And it's raining...

So it's raining.  Big deal.  It's the Pacific Northwest, it rains.  Get over it. Put on the raincoat and some rubber shoes and grab your umbrella.  Or if you are a TRUE Pacific Northwester, you don't even own an umbrella (because you know right after the rain comes the wind at which point you loose your umbrella) and slog through it.  Wear your pasted to your head wet hair with pride. 
One of my favorite all time quotes (which I will quote from memory not directly) is from the great, and wacky, Pacific Northwest writer Tom Robbins.  He talks about walking in a Pacific Northwest rain without a rain hat and if you duck, and hide and try to rush through it well the rain just seeks you out like little wet missiles, pelting your head.  But if you stand tall and proud, and enjoy the weather, the rain seems to just caress and envelope you.  I swear this is true - try it sometime!  Especially in a warm wet day like today, I quite enjoy a nice soaking. 

Building greenhouses in the rain.  Sunglasses are a must.

My father asked me last night as the downpour started what I thought of the rain for our crops.  Well, I told him, like most weather related things with farming - it has it's good and it's bad points.  The good - Well, a lot of things in my fields are getting parched.  Yes, the fields are dry.  And I just planted a whole bunch of fall/winter greens and other crops that need to be watered in if they are going to grow so this rain - fabulous!  And the fava beans are setting and were getting parched so this rain - fabulous!  And the dry beans super need a big drink to really set well, so this rain - fabulous!

Properly attired for planting starts in rain.  Rainproof jacket AND pants!

Sure, I could be "watering" instead of hoping for rain.  But when you have 10 acres of veggies all needing a drink at once - well, believe me, it's a full time job and a half to keep the hoses/sprinklers/drip lines running and moved.  And once you've lost 400 feet of newly planted lettuces to take that one Sunday afternoon off to take the kids to the pool instead of watering the ever-demanding plants, well...a free big drink from other nature is well appreciated.
 The bad side of rain?  Well the potatoes and the garlic.  With the potatoes it's kinda a mixed bag - I do need to water the potatoes BUT...having wet leaves for more than 8 hours can lead to blight and other fungal diseases in the potatoes this time of year.  I've been spraying compost tea religiously so hopefully that will help the taters "fight off" any fungal attacks.  We shall see.
The garlic - well we are harvesting garlic right now and wet conditions make that critical "curing and drying" stage that much more difficult.  I have developed an arsenal of "oh crap, the garlic is getting moldy" emergency techniques however, so I'm ready to go with them as needed. 
The other bad thing about the rain - the markets.  Farmer's markets are typically way down on rainy days.  A lot of vendors won't even come on a rainy day (granted, for some crafters, their product can be ruined on a wet day).  At Willowood farm however, have to pick and pack the day before the market and considering we never know for sure what market day we will bring and because we still have the food to sell, rain or not, we come...regardless! And we sure do appreciate those customers who make it out on a wet and rainy day, umbrella or not, to make it all worth it!  That is what is called a win-win situation rain or not! So on that note, here are the lovely wet veggies coming to market today...
From Willowood Farm:
* Garlic
* Garlic Scapes
* New Potatoes
* Shelling Peas
* Arugula
* Raab
* Head Lettuce
* Kale
* Chard
* Carrots
* Beets
* Walla Walla salad onions
* Kohlrabi
* Braising Greens
From our friends at Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Cauliflower
* Snow Peas
* Sugar Snap Peas
* Spring Onions
* Broccoli
* Head Lettuce
* Beet
* Chard
* Kale
And Emmer from Ebey Road Farm!
Hope to see you at market!
Farmer Georgie coming to you from the wet and muddy fields of Willowood Farm

"Fava's bursting in air..."

