Orb Weaver Farm

Winter, 2012

2012-01-16T18:34:00.000-05:00

Winter. Today the length of the day was 9 hours, 15 minutes. As short as these days are, we've actually added 23 minutes of light to the day. By thursday, the next day we make cheese, we'll have added another 5. This is how it builds. Day by day, minute by minute. At first, it's achingly slow. Then we walk down to the barn in the morning with glimpses of light in the east. But for now, the days are short, and it's cold and stark out there.

No matter the weather outside, inside the barn it's cozy and the beautiful green hay makes the barn smell like a new mown field

This winter we are milking 7 cows.

Here's YoYo with her calf, Bounty.Born on Thanksgiving day, we thought it was a rather appropriate name for kicking off the milking season.

Timothy, and baby Kudo

Gouda & Truffle

Frolic & Whimsy

Also this year we are milking Foxie, Bosco, and Orbit.

So, while waiting for the returning sun, we are busy milking the cows and making cheese. Not a bad way to spend the winter!

The MNFC & Us

2011-11-27T11:51:00.001-05:00

These short dark days are the perfect time to reflect on this past summer. It was a season of great ups and downs. Torrential rains,rain damaged plants and some tomato disease, made it feel like it was going to be a really poor year, but with great lettuce, shallot, red pepper and broccoli crops, it ended up being a pretty average one, which, really, was a feat in itself.

This summer marked our 31st year selling produce to the Middlebury Natural Foods Coop. We work closely with them, meeting in the winter to talk with Kira, the produce manager, about what she wants us to grow for them. It's a wonderful relationship . The coop takes great pride in promoting local growers, and we in turn work to give them produce that shines in their display case.

Kira ( produce manager) Judith & Katherine are part of the amazing produce staff

Sandy & Judith checking in our produce delivery

The produce always looks like a cornucopia

In addition to produce the coop also sells huge amounts of our cheeses.

Annapourna & Karen keep the cheese case looking beautiful

We are so fortunate to be able to sell most of our veggies and cheese to such an amazing store.... here's to year 32! And now it's time to focus on the winter part of the farm...cows!

Eggplant In Winter

2011-09-24T16:11:00.012-04:00

Most of the vegetables we 'put up' for the winter are straight forward in their preparations. Peas and corn are blanched, then frozen. Onions, carrots, potatoes and shallots are stored in the basement. Tomatoes are canned whole or pureed. Eggplant however, has always been savored as a purely fresh summer delicacy. We had tried freezing, pickling, but nothing we tried seemed to be worth the effort. That is, until we discovered a fabulous way to freeze breaded and cooked eggplant slices. They are crunchy and creamy, and make the best eggplant parmesan you can imagine. Here's the recipe, adapted from Cook's Illustrated.

Eggplant Parmesan

2 pounds eggplant, peeled and cut into 1/4 " rounds

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

4 cups panko bread crumbs

1 cup grated Orb Weaver Cave aged cheese ( or, Parmesan )

1 cup white flour

4 large eggs

8 tablespoons olive oil

1. Toss half of the eggplant slices with 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt in a large bowl until combined; transfer salted eggplant to a large colander set in your sink. Repeat with remaining eggplant and salt, placing it on top of first batch, or in a second colander

Arrange eggplant slices on a triple layer of paper towels, cover with more paper towels. Press each slice to remove as much liquid as possible.

2. While eggplant is draining, adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions, place a rimmed baking sheet on each rack and heat oven to 425º.

3. Put Panko bread crumbs in a pie plate and stir in 1 cup cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, set aside.

Combine flour and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large zipper-lock bag, shake to combine

Beat eggs in a second pie plate.

4. Place 8 to 10 eggplant slices in bag with flour, and shake to coat eggplant

Remove slices, shaking off excess flour, dip in eggs, let excess egg run off, then coat evenly with the panko mixture

Set breaded slices on wire rack set over a baking sheet. Repeat with remaining eggplant

5. Carefully remove preheated baking sheets from oven. Put 3 tablespoons oil on each sheet, tilting to coat pan evenly. Place half breaded eggplant on each sheet in a single layer, bake until eggplant is well browned and crisp, about 30 minutes, switching and rotating sheets after 10 minutes and flipping eggplant slices with spatula after 20 minutes.

6. Let cool on wire racks. Put in a zip lock freezer bag.. don't forget to write the date on the bag!. In the dark days of winter take out as many slices as you'd like, layer with tomato sauce and cheese, and bake until bubbly.

Summer On The Farm

2011-07-18T10:20:00.006-04:00

Luckily for gardeners, plants are incredibly resilient, and the will to thrive so strong, that, for the most part, they are able to ride out the ebbs and flows of weather. With the summer well under way, the tomatoes in particular have had quite the ride. Our garden follows a 3 year rotation, and this year they are in our heaviest soil. The pounding rains in May and June turned their soil into cement, and they really were struggling to live. But with lot's of care, and cultivation to aerate the soil most are coming along.

Spurred on by my friend, Catlin, I've been foliar feeding tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, and melons with a seaweed/fish mixture every 2 weeks. I use a 4 gallon back pack sprayer ( 6 loads the other morning). As he says, it's best to put it on "when the birds are singing", in other words, in the early morning, or the end of the day. And really, it's a beautiful way to start the day. The sun is just rising, the birds are re-claiming their territories for the day, and all is peaceful. The plants seem to be loving all the extra TLC. The leaves are green and healthy, and the plants are loaded with fruit.

An upside to all the wet weather we've had has been wonderful chanterelles mushrooms. Coming upon them in the woods is always a thrill. There is nothing that looks like them so they can't be confused with anything poisonous. We've been enjoying them tossed with fresh homemade pasta, seasoned with fresh parsley, basil, and a bit of our butter.

The Pleasures Of The Dairy

2011-05-26T10:40:00.007-04:00

I love how our farm is divided into 2 distinct seasons. In the winter, all activity takes place around the barn, cheese room, and cave, where it's all about the cow, and all things bovine. It's a wonderful routine. Our cows calve in November, and, since we don't ship fluid milk ( like most farmers do), we go right to cheesemaking. Even after making cheese for more than 30 years, I always find the process thrilling. To be able to take such a wonderful yet perishable product like milk and turn it into cheese never ceases to amaze.

But, it's more than just about the cheese. It's the caring for the cows, the wonderful smells and sounds of the barn. It's our great community of friends and neighbors who stop by when they know we are in the barn doing chores to visit, and buy fresh, creamy milk right from the bulk tank. It's also the kids who come here and get to taste what real milk tastes like, to pet the calves, and to help feed the cows, to watch milking and learn where their milk comes from.

Before we leave the world of cheese, and move on to the vegetable season of the farm, I wanted to share one of my favorite treats from this past winter. It's a wonderful recipe for cheese crackers from the lovely new cookbook ' around my french table' by Dorie Greenspan (and edited by my friend Rux Martin) . I use a mixture of Orb Weaver cave and regular waxed cheese, but feel free to use a nice Gruyere, or any cheese to your liking.

Cheese Crackers:

8 Tablespoons ( 1 stick) cold butter cut into small pieces

1/4 pound grated cheese, about 1 cup ( I use 1/2 cave aged, and 1/2 farmhouse )

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon dried hot pepper flakes

1/8 teaspoon ground pepper

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons white flour

Put butter, cheese, salt, hot and ground peppers in a food processor and pulse until the mixture makes small curds

add the flour and pulse until mixed and curds form again ( can take up to 1 minute)

Turn onto work surface, shape into 2 logs, and wrap in saran, Chill for at least an hour

Preheat oven to 350º

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

Cut chilled logs into 1/4" discs

Place on baking sheet, and bake until golden, 20-25 minutes.

Cool on rack

Remembering

2011-04-26T11:27:00.008-04:00

Even though it's still too wet to get planting in the garden, spring is slowly creeping in. I walk around the yard greeting the returning flowers, the budding trees, hearing the birds, the spring peepers. Over the winter I forget the sounds, the smells, the beauty of it all.

Here is a lovely poem by Timothy J. Nolan

Long Winter

So much I've forgotten

the grass

the birds

the close insects

the shoot- the drip-

the spray of the sprinkler

freckles- strawberries

the heat of the Sun

the impossible

humidity

the flush of your face

so much

the high noon

the high grass

the patio ice cubes

the barbeque

the buzz of them-

the insects

the weeds-the dear

weeds-that grow

like alien life forms-

all Dr. Suessy and odd-

here we go again--

we are turning around

again-this will all

happen over again

and again- it will

Waiting On Spring

2011-04-20T14:15:00.005-04:00

Perhaps we keep a record of the day's weather to divine some sort of a pattern over the years, some sort of trend to fill in the blanks, to let us know what's coming next. But really, there is none. One year April is warm and sunny following a bitterly cold winter, sometimes it's snowy after a winter with no real snow. This year's April is cold, rainy and raw after having many huge snow storms, but not terribly cold.

The shoveling never ended this past winter

Much as we'd like to find one, there never seems to be a rule we can hold on to. So perhaps we keep a record of the days and years to remember the day's in Aprils past when it was 70º, and the day's, like this year when it's in the 40's. No matter. The grass, and the daffodils, and the buds on the lilacs tells me that it will be spring.

