pea shoots, crisped pancetta, and mint vinagrette

I have to try this one. I have the pea shoots, the mesclun, and the mint. All I need to do is get some pancetta from market tomorrow.
http://www.marthastewart.com/print/316305

my week

It's been quite awhile since my last post. First, allow me to begin by saying, absolutely, that I am not complaining! However, I've been a little, shall we say, stretched lately...

Monday: Left for Tractor's Supply at 6:45 a.m. to get there when they opened. I desperately needed tetanus anti-toxin so the tails of the newest lambs could be banded. The meat chickens also needed food as did a freshly hatched bunch of silky peeps. Also made a stop at the bank. Arriving home, all the animals had to be fed and watered and then I needed to return a tractor borrowed from my sister who lives two miles away. Next, I planted 120 seed potatoes before harvesting for Tuesday's market. The workday ended at 8:20 p.m.

Tuesday: Loaded up the truck and headed off to market at 6:15 a.m. Left there at 3:00 and went to Home Depot for materials to make a hanging basket display at market. When I got home, I checked the soil and found it still a little too wet, but with more rain on the way, decided to roto-till anyway. Quit when it became too dark to see, about 9:00.

Wednesday: Planted an additional 240 seed potatoes along with 60 feet of sunflowers and put in 180 lettuce, 1,000 onion, and 200 swiss chard transplants. Quit about 8:00.

Thursday: Trellised and suckered a row of tomatoes and began pulling up a used-up bed of baby lettuce mix in the greenhouse in preparation for planting cucumbers. Harvested for Friday and Saturday's markets. Got back in the house early, around 6:00.

Friday: Left for market at 5:45. Market ended at 4:00, but I hung around to put up the hanging basket display until 5:00 when the market was holding a party. Stayed until 6:30, then came home and spent an hour harvesting some additional items for the next day.

Saturday: Left for market at 6:00 and stayed until 2:00. Back to Home Depot for more display materials. Came home, took care of the animals, poked around a little bit and then crashed until 7:00, when my sister called to see if I wanted to go out for ice cream with their family. Yes, please. Got back home and went to bed.

Today: I still have an awful lot to get accomplished, but believe I'll just ignore most, if not all of it until tomorrow morning, when it will all start again. *

*I really should get my asparagus patch put in since more rain is expected for the next three days. And those cucumbers are still calling my name - they need to be planted too. But first, I need to tighten the belt on the tiller. Sigh.

ready to garden yet?

I finally sat down and updated the 2011 plant offering! Seedlings will be available at the Landis Valley Herb Faire, May 6-7. If you can't make it to the fair but would like some seedlings, you can contact me to make arrangements to pick them up here at the farm or at Central Market in Lancaster.

farm city

Okay, I just finished reading this book and must say that it was wonderful! If you love small-time farming, urban farming, or farm animals (especially raising them), then I think you'll love it too. It's nearly enough to make me want to move to the city to start farming there. Nearly, but not really. I love the countryside too much for that, but if for some reason I found myself in the city, I also might find myself following a similar path.


Check it out...

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer

bees

I lost my bees this winter. My first hive. From the looks of things, it seems to me they might have starved. There was maybe a cup of honey left at the very top. There also weren't many bees there. It's a mystery. This was in the top bar hive that I built last year. Perhaps they didn't store enough honey, perhaps the queen died and they lost their purpose? Who knows. All I know is I'll wait at least until next year to try again. I have to get my nerve back up. I'm still and probably always will be a recovering be-phobe. But a bee-phobe who is looking for all the pollination help she can get and who wants to eat her own honey. So give me a year and we'll have another go at it.

Now, about the top bar hive...
The idea is to allow the bees to build their own comb, hoping that they don't attach it to the sides, so the bars with comb attached can be lifted out. This is supposedly healthier for the bees. BUT - when I checked on the hive and found everybody dead, I took all the comb out and the girls had attached it everywhere. Had I wanted to harvest any honey while the hive was active, it would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible. So in addition to getting my nerve back up, I also have to re-think the hive situation and come up with a plan.

lamb stew

Can I just say that I am over the moon about this dish? Every January for years I'd go to the annual PA Farm Show and buy a container of lamb stew. I'd wait all year to be able to have a taste of this rich, hearty, and mildly spicy stew. Finally this year I decided to try to recreate the experience, and if I must say so myself, it's a success! Ah, joy, now I can have it any time I want. And I sure do want. So let's share the love, shall we?

