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 Much to my disappointment, he discovered that many of the ads we had seen previously were no longer active.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

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