimen. I can't imagine ever cutting into it to find out what it is.  We could probably all take pictures and hold some sort of contest of the interesting vegetative life forms that spring forth from our compost piles, like Venuses from the waves...

This is My Brain on Farming...

My head has been buried...
Not under a rock, but immersed in one thing or another, like tomatoes, carrots, onions, squash, flowers... next week it will be beans.
 Summer feels like swimming up river around here, and that's just the nature of it.  I plant these seeds and nurture this dirt, and my reward is a ceaseless abundance that threatens to do me in.  Every spring when the greenhouse is full of dirt-filled plug trays I worry if things will actually grow.  And by August it is like "shock and awe" around here.  The amazing life force and resiliency of nature still surprises me. 

There have been times this summer when I feel like the farm has taken on a life of it's own, almost like the plant in Little Shop of Horrors. 
Anyway, I am not complaining, I promise.  It's just my way of saying that I haven't written as much these days mostly because my thoughts are pretty one-dimensional.

This is the stage of the summer when my brain gets very quiet.  I used to think of it as the "mush" stage, but I have over time come to appreciate it in a different light.
Why do the crows in the woods behind the field carry on their call meetings only at dusk?
Do turtles like bitter lettuce?
What is my favorite color zinnia?
When a June bug flies into me, does it find it as amusing as I do?  Does it say, "Oh, pardon me" in a British accent?
These are the deep thoughts I ponder as I carry on the repetitive farm tasks.  Some people chant or count beads as a way to calm the mind.  I weed the beets, or pick the beets, or bunch the beets.
My husband may disagree with my theory that I am actually possessed of a high state of enlightenment by August .  I am sure he is tired of asking me my opinion on health care reform or the new Supreme Court Judge nominee, and all I can muster is "Um, yes" .

We have been enjoying blueberries!
The blueberries we are offering are grown at Hidden Springs Nursery, near Cookeville.  This nursery was started about 30 years ago by Susie and Hector Black, and is now carried on by their family .  The blueberries are managed by their granddaughter, Brinna.  Mr. and Mrs. Black have an amazing life story, and are true heroes of mine, right up there with the Helen and Scott Nearing, Wendell Berry, Edward Abbey, and all four of my grandparents (Now that would be an interesting dinner party.  They probably wouldn't all get along very well!).  They are very active with the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing as a result of their personal experience of their daughter being murdered in 2000.  You can hear Hector tell their story here.
I am sure John feels the same way when I say that Fresh Harvest is honored to be offering their product, and we appreciate our customers who support their farm!

Sawyer and I have made this blueberry cake quite a bit - good for three meals a day!  But then again, I am quite the proponent of any cooked fruit dessert as a breakfast meal.
Also, I had my first attempt at canning blueberry jam.  How did I find the time?  With an insistent 7 year old, there is no choice.  He is quite determined to "put up for winter" this year, and I feel the same way.  Plus, Blueberries for Sal was a favorite book of Sawyer's, and admit I feel a tinge competitive with that mom and her 50's perfection - that car!  and hair! and apron! and those great old-fashioned rubber canning rings that Sal gets to play with!   My jam didn't turn out perfect, but I think the labels did.

What We're Eating Now

A brief rain - what a welcome relief.  We - meaning us, the plants, and the chickens - were all so happy about it.  We spent the night of the Fourth of July on the front porch, listening to the fireworks mixed with thunder and flashes of lightening.

If anything can inspire you to do some food preserving this week, while the tomatoes are piling in, it is this post "Catface Tomatoes" on Nancy's blog.  I, too, am about out of freezer space and need to get over my fear of canning.  However, for now I borrow my parent's extra freezer space!

Also, thanks to Fresh Harvest customer Michele for this recipe for gluten-free Carrot  muffins. 

I can't help it during peach season - I must eat them, even if they aren't 100% local and certainly aren't organic.  They are regional - does that count?  Somehow, a farmer is being supported.  And, like I said, I just can't help it.  This is a really lovely and surprising salad, great to serve with company.  I got it from a sewing book, Weekend Sewing   by Heather Ross.  Yes, I love to sew, but during the summer I end up just looking at pictures of things other people have sewn. At night I sit on the couch and think about sewing, and then go to bed.

Peach and Basil Salad
serves 4

2 large peaches
1 medium ball fresh mozzarella, very soft
 About 20 large basil leaves
1 Tblespoon balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
pinch of salt

The recipe calls for slicing everything into similar rounds and making stacks.  I however just thinly sliced the peach and mozzarella, tear up the basil, and tossed it with the cherry tomatoes and oil and vinegar.

