We’ve done a light amount of winter gardening this year.   Shown above are carrots and beets that were seeded last June and left in the ground until now.  We’ve been selectively harvesting since summer, and decided to perform a clean out this weekend, making room for spring peas.   The beets and carrots kept perfectly in the soil over winter.  We had a beet salad tonight and there was no compromise in flavor or texture.  All seeds are heirloom varieties, but I can’t remember exactly what they are.

Shown here is a patch of very poor soil in a low spot on our property.  We are giving it a shot at improvement with these nitrogen fixing fava beans over winter.  These plants are doing far better than I would have guessed, and we are now looking forward to a nice crop of delicious beans in a few months.

Our hen-count is currently 3.  All very sweet bantams that are easy on the yard.   One is a buff cochin (far), one a rhode island red (middle) and one mutt (left).  We are averaging almost one egg per day.

We are really enjoying our bean and grain CSA, brought to us by Lonesome Whistle Farm. Look for a post about that one of these days.

ShareThis

Over the weekend and into today, we focused our efforts on these sweet fall treats.  The grapes were harvested from vines on the property of a home Amy lived in before we were married and she still owns.  Its not a particularly large planting, but it did produce enough fruit to make it worth our while in processing.  Shown below are grapes on the stem, then picked, then crushed.  After the first crush they were boiled for 10 minutes, then strained.  That’s all it took to make this fine half gallon jar of juice.   It’s very tasty with no sweetener needed.

The apple sauce process was slightly more involved, but overall still pretty easy.  We started with gorgeous Mutsu green apples purchased at Detering Orchards a week ago (see our most recent past blog about that).  This varietal choice for apple sauce was a recommendation from Roger Detering himself.

After giving them a rinse we used our hand-cranked all-in-one peeler/corer/slicer.  This is a brilliant and super easy-to-operate invention.  A must-have tool.

After the skins and cores were gone, the “meat” went into large kettles with a little bit of sugar and lemon juice.  A few hours of cooking down progressed the apples to a sauce, a little on the chunky side the way we like it here.  Heavy sampling prior to canning indicates that this too is a big hit.  The box of apples, minus a few we spared for near-term baking, netted us 18 pint jars to enjoy this winter.

ShareThis

Saturday morning, we paid a visit to two of our favorite local orchard farms.  First we went to River Bend Farm & Pleasant HIll Orchard, which is a few miles west of Pleasant Hill.  They have an attractive market store with their products nicely displayed.

We picked up a few apples to eat and a gallon of cider.  They also sell a variety of other vegetables, honey, hazelnuts, prepared foods and baked goods.

Next we made our way to Detering Orchards, which is located between Coburg and Harrisburg.  This farm caters to a larger crowd.  This weekend they offered hayrides, a hay bale maze, free apple cobbler with ice cream, and lots and lots of pumpkins.  Bulk fruit is one of their specialties.  We picked up a full box of Mutsu and Ozark Gold apples that we will process into applesauce.

They have quinces for sale too.  We couldn’t resist their sales line of “makes great jelly”, and bought about 8 fruits to try our hand at a small batch.

We also picked up a full box of italian plums.  Friends of ours who joined us stocked up on squash big time.  Shown is all of the produce loaded in the back of my pickup truck.

Yesterday and today, Amy has been busy converting our plums into three different preserves - a chutney, an asian plum sauce, and a Pinot Noir jam.  Pictured is the chutney cooking down and then getting poured into jars for canning.

ShareThis

A 6-pack of basil starts supplied us with fresh basil we picked periodically through the summer, and then delivered as the main ingredient in a final batch of pesto we processed tonight.  The leaves you see in the two large bowls above packed down to 8 cups, and then were ground down further ultimately netting four 1/2 pint containers.   We used a very basic pine nut pesto recipe which calls for 2 cups packed basic leaves, 2 cloves garlic, 3 tablespoons pine nuts, 1/2 cup of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt.  We held out the cheeses for now as we sent these containers to the freezer for a future meal.  Shown below are steps in the process.

