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Happening Now at the Farm

On Spring Chickens and Easter Egg Hunts

Happy Easter from Steph’s Garden. We are enjoying a sunny, almost 80-degree day here. Our granddaughter, Raya, just went home after spending a couple of days with me planting flowers, potatoes, and onions, as well as her favorite task of “taking care of the animals.” We enjoyed an Easter brunch of pancakes she helped make, with eggs and farm-cured bacon. Her visit was a wonderful surprise due to a maintenance issue that forced her family out of their home for a few days. Since we didn’t know she was coming, I didn’t have all the things on hand to do the traditional Easter Egg Hunt and Easter basket. She is having those traditional celebrations with her mom this afternoon.

It occurred to me that with our super free-range chickens, every day is like an Easter Egg Hunt with the locations of the eggs always somewhat in flux. Right now, about half of the chickens are contained in the fenced chicken yard, with the nesting boxes in the chicken house being the most obvious and appropriate egg laying location. These chickens decided that they prefer a shared “nest” on the floor over the nesting boxes. The ducks that reside with this group of chickens never lay eggs inside the house. Usually, they choose a shared “nest” somewhere along the perimeter of the chicken yard that is different every day.

 

The remainder of the chickens have rejected the chicken yard all together. Instead, they prefer to nest in the trees near our house at night, and they have a variety of nesting places. Currently, these include the nesting boxes of our movable coop that we reserve for brooding spring chicks, a cardboard box of used bailing twine on the deck, and underneath the ramp leading to the back door. Soon, I will need to kick them out of the movable coop to get it ready for the spring chicks. I will try to lure them back into the shared chicken and duck yard where there are better facilities. I expect that most of the girls will reject that and again we will be on an egg hunt. I know I could clip their wings and prevent some escapes, but with many predators in our environment I choose not to do it, so they have a chance for escape if the chicken yard is breached. It doesn’t happen very often with the livestock guardian dogs, but it does happen sometimes. We have rarely experienced losses from predation.

Regarding those spring chicks, I share fertilized eggs from our flock with my friend James who has many incubators. He will hatch a group of chicks and ducks for me, and I will continue to share eggs for a few weeks this spring that he can keep or sell. This is the second year we have done it this way, instead of shipping in chicks from the hatchery or visiting a farm store to pick up chicks. Our chicks are mutts, rather than a straight single breed. They have many shapes, feather colors, egg colors, and it is always a surprise what we end up with. They also seem to be very well-adapted to our environment with a preference to free-range.

 

Another thing that is different about our flock is we allow our older girls live out their natural lives rather than culling them after two years as most producers do. They continue to lay eggs, drop fertilizer, and control insects on our farm. Our intergeneration approach leads to some natural conflicts as new chickens are introduced, but also the benefit of intergenerational learning. The younger and older hens learn to live together in some semblance of harmony. In addition to greenery and bugs, our girls dine on local, organic grain we purchase from farmer Jake at Sacred Sun Farm down the road from us. It smells so good the dogs want to eat it and I’ve considered cooking up porridge to sample myself.

Speaking of eggs, I understand from my regular egg customers that they are “the best!!!!” They are completely different from grocery store eggs, with bright orange yolks that stand tall and hold their shape. I have extra eggs these days and I have openings for a couple new “regulars.” Our regular price is $4 per dozen. Please send me a note if you are in Oskaloosa, Lawrence, Topeka, or the surrounding area and looking for a regular supplier of farm fresh eggs. I am happy to deliver weekly, or every other week to meet your needs.

 

Share a comment with your favorite egg recipe to use up all those spring eggs!

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Happening Now at the Farm

What’s Cooking this February

Do you feel a hint of spring in the air? It’s predicted to be a balmy 55 degrees here on the farm this afternoon! Of course, I know spring isn’t here yet and we have a lot of cold days left to endure before true spring. By the weekend, the forecast for our high temperatures drops into the teens and stays there for a full week of frigid temperatures. Even so, we are taking advantage of these warm days preparing new planting beds and installing drip irrigation in the high tunnel. I plan to spend time next week during those colder days transplanting tiny seedlings into bigger pots and starting more seeds in preparation for the true spring scheduled to arrive in just a few short weeks.

 

 

We have a couple of new items in our online store this week. My new favorite marmalade is sweet Orange Creamsicle Marmalade, made with a touch of real vanilla. It is perfect on a toasted English muffin or for topping off a bowl of ice cream. Paired with hot fudge, it reminds me of orange-filled chocolates. Yum! I’m also pleased to introduce a new spin on our apple butter made in response to a customer request, Honey-Sweetened Apple Butter. It is just like our traditional recipe, but with locally produced honey instead of brown sugar. The honey adds a delicate floral sweetness that highlights the natural apple goodness. Sweet success!