Naturally, the garden isn't dry enough to plant in, however yesterday, during a rare semi sunny (but cold) day, I was able to till an area for the first 1,500 lettuce plants. Although I'll have to re-till after it dries out from today's cold rain, just getting in the dirt was a hopeful sign. I am so ready. The phrase chomping at the bit comes to mind. I am that horse, waiting to get to work. To ready the soil, to plant, and to harvest.

Spring Hopes

2011-03-26T15:01:00.018-04:00

When I check the thermometer every morning and see temperatures down in the teens, it's hard to believe that it is indeed spring. But, on the way down to the barn, as the day is just dawning, I hear a Cardinal singing, and although the ground is still frozen, there is the faint smell of earth in the wind. Along the south wall of the cheeseroom the sun hits hard and strong, there are crocuses, tiny irises, and small star anemones in full bloom. The greenhouse is full of new growth. We've started lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, onions, shallots, and various herbs. This weekend we start the first flowers, Asters, Acroclinium, Asclepias, Strawflowers, Verbena, Salpiglossis, Statice, Snapdragons and Salvia, to name a few.

Along with the lengthening days, and the promise of warmer weather, my Dad's birthday always ushers in spring for me. Perhaps it is because he was born on the 20th of March, his outlook on life has always been so optimistic. The idea that no matter the weather, all will work out, the days will get longer, the weather will improve. It's that attitude, I think, that helps me through the dark days of winter. I call it channeling my inner Dad.

Me and my Dad

Valentine's Day Tribute

2011-02-13T10:37:00.011-05:00

Marjorie & Marian 1980

Marian & I met in 1976. How is that two city kids had the audacity to imagine a life as farmers?But we did, and we set out to learn all we could about gardening, preserving food,

and all things bovine. I worked on a small dairy near where we lived in Western Mass., and then took a 2 year dairy science program at the Stockbridge School Of Agriculture. We knew nothing about cows. Didn't know what they ate, how they were cared for, how they were milked, if they bit... literally nothing. But I settled right into the dairy life. The rhythm of the dairy is a lot like a cow chewing her cud. It's slow, contented, and methodical, it's repetition soothing. Even the magic of making cheese can not be hurried.

So it was that we found ourselves in 1980 managing a large herd of cows in north central Vermont. It wasn't a good fit. We were in way over our heads, and knew it from day one. However, we did amass a raft of knowledge. We were like sponges, so eager to learn...cow care, and feeding, and milking, and learning to back up a tractor with a 2 wheel manure spreader hitched to it.

It was on Valentine's day, 1981 that we went for a job interview at Mad Maggie Farm, the farm that would become Orb Weaver Farm. Although it was mid February, it had been quite warm and the low fields to the east had a green blush to them. We were hired. I to milk the cows on their main farm some 5 miles away, and Marian to take care of the heifers in the barn here. The job included the rather ramshackled farmhouse, and the use of some hay land to the north of the house to develop our market gardens.

A Valentine's day doesn't pass by with out a soulful toast to the years gone by. And here we are, 30 years of toasting a special day in the same place!

January 3, 2011

2011-01-03T18:11:00.005-05:00

I sleep under a sky light. So, when the alarm went off at 5:30 on this first Monday of the new year, I opened my eyes, and looked up to see what was going on out there. Since it's winter, and it was clear, the sky light was filled with the big dipper. A sure sign that it was, in fact, still winter. In the early spring, the big dipper still fills the window, but at 10:00 p.m. That's how I can tell the seasons are progressing.

Mondays we hit the floor running. It's a cheese making day, so I sanitize the cheese making equipment while Marian feeds the cows. We then pump the milk from the bulk tank in the milk room of the barn to the cheese house. After it's pumped, I wash the bulk tank for the morning's milking ( a bulk tank chills the warm cow's milk to 36º. ) while Marian gets ready to milk. Back in the cheeseroom I start warming the milk to begin the cheese making process. All this by 7:00 a.m. It's really all a series of well choreographed steps. We've done it so many times that I barely need to think about what comes next. The beauty of muscle memory. She tends to the cows, I to the cheese. Around 11:00 she'll come into the cheeseroom where we'll work the curds, salt them, pack them into molds, and then wash everything that can be washed. In our small cheese room, we never bump into each other, we know where to move.

And so goes the pattern of our life, our work, our farm. Really, it is all a dance, and knowing the next move is the secret.

Happy 2011

Giving Thanks

2010-11-25T10:34:00.015-05:00

When Marian & I decided to become farmers, it was with a nod toward self sufficiency. Sure, we wanted to bring our food to market and feed our friends and neighbors, but really, it was to be able to go to the pantry and open a jar of tomatoes, open the freezer and get a bag of frozen peas or corn, or walk into the cheese room and get a wheel of cheese.

Yesterday when the weatherman said there would be polar high pressure directly overhead, we knew it was now or never for the spinach ravioli. Always the final feather in our garden preserving cap, we got to work. And here it is, a list of all the veggies and fruits we put up this season;

1. 27 bags of frozen sweet peas. The peas are shelled, blanched for 90 seconds, drained and 2 cups g0 into each bag. The perfect amount for pasta & peas.

2. blueberries, we freeze about 35 pounds. They are so easy to process. Just put into bags ( no need to wash ), freeze and take out as needed. We love them put frozen in our morning granola.

3.Sweet corn. 37 two cup bags , They are blanched on the cob, then the kernels are removed, and put into 2 cup bags. 2 bags make 1 pot of corn chowder

4. Peaches. Bought by the bushel, canned in a simple syrup, we put up 35 quarts. We break them out in late winter to perk up the granola, it's like having the returning sun in a cereal bowl.

5. Tomatoes. I have already written about how we put them up. This year we canned 45 quarts of whole tomatoes, 10 quarts of puree, and 5 quarts of dried tomatoes.

6. Salsa. We made one batch this year, 18 pints. We use a variety of peppers, all fire roasted.

7. Tomato jam. one batch , 7 pints

8. Tomato sauce frozen in pints for a quick pizza, 11 pints

9. Cross cut pickles. Bread and butter type, 7 quarts

10. Pickled beets 7 pints

11. frozen red peppers, 2 bags regular, and 2 bags of roasted red peppers

12. roasted and dried or frozen hot peppers.

13. Battered eggplant slices , 5 bags frozen. Another perfect quick dinner. Just take them out of the freezer, layer with tomato sauce, and cheese and bake.

14. Chard. 6 bags frozen. Chard is picked, wilted in a pot, rinsed with cold water, chopped, and put into 1 pound bags

15. spinach, frozen like the chard. 13 one pound packages.

16. Onions and shallots, enough to get us through till next summer. They winter in boxes in our cold cellar.

17. Potatoes, also enough to get us through. They also are fine in boxes, and will last until spring.

18. Carrots, preserved by being layered with maple leaves in containers. 3 15 gallon barrels will last through spring , the dogs go through 4 separate boxes (really)

19. Puff ball mushrooms, dried and stored in jars

20. Strawberry & Raspberry Jam

21. And our finale, spinach raviolis, 12 dozen.

So, the garden of 2010 is put to bed. Tomorrow the seed catalogs start arriving, and on it will go. The winter will find us in the barn milking our cows, making cheese and butter, and all things bovine.

A wonderful Thanksgiving to you.

Summer Reflections

2010-11-05T16:09:00.004-04:00

It's a rainy, cold November day, and I find myself thinking about the summer, and all the wonders that went along with it. We were not sure how this summer was going to turn out. Marian was scheduled for hip surgery on June 1st, and we, who usually work the garden along with one helper realized we needed more help than usual. But, as luck would have it, everything turned out more wonderful than we ever could have imagined. To begin, our wonderful friend and long time worker, Lauren, came back after 2 years away. She is the kind of help that you might imagine, but could never believe existed. The kind of person who is aware of everything around her, knowing , like us, what needs to be done next, and after that too. I have watched her rototill, picking weeds in the rows as she went. Or, realizing the leeks hadn't been tilled, stop and hill them on her way to something else. Truly, an amazing woman.

Lauren, Marjorie & Marian

Then along came Mary and Kate. I never could have believed that we'd find such wonderful, dedicated workers. They usually worked on different days, but when they did overlap, they chatted away like old friends. We consider ourselves blessed to have worked with such fabulous, hardworking, delightful women, and even though they are new friends, I feel like they will be friends for life.

Kate, Marian, Marjorie & Mary

Zuri & Utani ( our dogs)

In the peppers

We also needed extra help unloading hay this summer, and I know I did a piece on the hay unloading, but here, again, is our wonderful hay crew

Marjorie, Matthew, Elias, Bruce & Dean

So, as it turned out, Marian healed wonderfully, we met wonderful people to work with, enriching our lives is so many ways. And the garden grew and thrived after being showered with so much love.

The Last Crops Of The Season

2010-10-29T17:45:00.013-04:00

I love these fall days. These days when just the last gasps of leaves remain. The showy Maples are mostly over by now, but the hills still have trails of yellow from the Aspens and Birches, and the bronze of the Oaks are striking. The geese are winging it south, as are the songbirds of summer. And the dogs, who love to laze in the summer sun now are content to spend their days in the house.

The garden is mostly over too. We still have carrots and potatoes to harvest for storage.The spinach is covered for extra warmth so it can get a bit bigger.

And we're about 1/4 done with selling fall Broccoli. The Middlebury Coop sells all of our crop. It's amazing that they can sell almost 500 pounds a week. It comes at a time when most of the fresh produce comes from warmer climes, and it's always a great source of pride to us that we are still harvesting big beautiful heads during these short days.

