Sogkonnite Living

Sakonnet Growers Market

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 02:06:00 +0000

Today was the last day of the farmer's market for 2011. A special Thanksgiving market. Unfortunately I was unable to attend, basketball, friends for the kids & installation of our new sign took over the day. Here are a couple pictures taken over the summer by Robin Toste (wife of our webdesigner).

What I love about these pictures is they really caught the essence of every one's tables. I was a new farmer, a new addition to this group, and I was warmly welcomed by everyone. We had a great summer at the market. My kids came with me every week, some weeks I left them there and they ran the table themselves. They learned social skills, practiced change making, and we had fun.

This is Roots Farm- Kelli (not pictured) & Mike. They were at the booth next to us, and their farm is right around the corner from our farm. They farm right through the winter- looking forward to some delicious winter carrots!

Here are Jami & I- I guess she was sharing a funny story

Rocky Hooves- a family affair run by Sue & Mark and their son and his girlfriend pictured here.

Skinny Dip Farm - a new farm this year started by Hannah & Ben, his mom was there most weeks as well.
Their table was always so beautiful!

Delish treats for both the patrons & the vendors.
"payment" for the kids helping out was usually a treat from here or Steve.

Here is Steve Cory, Cory's Kitchen at Sweet Berry Farm. Very impressive line up of jelly and my favorite treat (have to pay yourself as well as the help!) spinach croissant.

Alice, also around the corner from our farm, had beautiful plants!

Chris of Seapowet Shellfish, was usually doing something like this. He was so great with the kids- the last day we were there he called his wife who brought down a huge Frisbee to entertain everyone.

This is Kristin, who made the most beautiful bouquets! She grows everything herself, some in Connecticut where they live during the week, and some here in her Westport home where they stayed on the weekends. She has three boys who were in and out with her husband. Most of the time her eldest, Adicus, stayed and was a big help, hot just to her but to everyone!

What's new at Sakonnet Farm

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:15:00 +0000

It has been a VERY long time since I have written a blog post, hard to believe at one point I was posting every day. Now that there are no kids home with me, everything is different. We have been very busy on the farm this summer. We have new fencing, new animals, new plans.....
Please enjoy some pictures courtesy of Rick Barrette.

Here is one of our Dominique chickens taking the stairs!

Here is our turkey looking for lunch. They scratch out a spot then go back to look for what they have unearthed. This enables them to heat a healthy diet and therefore producing healthier food for us. It is also good for the soil, they are like natural rototillers!

We currently have 8 ducks who all enjoy swimming in the pond we built for them.

Rest time for the goats.

This is Maggie, how could you not love that face!

These are probably the most interesting flowers we have on the property, a poker flower. What an amazing picture of the hummingbird!

This was our herb garden just after Adam finished building it for me. We had much success with basil this year. We grew sweet, lime, and purple. We also grew catnip, lemon balm, thyme, lemon thyme, rosemary, parsley, and chocolate mint.

So there is a bit of catching up as to what we have been doing over the course of the summer. We also participated in the local farmer's market and there are some wonderful pictures I just received. Maybe I'll just have to post again tomorrow.....

Schoolhouse No. 1 Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 29 May 2011 01:01:00 +0000

We had a fellow blogger (although I won't even pretend to be on the same level as her) Sharon stay at our schoolhouse this week. She came down to Tiverton Four Corners as part of a blogger tour of the Farmcoast area. Since she was coming form NH, she was hoping to stay overnight- we were happy to be of assisitance. She just posted about our schoolhouse, with absolutely BEAUTIFUL pictures. Please go and take a look at A New England Life.

Tiverton Four Corners Schoolhouse No. 1 gets second life

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:45:00 +0000

Tiverton Four Corners Schoolhouse No. 1 gets second life

Open house to celebrate completed renovation of Tiverton’s District No. 1 Schoolhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 19 May 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Open house to celebrate completed renovation of Tiverton’s District No. 1 Schoolhouse

Tiverton Four Corners Schoolhouse No. 1

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:53:00 +0000

Old Tiverton Four Corners Schoolhouse No. 1 is located within Historic Tiverton Four Corners. Let your imagination wander back to the mid 1800’s as you pass through the proper boys or girls door into this fully remodeled structure. Ring the working vintage twenty-four inch, cast-iron school bell to gather your friends and family for an old-fashioned meal prepared with local produce and cooked in our gourmet kitchen equipped with the latest fixtures for your convenience. Marvel at our collection of period décor and historic schoolhouse memorabilia as you relax in the spacious living room equipped with comfortable seating, a large LCD TV, a working wood-burning stone fireplace, and central air conditioning / heating. Wide-plank pine flooring finished with an old fashioned and environmentally friendly Tung oil with citrus helps maintain the historic charm.

Tiverton Four Corners Schoolhouse No. 1 was built in 1800 by the Manchester Family, one of the original founding families of Tiverton. The Town realized the need for public education in the mid 1800’s, which at that time was typically provided for in private homes. In 1854 the Manchesters sold the property to the town for one hundred dollars with the right to buy it back when and if the town disposed of it. The Town of Tiverton used the Schoolhouse until 1925, a period in time when the advent of motorized bus transportation afforded consolidations to regional schools. Schoolhouse No. 1 was closed in 1925 when Nonquit School was opened and subsequently sold at auction in 1928 for one-hundred eighty dollars to Mr. and Mrs. Manuel Rego. The Regos converted it into a single family home where their family lived up until 2004. We recently had the pleasure to meet a granddaughter of the Regos who said the original belfry blew over in a storm. Much to our surprise, the original bell is alive and well in Maine.