We are overloaded with onions right now, and they are just amazing caramelized.  This is good and simple for dinner.  And, of course, another excuse to eat bread.  This is from one of the many Moosewood cookbooks that I own.  New Classics is the one.

Gruyere Cheese with Caramelized Onions
serves 4

1 Tblespoon olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tblespoon minced fresh thyme
black pepper to taste
11/2  - 2 cups grated Gruyere cheese
4 slices good thick bread

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a heavy skillet, heat the olive oil and saute the onions for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the salt, lower the heat, and cover the pan, and contimue to cook for 10 minutes more, until the onions are brown.  Ass the fresh thyme and peper and saute about 5 more minutes.  Set aside to cool.
Sprinklle about 1/4 cup of cheese on each slice of bread.  PLace on a baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted.  Top each slice with a quarter of the onions and serve!

At some point soon these yellow wax beans will be ready!

Flowers -  some old, some new, some still just becoming...

It's been a busy week.  I recognize that I could say this every week, but the sheer abundance of summer is here, and it is an overwhelming force to reckon with. 
We started off the week getting in some hay at my folks' farm in Hickman County.  I grew up doing this - I can't imagine a time when it wasn't a part of my life.  Well, there were some lost teenage years and then living in other states...but in my memory of growing up, it was a constant summer ritual at my grandparents' farm in Brentwood.
I am quite sure this work is what shaped me into who I am now.  It was family time, but family work time.  We worked hard, we all participated, and we were all happy when it was over. 

I look back on it all with such fondness: learning to stack hay correctly; racing to get stuff loaded out of the field before a thunderstorm; jumping in the creek to cool down as often as we could sneak away; driving the wagon under low branches and knocking the top layer of hay off; all the snakes, bird nests, baby rabbits and the hawks circling overhead; the swallows swarming and diving for all the insects; and how hot the hay loft was as we unloaded the wagons.   And of course my grandfather and his white hair under his big straw hat, who taught me I could do anything with my life.  And his farm manager, James, who always took the time to teach me something, even though I was just a pesky little girl.  And, the last but certianly not the least, my grandmother who cooked huge meals three times a day for us all.  I did not appreciate her enough -  only now do I realize how hard she worked as well to keep the "behind the scenes" flowing seamlessly.  Now she taught me how much yellow squash a person could eat in one summer!

Which reminds me of how grandaddy would eat a bowl full of sliced tomatoes with vinegar (It was brown in the cruet, so perhaps it was apple cider?) poured on top.  I haven't had that in a very long time, but I can still smell it.

I would recommend to anyone who is truly interested in farming to put in some time getting in hay - square bales of course (yeah! round bales are for whoosies!).  The work is just like farming - hot, tedious, back-breaking, low-paying, totally dependent on the weather, and extremely rewarding.  You either don't like it , or it just gets under your skin and no other kind of work feels as real. You just get it....

On other days, when we haven't been harvesting, we are trying to reclaim some areas from the weeds.  I'm too proud to show too many "before" pictures, but here is one of a work in progress.  Farm helpers extraordinaire, Dana and Becca, laying thick mulch around some young eggplants.  We've also been puting down landscape fabric between the peppers, doing lots of hand weeding around the next planting of beets, and keeping the aisles between the melons tilled.
The spring crops are done - the kale, beets, onions, garlic, Swiss chard, and lettuces - and will be disced in and sown in a buckwheat cover crop for a rest period before the fall planting.

I am so thankful for all my helpers who come out and put time in on the farm - Mary, Amber, Sara, Becca, and Dana.  They do it because, just like I was trying to explain in talking about the hay harvest, the work resonates with them somehow.   They are naturals - great workers, always positive and motivated, and show no fear at the tasks I lay before them.  I promise you that many a man has cowered sheepishly away from the jobs these women accomplish with gusto!

I love it when they come around. They help me to see the farm with fresh, appreciative eyes, beyond the incessant list of chores that need to be done.  It's a lot more fun that way.

June has been an especially full month, and has swung from one weather extreme to the next.  The start was cool and rainy.  Now it is so hot and dry the tops of plants are wilting in midday, even as their roots are being irrigated with drip tape.
It's been such a whirlwind so far, and it will be interesting what July holds for us
We have been harvesting our garlic.  With all of the rain we had, I was anticipating more rot.  However, it looks beautiful.

I'm not sure if I've cooked this week - I think it's been a lot of chopped tomato salads and bread.  Maybe take-out from our local Mexican once or twice.  However, there are some recipes I would love to try:
Zucchini and Chard Mediteranean Pie

Summer Squash Gratin

Hmmm...both pie oriented.  Love that comfort food.

