Seeds seeds everywhere....

Imagine being a kid at Christmas and you are able to actually BUY anything you want. It would not be long until you would be sitting in a room of toys...

Some years, around now I feel that way. We spent the dark days of December and January paging through seed catalogs, making selections, being by the end rather selective. Then the seeds start coming, and coming, and coming! And there are always surprises... I thought we bought more of that! Or WHY did we buy a pound of that turnip seed?!! The answers are always there, the 1000 seeds of the one we should have gotten more of cost $22 while the pound of turnip seed was only $3! 1000 seeds may should like a lot, if it is something that is direct seeded it may not go very far at all... But that's OK, because as I look around at the bags and bags of seeds we have, there should be no problem in variety this year!

None at all...

Lake Erie Creamery...

I just started a new page on our website: Ohio Locals. This page will be dedicated to posting information about people who provide local food with local sourcing of ingredients within 100 mile radius of my house, which is about halfway between Akron and Cleveland, so the list should be good for most of North east Ohio. If you have any suggestions please email us! I hope the list will grow over time to be helpful for those like us who are trying to source local food!

My first entry is Lake Erie Creamery. If anyone has their website please post it in comments.

I found them first at Peninsula Farmers Market. I was instantly impressed with the sample they gave. And I am not typically a big fan of goat cheeses. Since then they have become one of my favorite local cheeses. They make their cheese on Fulton Ave and source their milk from Portage County (Cherry Lane Farm.)

My stand by appetizer of choice for last minute events where we need to bring something is to take a jar of PeppaDews (not local I know! I am going to play with growing peppers and making something similar this year) and an 8 oz container of their Chèvre. Let the cheese soften a little, put it in a piping bag and pipe a couple teaspoons of cheese into each pepper. So nice!

I found this article about them...

Remember if you like this type of post and want ones like it to continue, and the page on the website to expand, then email me suggestions!

Farm in the snow...

Here are some photos of our farm in the snow yesterday. If spring has already sprung then where is it?

Happy Easter...

I wish I could blog today about our wonderful local Easter meal. However, it is not to be. The items we are serving are sustainably grown, but with the exception of some local flour, local cream cheese, local milk, local butter, and potatoes from Michigan (not 100 miles by any chance.) We kind of got what we could get...

Easter is probably the holiday you need to plan for most deliberately for local items... I was going to serve a butternut squash soup, with the last of the butternuts from our garden last year. But alas when I cut into it it was not to be. We did not do well growing carrots last year, so we had none left in the ground to dig up for our carrot cake. We also ran out of beets and turnips long ago, so our roasted root crops will be organic, but not local...

Year by year we will get better at this eating local thing...

Future Farmer?

When my now 5 year old niece comes to visit the first thing she wants to do is go to the chicken coop and collect eggs. I will offer to make them for her but she looks shocked and says "NO!" As she holds the egg gently to her ear.

My sister says that they cannot buy eggs from the farmer's market, becuase she refuses to eat eggs that are not white.

For the longest time we thought she was hugging them, but then we realized that she was in fact listening to the egg,to hear the baby chick.

We had to explain to her that, as we have no daddy chicken there cannot be any baby chickens in the eggs. Not ever, it was OK to eat the eggs... But to this day she will only eat white eggs. We tell her that the color of eggs does not have anything to do with if chicks are inside.

I don't think she believes us still, just another adult trick to keep her from her own chickens!

This is the same child that told her mother a few weeks ago that she wanted to start a chicken farm in their backyard. When her mom told her no, she decided that a duck farm would be OK to...

When her mom told her no again she decided she needed to call her aunt (me) because I'm sure she thought that her farmer aunt would tell her mom it was OK for them to have chickens in their little backyard in on-base housing at Ft Campbell. I told her that chickens needed to live on a real farm, not on an army base. She then decided that she could have ducks instead, because they can be on base because they live in the pond.

When I told her that ducks needed water in their yard but she said that they could have her pool. And when I told her that they fly and could get away, she said they would a roof over their pen...

