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Poppy Corners Farm

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Walnut Creek, California
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Walnut Creek, California

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Poppy Corners Farm

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Home-cooked Dinners

January 22, 2018 Elizabeth Boegel
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As you know, I am a big fan of home-cooked dinners. Our garden harvests often dictate what we eat, but I'm also always looking for inspiration. I don't really enjoy having the same thing all the time (for some reason, I'm ok with it at breakfast time, but not at dinner). That means I am constantly looking at websites, magazines, and books to get new recipes. I thought I'd share a few winners here with you, in case you need some new ideas, too.

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One website that I follow pretty avidly is Smitten Kitchen. Deb takes recipes from all kinds of different sources and reworks them to make them more streamlined, simpler, and easier for busy households. In the process, none of the interest, flavor, or health is lost. We've enjoyed many of her recipes and some are in heavy rotation. She recently posted a new one that was an enormous hit around here. "Sheet pan meatballs with crispy turmeric chickpeas" is definitely a recipe we will be making again. Spicy, but in the warm way, not the painful way, with lots of flavor (especially with a generous lashing of the yogurt sauce), we ate these as sandwiches, sort of like falafel. Delicious. And even better the next day for lunch. 

I use so many of Deb's recipes that I decided it was only fair I should buy her newest book, so I did - and tomorrow night we are going to enjoy her Artichoke and Parmesan Galette. Yum!

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I also recently purchased a Dorie Greenspan cookbook. I've respected her work for years, and decided it was time to actually own something that she'd written. So I bought "Around My French Table" and we've been enjoying recipes from there for a few months now. One of the best we've had is this one:

“Almond Flounder Meuniere (serves 4)

(although we used local Petrale sole instead of flounder)

2/3 C ground almonds
2 T flour
grated zest of one lemon
24 ounces sole
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
cold salted butter, about 4-6 T

Whisk the ground almonds, flour, and zest together, then season with salt and pepper. Pat the fish filets dry. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat one side of each filet with beaten yolk. Then either press that side into the ground almond mixture, or spoon it on top and press into filet.

Heat a large nonstick skillet to medium. Add 2 T of butter and cook it till it turns light brown, about 3 minutes. Slip the filets into the butter (you’ll have to work in batches) nut-side down. Do not crowd. Cook for 3 minutes or so, until golden on bottom, then turn over. Add another T of butter to pan. Cook until the fish is opaque throughout, about another two minutes.

Keep previously cooked filets warm while you cook the rest.

Serve with lemon wedges, toasted sliced almonds, and chopped parsley, if desired.”
— Dorie Greenspan

This was an incredibly simple way to cook this delicate fish, and really, really delicious. By the way, I keep my almond flour (basically just ground almonds) in the freezer until I need it. I do this with all my flours and cornmeals, so they stay fresh.

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I'm also loving my new Lodge cast iron skillet (a birthday present from my parents). I've had a cast iron dutch oven for years, which I mainly use for baking bread, but I've always wanted a skillet too. We've made all kinds of things in it, from dinners to breakfasts. I made a wonderful savory Dutch Baby as a side dish for one dinner. So easy - just make a Dutch Baby like you normally would for breakfast, but omit the sugar and instead add herbs and parmesan. I made Toll House cookies for a bunch of teenaged boys who came over, and cooked them like a pie in the skillet - they were even more yummy that way. (I've made many, many chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years, trying to find the perfect one; I haven't been able to out-do the basic Toll House recipe.)

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For a great winter soup, you really can't beat Pioneer Woman's Chicken and Dumplings. This is a soup that we never get tired of no matter how often we have it; it's certainly even more delicious the next day for lunch, if there is any left over. I usually simplify it a bit; because I often have broth already made, I just bake some chicken breasts in the oven and then shred those, instead of cooking a whole chicken, while using some of the stock I have on hand.

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Ok, your turn: What have been your favorite meals this winter? Please share in the comments, so I can make them too!

 

Tags cooking
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Mushroom ID: Will it ever be Straightforward???

