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Pot Luck

by: JayinPhiladelphia

Fri Sep 23, 2011 at 19:00:00 PM PDT


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Pot Luck | 93 comments
My farm became financially sustainable today (4.00 / 7)
At least for the next few months....

I crossed the threshold today. The farm is paying all of its bills as well as all of my own personal bills and will probably be able to do so for the next 3 months.

I was so happy today. I've spent almost 3 years getting the business to this point (I registered the business name with Oregon's Secretary of State's Corporate Division in October of 2008 if I remember right).

IRS figures that it takes 3 years to get a business to this point on average. For a farm being run by someone who didn't know what the hell she was doing when I started out, I figure that's OK.

I'm still on the metaphorical beans and rice, rice and beans diet financially, but if I'm careful and very frugal, I think I'm going to be OK.

I'm still working my ass off and not making wages more than what my own personal living expenses are, but I think I'm on the right track.

So I'm raising a pint in a toast to the people who've allowed me to serve them and who, because of their confidence in me, have made it possible to pay my bills.

Cheers!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

just desserts (4.00 / 1)
Congrats, Joanne. Particularly nice that your infrastructure work enabled you to cope with your peculiar weather this year.
[ Parent ]
Thanks Count (4.00 / 2)
Farming's a challenge, but then, all businesses are a challenge.

I live on the vertical learning curve. ;-)

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Congratulations, Joanne. (4.00 / 2)
After you put down that pint, pat yourself on the back a few times. You've earned it. And you won't have time to do it tomorrow because farm work never stops
[ Parent ]
Thanks everyone! (4.00 / 3)
There ain't no guarantee that the farm will be paying the bills 3 months from now, the nobody get any guarantees no matter what you do anyway. So for now I'm happy, an a little bit 'not so nervous' about the finances.

And you're so right Casey. Today's another day, and its back to work.

;-)

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Congratulations (4.00 / 2)
You're someone who is always trying out new things, and I think that's a big part of your success.
[ Parent ]
Bravo (4.00 / 3)
I know what it like to build something from scratch, it's more work than anyone can image. It's really a 24/7 lifestyle.

But the rewards are well worth it.  I've worked for wages and made $ as a broker; but for me nothing is more rewarding than bringing in a crop.

Best of luck in the future.

[ Parent ]
Thanks George! (4.00 / 3)
You're right about the 24/7 lifestyle.

The thing I've found is that it's so cool to seed the trays and see those little plants come up. And then the other thing I love is working with people. From the CSA members to the distributor and the food co-op. That's what I really loved about being a masonry contractor. I worked with all sorts of wonderful people, both home owners and other contractors.

I've shifted my CSA model to prepaid 12 week shares and I think it'll work out a lot better than the pay as you go system I started with.

I think the pay as you go system is good for people just starting out. I used it exclusively until last month. It had a lot of problems, such as people ordering shares and not showing up to receive them. But it's a good system to use if you're unsure as to your ability to deliver on a contract.

But now with a more standard CSA model, I find that it's freed me up to just grow for people. Members still have the ability to customize each share, I'll always have that. But having regular operating capital makes the financial part of the business more stable, at least over a given quarter. And now, instead of essentially growing on spec and hoping I have crops that people will want, I can go to the members and say "What do you like, what would you like to eat, and how much do you want each week?" And then I grow that for them. I mean, I have my core crops, things that the vast majority of people will like, but now I can grow specialty crops and they're already sold before the seed ever hits the ground.

I'm also making the nursery plants available to the members, and that gives me an outlet for plants that didn't get sold as microgreens.

I had my first delivery of prepaid shares yesterday, and when I explained to the new members exactly what they were going to have access to, everyone seemed really happy. I think that this model will work well for me. And for people who want to buy shares one at a time, there's still that option through the food co-op when I have extra.

This winter, when I have more tunnels up, and I know I'll have the production capacity to supply them, I'll probably open the prepaid plan to the food co-op members too.

For right now though, I'm doing what I love doing, which is working with people and making them happy. That's really what I do, and farming is the vehicle.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Joanne, is there any way for someone who (4.00 / 2)
lives in Portland to join your CSA without having to drive to the farm for pick-ups? I remember that you no longer do p/u at your dad's house, but I don't remember if you have another spot in Portland.
[ Parent ]
I have individual shares available through (4.00 / 2)
Know Thy Food. Those are available only as I have extra produce to sell. I also have plants available through them.

I'm going to talk to the manager about making the full 12 week share program available through KTF. If I do that, I'll be delivering peoples' shares to the co-op on Tuesdays along with any other orders. Pickup there is Tuesday afternoon.

You have to join the co-op which I think is still $25, but then you have access to all of the produce and products offered through them. They have an incredible selection. One of these days I'll be buying things from them too.

A full 12 week share is $240. It comes with all the produce that I grow that you can eat each week. I send out an availability list with quantities each week and you can let me know what you want and how much you want delivered that week. So each week's share is fully customizable for the crops I'm growing during that time.

The 12 week share also gives you access to all of the production units of the farm. You get 6 broiler chickens raised to your weight specifications or 6 rabbits, or a combination of the two totalling 6 dressed animals.