The Schoolhouse has two bedrooms and one bathroom equipped with a Whirlpool tub. The master bedroom has a king size bed fitted with a luxurious ten inch foam mattress covered with Egyptian linens. A wall-mounted LED TV complete with cable access will help insure a relaxing finish to your day. The second bedroom is outfitted twin bunk-beds and an LCD TV to accommodate friends or family. WI-FI is provided free of charge for those of you who like to stay in touch while you are on vacation. A high-efficiency laundry system is available if you plan on an extended stay.

When you’re done exploring inside, take a walk around the five-acre grounds where you will find meandering streams, vegetable and herb gardens, plenty of chickens, a couple of goats, and a path through the woods. If your timing is right, you can help us gather a couple of eggs for breakfast, harvest some fresh herbs to complement your evening meal or perhaps pick some fresh vegetables for a garden salad. After you are done strolling the grounds, amble a short five minute walk north to visit the heart of Historic Tiverton Four Corners, a quaint three-hundred year old cross-roads village. There you will find unique shops, restaurants, Gray’s Ice Cream shop, an Arts Center, Art Galleries, and many other establishments. If you plan on cooking, be sure to visit one of the nearby roadside stands for some tender, sweet, fresh-picked corn.

Photos courtesy of Garrett Seiple Photography.
For further rental information, availability and rates see our VRBO site.

Broody Hens & Hatching Chicks

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:48:00 +0000

We have new chicks at Sakonnet Farm, hatched the old fashioned way. This is the second time we had the mama birds do the work for us, my post about the first time can be found here. When the chickens get broody, they spend all day sitting on their eggs, regardless if you go in there everyday and take the eggs out. Which, by the way, is easier said than done. My new twitter friend Renee wrote about it very nicely on Examiner.com. I want to thank her for helping me with my in my struggles to get our logo to fit nicely into the avatar box which is also easier said than done! Anyway, someone asked if I would write about having 3 broody hens at a time and how did we manage the logistics.

At Sakonnet Farm, we have a large coop that is split into three separate pens. The largest pen had all the chickens with roosts and nesting boxes. When we decided to let these chickens sit on the eggs, we moved some nesting boxes into another of the pens that was empty at the time. We then moved the chickens & their eggs. They had their own food & water- not that we ever saw them eat or drink. They hardly ever move! Although the kids told me that they occasionally would switch nesting boxes with each other.

At exactly three weeks, Jonathan went in to check on them and there were the chicks!

Over the next day or two, there were 16 healthy chicks hatched. But now they were up in the nesting boxes, couldn't reach the food or water and there were three mama hens. How was this going to work? I gently transferred everyone down to the ground and there were no issues! The mama's didn't fuss with each other at all. The babies went right to the food and water following their moms. There were still a couple eggs left to hatch so at night the two black chickens would sit on them and this one tan chicken got the pleasure of caring for all 16!

Sorry about the quality of the picture, I only had my iPhone and it doesn't take the greatest pictures in the dark. It is SO cute to see all the chicks peeking out from all under the mama bird. Sometimes they ride around on the mom's backs, also very cute.

We have 3-4 other chickens who have decided they want to be mama birds. I was trying to break them of it by taking the eggs every day- we are trying to sell eggs here! But that wasn't working, so yesterday I moved two of them and their eggs over to the nesting boxes with these guys. They went the boxes and there was no issue. Today I will see if the others are still in the nesting boxes and I will move them too. I'm figuing by the time these chicks are hatching the baby birds will be big eough to move in with the others. If not, we still have another pen we can use for one of the groups.

The downside to hatching chicks this way is that the numbers are smaller and you get more roosters than if you ordered chicks from a hatchery. But the upside is there is no labor for you. The chickens do all the work! It is also SO cute to see the mama's with their babies and they are safer having adult chickens with them.

So that is how it's worked over here at Sakonnet Farm. I'd love to hear about your experiences with hatching chicks.

Preserving Summer's Bounty- Cucumbers

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

We have had a very hot and dry (not much rain, plenty of humidity) summer which began very early this year. This has put all the crops about 2 weeks ahead of schedule. My neighbor told me yesterday he was picking his sweet corn on the 3rd of July!! Strawberries came out when the kids were still in school, thankfully we were able to pick once before they were finished. Our first crop of raspberries have come and gone already and blueberries are in full swing. We still pick at Boughs & Berries here in Little Compton, and hope to get there this week. We do have our own bushes but this is their first year, and what they did produce the birds got.

What we do have a ton of right now is cucumbers! We love cucumbers, just cut up with a bit of Nakano seasoned vinegar- yum! But, one (or 6 in our case) can only eat so much, so I try to make time to get into the kitchen and can some for the winter. So far I have made bread & butter pickles and have plans to make sweet pickle relish, both from my tried & true Ball Blue Book of Preserving.

