Posted in Birding, Locally grown on Feb 25th, 2011
Our chicks have come! We were worried they’d be delayed because of the cold, but they arrived this morning, and we picked them up at the feed store this afternoon.
Because of a raccoon and a freak illness, we are down to 4 hens: 2 black Australorps and 2 Speckled Sussex.
To our flock, we hope to [...]
Posted in BCS Teaching Garden/SotE Urban Farm 2011, Changing Seasons, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Feb 16th, 2011
We’re back! I can’t believe I haven’t blogged in over two months! Morning sickness is finally (mostly) gone, and life is getting back to normal a little bit. So, let’s call this a fresh start, shall we? We’ve decided to make a concerted effort to use this space to document and reflect on what’s going [...]
Posted in Learning, Locally grown, Nature Table, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Sep 6th, 2010
Temperatures have been dipping down into the low 50s and high 40s at night, and there’s been a crispness to the air that says Autumn is on her way here.
Many plants are waning, having set seed and beginning to shut down for the year. So, this afternoon, in the bright sunshine, we cleaned up many, [...]
Posted in Changing Seasons, From my kitchen, Locally grown, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Aug 25th, 2010
The tomatoes are starting to ripen! Can’t wait to take them in to BCS on Friday!! Families have been asking for the last month when we’d have fresh, ripe tomatoes.
90 percent of the tomatoes are still green, including many gigantic beefsteaks, like this Brandywine (look at that sucker in my hand! HUGE!). If you’ve got [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Locally grown on Aug 12th, 2010
Ah, summer dinners in the backyard…
Here’s one of my favorite summer dessert recipes – we’ve been making a lot lately, with whatever fruit we have on hand:
Larksong’s Farm Stand Fruit Pie
For the filling:
5 peaches, peeled and sliced or 10-12 apricots sliced
4 big handfuls of raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup white sugar
For the crust:
1 [...]
Posted in Locally grown, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Aug 2nd, 2010
A few quick shots from the garden this evening at sunset. It’s changing so much every day – the paths are disappearing, the dahlias have begun to bloom, and there will be the first of the pole beans to harvest by the end of the week.
The beautiful blue-green foliage in the lower left of this [...]
Posted in Locally grown, Working the earth/harvesting its bounty on Jul 21st, 2010
It’s late July in the BCS Teaching Garden @ Salt of the Earth Urban Farm! The pumpkin vines have taken over! The runner beans are finally climbing their poles, and we have summer squash setting on every plant!
The garden is really changing – we pulled all of the garlic and shallots from our family beds [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Learning, Locally grown, Uncategorized on Jul 20th, 2010
Little Hen’s new favorite jam: Black Currant!
I’ve always loved a little Cassis in my hot tea in the winter, but this is the first year we’ve tried jam made from these relatives of the gooseberry, which have a distinctive, smoky/ musky flavor.
Black currants are full of pectin, so they are perfect for jam – all [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Locally grown, Moderation and Economy on Jul 19th, 2010
A bit late, but here are some pics from our drive out to Sandy Farms last week to pick sour cherries. (A big thanks to Chris at Lost Arts Kitchen for letting me know about the good cherry picking there!)
This was the first time I’ve cooked with sour cherries, and we made sour cherry + [...]
Posted in From my kitchen, Locally grown, The Gift of God on Jul 14th, 2010
The early morning was spent preparing a big batch of Hood River organic cherries for the dehydrator. We ate oodles fresh, and what is left will go in a batch of sweet cherry brandy (makes the best fruitcake for Christmas).
If you don’t have a cherry pitter, check out this tip, and these, for how to [...]