A Day at the Farm

This post was supposed to be about Blue and Luci, but I came upon some pics from a couple of weeks ago and I just couldn't pass them up. My favorite red-heads were visiting the farm, which always makes for a good time and great photo opportunities. This day, bubbles were the theme...

N provides the bait

Z goes in for the bite

and as the boy does, so does the dog!

Luci was somewhat baffled by the bubbles and preferred to keep her distance.

In other news, Blue and Luci continue to be the best of dog buddies, though Blue takes very seriously her responsibility of teaching Luci the rules. If Luci jumps up on something and we scold her, Blue will grab Luci by the leg and pull her down, which is pretty entertaining and generally leads to some serious wrestling on their part.

However last week Blue demonstrated some rather impressive corrective behavior. The farm crew was in the garlic patch, weeding. The dogs had been keeping a supervisory eye on our activities while playing around the perimeter of the garden. Luci has been struggling a little with the idea that the white electrical tape the surrounds the garden is a "barrier" that she must not cross, after all it is several inches over her head and the gate opening is just that...wide open. So as we were working, Luci walked through that gate opening and was standing several feet inside the garden (strictly forbidden here), when I looked up and noticed her. I pointed outside the garden and said firmly, "Luci, OUT!" As is common when receiving a command, Luci froze and stood there staring at me. Blue however had no hesitation, she ran through the gate into the garden, grabbed Luci by the neck and dragged her outside of the garden. When they had cleared the fenceline, she dropped the puppy and laid down as though nothing had happened. Upon being released, Luci hopped up, tackled Blue and a full-out wrestling match ensued.

The farm crew saw the whole thing and just stood there staring at the dogs. One of our crew members said, in an incredulous voice, "Did I just see what I saw?" That was a pretty good summation of the scene.

You just never know...

Saturday as the mad rush that was the opening farmers market was winding down, I grabbed my hat (those of you in the know, know which hat) and ducked across the street to show off my fine chapeau to our friends at Vanderploeg's Bakery. As I was donning my hand-knit finery and entertaining Marcie, a customer walked up and asked to take my picture. Um well, why not..."sure, go ahead."
And then the day proceeded as normally (for us) and we packed up and went home. Got to spend some quality time with my sister and nephews, went to bed at 9pm. It was a good, though exhausting day.

Then Sunday evening, after my sister had returned home, she sent me an email saying a friend had forwarded her a blog link and it was "Too Funny!"

So always up for a good laugh, I clicked on the link. Ohhhhh....well, um...here, see for yourself:
Opening Day

What fun, a blog about the market and and local foods.
So of course I left a comment, and the author sent me a very kind email, from which we have started up a conversation. Its a small world out there, it was true back in our theatre lives and is certainly true in the Local Foods scene. What fun to find another like-minded person who enjoys locally grown foods, supports the farmers market and has a sense of humor!

Oh, and the fun continued on the follow-up posting as well:
be careful what you post

Too funny indeed! Thanks Amy, for the shared laugh!

Pinched Hummus

No, I didn't steal hummus from Gateway Market or anything. Though I've recently been craving it just about enough to do so.

Sometime during our "All-Out-Bash-Opening-Farmers-Market" on Saturday, Sean stepped out of the booth for 2 minutes and grabbed a couple loaves of bread from our favorite bakery at the market...ah sweet mystery of life, I do love that bread! I know, I know, I can make my own bread, only theirs is so damn good and I don't have to bake it. And at this time of the year that is critical.

So I had good bread, I wanted hummus...good hummus.

Then today I was pinching back trays and trays of basil starts and it hit me...hummus with basil. Oh yeah, that's exactly what I want!
I grabbed a few different recipes from the internet, plugged in my food processor and away we went.
Needless to say, tonight's supper was bread and hummus...period. Sometimes life is very, very good!

BGF Hummus

5 garlic cloves, minced and then mashed
1 cup basil trimmings (or leaves)
2 15-oz cans of chickpeas, drained
2/3 cup of tahini
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil, plus a bit more
1/2 teaspoon of salt

In a food processor, combine the mashed garlic, basil and a shot of olive oil.
Process until it looks like a loose pesto.
Add garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, water and remaining olive oil.
Process until smooth. Add salt, starting at a half a teaspoon, to taste.