Bread & Butter Pickles

yield: 7 pints (you know I tripled it of course)

4 lbs 4-6 in cucumbers cut into 1/4 inch slices (about 7 med cucumbers, I leave the skin on)

2 lbs onions, thinly sliced (about 8 small, I found to be a bit much)

1/3 cup canning salt

2 cups sugar

2 tbsp mustard seed

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp celery seed

1 tsp ginger

1 tsp peppercorns

3 cups vinegar

Combine cucumber and onion slices in a bowl, layering with the salt; cover with ice cubes. Let stand 1 1/2 hours. Drain; rinse; drain again. (keep going here- more is better) Combine remaining ingredients in a large saucepot; bring to a boil. Add drained cucumbers and onions and return to a boil. Pack hot pickles and liquid into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Sweet Pickle Relish
yield: about 8 half pints
1 quart chopped cucumbers (about 4 medium)
2 cups chopped onions (about 2 medium)
1 cup chopped sweet green pepper (about 1 medium)
1 cup chopped sweet red pepper (about 1 medium)
1/4 cup salt
3 1/2 cups sugar (I try to decrease this by about 1/3-1/2)
1 tbsp celery seed
1 tbsp mustard seed
2 cups cider vinegar

Combine cucumbers, onions, green & red peppers in a large bowl; sprinkle with salt and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours. Drain; rinse and drain thoroughly (make sure they are really rinsed!!) Combine sugar, spices and vinegar; simmer 10 minutes. Pack hot relish into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Remove air bubbles. Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 10 minutes in a boiling water canner.

notes- I cannot stress enough the drain & rinse part of the recipe, nothing worse than too much salt.
If you have never boiled vinegar before, watch out for the smell, whew, it's strong!
Put the water to boil for the canner on first. It always takes longer than I think.
Make time for this, I know there is nothing worse than a hot kitchen in the middle of the summer but what could be better than opening a jar of homemade pickles in the middle of the winter?

Since I have been away from blogging for so long, there has been some major changes over here at blogger central. One thing is the new share- it widget, I'm glad they finally figured that out. So please, share away. Also new was something called Zemanta assistant. It suggests pictures, links to other blogs and wikipedia in-text links as you go- what a huge time saver!! That is how I got the picture of my favorite canning book in here, and I will link to a couple of the blogs they suggested. As a funny side note, when I looked over at Simply Cooking's blog, she linked to one of my favorites, Pam's Sidewalk Shoes, even the blogger world is a small place!! It's good to be back, but now I must go outside and give everyone a drink, it's going to be another hot one!!

Wordless Wednesday- Liver for the Chicks

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:59:00 +0000

I have not done a Wordless Wednesday in a while, but this seemed appropriate.

I felt like I was part of one of those Friday night murder mysteries we watch on Dateline.

What was really going on? I was trying to help my poor chicks that had eaten some bad feed. See their poor crooked toes? Old feed= deficient in Vitamin B. Who knew?

Chicken Liver Pate and Real Food Roundup

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

The Real Food Challenge at The Nourished Kitchen has come to an end. Or it has just begun if you want to look at it that way, which I am. What were the challenges? Definitely the kid's food. But, I think we made progress. Most of our dinners were "real" and I was able to work in some good lunches (for all except for my youngest who will only eat PB&J). Breakfast no longer consists of cereal- a big hit was fruit shakes with my homemade yogurt, frozen strawberries & blueberries (from last summer), raw honey for a sweetener and either milk or kiefer.

Where did we succeed? I made chicken feet stock, bought my first half gallon of raw milk yesterday, made my own yogurt , I have cut back a lot on the fake foods. I have switched us to whole milk, and have really started thinking about everything we are eating. BUT- here is the craziest thing I have done- chicken liver pate!!!

I made this early in February, for my husband's birthday party. I figured the more the merrier. We had mixed reviews of the pate. My father liked it, my sister in law did too, but I think that was it. I was not a big fan. Having never had liver before, I don't know what I was expecting but it was very rich and dense. It was also grainy, which is a texture I am not very fond of. It might have been partly because I had to use dry herbs. I think I will try it again in the summer when I have fresh herbs to see if that makes a difference. I'll have to have Lisa over again because she was the only one really eating it...

I used The Nourished Kitchen's recipe, found here. She talks about how what good stuff liver is- high in B vitamins, folate, Vitamin A, and micro nutrients. Here is how I had to adapt the recipe for what I had here in the house.

Ingredients:
1 lb Livers from Pasture-fed Chickens (our own!)
1 Quart Milk
14 oz Butter
2 Large green onions, Finely Chopped
2 Tablespoons dried marjoram (was supposed to be sage)
½ Cup Sherry

Method:
Rinse chicken livers gently, drain them and set them in a bowl. They were remarkably clean and had no smell. I was shocked, I really expected them to have a strong smell.

Pour 1 quart fresh milk over the chicken livers and allow them to marinate in the milk for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.
Drain the chicken livers and rinse them again.
Heat 4 oz butter in a skillet until melted.
Add the sliced green onions and brown.
Add the chicken livers to the onions and butter. They will release a significant amount of liquid.
Simmer chicken livers until browned through and until the liquid has largely cooked away. Most of the chicken livers will be falling apart on their own.

Add the marjoram and deglaze the pan with sherry.
Continue to cook until sherry is largely cooked away.

Allow the mixture to cool.

Add mixture and 8 oz of softened butter to your food processor and process until smooth.

Because everyone was here, we ate it right away. Jenny suggested putting it into the fridge for a few hours and then letting it come back to room temp. She also suggested pouring melted butter over the top which we decided to skip as there was so much butter already.

We had it with water crackers:

I already told you what we thought about it. If anyone has tried this, I would appreciate any comments/suggestion you have. I will try it again and I should try working it into some other recipe also.

How about you? Made any "real food" changes? Have any suggestions you think we should try next? Having come so far as to make liver pate, I'm thinking now I am open to just about anything. My sister in law and I were laughing as we were making this, how could I be in this place? When she first met me I could hardly boil water! Crazy- but in such a good way. I am very happy to be where we are now.

