Today we received this wonderful news: one of the major financial goals was completed today. Many, many people gave small amounts of money, time, and work to this project. We encourage you to support this effort and keep one of the many big Silverdale farms together and farming.

Campaign to Save Petersen Farm Makes Community Goal

Great Peninsula Conservancy has succeeded in raising $415,000 from the local community to help save Silverdale’s Petersen Farm.  A tremendous response from Great Peninsula Conservancy members and the public at large made this accomplishment possible.  More than 250 people, groups, and public agencies made donations to the campaign.  Contributions were received from across the Great Peninsula—from Hansville on the north to Belfair and Gig Harbor on the south.  Gifts also came from around Puget Sound and even as far as Guam and Germany.

The campaign was completed with a closing gift of $20,000 from Frank Stutesman of Snohomish County.  Stutesman was pleased to be able to make the gift from the required annual distribution from his IRA, and by so doing avoid paying federal income tax on the distribution.  Many other people made last minute donations to the campaign, some even making a second or third gift.  Phone calls to Great Peninsula Conservancy in the closing days indicated high interest in the project.  The campaign deadline of November 15 was extended to November 30 to allow these late donors to participate.

While the community goal of $415,000 has been achieved, the farm’s fate is not yet secured.  These funds are to be used as match in a grant application to USDA Farm and Ranchland Protection Program for an additional $285,000 to achieve the total project budget of $700,000.  Application will be made early in 2012 with a decision by spring or early summer.

Other significant donors to the campaign include:  Estate of Gerald Petersen – approx. $200,000, Bill and Bee Mahan Charitable Trust – $43,000, Port of Silverdale – $25,000, an anonymous Kitsap family – $20,000, Gary and Marilyn Cunningham – $10,000, Jerry and Nancy Reid – $10,000, Linda Benedict – $5,000, and Bremerton Rotary – $5,000.

Great Peninsula Conservancy extends its heartfelt thanks to the many individuals, organizations, agencies, and partners who helped achieve this accomplishment.  It has been inspiring to see such enthusiasm for saving a piece of our farm heritage and passion for building a strong farm future in our community.  Thank you!

We harvested the most beautiful Dragon and Yaya carrots today. See the picture. Full of flavor, with a bouquet of luxuriant tops, these carrots alone are a reason to get up early and go the Poulsbo Farmers Market by opening bell at 9 a.m. The crew also harvested Red Ball Brussels Sprouts. They are so sweet. In addition, herbs, braising greens, and potatoes came out of the garden.

This year we have a temperature controlled root cellar, and from it come garlic, squash, more potatoes, and the best pie/cake pumpkins you could beg, borrow, or steal for. 

Cliff is taking all of these and more to the Poulsbo Farmers Market this Saturday Morning.  

Cleaning out our pantry a few weeks ago, I threw out several cans of pumpkin puree. They were far out of date, but since I had bought them, I wondered why they had been left then forgotten. In thinking about it, I remembered being out of fresh pumpkin and buy some cans only to be disappointed at the tin-can taste but otherwise flavorless puree. 

Making fresh pumpkin puree is easy peasy. First cut off the stem. Then peel the pumpkin with a potato peeler. These are really handy tools, and great for veggies that have a very thin skin, like our pumpkins. At first, it might take a little time, but I find I get it done very quickly. Then remove the blossom end, cut them in quarters or smaller and remove the seeds/ Chop into two or thee inch pieces. Put into a skillet or pan with a lid that can go into the oven, and add about and inch of water. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, and forget them until the time goes off. To make the puree, I use a food processor, but a blender or a Foley mill will do well, too. Put the pieces of pumpkin into the food processor. Do not add any liquid. Process until pureed. It will taste fresh and lovely. Now use this in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin ($1.79/lb). I small pumpkin yields about 2 cups or more of puree.

Honestly, it takes about 10 minutes. You know the where the pumpkin came from and how your food was handled.

In the time it took me to talk about a sick dog and write this, I cooked my pumpkin. The whole house has a light fresh scent of fruit, even though I have two stinky dog with me. 

