A curious spring sight: rain clouds passing by while sprinklers run (they are connected to the line running to our greenhouse).
We had a cozy lunch today. Just before Casey came in to join us at the table, a dark storm front rolled in, bringing with it pounding rain and eventually a few claps of thunder too. The weather outside the window just made our little meal feel warmer inside.
These spring storms have been blowing through a lot lately. We can see them coming from the west before they arrive — dark walls that march toward us with swirling wind and rain.
It’s just not that big of a woodstove! Or that big of a house! Or that cold! But, thanks kids!
After such a warm and dry winter, early spring, it has been a lovely break to have all this wet weather. We had to build fires in the woodstove again this week for the first time in many weeks. Apparently the act of building a fire to heat our house is now a fun novelty, and the kids have really gotten into bringing in fire wood. Quite a bit more than we need in fact, since our two fires were really just needed to cut the chill in the air. Alas, we now have a giant pile of fire wood by the stove that will likely sit there unused again until October! (Ok, I’ll probably eventually move it outside again.)
I’ve begun thinking about finishing up last year’s food in the freezer as well. This time of year it’s always interesting to see what we have left — some items are left simply because we put up so much of them, but we also find ourselves sometimes with things that just weren’t as useful or desirable as we anticipated. This year both Casey and I feel pretty “done” with tomatoes, which is a big surprise! We both wish we’d frozen more tomatillos (which add such a nice complex flavor to cooked meat), so next year we’ll put up more of those! We’re happy to remember that we’d frozen quite a lot of strawberries and raspberries and are trying to make use of these now since the next berry season is really not that far off. We’ve been making berry “pancakes” every week, and I’ve shared the recipe with you here (it’s actually an egg recipe!).
In contrast to what we expect from this season, we are thick in the middle of weeding already. Normally we’d just be beginning the planting process, so this is a surprise! Honestly, it’s hard to really know what we should be doing some days out here, with so much already in the ground and yet so much that still needs to be sown and planted.
As to be expected, however, leaves are showing up on more and more trees. Our Linden is leafing out, and the kids are excited for buds to appear (although we still have more time before that happens). The Linden flowers make our favorite tea (with nettles in a close second). We recently checked out a Northwest foraging book from the library and are looking forward to trying new treats this spring. Our landscape is full of more food than we imagined! Nettles, Linden blossoms, yet so much more too! This weekend’s experiment with wild foods will be the inner bark from a cottonwood tree (I will report back whether it is as sweet and delicious as the book promises). Alas, we have no Camas on our property. Oh, how amazing this valley must have been when it was rich with Camas fields!
Busy active kids can eat a lot of food! Rusty enjoys the slackline Casey set up on our porch. A great spring activity.
But, food abounds. As our kids get older and eat more food, we are appreciating new benefits of being farmers. That whole “another mouth to feed” line is not just verbiage. These kids can now eat a lot of food! Just tonight, they each ate two relatively large pork chops each (along with a whole lot of sweet corn from our freezer stash). How wonderful to have a ready supply of so many good quality foods to share with these growing kids. We are grateful for our farm home as much as ever for so many reasons these days!
Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Reminder: Potato Planting & Potluck on May 1! Now that we’re in April, I wanted to remind folks that our first on-farm CSA event is coming up in just a few weeks. Join us on May 1 to help plant potatoes and then enjoy a potluck meal together. We’ll gather at 3 pm to plant (and you can come out earlier if you like, but please let us know to expect you). Then we’ll potluck at 5 pm. Come when you can! I’ll post more details, reminders, and directions as we get closer to the event.
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The berry pancake that’s NOT a pancake (an egg recipe): We’ve formed a new Thursday morning snack tradition around here. We make what we call a “berry pancake.” We got the basic recipe from a cookbook and have quickly memorized it because it is so simple. It is, at its essence, a soufflé, but if I say that you will get scared and I want you to try this, because it is SO good! The results are fluffy and delicious, just like a pancake, but it’s all eggs! I love this because the kids happily eat it up (and we do too).
Preheat your oven to 350°.
Begin by putting a handful or two of berries into a 10″ (or so) saute pan. More or less berries doesn’t really matter — it will just affect how many berries end up on your “pancake” when you flip it out of the pan after baking. We have a freezer full of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries — the strawberries are the kids’ favorite for this recipe. I like to rinse the berries first with hot water to melt off any freezer ice (so the pan doesn’t get too watery). Then add a liberal amount of butter to the pan and let the berries simmer a bit. I let Rusty be in charge of stirring them.
Meanwhile separate five eggs. Ok, if you’ve never done this (which I hadn’t until a few years ago), it’s NOT HARD when using our eggs! I really thought this was some kind of special chef trick, but when you use a good farm egg, the yolk and white separate SO easily. Crack your egg in half and then hold the egg contents in one half of the shell. The yolk will stay in as they white slips out. Pass the yolk back and forth between your two eggshell halves a few times and all the white will come out. Put the yolks in another bowl.