Homemade Yogurt & Real Food Challenge Week #3

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:56:00 +0000

This is my third week round up for Jenny's Real Food Challenge from The Nourished Kitchen. I have continued with only some of the things Jenny has suggested, but I feel good about the changes I have made. Today I bought keifer, a fermented milk drink, for the first time. I haven't even tried it yet, so I guess I should have held that off for another post. I also promised pictures & a post about my liver experience, but that is not going to be today either. I did upload the pictures though, one step closer. There are just not enough hours in the day!

One of the challenges of the week was to make homemade yogurt. I had been already thinking about it, as I talked about here, but this week I finally did it using Kitchen Stewardship's directions. It was very easy and the end result was WONDERFUL! I would highly recommend everyone to try it. Here is what I did:

I used local, whole milk. Why whole? Read this; but if you don't have the time, here are the highlights. 1. when the fat is removed from the milk, so are the fat-soluble vitamins. 2. dry powered milk is added to low fat milk as a thickener. They don't have to list this on the ingredient list as this is a standard practice for the industry (leaving you wonder what other things we don't know about that are "standard practice") Dry milk is made by blowing liquid milk thru tiny holes at high pressure. This leads to nitrates being formed and the cholesterol oxidizing. Nitrates are carcinogens & the oxidized cholesterol is a huge factor in heart disease! Not to mention the disproportionately large percentage of protein that is in the milk. 3. historically, skim milk was the junk that the farmers would feed to the pigs!

Anyway- back to the yogurt....

Rhody Fresh Milk

Put a washcloth in the bottom of a pan to prevent the jars from wobbling in the boiling water. Put in sterilized jars (pre washed in the dishwasher) into the pot and fill with milk to within an inch of the top. Fill the pot with tap water. Heat the water until boiling. I put my thermometer and a spoon into the water, so they would sterilize. You can use any kind of milk- skim to whole, organic to conventional- what ever you prefer.

After the water boils, turn it down until the water is just boiling and heat the milk to 185 degrees. Since the milk is in a water bath, it won't burn! No worries!!

When it reaches 185, cover the jars with sterilized lids (I ran those thru the dishwasher too) and cool. Here is where I got into trouble. The directions suggested putting them into an ice bath in the sink, which I did. But when I noticed the water getting cloudy, I knew I was in trouble and sure enough, one of the jars had cracked. BUMMER! So next time I will put the jars into cool water in the sink and gradually add the ice. Then the glass will not have such a dramatic temp change and hopefully stay intact.

Cover the pot with the hot water and place inside a cooler lined with a beach towel. Take out your starter from the fridge and let it come to room temp. This time, I used pain yogurt from the store. Just make sure it has active & live cultures. Next time I will use this yogurt as my starter.

When the milk cools down to 100 degrees gently stir in 2 tbsp starter into each quart. I let mine cool down a bit too much- I just put them back into the hot water for a couple minutes and heated it back up. To keep the thermometer and spoon sterile, I had ran an extra jar thru the dishwasher and I kept them in there.

Re-cover the jars and put them into the cooler. Wrap the towel around the jars, remove the cover to the pot and close the cooler tight. Let sit until your desired time anywhere from 4-24 hours. I let mine sit for about 11 hours. The end result was a less tangy yogurt than what you buy in the store. The shorter the incubation period, the less tangy. Next time I will try about 6 hours and see what that is like. A full 24 hours will eliminate most of the lactose making the yogurt easily digestible.

If you are going to incubate for overnight, boil some water in the teapot and add to the pot in the cooler. I did not do this and mine was fine at the 11 hours. After you take the jars out of the cooler, put them into the freezer for an hour. This will help improve the texture. I skipped this step and put them right into the fridge as I was going to bed. My yogurt was still very creamy.

End result:

Please try this, you will be so happy with the results! When you do, come back here and let me know what you thought. If I seem to have missed anything, please see the link to Kitchen Stewardship- she did a wonderful job making it so simple.

Real Food Challenge Week #2

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 01:05:00 +0000

Jenny at The Nourished Kitchen has been sending us emails every day with great tips and ideas about eating nothing but real food. It's been a great learning experience for me. I have not been able to do everything (this week was even worse than last week- I had a recurrence of strep with two of my kids & a snow day) but I was able to make three of Jenny's recipes.

I have been using only turbinado sugar in my coffee, and even used it in a cookie recipe. I went to the grocery store and got some more of the real foods on the list & I'm thinking differently about all the foods we eat. I have been buying whole milk, which is HUGE for me. I will have to share my reasoning in another post.

Last night we had Jenny's Black Bean Soup. Her's was made with chipolte chili powder which sounded delicious, but I didn't have it. Here is what I used:
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 quarts chicken broth (homemade)
1 tsp chili powder
1tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
sea salt
2 cans black beans
2 cups shredded, cooked chicken
1 cup salsa

I followed her directions:
In a soup pot, heat butter in a skillet over medium-high heat until melted, then add chopped onion and fry until translucent, about 4 minutes.
Stir in cumin, chili powder and oregano into the mixture of onions and butter, continuing to cook for about one to two minutes.
Add chicken broth and salsa to the onions, butter, cumin and oregano.
Add cooked chicken and black beans to the soup pot, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer uncovered for approximately ten to fifteen minutes.

We added fried corn tortilla slices and shredded Mexican cheese to the soup at the table. It was very similar to the other Mexican tortilla soup I made, only easier. Very yummy- I would highly recommend it!

I also made Quinoa Salad, which I just ate for dinner tonight. And Chicken Liver Pate which totally deserves it's own post. So, go on over to the Nourished Kitchen, check out what everyone else learned this week, and come back here tomorrow to see my adventures with both chicken & beef liver! I have some crazy pictures as well- something else to add to the list of things I NEVER thought I would do!!

