Baby, it's cold outside

I am about to go let the chickens out, as I drink my hot chai. We
don't get cold snaps like this too often. I am hoping we haven't lost
any plants!

Gladys checking out the paparazzi

Farm is doing well, sorry for the lack of updates. Here is one to tide
you over till the next one, which is hopefully sooner rather than
later. Xmas cookies are calling today.

More tires!

A co-workers boyfriend gave me four more tires and these two were put
to use this weekend. A Mexican sage (salvia leucantha) to attract
hummingbirds will do the trick!

In the background are green cabbage and lettuce. The black patch of
dirt has some chard seedlings and fava beans sown from seed pods given
to Jennie by *her* co-worker from his crop last year.

This week's chore is eating kale. We are behind.

The chickens are doing well and starting to eat a fair amount of our
kitchen scraps. We went to Mike's Feed Store in San Leandro yesterday
to pick up our first 50lb sack of organic crumble. Crumble is a high
fat mixture that gets combined with other feed and scratch to help in
egg laying. They are almost finished with the initial 10lb of
medicated chick feed we came home with in early October. They are
getting so big!! Pics to follow this week.

UPDATE: She's alive!!

Luckily I am an urban farmer with high self-esteem, because this story is a wee bit embarrassing:

Beulah was in the coop the whole time. Fah reals.

Here's the lesson: when your chicken is the exact same color as straw, she can camouflage herself better than a chameleon.

Jennie and I got out the high-powered flashlight and surveyed the inside of the coop 2-3 times. No Beulah. No beady eye even catching the powerful beam of light. Nothing. No yellow future egg-layer. Hence, the RIP post.

This morning, after weak chai tea and a fried egg, I headed down to the coop, opened the door and out pops Beulah! An avian miracle baby! She must have been burrowed down deep in the soft straw wondering why I was disturbing her dusk-induced nap with a big-ass ray of light.

So, there you have it people. You need to rummage around in the coop for bodies before declaring them victims of the neighborhood chicken hawk.

R.I.P. Beulah Abbingsole

I am very sad to report that it appears Beulah was taken by our neighborhood Cooper hawk this evening.

We had learned from our neighborhood Yahoo group that there are a pair of Cooper hawks living a few blocks from here and that they had taken chickens before. I have purchased netting to put up between the fence top and the edge of the lower deck to provide covering for the chicks, but wasn't feeling urgent about it. Then, night before last I actually heard the screech of a hawk as dusk was settling in. I was planning on putting up the netting this weekend, but I was too late.

We got home tonight from work, and helping out friends, close to 7pm and it was already dark. When I went into the chicken run, Dionne was already in the coop and Gladys (formerly known as Eunice) ran up to me seeming startled. Beulah was nowhere to be found. Not a feather among the hay. I can only assume one of the hawks picked her off. She was the weakling, still recovering a bit from her run-in with Lottie. She was an easy target.

So, tomorrow my Mom flies to town for the Halloween weekend and I intend to take her to Mike's Feed Store in the late afternoon to replace our lost chick. And maybe get one more. Oh, and put up the netting.

Nowhere to go but up!

Don't they seem bigger?



I swear in the 3 days since we have had the chicks, they have almost doubled in size. This may be an exaggeration, but I don't think so. Lottie has discovered them, and is obsessed; standing by the garage door wanting to get in and I don't know what (eat, torture, maim, smooch, play). I am feeling the burden of having multiple non-human children. I worry about them. I am concerned about their diet, their lack of exercise. How will I ensure they get a good education about the out-of-doors; the city predators that await them.

Tonight just after I took this picture, I was re-filling their feed trough, when Beulah decided to fly the cardboard coop while Lottie was standing watch. Let's just say there was some mayhem and excitement, but no fatalities. And luckily, I have genetically low blood pressure and can react to stress in a calm manner. But holy-moly, I don't need that to happen again.

We had smoked chicken in our pasta last night and I thought of these three ladies briefly. Will I be willing to eat them when the time comes? I think so. But we'll have to cross that road with the chickens when we come to it.

