Finished up the jalapenos

Bill said to me Sunday morning over coffee, let's do some canning today. Music to my ears!

We finished up the remaining jalapenos from my earlier jalapeno canning fun. We got 9 1/2 quarts of escabeche. Escabeche is a Mexican pickled jalapeno mix. We follow Rick Bayless' recipe from Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking... Essentially it is a mix of jalapenos, garlic, carrots and cauliflower in a vinegary oregano brine. We typically use serranos instead of jalapenos, but since we were overflowing in jalapenos this year...

Brown the garlic in oil for 3 minutes

Carrots. Unfortunately, from the produce market, not the farmer's market.


Filling the jars



Into the canner

Waiting for the ping. See the cauliflower, carrots and garlic?

Additionally, we roasted 3 tin foil trays of green tomatoes that I brought home from our Wisc garden last weekend and made 12 more pints of roasted green salsa. Roasting green tomatoes on a hot grill brings out the sugars and makes them sweet and juicy.

I forgot to take a photo of the finished product.

I think we are set for spicy food in jars for this winter!

Tree coming down

We are having a tree removed from the farm. The large spruce behind the house. It is way too large for Bill to remove so we hired someone.

I love this tree and we tried to save it. But frankly, it is way too large for the space it is in. Additionally, since we are designing passive solar into our plans and this non-deciduous tree is on the south side of the house, it is coming down.

We are saving the wood and going to have it milled into board lengths for use as stair treads and perhaps cabinets.

Some of the smaller trees between the house and the red building (which is now gone) are also coming down

It is being cut today. It sure will look different when we go up next time.

Beet burger recipe

Adapted from Farmer John's Cookbook - The Real Dirt on Vegetables

Baked Beet-and-Carrot Burgers (except I doubled the beets and omitted the carrots)

1/2 C sesame seeds (I didn't have so I skipped)
1 C sunflower seeds
2 C peeled, grated beets (peeled? No way. As I mentioned above, I doubled the beets and then added some more.)
2 C grated carrots
1/2 c minced onion
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 C cooked brown rice
1 C grated cheddar cheese (I skipped this because the cheese gets lost amongst the beets and we prefer the cheese melted on top of the burger before serving)
1/2 C vegetable oil (I think I used a combination of vegetable and olive oil)
1/2 C finely chopped fresh parsley (I can't remember what I used, but I didn't have enough parsley so I probably used beet greens or chard)
3 T flour
2 T tamari
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 t cayenne pepper (I used red pepper flakes)

Brown sesame seeds in dry skillet until fragrant, about 3 to 5 mins. Remove from heat immediately. Repeat process with sunflower seeds.

Combine the beets, carrots and onion in a large bowl. Stir in the toasted seeds, eggs, rice, cheese and then the remaining ingredients. Mix until well combined (use your hands).

Shape (again with your hands) into 12 patties (we actually do more of a hot dog shape as they fit better on baguettes or on pitas) and freeze.

To bake: preheat oven to 350. Lightly coat a baking sheet with butter. Bake until brown around the edges and fragrant; about 20 minutes (depends upon the size of your patties). Not necessary to turn them over unless they are really large or you like them brown on both sides. Melt a piece of sharp cheddar on top and serve alone or on a bun.

Enjoy.

As you can tell from my substitutions, this is an extremely forgiving recipe. Feel free to add according to your whims.

Cannin'

I've been canning.

I got a bunch of beautiful tomatoes from my friends and fellow farmers at The Gentleman Farmer. They canned up beautifully. I have 24 quarts. Loving my pressure canner El! :)

And a couple of weeks ago, I spent a day helping my friend Molly at Breslin Farms. We harvested beets for the Dill Pickle Food Coop and she gave me the 'rejects' aka 'the ugly beets.' You know - the ones that people in the store won't buy because they are misshappen or have insect/pest damage. She gave me all of the rejects - and a beautiful bunch also which we ate fresh. I processed all of the ugly beets into beet burgers and froze about 20 of them. That is 10 quick weeknight meals for Bill and me.

