Article about our food bank garden!
http://www.ptleader.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=31537&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=55&S=1
the months go by.
this time of year, everything happens at once. suddenly our yard is lush. chickens get lost in the waist high grasses; the starlings and sparrows are hidden in the green green of the yet-unidentified fruit trees, betrayed only by their bickering. it’s a jungle out there.
i carved out a mini garden plot last weekend amongst the tall grasses in front of the house. it was an over grown plot already, full of volunteer peas, calendula, and poppies. add to the mix rainbow chard, kale, sun flowers, cosmos, marigold, dill, and other things to be determined. a bean teepee too perhaps.
meanwhile the view from the kitchen window is growing greener too.
since starting the food bank garden project, amongst the many other balls in the air, i’ve put off trying very hard to grow much food at home. my starts have gotten leggy or gone unwatered, pots crowd the porch. and yet, things still grow, despite my neglect, and we’ve had greens galore.
thanks to the chickens and the window planter, this is the ideal spring breakfast:
salad for breakfast
1. soft boil an egg
2. wash and dry mixed greens (slightly hardy, spicy greens are good for this…arugula, spinach, mizuna)
3. tear leaves into a bowl and toss with olive oil, lemon, salt and pepper ( you can add other things: avocado, radishes…)
4. peel egg and split on top of the salad
5. serve with chive blossoms, a crack of pepper, and a piece of buttered toast!
what comes first + wendell berry.
i got some chickens, two barred rocks and two rhode island reds. in this case, it’s clear: first came the chickens, then came the eggs. lots of eggs, three a day! in an effort to use them up i’ve found myself making lots of quiches for potlucks and putting fried eggs a top nearly every dish. it is an especially good addition to this kimchi fried rice!
4 strips bacon, cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces A few handfuls of mixed veggies–kale, broccoli, carrots–diced
1 cup kimchi (Korean fermented spicy Napa cabbage or other vegetables)
4 cups cooked brown rice
1 tbsp. butter or vegetable oil
2 tsp. sesame oil
Salt
Sesame seeds
2 eggs
Put the bacon in a large skillet , and place over medium heat.Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is cooked through but still tender. Add the vegetables and cook for several mintutes. Add the kimchi, and cook for a few more minutes.
Raise the heat to high, and add the rice, stirring well. Cook, stirring occasionally, for several minutes, until the rice is hot and beginning to brown.
Meanwhile, in another skillet, warm some butter and fry as many eggs as you’d like, seasoning with salt to taste.
When the rice is ready, stir in the butter and sesame oil, and season with tamari to taste. Divide between two or three bowls, and top each with a fried egg or two. Garnish with sesame seeds and maybe some chives or scallions.
On a different note, the most famous living literary champion of farmers and land, Wendell Berry, recently delivered the Jefferson Lecture for the National Endowment of Humanities. View/listen to it here. It’s long, but well worth a listen. Are you a Boomer or a Sticker?
spring things.
the best scones.
it all started with the best of intentions. i had early morning dates set with a few food bank garden volunteers and wanted to bring them something a little special to show my appreciation for their help. the night before, i made a dough. not for scones, though, a yeasted dough for “finnish cardamom rolls,” which were supposed to be like cinnamon rolls, but a little bit more exotic and unique. everything went wrong. the cream burned, the just-bought flour was found to be crawling with weevils (seriously gross), and ultimately, the dough didn’t rise. after a full night of sitting in the fridge for the slow rise…nothing. the dough was rock hard and hopeless.
enter the best scones, the last minute rescuers of morning baking conundrums: oat scones via orangette via standard baking co. in portland, me. i made a few changes, really just the addition of frozen blueberries and lemon zest to give them a little more swagger. no pictures though. the morning was too hectic, the scones were gone too quickly. i will say though that the lone scone still left when i got home in the afternoon was just as good as the first ones out of the oven–not dry, not hardened, just dense with butter and cream and perfectly crumbly.
the best oat scones
cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
11 Tbsp. (5 ½ ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 ¾ cups cold half-and-half
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or two knives to break it up until the mixture looks coarse and the largest lumps of butter are no bigger than a pea.
In another large bowl, stir together the half-and-half and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and the rolled oats, and stir until just combined. The dough will be thick and sticky. Add the berries, and stir briefly to mix.
Scoop the dough into mounds, arranging them 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 25 minutes, or until the center of the scones feels firm to the touch.
a good morning read.
we’re house sitting, which feels a bit like being on vacation. we have consistent heat and internet access, and a big big kitchen to experiment in, and a cat, who is increasingly warming up to us.
i read this Atlantic article this morning, “The Soul of Slow Food.” It was the perfect pep talk as I head out for a full day of volunteering at the food bank, breaking ground in the new food bank garden, and building a seed germinating shelf for the garden project. So glad to see that Slow Food is connecting the dots in the same way.
veggie valentines
vegetable valentines’ day cards. painted with watercolor by hand, each one is a little bit different. i’m selling these at the Chimacum Corner Farmstand as a little fundraiser for the new food bank greenhouse and garden project!
new things.
today felt a little like spring.
the sun was warm but the wind was still cold. the ground was soggy and spongy after our few snow days, promptly followed by a day of hard rain. now there’s no sign of snow in sight, and it’s as if those three days were something of a dream.
but i have proof:
that was then, this is now:
today i took a little ferry ride over to whidbey island to visit the good cheer food bank garden. you can read more about the field trip on a new blog i’m working on for the food bank garden we’re starting up in port townsend. it’s a really exciting and challenging project, and i feel really lucky to be working on it with some very inspiring older women.
snowy saturday
barely. more like a rain/sleet/snow mix. certainly nasty enough to want to batten down the hatches and stay inside, drink tea and work on crafty little projects.
scheming about:
this little start up farmy business in the middle of nowhere Maine
colorful party hats for gray days
tonight’s soup
rumor has it…
.
..it might snow this weekend! so far there’s only a 50% chance of half an inch, which is wimpy, but still pretty big for this little temperate peninsula. last year, we had a total of two snows, and each event was cause for cars to go careening off the side of the road and businesses to close for days. without plows, sanding trucks, or snow tires, this place isn’t exactly equipped to deal with winter weather. most of the time, there’s no threat of snow here, it stays in the 40s for the duration of the winter and into the spring. but something different these last few days. there’s a crispness in the air, the gray clouds are lower than usual, we’ve been wearing more layers (including mittens!) and running the heat more often. to the seasoned new englander, all signs point to snow.
cold like this calls for cookies, like these, and tea. these little nuggets are wheat and dairy free, and still taste pretty darn good!
Super Natural Healthy Cookies
adapted from 101cookbooks
3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed
4 tbs maple syrup or honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 – 7 ounces chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.
In a large bowl combine the bananas, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.