Happy 4th of July weekend everyone! 
And as I say every year about this time of year..."What the heck happened to June?  How did it get to be July?  Did I miss June?" 
(Actually, on REALLY crazy years I get to about July 25th and realize that no, it's JULY 25th not JUNE 5th.  So if I've just missed June, not June and most of July too, I'm doing pretty good considering).
Yes that's right, its that time of year where there are not enough hours in the day and night to get everything done that needs to be.  So what's a farmer to do?  Just keep going...
Why is it so busy?  Well, we start reaping the rewards of our hardwork in the spring with OODLES of things to harvest.  Meanwhile, there are still lots of things planted that need our tender loving care as far as watering, fertilizing and beating back the ever-encroaching weeds.  Not to mention we are busy replanting things for fall and winter harvest.  And, to top all that off, we harvest 30,000+ heads of garlic which must be pulled from the ground, cleaned, hung to cure, cut down from their stalks, sorted and cured. 
Yes, that's right, have I mentioned there aren't enough hours in the day and night to get it all done?  And so it goes...
But this is the saga of a farmer.  And as the saying goes, you gotta make hay when the sun shines if you want to reap the rewards of the harvest!  (Or at least, that's how my saying goes).
And we definitely reaped the rewards of the harvest this week.  We are picking more and more food every week for the Coupeville and Bayview farmer's markets.  The bounty is, well, rather astonishing and our walk-in cooler is bursting at the seams Friday night with crates and crates full of produce.  So here goes...
Coming to the Bayview and Coupeville Farmer's markets FRESH from the fields of Ebey's Prairie....
From Willowood Farm:
* Bulb Fennel
* Walla Walla Salad Onions
* New Potatoes
* Head Lettuce - Multiple different kinds!
* Mesclun (aka spring mix) bags
* Arugula bags
* Pea Vine bags
* Fava Leaf Bags (Bayview only)
* Broccoli (Coupeville only)
* Romanesco Cauliflower (Bayview only)
* Japanese Turnip bunches
* Baby Pac Choi
* Rhubarb
* Kohlrabi
* Braising Greens bunches
* Garlic Scapes
* Dry Beans
From Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Carrot bunches
* Beet bunches
* Lettuce Mix
* Red Spinach
* Kale Bunches
* Chard bunches
* Cabbage
* Scallions
* Head Lettuce
And...Emmer from Ebey Road Farm and, Bayview only, Mikey from Whidbey Green Goods is bringing broccoli, snow peas and kale bunches.
To take advantage of this great harvest today...here is a fabulous recipe using much of what we have!
Hope to see you at market and a safe and happy 4th of July or everyone!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm

Market Ragout of Turnips, Kohlrabi, and Peas

 1 tablespoon unsalted butter/ olive oil

6 spring onions or shallots, halved

6 or more small turnips, scrubbed and quartered

2 or 3 small kohlrabi, about golf ball size, peeled and quartered

1 thyme or lemon thyme sprig

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pound snow peas

A few handfuls baby spinach

Dollop crème fraiche

4 large basil leaves, slivered

Heat the butter/ oil in a skillet and add the onions, turnips, kohlrabi, and thyme.  Add water to cover halfway and a teaspoon of salt.  Simmer while you trim the ends of peas.

 As soon as the vegetables are tender, after 12 to 15 minutes, add the peas and spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted down, a few minutes more.  Stir in the crème fraiche and add the basil.  Taste for salt and season with pepper.  Serve this as a side dish or a course by itself.  With a starch (puff pastry, ravioli, even buttered toast) it can be offered as a vegetarian main dish.

Bring a little bit of the exotic to your plate - Dragon Tongue's Beans!

Today (or really, this morning) I decided to feature one of my favorite varieties that we grow ever year on the farm. 

