It was a good day, starting with bisquits made with lardo, smoked jowl bacon and eggs. Nothing fancy right. Just some good ol southern influenced soul food. The jowl meat is truly off the chain. Side by side of the bacon it is really it's own thing. Similar to regular bacon but quite distinctive. It has a European name but I cannot recall what it is. It does'nt matter, It's just good.
Katie fired up a couple different soups for the day. The first was a classic french onion soup made with Coffelts Farm beef broth and onions grown on island by George Orser at Orcas Farm. The other soup was split pea made with the pork stock and ham hock. This is all what one my call peasant food which in m opinion is the best food on the planet. Unpretentious, authentic cooking using on hand, local ingredients. It's what I would call living close to the bone or what others would perhaps say as living high on the hog. Anyway you say it, it's all good. It is good to be alive.
We're pretty much in pork heaven here right now. I smoked the jowls and a litle bit of the bacon. I have a cheapo smoker but it works quite well. I used all alder wood just by using that as the wood for the fire. It's a bit heavy sometimes but good if you dont over do it. I took everything to 150 degrees. I'd like to try some fruit woods that may create a less intense smoke flavor. I aslo have the to be ham in a brine soultion. Another few days in the brine and then I'll lightly smoke it and finish it off in the oven. Looking forward to that. It's all fun. I'm a newbie in this department so its all experimentaion. It never hurts to have a chef as a friend. Thanks Geddes for all of your help and guidance. My cooking skills are getting kicked up a notch.
Today? rendering some of the leaf fat I think. I'll be using some of the lard to make pie dough for holiday pies. We're swimming in pumpkins, apples and all kinds of other fruits and berries that we put up earlier in the fall. I'll make a few pies and tarts and pop them in the freezer for later use.
I'm hoping to host a few farm to table dinners here this winter. Hopefully that will come to fruition so We can share some of the goodness with our customers. I'll keep you posted.
Keep well,
Farmer John
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Friday, November 13, 2009
This Little Piggy Goes To Market
We slaughtered the first of our two mangalitsa hogs a couple weeks back. Very interesting to see how these "Wooly Pigs" differ from the regular swine we have raised in past years. The obvious difference is how much fat they have. The fatback on this guy was about two and a half inches thick! Wooly pigs are famous for their high quality fat and I was perhaps a bit sceptical in the beginning but after working with and tasting the meat I a convert.
Yesterday was spent smoking ham hocks and bones and making copious quantities of stock. I also proccessed the scrap into ground pork. This was the first real taste of the meat I have had. Highly impressive. Without question the best pork I've ever tasted. The flesh is such a beautiful red color and the texture reminded me of a sushi grade tuna. Just fabulous.
Geddes Martin from The Inn At Ship Bay dry cured the bellies and jowls for bacon. The flavor is exceptional. The bacon is mostly fat but it's different than any bacon you'll see at the market. It goes translucent as soon as it heats the pan. The flavor is clean and the taste again, is out of this world.
I also rendered a pan sized piece of fat and wound up with four pints of high quality lard. We had around six pounds of leaf lard. I have not rendered that yet but I can't wait to do so and of course we're going to try some whipped fat! I'm especially looking forward to bisquits made with the lardo and a big pot of split pea soup made with the stock from the smoked bones. The smell in our house right now is delightfully one of pork fat.
My chore for today is to de-bone a large fresh ham and get it into a brine solution to cure so we'll have a nice ham for thanksgiving. We always have a big crowd at thanksgiving. We always eat fresh and seasonal and this year will be extra special using the mangalitsa as a critical componet to many of our dishes.
Time to roll. Take care all.
Farmer John
Yesterday was spent smoking ham hocks and bones and making copious quantities of stock. I also proccessed the scrap into ground pork. This was the first real taste of the meat I have had. Highly impressive. Without question the best pork I've ever tasted. The flesh is such a beautiful red color and the texture reminded me of a sushi grade tuna. Just fabulous.
Geddes Martin from The Inn At Ship Bay dry cured the bellies and jowls for bacon. The flavor is exceptional. The bacon is mostly fat but it's different than any bacon you'll see at the market. It goes translucent as soon as it heats the pan. The flavor is clean and the taste again, is out of this world.
I also rendered a pan sized piece of fat and wound up with four pints of high quality lard. We had around six pounds of leaf lard. I have not rendered that yet but I can't wait to do so and of course we're going to try some whipped fat! I'm especially looking forward to bisquits made with the lardo and a big pot of split pea soup made with the stock from the smoked bones. The smell in our house right now is delightfully one of pork fat.
