Direct Seeding, Caprese, and Pho

Hey folks, you know what's up at this point. I'm totes busy, but this is important, so I am going to make the effort! This blog will be short, sweet, and educational. I am going to share 3, yes 3! recipes this blog. Things are changing quick as summer veggies are coming on! I want to make sure you're enjoying the bounties of summer! Please let me know if you try any and like (or hate) them!

But first, I'd like to share something about the farm first. I find food tastes better when it comes with a story!

There is a lot of direct seeding in the summer. There really isn't too much need for plants to be started in the green house and many summer plants, like the cucurbits, don't like their roots disturbed. Our seeding kit here has our high-tech seeder, a box we keep the seeds clean and organized to transport to the field, and some paper for a field map. The seeder is great for when you do amounts of small seed, say 10' of big seeds, that your other seeders won't even pick up. As a small farmer, you sometimes have to be clever; you're doing things on a bigger than garden scale so seed by seed crouched over isn't practical, but even small seeders aren't meant to handle such small amounts. This is where funnels duct taped to pvc pipe come in. Works like a charm!

I planted some amazing beans this summer. I tried some of these winged beans from a farmers market vendor last year and fell in love. I hope they work because I can't wait to share them with you!

Look how funny these guys are!

For big seeds, like squash here, scuffling a bit of dirt out of the way every two feed is perfect. The funnel planter allows you to do this with the pipe end, and drop seeds in without bending over. My knees are grateful. You'll notice we are planting into moist soil. Once the seeds are in I go back with a hoe and scratch about 1" of wet soil on top tamp it down, then scoot some dry soil on top for a dust mulch. The moist soil is for covering the seed to help it sprout, the patting down helps compact the soil so water will wick across, and the dust mulch helps keeps weeds down and crust away ( a bad crust will wick moisture away from the plant and up to the top where it is lost).

Here are squash "hills" ready to be covered! Who's excited for flying saucer squash? Patty pan? 8 ball?!

Here are the little beans just days later! Soon, they'll need to be trellised and will be making us dinner in no time at all! 

This week I want to share 3 recipes. Two are iterations of caprese, a summer staple in my house. It's magic to chop up dinner without lighting the stove! The third is Pho. It does require you to light a fire, but man, is it worth it! It is a slight interpretation of a recipe from My New Roots.

Caprese

Tomatoes- Sliced Thick

Fresh Mozzarella- Sliced

Basil- leaves and flowers

Olive oil

Assemble! Add toast and an egg for breakfast! Feel free to add: balsamic, onions, garlic,or  other herbs.

Eggplant Caprese

Grilled Eggplant

Dill

Ricotta Salata –or-

Feta

Olive oil

Grill Eggplant, assemble! Feel free to riff here too!  Smoke your eggplant! Change the herb, use minted yogurt! 

Pho

Broth:

2 lbs. / 1 kg onion (white, yellow, red…)

1.5 oz / 50g fresh ginger

1 Tbsp. fennel seeds

3 black cardamom pods (green cardamom also works)

3 star anise

5 whole cloves

½ tsp. black peppercorns

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp. coriander seeds

Buckwheat Noodles
 

Boil in half a gallon of water with salt to taste. Strain after one hour of boiling. Add cooked Buckwheat noodles.

Add ins (chop and steam as desired):

Leafy greens (kale, spinach, chard, arugula, chois)

Crunchies (carrots, broccoli, kohlrabi, turnips, cabbage)

Soft Veg (tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, mushrooms)

Green Onions (or spring onions, leek flowers)

Sprouts

Lime

Go to town! I like to cook my veggies first before adding, just to maintain the taste of the broth. Steam 'em, roast 'em, grill 'em, then toss 'em in! Feel free to add what you have on hand! For early summer try:

Basil, chard, spring onions, cabbage, zucchini, and tomatoes!

Falling with Style, Fried Peppers and Taters, and Late Spring Kale Salad

There's a quote on the bathroom mirror at the Ramming's: "We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities". It's sort of the farm's unofficial motto. We're working on trying to look at things in with the lens of, "Ooh, there is so much to do- so there is so much to choose from!" It seems to give my blood pressure a rest to see things that way anyway.

