I've got to be honest here. My wife is pretty much terrible at dropping hints for Christmas gifts that she would like for me to surprise her with. I'm left almost purely to my own devices to plumb the depths and figure out what would make an appropriate and exciting gift for Christmas morning. I love and loathe shopping for her. I've tried to make notes over the months and I can never find where I wrote something down that she mentioned she liked 8 months ago. So, I find myself wandering the mall(s) to find something, anything fitting.
The farm is wintry. It is wet and dirty and nothing survived the FREAKISH Thanksgiving freeze we had. Hence, there's not much to update you all on as far as the farm goes. We lost a potentially righteous crop of Broccoli, lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, radishes and chard. For shame!
We have been diligent in purchasing all our groceries from a farmers' market. We haven't cheated since the last time we cheated and I am still mightily craving Traders Joe's Mediterranean Seasoned Feta. And a salad in a bag. Those were the days...
Survivor is almost over. Thanks to the faithful friends who have kept coming out week after week to our Survivor Nights. We LOVE them. And we love your babies.
A few weeks ago Trisa and I joined a business and social club downtown. It's been great. Already, I've taken so many orders for wine that I had to skip a mixer just to make sure I didn't get so many orders I couldn't fill them. It'll only be a matter of time before the wine business and farm are sustainable full-time employment...
Anyway, that's all for now.
Mike
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
OMG it's been a long time
It's so hard to blog after so much time has passed. I'm not quite sure where to start. First, thanks faithful reader who called me to remind me to blog and making me get off my rear and just do it already. For the last two weeks I've been telling myself I was too busy.
The farm is firmly ensconced in Autumn. The leaves are falling and our GINORMOUS Japanese Maple is a beautiful fiery red that glows in the evening sun. GORGEOUS!! I've always said that if/when we move, we're taking that tree no matter the cost. The chickens are seeing less and less grazing, but they're loving the little time they get to roam the backyard garden each week. The worms are in dire peril. Our ladies are expert worm hunters. 
They also eat spiders, slugs, maggots, grubs, and whatever else they can find. After processing apples into apple butter two weeks ago, we gave them the pulp that was left behind from the food mill. They went positively batty for that.
A few weeks ago, we picked up about 60 pounds of apples and pears. With the apples, we made apple chips and apple butter. With the pears we made some pear chips and canned pear slices in a light syrup. We've some left of both that will go to apple and pear sauce this week. The apple butter I made is fricken awesome. I used the recipe from "Ball's Complete Guide Preserving Everything" that I ordered from Amazon a few months ago. I modified the recipe a little to use a tiny bit less sugar. Ball's guide is fantastic. I thought there'd be more on Allrecipes.com, but most people's recipes I've found seem too sugary, or more like for parents preserving things kids will eat. One more gripe, if I may, is that there's not even ONE good bread recipe I've found on allrecipes.com; there's only ONE good recipe in the two cookbooks I use the most: Betty Crocker's wedding edition and Bon Apetite. I NEED some more good bread recipes!!! On the bright side, I'm getting very good at the simple peasant's white bread recipe form the BC cook book. I've increased the sugar (since I use raw sugar) by 1 tsp and reduced the flour by 1/4 cup and WHAMMO it's moister and less crumbly but still has a nice stiff crust. I've yet to master moving the loaf from the greased stone I let it rise on to the preheated stone I leave in the oven without punching down the dough a little more than I'd like. That's something to think about.
Here's the apples, pears, cider and some of the implements we used to process them.
Here's the apple butter and the pear slices cooling after canning:
If you'll notice, canning and a good glass of pink wine go together splendidly. Generally I dislike pink wine, but Brian Carter Cellars Abracadabra Rose is actually quite decent. It's one of 3 pink wines I can stand and I've tried literally hundreds.
I broke our regular camera a while back so I'm using my phone right now. Please forgive the low quality pics. We'll get a new camera sooner or later. This next pic is interesting.
There's two blurs that are Lucy (black blur on the right) and Kate (red blur on the right). Lucy is broody - that's when a chicken stops laying eggs and starts sitting on them. There's a reason we call people who are grumpy or who look like they just hate what's going on, broody. It's because they act the exact same way a broody chicken does. I mean EXACTLY. Lucy was just walking down the gravel path, Kate was digging for worms. Usually, nothing would happen if Lucy were to walk by Kate, but Lucy in an instant was UBER FIGHTING MAD and she lunged for Kate. Her ferocity was such (and she's a dumb chicken) that she misjudged her velocity. She went right over Kate and landed inside the coop about 6 feet away. It was very funny and I was just lucky to catch that instant on camera.
OK, enough fricken words already.
Here's Trisa cleaning the coop on Sunday. You can just see her hiding behind the sunflower stalk. Gigantor is at the bottom of the pic wondering what Trisa is up to.
There's two blurs that are Lucy (black blur on the right) and Kate (red blur on the right). Lucy is broody - that's when a chicken stops laying eggs and starts sitting on them. There's a reason we call people who are grumpy or who look like they just hate what's going on, broody. It's because they act the exact same way a broody chicken does. I mean EXACTLY. Lucy was just walking down the gravel path, Kate was digging for worms. Usually, nothing would happen if Lucy were to walk by Kate, but Lucy in an instant was UBER FIGHTING MAD and she lunged for Kate. Her ferocity was such (and she's a dumb chicken) that she misjudged her velocity. She went right over Kate and landed inside the coop about 6 feet away. It was very funny and I was just lucky to catch that instant on camera.
This was two weeks ago during the 70 degree weather
OK, enough fricken words already.
That's all for now. I'll blog again soon(ish),
Mike
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Finally... Cheese.
Yep, you read that right. I've finally made cheese.
It was awesome. I brought it in to work today for show and tell (it's become a rather common activity, my coworkers are quite interested in hearing about the next thing we're doing on the farm). Some of the comments were, "this is the best snack I've had in months." "This cheese is awesome." "Good job Mikey." I think it was a hit. The pound of cheese was gone, approximately 1 hour after we dove in. I brought in some alder/cherry smoked salmon to go with it and that was supremely awesome. I think tonight, or another day this week I'm going to try again, but this time add some seasoning and make a smokey mozzarella or add some basil to it. We'll see... Here are some pictures of the making of the cheese. This pic is of the kit and the recipe booklet. There's some seasoning (which I didn't use) and the rennet and citric acid is in the plastic bag on the right in the middle. The little package hanging from a string in the top left is a sunflower. We're hanging it to allow it to drop it's seeds into that cheese cloth that's tied around it. This week we'll have 3 or so more (and bigger) sunflowers all dropping their seeds too. When they're done, we'll roast them and season them and have them for snacks all winter.
Here's me stirring the pot. The temperature has to be just so and there's a lot of pot stirring. Pretty much the whole time, except for about 5-7 minutes while the rennet does it's enzymatic magic.
And finally... the cheese loaf. One gallon of milk yields about 1 pound of GLORIOUS cheese. I've already found ways to make these next cheeses better, quicker, and with less mess. Now I just need a cow and a goat... After I've made a few more mozzarella, I'll make a Gouda, then a smoked Gouda. After that, I'll try my hand at a cheddar and a Parmesan.
For dinner, we had grilled chicken over spinach troffie with some of the cheese melted between the meat and the noodles.
It was scrumptious.
Last week, another farmer came to the house. Our main farmer's partner. Our main farmer went on vacation. We built two row covers for winter crops. They are going to come in real handy. We've planted enough spinach, lettuce, and mustard greens to keep us fed all winter. The carrots we planted for winter harvest are just now coming in. The Brussels sprouts are AWESOME. we planted 18 and we'll be harvesting 15, I think. I stepped on a couple when we painted this spring and I think we lost one more to bugs. But on those 15 we have GOBS upon ginormous gobs of sprouts.
This weekend we're going to cover crop all the garden space we're not using over the winter. We recommend that anyone with a garden do this. Now is the time to plant Rye grass (carbon fixer) and Dutch Field Peas (nitrogen fixer). In the spring, early, we'll turn over all that good green growth and it'll help keep the land needing little to no fertilizer. Be careful you don't let the Rye and Peas go to seed in the Spring. You'll be fighting that ALL SEASON if you do. By Springtime, those cover crops will have boosted the soil's fertility to just about where it needs to be for awesome production.
It was awesome. I brought it in to work today for show and tell (it's become a rather common activity, my coworkers are quite interested in hearing about the next thing we're doing on the farm). Some of the comments were, "this is the best snack I've had in months." "This cheese is awesome." "Good job Mikey." I think it was a hit. The pound of cheese was gone, approximately 1 hour after we dove in. I brought in some alder/cherry smoked salmon to go with it and that was supremely awesome. I think tonight, or another day this week I'm going to try again, but this time add some seasoning and make a smokey mozzarella or add some basil to it. We'll see... Here are some pictures of the making of the cheese. This pic is of the kit and the recipe booklet. There's some seasoning (which I didn't use) and the rennet and citric acid is in the plastic bag on the right in the middle. The little package hanging from a string in the top left is a sunflower. We're hanging it to allow it to drop it's seeds into that cheese cloth that's tied around it. This week we'll have 3 or so more (and bigger) sunflowers all dropping their seeds too. When they're done, we'll roast them and season them and have them for snacks all winter.
That is YUMMY dairy milk. "Cheese Making at Home, 3rd Edition" recommends that Fresh, pasteurized dairy milk is used. I used 1/2 gal of 2% milk and 1/2 gal of whole milk. I think next time I'm going to use all whole and then all 2% to see what the differences are.
Here's me stirring the pot. The temperature has to be just so and there's a lot of pot stirring. Pretty much the whole time, except for about 5-7 minutes while the rennet does it's enzymatic magic.
And finally... the cheese loaf. One gallon of milk yields about 1 pound of GLORIOUS cheese. I've already found ways to make these next cheeses better, quicker, and with less mess. Now I just need a cow and a goat... After I've made a few more mozzarella, I'll make a Gouda, then a smoked Gouda. After that, I'll try my hand at a cheddar and a Parmesan.
For dinner, we had grilled chicken over spinach troffie with some of the cheese melted between the meat and the noodles.
It was scrumptious.
