Summer Food

Summer on the farm is one of my favorite times. 

Not only is it hot as "balls" here, which I LOVE.

But it is also filled to the BRIM with fresh produce. 

YUM. 

This week is one of my "weeks off" where there are no campers asking me questions about the kinds of cows we have, or tugging on my sleeve asking me to go check out the goats with them. 

Unfortunately... living away from the farm for a while has given me limited knowledge about the names of the cows and the sex of the goats. 

Last week I told one of the campers that we had a cow named blossom, when really, that certain cow has been dead for over 7 years. 

Last week I also told a few campers that the goat Buckwheat that we fed every morning is a male. 

Good thing those campers weren't here THIS week to see Buckwheat the "male" give birth to TWO beautiful babies. 

Oops. 

Anyway, this week I have been making lunch. A lot of lunch. 

Every day the interns, farm owners and farm kids sit down to lunch together. Usually, each intern has a day that they cook for the crew. (about 15 people usually.) well, because I didn't feel like making tomato boxes for 7 days straight I made myself  a chef at every meal prepared this week. 

The sad bit is that I can't find my camera at the moment so I didn't get to capture any pictures of the incredible meals that I made this week, but I will explain a few of them for your drooling pleasure.

Monday:

Fried Green Tomatoes

Corn Chowder

Cheesy Bread

Lemon cucumber salad

Peach and Strawberry cobbler

Wednesday: 

Homemade tacos

Gazpacho

Watermelon fresca

Full belly farm beans

Rice

Peach salsa

Ice cream with frozen fruit toppings

Thursday:

Corn fritters

cucumber salad

Jalapeno poppers 

Peach salsa

watermelon, melon salad with mint

chicken salad

grape juice

... 

You get the point. 

Everything was the best I've every had. 

I love cooking with fresh produce that I don't have to pay for but sometimes have to pick.

I couldn't ask for a better place to be in the summer.

Because this post is missing some pictures I'll add some in... 

pictures of my farm. 

Some that you may have already seen, but I don't care. 

Things I'm Going to Miss.

Let me say first and foremost that I am DAMN excited to adventure into the land of the unknown in less than 48 hours. 

Damn excited, I say.

Now that I got that out in the open, comes the REAL reason that I wrote this blog post:

My sister asked me the other day (after I had been home for a whopping six hours) if I had to choose between leaving the Capay Valley forever or having to stay in the Capay Valley forever, what I would pick.

 If you had asked me two years ago I would answered honestly in a heart beat, 

'get me as far away from this place as possible. I don't want to ever come back.' 

Harsh. Yes. I know. 

But when you live close to something for so long you start to despise everything about it. 

Especially when that place has annoying siblings, high school memories and chickens. 

Yet, the other day when my sister asked me that question I actually said that I would stay. 

STAY, I SAY!! 

Crazy. I know. 

But the truth is,

I love the people here.

 I love the community and the way that everyone knows everyone. 

I love that we all share a connection and passion for food and learning. 

And yes, I understand that staying here forever would mean missing out on a lot of adventures, but if I can't be surrounded by the people that I love I don't want to experience any of it. 

I love sharing my life with the folk of Full Belly Farm and the Capay Valley... and even Eugene Oregon.

 I can't picture my life with out those people and as I travel to distant places and experience new things that becomes much more clear. 

So, in memory of those times, friends and family members that I am going to miss a whole heck'of'a'lot when I am away I give you this:

 A list (in no particular order) of some fun times that I am going to cherish no matter when in the world I am.

The Roommate. Pretzel Price.

I hate to say this, but I actually think I will miss studying for classes. Yeah. Wow.

Good friends and great study parties.

Sunshine in Eugene.

Well, the Urban Farm o'course.

Walking to classes.

The kind of beautiful place I call home.

These folks. They're pretty swell.

Best friends.

Drinking wine with the family. (Ignore the wine teeth.)

Sunshine with the siblings in Lake Tahoe.

My sister....

The sillyness and giggles.

The romance.

Do you think that they have Frozen Yogurt in New Zealand?

Half-drunk and fully silly photo sessions with the Roommate.

Well, it's been fun ya'll and I know I'll be back soon... maybe then I actually WILL stay in one place forever. 

As of now... Ta'ta and see you on the other side.

xoxox

Farmer Girl.