My chore for today is to de-bone a large fresh ham and get it into a brine solution to cure so we'll have a nice ham for thanksgiving. We always have a big crowd at thanksgiving. We always eat fresh and seasonal and this year will be extra special using the mangalitsa as a critical componet to many of our dishes.
Time to roll. Take care all.
Farmer John
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Winder Down
We are rapidly coming to a close here. We have just one more farmers market after today. We'll be about town selling when the weather permits and supplying the local restaraunts for the next six weeks or so and then it's a wrap for the year. Not that the work ever stops. People ask me all the time what I do in the down time. There is not much of a slow time these days! It's always something. January is a slower more contemplative time. Lots of planning for the upcoming season and soliciting custumers for our CSA begins. Keeping the cash flow up is priority # 1. CSA dollars are what allow us to continue bringing Orcas Island a wide selection of locally grown produce.
For now we're just trying to keep as much product flowing as possible. There is still an amazing bounty coming from the farm. Believe it or not we still have some lovely tomatoes. Never have I seen the quality continue this far into the season. It's awesome. It's helped pick up some slack on our failed crop of potatoes (bummer) It's not often we get skunked but it does happen. It's a classic example of why we are diverse in the crops we grow. Other things we are bringing to the table right now include cabbage, beets, celeriac, leeks, salad greens, braising greens, turnips, brussel's sprouts, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, collards radish's and celery. We have a handful of winter squash but it is mostly done. Wish we had planted more.
The days are becoming shorter and the weather can be challenging. Yesterday was a little rough. Not so much the weather but just tuckered out. Therefore it is getting light and I must go finish the market harvest this morning. Stay tuned. I'm a better blogger in the winter months than I am in the summer.
Keep well,
Farmer John
For now we're just trying to keep as much product flowing as possible. There is still an amazing bounty coming from the farm. Believe it or not we still have some lovely tomatoes. Never have I seen the quality continue this far into the season. It's awesome. It's helped pick up some slack on our failed crop of potatoes (bummer) It's not often we get skunked but it does happen. It's a classic example of why we are diverse in the crops we grow. Other things we are bringing to the table right now include cabbage, beets, celeriac, leeks, salad greens, braising greens, turnips, brussel's sprouts, broccoli, swiss chard, kale, collards radish's and celery. We have a handful of winter squash but it is mostly done. Wish we had planted more.
The days are becoming shorter and the weather can be challenging. Yesterday was a little rough. Not so much the weather but just tuckered out. Therefore it is getting light and I must go finish the market harvest this morning. Stay tuned. I'm a better blogger in the winter months than I am in the summer.
Keep well,
Farmer John
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Fall Rush
The rains are coming and that means lots of last minute details to attend to. Getting the grenhouses battenend down, stocking firewood and getting in the last of the cover crop and overwintering crops in. This week noted the first frost of the season. Not a killing frost but enough to remind us that winter is definately on the way. I'm actually looking forward to the rain. It's been a long, hot, dry season. Plus I'm just looking for an excuse to sit inside and watch it rain and contemplate the season and begin the planning process for yet another year. I'm still commited as ever to providing fresh and local produce
Our pigs are sizing up and I'm beginning to think it's getting close to slaughter time. We'll give them a little longer and see how they do.
Garlic is in and we are just beginning to take tomato plants out of the hoophouses and replace them with lettuce. Once again, just an amazing tomato year. I'm probably a little late for the lettuce but how can you just rip out a healthy tomato plant you've nurished for damn near a year? I can't, besides, the greenhouse's are great and all for growing winter crops but the reality is they are so small relative to what we actually harvest that it just does'nt make that big of a difference. Our outdoor plantings of winter hardy greens are much more practical and provide us with a much longer/larger harvest.
Although we put in our fall and overwintering crops slightly late this year, they are doing well and looking like they will produce. Broccoli will be on soon followed by cabbage and other misc. brassicas. Hopefully my late sowings of greens and Hakurei turnips will make it. I'm also sowing peas and fava beans for spring harvest. Just as a side note, we have been harvesting some nice sugar snap peas that I sowed on July 1st. Note to self, do that again next year only more.
Time to getty up. Biscuts for breakfast!
Farmer John
Our pigs are sizing up and I'm beginning to think it's getting close to slaughter time. We'll give them a little longer and see how they do.