You also have access to the farm's nursery during the 12 week term. So if there are any plants you want started during your 12 weeks, if it's something that I can start that time of the year, I'll start the plants for you. And you have access to any plants that are already growing in containers that are available for sale. Plants and seed starting reduce the ammount of produce in the total shares by the retail price of the plants. For instance, if you wanted 10 4" pots of plants, and they sell for $1.25 each, then you'd receive roughly half the produce you would have received that week.

Once I get my prepackaged meat seller's license from USDA, I'll have cuts of beef, veal, or lamb available too through the CSA program just like the poultry and rabbit are available, only you'll be able to specify that you'd like a cut of this or that instead of having to come out to the farm to pick up your meat when I slaughter it. The red meat will be available frozen.

And, the 12 week share comes with eggs as I have them available and if you're membership coincides with emu laying, you can have an emu egg or two as well.

On the first of January, it'll be legal for me to dry herbs, and produce for sale, things like pickles, syrups and preserves in my unlicensed home kitchen. So sometime after the first of the year, I'm going to have pickles, and then later jams, jellies, and syrups available to the CSA members.

Also, when I have excess produce or when I go to someone else's farm and pick produce, you get that as an addition to your regular share. For instance, I went over today to my friend Carol Westergreen's Out In The Garden Nursery and picked around 100 lbs. of roma tomatoes as well as 19 egg plant. I'm going to freeze 30 lbs or so of the tomatoes for my own use, my neighbor want's 5 lbs, I'll reserve 10 lbs for the other two existing pay as you go members, and all the rest will go to the Molalla CSA members as an extra. So they'll be getting those tomatoes and most of the egg plant as an addition to their regular shares.

If the tomatoes don't go belly up with the rain we're supposed to be getting, I'll be picking more next weekend, and they'll get all of that too.

So the $240 gets you a lot of produce. I think it's a pretty good deal.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
pretty good deal? (4.00 / 1)
That's the same price our CSA was last year, this year's is a little higher. We only have produce, no eggs, meat, or ancillary benefits.

In my opinion, a share at that price is an unbeatable value. A half share actually is too much for me alone, and I give some to Jean.

[ Parent ]
Was your share $240 for only one quarter of a year? (4.00 / 2)
I think most CSAs run for 6 months.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
reality (4.00 / 1)
It was $480 for 24 weeks, nominally.
[ Parent ]
Ah, thanks (4.00 / 2)
That means that I do have a good pricing schedule.  

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Do you think that each weekly share would be too much (4.00 / 2)
for one person?

Also, I am understanding correctly that if I, for example, joined your CSA, I could customize my order based on what is on your weekly availability list? So, if I wanted lots of chard, but no mustard greens, I could get more chard and no mustard greens?

[ Parent ]
Yup (4.00 / 2)
The share, as far as produce goes, is as much as you can eat, of what I produce or can glean/harvest from other farms, in a week. If you like chard and not mustard, they you let me know how much chard you want and if I have it, that's what you'll get.

I have a seasonal production list I can send you if you like. It has the produce I'll be growing and you can look at it, see if it's what you like, and go from there. Also, if there is some produce you like and you don't see it on the list, you can let me know and I'll see if I can grow it for you during the time of your term and the time of year you're a member.

After I finalize the purchase of this property, I'll open the CSA program up to 6 month shares as well as annual shares so people can plan their shares further out. I'll do that with quarterly payments, so it'll still be $240 for 12 weeks, but they'll be able to request crops that are in the next season. Then if something happens and they decide not to continue their membership, I'll have those crops to make available for the other members.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
On the seasonality of production (4.00 / 3)
I run with the seasons, on the equinoxes and solstices. It's more convenient for me to keep track of things that way (I time my deworming program on the seasons too), and the seasons determine the length of day/average temps as well. I figure I'm growing plants, and working with animals, and they all run on a seasonal schedule, so that's what I should do managing them.

All of my work out here is based on the begining and ending of a season. That way I know what I can plant, what I can't and how the livestock are going to perform.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
You know, (4.00 / 3)
before I started living this way, I used to look at the seasons in a completely differnt way. It used to be that I saw spring as the birth of things and fall as the end of things. Now I see the different seasons as just different ways of living.

None of them are good or bad, they're just different and life goes on. Warm weather and longer days means faster growing and lots of watering. Cooler weather means mud and sweat shirts, but it also means less watering and the things that don't like hot, dry weather are way plentiful.

Fall is the time to get everyone ready for short days and cool weather, the first day of winter is a time for celebration because the days are getting longer starting tomorrow. The first day of spring is wonderful because things are warming up, but there's still the wet, so greens are tremendous, but the bugs aren't so bad. And summer is the time for fast seed starting and getting the long range spring plants (like peppers) started so that I can over winter them and have nice big plants come spring.

None of them are bad any more. They're all pretty cool in their own way.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Yes. (4.00 / 2)
Cooler weather means mud and sweat shirts, but it also means less watering and the things that don't like hot, dry weather are way plentiful.

Like me!

