The cool air comes back!

Lilies, day and night! Love that bright pink!

We are all ahs and smiles as the cool air finally starts to move back into the Puget Sound area. After temps of 106 and 103, we were ready for some cool relief! Even the chickens were panting! Our upstairs hovered above 90 for the past 3 days. No one could sleep or eat (bad news with all that zucchini in the fridge!). We finally hooked up a tiny room AC in our basement family room and all slept down there. A week ago, an 85 degree day would seem hot to us, but today it was a welcome relief! Just call us a bunch of NW heat wimps!

We finally cooked again. The menu was BBQed Mexican pork, Spanish yellow rice, and grilled zucchini (of course! zucchini 100 remember?) and yellow squash brushed with jalepeno infused olive oil, homegrown pico de gallo, mellow avocado slices, and a hibiscus sparkling lemonade. It was delicious! The lemons and avocado were from our farm box, and the peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes, cilantro, yellow squash, and zucchini all came from our back yard!

Someone recently asked about our exceptions to the local eating rule. We have 3 family exceptions per month and 1 individual exception per week. Usually the family exceptions are: an oil of some kind (olive, peanut, canola), a spice, and citrus or avocados. The individual exceptions are as follows: Ari - coffee always, Anni - hot chocolate usually, but occassionally a hamburger, Alex - lately a frappacino, David - coffee usually, but sometimes a pepsi, & Julie Ann - either chocolate or coffee.

Another reader asked about restaurants. We usually try to frequent local, family owned restaurants. If they serve local, organic food so much the better. Our favorite coffee place is Cafe Ladro who friendly crew serves up wonderful organic fairtrade shade grown coffee. They also have the best apple pie in the universe!

Stats for the Zucchini 100, at last count we were at 81 zucchini left to go. However, over the last few days, I've harvested 12 more! So that brings it up to 93 - 1 in my salad for lunch and another 1 on the grill tonight = 91 to go! Did I mention the 6 more zucchini plants about to spit out zucchini? Help!

Files of the Shadow Phototog

Who is this mystery phototog? Snapping away with the cameras.

Here's beautiful butterfly resting on a leaf.

Our weather has been very warm for the Seattle area. It was over 97 today. Our house is still 90! Alex wore his sandals today and now has tiger feet!

Yesterday's harvest from the veggie patch: chard, lettuce, Russian kale, basil, blueberries, strawberries, chives, cherry and black cherry tomatoes, curly parsley, carrots, peas, and zucchini (6 of them!). For the zucchini 100, we made sauteed Parmesan zucchini rounds in a pan on the BBQ!

Here's a photo from the bike races on Sunday. Notice the Seattle hot weather essentials; hats, sunglasses, water bottles, and Starbucks!

The elite races flying around Redmond's Marymoor Velodrome on one fixed gear!

Flowers!

Marigolds protectors of the garden veggies. They make awesome companion plants and help protect against many garden pests, including nematodes. I harvested a bunch of seed heads a few weeks ago and planted the seeds. Now I have 9 more pots of marigold seedlings to distribute throughout the veggie patch.
And who can identify this strange plant? It is an alien or something worse? No, it's the reproductive flowering structure of the hen and chick succulents. This one is in our front yard, and it sprouts out every 2-3 years.

Today all the suburban farmers went to the velodrome to see more of the bike races. We also went to the Bellevue Arts Fair. Our friend, Lisa, dropped by to visit the chickens and the garden. The chickens were very well behaved, sitting on her arm, eating dandelions, and not pooping on our guest. All activities were awesome, but it was very warm. We are experiencing a real blast of heat today and for the next week, with temps in the 90+ range, unusual for the Seattle area where most homes don't have air conditioning. I predict, we'll be visiting the library and pool frequently.

Tomatoes and Tomatillos!

A big tomato turning color on the vine. We harvested a few red cherry tomatoes today, as well as several green tomatoes for fried green tomatoes. Yum.

The tomatillos are beginning to pod up. I can hardly wait to make salsa! Our weather has turned to warm; so it won't be long before the tomatoes and tomatillos join the zucchini in veggie takeover.

