Category Archives: farm

Farm to Table

Last weekend we had a great weekend. The City Center Market in Cambridge hosted a Farm to Table meal at our farm! Have I mentioned I love food! and farming (or making friends with a farmer) is the best way to eat really well. So we went out to the field and harvested sorrel and mint for our Cambodian chicken salad (we had boiled and shredded one or our chickens the night before). We harvested strawberries for strawberry shortcake and I made a French chocolate mousse using our eggs. Here are some pictures from the day thanks to Channa from City Center Market.

Here is my version of Cambodian Chicken Salad

2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 cup chopped sorrel
1/2 cup shredded carrot0
1 small bunch mint, leaves only
1 lb boiled and cooled rice noodles
1 chicken boiled and shredded

Sauce:

1/2 cup water
3 TBSP white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
3 garlic cloves chopped and fried separately.

Assemble the salad first. Then make the sauce by boiling the water, then added the sugar until it is dissolved, Add the vinegar, turn off the heat and add the garlic. Let sit for about least 20 minutes.

Drizzle over the salad. Call also add chopped green onions.

Seward Co-op Cooking Class

This weekend we had an amazing opportunity–teaching a cooking class at the Seward Co-op. It was such an amazing experience. I love surrounding myself with people who love good food, sharing ideas and recipes and just chatting. Here are some pictures from the event.

Proeun really loves sharing traditional dishes. But one of the things about traditional dishes is teaching people how to eat them. Here I describe how to make an envelope out of the lettuce leaves for the Lok Lac.

Lok Lac (Hot Beef Salad) and Stir-fry pork with collards.

The question came up “how do you get kids to eat vegetables?” Honestly I am not really sure, I guess just have it available and model good eating habits. We are not perfect and sometimes the children reject meals I have made but these are some of their favorite, probably because they are also Proeun and my favorites and we eat them regularly. They cleaned up after the class!

So it was a pretty great day. The co-op was beautiful, especially the kitchen! The people were fun and interesting and it was a pretty great way to spend the morning.

Here are the recipes I wrote for the class. If you are looking for ways to eat greens this summer try these out. They are fun and easy. The stir-fry one can be made using whatever protein and greens you have on hand. These type of recipes are great for seasonal eating.

Lok Lac (beef salad)

1 pound beef thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves crushed
½ tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1-2 TBSP Oyster sauce
1 onion thinly sliced

For salad:

1 head lettuce
1 tomato in thin wedges
1 cucumber peeled and cut into 2 inch sections then halved and finally thinly sliced
1 green onion prepared as the cucumber

For dipping sauce

4 TBSP lemon juice (about 2 whole lemons)
1 tsp fish sauce
½ -1 tsp ground black pepper fresh is best
salt to taste

Begin by making the meat. Brown the meat in a pan with the oils and a bit of oil to get it started. Add garlic and other seasoning and continue stir-frying until the meat is done. Set aside.

Take the lettuces and separate the leaves. Arrange in a circular pattern on a plate or in a bowl. Layer tomatoes then cucumbers and finally green onions in center of bowl or plate. Pour the hot beef mixture over the top of the salad in a little mound.

For the dipping sauce combine all ingredients.

To eat take a leaf of lettuce. Layer tomato, cucumber, green onion and beef in the middle of the leaf and fold up to make and envelope. Dip in the sauce and enjoy. Eat with rice.

Basic Stir Fry

1 pound thinly sliced meat (pork, beef, chicken, etc.)
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
2 TBSP oyster sauce
1 TBSP corn starch

4 cups chopped greens (water spinach, kale, mustard, etc.) can also mix them.

Begin with the meat, brown the meat with a bit of oil, when well browned add the seasoning. When almost done add the greens. Some will take very little cooking time so watch them or they will turn to mush. Stir and cook until wilted to desired texture. You can add one more TBSP of oyster sauce or soy sauce to taste if not the desired taste.

Eat over rice or add some cooked noodles and a bit more sauce for Lo mein.

Spring Fun + violet jam

Finally it feels like spring around here. As I was transferring my blog to the new host I was going through some old posts and found that 2 years ago when we first moved here our crab apple tree flowered in late March. However it has yet to flower this year. Just last week Avril asked, “are the snow days over?” and I realized like her I had been kinda holding my breathe. But when I assured her that they were she was so relieved that it was fun to see.

Last weekend Proeun finally got a chance to get into the fields with Bessie.

Chores have been so much more fun now that it has warmed up. Speaking candidly it is not all fun and games on the farm but I try to focus on the good as much as possible and one of the things I have really enjoyed is getting to know this land throughout the seasons. I have been interested in herbs and foraging for a long time now but there is something extremely special about finding where these plants grow on your own property and being able to come back year after year. Plantain is an easy one and last year I found yarrow. We have a white oak tree and there are more herbs that I want to identify.

