TROUTS LATEST PHOTOS

February, 2008 - Issue #81

 

ENOUGH SUNNY DAYS TO SATISFY

 

As we all know, the groundhog saw his shadow again this year.  Fortunately, the North Carolina winter has been mild with streaks of temperatures in the 60's. Camille took advantage of warmer weather to apply coats of plaster to the straw bale pump house at  Industrial.  She has also started riding Grendel, an Icelandic Horse who is part of the Head's Up Therapeutic riding program..

 

MISO MAKING WORKSHOP

   

 We joined a nice group of people at Blue Heron Farm and spent a couple of hours mashing chick peas and kidney beans and mixing them with rice koji to make miso.  Our friend, Amanda turned out to be quite a bean masher!

Fermentation times vary greatly but this particular recipe calls for about 8 months.  We're looking forward to tasting some of this magic food next winter.

 

DAY AFTER VALENTINE'S LOCAL LUNCH

 

We began preparing for our first turn at cooking Local Lunch by making vegan Italian sausage eleven days in advance.  By the time February 15 rolled around, all we had to do was haul the food into the kitchen at Industrial and start baking.  Camille poses with the beautiful sprouts Bob grew for the occasion.

 

The main dish was Roasted Garlic Italian Polenta Pies made from local cornmeal and chard and topped with a thick spaghetti sauce.  Although the sausage was local, the tomatoes, onion, garlic and sweet pepper were not.  We rounded out the menu with local salad, fresh baked French bread made with local flour and David's delicious Flan made with local eggs and milk.

The most interesting part of the process was how it made us think about where our food comes from.  Our working definition of "local" ranged from food grown and processed within a 100-mile radius (as in the salad and the sprouts) to food grown in the states and processed within a 250-mile radius.

 

IF YOU FEED THEM, THEY WILL COME

 

Once we were all set up, the doors opened and the gang poured in, served up heaping plates of food and sat down to share a meal.  There are nine local lunch teams, which means our next turn to cook will soon be coming up.  Meanwhile, we join the crowd every Friday to indulge in a delicious home made local lunch.

 

VEGGIE POWER!

 

Piedmont Biofarm intern, Rob poses with the biggest carrot of this season's harvest.

 

TEN POUND BATCHES

 

Bob is now making ten pounds of soy Tempeh several times a week and the process just keeps getting easier.  We sell or trade most of what he makes but always have a ready supply for our own use.  We are getting as much or more protein than we were when eating an animal based diet.  Although we will occasionally eat food made with dairy or egg when at pot lucks or local lunch, it has now been five years since we stocked animal products in our home kitchen 

 

MEANWHILE, BACK AT OILSEED

   

We are ever on the lookout for pretty scenes such as this photo of a little pond, the red bark of a white pines or the bare trees at sunset.

 

EVERYTHING IS JUST DUCKY AT QUIET MEADOW FARMS

At least as far as the ducks are concerned.  Quiet Meadow is where we clean stalls on the weekends.  Camille also grooms horses there during the week.

   

This mohawked duck reminds us of our friend, Link.  Veni stands patiently in the cross ties waiting for his saddle.  One of the goats hangs out behind the barn, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

THIS MONTH'S QUOTES:

“If the success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do, how would I be? What would I do?” - Buckminster Fuller

"If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort, you will get neither comfort not truth." - C. S. Lewis

"If I told you what our music is really about, we’d probably all get arrested” - Bob Dylan

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