Local Food Forum & Real Food Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:50:00 +0000

I don't think you can get much more "real" than chicken feet stock- but in hopes to keep it real, I have joined in Jenny's Real Food Challenge at The Nourished Kitchen. Every day she is emailing an assignment to help learn about the principles of a nourishing diet including the importance of grass-finished and pastured meats, wholesome fats, sprouted and soured grains and probiotic foods. (her words)

Great idea right? Think it's easy? NO! Day #1's assignment- throw out all the non-real food items in your pantry. Already I was a failure, and we hadn't even gotten started yet. I was chatting with someone on twitter about it and she said just do it- you'll fell so much better for it. I'm sure she's right, but I am too cheap for that. And I can't do that to the kids. So my (cheating) approach to this is baby steps.

I did go shopping yesterday and purchased some of the real foods that were on her list in day #2's assignment. I was pleased to find every thing I wanted to buy except sprouted grain. Don't ask me exactly what that is, I bought whole wheat flour instead. I was pleasantly surprised to find these things at my local Shaw's: sea salt, turbinado, sucanat, quinoa, whole flaxseed, and raw honey.

I also bought a container of yogurt to use as a starter to make my own. I went to the Local Food Forum on Wednesday and was talking to a man I met there about homemade yogurt. It was something I have been thinking of for a long time and that conversation made me think now was finally the time to give a try. My most exciting purchase was Rhody Fresh Milk. If you have been reading any of my "adventures" with food, you know that I am very frugal when it comes to the grocery bill, but I also decided that it was time to put my money where my mouth is so to speak. Yea local!!

So, as far as the real food challenge is going- I am thinking more about what we are eating. I am trying some new recipes- (hint, more crazy chicken parts.) Not following the rules at all, but good enough for me.

As I mentioned, I went to the Local Food Forum this week, an annual event put on by Farm Fresh RI. This years theme was "fresh for all"- to discuss the goal of all Rhode Islander's having access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Currently WIC gives farmers market vouchers to use as cash at approved markets. They are also starting a new program to also give separate fruit & vegetable vouchers. These could be used at farmers markets or anywhere fresh fruits or vegetables were sold.

This years keynote speaker was Gus Schumacher who was the USDA's undersecretary for Agriculture during President Clinton's tenure. Currently he is the chairman for the Wholesome Wave Foundation. This organization, amongst other things, matches WIC dollars for families to purchase fresh foods at local farmers markets. He discussed some innovative things happening all over the country in farmers markets and the changing faces of America's farmers. For example, one market would give prizes to children if their parents brought them to the farmers market in successive weeks. The first was a coloring book, the next a tee shirt and the third was extra vouchers for more vegetables! In Connecticut, they are using the market mobile idea (see here for an explanation) to purchase second grade vegetables from the farmers at a reduced cost and selling them at the farmers markets for half price. This way the farmer gets some money for produce they would have otherwise had to waste and people get access to less than perfect (but still perfectly acceptable) produce. That is win-win!

Another win-win concept is using WIC or SNAP dollars better at the farmers markets. There is about 700 million dollars going out to WIC recipients in produce dollars. What if even 1% were to go back to the local farmer? If my math is right, that 7 million dollars!! Not to mention the health benefit to the families- 30% of children under the age of 5 are pre-diabetic. What is more cost effective- paying for these children to eat more produce as children or paying for their health care costs as adults- hmmm.......

Another thing that I found to be a very progressive RI idea was Johnson & Wales has students that go to farmers markets and prepare dishes focusing moistly on WIC approved foods. Not only can parents buy healthy foods, but they can learn what to do with them & try the prepared food right on the spot.

After the keynote speaker, it was networking time. The idea was to sit with a new group of people every 15 minutes or so- they would come over the mic and encourage us to switch tables. I met so many interesting people- big & small farmers, local Tiverton farmers living right around the corner, restaurant owners, graphic designers, people interested in sustainable living, many people interested in teaching kids how to eat healthy. I even met a friend of a friend that I have been interested in connecting with for months!

After lunch (all delicious local foods) we again had round table discussions this time on specific topics. I chose to go to the new farmer table. The friends I went with went to the RI meat and local food tables. I learned a bit about what some other farmers are struggling with and met someone from the RI farm bureau and the New England Farmers Union. I wish we had more time to for a few more discussions but we had to get the kids off the bus. I was very excited to receive an email list of all who attended and their contact info so maybe I can still make some of those connections.

Chicken Feet Stock

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:16:00 +0000

WARNING- this post won't be for everyone!! This is one of the craziest things I have ever done. And for me, it has brought my food ideas full circle. When I was growing up my parents had a huge garden (they still do) and we grew just about all of our own vegetables. My dad fished and we also had fresh fish a lot. So I always knew where a significant part of my food came from. But when I went to college and took anatomy, after dissecting various animals, there were many years I could not eat meat on the bone. It was a bit too real. Well, guess what, ain't nothin' more real than this:

When our friends processed their chickens, my hubby brought home all the innards. They are bagged and frozen. Come to find out people like to eat these, so I didn't feel the need to use them up right away. We joked then about how he thought about bringing home the feet but didn't. Shortly after that (isn't it funny how that happens) I received the Nourished Kitchen's email update which contained her recipe for Voodoo Stock. Full of glucosamine chondroitin, collagen, calcium and trace minerals; I felt like I had missed out on a use able part of the chicken.

So, when we processed our own birds recently, I had Adam bring home the feet.