Pumpkin Bread

Makes two loaves

2 Cups flour (You can use white or whole wheat. If you want to add Omega 3, substitute 1/2 cup ground flax seed for 1/2 cup flour.)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 Cups sugar
3/4 Cup unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks), softened or melted
2 large eggs
2 cups fresh pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease two 8 ½" x 4 ½" loaf pans or pans about this size.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices in a bowl. Mix well (I like to use a whisk) and set aside.

Mix together thoroughly butter and sugar until just blended. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Continue beating until very light and fluffy, a few minutes. Beat in pumpkin. I use a mixer, but you can burn off a few calories doing this by hand.

Blend in flour mixture about 1/2 cup at a time until batter is smooth.

Turn batter into prepared pans, dividing evenly, and bake for about 1 hour, or until cake tester — a toothpick or a clean paring knife blade — inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pan about 10 minutes, then turn out on wire rack to cool, or just eat immediately.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Abundantly Green Crew

Eating local for the holiday is a hot topic. This article in the Monday, November 21, Kitsap Sun on eating local in Kitsap features us and some of our farming friends. We know everyone mentioned in the article.

We have a large selection of veggies to grace your table for  Thanksgiving Day dinner.

We grew these lovely, tasty veggies:

From our garden we have a large selection of:

• Herbs, sage, thyme, parsley, mint, and more
• Collards
• Chard, green or silverbeet
• Fennel --prized for its stalks as well as its bulb
• Garlic
• Green Onions
• Kale or Indian Mustard Greens
• Pie Pumpkin -- ask for a great pumpkin pie recipe This so much better than canned!
  
• Potatoes -- Yukon Gold
• Root Vegetables
• Baby Carrots – YaYa
• Baby Beets
• Salad Mix
• Squash (some baby)

• acorn
• butternut
• delicata
• hubbard

We also brought in a few holiday treats that didn't grow here:

• Japanese white sweet potatoes, truly delicious and certified organic
• Cranberries, very fresh, and certified organic
• Honey Crisp and Red Delicious apples,
• Bartlett pears

Not a turkey lover? We have lamb and beef roasts (and ground meat and stew meat) for your dining pleasure. See our lamb and beef pages for the cuts.

If you are a turkey lover, you may enjoy this irreverent and helpful video on how to cook a turkey. This is aimed at the novice, but experienced cooks will get a great laugh from this.  Really funny and true. I have roasted many a turkey and came to her method of dealing with it. Albeit with less wine. I make my gravy starting with a rue, which is backward from how she does it, and both ways are good. Her explanation on how long and why to cook gravy was new to me, but makes so much sense. Worth watching.

 IN THE SHARES AND ON THE CART

• Herbs
  
• Collards
• Chard, green or silverbeet
• Fennel --prized for its stalks as well as its bulb
• Garlic
• Green Onions
• Kale or Indian Mustard Greens
• Pie Pumpkin
• Potatoes -- Yukon Gold
• Root Vegetables
• Baby Carrots – YaYa
• Baby Beets
• Salad Mix
• Squash (some baby)

• acorn
• butternut
• delicata

If your are cooking for ten instead of two or taking a hot dish, remember to pick up additional food at the Poulsbo Farmers Market or Tuesday at the Farm Store.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Wash the skins, but do not peel. Make quarter inch slices part way through, leaving a quarter inch spine so that the slices fan out when cooked. They do not fan when raw.

Lightly oil the bottom of a glass baking dish. Place sweet potatoes, uncut side down, into the dish. Drizzle olive oil over the top allowing some to coat each slice. Cover with foil. Bake 1/2 hour. Remove foil and continue baking for additional 1/2 hour. Sweet potatoes are done when they are soft but hold their shape. Gently fan them. Serve hot.

What I did wrong: Working from my earlier recipe, I found that I was far off for the cooking time and that they would not fan when raw. The sweet potatoes are very crisp, so perhaps I have never cooked with or eaten a truly fresh sweet potato before. Because they are so crisp they did not fan. Instead, they stood upright and looked great. I put them into a glass baking dish, uncovered, then tested them after 20 minutes. They were warm but not anywhere near done. I covered the dish with foil and baked them 30 more minutes. When I checked them, they were almost done. I removed the foil, and let them bake 10 more minutes. When cooked, they fanned as I expected them to. The skin stayed dark purple when cooked and the flesh was white shading into ecru. The half hour covered, half hour not covered cooking regime works well and so I put that into the new recipe, because it really did take just an hour to cook the two sweet potatoes.