Next, add some cinnamon and vanilla extract to your yolks and whip that up. This is a good job for Dottie in our house. When all of that is done and the berries are looking nicely cooked (again, how cooked is a matter of preference), it’s time to address your egg whites. You need to whisk them until they are stiff with peaks. Again, language that I used to dismiss as being “advanced” cooking or baking, but with the right equipment, this is just so easy. We have a Kitchenaid mixer with a whisk attachment. I use that to whisk the eggs, and it is easy peasy. Apparently it helps to use eggs that are room temperature (we don’t refrigerate our eggs, so that’s easy too!). I read that it works best to start with a low speed and move up to high speed, but I just turn the mixer onto high and watch. Eventually the eggs turn opaque white (rather than transparent) and start to form stiff peaks. This is when I stop. Beaten egg whites need to be used quickly!
Carefully fold the yolk mixture into the whites quickly but without losing too much volume of the whites. Then spread the combined egg mixture (which will be big and fluffy) onto the pan with the berries. Continue cooking on medium heat for two more minutes, then transfer the pan into the preheated oven and cook for an additional ten or twelve minutes.
When the pancake is slightly golden, pull out your pan. Depending on the timing of it all, you may have a nice fluffy pancake. Or it may have risen in the oven and fallen again. Don’t worry! It will still taste delicious!
Next, CAREFULLY place a plate on top of the pan and flip your pancake out. Two notes here: First, remember that your pan handle is hot and use a towel or mitt. (Unfortunately, I made this mistake a couple of weeks ago. Um, serious ouchies.) Second, you may need to use a paring knife to loosen the edges of your pancake from your pan. No big deal, but do all of this carefully since that pan is hot!
I usually find that my lovely cooked berries stay in the pan, so I scrape them out and spread them across the pancake. Slice it into wedges and serve! The kids love maple syrup on theirs, but Casey and I enjoy it with just the vanilla and berries for sweetening. So good!
And, by the way, in just a few months we’ll have berries again — enough that you will be able to buy extra to freeze for your pancakes next spring! But if you don’t happen to have berries in your freezer right now, you could do the same recipe without the berries. You could thinly slice apple and saute that in butter, or just use butter and then put jam on top after cooking. Endless variations would work here!
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Think you don’t like lamb? Read this! Ok, so we’ve got some really delicious lamb cuts in the freezer at the storefront right now. But, I keep hearing similar refrains: “Oh, I don’t like lamb” or “Oh, my wife really doesn’t like lamb.” Let me tell you, folks — I understand. Because I too do not enjoy the flavor of wool lamb (which is the bulk of what is available in the world). Wool sheep have lanolin in their coat, the flavor of which gets into the meat. Some people love that lamb flavor, but others (like myself) find it to be unpleasant (other people would have even stronger words to describe the experience).
We, however, raise Katahdins, which are a breed of hair sheep (we also have a few Dorpers in the mix too, which are also a hair sheep). Instead of lanolin-containing wool, they have hair coats (which shed each spring on their own, by the way). They differ from wool sheep in other ways as well — they have a slightly different body shape and size — but the texture and flavor of the meat is the most profound difference for us eaters. People who have tried this meat consistently report back that it is “the best meat” they have ever tasted. The flavor is closer to beef than to wool sheep. The roasts are especially delicious prepared in the slow cooker and then cut up and added to vegetable stews.
So, if you think you don’t like lamb and are up for a new experience, we recommend trying our lamb meat. It is different! And delightful!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- Mixed vegetable bouquets — Here’s a beautiful treat. Casey and Jasper put together these bunches of mixed vegetables — it’s like a meal in a bunch! (If you can bring yourself to cook these beautiful things, that is.) The bunches contain: fennel, kale, baby beets, radishes, and rutabaga. All parts of these bunches are edible — roots, shoots, leaves and all.
- Salad mix — We’ve been enjoying salads so much this spring. With a little extra effort a green salad can become a whole meal. This week Casey made a chicken/egg salad (with homemade mayonnaise) that we put on top of a green salad. Delightfully light and tasty (and yet filling) meal!
- Kale
- Chard
- Stinging nettles — Remember, folks! Do not touch these! See all my warnings and cooking suggestions in last week’s newsletter here.
- Celery leaf
- Kohlrabi
- Beets
- Potatoes
- Green garlic
- Garlic
- Apples
- Eggs — Try making a pancake that’s not this week! (See recipe above.)
And this week’s extra goodies from the farm: Remember to bring containers when appropriate! Especially for eggs!
- Corn flour — $5 lb
- Oat flour — $5 lb
- Walnuts — $5 lb
- Sauerkraut — More traditional cabbage sauerkraut. We sold out last week and had to make another batch! $5 / pint or $3 / half pint (our jars are $1 each, but you can bring your own).
- Eggs — $4 dozen
- Pork cuts — We are picking up more pork from the butcher tomorrow! We’ll have chops, ground pork, and lots of roasts. Prices vary.
- Pork fat & skin — $3 lb
- Lamb — Prices vary. We’ve got chops, ground lamb and all kinds of delicious roasts! If you want a special treat to feed a crowd, try buying one of our deboned legs of lambs.
- Ground beef — $7 for 1 lb package