I have to say the feet were totally disgusting. They smelled terrible!

The worst part is the claws- look at those nails!!

The first step is getting rid of those claws and the yellow membrane. I blanched them for a couple minutes then let them cool. This part was very difficult. I was expecting the skin to fall right off like a tomato- not so much. I almost gave up a couple times, but what I ended up doing was leaving a significant part of the skin on. I did cut off all the claws, and all the blackend area on the balls of the feet.

Then they all went into the pot with some carrots, onions and thyme. Thankfully the smell turned to a nice soup smell since it was almost time for the kids to come home and this was going to be a difficult at best sell on getting them to eat this!

After many hours (4 I think) of simmering- here is what we have.

Strained it through two layers of cheese cloth and the fine mesh strainer.

This is the end result. It is beautiful stock. But, I'm not so sure if all the effort was worth it. The kids did try it the first night, no one ate too much. But after it cooled it was solid and there was no one (but me) that would go near it. It also didn't make a lot of stock. I ended up boiling the bones from a chicken and using both stocks for soup. The only thing that would bring be back there would be the health benefits like the glucosamine.

I just figured I would throw in a picture of our first home grown chicken:

It was delish! That was a cornish cross bird, about 5 lbs dressed. We ended up getting most of the birds about 3-5 lbs after much longer than the 8 weeks we had expected it to take. We ordered the chicks much to late in the fall and that had a big part in their slow growth, we think.

So, we have changed breeds and just received a shipment of 100 (to split with friends) red-bros or freedom rangers. These will go outside and forage like "real" chickens. The cornish cross does nothing but sit and eat. A good breed for a chicken factory but not for a farm. So, we'll see how this works out.

Agriculture on Aquidneck Island lecture & my first guest post!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:02:00 +0000

I am very excited because I have been asked to write my first guest post over at Bill's blog Sustainable Sakonnet. You might remember that I found his blog quite by accident and was taken aback at the similarities of our sites. Please go over and check out his blog- I was excited to read his recent success with homemade laundry detergent that I think I am going to try.

He asked me to write a summary of a lecture we went to last week. Here it is:

I had the pleasure of attending the lecture, Agriculture on Aquidneck Island, last week at Penfield School. It was moderated by Ted Clement of the Aquidneck Land Trust and had four local farmers on the panel. Peter Borden of the Swiss Village Farm & SVF Foundation, John Nunes from Newport Vineyards, Louis Escobar from Escobar’s Farm & Rhody Fresh Milk and Barbara vanBeuren from Aquidneck Farms. Luckily for us (we have four cherubs) they had some of the school’s upperclassmen in another room to watch the children. The event was very well attended, even though it was lightly snowing that evening. In fact, they even had to put out more chairs for all the attendees.

Each gave a short presentation enhanced by video and slides on their ventures. Peter Borden spoke about the work they are doing to save rare and endangered breeds of livestock via germplasm (embryos, semen and genetic material). The Swiss Village sits on 35 acres in Newport, RI, formerly the Edgehill Rehab Center. John Nunes discussed the history of his family’s land and the development into a large successful vineyard. His beautiful video showed the various parcels around the island they farm and a tease of how they operate- he encouraged everyone to attend the vineyard for the full tour. Louis Escobar gave a passionate history of inheriting the farm along with the million dollar tax bill. This is when he became connected with (as are Newport Vineyards and Aquidneck Farm) the Aquidneck Land Trust to save the farm. He also talked about how he had to diversify when the price of milk dropped about a decade ago, beginning his corn maze. Barbara van Beuren discussed her grass fed beef, a herd size of about 120 head. They have also begun to raise pastured poultry, in chicken tractors. This is very familiar to me from Joel Salatin’s methods, although she did not specifically state this. In the summer the herd is rotationally grazed and the winter the herd is fed their own dried hay or grass silage.

Around the room were tables set up with various vendors. Present were the panel’s farms in addition to Sweet Berry Farms, RI Livestock Association, and the Aquidneck Growers Market. All had representatives from their organizations, and various literature to take home. I was pleased to meet Kim from the livestock association with whom I have many email & phone conversations. My kids were most impressed with the Rhody Fresh milk table as he gave them each a chocolate milk and a key chain. I am sorry to say they we don’t carry this milk at their school, he explained that some companies were reluctant to serve their milk as it was more expensive.

Here are some other upcoming events we learned about. This Thursday, Jan 21st, at URI is “An Economic Development Framework for Sustainable Agriculture" lecture from 10-12. It is sponsored by the van Beuren Foundation, Rhode Island Foundation, and University of Rhode Island. The speaker is Michael Hamm, CS Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture, Michigan State University.

Aquidneck Land Trust is hosting their 20th annual meeting Thursday Feb 4th 6pm at the Atlantic Beach Club. Public welcome, complementary buffet and cash bar.

The SVF Foundation’s Annual Visitors Day Saturday June 12th from 9:30-3:00. There is free parking at Fort Adams State Park with a trolley shuttle and free admission to SVF. I really hope to be able to attend this event as the farm is usually closed to visitors for biosecurity reasons.

Goats, Snow & Xmas picture

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:21:00 +0000

This is what we woke up to this morning. Unfortunately it turned to rain late in the morning and it's all gone now. Well, unfortunately by the kids standards.

Here is a new picture of Maggie- obviously she's well fed...

The kids were hoping to get a picture good enough for our Christmas card with the goats- cute, but not up to card standards.

I think this is the one we are going with- the easiest year yet!!

