To start off with possibly the thing of most significance.... I am now the only intern. So the work is harder not just because it is only me doing it and so it takes longer, but more because of lack of company, lack of someone to talk to. It is also getting hotter here.
I have been harvesting Armenian and pickling cucumbers everyday this week. The white onions I harvested this week for market were huge. Each onion weighed a good pound all by it's self. I think some of the favorites that people are buying from market right now are... Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes, Honey (I think the honey is my favorite. mmmm so sweet and yummy.) , come to think of it everything on the market table is someone's favorite. And we haven't had that much produce left over at the end of market because a restaurant buys what ever is left so I can't actually think what sells the most, I know that the first three things I listed are big hits, but other than that I can't say.
Happily there have been very few chicken deaths compare to last week when there had been 7 I had to pick up. There is however this Rooster that is near driving me crazy. He somehow made it out of the pen two weeks ago and is still evading all of my attempts to catch him. I try every time I go and do chores to catch him and end up just giving up after I chase him all around the pen he is suppose to be in.
I think I'll take the time to kind of describe the spread of the farm. I would draw a diagram but don't know how here, so you will have to use your imagination and try to visualize what I am saying. I want you to imagine a horizontal rectangle divided into fourths vertically. The four columns that you just made are the plots, plot A, plot B, plot C, and you guessed it plot D. However looking straight at it D would be in the first column and A in the last.
Plots C and D are just vegetable rows, (the rows are horizontal) plots A and B are not entirely vegetable rows. The top half of B is the goat pen (this has all the female goats) and the largest chicken pen. Plot A has a movable chicken pen at the top, (movable so that we can put it on various done rows for them to eat the weeds, etc...) The middle part of plot A is vegetables, the bottom is the second movable chicken pen. (this is the pen that I have chased the frustrating loose rooster around everyday twice a day.) Then if you put a long skinny horizontal rectangle beneath the one I have just explained. That is where the Billy goats are. And if you put a square above plots A and B the barn is right above plot B it has the rabbits, chicks, and the baby goats as well as various tools. A little further up is the greenhouse. Above plot A is the currently empty pig pen and the turkey pen. I hope this gives you some kind of visual of my surroundings. I also hope it was understandable.
I got to cut up a LOT of peppers to put in the dehydrator. I got to cut up and sauce a LOT of tomatoes. I got to make a LOT of soil blocks (12 trays that each hold 55 blocks) (they have a soil block maker that makes 4 at a time. Laura also makes her own soil for the soil blocks out of various things including our compost, I don't know all the names of the things she uses yet. It seems to work though.) We think there might be a mouse eating the shoots of green that are coming up in the greenhouse, because we saw the shoots one day and the next we saw what looked to be bitten off shoots.
There are two big glass crocks of dill pickles being made. They have to ferment for three weeks, and then they will be ready to eat. They have now been on the kitchen counter for two weeks so only one more to go.
Someone asked me what was a sun spot on a tomato? If any of the rest of you who read this blog are wondering the same thing. The answer is simply a sun burn on a tomato that is white instead of red. ;)
To finish this post..... I just read my new absolute favorite book. Laddie a true blue story by Gene Stratton-Porter. If you have not read this book you NEED to. I loved it soooooooo much. It is part of the reason I named this post "I am a Lass, a farming lass!". This book has so many profound insights. There was one chapter where I was writing in my common place book practically every other paragraph. I love the story line of it! By the last couple of pages I had this huge grin on my face that one couldn't help noticing. I shan't tell a thing about the plot or anything, because you must read it yourself and have the delight of reading every bit of it without someone telling you what to expect. And I have the tendency to be trying to explain a book's plot and giving a blow by blow of everything that happens.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Fowl Adventures
This week my duties are once again feeding the fowl. On Monday I went to feed and water the turkeys and two were dead. So now all we have are two hen turkeys, we did have three hen turkeys and one tom turkey. Where we keep the chicken grain happens to be on a ant hill, not any ant hill but one that is swarming with red sugar ants. You can't stand there for very long. On Wednesday I found a dead chicken in the coop, and one beneath the coop. I got to put those in an empty grain bag to take up later for the dumpster. Some of the glories of farm life. They are dying because it is so hot outside. Another type of fowl adventure is with the geese. There is this one goose that will start approaching you hissing kind of low to the ground, and if he comes up to you he will start beating his wings and biting the hem of your shorts. If you push him away he will just come back again. However if you grab him around the neck and hold him back and then you just throw him across the field. (I learned this trick from one of the interns who has been here for almost a year) The goose will then leave you alone. There is only one Rooster I still fear. His name is Philippe. His back spurs have been cut off, but sometimes he just comes toward you and it is scary! Kylee (the intern with all the advice) says that the way to stop him from rushing at you is to grab him by his legs and hold him upside-down. She says she is the reason his spurs were cut. Chickens also don't lay as many eggs when it is hot like this. The lack of eggs is very vexing to more then just us farmers. Every Thursday at market people always ask "are there any more eggs?" and we have to say "No."