Last week, another farmer came to the house. Our main farmer's partner. Our main farmer went on vacation. We built two row covers for winter crops. They are going to come in real handy. We've planted enough spinach, lettuce, and mustard greens to keep us fed all winter. The carrots we planted for winter harvest are just now coming in. The Brussels sprouts are AWESOME. we planted 18 and we'll be harvesting 15, I think. I stepped on a couple when we painted this spring and I think we lost one more to bugs. But on those 15 we have GOBS upon ginormous gobs of sprouts.
The tomatoes came out this week. they are done. It wasn't a great year for toms, but it wasn't a total waste either. Trisa made some fried green tomatoes for a snack the other day and I ate some and didn't gag. No, that's not a commentary on Trisa's cooking. I literally have an aversion to tomatoes. Can't eat them. But those fried green ones were pretty darn tasty. I do however love tomato soup, salsa, red sauce, etc. Maybe I can finally expand this to eating tomatoes like a normal person...
This weekend we're going to cover crop all the garden space we're not using over the winter. We recommend that anyone with a garden do this. Now is the time to plant Rye grass (carbon fixer) and Dutch Field Peas (nitrogen fixer). In the spring, early, we'll turn over all that good green growth and it'll help keep the land needing little to no fertilizer. Be careful you don't let the Rye and Peas go to seed in the Spring. You'll be fighting that ALL SEASON if you do. By Springtime, those cover crops will have boosted the soil's fertility to just about where it needs to be for awesome production.
And finally, I must set the record straight about breaking the rules. Yes we did indeed break them. When Trisa says that she "made mention" of her desire for chocolate, she leaves a little detail out. The devil is in those details. Made mention means that she stated clearly that she would like me to go to the store and get some chocolate at least 14 times in one hour. She also stated that since we really couldn't go to a farmer's market to get ice cream, then it's an even lesser break to get ice cream. I fully agreed (with the ice cream part). I had a hankering and I just had to have some ice cream. So off to the store I went. I bought 2 gallons of ice cream for about $10 and a whole bunch of chocolate for about $20. These are the things we didn't really think of going into this. We used to eat a lot of junk food and we just couldn't quit cold turkey. We eat way less, but we still need some ice cream and chocolate from time to time... If we break the rules again, we'll let you know. But so far in more than 16 weeks, we haven't broken the rules except this once (and the two times in the very beginning when we went on trips - but we're not really counting those).
We will be buying Halloween candy at the store in a few weeks. Remember, we're not imposing our rules on anyone else.
Well, that's all for now.
Mike
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Breaking the Rules
As much as we try to plan ahead for our weekly grocery needs, there's really no way to plan for the occasional cravings for chocolate, ice cream, and/or potato chips. I think we should have made some allowance for these items in our "rules," right alongside cranberry juice.
Last night while gearing up to watch this season's first episode of "Chuck," I had a sudden craving for chocolate. I made mention of this to Michael. He interpreted my indirect communication as, "oh, you'd really like me to run to the store for chocolate." I attempted to brush this off, in honor of the "rules" of course..... and said something like, "no, I'm ok. if only I had some chocolate, but I'm ok." Michael took this to mean, "I better move fast and get some chocolate for my wishy washy wife before I regret it."
He then jumped in the car and drove to Albertson's (yes, the dreaded grocery store, so conveniently located 3 blocks from my house). He returned approximately 11 minutes later with the most beautiful assortment of chocolates (enough to last us through to the end of October) and 6 half gallons of ice cream. Apparently the ice cream was on sale, a bargain he just couldn't pass up.
We watched "Chuck" while savoring Tillamook's Mudslide ice cream, also known as "perfect chocolately goodness." Looking back, I'm thrilled at the outcome. But, I'm also feeling a bit guilty for breaking the rules. On the other hand, aren't we all entitled to a few guilty pleasures every now and then?
Last night while gearing up to watch this season's first episode of "Chuck," I had a sudden craving for chocolate. I made mention of this to Michael. He interpreted my indirect communication as, "oh, you'd really like me to run to the store for chocolate." I attempted to brush this off, in honor of the "rules" of course..... and said something like, "no, I'm ok. if only I had some chocolate, but I'm ok." Michael took this to mean, "I better move fast and get some chocolate for my wishy washy wife before I regret it."
He then jumped in the car and drove to Albertson's (yes, the dreaded grocery store, so conveniently located 3 blocks from my house). He returned approximately 11 minutes later with the most beautiful assortment of chocolates (enough to last us through to the end of October) and 6 half gallons of ice cream. Apparently the ice cream was on sale, a bargain he just couldn't pass up.
We watched "Chuck" while savoring Tillamook's Mudslide ice cream, also known as "perfect chocolately goodness." Looking back, I'm thrilled at the outcome. But, I'm also feeling a bit guilty for breaking the rules. On the other hand, aren't we all entitled to a few guilty pleasures every now and then?
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
From the road
Today, I'm travelling for work so there won't be update on farm activities. I did want to update you on a rather simple epiphany I had today. I was sitting in my seat on the tarmac waiting for the plane to take off and I again (for about the millionth time) wondered to myself about why the windows are so darn low on a plane. My next thought was about how interesting I used to think watching the people on the tarmac doing there jobs was and how now I just don't care. The proverbial light bulb went off. How did I never put it together before? The windows are low so you can look DOWN when you look outside. This is just my latest theory. Who knows? maybe someone who is in the industry might comment on this blog and tell me it's for some completely different reason.
I went wine tasting today at four wineries in and around Sebastopol, CA. When I got to my hotel, the room wasn't ready yet. Which is funny because when I got to Oakland airport rental car company where I had my reservation, my car wasn't ready. In fact, there was no car. I asked how long it'll take to be ready. Are they just filling the tank, washing her, etc? Nope. No car. So I said, "what do we do when there's no car that you promised me?" The manager said to go to another company, bring in my contract before I leave and my receipt when I turn it in and FOX will reimburse me for the difference in the daily rate they would have charged me and how much I had to pay elsewhere. The only available car was a full size at National. I rented it. When I went to go get it, the lot attendant said they were out of their regular full size and told me to pick one of their "executive" cars. Ergo, I am driving a Mercury Grand Marquis today and tomorrow. Holy cow that thing is a land yacht. I LOVE it.
Here's a view from the windshield crossing the San Francisco Bay Bridge:
Yesterday, I found out that my coworker's trees were WAY bigger than he thought they were, and VERY complicated to get to the ground safely. We ended up cutting down the two alders, but leaving the Maple and the Cottonwood for the pros.
Here's the after photo of the two felled trees:
Can I just say that the song about the guy that walks around leaving scars and collects a jar full of hearts is rad to the max.
Mike
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
"Work" after work
I always look forward to coming home after a long day at work. Not because I hate my job. I love my job. I also love my farm. Inspecting the garden is always the first order of business upon arriving home. Today I was pleased to find 5 fresh strawberries ready for picking. We've had very little luck with our strawberry production this year, so I was pleased to find these 5 berries before the squirrels ate them for dessert.
After changing into my farming clothes (consisting of my worn out jeans, favorite hoodie, and rubber boots), Michael and I (with pinot gris in hand) let our chickens out to graze in our side yard. Our every broody Lucy refused to leave her nest, but the remaining 12 were eager to get out of the coop. Before we knew it, Audrey had made her way to the opposite end of the yard to scratch and peck in our front yard garden. Audrey knows where to find the best worms. She also knows that she's not allowed in our front yard garden. So she waits for the moment when we aren't looking, running as fast as she can to reach the garden boxes before we realize she's gone. We don't have to worry about the other chickens. They tend to stay in the same general area. If Audrey's missing, we usually know where to find her and then how to guide her back to a more appropriate scratching site.
After an hour or so in the side yard, we were ready to guide the chickens back to their coop. When I opened the gate, I was surprised to find an egg in the path. I'm pretty sure Wilma laid an egg on the way out to the side yard. Wilma is yet to learn how to lay in the nesting boxes. She also hasn't figured out how to climb up the ladder to the roost at night. The ladder is the key to finding the nesting boxes....
Speaking of eggs, it's time for dinner. That's all for now- Trisa
-Trisa
After changing into my farming clothes (consisting of my worn out jeans, favorite hoodie, and rubber boots), Michael and I (with pinot gris in hand) let our chickens out to graze in our side yard. Our every broody Lucy refused to leave her nest, but the remaining 12 were eager to get out of the coop. Before we knew it, Audrey had made her way to the opposite end of the yard to scratch and peck in our front yard garden. Audrey knows where to find the best worms. She also knows that she's not allowed in our front yard garden. So she waits for the moment when we aren't looking, running as fast as she can to reach the garden boxes before we realize she's gone. We don't have to worry about the other chickens. They tend to stay in the same general area. If Audrey's missing, we usually know where to find her and then how to guide her back to a more appropriate scratching site.
After an hour or so in the side yard, we were ready to guide the chickens back to their coop. When I opened the gate, I was surprised to find an egg in the path. I'm pretty sure Wilma laid an egg on the way out to the side yard. Wilma is yet to learn how to lay in the nesting boxes. She also hasn't figured out how to climb up the ladder to the roost at night. The ladder is the key to finding the nesting boxes....
Speaking of eggs, it's time for dinner. That's all for now- Trisa
-Trisa
Cheese delayed another week
Drat. Just when I was all ready to go with the cheese, a business trip came up. So we're postponing cheese until the weekend or sometime next week. We also have to postpone Survivor Night. I hate missing Survivor Night. Next week, my friends. Next week we will have both Cheese and Survivor.
For those of you who don't know: a little background. I work (the day job, that is) at a third party Power Plant Operations and Maintenance company. I write procedures, assess procedures, operations and maintenance, and do all sorts of various and sundry other things that an Analyst does at a 3rd party PPO&M company. I've been asked to go to Sonoma - literally the HEART of CA wine country tomorrow and Thursday to "find out what they're doing with solar-power-generated steam at wineries and see if we can sell them something." Well, alrighty then. I'm an analyst, not a salesman, but for some reason they picked an analyst to go and I happened to be their pick.
Who gets lucky enough to get paid to do THAT?!? Once again, I must say I really do like my day job. I don't like that they informed me I'd be travelling Wednesday on the Monday prior. Had I even a week or so notice Trisa would've probably been able to make this trip with me. Now, I have even more motivation to find some way to sell my company's services. Chances are good that if we can sell them some service that an Analyst would perform there will be more business trips to Sonoma and Napa...
