Extra

From time to time people will ask "If you ever have any extra ______  I would be happy to take some". The problem with that is a difference in mind set, we never have any "extra" of anything at our farm. Everything has a use and a value, nothing we grow or raise will go to waste and nothing is disposed of without cost. Do you ever have any "extra" money in your bank account that you would give to someone just because they asked? I did not think so. Now don't get me wrong, Rosie and I are more than happy to be generous with what we have and share with the people who help us sow and  reap, raise and slaughter. Even the people who just come by to hang out and give us some people time are doing us a great service and we like to be able to share with them what we have. But even when we are up to our eyeballs in squash or knee deep in milk none of it is ever "extra". Even the stuff that gets fuzzy will go to the pigs and with their flesh, back to us. Every scrap of food that we feed to the chickens has a dollar amount attached to it somewhere, what we produce is used in place of bags of feed from farm supply and the monetary conversion is easy to make.

Now I am not talking about anyone specifically, but more a re-occurring attitude I run into that some how the food we produce on our farm is "free", I guess if you don't buy is from a store it is not worth anything. Rosie and I probably spend more on our food than if we where to buy everything at the local store but the quality of the food we have here is far beyond what we could ever afford to buy on our own. I once had a very high prestige chef, who's restaurant raises its own herd of pigs for their exclusive use, tell me that the pork we are producing on our farm is the finest he has ever seen or tasted. That's right, our piggies are better tasting than the $200 loin cuts served at a shop so exclusive that not only would I never be able to get in but even if I did I would never be able to afford more than the after dinner mint. Not exactly the quality of food you get from Safeway, but the quality of food we raise here on our farm. So next time some one gives you a tomato from their garden box or a bottle of their homebrew  or a loaf of hand made bread remember that you are receiving not just a food item but a work of art so exclusive that it is simply unavailable outside of the most rarefied circles.

The magic power of elderberries

Have you ever tried a raw elderberry? They are tart and earthy and not really very good. Ivan eats them raw, but then again he likes sticking a toothbrush into my strawberry bed soil and then sticking it in his mouth, so that really isn't a recommendation. The awesome thing about elderberries is that they magically transform into awesomeness as soon as you cook them. How is that for a neat survival trait in a plant? Doing research for our Saxon village I found that elderberries grew and were used for food and medicine during that time period so I figured I might as well put a few into the yard. I was able to pick one up at the Tree Man in Paso and another through a catalog. Two years into it and the bushes are growing very well. The original bush is over 8 feet tall and has given us tons of fruit this year.

When the berries were starting to ripen we would taste them periodically and figured that they just tasted like bum. Near the end of July the berries were getting pretty full and I even emailed one of our friends in the Nevada City area to see what he did with the elderberries that grew wild on his property to see if we could get some ideas of what to do. He had the same experience with the berries and had made a cordial with them. My interest was peaked again one night when Jed was watching The Hatfields and the McCoys and one of the ladies said, "Mmmm, elderberry jam. Ain't nothing sweeter," with this look of complete ignorance. My though, of course, was have you tried elderberries?

I started doing more research on them because they couldn't just be that bad. I mean, they are mentioned in tons of medieval texts and self sufficient books from Britian. I started finding references to the taste change that happens when you cook them and I wanted to try it. One morning while Jed and I were getting ready to make breakfast I offered to bring in some elderberries to eat with the scones since we were out of raisins. I suggested we double the honey since they had always tasted very tart before. The outcome was something amazing. Slightly sweet with mild mulberry like taste and a slight tartness to it. In short, we were hooked. But no matter how often we eat scones and pancakes, I could never make enough of them to keep up with the supply of berries. I decided to try making jam. I found some references to soaking the berries in honey for a couple of hours before making them into jam so I thought I'd try that.

Yesterday, Ivan and I picked a bucket full of berries and I would take some berries off the stem whenever I would pass them. After Ivan fell asleep for the night I then stayed up to clean the rest. I only got about 6 cups cleaned and ready to use but I was too tired and it was past midnight. I added about 2.5 cups of honey to them and put them in the fridge. One other thing that the pages I read said was to 'wait until the juice is released," which I had no clue what this might reference. I found out in the morning when I saw the bowl with about 4 cups of liquid and 2 cups of floating berries. Apparently, the berries are primarily juice and it is released when mixed with a sweetener or cooked. During Ivan's morning nap I was able to clean another 4 cups of berries and I ended up just giving the last two cups to the chickens for them to snack on. I simmered the berries for a bit while I was with Ivan. After Marky came home I had enough time to set the water bath and the juice to boil so that I could can the berries. I added the pectin and cooked it down a little bit more. As soon as the berries coated the spoon I turned of the simmering jam and packed them in cans. I put them back in a water bath for 15 minutes although some of the sources said 5 minutes would do.