[ Parent ]
LOL Jay! nt (4.00 / 2)


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
my personal comment (4.00 / 2)
Last year was my first experience with a CSA and the first thing I learned was that I had a lot to learn about real food. I was used to having less of it and what I usually bought wasn't nearly as varied as our CSA shares. Result? What the heck do I do with all this stuff?

This year has been much better because I absolutely know what to do with eggplants with all of about 5 minutes prep, I cook a lot of greens instead of trying to use it all in salads, root vegetables keep well and I can work those in, etc. And does anyone have trouble figuring out what to do with tomatoes and peppers? In general, I've learned more about cooking.

It helps that I like pretty much everything. Still, my personal comment is that, for people with narrow backgrounds similar to mine, learning to take full advantage of a CSA share might take a couple of seasons. I thought last year was a good deal even so.

[ Parent ]
That's very true (4.00 / 2)
and it's especially true with my CSA because I grow and provide a lot of things that most people are probably not going to be familiar with.

For this new CSA model (for me), I put out a crop list for everything I'm planning on growing for a particular sesaon and in that list is included usage tips. For instance, what the heck do you do with radish pods or radish braising greens? What do you do with those big mustard greens?

I think that pretty much everyone knows what to do with radishes, corn, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers. But micro greens? What's that? And cress or arugula microgreens? How are they best used? How about leaf celery? I mean, most people know how to use the celery that you can get at the store, but leaf celery? What the heck is that? And how about ground cherries?

It helps that I eat everything I produce. That way I can give people tips on how to use things. Especially for produce that's harvested at different stages of growth. Mustards are a good example - micro greens are great for sandwiches or salads, baby greens (especially during the cool part of the year) are wonderful as an addition to lettuce, endive or chicory in salads, but don't cook with them as they'll cook down to nothing. Now, when the mustard greens get big, then they're great cooked, and the cooking takes a lot of heat out of them. However, if you like sandwiches, the large mustard greens can be a great substitute for lettuce. They bring crunch to the table as well as some heat and that sweet/hot mustard flavor.  

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
seeds up (4.00 / 1)
I remember something you wrote a while ago about 18 hours from seed-in-soil to seedling! Magic.

With all your different outlets now, did you plant Thai chilis this year? I think you did, but I forget.

[ Parent ]
Yup, that's right for things like cress, radish, and the mustards (4.00 / 3)
in warm weather. One of the things I'm going to build in one of the big greenhouses is a germination cabinet that will hold 50-100 trays so that I get that rapid germination in the cold weather months. I'll probably only use it a few months in the year, but it'll more than pay for itself the first year I use it. It'll also keep the damn mice out of the trays. They're only interested in the seeds, once the seedlings are up, they loose interest. And with the volume of seed starting I'm going to have to do over the winter and spring, it's definately a must have.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
germination cabinet (4.00 / 2)
Egad, what will they think of next? Great idea, Joanne, shows the innovation and initiative that makes you successful.

By the way: I had difficulty thinking how to spell "successful" just now, and resorted to the 'puter's dictionary. Question: is there any other English word in which the first letter of a repeated consonant has one sound and the second letter has a completely different sound?  Very odd, although it never struck me before.

[ Parent ]
Don't ask me (4.00 / 2)
I've always had trouble with spelling in english. You should have seen me in french class. It's a beautiful language, I could learn to speak it, and I could even read french. But writing? No way in hell!

Now Russian, on the other hand, has pretty much all phonetic spelling and there are special symbols for sounds like sh, shch, long e, soft e and one they call E Kratkoye which is a long e with a kind of a ou on the end of the sound. Russian spelling I was born for.

On the germination cabinet, I've wanted one for the past 3 years for winter and early spring seed starting. They're simple enough to make. It's just a heated box with shelves. I use standardized plug trays for seed starting, so I can set up a cabinet that wouldn't take up too much room. Right now I stack trays to germinate them. That's essentially what my greenhouse (the Cube) is right now. A great big germination cabinet. I can start about 150 trays at a time on one of the benches. I usually stack them 6 - 8 high and my benches are 3' wide.

The two things I want in a germination cabinet are constant heat/humidity and the ability to keep the damned mice out. I lost $1,4000 worth of potential seedlings last spring to mice in one night. They came in and dug each seed up, opened it, ate the contents and left the seed hulls opened on the soil next to the hole. They looked like little books, laying open there in tidy little rows.

It would have been bad enough for the mice to have eaten the seed, but the little hulls? That there is a declaration of war as far as I'm concerned. I nuked the whole population of the little bastards with poison. Only time I ever used poison out here this year.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
toothpicks (4.00 / 1)
Do you provide toothpicks for your dinner guests?
[ Parent ]
LOL nt (4.00 / 2)


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Bravo (4.00 / 2)
I know what it like to build something from scratch, it's more work than anyone can image. It's really a 24/7 lifestyle.

But the rewards are well worth it.  I've worked for wages and made $ as a broker; but for me nothing is more rewarding than bringing in a crop.

Best of luck in the future.