Things I've Learned from Having Farm Animals.

When you have 300 acres as your back yard you learn a lot of things. 

When you have four siblings you learn a good amount...

But, 

When you have 250 sheep you learn even more. 

The title of this blog sums up what I want to talk about today and that, my dear readers, is the life experiences and well-learned lessons that I have received by simply having animals prevalent in my (already crazy) childhood. 

When I tell people that I live on a farm, I usually get one of two questions first:

1. "What do you grow on your farm?"

2. "So, do you guys have animals too?"

The first question is actually not as simple as it seems, seeing as how the majority of people that go to college here don't even know what a rutabaga is, nor care to... and saying that 'we are a diversified farm that grows over 80 different varieties of fruits and vegetables' usually just gets greeted with more questions or blank stares. So, I usually just end up saying. 'Well, we grow a lot of things, watermelons and tomatoes and corn and such.' 

Yeah. I know. Not the best answer in the world but it's really all the same to the questioners. 

The second question is actually a funny one. 

Mostly, I have come to the conclusion that students believe that by living on a farm means that you have three types of animals. Cows, chickens and horses. 

But, for some odd reason, people always ask me about the horses first. Which, leads me to have to say: "No, our only horse died a while ago." (Yeah, I know, not the best icebreaker in the world.) They feel bad, I feel... Well, not bad because I hate horses anyway. Yeah. I know. Its a strange thing to hate. But, they are big, mean and I am pretty sure could kill me in a second. I'll stick with docile cows, thanks.

 

Anyway...

What I love to do is list off numbers. That way, the questioners know that our farm isn't just some "hobby" farm that dicks around. We don't dick around. Ever. 

I start by listing off the number of animals that we have.

(Now, I'll admit, I don' know the exact number right now because I haven't been home in a while.. but it's something like...)

5 Dogs.  

4 Pigs

8 cows.

15 goats.

200 Sheeps.

1000 Chickens...

You get the point. By the time that I state the number of sheep their eyes get wide and start exclaiming and swearing. Yeah. I told you fools. We don't dick around. 

Living on a farm you grow accustomed to different set of chores. Instead of (or besides) cleaning the windows, you take compost to the chickens. 

Which, by the way is one of the most horrible jobs in the world. 

It actually has been deemed that title by the institute of farmers children. 

I mean, besides the heavy and stinky compost bucket that you must carry across the yard. 

There's the total ick factor of compost back-splash as you turn the bucket over to the hungry mungry chickens.

 Yeah. It's sick.

 I am going to do this in the only way I know how to write these days....

Lists.

 I write so many lists it's really unnecessary.

 I make sub-lists of my to-do lists. I make to do lists of my to do lists. But, my unorganized brain somehow basks in the neatness of lists, so here's another one for ya'. 

Things That I've Learned from Having Farm Animals.
I grew up around crowing roosters, snorting pigs, bully billy goats and the smallest brained sheep you will ever meet. They have taught me many things. 

1. Goats are out to get you. Always. 

Okay, the truth is, I only say this because I have been head butted by a goat and it is one of the LEAST fun things in the world. My friends would actually tell you differently, one of my best friends actually had two goats that she would put on leashes and take for runs... That is, until they got too big for her and started dragging her behind them. True Story. The time I got head-butted is not as fun of a story to tell, I was moving the goats to a new pasture, they hated me for that. I bent down to pick something up off the ground and a billy goat ran full sprint at the back of my head and knocked me out cold. I hate billy goats. They are mean and grumpy and smelly and foul. Baby goats are the only ones that I can handle. 

2. When collecting eggs. Always wear protection. 

I mean gloves of course. But for real. Bring a stick, or an extra egg carton or an unsuspecting camper that will willingly stick their small hands into a nesting box for the whole "farming experience"... Really anything that will lesson the pecks given out by moody mother hens. 