Voila!  Dragon Langerie, aka "Dragon's Tongue" beans!
Dragon Langerie beans first are unusual in that they are #1 -Not green.  Then add in the fact that they are flat (Romano type) AND marked with purple stripes...That is one crazy looking bean!  But beyond the psychedelic appearance - ohh...my so tasty!
Dragon Langerie beans are for me, the BEST, fresh eating "snap" type bean in the garden. I'll eat them raw as well!  So crisp, juicy and sweet!  No "fibrous" or chalky taste that many beans sport.
Steam them or boil them GENTLY (overcooked Dragon's Tongues, like most beans, turn into mush) and they will retain faint purple markings.  I admit they are not always the "prettiest" bean on the plate...but they are always the best.  Very rich and "beany" and oh...I'm getting hungry!
Dragon Langerie beans, which are a heirloom bush variety from the Netherland's, of all places, are one of those vegetable varieties that represent all that is right and good about eating and buying local food.  You are likely to NEVER find Dragon Langerie beans at your local grocery store (well, unless I sell them to them!), because they do not "transport well" and will loose their crisp wonderfulness quickly when not enjoyed as they should be - soon after picking at the peak of ripeness!
So today, stop by the Coupeville and Bayview markets and expand your eating boundaries and enjoy an unusual summer treat - try some Dragon Tongues! 
Before we continue on into the rest of the "list of goodies" a few scheduling dates:
* This Sunday, the 29th.  Farmer Georgie will be talking about garlic and potatoes at bayleaf in Coupeville.  $5 sign up, limited availablity.  Call bayleaf to reserve your spot!  678-6603.
* The Whidbey Island Farm Tour is approaching rapidly (eek!).  Sept. 11 and 12th!  Just two weekends away (double eek!).  Willowood Farm is proud to be one of the featured farms.  And because this is our big "garlic" time of the year...well, we decided to feature garlic!  We will be offering all sorts of food and seed (for planting) garlic.  We will have garlic braids.  We will be having garlic tastings.  Garlic recipes. Garlic planting demonstrations.  Garlic, garlic, garlic, garlic!  So come, check out our awesome historic barn, walk around the farm, laugh at the turkeys and buy garlic!

And now...(drum roll...)...the list!
COMING TODAY TO THE BAYVIEW AND COUPEVILLE MARKETS!
From Willowood Farm
- Head lettuce!  New crop, smallish but PERFECT!
- Beans.  (If you didn't catch that from above).   Lots of beans!
- Shelling peas
- Sugar Snap peas
- Beet bunches
- Onions of all flavors
- Leek bunches
- Garlic - food and seed grade!
- Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes
-  Basil
- Other stuff I'm forgetting!

From our friends at Prairie Bottom Farms
- Summer Squash
- Baby beets
- More beans
- Kohlrabi
- And lots other stuff...

From Mikey at Whidbey Green Goods (Bayview market only) -
- Chanterelle mushrooms!
- Local apples!
- Local plums - several flavors
- Cherry tomatoes!

What, it's morning already?

With the sky "lightening" and the list of things still to pick for market looming, I'm shooting out the list quick and dirty (farmer style!).  But here's a pretty picture first...

The prairie, looking southeast, across ripening field of winter barley...

So, coming to the market today, the result of too many hours of work and not enough sleep...
From Willowood Farm:
*Head Lettuce
* Potatoes - multiple kinds!
* Garlic
* Baby Fennel Bulbs
* Beets
* Summer Leeks
* Cabbage
* Spinach
* Fava Beans
* Peas
* Pea Vines
* Onion bunches
* Chard
* Kale
* Collards
* Broccoli
* And more I'm forgetting...

From our friends at Prairie Bottom Farm:
* More beets
* Scallions
* Arugula bunches
* Lettuce Mix
* Maybe some baby summer squash????
* And more...

See you at the Coupeville and Bayview markets today!
(Tired) Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

May Madness!

May is that time of year when the farming madness REALLY starts to kick in and this past week has been no exception.  There are so, so, so many things that need to get planted during the month of May, meanwhile, we are busy trying to keep on top of the harvest, weeding and bug-control of the crops we planted in March and April.   I admit, I do love hard work...So, there is a part of me that "thrives" on the crazy 12 hour, work until the sun goes down, days.  Afterall, I can sleep in January!
But what really drives me is that I know the more we can get down now, the more rewards we reap come "harvest time" in the fall.  Anticipating the bounty, I guess...Or maybe this is just because, it's what I do!
Meanwhile, we are already reaping a lovely "spring" bounty of early and overwintered crops.  And, we are bringing them to market today!  Both Coupeville AND the Bayview market!
From the fields at Willowood Farm:
* Mesclun bags
* Arugula bags
* Spinach bags (Bayview only)
* Mache bags
* Baby butterhead lettuces (Coupeville only)
* Broccoli Raab bunches
* Giant Purple Mustard bunches (these are the HOT horseradishy ones that have a devoted following...)
* Baby Pac Choi bunches
* Braising Green bunches (a mix of yummy greens suitable for stir-fry or braising)
* Garlic Green bunches  - they smell SO good!
* Radishes