[ Parent ]
What everyone else said! (4.00 / 1)
!
[ Parent ]
Thanks Jay! nt (4.00 / 2)


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Amazed! (4.00 / 2)
Joanne - I'm truly amazed by your effort and your energy. I'm exhausted just by reading all that you do. I totally admire your work.  
[ Parent ]
Thanks everyone ! nt (4.00 / 2)


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
congratulations! (4.00 / 2)

yep congrats (4.00 / 2)
:)
For the win (4.00 / 2)
Joanne Rigutto, Nice, very nice.
You are a model for the rest of us.
Keep going and keep growing.

Peace, Bob

Prognostication fail. (4.00 / 1)
With baseball's regular season in its last week, my preseason picks... didn't work out too well.

To put it kindly.

:)

My NL pick, San Francisco will just miss the playoffs.  Wasn't a bad pick, by any means, but still a loss.  Injuries hit them big this year.

My AL pick, and predicted World Series champ, ummm...

Ended up being the worst team in the AL, will almost certainly lose 100 games this year, and is the second worst team in all of baseball.  Yeah, Minnesota.  Currently 60-96.  Ouch.

Better luck next year, Jay.

:/

I did pick my Mets (74-82 right now) to finish 82-80, though, and if they win their last 6 games I'll only have been off by 2 games!

The good news, however, is... (4.00 / 1)
...that with my consistent, flawless and quite frankly, rather impressive record of picking losers, I probably qualify for a job on Wall Street making millions a year!

Whoo!

:-D

[ Parent ]
baseball (4.00 / 1)
Recently I checked to see if the Orioles were anywhere near 0.500, their usual horizon. Nope. Not quite as bad as Minnesota, but almost. They must be scouting new horizons.
[ Parent ]
Chicago & DC food? (4.00 / 1)
Request, my friends!

I'm taking Amtrak out to NJ and back again in November, I will have two layovers - one in Chicago, for about 4 hours on the way out and 6 hours on the way back; and DC for a couple hours each time.

May not be able to go far from Union Station while in DC (train station food, yuck.  I recall the food there was basically half a step above a mall food court?), but I'll definitely be going somewhere to eat while in Chicago both times.  

On the way to NJ, I will need to recover from two days of Amtrak food with a good late lunch / early dinner in Chicago; and on the way back home to Portland, I'll need to have something good to steel myself for the upcoming two-day train ride after that.

So!  Is anyone familiar with food options in the immediate vicinity of DC Union Station (a good burger / sandwich place, preferably... something quick) and Chicago Union Station (I'll have more time there, so anything good and affordable works for me, even if I have to take CTA to a different part of the city - I am a certified expert in figuring out any given city's transit system in under 3 minutes with just a map and a schedule).

Last time I did this, on my move to Portland, I got into Chicago on a Sunday morning and nothing was open.  Plus, it was the first time I'd ever been in Chicago (and this will only be my second and third).  So I wandered around and ended up eating nothing because I didn't plan it out.  And then I was back on the train.  Cafe Car "pizza," do not want.  Ever again.  Argh.

Anyway, thanks in advance!  I'm going to check Chowhound and Portland Food, too, and maybe if nobody here has anything I can report back on what I find from them later...

Ha! (4.00 / 1)
Good find.  I don't believe this place was around yet, the last time I was in Chicago -

Chicago French Market

4 blocks north of Union Station.  Yeah, I can spend some time there and pick up one of my meals.  :)

[ Parent ]
French Market (4.00 / 1)
Yes, as long as you're not there on Sunday! Hit up the chocolate shop.
[ Parent ]
Yeah... (4.00 / 1)
Not making that mistake this time!  I'll be in Chicago on a Wednesday afternoon on the way out, and a Tuesday morning / afternoon on the way back home.  Shouldn't be too hard to find anything then.

Will probably do the French Market on the way out.

On the way back, with the longer layover, I'm thinking of taking transit out to the neighborhoods and hitting some place like Smak Tak, maybe?  Or an Indian place.  Khan's BBQ, or something close to that, was one suggestion I picked up from one of the Chicago food boards.  Bookmarked it somewhere, can't seem to find it at the moment, though...

Was thinking Manny's at first, but nah.  Meeting some friends up at Katz's in the city while I'm back east, and plus with Kenny & Zuke's right here at home I have more than enough Deli, thankyouverymuch!

;-P

[ Parent ]
D.C. (4.00 / 1)
For burgers, the nearest Five Guys shop must be at least a mile away, in Chinatown. Not right next door, but you could do it in two hours.

At Union Station, you might give Potbelly a look before you head out. I remember some good food on the street level and the mezzanine, but mostly sit-down and somewhat pricey.

Directory

Rail scheduling being as unreliable as it is, Pete's Diner might not be an option because it closes at 3 p.m. If that's in one of your time windows, I mention this place because it's across the street from the Library of Congress, which is my favorite building to which most people don't give attention. It would be great if you could find a way to admire it for an hour or so.

[ Parent ]
Thanks! (4.00 / 1)
There used to be a brewery right next door to Union Station, I hear, but it just shut down a few months ago.  Fooey.  Cap City?  There's also a place called Toscana's (sp?) that I heard about on the DC Chowhound board, an Italian place said to make good sandwiches.

I will be armed with food information this time!

;)

[ Parent ]
Poor Beavers, I almost feel bad for them! (4.00 / 1)
Lost to UCLA today, 27-19.  They're now 0-3, and I just don't see another likely win on their schedule.

