Flying Tomato Farms

Last night, when H. and I were shopping for New Year’s party and pantry essentials, we ran into an old friend of his.  Her eyes lit up when she saw me, and though we’ve never had too many conversations, she jumped in with, “Are you growing this year?”

I kind of grinned with the multiple connotations of that question, but answered to the one she’d meant: “Yes, I’ll be growing, but I’m not doing the CSA.”  She asked further if I’d be selling at the farmers market, and I answered yes to that, too.

The compliment came when she asked, excitedly, if I’d please grow red okra.  She said she’d buy the seed, even, and then buy the okra as well.  Her daughter had showed her a way to cook it that rendered it tasty and crispy without it being deep fried or slimy.  I said I’d be happy to grow red okra–I’ve grown okra for a few years now, and the red is the prettiest.  No need to buy the seed.

Image from www.forkandbottle.com

I’m always flattered when someone approaches me and asks if I’ll grow something specific.  To me it implies a belief in my ability and a trust that I’ll be successful where they may not have been (though I’d never have the hubris to guarantee my own success).  I’ve had specific requests a couple times over the years–ancho chilis, broccoli raab, and maybe one or two other things.

Anyhow, if you’re in the area and there’s a specific crop you absolutely love, feel free to ask if I’m planning on growing it.  Obviously, I can’t accommodate every desire or crop (I’m tempted by artichokes, but doubtful it’d be worth it to try them as an annual here), but I’m always happy to try something I know I’ll have a ready market for.

This morning while I was still sleeping, the doorbell rang.  I jumped out of bed, threw on my robe, and there at the door was the postman, who brought me two boxes–one with my Penzey’s Spices order, and the other with my 2009 Nikki McClure calendar.

My collection of Ms. McClure’s calendars started back in 2003/2004, when my dear friend in Seattle sent me the first (and in subsequent years sent me the second, third, fourth, and fifth).  I was fascinated by her wonderful images of people and animals, activities and gardens and the natural world, all painstakingly cut out of paper with an Exact-o knife.  There’s a word or two for each month as well–a kind of meditation.

This one marks my sixth McClure calendar in a row, and over the last year I have started displaying them all, all year long, flipping over each one at the beginning of every month.  Today I’ll have to drive a new nail to accommodate the new addition to my collection, and at midnight, I’ll ceremonially flip all of them over to January.

And though it probably goes without saying, let me spread the link love for one of my favorite artists I don’t know, and say all the artistic works displayed in these images are by Olympia, Washington artist Nikki McClure, and her many works can be purchased in different formats through Buy Olympia(dot)com.

This was the last of the turkey I roasted for the Solstice–a little of the meat I’d frozen and the second pot of stock I made with parts of the turkey frame.

Millet makes a nice grain addition–it’s small like couscous (or pasta stars), with a gentle, nutty flavor.  It also doesn’t take very long to cook–maybe twenty minutes.  I really like using grains other than rice or wheat-based pastas in soups, pilafs, etc.  It makes me feel like I’m getting a wider range of nutrients.

veggies for the soup

For the veggies, I sauteed a few purple carrots and the rest of that fennel bulb I bought two nights ago.  There are also a couple of big cloves of elephant garlic in there.  As a few of my friends have mentioned recently (and I completely agree): in our kitchens, garlic is a vegetable, not just a flavoring agent.

The herbs and spices for the soup–salt and pepper, parsley, thyme, crushed hot peppers, plus the pre-flavored stock that had garlic, garlic scapes, sage, more parsley, peppercorns.  There might’ve been a little red wine used to de-glaze the vegetable pan, and the fennel tops were thrown in as well as the bulb.

I threw in half a Rapunzel vegan vegetable (sea salt and herbs) bouillon cube–these are nice on their own, but also good to add richness and complexity to poultry stocks, which can be a little washed-out tasting–especially turkey.

Local ingredients: carrots, garlic, garlic scapes, sage, parsley, hot peppers.  I didn’t get any thyme dried this year because I divided and moved all my thyme plants while constructing an addition to the raised bed.  Having to spend money on an herb I grow in bulk made me very grumpy.

We’re having a little company for New Year’s Eve, so house-cleaning and ingredient-gathering are underway.