ShareThis

This weekend we made our way to the coast range in search of chanterelle mushrooms, a food finding adventure in nature that we’ve been partaking in for the past few years.  In a short span of arriving in the forest - which is all we have these days to keep our almost 2-year-old content on being bound up in a backpack - we amassed a mighty fine collection of them.

These photos are from the forest.

Tonight Amy found a perfect fall recipe for them that allowed us to utilize a number of other seasonal vegetables that are readily available (including tomatoes, corn and red peppers).

It is “Corn and Mushroom Ragout with Sage and Roasted Garlic” from Deborah Madison’s Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.

Pictured at the bottom is the result.  It was delicious.

ShareThis

What you see is a cross section of 4 of our heirloom tomatoes.  Starting with the green one and going clockwise we have Green Zebra, Persimmon, Speckled Roman and Brandywine.  It’s been raining a lot here this week, and many of our tomatoes have been cracking.  Amy harvested a good load of them today and we went into cut and grind mode tonight.   The photos below are snippets of the main varieties going through the our food strainer.  The last image shows them getting mixed together.  We put the raw product into jars tonight and will finish processing them this weekend - purpose to be determined.

ShareThis

Shown is today’s tomato harvest from our garden, one day after the equinox and minutes before our first big rain in a long time.  Considering how summer took so long to arrive here and how we’ve had less-than-stellar results growing heirlooms in past years - we are a bit surprised and thrilled at the results.  The varieties - that we can remember - are Green Zebra, Speckled Roman, Brandywine (purple), and Persimmon (yellow).  We purchased one starter plant of each through Eugene Local Foods - from the following farms:  MoonTime Farms near Veneta and Mountain View Farm near Junction City.

The Speckled Roman are probably the best surprise of all.  They are a plum tomato with yellow/orange stripes.  They have been prolific with several very large fruits.  We are processing these into a barbeque sauce.

The persimmons are very large fruit - about the size of a softball - and have been designated for a yellow-colored catsup.   We have over 20 fruit this size on one plant alone.  Todays persimmon harvest - about 1/3 of the total it will produce - yielded 4 quarts of cut up tomatoes, just right for the sauce recipe.

Yesterday we made a tomato tart with a mix of our cherry tomatoes.  It’s a superb recipe found in the Harvest to Heat cookbook.  Shown below is before and after cooking the tart.  It was a big hit.   Thank you to my mom for gifting us this great cookbook, and suggesting the recipe.

And THANK YOU to the nearby farms growing these starts and keeping these special varieties in supply and convenient for us urban farmers in the city!

ShareThis

Christmas arrived on May 7.  In a barn.  In Creswell.

It was last December when Amy booked us for one of Heidi Tunnell Catering’s renowned Barn Dinners, a Christmas gift from her to me.  It was a long time coming, and it was worth the wait.

Booking that far in advance is a bit extreme, but not a bad idea either.  Because the meals and experiences there are incredible, and they often sell out in advance.

The multi-course feast we enjoyed featured vegetables from Sweetwater Farm, pork from Tails & Trotters and beans and grains from Camas Country Mill.  Each course was paired with an exceptional Capitello wine.

The selections were interspersed with informative commentary by chef Heidi, the farmers (Tom Hunton of Camas Country Mill and John Karlik of Sweetwater Farm) and winemaker (Ray Walsh).

The many dishes were all very creative and delicious.  The wines were right on par with the food.  Both Heidi and Ray threw some surprises beyond the menu listing.  One of these, a pork belly dish, stole the show.

Preparations were made just outside the barn, open to view for the casual observer.  Many impressive scenes were ongoing throughout the night.  I stepped out for a sneak peek at the pinot noir-leek sausage and orca bean dish - prepared in a gigantic paella pan over a large wood fire.  Also in the arsenal was a new wood fire oven hand-built by John Karlik himself.

We were simply blown away.  The food and wine, service, atmosphere, and the company of others who attended were all so special.  We are now plotting - Christmas will be revisited again - in September or October.

ShareThis

My earliest years were spent on a diversified family farm.  Our operation included sheep, cows and chickens.  We phased out of raising animals and farming altogether when I was pretty young - at about 8 years of age.   I was old enough to have an awareness and memory of the work involved, but too young to really contribute any meaningful labor.

