A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. - Gertrude Jekyll | The gardens continue to grow nicely with the hot weather, abundant irrigation water, and continuous weeding. We're harvesting new potatoes, garlic, and a variety of onions from the fields, and lettuces, herbs, and green onions from the smaller garden. Summer is such a luscious season! However, not everything that has to be done on the farm is so pleasant. The guys had to repurpose one of our barns. Even Martin, who has done some of the nastiest jobs ever in his previous renovations occupation, admitted this was even worse than any of those. The worst part was removing the ceiling, which had blown-in rockwool insulation, the kind that flows out when the ceiling panels are removed and totally covers you with itchy particles that have had a plethora of mice running through them. AND they did this job on the hottest days of the summer. "At the end of the day, we threw off our work clothes and dove into the closest pond as fast as we could. That job was horrendous!" exclaimed Martin.
The rest of the project was easy compared to that and now, we have a nice building for housing laying hen chicks. In the midst of remodelling the barn and weeding gardens, Martin purchased another ram to run with our ewes this fall. A small mobile pen was made for Walter, our new ram, and Ivan, our pet. When we were visiting them, Martin asked us to help move their pen to a spot with more grass. Walter was a little nervous with people around, so wasn't sure whether to eat or run. But the pasture was so lush and green after coming from a corral with only hay, he was confused about what to do. "Should I run? But, this grass is so good. I'll take a few quick steps away from these people. I can't pass up these alfalfa blossoms. The people are staying outside the fence anyway. I'm just going to eat. This is too delicious!" With that, Walter went to grazing without paying us any mind. Ivan just wanted his head scratched and loved the human attention. After all, he'd had free rein of the barn yard and eaten a smorgasbord of grasses and weeds, so this greenery wasn't that special. | *Just in! Jeannie found this mother and her babies. Be careful when driving into the farm. We don't have a "GO SLOW! Hen and chicks at large" sign. | Not-So-Fun Facts About Mosquitoes It's summer and here come the mosquitoes! • There are around 3,500 species of mosquitoes, but only a couple hundred feast on human blood.
• Only female mosquitoes bite to get a blood meal before they lay their eggs. Males suck nectar from flowers.
• The female's saliva contains an anti-coagulant that lets her more easily suck up her meal. The saliva induces an allergic response from her victim's immune system; that's why your skin gets an itchy bump.
• Females lay their eggs in shallow water or even damp soil that's prone to flooding. Get rid of any standing water near your home to reduce the mosquito horde.
• Mosquitoes are attracted to the carbon dioxide, lactic acid, and octenol found in our breath and sweat, and they also sense the heat and humidity that surrounds our bodies. They may also have a preference for beer drinkers. I'm sure we can all identify with this poem. You're dead tired after a day of hard work and look forward to a good night's sleep. Then, there it is. That familiar buzz. It's too hot to pull the covers over your head, and you're too tired to turn on the light and get out of bed to deal with her. A Mosquito in the Cabin – Myra Stilborn
Although you bash her,
swat her, smash her,
and go to bed victorious,
happy and glorious
she will come winging,
zooming and zinging,
wickedly singing
over your bed.
You slap the air
but she's in your hair
cackling with laughter.
You smack your head,
but she isn't dead --
she's on the rafter.
She's out for blood --
yours, my friend,
and she will get it, in the end.
She brings it first to boiling point,
then lets it steam.
With a fee, fi, fo and contented fum
she sips it
while you dream. | Hooray! Our beef is back in the freezer. We have all your favorite cuts, ready and waiting for you to savor. | Konstantijn's Kreations has added fresh cut flowers to the table of her cute jewelry creations. Beautiful blue bachelor buttons, glorious gold, rust, yellow, and bronze blanket flowers, and wonderfully fragrant sweet peas are just a few of the bouquets you can enjoy. Watch for Bells-of-Ireland! Konstantijn has been trying to grow these for a few years, and finally succeeded. This hot summer may have helped. After all, this unusual green flower is native to Turkey, Syria, and the Caucasus. | Harvest Haven Pastured Kansas City Strip Steak - The KC strip is essentially the same cut as a New York strip, except it has the bone attached. It is cut from the short loin of a beef, and is tender with rich marbling throughout the meat. The marbling of the strip steak will melt into the meat as it grills resulting in an incredible steak dinner. Harvest Haven Fresh Garlic – It's back! Fresh from the field Harvest Haven garlic is back in the store, looking beautiful and tasting great. Harvest Haven New Potatoes – Our new potatoes are in the store in all their lovely earthy goodness. Tender and delicious, just waiting for cream and dill or roasting with olive oil and a sprinkle of herbs. Harvest Haven Fresh Dill – Feathery and fresh! Sprinkle on new potatoes and cream, add to cold beet soups, mix with sour cream or cream cheese for a dip, or stir into tzatziki, the traditional Greek cucumber yogurt salad. How about "dill" pickles? Yum! Organic BC Peaches – The taste of summer - sweet, juicy, and mmm…good. Peaches are great for pies, cobblers, smoothies, fresh on cereal, and just plain eating. Simply Organic Almond Extract, 2 oz - Add the essence of almond with Simply Organic Almond Extract. This sweet, organic extract offers a deliciously clean taste and heavenly aroma to your desserts and baked treats. | Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic. | Kansas Strip Steak Clean grill and oil grill grates. Set up grill for two zone grilling: direct high heat and indirect heat. Season steak. Place steak over direct heat. Sear steak on both sides. Move steak to indirect side of grill. Remove steak from grill when 5°F under target temperature. Pull at 125°F for medium-rare, 135°F for medium. Top with garlic herb butter. Rest steak for 3-5 minutes prior to cutting. Cut steak across the grain. Serve immediately. | New Potatoes with Dill Cream Sauce 2 lb Harvest Haven new potatoes
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1/3 cup cream
1/3 cup milk
1 bunch fresh Harvest Haven dill leaves, chopped roughly
Salt and pepper, for seasoning In a medium to large pot, boil potatoes until tender. After removing the water, place the pot back to the heat for 2 to 3 minutes to remove additional moisture from the cooked potatoes. Set aside. In a small saucepan, melt butter. Add flour. Mix until flour has turned into a soft paste. Add cream. Whisk to avoid getting clumps.
