This week on the farm we harvested hot weather vegetables including pickling cucumbers, slicing cucumbers, red and yellow tomatoes, and patti pan squash to name a few!  It’s been hot and smokey due to the east winds but the tomatoes, squash, peppers, and eggplant are finally starting to ripen.  With greenhouse temperatures reaching 120 degrees during the day, we’re glad we captured all that rain water back in the spring!  Even though tomatoes and peppers do love heat, they don’t produce fruit if they get too hot and dry.  We irrigate sparingly in the evening to conserve water and discourage fungus.  Gardening tip:  For ripe tomatoes, hold back on the irrigation.  Lack of water will stress them and cause the fruit to ripen before the first frost.

We’re placing our garlic order this week to begin planting by mid-September.  Seedlings of winter lettuces and mustard greens have sprouted and will be transplanted out in a couple weeks for winter harvest.

Our farm animals are enjoying the summer weather and since we feed the damaged vegetables to our chickens and pigs they’re pretty happy on harvest day!  The pigs prefer brassicas like cabbages and cauliflower while the chickens love damaged cucumbers.

A note on egg safety:
Remember to cook eggs using safe handling instructions!  Even though our chickens are raised free range on pasture and fed certified organic feed, it’s still important to keep eggs refrigerated, get rid of any that are cracked or dirty, and cook them thoroughly.

The honey bees are doing well this summer.  After a rough spring due to rainy days and cool temperatures, they’ve come back from the brink.  They spend a lot of time near the pond in the tall fir trees, but we’re not sure why.  This time of year they feed on wildflowers like fireweed and flowering native plants like Douglas Spirea.  We’ll smoke them and check the hives this weekend to determine the honey harvest.  Yum!

We’ve been working on our biodynamic and organic certification for the vegetables and we should be submitting the application by this fall- more to come soon….

Ingredients:
3 oz. light rum (Flor de Cana extra lite white)
1 organic lime (or 1 oz. lime juice)
2 tsp. organic sugar
4 fresh mint sprigs
club soda (Talking Rain)
crushed ice

Directions:
Place the mint & sugar into a cocktail shaker with 1 shot of club soda.  Muddle until the sugar is dissolved & the mint is fragrant.  Pour in the rum & lime juice.  Add ice & shake.  Pour through strainer into glass filled with crushed ice, add club soda to top it off, garnish with extra fresh mint sprig & enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 pound fresh snap peas
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 sprig fresh spearmint, chopped

Directions:
In a large skillet, heat oil on medium.  Add the scallions, garlic, and peas.  Saute for a couple minutes, adding the salt & pepper as you stir. Remove from heat & sprinkle the mint on top.  Enjoy!

This spring we planted nasturtiums and sage near the cabbage plants and we’re amazed at how well they keep cabbage loppers to a minimum.  In previous years we planted a few nasturtiums, but this season we planted many more as well as sage plants.  Pests- including cabbage loppers- are deterred by the smell exuded from these beneficials.  Companion planting is an attractive and organic solution to managing pests.

Gardening tip: Plant nasturtiums, sage, poppies, marigolds, and yarrow around vegetables to keep pests under control without having to spray pesticides.  Flowering plants like borage are also helpful to honey bees!

We planted pole beans last week and used bamboo poles to trellis them.  We grow our own bamboo varieties including golden, black, and timber.  It’s easy to grow bamboo in this climate and really convenient to harvest poles whenever we need to trellis tomatoes or beans.

We’ve had record heat this week with temperatures in the upper nineties.  Hand watering heat sensitive plants like lettuce in the morning or evening is keeping evaporation to a minimum.  We captured rain water earlier this spring in order to conserve well water all summer.

One of our honey bee hives swarmed but we were able to capture it!  It looks good so we’ll be able to harvest more honey next season.

The layer chickens are shaded in their chicken tractor which we move regularly on pasture rotation.  Every time we move the chicken tractor to a new patch of pasture we plant clover.  Clover is a favorite of the honey bees, cows, pigs, and sheep.