Lamb Stew

• Take one onion and three ribs of celery and chop them into small bite-sized pieces. In a heavy stock pot, saute them in a bit of olive oil just until soft, remove from pan and set them aside.
• Now add a bit more olive oil and one pound ground lamb to the pot and saute until cooked.
• Add two cloves of garlic that's been minced to the lamb and saute briefly.
• Next add three tablespoons of flour and stir it around for a minute.
• Add four cups of beef broth, one quart diced canned tomatoes, and some salt and pepper to the lamb mixture. Give it a nice stir, then cover and simmer on low for an hour.
• Now you'll want to add your pre-cooked onions and celery, one pound of potatoes that have been cubed into large bite-sized pieces, two carrots that have been sliced, two bay leaves, two teaspoons of rosemary, one half teaspoon of sage, one half teaspoon oregano, and a half teaspoon thyme. Mix this deliciousness all together, cover once again and simmer on low for another hour (if you can wait that long). 

That's it! A one pot meal that is to die for. Thick, rich, hearty, and best of all, seriously tastey.

interesting...

farm products

From time to time, I'll be posting about Tulip Tree Hill farm products that are available direct from me (the farmer) to you. This time it's lamb. The next time it might be machine-washable lambskins, wool roving for hand spinning, yarn, eggs (chicken or goose), live animals, or an assortment of fresh produce. For now it will need to be picked up here at the farm. Once I'm at market, we can make arrangements for pick-up there (except for live animals, never them there, if you know what I mean).

At any rate, I now have grass-fed lamb available for your freezer or dinner plate. Raised naturally on mother's milk, pasture, hay, free-choice sheep minerals, water, and sunshine. Weaned in their own time. That's it, no extra feed additives, hormones, grains, etc. If you buy an entire lamb (as burger, chops, and foreshanks), the cost is $8.66 per pound. If you'd like to buy individual cuts, the ground lamb burger is $8.00/pound and chops (shoulder, loin, and leg) are $12.00/pound. Processing was done at a USDA certified butcher shop and all meat is shrink-wrapped and quick-frozen for maximum freshness.

Now, I must say, here is something I wasn't anticipating...

That's right.

Eeewww.

I was told they're a delicacy.

Seriously.

I think I'll pass, thank you very much.

Now you just let me know if you'd like some nice grass-fed southern Lancaster County, PA lamb.

You can even have the boy bits if that would make you happy.

to market, to market... and a farm update

Good news - this week I was given the nod of approval from the Board of Directors of Lancaster's Central Market, and barring any unforeseen incidents will be a standholder starting April first! I feel both excitement and trepidation. Excitement because I love going to market with beautiful produce, talking with customers, and all that it entails. Trepidation, because this is a big commitment. Market is open three days a week (all year around) which allows just four days to do all the growing and harvesting. I anticipate that during the height of the season I'll be working seven days a week. Hopefully that will be offset by a much lower workload during the winter when growing slows down and it is mostly about harvesting what was sown in the fall.

What's been started so far...
Planting for the spring season started in late January with a couple of flats of lettuce. Not too much to start with since I still didn't know if or when I'd be able to start at market. Now that a decision has been made, it's full steam ahead!

In the first week of February, rosemary, lavender, and alpine strawberries were started, some to be sold as seedlings, some to be planted here on the farm. Greenhouse tomatoes and peppers were also started in soil blocks - seven varieties of sweet peppers, four of hot peppers, and three types of tomatoes. The tomatoes are growing like gangbusters and will probably need to be moved from my kitchen to be planted in the greenhouse within the next two weeks. If they grow like last year, they should hit the market stand at the end of May!

In the second week of February additional lettuce was started. This year, I'm growing eight varieties - a red and green type each of butterhead, leaf, summercrisp, and romaine, which makes for a very pretty display and an even more delicious salad!

This week, bee balm, thyme, oregano, hanging basket tomatoes, and rhubarb (all mostly for seedling sales) was started in soil blocks, as was more lettuce. Beets, turnips, swiss chard, mustard greens, pak choi, tatsoi, and spinach, was seeded directly into the greenhouse beds to be grown for market.