Garlic is in and we are just beginning to take tomato plants out of the hoophouses and replace them with lettuce. Once again, just an amazing tomato year. I'm probably a little late for the lettuce but how can you just rip out a healthy tomato plant you've nurished for damn near a year? I can't, besides, the greenhouse's are great and all for growing winter crops but the reality is they are so small relative to what we actually harvest that it just does'nt make that big of a difference. Our outdoor plantings of winter hardy greens are much more practical and provide us with a much longer/larger harvest.
Although we put in our fall and overwintering crops slightly late this year, they are doing well and looking like they will produce. Broccoli will be on soon followed by cabbage and other misc. brassicas. Hopefully my late sowings of greens and Hakurei turnips will make it. I'm also sowing peas and fava beans for spring harvest. Just as a side note, we have been harvesting some nice sugar snap peas that I sowed on July 1st. Note to self, do that again next year only more.
Time to getty up. Biscuts for breakfast!
Farmer John
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Yo!
Wow! The weather this week has been wonderful. Looks like a change is on the way soon though. The rains cometh. I'll be pushing to get firewood in and under cover this week. Daily routines on the farm continue but things ar definately slowing down. Our reastaurant accounts are ordering less as their volume begins to slow down. The Farmers market has now moved inside to the Oddfellows Hall. Traffic seems to me like it's a little slower this year but we are actually up from last year. Same time last year sales volume is definately slipping. It's too early to determine if it's a developing trend. We'll just keep pushing to bring as much to market as we can. Part of the slip has been on our side. Deer ravaged our strawberry and potato fields causing a major shortage in those crops both which are in the top five sellers. I personally dropped the ball on salad green production (our premier crop) It was just so hot this summer it was hard to keep it rolling. Once you fall behind it's hard to catch back up. All is well for now, hopefully the weather holds long enough for the newly sown greens to come to maturity. It appears that most of the fall broccoli and cabbage crops will come to fruition. This time of year you can't really count on anything until it happens. It is all weather dependent.
This week will be the last of the summer squash, cucumbers and outdoor tomatoes. They had a nice long run and I am happy for that. Best tomato year I've ever seen and the cucumbers as lowly as they may seem reigned as kings this year. I'm shocked at how many we sold. I'm leaving the indoor toms in for a bit longer. They have tons of tomatoes on them and seem to be continuing to ripen. The end will come soon. With that we will be officially be in fall crop mode. Lots of root crops, beautiful fall greens and winter squash and hopefully a few lingering tomatoes that have ripened off the vine.
That'll have to do for now. Thanks to you all for helping us have another great season.
Keep well,
Farmer John
This week will be the last of the summer squash, cucumbers and outdoor tomatoes. They had a nice long run and I am happy for that. Best tomato year I've ever seen and the cucumbers as lowly as they may seem reigned as kings this year. I'm shocked at how many we sold. I'm leaving the indoor toms in for a bit longer. They have tons of tomatoes on them and seem to be continuing to ripen. The end will come soon. With that we will be officially be in fall crop mode. Lots of root crops, beautiful fall greens and winter squash and hopefully a few lingering tomatoes that have ripened off the vine.
That'll have to do for now. Thanks to you all for helping us have another great season.
Keep well,
Farmer John
Friday, August 28, 2009
"What we have here is a failure to communicate"
Sorry... It's been a damn long time since I've posted. Just too darned busy. Ironic, this is the time when there is the most to write about. It's been a busy summer obviously. This years dry, hot conditions have provided us with the best tomato crop I think I've ever seen. Gorgeous! Paul Robeson is STILL my favorite tomato ever. Lovin the black cherries and of course the sungolds as always are complety off the chain.
The pigs are growing nicely with the exception of our full breed mangalitsa. He's still alot smaller than his buddies. The biggest of which is about 180lbs I'd guess. Before too long we'll be having a hog roast. Can't wait.
The season is beginning to feel a bit autumnal But it is still clearly summer and the bounty is on. Changes are in store soon. Just five more outdoor markets before we move inside for the fall. Sales have been good at the market. I think we are up a little for the year. Wholesale sales are off a bit due to the economy. Overall I think we're doing OK. It's been a bit of a turbulent year. Could be better, need more space.
The new land we are working this year has potential but not much progress has been made on the water situation. No water.... no farm. The potatoes I put in there showed promise in the beginning. Not enough water and then having them ravaged by the deer pretty much nailed the coffin shut. We are harvesting some potatoes from there but the yield is terible and there is heavy wire worm casulty. We'll try that next year under an improved situation. ie, a fence and irrigation and a different location in the field away from the neighbor.