Updates from our crazy life- 2 months in one post!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:27:00 +0000

Howdy, y'all! Yes, we are still alive up here in our little corner of RI. I can't believe it's been two months since I last posted- my life has been completely changed, in a good way. No worries about being bored with all the kids in school anymore!

For a while, I was picking up a lot of extra days at work. That has slowed down since they hired another day nurse. Then Adam & I both got the swine flu (we think) thankfully at different times. I'm still trying to recover from the secondary respiratory infection, slow (and frustrating) but sure.

I went thru our pix to give a quick synopsis of what we've been doing. Here is a picture of us signing the paperwork for the new property that our real estate agent took. I thought it was a nice family picture.

Family project- making mushrooms

We spent quite a few mornings like this. We had to all go over there before school/work because it took two of us to milk Abby. She had just calved and was making some milk when we got her. She has since weaned off and is no longer making any milk. But I was happy we got some experience with milking. Turns out Alyssa was one of the best- I think her hands were the perfect size.

Since we were learning as we were going, it took a while for us to figure out what we were doing. Which meant sometimes forgetting the appropriate equipment and using what we had in the car!

We didn't drink the milk, but I put it into the freezer. I'm thinking of trying to make some soap.

We are also trying out meat birds, as I think I had mentioned before. Here they are in the beginning of November.

Here they are now. So they are growing, but not as fast as expected and we have lost quite a few. Again, learning as we go.

We've started working on the main house at the new property with plans to rent it. This is what we were up against. I mean both the wall paper and the kids expressions as it pretty plainly states their opinion regarding "working" over there.

Well, at least we have one enthusiastic helper!

As the leaves are falling we are getting a different view of the property. Here is the pond that is behind us (not our property). The kids are hoping it will freeze this winter.

We've also had a birthday- Jonathan turned 6!

and Halloween-

So things are cranking along over here. I will get new pix of the goats over the weekend. They have gotten nice and fat for the winter. I also have hopes of getting our Christmas photo taken. We shall see.....

I think we're all set for now....

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:29:00 +0000

Hubby went to the auction last night to get A (singular- meaning one) friend for Maggie last night. I stayed home with my eldest to catch up on homework & sleep. MISTAKE!

He came home with- THREE friends for Maggie-

At least 6 of these- (top hats I think)

A Peacock!

And a duck!!

At least he left the partridge & the pear tree! I was sorry I missed the drop off of the goats to their pen last night. They were from the same breeder as Maggie. They said that Maggie was so excited, she was rubbing them and snuggling them- they must have recognized each other- how cute!!

What was not cute is we went down there this morning, the fence was open and there were no goats to be found. Thankfully, we found them in the neighbors yard and got them back inside the fence- whew!

So- we're starting to build the Ark this afternoon, anyone free? :)

Wonderful day Working in the Woods

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 00:34:00 +0000

I tried to capture the essence of what we did today over at the farm, but it was pretty hard to photograph. We were working on getting a space for the goat and some of the chickens to get over there. There was a shed/coop from when the original owner was there. So we started to clear it out and found it to be in pretty good shape, they don't build things like they used to- this shed has probably not been used in 20-30 years! There was a lot of old fence that was literally grown into the ground, so we cut that out. Then we found a whole section of fence that was still intact and use able. So we started clearing out around that fence and here are the pictures from that.

Before:

After:

Here is what we set up for the goat & the chickens. They are sharing the shed, because conveniently it is split in two inside- they think of everything! This is an electric fence around it because that darn goat will got out of anything. Tuesday morning (the 1st day we had her) she got out first thing and was running thru the neighborhood. followed my me and the two employees of my neighbor. SO funny!! Then the next day she got out (as I was trying to make cookies for said employees) and my 86 year old neighbor calls me on the phone- "um, I think one of your animals has gotten out, maybe a goat- it's on my front porch" And then again today, we left her tied up in the woods, as we were walking up around the house. Our new neighbor across the road came walking over with her-0 she was in the middle of the road!! Oh well, I guess its an easy way to meet the neighbors!!

To round off the day, we cleared a little from around the stream which was running fast today after all the rain we got yesterday.

Isn't that beautiful!! Can't wait to work on that some more. Thanks to coming back, even though I've hardley been here latley. More food chat to come soon, promise!!

Sakonnet Farm is becoming a reality

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:02:00 +0000

I don't think I've posted in a week- and I really miss it. But, thinks have been crazy over here (that's not new) in a very different way. Monday night we bought Maggie- out new goat. She is so cute- I have a couple great stories to tell, but I'm so tired I can't type tonight, they will have to wait.

Then Friday we got a shipment of day old chicks. We got 25 RI reds, 25 meat birds, 25 Top hats, and 10 Mille fleurs. This shipment is not going so well. We have lost 6 of them already. We tried a different company this time, mistake I think. Mostly we have lost the mille fleurs, they were so much smaller than the others.

So, that's going to have to be all for me tonight. I do have a couple good recipes using my lime basil to post. And I'm planning a eggplant parm cook off Tyler Florence vs. Better Homes & Gardens. (Guess who's going to win that, duh!?!?)

And I'm SO excited to announce that I met AND BEAT my goal of the grocery challenge last month- I come in just under $400!!! WOO - HOO!! I didn't think it was going to be possible. SO cool!!

Out of the Darkness Walk 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 22:13:00 +0000

We participated in the 1st Out of the Darkness Walk in Newport, RI on Saturday. The weather was absolutely beautiful, we couldn't have asked for any better. To learn more about the event, please read my post here or their website here.