Maybe a future farmer? I felt so bad when I had to tell her "Well, I don't think your back yard is a good home for chickens or ducks, but ask your mom." I heard her ask and my sister say "No." And she seemed so deflated, it was sad... Her mom, sister and she will visit with us for a few weeks this summer, it should be lots of fun! We may even get her a couple chicks for when she is here...

Who knew I was trendy!

If anyone who really knows me reads this they will instantly deny my trendiness I am sure but according to this article in the New York Times I am! (Although I am in my early 30s, not late 20s, I will still consider myself a young farmer!)

I think it takes thinking outside the traditional agricultural box to have a good chance of making a living on the farm, which may be why young people from non-farming backgrounds are getting into the agriculture.

$4.00 plus a gallon...

Diesel is over $4.00 a gallon. Wow! When we started farming 6 years ago we could get offroad diesel for a quarter that. Now, our cost will be slightly less a gallon, as we use off road for our tractor (which is not taxed the same), but still our bill will be high this year for fuel, and will only get higher in coming years.

But think about your pain at the pump. Now think about the poor truckers who work as independent contractors (owner/operators) and move most of products across the country. In China they are rationing diesel! In the US all our truckers have to worry about is fuel at $1.25 more a gallon then last year! Many are going bankrupt all the time.

Think of the fields in California deserts where we grow produce for our Ohio grocery stores. Diesel powers the tractors that till and hill the fields. Diesel powers the pumps that bring water for irrigation to an arid region. Diesel powers the tractors that help pick the items, or pull processing stations. And then Diesel brings the product 75% of the way across the country so we can have a styrofoam tasting tomato or bland lettuce in March?

All this as the dollar continues to fall, further inflating the cost of oil. There may come a time in the very near future when, as opposed to being a luxury to eat local, it will be the economical choice. Towards that end as a society we need to learn to cook from "real food" and not from boxes. And we need to support our local farmers so we begin to build the infrastructure we need for when we really need it...

Spring weekend...

So this time of year the question becomes... WHERE DID THE WINTER GO!?!?!?

Really, where did it go? That May last frost date is bearing down and I feel pereptually behind, even when we are not. There are just a ton of activities that I could have done this winter, in an ideal world, and didn't. Things like building a new beautiful website, cleaning out the sorting shed, setting up a layout for our newsletter this year...

But, as long as the important things happen on or about schedule all will be well on the farm...

Milk Labeling update...

Well, it's not a victory but it is not a total defeat. The governor of Ohio issued an executive order which allows milk to be labeled as recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) free BUT (and this is a big but) the label must also contain a FDA disclaimer that “no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from rbST-supplemented and non-rbST supplemented cows.”

Also the milk is no longer allowed to say “no hormone,” “hormone-free,” “rbST-free” or “bST-free” instead the label will read “this milk is from cows not supplemented with rbST." I wonder if they are thinking Ohio consumers will never read an entire sentence. Little do they know that we who regularly read entire ingredient lists are out here! The dairy will have to take steps to prove it did not give it's cows rbST and this is what worries me, what form will this take? The state of Ohio has a tendency to be very hard handed with small diaries...

This emergency order is in effect for 90 days while the state writes up the final rules which are expected to mirror these.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to write or call about this issue. Your voice was heard, kind of. But in all reality if those who cared had not raised a stink when they tried to push this threw the week between Christmas and New Years we would (in all likelihood) be looking at a flat out ban on labeling.

Peel an egg fast!

Would this work? I don't know. But check it out, it is pretty cool...

http://www.fuvoo.com/FuvooPermaLink.aspx?PostID=360

Seed saving...

As we are leafing through the Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) Yearbook we are feeling some seed envy.

The book is 500 or so pages long, no pictures, just page after page of variety listings and the mysterious code that tells who has the seeds avilbale. OH WA H - Has - means that someone in Ohio with a last name strating in WA and a first name in H has the seed avilable for anyone (who is a member of SSE).

Seeing L.Q. on the end means that they have it in limited quanity and to get it you have to be a listed member (meaning you are offer seeds to others, which we are not this year) and M.R. means you have to promise to offer the seeds the next year (or in two years if it is bianneil.)

