We recently planted next year’s strawberry plants! The kids helped some too. This field is especially close to the house so that next June they can run out and gobble them up!
So much has been happening around here as we approach the close of the summer. I feel like I have a million and one stories and thoughts that I want to share with you all — I’ve been thinking a lot about scale and seasons and supply chains and time and children and labor and so much more. But, perhaps instead of tackling a deep topic, I’ll just share some of the many photos I’ve taken in recent weeks. September days have the most lovely light, and I love seeing the changes happening around here on the farm as we turn the corner to another season. Join me as we look at some of them together!
Farm child’s play! When we had city-dwelling friends visiting recently, I found one of them taking a photograph of our kitchen counter while I ran out to get more veggies for dinner. I was befuddled. It’s just a kitchen counter! Except that it’s not. Our counter often overflows with buckets of eggs, piles of produce and more. And sometimes even our floor overflows with produce as the kids bring things in from their garden to practice their cutting and play store. This time of year is just so abundant!
I mean, come on, doesn’t EVERYONE have one of these on the windowsill behind their kitchen sink? No? Oh.
One more kitchen picture. This summer we’ve been more relaxed than usual about “putting up” food. But two weekends ago we made up for it by keeping our kitchen FULL of projects all Saturday long. Among other things, we steamed some grapes for juice. We froze it all for now and hope to turn it into jelly when the season quiets down more. We love that color! (Also, not the splatters behind the stove. It was a busy, messy place that day!)
Late summer is also a great time for adventures. We’ve been talking for YEARS about putting in some kind of bridge across our creek so that we can access our other property without driving around. On a recent weekend, we took the time to explore the creek bed (which is now at its seasonal low point) to find a good spot for a possible future cable bridge. We had to scramble down some steep banks to get to the muddy creek bed.
Here is the spot we decided upon, just at the base of our favorite Linden tree. We used to pump water from this spot for irrigation. Can you see why we switched to a well? Not much water here this time of year! (Our creek is actually only a seasonal waterway — it fills and flows when the Willamette River floods. But once the river goes back down, it’s basically just trapped water in creek shape).
Definitely not much water here right now! Even the littlest one could wade across with Papa’s help.
On the other side! In winter, this passage would be impossible, as the creek WILL fill up again. Hence the bridge dreams.
Now time to run back to the house! Big worked up fields are pretty awesome for playing and running in barefooted.
I haven’t posted a photo of our walnut tree lately. I find it funny that when we bought this property nine years ago, we looked at this tree and decided to build our house RIGHT NEXT to it. I think we couldn’t believe that anything so big could continue to get bigger. But it has. This tree is like a living, growing mountain of green. We love it SO much, even as it continues to dwarf our house more and more.
The last few weeks of rain and storms have brought some amazing clouds into our farm landscape. Almost every day we marvel at their mass and patterns.
For us, September also brings some family birthdays, including this little girl’s. Dottie turned three last Friday! She seems so much bigger already, especially when going on hikes with her new backpack on …
One day after her birthday, Dottie walked our family’s favorite hike without being carried at all!
And, in other kid news, we hit a big milestone last week — we are homeschooling! Yes, we’ve been doing/planning this all along, but when school started here yesterday, Rusty did not get on the bus. So it feels more official now. Today’s fun field trip was to the Oregon Garden for their homeschooler day. The kids explored the plants, watched a snake hunt for a frog in the pond, and drew beneficial insects.
And, in the fields, we’re continuing the gratifying work of bringing in our big fall harvests. These projects will last for several months, as we pick apples, cut squash, dig sweet potatoes and more. This afternoon I took what I described as my “annual photo of delicata squash in a bin.” Yes, I’m sure I take a variation on this photo every year, because every single year I marvel at the glowing beauty of these squash!
Look at that beautiful row of harvested squash! This represents only a fraction of the harvest so far. We’re preparing our “squash room” (a special conditioned space in our pole barn) and then will spend several more hours hauling these into it. All for the cause of SWEETNESS! Mmmmm!
Thanks for joining me on this September farm adventure! Enjoy this week’s vegetables!
Your farmers, Katie & Casey Kulla
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Oakhill Organics tote bags for sale! Hey! I’ve got one more photo for you today. Check out this awesome tote bag:
Super sturdy 15 oz. natural cotton bag for picking up your veggies (and anything else you want to do with it)!
Many of you will recognize this bag. Many of you are still using your bag, perhaps purchased as many as eight years ago! I know that we are still using our bags from that time. We use them hard, often hauling them to and from the library chock full of heavy books. They keep on going. We love these bags.
Which is why we “re-issued” them after all these years. We have a new generation of CSA members, plus old timers who may want some new bags! Now is your chance to buy one! (Or two or three … !) The price is $10, which is just slightly higher than our actual cost. We want you to have a sturdy, useful bag. We’ll have them available for purchase at pick-up tomorrow!
A suggestion though — because these are so popular among CSA members, we recommend personalizing yours in some way! At the very least, write your name on an edge so that if you put it down at pick-up, you don’t wonder which one is yours!
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Meet this week’s vegetables:
- European pears — These are the “classic” familiar pear — the kind that have to ripen off the tree in order to develop their full smooth flavor (when ripened on the tree, they get gritty inside). Casey pulled these from the cooler early to help them begin that ripening process. Check yours before eating — they should give just slightly and be yellow in tone. If in doubt, just cut off a little slice and check. Put them in a cool place out of the sun while you wait — if you put them in the fridge, the ripening process will slow down considerably. (Ripening pears is such a delicate art that I once read a whole lyrical essay dedicated to the topic. It was quite beautiful!)
- Asian pears
- Prune plums
- Acorn squash — The first of this year’s winter squash harvest! Hoorah! We only started growing acorn squash in recent years. We used to favor the longer season squashes more, but we’ve grown to love these early little squash for the way they signal summer’s slow down. I like to chop these in half, scoop out the seeds and then cut into slices. Sometimes I roast the slices in the oven (at 425° with butter) until they are crispy and soft inside. Other times I achieve a similar result by pan frying in butter. I think the second method is slightly faster (good for hungry kids), but they’re equally delicious. For our family, we don’t feel the need to add extra sugar to the squash. We find these to be plenty sweet on their own, even if later squashes will be even sweeter. But I know that many people like to add sweetener in the form of a little brown sugar or maple syrup. I’m sure that would be delicious!
- Salad mix
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Peppers
- Basil
- Kale
- Carrots
- Beets
- Potatoes
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini & yellow crookneck squash
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And this week’s extra goodies from the farm:
- Eggs — $6/dozen for farm fresh goodness
- Bratwurst — It’s back by popular demand! Another batch of these delicious artisan nitrate-free pasture-raised heritage hog bratwursts! $12 for a 1 lb. package (four Brats per package). Get them while they last!
- Ground beef — $7 for 1 lb. packages. We wowed our visiting friends a few weeks ago when we served all the kiddos (including their three year-old) hamburgers for breakfast. That’s what our kids eat every morning. We came to that conclusion after buying lots and lots of kid-friendly breakfast sausage (both kids do best when the first thing they eat is protein). We finally realized that what the kids like is the texture of the sausage plus the sweetness. They can get sweetness from ketchup just as well, and then they can eat breakfast from the farm! So, every morning, they each sit down to a couple of small burger patties, and then they eat other things like fruit, pumpkin muffins, eggs, greens, or whatever else we have around!
- Lamb — We have lots of different cuts available: roasts, shanks, chops, and grind. Prices vary!
- Tote bags — $10 each! Get yours today!