Our friends mentioned bringing a brie with honey and almonds to bake, so now I’m trying to think of what else would be good to nibble on.  A salted baguette is de rigueur, but I also like those little Finnish rye crisp breads I’ve been getting at Jone’s.

I’ve still got some of that fennel bulb–a salad from that and a few sectioned clementines in a balsamic dressing seems like a good idea.  I’m thinking that and maybe something else light, as we plan to pick up some Burbach’s eggnog as well, and that and the baked cheese will be plentiful ballast.

I could break open a jar of assorted pickles, and/or perhaps those pickled sweet red peppers.  Oooh!  Or maybe the pickled asparagus spears, though maybe those can be saved for a brunch with Bloody Marys.  But I do have more than one jar, and I can’t imagine the whole thing will get used in one night.

I’ve also been dying to make a borscht with the rest of the beets in the crisper (or maybe half of them–a smaller batch).  Not sure if a beet soup works into the overall menu–if not, there’s the pickled whole small beets from the garden.  If there’s one thing I’ve got, it’s pickles.

Too, I’d like to break out the cranberry horseradish jelly I got late this season from Lip Smakin’ Jellies of Yankton.  I opened that yesterday and remembered how incredibly good the sample was.  Maybe that can accompany the baked brie or some other cheese (goat?).

In other plans, I need to locate a few hunks of dry wood, as I’m planning to stoke up the fireplace.  Much of the wood I had in the yard is buried in snow, but I’m guessing H’s shelterbelt will yield a good-sized pile.  I’d better clean up the humidifier as well–the fireplace dries out the air severely, and the humidifier has been getting so much use that it’s crusted with white scale.

House-cleaning won’t be complete until I wash and dry the dog’s blanket–she’ll be grumpy when it disappears, but it’ll be much easier to sweep and mop the floors without a dog-hair impregnated pile of fabric in the way.

So much to do!  So much excitement!  I can’t remember the last time I had a gathering in my little house.  What fun!

To me, the new year begins after the solstice, but that’s not to say I don’t celebrate a little on December 31/January 1.  Too, I don’t think the new year is necessarily the best or only time to make a resolution.  But here we are at the end of the year, and I guess I could come up with a couple.

One is to get out and do some things I’ve planned on doing for several years, but have never quite gotten around to.  The first is the MOSES organic conference in Lacrosse, Wisconsin this late February. My preparations for that trip are already underway.

The second is a field trip to Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa (preferable when they’re doing the heirloom tomato tasting–though that’ll mean missing the annual Fill/Hill Labor Day party here in the Vermillion area).

In my defense, part of the reason I haven’t made these trips is that I’ve been tied up with season preparations, and with the CSA these last four years, it has been hard to get away to make even short day trips, nevermind two or three day adventures.

In the spirit of trip-taking, it’s my intention to get back out to the West Coast this year–especially to the Bay Area and up to Olympia and then Seattle, to see my dear friends there.  My online teaching makes it a little more possible to work and travel simultaneously when the gardens aren’t tying me down.  Too, this plan includes visiting markets and community gardens in those areas in order to provide inspiration for my work here.

One sort of amorphous resolution has to do with the garden business–to find a new balance of working with the soil, the farmers market, and the community garden.  I want to divide my focus in a better way between my own growing and helping others to grow, preserve, and market their produce.

And the last resolution I can think of has to do with my online teaching.  I plan to reorganize my literature curriculum, not only in the order of units, but also in the content of the poetry unit.  Further, though I’ve already ordered the novel for this semester, I’m going to change that selection for the summer session (provided I’m offered summer teaching).

I’d like to breathe a little more life into a somewhat dusty curriculum that’s not holding my interest as much anymore–I think that’ll help my own performance in the classes and hopefully reflect some of that new-found excitement back to my students in the virutal classroom.

How about you?  Any resolutions you’d like to share?

Spending my time this morning doing a long-overdue comprehensive backup of my computer files.  It has been far too long, thanks to the huge pain in the butt it is to switch my DVD drive over to write CDs.

I could use a zip drive or something, but I like to make disc back-ups.  The problem is that although it’s incredibly easy to switch from CD to DVD (everytime I boot up, it warns me that I can’t watch DVDs and gives me a one-click option to remedy that issue), going back to CD is not so smooth.

When I want to switch back over to write CDs, there’s an intricate, diving-into-the-wreck process of finding that one little spot where I can disable the DVD and re-enable the CD writer.  This time I wrote down the directions–almost getting lost when I backed out in order to write the steps in correct order.