Chickens are home to roost (and lay us some eggs)!

Here is a quick video of Beulah, Dionne and Eunice coming home from the feed store in Petaluma.
A new era at Oaktown Farm has begun!!

On the verge of cha-cha-change

Whlep, the coop is complete (finally got the roof done). The chicks are getting picked up this weekend in Petaluma after John & Anna's wedding AND the spiral staircase is being installed tomorrow!! We have happy kale almost ready to eat and the last of the tomatoes shown here. I had to take all the tomato cages out this weekend so the spiral staircase dudes can get the thing in the back yard. Hopefully the other Mrs. A will shoot some video of the installation tomorrow, as she will be home supervising.

We bought 6-packs of red kale, lettuce and cauliflower at the farmer's market Sunday. Need to get those in this week. I also tossed some black-eyed susan seeds in the Buddha bed, as they are a fall crop around these parts. Seasonal change is upon us in California!!

Lastly, I neglected to take a picture, but I braised some lamb shanks on Sunday night that were out of this world. They were from the 1/2 lamb we went in on with Sylvie. Divine. Recipe below.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 4 large lamb shanks (about 5 pounds)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 large white onion, cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 3 celery stalks, cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 carrots, peeled, cut crosswise into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 small leek
• 3 cups ruby Port
• 4 cups low-salt chicken broth
• 4 cups beef broth
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 whole star anise*
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

Mix coriander, fennel, and peppercorns in heavy small skillet. Toast on medium-high heat until aromatic and slightly darker, about 2 minutes. Transfer to spice grinder; process until finely ground. Rub each shank with 1 rounded teaspoon spice blend. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large wide pot over medium-high heat. Add shanks to pot. Cook until brown on all sides, about 20 minutes. Transfer to large bowl. Add remaining 2 tablespoons oil to same pot. Add onion and next 4 ingredients; sauté over medium heat until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Add remaining spice blend and stir 1 minute. Add Port and simmer until liquid is reduced to 2/3 cup, about 15 minutes. Add both broths; boil until liquid is reduced to 3 1/2 cups, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Return shanks to pot. Add cloves, star anise, bay leaves, and crushed red pepper. Cover pot with foil, then lid. Place pot in oven and braise lamb until tender, about 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Uncover and cool slightly. Place in refrigerator until cool, then cover and keep refrigerated. Rewarm in 350°F oven for 20 minutes before serving.)

Place 1 lamb shank on each of 4 plates. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon sauce and vegetables over lamb and serve.

Giant Spiders on the Farm!

Click on the small triangle with your mouse. I should have put my thumb in the frame for scale, but I think you get the picture. Also, I just got this Flip camcorder, and my mad skills are underdeveloped...:)

Pizza! Pizza! (said in the Little Ceasar voice)

Lovely homemade pizza tonight. All from scritch. Even the cornmeal crust. I will include that recipe here, as it was simple and delicious. The pizzas are making it to the farm blog because I used tomatoes and oregano from the farm. Snap!

The pie on the left is simply tomatoes from the farm, mozz, oregano, some tomato paste and basil. On the right is pinenut pesto, red onion, garlic, shrimp and corn. Both were dusted with a sheep's milk romano for the finish.

After


Simple cornmeal pizza crust:

1 package of rapid rise yeast
1 C warm water
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
1 C cornmeal
1 1/2 C white flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add sugar. Let yeast sit about 10 minutes (you want it good and foamy). Stir in remaining ingredients until blended. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Dump out onto floured board and knead gently for a few minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and allow dough to rest 15 minutes with a towel over it. Preheat oven to 425, spread dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Top with desired toppings and bake for 20 minutes. A pizza stone would probably be best, but we don't seem to have one. I made the above two pizza with this recipe.

You say tomaahtoe, I say....

Well, we have sweetness on the vine. These little buggers are just sugar-pops for the soul. Their vines don't look like much, but they have produced some very tasty fruit.



