Catching up

It's time to play catch up.  I know that I promised myself, and you, in May that I would write a blog post every week and I know that I haven't done that - not even close.  When you are trying to run an herb farm with wholesale deliveries, farmers markets to prepare for and sell at, CSA shareholders to tend to, weeding, watering, building in a new location AND another full time job on top of it - well,  let's just say it gets busy. 

So here's an update.  It has been Basil city - Basil CRAZY  - around here lately.  Poor Amber, our summer employee has thought she might never get out of the basil rows.  The first succession of Basil is getting tired.  It really didn't like those cool nights and heavy morning dews we had for a while and all of the picking has taken its toll.

Although it looks tall and wonderful - 24 inches tall now - a closer examination shows that there isn't a lot of the high quality stuff we sell left in there...

See the brown spots and the little holes - I call this ugly basil and I don't like picking it.

The second succession is looking good and although it didn't like the cold and dewey mornings either, we're still able to pick from it with success.  The third succession shown below went into a funk and didn't grow any when we had those really hot days - of course it would have helped if we had watered it a bit more, so it's not quite ready for picking.  We have begun to water it more and if Mother Nature holds off on sending in Jack Frost, hopefully we'll get to pick from it in a few weeks.

 

 

The Lemon Basil looks good - it always looks good.  It seems that 'Mrs. Burns' is a harder worker than 'Genovese' and takes the cool night weather better.  We could get by with just one planting of Lemon Basil but we always do at least two and that's more than plenty.

 

 

 

The first succession of Dill and Cilantro are also tired.  They've been pushed and pushed harder than any little plant should be.  You can see them starting to form seeds and flowers.  While we normally would just pull them out, we've had such a high amount of requests for pickling Dill, we've decided to let the Dill heads go and we'll try to fill some of those requests.

 

 

 



Barry has been pouring the water to our final succession of Dill and Cilantro trying to coax it into readiness. It seems reluctant but we're hoping by next week we'll have some fresh stuff for everyone.

Overall the whole field still looks pretty good.  With TDH's new toy, the PlotMaster, we've been able to keep all weeds in check and have less maintenance to do than we did in our last location - which only leaves more time to do other things, like pack for shareholders, contact new customers and work on completion of the wash/pack facility.  Which by the way, TDH put a window in there the other day - just my height - hooray!  The windows in our last wash/pack were too high for me to look out of!

That really tall stuff is the fennel - monstrous isn't it?

I'd like to say that I'll be better and next week I'll do a blog post again, but I hate to promise something I can't deliver.  Next week we're hoping to turn this...

Into this...

Minus the snow built up on the outside, TDH's large coat and of course with the solid end walls installed again.  That means busy, busy, busy.  Right now, I have to head out and pick Lemon Basil and Parsley for tomorrow's farmers market and Tarragon, Sage, and Mint for our shareholders.  All the while I'll be dreaming of the day when I can again say I have a clean house and a stocked pantry.
Chow!

Holy Basil Batman!

Holy Basil!  Or should we say Genovese Basil!  That's been the words of the day at our place for several days now.  We've just kicked into full swing this past week and for some reason all of our wholesale customers wanted their basil fix this week.

We did plan for this...

This is our planting fields.  We plant in blocks, two to three rows to a block.  The majority of rows in this field are Genovese Basil, 12 rows actually.  All rows are about fifty feet long - give or take, depends on how much I was paying attention to my iPod or to my seeding when I was  putting them in.  Anyway - we've got PLENTY of basil.

The stuff is looking GORGEOUS!

Big and full, large leaves and I sure wish this blog had smell-o-vision - what a scent.  However - this week we have had orders for over 27 pounds of it already and orders for 12 more pounds to go.  I don't mind picking basil when it's like this.  It's quick and easy and fun.  The end of the season when the basil has been worked hard and its tired and ready to go to sleep for the winter is a whole 'nother thing!  The upcoming weeks will be the same as this week as Tall, Dark, and Handsome picked up another wholesale order in town today for about 6 to 8 pounds per week and the one wholesale order for this week that was 18 pounds will go up to 30! 

Our shareholders received their first orders of Basil this past Monday.  Marv and Ilene Baker of North Star Farms, who helped us with the pick up of shares, reported the shareholders were surprised at the quantity.  I guess, when you're used to the little one ounce store packages, a quarter pound does seem like a lot.  I have one word for people who think it's too much basil....

Pesto!