3. Baby pigs are cute. But then they get ugly and fat and mean...

The good news is that eating them is an option. So I'm not too worried about it. I love pigs. They are delicious. :) 

4. It's the circle of life yo. 

Some people get freaked out about the fact that I have witnessed the slaughtering of hundreds of animals. And yes, when I walk outside and see a mountain of sheep heads and guts it can be a little overwhelming and unexpected. Not to mention when I go into a cooler looking for food and get shocked to DEATH when I see a hanging pig corpse. But, I have grown up with it. I know that the animals on my farm have had a pretty amazing life. I know that we use almost all of the parts of the animals that we kill and that those animals will serve as our delightful dinner. I have lived and grown up around deaths, loss, babies and poop and I know it all connects. It's the circle of life and if you have a problem with it, you shouldn't be eating nameless meat. Sassyness. I know. 

5. Animals are a HUGE responsibility. 

I guess that I learned this the most with cows. My mom has milked a cow non-stop every day, twice a day for the last 25? years of her life. There are no days off, there are no... "It's too cold" or "I don't feel like it right now." The animals are expecting you to care for them. To protect them. To love them. This is why the only pet I plan on having for the next couple years is a fish. 

6. Naming animals is fun. 

We have named many a bummer sheep. Once, we named one Carmen Electra, because she was born on an electric fence. (She walked backwards for the majority of her life) We named another one Fish because it was born in a water bucket. We named another one Aurora Frankenstein. She died.

 

7. Cows have one udder and four teats. 

You would be surprised how many people don't know that. 

 For those people: 

Did you also know that milk comes out warm?

And frothy? 

And delicious?

And that milk you get from the store?

Well, to be honest, it has no flavor.

8. Animals always give birth on the coldest, rainiest, moon-shiniest nights.  

Yeah, I guess that it has to with their birthing cycle and all that... but really? I think they like to mess with the farmers sleeping pattern. 

9. Wild pigs are smarter than they let on. 

Did you know that they will not eat, or go near eggplants or tomatoes because they are in the nightshade family (The botanical name of which is Solanaceae. BAM just dropped some knowledge on your brains)?? They just KNOW! It's crazy the kind of instincts that animals are born with.

And 

10. Dogs will always be the favorite animal on the farm. 

I work at a summer camp and have lead MANY student group tours... EVERY time the kids leave loving our dogs Mister and Salsa the best. Every time.

 

Eating local.

A Poem

 (sort of)

Define Local:

Local.
To me it’s always been to easy.
Eating food from a hundred mile radius?
Maybe for some…

But
For me it it was something different entirely.

 Local was about eating from one of the farms in my valley,

That way, not only would I know that it was local,
But I would know that it was grown well,
The workers were treated fairly
And the farmers lead good lives.

Eating local was more than about eating local food.
It was about supporting a local economy...

My family,
Making smart decisions about what I was putting in my body,
and
Putting those who I loved first.

Now that I live far away from my family’s farm,
The ideas I had around eating local food are beginning to slip.

Paying for enough food is becoming my first priority.
Convenience is beginning to trump sustainability.
And

It breaks my heart.

Food is becoming yet another thing that I treat with a rushed attitude.

'There is no time to go to the farmers market!' 

 I tell myself.
'Does it really matter if this apple isn’t local?'
I ask myself.

Will it really make a difference?
This one bite?
Does it really matter

If I go for

One meal?

One day?
One week?

One year?

Without thinking about the location my food was grown?


My friends do it all the time!
They buy bananas with out a care!
The munch on strawberries when they want, 

Not a fear in their mind about pesticides.

 Or the fact that they are out of season.

So, why must I be burdened with the idea 

That everything I eat is somehow connected

To a bigger picture?

That what I eat is

Somehow going to matter?

But then I remember…

The difference is I KNOW the difference.
I know it does matter.
Every bite matters. 

And 

 I couldn’t truly stop caring if I tried.

The fact that I can’t get a bowl of rice and chicken from Panda Express without wanting to cry…
Makes me realize I will always have a different connection with my food than most of the world.

I know a different way.
I know that it is possible if I try hard enough.
If I care enough.

So, that is my new goal.

Local.
From farms that I know.
Local.
Supporting a local restaurant, grower or baker.
Local.
Where I can feel safe and good about the food that I put in my body.

That is my new definition of local.

And it is one that I hope that I can continue to live by.

Babies. Continued.

So, if you remember, from an earlier post, I plan on adopting all of my future children. 

How I see it? 

There are HECKA (I say that word sarcastically) babies out in this huge world already. 

Most of them with out good families, love or food. 

Well, instead of pushing another one out of my privates, into this crazy world of ours. 