At Arizona State next week is a definite loss.  Home for Arizona is a toss-up, at best.  Home for BYU may be their last chance for a win, but again I'd say that one's another toss-up.

Then it's at Washington State (probable loss), at Utah (definite loss), home for Stanford (blowout loss), at Cal (likely loss), home for Washington (definite loss) and at Oregon (will be the worst Civil War beating ever, maybe something along the lines of 63-3).

Ouch.  Even at best, they look to go no better than 2-10 or 3-9...

Another milestone, and apple stuff (4.00 / 2)
My daughter-in-law called this morning, very excited. The baby is officially a toddler. For at least a month, we've speculated she probably could walk if she wanted to. This morning she wanted to.

My son called later, asking the name of an apple orchard we visited when he was a kid. He's been complaining for four or five years about the near-impossibility of getting good apples, even at farmers markets, and he decided to try going to the source. U-pick season at this farm is finished for the year, but I hope he finds fresh apples at the farm store.

A recent article claims

And as for apples? Believe it or not, my research found that while it may look fresh, the average apple you see in the supermarket is actually 14 months old.

No wonder they're crap, even though they do look pretty.

Supermarket next to English orchards sells apples from China

Apples imported from China are being sold at a  supermarket less than a mile from the orchards of Kent. The move by Morrisons at a store in the Garden of England has angered shoppers and disappointed growers, who say it flies in the face of demand for local food.
...

The Fuji apples were yesterday being promoted via a large display at the front of the store at a price of £1.27 per pound. By contrast, small bags of Kent apples at £1 each had been relegated to the rear.

Maybe the Kent growers don't do Fuji? I dunno.

Once you get walking... (4.00 / 1)
...life gets interesting.

Heh.

[ Parent ]
what a milestone... (4.00 / 3)
In my garage I have a videotape of Dani my daughter around 13 months old. She had JUST learned to walk. We were visiting a relatives farm and their kitchen had shelves with cans right next to the table. She spent an hour taking the cans off the shelves and putting them on the table. Then off the table and back on the shelf.

[ Parent ]
That's funny (4.00 / 2)
Harold had a basset hound that used to do something similar to Harold's orchids. He had 200 pots of cymbidiums lined up against the house. He'd come home from work and they'd all be moved across the driveway. So he'd put them all back. This happened several times and he thought his son Scott was doing it until he found one that had been spilled and had teeth marks on it.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Sweet potatoes! (4.00 / 3)
I found a way to like them!

:-D

Had an African sweet potato soup, which I wish I could recreate here at home but I forgot to note the ingredients.  Argh.  Well, I know there were some peas and ginger, definitely some cumin, and I think some tomatoes, peppers and carrots?  It was mostly sweet, with just a tiny bit of spice hitting on the (very) back end.  Not sure about peanuts, but all the recipes I've looked up online tend to contain peanuts, and I know a lot of African soups do have peanut.

Anyway.  I can eat sweet potatoes now, whoo!

Now if only I could figure something out with parsnips, now officially the only vegetable I can't stand.  Tried soup with that already, does not work.  I may just have to accept that parsnips and I will never get along.  Which stinks, because they'd really brighten up my winter meals if I could just figure out a way to work with them...

I love sweet potatoes! (4.00 / 2)
Baked, fried, mashed, steamed. My favorite way is one my mom used to do - peel the tuber then cut up like you would for french fries. Put them in a large bowl and drizzle olive oil over them (just enough to coat) and toss to coat evenly. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and bake at 350°, stirring a couple of times.

When they're tender, bring out and sprinkle with a little parmesan cheese.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Winter Squash (4.00 / 2)
Would that work with winter squash - like butternuts or acorns - as well?
[ Parent ]
probably better with butternut (4.00 / 2)
Acorn squash are so hard to peel.
[ Parent ]
It might (4.00 / 2)
but the squash needs to be pretty firm of flesh. That's why sweet potatoes work. Even the red ones like Beau Regard and Ruby.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
the only way I like parsnips (4.00 / 3)
is sliced, blanched for just a minute, then tossed in olive oil and roasted in the oven with some salt and pepper. You can skip the blanching, but I think it works better with the blanching. I cannot STAND the taste of parsnips steamed or boiled, but roasted tossed in a little olive oil, they taste very different--nice as a side dish. A parsnip soup would never work for me.

Sweet potatoes are easy for me to love. The only root vegetable I struggle with is rutabaga. Ideas?

[ Parent ]
for Thanksgiving (4.00 / 2)
I make a root veggie mash using rutabaga,yukon golds and celeriac if I can get it. I peel cook and puree than add spices and olive oil or butter.
[ Parent ]
Thanks, I'll try that. (4.00 / 1)
I've roasted them before, but I've never tried the blanching step first.  Worth a shot!  Maybe I can also try to add some unusual spices from my new best friend, the spice shop across the street.

:)

Wow, look what I just came across -

Rutabaga & Apple Curry

I'm gonna have to try that, myself!  Maybe with parsnips, too.  Hmm...