This afternoon, I'm helping a coworker chop down four or five trees in his yard. In return, he's going to give me the pick of the Alder logs and rounds that we collect after the carnage. I have just the box to put the wood in to season them for a year. I have a big wood box that I got from work that was used to ship something. It's about 3' square and 2' deep. I'll put the Alder in there for just under a year and it'll be PERFECT for smoking. Alder smoked Gouda, here we come. I'll also smoke some fish and other meats to cure them for storage as well as because it just tastes good. This way I can avoid buying wood chips at Joe's or another outdoor store. AWESOME!
I feel like my posts are too long sometimes, so I'm going to try to post more often, but shorter posts. Please feel free to give us your feedback in our comments section. Let us know if you've a particular interest you'd like us to talk about more, or if you have questions about gardening/farming/locavoring, etc.
One last thing: check out northwest coupons connections on the web (www.couponconnectionsnw.com). A our neighbors a few houses down from us run that blog. It's not too applicable for Trisa and I as we don't buy food from grocery stores, but for those of you who do, this website will save you a TON of money. I check it often for coupons for non-food items.
That's all for now.
Mike
For those of you who don't know: a little background. I work (the day job, that is) at a third party Power Plant Operations and Maintenance company. I write procedures, assess procedures, operations and maintenance, and do all sorts of various and sundry other things that an Analyst does at a 3rd party PPO&M company. I've been asked to go to Sonoma - literally the HEART of CA wine country tomorrow and Thursday to "find out what they're doing with solar-power-generated steam at wineries and see if we can sell them something." Well, alrighty then. I'm an analyst, not a salesman, but for some reason they picked an analyst to go and I happened to be their pick.
Who gets lucky enough to get paid to do THAT?!? Once again, I must say I really do like my day job. I don't like that they informed me I'd be travelling Wednesday on the Monday prior. Had I even a week or so notice Trisa would've probably been able to make this trip with me. Now, I have even more motivation to find some way to sell my company's services. Chances are good that if we can sell them some service that an Analyst would perform there will be more business trips to Sonoma and Napa...
This afternoon, I'm helping a coworker chop down four or five trees in his yard. In return, he's going to give me the pick of the Alder logs and rounds that we collect after the carnage. I have just the box to put the wood in to season them for a year. I have a big wood box that I got from work that was used to ship something. It's about 3' square and 2' deep. I'll put the Alder in there for just under a year and it'll be PERFECT for smoking. Alder smoked Gouda, here we come. I'll also smoke some fish and other meats to cure them for storage as well as because it just tastes good. This way I can avoid buying wood chips at Joe's or another outdoor store. AWESOME!
I feel like my posts are too long sometimes, so I'm going to try to post more often, but shorter posts. Please feel free to give us your feedback in our comments section. Let us know if you've a particular interest you'd like us to talk about more, or if you have questions about gardening/farming/locavoring, etc.
One last thing: check out northwest coupons connections on the web (www.couponconnectionsnw.com). A our neighbors a few houses down from us run that blog. It's not too applicable for Trisa and I as we don't buy food from grocery stores, but for those of you who do, this website will save you a TON of money. I check it often for coupons for non-food items.
That's all for now.
Mike
Monday, September 13, 2010
In Over Our Heads
Yesterday, we took another trip out to the Ballard Market. We left with three 1/2 gallons of milk (for cheese making), two of Deborah's savory meat pies (we could hardly contain ourselves), 6 pounds of nectarines and peaches (for preserves), and two months or so worth of pasta (because we love fresh pasta from our friendly pasta maker who always throws in more food for free). It might be time to invest in a grocery cart....
Going to farmers markets to shop for our weekly groceries has been a treat, but come October most of these markets will be closed until next spring/summer. It's now time to prepare for winter. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. We may be in over our heads. Whether I'm ready or not, we have entered a new way of life.
Michael recently ordered a manual covering the topic of spin farming. Ever since, he's been completely spun over the idea. He decided to install a produce cooler in our garage. The plans are in the works, and I'm pretty sure he hired his brother to complete the construction. Without any warning, a canning kit arrived in the mail along with The Complete Book of Home Preserving. Michael already canned two jars of pickles, all made from ingredients from our garden. The cheese making kit is a bit more of a mystery to me. The box came in the mail with a big smily face sticker on the front. Inside, the materials are packaged in "happy meal" like boxes. Clearly, the market is geared toward a younger crowd. Michael can hardly wait to make cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese. I, on the other hand, am not so sure about playing with milk products.
Now, if our garden would just cooperate. Our tomatoes still hang greenly on their vines. Our dreams of tomato sauces galore are quickly fading. Our pole beans continue to show off their pretty white flowers. No beans in sight. The brussel sprouts are growing, but they're still too small to harvest. Clearly, it's time for a visit from Farmer Colin.
-Trisa
Going to farmers markets to shop for our weekly groceries has been a treat, but come October most of these markets will be closed until next spring/summer. It's now time to prepare for winter. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all. We may be in over our heads. Whether I'm ready or not, we have entered a new way of life.
Michael recently ordered a manual covering the topic of spin farming. Ever since, he's been completely spun over the idea. He decided to install a produce cooler in our garage. The plans are in the works, and I'm pretty sure he hired his brother to complete the construction. Without any warning, a canning kit arrived in the mail along with The Complete Book of Home Preserving. Michael already canned two jars of pickles, all made from ingredients from our garden. The cheese making kit is a bit more of a mystery to me. The box came in the mail with a big smily face sticker on the front. Inside, the materials are packaged in "happy meal" like boxes. Clearly, the market is geared toward a younger crowd. Michael can hardly wait to make cheese, yogurt, and cottage cheese. I, on the other hand, am not so sure about playing with milk products.
Now, if our garden would just cooperate. Our tomatoes still hang greenly on their vines. Our dreams of tomato sauces galore are quickly fading. Our pole beans continue to show off their pretty white flowers. No beans in sight. The brussel sprouts are growing, but they're still too small to harvest. Clearly, it's time for a visit from Farmer Colin.
-Trisa
We made a cameo appearance in a Grist.org newspiece
I hope you all remember that awhile back I mentioned we might make a cameo appearance in a grist.org newsy article. Well, folks, it's out. I've embedded the video and also posted a link to the grist.org website where you can find out all sorts of AWESOME information on green things and you can see Mike in the video...
http://www.grist.org/article/food-colin-mccrate-wants-you-to-eat-your-yard-/
That's all for now,
Mike
http://www.grist.org/article/food-colin-mccrate-wants-you-to-eat-your-yard-/
That's all for now,
Mike
It's bread time
The last couple of weeks have found us out in the garden doing a lot of maintenance. There hasn't been much in the way of harvesting, except another ginormous Zucchinni and a whole mess of beans. The potatoes got done and dried in the sun for a few days befoe going into the cellar. This week or next we'll be ready to harvest the Brussels Sprouts. In the front yard, our rainbow chard and winter harvest broccoli are coming in like mad.
Next week we're building two or three hoops for the front beds and planting winter spinach, carrots and lettuce. Now is a great time to plant carrots. They'll begin to grow and while they're still baby, the frost will come and they'll go dormant and stay preserved in the soil until spring. As soon as the temps begin to rise next year, the carrots will grow again and you'll be the first to have wonderful fresh carrots ready for harvest in your garden.
Last night I baked my first loaf of bread. I've added ingredients to a bread machine and pushed go before, but I'd never before made my own from scratch. It was very fun and very rewarding. The loaf came out superb, if I do say so myself. I substituted about 35% of the white bread flour with whole grain Emmer wheat flour. Emmer is an old red wheat. It grows very well in WA. I buy Emmer grain from Bluebird Grain Farms in Winthrop, WA. They mill their flour about 1 week or less before taking it to market.
I also harvested pickle cucumbers and made our own pickles. I hope in three months they are as yummy as I expect them to be. I used a white wine vinegar and added some spices and a sweet bell pepper and a jalapeno pepper from our backyard. So they should be tasty and a wee bit spicy.
Yesterday we bought a gallon of dairy milk that will be used for cheese. FINALLY. The cheese kits came last week a day or so after my birthday and I've finally read a few chapters in the cheese making book and have everything ready to start. I think Thursday or Friday we'll start making cheese. Everything I've read says to start with soft cheese before trying the more difficult hard cheeses so this week we'll focus on Mozzarella and Ricotta. After I've mastered those I'll try a Gouda, then a cheddar, then maybe something even more intense...
Well, that's all for now.
Mike
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Really? Another gadget? Yep.
Today found me once again distracted from my day job... Good thing I work at a computer with the entirety of the interwebs at my fingertips. Well, all the non-blocked production-sapping interwebs - supposedly...
I just ordered another necessary accoutrement to our new lifestyle: cheese making equipment. I went to cheesemaking.com and bought the beginner set with the dvd and recipe book as well as the hard cheese kit and the gourmet kit. Now, if I can just find the cobbler kit... My rationale - my excuse for this purpose is that it's a birthday present to myself. Fshew, Trisa is off the hook. I am literally quivering with anticipation at the thought that my food mill kit and cheese kits are on their way to my house as we speak! Besides Trisa, Pi (yep, Pi), Roy, cobbler and wine, cheese is my very favorite. I'm passionate about cheese. I love everything cheese. Cheese.
We're finally getting the home-based infrastructure in place to make food that'll last us through the winter. It's odd that to our grandparents this would seem perfectly natural. So many of that generation were so self-sufficient. They tread lightly, so to speak, when it came to consumerism, self producing food, not wasting things, etc.
I've begun to analyze (please note: I use this term liberally here) the unintended consequences of our experiment. Here are some:
I love that the dollars stay here, that I'm getting to know the producers and farmers in my community, and that they pay for people to practice a more healthy production cycle than big business uni-crop farms. I LOVE IT. Plus we're getting to know some great people in the process. Sam, the pasta guru is AWESOME. Deborah, she may or may not be real, but was really cool that one time. The blog followers - and the casual readers - have made contact and sent us links, told us of their experiences, and made suggestions or recommendations. The cheese kit is the very version used by a coworker and his girlfriend. This weekend we're planning on going berry picking with another blog follower.
So far it's been a great adventure. We're three months in as of Sunday this week so we've got three more quarters to go. I can't wait to try making cheese and pasta sauce and jam and jelly and more bread. I can't wait to review those products on the blog either. I hope they live up to my expectations.
That's all for now. Next blog I might have more to say about upping our production by renting out some farm land...