From our busy friends one mile across the prairie, Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Parsnips
* Red Bordeaux spinach
* Green savoy spinach (Coupeville only)
* Parsnips!
* A few beets!
* Overwintered scallion bunches
* Walla Walla green onion bunches
* Chard
* Chives
* Rhubarb
And, appearing at the Bayview market only, Mikey from Whidbey Green Goods will be bringing lettuce mix bags, a whole heck of a lot of plant starts, and some other special goodies!
So we hope to see you at the markets today!  10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for both of them.  Look for the tractor and wagon set-up in Coupeville, and at Bayview our booth should be down at the Basil Cafe side of the market.

And, btw, if you are interested in volunteering on the farm and getting to experience a bit of the joy (madness) for yourself, we love having volunteers on Tuesday - our main "get it down" project day.  Simply email me at willowoodfarm@gmail.com and we can talk more about the details!
Thank you for your support of locally grown produce - it makes the madness all worthwhile...
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

I awoke this morning to the welcome sound of raindrops! What a dry, dry summer we've had. Of course, would have been nice if it would have held off for market day but then on the other hand, I know a little bit of wet certainly won't keep away our loyal customers! (Hint, hint...).
Weather is such an amazingly important thing for a farmer, yet, we have ABSOLUTELY NO CONTROL over it. This is a dilemma. In the spring, when you ponder your crops and make your decisions, a lot of your success (or lack of it), can be directly linked to the weather.
Last spring, when it just kept raining and raining and raining and everybody kept whining and whining and whining...Every where I went people were complaining about the weather. At ths coffee shop - "Will this rain ever stop? I'm so depressed..." At the post office - "I can't get outside to jog, I've put on 5 lbs?" At the grocery store - "I think my tulip bulbs are rotting! My flowerbeds look horrible." Yet, for 99 percent of the folks, the endless rain was really just an annoyance. It didn't actually affect their ability to do their job or make their paycheck.
Now, for a farmer? Unseasonal or unusual weather can literally wipe out your profit for a year. Just think of the poor tomato and potato farmers in the East Coast this year? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/11/AR2009081100754.html
If your smart, you have a diverse planting scheme and so weather that affects one crop hopefully won't bother others. But still. Loads of work down the drain (sometimes literally!). I read recently where some financial evaluation of the business of farming and they were noting how there were really, a lot more inherent risks in farming then perhaps had been previously factored in. From literally day to day decisions (do I go watch the kids piano recital OR...plant the beans on what turns out to be the last day before I can't get into the fields for 3 weeks due to endless rainstorm...) to those "unknown" variables such as weather events. Yet, the funny thing is, most farmers I know (at least the ones that have been doing it for a long time) are the least likely one to complain about the weather. A few shrugs, a "well, it's been an awfully wet/dry/cold/hot (insert one) year...Yep." And you move on. Farmers are nothing, if not eternally, ridiculously optimistic!
So on that note, I'm moving on because guess what, we have LOADS of fabulous food coming to the Bayview and Coupeville markets!
From Willowood Farm
- Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes!
- Garlic, garlic, garlic!
- Winter Squash
- Summer squash
- Head Lettuce
- Turnips
- Shell Beans (probably the last hurrah on those, next stop - dry beans!)
- Cabbages
- Loads of gorgeous broccoli
- Kohlrabi
- Squash blossoms (maybe, if isn't raining too hard when we try to pick this morning!)
And I'm also bringing seed garlic and bags of my own naturally grown small-seeded fava beans that are perfect for fall cover crop plantings!
And the fabulous sweet corn from our friends and neighbors Ebey Road Farm (organic certified to boot!).
From Prairie Bottom Farm
- Beet Bunches
- Dill (hasn't he had THE BEST dill...)
- Winter squash!
- Summer squash
- Spinach
- Lettuce Mix
- Cucumbers - slicing and pickling styles.
- Leeks
Also, Michael from Whidbey Green Goods should be bringing some goodies as well including tomatoes, corn, some local fruits, maybe some green beans!
So, after all this, we hope we see you at the market today! Rain OR shine!
Thank you for your support.
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie
www.willowoodfarm.net

