Whiteley Creek Homestead

heirloom bean and ham soup

In May, I purchased six seed packets containing different varieties of heirloom soup beans from Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. The spring's warm, moist garden soil encouraged the seeds to sprout and begin the rapid ascent skyward, curling their tendrils to grasp the trellis's grid until autumn's natural dehydrator signaled harvest time.

A fifteen-month old's tiny handprint on my window. A short nine months later, those same hands belonging to my youngest grandaughter had the dexterity to shell beans from my garden...

for a pot of "Ham Bone, Greens, and Bean Soup" from Molly Wizenberg's blog, Orangette. Molly is author of A Homemade Life, which is a mix of recipes and the stories behind the recipes... lovely storytelling. My copy is dog-eared from its frequent use in my kitchen. 

The ham for my bean soup came from hormone-free, pasture-raised Red Wattle Hogs raised at Grass is Greener Farm in Bremen, Indiana. In danger of extinction, the hogs share the farm with other heritage breeds including Red Poll Cattle, St. Croix Sheep, Silver Appleyard Ducks, and Bourbon Red Turkey. We stumbled upon this farm at an amazing farmer's market in Goshen, Indiana. After picking up some items at Goshen's Maple City Market Natural Foods Co-op, a friendly resident outside the store told us about the Goshen Farmer's Market down the street. What a discovery! Open year-round on Saturdays from 8-1 and May-October on Tuesdays from 3-6, the indoor market features a wide array of farmers, bakers and artisans. Live music provides a gentle but energizingly festive atmosphere. Note: A local source for amazing, humanely-raised pork products is Fox Farm Pork in Browerville, Minnesota. Their products are sold at the Crow Wing Food Co-op in Brainerd. To add healing collagen, I added Organic Chicken Bone Broth to the soup pot.

digging potatoes

As far back as my memory takes me, I remember the words of my father. "Make sure there are two or three eyes in each chunk and place them in the row cut side down." He was teaching me how to prepare and plant seed potatoes. We planted many. Enough to carry us through the winter. Now, I do the same in my own garden.

My dad planted all russet potatoes. For varied health benefits, I plant white, purple, and red-skinned varieties. The purple and red have colored flesh, as well.

I have no root cellar. I would like one. Until that day, potatoes keep well in the coolness of my porch until the temps fall below freezing. Then, the produce drawers of my fridge are filled. I'm continually incorporating them into meals, so they go quickly. 

For a quick and easy meal, simply brown sliced or cubed potatoes along with bacon, then add sauteed onions and garlic. (I do the onions separately because they tend to make the potatoes soggy and my goal is crispy.) Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Scatter raw shredded cheddar cheese over top to melt. Mashed potatoes smothered in mushroom gravy, a center cut pork chop, and brown sugar sweetened buttercup squash is my favorite meal. The pork I choose to eat comes from central Minnesota's Fox Farm in Browerville which is 60 miles from Brainerd. In September, an interview with the pork producer Laurence Fox was featured in a newsletter from St. Cloud's Good Earth Co-op.

growing mushrooms on logs

Shiitake mushrooms. Meaty texture and flavor. Nutritionally beneficial. Pricey. So, I decided to grow my own on logs. The best time to inoculate is in the spring, therefore on April 23, 2014, I ordered 100 shiitake mushroom mycelium plug spawn. 100 vibrant orange and yellow Chicken of the Woods mushroom plugs, too. From Fungi Perfecti fulfilled through Amazon. Then, life got busy. As the plugs chilled in the fridge to ensure dormancy, the months passed. Tick tock. Tick tock. The final recommended inoculation window "30-45 days before consistently (i.e. 'round the clock) freezing temps set in for the winter" was rapidly approaching. It is now October 24, 2014. Yes, a full 6 months has passed. The urgency that other tasks had held this day, took a backseat to my mushroom project. I got busy.

First, I positioned the four hardwood (oak) logs, that Dick had cut in 3-4 foot lengths several weeks ago, to allow time for the "anti-fungal compounds that trees naturally produce to degrade," in a crosshatch pattern to encourage air flow. One of my Welsummer hens, perched atop one of the logs, observed me curiously as I worked.

Independently gathering plug spawn insertion supplies is an option, but I chose to order a kit that included a 5/16" drill bit with a stop collar, rubber mallet, 1 lb soy-based sealing wax, and a 1" wax application brush. As I began to drill the "2-inch deep holes no more than 4 inches apart, evenly spaced in a diamond pattern along the length and around the full circumference of the logs," the drill bit's stop collar kept slipping, so I subbed a strip of painters' masking tape wrapped around the bit.

After gently pounding a mushroom plug into each drilled opening, I heated the wax over low heat provided by an electric burner set atop a cement block.