Delicious with good bread, fresh veggies or chips.
Freezes well.
Makes about 3 cups.

Spring Doin's

You know, if I could bear to blog without including pictures, I might be more timely in my updates. I often think... "oh, I should blog about that" and then never get around to taking a picture of whatever the subject might be, and thus it never makes it to the blog and I go weeks without updating. (nice excuse, huh?)

Here's what we've been up to recently:

I wish there was some way to include scents on the computer. Because right now the farm smells like this...(seriously, the fragrance wafting on the wind is simply amazing!)

It has been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. We recently returned from our encore performance of "Potatopalooza" in the gardens. I was starting to think we might never get through them all. We planted about 1,000 row feet of seed potatoes, all by hand. I know other farms do more, and more power to them! This is enough for me.

The big high tunnel is coming along and should be in good shape for the opening farmers market on May 1. This tunnel contains chard, choi, salad greens, radishes, spinach and arugula.
Just a week ago I was in a mild panic thinking that the crops wouldn't be ready in time. But as usual, I was just being angst-y. Today I harvested these, and in two weeks they will be perfect on the market table.
We've also been laying out and prepping beds for planting. Just yesterday, the first seeds went into the fields. We are by no means ahead of schedule, but as of yesterday, we are caught up and on schedule.

Other recent things worth mentioning:

• The Fruit Tree Grafting class at Seed Savers was marvelous! We'll see how well we put the new knowledge to work.
• We are getting more than 10 dozen eggs a day. There is a limit to how many eggs two people can eat.
• The Blue and Luci show continues to be good entertainment. They are quite the pair, I wish I had video to share as photos don't due them justice. Luckily the "interest in the chickens" seems to have waned, hopefully permanently.
• We've have some wonderful folks come out and volunteer their time to do a "working visit" to the farm. Big thanks to Maggie, Terri, Linda, Dawn, Michelle and Danelle for their time and willingness to "work and learn".

I'm sure there is more to share, but I'm tapped out for now. Will write another update soon and hopefully it will include stories of morels we've found (not yet, though).

A Dog's Day

Its been two weeks since Luci joined us on the farm, and what fun it has been! We were a little concerned about how Blue would react, as she takes her job of alpha dog pretty seriously, but they have become fast friends...literally. They tear around the farm together like a couple mad animals. There is much growling and posturing, but they are clearly having fun. The favorite game is the rope toy tango.

First Blue teases Luci mercilessly with the rope toy.

Then eventually Luci gets a hold of it and they play tug of war. Keep in mind here, that Blue weighs about 50 lbs and Luci weighs in at about 4 lbs.


So given that Luci is a true Terrier at heart (stubborn) and Blue is all Blue Heeler (ornery) this is what usually happens. Blue pulls so hard that Luci tips over, but Luci refuses to let go of the rope. So Blue just drags her around the yard on her side. Never fear, no dogs were harmed in the playing of this game. Its clear from watching them that this is pure canine fun.

Now if we could just explain to Luci the difference between a toy and a chicken...sigh. She's cute and smart, but alas, she isn't perfect. Back to the training regimen.

It must be Spring Vol. I

A few days ago we experienced a first here on the farm...our first 100-egg day!

It is rather a banner event, but at the same time, what the heck are we going to do with all those eggs? If it was market or CSA season, it wouldn't be an issue, but its not. So when life gives you too many eggs, our default solution is to make noodles!
So we did and we tried out a new drying method that we think is an improvement over the "drying them on every horizontal surface in the cabin" method. Isn't this why they call it a drying rack?


And the bonus is that as the noodles dry, they eject themselves from the drying rack onto the nice clean bed-sheet on the floor. (Don't worry Mom, I'll wash the sheet before you have visitors!)

And Now....

...here's Luci!


I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our farm crew. Luci is a Jack Russell Terrier and once she gets a bit bigger she will be in charge of the "banishment" of all crop-eating mammals. Right now she's not much bigger than the rabbits she is to control, so it might be a while. Blue is fulfilling her role as resident puppy trainer and behavior modification specialist and while not in love with the newcomer, she hasn't tried to eat her...yet.

Edited 3/21 to correct spelling of her name. Luci is short for Lucia which means 'blue ocean'. All in keeping with our cerulean farm theme~