How to Buy Eggs

I haven't bought eggs in years - our six chickens provide plenty for our morning scrambles and afternoon bakings, with enough left over (at certain times of year) to give away as gifts. Our eggs are always so fresh that the whites are firm and high; and the yolks are a gorgeous saffron-yellow-orange. The yolk color is because our hens eat lots of greens and garden scraps. Now that we've become accustomed to having our own superior eggs, store-bought will never be good enough again.

cracking eggs for a custard

But, what if you don't have your own chickens? What if you don't have a farmer nearby from whom to buy your eggs? What do you do when confronted with a refrigerator case full of cartons with different labels? You're a conscious eater, and believe in humane treatment for farm animals; what do you buy? Cage free? Grain free? Vegetarian?

How about bullsh*t free?

"Um, that's a quarter in the swear jar for you, Elizabeth," says the offended Scrappy.

There's a new video out by Vital Farms, part of their ad campaign, which is, frankly, hilarious. Especially the part with the grandma baking for her grandson. It's really worth a watch. I saw it as part of a blog from Modern Farmer magazine, which is a very informative read. It explains why pasture-raised-labeled eggs are best, but still not clear enough to the consumer. You can read that article and watch the video HERE. 

Goose the Golden Sexlink, Molly the Rhode Island Red, Hermione the Plymouth Barred Rock, and in the back, Luna the Easter Egger, our only blue-egg-layer. (Scrappy the Golden Sexlink and Ginny the Rhode Island Red not pictured.)

Pasture raised eggs are not cheap; around here they go for nearly $10 per dozen. This is a fair price when you consider the amount of land needed to graze them, and the infrastructure needed to keep them safe (electrified fences, mobile coops, etc). You're paying for a superior end product, but you're also paying for humane treatment of the chickens. They get to hunt for bugs, hop up in the air, flap their wings, take dust baths, and chase each other around. They basically get to live the life a chicken should live. 

Vital Farms is a Texas company, but I believe they are working with many farms in different areas of the country. As you know, I believe local is better. So if you can find a local source for your supply, from a farmer who raises the chickens on pasture, that really would be the best way to vote with your food dollar. However, if that's not a possibility, then this brand would be a good substitute.

Just a few other notes (though the article does a really good job explaining what you should buy): Chickens are not naturally vegetarians, so skip the vegetarian eggs; most chickens do better with a little grain, so skip the grain-free eggs; if the eggs are labeled 'organic' or 'non-gmo,' this means their daily feed is either or both of those things; the label 'cage-free' basically means absolutely nothing. 

Transition

Happy Equinox, everyone. I'm reminded of that old Don Henley song, "The Boys of Summer:"

“Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer’s out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone...”

The light is different. The air is different. Our nights are downright chilly.

This is the time of year when the flowers of the Asteraceae family really shine. It's hard to get a picture of one without a pollinator of some sort; we've had all kinds of butterflies and skippers, native bees, and hummingbirds, all clamoring for the inflorescences of the daisy family and for their two kinds of flowers - ray and disk. The ray flowers are the ones around the outside (the petals), and the disk flowers are the ones on the inside.

Zinnias, sunflowers, asters, gumplants, cosmos - all in the same family. All a great source of both nectar and pollen for the pollinators.

Fall crops are going strong - leeks, carrots, beets, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, kohlrabi, cabbage - and my first plantings of kale, chard, spinach, and lettuce have gone in.

The beginning of October is always a busy time. Garlic and shallots must be planted, and the tomato plants and stakes removed (a huge project). The chickens will get an enormous compost pile to scratch through, and the garden will reflect the change of seasons.

Of course the Halloween candy is out in the stores and has been since late August. I asked Tom if we could give out seed packets instead of candy this year. He just laughed and asked me to picture some kid's face when I give him a packet of zucchini seeds instead of a Snickers. Point taken.

Our pumpkins never really took off this year, and the ones that did had only male flowers, a certain sign that my soil nutrition was off in the places I planted them. So we'll have to buy our carving pumpkins this year. And there was no room for winter squash, with 49 tomato plants. So in some ways, our garden really isn't going to reflect the change of seasons as much as I'd like.

Meanwhile, we've already had snow in the Sierra. What a strange weather year this has been, for the entire world.