The larger yellow guys below are Miss Lillian's and I have lower expectations of them due to the fruit setting very late and the trunk of the plant having some funk. Not the good kind. We have been getting very good tomatoes at the farmer's market to supplement our intake quota for the summer.



Tomorrow we are hosting book club brunch and hoping to utilize some of the sugar-pops in crepes! Poached chicken with a mushroom cream sauce is also going to be made for the crepes, but that is not as thrilling as using our own home grown food! Maybe next year at this time we will host brunch and use our own home grown chicken for the sauce!

Simple is Sublime

I know this picture is out of focus, but the family photographer is out for sushi. I am at home having this amazing dish! I have discovered the magic of salsa verde. You see, I have many foodie blogs I follow, but my favorite is Orangette. You may have heard of her. You may not have. No matter. Just do this and your life will change.

It is simple really; a salsa made of capers, garlic, parsley, chili flakes, salt and olive oil. But oh my goodness. Tossed with freshly, hot roasted baby yukon potatoes, it is utterly sublime. I topped it with a sunny side up egg this evening. We had the same with smoked salmon on Sunday night. (yes Mom, I smoked and ate salmon!) Really, I think I could have it three times a day and end up in heaven a day late with a smile on my face. Really. Make it. Soon. You won't regret it.

Chickens are closing in on us...

Each weekend we get closer and closer to finishing the coop. It is taking much longer than I thought. But I hope the peeps feel well loved in their home when they get here. I took a 3 hours Backyard Chickens class last Sunday to learn all I have not read on the interweb about chicken raising. I am feeling confident. We shall start off with three, so they can have a pecking order. Mike's Feed in San Leandro sells chicks. Many kinds. I realized I cannot in good conscience order chicks via the mail. So we shall pick them up by driving South on 880.



More planting happened over the last week: arugula, beets, collards and kale. I should mention the romaine, but since it is near death, I think I ought not mention it by name. Too much sun = death to lettuce. Even Oakland sun. Also the Jurassic impatiens I planted in one of the tire beds has kicked the bucket, but for the life of me I don't know why....We ate some cherry tomatoes with supper guests last weekend (grilled butterflied leg-o-lamb), and they were delicious.

No more typing, my hand hurts from my running-in-the-hills-tumble this morning. Ouch.

Oh, Geoff, I finished the irrigation project in the back. Works great. Thank you again for getting that one off the ground. PVC cement works like magic!

Seasonal Depression

So here is the deal: the garden doesn't look so good right now. My second round of plantings were put in by me with out adding any compost or fertilizer and the results are sad and mildly pathetic. I have always been bad about feeding the dirt. I want things to grow simply by tossing seeds in the general direction of the soil. This does not work. I intellectually know this. But my lazy bone takes over. So, the tomatoes suck. The zukes are dying. The basil and peppers are an advertisement for how not to garden.

I have purchased some Tiger Bloom and have been watering with it, but I fear it is too late. I have the impulse to chuck all the current plantings, dig in some store-bought compost and start again.

Meanwhile, Geoff is here and the pergola is done; the coop started. I have high hopes we'll finish the coop this weekend. The the staircase needs to go in, then I can get chicks. I mean poultry.

Below are some photos of the finished pergola, base for chicken coop. At the top is me in the mighty Lesbaru as we headed home after purchasing our spare freezer for the garage. Somehow that relates to the garden because of all the food that will go in it...:)

Slow to post

Here's a couple shots. First up is our own cherry on the cherry tree. Crazy.
And then the lovely zukes. We ate some this week; delicious.

Lunch with Buddha

Flower moat is blooming nicely!

Today's lunchtime view

I am fava obsessed

I just can't get over how delicious they are. We harvested and I made a meal with them tonight. Damn good eatin'! You have to get the little buggers out of the pod, then blanch them, plunge them in ice water and skin them. Below is a shot of them just popped out of their pods, with a sweet pea accompaniment.



This next shot is after the fire and ice. The darker ones are ready to be tossed in the awesome pasta dish I made. The lighter color is the skin that had to come off.



