Paula Foreman was the first one to introduce me to the idea of growing dry beans. I love dry beans but being so cheap and nutritous in the stores I never thought I would be growing them. However Foreman convinced me it was easy and fun to grow these beans. Last year I experimented with a few packets of seeds and liked the results but only ended up with a couple quarts of beans. This year we did 3 whole rows, 250 feet long. That should be plenty of beans, but I honestly am kind of regreting it.

The pods dry by themselves on the plant so that is easy enough, however then you have to pick them and get the pods out. Last night Avril and Mavis and I were working on them and it was taking so long. I probably have 7 bushels of beans to work through and a brithday party coming up in a couple weeks. My kitchen is filled with boxes of beans and fruit to preserve. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Well I know what I was thinking of–this

So far this is all I got but from a half bushel. I ordered Hutterite soup beans from Seed Savers Exchange. This is what the catalogue says, “One of the beast heirloom varieties for making soup. Beans soak up water well and cook very quickly. makes a truly excellent creamy white soup. Very productive, greenish yellow seeds with a distinctive dark ring around the eye.”

Proeun said next year he would build me a shucker. I can’t wait.

My mother always subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I always loved the articles about outdoor living and entertaining, dreaming of eating a meal off a table spread with real tableclothes, bouquets of wild flowers and under the trees. This weekend we had an opportunity to do just that. The Minnesota Food Association, which runs Big River Farms of which we are a part was having a “donor breakfast.” They requested that we share our experience as farmers in the program.

We arrived early in the fog and there the table was. Breakfast appetizers were fresh strawberry and coconut muffins made with strawberries grown on site. We talked for awhile, ate muffins and drank carrot/cucumber juice made with a juicer while we waited. After a brief tour of the farm and our little talk is was back to the table to eat.

Proeun and Mavis enjoy the lovely food provided by Good Life Catering.

Quiche with fresh corn, basil, tomato and Black River Gorgonzola

Potato hash with green beans, peppers, eggplant and red onion

Yogurt with fresh peaches

All the produce except the peaches came right from Big River Farms. Everett Fruit provided the peaches from sustainable family farms and the grain was local as well from Whole Grain Milling.

The yogurt came from Lilly, the neighborhood goat. The eggs from the chickens that continually romp the farm on the lookout for food scraps. As we were eating one was prowling under the table someone said, “I thought that was a dog, then I realized that we don’t have a dog.”

Of course my favorite was the wildflowers. What a beautiful morning!

Now is the time of year when farming is really rewarding. Think tomatoes and basil, fresh salsa, cucumbers made into refrigerator pickles or just sprinkled with salt. Yum. This weekend we had a community work day on the farm, for pot-luck most of the dishes came right from the field, fresh basil pesto, grape tomatoes and sliced cucumbers, sliced heirloom tomatoes and so much more.

Today though it was all about watermelon. We didn’t contribute a watermelon to this weekend’s festivities because we weren’t sure if they were ready. So today we gave it a try. It wasn’t at peak but still sweet and oh so fresh. We tried a muskmelon next and that was much better.

I should have got a picture of the look on the children’s face as they waited to see what the inside looked like then danced around singing a made up song about watermelon.

Also on today’s agenda was sweet corn. The children wanted to help pick but some of those stalks were pretty tough so they satisfied themselves with sampling. We grew white (instead of bi-color) sweet corn at my mother’s request and were blown away. It was awesome, eaten raw, right in the field.

Our CSA customers will get a nice treat this week.

So happy eating, get out and enjoy the summers bounty! Feel free to share some of your favorites also.

Where we farm there is a pump house near the road. The pump house is near one of the big walk-in coolers and washing and packing area, “the Pack Out” as we call it. Outside the pump house is a perpetual pond from over exuberent well water that just can’t wait to be put to use. Whenever we are near or around the pack out the children do put it to use.

On very hot days it is hard to keep the clothes on and the mud off.

Even Mavis enjoys playing in the water or just sitting and watching.

I have to remind myself when the children are crazy dirty and soaking wet and we still have boxes to deliver and food to cook and I told them not to get dirty that this is why we are doing what we are doing. So that our children will have clean water to play in, good food to eat, parents that are present though sometimes exasperated,

a close connection to wildlife, and the interest in it and so much more that I feel I lost as a child and hope to reclaim with my children. Every time he is near the pond Two looks for his friend the frog, (I am not sure how many of them there are or if the same unlucky frog is getting all the attention). Since Avril has discovered that she likes frogs as well there have been a few disagreements which sometimes leads me to say the strangest things like, “Don’t run with the frog.” Our farm manager overheard me today and said, “that’s something you don’t hear every day,” and I guess I hope to have more opportunity say that and similar crazy things for years to come.