Tomato Topping Results, plus our favorite Salsa recipe

At the end of August, I tried an experiment: I pruned the tops of all my tomato plants. I hoped that would force the tomatoes to ripen the fruit already on the vines, but I wasn't sure it would work. The actual plants looked very forlorn after I finished topping them; I thought maybe I had made a mistake, and that would be the end of the tomato plants.

Well, I'm happy to report, THE EXPERIMENT WORKED. The huge green fruits have been ripening beautifully, and I've been able to preserve more salsa and more pureed tomato sauce for winter. Plus, we've been eating tomatoes every day in some form or another. Frankly, I think this might be the best thing I've ever done and plan to do it the end of every August, to get another big push of fruit. 

Along with cucumbers, herbs, Malabar spinach, and both sweet and hot peppers, the tomatoes have continued to feed us. I miss having corn, watermelon, and cantaloupe, as well as pole beans, so I'm hoping to find a place for those next year. Meanwhile, leeks, shelling peas, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts are growing like mad for our fall garden. Early October will be time to plant garlic and shallots, and sow-in-place kale, chard, spinach, and braising greens to overwinter. Plus we'll be starting our winter wheat experiment.

You can tell I used a lot of orange tomatoes for this particular batch!

We've been through what seems like a million salsa recipes, and this is the one we have decided is our favorite. It's from the Ball Blue Book, I think this particular book is from four years ago (I believe they put out a new one every year). I will copy the original recipe here; I always double it. I've also made some substitution notes and additions, as well as simplified the instructions, because if you're interested in canning, you already know what to do. If you haven't canned before, please contact me for more explicit instructions! Or consult Ball online! 

“Jalapeno Salsa

3 cups chopped tomato (blanched to remove skin and seeds)
3 cups chopped jalapeno peppers (or whatever you have on hand)(remove the seeds if you like)
1 cup chopped onion (I use shallot)
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 T chopped cilantro (I usually use a bit more)
2 teaspoons oregano
1-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 cup cider vinegar (I usually use half cider vinegar and half lime juice)

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Clean jar rims. Center lid on jar and adjust band to finger-tight. Place in canning ‘rig.’

Make sure you have at least an inch of water over the jars, and boil 15 minutes (rolling boil). Turn off heat and let jars sit in water 5 minutes. Then remove from rig and cool.”

If you don't want to can this salsa, you could freeze it in the jars. Just leave more headspace to allow for expansion in the freezer. Once open, store in fridge and use within a month.

Green Lacewing Eggs

I have a vast perennial herb garden, but this year I decided to plant most of my annual herbs in pots, and so we have containers of dill, cilantro, and basil in the North Garden. The dill and cilantro have gone to seed, so I've been collecting those seeds for our pickle projects. I had noticed that some of the umbels had a few aphids on them, but you know my philosophy about prey: Leave 'em alone, and the predators will show up. So I didn't think too much about it. The aphids don't really affect the seeds, after all; they are after the juicy stems at this point. 

Last night I had my plant terminology class, and we were asked to bring five different flower inflorescences in to study. So I picked one of the dill flowers because it has a nice compound umbel inflorescence. When I got to class, I noticed all these white things hanging down from the pedicels, the little stalk that holds the actual flower. So I waited until after class to speak with my professor, because I wanted to know what in the world those were. I had never noticed them before, and why would the plant make something like that?

After a good look, my teacher declared that they were EGGS. So then I got my loupe out and we looked closer and saw tiny worm-like things crawling around with the aphids. My initial thought was that they were thrips. (Here's something I could do better: Not assume that a bug is a bad guy. Presume innocence first!) When I asked Mr. Google this morning ("eggs hanging on dill?"), he directed me to this lovely blog: Red House Garden. And there were the eggs of the Green Lacewing, or Chrysopidae. I promptly went into the garden and started taking pictures of the dill.

Here, they're standing straight up! I put a piece of purple cardboard behind so we could see them.

The eggs are all over, also on the cilantro and the basil. And they're not just on the pedicels. They are also on stems! and flowers!

One of the students last night said, "it looks like a little Christmas tree with tiny ornaments!" and I think she's right! Kind of adorable, now that I know they are good guys!