But while checking facebook recently a friend of mine was talking about violets and I realized that this year we have an overabundance (as well as and abundance of dandelions, ahem). I remembered a violet jam from one of my favorite blogs Soule Mama. Now I actually had the goods to make my own.

I ended up doing most of the harvesting while the children played but it was fun and they would come over every once in awhile to check on progress. During the cooking process they helped more, that’s where the fun is anyway though it probably too less then five minutes to whip up a batch. Now I have a new spring time tradition and it is so fun to make things grown right on our own land.

But on a humorous note all you moms out there know that once the seasons change it is often times hard to find the clothing items from last year, especially shoes and in this season shoes rapidly disappear. Here is Effie’s solution.

Sure sign of spring–bird nests

It is always interesting how nature intersects with our human constructions. I remember seeing pigeon nests as a child tucked away in I beams in the skyway in downtown St. Paul. More recently hawk’s nests on electrical poles along the highway. But this year we have our own story.

The children have been anxiously waiting for the snow to melt, then there were the cars and tractors in the way, finally this weekend the hoop was clear but we noticed something interesting.

We had noticed a bird flying back and forth. I knew what it was but honestly had never seen a nest before. We are trying very hard to hold back our curiosity and not disturb them too much but we had to take just a quick peek. The children we completely amazed and I was too. I have never seen a bird nest up close and personal and in use. So we have all agreed that there will be no basketball until those little babies move all and we are anxiously watching (from a distance most of the time) the progress they make. So many lessons,

How do birds make nests? We recognize much of the building material.

How long for baby birds to hatch and Mature? Still working on that

Also learning how to observe but not disturb and how to be considerate of even the smallest creatures. On a side note with all this rain we are learning a lot about worm saving. Yes bird saving and worm saving don’t really go together but that can be a lesson for another day.

Joy in the Barn

There has been a lot on my mind lately. I don’t know if it is the uncertain economy catching up with local foods, a flux of new CSAs or crazy weather making consumers doubt the CSA model but our CSAs numbers are way down. I am honestly scrambling. Trying to figure out how we might make ends meet this year and if we will be able to afford to farm next year. As much as I try to keep this space positive there is so much uncertainty right now and it is weighing on me. It seems agriculture across the board is feeling the hit. My friends that raise goats are struggling. My friends that run CSAs are struggling. Anyone I know who is trying to make a way for themselves is struggling.

Luckily I have a bit of a retreat–the barn. I have said before I am a bit of a responsibility junky. I love caring for people, animals, things, a place. And that is just the life I get to live. Too bad you don’t get paid to live this life. Oh well, struggles make us stronger right?

So come with me on a little far tour.

Contentment among the animals.

Mavis bottle feeding Miracle for one of the last times. Miracle will be going to a new home next week. thanks Michelle!

Just like children baby goats (kids) find the funniest things entertaining. This tube is a favorite.

Don’t stick your tongue out young man.

Flower likes to keep track of everyone.

So yes there are plenty of good things going on in the barn. If you would like a quick tour of chore time check out our video below.

CSAs, Local Food and Co-ops Oh My!

What a great weekend. This weekend Proeun and I attended not one but 2 CSAs/Local Food Days at local co-ops. Proeun attended the Seward Co-op’s CSA Fair while I (Amy) attended the City Center Market’s “Meet Your Farmer” Day. While we love farming we don’t get a chance to hang out with other farmer’s and like minded folk that much and so these 2 events were especially rejuvenating. A couple things we learned were that Local Food and CSAs are a thriving, growing field. But still many farms are seeing there numbers down from last year. So if you have not signed up for a CSA yet make sure you do. Click here for our CSA information.

I had an opportunity to talk with some great farmers including Sapsucker Farm (maple syrup goodness!), Lovelight Herbs and Outstanding in Our Field. All the farmers I talked with were passionate, engaging and knowledgeable and completely quoteable. Here are some of my favorites.

John Ice of Outstanding had quite a few, ” We are all part of the Revolution.” “Organic Food is the cheapest you can buy once you factor in the other costs,” and “If you stop shopping at your grocery store they probably won’t miss you but if you shop with a farmer you and ensuring their success and you might even be saving their farm.”

Nikki of Lovelight is an amazing ball of energy and joy. Her motto is “Live, Love, Farm” and she really embodies it. I mentioned that we had been struggling with illness this winter and she just so happens to be offering a class on “Kitchen Herbs for Health” on May 3rd I will be attending.