We've been dreaming of one of these future opportunities quite a lot lately! We've been mulling over the prospect of something akin to a beer CSA. Here is a picture from some "field research" we did with a local home-brewer.

We were told that drinking beer while making beer is a rule. The other rule was that you had to eat snacks. It was as awful as it sounds. In just a few weeks we'll have a strawberry blonde and apricot wheat ale made with our own fruit!

Even though summer isn't officially here, I am just a half a bed away from having the whole summer garden planted out. Our last round of tomatoes and melons are going out soon too. In no time at all winter squash is going out and the fall crop plan is tugging at the back of my mind. Which is all kinds of nonsense to my "normal-job"-oriented brain.

Speaking of not normal...This was left at the farm stand for us. Note the sticker. It starts with a PLU of 4, making it conventional, so-not ours (thank heavens). What on earth is this you ask? Good question. Looks to me like the seeds inside sprouted. Why? No clue. Freaky though!

Another thing to get used to- using a Carrolla to deliver produce. Or, driving a giant truck to the farmers market in Hello Kitty shoes, riding an ATV in a dress, having drip tape rolls on your kitchen floor, and harvest tubs in your living room. It comes with the territory I suppose. You make do with what you have though.

This is 200 pounds of tomatoes that I took into the Sacramento Food Bank this morning! Delivered like a boss.

It seems that a lot of farming is run by the seat of your pants and making do with what you have; Buzz Lightyear's "falling with style" methodology comes to mind. Don't get me wrong, there is planning. So, so much planning. I'll share a spreadsheet with you sometime. Though, the first casualty of the season is always the plan. Beds might not be the right length you had assumed, your germination might be terrible or better, the weather might conspire against you, bugs, family issues...life really. What makes you a good farmer though is your ability to adapt. Let's be honest, everyone can grow vegetables. Yes, even on this scale. I am sure I could even teach you to work a tractor in a weekend.

But, what makes you successful? At this scale, it's your personality. Sure, I am physically exchanging vegetables for money, but I am selling ideas, passions, ideals and the like. You have a lot to choose from in the veggie market, at least in Northern California. But, why did you choose me? We're most likely friends or acquaintances or you're my wife's co-worker...point is you met me somewhere and liked what I did and wanted to support me. You believe in what we're trying to do and you choose my stall at the market, my veggie box, my farm stand to visit out of the dozens of choices you have.

I am thankful to have the support of you all as customers. I do try to make a special effort to make sure that you are happy with your veggies, feel in the loop with what is going on at the farm, are learning new things all the time, and are making your way through your veggie box.

To help you find your way through this one, since it is starting to have more summer things that I haven't shared recipes for, I'll share two this week. The first is a copy cat recipe from Hook and Ladder in Sacramento. Tarra and I like to treat ourselves every blue moon to their delicious cocktails and tasty eats. They make the best fries and fried shishito plate that we can't bring ourselves to resist! They serve it with fries, but I think country potatoes are easier to pull off at home.

Peppers and Taters

3 potatoes, cubed
1 medium onion, diced
2 handfuls frying peppers
Lemon
Salt

Heat a cast iron skillet for several minutes on high. Add the oil and wait until it shimmers. Cube potatoes and chop onion. Add the two and fry until browned. Remove from the pan. Reheat the pan and add more oil. Fry peppers until ½ of their surface area is charred. Serve on top of potatoes. Spritz with lemon juice add salt!

Pepper and Tater Sauce

Mayo/Sour Cream/yogurt

Hot sauce

Use your condiment of choice or a mix- add hot sauce and dip your fried goodies. Fry an egg to top this off and BAM- dinner

This next recipe is one of my favorite ways to "enjoy" kale. I know it's terrific for you, but does it have to be so...green tasting? This salad will knock your socks off and make you forgive kale for the moment, or love it even more if you were already a convert to the ways of this superfood. 

