Butternut Squash Soup

Big, beautiful butternut is here!

With a little work, you can turn this solid block of fall-time goodness into a marvelous, creamy puree that's wonderfully versatile. It's wonderful in soups, chili, or even pie! You can try this super simple soup on a chilly day. The recipe is slightly adjusted from Bon Appetit: Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients

• 1 butternut squash

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cups thinly sliced onion
• 1/2 tablespoon golden brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 2 1/2cups (or more) chicken or veggie broth
• Fresh sage sliced into thin ribbons

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F. Oil baking sheet. Place squash on baking sheet. Bake until squash is very soft, about 50 minutes. Using paring knife, remove peel from squash; discard peel. Cut squash into 2-inch pieces. Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-low heat. Mix in onion, brown sugar, ginger, garlic and cinnamon. Cover pot and cook until onion is tender, about 15 minutes. Add squash and 5 cups chicken broth. Bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Discard cinnamon.

Working in batches, purée soup in blender. Season soup with salt and pepper. Bring to simmer, thinning soup with more broth if necessary. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with sage and serve.

Eggplant and Greens

Our eggplants are hanging on! They took so long to get going and now they're still bearing fruit late into fall. This is perfect for one of my favorite recipes: Aubergines and Greens. The recipe comes from one of my favorite food blogs, My New Roots. The dish is wonderful served with a side of rice, quinoa, or other grain and olives for salty snacking.

Aubergine n’ Greens
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 large aubergines
plenty of fresh greens  (arugula, watercress, spinach, purse lane)
olive oil
good finishing salt, such as Maldon
fresh mint
goat’s feta (cow feta also works)
liquid honey
3 Tbsp. sesame seeds
pinch crushed chili flakes
1 lemon
Spicy Tahini Sauce (see recipe below)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 °F/200°C.
2. Toast sesame seeds in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant. Remove from pan to cool.
2. Cut each aubergine in half lengthwise. Score across the flesh on a 45° angle and then repeat in the other direction to achieve a diamond pattern (this allows the steam to escape). Drizzle lightly with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and roast in the oven for 35-40 minutes until the flesh is very soft and golden.
3. While the aubergines are roasting, make the Spicy Tahini Sauce.
4. Remove aubergines from the oven, crumble a bit of feta on each half and turn on the broiler. Broil just until the cheese softens and takes on some colour (watch the aubergines carefully so they don’t get too dark). Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
5. Serve aubergines on a bed of greens doused with lemon juice. Sprinkle with roasted sesame, crushed chili flakes, flaky salt, lots of mint, a generous drizzle of honey and the Spicy Tahini Sauce.

Spicy Tahini Sauce
Makes about 1 cup/225ml
Ingredients:
1/3 cup/80ml tahini
1 large clove garlic
1 ½ Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
¼ tsp. crushed chili flakes (or to taste)
pinch of salt
1 tsp. honey (or agave)
water to thin
Directions:
In a food processor or blender, add all ingredients and blend on high until smooth. Add water to thin to desired consistency (I added almost 2/3 cup water). Remember that this sauce is meant to drizzle, so it shouldn’t be thick and gloppy. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Braising Greens

Come fall time, the many plump round fruits of summer wane and are replaced by many leafy wonders. You'll often find a bag of "braising mix" tucked into your box, and for many people, they're a totally new concept. Sure, you've heard that people in the south eat collard greens, and you've probably had spinach out of a can, but this mix in your box is much snazzier! There is probably mizuna, choi, mustard, collards, tat soi, kales, and other dark leafy greens.

These greens are jam-packed with fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and flavor. If you're super into veggies, try tossing them into your salad. They have a lot of texture and hold up being soaked in dressing for days. If you're not super into veggies, or green leafy things at least, don't feel bad- I'm not either. I know they're good for me, we should eat more, but... I just have a hard time with salad. NEVER FEAR! Braise 'em! With a little oil, garlic, and heat you transform your giant bag of greens into a manageable and delicious side dish.

Basic Braised Greens

2 tablespoons olive oil (or your choice of fat/oil- bacon is really nice!)
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Several hand fulls of braising greens (pile your pan high, it'll wilt!)

Wash and cut greens into ribbons or large chunks. Heat pan with oil and add garlic until just before it browns, about a minute. Add greens and cook until color just deepens, about two minutes for chewy greens or until they start losing their structure for a more spinachy finish.

