A few months ago, I noticed some of the arugula in our raised bed had gone to seed. I cut the plants with seed pods and put them in a paper bag to dry. Today, I found them in the cupboard and decided to see what they looked like. The pods and the stems were completely dry and the seeds came free easily by gently separating the pods. I harvested a bunch of seeds and plan to plant some in the basement this week. I am pretty confident that they will germinate since some arugula plants emerged in the raised bed where none had been planted – I think these came from some of the leftover seed pods. Will make a post about the basement arugula, which I hope to put outside (in our mini greenhouse) once established.

Harvesting arugula seeds from dried seed pods

Did the same with some dried cilantro seeds (coriander).

Coriander seeds

After attending a 2008 party catered by Doug Katz of Fire Food & Drink, we finally made it to his restaurant. Fire, aptly named for its wood fired pizza oven and tandoor, is a real treat and is now our new favorite on the other side of town. As often as possible, we try to sit at the chef’s table to get a bird’s eye view of the kitchen, which also helps us decide what looks good….plus we get to talk to the chef and get invited into the kitchen…..well, actually, that never happens, but it happened last night when we were eying up the fish and steaks being put in the tandoor. Chef Katz asked if we wanted to see it, so we went behind the counter and took a peek. Very cool……and I don’t know how those guys handle the heat in the kitchen – it’s HOT back there!

The meal was fantastic; everything was cooked to perfection and purchased locally, whenever possible. Here’s what we ordered:

Butternut squash soup
Local greens salad
Duck
Steelhead
Homemade choc chip coffee ice cream

Super tasty. 4/4 forks

Soup and salad apps

Tandoor with whole skewered fish cooking inside

Orange is the color for fall….food, that is. With all the squash that’s coming from the garden and is available at the farmer’s market, it’s easy to make a colorful fall meal.

This year we bought a pumpkin, but never got around to carving it. This is a great link to how to prepare a pumpkin for cooking. Usually, we just carve it, taking out the seeds for roasting. This year, I’m using the whole thing. Never been a big fan of pumpkin, but a friend once made a pumpkin roll that’s to die for, so I asked her for the recipe. Here’s how to make it.

Pumpkin Roll Recipe
Recipe credit: Signe Anderson

3 eggs
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1. Grease a 10 x 15 cookie sheet and line with wax paper.
2. Beat eggs and then add pumpkin, granulated sugar, vanilla
3. Mix all dry ingredients and then fold them into the egg mixture
4. Pour batter into wax-paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle with chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
5. Bake @ 375 degrees for 15 minutes
6. Sprinkle powdered sugar on tea towel and turn cake onto towel. Peel off wax paper. Roll cake into towel and cool in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Filling

8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp soft butter
1 c powdered sugar.

Whip ingredients with beater until smooth. Unroll cake. Spread filling over entire cake and re-roll.

Pumpkin roll

Chill at least 2 hours before cutting. Yummy!

Butternut Squash Soup

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic crushed
1 apple
bit of grated ginger
chicken or veggie stock
salt and pepper
1/2 c. cream or whole milk

1. Saute onion and garlic in butter
2. Add squash, apple and enough stock to cover. Season with salt, pepper and a bit of ginger. Bring to boil and then simmer for 15 minutes or until squash is soft
3. Blend with hand blender and then stir in cream. Serve warm. For added treat top with bacon or fried prosciutto.

No soup for you! (picture that is)

Yesterday was a great day! We met a local (she lives on our street!) urban farmer who specializes in growing herbs in her backyard – Basil and Beyond, owned and operated by Cindy Bischof-Steinbrick. This happens to be the first urban farm in Lakewood. It was a treat to talk with her and learn about her first year, plans for growth, and potential to collaborate in the future. She was a guest vendor at LEAF night about 4 times this past year and has dried herbs at Green Smart Gifts.

Our next stop was Lyndhurst, where we met up with a local coffee roaster (Crooked River Coffee) who is interested in the Berta rotary plow service. He has a great spot for a backyard garden and has already done a bit of the work, including feeding the soil with coffee chaff (he gave us a bag and I have done some reading on this fabulous additive – great for tomatoes, adds nitrogen, and wards off slugs and snails, it can also be added to your compost pile). Such a treat to meet people with similar values!

The last farm stop of the day was Bruce Cormack’s Market Garden in Mentor. Bruce has been growing food for 20 years and was one of the original farmers at the North Union Farmer’s Market and still sells at the Shaker Square market. That resume and his pictures indicate we have much to learn from him….and we were not disappointed. His advice, time and tour were extremely valuable to us. We learned of a local source for garlic (Charlie’s Gourmet Garlic in Hudson). He taught us best practices for using soil blocks, showed us a nifty tool for planting lettuce seeds (will post a pic when we make one), and showed us his operation. It is awesome! His advice to us is to find a few acres of land that has quality soil – it’s all about the soil. His soil is amazing. He sits on sandy loam that is easy to work and it’s only about 15 feet to the water table. He talked with us about his cover crops, drip irrigation system, hoop house, and tools (wheel hoe is now at the top of our list). Below are a few pics.

We topped the day off with dinner at fire (post to follow), a fitting end to the day.

Cypress and glass greenhouse with hot water tank and pump

Re-purposed truck cab serves as chicken coop

Planet Jr. ... Classic!

Bee hive

The garlic is poking its beautiful head through and smack in the middle of the holes in the black landscape fabric…..yeah! Click here to read how we planted a couple of weeks ago.

A single bulb starting to grow

You can see the start of the bulbs in many cells.