Late Spring Kale Salad

1 bunch kale, massaged and torn into small pieces
1 bunch basil, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1 small head cabbage (or 1/2 a medium one), shredded
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 spring onions, diced
1 lemon
Salt

Massage kale with your fat of choice. Prep all veggies and toss into a bowl. Salt to taste and squeeze lemon over the whole shebang. Let sit for at least an hour to let flavors mingle (this is called maceration, look at you being all fancy!). Dress salad with your favorite dressing. I recommend:

Avocado Lime Dressing 
 
2 cloves garlic
3 limes, juiced
1/2 of a bunch of cilantro
1 avocado
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1 jalapeno- optional



Toss everything in a blender and GO! Thin with milk if desired. Salt to taste.

Harvesting a Seed Crop and Purslane Salsa

It's been a long time since we've talked, I know.  People warned me farming was hard. Summer is the hardest part. Call it naivety, call it willful ignorance, call it a lack of imagination...whatever it was, I don't think I knew what was coming. It's here, it's really hard, and I am learning some important things about myself, my marriage, and my passion and what all of those are REALLY made out of. I try in this blog to include you in my experience without complaining. I am trying really hard to balance my narrative and keep it informative and entertaining. I feel like spring and summer are making that really hard. We'll make it through, I just need everyone's continuing support! Also lemonade, I wouldn't mind a kind face with a lemonade and a thank you for what you're doing. Anyone? Anyone? Bueler?


One of the things I have found hard to have good humor about lately is the heat. Yes, even when it is blisteringly hot, we have to be outside working. For us, our motivation is us being still a bit behind and trying to get caught back up. So what on earth is a crazy person like me doing in 100*+ heat? Well, one thing we've been up to lately is harvesting our seed crop. We grew some beautiful mizuna this past fall and winter and let it go to seed. The seed pods have only recently dried out and need to be harvested. It's a pretty cool process, hard to explain- so here are some pictures!

Here is a combine. Also, here is Robert driving it! It is a wonderful, terrifying machine.

This brown dry looking stuff is old mizuna that's gone to seed. Also weeds, the ever-present farm accessory. This will get harvested too, but because they're green, they aren't viable and will get sifted out when we sort out the seeds. Here you can see the front end of the combine cutting the stalks. Those fingers on the wheel turn and help scoop up the mizuna.

The cut mizuna stalks travel up that slanted arm out on the front of the combine. There is a belt that helps pull it up too.

Here is a buttload of mizuna getting pulled into what I understand to be something like a bill feeder on a vending machine. Although this one grinds the snot out of anything that comes through it.

This is the back of the combine. All the extra stalks, leaves, seed pods and other plant parts (called chaff) are blown out the back here. It gets pretty intense so I like to wear a mask to keep as much chaff out of my lungs as possible. This does not keep me from finding it in my pockets, shoes, down my shirt, or in my hair...

Once you have about half seeds and half chaff sorted out, the sifting and winnowing begins. That is a whole other process for a whole other day!

Today though, let's make salsa! Have you ever tried napoles salsa? Napoles are de-thorned cactus paddles that are sometimes cured and sold in a jar or used fresh in salsa. They're a bit like okra or purslane in their texture. I can't think of a nice way to say it...but they're slimy. This gave me the recipe for this week's recipe swapping out napoles for purslane. Nothing against napoles, I am sure they're nutritious, but purslane is out of this world nutritious! It is jam-packed with Omega-3 fatty acids, antioxidants, minerals, vitamins...oh my! Also, we don't have napoles yet, we have purslane. Let's use what we've got!

Purslane Salsa

Purslane Salsa

1 lb Purslane

1 Small Red Onion

2-3 Green Onions

2 Limes

2 Large Tomatoes

1 Small Bunch Cilantro

Hot Peppers and Salt as desired

Mince veggies, chop tomatoes, juice limes, and mix! BAM! Delicious! Serve with chips and a cold beer in the shade!

*Feel free to embellish!

-add avocado

-Roast your tomatoes

-Use different onions

-Use lemons instead of limes

-Add re-hydrated chilies

Let me know what you think!