These greens make a perfect bed for a nice cut of meat or filet of fish or a mix in for pasta or grains. Feel free to play with this recipe- it's very basic. It's nice to add a splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, or starting the oil with browned onions.

First Sales!

I've hit the ground running! Amidst graduation from Farm Academy, the last harvest at Food Bank Farmers, my wife, Tarra taking her Professional Engineer Exam, and life in general- PSG and I have made our first sales! Several thousand root veggies have made their way to the Food Bank. We sent off red cherry radishes and white Japanese turnips that are waiting to be handed out at a Kids Farmers Market.

We also have four beds of lettuces, arrowhead cabbage, Chinese cabbage, scarlet and white turnips that will likely come up and be sent to the Food Bank in the coming week, and another few beds of lettuce and cabbage that just went  in the ground that we'll likely get out to the Food Bank in November.

You may be wondering: What on earth do you do with turnips and radishes? Good question. Honestly, I am not a huge fan myself. BUT, I do have a humble suggestion:

This "Browned Butter Baby Turnips" recipe from Food52 is as easy as it is tasty!

Serves 2

•  1 bunch baby turnips
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 pinch salt

1. Trim the tops and tails from the baby turnips (if they are in good shape, reserve the greens for a stir fry or gomae). Rinse the turnips, quarter the bigger ones and halve the small ones, so that you have about a cup of equally sized pieces.
2. Heat a small skillet and melt the butter. Add the turnips and a pinch of salt and cook them over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, for about ten minutes until the are very nicely browned all over and the butter has browned to a nutty flavor. Serve warm.

May I also suggest, if you're offended by the natural spiciness of radishes and turnips- adding some maple syrup to the brown butter a few minutes before they're done.  Sometimes, a little butter isn't bad if it means you'll eat your veggies.

 In other news: I have started selling CSA boxes! Right now I am offering a medium sized box for $15.  We'll run pretty low on things come the dead of winter and I'll probably stop the boxes for a few weeks until we start getting the spring harvests. Right now I am jumping into the CSA garden late in the season so I don't want to promise a lot- I would rather over-deliver than over-charge! Starting in the spring there will be quite a bit more in the boxes and I'll bump the price up accordingly to $20. I also offer bi-weekly boxes if you're not a huge veggie eater also.  A box next week would likely have: 3 heads of lettuce, 2 servings of braising greens, Japanese turnips, winter squash, beets and/or carrots, and onions or garlic. Box contents vary widely! Here is a visual: 

Please feel free to email me at: TenderHeartFarms@gmail.com for more info!

With Silver Bells and Cockle Shells...

I've talked a lot of talk about farming both here and in the past year of my life. I have been forming this dream carefully to avoid the careless mistakes I've made before in choosing my life path. We've talked about how I see farming as a powerful tool and myself as a powerful actor to change the world around us and I've painted a pretty picture that looks and sounds great on paper. But how am I actually going to grow this change I am talking about?

I have given this an enormous amount of thought. It should be no shock to you that choosing a life of ethos doesn't pay well. It may come as a shock to you that farming doesn't pay well either. Really? Aren't organic vegetables expensive? Aren't you benefiting from that extra margin? Nope. Organic farming means we don't spray our weeds, we cultivate either with a tractor, or in my case on such a small scale, a hoe. Many, many hours are spent hand seeding, hand watering, hand transplanting, hand weeding, hand harvesting...so by the time my humble head of lettuce reaches your salad bowl, there's not a lot to show for all these hours (except for awesome biceps of course-not complaining!) So, if selling to those who can afford it doesn't make much, how on earth are you going to get food to the people who need it the most?

Fantastic question. I've got a few ideas I'd like to try someday, but for now I am on the low side of a decade long learning curve of farming, so I think I'll keep things simple. I think I can break my farming into 3 enterprises in the next year that will both keep me crazy busy, continuing to learn, building a community, earning enough money, and serving the under-served.

First, let's talk about community. You're here now reading on as I blather, so that's a great start! I'd like this blog to be a central point in my community- a place to come and talk about challenges, triumphs, new things to learn and do, share recipes, and learn from each other. My biggest audience will likely come from CSA subscribers. You get your box of veggies and I'll yarn you a tale here about them. I have always found food to be more satisfying and even taste better when it has a story to tell. So, currently working with Alain of Full Circle Farm (that also operates on Pacific Star Gardens' property) is the first enterprise of Tender Hear. Over this next year, I plan to learn what it takes to cultivate an acre growing over 60 different vegetables in a way that makes 7-12 of them available at any given moment. So, with a CSA, I plan to build my community.