Mike
I just ordered another necessary accoutrement to our new lifestyle: cheese making equipment. I went to cheesemaking.com and bought the beginner set with the dvd and recipe book as well as the hard cheese kit and the gourmet kit. Now, if I can just find the cobbler kit... My rationale - my excuse for this purpose is that it's a birthday present to myself. Fshew, Trisa is off the hook. I am literally quivering with anticipation at the thought that my food mill kit and cheese kits are on their way to my house as we speak! Besides Trisa, Pi (yep, Pi), Roy, cobbler and wine, cheese is my very favorite. I'm passionate about cheese. I love everything cheese. Cheese.
We're finally getting the home-based infrastructure in place to make food that'll last us through the winter. It's odd that to our grandparents this would seem perfectly natural. So many of that generation were so self-sufficient. They tread lightly, so to speak, when it came to consumerism, self producing food, not wasting things, etc.
I've begun to analyze (please note: I use this term liberally here) the unintended consequences of our experiment. Here are some:
- Last month we threw out about 10% of the food we bought - In the past our average monthly food waste was near 45%. This is a 78% reduction in our food waste.
- We threw away about 4 bags of non-food waste. In the past we usually averaged 2-3 bags per week. There was one week that we had less than a bag to go out to the curb and so we didn't put any garbage out. This is a 60% reduction.
- Our recycle bin has been filled up once since starting (three months ago). I should say that we've filled it once over a two-week period and every other two week period it's been less than 2/3 full. Except this week - I've stuffed it full of some cardboard boxes ready for recycling. Before, we filled it nearly every two-week period. This is about a 30% reduction in our recyclable waste.
I love that the dollars stay here, that I'm getting to know the producers and farmers in my community, and that they pay for people to practice a more healthy production cycle than big business uni-crop farms. I LOVE IT. Plus we're getting to know some great people in the process. Sam, the pasta guru is AWESOME. Deborah, she may or may not be real, but was really cool that one time. The blog followers - and the casual readers - have made contact and sent us links, told us of their experiences, and made suggestions or recommendations. The cheese kit is the very version used by a coworker and his girlfriend. This weekend we're planning on going berry picking with another blog follower.
So far it's been a great adventure. We're three months in as of Sunday this week so we've got three more quarters to go. I can't wait to try making cheese and pasta sauce and jam and jelly and more bread. I can't wait to review those products on the blog either. I hope they live up to my expectations.
That's all for now. Next blog I might have more to say about upping our production by renting out some farm land...
Mike
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Well, I've gone and done it
I've officially become obsessed with urban farming and (self) sustainability.
I've been on the cusp for quite some time, but I find my mind wanders more and more to the ideas and ideals of that sort of simple life. So while I'm working - writing procedures for power plants, pouring over financial information to glean if they're covering up any maintenance issues, drawing plant instrument and flow diagrams, I find that in VERY short order I'm distracted and reading Grist, or looking at Amazon for a new kitchen gadget to help make better use of our harvest, or thinking of where else to put in a new garden bed, or how I could use the small green patch between a sidewalk and a street...
Today, I bought some educational materials to once again step up our farm's production. I'll read it and review it on the blog as soon as I'm done, but it's giving me all sorts of ideas. Since start of work this morning, during my lunch and breaks, I've read 3 of 7 "chapters" and also bought those new kitchen gadgets from Amazon.
Which brings me to another conclusion - we're going to have to go to a cash/envelope method of handling our personal finances. We definitely spend way more than we need to. I just looked at our monthly bank statement and in about 4 weeks we spend like crazy on lunches, beer/drinks/movies - etc, small store purchases, gas, consumables, and all sorts of various and sundry items. Seriously there's probably about 75 transactions that average $7.50 that we can and SHOULD do without. By we, I mean me. I'm horrible when it comes to using my debit card and I'm finally convinced that the cash/envelope method could be the answer.
Today, at Amazon I bought some things that we really could use, things we've been thinking of purchasing for a while and just haven't yet. I ordered a sauce maker - basically it's a food mill to process our fruits and tomatoes. In the long run it'll save us tons of time when we're making red sauce, jams, jellies, fruit mush, etc. No coring of apples is necessary with this bad boy. Simply quarter and drop them into the hopper and twist the crank and whammo: apple sauce. So, we do "need" it and it was time to order it as harvest is quickly approaching.
I can't wait until it comes in the mail and I get to go to a market for 100 lbs of tomatoes to make 100 quarts of spaghetti sauce.
I also can't wait to start utilizing the tips and techniques I'm finding in this urban farmers guide.
If anyone knows of someone who wants to install a small scale intensive farm, or wants to learn how to do it at their own property, or wants someone like me to farm their property (or a piece of it), please please please let me know. I'd love to get started soon teaching/coaching and working on more space(s) soon so we're ready for next year.
That's all for now.
Mike
I've been on the cusp for quite some time, but I find my mind wanders more and more to the ideas and ideals of that sort of simple life. So while I'm working - writing procedures for power plants, pouring over financial information to glean if they're covering up any maintenance issues, drawing plant instrument and flow diagrams, I find that in VERY short order I'm distracted and reading Grist, or looking at Amazon for a new kitchen gadget to help make better use of our harvest, or thinking of where else to put in a new garden bed, or how I could use the small green patch between a sidewalk and a street...
Today, I bought some educational materials to once again step up our farm's production. I'll read it and review it on the blog as soon as I'm done, but it's giving me all sorts of ideas. Since start of work this morning, during my lunch and breaks, I've read 3 of 7 "chapters" and also bought those new kitchen gadgets from Amazon.
Which brings me to another conclusion - we're going to have to go to a cash/envelope method of handling our personal finances. We definitely spend way more than we need to. I just looked at our monthly bank statement and in about 4 weeks we spend like crazy on lunches, beer/drinks/movies - etc, small store purchases, gas, consumables, and all sorts of various and sundry items. Seriously there's probably about 75 transactions that average $7.50 that we can and SHOULD do without. By we, I mean me. I'm horrible when it comes to using my debit card and I'm finally convinced that the cash/envelope method could be the answer.
Today, at Amazon I bought some things that we really could use, things we've been thinking of purchasing for a while and just haven't yet. I ordered a sauce maker - basically it's a food mill to process our fruits and tomatoes. In the long run it'll save us tons of time when we're making red sauce, jams, jellies, fruit mush, etc. No coring of apples is necessary with this bad boy. Simply quarter and drop them into the hopper and twist the crank and whammo: apple sauce. So, we do "need" it and it was time to order it as harvest is quickly approaching.
I can't wait until it comes in the mail and I get to go to a market for 100 lbs of tomatoes to make 100 quarts of spaghetti sauce.
I also can't wait to start utilizing the tips and techniques I'm finding in this urban farmers guide.
If anyone knows of someone who wants to install a small scale intensive farm, or wants to learn how to do it at their own property, or wants someone like me to farm their property (or a piece of it), please please please let me know. I'd love to get started soon teaching/coaching and working on more space(s) soon so we're ready for next year.
That's all for now.
Mike
Monday, August 23, 2010
I LOVE this article!!
Wow, the NY times has stirred up the locavores and their ilk recently with an op ed piece calling for the locavore movement to use numbers, math, to back up their claims that eating local saves money, saves pollution, has less environmental impact, and what have you. Can you imagine? MATH?
The folks at Grist.org have done an amazing job at rounding up the locavores - the prominent ones - to rebut the NY Times op ed piece. Their work is is nothing short of profound. Thank you grist.
I, however, like to think of myself as a non-conformist in as many ways possible. But not a hipster. For that nonconformity, I leave it to a friend/coworker. My nonconforming leads me to discount much of what Budiansky says as well as much of what those prominent locavores have stated in their reactions to his article.
You can find the NYTimes piece at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20budiansky.html?_r=1
and the Grist.org piece at
http://www.grist.org/article/food-fight-do-locavores-really-need-math-lessons/.
For me, and I presume Trisa, our choice to eat locally and to produce our own is a personal decision. We didn't choose to go through this experiment to save the world, save the climate, change people, or for any activist reasons. We did it to educate ourselves and to hopefully give back a portion of what God has blessed us with.
We have a tiny piece of dirt, a small house, small bank accounts, great jobs and great families and friends. We are blessed with good neighbors and trials and times that make us carve out a life for ourselves that we enjoy, that we can learn from and grow. Nearly a decade ago, I took a two day course on living a focused life. I learned that most people don't "peak" in life until shortly before they retire. Their highest earnings, their most enjoyment from family, work, education, etc all comes just before they stop "working." If there's one reason Trisa and I do what we do it's because "we want to." No one has to hold our hands to go and learn how to garden, to go to jobs we LOVE, to spend our money on the things we both need to spend it on and WANT to spend it on. Where our desires and passions meet up with our actions (we call those VALUES) is where we focus our time, energy and resources. There and only there. Our values change and will always continue changing. They are different than they were nine years ago when I first studied a focused life. They will be different in ten years from now. But, no matter what our values are, we'll be "peaking" for decades. We'll be "achieving" (or at least attempting to) our goals and living our life in-line with our vision and focus WAY before retirement and WAY after.
Trisa and I have done the exercises I learned nine years ago together for the last six years at least once per year. We've found that a profound change has taken place: we live a life we like and love and can see God's generosity to us in that life. You might ask if we think everything is easy or if we do things we don't want to do. the answers are NO and YES. Of course we have to do things we'd rather not, it's our duty. But the bigger picture remains - our vision of our future and our life many years ahead instead of tomorrow. When we go to work at our day jobs, when we garden, when we go to farmers markets, when we sell wine, take classes, read books, spend time with family and friends, do things we'd rather not, etc., all of it is focused and intentional (usually). We've found ourselves in vocations and work that is "in tune" with our wiring, our desires and passions. It doesn't feel like work. It all feels like life, abundant life.
We hope to give back at least a little of what we've been given. THAT'S why we're locavores - and why we're growing as much food as we can on our small piece of dirt at our small home.
M
The folks at Grist.org have done an amazing job at rounding up the locavores - the prominent ones - to rebut the NY Times op ed piece. Their work is is nothing short of profound. Thank you grist.
I, however, like to think of myself as a non-conformist in as many ways possible. But not a hipster. For that nonconformity, I leave it to a friend/coworker. My nonconforming leads me to discount much of what Budiansky says as well as much of what those prominent locavores have stated in their reactions to his article.