Each head is cut, and trimmed in the garden

Then driven down to the sinks where they are washed and put into boxes for market.

A lovely way to end a growing season. And in the next 2 weeks, we'll be getting ready for cows and calves and cheese.

Tomatoes Galore

2010-09-26T17:03:00.009-04:00

One of the reasons I never resort to buying tomatoes out of season is that we put up tomatoes so many different ways that I only crave fresh tomatoes straight from the garden and never from the store First we take care of the canned whole tomatoes, putting up around 50 quarts, since they are the most versatile. Then, after they are done, we move on to purees for sauces and soups. And then it's on to dried tomatoes for tapenades, stews, and eating out of hand. The only things left will be salsa, and that will happen later this week, and freezing quarts of fresh tomato sauce with lots of fresh basil, parsley and garlic for pizza, which will happen just before the frost.

To make puree, we have a wonderful gadget called a ' Roma Sauce Strainer'. Tomatoes are put through a hopper, a handle is turned that turns an auger, and the puree flows into a pot, the seeds and skin into a separate bowl for composting.

The puree is boiled for a few hours till it thickens a bit, then ladled into hot sterilized jars and processed in a boiling water bath for 45 minutes.

Drying tomatoes is done in a food dehydrator. The tomates are cut into thick pieces, sprinkled with salt

and put into the dehydrator for around 24 hours.

While they are drying the house is filled with the wonderful warm aroma of tomatoes.

Having the larder filled with all the different type of preserved tomatoes is more than just an incredible feeling of food security, it's the culmination of a summer well spent. A year that started in March with the seeding of tomatoes in the greenhouse when the cold wind whipped around, planting them out of doors in the long days of May, rejoicing with the first cherry tomato in July, and the few short summer months to relish the full sized tomatoes warm from the vine. And now, we can look forward to a winter of glorious dining!

Canning Tomatoes

2010-09-11T17:11:00.019-04:00

Summer is the time to can tomatoes, winter the time to savor the smells and tastes of our bounty. Opening up a jar of canned tomatoes always bring to mind the title of my friend Andrea Chessman's book Summer In A Jar. And indeed it is. It is like tumbling back into those hot and humid days of summer. The days of butterflies, hummingbirds, and bees. When what was for dinner meant a trip to the garden. But now is the time for making sure we have enough put by to get us through the long winter. Canning is a wonderful summer activity. We put up enough whole tomatoes and puree so that we never have to by any store bought tomatoes. Let us just eat fresh field grown tomatoes when they are in season, when the hot days of summer are still with us, that way during the winter months we can be content to go to the pantry when we crave tomatoes and not to the store!

Here's how we can whole tomatoes.

We start with 25 to 30 pounds of plum tomatoes

The tomatoes are blanched for 1 minute 45 seconds so we can remove their skins.

Then they are put into cold water to cool them down, and to make them easier to handle.

As they are peeled they are put in a pot large enough to hold them all.

The pot of peeled tomatoes is heated,

put into sterilized jars

A lid and ring are put on and hand tightened

And put into a boiling water bath for 25 minutes

25 Pounds of tomatoes will yield about 7 quarts .

And, into the pantry they go.

The Wonderful Pea

2010-07-15T18:12:00.006-04:00

When I think of vegetables I would have a hard time doing without, the pea is one of the first ones I think of. Whether picked young, shelled, and eaten for dinner that night,or frozen for winter dining, they make a most satisfying meal. And, there is nothing like sitting in the cool shade on a hot summer day shelling peas! We freeze bags and bags of them... enough so we can have pasta and peas most weeks throughout the winter. The real secret to peas is that they have to be in their prime... before the sugary pea taste turns to starch. Once a pea is too big, it is almost inedible.

Freezing peas couldn't be easier... blanch the shelled peas for 90 seconds, and drain in a colander. After they've drained for a bit, freeze them in quart freezer bags ... we freeze in 2 cup amounts, just the right amount for pasta and peas for 2. Remember to label bags with the amount and the year, bags tend to get lost in our freezer.

When peas are fresh, we love to make a fresh pea soup with butter dumplings. Sauteing lettuce is a wonderful addition, the slight bitterness of the lettuce perfectly offsets the sweet of the peas. And the bright green soup makes me think of spring, and how amazing growth, and life, and the power of the seed is.

FRESH PEA SOUP

4 cups freshly shelled peas

4 tablespoons butter

1 onion, chopped

1 head Boston lettuce, chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup cream

salt & pepper to taste

Boil peas in a soup pot with 2 quarts water, for about 30 minutes.

In a separate frying pan, saute chopped onion 5 minutes. Add lettuce and saute till wilted.

Add onion/lettuce mixture to the peas and cook for 10 minutes.

Puree the soup in a blender, about 2 cups at a time and return to soup pot.

Add wine, cream, and season to taste.

Add the cooked dumplings ( recipe follows).

Serve hot, or cold. If you serve it cold, a dollop of Greek Yogurt stirred in to each bowl upon serving is delightful.

BUTTER DUMPLINGS

6 Tbs soft butter

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups white flour

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp. salt

pinch cayenne pepper

mix the flour with the salt and cayenne .

cream the butter in a deep bowl, and beat in the eggs. ( the eggs wont quite mix with the butter.. they will when you add the flour) Add the flour and milk alternately, beating after each addition until all the flour and milk are incorporated. The mixture will be smooth and creamy but fairly stiff.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and drop the dough in by teaspoonfuls. Boil the dumplings, covered for 15 minutes, and transfer them with a slotted spoon to the soup.

We've been making this soup for years.. It originally came from The Vegetarian Epicure Book 2 by Anna Thomas. (1978).

Many Hands

2010-07-06T10:59:00.007-04:00

Up until this past weekend there hadn't been any good haying weather. With rain every few days, there wasn't enough time to get it dry in the 3 or 4 days needed. Then last Thursday the weather broke. Hot and dry, every farmer took to their tractor and began mowing fields. All through out our valley, there was the sound of tractors. Then the rhythmic sound of the baler as the loose hay is made into bales. We don't make hay, but have been buying it from the same family for probably 15 years. When it's time to unload the baled hay, that's when the camaraderie begins.We have a steady group of wonderful friends we can call. This time it was Bruce Baldwin, and his sons Elias and Ethan, and as an extra bonus, this weekend my wonderful brother Matthew was visiting. It's a hot and heavy job, but is also such a great time.

Dean unloads the wagons by putting it on a hay elevator, and we are inside the barn stacking it.

This time we got 3 loads, about 600 bales. Later this summer we'll get another 1,200 and that will be enough to get us through.

April's Fools

2010-04-28T14:14:00.006-04:00

This time last week we were working in the warm April sun setting out lettuce plants.

The spring was moving right along, even a few weeks ahead of itself. Looking at the daffodils, tulips, and even the redbud buds, I kept wondering if all springs are this glorious, this vibrant, this alive.

On Saturday as I seeded peas, swiss chard and spinach, I was overcome by the mystery of it all. The living soil, the power of the seed. So much faith in that one seed. To germinate, and then to grow and then to feed us and even create new seeds for next year. Well, I think you can understand how awed I was.
This week, a whole new week. Lots of heavy wet snow, and lost power. Cows back in the barn. I have to keep reminding myself that it isn't March, but late April.

Yet, I am still awed by the mystery of it all. I picture all those lettuce plants under a cozy insulating blanket of snow. And know that as it melts and warms again, the green will be more vibrant, the colors more lush.Farmers call these late season snow storms ' poor (wo)men's' fertilizer. By this weekend, we'll be back at it. Setting out onions and shallots. And on it goes.

Farm To School Program #2

2010-02-09T09:18:00.006-05:00

This winter I am taking part in a 'farmer to school correspondence program'. 4 times during the winter months I write to a school and tell the kids what's going on here at the farm. This year I am working with the Red Cedar School, in nearby Bristol. For my January letter I wrote about cheesemaking. I know I already posted this, but some how some of came through with code in it, so I'm re posting.

January 2010

Hi Red Cedar Students,

In my December letter to you I promised my next letter would talk about winter on the farm, and how we make cheese.

During the summer time, most of our days are spent out of doors working in the garden. The cows are not being milked, and so are 'out to pasture'. Grazing, lolling around, and never seeing the inside of the barn.

Winter, however, is the flip side of summer. The cows live in the barn. They go outside for exercise just about every day, but night will find them all cozy in the barn. In the summer they graze for their food, in the winter, we bring hay to them.

Our days are spent milking the cows, taking care of them, and making cheese. Great care is taken to make sure we make the best tasting milk we can, because if the milk doesn't taste good, neither will the cheese. So, the hay we feed them is green, and full of clover and different grasses ( did you know that what a cow eats and even smells goes right into the taste of the milk?). They are milked twice a day, in the morning and evening.

After milking, the warm milk is stored in a 'bulk tank' where the milk is cooled, and stored until it's time to make cheese

Cheese is made every Monday and Thursday. On cheese day we pump the milk from the barn to the vat in the cheese house.

There the milk is warmed to 90º, and a special cheese culture is added. This culture helps to acidify milk. Next, rennet is added to change the milk from a liquid to a firm mass, called 'curd'. I can tell when the curd has formed by testing it.

Then, the cheese is cut into small pieces with special curd knives.

The reason we cut the curds is because milk is 85% water, and we want to get as much of the water out as possible leaving us with a product that is mostly protein.

