Independence Days Challenge

Well, busy is still the word and work of the day. Today there is a heavy rain, the farm called to tell me I do not need to work today. This gives some time to pack more boxes and maybe take care of some handwork.

Our grocery bill is starting to shrink again as we eat most of our veggies from the garden now. The chickens are really starting to lay. The other day we got an egg for each chicken. 7!! The pole bean are up and climbing. The first garlic flavor of the season has graced our plates in the form of garlic scapes. I love picking them because my hands smell like garlic afterward.

Tomorrow we go to Farmington and begin the heavy work of taking down an old woodshed and taking out the old bathtub for a new one. My father-in-law came up last week to deliver our wedding present...a clawfoot bathtub. We will be married 5 years in August. The new house is the perfect house for such a tub and by the end of the move we will be so grateful for its deep warm waters;)

Plant: I did not get anything planted this week but I do need to get some greens planted in the ground.

Harvest: green onions, garlic scapes, mint, oregano, yarrow, lettuce, swiss chard, strawberries, peas

Preserve: strawberry jam, frozen strawberries, frozen peas, dehydrated garlic scapes,

Local food system: I went strawberry picking at the u-pick day at the farm, workers could pick for a dollar quart. Bought a peck of peas for shelling. Local burger.

Eat the food: I made a cheese strata with swiss chard, green onions and garlic scapes. Local burgers on the grill with a pasta salad with garlic scapes, green onions and green peas. Evan ate more peas than he shelled, he ate more strawberries than he picked:) Evan's new composition is the song,"I stole a pea from Tristan"

Waste not: I freeze the ends of bread and usually use these for bread crumbs or croutons. I used this bread for the bread layer in the cheese strata. We feed the pea shells to the sheep and goat. The chickens got the hulled tops of the strawberries. Still making piles for the thrift store.

Want not: The Kiwanis club in town has an annual auction and yard sale. I found old canning jars that use the rubber rings. I use these to keep herbs and small portions of beans and grains. I also found and old popcorn tin. Because we buy large bulk quantities all the food needs larger containers The new house has a little mouse problem. Once our cats are moved I am sure that the ratio of mouse to person will be balanced. But I want to make sure that all food stuffs are in airtight containers that can not be chewed easily. I also found the cookbook More with Less Cookbook for .50! It is the 1979 edition and has rings on the binding. It is my new favorite cookbook. Simple meals from simple ingredients. I also found a nice 70's vintage tablecloth that I might make a skirt from..when I have the time..oh some time around January:)

Ramblings...

Most mornings this past week my alarm clock bleats at 5:50 am. I knock on Tristan's door, we eat breakfast, pack lunch, fill our water bottles and head to work. We gather in the farm house with our fellow field workers. Some of us pick peas for a dollar a pound. Some of us pick strawberries for the farmstand for an hourly wage. We start at 7 am and our mornings end at 11 am. The farm we work at has 200 acres, a 100 acres are under cultivation. They are not organic but strive to use as few pesticides as necessary.

It is hard work. When there is no picking to be done there is always hand weeding. Most of the time at work is spent bent over at the waist. It is the best position for getting the most speed as you work your row. The mornings are quiet, sometimes foggy, the dew soaks into your pants and shoes. There is a gas cannon in a field over from where I work that goes off periodically to scare the crows away from the corn sprouts. A couple of mornings this past week a tractor cutting hay adds to the soundtrack of the day. Overhead, I hear Canada Geese as one honks to its flock for a new leader for their flying queue. Two male gold finches swoop over the field competing for the affections of a plane jane girl. And the swallows, at times, display in their playful flight what fun we could be having if only our heads were not down to the ground.

By 9 am the the morning begins to get warm and I start drinking from my water bottle. My legs ache and my neck is stiff from looking down most of the morning. But I am picking up speed as each morning I tally the passage of time by the gallons of strawberries I pick. By 9:30 our field has been picked and we move to weeding.

There is a camaraderie among the workers. Most of them are young, in high school or college and work at the farm most summers. Conversations fade in and out as we meet and then move beyond each other in our rows. Being older I feel like I miss some of the social context of their topics but at times we meet on common ground. During those quiet times in the field when I find myself lost in the work my mind wanders. Sometimes I think about what is on my ever growing to-do list. I daydream about our new home. I keep inventory of new aches and pains as my body gets used to this work. I think about the true cost of food.

