Fields and Fire

what's cookin at Wheatberry (and birthday recap)

Starting this week, we have fresh kale chips to serve with our sandwiches at Wheatberry.  I thought I'd share the recipe.  To begin, take one toddler out to the garden fresh with some much-needed rain

Pick tender young kale leaves (or get some from your local farmer - preferably the smaller young leaves).  Spread on a baking sheet, and coat lightly with oil (about a tablespoon oil for a cup of kale) and sprinkle generously with salt (1 tsp).  Use a silpat on your baking sheet if you have one.

Bake at 350 for 5-10 minutes, checking often.  They will continue to crisp after you take them out, so just be careful not to burn them!

And voila.  Eat them up for a snack, or as a delicious (and ridiculously healthy) addition to any meal.  I made these at 8 in the morning and couldn't stop eating them. 

Also at Wheatberry these days, we are now making our own cream cheese!  Yay!  If you're wondering what the difference might be, imagine the difference between an apple pie bought at the grocery store, and one made at home.  Unless you've made it yourself, you've never tasted handmade cream cheese before (the kind at the store isn't cultured, it's thickened with guar gum and other weird industrial by-products).  So come on down and taste some real food!  We're using an adapted version of the cream cheese in Ricki Carroll's wonderful Home Cheesemaking.

In wheat news, we've just gotten word from White Oak Farm that our first harvest is only four weeks away!  So exciting!!  We're working hard to get a grain dryer and seed cleaners in place, to make sure this harvest gets done right.  Also on a grain note, we've heard from some CSA members that they would like some grain cooking classes, to prepare for their shares.  We would love to hear from more of you - do you want classes starting this summer, or would you rather wait until you have your shares?  Which grains do you most want to learn about?  You can leave comments for us right here on the blog, and then you'll get to see what your fellow CSA members are interested in, also!

And finally, the birthday recap.  I got almost all my crafting done in time.  Here's Ella's birthday banner in progress . . .

and the finished project with our new two year old!

Hope everyone had a great week, and don't forget to share your thoughts about grain cooking classes with us!  (Or any other thoughts, for that matter.)

time to get busy

The frenzy of summer is starting, at least at our farm.  It's always hard for us to remember that since we're a mere 1,000 feet higher than Amherst/Hadley, our plants get going a little slower.  We go to the farmer's market and think, "Oh no- our onions aren't that big yet!" 
But yesterday Ella and I got our first good harvest from the garden, broccoli rabe and arugula.
Which we promptly cooked up for dinner.  (How, you ask?  Why, sauteed in bacon fat and sprinkled with salt, eaten hot out of the pan with friends.)  Yum!  I love farmer's markets and CSA shares, but there is nothing as tasty and satisfying as food straight out of the garden.
This week is also Ella's 2nd birthday, so we've been busy getting ready to celebrate.  Some views from the crafting room - Ella measuring, and fat quarters lined up to be transformed into a birthday banner.
Let's hope I can get it together by Saturday!  Especially with all of Ella's, uh, helping.  Our first CSA share arrives tomorrow, from The Kitchen Garden. 

Here's a link to some great thoughts from Colin Beavin, of No Impact Man.  Always an inspiration.

Don't forget you can find more of our photos on Flickr. 

a beginning

This seems like a good place to start - building our first stone wall, to erect our first greenhouse.
With the help of a dolly, some beers, and some extra hands, Ben, Jeanine, and Estelle moved these massive rocks from an old foundation on our property to their new home here.  Now we have to fill in the smaller spots and get that greenhouse up, so we can move the tomatoes into the ground.
And here is Ella, on her first solo slide ride, a few months ago in Boston.  Just a little excited . . . More soon, tales of planting and chickens and children and crafting . . .