Today was farmer's market today. We found some great garlic, three kinds of peppers, cauliflower, okra, and some lovely little mini cherry tomatoes. Many thanks to Lisa for the apricots and basil.

In other news, we went to a literary event at the library this afternoon. This evening we went to velodrome bike races until the rain struck, cancelling the bike races. Then we detoured to the bookstore.

Sunny times in the garden.

Fuzzy
Bright
The patch of sunflowers!

The zucchini 100 continues. Today we made chocolate zucchini cake, used 2 medium sized zukes. We also harvested 2 zucchini today. 81 zukes left - 2 used in cake + 2 harvested = 81. Net zuke usage = 0.

Also in the garden we harvested a few peas, beans, lots of Russain kale, and a few strawberries and blueberries. Tomorrow, it's time to fertilize with vermiculture, compost, and organic soil!

Flat and Flatter

Today was not a bed of roses for the funny farmers!

It began with the prius having a tire blow out. Bad tire, very bad back right tire! By the time I could safely pull over, the tire had at least six holes in it! David arrived to take the car to the garage while I took Anni home.

Here's the lovely spare that comes with the Prius. Love that color! The garage had to call all around to find the matching tire for Bluebirdie, but by late this afternoon all was well with the Prius. Then David looked at the Accord. A screw was sticking out of the back left tire. Back to the garage, he went. What are the odds of 2 negative tire events in a single day? (Please if anyone actually knows let us know!) We avoided any further activities involving tires for the rest of the day. Anni get off that tricycle!
Did I mention we are starting to get our first blueberries on the bushes we planted this spring?

These ones are especially large.

No, seriously big! That's a nickle between them! And they're tasty too!
Here's today's garden harvest, minus most of the blueberries and all of the strawberries (Anni fruitmiester strikes again!). We pulled our first carrots this morning. And more zucchini, along with a few beans, lots of peas, a cherry tomato, and some herbs. We pulled some of the pea vines in the garden to give more space to a yellow summer squash. We also finally got around to staking the runner beans which were starting to wind themselves around the cabbages and kale.
And as if we didn't have enough produce, the CSA farm box arrived today. It was another good one with cantaloupe, Walla Walla onion, carrots, broccoli, mango, peaches, plums, cherries, radishes, raspberries, roma tomatoes, mushrooms, and bibb lettuce. This time of year, we go heavy on the fruit in the farm box as the garden supplies most of the veggies.

On day 4 of the zucchini 100, we had a summer harvest pizza with zucchini. It was delish! Here's the recipe:

Summer Harvest Pizzas

2 12" pizza crust (or dough to make a crust. We used a whole wheat herb crust)

1 cup of seasoned pizza sauce (We used leftover veggie spaghetti sauce + 1 Tbsp tomato paste)

3 small zucchini, peeled and slice into thin long slices

4 slices of your favorite white cheese, sliced into very thin strips

(We used Munster, but provolone would also be great)

1 cup of mushrooms thinly sliced

1/2 cup of red onion thinly sliced

2 tsp of dried oregano (or 1 Tbsp of fresh if you have it)

1 cup of coursely grated parmesan (or Romano)

Sprinkle of coursely ground pepper

1) Prepare pizza crust and preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2) Add 1/2 cup of pizza sauce to each crust

3) Arrange zucchini slices over top of each pizza

4) Place white cheese strips over pizza, around zucchini slices

5) Add red onion and mushroom slices to pizza

6) Sprinkle each pizza with 1 tsp of oregano (or 1/2 Tbsp of fresh)

7) Top each pizza with 1/2 cup of parmesan and sprinkle with pepper

8) Bake at 450 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy! We served this with crispy fresh veggies and a cool dip, along with fresh fruit.

99 zucchini - 15 used so far and 3 given to a friend = 81 to go.

The Zucchini 100!

Our garden is being immensely prolific with regard to zucchini production. The entire bottom of the fridge is full of them! This calls for radical action, hence the institution of the Zucchini 100!