[ Parent ]
curry powder (4.00 / 1)
Following that recipe exactly, it uses 1 Tbsp curry powder, a lot, so the curry powder will have a big effect and "curry powder" is 100% non-standard. Ferdzy must be a very nice person, because the curry powder is specified:

*I used Yeo's Malaysian curry powder for this, which is light and aromatic but packs a fair kick.

I haven't seen Malaysian curry powder and I haven't seen Yeo's brand. If Maya brand garam masala is used, 1 Tbsp might produce a peppery dish even if the peppercorns are omitted.

[ Parent ]
I will of course... (4.00 / 1)
...tinker with it some, making my own mix based upon some internet research and whatever they have on hand (which is pretty much everything, heh) across the street.

:)

[ Parent ]
Yeo's (4.00 / 1)
Malaysian Curry Powder, Yeo's, 1.76 oz

Ingredients: coriander seed, chilli, fennel, cumin, turmeric, white pepper, aniseed, cinnamon and clove.



[ Parent ]
parsnips great in soup/stock (4.00 / 1)
When I make chicken soup or my chickenless soup for Passover I always use parsnips.
[ Parent ]
Unfortunately... (4.00 / 1)
It just doesn't work for me in soups.  I've tried many times.

Argh.

Gonna try it in that curry I just posted for desmoinesdem above, though.  That might be the one!

[ Parent ]
Wemt to the Flock and Fiber Festival at the fairgrounds in Canby today (4.00 / 2)
I braved the rain for a sandwich of Sudan Farm's wonderful grilled lamb and bought a wedge of sheep milk cheese from Black Sheep Creamery.

Talked to a couple of people about getting lambs from them to raise next year and talked to another lady who had emus and would like eggs hatched this winter. If the deal goes through, I'll set eggs for her and incubate for half the hatch. So in addition to eggs from my own birds, I'll have new stock from outside blood.

All in all, a very productive day.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

New Zealand milk price (4.00 / 1)
New Zealand is another country, like Bolivia, in which dairy is a monopoly industry. Fonterra is the monopoly company, and it alone sets prices paid to farmers.

Revealed: Fonterra's secret formula

ROELAND VAN DEN BERGH
09/23/2011

As Fonterra controls 90 per cent of NZ's raw milk, the price it pays its farmers becomes the default price for all milk.

The 78-page manual outlines that the farm-gate price is set by calculating what Fonterra would earn if all its milk was made into milk powder and its by-products, less costs, as well as factoring in depreciation and an "appropriate return on investment".

I assume, although I don't know, that the cost of converting a gallon of milk to "milk powder and its by-products" is higher than the cost of preparing a gallon of liquid milk for sale, either as pasteurized or ultra pasteurized. (The cost of making cheese is probably the highest cost, I couldn't guess about yogurt and ice cream. Butter also needs to be factored in somehow.) I also assume that the price of whole milk (and ice cream, yogurt, butter, and cheese) received by Fonterra is higher than revenue from an equivalent amount of powder and by-products. If either or both of these assumptions is true, New Zealand dairy farmers receive a low-ball price from Fonterra.

I wonder how the Bolivian-Brazilian dairy monopoly company determines prices paid to farmers.

Tomorrow in New York (4.00 / 3)

A different sort of heirloom going up for auction.

Sotheby's is foraying into treasures of the edible kind: the famed auction house will be selling $1,000 crates of purple cauliflowers, black cherry tomatoes and other produce gems Tuesday night. Greg Cergol reports.

And it's all local!
 

EVOO (4.00 / 1)
Tonight I tasted an infusion I made with the stems of basil and thyme after I had removed the leaves - trying not to waste that flavor, you know. I commented about a distinct and, to me, startling stinging or peppery sensation in my throat, not on my tongue. My son said, "Oh, that's just the olive oil." He's right, by golly. At least it's true for the extra virgin I have (Berio). I've never tasted it by itself. I guess it wouldn't be noticed in a vinaigrette and I've never noticed it in cooked dishes, but then I didn't know to look for it.

As long as I was tasting naked oils, I checked others. I don't detect even a hint of this in canola or peanut oil.

So, should evoo be used for infusions, or canola or peanut? Probably doesn't matter unless you want to avoid a peppery aftertaste.

who knew? (4.00 / 1)
Am I the only person who didn't know this?
[ Parent ]
I didn't know it (4.00 / 2)
I've never noticed any kind of peppery action going on, but then, I've never drank EVOO by itself either. Closest I've come to that is dipping bread in it.

I use a lot of EVOO. It's the reason why I got a Costco card. I buy EVOO 4 litres at a time and I'll use 8-12 litres/year depending on how much dressed produce I eat (I only dress greens and such with vinegarette), and what I'm cooking. My first purchase of EVOO at costco saved me enough to pay the membership fee. And the Krikland brand is actually a pretty good oil.

You want to be very careful about infusing oils. I was always told not to infuse oils, but to work with vinegar to protect from botulism. When I was a kid my mom did lots of that and she went to using vinegar. She was using a lot of garlic, thyme, rosemary, etc. I don't know if she did any basil. Perhaps we were so cautious about botulism because of the garlic.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Kirkland brand ROCKS (4.00 / 2)
my friend the cook book author turned me onto it. Its only available this time of year I think?