Sorry I don’t have more quotes from Seward, but Proeun was bubbling over the joy when he came home and excitedly sharing stories of other farmers that he met. It feels amazing to be in such cool company. It is also a bit humbling. See everyone supports large farms whether they want to or not, whether they know it or not, through government subsidies and just the whole structure of food in this nation. But to support local, small farms you have to go out of your way. Maybe you try some new foods. Maybe things don’t go as you planned, maybe you are learning more about seasonal eating and how weather really does affect plants. But through it all you are supporting the Revolution. Those of us who are striving to grow food (really real food) in as healthy a way as possible but would also like to maintain a liveable wage–a liveable wage that is required to make sure the farm continues to the next year. So I am reminded how strong the movement (Revolution if you will) is but also how much it depends on customers to are willing to go out of their way to support something bigger. If you haven’t joined a CSA I hope you will consider ours.

A Tractor named Bessie

Anyone who knows me would have to agree I am a bit weird; or as Proeun would say, “crazy in a good way.” But when I found out that this little beauty was going to arrive on our farm today the thought came to me, “her name is Bessie.” I informed the family and while they already know I am a bit crazy they also know the name fits. But let me back up a bit.

This winter I took a Farm Financial Analysis class. I learned all sorts of great things, one thing the course talked about was, “new paint syndrome.” This is a syndrome Proeun and I do not have. We in the past have been all about doing things low-tech, often by hand and we also wanted to be able to pay cash for items used on the farm so we wouldn’t fall into a trap of debt.

However running 40 acres without a reliable tractor is a bit difficult to say the least. You must either hire out some of the labor like tilling or seeding for cover crops, (which is expensive and you are working with someone else’s schedule which is often not the best) or use time consuming hand tools that just don’t hold up that well under all the pressure.

As we prepare for organic certification we discovered other issues, like tractors that have been used in conventional fields must be thoroughly washed before they are used in organic fields. This may be difficult for anyone we would hire to work our fields.

So we talked about it and discussed ALOT and really did a lot of soul searching whether a big purchase like this would be good for the overall farm and we decided that it would. It would allow us to mechanize more of our farm, and therefore free up time for things like crop and soil improvement as well as just quality of life stuff. We are totally an outdoor family, but during the summer have little time to enjoy it. We live just miles from Proeun’s all time favorite fishing spot and we have been there 3 times since moving in. So we are really excited about Bessie. She means a lot to us, she is more then just a tractor.

We have a special thanks to Agstar for believing in us and making it possible for us to get Bessie. Our loan officer normally works with much bigger loans, like in the $12M range (talk about new paint) but told us he much prefers to do loans like ours, “because they make a huge difference to family’s and really change their life.” Thank-you for changing our life. And thank-you to all our CSA members past present and future who support our farm. We still have some shares available this year.

Praise for Grandmas

I am blessed in more ways then I can count. But for this post I will focus on the amazing women in my life who taught me everything I know. I have learned about several folk schools over the years. I have yet to take a class at any since most of the “local” ones I know of are still a bit of a hike and logistics and nursing babies haven’t allowed me to get away. But as I was browsing some of the class offerings I realized I am in a unique and highly valued (by me!) position of having many of these skills passed down from generation to generation. My mother taught me and my grandmother taught her and occasionally me skills like baking bread, making food from scratch, sewing, knitting, embroidery, crochet and some gardening. I remember my grandmother taught me to eat green beans right from the garden, just wipe off any dirt.

Once we all–me, my mother and grandmother, took a class together on tatting but I couldn’t quite get the hang of it, maybe I will have to have my mother reteach me.

Here we all are shortly after Avril was born. On an interesting note we are all the first daughters of our families. At least I find things like that interesting.

Shortly after this picture was taken Proeun and I decided we were going to farm. We were living in St. Paul at the time and got our chicken permit. We went to a feed store to pick out some chicks, one was a Rhode Island Red. I was telling my grandmother and asking if she wanted to see our chickens and she said, “honey I have seen chickens before.”

Of course she has, she grew up on a farm in western Minnesota. Now I had another way to connect with her as we talked about farming and planting and cooking good old fashioned health food straight from the farm. Turns out she raised Rhode Island Reds

I will always remember my grandmother knitting. Often it was cotton dishclothes. I have gone through more of these then I can count. They are literally the best dishclothes. Recently I was noticing my supply was dwindling. I was talking with my mom and she said grandma can’t remember how to knit them anymore. My mom had figured out the pattern and wrote it down for grandma but still it was a bit much. So my current dishclothes were knit by my mother, I likely will not have anymore knit my grandmother.