June has been an odd month for us. It seems like we had clouds and rain for just about every day the first 28 days of the month. Last Friday we got one of those big Minnesota plains storms in the city. The kind the were fun and exciting as children before you knew something could really happen to your house. Anyway, we were not in the danger zone but there were several tornado hot zones around us. Proeun was driving bus that night and kept getting calls from dispatch warning him not to drive through water. Apparently in some areas man hole covers were missing. Yes the sewers filled up with enough water and pressure to push the covers up and flot them away.

Luckily the next week is supposed to be beautiful growing weather, mid-80s and clear.

Today were out doing field estimates on one of my summer favorites–zucchini. They are “coming on” nicely we just have one problem gopher to deal with. The little bugger chewed through 9 of our plants in a row leaving the whole top above ground to wither and wilt. Hopefully the traps will get him.

It’s hard to believe that just about a month ago these were baby plants, sometimes the life cycle is just too fast on a farm. But I suppose it has to be in our short growing season.

Mavis was enjoying copying Mommy and Bpa out there counting and making notes. By the way the dress she is wearing is my new favorite. My mother has really gotten into quilting but after a couple actual quilts she wanted to try some techniques on a more fun project and this dress was born. Avril is anxiously waiting for hers, but in the meantime it seems like the perfect little farm girl dress for my current youngest. Too bad I didn’t get her with her dad’s hat but the batteries were dying.

Today also held some weeding before a couple of big harvesting and packing days.

For lunch I sauted up some swiss chard with garlic and a dash of white balsamic vinegar. I then beat a couple of eggs and seasoned with salt and pepper. Then I poured the eggs over the greens for a quick scramble.

We also sliced zucchini about 1/2 -3/4 inch thick, drizzled olive oil and sprinkled salt on them and put them in the toaster oven at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. They were perfect, tender and sweet with just a hint of salt. Summer eating sure is good. The whole meal took me 10 minutes to prepare from chopping to eating.

We are now really getting into the swing of things at the farm. This week marks our 3rd delivery to our CSA customers and we are so excited to be offering zucchini. Some of them were ready this week and would have been too big by Thursday so we took them home to sample. Radishes continue to go strong. We sell some crops to a larger CSA and this was our first week delivering radishes as well.

Once harvesting starts farming really gets exciting, especially in Minnesota when we have such a short growing season and long, cold winter. But with all this time spent harvesting sometimes it is hard to find time to cook and enjoy all that yummy produce. Luckily I am craving salads, those are easy enough. Also this weekend we did a quick stir-fry with shitake mushrooms and pac choy and bean thread noodles and tonight was a special but surprising quick dish, Yeh Hanh. Using all our own greens was extra yummy.

And for those fans of carrots,

They are on their way. Even though we keep telling ourselves that we need to always always bring food to the farm, it is so tempting to think we’ll just go for a couple hours and come home. Normally we find one more thing that needs to be done. So the children get hungry but at least there are plenty of good healthy snacks around.

Two even shared one with his sister. It will still be a couple weeks until they are really big enough to eat, but they are definitely coming.

Yesterday the farm work was of a different nature–community building and education. We are so lucky to have some great organizations in our area doing a great work of bringing farmers together and offering up to date training on a variety of topics. So yesterday we made the journey to Taylor’s Falls (about an hour away) to learn all about raising Mangalitsa pigs.

These pigs are a fat-type heritage breed from Austria and Hungary. Not many years ago there were less then 200 left in the world. Stephen Jones and Cristina Cruz-Jones have taken their restaurant background and passion for food to farming and a beautiful union was born.

They have found a good niche market to foodies and local restaurants serving foodies. Last year then “finished” 4 hogs and this year they upped the number to 18.

Of course the children really wanted to touch them.

Stephen and Cristina are a passionate young couple about our age, with 2 girls, age 7 and 2. And they had a beautiful farm–one that gives us hope we might one day find our dream farm.

Also on the farm were a couple favorites–

Llamas,

a somewhat crazy Crested Polish Rooster who had been through alot an is now retired,

And a tree frog.

