What is July without Dragonflies?

The garden is finally taking off. Sometimes it seems so ridiculous to wait for peas in July when we're already starting crops for the fall and looking at the first tomatoes make fruit. But the Montana Marvels are delicious.

We're cutting back the "head high" early comfrey and nettles to make a nutrient tea for the heavy feeding crops and drying the other half for my Herbal Salves and Teas. The three rows of 50 foot beds we're digging this week are to accommodate next years CSA. The remaining Siberian Tomatoes, Montana Salmon Squash and some of our favorite Spaghetti Squash will be making a home there. With these being all short season varieties we're hoping that the late season hoop won't be needed. But, either way they'll be cycled out with one of next years garlic crop.

The garlic crop this year is looking great. I pulled the straw last week to start drying out the bulbs and the soft necks have finally made a strong showing. They do seem to shape up a little slower than the ophio-hardnecks. We've cut the garlic scapes on half the ophios and let the other half ride out till they uncurl and stand up straight. From that trial half we'll leave 1 out of 10 in the ground to form bulbils to increase our seed base. Giving us about 200 feet of heirloom bulbils to develop for the next 3 summers, tediously dividing them until they form full size bulbs. These ophios will be naturally adapted to our unique micro climate on Squash Blossom Farm.

Interestingly, the garlic near our center perennial purple carrot does seem the largest. Giving yet more merit to companion planting. Louise Riotte's book is always close at hand. I was introduced to her by a dear friends in the Mountains of North Carolina nearly a decade ago who had the medicinal wisdom to pick nettles without feeling a sting.



Nettles is very balanced for iron and vitamin K intake. I've been mixing dried nettles into shakes, making sun tea and herbal vinegar hair rinses. It was an indispensable drink when I was pregnant with our little guy to keep my iron and vitamin K levels up naturally. A recipe for a facial and hair toner is below.

Herbal Vinegar Toner/Rinse
16oz apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup Dried Nettles

Combine, bottle and infuse for at least one month in a cool dark place. Shake every couple days to activate the herbal constituents. Apply with cotton ball for a facial or pour about 1/2 cup on your head for a hair rinse. I like to add a few drops of rosemary essential oil or peppermint.

Sharing the Harvest

This season we have some infrastructure projects to fine tune and build. Our hoop houses need some mending and strengthening from the beating they've sustained since 2007. The wind can be severe but will be useful for our turbine. We also have a reclaimed glass/strawbale greenhouse we're building and fence to finish.

We're really close to completing the fence. The 73rd and last fence post was set on Sunday! We have a few gates to make and wire to tack up and the half acre is enclosed. I have never been one for play pens but this one rocks. Our farm is machine free so all our post were hand dug and set by Salty over the last few seasons with some assistance by J-Bird and Papa P. I of course provided the morale boosting and beverage support, which did include some homemade hot cocoa, plus I did swing a hammer and marked out the property to get things going.

Even though we're not selling this year- we're still working the rows and testing out some more heirloom and short season vegetables while providing enough food for us. Our plan is to offer a CSA next season and will then have a strong structure support to make it easier.

The CSA will be a mix of about six Shares for 20 weeks and options include

Traditional Veggie Share-$25 per week

Veggie/Spelt Bread Share-$30 per week

Harvest Shares-sponsored

The handful of Harvest Shares is for families limited on fresh food purchases that is growing in the Flathead Valley. The number of shares we can support is dependent on donations and our growing space. We hope several small contributions even as little as 1$ will add up to share food with 3 to 5 families for the 2011 season. The families will pay what they can afford and in return receive seasonal harvests for 20 weeks.

We have been exploring this option over the past year in an attempt to really open the fresh market to a diverse mix of age groups. Especially children who constitute the majority of Food Stamp recipients and are dramatically affected by their early food choices.

As of March 2010 Flathead county currently supplements 11,744 people with their Food Stamp Program. I found this to be a substantial increase from previous years

2009 ::8383 people

2008 :: 6007 people

2007 :: 5581 people

Based on information I found in the US Census Quick Facts and Montana Department of Health- I calculated the number of people on Food Stamps in the Flathead Valley was at an alarming 10.69% in 2009. I then compared the March Statistics for the number of families in the county on Food Stamps from 2007-2010.

This year was up by over 3361 people compared to 2009 and you'll notice from 2007-2010 the number of people more than doubled. The economy is faltering and it shows in the number of people requiring food assistance. More than likely this number is higher as some families try to go it alone without government help.

We believe in "Feeding All Regardless of Means" which was coined by my sustainable agriculture mentor, Christof den Biggelaar. Besides guiding me on companion planting, crop rotation and cultivation he really emphasized food that is community supported and based. His recent project on the "FARM Cafe" provides meals exclusively from locally grown food donations and without a price tag. Individuals pay what they can afford or trade their skills for food. This is what our Harvest Shares are about on a Community Supported Agriculture Scale where the Farm Gives Back to the Community.

So spread the word as your garden grows and if you have families in mind for our Traditional or Harvest Shares let us know.

The Garlic Saga Continues

Alright! So our Hardneck Garlics are making a strong showing this spring. The Softnecks are a little weak though? This is are first season trying softnecks as I wanted to practice braiding so hopefully they shape up.

