Fall planting time on the Anderson Farm

Harvest is over and the crops were average to above average, this is always a good thing. Now my husband Joe and his brother, Jay have begin the ritual of planting the winter wheat. This year we have selected three different kinds of wheat to plant in different fields. It's sort of a guessing game as to what variety to select as we can only guess what the weather for next year will bring. One variety was selected due to it's high yielding potential, plus it did very well in our neighbor's field - which borders our field, so we will hope for the same results. We will know next harvest if we chose the right varieties for the other 2 varieties.

On our farm, Joe and Jay work in tandem, one driving the tractor which pulls the air drill (which puts the seeds & fertilizer) in the ground and the other is the support team, hauling fertilizer and seed to the other to keep him running efficiently as well as spraying Round-up to kill unwanted foliage.

The weather has turned cool and very Fall feeling. Kip Mayer, the local hardware store manager at Pacific Northwest Farmer's Cooperative gave me his last copy of the Pea & Lentil Cookbook, so I thought I'd try one new recipe each week and give my comments about it. Growing up, I really didn't eat many legumes - I was a picky eater (and still am). So thumbing through the cookbook, I looked at what I had on hand and chose the Golden Pea and Squash Soup. (I literally have a wheel barrow full of acorn squash from my garden) Peeling the squash took a little bit of time, but the effort was worth it, as the soup was quite tasty. It needed a tad bit more salt than the recipe called for, but the hint of Allspice was perfect. I didn't have leeks as called for in the recipe, plus they were kind of expensive at the grocery store, so I substituted 1/2 white onion for them. Next time I make it I'll probably add some canned green chili's. Over all, it passed the picky Gayle test and I would serve it again. =) If I get permission to publish the recipe from the Pea and Lentil Commission, I will so stay tuned. I pared the soup up with a Zuchinni Parmeasan Bread which is easy to make and very good. That recipe is as follows:

Zucchini Parmesan Bread

3 cups flour

1 cup peeled, shredded zuchinni

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teas baking soda

1 teas baking powder

1 teas salt

1/3 cup butter, melted

3 Tbl parmesan cheese

1 cup buttermilk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon grated onion (optional)

Mix all ingrediants into a bowl and mix well. Batter will be thick. Spread in a greased & floured bread loaf pan and bake @ 350 for 1 hour or until done.

Also, here is a great web site that have very good Ag related articles on:

http://www.thehandthatfeedsus.org/harvest_series_Gary_Wagner.cfm

Follow up from the Dinner on the Farm Series

My husband Joe and I have learned so many things from our guests and loved having the opportunity to do some community outreach on behalf of the Ag Industry. Some of the guests came prepared with questions and had some knowledge of what farmers do. They asked very intelligent, sometimes hard questions. Others really didn't have much of an idea of exactly what we did, but were just generally interested in what farmers do and why. Knowing this now, will help us define how best to create the kind of learning/sharing experience to benefit those groups for future dinners. Visiting over dinner in a relaxed atmosphere is a perfect medium and helps sets the stage to foster good rapport with those who may not understand the Ag industry. We found that the perfect number for the event was 4-6 people, and that another farm host couple really helped . It also helped to have someone else taking pictures as I would get involved in a conversation and forget to snap photos.

I wanted to thank the businesses that helped us along the way. A special thanks to:

Pacific Northwest Farmer's Cooperatives (formerly Genesee Union) who donated the 2lb bags of lentils that were given to our guests, the Pea & Lentil Commission for donating magnetic clips along with recipes, to Panhandle Artisan Bread Co. for donating their yummy bread for our dinners, to Allegra Printing for giving me a discount when printing my posters for this event, and lastly to Kristi and Kris Peterson for donating their time and talent in designing the poster and taking the wonderful photographs during the 2nd dinner event.

I want to thank our good friends who agreed to help out and be our other farm hosts, and they are Wayne & Jacie Jensen, Russ & Kathy Zenner and Randy & Cindy Schlee. We could not have done it without these wonderful people. It helped to have an extra set of hosts at the dinners, not only to share their perspectives but to help ensure the evening flowed smoothly.

Russ visiting with a guest.

Kathy pouring wine for dinner.

We hope this blog will catch on and inspire others in the Ag industry to try something along these lines. We also have a couple of national organizations who are interested in our outcome, so I'll be touching base with them in the near future.

We will be sharing some special bottles of wine (given to us by our new friends from the dinners) and will gather the other farm host couple friends to visit more about and critique ourselves and as always strive to look for ways to better promote Ag and reach out to people.