They have 20 acres and a lot of fun on their place.

The plastic boots were fun. I guess they are an important way to protect the animals from diseases transported between farms. What a great day.

It has been a couple years since we got our chickens. While they are still laying a tolerable amount each day I can tell they are slowing down. I got the idea of getting a couple replacements about a month ago but it seemed like way too much with everything going on planning and plantingwise. However the children have really been clamoring for more baby animals, chicks especially. So yesterday it was raining. I decided it would be a good day for a drive. I took out all our chick supplies and after dropping Proeun off at work we began our journey.

To Anoka Ramsey Feed and Seed. It’s not too far past the sprawl, actually right on the edge of it and about 40 minutes from our house. For those in the cities it has been the key for keeping a connection with the country. They have become the spot for chicks and baby bunnies and plants for all kinds.

Back behind the old barn they keep adult chickens, geese and ducks. This is where we got our chickens 2 years ago and have been very happy with them.

Here’s Two picking out one from a mixed group of chicks and ducks.

The children were very disappointed that bunnies were not on the shopping list.

We brought a box to transport our chicks in. Two wanted to hold the box all the way home. I knew there was no hope for a nap after getting those chicks in the house, but I needed a break so I went to take a nap. I knew I should have made the kids put the chicks in their home before I laid down but I was exhausted. When I woke-up I didn’t see any chicks. I asked Two where they were. He said, “they are in their ship.” I thought he meant the box we brought them back in .

I was wrong. I am so glad we selected chicks 2-3 weeks old rather then the day olds we originally planned on. The chicks have been real troopers but I do have to remind the children to put them down frequently for a break and water. When we picked Proeun up last night 2 chicks came with. Proeun said, “you didn’t bring the chicks did you?”

Two has been really working on being responsible, cleaning up after them and keeping them safe. I told Proeun when we move to the farm we probably better try to have some baby animals every year.

Two kept saying, “I can’t believe I have a baby chick.”

One of the hardest things about farming on rented land is having to maintain two properties. I love being home and long for days that we can just be in our own home. I can’t wait until our farm and home are in the same place! For the past couple weeks the only time we have all been home together is at night and when it is raining. Last year we tried growing things in our backyard but decided it was too hard to maintain both.

However we still have strawberries we planted several years ago. It is only about 7 plants but enough to get a taste. Normally we have to compete with the rabbits. So seeing alot of rabbits around I haven’t even been looking for strawberries. In the meantime our weeds have been coming up and the yard is growing. Finally last night Proeun came home from work and mowed at 9:00 just to get something done. It is supposed to start raining this afternoon and through the weekend so we had to get something done. That is when he discovered a wealth of strawberries. It was dark already so it was picking strawberries by flashlight.

Here’s the children eating their stash.

When living on a single income with 3 children and a 4th on the way, while farming and trying to save money for land there are some skills that are really important. Being able to survive and be content on a little, or at least much less then the mainstream culture tells us is necessary (otherwise known as frugality) and knowing how to fix and make things yourself (in men this is known as the handyman).

Garrison Keillor wrote an essay called, The Book of Guys, in it he writes a list of his strengths and weaknesses–

Useful Things I Can Do
Be nice
Make a bed
Dig a hole
Write books
Sing alto or bass
Read a map
Drive a car

Useful Things I Can’t Do
Chop down big trees and cut them into lumber or firewood
Handle a horse, train a dog, or tend a herd of animals
Handle a boat without panicking others
Throw a fastball, curve or slider
Load, shoot and clean a gun. Or bow and arrow. Or use either of them, or a spear, net, snare, boomerang, or blowgun to obtain meat
Defend myself with my bare hands.

While frugality is not on his list as a useful thing i am sure he intended it. I am happy to announce that my husband can do all but three things on the list–sing alto or bass, throw a fast ball, etc. (but he can shoot baskets), and handle a horse, etc, (yet, but that is on our list of things to learn).

And you can add to that list, fix a dryer and oven. For a total of $127.13 in parts my husband was able to fix both wayward appliances in one morning. Maybe the nesting instinct is getting to him too and the desire to wrap things up before the baby comes is growing. So what else would you do on a rainy morning, but fix stuff around the house. Yes I am so thankful for my handyman! Note I took a picture of him working but since he was still in his pajamas he vetoed its addition to the blog.