We did our first big transplanting yesterday: onions!
With eight of us, we removed the baby onions from their trays in the greenhouse, trimmed their roots, and planted three and a half beds in the garden, in one afternoon. Comfortable and intense, hard work and fun, … and, in the end, full of the joy of knowing we can do it!
We rise with the sun for market days.
One of my great joys at the farm is sharing our harvest with others! As an apprentice, I’ve been learning not just about growing food but about selling it too, and have been involved in our spring CSA and, for the past few weeks, going to the market. Whole Circle Farm is at Wychwood Barns Farmers’ Market in Toronto every Saturday throughout the winter and (starting this summer) the summer too, and we’ll be at Georgetown Market (Saturdays) and Acton Market (Thursdays) come June too.
I love the hustle and bustle of the market; the feeling of camaraderie among the vendors as we set up and take-down; the enthusiasm of shoppers and eaters; people’s joy at the taste of fresh spinach and tales of baking success; seeing so many people interested in healthy, local, ethical, and organic food; and of course,for me, the chance to eat market food and chocolate!
At Wychwood Barns Farmers’ Market in Toronto
My creativity hasn’t been limited to the kitchen. I’ve been enjoying knitting for the past few months, and have at last completed a project! … wool slippers to keep my feet warm on these cold country floors. And I’m constantly reminded that, whether it’s making yogurt, muffins, or garlic pesto, or knitting, or seeding plants, what’s important is that I’m loving what I’m doing.
For me, farm life is not a sacrifice, it’s truly living well – as Shannon Hayes tells us in Radical Homemakers, and as all the urban and rural homesteaders and Transitioners attest to. Partly because it’s living lighter on the earth, disentangling from the carbon-based, exploitation-based multinational market economy, and creating the life-giving economy; and partly because it’s my kind of fun! …
Because… I’m finding myself more and more trying to live by the philosophy – expressed well by American theologian and philosopher Howard Thurman – “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive”!
I think I promised a parsnip muffin recipe a couple of weeks ago … and here it is!
We had some delicious over-wintered parsnips left over (surprisingly) from the market last week. Before they were too far gone, I decided to make parsnip muffins: all farm/local ingredients, and very healthy, and very delicious. I modified a pumpkin muffin recipe from the Joy of Cooking – it’s sufficiently modified that I feel okay posting it here.
I washed the parsnips but didn’t peel them, sliced and boiled them and pureed them to make 3 cups of parsnip puree.
I used farm spelt flour. Usually I’ve been sifting the flour, but this time I tried using the whole thing, and was pleasantly surprised with how well the flour worked out – not too gritty or heavy, but bran-y and healthy!
Here’s the recipe:
Combine dry ingredients:
5 cups whole spelt flour
5 tsp cinnamon
3 tsp baking soda
3 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder (yes, this is right – more b. soda than b. powder)
1 tsp nutmeg
Combine wet ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup honey
5 eggs
3 cups parsnip puree
Combine flour mixture and parsnip mixture together. Spoon into muffin trays and bake for about 35 minutes in 350 degree oven. Makes about 24 to 30 medium-sized muffins. Enjoy!
Making one’s own yogurt has always been one of those things that I felt I should do, but that just continued to elude me – seeming a little too complicated and a little too risky. Having made my first batch this week, I am completely converted to home yogurt. Easy and delicious and nutritious!
We heated 2 litres of milk to 84 degrees, stirring all the while to prevent sticking.
Then we cooled the pot in a cold water bath – the kitchen sink is a convenient spot – to 44 degrees.
We added starter (yogurt from our friend Val), and mixed it in. We had three big jars of yogurt that we stored in a cooler in 44 degree water Thursday evening to Saturday morning.
Yogurt for breakfast this morning, with apple slices from Bizjak Orchards, and a parsnip muffin (more details and recipe for the parsnip muffins coming up!) Yum!
Having been vegetarian since I was about 20, I haven’t cooked much meat… until now! A lot of research suggests that pastured cattle – in contrast to grain-fed factory raised beef – contributes significantly to carbon storage and helps build healthy soil. I include our free range chickens, that consume all our excess food, weeds, undesirable insects, and lots of other stuff, in this helpful livestock category. I decided a couple of years ago to include a little bit of such ethical meat in my diet, but it wasn’t until I came to Whole Circle Farm that this became a regular reality… and this Wednesday I cooked my first chicken!
It was pretty delicious – as Whole Circle Farm chicken hardly can be otherwise. I roasted the chicken for about an hour and a half, with wild leeks, parsnips and carrots.
The chicken was an accompaniment for what I really wanted to make: spelt risotto.
Fresh vegetable stock, wild leeks, summer squash from the freezer, butter, and grated parmesan cheese, and of course – in lieu of rice – spelt berries.
I found some spinach still growing in the greenhouse, where our old spinach beds have been taken over by seed starts, for a delicious spinach salad.
Naturally, this was a completely farm-sourced meal – except for the cheese from Organic Meadow. … But, now that the calves have started to arrive, we have a lot more milk. Katie and I celebrated by making yogurt tonight, and I see cheese – and more all-farm meals – in the near future!
Linda and her very new babies
We woke this morning to six new piglets (they’re cute when they’re small) and Polly’s long awaited calf, D…uncan! We went down for a quick visit and photo shoot before getting to work on a day of potting up tomatoes and direct seeding turnips and lettuce mix. Here’s everyone, including Charlotte, Albert, and Blue, all lined up for the camera.
I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the cows, although I do still have a healthy consciousness of their size. I love watching them, and look forward to my animal chore days. I am constantly challenged not to anthropomorphize, … but now that the calves are here, it’s interesting to see how they interact with their mothers, and how their mothers interact with them… how they don’t always come when their mothers call them, and the farm echoes with the calls of aggravated (or worried) mother cows.
I’m getting used to how much the calves change in the first few days, from sleeping most of the time at first, to getting up and playing with each other. What do they experience as they jump in the straw? At first Albert and Blue seemed to be a tight pair, but now Charlotte has joined them. And it’s interesting to see their different personalities (cow-alities) developing. Blue is a bit more cautious than the others, and I’m curious to see how she’ll change as she grows up.
More cow-watching coming soon!
Polly and her new calf
Charlotte, Albert, and Blue
Adventures in radical farming 