You can find the NYTimes piece at
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20budiansky.html?_r=1
and the Grist.org piece at
http://www.grist.org/article/food-fight-do-locavores-really-need-math-lessons/.
For me, and I presume Trisa, our choice to eat locally and to produce our own is a personal decision. We didn't choose to go through this experiment to save the world, save the climate, change people, or for any activist reasons. We did it to educate ourselves and to hopefully give back a portion of what God has blessed us with.
We have a tiny piece of dirt, a small house, small bank accounts, great jobs and great families and friends. We are blessed with good neighbors and trials and times that make us carve out a life for ourselves that we enjoy, that we can learn from and grow. Nearly a decade ago, I took a two day course on living a focused life. I learned that most people don't "peak" in life until shortly before they retire. Their highest earnings, their most enjoyment from family, work, education, etc all comes just before they stop "working." If there's one reason Trisa and I do what we do it's because "we want to." No one has to hold our hands to go and learn how to garden, to go to jobs we LOVE, to spend our money on the things we both need to spend it on and WANT to spend it on. Where our desires and passions meet up with our actions (we call those VALUES) is where we focus our time, energy and resources. There and only there. Our values change and will always continue changing. They are different than they were nine years ago when I first studied a focused life. They will be different in ten years from now. But, no matter what our values are, we'll be "peaking" for decades. We'll be "achieving" (or at least attempting to) our goals and living our life in-line with our vision and focus WAY before retirement and WAY after.
Trisa and I have done the exercises I learned nine years ago together for the last six years at least once per year. We've found that a profound change has taken place: we live a life we like and love and can see God's generosity to us in that life. You might ask if we think everything is easy or if we do things we don't want to do. the answers are NO and YES. Of course we have to do things we'd rather not, it's our duty. But the bigger picture remains - our vision of our future and our life many years ahead instead of tomorrow. When we go to work at our day jobs, when we garden, when we go to farmers markets, when we sell wine, take classes, read books, spend time with family and friends, do things we'd rather not, etc., all of it is focused and intentional (usually). We've found ourselves in vocations and work that is "in tune" with our wiring, our desires and passions. It doesn't feel like work. It all feels like life, abundant life.
We hope to give back at least a little of what we've been given. THAT'S why we're locavores - and why we're growing as much food as we can on our small piece of dirt at our small home.
M
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
It's been a while
To the eleven (faithful) followers, we're sorry it has been so long since our last post. We've been on vacation and busy busy busy.
I'd like to update you on the happenings on the farm and in our lives. Trisa is back to work after a week off last week. I took three days off and am back too. We went to Mt. Saint Helens for a house-sitting vacation. We toured WONDERFUL Willamette Valley near Portland twice while on vacation for some of the best wine tasting we've ever had. We also went to Windy Ridge, the Ape Caves (just a quick stop, not into them), Johnston Ridge, and the surrounding countryside. If you've never been, you seriously need to get off your rear and go. It's absolutely some of the most beautiful, peaceful countryside the earth has to offer. Plus, it's only a quick hour and a half to Oregon's most storied wine region - W Valley.
I'd like to update you on the happenings on the farm and in our lives. Trisa is back to work after a week off last week. I took three days off and am back too. We went to Mt. Saint Helens for a house-sitting vacation. We toured WONDERFUL Willamette Valley near Portland twice while on vacation for some of the best wine tasting we've ever had. We also went to Windy Ridge, the Ape Caves (just a quick stop, not into them), Johnston Ridge, and the surrounding countryside. If you've never been, you seriously need to get off your rear and go. It's absolutely some of the most beautiful, peaceful countryside the earth has to offer. Plus, it's only a quick hour and a half to Oregon's most storied wine region - W Valley.
Two weeks ago we were interviewed and photographed for a possible news(y) article/photo essay for grist.org. I'd like you all to go to grist.org and bookmark the site. They have some very different world views than Trisa and I have, but their agricultural and urban ag (placemaking) articles are first-rate. My coworkers call it a lib rag, but I think very highly of grist.org's work.
We're still on the happy bandwagon of no grocery store food. We bought 2 gallons of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice last week, but it's a beverage, and a tasty one at that. I can't tell you how close I was to stopping at Trader Joe's for their feta with Greek spices. Man, I could eat a tub of that in a flash and only crave more. But, as much as I miss it, I'm sticking to the ban on all food from a grocery store.
We've visited a couple more farmers markets too. I went alone to the Snohomish market and it isn't half as good as I remembered. I think there's less vendors this year and the fruit and veggies are a little less impressive than last year. I left without purchasing anything. I went again to the Everett market and different vendors were there. I bought some dip mix so now I need to source some sour cream to mix them in. I also bought some alder smoked salt that is FRIGGIN AMAZING!
We've learned that the Edmonds farmers market changes every week. Basically there's two markets that switch back and forth. Who knew? I guess people who go every week, but we'd gone every other week for two weeks and so we didn't know there were other vendors until I lamented to the milk dude at the Everett market about having to drive to Everett for milk. He said that if it was more convenient he could bring our milk to Edmonds and told me that he's there every other week and we'd just missed him. So satisfying to know this now and we'll be hitting the Edmonds market two weekend straight to test out the "other" vendors.
We went back to the Ballard market in search for Deborah's Meat Pies. I seriously cannot imagine anything worse than last month's surreal situation where I found out that Deborah's meat pies is JUST Deborah's fruit pies in Edmonds. So, the drive, $2 for parking, the walk and the search being worth every amount of work and the cost weighed, we set out for the meat pies. Lo and behold: NO EFFING DEBORAH! I'm beginning to wonder if in some freak of nature we found Deborah's meat pies in an alternate reality and will never again find her because here, in this reality she seems to not exist. I have only the wisp of a memory, and even that is fading fast, of the most moist, delicious, heavenly meat pie I ever ate. I'll grant you skeptics - it's the only meat pie I ever ate, but I'm telling you it was awesome. Meaty and awesome.
If you haven't seen the picture, go to my facebook page and check out the freak of nature that came form our back yard. It's in the form of a 4.25 lb zucchini. We also harvested another one that weighed 3.75 pounds, but I gave that one to a friend. Trisa nabbed 3 pounds of bush beans, we planted a second planting of them so we'll be eating a lot of "green beans" for the next month or so. The carrots are getting huge. We pulled our peas because they were done. We planted rainbow chard. That stuff is PRETTY. The tomatoes are are on the verge of harvest and there will probably be about 75-100 lbs of them. We pulled our first planting of potatoes. We had about 25 lbs. I expected to get 30-40 pounds, but I think we pulled the first few before they were completely growing. The second planting will be ready in about a week.
We're still on the happy bandwagon of no grocery store food. We bought 2 gallons of Ocean Spray Cranberry juice last week, but it's a beverage, and a tasty one at that. I can't tell you how close I was to stopping at Trader Joe's for their feta with Greek spices. Man, I could eat a tub of that in a flash and only crave more. But, as much as I miss it, I'm sticking to the ban on all food from a grocery store.
We've visited a couple more farmers markets too. I went alone to the Snohomish market and it isn't half as good as I remembered. I think there's less vendors this year and the fruit and veggies are a little less impressive than last year. I left without purchasing anything. I went again to the Everett market and different vendors were there. I bought some dip mix so now I need to source some sour cream to mix them in. I also bought some alder smoked salt that is FRIGGIN AMAZING!
We've learned that the Edmonds farmers market changes every week. Basically there's two markets that switch back and forth. Who knew? I guess people who go every week, but we'd gone every other week for two weeks and so we didn't know there were other vendors until I lamented to the milk dude at the Everett market about having to drive to Everett for milk. He said that if it was more convenient he could bring our milk to Edmonds and told me that he's there every other week and we'd just missed him. So satisfying to know this now and we'll be hitting the Edmonds market two weekend straight to test out the "other" vendors.
We went back to the Ballard market in search for Deborah's Meat Pies. I seriously cannot imagine anything worse than last month's surreal situation where I found out that Deborah's meat pies is JUST Deborah's fruit pies in Edmonds. So, the drive, $2 for parking, the walk and the search being worth every amount of work and the cost weighed, we set out for the meat pies. Lo and behold: NO EFFING DEBORAH! I'm beginning to wonder if in some freak of nature we found Deborah's meat pies in an alternate reality and will never again find her because here, in this reality she seems to not exist. I have only the wisp of a memory, and even that is fading fast, of the most moist, delicious, heavenly meat pie I ever ate. I'll grant you skeptics - it's the only meat pie I ever ate, but I'm telling you it was awesome. Meaty and awesome.
If you haven't seen the picture, go to my facebook page and check out the freak of nature that came form our back yard. It's in the form of a 4.25 lb zucchini. We also harvested another one that weighed 3.75 pounds, but I gave that one to a friend. Trisa nabbed 3 pounds of bush beans, we planted a second planting of them so we'll be eating a lot of "green beans" for the next month or so. The carrots are getting huge. We pulled our peas because they were done. We planted rainbow chard. That stuff is PRETTY. The tomatoes are are on the verge of harvest and there will probably be about 75-100 lbs of them. We pulled our first planting of potatoes. We had about 25 lbs. I expected to get 30-40 pounds, but I think we pulled the first few before they were completely growing. The second planting will be ready in about a week.
We might have a watermelon. There's an awfully watermelon looking thing growing in our back yard. The first planting of beets came up - 10 lbs. We're onto our 3rd planting of lettuce and about out of it. Our 4th is ready to pick this week and we'll be planting a 5th in a week. So far we've reaped about 25 pounds of peas and 40ish lbs of lettuce - I'm going by bags and an average weight per bag that we weighed. We didn't have a chance to weigh every leaf we cut and every pea we picked.
At the end of August, the farmer is coming back to help me build 3 or 4 hoop houses over the garden boxes in the front yard. We're going to plant winter carrots, spinach, and miner's lettuce to have green (and orange) veggies throughout the winter. A few people have mentioned that they would like to join us when we rent the commercial kitchen, but so far it's just talk. So Trisa and I will plan on being the only ones to go and we'll be making cheese, butter, jams, soups, maybe some breads, and blanching and freezing some fruits and veggies. Maybe next year we'll get some bees and make our own honey.
We found a grain vendor who is local to Washington that we'll be buying fresh grains from. I'm planning on buying a home mill and milling my own flour for bread making.