Anyway, the book is amazing to go through. Descriptions of item after item, antique apples, heirloom veggies of every description, and wondourous potatoes. More then once I gasped and yelled to my hubby "They have _____!" Fill in the blank. (I admit to being a seed nerd!)

But here is the the catch. None of the items are offered in commercial quanities. Of course not, the goal is to trade seeds for the purpose of seed saving, but that means I will need to save seeds. To be honest, my intrest in seed saving is not in the "easy" varities. The book has over 100 pages of tomatoes listed. I joked to my husband "I think the genetic diversity of our tomatoes are safe!" And honestly they appear to be.

No the things that intrest me are root crops. Turnips and beets and the like. To save the seeds we need to grow them year 1 and then in the fall dig up the roots, save the best of the roots all winter at 40 degrees and controled humidity and then in the spring replant it, at which point it will go to seed. All of this needs to be isolated by 1/2 to 1 mile from the closest adjacent variety of the same family. That is a lot more involved then the humble tomatoe or pepper.

So in 2008 we will save only a couple varieties for seed. The first will be rat tailed radishes, which I LOVE, and are avilable fewer places then they were just a few years ago. The second... I don't know, still decideing, maybe Gilfeather Turnips, an Ark of Taste variety.

But for now, until we have more time at the farm for fussy activities like seed saving, we will have to be satisfied (and so will our members) with varieties which are commercially avilable in large enough quantities, because the when you get something from SSE's yearbook you only get a few (20-30) seeds, which is not enough when you are talking turnips which we typically order in ounce multiples.

Snow and food...

With Friday& Saturday's snow storm, we like most other people in Northeast Ohio just hunkered down, stayed in and waited it out. Thankfully we had lots of yummy local provisions to make for a tasty couple of days, and with the snow, not much to do so I had the time to cook.

On Friday, I had a half a day of work, so as soon as I got home I took some of my local flour and started a pizza dough. Then I took out my "30 minute mozzarella" kit and tried my hand at making mozzarella for the very first time. We had local milk I was eager to try it on!

Now, by this time it was snowing pretty hard, and I did NOT want to have to go out and get cheese if this did not work, so it was a leap of faith. Thankfully, although I don't think it worked exactly right (my milk seemed to separate before it was supposed to) I did end up with something approximating cheese. Which I then, according to the instructions, gave several trips to the microwave, until it was so hot I could barley handle it, then knead and stretch until it got cool and harder to handle. Reheat and continue until shiny and it pulls like taffy. I eventually got to what I thought was this stage (on reflection I don't think it was.)

So I had mozzarella! Or something close enough that my hubby did not compain.

Then I took some ground pork I had from a local farmer and seasoned it. When it was cooked I threw in the last of my frozen sweet peppers from last year's garden and some mushrooms (if I had thought ahead I would have gotten some from Kilbruick Valley!) and cooked until the veggies were soft.

By then the dough had risen (gives you an idea of how long my 30 minute mozzarella took!) and I took a jar of my tomato sauce from last season, and used that with the pepper and sausage combination on the dough. Then I sliced the cheese as thin as I could, and put it on top. This is when I reallized how little cheese I had from the half gallon of milk! But it was enough for the pizza, so I was happy.

I have to say after 25 minutes on 425 degrees we had one heck of a good pizza! And the best thing is with the following exceptions all the ingredients were local: 1/2 of the flour was an organic white flour from Arrowhead Mills, the yeast was normal yeast, the olive oil was from California, the spices where from all over, the renant and salt for the cheese I have no clue on where they came from, and the mushrooms where from that most normal of places food comes from -- the grocrey store.

On Saturday as the snow continued to fall and it became evident that our street was a VERY low priority for plowing I started a stew. This was less local, but very good! We did have local grass feed stew meat and local potatoes, but the carrots, broth, wine and spices were all from non-lacal sources. This time next year I hope to be able to say I made the broth and the carrots were from our root cellar.

