It's back!!!

Me at the top of the Rocky Mountains!

Well, It's really about time to restart the blog. We've been really busy this summer with all our eco travels, but we still have the backyard funny farm. The chickens have gone from single, lonely Henrietta to a coop full of six, the B girls: Bunny, Basket (both of whom are Easter Eggers, laying beautiful pastel colored eggs). Bumble, Bee (both of whom are Americunas, laying blue green eggs) Blush (a very smart and super friendly red x-linked, laying brown eggs) and Buffy the Bug Slayer (a buff orpington. laying brown speckled eggs). The future farmers raised the chicks from a week old, and they are all super tame. We love them all (Except for when they spot a rummaging raccoon at 5 am and begin to squack at the top of their little birdie lungs!)

The Future Farmers at Snake River Canyon, Idaho

The backyard farm patch is bigger than ever this year, probably due to the extremely warm weather we've had. Today, I harvested a 20 pound pumpkin! And it's only August! We've also already had corn, lots of other squashes, and bean. The kitchen table has it annual bounty of tomatoes, currently amounting to seven bowls worth, and this seems to be the year of the prolific cucumbers. We've had 43 English cucumbers so far, and 17 lemon ones. Ah, I love cuke sarnies!

The Future Farmers and myself at Cliff Palace, 

Mesa Verde, Colorado.

How high up the cliff we were standing!!!

More tomorrow! Until then, keep on farming!

Preservation Day!

What do you do when you have this:

going on on a daily basis, or even more?

And then you decide to go pick blueberries at the Mercer Slough?

 Ari looking for a choice blueberry bush.

 Julie Ann picking berries.

Well, the fridge and freezer are rapidly filling up with berries, zucchini, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, herbs, and did I mention zucchini? All the kitchen counters are sporting baskets of tomatoes.

It's time for Preservation Day! No, not Presidents' Day or Native American Reservation Day, but preservation day! First, we made 10 jars of mixed berry jam and 2 apple blackberry pies. Then it was time for 2 big jars of bread and butter pickles, and 5 jars of tomato salsa. We also roasted 3 lbs of green beans and froze another 3 lbs after blanching. The kitchen was steamy!

 And because of the aforementioned zucchini abundance, it's also time for the Zucchini Challenge!

 Today's contenders are savory zucchini basil parmesan corn mini muffins and spicy sweet zucchini muffin cakes with orange and almond. Both were delish!

And in other news, Anni has finished up her summer cooking camps. She loved all of them! Last week's was the Science of Cooking.  She learned all about yeast, eggs, dairy, flour, and made lots of very calorie dense goodies! The gym is calling! Alex is halfway through his summer tennis lessons, and getting ready to restart the IB program at high school. When not fighting evil doers on his gaming rig, he takes care of the family computers maintenance. Go geek boy!

Clafoutis mania!

A few weeks ago, I read a book about an American who goes to France, learns to cook, becomes a cookbook author, and lives in a converted medieval convent. Along the way, Ms. Loomis dots the narrative with  lots of delicious sounding recipes, and now I'm absolutely hooked on clafoutis. What's a clafoutis? It's a  fabulous dessert concoction, part firm custard crossed with sweet omelet dashed with fruit tart, minus a crust, and since you all know, I HATE MAKING PIE CRUSTS!

So far, I've made:

raspberry clafoutis,

dark cherry clafoutis,

and apricot almond clafoutis.

These desserts are fabulous ways to use an abundance of summer fruit, and they only take 20-30 minutes to cook in a 350 degree (F) oven. They also make a terrific summer breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee. Here's my simplified recipe:

Clafoutis
2 cups fresh fruit (berries, apricots, cherries, apples, whatever!)
3 eggs
1 cup milk (I've tried these with both 2% and almond milk, both worked)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla (or other flavoring to fit the fruit. For example, I used almond extract with the apricot)
1/4 tsp nutmeg (or cinnamon, or other baking spice to fit the fruit)
1/8 tsp salt
powdered sugar (optional)
nuts (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a pie dish. Scatter sliced fruit at bottom of dish.
2) Beat eggs until frothy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour over fruit. If using nuts, sprinkle on top.
3) Bake 20-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in center comes out clean.
4) Finish with a sprinkling of powdered sugar, if desired.
5) Enjoy warm or chilled. (Some folks like to top them with fresh whipped cream or ice cream. I like them without. You decide.)

Next on my clafoutis list; banana walnut!

Besides baking desserts, we also make some very awesome pizzas to use up some of our garden herbs for dinner on Saturday.

This one is Kalamata olive, shaved ham,  feta cheese, and freshly picked  oregano. The other pizza got eaten too fast to even snap a photo, It was a Margarite with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parmesan, and just picked basil. There were no leftovers for the new fridge this night.