OK - back to  picking basil...wish you were here!

Why I Have A Dog

Ok folks, one LAST blog about non-gardening, non herb things before I go back to our regularly scheduled bloggin...

Why I Have A Dog....

Because who else could snuggle in the curve of your arm this way?

Who else would oversee the watering of seedlings the way she does?

Or let the wind blow through their hair on a warm spring day?

Who else would help me vaccum and clean the house?

or remind me that it's quitting time for work and time to play...ball that is...

Who else would share an orange push up with TDH?

or model the clothes I make with such style?

And who else would bound with abandon in the tall grass as we explore our new farm...in her running suit of course...

Only my dog would.  That's why I have a dog.

Under The Same Sky

So, just a couple more blog posts that are not garden related, I promise, then I'll go back to photos of herbs, talking about mulch and our growing season.  I just have to take this one post to share something with a few people I love - and the rest of you of course!

I was on the phone with my sister the other day. At one point in the conversation I said "oh, the neighbors are getting rained on," so she replied "it's raining there huh?" and I said, no, just at the neighbors, they're two miles away but its pouring over there. That's how the ND prairie and ND weather is. You can watch it roll past or watch it come right up on you. If you keep your eyes peeled you know just how long you have before you need to run for the house and whether or not you can grab a lawn chair and watch the storm or head for shelter. (Disclaimer here - ALWAYS head for shelter when storms head your way - its safer.)

You see, Boy - yes, the one who is miles away in a forest filled land - is missing home.  He's missing the farm, the big ND sky, the ND stars, the ND weather.  He's missing flying our big kite in the ND breezes and sitting in the shade with the birds, insects and critters talking away.

So I thought I'd send him a little of what he's missing.  Here at the new farm we are truly blessed to be a part of the landscape.  A small and insignificant part, but yet a part of something wonderful and big.  One of my favorite sayings is "from here, if you stand on a kitchen chair, you can see tomorrow".  It's true you know, from my place you can.  Take a look at what I mean...


Whether its early spring snow on the ground and in the sky...

Or late spring sunsets with Easter colors...

The big white billows of the first day of summer...

Or the unsettled storm clouds of June.

We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." ~ Konrad Adenauer

And from where I sit, you can't beat the view.



Preparing For Father's Day When You're NOT Betty Crocker

Warning - this blog post has nothing to do with herbs or gardening or even country living in North Dakota.  It does however, have everything to do with the lengths a woman will go to for the man in her life.

So, tomorrow is Father's Day.  I've been thinking about it a lot in the past few days.  You see, neither Tall, Dark and Handsome nor my father are with us any longer.  So, the only Father we have close is Tall Dark and Handsome (TDH).  To add to that, it's been way too long since we've been together with Boy (yes, as in "Mrs. Mawby, You Have A Boy).  You see he's been living far away and having vehicle trouble, and working three jobs...not much time to visit with your folks when that's the case.  TDH and I both miss him terribly, so I have been thinking about what I can do to honor TDH, the one who works so hard on our farm, does everything he can to please me and has a heart the size of Texas.

TDH isn't the kind of guy who likes or needs material things.   Making him exceptionally hard to buy for.  He's more of an internal, giving, loving kind of guy.  In fact, we took a magazine survey once - it agreed - he really does live to please others.  So buying him something was tough.  After some thought, I tried the following line of logic:

TDH is really Father to Boy.  So what would Boy do if he were here?  Well, Boy has always like to cook.  He's also liked to be totally immersed with his food, from scratch - beginning to end - thus the pickled cattails experiment

And his enjoyment of venison - from field to plate

And sharing the things he cooks with his Dad has always been his way of showing he cares for us

AND, coincidentally, TDH LOVES FOOD TOO!  I think what he enjoys most though is what food can do, such as bring people together for a fun evening and a mystery dinner party

or celebrate the holidays and good friendships with a progressive supper

Or maybe even sharing a liquid lunch with a favorite relative

Boy got his first cookbook when he was about 8.  Yes, ladies, teach your sons to cook - the payback is enormous!  One of TDH's favorite things for Boy to cook when he was little was a made from scratch chocolate cake.  When Boy grew up and moved away he took not only his cookbooks with him but some of mine too - leaving me without the best loved cake recipe.  I knew I would have to improvise.  The only chocolate cake I had ever made from scratch was an old family recipe for German Chocolate Cake, but I hadn't make the cake since I was a teenager and do you think I could find the recipe?  After MUCH looking and several emails to my sister, I finally found the recipe and thank heavens I had everything it took to make in the cupboard (including the back-up plan of a boxed mix).  TDH had to march in a parade today so I knew I would have all day to create the masterpiece.

