Down on the Farm
Late February Snow
The Hoophouse with its little sprouting secrets.
From most perspectives it does seem that winter still has quite a bit of tooth left in it. The perspective I’m choosing to use these days, however, comes with a pair of rose-colored glasses. (more…)
Last of the Ratatouille
The tomatos are in the jar in back—half dried and preserved in olive oil. Calories be damned.
Just before the frost last week, I harvested the last of summer’s vegetables to make a ratatouille. Now it’s all in the jars or the freezer.
Chanterelle Mushrooms
Basket of ’shrooms
Last fall we went and spent three nights at Breitenbush Hot Springs, soaking in the pools and poking around in the woods looking for mushrooms. These are not those mushrooms. In fact, we got skunked. (more…)
Canning Albacore
100 pounds of Oregon albacore that came out of the Pacific this morning. Now what do I do with it?
Cleaning and preparing these beautiful fish to preserve them was an wonderful lesson in hydrodynamics and biological ingenuity. They have a dorsal fin that tucks completely away into a slot on their skin at the very top of their back. (more…)
Putting Up
Some of the tomato harvest getting put up.
Just before the frost last week, we harvested the last of summer’s vegetables to make a ratatouille. We got a bumper crop of green tomatoes, as well as some monster brandywines and this table full of eggplants, green beans, cucumbers etc. That was the weekend project, then, roasting, pickling, freezing to sock in provisions for the winter. Satisfying work. (more…)
Hoophouse Successfully Transplanted
Farmer Doulis supervises the transplanting of the Hoophouse.
At some point last year I felt like organizing a work party at the farm, and decided moving the Hoophouse to make room for more outdoor garden beds was the right project. So, in the spirit of Tom Sawyer getting all his friends to paint the fence for him, I sent the word out. (more…)
Chickens and Eggs
Our hungry hens come running at mealtime.
We take care of four breeds of laying hens: Cuckoo Marans, Welsummers, Barred Rocks, and Ameracaunas. We picked the first two breeds last year because of their plumage, heritage breed genetics, and plentiful dark brown eggs. The latter two we’ve happily inherited from an old neighbor who moved into town. Now we get a nice mix of colors that is pleasant to organize into boxes. (more…)
Beekeeping 101
The New Urbanism and Dwell Magazine beehives get ready to rumble in honey-production smackdown.
This was the 2010 hive set-up at the bottom of the field, as far away from folks as possible, but facing the morning sun. I like red a lot, but it turns out bees don’t. (more…)
Meet Our Cows
Kaycee, a Fleckvieh/Holstien mix, gives sweet milk for my blue cheese and gouda.
Kaycee is one of the two cows owned/taken care of by Karova Farmstead, which is Karyn and Carissa, two women who get all dreamy eyed when talking about their bovine friends. (more…)