The Jersey cow and Dexter bull are keeping cool in their forest shaded field.  We’re expanding their pasture this week so we won’t have to import as much hay this winter.

The pigs are growing fast in their new pasture.  Last season we incorporated rich farm-made compost into the field so they have plenty of seasonal grasses to root up.

We’ve started construction on our “cool bot” which is an efficient cold storage room for crops like potatoes and sunroots.  Pictures to come!  Stay tuned…..

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. organic high heat sunflower oil
2 medium onions, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
2 tsp. coriander, ground
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 large bunch greens
1 cup water
1 & 1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup organic plain yogurt- ( Nancy’s)
1/4 cup organic cream
1/2 pound chicken breast, cubed

Directions:
In a large saucepan heat the oil on medium & saute the onions until tender.  Add the garlic & ginger sauteing for 1 minute (without burning the garlic).  Add the coriander, turmeric, & cayenne pepper.  Toss in the greens, salt, & water & bring to a boil.  Reduce heat & simmer for 5 more minutes.  Remove from heat & transfer to a bowl to let it cool.  After it’s cooled, blend in a food processor until it reaches a puree consistency.  Using the original saucepan, cook the chicken on medium until it’s reached a safe consumption temperature.  Pour the puree into the chicken pan & simmer for 5 minutes.  Add in the yogurt, & continue  simmering for 1 minute.  Remove from heat & add in the cream.  Stir in the cream to blend well & add any extra pepper or other spices adjusting to taste.  Serve hot with chapati or naan.

Jamaican style jerk chicken (adapted from Bon Apetit magazine & Simply Recipes)

Ingredients:
1 organic chicken, quartered
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
3 tbsp. dark rum (we prefer Flor de Cana Centenario)
2 Scotch bonnet peppers with seeds, chopped (or jabanero)
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
3 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
3 tbsp. sunflower oil
salt to taste
fresh ground black pepper to taste
4 tsp. ground allspice
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 tsp. ground nutmeg
2 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp. molasses

Directions:
Place the vinegar, rum, Scotch bonnet peppers, onion, scallions, thyme, sunflower oil, salt, pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, & molasses in a blender, blend to a paste consistency.  Put the chicken in a large mixing bowl & pour the lime juice over it.  Pour the spice paste on top & rub into the chicken pieces to coat thickly.  Place a foil wrap over the bowl & refrigerate over night to marinade.  After marinading for 1 day, take the chicken out of the bowl & set aside.  Preheat the grill to 350 degrees.  While the grill is heating, pour the remaining spice paste from the marinade bowl into a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, reduce to medium & simmer for 10 minutes.  (This will be extra basting sauce for the grilled chicken so it’s important to cook it- since it had contact with the raw chicken).  Place the chicken skin side down on the grill & season with salt & fresh ground black pepper.  Cover & cook for 1 hour, flipping occasionally to baste with the marinade on each side.  Keep the grill temperature at 350 degrees to make sure the chicken is cooked through to a safe consumption temperature (170 F for breast & 185 F for thigh).  Serve with sweet potatoes or rice.

With rainfall totals ranging from 2-3 inches in lowlands & 4-6 inches in the headwaters just this week, we’re bracing for a very wet summer.  Forecasts show the wet pattern continuing through the remainder of June.  It looks like rivers in the valley will remain below flood stage but rise enough to cause more crop damage.  June will be warmer than normal with thunderstorms, July will  be a bit drier but August has a chance of La Nina bringing cool temperatures.  So what does this mean for the farm?  Greenhouse production!  This week on the farm we planted the early producing corn transplants outside & managed to keep them out of the flooded section of field.  The potatoes are not in the best spot though, & we’ve had to pull them & replant a few times to keep them from rotting.  On the bright side, the mustard greens in the greenhouse are doing well because they thrive in wet grey weather & the greenhouse structure protects them from flooding downpours.