For the next 100 days, or until the zucchini run out, we are eating recipes incorporating zucchini. So far, we've had a zucchini laden spaghetti sauce and a stir-fry heavy on the zucchini. Today for dinner, we had curried zucchini pancakes with chutney yogurt sauce. They were delish!

How did we train for the Zucchini 100? We scoured the cookbooks for zucchini recipes! From our immense collection, we found 23 books with interesting zucchini dishes. Now we have over 150 choices for the zucchini.

Did I mention that all of these zucchini are from just two plants that were planted mid spring? The !!!6!!! plants that went into the ground in late spring are just starting to flower! Will the zucchini ever end???

So, if you know of any fantastic zucchini recipes, zap them our way!

Garden on the move!

Today was a moving day in the garden. We decided to turn the flower bed into another tomato bed, which meant all the flowers had to move. Originally, we planted the flower bed to attract pollinators, but now with the garden in full swing. The pollinators are visiting all the squash, potato, pea, and tomato blossoms. Where to put the flowers?

A while ago we decided to create a enchanted circle of plants at the top of the garden. Inside the circle, we could do yoga, pitch a tent, or have a tea party. The only trouble was not enough plants to close the circle.

Solution: Add the bed plants to the circle! The circle started with a small Japanese maple, a lilac bush, 4 small boxwoods, a sprue, and a miniature rhodedendron. We transplanted 2 butterfly bushes, a lupine, and a large flower of unknown id to the circle. We also added a red mini maple that had been growning up on the deck. Finally we had a curly walking stick tree growing in the front bed that wasn't doing to well. So, we transplanted it to the circle as well.

That left a dozen bulb plants and a Spanish lavender to move from the bed. The bulbs were redistributed throughout the garden, and the lavender went out to the front yard where the curly walking stick had been.

Five tomato plants and two basil plants went into the former flower bed. Four other tomato plants were transplanted up to our largest pots. That makes a total of 17 tomato plants in the garden. They are loaded with green tomatoes, cherry, Roma plums,and big juicy ones. Just wait until they all ripen and turn red!

Speaking of turning red, that's me after spending hours in the garden. Pass the Aloe Vera. We also weeded berry bush row and transplanted two large pots of baby lettuces.

Dinner tonight was straight from the garden, a big pot of veggie infused spaghetti sauce, heavy on the zuchhini, noodles, and fresh cherries. Delish!

Extra! Extra!

Children Consumed by Metallic Swirls. This week has been a swirl and a blur down on the Funny Farm. Here are the kiddles at the Ballard Lock swirls. The sockeye salmon were running through the fish ladder when we visited. We also saw a very determined heron strike it lucky and nab some fish!

Life Is a Blur. Here are the kiddles blurrily walking through the park near the Lock. Anni had cardiac and sleep studies this week; so our schedule was very wonky this week.

More News from the Farm:

Chickens Enjoy Campout Under the Stars. The chicks spent their first night outside in the coops. They were not eaten by racoons. Yeah!

Bumper New Potato Crop. Farmer Julie Ann harvested over a hundred white, red, and purple new potatoes. Some potato plants were removed to make room for the pumpkins!

Refridgerator Threatens to Explode! The family fridge is buldging with harvested fruits and veggies. Zucchini now occupy the entire bottom of the fridge. And tomato season is just around the corner! Tomorrow the funny farmers will be baking zucchini bread and simmering veggie-heavy spaggehiti sauce. Should the fridge blow, please send rescuers with veggie baskets!

Farmhouse Gets New Dishwasher. The funny farmers cook alot! They make lots of dishes! They wash lots of dishes. The old dishwasher was an energy and water hog (and noisy to boot!). The new energy star model uses only a third of the energy and water and is very quiet. Now, we can hear ourselves sing as we clean up the kitchen. (Mmm, maybe that's not such a good thing!)

Funny Farmers Give Thumbs Up to the New Harry Potter Movie. Alex liked the action, and Ari thought the romance was funny.

Family Loves Dinner Recipe! The funny farm family loved this new Julie Ann recipe.