Here is a picture of me cutting the curd.

After the curds are cut, we have curds ( the solid part) and whey (the liquid).

The curds and whey are stirred for about an hour while the temperature slowly rises.

The whey is then drained, and we stir the curds by hand, getting out as much whey as possible.

And then, the curds are put into molds.

The cheeses are weighed so that they are all the same size.

They spend the night in the press, where even more whey is removed.

The next day they are taken out of the molds and put in the cooler.

After a week of being turned daily, they are waxed.

And then go back to the cooler, where they age for about 8 months.

Then, its off to market with them !!

So, that is our winter life in a nutshell. Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions you can think of, whether it be about the cows, the cheese, or anything else!

YoYo's Ma

2010-01-09T14:28:00.009-05:00

Today is one of those brilliant blue winter days. The kind of day best admired from indoors. Sunny, with a stiff north wind making the 10º temp feel more like minus, oh I don't know, minus 20. It's really beautiful, with the 2 feet of snow we got last week settling down, and becoming one with the hillsides and the fields. As I walk from house to barn to cheese room, I am continually struck by the silence. The snow really muffles all sounds.
The rhythm of winter is firmly in place. All the cows have calved, and we are back to the milking, cheese making and the general cow routine. We had 7 cows 'freshen' this year, and we ended up with 4 heifers. The calves's names are: Orbit, Prancer, Frolic and YoYo.

And the cow's we are milking this year are: Wizard, Timothy, Hershey, Ubu, Foxie, Bosco and Yoohoo. All the calvings went well, but Yoohoo got pretty sick , and it took her a good week to feel better. We called our trusty vet, Joe, and he came to look her over. Sometimes after calving the cow needs some IV calcium, to get them up and going again, but Yoohoo just didn't respond liked we'd hoped. So we gave her some vitamins, but poor Yoohoo just stood there looking like she had lost all interest in living. We tried all different hays, even got some different grains from a neighboring farmer, but nothing worked. I was running all this by my wonderful friend Annie (who has a beautiful dairy farm, and is a whiz at animal husbandry, especially alternative things that vet's just don't think of ), and she said she's had luck giving beer to her cows when they have no appetite. We had just gotten some organic (and local) Wolaver's Coffee Porter from our friend Lily, and decided to try it. The result was immediate... no sooner did we give her a bottle that she put down her head and started eating.

2 Bottles, and she was almost back to her old self. Must be the yeast, or the B vitamins, or the alcohol, or all those bubbles, but it was just what she needed. We named her baby YoYo, so that YooHoo is YoYo's ma.
Happy 2010! Good health to all ! And remember, if you need a 'pick- me- up', try beer, and if that doesn't work,wine often will.

Chard, Gratined

2009-12-03T15:29:00.005-05:00

We just had the most incredible November. What is usually the grayest month of the year, was filled with blue skies and warm temperatures. The broccoli was harvested.... not the huge heads we are used to, but smaller and beautiful never the less. And, the Swiss chard kept growing too.

Here's a favorite recipe for Chard Gratin:

you'll need:

1 large shallot, chopped
3 Tbl. butter
2 cups warm milk
3 Tbl. flour
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 cup grated Orb Weaver Cheese

Topping:
1 cup bread crumbs or Panko *
1/4 cup grated Orb Weaver Cheese
1 Tbl. olive oil
Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375

Prepare topping by mixing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Wilt chard in a large pot. Rinse well with cold water, squeeze excess water out, and finely chop

In a large saute pan, melt butter and saute shallot. When lightly browned, add the chopped chard and saute 20 minutes.

Slowly sprinkle 3 Tbl. of flour over the chard, stirring for 4 minutes, to cook the flour. Gradually add the warm milk and stir until the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

Put in a buttered 9" pan, top with bread crumb mixture.

Bake 45-50 minutes. Till bubbly and browned.

You can also make them in individual ramekins,

* Panko: Japanese bread crumbs

Enjoy!

Tractor Love

2009-11-19T18:09:00.003-05:00

I love my tractor. Got it almost new in 1984, and it's been all a girl could want in a tractor. The size is good for a short person, and the power is right there for all my needs. Being a city kid, driving a tractor took some getting used to. But now, it's second nature. So it's with real sadness that I find myself thinking about a new one. The hydraulics don't work like they used to. To rise the rotovator today I had to fiddle with the bucket. And it's starting to rust too. So I'm thinking that in the spring ( assuming it makes it through the winter), while there is still some trade in value, talking to either the Kubota or John Deere folks. For now though, I've got my fingers crossed.

Must Be The Season Of The Cow

2009-11-11T17:09:00.005-05:00

Wizard, Meeting her new Calf, Orbit

We are now entering the season of the cow. Our first cow, Wizard, 'freshened' yesterday. She had a really beautiful heifer named Orbit ( a previously and much loved name here on the farm). We often miss the actual birth, but this time, we were lucky to be around for it. Watching a cow give birth is like watching a calf swan dive into the world. First it's the 2 front hooves, then the nose, then the head, then the shoulders, and, after the shoulders, one more push and .....it's out.
Within an hour, her baby was up and trying to walk.

A still wet Orbit trying out her new legs

And, so it goes... summer slipped into autumn, and is fast becoming winter

Autumnal Surprises and Hopes

2009-11-06T17:28:00.012-05:00

The last tree to flower in our area is the Witch Hazel. Most trees flower in the spring, their blooms lost in a sea of glorious color, while the Witch Hazel just sits there, biding it's time. But in November, the Witch Hazel has the last laugh. When the leaves are mostly off all the trees, their early beauty long forgotten, she bursts into full flower. It's startling, really. We have one in the road hedge row and I almost fell off the tractor when I drove by it yesterday. A beautiful, rather wild and unkempt flower. It also has a huge scent... not the sweet perfume of spring, but astringent, and medicinal. Perhaps a scent to get us through the long winter... not to scent our perfumes, but to keep us healthy.

Being the eternal optimists that we are, we're still holding out for a good crop of broccoli. We covered part of it with a large, very light cloth, called 'remay', and taken to calling it our field of dreams

The forecast for next week is for temperatures to be in the 50's. And, if it's sunny too, perhaps we can get the broccoli heads to go from:

to this

Well, we can always hope!

Final Days of The Garden '09

2009-10-12T16:28:00.006-04:00

Buckwheat, ready to be tilled in

Now is the time of the growing season dedicated to taking the garden apart, tilling in the summer cover crops, sowing fall oats for a winter cover crop,spreading manure, and generally making sure the garden is ready to greet the spring. Our days are spent pulling up the black plastic mulch that warmed the soil for the peppers, eggplants, and the melons. Irrigation hoses are rolled up and labeled. Tomato stakes are piled up for next year. I wake up each morning with a check list swimming around my head... oats seeded, check, potatoes dug, check.
It's almost time for the winter season of the farm.. cows, milk, cheese,and indoor chores But now, it's still garden time. The leaves are still afire, cows are still on pasture, and I'm so glad our days are still spent out of doors.

Ubu, Timothy and Hershey, enjoying the last of the pasture

Oven Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2009-09-23T16:41:00.011-04:00

Late yesterday afternoon while walking through the garden, my mind on dinner, I noticed some yellow and red cherry tomatoes. Running back to the house for a picking basket, I then picked about 2 pints ( the very last) of the small red and yellow tomatoes. I also picked a few mildly hot peppers, sweet peppers, 2 ears of corn,some basil and parsley. At first I thought of just making a quick saute served over pasta, and then thought of oven roasting all of the veggies along with some garlic. After all, the tomatoes are not at their sweetest, so why not coax some sweetness out of them by a slow oven roast?

To cut or not to cut?
I was afraid if I didn't cut them they would just turn to mush, and implode. So I halved the tomatoes, cut the kernels off the corn cob ,diced the peppers, minced some garlic and herbs, and mixed them all in a bowl with some olive oil ( just enough to lightly coat all the veggies), and into a pan they went.

They baked( uncovered) in a 375 oven for about 45 minutes, till they were lightly brown, and the kitchen was filled with the wonderful aroma of garlic and tomatoes.

When I cook pasta I like to think about the sauce and pick the proper shape. I love campanelle, and orchhetti to cradle the pieces of vegetables. Campanelle was on hand, so the choice was easy
Right before the pasta was done I took out about 2 cups of the pasta water to help make a sauce.
To finish the whole dish, I drained the pasta, put it back in the cooking pot, threw in the roasted veggies, 1/2 a cup of grated Parmesan, and enough water to make a sauce.

Then I put the cover on it so it could rest a minute. I then gave it a stir, added a bit more of the hot pasta water, and dished it into bowls.
Any veggies will work for this recipe.
There is still time for fresh produce. Go to your local farmer's market. By something fresh, and support your local grower!
As Barbara Crooker says in her wonderful poem
" Vegetable Love":
Quick, before the frost puts out its green light,
praise these vegetables,
earth's voluptuaries,
Praise what comes from the dirt

Mid September Gardens

2009-09-16T11:43:00.011-04:00

The gardening season left me rather speechless. It was long growing season full of sadness... the loss of lettuce to hail, and a whole crop of our various tomatoes ( cherry, plum and regular) to blight. Not just the lost income, but all the work that went into growing them. But now, it's mid September. The days are shorter, and the weather has been crisp, clear, and sunny, and I feel like my speech is returning. In many ways it is the most glorious time of the year. All the crops are either harvested or still in the ground.. no more planting, except for some cover cropping. The shortness of the days make the blue sky somehow more intense, the annual flowers more brilliant.