We find the hardneck oils and flavor hard to beat-they make up three quarters of our crop. These beautiful green leaves in early spring really perked my interest in growing more food this season. It's always amazing what survives a Montana winter.

Dethawed

It's Grow Time!

Baking Bread with a Zen Buddhist

I make bread once a week. It takes all day. It's a combination of gathering ingredients, mixing some up, letting the dough come alive, kneading, rising, sending the dough down, more rising, shaping, baking and eating.

Talus makes his own rice flour dough creations on the floor, digs through the cupboards, rearranges the pots and pans, helps stir the initial ingredients and shape the rolls as we make trips to and from the kitchen.

Water-Yeast-Spelt Flour Bubbling

I discovered the Tassajara Bread Book at our local library. Read it over, tried it out and then bought my now weathered copy. There really is a beauty and awe in your first dough coming alive and the subsequent loaf to savor.

Dough Swallowing Oil and Salt

I've tried making bread in the past-with no success. Ed's technique, if given the right amount of commitment, will evolve into yummy loafs, rolls, danishes and even cinnamon rolls. The book is not short on sweet delights.

Anise-Caraway Rolls and Loaf

Bread making satisfies my desire to work with my hands during the day and has the added benefit of something I can actually eat. Some of the changes I've made to the instructions include covering with an inverted bowl or plate instead of using a wet cloth. The dough is near impossible to remove from the cloth. Occasionally I leave the dough uncovered. This allows more time to play outside, run errands, go for a walk, you know the routine of getting lost in some other activity. The slow rising is ideal unless you want dough overflowing onto the counter, which has happened to me on a warm summer day. Instead of the quick 45 minute rise I push it 2 hours depending.

Rising Uncovered

I also use combinations of spelt, ground sunflower and ground oats to make up the required "wheat" flour. I have yet to invest in a food mill, although I hear the hand grinders preserve the most nutritional content. Until, I acquire one I grind the oats and sunflowers in a coffee grinder.

I really like the Kalaches-Anise Breads and Swedish Rye as of Late. Loafs bake for about an hour but if you want less time in the oven rolls are a quick 15 minutes. It amounts to nearly the same overall oven time as you rotate baking sheets to and from the oven.

Montana Cheese Bread Loaf

Chocolate Ginger Cake with Maple Frosting

Man this is delicious and warming during cold weather! Just what you need to cap of an afternoon of snowballs and sledding Adapted from Moosewood's Book of Desserts. Their recipes are some of the building blocks to happiness.

I made the Chocolate Ginger Cake for my sweetheart's birthday. It'll make you swoon! Plus it's full of beneficial Omega 3's.

What you Need

3/4 cup organic sugar

2 tablespoons organic molasses

2/3 cup hemp milk

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup organic canola oil

2 free range eggs (get your Omega 3's)

2 tsp Madagascan vanilla

1 cup organic spelt flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground organic cinnamon

1 tablespoon freshly grated organic ginger

Mix all wet ingredients together. Sift all dry ingredients together. Combine. Stir in Grated Ginger. Pour into 8x8 baking pan or 9in round.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Check center with toothpick at 30 minutes and bake till it comes out clean.

Organic Maple Frosting

1/2 cup organic butter softened

2 1/2 cups organic powdered sugar

1 tsp Madagascan vanilla

1/4 cup organic maple syrup

Chocolate Sunflower Cookies and Huckleberry Waffles

Teddy Bear Sunflower

Heirloom Mix

Chocolate Sunflower Cookies

Inspired by my Heirloom and Chocolate Sunflowers growing in my gardens this past summer. These cookies are not short on sugar or fat so you're sure to enjoy them.

3/4 cup Spelt flour

1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds (use a coffee grinder or handmill)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick organic butter softened

1 cup organic sugar

3 tablespoons organic molasses

2 tsp organic vanilla

1 free roaming, organic egg

1 cup ghiradelli chocolate chips

Allow butter to soften at room temp for one day or place on a plate near heat from the oven heating up 375 degrees.


Sift with a fork spelt flour, sunflower meal, salt and baking soda


Use hand blender or cake mixer to work sugar and molasses into butter. This can be done by hand, however I have finally conceded to the electric hand mixer as the butter needs the sugar to add some air and texture to it's density.

Add vanilla and egg to butter and sugar

Add dry to wet and hand mix until well incorporated

Pour in chocolate chips and mix well

Spoon Tablespoon size balls onto cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes

We also like to pick extra huckleberries, particularly in September as the sugars have more time to develop and are rich and seasoned by them. This is primarily due to cooler nights in conjunction with warm days.

Sunflower Huckleberry Waffles with Apple Honey

1 1/2 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup ground sunflower seeds
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs separated
1/4 cup organic canola oil
1 cup water
3 tablespoons organic hemp milk
Frozen Huckleberries

Mix dry set aside

Separate egg whites and reserve for later

Beat egg yolk and oil and add to Dry and Mix

Add 3 tablespoons dry milk and 1 cup hemp milk to batter

Stir in huckleberries

Fill waffle iron with 1/4 cup batter

Serve warm

Makes about 10 waffles

Apple Honey Syrup

Splash of organic apple and organic juice

Few Tablespoons Local Honey

Heat honey on stovetop with both juices until well constituted. Pour into open glass and allow to set up at room temperature.

Waffles can be dipped or drizzled with Apple Honey Syrup