 

On the savory side, I have fresh batches of Sauerkraut and fermented jalapenos aging and fermenting until they are just right. These aren’t offered in our online store, but I do take requests for custom ferments available for on-farm pickup. These refrigerated items are only available for our local friends. Another item that is available by special request is our Spicy Pickle Brine. I fulfilled a request for pickle brine a couple of weeks ago. This is a handy shortcut if you like to make your own crispy fresh pickles. Just heat the brine, pour it over your choice of prepared fresh vegetables, and let it age in your refrigerator for a few days for the flavors to meld.

 

Next week, during the cold snap, I’ll be making a fresh batch of Spicy Green Bean Pickles, just in time for Mardi Gras. They are the perfect accent to a Spicy New Orleans Style Bloody Mary. We’ll have these back in the store and available for purchase next week. Special thanks to my farmer friend, Scotty Thelman of Juniper Hill Farms, for helping me locate beans which are out of season here right now. He also has a line on pickling cucumbers and so I’m looking forward to restocking our pickle supplies soon.

Later this month, I’ll be jarring up fresh batches of Seyval Blanc Dijon Mustard and Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. I’m also working on some test batches of Honey Mustard. If all goes well, I hope to feature this new mustard flavor in March. Stay warm, friends, and let me know if you have any special requests for me to cook up for you in February!

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Notes from the Kitchen

Marmalade Season

Zest, citrus segments, sugar, and pectin pouch ready to cook

Over the last few years, I’ve devoted a cold, blustery, day in January making marmalade. My favorite marmalade is Mixed Citrus Marmalade with Rice Wine. I love how the smell of citrus infuses the kitchen, making me think of the tropics and wish for a trip to somewhere warmer.

A few years ago, Scott and I visited Belize in January and spent a week on Ambergris Caye. We rented an apartment in a residential neighborhood and I walked every morning to a nearby fruit and vegetable stand to purchase freshly squeezed juice. The vegetable stand was family-owned and while I waited for the owner to prepare my juice, I visited with her grandchildren and learned about the lives of children on the island. They told me about their school and showed me pictures they were drawing of the Big Blue Hole, a popular landmark for local divers. When I asked if they had been there, they said, “Oh no, it is much too scary!” We enjoyed that juice with breakfast along with local eggs, produced by nearly everyone living on the island, before we left for our daily sight-seeing activities. We traveled around the island mostly on foot, and so we enjoyed a lot of good tropical sunshine and exercise. We enjoyed that juice in cocktails most evenings before dinner, usually local seafood that was so fresh and some of the best fish I’ve ever had the pleasure to eat. 


Back to the marmalade, I use the entire fruit. In this case I used a combination of pink grapefruit, oranges, and lemons. The zest is julienned and boiled in water to make it tender, and then the citrus segments are removed from the membrane and added to the zest along with sugar to cook down into yummy jam. The seeds and membranes are packaged in a cheesecloth pouch and boiled in the jam to add pectin, and then the packet is removed and discarded. A small amount of rice wine is mixed in right before I jar up the marmalade, adding a subtle mineral note to the finished jam.

All of the pith, rinds, and other trimmings are jarred up, topped with white vinegar, and aged a few weeks to make citrus cleaner. I love to use it in my mop water to add a natural citrus aroma and grease cutting power. Nothing goes to waste!

As for the best way to serve this marmalade, it is lovely to eat on a toasted English muffin or a croissant. You can also mix a couple of tablespoons with fresh berries that have been macerated with a small amount of sugar, and it makes a fancy dessert on top of a slice of pound cake finished with homemade whipped cream. Marmalade is also good to use along with meat in savory dishes. I especially like to add it to the sauce when I prepare orange chicken or beef stir fry. Yum!

What flavors do you dream of in January? What are your most innovative uses to finish up a jar of jam? Leave a comment and let us know what you are cooking up this January.

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Happening Now at the Farm

What’s cooking this January

Happy new year! Now that January has arrived and the holidays are behind us, we are busy here getting ready to start planting the spring and summer vegetables. We had our first heavy snow last week which allowed me to spend a little quality time in my office, perusing the stack of seed catalogs on my desk. Truly one of my favorite wintertime activities! I will start the first flats of seedlings tomorrow and by the end of the week I should have violas, tomatoes, mustard, collards, and a few other varieties of cold-tolerant greens started.

 

The high tunnel allows us to extend our growing season for the full year. I have cabbages and greens that we will continue to harvest through the end of February, and by the first week of March, I’ll have the first of the tomato plants in the ground. It elevates my mood to be able to play in the dirt, even through this season of shorter, cloudier days.

As for what we have cooking, January tends to be a slower time. I made fresh batches of blackberry jam and apple butter, since both sold out in December. Thank goodness for frozen fruit! Within the next week, I will add mixed citrus marmalade and tart cherry jam to the online store and start a fresh batch of whole grain Dijon mustard. We’re also restocking our personal pantry with home-canned items like chicken stock, canned beans, and pickled jalapenos on days when weather conditions deter me from outdoor projects. I started a batch of kimchee, one of my favorite fermented pickles, using the daikon radish and mustard greens harvested out of the high tunnel beds. That cabbage from the high tunnel will become sauerkraut soon since I used up the last of my supply. Fermented pickles like kimchee and sauerkraut can be stored in the refrigerator for a year or more and are among the tastiest and healthiest foods to eat.