Seedling sales...
We will once again be attending the Landis Valley Herb Faire May 6-7 as vendors. We'll have over 25 species of herbs, including lemon grass and stevia along with many culinary favorites; luscious alpine strawberries; rhubarb; celery; artichokes; red roselle; cotton; 6 varieties of eggplants; 12 varieties of sweet peppers; 6 varieties of hot peppers; 16 varieties of tomatoes; 11 varieties of melons; 3 varieties of cucumbers; 4 varieties of summer squash; and hanging baskets of tumbling tom tomatoes and everbearing strawberries. With the exception of the hanging baskets, all of the seedlings are heirloom open pollinated varieties which offer superior flavor, promote genetic diversity, and allow for home seed saving.

Other news...
The silky bantam peeps that hatched on new years are doing great. They, along with the adults have been moved out of the greenhouse and back into the barn since the greenhouse is now back in production. Hopefully with the lengthening of days, the adult hens will start laying again - their eggs have surely been missed around here.

Speaking of eggs, the geese have started nesting and Griselda has laid her first egg of the year.

The sheep are also doing well, eating their fair share of hay and growing wool like nobody's business. I need to make an appointment for the shearer to come pretty soon. The remainder of last year's lambs finally went to "freezer camp". Certainly it was a tough decision, but a necessary one. On the plus side, this means that we have lamb for sale, both chops and burger; and in a couple weeks, lambskins - nothing goes to waste.

"Before the seed 

there comes the thought 

of bloom."

E. B. White

Today I am placing this year's seed order. There has been much thought of bloom and growth for the past week in preparation.

new arrivals for the new year...

peeps in the winter greenhouse

The silky hen did her job and hatched ten of the twelve eggs she was sitting on. She's now showing them the ways of the world, escorting them around the greenhouse, looking for bugs and other tender morsels. Another hen has decided she would like to start her own family, and after giving her a few eggs she immediately settled down into that oddly determined, glassy-eyed, nearly hypnotic state they get when brooding. Good times.

why, hello there

Once again it's been awhile since my last post, but here we go...

New spinach beds, protected by row cover and plastic. At the far end will be the hoophouse.

Winter is officially here and I am. not. ready. Shocking, right? The used hoophouse purchased in September is still not up. Good grief. I don't think I know anyone who can procrastinate like me. However, on Saturday my brother-in-law and my sweetie will be here to help and we intend to get that puppy up. I'm hoping my fall-planted spinach survives until then. It's been cold.

Happy silkies in the greenhouse.

broody hen

The greenhouse still needs to have the last of the summer plants cleaned out. Hard to imagine, but I was still harvesting tomatoes last week - in an unheated greenhouse! This recent onset of cold weather however, has done them in. A couple of weeks ago I moved the silky chickens out there until I got around to planting for early spring production. As a side bonus to procrastination, they have had a blast pecking around, finding weed seeds and bugs to eat while scratching up the dirt. They will be able to have free run of the place while I get the beds ready for planting, but once seeds start going in they'll have their own pen - still in the greenhouse, but contained so they don't kill the new seedlings. They love the sun and the warmth, and I love hearing their contented clucking while I work. One of the hens has decided she'd like to sit on eggs and so I gave her a dozen to take care of. They should hatch right before New Years and be ready to start laying by June. The chicken's pen in the barn has been converted to accommodate the geese. Their food and water bucket are in there and a corner has been set aside, ready for next year's brood of goslings.

The great wall of leaves.

In other news, sweetie has been collecting bags of leaves for me. I'll use them next year as mulch around garden transplants. The battle against weeds starts now.

DIY mixer repair

That's my KitchenAid mixer. Scary looking, isn't it? Don't be frightened though, it's not as bad as it might seem. Although I will admit that at first I thought this puppy was a goner. You see, my sweetie tried to use my mixer with the food grinder attachment to grind ginger root. (For future reference and to save all of your mixers from a similar fate, this was not a plan. Ginger root should be grated by hand.) In the midst of grinding, the part that holds attachments and spins around suddenly stopped spinning. The motor ran just fine, but no more mixing, grinding, or anything else was going to happen any time soon. So I googled it and found out that it was probably a relatively simple and cheap fix. There is a sacrificial plastic gear inside the mixer so that if the going gets too tough, it fails in order to save the motor. Pretty cool, right? You can find directions here for doing this repair yourself.

