an assortment of thoughts activities food

both my host kitchen here and the kitchen situation at slide ranch were microwave free, and id say ive learned more or less how to live without one...so perhaps this will be a turning point in my kitchen planning. my reading for class this week also informed me of the many cooling and refrigeration schemes of the US/globalized industrial agriculture and reminded me that this refrigeration is like entropy and requires lots of energy and hmmm perhaps there is more to be mindful here in terms of refrigeration use and also what products we buy. also made me think of cellar history and class talks on preservation and all that...so many things to consider!

what new activities and sights from the past few days of farm work? we did a lot of planting! direct seeding of arugula, cilantro, carrots, and squash, and bok choy. we also did tiny transplants of broccoli and broccolini, and have some napa and celery transplants ready to be planted. they have to be watered a lot, and we add kelp emulsion to the water. planting is actually relatively quick, what takes a long time is prepping the bed -pulling out all the weeds, raking them out of the row, and then shaping the bed with tools. i did some stomping of dirt clods too. we also are preparing to plant some longer rows, so those were prepped with the tractor.

many friends at the farm! there is a big praying mantis on the bitter melon, lots of bees around the fennel, the usual cabbage butterflies flitting around, and today i saw a speedy little hummingbird flit from each color of dahlia to the next! such color and flight!

 i want to do more seed saving, so ive been trying to collect bits and pieces here and there. i have some beans and also sunflower seeds. we are also taking lots of dried beans off the vine and are going to plant them again. good for the soil!

some other class updates, if anyone is curious about eccentric distilling, check out matchbook distilleries, who use excess ingredients (ie thousands of pounds of long island cheese pumpkin) to make lots of funky spirits! their goals are to help farms use excess crops in order to eliminate waste, and to use strange ingredients in order to create a market for niche crops and promote biodiversity. interesting stuff.

some kitchen creations of late: coconut flour scones with lemon and ginger, roast tomatoes with pesto, stuffed jalapenos, and today some fried green tomatoes and zucchini. 

as a last note, my room window has a wonderful view of the moon