Volunteer Farm Work Party - Let's Harvest Garlic!

Garlic harvest time is always an exciting, busy, and wonderfully smelly time of year on Willowood Farm! I love being able to pull in the driveway and smell garlic 200 yards away from the barn!
If you would like to join the fun, and perhaps learn a bit about the 20+ varieties of gourmet garlic we grow on Willowood Farm, please come join us this Saturday!
The details as follows:
When - Saturday, July 11th. 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Stay as long or as little as you like.
Where - Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie. 399 S. Ebey Rd. Turn onto Ebey Road off of Hwy 20 just north of the pedestrian bypass/stoplight in Coupeville. Follow Ebey Road, stay o the right when road curves left. Go past Cook Road on right hand side. After Cook Road our driveway is about another 1/3 mile on the right hand side. Long, dirt driveway with hedgerows and old trees. Go past the big white Victorian house and straight up to the huge barn with the big grey roof. We will be working in the barn.
What - Garlic harvest is not overly strenous. We typically have two main tasks, pulling out the garlic out of the field (loosened by a tractor) to bring into the barn, and cleaning, bunching and tying garlic in the barn. We spend lots of time just sitting, talking and cleaning garlic.
What to wear - Clothes you don't mind getting dirty.
F0od - We will provide an assortment of cold drinks. Bring a sack lunch if you plan to stay through lunch time.
Families - We don't mind well-mannered children, as long as an adult is with them to supervise. But please remember this is a working farm, with the dangers (and dirt) that are inherent with it. Supervision is key.
We hope you can make the party! If you think you would like to come, an email would be great just so I know how many folks to expect!
Thanks for reading!
Georgie Smith, Farmer
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

Let's Go Blow Up Some Lettuce!

Who needs the grocery store when you have Willowood Farm? At least in July (and Aug, September, October and probably November too...)! We have A HUGE selection of food coming tomorrow to the Oak Harbor and Bayview farmer's markets - our biggest and best selection yet for amazing July 4th festivities!

Here's a quick list:
From Willowood
- Head Lettuce, Head Lettuce, Head Lettuce - We have a favorite for everybody! And a great deal tomorrow on HUGE beautiful heads - $2.50 each for 2 for $4!
- Stir-fry bunches. A mix of mustards, kales and spinach. A quick, tasty and healthy meal.
- Kale - Several kinds
- Pea vines - new, tender crop!
- Fava Beans. Loads, and loads of fava beans.
- Walla Walla Onions
- Torpedo Onions
- Sugar Snap Peas
- Kohlrabi - big, purple and tasty!
- Garlic - nice early harvest, juicy and tasty
- Swiss Chard
- Tender baby carrot bunches
- Mesclun Mix
From our friends at Prairie Bottom Farm:
- Bulb Fennel
- New Potatoes
- Beets - several kinds
- Big carrot bunches
- Onions bunches
- Baby leeks
- Spinach
- Rutabagas

Also, a shout out to our friends Joe and Jamie Scott at Oystercatcher Restaurant in Coupeville. Due to July 4th festivities, they will be open for lunch only on Saturday and Sunday and featuring lots of great Willowood Farm on their lunch menus. If you haven't had a chance to try out the Oystercatcher, this is a great time to sample!

Hope to see you tomorrow at market and a safe and happy 4th for everyone!

Coming to market....

Hello From Ebey's Prairie!
We've had another crazy week. I've suddenly realized June is almost gone. What happened to June? Things that should have happened at the beginning of June, well now I'm just promising myself they'll get done before July! Somehow, this all seems so easy when pouring over seed catalogs next to a snuggly fire in January!
Ah well...., it keeps us farmers out of trouble that's for sure!
On to the good stuff - Coming to the Coupeville and Bayview markets tomorrow for your dining pleasure:
From Willowood Farm
- Loads of beautiful head lettuce from a gorgeous new crop. Absolutely perfect.
- Fava beans
- Baby beets with greens
- Mustard greens - two kinds (this photo is of one of my favorites, Red Giant - horseradishey hot!!)
- Garlic scapes
- Fresh green garlic
- Walla Walla Salad Onions
- Torpedo Onions
- Pea Vines - a beautiful, tender new crop
- Rainbow Chard
- Kohlrabi
- Tuscan and White Russian Kale
- And more....
From Prairie Bottom Farm
- Carrots
- Rutabagas
- Peas!
- Beets
- Scallions
- Pearl Onions
- New Potatoes
- And more....

