I delight in eating my way through the rainbow, especially when 80% of it comes from within a 20 minutes drive from my house. This view is what sustains me through the long winters.
Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label farm. Show all posts
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Summer's prosperity
I delight in eating my way through the rainbow, especially when 80% of it comes from within a 20 minutes drive from my house. This view is what sustains me through the long winters.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
We're jammin', we're jammin', jammin'
(Bob Marley fans will get the title reference - I hope!)
8:45 pm Tuesday night, after putting the kids to be a little late (it was swimming lessons night), I walked out to the kitchen, rolled up my sleeves and took a deep breath. There were 20 lbs of strawberries in my refrigerator waiting to be jammed. The kids had helped me prep the jars that afternoon (aka loading the dishwasher) and I had washed all the rings and lids. I prefer to make freezer jam. I love the fresh fruit taste, it is less work and I can use the lids year after year since the jars don't need to seal like in canning.
Matt came into my madness around 10 pm after paying some bills and was planning to go to bed. Oh, the plans we make and how they come undone! When he saw my progress (snail-like), he took pity on me and joined the effort. The strawberry season was early this year due to a hot spell in May. Therefore the time in June which is usually mid-season was the end this year. We got to the farm on the very last day of picking, this past Sunday. The wife said we were "ambitious" when I mentioned that we wanted to pick 20 lbs. It was hot as, well you know, the kids got cranky, had to go the bathroom (a lot!) and went to the van after about 30 minutes. So Matt and I were left on our own to search and wade through rows of mushy, end-of-the-season strawberries to find the edible ones and fill our containers!
You know, it takes a long time to fill a quart container when the almost all the berries are small, a looong time. But after 2 hours and a bad sunburn, we had picked our 20 lbs exactly (the farmer wife was very impressed, I am sure). So, back to the kitchen - there I was an hour and 15 minutes into jamming washing, stemming, mashing, stirring, pectin-ing, and filling by myself and I only had 3 pints full. I told you it was snail-like. Picking tiny, end-of-the-season berries takes a long time remember? Well, stemming, cutting off the mushy parts of tiny end-of-the-season berries takes even longer. Really. Which is when my handsome prince on his white stallion appeared and stemmed to my rescue! (Accurate description, honey?) After a few foul ups (not adding enough sweetener or pectin - it was late, my brain was done), Matt singing silly (sometimes obscene) songs and me asking him to quit it, and laughing up a storm listening to the hilarious comedy portion of this pod cast (First Contact) I had listened to before Matt came to my rescue, the jammin' was all done by 1am. Whew!
Strawberries we love you but next year, we are picking early!
peace
8:45 pm Tuesday night, after putting the kids to be a little late (it was swimming lessons night), I walked out to the kitchen, rolled up my sleeves and took a deep breath. There were 20 lbs of strawberries in my refrigerator waiting to be jammed. The kids had helped me prep the jars that afternoon (aka loading the dishwasher) and I had washed all the rings and lids. I prefer to make freezer jam. I love the fresh fruit taste, it is less work and I can use the lids year after year since the jars don't need to seal like in canning.
Matt came into my madness around 10 pm after paying some bills and was planning to go to bed. Oh, the plans we make and how they come undone! When he saw my progress (snail-like), he took pity on me and joined the effort. The strawberry season was early this year due to a hot spell in May. Therefore the time in June which is usually mid-season was the end this year. We got to the farm on the very last day of picking, this past Sunday. The wife said we were "ambitious" when I mentioned that we wanted to pick 20 lbs. It was hot as, well you know, the kids got cranky, had to go the bathroom (a lot!) and went to the van after about 30 minutes. So Matt and I were left on our own to search and wade through rows of mushy, end-of-the-season strawberries to find the edible ones and fill our containers!
You know, it takes a long time to fill a quart container when the almost all the berries are small, a looong time. But after 2 hours and a bad sunburn, we had picked our 20 lbs exactly (the farmer wife was very impressed, I am sure). So, back to the kitchen - there I was an hour and 15 minutes into jamming washing, stemming, mashing, stirring, pectin-ing, and filling by myself and I only had 3 pints full. I told you it was snail-like. Picking tiny, end-of-the-season berries takes a long time remember? Well, stemming, cutting off the mushy parts of tiny end-of-the-season berries takes even longer. Really. Which is when my handsome prince on his white stallion appeared and stemmed to my rescue! (Accurate description, honey?) After a few foul ups (not adding enough sweetener or pectin - it was late, my brain was done), Matt singing silly (sometimes obscene) songs and me asking him to quit it, and laughing up a storm listening to the hilarious comedy portion of this pod cast (First Contact) I had listened to before Matt came to my rescue, the jammin' was all done by 1am. Whew!
Strawberries we love you but next year, we are picking early!
peace
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Face-to-face
Friends of ours share a beautiful farm with thier parents and will eventually take it over themselves one day. They have recently acquired around25 chickens and started selling the eggs by word of mouth. I just love the various sizes that come in one carton, the bright yellow/orange of the yolks, the way the whites just zoom out of the shell...so fresh!
For the past several weeks our friends have been delivering their eggs to interested people in our church. I have just loved watching these exchanges: people bringing back their cartons from the previous weeks to be reused, trading their hard earned dollars for farm fresh, hand gathered, lovingly raised free range eggs, seeing all the eggs cartons carefully labeled by name and date in the church frig. I love when agriculture & community take on this interconnected relationship: farmer and eater exchanging goods in person, talking about the chickens, how the weather is affecting production, what future plans of the farm are, and chatting about life, community, work, etc. Person to person, instead of farm to truck to store to consumer to table. It is amazing how much more valuable an investment becomes when it has a face & a name, when it is your neighbor. This is how all of us do more than merely eke out an existence or make ends meet, this is how we live a life: face-to-face.
peace
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)