Bye-bye Winter….Here comes Spring 2013

After an inspiring day down in Corvallis for the Small Farms Conference at OSU, the thoughts and anticipations of the season ahead are now forming actual flavors in the mouth of the mind. It’s so close we can taste it. We out pour our thanks to so many of you wonderful members that have taken the time to sign back up with us and send payments in. We are just as quickly putting funds right back out with spending on seeds and inputs, the actual life-blood of our farm. Things are flowing, taking shape, changing and growing.

I deliberately have been  waiting for the perfect sunny day to take pictures of what’s happening out here, but without fail those particular two days have been completely loaded with a million other things to do. Alas pictures of Spring will not be up tonight. I look forward to sharing with you more of what is new and alive, warm and blossoming soon. Our January King cabbage that is not.

This years Small Farm conference was attended by two of us from our farm rather than just one, so some fresh ideas can truly resonate on the same page. This particular continuing education event is one of the best. For those of you unfamiliar with some of the extra winter tasks of farmers, convention attendance, seminars and the like are quite typical. You can learn a great deal from other farmers, like minded folks, and in the off-season we have that time to share collectively. More anyway. Information from better integrated pest management on particular crops to new and hidden heirloom seed varieties was gained. We also gathered tools for finer tuning our cropping system and our newly authorized, yet uninitiated SNAP program for our season ahead. These last days of February, first days of March always seem to truly light the proverbial fire in our hearts and minds, as well as under our asses. The forecast looks and feels pretty favorable. It’s time to get things done.

Love Farm Organics will be accepting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for our CSA this upcoming season. We look forward to helping provide what little opportunity we can for the best food to get to those who are most in need. The amount of social justice that comes with aiding and understanding all people deserve access to healthy, fresh, organically grown fruits and vegetables is huge. Sound regional agriculture is a vital component of a healthy local community and CSA’s are about local food community. We are putting the pieces together logistically and on our web-site to help get the word out that we can now accept this program for our CSA. We are attempting to make it as easy as possible. Please help us spread the word. People wanting to use this program for purchasing our CSA share’s this year are asked to contact us directly. Much thanks.

The view above is one we don’t hope to see again this year even though we know well it is still possible. No. We are moving ahead, pushing forward, getting a fresh start on the Spring we hope to see in the near future. The  actual vernal equinox, the time of year when both length of day and length of night are approximately 12 hours long, or the start of Spring is literally weeks away, so yes, for now we are simply going to be the change we want to see in our world. I intend to have some new pictures of our lovely little piece of the world for you in the soon to be days ahead. I also expect that soon we will be nailing down a date for a spring work/meet & greet which will be announced. Between the said pictures and/or a farm visit, I will feel confident that most of you new to this will feel more confident with us and what we do out here. We can’t wait to be feeding you and smiling at you again soon! Thanks for visiting. Please check back!

Happy Holiday’s

Hello Friends and Family of Love Farm~

I’m hoping this finds you warm and cozy, nestled in with loved ones enjoying your holiday season and looking forward to the new year ahead. We decided that this winter season was going to be our travelling one (so we won’t need to travel for the next 5 years!). We commenced visiting relatives and friends here and there in mid November, and will be finished after the first of the year. Needless to say, it is tiring, but our little ones have been quite the troopers and everything has been and is going well. Kip and I have had much time to dream up new innovations, tools and methods for the new season. We are anxious to get settled back in to the farm, start sowing seeds and getting the plans in order. We are looking ahead to making 2013 the best season we have had yet.

I have started the process for our eligibility to accept the SNAP program for the new season. I am mostly finished, but need to have a quick class on some of the details and will hopefully schedule that in early January. If all goes well, I will announce in the weeks to come, our compatibility and acceptance of the state assistance program with our farm and the hope of increasing the number of families who can put healthy food on the table. Exciting!

Also, the very much overdue posting of our 2012 Harvest Party photos are below. I am still working on getting them out to you individually, but in-the-meantime you should be able to copy your own favorites from the gallery. A very special Thank-You to our good friend and professional photographer Tim Gunther for these. Also another huge thanks to all of you who made it out for the party in the pouring rain! We couldn’t do this without you, and hope you all know just how important to us you truly are.