According to the Fungi Perfecti website, "Holes can be sealed with cheese wax or beeswax (or the soy-based wax that is included in the company's plug spawn kit) to protect the mycelium from weather and insects while it is growing; although this step can be helpful, it is not absolutely necessary." My decision to seal the holes is, optimistically speaking, my insurance policy against this autumn's sudden cold temperatures. Remember, it is recommended that logs be inoculated 30-45 days before consistent day and night freezing temps set in. "The idea is to allow the mushroom mycelium growing on the plug spawn time to establish itself in its new home before it goes into dormancy over the winter." (Source: www.fungi.com) It is October 25, 2014 as I finish colonizing my logs. The high and low temps here in Brainerd, Minnesota are 57/35. On 10-26, 61/25. 10-27, 50/37. 10-28, 41/35. 10-29, 37/33. 10-30, 39/28. 10-31, 37/21. Are you beginning to see the slippery slope? In ten more days, on November 10, the temps takes a serious dip to 21/19. 11-13, 19/10. 11-14, 19/1. 11-15, 19/-4. 11-20, 14/-5. 11-27, 6/-9. I will provide a mushroom growth success rate update after winter's thaw progresses into spring and summer's warmth. Note: The final photo in this post is a chicken of the woods mushroom that happily made its home on a tree down a wooded trail on our property. It fueled my desire to inoculate logs with this species so that I may cause walks in our woods to be even more beautiful. It is recommended that softwoods (i.e. douglas fir) be used when inoculating chicken of the woods mushrooms, however this species grows wild on oak trees in our woods, therefore I used oak logs. This whole mushroom growing project has turned out to be an experiment. A wait-and-see game. But, isn't that what makes life fun? The here-and-now coupled with the anticipation of what's to come.

cycle of life

As I began my fall garden cleanup today, my mind drifted back to May when my garden soil was still cool from the spring thaw. Not yet warm enough to direct-sow the heirloom "Crystal Apple" and "Poona Kheera" cucumber seeds that I had purchased at Seed Savers Exchange during our visit to Decorah, Iowa earlier in the month. In the warmth of my little greenhouse, however, they had sprouted and were awaiting their home in the garden.

Supported by the natural arch of concrete reinforcement wire, the cucumber vines happily grew and blossomed during June's warmth. Until cucumbers began to form.

The seeds that I scooped and dried from just two cucumbers will provide next season's planting.

A complete life cycle. To witness the gradual transformation from seed to vegetable... it's nothing short of a miracle.

 

 

seed savers exchange

An article in a July/August 2012 issue of Natural Home & Garden Magazine "planted the seed."

I knew that one day I would visit Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Then, one day came. Dick and I spent an afternoon and a day on this first weekend in May 2014 at SSE's annual spring plant sale.

Saving seeds. This is the heartbeat of Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa. Why is it important? To honor the farmers and home gardeners who came before us and to pass biodiverse sustenance on to future generations. Seeds... Heirloom. Open Pollinated. Hybrid. Important terms to understand. Click on the welcome sign photo above to read an explanation of the terms as well as SSE's history and mission.

After purchasing seeds and transplants, we explored a little corner of SSE's 890-acre Heritage Farm. Rolling hills and rock cliffs. Crystal clear trout stream. Meandering hiking trails. One trail led us past Ancient White Park Cattle which is a rare breed that SSE is nurturing back from near extinction. They are white with black eyes and distinctive black coloring on their nose, hooves, teats, horn tips, and inside their ears.  

When we desired rest as we hiked, this lovely weathered bench beckoned.

Mark your calendar and plan to attend SSE's 34th Annual Conference & Campout July 18-20, 2014. An impressive line-up of keynote speakers include "Bryan Welch, the publisher of Mother Earth News and other Ogden publications, who will talk about the importance of seed saving in the back-to-the-land movement; Cornell University geneticist Susan McCouch will discuss plant breeding for stress-prone environments and changing climate; Virginia Nazarea from the University of Georgia will speak about the importance of place and stories in seed saving and sharing; and Andrew Still and Sarah Kleeger of Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home, Oregon will talk about seed stewardship and their work with the Seed Ambassadors Project. A full schedule of workshops run the gamut - from seed saving to cooking to forming a seed library - to give you the skills you need for improving your garding and seed saving practices. Throw in good food, lively entertainment, a chance to meet old friends and new, and you have the fixings for a great weekend." (Info source: SSE Conference & Campout Brochure) Visit www.seedsavers.org to learn more.

Decorah has so much to offer. SSE. The landscape. Its college town vibe. But that is a story to tell of another day. Tomorrow.

 

 

chaga mushroom

Dick was reading ArbLIFE Spring 2014, a publication that we receive in the mail through our Northland Arboretum membership. (The Northland Arboretum is a 583-acre nature preserve located within the city limits of Brainerd/Baxter. It is the site of a former 40-acre landfill that closed in 1972.) He showed me an article titled, "A Fungus Among Us... Can it be a Cure for Cancer?" This wood decaying mushroom species, that is found on birch and other trees in cold climates, is the chaga mushroom. (Photo source: wikimedia.org)

According to the article, Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center is researching the chaga mushroom's potential in helping the body slow and stop the growth of cancerous tumors and reduce the toxicity associated with radiation. It has also exhibited antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties and an ability to stimulate the immune system. It is generally ingested as a tea. A locally made chaga tincture to add to water can be purchased at the Northland Arboretum. Life Preserver Natural Foods in Baxter stocks chaga chunks with tea instructions enclosed inside the package. A hand-harvested herbal tea blend that I received in one of my monthly Birds Eye Tea shipments contains chaga mushroom.