30some years later (yesterday) I finally got the hands-on experience at Laughing Stock Farm southwest of Eugene.  Part of the agreement of purchasing a turkey from Laughing Stock is that it is a participatory act.  We and more than 50 other members of the community were invited to the farm to share in the labor and to meet and spend time with one another.

The birds were pasture raised organically.  The breed is a heritage type, the name we hadn’t heard before and now cannot remember.  According to Paul, the farmer, it is a rare breed that was recently near extinction and sourced from central Oregon.

We arrived in mid-morning under bright blue skies.  We parked alongside the entry road and then walked up to a group of outbuildings where several tables and large barrels were set up for the various jobs of the day.

The first step is the slaughter.  This was not a participatory act as each bird was handled by a couple of experienced helpers.  It was conducted in the open and those who wanted to observe could.  Many did.

Moments later we had possession of our turkey, still fully feathered.   We proceeded to a large caldron, where we dunked it in a hot water bath and let it soak for several minutes.  The primary purpose of the bath is to loosen the feathers from the skin so they are more easily removed.  I got some help on the defeathering and removal of the feet and head, which took about 15 minutes altogether.

Then we went to the next station to remove internal organs.  At this point we again had assistance from experienced helpers who made precision cuts and then gave us the option of finishing the job.  I opted to do it.  We salvaged the gizzard, heart and liver - the giblets that are traditionally minced and folded into a wild rice stuffing recipe our family has made ever since I can remember.

The hard work is now over and the body is placed in a large barrel filled with ice water for nearly an hour.  This time went quickly as we cleaned ourselves up, poked around the farm and enjoyed some of the food and refreshments others had brought to share.

After the ice bath, we bagged our turkey and weighed it in at 16.5 pounds.  Although Paul encourages bartering for those who are equipped to offer something in trade, we simply cut a check for ours.

It was an incredible experience.  Our Thanksgiving meal this year and going forward will be different as we have gained a new perspective and deeper appreciation.

ShareThis

We became proud owners of a Big Chief electric smoker this summer, a find we made passing by a yard sale in our neighborhood.  Smoking food wasn’t on my radar, but the unit was too eye-catching and the price was too right to pass it up.  15 bucks and it was ours.

It found a home in the basement for a solid two months, with no action.  I finally made a move a couple of weekends ago to acquire wood chips, which are sold for $3/bag at Bi-Mart in a variety of woods - hickory, mesquite, apple, cherry.  I’d browsed the Big Chief manufacturer’s web site a few times to learn more about what I had on my hands and to spark our first adventure.  In their recipes section, a listing for smoked chipotles caught my eye and it was settled.

On Sunday we made a run a few miles north of Eugene to Thistledown Farms for the peppers, as well as pumpkins and apple cider.  They had a beautiful selection of peppers, and we went with standard jalapenos and poblanos. A bag full of each.

Preparation was easy.  Just a quick wash, cut off the tops and made a few random slits on the side of each. Then loaded up the trays, closed down the Big Chief and fired up the pan of wood chips.

I used apple wood chips, as it was recommended on the website.  I ran the smoker about 8 total hours and refreshed the wood chip pan about every couple of hours.  After these rounds, the smoky aroma soaked deep into my clothes and skin.  My hands smelled so good I wanted to eat them.

At the end of this run it was time for bed and I shut it all down.  The peppers had shrunken a bit, but were still fairly solid, about 2/3 their original size and an olive green color.  I decided the next day to expedite the process - finish half the peppers on our grill and the other half in a dehydrator, until they were dark brown and very shriveled.

I used two techniques in case one failed (i didn’t want to lose the whole batch after that much effort).  Both turned out great.  I’ve sliced off a few slivers to sample, but we haven’t put them to the test in a dish yet.  Amy plans on making an adobo sauce for some, preserving them that way. And we’ll just keep the others dry.

We’re looking forward to the meals they will spice up this during the cool months ahead.

And looking forward to many more adventures with our smoker.

ShareThis