Also, we are ready for membership sign-up for the 2013 Season. Well logistically…mostly. Please use the form on our web-site and reserve your share’s now, or as soon as you can. For returning member’s paid in full by February 1st, we offer a 5% discount to you. We appreciate your financial help early, so that we may use funds for our seed purchases and inputs, more than you can know. Thank-you for supporting our farm! We have given our costs a slight increase to reflect the times, and hope you can still consider us your Farmer’s for the year ahead. As usual, I am always open to working with you on payment plans or some barter. We want to continue to feed you at any costs! Your understanding of how we have chosen to make a modest living is completely appreciated. We LOVE our MEMBER’S! I’ll be in touch with more news after the first of the year, but until then Happy, Healthy Holidays!

Week 24 ~ Last CSA Newsletter for 2012

This Weeks Share: Winter Squash, Pepper combo, a Brassica (Cauliflower, Broccoli or a Cabbage), Brussels Sprouts, Fennel bulb with fronds, Kale and a bonus Farmer’s Choice Item.

Winter Squash: End the season right by taking home a nice winter squash, maybe even something new and exciting! They are ALL lovely for a nice winter soup. They are ALL great roasted alone or with some roots or potatoes. The larger ones are delicious for pies or other sweet dishes. I know that the larger ones can be quite intimidating, and hard to cut. Here’s a tip….take a big one home, wash well and poke some holes in the top. Throw it in a 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes and then take it out to ration, scoop seeds and/or generally deal with it. Much easier…enjoy!

Pepper combo: We will have a couple of peppers for every share this final week, however maybe only one sweet and one spicy. What do I do with all the spicy chile peppers, when I don’t like spicy? You dry them, then grind them into powder and put a teaspoon powder in your cup of tea with honey and garlic at the first sign of a cold. It will keep the cold at bay.

Brassica: This is actually a double Brassica week for everyone, as you will all get either broccoli, cauliflower or cabbage, but you all will also get Brussels Sprouts, which also are Brassicas. We hope to give everyone a choice on the former, and then a nice healthy stalk of the latter. Brussels Sprouts will vary in size on the stalks, but are fun to remove and clean up prior to cooking.

Fennel: We are harvesting the whole plant, the bulb and all the fronds, for you this week. Some years we have had more fennel than others, and sadly this has been a low fennel year. We hope that all you fennel-lovers will be happy to see your old friend. If fennel is new to you try to enjoy the fronds chopped finely and on pizza, or dishes which use lots of cheese. We find the licorice/anise-like flavor of the fronds goes very well with melted cheese. Most often we roast the bulb in strips cut lengthwise. They caramelize and the flavor is sublime after about 40 minutes in a 400 degree oven.

Kale: We want everyone to eat more kale, so we are going to feed everyone more kale, or at least going to provide you with more kale to feed yourselves. We’re putting together big bunches of tender, tasty kale leaves, and bagging some of the smaller leaves. Store leaves dry in crisper, root cellar or outside, if you can’t get to them right away. They are your vitamin pill and your taste delight when you finally do!

Farmer’s Choice: Well it seemed appropriate to end the season with a mystery item. We’re just crazy like that. The word out in the field is that some of you will get the very, very, very last of what we can give of the potatoes we grew this year. Some of you will get more tender Japanese eggplant. Some of you may even get the last of our celery bunches, or a delightfully random cucumber. We hope that what ever you get , it will make it happily into one of your next tasty and delicious meals.

FARM NEWS: The end of another season, wow! This year truly went by so fast, I am still in a little bit of shock that it is over. We are already busy discussing what we will do differently next year and what our hopes and dreams are for the new season. It has been a privilege and an honor to be your farmer’s this year and we hope we succeeded in helping you and your friends and family make more healthy, happy meals together. We also hope to see you all again next year. We love you Members. We can’t do this without you. Thank-you!