January 16, 2018 Elizabeth Boegel
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I am continually fascinated by, and equally frustrated by, the process of mushroom ID. Wintertime is our mushroom time, as that's when we get the rain - it's dry 8-9 months of the year here in inland Northern CA. So when we get a good rain, boy, that's when the fruiting bodies of these fungi finally pop up, creating such a beautiful display all over the garden. Some are in leaves, some are in soil, but the overwhelming amount I  find are growing in the wood chips we have all covering all the pathways and perennial beds. 

The pictures here today are all from one cluster, found in a shadier part of the garden, under Chinese pistache trees and Ceanothus. The mushrooms are not growing out of the leaves, however - they are growing out of the woodchips.

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You'd think identification of these would be easy - they're NOT 'little brown mushrooms' (or LBM's, as they're known in the mycology world). These are a glorious orange. But when I plucked a few out and went to my trusty mushroom book (California Mushrooms: The Comprehensive Identification Guide), just knowing the color alone did not help. Nor did the fact that they were growing on wood chips. It was really getting the spore print that helped me to identify this mushroom.

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It's easy to do a spore print - just take the stem (or stipe) off the mushroom and place it gills-down on a piece of paper. Cover it with a container to keep it from drying out too quickly, and leave it overnight. In the morning you will have a good idea of the color of the spore. In this case, the spore was a very similar color to the mushroom, but that isn't always the case. For instance, chanterelles are deep yellow mushrooms with light-colored spore. 

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Once I had this spore color, I could begin to key out my species. Do you know about Botanical Keys? They are kind of like a flow chart to determine what it is you are looking at. They are also called Dichotomous Keys. On paper, they can be many many pages long. One of the questions on my lab practical for Terminology was to key out to plant family. The instructor had a plant sitting there that was in bloom. We had to take a flower and dissect it to determine all its parts, and then key it out. It was not as easy as you would think and a lot of folks had trouble with it. Some books, like my mushroom book, include a key at the very beginning to get you to the genus of mushroom that you are looking for. Then there are keys in each spore color group, so if you know the spore color, you can go right to that key. It's an interesting process. 

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Of course there are terms that I had to look up, like the aforementioned 'stipe,' plus things like adnexed or adnate, decurrent or subdecurrent, etc. Yikes. 

I found a nice online keying system for mushrooms that got me to the right genus, too - but it is very east-coast centered, so I had to find the correct west-coast version in my book. This system is called MycoKeys. I thought this was a nice way to figure this mushroom out if there isn't a field guide handy. (For an interesting example of an online botanical key, check out this one from the UK.)

Anyway, after fiddling around with these dang mushrooms for two days, I think I have my ID. I believe these orange mushrooms are Pholiota malicola var. macropoda. Unfortunately, the edibility of this particular mushroom is 'unknown.' So I guess we won't be eating them anytime soon. Still, this was a useful exercise in recognizing and identifying mushrooms. The problem is, I probably won't remember this. And then I'll have to do it all again next year.

How are you at ID'ing fungus? Do you enjoy doing it? Do you ever get GOOD at it? Are you one of those knowledgable people who can forage for edible fungi? And if so, are you willing to take me under your wing? :)

Tags mushrooms, mulch
6 Comments

"Greenwashing" at Farmers Markets

January 12, 2018 Elizabeth Boegel
Public Market, Seattle - pretty sure these guys are legit and highly regulated

Public Market, Seattle - pretty sure these guys are legit and highly regulated

Piggybacking on my post about buying real honey a couple of days ago, here's another scam of which we need to be aware. Yesterday I received my monthly copy of Mother Earth News magazine. In the 'news' section, there was a brief article titled "How to Ask the Right Questions at a Farmers Market." This is in response to the problem of greenwashing, which is unfortunately becoming more and more prevalent. I first heard about this only about six months ago, but it seems that it's now a common problem. And since I frequently encourage you to buy locally from Farmers Markets, I think it's important that you know there is a dark side.

Greenwashing: "Disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image."

We are becoming smarter and more selective consumers, and this means that producers have to come up with new ways to get us to buy their products. It's now quite common at the local Farmers Market to 1) have vendors who are not farmers at all and have no affiliation with the farm, 2) have produce that is grown by large commercial and conventional farms re-sold under the guise of small and local, and 3) have produce with misleading labels. 

