Yes, I’m a bit late on getting the post up. Sorry about that. Things have been a bit crazy around our house. No, the baby has not arrived yet, we are 4 weeks out. Milo does ask every day if today is the day the baby will come out.

We have found this to be another interesting year, as far as the weather goes. This time last year we were scrambling to get an irrigation system into the ground to avoid spending hours watering the fields by hand. This year we have spent hours wondering if the rain would back off enough to dry out the fields. We are so grateful that the rain and high winds missed us last night.

Eric is a bit frustrated about the replanting of seeds that will have to happen this week. We saw some kale, collards, beets and carrots washed away. We are excited to have peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers and zuchinni all in. We have been able to pick an incredible amount of strawberries this week.

This Saturday we will also have Caitlin joining J in the Speakeasy kitchen. Caitlin has been a faithful friend to us at Salt Fork Farms. We recognize that Eric and J are not able to manage cooking and sales by themselves. Caitlin will help J and Eric will be available for sales.

At the market this week we will have lettuce, choi, radishes, turnips, greens and strawberries. We are starting to see the scapes come in, and kohlrabi, cilantro and raab will be here before we know it.  I’ll try to get out and take a few photos tonight. The gardens really do look amazing.

On a different note, and not to take you away from the market, our neighbor Jeanne will be hosting an auction at her property on Saturday, starting at 10am. Stop by the market for an early breakfast, and swing on out to look at some antique wood working tools!

This week at the Saturday Iowa City Farmers’ Market, Eric will have head lettuce, mixed greens, arugula, spinach, choi, radishes, eggs, chicken and chicken feet. The Speakeasy will be up and running.

Hopeful possibilities for next week:: Strawberries!!!

This past weekend, Eric let me know that he needed to get the cooler up and ready for rewiring. Since Sunday’s tend to be a bit more relaxed around here, this seemed like a perfect family activity. Well, it wasn’t really a family activity. Eric did all the lifting and moving. Milo helped lock the cooler in place and I held up and balanced panels. Eric, Matt, Renee and Alex got the top up and secured on Monday. They also got the motor and some plumbing installed. Next, we will have the barn rewired. A cooler may seem strange to some of you, but really it’s the only way to keep produce ready for you all, without getting up at 1-2 am on a Saturday to harvest. We used to do just this.

This week, we also wanted to share with you all how Eric makes our yogurt. When Eric and I first started dating, I kept a food journal. This was one fo the first things he taught me to make. Let me back up. I had/have very little food knowledge coming into this relationship. I found it helpful to write down the things he taught me to make and start to learn basic concepts, and keep a diary of our courtship-through food. The following recipe is right from Eric. As you will note, he lets you know that raw Jersey milk makes for the best yogurt, in our opinion. We are fortunate enough to have our own cow, so this is readily available to us. We know that is not the case for the normal person. Whole milk will also work. But before I post the recipe, do you make yogurt? How do you do it?

The best way to make yogurt…..

1. Raw materials. Start with an amount of raw, fresh, pastured Jersey milk.  This is actually not necessary for making yogurt, but it makes all the difference.  The amount of milk will be the same as the amount of yogurt you make.  We make 1-4 gallons at a time.
2. Equipment. Put milk in a non-reactive/non-corrosive pot (stainless steel or enamel coated) — all pots, utensils, thermometers, etc., need to be non-corrosive or the fermented milk product will spoil.
3. Heating. Place this pot inside a bigger pot (bigger pot doesn’t need to be non-reactive) and fill bigger pot with water up to the level of the milk in the smaller pot, creating a ‘double boiler’.
4. Measuring. Use two thermometers: one for the milk and one for the water.  Heat the double boiler until the milk is at 110 degrees F.  I find that if you heat the water to 120 and the milk to about 100, they converge at 110 after the stove is turned off.
5. Culture.  At this point you can add a freeze-dried culture, which will give you consistent results every time, or you can use an amount of yogurt.  I like to use a freeze-dried culture for a ‘first’ batch and then pull remaining yogurt from that batch for subsequent batches.  Usually I can make 4-5 batches before I need to start over again.  Use 1/16 teaspoon of freeze-dried culture for every gallon of milk, or 1 cup yogurt for every gallon of milk.  For freeze-dried, you will let the culture absorb the milk before stirring.  For the yogurt (if cold), you may have to heat the milk up a bit after adding and stirring to get back to 110.
6. Incubate. The yogurt should incubate at this temperature for at least 8 hours.  I have gone 12-16 hours for a stronger flavor and thicker consistency.  Cover milk pot with a lid and the whole double boiler with a towel or two to keep the temperature.
7. Chill and/or strain.  Once the yogurt has set up, you can simply refrigerate and you have traditional yogurt, or you can strain it through a cheese cloth for up to 12 hours to get ‘greek-style’ yogurt.  Keep straining yogurt in fridge to keep freshness.  If you strain for up to 24 hours you will have labneh or yogurt cheese.  Simply add 1% salt of the final weight.
8. Enjoy!