Far as infusions I make flavored vinegars this time of year
with whatever herbs I have left.

[ Parent ]
I can get Kirkland brand EVOO year round in Portland. (3.67 / 3)
The oil has to be pressed when the olives are ready, but once pressed the oil keeps for a long time.

I love flavored vinegars. Last year and the year before I made vinegar backsweetened with honey, berry syrups, plum syrups. It's a great substitute for seasoned rice vinegar. I use either brown cider vinegar or white cider vinegar.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Wash your melons in Listerine (4.00 / 2)
Death count from those listeria melons rises to 16. How in the world can listeria be carried by melons?
I've been asking that question too (4.00 / 2)
I wonder if the bacteria is on the outside of the melons and the flesh is cross contaminated when they're cut?

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
I read (4.00 / 1)
that listeria of the same strain was found on equipment and melons (outsides of melons) in the packing facility. Cross contamination of the inside flesh seems reasonable absent any other information, but not much information has been released so far.
[ Parent ]
That sounds likely. (4.00 / 2)
If you go to ProMed Mail and search the archives it'll bring up the 4 postings over there on the outbreak. My search terms were - Keyword: Cantaloupe, Month/year: September 2011

Listeria can multiply under refrigeration and the shelf life of canteloupe in refrigeration is 2 weeks. So you could have a considerable bacterial load on the skin in just a few days. If you stored that cantaloupe in your fridge, now your fridge is cross contaminated assuming you put the melon in the fridge as a whole melon with the rind on. If you bought the melon from the store, the melon probably would have already been in storage for several days to a week or so. That's a lot of bacteria.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Raw Ruminant Poo (4.00 / 2)
That's what cause a Canadian outbreak on cabbage, according to Wikipedia.

Perhaps they practice widespread (they have a huge farm) 'compost tea' fertilization in their irrigation and their compost wasn't composted.

[ Parent ]
That could have been. I use livestock manure for fertilizer (4.00 / 2)
and I'd like to get a steam pasturizer for soils, that way I could pasturize the manure before I use it.

The more I read about contamination issues like these the more nervous I get about raising food crops. I can sure understand why some nurseries only grow non edible ornamentals.

I can also understand why a lot of farms don't integrate livestock production with row crops.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
cantaloupes (4.00 / 1)
Cantaloupe illnesses and deaths expected to rise

MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press
2 hrs 33 mins ago

Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. says it shipped cantaloupes to 25 states, though the FDA has said it may be more, and illnesses have been discovered in several states that were not on the shipping list. A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it went.


[ Parent ]
That's the thing (4.00 / 2)
when distributors get involved, if they're national or regional distributors, products can go all over the place.

As a small farm working on getting my production up to the point where it will consistently support sales big enough to pay the bills consistently (not just for the next 3 months as it is right now), I'm seeing why farms produce and sell through distributors. God knows that if it hadn't been for my distributor I'd have been looking for a job that paid wages and gone to farming part time like almost everyone else does.

I was litterally down to my last few hundred dollars. Between the distributor and a large contract I got this month, I'm OK for the moment.

Selling into that distribution network can give you a market big enough to keep your business going. But it also means that if you produce something that's contaminated, it also means that you'll make people all over the place sick and/or dead.

The thing that gets me is that there used to not be outbreaks like these. Or at least I never heard about them. Now we hear of a new one on such a regular basis, for me at least, it's not even startling anymore. It's more a matter of betting on when the next one's going to hit, not if there'll be a next one.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
next one (4.00 / 1)
Tyson Fresh Meats is currently in the middle of a recall of 131,000 pounds of ground beef distributed to several states including Maryland. E. coli. People sick in various states.
[ Parent ]
Yup, I saw a notice of that either on Meatingplace or ProMed (4.00 / 2)
today or yesterday.

The astounding thing, to me at least, is that FSIS says that the ammount of contamination is lower now than it was 30 years ago.

If that's actually the case, were that many more people getting sick and we just weren't hearing about it, or are more people succeptable to the bacteria now, and as a result, more people are getting ill, and have more severe illness becuase of the condition of their immune systems?

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Richard Raymond over at Meatingplace (4.00 / 2)
just answered my question -

We don't know how many illnesses were prevented by Mike Taylor declaring O157 to be an adulterant, but we do know the number of illnesses now is half of what they were ten years ago.

I'm so glad he's blogging over there. I've learned more about the meat industry, and especially FSIS and the testing, etc. from Richard than anyone else.

For people who don't know who Richard is, he was the undersecretary for food safety under George W. Bush. In other words, Richard was the head of FSIS.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
Raymond (4.00 / 1)
Hmm, I just tried to become a member at Meatingplace, and they don't like random people walking in off the street.

Does Raymond say how "we do know" the number of illnesses is down? And does CDC agree with him? I know CDC decreased its estimate of food-born illnesses, but that estimate is an extrapolation from extremely limited data. CDC changed the formula by which it calculates the statistical extrapolation, but that doesn't mean the actual number of cases is half of what it was 10 years ago. What does Raymond say about this?