See - a little misshapen. OK with me...




In the food processor

Into the big bowl. Add some eggs, ww flour, herbs, nuts.

I also purchased about a half bushel of jalapenos from a farmer at the Independence Park Farmer's Market where the Urban Worm Girl sets up every other week. (note to self: a half bushel of jalapenos is a lot of jalapenos!) I made 15 pints of bread and butter jalapenos, 12 half pints of pepper jelly and 4 half pints of peach/jalapeno jam.

Cut up and chillin' in an ice bath (yes, I wore gloves)



Lovely red onion from Breslin Farms

In the pot

Vinegar-y and look at the peppercorns!

Resting and waiting for the ping

The peach/jalapeno is in the middle. I used peaches from my parent's neighbor's tree

I only used about 1/2 of the jalapenos. The can jam over at Tigress is using chiles in October so I might have to wait for that round up to get some additional ideas!

Stateline Farm Beginnings Farmer Training Program

We've graduated!

http://www.learngrowconnect.org/node/2811

Honestly, this was one of the best experiences of my adult life. I certainly learned a lot about myself. I learned a lot about running a small business. I was and continue to be challenged by an extraordinary group of passionate folks. I feel lucky to be a small part of this agricultural renaissance.

Barn Progress

Gotta save this old barn

We have ramped up our efforts on saving the barn. The angle of this photo doesn't show the "sway" that is in the ridgeline of the barn, however, it does show how this barn is built into the hillside. By walking up the trail to the left, up behind the left side of this photo, you can enter the top (haymow) of the barn. There are two entrances to the lower portion: through the milk house (the little white portion at the front of the building) or via a sliding large door in the feedlot (on the right).

The interior - taken while standing in the milkhouse

The barn swayback problem is two-fold. First, the back (built into the wall side) is limestone and it is deteriorating. Secondly, many of the large supports are resting on spans that have rotted and are being propped up with a collection of old car jacks and cinder blocks. Before we can repair the back wall, we need to restabilize the support of the barn. To that end, we are breaking open portions of the barn floor to pour new footings for new supports to allow us to jack up the barn, straighten it, and then repair the back wall. Instead of trying to repair the old limestone, we are going to build a form and pour concrete over the stone. Oh, and we need a new roof too. Yikes.

See photos of the some of the framing stabilization (and the state of the limestone) that we did earlier this year here.

So we are in this project for real now.

Bill is scoring with the concrete saw

After scoring, we have an 18" square to jackhammer out.

Bill recently purchased a jackhammer. (I know....) It has proven to be invaluable for this project and small enough (less than 75 lbs) so I am able to also use it.

Bill is jackhammering inside one of the holes to break up stone inside the hole.

This is only about 20" - we need to continue to 42".

I purchased a new pair of gloves in July from my friends Ann and Liz at Green Heron Tools, which sells farming and work gear for women. This is the type of project that involves digging by hand - literally pulling out the gravel and stone by hand. All of this stone work has worn out the fingertips so I've got to get a new pair. I love the message on these gloves - Strong Women Building A Gentle World. When I am frustrated and tired it is very inspirational to me.

Pressure canning

I finally overcame my awe and fear of my new pressure canner and fired it up. After this, I think I can retire my water bath canner. El has posted often that she uses her pressure canner for all canning needs and now I can see why. It seems to be more energy efficient - heating 1.5 inches of water to boiling takes much less energy than a entire waterbath kettle full of water, and it puts off less heat as the canner is covered. It is a bit intimidating as it seems like it might/could explode, but we certainly bought a really safe one that is made in Wisconsin (El's recommendation).

I made a roasted tomato soup and I was able to get 5 quarts canned. Next time, I will do a lot more, although I had run out of tomatoes. I used a combination of red, yellow and even a couple of Green Zebras and it really was a lovely orange color.

Straining the soup

Hot outta the canner

Come January, this will be a welcome hot meal.

It's a big canner for sure, can fit two layers of jars