My plan is to help give a warm, peaceful, happy childhood to those who need it most. 

I want:

To smile at those kids who don't have smiles.

To exclaim loudly and obnoxiously when they do something ordinary.

 To dance around with them before I tuck them in to a cozy bed. 

To kiss their face each morning, reminding them they are no longer alone. 

I want:

To help them explore our backyard and the rest of the world. 

To help kids turn into students and builders and adventurers. 

I WANT:

To give a child who may have had nothing... everything! 

The moon, the stars and my heart. 

As you can tell, having my OWN babies has NOTHING to do with the fact that I don't like babies... 

 I LOVE babies. 

I can't get enough of their squishy little faces and small pudgy arms.

 I love the way they smell and their big, soft, round eyes. 

I love their open minds and kind hearts. 

I love their curiosity for the little things and the way that they will love you at the end of night... 

No matter how bad the world is getting. 

I love babies so much I can't hold it in any longer... 

I am going to be an Aunt! 

My brother Amon, and his wife Jenna are having a small baby in August! 

Remember them?

The news is slowly leaking out, so I think it's about time I can tell you all. 

Because I am just so damn excited! 

I am going to love this little baby with every inch of my heart.

 When they told us about a week after New Years I instantly started crying, which surprised even me. 

I had no idea why I was so happy.

 I mean, yeah, it's a baby, it's cool and little and squishy, but did I really need to start blubbering about it?? 

Well, yes. 

I did. 

I do.

Because, being someone who believes that everyone deserves to be hugged, warm and well fed.

I feel happy.

Because, if there are any fit and capable parents in the world, it's these two. 

They have enough love to generate electricity, they have a cozy home and cook delicious food. 

And

If they love this baby half as much as they love their dog Milo, I know this small lump of a thing will be just fine.

 I am going to be an Aunt, guys. 

I am going to buy baby clothes and snuggle and hold that baby until it turns blue 

(Not really, I'll be careful I swear) 

I am going to love the HECK of of that small morsel of a thing and I know that the rest of our community will too. 

I can't wait for August. 

I can't wait for the future, because this baby is just the beginning of a whole new life. 

 <3

The future Parents? 

Beautiful right?

Sometimes Weekends Are Too Short.

We all have those weekend we never want to see end.

The kind that make you wish Friday, Saturday and Sunday could be on a constant repeat button. 

The kind of weekend that make you HATE Sunday nights and YEARN for Thursday nights.

I just had one of those weekends. 

It was by far the happiest, most productive, most giggly and smiley and sunshiny I have been (and seen) in a LONG time. 

It was so, so good

I actually wanted to get up early so I would have more hours in the day.

I snuggled with lambs and with my sister and mom. 

I ate wonderful food in extremely large amounts.

I stayed up late, not to check my facebook, or to watch a movie on netflix, but to spend one last second laughing and talking with my friends. 

I got to sit in the sun, drinking a beer while doing some School reading. 

I got to eat oranges and asparagus and steak fresh from the farm...

I got to watch my beautiful friend give one of the most powerful speeches I have heard in a long time.

(My best friend Cassidy is a Senior this year and competed in the 97th Annual Almond Queen Pageant. She was running against some other incredible talented and beautiful girls and made me and her family proud by being first runner up!)  

I had a perfect weekend and yet,
After I got done with the 14 hour train ride back up to Oregon...

 I was walking around campus today and it still felt like home.

I was still wickedly giddy to see familiar faces on my way to classes and even more excited to see my roommates.

I have three more weeks up here until I am gone for spring term. 

I had the funnest time this weekend, but these next weekends are going to be jam packed...
I am going to make them

Filled with memories that I can keep with me where ever I go.

I may miss my family and home when I am away up here at school, but I know that Eugene is just as much my home and family-- so I need to make some lasting adventures these next couple weeks that I can keep in my mind where ever this spring term leads me.
SO, HERE WE GO!
 (But before we go anywhere, here are a few pictures of my weekend...in no particular order Enjoy!)

 

Dear Farm, Family and Friends,
You are the best in the world.
Thank you for filling my heart with passion,
my mind with goodness
and my soul with joy
You are the keepers and holder of my happiness.
You make me realize over and over again just how much I love life.
Thank you for creating a nest of warmth I can look forward to coming home to.