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Saeng wa of grilled pork

March 6, 2010

Saeng wa of grilled pork (adapted from Greatest Ever Thai Cookbook by Judy Bastyra & Becky Johnson)

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. tamari
1 tbsp. local honey
14 oz. organic pork tenderloin (or de-boned pork chops)
6 shallots, julienned
1 lemongrass stalk, julienned
5 kaffir lime leaves, julienned
2 inch piece fresh ginger root, peeled & grated
2 thai red chillis chopped (or 1/2 tsp. red pepper  flakes to taste)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped

For the dressing:
2 tbsp. organic brown sugar
2 tbsp. fish sauce (Squid brand)
juice from 2 limes
4 tsp. thick tamarind juice (mix tamarind paste with warm water)

Directions:
Preheat the grill to medium.  Mix tamari sauce with honey & stir until honey dissolves.  Cut the pork into long thick strips & place in grill pan.  Brush pork with tamari/honey mixture & grill for 10-15 minutes until cooked through but tender.  Turn pork strips & thoroughly coat with tamari/honey mixture.  Transfer the cooked pork strips to a cutting board & slice across the grain, then shred it with a fork.  Place it in a large mixing bowl & add the shallots, lemon grass, lime leaves, ginger, chillis, & cilantro.  To make the dressing, place the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, & tamarind juice in bowl.  Whisk together until the sugar has completely dissolved.  Pour the dressing over the pork dish & toss well.

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This week on the farm we’ll have planted onions, scallions, leeks, chard, peas, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, chinese cabbage, broccoli, and artichokes.  Using Biodynamic techniques we follow a planting calendar for optimum growth.  The planting calendar is not only beneficial for the crops but it’s a great organizational tool for us!  The potato order is coming soon so we’re on mole patrol for the rest of spring.
Planting tip: saved onion seeds might not be viable for large bulbs.  Instead, plant multiple seeds in groups for fast growing scallions.
The hot weather crops like tomatoes, eggplants and peppers will be grown under lights on heating coils in the hot house.  Between the hot house and the heat lamps for spring chicks, our electric use is high and that’s one of the reasons why we’re so interested in using energy generated by our biogas digester.

We’ve hired two seasonal agricultural workers and they started training this week.  We’ll add two more in June- it’s nice to have some help!

The livestock are enjoying the spring grasses and we’ve secured their fence to protect them from all the coyotes.
Our first batch of Cornish Cross meat chicks will be ready for pick up in two weeks.  It takes about ten weeks for them to reach butchering weight.

Farm visitors this week are renewable energy engineering students from Oregon Institute of Technology checking out our biogas digester.

Distillery news:  Any day now we’ll be getting our grain mill which can be used to grind barley, corn, and other ingredients.  It’s hard to find grain mills these days so we had it custom made.  We’re working on our whiskey futures contract and permitting.  Stay tuned…..

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Spring Planting Continues

February 26, 2010

This week on the farm we planted leeks, onions, peas, and mustards!  We’re trying a new onion variety called Talon which looks interesting & should taste great.  We chose it because it’s perfect for onion soup and it carmelizes well.  It grows firm and crisp making it easy for sautees.  We order our seed from [...]

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Homemade Bacon

February 25, 2010

Homemade Bacon
Ingredients:
1 lb. side pork (frozen)
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
2 tsp. salt or to taste
1 tsp. ground black pepper
Directions:
Using a very sharp knife, trim the rind off of the frozen side pork leaving as much fat as possible.  Thaw until it is easy to separate the slices.  Place side pork in a deep dish [...]

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Planting Begins

February 18, 2010

This week on the farm we began spring planting!  Oregon Sugar Pod II spring peas are in and protected from the birds with Agribon floating row cover.  (The ravens & black cap chickadees love pea seed).   The garden soil has dried out a bit making it possible to lightly cultivate our compost beds so [...]

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Thai Pork Fried Rice

February 18, 2010

Thai Pork Fried Rice (adapted from Greatest Ever Thai Cookbook by Judy Bastyra & Becky Johnson)
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons organic peanut oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
4 oz. organic pork, cubed
2 organic eggs, beaten
4 cups cooked rice (we use Basmati brown & white mixed together), chilled
2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce (Squid brand)
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
2 tablespoons [...]

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Seed Order Arrives

February 12, 2010

This week on the farm we made a lot of progress on our spring prep.  The heavy rains slowed down our work on the cow’s pasture fence, but we did receive our new seed shipment!
Included in the seed order from Territorial we have: artichokes (to trial), green beans, haricots verts, black beans, beets, brussels sprouts, [...]

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Sunroot & Jicama Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

February 12, 2010

Sunroot  & Jicama salad with honey mustard dressing (adapted from Enduring Harvests by E. Barrie Kavasch)
Ingredients
for the honey mustard dressing:
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup raw honey
½ cup dijon mustard
3 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 cup organic sunflower oil
3 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
1 & ½ tablespoons fresh minced dill weed
1 tablespoon fresh chopped cilantro
salt & pepper to [...]

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Gratin of sunroots and yukon gold potatoes

February 5, 2010

Gratin of Sunroots & Yukon gold potatoes (by Nick Tischler of Restaurant Zinc in Back Bay, MA)
Ingredients:
1 cup organic chicken stock
1 and ½ cups organic cream
sea salt to taste
½ teaspoon powdered cloves
3 teaspoons lemon thyme leaves
3 pounds peeled organic Yukon gold potatoes
¾ pound peeled organic sunroots
Directions:
Preheat oven to 500 degrees and grease a baking dish. [...]

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Time For Spring Cleaning

February 5, 2010

This week on the farm we’re preparing everything for spring planting. This includes maintenance on all of our machinery too! It’s better to do the oil changes & repairs now instead of putting it off to late spring when we’re in a time crunch.
We’ll be moving our Jersey cow to a new pasture [...]

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PO Box 1141 | Estacada, Oregon 97023 | (503) 630-5861