Now that it's all apart and the new gear and food-grade replacement grease is ordered, it will be a matter of seeing if I can remember how to get it all back together again. Could be interesting.

By the way - the head of the mixer is packed with grease. What I found was that the grease had degraded pretty significantly, so it might be a good idea to take it all apart every several years and remove and repack the grease. One of those "can't hurt, might help" kinds of things.

But I'll tell you, it feels kind of good to have a quality piece of equipment that can actually be repaired (by me, no less) rather than having to throw it away like so many things today. I like that. Hopefully with good maintenance and no more ginger grinding, this mixer will last me for the rest of my life.

and the day came

"And the day came when the risk to remain in a tight bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."

Anais Nin

a wonderful little book

I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. And while it has absolutely nothing at all to do with farming, I feel the need to share it with you. A gem of a book, it has many little pearls of wisdom in it that are quite thought provoking. At least for me. Have you read it? What did you think?

and now applesauce

This week my friend wanted to make and can applesauce. This time I seriously put my foot down and said I'm not helping and you need to use your own kitchen to do it.

Two minutes later I gave permission to use my kitchen as long as he cleaned up afterwards. But I held firm on not helping.

An hour after he started with the apples on day one, I insisted on not helping, but would keep him company.

By the end of the day, I was helping. I made him do all the cleanup though.

On day two, I helped from the beginning and at the end of the day also helped clean up.

There are now nearly a hundred quarts of applesauce residing on my kitchen table.

Today, he overheard me telling someone I like pickled red beets...

auction items

Today I went to an auction at a greenhouse/farm market that went out of business. Sad to see them go as I've enjoyed shopping there for many years. But at the same time, they had a lot of good stuff for anyone involved in greenhouses, market gardening, farm stores, and the like. I spent what is to me, quite a lot of money, but it was all for things I'd planned on buying anyway. This way I spent about half of what I would have if purchased new.

I bought what I hope to be all the 4.5" pots I'll need for next year, some shade fabric, a hoophouse, some produce tubs, and two seedling carts. All told I spent nearly $900, and the biggest ticket item was, surprisingly, the carts at $300 each. The hoophouse I got for very nearly nothing since the only truly useable part of it is the rafters. Even so, I paid a small fraction of what I otherwise would have.

I am now exhausted, but it was a very, very good day.

morning song

I awoke this morning to the sound of a fox calling, a screech owl trilling, and a bullfrog croaking. A most beautiful chorus that I never tire of.

canning continues

Peaches.

We put up 100 quarts.

Three bushels, when I specifically asked to do just (?) two.

At least there were four of us this time. My sister and her husband helped and we did it at their house.

Still took all day.

Now there's talk of applesauce.

God help us all.

a battalion of soup

Do you know how much soup three bushels of tomatoes makes? Ninety two quarts. Yup, 92. Nearly a hundred. I know this from recent, first-hand experience. And it will take me a long time to recover mentally, emotionally, and physically. If I ever do, that is. 

How did this happen, you ask? I'm still wondering the same thing. Just the week before, a friend and I bought, prepared, and froze twenty dozen ears of sweet corn. You'd think I'd learn from that, but apparently that's not the case. So when he calls and says he knows where we can get all the roma tomatoes we want, free for the picking, and do I want to help make tomato soup, my good sense deserted me and I said yes. The field of tomatoes at the bottom of my road was being mechanically harvested and so mister gregarious that he is, he stops and asks if they'd mind us picking up what the harvester left behind. They happily agreed, and so in less than an hour, we collected our three bushels. That, my friends was the easy part. We then spent the better part of two days making and canning his mother's tomato soup recipe. By the end of the second day, I was alternating between whining, being snippy, and begging to please just throw the rest away. So then when he went out at eight o'clock at night to get "just a few more" canning lids, I officially quit. Cracked open a beer and a bag of tortilla chips and sat down with a book to read. That's how he found me when he got back and that's where I stayed until he was done. It was either that, or hurt him. Bad.

Oh yes, the soup is good. Outstanding, in fact. And everyone we know is getting tomato soup for Christmas. Just saying.

Now somehow, against my strenuous protests, I find myself going along with plans to can peaches tomorrow. I seem to have lost my capacity to say no and mean it.