We've had deer issues in the strawberry field. It's an ugly story I'm tired of telling. In short there are no strawberries and there will not be until next year. Nuts!
That'll do for now. Just easing back into a blogging routine. More to come on a "regular" schedule.
Farmer John
The pigs are growing nicely with the exception of our full breed mangalitsa. He's still alot smaller than his buddies. The biggest of which is about 180lbs I'd guess. Before too long we'll be having a hog roast. Can't wait.
The season is beginning to feel a bit autumnal But it is still clearly summer and the bounty is on. Changes are in store soon. Just five more outdoor markets before we move inside for the fall. Sales have been good at the market. I think we are up a little for the year. Wholesale sales are off a bit due to the economy. Overall I think we're doing OK. It's been a bit of a turbulent year. Could be better, need more space.
The new land we are working this year has potential but not much progress has been made on the water situation. No water.... no farm. The potatoes I put in there showed promise in the beginning. Not enough water and then having them ravaged by the deer pretty much nailed the coffin shut. We are harvesting some potatoes from there but the yield is terible and there is heavy wire worm casulty. We'll try that next year under an improved situation. ie, a fence and irrigation and a different location in the field away from the neighbor.
We've had deer issues in the strawberry field. It's an ugly story I'm tired of telling. In short there are no strawberries and there will not be until next year. Nuts!
That'll do for now. Just easing back into a blogging routine. More to come on a "regular" schedule.
Farmer John
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Back At Market
The Farmers market returns for 2009. Saturday was our first market of the season. We had a great day. Sales were brisk and the energy was great. Considering all of the wierd weather we've experienced this spring we had a nice selection of produce. Lettuce, Asian greens mix, baby bok choi, radsish's, Japanese turnips, braising greens and kale tops. We also had a wide variety of plant starts available. Plant sales were good which was nice because there is strong competition for starts at the market. We had alot of return customers who have been with us for years. Thank you, we appreciate your business.
Me moved our location from the village green to the street this year on a temporary basis while the newly sown grass is taking hold on the green. We all loved the new location and so did our customers. The energy was like a stree fair; and the street is free! The board has my vote to move and many others feel the same way. We are all more than tired of the county bullying us around with the outlandish rate hikes and cavalier attitude. They should be happy to have us there. I hope we move just to be able to give it back to the short-sided, money hungry parks department.
It's been a rainy week. We were able to get in most of the potatoes before it came down. Still have 15 rows to go. Just waiting for it to dry out a bit. The rains been nice, perfect transplanting weather and thats what we're up to. We put in six beds of brassicas yesterday ( broccoli, cauliflower and kale) Six beds left in brassicaville, there's more broccoli ready to go today. Pea trellis's are up on the earliest peas. we'll continue installing as needed. Lots of potting up going on and still sowing indoors and out. Getting ready to run out of space soon. Strawberries will be here today. A little late I know but given the weather and other events I just hav'nt been able to get the new beds prepped. This rain will set us back a couple more days perhaps. It's hard once market satrts to get everything done as it takes out two days of the week. One for harvest and one to do the market. Oh yeah and everything needs to be mowed. And.... weedy! when the sun comes out they will explode. Get the weed arsenal ready!
So much to do. When and how will it all happen?
Farmer John
Me moved our location from the village green to the street this year on a temporary basis while the newly sown grass is taking hold on the green. We all loved the new location and so did our customers. The energy was like a stree fair; and the street is free! The board has my vote to move and many others feel the same way. We are all more than tired of the county bullying us around with the outlandish rate hikes and cavalier attitude. They should be happy to have us there. I hope we move just to be able to give it back to the short-sided, money hungry parks department.
It's been a rainy week. We were able to get in most of the potatoes before it came down. Still have 15 rows to go. Just waiting for it to dry out a bit. The rains been nice, perfect transplanting weather and thats what we're up to. We put in six beds of brassicas yesterday ( broccoli, cauliflower and kale) Six beds left in brassicaville, there's more broccoli ready to go today. Pea trellis's are up on the earliest peas. we'll continue installing as needed. Lots of potting up going on and still sowing indoors and out. Getting ready to run out of space soon. Strawberries will be here today. A little late I know but given the weather and other events I just hav'nt been able to get the new beds prepped. This rain will set us back a couple more days perhaps. It's hard once market satrts to get everything done as it takes out two days of the week. One for harvest and one to do the market. Oh yeah and everything needs to be mowed. And.... weedy! when the sun comes out they will explode. Get the weed arsenal ready!
So much to do. When and how will it all happen?
Farmer John
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