Kitsap Farm to Fork

Busy canning, freezing and putting up right now.  I keep meaning to put together a blog post, and I have composed 100s in my head, but regretfully they haven’t come up with a way to plug the USB cord into my head!

While I am neglecting my farm to fork responsibilities you have the chance this fall for a REAL Farm to Fork experience at the Kitsap Community and Agricultural Alliance Harvest Dinner on September 14th.  Whether you are looking for a cool date night, want wonderful local food prepared with care and attention to detail by talented chefs, or are looking for a chance to rub shoulders with the local farmers who feed us, the Harvest Dinner is the place to be!

Came across this column in the Tacoma News Tribune about shortcake suppers.  She talks about her grandmother cooking for the farm crew and it struck a cord in me because I grew up helping my mother put on the big spread for farm workers and cooking for the hay crew happens at our house too!  When I was growing up my dad had 3-4 good farm friends he swapped labor with for things like haying and chopping silage.  Each farmer had a couple pieces of machinery (tractors, mowers, wagons, forage harvesters) and they would share machinery and help each other at crucial times of the year.  The really cool thing is that each farmer did slightly different things – one was a dairy farmer – another raised beef cattle – so their busy times were not at the SAME time!

As my Dad and the other farmers traveled from place to place doing the big, shared work projects like haying and silage, the wives would always put on the big spread for lunch.  In the 70s there wasn’t many arenas where women competed – except in the kitchen.  Title IX was a few years away and most women were relegated to pink collar jobs.  But, in the domestic domain it was full-contact homemaking!  Just like the Amish women at barn-raising events, the tables would be groaning under the weight of baked goods and breads, mashed potatoes, gravy, roast beef…and dessert!  Cobblers, cakes, and PIES!

Now, my Dad was a bit of a joker and he liked to egg people on.  So, when they were having lunch at Charlie’s and Marion was feeding them he would say things like, “Well, you know, at Hank’s last week we had apple and lemon meringue pie!”  Sure enough, the next day Marion would produce, apple, lemon meringue AND cherry (with ice cream!)  It is a wonder they ever got any work done given the amount they ate, but they were also doing hard physical labor and could justify the big meals.

At our house we typically feed the helpers who work with us on hay deliveries.  Sometimes we have 3-4 of them on busy days so dinner is a big, sit down affair.  On Saturday we do a big farm breakfast for everyone who shows up by 8:30 in the morning.  Last week we had eggs, sausage gravy, fried potatoes, toast and jam.  I do this as a carry-over from the tradition when I was growing up.  And the crew is always grateful which provides a reward for the work of cooking for them.  While I don’t have other farm wives to contend with in a contest of pie-baking skills I need to be careful because occasionally a mom will ask “So, what did you feed them this week?” in a my-kid-seems-to-like-your-cooking-a-bit-too-much tone of voice.  But the fact remains, I like to cook for an appreciative audience.  The other night we had one of our former helpers who was home to visit family for the 4th call and say that he was coming over to help us for a couple hours for old time’s sake and the last thing he told my husband was  ”….and I will stay for supper!”  Game on!

The 2012 Dark Days Challenge is upon us.  Shannon, who is more motivated to participate in these sort of things than I, signed us up.  And then today, she had a dinner failure.  So, it falls to me to keep our end up.  Good thing that we had a decent dinner tonight.  Those Sundays when we eat left-overs, chips and salsa and scrambled eggs for dinner don’t really make for a very convincing blog about sustainable, local or organic meals….all winter long.

During late summer and early fall the blog world is full of folks posting about eating local, 100-mile diets, 100-foot meals…ad infinitum.  Now, I am not a complete zealot like the 100-mile folks.  I am not going to run down to Scenic Beach and dip water out of the Hood Canal to evaporate and make sea salt.  We grow and raise about 90% of what we eat and I cook from scratch much of the time – which upon reflection makes me sound sort of Amish which isn’t the case (the bonnet not withstanding) – but let’s just say we are less dependent upon the grocery store than the average family.

Frankly, during that time of year I am too busy canning, freezing, picking, weeding, feeding, milking, and mucking to blog about what we are eating.  I think about blogging a lot while I am doing those things!  But until they develop the technology for me to plug a USB port unto my ear and download all those great blog posts composed in my head it isn’t happening.  The really interesting thing about those days in the garden and nights canning and freezing is that I am doing all the time consuming and hard work associated with warm winter meals.  Beans frozen in August take minutes to heat for dinner in December.  Tomatoes blanched and canned in September make pasta dishes in minutes for mid-week meals – garlic harvested in July is Fettuccine Alfredo when I have  a yen for something rich and creamy.

So, as we kick off the “Dark Days Challenge” I thought it would be interesting to go back in time and take a look at the genesis of tonight’s dinner!

The menu -

• Pork Chops – the last of the chops from a hog butchered last spring.  We buy piglets from a neighbor, fatten them on extra milk and grain and butcher about twice a year.  We don’t buy any extra meat and eat out of our freezer all the time so we go through a whole hog, half a beef, 20 or so broilers and 10-15 stewing hens a year.
• Smashed red potatoes – from the garden with fresh cream and salt and pepper.
• Milk gravy – pan drippings, milk and Shepherd’s Grain Washington grown white flour!
• Sauerkraut with apples and onions – we had great plans to collaborate on the ‘kraut this summer but the day we were planning on doing it I got side-tracked so Shannon made it.  She jump-started the fermentation with whey from some homemade yogurt and it has a wonderful zing to it.  The King apples were picked at my mom’s house right before Thanksgiving and the onions were from the garden.  I season it with a bit of brown sugar, pepper and caraway and saute until caramelized.  Very tasty.
• Applesauce – from Mom’s apples.  I typically can 15-20 jars – need to get around to doing that.
• Pickles – dutch spears made from the abundant cucs we planted last spring.  This is a refrigerator pickle recipe that I got from The Joy of Pickling.  I only made a few because I didn’t know if we would like them.  Need to make more next year!  Sweet, tart and spicy!
• Green beans – from the garden.
• Milk – from Ellie
• Raspberry Juice – from the berry patch

And the best part about this meal?  It was a meal eaten around our family table with my husband and children, we were truly grateful for the bounty of our life, and were able to talk and laugh as we enjoyed the fruits of our labor.  Regardless of whether your food comes from 100 miles or 1000 miles from your home, if you are unable to eat with the people you love, they are dark days indeed!

Chris Henry posted my recipe for Chicken Cacciatore over on Peninsular Thinking as a follow up to her story on our Chickens 101 class.  That is my favorite recipe for stewing hens, but Harley suggested his favorite was this chicken stew and dumpling recipe.  It is pretty good too.  It is from Chefs on the Farm featuring the Quillisascut Farm School with photographs by Harley.  Check out the review here.  This is a “spring” stew because it features chives.  Winter variations can feature dried herbs or sage or rosemary as well.

Place a large (or two small) stewing hen in a pot with 1 onion, 3 stalks celery, 3 large carrots, two bay leaves, sage, thyme, parsley and 1 Tbsp pepper corns.  Simmer 2-3 hours on low.  Strain stock, discard vegetables, shred chick off the bones and reserve.  This can also be done in a crock pot on high for 4-5 hours or 8-10 hours on low.

For the Stew:

• 2 Tbsp chicken fat or olive oil
• 2 small onions, diced
• 1 pound carrots, diced
• 1 stalk green garlic or 3-4 cloves thinly sliced
• 4 c stock
• 4 c shredded chicken
• 2 Tbsp fresh thyme (1 Tbsp dry)
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Saute veggies in oil or fat until onions are tender, add stock, bring to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.  Add shredded chicken and time.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Dumplings:

• 2 cups ricotta cheese (make your own)
• 1/2 c fresh chived, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 c corn meal
• 1/2 c flour
• 3 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients together, do not over mix.  Drop by spoonfuls into the simmering stew.  (Tip: use an ice cream scoop for nice round dumplings.  Cookie-sized for small ones, regular-sized for big ones).  Simmer small dumplings 4 minutes or until tender, larger dumplings will take 7-9 minutes.  Turn them over and simmer for 2-3 minutes longer.  Serve hot.  You will be tempted to lick the bowl. Winter Variation:  Potatoes, with sage in the dumplings instead of chives is also good.

I am a cookbook geek.  Cookbooks often litter the surfaces of my home.  Bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen…I am constantly perusing and leaving them behind.  This weekend, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I gathered up my current inspirations in an effort to regroup and de-clutter.

This is where I have been finding my inspiration, right here.  The pyramid of books.  I suppose it is sort of intimate, like inviting you all over for dinner.  These books have been arousing the inner cook in me to create delectable feasts, often referred to in our home as “supper”.

As you are gazing over the titles, you will notice right there at the top, Amy Pennington’s, “urban pantry”.  A witty food writer for the magazine, Edible Seattle, urban gardener extraordinaire, author, and local food champion, Amy is coming to spend an afternoon in Kitsap folks!  She will be the keynote speaker and local food cheerleader at The West Sound Small Farms Expo that Diane and I have been working on.

Talk is cheap, so I decided to give one of her recipes a whirl last Saturday morning.  “Spiced Yogurt Chicken” was the recipe that leapt out at me as I had been thawing one of our chickens in the refrigerator and didn’t want to cook the same ol’ roast chicken.   I went to work like all get out as my children’s eyes grew wider.  Cutting up a whole chicken has that effect on them.  And then, letting them smell each spice before I added it to the chicken, their eyes nearly glazed over.  Together we created a culinary prize!

LOOK at all of that spice people!  Coriander, cinnamon, and chicken…OH MY!  And that was it, rubbed it all together and threw it into the fridge while we ran errands, cleaned house, folded laundry… you know, “Saturday Stuff”.  Popped it in the oven and presto!

We devoured it and the truth is, I honestly can’t remember what I served it with.  It was THAT good!  Amy will have books for sale and will be signing them at “the Expo”.  She will also be presenting a breakout session on building your very own urban pantry.  It will be a day you certainly won’t want to miss!

A while back someone asked what we were having for dinner and I responded that I hadn’t looked in the freezer yet.  This lead to a discussion of food preservation, eating the whole hog, and strawberries in December and other wonders of living on the farm. 

Tonight we had a “whole farm dinner” with everything served in the meal grown or prepared on the farm.

Dinner on the Farm (5-19-09)

• Pork Shoulder Roast (freezer)
• Mashed potatoes (sort of fresh)
• Steamed asparagus (fresh)
• Apple sauce (canned)
• Sauerkraut with onions and apples (we made the ‘kraut last fall)
• Strawberry (freezer) - Rhubard (fresh) Cobbler with whipped cream
• Milk (fresh)
• Apple juice (canned)

We don’t always have a big meal like this but the roast will last a couple of meals and end up as sandwiches or tacos in a day or so, the little bit of apple sauce will end up in some muffins, and the kids will eat the leftover cobbler for breakfast in the morning.  I will be making sure there is no asparagus left!

I visited the Silverdale Farmer’s Market today – they have moved to their new location on the lawn behind the Taco Time.  Several vendors had rhubarb, and while there are no ripe local strawberries at the market right now, there were some strawberry plants.  I prefer June-bearing plants because the fruit is larger and there is enough of it so you get some even if the children graze the patch.  Everbearing varieties are nice for nibbling on all summer long but you have to be patient as there aren’t as many berries at one time. 

To plant strawberries, set the plants in a raised bed with some added compost and manure right now and you might get a small harvest in the fall.  I put in 30 plants a couple years ago and while the patch is beginning to wane a bit last year I got 25 quarts of berries for the freezer, 25 pints of freezer jam and we ate fresh strawberries (shortcake!) until the children begged for mercy.

Strawberry – Rhubard Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.  Mix in a 9×13 pan -

• 3 cups strawberries (I used frozen)
• 4 cups diced rhubarb
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/4 c minute tapioca

Bake for 15-20 minutes while you make the “cobbles”.

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 c sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup plain yoghurt
• 2 eggs
• 6 Tbsp melted butter

Blend all dry ingredients.  Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients.  Add wet ingredients and mix until just blended.  It will be a thick batter.  Take the hot fruit out of the oven and give it a stir to incorporate any undissolved sugar and tapioca.  Using a large spoon top the hot fruit with “cobbles” of the batter.  Put back in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbly.  Serve warm with ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.