Ok. I think that's all for now. I gotta get back to work. Peace out homies.
Mike
Saturday, July 24, 2010
A New Order
Last Saturday, after visiting the AMAZING Edmonds Farmer's Market, I was determined to complete the day by adding some new chickens to our flock. I got busy cleaning the coop while Michael perused the ads on Craigslist. Much to my disappointment, he discovered that many of the ads we had seen previously were no longer active. With the coop clean and ready, I couldn't give up the plan. This had to be the day. So, I joined the search and found, much to my delight, a dairy farm in Enumclaw with chickens for sale. After a quick call to the farm, we jetted out the door and began our 90 minute journey to beautiful Enumclaw.
The farm was nestled against a hill off of a long gravel road. I opened the car door and immediately felt at ease. I love the feel of country life. There's no need to rush into anything. Everyone seems to move slowly making the time to take in the sights, sounds and smells.
The dairy farmer's son raises Bantams on the side for city folk who want one or two pretty chickens as pets. He happened to have some mixed breeds available. When we entered the coop, I was a little worried. Many of the chickens looked hen pecked. We learned that the farmer had just pulled out a couple of roosters the day before. Apparently there were too many hens and not enough roosters to go around.... After looking more closely, we spotted a healthy one. Before too long we found the four we wanted: Barney, Bam Bam, Fred, and Wilma.
With these four added to the flock, we now have two flocks resisting the need to become one. If we don't put the new four onto the roost at night, they sleep down below in a vulnerable position apart from the others. I know over time, they will work it out. But, I hate the tension that comes with a disrupted pecking order.
The sociology of chickens is fascinating. Every time we lose a chicken or introduce new ones, the pecking order changes. I can't seem to find any real pattern to what makes a chicken reach the top of the order. Gentle, quiet natured Greta with her slow reflexes and tiny brain continues to rule the roost. Barney is fighting for second place. I hope she wins.
-Trisa
The farm was nestled against a hill off of a long gravel road. I opened the car door and immediately felt at ease. I love the feel of country life. There's no need to rush into anything. Everyone seems to move slowly making the time to take in the sights, sounds and smells.
The dairy farmer's son raises Bantams on the side for city folk who want one or two pretty chickens as pets. He happened to have some mixed breeds available. When we entered the coop, I was a little worried. Many of the chickens looked hen pecked. We learned that the farmer had just pulled out a couple of roosters the day before. Apparently there were too many hens and not enough roosters to go around.... After looking more closely, we spotted a healthy one. Before too long we found the four we wanted: Barney, Bam Bam, Fred, and Wilma.
With these four added to the flock, we now have two flocks resisting the need to become one. If we don't put the new four onto the roost at night, they sleep down below in a vulnerable position apart from the others. I know over time, they will work it out. But, I hate the tension that comes with a disrupted pecking order.
The sociology of chickens is fascinating. Every time we lose a chicken or introduce new ones, the pecking order changes. I can't seem to find any real pattern to what makes a chicken reach the top of the order. Gentle, quiet natured Greta with her slow reflexes and tiny brain continues to rule the roost. Barney is fighting for second place. I hope she wins.
-Trisa
Friday, July 23, 2010
A farmers market vendor named Desire
"STELLA" I cried out in my heart. The sky went dark and my soul hurt. The kind of hurt that shatters the air like lightning and sends grandmothers and puppies for the shelter of home and a warm fire. Poor puppies. I'm sorry. But there was nothing to lighten my burden and make happy my path upon finding out that the "Deborah's Pies" at the Edmonds Farmers Market doesn't carry her meat pies. OH THE HUMANITY.
I'm positive I made a spectacle of myself and completely horrified the poor girl selling JUST Deborah's fruit pies. I didn't yell Stella out loud, but I did cry out in shock. Can you believe it? Deborah's Pies in Edmonds FM doesn't sell the meat pies because of "permit" rules. For Pete's sake, why?
All that aside, Edmonds' has been the best farmers market we've been to so far. They have all sorts of produce, meats, cheeses, and many prepared foods. Shortly after my life was ruined by the pie maker, Trisa found a bacon vendor. I was restored by the wonderful, awesome power of bacon. There's a cafe in Edmonds who's chef cures, seasons, and cuts his own bacon. They have a booth at the market and even cook up some bacon for samples. HOLY COW! Those teeny tiny bits of bacon packed an inch of heaven into every bite. I took a pound home. This weekend, we'll cook it up alongside some farm fresh eggs from the backyard for breakfast. I think I've got to get some bubbly and OJ for Mimosas... Next to the bacon was a coffee vendor. Finally, we found somewhere to get some good coffee outside a coffee shop or grocery store. I can't remember the name of the company. I did a quick search on the internet and couldn't find it.
As an aside - based on what I just researched on the internet, the marketing for the Edmonds Farmers Market is ATROCIOUS. There is no list of vendors online - at least that is easily accessible. I couldn't even find a mention by the businesses that are there on their own websites saying "find us at the Edmonds Farmers Market" or anything like that. Why don't these places advertise and market themselves better? Don't they realize that there are TONS, literally TONS of people that they could reach through a few simple steps?
Anyway, the coffee we bought last weekend at the market is phenomenal. It is robust, and full bodied without the normal acidity that goes with such powerful beans. It's not a blend either, which surprised me. Usually to get such a well rounded cup of joe, the beans would be blended to mask weaknesses in certain beans and highlight the strengths in others. But this coffee had little if any weakness. I can't wait to get back to the market this weekend and buy some more coffee and find out their name. I'll be sure to let them know that they could sell a lot more coffee with just a tiny bit of advertising on the internet.
If anyone knows which coffee company it is, please don't hesitate to let me know in the comments. they are a small, independent coffee roaster in Woodinville, right off Woodinville-Duvall Road.
In the weeks ahead, I'll be learning to make cheese. One of the renters of our pea patch is bringing over her cheese making kit and she's going to teach Trisa and I how to make fabulous cheese. One more step toward self-sufficiency. I LOVE CHEESE. But not as much as pie and cobbler.
At the EFM there was also a vendor who makes his own raspberry vinegar. We had it sprinkled over a green salad with raspberries and boysenberries last night. Along with the salad, I grilled some tri-tip steaks and made mashed potatoes. The potatoes were harvested by Trisa this week. They were AWESOME. Anyway, the vinegar guy owns a small commercial kitchen in North Seattle that he rents out. I inquired about it some more and he'll rent it to just about anyone whenever there's no one already booked. Right now he's got gobs of time slots open. What Trisa and I would like to do is to get a group of peeps together and rent it out for a day or two. We'll take anyone who wants to bring in bulk items they want to process for storage and would like to trade at the end of the day. We envision there being a person or couple or family who would bring veggies, someone would bring milk for butter and cheese, someone who wants to make jams/jellies, someone who wants to do salsa, sauces, gravies, pies, breads, etc. I figure most people will produce way more than they need or want and we'll all be trading and going home with stockpiles of home grown preserved foods packed with wicked awesomeness.
If you are interested, please let me know in the comments what time frame works for you (i.e. end of august, weekday, etc.) and what you would like to bring. If we have doubles and triples of things, we can always have a second kitchen day or just have doubles and triples. Either way, it'll be fun and valuable. I'd prefer it be adults only, but if childcare is an issue, let me know. I'll bring the wine for an exclusive wine tasting with the wines being paired with the items people bring. We'll taste them all day long.
That's all for now.
Mike
Sunday, July 11, 2010
To Market to Market
The Harris Farm and Garden Driveway Market was open for business for the first time this weekend. Who knew that we could make over $150.00 in one weekend selling eggs and vegetables! We had a steady stream of customers- who were taking advantage of the opportunity to pick their own salad greens, peas, carrots, onions, beets, and herbs right out of our garden. These veggies are even fresher than farmer's market veggies!
Much to the disappointment of the Lynnwood locals, we were out of eggs before 2:00 pm. We took orders for at least 5 dozen more. One gal even pre-paid. Our chickees better get busy! I finally agree with Michael- we do need a bigger flock. Our community demands a bigger supply.
We had promised a dozen eggs to a friend yesterday. Today when she came by to pick them up, we were short three eggs. I managed to add one freshly laid egg to the eight that were left. Michael was doing all that he could to save this dozen, but a persistent Italian couple refused to leave without eggs in hand. Michael gave them four eggs out of our friend's dozen. I thought they might start a riot if he didn't come back with more. While I was pulling carrots for another customer, the Italian lady tried to pull one out of my hand because it was bigger than the one Michael had pulled for her earlier. The determined pair left happy with a bag full of onions, carrots, lettuce, herbs, and garlic (we weren't actually selling the garlic, but the Italian gentleman pulled it out of the ground without asking).
At closing, we decided to head over to the Everett Farmer's Market. With the money earned this weekend and a little to spare.... we were able purchase some cherrries, apricots, fresh milk, cheese, butter, beef pot roast, steak, potatoes, green beans, and hard cider. Yum!
-Trisa
Much to the disappointment of the Lynnwood locals, we were out of eggs before 2:00 pm. We took orders for at least 5 dozen more. One gal even pre-paid. Our chickees better get busy! I finally agree with Michael- we do need a bigger flock. Our community demands a bigger supply.
We had promised a dozen eggs to a friend yesterday. Today when she came by to pick them up, we were short three eggs. I managed to add one freshly laid egg to the eight that were left. Michael was doing all that he could to save this dozen, but a persistent Italian couple refused to leave without eggs in hand. Michael gave them four eggs out of our friend's dozen. I thought they might start a riot if he didn't come back with more. While I was pulling carrots for another customer, the Italian lady tried to pull one out of my hand because it was bigger than the one Michael had pulled for her earlier. The determined pair left happy with a bag full of onions, carrots, lettuce, herbs, and garlic (we weren't actually selling the garlic, but the Italian gentleman pulled it out of the ground without asking).
At closing, we decided to head over to the Everett Farmer's Market. With the money earned this weekend and a little to spare.... we were able purchase some cherrries, apricots, fresh milk, cheese, butter, beef pot roast, steak, potatoes, green beans, and hard cider. Yum!
-Trisa
Saturday, July 10, 2010
A special loaf of bread
Michael decided that tonight was the night to make a loaf of bread with the duck eggs that we bought from the Ballard Farmer's Market. . . . Unfortunately, bread requires more than eggs and flour. Minutes into Michael's baking adventure, he discovered that we were without milk. The creative fella that he is, he improvised with some dehydrated milk that just happened to be in our pantry. (I have no idea why we have a box of dehydrated milk. Who uses dehydrated milk? Weird.)
