Kitchen Garden Journal

This blog is supposed to be about the farm and everything that goes into it and comes out of it. A blog, at its best, should be a chronicle of things that happen in real time, written by the one who sets them in motion. Since there's no lack of activity around here, I thought I would have plenty of content. But the challenge is one of perspective.

At a certain point this season, I realized that this blog was becoming much more exclusively about food and the things we like to do with the products of our labor. That's the fun part for me; that's what inspires me to do all this work. And also, I've found, it's what inspires me to write.

I am a bit surprised at how challenging writing about the farm has been for me this summer. Once the grind gets grinding, you just kind of get sucked in and go with the flow as best you can. It's very hard to have any perspective on the relentlessness of it all, like trying to contemplate the meaning and beauty of a wave as it crashes over you and pulls you down.

That's why I was so glad to read our friend Ben James' article in Saturday's Daily Hampshire Gazette. He poetically put into words what I've been either unable to express, or avoiding admitting for fear that no one wants to hear me bitch. Thanks, Ben.

Here's an excerpt. Follow these links to read the whole article, or to learn more about his farm.

Row upon row, repetition rules farm life

I try to squeeze a nickel out of a minute with each pint of cherry tomatoes I sell, but here's what will ultimately last: not the nickel but the flavor of those tomatoes in my sons' memories, so that even as grown men no other food will ever taste as good.

Time on the farm is not static, it's not a given. It's not like a ladder with all the rungs evenly spaced apart. Rather it's a substance, a material, that we try to manipulate just as much as we do the tilth and the fertility of the soil.

How many tomatoes can we harvest before the lightning storm arrives? How many can we sell before they rot? How can we get everybody out weeding the carrots this afternoon, even though there are all those watermelons to pick? And how can I get November to come more quickly, so that Oona and Wiley and I can take a nap together, and the killing frost will give me some hours alone to read?

Amen, brother.

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Our friends at Wheatberry Bakery & Cafe just announced that shares in The Pioneer Valley Heritage Grain CSA are now available. 100 lbs of heritage wheat, heirloom dry beans, spelt, rye, heirloom dent corn grown in Shutesbury, Hadley, and Gill, MA. Check out their great blog, Fields & Fire, to see what they're writing about farming, baking and more.

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Put flour and salt in Cuisinart or Kitchen-Aid, then add butter in cubes, while processing, until the mixture resembles small peas. Drizzle in cold water while processing until the dough forms a ball. Lay on a piece of cling wrap and press dough into a disc. Wrap and chill in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, wash, trim and slice leeks. Saute in butter 15 minutes until soft and golden, and allow to cool. In a bowl, combine eggs, yolks, cream, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir in leeks and reserve. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough and press into a 9-inch pie pan. Prick all over with a fork, cover with foil, fill with pie weights (dried beans, pennies, marbles etc.) and partially bake until dry – 10-15 minutes, removing foil for the last few minutes. Remove pie shell from oven and sprinkle cheese on the bottom. Pour in the leek mixture and sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Bake 30 minutes, until the center is set but still soft like Jell-O. Cool and serve.

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Potatoes and peppers are a really amazing combination. When I was working on an olive farm in Italy, the grandmother would heat up a big pot of their oil (the best and freshest I've ever had) and fry potatoes in it. Then she would fry whole peppers in the same oil and when they were cooked, slip the skins off. Then she would put everything in a pan together and let it bubble away on the stove so the flavors melded together. This version is a simpler preparation that gives similar delicious results.

• 2 lbs potatoes
• 2 lbs sweet peppers
• 1 lb or less plum tomatoes
• 1-3 heads garlic
• ½ cup Olive oil
• Salt & Pepper

This dish takes advantage of all the flavors of summer.  Cut potatoes into bite sized wedges for roasting.  Cut the peppers into quarters or wide strips (you want them in fairly large pieces).  Cut the tomatoes into halves or quarters.  Peel the garlic cloves and leave whole.  Put everything into a large mixing bowl and start pouring on the olive oil, salt and pepper.  Mix well and spread it all out in a single layer of a baking sheet or two.  Bake in a very hot 450° oven for 45 minutes to an hour, scraping and turning every so often, until the potatoes are golden and tender and the peppers and tomatoes have dissolved into a concentrated, smoky tasting sauce and everything is floating in oil.  You could add some fresh rosemary to this dish if you wanted, to no ill effect.

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• 1 bunch leeks
• 2 lb fingerling potatoes
• A mix of sweet peppers
• 1 Tendersweet cabbage
• 1 bunch Japanese sweet turnips
• 1 bunch white Russian Kale
• 2 heads garlic
• 1 bunch sage
• 1/2 dozen sweet corn (Warner Farm, Sunderland)

Deluxe Items: Ginger Gold apples from Clarkdale Fruit Farms

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Summer has burned itself out early. Whether or not the hot weather returns after this rainy spell, our summer crops are pretty well played out. It was a fantastic run, but its inevitable end is near and we’ll soon be left clinging to our sweet memories like so many green tomatoes on the vine.

Not to worry, though. There is much in the fields that will follow, carrying us into the cold season: the flavors less sweet, perhaps; the vegetables more demanding of our time and ingenuity. No more cucumber tomato salads that we can just throw in a bowl and serve.  But we can go back indoors, fire up the stove and roast, braise, and steam our way into fall’s culinary delights.

And, of course, take a little of the chill and damp out of the house before we break down and crank up the heat.

*On a side note, this week is the Loving Local Blogathon, celebrating the local flavors of Massachusetts. Visit In Our Grandmother's Kitchens to read what more than 70 other Mass-based bloggers are writing about local food to benefit Mass Farmers Markets, a non-profit charitable organization that helps farmers markets throughout the Commonwealth (you can make a donation here).