Sunday was a super low tide (-3) due to the Super Full Moon phenom, so we put on our grubby sneaks and rubber boots and headed to one of our local Puget Sound Beaches.

 Alex and Ari discussing the finer points of beach ecology.

 Julie Ann getting sandy and salty in a tide pool. Here I was pointing out nudibranchs (really cute and colorful sea slugs) to another beach explorer.

 Anni wondering if there's any possibility of lunch or ice cream or ice cream for lunch.

 Ari being super animated after finding a lions mane jellyfish alive in a shallow pool, way cool!

 Alex and Julie Ann  checking out the Dungeness crab while Ari continues to gaze at the jellyfish.

A scallop shell amongst the seaweed. All told, we saw lots of cool beach life as we explored. We saw gulls and an osprey, a wriggling gunnel fish, clinging sea stars, lots of anemones, multiple species of nudibranchs, a red velvety sea sponge, mussels, dock shrimp, five kinds of crab including a very well appointed decorator crab, a squid egg pod, an armoured chiton shell, a moon snail shell, live clams, and baby sea urchins.

Then Anni finally got her wish. We had a car picnic along side the beach. The rain had moved in by then. It was cheesy chive (from the garden) scones, ham sandwiches on market rolls, pasta salad, baby radishes (garden), strawberries (garden), and blueberry ice tea. Yum.

Summer Fun!

Yesterday was the summer solstice. I celebrated the day by spending it in Seattle with future farmer Ari and her pal, Toni. We started out at Pike Place Market at the Crumpet Shop. I went for one with green eggs and ham, while Ari preferred hers with lemon curd. Next, it was a hop across the street to Starbuck for some fuel for the day.

We met Toni at SAM's (Seattle Art Museum) hammering man sculpture. The featured exhibit was modern minimalism. Lots of the art work was labeled as untitled. So, we had great fun giving them all names. My personal favorite was Horde of Angry Bumble Bees for a canvas of yellow splotches and black zig-zags.

After SAM, it was time for lunch. We walked south along 1st Ave to Pioneer Square and finally arrived at the New Orleans Creole Restaurant. It's a really cool old place where lots of the jazz greats have played (including one of my favs, Ray Charles) and new artists abound. While waiting for our order, I pulled out a pad of origami paper and we tried our hands at folding a frog, butterfly, and bird. Toni was the only one to get hers done before the meal arrived. Toni and I both indulged in jambalaya; while Ari ordered up the Catfish and hushpuppies. All came with warm and tasty cornbread. It was Southern delish!

Then we headed back north to Pike Place. The girls had serious Manga to check out; while I had groceries to collect at the Spice shop, Italian deli, Parisian bakery, and Chinese bun stand. By the time we were done, we were tired, in need of another coffee, and ready to face Friday rush hour.

I spend the evening of Solstice in my garden contemplating the upcoming full moon. The garden was alive with sounds of birds and bees and the fresh smell of all the flowers we've interspersed between the fruits and veggies.

Today, was our Saturday farmers' market in Redmond. We've been going there for years. Today, we picked up a cucumber, cilantro, tomatoes, green onion, cherries, lettuce, peapods, and shallots. Every week the market has a different theme. Today was mustache day. Here's mine:

Hmm, I think I look a bit like Hercule Poirot.

I spent the rest of our beautiful sunny day in the garden: watering, harvesting, weeding, etc. Here's today's bounty:

lemon balm, chard and kale greens, basil, our first Marionberry and blueberries, a few remaining black currants, chamomile floweres, chives, parsley, strawberries, oregano, calundula floweres, borage flowers, raspberries, lemon oregano, and nasturium flowers.

I used the parsley and chives in a big patch of cheddar chive scones for our picnic tomorrow. The flowers, some of the berries, and herbs went into my lunch salad, delish!

Hope your summer solstice was a lovely one.

A day in the life of the Funny Farm

Today, I thought I'd write about daily life down on our Funny Farm.

David is our fearless early riser. He makes sure everyone else gets up and gets going. Sometimes, he even wakes up before the chickens.

Speaking of which, here are the girls, Claudette and Henrietta. They are always awake by 7am, but sometimes, one of them has the urge to lay an egg at 5:15am, groan!

Why is this boy smiling?

Because that big pile of Canadian rocks isn't going to fall on his head? No, that's not it. It's because he doesn't have to get up at 6:15 every morning to get ready for high school! And because now, he's no longer a middle ground junior, he's a mighty SENIOR! This photo is from our February trip to Vancouver, BC. It was cold!

I'm usually the next one to make an appearance out of bed.

Once, breakfast is going, it's time to wake up Anni and Barkley. Here's Anni awaiting a cup of tea, and Barkley hoping she drops something yummy on the floor.