I am picking strawberries in Maine in June but you can buy strawberries in January from California....cheap. It is the cheap part that I am struggling with right now. Because the only way they stay cheap is because the field worker, probably an immigrant, is not getting paid a fair wage for the important work they do. The farmer, if the farmer is anything like the good people I work for, work LONG days. Food is cheap and does not reflect the true costs of its production. There is a lot of sweat that goes into the food leaving the field. Mostly by hand...

By 11 am we ride the farm vehicles back to the farmhouse. Faces are flushed and everyone looks tired. Our pants and shoes are caked in dried mud. Some of us will leave and others will have lunch before heading back to the fields for weeding in the afternoon. I do this work because we need the extra money it provides, it is flexible for our lives right now, it has an end. Yes it is hard work but I have found an even greater appreciation for the work that brings the food to my table.

I will close with a new song of grace we sing at our table.

Johnny Apple Seed

Oh the earth is good to me

And so I thank the earth

For giving me the things I need

The sun, the rain and the apple seed

The earth is good to me.

This moment....peak oil lawn mowing

Independence Days Challenge

I find myself playing catch-up with the season. Bare soil has been over-ridden with weeds. The clutter that is symptomatic of a hectic life is closing in. The best laid plans of knitters and gardeners....

So...down to business..

Plant: sweet corn, summer squash, cukes, blue coco dry beans, transplanted volunteer sunflowers

Harvest: last of the spinach, scallions, oregano, yarrow, peppermint, swiss chard, lettuce, rhubarb can I count the strawberries I picked at work?

Preserved: dried oregano, tincture of yarrow, dehydrated spinach, dried mint

Local Food systems: we bought some strawberries at the farm I work at for nibbling. I plan to pick my own by the end of the week. I should be able to count all the strawberries I picked here. I have thoughts on large scale farming and its workers I will share them with you later this week.

Eat the food: strawberry fruit leather, a frittata with garlic scapes, swiss chard and scallions, chicken soup with swiss chard, garlic scapes and fridge gleanings.

Waste not: We save all our chicken bones and freeze them for soup later. This last batch of bones had hint of smoky bbq on them. It made for a really nice stock ala Nourishing Traditions. We use vinegar for helping to extract all the good mineral from the bones. I used most of the left over food bits for the soup: garbanzo beans, tomato paste, mash potato and sauteed onions along with garden gleanings. I helped to kick this little cold we have all shared. Side dressed spuds and a few other plants in the garden with barn compost.

Want not: Found a new jersey sheet at the Goodwill for another rag rug. But there is not much time for the hands to find solace in handwork so it will wait for quieter days. We are making lists. I consider the list important to keeping us on track with what we want to do, what we need to do and how we avoid spending money, time and energy on those things that are not helpful. We mowed the yard, mulched garden paths, weeded and finished planting the old home garden.

This moment....

Business..harrumph, mumble mumble...

Well, I am sorry but I am going to have to moderate comments again...I've been getting some funky comments..I'll moderate for a while and see if I can stop being spammed.

I value all your comments. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Also, Life is getting pretty busy. I have started my farm job, we are starting to move things and get some things set up at the new house. So posting might be light. I am going to continue with the Independence days challenge updates and my "This moment". But my plate is really full right now.

Thanks, Karin

Strawberry Season

The fruit is ripe and being picked. Yesterday Tristan started his first day and his first job. When asked how he like it. He said," Oh it is hard work. But I will like the money." When asked to elaborate on what was hard, he said it was the picking of the berries because he is bent over the whole time. However, he did like the weeding.BWaahhahhah.....good...I am an evil mom;)

Anyway, I am hoping to freeze a dozen quarts of berries, make some wine, jam and a strawberry rhubarb pie. But I've been seeing some recipes for fruit leathers and thought I would give it a try.

Here is my own local recipe

1 quart of strawberries, remove stems and rinse.

1/4 cup local raw honey

most recipes call for lemon juice but lemons don't grow in Maine so I thought I would just add a small dash of homemade apple cider vinegar. The lemon juice is just for keeping color.

Anyhoo, most recipes call for heating up all the ingredients. I just mashed it all together with a potato masher. I spread some parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Spread evenly on the paper and place in an oven on lowest setting. I made this at night and left in the oven over night.

By morning it was ready.

With all the busy-ness we will have this summer, I was thinking that I could make a bunch of leather and freeze it. So that as we spend time driving back and forth, we can have a simple healthy snack.