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photo by Candace Hope

• 1.5 lb heirloom tomatoes
• 2 lb federle tomatoes (our favorite sauce variety)
• 1.5 lb Walla Walla sweet onions
• 2 lb mixed potatoes
• 1.5 lb red beets
• ½ lb salad greens
• 1 bunch French breakfast radishes
• 1 bunch Swiss chard
• 1 bunch rosemary

Deluxe Item: Peaches from Clarkdale Fruit Farms, Deerfield, MA

By the way, Clarkdale's farm shop is open 7 days a week 8am-6pm and they offer one-peck Orchard Run (utility) boxes of freestone yellow peaches, great for freezing or jam. They're also harvesting several varieties of apples, pears and plums now, and there will be pick-your-own McIntosh apples later in the fall. 

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This year we’re growing over 50 varieties of tomatoes. About half of these were grown from our own seeds, and half are new varieties that we got from heirloom tomato seed companies. Now that the tomatoes are in full production, the pressure is on to select fruits for saving for next year. I’m about 2/3 of the way through this process, and the seeds are piling up.

Saving your own tomato seeds is really simple, and almost always results in better seeds. With our own seeds, we have nearly 100% germination and purity. By contrast, purchased heirloom tomato seeds can often be low germinating and totally impure. Of the purchased varieties in our patch, only about half have turned out 100% uniform. (This, of course, can be part of the fun of collecting heirloom tomato varieties. We’ve already saved the seed from one “sport,” or off type of mysterious origin.)

Tomatoes are “inbreeders.” Their flowers have both male and female reproductive parts, and about 99.9% of the time, the pollen from each flower pollinates itself, resulting in stable genetics from one generation to the next. This means that seeds from a tomato will produce the same variety the next year.

So to save seed, simply select a nice specimen of a variety you like. Cut it open, scrape out or squeeze out the seeds and juice into a little cup. Cover and let sit for 2-3 days until it ferments and develops a layer of white mold on the surface. (The fermentation process breaks down the jelly-like substance that clings to the seeds.) Pour the liquid and seeds into a fine mesh strainer and run water gently over it. All the pulp should wash away freely, leaving only pure, clean seed. (If there is pulp that hasn’t fully broken down, fill the cup with water. The seeds will fall to the bottom and the debris will rise to the surface. Simply pour off the pulp until you are left with clean seed.)

Pat the excess water from the bottom of the strainer with a dish towel and then transfer the seeds to a plate and spread them around. They take a few days to dry. Transfer to envelopes and make sure you label everything carefully!

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“Toasting” the ingredients either on a grill, hot dry skillet (comal) or under the broiler until the skin chars gives this salsa its special character. Raw, it’s great for dipping tortilla chips; cooked, it becomes the red sauce found in the red or green squeeze bottles at a California burrito bar, great for squirting on just about anything.

Ingredients:
2 lb tomatoes
1 lb smallish onions (extra surface area)
1 large head garlic
3-4 chilies
1 bunch cilantro
lime juice (1-2 limes)
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt

Method:
Toast the ingredients on a hot surface until the skins are blackened: tomatoes and chilies are left whole; onions are quartered; garlic is left unpeeled as individual cloves. After toasting, “sweat” the tomatoes and chilies in a covered bowl or container so the skins loosen. Leave until cool, then peel and discard the skins. Peel the onions and garlic and scrape off any excess char.

Squeeze as much liquid out of the peeled tomatoes as possible. Blend or puree tomatoes, onions, garlic and chilies together in a blender or food processor. Add lime juice, vinegar, sugar and salt. Taste and adjust seasonings so that it tastes good to you. Personally I think the secret to a delicious salsa is the added sugar and vinegar. It really heightens the sweet-sour flavor of the tomatoes. Remember, this is a condiment, after all.

When making a red salsa, it is important to use only red, orange or yellow colored chilies. If you use green chilies, they will turn your salsa an unappealing puce color if blended with red tomatoes. If all you have is green chilies, chop them by hand and add to the rest of the pureed ingredients. Same goes for the cilantro: always hand-chop it rather than blending it. It makes for a much nicer appearance.

At this point the raw salsa is done. If you wish to make cooked salsa, heat a few tablespoons of cooking oil in your tomato sauce pan and add the sauce. Simmer until reduced by about 1/3 and thickened. It becomes a completely different sauce when cooked, turning and orangey red and having the pronounced sweetness of cooked onions.

Keep it for winter:
You can make a huge batch of this and can it, as I’m doing today, raw or cooked. Sterilize your pint jars, bring the salsa to a slight simmer and hot-pack the jars. Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes. The high acid and sugar content of this salsa makes it pretty foolproof and easy to can.

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The secret to good baba is to roast the eggplant until blackened.  The resulting smoky flavor really makes it.

Ingredients:
1 large purple eggplant
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup tahini
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp olive oil

Method:
Roast the eggplant either over a charcoal grill (1st choice), directly over a gas flame (use tongs), or in a 400 degree oven until the skin is completely blackened and the insides are fully softened. Leave to cool. The eggplant should have a limp, burned-to-death appearance, and be slowly leaking its life juices.

When cool, split it open and scrape out the flesh.

Place eggplant, lemon juice, tahini and garlic in a food processor or blender, and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer the resulting paste to a mixing bowl, and slowly stir in olive oil. Serve with two or more of the following: pita bread, your favorite hummous, homemade falafel, tabbouleh salad, slices of cucumber and tomato, stuffed grape leaves, pickled banana peppers, feta cheese, olives, grilled skewered lamb.

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