Then just after preparing the milk, Michael remembered that we were out of butter. At this point, I would have given up. (Actually, I probably would have given up when I realized we were out of milk.) Michael, however, was not ready to quit. He was sure that spreadable margarine would do the trick. This should make for an interesting loaf of bread! I'll let you know how it turns out. -Trisa
Then just after preparing the milk, Michael remembered that we were out of butter. At this point, I would have given up. (Actually, I probably would have given up when I realized we were out of milk.) Michael, however, was not ready to quit. He was sure that spreadable margarine would do the trick. This should make for an interesting loaf of bread! I'll let you know how it turns out. -Trisa
Friday, July 9, 2010
Blarg. The blog.
Today I got up at literally the ass-crack of dawn to try to catch some Chinooks in inner Elliott Bay. A buddy from work and I fish quite a bit and last week EB opened for 5 weeks of Fri-Sun only. We're allowed 1 hatchery or native Chinook per day.
Unfortunately our first trip out was a series of unfortunate events:
I must've looked pretty shady driving the back streets of north Seattle at 3:20am on my way to Shilshole because I was stopped by one of Seattle's finest. The officer approached the car with his hand on his gun and asked if I was indeed Michael Harris. I told him I in fact was . He asked for my ID, went back to his patrol car and came back a few minutes later. He said, "You are free to go, you are not the Michael Harris we are looking for." Fishy...
Meanwhile: Back to Urban Farming...
This weekend should be our first veggie stand weekend in our driveway. We're planning on doing it on Saturday, midmorningish. Everyone is welcome to come on buy (pun intended). We're very excited about the growth in the yard. I think if we get 5-10 interested veggie purchasers we'll have sold out of our harvest for the week. Yesterday I gave two garden tours to passers by and scheduled another one. It seems the spectacle of 8 foot tall sugar snap peas and literally GOBS of veggies being grown int he front yard equals an invitation to stop by and ask to see everything while I'm watering the lawn and drinking a beer. I'm more than happy to oblige. I love to show off the garden. I sent a family off last night with some free samples and their promise to stop by tomorrow and buy us out of all the lettuce.
Trisa and I are loving growing our own food and buying local. We've been on this adventure for 5 weeks and with the exception of purchasing food for road trip snacks and our contribution to a pot luck, we've managed to not buy any food except from farmers markets. To date our rank of markets is as follows:
Mike's Meat Pie Review (hopefully I can get my hands on all sorts of meat pies and review them - maybe once per month) - Mike's meat pie review really rolls off the tongue quite nicely so I'd like to make it a regular tidbit in the blog...
My first meat pie (and only so far) was from Deborah's Pies in the Ballard Sunday Market. We bought the Peasant's pie, which would normally not have been something I'd have chosen due to there being sun dried tomatoes in it. But the allure of feta compelled me to bite the bullet and try it out.
The pie was excellent. It looked good, smelled good and the taste was a sensation in my mouth. I paired it with a uber chilled Pinot Gris from Columbia Valley AVA. The pair was perfect. the sun dried tomatoes were not over powering and only added to the balance and complexity of the affair. My only complaint is that the directions on the box did not cook the pie to it's tip top potential. Several more minutes were needed to bring the center to a wonderful warmth and the bottom crust was slightly mushy, most likely caused by the frozen water melting and not heating fast enough. I'd recommend flipping the pie at least once when it is half cooked, bake it at about 15 more degrees and for about 10 minutes longer than the directions state. OR... use convection if your oven has it. Otherwise I give that meat pie 4.5 Pi out of 5 Pi.
That's all for now.
Word,
Mike
Unfortunately our first trip out was a series of unfortunate events:
- The Seattle Parks dept didn't open the parking lot until well after 4am (their posted time)so one of our group had to park a distance away.
- On our way out the crab pot lines got tangled. In cold rainy weather it took what seemed like hours to untangle them
- A down rigger ball (10 lb lead weight coated in rubber) got thrown overboard (they cost $45)
- The kicker motor BROKE
- We got a bite, but the line snapped so there's a Chinook with a lure in his mouth trailing a flasher (lure, flasher, ball bearing swivels and whammadyne hook = $25). So we were down to one down rigger trolling on the main motor
- We got another bite, but lost the fish in the fight
- On the way back, we stopped to pull the pots and found that mine had been dragged to sea (crab pot, bait box, buoy and line = $45) - we caught 4 keeper crabs, but J threw one overboard because we said "it's a rocky, not a dungeness." He took that to mean it's not a keeper. We were merely stating the species. 5" or better male OR female rock crabs are keepers, so we tossed a keeper back into the drink.
I must've looked pretty shady driving the back streets of north Seattle at 3:20am on my way to Shilshole because I was stopped by one of Seattle's finest. The officer approached the car with his hand on his gun and asked if I was indeed Michael Harris. I told him I in fact was . He asked for my ID, went back to his patrol car and came back a few minutes later. He said, "You are free to go, you are not the Michael Harris we are looking for." Fishy...
Meanwhile: Back to Urban Farming...
This weekend should be our first veggie stand weekend in our driveway. We're planning on doing it on Saturday, midmorningish. Everyone is welcome to come on buy (pun intended). We're very excited about the growth in the yard. I think if we get 5-10 interested veggie purchasers we'll have sold out of our harvest for the week. Yesterday I gave two garden tours to passers by and scheduled another one. It seems the spectacle of 8 foot tall sugar snap peas and literally GOBS of veggies being grown int he front yard equals an invitation to stop by and ask to see everything while I'm watering the lawn and drinking a beer. I'm more than happy to oblige. I love to show off the garden. I sent a family off last night with some free samples and their promise to stop by tomorrow and buy us out of all the lettuce.
Trisa and I are loving growing our own food and buying local. We've been on this adventure for 5 weeks and with the exception of purchasing food for road trip snacks and our contribution to a pot luck, we've managed to not buy any food except from farmers markets. To date our rank of markets is as follows:
- Mercer Island - tops for actual food variety and amount
- Ballard Sunday Market - they have a meat pie maker
- Snohomish - overall a great market well worth the trip out, plus there's a bakery in Snohomish that sells the awesomest pies in all the land
Mike's Meat Pie Review (hopefully I can get my hands on all sorts of meat pies and review them - maybe once per month) - Mike's meat pie review really rolls off the tongue quite nicely so I'd like to make it a regular tidbit in the blog...
My first meat pie (and only so far) was from Deborah's Pies in the Ballard Sunday Market. We bought the Peasant's pie, which would normally not have been something I'd have chosen due to there being sun dried tomatoes in it. But the allure of feta compelled me to bite the bullet and try it out.
The pie was excellent. It looked good, smelled good and the taste was a sensation in my mouth. I paired it with a uber chilled Pinot Gris from Columbia Valley AVA. The pair was perfect. the sun dried tomatoes were not over powering and only added to the balance and complexity of the affair. My only complaint is that the directions on the box did not cook the pie to it's tip top potential. Several more minutes were needed to bring the center to a wonderful warmth and the bottom crust was slightly mushy, most likely caused by the frozen water melting and not heating fast enough. I'd recommend flipping the pie at least once when it is half cooked, bake it at about 15 more degrees and for about 10 minutes longer than the directions state. OR... use convection if your oven has it. Otherwise I give that meat pie 4.5 Pi out of 5 Pi.
That's all for now.
Word,
Mike
Monday, June 28, 2010
Tennis Elbow, Whooping Cough and the Ballard Sunday Market
No, I don't have whooping cough. Neither does Trisa. But I did get a booster vaccination for it today along with my Tetanus and Diphtheria boosters as well. My doctor practically frog marched me to injections to get it done. I thought there was a chance I'd had it in the past 2 years, but he said I had to have it in writing, or else. So, down to the crotchety nurse with the needle I went.
I've since come to find out that California, Illinois, and Alabama might all have Whooping Cough (also known as Pertussis) epidemics. Vaccines for Pertussis only last through childhood, so right now many states are recommending adults go get their shots again. My doctor takes vaccines very seriously, evidently. I'm in for a sore left arm for the next few days.
I went in to have my right elbow looked at. With little poking and prodding, Dr. Mac pronounced me afflicted by the ever-so-serious repetitive motion injury known as tennis elbow. I went to Rite Aid and got me the rather inexpensive cure - a large, glorified, rubber band that I'm to wear for the next week or so. If that doesn't do the trick, I'm back to the clinic for a cortisone shot.
Yesterday, we went to the Ballard Sunday market. To say the least, it was a spectacle that everyone should behold. There's music, weirdos, and TONS of "farmers" peddling their wares.
Trisa and I purchased Deborah's famous meat pies. We presume that they are not full of people as they are known to be on Fleet Street in London. But only time will tell if we presume correctly... We also bought a strawberry rhubarb pie from Deborah. We took home some goat patties, pears, cheese, cheese, and more cheese, and couldn't find BUTTER anywhere. What cheese maker hasn't got enough milk to make a little butter? Sheesh. We picked up lunch at some "world famous" veggie Quesadilla stand. We found out it's world famous for the WRONG reasons. Fool me once. We also bought a CD form a street musician playing haunting, somber cello melodies. He's called the Gypsy Cellist. I didn't see any Gypsies, but what would be the fun and mystery if they were seen? So they all must've been hiding somewheres.
Groceries for the week from the Ballard Sunday Market came to $50. We spent a little more than that on lunch and the CD. Parking was $2.
I can't wait to try the peasant's meat pie this week. I'll write up my full review when we do and post it here. I'll also review the strawberry pie. I love pie, so it'll be VERY hard for me to criticize it at all. If you all knew how much I love pie, you'd say "WOW! You love pie an awful lot!" I'd have to agree.
I'm waiting, praying, for the day that we find a cobbler maker at a farmer's market. If we don't find one soon, I'll have to make my own cobbler after we go to the u-pick berry farms. Maybe cobbler is the only food I love more than pie. I'm decently sure that when God was sitting around making Eve, he took a break at some point for cobbler. Seriously. Cobbler is heavenly. It's a well known fact that most angels carry the stuff around with them wherever they go. Anyway, I digress. Digressing is not good for tennis elbow, so I'll shut up now.
