Farmer on vacation...yet the market goes on!

Yes, this farmer is trying to take a few days off.  Of course, off in July is kinda really just a "slowing down to a more normal persons work day" for a farmer.  Hence the fact that I'm still sending out this blog.  And that I was up at 7:30 this morning getting a few last things for the market crew this morning.  And that I was outside at 9:30 last night putting chickens away and making another batch of compost tea that can be sprayed today.
But...I WAS NOT outside all day picking for market (my fabulous crew did that, I just helped some in the morning) nor will I be at the market or working in the fields keeping things watered and weeded today (again, fabulous crew doing that).  Instead, having a "Staycation" with the family.  Our main goal - to BUILD A CHICKEN PEN! 

Ah...kids and chicks!

My eldest daughter joined chicken 4-H club Rock n'Doodle this year.  So we had to get some chickens just for her (and then of course, the youngest got some too).  Ordered eggs of some unique breeds for way too much money, incubated them.  And because these chickens are the girls very own chickens, they can't let "their chickens live with those other farm chickens." (Which is probably a good idea, really, not sure if they more "delicate" show chickens can survive the farm chicken pen.  It's a rough flock in there. Huge rooster, mean geese, annoying turkeys...)   No, we have to have separate pens.  Okay, so somehow I got talked into this....
We do have a secure inside pen for nighttimes (the old playhouse - now converted to chicken coop!), but we need an outside daytime run for these naughty, naughty chickens who have been roaming our yard during the day, claiming not only all our yard as theirs but...our house too!  Now that the weather has gotten (kinda) nicer, we oftentimes leave our deck door open for the breeze.  And the chickens, well the chickens decided that our house must be a big new chicken coop!  One day we came home and found a trial of chicken "offerings" through the entire house, all the way into the back bedrooms.  Those chickens were having a GOOD time. 
The other day, I was upstairs and heard some suspicious "cluck, cluck, cclluuucckkking..." and look down into our great room - a flock of chickens!  And the worst thing, Peanut the dog, who I've had a heck of time convincing he CANNOT chase the chickens when they are outside, was just sitting their looking at them like "Hey, guys, come on in! Can I get you a beverage?"
Now, since we live in an old barn converted into a house, my husband says it only makes sense the chickens think they should be in our house (barn).  In fact, hubby suggested that next year we go ahead and just put our house on the Rock n'Doodle Coop Tour.  Ha-ha. 
So, that's on my vacation agenda for today.  A chicken run!  And to think I signed up for this....(Yes, I did and would do so again!).
But chicken runs aside, my wonderful crew is STILL bringing gobs of veggies to market today.  And here is the list:
From Willowood Farm
* Head Lettuce
* Potatoes - New ones, so so good!
* Walla Walla Onions w/ greens
* Torpedo Onions w/ greens
* Summer Squash (Bayview only, it's just starting!)
* Garlic
* Garlic Scapes
* Kohlrabi
* Spinach
* Italian Parsley
* Fava Beans - lots of these and they are SO good!
* Kale
* Chard
* Broccoli
* Peregion Beans
From our friends at Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Peas - Sugar, snow and shelling peas!
* Lettuce Mix
* Braising Mix
* Cauliflower
* Cabbage
* Scallions
* Herb bunches
And we also have some Emmer from Ebey Road farm and some Kamut, Purple Barley and Hard Red Wheat from Georgina. 
Hope to see you at market!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

What a perfect day...

So the sun is shining yet it is not 120 degrees, the sky is blue, the fields are green and the mountains are gorgeous.
What more could a farmer ask for?  Well sleep would be nice.  I have a love/hate relationship with July.  Love all the crops that are coming out of the ground, especially all the beautiful, beautiful garlic.  But keeping up with the harvest, the weeds, the watering, the bugs and the fertilizing seems to need more hours than a day AND night allows.  And every year I seem to forget how crazy it is.  I think it's like childbird - you don't remember the horrible pain you just look at this beautiful thing you produced (or all the beautiful produce).  Well, at least with farming, you could at least eat what you produce!