Almost last to make an appearance at the breakfast table is our recent graduate, Ari.

Hmm, maybe that's because she was celebrating her graduation and acceptance to the University!

And finally, we have a family member who only graces us with his presence when it fits his feline fancy.

Yep, you guessed it, Alchemy the cat.

Today, was Alex and Anni's last formal day of the school year, although we believe in year round learning; so we'll all keep our minds busy with summer activities. This morning, Anni and I potted up some Marigolds for teacher gifts, and then we were off to speech and OT appointments. This afternoon, all the farmers went in search of a new dog food for Barkley. The old brand was not agreeing with him. While we were at the pet shop, we found a pal for our lonely goldfish, Squeak (the big orange one).

Squeak's pal, Bubbles went to the giant fishbowl in the sky after a swim bladder illness that caused him to swim upside down, quite happily, for the last 3 months of his fishy life. Squeak has been kind of droopy since. Now, he has a new pal, a comet goldfish. The funny farmers have dubbed him (or  her) Eros after the asteroid due to make a close pass by earth later this year. They seem to be getting on swimmingly.

Today's weather took a turn back to normal Pacific Northwest fare; some sun, some clouds, and some rain.

Here's today and yesterday's garden harvest:

 Yesterday: strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, nasturtium flowers, calendula flowers, borage flowers, mixed greens of chard, mustard, kale, and arugula, mint, cilantro, and lemon balm.

Today: strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, nasturtium flowers, calendula flowers, chard, baby radishes, squash blossoms, and sage. These are pretty typical harvest for early in our season. We are also harvesting lots of chives and oregano. 

Our tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, beans, cucumbers, and pumpkins are just beginning to fruit up. I can hardly wait. Here's a photo of last year's final tomato harvest, once the weather had claimed the foliage. We ripened all the remainders indoors!

What do we do with all this garden goodness? We cook of course! Here's Monday's dinner:

Baby potatoes (farmers' market) with parsley (ours!) sauce, local sole fillets sauteed in butter (local dairy) and chives (ours), cucumber (farmers' market) salad with nasturtium and borage flower petals (ours). It was delish!

We've been working using lots of stuff in our aging and temperamental fridge which has been slowly dying since last fall. Tomorrow (keep your fingers crossed) our new one should be arriving! After multiple attempts to resurrect the old one, we've decided it's time to give it up and invest in a new energy efficient model. Now, are veggies will stay nice and fresh! Yippee!

And since we like to end on a sweet note, after dinner and clean-up this evening, we make cookies!

These delicious little morsels are mini chocolate chip butter cookies with local WA walnuts. Yummy!

Traveling to the Ends of the Earth

Okay, well maybe not the very ends, but at least to northwest end of the continental USA! We took a road trip last weekend. We boarded an early morning ferry from Edmonds, Washington and jugged our way over to the Kingston dock. The sailing was just long enough for strong coffee and pastries to be consumed

Edmond's Ferry Terminal at low tide. See the ferry in the top left corner?

A hungry grey heron catches his breakfast.

 Julie Ann picks up a sleepy Dungeness crab. Mind those claws!

 A sunflower starfish craws beneath the pier.

 

Nudibranchs (sea slugs) were out in full force. We love these tiny little critters!

 A pod of sea life eggs. We aren't exactly sure what these are, maybe a dogfish shark?

We journeyed on to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. It was beautiful sunny day, in the nineties at our home, but in the low eighties near the water, perfect! We cruised around the suburb farmers' market finding delicious goat cheese rolled in white pepper and time, hard ginger apple cider, homemade crackers, cherry tomatoes, and lots of fruit. We had a delicious picnic lunch at one of the town parks.

Then we drove a very long and twisty road out to Neah Bay, Washington. Did I mention long? 

The distance didn't seem that great, but most of the curves were down in the 20-25 mph zone; 

so it took awhile! Here's what I thought of some of those hairpin turns!

But,

It was worth it!!!

We drove through Neah Bay and arrived at the trail head around 5:30pm.

David and Anni hiking the forest trail to the point.

Unusual trees lined the path as well as voracious mosquitoes. Apparently, they loved my blood the best!

Check out these photos of Cape Flattery, the NW tip of the continental USA

  There are lots of rock islands,

 trees at precarious angles,

water from aquamarine to deep blue,

 and huge sea caverns.

 Cape Flattery Light House.

 Sunset at the Cape.

 Heading back toward Port Angeles. A tired duo.

 Twilight on the Peninsula

 The moon over the water back at the Kingston ferry terminal. We caught the last boat back at 11:05pm. We all slept in the next day! 

All in all a most excellent family adventure to the end of the earth (or so it seemed).