no tomatoes in winter

Tomatoes are my favourite food in the world...but I have learned to go without fresh tomatoes for half the year. I will occasionally buy a couple to make a layered dip for a special occasion (there is a greenhouse in the next town that grows organic hydroponic tomatoes and they are available at the regular supermarkets), but throughout the winter and spring I mostly rely on jarred and dried tomato products, or whatever I froze or dehydrated in the summer and fall.

Two summers ago, local tomato crops in New England were ruined by late blight. It was then that I learned to go without them for such a long stretch that now 9 months doesn't seem like such a big deal to wait for a perfectly sun-ripened local tomato.

And so I can appreciate
what we DO get more as
well. This year the winter
farm shares at the CSA
are the longest yet,
stretching til the end of
March! That means there
will only be 2 month of the
year we are not receiving
locally grown vegetables.


Winter offers lots of root
vegetables, mostly stored
in the root cellar and
divided for each monthly
pickup through the season.
Carrots, parnsips, purple-
topped turnips, potatoes,
celeriac, onions, shallots &
beets. Roasting, mashing,
and making simple soups
takes care of the majority.

The rest of the winter
share consists of kale,
swiss chard, spinach,
baby salad greens, leeks,
cabbages, popping corn,
and a little extra garlic.

Amazingly most of this
is grown in the actual
ground, just covered by
a simple frame mobile
greenhouse.

This winter saw (and is
still seeing--it's snowing
as I type) some huge
snow accumulation. But
on a sunny day the
temperature in side the
greenhouse can reach
the 80sF.




Another lower greenhouse
was added this year to
increase kale and chard
production. While the kale
from the summer still
survives in the field, covered,
this kale is much more
robust, offering sharers a
large bagful at each pickup.

Spinach with Dried
Tomatoes & Garlic

8 oz. fresh spinach, washed
1 T. olive oil
1 T. margarine (I use Earth
Balance)
3 cloves garlic, minced
6 sun-dried or dehydrated
tomato slices, soaked
salt & pepper

Soak the dried tomatoes
in hot or boiling water
for 30 minutes. Save the
soaking water! Remove the softened tomatoes and slice thinly or chop.

In a large pot or skillet, heat the olive oil & margarine over medium heat. Add garlic & tomatoes and cook for 1 minute. Add spinach, a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Toss with a fork or tongs. Cook for another minute. Add a few tablespoons of the tomato soaking water, cover pot, and cook 1-2 minutes until tender.

waiting for winter share

It's friday! Hooray! Now I'm not usually excited about fridays because my husband usually works on the weekend, in fact he's been gone this month more days than he's been at home. But this friday is the first winter farm share pickup! I've been stubbornly refusing to purchase lettuce or other greens, subsisting on pea shoots from the cover crops and whatever extras were available. I even had to resort to pulling the leaves off the pea tendrils to put in the boys' wraps for lunch this morning...

Ryan
& AJ's
lunches:
banana
walnut
bread;
veggie
crack-
ers for
AJ,
dried
apri-
cots
for
Ryan;
Tof-
urky,
soy
cheese
& pea
shoot
leaves
roll-ups
on flax lavash bread; carrot; pickle; steamed broccoli; peanuts & raisins for AJ, peanuts & almonds for Ryan.

And Nate needed a lunch to eat at Grandma's house...
Nate's lunch: carrots; pickle; cherry tomato; pea shoots; peanuts, almonds & raisins; broccoli; banana walnut bread.