The path towards eating local is a slow one (at least for us) we are getting better at sourcing more of our ingredients locally, and are beginning to realize that we are lucky in that we have a wealth of products (including flour) available just a few counties away, it just takes a while to find all the sources and requires a change in mindset about how you buy food and what form it takes when you get it, and the work you put into making the meal... ((Oh, and use the Marco Polo rule :) ))

Bees...

I am so worried to see what will await us when I open our hives this spring...

Bees are still disappearing.

We have 3 boxes of bees on order, but at $60+ a box I just hope they can live into 2009... With 2 acres we wouldlike to have 4-8 hives. So, hopefully at least one of our hives actually makes it into this growing season...

Twitters..

Something new to try... I will try to post a line or two on Twitter (you are limited to 140 characters) a couple times a day saying what is going on at the farm. As more goes on I will post more often. You can pick if you join Twitter (which is free) to get the messages from Twitter's website, in your email, or sent to your phone as a text (standard text fees apply.)

So why not try it?

I will, of course, continue to blog but this is just a diffrent way for me to stay in touch with all our members, customers, and friends. It will also list my current twitter posts on the blog. So go either click on "Follow me on twitter" or go to http://twitter.com/ and look up CSA_farmer_girl, or email me and I will send you an invitation. Say you want to follow me and then you will see what is going on at the farm...

And who knows what else will be posted there? Extra suprises for people who respond to a specific twitter? Maybe...

Government subsidies...

I found this on Micheal Ruhlman's blog...

Commodity farmers discouraged from switching to higher value items?

"I’ve discovered that typically, a farmer who grows the forbidden fruits and vegetables on corn acreage not only has to give up his subsidy for the year on that acreage, he is also penalized the market value of the illicit crop, and runs the risk that those acres will be permanently ineligible for any subsidies in the future."

It would really be funny if it was not true! Wouldn't our food system be stronger, better, and need less subsidy if people could grow food they could make money on?

Think of it this way. You are a farmer who grows corn. The ONLY way your farm stays is subsidies. But you are staying afloat, just...

Now, you've heard that people who sell at farmer's markets actually can do well. That sounds great! You want to try. But will you if you know that if it does not work out (and there are lots of reasons it may not) you will never get subsidies on those acres again. Because you will not get those subsidies any corn you grow on those acres you will loose money on. So you will not grow on those acres again.

Would you take the risk?

Walking a dangourous line?

I was reading last night in "The Revolution will not be Microwaved" about laws against food disparagement. According to Ohio law ... "Disparagement" means the dissemination to the public in any manner of any false information that a perishable agricultural or aquacultural food product is not safe for human consumption."

And I am prohibited from disparaging any perishable agricultural product upon penalty of civil action. I wonder if any of my blog posts would be taken that way?

I am not saying that any FDA approved food product is unsafe, but rather that there may be safer options... I point readers back to this blog post where I discussed the Precautionary Principle and ask to reframe the question to what is the safest option, for us, our children, and the world we live in.

Will GMO foods hurt you? Probably not, most defiantly not in any short term, but might they harm bees or contaminate our native species on a genetic basis? Possibly, and once the harm is done it is irrevocable.

So the question is for you. Does that constitute disparagement?

2008 CSA full...

Our 2008 CSA is officially full...

We may still offer some spaces mid summer, if we have enough stuff, so please let us know if you would be interested in those spaces (we are building that waiting list now.)

Thanks to everyone for their interest in our farm. If you did not get in our CSA we will be at the Peninsula Market this summer, and plan to expand again in 2009 (if we don't mid season this year) so please do contact us.

Thanks for everyone's support of local food. Together we can change our food economy and food system...

Seeds ordered!

All of our seed is finally ordered! Yeah!

Now we just need to order our potatoes and onions and we will be done.

There is also a nice new seeder in our future, and we have just purchased a small hoop house and delivery van (which was a huge deal!) So this has been the week to spend money!

That is why CSAs are so nice for the farmer, because our members pay their deposits up front to help pay for things like our $1,000 seed bill in February when we are months from having anything to sell...

So thanks to all our CSA members! This will be a great year...