The garden marches on. The shallots have all been harvested and are curing in the greenhouse.

We've been harvesting loads of huge red peppers ( a fact not many know: red peppers are ripe green peppers ), and soon we'll fire roasting them for salsa, and for drying. Its been very dry, so we've been watering all the lettuces and broccoli.
Along with this stretch of fine weather has come a barn full of beautiful hay. All the rains of June and July led to verdant. lush hay fields. And that led to sweet smelling green hay, and lush pastures too- the cows are still out to pasture, and will be for a while.
It is such a wonderful time of year. And, I'm so glad to be writing about all this again.

A Trying Year For Optimists

2009-07-30T07:20:00.002-04:00

Farming is an act of faith. That the seeds will grow, that there will be rain, and sun, and heat, and a barn full of hay for the winter. That the shelves in the pantry will be lined with jars of tomatoes, and the freezer full of veggies for the long winter.
This summer is one to try that faith .
After our devastating hail storm in June all our lettuce was destroyed and other plants reduced to just bare stems. But the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants continued to grow, and even thrive. It was again looking like this could turn out to be a good year. Never in a million years did I think that the devastating blight that has been blanketing the east coast would touch our beautiful, strong,healthy, green, vibrant tomatoes. On Sunday they were fine, by Tuesday, they were peppered with blight. This is not the "normal" early blight that is common in a wet year, but the blight that caused the potato famine in Ireland. We are doing what we can. We have pulled out the worst, and are pruning off the leaves on some with the hopes of having enough for us, to put up for the winter.
I am hoping for a stretch of some dry weather so we can get in our fall crops, the broccoli and the lettuce. Because, being the optimist I am, we'll probably have a great fall.

2 Weeks Later....

2009-07-02T07:35:00.005-04:00

The regrowth in the garden since the hail storm has been astonishing. I am constantly amazed by plants, and their will to live and even to flourish no matter what is thrown at them. We did end up losing thousands of heads of lettuce, but the nightshades ( tomatoes, eggplant and peppers) are doing double time to make up for all that lost and precious time ( 2 weeks is an eternity with our short growing season). Just look at the plum and round tomatoes below .. all the green growth is new !!

The cherry tomatoes are also growing again with such vigor we have been able to get back to trellising them.

Gardening truly is an act of faith.... faith that a seed will germinate, that even against all odds, new and vigorous growth will continue, and, no matter what, there is always hope and one more chance. Once again, I am truly humbled by these simple truths.

Hail in June

2009-06-15T16:03:00.003-04:00

And just like that, our beautiful garden ... wiped out in a hail storm. Never, in our 29 years of gardening here have we seen anything like it. The storm just sat over us and dumped pea size hail for about 10 minutes. Thousands of heads of lettuce....gone. I am still hoping that it's early enough in the season that the decapitated tomatoes can do some growing( perhaps that's just my optimism). Don't know about the eggplants, the leaves are just skeletonized ....And the ice itself, will it just freeze the plant tissue?
It's really an amazing sight. There are literally piles of hail on the ground, some around 5"deep. And no, we have no insurance ( even if we could get it for our small acreage, the price would be prohibitive). We do know all about the vagaries of weather, but never expect the worst!

Take a look at these pictures:

I'll let you all know how it turns out, today it seems pretty sad and hopeless, but, tomorrow is another day.

The Garden Grows

2009-06-09T10:03:00.004-04:00

Summer needs to happen at a quick pace here in Vermont. So much to do each and every day. Just in the last 2 weeks we've planted over 1,400 plants of various tomatoes, peppers and eggplants,put in all of the tomato posts, and now this week we're tilling, beginning to weave the tomatoes, weed,and as soon as it drys out after today's rain, mulch the garden.The corn's been seeded, potatoes planted. And soon, perhaps, we'll have a chance to catch our breath.
As I move from one task to the other, I do try to take in the beauty of it all. It changes so fast, I want to grab the day and watch it go by in a slower motion, appreciate the unfolding beauty.
Thank you for sharing this with me.

young pepper plants in black plastic

Tomatoes after their first weave

Utani, watching the eggplant grow

The Smell Of Lettuce

2009-05-28T17:32:00.004-04:00

Once again we slide from one season to the next.
We made our final batch of cheese last Thursday. Today, they were waxed. Today was the last morning milking until November. And, in a seamless stretch to the garden, today we picked the first lettuce of the season. 2 cases of red boston, 2 cases of romaine, and 2 of red leaf. ( each case is 24 heads). I forgot how incredibly fragrant a freshly cut head of lettuce is. It was rainy and cold and really muddy, and I couldn't help but think how fortunate we are to be here, today, doing what we do.

A New Season Begins

2009-05-19T18:02:00.004-04:00

What a wonderful time of year. A time of great change for everything...birds are in their finest feather, plants lush and green, and, how intense can the flowers be?

Tree leaves are a bit slow this year, not fully unfurled yet, but soon.And here on the farm, the winter season is ending, the summer season gearing up. Thursday will be the last cheese making until November. That means that Wednesday will be our last evening milking. We'll milk the cows in the mornings for a week, then off to pasture they go!We'll have lettuce for market by
May 29th .

Hopefully I'll have a movie of cheese making soon( first I need to learn how to edit movies). In the meantime, here is a short movie of the cows this evening. Notice how their mouths are moving as they chew their cuds... truly, a sight to behold.

May

2009-05-01T18:17:00.005-04:00

Ah, May. The loveliest time of year. The time of new growth, and blooming trees,the returning of the birds, and, for us, double duty since we're still milking, and making cheese, and getting the garden going. It's a lot, and is the reason I haven't written more. In the garden, we've already planted 2 plantings of lettuce, 10 85' rows of shallots, and seeded peas, spinach, and chard. As tired as I am, it's really a wonderful tired. The sense of accomplishment is huge, and I get to see where I'm going... and it looks pretty exciting from here on the tractor .

tilling for peas

The First Till

2009-04-17T18:21:00.008-04:00

Lettuce hardening off before
being planted outside.

Although we've been gardening on this farm for 28 years, I am always amazed and awed by the certainty of the seasons. We always set out the first lettuce around now, but, somehow I am always left breathless by the speed of the drying and warming of the soil. So it was yesterday that I hopped on the tractor, hooked up the tiller, and tilled. There is stark beauty everywhere now. The trees are just showing a hint of color. The hills, usually covered with greenery, shrubs and undergowth, now shows all their texture.
As I began to till, I was thrilled to see the beautiful soil fluff right up. Our soil is a loam, with some good sized rocks, even though we pick them every year, and as I got off the tractor to throw some rocks in the bucket the soft soil covered my sneaker.Soft and warm, so alive. So ready to plant into.
It is at this time, this first moment of the garden that I am so aware of the great promise every time we plant a seed, or a plant. Its the great faith that it will grow, and flourish. That the rains will come, but not too much. That the heat will come, but not too hot. That the pastures will grow to feed the cows, and that this will be the best garden ever.
And so it is, tomorrow,that we'll plant our first planting of lettuce in the garden!!

The First Rain Of Spring

2009-04-03T18:38:00.005-04:00

We are in the midst of a luscious spring rain. Rain where you can smell the soil waking up. Rain that wakes up the spring peepers, the wood frogs, makes the Canadian geese honk for joy. Makes the grass turn green, and gives the still dormant trees a shot of color. So much is going on. It's measured not by the day,but by the minute. It will probably get cold again, after all, it is April, but for now, I'm soaking up the glory of early spring.

Its All About The Salad

2009-03-27T09:36:00.005-04:00

And here it is, our first taste of spring. The succulent tastes of the mustard greens, arugula, Chinese greens, and baby lettuce. A grated carrot ( ours, put up from last fall and still crisp in storage), some blue cheese, and a light sprinkle of balsamic vinegar and olive oil... Its really what its all about.

The Rumbling Of The Earth

2009-03-21T17:58:00.007-04:00

Timothy, Moxie,Boffo and Hershey

What tells the cows that it's time to start grazing? Perhaps its the sun, or the returning red winged blackbirds or even the gulls. One day they are staying close to their feeder, and then, just like that, they hit the pasture. Sure, there's nothing but the promise of green grass. now So maybe they are just listening to the rumble of the earth springing to life. But its there, they hear it.

The Dawning of the Spring

2009-03-09T14:55:00.009-04:00

In deep winter I can only imagine how it all begins. One thing is for sure... it's slow and steady. One day it's the cardinal's song, then it's a flowing stream, or the wisps of smoke from the sugar houses. This weekend we had a crocus on the south side of the cheese house. The snow only had to melt, and there it was. Sure, today it's covered with snow, but the snow is like a blanket, and by tomorrow when it melts, the crocus will return.

seeding lettuce

This weekend we began sowing seeds in the greenhouse. I am always humbled by the act of planting. I hold the seed in my hand and just marvel. I feel like I am holding the whole world right in my palm of my hand. Each seed has what it needs to become the plant it was meant to be. Just some soil, water, and sun, and everything else the seed needs is right there. This is it, the beginning of the growing season. I can only imagine the succulent sweet taste of a red boston lettuce, or the crunch of romaine.
And so it goes. Next week we'll be on to onions and peppers.

In Like a Lion....

2009-03-02T15:13:00.003-05:00

A snowy March day....