The ArbLIFE article cautions... "Widespread chopping of chaga conks off of trees threatens a delicate ecological balance. A solution to over-harvesting chaga is cultivation. Cultivation is a sustainable practice, while commercial harvesting of wild chaga is making this mushroom harder to find."

"chicken little" hysteria

Chickens do not handle stress well. It can hinder their growth and adversely affect egg production. Although a chicken's breed factors into its personality, creating and maintaining a calm environment will help to produce mellow chickens with friendly dispositions. It will prevent what I refer to as "Chicken Little" hysteria.

A small cardboard box within a wire cage provides comfort and security until it is time to transition to the larger space that a coop provides then beyond to the big world of the yard and the buckwheat field and the woods thick with fallen autumn leaves. The box mimics a coop where chickens habitually enter at dusk when darkness begins to settle across the landscape. A "roost" created from a small tree branch allows young chickens to practice perching, which is a natural instinct.

welsummer pullets

It happens just that quick. One little trip to the farm store.

It began this morning. Dick had noticed that area farmers were set up in the parking lot outside the Tractor Supply Store selling goats, rabbits, chicks, pullets (female chickens less than one year old), and cockerels (male chickens less than one year old). He asked me if I wanted to go. Just to look. "Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart GREW THREE SIZES that day." -Dr. Seuss That's what our hearts did do today. When our eyes fell upon four Welsummer pullets. Seven weeks old. Now ours. 

natures banquet bars

Dick and I watched a cardinal at a feeder in our yard busily crunching black oil sunflower seeds. He paused ever so briefly to acknowledge our gaze and tell us, "Go to your kitchen. You have your own seeds there." And he was right. Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, and flax. And oats.

I chose a recipe titled "Chewy Fruit Seed and Coconut Bars" from The Taste Traveller Blog, which came from a blog called Weelicious where it had been named "Fruit and Seed Bars." The bars' ingredients are reminiscent of a wild bird seed mix called Nature's Banquet Blend which includes millet, sunflower hearts, cracked corn, safflower seed, peanut pieces, and thistle seed, so I dubbed my recipe "Nature's Banquet Bars." Peanut butter, coconut oil, and honey bind the seeds together. I chose to place some raw mix in a jar to scoop and eat as the urge strikes. I also followed the recipe's directions and pressed the mix into a pan to bake and cut into bars.

Nature’s Banquet Bars

1 cup old-fashioned oats

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds

½ cup raw sunflower seeds

1 tbsp sesame seeds

2 to 3 tbsp flax seeds

1 cup dried fruit (e.g., cranberries, raisins, chopped apricots, currants) I used ½ cup.

½ cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1/3 cup honey (I used ¼ cup.)

1 tbsp coconut oil

½ cup sunflower butter (I used ¼ cup peanut butter.)

Preheat oven to 325°. In a food processor, pulse the first 7 ingredients until finely chopped (some can be coarsely chopped). Add the honey, coconut oil, and sunflower butter and pulse until starting to combine. Press the mixture into a lightly oiled 9X9 inch pan lined with parchment paper. (The oil prevents theparchment paper from shifting.) Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool before cutting with a serrated knife into granola-shaped bars or squares. Note: The reduction of honey and nut butter will result in a bar that is a bit more crumbly, but… just go with it.

modern farmer magazine

A new magazine. In a shop thirty miles southwest of Atlanta in a community called Serenbe. We had gone there to have lunch and a cupcake to celebrate Dick's birthday at the Blue-Eyed Daisy Bakeshop.

I purchased that copy of Modern Farmer Issue 02 Fall 2013 in Serenbe.

I ordered backcopies of Issue 01 Spring 2013 and Issue 03 Winter 2013/14. I started a subscription. Yes, I am beyond impressed with this publication. It begins with its cover. Thick and substantial. Like a book. Smooth to the touch. Like a hand gently massage with lotion. The content. Real people across this country and around the globe. Some readily recognizable and others not so much but equally important. All vehicles of change, hope, and inspiration. Respecting the land and animals that provide our sustenance. A sampling of features in my Fall 2013 issue: Farm Schools, Farmers Market Etiquette, Rwanda's Agriculture Success, Farm to Table to Landfill Combating Food Waste, Natural Wool Dyeing, Cornell University's Teaching Dairy Barn. You'll learn of must-stops as you traverse the country. The Green Zebra - new convenience stores in the Portland, Oregon area offering "made from scratch soups, sandwiches, and salads instead of hotdogs and Slurpees... and organic produce, regionally sourced meats and cheeses." Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture Pocantico Hills, NY. (I was there in 2009. Beyond impressive. I provide a miniscule glimpse here.) The magazine features entrepreneurial farmers. Field Apothecary and Herb Farm which offers a medicinal CSA in the Hudson Valley, NY area. Teff growers in the Fallon, Nevada area. The MAiZE, founded by corn maze creator and design consultant, Brett Herbst. (The website makes it easy to locate an amazing labyrinth.) Does this magazine excite me? Without question. Do I recommend a subscription? Without hesitation.