3rd Dinner on the Farm, September 26

Our 3rd Dinner on the Farm was held September 26, 2009, and it was bittersweet, knowing this was the last one for the year. Two of the three couples attending were hand picked by me due to their prominence and standing within the community. I felt it would be beneficial for us to develop a good rapport with these leaders and together could be a resource to one another. So when I extended the invite, both couples graciously agreed to attend and helped me get the word out about our dinner series which got the attention of our third guest couple, a University of Idaho professor and his wife.

The weatherman was right on target when he said Saturday would have gusty winds. Our guests were given the option to brave the winds or stay in the kitchen and drink wine, they opted to have a quick lesson about the tractor and the drill attached to it that would be used for the fall seeding process. One week makes so much difference in the Fall as to when the sun sets, and even though we were basically conducting the outdoor tour at the same times as previous sessions, we ended this outdoor tour in almost complete darkness.

The old saying about 'it ends with a bang' was very descriptive of our evening. We had topics ranging from concern of depletion of natural resources & sustainability in every one's lives to GMO's (genetically modified organisms). Conversation was fast paced, passionate and lively. The guests themselves coined the phrase that we had a "sparkling conversation", which is true. Our guest farm hosts were the Schlee's, who were very well suited to this group and contributed to the engaging conversation and viewpoints expressed. Visiting over dinner and wine is very conducive to share opinions, visions, passions and perspectives in a comfortable setting. We had a couple of toasts during the meal to meeting new friends. After dinner, one guest mentioned something along the lines of I should either open a food business or at least take orders for dinners.... I think it's fair to say he enjoyed the hearty meal set before him.

The menu was the same from last week's dinner:

Honey Lemon Chicken, Spinach Lasagna and Lentil Chili

Garbanzo and Zucchini Salad

Wild Rice Bake

Ciabatta & Miche Bread (donated by Panhandle Artisan Bread Co.)

I made some of my favorite desserts:
Lemon Tart, Chocolate Zucchini Cake and Peach/Blueberry Crumble

Our farm host couple also contributed 2 bottles of local wines from the area

Again as in the past 2 dinners, the guest left armed with as many left overs as I could pawn on them, as well as a 2 lb bag of Clipper lentils donated by Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative, a magnet clip and lentil recipe cards donated by the Pea & Lentil Commission and homemade lentil brownies made by me.

We felt this dinner series was a step in the right direction to connect with those in our community and fostering many new friendships and alliances. This was a great adventure and experiment, one of which we will do again next year. I've already started a list of people who want to attend. I've received many lovely thank you notes and emails from the participants.

Spinach Lasagna

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
3 ¾ cups half and half
1 cup whipping cream
1 ¼ cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
2 eggs
32 oz of ricotta cheese
2 pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 cup shredded carrots
1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced and each slice cut in half
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
12 lasagna noodles, cooked per directions
2 lb of shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
½ cup plain bread crumbs
½ cup Parmesan cheese (the dry kind that comes in a plastic bottle)

In large saucepan, melt butter, stir in flour until smooth; gradually add creams. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Stir in ¾ cup of the fresh Parmesan cheese. Remove from heat, set aside while preparing vegetable mixture.

In a large bowl, combine ricotta, eggs, spinach carrots, zucchini & mushrooms.

Pour a thin layer of the white sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan, then layer 4 noodles on the bottom, then 1/3 of the ricotta/vegetable mixture, then pour around 1 ¼ cup of the white sauce, layer with 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat process 2 more times. Once all three layers are done, mix the bread crumbs with the dry Parmesan cheese and sprinkle over the top.

*Cover and bake at 350 for 45 min, uncover and bake 15 minutes longer or until bubbly. Let stand for 5-10 min before cutting. Enjoy!

Hint: * to avoid the cheese on any covered casserole sticking to the foil, simply put a piece of plastic wrap over the cheese mixture, careful to stay within the perimeters of the casserole dish, then completely cover it with foil and bake. The cheese will create an oil barrier with the plastic wrap and will not allow the cheese to stick, and the foil protects it from melting.

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Honey Lemon Chicken

8-10 boneless chicken breasts

2/3 cup of honey

1/8 cup lemon juice

8 teas minced garlic, divided

1 1/2 teas dried Rosemary

Lemon pepper

2 lemons, sliced

Olive oil

In small bowl mix honey, lemon juice, 2 teas garlic, set aside. In 9x13 drizzle a small amount of olive oil to barely cover the bottom of the pans. Next arrange the sliced lemons in the pans and add 1/2 teas minced garlic throught out the pan. Arrange chicken in pan making sure at least 1/2 teas of garlic and at least one slice of lemon is under each of the breasts. Next with a pastry brush, brush the honey mixture over the chicken breasts to coat, then sprinkle lemon pepper over top and sprinkle the rosemary over the chicken. Bake covered in a 375 degree oven for 40 minutes or until no longer pink.