[ Parent ]
You shouldn't have a problem joining Meatingplace (4.00 / 1)
perhaps your membership will need approval. If they let me in, they should let you in. I think that what you need to do is to subscribe to the newsletter. The website is actually the web presence for the magazine.

Anyway, the stats that Richard uses are the CDC's own stats. In the thread he and others are talking about how CDC uses multipliers to estimate the actual disease rate from the number of cases that make it to a doctor.

I think the figures Richard gave in the quote account for CDC dropping noro virus from the food borne illness stats. There's been a lot of talk about CDC and how it does it's stats/estimates. There has also been a lot of talk about FSIS, how it's run both regionally and nationally, testing, etc.

I've learned enough about FSIS to really appreciate the red meat inspector we have in my area as well as the poultry inspector.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.

[ Parent ]
English adoptions (4.00 / 1)
Just 60 babies a year adopted in England

Richard Hall
29 September 2011

Only 60 babies were adopted in England last year - startling evidence of how Britain's system for adopting children is grinding to a halt despite record numbers being taken into care.
...

The number of adoptions of babies under the age of one has fallen from 150 in 2007 - and around 4,000 in 1976.
...

Part of this can be attributed to fewer babies being put up for adoption, due to higher numbers of terminated pregnancies, but there is despair at the mass of bureaucracy, despite government promises of reform.

Please do not count on me to explain the discrepancy between "record numbers being taken into care" and "fewer babies being put up for adoption".

I always said that abortion was cheaper than birth nt (4.00 / 1)


Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Haiti cholera (4.00 / 1)
Cholera's Rampage in Haiti

Sep 25 2011

The cholera epidemic in Haiti, which began 11 months ago and quickly became the worst such outbreak in modern history, has exacted a jaw-dropping human toll. So far it is reported to have killed nearly 6,500 people and sickened almost a half-million - 5 per cent of the country's population. And public-health experts believe those official figures badly undercount the number of victims.

Here's another number to consider: $20 million US. That's about what it would cost to vaccinate every person in Haiti against the disease.

To date, almost no one in Haiti has received the vaccine.

From ProMED-mail

7 Sep 2011
Source: New York Times Editorial [edited]

Cholera is preventable and easily treated, but containment has been stymied by the chronic deficiency, or utter absence, of clean water and sanitation systems in Haiti, particularly in the countryside, where cholera hit 1st and hardest. The cholera mortality rate in Haiti's vulnerable Southeast region was 5.3 percent in July 2011. Access to proper treatment could keep that rate below one percent.
...

Haiti's new president, Michel Martelly, a political novice, has been unable to form a government. Donations have lagged, construction plans are stuck on drawing boards and hundreds of thousands are in displaced-persons camps, hot spots of disease and suffering.
...

A UN report in August [2011] warned that money and manpower are running short. Staff members assigned to cholera treatment centers was decreasing, it said, as "humanitarian partners are gradually reducing their operations." In many areas, nongovernmental health organizations are handing treatment facilities over to the Health Ministry, which lacks capacity to support them. The ministry, like practically every government agency, was flattened in the quake and has barely benefited from the flow of aid.

Communicated by:
ProMED-mail

The outbreak of cholera on the island of Hispaniola has continued
although not at the same rate as initially. What is decreasing even
more so is the attention paid to the outbreak. Haiti, in particular,
had at best a poorly effective sanitation system before the earthquake
in 2010 destroyed whatever there was. No doubt, cholera will
persists there for a prolonged time with exacerbation during the rainy
season. - Mod.LL

LVL comment thread from October 2010

Wow (4.00 / 2)
What a total clusterf...well you get the rest.

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Rosh Hashanah in Da House Tonight (4.00 / 3)
Rosh Hashanah in Da House Tonight

Rosh Hashanah began this evening and to my Jewish friends, may I wish you a safe and prosperous New Year.

Today many of my New York friends walked to the Hudson and East Rivers to break up and throw pieces of Challah Bread into the water. On the day that translates to "head of the year," this was the Jewish sunset of repentance.  The ritual known as tashlikh is symbolic of casting one's sins upon the water. The bread going into the river feeds the fish that live below the surface, the only creatures that were so pure that they survived the Deluge.

"Shana Tova" or "a good new year" to all.

Many will use the following ten days, those ten days before Yom Kippur, to apologize to those they have wronged and in the hope of finding forgiveness.

You  don't actually need to be Jewish to use these ten days of penitence, or aseret yamei teshuva in the same fashion.

But if you are Jewish, those actions will assure that when Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement comes, you will not be left out of the Book of Life, where the names of those destined for Heaven are written.  

I think soapblox needs to make a 'like' button (4.00 / 2)
'cause I like that video!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
Soapblox has a 'like' button. (4.00 / 2)
You just never use it.

Try "4 Excellent."  

[ Parent ]
Ha! (4.00 / 2)
thanks for that. I always wondered what the drop down menu was for!

Normal people scare me.... But not as much as I scare them.
[ Parent ]
American Express (4.00 / 2)
Alex Rodriguez                    $32,000,000
CC Sabathia                    $24,285,714
Mark Teixeira                    $23,125,000
Taking out Boston with a loss       Pricless.  
Pot Luck | 93 comments
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