Also (and this is to see if you guys are reading this far...), many folks have expressed interested in being involved in harvest and other activities on the farm. Well, we will be holding a garlic harvest on Tuesday (weather permitting). Approximately 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Work basically involves some labor in fields with gathering bunches of garlic to bring inside. And then lots of sitting around cleaning and bunching garlic. Loads of fun, actually...We will have sign up sheets at the market if you are interested in coming.

Thank you for ALL YOUR SUPPORT of local farms!

Regards,
Georgie Smith, Farmer
Willowood Farm of Ebey's Prairie

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and Farmer Georgie is feeling delightful...
Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain."
Yes folks, 30 some days of record no rainfall and farmers start getting a little crazy. Tourists might like all that sunshine, but farmers, ESPECIALLY PAC NW FARMERS, well we count on a few grey and wet days, at least in the spring! Hearing that rain start last night was beautiful music to my ears! It's still not enough, and I've got sprinklers going 24-7 in the bean patch (about 1/3 of my crop didn't come up, just sitting in the soil where I planted, waiting for a little moisture!). But it's a start!
So, we'll hope for a nice sunny and pleasant day for market tomorrow, but if it is raining???? We won't too sad and rain, or shine, we'll be out selling food no matter what because its picked, packed and ready to go!
So coming tomorrow, rain or shine to the Bayview and Coupeville farmer's markets -
Willowood Farm
- MIXED NEW POTATOES!!!! These are the true new taters (i.e., so tender, their skin is not cured). Amazingly sweet.
- Head lettuce (some more huge ones, and the first of some gorgeous new plantings)
- Broccoli
- Swiss Chard
- Kale - several kinds
- Salad Turnips - red and white
- Chioggia beet thinnings
- Huge kohlrabi
- Walla Walla Salad Onions
- Red torpedo onions with greens
- Fresh turban type garlic
- Garlic scapes (see recipe below)
- Green spinach bunches

From Prairie Bottom Farm
- Red beets w/ greens
- Carrot bunches
- Bulb fennel
- Green onions
- Some peas!
- Head lettuce
- Red Chard
- And more that I'm forgetting...

Also, I wanted to list the pickled garlic scape recipe, courtesy of Chef Joe Scott at the Oystercatcher in Coupeville. Everyone RAVES about this recipe so here goes (and we are offering a great quantity deal on scapes tomorrow!):



Quick Garlic Scape Pickles
• Garlic scapes, however many you want to pickle, chopped into 1 inch pieces
• Champagne vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
• Rice Vinegar
• Dash of salt
• Sugar to taste
• Pinch of whole fennel seed
You will need equal parts of the vinegar, how much depends on how much you are going to pickle. Chop garlic and pack clean mason jars. Boil equal parts of both vinegars, add sugar and salt to taste. Sugar should balance the acidity of the vinegar. How sweet – versus tart – you make it is a personal preference depending on how you like your pickles. When boiling, pour over scapes. Add a pinch of whole fennel seed. Seal lid. These pickles are ready in 4 hours. If you prefer to keep the scape whole (which gives you a very cool shape on a plate), you should plan to let the pickles sit for at least a week (or more) so they absorb the pickling juices. By chopping the scapes you provide more surface area to absorb the pickling juices quickly.





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Rockwell Beans

The Rockwell Beans were featured today in the Pacific NW magazine! Thanks to Greg Atkinson for writing a great story!
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/pacificnw/2009328308_pacificptaste14.html

If you would like to learn more about the Rockwell Beans, I have created a page about them on my website - here is the link - http://willowoodfarm.net/rockwellbean.aspx

Now I just need to go hoe the Rockwell's! So hopefully, come fall, I can take another picture kinda like this one.