2nd Dinner on the Farm, September 19

Our 2nd Dinner on the Farm was also a good follow up to the first. We had 6 guests, again from a variety of backgrounds. I was especially glad I didn't know beforehand that an apprentice chef was one of my guests. At the evening's conclusion he complimented me on the food presentation, quality and noted it was evident that I added "love" into what I had prepared.... what better compliment could anyone receive!!

Given some dietary considerations from this group, I needed to change the menu, so I started looking for honey/lemon/garlic chicken recipes.... one time I awoke at 2:30am and started looking for the recipes. This is weird, because I'm a vegetarian - almost complete. So in the early a.m. hours, I'm searching for a specific recipe that I think will be good, one that I won't ever taste and can't sleep until I find it.... I think there are doctors for this kind of thing!! =) Anyway, the menu consisted of:

Main Dishes: Honey Lemon Chicken, Vegetable Lasagna, Lentil Chili

Salad: Garbanzo Bean & Zucchini Salad

Side: Wild Rice Bake

Assorted yummy breads: Ciabota & Sourdough - donated from Panhandle Bakery - & the owner was also a guest

Desserts: Zucchini Chocolate Cake, Lemon Tart, Peach/blueberry Crumble

Also attending the dinner were the Zenners, who were our other farm host couple, plus my friends Kristi & Kris who are semi-professional photographers. After the last photo blunder from the first dinner, I really wanted pictures!









We were not able to have a good selection of equipment on hand as we are right in the middle of garbanzo harvest. The combines were in fields too far away to bring to the house, the semi's were in use, so the only piece of equipment for viewing was again our tractor with the seeding drill attached. The weather which had started out nice, deteriorated quickly and it was cool and windy... so we didn't linger out in the fields too long, but opted for the warm kitchen and drinks.

We had photo's of different things on the farm, and passed those around during dinner. In hindsight I realize that we should explained more in depth of what the photos were of and their importance. I'd equate looking at the photo's without an explanation as to looking at someone's pictures of their dog or vacation - not very interesting. All in all it was a fine evening. Only one more dinner to go.




Garbanzo Bean & Zucchini Salad

Vinaigrette:
2 Tbl lemon juice
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ teas salt
¼ teas freshly ground black pepper

In small bowl, whisk together.

Salad:
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
2 medium zucchini, diced into ¼ inch pieces
½ cup frozen, thawed corn
½ small red onions, thinly sliced
5 romaine lettuce leaves, cut crosswise into ½ inch strips
1 ounce Parmesan cheese

Add all of the ingredients into a salad bowl – except the parmesan cheese. Just before serving pour the vinaigrette over the salad, toss well, sprinkle with parmesan cheese and serve.

1st Dinner on the Farm, September 12

Our first Dinner on the Farm held 09.12.09 was a great event. I'm the one in the purple shirt, my husband, Joe is in the very back to the left of the welcome sign. We had 5 guests from a wide variety of back grounds, plus our other farm host couple, the Jensen's, and the conversation was amazing. The weather was perfect - no wind and a rare warm September evening - all in all what a great kick-off.






Everyone arrived within 5 minutes of each other and after getting drinks in hand, we walked out into the harvested wheat field where we had an assortment of equipment for viewing. There were 2 combines, 1 of our semi-trucks, and a tractor with the seeding drill attached. Dresses and all, everyone got a combine ride around the field and up and down the hills. I was visiting with guests when I remembered the need to take pictures, but by then it was too dark.... the pictures didn't turn out, so I'm bummed about that.




We snapped the group picture before heading into the house for dinner. The menu was carefully chosen to represent things that either we grow, or is grown in the region, plus fresh items from my small garden.

The menu was:


Main Dishes: Lasagna, made with whole wheat noodles, Spinach Roll-ups also made with whole wheat noodles, Lentil Chili


Salads: Garbanzo & zucchini salad, Broccoli with almonds, Fresh fruit salad



Desserts: Pumpkin chocolate cake, Walnut tart, Fresh peach/blueberry crumble




Did I say I like to bake and cook? You know when people like the food as I was asked for some of the recipes.