This week was actually the last week for shares until the autumn crop comes in. We will still go to market but we won't have to harvest as much!!!
Kylee left today. So now there is just me and Hannah interning. Hannah will be leaving on Tuesday. I am very sad about this. Last night we went horse back riding. A lady in the ward heard that Hannah loved horses and invited us to go over and ride. So all of us interns did it as kind of a final fun thing with all three of us. It was the first time I have ever ridden a horse. I even trotted a little bit. It hurts to sit down now. A couple of things I learned..... If you are tense the horse can feel it and will think it can do what ever it wants. You have to be calm, confident, in control. Just think of the horse as a car, you are the one steering. I had a lot of fun!
After Market we made our final share deliveries to Nora's Wine Bar (an Italian Restaurant) Geo (the chef who usually buys what ever vegetables we have left over from market) wanted us to taste some of his dishes that he uses our produce for. We gladly accepted this invitation to dine. He brought us out two types of pasta that had cheese in it made from our goat's milk. I googled the menu and this dish sounded like one of the things that was brought out to us: Papardella alla Luisa Papardelle, sausage, sundried tomatoes, & cream . The food was sooooooooo good. TONS better than Olive Garden! Then gelato was brought out to us that is also made from our goat's milk. The gelato flavors were.... Honey Basil, Chocolate Hazelnut, Pistachio, and two others that I can't think of the flavors. I tasted the honey basil and the hazelnut. They were both HEAVENLY!!! I however liked the Honey Basil the best. He said people don't often choose that one because they think that the basil will make it weird. But oh my goodness gracious... the flavor was AMAZING!!!!!!! It instantly became a favorite. If any of you are in Las Vegas you should go to Nora's and order the honey basil.
This is all for this week. ttfn.
This week was actually the last week for shares until the autumn crop comes in. We will still go to market but we won't have to harvest as much!!!
Kylee left today. So now there is just me and Hannah interning. Hannah will be leaving on Tuesday. I am very sad about this. Last night we went horse back riding. A lady in the ward heard that Hannah loved horses and invited us to go over and ride. So all of us interns did it as kind of a final fun thing with all three of us. It was the first time I have ever ridden a horse. I even trotted a little bit. It hurts to sit down now. A couple of things I learned..... If you are tense the horse can feel it and will think it can do what ever it wants. You have to be calm, confident, in control. Just think of the horse as a car, you are the one steering. I had a lot of fun!
After Market we made our final share deliveries to Nora's Wine Bar (an Italian Restaurant) Geo (the chef who usually buys what ever vegetables we have left over from market) wanted us to taste some of his dishes that he uses our produce for. We gladly accepted this invitation to dine. He brought us out two types of pasta that had cheese in it made from our goat's milk. I googled the menu and this dish sounded like one of the things that was brought out to us: Papardella alla Luisa Papardelle, sausage, sundried tomatoes, & cream . The food was sooooooooo good. TONS better than Olive Garden! Then gelato was brought out to us that is also made from our goat's milk. The gelato flavors were.... Honey Basil, Chocolate Hazelnut, Pistachio, and two others that I can't think of the flavors. I tasted the honey basil and the hazelnut. They were both HEAVENLY!!! I however liked the Honey Basil the best. He said people don't often choose that one because they think that the basil will make it weird. But oh my goodness gracious... the flavor was AMAZING!!!!!!! It instantly became a favorite. If any of you are in Las Vegas you should go to Nora's and order the honey basil.
This is all for this week. ttfn.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
"Isn't it a beautiful day?" "No it ain't."
My title for this post comes from a picture book called Cowboy & Octopus by Jon Scieszka My definition of beautiful day has changed immensely from what it was in Rexburg Idaho. In Rexburg a beautiful day is when the sun is shining, a bright blue sky, a gentle cool breeze. In Overton Nevada a beautiful day is cloud cover, a cool breeze, a sprinkling of rain. I am definitely starting to feel the summer heat.
We have started planting the fall crop. We have made beds of several verities of squash, as well as a couple of Watermelon plants. I always thought that watermelon was a summer fruit because one typically has it on the 4th of July.