Second, paying for my vegetable habit. So, vegetable farming doesn't make much money. Fine. I'm still going to do it because it's important, but I need something with higher margins to make this all pen out. This is where my creativity is a gift. Value added items from a farm generally are what pay the bills. It's the salves, sugar scrubs, flavored salts, jams, flower wreaths and bouquets, and the like that make any sense to make. So, come spring time, I plan to be waist deep in herbs and flowers. It'll be fun anyway- who doesn't like smelling delicious or easily adding amazing depth of flavor to a meal with a simple sprinkle of herbs? That's not a hard sell!

Third, getting veggies to those who need it most. For the moment, solving our hunger problem in the U.S. is en vogue. This means there is an enormous, and necessary, effort to make this possible. In a joint venture, I have teamed up with PSG to grow veggies for both the Yolo County Food Bank and a local school district. Both entities have recently launched campaigns to get their patrons and students more fresh foods. The Food Bank hosts Kids Farmers Markets in low-income schools. After school, the students come to a common area where the Food Bank has set up tables just like a market, and the kids get "funny money" to "buy" their veggies (great opportunity to teach life skills too!) and they are able to take home several pounds of great fresh foods to their families. The local school district we're working with is working too to incorporate more fresh foods. They are trying to look at what they are serving and see if they can't make it from scratch from locally sourced foods. We are all too happy to get veggies to both of these organizations to help with their projects.

So, that is my intention for the next year. I'll keep you informed, and hopefully entertained as we move through each venture as to how things are taking shape. I've got big dreams I am working towards- a full diet farm with beer, milk, eggs, meat, veggies, grains, beans, flour, and all those value added things. BUT, let's start small and see where we get to!

Here is a great documentary to check out!: A Place at the Table

Growing the Change

I have always wanted to change the world. I have lived every day of my life in reflection of the Ghandi quote, "Be the change you wish to see in the world". I ride my bike, use re-useable grocery and produce bags, shop local, eat seasonal, recycle, volunteer... but it never felt like enough. What could I do that would make a bigger change?

 I started working together the many concerns I had about the world. In my country, bodies aren't being taken care of. Children are simultaneously obese and mal-nourished. The average person eats 60% of their calories from refined foods that are known to cause negative health effects. Poor people are often the ones eating the worst because the worst kind of calories are cheapest and sometimes good foods are often hard to come by when you can afford them. Our environment is a wreck. Our waters are full of poisons, our air sometimes chokes us and damages our lungs, our natural habitats are being obliterated, our biodiversity is dwindling, and our good soils we have left are being built upon. Our wealth is out of balance. Money raised in a community often doesn't stay there, and many people work and work, and it's never enough to catch up. We are going to have more people on the earth than we can feed the way we grow food and the foods we choose to eat.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed, to be depressed, and it's easy to not think about it at all because it's just too much to do. What if I told you though that I think I have an answer that will work on ALL of that ALL at once? Think I'm crazy? I might be, but I am not wrong. It's all about FOOD. We choose every day to put something on our plate, and each choice has an enormous impact.  We can choose to have a better world! I see that our choices impact 3 categories: Health, the Environment, and Community.

First, our health is paramount. Without it, not much else matters. There are many different sources telling us how to be healthy and what that means and a multi-billion dollar industry waiting to sell it to you in a bottle. My answer is simple- whole foods produced organically, locally, and in season. I want to grow food that meets those needs. Vegetables and fruit quickly lose nutrition the moment they are picked. So, seasonal produce is much more healthy than sweet corn from Mexico in the dead of winter. You have a better chance of getting that nutrition buying direct from a farmer, a farmer's market, or even from a store if you buy in season. I want to bring you this food. But, what happens when I put a rutabega in your hands? Do you even know what it is? Do you like it? What do you do with it? I want to teach you.

