Tag: stanwood

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Hang On To Your Hats, It's Time To Farm!

Hang on to your hat, because these next few weeks are going to be a class 5 kayak ride!  We were behind a few weeks ago, but now we are getting nervous.  If the weather doesn’t break soon so that the rain lets up, I won’t be harvesting anything until August.  At least we have snuck in (mudded in) a few plants in between rain storms. Our first plantings of peas are up and our second plantings are just emerging. The strawberries and raspberries are sending out new leaves every day and those two nice weekends we had gave the bees enough warmth to get out and work in the orchard.   Now,it is a waiting game to see if (and how much of) the fruit will set. 

After last year’s horrible spring, I decided to diversify and plant some more perrienels , like raspberries, strawberries, apples, pears, plums as well as herbs.  Even the beef help to mitigate springs like these. Every season has its ups and downs, challenges and triumphs. By diversifying we are able to cover expenses and even out the waves of life or seasons.  Looking forward to calm waters ahead.

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Connecting the Past and the Future

Gray hair isn’t a sign of old age, it is a sign of credibility. This past month the Stanwood community lost one of its farmers. Franklin Hanson passed away at the ripe old age of 88. Our family has only known the Hanson family for eight years. Bernice, who passed on a few years ago, and Franklin adopted us when we first moved to the valley and with the help of their three boys have been a huge blessing to our family. We have learned so much by their direct impact on our family.

Sadly, in our society, the gray head is not held in as high of esteem as it should be. Because of this, many of us, especially the youth, are missing out on some incredible insight. The generation that is passing from this life to the next has weathered some amazing times and gained a lot of wisdom as a result. And if this insight were sought out, it would reveal some very relevant information to make life richer. As an organic farmer—or if you will, an old fashioned farmer—I am always gleaning information about how things were done before tractors, oil, and synthetic fertilizers. By just sitting and listening to the years of experience, my children and I have been able to learn some of the wisdom of the ages.

As I think about the stories of old that I have heard, I am in awe of how resilient Franklin’s generation really was. Living through the Great Depression, forsaking comfort and safety to liberate Europe and then having to adapt from outhouses to indoor plumbing, from letters to party lines to no lines, from admiring birds to flying like them, and from using your mind to using a computer. Truly Franklin’s generation has seen much, given much, and has a lot to give still.

Now Franklin is no longer with us (we still have his three boys) and I can no longer grip his hand and seek his wisdom. Have you ever noticed the strength of an old man’s hand shake? The strength is an extension their lives, a strength that reminds us that we can make it through incredibly hard situations as well. I will miss the opportunities I have had to ask a question and then sit back and just listen, absorbing, and taking mental notes as he shared.

I love the Stanwood community. It is the place that our family gets to carry on the farming way of life with a community of farmers that have been here for three, four, and five generations. I humbly submit that my life has been richer because of some of these farmers–the Franklin Hanson family.

Franklin, you and your family have been an untold blessing to the Klesick family and many others. Thank you for sharing your time and your rich heritage with all those you came in contact with. Good bye Franklin. You might have passed from this world to the next, but your life will live on in the hearts of many.

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Trumpeter Swans

These majestic birds have returned to the valley.  When we see these marvelous wonders of creation it is a sure sign that the farming season is nearing its end.  Their ever distinctive trumpeting can be heard clearly as they grace the skies above our farm.

As a farmer, I find that the longer I farm in this region the more I am tied to the nuances of its local ecosystem.  In the spring I am reminded that it will be time to work the ground when I see the early bulbs start to emerge and the grasses wake up. It is the same when that fall air begins to grace the end of August—I better hurry up because the season is coming to a close. And with winter right around the corner, early November brings the swans.

I can be walking in the field, or sitting at my desk, or working with the draft horses and I will inevitably stop and listen and then look up.  I love that sound on a crisp fall morning as they fly eastward over the farm to their morning feasting grounds. And conversely, at about dusk on their return flight to Port Susan, I am reminded to head in myself and enjoy my family.

Nature has been embedded with a whole lot of wisdom and farming that keeps that wisdom in mind always succeeds.
As for now, I am looking forward to our farm’s winter rest and the music of the trumpeters till spring.