Funny how this technology can take over our lives and cause us so much hassle and wasted time.  This is the third attempt where I’ve spent some time trying to re-acquaint myself with that process in recent weeks, but it’s been the first try when I’ve had enough time to be successful.  And they say technology will save us time and effort!

It’s a pretty nice day again today, so at some point, when it warms up enough to melt the sidewalks, I’ll get out and walk down to the gym.  Until then, I’ll be tied to my laptop ball-and-chain, makin’ copies.

Stopped off at Jones’ on the way back from the dog park this afternoon to pick up a couple groceries.  Ever since I roasted that turkey and mashed those potatoes on the Solstice, I’ve been thinking about making a shepherd’s pie.  But what to tuck under that mashed-potato-topping besides turkey, a few carrots, and some garlic from the garden?

I’ll admit I’ve been eyeing the fennel over there in the produce section.  I usually sail through that part of the store, snug and smug that I don’t need anything–I’ve got all the canned and preserved and crisper-drawered vegetables and fruits I need.  But my fennel didn’t do well–I planted it too late this year and didn’t give it enough attention, and finally I succumbed to the crisp, bulbacious, licorice-y call from the Jones’ produce aisle.

I picked through the parsnips, too–couldn’t help it!  I was on a roll.  And I managed to find one not utterly dessicated specimen there to add to the basket.  I’ve been planning on growing parnsips for at least three years–maybe 2009 will be the year.

Once in awhile I’ll be slightly annoyed if the checker doesn’t know what a vegetable is that their store is selling, but most of the time I’m just happy to expand their vegetable lexicon.  Tonight’s checkers didn’t know either of the veggies I brought up, but when I said that green, ferny, bulby thing was fennel, one of them asked if that was the same thing as that toothpaste in the natural foods section.

Yay!  They had Tom’s fennel toothpaste, too!  I ran over and got some.  My son hates all kinds of mint toothpaste–even my favorite wintergreen, but we both love the fennel.

At home, I chopped the fennel, carrots, and parsnip (peeled–they coat them in wax), and put them in a frying pan with a little water and a pat of butter, plus spices.  I clapped the lid on, started them boiling for a couple minutes, then removed the lid and let the water cook off until they were tender and slightly caramelized.  I added the leftover gravy plus a little water and red wine, and let the gravy dissolve into the pan around the veggies.

To the mashed potatoes, I added a bit of plain yogurt, a beaten egg, and some shredded cheddar cheese to give them a spread-able consistency that would firm up on baking.  The turkey and veggie-gravy mix went in the bottom of the pan, the potatoes were spread on top.

I seasoned the veggies and gravy with salt, pepper, nutmeg, chipotle, and thyme–it seemed like a good night for a different mix of spices to go with my different mix of vegetables.  It’s almost ready to come out of the oven–350 degrees for about a half hour, then the broiler for a couple minutes to brown the top.  It smells incredible.

And I still have over half a fennel bulb left.  Good thing there’s yet more turkey, and more turkey stock.  Turkey-carrot-fennel soup is sounding pretty good, too.  Maybe with some millet?

I’ve just finished posting the last of my final grades for the fall semester.  As is tradition with me, I don’t even look to see when the next semester is going to start until after I get them in.  Turns out, I have a couple weeks off–spring semester classes don’t start until the 14th of January.

Of course, I don’t really have all that time off: I may take a week maximum of lolling around until I go crazy and get back to work.  Besides, I want to do an overhaul on my poetry unit for literature and include some more current poets like Roethke and Auden.  An overhaul of the poetry reading schedule also means an overhaul of the lecture notes–I’ll have to write a whole new series of them for the new inclusions and re-think the unit’s essay assignment as well.

But for this afternoon, a meditation on how to spend this week’s time is in order.  Maybe some projects can be pulled out that have been on the back burner too long–painting the lower cupboards perhaps, or cleaning the basement.  I discovered a (dead) baby garter snake down in the cellar bathroom/laundry room this morning.  When I asked H how long it had been there, he said, “Oh, forever.”

Jeez.

Well, that’s the modern woman for you.  No longer encumbered by the drudgery of housework, she forges on to new and greater accomplishments while dead snakes and dust pile up in her basement.