I tried them just as cooked, with beef gravy, and with butter. I like them all three ways, but just as baked was best to my taste buds, tasting almost candy sweet.

What we did right: We have organic Japanese White Sweet Potatoes in our Farm Store. They are $1.80/lb or $1.75/10+lbs.

We have great food in the CSA Shares today. We did yesterday, too. They are full and heavy, and we hope that you will find some of the fixings for your Thanksgiving Day dinner. Cliff will have some extra items, ala the Farm Store with him in case you want more for the holiday and holiday guests.

We also have yellow onions, certified organic, but not grown by us, for $0.90/lb. They are solid, strong, and white. They give off a fine onion scent when cooked. They are about the size of a softball and weigh approximately 7 oz. 

We also are offering Cranberries, but you need to order them by this evening (Wed. 11/16/11). You will need to pay for them next week when you pick them up at the farm store.  The cranberries are in 8 oz bags and cost $3.49/bag. I love cranberries, so this is just a joy.

The sweet potatoes will be here later this week and next week. These organic Japanese White Sweet Potatoes are also from California. We are told that they are sweeter with a higher sugar and moisture content, and have purple skins and white flesh. Each sweet potato weighs about 8 oz.  When I get mine, I am going to wash the skins, but not peel, make quarter inch slices partway through, leaving a quarter inch spine so that the slices fan out. I suspect that baking them for 15 to 20 minutes at 375 ºF will be about right, but I will test them for doneness and let them bake until done. If you want more than a pound or two, please contact us. $1.80/lb or $1.75/10+lbs.

 IN THE SHARES

• Collards
• Chard, green or silverbeet
• Fennel --prized for its stalks as well as its bulb
• Garlic
• Green Onions
• Kale or Indian Mustard Greens
• Pie Pumpkin
• Potatoes -- Yukon Gold
• Root Vegetables
• Baby Carrots – YaYa
• Baby Beets
• Salad Mix
• Squash (some baby)

• acorn
• butternut
• delicata

If your are cooking for ten instead of two or taking a hot dish, remember to pick up additional food either at the Farm Store.

Farm Store open Tuesday, which is Cook Something Bold Day. Come by and find your boldness at our Farm Store 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The Farm Store will be open as usual on Tuesday. Check out the great food we have for you!

No CSA this week

Since the Fall/Winter CSA is every other week, no CSA today.

YEAR ROUND GROWING

We began year round growing last year with mixed results, but on the whole it was a successful learning experience. We started our farm store and for many months had both late season and early season produce for you. See what is at the Poulsbo Farmers Market Saturday and at our Farm Store on Tuesday by clicking here. This year we are ready to provide CSA shares as well as our Farm Store and selling to restaurants.

You might well ask, what do you plan to grow in the winter? Here is a list of produce we have planted, and expect to harvest: beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, choi, corn mache, fennel, garlic, tatsoi, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, parsnip, potatoes, radishes, romaine, rutabaga, salad mix and lettuce, scallions, silverbeet, spinach, winter squash, and sunchokes. We will be growing most of these in our high tunnels.

Some crops are already harvested, such as garlic, and will be distributed over the season. Others are in the ground and will come out over the next few weeks. Lettuce, radishes, onions, carrots and the like will be grown throughout the winter.

Modern American farmers have lost the knowledge about how to grow year round in less that perfect conditions. Instead of this information being passed down to us by our parents and grandparents when we were children, we went to the grocery store, like everyone else. Now we attend classes and seminars, read books, and try "new" techniques.

Some techniques, such as root zone heating, are not new, but our better understanding of pathogens and disease vectors make us seek new ways to heat the root zone. In France, hot houses were heated by rotting manure. Effective, but now considered unsanitary. The picture shows how this system was set up to heat the roots without killing the gardeners. It is fun to see how our ancestors gardened. Don't worry, we use other ways to heat roots. We do use fully decayed compost in our garden, but the heat has long before use dissipated.