Timothy Bartling talks fermentation.

www.timothybartling.com

Fermented Foods workshop.

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. Not only do these glasses brighten up everything but even better they accentuate the small green things I see popping out of the soil. From this perspective, strawberries, peaches and tomatoes seem possible, even close at hand.

Currant bushes waiting a little bit longer before bud break.

The orchard.

Toasty and warm inside.

The barn.

One of the hens very suspicious about getting her feet cold.

Small green things on the roof of our little house.

Our little house under snow...moss and ferns on the roof!

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.

Portland Meat Collective

Camas Davis of the Portland Meat Collective emailed Monday in a pinch because her next class, three days away, had lost it’s venue, and could she use the barn. A great deal for me: I got to listen in and watch a hog getting broken down into parts, taste different charcuterie, and at the end of the day, found a bunch of leftover pork in my fridge. The bones for stock, the scraps for carnitas, some belly for bacon, some shoulder for pate, Camas you can come back any time. We have plans to do a butchery/dinner combination at some point this year, stay tuned for that…

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. I presume it’s to cut down on resistance when they’re moving fast, and it should be obvious even from a casual they’re made to go fast.

This is what I ended up doing with it.

Good news, too: the albacore fishery off the Oregon coast is an abundant, resilient resource in no danger of being depleted, and more of us should take advantage of it. After packing it in olive oil and salt, and eating it for the last 6 or seven months, I can tell you I’ll never buy tuna in a can again.

Penelope trying to catch us some dinner along the Gilbert River at the north end of the island.

Cheery chairs in a rainbow of colors.

The October 2010 end-of-season dinner featured my friend Timothy Bartling cooking with assistance from his friend Paula Bock. The weather was perfect and our neighbors decided the 20 acres of clover needed harvesting for seed just as people were showing up. Huge clouds of black dust rolled quaintly through the air landing on the linen and plates. I was able to convince them to hurry, and after a third brushing and wiping down things went great. A farm dinner in multiple ways. Here’s the menu.

The big table is set.

Chairs and a coffee table for after dinner.

Guests enjoying the meal.

Dinner included a nice sampling of Wild Goose cheeses.

Sous Chef Paula Bock

Chef Timothy Bartling

Baked ricotta, Black Krim tomato, and Brandywine.

Pate with pistachios, house cured bresaola, house pickled green beans, house cured gravlax, bruschetta.

Enjoying an after-dinner conversation around a cozy fire.

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.

Tomatoes on the vine.

Monster Brandywine.

More putting up to do.

Chatting before dinner.

A small birthday party put on for a friend last summer, and one of the first “official” dinners at Wild Goose Farm. A lovely day. Here’s the menu (it was a Frenchy group).

Welcoming tables.

Menu Enfants.

Prepping food in the barn.

Starter plate: chinook salmon trifecta.

The view from the prepping barn.

Hottest day of the summer, under the oak trees.

The first of the big table dinners was held on the hottest day of the summer under the shade of the Oregon white oaks which we are lucky to have on the farm. My friend Teri Gelber, a cookbook writer, producer and chef cooked. The feeling of new and old friends gathering for a leisurely meal as much to talk and spend time as to eat and drink was established. Here’s the menu.

Penelope and Jessica help with the prep work

Setting the big table.

Guests enjoying the meal.

Sipping kir under the apple trees.

Chef Teri Gelber on the move.