I laid out the recipe - and quickly concluded that the recipe had been copied by me when I was in junior high school as an assignment for what we used to call 'Home-Ec' - now called Family and Consumer Sciences - how politically correct!  I knew this as the name on top - my maiden name and half the recipe was missing - mainly some of the ingredients, the baking temp and time and most of the directions for mixing. 

A quick phone call to the older sister - who always cooked and baked more than I do - who wasn't there to answer her phone in my hour of need and I knew I was on my own to fail,

This is my garbage can - with the first try of cocoa powder and water - I learned to boil the water first, then add it to the powder, not add the powder to the water and boil it...
And the mounds of dirty dishes...

I finally got it all mixed up and in the oven

After the cake came out of the oven, I began the critical part in the mind of TDH...no baked good is complete without frosting.  After the prescribed 12 minutes of cooking and stirring, I added the coconut and returned the frosting to the stove to "cook until spreadable" - I stirred, and stirred, and stirred and 25 minutes later, the frosting still wasn't to the ''spreadable" state I was looking for.  Turn up the heat.  Stir, stir, stir...stir, stir, stir - 30 minutes -- This is ridiculous!  So I decided surely it would stiffen up when it cooled. I removed it from the heat and waited for both the frosting and cake to cool to the point of putting them together.

Yes, you guessed it, I cooked the frosting too long, so instead of spreadable, I ended up covering only the middle and top of the cake with a method I now know to be a cross between play-dough playing and removing gum from your shoe.  Sticky beyond belief - but I must say, it tasted good as I licked it off my fingers.  I finally had a made from scratch chocolate cake kind of frosted and full of love.

After a quick search of the house for the cake carrier - where I soon rediscovered the old adage of you can't fit a square peg in a round hole (notice the square plate under the cake), I was able to put the finished product safely in its hiding spot in the basement.

Good thing I have T-bone steaks marinating and Vodka rhubarb slush to soften the blow of my 'special' Father's Day dessert.  5 hours of cooking, several failures and several close saves and TDH should be set for a good Father's Day.  Now where'd we put that hammock????
Happy Father's Day My Love!

Because We Love Our Customers

Because We Love Our Customers

This Memorial Day, while others were camping, having bonfires, visiting with family, and attending Veterans services, we were spending our time in service to our customers.  It was rainy, cold and windy outside.  Too yucky to work outside, so you see, this was the perfect time to make some headway on our new wash/pack facility. 

We had a beautiful facility at our old place built with love by Barry, his Uncle Jim and some great help from my nephews but the move has us building again at the new farm. (And just when we thought we were quite through building!)

Our wash/pack facility is very important to us.  It is the place where we can ensure the quality and freshness of our product for our customers.  It is where our cooler is located so the herbs are properly cooled to seal in freshness and make them last longer once they reach their destinations.  It's where we have our sinks to wash and sanitize our tubs and totes so the food inside is safe from bacteria.  It's a clean room where we package our product for sale in grocery stores and restaurants and to our share holders - this makes sure the cleanest product comes to your door.  All in all, we follow Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) to make sure our product is the safest, freshest, and as long lasting as it can be. 

As a part of GAP, we make sure our water is tested so it is certified as safe.  We track the cooler temperature to make sure things are stored at the proper temperature.  We keep logs of how clean the facility is.  We make sure items are stored properly, like cleaners away from food and everything up off the floor.  We make sure all lights are covered with a 'cage' to prevent glass from entering anywhere near food items in case one gets accidentally broken.  We have at least four sinks - one for handwahing, a separate one for washing tubs and totes, one for rinsing and one for sanitizing.  We have a large counter for air drying tubs and totes - air drying is cleaner and safer than drying with towels once an item has been sanitized.  It's a lot of work, a lot of log keeping - but it's worth it to know that our product is safe and fresh.

We actually started the project a couple weeks ago when we tore out all of the ceiling and walls to get back to bare bones.  We then had the electrician come and update all the wiring and ensure it could handle our cooler and our other electrical needs.

By Saturday night we had removed the old leaky window that was causing the water damage on the exterior wall, framed in an opening for a new window to come, made a hole in the other wall for the cooler unit and had all of the insulation installed.