It really stinks that we have to navigate the markets, once a safe space, with a more discriminating mind, but guess what? That's how much power your food dollar has. Never think that your everyday buying habits are not making change, because they are, so much so that the big companies have to figure out ever sneakier ways to trick you. 

My own personal Farmers Market, right outside the back door

My own personal Farmers Market, right outside the back door

We'll talk about other options besides the Market too, but first, the Cornucopia Institute, a non-profit out of Wisconsin ("promoting economic justice for family scale farming"), has created a handy printable guide for you to take to the Market with you. It has a list of questions for you to ask the vendor, which will help you determine whether the food is really local, if it's in season, if it's organic. As I've often said here, if you talk to the farmer, you'll learn all you need to know, and this guide will help you to do that. Real farmers are so happy to answer your questions, so happy to talk about the work they are doing, because they are proud of it and proud of their product.

By the way, local small farmers often can't afford the official organic certification. Don't let that stop you from buying from them. Many of them limit the use of chemicals because it's simply a best practice; if you talk with them, they'll be happy to tell you about it. 

Remember the seasons, too. If it's December and your local market has tomatoes, you should be suspicious. However if it's May and your local market has tomatoes, that farmer just might have a heated greenhouse and a very clever touch. You'll know if you talk to them. If you don't know what's in season right now (and how could you help but be confused when you can buy most produce any time of year in any big store?), there are lots of good guides for figuring that out. For instance, you could go to The Seasonable Food Guide and type in your state to find out what's in season during each month. It says that right now, in California, in early January, there are nearly 70 items I can buy that are in season. (Granted, when I type in Minnesota, there are only 14 choices. But still! 14! Pretty amazing in that climate. Some are stored items like sweet potatoes.)

Now I have a confession to make. I actually don't love shopping at Farmers Markets. Most of it has to do with a sort of impulse I feel about wanting to buy something from everyone. I get all weirded out by the vendors watching me look at their produce and then not buying something.I've been to countless markets and I nearly always feel it, especially in the dead of January when the offerings are small (as they should be!) and farmers are probably hurting. Going in there and asking questions of them makes me even more uncomfortable. It feels like asking them to prove themselves. But here's something I know is absolutely true: If I were selling my produce at the market and someone came up and started asking me questions, I'D BE DELIGHTED. I'd be so thrilled to talk about my farm and how I do things. Goodness why do you think I write this blog? Basically to brag about what we grow here! So if a vendor is reluctant to talk to you, well then, you're right to be suspicious.

However! If all of this just makes your skin crawl and you just can't do it, there is another option; you could connect directly with the farms in your area. CSA boxes are a great way to get the produce directly from the farm, delivered right to your door (sometimes there is a pick-up location). You simply sign up with the farm to receive a box of whatever they have growing every week, every two weeks, or every month. Sometimes they ask you to purchase a few months right up front - this is good for them because it gives them the resources they need to buy seed and supplies. It gives them a guaranteed income. And you get a box of great stuff on the regular. 

I'll tell you what, it'll force you to cook what's in season, with new produce that you may never have cooked before. Many of the farms include recipes in their boxes so that you have some ideas to start with. It's a fun adventure! And since these CSA farms offer visits and tours, you'll be able to see firsthand the operation and have the confidence in knowing you're buying the good stuff. You can often even volunteer work time to lower the price of your subscription, which gives you the added benefit of learning what it takes to put food on your plate. 

The amount of different things you can buy from subscription is huge - eggs, wine, dairy - I even bought my parents a fish subscription one year from a local Sacramento River Fish Farm. I think they'd tell you how fun it was to get different kinds of fish every month!  As I've written about here before, we even had a meat subscription for a time from a local grassfed operation. It was great. 

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I just ordered more wheat from a local place near us in the Capay Valley, Full Belly Farm. They aren't really set up for that kind of thing, but I've developed a relationship with them over time and they are happy to send me wheat every six months or so. It just took one phone call that first time to set that up, and they've been so accommodating. We've also been there several times, to eat a fabulous Mother's Day dinner, to pick up organic straw, and just to visit the farm. They have an open door policy. That's the kind of transparency you want! Many, many family farms are doing CSA boxes now, and one great place to figure out who is in your area is Local Harvest. Just put in your zip code and find out what farms are near you!

