Saturday, July 7, 2012

Figs and Apples and Eggs


The first "fig gathering" of the season at our farm. 

Figs . . . 
I've been waiting for the first sign of ripe figs and tonight I scored. After gathering eggs from the bigger coop I decided to take a peak at the fig trees over in the "fig tree garden" (appropriately named).  We went kind of crazy planting fig trees because they are lovely, provide shade and can be groomed to create a garden canopy of sorts and of course delicious, nutritious figs. 

Just about two years ago I wrote this Fig Torte Post on my French Home and Garden blog {here} and I can hardly wait to repeat that torte.  

Should the fig harvest be prolific, we'll make them available at our markets.  We are growing Kadota, Black Mission and my favorite - Peter's Honey.


Apples . . .
There's nothing like walking by a fruitful apple tree, grabbing a ripe ready blushing apple and taking a bite. We've been doing that a lot lately - as our Anna ~ Dorset apples are giving the most amazing apples. These apples have made their sweet presence at our markets and will continue to do so for about another week. I'm also paring down the little ones to make my delicious apple butter that several of my grandchildren ask for.


Eggs . . . 
Anita's husband, Mike, did an amazing "clean out the hen house and big barn" job a week ago. He had the great idea to add a box fan (the kind that has water in it) to the window that goes into hen house. It's made a 'night and day' difference for the girls to help cool them a bit. Thus - production has gone up a bit. If you haven't had an egg just gathered from a hen box, then you need to know you're missing out. There's a difference.  

Besides the cooling system, we put a mister hose on and also feed them as much greens as possible, tomatoes and they're pretty excited when they see a big watermelon coming. 

Hope you're staying cool and enjoying your July.  Soon, I'll update you on what's coming up next at our farm.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Thursday Morning Market, Fresh Goat and Farm Eggs

Happy 4th of July Every One


Market This Week
I'd been meaning to let you all know that YES we are open THIS Thursday (July 5th) from 9 - Noon and then again Saturday from 8 - 11:30 and we've got corn, melons, tomatoes, Grano de Vida breads, local honey, local jelly and jams, squash, okra, apples from our trees and of course we have FRESH goat cheese and goat milk in the refrig.

Thinking About Fall
The weather has been beautiful today at the farm and groups of lovely women and Todd came to work this morning pulling up everything "dead and dying" as we get ready to get ready for fall planting - of which we're excited about as we plan all the wonderful gourmet shoots and roots and more herbs and flowers through out the farm.

Eggs and Milk in The Fridge - Honor System
We're loving the farm's Honor System and it seems that a number of you are too.  Trust builds community - and that's one thing we value - community.  Besides Everything Goat - we'll start putting a few dozen of eggs in there as well.  Eggs are presently $5.50 a dozen.

See you Thursday or Saturday! Enjoy your moments with family....they're to be treasured.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Specialty Items At Our Farm - Jams and Jellies


If our grandchildren are around in the morning my buttermilk pancakes are often the request - always with chocolate chips and "could you please make me a Mickey Mouse" one.  On other mornings breakfast at our home often consists of two "just laid an egg" over easy please, sourdough toast, an English muffin but lately it's Grano de Vida's ciabatta bread - sliced in half, toasted and then slathered with [real] butter. 

Since I make all sorts of jams and jellies - we have a lot to choose from - peach, apple butter, pumpkin butter, red wine jelly, lemon verbena jelly, strawberry honey jam, rose petal lavender and my and Ivana's favorite mint apple jelly. They're all delicious and suit any morning whim where something sweet is called for.




Last week, Jill Green of Sweet Life Garden (another jam and jelly maker) mentioned her Santa Rosa Plum jam.  I knew that jam had to be on the shelf at our market. Jill brought over a few jars and a sample for Michael and I. I have to tell you, it's my new favorite. Jill reduced the sugar amount down so the tart taste of the Santa Rosa plum wouldn't be masked by sweetness of the sugar. In two days we used up the whole little jar. 

All our jams and jellies are specialty items - made seasonally, are on our market shelf and make gourmet gifts from our farm.