As soon as 1 o'clock
arrived, Maia & I were
off to the farm. We
brought home 3 big
bags of food: potatoes,
celeriac, carrots, sweet
potatoes, kale (2 kinds),
collard greens, parsley, sage,
chives, leeks, onions (red
& yellow), bok choy, butternut
squash, mixed salad greens,
spinach, cabbage, & 4 heads
of lettuce! The only thing I was surprised not to see was parsnips, which means I'll have to alter out Thanksgiving menu slightly, but that's fine.

making Stone Soup

I volunteered to make the Stone Soup at Stearns Farm today. This meant I would be preparing food mostly outdoors in 40 degree overcast weather with only cold water available from an outdoor faucet and only a
small plug-in electric
burner. And I had to get
most of the ingredients
from the seconds and left-
overs in the farm's root
cellar. But I came prepared
with a bag of red lentils, a
can of black beans, and my
bottle of liquid hickory smoke to add just a touch of something different for the farm staff.

All the soups at the farm
are vegetarian, usually
vegan, so this was a piece
of cake for me. What wasn't
a piece of cake was the fact
that I wanted to bring a
little something extra to
accompany the soup...which was a good thing, because they were out of bread. BUT the farmer has recently switched to a gluten-free diet, AND I didn't want to exclude anyone that might happen to be anti-soy. SO whatever I made had to be vegan, gluten-free, and soy-free.

So before I left for the farm
in the morning I whipped
up what I hoped would be
a decent batch of muffins.
No wheat flour. No Earth
Balance margarine. None of
my usual crutches.


I had just broken down
most of our jack o' lantern
pumpkins, including one
pie pumpkin from the
farm. It was already in
the fridge cut, steamed,
and ready for use. So
pumpkin muffins they
would be!

I sub-
bed
coco-
nut
oil &
maple
syrup
for my
usual
melted
marg-
arine.
This
res-
ulted
in a
slightly
greasy
exteri-
ior to
the
muffins,
but the flavour was absolutely fantastic, so I think it's worth posting the recipe of my crazy concoction. The kids and my husband tested them first and absolutely loved them. They commented on the different texture (since they're used to wheat) but kept asking for more since they tasted so good.

Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 T. Ener-G egg replacer powder + 4 T. warm water
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups pumpkin or other winter squash, peeled, cut & steamed
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup glutinous rice flour (otherwise known as "mochiko", or sweet rice flour, available at most asian markets)
1/4 cup organic cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1 T. vegan cane sugar for garnish
spray olive oil for muffins tins

In a large bowl, mix first 3 ingredients. Then prepare egg replacer, whisking with a fork until frothy, and add to bowl along with the vanilla. Stir well.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Puree the steamed pumpkin (or mash very well) and add to bowl, stirring to combine. Add the next 9 (dry) ingredients. Mix well. Add the walnuts (or your nut of choice).
Spray mini muffin tins with olive oil. This recipe made 30 mini-muffins so plan accordingly.
Fill muffin tins with batter just up to the top. Sprinkle a little sugar over each. Bake for 18 minutes.

lots of

Every season brings its bounty. Apples are done, and cool weather greens are thriving. Up at the CSA, I can still pick plenty even though our summer share is officially over. Many herbs don't mind the dropping temps, and cover crops often produce their own treat. Dada worked at the farm yesterday harvesting carrots & leeks for the upcoming winter shares...






















Maia and Nate ate a few
dozen raw pea shoots
from the cover crops.
Then we joined the day's
farm staff for soup and
sides. I brought along
extras for the kids. And
we made applesauce
oatmeal cookies from our
dwindling local apple supply.

I had made a whole lot
of applesauce, and I
needed to do something
else with it. It just felt
like a cookie day. And
my recipe created 3-4
dozen cookies, enough
to share at the farm as
well as pack for snacks and lunches the next day.Ryan & AJ's lunches: Toy Story pasta & broccoli w/Daiya cheese; honeydew melon; applesauce oatmeal cookie; baby carrots; cucumber slices.

Maia's lunch: Toy Story pasta w/broccoli & Daiya cheese; applesauce oatmeal cookie; honeydew melon.