We started at 1st beach, walked up Memorial Bvd, down Bellevue, to Narragansett and 40 Steps. I took these pictures there. My grandparents had met us there and given us all flowers to toss over the edge in memory of Michael- for us, Beth too.

My Aunt Gale.

The flowers, waiting for the water to come up and take them away. I could have totally lost it at this time, but I didn't. Whew....

Also, at 40 steps there is a memorial plaque on one of the benches to my grandmother's brother- nicknamed Bunny- cute huh?

I want to thank my Aunt Norene who donated to both me & my Aunt Gale.

I said it was the 1st walk, I meant here in Newport. There are walks all over the country. Please find one to support.

It's Official !!!

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:41:00 +0000

We are now owners of a second piece of property! Woo-Hoo!

I snapped a few pix as I was standing there looking in awe at my surroundings. Here is the 360 degree from behind the garage.

For some better pictures, you can go back here.

And to keep tabs on what is going on there- check us out here.

Baked Flounder Fillets in Lemon-Soy Vinaigrette Recipe at Epicurious.com

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:44:00 +0000

I have no pictures tonight, but I do have two awesome recipes to share- you'll just have to use your imagination. I'm doing well sticking to the meal plan this week. I have even taken out the chicken for the crock pot tomorrow. But, do you think I'll have time to do that, get the kids & myself ready and to school by 8:30? (I'm school nurse tomorrow) I'm not so sure about that.

Baked Flounder Fillets in Lemon-Soy Vinaigrette Recipe at Epicurious.com:
two 6-ounce flounder fillets
1 garlic clove
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation
Preheat oven to 450°F.
Arrange fillets in a ceramic or glass baking dish just large enough to hold them in one layer. Mince garlic and in a small bowl combine with lemon juice, soy sauce, sugar, and salt. Whisk in oil until emulsified and pour vinaigrette over fish.
Bake fish in middle of oven until just cooked through and no longer translucent, 5 to 7 minutes.

Even though I turned off the oven and left the fish in there to "keep warm" and it totally overcooked itself to the point of being half the size it was going into the pan- the kids still loved it (except Jonathan that is) and ate it all up in a heartbeat. I served it with some delicious wild rice, simple & easy, the best for a school night!

Then for dessert and for after school snacks tomorrow I made Jen's no bake cookies. SO GOOD! I'm sending you over there for the recipe- so easy and a hit with everyone. Despite their initial "what is THAT" reaction to the oats. So go & see Jen at Life, Love and Wine, tell her how much you love her cookies & tell her I sent ya' her way.

Oh, did I mention Fishful Thinking is up & running again? They are looking for more ambassadors too. If you are interested, email me and I'll send you in the right direction. I won a $50 gift card to Target last fall!

Swiss Chard with Onions & Garlic

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:46:00 +0000

I made my second swiss chard recipe ever tonight. (first being here with feta and dried cranberries) This was pretty good too- but I think I liked the first recipe better. The kids did too- I only gave them bites of it and only one ate it all. It wasn't very visually appealing- hence no pictures- and that doesn't help with the kids.

Anyway, here is my monster crop of swiss chard-

Here is the recipe- found at epicurious.com

Ingredients:

3 pounds green Swiss chard (about 2 large bunches)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

Directions:

Cut stems and center ribs from chard, discarding any tough portions, then cut stems and ribs crosswise into 2-inch pieces. Stack chard leaves and roll up lengthwise into cylinders. Cut cylinders crosswise to make 1-inch-wide strips.

Heat oil and butter in a large heavy pot over medium heat until foam subsides, then cook onions and garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, covered, stirring occasionally, until onions begin to soften, about 8 minutes.

Add chard stems and ribs, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until stems are just tender, about 10 minutes.

Add chard leaves in batches, stirring until wilted before adding next batch, and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer with a slotted spoon to a serving bowl.

I bought my first bag of local potatoes today from Young's. I was so glad they had some- I had heard that another local farm, Ferolbink Farms, had to till under under most of their crop due to the blight, as I was talking about yesterday.

Did you notice my new back splash in the swiss chard picture? No? You better go back up and look because this is BIG- real big!! I have not had a back splash in this kitchen ever. I can't tell you what is hiding (forever unless it starts to stink me out of the house) behind my cabinets. Isn't it beautiful? I'm so happy!!

Pico de Gallo

noreply@blogger.com (Kristin) — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:02:00 +0000

I have almost nothing in the way of tomatoes this year- my couple plants that survived the wet spring/early summer are just starting to fruit now and they are still little and green. The "real" farmers even had huge trouble this year because after the wet spring, they got the blight. Very sad.

But- I did have just enough to make a (double) batch of Martha Stewart's (Everyday Food July/August 09) Pico de Gallo- just right for summer!

4 medium small tomatoes, diced small
1 medium onion
2 hot peppers (1st from my garden- yea!) minced
2 tsp coarse salt
4 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
4 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro leaves

In a nonreactive bowl, combine all ingredients. Let stand 5 minutes. makes 4 cups

Then, when we were done eating the tomatoes- we had all this extra, very yummy juice. Not wanting to let it go to waste- we turned it into a (kind of) bloody mary. Adam mixed the juice, gin and a little pepper. Doesn't that look great?

Gin? Yea, Adam's favorite (mine not so much) but when he's mixing- I'm not complaining!!

How about you- how was the tomato crop in your neck of the woods? Tough year for the NE farmers.

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Out of the Darkness Walk 2009

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Baked Flounder Fillets in Lemon-Soy Vinaigrette Recipe at Epicurious.com

Swiss Chard with Onions & Garlic

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