Jamie Innis from the Dexter 4-H on raising chickens, for all you Ann Arbor city kids whose parents think it might be a good idea for you to have a project.
Story at the Ann Arbor News by Judy McGovern.
It's January, which means no farmer's market basil until July or August. Not too early to start thinking about it, though, especially thinking about how to grow your own - perhaps using a hoop house to speed the process along. Here's some preliminary research to share.
http://mdmintake.blogspot.com/2006/08/basil-anyone.html
Brooke and I had a great time at the farm this afternoon. And by great, I mean I now know why Tricia is always wearing carhartts, a straw hat, gloves and boots. The weeds on the farm? Not so much like the weeds in our garden.
http://deberosahomestead.wordpress.com/2007/12/09/portable-hoop-house-construction/
This year we built a portable hoop house on Deberosa for tomatoes and basil. It was fairly successful but as you can see from the storm post, it didn’t survive an extremely bad wind. I think it would have survived it the rain did not make the ground so soft that the rebar simply pulled out of the mud. Oh well, we’ll rebuild for next year - it will just be a little shorter and perhaps oriented lengthwise to the prevailing wind.
http://quetzalfarm.com/tour.htm
Early in the spring we plant basil and cucumbers in our hoop house. It is significantly warmer than outside, allowing us to harvest much earlier. The basil will grow into fall.
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/beginning_farmers/0603/greens2.shtml
Basil’s really the only herb to which we give much attention, and it responds well. It flourishes in the heat of the hoop. Keep cutting back the terminal buds and it’ll bush out. Give it an occasional shot of fish and it may produce for months.
http://www.vpi.org/urban_farm.html
ReVision Urban Farm is an organic micro-farm whose guiding vision is environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable urban agriculture. The farm grows a wide variety of food crops on three reclaimed urban lots totaling one-acre of growing space. The farm enhances the delivery of nutrition services throughout our community and increases local awareness of the social, environmental, and economic benefits of sustainable urban agriculture.
It's fall raspberry season, and if you pick more than you can eat, you want to save some for later. Ohio State University Extension has a publication on Uncooked Jams and Jellies (HYG-5348-97) which includes this recipe - it looks pretty simple.
Uncooked Blackberry or Raspberry Jam
3 cups crushed blackberries or raspberries (about 1 1/2 quarts)
5 1/4 cups sugar
1 box powdered pectin
3/4 cup water
If berries are extremely seedy, put part or all of them through a sieve or food mill. Measure 3 cups of prepared berries and place in a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, mix well, and let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Dissolve the powdered pectin in the water, bring to a boil, and boil for 1 minute. Add pectin to berries and sugar and stir for 3 minutes.
Pour the jam into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Cover container. Let stand at room temperature until set (up to 24 hours). Freeze or refrigerate.
Source: So Easy to Preserve (Third Ed.) (1993). Cooperative Extension Service, The University of Georgia, College of Agriculture, Athens.
Technorati Tags: raspberry, blackberry, jam, freezer-jam
From Kim Bayer via Kelly Dunham:
Dear Slow Food Supporter:
This year, Harnois Farm will be once again be offering a Community
Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for those interested in
purchasing a heritage turkey for the holidays. Through the CSA,
customers put down a deposit of $25 by October 15th to reserve their
turkey. In the end, CSA members will pay $8/lb, while non-CSA members
will pay $10/lb. John Harnois anticipates that he'll have 48
Narragansetts available this year.
John will also have about 50 pasture-raised Broad-breasted White
turkeys available for the holidays. These are not the Broad-breasted
birds found at your local supermarket! They are succulent AND
flavorful. The Broad-breasted White turkeys will be $3.50/lb.
John, who raises an assortment of rare and conventional birds with
the help of his nine-year-old son, manages his farm as a model of
proper land stewardship and animal husbandry. The birds are given
free access to the outdoors where they can scratch and peck about as
they please and at night they're tucked away safely into a coop to
protect them from predators. John even takes his birds to local
schools where he teaches the kids about what it really means to be a
good steward of the farm and animals. As he says, "I love my birds."
Harnois Farm was featured in Business Week last fall:
If you would like to purchase a share, please send your name,
address, phone number, and size preferences (small = 8-12 lbs; large
= 13-18 lbs) to harnoishappyhens@gmail.com no later than October 15,
2007. While size is not guaranteed, John will accommodate your
preferences as much as possible. The turkeys will be available for
pick-up the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Questions? Send us an email or give Kelly Dunham a call at
734-761-2333. Please pass this on to anyone else who might be
interested.
Make sure to order your turkeys early! All turkeys are available on a
first-come, first-served basis.
Warm regards,
Kelly
Technorati Tags: john-harnois, harnois-farm, turkey, annarbor, michigan, thanksgiving, csa, slowfood
Every year about this time I make sure there's a comment in my first frost, last frost posting. Ann Arbor has a heavy frost warning tonight, lows 33-37 - cover your tomatoes!