I had dinner at Aperto in the city about a month ago for Kym's birthday and the dish I had was amazing, so I attempted to replicate it here tonight. If you ask Jennie, she will tell you it was fabulous.

I cooked the fava beans in olive oil, garlic, rosemary, salt, pepper and chili flakes
then some shrimp
then chunky tomato sauce
then a squirt of double concentrated tomato paste
simmer a bit
then tossed with al dente spaghetti
topped with sheep pecorino romano

Only thing missing is that it would have been nice to squeeze a little lemon juice as a finisher. Oh, and we had a big garden salad. A lovely Sauvignon Blanc would have been nice too..:)

Lottie and the fava beans

Enjoying a Saturday afternoon.

Recycled items make good planters!

Well we are beginning our first round of crop rotation. The lettuces we planted in late February are near the end of their vitamin producing life. Jennie harvested the last of it yesterday and I need to turn the bed, feed some compost, and plant another round. We shared a big salad last night with Amy, Sonya and Jayden, which was a tad bitter, but still homegrown! The fava beans are also near harvesting time; this week sometime. I have not decided what to plant in that bed, perhaps pole beans.



Here is a shot of the back shady corner with the tire terrace. The top tire is empty because the nursery did not have the item I wanted, yet. The bench is just to the left of the tires, against the fence. Hopefully this next weekend I will get more garden time to finish off a couple projects. We were fairly busy this last one to get a whole lot done (BBQs, 1-year old birthday parties, Doris visit, hosting Sunday spaghetti supper, errands, long run in Marin with Liz).

it's been a while

but here I am! Life has been busy, but the garden grows on! I found 4 tires on facebook from our mortgage broker to start on the next project (photos soon). And in the meantime we went to Portland where some of the best gardens are to be found (no photos taken). We are being graced with half of our foxgloves primping for a show and the sweet peas just keep on giving. Lastly before I hit the hay, there is a shot here of the black beauty squash, from above, and our crazy fava beans; nearer to harvest everyday. Bottle tree coming soon...:) Until next time, keep our spiral staircase in your prayers.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

We are having another heat wave this weekend. Today it peaked at 94, and tomorrow is supposed to be hotter. That is unfortunate, as I have a 10 mile race to run in the morning, but I have been hydrating all day, so hopefully that will help with the pain.

Here is the umbrella resurrected and the tomato cages I built today. Don't they look so much better than the metal ones? I also got a yellow crook neck squash to put in, will do after sundown.

Salad! All! The! Time!

The best part of the farm is the constant salad it provides. We have had some heavy rains this weekend and the lettuces and spinach are extremely happy with the situation. We ate a large salad tonight that included fresh peas, also farm born.

I planted two more tomatoes, last weekend actually. One is a trusty Brandywine and the other is called Miss Lillian's Yellow. The woman I bought them from at the farmer's market said she got one pounders off the Miss Lillian last year, and these plants are from those seeds. So, come August we hopefully will have a bumper crop for slicing, salting and then consuming with buffalo mozzarella. Yum!

I also put in one zucchini that the market gal said would not take over the farm. It's called Black Beauty, which on this Kentucky Derby weekend must mean it is named after a certain horse.

I am struggling some these past weeks with patience. I want the yard to be bigger and fuller; the spiral stairs in and jasmine already winding up the wrought iron. As it is, the foxgloves that I planted in February will not bloom until May of 2010! Also, I have started collecting cobalt soda water bottles for my bottle tree vision. And hopefully Geoff will be out sooner rather than later to help with the glorious chicken coop. Big plans for a used tire terrace in the south western most corner too. Rain this weekend prevented that project. Slow gardening is not coming easily to me these days.

Jennie made cookies, so I gotta go! More later....

Lottie longs for her new wisteria love...

First tomatoes are in!

The chard was harvested yesterday morning, making way for the first
tomato plants. So far we have a Sun Gold (small pear shaped yellow
nuggets of sweet goodness) and a surprise plant called Sweet 100. Once
the kale is plucked from the bed I will plan three more. Next
weekend's project will be building the cages.