The tomatoes are starting to be less-ish. Which makes me very happy. Cucumbers are growing in abundance though. So today for a snack I cut up one Armenian Cucumber, Early Girl Tomato, and a gold tomato (that I can't remember the name of) put them on a plate all pretty, and poured some Zesty Italian dressing on it. All it lacked was diced cream cheese to be perfect.
The milking machine has decided to be either R--e--a--l--y S--l--o--w! or just not work. So we have started having to milk by hand. It gets so tiring. I am discovering yet another couple of muscles that I never knew existed in my body. I have been told that your arms can become very toned just by milking goats. Kylee and Hannah (the two other interns with me) are much faster milkers than I am. Last night was my first time milking by hand, and they have both had more practice.
On Thursday after market... us interns had an amazing opportunity. One of Quail Hollow Farm's share holders is a teacher at this chef school. He invited us to come to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. So we went. In just 10 minutes you can make a dish of food look like an art piece. Going and watching them cook such BEAUTIFUL dishes using the vegetables that I helped pick gave me a new perspective on what and why I pick. Only our share holder's class used Quail Hollow Farm produce. As each student came up to get a couple of cherry tomatoes out of the bag I kept thinking... I hope they don't find slightly cracked ones that are oozing juices. Or... I hope that one didn't have a small bug bite, or sunspot. Our shareholder had also given a small lecture to each of his students saying... "If we mistreat these vegetables by cutting them wrong or anything we are wasting the efforts that the farmers take to grow and harvest these vegetables." ( I am paraphrasing what he said.) This little thing he said also made me more think that if I as the farmer am careless about the produce I harvest I am wasting the time of anyone who cooks with it. Jason Labahn (our shareholder) then took us interns on a tour of the school. One chef in training offered us some fresh peanut butter cookies (they were still warm) they were the Yummiest Peanut Butter cookies I have ever tasted. Also because it was Thursday the catering class always does a buffet style thing for everyone in the school. So we got to go through the line and fill up a little plate with yummy finger food delights. Kylee remembers their French names, I don't though so I will just say what some of my favorites were. There was Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms, Roast Duck on this type of cracker, Quail Egg also on a yummy cracker, and several others that are not coming to mind. The ones I have mentioned though were my top 3 favorites starting with my least favorite going to my absolute favorite. Quail Eggs are soooooooooooo YUMMY!!!! In Jason's class we got to taste scallops and bass. Both were cooked so heavenly. They used our leeks, cherry tomatoes, and either our peppers or onions I can't remember which. Being there made me want to go there and learn how to make food look so beautiful and taste so good. One thing I did learn is that you always want at least two fingers width around the edge of the plate that the food doesn't touch. It makes the food stand out more on the plate and you don't eat too much.
Today I was looking at a Tasha Tudor book and I have decided that what I want when I have a house of my own is... a cottage that looks like a Thomas Kinkade cottage, a large garden like Tasha Tudor's with dress-ups from various time periods, a farm with vegetables and goats (goats are pretty easy to take care of), a cow (I just want the cream, cause I like goats milk better but they don't have cream), some chickens and pigs (for the eggs and meat you can get from them), etc. It would be a TON of work but just think how picturesque it sounds. I know I want to be more self sustainable. And after beginning to read a book called Real Food and watching movies like... Food Inc., The Future of our Food, Fresh, etc. I really don't want to eat a lot of the food we buy in grocery stores. I recommend each of these movies and this book. However be forewarned you will never look at food the same, and you will be wanting to find farmer's markets close to where you live. Plus food from your garden tastes a zillion times better than the produce you buy at the store. The produce from the store is like buying the image of the food and tasting bland.
I have discovered utter bliss in so many little things here on the farm. At Dusk I like to sit on the front porch reading or writing feeling a warm breeze on my face gazing at my surroundings, contemplating life and it's goodness, and thanking my Heavenly Father for the experiences I am having. That is contented bliss. And riding down on the tractor at dawn to do chores is also morning bliss. Then there is every night when I lay my head on my pillow that is perpetual bliss. Or stepping out of the shower feeling clean again that is absolute bliss. Drinking a tall glass of ice water is bliss too. Coming in to an air-condition house after finishing working is likewise bliss. If you are an editor you would probably sat that I have overused the word bliss. I apologize. It is just my word of choice right now as I am writing this.
This is all I have to say for this week. Instead of saying "See ya later, alligator." I am going to say..."got to go, tomato." It's kind of cheesy I know, but it works.
We have started planting the fall crop. We have made beds of several verities of squash, as well as a couple of Watermelon plants. I always thought that watermelon was a summer fruit because one typically has it on the 4th of July.