Week 23 ~ Oct.28-Nov.4, 2012 CSA Newsletter

This Weeks Share: Potatoes, Onion, Garlic, Winter Squash, Peppers, Eggplant, a Brassica and a big Green.

Potato, Onion & Garlic: Ready made sacks for you of more of the last of our storage roots and Alliums. We may have enough to squeeze out more next week, but it’s iffy.

Winter Squash: Some big winter squash await your future. Be brave! The lovely Musquee ‘di Provence, Queensland Blue and some Long Island Cheese wheels are some of the biggest we have ever had, and have your names on them!

Peppers: We will have  some spicy chilies as well as some sweet bell types again for the share’s. Rumor has it some of the red ones got mixed up last week. Sincere apologies if you were the victim of our pepper tangled chaos and hence bit unsuspectingly into a spicy one thinking it sweet.

Eggplant: Some Solanums, plants also called the Nightshades, are holding strong even when the tender tomatoes are gone, we still have the pleasure of enjoying the eggplants, peppers and the potatoes. This plant family has very diverse, but very necessary agricultural importance. And hopefully importance in your families meals! Many of you have talked with me about various curry-dishes you have made, so here is a delicious curry to try. I used fennel seeds instead of the Asafoetida powder, which is used in some traditional Indian cooking (it is basically fennel-seed).

Aloo Baingan (Eggplant & Potato) Curry from http://chefinyou.com

• 2 medium potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium large eggplant, cubed
• 1 medium onion, chopped (optional)
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1-2 green chillies (or as per taste. You can also use chilli powder)
• 1/2 inch ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp garam masala (optional)
• Pinch of fennel seeds (asafoetida)
• Curry leaves (these are used in traditional Indian cuisine and can be found in Indian groceries. sp. Murraya koenigii)
• cilantro to garnish (I  also like to use the celery leaves chopped)
• Lemon juice to taste (or use 1/2 tsp mango powder (amchoor))
• 2 Tablespoons cooking oil
• Salt to taste

1. Chop the eggplant into cubes. Make sure to drop the cubed eggplant into a bowl of water. This is to prevent discoloration. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile in a skillet with firm fitting lid, add oil. When medium-hot add the cumin seeds, then chiles, curry leaves, ginger, fennel seeds (aka asafoetida) and onions. Cook until onions are soft, 3-5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes along with salt and turmeric powder. Toss to coat. Sprinkle a tablespoon or so of water. Cook for 2-3 minutes covered.
4. Add the eggplant along with cumin powder and let it cook for another 8-10 minutes or until the eggplant is cooked.
5. Towards the end add the garam masala and mango powder (or lemon juice). Toss well and garnish with cilantro. Serve over Basmati rice.

Brassica: We are starting to harvest some of the Brussels Sprouts and more cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. We will continue to harvest more for next week as well. One of any of those should accompany your trip home this week.

Big Green: This weeks big greens will primarily emphasize the mustard and choi type greens, nice white stalks and fairly easy to manage. These are wonderful braised. We will have Komatsuna, and a type of Mizzuna, and some different choi’s that we love to grow and eat, as they are rather mild in flavor raw, and even more palatable when cooked.

FARM NEWS: We want to extend an extra special, humongous THANK-YOU! to those of you wonderful members who braved the cold (not really) and the rain, and came out to spend some time with us on the farm!! I am especially grateful to Tim Gunther for taking some stunning photos despite the clouds and deluge! I will be sending some photos out to the families in them, or perhaps a link, but either way, I will get them up for, or out to folks shortly. Check back here, or on the Facebook page. So much love, gratitude and support to you incredible members! Thank-you dearly for allowing us the privilege of growing your food. We hope to continue with you on the nourishment journey for many years to come!

Week 22 ~ Oct.22-Oct.28, 2012 CSA Newsletter

This Weeks Share: Celery, Potatoes, Onion, Winter Squash, Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplant, a Brassica and Kale.

Celery: Nice bunches of crisp, flavor-Full celery along with their tops will be in everyone’s bags this week. Use in soups or salads or even simply with your favorite nut butter. The greens are pungent in the good way, and make a nice addition to soups or potatoes.