Jennie is here holding the last of the chard for the short 09' late winter season



It is 90 degrees in Oaktown today, so many plants are in a state of shock; lettuce in particular.
We are grilling lamb kabobs on the Kooker for supper tonight and will need to have a big salad, in addition to chard, to save the sweet leaves from perishing in this heat. Another scorcher is on tap for tomorrow. Lottie can only stretch out and nap the afternoon away....

Lunchtime view

These are the finally blooming flowering pea vines. Lottie and I are
enjoying them on our lunch break today.

Big Feast!

We had folks over for the 2009 BBQ Season Kick-off on Sunday evening, and while I smoked a brisket and made amazing baked beans from scratch (if I do say so myself) the highlight was serving chard that our guests picked! Jennie cooked them up real good and they were delicious. Add a side of cornbread and damn! Big good feast!

p.s. I had to add the pic of Fil and Lottie, cause it is so loved filled and cute, even though it is not technically about the Oaktown Farm...:)

Peas!

Death on Wisteria Lane

I am here to report that the lovely beast Lottie took out the wisteria on Friday. She willfully and with ignorant intent took the *whole* plant out of the ground! An amazing feat! So fast!

With our heads hung, we went to our favorite nursery, Yabusaki's, and shelled out another $50 for a new plant. We told the daughter our plight, as she made a comment that we had just bought another Cooke's purple wisteria last weekend. She asked if we still had the root structure from what Lottie yanked up. We did (thank you Jennie!) Simply put it in a pot with good soil, water, plenty of sunshine and it should come back up, she said. And so we did.

The lovely mason jar with beautiful flowers is the remnants of Lottie's work. And the bucket with a stick in it, is the future lovely. Perhaps if it has a Resurrection (Happy Easter!) we will give it to someone as a gift.

Wisteria Lane

We now live on it, as I have dug another hole with ye ol' pick axe and planted a Cooks Purple wisteria. Damn hard work, and *no* frosty beer afterwards.

Snow peas have flowers. The two kinds of onions have aphids. I sprayed my hippie-free love anti-bug juice on them in hopes to have a reversal of the misfortune. Please pray for our onions.

day in the life of chard

I wonder if the chard can feel my gaze; that I watch and wait for the moment of consumption. Each sunny day it seems all the plants grow a foot. Truly. I water, but the magic is the sunshine.

I am trying to visualize the wisteria growing on the fence and taking my own slow gardening philosophy to heart. We will be in this house for years; the garden will be years in the making. My basil seeds have sprouted, but seem weak, slow. The cilantro seems to be on a death march, not sure what is wrong with it. I don't cook much with it anyway..:) Also, the long bed that lives in the shadows of the yard does not seem happy. I am hesitant to replace the primroses for fear that Lottie will snack on them again, but it needs color. Some life. We have a fuchsia that Jennie bought, but it is not out of it's nursery pot yet. That may do the trick. I did fill three planting buckets with dirt and place 3 Van Gogh sunflower seeds in each. I can move them around the yard to follow the patterns of the sun. The seeds in the Buddha bed have sprouted. Photo documentation in a few days.

Because it is SO exciting....

Go check out this site:

http://www.kitchengardeners.org/

First Eating

We had our first salad with some of our home grown lettuce, the romaine. It only augmented the lettuce we had purchased at the Berkeley Bowl, but still...very exciting!! We swore it tasted different from the other leaves..:) And truthfully, we have used herbs from the deck garden in some meals (thyme, rosemary and parsley). But this first salad was a thrill!

The cherry tree is leaving very well, so I watered it last night for the first time since planting (not including mother nature's rain last week). I am so excited to watch it over the years; it still has blossoms, but they are getting sparce.

Finally for today, the fava beans are sprouting strongly (see pic next to salad) and should be bolting well in the next two weeks. I planted those a little late (no choice with the bed building schedule) so if we don't get a good harvest this year, I will for sure sow them outdoors much earlier next cool season.