University of Minnesota Extension has a handy page on how to use your tomatoes after a frost.
It happens every year. There are always some ripe and semi-ripe tomatoes left on the vine that get caught in the first frost of the fall. One of the concerns that people have is whether these tomatoes can be used for canning. The recommendation is not to can tomatoes from frost-killed vines. This may result in an unsafe product because of the potential low acidity of the tomatoes on frost-killed vines.
If you're wondering when the first and last frosts are, here's the Google Trends comparison for first frost and last frost to tell you when to expect it:
Technorati Tags: 2007, annarbor, karb, wx, first-frost, tomatoes, michigan, go-blue, gtd
It's been a dry summer in Michigan, enough so to spur on forest fires in the UP, impact agriculture across the state (check your farm share), and cause Governor Granholm to implement widespread bans on burning.
Thanks to Julie from MyMidwestWeb who is tracking the Sleeper Lake Fire near Newberry, I found the National Drought Mitigation Center at the U of Nebraska Lincoln and its drought monitoring tools and maps. Here's a sample showing the current late August dry spots; you'll want to look there for current and up to date information.
Technorati Tags: drought, fire, maps, mymidwestweb, sleeper-lake-fire, newberry, michigan, weather, rain, agriculture, farming, for:cjuon
Note to self:
When it's this time next year, and your farm share includes dandelion greens, blanch them and drain off the water before cooking them.
Bitter. Wow. A nice bright, clean, happy kind of bitter, but bitter nonetheless.
This will be next year's recipe, courtesy of Mariquita Farm:
Dandelion Greens Saute
1 lb. dandelion greens
3 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves garlic
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Wash and slice greens. Blanch in enough water to cover about 1 minute. Drain and saute in the olive oil for 3-4 minutes, then add the sesame and garlic and saute for couple minutes more. Add the sesame oil and serve.
Technorati Tags: dandelion, greens, bitter, blanch, csa, community-supported-agriculture, needle-lane-farms, recipe
passing this news along - contact Mary Wessel Walker directly for more info (and say I sent you).
The Community Farm Kitchen (CFK) is a new program started by farm
apprentice Mary Wessel Walker designed to make it easier for busy people
to become members of the farm.
Are you or someone you know too busy to cook a Community Farm Share each week?
Do you feel overwhelmed by the bounty of the harvest?
Join the Community Farm Kitchen and we will cook and prepare your share of Community Farm produce for you! Being a farm member has never been so convenient!
For an additional $1000 a season, you get all your farm produce prepared, processed, cooked, and preserved every week. Additionally, you save time by collecting your share each week from the CFK at the Anthroposophical Society house on Geddes in Ann Arbor. Note that half shares are available. Also, we are offering "half-and-half" shares, which mean that you could collect from the farm and from the CFK on alternating weeks.
For more information, visit www.communityfarmkitchen.com or email
info@communityfarmkitchen.com or phone Mary at 734.395.7782 .
**SPECIAL OFFERS**
Join the CFK by May 15 and receive a free strawberry pie in season! The
CFK is very much in need of members, so please spread the word and tell
your friends. If you refer someone to the CFK, you get a free jar of
peach preserves!
Mary Wessel Walker
Anna in New York City writes Produce Stories, a food blog about shopping at greenmarkets there. December is full of apples and applesauce (and really not all that much else), but go back to July and there's some good stories. Recommended (esp. for veg ideas).
Technorati Tags: newyorkcity, food, blog, vegetarian
We bought a case of winter squash from farmer's market for $5 before Thanksgiving, and we're still eating them. They're delicious just plain baked, and we had stuffed squash for Thanksgiving. I don't think the box will last through to the new year.
I know that stuffing is something handed down from generation to generation and carefully guarded as a Thanksgiving secret, but that's behind us now and there are all those lovely squashes needing something to keep them company.
Here's a roundup of stuffed squash recipes from the net, and I'd love any reviews you have of them or your favorites.
Amy Rosen, from Cook This: apple, celery, pecans, sage, bread crumbs, havarti cheese
adaped from The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet: red onion, almonds, ginger
Food Reference fruit and nut stuffing: onion, celery, apples, bread crumbs or rice, nuts, seed, dried fruit
Vegan Stuffed Organic Squash from ChooseVeg: rice, onion, celery, pecans, apricots, cranberries
Chowhound asks What Can I Stuff Acorn Squash With? aged cheddar cheese, mashed potatoes, cheese top
Better Homes and Gardens Vegetarian: pears, green onions, ricotta, raisins, pine nuts, lemon zest, nutmeg
Wow, and there's 1000s more.
Some themes emerge: a starch (bread crumbs, panko, rice, mashed potatoes) plus a sweet (apples, apricots, cranberries, pears) plus a savory (pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, cheese) plus spices to taste. Sounds like time for some Google cooking.
As we experiment I'll add to these!
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