I suppose there is something to be said about the strength with which we are greeting March this year. It is truly a time of transitions. One foot stretching towards the promise of longer days, and the other firmly planted in winter. So, today it's 12 degrees outside, the wind is whipping, and the cows are warm and comfy in the barn. On the other hand, our greenhouse is ready to go. We bought peat for our soil mixture, got the propane heater serviced, and will be seeding our first seeds next week. We'll start with with greens for us, then lettuce, then on to leeks, onions...

I know, because all years are pretty much the same, that the snow will melt, that the fields will turn green, and the cows will be able to lie down on green pastures. Soon, very soon.

Happy Cows

2009-02-03T10:30:00.011-05:00

Ah, nothing like a barn full of happy cows. We were able to find 100 bales of wonderful hay from 2007. The opened bales are full of pink clover blossoms, purple vetch, yellow birdsfoot trefoil and green sweet smelling grasses. Its rather comical... the cows are fed their regular hay from 2008 and they just stand there. Then, out comes the "new "hay, their eyes light up, and they dig right into it. That's all it takes... a little topdressing, a whiff of the good stuff, and they are in bovine heaven.

Cows really like having their pictures taken. Here's Timothy, Hershey, and Boffo.

We are almost half way through our milking and cheesemaking season. By mid April the cows are living outside, coming inside only to be milked. Then, in May they are " dried off", and spend the summer grazing , chewing their cud, and generally enjoying life. It fantastic for them and for us. We don't have to be in a hot barn in the summer, and they only have to loll around. It wasn't always like this. When we started milking cows in 1981 we milked year round. Day in and day out. Slowly our heard numbers increased until we were milking 30 cows and had almost 50 head. In 1995 we questioned how much longer we could keep this pace up. We were milking, making cheese, and growing a 4 acre summer market . We found a wonderful farm for our cows, sold most of them and kept just 4. Now we milk from November til the end of May. We still have the garden, though it is a bit smaller. We milk 7 cows : Wizard, Timothy, Hershey, Boffo, YooHoo, Bosco and Moxie.
Its still a lot of work, but milking only 1/2 the year makes it all so much more manageable.

Spring in Winter

2009-01-28T10:51:00.003-05:00

Its snowing,and its cold. But, the days are getting longer, and its time to think about greens, and flowers, and all things that grow, and the smell of the earth, and the sounds of the spring peepers. First things first, we take a seed inventory. Some seeds can be carried from year to year, but others not. Onions, and the allium family don't carry, but peppers and tomatoes do. So we look through all the old seed packets, count seeds, look at expiration dates on packages, and make lists.
We have garden notebooks going back to 1977. Way back then we'd make beautiful colored diagrams. Now we make lists. Still beautiful, but not as colorful .
This afternoon we'll pull out the catalogs. Johnny's seeds in Maine, and Fedco Seeds also in Maine are our main seed suppliers. We'll have to jog our memories. That beautiful red lettuce, Marimba, didn't size up , and bolted too soon. Is there another vibrant red lettuce to use? We'll stick with ace peppers as our tried and true, but should we really put in any yellow peppers ( their yields are always low)? And Leeks... is this the year to just put in a short row for us and skip selling them? Even though we don't sell flowers, we grow hundreds of them both as annuals and perennials. Just thinking about them makes me smile... the annual flax with those impossible blue flowers, the smell of the evening phlox,and the zinnia's, so beautiful!
Today we'll immerse ourselves in all things spring. Tomorrow we'll shovel.

Autumnal Bees

2009-01-17T15:29:00.007-05:00

remember fall? Those days when we were all working like mad to get the end of our summer work done. Making sure all our veggies were canned,stored in the root cellar, dried or frozen?
I took this movie of our bees working like crazy to get everything done before the cold got here on the last warm day of the year, December 14th( technically still fall). Our bees are wild honey bees and have lived in a Locust tree right outside our house for a number of years. They help pollinate our crops, and we feel blessed that they chose our tree to live in!

Last year's growing season

2009-01-15T18:16:00.005-05:00

I thought the damages from last year's growing season was over and done with, but it turns out, I was wrong. With all the rains of last summer, the hay was hit hard too. Normally when we open a bale of hay, it's like walking in a summer field. Bright green and full of legumes ( red and white clovers, alfalfa, and the beautiful yellow bird's food trefoil). This year, no legumes, just a barely palatable hay. The cows are not happy. We feed them their hay and they look ( o.k., beg) at us with their beautiful dark, soulful eyes to please, give them something better. And, there is nothing more distressing than unhappy cows, except unhappy cows with a metabolic imbalance, which, it seems is why Hershey couldn't get up today. She was " down" in the barnyard, in the snow, when our wonderful vet, Joe, came and gave her some calcium IV. She was able to get up and walk into the barn where tonight, she's in a pen getting pampered with one of the few bales we had left over from last year.
It has not been an easy winter. I think it's time to start looking at the veggie catalogs.

A Warm and Crusty Loaf of Bread

2009-01-10T11:25:00.008-05:00

Cheese making and bread making are almost one in the same. Where we use milk , bacteria and heat to make cheese, in bread it's flours and bacteria ( yeast) and heat. Both take time and patience, and both are the most ancient and basic of foods. I'm going to write more about our cheese making process soon. But today on this cold, cold, winter day, I think a nice loaf of bread is just the ticket. Yes, it takes time, but if you start with the "starter" tonight, you can have a wonderful loaf of bread tomorrow with dinner.
Here's the recipe (It looks more intimidating on paper than it actually is in real life) :

Italian Bread

Starter
2 cups unbleached white flour
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup warm( not hot) water

Dough
3 cups unbleached white flour, & extra for dusting work surface & hands
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/3 cups warm water.
3 teaspoons salt

Flours: substitute no more than 1 cup whole wheat for your first few times.
Parchment paper ( not wax paper!!)
Pizza stone

1. For the Starter:
Combine flour, yeast and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook. Knead on lowest speed until it forms a dough, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temp. until it begins to rise, about 3 hours. Refrigerate ( no need to stir it down or anything) at least 8 hours, or up to 24 hours.

2. For the Dough:
Remove starter from the refrigerator and let stand while making dough. Combine flour, yeast, and water in bowl of standing mixer fitted with dough hook; knead on lowest setting till it forms a dough, about 3 minutes, Turn mixer off and, without removing bowl or hook, cover bowl loosely with plastic wrap; let rest 20 minutes.
Remove plastic wrap, add starter and salt to bowl, and knead on lowest setting until ingredients are incorporated and dough is formed, about 4 minutes. Continue to knead until dough forms a more cohesive ball, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to a large bowl, cover tightly with plastic, and let rise in a draft free spot until risen, about 1 hour.
Remove plastic, punch down dough ( push it down in the middle, and turn over… you can put some flour on your hand if its too sticky). Let rise 1 more hour, punch down again and let it rise again.

3. To shape the Dough
Dust work surface liberally with flour. Turn dough out of bowl onto surface. Dust dough and hands, and, using minimal pressure, push dough into a rough 8-10 inch square. Fold top left corner diagonally to middle, repeat same with top right corner, Begin to gently roll dough from top to bottom. Continue rolling until dough forms a rough log. Roll dough onto its seam, slide hands underneath each end, transfer dough to parchment paper. Gently shape dough into 16 inch football shape by tucking bottom edges underneath. Cover loaf, and let rise about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425. Make sure baking stone is in oven, and you have a pan on the bottom of oven that will hold about 2 cups water

4. To Bake
using a single edged razor, cut 3 or 4 ½ inch deep diagonal slashes. Slide parchment sheet with loaf onto a baker’s peel or upside down baking sheet, then slide onto hot baking stone. Pour 2 cups water into hot pan that’s in the oven . bake 10 minutes, reduce oven temp. to 375, and spin loaf around using edges of the parchment paper. Bake until deep golden brown, about 45-50 minutes longer. It should be a rich, golden color
Cool on rack

To give you an idea of the time involved, I've added a bread making time line:

Day 1 : Make starter, let sit for 3 hours than refrigerate overnight
Day 2:
0:00 Remove starter from fridge and set on counter. Mix the flour, water and yeast for the dough 3 minutes, then let rest 20 minutes.
0:25 add starter & salt. Mix 5 minutes, transfer dough to large bowl and allow to rise
1:25 punch down dough and let rise
2:25 punch down dough and let rise again
3:25 shape the dough, place on parchment paper, and let rise
4:30 slash and bake dough
5:30 cool bread on rack

Birds In Winter

2008-12-27T15:19:00.004-05:00

We feed our birds year round. The late spring days begin at early dawn with the songs of intensely colored birds.The Goldfinches other worldly yellow color is at its peak. As the days shorten,their colors fade until now,these short short days where they are an olive drab, but still just as beautiful.The flit of red from a cardinal is brilliant against the snow.There is a silence that slowly seeps into the world. The birds are silent visitors now. The snow mutes all noise. Sounds are more rounded. It is a starkly beautiful time of year. The exact opposite of the longest days. None of those garish greens, reds and blues , it's all monotones now.

Here is a wonderful winter poem by David Budbill From his book Moment to Moment.

All the raucous birds of summer
Faithless, transitory, fly-by- nights
Finally gone. Sky quiet, ear empty.

Chickadee, companion through
The cold and dark, little friend
At the door yard feeder again.

