Bears in Waiting

These honey bears are lined up waiting to be mailed out to generous Kickstarter supporters all across the continent!  I am  also preparing to mail some of the other Kickstarter rewards-- notecards,  music CDs and T-shirts next.

So much has been going on this month:  sad farewells,  happy celebrations, travels, big projects, Kitchen Kickstarter  progress, winter preparations... I will try to write a catch up post in a day or two. But right now I must pick up more package sealing tape and head to the post office!

Wordless Wednesday: Tribute to Ten Terrific Turkeys

Wordless Wednesday: In the Heart of Autumn

Pesto Manifesto

I believe in pesto.
I believe that pesto is one of the universe's most perfect green foods.
I believe that you should make many batches of pesto in the fall to freeze and supply you though the winter.

This year our basil patch in the greenhouse has been extraordinary. While the garden basil is past its prime,  weedy and seedy and scruffy and tough, the high tunnel basil is still picture-perfect, with large, tender leaves and full, abundant plants. But the basil's days are numbered - it will very soon be too cold for basil even in the greenhouse, and it's time to transplant some cold season crops into that precious spot.

I have been meaning to transform that basil into pesto  for weeks, but dreading it because our old blender is just not up to the task. It is so annoying trying to get the leaves to feed down to the blades to be chopped up and not just whirl around intact. But, this week I splurged on a new blender/food processor called a Ninja, that boasted excellent consumer reviews. It has 1500 watts of power, but what impressed me most was that there is not a single blade at the bottom, but three tiers of blades! That ought to chop up the greens for my pesto and my smoothies. So, today I pulled up a few basil plants and eagerly loaded my pesto ingredients into the blender.

What a joyful experience - perfect pesto in moments! No intervention required to get the leaves to blend.  And the texture was just how I like it, with tiny, discernible bits of  parmesan, pine nuts and basil, not a green pureed mush. Oh, I am so happy with this new toy, I mean, tool.

I made two batches of pesto this afternoon, enough to fill an ice cube tray. I freeze the cubes, then after they are frozen, vacuum pack them individually. The color stays beautiful, bright green and the flavor stays vibrant and fresh.  One cube is the perfect amount of pesto for a meal for Rog and me. This tray is one cube shy of full because we ate one serving  for lunch.

I think this was my best batch of pesto ever - served on pasta. sprinkled with a few pine nuts and tossed with Indigo Rose tomatoes from our garden (they have dark purple skin and twice the amount of cancer-fighting anthocyanin as other tomatoes.)

Basil Pesto

2 c. packed fresh basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
1/4 c. pine nuts (or walnuts)
1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2/3 c. parmesan reggiano cheese (or pecorino, asiago, or a blend)

Combine the ingredients in the blender. In the Ninja blender, I just set it on "chop" and  turned it on for about 10 seconds and it was perfect. In a less powerful blender, pulse until smooth. Or use a big mortar and pestle and grind by hand--that's  how pesto got its name!

I like to toast the nuts slightly.  You can make wonderful variations of pesto--one of my favorites is to use fresh cilantro instead of  basil, with toasted pepitas instead of pine nuts and a little dried chile and a squeeze of lime to spice it up.  Yes, maybe I will make that version tomorrow.

Bon appetit!

A Promise of Peanuts

Last spring, I started some Virginia peanuts inside, then planted them in the greenhouse in hopes of getting enough peanuts to make my own jar of peanut butter.  I know nothing about raising peanuts and wasn't even sure they would grow in Minnesota, but the plants have grown well in the high tunnel.  You are supposed to dig the peanuts when the  plant dies pack. My plants look like this now--a few leaves are brown on the tips, but they are probably still growing a bit too strongly yet.  I was curious and impatient, so I dug underneath one nevertheless.

What do you know!?
Little tendrils/roots grow down from along the  branches and dig into the ground and grow a peanut at the end!

There were also quite a few tiny peanuts starting, so I harvested a handful of the larger peanuts, then carefully replanted the plant.  I will give them another couple weeks. The weather is going to turn cold now and days are getting short, so they may not grow any bigger. But based on the number of large peanuts growing on this one stem, I should definitely get enough to make a jar of peanut butter! 

Wren Rescue

Rescue
Yesterday I found an adorable, tiny wren floundering on the steps of the  farm store. I presume he had flown into the glass of the door.  I scooped him up so Zinnie or a cat wouldn't get him.

Recovery
Nothing seemed broken, but he  didn't attempt to fly away, so I was worried about a possible internal injury.  I carried him around on my hand for almost half an hour.

Release
Finally, after perching on my little finger for a while, he flitted off into the trees. I think he will be ok.

Cow Puja! A Cultural/MultiCultural/Agricultural Celebration

Puja ceremony photo by Chris Kasper

We could not have chosen a more glorious autumn day than yesterday for our  Farm Fair & Cow Puja. And with such perfect weather,  we had a tremendous turnout - we think 600 people or more -  enjoying an afternoon on the farm.  The heart of the afternoon was the Puja ceremony, performed in the authentic Hindu manner, by Rahul Kashyap, his wife and several friends. Rahul explained that actually,we are not giving a blessing to the cows, we are taking blessings from them.
When the cows ate their breakfast yesterday morning I had painted a huge butterfly design on LaFonda's  back, which you can almost discern in  this photo, and I covered her collar with sunflowers, some of which are still attached.

Last year, all the cows crowded around Rahul for the jaggery, a crystallized sugar treat that is part of the ceremony,  but this year LaFonda and especially Jitter were a bit more shy.  Incense was wafted around the cows,  red strings draped over their horns, and a red dot dabbed on their foreheads.

After the puja ceremony, we dedicated our  recently mosaic'ed wood-fired oven as the Mike Podulke Memorial Oven.  Mike was an amazing, kind, creative person and most of the mosaic pieces came from him and his wife Stephanie, who had collected them for their stained glass and other art.  Jerry Katzmann led the dedication. (Thank you, Jerry!)

All afternoon, people enjoyed the bands, browsed the artisan crafts, ate  kebabs and kettlekorn, and explored the farm.

Axolotl played Mexican son Jarocho music.

The Nodding Wild Onions featured many original cow songs in their set.

"Ukelele Girl" Linda Drozdowicz and

The Volunteer Tomatoes also filled the air with great music.

So many delightful vendors selling their beautiful and clever wares, such as this upcycled chandelier retrofitted with solar lights for romantic patio dining...

Cheri sold her jewelry, crocheted pieces and famous "LaVermes" worm juice...

Heather Jerdee's  lovely photographs...

Local author Debbie Lampi signed her  just published book, "Shadowplay"...

Laura Rice's gorgeous painted gourds and art...

Beaded jewelry and  bead-trimmed hats , Made by Mara...

Joel's made irresistible hot KetttleKorn...

Kim sold her beautiful fair trade imported Sutra Global by Design textiles and created beautiful mehndi designs on willing arms and hands...

Virginia opened her Poetry Store booth and composed custom verses on a vintage typewriter...

small, mystical, spirit dolls created from soft leather and semi-precious beads, stuffed with a blend of sands from around the world, by artist Mary Rivard...

Brenda demonstrated how she hand-sews the bindings of her beautiful handmade books as her daughter wove...

Nicole's necklaces...

Melissa's Don't Judge a Book bookcovers, nostalgic bags and such created from vintage linens, laces, coffee sacks...

sparkling stained glass, suncatchers and windchimes made by Laurel and Darin from vintage glass nuggets and prisms...

heirloom pumpkins and squashes grown by our neighbor Brian Petersen for sale in and surrounding  the Willys...

Bonnie's recycled garden art found new homes...

as did this horse puppet that was for sale in the Farm store...

and quite a few wonderful poems were created with the giant refrigerator poetry.

And those are just a few goings-on I was able to snap photos of as I raced around all afternoon!

We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the volunteers who made the day go so smoothly and successfully!  I only have this photo of  our joyful entrance greeters - Chris Cross and Betsy Ross.  How did I not get a photo of the intrepid shop keepers - Jonya, Kathy, and Debbie?  We owe you!  Also, a special thanks to Eric for last minute branch trimming, to Jack for making sure Zinnie did not get into too much trouble, and of course to our Hindu guests for performing the Puja.
Finally, THANK YOU to everyone who came to the 3rd Annual Squash Blossom Farm Fair and Cow Puja, supported the artists, musicians and food vendors, gave our cows a bit of special attention, and are helping us make our farm dream come true.  We are so blessed, both by the cows and by you all!