Stay Cool

I was going to write this post in apology for not being here for a week or so.  But instead, I have to focus on how HOT it is.
It's HOT!
The hard thing is, we have to work anyway.  Nothing stops because of the heat - the weeding, the harvesting.  In fact, things seem to be growing faster than ever, especially the lettuces which have bolted and are growing long necks, reaching up to the sky like Dr. Seuss characters.
The field is a lovelier place to spend a scorcher of a day than most.  There's no asphalt or exhaust to raise the temperature, and the breeze can be quite lovely.  When it comes, it is of utmost importance to stop whatever your doing, raise up, lift up your face and close your eyes, and just relish the cooling moment.
Also, I've read that doing physical labor in extreme heat, to stay hydrated one must drink a cup of water every 12 minutes.  So I try to stop often and do that.  Most importantly we try to keep on eye on our body temperature and cool down as often as possible.  We have an outdoor shower at the house which I stand under frequently, clothes and all.  This is a good way, too- a dunk in the wash tub!  That well water is wonderfully cold!

Amazingly,it is time to think about Fall planting.  Seeding in the shade of the barn with a fan and music going is a good activity for the heat.  We've seeded brussel sprouts, savoy cabbage, cauliflower 'Romanesco', celeriac, and kale.

And what are we eating these days?  Is this post going on and on? 

We've been grilling out mostly, and eating salads.  We've experimented with pizzas on the grill, after I was inspired by this post.  Pizzas are a great way to eat the same old veggies in a brand new way!  Hence, the beet green pizza above, with lots of fresh garlic.
Also, the lettuces have passed, but I have been enjoying slaws with our purple cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes.  Two that I enjoy are:
Mexican Jumpin' Bean Slaw and High Kickin' Creamy Tomato Dressing

Lime and Peanut Coleslaw

And of course the first squashes are in, and we are just gobbling them up.  A simple saute of the yellow 'Zephyr' or patty pan with some chard and some parmesean or feta cheese thrown in at the last moment is my lunch of the week.  Did I admit I can eat a whole bunch of chard in a sitting?  I didn't? Oh, good....  

I am very excited the basil is in, but I have recently learned to appreciate pestos made with herbs and things other than basil.  Crazy notion, but it does actually work!  No matter what combo I have used so far, it seems to pull together pretty well.  Sawyer has been inspired to make his own pesto concoctions from herbs he gathers, except with no garlic because he finds it makes the pesto too spicy.  We all loved this recipe, Linguine with Zucchini and Carrots and Mixed Herb Pesto from epicurious.

What are some pestos you have tried and enjoyed?

Summer Lovin'

I know it is summer for the early morning sky, when the light is still creeping across the field and the air is fresh.  I get up to get the grunt work done in the pleasant coolness, although this morning I still managed to get the sweat dripping - my own version of "hot yoga". The pileated woodpecker next door likes that time of day, too, as it is when it is most vocal.

Above are two more signs of summer: empty plant trays and an empty greenhouse.  And below is the surest sign yet that summer is here:  a "booby- trapped" tractor. 

Sawyer is out of school, and I am full time mom as well as full time farmer.  My days are a juggle, as I move from working, to reading in the hammock, to making lunch, to working, to going to the creek, to working ,to playing catch, to making dinner, to working...
Sawyer is of course a joy for me to get to spend time with, and I am so excited to have him to myself all summer and not have to share him with school.  My hope this summer is to integrate him into the work of the farm a little bit more.  I mean, he is seven by now - no more slacking off!  So we've come up with a list of chores and tasks that he enjoys or is physically able to help with.  Some things we have even offered to pay him for, so that he can save up some money for a new bike that he wants (with a "push up stand").

So far, it's really not working.

I have my agenda, and he has his.  Like booby -trapping the tractor.  Or here he is, after a few seconds of raking crab-grass out of a new bed, stopping to throw dirt at ants.
 Really, what it comes down to is this reminder - that Sawyer's relationship to the farm is not for me to determine.  It is an intrinsic part of who he is, but the ultimate role that it plays in his day is of his own making.  The important thing is that I not judge it as one thing or another, but realize his interactions and priorities are just as important and as meaningful as mine.  And I could learn a lot from them.
While I have my work blinders on all the time, Sawyer's view is expansive.  I'll spend my whole day raking crab grass out of a bed, but without Sawyer I would have missed this:

"Look, mama.  The seed pod has water in it.  We can drink it like nectar."