The evening concluded with farewells (plus as many leftovers as people would take) and an overall feeling that a good rapport had been established. Guests also left with a 2lb bag of lentils donated by Genesee Union, a magnet with recipes donated by the Pea & Lentil Commission and Lentil brownies, plus our business card. Looking forward to the next 2 dinner series!


Lasagna

1 lb hamburger
½ - 1 lb ground Italian sausage
(1) 6 oz (small) can of tomato paste
(1) 29 oz can of tomato sauce or tomato puree
2 teas Italian seasoning
¾ teas seasoned salt
16 oz container of ricotta cheese
16 oz cottage cheese works
1 cup parmesan cheese
2 lbs grated mozzarella cheese ( 8 cups of cheese)
1 box lasagna noodles

Cook noodles as per package instructions. Rinse noodles and set aside.

In a skillet or electric frying pan, brown the hamburger & sausage, drain well. Add tomato paste and 1 can of water, add tomato sauce (or puree), Italian seasoning and seasoning salt. Simmer 5 -10 min & then shut off the heat source.

Next in a bowl, combine the ricotta, cottage cheese with the parmesan cheese, blending by hand.

In a 9x13 rectangle cake pan, layer as follows: layer noodles so it covers the entire bottom of pan (divide up the noodles so you have enough for 3 layers), then layer 1/3 meat mixture, sprinkle 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture over the meat mixture, next sprinkle evenly about 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, repeat with 2 more layers. Bake uncovered @350 for 45-50min. If the cheese gets too brown after 30 min, cover loosely with foil. Let sit 5 min before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Education - Dinner on the Farm Series

I wanted to reach out and educate people who are not in the Ag industry but perhaps want to know more about where their food comes from. I thought what better way than visit over dinner in a relaxed fashion? Good food and conversation. I pitched the idea to my hubby who thought this was a good idea! So we are doing a Dinner on the Farm Series for 3 week-ends in September, with the first beginning on the 12th. We have found out that we aren't really getting concerns (just yet) over farming with chemicals or other hot topics, but that those wanting to attend are just plain curious what farmers do. I'm excited, yet nervous about this adventure. It's an experiment.

What is making me nervous is what to make for dinner... will they like what I make, will it turn out ok? Are people placing expectations on me, or is it me that is doing that? I'm sure it's me that sets those lofty goals for myself... I like to bake and cook and will experiment with new foods on friends, but have never had people we didn't know over for dinner. I'm starting to dream about it. I saw the movie Julia & Julie, that food is way too complex and gourmet, so will just make good old comfort food that I know will turn out. Wish me luck.

Wind-down of Harvest 2009

08.31.09



The Farm Perspective



Harvest around the Palouse is almost finished. Winter wheat, spring wheat, peas, lentils, barley have been cut and all that remains so far is the occasional field where the spring wheat field is still a tad too green to harvest plus the garbanzo beans aren't ready for harvest until mid-September. So this allows a breather from the fast and furious pace.







Yesterday I helped my hubby move equipment from one field to another by flagging. Flagging is something that I find needs a little bit of thought and timing to be perfect. The vehicle flagging for the farm equipment needs to be just the perfect distance in order to give the implement driver enough time to find a place to either pull off or try to move the equipment over when meeting a vehicle. Plus the terminology when referring to trucks or pickups is important. We find that many people refer to their pickups as "trucks". On the farm, a pickup is called a pickup, and semis are called trucks. So when radioing back to the equipment driver that a "truck" is heading their way, it is important to have the terminology right as they would be expecting a semi-truck and would therefore, make width allowances for the big rig. Just one of those little details the normal public doesn't think about.





Last Thursday, we hosted a wonderful legislative aid (Staci) for Senator Crapo around the area. She asked lots of questions, listened intently about concerns those of us in the Ag industry had and all in all, was a good visit. I volunteered to write a follow up letter to give a re-cap on areas we chatted about. We got a nice picture of Staci and my husband so we could send it on for the Idaho Grain Producers publication. It was a good opportunity for us to make a connection with the people that represent us in Washington DC.

Harvest 08.26.09





The Farm perspective





We are finishing up the field of spring wheat next to the house and will be done with it sometime today. The next and last field of spring wheat field is too green and not ripe enough to harvest, meaning the moisture content isn't in an acceptable range in order for the warehouse to accept the grain. So we will have to wait for the field to continue to ripen for another day or two. Good thing the weather forecast is for hot and dry, otherwise it makes for nervous farmers with crops out and bad weather looming.