I'm sorry that we all have to be so discriminating when it comes to our food, and not just at big supermarkets, but also at the small Farmers Market. But it's just one more step in making sure we are eating the very best produce available, and sending a message with our purchases, too.

Tags learning, local, farm to table, organic
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Is the Honey You're Buying Actually Honey?

January 10, 2018 Elizabeth Boegel
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I noticed yesterday that Netflix added a new documentary series to their stable; it's called "Rotten" and is all about fraud in our food supply chain. There are episodes about chickens, milk, and peanuts, but I have only watched the first one so far, which is about honey.

The problem of adulterated honey came to my attention a few years ago, when I saw a news piece about it. The demand for honey has increased substantially in the last few years, as many folks feel it is a healthier alternative to sugar. I'm not sure I can speak to that claim, but it is true that raw, unfiltered, unheated honey has lots of great nutrients and pollen included. This same honey can also be used on wounds, as it is a natural antibiotic and antifungal. (Many folks feel that eating pure raw honey can help with allergies. My feeling on that is that most of the pollen folks are allergic to are from trees, most of which are wind-pollinated, so don't end up in honey. But it certainly can't hurt.)

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So, the demand has increased tremendously, but the supply has decreased steadily in that time, due to all of the problems honeybees are having. Some of these problems come straight from us and our decimation of the environment, and some of these problems are related to new pests and diseases. Regardless of the cause, honeybee colonies are failing (still) at a rate of 50% per year. 

Which begs the question: Just where is all our honey coming from?

Well, the greatest exporter of honey is China, with Germany coming in second. It became clear to our country early on that China was adulterating their honey, cutting it with corn syrup to increase bulk (classic drug-dealer move). Once we realized that, tests were developed to determine if a product was tainted with fillers, and then China found a way around that, by using rice syrup, which can't be detected. At that point we banned honey coming in from China, but they found a way around that, by sending it through other countries. At the present time a huge amount of honey is coming in from Asia and Europe, a lot of it originally from China. 

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Some of the honey is diluted with other plant syrups, but it's also often contaminated with hormones and antibiotics that are not allowed here in the United States, some of them toxic in large doses. Scientists are getting smarter and smarter with their detection of these substances, but a good amount of it still gets through, and it ends up on our grocery store shelves.

Maybe this doesn't concern you, and if that's the case, you can stop reading right now and continue to enjoy your fake honey. However it does concern me. For one thing, I want to know that the food I'm eating is labeled correctly (seems a little thing, but more and more I'm realizing that it's not). But an even greater problem is that the small, local honey bee farmers are being priced out, because people think honey is honey is honey. So they buy the cheap stuff.

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Your small, local producer knows nearly every plant from which his or her bees are feeding (a large area, but we know our neighborhoods, and most of us provide gardens nearby from which our bees mainly forage). They are completely hands-on, checking hives daily. They extract and bottle the honey by hand, no small job. If they label it raw and unfiltered, that means nothing has been done to it, except for screening out a few dead bees and a stray wing or two. If it's labeled organic, that means that farmer had control of 3 -5 square miles of territory, as the bees can forage that distance if they need to. That's a huge area, if you consider a mile is 640 acres. It's not easy to find organic honey, simply because most farmers can't afford that kind of land, especially in California. Your neighborhood beekeeper probably won't be able to say he or she is organic, but that's ok - in this case it's more important to know that you're buying real honey rather than the fake stuff.

Buying local means that your average jar of honey at the farmer's market is going to cost twice as much, if not three times as much, as that bear-shaped container in your grocery store. And most of us don't like to pay that much for food. We have become accustomed to thinking that our food should be cheap. I've said it before, with regards to eggs and meat, and I'll say it again: Your food should not be cheap. Stop buying $4 cups of coffee and new iPhones, and instead put that money into pastured, organic food. Support your local farmers. Budget more for the stuff you put in your mouth, because it really matters, not only to your health and your conscience, but also to keeping the little guys in business. 