I tried the syrup before I made it into jam and it was amazing. It tasted just like the blue tootsie pop. Exactly, including the slightly chocolaty aftertaste. It was amazing!! I then found additional sources for elderberry pie, crumble, ice cream, and tons of other recipes. I'm going to have to try them all out and see if we can save the jam for the winter. Although if the jam is as tasty as the strawberry jam we made earlier this year then it won't last until the end of the month. I'm glad the bush is still producing berries because now I'm looking forward to cooking a lot more with them. I'm also thinking about adding a few more in the Saxon area so that we can have them in the back and so that they can provide shade for other berries.

More like a verbose Wednesday rather than a wordless one... but you get the picture

Mugwort

Many moons ago I had a lovely mugwort plant that I had in the bigger Morro bay apartment. That little plant ended up getting torn out by the landlord who wanted to landscape my garden. Since then I have had a very difficult time trying to find mugwort again so that I could make my night time teas. Well, after visiting Windrose Farm I was talking about looking for mugwort with Lisa and she mentioned that they were growing some to propagate. I had to ask to see if I could buy one once they went on sale and Lisa thought that might do. Lisa asked Farmer Barbara if she could have some cuttings for me since I was looking for mugwort and that lovely lady gave Lisa a whole plant in a pot to give to me. It almost made me cry because I love it when people are so nice and love their plants so much that they share them with others. I want to grow up to be alike Farmber Bill and Barbara they are my new heroes. I love my little mugwort.

2012 Fruit

Just for a reminder to myself and to see how this will compare with next year.

June - Boysenberries throughout the month - fair crop
July - Braeburn apples ready to pick with strawberries and elderberries coming in at the end of the month
August - Grapes matured as well as the main crop of elderberries - strawberries still producing

Note - For next year, pay attention to southern batch of berries and smaller elderberry bush, as well as blueberries, gooseberries, and currants.
Weather for 2012 - low rainfall <15" of rain, temp in 100s since April, some random humid/muggy days with extreme lows in the winter (dipping in the low teens)

Scones

Scones have become a normal breakfast around the homestead, they are easy to make, taste good, and are a quick breakfast. These are raisin scones but we have also made elderberry, candied orange peel, plain, apple and a few others, all are very good. Here is a recipe that I got from an English grandmother. We use a baking stone for a cookie sheet and  get very good results.

Raisin Scones
2-1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons white sugar (you can omit this, Rosie and I use honey)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup raisins
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Blend in the raisins, then mix in the egg and enough milk to form soft dough. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and pat gently into a 10-inch circle (about 3/4 of an inch thick). Cut into wedges. Separate the wedges and place them onto a lightly floured baking sheet. Bake at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes or until golden brown. Note: Try blueberries, cranberries and orange peel, chocolate chips, or other favorite addition instead of raisins.

The Breakfast Club

Sometimes I find it very difficult living in a house where everyone wants to wake up after 10am. There is something magical and comforting waking up to watch the sky lighten and the moon hide behind the clouds or sink down behind the trees. I think that coffee commercials build up the hype about drinking coffee in the morning before starting your day. Actually those commercials make me want to throw rocks at the fauxfarmers and the roosters on them. Jed has to have his coffee or tea in the morning, but if I was to do that I would not get started until way later than I needed to start. Sometimes I wish I could drink something hot, but a prepared meal is really what happens after your morning chores. For example the other morning I got to chase a pack of coyotes at 3:30am (with Zuzu) then finish cleaning up so that I can process more milk. I started more laundry and picked up after the little man. After that was watering of the plants in the front with picking of basil before the bees could get to the flowers. Mint and soapwort were picked for another batch of soap and I was able to pick up two dropped Braeburns and a couple of dropped almonds as my breakfast. I ate these while weeding and I was able to finish my morning chores in time for Ivan to wake up around 7am. All in time to get everything ready to go milk Cow and start the morning batch of milk processing.

Don't get me wrong, I usually get to come back inside and make scones or pancakes for the little man before we go milk Cow, but that is also on the run. I think I just prefer that quiet time before everything else wakes up and when it is just me and my plants getting to know each other. When I get to find the newest pumpkin growing or the fat strawberry that Ivan will eat later on. Or inspecting the poor grapes that Ivan has ravished (Ivan the Grapist?) the previous day or the apples to see what I can do to help the tree for next year. It seems a bit awesome to me to be out there even when it's just me and the fading light of the stars as the sun begins to peak. I just seems magical to me. Or maybe that's just the mommy in me getting a break and so everything seems magical.. or maybe it's just the lack of sleep. But in any case, I say if you get a chance go out into your garden in the morning hours before the sun begins to peak and take a look at your plants. The sights and smells will be completely different than what you see during the day. Just as in the evening, that transitional period of time makes the garden feel different see if you can sneak a chance in the morning to experience your plants as they begin to wake up as well.