I'm hoping we can be harvesting on Friday as that is when we will be hosting a legislative aid (L.A.)for Senator Crapo on our farm. This is a great opportunity to help educate those that make laws that affect the Ag industry. Primary focus will be to explain what crops are planted, where we are hauling them, industry concerns, and just answering questions that the L.A. may have. It's a huge benefit to have the L.A. experience first hand what we do, why we do the things we do and she can relate this back to the Senator on what she has learned. It also provides a good rapport for the Senator and L.A. to call on us if they have questions about Ag issues.





The Farmwife perspective





I love to cook and bake, so when my husband asked if we could have the L.A. over for dinner plus invite a few other farmers and spouses over to our house after the tour was done, I said yes! =) Of course, this would be contingent if the other farmers had all their wheat harvested too so I don't know how many will be coming - of course that is just a detail.... So I really won't know if dinner is a go or not until late Thursday when Joe calls the other growers to see if they can come. I only have to work a half day on Friday, so I'll have a little bit of time to whip up come yummy food.





A couple days ago, we hosted a farm couple from Oklahoma. I had met the wife at a Women's Ag Leadership session in North Carolina back in April. So this couple, Hope and Ryan were attending an Ag conference in the Tri-Cities and I invited them to stay with us as they were so close and that they made the effort to come to Idaho to see us. The visit went well and we made new friends. Joe took Ryan out with him so Ryan got to see what combines do on hills, a novelty given that Oklahoma is flat. I took Hope with me to visit an "Agro -tourism farm" called MaryJane's farm and also a friends nature seed plant operation called Palouse Native Seeds. The visit was short, but enjoyable for all of us and our new Oklahoma friends got to see what harvest is like in Northern Idaho.

Harvest, 08.22.09

From here on out, I decided to have two sections, one basic info and facts, the other will be more of an insight of a farm wife.





The Farm perspective:





Harvest is in full swing on the Palouse. There was a sign outside of an implement dealer that said farmers have 3 kinds of seasons, before harvest, harvest and after harvest - which is true! Harvest is what farmer's live for, it's the final completion of all of our efforts and hard work. No one feels rested until the last grain, bean or kernel is in storage.





Two of our neighbors are harvesting their wheat which borders our land, so there is activity all around our house. The semi trucks are a frequent sight on our road, either loaded up with grain to go to the warehouse or empty and heading back into the field. Once harvest is complete then, another kind of busy activity occurs, which is the fall planting for next year's crop and that is a future topic.





Harvest brings a frenzied kind of energy into everyone's life. The day starts early, usually around 5:30am ish, lunches are made, plans to meet the crew at a certain spot are made, combines & tractors are inspected and dieseled up, windows cleaned and we are off to begin another round of bringing in the crops to feed America. Our farm has winter wheat, spring wheat, mustard and garbanzo beans. All our winter wheat has been harvested as well as the spring wheat on our Tammany farm. Today we started harvesting mustard and once that is done, then we will move the equipment up to our Genesee farm to begin the spring wheat harvest.





The Farmwife perspective:

I thought about my very first harvest after we married, I was working off the farm full time and hadn't quite gotten it figured out about the grocery thing and what all I needed for harvest lunches. So as I was making a lunch before work for my new husband, and me being the almost "vegan vegetarian" I only had one piece of Bologna and a little bit of tuna fish, not really enough of each for a sandwich - so I thought, well they are both disgusting, I'm sure they go together and put both the tuna and Bologna in one sandwich. Well, new hubby ate half of the sandwich before he realized how bad it tasted.... haven't quite ever lived that one down. Now of course, I'm seasoned and know what kinds of things to have on hand, make proper sandwiches for his lunch, it makes for a much calmer harvest for both of us. =)

As I said, harvest is a frenzy of activity, especially with two farms, one in Tammany which is an hour away from the home (Genesee) farm. It makes for lots of time traveling between the two and the need to move equipment from one farm to another. Farming isn't just a job, it is a great way of life and what other job affects every single person in the world? Think about it, if every farmer and rancher in the world decided to not do their job, world disaster and famine! Good thing farmers/ranchers love what they do. This is not a 9 to 5 kind of job, there are lots of long hours and for months at a time. For those who have livestock, it is all the time, 365 days of the year. We don't have animals, we only farm, and so from March through October is a busy time on the farm. It takes special people who love what they do to face the challenges of raising crops and livestock given that we have no control over weather and the price of crops/animals. But raising a family on the farm has it's special rewards and we are thankful for the life . As my husband heads out the door, he says, I'm off to feed America! I love it, and tho some may view it as corny, it warms my heart and makes me proud.