Now those of us who stay, we quiet ones
Settle into the winter

-David Budbill

These Short Days

2008-12-10T09:03:00.005-05:00

There is a certain beauty to these short days. Days when the sun rides low in the south, never really giving us much light or warmth. It is this time of the year that, for a moment, we have done all we can do to prepare for the winter, a time that we are, in a way, set. The hay mow is still full. The cows have all calved, and we are back into the swing of cheese making.
This year we had a total of 3 heifers out of 7 calvings. Their names are Bingo, Presto and Hazy.Here's a picture of them:

And, all our summer produce is in and canned or stored.
Our root cellar, and freezers, and pantry still overflow with food. Although we've been getting seed catalogs, we haven't looked yet.

Cheese, Again

2008-12-04T15:05:00.006-05:00

Today was our 1st cheesemaking. Even though I've been making cheese for years, I am always amazed by the process. It never ceases to be a magical and very ancient experience. By adding enzymes to milk, we are able to make a wonderful ageable cheese from the cow's wonderful but perishable milk. We pump milk from the milkroom in the barn, to our cheeseroom. After the starter culture and rennet is added, the milk sets into a soft curd. To tell when it's time to cut the curds, I test them.

this is called " the clean break test". And its this that I find so awe inspiring. It worked. It always does.
So, let the cheese season begin !!

5 Milkers, and We're Ready For Cheese !!

2008-11-28T18:01:00.004-05:00

As of today we are milking 5 cows ( Wizard, YooHoo, Hershey, Boffo, and Bosco), with 2 more to come ( Timothy and Roxie) . So now that the cow part is pretty much under control, we're on to cheesemaking.
The cheese room cleanup is, of course, much more intense than the barn. The room is scrubbed from the ceiling and walls right down to the floor. All of the moulds, presses, buckets and various cheesemaking paraphernalia are washed and sanitized. Right now, it seems insurmountable, but somehow, it always gets done. Thursday will be our 1st "make". The first batch might be a bit short, but on a normal day, we set about 1000 pounds of milk, and end up with about 140 pounds of cheese.
I'll write more about the process along with pictures as our season progresses.
But for now, on with our new season!

Winter Chores

2008-11-21T18:14:00.007-05:00

I have been walking down the hill from the house to the barn every morning and every evening for chores during these dark winter days for the past 28 years. I have to tell you, I'm amazed by that statement. But its true. And, probably most amazing, is how much I still love it. It's so familiar. Every step I take in the barn is a known step. We are the ones who have worn the steps from the stable to the milk room. Even after a summer of not milking, I embrace the continuity of it. The cows calving, the milking, the haying, the sound of the milk pump the sweet smells of the barn. It really is a wonderful way to begin and end each day.
As of today, we are milking two cows, Yoohoo and Bosco. Bosco had a really beautiful heifer named Bingo, Yoohoo had a bull ( cute, but still a bull). Here's a picture of Bingo:
Milking two cows is like priming the pump. We get back in the swing of things, but slowly
Three more are due right off. Then we're on to cheese.

pasta

2008-11-19T10:19:00.008-05:00

I love fresh pasta. It really makes any dish special. Simple stir fries, tomato sauces, anywhere noodles are used. And,it's really easy.... all you need is some flour, salt and eggs.
A well is made in the flour and the eggs are added to it. Here I used 9 yolks and 4 whole eggs. I know it seems like a lot, but there are so many wonderful meals that can be made from it.

I like to mix up a big batch, for ravioli, and roll the extra pasta into sheets. When the sheets are fairly dry, I roll them up and put in a plastic bag to be used as needed. From this batch I got 10 dozen raviolis , and a meal of pasta with a tomato sauce.

When our nieces, Isabel and Lily were visiting this summer, we cut the sheets of rolled dough into thick noodles.

They only need to boil for about 2 minutes. We put butter and cheese on it.
Another thing we do is to make lots of ravioli for freezing for a quick meal in the middle of the winter on a day where we need something fast and wonderful.

For these ravioli, we made a filling of sauteed onion and chard mixed with ricotta. But really, any filling is wonderful!!

They will be boiled for about 6 minutes, and tossed with sage butter.
The sheets of dough can also be lasagna noodles, or cut small for soups...
really, there is nothing like fresh pasta!

My recipe for pasta is:

9 egg yolks
4 whole eggs
3 cups white flour
1 cup semolina flour
1 tsp. salt
* note on the flours: I never really know how much I use, I keep adding it to the dough until it is workable
Mix flours and salt in a bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour, add eggs and yolks. With a fork beat the eggs, slowly incorporating the flour. As the eggs absorb the flour you might need to add more flour. When the dough is formed, turn onto a floured work surface and knead ( adding more flour as necessary to keep it from sticking) into a smooth ball.
Put dough in a clean bowl and cover for an hour or so.

Our Pantry

2008-11-11T17:40:00.004-05:00

A vegetable garden is truly amazing. In the winter, we pour over seed brochures , imagining all those succulent tastes. Next comes the greenhouse, truly an act of faith that each seed will indeed grow into tasty veggie. The time between setting the vegetables out and the first taste seems interminable . Finally, we bite into a still warm tomato the wonderful taste just exploding in our mouths.
Then comes the canning, drying, salsa making and freezing. Really, the glory of the garden is in the pantry. I stand in the door of the pantry and marvel over our hard and seemingly endless work. The rows of canned whole tomatoes, tomato puree, fire roasted salsa, dried tomatoes. The jams we made from our own strawberries and raspberries. The jars of peaches.. not our own, but canned fresh. And the freezer full of frozen corn, and peas. Bags of swiss chard, and eggplant parm.
All beckoning us to keep enjoying our garden with wonderful winter meals.

storing root veggies for winter

2008-11-10T15:23:00.004-05:00

Our basement/ cold storage area is starting to look mighty fine. The potatoes are easy, we just dig them, let them dry off a bit ( turning once after a few hours), and pack them into boxes. Onions need to be pulled and cured on screens in the greenhouse, then put into boxes. Carrots are a little more involved, but we eat huge amounts of them all through the winter. Grated for our winter salad of carrots, red cabbage, cave aged cheese and dried cranberries.. we never buy lettuce from some far away place when we can just walk into the basement! The dogs also love their carrots. They each get a carrot for dessert every night.
To harvest carrots, they are pulled and the tops taken off with just a few inches of the green left on. They are allowed to air dry, and turned after a few hours. If just left in a box in the basement they'd sog out really fast. We've tried to store them in sand, sawdust, and hay. But the sure winner for us has been dried maple leaves.The carrots are layered with the leaves in containers.
Using these storage methods, we get firm potatoes, onions and carrots right until early summer.

Fall Chores

2008-11-08T15:57:00.004-05:00

Fall tilling is a time for reflections. What we could and should have done differently this year, and what will be different next year. The beauty of the garden, is that there is always another year. And though every year is so different than anyone before it, the structure of the seasons are the frame in which the different seasons flow. Every year certain events happen at the same time, yet, every year is so different. I think this as I sit on my tractor, looking out over the fields, and the pastures where the cows continue to graze, even though we are into November.
I reflect on the garden, and all the rain we had this past summer. Surely, we wont have another year like that, but of course, next year could be so dry we ache for just a bit of that rain. This year was fairly cool, few of those hot days where even a breeze feels like a furnace. It's the finality of the seasons and the knowledge that soon we will be pouring over the seed catalogs that makes gardening so wonderful.
The cows will be off the pastures soon, and it will be too cold to till, and mow. But, for now, for this brief moment, it is warm enough to get our outside chores done.

A Family Feast

2008-11-03T17:10:00.003-05:00

I love winter eating. Gone are the easy meals of running out to the garden for a handful of basil, some heirloom tomatoes, a quick saute, and there is a fabulous meal. These days speak to slower, more deliberate meals. This past weekend my folks, aunts and uncles came for the first of our truly short day meals.After a beautiful antipasto plate ( and some Campari) , we had a small bowl of winter vegetable soup.

For the main dish, I had been thinking of a wonderful tart of slow cooked onions, some wilted chard and some roasted red peppers, and a sprinkling of our cave aged cheese. Afraid it might be too sweet, I made a dried tomato tapenade with some garlic, black olives and olive oil and spread it on the bottom of the tart to cut the sweetness and add some saltiness. It was wonderful, although I think next time, instead of phyllo dough, I'll use my own pie crust . A salad of fresh picked lettuce, and home made bread completed the meal. My dad made a wonderful apple tart for desert. He pre baked ( his own) pie crust, made an applesauce for the bottom, and beautifully cut apples on top, then baked it.
The warmth of family, and a wonderful meal....

October Snow !!

2008-11-01T07:51:00.004-04:00

This Was our world on Oct. 29th, as our summer world came to a screeching halt. Last week we were bringing truckloads of produce to market, and now, nothing. It happens every year but not always with such a vengeance. The snow slowly melted, but what a glimpse into what is just around the corner! So, we did the best thing we could think of, we made soup.
Just a basic, throw everything in the pot soup. I picked leeks, potatoes, carrots, chard and parsley out of the garden. Got some onions from the basement, and corn from the freezer. Plumped up some dried Jacob Cattle beans and, viola, a wonderful winter soup. The soup, some fresh bread and butter, and all is well with the world.