Me giving big thumbs up as Rockwell's CASCADE into a garbage can. There is hardly a cooler feeling than looking at garbage cans full of a healthy, naturally grown food item that can literally, feed an army! Farmer Georgie Out!

Windy Days to Market!

Hello All!

All of us here at Willowood Farm has been feeling a bit wind-burned these days on the prairie! It has been a week, it seems, of constant, endless, unforgiving straight off the Pacific Ocean wind...Seems to vary between about a steady 10 mph and gusts into the 20s. Luckily for us, the green fields of barley do look awfully nice swaying in the breeze!


But now to the good stuff - coming to market tomorrow at Bayview and Coupeville!




WE WILL HAVE THE FIRST GARLIC OF THE SEASON AT MARKET TOMORROW!

Yes, that is very exciting, and definitely deserves all caps. These are turban varieties - the very first variety of the 20+ garlics we grow at Willowood Farm. They will be available as true "green garlic," which means they have not yet been cured for storage. We sell them "on the stalk" so you can hang them up as you eat them and let them cure right in your kitchen. They are fresh, juicy, succulent and well, simply amazing!




And now for all the rest of the veggies to eat with your fresh garlic...
From Willowood Farm
* HUGE heads of lettuce. Another great deal - $2.50 each or 2 for $4.
* Brocolli!
* Japanese salad turnips - red and white. These are amazingly mild and juicy, incredible raw.
* Baby beet thinnings
* Chard bunches
* Walla Walla salad onions with greens
* Torpedo onions with greens
* Garlic scapes - Make sure to ask for the amazing "quick pickled scape" recipe we will have available tomorrow, straight from talented chef Joe Scott at Oystercatcher in Coupeville.
* Dandelion greens - for those of you who have a hunkering for bitter greens! An Italian favorite.
* Rhubarb
* Kohlrabi

From Prairie Bottom Farm and coming to BOTH markets (sorry about the miscue last week at Bayview, Wilbur didn't have enough time to pick for both markets so his stuff just went to Coupeville last week. Since this is his last week being a high school science teacher AND a farmer, we will forgive him...).
- Carrots bunches
- Scallions - red and white
- Beet bunches
- Iceberg lettuce
- Spinach
- Baby lettuce mix
- Bulb Fennel
- Fava Beans - FIRST PICKING!
- And more...

I hope everybody is hungry! And here is a silly picture of me taking a "scape break" in the garlic patch...Check out those farmer hands (a girl has her pride...)!

Wheelbarrows of Lettuce!

It's....MARKET TIME! And we sure hope you have a hunkering for salad fixings....
Things gotta a little bit crazy this week at Willowood Farm! With all the unseasonally hot weather all our head lettuce came on QUICKLY especially the fabulous heirloom baby butterheads! We are offering a "Red Wheelbarrow Special!", baby butterheads for only $1.50 or 3 for $3!
Check them out at the Coupeville and Bayview markets tomorrow. Along with a lot of other great, organically grown veggies including:
* Tuscan Kale
* Swiss Chard
* Orach (aka Mountain Spinach)
* Collards
* Leaf Lettuce Mix
* Mesclun
* Lots more head lettuce
* Garlic Scapes
And from Wilbur and Julieanna at Prairie Bottom Farm:
* Semi-Savoy Spinach
* Red Bordeaux Spinach
* Baby Carrots
*Beet Bunches
*Baby Fennel
*Green Onions and probably lots more we are forgetting!
Don't forget to look for the AWESOME tractor and trailer booth that we are now happy to call home at the Coupeville market....Wilbur (photo above - what a ham!), Julieanna and Elizabeth will be "working the trailer." Georgie and Willow will be holding down the tent at Bayview. We sure hope to see you there!
And some more photos...

Can we say, GARLIC SCAPES??? FIELDS OF LETTUCE