Green lacewings are generalist predators (meaning they'll eat any soft-bodied insect, good caterpillars as well as nasty aphids), and are widely found across the US in garden and agricultural habitats. The adults feed mainly on nectar and pollen (we love that), and the larvae are voracious predators of the aforementioned soft-bodied insects (we love that even more). They can eat 200 aphids a day! They also eat thrips, whiteflies, mites, mealybugs, insect eggs, and leafhoppers. 

The best write-up I found on these creatures is from the Louisiana Ag Center, which has great pictures of the lacewings in all stages of life. The eggs are laid on 'filaments,' and there are three instar larval stages, before the larvae pupate and become flyers. Sometimes the larvae are called 'Aphid Lions,' because they eat so many of them! From the Louisiana Ag Center: "During the two-week larval stage, a single green lacewing larva can consume approximately 250 leafhopper nymphs.... as well as 300-400 aphids, 11,200 spider mites, 3780 coccid scale crawlers or 6500 scale eggs." Amazing!

Years ago, I bought a pack of lacewing eggs from Arbico organics. Who knows if they are finally taking hold in my garden, or if they flew in of their own accord sometime this year. But I'm glad to see them, recognize them, and celebrate them! 

Farm to Table Lunch at Poppy Corners

Tom is an administrator at City College of San Francisco, which has a wonderful Culinary Arts and Hospitality Department. Tom is friends with the chair of that department, Tannis, and they often talk about Poppy Corners, and Tom often brings in produce, eggs. or honey for Tannis to taste. Tannis had always wanted to connect her department with our 'farm,' in some way. The department has a fundraising auction every year, and this spring Tannis asked Tom if we would host a farm lunch here, cooked by the department staff. Our answer was an enthusiastic yes! And so we were an item at the auction, and a nice young lady won lunch for six, and that lunch finally took place today. 

It wasn't as hot as it was last weekend, but it was still around 100 degrees on our back patio, so these six friends from San Francisco got the real inland summer experience! They were cheerful about it and very interested in the farm and everything we're doing here, and the actual lunch was really spectacular. Two of the department staff, Barbara and Mark, came out to prepare and cook it, and they were terrific. They first visited on Friday to reconnaissance, which was interesting in itself - fun to watch them walk around and talk about what they could use and how they could make it all work. The first thing Barbara wanted to see was our kitchen, and thankfully she didn't blanch at how tiny it is. Then we walked around the garden and picked out the reddest, ripest tomatoes for the gazpacho, some cucumbers, some garlic, some basil, a bunch of eggs, and honey. Today, they arrived back at the house with various boxes and bins and knives and aprons and they got to work immediately. 

As we had already done our own prep work (tidying the garden, cleaning the house, making the centerpiece, minor really), we Boegels tried to stay out of the chefs' way and enjoyed listening in to the chatter: "Your peach pulp is on the second shelf of the fridge." "Will you poach your sausages before grilling them?" "Are those Arbequina olives you preserved?" "I want to present the tortilla on a wooden board," Thrilling, really, to hear how professionals manage all this. At one point I turned to Tom and said, "They sound so calm." Before a dinner party, I usually sound anything but calm.

Our guests arrived, and showed interest in the farm and its workings right away. Barbara served the peach bellinis, made sure everyone had melon and prosciutto bites, and off we went on a tour of the property. Our guests had lots of questions, some had grown their own veg in containers on balconies, some were home brewers, some were frightened of bees, some were adoring of chickens, all were interested in everything we were doing here and that made it a fun tour. 

Then it was time for lunch! Tom and I were included in the meal, which I didn't expect, but was thrilled about; both Kate and Adam got their fare share in the kitchen so they weren't left out (Adam ate everything, Kate ate the gazpacho). The food was amazing, simple cooking (by expert hands), highlighting the ingredients of summer and the farm. The men especially liked Tom's beer and were very interested in his process and his hop bines. Honeybees visited the flowers in the centerpiece as we ate, a hen crowed that she laid an egg, fritillary butterflies flitted around nearby, and a hawk called from the sky. Our six guests, most in their early 30's, were all incredibly well-traveled and had lots of fun stories to share and were fascinating to listen to.

This is exactly what we envisioned when we started this farm project so many years ago: People getting together on a hot summer day around a big home-crafted table, all the bounty of the farm on the table in front of us, and nature singing all around us. Yes, yes, yes. 

We had a marvelous time and the food was stupendous. And I didn't even have to clean the kitchen afterward; Mark and Barbara took care of all of that. What a fabulous day!