-image from tufts.edu

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Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear

I have been spending some of the most blissful moments of the farm season during the fall clean up. Ever since I got my new Belgian team, Sally and Sandy, I have been working them a lot. My previous team was a bear to work with and, consequently, they didn’t get worked because it wasn’t any fun. But my new team—aaaaaah!—has been for the most part a dream.
However, the other week I was away for a few days and put them out on pasture so that my kiddos didn’t have to worry about them. I came home, caught them, harnessed them, and set out for the field. Fortunately, my good friend Ken, from Horse Drawn Produce on Lopez, was visiting and we worked them together. Those two fillies were a handful that morning. When it comes to horses, I am a greenhorn, but Ken is a real teamster. I had bought the girls from Ken and he quietly reprimanded me and said, “No more green grass for them.” Our pastures are very rich and so after feeding off them for a week the Belgians were affected like a toddler on soda pop—they were all wound up. It took a couple of hours driving them around the farm to burn off that excess sugar!
I have always pastured my horses and so this experience got me thinking that maybe my previous team was just high strung because their feed was too rich??? I will never really know. However, I did notice today that when I harnessed up Katy, the remaining horse from my first team, for the most part she was amenable working with me. And she has been off pasture for a couple days and eating our local hay. (We have local hay available if you would like some.)
Yesterday and this morning, I harnessed up Sally and Sandy and we backed up and headed out to the field. It was like I was “Driving Miss Daisy.” We leisurely wandered out to the field got the disc and went to work. Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… all these sounds as the disc cut through the corn stocks. I have never heard a disc as it did its job. When we are on the tractors it is too noisy to hear yourself think let alone a disc cutting and tearing. But even before, when I was using my previous team, I had to concentrate so much on those horses as they raced through the field that I couldn’t enjoy the moment.
But today, Squeak, Rattle, Crunch, Tear… were the sounds of music. I love that sound and nothing could be finer than working with my team, the mountains in the background and the sun shining overhead! Working steady horses on a beautiful day, an old English poet from Suffolk once said, “is a poor excuse for work.” And this farmer said, “Amen.”

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Know Your Produce: Potatoes

Image from the Maine Food & Lifestyle blog

  • Potatoes should be kept in a cool, dark place with good ventilation. the ideal storage temperature is 45 to 50 degrees F. At these temperature, the potatoes will keep for several weeks. Do not store potatoes in the refrigerator, as a temperature below 40 degrees F. will cause the potatoes to develop a sweet taste. This is due to the conversion of starch to sugar, which causes potatoes to darken when cooked.
  • If you store potatoes at room temperature, use them within a week or so.
  • Wait to wash potatoes, until you are ready to use them, as they will keep longer & this prevents loss of nutrients.
  • It is not recommended that you freeze cooked potato dishes, as they tend to become watery after reheating. As the potato is 80% water, this water separates from the starch causing the reheated potato dish to be watery.
  • Potatoes are easier to prepare and healthier for you when cooked with their skins on. Always rinse and scrub the potatoes thoroughly before using.
  • When you are using cut up potatoes in your cooking, preserve the color by place them in cold water. Limit the water soaking time to two (2) hours to retain the water-soluble vitamins. Color discoloration (pinkish or brownish) happens from the carbohydrates in the potato reacting with oxygen in the air. Potatoes that do become discolored in this way are safe to eat and do not need to be thrown. Usually the color discoloration will disappear with cooking.
  • Sometimes potatoes will get a spot that is a greenish hue. A potato in this condition is “light-struck” which causes a build-up of a chemical called Solanine. This is a natural reaction to the potato being exposed to too much light. (store out of light!) The green part, if eaten in large quantity, can cause illness. If there is slight greening, cut away the green portions of the potato skin before cooking and eating.

See http://whatscookingamerica.net/potato.htm

For more tips on boiling, baking and making mashed potatoes.

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Fresh This Week Tips, 10.3.2010

d’Anjou Pears
STORE: Keep pears at room temperature until ripe. To test for ripeness, gently push on the stem. If it gives a little, your pear is ready to eat.
PREP: Wash pears in cold water and keep them whole, slice them or chop them.
USE: d’Anjou pears can be eaten out of hand, mixed into a spring salad, baked or poached. Remember the delicious Apple and Rhubarb Crisp recipe? Make another version of that crisp by substituting the apples and rhubarb with pears and dried cranberries.

