What's up, growing up that is, on the land.....

Some updates on what's growing around here!

 

I knew strawberries did better the second year, but OH BOY!  This is part of a second bowl full we've gotten recently.  It is so perfect!  The taste is miles better than any you could get from the store right now, just lovely.  I can't wait for more of these gems to be found! 

This large brown patch now has fast growing seedlings everywhere!  Beans along the fence, tons of squash, yellow, acorn, butternut, green squash, zucchini, and pumpkins.  I am a bit disappointed at the watermelon, but three little tiny seedlings are finally taking off up on the right.  We have rows and rows of different kinds of tomatoes to the left of the squash, potatoes and sweet potatoes on the far left, and cucumbers too mixed around towards the far end.  Mr. Hopewell randomly planted more squash, eggplant, and some random seeds towards the far end, it will be surprise gardening!

I am soooo pleased with these squash plants!

  Some of our tomatoes are now really taking off, there are bigger ones than this now that we had a week of rain, ending with sun and humidity. 

 

 Some cucumber and squash seeds that were directly sown. 

Nice little yellow squash growing strong. 

 We have sun flowers at each short end, and marigolds throughout the garden.  The newest plant in our collection was Rhubarb from the market this past weekend.  I can't wait for strawberry rhubarb pie!  My mouth is already watering!

Some rainy cold May days......

The garden is in, the new fence guarding the chickens, ducks and turkeys from the sly fox that snatch more than a few last week is up, and the rains and cold temps came in!  This called for homemade broth lovingly combined with Kale from another friend at the market who sells greens to make a delicious, hearty, and oh so nourishing soup.  I am proud to say I am more and more brave in my cooking adventures.  My friend who bakes gluten free for us at the market has totally hooked me on Kale.  She made soup for us the other day and I followed suit.  Here is what I came up with.

1 lb. sausage
1 large onion
5-6 small peppers
a bunch of cilantro
1 quart plus 1 pint soup stock, I used our chicken and pork stock
1 quart water
salt, and pepper to taste
1 tbsp. oregano
1 tbsp. garlic
diced potatoes (optional)
large bag/bundle of kale
Any other veggies you like to add, beans, carrots, celery, etc.

In a large soup/stock pot drizzle two tablespoons oil or a few tabs of butter.  Sauté one onion, and I had peppers that day so they went in.  I added salt and pepper, garlic, and oregano.  After these veggies got soft I added my broth.  About 1 quart and 1 pint.  Then I added one quart of water.  I let this start to simmer and come to a small boil before I added anything else.  I had cilantro that I forgot to sue in a recipe so that got chopped and added, along with the chopped Kale.  I had sausage front the hog we just got from the butcher.  After I fried the sausage and added it to the soup it simmered until the kale was soft.  I didn't have to add any more salt or pepper, and it hit the spot on the cold rainy days this week.  Enjoy!

A sweet request.....

So at the market we meet many many people.  Some have become regulars already, many are new for the day, and a few are vendors we have become friends with.  We regularly see our friend from Mushrooms Naturally.  He has a very cool story, from Sous Chef to Mushroom farmer.  There is our friend who has a soap business with her husband, S&S Soap, the spice lady, barrel furniture guy, cutting board man, Meat market guy with Polish decent, a couple starting a farm who also just started marketing, the young couple who bake artisan bread, the lady with pottery.  And so many more!  Then there is the older gentleman who came up to ask me about Date Nut bread.  His request was for date but bread like his mother used to make.  His wife tried after the first week he asked me, I didn't have a recipe, and hers was not dark enough I guess.  So I felt bad, honestly I didn't know if he was serious,mand started researching.  I had big shoes to fill as he had not had any since his mother passed, and I felt the pressure.  I asked friends and family, searched my old church cook books, the Internet, and asked mom.  I found the basic recipe to be the same, just some minor variations.  I did not go with the recipe that called for alcohol since I wanted to start with a simple formula. And.......

Mr. Hopewell declares it is the absolutee best bread I have made.  He prefers the rich dense bread compared to the more dry cake like texture we seem to love in this country.  He liked it so much he didn't want me to sell it!  Tonight I found this.......

Just minutes after I took it from the oven!  He said when warm it tasted so similar to a traditional bread pudding from down south and I totally agree!

We will find out the verdict of my special customer this Saturday, but after his wife took three of the mini-loaves, and we promptly sold the other two I had, it seems promising that this recipe will be a hit.  I have six more loaves in the oven as I write this, and I am sure two will be gone by Saturday!  If you'd like to try, enjoy!

I cup dried dates chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp baking soda

Pour boiling water over dates and baking soda.  Let the mixture cool completely.

Cream together
1/2 cup butter(softened)
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Add one cup flour, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1 cup chopped walnuts.  Mix a few times to incorporate, then add the date/water/baking soda mixture.  Mix together. Bake at 350 degrees, a large loaf pan 40 minutes, mini loaves about 25-30 minutes.  The bread will appear dark and almost seem burnt in color.

Did you know we got ducks?

Many customers and friends at the market come by and see out chicken pictures.  They love seeing what we have out here laying the beautiful brown jewels they come to the market to buy.  We chat about what varieties we have, what will start laying this summer, and then I mention we have ducks!  We were again at the farm store getting feed and they just so happened to be getting their last and HUGE order of chicks.  This led to a discussion about what they had in the back too, and there were some ducks and turkeys that were older and needed a home.  We got them for less than retail since they were older.  7 Peking Ducks, and 9 white turkeys.  One duck was a runt with a leg issue so it was thrown in for free, "just in case". 

Here they are on their first field trip to the yard and a mud hole from the rainstorm they had a great time getting dirty in.

Little tiny Puddle the yellow duck under the light was in the house for a while until his feet got under him.  I think the turkeys think they are ducks too :)

Fast forward about four weeks and looky here!  They are HUGE!  We are excited to find out if they are boys are girls soon.  I have read that boys have a curled feather on their tail, and a lower more raspy sounding quack.  While girls have the normal quack you would think of when listening to a duck.  These are usually raised for meat but we are keeping them for eggs first to see how that goes. I have read that they can start laying within 7 months, so lets hope it is sooner than later!  I can't wait for Duck eggs!

As they are free ranging now a tragedy happened this week.  I came home after helping at the school to find three turkeys and our beloved Puddle dead in the grass.  It looked like something just killed them and didn't take them or eat them.  We are sad, but know that this is nature too.  Our little farm girl said some words as daddy buried them, and we are celebrating their life this Sunday with cake, homemade ice cream, and some outside fun, probably in the water :)  We better leave the dogs outside when we are gone from now on!