Week #11

• Fava Beans
• Sugar snap peas
• Purplette onions – small bunching red onions use the onion and the green!
• Broccoli, cauliflour, or cabbage – choose one
• Spinach or chard – we encourage you to try the “Red Kittens” spinach it is going to seed (shooting straight up) but really delicious, just pluck the leaves off the big red stem, eat raw or steamed so delicious!
• Zucchini – enjoy green, yellow “Zephyr” and stripped “Costata Romanesco” all slightly different and delicious
• Kale – get your weekly dose of kale in salad, or as crispy kale chips
• Lettuce – butter lettuce is here and true to it’s name – buttery!
• Parsley or dill – you choose
• Beets or carrots
• Garlic

Summer is here! Last night we celebrated the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, the summer solstice. This is the time that signals to our onions to begin to bulb. It looks like a bumper crop this season with every kind of onion we could imagine. There are red, white and yellow onions. We have Heirloom onions like “Cippolini” and a red torpedo from  Italy. We have 4 varieties of shallots. Today you will try “Purplette” a small red onion, reminiscent of the onions you get in central America, small with a punch of flavor. They will be great to use in the Lebanese dish called “Ful” with the fava beans.

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The weeds are crazy, but slowly being beaten back between soccer matches. The World Cup is occupying one of the farmers time, but he is incredibly efficient during the hour or so between matches. Jacob is home and adding to the work force, spending time tying up tomatoes, cucumbers and beans. I managed to finish planting the Brussels Sprouts and the next set of lettuce. There are so many distracting weeds that it is hard to stay focused on the task at hand.

I went out on Thursday to transplant and discovered that the red winged black birds had found my wheat. The wheat is raised for my fall wreaths and was just beginning to color up. Jacob helped me harvest hundreds of bunches while scaring off the birds. This was not how I had planned to spend the day, but one must do the work at hand especially when it is battling one of the plagues of the farm – birds!

Jacob also harvested the last bed of garlic. We have all the garlic and wheat upstairs in the barn drying or curing, glance up and you can see the drying strings are full!

Juvencio came home with 4 piglets. He has been searching for the right piglets to raise up for the season. He traveled all the way to Washington to find these part Tamworth part American Black pigs. They are cute, red and friendly. He is feeding them with garden scraps, Bella’s milk and grain. He has most of the pork spoken for. If you want pork you need to let him know, depending on demand he may search far and wide for more piglets. The price of weaner pigs has sky rocketed so he needs a deposit ASAP.

Our cows are doing great as well. Juvencio has over 20 head of cattle in McMinnville. He has three generations he is moving them from pasture to pasture and fixing broken water pipes. The steer will go to the butcher this fall so let Juve know if you want some grassfed beef. Bella and her son Elliot are back from our neighbors. Elliot is huge after drinking more than 4 gallons of milk a day, he is the biggest calf we have. Luna and Diego are in charge of pasturing the cows, and sheep and sometimes the goats (when they behave – they have a horrible habit of running through the electric wire and munching on grass that is not theirs to munch on). Last night as the rest of us sat enjoying our pizza they were bringing the sheep back when “Venture” the gelding escaped. It took 6 of us to get him back into the correct pasture, he almost made it to West Union. This prompted Diego to say “Why do we have those horses?”

The hoop houses are being transformed. Carrots, beets, kohlrabi and peas are out. Cucumbers, basil and more go in. I seeded most of the fall crops: broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, cabbage, lettuce, leeks, basil and more. I seeded more beans for a second crop in September. I also seeded some extra beans and pickling cucumbers for the canning party on September 13^th. It is amazing to think we have moved on to fall on the first day of summer. This type of farming is so different from gardening where one plants her garden in May and harvests through the summer. We seed, plant, harvest every week from March until October. I have a general calendar with special dates to remember and hope not to forget an important item.

The tomatoes and peppers seem to be doing well. Both the early and late varieties are setting fruit, making us hopeful that we will have them for you in July. Keep your fingers crossed. August rain can ruin the outdoor tomatoes so wish that rain god away for the summer. The cucumbers are finally getting started, not enough for everyone, but some of you will taste your first cuke of the season today. I seeded them in March and it has taken them until now to produce – ugh!

Many projects on the farm this summer, you may see some new faces as we become an international house. Our friend Pascal returns from Switzerland for a visit. We will have another friend and his daughter on the farm for some time as he works to transform our last little out building into a small summer cottage. See you around the farm.

Fava Bean “Ful”

Lebanese bean dish

INGREDIENTS NEEDED:

• 1 can of fava beans -drained
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• ¼ cup of olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
• 1 finely chopped tomato
• 1 green onion thinly sliced

PERPERATION:

• In pan sauté garlic in 1 tablespoon of olive oil until the garlic is lightly golden. Add the drained fava beans and bring to a boil and simmer on low. Then add the lemon, salt and pepper and mix while trying to mash at least half the fava beans. Turn heat off and remove from oven.
• Place the cooked fava beans in a serving dish.
• Garnish the beans with parsley, tomato, green onions and the re remaining olive oil. Serve with pita bread and a plate filled a Varity of fresh vegetables of your choose.

Braised whole-pod fava beans with dill

Fava beans are a culinary highlight of spring, but double shelling them takes time.  Very young favas though can be eaten pod and all.

Prep time and cook time:  45 minutes

Makes six servings

1/3 cup olive oil

1 sweet onion, halved and thinly sliced

1 ½ pounds fava bean pods, ends trimmed and strings removed

¾ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

¼ cup dill, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish

Plain whole-milk or greek style yogurt

1. Put oil and onion in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add favas, salt, sugar, and ¼ cup water. Bring to a simmer.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes.
2. Add ¼ cup dill, cover and cook until fava pods are tender and starting to fall apart, about 10 minutes.  Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon dill and serve warm or at room temperature with yogurt on the side.

1. Fava Beans and Pancetta | February 2007
2. Victoria Granof