Spartan Apples
STORE: Store apples in a paper bag in the crisper of your refrigerator. Spartan apples typically don’t keep for very long, so it’s advisable to use your apples within 1 week.
PREP: Wash apples under cold running water. If using your apples in a recipe, typically you will peel and core the apple before cutting it into slices or cubes. To prevent apples from browning, brush with a lemon juice-water solution (1 cup water mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice).
USE: Spartan apples are the small to medium sized offspring of MacIntosh apples. They are a favorite among children for their crisp, snow white flesh and sweet flavor. Pack your Spartan apples as a lunchtime snack or use them to make a wonderful applesauce or apple butter.

Bunch Carrots
STORE: Always remove tops from carrots as they take moisture from the “root” to stay green, leaving you with a limp carrot. Store carrots in the coolest part of the refrigerator in a plastic bag or wrapped in a paper towel to reduce the amount of moisture that is lost. They should keep for about two weeks. Be sure to store your carrots away from apples, pears, potatoes as they produce a gas that will make carrots bitter.
PREP:  Wash carrot roots and gently scrub them with a vegetable brush right before preparing them to eat. Peel (if desired) and chop according to your recipe or their purpose.
USE: You can steam, pickle, puree (for carrot soup!), juice, eat them raw or add them to any number of soups, stews and stir fries.

Yellow Corn
STORE: Store corn in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. Do not remove its husk since this will protect its flavor. To enjoy your corn at its best, eat as soon as possible.
Fresh corn freezes well if placed in heavy-duty freezer bags. To prepare whole ears for freezing, blanch them first for seven to eleven minutes depending upon their size. To freeze the kernels, first blanch the ears for about five minutes and then cut the kernels off the cob. Whole corn on the cob will keep for up to one year, while the kernels can be frozen for two to three months.
PREP: To prepare your corn, remove or pull down the husks (depending on if you would like to cook your corn with the husks on or off) and remove the silk from the cob. Rinse under cool water (if desired, pull the husks back around your corn). To cut the kernels off of a corn cob, put the flat stem end in a bowl and run a sharp chef’s knife down the length of the ear using a sawing motion.
USE: Corn can be grilled, baked, steamed, boiled or broiled. For a last taste of summer, try this tasty Oven Roasted Corn on the Cob recipe. To enjoy your corn in Fall dishes, add cooked corn kernels to soup or chili for a heartier, more nutritious meal.

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The Spring and the Fall: 
Assorted musings from the farmer

The spring and fall farm seasons are similar in many ways, especially with the erratic weather patterns.  The big weather difference, however, is that now the days are getting shorter and the soil getting wetter verses in the spring when the day length is increasing and soil is getting warmer. That subtle change, now magnified with this wet September, has made our fall chores more interesting than usual.

So in the spring we run around getting the ground ready for planting and in the fall we run around spreading compost, planting cover crops, garlic, shallots, and harvesting the summer (as if there was a summer) planted crops.  I love this season, but there are literally not enough daylight hours to get the work done, especially when you only get one or two days of good field work weather. And trust me, when we get those days, we are as busy as beavers from dawn to dusk.

This week we are hoping to do all of the above and get closer to taking a long winter nap. My new team of horses, Sally and Sandy, are sure sweet to work with. Together, last week, we disc-harrowed an acre of ground that had provided us with green beans and tomatoes and then we planted winter wheat for a cover crop on top of it.

Speaking of tomatoes . . . I grew Japanese Black Trifele tomatoes this year, mostly on a whim. Mike and Joanie, at the Rents Due Ranch, had a couple hundred extra plants, so I, in a moment of romanticism, picked up 100. They were incredibly flavorful, but ripened too quickly and didn’t have good shelf life. I have put them on the “do not grow in the future” list.

Back to the horses. It was fun driving the horses through the tomato plants and discing them down. Every now and then a green tomato would burst and I would get lightly splattered.  All and all, Sally, Sandy and I worked together for six hours. That was as close to pure bliss as I have come to farming with horses.  I am looking forward to finishing the fall farm chores with them.

Thanks for supporting our family farm and our family of farmers. This farming year, with all of its challenges, is more enjoyable because the food we raise goes to our family of local customers.