So what makes local food local, anyways?

So lately I've been thinking a lot about the whole concept of "local" as it is certainly bandied about a lot. I really got to thinking about this because of some "local" beans selling in our small town grocery store. They were advertised as local Washington grown beans, by the Inaba Family from Eastern Washington. They were priced at $1 a lb sell price and well, looked pretty darn bad. Now just to give you perspective, we've picked probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 lbs of beans today, took 4 people about 5 hours to do this. So 20 (wo)man hours. For $1/lb, well...unfortunately my farm does have to turn a profit at the end of the year! Our beans are going more in the neighborhood of $2.50 to $4 a lb, dependent on variety. I would love my local grocery store to sell my beans, and I would give them a wholesale price to be able to do so for a quantity sale, but I certainly would never be able to compete with beans priced at $1/lb retail...And well, customers are used to getting those $1/lb beans so coming in with a bean more at $3/lb even if they were picked fresh that morning and are of the highest quality - well, that's a bit of a shocker for some!
Yet those Inaba Family beans still can claim the "local" tag? As a farmer less than a mile away from the grocery store with 200+ lbs of beans sitting in my cooler, well...that's kind of a frustrating situation!
I've actually met members of the Inaba Family. Nice folks. Run a lot of acres in, I believe it is the Yakima area. Quite a few hours away. It would take most of us, what about 5 hours, to get from Whidbey to Yakima? Are those beans really local when they are available abundantly on Whidbey Island this time of year?
I think locality means a lot of different things to people. And it can be a small (20 miles) or big area (200 miles). And it can depend on the product. Some things - coffee and chocolate, two of my personal favorites - are great examples of things that, short of major global warming, probably won't be found growing locally on Whidbey Island. But so many, many things are! And the really cool thing, the more people like you - the consumer - ask for and purchase locally grown items then the more they will be available!
So remember, if you want to support your local farmers make sure that the local product you buy is "local," at least as far as you define it, and that they are actually farmers! Just because somebody is selling produce at your local farmer's markets doesn't always mean they are farmers! Sometimes they are just folks that bought the food off the supply truck and are reselling it, food from who knows where that they have no connection to! I was dismayed to read these articles...
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Real-Food/2000-04-01/Real-Versus-Fake-Farmers.aspx
http://www.chow.com/media/2555
Those of us working our the Willowood Farm market booths can assure you, we've all had a lot of one-on-one hours - lots and lots of hours - getting to know the beans, and other veggies, we offer for your eating pleasure! And on that note...
Coming to the Coupeville and Bayview markets tomorrow -
From Willowood Farm
- Potatoes - 4 lovely kinds even a fingerling this week!
- Garlic, garlic and more garlic...
- Beans. Oh, did we mention beans? We have 4 kinds - all the colors of the rainbow and so yummy!
- Gorgeous dwarf snow peas
- Fresh chickpea bunches! These are a very short season treat, incredibly tasty and we will bring recipes!
- Beet bunches - 2 kinds!
- Onions - Red Torpedos, Cippolinis, Tropeana Tondas...
- Broccoli
- HUGE kohlrabi
- Lovely savoy cabbage - one of our favorites!
- Kale and chard bunches

From Prairie Bottom Farm
- Big, sweet carrots
- Beet bottoms for canning
- Dill - for making Dilly Beans!
- More onions
- Even more beans...
- Fava Beans
And more...

We hope to see you there and THANK YOU! for supporting local farmers!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie