Making Your Own Cultured Foods

If you've been thinking about making your own yogurt, sourdough, kefir, or other cultured food, now might be a good time to start. Cultures for Health is offering 15% off on their starter cultures and kits this (Labor Day) weekend. We are using these cultures to make yogurt and are having good success.

A Good Reason to Buy Local or Grow Your Own Food

Oily Food

"Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen— about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use— for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use. Tractors, combines, harvesters, irrigation, sprayers, tillers, balers, and other equipment all use petroleum. Even bigger gas guzzlers on the farm are not the machines, but so-called inputs. Synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides use oil and natural gas as their starting materials, and in their manufacturing. More than a quarter of all farming energy goes into synthetic fertilizers. But getting the crop from seed to harvest takes only one-fifth of the total oil used for our food. The lion’s share is consumed during the trip from the farm to your plate. Each food item in a typical U.S. meal has traveled an average of 1,500 miles. In addition to direct transport, other fuel-thirsty steps include processing (drying, milling, cutting, sorting, baking), packaging, warehousing, and refrigeration. Energy calories consumed by production, packaging, and shipping far outweigh the energy calories we receive from the food. A quick way to improve food-related fuel economy would be to buy a quart of motor oil and drink it. More palatable options are available. If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week. That’s not gallons, but barrels. Small changes in buying habits can make big differences. Becoming a less energy-dependent nation may just need to start with a good breakfast." 

-- STEVEN L. HOPP

From Kingsolver, Barbara; Kingsolver, Camille; Hopp, Steven L. (2009-10-13). Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (Kindle Locations 137-144). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.

Our Top 10 Tips for Storing Seeds

Remember, if you want to save your own seeds, you’ll need to plant open-pollinated varieties. Hybrid varieties will not come back true.

1. If you're saving and storing your own seed, storing seed properly begins with gathering and drying them. We dry seeds on newsprint or plain paperplates or papertowels. Spread your collected seeds on the newsprint and let them dry for a week or so. Write the name of the variety on the newsprint. Once the seeds are dry, we store them in paper envelopes labeled and dated. If we're keeping a garden journal (highly recommended) we record the name and date and any other pertinent information.
   
2. Keep seeds cool and dry. Humidity and warmth shorten a seed’s shelf life.
   
3. We keep seed packets in plastic food storage jars or Mason jars with tight-fitting lids.
   
4. We store seeds in the fridge. If we've had your seed storage jar outside, or out of the fridge for a while, we put the jar back in the fridge without the lid for an hour or so to let the moisture of the outside air dry out. 
   
5. Do not let your seeds freeze. Keep your seed-storage containers well away from the freezer section of your refrigerator.
   
6. Powdered milk will help keep the seeds dry. Wrap 2 heaping tablespoons of powdered milk in 3 or 4 layers of facial tissue, then put the milk packet inside the storage container with the seed packets. Or add a packet of silica gel. Replace every 6 months.
   
7. We store each year’s seeds together and date them. Because most seeds last about 3 years (though some only last a year), we'll know which seeds might be past its prime when planting season comes. We'll allow for this by planting extra or pre-sprouting.
   
8. When we’re ready to plant, we remove seed containers from the fridge and keep them closed until the seeds warm to room temperature. This helps prevent the moisture in the air condensing on the seeds, causing them to clump together, or worse break dormancy and sprout.
   
   
9. We pre-sprout our seeds, especially if they have been in storage more than a year. Preparation for this can be accomplished at storage time: If we dry our seeds on paper towels, the seeds will stick to the towels. We simply roll up the paper towels with the seeds in place. When we are ready to plant, we simply moisten the paper towel and place it in a platic bag or glass jar with a tight lid. If kept in a warm place the seeds will sprout in a day or two. Unroll the towel and tear or cut off pieces with sprouts attached and plant. You'll be able to seed which seeds are viable--they will have sprouted.
    
10. Even if you’re organized, and careful about labeling and storing your seeds, some seeds just will not germinate the following year. Stored sweet corn, in particular, has s low germination rate, and other seeds will only remain viable for a year or two (onions, for example).

September in the Garden

Plant seeds (peas, carrots, beets, lettuce, cucurbits, herbs) and fall transplants (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale).

Begin to plant lilies and Spring-blooming bulbs--daffodils and tulips.

Feed fuchsias, ferns, tropicals, roses.

Clean up faded flowers. Start cleanup for perennials.

Continue to harvest Valencia oranges.
   
Prune poinsettias for holiday bloom.
   
Plant okra. It’s your last chance of the season.


Add soil amendments (bone meal, blood meal, compost).

Home Grown Breakfast

Eggs, cheese, potatoes, tomatoes, basil, and milk. All home grown. Yummy and very satisfying.

If we can do it, so can you. We encourage you to “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” --Theodore Roosevelt

With just a little patch of ground (or a couple of containers) you can grow tomatoes, greens for salads, herbs, and strawberries for example.

With a little more space, you could have a couple of chickens--they'll eat your kitchen waste and give you eggs in return. Scraps of food to scrambled eggs--a rags to riches kind of thing. They'll also give you manure to compost an put on your vegetable patch.

We agree with Julia Child who said, "You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces – just good food from fresh ingredients." And it doesn't get much fresher than picking or gathering your food a few minutes before it goes onto your plate.

Time to Plant Seeds Indoors and Out

It's time to plant seeds for your fall garden. Actually, any of the summer or fall crops can be planted now in our Southern California garden.

Today we're seeding kale, cabbage, broccoli,  and cauliflower indoors. And seeding okra, squash, carrots, beets, chard, collards, rutabagas, onions, cucumbers, nasturtiums, and some herbs. Lettuce is a good fall crop to start directly in the garden now.


Here is a mix we are planting:


 Lettuce, Looseleaf Blend--five favorites in one pack. 
By the way, Burpee has weekend special: a flat shipping rate of 4.95 on any order. Use promo code FLT222 in cart; expires midnight 8/12/13.

Any of the summer heat-lovers (cukes, squash, peppers, tomatoes, etc.) can be planted now as either direct seed (early varieties) or transplants. Seeds that typically take a long time to germinate in the spring come up faster now in the summer heat. Many of the cole vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, etc.) taste better after a light frost--so the plan is to start them now in the warmth, let them mature in the cool of the fall and be ready for harvest just after the first frost.

Feta Cheese

We have just started another a batch of feta cheese.

Feta is a traditional Greek cheese. It is a brined, crumbly, curd cheese, commonly produced in blocks, and has a slightly grainy texture. After it has aged (two weeks to a month, if we're patient) in its brine, we usually crumble it onto salads or into scrambled eggs. Sometimes we put it on pizza, or in/on other dishes. Others use it as a table cheese, in pastries, and in baking--spanakopita ("spinach pie") and tyropita ("cheese pie").

The first record of what is probably feta cheese, is from the Byzantine Empire. It was called "fresh" or "recent" cheese (prósphatos), and was described as brined and was associated with Crete. (Andrew Dalby, Siren feasts: A history of food and gastronomy in Greece, Routledge, 1996)

The current name "feta" comes from the Italian word fetta ("slice"), which was introduced into the Greek language in the 1600's.

Whatever it is called in other places, the Greeks claim feta as their own. They also lay claim to being the first cheese makers. Polyphemus,  son of Poseidon and one of the Cyclopes, is said to be the first cheese-maker. Homer describes Polyphemus' bowls and baskets full of cheeses in the Odyssey.

Traditionally, feta is made from sheep's or goat's milk or a mixture of the two. Today it is also commercially made with cow's milk. We, of course, use goat's milk. Here is a link to the basic recipe most like the one we use:


http://fiascofarm.com/dairy/feta.html

We also make ricotta from the whey. This will go into the lasagna planned for dinner next week.


As soon as we set up our cheese cave, we'll try making some Colby or other aged cheeses. What's a cheese cave, you ask? And how do you make one? There is no digging or spelunking involved! We'll have a description and some pictures when we get the cave going.

Abby's Orange-Kefir Smoothie

(A-O-K Smoothie)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups orange juice
• 2 cups of kefir (substitute or mix and match yogurt, fil mjölk, piima, viili, or your favorite milk culture)
• 1 tsp. vanilla (or more to taste)
• 1 egg
• about 5 ice cubes
• 1/4 cup honey (to taste; more or less depending on the tartness of your oranges)

Directions

Pretty simple: put all ingredients except honey into the blender and blend until smooth (hence "smoothie")--a few seconds will do. Taste. Add some honey. Blend again. Taste. Add more honey if desired. Blend again. Pour into glasses and serve.

Raising Children on a Mini-Farm

One of the reasons we began to expand our garden into a mini-farm is that we wanted our children, the older of whom were getting into their preteen years, to have meaningful chores.

In so many families, the young people are not given very much if any real responsibility. Before WWII there weren’t any teenagers. The word "teenager," first appeared in the third edition of Webster's (1961); it was not in the second (1934); there it is noted only as an adjective "teenage." That is not to say that there were no young people in their teens, there were plenty. But the term “teenager” had not yet been generally applied to our youth. There were youths--young men and women and they were treated as such--they were given responsibilities and expected to act in a responsible manner. They went from childhood to young adulthood.

"Teenager" came to apply to youth as their responsibilities, and our expectations for them and their behavior declined for various reasons (child labor laws, availability of the automobile, etc.), and they had to wait out their teen years to be given real responsibilities in life.

On a farm, young people have real responsibilities. If, for example, you are given the chore of milking the family cow or goats, then you must do your job, or the family may go without milk, butter, and cheese. This neglect of responsibility can have a real, immediate affect on the entire family. On the positive side, if you are the one given the chore of milking, and you do a good job, you bring milk, butter, and cheese to the table for your family to enjoy--a very satisfying accomplishment.

The young people in our family have been given various chores that carry real responsibility. Each one has been given a row or two in the garden to tend. Each one in rotation has fed, watered, and milked the goats; each has fed and watered the chickens and collected eggs. So each has had the pleasure of bringing food to the table for himself and the rest of us.

When these kinds of chores are done well, a sense of accomplishment and pride of ownership come into play, changing one’s outlook. Some of our kids say they don’t care for green beans all that much, “but they do taste better when you grow them yourself.” Yes they do. Life is better when each day means something because one has done something productive and meaningful.

Do you want to produce a teenager? If you do, give your young person an allowance for menial, meaningless, or make-work chores, or worse, give him or her allowance to pay for the chores that an adult member of your household does as a matter of obligation to the household (housework, laundry, yardwork), or worst, give him or her an allowance without any chores required.

We don't give an allowance to our children at all--we don't want to make teenagers, we want to raise up productive, responsible young men and women. We have given our youths meaningful responsibilities around the house and farm. We have also made opportunities for them to earn money--some have grown crops for cash, some have bid on jobs on the farm, some have farmed-out their skills and energy to family and friends who needed help around the house or yard. Some are looking for their first product or service to begin a business of their own. 

When given responsibility and given plenty of room to grow, learn, make mistakes (as youth will do) and to be responsible, children never have to become Teenagers at all.

Further reading or listening:

• Dr. Michael Platt, Myth of the Teenager -- http://www.home-school.com/Articles/myth-of-the-teenager.php
• Joel Salatin, Getting Your Hands Dirty: Teaching Your Children To Love Work; CD http://www.dcs1225.com/recommends/kidslovework.html