By Sunday night we had put up the vapor barrier, and framed in one wall of the cooler.  We also had the air conditioner that we use for the cooler all cleaned up and serviced.  Our cooler runs on a system called a CoolBot.  More information about this can be found on their website at www.storeitcold.com.  I know that we are not following their cooler installation instructions so if you're reading this and trying to learn to build a walk in cooler yourself - don't follow us!  We have a special circumstance in that herbs, Basil especially, do not like to be too cold.  Our cooler temps are normally a little higher than anyone storing vegetables or other foods.  Normally, you would not use bat insulation around a cooler...

By Monday night we had both walls framed in, the doorway is framed in and we made the sure door will fit and open and close properly and we had the ceiling insulated with the rigid insulation.  With the temps we keep in our cooler, we needed to have a total R value - the heat retention value of the insulation - to be at least 20.  We're over that so we'll be happy once we're done.  It sure doesn't look like we did a lot on Monday but let me tell you - cutting and fitting the rigid foam insulation in a tight space over your head - especially with 9 foot ceilings and I'm 5'3" is tough work!  We also got our shelving unit put into the cooler - you see, once the door is on, it's too big to fit in so it needed to be fit into the cooler before the door and walls.  Now we'll just have to work around it until we're all done.

We're a long way from finishing but its a really good start.  We'll need to place the rest of the rigid foam insulation on the cooler walls. We will then fill all seams and gaps with expanding foam and caulk, insulate the back sides of the cooler walls and the rest of the room's walls, put up wall board or sheating, install a window, install the cooling unit, install the plumbing, install the sinks - and a counter for them to sit on, bring over our stainless steel work tables, paint, install the lights, outlets and switches, and let us not forget - reside the outside where the old window came out and maybe a new walk in door so it's cleaner and more airtight.  It will be hard work but worth it to know our product is cool, clean and fresh for our customers!  We'll give you a tour when we're all done!



Many Hands Make Light Work

This past weekend, we - with the help of some GREAT friends - tore down the high tunnel and moved it to our new farm.  The weather could not have been better or the company/help better.

Don Albertson came with his Bobcat.  After erecting the high tunnel a couple years ago without this piece of equipment, I can tell you how much time and trouble this little machine saved us.  Don worked from his machine and raised and lowered the workers to each area as needed.   With a 12 foot peak on the tunnel, reaching the top in a stable Bobcat bucket rather than a rickety ladder standing in the back of a truck box was a joy.  I'm sure OSHA would have shut us down, but it really was the way to go.  All Don asked in return was a cup of coffee. 

Then there was Bob.  Bob Nelson of Doyan came all the way over just to help.  Bob is the guy in the Bobcat bucket.  The one way on top...

Bob and his wife Marte Stensli-Holen raise vegetables, chickens, goats, cows, horses, and kids on their farm and participate in a CSA and farmers markets.  Marte stayed home with the children, Liam and Matthea and Bob came to lend a hand.  Thank goodness he did.  Bob is the kind of guy that is fun to work with.  He's a hard worker and quick.  He has a sunny disposition, interesting stories, good ideas and in general just the kind of guy you want to be around - makes you a better person just to be with him.

And of course we can't forget the Haus family. 

It's almost hard to imagine but we've been solid friends with the Haus family since before there was a 'family'.  My Rent-A-Kid Katie just turned 16.  All but grown and very beautiful, Kate is the creative imaginative daughter I 'borrow' every once in a while.  Her siblings, Emily, Anna, and Jarrod have grown up before my eyes and have turned into some very fun young people to be around.  If it weren't for them taking out all the screws and bolts on the baseboards, I'm sure the project would have taken much longer.  Their parents, Tom and Karen are our best friends. They dug perennials flowers to take home as their prize and pay. 

 With the high tunnel down by 3 PM and loaded on the trailer and brought home by 6:30, we even had some time to explore the new place with the Haus family.  Our little wood nymph Anna particularly enjoyed the trees.  Tom, who has a forge scrounged a few pieces of metal and Karen and I enjoyed a Caesar, uninterrupted as everyone explored.  The evening ended with a little wood tick picking, 8 showers, a discussion about Beaver Butt used in 'natural' raspberry flavoring and a off to a sound sleep for all.

Thanks so much to all of your friends who helped with this project.  Without you, this would have been a long, drawn-out, and painful process.  We can't thank you enough!  Now with any luck, we'll get it erected in its new and final home by end of July so we can get the fall basil planted on time!