Have a great week, and be sure to stop by on Saturday!

~eve

I’ve recently had a few people ask me if I’m being serious about something I’ve said, or something I’ve posted on Facebook. To both of these, I have to answer yes. I’m not that good at sarcasm and my sister, Bene`, long ago instilled a “no complaining or criticizing” on Facebook policy. Thus, the title of the post is, in all honesty, serious.

Eric and I have had mutual friends for over 20 year. I’m not sure how 20 years have gone by so fast, but yes, 20 years. We’ve known each other socially for about 18 years. In all honesty, I was not the biggest Eric Menzel fan. When our friends tried to sneakingly set us  up in 2007, I was not interested. I told them, “I remember Menzel. I think I’ll pass.” Well, after many attempts, they finally got us at the same table. As we talked, Eric was using language I did not remember him using years ago. He talked about how he envisioned community and how he wanted to surround himself with a supportive community of active participants who knowingly left more than they took. That may look different at different times, and he recognized that he would likely never be wealthy in money, but there were so many other things he would be rich in.

This type of conversation was something I had not heard from anyone in a long time. I often heard the church talk of community, but seeing it in action was another thing. In visiting Eric over the next few weeks and months into early 2008, it was impressive to see this mind set in action. Thus an unexpected love affair began.

In continuing with the idea of community, Eric often has people ask him how he made something, for a recipe, or how to butcher a bird. We often hear others say, “why do you want people to know how you make things? Aren’t you afraid they will think they won’t need you anymore?” To which he replies, “Why wouldn’t I want them to be successful, provide for themselves and see us as a reliable part of their community?”

This leads us into this weeks recipe. Our regular customers, Ron and Dana Robinson (click on both their names-they both provide pretty awesome services in this area), asked how Eric makes the herb dressing that the Ralston Creekside Speakeasy serves up each week. In the spirit of community and helping one another grow, here you go:

In a blender put

1 1/2 c herbs (we have been using oregano and lemon balm)

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

2 eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon sugar (optional, but recommended)

1/4 c. red vinegar

1 + c of veggie oil to taste (sunflower oil is what we use-its also the most healthy, not hydrogenated, all-purpose oil –it’s from flower seeds not cereal grains)

Now, here’s a trick. If the dressing seems stiff, like a mayonnaise before it has the right taste (i.e., too acidic) drizzle in cold water. This will loosen the dressing. You can then proceed adding the necessary amount of oil to cut the acidity just right.

I hope you all venture out and try to make some dressing. We look forward to seeing you all tomorrow!

Hopeful possibilities for next week: Choi and spinach!

Once again, sorry for the silence and lack of recipe sharing. It’s been a crazy few weeks. Many of you already know, but for those of you who have the rule to not ask a woman if she’s pregnant unless you see the baby crowning (I think it’s a very good rule), I am about 7 weeks away from having a baby. Due to this, I often find myself making grand proclamations about all the things I am going to accomplish, and then I go to bed. Today, I am going to complete a new post!

I know each time we get new chicks, we write a post about it. It’s just so amazing.  We find ourselves sitting and watching them. There are countless other posts in our blog about how the chicks get here and the stress of keeping them alive, especially in the early weeks. Here’s some videoof the latest group for you. This brooding bunch are Freedom Rangers. In 10 weeks they will be delicious meat birds.