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

1 stick Earth Balance, melted
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup applesauce (if it's fresh and hot it creates a caramel texture when mixed with the sugars)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups quick oats

Melt margarine and mix well with the sugars. Add applesauce & vanilla and mix again. Add the next 6 (dry) ingredients and mix well. Add the oats last, stirring to combine.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees (actually just between 325 and 350 would be ideal...depends on how accurate your oven is).
Lightly spray/grease 2 cookie sheets. Drop a dozen blobs of dough on each sheet. Bake 12-14 minutes. Remove with a spatula to cool on a wire rack. Repeat once more with remaining dough.

Care for Collards?

Rain or shine, we still
have to pick up our
CSA share at the farm.
Nate loves going to
help with the pick-your-
own items. The collard
greens were looking
lovely all speckled with
raindrops.






















The kale was taller than Nate, almost up to my shoulders!
Collards with a Kick

12 large collard green leaves, washed, stems removed, thinly sliced
2 T. Earth Balance buttery spread
1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

Prepare collard greens.
In a medium pot melt
margarine over low heat.
Add collards & salt. Stir.
Cover & cook about 2
minutes.
Add liquid smoke &
cayenne pepper. Stir. Cover.
Cook another 5 minutes over
low heat until collards are tender.

Maia's lunch: meatless meatball; green bell pepper; heart sandwich of hummus & lettuce; chocolate chip bunny cookies; carrot flowers.

AJ's lunch: spaghetti w/tomato, carrot, kale, onion sauce & meatless meatballs; mini zucchini muffin baby carrots; cashews; raisins.

Ryan's lunch: spaghetti & meatless meatballs; 2 heart sandwiches of hummus & lettuce; baby carrots; dried apricots.

ahhh...the farm

Now that the tomatoes
are doing well I have to
blog about the farm again.
CSAs are just the best
most satisfying way to
obtain local organic produce.
You know the farmer, help
work the fields, have a say
in what gets planted, know
the water source that irrigates the soil, harvest a lot of your own produce (unless it's a delivery style CSA like some farms), and have the kids learning about where their food comes from hands on.


Sometimes I feel bad
talking so much about
our local farm, Stearns
Farm CSA, because it's
just sooo good. There's
a several hundred person
waiting list. Yeah. It's that wonderful. And if you don't renew by January you're outta there! But almost everyone does. 95% of familes this year returned. Considering that people move and such, that's really impressive.
Here's Nate toting 2 quarts of purslane on his head. Purslane is essentially a weed to most people in the U.S., but one of the most nutritious and delicious weeds you've ever tasted! It's growing among the crops, shading the root veggies, free for the taking.

Before the basil is even
out of the greenhouse,
there is purslane popping
up among the rows. I
topped some whole wheat
pita pizzas with purslane
pesto, then added Daiya
mozzarella. Perfection.

The good news is there
are new CSAs opening
every year. In fact the farm around the corner from ours began offering shares 2 years ago, and now they are utilizing the field adjoining Stearns Farm for organic crops, instead of hay as they did in the past. I'm sure the Community Supported Agriculture model will only continue to grow.

I know

I know, I know, I've been
gone from the blogosphere
for over a month! Really, I
have excuses, as lame as
they may be: end of school
year bustle, summer school,
solo hiking trip, excessive
rain, a fire at my husband's
office, jury duty, Maia's 2nd
birthday. But most of all
it was the crashed laptop
that did me in. Yes, we have
multiple other computers, and I keep all my photos on an external harddrive as well. But what a pain to move them to a new computer. I really like them all in one place. So I waited while the sick laptop was away...and waited. Then I started getting used to being away from it. And then school was done and there were no lunches to make. The laptop was gone almost a month, but finally it returned, functional, though not much faster and still crashing from time to time.
But then the unthinkable happened...our oven broke. Now, I've wanted to replace our oven since I moved here. It's old, a non-standard size, the door handle has broken off, and it does not hold a consistent temperature.
Hopefully next week I will be announcing the arrival of a brand new oven. It remains to be seen if it will fit, so we're keeping a crowbar on standby. I'll let you know how it goes!

