Family Farm time

Things are different at the farm.  We have the kids on a different schedule which changes the dynamics of everything.  It affects our kids, our friends, and our food.  We used to spend the end of every week with our kids and send them to their mother's for the early part of the week.  Now we have them for a full seven days and they are gone for seven days.  Quite different.  We realized how much we will have to be prepared to cook when the busy weeks of school come.  The propensity to be lazy, use fast food, and rely on freezer meals made us shudder.  We have decided to precook meals to offer the best of our kitchen every day they are here.

Yeah, maybe we are a little food obsessed.  How great is it to find contentment by growing, cooking, and eating?  What a simple pleasure!  The joy that is found in the kitchen is the ultimate realization of what we are doing here on the farm.  And recently a baking bug has hit and Carly and Michael.  Now the kitchen isn't only the final place for our harvested crops, but it is a place of chemistry and experimentation.  They have decided that fresh baked bread is a necessary component in our kitchen.

So on the weekend preceding kids for a week they baked bread.  Carly made zucchini bread with fruit that came from our garden.  Michael used kalamata olives from the fridge to make an olive bread.  Both were waiting for the children when they arrived Monday night.  The product was very tasty and it became contagious to want to bake more.

So when the kids came we baked again.  Michael came over and got the girls to help bake some French bread.  In the above picture Melody is getting warm water to proof dough.  Later, Josie kneaded dough while Michael made certain that the dough was properly kneaded before going into the oven.  The end product was a plain loaf, an oregano loaf, and a rosemary & thyme loaf.

The kitchen is the canvas upon which we place the paint of our farm.

Perhaps that metaphor doesn't hold exactly.

But I think it is noteworthy to say that farming is all about getting to the plate.  There is joy in food.  There is stewardship in food.  There is even worship in food.  Nothing silly, but we can give gratuity to God when we eat.  Isn't that why we pray before meals in the first place?  When I was very young I received the cookbook More With Less from my Aunt Kathryn.  Although I have hardly used the recipes, reading about the Mennonite ideals of food as a resource from God and something to share with the world has influenced me deeply.

I want it to influence our kids too.  So when Melody is happy to bake with our friends I feel that the farm is a success.  When Josie harvests kale to make chips the farm is a success.

When Ethan asks about what plant is what and says, "I'd rather eat healthy food and then only sometimes eat unhealthy food" it seems that we are succeeding.  Yes, food is important.  But family is more important, friends are more important, and humanity is important.  We aren't trying to save the world.  But if we can make the world a little better, if we can influence three children, if we can receive love from our friends to the point that we are family, then we are succeeding.  And maybe Rosefield is a little patch of the world that has been saved.

Economy

A loaf of bread.
Four hamburger buns.
Pasta.
An apple.  Two pints of tomatoes.

Less than $15

That will feed Carly and me this week.

This is our first week of a new schedule that will leave us with kids every other week.  This week it is just the two of us.  Now that we have a yard full of produce we find ourselves not only wanting to eat the product of our labors but needing to.  We have made the following dinner meal plan for the next six days

Tonight: Diced tomatoes on toasted bread.  50/50 mixed salad with feta and granny smith apple.
Tomorrow:  Poached egg and wilted kale on toasted bread
Thursday: Garlic herb pasta with fresh tomatoes
Friday: Red potato hash with onion and bell pepper
Saturday: Home made beet burgers and salad
Sunday: probably something with zucchini.

We will alter our menu if anyone wants to have us over for dinner.  That being said, the plan is simple, healthy, and home grown.  It may sound simple but this is how tonight's meal came out:

It tasted outstanding with a mixture of texture.  Sweet, tart, acidic, and mild.  Soft and crunchy.  All contrasting to compliment.  Delicious.  And cheap

Some people say that if you open up your checkbook you can see what a person values.  I say, if you look at
our family you will see what we value.  If you look at our animals, our yard, and our refrigerator, you will see what we value.  We do not need money to be happy.  We need each other.

Our economy is not measured in salary or tax brackets.  It can't be quantified in our IRA or retirement plans, although that is certainly important.  But how important is measuring life by the season?  What is the worth of living in the moment of today and being thankful for all that is in front of us now?  How much do we become subject to God and Nature when we live by the season?  Isn't there something unique by living in each season's unique time?  It is a feeling that transcends a paycheck.  This is our economy.

Our economy is time together.  We are wealthy when we spend time together chasing rabbits that escape the run.  We are wealthy when Carly scratches the dirt to expose the progress of her favorite carrot or when she praises our Berkley Tie Dye tomato, the last of our heirlooms to fruit.  We are wealthy when I pet the down belly of Mavis as she grows from duckling to full sized duck.  Our value is time.  Our currency is each other, kids, animals, plants, and when we mix it all together our economy is more secure than any fed chairman could guarantee.  Farm life is good.  We are rich.