Seared Scallops with Snow Peapods

1 pound of large scallops

salt and pepper

1 strip of cooked bacon

2 Tbsp virgin olive oil

1/2 pound snow peapods

1/4 cup of roughly chopped chives (or mild green onion tops)

Garlic Citrus Vinegrette

1 and 1/2 Tbsp raspberry vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

6 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp lime juice

Optional: 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Coarse salt and pepper to taste.

1) Make vinegrette first. In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar & mustard. Add olive oil whisking to blend. Add garlic, lime, cilantro, and season with salt and pepper.

2) Next heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in saute pan over medium heat. Add bacon strip to pan for 1 minute to season oil.

3)Season scallops with salt and pepper on both sides. Add to pan and sear for about 1 minute per side, until golden brown. Remove and keep warm.

4) In same pan, heat remaining olive oil over medium. Add peapods and chives (green onion) and stir fry for 1-2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup of vinegrette and toss to cover.*

5) Serve scallops atop the peapods.

We served this with a simple dish of radishes and a platter of summer fruit.

*You will have extra vinegrette. This is delicious on salads and brushed on grilled bread for sandwiches.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday!

We had a happy birthday in the family today. Here's the birthday girl's favorite flower, blooming just in time for her birthday.

The pumpkin seedlings are ready to be put out in the garden tomorrow!

The garden harvest today! Lots of peas, beans, and Russian kale. Some lettuce, chives, chard, parsley, basil, strawberries, blueberries, 4 large zucchinis, and our first boysenberry! We also harvested a bag's worth of red poatoes and another of white fingerling potatoes. The garden is in full summer mode! The tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes. Think sun!

Produce Abundica & Under attack!

The CSA farm box arrived today.

Another good one with cherries, plums, nectarines, mango,

apple, oranges, red currents, English peas, corn, chard, lettuce, carrots,

leeks, broccoli, green onions, cherry tomatoes, & Roma tomatoes.

Why keep getting the farm box during the summer

when we are growing so much in our garden?

Well, first to support our local organic farmers,and second,

to get all the wonderful things we don't have in our garden (yet).

Here's the daily harvest from our garden:

a big pile of red and white potatoes (from just 3 potato plants),

Russian kale, summer squash, zucchini, peas, beans, chives, cilantro,

strawberries, and blueberries.

So what did we do with all this great bounty?

First, we had to find a spot in the fridge.

Then, we shelled all the peas and froze some of the red currents.

Tonight's dinner was a salad with the huge lettuce that came in the box, along with cucumber (farmer's market) and cherry tomatoes (box), a big pot of crab chowder with onions, garlic, lots of potatoes (straight from the garden), corn (box), herbs (garden), a dish of leftover paella, bread (from our local bakery), and for dessert gooseberry fool (berries from the farmer's market).

Daily veggie count = 15, fruit count = 4

We had to battle a pest in the garden today!

While we all were jammin' yesterday,

black aphids attacked one of the zucchini plants and killed a nasturtium!

Nasturtium act as an aphid trap, but this one was overwhelmed.

A quick search for an organic remedy lead to lady bugs and an extract from chrysanthemums.

As a few ladybugs were happily munching, but vastly outnumbered,

we added the extract spray to help them out.

The nasturtium was a total loss (goodbye sweet blossoms),

but hopefully, we can save the zucchini as it's been a great producer this year.

Jammin' & Sneakin'

9 jars of beautiful bing cherry jam!

Cherry prices are an all time low in WA state,

good for eaters, not so great for local farmers.
We bought 5 pounds for jammin' and freezin'.

Yesterday's garden harvest.

We dug up some spuds,

and picked some basil, peas, beans, and strawberries.

To answer a reader question:

How do you get your family to eat so many veggies?

I'm sneaky. I sneak veggies into everything!

Yesterday, we had Zucchini nut muffins and bananas for breakfast.

Udon noodles with peas, peapods, onions, and spinach for lunch, & an apple.

Homemade pesto over baby potatoes and fava beans,

served with a saute of zucchini, greens, and tomatoes and an orange for dinner.

Homegrown strawberries for snack.

(14 servings of veggies and 4 of fruit for the day.)