The tomatoes are starting to be less-ish. Which makes me very happy. Cucumbers are growing in abundance though. So today for a snack I cut up one Armenian Cucumber, Early Girl Tomato, and a gold tomato (that I can't remember the name of) put them on a plate all pretty, and poured some Zesty Italian dressing on it. All it lacked was diced cream cheese to be perfect.
The milking machine has decided to be either R--e--a--l--y S--l--o--w! or just not work. So we have started having to milk by hand. It gets so tiring. I am discovering yet another couple of muscles that I never knew existed in my body. I have been told that your arms can become very toned just by milking goats. Kylee and Hannah (the two other interns with me) are much faster milkers than I am. Last night was my first time milking by hand, and they have both had more practice.
On Thursday after market... us interns had an amazing opportunity. One of Quail Hollow Farm's share holders is a teacher at this chef school. He invited us to come to Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts. So we went. In just 10 minutes you can make a dish of food look like an art piece. Going and watching them cook such BEAUTIFUL dishes using the vegetables that I helped pick gave me a new perspective on what and why I pick. Only our share holder's class used Quail Hollow Farm produce. As each student came up to get a couple of cherry tomatoes out of the bag I kept thinking... I hope they don't find slightly cracked ones that are oozing juices. Or... I hope that one didn't have a small bug bite, or sunspot. Our shareholder had also given a small lecture to each of his students saying... "If we mistreat these vegetables by cutting them wrong or anything we are wasting the efforts that the farmers take to grow and harvest these vegetables." ( I am paraphrasing what he said.) This little thing he said also made me more think that if I as the farmer am careless about the produce I harvest I am wasting the time of anyone who cooks with it. Jason Labahn (our shareholder) then took us interns on a tour of the school. One chef in training offered us some fresh peanut butter cookies (they were still warm) they were the Yummiest Peanut Butter cookies I have ever tasted. Also because it was Thursday the catering class always does a buffet style thing for everyone in the school. So we got to go through the line and fill up a little plate with yummy finger food delights. Kylee remembers their French names, I don't though so I will just say what some of my favorites were. There was Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms, Roast Duck on this type of cracker, Quail Egg also on a yummy cracker, and several others that are not coming to mind. The ones I have mentioned though were my top 3 favorites starting with my least favorite going to my absolute favorite. Quail Eggs are soooooooooooo YUMMY!!!! In Jason's class we got to taste scallops and bass. Both were cooked so heavenly. They used our leeks, cherry tomatoes, and either our peppers or onions I can't remember which. Being there made me want to go there and learn how to make food look so beautiful and taste so good. One thing I did learn is that you always want at least two fingers width around the edge of the plate that the food doesn't touch. It makes the food stand out more on the plate and you don't eat too much.
Today I was looking at a Tasha Tudor book and I have decided that what I want when I have a house of my own is... a cottage that looks like a Thomas Kinkade cottage, a large garden like Tasha Tudor's with dress-ups from various time periods, a farm with vegetables and goats (goats are pretty easy to take care of), a cow (I just want the cream, cause I like goats milk better but they don't have cream), some chickens and pigs (for the eggs and meat you can get from them), etc. It would be a TON of work but just think how picturesque it sounds. I know I want to be more self sustainable. And after beginning to read a book called Real Food and watching movies like... Food Inc., The Future of our Food, Fresh, etc. I really don't want to eat a lot of the food we buy in grocery stores. I recommend each of these movies and this book. However be forewarned you will never look at food the same, and you will be wanting to find farmer's markets close to where you live. Plus food from your garden tastes a zillion times better than the produce you buy at the store. The produce from the store is like buying the image of the food and tasting bland.
I have discovered utter bliss in so many little things here on the farm. At Dusk I like to sit on the front porch reading or writing feeling a warm breeze on my face gazing at my surroundings, contemplating life and it's goodness, and thanking my Heavenly Father for the experiences I am having. That is contented bliss. And riding down on the tractor at dawn to do chores is also morning bliss. Then there is every night when I lay my head on my pillow that is perpetual bliss. Or stepping out of the shower feeling clean again that is absolute bliss. Drinking a tall glass of ice water is bliss too. Coming in to an air-condition house after finishing working is likewise bliss. If you are an editor you would probably sat that I have overused the word bliss. I apologize. It is just my word of choice right now as I am writing this.
This is all I have to say for this week. Instead of saying "See ya later, alligator." I am going to say..."got to go, tomato." It's kind of cheesy I know, but it works.
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