Also this week, Eric was asked by his sister, Ellen, to prepare the meat for his niece Zayna’s graduation. For you regulars at the Ralston Creekside Speakeasy, The Zayna is named after her. After some thought, Eric decided to smoke a number of turkey breasts thighs from our turkeys we raised last fall, in addition to the pork that Ellen requested. First he put the bird into a brine. The brine he used this time is the following:

2 gallons of water

1 1/2 cup salt

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 heads of garlic

2 Tablespoon peppercorns

2 Tablespoons corriander

3 onions

2 bunches of chives

2 limes

2 oranges

oregano

lemon balm

Eric let the meat soak in the brine for 48 hours. Then it was time to put the meat in the smoker. Eric and his brother Mike put the turkey in around 3:30 on Saturday. Eventually Ellen showed up and Ellen’s husband Sam followed about 45 minutes later. The rest of the afternoon was spent making different types of mayonnaise and listening to Eric’s siblings banter. This is actually one of my favorite things to do.

Eric is also the youngest of 5, but his mom had 5 kids in 7 years, while my mother had 5 in 15 years. While I am close to my siblings, there is something different about siblings that are this close in age. It’s fun to just sit back and listen to them tell stories. There is no way to get a word in between all of them and Sam. The stories of historical familial happenings flow at a constant pace. I’m always amazed at what new story I hear, and my respect for Ruth, Eric’s mother always grows a little bit more.

Eventually, Sam and Ellen had to get back home to their kids and house full of relatives. Milo had to go to bed, and I needed to continue being 32 weeks pregnant in solitude. Eric and Mike stayed out with the smoker past dark. Around 9 pm I heard them make the way into the house. Eric let the meat sit over night, and in the morning he sliced it. Around 1pm we made it over to Ellen’s house with the turkey, mayo and pulled pork. At 2 pm we celebrated Zayna’s graduation. All of the food was amazing.  Eric has decided this is how we will prepare our turkey for Thanksgiving this year.

On the farm front, things are progressing along. As the weather cooperates, Eric and the crew are getting more and more in the ground. Today over 30 fruit trees were planted, last week the cabbages, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuces made it into the ground. The garlic and strawberry beds are also coming along nicely.

Thank you all so much for your continued support. Eric and I are so fortunate to have such a great group of customers. We really are looking forward to this growing season. Fortunately, the baby will be done growing by July 15th. What? Too much? I think I’m hilarious!

~eve

Tomorrow will be the second market of the year. It seems like each time of year has it’s own unique challenges. We continue to patiently wait for the ground to dry. The transplants continue to wait as well. Eric tends to worry about what we have to offer for each market at this time of year.

Tomorrow we will have the Speakeasy up and running. We will be serving pancakes, eggs, omelets and Pavelka’s Point meat. Eric will also have rhubarb, eggs and chicken for sale tomorrow. Please stop by!

~eve

For us that means that Eric is up earlier, home later and we see less and less of him. It also means I am back on blog duty. I will try to work with Eric to post a recipe each week. If you all have a request, please let us know. We recently posted on Facebook how we make our own Mayo, and it seemed to be well received.

This time of year also means we are anxiously waiting for the ground to dry so we can get plants in the ground. Eric, Matt, and Renee have carefully cared for thousands of transplants over the last few weeks. We have one greenhouse and are looking forward to building a second. One for the transplants, and other for actual planting.

These little lettuce plants are ready to go and hopefully they will get into the ground today, before the next round of rain comes.

Last weekend, we were fortunate enough to spend our Sunday planting onions with Chris and DeeAnn Grebner. The Grebner’s have a great gig going with The Farmer’s Table. If you haven’t heard of them, or been to an event, please check them out. They do great dinners at places like Fuel up in Mt. Vernon. We really feel fortunate to know them, work with them and benefit from their williness to help plant onions!

Eric and Milo getting the tiller ready.

Onions waiting to find their new home in the field.

Thanks for stopping by. We are excited about this planting season. We hope you are too. 

~eve

MARKET MENU 5.4.13

Also, the Ralston Creekside Speakeasy will be returning to serve you breakfast!  We are very excited to start our breakfast stand up again this year as all restrictions to our menu have been lifted and we can serve you whatever we want!!  The menu for  this week will be posted tomorrow.

See you all soon!  Stay warm.  The 3 Cold Kings of May have arrived!

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