 

 

What are you cooking this January? Leave a comment and let me know what your favorite wintertime flavors are.

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Recipes

Christmas Day at the Farm

Merry Christmas from Steph’s Garden. We’re enjoying a bit of downtime here at the farm today, with some holiday cheer for just the two of us. In a more normal year, we would be celebrating by sharing cookies, wine, and a festive meal with our extended family and visiting friends. It feels a little strange to break with tradition and also kind of nice to have a day to relax.

Scott has an off-farm job as a part-time rural postal carrier and December is the busiest time for the post office. He has worked pretty much every day over the last few weeks. I’ve been busy launching the website, shipping orders, and making local deliveries.

We started out our day off by sleeping in. No alarms this morning. We enjoyed some Christmas cookies and candy, then decided to make cheeseburgers and cocktails for brunch. Not a bit traditional but tasty none the less. We served our cheeseburgers on an onion bun topped with honey-bourbon smoked cheddar, farm-cured bacon, a fried farm-fresh egg, jalapeno mustard, and pickled red onion, with sides of hash browns, baked beans, and bourbon-braised greens. The cocktail paired Steph’s Garden Apple Syrup with bourbon whiskey.

Steph’s Garden Apple Bourbon Cocktail

2 Tbsp. Steph’s Garden Apple Syrup
1 Tbsp. egg white
2 oz. bourbon whisky
10 drops bitters (I used cardamom bitters)

Add ice and all ingredients to a cocktail shaker, then shake, shake, shake for 60 seconds or so.

Categories
Notes from the Kitchen

Jam and Yogurt

Did you know that I will take requests for new jam flavors? Every so often, someone will reach out and as, “do you ever make…?” This week’s special request was Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. Usually, the answer is, “yes, and I would love to make a batch just for you” and sometimes the answer is, “maybe if I can find a rare or out-of-season item.” In this case, I had to do a little searching to track down rhubarb. It is harvested in the spring here in Northeast Kansas and can be difficult to locate in the winter months.

We have four new jam flavors available in our online store and for local delivery:

Another question that I get quite a lot is what my favorite flavor of jam is. That is a tough question, and the answer is that it depends on the season and my mood. I tend to crave what is in season right now most of the time. In the winter, I really enjoy tart flavors like citrus and cranberry. Speaking of cranberries, did you know we carry Aronia Cranberry Sauce in two sizes (8 oz. and 16 oz.).

My favorite way to sample a new batch of jam is to put a dollop of jam on top of a bowl of rich and creamy homemade plain yogurt. I am lucky to have a neighborhood FarmHer friend, Amy Saunders of Amy’s Meats at the Homestead, who offers cow/milk shares and I get a half gallon of fresh milk every week. We don’t drink a lot of milk, but I do love cheese, and fresh milk that is not ultra-pasteurized is necessary to make good cheese. I also make whole milk plain yogurt to keep on hand as a cooking and eating staple. The beneficial bacteria in yogurt are great for keeping your gut microbiome working well, which I believe keeps us healthier year-round. If you have an Instant Pot, it probably has a yogurt cycle, which makes homemade yogurt a snap to make. If you don’t have an instant pot, you can use your oven instead. Once you try homemade yogurt, you won’t want to buy it from the store ever again.

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Happening Now at the Farm

Hosting the PDC Class

Scott and I both volunteer as Kansas Permaculture board members and we both enjoy the many opportunities this has offered us. We love engaging with the community of like-minded friends and experts and meeting the students who are earning their permaculture design certificates each year. We also enjoy manning the conference booth at local conferences around the state to talk about the organization and permaculture in general, and we love to help organize the annual farm tour, which gives people an opportunity to see how others in Kansas implement permaculture principles in their local designs, enjoy a local foods lunch, find new farms to shop local, and make new friends.

My favorite thing is when we are able to host the PDC students at our farm for one of the course field sessions, where they get to take what they have learned in the course lectures and reading and apply it in a real-world scenario. Even during this pandemic year, I was able to host the students for their local foods field session (with appropriate distancing and masks, of course!). Typically, this session would involve a canning activity in an indoor setting. This year, we worked in the high tunnel and focused on fermentation, a method of using salt to preserve vegetables so they can be enjoyed for many months without spoilage. The students also learned about sheet mulching and lasagna gardening, a technique where layers of green and brown materials can be built in layers and aged to create planting beds with rich soil. 

I love spending an afternoon with students and I always learn something new from them, whether it be a great new local restaurant or about their dreams and visions of a more sustainable future.