But, I’ll deal with that a little later because it’s something like forty degrees out again (after yesterday’s chilly mid-twenty-degree highs) and I have a couple gifts still to distribute.  A walk would be a fine way to meditate on projects and build up my courage for the snake and bug corpse clean-up to come.

Just came back in from a brief foray out into the still-above-freezing world.  Everywhere is the sound of dripping and trickling water–so unlike the frozen stillness of the last couple of weeks.  The snow is soft under my feet, and the sidewalk is clear of its frozen layers of ice and snow.

Today was mellow inside and out–I made a very simple turkey-garlic-barley soup out of the first round of stock and started on the second batch of stock with the remains of the carcass and the chunks of garlic left inside.  I had heard it’s good to add a splash of vinegar to a stock to leach some calcium out of the bones, so I did, along with peppercorns, a handful of dried garlic scapes, some parsley–whatever seemed good.

Made my Penzey’s Spices order from the gift certificate my mom sent right before Thanksgiving, and they “forgave” the $1.12 I went above the $30 value of the gift card.  So, I have some bay leaves and vegetable soup base and Balti curry powder and orange peel to look forward to.

I also ordered my Nikki McClure calendar for 2009–wanted to wait in case my friend who usually gets me one did again this year, but he instead gave me one of his amazing works of resin art–not something you can just hop online and purchase!  So there’s two things coming in the mail sometime in the next couple of weeks.

The Nikki McClure calendars have become a tradition in my house–I now have five, with #6 on its way.  Because they are so wonderful, I keep them all up all year, changing each one at the start of every month.

For a person with no readily-accessible clocks in her house (only on the computer and the phone), I love the monthly cycle of a calendar.  I don’t write on Ms. McClure’s though–I keep a hardware store calendar in the kitchen for dates and appointments.

Finally made it back to the gym late this morning for a 2 1/4 mile walk on the treadmill and was glad the scale didn’t seem to notice I’d been playing hooky.  Vega got some play time at the park, and though there weren’t any other dogs there, we hiked through the slushy snow on the wooded trail so she could nose out rabbits.

The Northern flickers must be out judging by the flecks of tree bark scattered on the snow–I haven’t seen them in my yard yet, but they’ll eventually show up to peck the bark off the redbud while searching for insects underneath.  There were fresh deer tracks too, and a couple places where they’d pawed down through the snow looking for something tender and green underneath.

There were a couple open spots on the river–but this time the dog didn’t venture out on the ice.  She did momentarily yesterday morning, but I called her back in a panic after hearing a crunk from the ice underneath her.

Spent some time this afternoon poring through the three seed catalogs I’m planning on ordering from so far–Johnny’s, Territorial, and Pine Tree.  I had made up a list of crops I plan on growing and then painstakingly looked up every one in each of the three to learn their varietal offerings, prices, and pack sizes before settling on what I’m going to order from whom.

On Christmas Eve I was talking to a fellow farmer friend, and she mentioned getting her seed orders together early this year.  She thinks that with the economy in the trenches, a lot more people will be planning to grow-their-own this year, and that could pose some availability problems for those of us who grow for market.  It seemed like a reasonable theory, so I figured I’d get it together early, too.

I’m still jazzed about the idea of a seed swap event and maybe catalog share as well, so I’ll be checking with the garden club and community garden people to see when is a good time.  I tend toward earlier rather than later–as there’s always a number of crops that do well when started in February–leeks and parsley and onions and some perennials.

Besides–gathering together to talk about gardens and seeds is a good way to shrug off the winter blahs and focus on early planting.  I’ve noticed a lot of folks don’t really get their gardens going until June, and I’d like to see more seeds getting in the ground in late March or early April so the local food season can start off abundantly.

It’s about 40 degrees out there!  The air smells fresh and melt-y!  Go outside!

Reindeer at Rest

Santa has come and gone, the reindeer are resting in their stables, and it’s time to finish up final grades.  My two literature classes are waiting for me–I’ll do a little at a time over the next couple of days and get it all in before taking a couple of days’ break and diving into prep for the Spring 2009 semester.

But there’s no way I’m going to be inside all day today.  I sensed it last night, when the snow was soft instead of squeaky under my feet.  A little end-of-the-year thaw!  Time to get out and distribute the couple of gift bags I have left on my table and finally make it back to the gym after a full week’s hiatus.