In the upcoming 2009 November election here in Ohio, we will be voting on an issue relating to the care and welfare of livestock animals. The actual ballot language can be found at The Ohio Ballot Board, Issue 2. It is not long; it is worth reading. And here is a nice unbiased breakdown of the bill.

There are many articles and blogs posts already written. I found David N. Cassuto blog post at Animal Blawg to mirror my thoughts.

I dislike the idea of more government and bureaucracy  involved with our food production. Mainly because, much like the USDA, this board will be made up of large producers and they will do little to actually help animal welfare, food safety or family farms.

Personally, one of my biggest beefs with this proposal is the use, or misuse of the term family farm. In 2004 the USDA stated that 98% of all farms in the United States are family farms. I guess my idea of what a family farm is needs to change. Here in this article from the Columbus Dispatch, Jim Heimerl calls himself a family farmer, but at 2,500 acres and producing 100,000 pigs per year. Jim, you may have a family and you may have a farm, but that’s no family farm in my mind. I know a number of family farmers here in Ohio who are farming fewer than 100 acres (I’d like to think of myself as one … maybe next year). I’ve been to their farms and seen how they raise their animals. Small family farmers raise their animals using sustainable practices because it is more economical.

This is my grandpa. He was a family farmer, so was my other grandpa, and all my uncles from my mom’s side of the family. Don’t for a second be fooled by the language in this issue regarding family farmers.

We recently had the opportunity to try out our plow at Urban Growth Farms, our friends’ farm in Ohio City. They have got the SPIN farming method down. Take a look at their sweet beds! When we were there, they were getting their garlic in the ground.

Look at how neat those rows are! 2'x25' beds per SPIN guides

Peter and Virginia planting garlic. They have about 12 beds worth to plant.

Another set of beds that look awesome!

Since we purchased the Grillo Tractor with the Berta Rotary Plow attachment (now affectionately known as Bertha), we’ve been contemplating how we can use this to help other small farmers, while at the same time generating income for our farm venture to keep it sustainable. One idea is to turn the plow into a service offering – you want your yard dug up? Call us, we’ll handle it! Just gotta work out the logistics, costs, timing, etc and this could become a great revenue stream for BBF. A couple of colleagues became guinea pigs for this experiment. For a nominal fee and in exchange for other services, we worked on some small jobs today with promising results. We are keen to explore this opportunity further, though I think Spink might have to bulk up a bit if he’s gonna do this on a more consistent basis (he’s got that cushy office job that exercises his mind, but not his other muscles!).

Job #1 – Backyard garden bed

Size: about 100 sq. ft.
Time: about 20 minutes
Lessons learned: Tight spaces are tough to do. Turning around is a real challenge. Guide works well for keeping soil in place.

Before - they had tried shoveling to be able to plant garlic....too much clay in the soil had them calling for help!

Getting Bertha ready - we used the guide to prevent dirt from being thrown into their yard.

The results

Job #2 – Urban Growth Farms

Size: about 500 sq. ft.
Time: about 2 hours
Lessons learned: If terrain is not level, the job can be more challenging. Clutch is tight and difficult to use.

Before - Bertha eying up the challenge!

After first pass through

Pulling a metal pipe from the ground - you never know what Bertha will uncover.

After 2 passes, some leveling, and a bit of sod removal....

At the end - soil is smooth...like butter.

It’s fall and that means apples. Applesauce, apple crisp, apple pancakes….Yesterday we boiled the apples for applesauce.

Applesauce Recipe
Makes about 10 quarts

• lots of apples – we filled a 12 qt. pan and half of an 8 qt. pan (sorry….we didn’t weigh before hand)
• cinnamon – 2 tbs.
• water

Wash and cut the apples. Put all pieces (including seeds and core) into a large pot with about an inch of water in the bottom. Bring to boil and cook until the apples are soft and break easily with a wooden spoon. Let cool and then process in a food mill. This will remove all the seeds and core bits. You may want to run it through the mill a couple of times. We use a hand blender once it’s been through the food mill. The hand blender makes it nice and smooth. Return the mixture to the pot. Add cinnamon to taste and heat to bubbling. Then take your sanitized jars and fill with the hot sauce. Process in a hot water canner for 20 minutes.

This is a 12 qt. saucepan full of apples.

Processing apples in a food mill

Final product - 10 qts.

It’s fall and that means time to plant garlic! This year we’ve increased our garlic production significantly and have high hopes for tasty garlic next summer. We ordered about 7 pounds of organic garlic, including the following:

From Peaceful Valley

• 1 lb. California Early White Garlic
• 1 lb. Music Garlic
• 1 lb. Georgian Fire Garlic

From Hood River Garlic

• 1 lb. Transylvanian
• .5 lb. Chesnok Red
• .5 lb. Susanville
• .5 lb. Siberian
• .5 lb. Zemo
• 1 lb. Shantang Purple

Bed preparation

We decided to reuse some beds we built this spring. We topped them off with another 2 yards of Sweet Peat from Earth to You. Additionally we added 1 pound of greensand to each bed. Two of the beds got 1 pound or rock phosphate, they were filled with mostly new Sweet Peat. While the third bed we added 8 cups of bonemeal, it had mostly Sweet Peat from the spring.

How we planted the beds

In the past we’ve used straw mulch. This year, we decided to use black landscape fabric, which we stapled to the top of the raised bed. To create the holes for planting, Spink created a template out of plywood and used a propane torch to burn the holes. We then planted the largest bulbs – one per hole…..a total of about 200 holes.

4' x 12' raised bed for garlic

Black landscape cover with holes for each garlic bulb

Spink making the holes