Potatoes: The very last of the remaining storage potatoes and onions will be together in paper sacks for everyone this week. For potatoes, it’s a mix of the russet-types, Yukon golds (smaller) and the red potatoes we grew this year.

Onions: The rest of our storage onions, small whites and some reds will be going home with you this week. Potatoes and onions are perfect starts to some good, comfy, cold-weather cooking. Mmm.

Winter Squash: Another round of everyone choosing a tasty winter squash to cook up. Most all the squash we grow can be stored for months. With the exception of acorn squash, which tend to only store for a few weeks. In the favor of storage and time with your squash, we have very little acorns this year, and instead many more of the excellent keepers.

Tomatoes: We will have a few smaller tomatoes for your shares this week. They are leaving us slowly, but not all gone yet. What an incredible tomato year it has been! I am so grateful for the bounty we have had specifically regarding the orbs of love this year.

Peppers: Another sweet medley of peppers for you this week. I appreciate them for their great storage qualities and versatility. We have them in everything from sandwiches to soups or sautee’s. A little spice can be very nice as well.

Eggplant: We are still pulling loads of these lovely, earthy-purplish-black gems from our field. Eggplants are seldom bothered by pests and they hold on the plant very well late into the season. Why not mix some eggplant into a nice scalloped potato/eggplant casserole this week? Recipe forthcoming…

Brassica: …For the week will most likely be more cabbage. We may have some remaining heads of cauliflower out there, but the Brussels sprouts we are holding for next week. Napa cabbage, reds and white cabbages are the headliners.

Kale: Another week of kale for the ‘big greens’ in the share. Lacinato (Dinosaur)  kale as well as some red Russian is being harvested and bundled and some smaller leaves will be in bags. If you get a bundle, the leaves are big and lovely yes, but you will want to remove the leafy part from the mid-rib prior to cooking. The thick stems this time of year can get to be a nuisance to cook down, however they make a great snack dipped in humus just as is.

FARM NEWS: This is an exciting week for us. We had a great time up in Washington at Applefest, an annual friends-get-together of apple-pies, caramel apples and jug after jug of freshly pressed apple cider!! So thankful to good friends, food and a cider-press! One day we aspire to have our own apple-press, but for now we will happily use our friends; plus we couldn’t ask for better friends.

Now we look ahead to Oct. 27th for our 6th annual Farm Harvest Gathering. This year we have plenty of pumpkins for you to carve so please come out- Bring a dish to share and your family and/or friends and spend the day with us on the farm! We figure by now, most of you have already decided if you will be joining us or not, but if there are some last minute-ers still on the fence…allow me to tempt you. We’ll have a nice big fire down in the heart of our farm woods and roast s’nausages and s’mores. I provide several different kid-friendly beverages, and some adult beverages, but please bring your favorite adult beverages along. Bring chairs if you have them, but there is other stuff to sit on. We hope to set up some rock/pumpkin painting and some pumpkin carving tables for the little’s (safe carving tools only, and it will be supervised), a hay-ride in a wagon with our tractor around the farm (grown-ups are welcome , smiling faces, tours, maybe some weeding and/or plenty of delightful conversation. It’s always a fun time rain or shine. We will have some pop up’s over tables and lots of tree canopy for cover. It looks like we’ll need it, as there is now a 40% chance of rain, ah well, tis Oregon after-all. Please dress accordingly with your rain gear and boots, as you will most likely get a little dirty.

Week 21 ~ Oct.15-Oct.21, 2012 CSA Newsletter

This Weeks Share: Cucumber, Tomatoes, Pepper Medley, a Brassica, Kale Greens, Eggplant, and Winter Squash.

Cucumber: We are down to the last of them. This week mostly we will have the Barese’ or melon type cucumbers. They are a taste delight if you take the time to peel, slice and enjoy them. They don’t look like any cucumber you have ever seen, but don’t let that turn you away. Try them. They are big, plump and lovely.

Tomatoes: Still a few tomatoes for everyone remain in the share. You pick what the spirit moves you to make the trip into your  favorite meals. Personally, we have been doing some mighty-fine BLT’s! When the tomatoes are gone, they are GONE until next year…….Sniff.