We personally don't sell our extra honey (and we do get more than we need from just one hive), because we like to give it as gifts to our neighbors, teachers, family, and friends. I know they are all grateful for those small gifts, but I often wonder if they know how precious this stuff really is, considering that what is in our food supply chain is so inferior. The honey that comes from local hives tastes different depending on the season and what the bees were foraging on. It's different colors and has different scents. It has just as much terroir as a bottle of good wine. I'm sure those who drink milk from their family cow feel quite the same way about that milk. These things need to be better appreciated. You deserve to drink good wine, right? You deserve just as fully to eat good honey. 

So buy local. Find your farmers market. Get to know your neighborhood beekeeper. Buy from small local groceries. Ask questions. Know the providence of your food.

 

Tags bees, beekeeping, honey, rant, learning, food economics
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When is the Best Time to Replace Fruit Trees?

January 7, 2018 Elizabeth Boegel

When we moved in to this house thirteen years ago, there were three fruit trees already in the landscape: An apple, a peach, and a quince. There's no telling when these trees were planted, but it's safe to say that they are at least 20 years old, and probably older - this house was a rental property for decades before we bought it, and the owner was, by all accounts, very hands-off. So I'm guessing these trees are quite old. The quince has resisted all attempts to remove it, and just keeps coming back. Now it has earned its space by providing cover for the chickens in their run and I don't intend to remove it, no matter if it fruits or not. (I never know what to do with the fruits anyway.)

But the peach and the apple are dear to us. They've borne well in the time we've lived here, despite their age. They were pruned badly before we came, and I pruned them badly again before I knew what I was doing. They've withstood changes in the landscape (non-irrigated 'lawn' when we moved in, irrigated 'lawn' for a while after, and then sheet mulching and raised bed vegetable production), changes in maintenance (left alone for years, then highly fussed over), and my over-zealous clippers. But in the past six months, I've noticed some changes in these trees that aren't so great. They both have weeping wounds, some caused by humans but some just appearing for no apparent reason; they both aren't healing pruning cuts the way they have in the past; and they both have discolored cankerous growths that I can't seem to identify. Plus, the center of the large branches seem to have some internal rot.

Apple:

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Peach:

Plus the peach has some irreparable structural problems that I cannot correct without taking off very major scaffolding branches, which would mean taking away most of the fruiting capability for a time. 

Fruit trees in production in orchards seem to last about 15 years on average, before the owners replace them, as they decline and produce less fruit as they get older. Since fruit trees generally don't fruit until their 4th or 5th year, that means they have about 10 prime years of production before going into decline, though they can of course live much longer with proper pruning and maintenance (though 'living' and 'fruiting' are two different matters). 

It's hard to know when it's time to replace them, and I'm struggling with answering this question for my own garden. We still get fruit from these two trees; however, production has declined and the quality of the fruit is less. I'm noticing that a significant portion of my time has to be spent correcting problems and enhancing the fruiting ability, rather than the very light pruning maintenance my newer trees require.

If we started fresh this year with two-year-old bare root trees, I could prune them properly right from the beginning of their lives which would help tremendously. I could also plant some resistant varieties so that I don't need to treat them chemically, which is a huge plus. I could choose heirloom varieties that do well in this climate, which is getting warmer and drier every year. I could choose more ideal planting spots for these trees, too, and get some good organic matter worked deeply into the soil while planting. And finally, it would be nice to actually know the variety we are growing, instead of guessing. 

I've loved this apple, though it produces smaller and smaller fruit each year, and is on the tart side. It might be nice to choose a slightly sweeter, larger variety. The peach likewise has been great, but I dislike fuzzy skin and it would be nice to have a nectarine instead so that I wouldn't have to peel it. Might as well plant what you want, right?

This will bear some more discussion and thought, though if I'm going to order new trees, now is the time. I'd love opinions from those who have an orchard and have replaced trees. I'd also like to know what kind of fruit trees you are growing and if you like them. Finally, I'd love to know about tree companies in the area that might not be so well-known. I found a great nursery in Portland Oregon called "Trees of Antiquity." They have a nice selection and good growing notes, but I'd like to find out about others. Please share in the comments!

Tags fruit garden
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