Today I was faced with what to do with a small amount of leftover chicken,

3 small ears of corn on the cob, and a sweet potato begging to be used?

Make empanadas with those ingredients, along with zucchini, carrots, onion, bell pepper, for the stuffing in a whole wheat mini pastry. We made a delicious golden mole' sauce of 5 roasted veggies (onion, garlic, spicy peppers, tomatoes, and tomatillos) to pour on top, and we served it up with a large pan of spicy Bolivian potatoes and cabbage (also with tomatoes, onions, and spicy and bell peppers). It was a delicious dinner using 19 veggies!

So be sneaky!

Happy 4th of July!

Here we are watching the ultimate frisbee potlatch

at the 40 acres park along the Sammamish River Trail in Redmond.
It was great fun watching all the folks in costumes and make amazing catches!

There were teams from all over the west coast, Canada, and Mexico.

Today's bounty from the garden patch:
garlic, cilantro, zucchini, beans, peas, and strawberries
(not shown as they are in Anni's tummy!).
We also went to the Saturday farmer's market.
Today's finds were potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber,
pasture fed beef, homemade salsa, and gooseberries.
Our 4th of July dessert tart!
A graham cracker crust with custard filling,
topped with fresh organic blueberries and raspberries!
Yum!

Quest for Paella

Today the future funny farmers and I took off on an urban adventure to Pike Place Market in search of localish ingredients for paella!

First stop was the seafood; clams, mussels, and shrimp.

Next, we found some lovely red, pink, orange, yellow and purple-striped mini heirloom tomatoes and thought, "these will make the perfect side dish for that paella."

Then we threaded a twisty oddessy through the market, stopping at all the spice shops collecting paella essentials, especially saffron.

(A brief detour to get hombows for tomorrow's lunch and to grab some great flavored orzo)

We were about to head out for lunch when we realized we forgot the sausage! We raced back up the market steps to the sausage folks for 2 Portuguese links!
Finally lunch at Anthony's, stopping to peek at all the jellyfish in Elliot Bay as we walked along the waterfront. We saw a couple of monsters!

It was a lovely way to spend a summer afternoon.

So here's our version of Paella
2 links of sausage (we used Portuguese linguisa)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, peeled and diced
1/2 red onion, peeled and diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
1 small zucchini, peeled and diced
1 yellow summer squash, peeled and diced
2 cups arborio rice (or any short grain rice)
1 cup dry white wine
1 quart chicken broth
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp saffron threads, crumbled
Salt and Pepper
1 lb small shrimp, shelled (save heads and shells for stock for soups!)
1 lb small clams
1 lb small mussels
(*the seafood combination can vary to suite your taste. Other ocean yummies that work well are white fish and scallops)
1/4 cup green onions, slivered
Lemon wedges

(Veggie version: A. Substitute a good veggie sausage for the meaty sausage.
B. Omit seafood, Add 1 can of diced tomatoes instead.
C. Use veggie broth instead of chicken broth

D. Add quartered button mushrooms to give it more umph.)

1) In a large pan, brown sausages on all sides, 3-5 minutes. Transfer to board to cool.

2) Reduce heat, add olive oil to pan. Add onions and peppers. Cook until onions are limp (4-5 min).

3) Then add garlic, squashes, and rice. Cook until rice begins to turn opaque (2-3 min)

4) Stir in wine, broth, paprika, turmeric, and saffron. Bring to boil over higher heat and then reduce to simmer, uncovered, until rice is tender (15-18 min). Stir once or twice during cooking process. Season with salt and pepper.

5) While rice cooks, rinse and drain seafood. Cut sausage into diagonal slices.

6) Carefully stir shrimp and sausages into the rice mixture. Arrange mussels and clams on top of rice. Cover pan with lid (or foil). Cook until rice is tender, shrimp is opaque, and shellfish have popped open. (7-8 min)

7) Sprinkle with green onions. Garnish with lemon wedges.

We served this up with a dish of heirloom tomatoes, a bowl of seasoned rainbow radishes, and a platter of summer fruits. It was Divine!


The heirloom tomatoes!