Pepper Medley: We have some humongous bell’s that are coming in from the field and into the share this week. The sweetness in the brightly colored bell-types just can’t be beat. In the brighter colored chili-types, heat is what you will get. Eat at your own risk, and possibly even wear some gloves while slicing and dicing chilies  You don’t want that juice anywhere near your face, or tender extremities.

A Brassica: We have mostly cabbage for folks this week. Red cabbage and Nappa cabbage are the star players. We are having a heck of a time keeping the gophers out of the cabbage though. They love the roots and often eat the entire root ball, leaving behind a wilted, lack-luster wee of a cabbage. They have taken out 20% of our rows. We want to be friends, but they insist on doing such rude, unconscionable damage that we are having a hard time appreciating their place in the world. We will get over it if you will.

Eggplant: Every share get’s a nice eggplant or two. Actually we may even do them by the pound. We will have some long, thin Japanese types as well as the stout Italian types, but mostly petite in size and stature, not in flavor.

Love Farm Roasted Vegetables 

• 1 Delicata or Butternut (any will do) squash
• 1 medium-large head of cauliflower
• 3-5 Chipollini or shallot onions, peeled
• extra virgin olive oil to coat
• sea salt, coarse to taste
• 1 Tablespoon, chopped fresh herbs (I often use Rosemary, but Thyme and Parsley are great too)
• 1/4 pine nuts (roasted)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lay out pine nuts on a dry baking sheet. Roast on sheet for 10 minutes, shaking the tray after 5 minutes. They are done when golden brown, and much more flavorful. Set aside in small bowl.
2. Turn oven up to 400. Using a vegetable peeler or sharp knife, carfeully remove most of the skin from squash. Halve the squash lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Cut squash into 1/2 inch pieces. Cut cauliflower into florets. Cut onions in half, or quarters.
3. Place everything in a large bowl, except the toasted pine nuts, and mix, coating the vegetables with oil, herbs and salt well.
4. Spread vegetables out evenly on baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes, until the squash pieces are easily pierced with fork.
5. Serve alone or over rice, quinoa or cous cous….yum.

Kale: Your hearty, big greens this week are more of the yummy micro kale leaves that you had last week. Enjoy them fresh in salads or braise them. Either way it’s organically grown kale, it’s delicious.

Winter Squash: Finally some of the hearty winter squash make it to your table. We have Hubbards, Sweet-meat, Acorn, Delicata, Japense Black Futsu, Georgia candy-roaster, Jarendale’s, Chirimens….. among others.

FARM NEWS: It is literally pouring buckets out here today. Buckets. Truly our buckets runneth over… : ) Fall rains have officially arrived and finally, really just today I noticed trees dropping their quickly changing colored leaves. Or were the buckets of rain pouring them off. Hmm? We have pretty good rain gear so the torrential shower harvests aren’t too bad. Today was so warm that for myself, warm enough to warrant forgoing the rain-gear all together and dancing unconstrained in the rain freely. There is something very appealing to dancing in the warm rain. There is also something very appealing to bringing in the beautiful foods yet remaining in the fall fields. It seems, almost as though we are rescuing it from rot somehow heroically. Members please know that your food was extricated from the greedy paws of hefty gophers and the tenuous tangles of mycellium webs and worms. Yep. We will continue to be the stewards, champions if you will, of this land, for your family meals. This season we still have 3 weeks remaining. My hope is that your meals are harmonious, unified and delicious. As we like to say to our farm, and each other “Let’s keep coming back. It works. If we work it.”

Week 20 ~ Oct.8-Oct.14, 2012 CSA Newsletter

This Weeks Share: Cucumber, Tomatoes, Pepper Medley, a Brassica, Kale Greens, Sweet Corn and a Fruit Sack.

Cucumber: These quintessential heralds of hot summer days are almost a cherished memory for us. Last night we got down to freezing and many plants were nipped. Fruits covered with foliage and close to the ground made it through, but some were not so lucky.

