Recipes
I love snuggling up to a cup of coffee or tea and enjoying something sweet in the morning. A Farm Share member sent us this amazing Red Kuri muffin recipe—if you’re like me, your mornings shoveling snow are a lot happier with a warm and homemade breakfast. Also, we saved fruit from this season and made a delicious apple pie (I add some plums, a touch of chili pepper and nutmeg to the recipe too). My favorite was the crust, it was very easy and super flaky.
Winter squash stores so well, and I try and add it to most recipes. Plus, I’m notorious for eating appetizers as a main dish, so this winter squash crostini was perfect. I tweaked the recipe and added goat cheese, and used both sweet potatoes and delicata squash.
Another winter fave is using onions in creative ways. I made a parmesan polenta, and to top it, I caramelized shallots by throwing them in the oven with a little olive oil, and roasted mushrooms. The hardiness of the polenta mixed with the meaty mushrooms and sweet onions was delicious.
Animals
The farm animals are always a topic of discussion for us. Why? If you’ve spent any time with Bryan, you’d know he is an animal person. Sometimes I think he was a veterinarian in an earlier life, or has animal telepathy.
Winter has been quite a learning experience for animal caretaking. We snowblow pathways to get out to the chickens. Morning chicken duty calls for buckets of hot drinking water, and afternoons mean a winter squash snack to peck through. We’ve watched the hens transition to their winter state—all their energy going towards staying warm and baring the cold temps and short days, which results in less egg production. We have deer tracks in every direction, that all merge onto our overwintered beet row. They’re stealthy—you can see the two hoof prints side by side, where they pushed up the beet from the ground, with the remnants of the beet roots sprinkled about. It’s wild to watch nature do its thing and know we’re just along for the ride.
Making Things
“Good art originates not from the desire to show off but from the desire to show yourself.” (Had to sneak a quote in from one of my winter books, Untamed). I feel this sentiment is true for anything you love doing. Winter has brought about such a unique change of pace, where we’ve been able to explore new ways of creating. In Summer, we saw the beauty in helping veggies and flowers grow, now we’re spending time creating meals, making farm goodies like garlic powder (I think the smell of garlic has officially seeped into every crevice of our home) and seed packets, drawing, and enjoying our baby nieces and nephews.
Planning Seed planning in the times of covid are nutty. All the seed companies are struggling to keep up with the massive orders. Seeds are in stock one day and then by the time you go to purchase the website is closed for orders or completely sold out. How many seed company tabs can I have open on my computer to piece together a full season’s order?! We’re just thankful for all the work these seed companies are doing, making sure we all can grow delicious fresh food! Slower days also means there’s more free time to check social media. I enjoy the knowledge I learn from other farmers out there on these platforms, but at times it can be hard. Hard comparing, the anxiety about if we’re doing things right, or seeing how ahead other planting zones are. When these feelings start to creep up, Bryan listens to my spinning thoughts and reminds me to close the phone and focus on what we can right here.
In the coming weeks, we’re excited to share more about the year ahead—new veggie varieties, new staff, new Farm Share Members and new knowledge learned from the MOSES Conference. Until then, stay warm friends!