In the meantime, I have a backlog of photos galore!! Why don't I start back with pics from one of our favourite places, Stearns Farm CSA. I have begun to lose track...it's our 5th? 6th? year there, and it's always changing and always wonderful.

























Early in the season is the farm's Spring Festival and potluck. My husband observed that out of the dozens of dishes people brought, not a single one contained meat. None. There are no rules about what to bring, and most people label their dishes, often with a complete ingredient list. Not only was everything vegetarian, but I'd say that two-thirds of the dishes were vegan! I'd never imagined going to a potluck that was not specifically vegan and being in the majority. What a pleasant shocker! It's so great that so many people in our community make their health, the planet's health, and that of animals a priority.

Maia is
big
enough
this
year to
really
enjoy
the
festival
and the
farm
envir-
onment.
The
kids
must
have
eaten
their
weight
in water-
melon.

So be prepared for a posting
marathon while I attempt to
play catch-up. I have just shy
of 1,000 photos in one folder,
and that doesn't include any-
thing from my phone.

I try to refrain from using my
phone for food photography,
but sometimes it just happens
since carrying two devices, no
matter how small, just feels so
redundant. Problem is, I've
taken to unloading my phone
pics onto the big computer since
that's where I sync my iTunes.
Somehow I have to get more
organized!

"S" it Spring yet??

Seriously, enough with the constant rain, and the weather that can't make up its mind from one minute to the next. The lighting was horrible on the porch for picture taking this morning...

Ryan's "S" lunch: juju stars;
spinach; soba noodles; star-
fruit slices; sesame sticks;
seaweed crackers.

Served in a Snoopy bento
with a spork, and a S'mores
mini Luna bar on the side.

I should have posted over
the weekend...hmmm...so
much else to blab on about...

Well, first my food:

friday:
7am- 6 flax crackers w/almond butter.
10am- Greek cucumber salad: cucumber, red onion, olives, vinegar, salt, sugar, paprika, black pepper; flax crackers & leftover pineapple mango salsa.
1pm- a banana.
3pm- bowl of red grapes.
5pm- 2 bananas; 6 dates; 6 flax crackers.

saturday:
8am- smoothie: 1/2 banana, 1 mango, handful of frozen blueberries, liquid DHA, water.
10:30am- flax crackers & guacamole (avocado, tomato, onion, lemon juice).
1:30- 1 orange; 6 flax crackers w/almond butter.
3:30- small bowl of dates, raisins & almonds; grapes.
5:30- leftover guacamole w/flax crackers; 3 olives.

sunday:
7:30am- a banana; 4 flax crackers w/almond butter.
9:30am- sprouted quinoa tabbouleh salad: sprouted quinoa, tomato, cucumber, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, ginger, olive oil, shoyu.
12pm- 1 avocado; 1 apple; last of the flax crackers w/sprouted chick pea hummus.
3pm- red & green bell peppers w/sprouted chick pea hummus; 6 olives.
5:30pm- an orange; small bowl of dates, raisins & almonds.

Drum roll...I've finally found
a way I really like quinoa!!
This sprouted quinoa salad
from Juliano's RAW was
marvelous...though I omitted
the mint. It's not that I don't
like mint, but, well, I just
don't like mint often in a lot
of things. Mint chip ice cream
is another story. :-)

The weekend kept us busy. It began with a bonus farm pickup on friday afternoon! They're really getting the hang on winter growing now during the second year trying it, and for $30 we brought home 10lbs of root veggies, a monster bag of spinach, some garlic, and as many extra purple-topped turnips as we could use. Plus for $5 each we could purchase another bag of spinach and/or a bag of swiss chard & beet greens. We got both.
The greenhouse was already filled with flats of seedlings poking out of the dirt, getting ready for spring planting. It was very muddy around the farm though, as we had a ton of rain.













In other news, the Death
Star is finally complete!
It only took 3 months of
friday evenings, LOL.
It has its own shelf, up
high of course so that it
is protected from the
destructive forces of a
toddler and 3yo.