Slowly add milk, continue whisking. Simmer for around 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add nutmeg, if desired. The cream mixture would be slightly thicker now. Mix with a spatula or wooden spoon, scraping the sides of the pan and making sure that there are no lumps in the cream. Pour cream mixture into cooked potatoes and mix. Add chopped dill. Mix to combine properly. (Try to coat each potato with cream and dill.) Serve. | Fresh Peach Crumb Bars For the crust:
1 cup granulated sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1 large Harvest Haven egg, lightly beaten For the peach layer:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 large peaches, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice For the icing: (optional)
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon milk (more or less for desired consistency) Preheat oven to 350°F if using a glass pan, or 375°F for a metal pan. Lightly butter a 13x9-inch baking pan and set aside. For the crust:
In a medium bowl whisk together 1 cup of sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Using a pastry cutter, blend in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add the lightly beaten egg and mix until the dough starts to hold together, but is still crumbly. Gently press a little more than half the dough into the prepared pan. OPTIONAL: you can also process the sugar, flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add the egg and pulse until the dough starts to hold together. For the peach mixture:
In a large mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Add the diced peaches and toss to combine. Drizzle the lemon juice over the peaches and toss to coat. Pour the peach mixture over the crust and spread evenly. Using your hands, press together handfuls of the remaining crumb topping to create clumps. Scatter the clumps and remaining crumbled topping over the fruit layer leaving some peaches showing through. If using a glass pan, bake at 350°F degrees for 50-55 minutes or until lightly browned. If using a metal pan, bake at 375°F degrees for 40-45 minutes. Cool completely then chill before cutting and icing. To prepare the icing:
Whisk together the powdered sugar, almond extract and milk. Drizzle on the bars just before serving. | Cows on the Mooove "Good morning, Jeannie. How are you today?" "I'm fine. But, something strange happened overnight," Jeannie replied. "When I got up and looked out my window this morning, there were big holes through my garden. "I looked for the milk cows, their calves, and Bob our new bull, who were supposed to be in the grassy area by my house and they were ALL gone! And the electric fence was strewn over the ground." Investigating the scene more closely, Jeannie found the holes were made by some big bovine walking through her garden. It barely missed stepping on her small rosemary plant, but left a nice plop of fresh fertilizer right beside it. The escapee continued through the cilantro bed, climbed up two big rocks to the next garden level, stomped on the green onions, and proceeded through the tomato patch just pushing the cages to the side with its big belly. Then, the critter walked by the side of the house on the paving stone, passed the birdbath, over the dry gravel stream bed, and up the hill through all the perennials, sampling some of the ornamental grasses. Amazingly, it didn't step on any of the hostas or other flowers. Wandering by the pump-house, it found the dirt piled against the root cellar and had a dirt throwing party. There was dirt scattered ALL over the driveway between the root cellar and the store. Jeannie continued to recount her morning investigations, "Just as we were getting home last night, lightning filled the sky and there was this huge clap of thunder with it. There had to be a lightning strike close by. It must have spooked the cows that were in the pasture beside us, and they rushed the fence in their fear. "I called Dan to let him know the cows were out. "He sounded kind of grumpy when he replied, 'They're not out anymore! I knew there was a problem when I came out of my cabin this morning and found cow pies by my door.'" After wandering around the yards, these runaways scooted down the road to the pasture where the beef cows are. The gate was closed, so they couldn't get any further. To prevent future mishaps, all milk cows, their calves, and Bob the bull, are locked in the corral at night. | |