Peace out,
Mike
I've since come to find out that California, Illinois, and Alabama might all have Whooping Cough (also known as Pertussis) epidemics. Vaccines for Pertussis only last through childhood, so right now many states are recommending adults go get their shots again. My doctor takes vaccines very seriously, evidently. I'm in for a sore left arm for the next few days.
I went in to have my right elbow looked at. With little poking and prodding, Dr. Mac pronounced me afflicted by the ever-so-serious repetitive motion injury known as tennis elbow. I went to Rite Aid and got me the rather inexpensive cure - a large, glorified, rubber band that I'm to wear for the next week or so. If that doesn't do the trick, I'm back to the clinic for a cortisone shot.
Yesterday, we went to the Ballard Sunday market. To say the least, it was a spectacle that everyone should behold. There's music, weirdos, and TONS of "farmers" peddling their wares.
Trisa and I purchased Deborah's famous meat pies. We presume that they are not full of people as they are known to be on Fleet Street in London. But only time will tell if we presume correctly... We also bought a strawberry rhubarb pie from Deborah. We took home some goat patties, pears, cheese, cheese, and more cheese, and couldn't find BUTTER anywhere. What cheese maker hasn't got enough milk to make a little butter? Sheesh. We picked up lunch at some "world famous" veggie Quesadilla stand. We found out it's world famous for the WRONG reasons. Fool me once. We also bought a CD form a street musician playing haunting, somber cello melodies. He's called the Gypsy Cellist. I didn't see any Gypsies, but what would be the fun and mystery if they were seen? So they all must've been hiding somewheres.
Groceries for the week from the Ballard Sunday Market came to $50. We spent a little more than that on lunch and the CD. Parking was $2.
I can't wait to try the peasant's meat pie this week. I'll write up my full review when we do and post it here. I'll also review the strawberry pie. I love pie, so it'll be VERY hard for me to criticize it at all. If you all knew how much I love pie, you'd say "WOW! You love pie an awful lot!" I'd have to agree.
I'm waiting, praying, for the day that we find a cobbler maker at a farmer's market. If we don't find one soon, I'll have to make my own cobbler after we go to the u-pick berry farms. Maybe cobbler is the only food I love more than pie. I'm decently sure that when God was sitting around making Eve, he took a break at some point for cobbler. Seriously. Cobbler is heavenly. It's a well known fact that most angels carry the stuff around with them wherever they go. Anyway, I digress. Digressing is not good for tennis elbow, so I'll shut up now.
Peace out,
Mike
Sunday, June 27, 2010
It's about time
I know, it's been a bit more than a week since my last blog. Trisa has been keeping up weekly and more.
I got busy last week doing a landscaping project that was way bigger than I'd thought it would be.
These keys are sticky.
Let's begin with the tallies of the farmers market grocery shopping for the last two weeks.
Week 2 - our first week shopping at farmers' markets we went to Pike Place.
We bought, cheese and mac and cheese from Beechers. Bread from La Panierre. Milk from the sanitary market dairy section. Veggies and fruits from the corner produce stand. The total for our groceries came to $46. The biggest expense was the processed food items - mac and cheese. But we can't walk away from Beechers without it. It is truly the universe's best mac and cheese.
Week 3 - we found ourselves on Mercer Island trying out a new market (new to us). The MI market prides itself on being a no-trinket, no gimmick, no resale market. There's JUST FOOD and beverages. We bought bread, cheese, fruit, smoked tuna and tuna jerky, two muffins, and a but load of apple ciders. We wanted to try out the cidery's wines and hard ciders so we spent $56 there.
The cheese monger has only 2 cheeses and 2 cheese spreads. I know for a fact I'd get tired of their cheese if we shopped exclusively at MI. The fish monger was great. She was knowledgable, friendly and wicked awesome at sales. Plus there were canned, fresh, smoked, kippered, and bagged varieties. We will be going back to the tuna girl. We bought some kippered tuna and tuna jerky.
All told we spent $108 on everything at the MI market. If you take out the $56 for all that cider and wine, then groceries for week 3 cost $52. I forgot, we also got some great pasta. There's a pasta maker there and he makes friggin awesome pasta.
So, for those of you that only read the bullet points:
Week 2 = $46
Week 3 = $52
There you have it. I'll blog again later.
Peace out,
Mike
I got busy last week doing a landscaping project that was way bigger than I'd thought it would be.
These keys are sticky.
Let's begin with the tallies of the farmers market grocery shopping for the last two weeks.
Week 2 - our first week shopping at farmers' markets we went to Pike Place.
We bought, cheese and mac and cheese from Beechers. Bread from La Panierre. Milk from the sanitary market dairy section. Veggies and fruits from the corner produce stand. The total for our groceries came to $46. The biggest expense was the processed food items - mac and cheese. But we can't walk away from Beechers without it. It is truly the universe's best mac and cheese.
Week 3 - we found ourselves on Mercer Island trying out a new market (new to us). The MI market prides itself on being a no-trinket, no gimmick, no resale market. There's JUST FOOD and beverages. We bought bread, cheese, fruit, smoked tuna and tuna jerky, two muffins, and a but load of apple ciders. We wanted to try out the cidery's wines and hard ciders so we spent $56 there.
The cheese monger has only 2 cheeses and 2 cheese spreads. I know for a fact I'd get tired of their cheese if we shopped exclusively at MI. The fish monger was great. She was knowledgable, friendly and wicked awesome at sales. Plus there were canned, fresh, smoked, kippered, and bagged varieties. We will be going back to the tuna girl. We bought some kippered tuna and tuna jerky.
All told we spent $108 on everything at the MI market. If you take out the $56 for all that cider and wine, then groceries for week 3 cost $52. I forgot, we also got some great pasta. There's a pasta maker there and he makes friggin awesome pasta.
So, for those of you that only read the bullet points:
Week 2 = $46
Week 3 = $52
There you have it. I'll blog again later.
Peace out,
Mike
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Plastic bags should never be used as barf bags
This week, we went on our first fishing adventure in hopes to return home with a cooler full of fresh fish! On the way to Westport, we realized that we would have to stop at a grocery store to pick up lunches for the next day. In the checkout line, the cashier (upon seeing the Dramamine), shared how his father was sick on the entire trip of their first fishing experience. I should have known this was a warning….
Later we arrived in the sweet town of Westport, which should really be called Motelport. Of all of the motels we could have chosen, we stayed at the Holiday Motel. Aside from the smell of cigarette smoke and the 80s motif, the Holiday Motel was the perfect fisherman’s motel. We unpacked our things, said “hello” to my parents, and went looking for a place to eat. We ended up at the Knotty Pine pub next to our motel – another non-smoking facility that reeked of cigarette smoke…. The bartender’s smoke break won over my drink order.
The next day, we awoke at 4:30 am, crawled into our fishing wear, and popped some Dramamine before heading to the charter. Once we arrived, Michael realized that he forgot his checkbook and ran all the way back to get it-- thankful that he wore his running shoes and not his rubber boots. When he made it back, he paid for my fishing license with our very last check.
After chatting for a while with our friendly Skipper, it was time to head out to sea. I knew that the ride would be bumpy at first, but I figured it wouldn’t last too long. About 10 minutes into the ride, I started to feel queasy. About 5 minutes later, what I had left of the” Knotty” pub food, was now in a plastic bag.
Throughout the hour long ride to the first fishing spot, I wasn’t alone. Just about everyone on the charter, with the exception of my mom and Michael, lost their breakfast. Finally, after about an hour of rough waters, we “stopped.” The motor was all that really stopped. The boat continued to rock and rock and rock and rock….
I attempted to join my family outside and to begin fishing (the whole reason I went on the boat). But every time I stood up, I lost a little more of that “Knotty” food…. until, of course, there was no more. So, needless to say, I didn’t do any fishing on this trip. I will, however, always be thankful for the beautiful salmon and sea bass, caught by my dear husband, Michael. From now on, I will stick to lake and river fishing!
Lessons Learned:
1.) Plan ahead- pack lunches with fixings from home so as not to have to stop at a grocery store!
2.) Just because you took Dramamine, doesn’t mean you can’t experience motion sickness.
3.) There is no end to sea sickness once it starts.
4.) A charter may be the one place where public vomiting is considered acceptable.
5.) Plastic bags should never be used as barf bags.
-Trisa
Later we arrived in the sweet town of Westport, which should really be called Motelport. Of all of the motels we could have chosen, we stayed at the Holiday Motel. Aside from the smell of cigarette smoke and the 80s motif, the Holiday Motel was the perfect fisherman’s motel. We unpacked our things, said “hello” to my parents, and went looking for a place to eat. We ended up at the Knotty Pine pub next to our motel – another non-smoking facility that reeked of cigarette smoke…. The bartender’s smoke break won over my drink order.
The next day, we awoke at 4:30 am, crawled into our fishing wear, and popped some Dramamine before heading to the charter. Once we arrived, Michael realized that he forgot his checkbook and ran all the way back to get it-- thankful that he wore his running shoes and not his rubber boots. When he made it back, he paid for my fishing license with our very last check.
After chatting for a while with our friendly Skipper, it was time to head out to sea. I knew that the ride would be bumpy at first, but I figured it wouldn’t last too long. About 10 minutes into the ride, I started to feel queasy. About 5 minutes later, what I had left of the” Knotty” pub food, was now in a plastic bag.
Throughout the hour long ride to the first fishing spot, I wasn’t alone. Just about everyone on the charter, with the exception of my mom and Michael, lost their breakfast. Finally, after about an hour of rough waters, we “stopped.” The motor was all that really stopped. The boat continued to rock and rock and rock and rock….
I attempted to join my family outside and to begin fishing (the whole reason I went on the boat). But every time I stood up, I lost a little more of that “Knotty” food…. until, of course, there was no more. So, needless to say, I didn’t do any fishing on this trip. I will, however, always be thankful for the beautiful salmon and sea bass, caught by my dear husband, Michael. From now on, I will stick to lake and river fishing!
Lessons Learned:
1.) Plan ahead- pack lunches with fixings from home so as not to have to stop at a grocery store!
2.) Just because you took Dramamine, doesn’t mean you can’t experience motion sickness.
3.) There is no end to sea sickness once it starts.
4.) A charter may be the one place where public vomiting is considered acceptable.
5.) Plastic bags should never be used as barf bags.
-Trisa
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