Tomatoes: We still have a nice selection of tomatoes for you this week. Probably not through the end, but close we hope. It’s always sad to see the orbs of love give way to the change of seasons.

Pepper Medley: Our rows are still providing lovely sweet and hot peppers. We hope to get them all to you before seasons end. We roasted delicious sheet after sheet of the bell types in the oven over the weekend. They made the house smell so good, and now we have them in oil to go over a pizza or in sandwiches. They last several weeks in the fridge once roasted.

Brassica: We are harvesting some humongous cauliflower heads and cabbages too. We fed these rows a little extra fish emulsion and chicken manure earlier when they were needing a push, and it has paid off in strides! Very big Brassica’s for you…Oh joy!

Kale Greens: The impeccable, tasty kale greens make it back into your share’s this week. We are so pleased to share with you the Creme de la Crop, the very best of kale, the baby kale leaves! We had nothing but carpet of kale coming up in between Choi rows, where last seasons kale overwintered and then went to seed. So lovely and so delicious and finally large enough for us to harvest some for everyone. The tender, diminutive leaves and stalks are quite perfect raw. At most they may benefit from lightly steaming, braising or stirring into soups.

Sweet Corn: We are excited to bring you more yummy corn this week. We had a little left after harvesting last week, and then we had some that was a little buggy. We decided that we were going to go ahead and stretch it out another week because you love it so much. We have noticed very minor frost damage from last night, and just a couple earworms only on top of a few of the ears, not the majority. For the most part this weeks corn is just as fabulous and tasty as last weeks.

Fruit Sack: In addition to harvesting many winter squash all weekend, we also harvested as much as we could of delicious Asian pears and apples! Unlike our little Bartlett’s, these small apple-like pears are called 21st Century pears originating from China. Their farm adjacent orchard is completely overgrown and has had no official maintenance or care in years. These small fruits are excellent for all raw uses, sweet-tart and juicy, making them a nice accompaniment to a cheese platter or the perfect snack. We like to dry them, as they make a wonderful, tangy dried fruit.

FARM NEWS: Well, the farm has finally had it’s first frost. The small bowl of water we keep near the bees was frozen this morning. We saw evidence of frost on the corn, the squash and cucumber leaves and plants and some of the greens. We had irrigation lines all set-up in the field next to our tomatoes and some cuc’s just in case. And sure enough, Farmer Kip was up at 3:30 am this morning heading to the farm to turn them on. The water on these valued, tender remaining plants, no doubt saved them from complete damage last night. See, there is more excitement in farming than just cool, amazing food! It is forecast that the end of our long summer is nearing. The coming Sunday into Monday is scheduled to bring us many, much needed raindrops and colder temps. We’ll see what I am writing in a week.

Farmer Kip and I spent hours hauling winter squash over the weekend. We are placing them on tables in our greenhouse where they can cure safely out of the frosts reach. Many large, heavy delicious looking squash will be with you to finish out the shares this season. We may even have to cut some of them with a machete before we can dole them out! Unfortunately, an overflowing surplus of Delicata’s and Acorn’s we have not this year. There will be some, but not as many as last year. It is the year of adventurous winter squash preparation, hooray! Mmmm soup… On another note ‘The pumpkin patch’ looks so amazing this year! I get giddy talking about it, as we have more pumpkins than we will know what to do with. Little ones, fat ones, thin ones, big ones. I know it is a little late for most of you pumpkin patch goers, but we’d love to have you come out and haul what your family wants away at our annual Harvest Gathering October 27th, 2012.

Here we are at week 20 with merely 4 more weeks to go in our 2012 season. We are working hard to ensure great food through the end, providing you all with the best we have to offer out here. Every year has its new set of challenges and triumphs, and this year has definitely been the same. Farmers around here now are waiting for the rain so that we have a little moisture in the ground to plant our cover crops into. Aside from that waiting game there is the rush to get things harvested before our (very well fed) gophers and deer get to them first. Always weeds to be pulled or admired…botanical life to evaluate and try and understand. Recipes later….Until then…

Your Farmers Kip and Amy