And just yesterday I finished my first one. I noticed mistakes and I am definitely not the woman my grandmother and mother are but I feel so blessed for all the little connections that bind us together even if it is a dishcloth. I have seen other patterns I might try but this one will always connect me to my grandma.

So thankful for all these amazing women have taught me.

For those of you who are interested

Grandma’s dishcloths

Cotton yarn and needles 7-10 depending on how tight you want it.

Cast on 4 knit 2 or 3 rows.
On the next row knit 2, then yarn over and knit to end of the row.
Continue in this way until you have gotten to widest point you want, you will be increasing one every row.
Once you get to the widest point you can begin decreasing. So knit 2, yarn over, knit 2 together, knit to 5 stitches from the end knit 2 together, then knit remaining stitches.
When you get to 6 stitches on needles knit 2, yarn over, knit 2 together and knit to end of row.
Next row, knit 2, knit 2 together, knit to end of row.
Next row knit.
Next row, bind off.

Sustainability on the Farm

I had a different post planned for today. I was going to talk about how wonderful the sun feels and how all of us are just soaking it up. I was going to describe playing outside as a family and the anticipation of spring. I was going to tell you how the children have been singing about spring and summer for 3 days now and how glad I am that it looks like this winter will be different from the last (when we had significant snow fall on May 2!).

But I opened my inbox and was floored. Before I begin I have to say that this is not a political blog. I strive to stay in the positive, but sometimes I must speak. I belong to several yahoo groups that are devoted to local, nutrient dense foods. On one of them I read this

“I will also say that when it comes to our community supporting the Local Raw Milk Producers I think it would behoove as many of us here to throw some financial support to the Cindy & Gary H____ family, the Maiden Rock goat dairy. . . They have been clobbered with a back-breaking loss of their nanny goats due to being unable to feed and support them as well as they needed to be nourished. Nor could they afford medical care for their goats when they started dying of illness. By offering milk, yogurt and cheese to our community at a price below sustainability (all of it with 100% good-intentioned effort, of course) they are broke, and broken-hearted. There is no way they can continue their wonderful dairy unless something happens to intervene. They have supported “our community” with amazingly wholesome and delicious milk and cheeses for many years, and they have worked day and night to produce nutrient-dense food for us, now it would be a Godsend if our community could return the favor. I am donating my professional time and medicines to help, and help is in place now, but they still need money to rebuild their herd back up. In the past few weeks, they have lost 22 of their 30 milking nanny goats. This is the kind of farm family we so desperately need. Please help. Perhaps you would be able to buy them a female goat! emphasis mine.

Last fall I heard about another farmer that had worked for years to bring a specialty meat product to the market. It was amazing, but he could not sell it for a sustainable price and he had to sell off his herd and lost his farm to foreclosure. He is now living in an apartment.

Before you think I am so good at spending locally I have to admit that recently I purchased a bunch of cloth diapers on line. Someone had recommended a particular brand to me and the price was well below what I had been seeing. So I purchased enough for a good rotation. (I did purchase from a family owned boutique) but when I got the diapers I saw that they were made in China. While I feel good about supporting the family boutique I would have preferred a product that was more local but honestly I opted for price.

So I get it, times are tough, but it is so so discouraging to hear stories like the 2 above. They are not unique. My sister is also self employed and we were talking about how different it is from employment. One of the really negative things is you often feel like a beggar. But the fact of the matter is that our dollars all support something, and we need to think about what we want to support.

I was watching the film Bitter Seeds about how farmers in India are losing the ability to chose what seeds they grow and I was so thankful for the many choices we have in this country. But I am reminded without the support of the community buying all those seeds those companies would not stay in business. Yes if we want to have choices we need to support the companies and families that bring us those options. Please support local agriculture and businesses.

Goat Milk Mozzarella = Pizza

We are settling into a very nice rhythm around here, though we did have the major flu work its way through the house. Even though I only got a mild case I found that having the rhythm of chores and others to care for (animal and human) helped me keep my priorities straight through the illness. I was actually feeling really out of balance before that but the illness helped me slow down and reprioritize and find comfort in things I previously took for granted. I am actually starting to enjoy the milking now. One of the perks is all the homemade goodness.

We are discovering a new love in our home–homemade pizza. This is made all the better with homemade cheese from our goats.

I used Rikki Carroll’s 30 minute Mozzarella recipe. I wasn’t sure if it would work with goat milk but it did and was delicious!

Proeun found a dough recipe he wanted to try with Avril’s help.

Avril and Mavis add the toppings.

The children proud of their delicious creations. Even if you don’t make everything from scratch it was such a rewarding experience making dinner with the children and the loved it. What a great way to connect! How do you like to connect with your family?

Home School Farm

Learning to be Holistically Sustainable