Tons of tomatoes: A photoblog of our fruit so far

As we spent our regular evening time in the yard.  Carly took some pictures of our several varieties of tomatoes that have all grown, flowered, and are bearing fruit.  It is so exciting to watch them mature. 

Black Cherry - This tomato is pushing six feet tall and has vines all over the garden.  The clusters of fruit are too numerous to count.  The fruit is supposed to be a deep red, almost mahogany, with a smoky flavor.  This is what they will look ripe: http://rareseeds.com/black-cherry-tomato.html

Yellow Stripey - is an heirloom that will be orange with veins of yellow to bring unique color to the tomato.  It is nearly as tall as our black cherry and in the same area of the garden.  Here is what we'd like to see on our table: http://store.tomatofest.com/Early_Yellow_Stripe_Tomato_Seeds_p/tf-0158.htm

Winter Squash - This volunteered next to our largest tomato vines and has thrived.  We haven't been able to identify what kind of squash it is, although it appears to be a winter type.  If anyone knows what exactly this is we would be happy to know.  The flowers keep coming and the fruit is getting bigger!

Pineapple - The Pineapple tomato was put in a spot in the garden that didn't get light like our biggest plants.  It hasn't kept it from producing over a dozen fruits with flowers all over.  This tomato is supposed to get BIG.  Like as big as a slice of bread big.  We have some lucky sandwiches in our future.  Hopefully we will see several of these weighing in over a pound!: http://rareseeds.com/pineapple-tomato.html

Yellow Pear - is our other cherry variety of tomato we planted.  We placed it right next to the black cherry which has brought a huge wall of fruit filled tomato vines.  The color and size is something we are excited about.  How exciting to offset the color of our other tomatoes with these beautiful, yellow, ovals.  Check them out:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pear_tomato

Our yellow pear & black cherry have interwoven into each other.  It is only fruit shape that helps us figure out which vine is which.

Yellow pears on the top left with black cherries front and center.  Dozens of fruits on each vine with more coming every day.  Snacks, salsa, and sauces in our future!

Spaghetti Squash - We think this might be a spaghetti squash but we aren't certain

 Because we also think this could be spaghetti squash.  All we know is that our compost pile has filled in every mistake that our "green" green thumbs were not able to grow.  We have volunteers, especially squash in many varieties, fruiting all over the yard.  We are excited about them all.

 

Yellow Summer Squash - This is something that was planted on purpose.  The small plant is producing some pretty fruit that should be on our table quite soon.  This came from Kenny for mother's day.  What a great gift.

 Kale - Our Kale was planted early and all over the yard.  Our most successful plants are yielding leaves the size of your head.  The leaves are a greenish red that is unique and beautiful in our landscape.  Why not plant kale instead of flowers?  What a beautiful, crinkly, edible plant.

Cucumber - The last time we weeded the garden we found a corner that wasn't planted so we threw in a few cucumber seeds left over from last year.  It is great to watch plants that were sown on purpose start to come up in the garden.

Roma - More tomatoes!  We chose a roma tomato because of the traditional size and shape.  We figured it would be a reliable producer.  Then we forgot about it.  The poor tomato was looking meager and stuck in the shade of a fern.  Carly trimmed the fern and weeded thoroughly and now we have fruit on our small little plant.

Winejug- This plant is currently sporting one of our biggest fruits.  The spiraling vine is about four feet tall and will yield oblong shaped burgundy fruit with copper spots.  We can not wait to see these mature.  Here is what we hope to see: http://loghouseplants.com/plants/?product=tomato-wild-boar-farms-hybrid-wine-jug

Carrot - We have never really had luck with carrots but this year we have a handful of our carnival blend of carrots that have come up.  It is hard to get excited about a carrot top but we will certainly share when the root is out of the ground.

Black Krim - this heirloom was the inspiration for growing heirloom tomatoes.  It was what we were seeking the most when we went shopping for starts and bought the only one we could find which looked anemic but we gave it a shot.  It looked that it wasn't going to survive because it was planted next to our roma and really lacked light.  A transplant has rejuvenated it.  Now it is about two feet tall with a few fruit on it.  The large, blackish red tomato is something that seems destined to a plate with a dash of salt and pepper.  Here is what we are hoping to see: http://store.tomatofest.com/Black_Krim_p/tf-0063.htm

Big Beef - who doesn't like a big, red beefsteak tomato?  With all the heirloom varieties we planted we figured having a regular beef steak tomato would be a good idea.  It has a handful of fruit and is showing signs of starting to change color.  Here is what it will look like: http://www.directgardening.com/detail.asp?ProductID=5306

Imperial Star Artichoke -Lastly our artichoke garden is doing well in spite of a pretty obvious aphid infestation.  We didn't expect any fruit this year because everything we read said that we shouldn't expect fruit the first year you plant.  However, buried in the thistle leaves and bugs are the evidence of a little choke.

We are truly excited to see our garden come this far.  There are plants all over the yard with flowers.  There are fruits that are maturing.  We want to share our experience with you all, from seed, to plant, to plate.