The season of slow transitions

2008-10-28T16:25:00.004-04:00

In late May, as our cheesemaking year draws to a close, the days are at their longest, and I can't wait for winter chores to be done with. It happens gradually... first the cows start spending nights outdoors in mid April and our late night visits to the barn to " sweep the cows in" ends. Then, in early May the pastures begin to get green, and the hay feeding season ends. And I can't wait to be out of doors. We make cheese around 50 times a year, and by batch 49 I am so ready to stop.I cannot ever imagine wanting to be tied to the barn and cheeseroom again.
So, here I am today, October 28th. We let the cows up from their pastures to give them hay since its rainy and cold and there is a chance of snow flurries tonight. As I walked down to the haymow , I found myself thinking about milking, and winter chores. And, I found myself remembering the winter barn. And I started thinking about our slow transitions between the seasons. It begins with feeding hay, then putting in the barn windows, cobwebbing, washing the mangers, and generally getting ready for the next wonderful season.... untill its time for the next!

The trials of farming

2008-10-27T16:46:00.004-04:00

Naturally, if farming were easy, and things didn't go wrong, it really wouldn't be farming, and everyone would want to be a farmer. Just imagine, beautiful, sunny days, copious amounts of fresh organic produce.
This growing season has had a lot of ups and downs. ( great red peppers and eggplant for example) Today it feels like more downs We had inch upon inch of rain in July and August and were unable to get all of the broccoli in the ground in a timely manner. Now, when we should be 1/2 way through our harvest, we are done... unless we have a wonderful and warm November. Then there are the shallots. Last year they were our cash cow. We were able to store and sell shallots straight through until April. The price is really high, and at one point even thought we could just grow shallots. Well, this growing season got rid of those ideas ! They have been curing in the greenhouse for about a month. Today was a rainy day, so we went into the greenhouse to begin boxing them up. Sadly, a great majority were rotten ! Just like that, no shallots ! Guess they really didn't respond well to all that rain
Ah, well. We've always thought our motto should be ".....next year " !!I suppose its that forward thinking that makes this all possible.

The last geese of the season?

2008-10-26T16:03:00.003-04:00

There is a wonderful place where we walk in the mornings . It's called the water works, and is many preserved acres. An old reservoir, it now is a place of serene beauty. Early in the mornings, the woods are alive with warblers and other song birds. And, if we hit the timing just right, as the sun rises and hits the water, the geese take off for the day, coming back in the evenings. I tried to get a movie of a beaver swimming and otters playing, but it didn't look like much. So here is my first movie posting.... geese flying at the break of day.

channeling my inner peasant

2008-10-20T18:16:00.006-04:00

This is what the sky looked like from the porch as we got ready to take an early morning walk yesterday. Its a wonderful time of year, we have another month until the cows freshen ( calve) so we get to go for a walk instead of go to the barn. We had a pretty hard frost the night before, so as we walked on the lower fields, the sun lit up each blade of grass with a billion prisms of shimmering light.
Then it was off to the gardens.

Picking and washing vegetables at this time of year.... when its just this side of being too cold, stirs some deep inner feelings of true contentment in me. It's these days when I find myself smiling,singing, and remembering Mary Oliver's line " Oh, to love what is lovely and will not last ..." trying to hold onto this day, this time of year. The trees still have their foliage, and picking on top of the garden is truly like being on top of the world. Sure, the washing of the veggies is cold, but I even love how cold my hands get. I think of peasants, like us, doing as we have for untold centuries

cover crops

2008-10-18T15:50:00.003-04:00

Just as the quality of the milk and the health of the cow depends on the quality of the hay we feed, the quality of the of the crops we grow corresponds directly to the health of the soil. We are fortunate that we have tons of wonderful composted manure to put on the soil. We also use different " green manures" in the form of cover crops to enrich the soil. In the summer, we use buckwheat. We can seed it, and till it in 30 days later ( see top picture). It adds lots of organic matter to the soil. Buckwheat is very tender, so it's best used as an early summer crop.And because to grows so fast, we can get another vegetable crop on the garden, or, if we don't need the space, we can sow another cover crop( field peas are a favorite for nitrogen, or if we're looking to add lots of organic matter sudan grass is a good choice) Later in the year ( like now, mid October) we like to use oats. They grow well into the fall, and because it winter kills we are able to get on the garden with the tractor to till easier than if we used something like rye that begins growing again early in the spring. The roots hold the soil which is nice on the slope of our garden. In the 27 years we've been gardening here, the soil has really changed from a heavy clay garden to a much lighter soil , and judging from the health of our crops, the fertility is right there.
The oats in the lower picture were seeded after the tomatoes came out. What a lovely winter coat!

2008-10-16T10:44:00.002-04:00

Mid October, and the cows are still eating pasture ! It probably wont be for long, though. On their last change of pasture the other day we noticed that the grasses are really slowing down. Soon, they'll be eating hay .

Fall is such a time of transition. Along with the colors, we slowly slip from our summer life of being outside all the time. Meals on the porch become meals inside. It is slow because we are still gardening... still have loads of broccoli to pick and cases of lettuce, but when we need onions we now go to the greenhouse instead of up to the garden.And, we are also remembering that window in the barn that needs fixing, and the bales of sawdust ( because there is no longer bulk sawdust available from the saw mills ) need to be moved around.

Leeks !

2008-10-15T09:43:00.002-04:00

So much more go into leeks than the beautiful white spears you get at the market. They are started in the greenhouse in early spring. Being frost hardy, they can be set out early. We make a deep ( well, not that deep, about a foot or so) trenches, and transplant each baby leek into the trench. Then, through out the growing season we hill them. That's why they have long, usable white portions. In the fall, when they reach their full size they are pulled, cleaned up and washed. All that for a leek? Yes ! We are know locally for our beautiful leeks.
Here is a recipe for an easy and delicious potato leek soup:

Leek and Potato Soup

3 Tb. Butter
4 Cups sliced leeks
3 Tb. Flour
6 cups hot water
1 Tb. Salt, or to taste and ground black pepper to taste
4 cups diced potatoes ( I love yellow boiling potatoes)
2 cups milk added at the end of cooking.( add at end so it doesn’t curdle)

Melt butter over moderate heat in a soup pot, stir in leeks. Cover pot, and cook slowly over low heat for 10 minutes. Then blend in flour, and cook over moderate heat for 2 minutes to cook the flour. Remove from heat, let cool a moment, slowly stir in hot water to blend with the leeks and flour. Stir in salt and pepper, and potaoes. Bring to a boil, the reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover pot and let cook for about 40 minutes until potatoes are tender.
Potatoes can be partially mashed , or left in the cubed state. What ever suits your fancy!

So easy, and so good!

I'm new to writing recipes, so let me know how this works for you.

the edge of frost

2008-10-12T16:59:00.004-04:00

It's at this time of the year that I most feel the thin line between the seasons. Closer to the house, and under some trees the frost hasn't hit yet . The first frost was light enough that the remay that covered the eggplant and peppers was sufficient. But, what a tiny matter of degrees!.

Really, the line between the living and the dead.

I find it so amazing that there are the tender plants, and then, there are the hardiest of the hardys. Take lettuce for example. How is it that a tender red boston will take temps. in the high 20's, but a rugged plant like a pepper, or tomato will turn brown at 30 ? And basil, the slightest cold wind blowing on it turns the leaves brown.

The tomatoes are gone. And the clean up has begun. First we pull up the soaker hose, roll it up, mark the lengths, and store them for next spring.

Then the posts are removed and stacked.

Then the ground is tilled, manure spread and, weather permitting, a cover crop of oats is sown.

I love this time of year.

the first frost...

2008-10-09T09:30:00.002-04:00

This week has been a week of getting ready for the frost... lots of picking the veggies that will die in the cold weather. Lots of peppers, both green and red... eggplants, the remainders of the tomatoes. Then we cover some of the peppers and eggplant with a large 30 X 100 foot piece of light fabric called remay. It gives the plants enough protection from light frosts to keep them from dying.

The veggies not affected by frost are leeks, lettuce, broccoli and carrots.

I'm on my way to the garden to do some picking,,, I'll add some more pictures later.

2008-10-05T15:58:00.004-04:00

Its looking like tomorrow will be out first broccoli picking, a bit late for us, but, oh well. Every year has its hardships... and this summer's heavy rain made it hard for us to get our fall plantings in on time. I'm not sure how to put 2 pictures on a posting , but I wanted to get this beautiful broccoli head on here also.

Oh, easier than I thought it would be. As I keep learning, I'll try to make this more interesting to read.

I'd like to add a recipe sections for food I love to cook......( once I figure how to add new sections, I'm sure its easy once one knows how) Along with photos of the food.

Let me know what you think too. This is all so new to me!

Autumnal updates

2008-10-05T09:58:00.004-04:00

It's hard to believe in out zone 4 1/2 area we can grow a southern belle like this hibiscus. She blooms mid September, and here we are in Oct......still enjoying lots of blooms. The days are getting shorter, and I think tomorrow ( monday) we'll be picking for a frost.

But, our greenhouse is full of onions and shallots, and we still have plantings of broccoli and lettuce to come.

Salsa Making

2008-09-28T10:22:00.000-04:00

Salsa making is a wonderful fall tradition. Its a whole day activity of picking tomatoes, an array of hot and sweet peppers, chopping lots of onions, garlic, peeling and dicing everything. The air is filled with the smoky heat of roasting peppers. We start by making a wood fire in the fire pit. As the peppers are fire roasted they are put into a covered pot, then peeled. Then everything is cooked together for hours on the stove. Opening a jar of salsa in the winter is heavenly, sending me right back to this perfect early fall day !!