Gardening tip:  In extremely wet conditions directly seeded crops will flood, causing rot.  To avoid significant crop loss- plant healthy large transplants into raised beds composed of well draining compost & bark mulch.

We’re planning on feeding extra to the honeybees next week since the blackberries aren’t flowering yet & it’s been way too cold for them.  They’ve been flying during brief sun breaks but generally they just huddle at the front door of their hives, so we’re definitely concerned.  On a positive note we’ve installed 33 hives so we should have enough for a good honey harvest in late summer.

The livestock are just as depressed as we are about the constant rain, but we’re doing our best to keep them well fed & dry.  Even the coyotes & skunks are trying to seek shelter from the weather!  We recently discovered a skunk family in the barn trying to get into the organic feed bins so there’s been quite an increase in pests like rodents & crows.

Our biogas digester is too cold to produce fuel right now, but by July we should have an update- stay tuned……:)

Ingredients:
For tart crust-
3/4 cup Bob’s Red Mill pastry flour
3/4 cup  Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flour
2 tbsp. fresh oregano chopped
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 tbsp. ice cold water
For filling-
1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
4 cups greens, chopped & de-stemmed
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tbsp. water
2 eggs
1 cup ricotta cheese
2 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1/2 cup kalamata olives, pitted & roughly chopped
1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Directions:
For the crust- combine the pastry flour, all purpose flour, oregano, salt & pepper in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center & add in the oil & water combining the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients slowly.  Keep stirring until it forms a soft dough.  Knead the dough on a floured surface for a couple minutes then refrigerate it for 20 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees & grease a tart pan.  Roll out the dough onto a floured surface & lift onto the prepared tart pan.  Bake the crust for 20 minutes until tan & crispy.  Let it cool for 10 minutes.
For the filling-  Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the greens & cook for a couple minutes until softened.  Add the crushed garlic, chopped scallions & water continuing to cook for a few more minutes.  Using a slatted spoon transfer the greens & scallions to a large mixing bowl, making sure to drain any liquid from the mixture.  Let the greens mixture cool for 5-8 minutes & set aside.  In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with the ricotta, lemon zest, & pepper.  Fold it into the cooled greens mixture & add in the olives & feta (the greens need to be cooled before adding the eggs so the eggs don’t scramble).  Pour the filling into the baked tart crust.  Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until the top is lighlty browned.  Let cool & cut into wedges.

Ingredients:
2 cups chopped raab
2 cups chopped greens
1 bunch scallions
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
2 eggs
1/4 cup lime juice
3 tbsp. Hoisin sauce
2 tbsp. fresh ginger, grated
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tbsp. honey
4 tbsp. peanut oil or sesame oil

Directions:
In a mixing bowl combine lime juice, hoisin sauce, ginger, red pepper, honey, & cilantro, set aside.  In a large skillet or wok heat the peanut oil over medium & add in the raab, greens, & scallions stir frying for 1 minute or until the greens reach a darker color.  (We harvest our greens & raab when they are still very tender- unlike grocery store collards- so be careful not to over cook them).  Crack the 2 eggs over the vegetables & continue stir frying until the eggs are scrambled through.  Pour the cilantro sauce over the stir fry & serve hot over Jasmine rice or rice noodles.

Ingredients:
1 large bunch cabbage greens, de-stemmed & chopped (Try to use local, seasonal purple cabbage instead of grocery store green/white)
1 bunch scallions, chopped
1 & 1/2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise- or to preferred texture & taste
1/2 tsp. garlic powder (or a small bunch of fresh garlic scapes, chopped)
1/2 tsp. dry mustard (optional)
1 tbsp. lemon juice (optional)

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl combine mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, garlic powder, dry mustard, & lemon juice.  Stir until well blended & add in chopped cabbage & scallions.  Toss until well coated, place in refrigerator to cure overnight.  Serve cold & keep refrigerated.