And since I've still got things to pick this morning, and garlic to dig before I head off the market, I going to post a beautiful picture and then get right into the important stuff...what is coming to market TODAY!
So here goes:
From Willowood Farm:
Garlic
Potatoes
Fava Beans
Head Lettuce
Spinach
Pea Vines
Carrots
Garlic Scapes
Kohlrabi
Kale
Chard
Walla Walla Onions
Torpedo Onions (Bayview only)
From Prairie Bottom Farm:
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Beets
Herb bunches
Spring Onion bunches
Peas
And more...
Off to pick and pack now.  See you at the market!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

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

Got Veggies? Then Juice!

This time of year, this farmer gets so darn busy that enjoying the fruits (um veggies) of my labor sometimes just doesn't happen.  Who has time to cook when there are SO MANY vegetables to pick? (Not to mention water, fertilize, weed and plant).

Not that I don't eat them, I just tend to "graze" a lot on raw things while in the fields (carrots, kale leaves, turnips, raw potatoes) and then collapse with a piece of toast and a fried egg when the necessity for sleep hits me.   But this year my husband has helped us to take the next step in actual eating all the Willowood Farm veggies in a quick and convenient way for this ridiculously busy farmer - he got a juicer!
Now this thing is a bit scary!  It's got a lot of bottoms and some scary looking blades, numerous screens and assorted wonky gadgets and straps and what not.  (And my husband says I HAVE TO clean it IMMEDIATELY after every use.  Okay, yes, okay honey....)
But after about a month of being completely intimidated by the thing, I finally conquered my fear and...what fun!  Turning my fresh veggies into an elixir of tasty goodness (the fine dry pulp it spits out is great for the compost pile too!).  This combined with the fact that I've been delivering fresh veggies to the new health food store on Front Street in Coupeville and sampling all the delicious smoothies they make has really sparked my interest (and taste buds!) in juicing.  Check out Eagles Song in Coupeville if you want to try some really great fresh vegetable/fruit juices without the hassle of cleaning the juicer - http://www.eaglessonghealth.com

Some of the things we have been juicing from the garden are "green" leaves of all types, including kale, lettuce, pac choi, mustard greens, collards, turnip greens and then beets and beet greens, carrots and kohlrabi.  And this is just a start!
Now, according to what little I've read about the topic, juicing is a great health benefit because raw juice is chock full of nutrients and because it allows you to easily eat a lot more of your veggies than you might on a given day.  But..."green juice" (i.e. the juice made from green leaves) is such powerful stuff that it is best to start out slow and not overdo it.  They also tend to the bitter side so adding a "sweetener" either carrots or apples is a great way to naturally cut the bitter.  And a half a lemon or lime is also a great "brightener" and seems to give the juice that extra little oomph.  Ginger is good too - but not too much!  Here is another great website with loads of tips on juicing - www.juicingbook.com
And so why am I talking about all this today?  Well...because we have a lot of great veggies that are perfect for juicing this week at the farmer's markets in Coupeville and Bayview!  And on that note, here is the complete list...
Coming FRESH FROM EBEY'S PRAIRIE today to the Coupeville and Bayview farmer's markets:
From Willowood Farm:
* "Green Juice" bags (aka saute/braising bags...a mix of baby pac choi, turnip greens and mustard greens)
* Carrot bunches
 * Kohlrabi
* Lettuce heads
* Mesclun (aka spring mix) bags
* Arugula bags
* Lettuce Mix bags
* Broccoli
* Romanesco Cauliflower
* Shelling Peas
* Basil
* New Potatoes
* Kale bunches
* Japanese turnips (red and white)
* Walla Walla Onion bunches
* Garlic scapes
* Fresh garlic
* Bulb Fennel
* Artichokes
From our friends and neighbors at Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Spinach
* Chard
* Cress
* Endive
* Head Lettuce
* Lettuce Mix
* Broccoli
* Cauliflower
* Beets - Golden and Red
* Spring Onion bunches
From Ebey Road Farm:
* Emmer
And Michael from Whidbey Green Goods will have (Bayview market only):
* Snow and sugar snap peas
* Cherries!

Hope to see you at market!
Farmer Georgie
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

"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.