Anu's Farm

 (This is a continuation of a previous post, in which we visited a textile museum with the curator - Textile artist Anu Rand. Her artwork is a permanent gift from Estonia to the UN.)

Not only does Anu live in an idyllic little farm house, it's full of yarn! A traditional wood stove and classic textiles fill the farmhouse with a rustic feel.

And the weaving studio has baskets of yarn stacked in the corner. (I kept reminding Mr. Crafty that my yarn at least fits in a closet!) Anu showed off her looms and a finished piece, this one created during an artist residency in Finland.

Outside she has a herd of sheep. A wide variety of breeds and colors filled the field, munching away in the midsummer sun.

Anu has wool milled occasionally at a local place, but of course the sheep must be sheared no matter what! Fleeces were stored in this overhang of the barn, and we were invited to take home a handful. (I grabbed two!)

The garden was filled with all manner of veggie delights, and the usual greenhouse. Because of the short season and large temperature swings everyone seems to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses. In the period after Soviet collapse (and at times during Soviet occupation), when food supply chains were not yet reestablished, many people subsisted almost entirely on tomatoes and cucumbers from their own gardens. We found that a plate of sliced fresh tomatoes and cukes were available at almost every meal, a staple garnish as it were.

And this lovely oak! The farmstead has been in the family a few generations. This tree was planted by Anu's father, from an acorn gathered at his father's gravesite. A fantastic heirloom!

Scene's like this gave us a great temptation to more to Estonia and become farmers, but alas! My city loving ways are at odds with my farmhouse desires. It was wonderful to visit Anu's studio and hear her talk about her artistic process, her vision for Estonian handicraft, and the history of the area.

Garden Update - It's Stopped Raining! Edition

 Usually, in Colorado, we like it when it rains. We were not, however, prepared for almost 30 straight days of cold wet weather, and it's put a damper on the garden season.


However, many of my crops that I got in early a thriving. The peas are podding, doing well with the sunshine. (Yes those are bindweed behind the pea plants, it's a scaffold for the peas to grow o- Don't Judge me!) The beets and carrots both look better than ever, they haven't much minded the cold, except being slow to come up. I added lots and lots of ash to the soil, hopefully I'll get a good crop of both this year!

The tomatoes, however, have not enjoyed this. In seedling form they were doing great! But the chill and wet caused many deaths in the ground. Let's be clear, I did not let them freeze! I'm not that bad of a plant momma. But 32 seedlings have turned into less than 10 surviving plants. I'm not even going to show the 4 remaining eggplants, or discuss their pepper friends who perished.

Cucumbers came up after three plantings (the first two were washed out by overflowing gutters.) And the ever-present tomatillos... I've potted several to inflict the invasive pest gift to other gardeners.

How does your garden grow?

One Bad Apple ... Makes a Good Breakfast

 It's February, the world is covered in a blanket of snow. Even the hardiest herbs are frozen back, the dandelions are frosted over. In short, there is not much fresh food to be had for the locavore!

There is, however, the last stocks of keeping food - potatoes, beets, cabbage, and apples. As the weeks go by I occasionally must pick thru our bags of apples from the Farm Share and pull out any with squishy spots. As the old adage goes, you can't let them sit there or the whole thing goes off. Fortunately, they are not beyond help. Removing the mushy bit is simple enough and the rest of the apple is sweet as ever, if less than crisp.

Stewed apples are the trick. Or, if you wanna get fancy call it a compote. The same plan works for rehydrating dried fruits as well! First, some seasoning to jazz it up. I made a bag of whole spices - cardamom, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and star anise.

Then, to release the goodness of the spices, wrap up your bag tightly, and WHACK IT WITH A HAMMER!

Ok, don't do it too violently, you don't want bits of spice flying across the kitchen, just tap it lightly until you smell the spices.

 Add it to your pot of apple bits, along with a bit of sugar (not too much, these apples are plenty sweet on their own) and some liquid. I chose white wine. Because .1) it's really tasty with apples. 2.) it adds dryness to the stewed apples. 3.) I can have a glass while I cook.

I let the whole shebang cook on the lowest heat over night, then greeted a cold winter morning with waffles, apples, and whipped cream. And maybe some more wine. PROST!

Spring Strawberries

Aw yisssss... homegrown strawberries! It's the season for first fruits from the garden, I've already enjoyed my radishes, spinach and arugula are gracing the plate, and now the crown of early foods.

No matter how misshapen, no matter if they are still white on the bottom, no matter that they are small and bear the marks of hungry birds; homegrown strawberries are the sweetest nuggets of goodness on the gods green earth.

This, I feel, is the truth of local, seasonal foods. I have grown used to enjoying many crops for only a few short weeks each year. I do it to support local growers, and to know where my food is coming from. I do it to reduce my environmental impact. It's a win-win to avoid those tasteless plastic packs from California and Mexico.

But mostly, I do it for the taste. Sure, I can enjoy strawberries 12 months of the year, and I do at restaurants and friends gatherings. But I don't truly enjoy strawberries until they come from mother's yard, warm from the sun, ripe on the vine. The same is true for Palisade peaches and Rocky Ford cantaloupe, accept no imitations, wait for the real thing.

What's your favorite seasonal treat? What do you wait all year to enjoy?

Apples, Apples, Everywhere...

Seriously. I've been receiving apples as part of my farm share for weeks now, and even with apple pies and apple crisps and apples for lunch everyday I still had bags of them covering my counter tops. I've already filled my freezer with the fruits of our bountiful harvest, and my canning jars overfloweth (with jam and pickles and such.) So, I went to the oldest technique in the book (OK, it actually predates books and even writing systems by many thousands of years. Did you know archeologist found signs of deliberate food drying dating to 12,000 B.C?)

I've got some fancier equipment than our forebears, but the system stays the same. Slice the apple thin, dip it in a lemon juice and water mix, lay it out to dry. Apples were long prized in Europe because they are easy to dry and tasty to eat that way. 24 hours in the dehydrator is all I needed for these slicers, living in Colorado does help wince it's so dry here naturally.

If you don't have a dehydrator you can place them on a pan in a low oven cracked open, turning the oven off after a few hours. I've dried not just tasty fruits, but also chopped veggies and herbs with this method. It's nice to have some "emergency" stores for making soups and such all winter long. I also make awesome camping meals with dried stuff!

How do you preserve the good stuff from this time of year?

Pear Pie

Now, usually I wouldn't do much baking with pears, they are already sweet and soft when raw after all. But our Farm Share delivered a large bag of both apples and pears this week, far more then one could simply eat out of hand! These large juicy pears were begging to be dessert! I made a pie, and got so many request for an encore that I thought I should share...

First I made the crust, 1/2 c. Butter, 1/2 c Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, 1/2 c. Wheat Flour, and a drizzle of cold milk. If you can't get the pastry flour you can use whole wheat flour. I recommend buying some kind of whole wheat flour for your pie crust as it makes for a nice nutty flavor. Also, if you use unsalted butter you will need to add a little salt.

Sprinkle some cardamon on the bottom of the crust. Core the pears and carefully slice them very thin. Arrange across the bottom of the pan, I like a thick pie, feel free the heap them up over the top of the pan.

Beat two eggs and 1/4 c. milk thoroughly,  then pour over fruit. It shouldn't cover the fruit entirely.

Mix 1/4 c. rolled oats, 1/4 c. sugar and a generous sprinkle of cardamon. Sprinkle across the top of the pie. Bake at 350 F until crust is browned and the center doesn't jiggle too much. About 45 min.
Enjoy when warm!

What is your favorite way to eat a pear?

Fair Time Again!

This week the Denver County Fair is returning to the National Western grounds. I'll be there along with hundreds of local crafters, artist, fashionistas, goats, carnies, farmers, bakers, dag queens, musicians and more! All you Coloradans, come see me!

Spring Quiche

 Since our farmshare has started up there has been a ritual on Mondays - use up all of last weeks veggies 'cause we're getting more! Many types of veggies come several weeks in a row during their season, so we need to make sure they are getting eating while still fresh.


Right now it's green onions and garlic scapes, fresh herbs and spinach. So I sauteed up the leftovers...

 Then I made a simple pie crust. Flour and butter and a little cold milk. The beets in the background? The chef needs to eat something while working yaknow!

The butter and flour are both Colorado products as well, so this entire meal will be a locavore delight.

 I recently got some lovely little tart pans with the removable bottoms. I cut circles of dough and lined them, I wanted a good thick crust so the quiche will stay together easily.

And any extra dough can be stuffed with your extra filling to make a little pie snack.

 I stuffed them heartily with the mixture of veggies and whipped up some eggs with a little milk. Filled it in with egg, and sprinkled grated Parmesan on top.

 If you want a decedent dish them sprinkle a generous helping of cheese on the bottom first, then put cheese on top. This helps keep the crust flaky, but I never have troubles with soggy quiches.

 Baked to golden perfection! The eggs puff up and capture all the veggies, the cheese crisps on top. The little spinach pie was my tester... om nom nom.

Are you enjoying seasonal goodies? This week we start getting fruit from the Western Slope of Colorado, a perfect dessert!

Community Supported Agriculture

Perhaps you've got a friend who has one, a family member who is gushing about their's, you've maybe been offered one? I'm talking CSAs. That's Community Supported Agriculture for those who aren't up on the hip lingo. It's not a new idea, but it's grown beyond the hippies and whole earthers of the old days.Say you are a farmer who wants to produce veggies and fruits for local fresh sale. Prep your fields in the spring, buy seeds and manure, watering systems and labor. That's a big investment! Did you have the savings? Do you have to borrow money? What happens if there's a crop fail? What about a bumper crop, with no money to hire extra harvest workers?

A CSA solves many of those problems. To participate, one buys a "share" at the start of the season. The money goes upfront to cover the cost of getting started! Now every week for the rest of the season, you go pick up a box of fresh produce. If the beans went crazy this year, you get lots of beans. If the tomatoes got destroyed by hail, you get none. No guarantees about the quantities, but it will definitely be fresh! Food like this cannot be bought in the store, at any price.I've decided to join one this season. Least year a good friend signed up for one, and she loved it! But living alone she had far too much food and I was getting weekly gifts of fresh local goodies. A great incentive to cook good healthy food at home. An opportunity to stock up for the winter. What could be better?
There are farms offering CSA programs all over the world. Some offer discounts for doing farm work. Some offer year-round produce. Grant Family Farms offers collaborations with other local growers for fruit, eggs, mushrooms, cheese, fresh bread and other yummies.

Look for local options to get fresh sustainable foods around you. The Farmer's Market is only the beginning!