Second, our environment is the only one we have. I want to care for it. By farming sustainably, we can ensure that our land keeps providing for us in a way that never takes more than it gives. I will not pour artificial anythings into the soil so it can leach into the ground-water. I will spray no toxic poisons that may hurt you, the other bugs, nor create super-bugs.  I will treat my animals, and your food with respect. Chickens will run and roll in the dirt and pigs will wallow and keep their tails. None of them will ever eat prozac or caffeine (unless they steal mine). I want to farm a better relationship with our planet.

Lastly, we need to rebuild our communities. I want to be a part of yours. When we buy local, our money stays with us and helps create wealth in our own backyards. We come to know our neighbors as we visit their shops and buy their products and produce. Our food especially doesn't magically appear on a flourecent lit sales-floor, dirt free. It instead is handed to us by the hard working hands that coaxed it from seed, weeded it, fretted over it, and picked and packed it for you. When we understand this, our food becomes more valuable as do the people who grew it, and everyone benefits.

I want to be your farmer. I want to grow this change I wish to see in the world. I want to teach you how to feed your bodies, your communities, and be a champion for our planet.

Becoming a Farmer

 What do you think of when I say the word "Farmer"? I am sure there's a large difference in the images that come to the minds of those of you who know a farmer and those who don't. I bet a whole lot of money though, that the first flash was of an older white male for all of you. You're not wrong to think that either. In Yolo County, where I farm, only 11% of farms are owned and operated by a female, and nation-wide the average age of a farmer is 58. So, as a young lady farmer, I am reminded frequently that what I am doing is rocking some boats. Good. That's what I came here to do. But first, how did I even get here?

I have had a long, colorful arc of experience that brought me to farming. It's taken me through 3 degrees (Fine Arts, Biology, and International Relations) and more strange jobs than most people have in their lives (Pedi-cab driver, hotel room cleaner, group-home counselor, fast-food worker, grocery clerk, produce clerk, food-bank donations manager, canvasser... and those are just the paid ones). I was young, ambitious, passionate, idealistic, and so very confused. I put all of my eggs into the Peace Corps basket figuring I would throw it up to the Universe- let it decide where I should be and what I should be doing. I was through the whole year-long process, waiting for my invitation when reality crept in. Very long story-short, my then fiance became my wife ( and the PC at that time did not send same-sex couples together) and I took a good look at what deferring my loans would look like when I came back. My desperate attempt at making someone else responsible for my future didn't really blow up in my face as much as it deflated like a sad balloon.


So, there I was, a UC grad working the same minimum wage job that got me through college- after college. I sulked watching my wife look for a year for a job with her Master's in Civil Engineering, and shuddered at my prospects. My resume reflected my gypsy like interests and lack of commitment but distracted from my actual talents and accomplishments. In a better time in history, my best chance would have been a paid internship, but those don't really exist anymore- and if they did- I sure couldn't find one. I was at square one, with a bad attitude to boot.

What the hell was I going to do with myself? I couldn't stand being beaten down and staying there. It's just not in my nature. Every time I hit a dead end, I found another dream and sought it with vigor (thus the many non-related degrees and bizarre array of jobs). But, what job is going to pay me to act on my morals, give me freedom to shape my day-to-day activities, feed my interest for ever-changing projects, play on my talents of cooking, help me to reach out to various communities to help them make more educated choices about what they buy and eat, let me take dog-petting breaks- a nap even, force me to learn, let me be an environmental steward and educator, and be happy? It seems obvious now, but it took awhile to find my answer: a farmer.

The answer had been there all along. My junior and senior year projects in high school were about organic farming, I interned at Davis with the Kids in the Garden project, I helped start a food pantry on campus, I had been trying to start a community garden that donated food at community college, and my passion for food was always evident. I enrolled in the California Farm Academy and starting going out more regularly to a small, organic farm I had been volunteering with. I took a job with a project growing food with volunteer labor in order to donate and acre-and-a-half of vegetables to the food bank. As I kept farming, the light kept getting brighter. It all started falling together. As a farmer I found that all of those things I was looking for in a career and I really liked doing it. It is starting to feel like this is where I had been headed all along.

Now that I am here and I have you with me, I am so excited about the things we're going to accomplish together.  It was important to me to not only share the story of my path here with you, but also to share how I found that life isn't always linear or logical, and to find yourself you just have to be out and doing. You have to try EVERYTHING that sounds interesting to find the one thing that makes your soul sing. The world absolutely needs more of people doing things that make them happy. We should all be seeking Bliss and sharing the bits we glean when we do.